Eating tools in hand activate the brain systems for eating action: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study.

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Yamaguchi, Kaori; Nakamura, Kimihiro; Oga, Tatsuhide; Nakajima, Yasoichi

2014-07-01

There is increasing neuroimaging evidence suggesting that visually presented tools automatically activate the human sensorimotor system coding learned motor actions relevant to the visual stimuli. Such crossmodal activation may reflect a general functional property of the human motor memory and thus can be operating in other, non-limb effector organs, such as the orofacial system involved in eating. In the present study, we predicted that somatosensory signals produced by eating tools in hand covertly activate the neuromuscular systems involved in eating action. In Experiments 1 and 2, we measured motor evoked response (MEP) of the masseter muscle in normal humans to examine the possible impact of tools in hand (chopsticks and scissors) on the neuromuscular systems during the observation of food stimuli. We found that eating tools (chopsticks) enhanced the masseter MEPs more greatly than other tools (scissors) during the visual recognition of food, although this covert change in motor excitability was not detectable at the behavioral level. In Experiment 3, we further observed that chopsticks overall increased MEPs more greatly than scissors and this tool-driven increase of MEPs was greater when participants viewed food stimuli than when they viewed non-food stimuli. A joint analysis of the three experiments confirmed a significant impact of eating tools on the masseter MEPs during food recognition. Taken together, these results suggest that eating tools in hand exert a category-specific impact on the neuromuscular system for eating. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Innovative hand exoskeleton design for extravehicular activities in space

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Freni, Pierluigi; Randazzo, Luca; Ariano, Paolo

2014-01-01

Environmental conditions and pressurized spacesuits expose astronauts to problems of fatigue during lengthy extravehicular activities, with adverse impacts especially on the dexterity, force and endurance of the hands and arms. A state-of-the-art exploration in the field of hand exoskeletons revealed that available products are unsuitable for space applications because of their bulkiness and mass. This book proposes a novel approach to the development of hand exoskeletons, based on an innovative soft robotics concept that relies on the exploitation of electroactive polymers operating as sensors and actuators, on a combination of electromyography and mechanomyography for detection of the user’s will and on neural networks for control. The result is a design that should enhance astronauts’ performance during extravehicular activities. In summary, the advantages of the described approach are a low-weight, high-flexibility exoskeleton that allows for dexterity and compliance with the user’s will.

Hands-on Humidity.

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Pankiewicz, Philip R.

1992-01-01

Presents five hands-on activities that allow students to detect, measure, reduce, and eliminate moisture. Students make a humidity detector and a hygrometer, examine the effects of moisture on different substances, calculate the percent of water in a given food, and examine the absorption potential of different desiccants. (MDH)

Surface EMG in advanced hand prosthetics.

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Castellini, Claudio; van der Smagt, Patrick

2009-01-01

One of the major problems when dealing with highly dexterous, active hand prostheses is their control by the patient wearing them. With the advances in mechatronics, building prosthetic hands with multiple active degrees of freedom is realisable, but actively controlling the position and especially the exerted force of each finger cannot yet be done naturally. This paper deals with advanced robotic hand control via surface electromyography. Building upon recent results, we show that machine learning, together with a simple downsampling algorithm, can be effectively used to control on-line, in real time, finger position as well as finger force of a highly dexterous robotic hand. The system determines the type of grasp a human subject is willing to use, and the required amount of force involved, with a high degree of accuracy. This represents a remarkable improvement with respect to the state-of-the-art of feed-forward control of dexterous mechanical hands, and opens up a scenario in which amputees will be able to control hand prostheses in a much finer way than it has so far been possible.

The analysis of student’s critical thinking ability on discovery learning by using hand on activity based on the curiosity

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Sulistiani, E.; Waluya, S. B.; Masrukan

2018-03-01

This study aims to determine (1) the effectiveness of Discovery Learning model by using Hand on Activity toward critical thinking abilities, and (2) to describe students’ critical thinking abilities in Discovery Learning by Hand on Activity based on curiosity. This study is mixed method research with concurrent embedded design. Sample of this study are students of VII A and VII B of SMP Daarul Qur’an Ungaran. While the subject in this study is based on the curiosity of the students groups are classified Epistemic Curiosity (EC) and Perceptual Curiosity (PC). The results showed that the learning of Discovery Learning by using Hand on Activity is effective toward mathematics critical thinking abilities. Students of the EC type are able to complete six indicators of mathematics critical thinking abilities, although there are still two indicators that the result is less than the maximum. While students of PC type have not fully been able to complete the indicator of mathematics critical thinking abilities. They are only strong on indicators formulating questions, while on the other five indicators they are still weak. The critical thinking abilities of EC’s students is better than the critical thinking abilities of the PC’s students.

Communicate science: an example of food related hands-on laboratory approach

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D'Addezio, Giuliana; Marsili, Antonella; Vallocchia, Massimiliano

2014-05-01

The Laboratorio Didattica e Divulgazione Scientifica of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV's Educational and Outreach Laboratory) organized activity with kids to convey scientific knowledge and to promote research on Earth Science, focusing on volcanic and seismic hazard. The combination of games and learning in educational activity can be a valuable tool for study of complex phenomena. Hands-on activity may help in engage kids in a learning process through direct participation that significantly improves the learning performance of children. Making learning fun motivate audience to pay attention on and stay focused on the subject. We present the experience of the hand-on laboratory "Laboratorio goloso per bambini curiosi di scienza (a delicious hands-on laboratory for kids curious about science)", performed in Frascati during the 2013 European Researchers' Night, promoted by the European Commission, as part of the program organized by the Laboratorio Didattica e Divulgazione Scientifica in the framework of Associazione Frascati Scienza (http://www.frascatiscienza.it/). The hand-on activity were designed for primary schools to create enjoyable and unusual tools for learning Earth Science. During this activity kids are involved with something related to everyday life, such as food, through manipulation, construction and implementation of simple experiments related to Earth dynamics. Children become familiar with scientific concepts such as composition of the Earth, plates tectonic, earthquakes and seismic waves propagation and experience the effect of earthquakes on buildings, exploring their important implications for seismic hazard. During the activity, composed of several steps, participants were able to learn about Earth inner structure, fragile lithosphere, waves propagations, impact of waves on building ecc.., dealing with eggs, cookies, honey, sugar, polenta, flour, chocolate, candies, liquorice sticks, bread, pudding and sweets. The

Exploratory study on the effects of a robotic hand rehabilitation device on changes in grip strength and brain activity after stroke.

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Pinter, Daniela; Pegritz, Sandra; Pargfrieder, Christa; Reiter, Gudrun; Wurm, Walter; Gattringer, Thomas; Linderl-Madrutter, Regina; Neuper, Claudia; Fazekas, Franz; Grieshofer, Peter; Enzinger, Christian

2013-01-01

The brain mechanisms underlying successful recovery of hand fuenction after stroke are still not fully understood, although functional MRI (fMRI) studies underline the importance of neuronal plasticity. We explored potential changes in brain activity in 7 patients with subacute to chronic stroke (69 ± 8 years) with moderate- to high-grade distal paresis of the upper limb (Motricity Index: 59.4) after standardized robotic finger-hand rehabilitation training, in addition to conventional rehabilitation therapy for 3 weeks. Behavioral and fMRI assessments were carried out before and after training to characterize changes in brain activity and behavior. The Motricity Index (pre: 59.4, post: 67.2, P hand increased significantly after rehabilitation. On fMRI, active movement of the affected (left) hand resulted in contralesional (ie, ipsilateral) activation of the primary sensorimotor cortex prior to rehabilitation. After rehabilitation, activation appeared "normalized," including the ipsilesional primary sensorimotor cortex and supplementary motor area (SMA). No changes and no abnormalities of activation maps were seen during movement of the unaffected hand. Subsequent region-of-interest analyses showed no significant ipsilesional activation increases after rehabilitation. Despite behavioral improvements, we failed to identify consistent patterns of functional reorganization in our sample. This warrants caution in the use of fMRI as a tool to explore neural plasticity in heterogeneous samples lacking sufficient statistical power.

The alien hand sign. Localization, lateralization and recovery.

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Goldberg, G; Bloom, K K

1990-10-01

The alien hand sign was first described by Brion and Jedynak as a "feeling of estrangement between the patient and one of his hands." The affected hand frequently shows a grasp reflex and an instinctive grasp reaction as well as elements of what Denny-Brown referred to as a "magnetic apraxia" associated with frontal lobe damage. Most notably, however, the affected hand is observed to perform apparently purposive behaviors that are perceived as being outside the volitional control of the patient. The patients interpret the behavior of their own affected limb as being controlled by an external agent. They do not feel that they are initiating or controlling the behavior of the hand and often express dismay at the hand's "extravolitional" activity. The patients attempt to control behavior of the alien hand with the unimpaired hand by forcibly restraining the affected limb, an act that may be termed "self-restriction." In this paper, we report an additional four cases of alien hand sign in right-handed subjects: two involving the right hand and two involving the left hand. In each case, the clinical findings were associated with extensive unilateral damage of the medial frontal cortex of the hemisphere contralateral to the affected hand. Furthermore, the alien movement gradually disappears over the course of 6-12 months after the stroke. These clinical case studies are presented and discussed in the context of the "dual premotoer systems hypothesis," an anatomicophysiological model that proposes that action is organized by two separate but interactive premotor brain systems corresponding to evolutionarily defined medial and lateral cortical moieties. It is hypothesized that the alien mode behavior results from unconstrained activity of the lateral premotor system in the damaged hemisphere. The residual volitional control in the limb occurs through the activity of the intact medial premotor system of the ipsilateral hemisphere. Recovery may occur through extension of

Specialization of the left supramarginal gyrus for hand-independent praxis representation is not related to hand dominance

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Króliczak, Gregory; Piper, Brian J.; Frey, Scott H.

2016-01-01

Data from focal brain injury and functional neuroimaging studies implicate a distributed network of parieto-fronto-temporal areas in the human left cerebral hemisphere as playing distinct roles in the representation of meaningful actions (praxis). Because these data come primarily from right-handed individuals, the relationship between left cerebral specialization for praxis representation and hand dominance remains unclear. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate the hypothesis that strongly left-handed (right hemisphere motor dominant) adults also exhibit this left cerebral specialization. Participants planned familiar actions for subsequent performance with the left or right hand in response to transitive (e.g., “pounding”) or intransitive (e.g. “waving”) action words. In linguistic control trials, cues denoted non-physical actions (e.g., “believing”). Action planning was associated with significant, exclusively left-lateralized and extensive increases of activity in the supramarginal gyrus (SMg), and more focal modulations in the left caudal middle temporal gyrus (cMTg). This activity was hand- and gesture-independent, i.e., unaffected by the hand involved in subsequent action performance, and the type of gesture (i.e., transitive or intransitive). Compared directly with right-handers, left-handers exhibited greater involvement of the right angular gyrus (ANg) and dorsal premotor cortex (dPMC), which is indicative of a less asymmetric functional architecture for praxis representation. We therefore conclude that the organization of mechanisms involved in planning familiar actions is influenced by one’s motor dominance. However, independent of hand dominance, the left SMg and cMTg are specialized for ideomotor transformations—the integration of conceptual knowledge and motor representations into meaningful actions. These findings support the view that higher-order praxis representation and lower-level motor dominance rely

Alignment of Hands-On STEM Engagement Activities with Positive STEM Dispositions in Secondary School Students

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Christensen, Rhonda; Knezek, Gerald; Tyler-Wood, Tandra

2015-01-01

This study examines positive dispositions reported by middle school and high school students participating in programs that feature STEM-related activities. Middle school students participating in school-to-home hands-on energy monitoring activities are compared to middle school and high school students in a different project taking part in…

The Transcription Factor Hand1 Is Involved In Runx2-Ihh-Regulated Endochondral Ossification.

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Lindsay E Laurie

Full Text Available The developing long bone is a model of endochondral ossification that displays the morphological layers of chondrocytes toward the ossification center of the diaphysis. Indian hedgehog (Ihh, a member of the hedgehog family of secreted molecules, regulates chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation, as well as osteoblast differentiation, through the process of endochondral ossification. Here, we report that the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor Hand1, which is expressed in the cartilage primordia, is involved in proper osteogenesis of the bone collar via its control of Ihh production. Genetic overexpression of Hand1 in the osteochondral progenitors resulted in prenatal hypoplastic or aplastic ossification in the diaphyses, mimicking an Ihh loss-of-function phenotype. Ihh expression was downregulated in femur epiphyses of Hand1-overexpressing mice. We also confirmed that Hand1 downregulated Ihh gene expression in vitro by inhibiting Runx2 transactivation of the Ihh proximal promoter. These results demonstrate that Hand1 in chondrocytes regulates endochondral ossification, at least in part through the Runx2-Ihh axis.

The Transcription Factor Hand1 Is Involved In Runx2-Ihh-Regulated Endochondral Ossification.

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Laurie, Lindsay E; Kokubo, Hiroki; Nakamura, Masataka; Saga, Yumiko; Funato, Noriko

2016-01-01

The developing long bone is a model of endochondral ossification that displays the morphological layers of chondrocytes toward the ossification center of the diaphysis. Indian hedgehog (Ihh), a member of the hedgehog family of secreted molecules, regulates chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation, as well as osteoblast differentiation, through the process of endochondral ossification. Here, we report that the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor Hand1, which is expressed in the cartilage primordia, is involved in proper osteogenesis of the bone collar via its control of Ihh production. Genetic overexpression of Hand1 in the osteochondral progenitors resulted in prenatal hypoplastic or aplastic ossification in the diaphyses, mimicking an Ihh loss-of-function phenotype. Ihh expression was downregulated in femur epiphyses of Hand1-overexpressing mice. We also confirmed that Hand1 downregulated Ihh gene expression in vitro by inhibiting Runx2 transactivation of the Ihh proximal promoter. These results demonstrate that Hand1 in chondrocytes regulates endochondral ossification, at least in part through the Runx2-Ihh axis.

Relationship between speed and EEG activity during imagined and executed hand movements

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Yuan, Han; Perdoni, Christopher; He, Bin

2010-04-01

The relationship between primary motor cortex and movement kinematics has been shown in nonhuman primate studies of hand reaching or drawing tasks. Studies have demonstrated that the neural activities accompanying or immediately preceding the movement encode the direction, speed and other information. Here we investigated the relationship between the kinematics of imagined and actual hand movement, i.e. the clenching speed, and the EEG activity in ten human subjects. Study participants were asked to perform and imagine clenching of the left hand and right hand at various speeds. The EEG activity in the alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (18-28 Hz) frequency bands were found to be linearly correlated with the speed of imagery clenching. Similar parametric modulation was also found during the execution of hand movements. A single equation relating the EEG activity to the speed and the hand (left versus right) was developed. This equation, which contained a linear independent combination of the two parameters, described the time-varying neural activity during the tasks. Based on the model, a regression approach was developed to decode the two parameters from the multiple-channel EEG signals. We demonstrated the continuous decoding of dynamic hand and speed information of the imagined clenching. In particular, the time-varying clenching speed was reconstructed in a bell-shaped profile. Our findings suggest an application to providing continuous and complex control of noninvasive brain-computer interface for movement-impaired paralytics.

Pre-Service Physics Teachers’ Perception toward Hands-on Lab Activity and 21st Century Skills

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Putri, D. H.; Risdianto, E.; Sutarno, S.

2017-09-01

This study aimed to describe the hands-on lab activities and 21st century skills of pre-service physics teachers at a university in Bengkulu. The respondents of this study were 113 students who have been finished and were following the laboratory course. The research instrument was questionnaire. The explored aspects of laboratory activities were motivation, the importance of laboratory activities, equipment, laboratory activities process, suitability of curriculum, assessment, laboratory design, and the 21st century skills training. The 21st century skills explored consist of learning and innovation skills, life and careers skills, and media, information and technology skills. The data obtained will be analyzed descriptively. Based on the results of data analysis was obtained that they have a good perception toward the aspect of motivation, the importance of hands-on lab activities, and laboratory activities process; and the perception was fair for other aspects. The lowest perception score was obtained in the aspects of the 21st century skills training. This result was in accordance with the 21st century skills of pre-service physics teachers which were still in moderate category. So it is necessary to develop a model of laboratory activities design that can training and enhancing the 21st century skills for pre-service physics teachers.

Access to hands-on mathematics measurement activities using robots controlled via speech generating devices: three case studies.

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Adams, Kim; Cook, Al

2014-07-01

To examine how using a robot controlled via a speech generating device (SGD) influences the ways students with physical and communication limitations can demonstrate their knowledge in math measurement activities. Three children with severe physical disabilities and complex communication needs used the robot and SGD system to perform four math measurement lessons in comparing, sorting and ordering objects. The performance of the participants was measured and the process of using the system was described in terms of manipulation and communication events. Stakeholder opinions were solicited regarding robot use. Robot use revealed some gaps in the procedural knowledge of the participants. Access to both the robot and SGD was shown to provide several benefits. Stakeholders thought the intervention was important and feasible for a classroom environment. The participants were able to participate actively in the hands-on and communicative measurement activities and thus meet the demands of current math instruction methods. Current mathematics pedagogy encourages doing hands-on activities while communicating about concepts. Adapted Lego robots enabled children with severe physical disabilities to perform hands-on length measurement activities. Controlling the robots from speech generating devices (SGD) enabled the children, who also had complex communication needs, to reflect and report on results during the activities. By using the robots combined with SGDs, children both exhibited their knowledge of and experienced the concepts of mathematical measurements.

Effect of gender and hand laterality on pain processing in human neonates.

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Ozawa, Mio; Kanda, Katsuya; Hirata, Michio; Kusakawa, Isao; Suzuki, Chieko

2011-01-01

Previous studies in adults have reported that handedness and gender can affect pain perception. However, it is currently unclear when these differences emerge in human development. Therefore, we examined prefrontal responses to pain stimulation among newborns during their first acute pain experience after birth. Forty newborns at 4-6 days postnatal age were observed during clinically required blood sampling while prefrontal activation was measured with near infrared spectroscopy. Blood sampling in this study was the first experience of a procedure involving skin breaking for these infants. We divided subjects into a right-hand stimulation group (n=21) and a left-hand stimulation group (n=19), depending on whether blood was sampled from the right or the left hand. A three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine the effects of several variables on the magnitude of the oxy-Hb value in response to pain stimulus, including stimulus side (right hand or left hand), gender (male or female), recording side (right prefrontal area or left prefrontal area) and interactions between these variables. The data revealed a significant effect of stimulus side (F (1, 72)=9.892, P=0.002), showing that the right-hand stimulation induced a greater prefrontal activation than the left-hand stimulation. No significant gender difference or interactions were found. Our findings suggest that hand laterality affects pain perception even in neonates. However, gender differences in pain perception did not appear to occur during the neonatal period. Further investigations using brain-imaging techniques are required to identify laterality- or gender-related differences in pain processing in humans. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The role of hand of error and stimulus orientation in the relationship between worry and error-related brain activity: Implications for theory and practice.

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Lin, Yanli; Moran, Tim P; Schroder, Hans S; Moser, Jason S

2015-10-01

Anxious apprehension/worry is associated with exaggerated error monitoring; however, the precise mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. The current study tested the hypothesis that the worry-error monitoring relationship involves left-lateralized linguistic brain activity by examining the relationship between worry and error monitoring, indexed by the error-related negativity (ERN), as a function of hand of error (Experiment 1) and stimulus orientation (Experiment 2). Results revealed that worry was exclusively related to the ERN on right-handed errors committed by the linguistically dominant left hemisphere. Moreover, the right-hand ERN-worry relationship emerged only when stimuli were presented horizontally (known to activate verbal processes) but not vertically. Together, these findings suggest that the worry-ERN relationship involves left hemisphere verbal processing, elucidating a potential mechanism to explain error monitoring abnormalities in anxiety. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Enhancement of figural creativity by motor activation: effects of unilateral hand contractions on creativity are moderated by positive schizotypy.

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Rominger, Christian; Papousek, Ilona; Fink, Andreas; Weiss, Elisabeth M

2014-01-01

Creativity is an important trait necessary to achieve innovations in science, economy, arts and daily life. Therefore, the enhancement of creative performance is a significant field of investigation. A recent experiment showed enhanced verbal creativity after unilateral left-hand contractions, which was attributed to elevated activation of the right hemisphere. The present study aimed to extend these findings to the domain of figural creativity. Furthermore, as creativity and positive schizotypy may share some neurobiological underpinnings associated with the right hemisphere, we studied the potential moderating effect of positive schizotypy on the effects of the experimental modification of relative hemispheric activation on creativity. In a gender-balanced sample (20 men and 20 women), squeezing a hand gripper with the left hand enhanced figural creativity on the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking compared to squeezing the gripper with the right hand. However, this was only true when positive schizotypy was low. The moderating effect of schizotypy may be produced by relatively greater activity of certain parts of the right hemisphere being a shared neuronal correlate of creativity and positive schizotypy.

Hand activities in infantile masturbation: a video analysis of 13 cases.

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Hansen, Jonas Kjeldbjerg; Balslev, Thomas

2009-11-01

Infantile masturbation is considered a variant of normal behaviour. The abrupt and spontaneous onset, altered sensorium and autonomic phenomena during episodes may suggest an epileptic fit. Therefore, children with infantile masturbation are often admitted to hospital and undergo unnecessary tests. The purpose of the present study was to provide a detailed description of hand activities in infantile masturbation. The authors reviewed video recordings of 2 boys and 11 girls with infantile masturbation. Position, movements and activities of hands and fingers during episodes were registered. Five patterns of hand activities were registered: Fisting (four infants), grasping of toys, furniture or clothing (ten infants), chorea-like "piano playing" hand movements (two infants), pressure over the diaper/genital region (one infant) and bimanual manipulation of items (four infants). Fisting was primarily observed in the younger infants, and bimanual manipulation was primarily seen in the older infants. Recognizing one or more of the five distinct patterns of hand activities in infantile masturbation may help establishing the diagnosis.

Predictors of stenosing tenosynovitis in the hand and hand-related activity limitations in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ursum, J.; Horsten, N.C.; Hoeksma, A.F.; Dijkmans, B.A.; Knol, D.L.; Schaardenburg, D. van; Dekker, J.; Roorda, L.D.

2011-01-01

Objectives: To identify early predictors of stenosing tenosynovitis in the hand and hand-related activity limitations in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Design: A longitudinal study of an inception cohort. Setting: A large outpatient clinic. Participants: Consecutive patients who attended

Active audiences and journalism: Involved citizens or motivated consumers?

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Pere Masip

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Audience participation, in any of its forms and names (public journalism, citizen journalism, participatory journalism, UGC, appears to revitalise democracy, thanks to the opportunities for public debate opened up by information and communications technology. On the other hand, however, there are many authors who question whether interactive technologies really encourage democracy or the market, empower the citizen or strengthen the consumer. In this context, we still have little information on the motivations that drive citizens to actively participate through the mechanisms that the media make available to them on their own websites or through social networks. There is a similar lack of information on the role that users attribute to their involvement in the functioning of the media and whether it contributes to improving their democratic function. This article aims to shed some light on this subject.

Predictors of Stenosing Tenosynovitis in the Hand and Hand-Related Activity Limitations in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ursum, J.; Horsten, N.C.; Hoeksma, A.F.; Dijkmans, B.A.C.; Knol, D.L.; van Schaardenburg, D.; Dekker, J.; Roorda, L.D.

2011-01-01

Ursum J, Horsten NC, Hoeksma AF, Dijkmans BA, Knol DL, van Schaardenburg D, Dekker J, Roorda LD. Predictors of stenosing tenosynovitis in the hand and hand-related activity limitations in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Objectives To identify early predictors of stenosing tenosynovitis in the

Levodopa effects on hand and speech movements in patients with Parkinson's disease: a FMRI study.

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Audrey Maillet

Full Text Available Levodopa (L-dopa effects on the cardinal and axial symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD differ greatly, leading to therapeutic challenges for managing the disabilities in this patient's population. In this context, we studied the cerebral networks associated with the production of a unilateral hand movement, speech production, and a task combining both tasks in 12 individuals with PD, both off and on levodopa (L-dopa. Unilateral hand movements in the off medication state elicited brain activations in motor regions (primary motor cortex, supplementary motor area, premotor cortex, cerebellum, as well as additional areas (anterior cingulate, putamen, associative parietal areas; following L-dopa administration, the brain activation profile was globally reduced, highlighting activations in the parietal and posterior cingulate cortices. For the speech production task, brain activation patterns were similar with and without medication, including the orofacial primary motor cortex (M1, the primary somatosensory cortex and the cerebellar hemispheres bilaterally, as well as the left- premotor, anterior cingulate and supramarginal cortices. For the combined task off L-dopa, the cerebral activation profile was restricted to the right cerebellum (hand movement, reflecting the difficulty in performing two movements simultaneously in PD. Under L-dopa, the brain activation profile of the combined task involved a larger pattern, including additional fronto-parietal activations, without reaching the sum of the areas activated during the simple hand and speech tasks separately. Our results question both the role of the basal ganglia system in speech production and the modulation of task-dependent cerebral networks by dopaminergic treatment.

Hand hygiene in reducing transient flora on the hands of healthcare workers: an educational intervention.

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Kapil, R; Bhavsar, H K; Madan, M

2015-01-01

Hand hygiene has now been recognised as one of the most effective intervention to control the transmission of infections in a hospital and education is an important tool to ensure its implementation. In order to convince the users and as a part of education, it is important to generate evidence on the role of hand hygiene in reducing the bacterial flora on their hands. The present study was undertaken in a tertiary care hospital to demonstrate the presence of bacterial flora on the hands of healthcare workers (HCW) in different categories, to teach them proper hand hygiene technique using alcohol-based hand rub and determine the outcome for reduction of bacteria. A total sample size of 60 subjects including resident doctors, medical students, nurses and hospital attendants were included in the study after obtaining informed consent. Each person was educated on the technique of hand hygiene with alcohol-based hand rub and hand impressions were cultured before and after hand hygiene. All the subjects were also given a questionnaire to assess their perception on hand hygiene. The WHO posters on proper hand hygiene were displayed in the appropriate areas of the hospital in addition, as an educational tool. Majority (42 out of 60) of the HCWs had bacterial count up to 100 colonies or more on both hands before the application of hand rub while working in the hospital. After use of alcohol hand rub with a proper hand hygiene technique, it was found that the percentage reduction was 95-99% among doctors and nurses, 70% among hospital attendants and 50% among sanitary attendants. Staphylococcus aureus was present on the hands of eight persons of which three were methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The study demonstrates that transient bacteria are present on the hands of HCWs but majority could be removed by proper hand hygiene, which needs continuous education to be effective. It also shows that active education by demonstrating the proper hand hygiene technique

Effect of task-oriented activities on hand functions, cognitive functions and self-expression of elderly patients with dementia.

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Son, Bo-Young; Bang, Yo-Soon; Hwang, Min-Ji; Oh, Eun-Ju

2017-08-01

[Purpose] This study investigates the effects of task-oriented activities on hand function, cognitive function, and self-expression of the elderly with dementia, and then identify the influencing factors on self-expression in sub-factors of dependent variables. [Subjects and Methods] Forty elderly persons were divided into two groups: intervention group (n=20) and control group (n=20). The interventions were applied to the subjects 3 times a week, 50 minutes per each time, for a total of five weeks. We measured the jamar hand dynamometer test for grip strength, the jamar hydraulic pinch gauge test for prehension test, nine-hole pegboard test for coordination test, and Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment-Geriatric Population for cognitive function, and self-expression rating scale for self-expression test. [Results] The task-oriented activities promoted hand function, cognitive function (visual perception, spatial perception, visuomotor organization, attention & concentration) and self-expression of the elderly with early dementia, and the factors influencing the self-expression were cognitive function (visual perception) and hand function (coordination). The study showed that the task-oriented program enabled self-expression by improving hand function and cognitive function. [Conclusion] This study suggested that there should be provided the task-oriented program for prevention and treatment of the elderly with early dementia in the clinical settings and it was considered that results have a value as basic data that can be verified relationship of hand function, cognitive function, and self-expression.

Hand Osteoblastoma

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M. Farzan

2006-06-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: Osteoblastoma is one of the rarest primary bone tumors. Although, small bones of the hands and feet are the third most common location for this tumor, the hand involvement is very rare and few case observations were published in the English-language literature. Materials and Methods: In this study, we report five cases of benign osteoblastoma of the hand, 3 in metacarpals and two in phalanxes. The clinical feature is not specific. The severe nocturnal, salicylate-responsive pain is not present in patients with osteoblastoma. The pain is dull, persistent and less localized. The clinical course is usually long and there is often symptoms for months before medical attention are sought. Swelling is a more persistent finding in osteoblastoma of the hand that we found in all of our patients. The radiologic findings are indistinctive, so preoperative diagnosis based on X-ray appearance is difficult. In all of our 5 cases, we fail to consider osteoblastoma as primary diagnosis. Pathologically, osteoblastoma consisting of a well-vascularized connective tissue stroma in which there is active production of osteoid and primitive woven bone. Treatment depends on the stage and localization of the tumor. Curettage and bone grafting is sufficient in stage 1 or stage 2, but in stage 3 wide resection is necessary for prevention of recurrence. Osteosarcoma is the most important differential diagnosis that may lead to inappropriate operation.

Multisensory Integration in the Virtual Hand Illusion with Active Movement.

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Choi, Woong; Li, Liang; Satoh, Satoru; Hachimura, Kozaburo

2016-01-01

Improving the sense of immersion is one of the core issues in virtual reality. Perceptual illusions of ownership can be perceived over a virtual body in a multisensory virtual reality environment. Rubber Hand and Virtual Hand Illusions showed that body ownership can be manipulated by applying suitable visual and tactile stimulation. In this study, we investigate the effects of multisensory integration in the Virtual Hand Illusion with active movement. A virtual xylophone playing system which can interactively provide synchronous visual, tactile, and auditory stimulation was constructed. We conducted two experiments regarding different movement conditions and different sensory stimulations. Our results demonstrate that multisensory integration with free active movement can improve the sense of immersion in virtual reality.

Blast a Biofilm: A Hands-On Activity for School Children and Members of the Public

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Victoria L. Marlow

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Microbial biofilms are very common in nature and have both detrimental and beneficial effects on everyday life. Practical and hands-on activities have been shown to achieve greater learning and engagement with science by young people (1, 4, 5. We describe an interactive activity, developed to introduce microbes and biofilms to school age children and members of the public. Biofilms are common in nature and, as the favored mode of growth for microbes, biofilms affect many parts ofeveryday life. This hands-on activity highlights the key  concepts of biofilms by allowing participants to first build, then attempt to ‘blast,’ a biofilm, thus enabling the robust nature of biofilms to become apparent. We developed the blast-a-biofilm activity as part of our two-day Magnificent Microbes event, which took place at the Dundee Science Centre-Sensation in May 2010 (6. This public engagement event was run by scientists from the Division of Molecular Microbiology at the University of Dundee. The purpose of the event was to use fun and interesting activities to make both children and adults think about how fascinating microbes are. Additionally, we aimed to develop interactive resources that could be used in future events and learning environments, of which the blast-a-biofilm activity is one such resource. Scientists and policy makers in the UK believe engaging the public with research ensures that the work of universities and research institutes is relevant to society and wider social concerns and can also help scientists actively contribute to positive social change (2. The activity is aimed at junior school age children (9–11 years and adults with little or no knowledge of microbiology. The activity is suitable for use at science festivals, science clubs, and also in the classroom, where it can serve as a tool to enrich and enhance the school curriculum.

Information booklet on personal protective equipment: arm and hand protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-01-01

Fire, heat, cold, electro-magnetic and ionising radiation, electricity, chemicals, impacts, cuts, abrasion, etc. are the common hazards for arms and hands at work. The gloves chosen for protection of the arm and hand should cover those parts adequately and the material of the gloves should be capable of offering protection against the specific hazard involved. Criteria for choosing arm and hand protection equipment will be based on their shape and part of the arm and hand protected. Guide lines for choosing such personal protection equipment for nuclear facilities are given. (M.K.V.). 3 annexures, 1 appendix

Teaching DNA Fingerprinting using a Hands-on Simulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Schug, Thatcher

1998-01-01

Presents an inexpensive hands-on lesson in DNA fingerprinting that can be completed in a single class period. Involves students in solving a murder in which a drop of blood is fingerprinted and matched with the blood of the murderer. (DDR)

Improving the active involvement of stakeholders and the public in flood risk management – tools of an involvement strategy and case study results from Austria, Germany and Italy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Vitale

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The EU Flood Risk Management Directive 2007/60/EC aims at an active involvement of interested parties in the setting up of flood risk management plans and thus calls for more governance-related decision-making. This requirement has two perspectives. On the one hand, there is (1 the question of how decision-makers can improve the quality of their governance process. On the other hand, there is (2 the question of how the public shall be appropriately informed and involved. These questions were the centre of the ERA-Net CRUE-funded project IMRA (integrative flood risk governance approach for improvement of risk awareness that aimed at an optimisation of the flood risk management process by increasing procedural efficiency with an explicit involvement strategy. To reach this goal, the IMRA project partners developed two new approaches that were implemented in three case study areas for the first time in flood risk management: 1. risk governance assessment tool: An indicator-based benchmarking and monitoring tool was used to evaluate the performance of a flood risk management system in regard to ideal risk governance principles; 2. social milieu approach: The concept of social milieus was used to gain a picture of the people living in the case study regions to learn more about their lifestyles, attitudes and values and to use this knowledge to plan custom-made information and participation activities for the broad public. This paper presents basic elements and the application of two innovative approaches as a part of an "involvement strategy" that aims at the active involvement of all interested parties (stakeholders for assessing, reviewing and updating flood risk management plans, as formulated in the EU Flood Risk Management Directive 2007/60/EC.

Coordination of hand shape.

Science.gov (United States)

Pesyna, Colin; Pundi, Krishna; Flanders, Martha

2011-03-09

The neural control of hand movement involves coordination of the sensory, motor, and memory systems. Recent studies have documented the motor coordinates for hand shape, but less is known about the corresponding patterns of somatosensory activity. To initiate this line of investigation, the present study characterized the sense of hand shape by evaluating the influence of differences in the amount of grasping or twisting force, and differences in forearm orientation. Human subjects were asked to use the left hand to report the perceived shape of the right hand. In the first experiment, six commonly grasped items were arranged on the table in front of the subject: bottle, doorknob, egg, notebook, carton, and pan. With eyes closed, subjects used the right hand to lightly touch, forcefully support, or imagine holding each object, while 15 joint angles were measured in each hand with a pair of wired gloves. The forces introduced by supporting or twisting did not influence the perceptual report of hand shape, but for most objects, the report was distorted in a consistent manner by differences in forearm orientation. Subjects appeared to adjust the intrinsic joint angles of the left hand, as well as the left wrist posture, so as to maintain the imagined object in its proper spatial orientation. In a second experiment, this result was largely replicated with unfamiliar objects. Thus, somatosensory and motor information appear to be coordinated in an object-based, spatial-coordinate system, sensitive to orientation relative to gravitational forces, but invariant to grasp forcefulness.

Hand Specific Representations in Language Comprehension

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Claire eMoody-Triantis

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Theories of embodied cognition argue that language comprehension involves sensory-motor re-enactments of the actions described. However, the degree of specificity of these re-enactments as well as the relationship between action and language remains a matter of debate. Here we investigate these issues by examining how hand-specific information (left or right hand is recruited in language comprehension and action execution. An fMRI study tested right-handed participants in two separate tasks that were designed to be as similar as possible to increase sensitivity of the comparison across task: an action execution go/no-go task where participants performed right or left hand actions, and a language task where participants read sentences describing the same left or right handed actions as in the execution task. We found that language-induced activity did not match the hand-specific patterns of activity found for action execution in primary somatosensory and motor cortex, but it overlapped with pre-motor and parietal regions associated with action planning. Within these pre-motor regions, both right hand actions and sentences elicited stronger activity than left hand actions and sentences - a dominant hand effect -. Importantly, both dorsal and ventral sections of the left pre-central gyrus were recruited by both tasks, suggesting different action features being recruited. These results suggest that (a language comprehension elicits motor representations that are hand-specific and akin to multimodal action plans, rather than full action re-enactments; and (b language comprehension and action execution share schematic hand-specific representations that are richer for the dominant hand, and thus linked to previous motor experience.

Hand specific representations in language comprehension.

Science.gov (United States)

Moody-Triantis, Claire; Humphreys, Gina F; Gennari, Silvia P

2014-01-01

Theories of embodied cognition argue that language comprehension involves sensory-motor re-enactments of the actions described. However, the degree of specificity of these re-enactments as well as the relationship between action and language remains a matter of debate. Here we investigate these issues by examining how hand-specific information (left or right hand) is recruited in language comprehension and action execution. An fMRI study tested self-reported right-handed participants in two separate tasks that were designed to be as similar as possible to increase sensitivity of the comparison across task: an action execution go/no-go task where participants performed right or left hand actions, and a language task where participants read sentences describing the same left or right handed actions as in the execution task. We found that language-induced activity did not match the hand-specific patterns of activity found for action execution in primary somatosensory and motor cortex, but it overlapped with pre-motor and parietal regions associated with action planning. Within these pre-motor regions, both right hand actions and sentences elicited stronger activity than left hand actions and sentences-a dominant hand effect. Importantly, both dorsal and ventral sections of the left pre-central gyrus were recruited by both tasks, suggesting different action features being recruited. These results suggest that (a) language comprehension elicits motor representations that are hand-specific and akin to multimodal action plans, rather than full action re-enactments; and (b) language comprehension and action execution share schematic hand-specific representations that are richer for the dominant hand, and thus linked to previous motor experience.

Transfer and persistence of non-self DNA on hands over time: Using empirical data to evaluate DNA evidence given activity level propositions.

Science.gov (United States)

Szkuta, Bianca; Ballantyne, Kaye N; Kokshoorn, Bas; van Oorschot, Roland A H

2018-03-01

Questions relating to how DNA from an individual got to where it was recovered from and the activities associated with its pickup, retention and deposition are increasingly relevant to criminal investigations and judicial considerations. To address activity level propositions, investigators are typically required to assess the likelihood that DNA was transferred indirectly and not deposited through direct contact with an item or surface. By constructing a series of Bayesian networks, we demonstrate their use in assessing activity level propositions derived from a recent legal case involving the alleged secondary transfer of DNA to a surface following a handshaking event. In the absence of data required to perform the assessment, a set of handshaking simulations were performed to obtain probabilities on the persistence of non-self DNA on the hands following a 40min, 5h or 8h delay between the handshake and contact with the final surface (an axe handle). Variables such as time elapsed, and the activities performed and objects contacted between the handshake and contact with the axe handle, were also considered when assessing the DNA results. DNA from a known contributor was transferred to the right hand of an opposing hand-shaker (as a depositor), and could be subsequently transferred to, and detected on, a surface contacted by the depositor 40min to 5h post-handshake. No non-self DNA from the known contributor was detected in deposits made 8h post-handshake. DNA from the depositor was generally detected as the major or only contributor in the profiles generated. Contributions from the known contributor were minor, decreasing in presence and in the strength of support for inclusion as the time between the handshake and transfer event increased. The construction of a series of Bayesian networks based on the case circumstances provided empirical estimations of the likelihood of direct or indirect deposition. The analyses and conclusions presented demonstrate both the

Multisensory Integration in the Virtual Hand Illusion with Active Movement

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Woong Choi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Improving the sense of immersion is one of the core issues in virtual reality. Perceptual illusions of ownership can be perceived over a virtual body in a multisensory virtual reality environment. Rubber Hand and Virtual Hand Illusions showed that body ownership can be manipulated by applying suitable visual and tactile stimulation. In this study, we investigate the effects of multisensory integration in the Virtual Hand Illusion with active movement. A virtual xylophone playing system which can interactively provide synchronous visual, tactile, and auditory stimulation was constructed. We conducted two experiments regarding different movement conditions and different sensory stimulations. Our results demonstrate that multisensory integration with free active movement can improve the sense of immersion in virtual reality.

Guideline Implementation: Hand Hygiene.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldberg, Judith L

2017-02-01

Performing proper hand hygiene and surgical hand antisepsis is essential to reducing the rates of health care-associated infections, including surgical site infections. The updated AORN "Guideline for hand hygiene" provides guidance on hand hygiene and surgical hand antisepsis, the wearing of fingernail polish and artificial nails, proper skin care to prevent dermatitis, the wearing of jewelry, hand hygiene product selection, and quality assurance and performance improvement considerations. This article focuses on key points of the guideline to help perioperative personnel make informed decisions about hand hygiene and surgical hand antisepsis. The key points address the necessity of keeping fingernails and skin healthy, not wearing jewelry on the hands or wrists in the perioperative area, properly performing hand hygiene and surgical hand antisepsis, and involving patients and visitors in hand hygiene initiatives. Perioperative RNs should review the complete guideline for additional information and for guidance when writing and updating policies and procedures. Copyright © 2017 AORN, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Information Remaining on Hand Held Devices Offered for Sale on the Second Hand Market

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Andy Jones

2008-06-01

resellers.The study was carried out by the security research team at the BT IT Futures Centre in conjunction with Edith Cowan University in Australia and the University of Glamorgan in the UK. The basis of the research was to acquire a number of second hand held devices from a diverse range of sources and then determine whether they still contained information relating to a previous owner or whether the information had been effectively removed. The devices that were obtained for the research were supplied blind to the researchers through a third party. The ‘blind’ supply of the devices meant that the people undertaking the research were provided with no information about the device and that the source of the devices and any external markings were hidden from them. This process was put in place to ensure that any findings of the research were based solely on the information that could be recovered from the digital storage media that was contained within the device.The underlying methodology that was used in the research was based on the forensic imaging of the devices. A forensic image of a device is a copy of the digital media that has been created in a scientifically sound manner to a standard that is acceptable to the courts. This procedure was implemented to ensure that the evidential integrity of the devices was maintained, with the devices also then being stored in a secure manner.  All subsequent research was then conducted on the image of the device. This was considered to be a sensible precaution against the possibility that information discovered on a device might indicate criminal activity and require the involvement of law enforcement.  Following the forensic imaging of the devices, the images that were created were then analyzed to determine whether any information remained and whether it could be easily recovered using commonly available tools and techniques that anyone who had purchased the device could acquire.

[Intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging-guided functional neuronavigation plus intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring for microsurgical resection of lesions involving hand motor area].

Science.gov (United States)

Miao, Xing-lu; Chen, Zhi-juan; Yang, Wei-dong; Wang, Zeng-guang; Yu, Qing; Yue, Shu-yuan; Zhang, Jian-ning

2013-01-15

To explore the methods and applications of intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI)-guided functional neuronavigation plus intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) for microsurgical resection of lesions involving hand motor area. A total of 16 patients with brain lesions adjacent to hand motor area were recruited from January 2011 to April 2012. All of them underwent neuronavigator-assisted microsurgery. Also IONM was conducted to further map hand motor area and epileptogenic focus. High-field iMRI was employed to update the anatomical and functional imaging date and verify the extent of lesion resection. Brain shifting during the functional neuronavigation was corrected by iMRI in 5 patients. Finally, total lesion resection was achieved in 13 cases and subtotal resection in 3 cases. At Months 3-12 post-operation, hand motor function improved (n = 10) or remained unchanged (n = 6). None of them had persistent neurological deficit. The postoperative seizure improvement achieved Enge II level or above in 9 cases of brain lesions complicated with secondary epilepsy. Intraoperative MRI, functional neuronavigation and neurophysiological monitoring technique are complementary in microsurgery of brain lesions involving hand motor area. Combined use of these techniques can obtain precise location of lesions and hand motor functional structures and allow a maximum resection of lesion and minimization of postoperative neurological deficits.

A hands-on activity for teaching product-process matrix: roadmap and application

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Luciano Costa Santos

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The product-process matrix is a well-known framework proposed by Hayes and Wheelwright (1979 that is commonly used to identify processes types and to analyze the alignment of these processes with the products of a company. For didactic purposes, the matrix helps undergraduates beginners from Production Engineering to understand the logic of production systems, providing knowledge that will be essential for various course subjects. Considering the high level of abstraction of the concepts underlying the product-process matrix, this paper presents a way to facilitate the learning of them through the application of a hands-on activity which relies on the active learning philosophy. The proposed dynamic uses colored plastic sheets and PVC pipes as main materials, differing from the original proposal of Penlesky and Treleven (2005 . In addition to presenting an extremely simple exercise, which encourages its application in the classroom, another contribution of this paper is to define a complete roadmap for conducting the activity. This roadmap describes the assembly of fictitious products in customization and standardization scenarios for the comparison of two processes types of product-process matrix, job shop and assembly line. The activity revealed very successful after its application to two groups of Production Engineering undergraduates, confirmed with positive feedback from the students surveyed.

Student Responses to a Hands-On Kinesthetic Lecture Activity for Learning about the Oxygen Carrying Capacity of Blood

Science.gov (United States)

Breckler, Jennifer; Yu, Justin R.

2011-01-01

This article describes a new hands-on, or "kinesthetic," activity for use in a physiology lecture hall to help students comprehend an important concept in cardiopulmonary physiology known as oxygen carrying capacity. One impetus for designing this activity was to address the needs of students who have a preference for kinesthetic…

Coordination of intrinsic and extrinsic hand muscle activity as a function of wrist joint angle during two-digit grasping.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Jamie A; Bobich, Lisa R; Santello, Marco

2010-04-26

Fingertip forces result from the activation of muscles that cross the wrist and muscles whose origins and insertions reside within the hand (extrinsic and intrinsic hand muscles, respectively). Thus, tasks that involve changes in wrist angle affect the moment arm and length, hence the force-producing capabilities, of extrinsic muscles only. If a grasping task requires the exertion of constant fingertip forces, the Central Nervous System (CNS) may respond to changes in wrist angle by modulating the neural drive to extrinsic or intrinsic muscles only or by co-activating both sets of muscles. To distinguish between these scenarios, we recorded electromyographic (EMG) activity of intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the thumb and index finger as a function of wrist angle during a two-digit object hold task. We hypothesized that changes in wrist angle would elicit EMG amplitude modulation of the extrinsic and intrinsic hand muscles. In one experimental condition we asked subjects to exert the same digit forces at each wrist angle, whereas in a second condition subjects could choose digit forces for holding the object. EMG activity was significantly modulated in both extrinsic and intrinsic muscles as a function of wrist angle (both pextrinsic and intrinsic muscles as a muscle synergy. These findings are discussed within the theoretical frameworks of synergies and common neural input across motor nuclei of hand muscles. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The cortical activation pattern by a rehabilitation robotic hand: a functional NIRS study.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Pyung-Hun; Lee, Seung-Hee; Gu, Gwang Min; Lee, Seung-Hyun; Jin, Sang-Hyun; Yeo, Sang Seok; Seo, Jeong Pyo; Jang, Sung Ho

2014-01-01

Clarification of the relationship between external stimuli and brain response has been an important topic in neuroscience and brain rehabilitation. In the current study, using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), we attempted to investigate cortical activation patterns generated during execution of a rehabilitation robotic hand. Ten normal subjects were recruited for this study. Passive movements of the right fingers were performed using a rehabilitation robotic hand at a frequency of 0.5 Hz. We measured values of oxy-hemoglobin (HbO), deoxy-hemoglobin (HbR) and total-hemoglobin (HbT) in five regions of interest: the primary sensory-motor cortex (SM1), hand somatotopy of the contralateral SM1, supplementary motor area (SMA), premotor cortex (PMC), and prefrontal cortex (PFC). HbO and HbT values indicated significant activation in the left SM1, left SMA, left PMC, and left PFC during execution of the rehabilitation robotic hand (uncorrected, p < 0.01). By contrast, HbR value indicated significant activation only in the hand somatotopic area of the left SM1 (uncorrected, p < 0.01). Our results appear to indicate that execution of the rehabilitation robotic hand could induce cortical activation.

