Applied use of biomechanical measurements from human tissues for the development of medical skills trainers: a scoping review.

Objective: The objective of this review was to identify quantitative biomechanical measurements of human tissues, the methods for obtaining these measurements, and the primary motivations for conducting biomechanical research.

Introduction: Medical skills trainers are a safe and useful tool for clinicians to use when learning or practicing medical procedures. The haptic fidelity of these devices is often poor, which may be because the synthetic materials chosen for these devices do not have the same mechanical properties as human tissues.

Applied use of biomechanical measurements from human tissues for the development of medical skills trainers: a scoping review protocol.

Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to identify the availability of quantitative biomechanical measurements from human tissues. This review will also consider the primary motivations for collecting biomechanical measurements of human tissues. The overall purpose of our research is to develop medical skills trainers that provide better haptic fidelity than those that are currently available.

Evaluation of a Fatigue Self-Management Program for People with Multiple Sclerosis.

Background: Fatigue is one of the most common and debilitating symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS). The program "Minimise Fatigue, Maximise Life: Creating Balance with Multiple Sclerosis" (MFML) was created in New Zealand because of the lack of a fatigue management program for people with MS in that country. This program aims to empower individuals with MS to manage their own symptoms of fatigue.

Nuclear translocation of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) determines cell fate after hypoxia ischemia in neonatal brain.

The inhibitors of apoptosis (IAPs) are emerging as key proteins in the control of cell death. In this study, we evaluated the expression and subcellular distribution of the antiapoptotic protein X-linked IAP (XIAP), and its interactions with the XIAP-associated factor 1 (XAF1) in neonatal rat brain following hypoxia-ischemia (HI). HI triggered the mitochondrial release of cytochrome c, Smac/DIABLO, and caspase 3 activation.

Sex differences in lateralisation of fine manual skills in children.

One hundred and twelve children (55 boys and 57 girls) were tested using two tasks taken from the Movement Assessment Battery for Children. The girls had a larger between-hands asymmetry than boys on the threading nuts on bolt task, thus indicating they were more lateralised. On the other task, placing pegs, no such sex differences were found.

Spatial and temporal constraints on performance in children with movement co-ordination problems.

Eight 10-year-old children manifesting movement co-ordination problems (MCP), as assessed by the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC), and a matched control group of eight children of a similar age without such problems, were required to carry out a laboratory ball-catching task. The task was constrained in such a way as to allow separate kinematic analyses of reaching (Experiment 1) and grasping (Experiment 2) subactions. Significant differences between the groups, in favour of the control group, were found with respect to both spatial and temporal performance in intercepting the moving ball.

Hand preference in children with developmental coordination disorders: cause and effect?

Inter- and intra-modal matching by eight-year-old children diagnosed as having hand-eye coordination problems (HECP) and categorized as left-handed, together with a left-handed control group of children without such problems, were tested using a manual sensory matching task. The task required the children to locate target pins, visually (seen target), proprioceptively (felt target) or in combination (felt and seen target), while matching to the located target was always carried out without vision. Performance was superior when the target was located visually or visually/proprioceptively for both groups of children.

Dynamics of hand preference in 4 year-old children.

Hand preference in groups of 4 year-old children towards either end of the skill continuum (as determined by the Movement ABC test) was explored by means of a catching task in which the 'direction of approach of the ball' was used as a control parameter within a dynamical systems framework. In Condition 1, the ball direction was systematically scaled in degrees from the right side of the subject to the left and vice versa. In Condition 2, the spatial location of the ball direction was varied randomly, rather than systematically, over the same range as for Condition 1.

The application of co-ordination dynamics to the analysis of discrete movements using table-tennis as a paradigm skill.

The purpose of this experiment was to explore the application of co-ordination dynamics to the analysis of discrete rather than cyclical movements. Subjects, standing in a fixed position, were required to return table-tennis balls delivered to different spatial locations in the direction of a fixed target. This was achieved in condition 1 by systematically scaling, from left to right and vice versa, the 'spatial location' of the ball-identified as a control parameter.

The efficient learner.

The research to be reported examines the concept of efficiency, defined as the relation of metabolic energy expended to mechanical work done. The development of movement coordination was investigated in the context of the hypothesis that an increase in coordination would be accompanied by a parallel reduction in overall energy expenditure, relative to the increase in energy expenditure demanded by improvements in work output. The task involved learning to make cyclical, slalom-like, ski movements on a ski apparatus.

Development of proprioceptive sensitivity.

The development of proprioceptive sensitivity was studied in 140 children between the ages of 5.8 and 11.8 years using a so-called foot-hand task.

Differential contributions of the two hemispheres in intra-modal proprioceptive sensory matching in 7-10-year-old boys.

This study explores putative differential contributions of the two hemispheres when 7-10-year-old right-hand and left-hand preferent boys are required to carry out a 'foot-hand' target location and matching task. The task required subjects to locate a target pin with the big-toe (felt target), and match the located target position with the hand, without vision. Right-handed (n=25) and left-handed (n=22) boys were tested in a four-condition design.

Proximal versus distal control in proprioceptively guided movements of motor-impaired children.

Two groups of 7-year-old children diagnosed as motor-impaired (N = 6) or as controls (N = 6) were required to perform a task that involved locating targets under a table-top with one hand while attempting to match the position of the target with the other, on the table-top (intra-modal matching), always without visual control. The experimental design involved three different conditions: proximal control (P), distal control (D) or both (PD). Target distance errors were analysed in terms of absolute (AE) and variable error.

