To quantify the variability of diaphragm motion during free-breathing radiotherapy of lung patients and its effect on treatment margins to account for geometric uncertainties. Thirty-three lung cancer patients were analyzed. Each patient had 5-19 cone-beam scans acquired during different treatment fractions. The craniocaudal position of the diaphragm dome on the ...

Shared behavioural, morphological and physiological characteristics are indicative of the evolution of extant birds from nonavian maniraptoran dinosaurs. One such shared character is the presence of uncinate processes and respiratory structures in extant birds. Recent research has suggested a respiratory role for these processes found in oviraptorid and dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. ...

Scoliosis is a spinal deformity that affects millions of adolescents in the United States. Bracing is the most common non-surgical treatment method for scoliosis, but the biomechanics of such treatment is unclear. The objective of this study is to develop and validate a force logging system that can record forces ...

The topic of this article is the compression physics of different gum bases which can be used to prepare chewing gum tablets by direct compression. Three different gum bases, Pharmagum(®) C, M and S, were tested alone and in different combinations. The preparations were compressed with a Korsch EK0 eccentric ...

Background and Aim: This article describes the development and testing of a new powered gait orthosis to potentially assist spinal cord injury patients to walk by producing synchronized hip and knee joint movements. Technique: The first evaluation of the orthosis was performed without users, and was followed by evaluation of ...

Hermit crabs play an important role in the Northern Adriatic Sea due to their abundance, wide range of symbionts, and function in structuring the benthic community. Small-scale (0.25 m(2)) hypoxia and anoxia were experimentally generated on a sublittoral soft bottom in 24 m depth in the Gulf of Trieste. This approach successfully ...

Background:  Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a paralytic and fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by the gradual loss of both upper and lower motoneurons. There is compelling evidence from ALS experimental models that neuroinflammation actively contributes to motoneuron damage. We recently proposed that interferon gamma (IFNγ), a potent proinflammatory cytokine, induces ...

STUDY DESIGN:: An experimental design was conducted to investigate kinematic changes in 3-dimensional trunk motions between subjects with and without chronic low back pain (LBP) while demonstrating axial rotation. OBJECTIVES:: The purpose of this study was to compare 3-dimensional kinematic data for the upper and lower thorax and the lumbar ...

Despite the findings that peak anterior shear load is highly correlated with low-back pain reporting, very little research has been conducted to determine how vertebral shear injury potential is influenced. The current study quantified the combined effects of vertebral joint compression and flexion/extension postural deviation from neutral on ultimate shear ...

PURPOSE: Numerous posterior non-fusion systems have been developed within the past decade to resolve the disadvantages of rigid instrumentations and preserve spinal motion. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a new dynamic stabilization device, to measure the screw anchorage after flexibility testing and compare it ...

This review challenges an earlier view that the intervertebral joint could not be classified as a diarthrodial joint and should remain as an amphiarthrosis. However, a careful analysis of the relevant literature and in light of more recent studies, it is clear that while some differences exist between the spinal ...

Object Previous studies have demonstrated that patients with spinal fusion are at greater risk for adjacent-segment disease and require additional surgery. It has been postulated that excessive motion of a given motion segment unit (MSU) leads to an increased risk of disc degeneration. It is the authors' hypothesis that a ...

The management of knee osteoarthritis includes the use of wedged shoe insoles to unload the affected knee compartment. Although the biomechanical effects of shoe insoles on the knee joint are known and described, only little is known about their influence on the pelvis and spine. Therefore, the purpose of this ...

Objectives: The relationship between thoracic spine dysfunction and painful shoulder pathologies is poorly understood. This study sought to determine the intra-rater reliability of a protocol aimed at assessing the active mobility of the thoracic spine in individuals with chronic rotator cuff pathology. Methods: Ten individuals (6 men and 4 women) ...

Purpose: It is unclear whether sensory modalities can be modified by rehabilitation and if sensory functions vary on the affected side many years after cerebral hemispherectomy. This pilot, proof-of-concept study assessed light touch and proprioception before and after 10days of intensive mobility training in individuals after hemispherectomy. Methods: Light touch ...

Abstract Objectives: The study objectives were to investigate the effect of therapeutic riding with a subject who had an orthopedic diagnosis. Design: This is a single-subject case report. Location: The study was conducted at an equestrian facility with an indoor riding arena. Subject: The subject was a 59-year-old woman with ...

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the biomechanical changes induced by partial lateral corpectomy (PLC) and a combination of PLC and hemilaminectomy in a T13-L3 spinal segment in nonchondrodystrophic dogs. STUDY DESIGN: In vitro biomechanical cadaveric study. SAMPLE POPULATION: T13-L3 spinal segments (n = 10) of nonchondrodystrophic dogs (weighing, 25-38 kg). METHODS: A ...