KEEFEKTIFAN MODEL PBL DENGAN MIND MAP MELALUI HANDS ON ACTIVITY TERHADAP KEMAMPUAN BERPIKIR KREATIF SISWA

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Istika Ramadhani

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui keefektifan pembelajaran model PBL dengan mind map melalui hands on activity terhadap kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas VII SMP Negeri 7 Semarang Tahun Ajaran 2014/2015. Pemilihan sampel dengan menggunakan cluster random sampling, diperoleh siswa kelas VII G sebagai kelas eksperimen1, kelas VII E sebagai kelas eksperimen 2, dan kelas VII C sebagai kelas kontrol. Kelas eksperimen 1 diberikan pembelajaran model PBL dengan mind map melalui hands on activity, kelas eksperimen 2 diberikan pembelajaran model PBL dengan mind map, dan kelas kontrol diberikan pembelajaran model ekspositori. Instrumen penelitian yang digunakan adalah tes kemampuan berpikir kreatif dan lembar pengamatan aktivitas siswa. Data dianalisis dengan uji proporsi, uji beda rata dengan anava, uji lanjut LSD, dan uji regresi. Hasil penelitian adalah (1 kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa pada kelas eksperimen 1 dapat mencapai kriteria ketuntasan belajar; (2 kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa pada kelas eksperimen 2 dapat mencapai kriteria ketuntasan belajar; (3 terdapat perbedaan kemampuan berpikir kreatif antara siswa pada kelas eksperimen 1, eksperimen 2, dan kelas kontrol. (4 terdapat pengaruh positif dari aktivitas belajar siswa pada kelas eksperimen 1 terhadap kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa

Synaptic and functional linkages between spinal premotor interneurons and hand-muscle activity during precision grip

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Tomohiko eTakei

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Grasping is a highly complex movement that requires the coordination of a number of hand joints and muscles. Previous studies showed that spinal premotor interneurons (PreM-INs in the primate cervical spinal cord have divergent synaptic effects on hand motoneurons and that they might contribute to hand-muscle synergies. However, the extent to which these PreM-IN synaptic connections functionally contribute to modulating hand-muscle activity is not clear. In this paper, we explored the contribution of spinal PreM-INs to hand-muscle activation by quantifying the synaptic linkage (SL and functional linkage (FL of the PreM-INs with hand-muscle activities. The activity of 23 PreM-INs was recorded from the cervical spinal cord (C6–T1, with EMG signals measured simultaneously from hand and arm muscles in two macaque monkeys performing a precision grip task. Spike-triggered averages (STAs of rectified EMGs were compiled for 456 neuron–muscle pairs; 63 pairs showed significant post-spike effects (i.e., SL. Conversely, 231 of 456 pairs showed significant cross-correlations between the IN firing rate and rectified EMG (i.e., FL. Importantly, a greater proportion of the neuron–muscle pairs with SL showed FL (43/63 pairs, 68% compared with the pairs without SL (203/393, 52%, and the presence of SL was significantly associated with that of FL. However, a significant number of pairs had SL without FL (SL∩!FL, n = 20 or FL without SL (!SL∩FL, n = 203, and the proportions of these incongruities exceeded the number expected by chance. These results suggested that spinal PreM-INs function to significantly modulate hand-muscle activity during precision grip, but the contribution of other neural structures is also needed to recruit an adequate combination of hand-muscle motoneurons.

An fMRI study of the neural basis hand postures specific to tool use. Presidential award proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohgami, Yuko; Uchida, Nobuko; Matsuo, Kayako; Nakai, Toshiharu

2007-01-01

Patients with apraxia are often unable to mimic the use of a tool, even when it is presented visually. Such mimicking involves various cognitive and motor processes, including the visual perception of a tool and the manipulation of imagined tools. Although previous studies reported the involvement of several brain areas, including the left inferior parietal lobule, in such tool-use action, the details of each process have not been well understood. To clarify the neural basis of the process involved in forming hand postures for using tools, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in normal volunteers to investigate brain activation while they formed hand postures for tool manipulation. Three conditions were evaluated in separate block-designed fMRI series, formation of hand posture (A) using a tool, (B) imitating such a hand posture, and (C) to imitate the shape of a tool. Subjects formed their right hand in a manner specified according to the task conditions. Hand posturing for condition (A) induced activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45), left inferior parietal lobule (BA 40), and the premotor area compared with the imitative posturing of condition (B). Activation in these areas might be related to processes shared by tool-use pantomime. On the other hand, comparison between conditions (A) and (C) demonstrated activation in the right superior parietal lobule (BA 7). This activation may reflect spatial regulation, in which the subject was prepared to hold and manipulate the tool. Formation of static hand postures to prepare for tool use may employ a neural network shared by various tool-use actions, such as pantomime. In addition, forming hand postures may require close coordination between the tool and hand. (author)

The Effect of Antibacterial Formula Hand Cleaners on the Elimination of Microbes on Hands

Science.gov (United States)

Coleman, J. R.

2002-05-01

: The purpose of this project is to find out which one of the antibacterial hand cleanser (antibacterial bar soap, antibacterial liquid hand soap, and liquid hand sanitizer) is more effective in eliminating microbes. If antibacterial- formula liquid hand soap is used on soiled hands, then it will be more effective in eliminating microbes. Germs are microorganisms that cause disease and can spread from person-to-person. Bacteria are a kind of microbe, an example of which is Transient Flora that is often found on hands. Hand washing prevents germs from spreading to others. During the procedure, swabs were used to take samples before and after the soiled hands had been washed with one of the antibacterial hand cleansers. Nutrient Easygel was poured into petri dishes to harden for 1 day, and then samples were swabbed on the gel. The Petri dishes were placed in an incubator for 24 hours, and then data was recorded accordingly. The antibacterial liquid hand soap was sufficient in eliminating the majority of bacteria. The hands had 65% of the bacteria on them, and after the liquid hand soap was used only 37% of the bacteria remained.

The Healthy Heart Race: A Short-Duration, Hands-on Activity in Cardiovascular Physiology for Museums and Science Festivals

Science.gov (United States)

Pressley, Thomas A.; Limson, Melvin; Byse, Miranda; Matyas, Marsha Lakes

2011-01-01

The "Healthy Heart Race" activity provides a hands-on demonstration of cardiovascular function suitable for lay audiences. It was field tested during the United States of America Science and Engineering Festival held in Washington, DC, in October 2010. The basic equipment for the activity consisted of lengths of plastic tubing, a hand…

Using a Hands-On Hydrogen Peroxide Decomposition Activity to Teach Catalysis Concepts to K-12 Students

Science.gov (United States)

Cybulskis, Viktor J.; Ribeiro, Fabio H.; Gounder, Rajamani

2016-01-01

A versatile and transportable laboratory apparatus was developed for middle and high school (6th-12th grade) students as part of a hands-on outreach activity to estimate catalytic rates of hydrogen peroxide decomposition from oxygen evolution rates measured by using a volumetric displacement method. The apparatus was constructed with inherent…

Adolescent Involvement in Extracurricular Activities: Influences on Leadership Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Hancock, Donna; Dyk, Patricia Hyjer; Jones, Kenneth

2012-01-01

Study examined adolescents' participation in sports, school, and community extracurricular activities to assess the influence of different involvement roles and adult support on leadership skills. The study found that males and females who perceived their adult support more positively had more positive perceptions of their leadership skills.…

"Optics 4 every1", the hands-on optics outreach program of the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon

Science.gov (United States)

Viera-González, Perla M.; Sánchez-Guerrero, Guillermo E.

2016-09-01

The Fisica Pato2 (Physics 4 every1) outreach group started as a need of hands-on activities and active Science demonstrations in the education for kids, teenagers and basic education teachers in Nuevo Leffon maintaining a main objective of spread the word about the importance of Optics and Photonics; for accomplish this objective, since November 2013 several outreach events are organized every year by the group. The program Optics 4 every1 is supported by the Facultad de Ciencias Fisico Matematicas of the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon and the International Society for Optics and Photonics and consist in quick hands-on activities and Optics demonstrations designed for teach basic optical phenomena related with light and its application in everyday life. During 2015, with the purpose of celebrate the International Year of Light 2015, the outreach group was involved in 13 different events and reached more than 8,000 people. The present work explains the activities done and the outcome obtained with this program.

Activity in ventral premotor cortex is modulated by vision of own hand in action

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Luciano Fadiga

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Parietal and premotor cortices of the macaque monkey contain distinct populations of neurons which, in addition to their motor discharge, are also activated by visual stimulation. Among these visuomotor neurons, a population of grasping neurons located in the anterior intraparietal area (AIP shows discharge modulation when the own hand is visible during object grasping. Given the dense connections between AIP and inferior frontal regions, we aimed at investigating whether two hand-related frontal areas, ventral premotor area F5 and primary motor cortex (area F1, contain neurons with similar properties. Two macaques were involved in a grasping task executed in various light/dark conditions in which the to-be-grasped object was kept visible by a dim retro-illumination. Approximately 62% of F5 and 55% of F1 motor neurons showed light/dark modulations. To better isolate the effect of hand-related visual input, we introduced two further conditions characterized by kinematic features similar to the dark condition. The scene was briefly illuminated (i during hand preshaping (pre-touch flash, PT-flash and (ii at hand-object contact (touch flash, T-flash. Approximately 48% of F5 and 44% of F1 motor neurons showed a flash-related modulation. Considering flash-modulated neurons in the two flash conditions, ∼40% from F5 and ∼52% from F1 showed stronger activity in PT- than T-flash (PT-flash-dominant, whereas ∼60% from F5 and ∼48% from F1 showed stronger activity in T- than PT-flash (T-flash-dominant. Furthermore, F5, but not F1, flash-dominant neurons were characterized by a higher peak and mean discharge in the preferred flash condition as compared to light and dark conditions. Still considering F5, the distribution of the time of peak discharge was similar in light and preferred flash conditions. This study shows that the frontal cortex contains neurons, previously classified as motor neurons, which are sensitive to the observation of meaningful

The leading hand in bimanual activities - A search for more valid handedness items.

Science.gov (United States)

Olsson, Bo; Kirchengast, Sylvia

2016-11-01

The aim of this pilot study is to test a new approach to handedness assessment based on the concept of the leading hand. A well-established graphomotor performance test of handedness (H-D-T) and a new test according on the concept of the leading hand were undertaken by 41 Viennese schoolchildren between 6 and 8 years of age. The new test is based on in vivo observations of bimanual activities. In detail the test battery consisted of 8 fine motor leading hand items. Participants had to open and close four small objects (one tube, three small bottles) in order to observe twisting movements and four small objects (2 matchboxes, 2 small brushes) in order to observe back-and-forth movements. It turned out that the leading hand does not correlate with the hand dominance in a graphomotor test to the degree that the handedness in unimanual items has been found to do and that right leading hand scores in bimanual items are encountered significantly less often than right hand scores in a graphomotor test. The findings of the present study suggest that tests of the leading hand in vivo may contribute to a higher validity of the assessment of handedness in examinations of the lateralization of higher cortical functions.

A Case Study for Comparing the Effectiveness of a Computer Simulation and a Hands-on Activity on Learning Electric Circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Ekmekci, Adem; Gulacar, Ozcan

2015-01-01

Science education reform emphasizes innovative and constructivist views of science teaching and learning that promotes active learning environments, dynamic instructions, and authentic science experiments. Technology-based and hands-on instructional designs are among innovative science teaching and learning methods. Research shows that these two…

Associations of work activities requiring pinch or hand grip or exposure to hand-arm vibration with finger and wrist osteoarthritis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hammer, Paula E C; Shiri, Rahman; Kryger, Ann I

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVE: We systematically reviewed the epidemiologic evidence linking finger and wrist osteoarthritis (OA) with work activities requiring pinch or hand grip or exposure to hand-arm vibration (HAV). METHODS: PubMed and Embase databases were searched up to June 2013. We selected studies assessing...

Recognizing the Operating Hand and the Hand-Changing Process for User Interface Adjustment on Smartphones.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Hansong; Huang, He; Huang, Liusheng; Sun, Yu-E

2016-08-20

As the size of smartphone touchscreens has become larger and larger in recent years, operability with a single hand is getting worse, especially for female users. We envision that user experience can be significantly improved if smartphones are able to recognize the current operating hand, detect the hand-changing process and then adjust the user interfaces subsequently. In this paper, we proposed, implemented and evaluated two novel systems. The first one leverages the user-generated touchscreen traces to recognize the current operating hand, and the second one utilizes the accelerometer and gyroscope data of all kinds of activities in the user's daily life to detect the hand-changing process. These two systems are based on two supervised classifiers constructed from a series of refined touchscreen trace, accelerometer and gyroscope features. As opposed to existing solutions that all require users to select the current operating hand or confirm the hand-changing process manually, our systems follow much more convenient and practical methods and allow users to change the operating hand frequently without any harm to the user experience. We conduct extensive experiments on Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones, and the evaluation results demonstrate that our proposed systems can recognize the current operating hand and detect the hand-changing process with 94.1% and 93.9% precision and 94.1% and 93.7% True Positive Rates (TPR) respectively, when deciding with a single touchscreen trace or accelerometer-gyroscope data segment, and the False Positive Rates (FPR) are as low as 2.6% and 0.7% accordingly. These two systems can either work completely independently and achieve pretty high accuracies or work jointly to further improve the recognition accuracy.

The Effects of Industrial Protective Gloves and Hand Skin Temperatures on Hand Grip Strength and Discomfort Rating.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramadan, Mohamed Z

2017-12-04

Daily working activities and functions require a high contribution of hand and forearm muscles in executing grip force. To study the effects of wearing different gloves on grip strength, under a variety of hand skin temperatures, an assessment of the maximum grip strength was performed with 32 healthy male workers with a mean age (standard deviation) of 30.44 (5.35) years wearing five industrial gloves at three hand skin temperatures. Their ages and anthropometric characteristics including body mass index (BMI), hand length, hand width, hand depth, hand palm, and wrist circumference were measured. The hand was exposed to different bath temperatures (5 °C, 25 °C, and 45 °C) and hand grip strength was measured using a Jamar hydraulic hand dynamometer with and without wearing the gloves (chemical protection glove, rubber insulating glove, anti-vibration impact glove, cotton yarn knitted glove, and RY-WG002 working glove). The data were analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk test, Pearson correlation coefficient, Tukey test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the within-subject design analysis. The results showed that wearing gloves significantly affected the maximum grip strength. Wearing the RY-WG002 working glove produced a greater reduction on the maximum grip when compared with the bare hand, while low temperatures (5 °C) had a significant influence on grip when compared to medium (25 °C) and high (45 °C) hand skin temperatures. In addition, participants felt more discomfort in both environmental extreme conditions. Furthermore, they reported more discomfort while wearing neoprene, rubber, and RY-WG002 working gloves.

Enhanced visuo-haptic integration for the non-dominant hand.

Science.gov (United States)

Yalachkov, Yavor; Kaiser, Jochen; Doehrmann, Oliver; Naumer, Marcus J

2015-07-21

Visuo-haptic integration contributes essentially to object shape recognition. Although there has been a considerable advance in elucidating the neural underpinnings of multisensory perception, it is still unclear whether seeing an object and exploring it with the dominant hand elicits the same brain response as compared to the non-dominant hand. Using fMRI to measure brain activation in right-handed participants, we found that for both left- and right-hand stimulation the left lateral occipital complex (LOC) and anterior cerebellum (aCER) were involved in visuo-haptic integration of familiar objects. These two brain regions were then further investigated in another study, where unfamiliar, novel objects were presented to a different group of right-handers. Here the left LOC and aCER were more strongly activated by bimodal than unimodal stimuli only when the left but not the right hand was used. A direct comparison indicated that the multisensory gain of the fMRI activation was significantly higher for the left than the right hand. These findings are in line with the principle of "inverse effectiveness", implying that processing of bimodally presented stimuli is particularly enhanced when the unimodal stimuli are weak. This applies also when right-handed subjects see and simultaneously touch unfamiliar objects with their non-dominant left hand. Thus, the fMRI signal in the left LOC and aCER induced by visuo-haptic stimulation is dependent on which hand was employed for haptic exploration. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Disinfection efficacy of hand hygiene based on chlorhexidine gluconate content and usage of alcohol-based hand-rubbing solution].

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, Ippei; Watanabe, Kiyoshi; Nakaminami, Hidemasa; Azuma, Chihiro; Noguchi, Norihisa

2014-01-01

Recently, the procedure for surgical hand hygiene has been switching to a two-stage method and hand-rubbing method from the traditional hand-scrubbing method. Both the two-stage and hand-rubbing methods use alcohol-based hand-rubbing after hand washing. The former requires 5 min of antiseptic hand washing, and the latter 1 min of nonantiseptic hand washing. For a prolonged bactericidal effect in terms of surgical hand hygiene, chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) has been noted due to its residual activity. However, no detailed study comparing the disinfection efficacy and prolonged effects according to different contents of CHG and the usage of alcohol-based hand-rubbing has been conducted. The glove juice method is able to evaluate disinfection efficacy and prolonged effects of the disinfectants more accurately because it can collect not only transitory bacteria but also normal inhabitants on hands. In the present study, we examined the disinfection efficacy and prolonged effects on alcohol-based hand-rubbing containing CHG by six hand-rubbing methods and three two-stage methods using the glove juice method. In both methods, 3 mL (one pump dispenser push volume) alcohol-based hand-rubbing solution containing 1% (w/v) CHG showed the highest disinfection efficacy and prolonged effects, and no significant difference was found between the hand-rubbing and two-stage methods. In the two methods of hand hygiene, the hand-rubbing method was able to save time and cost. Therefore, the data strongly suggest that the hand-rubbing method using a one pump dispenser push volume of alcohol-based hand-rubbing solution containing 1% (w/v) CHG is suitable for surgical hand hygiene.

A Hands-On Approach To Teaching Microcontroller

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Che Fai Yeong

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Practice and application-oriented approach in education is important, and some research on active learning and cooperative problem-solving have shown that a student will learn faster and develop communication skill, leadership and team work through these methods. This paper presents a study of student preference and performance while learning the microcontroller subject with a 2-day curriculum that emphasized on hands-on approach. The curriculum uses the PIC16F877A microcontroller and participants learned to develop basic circuits and several other applications. Programming was completed on the MPLAB platform. Results show that participants had better understanding in this subject after attending the hands-on course.

The Effects of Industrial Protective Gloves and Hand Skin Temperatures on Hand Grip Strength and Discomfort Rating

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamed Z. Ramadan

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Daily working activities and functions require a high contribution of hand and forearm muscles in executing grip force. To study the effects of wearing different gloves on grip strength, under a variety of hand skin temperatures, an assessment of the maximum grip strength was performed with 32 healthy male workers with a mean age (standard deviation of 30.44 (5.35 years wearing five industrial gloves at three hand skin temperatures. Their ages and anthropometric characteristics including body mass index (BMI, hand length, hand width, hand depth, hand palm, and wrist circumference were measured. The hand was exposed to different bath temperatures (5 °C, 25 °C, and 45 °C and hand grip strength was measured using a Jamar hydraulic hand dynamometer with and without wearing the gloves (chemical protection glove, rubber insulating glove, anti-vibration impact glove, cotton yarn knitted glove, and RY-WG002 working glove. The data were analyzed using the Shapiro–Wilk test, Pearson correlation coefficient, Tukey test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA of the within-subject design analysis. The results showed that wearing gloves significantly affected the maximum grip strength. Wearing the RY-WG002 working glove produced a greater reduction on the maximum grip when compared with the bare hand, while low temperatures (5 °C had a significant influence on grip when compared to medium (25 °C and high (45 °C hand skin temperatures. In addition, participants felt more discomfort in both environmental extreme conditions. Furthermore, they reported more discomfort while wearing neoprene, rubber, and RY-WG002 working gloves.

Recognizing the Operating Hand and the Hand-Changing Process for User Interface Adjustment on Smartphones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hansong Guo

2016-08-01

Full Text Available As the size of smartphone touchscreens has become larger and larger in recent years, operability with a single hand is getting worse, especially for female users. We envision that user experience can be significantly improved if smartphones are able to recognize the current operating hand, detect the hand-changing process and then adjust the user interfaces subsequently. In this paper, we proposed, implemented and evaluated two novel systems. The first one leverages the user-generated touchscreen traces to recognize the current operating hand, and the second one utilizes the accelerometer and gyroscope data of all kinds of activities in the user’s daily life to detect the hand-changing process. These two systems are based on two supervised classifiers constructed from a series of refined touchscreen trace, accelerometer and gyroscope features. As opposed to existing solutions that all require users to select the current operating hand or confirm the hand-changing process manually, our systems follow much more convenient and practical methods and allow users to change the operating hand frequently without any harm to the user experience. We conduct extensive experiments on Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones, and the evaluation results demonstrate that our proposed systems can recognize the current operating hand and detect the hand-changing process with 94.1% and 93.9% precision and 94.1% and 93.7% True Positive Rates (TPR respectively, when deciding with a single touchscreen trace or accelerometer-gyroscope data segment, and the False Positive Rates (FPR are as low as 2.6% and 0.7% accordingly. These two systems can either work completely independently and achieve pretty high accuracies or work jointly to further improve the recognition accuracy.

The cortical activation pattern by a rehabilitation robotic hand : A functional NIRS study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pyung Hun eChang

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Clarification of the relationship between external stimuli and brain response has been an important topic in neuroscience and brain rehabilitation. In the current study, using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS, we attempted to investigate cortical activation patterns generated during execution of a rehabilitation robotic hand. Methods: Ten normal subjects were recruited for this study. Passive movements of the right fingers were performed using a rehabilitation robotic hand at a frequency of 0.5 Hz. We measured values of oxy-hemoglobin(HbO, deoxy-hemoglobin(HbR and total-hemoglobin(HbT in five regions of interest: the primary sensory-motor cortex (SM1, hand somatotopy of the contralateral SM1, supplementary motor area (SMA, premotor cortex (PMC, and prefrontal cortex (PFC. Results: HbO and HbT values indicated significant activation in the left SM1, left SMA, left PMC, and left PFC during execution of the rehabilitation robotic hand(uncorrected, pConclusions: Our results appear to indicate that execution of the rehabilitation robotic hand could induce cortical activation.

Calculator-Controlled Robots: Hands-On Mathematics and Science Discovery

Science.gov (United States)

Tuchscherer, Tyson

2010-01-01

The Calculator Controlled Robots activities are designed to engage students in hands-on inquiry-based missions. These activities address National science and technology standards, as well as specifically focusing on mathematics content and process standards. There are ten missions and three exploration extensions that provide activities for up to…

Location-coding account versus affordance-activation account in handle-to-hand correspondence effects: Evidence of Simon-like effects based on the coding of action direction.

Science.gov (United States)

Pellicano, Antonello; Koch, Iring; Binkofski, Ferdinand

2017-09-01

An increasing number of studies have shown a close link between perception and action, which is supposed to be responsible for the automatic activation of actions compatible with objects' properties, such as the orientation of their graspable parts. It has been observed that left and right hand responses to objects (e.g., cups) are faster and more accurate if the handle orientation corresponds to the response location than when it does not. Two alternative explanations have been proposed for this handle-to-hand correspondence effect : location coding and affordance activation. The aim of the present study was to provide disambiguating evidence on the origin of this effect by employing object sets for which the visually salient portion was separated from, and opposite to the graspable 1, and vice versa. Seven experiments were conducted employing both single objects and object pairs as visual stimuli to enhance the contextual information about objects' graspability and usability. Notwithstanding these manipulations intended to favor affordance activation, results fully supported the location-coding account displaying significant Simon-like effects that involved the orientation of the visually salient portion of the object stimulus and the location of the response. Crucially, we provided evidence of Simon-like effects based on higher-level cognitive, iconic representations of action directions rather than based on lower-level spatial coding of the pure position of protruding portions of the visual stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Integration of robotics and neuroscience beyond the hand: What kind of synergies?. Comment on "Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands" by Marco Santello et al.

Science.gov (United States)

d'Avella, Andrea

2016-07-01

Santello et al. [1] review an impressive amount of work on the control of biological and artificial hands that demonstrates how the concept of synergies can lead to a successful integration of robotics and neuroscience. Is it possible to generalize the same approach to the control of biological and artificial limbs and bodies beyond the hand? The human hand synergies that appear most relevant for robotic hands are those defined at the kinematic level, i.e. postural synergies [2]. Postural synergies capture the geometric relations among the many joints of the hand and allow for a low dimensional characterization and synthesis of the static hand postures involved in grasping and manipulating a large set of objects. However, many other complex motor skills such as walking, reaching, throwing, and catching require controlling multi-articular time-varying trajectories rather than static postures. Dynamic control of biological and artificial limbs and bodies, especially when geometric and inertial parameters are uncertain and the joints are compliant, poses great challenges. What kind of synergies might simplify the dynamic control of motor skills involving upper and lower limbs as well as the whole body?

Involving postgraduate's students in undergraduate small group teaching promotes active learning in both

Science.gov (United States)

Kalra, Ruchi; Modi, Jyoti Nath; Vyas, Rashmi

2015-01-01

Background: Lecture is a common traditional method for teaching, but it may not stimulate higher order thinking and students may also be hesitant to express and interact. The postgraduate (PG) students are less involved with undergraduate (UG) teaching. Team based small group active learning method can contribute to better learning experience. Aim: To-promote active learning skills among the UG students using small group teaching methods involving PG students as facilitators to impart hands-on supervised training in teaching and managerial skills. Methodology: After Institutional approval under faculty supervision 92 UGs and 8 PGs participated in 6 small group sessions utilizing the jigsaw technique. Feedback was collected from both. Observations: Undergraduate Feedback (Percentage of Students Agreed): Learning in small groups was a good experience as it helped in better understanding of the subject (72%), students explored multiple reading resources (79%), they were actively involved in self-learning (88%), students reported initial apprehension of performance (71%), identified their learning gaps (86%), team enhanced their learning process (71%), informal learning in place of lecture was a welcome change (86%), it improved their communication skills (82%), small group learning can be useful for future self-learning (75%). Postgraduate Feedback: Majority performed facilitation for first time, perceived their performance as good (75%), it was helpful in self-learning (100%), felt confident of managing students in small groups (100%), as facilitator they improved their teaching skills, found it more useful and better identified own learning gaps (87.5%). Conclusions: Learning in small groups adopting team based approach involving both UGs and PGs promoted active learning in both and enhanced the teaching skills of the PGs. PMID:26380201

Relationship between touch sensation of the affected hand and performance of valued activities in individuals with chronic stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Valerie A; Fisher, Thomas; Schmid, Arlene A; Crabtree, Jeffrey; Page, Stephen J

2014-01-01

To investigate the association between touch sensation of the affected hand and performance and satisfaction with performance of valued activities in individuals with chronic stroke. Using a cross-sectional study design, this study correlated factors related to hand sensation and activity performance in individuals with chronic stroke. The Touch Test Evaluators and Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) were used. Correlations were used to determine the relationships between touch sensation of the affected hand and individuals' performance and satisfaction with performance of valued activities. There was a good to excellent relationship between sensation and performance and satisfaction with performance of valued activities for individuals with intact touch sensation of the affected hand who scored higher on the COPM. There was little to no relationship between touch sensation of the affected hand and performance of valued activities for individuals with impaired sensation. This is the first study to relate touch sensation of the affected hand and performance and satisfaction with performance of valued activities in individuals with stroke. The findings suggest that rehabilitation therapists need to continue to address sensory function in evaluation and intervention as it relates to performance in valued activities. This study serves as a foundation for future research in sensation and performance of valued activities in individuals with chronic stroke.

Recognizing the Operating Hand and the Hand-Changing Process for User Interface Adjustment on Smartphones †

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Hansong; Huang, He; Huang, Liusheng; Sun, Yu-E

2016-01-01

As the size of smartphone touchscreens has become larger and larger in recent years, operability with a single hand is getting worse, especially for female users. We envision that user experience can be significantly improved if smartphones are able to recognize the current operating hand, detect the hand-changing process and then adjust the user interfaces subsequently. In this paper, we proposed, implemented and evaluated two novel systems. The first one leverages the user-generated touchscreen traces to recognize the current operating hand, and the second one utilizes the accelerometer and gyroscope data of all kinds of activities in the user’s daily life to detect the hand-changing process. These two systems are based on two supervised classifiers constructed from a series of refined touchscreen trace, accelerometer and gyroscope features. As opposed to existing solutions that all require users to select the current operating hand or confirm the hand-changing process manually, our systems follow much more convenient and practical methods and allow users to change the operating hand frequently without any harm to the user experience. We conduct extensive experiments on Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones, and the evaluation results demonstrate that our proposed systems can recognize the current operating hand and detect the hand-changing process with 94.1% and 93.9% precision and 94.1% and 93.7% True Positive Rates (TPR) respectively, when deciding with a single touchscreen trace or accelerometer-gyroscope data segment, and the False Positive Rates (FPR) are as low as 2.6% and 0.7% accordingly. These two systems can either work completely independently and achieve pretty high accuracies or work jointly to further improve the recognition accuracy. PMID:27556461

A four-dimensional virtual hand brain-machine interface using active dimension selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Rouse, Adam G

2016-06-01

Brain-machine interfaces (BMI) traditionally rely on a fixed, linear transformation from neural signals to an output state-space. In this study, the assumption that a BMI must control a fixed, orthogonal basis set was challenged and a novel active dimension selection (ADS) decoder was explored. ADS utilizes a two stage decoder by using neural signals to both (i) select an active dimension being controlled and (ii) control the velocity along the selected dimension. ADS decoding was tested in a monkey using 16 single units from premotor and primary motor cortex to successfully control a virtual hand avatar to move to eight different postures. Following training with the ADS decoder to control 2, 3, and then 4 dimensions, each emulating a grasp shape of the hand, performance reached 93% correct with a bit rate of 2.4 bits s(-1) for eight targets. Selection of eight targets using ADS control was more efficient, as measured by bit rate, than either full four-dimensional control or computer assisted one-dimensional control. ADS decoding allows a user to quickly and efficiently select different hand postures. This novel decoding scheme represents a potential method to reduce the complexity of high-dimension BMI control of the hand.

The mobile GeoBus outreach project: hands-on Earth and Mars activities for secondary schools in the UK

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Ruth; Pike, Charlotte; Roper, Kathryn

2015-04-01

GeoBus (www.geobus.org.uk) is an educational outreach project that was developed in 2012 by the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of St Andrews, and it is sponsored jointly by industry and the UK Research Councils (NERC and EPSRC). The aims of GeoBus are to support the teaching of Earth Science in secondary schools by providing teaching resources that are not readily available to educators, to inspire young learners by incorporating new science research outcomes in teaching activities, and to provide a bridge between industry, higher education institutions, research councils and schools. Since its launch, GeoBus has visited over 160 different schools across the length and breadth of Scotland. Just under 35,000 pupils have been involved in practical hands-on Earth science learning activities since the project began in 2012, including many in remote and disadvantaged regions. The resources that GeoBus brings to schools include all the materials and equipment needed to run 50 - 80 minute workshops, and half- or whole-day Enterprise Challenges and field excursions. Workshops are aimed at a class of up to 30 pupils and topics include minerals, rocks, fossils, geological time, natural resources, climate change, volcanoes, earthquakes, and geological mapping. As with all GeoBus activities, the inclusion of equipment and technology otherwise unavailable to schools substantially increases the engagement of pupils in workshops. Field excursions are increasingly popular, as many teachers have little or no field trainng and feel unable to lead this type of activity. The excursions comprise half or full day sessions for up to 30 pupils and are tailored to cover the local geology or geomorphology. Enterprise Challenge are half or full day sessions for up to 100 pupils. Topics include "Journey to Mars", "Scotland's Rocks", "Drilling for Oil", and "Renewable Energy". Both of the energy Enterprise Challenges were designed to incorporates ideas and

Optimizing pattern recognition-based control for partial-hand prosthesis application.

Science.gov (United States)

Earley, Eric J; Adewuyi, Adenike A; Hargrove, Levi J

2014-01-01

Partial-hand amputees often retain good residual wrist motion, which is essential for functional activities involving use of the hand. Thus, a crucial design criterion for a myoelectric, partial-hand prosthesis control scheme is that it allows the user to retain residual wrist motion. Pattern recognition (PR) of electromyographic (EMG) signals is a well-studied method of controlling myoelectric prostheses. However, wrist motion degrades a PR system's ability to correctly predict hand-grasp patterns. We studied the effects of (1) window length and number of hand-grasps, (2) static and dynamic wrist motion, and (3) EMG muscle source on the ability of a PR-based control scheme to classify functional hand-grasp patterns. Our results show that training PR classifiers with both extrinsic and intrinsic muscle EMG yields a lower error rate than training with either group by itself (pgrasps available to the classifier significantly decrease classification error (pgrasp.

[Influence of "prehistory" of sequential movements of the right and the left hand on reproduction: coding of positions, movements and sequence structure].

Science.gov (United States)

Bobrova, E V; Liakhovetskiĭ, V A; Borshchevskaia, E R

2011-01-01

The dependence of errors during reproduction of a sequence of hand movements without visual feedback on the previous right- and left-hand performance ("prehistory") and on positions in space of sequence elements (random or ordered by the explicit rule) was analyzed. It was shown that the preceding information about the ordered positions of the sequence elements was used during right-hand movements, whereas left-hand movements were performed with involvement of the information about the random sequence. The data testify to a central mechanism of the analysis of spatial structure of sequence elements. This mechanism activates movement coding specific for the left hemisphere (vector coding) in case of an ordered sequence structure and positional coding specific for the right hemisphere in case of a random sequence structure.

How can the curation of hands-on STEM activities power successful mobile apps and websites?

Science.gov (United States)

Porcello, D.; Peticolas, L. M.; Schwerin, T. G.

2015-12-01

The Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) is University of California, Berkeley's public science center. Over the last decade, the Center for Technology Innovation at LHS has partnered with many institutions to establish a strong track record of developing successful technology solutions to support STEM teaching and learning within informal environments. Curation by subject-matter experts has been at the heart of many educational technology products from LHS and its partners that are directed at educators and families. This work includes: (1) popular digital libraries for inquiry-based activities at Howtosmile.org (NSF DRL #0735007) and NASA Earth and Space science education resources at NASAwavelength.org; and novel mobile apps like DIY Sun Science (NASA NNX10AE05G) and DIY Human Body (NIH 5R25OD010543) designed to scaffold exploration of STEM phenomena at home. Both NASA Wavelength and DIY Sun Science arose out of long-term collaborations with the Space Sciences Laboratory at UC Berkeley, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), and other NASA-funded organizations, in partnership with NASA through cooperative agreements. This session will review the development, formative evaluation, and usage metrics for these two Earth and Space science-themed educational technology products directly relevant to the AGU community. Questions reviewed by presenters will include: What makes a good hands-on activity, and what essential information do educators depend on when searching for programming additions? What content and connections do families need to explore hands-on activities? How can technology help incorporate educational standards into the discovery process for learning experiences online? How do all these components drive the design and user experience of websites and apps that showcase STEM content?

The Use of Molecular Modeling as "Pseudoexperimental" Data for Teaching VSEPR as a Hands-On General Chemistry Activity

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Christopher B.; Vandehoef, Crissie; Cook, Allison

2015-01-01

A hands-on activity appropriate for first-semester general chemistry students is presented that combines traditional VSEPR methods of predicting molecular geometries with introductory use of molecular modeling. Students analyze a series of previously calculated output files consisting of several molecules each in various geometries. Each structure…

Effect of hand sanitizer location on hand hygiene compliance.

Science.gov (United States)

Cure, Laila; Van Enk, Richard

2015-09-01

Hand hygiene is the most important intervention to prevent infection in hospitals. Health care workers should clean their hands at least before and after contact with patients. Hand sanitizer dispensers are important to support hand hygiene because they can be made available throughout hospital units. The aim of this study was to determine whether the usability of sanitizer dispensers correlates with compliance of staff in using the sanitizer in a hospital. This study took place in a Midwest, 404-bed, private, nonprofit community hospital with 15 inpatient care units in addition to several ambulatory units. The usability and standardization of sanitizers in 12 participating inpatient units were evaluated. The hospital measured compliance of staff with hand hygiene as part of their quality improvement program. Data from 2010-2012 were analyzed to measure the relationship between compliance and usability using mixed-effects logistic regression models. The total usability score (P = .0046), visibility (P = .003), and accessibility of the sanitizer on entrance to the patient room (P = .00055) were statistically associated with higher observed compliance rates. Standardization alone showed no significant impact on observed compliance (P = .37). Hand hygiene compliance can be influenced by visibility and accessibility of dispensers. The sanitizer location should be part of multifaceted interventions to improve hand hygiene. Copyright © 2015 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

New frontiers in the rubber hand experiment: when a robotic hand becomes one's own.

Science.gov (United States)

Caspar, Emilie A; De Beir, Albert; Magalhaes De Saldanha Da Gama, Pedro A; Yernaux, Florence; Cleeremans, Axel; Vanderborght, Bram

2015-09-01

The rubber hand illusion is an experimental paradigm in which participants consider a fake hand to be part of their body. This paradigm has been used in many domains of psychology (i.e., research on pain, body ownership, agency) and is of clinical importance. The classic rubber hand paradigm nevertheless suffers from limitations, such as the absence of active motion or the reliance on approximate measurements, which makes strict experimental conditions difficult to obtain. Here, we report on the development of a novel technology-a robotic, user- and computer-controllable hand-that addresses many of the limitations associated with the classic rubber hand paradigm. Because participants can actively control the robotic hand, the device affords higher realism and authenticity. Our robotic hand has a comparatively low cost and opens up novel and innovative methods. In order to validate the robotic hand, we have carried out three experiments. The first two studies were based on previous research using the rubber hand, while the third was specific to the robotic hand. We measured both sense of agency and ownership. Overall, results show that participants experienced a "robotic hand illusion" in the baseline conditions. Furthermore, we also replicated previous results about agency and ownership.

Effects of electromyography-driven robot-aided hand training with neuromuscular electrical stimulation on hand control performance after chronic stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

Rong, Wei; Tong, Kai Yu; Hu, Xiao Ling; Ho, Sze Kit

2015-03-01

An electromyography-driven robot system integrated with neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) was developed to investigate its effectiveness on post-stroke rehabilitation. The performance of this system in assisting finger flexion/extension with different assistance combinations was evaluated in five stroke subjects. Then, a pilot study with 20-sessions training was conducted to evaluate the training's effectiveness. The results showed that combined assistance from the NMES-robot could improve finger movement accuracy, encourage muscle activation of the finger muscles and suppress excessive muscular activities in the elbow joint. When assistances from both NMES and the robot were 50% of their maximum assistances, finger-tracking performance had the best results, with the lowest root mean square error, greater range of motion, higher voluntary muscle activations of the finger joints and lower muscle co-contraction in the finger and elbow joints. Upper limb function improved after the 20-session training, indicated by the increased clinical scores of Fugl-Meyer Assessment, Action Research Arm Test and Wolf Motor Function Test. Muscle co-contraction was reduced in the finger and elbow joints reflected by the Modified Ashworth Scale. The findings demonstrated that an electromyography-driven NMES-robot used for chronic stroke improved hand function and tracking performance. Further research is warranted to validate the method on a larger scale. Implications for Rehabilitation The hand robotics and neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) techniques are still separate systems in current post-stroke hand rehabilitation. This is the first study to investigate the combined effects of the NMES and robot on hand rehabilitation. The finger tracking performance was improved with the combined assistance from the EMG-driven NMES-robot hand system. The assistance from the robot could improve the finger movement accuracy and the assistance from the NMES could reduce the

Supporting Active User Involvment in Prototyping

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grønbæk, Kaj

1990-01-01

The term prototyping has in recent years become a buzzword in both research and practice of system design due to a number of claimed advantages of prototyping techniques over traditional specification techniques. In particular it is often stated that prototyping facilitates the users' involvement...... in the development process. But prototyping does not automatically imply active user involvement! Thus a cooperative prototyping approach aiming at involving users actively and creatively in system design is proposed in this paper. The key point of the approach is to involve users in activities that closely couple...... development of prototypes to early evaluation of prototypes in envisioned use situations. Having users involved in such activities creates new requirements for tool support. Tools that support direct manipulation of prototypes and simulation of behaviour have shown promise for cooperative prototyping...

[Prevention of hand injuries - current situation in Europe].

Science.gov (United States)

Leixnering, M; Quadlbauer, S; Szolarcz, C; Schenk, C; Leixnering, S; Körpert, K

2013-12-01

Hand injuries are a frequent occurrence and account for 41% of all occupational injuries. In general such accidents are the result of stress, inattention, tiredness, use of defective or poorly maintained machinery. However, artention must equally be directed at the large number of accidents occurring in leisure time activities since the inability to work due to a leisure time accident is similarly cost-intensive. Throughout Europe attempts have been made in the past 10 years to improve prevention. At the initiative of the Hand Trauma Committee (HTC) of FESSH prevention conferences were stated in 2009. These have in part reduced the number of hand injuries in -Europe. In Austria a special controlling committee was founded by the Austrian Workers' Compensation Board (AUVA) with the specific objective of reducing the number of hand injuries. Similarly the "Circle for Leisure Time Hand Injury Prevention" was created to specifically deal with hand injuries occurring during leisure time activities. Through the cooperation of these 2 committees and implementation of the thus decided measures, a reduction in the number of accidents involving the hand is to be expected with a concomitant reduction in the associated costs. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Hands-on optics: an informal science education initiative

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Anthony M.; Pompea, Stephen M.; Arthurs, Eugene G.; Walker, Constance E.; Sparks, Robert T.

2007-09-01

The project is collaboration between two scientific societies, the Optical Society of America (OSA) and SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). The program is designed to bring science education enrichment to thousands of underrepresented middle school students in more than ten states, including female and minority students, who typically have not been the beneficiaries of science and engineering resources and investments. HOO provides each teacher with up to six activity modules, each containing enough materials for up to 30 students to participate in 6-8 hours of hands-on optics-related activities. Sample activities, developed by education specialists at NOAO, include building kaleidoscopes and telescopes, communicating with a beam of light, and a hit-the-target laser beam challenge. Teachers engage in two days of training and, where possible, are partnered with a local optics professional (drawn from the local rosters of SPIE and OSA members) who volunteers to spend time with the teacher and students as they explore the module activities. Through these activities, students gain experience and understanding of optics principles, as well as learning the basics of inquiry, critical thinking, and problem solving skills involving optics, and how optics interfaces with other disciplines. While the modules were designed for use in informal after- school or weekend sessions, the number of venues has expanded to large and small science centers, Boys and Girls Clubs, Girl Scouts, summer camps, family workshops, and use in the classroom.

Hand biometric recognition based on fused hand geometry and vascular patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, GiTae; Kim, Soowon

2013-02-28

A hand biometric authentication method based on measurements of the user's hand geometry and vascular pattern is proposed. To acquire the hand geometry, the thickness of the side view of the hand, the K-curvature with a hand-shaped chain code, the lengths and angles of the finger valleys, and the lengths and profiles of the fingers were used, and for the vascular pattern, the direction-based vascular-pattern extraction method was used, and thus, a new multimodal biometric approach is proposed. The proposed multimodal biometric system uses only one image to extract the feature points. This system can be configured for low-cost devices. Our multimodal biometric-approach hand-geometry (the side view of the hand and the back of hand) and vascular-pattern recognition method performs at the score level. The results of our study showed that the equal error rate of the proposed system was 0.06%.

Cortical Asymmetries during Hand Laterality Task Vary with Hand Laterality: A fMRI Study in 295 Participants

Science.gov (United States)

Mellet, Emmanuel; Mazoyer, Bernard; Leroux, Gaelle; Joliot, Marc; Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to characterize, using fMRI, the functional asymmetries of hand laterality task (HLT) in a sample of 295 participants balanced for handedness. During HLT, participants have to decide whether the displayed picture of a hand represent a right or a left hand. Pictures of hands’ back view were presented for 150 ms in the right or left hemifield. At the whole hemisphere level, we evidenced that the laterality of the hand and of the hemifield in which the picture was displayed combined their effects on the hemispheric asymmetry in an additive way. We then identified a set of 17 functional homotopic regions of interest (hROIs) including premotor, motor, somatosensory and parietal regions, whose activity and asymmetry varied with the laterality of the presented hands. When the laterality of a right hand had to be evaluated, these areas showed stronger leftward asymmetry, the hROI located in the primary motor area showing a significant larger effect than all other hROIs. In addition a subset of six parietal regions involved in visuo-motor integration together with two postcentral areas showed a variation in asymmetry with hemifield of presentation. Finally, while handedness had no effect at the hemispheric level, two regions located in the parietal operculum and intraparietal sulcus exhibited larger leftward asymmetry with right handedness independently of the hand of presentation. The present results extend those of previous works in showing a shift of asymmetries during HLT according to the hand presented in sensorimotor areas including primary motor cortex. This shift was not affected by manual preference. They also demonstrate that the coordination of visual information and handedness identification of hands relied on the coexistence of contralateral motor and visual representations in the superior parietal lobe and the postcentral gyrus. PMID:27999536

Early intensive hand rehabilitation after spinal cord injury ("Hands On": a protocol for a randomised controlled trial

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Hsueh Ya-Seng

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Loss of hand function is one of the most devastating consequences of spinal cord injury. Intensive hand training provided on an instrumented exercise workstation in conjunction with functional electrical stimulation may enhance neural recovery and hand function. The aim of this trial is to compare usual care with an 8-week program of intensive hand training and functional electrical stimulation. Methods/design A multicentre randomised controlled trial will be undertaken. Seventy-eight participants with recent tetraplegia (C2 to T1 motor complete or incomplete undergoing inpatient rehabilitation will be recruited from seven spinal cord injury units in Australia and New Zealand and will be randomised to a control or experimental group. Control participants will receive usual care. Experimental participants will receive usual care and an 8-week program of intensive unilateral hand training using an instrumented exercise workstation and functional electrical stimulation. Participants will drive the functional electrical stimulation of their target hands via a behind-the-ear bluetooth device, which is sensitive to tooth clicks. The bluetooth device will enable the use of various manipulanda to practice functional activities embedded within computer-based games and activities. Training will be provided for one hour, 5 days per week, during the 8-week intervention period. The primary outcome is the Action Research Arm Test. Secondary outcomes include measurements of strength, sensation, function, quality of life and cost effectiveness. All outcomes will be taken at baseline, 8 weeks, 6 months and 12 months by assessors blinded to group allocation. Recruitment commenced in December 2009. Discussion The results of this trial will determine the effectiveness of an 8-week program of intensive hand training with functional electrical stimulation. Trial registration NCT01086930 (12th March 2010 ACTRN12609000695202 (12th August 2009

Early intensive hand rehabilitation after spinal cord injury ("Hands On"): a protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, Lisa A; Dunlop, Sarah A; Churilov, Leonid; Hsueh, Ya-Seng Arthur; Galea, Mary P

2011-01-17

Loss of hand function is one of the most devastating consequences of spinal cord injury. Intensive hand training provided on an instrumented exercise workstation in conjunction with functional electrical stimulation may enhance neural recovery and hand function. The aim of this trial is to compare usual care with an 8-week program of intensive hand training and functional electrical stimulation. A multicentre randomised controlled trial will be undertaken. Seventy-eight participants with recent tetraplegia (C2 to T1 motor complete or incomplete) undergoing inpatient rehabilitation will be recruited from seven spinal cord injury units in Australia and New Zealand and will be randomised to a control or experimental group. Control participants will receive usual care. Experimental participants will receive usual care and an 8-week program of intensive unilateral hand training using an instrumented exercise workstation and functional electrical stimulation. Participants will drive the functional electrical stimulation of their target hands via a behind-the-ear bluetooth device, which is sensitive to tooth clicks. The bluetooth device will enable the use of various manipulanda to practice functional activities embedded within computer-based games and activities. Training will be provided for one hour, 5 days per week, during the 8-week intervention period. The primary outcome is the Action Research Arm Test. Secondary outcomes include measurements of strength, sensation, function, quality of life and cost effectiveness. All outcomes will be taken at baseline, 8 weeks, 6 months and 12 months by assessors blinded to group allocation. Recruitment commenced in December 2009. The results of this trial will determine the effectiveness of an 8-week program of intensive hand training with functional electrical stimulation. NCT01086930 (12th March 2010)ACTRN12609000695202 (12th August 2009).

