61 research outputs found
Virtual Reality Applications in Rehabilitation
The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39510-4_1One of the most valuable applications of virtual reality (VR) is in the domain of rehabilitation. After brain injuries or diseases, many patients suffer from impaired physical and/or cognitive capabilities, such as difficulties in moving arms or remembering names. Over the past two decades, VR has been tested and examined as a technology to assist patientsâ recovery and rehabilitation, both physical and cognitive. The increasing prevalence of low-cost VR devices brings new opportunities, allowing VR to be used in practice. Using VR devices such as head-mounted displays (HMDs), special virtual scenes can be designed to assist patients in the process of re-training their brain and reorganizing their functions and abilities. However, such VR interfaces and applications must be comprehensively tested and examined for their effectiveness and potential side effects. This paper presents a review of related literature and discusses the new opportunities and challenges. Most of existing studies examined VR as an assessment method rather than a training/exercise method. Nevertheless, promising cases and positive preliminary results have been shown. Considering the increasing need for self-administered, home-based, and personalized rehabilitation, VR rehabilitation is potentially an important approach. This area requires more studies and research effort
Management of anterior cruciate ligament rupture in patients aged 40Â years and older
The aim of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is essentially to restore functional stability of the knee and to allow patients to return to their desired work and activities. While in the young and active population, surgery is often the best therapeutic option after an ACL tear, ACL reconstruction in middle-aged people is rather more controversial due to concerns about a higher complication rate. The purpose of our article is to establish, through a systematic review of the literature, useful decision-making criteria for the management of anterior cruciate ligament rupture in patients aged 40Â years and older, guiding surgeons to the most appropriate therapeutic approach. Various reports have shown excellent results of ACL reconstruction in patients over the age of 40 in terms of subjective satisfaction, return to previous activity level, and reduced complication and failure rates. Some even document excellent outcomes in subjects of 50Â years and older. Although there are limited high-level studies, data reported in the literature suggest that ACL reconstruction can be successful in appropriately selected, motivated older patients with symptomatic knee instability who want to return to participating in highly demanding sport and recreational activities. Deciding factors are based on occupation, sex, activity level of the subject, amount of time spent performing such highly demanding activities, and presence of associated knee lesions. Physiological age and activity level are more important than chronological age as deciding factors when considering ACL reconstruction
Tangier disease. A case with sensorimotor diÂŹstal polyÂŹneuropathy and lipid accumulation in striated muscle and vasa nerÂŹvoÂŹrum.
A 65-year-old man with Tangier disease (analphalipoproteinemia) had had a
progressive sensorimotor distal neuropathy with sensory ataxia for 1 year.
Muscle biopsy demonstrated excess lipid vacuoles on histochemical and
electron-microscopic techniques. Sural nerve biopsy showed a marked loss of
large fibers and an increase in small myelinated fibers, with presence of
remyelinating fibers and clusters of regeneration; a few aspects of active
demyelination and some onion-like formations were also present. Lipid
accumulation chiefly affected the Schwann cells of unmyelinated fibers and, to a
lesser degree, of myelinated fibers, endoneurial fibroblast, and vasa nervorum.
Teased fibers showed prevalent aspects of de-/remyelination and, often in
association, marked myelin wrinkling suggesting axonal atrophy. This Tangier
patient differs from known cases for the presence of a distal symmetrical
sensorimotor polyneuropathy (not previously reported in Tangier disease) and
because of the morphological findings of de-/remyelination coexisting with
aspects of axonal atrophy and previous degeneration, and of lipid accumulation
within striated muscle and vasa nervorum. This latter finding contrasts with the
assumption that in Tangier disease vessel walls are not a site of lipid storage:
probably the vasa nervorum are different, in this respect, from other vessels,
because of the intense lipid metabolism of the nervous tissue. Thus we suggest
that involvement of vasa nervorum in Tangier disease may be more important than
previously suspected, possibly playing a role in the causation of neuropathy
Immersive Episodic Memory Assessment with 360\ub0 Videos: The Protocol and a Case Study
Episodic memory has been conceptualized as the memory for personal events with specific spatiotemporal components. The assessment of episodic memory is usually conducted by means of verbal recall tasks, in which the individual is required to repeat what (s)he remembers from a previously presented verbal material (either single words or a brief story). However, the need of a more ecological approach to memory assessment led researchers to investigate the potential use of 360\ub0 videos as a suitable tool to present real life scenes to be remembered. The present study presents the protocol of the assessment of episodic memory employing five 360\ub0 video that represent interpersonal, emotional experiences known to be altered in psychopathological conditions. Furthermore, a case study in which the assessment protocol is applied to a patient with Borderline Personality Disorder is described. The results of the case study seem to indicate that our 360\ub0 videos are able to detect anomalies in remembering the behaviors displayed, the connected emotion together with details regarding the \u201cwhere\u201d and \u201cwhen\u201d components of the episodic recall
Understanding deformation with high angular resolution electron backscatter diffraction (HR-EBSD)
Designing nanostructured metallic bulk alloys via first principles simulations and atomic scale characterization: The basis of modern manufacturing
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