Congruency sequence effect without feature integration and contingency learning.

PubMed

Kim, Sanga; Cho, Yang Seok

2014-06-01

The magnitude of congruency effects, such as the flanker-compatibility effects, has been found to vary as a function of the congruency of the previous trial. Some studies have suggested that this congruency sequence effect is attributable to stimulus and/or response priming, and/or contingency learning, whereas other studies have suggested that the control process triggered by conflict modulates the congruency effect. The present study examined whether sequential modulation can occur without stimulus and response repetitions and contingency learning. Participants were asked to perform two color flanker-compatibility tasks alternately in a trial-by-trial manner, with four fingers of one hand in Experiment 1 and with the index and middle fingers of two hands in Experiment 2, to avoid stimulus and response repetitions and contingency learning. A significant congruency sequence effect was obtained between the congruencies of the two tasks in Experiment 1 but not in Experiment 2. These results provide evidence for the idea that the sequential modulation is, at least in part, an outcome of the top-down control process triggered by conflict, which is specific to response mode. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rhythmic finger tapping reveals cerebellar dysfunction in essential tremor.

PubMed

Buijink, A W G; Broersma, M; van der Stouwe, A M M; van Wingen, G A; Groot, P F C; Speelman, J D; Maurits, N M; van Rootselaar, A F

2015-04-01

Cerebellar circuits are hypothesized to play a central role in the pathogenesis of essential tremor. Rhythmic finger tapping is known to strongly engage the cerebellar motor circuitry. We characterize cerebellar and, more specifically, dentate nucleus function, and neural correlates of cerebellar output in essential tremor during rhythmic finger tapping employing functional MRI. Thirty-one propranolol-sensitive essential tremor patients with upper limb tremor and 29 healthy controls were measured. T2*-weighted EPI sequences were acquired. The task consisted of alternating rest and finger tapping blocks. A whole-brain and region-of-interest analysis was performed, the latter focusing on the cerebellar cortex, dentate nucleus and inferior olive nucleus. Activations were also related to tremor severity. In patients, dentate activation correlated positively with tremor severity as measured by the tremor rating scale part A. Patients had reduced activation in widespread cerebellar cortical regions, and additionally in the inferior olive nucleus, and parietal and frontal cortex, compared to controls. The increase in dentate activation with tremor severity supports involvement of the dentate nucleus in essential tremor. Cortical and cerebellar changes during a motor timing task in essential tremor might point to widespread changes in cerebellar output in essential tremor. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparing kinematic changes between a finger-tapping task and unconstrained finger flexion-extension task in patients with Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Teo, W P; Rodrigues, J P; Mastaglia, F L; Thickbroom, G W

2013-06-01

Repetitive finger tapping is a well-established clinical test for the evaluation of parkinsonian bradykinesia, but few studies have investigated other finger movement modalities. We compared the kinematic changes (movement rate and amplitude) and response to levodopa during a conventional index finger-thumb-tapping task and an unconstrained index finger flexion-extension task performed at maximal voluntary rate (MVR) for 20 s in 11 individuals with levodopa-responsive Parkinson's disease (OFF and ON) and 10 healthy age-matched controls. Between-task comparisons showed that for all conditions, the initial movement rate was greater for the unconstrained flexion-extension task than the tapping task. Movement rate in the OFF state was slower than in controls for both tasks and normalized in the ON state. The movement amplitude was also reduced for both tasks in OFF and increased in the ON state but did not reach control levels. The rate and amplitude of movement declined significantly for both tasks under all conditions (OFF/ON and controls). The time course of rate decline was comparable for both tasks and was similar in OFF/ON and controls, whereas the tapping task was associated with a greater decline in MA, both in controls and ON, but not OFF. The findings indicate that both finger movement tasks show similar kinematic changes during a 20-s sustained MVR, but that movement amplitude is less well sustained during the tapping task than the unconstrained finger movement task. Both movement rate and amplitude improved with levodopa; however, movement rate was more levodopa responsive than amplitude.

Phase correction, phase resetting, and phase shifts after subliminal timing perturbations in sensorimotor synchronization.

PubMed

Repp, B H

2001-06-01

Recent studies of synchronized finger tapping have shown that perceptually subliminal phase shifts in an auditory sequence are rapidly compensated for in the motor activity (B. H. Repp, 2000a). Experiment 1 used a continuation-tapping task to confirm that this compensation is indeed a phase correction, not an adjustment of the central timekeeper period. Experiments 2-5 revealed that this phase correction occurs even when there is no ordinary sensorimotor asynchrony--when the finger taps are in antiphase or arbitrary phase relative to the auditory sequence (Experiments 2 and 3) or when the tap coinciding with the sequence phase shift is withheld (Experiments 4 and 5). The phase correction observed in the latter conditions was instantaneous, which suggests that phase resetting occurs when the motor activity is discontinuous. A prolonged phase shift suggestive of overcompensation was observed in some conditions, which poses a challenge to pure phase correction models.

Real time relationship between individual finger force and grip exertion on distal phalanges in linear force following tasks.

PubMed

Luo, Shi-Jian; Shu, Ge; Gong, Yan

2018-05-01

Individual finger force (FF) in a grip task is a vital concern in rehabilitation engineering and precise control of manipulators because disorders in any of the fingers will affect the stability or accuracy of the grip force (GF). To understand the functions of each finger in a dynamic grip exertion task, a GF following experiment with four individual fingers without thumb was designed. This study obtained four individual FFs from the distal phalanges with a cylindrical handle in dynamic GF following tasks. Ten healthy male subjects with similar hand sizes participated in the four-finger linear GF following tasks at different submaximal voluntary contraction (SMVC) levels. The total GF, individual FF, finger force contribution, and following error were subsequently calculated and analyzed. The statistics indicated the following: 1) the accuracy and stability of GF at low %MVC were significantly higher than those at high SMVC; 2) at low SMVC, the ability of the fingers to increase the GF was better than the ability to reduce it, but it was contrary at high SMVC; 3) when the target wave (TW) was changing, all four fingers strongly participated in the force exertion, but the participation of the little finger decreased significantly when TW remained stable; 4) the index finger and ring finger had a complementary relationship and played a vital role in the adjustment and control of GF. The middle finger and little finger had a minor influence on the force control and adjustment. In conclusion, each of the fingers had different functions in a GF following task. These findings can be used in the assessment of finger injury rehabilitation and for algorithms of precise control. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Restricted transfer of learning between unimanual and bimanual finger sequences

PubMed Central

Bai, Wenjun

2016-01-01

When training bimanual skills, such as playing piano, people sometimes practice each hand separately and at a later stage combine the movements of the two hands. This poses the critical question of whether motor skills can be acquired by separately practicing each subcomponent or should be trained as a whole. In the present study, we addressed this question by training human subjects for 4 days in a unimanual or bimanual version of the discrete sequence production task. Both groups were then tested on trained and untrained sequences on both unimanual and bimanual versions of the task. Surprisingly, we found no evidence of transfer from trained unimanual to bimanual or from trained bimanual to unimanual sequences. In half the participants, we also investigated whether cuing the sequences on the left and right hand with unique letters would change transfer. With these cues, untrained sequences that shared some components with the trained sequences were performed more quickly than sequences that did not. However, the amount of this transfer was limited to ∼10% of the overall sequence-specific learning gains. These results suggest that unimanual and bimanual sequences are learned in separate representations. Making participants aware of the interrelationship between sequences can induce some transferrable component, although the main component of the skill remains unique to unimanual or bimanual execution. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Studies in reaching movement demonstrated that approximately half of motor learning can transfer across unimanual and bimanual contexts, suggesting that neural representations for unimanual and bimanual movements are fairly overlapping at the level of elementary movement. In this study, we show that little or no transfer occurred across unimanual and bimanual sequential finger movements. This result suggests that bimanual sequences are represented at a level of the motor hierarchy that integrates movements of both hands. PMID:27974447

On the complexity of classical guitar playing: functional adaptations to task constraints.

PubMed

Heijink, Hank; Meulenbroek, Ruud G J

2002-12-01

The authors performed a behavioral study of the complexity of left-hand finger movements in classical guitar playing. Six professional guitarists played movement sequences in a fixed tempo. Left-hand finger movements were recorded in 3 dimensions, and the guitar sound was recorded synchronously. Assuming that performers prefer to avoid extreme joint angles when moving, the authors hypothesized 3 complexity factors. The results showed differential effects of the complexity factors on the performance measures and on participants' judgments of complexity. The results demonstrated that keeping the joints in the middle of their range is an important principle in guitar playing, and players exploit the available tolerance in timing and placement of the left-hand fingers to control the acoustic output variability.

