Kinesiology Commons^™

Efficacy Of The Opensim Simulator As A Tool To Detect Changes In Gait: A Peripheral Artery Disease Model, Cody Anderson, Hafiz Rahman, Irakis Pipinos, Jason Johanning, Sara Myers

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

INTRODUCTION

Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) is characterized by atherosclerotic plaques in the leg arteries. A common treatment for PAD is supervised exercise training [1]. However, gait is not fully restored following supervised exercise training (SET). Musculoskeletal simulation may provide insight into how muscle activation changes following SET contributed to persistent gait alterations.

METHODS

Kinematic and kinetic data from overground walking of patients with PAD (n=12), before and after a 6-month exercise intervention, was used as input for musculoskeletal modeling (OpenSim). The subjects in our sample were subdivided based on the location of ischemic muscle pain, as reported on the San …

A Systematic Review: Long Range Correlations In Running Gait, Mr. Taylor Wilson

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Long range correlations (LRCs) are apparent in human walking and running gait and are indicative of a healthy system. A systematic review (SR) was completed to determine the typical LRC patterns in running. 20 articles were included in the SR. LRCs in running gait tend to be similar to the LRCs in walking gait, with fatigue contributing to a negative effect on the LRCs.

This SR could have implications on training guidelines for coaches and physical therapy methods to increase the LRCs in running gait for healthier functioning. More research is needed to determine how LRCs depend on running surface …

Development Of A Modular Activity-Specific Upper Limb Prosthesis, Rahul Raj

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The use of activity-specific upper-limb prosthesis helps children with upper-limb loss to engage in functional and recreational activities, such as music and sports. The purpose of this study was to develop a modular activity-specific prosthesis and develop a remote-fitting procedure. We evaluated patient satisfaction after using the device for 8 weeks and evaluated anthropometric and range of motion (ROM) measurements of the residual limb after use of the prosthesis. We enrolled 7 children with unilateral trans-radial amputations between 7 and 12 years of age. The modular activity- specific prosthesis was specifically designed for playing musical instruments and sports. A survey …

Examining Physical Activity In Users Of Campus Recreation During Campus Closure Due To Covid-19. Journal Of Kinesiology And Wellness, Katie Burcal, Michaela Schenkelberg, Jeanne Surface, Danae Dinkel

Journal Articles

Burcal K., et. al. Campus recreation facilities are a critical resource to encourage physical activity at universities. COVID-19 closures in 2020 led to the shutdown of many campuses, which included campus recreation facilities. Little is known about how the closures impacted the physical activity levels of students, faculty, and staff who relied on campus recreation for physical activity opportunities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if individuals who were users of campus recreation prior to campus closure continued to be physically active when campus closed. The survey was completed by 282 previous users (students, faculty, and staff) …

Considerations For Implementation Of An Ankle-Foot Orthosis To Improve Mobility In Peripheral Artery Disease, Ayisha Bashir, Danae Dinkel, Ganesh M. Bapat, Holly Despiegelaere, Mahdi Hassan, Jason M. Johanning, Iraklis I. Pipinos, Sara A. Myers

Journal Articles

Objective

To explore the perceptions of wearing an ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) who did and did not adopt the AFO intervention. This follows a clinical trial of the effectiveness of an AFO in improving walking distances for patients with PAD-related claudication.

Design

A randomized crossover trial of standard of care and an AFO for 3 months. Semistructured interviews were conducted 1.5 months into the AFO intervention to understand acceptability, demand, implementation, and practicality. Data were analyzed using a summative content analysis approach.

Setting

Vascular surgery clinic and biomechanics research laboratory.

