The Non-Affected Muscle Volume Compensates for the Partial Loss of Strength after Injection of Botulinum Toxin A

Local botulinum toxin (BTX-A, Botox®) injection in overactive muscles is a standard treatment in patients with cerebral palsy. The effect is markedly reduced in children above the age of 6 to 7. One possible reason for this is the muscle volume affected by the drug. Nine patients (aged 11.5; 8.7–14.5 years) with cerebral palsy GMFCS I were treated with BTX-A for equinus gait at the gastrocnemii and soleus muscles. BTX-A was administered at one or two injection sites per muscle belly and with a maximum of 50 U per injection site. Physical examination, instrumented gait analysis, and musculoskeletal modelling were used to assess standard muscle parameters, kinematics, and kinetics during gait. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to detect the affected muscle volume. All the measurements were carried out pre-, 6 weeks post-, and 12 weeks post-BTX-A. Between 9 and 15% of the muscle volume was affected by BTX-A. There was no effect on gait kinematics and kinetics after BTX-A injection, indicating that the overall kinetic demand placed on the plantar flexor muscles remained unchanged. BTX-A is an effective drug for inducing muscle weakness. However, in our patient cohort, the volume of the affected muscle section was limited, and the remaining non-affected parts were able to compensate for the weakened part of the muscle by taking over the kinetic demands associated with gait, thus not enabling a net functional effect in older children. We recommend distributing the drug over the whole muscle belly through multiple injection sites

Assessing innovations for upscaling forest landscape restoration

There is an increasing urgency to implement large-scale ecosystem restoration to mitigate the biodiversity and climate crises. These efforts must be scaled up to counteract the widespread degradation of the world’s forests, although restoration costs can often limit their application. Thus, there is a pressing need to identify cost-effective approaches that catalyze landscape-scale ecological recovery. Here, we highlight seven assisted restoration innovations with demonstrated local-scale results that, once upscaled, hold promise to rapidly regenerate forests. We comprehensively assessed how each approach facilitated forest, woodland, and/or mangrove recovery across 143 studies. Our results reveal techniques with a marked ability to catalyze vegetation recovery compared to “business-as-usual” approaches. However, the context-dependent cost-benefit ratio and feasibility of applying particular approaches requires careful consideration. Our assessment emphasizes that we already have many of the tools necessary to drive the terrestrial restoration movement forward. It is time to implement and assess their efficacy at scale

ALADIN is Required for the Production of Fertile Mouse Oocytes

Asymmetric cell divisions depend on the precise placement of the spindle apparatus. In mammalian oocytes, spindles assemble close to the cell's center, but chromosome segregation takes place at the cell periphery where half of the chromosomes are expelled into small, nondeveloping polar bodies at anaphase. By dividing so asymmetrically, most of the cytoplasmic content within the oocyte is preserved, which is critical for successful fertilization and early development. Recently we determined that the nucleoporin ALADIN participates in spindle assembly in somatic cells, and we have also shown that female mice homozygously null for ALADIN are sterile. In this study we show that this protein is involved in specific meiotic stages, including meiotic resumption, spindle assembly, and spindle positioning. In the absence of ALADIN, polar body extrusion is compromised due to problems in spindle orientation and anchoring at the first meiotic anaphase. ALADIN null oocytes that mature far enough to be fertilized in vitro are unable to support embryonic development beyond the two-cell stage. Overall, we find that ALADIN is critical for oocyte maturation and appears to be far more essential for this process than for somatic cell divisions

The nucleoporin ALADIN regulates Aurora A localization to ensure robust mitotic spindle formation

The formation of the mitotic spindle is a complex process that requires massive cellular reorganization. Regulation by mitotic kinases controls this entire process. One of these mitotic controllers is Aurora A kinase, which is itself highly regulated. In this study, we show that the nuclear pore protein ALADIN is a novel spatial regulator of Aurora A. Without ALADIN, Aurora A spreads from centrosomes onto spindle microtubules, which affects the distribution of a subset of microtubule regulators and slows spindle assembly and chromosome alignment. ALADIN interacts with inactive Aurora A and is recruited to the spindle pole after Aurora A inhibition. Of interest, mutations in ALADIN cause triple A syndrome. We find that some of the mitotic phenotypes that we observe after ALADIN depletion also occur in cells from triple A syndrome patients, which raises the possibility that mitotic errors may underlie part of the etiology of this syndrome