Detection of pathogenic micro-organisms on children's hands and toys during play.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-Bastidas, T; Castro-del Campo, N; Mena, K D; Castro-del Campo, N; León-Félix, J; Gerba, C P; Chaidez, C

2014-06-01

This study aimed to determine if the children's leisure activities impact the presence of pathogens on their hands and toys. To assess the microbiological hazard in playground areas, a pilot study that included 12 children was conducted. We then conducted an intervention study; children's hands and toys were washed before playing. Faecal coliforms, pathogenic bacteria and Giardia lamblia were quantified by membrane filtration, selective media and flotation techniques, respectively; rotavirus, hepatitis A and rhinovirus by RT-PCR. Pilot study results revealed faecal contamination on children's hands and toys after playing on sidewalks and in public parks. Pathogenic bacteria, hepatitis A and G. lamblia on children's hands were also found. In the intervention study, Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae were found on children's hands at concentrations up to 2·5 × 10(4) and 1 × 10(4) CFU hands(-1), respectively. E. coli and Kl. pneumoniae were detected on toys (2·4 × 10(3) and 2·7 × 10(4) CFU toy(-1), respectively). Salmonella spp, Serratia spp and G. lamblia cysts were also present on toys. Children's play activities influence microbial presence on hands and toys; the transfer seems to occur in both ways. Control strategy needs to be implemented to protect children from infectious diseases. © 2014 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Comprehensive bactericidal activity of an ethanol-based hand gel in 15 seconds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kampf Günter

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Some studies indicate that the commonly recommended 30 s application time for the post contamination treatment of hands may not be necessary as the same effect may be achieved with some formulations in a shorter application time such as 15 s. Method We evaluated the bactericidal activity of an ethanol-based hand gel (Sterillium® Comfort Gel within 15 s in a time-kill-test against 11 Gram-positive, 16 Gram-negative bacteria and 11 emerging bacterial pathogens. Each strain was evaluated in quadruplicate. Results The hand gel (85% ethanol, w/w was found to reduce all 11 Gram-positive and all 16 Gram-negative bacteria by more than 5 log10 steps within 15 s, not only against the ATCC test strains but also against corresponding clinical isolates. In addition, a log10 reduction > 5 was observed against all tested emerging bacterial pathogens. Conclusion The ethanol-based hand gel was found to have a broad spectrum of bactericidal activity in only 15 s which includes the most common species causing nosocomial infections and the relevant emerging pathogens. Future research will hopefully help to find out if a shorter application time for the post contamination treatment of hands provides more benefits or more risks.

Co-regulated expression of HAND2 and DEIN by a bidirectional promoter with asymmetrical activity in neuroblastoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Berthold Frank

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background HAND2, a key regulator for the development of the sympathetic nervous system, is located on chromosome 4q33 in a head-to-head orientation with DEIN, a recently identified novel gene with stage specific expression in primary neuroblastoma (NB. Both genes are expressed in primary NB as well as most NB cell lines and are separated by a genomic sequence of 228 bp. The similar expression profile of both genes suggests a common transcriptional regulation mediated by a bidirectional promoter. Results Northern Blot analysis of DEIN and HAND2 in 20 primary NBs indicated concurrent expression levels of the two genes, which was confirmed by microarray analysis of 236 primary NBs (Pearson's correlation coefficient r = 0.65. While DEIN expression in the latter cohort was associated with stage 4S (p = 0.02, HAND2 expression was not associated with tumor stage. In contrast, both HAND2 and DEIN transcript levels were highly associated with age at diagnosis DEIN orientation, an average 3.4 fold increase in activity was observed as compared to the promoterless vector, whereas an average 15.4 fold activation was detected in HAND2 orientation. The presence of two highly conserved putative regulatory elements, one of which was shown to enhance HAND2 expression in branchial arches previously, displayed weak repressor activity for both genes. Conclusion HAND2 and DEIN represent a gene pair that is tightly linked by a bidirectional promoter in an evolutionary highly conserved manner. Expression of both genes in NB is co-regulated by asymmetrical activity of this promoter and modulated by the activity of two cis-regulatory elements acting as weak repressors. The concurrent quantitative and tissue specific expression of HAND2 and DEIN suggests a functional link between both genes.

Hand Biometric Recognition Based on Fused Hand Geometry and Vascular Patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Park, GiTae; Kim, Soowon

2013-01-01

A hand biometric authentication method based on measurements of the user's hand geometry and vascular pattern is proposed. To acquire the hand geometry, the thickness of the side view of the hand, the K-curvature with a hand-shaped chain code, the lengths and angles of the finger valleys, and the lengths and profiles of the fingers were used, and for the vascular pattern, the direction-based vascular-pattern extraction method was used, and thus, a new multimodal biometric approach is proposed. The proposed multimodal biometric system uses only one image to extract the feature points. This system can be configured for low-cost devices. Our multimodal biometric-approach hand-geometry (the side view of the hand and the back of hand) and vascular-pattern recognition method performs at the score level. The results of our study showed that the equal error rate of the proposed system was 0.06%. PMID:23449119

Effects of hand orientation on motor imagery--event related potentials suggest kinesthetic motor imagery to solve the hand laterality judgment task.

Science.gov (United States)

Jongsma, Marijtje L A; Meulenbroek, Ruud G J; Okely, Judith; Baas, C Marjolein; van der Lubbe, Rob H J; Steenbergen, Bert

2013-01-01

Motor imagery (MI) refers to the process of imagining the execution of a specific motor action without actually producing an overt movement. Two forms of MI have been distinguished: visual MI and kinesthetic MI. To distinguish between these forms of MI we employed an event related potential (ERP) study to measure interference effects induced by hand orientation manipulations in a hand laterality judgement task. We hypothesized that this manipulation should only affect kinesthetic MI but not visual MI. The ERPs elicited by rotated hand stimuli contained the classic rotation related negativity (RRN) with respect to palm view stimuli. We observed that laterally rotated stimuli led to a more marked RRN than medially rotated stimuli. This RRN effect was observed when participants had their hands positioned in either a straight (control) or an inward rotated posture, but not when their hands were positioned in an outward rotated posture. Posture effects on the ERP-RRN have not previously been studied. Apparently, a congruent hand posture (hands positioned in an outward rotated fashion) facilitates the judgement of the otherwise more demanding laterally rotated hand stimuli. These ERP findings support a kinesthetic interpretation of MI involved in solving the hand laterality judgement task. The RRN may be used as a non-invasive marker for kinesthetic MI and seems useful in revealing the covert behavior of MI in e.g. rehabilitation programs.

Dual-task performance involving hand dexterity and cognitive tasks and daily functioning in people with schizophrenia: a pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Keh-chung; Wu, Yi-fang; Chen, I-chen; Tsai, Pei-luen; Wu, Ching-yi; Chen, Chia-ling

2015-01-01

This study investigated separate and concurrent performance on cognitive and hand dexterity tasks and the relationship to daily functioning in 16 people with schizophrenia and 16 healthy control participants. Participants performed the Purdue Pegboard Test and the Serial Seven Subtraction Test under single- and dual-task conditions and completed two daily functioning evaluations. The hand dexterity of all participants declined in the dual-task condition, but the discrepancy between single-task and dual-task hand dexterity was greater in the schizophrenia group than in the control group (p.70, for all). The extent of discrepancy in hand dexterity was negatively correlated with daily functioning in the schizophrenia group (rs=-.3 to -.5, ps=.04-.26). Ability to perform dual tasks may be an indicator of daily functioning in people with schizophrenia. Use of dual-task training may be considered as a therapeutic activity with these clients. Copyright © 2015 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Verbal Prompting, Hand-over-Hand Instruction, and Passive Observation in Teaching Children with Developmental Disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Biederman, G. B.; Fairhall, J. L.; Raven, K. A.; Davey, V. A.

1998-01-01

A study involving six children (ages 5-13) with mental retardation found that overall passive modeling was significantly more effective than hand-over-hand modeling in teaching skills, and that passive modeling was significantly more effective than hand-over-hand modeling with response-contingent verbal prompting. (Author/CR)

Moral responsibility and the problem of many hands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Poel, van de I.R.; Royakkers, L.M.M.; Zwart, S.D.

2015-01-01

When many people are involved in an activity, it is often difficult, if not impossible, to pinpoint who is morally responsible for what, a phenomenon known as the 'problem of many hands.' This term is increasingly used to describe problems with attributing individual responsibility in collective

A person-oriented approach to hand hygiene behaviour: Emotional empathy fosters hand hygiene practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Sassenrath, Claudia; Diefenbacher, Svenja; Siegel, André; Keller, Johannes

2016-01-01

Adopting a social-psychological approach, this research examines whether emotional empathy, an affective reaction regarding another's well-being, fosters hand hygiene as this affects other's health-related well-being extensively. Three studies tested this notion: (a) a cross-sectional study involving a sample of health care workers at a German hospital, (b) an experiment testing the causal effect of empathy on hand hygiene behaviour and (c) an 11-week prospective study testing whether an empathy induction affected disinfectant usage frequency in two different wards of a hospital. Self-reported hand hygiene behaviour based on day reconstruction method was measured in Study 1, actual hand sanitation behaviour was observed in Study 2 and disinfectant usage frequency in two different hospital wards was assessed in Study 3. Study 1 reveals an association of empathy with hand hygiene cross-sectionally, Study 2 documents the causal effect of empathy on increased hand sanitation. Study 3 shows an empathy induction increases hand sanitiser usage in the hospital. Increasing emotional empathy promotes hand hygiene behaviour, also in hospitals. Besides providing new impulses for the design of effective interventions, these findings bear theoretical significance as they document the explanatory power of empathy regarding a distal explanandum (hand hygiene).

The severity of the articular deformities of the hands depending on the seropositivity in rheumatoid arthritis

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Oprea Doiniţa

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Background. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA, met in the literature also as chronic evolving polyarthritis, is a chronic inflammatory disease, which typically involves the small and medium joints, with a symmetric distribution. Clinical studies shown that a proportion of patients with RA, without measurable rheumatoid factors are a distinct entity from those patients with seropositive RA. Around one third of patients with RA are seronegative for those two serological markers, the rheumatoid factors (RF and anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies (Anti-CCP. Hands are the most frequently affected in both seropositive and seronegative RA and the first joints involved in the inflammatory process are the metacarpo-phalangeal joints, IFP joints and the radiocarpian joint. The big joints become later symptomatic, after the small joints are affected. Materials and methods: 66 patients files and the personal records of the patients consecutively admitted in the Rheumatology Department of the Clinical Emergency County Hospital Constanta. Patients from county Constanta were included in the study, with diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (diagnosis confirmed at least 2 years ago, including both forms (seropositive and seronegative of the disease. The complete clinical exam was done for the patients included in the study, following the identification of the active joint disease. The mechanical status of the joint was observed by a single evaluator for each of those 66 patients with RA, with special focus on the presence of the deformities / ankyloses of the hands joints. Therefore, there were evaluated: the mobility (the number of the joints with limited movements, deformities, ankyloses (the number of the joints without mobility. The joint mobility was assessed by counting the hand joints with limited movements and the worsening of the prehension function. The presence of the following hand deformities was followed: fingers in “swan neck”, “fusiform fingers�

Involvement of serotonin 2A receptor activation in modulating medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala neuronal activation during novelty-exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Hervig, Mona El-Sayed; Jensen, Nadja Cecilie Hvid; Rasmussen, Nadja Bredo; Rydbirk, Rasmus; Olesen, Mikkel Vestergaard; Hay-Schmidt, Anders; Pakkenberg, Bente; Aznar, Susana

2017-05-30

The medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a major role in executive function by exerting a top-down control onto subcortical areas. Novelty-induced frontal cortex activation is 5-HT 2A receptor (5-HT 2A R) dependent. Here, we further investigated how blockade of 5-HT 2A Rs in mice exposed to a novel open-field arena affects medial PFC activation and basolateral amygdala (BLA) reactivity. We used c-Fos immunoreactivity (IR) as a marker of neuronal activation and stereological quantification for obtaining the total number of c-Fos-IR neurons as a measure of regional activation. We further examined the impact of 5-HT 2A R blockade on the striatal-projecting BLA neurons. Systemic administration of ketanserin (0.5mg/kg) prior to novel open-field exposure resulted in reduced total numbers of c-Fos-IR cells in dorsomedial PFC areas and the BLA. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between the relative time spent in the centre of the open-field and BLA c-Fos-IR in the ketanserin-treated animals. Unilateral medial PFC lesions blocked this effect, ascertaining an involvement of this frontal cortex area. On the other hand, medial PFC lesioning exacerbated the more anxiogenic-like behaviour of the ketanserin-treated animals, upholding its involvement in modulating averseness. Ketanserin did not affect the number of activated striatal-projecting BLA neurons (measured by number of Cholera Toxin b (CTb) retrograde labelled neurons also being c-Fos-IR) following CTb injection in the ventral striatum. These results support a role of 5-HT 2A R activation in modulating mPFC and BLA activation during exposure to a novel environment, which may be interrelated. Conversely, 5-HT 2A R blockade does not seem to affect the amygdala-striatal projection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Robot hands and extravehicular activity

Science.gov (United States)

Marcus, Beth

1987-01-01

Extravehicular activity (EVA) is crucial to the success of both current and future space operations. As space operations have evolved in complexity so has the demand placed on the EVA crewman. In addition, some NASA requirements for human capabilities at remote or hazardous sites were identified. One of the keys to performing useful EVA tasks is the ability to manipulate objects accurately, quickly and without early or excessive fatigue. The current suit employs a glove which enables the crewman to perform grasping tasks, use tools, turn switches, and perform other tasks for short periods of time. However, the glove's bulk and resistance to motion ultimately causes fatigue. Due to this limitation it may not be possible to meet the productivity requirements that will be placed on the EVA crewman of the future with the current or developmental Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) hardware. In addition, this hardware will not meet the requirements for remote or hazardous operations. In an effort to develop ways for improving crew productivity, a contract was awarded to develop a prototype anthromorphic robotic hand (ARH) for use with an extravehicular space suit. The first step in this program was to perform a a design study which investigated the basic technology required for the development of an ARH to enhance crew performance and productivity. The design study phase of the contract and some additional development work is summarized.

Whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging of human brain during voluntary movements of dominant and subdominant hands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu Wei; Yan Zixu; Ma Xiaohai; Zhang Zhaoqi; Lin Chongyu; Zang Yufeng; Weng Xuchu

2003-01-01

Objective: To identify the neural substrates of voluntary movements of dominant and subdominant hands by using the whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging. Methods: Seven right-handed healthy volunteers were scanned at a Sonata 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner (Siemens) while they were performing the visually instructive movement tasks with their right and left index fingers. Image data were co-registered to correct head motion, spatially normalized according to the standard coordinates, and spatially smoothed with isotopic Guassian Kernel. Statistical parametric maps (activation maps) for right and left hands were generated respectively by cross-correlation analysis. Results: Voluntary movements of the right/dominant hand mainly activated contralateral primary motor cortex (MI), bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), bilateral second motor area (MII), and ipsilateral cerebellum, whereas movements of the left/subdominant hand additionally elicited activation in contralateral premotor area (PMC). Moreover, activation volumes in SMA and MII during movements of the subdominant hand were significantly larger than those during movements of the dominant hand. Conclusion: A large set of structures in the cerebral cortex and cerebellum is involved in voluntary movements, as revealed by whole brain-based fMRI. Movements of the subdominant hand are more dependent on higher control areas, such as SMA and PMC, comparing to movements of the dominant hand

Determination of calcium in foot, hand and vertebrae of man by neutron activation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zajchik, V.E.; Kondrashev, A.E.; Dubrovin, A.P.; Korelo, A.M.; Morukov, B.V.; Orlov, O.I.

1990-01-01

Methods and devices for in vivo neutron activation determination of calcium content in human foot, hand and vertebrae were developed. It is ascertained that calcium content in skeleton is subjected to seasonal cyclicity. Bones of foot have the minimum content of the element in winter-spring period and the maximum one in summer-autumn period. For vertebrae and hand the inverse dependence is characteristic. Average level of seasonal variations in calcium content in the bones of hand and vertebrae is 10-11%, that of foot - 18-19%. Amplitudes of seasonal variations in the content of calcium in vertebrae, hand and foot are interrelated. 5 refs.; 1 tab

Physical activity, sleep pattern and energy expenditure in double-handed offshore sailing.

Science.gov (United States)

Galvani, C; Ardigò, L P; Alberti, M; Daniele, F; Capelli, C

2015-12-01

The aim of the present study was to quantify total energy expenditure, activity energy expenditure and time spent at three levels of physical activity (low, moderate, high intensity) in four two-person crews during a 500-mile double-handed sailing regatta. Physical activity intensity and energy expenditure were assessed during a 500-nautical-mile double-handed offshore competition in eight male sailors (46.3±3.4 years; 180±13 cm; 85.4±12.5 kg). During the whole regatta, they wore an activity monitor that estimated energy expenditure and minutes spent at each level of intensity (sedentary, 6.0 METs). The sailors spent longer periods (Penergy expenditure was 14.26±1.89 MJ/day and the activity energy expenditure was 5.06±1.42 MJ/day. Activity energy expenditure was significantly correlated with total sleep time, boat speed, and distance covered each day (Penergy expenditure was more likely a consequence of the short and rare periods of sleep during the competition rather than of the bouts of moderate and vigorous physical activities.

LOCALIZATION AND RECOGNITION OF DYNAMIC HAND GESTURES BASED ON HIERARCHY OF MANIFOLD CLASSIFIERS

OpenAIRE

M. Favorskaya; A. Nosov; A. Popov

2015-01-01

Generally, the dynamic hand gestures are captured in continuous video sequences, and a gesture recognition system ought to extract the robust features automatically. This task involves the highly challenging spatio-temporal variations of dynamic hand gestures. The proposed method is based on two-level manifold classifiers including the trajectory classifiers in any time instants and the posture classifiers of sub-gestures in selected time instants. The trajectory classifiers contain skin dete...

Effect of the Intelligent Health Messenger Box on health care professionals' knowledge, attitudes, and practice related to hand hygiene and hand bacteria counts.

Science.gov (United States)

Saffari, Mohsen; Ghanizadeh, Ghader; Fattahipour, Rasoul; Khalaji, Kazem; Pakpour, Amir H; Koenig, Harold G

2016-12-01

We assessed the effectiveness of the Intelligent Health Messenger Box in promoting hand hygiene using a quasiexperimental design. Knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported practices related to hand hygiene as well as hand bacteria counts and amount of liquid soap used were measured. The intervention involved broadcasting preventive audio messages. All outcomes showed significant change after the intervention compared with before. The Intelligent Health Messenger Box can serve as a practical way to improve hand hygiene. Copyright © 2016 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

THE BRAZIL-BOLIVIA BORDER AND THE SECOND-HAND CLOTHING DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

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Tito Carlos Machado Oliveira

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The second-hand clothing trade started widely in Bolivia in 1994. This kind of trade usually involves popular globalization activities, whose practices are often identified by State agencies as illegal, although with natural popular acceptance. It is established within a complex system of networks, and takes advantage of distribution (stock and transfer meshes and knots, with the consequent conformation of connected territorial circuits. This paper aims at analyzing the second-hand clothing trade in three locations: Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Puerto Quijarro (Bolivia, and Corumbá (Brazil. The purpose is to identify the route and the nuances regarding the second-hand clothing distribution network from Santa Cruz de la Sierra to Corumbá, on the Bolivia-Brazil border.

How a smiley protects health: A pilot intervention to improve hand hygiene in hospitals by activating injunctive norms through emoticons

Science.gov (United States)

Tsivrikos, Dimitrios; Dollinger, Daniel; Lermer, Eva

2018-01-01

Hand hygiene practice in hospitals is unfortunately still widely insufficient, even though it is known that transmitting pathogens via hands is the leading cause of healthcare-associated infections. Previous research has shown that improving knowledge, providing feedback on past behaviour and targeting social norms are promising approaches to improve hand hygiene practices. The present field experiment was designed to direct people on when to perform hand hygiene and prevent forgetfulness. This intervention is the first to examine the effect of inducing injunctive social norms via an emoticon-based feedback system on hand hygiene behaviour. Electronic monitoring and feedback devices were installed in hospital patient rooms on top of hand-rub dispensers, next to the doorway, for a period of 17 weeks. In the emoticon condition, screens at the devices activated whenever a person entered or exited the room. Before using the alcohol-based hand-rub dispenser, a frowny face was displayed, indicating that hand hygiene should be performed. If the dispenser was subsequently used, this picture changed to a smiley face to positively reinforce the correct behaviour. Hand hygiene behaviour in the emoticon rooms significantly outperformed the behaviour in three other tested conditions. The strong effect in this field experiment indicates that activating injunctive norms may be a promising approach to improve hand hygiene behaviour. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. PMID:29782516

Could hands-on activities and smartphone in science CLIL teaching foster motivation and positive attitudes in students?

Science.gov (United States)

Ercolino, Immacolata; Maraffi, Sabina; Sacerdoti, Francesco M.

2016-04-01

Motivating students is one of the most challenging things we do as educators. We know that students need to be engaged to fully appreciate and learn what has been taught; the secret consists in nurturing student engagement. One of the newer ways to involve students and foster motivation in their Science learning consists in focusing on their usage and on applying knowledge and skills in their real-life. Students usually are engaged in authentic teaching pathway. Learning focusing on the experience helps teachers to improve classroom management by gathering students around a common organized activity. Hands-on activities support problem-based approaches to learning by focusing on the experience and process of investigating, proposing and creating solutions developing critical thinking skills and enlarge student's scientific glossary. We utilized in our classroom some lab activities that we learned at an ESA/GTTP Teacher training Workshop 2014 program at the Lorentz Center Leiden, Netherlands. "Cooking a comet - Ingredients for life" "Demonstration of the second Kepler's law using marbles" New media equipment, as student's own smartphones, can increase the teaching impact speaking the same language used by the students every day. They can measure magnetic fields, their GPS coordinates (longitude and latitude), and so on. In this way we can measure distances as parallax using mobile devices and simulating distance measurements in the classroom, on the school campus. The smartphone is the device with which the students answer questions, take decisions, and solve quests. Students infact can observe the Universe from their classroom and scientifically they can watch the Sun with "Google sky map" or "Star walk" are excellent tools to learn your way around the night sky .As teachers we used these apps in the classroom when Sun goes through the constellations so our students don't believe in horoscopes. This paper is focused on hands on activities and the effects of the

Ability of Hand Hygiene Interventions Using Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers and Soap To Reduce Microbial Load on Farmworker Hands Soiled during Harvest.

Science.gov (United States)

de Aceituno, Anna Fabiszewski; Bartz, Faith E; Hodge, Domonique Watson; Shumaker, David J; Grubb, James E; Arbogast, James W; Dávila-Aviña, Jorgé; Venegas, Fabiola; Heredia, Norma; García, Santos; Leon, Juan S

2015-11-01

Effective hand hygiene is essential to prevent the spread of pathogens on produce farms and reduce foodborne illness. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act Proposed Rule for Produce Safety recommends the use of soap and running water for hand hygiene of produce handlers. The use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer (ABHS) may be an effective alternative hygiene intervention where access to water is limited. There are no published data on the efficacy of either soap or ABHS-based interventions to reduce microbial contamination in agricultural settings. The goal of this study was to assess the ability of two soap-based (traditional or pumice) and two ABHS-based (label-use or two-step) hygiene interventions to reduce microbes (coliforms, Escherichia coli, and Enterococcus spp.) and soil (absorbance of hand rinsate at 600 nm [A600]) on farmworker hands after harvesting produce, compared with the results for a no-hand-hygiene control. With no hand hygiene, farmworker hands were soiled (median A600, 0.48) and had high concentrations of coliforms (geometric mean, 3.4 log CFU per hand) and Enterococcus spp. (geometric mean, 5.3 log CFU per hand) after 1 to 2 h of harvesting tomatoes. Differences in microbial loads in comparison to the loads in the control group varied by indicator organism and hygiene intervention (0 to 2.3 log CFU per hand). All interventions yielded lower concentrations of Enterococcus spp. and E. coli (P hands (P hand washing with soap at reducing indicator organisms on farmworker hands. Based on these results, ABHS is an efficacious hand hygiene solution for produce handlers, even on soiled hands.

REMARKS ON NEUROCONTROL OF THE HAND AND SIGNIFICANCE OF AFFERENT INPUT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nejc Sarabon

2004-12-01

Full Text Available This paper outlines some remarks on our understanding of motor control of the hand. It begins with current knowledge about motor behavior of prehension movements. It further highlights the distributed nature of the control system that integrates sensory information from the periphery, existing motor memory from subcortical centers, and information from diverse primary and secondary motor as well as sensory areas. It further explains the sequential nature of the processes like decision, planning, computing, and execution involved in neurocontrol of a purposeful hand motor task. In the successive part it stresses the importance of sensory input, in particular proprioceptive, for movement setting and guidance. It concludes by pointing out research concepts used to study roles of sensory information for modulating states of neurobiological systems. Finally, a novel method of whole hand electrical stimulation, which seems promising as a tool for studying sensory-motor integration mechanisms in human’s hand, is explained and recent experimental data are provided.

Meat Grinder Injury to the Hand: Serial Cases

OpenAIRE

Lubis, Nur Rachmat

2012-01-01

Introduction.Although meat grinder injury to the hand is not a common case, it causes a wide spectrum of injuries that result not only in tremendous physical and emotional pain but also substantial economic impact as well.Case presentation.Three cases of hand injury caused by meat grinders are presented. Two injuries involved non dominant hand and one involved dominant hand, result in varying degrees of deformity. All patients arrived in emergency room with injured hand still firmly...

Machine Shop I. Learning Activity Packets (LAPs). Section C--Hand and Bench Work.

Science.gov (United States)

Oklahoma State Board of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

This document contains two learning activity packets (LAPs) for the "hand and bench work" instructional area of a Machine Shop I course. The two LAPs cover the following topics: hand and bench work and pedestal grinder. Each LAP contains a cover sheet that describes its purpose, an introduction, and the tasks included in the LAP;…

Embedding Hands-On Mini Laboratory Experiences in a Core Undergraduate Fluid Mechanics Course: A Pilot Study

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Duanduan; Ugaz, Victor

2017-01-01

Three self-contained mini-labs were integrated into a core undergraduate fluid mechanics course, with the goal of delivering hands-on content in a manner scalable to large class sizes. These mini-labs supported learning objectives involving friction loss in pipes, flow measurement, and centrifugal pump analysis. The hands-on experiments were…

Using mockups for hands-on training

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morris, A.R.

1991-01-01

The presentation of Using Mockups for Hands-on Training will be a slide presentation showing slides of mockups that are used by the Westinghouse Hanford Company in Maintenance Training activities. This presentation will compare mockups to actual plant equipment. It will explain the advantages and disadvantages of using mockups. The presentation will show students using the mockups in the classroom environment and slides of the actual plant equipment. The presentation will discuss performance-based training. This part of the presentation will show slides of students doing hands-on training on aerial lifts, fork trucks, and crane and rigging applications. Also shown are mockups that are used for basic hydraulics; hydraulic torquing; refrigeration and air conditioning; valve seat repair; safety relief valve training; and others. The presentation will discuss functional duplicate equipment and simulated nonfunctional equipment. The presentation will discuss the acquisition of mockups from spare parts inventory or from excess parts inventory. The presentation will show attendees how the mockups are used to enhance the training of the Hanford Site employees and how similar mockups could be used throughout the nuclear industry

SaniTwice: a novel approach to hand hygiene for reducing bacterial contamination on hands when soap and water are unavailable.

Science.gov (United States)

Edmonds, Sarah L; Mann, James; McCormack, Robert R; Macinga, David R; Fricker, Christopher M; Arbogast, James W; Dolan, Michael J

2010-12-01

The risk of inadequate hand hygiene in food handling settings is exacerbated when water is limited or unavailable, thereby making washing with soap and water difficult. The SaniTwice method involves application of excess alcohol-based hand sanitizer (ABHS), hand "washing" for 15 s, and thorough cleaning with paper towels while hands are still wet, followed by a standard application of ABHS. This study investigated the effectiveness of the SaniTwice methodology as an alternative to hand washing for cleaning and removal of microorganisms. On hands moderately soiled with beef broth containing Escherichia coli (ATCC 11229), washing with a nonantimicrobial hand washing product achieved a 2.86 (±0.64)-log reduction in microbial contamination compared with the baseline, whereas the SaniTwice method with 62 % ethanol (EtOH) gel, 62 % EtOH foam, and 70 % EtOH advanced formula gel achieved reductions of 2.64 ± 0.89, 3.64 ± 0.57, and 4.61 ± 0.33 log units, respectively. When hands were heavily soiled from handling raw hamburger containing E. coli, washing with nonantimicrobial hand washing product and antimicrobial hand washing product achieved reductions of 2.65 ± 0.33 and 2.69 ± 0.32 log units, respectively, whereas SaniTwice with 62 % EtOH foam, 70 % EtOH gel, and 70 % EtOH advanced formula gel achieved reductions of 2.87 ± 0.42, 2.99 ± 0.51, and 3.92 ± 0.65 log units, respectively. These results clearly demonstrate that the in vivo antibacterial efficacy of the SaniTwice regimen with various ABHS is equivalent to or exceeds that of the standard hand washing approach as specified in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Food Code. Implementation of the SaniTwice regimen in food handling settings with limited water availability should significantly reduce the risk of foodborne infections resulting from inadequate hand hygiene.

Hand hygiene in the intensive care unit.

Science.gov (United States)

Tschudin-Sutter, Sarah; Pargger, Hans; Widmer, Andreas F

2010-08-01

Healthcare-associated infections affect 1.4 million patients at any time worldwide, as estimated by the World Health Organization. In intensive care units, the burden of healthcare-associated infections is greatly increased, causing additional morbidity and mortality. Multidrug-resistant pathogens are commonly involved in such infections and render effective treatment challenging. Proper hand hygiene is the single most important, simplest, and least expensive means of preventing healthcare-associated infections. In addition, it is equally important to stop transmission of multidrug-resistant pathogens. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization guidelines on hand hygiene in health care, alcohol-based handrub should be used as the preferred means for routine hand antisepsis. Alcohols have excellent in vitro activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including multidrug-resistant pathogens, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a variety of fungi, and most viruses. Some pathogens, however, such as Clostridium difficile, Bacillus anthracis, and noroviruses, may require special hand hygiene measures. Failure to provide user friendliness of hand hygiene equipment and shortage of staff are predictors for noncompliance, especially in the intensive care unit setting. Therefore, practical approaches to promote hand hygiene in the intensive care unit include provision of a minimal number of handrub dispensers per bed, monitoring of compliance, and choice of the most attractive product. Lack of knowledge of guidelines for hand hygiene, lack of recognition of hand hygiene opportunities during patient care, and lack of awareness of the risk of cross-transmission of pathogens are barriers to good hand hygiene practices. Multidisciplinary programs to promote increased use of alcoholic handrub lead to an increased compliance of healthcare

Effect of hand sanitizer on the performance of fingermark detection techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Chadwick, Scott; Neskoski, Melissa; Spindler, Xanthe; Lennard, Chris; Roux, Claude

2017-04-01

Hand sanitizers have seen a rapid increase in popularity amongst the general population and this increased use has led to the belief that hand sanitizers may have an effect on subsequent fingermark detection. Based on this hypothesis, three alcoholic and two non-alcoholic hand sanitizers were evaluated to determine the effect they had on the detection of fingermarks deposited after their use. The following fingermark detection methods were applied: 1,2-indanedione-zinc, ninhydrin, physical developer (porous substrate); and cyanoacrylate, rhodamine 6G, magnetic powder (non-porous substrate). Comparison between hand sanitized fingermarks and non-hand sanitized fingermarks showed that the alcohol-based hand sanitizers did not result in any visible differences in fingermark quality. The non-alcoholic hand sanitizers, however, improved the quality of fingermarks developed with 1,2-indanedione-zinc and ninhydrin, and marginally improved those developed with magnetic powder. Different parameters, including time since hand sanitizer application prior to fingermark deposition and age of deposited mark, were tested to determine the longevity of increased development quality. The non-alcoholic hand sanitized marks showed no decrease in quality when aged for up to two weeks. The time since sanitizer application was determined to be an important factor that affected the quality of non-alcoholic hand sanitized fingermarks. It was hypothesized that the active ingredient in non-alcoholic hand sanitizers, benzalkonium chloride, is responsible for the increase in fingermark development quality observed with amino acid reagents, while the increased moisture content present on the ridges resulted in better powdered fingermarks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Possible involvement of 12-lipoxygenase activation in glucose-deprivation/reload-treated neurons.

Science.gov (United States)

Nagasawa, Kazuki; Kakuda, Taichi; Higashi, Youichirou; Fujimoto, Sadaki

2007-12-18

The aim of this study was to clarify whether 12-lipoxygenase (12-LOX) activation was involved in reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, extensive poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) activation and neuronal death induced by glucose-deprivation, followed by glucose-reload (GD/R). The decrease of neuronal viability and accumulation of poly(ADP-ribose) induced by GD/R were prevented 3-aminobenzamide, a representative PARP inhibitor, demonstrating this treatment protocol caused the same oxidative stress with the previously reported one. The PARP activation, ROS generation and decrease of neuron viability induced by GD/R treatment were almost completely abolished by an extracellular zinc chelator, CaEDTA. p47(phox), a cytosolic component of NADPH oxidase was translocated the membrane fraction by GD/R, indicating its activation, but it did not generate detectable ROS. Surprisingly, pharmacological inhibition of NADPH oxidase with apocynin and AEBSF further decreased the decreased neuron viability induced by GD/R. On the other hand, AA861, a 12-LOX inhibitor, prevented ROS generation and decrease of neuron viability caused by GD/R. Interestingly, an antioxidant, N-acetyl-l-cysteine rescued the neurons from GD/R-induced oxidative stress, implying effectiveness of antioxidant administration. These findings suggested that activation of 12-LOX, but not NADPH oxidase, following to zinc release might play an important role in ROS generation and decrease of viability in GD/R-treated neurons.

Advanced dexterous manipulation for IED defeat : report on the feasibility of using the ShadowHand for remote operations.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anderson, Robert J.

2011-01-01

Improvised Explosive Device (IED) defeat (IEDD) operations can involve intricate operations that exceed the current capabilities of the grippers on board current bombsquad robots. The Shadow Dexterous Hand from the Shadow Robot Company or 'ShadowHand' for short (www.shadowrobot.com) is the first commercially available robot hand that realistically replicates the motion, degrees-of-freedom and dimensions of a human hand (Figure 1). In this study we evaluate the potential for the ShadowHand to perform potential IED defeat tasks on a mobile platform.

Effect of electronic real-time prompting on hand hygiene behaviors in health care workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Pong, Steven; Holliday, Pamela; Fernie, Geoff

2018-03-02

Poor hand hygiene by health care workers is a major cause of nosocomial infections. This research evaluated the ability of an electronic monitoring system with real-time prompting capability to change hand hygiene behaviors. Handwashing activity was measured by counting dispenser activations on a single nursing unit before, during, and after installation of the system. The effect of changing the prompt duration on hand hygiene performance was determined by a cluster-randomized trial on 3 nursing units with 1 acting as control. Sustainability of performance and participation was observed on 4 nursing units over a year. All staff were eligible to participate. Between June 2015 and December 2016, a total of 459,376 hand hygiene opportunities and 330,740 handwashing events from 511 staff members were recorded. Dispenser activation counts were significantly influenced by use of the system (χ 2 [3] = 75.76; P Hand hygiene performance dropped from 62.61% to 24.94% (odds ratio, 0.36; 95% confidence interval, 0.34-0.38) when the prompting feature was removed. Staff participation had a negative trajectory of -0.72% (P Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Using pliers in assembly work: short and long task duration effects of gloves on hand performance capabilities and subjective assessments of discomfort and ease of tool manipulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Dianat, Iman; Haslegrave, Christine M; Stedmon, Alex W

2012-03-01

The present study investigated the effects of wearing typical industrial gloves on hand performance capabilities (muscle activity, wrist posture, touch sensitivity, hand grip and forearm torque strength) and subjective assessments for an extended duration of performing a common assembly task, wire tying with pliers, which requires a combination of manipulation and force exertion. Three commercially available gloves (cotton, nylon and nitrile gloves) were tested and compared with a bare hand condition while participants performed the simulated assembly task for 2 h. The results showed that wearing gloves significantly increased the muscle activity, wrist deviation, and discomfort whilst reducing hand grip strength, forearm torque strength and touch sensitivity. The combined results showed that the length of time for which gloves are worn does affect hand performance capability and that gloves need to be evaluated in a realistic working context. The results are discussed in terms of selection of gloves for industrial assembly tasks involving pliers. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

An electromyographic study of the effect of hand grip sizes on forearm muscle activity and golf performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Sorbie, Graeme G; Hunter, Henry H; Grace, Fergal M; Gu, Yaodong; Baker, Julien S; Ugbolue, Ukadike Chris

2016-01-01

The study describes the differences in surface electromyography (EMG) activity of two forearm muscles in the lead and trail arm at specific phases of the golf swing using a 7-iron with three different grip sizes among amateur and professional golfers. Fifteen right-handed male golfers performed five golf swings using golf clubs with three different grip sizes. Surface EMG was used to measure muscle activity of the extensor carpi radialis brevis (ECRB) and flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) on both forearms. There were no significant differences in forearm muscle activity when using the three golf grips within the group of 15 golfers (p > 0.05). When using the undersize grip, club head speed significantly increased (p = 0.044). During the backswing and downswing phases, amateurs produced significantly greater forearm muscle activity with all three grip sizes (p < 0.05). In conclusion, forearm muscle activity is not affected by grip sizes. However, club head speed increases when using undersize grips.

THE BRAZIL-BOLIVIA BORDER AND THE SECOND-HAND CLOTHING DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

OpenAIRE

Tito Carlos Machado Oliveira; Fernanda Loureiro Ferreira

2015-01-01

The second-hand clothing trade started widely in Bolivia in 1994. This kind of trade usually involves popular globalization activities, whose practices are often identified by State agencies as illegal, although with natural popular acceptance. It is established within a complex system of networks, and takes advantage of distribution (stock and transfer) meshes and knots, with the consequent conformation of connected territorial circuits. This paper aims at analyzing the second-hand clothing ...

Modeling interdisciplinary activities involving Mathematics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Iversen, Steffen Møllegaard

2006-01-01

In this paper a didactical model is presented. The goal of the model is to work as a didactical tool, or conceptual frame, for developing, carrying through and evaluating interdisciplinary activities involving the subject of mathematics and philosophy in the high schools. Through the terms...... of Horizontal Intertwining, Vertical Structuring and Horizontal Propagation the model consists of three phases, each considering different aspects of the nature of interdisciplinary activities. The theoretical modelling is inspired by work which focuses on the students abilities to concept formation in expanded...... domains (Michelsen, 2001, 2005a, 2005b). Furthermore the theoretical description rest on a series of qualitative interviews with teachers from the Danish high school (grades 9-11) conducted recently. The special case of concrete interdisciplinary activities between mathematics and philosophy is also...

Programming of left hand exploits task set but that of right hand depends on recent history.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Rixin; Zhu, Hong

2017-07-01

There are many differences between the left hand and the right hand. But it is not clear if there is a difference in programming between left hand and right hand when the hands perform the same movement. In current study, we carried out two experiments to investigate whether the programming of two hands was equivalent or they exploited different strategies. In the first experiment, participants were required to use one hand to grasp an object with visual feedback or to point to the center of one object without visual feedback on alternate trials, or to grasp an object without visual feedback and to point the center of one object with visual feedback on alternating trials. They then performed the tasks with the other hand. The result was that previous pointing task affected current grasping when it was performed by the left hand, but not the right hand. In experiment 2, we studied if the programming of the left (or right) hand would be affected by the pointing task performed on the previous trial not only by the same hand, but also by the right (or left) hand. Participants pointed and grasped the objects alternately with two hands. The result was similar with Experiment 1, i.e., left-hand grasping was affected by right-hand pointing, whereas right-hand grasping was immune from the interference from left hand. Taken together, the results suggest that when open- and closed-loop trials are interleaved, motor programming of grasping with the right hand was affected by the nature of the online feedback on the previous trial only if it was a grasping trial, suggesting that the trial-to-trial transfer depends on sensorimotor memory and not on task set. In contrast, motor programming of grasping with the left hand can use information about the nature of the online feedback on the previous trial to specify the parameters of the movement, even when the type of movement that occurred was quite different (i.e., pointing) and was performed with the right hand. This suggests that

Operationalising active involvement in the EU water framework directive

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wright, Stuart Anthony Lewis; Fritsch, Oliver

2011-01-01

We identify two key stages in the river basin planning process under the Water Framework Directive: the selection of instruments for a programme of measures to achieve the environmental targets, and disproportionate cost analysis to determine whether selected measures involve high costs. Some EU...... of actively involving non-state actors, which can be summarised as increasing the effectiveness of policy and improving its implementation. Criticising the emerging economic decision-making approach, we argue that economic analyses could result in a missed opportunity to capitalise on the potential benefits...... of involvement. The article discusses the appropriateness of actively involving the public during the two aforementioned decision-making stages and suggests concrete ways in which active involvement may be operationalised. We conclude that member states should not implement a minimum form of participation...

Right-handed neutrinos and T-violating, P-conserving interactions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Basem Kamal El-Menoufi

2017-02-01

Full Text Available We show that experimental probes of the P-conserving, T-violating triple correlation in polarized neutron or nuclear β-decay provide a unique probe of possible T-violation at the TeV scale in the presence of right-handed neutrinos. In contrast to other possible sources of semileptonic T-violation involving only left-handed neutrinos, those involving right-handed neutrinos are relatively unconstrained by present limits on the permanent electric dipole moments of the electron, neutral atoms, and the neutron. On the other hand, LHC results for pp→e+ missing transverse energy imply that an order of magnitude of improvement in D-coefficient sensitivity would be needed for discovery. Finally, we discuss the interplay with the scale of neutrino mass and naturalness considerations.

iHand: an interactive bare-hand-based augmented reality interface on commercial mobile phones

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Junyeong; Park, Jungsik; Park, Hanhoon; Park, Jong-Il

2013-02-01

The performance of mobile phones has rapidly improved, and they are emerging as a powerful platform. In many vision-based applications, human hands play a key role in natural interaction. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the interaction between human hands and the mobile phone. Thus, we propose a vision- and hand gesture-based interface in which the user holds a mobile phone in one hand but sees the other hand's palm through a built-in camera. The virtual contents are faithfully rendered on the user's palm through palm pose estimation, and reaction with hand and finger movements is achieved that is recognized by hand shape recognition. Since the proposed interface is based on hand gestures familiar to humans and does not require any additional sensors or markers, the user can freely interact with virtual contents anytime and anywhere without any training. We demonstrate that the proposed interface works at over 15 fps on a commercial mobile phone with a 1.2-GHz dual core processor and 1 GB RAM.

Effect of hand sanitizer use on elementary school absenteeism.

Science.gov (United States)

Hammond, B; Ali, Y; Fendler, E; Dolan, M; Donovan, S

2000-10-01

Several studies have indicated a connection between handwashing and illness-related absenteeism in school settings. The difficulty of ensuring consistent and effective handwashing among student populations has also been noted. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the use of an alcohol gel hand sanitizer in the classroom to help decrease the illness-related absentee rate for elementary school students. This study involved 5 individual school districts, 16 individual schools, and more than 6000 students in Delaware, Ohio, Tennessee, and California. Individual schools in each district were paired into product and control groups. In the product group schools, an alcohol gel hand sanitizer was used by the students and staff when entering and leaving the classroom. Absenteeism due to infection was recorded, and the data were statistically analyzed. The overall reduction in absenteeism due to infection in the schools included in this study was 19.8% for schools that used an alcohol gel hand sanitizer compared with the control schools (P sanitizer was used. Elementary school absenteeism due to infection is significantly reduced when an alcohol gel hand sanitizer is used in the classroom as part of a hand hygiene program.

Effects of action observation therapy on hand dexterity and EEG-based cortical activation patterns in patients with post-stroke hemiparesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuk, Eun-Ju; Kim, Jong-Man; Oh, Duck-Won; Hwang, Han-Jeong

2016-10-01

Previous reports have suggested that action observation training (AOT) is beneficial in enhancing the early learning of new motor tasks; however, EEG-based investigation has received little attention for AOT. The purpose of this study was to illustrate the effects of AOT on hand dexterity and cortical activation in patients with post-stroke hemiparesis. Twenty patients with post-stroke hemiparesis were randomly divided into either the experimental group (EG) or control group (CG), with 10 patients in each group. Prior to the execution of motor tasks (carrying wooden blocks from one box to another), subjects in the EG and CG observed a video clip displaying the execution of the same motor task and pictures showing landscapes, respectively. Outcome measures included the box and block test (BBT) to evaluate hand dexterity and EEG-based brain mapping to detect changes in cortical activation. The BBT scores (EG: 20.50 ± 6.62 at pre-test and 24.40 ± 5.42 at post-test; CG: 20.20 ± 6.12 at pre-test and 20.60 ± 7.17 at post-test) revealed significant main effects for the time and group and significant time-by-group interactions (p < 0.05). For the subjects in the EG, topographical representations obtained with the EEG-based brain mapping system were different in each session of the AOT and remarkable changes occurred from the 2nd session of AOT. Furthermore, the middle frontal gyrus was less active at post-test than at pre-test. These findings support that AOT may be beneficial in altering cortical activation patterns and hand dexterity.

