Cesar E. Blanco

Satellite cell numbers in young and older men 24 hours after eccentric exercise

We tested the hypothesis that the expansion of satellite cell numbers, 24 h after maximal eccentric knee extensor exercise, is blunted in older men. Muscle biopsies were obtained from the vastus lateralis of 10 young (23–35 years) and 9 older (60–75 years) men. Satellite cells were identified immunohistochemically using an antibody to neural cell adhesion molecule. After 92 maximal eccentric contractions, the mean number of satellite cells per muscle fiber increased to a greater extent among the young men (141%; P < 0.001) than older men (51%; P = 0.002) from preexercise levels. Similar results were obtained when satellite cells were expressed as a proportion of all sublaminar nuclei. We conclude that a single bout of maximal eccentric exercise increases satellite cell numbers in both age groups, with a significantly greater response among the young men. These data suggest that age‐related changes in satellite cell recruitment may contribute to muscle regeneration deficits among the elderly. Muscle Nerve 2006

Effect of foot orthoses on tibialis posterior activation in persons with pes planus.

PURPOSE To examine the influence of footwear on tibialis posterior (TP) activation in persons with pes planus. METHODS Six asymptomatic adults with pes planus (arch index of < or =0.16) participated. Subjects performed a resisted foot adduction with plantar flexion exercise (3 sets of 30 repetitions). The exercise was performed barefoot and shod with foot orthoses. The two testing conditions were separated by a week. Magnetic resonance image signal intensity of the tibialis posterior, tibialis anterior, soleus, medial gastrocnemius, and peroneus longus was measured immediately before and after each exercise. Multivariate analyses of variance followed by paired Students t-test were performed for the signal intensity of each muscle assessed to determine whether TP was selectively activated during the barefoot and shod exercises. RESULTS When barefoot, five of the six subjects activated other lower-leg muscles in addition to TP. When wearing the foot orthoses and shoes, all five participants activated only TP. Additionally, activation of TP was higher when exercises were performed in shoes with orthoses than when barefoot (P = 0.019). CONCLUSION Wearing the foot orthoses and shoes improved selective activation of the TP in persons with flat feet. In cases where selective activation of TP is desirable, such as persons with flat feet or TP tendon dysfunction, use of shoes and an arch supporting foot orthoses may enhance selective activation of the muscle.

Differentiation of Cancerous Lesions in Excised Human Breast Specimens Using Multiband Attenuation Profiles From Ultrasonic Transmission Tomography

This study examines the tissue differentiation capability of the recently developed high‐resolution ultrasonic transmission tomography (HUTT) system in the context of differentiating between benign and malignant tissue types in mastectomy specimens.

Home Monitoring Musculo-skeletal Disorders with a Single 3D Sensor

We address the problem of automated quantitative evaluation of musculo-skeletal disorders using a 3D sensor. This enables a non-invasive home monitoring system which extracts and analyzes the subjects motion symptoms and provides clinical feedback. The subject is asked to perform several clinically validated standardized tests (e.g. sit-to-stand, repeated several times) in front of a 3D sensor to generate a sequence of skeletons (i.e. locations of 3D joints). While the complete sequence consists of multiple repeated Skeletal Action Units (SAU) (e.g. sit-to-stand, one repetition), we generate a single robust Representative Skeletal Action Unit (RSAU) which encodes the subjects most consistent spatio-temporal motion pattern. Based on the Representative Skeletal Action Unit (RSAU) we extract a series of clinical measurements (e.g. step size, swing level of hand) which are crucial for prescription and rehabilitation plan design. In this paper, we propose a Temporal Alignment Spatial Summarization (TASS) method to decouple the complex spatio-temporal information of multiple Skeletal Action Units (SAU). Experimental results from people with Parkinsons Disease (PD) and people without Parkinsons Disease (non-PD) demonstrate the effectiveness of our methodology which opens the way for many related applications.

Monitoring mobility disorders at home using 3D visual sensors and mobile sensors

In this paper, we present PoCM2 (Point-of-Care Mobility Monitoring), a generic and extensible at-home mobility evaluation and monitoring system. PoCM2 uses both 3D visual sensors (such as Microsoft Kinect) and mobile sensors (i.e., internal and external sensors embedded with/connected to a mobile device such as a smartphone) for complementary data acquisition, as well as a series of analytics that allow evaluation of both archived and real-time mobility data. We demonstrate the performance of PoCM2 with a specific application developed for freeze detection and quantification from Parkinsons Disease mobility data, as an approach to estimate the medication level of the PD patients and potentially recommend adjustments.