Aligned and electrically conductive 3D collagen scaffolds for skeletal muscle tissue engineering

Skeletal muscle is characterized by its three-dimensional (3D) anisotropic architecture composed of highly aligned and electrically-excitable muscle fibers that enable normal movement. Biomaterial-based tissue engineering approaches to repair skeletal muscle...

Robot-Aided Systems for Improving the Assessment of Upper Limb Spasticity: A Systematic Review

Spasticity is a motor disorder that causes stiffness or tightness of the muscles and can interfere with normal movement, speech, and gait. Traditionally, the spasticity assessment is carried out by clinicians using standardized procedures for objective evaluation. However, these procedures are manually performed and, thereby, they could be influenced by the clinician’s subjectivity or expertise. The automation of such traditional methods for spasticity evaluation is an interesting and emerging field in neurorehabilitation. One of the most promising approaches is the use of robot-aided systems. In this paper, a systematic review of systems focused on the assessment of upper limb (UL) spasticity using robotic technology is presented. A systematic search and review of related articles in the literature were conducted. The chosen works were analyzed according to the morphology of devices, the data acquisition systems, the outcome generation method, and the focus of intervention (assessment and/or training). Finally, a series of guidelines and challenges that must be considered when designing and implementing fully-automated robot-aided systems for the assessment of UL spasticity are summarized.

Angular Moment and Corrective Forces in Human Walking Processes: Sensor and Actuator Analysis

Taking into account the dynamics of a human body in its daily movement, one can study the forces that are generated in its variations with respect to a normal walk. These forces can be reduced, generating an opposite force through some device if one takes into account that their magnitude is not very large in some cases. This paper outlines results obtained from the sensorization of a human body in uniform movement, and changes in angular velocity and moment of a force produced by different inflections in normal movement. The aim was to calculate the moment of a force thanks to the measured angular velocity, and then study the opposition to this movement by using the produced reaction by the conservation of angular moment (gyroscopic effect). The study was carried out through the positioning of different sensors that were placed to analyze points of interest of the movement. In this study, we were able to appreciate changes in the variables to study up to two orders of magnitude at the generated moment, when the movement went from being uniform, which is equivalent to a walk, to the situation of an inflection, for example, a fall or bending over. With the collected data, the prediction of a fall could be studied and perhaps avoided.

Penerapan Fuzzy Logic Pada Mobile Robot Sederhana

The application of fuzzy logic can be implemented in making simple robots, where the method used is the sugeno method, robo can move automatically, the robot is designed in a round shape has a tire that can move forward and backward, left and right, the robo can maintain a safe distance with the object in front of it. The results of this test indicate that the robot can work well with normal movement Keywords : fuzzy logic

Normal function and movement

In this chapter, we will begin with a basic overview of the principles of human movement, anatomy, and function, before discussing the foot structure–function relationship. We will then briefly review the principles and techniques of gait analysis, followed by a review of walking and the gait cycle and the response of ankle cartilage during gait. Next, a description of normal movement and foot function, reviewing tissue- and joint-specific function, as well as complex systematic foot function, will be given. Finally, a review of some specialized techniques for studying foot function, including computational modelling, biplane fluoroscopy, and cadaveric gait simulation, will be provided.

Which observed behaviours may reassure physicians that a child is not septic? An international Delphi study

ObjectiveIn an attempt to improve the diagnosis of sepsis in children, diagnostic aids have concentrated on clinical features that suggest that sepsis is present. Clinicians need to be able to clinically rule out sepsis as well as rule it in. Little is known about which features are consistent with wellness and/or absence of sepsis. Guidelines are therefore likely to improve sensitivity without preserving specificity. We aimed to gather expert opinion on which (if any) features would make clinicians consider a child to be unlikely to have sepsis.DesignWe undertook a modified two-round international Delphi study, where clinicians were asked for features they believed were indicators of wellness in an ill child.ParticipantsOne hundred and ninety-five clinicians (predominantly physicians) who routinely assessed unwell children and had been doing so for most of their careers.ResultsOver 90% of respondents rated age-appropriate verbalisation, playing, smiling and activity as reassuring that a child was unlikely to have sepsis. Eating, spontaneous interaction and normal movement were also agreed to be reassuring by over 70% of participants. Consolability and showing fear of the clinician were not felt to be adequately reassuring. There was wide range of opinion on how reassuring the use of an electronic device was thought to be.ConclusionsThis study confirms that physicians are reassured by specific behaviours in ill children, and provides a framework which may be used to help guide the assessment of the unwell child. Validation of individual features could lead to improved specificity of diagnostic aids for diagnosing sepsis.

Sentence-Level Movements in Parkinson's Disease: Loud, Clear, and Slow Speech

Purpose To further understand the effect of Parkinson's disease (PD) on articulatory movements in speech and to expand our knowledge of therapeutic treatment strategies, this study examined movements of the jaw, tongue blade, and tongue dorsum during sentence production with respect to speech intelligibility and compared the effect of varying speaking styles on these articulatory movements. Method Twenty-one speakers with PD and 20 healthy controls produced 3 sentences under normal, loud, clear, and slow speaking conditions. Speech intelligibility was rated for each speaker. A 3-dimensional electromagnetic articulograph tracked movements of the articulators. Measures included articulatory working spaces, ranges along the first principal component, average speeds, and sentence durations. Results Speakers with PD demonstrated significantly smaller jaw movements as well as shorter than normal sentence durations. Between-speaker variation in movement size of the jaw, tongue blade, and tongue dorsum was associated with speech intelligibility. Analysis of speaking conditions revealed similar patterns of change in movement measures across groups and articulators: larger than normal movement sizes and faster speeds for loud speech, increased movement sizes for clear speech, and larger than normal movement sizes and slower speeds for slow speech. Conclusions Sentence-level measures of articulatory movements are sensitive to both disease-related changes in PD and speaking-style manipulations.

Storm Surge Causes and Different Variations

A storm surge, storm flood or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low pressure weather systems (such as tropical cyclones and strong extra-tropical cyclones), the severity of which is affected by the shallowness and orientation of the water body relative to storm path, as well as the timing of tides. Most casualties during tropical cyclones occur as the result of storm surges. It is a measure of the rise of water beyond what would be expected by the normal movement related to tides. The two main meteorological factors contributing to a storm surge are a long fetch of winds spiraling inward toward the storm, and a low-pressure-induced dome of water drawn up under and trailing the storm's center.