Hand Rehabilitation Robotics on Poststroke Motor Recovery

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

The recovery of hand function is one of the most challenging topics in stroke rehabilitation. Although the robot-assisted therapy has got some good results in the latest decades, the development of hand rehabilitation robotics is left behind. Existing reviews of hand rehabilitation robotics focus either on the mechanical design on designers' view or on the training paradigms on the clinicians' view, while these two parts are interconnected and both important for designers and clinicians. In this review, we explore the current literature surrounding hand rehabilitation robots, to help designers make better choices among varied components and thus promoting the application of hand rehabilitation robots. An overview of hand rehabilitation robotics is provided in this paper firstly, to give a general view of the relationship between subjects, rehabilitation theories, hand rehabilitation robots, and its evaluation. Secondly, the state of the art hand rehabilitation robotics is introduced in detail according to the classification of the hardware system and the training paradigm. As a result, the discussion gives available arguments behind the classification and comprehensive overview of hand rehabilitation robotics. PMID:29230081

Electromyographic Grasp Recognition for a Five Fingered Robotic Hand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nayan M. Kakoty

2012-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents classification of grasp types based on surface electromyographic signals. Classification is through radial basis function kernel support vector machine using sum of wavelet decomposition coefficients of the EMG signals. In a study involving six subjects, we achieved an average recognition rate of 86%. The electromyographic grasp recognition together with a 8-bit microcontroller has been employed to control a fivefingered robotic hand to emulate six grasp types used during 70% daily living activities.

Design and Development of a Hand Exoskeleton Robot for Active and Passive Rehabilitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oscar Sandoval-Gonzalez

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The present work, which describes the mechatronic design and development of a novel rehabilitation robotic exoskeleton hand, aims to present a solution for neuromusculoskeletal rehabilitation. It presents a full range of motion for all hand phalanges and was specifically designed to carry out position and force-position control for passive and active rehabilitation routines. System integration and preliminary clinical tests are also presented.

Lab Safety and Bioterrorism Readiness Curricula Using Active Learning and Hands-on Strategies as Continuing Education for Medical Technologists

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steven Fiester

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Frequent reports of laboratory- (and hospital- acquired infection suggest a deficiency in safety training or lack of compliance. To assess the need for continuing education (CE addressing this problem, an original education needs assessment survey was designed and administered to medical technologists (med-techs in Northeast Ohio. Survey results were used to design a learner-centered training curriculum (for example, Lab Safety and Bioterrorism Readiness trainings that engaged med-techs in active learning, integrative peer-to-peer teaching, and hands-on exercises in order to improve microbiology safety knowledge and associated laboratory techniques. The Lab Safety training was delivered six times and the Bioterrorism Readiness training was delivered five times. Pre/posttesting revealed significant gains in knowledge and techniques specific to laboratory safety, security, risk assessment, and bioterrorism readiness amongst the majority of med-techs completing the CE trainings. The majority of participants felt that the hands-on exercises met their needs and that their personal laboratory practices would change as a result of the training course, as measured by attitudinal surveys. We conclude that active learning techniques and peer education significantly enhance microbiology learning amongst participating med-techs.

The International Registry on Hand and Composite Tissue Transplantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Petruzzo, Palmina; Lanzetta, Marco; Dubernard, Jean-Michel; Landin, Luis; Cavadas, Pedro; Margreiter, Raimund; Schneeberger, Stephan; Breidenbach, Warren; Kaufman, Christina; Jablecki, Jerzy; Schuind, Frédéric; Dumontier, Christian

2010-12-27

The International Registry on Hand and Composite Tissue Transplantation was founded in May 2002, and the analysis of all cases with follow-up information up to July 2010 is presented here. From September 1998 to July 2010, 49 hands (17 unilateral and 16 bilateral hand transplantations, including 1 case of bilateral arm transplantation) have been reported, for a total of 33 patients. They were 31 men and 2 women (median age 32 years). Time since hand loss ranged from 2 months to 34 years, and in 46% of cases, the level of amputation was at wrist. Immunosuppressive therapy included tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, sirolimus, and steroids; polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies were used for induction. Topical immunosuppression was also used in several cases. Follow-up ranges from 1 month to 11 years. One patient died on day 65. Three patients transplanted in the Western countries have lost their graft, whereas until September 2009, seven hand grafts were removed for noncompliance to the immunosuppressive therapy in China. Eighty-five percent of recipients experienced at least one episode of acute rejection within the first year, and they were reversible when promptly treated. Side effects included opportunistic infections, metabolic complications, and malignancies. All patients developed protective sensibility, 90% of them developed tactile sensibility, and 82.3% also developed a discriminative sensibility. Motor recovery enabled patients to perform most daily activities. Hand transplantation is a complex procedure, and its success is based on patient's compliance and his or her careful evaluation before and after transplantation.

PBL, Hands-On/ Digital resources in Geology, (Teaching/ Learning)

Science.gov (United States)

Soares, Rosa; Santos, Cátia; Carvalho, Sara

2015-04-01

The present study reports the elaboration, application and evaluation of a problem-based learning (PBL) program that aims to evaluate the effectiveness in students learning the Rock Cycle theme. Prior research on both PBL and Rock Cycle was conducted within the context of science education so as to elaborate and construct the intervention program. Findings from these studies indicated both the PBL methodology and Rock Cycle as helpful for teachers and students. PBL methodology has been adopted in this study since it is logically incorporated in a constructivism philosophy application and it was expected that this approach would assist students towards achieving a specific set of competencies. PBL is a student-centered method based on the principle of using problems as the starting point for the acquisition of new knowledge. Problems are based on complex real-world situations. All information needed to solve the problem is initially not given. Students will identify, find, and use appropriate resources to complete the exercise. They work permanently in small groups, developing self-directed activities and increasing participation in discussions. Teacher based guidance allows students to be fully engaged in knowledge building. That way, the learning process is active, integrated, cumulative, and connected. Theme "Rock Cycle" was introduced using a problematic situation, which outlined the geological processes highlighted in "Foz do Douro" the next coastline of the school where the study was developed. The questions proposed by the students were solved, using strategies that involved the use of hands-on activities and virtual labs in Geology. The systematization of the selected theme was performed in a field excursion, implemented according to the organizational model of Nir Orion, to The "Foz do Douro" metamorphic complex. In the evaluation of the learning process, data were obtained on students' development of knowledge and competencies through the application of

Hand involvement in children with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Burns, Joshua; Bray, Paula; Cross, Lauren A.; North, Kathryn N.; Ryan, Monique M.; Ouvrier, Robert A.

2008-01-01

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A (CMT1A), a demyelinating neuropathy characterised by progressive length-dependent muscle weakness and atrophy, is thought to affect the foot and leg first followed some time later by hand weakness and dysfunction. We aimed to characterise hand Strength, function

Effects of Hand Proximity and Movement Direction in Spatial and Temporal Gap Discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiemers, Michael; Fischer, Martin H

2016-01-01

Previous research on the interplay between static manual postures and visual attention revealed enhanced visual selection near the hands (near-hand effect). During active movements there is also superior visual performance when moving toward compared to away from the stimulus (direction effect). The "modulated visual pathways" hypothesis argues that differential involvement of magno- and parvocellular visual processing streams causes the near-hand effect. The key finding supporting this hypothesis is an increase in temporal and a reduction in spatial processing in near-hand space (Gozli et al., 2012). Since this hypothesis has, so far, only been tested with static hand postures, we provide a conceptual replication of Gozli et al.'s (2012) result with moving hands, thus also probing the generality of the direction effect. Participants performed temporal or spatial gap discriminations while their right hand was moving below the display. In contrast to Gozli et al. (2012), temporal gap discrimination was superior at intermediate and not near hand proximity. In spatial gap discrimination, a direction effect without hand proximity effect suggests that pragmatic attentional maps overshadowed temporal/spatial processing biases for far/near-hand space.

On the Other Hand : Nondominant Hand Use Increases Sense of Agency

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Damen, Tom G. E.; Dijksterhuis, Ap; van Baaren, Rick B.

In two studies, we investigated the influence of hand dominance on the sense of self-causation or agency. Participants alternately used their dominant or nondominant hand to cause the occurrence of an effect (a tone) in a task in which agency was made ambiguous. Participants were subsequently asked

Hand and wrist involvement in systemic sclerosis: US features.

Science.gov (United States)

Freire, Véronique; Bazeli, Ramin; Elhai, Muriel; Campagna, Raphaël; Pessis, Éric; Avouac, Jérôme; Allanore, Yannick; Drapé, Jean-Luc; Guérini, Henri

2013-12-01

To characterize ultrasonographic (US) features in the hand of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and to evaluate the sensitivity of US in the detection of calcinosis and acroosteolysis. The local ethics committee approved this study, and oral informed consent was obtained. A total of 44 consecutive patients with SSc (34 women; mean age, 56.1 years ± 12.1 [standard deviation]; 10 men; mean age, 45.0 years ± 14.0) and 30 healthy control subjects (20 women; mean age, 46.3 years ± 12.1; 10 men; mean age, 39.6 years ± 10.8) were included between October 2010 and December 2011. Bilateral US, including Doppler assessment of the wrists, hands, and fingers, was performed, and presence of synovitis, tenosynovitis with or without a layered appearance, calcifications, acroosteolysis, and distal vascularization was recorded. Radiography of both hands was performed to assess for acroosteolysis and calcinosis. Frequency of US features, sensitivity of US for calcinosis and acroosteolysis, and respective confidence intervals were calculated. Synovitis was found in 17 patients (39%). Tenosynovitis was found in 12 patients (27%), and it had a layered pattern in 15 (41%) of 37 cases. Calcinosis was found in 17 patients (39%) with US, with a sensitivity of 89%. Acroosteolysis was found in nine (20%) patients with US and in 10 (23%) patients with radiography, with 90% sensitivity for US. Distal vascularization was detected in 26 patients (59%) and 30 control subjects (100%) and was in contact with the acroosteolysis bed in seven (78%) of nine patients with SSc. US can be used to assess features of SSc, including synovitis, tenosynovitis, calcinosis, acroosteolysis, and distal vascularization and is sensitive for calcinosis and acroosteolysis detection. A layered pattern (similar to the appearance of an artichoke heart) of tenosynovitis was seen commonly. Online supplemental material is available for this article. © RSNA, 2013.

Localization and Recognition of Dynamic Hand Gestures Based on Hierarchy of Manifold Classifiers

Science.gov (United States)

Favorskaya, M.; Nosov, A.; Popov, A.

2015-05-01

Generally, the dynamic hand gestures are captured in continuous video sequences, and a gesture recognition system ought to extract the robust features automatically. This task involves the highly challenging spatio-temporal variations of dynamic hand gestures. The proposed method is based on two-level manifold classifiers including the trajectory classifiers in any time instants and the posture classifiers of sub-gestures in selected time instants. The trajectory classifiers contain skin detector, normalized skeleton representation of one or two hands, and motion history representing by motion vectors normalized through predetermined directions (8 and 16 in our case). Each dynamic gesture is separated into a set of sub-gestures in order to predict a trajectory and remove those samples of gestures, which do not satisfy to current trajectory. The posture classifiers involve the normalized skeleton representation of palm and fingers and relative finger positions using fingertips. The min-max criterion is used for trajectory recognition, and the decision tree technique was applied for posture recognition of sub-gestures. For experiments, a dataset "Multi-modal Gesture Recognition Challenge 2013: Dataset and Results" including 393 dynamic hand-gestures was chosen. The proposed method yielded 84-91% recognition accuracy, in average, for restricted set of dynamic gestures.

LOCALIZATION AND RECOGNITION OF DYNAMIC HAND GESTURES BASED ON HIERARCHY OF MANIFOLD CLASSIFIERS

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M. Favorskaya

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Generally, the dynamic hand gestures are captured in continuous video sequences, and a gesture recognition system ought to extract the robust features automatically. This task involves the highly challenging spatio-temporal variations of dynamic hand gestures. The proposed method is based on two-level manifold classifiers including the trajectory classifiers in any time instants and the posture classifiers of sub-gestures in selected time instants. The trajectory classifiers contain skin detector, normalized skeleton representation of one or two hands, and motion history representing by motion vectors normalized through predetermined directions (8 and 16 in our case. Each dynamic gesture is separated into a set of sub-gestures in order to predict a trajectory and remove those samples of gestures, which do not satisfy to current trajectory. The posture classifiers involve the normalized skeleton representation of palm and fingers and relative finger positions using fingertips. The min-max criterion is used for trajectory recognition, and the decision tree technique was applied for posture recognition of sub-gestures. For experiments, a dataset “Multi-modal Gesture Recognition Challenge 2013: Dataset and Results” including 393 dynamic hand-gestures was chosen. The proposed method yielded 84–91% recognition accuracy, in average, for restricted set of dynamic gestures.

A threat to a virtual hand elicits motor cortex activation.

Science.gov (United States)

González-Franco, Mar; Peck, Tabitha C; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni; Slater, Mel

2014-03-01

We report an experiment where participants observed an attack on their virtual body as experienced in an immersive virtual reality (IVR) system. Participants sat by a table with their right hand resting upon it. In IVR, they saw a virtual table that was registered with the real one, and they had a virtual body that substituted their real body seen from a first person perspective. The virtual right hand was collocated with their real right hand. Event-related brain potentials were recorded in two conditions, one where the participant's virtual hand was attacked with a knife and a control condition where the knife only struck the virtual table. Significantly greater P450 potentials were obtained in the attack condition confirming our expectations that participants had a strong illusion of the virtual hand being their own, which was also strongly supported by questionnaire responses. Higher levels of subjective virtual hand ownership correlated with larger P450 amplitudes. Mu-rhythm event-related desynchronization in the motor cortex and readiness potential (C3-C4) negativity were clearly observed when the virtual hand was threatened-as would be expected, if the real hand was threatened and the participant tried to avoid harm. Our results support the idea that event-related potentials may provide a promising non-subjective measure of virtual embodiment. They also support previous experiments on pain observation and are placed into context of similar experiments and studies of body perception and body ownership within cognitive neuroscience.

Effects of combining 2 weeks of passive sensory stimulation with active hand motor training in healthy adults.

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Aija Marie Ladda

Full Text Available The gold standard to acquire motor skills is through intensive training and practicing. Recent studies have demonstrated that behavioral gains can also be acquired by mere exposure to repetitive sensory stimulation to drive the plasticity processes. Single application of repetitive electric stimulation (rES of the fingers has been shown to improve tactile perception in young adults as well as sensorimotor performance in healthy elderly individuals. The combination of repetitive motor training with a preceding rES has not been reported yet. In addition, the impact of such a training on somatosensory tactile and spatial sensitivity as well as on somatosensory cortical activation remains elusive. Therefore, we tested 15 right-handed participants who underwent repetitive electric stimulation of all finger tips of the left hand for 20 minutes prior to one hour of motor training of the left hand over the period of two weeks. Overall, participants substantially improved the motor performance of the left trained hand by 34%, but also showed a relevant transfer to the untrained right hand by 24%. Baseline ipsilateral activation fMRI-magnitude in BA 1 to sensory index finger stimulation predicted training outcome for somatosensory guided movements: those who showed higher ipsilateral activation were those who did profit less from training. Improvement of spatial tactile discrimination was positively associated with gains in pinch grip velocity. Overall, a combination of priming rES and repetitive motor training is capable to induce motor and somatosensory performance increase and representation changes in BA1 in healthy young subjects.

A hand-hygiene behaviour monitoring system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Schie, M.; Wiesman, R.F.F.

2008-01-01

The invention relates to a hand-hygiene behaviour monitoring system, comprising: means for detecting the occurrence of an event specified in a hand-hygiene rule, wherein the event involves a person; means for updating behaviour data that is related to acts according to the hand-hygiene rule, wherein

ORIGINAL ARTICLES A radiological study of the rheumatoid hand in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Nicky

There are only a few publications on rheumatoid involvement in black South Africans.1-3 These publications do not address wrist and hand involvement specifically in black patients. However, when treating black patients one gets the impression that the wrist is more severely affected than the rest of the hand. In his thesis ...

Teaching genetics using hands-on models, problem solving, and inquiry-based methods

Science.gov (United States)

Hoppe, Stephanie Ann

Teaching genetics can be challenging because of the difficulty of the content and misconceptions students might hold. This thesis focused on using hands-on model activities, problem solving, and inquiry-based teaching/learning methods in order to increase student understanding in an introductory biology class in the area of genetics. Various activities using these three methods were implemented into the classes to address any misconceptions and increase student learning of the difficult concepts. The activities that were implemented were shown to be successful based on pre-post assessment score comparison. The students were assessed on the subjects of inheritance patterns, meiosis, and protein synthesis and demonstrated growth in all of the areas. It was found that hands-on models, problem solving, and inquiry-based activities were more successful in learning concepts in genetics and the students were more engaged than tradition styles of lecture.

Hands-On Mathematics: Two Cases from Ancient Chinese Mathematics

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Wang, Youjun

2009-01-01

In modern mathematical teaching, it has become increasingly emphasized that mathematical knowledge should be taught by problem-solving, hands-on activities, and interactive learning experiences. Comparing the ideas of modern mathematical education with the development of ancient Chinese mathematics, we find that the history of mathematics in…

Acute immobilisation facilitates premotor preparatory activity for the non-restrained hand when facing grasp affordances.

Science.gov (United States)

Kühn, Simone; Werner, Anika; Lindenberger, Ulman; Verrel, Julius

2014-05-15

Use and non-use of body parts during goal-directed action are major forces driving reorganisation of neural processing. We investigated changes in functional brain activity resulting from acute short-term immobilisation of the dominant right hand. Informed by the concept of object affordances, we predicted that the presence or absence of a limb restraint would influence the perception of graspable objects in a laterally specific way. Twenty-three participants underwent fMRI scanning during a passive object-viewing task before the intervention as well as with and without wearing an orthosis. The right dorsal premotor cortex and the left cerebellum were more strongly activated when the handle of an object was oriented towards the left hand while the right hand was immobilised compared with a situation where the hand was not immobilised. The cluster in the premotor cortex showing an interaction between condition (with restraint, without restraint) and stimulus action side (right vs. left) overlapped with the general task vs. baseline contrast prior to the intervention, confirming its functional significance for the task. These results show that acute immobilisation of the dominant right hand leads to rapid changes of the perceived affordance of objects. We conclude that changes in action requirements lead to almost instantaneous changes in functional activation patterns, which in turn may trigger structural cortical plasticity. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Personal hand gel for improved hand hygiene compliance on the regional anesthesia team.

Science.gov (United States)

Parks, Colby L; Schroeder, Kristopher M; Galgon, Richard E

2015-12-01

Hand hygiene reduces healthcare-associated infections, and several recent publications have examined hand hygiene in the perioperative period. Our institution's policy is to perform hand hygiene before and after patient contact. However, observation suggests poor compliance. This is a retrospective review of a quality improvement database showing the effect of personal gel dispensers on perioperative hand hygiene compliance on a regional anesthesia team. Healthcare providers assigned to the Acute Pain Service were observed for compliance with hand hygiene policy during a quality improvement initiative. Provider type and compliance were prospectively recorded in a database. Team members were then given a personal gel dispensing device and again observed for compliance. We have retrospectively reviewed this database to determine the effects of this intervention. Of the 307 encounters observed, 146 were prior to implementing personal gel dispensers. Compliance was 34%. Pre- and post-patient contact compliances were 23 and 43%, respectively. For 161 encounters after individual gel dispensers were provided, compliance was 63%. Pre- and post-patient contact compliances were 53 and 72%, respectively. Improvement in overall compliance from 34 to 63% was significant. On the Acute Pain Service, compliance with hand hygiene policy improves when individual sanitation gel dispensing devices are worn on the person.

Brain Activation Associated with Practiced Left Hand Mirror Writing

Science.gov (United States)

Kushnir, T.; Arzouan, Y.; Karni, A.; Manor, D.

2013-01-01

Mirror writing occurs in healthy children, in various pathologies and occasionally in healthy adults. There are only scant experimental data on the underlying brain processes. Eight, right-handed, healthy young adults were scanned (BOLD-fMRI) before and after practicing left-hand mirror-writing (lh-MW) over seven sessions. They wrote dictated…

Efficacy of alcohol-based hand sanitizer on hands soiled with dirt and cooking oil.

Science.gov (United States)

Pickering, Amy J; Davis, Jennifer; Boehm, Alexandria B

2011-09-01

Handwashing education and promotion are well established as effective strategies to reduce diarrhea and respiratory illness in countries around the world. However, access to reliable water supplies has been identified as an important barrier to regular handwashing in low-income countries. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer (ABHS) is an effective hand hygiene method that does not require water, but its use is not currently recommended when hands are visibly soiled. This study evaluated the efficacy of ABHS on volunteers' hands artificially contaminated with Escherichia coli in the presence of dirt (soil from Tanzania) and cooking oil. ABHS reduced levels of E. coli by a mean of 2.33 log colony forming units (CFU) per clean hand, 2.32 log CFU per dirt-covered hand, and 2.13 log CFU per oil-coated hand. No significant difference in efficacy was detected between hands that were clean versus dirty or oily. ABHS may be an appropriate hand hygiene method for hands that are moderately soiled, and an attractive option for field settings in which access to water and soap is limited.

Patient-centered hand hygiene: the next step in infection prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

Landers, Timothy; Abusalem, Said; Coty, Mary-Beth; Bingham, James

2012-05-01

Hand hygiene has been recognized as the most important means of preventing the transmission of infection, and great emphasis has been placed on ways to improve hand hygiene compliance by health care workers (HCWs). Despite increasing evidence that patients' flora and the hospital environment are the primary source of many infections, little effort has been directed toward involving patients in their own hand hygiene. Most previous work involving patients has included patients as monitors or auditors of hand hygiene practices by their HCWs. This article reviews the evidence on the benefits of including patients more directly in hand hygiene initiatives, and uses the framework of patient-centered safety initiatives to provide recommendations for the timing and implementation of patient hand hygiene protocols. It also addresses key areas for further research, practice guideline development, and implications for training of HCWs. Copyright © 2012 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

A typology of place attachment and activity involvement

Science.gov (United States)

Andrew J. Mowen; Alan R. Graefe; Randy J. Virden

1998-01-01

While previous research suggests that place attachment and activity involvement impact visitor perceptions, it has not examined the simultaneous effects of these affective constructs. This study develops a typology of both place attachment and activity involvement. It examines variations between attachment-involvement levels and visitor evaluations of quality. Results...

When Passive Feels Active--Delusion-Proneness Alters Self-Recognition in the Moving Rubber Hand Illusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Louzolo, Anaïs; Kalckert, Andreas; Petrovic, Predrag

2015-01-01

Psychotic patients have problems with bodily self-recognition such as the experience of self-produced actions (sense of agency) and the perception of the body as their own (sense of ownership). While it has been shown that such impairments in psychotic patients can be explained by hypersalient processing of external sensory input it has also been suggested that they lack normal efference copy in voluntary action. However, it is not known how problems with motor predictions like efference copy contribute to impaired sense of agency and ownership in psychosis or psychosis-related states. We used a rubber hand illusion based on finger movements and measured sense of agency and ownership to compute a bodily self-recognition score in delusion-proneness (indexed by Peters' Delusion Inventory - PDI). A group of healthy subjects (n=71) experienced active movements (involving motor predictions) or passive movements (lacking motor predictions). We observed a highly significant correlation between delusion-proneness and self-recognition in the passive conditions, while no such effect was observed in the active conditions. This was seen for both ownership and agency scores. The result suggests that delusion-proneness is associated with hypersalient external input in passive conditions, resulting in an abnormal experience of the illusion. We hypothesize that this effect is not present in the active condition because deficient motor predictions counteract hypersalience in psychosis proneness.

Policy on manager involvement in work re-integration: managers' experiences in a Canadian setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Maiwald, Karin; Meershoek, Agnes; de Rijk, Angelique; Nijhuis, Frans J N

2014-01-01

In Canada and other countries, sickness absence among workers is a significant concern. Local return-to-work policies developed by both management and workers' representatives are preferred to tackle the problem. This article examines how managers perceive this local bipartite agreed upon return-to-work policy, wherein a social constructivist view on the policy process is taken. In-depth interviews were held with 10 managers on their experiences with execution of this policy in a Canadian healthcare organization. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and qualitative analyses were completed to gain deep insight into the managers' perspectives. Results show that the managers viewed themselves as a linchpin between the workplace and the worker. They did not feel heard by the other stakeholders, wrestled with worker's limitations, struggled getting plans adjusted and became overextended to meet return-to-work objectives. The study shows that the managers felt unable to meet the responsibilities the policy demanded and got less involved in the return-to-work process than this policy intended. RTW policy needs to balance on the one hand, flexibility to safeguard active involvement of managers and, on the other hand, strictness regarding taking responsibility by stakeholders, particularly the health care and re-integration professionals.

Hands-on physics displays for undergraduates

Science.gov (United States)

Akerlof, Carl W.

2014-07-01

Initiated by Frank Oppenheimer in 1969, the Exploratorium in San Francisco has been the model for hands-on science museums throughout the world. The key idea has been to bring people with all levels of scientific background in contact with interesting and attractive exhibits that require the active participation of the visitor. Unfortunately, many science museums are now forced to cater primarily to very young audiences, often 8 years old or less, with predictable constraints on the intellectual depth of their exhibits. To counter this trend, the author has constructed several hands-on displays for the University of Michigan Physics Department that demonstrate: (1) magnetic levitation of pyrolytic graphite, (2) the varied magnetic induction effects in aluminum, copper and air, (3) chaotic motion of a double pendulum, (4) conservation of energy and momentum in a steel ball magnetic accelerator, (5) the diffraction pattern of red and green laser pointer beams created by CDs and DVDs, (6) a magnetic analog of the refraction of light at a dielectric boundary and (7) optical rotation of light in an aqueous fructose solution. Each of these exhibits can be constructed for something like $1000 or less and are robust enough to withstand unsupervised public use. The dynamic behavior of these exhibits will be shown in accompanying video sequences. The following story has a history that goes back quite a few years. In the late 70's, I was spending time at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center accompanied by my family that included our two grade school children. Needless to say, we much enjoyed weekend excursions to all sorts of interesting sites in the Bay Area, especially the Exploratorium, an unusual science museum created by Frank Oppenheimer that opened in 1969. The notion that exhibits would be designed specifically for "hands-on" interactions was at that time quite revolutionary. This idea captivated a number of people everywhere including a friend in Ann Arbor, Cynthia

Involvement of serotonin 2A receptor activation in modulating medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala neuronal activation during novelty-exposure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hervig, Mona El-Sayed; Jensen, Nadja Cecilie Hvid; Rasmussen, Nadja Bredo

2017-01-01

The medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a major role in executive function by exerting a top-down control onto subcortical areas. Novelty-induced frontal cortex activation is 5-HT2A receptor (5-HT2AR) dependent. Here, we further investigated how blockade of 5-HT2ARs in mice exposed to a novel open-field...... of 5-HT2AR blockade on the striatal-projecting BLA neurons. Systemic administration of ketanserin (0.5 mg/kg) prior to novel open-field exposure resulted in reduced total numbers of c-Fos-IR cells in dorsomedial PFC areas and the BLA. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between the relative time...... spent in the centre of the open-field and BLA c-Fos-IR in the ketanserin-treated animals. Unilateral medial PFC lesions blocked this effect, ascertaining an involvement of this frontal cortex area. On the other hand, medial PFC lesioning exacerbated the more anxiogenic-like behaviour of the ketanserin...

Unusual case of cleft hand

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Sahasrabudhe Parag

2007-01-01

Full Text Available We present a case of a six-year-old male child with cleft hand deformity involving the dominant right hand. It was a rare case of atypical cleft hand with no missing tissue but cleft extending to metacarpal level and associated hypoplasia of thumb and index finger. As per Manske′s classification of cleft hand our patient belongs to the Class III variety. There was associated malposition of the index finger with absence of first web space and syndactly of thumb and index finger at the metacarpal level. A modified Snow-Littler procedure was planned. The surgical plan involved closure of cleft, release of thumb and index finger syndactly and reconstruction of the first web space. The functional outcome was good considering hypoplasia of the index finger and thumb. Depending upon the function of the thumb tendon transfers can be planned to augment thumb function at a later date along with correction of rotational deformities of the index and middle finger.

Functional MRI activation of somatosensory and motor cortices in a hand-grafted patient with early clinical sensorimotor recovery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neugroschl, C.; Denolin, V.; Schuind, F.; Holder, C. van; David, P.; Baleriaux, D.; Metens, T.

2005-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate somatosensory and motor cortical activity with functional MRI (fMRI) in a hand-grafted patient with early clinical recovery. The patient had motor fMRI examinations before transplantation, and motor and passive tactile stimulations after surgery. His normal hand and a normal group were studied for comparison. A patient with complete brachial plexus palsy was studied to assess the lack of a fMRI signal in somatosensory areas in the case of total axonal disconnection. Stimulating the grafted hand revealed significant activation in the contralateral somatosensory cortical areas in all fMRI examinations. The activation was seen as early as 10 days after surgery; this effect cannot be explained by the known physiological mechanisms of nerve regeneration. Although an imagination effect cannot be excluded, the objective clinical recovery of sensory function led us to formulate the hypothesis that a connection to the somatosensory cortex was rapidly established. Additional cases and fundamental studies are needed to assess this hypothesis, but several observations were compatible with this explanation. Before surgery, imaginary motion of the amputated hand produced less intense responses than executed movements of the intact hand, whereas the normal activation pattern for right-handed subjects was found after surgery, in agreement with the good clinical motor recovery. (orig.)

The effects of hands-on-science instruction on the science achievement of middle school students

Science.gov (United States)

Wiggins, Felita

Student achievement in the Twenty First Century demands a new rigor in student science knowledge, since advances in science and technology require students to think and act like scientists. As a result, students must acquire proficient levels of knowledge and skills to support a knowledge base that is expanding exponentially with new scientific advances. This study examined the effects of hands-on-science instruction on the science achievement of middle school students. More specifically, this study was concerned with the influence of hands-on science instruction versus traditional science instruction on the science test scores of middle school students. The subjects in this study were one hundred and twenty sixth-grade students in six classes. Instruction involved lecture/discussion and hands-on activities carried out for a three week period. Specifically, the study ascertained the influence of the variables gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status on the science test scores of middle school students. Additionally, this study assessed the effect of the variables gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status on the attitudes of sixth grade students toward science. The two instruments used to collect data for this study were the Prentice Hall unit ecosystem test and the Scientific Work Experience Programs for Teachers Study (SWEPT) student's attitude survey. Moreover, the data for the study was treated using the One-Way Analysis of Covariance and the One-Way Analysis of Variance. The following findings were made based on the results: (1) A statistically significant difference existed in the science performance of middle school students exposed to hands-on science instruction. These students had significantly higher scores than the science performance of middle school students exposed to traditional instruction. (2) A statistically significant difference did not exist between the science scores of male and female middle school students. (3) A statistically

Brain Regions Associated to a Kinesthetic Illusion Evoked by Watching a Video of One's Own Moving Hand.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaneko, Fuminari; Blanchard, Caroline; Lebar, Nicolas; Nazarian, Bruno; Kavounoudias, Anne; Romaiguère, Patricia

2015-01-01

It is well known that kinesthetic illusions can be induced by stimulation of several sensory systems (proprioception, touch, vision…). In this study we investigated the cerebral network underlying a kinesthetic illusion induced by visual stimulation by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in humans. Participants were instructed to keep their hand still while watching the video of their own moving hand (Self Hand) or that of someone else's moving hand (Other Hand). In the Self Hand condition they experienced an illusory sensation that their hand was moving whereas the Other Hand condition did not induce any kinesthetic illusion. The contrast between the Self Hand and Other Hand conditions showed significant activation in the left dorsal and ventral premotor cortices, in the left Superior and Inferior Parietal lobules, at the right Occipito-Temporal junction as well as in bilateral Insula and Putamen. Most strikingly, there was no activation in the primary motor and somatosensory cortices, whilst previous studies have reported significant activation in these regions for vibration-induced kinesthetic illusions. To our knowledge, this is the first study that indicates that humans can experience kinesthetic perception without activation in the primary motor and somatosensory areas. We conclude that under some conditions watching a video of one's own moving hand could lead to activation of a network that is usually involved in processing copies of efference, thus leading to the illusory perception that the real hand is indeed moving.

Brain Regions Associated to a Kinesthetic Illusion Evoked by Watching a Video of One's Own Moving Hand.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fuminari Kaneko

Full Text Available It is well known that kinesthetic illusions can be induced by stimulation of several sensory systems (proprioception, touch, vision…. In this study we investigated the cerebral network underlying a kinesthetic illusion induced by visual stimulation by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI in humans. Participants were instructed to keep their hand still while watching the video of their own moving hand (Self Hand or that of someone else's moving hand (Other Hand. In the Self Hand condition they experienced an illusory sensation that their hand was moving whereas the Other Hand condition did not induce any kinesthetic illusion. The contrast between the Self Hand and Other Hand conditions showed significant activation in the left dorsal and ventral premotor cortices, in the left Superior and Inferior Parietal lobules, at the right Occipito-Temporal junction as well as in bilateral Insula and Putamen. Most strikingly, there was no activation in the primary motor and somatosensory cortices, whilst previous studies have reported significant activation in these regions for vibration-induced kinesthetic illusions. To our knowledge, this is the first study that indicates that humans can experience kinesthetic perception without activation in the primary motor and somatosensory areas. We conclude that under some conditions watching a video of one's own moving hand could lead to activation of a network that is usually involved in processing copies of efference, thus leading to the illusory perception that the real hand is indeed moving.

Glycemic Control, Hand Activity, and Complexity of Biological Signals in Diabetes Mellitus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hsien-Tsai Wu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Both glycemic control and handgrip strength affect microvascular function. Multiscale entropy (MSE of photoplethysmographic (PPG pulse amplitudes may differ by diabetes status and hand activity. Of a middle-to-old aged and right-handed cohort without clinical cardiovascular disease, we controlled age, sex, and weight to select the unaffected (no type 2 diabetes, n=36, the well-controlled diabetes (HbA1c < 8%, n=22, and the poorly controlled diabetes (HbA1c ≥ 8%, n=22 groups. MSEs were calculated from consecutive 1,500 PPG pulse amplitudes of bilateral index fingertips. The small-,  medium-, and large-scale MSEs were defined as the average of scale 1 (MSE1, scales 2–4 (MSE2–4, and scales 5–10 (MSE5–10, respectively. Intra- and intergroups were compared by one- and two-sample t-tests, respectively. The dominant hand MSE5–10 was lower in the poorly controlled diabetes group than the well-controlled diabetes and the unaffected (1.28 versus 1.52 and 1.56, p=0.019 and 0.001, resp. groups, whereas the nondominant hand MSE5–10 was lower in the well- and poorly controlled diabetes groups than the unaffected group (1.35 and 1.29 versus 1.58, p=0.008 and 0.005, resp.. The MSE1 of dominant hand was higher than that of nondominant hand in the well-controlled diabetes (1.35 versus 1.10, p=0.048. In conclusion, diabetes status and hand dominance may affect the MSE of PPG pulse amplitudes.

Impaired hand size estimation in CRPS.

Science.gov (United States)

Peltz, Elena; Seifert, Frank; Lanz, Stefan; Müller, Rüdiger; Maihöfner, Christian

2011-10-01

A triad of clinical symptoms, ie, autonomic, motor and sensory dysfunctions, characterizes complex regional pain syndromes (CRPS). Sensory dysfunction comprises sensory loss or spontaneous and stimulus-evoked pain. Furthermore, a disturbance in the body schema may occur. In the present study, patients with CRPS of the upper extremity and healthy controls estimated their hand sizes on the basis of expanded or compressed schematic drawings of hands. In patients with CRPS we found an impairment in accurate hand size estimation; patients estimated their own CRPS-affected hand to be larger than it actually was when measured objectively. Moreover, overestimation correlated significantly with disease duration, neglect score, and increase of two-point-discrimination-thresholds (TPDT) compared to the unaffected hand and to control subjects' estimations. In line with previous functional imaging studies in CRPS patients demonstrating changes in central somatotopic maps, we suggest an involvement of the central nervous system in this disruption of the body schema. Potential cortical areas may be the primary somatosensory and posterior parietal cortices, which have been proposed to play a critical role in integrating visuospatial information. CRPS patients perceive their affected hand to be bigger than it is. The magnitude of this overestimation correlates with disease duration, decreased tactile thresholds, and neglect-score. Suggesting a disrupted body schema as the source of this impairment, our findings corroborate the current assumption of a CNS involvement in CRPS. Copyright © 2011 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cortical Reorganization after Hand Immobilization: The beta qEEG Spectral Coherence Evidences

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Fortuna, Marina; Teixeira, Silmar; Machado, Sérgio; Velasques, Bruna; Bittencourt, Juliana; Peressutti, Caroline; Budde, Henning; Cagy, Mauricio; Nardi, Antonio E.; Piedade, Roberto; Ribeiro, Pedro; Arias-Carrión, Oscar

2013-01-01

There is increasing evidence that hand immobilization is associated with various changes in the brain. Indeed, beta band coherence is strongly related to motor act and sensitive stimuli. In this study we investigate the electrophysiological and cortical changes that occur when subjects are submitted to hand immobilization. We hypothesized that beta coherence oscillations act as a mechanism underlying inter- and intra-hemispheric changes. As a methodology for our study fifteen healthy individuals between the ages of 20 and 30 years were subjected to a right index finger task before and after hand immobilization while their brain activity pattern was recorded using quantitative electroencephalography. This analysis revealed that hand immobilization caused changes in frontal, central and parietal areas of the brain. The main findings showed a lower beta-2 band in frontal regions and greater cortical activity in central and parietal areas. In summary, the coherence increased in the frontal, central and parietal cortex, due to hand immobilization and it adjusted the brains functioning, which had been disrupted by the procedure. Moreover, the brain adaptation upon hand immobilization of the subjects involved inter- and intra-hemispheric changes. PMID:24278213

A Hands-On Approach to Maglev for Gifted Students.

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Budd, Raymond T.

2003-01-01

This article discusses how Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) can be taught to gifted students in grades 4-9 using hands-on activities that align to the National Science Standards. Principles of magnetic levitation, advantages of magnetic levitation, construction of a Maglev project, testing and evaluation of vehicles, and presentation of the unit are…

[Amplitude Changes of Low Frequency Fluctuation in Brain Spontaneous Nervous Activities Induced by Needling at Hand Taiyin Lung Channel].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, You-long; Su, Cheng-guo; Liu, Shou-fang; Jin, Xiang-yu; Duan, Yan-li; Chen, Xiao-yan; Zhao, Shu-hua; Wang, Quan-liang; Dang, Chang-lin

2016-05-01

To observe amplitude changes of low frequency fluctuation in brain spontaneous nervous activities induced by needling at Hand Taiyin Lung Channel, and to preliminarily explore the possible brain function network of Hand Taiyin Lung Channel. By using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 16 healthy volunteers underwent resting-state scanning (R1) and scanning with retained acupuncture at Hand Taiyin Lung Channel (acupuncture, AP). Data of fMRI collected were statistically calculated using amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF). Under R1 significantly enhanced ALFF occurred in right precuneus, left inferior parietal lobule, bilateral superior temporal gyrus, bilateral middle frontal gyrus, left superior frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, left medial frontal gyrus. Under AP significantly enhanced ALFF occurred in right precuneus, bilateral superior frontal gyrus, cerebellum, bilateral middle frontal gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, and so on. Compared with R1, needing at Hand Taiyin Lung Channel could significantly enhance ALFF in right gyrus subcallosum and right inferior frontal gyrus. Significant decreased ALFF appeared in right postcentral gyrus, left precuneus, left superior temporal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, and so on. Needing at Hand Taiyin Lung Channel could significantly change fixed activities of cerebral cortex, especially in right subcallosal gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, and so on.

Using Polymer Semiconductors and a 3-in-1 Plastic Electronics STEM Education Kit to Engage Students in Hands-On Polymer Inquiry Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Enlow, Jessica L.; Marin, Dawn M.; Walter, Michael G.

2017-01-01

To improve polymer education for 9-12 and undergraduate students, a plastic electronics laboratory kit using polymer semiconductors has been developed. The three-module kit and curriculum use polymer semiconductors to provide hands-on inquiry activities with overlapping themes of electrical conductivity, light emission, and light-harvesting solar…

Effect of target animacy on hand preference in Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana).

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Dapeng; Tian, Xiangling; Liu, Xinchen; Chen, Zhuoyue; Li, Baoguo

2016-09-01

Twenty-eight captive Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) were involved in the current study. Many individuals showed handedness, with a modest tendency toward left-hand use especially for animate targets, although no group-level handedness was found. There was no significant gender difference in the direction and strength of hand preference for both targets. Females showed a significantly higher overall rate of actions toward animate targets than inanimate targets for both hands, whereas males displayed almost the reversed pattern. There were no significant interactions between lateral hand use and target animacy for either males or females. Most individuals showed rightward or leftward laterality shift trends between inanimate and animate targets. These findings to some extent support the existence of a potential trend concerning a categorical neural distinction between targets demanding functional manipulation (inanimate objects) and those demanding social manipulation (animate objects), even though specialized hand preference based on target animacy has not been fully established in this arboreal Old World monkey species.

Eye-hand exercise: new variant in amblyopia management.

Science.gov (United States)

Svĕrák, J; Peregrin, J; Juran, J

1990-01-01

A total of 50 children with unilateral amblyopia was treated by short term 10 minute-lasting weekly occlusions of visually well eye. During the occlusion the child is providing the intensive detailed activities under patient's supervision. After an approximately half-a-year lasting interval, the "eye-hand" exercise resulted in the mean improvement of visual acuity for 2.44 normalised lines. The visual motor factor is involved in amblyopia treatment.

Design and preliminary assessment of Vanderbilt hand exoskeleton.

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Gasser, Benjamin W; Bennett, Daniel A; Durrough, Christina M; Goldfarb, Michael

2017-07-01

This paper presents the design of a hand exoskeleton intended to enable or facilitate bimanual activities of daily living (ADLs) for individuals with chronic upper extremity hemiparesis resulting from stroke. The paper describes design of the battery-powered, self-contained exoskeleton and presents the results of initial testing with a single subject with hemiparesis from stroke. Specifically, an experiment was conducted requiring the subject to repeatedly remove the lid from a water bottle both with and without the hand exoskeleton. The relative times required to remove the lid from the bottles was considerably lower when using the exoskeleton. Specifically, the average amount of time required to grasp the bottle with the paretic hand without the exoskeleton was 25.9 s, with a standard deviation of 33.5 s, while the corresponding average amount of time required to grasp the bottle with the exoskeleton was 5.1 s, with a standard deviation of 1.9 s. Thus, the task time involving the paretic hand was reduced by a factor of five, while the standard deviation was reduced by a factor of 16.

Impact of body posture on laterality judgement and explicit recognition tasks performed on self and others' hands.

Science.gov (United States)

Conson, Massimiliano; Errico, Domenico; Mazzarella, Elisabetta; De Bellis, Francesco; Grossi, Dario; Trojano, Luigi

2015-04-01

Judgments on laterality of hand stimuli are faster and more accurate when dealing with one's own than others' hand, i.e. the self-advantage. This advantage seems to be related to activation of a sensorimotor mechanism while implicitly processing one's own hands, but not during explicit one's own hand recognition. Here, we specifically tested the influence of proprioceptive information on the self-hand advantage by manipulating participants' body posture during self and others' hand processing. In Experiment 1, right-handed healthy participants judged laterality of either self or others' hands, whereas in Experiment 2, an explicit recognition of one's own hands was required. In both experiments, the participants performed the task while holding their left or right arm flexed with their hand in direct contact with their chest ("flexed self-touch posture") or with their hand placed on a wooden smooth surface in correspondence with their chest ("flexed proprioceptive-only posture"). In an "extended control posture", both arms were extended and in contact with thighs. In Experiment 1 (hand laterality judgment), we confirmed the self-advantage and demonstrated that it was enhanced when the subjects judged left-hand stimuli at 270° orientation while keeping their left arm in the flexed proprioceptive-only posture. In Experiment 2 (explicit self-hand recognition), instead, we found an advantage for others' hand ("self-disadvantage") independently from posture manipulation. Thus, position-related proprioceptive information from left non-dominant arm can enhance sensorimotor one's own body representation selectively favouring implicit self-hands processing.

Human Hand Motion Analysis and Synthesis of Optimal Power Grasps for a Robotic Hand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesca Cordella

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Biologically inspired robotic systems can find important applications in biomedical robotics, since studying and replicating human behaviour can provide new insights into motor recovery, functional substitution and human-robot interaction. The analysis of human hand motion is essential for collecting information about human hand movements useful for generalizing reaching and grasping actions on a robotic system. This paper focuses on the definition and extraction of quantitative indicators for describing optimal hand grasping postures and replicating them on an anthropomorphic robotic hand. A motion analysis has been carried out on six healthy human subjects performing a transverse volar grasp. The extracted indicators point to invariant grasping behaviours between the involved subjects, thus providing some constraints for identifying the optimal grasping configuration. Hence, an optimization algorithm based on the Nelder-Mead simplex method has been developed for determining the optimal grasp configuration of a robotic hand, grounded on the aforementioned constraints. It is characterized by a reduced computational cost. The grasp stability has been tested by introducing a quality index that satisfies the form-closure property. The grasping strategy has been validated by means of simulation tests and experimental trials on an arm-hand robotic system. The obtained results have shown the effectiveness of the extracted indicators to reduce the non-linear optimization problem complexity and lead to the synthesis of a grasping posture able to replicate the human behaviour while ensuring grasp stability. The experimental results have also highlighted the limitations of the adopted robotic platform (mainly due to the mechanical structure to achieve the optimal grasp configuration.

Hand functioning in children with cerebral palsy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlyne eArnould

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Brain lesions may disturb hand functioning in children with cerebral palsy (CP, making it difficult or even impossible for them to perform several manual activities. Most conventional treatments for hand dysfunction in CP assume that reducing the hand dysfunctions will improve the capacity to manage activities (i.e., manual ability, MA. The aim of this study was to investigate the directional relationships (direct and indirect pathways through which hand skills influence MA in children with CP. A total of 136 children with CP (mean age: 10 years; range: 6–16 years; 35 quadriplegics, 24 diplegics, 77 hemiplegics were assessed. Six hand skills were measured on both hands: touch-pressure detection (Semmes-Weinstein aesthesiometer, stereognosis (Manual Form Perception Test, proprioception (passive mobilization of the metacarpophalangeal joints, grip strength (Jamar dynamometer, gross manual dexterity (Box and Block Test, and fine finger dexterity (Purdue Pegboard Test. MA was measured with the ABILHAND-Kids questionnaire. Correlation coefficients were used to determine the linear associations between observed variables. A path analysis of structural equation modeling was applied to test different models of causal relationships among the observed variables. Purely sensory impairments did seem not to play a significant role in the capacity to perform manual activities. According to path analysis, gross manual dexterity in both hands and stereognosis in the dominant hand were directly related to MA, whereas grip strength was indirectly related to MA through its relationship with gross manual dexterity. However, one-third of the variance in MA measures could not be explained by hand skills. It can be concluded that MA is not simply the integration of hand skills in daily activities and should be treated per se, supporting activity-based interventions.

The effects of cold immersion and hand protection on grip strength.

Science.gov (United States)

Vincent, M J; Tipton, M J

1988-08-01

The maximal voluntary grip strength (MVGS) of male volunteers was examined following a series of five intermittent 2 min cold water (5 degrees C) immersions of the unprotected hand or forearm. MVGS changes due to wearing a protective glove were also investigated. The surface electrical activity over the hand flexor muscles was recorded, as was the skin temperature of the hand and forearm. MVGS decreased significantly (p less than 0.01) following hand immersions (16%) and forearm immersion (13%). The majority of these reductions occurred during the first 2-min period of immersion. The effect of wearing a glove after unprotected hand cooling also produced significant (p less than 0.01) MVGS reductions which averaged 14%. These reductions were in addition to those caused by hand cooling. We conclude that both hand and forearm protection are important for the maintenance of hand-grip strength following cold water immersion.

