AIM The aim of this study was to identify adaptations in muscle activity distribution to spinal tissue creep in presence of muscle fatigue. METHODS Twenty-three healthy participants performed a fatigue task before and after 30 minutes of passive spinal tissue deformation in flexion. Right and left erector spinae activity was recorded using large-arrays surface electromyography (EMG). To chara...

PURPOSE To examine the dynamics of the tear film in patients with dry eye by measuring the wavefront aberrations of the anterior surface of the film. METHODS Anterior surface aberrations for a 7-mm pupil were determined in 13 patients with dry eye at 1-second time intervals, for 15 seconds after a blink. The aberrations were calculated from the elevations provided by corneal topography. All d...

INTRODUCTION Simulation and modeling represent promising tools for several application domains from engineering to forensic science and medicine. Advances in 3D imaging technology convey paradigms such as augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality inside promising simulation tools for the training industry. METHODS Motivated by the requirement for superimposing anatomically correct 3D models on...

The unilateral predominance of Parkinson's disease (PD) symptoms suggests that balance control could be asymmetrical during static tasks. Although studies have shown that balance control asymmetries exist in patients with PD, these analyses were performed using only simple bipedal standing tasks. Challenging postural tasks, such as unipedal or tandem standing, could exacerbate balance control a...

Porous silicon samples were prepared by electrochemical etching method for different etching times. The structural properties of porous silicon (PS) samples were determined from the Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) measurements. The surface mean root square roughness (σ rms) changes as function of porosity were studied, and the influence of etching time on porosity and roughness was studied too. U...

To evaluate the time course of EMG frequency changes during a three-minute maximal effort cycling test (3MT) session and to examine which parameter between mean (MNF) and median (MDF) frequency is more suitable for evaluation of changes in neuromuscular function throughout a 3MT. Eighteen recreationally-active men volunteered to participate in this study. Maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) was...

PURPOSE To evaluate changes in anterior corneal topography and higher-order aberrations (HOA) after 14-days of rigid gas-permeable (RGP) contact lens (CL) wear in keratoconus subjects comparing two different fitting approaches. METHODS Thirty-one keratoconus subjects (50 eyes) without previous history of CL wear were recruited for the study. Subjects were randomly fitted to either an apical-t...

Trisomy G (Down's syndrome or "mongolism") is associated with multiple dental abnormalities (J. OSTER, Mongolism, Copenhagen: Danish Science Press, 1953). Teeth are frequently missing, all morphologic classes are involved, and the remaining teeth are characterized by size reduction (M. M. COHEN and A. WINER, I Dent Res 44:197-208, 1965; and M. M. COHEN, S. M. GARN, and M. A. GECIAUSKAS, J Dent ...

BACKGROUND Maximum performance and long-term stability of bilateral cochlear implants has become an important topic because there has been increasing numbers of recipients of bilateral cochlear implants. PURPOSE To determine the performance over time (up to 6yr) of subjects with simultaneous bilateral cochlear implants (CI+CI) on word recognition and localization. RESEARCH DESIGN Over-time ...

BACKGROUND A well-learned motor skill is characterized by the efficient activation of muscles that are involved in movement execution. However, it is unclear if practice-related changes in motor performance correlate with those in quantitative markers of muscle activity and if so, whether the association is different with respect to the investigated muscle (i.e., agonist and antagonist) and qua...