Design and Preliminary Evaluation of a Gait Control Strategy for Hip-Knee-Ankle-Foot Prostheses With Motorized Hip Joint.

Hip disarticulation (HD) amputees face mobility challenges due to the loss of hip, knee, and ankle joints. Current hip-knee-ankle-foot (HKAF) prostheses are entirely passive and require excessive compensatory movements to operate, leading to fatigue and long-term complications. Seeking to address these limitations, this study developed a HD user-centric, walking speed adaptable control strategy paired with a hip-motorized HKAF to emulate gait characteristics of transfemoral amputees.

A scoping review of digital fabrication techniques applied to prosthetics & orthotics: Part 2 of 2-orthotics.

Introduction: Traditionally, orthosis manufacturing is time and labor-intensive. Digitalization of some of the fabrication process is already ubiquitous, yet extension across device types could reduce the burden of manual labor and advance automation to help unblock access to assistive technologies globally. It seems, however, that appropriately strong evidence is holding this back.

Modeling seawater intrusion along the Alabama coastline using physical and machine learning models to evaluate the effects of multiscale natural and anthropogenic stresses.

Seawater intrusion threatens groundwater resources in coastal regions, including southern Baldwin County, Alabama, where the freshwater-saltwater interface dynamics remain poorly understood. To address this gap, this study uses combined physics-based and machine-learning models to quantify seawater intrusion caused by natural (storm surges) and anthropogenic (human activities) perturbations. The long short-term memory network and wavelet analysis were used to assess vertical aquifer vulnerabilities, revealing that the shallow part of the Coastal lowlands aquifer system (CL1) in the southern Baldwin County region is more susceptible to sea level rise and groundwater extraction than deeper aquifers.

A pelvic kinematic approach for calculating hip angles for active hip disarticulation prosthesis control.

Background: Control system design for a microprocessor-controlled hip-knee-ankle-foot (HKAF) prosthesis is a challenge since hip disarticulation amputees lack the entire leg and, therefore, only have pelvis movement as user-guided input. This research proposes a method for determining hip joint angles from pelvis movement in a control system for the next generation of powered prostheses.

Method: Three-dimensional pelvic motion and stance time of 10 transfemoral (TF) prosthetic users were used to identify important features and to develop an algorithm to calculate hip angles from pelvis movement based on correlation and linear regression results.

Long short-term memory models to quantify long-term evolution of streamflow discharge and groundwater depth in Alabama.

Long short-term memory (LSTM) models have been shown to be efficient for rainfall-runoff modeling, and to a lesser extent, for groundwater depth forecasting. In this study, LSTMs were applied to quantify the spatiotemporal evolution of surface and subsurface hydrographs in Alabama in the Southeastern United States, where water sustainability has not been fully quantified across spatiotemporal scales. First, the surface water LSTM model with extensive dynamic (precipitation and other weather variables) and static (basin characteristics) inputs predicted the main characteristics of streamflow for six years at 19 gauged basins in Alabama.

Design and evaluation of a hip prosthesis simulator: A technical note.

People with a limb loss at the level of the hip or pelvis have the most difficulty returning to walking compared with those with a lower amputation. This is because their prosthesis must replace the hip, knee, and ankle joints. An adjustable hip-disarticulation/hemipelvectomy prosthesis simulator that allows able-bodied individuals to wear and assess a prosthesis can help researchers and manufacturers when designing new prosthetic components (ie, hip joints).

Cross slope gait biomechanics for individuals with and without a unilateral transtibial amputation.

Background: This research was conducted to better understand compensatory strategies during cross-slope walking for adults with and without a unilateral transtibial amputation.

Methods: Fourteen individuals with unilateral transtibial amputation and 14 individuals with no lower limb amputation participated in this study. Motion and force data were captured while participants walked on a treadmill in a virtual reality environment for level and ± 5° cross slopes.

Production performance, egg quality and some blood parameters of heat-stressed laying hens as affected by dietary supplemental Vit B6, Mg and Zn.

Objectives: The effects of dietary supplements, including magnesium sulfate (Mg), zinc oxide (Zn) and vitamin B6 (Vit B6), on the performance of laying hens reared under normal (NC) and heat-stress (HSC) conditions were investigated.

Material And Methods: A total of 288 30-week-old Lohmann LSL-Lite laying hens were randomly divided into 48 cages and assigned to receive one of the eight diets with six replicates and six hens per replicate, based on a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. Dietary supplements, including two levels (0 & 600 mg/kg) of Mg, two levels (0 & 30 mg/kg) of Zn and two levels (0 & 8 mg/kg) of Vit B6, in normal and heat-stress conditions, were tested at 30-40 and 41-45 weeks of age, respectively.

On the use of virtual reality for individuals with upper limb loss: a systematic scoping review.

Introduction: Virtual reality has recently become a popular application for rehabilitation and motor control research. This technology has emerged as a valid addition to conventional therapy and promises a successful rehabilitation. This study describes recent research related to the use of virtual reality applications in the rehabilitation of individuals with upper limb loss and to see whether this technology has enough proof of its applicability.

Hip disarticulation and hemipelvectomy prostheses: A review of the literature.

Background: Although the global population of people with a hip disarticulation (HD) or hemipelvectomy (HP) amputation is small, the degree of disability is high, affecting function and independence. A comprehensive literature review is needed to examine the evidence for prostheses in these amputation levels.

Method: A scoping literature review was conducted to examine related research documents from 1950 to September 2020, found using Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases.

