Short term microgravity effect on isometric hand grip and precision pinch force with visual and proprioceptive feedback

2004 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 1368-1374 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Pastacaldi ◽  
P. Orsini ◽  
F. Bracciaferri ◽  
G. Neri ◽  
M. Porciani ◽  
...  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ilario Puglia ◽  
Michele Balsamo ◽  
Marco Vukich ◽  
Valfredo Zolesi

The study and analysis of human physiology during short- and long-duration space flights are the most valuable approach in order to evaluate the effect of microgravity on the human body and to develop possible countermeasures in prevision of future exploratory missions and Mars expeditions. Hand performances such as force output and manipulation capacity are fundamental for astronauts’ intra- and extravehicular activities. Previous studies on upper limb conducted on astronauts during short-term missions (10 days) indicated a temporary partial reduction in the handgrip maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) followed by a prompt recovery and adaptation to weightlessness during the last days of the mission. In the present study, we report on the “Crew’s Health: Investigation on Reduced Operability” (CHIRO) protocol, developed for handgrip and pinch force investigations, performed during the six months increment 7 and increment 8 (2003-2004) onboard International Space Station (ISS). We found that handgrip and pinch force performance are reduced during long-term increments in space and are not followed by adaptation during the mission, as conversely reported during short-term increment experiments. The application of protocols developed in space will be eligible to astronauts during long-term space missions and to patients affected by muscle atrophy diseases or nervous system injury on Earth.


2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (19) ◽  
pp. 3147-3152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leilani Morales ◽  
Steven Pans ◽  
Kilian Verschueren ◽  
Ben Van Calster ◽  
Robert Paridaens ◽  
...  

Purpose Arthralgia is an adverse class effect of aromatase inhibitors (AIs). To date, its exact mechanism remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in clinical rheumatologic features and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of hands and wrists in AI and tamoxifen users. Patients and Methods This is a prospective single-center study including 17 consecutive postmenopausal patients with early breast cancer receiving either tamoxifen (n = 5) or an AI (n = 12). At baseline and after 6 months, patients filled in a rheumatologic history questionnaire and a rheumatologic examination including a grip strength test was done. At the same time points, MRI of both hands and wrists was performed. The primary end point was tenosynovial changes from baseline on MRI. Secondary end points were changes from baseline for morning stiffness, grip strength, and intra-articular fluid on MRI. Wilcoxon signed ranks was used to test changes from baseline and the Spearman correlation coefficient to assess the association between rheumatologic and MRI changes from baseline. Results At 6 months, patients on AI had a decrease in grip strength (P = .0049) and an increase in tenosynovial changes (P = .0010). The decrease in grip strength correlated well with the tenosynovial changes on MRI (P = .0074). Only minor changes were seen in patients on tamoxifen. AI users reported worsening of morning stiffness and showed an increase in intra-articular fluid on MRI. Conclusion The functional impairment of hands in the AI-associated arthralgia syndrome is characterized by tenosynovial changes on MRI correlating with a significant decrease in hand grip strength.


2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amber R. Vocelle ◽  
Gail Shafer ◽  
Tamara Reid Bush

Abstract Carpometacarpal (CMC) osteoarthritis (OA) can dramatically impair thumb function resulting in the inability to complete basic tasks. Development of a method to detect thumb forces changes is essential to understand of the progression of carpometacarpal osteoarthritis and the effects of treatment. The goals of this study were to (1) develop a method to measure thumb forces in multiple directions, (2) perform an initial demonstration of this method on three populations, young healthy (YH), older healthy (OH), and older participants with carpometacarpal osteoarthritis, and (3) determine the effects of short-term exercises on thumb force production in these pilot groups. A multi-axis load cell with a custom-built apparatus and a hand grip dynamometer were used to measure thumb and grip forces. Forces were collected in four directions: radial abduction and adduction, and palmar abduction and adduction. All participants completed thumb and grip testing prior to (week 0), during (week 2), and following (week 6), a hand exercise regimen. Group differences and the effects of exercise on force production were determined. Hand exercises improved thumb forces in young healthy female participants during radial (p = 0.017) and palmar abduction (p = 0.031) and female participants with osteoarthritis during palmar abduction (p = 0.010). Exercise improved grip strength in young healthy males (p = 0.028), young healthy females (p = 0.041), and females with osteoarthritis (p = 0.027). This research demonstrates the successful use of a new device to determine isolated thumb forces, and its clinical utility to identify changes after a short exercise regimen.


2016 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zofia Ignasiak ◽  
Teresa Sławińska ◽  
Robert M. Malina

Abstract Short term secular change in body size and physical fitness of Polish youth 7-15 years of age resident in an industrial region of Lower Silesia in southwestern Poland was considered across two surveys, 2001-2002 and 2010-2011. Subjects were students in the same schools in both surveys 1892 boys and 1992 girls in the first and 1237 boys and 1236 girls in the second. In addition to height and weight, performances in six fitness tests were measured in each survey. Height, weight and BMI increased significantly across surveys. Statistically controlling for secular gains in height and weight, only static strength (hand grip) and running speed - agility (shuttle run) improved significantly between surveys in three age groups (7-9, 10-12, 13-15 years), while explosive power (standing long jump) showed negligible changes except in girls 13-15 years among whom performances declined significantly. Speed of upper limb movement (plate tapping), flexibility (sit and reach) and trunk strength (sit-ups) declined between surveys, except for trunk strength in boys 13-15 years which did not change. In conclusion, after statistically controlling for secular gains in body size, physical fitness items changed variably over the decade.


Author(s):  
Mateusz Witkowski ◽  
Łukasz Bojkowski ◽  
Krzysztof Karpowicz ◽  
Mariusz Konieczny ◽  
Michał Bronikowski ◽  
...  