Characterisation of age and polarity at onset in bipolar disorder

Background Studying phenotypic and genetic characteristics of age at onset (AAO) and polarity at onset (PAO) in bipolar disorder can provide new insights into disease pathology and facilitate the development of screening tools. Aims To examine the genetic architecture of AAO and PAO and their association with bipolar disorder disease characteristics. Method Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and polygenic score (PGS) analyses of AAO (n = 12 977) and PAO (n = 6773) were conducted in patients with bipolar disorder from 34 cohorts and a replication sample (n = 2237). The association of onset with disease characteristics was investigated in two of these cohorts. Results Earlier AAO was associated with a higher probability of psychotic symptoms, suicidality, lower educational attainment, not living together and fewer episodes. Depressive onset correlated with suicidality and manic onset correlated with delusions and manic episodes. Systematic differences in AAO between cohorts and continents of origin were observed. This was also reflected in single-nucleotide variant-based heritability estimates, with higher heritabilities for stricter onset definitions. Increased PGS for autism spectrum disorder (β = −0.34 years, s.e. = 0.08), major depression (β = −0.34 years, s.e. = 0.08), schizophrenia (β = −0.39 years, s.e. = 0.08), and educational attainment (β = −0.31 years, s.e. = 0.08) were associated with an earlier AAO. The AAO GWAS identified one significant locus, but this finding did not replicate. Neither GWAS nor PGS analyses yielded significant associations with PAO. Conclusions AAO and PAO are associated with indicators of bipolar disorder severity. Individuals with an earlier onset show an increased polygenic liability for a broad spectrum of psychiatric traits. Systematic differences in AAO across cohorts, continents and phenotype definitions introduce significant heterogeneity, affecting analyses

Human Practice. Digital Ecologies. Our Future. : 14. Internationale Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2019) : Tagungsband