A review of history of CAD/CAM system application in the production of transtibial prosthetic socket in developing countries (from 1980 to 2019).

The development of the CAD/CAM (Computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing) system has globally changed the fabrication and delivery of prosthetics and orthotics. Furthermore, since the introduction of CAD/CAM in the 1980s, many successful CAD/CAM system are available in the market today. However, less than 20% of amputees have access to digital fabrication technology and large portion of the amputees are from the developing countries.

Compression and tension behavior of the prosthetic foam materials polyurethane, EVA, Pelite™ and a combination of polyurethane and EVA: a preliminary study.

Materials with low-strength and low-impedance properties, such as elastomers and polymeric foams are major contributors to prosthetic liner design. Polyethylene-Light (Pelite™) is a foam liner that is the most frequently used in prosthetics but it does not cater to all amputees' limb and skin conditions. The study aims to investigate the newly modified Foam Liner, a combination of two different types of foams (EVA + PU + EVA) as the newly modified Foam Liner in terms of compressive and tensile properties in comparison to Pelite™, polyurethane (PU) foam, and ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) foam.

The effect of various arm and walking conditions on postural dynamic stability when recovering from a trip perturbation.

Background: Appropriately responding to unexpected perturbations, such as a trip, is critical to sustain balance and avoid falling during walking.

Research Question: How do arm motion and walking asymmetry affect postural stability when recovering from a trip perturbation?

Methods: Fifteen healthy young individuals, who had no experience with treadmill induced perturbations, participated in this study. The Computer-Assisted Rehabilitation Environment system (CAREN-Extended) was used to simulate unexpected perturbations while walking symmetrically and asymmetrically with various arm swings (normal, bound, released).

Awareness, potential factors, and post-amputation care of stump flexion contractures among transtibial amputees.

Objectives: This study aims to assess the level of awareness of transtibial amputee patients on stump contractures and their compliance with efforts implemented to prevent the condition.

Patients And Methods: This study included 50 unilateral transtibial amputees (26 males, 24 females; mean age 55.4±14.

Effect of arm motion on postural stability when recovering from a slip perturbation.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of various arm swing on postural stability and recovery responses to an unexpected slip during treadmill walking. Fifteen healthy young adults (23.4 ± 2.

Transtibial amputee gait during slope walking with the unity suspension system.

Background: People with lower limb amputation may experience walking limitations on slopes because of missing musculoskeletal and neuromuscular systems. Elevated vacuum suspension could benefit transtibial amputee gait for slope walking, but research is lacking to inform clinical practice.

Methods: Twelve people with unilateral transtibial amputation were fitted with the Unity elevated vacuum suspension system (Össur) and Pro-Flex XC foot.

Effects of the unity vacuum suspension system on transtibial gait for simulated non-level surfaces.

Walking on various surfaces encountered in everyday life requires lower limb prosthesis users to continually adapt their movement patterns. Elevated vacuum suspension systems could improve transtibial amputee gait on non-level surfaces; however, research is lacking to guide clinical practice. Twelve transtibial amputees were fitted with the Össur sleeveless vacuum suspension system (Unity).

Improvement on upper limb body-powered prostheses (1921-2016): A systematic review.

Body-powered prostheses are known for their advantages of cost, reliability, training period, maintenance, and proprioceptive feedback. This study primarily aims to analyze the work related to the improvement of upper limb body-powered prostheses prior to 2016. A systematic review conducted via the search of the Web of Science electronic database, Google Scholar, and Google Patents identified 155 papers from 1921 to 2016.

Clinical evaluation of a prosthetic suspension system: Looped silicone liner.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate and compare a newly designed suspension system with a common suspension in the market.

Study Design: Prospective study.

Methods: Looped liners with hook fastener and Iceross Dermo Liner with pin/lock system were mechanically tested using a tensile testing machine in terms of system safety.

Prosthesis donning and doffing questionnaire: Development and validation.

Objectives: To develop a questionnaire that specifically evaluates the ability of trans-tibial amputees to don and doff a prosthesis and to investigate the psychometric properties of the newly developed questionnaire.

Background: Prosthesis should be donned and doffed few times during the day and night; thus, it is important to measure ease of donning and doffing.

Study Design: A cross-sectional study.

Analysis of voluntary opening Ottobock Hook and Hosmer Hook for upper limb prosthetics: a preliminary study.

There are a number of prosthetic terminal devices which offer functional restoration to individuals with upper limb deficiencies. Hosmer and Ottobock are major commercial hook providers for prosthetic terminal devices. The concern of this paper is to analyse the voluntary opening (VO) Ottobock model 10A18 and Hosmer model 99P hooks (one band) during opening operation and to find out favourable features in the design.

WITHDRAWN: Patient-specific interface pressure case study at transradial prosthetic socket: comparison trials between ICRC polypropylene socket and air splint socket.

Ahead of Print article withdrawn by publisher

Evaluation of postural steadiness in below-knee amputees when wearing different prosthetic feet during various sensory conditions using the Biodex® Stability System.

In recent years, computerized posturography has become an essential tool in quantitative assessment of postural steadiness in the clinical settings. The purpose of this study was to explore the ability of the Biodex(®) Stability System (BSS) to quantify postural steadiness in below-knee amputees. A convenience sample of 10 below-knee amputees participated in the study.

Knowledge creation in nursing education.

In today's society, knowledge is recognized as a valuable social asset and the educational system is in search of a new strategy that allows them to construct their knowledge and experience. The purpose of this study was to explore the process of knowledge creation in nursing education. In the present study, the grounded theory approach was used.