Participants

Patients (N=15; …

Examining Differences In Achievement Of Physical Activity Best Practices Between Urban And Rural Child Care Facilities By Age, Danae Dinkel, John Rech, Yage Guo, Matthew R. Bice, Emily Hulse, Donnia Behrends, Christina Burger, Dipti Dev

Journal Articles

Go Nutrition and Physical activity Self Assessment in Child Care (NAP SACC) is an evidence based intervention developed to positively impact childhood obesity in early childhood education (ECE) facilities. One focus of Go NAP SACC is the development of physical activity best practices. However, little research has examined differences in achievement of best practices based on age of child and geographic location. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in the achievement of physical activity best practices between urban and rural childcare facilities by age-specific recommendations (infants, toddlers, and preschoolers) and in the overall physical activity environment. Urban …

A Cross-Sectional Examination Of Physical Activity, Sedentary Time, And Sleep Between Adults With And Without Children In The Home Using The National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey, Danae Dinkel, Kelsey Lu, Jemima John, Kailey Snyder, Lisette T. Joacobson

Journal Articles

Background: Physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior, and sleep are interconnected, promoting optimal health. Few studies have examined these factors holistically. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to capture the 24-hour activity cycles of the US population by examining PA, sedentary behavior, and sleep based on the presence of a child within the home, as well as gender and weight. Methods: Cross-sectional health-related variables from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used for analysis. The primary variables were the total and type of PA (recreation, work, and active transportation), sedentary behavior, and sleep. Chi-square and regression …

Microvascular Dysfunction In Peripheral Artery Disease: Is Heat Therapy A Viable Treatment?, Cody P. Anderson, Elizabeth J. Pekas, Song-Young Park

Health and Kinesiology Faculty Publications

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is characterized by the development of atherosclerotic plaques in the lower-body conduit arteries. PAD is commonly accompanied by microvascular disease, which may result in poor wound healing, plantar ulcer development, and subsequent limb amputation. Understanding the mechanisms underlying the development of plantar ulcers is a critical step in the development of adequate treatment options for patients with PAD. Skin is classified into two major components: glabrous and non-glabrous. These skin types have unique microcirculation characteristics, making it important to differentiate between the two when investigating mechanisms for plantar ulcer development in PAD. There is evidence for …

Mental Health Mobile App Use: Considerations For Serving Underserved Patients In Integrated Primary Care Settings, Margaret R. Emerson, Jennifer Harsh Caspari, Maxine Notice, Shinobu Watanabe-Galloway, Danae Dinkel, Josiane Kabayundo

Journal Articles

Depression, the most commonly experienced mental illness, affects more than 264 million people and is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide [1]. Depression, or major depressive disorder, is characterized by depressed mood and often accompanies other symptoms such as lack of interest, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness, impaired thinking, psychomotor agitation or slowing, thoughts of being better off dead and/or of suicide [2]. According to the 2018 National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 17.7 million or 7.7% of U.S. adults met the criteria for having a major depressive episode in the past year [ …

Perspectives Of Infant Active Play: A Qualitative Comparison Of Working Versus Stay-At-Home Parents, Kailey Snyder, John Rech, Kimberly Masuda, Danae Dinkel

Journal Articles

Background: Parents play a key role in infant’s development through their interactions and the type of environment they provide to promote active play. The amount of time parents are able to spend with their infant is dependent on their working status, yet few studies have explored parent perception of their infant’s active play by working status. The purpose of this study was to explore parent perception of active play and compare responses between working and stay-at-home parents. Methods: Twenty-nine parents participated in this qualitative study by completing a one-time, in-person semistructured interview based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. Themes …

Inferior Auditory Time Perception In Children With Motor Difficulties, Andrew Chang, Yao-Chuen Li, Jennifer F. Chan, Dobromir Dotov, John Cairney, Laurel Trainor

Journal Articles

Accurate time perception is crucial for hearing (speech, music) and action (walking, catching). Motor brain regions are recruited during auditory time perception. Therefore, the hypothesis was tested that children (age 6–7) at risk for developmental coordination disorder (rDCD), a neurodevelopmental disorder involving motor difficulties, would show nonmotor auditory time perception deficits. Psychophysical tasks confirmed that children with rDCD have poorer duration and rhythm perception than typically developing children (N = 47, d = 0.95–1.01). Electroencephalography showed delayed mismatch negativity or P3a event-related potential latency in response to duration or rhythm deviants, reflecting inefficient brain processing (N = 54, …