Erschienen bei: universi - Universitätsverlag Siegen. - ISBN: 978-3-96182-063-4Aus dem Inhalt: Track 1: Produktion & Cyber-Physische Systeme Requirements and a Meta Model for Exchanging Additive Manufacturing Capacities Service Systems, Smart Service Systems and Cyber- Physical Systems—What’s the difference? Towards a Unified Terminology Developing an Industrial IoT Platform – Trade-off between Horizontal and Vertical Approaches Machine Learning und Complex Event Processing: Effiziente Echtzeitauswertung am Beispiel Smart Factory Sensor retrofit for a coffee machine as condition monitoring and predictive maintenance use case Stakeholder-Analyse zum Einsatz IIoT-basierter Frischeinformationen in der Lebensmittelindustrie Towards a Framework for Predictive Maintenance Strategies in Mechanical Engineering - A Method-Oriented Literature Analysis Development of a matching platform for the requirement-oriented selection of cyber physical systems for SMEs Track 2: Logistic Analytics An Empirical Study of Customers’ Behavioral Intention to Use Ridepooling Services – An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model Modeling Delay Propagation and Transmission in Railway Networks What is the impact of company specific adjustments on the acceptance and diffusion of logistic standards? Robust Route Planning in Intermodal Urban Traffic Track 3: Unternehmensmodellierung & Informationssystemgestaltung (Enterprise Modelling & Information Systems Design) Work System Modeling Method with Different Levels of Specificity and Rigor for Different Stakeholder Purposes Resolving Inconsistencies in Declarative Process Models based on Culpability Measurement Strategic Analysis in the Realm of Enterprise Modeling – On the Example of Blockchain-Based Initiatives for the Electricity Sector Zwischenbetriebliche Integration in der Möbelbranche: Konfigurationen und Einflussfaktoren Novices’ Quality Perceptions and the Acceptance of Process Modeling Grammars Entwicklung einer Definition für Social Business Objects (SBO) zur Modellierung von Unternehmensinformationen Designing a Reference Model for Digital Product Configurators Terminology for Evolving Design Artifacts Business Role-Object Specification: A Language for Behavior-aware Structural Modeling of Business Objects Generating Smart Glasses-based Information Systems with BPMN4SGA: A BPMN Extension for Smart Glasses Applications Using Blockchain in Peer-to-Peer Carsharing to Build Trust in the Sharing Economy Testing in Big Data: An Architecture Pattern for a Development Environment for Innovative, Integrated and Robust Applications Track 4: Lern- und Wissensmanagement (e-Learning and Knowledge Management) eGovernment Competences revisited – A Literature Review on necessary Competences in a Digitalized Public Sector Say Hello to Your New Automated Tutor – A Structured Literature Review on Pedagogical Conversational Agents Teaching the Digital Transformation of Business Processes: Design of a Simulation Game for Information Systems Education Conceptualizing Immersion for Individual Learning in Virtual Reality Designing a Flipped Classroom Course – a Process Model The Influence of Risk-Taking on Knowledge Exchange and Combination Gamified Feedback durch Avatare im Mobile Learning Alexa, Can You Help Me Solve That Problem? - Understanding the Value of Smart Personal Assistants as Tutors for Complex Problem Tasks Track 5: Data Science & Business Analytics Matching with Bundle Preferences: Tradeoff between Fairness and Truthfulness Applied image recognition: guidelines for using deep learning models in practice Yield Prognosis for the Agrarian Management of Vineyards using Deep Learning for Object Counting Reading Between the Lines of Qualitative Data – How to Detect Hidden Structure Based on Codes Online Auctions with Dual-Threshold Algorithms: An Experimental Study and Practical Evaluation Design Features of Non-Financial Reward Programs for Online Reviews: Evaluation based on Google Maps Data Topic Embeddings – A New Approach to Classify Very Short Documents Based on Predefined Topics Leveraging Unstructured Image Data for Product Quality Improvement Decision Support for Real Estate Investors: Improving Real Estate Valuation with 3D City Models and Points of Interest Knowledge Discovery from CVs: A Topic Modeling Procedure Online Product Descriptions – Boost for your Sales? Entscheidungsunterstützung durch historienbasierte Dienstreihenfolgeplanung mit Pattern A Semi-Automated Approach for Generating Online Review Templates Machine Learning goes Measure Management: Leveraging Anomaly Detection and Parts Search to Improve Product-Cost Optimization Bedeutung von Predictive Analytics für den theoretischen Erkenntnisgewinn in der IS-Forschung Track 6: Digitale Transformation und Dienstleistungen Heuristic Theorizing in Software Development: Deriving Design Principles for Smart Glasses-based Systems Mirroring E-service for Brick and Mortar Retail: An Assessment and Survey Taxonomy of Digital Platforms: A Platform Architecture Perspective Value of Star Players in the Digital Age Local Shopping Platforms – Harnessing Locational Advantages for the Digital Transformation of Local Retail Outlets: A Content Analysis A Socio-Technical Approach to Manage Analytics-as-a-Service – Results of an Action Design Research Project Characterizing Approaches to Digital Transformation: Development of a Taxonomy of Digital Units Expectations vs. Reality – Benefits of Smart Services in the Field of Tension between Industry and Science Innovation Networks and Digital Innovation: How Organizations Use Innovation Networks in a Digitized Environment Characterising Social