Publications by authors named "Masato Odagaki"
Objective: It is important to improve caregiving skills to help reduce the strain on inexperienced caregivers. Previous studies on quantifying caregiving skills have predominantly relied on expensive equipment, such as motion-capture systems with multiple infrared cameras or acceleration sensors. To overcome the cost and space limitations of existing systems, we developed a simple evaluation system for transfer care skills that uses capacitive sensors composed of conductive embroidery fibers.
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- The study explored how inhibitory cortical excitability and motor control are affected in individuals with degenerative cerebellar ataxia (DCA) compared to healthy individuals during ballistic-targeting movements.
- Sixteen participants were involved, with findings showing that individuals with DCA had a significantly longer cortical silent period (cSP) but no correlation between cSP and ataxia severity.
- The increased inhibitory activity in the brain may hinder motor control in DCA patients, and the study highlights the need for more research on motor control issues related to DCA, despite the small sample size.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigated how repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the cerebellum affects motor performance during targeting tasks in 22 healthy young adults.
- Participants completed a wrist manipulation task where they aimed to move a bar to a target as quickly as possible; they underwent either active or sham rTMS after the initial repetitions.
- Results showed that while the sham rTMS group improved in reaction time and accuracy, the active rTMS group experienced inhibited improvements, suggesting that low-frequency rTMS may disrupt motor learning and highlight the cerebellum's role in motor skill development and error correction.
Background: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), when applied over the primary motor cortex, elicits a motor-evoked potential (MEP) in electromyograms measured from peripheral muscles. MEP amplitude has often been observed to fluctuate trial to trial, even with a constant stimulus. Many factors cause MEP fluctuations in TMS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTranscranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the cerebellum facilitates the spinal reflex in healthy humans. The aim of this study was to investigate whether such cerebellar spinal facilitation (CSpF) appears in patients with spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) presenting with atrophy in the cerebellar gray matter and dentate nucleus. One patient with SCA type 6 and another with SCA type 31 participated in this study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTouch interface for sensing fingertip force in mobile device using electromyogram.
Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc
July 2015
The aim of this study is to develop a three-dimensional touch interface for mobile devices, specifically a touch interface for detecting fingertip force. This interface consists of a conventional touch interface and an electromyogram (EMG) amplifier. The fingertip force during manipulation of the touch interface is estimated from the EMG measurement.
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