The use of uniaxial accelerometry for the assessment of physical-activity-related energy expenditure: a validation study against whole-body indirect calorimetry

Assessing the total energy expenditure (TEE) and the levels of physical activity in free-living conditions with non-invasive techniques remains a challenge. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the accuracy of a new uniaxial accelerometer for assessing TEE and physical-activity-related energy expenditure (PAEE) over a 24 h period in a respiratory chamber, and to establish activity levels based on the accelerometry ranges corresponding to the operationally defined metabolic equivalent (MET) categories. In study 1, measurement of the 24 h energy expenditure of seventy-nine Japanese subjects (40 (SD 12) years old) was performed in a large respiratory chamber. During the measurements, the subjects wore a uniaxial accelerometer (Lifecorder; Suzuken Co. Ltd, Nagoya, Japan) on their belt. Two moderate walking exercises of 30 min each were performed on a horizontal treadmill. In study 2, ten male subjects walked at six different speeds and ran at three different speeds on a treadmill for 4 min, with the same accelerometer. O2 consumption was measured during the last minute of each stage and was expressed in MET. The measured TEE was 8447 (SD 1337) kJ/d. The accelerometer significantly underestimated TEE and PAEE (91·9 (SD 5·4) and 92·7 (SD 17·8) % chamber value respectively); however, there was a significant correlation between the two values (r 0·928 and 0·564 respectively; P<0·001). There was a strong correlation between the activity levels and the measured MET while walking (r2 0·93; P<0·001). Although TEE and PAEE were systematically underestimated during the 24 h period, the accelerometer assessed energy expenditure well during both the exercise period and the non-structured activities. Individual calibration factors may help to improve the accuracy of TEE estimation, but the average calibration factor for the group is probably sufficient for epidemiological research. This method is also important for assessing the diurnal profile of physical activit

Development of stepping measurement device for evaluation of and training in walking

日常生活で杖をついたり,老人車などを押したりなど歩行能力の低下した人に対する簡便･安価で効果的な歩行訓練方法,訓練機器はない｡歩行能力の低下した人が体の移動を伴う歩行訓練をする場合,常に転倒の危険性を伴うために,介護者が必要であったり,転倒の不安のために動作が消極的になり,訓練の効果が半減する｡これに対して,ゆっくりとした足踏みは歩行能力の低下した人に対しては下肢筋力の強化,バランス訓練となり,歩行能力を向上させる｡しかし,足踏みが適切におこなわれているか,訓練の効果の程度についての評価ができなかった｡そこで,歩行能力の評価･訓練のために足踏み状態をモニタすることができる足踏み測定器を開発した｡本装置は,足踏みをするマット2枚およびノートパソコンなどから構成されている｡足踏み中における両脚立脚,左右それぞれの片脚遊脚の状態をマットスイッチのON,OFF状態にて判断する｡測定後,歩数,平均両脚立脚時間,平均片肺立脚時間などの解析･表示を行う｡最後に歩行能力が低下した被験者の足踏みを測定して,杖歩行など日常の歩行状態と足踏みの状態との関係を示し,足踏み測定の有効性についても検討した｡Although gait training equipment such as the bicycle ergometer and treadmill exists for patients whose walking ability is high, there is no appropriate gait training method or training instrument for patients whose walking ability has become impaired, who often use a cane or walker, etc. in the course of daily life. In the case of gait training for persons whose walking ability involves impaired locomotion, there is always the danger of a fall. Consequently, a caregiver is required, and the effect of the training is cut by half because the patient's anxiety about falling is exacerbated. Slow stepping affords strengthening and balance training of the leg muscles for patients whose walking ability has become low, and walking ability is improved. However, whether such training appropriately carries out stepping and the degree of the effect of such training has not been evaluated. Therefore, we have developed a stepping measurement device that monitors stepping for evaluation and training of walking ability. This system consists of two mat switches for stepping, a measuring circuit for stepping detection, and a book-sized personal computer with a PC card-type AD converter. This system can detect a left or right single stance phase and a double stance phase relative to the ON, OFF condition of the mat switch. After measurement, the following items are analyzed and displayed: ・number of steps, ・average time of double stance phase, ・the average time of single stance phase, and so on. Finally, we measured the stepping of subjects whose walking ability is low, and showed the relationship between daily walking conditions and stepping conditions. The effectiveness of this system was considered in light of the results

Mechanical interaction between neighboring muscles in human upper limb: evidence for epimuscular myofascial force transmission in humans

To confirm the existence of epimuscular myofascial force transmission in humans, this study examined if manipulating joint angle to stretch the muscle can alter the shear modulus of a resting adjacent muscle, and whether there are regional differences in this response. The biceps brachii (BB: manipulated muscle) and the brachialis (BRA: resting adjacent muscle) were deemed suitable for this study because they are neighboring, yet have independent tendons that insert onto different bones. In order to manipulate the muscle length of BB only, the forearm was passively set at supination, neutral, and pronation positions. For thirteen healthy young adult men, the shear modulus of BB and BRA was measured with shear-wave elastography at proximal and distal muscle regions for each forearm position and with the elbow joint angle at either 100° or 160°. At both muscle regions and both elbow positions, BB shear modulus increased as the forearm was rotated from a supinated to pronated position. Conversely, BRA shear modulus decreased as function of forearm position. The effect of forearm position on shear modulus was most pronounced in the distal muscle region when the elbow was at 160°. The observed alteration of shear modulus of the resting adjacent muscle indicates that epimuscular myofascial force transmission is present in the human upper limb. Consistent with this assertion, we found that the effect of muscle length on shear modulus in both muscles was region-dependent. Our results also suggest that epimuscular myofascial force transmission may be facilitated at stretched muscle lengths