Reading Platforms— A Taxonomy-Based Approach to Structure the Field Less Complex than Expected – What Really Drives IT Consulting Value Modularity Canvas – A Framework for Visualizing Potentials of Service Modularity Towards a Conceptualization of Capabilities for Innovating Business Models in the Industrial Internet of Things A Taxonomy of Barriers to Digital Transformation Ambidexterity in Service Innovation Research: A Systematic Literature Review Design and success factors of an online solution for cross-pillar pension information Track 7: IT-Management und -Strategie A Frugal Support Structure for New Software Implementations in SMEs How to Structure a Company-wide Adoption of Big Data Analytics The Changing Roles of Innovation Actors and Organizational Antecedents in the Digital Age Bewertung des Kundennutzens von Chatbots für den Einsatz im Servicedesk Understanding the Benefits of Agile Software Development in Regulated Environments Are Employees Following the Rules? On the Effectiveness of IT Consumerization Policies Agile and Attached: The Impact of Agile Practices on Agile Team Members’ Affective Organisational Commitment The Complexity Trap – Limits of IT Flexibility for Supporting Organizational Agility in Decentralized Organizations Platform Openness: A Systematic Literature Review and Avenues for Future Research Competence, Fashion and the Case of Blockchain The Digital Platform Otto.de: A Case Study of Growth, Complexity, and Generativity Track 8: eHealth & alternde Gesellschaft Security and Privacy of Personal Health Records in Cloud Computing Environments – An Experimental Exploration of the Impact of Storage Solutions and Data Breaches Patientenintegration durch Pfadsysteme Digitalisierung in der Stressprävention – eine qualitative Interviewstudie zu Nutzenpotenzialen User Dynamics in Mental Health Forums – A Sentiment Analysis Perspective Intent and the Use of Wearables in the Workplace – A Model Development Understanding Patient Pathways in the Context of Integrated Health Care Services - Implications from a Scoping Review Understanding the Habitual Use of Wearable Activity Trackers On the Fit in Fitness Apps: Studying the Interaction of Motivational Affordances and Users’ Goal Orientations in Affecting the Benefits Gained Gamification in Health Behavior Change Support Systems - A Synthesis of Unintended Side Effects Investigating the Influence of Information Incongruity on Trust-Relations within Trilateral Healthcare Settings Track 9: Krisen- und Kontinuitätsmanagement Potentiale von IKT beim Ausfall kritischer Infrastrukturen: Erwartungen, Informationsgewinnung und Mediennutzung der Zivilbevölkerung in Deutschland Fake News Perception in Germany: A Representative Study of People’s Attitudes and Approaches to Counteract Disinformation Analyzing the Potential of Graphical Building Information for Fire Emergency Responses: Findings from a Controlled Experiment Track 10: Human-Computer Interaction Towards a Taxonomy of Platforms for Conversational Agent Design Measuring Service Encounter Satisfaction with Customer Service Chatbots using Sentiment Analysis Self-Tracking and Gamification: Analyzing the Interplay of Motivations, Usage and Motivation Fulfillment Erfolgsfaktoren von Augmented-Reality-Applikationen: Analyse von Nutzerrezensionen mit dem Review-Mining-Verfahren Designing Dynamic Decision Support for Electronic Requirements Negotiations Who is Stressed by Using ICTs? A Qualitative Comparison Analysis with the Big Five Personality Traits to Understand Technostress Walking the Middle Path: How Medium Trade-Off Exposure Leads to Higher Consumer Satisfaction in Recommender Agents Theory-Based Affordances of Utilitarian, Hedonic and Dual-Purposed Technologies: A Literature Review Eliciting Customer Preferences for Shopping Companion Apps: A Service Quality Approach The Role of Early User Participation in Discovering Software – A Case Study from the Context of Smart Glasses The Fluidity of the Self-Concept as a Framework to Explain the Motivation to Play Video Games Heart over Heels? An Empirical Analysis of the Relationship between Emotions and Review Helpfulness for Experience and Credence Goods Track 11: Information Security and Information Privacy Unfolding Concerns about Augmented Reality Technologies: A Qualitative Analysis of User Perceptions To (Psychologically) Own Data is to Protect Data: How Psychological Ownership Determines Protective Behavior in a Work and Private Context Understanding Data Protection Regulations from a Data Management Perspective: A Capability-Based Approach to EU-GDPR On the Difficulties of Incentivizing Online Privacy through Transparency: A Qualitative Survey of the German Health Insurance Market What is Your Selfie Worth? A Field Study on Individuals’ Valuation of Personal Data Justification of Mass Surveillance: A Quantitative Study An Exploratory Study of Risk Perception for Data Disclosure to a Network of Firms Track 12: Umweltinformatik und nachhaltiges Wirtschaften Kommunikationsfäden im Nadelöhr – Fachliche Prozessmodellierung der Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation am Kapitalmarkt Potentiale und Herausforderungen der Materialflusskostenrechnung Computing Incentives for User-Based Relocation in Carsharing Sustainability’s Coming Home: Preliminary Design Principles for the Sustainable Smart District Substitution of hazardous chemical substances using Deep Learning and t-SNE A Hierarchy of DSMLs in Support of Product Life-Cycle Assessment A Survey of Smart Energy Services for Private Households Door-to-Door Mobility Integrators as Keystone Organizations of Smart Ecosystems: Resources and