A Dashboard for Managing an Ecosystem and People With Dementia: Protocol for a Healthy Ageing Ecosystem for People With Dementia (HAAL) International Feasibility Pilot Study.

Background: Dementia is a syndrome characterized by a wide spectrum of symptoms and needs. There is no cure for this syndrome, which represents a major challenge to society in terms of quality of life for those affected and in terms of workload and stress burden for those who take care of them.

Objective: The Healthy Ageing Ecosystem for People With Dementia (HAAL) aimed to improve the quality of life of both people with dementia and their formal caregivers (FCs) and informal caregivers (ICs) by providing a personalized set of devices to the person with dementia, along with a dashboard designed for caregivers to monitor and manage the older person.

A Virtual Reality Force Control Training System on Brain Activation: Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Study.

Background: Aging can bring upon several effects that can hinder one's quality of life. One of the effects is the decline in one's ability to perform activities of daily living, which is caused by the loss of hand function due to aging. To mitigate this, several virtual reality (VR)-based training or rehabilitation systems that use hand tracking were developed.

Pei-Wo Drone: a home-based exercise guidance system with a drone for older adults.

Active and healthy aging is in great demand in an aging society. Maintaining a high level of physical function is a key aspect of healthy aging. However, many older adults engage in low levels of exercise and physical activity, often due to limited motivation or access to proper guidance.

The evaluation of a decision support system integrating assistive technology for people with dementia at home.

Introduction: With a decreasing workforce of carers and a transition from care homes to home care, people with dementia (PwD) increasingly rely on informal caregivers (ICs) and assistive technologies (ATs). There is growing evidence that ATs in the home environment can reduce workload for formal carers (FCs) and ICs, reduce care costs, and can have a positive influence on quality of life (QoL) for PwD and their caregivers. In practice, using multiple ATs still often implies using different separate point solutions and applications.

Behavior of medial gastrocnemius muscle beneath kinesio taping during isometric contraction and badminton lunge performance after fatigue induction.

Kinesio taping (KT) is widely used in sports for performance improvement and injury prevention. However, little is known of the behavior of the muscle region beneath the KT with movement, particularly when the muscle is fatigued. Accordingly, this study investigated the changes in the medial gastrocnemius muscle architecture and fascia thickness when using KT during maximum isometric plantar flexion (MVIC) and badminton lunges following heel rise exercises performed to exhaustion.

Externally applied force helps reduce bowstring effect of flexors in patients with carpal tunnel release surgery.

Background: Patients with severe carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) undergo carpal tunnel release (CTR) surgery to alleviate pressure in the carpal tunnel. However, the subsequent lack of the transverse carpal ligament (TCL) causes the bowstring phenomenon of the flexor tendons and increases the potential incidence of trigger finger.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of various compressive forces on the flexor tendon and identify the appropriate force needed to mitigate the bowstring effect of those flexors.

A Novel and Clinically Feasible Instrument for Quantifying Upper Limb Muscle Tone and Motor Function via Indirect Measure Methods.

Objective: Quantifying muscle tone is often based on a tester's subjective judgment in clinical settings. There is, however, a lack of suitable tools that can be used to objectively assess muscle tone. This study thus introduces a reliable, clinically-feasible device, called the Arm Circumference Motor Evaluation System (ACMES), for quantifying the muscle tone of upper limbs without using mechanical torque transducers.

Force Control Strategy of Five-Digit Precision Grasping With Aligned and Unaligned Configurations.

Objective: To investigate the digit force control during a five-digit precision grasp in aligned (AG) and unaligned grasping (UG) configurations.

Background: The effects of various cylindrical handles for tools on power grasp performance have been previously investigated. However, there is little information on force control strategy of precision grasp to fit various grasping configurations.

Comparison of knee biomechanical characteristics during exercise between pinnacle and step trainers.

Background: A novel stair-climber called a pinnacle trainer (PT) provides both sagittal and frontal plane exercise, making it different from a step trainer (ST), which provides only sagittal plane exercise. Exercise with different trajectories may produce different biomechanical responses. There are currently no guidelines for choosing between a PT and a ST for different training or rehabilitation purposes.

Digit Force Controls and Corresponding Brain Activities in Finger Pressing Performance: A Comparison Between Older Adults and Young Individuals.

