The finger tapping test (FTT) is a neuropsychological test that measures motor speed and coordination. It involves tapping a designated surface with a specific finger as quickly as possible for a certain duration. Touchscreen of smartphones has been used as interface to record the tap, what enables to extract information about the taps.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHumans exhibit consistent color preferences that are often described as a curvilinear pattern across hues. The recent literature posits that color preference is linked to the preference for objects or other entities associated with those colors. However, many studies examine this preference using isoluminant colors, which don't reflect the natural viewing experience typically influenced by different light intensities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt was compared smartphone-based measurements of static balance control and mobility of elderly population with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). The present cross-sectional study investigated 73 participants grouped in a control group (n = 36) and a DM2 group (n = 37). Smartphone's built in inertial sensors were used to record inertial changes of the participants during static balance and mobility (Timed Up and Go test - TUG) tasks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) involve a complex coordination of sensorimotor information that can be impaired in diseases that affect nerve conduction. Assessing APAs typically requires costly video recording technology, posing a challenge to the study of postural changes. This hurdle is compounded in impoverished communities affected by diseases such as leprosy, which often receive limited government support.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeveral protocols for motor assessment have been validated for use on smartphones and could be employed by public healthcare systems to monitor motor functional losses in populations, particularly those with lower income levels. In addition to being cost-effective and widely distributed across populations of varying income levels, the use of smartphones in motor assessment offers a range of advantages that could be leveraged by governments, especially in developing and poorer countries. Some topics related to potential interventions should be considered by healthcare managers before initiating the implementation of such a digital intervention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClassical experiments using hierarchical stimuli to investigate the ability of capuchin monkeys to integrate visual information based on global or local clues reported findings suggesting a behavioral preference for local information of the image. Many experiments using mosaics have been conducted with capuchin monkeys to identify some of their perceptual phenotypes. As the identification of an image in a mosaic demands the integration of elements that share some visual features, we evaluated the discrimination of shapes presented in solid and mosaic stimuli in capuchin monkeys.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSensors (Basel)
May 2024
The Timed-Up and Go (TUG) test is widely utilized by healthcare professionals for assessing fall risk and mobility due to its practicality. Currently, test results are based solely on execution time, but integrating technological devices into the test can provide additional information to enhance result accuracy. This study aimed to assess the reliability of smartphone-based instrumented TUG (iTUG) parameters.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an important public health concern and that may lead to severe neural sequels, such as color vision deficits.
Methods: We evaluated the color vision of 10 TBI patients with normal cognitive function using a color discrimination test in a fixed saturation level. We also analyzed computerized tomography scans to identify the local of the brain damages.
Purpose: We aimed the develop and validate a computerized version of the MNREAD for the assessment of reading speed for children.
Methods: A computerized version of the MNREAD was built in Psykinematix software using the same parameters as the physical chart. We measured the reading velocity of 104 children (n = 44 of the 3rd grade; n = 60 of the 5th grade).
Games Health J
April 2024
Virtual reality (VR) has been suggested as a new therapeutic approach in various sectors of rehabilitation, including the treatment of patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), and one of its treatment goals is to improve the gait pattern and walking ability of patients. This study aimed to evaluate if VR, along with conventional physiotherapy treatment (CT), has superior effects to kinesiotherapy alone on pain, physical capacity, balance, and the parameters of anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) in patients with knee OA. This study is a single-blind randomized controlled trial.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, predominantly affecting the peripheral nerves, resulting in sensory and motor deficits in the feet. Foot ulcers and imbalances are frequent manifestations in leprosy, often correlating with diminished sensitivity. While clinical scales and monofilament esthesiometers are conventionally utilized to evaluate foot sensitivity and balance in these patients, their discriminatory power is limited and their effectiveness is greatly dependent on the examiner's proficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: In this study, we report a case of a young adult with X-linked juvenile retinoschisis (XLRS) with a rare pathogenic variant in the RS1 gene (c.522 + 2 T > A).
