Acute Exposure to Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) has effects on the electroencephalogram and electrocardiogram, consistent with vagal nerve stimulation.

Background: Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) is a telecommunications system widely used by police and emergency services around the world. The Stewart Report on mobile telephony and health raised questions about possible health effects associated with TETRA signals. This study investigates possible effects of TETRA signals on the electroencephalogram and electrocardiogram in human volunteers.

Dynamic Neuromuscular Control of the Lower Limbs in Response to Unexpected Single-Planar versus Multi-Planar Support Perturbations in Young, Active Adults.

Purpose: An anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury involves a multi-planar injury mechanism. Nevertheless, unexpected multi-planar perturbations have not been used to screen athletes in the context of ACL injury prevention yet could reveal those more at risk. The objective of this study was to compare neuromuscular responses to multi-planar (MPP) and single-planar perturbations (SPP) during a stepping-down task.

Age-Related Deviation of Gait from Normality in Alkaptonuria.

Alkaptonuria is a rare metabolic disease leading to systemic changes including early and severe arthropathy which affects mobility. For unknown reasons, the onset of degenerative changes is delayed to around 30 years of age when both objective and subjective symptoms develop. In order to complement description of the structural changes in alkaptonuria with measures of movement function, clinical gait analysis was added to the list of assessments in 2013.

Does outstretching the arms improve postural stability?

We spontaneously outstretch our arms when standing upon challenging surfaces, yet the effect of stretching the arms upon postural stability is unknown. We investigated whether stretching out the arms laterally improves postural control during tandem stance on a narrow beam. Twelve healthy participants stood upon a beam, right foot in front of the left foot, for 30s with arms outstretched or down to the side, with eyes open and closed.

Rapid weight-loss impairs simulated riding performance and strength in jockeys: implications for making-weight.

Despite the performance concerns of dehydration in other sports, there are currently no data on the effects of rapid weight-loss on the physical and cognitive performance of jockeys in a sport-specific context. In a randomised crossover design, eight Great Britain (GB) male licensed jockeys were assessed for chest strength, leg strength, simulated riding performance (assessed by maximum pushing frequency on a mechanical riding simulator during the final two furlongs of a simulated 2 mile race) and simple reaction time after performing 45 min of exercise, during which euhydration was maintained (Control trial) or induced 2% dehydration (Rapid Weight-Loss trial). Reductions in both chest (-13.

TETRA mobile radios interfere with electroencephalography recording equipment.

We observed an anomaly in the human electroencephalogram (EEG) associated with exposure to terrestrial trunked radio (TETRA) Radiofrequency Fields (RF). Here, we characterize the time and frequency components of the anomaly and demonstrate that it is an artefact caused by TETRA RF interfering with the EEG recording equipment and not by any direct or indirect effect on the brain.

A gait index may underestimate changes of gait: a comparison of the Movement Deviation Profile and the Gait Deviation Index.

The ability of the Movement Deviation Profile (MDP) and Gait Deviation Index (GDI) to detect gait changes was compared in a child with cerebral palsy who underwent game training. Conventional gait analysis showed that sagittal plane angles became mirrored about normality after training. Despite considerable gait changes, the GDI showed minimal change, while the MDP detected a difference equal to a shift between 10-9 on the Functional Assessment Questionnaire scale.

The effects of virtual reality game training on trunk to pelvis coupling in a child with cerebral palsy.

Background: Good control of trunk and pelvic movements is necessary for well controlled leg movements required to perform activities of daily living. The nature of movement coupling between the trunk and pelvis varies and depends on the type of activity. Children with cerebral palsy often have reduced ability to modulate coupling between the trunk and pelvis but movement patterns of the pelvis can be improved by training.

Movement deviation profile: a measure of distance from normality using a self-organizing neural network.

We introduce the Movement Deviation Profile (MDP), which is a single curve showing the deviation of an individual's movement from normality. Joint angles, recorded from typically developing children over one gait cycle, were used to train a self-organizing map (SOM) which then generated MDP curves for patients with gait problems. The mean MDP over the gait cycle showed a high correlation (r(2) = .

Relaxation strategies and enhancement of hypnotic susceptibility: EEG neurofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation and self-hypnosis.

Hypnosis has been shown to be efficacious in a range of clinical conditions, including the management of chronic pain. However, not all individuals are able to enter a hypnotic state, thereby limiting the clinical utility of this technique. We sought to determine whether hypnotic susceptibility could be increased using three methods thought to facilitate relaxation, with particular interest in an EEG neurofeedback protocol which elevated the theta to alpha ratio.

Temporal dynamics of parietal cortex involvement in visual search.

The functional-neuroanatomic relationship that describes the involvement of the parietal cortex in visual search was investigated using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS; 10 Hz, 500 ms in duration). Twelve adult participants performed feature-based visual search for a unique letter-without eye movements-under conditions that involved manipulations of search efficiency (efficient versus inefficient) and target-selection demands (set-size: 4 versus 10). rTMS was applied over the right posterior parietal cortex at the onset of the search array for all factorial conditions (0-500 ms); stimulation was additionally administered at 500 ms post-array onset (500-1000 ms) during inefficient search (set-size 10).