Variable and Asymmetric Range of Enslaving: Fingers Can Act Independently over Small Range of Flexion

PubMed Central

van den Noort, Josien C.; van Beek, Nathalie; van der Kraan, Thomas; Veeger, DirkJan H. E. J.; Stegeman, Dick F.; Veltink, Peter H.; Maas, Huub

2016-01-01

The variability in the numerous tasks in which we use our hands is very large. However, independent movement control of individual fingers is limited. To assess the extent of finger independency during full-range finger flexion including all finger joints, we studied enslaving (movement in non-instructed fingers) and range of independent finger movement through the whole finger flexion trajectory in single and multi-finger movement tasks. Thirteen young healthy subjects performed single- and multi-finger movement tasks under two conditions: active flexion through the full range of movement with all fingers free to move and active flexion while the non-instructed finger(s) were restrained. Finger kinematics were measured using inertial sensors (PowerGlove), to assess enslaving and range of independent finger movement. Although all fingers showed enslaving movement to some extent, highest enslaving was found in adjacent fingers. Enslaving effects in ring and little finger were increased with movement of additional, non-adjacent fingers. The middle finger was the only finger affected by restriction in movement of non-instructed fingers. Each finger showed a range of independent movement before the non-instructed fingers started to move, which was largest for the index finger. The start of enslaving was asymmetrical for adjacent fingers. Little finger enslaving movement was affected by multi-finger movement. We conclude that no finger can move independently through the full range of finger flexion, although some degree of full independence is present for smaller movements. This range of independent movement is asymmetric and variable between fingers and between subjects. The presented results provide insight into the role of finger independency for different types of tasks and populations. PMID:27992598

Motor Sequence Learning-Induced Neural Efficiency in Functional Brain Connectivity

PubMed Central

Karim, Helmet T; Huppert, Theodore J; Erickson, Kirk I; Wollam, Mariegold E; Sparto, Patrick J; Sejdić, Ervin; VanSwearingen, Jessie M

2016-01-01

Previous studies have shown the functional neural circuitry differences before and after an explicitly learned motor sequence task, but have not assessed these changes during the process of motor skill learning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging activity was measured while participants (n=13) were asked to tap their fingers to visually presented sequences in blocks that were either the same sequence repeated (learning block) or random sequences (control block). Motor learning was associated with a decrease in brain activity during learning compared to control. Lower brain activation was noted in the posterior parietal association area and bilateral thalamus during the later periods of learning (not during the control). Compared to the control condition, we found the task-related motor learning was associated with decreased connectivity between the putamen and left inferior frontal gyrus and left middle cingulate brain regions. Motor learning was associated with changes in network activity, spatial extent, and connectivity. PMID:27845228

Temporal prediction abilities are mediated by motor effector and rhythmic expertise.

PubMed

Manning, Fiona C; Harris, Jennifer; Schutz, Michael

2017-03-01

Motor synchronization is a critical part of musical performance and listening. Recently, motor control research has described how movements that contain more available degrees of freedom are more accurately timed. Previously, we demonstrated that stick tapping improves perception in a timing detection task, where percussionists greatly outperformed non-percussionists only when tapping along. Since most synchronization studies implement finger tapping to examine simple motor synchronization, here we completed a similar task where percussionists and non-percussionists synchronized using finger tapping; movement with fewer degrees of freedom than stick tapping. Percussionists and non-percussionists listened to an isochronous beat sequence and identified the timing of a probe tone. On half of the trials, they tapped along with their index finger, and on the other half of the trials, they listened without moving prior to making timing judgments. We found that both groups benefited from tapping overall. Interestingly, percussionists performed only marginally better than did non-percussionists when finger tapping and no different when listening alone, differing from past studies reporting highly superior timing abilities in percussionists. Additionally, we found that percussionist finger tapping was less variable and less asynchronous than was non-percussionist tapping. Moreover, in both groups finger tapping was more variable and more asynchronous than stick tapping in our previous study. This study demonstrates that the motor effector implemented in tapping studies affects not only synchronization abilities, but also subsequent prediction abilities. We discuss these findings in light of effector-specific training and degrees of freedom in motor timing, both of which impact timing abilities to different extents.

Thinking About a Task Is Associated with Increased Connectivity in Regions Activated by Task Performance

PubMed Central

Robertson, Edwin M.; Manoach, Dara S.; Stickgold, Robert

2016-01-01

Abstract We investigated whether functional neuroimaging of quiet “rest” can reveal the neural correlates of conscious thought. Using resting-state functional MRI, we measured functional connectivity during a resting scan that immediately followed performance of a finger tapping motor sequence task. Self-reports of the amount of time spent thinking about the task during the resting scan correlated with connectivity between regions of the motor network activated during task performance. Thus, thinking about a task is associated with coordinated activity in brain regions responsible for that task's performance. More generally, this study demonstrates the feasibility of using the combination of functional connectivity MRI and self-reports to examine the neural correlates of thought. PMID:26650337

Comparison of the relation between timing and force control during finger-tapping sequences by pianists and non pianists.

PubMed

Inui, N; Ichihara, T

2001-10-01

To examine the relation between timing and force control during finger taping sequences by both pianists and nonpianists, participants tapped a force plate connected to strain gauges. A series of finger tapping tasks consisted of 16 combinations of pace (intertap interval: 180, 200, 400, or 800 ms) and peak force (50, 100, 200, or 400 g). Analysis showed that, although movement timing was independent of force control under low or medium pace conditions, there were strong interactions between the 2 parameters under high pace conditions. The results indicate that participants adapted the movement by switching from separately controlling these parameters in the slow and moderate movement to coupling them in the fast movement. While variations in the intertap interval affected force production by nonpianists, they had little effect for pianists. The ratios of time-to-peak force to press duration increased linearly in pianists but varied irregularly in nonpianists, as the required force decreased. Thus, pianists regulate peak force by timing control of peak force to press duration, suggesting that training affects the relationship between the 2 parameters.

Bihemispheric Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Enhances Effector-Independent Representations of Motor Synergy and Sequence Learning

PubMed Central

Husain, Masud; Wiestler, Tobias; Diedrichsen, Jörn

2014-01-01

Complex manual tasks—everything from buttoning up a shirt to playing the piano—fundamentally involve two components: (1) generating specific patterns of muscle activity (here, termed “synergies”); and (2) stringing these into purposeful sequences. Although transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the primary motor cortex (M1) has been found to increase the learning of motor sequences, it is unknown whether it can similarly facilitate motor synergy learning. Here, we determined the effects of tDCS on the learning of motor synergies using a novel hand configuration task that required the production of difficult muscular activation patterns. Bihemispheric tDCS was applied to M1 of healthy, right-handed human participants during 4 d of repetitive left-hand configuration training in a double-blind design. tDCS augmented synergy learning, leading subsequently to faster and more synchronized execution. This effect persisted for at least 4 weeks after training. Qualitatively similar tDCS-associated improvements occurred during training of finger sequences in a separate subject cohort. We additionally determined whether tDCS only improved the acquisition of motor memories for specific synergies/sequences or whether it also facilitated more general parts of the motor representations, which could be transferred to novel movements. Critically, we observed that tDCS effects generalized to untrained hand configurations and untrained finger sequences (i.e., were nonspecific), as well as to the untrained hand (i.e., were effector-independent). Hence, bihemispheric tDCS may be a promising adjunct to neurorehabilitative training regimes, in which broad transfer to everyday tasks is highly desirable. PMID:24431461

Manual Dexterity in Schizophrenia—A Neglected Clinical Marker?

PubMed Central

Térémetz, Maxime; Carment, Loïc; Brénugat-Herne, Lindsay; Croca, Marta; Bleton, Jean-Pierre; Krebs, Marie-Odile; Maier, Marc A.; Amado, Isabelle; Lindberg, Påvel G.

2017-01-01

Impaired manual dexterity is commonly observed in schizophrenia. However, a quantitative description of key sensorimotor components contributing to impaired dexterity is lacking. Whether the key components of dexterity are differentially affected and how they relate to clinical characteristics also remains unclear. We quantified the degree of dexterity in 35 stabilized patients with schizophrenia and in 20 age-matched control subjects using four visuomotor tasks: (i) force tracking to quantify visuomotor precision, (ii) sequential finger tapping to measure motor sequence recall, (iii) single-finger tapping to assess temporal regularity, and (iv) multi-finger tapping to measure independence of finger movements. Diverse clinical and neuropsychological tests were also applied. A patient subgroup (N = 15) participated in a 14-week cognitive remediation protocol and was assessed before and after remediation. Compared to control subjects, patients with schizophrenia showed greater error in force tracking, poorer recall of tapping sequences, decreased tapping regularity, and reduced degree of finger individuation. A composite performance measure discriminated patients from controls with sensitivity = 0.79 and specificity = 0.9. Aside from force-tracking error, no other dexterity components correlated with antipsychotic medication. In patients, some dexterity components correlated with neurological soft signs, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), or neuropsychological scores. This suggests differential cognitive contributions to these components. Cognitive remediation lead to significant improvement in PANSS, tracking error, and sequence recall (without change in medication). These findings show that multiple aspects of sensorimotor control contribute to impaired manual dexterity in schizophrenia. Only visuomotor precision was related to antipsychotic medication. Good diagnostic accuracy and responsiveness to treatment suggest that manual dexterity may represent a useful clinical marker in schizophrenia. PMID:28740470

Stability of multifinger action in different state spaces

PubMed Central

Reschechtko, Sasha; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M.

