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Application of Ultrasound Imaging in Functional Assessment of Musculoskeletal System and Non-Invasive Characterization of Peripheral Nervous Structures
No full textIntroduzione
Le tecnologie avanzate ed abilitanti trovano un’ampia applicazione in numerosi settori della sanità. All’interno dello scenario della salute, il campo della riabilitazione è sicuramente uno di quelli maggiormente influenzati dai più recenti progressi tecnologici, probabilmente anche a causa della pandemia di COVID-19, che ne ha ulteriormente velocizzato la diffusione e l’utilizzo. Teleriabilitazione, realtà estesa, riabilitazione robotica, sistemi di analisi del movimento umano e sistemi di imaging avanzato sono diventati sempre più parte integrante di una “rivoluzione” tecnologica all’interno del sistema sanitario. All’interno di questo contesto, l’imaging ecografico presenta sicuramente innumerevoli vantaggi, e vede la sua applicazione anche all’interno del percorso riabilitativo. Questa tecnologia rappresenta infatti una modalità di imaging economica, portatile, non-invasiva e di rapida esecuzione, in quanto non richiede una preparazione specifica del paziente o del soggetto da sottoporre all’esame, e consente inoltre di effettuare una valutazione in vivo dei tessuti molli, sia in condizioni statiche che dinamiche. L’imaging ecografico può essere utilizzato infatti sia a scopo diagnostico che valutativo, oppure come strumento di misurazione nella ricerca clinica, integrato anche ad altri sistemi, come ad esempio i sistemi di analisi del movimento umano, le tecnologie indossabili per il motion tracking, i dispositivi per l’elettromiografia di superficie.
Obiettivo
L’obiettivo generale di questa tesi di dottorato è stato quindi quello di integrare differenti tecnologie abilitanti all’interno di specifici percorsi di valutazione funzionale e strutturale, con particolare attenzione per il sistema muscolo-scheletrico e nervoso. Al fine di raggiungere questo obiettivo generale, sono stati identificati quattro obiettivi specifici, in particolare: 1) analizzare l’uso integrato di tecnologie nella valutazione funzionale di disordini e delle patologie muscolo-scheletriche; 2) analizzare la possibilità di utilizzo di soluzioni tecnologiche avanzate per l’analisi del movimento umano in fase di supporto alla diagnosi; 3) analizzare l’utilizzo dell’imaging ecografico nella valutazione delle problematiche muscolo-scheletriche; 4) analizzare l’utilizzo dell’imaging ecografico nella caratterizzazione non-invasiva del sistema nervoso periferico.
Seguendo la definizione di questi obiettivi, la presente tesi di dottorato include quattro paper pubblicati su riviste scientifiche internazionali e tre studi pilota, di cui due realizzati presso lo Human Performance Lab dell’Università degli Studi di Brescia, ed uno realizzato al Rehab Technologies Lab dell’Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia.
Conclusioni
I lavori inclusi in questa tesi, concentrati prevalentemente sull’utilizzo dell’imaging ecografico, evidenziano come la collaborazione interprofessionale professionisti sanitari/ingegneri porti a vantaggi per entrambi i mondi, con un interscambio di informazioni che portano ad una più veloce e precisa risposta ai quesiti clinici, grazie alla possibilità di utilizzo di supporti tecnologici sempre più avanzati. Questo si traduce in una migliore e più veloce capacità di valutazione/diagnosi e cura, a vantaggio dei pazienti.Introduction
Advanced and enabling technologies find broad application in numerous sectors of healthcare. Within the health landscape, the field of rehabilitation is certainly one of those most influenced by the latest technological advancements, likely accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which further boosted its spread and usage. Telerehabilitation, extended reality, robotic rehabilitation, human movement analysis systems, and advanced imaging systems have increasingly become integral parts of a technological "revolution" in the healthcare system. Within this context, ultrasound imaging undoubtedly offers numerous advantages, with applications in rehabilitation, too. This technology represents an economical, portable, non-invasive, and rapid imaging method that does not require specific preparation of the patient or the subject under examination and allows for in vivo evaluation of soft tissues, both in static and dynamic conditions. Ultrasound imaging can be used for diagnostic and evaluative purposes or as a measurement tool in clinical research, integrated with other systems such as human movement analysis systems, wearable motion tracking technologies, and surface electromyography devices.
Objective
Therefore, this doctoral thesis aims to integrate different enabling technologies within specific functional and structural evaluation pathways, particularly concerning the musculoskeletal and nervous systems. To achieve this general goal, four specific objectives were identified, in particular: 1) to analyse the integrated use of technologies in the functional assessment of musculoskeletal disorders and pathologies; 2) to explore the potential use of advanced technological solutions for human movement analysis in diagnostic support; 3) to analyse the use of ultrasound imaging in the evaluation of musculoskeletal issues; 4) to study the use of ultrasound imaging in the non-invasive characterisation of the peripheral nervous system.
Following the definition of these objectives, this doctoral thesis includes four papers published in international scientific journals and three pilot studies, two conducted at the Human Performance Lab of the University of Brescia and one at the Rehab Technologies Lab of the Italian Institute of Technology.
Conclusions
The works included in this thesis, mainly focused on the use of ultrasound imaging, highlight how interprofessional collaboration between health professionals and engineers brings benefits to both worlds, with an exchange of information leading to a faster and more precise answer to clinical questions, thanks to the possibility of using technological supports increasingly advanced. This results in better and faster assessment/diagnosis and care capabilities for the benefit of patients
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Differences in Weight-Acceptance Phase during Landing in Block Jumps: A Pilot Study on Female Volleyball Players
No full textThe anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) plays a crucial role in constraining tibiofemoral articulation and preserving the knee joint from harmful aberrations of movement. However, certain high-risk movements, such as landing, can induce ACL injuries. Volleyball practice intrinsically requires performing jumps during attacking and defending phases, with a higher rate of ACL injury occurring during blocking tasks. The execution of these tasks is more subject to variability due to the necessity of adequately counteracting opponents. The type of landing after blocking, as well as gender, has been related to the potential risk of injury. We analyzed two different blocking techniques frequently occurring during volleyball matches: The block jump with double-leg landing and the block jump with single-leg landing (dominant and non-dominant). Synchronized kinematic and kinetic data from female volleyball players were collected using a set of wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs), force platforms, and wireless surface electromyography (EMG). Kinematic and kinetic data were evaluated during the weight-Acceptance phase in each task to determine changes in landing approaches. Block jumping with single-leg landing resulted in changes in the kinematics at the hip, knee, and ankle levels, and higher values of muscular activation during the first instants of weight acceptance, particularly in the biceps femoris and gastrocnemius. Understanding the overall biomechanics associated with different sports tasks allows for a better understanding of personal risk and the definition of proper training programs aimed at injury prevention
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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