Mental rotation of anthropoid hands: a chronometric study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L.G. Gawryszewski

2007-03-01

Full Text Available It has been shown that mental rotation of objects and human body parts is processed differently in the human brain. But what about body parts belonging to other primates? Does our brain process this information like any other object or does it instead maximize the structural similarities with our homologous body parts? We tried to answer this question by measuring the manual reaction time (MRT of human participants discriminating the handedness of drawings representing the hands of four anthropoid primates (orangutan, chimpanzee, gorilla, and human. Twenty-four right-handed volunteers (13 males and 11 females were instructed to judge the handedness of a hand drawing in palm view by pressing a left/right key. The orientation of hand drawings varied from 0º (fingers upwards to 90º lateral (fingers pointing away from the midline, 180º (fingers downwards and 90º medial (finger towards the midline. The results showed an effect of rotation angle (F(3, 69 = 19.57, P < 0.001, but not of hand identity, on MRTs. Moreover, for all hand drawings, a medial rotation elicited shorter MRTs than a lateral rotation (960 and 1169 ms, respectively, P < 0.05. This result has been previously observed for drawings of the human hand and related to biomechanical constraints of movement performance. Our findings indicate that anthropoid hands are essentially equivalent stimuli for handedness recognition. Since the task involves mentally simulating the posture and rotation of the hands, we wondered if "mirror neurons" could be involved in establishing the motor equivalence between the stimuli and the participants' own hands.

Eye movement training is most effective when it involves a task-relevant sensorimotor decision.

Science.gov (United States)

Fooken, Jolande; Lalonde, Kathryn M; Mann, Gurkiran K; Spering, Miriam

2018-04-01

Eye and hand movements are closely linked when performing everyday actions. We conducted a perceptual-motor training study to investigate mutually beneficial effects of eye and hand movements, asking whether training in one modality benefits performance in the other. Observers had to predict the future trajectory of a briefly presented moving object, and intercept it at its assumed location as accurately as possible with their finger. Eye and hand movements were recorded simultaneously. Different training protocols either included eye movements or a combination of eye and hand movements with or without external performance feedback. Eye movement training did not transfer across modalities: Irrespective of feedback, finger interception accuracy and precision improved after training that involved the hand, but not after isolated eye movement training. Conversely, eye movements benefited from hand movement training or when external performance feedback was given, thus improving only when an active interceptive task component was involved. These findings indicate only limited transfer across modalities. However, they reveal the importance of creating a training task with an active sensorimotor decision to improve the accuracy and precision of eye and hand movements.

A Prospective Controlled Trial of an Electronic Hand Hygiene Reminder System.

Science.gov (United States)

Ellison, Richard T; Barysauskas, Constance M; Rundensteiner, Elke A; Wang, Di; Barton, Bruce

2015-12-01

Background.  The use of electronic hand hygiene reminder systems has been proposed as an approach to improve hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers, although information on efficacy is limited. We prospectively assessed whether hand hygiene activities among healthcare workers could be increased using an electronic hand hygiene monitoring and reminder system. Methods.  A prospective controlled clinical trial was conducted in 2 medical intensive care units (ICUs) at an academic medical center with comparable patient populations, healthcare staff, and physical layout. Hand hygiene activity was monitored concurrently in both ICUs, and the reminder system was installed in the test ICU. The reminder system was tested during 3 administered phases including: room entry/exit chimes, display of real-time hand hygiene activity, and a combination of the 2. Results.  In the test ICU, the mean number of hand hygiene events increased from 1538 per day at baseline to 1911 per day (24% increase) with the use of a combination of room entry/exit chimes, real-time displays of hand hygiene activity, and manager reports (P performance returned to baseline (1473 hand hygiene events per day) during the follow-up phase. There was no significant change in hand hygiene activity in the control ICU during the course of the trial. Conclusions.  In an ICU setting, an electronic hand hygiene reminder system that provided real-time feedback on overall unit-wide hand hygiene performance significantly increased hand hygiene activity.

Teaching radio astrophysics the hand-on way

Science.gov (United States)

Joshi, Bhal Chandra

Astronomy and space sciences have always been instrumental in attracting young students to physical sciences. While the lectures/demonstrations and exhibitions pertaining to space sci-ences capture the imagination of young students, these alone are not sufficient to induce them to join scientific research. In countries like India, where a large number of students take to physical sciences for under-graduate education, complex sociological factors are key issues in translating this large body of students to potential researchers. While lectures and exhibition lead to an increase in scientific awareness for these students, these do not give a feel for scien-tific research and bridge the gap between high school/college science education and high end research. In this context, a hands-on approach to astronomy education, in science research environments or closely connected to scientific institutions, offers a promising alternative. This approach has been used in optical astronomy, where inexpensive small telescopes are available, often coupling a vast network of amateur astronomy clubs to leading astronomy institutes. The non-visual and relatively more technical nature of radio astronomy has limited a similar approach in past for connecting students to space sciences using radio waveband. The tech-nological explosion in communication industry and radio connectivity in the last decade along with an expansion in engineering education makes this possible now using a hands-on approach in teaching radio astrophysics. In this presentation, the sociological factors affecting the student choice are discussed followed by a review of the efforts to bridge the above mentioned gap by various groups in the world in the last decade with a view to enumerate the best practices in a hands-on approach. A program using this approach at National Center for Radio Astrophysics is described, where the students are exposed to simple hands-on radio astronomy experiments such as spectral line

Kinetic study of human hand sodium using local in vivo neutron activation analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cohen Boulakia, Francine.

1978-01-01

Using local 'in vivo' activation analysis, turnover of human hand sodium is studied in 14 subjects, 7 controls and 7 decalcified osteoporotics patients. The hand of each subject is irradiated with neutrons emitted by 52 Cf sources; the equivalent dose delivered is 8 cGy. The 24 Na activity variation is plotted as function of time and the experimental curve so obtained is fitted to two exponentials. Two compartements are identified: a rapidly exchangeable one, with a half life of 1 h; an other, with a very slow turnover, the half lifes varying from 79 h to 35 h as the calcium concentration becomes sub-normal. The ratios calcium to slowly exchangeable sodium and rapidly to slowly exchangeable sodium appear to be promising for the evaluation of bone disease [fr

A Year of Hands-on Science: Exciting Theme Units with More Than 100 Activities, Projects, and Experiments To Make Science Come Alive.

Science.gov (United States)

Kepler, Lynne; Novelli, Joan, Ed.

This book contains 18 themed teaching units with 2 themes per chapter, organized seasonally around the traditional school year. Each theme includes natural connections and hands-on science activities that correspond to what children are already observing in their world. Each chapter begins with highlights of the month and a reproducible "Science…

Evaluation of the kinesthetic sense and function of the hand in early period in operated cervical disc hernia.

Science.gov (United States)

Kara, Býlge; Yildirim, Yücel; Karadýbak, Dýdem; Acar, Umýt

2006-06-01

A prospective study made into cervical disc hernias. To determine the kinesthetic sense and hand functions, which are important for the patients with cervical disc hernia to return to work life and daily activities that need skill. Neurosurgical department. Data Symptoms in cervical disc hernias and hand functions are affected depending on long-term pain. The evaluation of the hand is essential in assessing the patients' overall recovery and ability to return to daily activities and work life. Thirty-four patients with cervical disc hernia, who were operated on, were included in the study. Eight different test positions in the assessment of the hand's kinesthetic sense and hand function sort (HFS) in the evaluation of the hand function were applied. The disability levels of the patients were determined with The Neck Pain and Disability Scale, on the preoperative and postoperative discharge day and in the postoperative second month. Patients were divided into groups according to the side involved. In the evaluation of the kinesthetic test of the hand, only in the postoperative second month was a significant difference observed between the 1, 2, 3, and 4 test positions of the right side of the groups. On the other hand, no significant difference was found between the groups in the assessment of the hand function. In the measurement of hand functions and disability levels, strong and important correlations were determined. An early assessment of the hand's kinesthetic sense and function is instrumental in the patients' evaluation of recovery and resumption of work.

The influence of peer affiliation and student activities on adolescent drug involvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, J E

1996-01-01

This study examined the importance of students' academic performance level and extracurricular activities as predictors of drug involvement relative to peer influence. Social development theory provided the theoretical rational for the study. Data were obtained from 2,229 randomly selected students in the eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades from seventeen school districts in northeastern Ohio. At all three grade levels, involvement in extracurricular activities and academic level were significantly correlated with students' gateway and hard drug use. Consistent with prior research, the strongest correlate of gateway and hard drug use across all grade levels was affiliation with drug-using friends. Having a job after school was marginally related to self-reported gateway drug use at grade level ten. Multiple regression analysis revealed that extracurricular involvement and academic performance level make small, but unique contributions to the prediction of adolescents' gateway drug use beyond affiliation with drug-using peers at all three grade levels. The findings of this study suggest that students' academic performance and extracurricular involvements are significantly related to adolescent gateway and hard drug use, but have less predictive significance relative to peer relationships.

A Prospective Controlled Trial of an Electronic Hand Hygiene Reminder System

Science.gov (United States)

Ellison, Richard T.; Barysauskas, Constance M.; Rundensteiner, Elke A.; Wang, Di; Barton, Bruce

2015-01-01

Background. The use of electronic hand hygiene reminder systems has been proposed as an approach to improve hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers, although information on efficacy is limited. We prospectively assessed whether hand hygiene activities among healthcare workers could be increased using an electronic hand hygiene monitoring and reminder system. Methods. A prospective controlled clinical trial was conducted in 2 medical intensive care units (ICUs) at an academic medical center with comparable patient populations, healthcare staff, and physical layout. Hand hygiene activity was monitored concurrently in both ICUs, and the reminder system was installed in the test ICU. The reminder system was tested during 3 administered phases including: room entry/exit chimes, display of real-time hand hygiene activity, and a combination of the 2. Results. In the test ICU, the mean number of hand hygiene events increased from 1538 per day at baseline to 1911 per day (24% increase) with the use of a combination of room entry/exit chimes, real-time displays of hand hygiene activity, and manager reports (P hand hygiene to room entry/exit events also increased from 26.1% to 36.6% (40% increase, P hand hygiene events per day) during the follow-up phase. There was no significant change in hand hygiene activity in the control ICU during the course of the trial. Conclusions. In an ICU setting, an electronic hand hygiene reminder system that provided real-time feedback on overall unit-wide hand hygiene performance significantly increased hand hygiene activity. PMID:26430698

Hand and foot contamination monitor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jakati, R.K.; Kaptral, R.S.; Ananthkrishnan, T.S.; Pansare, M.G.

1989-01-01

In order to make quick measurements of beta and gamma contaminations on hands and feet of personnel working in radioactive environments, hand and foot contamination monitors are widely used. This paper describes such a monitor system designed with Intel 8085 based microcomputer. The monitoring and warning system is designed to perform measurement of activity spread over surface of hands and soles of shoes or feet. Even though the system has many features to aid testing and maintainance operation, it is easy to use for unskilled persons. In order to check the contamination, the person stands on platform and inserts both his hands into detector assemblies thereby actuating the sensing switches. After a preset interval, annunciation of clean or contaminated status is declared by the system. (author)

SPECT assessment of brain activation induced by caffeine: no effect on areas involved in dependence.

Science.gov (United States)

Nehlig, Astrid; Armspach, Jean-Paul; Namer, Izzie J

2010-01-01

Caffeine is not considered addictive, and in animals it does not trigger metabolic increases or dopamine release in brain areas involved in reinforcement and reward. Our objective was to measure caffeine effects on cerebral perfusion in humans using single photon emission computed tomography with a specific focus on areas of reinforcement and reward. Two groups of nonsmoking subjects were studied, one with a low (8 subjects) and one with a high (6 subjects) daily coffee consumption. The subjects ingested 3 mg/kg caffeine or placebo in a raspberry-tasting drink, and scans were performed 45 min after ingestion. A control group of 12 healthy volunteers receiving no drink was also studied. Caffeine consumption led to a generalized, statistically nonsignificant perfusion decrease of 6% to 8%, comparable in low and high consumers. Compared with controls, low consumers displayed neuronal activation bilaterally in inferior frontal gyrus-anterior insular cortex and uncus, left internal parietal cortex, right lingual gyrus, and cerebellum. In high consumers, brain activation occurred bilaterally only in hypothalamus. Thus, on a background of widespread low-amplitude perfusion decrease, caffeine activates a few regions mainly involved in the control of vigilance, anxiety, and cardiovascular regulation, but does not affect areas involved in reinforcing and reward.

Particle size distributions, size concentration relationships, and adherence to hands of selected geologic media derived from mining, smelting, and quarrying activities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bergstrom, Carolyn; Shirai, Jeffry; Kissel, John, E-mail: jkissel@uw.edu

2011-09-15

Hand-to-mouth activity, especially in children, is a potentially significant pathway of exposure to soil contaminants. Hand-mouthing behavior is of particular concern in areas impacted by mining, smelting, and quarrying activities as these activities may lead to elevated levels of heavy metals in soil. In order to estimate potential exposures to contaminated geologic media attributable to hand-to-mouth contact, it is useful to characterize adherence of those media to skin, as contaminant concentrations in adhered media may differ greatly from unfractionated, whole media concentrations. Such an investigation has been undertaken to aid estimation of exposures to arsenic, cadmium, lead, and zinc in nine different geologic media collected in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. After establishing the particle size distribution of each medium (fractions < 63 {mu}m, 63-150 {mu}m, 150-250 {mu}m, and 250 {mu}m-2 mm were determined) and target elemental concentrations within each particle size fraction, an active handling protocol involving six volunteers was conducted. Wet media always adhered to a greater extent than dry media and adhered media generally had higher elemental concentrations than bulk media. Regression analyses suggest smaller particle fractions may have higher elemental concentrations. Results of application of a maximum likelihood estimation technique generally indicate that handling of dry media leads to preferential adherence of smaller particle sizes, while handling of wet media does not. Because adhered material can differ greatly in particle size distribution from that found in bulk material, use of bulk concentrations in exposure calculations may lead to poor estimation of actual exposures. Since lead has historically been a metal of particular concern, EPA's Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic (IEUBK) Model was used to examine the potential consequences of evaluating ingestion of the selected media assuming concentrations in

The Impact of Hands-On-Approach on Student Academic Performance in Basic Science and Mathematics

Science.gov (United States)

Ekwueme, Cecilia O.; Ekon, Esther E.; Ezenwa-Nebife, Dorothy C.

2015-01-01

Children can learn mathematics and sciences effectively even before being exposed to formal school curriculum if basic Mathematics and Sciences concepts are communicated to them early using activity oriented (Hands-on) method of teaching. Mathematics and Science are practical and activity oriented and can best be learnt through inquiry (Okebukola…

Hand hygiene prior to contact lens handling is problematical.

Science.gov (United States)

McMonnies, Charles W

2012-04-01

To establish guidelines for contact lens wearers' hand hygiene practices which achieve a balance between minimising risk of infection and reasonable expectations on the ability of patients to follow them. Evidence has been obtained from publications via PubMed, Advanced Medline Search, Cochrane Reviews, Google Scholar and using the key words hand hygiene, washing and contact lens. Guidelines for effective hand washing and the bother involved vary according to the level of hygiene required. High levels of non-compliance with hand hygiene practices, even among healthcare workers, gives an indication of how important the level of bother involved when following guidelines can be in contributing to non-compliance. Better patient education to improve hand washing techniques as well as patient attitudes toward hand hygiene are needed to reduce high non-compliance levels. Better hand hygiene techniques and higher frequency of their application give the prospect of reduced risk of infection and of any discomfort that arises from increased lens and ocular bioburden. In order that adoption rates might be maximised, the guidelines which have been distilled from this review attempt to strike a balance between technique redundancy and the associated higher levels of hygiene achieved and the possibility that the perception of too much bother involved could reduce participation rates. The guidelines have been expanded by the inclusion of suggested explanatory information in the expectation that helping patients to understand why the recommendations are made will have the effect of increasing their adoption. Copyright © 2011 British Contact Lens Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hand-Geometry Recognition Based on Contour Parameters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veldhuis, Raymond N.J.; Bazen, A.M.; Booij, W.D.T.; Hendrikse, A.J.; Jain, A.K.; Ratha, N.K.

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of a new method of hand-geometry recognition based on parameters derived from the contour of the hand. The contour is completely determined by the black-and-white image of the hand and can be derived from it by means of simple image-processing techniques. It

Clean Hands for Life: results of a large, multicentre, multifaceted, social marketing hand-hygiene campaign.

Science.gov (United States)

Forrester, L A; Bryce, E A; Mediaa, A K

2010-03-01

A year-long multifaceted hand-hygiene campaign entitled Clean Hands for Life targeting individual, environmental and organisational factors that influence healthcare worker (HCW) hand-hygiene behaviour was implemented in 36 acute and long-term care facilities in Vancouver Coastal Health region. The campaign involved rotation of ten novel posters, two poster contests, and distribution of multiple promotional items. A social marketing approach was used to implement and monitor the effectiveness of the campaign. Evaluation included quality assurance surveys, staff surveys (baseline, mid- and post-campaign), and focus groups. A total of 141 poster contest submissions was received, 5452 staff surveys completed and 14 focus groups conducted. Overall knowledge of the importance of hand-hygiene and intention to clean hands was high at baseline. No significant differences were observed when mid- and post-campaign scores were compared to baseline. The majority (89.5%) of HCWs reported that they preferred soap and water over alcohol hand gel. A significant increase in the self-reported use of hand-hygiene products was observed particularly among HCWs not providing direct patient care. Barriers to hand-hygiene included inappropriate placement of sinks, traffic flow issues, inadequately stocked washrooms, workload and time constraints. Organisational support was visible throughout the campaign. The results showed that social marketing is an effective approach in engaging HCWs. Hand-hygiene campaigns that focus almost exclusively on increasing awareness among HCWs may not be as successful as multifaceted campaigns or campaigns that target identified barriers to hand-hygiene. Copyright 2009 The Hospital Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Laterality and body ownership: Effect of handedness on experience of the rubber hand illusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Smit, M; Kooistra, D I; van der Ham, I J M; Dijkerman, H C

2017-11-01

Body ownership has mainly been linked to the right hemisphere and larger interhemispheric connectivity has been shown to be associated with greater right hemispheric activation. Mixed-handed participants tend to have more interhemispheric connectivity compared to extreme handed participants. The aim of this study was to examine whether feelings of ownership as assessed with the rubber hand illusion (RHI) are differentiated by handedness and differed between the left and right hand. Sinistrals-, dextrals-, and mixed-handed individuals (n = 63) were subjected to the RHI. Stroking was synchronously and asynchronously performed on both the participant's hand and a rubber hand. Outcome measures were an embodiment questionnaire and proprioceptive drift. In contrast to our hypotheses we show a similar experience of ownership for all groups, which may indicate no hemispheric specialization for the illusion. In addition, plasticity of ownership and body ownership are similar for the left hand and right hand in all participants, which suggests similar representations for both hands in the brain. This might be useful to maintain a coherent sense of the body in space.

Systemic mistakes in hand hygiene practice in Ukraine: detection, consequences and ways of elimination

Science.gov (United States)

Klymenko, Iryna; Kampf, Günter

2015-01-01

Aim: Every year, millions of people around the world suffer from different infectious diseases, considerable part of which are hospital-acquired infections. WHO considers hand hygiene as a priority measure aimed to reduce the level of infection. We evaluated various aspects related to the situational behavior and prioritization regarding hand hygiene measures among the healthcare workers of Ukraine. Method: Identification of system mistakes in hand hygiene was carried out first of all by direct and indirect observation of the activities of medical and pharmaceutical personnel in their everyday practice as well as during their participation in trainings on routine hand hygiene. Questionnaires also were used to estimate the level of hand hygiene compliance of participants of the study. During this period 112 training courses, 315 master-classes and presentations on proper hand hygiene were realized. The target audience included health care workers of medical centers, clinics, maternity hospitals, health care organizations and staff of pharmacies and pharmaceutical manufacturing enterprises in all regions of Ukraine. 638 respondents took part in anonymous survey on hand hygiene practice. Results: The most common mistakes were to regard hand washing and hand disinfection equally, to wash hands before doing a hand disinfection, to neglect the five moments for hand hygiene and to ignore hand hygiene before and after wearing protective gloves. Practitioners, medical attendants, pharmacy and pharmaceutical industry workers highlighted the need for practical and understandable instructions of various hand hygiene procedures, including the clarification of the possible technical mistakes. This became a ground for us to create individual master classes on hand hygiene for each cluster of healthcare workers. Conclusions: Changing hand hygiene behavior and attitude is possible by beginning to observe clinical practice and by involving healthcare workers in teaching and training

Influence of Involvement in Sports on Students' Involvement in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study was carried out to establish whether students' involvement in sports activities affected their involvement in academic activities. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analysed using percentages and means. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to test the hypotheses that guided ...

Functional Anatomy of Writing with the Dominant Hand

Science.gov (United States)

Najee-ullah, Muslimah ‘Ali; Hallett, Mark

2013-01-01

While writing performed by any body part is similar in style, indicating a common program, writing with the dominant hand is particularly skilled. We hypothesized that this skill utilizes a special motor network supplementing the motor equivalence areas. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in 13 normal subjects, we studied nine conditions: writing, zigzagging and tapping, each with the right hand, left hand and right foot. We identified brain regions activated with the right (dominant) hand writing task, exceeding the activation common to right-hand use and the writing program, both identified without right-hand writing itself. Right-hand writing significantly differed from the other tasks. First, we observed stronger activations in the left dorsal prefrontal cortex, left intraparietal sulcus and right cerebellum. Second, the left anterior putamen was required to initiate all the tested tasks, but only showed sustained activation during the right-hand writing condition. Lastly, an exploratory analysis showed clusters in the left ventral premotor cortex and inferior and superior parietal cortices were only significantly active for right-hand writing. The increased activation with right-hand writing cannot be ascribed to increased effort, since this is a well-practiced task much easier to perform than some of the other tasks studied. Because parietal-premotor connections code for particular skills, it would seem that the parietal and premotor regions, together with basal ganglia-sustained activation likely underlie the special skill of handwriting with the dominant hand. PMID:23844132

Functional anatomy of writing with the dominant hand.

Science.gov (United States)

Horovitz, Silvina G; Gallea, Cecile; Najee-Ullah, Muslimah 'ali; Hallett, Mark

2013-01-01

While writing performed by any body part is similar in style, indicating a common program, writing with the dominant hand is particularly skilled. We hypothesized that this skill utilizes a special motor network supplementing the motor equivalence areas. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in 13 normal subjects, we studied nine conditions: writing, zigzagging and tapping, each with the right hand, left hand and right foot. We identified brain regions activated with the right (dominant) hand writing task, exceeding the activation common to right-hand use and the writing program, both identified without right-hand writing itself. Right-hand writing significantly differed from the other tasks. First, we observed stronger activations in the left dorsal prefrontal cortex, left intraparietal sulcus and right cerebellum. Second, the left anterior putamen was required to initiate all the tested tasks, but only showed sustained activation during the right-hand writing condition. Lastly, an exploratory analysis showed clusters in the left ventral premotor cortex and inferior and superior parietal cortices were only significantly active for right-hand writing. The increased activation with right-hand writing cannot be ascribed to increased effort, since this is a well-practiced task much easier to perform than some of the other tasks studied. Because parietal-premotor connections code for particular skills, it would seem that the parietal and premotor regions, together with basal ganglia-sustained activation likely underlie the special skill of handwriting with the dominant hand.

1st Hands-on Science Science Fair

OpenAIRE

Costa, Manuel F. M.; Esteves. Z.

2017-01-01

In school learning of science through investigative hands-on experiments is in the core of the Hands-on Science Network vision. However informal and non-formal contexts may also provide valuable paths for implementing this strategy aiming a better e!ective science education. In May 2011, a "rst country wide “Hands-on Science’ Science Fair” was organized in Portugal with the participation of 131 students that presented 38 projects in all "elds of Science. In this communication we will pr...

Hand grips strength effect on motor function in human brain using fMRI: a pilot study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ismail, S S; Mohamad, M; Syazarina, S O; Nafisah, W Y

2014-01-01

Several methods of motor tasks for fMRI scanning have been evolving from simple to more complex tasks. Motor tasks on upper extremity were applied in order to excite the increscent of motor activation on contralesional and ipsilateral hemispheres in brain. The main objective of this study is to study the different conditions for motor tasks on upper extremity that affected the brain activation. Ten healthy right handed with normal vision (3 male and 7 female, age range=20-30 years, mean=24.6 years, SD=2.21) participated in this study. Prior to the scanning, participants were trained on hand grip tasks using rubber ball and pressure gauge tool outside the scanner. During fMRI session, a block design with 30-s task blocks and alternating 30-s rest periods was employed while participants viewed a computer screen via a back projection-mirror system and instructed to follow the instruction by gripping their hand with normal and strong grips using a rubber ball. Statistical Parametric mapping (SPM8) software was used to determine the brain activation. Both tasks activated the primary motor (M1), supplementary motor area (SMA), dorsal and ventral of premotor cortex area (PMA) in left hemisphere while in right hemisphere the area of primary motor (M1) somatosensory was activated. However, the comparison between both tasks revealed that the strong hand grip showed the higher activation at M1, PMA and SMA on left hemisphere and also the area of SMA on right hemisphere. Both conditions of motor tasks could provide insights the functional organization on human brain

Hand grips strength effect on motor function in human brain using fMRI: a pilot study

Science.gov (United States)

Ismail, S. S.; Mohamad, M.; Syazarina, S. O.; Nafisah, W. Y.

2014-11-01

Several methods of motor tasks for fMRI scanning have been evolving from simple to more complex tasks. Motor tasks on upper extremity were applied in order to excite the increscent of motor activation on contralesional and ipsilateral hemispheres in brain. The main objective of this study is to study the different conditions for motor tasks on upper extremity that affected the brain activation. Ten healthy right handed with normal vision (3 male and 7 female, age range=20-30 years, mean=24.6 years, SD=2.21) participated in this study. Prior to the scanning, participants were trained on hand grip tasks using rubber ball and pressure gauge tool outside the scanner. During fMRI session, a block design with 30-s task blocks and alternating 30-s rest periods was employed while participants viewed a computer screen via a back projection-mirror system and instructed to follow the instruction by gripping their hand with normal and strong grips using a rubber ball. Statistical Parametric mapping (SPM8) software was used to determine the brain activation. Both tasks activated the primary motor (M1), supplementary motor area (SMA), dorsal and ventral of premotor cortex area (PMA) in left hemisphere while in right hemisphere the area of primary motor (M1) somatosensory was activated. However, the comparison between both tasks revealed that the strong hand grip showed the higher activation at M1, PMA and SMA on left hemisphere and also the area of SMA on right hemisphere. Both conditions of motor tasks could provide insights the functional organization on human brain.

EFFECTS OF BASKETBALL GAMES ON COMMON ABILITIES OF ASSOCIATES INVOLVED

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Budimir Bijelić

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Basketball is a sports discipline and activity distinguished by a number of advan- tages and therefore it is suitable to be included in different SPORT FOR ALL organiza- tion. This Paper has dealt with research of the effects of basketball games on certain motor and function abiliteies of associates regularly involved. 53 male associates, age 35-50, have undergone testing for seven motor variables where 2 km long walking activity (fitness index = general motor ability mean criteria variable. Systems of predictive motr and criteria variables have been tested in complian- ce with the methodology of Eurofit battery for adults. Based on the results obtained therein and related statistical analysis it has been found that 61 % of variability for criteria variable can be explained by the system of six predictive variables: lying - rising up in sitting position; leaning up forward in sitting position; standing on one leg - “flamingo”; jumping up; hand tapping and flexible han- ging down in bending motions. This statistical effect (at the level of p =.00 has accomplished the overall system of predictive motor variables, but not a snigle variable could have any special statistical effects on criteria variable UKK-2 km

Enhanced Motor Imagery-Based BCI Performance via Tactile Stimulation on Unilateral Hand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaokang Shu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Brain-computer interface (BCI has attracted great interests for its effectiveness in assisting disabled people. However, due to the poor BCI performance, this technique is still far from daily-life applications. One of critical issues confronting BCI research is how to enhance BCI performance. This study aimed at improving the motor imagery (MI based BCI accuracy by integrating MI tasks with unilateral tactile stimulation (Uni-TS. The effects were tested on both healthy subjects and stroke patients in a controlled study. Twenty-two healthy subjects and four stroke patients were recruited and randomly divided into a control-group and an enhanced-group. In the control-group, subjects performed two blocks of conventional MI tasks (left hand vs. right hand, with 80 trials in each block. In the enhanced-group, subjects also performed two blocks of MI tasks, but constant tactile stimulation was applied on the non-dominant/paretic hand during MI tasks in the second block. We found the Uni-TS significantly enhanced the contralateral cortical activations during MI of the stimulated hand, whereas it had no influence on activation patterns during MI of the non-stimulated hand. The two-class BCI decoding accuracy was significantly increased from 72.5% (MI without Uni-TS to 84.7% (MI with Uni-TS in the enhanced-group (p < 0.001, paired t-test. Moreover, stroke patients in the enhanced-group achieved an accuracy >80% during MI with Uni-TS. This novel approach complements the conventional methods for BCI enhancement without increasing source information or complexity of signal processing. This enhancement via Uni-TS may facilitate clinical applications of MI-BCI.

LS1 to LHC Report: LHC key handed back to Operations

CERN Multimedia

CERN Bulletin

2015-01-01

This week, after 23 months of hard work involving about 1000 people every day, the key to the LHC was symbolically handed back to the Operations team. The first long shutdown is over and the machine is getting ready for a restart that will bring its beam to full energy in early spring.   Katy Foraz, LS1 activities coordinator, symbolically hands the LHC key to the operations team, represented, left to right, by Jorg Wenninger, Mike Lamont and Mirko Pojer. All the departments, all the machines and all the experimental areas were involved in the first long shutdown of the LHC that began in February 2013. Over the last two years, the Bulletin has closely followed  all the work and achievements that had been carefully included in the complex general schedule drawn up and managed by the team led by Katy Foraz from the Engineering Department. “The work on the schedule began two years before the start of LS1 and one of the first things we realised was that there was no commercial...

A systematic review on hand hygiene knowledge and compliance in student nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Labrague, L J; McEnroe-Petitte, D M; van de Mortel, T; Nasirudeen, A M A

2017-10-27

Hand hygiene competence is one of the critical outcomes in nursing education. Ensuring nursing students recognize the what, when and how of hand hygiene is critical in the light of the increasing rates of healthcare-associated infections. To systematically appraise and synthesize articles on hand hygiene knowledge and compliance among nursing students. This is a systematic review of scientific articles published from 2006 to 2016. The primary databases used were as follows: PubMed, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature, Proquest and PsychINFO. Key search terms utilized were as follows: 'handwashing', 'hand hygiene', 'compliance', 'knowledge', 'practice' and 'nursing students'. Nineteen studies met the review criteria. The findings revealed a low-to-moderate knowledge of and compliance with hand hygiene among nursing students. In addition, there were significantly higher rates of hand hygiene compliance in nursing students when compared to medical students. Relatively few studies attempted to identify predictors of hand hygiene knowledge and compliance. This review demonstrated suboptimal knowledge and compliance to hand hygiene among student nurses. In addition, this review also highlighted the paucity of studies that examined individual and organizational factors, which influence nursing students hand hygiene knowledge and compliance. The findings of this review emphasized the role of nurse educators in enhancing hand hygiene competence in nursing students. Implementation of empirically tested strategies such as utilizing multidimensional interventions, scenario-based hand hygiene simulation activities and hand hygiene education programmes that would enhance nursing students' hand hygiene knowledge and compliance is an asset. Hospital and nursing administrators should ensure continuous support and monitoring to guarantee that hand hygiene programmes are institutionalized in every healthcare setting by every healthcare worker. © 2017

Posterior alien hand syndrome: case report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rohde, S.; Weidauer, S.; Lanfermann, H.; Zanella, F.

2002-01-01

The alien hand syndrome (AHS) is involuntary uncontrolled movement of an arm with a sense of estrangement from the limb itself. AHS was initially used to describe interhemispheric disconnection phenomena in patients with lesions in the anterior corpus callosum, but it has been found in patients with posterior cerebral lesions without involvement of the corpus callosum, for example parietal infarcts or corticobasal degeneration. The posterior alien hand syndrome is less frequent and presents with nonpurposive behaviour like lifting the arm or writhing fingers. We report an 80-year-old woman with a posterior AHS of the dominant right hand. MRI showed atrophy of the pre- and postcentral gyri without involvement of the corpus callosum. We discuss the aetiology of the posterior AHS and the differences from the anterior varieties. (orig.)

[Transposition errors during learning to reproduce a sequence by the right- and the left-hand movements: simulation of positional and movement coding].

Science.gov (United States)

Liakhovetskiĭ, V A; Bobrova, E V; Skopin, G N

2012-01-01

Transposition errors during the reproduction of a hand movement sequence make it possible to receive important information on the internal representation of this sequence in the motor working memory. Analysis of such errors showed that learning to reproduce sequences of the left-hand movements improves the system of positional coding (coding ofpositions), while learning of the right-hand movements improves the system of vector coding (coding of movements). Learning of the right-hand movements after the left-hand performance involved the system of positional coding "imposed" by the left hand. Learning of the left-hand movements after the right-hand performance activated the system of vector coding. Transposition errors during learning to reproduce movement sequences can be explained by neural network using either vector coding or both vector and positional coding.

Do heavy-handed tactics reduce homicides? The case of Venezuela

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrés Antillano

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This article examines the effectiveness of mano dura (heavy-handed policies in reducing homicides by studying the case of Venezuela in the period 2012-2015 and gives particular attention to policies involving police violence. Although firm hand policies involve a set of strategies and discourses that revolve around the crime and the institutional response to it, this paper exclusively addresses police interventions that involve increased coercion and violence as a formula for tackling criminality. Over these years, policies have been tested out in Venezuela that involve greater police violence on the pretext of defeating the high levels of criminal violence. But rather than the expected effects of reducing violence and homicides, both have grown significantly.

Muscular forearm activation in hand-grip tasks with superimposition of mechanical vibrations.

Science.gov (United States)

Fattorini, L; Tirabasso, A; Lunghi, A; Di Giovanni, R; Sacco, F; Marchetti, E

2016-02-01

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the muscular activation of the forearm, with or without vibration stimuli at different frequencies while performing a grip tasks of 45s at various level of exerted force. In 16 individuals, 9 females and 7 males, the surface electromyogram (EMG) of extensor carpi radialis longus and the flexor carpi ulnari muscles were assessed. At a short latency from onset EMG, RMS and the level of MU synchronization were assessed to evaluate the muscular adaptations. Whilst a trend of decay of EMG Median frequency (MDFd) was employed as an index of muscular fatigue. Muscular tasks consists of the grip of an instrumented handle at a force level of 20%, 30%, 40%, 60% of the maximum voluntary force. Vibration was supplied by a shaker to the hand in mono-frequential waves at 20, 30, 33 and 40Hz. In relation to EMG, RMS and MU synchronization, the muscular activation does not seem to change with the superimposition of the mechanical vibrations, on the contrary a lower MDFd was observed at 33Hz than in absence of vibration. This suggests an early muscular fatigue induced by vibration due to the fact that 33Hz is a resonance frequency for the hand-arm system. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neuroprotective effect of lurasidone via antagonist activities on histamine in a rat model of cranial nerve involvement.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Baoming; Yu, Liang; Li, Suping; Xu, Fei; Yang, Lili; Ma, Shuai; Guo, Yi

2018-04-01

Cranial nerve involvement frequently involves neuron damage and often leads to psychiatric disorder caused by multiple inducements. Lurasidone is a novel antipsychotic agent approved for the treatment of cranial nerve involvement and a number of mental health conditions in several countries. In the present study, the neuroprotective effect of lurasidone by antagonist activities on histamine was investigated in a rat model of cranial nerve involvement. The antagonist activities of lurasidone on serotonin 5‑HT7, serotonin 5‑HT2A, serotonin 5‑HT1A and serotonin 5‑HT6 were analyzed, and the preclinical therapeutic effects of lurasidone were examined in a rat model of cranial nerve involvement. The safety, maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and preliminary antitumor activity of lurasidone were also assessed in the cranial nerve involvement model. The therapeutic dose of lurasidone was 0.32 mg once daily, administered continuously in 14‑day cycles. The results of the present study found that the preclinical prescriptions induced positive behavioral responses following treatment with lurasidone. The MTD was identified as a once daily administration of 0.32 mg lurasidone. Long‑term treatment with lurasidone for cranial nerve involvement was shown to improve the therapeutic effects and reduce anxiety in the experimental rats. In addition, treatment with lurasidone did not affect body weight. The expression of the language competence protein, Forkhead‑BOX P2, was increased, and the levels of neuroprotective SxIP motif and microtubule end‑binding protein were increased in the hippocampal cells of rats with cranial nerve involvement treated with lurasidone. Lurasidone therapy reinforced memory capability and decreased anxiety. Taken together, lurasidone treatment appeared to protect against language disturbances associated with negative and cognitive impairment in the rat model of cranial nerve involvement, providing a basis for its use in the clinical treatment of

Patient-centred hand hygiene information in orthopaedics units: an evidence-based implementation project.

Science.gov (United States)

Ong, Arielle Yi Jia; Tan, Joanne; Yeo, Hui Ling; Goh, Mien Li

2017-03-01

This project aimed to improve patients' knowledge on the importance of hand hygiene. It involved providing patients with a patient and family education on the importance of hand hygiene using a patient information leaflet that introduces the rationale of hand hygiene, possible consequences of poor hand hygiene, and the seven steps of hand hygiene. This projected used a preimplementation and postimplementation audit strategy using the Joanna Briggs Institute Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System and Getting Research Into Practice programs. The implementation occurred in three phases over a period of 6 months from January 2014 to June 2014. The audits took place in two orthopaedic wards in a large acute care setting tertiary hospital in Singapore and involved a sample size of 54 patients. It involved going through the medical records of the cases, assessment of patient knowledge based on the audit criteria, and checking if the patients received the patient information leaflet on hand hygiene. The postimplementation audit found significant improvements in all three audit criteria. The percentage of patients who demonstrated knowledge in the importance of hand hygiene saw an improvement of 48.1%. There was an improvement of 44.5% in nurses' compliance to the documentation of patient education being carried out. The percentage of patients who received a patient information leaflet on hand hygiene saw an increase of 36.1%. This project demonstrated that a preimplementation and postimplementation audit is a viable method to implement change and translate evidence into practice. Through this project, patients gained an understanding on the importance of hand hygiene and could take better ownership of their well being. This may potentially improve hospitalization experience and benefit health outcomes. The positive results of this project are contributed by the enthusiastic involvement of all the stakeholders, from patients and their caregivers to the bedside

A comparative study of single and multiple hand tasks using functional MRI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shin, Byung Suck; Lee, Ho Kyu; Park, Sung Tae; Kim, Dong Eun; Lee, Myung Jun; Choi, Choong Gon; Kim, Jae Kyun; Suh, Dae Chul; Lim, Tae Hwan

1998-01-01

The purpose of this study is to assess, using functional MRI and by comparing activated motor sensory areas, the independence of brain activation during single and alternative multiple hand tasks. The subjects were six healthy volunteers. Using at 1.5T Siemens system and single shot FID-EPI sequencing (T2 weighted image; TR/TE 0.96 msec/ 61msec, flip angle 90 deg, matrix size 96 x 128, slice thickness/gap 5 mm/0.8 mm, FOV 200 mm) and T1-weighted anatomic images, functional MRI was performed. The paradigm of motor tasks consisted of appositional finger movements; the first involved the separate use of the right, left, and both hands in sequence. Using cross-correlation method (threshold : 0.6) and fMRI analysis software (stimulate 5.0), functional images were obtained. The activated area of brain cortex, the number of pixel, the average percentage change in signal intensity, and correlation of the time-signal intensity curve in the activated motor area were analysed and compared between the two task groups. Statistical analysis involved the use of Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Brain activation did not differ according to whether the motor task was single or alternative. We therefore suggest that during multiple stimuli, the relevant functional area and neuronal column are activated independently. (author). 19 refs., 2 tabs., 3 figs

[Study on an Exoskeleton Hand Function Training Device].

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Xin; Zhang, Ying; Li, Jicai; Yi, Jinhua; Yu, Hongliu; He, Rongrong

2016-02-01

Based on the structure and motion bionic principle of the normal adult fingers, biological characteristics of human hands were analyzed, and a wearable exoskeleton hand function training device for the rehabilitation of stroke patients or patients with hand trauma was designed. This device includes the exoskeleton mechanical structure and the electromyography (EMG) control system. With adjustable mechanism, the device was capable to fit different finger lengths, and by capturing the EMG of the users' contralateral limb, the motion state of the exoskeleton hand was controlled. Then driven by the device, the user's fingers conducting adduction/abduction rehabilitation training was carried out. Finally, the mechanical properties and training effect of the exoskeleton hand were verified through mechanism simulation and the experiments on the experimental prototype of the wearable exoskeleton hand function training device.

A qualitative evaluation of hand drying practices among Kenyans.

Science.gov (United States)

Person, Bobbie; Schilling, Katharine; Owuor, Mercy; Ogange, Lorraine; Quick, Rob

2013-01-01

Recommended disease prevention behaviors of hand washing, hygienic hand drying, and covering one's mouth and nose in a hygienic manner when coughing and sneezing appear to be simple behaviors but continue to be a challenge to successfully promote and sustain worldwide. We conducted a qualitative inquiry to better understand current hand drying behaviors associated with activities of daily living, and mouth and nose covering practices, among Kenyans. We conducted 7 focus group discussions; 30 in-depth interviews; 10 structured household observations; and 75 structured observations in public venues in the urban area of Kisumu; rural communities surrounding Kisumu; and a peri-urban area outside Nairobi, Kenya. Using a grounded theory approach, we transcribed and coded the narrative data followed by thematic analysis of the emergent themes. Hand drying, specifically on a clean towel, was not a common practice among our participants. Most women dried their hands on their waist cloth, called a leso, or their clothes whether they were cooking, eating or cleaning the nose of a young child. If men dried their hands, they used their trousers or a handkerchief. Children rarely dried their hands; they usually just wiped them on their clothes, shook them, or left them wet as they continued with their activities. Many people sneezed into their hands and wiped them on their clothes. Men and women used a handkerchief fairly often when they had a runny nose, cold, or the flu. Most people coughed into the air or their hand. Drying hands on dirty clothes, rags and lesos can compromise the benefits of handwashing. Coughing and sneezing in to an open hand can contribute to spread of disease as well. Understanding these practices can inform health promotion activities and campaigns for the prevention and control of diarrheal disease and influenza.

A qualitative evaluation of hand drying practices among Kenyans.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bobbie Person

Full Text Available Recommended disease prevention behaviors of hand washing, hygienic hand drying, and covering one's mouth and nose in a hygienic manner when coughing and sneezing appear to be simple behaviors but continue to be a challenge to successfully promote and sustain worldwide. We conducted a qualitative inquiry to better understand current hand drying behaviors associated with activities of daily living, and mouth and nose covering practices, among Kenyans.We conducted 7 focus group discussions; 30 in-depth interviews; 10 structured household observations; and 75 structured observations in public venues in the urban area of Kisumu; rural communities surrounding Kisumu; and a peri-urban area outside Nairobi, Kenya. Using a grounded theory approach, we transcribed and coded the narrative data followed by thematic analysis of the emergent themes. Hand drying, specifically on a clean towel, was not a common practice among our participants. Most women dried their hands on their waist cloth, called a leso, or their clothes whether they were cooking, eating or cleaning the nose of a young child. If men dried their hands, they used their trousers or a handkerchief. Children rarely dried their hands; they usually just wiped them on their clothes, shook them, or left them wet as they continued with their activities. Many people sneezed into their hands and wiped them on their clothes. Men and women used a handkerchief fairly often when they had a runny nose, cold, or the flu. Most people coughed into the air or their hand.Drying hands on dirty clothes, rags and lesos can compromise the benefits of handwashing. Coughing and sneezing in to an open hand can contribute to spread of disease as well. Understanding these practices can inform health promotion activities and campaigns for the prevention and control of diarrheal disease and influenza.

Molecular Mechanism for Various Pharmacological Activities of NSAIDS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tohru Mizushima

2010-05-01

Full Text Available The anti-inflammatory action of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs is mediated through their inhibitory effects on cyclooxygenase (COX activity. On the other hand, NSAID use is often associated with gastrointestinal complications. The inhibition of COX by NSAIDs is not the sole explanation for the gastrointestinal side effects of NSAIDs. Furthermore, recent epidemiological studies have revealed that prolonged NSAID use reduces the risk of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease (AD and a COX-independent unknown mechanism is suggested to be involved in these activities of NSAIDs. In this article, I review our recent work on the COX-independent mechanism involved in NSAID-induced gastric lesions and anti-tumor and anti-AD activities of NSAIDs. Using DNA microarray analysis, we found that NSAIDs affect expression of various genes in a COX-independent manner. We found that membrane permeabilization activity of NSAIDs and resulting NSAID-induced apoptosis are involved in NSAID-induced gastric lesions. On the other hand, induction of expression of tight junction-related genes and endoplasmic reticulum chaperones were suggested to be involved in anti-tumor and anti-AD, respectively, activities of NSAIDs. These results suggest that NSAIDs affect expression of various genes in a COX-independent manner, which is involved in various pharmacological activities of NSAIDs.

Atypical presentation of GNE myopathy with asymmetric hand weakness

Science.gov (United States)

de Dios, John Karl L.; Shrader, Joseph A.; Joe, Galen O.; McClean, Jeffrey C.; Williams, Kayla; Evers, Robert; Malicdan, May Christine V.; Ciccone, Carla; Mankodi, Ami; Huizing, Marjan; McKew, John C.; Bluemke, David A.; Gahl, William A.; Carrillo-Carrasco, Nuria

2014-01-01

GNE myopathy is a rare autosomal recessive muscle disease caused by mutations in GNE, the gene encoding the rate-limiting enzyme in sialic acid biosynthesis. GNE myopathy usually manifests in early adulthood with distal myopathy that progresses slowly and symmetrically, first involving distal muscles of the lower extremities, followed by proximal muscles with relative sparing of the quadriceps. Upper extremities are typically affected later in the disease. We report a patient with GNE myopathy who presented with asymmetric hand weakness. He had considerably decreased left grip strength, atrophy of the left anterior forearm and fibro-fatty tissue replacement of left forearm flexor muscles on T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. The patient was an endoscopist and thus the asymmetric hand involvement may be associated with left hand overuse in daily repetitive pinching and gripping movements, highlighting the possible impact of environmental factors on the progression of genetic muscle conditions. PMID:25182749

Active patient involvement in the education of health professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

Towle, Angela; Bainbridge, Lesley; Godolphin, William; Katz, Arlene; Kline, Cathy; Lown, Beth; Madularu, Ioana; Solomon, Patricia; Thistlethwaite, Jill

2010-01-01

Patients as educators (teaching intimate physical examination) first appeared in the 1960s. Since then, rationales for the active involvement of patients as educators have been well articulated. There is great potential to promote the learning of patient-centred practice, interprofessional collaboration, community involvement, shared decision making and how to support self-care. We reviewed and summarised the literature on active patient involvement in health professional education. A synthesis of the literature reveals increasing diversity in the ways in which patients are involved in education, but also the movement's weaknesses. Most initiatives are 'one-off' events and are reported as basic descriptions. There is little rigorous research or theory of practice or investigation of behavioural outcomes. The literature is scattered and uses terms (such as 'patient'!) that are contentious and confusing. We propose future directions for research and development, including a taxonomy to facilitate dialogue, an outline of a research strategy and reference to a comprehensive bibliography covering all health and human services.