Collective Music Listening: Movement Energy Is Enhanced By Groove And Visual Social Cues, Dobromir Dotov, Dan Bosnyak, Laurel Trainor

Journal Articles

The regularity of musical beat makes it a powerful stimulus promoting movement synchrony among people. Synchrony can increase interpersonal trust, affiliation, and cooperation. Musical pieces can be classified according to the quality of groove; the higher the groove, the more it induces the desire to move. We investigated questions related to collective music-listening among 33 participants in an experiment conducted in a naturalistic yet acoustically controlled setting of a research concert hall with motion tracking. First, does higher groove music induce (1) movement with more energy and (2) higher interpersonal movement coordination? Second, does visual social information manipulated by …

Measuring Freezing Of Gait During Daily-Life: An Open-Source, Wearable Sensors Approach, Martina Mancini, Vrutangkumar V. Shah, Samuel Stuart, Carolin Curtze, Fay B. Horak, Delaram Safarpour, John G. Nutt

Journal Articles

Background

Although a growing number of studies focus on the measurement and detection of freezing of gait (FoG) in laboratory settings, only a few studies have attempted to measure FoG during daily life with body-worn sensors. Here, we presented a novel algorithm to detect FoG in a group of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) in the laboratory (Study I) and extended the algorithm in a second cohort of people with PD at home during daily life (Study II).

Methods

In Study I, we described of our novel FoG detection algorithm based on five inertial sensors attached to the feet, shins …

University Of Nebraska At Omaha Department Of Biomechanics Annual Report 2020-2021, Department Of Biomechanics, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Biomechanics Annual Report

This report contains:

A letter from the Director: Dr. Nick Stergiou

Articles about the Department of Biomechanics' reach

Articles on research that impacts the community

Article about the Movcentr Impact

Articles on how the department persevered and responded during the pandemic

Article on the people of UNO Biomechanics

Student Centered articles

and In the News.

Student Perceptions Of A Service-Learning Course In A Rural Setting, Danae Dinkel, Shane Warehime, Julia Zurek, Olivia Welch, Kelsi Leininger, Kaitlyn Mcneil, John Rech, Kyle Ryan

Journal Articles

The primary purpose of this study was to explore students’ perceptions of a servicelearning course at a small, rural, state college. Throughout the semester-long course, the students learned about how to improve afterschool programs and childhood obesity in rural areas similar to the community that encompassed them. The class format consisted of both online discussions over articles, along with in-person meetings. Students then had the option to participate in a paid service opportunity to apply their knowledge in an after-school program; however, no students took part in this component of the class. Reasons the students could not participate in the …

Laboratory Versus Daily Life Gait Characteristics In Patients With Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’S Disease, And Matched Controls, Vrutangkumar V. Shah, James Mcnames, Martina Mancini, Patricia Carlson-Kuhta, Rebecca I. Spain, John G. Nutt, Mahmoud El-Gohary, Carolin Curtze, Fay B. Horak

Journal Articles

Background and purpose

Recent findings suggest that a gait assessment at a discrete moment in a clinic or laboratory setting may not reflect functional, everyday mobility. As a step towards better understanding gait during daily life in neurological populations, we compared gait measures that best discriminated people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) from their respective, age-matched, healthy control subjects (MS-Ctl, PD-Ctl) in laboratory tests versus a week of daily life monitoring.