2014-01-01

We investigated stability of action by a multifinger system with three methods: analysis of intertrial variance, application of transient perturbations, and analysis of the system's motion in different state spaces. The “inverse piano” device was used to apply transient (lifting-and-lowering) perturbations to individual fingers during single- and two-finger accurate force production tasks. In each trial, the perturbation was applied either to a finger explicitly involved in the task or one that was not. We hypothesized that, in one-finger tasks, task-specific stability would be observed in the redundant space of finger forces but not in the nonredundant space of finger modes (commands to explicitly involved fingers). In two-finger tasks, we expected that perturbations applied to a nontask finger would not contribute to task-specific stability in mode space. In contrast to our expectations, analyses in both force and mode spaces showed lower stability in directions that did not change total force output compared with directions that did cause changes in total force. In addition, the transient perturbations led to a significant increase in the enslaving index. We consider these results within a theoretical scheme of control with referent body configurations organized hierarchically, using multiple few-to-many mappings organized in a synergic way. The observed volatility of enslaving, greater equifinality of total force compared with elemental variables, and large magnitude of motor equivalent motion in both force and mode spaces provide support for the concept of task-specific stability of performance and the existence of multiple neural loops, which ensure this stability. PMID:25253478

Stability of multifinger action in different state spaces.

PubMed

Reschechtko, Sasha; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M; Latash, Mark L

2014-12-15

We investigated stability of action by a multifinger system with three methods: analysis of intertrial variance, application of transient perturbations, and analysis of the system's motion in different state spaces. The "inverse piano" device was used to apply transient (lifting-and-lowering) perturbations to individual fingers during single- and two-finger accurate force production tasks. In each trial, the perturbation was applied either to a finger explicitly involved in the task or one that was not. We hypothesized that, in one-finger tasks, task-specific stability would be observed in the redundant space of finger forces but not in the nonredundant space of finger modes (commands to explicitly involved fingers). In two-finger tasks, we expected that perturbations applied to a nontask finger would not contribute to task-specific stability in mode space. In contrast to our expectations, analyses in both force and mode spaces showed lower stability in directions that did not change total force output compared with directions that did cause changes in total force. In addition, the transient perturbations led to a significant increase in the enslaving index. We consider these results within a theoretical scheme of control with referent body configurations organized hierarchically, using multiple few-to-many mappings organized in a synergic way. The observed volatility of enslaving, greater equifinality of total force compared with elemental variables, and large magnitude of motor equivalent motion in both force and mode spaces provide support for the concept of task-specific stability of performance and the existence of multiple neural loops, which ensure this stability. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

Factor structure of paediatric timed motor examination and its relationship with IQ

PubMed Central

MARTIN, REBECCA; TIGERA, CASSIE; DENCKLA, MARTHA B; MAHONE, E MARK

2012-01-01

AIM Brain systems supporting higher cognitive and motor control develop in a parallel manner, dependent on functional integrity and maturation of related regions, suggesting neighbouring neural circuitry. Concurrent examination of motor and cognitive control can provide a window into neurological development. However, identification of performance-based measures that do not correlate with IQ has been a challenge. METHOD Timed motor performance from the Physical and Neurological Examination of Subtle Signs and IQ were analysed in 136 children aged 6 to 16 (mean age 10y 2.6mo, SD 2y 6.4mo; 98 female, 38male) attending an outpatient neuropsychology clinic and 136 right-handed comparison individuals aged 6 to 16 (mean age 10y 3.1mo, SD 2y 6.1mo; 98 female, 38male). Timed activities – three repetitive movements (toe tapping, hand patting, finger tapping) and three sequenced movements (heel–toe tap, hand pronate/supinate, finger sequencing) each performed on the right and left – were included in exploratory factor analyses. RESULTS Among comparison individuals, factor analysis yielded two factors – repetitive and sequenced movements – with the sequenced factor significantly predictive of Verbal IQ (VIQ) (ΔR2=0.018, p=0.019), but not the repetitive factor (ΔR2=0.004, p=0.39). Factor analysis within the clinical group yielded two similar factors (repetitive and sequenced), both significantly predictive of VIQ, (ΔR2=0.028, p=0.015; ΔR2=0.046, p=0.002 respectively). INTERPRETATION Among typical children, repetitive timed tasks may be independent of IQ; however, sequenced tasks share more variance, implying shared neural substrates. Among neurologically vulnerable populations, however, both sequenced and repetitive movements covary with IQ, suggesting that repetitive speed is more indicative of underlying neurological integrity. PMID:20412260

The "Motor" in Implicit Motor Sequence Learning: A Foot-stepping Serial Reaction Time Task.

PubMed

Du, Yue; Clark, Jane E

2018-05-03

This protocol describes a modified serial reaction time (SRT) task used to study implicit motor sequence learning. Unlike the classic SRT task that involves finger-pressing movements while sitting, the modified SRT task requires participants to step with both feet while maintaining a standing posture. This stepping task necessitates whole body actions that impose postural challenges. The foot-stepping task complements the classic SRT task in several ways. The foot-stepping SRT task is a better proxy for the daily activities that require ongoing postural control, and thus may help us better understand sequence learning in real-life situations. In addition, response time serves as an indicator of sequence learning in the classic SRT task, but it is unclear whether response time, reaction time (RT) representing mental process, or movement time (MT) reflecting the movement itself, is a key player in motor sequence learning. The foot-stepping SRT task allows researchers to disentangle response time into RT and MT, which may clarify how motor planning and movement execution are involved in sequence learning. Lastly, postural control and cognition are interactively related, but little is known about how postural control interacts with learning motor sequences. With a motion capture system, the movement of the whole body (e.g., the center of mass (COM)) can be recorded. Such measures allow us to reveal the dynamic processes underlying discrete responses measured by RT and MT, and may aid in elucidating the relationship between postural control and the explicit and implicit processes involved in sequence learning. Details of the experimental set-up, procedure, and data processing are described. The representative data are adopted from one of our previous studies. Results are related to response time, RT, and MT, as well as the relationship between the anticipatory postural response and the explicit processes involved in implicit motor sequence learning.

Performance drifts in two-finger cyclical force production tasks performed by one and two actors.

PubMed

Hasanbarani, Fariba; Reschechtko, Sasha; Latash, Mark L

2018-03-01

We explored changes in the cyclical two-finger force performance task caused by turning visual feedback off performed either by the index and middle fingers of the dominant hand or by two index fingers of two persons. Based on an earlier study, we expected drifts in finger force amplitude and midpoint without a drift in relative phase. The subjects performed two rhythmical tasks at 1 Hz while paced by an auditory metronome. One of the tasks required cyclical changes in total force magnitude without changes in the sharing of the force between the two fingers. The other task required cyclical changes in the force sharing without changing total force magnitude. Subjects were provided with visual feedback, which showed total force magnitude and force sharing via cursor motion along the vertical and horizontal axes, respectively. Further, visual feedback was turned off, first on the variable that was not required to change and then on both variables. Turning visual feedback off led to a mean force drift toward lower magnitudes while force amplitude increased. There was a consistent drift in the relative phase in the one-hand task with the index finger leading the middle finger. No consistent relative phase drift was seen in the two-person tasks. The shape of the force cycle changed without visual feedback reflected in the lower similarity to a perfect cosine shape and in the higher time spent at lower force magnitudes. The data confirm findings of earlier studies regarding force amplitude and midpoint changes, but falsify predictions of an earlier proposed model with respect to the relative phase changes. We discuss factors that could contribute to the observed relative phase drift in the one-hand tasks including the leader-follower pattern generalized for two-effector tasks performed by one person.

Restricted transfer of learning between unimanual and bimanual finger sequences.

PubMed

Yokoi, Atsushi; Bai, Wenjun; Diedrichsen, Jörn

2017-03-01

When training bimanual skills, such as playing piano, people sometimes practice each hand separately and at a later stage combine the movements of the two hands. This poses the critical question of whether motor skills can be acquired by separately practicing each subcomponent or should be trained as a whole. In the present study, we addressed this question by training human subjects for 4 days in a unimanual or bimanual version of the discrete sequence production task. Both groups were then tested on trained and untrained sequences on both unimanual and bimanual versions of the task. Surprisingly, we found no evidence of transfer from trained unimanual to bimanual or from trained bimanual to unimanual sequences. In half the participants, we also investigated whether cuing the sequences on the left and right hand with unique letters would change transfer. With these cues, untrained sequences that shared some components with the trained sequences were performed more quickly than sequences that did not. However, the amount of this transfer was limited to ∼10% of the overall sequence-specific learning gains. These results suggest that unimanual and bimanual sequences are learned in separate representations. Making participants aware of the interrelationship between sequences can induce some transferrable component, although the main component of the skill remains unique to unimanual or bimanual execution. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Studies in reaching movement demonstrated that approximately half of motor learning can transfer across unimanual and bimanual contexts, suggesting that neural representations for unimanual and bimanual movements are fairly overlapping at the level of elementary movement. In this study, we show that little or no transfer occurred across unimanual and bimanual sequential finger movements. This result suggests that bimanual sequences are represented at a level of the motor hierarchy that integrates movements of both hands. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Writing in the Air: Contributions of Finger Movement to Cognitive Processing

PubMed Central

Itaguchi, Yoshihiro; Yamada, Chiharu; Fukuzawa, Kazuyoshi

2015-01-01

The present study investigated the interactions between motor action and cognitive processing with particular reference to kanji-culture individuals. Kanji-culture individuals often move their finger as if they are writing when they are solving cognitive tasks, for example, when they try to recall the spelling of English words. This behavior is called kusho, meaning air-writing in Japanese. However, its functional role is still unknown. To reveal the role of kusho behavior in cognitive processing, we conducted a series of experiments, employing two different cognitive tasks, a construction task and a stroke count task. To distinguish the effects of the kinetic aspects of kusho behavior, we set three hand conditions in the tasks; participants were instructed to use either kusho, unrelated finger movements or do nothing during the response time. To isolate possible visual effects, two visual conditions in which participants saw their hand and the other in which they did not, were introduced. We used the number of correct responses and response time as measures of the task performance. The results showed that kusho behavior has different functional roles in the two types of cognitive tasks. In the construction task, the visual feedback from finger movement facilitated identifying a character, whereas the kinetic feedback or motor commands for the behavior did not help to solve the task. In the stroke count task, by contrast, the kinetic aspects of the finger movements influenced counting performance depending on the type of the finger movement. Regardless of the visual condition, kusho behavior improved task performance and unrelated finger movements degraded it. These results indicated that motor behavior contributes to cognitive processes. We discussed possible mechanisms of the modality dependent contribution. These findings might lead to better understanding of the complex interaction between action and cognition in daily life. PMID:26061273

Writing in the Air: Contributions of Finger Movement to Cognitive Processing.

