Preliminary Assessment of Two Simultaneous and Proportional Myocontrol Methods for 3-DoFs Prostheses Using Incremental Learning.

Despite progressive developments over the last decades, current upper limb prostheses still lack a suitable control able to fully restore the functionalities of the lost arm. Traditional control approaches for prostheses fail when simultaneously actuating multiple Degrees of Freedom (DoFs), thus limiting their usability in daily-life scenarios. Machine learning, on the one hand, offers a solution to this issue through a promising approach for decoding user intentions but fails when input signals change.

IMU Sensors Measurements Towards the Development of Novel Prosthetic Arm Control Strategies.

The complexity of the human upper limb makes replicating it in a prosthetic device a significant challenge. With advancements in mechatronic developments involving the addition of a large number of degrees of freedom, novel control strategies are required. To accommodate this need, this study aims at developing an IMU-based control for the HannesARM upper-limb prosthetic device, as a proof-of-concept for new control strategies integrating data-fusion approaches.

A Novel Method for Vibrotactile Proprioceptive Feedback Using Spatial Encoding and Gaussian Interpolation.

Objective: The bidirectional communication between the user and the prosthesis is an important requirement when developing prosthetic hands. Proprioceptive feedback is fundamental to perceiving prosthesis movement without the need for constant visual attention. We propose a novel solution to encode wrist rotation using a vibromotor array and Gaussian interpolation of vibration intensity.

Object stiffness recognition and vibratory feedback without sensing on the Hannes prosthesis: A machine learning approach.

Introduction: In recent years, hand prostheses achieved relevant improvements in term of both motor and functional recovery. However, the rate of devices abandonment, also due to their poor embodiment, is still high. The embodiment defines the integration of an external object - in this case a prosthetic device - into the body scheme of an individual.

Benefits of the Cybathlon 2020 experience for a prosthetic hand user: a case study on the Hannes system.

Background: Cybathlon championship aims at promoting the development of prosthetic and assistive devices capable to meet users' needs. This paper describes and analyses possible exploitation outcomes of our team's (REHAB TECH) experience into the Powered Arm Prosthesis Race of the Cybathlon 2020 Global Edition, with the novel prosthetic system Hannes. In detail, we present our analysis on a concurrent evaluation conducted to verify if the Cybathlon training and competition positively influenced pilot's performance and human-technology integration with Hannes, with respect to a non-runner Hannes user.

Exploring the Embodiment of a Virtual Hand in a Spatially Augmented Respiratory Biofeedback Setting.

Enhancing the embodiment of artificial limbs-the individuals' feeling that a virtual or robotic limb is integrated in their own body scheme-is an impactful strategy for improving prosthetic technology acceptance and human-machine interaction. Most studies so far focused on visuo-tactile strategies to empower the embodiment processes. However, novel approaches could emerge from self-regulation techniques able to change the psychophysiological conditions of an individual.

Dental anomalies in the primary dentition and their repetition in the permanent dentition: a diagnostic performance study.

This study investigated the recurrence in the permanent dentition of dental anomalies of the primary dentition. A sample of 189 subjects (100 males, 89 females, mean age of 5 years and 7 months) with anomalies of primary teeth (tooth hypodontia, supernumerary teeth, geminated teeth, and fused teeth) was selected and re-analyzed at a mean age of 11 years and 2 months for the recurrence of the dental anomalies in the permanent dentition. As a control group, 271 subjects (123 males, 148 females) without dental anomalies in the primary dentition were selected.

Transverse dimensions of dental arches in subjects with Class II malocclusion in the early mixed dentition.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze the transverse dentoalveolar features of subjects with Class II Division 1 malocclusion in mixed dentition when compared to subjects with normal occlusion.

Materials And Methods: The study was performed on 192 randomly selected subjects in the early mixed dentition. According to sagittal skeletal and occlusal features the sample was divided into two groups: 88 subjects (53 females and 35 males) with Class II skeletal disharmony and Class II, division 1 malocclusion (Class II Group, mean age 8 years and 10 months±11 months) and 104 subjects (66 females e 38 males) with dentoskeletal Class I relationships (Class I Group, mean age 9±1 years).

Oral and craniofacial findings of Binder syndrome: two case reports.

Binder syndrome is a malformative midfacial alteration, known also as maxillonasal dysplasia or maxillonasal dysostosis. In this article, two cases of affected patients are reported, and the features of the condition are reviewed. One case presents a cleft lip.

Maxillary dental anomalies in children with cleft lip and palate: a controlled study.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of dental abnormalities of the primary and permanent maxillary dentitions in children affected by unilateral (UCLP) and bilateral (BCLP) cleft of the lip and palate.

Methods: One hundred and fifty-six Caucasian patients (64 females and 92 males) affected by non-syndromic UCLP or BLCP were selected. A control sample of 1000 subjects (482 males and 518 females) without CLP was selected.

Morphometric investigation in the skulls of young adults. A comparative study between 19th century and modern Italian samples.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that there are no differences in the shape of the cranial complex between two samples from the same restricted geographical area and separated by almost 150 years.

Materials And Methods: A group of 35 skulls from the 19th century were selected and compared with a modern sample composed of 43 young adult subjects by means of lateral cephalograms and using a morphometric analysis. The peculiarity of this work is the uniformity of the two samples involving adults coming from the same restricted birthplace and with homogeneity for the orthodontic classification.

Dentoalveolar effects induced by a removable expansion plate.