Methods

We recruited 15 people with MS (age mean ± SD: 49 ± 10 years), 16 MS-Ctl (45 ± 11 years), 16 people with …

Psychological Pathways Linking Public Trust During The Coronavirus Pandemic To Mental And Physical Well-Being, Ayokunle Olagoke, Olakanmi Olagoke, Ashley M. Hughes

Health and Kinesiology Faculty Publications

The well-being of the public during the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is deeply rooted in institutional trust in the government’s risk communication effort. The objective of this study was to examine the psychological pathway through which public trust in the government is associated with mental and physical well-being. We collected cross-sectional data from 501 participants aged ≥18 years using an online panel. Public trust in the government was assessed as our exposure variable. We screened for psychological distress by combining the Patient Health Questionnaire and the General Anxiety Disorder scale. Physical well-being was examined using self-rated health. We further assessed …

Intention To Vaccinate Against The Novel 2019 Coronavirus Disease: The Role Of Health Locus Of Control And Religiosity, Ayokunle Olagoke, Olakanmi Olagoke, Ashley M. Hughes

Health and Kinesiology Faculty Publications

The urgency to develop a vaccine against the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) has waxed stronger in speed, scale, and scope. However, wisdom dictates that we take a vantage position and start to examine the demographic predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. The objective of this study was to examine the role of health locus of control (HLOC) in the relationship between religiosity and COVID-19 vaccination intention. In a cross-sectional survey (N = 501), we found a significantly negative association between religiosity and COVID-19 vaccination intention. This relationship was partially mediated by external HLOC. Collaborative efforts with religious institutions may influence COVID-19 vaccine …

Differences Between Joint-Space And Musculoskeletal Estimations Of Metabolic Rate Time Profiles, Arash Mohammadzadeh Gonabadi, Prokopios Antonellis, Philippe Malcolm

Journal Articles

Motion capture laboratories can measure multiple variables at high frame rates, but we can only measure the average metabolic rate of a stride using respiratory measurements. Biomechanical simulations with equations for calculating metabolic rate can estimate the time profile of metabolic rate within the stride cycle. A variety of methods and metabolic equations have been proposed, including metabolic time profile estimations based on joint parameters. It is unclear whether differences in estimations are due to differences in experimental data or due to methodological differences. This study aimed to compare two methods for estimating the time profile of metabolic rate, within …

Correlation Of Pre-Hypertension With Carotid Artery Damage In Middle-Aged And Older Adults, Jinkee Park, Yongseong Na, Yunjung Jang, Song-Young Park, Hyuntae Park

Health and Kinesiology Faculty Publications

The intima–media thickness (IMT), luminal diameters (LDs), flow velocities (FVs), compliance, and β-stiffness of the carotid artery (CA) are considered as independent risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Pre-hypertension (PHT) is also an independent CVD risk factor. This study investigated the association between CA damage (CAD) and PHT. A total of 544 adults participated; their blood pressures (BPs) and CA characteristics were measured using a mercury-free sphygmomanometer and ultrasound. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed to assess the differences in the CA characteristics according to the BPs, multinomial logistic regression to evaluate the risk of CAD associated with PHT. In …

Stochastic Resonance Reduces Sway And Gait Variability In Individuals With Unilateral Transtibial Amputation: A Pilot Study, Aaron Likens, Jenny A. Kent, C. Ian Sloan, Shane R. Wurdeman, Nicholas Stergiou

Journal Articles

Sub-threshold (imperceptible) vibration, applied to parts of the body, impacts how people move and perceive our world. Could this idea help someone who has lost part of their limb? Sub-threshold vibration was applied to the thigh of the affected limb of 20 people with unilateral transtibial amputation. Vibration conditions tested included two noise structures: pink and white. Center of pressure (COP) excursion (range and root-mean-square displacements) during quiet standing, and speed and spatial stride measures (mean and standard deviations of step length and width) during walking were assessed. Pink noise vibration decreased COP displacements in standing, and white noise vibration …

Gait Complexity Is Acutely Restored In Older Adults When Walking To A Fractal-Like Visual Stimulus, Joao R. Vaz, Brian Knarr, Nicholas Stergiou

