Off-axis Neuromuscular Training for Knee Ligament Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation

Non

A STUDY ON THE GRIP FORCE DURING PUTTING STROKE

There are lots of variables to affect the control of ball movement during golf putting. Among several variables, it is believed that grip force during putting stroke is one of the important variables. However, there is not much quantitative evidence from published literature (Delay 1997, Gwyn 1993). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantify the grip force by comparing putts performed by elite and novice golfers and to identify the relationship between kinematic parameters and the grip force at 16 different parts of subjects’ right and left hand at each putting phase

Position as Well as Velocity Dependence of Spasticity—Four-Dimensional Characterizations of Catch Angle

We investigated the muscle alterations related to spasticity in stroke quantitatively using a portable manual spasticity evaluator.Methods: Quantitative neuro-mechanical evaluations under controlled passive elbow stretches in stroke survivors and healthy controls were performed in a research laboratory of a rehabilitation hospital. Twelve stroke survivors and nine healthy controls participated in the study. Spasticity and catch angle were evaluated at 90°/s and 270°/s with the velocities controlled through real-time audiovisual feedback. The elbow range of motion (ROM), stiffness, and energy loss were determined at a slow velocity of 30°/s. Four-dimensional measures including joint position, torque, velocity and torque change rate were analyzed jointly to determine the catch angle.Results: The catch angle was dependent on the stretch velocity and occurred significantly later with increasing velocity (p < 0.001), indicating position dependence of spasticity. The higher resistance felt by the examiner at the higher velocity was also due to more extreme joint position (joint angle) since the spastic joint was moved significantly further to a stiffer elbow position with the higher velocity. Stroke survivors showed smaller ROM (p < 0.001), higher stiffness (p < 0.001), and larger energy loss (p = 0.005). Compared to the controls, stroke survivors showed increased reflex excitability with higher reflex-mediated torque (p < 0.001) and at higher velocities (p = 0.02).Conclusion: Velocity dependence of spasticity is partially due to joint angle position dependence with the joint moved further (to a stiffer position where higher resistance was felt) at a higher velocity. The “4-dimensional characterization” including the joint angle, velocity, torque, and torque change rate provides a systematic tool to characterize catch angle and spasticity quantitatively

Reduced orbitofrontal cortical thickness in male adolescents with internet addiction

Background: The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) has consistently been implicated in the pathology of both drug and behavioral addictions. However, no study to date has examined OFC thickness in internet addiction. In the current study, we investigated the existence of differences in cortical thickness of the OFC in adolescents with internet addiction. On the basis of recently proposed theoretical models of addiction, we predicted a reduction of thickness in the OFC of internet addicted individuals.Findings: Participants were 15 male adolescents diagnosed as having internet addiction and 15 male healthy comparison subjects. Brain magnetic resonance images were acquired on a 3T MRI and group differences in cortical thickness were analyzed using FreeSurfer. Our results confirmed that male adolescents with internet addiction have significantly decreased cortical thickness in the right lateral OFC (p<0.05).Conclusion: This finding supports the view that the OFC alterations in adolescents with internet addiction reflect a shared neurobiological marker of addiction-related disorders in general.This work was supported by the Seoul National University Brain Fusion Program Research Fund. SBH was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant (Global Internship Program) funded by the Korean government (MEST). MY was supported by an NHMRC fellowship grant (#1021973).OAIID:oai:osos.snu.ac.kr:snu2013-01/102/0000003446/2SEQ:2PERF_CD:SNU2013-01EVAL_ITEM_CD:102USER_ID:0000003446ADJUST_YN:YEMP_ID:A072419DEPT_CD:701CITE_RATE:2.127FILENAME:첨부된 내역이 없습니다.DEPT_NM:교육학과EMAIL:[email protected]_YN:YCONFIRM:

Mid-Air Tactile Sensations Evoked by Laser-Induced Plasma: A Neurophysiological Study

