scholarly journals Aging does not affect the intralimb coordination elicited by slip-like perturbation of different intensities

2017 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 1739-1748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Aprigliano ◽  
Dario Martelli ◽  
Peppino Tropea ◽  
Guido Pasquini ◽  
Silvestro Micera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lower Limb ◽  
Balance Control ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Elderly Subjects ◽  
Coordination Strategy ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Control Schemes ◽  
Intralimb Coordination ◽  
Older Subjects ◽  
Spatio Temporal

This study was aimed at verifying whether aging modifies intralimb coordination strategy during corrective responses elicited by unexpected slip-like perturbations delivered during steady walking on a treadmill. To this end, 10 young and 10 elderly subjects were asked to manage unexpected slippages of different intensities. We analyzed the planar covariation law of the lower limb segments, using the principal component analysis, to verify whether elevation angles of older subjects covaried along a plan before and after the perturbation. Results showed that segments related to the perturbed limbs of both younger and older people do not covary after all perturbations. Conversely, the planar covariation law of the unperturbed limb was systematically held for younger and older subjects. These results occurred despite differences in spatio-temporal and kinematic parameters being observed among groups and perturbation intensities. Overall, our analysis revealed that aging does not affect intralimb coordination during corrective responses induced by slip-like perturbation, suggesting that both younger and older subjects adopt this control strategy while managing sudden and unexpected postural transitions of increasing intensities. Accordingly, results corroborate the hypothesis that balance control emerges from a governing set of biomechanical invariants, that is, suitable control schemes (e.g., planar covariation law) shared across voluntary and corrective motor behaviors, and across different sensory contexts due to different perturbation intensities, in both younger and older subjects. In this respect, our findings provide further support to investigate the effects of specific task training programs to counteract the risk of fall. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study was aimed at investigating how aging affects the intralimb coordination of lower limb segments, described by the planar covariation law, during unexpected slip-like perturbations of increasing intensity. Results revealed that neither the aging nor the perturbation intensity affects this coordination strategy. Accordingly, we proposed that the balance control emerges from an invariant set of control schemes shared across different sensory motor contexts and despite age-related neuromuscular adaptations.

scholarly journals Assessment of Visual Reliance in Balance Control: An Inexpensive Extension of the Static Posturography

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jozef Púčik ◽  
Marián Šaling ◽  
Tomáš Lukáč ◽  
Oldřich Ondráček ◽  
Martin Kucharík
Keyword(s):  
Center Of Pressure ◽  
Balance Control ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Force Plate ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Elderly Subjects ◽  
Upright Stance ◽  
Discrimination Power ◽  
Age Related

Ability of humans to maintain balance in an upright stance and during movement activities is one of the most natural skills affecting everyday life. This ability progressively deteriorates with increasing age, and balance impairment, often aggravated by age-related diseases, can result in falls that adversely impact the quality of life. Falls represent serious problems of health concern associated with aging. Many investigators, involved in different science disciplines such as medicine, engineering, psychology, and sport, have been attracted by a research of the human upright stance. In a clinical practice, stabilometry based on the force plate is the most widely available procedure used to evaluate the balance. In this paper, we have proposed a low-cost extension of the conventional stabilometry by the multimedia technology that allows identifying potentially disturbing effects of visual sensory information. Due to the proposed extension, a stabilometric assessment in terms of line integral of center of pressure (COP) during moving scene stimuli shows higher discrimination power between young healthy and elderly subjects with supposed stronger visual reliance.

scholarly journals Quantifying Age-Related Differences in Human Reaching while Interacting with a Rehabilitation Robotic Device

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 289-299
Author(s):  
Vivek Yadav ◽  
James P. Schmiedeler ◽  
Sharon McDowell ◽  
Lise Worthen-Chaudhari
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Arm Movement ◽  
Physical Interaction ◽  
Motion Patterns ◽  
Analysis Methods ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Older Subjects ◽  
Arm Motion ◽  
Data Analysis Methods