Science Engagement Through Hands-On Activities that Promote Scientific Thinking and Generate Excitement and Awareness of NASA Assets, Missions, and Science

Science.gov (United States)

Graff, P. V.; Foxworth, S.; Miller, R.; Runco, S.; Luckey, M. K.; Maudlin, E.

2018-01-01

The public with hands-on activities that infuse content related to NASA assets, missions, and science and reflect authentic scientific practices promotes understanding and generates excitement about NASA science, research, and exploration. These types of activities expose our next generation of explorers to science they may be inspired to pursue as a future STEM career and expose people of all ages to unique, exciting, and authentic aspects of NASA exploration. The activities discussed here (Blue Marble Matches, Lunar Geologist Practice, Let's Discover New Frontiers, Target Asteroid, and Meteorite Bingo) have been developed by Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Science Engagement Specialists in conjunction with ARES Scientists at the NASA Johnson Space Center. Activities are designed to be usable across a variety of educational environments (formal and informal) and reflect authentic scientific content and practices.

Hands-off and hands-on casting consistency of amputee below knee sockets using magnetic resonance imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Safari, Mohammad Reza; Rowe, Philip; McFadyen, Angus; Buis, Arjan

2013-01-01

Residual limb shape capturing (Casting) consistency has a great influence on the quality of socket fit. Magnetic Resonance Imaging was used to establish a reliable reference grid for intercast and intracast shape and volume consistency of two common casting methods, Hands-off and Hands-on. Residual limbs were cast for twelve people with a unilateral below knee amputation and scanned twice for each casting concept. Subsequently, all four volume images of each amputee were semiautomatically segmented and registered to a common coordinate system using the tibia and then the shape and volume differences were calculated. The results show that both casting methods have intra cast volume consistency and there is no significant volume difference between the two methods. Inter- and intracast mean volume differences were not clinically significant based on the volume of one sock criteria. Neither the Hands-off nor the Hands-on method resulted in a consistent residual limb shape as the coefficient of variation of shape differences was high. The resultant shape of the residual limb in the Hands-off casting was variable but the differences were not clinically significant. For the Hands-on casting, shape differences were equal to the maximum acceptable limit for a poor socket fit.

Hands on or hands off? Disgust sensitivity and preference for environmental education activities

Science.gov (United States)

Robert D. Bixler; Myron F. Floyd

1999-01-01

Detailed descriptions of barriers to enviromuental education (EE) can provide opportunities for educators to foresee potential problems in programs. High disgust sensitivity is an intrapersonal barrier that constrains preference for learning opportunities involving manipulation of some organic materials. Middle school students in Texas (N = 450)...

Characterization of Carbohydrate Active Enzymes Involved in Arabinogalactan Protein Metabolism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knoch, Eva

and tissues, their functions and synthesis are still poorly understood. The aim of the research presented in the thesis was to characterize carbohydrate active enzymes involved in AGP biosynthesis and modification to gain insights into the biosynthesis of the glycoproteins in plants. Candidate...... glycosyltransferases and glycoside hydrolases were selected based on co-expression profiles from a transcriptomics analysis. Reverse genetics approach on a novel glucuronosyltransferase involved in AGP biosynthesis has revealed that the enzyme activity is required for normal cell elongation in etiolated seedlings....... The enzymatic activity of a hydrolase from GH family 17 was investigated, without successful determination of the activity. Members of hydrolase family 43 appeared to be localized in the Golgi-apparatus, which is also the compartment for glycan biosynthesis. The localization of these glycoside hydrolases...

"Sharks in Your Hands"--A Case Study on Effects of Teaching Strategies to Change Knowledge and Attitudes towards Sharks

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Hung-Shan; Liu, Shiang-Yao; Yeh, Ting-Kuang

2016-01-01

This study was designed to exemplify how hands-on based teaching strategies enhanced students' knowledge and positive attitudes towards sharks. Hands-on activities for sharks' biological and morphological features were carried out. Eleven elementary school students from a remote area in Taiwan were recruited and assigned to the hands-on condition.…

[The optimization of restoration approaches of advanced hand activity using the sensorial glove and the mCIMT method].

Science.gov (United States)

Mozheiko, E Yu; Prokopenko, S V; Alekseevich, G V

To reason the choice of methods of restoration of advanced hand activity depending on severity of motor disturbance in the top extremity. Eighty-eight patients were randomized into 3 groups: 1) the mCIMT group, 2) the 'touch glove' group, 3) the control group. For assessment of physical activity of the top extremity Fugl-Meyer Assessment Upper Extremity, Nine-Hole Peg Test, Motor Assessment Scale were used. Assessment of non-use phenomenon was carried out with the Motor Activity Log scale. At a stage of severe motor dysfunction, there was a restoration of proximal departments of a hand in all groups, neither method was superior to the other. In case of moderate severity of motor deficiency of the upper extremity the most effective was the method based on the principle of biological feedback - 'a touch glove'. In the group with mild severity of motor dysfunction, the best recovery was achieved in the mCIMT group.

Principal components analysis based control of a multi-dof underactuated prosthetic hand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magenes Giovanni

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Functionality, controllability and cosmetics are the key issues to be addressed in order to accomplish a successful functional substitution of the human hand by means of a prosthesis. Not only the prosthesis should duplicate the human hand in shape, functionality, sensorization, perception and sense of body-belonging, but it should also be controlled as the natural one, in the most intuitive and undemanding way. At present, prosthetic hands are controlled by means of non-invasive interfaces based on electromyography (EMG. Driving a multi degrees of freedom (DoF hand for achieving hand dexterity implies to selectively modulate many different EMG signals in order to make each joint move independently, and this could require significant cognitive effort to the user. Methods A Principal Components Analysis (PCA based algorithm is used to drive a 16 DoFs underactuated prosthetic hand prototype (called CyberHand with a two dimensional control input, in order to perform the three prehensile forms mostly used in Activities of Daily Living (ADLs. Such Principal Components set has been derived directly from the artificial hand by collecting its sensory data while performing 50 different grasps, and subsequently used for control. Results Trials have shown that two independent input signals can be successfully used to control the posture of a real robotic hand and that correct grasps (in terms of involved fingers, stability and posture may be achieved. Conclusions This work demonstrates the effectiveness of a bio-inspired system successfully conjugating the advantages of an underactuated, anthropomorphic hand with a PCA-based control strategy, and opens up promising possibilities for the development of an intuitively controllable hand prosthesis.

Influence of rub-in technique on required application time and hand coverage in hygienic hand disinfection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Feil Yvonne

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent data indicate that full efficacy of a hand rub preparation for hygienic hand disinfection can be achieved within 15 seconds (s. However, the efficacy test used for the European Norm (EN 1500 samples only the fingertips. Therefore, we investigated hand coverage using sixteen different application variations. The hand rub was supplemented with a fluorescent dye, and hands were assessed under UV light by a blind test, before and after application. Fifteen non-healthcare workers were used as subjects for each application variation apart from one test which was done with a group of twenty healthcare workers. All tests apart from the reference procedure were performed using 3 mL of hand rub. The EN 1500 reference procedure, which consists of 6 specific rub-in steps performed twice with an aliquot of 3 ml each time, served as a control. In one part of this study, each of the six steps was performed from one to five times before proceeding to the next step. In another part of the study, the entire sequence of six steps was performed from one to five times. Finally, all subjects were instructed to cover both hands completely, irrespective of any specific steps ("responsible application". Each rub-in technique was evaluated for untreated skin areas. Results The reference procedure lasted on average 75 s and resulted in 53% of subjects with at least one untreated area on the hands. Five repetitions of the rub-in steps lasted on average 37 s with 67% of subjects having incompletely treated hands. One repetition lasted on average 17 s, and all subjects had at least one untreated area. Repeating the sequence of steps lasted longer, but did not yield a better result. "Responsible application" was quite fast, lasting 25 s among non-healthcare worker subjects and 28 s among healthcare workers. It was also effective, with 53% and 55% of hands being incompletely treated. New techniques were as fast and effective as "responsible

In vivo analysis of bone calcium by local neutron activation of the hand. Results osteoporotic and hemodialysed patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maziere, B.; Kuntz, D.; Comar, D.

1978-01-01

Neutron activation analysis can be used to measure the total bone mass or simply the calcium mass or concentration of a bone segment, for example the hand bones or vertebrae. For a number of reason, dosimetric, technological but especially physiophatological we decided to use local activation technique. In generalized demineralising one diseases, particularly osteoporosis, the calcium content variations of one segment are in fast comparable to those of another, and more generally to the mineral content variations of the whole skeleton. It is true that ideally we should measure the mineral content of the lumbar vertebrae where the metabolic activity is especially high, and where damage may occur sooner or in any case is detected earlier in osteoporosis. However neutron irradiation of the vertebrae meets with certain technical problems and may also present difficulties in the interpretation of results. Furthermore in other bone diseases, hyperparathyroidism for instance and especially renal osteodystrophy, bone mineral loss is particularly premature and pronounced in the hand and we therefore decided for the moment to use the hand for the neutron activation analysis of bone calcium. The technique enabled us to measure the calcium concentration of the hand bones in hemodialysed subjects and in patients with primitive osteoporosis

A Low Cost Implementation of an Existing Hands-on Laboratory Experiment in Electronic Engineering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clement Onime

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In engineering the pedagogical content of most formative programmes includes a significant amount of practical laboratory hands-on activity designed to deliver knowledge acquisition from actual experience alongside traditional face-to-face classroom based lectures and tutorials; this hands-on aspect is not always adequately addressed by current e-learning platforms. An innovative approach to e-learning in engineering, named computer aided engineering education (CAEE is about the use of computer aids for the enhanced, interactive delivery of educational materials in different fields of engineering through two separate but related components; one for classroom and another for practical hands-on laboratory work. The component for hands-on laboratory practical work focuses on the use of mixed reality (video-based augmented reality tools on mobile devices/platforms. This paper presents the computer aided engineering education (CAEE implementation of a laboratory experiment in micro-electronics that highlights some features such as the ability to closely implement an existing laboratory based hands-on experiment with lower associated costs and the ability to conduct the experiment off-line while maintaining existing pedagogical contents and standards.

MO-AB-210-02: Ultrasound Imaging and Therapy-Hands On Workshop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sammet, S.

2015-01-01

The goal of this ultrasound hands-on workshop is to demonstrate advancements in high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and to demonstrate quality control (QC) testing in diagnostic ultrasound. HIFU is a therapeutic modality that uses ultrasound waves as carriers of energy. HIFU is used to focus a beam of ultrasound energy into a small volume at specific target locations within the body. The focused beam causes localized high temperatures and produces a well-defined regions of necrosis. This completely non-invasive technology has great potential for tumor ablation and targeted drug delivery. At the workshop, attendees will see configurations, applications, and hands-on demonstrations with on-site instructors at separate stations. The involvement of medical physicists in diagnostic ultrasound imaging service is increasing due to QC and accreditation requirements. At the workshop, an array of ultrasound testing phantoms and ultrasound scanners will be provided for attendees to learn diagnostic ultrasound QC in a hands-on environment with live demonstrations of the techniques. Target audience: Medical physicists and other medical professionals in diagnostic imaging and radiation oncology with interest in high-intensity focused ultrasound and in diagnostic ultrasound QC. Learning Objectives: Learn ultrasound physics and safety for HIFU applications through live demonstrations Get an overview of the state-of-the art in HIFU technologies and equipment Gain familiarity with common elements of a quality control program for diagnostic ultrasound imaging Identify QC tools available for testing diagnostic ultrasound systems and learn how to use these tools List of supporting vendors for HIFU and diagnostic ultrasound QC hands-on workshop: Philips Healthcare Alpinion Medical Systems Verasonics, Inc Zonare Medical Systems, Inc Computerized Imaging Reference Systems (CIRS), Inc. GAMMEX, Inc., Cablon Medical BV Steffen Sammet: NIH/NCI grant 5R25CA132822, NIH/NINDS grant 5R25NS

MO-AB-210-01: Ultrasound Imaging and Therapy-Hands On Workshop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, Z.

2015-01-01

The goal of this ultrasound hands-on workshop is to demonstrate advancements in high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and to demonstrate quality control (QC) testing in diagnostic ultrasound. HIFU is a therapeutic modality that uses ultrasound waves as carriers of energy. HIFU is used to focus a beam of ultrasound energy into a small volume at specific target locations within the body. The focused beam causes localized high temperatures and produces a well-defined regions of necrosis. This completely non-invasive technology has great potential for tumor ablation and targeted drug delivery. At the workshop, attendees will see configurations, applications, and hands-on demonstrations with on-site instructors at separate stations. The involvement of medical physicists in diagnostic ultrasound imaging service is increasing due to QC and accreditation requirements. At the workshop, an array of ultrasound testing phantoms and ultrasound scanners will be provided for attendees to learn diagnostic ultrasound QC in a hands-on environment with live demonstrations of the techniques. Target audience: Medical physicists and other medical professionals in diagnostic imaging and radiation oncology with interest in high-intensity focused ultrasound and in diagnostic ultrasound QC. Learning Objectives: Learn ultrasound physics and safety for HIFU applications through live demonstrations Get an overview of the state-of-the art in HIFU technologies and equipment Gain familiarity with common elements of a quality control program for diagnostic ultrasound imaging Identify QC tools available for testing diagnostic ultrasound systems and learn how to use these tools List of supporting vendors for HIFU and diagnostic ultrasound QC hands-on workshop: Philips Healthcare Alpinion Medical Systems Verasonics, Inc Zonare Medical Systems, Inc Computerized Imaging Reference Systems (CIRS), Inc. GAMMEX, Inc., Cablon Medical BV Steffen Sammet: NIH/NCI grant 5R25CA132822, NIH/NINDS grant 5R25NS

MO-AB-210-02: Ultrasound Imaging and Therapy-Hands On Workshop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sammet, S. [University of Chicago Medical Center (United States)

2015-06-15

The goal of this ultrasound hands-on workshop is to demonstrate advancements in high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and to demonstrate quality control (QC) testing in diagnostic ultrasound. HIFU is a therapeutic modality that uses ultrasound waves as carriers of energy. HIFU is used to focus a beam of ultrasound energy into a small volume at specific target locations within the body. The focused beam causes localized high temperatures and produces a well-defined regions of necrosis. This completely non-invasive technology has great potential for tumor ablation and targeted drug delivery. At the workshop, attendees will see configurations, applications, and hands-on demonstrations with on-site instructors at separate stations. The involvement of medical physicists in diagnostic ultrasound imaging service is increasing due to QC and accreditation requirements. At the workshop, an array of ultrasound testing phantoms and ultrasound scanners will be provided for attendees to learn diagnostic ultrasound QC in a hands-on environment with live demonstrations of the techniques. Target audience: Medical physicists and other medical professionals in diagnostic imaging and radiation oncology with interest in high-intensity focused ultrasound and in diagnostic ultrasound QC. Learning Objectives: Learn ultrasound physics and safety for HIFU applications through live demonstrations Get an overview of the state-of-the art in HIFU technologies and equipment Gain familiarity with common elements of a quality control program for diagnostic ultrasound imaging Identify QC tools available for testing diagnostic ultrasound systems and learn how to use these tools List of supporting vendors for HIFU and diagnostic ultrasound QC hands-on workshop: Philips Healthcare Alpinion Medical Systems Verasonics, Inc Zonare Medical Systems, Inc Computerized Imaging Reference Systems (CIRS), Inc. GAMMEX, Inc., Cablon Medical BV Steffen Sammet: NIH/NCI grant 5R25CA132822, NIH/NINDS grant 5R25NS

MO-AB-210-01: Ultrasound Imaging and Therapy-Hands On Workshop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lu, Z. [University of Chicago (United States)

2015-06-15

The goal of this ultrasound hands-on workshop is to demonstrate advancements in high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and to demonstrate quality control (QC) testing in diagnostic ultrasound. HIFU is a therapeutic modality that uses ultrasound waves as carriers of energy. HIFU is used to focus a beam of ultrasound energy into a small volume at specific target locations within the body. The focused beam causes localized high temperatures and produces a well-defined regions of necrosis. This completely non-invasive technology has great potential for tumor ablation and targeted drug delivery. At the workshop, attendees will see configurations, applications, and hands-on demonstrations with on-site instructors at separate stations. The involvement of medical physicists in diagnostic ultrasound imaging service is increasing due to QC and accreditation requirements. At the workshop, an array of ultrasound testing phantoms and ultrasound scanners will be provided for attendees to learn diagnostic ultrasound QC in a hands-on environment with live demonstrations of the techniques. Target audience: Medical physicists and other medical professionals in diagnostic imaging and radiation oncology with interest in high-intensity focused ultrasound and in diagnostic ultrasound QC. Learning Objectives: Learn ultrasound physics and safety for HIFU applications through live demonstrations Get an overview of the state-of-the art in HIFU technologies and equipment Gain familiarity with common elements of a quality control program for diagnostic ultrasound imaging Identify QC tools available for testing diagnostic ultrasound systems and learn how to use these tools List of supporting vendors for HIFU and diagnostic ultrasound QC hands-on workshop: Philips Healthcare Alpinion Medical Systems Verasonics, Inc Zonare Medical Systems, Inc Computerized Imaging Reference Systems (CIRS), Inc. GAMMEX, Inc., Cablon Medical BV Steffen Sammet: NIH/NCI grant 5R25CA132822, NIH/NINDS grant 5R25NS

Involvement in Physical Activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James Gavin

2013-04-01

Full Text Available A total of 1,096 adolescents participated in 123 focus groups regarding the perceived outcomes of their involvement in sports and physical activity (PA. The groups, segmented by grade level, sex, and school types, were conducted in both public and private high schools in Montreal, Quebec. We sought to understand, through the participants’ own words, their perception of the outcome matrix of involvement in sports and PA. Focus group questions emphasized changes that adolescents associated with such engagement. In particular, participants were asked how sports and PA might influence behaviors, emotional states, personal characteristics, and other outcomes. Twelve themes were identified in the responses: Positive Health and Physical Changes (18.5%, Activity-Related Positive Emotions (15.6%, and Personal Learning (11.3% were most prevalent in the discussions. A cluster of deeper personal changes thematically described as Self-Identity, Autonomy, and Positive Character Development accounted for another 16.5% of the responses. Relatively few commentaries emphasized negative effects (7.1%. Converting the proportions of qualitative data into a quantitative index allowed us to analyze potential differences in emphasis according to sex, age, and school type. Though a few significant findings emerged, the larger pattern was of a uniform perceptual map across the variables for this adolescent sample. Implications drawn from this investigation highlight the need to clearly articulate concrete pathways to positive nonphysical changes (e.g., mood states, autonomy, positive character development from engagements in sports and PA.

Empirical Evidence or Intuition? An Activity Involving the Scientific Method

Science.gov (United States)

Overway, Ken

2007-01-01

Students need to have basic understanding of scientific method during their introductory science classes and for this purpose an activity was devised which involved a game based on famous Monty Hall game problem. This particular activity allowed students to banish or confirm their intuition based on empirical evidence.

Barrier Island Activity to Illustrate Hands-On Science

Science.gov (United States)

Griffin, Suzanne H.

The department of Physics of the University of Glasgow was concerned about losing students after the end of the level 1 Physics course. The current research project started as an attempt to find out the reasons for this, but moved to investigate attitudes towards Physics at several stages during secondary school and attitudes towards science with primary pupils. Analyses of factors, which influence students' intentions towards studying Physics, were performed against the background of the Theory of Planned Behaviour, which interprets people's behaviour by considering three factors: attitude towards behaviour (advantages or disadvantages of being involved in the behaviour, e.g. studying Physics for Honours); subjective norm (approval or disapproval of important people towards engaging in the behaviour, e.g. parents, teacher, general norms of the society); perceived behavioural control (skills, knowledge, cooperation of others, abilities, efforts required to perform the behaviour). Analysis of these factors revealed some reasons for students' withdrawal from Physics after level 1 and pointed to factors which may facilitate students' persistence in the subject. A general analysis of level 1 and level 2 students' attitudes towards different aspects of the university Physics course revealed that the level 1 students' attitudes towards their university course of lectures and course of laboratories tended to be negatively polarised. Recommendations were suggested on the basis of the gathered evidence about how to make students' experience in university Physics more satisfactory for them. The data obtained from the separate analyses of females' and males' attitudes towards university Physics course have showed that attitudes of females and males were similar. The only significant difference between level 1 females and males was found to be the perceived behavioural control factor (students' attitudes towards course difficulty, attitudes towards work load in the course

On the feasibility of interoperable schemes in hand biometrics.

Science.gov (United States)

Morales, Aythami; González, Ester; Ferrer, Miguel A

2012-01-01

Personal recognition through hand-based biometrics has attracted the interest of many researchers in the last twenty years. A significant number of proposals based on different procedures and acquisition devices have been published in the literature. However, comparisons between devices and their interoperability have not been thoroughly studied. This paper tries to fill this gap by proposing procedures to improve the interoperability among different hand biometric schemes. The experiments were conducted on a database made up of 8,320 hand images acquired from six different hand biometric schemes, including a flat scanner, webcams at different wavelengths, high quality cameras, and contactless devices. Acquisitions on both sides of the hand were included. Our experiment includes four feature extraction methods which determine the best performance among the different scenarios for two of the most popular hand biometrics: hand shape and palm print. We propose smoothing techniques at the image and feature levels to reduce interdevice variability. Results suggest that comparative hand shape offers better performance in terms of interoperability than palm prints, but palm prints can be more effective when using similar sensors.

On the Feasibility of Interoperable Schemes in Hand Biometrics

Science.gov (United States)

Morales, Aythami; González, Ester; Ferrer, Miguel A.

2012-01-01

Personal recognition through hand-based biometrics has attracted the interest of many researchers in the last twenty years. A significant number of proposals based on different procedures and acquisition devices have been published in the literature. However, comparisons between devices and their interoperability have not been thoroughly studied. This paper tries to fill this gap by proposing procedures to improve the interoperability among different hand biometric schemes. The experiments were conducted on a database made up of 8,320 hand images acquired from six different hand biometric schemes, including a flat scanner, webcams at different wavelengths, high quality cameras, and contactless devices. Acquisitions on both sides of the hand were included. Our experiment includes four feature extraction methods which determine the best performance among the different scenarios for two of the most popular hand biometrics: hand shape and palm print. We propose smoothing techniques at the image and feature levels to reduce interdevice variability. Results suggest that comparative hand shape offers better performance in terms of interoperability than palm prints, but palm prints can be more effective when using similar sensors. PMID:22438714

[Symptoms. Localizations: knee, hip, hands, spine, other localizations].

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez Martín, Álvaro

2014-01-01

The symptoms of osteoarthritis vary widely from patient to patient, depending especially on the localization on the disease. There is a poor correlation between radiological involvement and pain. In general, symptom onset is gradual and symptoms increase slowly but progressively. The most commonly affected joints are the knees, hips, hands, and spine. The main signs and symptoms are pain, stiffness, joint deformity, and crepitus. Pain is mechanical and its causes are multifactorial; in the initial phases, pain usually manifests in self-limiting episodes but may subsequently be almost constant. The criteria of the American college of Rheumatology for the classification of osteoarthritis of the knee, hip and hands are an aid to classification and standardization but are not useful for diagnosis. Hip osteoarthritis usually produces inguinal pain in the internal and anterior sections of the muscle extending to the knee and, with progression, tends to limit mobility. Knee osteoarthritis is more frequent in women and is usually associated with hand osteoarthritis and obesity. In hand osteoarthritis, the most commonly affected joints are the distal interphalangeal joints, followed by the proximal interphalangeal joints and the trapeziometacarpal joints; the development of Heberden and Bouchard nodes is common; involvement of the trapeziometacarpal joint is called rhizarthrosis and is one of the forms of osteoarthritis that produces the greatest limitation on hand function. Osteoarthritis of the spine affects the facet joints and the vertebral bodies. Other, less frequent, localizations are the foot, elbow and shoulder, which are generally secondary forms of osteoarthritis. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

The influence of cooling forearm/hand and gender on estimation of handgrip strength.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Chih-Chan; Shih, Yuh-Chuan; Tsai, Yue-Jin; Chi, Chia-Fen

2014-01-01

Handgrip strength is essential in manual operations and activities of daily life, but the influence of forearm/hand skin temperature on estimation of handgrip strength is not well documented. Therefore, the present study intended to investigate the effect of local cooling of the forearm/hand on estimation of handgrip strength at various target force levels (TFLs, in percentage of MVC) for both genders. A cold pressor test was used to lower and maintain the hand skin temperature at 14°C for comparison with the uncooled condition. A total of 10 male and 10 female participants were recruited. The results indicated that females had greater absolute estimation deviations. In addition, both genders had greater absolute deviations in the middle range of TFLs. Cooling caused an underestimation of grip strength. Furthermore, a power function is recommended for establishing the relationship between actual and estimated handgrip force. Statement of relevance: Manipulation with grip strength is essential in daily life and the workplace, so it is important to understand the influence of lowering the forearm/hand skin temperature on grip-strength estimation. Females and the middle range of TFL had greater deviations. Cooling the forearm/hand tended to cause underestimation, and a power function is recommended for establishing the relationship between actual and estimated handgrip force. Practitioner Summary: It is important to understand the effect of lowering the forearm/hand skin temperature on grip-strength estimation. A cold pressor was used to cool the hand. The cooling caused underestimation, and a power function is recommended for establishing the relationship between actual and estimated handgrip force. Manipulation with grip strength is essential in daily life and the workplace, so it is important to understand the influence of lowering the forearm/hand skin temperature on grip-strength estimation. Females and the middle range of TFL had greater deviations. Cooling the

Tactile Working Memory Outside our Hands

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takako Yoshida

2011-10-01

Full Text Available The haptic perception of 2D images is believed to make heavy demands on working memory. During active exploration, we need to store not only the current sensory information, but also to integrate this with kinesthetic information of the hand and fingers in order to generate a coherent percept. The question that arises is how much tactile memory we have for tactile stimuli that are no longer in contact with the skin during active touch? We examined working memory using a tactile change detection task with active exploration. Each trial contained two stimulation arrays. Participants engaged in unconstrained active tactile exploration of an array of vibrotactile stimulators. In half of the trials, one of the vibrating tactors that was active in the first stimulation turned off and another started vibrating in the second stimulation. Participants had to report whether the arrays were the same or different. Performance was near-perfect when up to two tactors were used and dropped linearly as the number of the vibrating tactors increased. These results suggest that the tactile working memory off the hand is limited and there is little or no memory integration across hand movements.

Hand osteoarthritis: diagnosis, pathogenesis, treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. M. Balabanova

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the development of synovitis, early-stage hand osteoarthritis (HOA mimics hand joint injury in rheumatoid arthritis (RA. However, the topography of synovitis is diverse in these diseases:  distal interphalangeal and thumb joints are involved in the process in HOA. In the latter, tests are negative for immunological markers  (anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies, which is typical of RA.  The differences between HOA and RA are prominent, as evidenced  by hand X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging. Investigations  suggest that cytokine profile imbalance is implicated in the  pathogenesis of osteoarthritis, which brings it closer to RA. However, therapy for HOA has not been practically developed; there are only a few works on the use of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs and  biological agents in these patients. It is necessary to work out Russian guidelines for the treatment of HOA.

Quantifying the effect of hand wash duration, soap use, ground beef debris, and drying methods on the removal of Enterobacter aerogenes on hands.

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Dane A; Danyluk, Michelle D; Harris, Linda J; Schaffner, Donald W

2015-04-01

Hand washing is recognized as a crucial step in preventing foodborne disease transmission by mitigating crosscontamination among hands, surfaces, and foods. This research was undertaken to establish the importance of several keys factors (soap, soil, time, and drying method) in reducing microorganisms during hand washing. A nonpathogenic nalidixic acid-resistant Enterobacter aerogenes surrogate for Salmonella was used to assess the efficacy of using soap or no soap for 5 or 20 s on hands with or without ground beef debris and drying with paper towel or air. Each experiment consisted of 20 replicates, each from a different individual with ∼ 6 log CFU/ml E. aerogenes on their hands. A reduction of 1.0 ± 0.4 and 1.7 ± 0.8 log CFU of E. aerogenes was observed for a 5-s wash with no soap and a 20-s wash with soap, respectively. When there was no debris on the hands, there was no significant difference between washing with and without soap for 20 s (P > 0.05). Likewise, there was no significant difference in the reductions achieved when washing without soap, whether or not debris was on the hands (P > 0.05). A significantly greater reduction (P soap when there was ground beef debris on the hands. The greatest difference (1.1 log CFU greater average reduction) in effectiveness occurred when ground beef debris was on the hands and a 20-s wash with water was compared with a 20-s wash with soap. Significantly greater (P 4.0 log CFU per towel) when hands are highly contaminated. Our results support future quantitative microbial risk assessments needed to effectively manage risks of foodborne illness in which food workers' hands are a primary cause.

Sunscreen Use on the Dorsal Hands at the Beach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Warren, D. B.; Hobbs, J. B.; Jr, R. F. W.; Riahi, R. R.

2013-01-01

Since skin of the dorsal hands is a known site for the development of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, an epidemiologic investigation was needed to determine if beachgoers apply sunscreen to the dorsal aspect of their hands as frequently as they apply it to other skin sites. Aim. The aim of the current study was to compare the use of sunscreen on the dorsal hands to other areas of the body during subtropical late spring and summer sunlight exposure at the beach. Materials and Methods. A cross-sectional survey from a convenience sample of beachgoers was designed to evaluate responded understanding and protective measures concerning skin cancer on the dorsal hands in an environment with high natural UVR exposure. Results. A total of 214 surveys were completed and analyzed. Less than half of subjects (105, 49%) applied sunscreen to their dorsal hands. Women applied sunscreen to the dorsal hands more than men (55% women versus 40% men, ρ=0.04 ). Higher Fitzpatrick Skin Type respondents were less likely to protect their dorsal hands from ultraviolet radiation (ρ=0.001 ). Conclusions. More public education focused on dorsal hand protection from ultraviolet radiation damage is necessary to reduce the risk for squamous cell carcinomas of the hands.

Aesthetic activities and aesthetic attitudes: influences of education, background and personality on interest and involvement in the arts.

Science.gov (United States)

McManus, I C; Furnham, A

2006-11-01

There have been few studies of why some people are frequently involved in aesthetic activities such as going to the theatre, reading or playing musical instruments, whereas others are less involved. This study assesses the broad roles of education, personality and demographic factors such as social class, age and sex. More aesthetic activity was associated with music and art education, whereas science education had a substantial negative relationship with aesthetic activity, both directly and also indirectly via reduced art education. More aesthetic activity was particularly related to higher scores on the personality factor of openness, and also to lower scores on agreeableness and conscientiousness. Higher parental social class was also associated with more aesthetic activity, as also was lower age. Sex had no relationship to aesthetic activity, as neither did masculinity-femininity. Positive aesthetic attitudes were also related moderately to aesthetic activity, but were particularly strongly related to openness to experience, and somewhat less to extraversion. Class, age and sex had no direct relationship to aesthetic attitudes.

On the Feasibility of Interoperable Schemes in Hand Biometrics

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Miguel A. Ferrer

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Personal recognition through hand-based biometrics has attracted the interest of many researchers in the last twenty years. A significant number of proposals based on different procedures and acquisition devices have been published in the literature. However, comparisons between devices and their interoperability have not been thoroughly studied. This paper tries to fill this gap by proposing procedures to improve the interoperability among different hand biometric schemes. The experiments were conducted on a database made up of 8,320 hand images acquired from six different hand biometric schemes, including a flat scanner, webcams at different wavelengths, high quality cameras, and contactless devices. Acquisitions on both sides of the hand were included. Our experiment includes four feature extraction methods which determine the best performance among the different scenarios for two of the most popular hand biometrics: hand shape and palm print. We propose smoothing techniques at the image and feature levels to reduce interdevice variability. Results suggest that comparative hand shape offers better performance in terms of interoperability than palm prints, but palm prints can be more effective when using similar sensors.

Hands-On Nuclear Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Whittaker, Jeff

2013-01-01

Nuclear science is an important topic in terms of its application to power generation, medical diagnostics and treatment, and national defense. Unfortunately, the subatomic domain is far removed from daily experience, and few learning aids are available to teachers. What follows describes a low-tech, hands-on method to teach important concepts in…

The Influence of Hand Immersion Duration on Manual Performance.

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Ray, Matthew; Sanli, Elizabeth; Brown, Robert; Ennis, Kerri Ann; Carnahan, Heather

2017-08-01

To investigate the effect of hand immersion duration on manipulative ability and tactile sensitivity. Individuals in maritime settings often work with hands that have been immersed in water. Although research has shown that hand immersion duration differentially impacts skin adhesion and tactile sensitivity, the effect of hand immersion on manipulative ability has not been directly tested. Given how critical manipulative ability is for the safety and performance of those working at sea, the effect of hand immersion duration on manual performance was investigated. Tests of manipulative ability (Purdue Pegboard, Grooved Pegboard, reef knot untying) and tactile sensitivity (Touch-Test) were completed following no-exposure, short-exposure, and long-exposure hand immersions in thermoneutral water. Compared to the no immersion condition, the Purdue Pegboard performance was reduced in both immersion conditions (short exposure, -11%; long exposure, -8%). A performance decrement was only observed in the short exposure condition (+15% in time to complete task) for the reef knot untying task. There were no statistical differences in the Grooved Pegboard or Touch-Test scores between exposure conditions. Immersing the hands in water decreases manipulative ability except for when object properties reduce the slipperiness between the hand and object. Manual performance in a wet environment may be conserved by designing tools and objects with edges and textures that can offset the slipperiness of wet hands. To maintain safety, the time requirements for working with wet hands needs to be considered.

Osteoclastic finger arthrosis - a subtype of polyarthrosis of the hand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dihlmann, W.; Dihlmann, A.

1998-01-01

Aim: Description of a subtype of arthrosis deformans of the hand which is characterised as osteoclastic arthrosis. Patients and methods: Retrospective analysis of radiographs of the hands of 150 women and 100 men with radiological findings of arthrosis deformans. Results: 5% of women and 2% of men showed at least one digital joint with subchondral osteolysis of one or both articulating bones involving at least a third of the phalanx. This subchondral osteolysis far exceeds the cysts which are situated in the epiphyseal part of the articular region. It may develop within a year. Conclusion: Osteoclastic arthrosis of the finger is a subtype of polyarthrosis of the hand. Serial observations suggest that an osteoclast stimulating substance is produced by the cysts or arises directly from the synovial fluid; this enters the subchondral part of the bone through clefts which may or may not be visible radiologically and that this produces osteoclastic activity. The most important differential diagnoses are chronic tophacious gout and a benign tumor. (orig.) [de

The neuroanatomy of active hand movement in patients with severe traumatic brain injury: Analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging data

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T. S. Mukhina

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: to analyze the characteristics of the functional neuroanatomy of movements in severe traumatic brain injury (STBI patients with varying severity of motor defect versus that in healthy individuals for the study of brain neuroplasticity as a basis of compensation.Patients and methods. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI, 3T was used to analyze cerebral hemodynamic changes in 28 patients with STBI during an active right-hand finger tapping task. A control group consisted of 17 healthy individuals. The percentage of representation of individual brain structures involved in movements and volume activation (Vox was determined in fMRI responses.Results. The patient group showed a tendency for an increased fMRI response diffusion with the emergence of activation zones (the left frontal and parietal regions, as well as the occiptal and temporal regions of the cerebral hemispheres that are atypical for healthy individuals during motor exercises. This trend is more evident in patients with right-sided hemiparesis.Conclusion. The results of the study clarify the existing ideas about the neurophysiological mechanisms of motor impairment and compensation in traumatic brain injury, which is important for the development and improvement of neurorehabilitation techniques. There is evidence for the hypothesis that the extrapyramidal system may be actively involved in the compensation for post-traumatic musculoskeletal defect, which was earlier proposed by E.V. Sharova et al. (2014.

Hand Dominance and Age Have Interactive Effects on Motor Cortical Representations

OpenAIRE

Bernard, Jessica A.; Seidler, Rachael D.

2012-01-01

Older adults exhibit more bilateral motor cortical activity during unimanual task performance than young adults. Interestingly, a similar pattern is seen in young adults with reduced hand dominance. However, older adults report stronger hand dominance than young adults, making it unclear how handedness is manifested in the aging motor cortex. Here, we investigated age differences in the relationships between handedness, motor cortical organization, and interhemispheric communication speed. We...

Development and pilot testing of HEXORR: Hand EXOskeleton Rehabilitation Robot

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Godfrey Sasha B

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Following acute therapeutic interventions, the majority of stroke survivors are left with a poorly functioning hemiparetic hand. Rehabilitation robotics has shown promise in providing patients with intensive therapy leading to functional gains. Because of the hand's crucial role in performing activities of daily living, attention to hand therapy has recently increased. Methods This paper introduces a newly developed Hand Exoskeleton Rehabilitation Robot (HEXORR. This device has been designed to provide full range of motion (ROM for all of the hand's digits. The thumb actuator allows for variable thumb plane of motion to incorporate different degrees of extension/flexion and abduction/adduction. Compensation algorithms have been developed to improve the exoskeleton's backdrivability by counteracting gravity, stiction and kinetic friction. We have also designed a force assistance mode that provides extension assistance based on each individual's needs. A pilot study was conducted on 9 unimpaired and 5 chronic stroke subjects to investigate the device's ability to allow physiologically accurate hand movements throughout the full ROM. The study also tested the efficacy of the force assistance mode with the goal of increasing stroke subjects' active ROM while still requiring active extension torque on the part of the subject. Results For 12 of the hand digits'15 joints in neurologically normal subjects, there were no significant ROM differences (P > 0.05 between active movements performed inside and outside of HEXORR. Interjoint coordination was examined in the 1st and 3rd digits, and no differences were found between inside and outside of the device (P > 0.05. Stroke subjects were capable of performing free hand movements inside of the exoskeleton and the force assistance mode was successful in increasing active ROM by 43 ± 5% (P Conclusions Our pilot study shows that this device is capable of moving the hand's digits through

Development and pilot testing of HEXORR: Hand EXOskeleton Rehabilitation Robot

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

Background Following acute therapeutic interventions, the majority of stroke survivors are left with a poorly functioning hemiparetic hand. Rehabilitation robotics has shown promise in providing patients with intensive therapy leading to functional gains. Because of the hand's crucial role in performing activities of daily living, attention to hand therapy has recently increased. Methods This paper introduces a newly developed Hand Exoskeleton Rehabilitation Robot (HEXORR). This device has been designed to provide full range of motion (ROM) for all of the hand's digits. The thumb actuator allows for variable thumb plane of motion to incorporate different degrees of extension/flexion and abduction/adduction. Compensation algorithms have been developed to improve the exoskeleton's backdrivability by counteracting gravity, stiction and kinetic friction. We have also designed a force assistance mode that provides extension assistance based on each individual's needs. A pilot study was conducted on 9 unimpaired and 5 chronic stroke subjects to investigate the device's ability to allow physiologically accurate hand movements throughout the full ROM. The study also tested the efficacy of the force assistance mode with the goal of increasing stroke subjects' active ROM while still requiring active extension torque on the part of the subject. Results For 12 of the hand digits'15 joints in neurologically normal subjects, there were no significant ROM differences (P > 0.05) between active movements performed inside and outside of HEXORR. Interjoint coordination was examined in the 1st and 3rd digits, and no differences were found between inside and outside of the device (P > 0.05). Stroke subjects were capable of performing free hand movements inside of the exoskeleton and the force assistance mode was successful in increasing active ROM by 43 ± 5% (P < 0.001) and 24 ± 6% (P = 0.041) for the fingers and thumb, respectively. Conclusions Our pilot study shows that this device

Cytomegalovirus survival and transferability and the effectiveness of common hand-washing agents against cytomegalovirus on live human hands.

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Stowell, Jennifer D; Forlin-Passoni, Daniela; Radford, Kay; Bate, Sheri L; Dollard, Sheila C; Bialek, Stephanie R; Cannon, Michael J; Schmid, D Scott

2014-01-01

Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) transmission can occur when women acquire CMV while pregnant. Infection control guidelines may reduce risk for transmission. We studied the duration of CMV survival after application of bacteria to the hands and after transfer from the hands to surfaces and the effectiveness of cleansing with water, regular and antibacterial soaps, sanitizer, and diaper wipes. Experiments used CMV AD169 in saliva at initial titers of 1 × 10(5) infectious particles/ml. Samples from hands or surfaces (points between 0 and 15 min) were placed in culture and observed for at least 2 weeks. Samples were also tested using CMV real-time PCR. After application of bacteria to the hands, viable CMV was recovered from 17/20 swabs at 0 min, 18/20 swabs at 1 min, 5/20 swabs at 5 min, and 4/20 swabs at 15 min. After transfer, duration of survival was at least 15 min on plastic (1/2 swabs), 5 min on crackers and glass (3/4 swabs), and 1 min or less on metal and cloth (3/4 swabs); no viable virus was collected from wood, rubber, or hands. After cleansing, no viable virus was recovered using water (0/22), plain soap (0/20), antibacterial soap (0/20), or sanitizer (0/22). Viable CMV was recovered from 4/20 hands 10 min after diaper wipe cleansing. CMV remains viable on hands for sufficient times to allow transmission. CMV may be transferred to surfaces with reduced viability. Hand-cleansing methods were effective at eliminating viable CMV from hands.

Distinct contribution of the parietal and temporal cortex to hand configuration and contextual judgements about tools.

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Andres, Michael; Pelgrims, Barbara; Olivier, Etienne

2013-09-01

Neuropsychological studies showed that manipulatory and semantic knowledge can be independently impaired in patients with upper-limb apraxia, leading to different tool use disorders. The present study aimed to dissociate the brain regions involved in judging the hand configuration or the context associated to tool use. We focussed on the left supramarginalis gyrus (SMG) and left middle temporal gyrus (MTG), whose activation, as evidenced by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, suggests that they may play a critical role in tool use. The distinctive location of SMG in the dorsal visual stream led us to postulate that this parietal region could play a role in processing incoming information about tools to shape hand posture. In contrast, we hypothesized that MTG, because of its interconnections with several cortical areas involved in semantic memory, could contribute to retrieving semantic information necessary to create a contextual representation of tool use. To test these hypotheses, we used neuronavigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to interfere transiently with the function of either left SMG or left MTG in healthy participants performing judgement tasks about either hand configuration or context of tool use. We found that SMG virtual lesions impaired hand configuration but not contextual judgements, whereas MTG lesions selectively interfered with judgements about the context of tool use while leaving hand configuration judgements unaffected. This double dissociation demonstrates that the ability to infer a context of use or a hand posture from tool perception relies on distinct processes, performed in the temporal and parietal regions. The present findings suggest that tool use disorders caused by SMG lesions will be characterized by difficulties in selecting the appropriate hand posture for tool use, whereas MTG lesions will yield difficulties in using tools in the appropriate context. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Differences on the projective hand test among chronic pain patients reporting three different pain experiences.

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Panek, Paul E; Skowronski, John J; Wagner, Edwin E

2002-10-01

This study examined personality differences among individuals experiencing 3 different types of pain. The projective Hand Test was administered to 90 individuals who were seeking treatment at a pain clinic in an urban area of the southeast United States. These people were seeking treatment for either arthritis (n = 31), fibromyalgia (n = 29), or migraine headaches (n = 30). A 2 (gender) x 3 (pain group) x Age Group multivariate analysis of variance was conducted using the quantitative Hand Test scoring variables as dependent measures. Results indicated that individuals who were seeking treatment for migraine headaches had a higher production rate of responses involving exhibitionistic displays (EXH) than individuals in the other 2 groups. Individuals who were seeking treatment for fibromyalgia had a higher production rate of responses indicating fear and phobic concerns (FEAR) than individuals in the other 2 groups. Individuals who were seeking treatment for arthritis had a higher production rate of Active (ACT) responses than individuals in the other 2 groups. Possible causes and consequences of these effects are discussed.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Study on Hand Hygiene Among Imam Hossein Hospital’s Residents in 2013

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Nabavi, Mahmoud; Alavi-Moghaddam, Mostafa; Gachkar, Latif; Moeinian, Mohammad

2015-01-01

Background: Hand hygiene is considered one of the most important infection control measures for preventing health care-associated infections. Although the techniques involved in hand hygiene are simple, compliance with hand hygiene recommendations is poor worldwide. Objectives: We sought to perform a knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) study on hand hygiene among medical residents at Imam Hossein hospital, Tehran, Iran. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional KAP study was conducted among medical residents in Imam Hossein hospital, Iran, 2013. All medical residents from different wards were invited to participate in this study (270 in total). The world health organization questionnaires and an observational checklist were used to collect data. The χ2 test and the Fisher exact test were utilized to analyze the qualitative variables. Since the quantitative variables had no normal distribution, the Mann-Whitney test and the Kruskal-Wallis method were employed. A P value hand hygiene, and only 20.16% (n = 25) managed to identify the correct answer. Moreover, 3.1% (n = 8) of the residents adhered to the 8 standard steps, 12.1% (n = 31) washed their hands for 20 - 30 seconds, and only 2 residents observed the sequences of hand hygiene. Additionally, none of the residents performed hand washing with available means (water and hand-washing liquid) in the morning visit hours. Conclusions: Concerning hand hygiene, the residents had moderate knowledge but overall poor attitudes and practices. The present study underscores the need for further improvement in the existing training programs to address the gaps in KAP regarding hand hygiene. PMID:26568858

An Approach for Pattern Recognition of EEG Applied in Prosthetic Hand Drive

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Xiao-Dong Zhang

2011-12-01

Full Text Available For controlling the prosthetic hand by only electroencephalogram (EEG, it has become the hot spot in robotics research to set up a direct communication and control channel between human brain and prosthetic hand. In this paper, the EEG signal is analyzed based on multi-complicated hand activities. And then, two methods of EEG pattern recognition are investigated, a neural prosthesis hand system driven by BCI is set up, which can complete four kinds of actions (arm’s free state, arm movement, hand crawl, hand open. Through several times of off-line and on-line experiments, the result shows that the neural prosthesis hand system driven by BCI is reasonable and feasible, the C-support vector classifiers-based method is better than BP neural network on the EEG pattern recognition for multi-complicated hand activities.

A Low-Tech, Hands-On Approach To Teaching Sorting Algorithms to Working Students.

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Dios, R.; Geller, J.

1998-01-01

Focuses on identifying the educational effects of "activity oriented" instructional techniques. Examines which instructional methods produce enhanced learning and comprehension. Discusses the problem of learning "sorting algorithms," a major topic in every Computer Science curriculum. Presents a low-tech, hands-on teaching method for sorting…

Predictive equations for lumbar spine loads in load-dependent asymmetric one- and two-handed lifting activities.