This study aims toward an investigation and comparison of the digital force control and the brain activities of older adults and young groups during digital pressing tasks. A total of 15 young and 15 older adults were asked to perform force ramp tasks at different force levels with a custom pressing system. Near-infrared spectroscopy was used to collect the brain activities in the prefrontal cortex and primary motor area.

Comprehensive simulation on morphological and mechanical properties of trigger finger - A cadaveric model.

Trigger finger has long been a common disorder in hand orthopedics. To clarify the unknown causative factors regarding the disease, numerous experiments were done on human cadavers, including tendon forces, tendon moment arm, mechanical properties of the pulley, gliding resistance, etc. However, most of these studies were conducted on normal fingers.

Characteristics of Sonography in a Rat Achilles Tendinopathy Model: Possible Non-invasive Predictors of Biomechanics.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the dynamic changes of histopathology, biomechanical properties, echo intensity, and ultrasound features in a collagenase-induced tendinopathy model of rat Achilles tendons, and to examine the associations among biomechanical properties, echo intensity, and ultrasound features. Forty-two rats received an ultrasound-guided collagenase injection on their left Achilles tendons, and needle puncture on the right ones as the control. At four, eight, and twelve weeks post-injury, the tendons were examined via measurements of their biomechanical properties, histopathological and ultrasonographic characteristics.

The Potential Risk Factors Relevant to Lateral Epicondylitis by Wrist Coupling Posture.

The use of awkward wrist postures and unskilled techniques might induce lateral epicondylitis. This study thus investigated the effects of wrist deviation combined with extension and movement velocity on the dynamic performances of the wrist muscles during the coupling posture via a custom-made bi-planar isokinetic dynamometer. Thirty subjects were recruited to perform the isokinetic testing.

Is the Control of Applied Digital Forces During Natural Five-digit Grasping Affected by Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Background: The impaired sensory function of the hand induced by carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is known to disturb dexterous manipulations. However, force control during daily grasping configuration among the five digits has not been a prominent focus of study. Because grasping is so important to normal function and use of a hand, it is important to understand how sensory changes in CTS affect the digit force of natural grasp.

The relationships between foot arch volumes and dynamic plantar pressure during midstance of walking in preschool children.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between the foot arch volume measured from static positions and the plantar pressure distribution during walking.

Methods: A total of 27 children, two to six years of age, were included in this study. Measurements of static foot posture were obtained, including navicular height and foot arch volume in sitting and standing positions.

One digit interruption: the altered force patterns during functionally cylindrical grasping tasks in patients with trigger digits.

Most trigger digit (TD) patients complain that they have problems using their hand in daily or occupational tasks due to single or multiple digits being affected. Unfortunately, clinicians do not know much about how this disease affects the subtle force coordination among digits during manipulation. Thus, this study examined the differences in force patterns during cylindrical grasp between TD and healthy subjects.

Migration patterns and cell functions of adipose-derived stromal cells on self-assembled monolayers with different functional groups.

Microenvironments provide cues to stem cells and induce signals to direct their fate. With a view toward further understanding the correlation between surface chemistry and cell functions of stem cells, adipose-derived stromal cells (ADSCs) and self-assembled monolayers terminated with four different functional groups (-CH3, -NH2, -COOH and -OH) were used to assess cell adhesion, migration and differentiation potential in short-term incubation. Quantitative time-lapse microscopic analysis revealed that migration speed and patterns were strongly regulated by surface chemistry.

Three-dimensional measurement of foot arch in preschool children.

Background: The prevalence of flexible flatfoot is high among preschool-aged children, but the effects of treatment are inconclusive due to the unclear definitions of normal flatfoot. To date, a universally accepted evaluation method of the foot arch in children has not been completely established. Our aims of this study were to establish a new method to evaluate the foot arch from a three dimensional perspective and to investigate the flexibility of the foot arch among children aged from two to six.

Effects of cell concentration and collagen concentration on contraction kinetics and mechanical properties in a bone marrow stromal cell-collagen construct.

A cell-collagen construct is commonly used to investigate the phenomenon of wound healing and to estimate the variables for tissue engineering. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of cell concentration and collagen concentration on the contraction kinetics and mechanical properties of bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) seeded collagen lattices. To investigate the effects of both variables on the contraction kinetics, the construct contraction was monitored up to 13 days.

The effects of bone marrow stromal cell transplants on tendon healing in vitro.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) on tendon healing in a canine ex vivo model. Bone marrow was harvested and BMSCs were isolated and cultured according to established protocols. Cells were seeded into 0.