Impact of Gender on In-hospital Mortality in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction in Nagasaki

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is one of the leading causes of death in Japan. Immediate reperfusion therapy, includingcoronary intervention, improves patient prognosis. Despite this, females are said to be more prone to poor prognosis. A regional AMI registry in Nagasaki prefecture has been instituted recently that will evaluate whether female gender might predict short-term in-hospital death. Seventeen regional AMI centers enrolled all AMI patients from September 2014 through March 2016. A propensity score (PS) was derived using logistic regression to model the probability of females as a total function of the potential confounding covariates. Two types of PS techniques were used: PS matching and PS stratification. The consistency of in-hospital death was determined between PS matched patients of both genders. Based on PS, patients were ranked and stratified into five groups for the PS stratification. Out of 996 patients, 67 (6.7%) died during hospitalization: 31 (10.4%) out of 298 females and 36 (5.2%) out of 698 males (p < 0.0025). The proportion of cardiac and non-cardiac related death was almost same between genders (25 and 6 in female, 29 and 7 in male, respectively). Among 196 PS matched patients, there was a consistency between genders regarding in-hospital deaths (McNemar test, p = 0.6698). The 717 propensity scored patients had no significant differences between genders among propensity quintiles (Cochran-Mantel-Heanszel test, p = 0.7117). We found that gender alone is not an indicator of short-term in-hospital death in acute myocardial infarction patients

Supporting Group Learning Using Pen Stroke Data Analytics

28th International Conference on Computers in Education, 23-27 November 2020, Web conference.Education environments are increasingly becoming digitized, however in some circumstances handwriting input still is an important part of the learning process. In this paper, we propose and implement an educational support system using pen stroke data analysis. Junior high school teachers can perform data analysis themselves with the system. Pen stroke data is collected using a handwritten memo feature in the BookRoll digital learning material reader. Pen stroke data that is collected by the system includes: time, color, x-coordinate and ycoordinate. The system has functions for automatic group formation by using clustering based on the analysis of characteristics oflearner pen strokes that are collected from the whole class. It is anticipated that the group formation function can support teachers in quickly creating learning groups in a timely manner based on automated data analysis

Tensile Properties of Optical Fiber Irradiated by Low Voltage Electron Beam Homogeneously

Homogeneous low voltage electron beam irradiation (HLEBI) with small dose of 0.30 to 1.17 MGy enhanced the elasticity indicated by the initial and maximum slope values of stressstrain curves ((d·/d¾) i and (d·/d¾) max ) of 250 µm diameter optical fiber (OF), which was constructed with both core (10 µm diameter) and clad (125 µm diameter) silica glasses covered with acryl-urethane sheath (62.5 µm thickness). The highest (d·/d¾) i and (d·/d¾) max values of 5.3 and 5.9 GPa, which were about 10 and 20% higher than those (4.8 and 4.9 GPa) before irradiation, were found at 0.104 MGy, respectively. Moreover, remarkable effects of HLEBI of 0.65 MGy on both tensile strength (· f ) and fracture strain (¾ f ) of OF were obtained at each fracture probability (P f ) value. Since HLEBI also enhanced the density of dangling bonds of each material of OF, effects of compressive stress on pull-out resistance and elasticity enhancements of fiber and sheath probably occurred. Thus, 0.64 MGy-HLEBI enhanced the (d·/d¾) i and (d·/d¾) max as well as ¾ f , resulting in enhancement of · f of OF

Validity of measurement of shear modulus by ultrasound shear wave elastography in human pennate muscle.

Ultrasound shear wave elastography is becoming a valuable tool for measuring mechanical properties of individual muscles. Since ultrasound shear wave elastography measures shear modulus along the principal axis of the probe (i.e., along the transverse axis of the imaging plane), the measured shear modulus most accurately represents the mechanical property of the muscle along the fascicle direction when the probe's principal axis is parallel to the fascicle direction in the plane of the ultrasound image. However, it is unclear how the measured shear modulus is affected by the probe angle relative to the fascicle direction in the same plane. The purpose of the present study was therefore to examine whether the angle between the principal axis of the probe and the fascicle direction in the same plane affects the measured shear modulus. Shear modulus in seven specially-designed tissue-mimicking phantoms, and in eleven human in-vivo biceps brachii and medial gastrocnemius were determined by using ultrasound shear wave elastography. The probe was positioned parallel or 20° obliquely to the fascicle across the B-mode images. The reproducibility of shear modulus measurements was high for both parallel and oblique conditions. Although there was a significant effect of the probe angle relative to the fascicle on the shear modulus in human experiment, the magnitude was negligibly small. These findings indicate that the ultrasound shear wave elastography is a valid tool for evaluating the mechanical property of pennate muscles along the fascicle direction