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Arjmand, N; Plamondon, A; Shirazi-Adl, A; Parnianpour, M; Larivière, C

2012-07-01

Asymmetric lifting activities are associated with low back pain. A finite element biomechanical model is used to estimate spinal loads during one- and two-handed asymmetric static lifting activities. Model input variables are thorax flexion angle, load magnitude as well as load sagittal and lateral positions while response variables are L4-L5 and L5-S1 disc compression and shear forces. A number of levels are considered for each input variable and all their possible combinations are introduced into the model. Robust yet user-friendly predictive equations that relate model responses to its inputs are established. Predictive equations with adequate goodness-of-fit (R(2) ranged from ~94% to 99%, P≤0.001) that relate spinal loads to task (input) variables are established. Contour plots are used to identify combinations of task variable levels that yield spine loads beyond the recommended limits. The effect of uncertainties in the measurements of asymmetry-related inputs on spinal loads is studied. A number of issues regarding the NIOSH asymmetry multiplier are discussed and it is concluded that this multiplier should depend on the trunk posture and be defined in terms of the load vertical and horizontal positions. Due to an imprecise adjustment of the handled load magnitude this multiplier inadequately controls the biomechanical loading of the spine. Ergonomists and bioengineers, faced with the dilemma of using either complex but more accurate models on one hand or less accurate but simple models on the other hand, have hereby easy-to-use predictive equations that quantify spinal loads under various occupational tasks. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hands-On Skills for Caregivers

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... A + A You are here Home Hands-On Skills for Caregivers Printer-friendly version When you’re ... therapist who can help you develop your transferring skills. Allow for their reality Remember to accept your ...

Friction Blisters on the Hands Treated Successfully Using 2-Octyl Cyanoacrylate: A Case Report.

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Gearhart, Peter A; Gaspar, Michael P; Jacoby, Sidney M

Friction blisters on the hand are challenging to treat as conventional dressings are prone to saturation, contamination, and loosening with active hand use and other mechanical stresses. Alternative methods and materials for dressing hand blisters warrant exploration. A 48-year-old male surgeon presented with friction blisters over his bilateral thumbs. The patient complained of significant difficulty in keeping his dressings clean and dry, significant pain with hand hygiene, and functional limitations at work. The patient's blisters were dressed with 2-octyl cyanoacrylate (Dermabond; Ethicon US LLC, Somerville, New Jersey), applied directly onto the wound bed. The patient was able to perform his normal duties immediately, without the need for additional intervention. Six days postapplication, the Dermabond sloughed off, revealing an epithelialized surface. Dermabond is a promising agent for dressing unroofed blisters of the hand, as it provides a barrier to moisture and contamination, while allowing the wound to epithelialize, without functional cost.

Human left ventral premotor cortex mediates matching of hand posture to object use.

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Guy Vingerhoets

Full Text Available Visuomotor transformations for grasping have been associated with a fronto-parietal network in the monkey brain. The human homologue of the parietal monkey region (AIP has been identified as the anterior part of the intraparietal sulcus (aIPS, whereas the putative human equivalent of the monkey frontal region (F5 is located in the ventral part of the premotor cortex (vPMC. Results from animal studies suggest that monkey F5 is involved in the selection of appropriate hand postures relative to the constraints of the task. In humans, the functional roles of aIPS and vPMC appear to be more complex and the relative contribution of each region to grasp selection remains uncertain. The present study aimed to identify modulation in brain areas sensitive to the difficulty level of tool object - hand posture matching. Seventeen healthy right handed participants underwent fMRI while observing pictures of familiar tool objects followed by pictures of hand postures. The task was to decide whether the hand posture matched the functional use of the previously shown object. Conditions were manipulated for level of difficulty. Compared to a picture matching control task, the tool object - hand posture matching conditions conjointly showed increased modulation in several left hemispheric regions of the superior and inferior parietal lobules (including aIPS, the middle occipital gyrus, and the inferior temporal gyrus. Comparison of hard versus easy conditions selectively modulated the left inferior frontal gyrus with peak activity located in its opercular part (Brodmann area (BA 44. We suggest that in the human brain, vPMC/BA44 is involved in the matching of hand posture configurations in accordance with visual and functional demands.

Maternal involvement in children's leisure activities in rural China: Relations with adjustment outcomes.

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Zhao, Siman; Chen, Xinyin

2018-02-01

This 1-year longitudinal study examined maternal involvement in children's leisure activities and its relations with children's adjustment in rural China. Participants included 184 children (93 boys and 91 girls) initially in third grade (mean age = 9.31 years). Children were asked to report the frequencies of mothers' involvement in leisure activities. Information on children's social, school, and psychological adjustment were collected from multiple sources including peer evaluations, teacher ratings, self-reports, and school records. The results showed that children's perceptions of maternal involvement in leisure activities positively predicted later social and school adjustment, particularly in boys. Furthermore, child initial adjustment status moderated the relations between maternal leisure activity involvement and child outcomes. The results suggest that maternal involvement in children's leisure activities, which has traditionally been neglected in the society, is a significant factor in contributing to child development in today's rural China. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Involvement of cholinergic and adenosinergic systems on the branchial immune response of experimentally infected silver catfish with Streptococcus agalactiae.

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Baldissera, M D; Souza, C F; Doleski, P H; Moreira, K L S; da Veiga, M L; da Rocha, M I U M; Santos, R C V; Baldisserotto, B

2018-01-01

It has been recognized that the cholinergic and adenosinergic systems have an essential role in immune and inflammatory responses during bacterial fish pathogens, such as the enzymes acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and adenosine deaminase (ADA), which are responsible for catalysis of the anti-inflammatory molecules acetylcholine (ACh) and adenosine (Ado) respectively. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the involvement of the cholinergic and adenosinergic systems on the immune response and inflammatory process in gills of experimentally infected Rhamdia quelen with Streptococcus agalactiae. Acetylcholinesterase activity decreased, while ACh levels increased in gills of infected animals compared to uninfected animals. On the other hand, a significant increase in ADA activity with a concomitant decrease in Ado levels was observed in infected animals compared to uninfected animals. Based on this evidence, we concluded that infection by S. agalactiae in silver catfish alters the cholinergic and adenosinergic systems, suggesting the involvement of AChE and ADA activities on immune and inflammatory responses, regulating the ACh and Ado levels. In summary, the downregulation of AChE activity exerts an anti-inflammatory profile in an attempt to reduce or prevent the tissue damage, while the upregulation of ADA activity exerts a pro-inflammatory profile, contributing to disease pathophysiology. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Activations in gray and white matter are modulated by uni-manual responses during within and inter-hemispheric transfer: effects of response hand and right-handedness.

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Diwadkar, Vaibhav A; Bellani, Marcella; Chowdury, Asadur; Savazzi, Silvia; Perlini, Cinzia; Marinelli, Veronica; Zoccatelli, Giada; Alessandrini, Franco; Ciceri, Elisa; Rambaldelli, Gianluca; Ruggieri, Mirella; Carlo Altamura, A; Marzi, Carlo A; Brambilla, Paolo

2017-08-14

Because the visual cortices are contra-laterally organized, inter-hemispheric transfer tasks have been used to behaviorally probe how information briefly presented to one hemisphere of the visual cortex is integrated with responses resulting from the ipsi- or contra-lateral motor cortex. By forcing rapid information exchange across diverse regions, these tasks robustly activate not only gray matter regions, but also white matter tracts. It is likely that the response hand itself (dominant or non-dominant) modulates gray and white matter activations during within and inter-hemispheric transfer. Yet the role of uni-manual responses and/or right hand dominance in modulating brain activations during such basic tasks is unclear. Here we investigated how uni-manual responses with either hand modulated activations during a basic visuo-motor task (the established Poffenberger paradigm) alternating between inter- and within-hemispheric transfer conditions. In a large sample of strongly right-handed adults (n = 49), we used a factorial combination of transfer condition [Inter vs. Within] and response hand [Dominant(Right) vs. Non-Dominant (Left)] to discover fMRI-based activations in gray matter, and in narrowly defined white matter tracts. These tracts were identified using a priori probabilistic white matter atlases. Uni-manual responses with the right hand strongly modulated activations in gray matter, and notably in white matter. Furthermore, when responding with the left hand, activations during inter-hemispheric transfer were strongly predicted by the degree of right-hand dominance, with increased right-handedness predicting decreased fMRI activation. Finally, increasing age within the middle-aged sample was associated with a decrease in activations. These results provide novel evidence of complex relationships between uni-manual responses in right-handed subjects, and activations during within- and inter-hemispheric transfer suggest that the organization of the

The beneficial effects of rehabilitation on hand function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

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Krystyna Księżopolska-Orłowska

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Objectives: The hand is one of the main elements of the rehabilitation of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA due to deformities, which occur in approximately 90% of patients. It is a serious problem, both in the psychological and functional aspect, connected with muscle strength reduction, a limited range of motion and non-acceptance of the changes in the shape of the limb. The study aimed to assess the effect of rehabilitation on the function of the hand in rheumatoid arthritis. Material and methods: The study group consisted of 40 women with RA. The patients had been previously treated at the Rehabilitation Department of the National Institute of Geriatrics, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation in Warsaw. The study group underwent 3 weeks of rehabilitation involving individual therapy, exercises with equipment, patient education and physical therapy. The control group included women without a diagnosis of RA, hands pain-free and fully mobile. In both groups the hand was assessed for grip value, grip quality and manipulative ability. In the study group the basis of pain intensity was noted. The measurements were performed twice – prior to the rehabilitation and after 3 weeks of rehabilitation in women with RA and once in women without hand problems. Results : The results obtained revealed marked limitation of hand function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The treatment resulted in an improvement of all assessed parameters except cylindrical grip, in which only a part of the findings was statistically significant. Conclusions : The analysis of the study material showed that appropriately adjusted and conducted hand physiotherapy in women with rheumatoid arthritis contributed to the improvement of its function by pain reduction, improved value and quality of grip, and also increased manipulative ability.

The left IPL represents stored hand-postures for object use and action prediction

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Michiel evan Elk

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Action semantics enables us to plan actions with objects and to predict others’ object-directed actions as well. Previous studies have suggested that action semantics are represented in a fronto-parietal action network that has also been implicated to play a role in action observation. In the present fMRI study it was investigated how activity within this network changes as a function of the predictability of an action involving multiple objects and requiring the use of action semantics. Participants performed an action prediction task in which they were required to anticipate the use of a centrally presented object that could be moved to an associated target object (e.g. hammer - nail. The availability of actor information (i.e. presenting a hand grasping the central object and the number of possible target objects (i.e. 0, 1 or 2 target objects were independently manipulated, resulting in different levels of predictability. It was found that making an action prediction based on actor information resulted in an increased activation in the extrastriate body area (EBA and the fronto-parietal action observation network (AON. Predicting actions involving a target object resulted in increased activation in the bilateral IPL and frontal motor areas. Within the AON, activity in the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL and the left premotor cortex (PMC increased as a function of the level of action predictability. Together these findings suggest that the left IPL represents stored hand-postures that can be used for planning object-directed actions and for predicting other’s actions as well.

An update on renal involvement in hemophagocytic syndrome (macrophage activation syndrome).

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Esmaili, Haydarali; Mostafidi, Elmira; Mehramuz, Bahareh; Ardalan, Mohammadreza; Mohajel-Shoja, Mohammadali

2016-01-01

Hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS) is mainly characterized by massive infiltration of bone marrow by activated macrophages and often presents with pancytopenia. Thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) is also present with thrombocytopenia and renal involvement. Both conditions could coexist with each other and complicate the condition. Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), EMBASE, Google Scholar, PubMed, EBSCO, and Web of Science with keywords relevant to; Hemophagocytic syndrome, macrophage activation syndrome, interferon-gamma and thrombotic microangiopathy, have been searched. Viral infection, rheumatologic disease and malignancies are the main underlying causes for secondary HPS. calcineurin inhibitors and viral infections are also the main underlying causes of TMA in transplant recipients. In this review, we discussed a 39-year-old male who presented with pancytopenia and renal allograft dysfunction. With the diagnosis of HPS induced TMA his renal condition and pancytopenia improved after receiving intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and plasmapheresis therapy. HPS is an increasingly recognized disorder in the realm of different medical specialties. Renal involvement complicates the clinical picture of the disease, and this condition even is more complex in renal transplant recipients. We should consider the possibility of HPS in any renal transplant recipient with pancytopenia and allograft dysfunction. The combination of HPS with TMA future increases the complexity of the situation.

Bacterial contamination of the hands of food handlers as indicator of hand washing efficacy in some convenient food industries in South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Aa, Lambrechts; Is, Human; Jh, Doughari; Jfr, Lues

2014-07-01

Hands of ready-to-eat food service employees have been shown to be vectors in the spread of foodborne disease, mainly because of poor personal hygiene and accounting for approximately 97% of food borne illnesses in food service establishments and homes. Our objective was to evaluate the efficacy of hand washing practices and sanitation before commencing work among food handlers in the convenient food industry in Gauteng, South Africa. A total of 230 samples were collected, involving 100% of the food handlers, in 8 selected convenient food outlets with their main focus on preparing ready-to-eat foods. The workers' cleaned and disinfected dominant hands were sampled for Total Plate Count (TPC), Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Bacteria were isolated and counted using standard methods. The highest bacterial count from the hand samples was 7.4 x 10(3) cfu.cm(-2) and the lowest showed no detectable growth. Although hands with a count of 0 cfu.cm(-2) were found in all of the plants, the results indicated that all the plants exceeded the legal limit for food surfaces or hands of food handlers had no bacteria detectable on their hands. One sample tested positive for E. coli and S. aureus could not be detected on the hands of any of the food handlers. The study revealed that hand hygiene is unsatisfactory and may have serious implications for public health due to contamination of food from food handlers' hands. This therefore underlined the importance of further training to improve food handlers' knowledge of good hand washing practices.

Problems of Dirty Hands as a Species of Moral Conflicts

OpenAIRE

Kramer, Matthew Henry

2018-01-01

Every problem of dirty hands is a moral conflict, but not every moral conflict is a problem of dirty hands. Every problem of dirty hands involves the prospect of evil conduct–conduct which will be evil if undertaken at all or which would be evil if undertaken in the absence of a searing moral dilemma–whereas not every moral conflict involves the prospect of evil conduct. To support and clarify the claims in the preceding two sentences, this paper will need to elucidate the nature of moral con...

Body ownership and agency: task-dependent effects of the virtual hand illusion on proprioceptive drift.

Science.gov (United States)

Shibuya, Satoshi; Unenaka, Satoshi; Ohki, Yukari

2017-01-01

Body ownership and agency are fundamental to self-consciousness. These bodily experiences have been intensively investigated using the rubber hand illusion, wherein participants perceive a fake hand as their own. After presentation of the illusion, the position of the participant's hand then shifts toward the location of the fake hand (proprioceptive drift). However, it remains controversial whether proprioceptive drift is able to provide an objective measurement of body ownership, and whether agency also affects drift. Using the virtual hand illusion (VHI), the current study examined the effects of body ownership and agency on proprioceptive drift, with three different visuo-motor tasks. Twenty healthy adults (29.6 ± 9.2 years old) completed VH manipulations using their right hand under a 2 × 2 factorial design (active vs. passive manipulation, and congruent vs. incongruent virtual hand). Prior to and after VH manipulation, three different tasks were performed to assess proprioceptive drift, in which participants were unable to see their real hands. The effects of the VHI on proprioceptive drift were task-dependent. When participants were required to judge the position of their right hand using a ruler, or by reaching toward a visual target, both body ownership and agency modulated proprioceptive drift. Comparatively, when participants aligned both hands, drift was influenced by ownership but not agency. These results suggest that body ownership and agency might differentially modulate various body representations in the brain.

Study on cerebral activation areas during repetition with functional MRI in normal adults

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koseki, Yohju

2009-01-01

For cerebral activation of speech areas in functional MRI (f-MRI) study, the usefulness of an optical microphone, which made it possible to perform task repetition at real time during scanning, was examined. Subjects were 25 healthy adults (mean age, 27.1±5.6 years), who consisted of 15 right-handed and 10 left-handed or ambidextrous persons. Tasks comprised repetition of monosyllables, non-words, words and sentences. The repetition tasks were covertly performed during scanning of f-MRI by using an optical microphone. In both the right-handed and non-right-handed groups, activations in the left superior temporal gyrus (sensory speech area) were most frequently observed during all of the tasks. In the right-handed group, activations in the left inferior frontal (motor speech area) and superior temporal gyri were significantly more often observed than those in the right inferior frontal and superior temporal gyri. From an assessment of the laterality index (LI), left-side dominant activation was frequently seen in most of the cerebral regions including sensory and motor speech areas, although right-side and bilateral dominant activations were observed in a few cases. In both groups, activations in regions associated with sensory speech were significantly more often seen than those in regions associated with motor speech. The present predominant activations in regions involved in sensory speech indicate that the optical microphone is useful in f-MRI studies using task repetition. (author)

Experience of a national campaign for hand trauma prevention in France.

Science.gov (United States)

Bellemere, P; Guimberteau, J C

2013-12-01

In France, hand injuries are the number one cause of all accidents referred to our hospital casualty departments. Their human and economic consequences are very serious. Two thirds of these accidents arise during everyday living activities and a third of them happen at work. The specific prevention of hand injuries in each of these domains has not been sufficiently developed. The authors present the national prevention campaign recently set up by the FESUM. The campaign took place in the form of events held in different towns in France. Each event, lasting from a minimum of 2 days to 10 days maximum, included press conferences, prevention workshops specific to hand injuries, theatrical animation for youngsters, conferences for the general public, meetings in industrial or training college environments, photography and video exhibitions, and the publication of pamphlets and posters. These manifestations were carried out in partnership with the association APAVC and the voluntary involvement of surgeons from the FESUM hand centres in each town visited. Over a period of 2 years, 22 large or medium-sized towns were able to hold these campaign events. By this means, thousands of people - adults, schoolchildren or young, professional apprentices - were made aware of hand injuries and how to prevent them. We were able to reinforce the broadcasting of simple prevention messages launched by the campaign, particularly with regard to wearing gloves for all manual activities, with the help of heavy local, regional and national media coverage. This campaign was the first widespread action of its kind, aimed specifically at the prevention of hand injuries. Furthermore, it was a way of strengthening the credibility of the FESUM hand emergency centres with the health authorities and to promote the services available to patients. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

RAPID3 scores and hand outcome measurements in RA patients: a preliminary study.

Science.gov (United States)

Qorolli, Merita; Hundozi-Hysenaj, Hajrije; Rexhepi, Sylejman; Rehxepi, Blerta; Grazio, Simeon

2017-06-01

The Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3 (RAPID3) is a patient-reported disease activity measure used to assess physical function, pain, and global health in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) without formal joint counts. Since hand involvement and its decreased function are hallmarks of RA, the aim of our study was to investigate the performance of RAPID3 scores with regard to hand function and to confirm previous findings that the RAPID3 score as a disease activity measure is strongly correlated with the DAS28 score. Sixty-eight consecutive patients with RA (85% female), aged 18-75 years, were included in the study and were recruited during their outpatient visit. Apart from demographic and clinical data, the obtained parameters of interest included RAPID3 scores and assessments of the function of the hand, namely, the signal of functional impairment (SOFI)-hand, grip strength, and pulp-to-palm distance, as well the Health Assessment Questionnaire- Disability Index (HAQ-DI) and DAS28 scores. Pearson's correlation coefficient, Student's t test and linear regression were used in the statistical analysis of the results. The significance was set to p < 0.05. A positive correlation was found between RAPID3 scores and HAQ-DI scores, SOFI-hand scores, and pulp-to-palm distance, and negative correlation was observed between RAPID3 scores and grip strength. The order regarding the strength of correlations between RAPID3 scores and other variables (from the strongest to the weakest) was as follows: HAQ-DI, grip strength, SOFI-hand and pulp-to-palm distance. The hand assessment variables had stronger correlations with RAPID3 scores than with DAS28 scores. Our preliminary study showed that RAPID3 scores were strongly correlated with measurements of the functional ability of the hand, demonstrating that RAPID3 can be used as a measure of disease activity in clinical practice and to characterize hand function. Further studies are needed to confirm this result.

Rubber hand illusion induced by touching the face ipsilaterally to a deprived hand: evidence for plastic ‘somatotopic’ remapping in tetraplegics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michele eScandola

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Background: Studies in animals and humans indicate that the interruption of body-brain connections following spinal cord injury (SCI leads to plastic cerebral reorganization.Objective: To explore whether inducing the Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI via synchronous multisensory visuo-tactile bodily stimulation may reveal any perceptual correlates of plastic remapping in SCI.Methods: In 16 paraplegic, 16 tetraplegic and 16 healthy participants we explored whether RHI may be induced by tactile stimuli involving not only the left hand but also the left hemi-face. Touching the participant’s actual hand or face was either synchronous or asynchronous with tactile stimuli seen on a rubber hand. We assessed two components of the illusion, namely perceived changes in the real hand in space (indexed by proprioceptive drift and ownership of the rubber hand (indexed by subjective responses to an ad-hoc questionnaire.Results: Proprioceptive drift and ownership were found in the healthy group only in the condition where the left real and fake hand were touched simultaneously. In contrast, no drift was found in the SCI patients who, however, showed ownership after both synchronous and asynchronous hand stroking. Importantly, only tetraplegics showed the effect also after synchronous face stroking. Conclusions: RHI may reveal plastic phenomena in SCI. In hand representation-deprived tetraplegics, stimuli on the face (represented contiguously in the somatic and motor systems, drive the sense of hand ownership. This hand-face remapping phenomenon may be useful for restoring a sense of self in massively deprived individuals.

Long-term hand tele-rehabilitation on the PlayStation 3: benefits and challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Burdea, Grigore C; Jain, Abhishek; Rabin, Bryan; Pellosie, Richard; Golomb, Meredith

2011-01-01

Rehabilitation interventions for the hand have shown benefits for children with Hemiplegia due to cerebral palsy or traumatic brain injury. Longer interventions are facilitated if training is provided in the patient's home, due to easier access to care and reduced impact on school or work activities. Providing remote rehabilitation over lengthy periods of time has however its own challenges. This paper presents two pediatric patients with hemiplegia, who practiced virtual hand rehabilitation games using a modified PlayStation 3 and 5DT sensing gloves. Despite severe initial hand spasticity, and occasional technology shortcomings, the subjects practiced for about 14 months, and 6 months, respectively. Game performance data for the second patient is presented. Follow-up evaluations 14 months from the removal of the PlayStation 3 from the home of the child with cerebral palsy showed that the patient had good retention in terms of grasp strength, hand function and bone health. Challenges of long-term home tele-rehabilitation are also discussed.

EthoHand: A dexterous robotic hand with ball-joint thumb enables complex in-hand object manipulation

OpenAIRE

Konnaris, C; Gavriel, C; Thomik, AAC; Aldo Faisal, A

2016-01-01

Our dexterous hand is a fundmanetal human feature that distinguishes us from other animals by enabling us to go beyond grasping to support sophisticated in-hand object manipulation. Our aim was the design of a dexterous anthropomorphic robotic hand that matches the human hand's 24 degrees of freedom, under-actuated by seven motors. With the ability to replicate human hand movements in a naturalistic manner including in-hand object manipulation. Therefore, we focused on the development of a no...

Impact of ultraviolet radiation treatments on the physicochemical properties, antioxidants, enzyme activity and microbial load in freshly prepared hand pressed strawberry juice.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhat, Rajeev; Stamminger, Rainer

2015-07-01

Freshly prepared, hand-pressed strawberry fruit juice was exposed to ultraviolet radiation (254 nm) at room temperature (25 ℃ ± 1 ℃) for 15, 30 and 60 min with 0 min serving as control. Results revealed decrease in pH, total soluble solids and titratable acidity, while colour parameters (L*, a* and b* values) and clarity of juice (% transmittance) increased significantly. All the results corresponded to exposure time to ultraviolet radiation. Bioactive compounds (total phenolics, ascorbic acid and anthocyanins) decreased along with a recorded reduction in polyphenol oxidase enzyme and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl radical scavenging activities, which were again dependent on exposure time. Results on the microbial studies showed significant reduction by 2-log cycles in aerobic plate count as well as in total yeast and mould counts. Though negative results were observed for certain parameters, this is the first time it was endeavoured to demonstrate the impact of ultraviolet radiation radiation on freshly prepared, hand-pressed strawberries juice. © The Author(s) 2014.

Retrospective study of work related traumatic hand injuries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tamara Pereira de Oliveira

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The hand is an instrument extensively used in daily life activities- practical and professional; and it is, consequently, often injured, causing impact on productivity and on the country’s economy, also affecting the quality of life of individuals. When the lesion is work-related, it should be reported and referred by the service unit to Worker Health Reference Centre (CEREST. However, systems of records of occupational accidents are still little explored in Brazil. The aim of this work was to conduct a retrospective data survey on hand traumatic injuries of patients treated at CEREST in the municipality of Jundiaí, Sao Paulo state, in order to know the profile of these victims. Data were collected from the records of SINAN card - Severe Accident Research Sheet, in 2009. Of the 416 cases reported at SINAN, 45.2% were accidents involving the hand, which were reported mostly by private hospitals. 70.7% of the accidents reported occurred in the city (Jundiai and 88.3% of them took place within the premises of companies. Men aged between 19 and 39 years old were the most affected. Machine operators presented the highest accident incidence and fracture was the most frequent diagnosis. Temporary disability reached 80.3% of workers. 89.3% worked under formal contracts. Investment in record systems of labor accidents is essential because it would prevent underreporting and improve awareness of employees and public agencies regarding prevention and rehabilitation, thus avoiding inability of workers and damage to businesses and the government.

Effectiveness of Hand Sanitizers with and without Organic Acids for Removal of Rhinovirus from Hands ▿

Science.gov (United States)

Turner, Ronald B.; Fuls, Janice L.; Rodgers, Nancy D.

2010-01-01

These studies evaluated the effectiveness of ethanol hand sanitizers with or without organic acids to remove detectable rhinovirus from the hands and prevent experimental rhinovirus infection. Ethanol hand sanitizers were significantly more effective than hand washing with soap and water. The addition of organic acids to the ethanol provided residual virucidal activity that persisted for at least 4 h. Whether these treatments will reduce rhinovirus infection in the natural setting remains to be determined. PMID:20047916

Passive hand movements disrupt adults’ counting strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ineke eImbo

2011-09-01

Full Text Available In the present study, we experimentally tested the role of hand motor circuits in simple-arithmetic strategies. Educated adults solved simple additions (e.g., 8+3 or simple subtractions (e.g., 11–3 while they were required to retrieve the answer from long-term memory (e.g., knowing that 8+3 = 11, to transform the problem by making an intermediate step (e.g., 8+3 = 8+2+1 = 10+1 = 11 or to count one-by-one (e.g., 8+3 = 8…9…10…11. During the process of solving the arithmetic problems, the experimenter did or did not move the participants’ hand on a 4-point matrix. The results show that passive hand movements disrupted the counting strategy while leaving the other strategies unaffected. This pattern of results is in agreement with a procedural account, showing that the involvement of hand motor circuits in adults’ mathematical abilities is reminiscent of finger counting during childhood.

Patient empowerment and hand hygiene, 1997-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

McGuckin, M; Govednik, J

2013-07-01

Multi-modal hand hygiene programmes that include patient empowerment are promoted as a necessary component of hand hygiene compliance. However, the question still remains, do we have enough information to determine if, and under what conditions, patients will be able to play an immediate role in healthcare workers' hand hygiene behaviour? To review the current literature on patient willingness to be empowered, barriers to empowerment, and hand hygiene programmes that include patient empowerment and hand hygiene improvement. A Medline (Ovid) search of all English-language papers for 1997-2007 and 2008-2012 was conducted using the following keywords alone and in various combinations: 'patient participation', 'involvement', 'empowerment', 'education', 'decision-making', 'professional-patient relations', 'behavioural change', 'culture of safety', 'social marketing', 'consumer awareness', 'leadership', 'institutional climate', 'hand hygiene' and 'patient reminders'. The 1997-2007 review was conducted as part of the World Health Organization's Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care, and updated with the 2008-2012 review. Several studies show that, in principle, patients are willing to be empowered. However, there is variation in the actual number of patients that practice empowerment for hand hygiene, ranging from 5% to 80%. The actual performance of patient empowerment can be increased when a patient is given explicit permission by a healthcare worker. There is ongoing support from patients that they are willing to be empowered. There is a need to develop programmes that empower both healthcare workers and patients so that they become more comfortable in their roles. Copyright © 2013 The Healthcare Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Are all hands-on activities equally effective? Effect of using plastic models, organ dissections, and virtual dissections on student learning and perceptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Lombardi, Sara A; Hicks, Reimi E; Thompson, Katerina V; Marbach-Ad, Gili

2014-03-01

This study investigated the impact of three commonly used cardiovascular model-assisted activities on student learning and student attitudes and perspectives about science. College students enrolled in a Human Anatomy and Physiology course were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups (organ dissections, virtual dissections, or plastic models). Each group received a 15-min lecture followed by a 45-min activity with one of the treatments. Immediately after the lesson and then 2 mo later, students were tested on anatomy and physiology knowledge and completed an attitude survey. Students who used plastic models achieved significantly higher overall scores on both the initial and followup exams than students who performed organ or virtual dissections. On the initial exam, students in the plastic model and organ dissection treatments scored higher on anatomy questions than students who performed virtual dissections. Students in the plastic model group scored higher than students who performed organ dissections on physiology questions. On the followup exam, when asked anatomy questions, students in the plastic model group scored higher than dissection students and virtual dissection students. On attitude surveys, organ dissections had higher perceived value and were requested for inclusion in curricula twice as often as any other activity. Students who performed organ dissections were more likely than the other treatment groups to agree with the statement that "science is fun," suggesting that organ dissections may promote positive attitudes toward science. The findings of this study provide evidence for the importance of multiple types of hands-on activities in anatomy laboratory courses.

The World Health Organization's Clean Hands Save Lives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Verwilghen, D.

2018-01-01

health and integrity as the first principle of good hand hygiene, using decontamination methods and products that are the least harmful to the skin is mandatory. This is why the currently accepted presurgical hand preparation methods do not involve aggressive brushing and disinfecting soaps anymore....... Rather, hands should be washed with a neutral pH friendly soap first before a hydroalcoholic solution is applied. Although the principles and benefits of proper hand hygiene have been recognised in the healthcare world, one of the major drawbacks remains the lack of compliance with established protocols...

Selective inhibition of extracellular oxidants liberated from human neutrophils--A new mechanism potentially involved in the anti-inflammatory activity of hydroxychloroquine.

Science.gov (United States)

Jančinová, Viera; Pažoureková, Silvia; Lucová, Marianna; Perečko, Tomáš; Mihalová, Danica; Bauerová, Katarína; Nosáľ, Radomír; Drábiková, Katarína

2015-09-01

Hydroxychloroquine is used in the therapy of rheumatoid arthritis or lupus erythematosus. Although these diseases are often accompanied by activation of neutrophils, there are still few data relating to the impact of hydroxychloroquine on these cells. We investigated the effect of orally administered hydroxychloroquine on neutrophil oxidative burst in rats with adjuvant arthritis. In human neutrophils, extra- and intracellular formation of oxidants, mobilisation of intracellular calcium and the phosphorylation of proteins regulating NADPH oxidase assembly were analysed. Administration of hydroxychloroquine decreased the concentration of oxidants in blood of arthritic rats. The inhibition was comparable with the reference drug methotrexate, yet it was not accompanied by a reduction in neutrophil count. When both drugs were co-applied, the effect became more pronounced. In isolated human neutrophils, treatment with hydroxychloroquine resulted in reduced mobilisation of intracellular calcium, diminished concentration of external oxidants and in decreased phosphorylation of Ca(2+)-dependent protein kinase C isoforms PKCα and PKCβII, which regulate activation of NADPH oxidase on plasma membrane. On the other hand, no reduction was observed in intracellular oxidants or in the phosphorylation of p40(phox) and PKCδ, two proteins directing the oxidase assembly to intracellular membranes. Hydroxychloroquine reduced neutrophil-derived oxidants potentially involved in tissue damage and protected those capable to suppress inflammation. The observed effects may represent a new mechanism involved in the anti-inflammatory activity of this drug. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of hand paddles and parachute on butterfly coordination.

Science.gov (United States)

Telles, Thiago; Barroso, Renato; Barbosa, Augusto Carvalho; Salgueiro, Diego Fortes de Souza; Colantonio, Emilson; Andries Júnior, Orival

2015-01-01

This study investigated the effects of hand paddles, parachute and hand paddles plus parachute on the inter-limb coordination of butterfly swimming. Thirteen male swimmers were evaluated in four random maximal intensity conditions: without equipment, with hand paddles, with parachute and with hand paddles + parachute. Arm and leg stroke phases were identified by 2D video analysis to calculate the total time gap (T1: time between hands' entry in the water and high break-even point of the first undulation; T2: time between the beginning of the hand's backward movement and low break-even point of the first undulation; T3: time between the hand's arrival in a vertical plane to the shoulders and high break-even point of the second undulation; T4: time between the hand's release from the water and low break-even point of the second undulation). The swimming velocity was reduced and T1, T2 and T3 increased in parachute and hand paddles + parachute. No changes were observed in T4. Total time gap decreased in parachute and hand paddles + parachute. It is concluded that hand paddles do not influence the arm-to-leg coordination in butterfly, while parachute and hand paddles + parachute do change it, providing a greater propulsive continuity.

Elevated levels of circulating histones indicate disease activity in patients with hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD).

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiuhui; Li, Qin; Li, Junhong; Li, Ying; Chen, Yuping; Lv, Aiping; Zhang, Jian; Ding, Jianbo; Von Maltzan, Kristine; Wen, Tao

2014-12-01

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common infectious disease in children, characterized by acute viral infection accompanying acute inflammatory responses. Circulating histones are leading mediators of the inflammatory processes. This study aimed to elucidate whether circulating histones play a contributory role during HFMD. We measured plasma levels of histones, myeloperoxidase (MPO), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and cytokines in HFMD patients (n = 126) and compared the results with those of a control group (n = 30). Circulating histone levels were significantly increased in HFMD patients (3.794 ± 0.156 μg/ml) compared with healthy controls (0.238 ± 0.023 μg/ml, p histones correlated positively with plasma IL-6 and IL-10, whereas in severe HFMD, histones were associated with elevated IL-6 and TNF-ɑ levels. These data demonstrate that circulating histones are excessively released in patients with HFMD, which may indicate disease severity and contribute to systemic inflammation by promoting cytokine production (e.g. IL-6). We suggest that in mild HFMD, circulating histones may originate largely from neutrophil activation, whereas in severe HFMD, dying tissue cells and neutrophil activation may be synergistically involved in the increased levels of histones.

THE STERN PROJECT–HANDS ON ROCKETS SCIENCE FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENT

OpenAIRE

Schüttauf, Katharina; Stamminger, Andreas; Lappöhn, Karsten

2017-01-01

In April 2012, the German Aerospace Center DLR initiated a sponsorship program for university students to develop, build and launch their own rockets over a period of three years. The program designation STERN was abbreviated from the German “STudentische Experimental-RaketeN”, which translates to Student- Experimental-Rockets. The primary goal of the STERN program is to inspire students in the subject of space transportation through hands-on activities within a pro...

Effects of lips and hands on auditory learning of second-language speech sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Hirata, Yukari; Kelly, Spencer D

2010-04-01

Previous research has found that auditory training helps native English speakers to perceive phonemic vowel length contrasts in Japanese, but their performance did not reach native levels after training. Given that multimodal information, such as lip movement and hand gesture, influences many aspects of native language processing, the authors examined whether multimodal input helps to improve native English speakers' ability to perceive Japanese vowel length contrasts. Sixty native English speakers participated in 1 of 4 types of training: (a) audio-only; (b) audio-mouth; (c) audio-hands; and (d) audio-mouth-hands. Before and after training, participants were given phoneme perception tests that measured their ability to identify short and long vowels in Japanese (e.g., /kato/ vs. /kato/). Although all 4 groups improved from pre- to posttest (replicating previous research), the participants in the audio-mouth condition improved more than those in the audio-only condition, whereas the 2 conditions involving hand gestures did not. Seeing lip movements during training significantly helps learners to perceive difficult second-language phonemic contrasts, but seeing hand gestures does not. The authors discuss possible benefits and limitations of using multimodal information in second-language phoneme learning.

Parental involvement could mitigate the effects of physical activity and dietary habits on mental distress in Ghanaian youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Glozah, Franklin N; Oppong Asante, Kwaku; Kugbey, Nuworza

2018-01-01

Parental involvement in physical activity and dietary habits have been found to play a substantial role in the mental health of young people. However, there is little evidence about the associations between parental involvement, health behaviours and mental health among Ghanaian youth. This study sought to examine the role of parental involvement in the association between physical activity, dietary habits and mental health among Ghanaian youth. Data were obtained from the 2012 Ghana Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS). The study population consisted of 1,984 school going youth in high schools with a median age of 15 years old, (53.7%) males. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression statistical models using complex samples method were performed. The prevalence of mental distress was 18.1%, 16.6% and 23% for loneliness, feeling worried and suicidal ideation respectively. Younger students were more likely to feel lonely, worried and have suicidal ideation than older students. Students from low socio-economic backgrounds were significantly more likely to report loneliness, worry and suicidal ideation. After adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics, some physical activity and eating habits were associated with experiencing loneliness, worry and suicidal ideation but after introducing parental involvement, there was a decrease in the likelihood of some health behaviour factors in both physical activity and dietary habits to be associated with loneliness, worry and suicidal ideation. Physical inactivity and poor dietary habits could have a negative effect on mental distress, however, parental involvement could mitigate the impact of these lifestyle habits on mental distress and should therefore be taken into consideration in efforts aimed at encouraging positive lifestyle habits for good mental health among Ghanaian youth.

Laterality and body ownership : Effect of handedness on experience of the rubber hand illusion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, M|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/37432719X; Kooistra, D I; van der Ham, I J M|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/304822809; Dijkerman, H C|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/304829757

2017-01-01

Body ownership has mainly been linked to the right hemisphere and larger interhemispheric connectivity has been shown to be associated with greater right hemispheric activation. Mixed-handed participants tend to have more interhemispheric connectivity compared to extreme handed participants. The aim

A Hands-On Approach to Teaching Protein Translation & Translocation into the ER

Science.gov (United States)

LaBonte, Michelle L.

2013-01-01

The process of protein translation and translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) can often be challenging for introductory college biology students to visualize. To help them understand how proteins become oriented in the ER membrane, I developed a hands-on activity in which students use Play-Doh to simulate the process of protein…

The role of human parietal area 7A as a link between sequencing in hand actions and in overt speech production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefan eHeim

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Research on the evolutionary basis of the human language faculty has proposed the mirror neuron system as a link between motor processing and speech development. Consequently, most work has focussed on the left inferior frontal cortex, in particular Broca's region, and the left inferior parietal cortex. However, the direct link between planning of hand motor and speech actions remains to be elucidated. Thus, the present study investigated whether sequencing of hand motor actions vs. speech motor actions has a common neural denominator. For the hand motor task, 25 subjects performed single, repeated, or sequenced button presses with either the left or right hand. The speech task was in analogy; the same subjects produced the syllable "po" once or repeatedly, or a sequence of different syllables (po-pi-po. Speech motor vs. hand motor effectors resulted in increased perisylvian activation including Broca's region (left area 44 and areas medially adjacent to left area 45. In contrast, common activation for sequenced vs. repeated production of button presses and syllables revealed the effector-independent involvement of left area 7A in the superior parietal lobule (SPL in sequencing. These data demonstrate that sequencing of vocal gestures, an important precondition for ordered utterances and ultimately human speech, shares area 7A, rather than inferior parietal regions, as a common cortical module with hand motor sequencing. Interestingly, area 7A has previously also been shown to be involved in the observation of hand and non-hand actions. In combination with the literature, the present data thus suggest a distinction between area 44, which is specifically recruited for (cognitive aspects of speech, and SPL area 7A for general aspects of motor sequencing. In sum, the study demonstrates a yet little considered role of the superior parietal lobule in the origins of speech, and may be discussed in the light of embodiment of speech and language in the

Hand-related physical function in rheumatic hand conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klokker, Louise; Terwee, Caroline B; Wæhrens, Eva Ejlersen

2016-01-01

as well as those items from the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Physical Function (PF) item bank that are relevant to patients with rheumatic hand conditions. Selection will be based on consensus among reviewers. Content validity of selected items will be established......INTRODUCTION: There is no consensus about what constitutes the most appropriate patient-reported outcome measurement (PROM) instrument for measuring physical function in patients with rheumatic hand conditions. Existing instruments lack psychometric testing and vary in feasibility...... and their psychometric qualities. We aim to develop a PROM instrument to assess hand-related physical function in rheumatic hand conditions. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will perform a systematic search to identify existing PROMs to rheumatic hand conditions, and select items relevant for hand-related physical function...

Hand-related physical function in rheumatic hand conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klokker, Louise; Terwee, Caroline; Wæhrens, Eva Elisabet Ejlersen

2016-01-01

INTRODUCTION: There is no consensus about what constitutes the most appropriate patient-reported outcome measurement (PROM) instrument for measuring physical function in patients with rheumatic hand conditions. Existing instruments lack psychometric testing and vary in feasibility...... and their psychometric qualities. We aim to develop a PROM instrument to assess hand-related physical function in rheumatic hand conditions. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will perform a systematic search to identify existing PROMs to rheumatic hand conditions, and select items relevant for hand-related physical function...... as well as those items from the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Physical Function (PF) item bank that are relevant to patients with rheumatic hand conditions. Selection will be based on consensus among reviewers. Content validity of selected items will be established...

Congenital Amputation Involving the Hands and Feet: A Case Report

African Journals Online (AJOL)

There were forefoot amputations on both lower limbs. Scars were noticed over the amputation stumps with no associated congenital anomaly. Conclusion: Congenital amputation involving all limbs as an isolated entity is a rare condition; the cause of which is probably as a result of congenital amniotic bands. Keywords: ...

IMPORTANCE OF HAND HYGIENE AS HOSPITAL INFECTION PROPHYLAXIS BY HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elaine C. de Souza

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Hospital infections currently represent the interests of the international order, as it involves the performance of health professionals, the quality of physical facilities and materials of daily use. This study aimed to verify the recognition of the importance of hand hygiene in preventing nosocomial infection by health professionals. This is a cross-sectional study, which was applied in semi-structured form, a sample of 60 professionals, including nurses, technicians and / or licensed practical nurses and doctors, working in a public hospital located in Bahia, in October 2011, complying with ethical requirements for studies in humans. The results showed that 98.3% of respondents recognize the importance of hand hygiene in preventing hospital infection, 83.3% said they master the technique, however only 53.4% described it correctly. We conclude that despite the awareness of professionals about the importance and availability of products for hand hygiene, it is necessary to implement educational activities that motivate and intensify the adhesion of professionals

Transcription and DNA Damage: Holding Hands or Crossing Swords?

Science.gov (United States)

D'Alessandro, Giuseppina; d'Adda di Fagagna, Fabrizio

2017-10-27

Transcription has classically been considered a potential threat to genome integrity. Collision between transcription and DNA replication machinery, and retention of DNA:RNA hybrids, may result in genome instability. On the other hand, it has been proposed that active genes repair faster and preferentially via homologous recombination. Moreover, while canonical transcription is inhibited in the proximity of DNA double-strand breaks, a growing body of evidence supports active non-canonical transcription at DNA damage sites. Small non-coding RNAs accumulate at DNA double-strand break sites in mammals and other organisms, and are involved in DNA damage signaling and repair. Furthermore, RNA binding proteins are recruited to DNA damage sites and participate in the DNA damage response. Here, we discuss the impact of transcription on genome stability, the role of RNA binding proteins at DNA damage sites, and the function of small non-coding RNAs generated upon damage in the signaling and repair of DNA lesions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

On the road to a neuroprosthetic hand: a novel hand grasp orthosis based on functional electrical stimulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Leeb, Robert; Gubler, Miguel; Tavella, Michele; Miller, Heather; Del Millan, Jose R

2010-01-01

To patients who have lost the functionality of their hands as a result of a severe spinal cord injury or brain stroke, the development of new techniques for grasping is indispensable for reintegration and independency in daily life. Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) of residual muscles can reproduce the most dominant grasping tasks and can be initialized by brain signals. However, due to the very complex hand anatomy and current limitations in FES-technology with surface electrodes, these grasp patterns cannot be smoothly executed. In this paper, we present an adaptable passive hand orthosis which is capable of producing natural and smooth movements when coupled with FES. It evenly synchronizes the grasping movements and applied forces on all fingers, allowing for naturalistic gestures and functional grasps of everyday objects. The orthosis is also equipped with a lock, which allows it to remain in the desired position without the need for long-term stimulation. Furthermore, we quantify improvements offered by the orthosis compare them with natural grasps on healthy subjects.

Consistent-handed individuals are more authoritarian.

Science.gov (United States)

Lyle, Keith B; Grillo, Michael C

2014-01-01

Individuals differ in the consistency with which they use one hand over the other to perform everyday activities. Some individuals are very consistent, habitually using a single hand to perform most tasks. Others are relatively inconsistent, and hence make greater use of both hands. More- versus less-consistent individuals have been shown to differ in numerous aspects of personality and cognition. In several respects consistent-handed individuals resemble authoritarian individuals. For example, both consistent-handedness and authoritarianism have been linked to cognitive inflexibility. Therefore we hypothesised that consistent-handedness is an external marker for authoritarianism. Confirming our hypothesis, we found that consistent-handers scored higher than inconsistent-handers on a measure of submission to authority, were more likely to identify with a conservative political party (Republican), and expressed less-positive attitudes towards out-groups. We propose that authoritarianism may be influenced by the degree of interaction between the left and right brain hemispheres, which has been found to differ between consistent- and inconsistent-handed individuals.

Changes in arm-hand function and arm-hand skill performance in patients after stroke during and after rehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Franck, Johan Anton; Smeets, Rob Johannes Elise Marie; Seelen, Henk Alexander Maria

2017-01-01

Arm-hand rehabilitation programs applied in stroke rehabilitation frequently target specific populations and thus are less applicable in heterogeneous patient populations. Besides, changes in arm-hand function (AHF) and arm-hand skill performance (AHSP) during and after a specific and well-described rehabilitation treatment are often not well evaluated. This single-armed prospective cohort study featured three subgroups of stroke patients with either a severely, moderately or mildly impaired AHF. Rehabilitation treatment consisted of a Concise_Arm_and_hand_ Rehabilitation_Approach_in_Stroke (CARAS). Measurements at function and activity level were performed at admission, clinical discharge, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after clinical discharge. Eighty-nine stroke patients (M/F:63/23; mean age:57.6yr (+/-10.6); post-stroke time:29.8 days (+/-20.1)) participated. All patients improved on AHF and arm-hand capacity during and after rehabilitation, except on grip strength in the severely affected subgroup. Largest gains occurred in patients with a moderately affected AHF. As to self-perceived AHSP, on average, all subgroups improved over time. A small percentage of patients declined regarding self-perceived AHSP post-rehabilitation. A majority of stroke patients across the whole arm-hand impairment severity spectrum significantly improved on AHF, arm-hand capacity and self-perceived AHSP. These were maintained up to one year post-rehabilitation. Results may serve as a control condition in future studies.