Context-specific adaptation (Shelhamer and Clendaniel 2002) explains that reflexive responses can be maintained with different 'calibrations' for different situations (contexts). Which context cues are crucial and how they combine to evoke context-specific adaptation is not fully understood. Gaze stabilization in birds is a nice model to tackle with that question. ...

To improve the treatments for low back pain, new designs of total disk replacement have been proposed. The question is how well these designs can act as a functional replacement of the intervertebral disk. Four finite element models were made, for four different design concepts, to determine how well they ...

Clonus can disrupt daily activities after spinal cord injury. Here an algorithm was developed to automatically detect contractions during clonus in 24h electromyographic (EMG) records. Filters were created by non-linearly scaling a Mother (Morlet) wavelet to envelope the EMG using different frequency bands. The envelope for the intermediate band followed ...

BACKGROUND: After thoracolumbar corpectomy, standard anterolateral instrumentation may consist of dual rods with cross-connectors. However, when the vertebral bodies are small or involved with disease, only one rod may be possible. OBJECTIVE: To compare the biomechanics of an in-vitro L1 corpectomy model using one rod, two rods, or two rods ...

Interlimb coordination of crawling kinematics in humans shares features with other primates and non-primate quadrupeds, and it has been suggested that this is due to a similar organization of the locomotor pattern generators (CPGs). To extend the previous findings and to further explore the neural control of bipedal vs. quadrupedal ...

Disc degeneration (DD) is often accompanied by a height reduction of the anterior and posterior discs (AD and PD, respectively), and this affect the way in which articulating posterior facets (PFs) come into contact during physiological motions. Any increase in the contact between overlapping articulating facet surfaces increases PF loading. ...

BACKGROUND: Up to now, plain radiographs are not well suited to assess spinal fusion. Radiostereometric analysis performed for two postures may deliver more reliable results. However, it is unknown, which postures are most suitable for this procedure. METHODS: In a finite element study, spinal fusion at the level L4-5 was ...

Microelectrodes of neural stimulation utilize fine wires for electrical connections to driving electronics. Breakage of these wires and the neural tissue response due to their tethering forces are major problems encountered with long-term implantation of microelectrodes. The lifetime of an implant for neural stimulation can be substantially improved if the ...

Laterolateral radiographs of equine necks are reported to be inaccurate in determining the site of spinal cord lesions even when a myelogram is carried out. The goal of this study was to assess constrictions present in the cervical vertebral canal at any time point throughout the extremes of movement. Sixteen ...

Initiation of the spinal deformity in idiopathic scoliosis (IS) has been attributed to an abnormal pattern of spinal growth during development. However, recent findings suggest that the earliest observable event in the pathogenesis of IS is a change in the shape of intervertebral discs with alterations in the shape of ...

The local dynamic stability of trunk movements was assessed during repetitive lifting using nonlinear Lyapunov analyses. The goal was to assess how varying the load-in-hands affects the neuromuscular control of lumbar spinal stability. Thirty healthy participants (15M, 15F) performed repetitive lifting at 10 cycles per minute for three minutes under ...

INTRODUCTION: Standing in an erect position is a human property. The pelvis anatomy and position, defined by the pelvis incidence, interact with the spinal organization in shape and position to regulate the sagittal balance between both the spine and pelvis. Sagittal balance of the human body may be defined by ...

A motorized upper extremity orthosis based on the passive WREX system is being developed. The orthosis is a 4 dof arm controlled by user residual force inputs. The arm is intended for people with neuromuscular weakness due to muscular dystrophy or spinal muscular atrophy. Previous work determined that actuation in ...

Spinal motion measurement during dynamic conditions may help identify differences between individuals with and without low back pain (LBP). The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of an inertial sensing based, portable spinal motion measurement system for investigating the differences of the spinal motions between an LBP ...

According to the anatomical segmentation, spine curves are the sacral kyphosis (sacrum), lumbar lordosis (L1 to L5), thoracic kyphosis (T1 to T12) and cervical lordosis (C1 to C7). From the morphological point of view the vertebrae of a curve are not identical: from cranial to caudal and vice versa there ...

The Alexander Technique (AT) is used to improve postural and movement coordination and has been reported to be clinically beneficial, however its effect on movement coordination is not well-characterized. In this study we examined the sit-to-stand (STS) movement by comparing coordination (phasing, weight-shift and spinal movement) between AT teachers (n=15) ...