PubMed

Itaguchi, Yoshihiro; Yamada, Chiharu; Fukuzawa, Kazuyoshi

2015-01-01

The present study investigated the interactions between motor action and cognitive processing with particular reference to kanji-culture individuals. Kanji-culture individuals often move their finger as if they are writing when they are solving cognitive tasks, for example, when they try to recall the spelling of English words. This behavior is called kusho, meaning air-writing in Japanese. However, its functional role is still unknown. To reveal the role of kusho behavior in cognitive processing, we conducted a series of experiments, employing two different cognitive tasks, a construction task and a stroke count task. To distinguish the effects of the kinetic aspects of kusho behavior, we set three hand conditions in the tasks; participants were instructed to use either kusho, unrelated finger movements or do nothing during the response time. To isolate possible visual effects, two visual conditions in which participants saw their hand and the other in which they did not, were introduced. We used the number of correct responses and response time as measures of the task performance. The results showed that kusho behavior has different functional roles in the two types of cognitive tasks. In the construction task, the visual feedback from finger movement facilitated identifying a character, whereas the kinetic feedback or motor commands for the behavior did not help to solve the task. In the stroke count task, by contrast, the kinetic aspects of the finger movements influenced counting performance depending on the type of the finger movement. Regardless of the visual condition, kusho behavior improved task performance and unrelated finger movements degraded it. These results indicated that motor behavior contributes to cognitive processes. We discussed possible mechanisms of the modality dependent contribution. These findings might lead to better understanding of the complex interaction between action and cognition in daily life.

Hand kinematics of piano playing

PubMed Central

Flanders, Martha; Soechting, John F.

2011-01-01

Dexterous use of the hand represents a sophisticated sensorimotor function. In behaviors such as playing the piano, it can involve strong temporal and spatial constraints. The purpose of this study was to determine fundamental patterns of covariation of motion across joints and digits of the human hand. Joint motion was recorded while 5 expert pianists played 30 excerpts from musical pieces, which featured ∼50 different tone sequences and fingering. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis using an expectation-maximization algorithm revealed that joint velocities could be categorized into several patterns, which help to simplify the description of the movements of the multiple degrees of freedom of the hand. For the thumb keystroke, two distinct patterns of joint movement covariation emerged and they depended on the spatiotemporal patterns of the task. For example, the thumb-under maneuver was clearly separated into two clusters based on the direction of hand translation along the keyboard. While the pattern of the thumb joint velocities differed between these clusters, the motions at the metacarpo-phalangeal and proximal-phalangeal joints of the four fingers were more consistent. For a keystroke executed with one of the fingers, there were three distinct patterns of joint rotations, across which motion at the striking finger was fairly consistent, but motion of the other fingers was more variable. Furthermore, the amount of movement spillover of the striking finger to the adjacent fingers was small irrespective of the finger used for the keystroke. These findings describe an unparalleled amount of independent motion of the fingers. PMID:21880938

Motor sequence learning-induced neural efficiency in functional brain connectivity.

PubMed

Karim, Helmet T; Huppert, Theodore J; Erickson, Kirk I; Wollam, Mariegold E; Sparto, Patrick J; Sejdić, Ervin; VanSwearingen, Jessie M

2017-02-15

Previous studies have shown the functional neural circuitry differences before and after an explicitly learned motor sequence task, but have not assessed these changes during the process of motor skill learning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging activity was measured while participants (n=13) were asked to tap their fingers to visually presented sequences in blocks that were either the same sequence repeated (learning block) or random sequences (control block). Motor learning was associated with a decrease in brain activity during learning compared to control. Lower brain activation was noted in the posterior parietal association area and bilateral thalamus during the later periods of learning (not during the control). Compared to the control condition, we found the task-related motor learning was associated with decreased connectivity between the putamen and left inferior frontal gyrus and left middle cingulate brain regions. Motor learning was associated with changes in network activity, spatial extent, and connectivity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dexterity with numbers: rTMS over left angular gyrus disrupts finger gnosis and number processing.

PubMed

Rusconi, Elena; Walsh, Vincent; Butterworth, Brian

2005-01-01

Since the original description of Gerstmann's syndrome with its four cardinal symptoms, among which are finger agnosia and acalculia, the neuro-cognitive relationship between fingers and calculation has been debated. We asked our participants to perform four different tasks, two of which involved fingers and the other two involving numbers, during repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the posterior parietal lobe of either hemisphere. In the finger tasks, they were required to transform a tactile stimulus randomly delivered on one of their fingers into a speeded key-press response either with the same or with the homologous finger on the opposite hand. In the numerical tasks, they were asked to perform a magnitude or a parity matching on pairs of single digits, in the context of arithmetically related or unrelated numerical primes. In accordance with the original anatomical hypothesis put forward by Gerstmann [Gerstmann, J. (1924). Fingeragnosie: eine umschriebene Stoerung der Orienterung am eigenen Koerper. Wiener clinische Wochenschrift, 37, 1010-12], we found that rTMS over the left angular gyrus disrupted tasks requiring access to the finger schema and number magnitude processing in the same group of participants. In addition to the numerous studies which have employed special populations such as neurological patients and children, our data confirm the presence of a relationship between numbers and body knowledge in skilled adults who no longer use their fingers for solving simple arithmetical tasks.

Difference of motor overflow depending on the impaired or unimpaired hand in stroke patients.

PubMed

Kim, Yushin; Kim, Woo-Sub; Shim, Jae Kun; Suh, Dong Won; Kim, TaeYeong; Yoon, BumChul

2015-02-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the patterns of contralateral motor overflow (i.e. mirror movement) between the homologous body parts on the right and left side, in stroke patients during single-finger and multi-finger maximum force production tasks. Forty subjects, including stroke (n=20) and normal subjects (n=20), participated in this study. The stroke subjects maximally pressed force sensors with their fingers in a flexed position using a single (index, middle, ring, or little) or all fingers (all 4 fingers) using the impaired (IH) or unimpaired (UIH) hand, while the non-patient subjects used their right hands for the same tasks. The maximal voluntary forces in the ipsilateral and unintended pressing forces of each contralateral finger were recorded during the tasks. The magnitude of motor overflow to the contralateral side was calculated using the index of contralateral independence (CI). During the single finger tasks, the finger CI was significantly decreased in the UIH (91%) compared with that in the IH (99%) or normal hands (99%). Likewise, the multiple finger tasks showed that the CI was significantly lower in the UIH (84%) compared with that in the IH (96%) or normal hands (99%). However, the maximal forces were significantly lower in the IH relative to those in the UIH and normal hands. These data demonstrate that stroke patients have greater motor overflow from the UIH to the IH. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Theta Neurofeedback Effects on Motor Memory Consolidation and Performance Accuracy: An Apparent Paradox?

PubMed

Reiner, Miriam; Lev, Dror D; Rosen, Amit

2018-05-15

Previous studies have shown that theta neurofeedback enhances motor memory consolidation on an easy-to-learn finger-tapping task. However, the simplicity of the finger-tapping task precludes evaluating the putative effects of elevated theta on performance accuracy. Mastering a motor sequence is classically assumed to entail faster performance with fewer errors. The speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) principle states that as action speed increases, motor performance accuracy decreases. The current study investigated whether theta neurofeedback could improve both performance speed and performance accuracy, or would only enhance performance speed at the cost of reduced accuracy. A more complex task was used to study the effects of parietal elevated theta on 45 healthy volunteers The findings confirmed previous results on the effects of theta neurofeedback on memory consolidation. In contrast to the two control groups, in the theta-neurofeedback group the speed-accuracy tradeoff was reversed. The speed-accuracy tradeoff patterns only stabilized after a night's sleep implying enhancement in terms of both speed and accuracy. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Adaptive increase in force variance during fatigue in tasks with low redundancy.

