scholarly journals Development and Analysis of Semi-Automatic Safety Inflation Bag

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 1092-1104 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Compressed Air ◽  
Pneumatic Actuator ◽  
Pneumatic Cylinder ◽  
Air Channels ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Balloon Protection ◽  
Additional Safety ◽  
Critical Injury

Various safety gears and techniques are available in cars but save for the helmet, not much of safety gears have been introduced for the bike riders. Bike riders indulge in fatal accidents during their rides and race riders in spite of wearing the best safety gears get injured severely with spinal cord and chest being most vulnerable during the impact. Daily riders or race riders, accidents are inevitable. It’s entirely upon us to equip ourselves with an additional safety gear for our own safety purposes. The project, safety inflation bag, provides the best solution to prevent injuries to spinal cord and chest. Here, a pneumatic actuator is used to inflate the air channels sewn inside the bag which provides protection for chest and spinal cord. This technique is implemented in a bag, as bag is most commonly used during bike rides. Be it for office goers or for riders on long trips, bag is necessary and fixating the safety gear inside the bag serves the rider than just for carrying items. It could save the life. It could prevent him from enduring critical injury to spinal cord or chest. During the time of impact, the pneumatic cylinder goes off, releasing the compressed air through the air channels pressed against chest and spinal cord thus inflating them at the right time to provide a solid balloon protection. This project could serve as the first step to a major safety innovation for bike riders.

scholarly journals Locomotor impact of beneficial or nonbeneficial H-reflex conditioning after spinal cord injury

2014 ◽  
Vol 111 (6) ◽  
pp. 1249-1258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Chen ◽  
Lu Chen ◽  
Rongliang Liu ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
Xiang Yang Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
H Reflex ◽  
Spinal Reflex ◽  
Step Cycle ◽  
Reflex Pathway ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Kinematic Analyses ◽  
Spinal Cord Contusion ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

When new motor learning changes neurons and synapses in the spinal cord, it may affect previously learned behaviors that depend on the same spinal neurons and synapses. To explore these effects, we used operant conditioning to strengthen or weaken the right soleus H-reflex pathway in rats in which a right spinal cord contusion had impaired locomotion. When up-conditioning increased the H-reflex, locomotion improved. Steps became longer, and step-cycle asymmetry (i.e., limping) disappeared. In contrast, when down-conditioning decreased the H-reflex, locomotion did not worsen. Steps did not become shorter, and asymmetry did not increase. Electromyographic and kinematic analyses explained how H-reflex increase improved locomotion and why H-reflex decrease did not further impair it. Although the impact of up-conditioning or down-conditioning on the H-reflex pathway was still present during locomotion, only up-conditioning affected the soleus locomotor burst. Additionally, compensatory plasticity apparently prevented the weaker H-reflex pathway caused by down-conditioning from weakening the locomotor burst and further impairing locomotion. The results support the hypothesis that the state of the spinal cord is a “negotiated equilibrium” that serves all the behaviors that depend on it. When new learning changes the spinal cord, old behaviors undergo concurrent relearning that preserves or improves their key features. Thus, if an old behavior has been impaired by trauma or disease, spinal reflex conditioning, by changing a specific pathway and triggering a new negotiation, may enable recovery beyond that achieved simply by practicing the old behavior. Spinal reflex conditioning protocols might complement other neurorehabilitation methods and enhance recovery.

scholarly journals Understanding the impact of isolation due to COVID-19 on employment for Kentuckians with spinal cord injuries

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Chithra Adams ◽  
Anthony Lobianco ◽  
Emily Moseley ◽  
Calisa Fitzpatrick
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injuries ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
Rehabilitation Professionals ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Virtual Focus Groups ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

