The lower extremity kinematics and kinetics of stationary cycling in young children with and without cerebral palsy

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) are at risk of secondary changes, such as bone deformation. Physical activity is important to reduce these changes and to improve physical function, especially when children are young. Cycling is a great locomotor skill for this because it can be used in therapeutic and in recreational settings. Standardization of cycling protocols is needed to give therapists a better understanding how maximum improvements can be obtained. For this, we have to understand the biomechanics of cycling in young children with CP. We have investigated the kinematics and kinetics of cycling in young children with and without CP, and the influence of changes in task demands on these biomechanics. It was hypothesized that young typically developing (TD) children have altered biomechanics during cycling in comparison to older children and that young children with CP have alterations in comparison to TD peers. Furthermore, it was expected that spasticity reduction by botulinum toxin (BTX) treatment would improve these biomechanics in children with CP. In Study 1, it was shown that 4-year-olds TD children had more out-of-plane motion than 6-, 8- and 10-year olds, while motions in the sagittal plane were similar between groups. Also, 4-year-olds produced higher jerk cost when cycling at high cadences. In Study 2, analysis revealed that children with CP were only able to cycle at low resistance and low cadences and were less adaptable to changes in movement speed. Adjustments in joint angles, joint torques, jerk cost and pedal forces in all three planes of motion were observed, indicating that children with CP cycled less efficiently than TD peers. In Study 3, it was shown that CP-specific alterations in cycling biomechanics were reduced 3 weeks after BTX injections. This work has increased our understanding of the cycling ability of young children. It led to the conclusion that children with CP can cycle under reduced task demands in comparison to TD peers. When spasticity is reduced, the adaptability of children with CP against changes in task demands is increased. The findings of these studies help us understanding the influences of cycling in children with CP.Kinesiology and Health Educatio

Individualization of treatment in non-small cell lung cancer

Two recently reported randomized studies discussed below are paving the way for personalized treatment approaches for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Both studies show that accurate subclassification of NSCLC will become necessary to prescribe chemotherapy doublets and epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors. It is expected that the practice of the last 30 years of lumping all NSCLC subtypes together will soon come to an end

From twitch to tetanus for human muscle - experimental data and model predictions for m. triceps surae

In models describing the excitation of muscle by the central nervous system, it is often assumed that excitation during a tetanic contraction can be obtained by the linear summation of responses to individual stimuli, from which the active state of the muscle is calculated. We investigate here the extent to which such a model describes the excitation of human muscle in vivo. For this purpose, experiments were performed on the calf muscles of four healthy subjects. Values of parameters in the model describing the behaviour of the contractile element (CE) and the series elastic element (SEE) of this muscle group were derived on the basis of a set of isokinetic release contractions performed on a special-purpose dynamometer as well as on the basis of morphological data. Parameter values describing the excitation of the calf muscles were optimized such that the model correctly predicted plantar flexion moment histories in an isometric twitch, elicited by stimulation of the tibial nerve. For all subjects, the model using these muscle parameters was able to make reasonable predictions of isometric moment histories at higher stimulation frequencies. These results suggest that the linear summation of responses to individual stimuli can indeed give an adequate description of the process of human muscle excitation in vivo

Interaction modelling for IoT

Informal design artefacts allow end-users and nonexperts to contribute to software design ideas and development. In contrast, software engineering techniques such as modeldriven development support experts in ensuring quality properties of the software they propose and build. Each of these approaches have benefits which contribute to the development of robust, reliable and usable software, however it is not always obvious how best to combine these two. In this paper we describe a novel technique which allows us to use informal design artefacts, in the form of ideation card designs, to generate formal models of IoT applications. To implement this technique, we created the Cards-to-Model (C2M) tool which allows us to automate the model generation process. We demonstrate this technique with a case study for a safety-critical IoT application called “Medication Reminders”. By generating formal models directly from the design we reduce the complexity of the modelling process. In addition, by incorporating easy-to-use informal design artefacts in the process we allow non-experts to engage in the design and modelling process of IoT application