PubMed

Singh, Tarkeshwar; S K M, Varadhan; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M; Latash, Mark L

2010-11-26

We tested a hypothesis that fatigue of an element (a finger) leads to an adaptive neural strategy that involves an increase in force variability in the other finger(s) and an increase in co-variation of commands to fingers to keep total force variability relatively unchanged. We tested this hypothesis using a system with small redundancy (two fingers) and a marginally redundant system (with an additional constraint related to the total moment of force produced by the fingers, unstable condition). The subjects performed isometric accurate rhythmic force production tasks by the index (I) finger and two fingers (I and middle, M) pressing together before and after a fatiguing exercise by the I finger. Fatigue led to a large increase in force variance in the I-finger task and a smaller increase in the IM-task. We quantified two components of variance in the space of hypothetical commands to fingers, finger modes. Under both stable and unstable conditions, there was a large increase in the variance component that did not affect total force and a much smaller increase in the component that did. This resulted in an increase in an index of the force-stabilizing synergy. These results indicate that marginal redundancy is sufficient to allow the central nervous system to use adaptive increase in variability to shield important variables from effects of fatigue. We offer an interpretation of these results based on a recent development of the equilibrium-point hypothesis known as the referent configuration hypothesis. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cortical activity predicts good variation in human motor output.

PubMed

Babikian, Sarine; Kanso, Eva; Kutch, Jason J

2017-04-01

Human movement patterns have been shown to be particularly variable if many combinations of activity in different muscles all achieve the same task goal (i.e., are goal-equivalent). The nervous system appears to automatically vary its output among goal-equivalent combinations of muscle activity to minimize muscle fatigue or distribute tissue loading, but the neural mechanism of this "good" variation is unknown. Here we use a bimanual finger task, electroencephalography (EEG), and machine learning to determine if cortical signals can predict goal-equivalent variation in finger force output. 18 healthy participants applied left and right index finger forces to repeatedly perform a task that involved matching a total (sum of right and left) finger force. As in previous studies, we observed significantly more variability in goal-equivalent muscle activity across task repetitions compared to variability in muscle activity that would not achieve the goal: participants achieved the task in some repetitions with more right finger force and less left finger force (right > left) and in other repetitions with less right finger force and more left finger force (left > right). We found that EEG signals from the 500 milliseconds (ms) prior to each task repetition could make a significant prediction of which repetitions would have right > left and which would have left > right. We also found that cortical maps of sites contributing to the prediction contain both motor and pre-motor representation in the appropriate hemisphere. Thus, goal-equivalent variation in motor output may be implemented at a cortical level.

EEG Oscillations Are Modulated in Different Behavior-Related Networks during Rhythmic Finger Movements.

PubMed

Seeber, Martin; Scherer, Reinhold; Müller-Putz, Gernot R

2016-11-16

Sequencing and timing of body movements are essential to perform motoric tasks. In this study, we investigate the temporal relation between cortical oscillations and human motor behavior (i.e., rhythmic finger movements). High-density EEG recordings were used for source imaging based on individual anatomy. We separated sustained and movement phase-related EEG source amplitudes based on the actual finger movements recorded by a data glove. Sustained amplitude modulations in the contralateral hand area show decrease for α (10-12 Hz) and β (18-24 Hz), but increase for high γ (60-80 Hz) frequencies during the entire movement period. Additionally, we found movement phase-related amplitudes, which resembled the flexion and extension sequence of the fingers. Especially for faster movement cadences, movement phase-related amplitudes included high β (24-30 Hz) frequencies in prefrontal areas. Interestingly, the spectral profiles and source patterns of movement phase-related amplitudes differed from sustained activities, suggesting that they represent different frequency-specific large-scale networks. First, networks were signified by the sustained element, which statically modulate their synchrony levels during continuous movements. These networks may upregulate neuronal excitability in brain regions specific to the limb, in this study the right hand area. Second, movement phase-related networks, which modulate their synchrony in relation to the movement sequence. We suggest that these frequency-specific networks are associated with distinct functions, including top-down control, sensorimotor prediction, and integration. The separation of different large-scale networks, we applied in this work, improves the interpretation of EEG sources in relation to human motor behavior. EEG recordings provide high temporal resolution suitable to relate cortical oscillations to actual movements. Investigating EEG sources during rhythmic finger movements, we distinguish sustained from movement phase-related amplitude modulations. We separate these two EEG source elements motivated by our previous findings in gait. Here, we found two types of large-scale networks, representing the right fingers in distinction from the time sequence of the movements. These findings suggest that EEG source amplitudes reconstructed in a cortical patch are the superposition of these simultaneously present network activities. Separating these frequency-specific networks is relevant for studying function and possible dysfunction of the cortical sensorimotor system in humans as well as to provide more advanced features for brain-computer interfaces. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/3611671-11$15.00/0.

The Effect of Practice Schedule on Context-Dependent Learning.

PubMed

Lee, Ya-Yun; Fisher, Beth E

2018-03-02

It is well established that random practice compared to blocked practice enhances motor learning. Additionally, while information in the environment may be incidental, learning is also enhanced when an individual performs a task within the same environmental context in which the task was originally practiced. This study aimed to disentangle the effects of practice schedule and incidental/environmental context on motor learning. Participants practiced three finger sequences under either a random or blocked practice schedule. Each sequence was associated with specific incidental context (i.e., color and location on the computer screen) during practice. The participants were tested under the conditions when the sequence-context associations remained the same or were changed from that of practice. When the sequence-context association was changed, the participants who practiced under blocked schedule demonstrated greater performance decrement than those who practiced under random schedule. The findings suggested that those participants who practiced under random schedule were more resistant to the change of environmental context.

Learning to combine high variability with high precision: lack of transfer to a different task.

PubMed

Wu, Yen-Hsun; Truglio, Thomas S; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M; Latash, Mark L

2015-01-01

The authors studied effects of practicing a 4-finger accurate force production task on multifinger coordination quantified within the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis. During practice, task instability was modified by changing visual feedback gain based on accuracy of performance. The authors also explored the retention of these effects, and their transfer to a prehensile task. Subjects practiced the force production task for 2 days. After the practice, total force variability decreased and performance became more accurate. In contrast, variance of finger forces showed a tendency to increase during the first practice session while in the space of finger modes (hypothetical commands to fingers) the increase was under the significance level. These effects were retained for 2 weeks. No transfer of these effects to the prehensile task was seen, suggesting high specificity of coordination changes. The retention of practice effects without transfer to a different task suggests that further studies on a more practical method of improving coordination are needed.

Distinct neural control of intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the hand during single finger pressing.

PubMed

Dupan, Sigrid S G; Stegeman, Dick F; Maas, Huub

2018-06-01

Single finger force tasks lead to unintended activation of the non-instructed fingers, commonly referred to as enslaving. Both neural and mechanical factors have been associated with this absence of finger individuality. This study investigates the amplitude modulation of both intrinsic and extrinsic finger muscles during single finger isometric force tasks. Twelve participants performed single finger flexion presses at 20% of maximum voluntary contraction, while simultaneously the electromyographic activity of several intrinsic and extrinsic muscles associated with all four fingers was recorded using 8 electrode pairs in the hand and two 30-electrode grids on the lower arm. The forces exerted by each of the fingers, in both flexion and extension direction, were recorded with individual force sensors. This study shows distinct activation patterns in intrinsic and extrinsic hand muscles. Intrinsic muscles exhibited individuation, where the agonistic and antagonistic muscles associated with the instructed fingers showed the highest activation. This activation in both agonistic and antagonistic muscles appears to facilitate finger stabilisation during the isometric force task. Extrinsic muscles show an activation independent from instructed finger in both agonistic and antagonistic muscles, which appears to be associated with stabilisation of the wrist, with an additional finger-dependent modulation only present in the agonistic extrinsic muscles. These results indicate distinct muscle patterns in intrinsic and extrinsic hand muscles during single finger isometric force pressing. We conclude that the finger specific activation of intrinsic muscles is not sufficient to fully counteract enslaving caused by the broad activation of the extrinsic muscles. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Decreased bilateral cortical representation patterns in writer's cramp: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study at 3.0 T.

PubMed

Islam, Tina; Kupsch, Andreas; Bruhn, Harald; Scheurig, Christian; Schmidt, Sein; Hoffmann, Karl-Titus

2009-06-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to characterize patterns of cortical activation in response to sensory and motor tasks in patients with writer's cramp. 17 patients and 17 healthy subjects were examined during finger-tapping, index finger flexion, and electrical median nerve stimulation of both hands during electromyographic monitoring. SPM2 was used to evaluate Brodmann area (BA) 4, 1, 2, 3, 6, 40. Patients showed decreased activation in the left BA 4 with motor tasks of both hands and the left BA 1-3 with right finger-tapping. With left finger-tapping there was bilateral underactivation of single areas of the somatosensory cortex. Patients exhibited decreased activation in the bilateral BA 6 with left motor tasks and in the right BA 6 with right finger-tapping. Patients had decreased activation in bilateral BA 40 with finger-tapping of both hands. The findings suggest decreased baseline activity or an impaired activation in response to motor tasks in BA 1-4, 6, 40 in patients with writer's cramp for the dystonic and the clinically unaffected hand.

Bouncing Ball with a Uniformly Varying Velocity in a Metronome Synchronization Task.