BACKGROUND: Obtaining and retaining employment for persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) is frequently a greater challenge than it is for the non-SCI population. It is particularly difficult during COVID-19 because all the barriers to employment are compounded for people with SCI as they have to take extra precaution to protect their health and wellbeing. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to understand how isolation related to COVID-19 has had an effect on the employment experiences for persons living with SCI. METHODS: Three virtual focus groups were conducted with Kentuckians who had SCI. RESULTS: The major themes were: the impact of disruption in routine on physical and mental health, importance of having the right accommodations, working from home as an accommodation, and the uncertainty of work. CONCLUSIONS: Accommodations are a critical component for people with SCI to be retained in the workforce. Employers should be proactive in offering various inclusive and accessible accommodations to employees so that people do not have to bear the additional burden of asking for accommodations. Rehabilitation professionals would serve the SCI population well by finding ways to help clients better advocate for themselves, provide adaptive home therapeutic equipment, and help identify diverse employment skill sets.

scholarly journals A geospatial examination of specialist care accessibility and impact on health outcomes for patients with acute traumatic spinal cord injury in NSW, Australia: a whole population record linkage study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Nicole Sharwood ◽  
Bharat P Vaikuntam ◽  
Christiana L Cheng ◽  
Vanessa Noonan ◽  
Anthony P Joseph ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Record Linkage ◽  
Linkage Study ◽  
Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Specialist Care ◽  
Post Injury ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Background Timely treatment is essential for achieving optimal outcomes after traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI), and expeditious transfer to a specialist spinal cord injury unit (SCIU) is recommended within 24 hours from injury. Previous research in New South Wales (NSW) found only 57% of TSCI patients were admitted to SCIU for acute post-injury care; 73% transferred within 24 hours from injury. Methods This record linkage study included administrative pre-hospital, admissions and costs data for all patients aged ≥16 years with incident TSCI in NSW (2013-2016). Its aim was to examine potential geographical disparities in access to specialist care following TSCI using geospatial methods, and to better understand the impact of post-injury care pathways on patient outcomes. Results Of 316 cases with geospatial data, injury location analysis showed that over half (53%, n=168) of all patients were injured within 60 minutes road travel of a SCIU, yet only 28.6% (n=48) were directly transferred to a SCIU. Direct transfers received earlier operative intervention (median (IQR) 12.9(7.9) hours), compared with patients transferred indirectly to SCIU (median (IQR) 19.5(18.9) hours), and had lower risk of complications (OR 3.2 v 1.4, p<0.001). Conclusions Getting patients with acute TSCI patients to the right place at the right time is dependent on numerous factors; some are still being triaged directly to non-trauma services which delays specialist and surgical care and increases complication risks. More stringent adherence to recommended guidelines would prioritise direct SCIU transfer for patients injured within 60 minutes radius, enabling the benefits of specialised care.   

Green Clamping Devices Based on Two-Step Orthogonal Toggle Force Amplifier Driven by Pneumatic Muscle

2010 ◽  
Vol 426-427 ◽  
pp. 413-416
Author(s):  
Guang Ju Si ◽  
Ming Di Wang ◽  
Kang Min Zhong
Keyword(s):  
Design Method ◽  
Mechanical Force ◽  
Compressed Air ◽  
Pneumatic Actuator ◽  
Pneumatic Cylinder ◽  
Creative Design ◽  
Pneumatic Muscle ◽  
Transmission Technique ◽  
Working Medium ◽  
Characteristic Features

As a new kind of flexible pneumatic actuator using clean compressed air as working medium, pneumatic muscle has many particular characteristics comparing with pneumatic cylinder. It can well accord with the development of green transmission technique. Combing pneumatic muscle with mechanical force amplifier is a practical and creative design method. According to this method, two kinds of green pneumatic clamping devices based on two-step orthogonal toggle force amplifier driven by pneumatic muscle are introduced. Their working principles and characteristic features are analyzed and corresponding mechanics calculating formulae are also given respectively.