Objective: The aim of this article was to analyze the changes in the transverse dimensions of the dental arches produced by a removable expansion plate (Removable Spring Expander, RSE) in subjects with unilateral posterior crossbite.

Materials And Methods: The treated group (TG) comprised of 17 subjects (5 males and 12 female) with unilateral posterior crossbites. Dental casts were available at pre-treatment (T1) and at a post-retention observation period (T2).

Early orthodontic treatment of skeletal open-bite malocclusion with the open-bite bionator: a cephalometric study.

Introduction: This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the open-bite bionator in growing subjects with increased vertical dimensions.

Methods: The records of 20 subjects with high-angle skeletal relationships (MPA > or =25 degrees) were examined. Cephalometric measurements were compared with those obtained from 23 sets of records of an untreated group matched according to age, sex, vertical skeletal relationships, and time intervals between records.

Dentoskeletal effects of a removable appliance for expansion of the maxillary arch: a postero-anterior cephalometric study.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the dentoskeletal effects of early treatment in the primary or early mixed dentition with a removable appliance with expansion springs, assessed on postero-anterior (PA) cephalograms, in patients with a unilateral posterior crossbite when compared with untreated subjects. The treatment group consisted of 23 subjects, 8 males, and 15 females treated with a removable appliance for the expansion of the maxillary arch. The mean age at the start of expansion (T1) was 6 years 2 +/- 17 months, and 8 years +/- 18 months at the end of active therapy and after 1 year of retention (T2), with an observation interval of 22 +/- 7 months.

Dental arch dimensions in the mixed dentition: a study of Italian children born in the 1950s and the 1990s.

The objective of this study was to compare the dental arch dimensions in the mixed dentition in two modern samples living in the same geographic area and separated by almost 35 years. A group of 83 subjects (39 boys and 44 girls) born between 1953 and 1959 (mean age: eight years and three months +/-15 months for the boys and seven years and 11 months +/-12 months for the girls) were compared with a group of 84 subjects (38 boys and 46 girls) born between 1990 and 1998 (mean age: eight years and eight months +/-12 months for the boys and eight years and four months +/-11 months for the girls). Measurements were taken on dental casts for posterior and anterior arch segments, intermolar and intercanine width, and mesiodistal size of incisors.

Class II malocclusion with maxillary protrusion from the deciduous through the mixed dentition: a longitudinal study.

The aim of this study was to analyze the skeletal characteristics of Class II malocclusion with maxillary protrusion in the deciduous dentition and to describe the growth features of this type of skeletal imbalance during the transition from the deciduous through the mixed dentition. A group of 17 subjects having skeletal Class II malocclusions in the deciduous dentition due to maxillary protrusion was compared with a control group of 30 untreated subjects with ideal occlusion at the same stage of development. Both groups were observed for the first time in the deciduous dentition (T(1)) and followed during the transition from the deciduous to the mixed dentition (T(2)).

Abnormal mandibular growth after craniovertebral surgery in Morquio syndrome type A.

Morquio syndrome or MPS4A is an autosomal recessive inherited metabolic disease, due to a deficiency of N-acetil-galactosamine-6-sulfatase (OMIM 253000). Hypoplastic odontoid processes causing atlantoaxial subluxation and cervical myelopathy are usual clinical findings. Surgical intervention of craniocervical fusion is often performed to prevent this complication.

Tooth wear in the mixed dentition: a comparative study between children born in the 1950s and the 1990s.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the degree of tooth wear in posterior deciduous teeth of 100 subjects in the second phase of mixed dentition who were born in the 1950s (50sG) and 100 subjects born in the 1990s (90sG). The degree of abrasion for each posterior deciduous tooth was scored ranging from 0 to 3. The comparison of the degree of abrasion showed significant differences between the two groups for all examined teeth (upper and lower deciduous canines and first and second primary molars) all of which appeared to be more abraded in the 50sG.

Biometric and magnetic resonance imaging assessment of dentofacial abnormalities in a case of Klippel-Trénaunay-Weber syndrome.

Klippel-Trénaunay-Weber syndrome is characterized by cutaneous hemangioma, arteriovenous fistulas or varicosities (or both), and unilateral hypertrophy of hard and soft tissues with different localization. Klippel-Trénaunay-Weber syndrome represents a syndrome of interest for those in the fields of oral and maxillofacial radiology and pathology because of the high incidence of compromise of the orofacial area in affected patients. The patient reported here presents with all of the 3 characteristic signs of the syndrome.

Morphometric analysis of the transverse dentoskeletal features of class II malocclusion in the mixed dentition.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the dentoskeletal features of Class II malocclusion in the transverse plane by means of a morphometric analysis (thin-plate spline analysis [TPS]) applied to posteroanterior cephalograms. A sample of 49 subjects (24 males, 25 females; mean age 7 years, 9 +/- 5 months) with Class II Division 1 malocclusion was compared with a control group of 50 subjects (17 males, 33 females; mean age 8 years, 4 +/- 3 months) with Class I occlusion. Subjects of both groups were in the mixed dentition and had no history of orthodontic treatment.

Tooth abrasion in unilateral posterior crossbite in the deciduous dentition.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the degree of abrasion in posterior teeth of subjects with unilateral posterior crossbite in the deciduous dentition. A group of 54 untreated subjects in deciduous dentition (test group, TG) was selected from a parent sample of 1500 patients from the files of the Department of Orthodontics of the University of Florence. A sample of 20 subjects with normal occlusion in the deciduous dentition was selected as the control group (CG).