The SSSA-MyHand: A Dexterous Lightweight Myoelectric Hand Prosthesis.

The replacement of a missing hand by a prosthesis is one of the most fascinating challenges in rehabilitation engineering. State of art prostheses are curtailed by the physical features of the hand, like poor functionality and excessive weight. Here we present a new multi-grasp hand aimed at overcoming such limitations.

Quantitative kinematic characterization of reaching impairments in mice after a stroke.

Background And Objective: Kinematic analysis of reaching movements is increasingly used to evaluate upper extremity function after cerebrovascular insults in humans and has also been applied to rodent models. Such analyses can require time-consuming frame-by-frame inspections and are affected by the experimenter's bias. In this study, we introduce a semi-automated algorithm for tracking forepaw movements in mice.

A robotic system for quantitative assessment and poststroke training of forelimb retraction in mice.

Background: Neurorehabilitation protocols based on the use of robotic devices have recently shown to provide promising clinical results. However, their efficacy is still limited because of the poor comprehension of the mechanisms at the basis of functional enhancements.

Objective: To increase basic understanding of robot-mediated neurorehabilitation by performing experiments on a rodent model of stroke.

Age-related modifications of muscle synergies and spinal cord activity during locomotion.

Recent findings have shown that neural circuits located in the spinal cord drive muscular activations during locomotion while intermediating between descending signals and peripheral sensory information. This relationship could be modified by the natural aging process. To address this issue, the activity of 12 ipsilateral leg muscles was analyzed in young and elderly people (7 subjects per group) while walking at six different cadences (40-140 steps/min).