Value Co-Creation – A Literature Review Ein Entscheidungsunterstützungssystem zur ökonomischen Bewertung von Mieterstrom auf Basis der Clusteranalyse Discovering Blockchain for Sustainable Product-Service Systems to enhance the Circular Economy Digitale Rückverfolgbarkeit von Lebensmitteln: Eine verbraucherinformatische Studie Umweltbewusstsein durch audiovisuelles Content Marketing? Eine experimentelle Untersuchung zur Konsumentenbewertung nachhaltiger Smartphones Towards Predictive Energy Management in Information Systems: A Research Proposal A Web Browser-Based Application for Processing and Analyzing Material Flow Models using the MFCA Methodology Track 13: Digital Work - Social, mobile, smart On Conversational Agents in Information Systems Research: Analyzing the Past to Guide Future Work The Potential of Augmented Reality for Improving Occupational First Aid Prevent a Vicious Circle! The Role of Organizational IT-Capability in Attracting IT-affine Applicants Good, Bad, or Both? Conceptualization and Measurement of Ambivalent User Attitudes Towards AI A Case Study on Cross-Hierarchical Communication in Digital Work Environments ‘Show Me Your People Skills’ - Employing CEO Branding for Corporate Reputation Management in Social Media A Multiorganisational Study of the Drivers and Barriers of Enterprise Collaboration Systems-Enabled Change The More the Merrier? The Effect of Size of Core Team Subgroups on Success of Open Source Projects The Impact of Anthropomorphic and Functional Chatbot Design Features in Enterprise Collaboration Systems on User Acceptance Digital Feedback for Digital Work? Affordances and Constraints of a Feedback App at InsurCorp The Effect of Marker-less Augmented Reality on Task and Learning Performance Antecedents for Cyberloafing – A Literature Review Internal Crowd Work as a Source of Empowerment - An Empirical Analysis of the Perception of Employees in a Crowdtesting Project Track 14: Geschäftsmodelle und digitales Unternehmertum Dividing the ICO Jungle: Extracting and Evaluating Design Archetypes Capturing Value from Data: Exploring Factors Influencing Revenue Model Design for Data-Driven Services Understanding the Role of Data for Innovating Business Models: A System Dynamics Perspective Business Model Innovation and Stakeholder: Exploring Mechanisms and Outcomes of Value Creation and Destruction Business Models for Internet of Things Platforms: Empirical Development of a Taxonomy and Archetypes Revitalizing established Industrial Companies: State of the Art and Success Principles of Digital Corporate Incubators When 1+1 is Greater than 2: Concurrence of Additional Digital and Established Business Models within Companies Special Track 1: Student Track Investigating Personalized Price Discrimination of Textile-, Electronics- and General Stores in German Online Retail From Facets to a Universal Definition – An Analysis of IoT Usage in Retail Is the Technostress Creators Inventory Still an Up-To-Date Measurement Instrument? Results of a Large-Scale Interview Study Application of Media Synchronicity Theory to Creative Tasks in Virtual Teams Using the Example of Design Thinking TrustyTweet: An Indicator-based Browser-Plugin to Assist Users in Dealing with Fake News on Twitter Application of Process Mining Techniques to Support Maintenance-Related Objectives How Voice Can Change Customer Satisfaction: A Comparative Analysis between E-Commerce and Voice Commerce Business Process Compliance and Blockchain: How Does the Ethereum Blockchain Address Challenges of Business Process Compliance? Improving Business Model Configuration through a Question-based Approach The Influence of Situational Factors and Gamification on Intrinsic Motivation and Learning Evaluation von ITSM-Tools für Integration und Management von Cloud-Diensten am Beispiel von ServiceNow How Software Promotes the Integration of Sustainability in Business Process Management Criteria Catalog for Industrial IoT Platforms from the Perspective of the Machine Tool Industry Special Track 3: Demos & Prototyping Privacy-friendly User Location Tracking with Smart Devices: The BeaT Prototype Application-oriented robotics in nursing homes Augmented Reality for Set-up Processe Mixed Reality for supporting Remote-Meetings Gamification zur Motivationssteigerung von Werkern bei der Betriebsdatenerfassung Automatically Extracting and Analyzing Customer Needs from Twitter: A “Needmining” Prototype GaNEsHA: Opportunities for Sustainable Transportation in Smart Cities TUCANA: A platform for using local processing power of edge devices for building data-driven services Demonstrator zur Beschreibung und Visualisierung einer kritischen Infrastruktur Entwicklung einer alltagsnahen persuasiven App zur Bewegungsmotivation für ältere Nutzerinnen und Nutzer A browser-based modeling tool for studying the learning of conceptual modeling based on a multi-modal data collection approach Exergames & Dementia: An interactive System for People with Dementia and their Care-Network Workshops Workshop Ethics and Morality in Business Informatics (Workshop Ethik und Moral in der Wirtschaftsinformatik – EMoWI’19) Model-Based Compliance in Information Systems - Foundations, Case Description and Data Set of the MobIS-Challenge for Students and Doctoral Candidates Report of the Workshop on Concepts and Methods of Identifying Digital Potentials in Information Management Control of Systemic Risks in Global Networks - A Grand Challenge to Information Systems Research Die Mitarbeiter von morgen - Kompetenzen künftiger Mitarbeiter im Bereich Business Analytics Digitaler Konsum: Herausforderungen und Chancen der Verbraucherinformati