New movement assessment and data analysis methods are developed to quantify human arm motion patterns during physical interaction with robotic devices for rehabilitation. These methods provide metrics for future use in diagnosis, assessment and rehabilitation of subjects with affected arm movements. Specifically, the current study uses existing pattern recognition methods to evaluate the effect of age on performance of a specific motion, reaching to a target by moving the end-effector of a robot (an X-Y table). Differences in the arm motion patterns of younger and older subjects are evaluated using two measures: the principal component analysis similarity factor (SPCA) to compare path shape and the number of Fourier modes representing 98% of the path ‘energy’ to compare the smoothness of movement, a particularly important variable for assessment of pathologic movement. Both measures are less sensitive to noise than others previously reported in the literature and preserve information that is often lost through other analysis techniques. Data from the SPCAanalysis indicate that age is a significant factor affecting the shapes of target reaching paths, followed by reaching movement type (crossing body midline/not crossing) and reaching side (left/right); hand dominance and trial repetition are not significant factors. Data from the Fourier-based analysis likewise indicate that age is a significant factor affecting smoothness of movement, and movements become smoother with increasing trial number in both younger and older subjects, although more rapidly so in younger subjects. These results using the proposed data analysis methods confirm current practice that age-matched subjects should be used for comparison to quantify recovery of arm movement during rehabilitation. The results also highlight the advantages that these methods offer relative to other reported measures.

scholarly journals A study on the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among ageing workforce of Indian construction industry

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arundhati Guha Thakurta ◽  
Rauf Iqbal
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Musculoskeletal Disorders ◽  
Lower Limb ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
The Body ◽  
Lower Limbs ◽  
Elderly Subjects ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Age Related

Ageing work force is one of the leading causes behind the reduction in the rate of growth of the labour force in construction industries. Construction industry is a major source of employment worldwide after agriculture, and generally the primary one in urban areas. Manual material handling in construction industries causes musculoskeletal disorders affecting both upper and lower extremities of the body. Studies on lower limb problems due to dynamic work like handling of heavy loads in construction industries are scanty.  To analyze the level of exertion, ergonomics risk factors and the prevalence of work-related lower limb disorders among the young and elderly construction workforce. 20 male construction workers in the age group of i) 20 to 30 years (golden age group); ii) 50 years and above were selected from a local construction site in Mumbai. Demographic data like age, height, weight, BMI, body fat, waist hip ratio and risk assessment by questionnaires study comprising QEC, NMQ, VAS, and LEFS were collected. Compared to the golden age group, the elderly subjects were found to feel uncomfortable to their lower back, knee and calf due to the immoderate forces and motions applied to their lower limbs during their daily work. Muscle pliability and proper coordination diminishes with age and it is appearing to be the most probable reason behind the pain experienced in their lower limbs might be due to improper techniques and postures. For elderly workers, age related limitations become an additional factor to maintain their normal work life.

scholarly journals Lung and fissure shape is associated with age in healthy never-smoking adults aged 20–90 years

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahyar Osanlouy ◽  
Alys R. Clark ◽  
Haribalan Kumar ◽  
Clair King ◽  
Margaret L. Wilsher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Principal Component ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Tissue Mechanics ◽  
Tissue Elasticity ◽  
Prognostic Information ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Constant Dimension ◽  
Statistical Shape ◽  
Older Subjects ◽  
Function Relationship

Abstract Lung shape could hold prognostic information for age-related diseases that affect lung tissue mechanics. We sought to quantify mean lung shape, its modes of variation, and shape associations with lung size, age, sex, and Body Mass Index (BMI) in healthy subjects across a seven-decade age span. Volumetric computed tomography from 83 subjects (49 M/34 F, BMI $$24.7 \pm 2.7$$ 24.7 ± 2.7 ) was used to derive two statistical shape models using a principal component analysis. One model included, and the other controlled for, lung volume. Volume made the strongest contribution to shape when it was included. Shape had a strong relationship with age but not sex when volume was controlled for, and BMI had only a small but significant association with shape. The first principal shape mode was associated with decrease in the antero-posterior dimension from base to apex. In older subjects this was rapid and obvious, whereas younger subjects had relatively more constant dimension. A shift of the fissures of both lungs in the basal direction was apparent for the older subjects, consistent with a change in tissue elasticity with age. This study suggests a quantifiable structure-function relationship for the healthy adult lung that can potentially be exploited as a normative description against which abnormal can be compared.