PubMed

Huang, Yingyu; Gu, Li; Yang, Junkai; Wu, Xiang

2017-09-21

Sensorimotor synchronization (SMS), a fundamental human ability to coordinate movements with external rhythms, has long been thought to be modality specific. In the canonical metronome synchronization task that requires tapping a finger along with an isochronous sequence, a well-established finding is that synchronization is much more stable to an auditory sequence consisting of auditory tones than to a visual sequence consisting of visual flashes. However, recent studies have shown that periodically moving visual stimuli can substantially improve synchronization compared with visual flashes. In particular, synchronization of a visual bouncing ball that has a uniformly varying velocity was found to be not less stable than synchronization of auditory tones. Here, the current protocol describes the application of the bouncing ball with a uniformly varying velocity in a metronome synchronization task. The usage of the bouncing ball in sequences with different inter-onset intervals (IOI) is included. The representative results illustrate synchronization performance of the bouncing ball, as compared with the performances of auditory tones and visual flashes. Given its comparable synchronization performance to that of auditory tones, the bouncing ball is of particular importance for addressing the current research topic of whether modality-specific mechanisms underlay SMS.

Is the thumb a fifth finger? A study of digit interaction during force production tasks

PubMed Central

Olafsdottir, Halla; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M.; Latash, Mark L.

2010-01-01

We studied indices of digit interaction in single- and multi-digit maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) tests when the thumb acted either in parallel or in opposition to the fingers. The peak force produced by the thumb was much higher when the thumb acted in opposition to the fingers and its share of the total force in the five-digit MVC test increased dramatically. The fingers showed relatively similar peak forces and unchanged sharing patterns in the four-finger MVC task when the thumb acted in parallel and in opposition to the fingers. Enslaving during one-digit tasks showed relatively mild differences between the two conditions, while the differences became large when enslaving was quantified for multi-digit tasks. Force deficit was pronounced when the thumb acted in parallel to the fingers; it showed a monotonic increase with the number of explicitly involved digits up to four digits and then a drop when all five digits were involved. Force deficit all but disappeared when the thumb acted in opposition to the fingers. However, for both thumb positions, indices of digit interaction were similar for groups of digits that did or did not include the thumb. These results suggest that, given a certain hand configuration, the central nervous system treats the thumb as a fifth finger. They provide strong support for the hypothesis that indices of digit interaction reflect neural factors, not the peripheral design of the hand. An earlier formal model was able to account for the data when the thumb acted in parallel to the fingers. However, it failed for the data with the thumb acting in opposition to the fingers. PMID:15322785

Cold-Blooded Attention: Finger Temperature Predicts Attentional Performance.

PubMed

Vergara, Rodrigo C; Moënne-Loccoz, Cristóbal; Maldonado, Pedro E

2017-01-01

Thermal stress has been shown to increase the chances of unsafe behavior during industrial and driving performances due to reductions in mental and attentional resources. Nonetheless, establishing appropriate safety standards regarding environmental temperature has been a major problem, as modulations are also be affected by the task type, complexity, workload, duration, and previous experience with the task. To bypass this attentional and thermoregulatory problem, we focused on the body rather than environmental temperature. Specifically, we measured tympanic, forehead, finger and environmental temperatures accompanied by a battery of attentional tasks. We considered a 10 min baseline period wherein subjects were instructed to sit and relax, followed by three attentional tasks: a continuous performance task (CPT), a flanker task (FT) and a counting task (CT). Using multiple linear regression models, we evaluated which variable(s) were the best predictors of performance. The results showed a decrement in finger temperature due to instruction and task engagement that was absent when the subject was instructed to relax. No changes were observed in tympanic or forehead temperatures, while the environmental temperature remained almost constant for each subject. Specifically, the magnitude of the change in finger temperature was the best predictor of performance in all three attentional tasks. The results presented here suggest that finger temperature can be used as a predictor of alertness, as it predicted performance in attentional tasks better than environmental temperature. These findings strongly support that peripheral temperature can be used as a tool to prevent unsafe behaviors and accidents.

Multi-finger prehension: control of a redundant mechanical system.

PubMed

Latash, Mark L; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M

2009-01-01

The human hand has been a fascinating object of study for researchers in both biomechanics and motor control. Studies of human prehension have contributed significantly to the progress in addressing the famous problem of motor redundancy. After a brief review of the hand mechanics, we present results of recent studies that support a general view that the apparently redundant design of the hand is not a source of computational problems but a rich apparatus that allows performing a variety of tasks in a reliable and flexible way (the principle of abundance). Multi-digit synergies have been analyzed at two levels of a hypothetical hierarchy involved in the control of prehensile actions. At the upper level, forces and moments produced by the thumb and virtual finger (an imagined finger with a mechanical action equal to the combined mechanical action of all four fingers of the hand) co-vary to stabilize the gripping action and the orientation of the hand-held object. These results support the principle of superposition suggested earlier in robotics with respect to the control of artificial grippers. At the lower level of the hierarchy, forces and moments produced by individual fingers co-vary to stabilize the magnitude and direction of the force vector and the moment of force produced by the virtual finger. Adjustments to changes in task constraints (such as, for example, friction under individual digits) may be local and synergic. The latter reflect multi-digit prehension synergies and may be analyzed with the so-called chain effects: Sequences of relatively straightforward cause-effect links directly related to mechanical constraints leading to non-trivial strong co-variation between pairs of elemental variables. Analysis of grip force adjustments during motion of hand-held objects suggests that the central nervous system adjusts to gravitational and inertial loads differently. The human hand is a gold mine for researchers interested in the control of natural human movements.

Modulated cortical control of individual fingers in experienced musicians: an EEG study. Electroencephalographic study.

PubMed

Slobounov, S; Chiang, H; Johnston, J; Ray, W

2002-12-01

The present research was designed to address the nature of interdependency between fingers during force production tasks in subjects with varying experience in performing independent finger manipulation. Specifically, behavioral and electroencephalographic (EEG) measures associated with controllability of the most enslaved (ring) and the least enslaved (index) fingers was examined in musicians and non-musicians. Six piano players and 6 age-matched control subjects performed a series of isometric force production tasks with the index and ring fingers. Subjects produced 3 different force levels with either their index or ring fingers. We measured the isometric force output produced by all 4 fingers (index, ring, middle and little), including both ramp and static phases of force production. We applied time-domain averaging of EEG single trials in order to extract 4 components of the movement-related cortical potentials (MRCP) preceding and accompanying force responses. Three behavioral findings were observed. First, musicians were more accurate than non-musicians at reaching the desired force level. Second, musicians showed less enslaving as compared to non-musicians. And third, the amount of enslaving increased with the increment of nominal force levels regardless of whether the index or ring finger was used as the master finger. In terms of EEG measures, we found differences between tasks performed with the index and ring fingers in non-musicians. For musicians, we found larger MRCP amplitudes at most electrode sites for the ring finger. Our data extends previous enslaving research and suggest an important role for previous experience in terms of the independent use of the fingers. Given that a variety of previous work has shown finger independence to be reflected in cortical representation in the brain and our findings of MRCP amplitude associated with greater independence of fingers in musicians, this suggests that what has been considered to be stable constraints in terms of finger movements can be modulated by experience. This work supports the idea that experience is associated with changes in behavioral and EEG correlates of task performance and may have clinical implications in disorders such as stroke or focal hand dystonia. Practice-related procedures offer useful approaches to rehabilitation strategies.

Priming Hand Motor Training with Repetitive Stimulation of the Fingertips; Performance Gain and Functional Imaging of Training Effects.

PubMed

Lotze, Martin; Ladda, Aija Marie; Roschka, Sybille; Platz, Thomas; Dinse, Hubert R

Application of repetitive electrical stimulation (rES) of the fingers has been shown to improve tactile perception and sensorimotor performance in healthy individuals. To increase motor performance by priming the effects of active motor training (arm ability training; AAT) using rES. We compared the performance gain for the training increase of the averaged AAT tasks of both hands in two groups of strongly right-handed healthy volunteers. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) before and after AAT was assessed using three tasks for each hand separately: finger sequence tapping, visually guided grip force modulation, and writing. Performance during fMRI was controlled for preciseness and frequency. A total of 30 participants underwent a two-week unilateral left hand AAT, 15 participants with 20 minutes of rES priming of all fingertips of the trained hand, and 15 participants without rES priming. rES-primed AAT improved the trained left-hand performance across all training tasks on average by 32.9%, non-primed AAT improved by 29.5%. This gain in AAT performance with rES priming was predominantly driven by an increased finger tapping velocity. Functional imaging showed comparable changes for both training groups over time. Across all participants, improved AAT performance was associated with a higher contralateral primary somatosensory cortex (S1) fMRI activation magnitude during the grip force modulation task. This study highlights the importance of S1 for hand motor training gain. In addition, it suggests the usage of rES of the fingertips for priming active hand motor training. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neural correlates of finger gnosis.