Journal Articles

Typically, gait rehabilitation uses an invariant stimulus paradigm to improve gait related deficiencies. However, this approach may not be optimal as it does not incorporate gait complexity, or in more precise words, the variable fractal-like nature found in the gait fluctuations commonly observed in healthy populations. Aging which also affects gait complexity, resulting in a loss of adaptability to the surrounding environment, could benefit from gait rehabilitation that incorporates a variable fractal-like stimulus paradigm. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of a variable fractal-like visual stimulus on the stride-to-stride fluctuations of older adults during overground walking. Additionally, …

Effect Of Bout Length On Gait Measures In People With And Without Parkinson’S Disease During Daily Life, Vrutangkumar V. Shah, James Mcnames, Graham Harker, Martina Mancini, Patricia Carlson-Kuhta, John G. Nutt, Mahmoud El-Gohary, Carolin Curtze, Fay B. Horak

Journal Articles

Although the use of wearable technology to characterize gait disorders in daily life is increasing, there is no consensus on which specific gait bout length should be used to characterize gait. Clinical trialists using daily life gait quality as study outcomes need to understand how gait bout length affects the sensitivity and specificity of measures to discriminate pathological gait as well as the reliability of gait measures across gait bout lengths. We investigated whether Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects how gait characteristics change as bout length changes, and how gait bout length affects the reliability and discriminative ability of gait measures …

Strength Of Plantar- And Dorsiflexors Mediates Step Regularity During A High Cognitive Load Situation In A Cross-Sectional Cohort Of Older And Younger Adults, Farahnaz Fallah Tafti, Kristen Watson, Julie Blaskewicz Boron, Sara A. Myers, Kendra K. Schmid, Jennifer M. Yentes

Journal Articles

Background and Purpose:

Completing simultaneous tasks while standing or walking (ie, a high cognitive load situation [HCLS]) is inevitable in daily activities and can lead to interference in task performances. Age-related physical and cognitive changes may confound performance variability during HCLS in older and younger adults. Identification of these confounding effects may reveal therapy targets to maintain optimal physical function later in life. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of increasing the difficulty levels of an additional motor task and restricting visual information, on gait parameters in younger and older adults while considering the effect of …

Age Induced Modifications In The Persistency Of Voluntary Sway When Actively Tracking The Complex Motion Of A Visual Target, Haralampos Sotirakis, Nick Stergiou, Dimitrios A. Patikas, Vassilia Hatzitaki

Journal Articles

Movement persistency, reflected in systematic cycle to cycle fluctuations of a rhythmical task such as walking or voluntary sway, is compromised with increasing age, making older adults more susceptible to falls. In the present study, we tested whether it is possible to improve rhythmic voluntary sway persistency in old age by actively tracking the complex (i.e. persistent) motion of a visual target. Twenty healthy young and 20 older adults performed 132 cycles of anterior-posterior sway under two conditions: a) self-paced sway and b) sway while tracking the vertical motion of a complex visual target. The persistency of sway cycle amplitude …

Functional, Proteomic And Bioinformatic Analyses Of Nrf2- And Keap1- Null Skeletal Muscle, Lie Gao, Vikas Kumar, Neetha Nanoth Vellichirammal, Song-Young Park, Tara L. Rudebush, Li Yu, Won-Mok Son, Elizabeth J. Pekas, Ahmed M. Wafi, Juan Hong, Peng Xiao, Chittibabu Guda, Han-Jun Wang, Harold D. Scultz, Irving H. Zucker

Health and Kinesiology Faculty Publications

Key points

• Nrf2 is a master regulator of endogenous cellular defences, governing the expression of more than 200 cytoprotective proteins, including a panel of antioxidant enzymes.
• Nrf2 plays an important role in redox haemostasis of skeletal muscle in response to the increased generation of reactive oxygen species during contraction.
• Employing skeletal muscle-specific transgenic mouse models with unbiased-omic approaches, we uncovered new target proteins, downstream pathways and molecular networks of Nrf2 in skeletal muscle following Nrf2 or Keap1 deletion.
• Based on the findings, we proposed a two-way model to understand Nrf2 function: a tonic effect through a Keap1-independent mechanism under basal …