scholarly journals Pursuing More Aggressive Timelines in the Surgical Treatment of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury (TSCI): A Retrospective Cohort Study with Subgroup Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (24) ◽  
pp. 5977
Author(s):  
Tobias Bock ◽  
Raban Arved Heller ◽  
Patrick Haubruck ◽  
Tim Friedrich Raven ◽  
Maximilian Pilz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Subgroup Analysis ◽  
Neurological Recovery ◽  
Advanced Trauma Life Support ◽  
Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Early Cohort ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Background: The optimal timing of surgical therapy for traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) remains unclear. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of “ultra-early” (<4 h) versus “early” (4–24 h) time from injury to surgery in terms of the likelihood of neurologic recovery. Methods: The effect of surgery on neurological recovery was investigated by comparing the assessed initial and final values of the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale (AIS). A post hoc analysis was performed to gain insight into different subgroup regeneration behaviors concerning neurological injury levels. Results: Datasets from 69 cases with traumatic spinal cord injury were analyzed. Overall, 19/46 (41.3%) patients of the “ultra-early” cohort saw neurological recovery compared to 5/23 (21.7%) patients from the “early” cohort (p = 0.112). The subgroup analysis revealed differences based on the neurological level of injury (NLI) of a patient. An optimal cutpoint for patients with a cervical lesion was estimated at 234 min. Regarding the prediction of neurological improvement, sensitivity was 90.9% with a specificity of 68.4%, resulting in an AUC (area under the curve) of 84.2%. In thoracically and lumbar injured cases, the estimate was lower, ranging from 284 (thoracic) to 245 min (lumbar) with an AUC of 51.6% and 54.3%. Conclusions: Treatment within 24 h after TSCI is associated with neurological recovery. Our hypothesis that intervention within 4 h is related to an improvement in the neurological outcome was not confirmed in our collective. In a clinical context, this suggests that after TSCI there is a time frame to get the right patient to the right hospital according to advanced trauma life support (ATLS) guidelines.

Emotional Reactivity to Visual Content as Revealed by ERP Component Clustering

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 135-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslaw Wyczesany ◽  
Szczepan J. Grzybowski ◽  
Jan Kaiser
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Occipital Lobe ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. In the study, the neural basis of emotional reactivity was investigated. Reactivity was operationalized as the impact of emotional pictures on the self-reported ongoing affective state. It was used to divide the subjects into high- and low-responders groups. Independent sources of brain activity were identified, localized with the DIPFIT method, and clustered across subjects to analyse the visual evoked potentials to affective pictures. Four of the identified clusters revealed effects of reactivity. The earliest two started about 120 ms from the stimulus onset and were located in the occipital lobe and the right temporoparietal junction. Another two with a latency of 200 ms were found in the orbitofrontal and the right dorsolateral cortices. Additionally, differences in pre-stimulus alpha level over the visual cortex were observed between the groups. The attentional modulation of perceptual processes is proposed as an early source of emotional reactivity, which forms an automatic mechanism of affective control. The role of top-down processes in affective appraisal and, finally, the experience of ongoing emotional states is also discussed.

The Impact of Internal Work Environment on the Retention of Healthcare Providers at Turaif General Hospital

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1183-1199
Author(s):  
Mohammed Alrouili ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
General Hospital ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Entire Study ◽  
Internal Work ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Study Population ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

This study attempted to identify the impact of internal work environment on the retention of healthcare providers at Turaif General Hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In particular, the study aimed to identify the dimensions of work circumstances, compensation, and relationship with colleagues, professional growth, and the level of healthcare providers’ retention. In order to achieve the study goals, the researcher used the descriptive analytical approach. The researcher used the questionnaire as the study tool. The study population comprised all the healthcare providers at Turaif General Hospital. Questionnaires were distributed to the entire study sample that consisted of 220 individuals. The number of questionnaires valid for study was 183 questionnaires. The research findings were as follows: the participants’ estimate of the work circumstances dimension was high (3.64), the participants’ estimate of the compensation dimension was moderate (3.32), the participants’ estimate of the relationship with colleagues dimension was high (3.62), the participants’ estimate of the professional growth dimension was weak (2.39), and the participants’ estimate of healthcare providers’ retention level was intermediate (2.75). Accordingly, the researcher’s major recommendations are: the need to create the right atmosphere for personnel in hospitals, the interest of the hospital to provide the appropriate conditions for the staff in terms of the physical and moral aspects for building the work adjustment in the staff, and conducting training courses and educational lectures for personnel in hospitals on how to cope with the work pressures.

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