Principles of pathological gait

Summary: Walking for healthy humans is a basic everyday activity. In patients, especially those with neurologic disorders, the walking pattern can strongly deviate from those of healthy humans. For clinicians it is crucial to distinguish between primary and secondary gait deviations to plan the appropriate treatment. Primary gait deviations are causative and the target of therapy. Secondary gait deviations can be either active compensation or passive physical effects. Both do not require treatment as they are resolved when the primary impairment is corrected. The focus of this thesis relied on the walking patterns of patients with different primary pa-thologies, e.g. patients with spasticity or orthopaedic patients. The aim was to identify princi-pals of a pathological gait, with intention that it can further assist in differentiating between primary and secondary gait deviations. Three-dimensional gait analysis, driven by a marker-based movement analysis system (VICON) provided the data. All studies had a retrospective study design. Besides joint kinematics and surface electromyographic (EMG) data, muscle strength data were also analysed. It was investigated which parameters, such as muscle strength or orthotics, influences the gait of patients besides the primary pathology. First, a method to detect a characteristic gait cycle for one subject was developed and evalu-ated. Based on Principal Component Analysis, the algorithm selects a trial that is closest to the median of all trials across different parameters, e.g. joint angle curves. The Selection Method for a Representative Trial (SMaRT) evaluates the data automatically, without subjec-tive bias, and provides full repeatability. Furthermore, SMaRT required 1.4 s to analyse 100 datasets. Hereby, it was more than three orders of magnitude faster than the visual selection done by experts. Most importantly, the error rate of SMaRT with 1.2% was small; hence, the algorithm is relatively robust against a limited number of contaminated data. The algorithm can be individually adapted to any number and type of input parameters, e.g. joint moments, joint powers, etc. SMaRT is generally applicable to any type of curves derived by movement analysis, e.g. in the field of sports science. The representative trial for each subject was the base for further analysis. To analyse the influence of muscle strength on gait deviations, patients were clustered into seven groups according to their pathology: orthopaedic patients uni-/bilateral, neurologic pa-tients with uni-/bilateral flaccid/spastic muscles, with/ without thoracal control. The effect of muscle strength on the lower joint kinematics was calculated by generalised least squares. Muscle strength had a negative effect on gait kinematics, measured in the form of a Gait Pro-file Score (GPS). The weaker the patients were, the stronger the GPS differed from the norm. This effect was not significantly different across the different patient groups. Nevertheless, differences between the patients were found in the GPS offsets at normal muscle strength. The more severe the pathology of the patients, the higher the observed GPS offset was. Patients with orthopaedic diseases and patients with hemiplegic cerebral palsy were able to produce normal GPS values (orthopaedic unilateral: 4.9°±0.7, orthopaedic bilateral: 5.0°±1.0, hemi-plegia: 5.4°±1.1). Patients with diplegia, tetraplegia, or flaccid muscles bilaterally differed significantly. Surprisingly, patients with diplegia and patients with flaccid muscles bilaterally showed the same GPS offsets to the reference group of 1.7° ±0.5. Even when comparing the particular joints, very few differences between these two groups were found. Furthermore, muscle strength was observed to be associated with abnormal EMG timing, more exactly with premature plantarflexor activity during loading response of walking. Across all patient groups, a normal muscle strength reduced the number of patients with pre-mature EMG by more than 10%. The only exception was the neurologic patient group with unilateral flaccid muscles. However the small amount of patients within this group might have biased the results. Abnormal EMG timing was prevalent across all pathology groups, indicat-ing that it is not only caused by the primary pathology, e.g. spasticity. Lastly, it was investigated whether a change in the gait kinematics of the lower body results in adaptations in the upper body. Hemiplegic cerebral palsy patients were compared when walk-ing on their toes (barefoot condition) to a heel-toe gait condition evoked by wearing a hinged ankle-foot orthosis. No clinically relevant changes were observed in the trunk angle parame-ters when walking with orthoses compared to the barefoot condition. Nevertheless, the unaf-fected arm increased its swing amplitude and compensates for the reduced arm swing on the hemiplegic side. In conclusion, kinematic changes of the sagittal ankle pattern in the specific hemiplegic pa-tients do not result in a normalisation of the upper body kinematics. Consequently, none of the upper body abnormalities in this group seemed to be a secondary gait deviation resulting from toe walking. Contrarily, joint kinematics (GPS) of the lower body and activity timing of the plantarflexors can change secondary to the muscle weakness. Both effects seemed inde-pendent of the primary disease, at least to some extent. While the impact of muscle strength on the observed gait parameters cannot be neglected, spasticity seemed of minor importance. Therefore, muscle strength has to be taken into account when interpreting gait analysis data irrespective of the pathology. ---------- Zusammenfassung: Das bipedale Gehen ist für gesunde Menschen eine einfache und alltägliche Bewegung. Das Gangmuster von Patienten kann jedoch stark von einem gesunden Gang abweichen, vor allem bei Patienten mit neuro-muskulären Erkrankungen. Für den Kliniker ist es essentiell, zu unterscheiden, ob eine Gangbildabweichung primär oder sekundär ist, um mit Hilfe der Ganganalysedaten