This paper reports the results of an experiment that aimed to study transfer training in fencing. Fencers from the experimental group underwent six-week transfer training while those from the control group underwent regular fencing training. The fencers’ performance was analyzed thrice: before the experimental training (pretest), immediately after it (posttest), and four weeks after it (retention test). Using a device that simulates fencing moves and analyzes the accuracy of such performance, participants completed, with both hands, three tests related to straight thrust accuracy. While no differences in hand grip strength was observed between the two groups across the three tests, significant differences occurred in terms of their performance on the device. The groups did not differ in the pretests and the retention tests. However, the fencers from the experimental group generally performed better in postests than prestests. These results show that bilateral transfer can be effective in foil fencing training, although its positive effects are short-term. In order to be effective, transfer training should be used as a regular training tool.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0255103
Author(s):  
Kalyn M. Kearney ◽  
Joel B. Harley ◽  
Jennifer A. Nichols

Objective Hill-type muscle models are widely employed in simulations of human movement. Yet, the parameters underlying these models are difficult or impossible to measure in vivo. Prior studies demonstrate that Hill-type muscle parameters are encoded within dynamometric data. But, a generalizable approach for estimating these parameters from dynamometric data has not been realized. We aimed to leverage musculoskeletal models and artificial neural networks to classify one Hill-type muscle parameter (maximum isometric force) from easily measurable dynamometric data (simulated lateral pinch force). We tested two neural networks (feedforward and long short-term memory) to identify if accounting for dynamic behavior improved accuracy. Methods We generated four datasets via forward dynamics, each with increasing complexity from adjustments to more muscles. Simulations were grouped and evaluated to show how varying the maximum isometric force of thumb muscles affects lateral pinch force. Both neural networks classified these groups from lateral pinch force alone. Results Both neural networks achieved accuracies above 80% for datasets which varied only the flexor pollicis longus and/or the abductor pollicis longus. The inclusion of muscles with redundant functions dropped model accuracies to below 30%. While both neural networks were consistently more accurate than random guess, the long short-term memory model was not consistently more accurate than the feedforward model. Conclusion Our investigations demonstrate that artificial neural networks provide an inexpensive, data-driven approach for approximating Hill-type muscle-tendon parameters from easily measurable data. However, muscles of redundant function or of little impact to force production make parameter classification more challenging.


2016 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary C. Potter

AbstractRapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of words or pictured scenes provides evidence for a large-capacity conceptual short-term memory (CSTM) that momentarily provides rich associated material from long-term memory, permitting rapid chunking (Potter 1993; 2009; 2012). In perception of scenes as well as language comprehension, we make use of knowledge that briefly exceeds the supposed limits of working memory.


Author(s):  
M. O. Magnusson ◽  
D. G. Osborne ◽  
T. Shimoji ◽  
W. S. Kiser ◽  
W. A. Hawk

Short term experimental and clinical preservation of kidneys is presently best accomplished by hypothermic continuous pulsatile perfusion with cryoprecipitated and millipore filtered plasma. This study was undertaken to observe ultrastructural changes occurring during 24-hour preservation using the above mentioned method.A kidney was removed through a midline incision from healthy mongrel dogs under pentobarbital anesthesia. The kidneys were flushed immediately after removal with chilled electrolyte solution and placed on a LI-400 preservation system and perfused at 8-10°C. Serial kidney biopsies were obtained at 0-½-1-2-4-8-16 and 24 hours of preservation. All biopsies were prepared for electron microscopy. At the end of the preservation period the kidneys were autografted.


Author(s):  
D.N. Collins ◽  
J.N. Turner ◽  
K.O. Brosch ◽  
R.F. Seegal

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a ubiquitous class of environmental pollutants with toxic and hepatocellular effects, including accumulation of fat, proliferated smooth endoplasmic recticulum (SER), and concentric membrane arrays (CMAs) (1-3). The CMAs appear to be a membrane storage and degeneration organelle composed of a large number of concentric membrane layers usually surrounding one or more lipid droplets often with internalized membrane fragments (3). The present study documents liver alteration after a short term single dose exposure to PCBs with high chlorine content, and correlates them with reported animal weights and central nervous system (CNS) measures. In the brain PCB congeners were concentrated in particular regions (4) while catecholamine concentrations were decreased (4-6). Urinary levels of homovanillic acid a dopamine metabolite were evaluated (7).Wistar rats were gavaged with corn oil (6 controls), or with a 1:1 mixture of Aroclor 1254 and 1260 in corn oil at 500 or 1000 mg total PCB/kg (6 at each level).


Author(s):  
S.S. Poolsawat ◽  
C.A. Huerta ◽  
S.TY. Lae ◽  
G.A. Miranda

Introduction. Experimental induction of altered histology by chemical toxins is of particular importance if its outcome resembles histopathological phenomena. Hepatotoxic drugs and chemicals are agents that can be converted by the liver into various metabolites which consequently evoke toxic responses. Very often, these drugs are intentionally administered to resolve an illness unrelated to liver function. Because of hepatic detoxification, the resulting metabolites are suggested to be integrated into the macromolecular processes of liver function and cause an array of cellular and tissue alterations, such as increased cytoplasmic lysis, centrilobular and localized necroses, chronic inflammation and “foam cell” proliferation of the hepatic sinusoids (1-4).Most experimentally drug-induced toxicity studies have concentrated primarily on the hepatic response, frequently overlooking other physiological phenomena which are directly related to liver function. Categorically, many studies have been short-term effect investigations which seldom have followed up the complications to other tissues and organs when the liver has failed to function normally.


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