Age-Related Differences in Processing Dynamic Information to Identify Vowel Quality

1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 892-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Allen Fox ◽  
Lida G. Wall ◽  
Jeanne Gokcen
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Perceptual Cues ◽  
Dynamic Information ◽  
Process Dynamic ◽  
Center Condition ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Control Version ◽  
Older Subjects ◽  
Whole Word

This study examined age-related differences in the use of dynamic acoustic information (in the form of formant transitions) to identify vowel quality in CVCs. Two versions of 61 naturally produced, commonly occurring, monosyllabic English words were created: a control version (the unmodified whole word) and a silent-center version (in which approximately 62% of the medial vowel was replaced by silence). A group of normal-hearing young adults (19–25 years old) and older adults (61–75 years old) identified these tokens. The older subjects were found to be significantly worse than the younger subjects at identifying the medial vowel and the initial and final consonants in the silent-center condition. These results support the hypothesis of an age-related decrement in the ability to process dynamic perceptual cues in the perception of vowel quality.

CONJUGATION OF ANDROSTERONE IN YOUNG AND OLD SUBJECTS

1964 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Large Dose ◽  
Elderly Subjects ◽  
Older Subjects

ABSTRACT In view of the decrease in excretion of total and individual 17-keto-steroids which occurs in elderly subjects, a comparison was made of the ability of the conjugating systems of young and old subjects to metabolize a moderately large dose of androsterone. Poor recoveries of administered androsterone, excreted into the urine, were observed in many of the older subjects and the change observed in the distribution of 17-ketosteroids between glucuronide and sulphate fractions seems to be related to level of steroid recovered in the urine rather than to age of the subjects.

scholarly journals Kinematic Analysis of Lower Limb Joint Asymmetry during Gait in People with Multiple Sclerosis

Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 598
Author(s):  
Massimiliano Pau ◽  
Bruno Leban ◽  
Michela Deidda ◽  
Federica Putzolu ◽  
Micaela Porta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Lower Limb ◽  
Sagittal Plane ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Camera Motion ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Temporal Parameters ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Edss Score ◽  
Spatio Temporal

The majority of people with Multiple Sclerosis (pwMS), report lower limb motor dysfunctions, which may relevantly affect postural control, gait and a wide range of activities of daily living. While it is quite common to observe a different impact of the disease on the two limbs (i.e., one of them is more affected), less clear are the effects of such asymmetry on gait performance. The present retrospective cross-sectional study aimed to characterize the magnitude of interlimb asymmetry in pwMS, particularly as regards the joint kinematics, using parameters derived from angle-angle diagrams. To this end, we analyzed gait patterns of 101 pwMS (55 women, 46 men, mean age 46.3, average Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score 3.5, range 1–6.5) and 81 unaffected individuals age- and sex-matched who underwent 3D computerized gait analysis carried out using an eight-camera motion capture system. Spatio-temporal parameters and kinematics in the sagittal plane at hip, knee and ankle joints were considered for the analysis. The angular trends of left and right sides were processed to build synchronized angle–angle diagrams (cyclograms) for each joint, and symmetry was assessed by computing several geometrical features such as area, orientation and Trend Symmetry. Based on cyclogram orientation and Trend Symmetry, the results show that pwMS exhibit significantly greater asymmetry in all three joints with respect to unaffected individuals. In particular, orientation values were as follows: 5.1 of pwMS vs. 1.6 of unaffected individuals at hip joint, 7.0 vs. 1.5 at knee and 6.4 vs. 3.0 at ankle (p < 0.001 in all cases), while for Trend Symmetry we obtained at hip 1.7 of pwMS vs. 0.3 of unaffected individuals, 4.2 vs. 0.5 at knee and 8.5 vs. 1.5 at ankle (p < 0.001 in all cases). Moreover, the same parameters were sensitive enough to discriminate individuals of different disability levels. With few exceptions, all the calculated symmetry parameters were found significantly correlated with the main spatio-temporal parameters of gait and the EDSS score. In particular, large correlations were detected between Trend Symmetry and gait speed (with rho values in the range of –0.58 to –0.63 depending on the considered joint, p < 0.001) and between Trend Symmetry and EDSS score (rho = 0.62 to 0.69, p < 0.001). Such results suggest not only that MS is associated with significantly marked interlimb asymmetry during gait but also that such asymmetry worsens as the disease progresses and that it has a relevant impact on gait performances.