'Putting your foot in it'! A window into clumsy behaviour.

Intra-modal matching by 7-year-old children diagnosed as having hand-eye co-ordination problems (HECP) and a control group of children without such problems was tested using a target location and matching task. The 'foot-hand' task required the children to locate a target pin with the 'big-toe' (felt target) and match the located target position with the hand, without vision. There were four conditions: location via right foot-matching the located target with the right hand (RfRh) and left hand (RfLh) and location via left foot-matching the located target with the left hand (LfLh) and right hand (LfRh).

We can cure your child's clumsiness! A review of intervention methods.

Intervention procedures for treatment of clumsiness have come in many guises. We have looked at some of the most powerful methods put forward in the past 30 years--Perceptual-motor training (PMT), Sensory Integration Therapy (SIT), and some promising new approaches. Both the PMT and the SIT have been heavily criticised.

Inter- and intrasensory modality matching in children with hand-eye coordination problems: exploring the developmental lag hypothesis.

This study set out to explore the suggestion that the problems experienced by 8-year-old children diagnosed as clumsy in the area of hand-eye coordination (HECP) might be attributed to a developmental lag. The performances of this group of HECP children were compared with those of groups of 5-year-old and 8-year-old controls without such deficits, when required to carry out a task involving pointing, without vision, to targets located, visually, visually/proprioceptively, or proprioceptively, the dependent variable being the distance error score from the centre of the target. The performances of the HECP children, when vision or vision/proprioception was used to locate the targets, were shown to be inferior to those of the two control groups of children thereby supporting a visual deficit hypothesis.

Inter- and intra-sensory modality matching in children with hand-eye co-ordination problems.

Inter- and intra-sensory modality matching by 8-year-old children diagnosed as having hand-eye co-ordination problems (HECP) and by a control group of children without such problems were tested using a target-location and pointing task. The task required the children to locate target pins visually (seen target), with the hand (felt target) or in combination (felt and seen target), while pointing to the located target was always carried out without vision. The most striking finding, for both the control and the HECP children, was the superiority of performance when the target had to be located visually.

The spatiotemporal structure of control variables during catching.

The discrepancy between traditional (force scaling models) and the more recently conceived dynamic explanations of load compensation (lambda model) was the departure point for the present study. By using the complex "open" motor skill of catching a ball--rather than the traditional "closed" skills--under "normal" (baseline) conditions and under conditions where a spring load was applied to the catching hand (thereby changing the dynamics of the skeletomuscular system) it was hoped to provide further clarification of this issue. Traditional force scaling models, in this respect, would predict that maximal closing velocity of the grasp action, and movement time would not be significantly different between a control and a spring-load condition.

Interference between saccadic eye and goal-directed hand movements.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the nature of the interference effect when the eye is accompanied by a goal-directed hand movement rather than when the eye moves alone. Latencies of eye and hand movements in response to small and large visual target stimuli were measured while employing dual-task methodology. Experiments 1 and 2 were designed to investigate whether the interference effect is related to a specific temporal bottleneck, i.

Reaction time latencies of eye and hand movements in single- and dual-task conditions.

The goal of this study was to investigate whether ocular and hand motor systems operate independently or whether they share processes. Using dual-task methodology, reaction time (RT) latencies of saccadic eye and hand motor responses were measured. In experiment 1, the hand and eye motor systems produced rapid, aimed pointing movements to a visual target, which could occur either to the left or right of a central fixation point.

The visual guidance of catching.

In order to explore the nature and amount of information in the optic array used by subjects required to carry out one-handed catching actions, the optical expansion pattern (using a deflating ball) and the duration of viewing time (using liquid crystal spectacles) of the ball were varied. Subjects were required to catch luminous balls (two of constant physical size and one of changing physical size during approach) attached to a pendulum in a totally dark room, while the liquid spectacles were closed at 0, 100, 200 or 300 ms before hand-ball contact. The results confirmed previous findings that the timing of the catching action is based on retinal expansion information and that conclusion was strengthened when an additional dependent variable (time of the maximal opening velocity of the grasp) was used.

The acquisition of catching under monocular and binocular conditions.

The effects of binocular and monocular viewing on spatial and temporal errors in one-handed catching were investigated in two experiments. The first experiment-using expert catchers-recorded more spatial errors under the monocular than under the binocular condition. No significant differences in the number of temporal errors were apparent.

A dynamical systems approach to skill acquisition.

This paper argues that the answer to the question, what has to be learned, needs to be established before the question, how is it learned, can be meaningfully addressed. Based on this conviction, some of the limitations of current and past research on skill acquisition are discussed. Motivated by the dynamical systems approach, the question of "what has to be learned" was tackled by setting up a non-linear mathematical model of the task (i.

The role of predictive visual temporal information in the coordination of muscle activity in catching.

This study addresses the question as to the nature of the information on which the preactivation of the appropriate muscles in the grasping of the ball in a one-handed catching task is initiated and coordinated. High speed film and electromyograms were recorded while experiences subjects (N = 4) caught balls--projected towards them by a ball-machine at different speeds (11.9, 13.

Acquiring an attacking forehand drive: the effects of static and dynamic environmental conditions.

Two groups of 10 novice subjects each were trained to perform attacking forehand drives in table tennis and land the balls as fast and as accurately as possible onto a target on the opposite side of the net under two different training conditions. Under the static training condition, the balls were to be struck from a constant position, and under the dynamic training condition, balls approached the subjects in a normal way. Both groups were tested under dynamic conditions prior to and after four days of training, during which they received 1,600 practice trials.