1,721,345 research outputs found
Walking performance, medical outcomes and patient training in FES of denervated muscles for ambulation by thoracic-level complete paraplegics
No full textNeurol Res. 2008 Mar;30(2):123-30.
Walking performance, medical outcomes and patient training in FES of innervated muscles for ambulation by thoracic-level complete paraplegics.
Graupe D, Cerrel-Bazo H, Kern H, Carraro U.
Source
University of Illinois, 851 South Morgan St., Chicago, IL 60607-7053, USA.
Erratum in
* Neurol Res. 2008 Sep;30(7):768-9.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
To discuss functional electric stimulation (FES) gait training of upper motoneuron spinal cord injured complete paraplegics considering ambulation performance, physiologic and metabolic responses as well as psychologic outcome, while providing myologic insight into ambulation via FES when training starts many years post-injury.
METHODS:
Transcutaneous FES using the Parastep stimulation system, gait training methods with and without major emphasis on muscle reinforcement, cardiovascular and respiratory conditioning. Examination of myofiber tissues and correlation of normal muscles histology versus innervated muscles of upper motor neuron and of denervated muscles of lower motor neuron paraplegics.
RESULTS:
Published works in literature reviewed in this paper report average walking distance of 440 m/walk when major muscle reinforcement and preconditioning cardiovascular and respiratory systems precedes gait training, versus average 115 m/walk when undergoing direct gait training. Medical, metabolic and psychologic outcomes, as reported in several works, point to benefits of FES walking, including 60% increase in blood flow to lower extremities. Myofiber tissues of patients with upper motor neuron paralysis compare well with those of normal tissue even many years post-injury, while adipose tissue substitute muscle fibers in patients with lower motor neuron lesions.
DISCUSSION:
Transcutaneous FES allows considerably longer walking distances and speed at the end of training when training involves an extensive pre-conditioning program than with direct gait training. Medical and psychologic benefits are observed, especially concerning blood flow to the lower extremities. Myofiber examinations provide myologic understanding of effectiveness of FES many years post-injury.
PMID:
18397602
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE
A test of the relationship between seismic velocity and heat production for crustal rocks
No full textVelocity anisotropy and shear-wave splitting in rocks from the mylonite belt along the Insubric Line (Ivrea Zone, Italy)
No full textStructural differentiation of skeletal muscle fibers in the absence of innervation in humans.
Full text linkProc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Dec 4;104(49):19339-44. Epub 2007 Nov 27.
Structural differentiation of skeletal muscle fibers in the absence of innervation in humans.
Boncompagni S, Kern H, Rossini K, Hofer C, Mayr W, Carraro U, Protasi F.
Source
Interuniversitary Institute of Miology, Centro Scienze dell'Invecchiamento, Università degli Studi G. d'Annunzio, I-66013 Chieti, Italy.
Abstract
The relative importance of muscle activity versus neurotrophic factors in the maintenance of muscle differentiation has been greatly debated. Muscle biopsies from spinal cord injury patients, who were trained with an innovative protocol of functional electrical stimulation (FES) for prolonged periods (2.4-9.3 years), offered the unique opportunity of studying the structural recovery of denervated fibers from severe atrophy under the sole influence of muscle activity. FES stimulation induced surprising recovery of muscle structure, mass, and force even in patients whose muscles had been denervated for prolonged periods before the beginning of FES training (up to 2 years) and had almost completely lost muscle-specific internal organization. Ninety percent (or more) of the fibers analyzed by electron microscopy showed a striking recovery of the ultrastructural organization of myofibrils and Ca(2+)-handling membrane systems. This functional/structural restoration follows a pattern that mimics some aspects of normal muscle differentiation. Most importantly, the recovery occurs in the complete absence of motor and sensory innervation and of nerve-derived trophic factors, that is, solely under the influence of muscle activity induced by electrical stimulation.
PMID:
18042706
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
PMCID: PMC2148291
Free PMC Articl
Anisotropy of Vp and Vs in an amphibolite of the deeper crust and its relationship to the mineralogical, microstructural and textural characteristics of the rock
No full text
Paolo Gava, a professional engineer, who has become a Master athlete, an amateur scientist and a lifelong friend
Full text linkPaolo Gava, (Conegliano, Treviso, September 1, 1946 - Stra, Venezia, Italy, July 19, 2021) was a sustainable resources engineer, who worked in Italy, France and England, leading research programs well before the current international interest in countering global warming. Passionate about Tango, Paolo kept himself in shape for many decades by running or pedaling or rollerskating, after years of training as a semi-professional athlete, competing and winning Italian and European short distance races in the Master classes. Then, Paolo applied his engineering skills to optimize comparisons between the results of the different Classes of Master Athletes, questioning the rules used by Italian and World Master Sports Associations. Friendly discussing during an after-dinner, he shocked us claiming that, in absence of diseases and trauma (Early Aging), the aging decay is a linear process from 30 to 110 years. Under our friendly pressure he was able to publish his first biomedical article, detailing his mathematical approaches and results in a 2015 issue of Experimental Aging Research, titled: Age-associated power decline from running, jumping and throwing male master world records. To honor his other legacies during his last six years of life, we add here further examples of Paolo's scientific studies and his relationships with senior colleagues and young students of sports and aging sciences
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Monitoring of muscle and bone recovery in spinal cord injury patients treated with electrical stimulation using three-dimensional imaging and segmentation techniques: methodological assessment.
No full textArtif Organs. 2011 Mar;35(3):275-81. doi: 10.1111/j.1525-1594.2011.01214.x.
Monitoring of muscle and bone recovery in spinal cord injury patients treated with electrical stimulation using three-dimensional imaging and segmentation techniques: methodological assessment.
Gargiulo P, Helgason T, Reynisson PJ, Helgason B, Kern H, Mayr W, Ingvarsson P, Carraro U.
Source
Department of Development and Consultancy UTS, Landspitali-University Hospital University of Reykjavik, Reykjavik. [email protected]
Abstract
Muscle tissue composition accounting for the relative content of muscle fibers and intramuscular adipose and loose fibrous tissues can be efficiently analyzed and quantified using images from spiral computed tomography (S-CT) technology and the associated distribution of Hounsfield unit (HU) values. Muscle density distribution, especially when including the whole muscle volume, provides remarkable information on the muscle condition. Different physiological and pathological scenarios can be depicted using the muscle characterization technique based on the HU values and the definition of appropriate intervals and the association of such intervals to different colors. Using this method atrophy, degeneration, and restoration in denervated muscle undergoing electrical stimulation treatments can be clearly displayed and monitored. Moreover, finite element methods are employed to calculate Young's modulus on the patella bone and to analyze correlation between muscle contraction and bone strength changes. The reliability of this tool though depends on S-CT assessment and calibration. To assess imaging quality and the use of HU values to display muscle composition, different S-CT devices are compared using a Quasar body scanner. Density distributions and volumes of various calibration elements such as lung, polyethylene, water equivalent, and trabecular and dense bone are measured with different scanning protocols and at different points of time. The results show that every scanned element undergoes HU variations, which are greater for materials at the extremes of the HU scale, such as dense bone and lung inhale. Moreover, S-CT scanning with low tube voltages (80 KV) produces inaccurate HU values especially in bones. In conclusion, 3-D modeling techniques based on S-CT scanning is a powerful follow-up tool that may provide structural information at the millimeter scale, and thus may drive choice and timing to validate rehabilitation protocols.
© 2011, Copyright the Authors. Artificial Organs © 2011, International Center for Artificial Organs and Transplantation and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PMID:
21401674
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE
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