eine geeignete Behandlung einzuleiten. Primäre Gangbildabweichungen werden als ursächlich angesehen und erfordern eine Behandlung. Sekundäre Abweichungen hingegen bedürfen, unabhängig davon, ob ihnen eine aktive Kompensation oder ein passiver physikalischer Effekt zu Grunde liegen, keiner Therapie. Sie sollten sich zurückbilden, sobald die ursächliche körperliche Einschränkung behoben ist. Die Gangbilder von Patienten mit unterschiedlichsten Grunderkrankungen, z.B. Spastizität oder rein muskuloskeletalen Beeinträchtigungen, standen im Fokus dieser Arbeit. Das Ziel bestand darin, grundlegende Gesetzmäßigkeiten des krankhaften Gangs zu identifizieren. Diese Gesetzmäßigkeiten sollen in Zukunft die Unterscheidung zwischen primären und sekundären Gangbildabweichungen erleichtern. Mithilfe eines marker-basierten, dreidimensionalen Bewegungsanalyse-Systems (VICON) wurden Gangdaten der Patienten aufgezeichnet. Hiervon wurden hauptsächlich die kinematischen Gelenkwinkeldaten, elektromyographische Daten und Muskelkrafttests retrospektiv analysiert. Es wurde untersucht, ob und wie stark die Muskelkraft oder Orthesen Einfluss auf deren Gang haben, unabhängig von den Grunderkrankungen der Patienten. Zunächst wurde eine Methode entwickelt und evaluiert, welche einen charakteristischen Gangzyklus für einen Patienten automatisch detektiert (SMaRT). Der Algorithmus basiert auf einer Hauptkomponenten-Analyse (PCA). Er ermittelt denjenigen Versuch, welcher über alle Gelenkwinkel-Kurven im Mittel am nächsten am Median aller Versuche liegt. SMaRT evaluiert die Daten objektiv und kann dabei eine uneingeschränkte Retest-Reliabilität aufweisen. Gleichzeitig ist die Methode mit 1,4 s/100 Daten-Sets um mehr als drei Größenordnungen schneller als die visuelle Identifizierung durch Experten. Besonders hervorzuheben ist die kleine Fehlerrate von 1,2% bei der Detektierung des representativen Trials. SMaRT kann sowohl durch anderen Gang-Parameter, z.B. Gelenk-Momente oder Gelenk-Leistung, erweitert werden als auch auf anderen Bewegungsanalyse-Kurven, wie z.B. in der sportartspezifischen Bewegungsanalyse, angewendet werden. Alle Studien in dieser Arbeit basieren auf dem repräsentativen Gangzyklus, welcher für jeden Patienten individuell durch SMaRT ermittelt wurde. Für zwei weitere Studien wurden 716 Patienten anhand ihrer Erkrankungen in sieben Gruppen aufgeteilt: Orthopädische Patienten uni-/bilateral betroffen, neurologische Patienten uni-/bi-lateral betroffen mit hypotoner/spastischer Muskulatur mit/ohne Beeinträchtigung der Rumpfkontrolle. Ein negativer Effekt der Muskelkraft auf die Gelenkswinkel des Unterkörpers (Gait Profile Score, GPS) wurde mit der verallgemeinerten Methode der kleinsten Quadrate quantifiziert. Je schwächer die Patienten waren, umso stärker wich ihr GPS von der Norm nach oben ab. Die Stärke dieses Effekts unterschied sich in den sieben Patientengruppen nicht signifikant. Allerdings wurden zwischen den Gruppen bei einer normalen Muskelkraft signifikante GPS Unterschiede deutlich. Je höher der Schweregrad der Grunderkrankung, umso stärker war die Regressiongerade in Richtung eines höheren GPS parallel verschoben. Orthopädische Patienten sowie Patienten mit zerebralparetischer Hemiplegie zeigten GPS-Werte, welche sich im Bereich derer von Gesunden bewegten (orthopädisch unilateral: 4.9°±0.7, orthopädisch bilateral: 5.0°±1.0, Hemiplegie: 5.4°±1.1). Dahingegen wichen Patienten mit Diplegie, Tetraplegie oder bilateral hypotoner Muskulatur signifikant von der Norm ab. Überraschender Weise wurde bei Patienten mit Diplegie und Patienten mit bilateral hypotoner Muskulatur eine gleich hohe GPS Abweichung von der Referenzgruppe beobachtet. Selbst der Vergleich der einzelnen Gelenks-Parameter zeigte nur geringfügige Unterschiede zwischen den beiden Gruppen. Des Weiteren wurde eine Assoziation von Muskelkraft mit abnormer elektromyographischer Aktivität (EMG) gefunden, genauer gesagt mit verfrühter Plantarflexorenaktivität während der Gewichtsübernahme. Eine normale Muskelkraft reduzierte die verfrühte Gastrocnemius-aktivität um mehr als 10% über alle Patienten. Die Patientengruppe mit neurologischer Komponente und unilateral hypotoner Muskulatur stellte hier die einzige Ausnahme dar. Dies ist vermutlich auf die geringe Patientenzahl in dieser Gruppe zurückzuführen, welche eine Interpretation der Ergebnisse kaum zulässt. Auf Grund dessen, dass eine verfrühte Plantarflexorenaktivität in allen Patientengruppen auftrat, kann davon ausgegangen werden, dass diese Aktivität nicht nur durch die Grunderkrankung (z.B. Spastizität) hervorgerufen werden kann. Abschließend wurde untersucht, ob eine Änderung in der Unterkörperkinematik eine Adaption im Oberkörper hervorruft. Hierzu wurden bei hemiplegischen Patienten die Oberkörperbewegungen beim Gehen auf Zehenspitzen (barfuß) und beim Gehen mit Fersen-Ballen Gang (mit Orthese) verglichen. Zwischen den beiden Konditionen wurden jedoch keine klinisch relevanten Unterschiede in der Rumpfbewegung gefunden. Allerdings verstärkte der gesunde Arm die Armschwungamplitude, um den reduzierten Armschwung der plegischen Seite zu kompensieren. Schlussfolgernd kann festgehalten werden, dass die kinematische Änderung des sagittalen Sprunggelenkswinkels in den untersuchten Patienten nicht zu einer Normalisierung der Oberkörperbewegungen führten. Daher scheinen die verstärkten Oberkörperbewegungen nicht sekundäre Abweichungen zu sein, welche durch den Zehenspitzengang hervorgerufen werden. Anders verhalten sich hier die kinematischen Unterkörperabweichungen (Gait Profile Scores) und die verfrühte Plantarflexorenaktivität. Beide Abweichungen scheinen sekundär zu einer Muskelschwäche zu sein, was offenbar für alle Patientengruppen zutrifft. Während der Einfluss von Muskelkraft auf die untersuchten Gangparameter nicht unterschätzt werden darf, scheint die Spastizität das kinematische Gangbild geringfügiger zu beeinflussen. Bei der Interpretation von Ganganalysedaten sollte demnach die Muskelkraft immer beachtet werden, unabhängig davon welche Grunderkrankung der Patient aufweist