Objective: To define the kinematic motion patterns of the canine cervical spine, with a particular emphasis on identifying differences between the cranial (C(2) -C(4) ) and caudal (C(5) -C(7) ) segments, and to determine the significance of coupled motions (CM) in the canine cervical spine. Study Design: Cadaveric biomechanical study. ...

The pineal gland is a neuroendocrine organ of the brain. Its main task is to synthesize and secrete melatonin, a nocturnal hormone with diverse physiological functions. This review will focus on the central and pineal mechanisms in generation of mammalian pineal rhythmicity including melatonin production. In particular, this review covers ...

Rigid structural spine scoliosis of a child and even non progressive congenital scoliosis (e.g. isolated hemivertebra) can be treated by hypercorrective brace in full day regime. The article shows the new type of corrective brace with adjustable force effect. The brace consists of 3 stiff parts connected by joints and ...

In spite of the importance of stair-climbing (SC) as an activity of daily living, 3D spinal motion during SC has not been investigated in association with low back pain (LBP). The purpose of this research is to investigate the differences of the spinal motions during SC between an LBP group ...

ABSTRACT: Study design: In-vitro biomechanical study.Objective: To characterize cervical TDR kinematics above 2-level fusion, and to determine the effect of fusion alignment on TDR response.Summary of Background Data: Cervical total disc replacement (TDR) may be a promising alternative for a symptomatic adjacent level after prior multi-level cervical fusion. However, little ...

OBJECTIVE:: The spinopelvic kinematics of sweep and scull has yet to be investigated, despite evidence suggesting that sweep rowing may be provocative for low back pain (LBP). The aim of this study was to determine whether differences existed in spinopelvic kinematics in high-level rowers without LBP in sweep and scull ...

One main question in spinal kinematics is the determination of the spine's apparent axial center of rotation. Previous research on this topic has yielded contradictory results. The objective of this study was to determine the apparent axial center of rotation for seven lumbar and six thoracic spinal segments by developing ...

Our study set out to measure the effect of a specific routine of massage on gait characteristics, range of motion, and spasticity in a person with incomplete spinal cord injury. This descriptive, pre-post case study, conducted at the outpatient program of a rehabilitation facility, used neuromuscular techniques in massage for ...

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Decompression surgery with or without fusion is the gold standard treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis, but adjacent segment degeneration has been reported as a long-term complication after fusion. This led to the development of dynamic implants like the interspinous devices. They are supposed to limit extension ...

In humans, the integrated response to a novel stimulus (orienting reflex, OR) includes behavioral (head turning etc.) and well-characterized physiological components (changes in heart rate, respiration, skin conductance, and EEG patterns). In rodents, the physiological components of the OR include changes in heart rate and cutaneous vasoconstrictor tone, but respiratory ...

Clinical Measurement, Reliability, Descriptive Study To establish intrarater and interrater reliability of the Side-lying Thoraco-lumbar Rotation Measurement (STRM) and to explore frequencies and magnitude of rotational differences that exist in various musculoskeletal conditions. Limitation in thoracic rotation could lead to increased motion at adjacent areas (i.e., shoulders and low back). ...

A number of sporting and daily activities involve rotation of the spine. The ability to quantify motion of the spine in a clinical setting usually relies on the use of a device to measure angles (goniometer or inclinometer) or visual assessment. Standardized measurement criteria exist for measuring rotation at the ...

Visual objects are high-level primitives that are fundamental to numerous perceptual functions, such as guidance of attention. We report that objects warp visual perception of space in such a way that spatial distances within objects appear to be larger than spatial distances in ground regions. When two dots were placed ...

Scene analysis involves the process of segmenting a field of overlapping objects from each other and from the background. It is a fundamental stage of perception in both vision and hearing. The auditory system encodes complex cues that allow listeners to find boundaries between sequential objects, even when no gap ...

Many visualization applications benefit from displaying content on real-world objects rather than on a traditional display (e.g., a monitor). This type of visualization display is achieved by projecting precisely controlled illumination from multiple projectors onto the real-world colored objects. For such a task, the placement of the projectors is critical ...

Reaching out to pick up an object seems a trivial matter, but selecting the appropriate hand configuration requires a series of complex computations that process the object's dimensions, orientation and environment. A current debate in motor control concerns how and when the motor system responds to unexpected changes in the ...

Psychophysical studies have reported the efficacy of phosphene-based prosthetic vision in partly recovering the visual function of blind individuals. However, results by far have been based on evenly aligned phosphene arrays, which neglected the complicated visuotopy in the visual prosthesis system. In this study, we investigated how the objects were ...