The ability to walk without support usually develops in the first year of a typically developing toddler's life and matures further in the following years. Mature walking is characterized by the correct timing of the different gait phases that make up a full gait cycle formed by stance, swing, and double support phases. The harmony of mature walking is given by a specific self-similar structure of the ratios between the durations of these phases (stride/stance, stance/swing, swing/double support), that in adults all converge to the golden ratio (phi, about 1.618). The aim of this longitudinal, prospective, experimental study was to investigate the evolution of this gait harmonic structure in the transition from supported to independent walking. In total, 27 children were recruited and recorded at various stages of locomotor development, ranging from neonatal stepping up to an independent walking experience of about six months. Differently from walking speed that progressively increased with age, the gait phase ratios started to converge to golden value only after the first independent steps, suggesting a relation to the maturation of the walking experience. The independent walking experience seems to represent a trigger for the evolution of a locomotor harmonic pattern in toddlers learning to walk.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12020155 | DOI Listing |
JMIR Diabetes
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Center for Evaluation and Survey Research, HealthPartners Institute, Bloomington, MN, United States.
Background: Food choices play a significant role in achieving glycemic goals and optimizing overall health for people with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) can provide a comprehensive look at the impact of foods and other behaviors on glucose in real time and over the course of time. The impact of using a nutrition-focused approach (NFA) when initiating CGM in people with T2D is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Orthopedics, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Ratchathewi, Bangkok, Thailand.
Among control methods for robotic exoskeletons, biologically inspired control based on central pattern generators (CPGs) offer a promising approach to generate natural and robust walking patterns. Compared to other approaches, like model-based and machine learning-based control, the biologically inspired control provides robustness to perturbations, requires less computational power, and does not need system models or large learning datasets. While it has shown effectiveness, a comprehensive evaluation of its user experience is lacking.
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Flinders University, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Caring Futures Institute, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
This study examined participation and predictors of walking sports enjoyment among Australian adult walking sport participants. An online cross-sectional survey assessed walking sport participation, enjoyment, and barriers and motives to participation. Physical activity behavior and motivations were also assessed.
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Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Background: The Getting Older Adults Outdoors (GO-OUT) randomized controlled trial showed that a workshop and 10-week park-based outdoor walk group (OWG) was superior to the workshop and 10 weekly reminders (WR) with increasing walking capacity, but not outdoor walking activity, health-promoting behavior, or successful aging, among older adults with difficulty walking outdoors. The objective of this planned process evaluation was to explore participants' perceptions of mechanisms of impact of and contextual factors influencing experiences with the interventions to help explain the observed intervention effects on study outcomes.
Methods: A qualitative descriptive study involving semi-structured interviews conducted at 6-months post-baseline was conducted.
Sci Transl Med
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Modular Implantable Neuroprostheses (MINE) Laboratory, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele & Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, 20132 Milan, Italy.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes severe motor and sensory deficits, and there are currently no approved treatments for recovery. Nearly 70% of patients with SCI experience pathological muscle cocontraction and spasticity, accompanied by clinical signs such as patellar hyperreflexia and ankle clonus. The integration of epidural electrical stimulation (EES) of the spinal cord with rehabilitation has substantial potential to improve recovery of motor functions; however, abnormal muscle cocontraction and spasticity may limit the benefit of these interventions and hinder the effectiveness of EES in promoting functional movements.
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