scholarly journals Comparative Study between Healthy Young and Elderly Subjects: Higher-Order Statistical Parameters as Indices of Vocal Aging and Sex

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 6966
Author(s):  
Hee-Jin Choi ◽  
Ji-Yeoun Lee
Keyword(s):  
Higher Order ◽  
Elderly Subjects ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Gender Analysis ◽  
Elderly Male ◽  
Statistical Parameters ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
Vocal Aging

The objective of this study was to test higher-order statistical (HOS) parameters for the classification of young and elderly voice signals and identify gender- and age-related differences through HOS analysis. This study was based on data from 116 subjects (58 females and 58 males) extracted from the Saarbruecken voice database. In the gender analysis, the same number of voice samples were analyzed for each sex. Further, we conducted experiments on the voices of elderly people using gender analysis. Finally, we reviewed the standards and reference models to reduce sex and gender bias. The acoustic parameters were extracted from young and elderly voice signals using Praat and a time–frequency analysis program (TF32). Additionally, we investigated the gender- and age-related differences in HOS parameters. Young and elderly voice signals significantly differed in normalized skewness (p = 0.005) in women and normalized kurtosis (p = 0.011) in men. Therefore, normalized skewness is a useful parameter for distinguishing between young and elderly female voices, and normalized kurtosis is essential for distinguishing between young and elderly male voices. We will continue to investigate parameters that represent important information in elderly voice signals.

scholarly journals Extra Virgin Olive Oil Prevents the Age-Related Shifts of the Distribution of HDL Subclasses and Improves Their Functionality

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 2235
Author(s):  
Alyann Otrante ◽  
Amal Trigui ◽  
Roua Walha ◽  
Hicham Berrougui ◽  
Tamas Fulop ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Olive Oil ◽  
Virgin Olive Oil ◽  
Density Lipoprotein ◽  
Extra Virgin Olive Oil ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
High Density ◽  
Lipoprotein Cholesterol ◽  
Elderly Subjects ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Young Subjects

High-density lipoproteins (HDL) maintain cholesterol homeostasis through the role they play in regulating reverse cholesterol transport (RCT), a process by which excess cholesterol is transported back to the liver for elimination. However, RCT can be altered in the presence of cardiovascular risk factors, such as aging, which contributes to the increase in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The present study was aimed at investigating the effect of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) intake on the cholesterol efflux capacity (CEC) of HDL, and to elucidate on the mechanisms by which EVOO intake improves the anti-atherogenic activity of HDL. A total of 84 healthy women and men were enrolled and were distributed, according to age, into two groups: 27 young (31.81 ± 6.79 years) and 57 elderly (70.72 ± 5.6 years) subjects. The subjects in both groups were given 25 mL/d of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) for 12 weeks. CEC was measured using J774 macrophages radiolabeled with tritiated cholesterol ((3H) cholesterol). HDL subclass distributions were analyzed using the Quantimetrix Lipoprint® system. The HDL from the elderly subjects exhibited a lower level of CEC, at 11.12% (p < 0.0001), than the HDL from the young subjects. The CEC of the elderly subjects returned to normal levels following 12 weeks of EVOO intake. An analysis of the distribution of HDL subclasses showed that HDL from the elderly subjects were composed of lower levels of large HDL (L-HDL) (p < 0.03) and higher levels of small HDL (S-HDL) (p < 0.002) compared to HDL from the young subjects. A multiple linear regression analysis revealed a positive correlation between CEC and L-HDL levels (r = 0.35 and p < 0.001) as well as an inverse correlation between CEC and S-HDL levels (r = −0.27 and p < 0.01). This correlation remained significant even when several variables, including age, sex, and BMI as well as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and glucose levels (β = 0.28, p < 0.002, and β = 0.24, p = 0.01) were accounted for. Consuming EVOO for 12 weeks modulated the age-related difference in the distribution of HDL subclasses by reducing the level of S-HDL and increasing the level of intermediate-HDL/large-HDL (I-HDL/L-HDL) in the elderly subjects. The age-related alteration of the CEC of HDL was due, in part, to an alteration in the distribution of HDL subclasses. A diet enriched in EVOO improved the functionality of HDL through an increase in I-HDL/L-HDL and a decrease in S-HDL.

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