Cytokine Signature Of Inflammation Mediated By Autoreactive Th-Cells, In Calf Muscle Of Claudicating Patients With Fontaine Stage Ii Peripheral Artery Disease, George P. Casale, Johnathan R. Thompson, Lauren C. Carpenter, Julian Kyung-Soo Kim, Timothy J. Lackner, Constance Mietus, Duy M. Ha, Sara A. Myers, Katyarina E. Brunette, Shuai Li, Christina Shields, Gregory Wilcockson, Iraklis Pipinos

Journal Articles

Peripheral artery disease (PAD), a severe atherosclerotic condition primarily of the elderly, afflicts 200 million individuals, worldwide, and is associated with lower extremity myopathy. Circulating markers of inflammation have been linked to risk and severity of PAD but the contribution of local inflammation to myopathy remains unknown. We evaluated, by ELISA, calf muscle of PAD patients (N = 23) and control subjects (N = 18) for local expression of inflammatory cytokines including Granulocyte/Monocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor (GM-CSF), Interleukin 17A (IL-17A), Interferon ϒ (IFN-ϒ), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), and Interleukin 6 (IL-6). One or more of these cytokines were expressed in …

Acute Mitochondrial Antioxidant Intake Improves Endothelial Function, Antioxidant Enzyme Activity, And Exercise Tolerance In Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease, Song-Young Park, Elizabeth J. Pekas, Ronald Headid Iii, Won-Mok Son, Tesean Wooden, Jiwon Song, Gwenael Layec, Santosh K. Yadav, Paras K. Mishra, Iraklis Pipinos

Health and Kinesiology Faculty Publications

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a manifestation of atherosclerosis in the leg arteries, which causes claudication. This may be in part due to vascular mitochondrial dysfunction and excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. A mitochondrial-targeted antioxidant (MitoQ) has been shown to improve vascular mitochondrial function that, in turn, led to improved vascular function in older adults and animal models. However, the roles of vascular mitochondria in vascular function including endothelial function and arterial stiffness in patients with PAD are unknown; therefore, with the use of acute MitoQ intake, this study examined the roles of vascular mitochondria in endothelial function, arterial …

Folk Physics In The Twenty-First Century: Understanding Tooling As Embodied, Dorothy M. Fragaszy, Madhur Mangalam

Journal Articles

Povinelli’s (2000) studies with chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) reported in “Folk Physics for Apes” were firmly grounded in a Cartesian view of knowledge, which posits that humans use abstract concepts such as force, gravity, and shape to reason causally about events and plan our actions (with tools in the case of Folk Physics for Apes). Povinelli set out to examine if chimpanzees, like humans, used causal concepts to solve mechanical problems, as the Cartesian view predicts. However, Povinelli’s findings uniformly challenged his expectations. Povinelli’s book stimulated research and contributed to the development of alternate understandings of how animals (including humans) use …

Combined Anthocyanins And Bromelain Supplement Improves Endothelial Function And Skeletal Muscle Oxygenation Status In Adults: A Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Randomised Crossover Clinical Trial, Elizabeth J. Pekas, Jaehyun Shin, Ronald Headid Iii, Won-Mok Son, Gwenael Layec, Santosh K. Yadav, Steven D. Scott, Song-Young Park

Health and Kinesiology Faculty Publications

Anthocyanins and bromelain have gained significant attention due to their antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties. Both have been shown to improve endothelial function, blood pressure (BP) and oxygen utility capacity in humans; however, the combination of these two and the impacts on endothelial function, BP, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and oxygen utility capacity have not been previously investigated. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impacts of a combined anthocyanins and bromelain supplement (BE) on endothelial function, BP, TAC, oxygen utility capacity and fatigability in healthy adults. Healthy adults (n 18, age 24 (SD 4) years) received BE or …