PubMed

Rusconi, Elena; Tamè, Luigi; Furlan, Michele; Haggard, Patrick; Demarchi, Gianpaolo; Adriani, Michela; Ferrari, Paolo; Braun, Christoph; Schwarzbach, Jens

2014-07-02

Neuropsychological studies have described patients with a selective impairment of finger identification in association with posterior parietal lesions. However, evidence of the role of these areas in finger gnosis from studies of the healthy human brain is still scarce. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify the brain network engaged in a novel finger gnosis task, the intermanual in-between task (IIBT), in healthy participants. Several brain regions exhibited a stronger blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response in IIBT than in a control task that did not explicitly rely on finger gnosis but used identical stimuli and motor responses as the IIBT. The IIBT involved stronger signal in the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL), bilateral precuneus (PCN), bilateral premotor cortex, and left inferior frontal gyrus. In all regions, stimulation of nonhomologous fingers of the two hands elicited higher BOLD signal than stimulation of homologous fingers. Only in the left anteromedial IPL (a-mIPL) and left PCN did signal strength decrease parametrically from nonhomology, through partial homology, to total homology with stimulation delivered synchronously to the two hands. With asynchronous stimulation, the signal was stronger in the left a-mIPL than in any other region, possibly indicating retention of task-relevant information. We suggest that the left PCN may contribute a supporting visuospatial representation via its functional connection to the right PCN. The a-mIPL may instead provide the core substrate of an explicit bilateral body structure representation for the fingers that when disrupted can produce the typical symptoms of finger agnosia. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/339012-12$15.00/0.

Finger posture modulates structural body representations

PubMed Central

Tamè, Luigi; Dransfield, Elanah; Quettier, Thomas; Longo, Matthew R.

2017-01-01

Patients with lesions of the left posterior parietal cortex commonly fail in identifying their fingers, a condition known as finger agnosia, yet are relatively unimpaired in sensation and skilled action. Such dissociations have traditionally been interpreted as evidence that structural body representations (BSR), such as the body structural description, are distinct from sensorimotor representations, such as the body schema. We investigated whether performance on tasks commonly used to assess finger agnosia is modulated by changes in hand posture. We used the ‘in between’ test in which participants estimate the number of unstimulated fingers between two touched fingers or a localization task in which participants judge which two fingers were stimulated. Across blocks, the fingers were placed in three levels of splay. Judged finger numerosity was analysed, in Exp. 1 by direct report and in Exp. 2 as the actual number of fingers between the fingers named. In both experiments, judgments were greater when non-adjacent stimulated fingers were positioned far apart compared to when they were close together or touching, whereas judgements were unaltered when adjacent fingers were stimulated. This demonstrates that BSRs are not fixed, but are modulated by the real-time physical distances between body parts. PMID:28223685

Quantifying excessive mirror overflow in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

PubMed Central

MacNeil, L.K.; Xavier, P.; Garvey, M.A.; Gilbert, D.L.; Ranta, M.E.; Denckla, M.B.

2011-01-01

Objectives: Qualitative observations have revealed that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show increased overflow movements, a motor sign thought to reflect impaired inhibitory control. The goal of this study was to develop and implement methods for quantifying excessive mirror overflow movements in children with ADHD. Methods: Fifty right-handed children aged 8.2–13.3 years, 25 with ADHD (12 girls) and 25 typically developing (TD) control children (10 girls), performed a sequential finger-tapping task, completing both left-handed (LHFS) and right-handed finger sequencing (RHFS). Phasic overflow of the index and ring fingers was assessed in 34 children with video recording, and total overflow in 48 children was measured by calculating the total angular displacement of the index and ring fingers with electrogoniometer recordings. Results: Phasic overflow and total overflow across both hands were greater in children with ADHD than in TD children, particularly during LHFS. Separate gender analyses revealed that boys, but not girls, with ADHD showed significantly more total phasic overflow and total overflow than did their gender-matched control children. Conclusions: The quantitative overflow measures used in this study support past qualitative findings that motor overflow persists to a greater degree in children with ADHD than in age-matched TD peers. The quantitative findings further suggest that persistence of mirror overflow is more prominent during task execution of the nondominant hand and reveal gender-based differences in developmental neural systems critical to motor control. These quantitative measures will assist future physiologic investigation of the brain basis of motor control in ADHD. PMID:21321336

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation enhances the effects of motor imagery training in a finger tapping task.

PubMed

Saimpont, Arnaud; Mercier, Catherine; Malouin, Francine; Guillot, Aymeric; Collet, Christian; Doyon, Julien; Jackson, Philip L

2016-01-01

Motor imagery (MI) training and anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied over the primary motor cortex can independently improve hand motor function. The main objective of this double-blind, sham-controlled study was to examine whether anodal tDCS over the primary motor cortex could enhance the effects of MI training on the learning of a finger tapping sequence. Thirty-six right-handed young human adults were assigned to one of three groups: (i) who performed MI training combined with anodal tDCS applied over the primary motor cortex; (ii) who performed MI training combined with sham tDCS; and (iii) who received tDCS while reading a book. The MI training consisted of mentally rehearsing an eight-item complex finger sequence for 13 min. Before (Pre-test), immediately after (Post-test 1), and at 90 min after (Post-test 2) MI training, the participants physically repeated the sequence as fast and as accurately as possible. An anova showed that the number of sequences correctly performed significantly increased between Pre-test and Post-test 1 and remained stable at Post-test 2 in the three groups (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the percentage increase in performance between Pre-test and Post-test 1 and Post-test 2 was significantly greater in the group that performed MI training combined with anodal tDCS compared with the other two groups (P < 0.05). As a potential physiological explanation, the synaptic strength within the primary motor cortex could have been reinforced by the association of MI training and tDCS compared with MI training alone and tDCS alone. © 2015 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Brain activity during bilateral rapid alternate finger tapping measured with magnetoencephalography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fukuda, Hiroshi; Odagaki, Masato; Hiwaki, Osamu; Kodabashi, Atsushi; Fujimoto, Toshiro

2009-04-01

Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), brain regions involved in an alternate bimanual tapping task by index fingers triggered with spontaneous timing were investigated. The tapping mode in which both index fingers moved simultaneously was interlaced during the task. The groups of the alternate tapping (AL mode) and the simultaneous tapping (SI mode) were extracted from the successive alternating taps with a histogram of intervals between the right and left index fingers. MEG signals in each mode were averaged separately before and after the tapping initiation of the dominant index finger. The activities of the contralateral sensorimotor cortex before and after the tapping initiation in the AL mode were larger than that in the SI mode. The result indicates that the activity of the contralateral sensorimotor cortex depends on the degree of achievement in the difficult motor task such as the voluntary alternate tapping movements.

Multi-finger synergies and the muscular apparatus of the hand.

PubMed

Cuadra, Cristian; Bartsch, Angelo; Tiemann, Paula; Reschechtko, Sasha; Latash, Mark L

2018-05-01

We explored whether the synergic control of the hand during multi-finger force production tasks depends on the hand muscles involved. Healthy subjects performed accurate force production tasks and targeted force pulses while pressing against loops positioned at the level of fingertips, middle phalanges, and proximal phalanges. This varied the involvement of the extrinsic and intrinsic finger flexors. The framework of the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) hypothesis was used to analyze the structure of inter-trial variance, motor equivalence, and anticipatory synergy adjustments prior to the force pulse in the spaces of finger forces and finger modes (hypothetical finger-specific control signals). Subjects showed larger maximal force magnitudes at the proximal site of force production. There were synergies stabilizing total force during steady-state phases across all three sites of force production; no differences were seen across the sites in indices of structure of variance, motor equivalence, or anticipatory synergy adjustments. Indices of variance, which did not affect the task (within the UCM), correlated with motor equivalent motion between the steady states prior to and after the force pulse; in contrast, variance affecting task performance did not correlate with non-motor equivalent motion. The observations are discussed within the framework of hierarchical control with referent coordinates for salient effectors at each level. The findings suggest that multi-finger synergies are defined at the level of abundant transformation between the low-dimensional hand level and higher dimensional finger level while being relatively immune to transformations between the finger level and muscle level. The results also support the scheme of control with two classes of neural variables that define referent coordinates and gains in back-coupling loops between hierarchical control levels.

In-silico mining, type and frequency analysis of genic microsatellites of finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.): a comparative genomic analysis of NBS-LRR regions of finger millet with rice.

PubMed

Kalyana Babu, B; Pandey, Dinesh; Agrawal, P K; Sood, Salej; Kumar, Anil

2014-05-01

In recent years, the increased availability of the DNA sequences has given the possibility to develop and explore the expressed sequence tags (ESTs) derived SSR markers. In the present study, a total of 1956 ESTs of finger millet were used to find the microsatellite type, distribution, frequency and developed a total of 545 primer pairs from the ESTs of finger millet. Thirty-two EST sequences had more than two microsatellites and 1357 sequences did not have any SSR repeats. The most frequent type of repeats was trimeric motif, however the second place was occupied by dimeric motif followed by tetra-, hexa- and penta repeat motifs. The most common dimer repeat motif was GA and in case of trimeric SSRs, it was CGG. The EST sequences of NBS-LRR region of finger millet and rice showed higher synteny and were found on nearly same positions on the rice chromosome map. A total of eight, out of 15 EST based SSR primers were polymorphic among the selected resistant and susceptible finger millet genotypes. The primer FMBLEST5 could able to differentiate them into resistant and susceptible genotypes. The alleles specific to the resistant and susceptible genotypes were sequenced using the ABI 3130XL genetic analyzer and found similarity to NBS-LRR regions of rice and finger millet and contained the characteristic kinase-2 and kinase 3a motifs of plant R-genes belonged to NBS-LRR region. The In-silico and comparative analysis showed that the genes responsible for blast resistance can be identified, mapped and further introgressed through molecular breeding approaches for enhancing the blast resistance in finger millet.

