Does physical performance demonstrate patient-reported outcomes after lumbar spine surgery?

Background: Due to time and setting constraints in clinical practice, performing a comprehensive assessment with both questionnaires and physical performance tests may not be possible. This study aimed to demonstrate the relationship between physical performance and patient-reported outcomes in patients after Lumbar Spine Surgery (LSS).

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 50 participants who were followed up at least six months after LSS.

Does backward gait require more proprioception and balance in older adults after total knee arthroplasty?

Objectives: Some basic and instrumental daily living activities include backward gait. There is a need to clarify which parameters should be focused more on to improve backward gait in older individuals. This research investigated the proprioception, and balance in forward-backward gait of older individuals with total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

Investigation of Reaction Time, Proprioception, and Shaped Pathway Walking Performance in Older Patients with Total Knee Arthroplasty.

Objectives: The existing literature on total knee arthroplasty (TKA) does not provide clear data on step reaction time and proprioception and gait in shaped pathways. This study investigated the relationship between proprioception and reaction time with walking performance in shaped pathways in older patients undergoing TKA.

Design: A cross-sectional observational study.

Investigation of parameters related to lower extremity muscle strength and proprioception in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Patients with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) may experience a decline in balance, gait, and mobility as well as an increase in fear of falling (FoF) and fatigue due to weaker muscles and proprioceptive loss in their lower limbs. The study aimed to compare lower extremity muscle strength and proprioception, balance, functional mobility, gait, FoF, and fatigue between PwMS and healthy controls and to investigate the relationship between lower extremity muscle strength and proprioception and balance, functional mobility, gait, FoF, and fatigue in PwMS.

Methods: The study was completed with 35 PwMS and 35 healthy controls with matching age and gender.

The effectiveness of dual task exercise training on balance, mobility, physical performance, and quality of life in children with cerebral palsy: a single-blind randomized controlled trial.

Background: Most activities of daily living require more than one activity, including motor-motor or motor-cognitive task. Few studies have investigated the effects of dual-task training in children with cerebral palsy (CP).

Aims: This study was aimed at investigating the effectiveness of motor-cognitive dual-task exercise training in children with cerebral palsy (CP).

Investigation of Motor Activity, Movement Kinematics and Forward-Backwards Gait in Children with Cerebral Palsy.

Our aim in this study was to examine relationships between the motor activity ability, sensor-based kinematics and forward-backwards gait characteristics of children with cerebral palsy (CP). In this prospective cross-sectional study we studied 40 children with CP. We used the Pediatric Motor Activity Log Revised (PMAL-R) to assess motor activity, evaluated motion kinematics (acceleration and angular velocity) with a sensor-based application, applied the Edinburgh Visual Gait Score (EVGS) and the Timed Up and Go Test (TUG) to observe gait performance, and used the Three Meter Backward Walk Test (3MBWT) to assess backward gait.

ML Approach to Improve the Costs and Reliability of a Wireless Sensor Network.

Temperature-controlled closed-loop systems are vital to the transportation of produce. By maintaining specific transportation temperatures and adjusting to environmental factors, these systems delay decomposition. Wireless sensor networks (WSN) can be used to monitor the temperature levels at different locations within these transportation containers and provide feedback to these systems.

The reliability and validity of the 3-m backward walk test in people with Parkinson's disease.

Background: People with Parkinson's disease (PwPD) lose the ability in backward walking which is an important part of mobility in daily life. The 3-m backward walk test (3MBWT) evaluates backward walking; however, its reliability and validity have not been examined in PwPD yet.

Aims: To examine (1) the test-retest reliability of the 3MBWT in PwPD; (2) the minimum detectable change in the 3MBWT times; (3) the concurrent and known-groups validity of the 3MBWT; and (4) the optimum cutoff time which best discriminates fallers from non-fallers with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Precision Agriculture Using Soil Sensor Driven Machine Learning for Smart Strawberry Production.

Ubiquitous sensor networks collecting real-time data have been adopted in many industrial settings. This paper describes the second stage of an end-to-end system integrating modern hardware and software tools for precise monitoring and control of soil conditions. In the proposed framework, the data are collected by the sensor network distributed in the soil of a commercial strawberry farm to infer the ultimate physicochemical characteristics of the fruit at the point of harvest around the sensor locations.

Aerobic exercise and dual-task training combination is the best combination for improving cognitive status, mobility and physical performance in older adults with mild cognitive impairment.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of different exercise combinations on cognitive status, muscle strength of lower extremities, mobility, physical performance, mood and quality of life in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Methods: A total of 48 older adults with MCI were randomly assigned to four groups: (1) aerobic plus lower extremity strengthening exercises (AG), (2) dual-task training plus lower extremity strengthening exercises (DG), (3) aerobic exercise, dual-task training and lower extremity strengthening exercises (ADG), (4) solely lower extremity strengthening exercises (CG). Patients' cognitive status, lower extremity muscle strength, balance, mobility, activities-specific balance confidence, functional exercise capacity, physical performance, mood and quality of life were evaluated.

Rich learning representations for human activity recognition: How to empower deep feature learning for biological time series.

Deep learning versus feature engineering has drawn significant attention specifically for applications where expertly crafted features have been used for decades. Human activity recognition is no exception where statistical and motion specific features have shown potential in detecting falls and other daily activities across a wide range of datasets. This paper provides an in-depth study and comparison of two fundamentally different approaches to HAR while introducing a novel way to harness the spectral properties of biological time series in addition to temporal features.

