A System for Real-Time Feedback to Improve Gait and Posture in Parkinson's Disease.

For people with Parkinson's disease (PD), gait and postural impairments can significantly affect their ability to perform activities of daily living. Presentation of appropriate cues has been shown to improve gait in PD. Based on this, a treadmill-based system and experimental paradigm were developed to determine if people with PD can utilize real-time feedback (RTFB) of step length or back angle (uprightness) to improve gait and posture.

Interdisciplinary concepts for design and implementation of mixed reality interactive neurorehabilitation systems for stroke.

Interactive neurorehabilitation (INR) systems provide therapy that can evaluate and deliver feedback on a patient's movement computationally. There are currently many approaches to INR design and implementation, without a clear indication of which methods to utilize best. This article presents key interactive computing, motor learning, and media arts concepts utilized by an interdisciplinary group to develop adaptive, mixed reality INR systems for upper extremity therapy of patients with stroke.

Design of a home-based adaptive mixed reality rehabilitation system for stroke survivors.

This paper presents the design of a home-based adaptive mixed reality system (HAMRR) for upper extremity stroke rehabilitation. The goal of HAMRR is to help restore motor function to chronic stroke survivors by providing an engaging long-term reaching task therapy at home. The system uses an intelligent adaptation scheme to create a continuously challenging and unique multi-year therapy experience.

Novel design of interactive multimodal biofeedback system for neurorehabilitation.

A previous design of a biofeedback system for Neurorehabilitation in an interactive multimodal environment has demonstrated the potential of engaging stroke patients in task-oriented neuromotor rehabilitation. This report explores the new concept and alternative designs of multimedia based biofeedback systems. In this system, the new interactive multimodal environment was constructed with abstract presentation of movement parameters.

Interactive multimodal biofeedback for task-oriented neural rehabilitation.

Previous studies have suggested that task-oriented biofeedback training may be effective for functional motor improvement. The purpose of this project was to design an interactive, multimodal biofeedback system for the task-oriented training of goal-directed reaching. The central controller, based on a user context model, identifies the state of task performance using multisensing data and provides augmented feedback, through interactive 3D graphics and music, to encourage the patients' self-regulation and performance of the task.

A case-control study of circulatory, malignant, and respiratory morbidity in carbon black workers in the United States.

The exposures to total dust of a group of carbon black workers with selected circulatory, malignant, and respiratory diseases were compared with the exposures of nonaffected, matched control workers. Exposure was calculated by combining ambient air measurements (mg/m3) for each job category with the months workers had spent in each job. The cumulative total dust exposure levels of the cases were comparable to those of the controls, with the exception of men who had diseases of the circulatory system and who had experienced significantly less exposure than had the matched control workers.

Clustering of multiple sclerosis in Galion, Ohio, 1982-1985.

Epidemiologic evidence indicates that the outbreak of 30-40 cases of multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating syndromes in Galion, Ohio, USA, during 1982-1985 was related to an excess concentration of heavy-metal wastes, especially of cadmium and chromium in sewage and river water. Both multiple sclerosis and myasthenia gravis were diagnosed by board-certified neurologists.

A cross-sectional study of pulmonary function in carbon black workers in the United States.

Since a proportion of airborne carbon black particles is of respirable size, the possibility that it may affect pulmonary function was investigated in 913 employees of 6 carbon black producers in the United States. Exposure was estimated by combining the mean total dust exposures of each job category with the length of time workers had spent in each job, giving a measurement expressed in mg/m3.months.

Endemic clustering of multiple sclerosis in time and place, 1934-1984. Confirmation of a hypothesis.

The occurrence of multiple sclerosis in clustered groups of cases that are often related to others in time and place has been observed on several occasions in the last 50 years. Selected clusters are here reviewed in relation to suspected sources of heavy metal (mercury, lead) poisoning as background for the analysis of the 1983-1985 "outbreak" of 30-40 cases of multiple sclerosis in Key West, Florida. Evidence is presented that the time-place clustering resulted from environmental pollution stemming from a nearby dump pile of rocky debris.

Epidemiology, etiology, and prevention of multiple sclerosis. Hypothesis and fact.

Slow, retrograde seepage of ionic mercury from root canal or Class V amalgam fillings inserted many years previously, recurrent caries and corrosion around filling edges, and the oxidizing effect of the purulent response may lead to multiple sclerosis in middle age. Epidemiologic studies of MS consistently reveal more neurological disease in the north, inferentially because there may be less caries and therefore fewer fillings done in the south. Clinical and epidemiologic data also suggest that a second heavy metal, lead, may operate almost interchangeably with mercury.

Sodium pentobarbital-induced mutations in the hamster.

When virgin Syrian hamsters aged 6 to 8 wk were mated during estrus and anesthetized with sodium pentobarbital (Nembutal) 4 to 5 hr before estimated ovulation, pregnancy wastage in the newly conceived litter was observed. This was manifested by polyspermy of moribund eggs and death of fertilized eggs, deficits of expected zygotes, and triploidy and tetraploidy in 3-day-old surviving embryos. Multiple factors determined the nature of this wastage, including dosage of Nembutal [sodium 5-ethyl-5-(1-methyl butal) barbiturate], route of its administration, degree of resulting respiratory depression, and ultimately a pH imbalance (below 7) in the mother.

A mortality study of carbon black workers in the United States from 1935 to 1974.

In a retrospective cohort study, the observed mortality of employees of four United States carbon black producters was compared with that expected on the basis of population death rates of the states in which the plants were located. Of 190 deaths among carbon black workers, 29 were due to malignant neoplasms and 89 were due to heart disease. Observed deaths of workers did not exceed expectation in any of the diagnostic categories examined.

Trisomies and triploidies in hamster embryos: induction by low-pressure hypoxia and pH imbalances.

The authors produced trisomic and triploid embryos by mating hamster females approximately 1 hr before estimated ovulation and subsequently submitting them to low-pressure atmospheres equivalent to those found at mountain altitudes for 6 hr. During hypoxic exposures in the low-pressure chamber, the continuous monitoring of pH levels--both subcutaneously and intramuscularly--registered pH decreases from inital values as high as 7.6 to below 6.

Ovum aging and pH imbalance as a cause of chromosomal anomalies in the hamster.

Using female hamsters mated in estrus, we have produced triploid embryos as manifestations of pregnancy wastage by combining delays of 3 to 4 hours in ferilization with exposure of the animals to hypoxia. Among the triploid embryos only XXX and XXY karotypes occurred, indicating derivation from XX-containing ova. These findings have relevance to human reproduction.

Hypoxia and induced mutations in Syrian (golden) hamsters. The origin and perpetuation of a species.

We were able to identify anomalous chromosome patterns-monosomy, trisomy, and polyploidy-in metaphase plates prepared from embryos of Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) whose mothers had been exposed to low-pressure hypoxia during the hours after copulation. These females were exposed in a low-pressure chamber for 4 hours at pressures equivalent to 30,000 feet of altitude before (estimated) ovulation to create acid shifts of pH equilibrium in the milieu of newly released eggs during passage of sperm upward, during fertilization itself, and during early cleavage stages. The D group chromosomes were most frequently involved in both monosomy and hyperdiploidy.