Personalized rehabilitation approach for reaching movement using reinforcement learning.

Musculoskeletal disorders challenge significantly the performance of many daily life activities, thus impacting the quality of life. The efficiency of the traditional physical therapy programs is limited by ecological parameters such as intervention duration and frequency, number of caregivers, geographic accessibility, as well as by subjective factors such as patient's motivation and perseverance in training. The implementation of VR rehabilitation systems may address these limitations, but the technology still needs to be improved and clinically validated.

Drawing Direction Effect on a Task's Performance Characteristics among People with Essential Tremor.

Essential tremor (ET) is a common movement disorder affecting the performance of various daily tasks, including drawing. While spiral-drawing task characteristics have been described among patients with ET, research about the significance of the drawing direction of both spiral and lines tasks on the performance process is scarce. This study mapped inter-group differences between people with ET and controls related to drawing directions and the intra-effect of the drawing directions on the tremor level among people with ET.

Advancing global health through engineering: a perspective on teaching an online global health course to engineers during a global pandemic.

Background: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education has been felt worldwide. There are many lessons to be learned about teaching and learning in the digital age. While we evaluate the full impact and prepare ourselves for the new normal, it is worth reflecting on some of the positive aspects of online teaching and learning and understanding how students, teachers and the wider faculty have been able to support each other through the challenges of the pandemic.

The Effect of an Interphase Interval on Electrically Induced Dorsiflexion Force and Fatigue in Subjects With an Upper Motor Neuron Lesion.

The study objective was to investigate the effects of an interphase interval (IPI) interposed between the two phases of a biphasic symmetric pulse, on electrically induced contraction (EIC) forces and fatigue during stimulation of the ankle dorsiflexors in individuals with an upper motor neuron lesion (UMNL). The dorsiflexor muscles of 20 subjects with UMNL routinely using functional electrical stimulation to correct a foot drop during ambulation, were electrically stimulated with biphasic pulses (250 µs phase duration and 35 Hz pulse frequency) using nine IPI durations (ranging from 0 to 400 µs). The induced muscle force and fatigue were measured.

The effect of electrode placement and interphase interval on force production during stimulation of the dorsiflexor muscles.

The aims of this study were to investigate whether introducing an interphase interval (IPI) to biphasic pulses during stimulation of the dorsiflexor muscles would affect force production and to determine whether the IPI effect is dependent on electrode position. Twelve healthy volunteers participated in the study. Each subject participated in one session during which electrically induced contraction (EIC) forces of the ankle dorsiflexors were measured with five different IPI settings ranging from 0 to 400 μs.