Methods: Ophthalmological evaluation, optical coherence tomography, full-field and multifocal electroretinograms and extensive genetic screening of genes related to visual loss were carried out in the participant.
Background: SARS-CoV-2 infection can lead to a variety of persistent sequelae, collectively known as long COVID-19. Deficits in postural balance have been reported in patients several months after COVID-19 infection. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the static balance and balance of individuals with long COVID-19 using inertial sensors in smartphones.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Finger Tapping Test (FTT) is a classical neuropsychological test that assesses motor functioning, and recently it has been employed using smartphones. For classical protocols, it has been observed that sex and handedness influence the performance during the test. By assessing the influence of sex and handedness on the test, it is possible to adjust the performance measurements to ensure the validity of test results and avoid sex- and handedness-related bias.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOlder adults with moderate to severe knee osteoarthritis (KOA) exhibit adaptive strategy for initiating walking, known as anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs). While video motion kinematics has been the traditional way of measuring APAs, it can be difficult to transport and install, making it impractical for medical settings. Inertial sensors have become a more popular method for evaluating APAs, but no prior research has used accelerometers to measure gait initiation in individuals with KOA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe scientific need for standardized, high-quality facial stimuli has driven the creation of several face image databases in recent years. These stimuli are particularly important in facial asymmetry research. However, previous studies have reported facial anthropometric differences across a variety of ethnicities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBipolar disorder (BPD) is a chronic condition characterized by recurrent episodes of mania and depression. To date, the association of biological and psychopathological processes in BPD has not been extensively studied on a cognitive and cortical basis at the same time. We investigated whether brain atrophy (in prefrontal, temporal and occipital cortices) was associated with cognitive, biological and clinical processes in patients with BPD and healthy controls (HCs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIndian J Dermatol
January 2023
Background: Peripheral nerve disease may lead to physical disability because of decreased muscle strength and/or loss of sensitivity in the dermatomes of affected peripheral nerves. Both human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)- and leprosy-affected patients can develop neurological damage; therefore, the coinfection of these diseases presents new challenges to the health care of these patients.
Aims And Objective: This study aimed to investigate the motor alterations of patients coinfected with HIV and leprosy and their relationship with clinical and anthropometric characteristics, compared with individuals with isolated diseases.
J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol
January 2024
Recent research has proposed new approaches to investigate color vision in Old World Monkeys by measuring suprathreshold chromatic discrimination. In this study, we aimed to extend this approach to New World Monkeys with different color vision genotypes by examining their performance in chromatic discrimination tasks along different fixed chromatic saturation axes. Four tufted capuchin monkeys were included in the study, and their color vision genotypes were one classical protanope, one classical deuteranope, one non-classical protanope, and a normal trichromat.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Poor sleep quality have been widely reported in patients with long COVID. Determining the characteristics, type, severity, and relationship of long COVID with other neurological symptoms is essential for the prognosis and management of poor sleep quality.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a public university in the eastern Amazon region of Brazil between November 2020 and October 2022.
Purpose: Aging causes substantial changes in the intraocular lens, which leads to a reduction in chromatic perception. We aimed to measure the ocular light dispersion component in relation to the reduction in color vision by aging.
Methods: Intraocular straylight was quantified psychophysically by C-Quant for light dispersion [Log(s)], reliability of the results (ESD), and psychometric sampling quality (Q).
(1) Background: Tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP/HAM) associated with the T cell lymphotropic virus in type I humans (HTLV-1) is a slow, chronic, and progressive disease that causes balance changes. TSP/HAM diagnosis can be classified as probable, possible, and definite. We compared the static balance control of HTLV-1-infected patients with different TSP/HAM diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAging causes impairment of contrast sensitivity and chromatic discrimination, leading to changes in the perceptual interactions between color and luminance information. We aimed to investigate the influence of chromatic noise on luminance contrast thresholds in young and older adults. Forty participants were divided equally into Young (29.
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