1,720,982 research outputs found
Chronic pain and motor imagery: a rehabilitative experience in a case report
No full textBACKGROUND:
The "neuromatrix" theory of Melzack and the studies of Decety on motor imagery have opened the way to an alternative rehabilitation method in chronic pain.
AIM:
To evaluate the role of motor imagery in chronic shoulder pain rehabilitation.
DESIGN:
Case report.
SETTING:
University outpatient rehabilitation.
POPULATION:
A 49-year-old female with chronic shoulder pain.
METHODS:
Neurocognitive approach, which involves the use of a new tool called "naval battle" to achieve chronic pain relief as assessed by the Visual Analogic Scale (VAS) and McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ). The Shoulder Rating Questionnaire (SRQ) and Constant Scale (CS) were used to measure functional improvement.
RESULTS:
The results indicate significant pain relief (71%) and improvement in functionality (50%).
CONCLUSION:
The results seem to confirm the accuracy of the hypothesis on the genesis of chronic pain as a perceptive "discoherency" and that motor imagery can remake a coherence of afferences at central level in chronic pain.
CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT:
The use of motor imagery in rehabilitation can be a viable alternative in chronic shoulder pain resistant to other rehabilitation protocol
A machine-learning approach to measure the anterior cruciate ligament injury risk in female basketball players
Get PDFAnterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury represents one of the main disorders affecting players, especially in contact sports. Even though several approaches based on artificial intelligence have been developed to allow the quantification of ACL injury risk, their applicability in training sessions compared with the clinical scale is still an open question. We proposed a machine-learning approach to accomplish this purpose. Thirty-nine female basketball players were enrolled in the study. Leg stability, leg mobility and capability to absorb the load after jump were evaluated through inertial sensors and optoelectronic bars. The risk level of athletes was computed by the Landing Error Score System (LESS). A comparative analysis among nine classifiers was performed by assessing the accuracy, F1-score and goodness. Five out nine examined classifiers reached optimum performance, with the linear support vector machine achieving an accuracy and F1-score of 96 and 95%, respectively. The feature importance was computed, allowing us to promote the ellipse area, parameters related to the load absorption and the leg mobility as the most useful features for the prediction of anterior cruciate ligament injury risk. In addition, the ellipse area showed a strong correlation with the LESS score. The results open the possibility to use such a methodology for predicting ACL injury
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
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
Correlates of the Ultrasonographic and Elastosonographic Parameters of the Plantar Fascia in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes
Get PDFBackground. Prevalence of plantar fasciitis is increased in type 2 diabetes. This study was aimed at assessing the correlates of ultrasonographic and elastosonographic parameters in plantar fascia (PF) individuals with type 2 diabetes encompassing vari-ous degrees of complications.Methods. This cross-sectional study included 98 patients with type 2 diabetes. Thick-ness of PF was assessed by ultrasonography, whereas elasticity of hard tissue (Elx-Hrd) at PF insertion and course and the subcutaneous-to-insertional strain ratio (Elx 2/1) were determined by elastosonography.Results. No significant differences were detected according to age category, sex, phys-ical activity, and presence of complications, except for higher Elx-Hrd insertion and Elx 1/2 in participants with cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN). Thickness of PF, Elx-Hrd insertion and Elx 1/2 correlated significantly with BMI, waist circumference, fat-free mass, and parameters of peripheral neuropathy and CAN; BMI, waist circum-ference, fat mass, fat-free mass, and CAN were independently associated with PF thickness, Elx-Hrd insertion, and Elx 1/2.Conclusions. Adiposity, body composition and presence of CAN are the main correlates of PF ultrasonographic and elastosonographic parameters, suggesting that body weight reduction, maintenance of muscle mass, and prevention of neuropathic complications may result in a decreased incidence of plantar fasciitis in individuals with type 2 diabetes.Study registration. Study registered with ClinicalTrial.gov, NCT01600924 at https:// clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01600924
A comprehensive two-dimensional scoring system to assess the single-leg squat task in football players
No full textBackground: The single-leg squat (SLS) is a safe and widespread functional test commonly performed in the mid-stages of rehabilitation after severe knee injuries. The use of reliable objective measures has been advocated to improve the quality of SLS assessment. The aim of this study was to describe a qualitative whole-body scoring system based on two-dimensional (2D) video analysis during SLS test and validate it against three-dimensional (3D) kinetics and kinematics. Methods: Thirty-four competitive football (soccer) players performed a series of SLS tasks. 3D kinematics and kinetics were collected through infrared cameras, and 2D video analysis was performed through a scoring system with sub-scores ranging from 0/2 (non-adequate movement) to 2/2 (adequate movement) based on frontal and lateral planes objective measurements. 3D kinematics and kinetics were grouped according to the results of the 2D evaluation and compared through the analysis of variance (P < 0.05). Results: Higher hip adduction, hip internal rotation, and knee valgus collapse were found in trials rated 0/2 or 1/2 compared with the one rated 2/2 in the limb stability score. Hip flexion and hip/knee moment ratio were lower in those scoring 0/2 compared with those scoring 2/2 in the movement strategy criterion. A low total score was associated with higher knee valgus collapse and lower hip/knee extensor moment ratio. Compensatory strategies were found in frontal plane scores. Conclusions: The 2D scoring system described was strongly associated with kinematics and kinetics from gold-standard 3D motion capture and might represent a valid tool to describe the movement quality of an SLS task
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