Atomistic theory of thermally activated magnetization processes in NdFeB permanent magnet.

To study the temperature dependence of magnetic properties of permanent magnets, methods of treating the thermal fluctuation causing the thermal activation phenomena must be established. To study finite-temperature properties quantitatively, we need atomistic energy information to calculate the canonical distribution. In the present review, we report our recent studies on the thermal properties of the NdFeB magnet and the methods of studying them.

A spontaneous cervical spinal epidural hematoma in a male patient receiving treatment for acute coronary syndrome: A case report.

Although spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma is a rare entity with an unknown origin, it may occur secondary to the use of anticoagulant and/or antiplatelet agents, which are particularly used for the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Since it occurs rarely and its initial symptoms are usually non-specific, early and accurate diagnosis can be challenging which affects survival rate and the quality of life. Herein, we present a 65-year-old male case who developed acute severe neck pain and headache on the third day of acute coronary syndrome treatment, followed by neurological deficits in bilateral upper and lower extremities.

Adaptation of the Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale to Turkish: Validity and Reliability Study.

Background: The Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scale is the most widely used scale for the assessment of IADL in the elderly population. The aim of this study was to adapt the Lawton IADL Scale in Turkish and to investigate the validity and the reliability of the scale in older adults.

Methods: A total of 80 participants with a mean age of 71.

Single-amino acid variants reveal evolutionary processes that shape the biogeography of a global SAR11 subclade.

Members of the SAR11 order Pelagibacterales dominate the surface oceans. Their extensive diversity challenges emerging operational boundaries defined for microbial 'species' and complicates efforts of population genetics to study their evolution. Here, we employed single-amino acid variants (SAAVs) to investigate ecological and evolutionary forces that maintain the genomic heterogeneity within ubiquitous SAR11 populations we accessed through metagenomic read recruitment using a single isolate genome.

Time-Temperature Management Along the Food Cold Chain: A Review of Recent Developments.

The cold chain is responsible for the preservation and transportation of perishable foods in the proper temperature range to slow biological decay processes and deliver safe and high-quality foods to consumers. Studies show that the efficiency of the cold chain is often less than ideal, as temperature abuses above or below the optimal product-specific temperature range occur frequently, a situation that significantly increases food waste and endangers food safety. In this work, field studies on time-temperature conditions at each critical stage of the cold chain are reviewed to assess the current state of commercial cold chains.

Quantum-corrected transient analysis of plasmonic nanostructures.

A time domain surface integral equation (TD-SIE) solver is developed for quantum-corrected analysis of transient electromagnetic field interactions on plasmonic nanostructures with sub-nanometer gaps. "Quantum correction" introduces an auxiliary tunnel to support the current path that is generated by electrons tunneled between the nanostructures. The permittivity of the auxiliary tunnel and the nanostructures is obtained from density functional theory (DFT) computations.

Transient analysis of electromagnetic wave interactions on plasmonic nanostructures using a surface integral equation solver.

Transient electromagnetic interactions on plasmonic nanostructures are analyzed by solving the Poggio-Miller-Chan-Harrington-Wu-Tsai (PMCHWT) surface integral equation (SIE). Equivalent (unknown) electric and magnetic current densities, which are introduced on the surfaces of the nanostructures, are expanded using Rao-Wilton-Glisson and polynomial basis functions in space and time, respectively. Inserting this expansion into the PMCHWT-SIE and Galerkin testing the resulting equation at discrete times yield a system of equations that is solved for the current expansion coefficients by a marching on-in-time (MOT) scheme.

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) I/D and Alpha-Adducin (ADD1) G460W Gene Polymorphisms in Turkish Patients with Severe Chronic Tinnitus.

Objective: Tinnitus is described as a disturbing sound sensation in the absence of external stimulation. We aimed to investigate whether there is any relationship between severe chronic tinnitus and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) I/D and α-adducin (ADD1) G460W gene polymorphisms.

Materials And Methods: The patient group and control group consisted of 89 and 104 individuals, respectively.

MBL, P2X7, and SLC11A1 gene polymorphisms in patients with oropharyngeal tularemia.

Conclusion: A significant association was found of oropharyngeal tularemia with SLC11A1 allele polymorphism (INT4 G/C) and MBL2 C + 4T (P/Q). These results indicate C allele and Q allele might be a risk factor for the development of oropharyngeal tularemia.

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the relationship of SLC11A1, MBL, and P2X gene polymorphism with oropharyngeal tularemia.

The Outcomes of Late Term Surgical Treatment of Penetrating Peripheral Nerve Injuries.

Aim: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the follow-up results of patients who received late-term surgical treatment for peripheral nerve lesions caused by penetrating injuries.

Material And Methods: The study included 25 patients who underwent surgery for peripheral nerve injuries in our clinic between 2007 and 2013. The patients were evaluated with respect to age, gender, etiology of the trauma, the affected nerve, clinical examinations, electrophysiological findings, surgical techniques and functional outcomes.

Assessment of Hematological Factors Involved in Development and Prognosis of Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the possible effects of routine hematological parameters on the development and prognosis of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss in patients applying to our clinic.

Study Design: A retrospective clinical study.

Setting: One academic health center from 2008 to 2014.