[Left- or right-handed: the effect of a preferential use of one hand or the other on dental hygiene].

Science.gov (United States)

Eleveld, C A; Schuller, A A

2016-02-01

A research project investigated the extent to which a preferential use of one hand or the other has an effect on dental hygiene on the left or right side of the mouth. The study made use of epidemiological dental-care data from the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research and of data from a dental practice specifically collected for this project. The results revealed that among a population which is 85-90% right-handed, statistically significantly more dental plaque was found on the right side of the mouth than on the left. A separate study revealed the prevalence of statistically significantly more dental plaque on the right side than on the left among right-handed people and, among left-handed people, a non-statistically significant trend of more dental plaque on the left than the right. It is concluded that dental hygiene on the left side and the right side of the mouth is very likely to be dependent on the preferential use of one hand or the other. The differences between the left side of the mouth and right among left- and right-handed people are, however, so small that it is questionable whether these should be taken into consideration in giving instructions about dental hygiene.

Stakeholder involvement in international conventions governing civil nuclear activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Emmerechts, Sam

2017-01-01

Mr Emmerechts explained that international conventions have varying positions on stakeholders and their involvement depending upon the intent of the legislator and the field they cover, ranging from a narrow to a broad interpretation. He addressed stakeholder involvement in two other international conventions governing civil nuclear activities, namely the Convention on Nuclear Safety, and the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (the Joint Convention), both concluded under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He noted that the Convention on Nuclear Safety remains a 'traditional' international legal instrument, focusing on governments and governmental bodies as the main stakeholders and limiting obligations regarding the involvement of the public and intergovernmental organisations to their receiving information and observing. Likewise, the Joint Convention limits obligations regarding public involvement to access to information, notably as to the siting of proposed facilities. However, he noted that in the European Union, the Directive on Nuclear Safety (2014/87/Euratom) and the Directive for the Safe Management of Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste (2011/70/Euratom) have more advanced public participation requirements in nuclear decision making. Mr Emmerechts explained that the substantial differences between nuclear legislation and the Aarhus and Espoo Conventions with regards to public involvement requirements could partly be explained by the technicality of nuclear information and by issues related to nuclear security

Comparative analysis of brain EEG signals generated from the right and left hand while writing

Science.gov (United States)

Sardesai, Neha; Jamali Mahabadi, S. E.; Meng, Qinglei; Choa, Fow-Sen

2016-05-01

This paper provides a comparative analysis of right handed people and left handed people when they write with both their hands. Two left handed and one right handed subject were asked to write their respective names on a paper using both, their left and right handed, and their brain signals were measured using EEG. Similarly, they were asked to perform simple mathematical calculations using both their hand. The data collected from the EEG from writing with both hands is compared. It is observed that though it is expected that the right brain only would contribute to left handed writing and vice versa, it is not so. When a right handed person writes with his/her left hand, the initial instinct is to go for writing with the right hand. Hence, both parts of the brain are active when a subject writes with the other hand. However, when the activity is repeated, the brain learns to expect to write with the other hand as the activity is repeated and then only the expected part of the brain is active.

Hand function and quality of life before and after fasciectomy for Dupuytren contracture.

Science.gov (United States)

Engstrand, Christina; Krevers, Barbro; Nylander, Göran; Kvist, Joanna

2014-07-01

To describe changes in joint motion, sensibility, and scar pliability and to investigate the patients' expectations, self-reported recovery, and satisfaction with hand function, disability, and quality of life after surgery and hand therapy for Dupuytren disease. This prospective cohort study collected measurements before surgery and 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery and hand therapy. Ninety patients with total active extension deficits of 60° or more from Dupuytren contracture were included. Outcomes measures were range of motion; sensibility; scar pliability; self-reported outcomes on expectations, recovery, and satisfaction with hand function; Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand scores; safety and social issues of hand function; physical activity habits; and quality of life with the Euroqol. The extension deficit decreased, and there was a transient decrease in active finger flexion during the first year after surgery. Sensibility remained unaffected. Generally, patients with surgery on multiple fingers had worse scar pliability. The majority of the patients had their expectations met, and at 6 months, 32% considered hand function as fully recovered, and 73% were satisfied with their hand function. Fear of hurting the hand and worry about not trusting the hand function were of greatest concern among safety and social issues. The Disability of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand score and the Euroqol improved over time. After surgery and hand therapy, disability decreased independent of single or multiple operated fingers. The total active finger extension improved enough for the patients to reach a functional range of motion despite an impairment of active finger flexion still present 12 months after treatment. Therapeutic IV. Copyright © 2014 American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Unilateral Cleft Hand with Cleft Foot

Science.gov (United States)

Baba, Asif Nazir; Bhat, Yasmeen J.; Ahmed, Sheikh Mushtaq; Nazir, Abid

2009-01-01

Congenital anomalies of the hand form an important class of congenital malformations. They have a huge functional importance because of the part played by the hand in the daily activities of a person. The deformities also have significant cosmetic significance and may also be associated with other anomalies. Amongst the congenital anomalies, central deficiency or cleft hand is relatively rare. The association of cleft foot with cleft hand is an even more rare occurance. We present a case report of a 6 year old child, born of a non-consanginous marriage, having congenital central deficiency of ipsilateral hand and foot. PMID:21475543

A Study on Using Hands-On Science Inquiries to Promote the Geology Learning of Preservice Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Ching-San

2015-01-01

This study aims to investigate the geology learning performance of preservice teachers. A total of 31 sophomores (including 11 preservice teachers) from an educational university in Taiwan participated in this study. The course arrangements include class teaching and hands-on science inquiry activities. The study searches both quantitative and…

The impact of the Hand Hygiene New Zealand programme on hand hygiene practices in New Zealand's public hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Freeman, Joshua; Dawson, Louise; Jowitt, Deborah; White, Margo; Callard, Hayley; Sieczkowski, Christine; Kuriyan, Ron; Roberts, Sally

2016-10-14

To detail the progress made by Hand Hygiene New Zealand (HHNZ) since 2011 and also describe the challenges experienced along the way and the factors required for delivery of a successful hand hygiene programme at a national level. HHNZ is a multimodal culture-change programme based on the WHO '5 moments for hand hygiene' approach. The key components of the programme include clinical leadership, auditing of hand hygiene compliance with thrice yearly reporting of improvement in hand hygiene practice, biannual reporting of the outcome marker, healthcare-associated Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (HA-SAB), effective communication with key stakeholders and the use of the front-line ownership (FLO) principles for quality improvement. The nationally aggregated hand hygiene compliance has increased from 62% in June 2012 to 81% in March 2016. There has been improvement across all 'moments', all healthcare worker groups and a range of different clinical specialties. The rate of HA-SAB has remained stable. The HHNZ programme has led to significant improvements in hand hygiene practice in DHBs throughout New Zealand. The principles of FLO are now widely used to drive hand hygiene improvement in New Zealand DHBs.

Between-hand difference in ipsilateral deactivation is associated with hand lateralization: fMRI mapping of 284 volunteers balanced for handedness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nathalie eTzourio-Mazoyer

2015-02-01

Full Text Available In right-handers, an increase in the pace of dominant hand movement results in increased ipsilateral deactivation of the primary motor cortex (M1. By contrast, an increase in non-dominant hand movement frequency is associated with reduced ipsilateral deactivation. This pattern suggests that inhibitory processes support right hand dominance in right-handers and raises the issues of whether this phenomenon also supports left hand preference in left-handers, and/or whether it relates to asymmetry of manual ability in either group. Thanks to the BIL&GIN, a database dedicated to the investigation of hemispheric specialization, we studied the variation in M1 activity during right and left finger tapping tasks in a sample of 284 healthy participants balanced for handedness. An M1 fMRI localizer was defined for each participant as an 8 mm diameter sphere centered on the motor activation peak. Right-handers exhibited significantly larger deactivation of the ipsilateral M1 when moving their dominant hand than their non-dominant hand. In contrast, left-handers exhibited comparable ipsilateral M1 deactivation during either hand movement, reflecting a bilateral cortical specialization. This pattern is likely related to left-handers’ good performances with their right hand and consequent lower asymmetry in manual ability compared with right-handers. Finally, inter-individual analyses over the whole sample demonstrated that the larger the difference in manual skill across hands, the larger the difference in ipsilateral deactivation. Overall, we propose that difference in ipsilateral deactivation is a marker of difference in manual ability asymmetry reflecting differences in the strength of transcallosal inhibition when a given hand is moving.

Atypical activation of the mirror neuron system during perception of hand motion in autism.

Science.gov (United States)

Martineau, Joëlle; Andersson, Frédéric; Barthélémy, Catherine; Cottier, Jean-Philippe; Destrieux, Christophe

2010-03-12

Disorders in the autism spectrum are characterized by deficits in social and communication skills such as imitation, pragmatic language, theory of mind, and empathy. The discovery of the "mirror neuron system" (MNS) in macaque monkeys may provide a basis from which to explain some of the behavioral dysfunctions seen in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).We studied seven right-handed high-functioning male autistic and eight normal subjects (TD group) using functional magnetic resonance imaging during observation and execution of hand movements compared to a control condition (rest). The between group comparison of the contrast [observation versus rest] provided evidence of a bilateral greater activation of inferior frontal gyrus during observation of human motion than during rest for the ASD group than for the TD group. This hyperactivation of the pars opercularis (belonging to the MNS) during observation of human motion in autistic subjects provides strong support for the hypothesis of atypical activity of the MNS that may be at the core of the social deficits in autism. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Gasoline on hands: preliminary study on collection and persistence.

Science.gov (United States)

Darrer, Melinda; Jacquemet-Papilloud, Joëlle; Delémont, Olivier

2008-03-05

The identification of an arsonist remains one of the most difficult challenges a fire investigation has to face. Seeking and detection of traces of gasoline could provide a valuable information to link a suspect with an arson scene where gasoline was used to set-up the fire. In this perspective, a first study was undertaken to evaluate a simple, fast and efficient method for collecting gasoline from hands, and to assess its persistence over time. Four collection means were tested: PVC, PE and Latex gloves, as well as humidified filter paper. A statistical assessment of the results indicates that Latex and PVC gloves worn for about 20 min, as well as paper filter rubbed on hands, allow an efficient collection of gasoline applied to hands. Due to ease of manipulation and to a reduced amount of volatile compounds detected from the matrix, PVC gloves were selected for the second set of experiments. The evaluation of the persistence of gasoline on hands was then carried out using two initial quantities (500 and 1000 microl). Collection was made with PVC gloves after 0, 30 min, 1, 2 and 4h, on different volunteers. The results show a common tendency of massive evaporation of gasoline during the first 30 min: a continued but non-linear decrease was observed along different time intervals. The results of this preliminary study are in agreement with other previous researches conducted on the detection of flammable liquid residues on clothes, shoes and skin.

Coherence of EEG frequency components during manual movements executed by the subdominant hand in women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. V. Korzhyk

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The academic community is paying more and more attention to the question of the individual characteristics of the brain processes which ensure the manual motor programming of movements performed not only by the leading, but also by the subdominant hand. Researchers do not exclude the existence of the particular parameters of the human brain correlating with manual motor activities. This study involved 136 women at the age of 19–21 years. The testees were divided into two groups according to high and low values of the EEG modal α-frequency determined individually and in a motionless state. We evaluated the coherence status of the EEG frequency components in the motionless state and during movements performed by fingers of the subdominant (left hand in response to rhythmic sound signals. The testing stages involved the sequential execution of motor tasks including clamping and unclamping performed by the fingers of the subdominant hand (such as grasping movements without effort. The testees also performed fingering (a manual response to each stimulus at in different times and not by all the fingers of the hand simultaneously, but separately, one by one, in a given sequence. Clamping and unclamping was executed by the fingers subject to power loading the (additional load on the fingers being 10H. Execution of manual movements by means of the subdominant hand in response to the sensory signals was accompanied by an increase in coherence in the EEG frequency components, especially in the frontal, temporal, and parietal cortexes of the central areas. Women with a low individual α-rate of such a regularity had significantly increased scores at the high (α3-, β- frequencies of the EEG spectrum. At the same time, women in both groups mainly showed a decrease in the coherence coefficients of θ-, α1- and α3-activity in the frontal cortex leads in terms of the execution of the sequential finger movements and movements under power loading. The

No pain relief with the rubber hand illusion.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rahul Mohan

Full Text Available The sense of body ownership can be easily disrupted during illusions and the most common illusion is the rubber hand illusion. An idea that is rapidly gaining popularity in clinical pain medicine is that body ownership illusions can be used to modify pathological pain sensations and induce analgesia. However, this idea has not been empirically evaluated. Two separate research laboratories undertook independent randomized repeated measures experiments, both designed to detect an effect of the rubber hand illusion on experimentally induced hand pain. In Experiment 1, 16 healthy volunteers rated the pain evoked by noxious heat stimuli (5 s duration; interstimulus interval 25 s of set temperatures (47°, 48° and 49°C during the rubber hand illusion or during a control condition. There was a main effect of stimulus temperature on pain ratings, but no main effect of condition (p = 0.32, nor a condition x temperature interaction (p = 0.31. In Experiment 2, 20 healthy volunteers underwent quantitative sensory testing to determine heat and cold pain thresholds during the rubber hand illusion or during a control condition. Secondary analyses involved heat and cold detection thresholds and paradoxical heat sensations. Again, there was no main effect of condition on heat pain threshold (p = 0.17, nor on cold pain threshold (p = 0.65, nor on any of the secondary measures (p<0.56 for all. We conclude that the rubber hand illusion does not induce analgesia.

Contactless and pose invariant biometric identification using hand surface.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanhangad, Vivek; Kumar, Ajay; Zhang, David

2011-05-01

This paper presents a novel approach for hand matching that achieves significantly improved performance even in the presence of large hand pose variations. The proposed method utilizes a 3-D digitizer to simultaneously acquire intensity and range images of the user's hand presented to the system in an arbitrary pose. The approach involves determination of the orientation of the hand in 3-D space followed by pose normalization of the acquired 3-D and 2-D hand images. Multimodal (2-D as well as 3-D) palmprint and hand geometry features, which are simultaneously extracted from the user's pose normalized textured 3-D hand, are used for matching. Individual matching scores are then combined using a new dynamic fusion strategy. Our experimental results on the database of 114 subjects with significant pose variations yielded encouraging results. Consistent (across various hand features considered) performance improvement achieved with the pose correction demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed approach for hand based biometric systems with unconstrained and contact-free imaging. The experimental results also suggest that the dynamic fusion approach employed in this work helps to achieve performance improvement of 60% (in terms of EER) over the case when matching scores are combined using the weighted sum rule.

Hand Robotic Therapy in Children with Hemiparesis: A Pilot Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bishop, Lauri; Gordon, Andrew M; Kim, Heakyung

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to understand the impact of training with a hand robotic device on hand paresis and function in a population of children with hemiparesis. Twelve children with hemiparesis (mean age, 9 [SD, 3.64] years) completed participation in this prospective, experimental, pilot study. Participants underwent clinical assessments at baseline and again 6 weeks later with instructions to not initiate new therapies. After these assessments, participants received 6 weeks of training with a hand robotic device, consisting of 1-hour sessions, 3 times weekly. Assessments were repeated on completion of training. Results showed significant improvements after training on the Assisting Hand Assessment (mean difference, 2.0 Assisting Hand Assessment units; P = 0.011) and on the upper-extremity component of the Fugl-Meyer scale (raw score mean difference, 4.334; P = 0.001). No significant improvements between pretest and posttest were noted on the Jebsen-Taylor Test of Hand Function, the Quality of Upper Extremity Skills Test, or the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory after intervention. Total active mobility of digits and grip strength also failed to demonstrate significant changes after training. Participants tolerated training with the hand robotic device, and significant improvements in bimanual hand use, as well as impairment-based scales, were noted. Improvements were carried over into bimanual skills during play. Complete the self-assessment activity and evaluation online at http://www.physiatry.org/JournalCME CME OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this article, the reader should be able to: (1) Understand key components of neuroplasticity; (2) Discuss the benefits of robotic therapy in the recovery of hand function in pediatric patients with hemiplegia; and (3) Appropriately incorporate robotic therapy into the treatment plan of pediatric patients with hemiplegia. Advanced ACCREDITATION: The Association of Academic Physiatrists is accredited by the

Exploring quantum physics through hands-on projects

CERN Document Server

Prutchi, David

2012-01-01

Build an intuitive understanding of the principles behind quantum mechanics through practical construction and replication of original experiments With easy-to-acquire, low-cost materials and basic knowledge of algebra and trigonometry, Exploring Quantum Physics through Hands-on Projects takes readers step by step through the process of re-creating scientific experiments that played an essential role in the creation and development of quantum mechanics. From simple measurements of Planck's constant to testing violations of Bell's inequalities using entangled photons, Exploring Quantum Physics through Hands-on Projects not only immerses readers in the process of quantum mechanics, it provides insight into the history of the field--how the theories and discoveries apply to our world not only today, but also tomorrow. By immersing readers in groundbreaking experiments that can be performed at home, school, or in the lab, this first-ever, hands-on book successfully demystifies the world of quantum physics for...

The effect of hand hygiene on illness rate among students in university residence halls.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Cindy; Kolble, Robin; Carlson, Rebecca; Lipson, Natasha; Dolan, Mike; Ali, Yusuf; Cline, Mojee

2003-10-01

Several studies have indicated a connection between hand sanitization and infection control in numerous settings such as extended care facilities, schools, and hospitals. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of both a hand-hygiene message campaign and the use of an alcohol gel hand sanitizer in decreasing the incidence of upper-respiratory illness among students living in university residence halls. This study involved a total of 430 students recruited from 4 residence halls during the fall semester at the University of Colorado at the Boulder campus. Dormitories were paired into control and product groups. In the product groups, alcohol gel hand-sanitizer dispensers were installed in every room, bathroom, and dining hall. The data were statistically analyzed for the differences between product and control groups in reported symptoms, illness rates, and absenteeism from classes. The overall increase in hand-hygiene behavior and reduction in symptoms, illness rates, and absenteeism between the product group and control group was statistically significant. Reductions in upper respiratory-illness symptoms ranged from 14.8% to 39.9%. Total improvement in illness rate was 20%. The product group had 43% less missed school/work days. Hand-hygiene practices were improved with increased frequency of handwashing through increasing awareness of the importance of hand hygiene, and the use of alcohol gel hand sanitizer in university dormitories. This resulted in fewer upper respiratory-illness symptoms, lower illness rates, and lower absenteeism.

Active Involvement of Software Developers in Usability Engineering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bornoe, Nis; Stage, Jan

2017-01-01

The essence of usability evaluations is to produce feedback that supports the downstream utility so the interaction design can be improved and problems can be fixed. In practice, software development organizations experience several obstacles for conducting usability engineering. One suggested...... approach is to train and involve developers in all phases of usability activities from evaluations, to problem reporting, and making redesign proposals. Only limited work has previously investigated the impact of actively involving developers in usability engineering. In this paper, we present two small......, and problem fixing. At the organizational level, we found that the attitude towards and understanding of the role of usability engineering improved....

An EMG-driven exoskeleton hand robotic training device on chronic stroke subjects: task training system for stroke rehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, N S K; Tong, K Y; Hu, X L; Fung, K L; Wei, X J; Rong, W; Susanto, E A

2011-01-01

An exoskeleton hand robotic training device is specially designed for persons after stroke to provide training on their impaired hand by using an exoskeleton robotic hand which is actively driven by their own muscle signals. It detects the stroke person's intention using his/her surface electromyography (EMG) signals from the hemiplegic side and assists in hand opening or hand closing functional tasks. The robotic system is made up of an embedded controller and a robotic hand module which can be adjusted to fit for different finger length. Eight chronic stroke subjects had been recruited to evaluate the effects of this device. The preliminary results showed significant improvement in hand functions (ARAT) and upper limb functions (FMA) after 20 sessions of robot-assisted hand functions task training. With the use of this light and portable robotic device, stroke patients can now practice more easily for the opening and closing of their hands at their own will, and handle functional daily living tasks at ease. A video is included together with this paper to give a demonstration of the hand robotic system on chronic stroke subjects and it will be presented in the conference. © 2011 IEEE

Effects of NSAIDs on the Inner Ear: Possible Involvement in Cochlear Protection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Akira Hara

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase, two important enzymes involved in arachidonic acid metabolism, are major targets of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs. Recent investigations suggest that arachidonic cascades and their metabolites may be involved in maintaining inner ear functions. The excessive use of aspirin may cause tinnitus in humans and impairment of the outer hair cell functions in experimental animals. On the other hand, NSAIDs reportedly exhibit protective effects against various kinds of inner ear disorder. The present review summarizes the effects of NSAIDs on cochlear pathophysiology. NSAIDs are a useful ameliorative adjunct in the management of inner ear disorders.

The value of immersion hand radiography in soft tissue changes of musculoskeletal disorders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ngo, C.; Yaghmai, I.

1988-01-01

Immersion hand radiographs were performed on 25 patients with various clinical presentations and compared to plain radiographic studies of the hands. The immersion technique is superior in outlining the skin, subcutaneous fat layers, and fat layers between muscle planes. More important, this technique highlights the tendons and soft tissue components of the joint, which are hardly seen on standard hand radiographs. Immersion studies are therefore useful, both in the early diagnosis of erosive arthritis and in the follow-up of the course of the disease. They are recommended as an adjunct to conventional hand radiography in musculoskeletal disorders with soft tissue involvement. (orig.)

Developmental changes in brain activation involved in the production of novel speech sounds in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Hashizume, Hiroshi; Taki, Yasuyuki; Sassa, Yuko; Thyreau, Benjamin; Asano, Michiko; Asano, Kohei; Takeuchi, Hikaru; Nouchi, Rui; Kotozaki, Yuka; Jeong, Hyeonjeong; Sugiura, Motoaki; Kawashima, Ryuta

2014-08-01

Older children are more successful at producing unfamiliar, non-native speech sounds than younger children during the initial stages of learning. To reveal the neuronal underpinning of the age-related increase in the accuracy of non-native speech production, we examined the developmental changes in activation involved in the production of novel speech sounds using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Healthy right-handed children (aged 6-18 years) were scanned while performing an overt repetition task and a perceptual task involving aurally presented non-native and native syllables. Productions of non-native speech sounds were recorded and evaluated by native speakers. The mouth regions in the bilateral primary sensorimotor areas were activated more significantly during the repetition task relative to the perceptual task. The hemodynamic response in the left inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis (IFG pOp) specific to non-native speech sound production (defined by prior hypothesis) increased with age. Additionally, the accuracy of non-native speech sound production increased with age. These results provide the first evidence of developmental changes in the neural processes underlying the production of novel speech sounds. Our data further suggest that the recruitment of the left IFG pOp during the production of novel speech sounds was possibly enhanced due to the maturation of the neuronal circuits needed for speech motor planning. This, in turn, would lead to improvement in the ability to immediately imitate non-native speech. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Hand Hygiene With Alcohol-Based Hand Rub: How Long Is Long Enough?

Science.gov (United States)

Pires, Daniela; Soule, Hervé; Bellissimo-Rodrigues, Fernando; Gayet-Ageron, Angèle; Pittet, Didier

2017-05-01

BACKGROUND Hand hygiene is the core element of infection prevention and control. The optimal hand-hygiene gesture, however, remains poorly defined. OBJECTIVE We aimed to evaluate the influence of hand-rubbing duration on the reduction of bacterial counts on the hands of healthcare personnel (HCP). METHODS We performed an experimental study based on the European Norm 1500. Hand rubbing was performed for 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, or 60 seconds, according to the WHO technique using 3 mL alcohol-based hand rub. Hand contamination with E. coli ATCC 10536 was followed by hand rubbing and sampling. A generalized linear mixed model with a random effect on the subject adjusted for hand size and gender was used to analyze the reduction in bacterial counts after each hand-rubbing action. In addition, hand-rubbing durations of 15 and 30 seconds were compared to assert non-inferiority (0.6 log10). RESULTS In total, 32 HCP performed 123 trials. All durations of hand rubbing led to significant reductions in bacterial counts (Phand rubbing were not significantly different from those obtained after 30 seconds. The mean bacterial reduction after 15 seconds of hand rubbing was 0.11 log10 lower (95% CI, -0.46 to 0.24) than after 30 seconds, demonstrating non-inferiority. CONCLUSIONS Hand rubbing for 15 seconds was not inferior to 30 seconds in reducing bacterial counts on hands under the described experimental conditions. There was no gain in reducing bacterial counts from hand rubbing longer than 30 seconds. Further studies are needed to assess the clinical significance of our findings. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:547-552.

Hand in Hand - SEI Programmes for School Staff

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Birgitte Lund; Réol, Lise Andersen; Laursen, Hilmar Dyrborg

2017-01-01

This catalogue of research in the field of SEI programmes for the school staff’s and teachers’ SEI competencies is based on a review performed by the main researchers Birgitte Lund Nielsen, Lise Andersen Réol and Hilmar Dyrborg Laursen, VIA University College, Denmark, but discussed by the entire...... team of Hand in Hand partner countries and researchers. The aim was to identify the central aspects and elements concerning successful implementation, and school staff’s development of professional competencies in the specific field of supporting students’ social, emotional and intercultural (SEI......) competencies. Abstract: Framed by the EU-project Hand in Hand focusing on Social, Emotional and Intercultural (SEI) competencies among students and school staff, the paper discusses implementation and professional competencies based on a research review. The following five topics were identified: 1...

Clean Hands Count

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on May ... 34 How The Clean Hands - Safe Hands System Works - Duration: 3:38. Clean Hands-Safe Hands 5, ...

Electrostatics effects on Ca(2+) binding and conformational changes in EF-hand domains: Functional implications for EF-hand proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Ababou, Abdessamad; Zaleska, Mariola

2015-12-01

Mutations of Gln41 and Lys75 with nonpolar residues in the N-terminal domain of calmodulin (N-Cam) revealed the importance of solvation energetics in conformational change of Ca(2+) sensor EF-hand domains. While in general these domains have polar residues at these corresponding positions yet the extent of their conformational response to Ca(2+) binding and their Ca(2+) binding affinity can be different from N-Cam. Consequently, here we address the charge state of the polar residues at these positions. The results show that the charge state of these polar residues can affect substantially the conformational change and the Ca(2+) binding affinity of our N-Cam variants. Since all the variants kept their conformational activity in the presence of Ca(2+) suggests that the differences observed among them mainly originate from the difference in their molecular dynamics. Hence we propose that the molecular dynamics of Ca(2+) sensor EF-hand domains is a key factor in the multifunctional aspect of EF-hand proteins. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning models of activities involving interacting objects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Manfredotti, Cristina; Pedersen, Kim Steenstrup; Hamilton, Howard J.

2013-01-01

We propose the LEMAIO multi-layer framework, which makes use of hierarchical abstraction to learn models for activities involving multiple interacting objects from time sequences of data concerning the individual objects. Experiments in the sea navigation domain yielded learned models that were t...

Financial impact of hand surgery programs on academic medical centers.

Science.gov (United States)

Hasan, Jafar S; Chung, Kevin C; Storey, Amy F; Bolg, Mary L; Taheri, Paul A

2007-02-01

This study analyzes the financial performance of hand surgery in the Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan. This analysis can serve as a reference for other medical centers in the financial evaluation of a hand surgery program. Fiscal year 2004 billing records for all patients (n = 671) who underwent hand surgery procedures were examined. The financial data were separated into professional revenues and costs (relating to the hand surgery program in the Section of Plastic Surgery) and into facility revenues and costs (relating to the overall University of Michigan Health System). Professional net revenue was calculated by applying historical collection rates to procedural and clinic charges. Facility revenue was calculated by applying historical collection rates to the following charge categories: inpatient/operating room, clinic facility, neurology/electromyography, radiology facilities, and occupational therapy. Total professional costs were calculated by adding direct costs and allocated overhead costs. Facility costs were obtained from the hospital's cost accounting system. Professional and facility incomes were calculated by subtracting costs from revenues. The net professional revenue and total costs were 1,069,836 and 1,027,421 dollars, respectively. Professional operating income was 42,415 dollars, or 3.96 percent of net professional revenue. Net facility revenue and total costs were 5,500,606 and 4,592,534 dollars, respectively. Facility operating income was 908,071 dollars, or 16.51 percent of net facility revenues. While contributing to the academic mission of the institution, hand surgery is financially rewarding for the Department of Surgery. In addition, hand surgery activity contributes substantially to the financial well-being of the academic medical center.

Linearization of weak hand holds in Russian Sign Language

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kimmelman, V.

2017-01-01

Russian Sign Language (RSL) makes use of constructions involving manual simultaneity, in particular, weak hand holds, where one hand is being held in the location and configuration of a sign, while the other simultaneously produces one sign or a sequence of several signs. In this paper, I argue that

Unusual hand radiographic presentation in a patient on hemodialysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chrysoula Pipili

2012-01-01

Full Text Available We read with great interest the report of Alcelik et al. 1 (May 16 issue, about the case of upper extremity thrombosis caused by hand knitting. Knitting is also a popular Greek leisure activity, which gratify women of all ages, even when they suffer from serious health problems. Repetitive minor injuries caused from knitting may result in ......

[The effectiveness of hand hygiene products on MRSA colonization of health care workers by using CHROMagar MRSA].

Science.gov (United States)

Koçak Tufan, Zeliha; Irmak, Hasan; Bulut, Cemal; Cesur, Salih; Kınıklı, Sami; Demiröz, Ali Pekcan

2012-04-01

The aims of this study were; to investigate the hand hygiene compliance of the health care workers (HCWs) during their routine patient care, to determine the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) hand colonization of the HCWs, to investigate the effect of different hand hygiene products on MRSA colonization and to evaluate the effectiveness of chromogenic agar for detecting MRSA. HCWs were investigated during their routine patient care and hand cultures were taken before and after hand wash/hygiene. Two different techniques were used to obtain the hand cultures: fingertip method (CHROMagar MRSA containing HygiSlide); and direct swab method and then inoculation to CHROMagar MRSA media. MRSA strains grown on those cultures were confirmed with conventional methods. A total of 100 HCWs (of them 61 were female; mean age: 32.7 ± 5.2 years; age range: 25-51 years) involving physicians (n= 33), nurses (n= 38) and health care assistants (n= 29), were included in the study. MRSA was detected in 39% and 11% before hand hygiene and in 13% and 6% after hand hygiene, with HygiSlide CHROMagar media and with CHROMagar in plate media, respectively. No difference were found regarding clinics, occupations, or the type of patient handling in those HCWs who were positive (n= 13) for MRSA colonization following hand hygiene, and those who were negative (n= 26). However, the type of the hand hygiene product used exhibited a statistical difference. None of the seven HCWs who used alcohol based hand rub revealed growth in the second culture while 10 of 19 (53%) HCWs who used soap and three of 13 (23%) HCWs who used chlorhexidine were still colonized with MRSA. In terms of reduction in the MRSA counts, the most effective one was the alcohol based hand rub while the soap was the least, since seven of 19 (37%) HCWs who used soap showed no reduction at all in the MRSA counts. A high ratio of hand colonization with MRSA was detected in our hospital staff (39%). It was shown that

Body painting to promote self-active learning of hand anatomy for preclinical medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

Jariyapong, Pitchanee; Punsawad, Chuchard; Bunratsami, Suchirat; Kongthong, Paranyu

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to use the body painting method to teach hand anatomy to a group of preclinical medical students. Students reviewed hand anatomy using the traditional method and body painting exercise. Feedback and retention of the anatomy-related information were examined by a questionnaire and multiple-choice questions, respectively, immediately and 1 month after the painting exercise. Students agreed that the exercise was advantageous and helped facilitate self-active learning after in-class anatomy lessons. While there was no significant difference in knowledge retention between the control and experimental groups, the students appreciated the exercise in which they applied body paint to the human body to learn anatomy. The body painting was an efficient tool for aiding the interactive learning of medical students and increasing the understanding of gross anatomy.

Development of Hand Grip Assistive Device Control System for Old People through Electromyography (EMG Signal Acquisitions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khamis Herman

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The hand grip assistive device is a glove to assist old people who suffer from hand weakness in their daily life activities. The device earlier control system only use simple on and off switch. This required old people to use both hand to activate the device. The new control system of the hand grip assistive device was developed to allow single hand operation for old people. New control system take advantages of electromyography (EMG and flex sensor which was implemented to the device. It was programmed into active and semi-active mode operation. EMG sensors were placed on the forearm to capture EMG signal of Flexor Digitorum Profundus muscle to activate the device. Flex sensor was used to indicate the finger position and placed on top of the finger. The signal from both sensors then used to control the device. The new control system allowed single hand operation and designed to prevent user from over depended on the device by activating it through moving their fingers.

[Hand osteoarthritis].

Science.gov (United States)

Šenolt, Ladislav

Hand osteoarthritis (OA) is a common chronic disorder causing pain and limitation of mobility of affected joints. The prevalence of hand OA increases with age and more often affects females. Clinical signs obviously do not correlate with radiographic findings - symptomatic hand OA affects approximately 26 % of adult subjects, but radiographic changes can be found in up to two thirds of females and half of males older than 55 years.Disease course differ among individual patients. Hand OA is a heterogeneous disease. Nodal hand OA is the most common subtype affecting interphalangeal joints, thumb base OA affects first carpometacarpal joint. Erosive OA represents a specific subtype of hand OA, which is associated with joint inflammation, more pain, functional limitation and erosive findings on radiographs.Treatment of OA is limited. Analgesics and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are the only agents reducing symptoms. New insights into the pathogenesis of disease should contribute to the development of novel effective treatment of hand OA.

Development of hand exoskeleton for rehabilitation of post-stroke patient

Science.gov (United States)

Zaid, Amran Mohd; Chean, Tee Chu; Sukor, Jumadi Abdul; Hanafi, Dirman

2017-10-01

Degenerative muscle diseases characterized by loss of strength in human hand significantly affect the physical of affected individuals. A soft assistive exoskeleton glove is designed to help post-stroke patient with their rehabilitation process. The glove uses soft bending actuator which has a rubber like tender characteristic. Due to its rubber like characteristic, flexion of finger can be achieved easily through pneumatic air without considering other hand motions. The application involves a post-stroke patient to wear the soft exoskeleton glove on his paralyzed hand and control the actuation of the glove by using pneumatic air source. The fabrication of the soft bending actuator involves silicone rubber Mold Star® 15 SLOW which falls within the soft category of shore A hardness scale. The soft bending actuator is controlled by Arduino Mega 2560 as main controller board and relay module is used to trigger the 3/2-way single solenoid valve by switching on the 24VDC power supply. The actuation of the soft bending actuator can be manipulated by setting delay ON and OFF for the relay switching. Thus, the repetition of the bending motion can be customized to fulfil the rehabilitation needs of the patient.

A combined hands-on teaching programme and clinical pathway focused on pleural ultrasound and procedure supervision transforms pleural procedure outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Timothy; Cook, Alistair; Salamonsen, Matthew; Bashirzadeh, Farzad; Fielding, David

2017-11-01

Management of pleural effusions is a common diagnostic and management problem. We reviewed the outcomes from pleural procedures after the instigation of pleural effusion management guidelines, focusing on pleural ultrasound and a hands-on teaching programme followed by procedure supervision that enabled many operators to perform such procedures. This is a retrospective analysis of all procedures performed for pleural effusions on medical patients. Outcomes were assessed prior to the instigation of pleural effusion management guidelines (pleural pathway) and hands-on teaching (January 2010 to June 2011) and following these interventions (January 2012 to June 2013). A total of 171 procedures involving 129 patients (pre-pathway group) and 146 procedures involving 115 patients (post-pathway group) was analysed. The rate of complications prior to the pleural pathway was 22.2% (38 of 171 procedures). Following the pathway, the rate of complications declined to 7.5% (11 of 146 procedures, P < 0.003). The use of pleural ultrasound increased dramatically (72.5 vs 90.2%). The number of patients who underwent repeated procedures (defined as ≥3) reduced dramatically (21 vs 7, P < 0.01). This improvement occurred using many supervised operators who completed the hands-on teaching programme (n = 32) and followed the pleural pathway (127 of 146 procedures). The instigation of a clinical pathway focused on the use of bedside pleural ultrasound, and teaching of drainage techniques with procedure supervision vastly improved patient outcomes. This not only allowed better quality of care for patients, it also provided the acquisition of new skills to medical staff, not limiting these skills to specialised staff. © 2017 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Motivation and involvement toward physical activity among ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study investigates intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influence involvement of university students to participate in physical activity. 400 students comprising 200 men and 200 women were used as the main respondents were respond to the adapted Exercise Motivations Inventory questionnaire. It revealed that highest ...

Developing a method for quantification of Ascaris eggs on hands

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jeandron, Aurelie; Ensink, Jeroen J. H.; Thamsborg, Stig Milan

In transmission of soil transmitted helminths, especially with Ascaris and Trichuris infections, the importance of hands is unclear and very limited literature exists. This is partly because of the absence of a reliable method to quantify the number of helminth eggs on hands. The aim of this study...... was to develop a method to assess the number of Ascaris eggs on hands and determine the egg recovery rate of the method. Under laboratory conditions, hands were contaminated with app. 1000 Ascaris eggs, air dried and washed in a plastic bag retaining the washing water, in order to determine recovery rates...... of eggs for two different detergents (cationic [benzethonium chloride 0.1%], anionic [7X 1% - quadrafos, glycol ether, and dioctyl sulfoccinate sodium salt]) and de-ionized water used as control. The highest recovery rate (95.6%) was achieved with a hand rinse performed with 7X 1%. Washing hands...

Wells Construction. Hand Dug and Hand Drilled. Appropriate Technologies for Development. Manual M-9.

Science.gov (United States)

Brush, Richard E.

This manual is intended for use by development workers involved in the construction of wells to supply water to a local population for personal consumption. Discussed first are the basic points to consider when planning a well. Various aspects of constructing hand-dug wells are explained, including well design, supplies, the lowering and raising…

Vascular changes of the hand in professional baseball players with emphasis on digital ischemia in catchers.

Science.gov (United States)

Ginn, T Adam; Smith, Adam M; Snyder, Jon R; Koman, L Andrew; Smith, Beth P; Rushing, Julia

2005-07-01

Repetitive trauma to the hand is a concern for baseball players. The present study investigated the effects of repetitive trauma and the prevalence of microvascular pathological changes in the hands of minor league professional baseball players. In contrast to previous investigators, we documented the presence of abnormalities in younger, asymptomatic individuals. Thirty-six baseball players on active minor league rosters underwent a history and physical examination of both hands as well as additional specialized tests, including Doppler ultrasound, a timed Allen test, determination of digital brachial pressure indices, and ring sizing of fingers. Data were compared between gloved hands and throwing hands, hitters and nonhitters, and players at four different positions (catcher [nine subjects], outfielder [seven subjects], infielder [five subjects], and pitcher [fifteen subjects]). Digital brachial indices in the ring fingers of the gloved (p healthy professional baseball players in all positions, with a significantly higher prevalence in catchers, prior to the development of clinically important ischemia. Repetitive trauma resulting from the impact of the baseball also leads to digital hypertrophy in the index finger of the gloved hand of catchers. Gloves currently used by professional catchers do not adequately protect the hand from repetitive trauma.

Left, right, left, right, eyes to the front! Müller-Lyer bias in grasping is not a function of hand used, hand preferred or visual hemifield, but foveation does matter.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Kamp, John; de Wit, Matthieu M; Masters, Rich S W

2012-04-01

We investigated whether the control of movement of the left hand is more likely to involve the use of allocentric information than movements performed with the right hand. Previous studies (Gonzalez et al. in J Neurophys 95:3496-3501, 2006; De Grave et al. in Exp Br Res 193:421-427, 2009) have reported contradictory findings in this respect. In the present study, right-handed participants (N = 12) and left-handed participants (N = 12) made right- and left-handed grasps to foveated objects and peripheral, non-foveated objects that were located in the right or left visual hemifield and embedded within a Müller-Lyer illusion. They were also asked to judge the size of the object by matching their hand aperture to its length. Hand apertures did not show significant differences in illusory bias as a function of hand used, handedness or visual hemifield. However, the illusory effect was significantly larger for perception than for action, and for the non-foveated compared to foveated objects. No significant illusory biases were found for reach movement times. These findings are consistent with the two-visual system model that holds that the use of allocentric information is more prominent in perception than in movement control. We propose that the increased involvement of allocentric information in movements toward peripheral, non-foveated objects may be a consequence of more awkward, less automatized grasps of nonfoveated than foveated objects. The current study does not support the conjecture that the control of left-handed and right-handed grasps is predicated on different sources of information.

The influence of speed and grade on wheelchair propulsion hand pattern.

Science.gov (United States)

Slowik, Jonathan S; Requejo, Philip S; Mulroy, Sara J; Neptune, Richard R

2015-11-01

The hand pattern used during manual wheelchair propulsion (i.e., full-cycle hand path) can provide insight into an individual's propulsion technique. However, previous analyses of hand patterns have been limited by their focus on a single propulsion condition and reliance on subjective qualitative characterization methods. The purpose of this study was to develop a set of objective quantitative parameters to characterize hand patterns and determine the influence of propulsion speed and grade of incline on the patterns preferred by manual wheelchair users. Kinematic and kinetic data were collected from 170 experienced manual wheelchair users on an ergometer during three conditions: level propulsion at their self-selected speed, level propulsion at their fastest comfortable speed and graded propulsion (8%) at their level self-selected speed. Hand patterns were quantified using a set of objective parameters, and differences across conditions were identified. Increased propulsion speed resulted in a shift away from under-rim hand patterns. Increased grade of incline resulted in the hand remaining near the handrim throughout the cycle. Manual wheelchair users change their hand pattern based on task-specific constraints and goals. Further work is needed to investigate how differences between hand patterns influence upper extremity demand and potentially lead to the development of overuse injuries and pain. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prefrontal cortex activation upon a demanding virtual hand-controlled task: a new frontier for neuroergonomics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marika eCarrieri

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS is a non-invasive vascular-based functional neuroimaging technology that can assess, simultaneously from multiple cortical areas, concentration changes in oxygenated-deoxygenated hemoglobin at the level of the cortical microcirculation blood vessels. fNIRS, with its high degree of ecological validity and its very limited requirement of physical constraints to subjects, could represent a valid tool for monitoring cortical responses in the research field of neuroergonomics. In virtual reality (VR real situations can be replicated with greater control than those obtainable in the real world. Therefore, VR is the ideal setting where studies about neuroergonomics applications can be performed. The aim of the present study was to investigate, by a 20-channel fNIRS system, the dorsolateral/ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC/VLPFC in subjects while performing a demanding VR hand-controlled task (HCT. Considering the complexity of the HCT, its execution should require the attentional resources allocation and the integration of different executive functions. The HCT simulates the interaction with a real, remotely-driven, system operating in a critical environment. The hand movements were captured by a high spatial and temporal resolution 3D hand-sensing device, the LEAP motion controller, a gesture-based control interface that could be used in VR for tele-operated applications. Fifteen University students were asked to guide, with their right hand/forearm, a virtual ball (VB over a virtual route (VROU reproducing a 42-m narrow road including some critical points. The subjects tried to travel as long as possible without making VB fall. The distance traveled by the guided VB was 70.2±37.2 m. The less skilled subjects failed several times in guiding the VB over the VROU. Nevertheless, a bilateral VLPFC activation, in response to the HCT execution, was observed in all the subjects. No correlation was found

Prefrontal Cortex Activation Upon a Demanding Virtual Hand-Controlled Task: A New Frontier for Neuroergonomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Carrieri, Marika; Petracca, Andrea; Lancia, Stefania; Basso Moro, Sara; Brigadoi, Sabrina; Spezialetti, Matteo; Ferrari, Marco; Placidi, Giuseppe; Quaresima, Valentina

2016-01-01

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive vascular-based functional neuroimaging technology that can assess, simultaneously from multiple cortical areas, concentration changes in oxygenated-deoxygenated hemoglobin at the level of the cortical microcirculation blood vessels. fNIRS, with its high degree of ecological validity and its very limited requirement of physical constraints to subjects, could represent a valid tool for monitoring cortical responses in the research field of neuroergonomics. In virtual reality (VR) real situations can be replicated with greater control than those obtainable in the real world. Therefore, VR is the ideal setting where studies about neuroergonomics applications can be performed. The aim of the present study was to investigate, by a 20-channel fNIRS system, the dorsolateral/ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC/VLPFC) in subjects while performing a demanding VR hand-controlled task (HCT). Considering the complexity of the HCT, its execution should require the attentional resources allocation and the integration of different executive functions. The HCT simulates the interaction with a real, remotely-driven, system operating in a critical environment. The hand movements were captured by a high spatial and temporal resolution 3-dimensional (3D) hand-sensing device, the LEAP motion controller, a gesture-based control interface that could be used in VR for tele-operated applications. Fifteen University students were asked to guide, with their right hand/forearm, a virtual ball (VB) over a virtual route (VROU) reproducing a 42 m narrow road including some critical points. The subjects tried to travel as long as possible without making VB fall. The distance traveled by the guided VB was 70.2 ± 37.2 m. The less skilled subjects failed several times in guiding the VB over the VROU. Nevertheless, a bilateral VLPFC activation, in response to the HCT execution, was observed in all the subjects. No correlation was found

The fragrance hand immersion study - an experimental model simulating real-life exposure for allergic contact dermatitis on the hands.

Science.gov (United States)

Heydorn, S; Menné, T; Andersen, K E; Bruze, M; Svedman, C; Basketter, D; Johansen, J D

2003-06-01

Recently, we showed that 10 x 2% of consecutively patch-tested hand eczema patients had a positive patch test to a selection of fragrances containing fragrances relevant to hand exposure. In this study, we used repeated skin exposure to a patch test-positive fragrance allergen in patients previously diagnosed with hand eczema to explore whether immersion of fingers in a solution with or without the patch-test-positive fragrance allergen would cause or exacerbate hand eczema on the exposed finger. The study was double blinded and randomized. All participants had a positive patch test to either hydroxycitronellal or Lyral (hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde). Each participant immersed a finger from each hand, once a day, in a solution containing the fragrance allergen or placebo. During the first 2 weeks, the concentration of fragrance allergen in the solution was low (approximately 10 p.p.m.), whilst during the following 2 weeks, the concentration was relatively high (approximately 250 p.p.m.), imitating real-life exposure to a household product like dishwashing liquid diluted in water and the undiluted product, respectively. Evaluation was made using a clinical scale and laser Doppler flow meter. 3 of 15 hand eczema patients developed eczema on the finger immersed in the fragrance-containing solution, 3 of 15 on the placebo finger and 3 of 15 on both fingers. Using this experimental exposure model simulating real-life exposure, we found no association between immersion of a finger in a solution containing fragrance and development of clinically visible eczema on the finger in 15 participants previously diagnosed with hand eczema and with a positive patch test to the fragrance in question.

Robotic hand project

OpenAIRE

Karaçizmeli, Cengiz; Çakır, Gökçe; Tükel, Dilek

2014-01-01

In this work, the mechatronic based robotic hand is controlled by the position data taken from the glove which has flex sensors mounted to capture finger bending of the human hand. The angular movement of human hand’s fingers are perceived and processed by a microcontroller, and the robotic hand is controlled by actuating servo motors. It has seen that robotic hand can simulate the movement of the human hand that put on the glove, during tests have done. This robotic hand can be used not only...