String-pulling by rodents is a behavior in which animals make rhythmical body, head, and bilateral forearm as well as skilled hand movements to spontaneously reel in a string. Typical analysis includes kinematic assessment of hand movements done by manually annotating frames. Here, we describe a Matlab-based software that allows whole-body motion characterization using optical flow estimation, descriptive statistics, principal component, and independent component analyses as well as temporal measures of Fano factor, entropy, and Higuchi fractal dimension. Based on image-segmentation and heuristic algorithms for object tracking, the software also allows tracking of body, ears, nose, and forehands for estimation of kinematic parameters such as body length, body angle, head roll, head yaw, head pitch, and path and speed of hand movements. The utility of the task and software is demonstrated by characterizing postural and hand kinematic differences in string-pulling behavior of two strains of mice, C57BL/6 and Swiss Webster.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.54540 | DOI Listing |
Br J Nurs
January 2025
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Ward of the 21st Century, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Introduction: Peripheral intravenous cannulation (PIVC) is a common and complex procedure with low first-attempt success rates, causing patient suffering and increased healthcare costs. Quiet Eye (QE) training, a gaze-focused approach, has shown promise in improving procedural PIVC skills. We will examine the effectiveness of traditional technical training (TT) and QE training (QET) on student nurse PIVC performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
January 2025
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan Key Laboratory of Advanced Nylon Materials and Application, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
Piezoelectric polymer textiles offer distinct advantages in the fabrication of wearable nanogenerators (NGs). One effective strategy to enhance the output capacity of NGs is to modulate the piezoelectric performance of the textiles. This paper focuses on further improving the piezoelectric properties of nylon-11,11 textiles through post-drawing and annealing treatments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNutrients
January 2025
Department of Community Medicine, "Iuliu Hatieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400349 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Background/objectives: This study aimed to investigate the lifestyle and the behavioral factors that influence the nutritional status of adolescents from Transylvania, Romania.
Methods: The Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) was used to collect data from 900 adolescents between 11 and 18 years old from the Transylvania region, Romania. This study assessed nutritional status by calculating BMI indicators adjusted to Z-Score, cut-off points according to the World Health Organization (WHO), using self-reported weight and height; perceived health status; food vulnerability; physical activity; addictive behaviors (cigarette, alcohol and drug consumption); number of hours spent in front of the computer/phone; hand and oral hygiene; sitting time/day; and sleep.
Sensors (Basel)
January 2025
Division of Robotics, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia.
Wearable motion capture gloves enable the precise analysis of hand and finger movements for a variety of uses, including robotic surgery, rehabilitation, and most commonly, virtual augmentation. However, many motion capture gloves restrict natural hand movement with a closed-palm design, including fabric over the palm and fingers. In order to alleviate slippage, improve comfort, reduce sizing issues, and eliminate movement restrictions, this paper presents a new low-cost data glove with an innovative open-palm and finger-free design.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLife (Basel)
January 2025
Occupational Medicine Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, 40138 Bologna, Italy.
Musculoskeletal disorders are the most prevalent occupational health problem and are often related to biomechanical risk factors. Over the last forty years, observational methods for exposure assessment have been proposed. To apply them effectively in the field, an in-depth knowledge of each methodology and a solid understanding of their actual predictive value and limitations are required.
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