Biomechanics Commons^™

Psychosocial And Cognitive Function In Children With Nephrotic Syndrome: Association With Disease And Treatment Variables, Panagiota Manti, George Giannakopoulos, Elena Giouroukou, Helen Georgaki-Angelaki, Constantinos J. Stefanidis, Andromahi Mitsioni, Nikolaos Stergiou, Constantinos Mihas, George P. Chrousos, Maria Alexandra Magiakou, Gerasimos Kolaitis

Journal Articles

Background
To investigate possible differences in emotional/behavioral problems and cognitive function in children with nephrotic syndrome compared to healthy controls and to examine the effect of disease-specific and steroid treatment-specific characteristics on the abovementioned variables.

Methods
Forty-one patients with nephrotic syndrome (23 boys, age range: 4.4-15.2 years) and 42 sex- and age-matched healthy control subjects (20 boys, age range: 4.1-13.4 years) were enrolled in the study. Disease (severity, age of diagnosis, duration) and steroid treatment (total duration, present methylprednisolone dose and duration of present dose) data were collected. In order to assess children’s emotional/behavioral problems, the Child Behavior Checklist was …

The Effect Of A Short Duration, High Intensity Exercise Intervention On Gait Biomechanics In Patients With Copd: Findings From A Pilot Study, Jenna M. Yentes, Daniel Blanke, Stephen I. Rennard, Nikolaos Stergiou

Journal Articles

Previous work has shown that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) demonstrate changes in their gait biomechanics as compared to controls. This pilot study was designed to explore the possibility that biomechanical alterations present in COPD patients might be amenable to treatment by exercise training of skeletal muscle. This study investigated the effect of a 6-week exercise intervention on gait biomechanics in patients with COPD under both a rest and a non-rested condition. Seven patients with COPD underwent a supervised cardio-respiratory and strength training protocol 2-3 times per week for 6-weeks for a total of 16-sessions. Spatiotemporal, kinematic and …

A Perspective On Human Movement Variability With Applications In Infancy Motor Development, Nikolaos Stergiou, Yawen Yu, Anastasia Kyvelidou

Journal Articles

Movement variability is considered essential to typical motor development. However, multiple theoretical perspectives and measurement tools have limited interpretation of the importance of movement variability in biological systems. The complementary use of linear and nonlinear measures have recently allowed for the evaluation of not only the magnitude of variability but also the temporal structure of variability. As a result, the theoretical model of optimal movement variability was introduced. The model suggests that the development of healthy and highly adaptable systems relies on the achievement of an optimal state of variability. Alternatively, abnormal development may be characterized by a narrow range …

Prosthesis Preference Is Related To Stride-To-Stride Fluctuations At The Prosthetic Ankle, Shane R. Wurdeman, Sara A. Myers, Adam L. Jacobsen, Nikolaos Stergiou

Journal Articles

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between stride-to-stride fluctuations and prosthesis preference. Thirteen individuals with unilateral, transtibial amputation consented to participate. Individuals walked on a treadmill for 3 min with their prescribed and an alternate prosthesis. Stride-to-stride fluctuations were quantified with the largest Lyapunov exponent (LyE) of each joint flexion/extension time series. The change in the LyE was calculated for each major lower-limb joint for both conditions. Participants indicated preference between the prostheses on a continuous visual analog scale. The change in the LyE was correlated with the degree of preference between the two prostheses at …

Modeling The Human Gait Phases Using Granular Computing, Melaku Ayenew Bogale

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Gait analysis is applied for the provision of diagnosis, evaluation, and for the design of therapeutic intervention for subjects suffering from neurological disorders. The benefits accruing from gait analysis are well established. People with neurological disorders like mild traumatic brain injury, Cerebral Palsy and Multiple Sclerosis, suffer associated functional gait problems. The symptoms and sign of these gait deficits are different from subject to subject and even for the same subject at different stage of the disease. Identifying these gait related abnormalities helps in the treatment planning and rehabilitation process.

The dynamic behavior of gait parameters is cyclic and the …

Modulation Of Cell-Matrix Interaction For Cryopreservation Of Engineered Tissue, Angela Christine Seawright

Open Access Theses

Long term preservation of functional engineered tissues can significantly advance tissue engineering industry and regenerative medicine. Several preservation techniques have been proposed and investigated for this purpose, and cryopreservation is a leading candidate. While tissues are cryopreserved, ice forms in both the extracellular and intracellular spaces and causes freezing-induced spatiotemporal deformation of the tissue. During this process the cells undergo dehydration by the freezing-induced osmotic pressure difference and mechanical deformation, transmitted through cell-extracellular matrix adhesions. However, the significance and interaction of these cellular level transport and mechanics processes are not well understood. Therefore, this study aims to establish mechanistic understanding …

Modeling Of Legged Locomotion With A Suspended Load In The Sagittal Plane, Karna P. Potwar

Open Access Theses

Walking or running while carrying loads has always been a tedious task, more so when the loads are heavy. Such a task of carrying loads not only requires extra effort but also leads to physical pain and in some cases injury. Prior studies on human locomotion with a suspended load have used models that are restricted in their DOFs and so are not able to take into account the fore aft movement in human beings. The objective of this thesis is to model the dynamics of sagittal plane center-of-mass locomotion with a suspended load and apply findings to carrying loads …

The Effects Of A Semi-Rigid Ankle Brace On A Simulated Isolated Subtalar Joint Instability, Julie Choisne, Matthew C. Hoch, Sebastian Bawab, Ian Alexander, Stacie I. Ringleb

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Subtalar joint instability is hypothesized to occur after injuries to the calcaneofibular ligament (CFL) in isolation or in combination with the cervical and the talocalcaneal interosseous ligaments. A common treatment for hindfoot instability is the application of an ankle brace. However, the ability of an ankle brace to promote subtalar joint stability is not well established. We assessed the kinematics of the subtalar joint, ankle, and hindfoot in the presence of isolated subtalar instability, investigated the effect of bracing in a CFL deficient foot and with a total rupture of the intrinsic ligaments, and evaluated how maximum inversion range of …

Environmental Effects On The Biomechanics And Motor Physiology Of Elastically Powered Movements In Chameleons, Christopher Van Anderson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Environmental temperature exhibits profound effects on the activity and ecology of ectotherms through its impact on muscle contractile physiology. While the performance of locomotor behaviors powered by muscle contraction directly decreases by at least 33% over a 10°C drop in body temperature, chameleons are known to feed, presumably with high performance, at body temperatures where sympatric lizard species remain inactive. I propose that ballistic movements that are powered by the recoil of preloaded elastic and collagenous tissues are less thermally dependent than movements that rely on direct muscular power. Despite the reduced thermal sensitivity of the elastic-recoil powered movement, I …

Biomechanical Comparison Of Titanium And Cobalt Chromium Pedicle Screw Rods In An Unstable Cadaveric Lumbar Spine, James Doulgeris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pedicle screw-rod instrumentation is considered a standard treatment for spinal instability, and titanium is the most common material for this application. Cobalt-chromium has several advantages over titanium and is generating interest in orthopedic practice. The aim of this study was to compare titanium versus cobalt-chromium rods in posterior fusion, with and without transverse connectors, through in vitro biomechanical testing and determine the optimal configuration.

Six cadaveric lumbar spines (L1-S1) were used. Posterior and middle column injuries were simulated at L3-L5 and different pedicle screw constructs were implanted. Specimens were subjected to flexibility tests and range of motion, intradiscal pressure and …