Immediate effects of unilateral restricted ankle motion on gait kinematics in healthy subjects

Correcting a pathological toe walking gait pattern can be achieved by restricting excessive plantarflexion during the swing phase of gait. A common conservative treatment measure is providing the patient with an ankle-foot-orthosis on the affected lower leg. This study examined the lower body gait kinematics and temporal-spatial parameters of fifteen healthy adults when walking freely and with unilateral restricted ankle motion. The latter was achieved by fitting an ankle-foot-orthosis. Specific hip and knee kinematic parameters and temporal-spatial parameters were investigated. Differences between the two conditions were calculated by paired Student's t-tests and 95% confidence intervals. Unilateral restricted ankle motion influenced kinematics mainly in the swing phase. Hip and knee peak flexion in the swing phase were increased on the restricted side (hip: 49.2° (SD 4.2°), knee: 75.9° (SD 6.1°)) compared to walking freely (hip: 43.3° (SD 4.5°), knee: 66.7° (SD 5.3°)). Peak hip flexion occurred earlier in the swing phase in the restricted condition (85% (SD 2%)) compared to the free-walking condition (96% (SD 5%)). For these parameters, the confidence intervals were different, indicating clinical relevance. Walking with unilateral restricted ankle motion had a negative effect on walking velocity, cadence, step time, and step length. The confidence intervals, however, overlapped. These results might be a reaction to unusual sensory feedback from the feet with the ankle-foot-orthosis or due to increased hip flexor activity compensating for the reduced function of the plantarflexors. The evaluation of the immediate changes in unilateral restricted ankle motion in individuals with healthy gaits can contribute to a more complete understanding on this topic

The effects of walking speed on upper body kinematics during gait in healthy subjects

Patients undergoing a clinical gait analysis often walk slower than healthy people. However, data on how speed affects upper body movements, especially of the arms and shoulders, are scarce. Therefore, in this descriptive study, we examined how changes in walking speed affect upper-body kinematics and aspects of intersegmental coordination between upper and lower body during overground walking in a group of healthy adult subjects. Three-dimensional gait data were collected on 20 healthy subjects (aged between 22 and 31 years) walking at six speeds ranging from extremely slow to very fast. Our results showed significant speed-related changes of upper body kinematic movement curves in three aspects, namely in amplitude (curves for shoulder flexion and abduction, elbow flexion, pelvic obliquity and rotation), timing (curves for shoulder extension and abduction, elbow extension, pelvic rotation) and curve pattern (curves for shoulder and elbow flexion, shoulder rotation, pelvic tilt). The intersegmental coordination between the thorax and pelvis and arm and leg was also affected by a change of walking speed. Our data supplement the already available data in the literature examining the effects of walking speed on lower extremity motion. Furthermore, the data can be used as a reference for both basic biomechanical and clinical gait studies. The results will help in clinical practice to differentiate between effects caused by walking speed and underlying pathology

The association between premature plantarflexor muscle activity, muscle strength, and equinus gait in patients with various pathologies

This study provides an overview on the association between premature plantarflexor muscle activity (PPF), muscle strength, and equinus gait in patients with various pathologies. The purpose was to evaluate whether muscular weakness and biomechanical alterations are aetiological factors for PPF during walking, independent of the underlying pathology. In a retrospective design, 716 patients from our clinical database with 46 different pathologies (orthopaedic and neurologic) were evaluated. Gait analysis data of the patients included kinematics, kinetics, electromyographic activity (EMG) data, and manual muscle strength testing. All patients were clustered three times. First, patients were grouped according to their primary pathology. Second, all patients were again clustered, this time according to their impaired joints. Third, groups of patients with normal EMG or PPF, and equinus or normal foot contact were formed to evaluate the association between PPF and equinus gait. The patient groups derived by the first two cluster methods were further subdivided into patients with normal or reduced muscle strength. Additionally, the phi correlation coefficient was calculated between PPF and equinus gait. Independent of the clustering, PPF was present in all patient groups. Weak patients revealed PPF more frequently. The correlations of PPF and equinus gait were lower than expected, due to patients with normal EMG during loading response and equinus. These patients, however, showed higher gastrocnemius activity prior to foot strike together with lower peak tibialis anterior muscle activity in loading response. Patients with PPF and a normal foot contact possibly apply the plantarflexion-knee extension couple during loading response. While increased gastrocnemius activity around foot strike seems essential for equinus gait, premature gastrocnemius activity does not necessarily produce an equinus gait. We conclude that premature gastrocnemius activity is strongly associated with muscle weakness. It helps to control the knee joint under load independent from the underlying disease, and it is therefore a secondary deviation. If treated as primary target, caution should be exercised