This study demonstrates the feasibility of a mid-air means of haptic stimulation at a long distance using the plasma effect induced by laser. We hypothesize that the stress wave generated by laser-induced plasma in the air can propagate through the air to reach the nearby human skin and evoke tactile sensation. To validate this hypothesis, we investigated somatosensory responses in the human brain to laser plasma stimuli by analyzing electroencephalography (EEG) in 14 participants. Three types of stimuli were provided to the index finger: a plasma stimulus induced from the laser, a mechanical stimulus transferred through Styrofoam stick, and a sham stimulus providing only the sound of the plasma and mechanical stimuli at the same time. The event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/S) of sensorimotor rhythms (SMRs) in EEG was analyzed. Every participant verbally reported that they could feel a soft tap on the finger in response to the laser stimulus, but not to the sham stimulus. The spectrogram of EEG evoked by laser stimulation was similar to that evoked by mechanical stimulation; alpha ERD and beta ERS were present over the sensorimotor area in response to laser as well as mechanical stimuli. A decoding analysis revealed that classification error increased when discriminating ERD/S patterns between laser and mechanical stimuli, compared to the case of discriminating between laser and sham, or mechanical and sham stimuli. Our neurophysiological results confirm that tactile sensation can be evoked by the plasma effect induced by laser in the air, which may provide a mid-air haptic stimulation method.&lt;/p&gt

The Effect of Message Framing on Preschoolers&apos; Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions: Influences of Age, Issue Involvement, and Delivery Method

Many previous studies have revealed that people&apos;s decision-making may differ depending on message framing-whether the same content is presented with an emphasis on gain or loss. However, almost nothing is known about preschooler responses according to message framing. This study aimed to identify the characteristics of the message framing effect in preschoolers and to examine the influence of age, issue involvement, and delivery method on this effect. A total of 180 participants ranging from 3-5 years of age were randomly assigned to one of four conditions with different combinations of frame types and delivery methods. The attitudes and behavioral intentions of the children toward the messages were measured via questionnaire. The results showed that the effect of persuasive messages increased with age (p &lt; 0.001, eta(2)(p) = 0.14) and was higher when the messages were more relevant to children (p &lt; 0.001, eta(2)(p) = 0.15). Furthermore, loss-framed messages were more effective than gain-framed messages for issues delivered verbally with pictures, while the opposite was true for issues delivered only verbally (p &lt; 0.001, eta(2)(p) = 0.06). These results enable developmental and theoretical discussions of the framing effect in children and provide practical data for improving the persuasion efficacy of message delivery in children.N

Developing a multi-joint upper limb exoskeleton robot for diagnosis, therapy and outcome evaluation in neurorehabilitation

Arm impairments in patients post stroke involve the shoulder, elbow and wrist simultaneously. It is not very clear how patients develop spasticity and reduced range of motion (ROM) at the multiple joints and the abnormal couplings among the multiple joints and the multiple degrees-of-freedom (DOF) during passive movement. It is also not clear how they lose independent control of individual joints/DOFs and coordination among the joints/DOFs during voluntary movement. An upper limb exoskeleton robot, the IntelliArm, which can control the shoulder, elbow, and wrist, was developed, aiming to support clinicians and patients with the following integrated capabilities: 1) quantitative, objective, and comprehensive multi-joint neuromechanical pre-evaluation capabilities aiding multi-joint/DOF diagnosis for individual patients; 2) strenuous and safe passive stretching of hypertonic/deformed arm for loosening up muscles/joints based on the robot-aided diagnosis; 3) (assistive/resistive) active reaching training after passive stretching for regaining/improving motor control ability; and 4) quantitative, objective, and comprehensive neuromechanical outcome evaluation at the level of individual joints/DOFs, multiple joints, and whole arm. Feasibility of the integrated capabilities was demonstrated through experiments with stroke survivors and healthy subjects. &amp;#169; 2001-2011 IEEE.close91