Development of sarcopenia assessment system using balance and gait ability: Preliminary tests in the elderly.

Background: Sarcopenia is a disease that has recently become an issue, and research on various assessment methods is being conducted based on guidelines published for the diagnosis of sarcopenia. However, most assessments are complex because the inspector must measure each device to collect data, or the elderly must directly manipulate and get assessment.

Objective: In this study, we developed an sarcopenia assessment system to assess and analyze various sarcopenia in one system.

Evacuation safety effects of a lightweight elevator-type evacuation device using carbon material: Focus on plantar pressure and muscle strength.

Background: Elevator-type evacuation devices have proven to be feasible in high-rise buildings through studies on safety performance and evacuation time. However, there is a lack of research on safety using biosignal analysis in the elderly population.

Objective: A carbon material is used in this study to reduce the weight of an evacuation elevator.

The development of split-treadmill with a fall prevention training function.

Background: The weakening of the ability of the elderly to perform gait is becoming a major cause of the increase in the frequency of falls.

Objective: In this study, we designed and manufactured a treadmill capable of restraining walking by providing a sudden repulsive force on the left and right legs of a pedestrian when walking for the fall prevention training of the elderly. Through this, it is possible for the elderly person to strengthen the lower extremity muscles to prevent and prepare for falling through the fall prevention training similar to the fall environment that may occur in daily life.

Characteristics of physiological data during asymmetric gait of healthy subjects using a two-belt treadmill.

Background: Mobile rehabilitation systems for patients with gait disorder are being developed. Safety functions to prevent patients from falling are considered during product development; however, few studies have been conducted on systems that have been prevalidated for healthy adults prior to application to patients.

Objective: This study analyzed the characteristics of lower extremity muscles and foot pressure in healthy adults during unbalanced walking with differences in the speed of left and right speed using a two-belt treadmill.

The effect of exercise load deviations in whole body vibration on improving muscle strength imbalance in the lower limb.

Background: The amount of patients with muscle imbalance of the left and right side increases rapidly due to an incorrect lifestyle.

Objective: We investigated the optimal exercise load required to improve muscle imbalance.

Methods: Thirty participants were enrolled in the study.

Effect of whole body vibration on lactate level recovery and heart rate recovery in rest after intense exercise.

Objective: In this paper, we investigated the recovery of the lactate level, muscular fatigue, and heart rate recovery (HRR) with respect to whole body vibration (WBV) during the rest stage after a gait exercise.

Methods: A total of 24 healthy subjects with no medical history of exercise injury participated. The participants were divided into a training group with vibration during rest and a control group with the same conditions but without vibration.

A study on trunk muscle activation patterns according to tilt angle during whole body tilts.

Background: Lower back pain has a lifetime prevalence of 80% for people in a modern society, and in recent years, spinal stabilization movement has been highlighted as a method to treat lower back pain and an unbalanced position.

Objective: The objectives of this study were to assess the trunk muscle activities in accordance with the tilt angles (10∘, 20∘, 30∘, 40∘) during trunk tilt exercises with a 3D dynamic exercise device.

Methods: Active tilt mode (a self-generated active movement in the angle and direction steered by the user) was used in this study.

Gestalt-like constraints produce veridical (Euclidean) percepts of 3D indoor scenes.

This study, which was influenced a lot by Gestalt ideas, extends our prior work on the role of a priori constraints in the veridical perception of 3D shapes to the perception of 3D scenes. Our experiments tested how human subjects perceive the layout of a naturally-illuminated indoor scene that contains common symmetrical 3D objects standing on a horizontal floor. In one task, the subject was asked to draw a top view of a scene that was viewed either monocularly or binocularly.

Comparative analysis for evaluating the traceability of interventional devices using blood vessel phantom models made of PVA-H or silicone.

Objective: In this paper, we investigated the parameters with effective traceability to assess the mechanical properties of interventional devices.

Methods: In our evaluation system, a box-shaped poly (vinyl alcohol) hydrogel (PVA-H) and silicone were prepared with realistic geometry, and the measurement and evaluation of traceability were carried out on devices using load hand force. The phantom models had a total of five curve pathways to reach the aneurysm sac.

Spatially-global integration of closed, fragmented contours by finding the shortest-path in a log-polar representation.

Finding the occluding contours of objects in real 2D retinal images of natural 3D scenes is done by determining, which contour fragments are relevant, and the order in which they should be connected. We developed a model that finds the closed contour represented in the image by solving a shortest path problem that uses a log-polar representation of the image; the kind of representation known to exist in area V1 of the primate cortex. The shortest path in a log-polar representation favors the smooth, convex and closed contours in the retinal image that have the smallest number of gaps.

Influence of bundle diameter and attachment point on kinematic behavior in double bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using computational model.

A protocol to choose the graft diameter attachment point of each bundle has not yet been determined since they are usually dependent on a surgeon's preference. Therefore, the influence of bundle diameters and attachment points on the kinematics of the knee joint needs to be quantitatively analyzed. A three-dimensional knee model was reconstructed with computed tomography images of a 26-year-old man.

A Bayesian model of binocular perception of 3D mirror symmetrical polyhedra.

In our previous studies, we showed that monocular perception of 3D shapes is based on a priori constraints, such as 3D symmetry and 3D compactness. The present study addresses the nature of perceptual mechanisms underlying binocular perception of 3D shapes. First, we demonstrate that binocular performance is systematically better than monocular performance, and it is close to perfect in the case of three out of four subjects.

Age affects the latency of the erector spinae response to sudden loading.

Background: Aging and a past history of low back pain are risk factors for a future low back pain. Recent findings have demonstrated an impaired feed-forward control of paraspinal muscles during upper limb loading in low back pain patients as well as decreased feed-forward mechanism in elderly. The aims of the current study were to assess the age-related changes in paraspinal reflex latencies, flexion movement as well as flexion moment of the lumbar spine during sudden upper limb loading and the expectation effects via feed-forward mechanism on these postural responses.

Experimental studies on the training of postural control using an unstable platform.

We performed experimental studies on the training of postural control using a training system which consists of an unstable platform, a computer, a computer interface, a monitoring device, and training programs. Using this system with the training programs that we have developed, we performed a variety of experiments of training the abilities of postural control of subjects. To evaluate the effects of the training, the parameters on how long a subject can maintain a focus on a target, the mean absolute deviation of the trace, and the fatigue of the muscles in lower limbs were measured.

Design of an intravenous oxygenator.

The aim of this study was to design a new intravenous blood-gas exchange device and to estimate the design characteristics of the device with a dimensionless function by using a substance that can be used instead of bovine blood. In addition, the characteristics of oxygen transfer were estimated using empirical formulas and the reliability of the equations was ascertained by comparing their output with an experiment performed using bovine blood. The dimensionless function was derived using distilled water and bovine blood to estimate the oxygen transfer rate.