Comparison of causality analysis on simultaneously measured fMRI and NIRS signals during motor tasks.

PubMed

Anwar, Abdul Rauf; Muthalib, Makii; Perrey, Stephane; Galka, Andreas; Granert, Oliver; Wolff, Stephan; Deuschl, Guenther; Raethjen, Jan; Heute, Ulrich; Muthuraman, Muthuraman

2013-01-01

Brain activity can be measured using different modalities. Since most of the modalities tend to complement each other, it seems promising to measure them simultaneously. In to be presented research, the data recorded from Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), simultaneously, are subjected to causality analysis using time-resolved partial directed coherence (tPDC). Time-resolved partial directed coherence uses the principle of state space modelling to estimate Multivariate Autoregressive (MVAR) coefficients. This method is useful to visualize both frequency and time dynamics of causality between the time series. Afterwards, causality results from different modalities are compared by estimating the Spearman correlation. In to be presented study, we used directionality vectors to analyze correlation, rather than actual signal vectors. Results show that causality analysis of the fMRI correlates more closely to causality results of oxy-NIRS as compared to deoxy-NIRS in case of a finger sequencing task. However, in case of simple finger tapping, no clear difference between oxy-fMRI and deoxy-fMRI correlation is identified.

Effects of Anodal High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Bilateral Sensorimotor Cortex Activation During Sequential Finger Movements: An fNIRS Study.

PubMed

Muthalib, Makii; Besson, Pierre; Rothwell, John; Ward, Tomas; Perrey, Stephane

2016-01-01

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive electrical brain stimulation technique that can modulate cortical neuronal excitability and activity. This study utilized functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) neuroimaging to determine the effects of anodal high-definition (HD)-tDCS on bilateral sensorimotor cortex (SMC) activation. Before (Pre), during (Online), and after (Offline) anodal HD-tDCS (2 mA, 20 min) targeting the left SMC, eight healthy subjects performed a simple finger sequence (SFS) task with their right or left hand in an alternating blocked design (30-s rest and 30-s SFS task, repeated five times). In order to determine the level of bilateral SMC activation during the SFS task, an Oxymon MkIII fNIRS system was used to measure from the left and right SMC, changes in oxygenated (O2Hb) and deoxygenated (HHb) haemoglobin concentration values. The fNIRS data suggests a finding that compared to the Pre condition both the "Online" and "Offline" anodal HD-tDCS conditions induced a significant reduction in bilateral SMC activation (i.e., smaller decrease in HHb) for a similar motor output (i.e., SFS tap rate). These findings could be related to anodal HD-tDCS inducing a greater efficiency of neuronal transmission in the bilateral SMC to perform the same SFS task.

Toward rules relating zinc finger protein sequences and DNA binding site preferences.

PubMed

Desjarlais, J R; Berg, J M

1992-08-15

Zinc finger proteins of the Cys2-His2 type consist of tandem arrays of domains, where each domain appears to contact three adjacent base pairs of DNA through three key residues. We have designed and prepared a series of variants of the central zinc finger within the DNA binding domain of Sp1 by using information from an analysis of a large data base of zinc finger protein sequences. Through systematic variations at two of the three contact positions (underlined), relatively specific recognition of sequences of the form 5'-GGGGN(G or T)GGG-3' has been achieved. These results provide the basis for rules that may develop into a code that will allow the design of zinc finger proteins with preselected DNA site specificity.

Activity in primary motor cortex during action observation covaries with subsequent behavioral changes in execution.

PubMed

Aridan, Nadav; Mukamel, Roy

2016-11-01

Observing someone else perform a movement facilitates motor planning, execution, and motor memory formation. Rate, an important feature in the execution of repeated movements, has been shown to vary following movement observation although the underlying neural mechanisms are unclear. In the current study, we examined how the rate of self-paced index finger pressing is implicitly modified following passive observation of a similar action performed at a different rate. Fifty subjects performed a finger pressing sequence with their right hand at their own pace before and after passive observation of either a 1-min video depicting the task performed at 3 Hz by someone else or a black screen. An additional set of 15 subjects performed the task in an MRI scanner. Across all 50 subjects, the spontaneous execution rate prior to video observation had a bimodal distribution with modes around 2 and 4 Hz. Following video observation, the slower subjects performed the task at an increased rate. In the 15 subjects who performed the task in the MRI scanner, we found positive correlation between fMRI signal in the left primary motor strip during passive video observation and subsequent behavioral changes in task performance rate. We conclude that observing someone else perform an action at a higher rate implicitly increases the spontaneous rate of execution, and that this implicit induction is mediated by activity in the contralateral primary motor cortex.

Grip force and force sharing in two different manipulation tasks with bottles.

PubMed

Cepriá-Bernal, Javier; Pérez-González, Antonio; Mora, Marta C; Sancho-Bru, Joaquín L

2017-07-01

Grip force and force sharing during two activities of daily living were analysed experimentally in 10 right-handed subjects. Four different bottles, filled to two different levels, were manipulated for two tasks: transporting and pouring. Each test subject's hand was instrumented with eight thin wearable force sensors. The grip force and force sharing were significantly different for each bottle model. Increasing the filling level resulted in an increase in grip force, but the ratio of grip force to load force was higher for lighter loads. The task influenced the force sharing but not the mean grip force. The contributions of the thumb and ring finger were higher in the pouring task, whereas the contributions of the palm and the index finger were higher in the transport task. Mean force sharing among fingers was 30% for index, 29% for middle, 22% for ring and 19% for little finger. Practitioner Summary: We analysed grip force and force sharing in two manipulation tasks with bottles: transporting and pouring. The objective was to understand the effects of the bottle features, filling level and task on the contribution of different areas of the hand to the grip force. Force sharing was different for each task and the bottles features affected to both grip force and force sharing.

The inheritance of fingerprint patterns.

PubMed

Slatis, H M; Katznelson, M B; Bonné-Tamir, B

1976-05-01

Analysis of the fingerprints of 571 members of the Habbanite isolate suggest inherited patterns and pattern sequences. A genetic theory has been developed; it assumes that the basic fingerprint pattern sequence is all ulnar loops and that a variety of genes cause deviations from this pattern sequence. Genes that have been proposed include: (1) a semidominant gene for whorls on the thumbs (one homozygote has whorls on both thumbs, the other has ulnar loops on both thumbs and the heterozygote usually has two ulnar loops or one ulnar loop and one whorl); (2) a semidominant gene for whorls on the ring fingers which acts like the gene for whorls on the thumbs; (3) a dominant gene for arches on the thumbs and often on other fingers; (4) one or more dominant genes for arches on the fingers; (5) a dominant gene for whorls on all fingers except for an ulnar loop on the middle finger; (6) a dominant gene for radial loops on the index fingers, frequently associated with an arch on the middle fingers; and (7) a recessive gene for radial loops on the ring and little fingers. These genes may act independently or may show epistasis.

The inheritance of fingerprint patterns.

PubMed Central

Slatis, H M; Katznelson, M B; Bonné-Tamir, B

1976-01-01

Analysis of the fingerprints of 571 members of the Habbanite isolate suggest inherited patterns and pattern sequences. A genetic theory has been developed; it assumes that the basic fingerprint pattern sequence is all ulnar loops and that a variety of genes cause deviations from this pattern sequence. Genes that have been proposed include: (1) a semidominant gene for whorls on the thumbs (one homozygote has whorls on both thumbs, the other has ulnar loops on both thumbs and the heterozygote usually has two ulnar loops or one ulnar loop and one whorl); (2) a semidominant gene for whorls on the ring fingers which acts like the gene for whorls on the thumbs; (3) a dominant gene for arches on the thumbs and often on other fingers; (4) one or more dominant genes for arches on the fingers; (5) a dominant gene for whorls on all fingers except for an ulnar loop on the middle finger; (6) a dominant gene for radial loops on the index fingers, frequently associated with an arch on the middle fingers; and (7) a recessive gene for radial loops on the ring and little fingers. These genes may act independently or may show epistasis. PMID:1266855

Affiliative stimuli as primers to prosocial predispositions.

PubMed

Souza, Gabriela Guerra Leal; Pereira, Mirtes Garcia; Vila, Jaime; Oliveira, Leticia; Volchan, Eliane

2012-03-01

Affiliative stimuli are pleasant and highly biologically relevant. Affiliative cues are thought to elicit a prosocial predisposition. Here affiliative and neutral pictures were exposed prior to a reaction time task which consisted in responding to a visual target. Half the participants responded with finger-flexion, a movement frequently involved in prosocial activities. The other half responded with finger extension, a less prosocially compatible movement. Results showed that under the exposure to affiliative pictures, as compared to neutral ones, participants who used finger flexion were faster, while those using finger extension were slower. Performance benefits to the task, when flexing the finger, together with performance costs, when extending it, indicate the relevance of movement compatibility to the context. These findings put forward a possible link between affiliative primers and motor preparation to facilitate a repertoire of movements related to prosocial predispositions including finger flexion.

Integration of tactile input across fingers in a patient with finger agnosia.

PubMed

Anema, Helen A; Overvliet, Krista E; Smeets, Jeroen B J; Brenner, Eli; Dijkerman, H Chris

2011-01-01

Finger agnosia has been described as an inability to explicitly individuate between the fingers, which is possibly due to fused neural representations of these fingers. Hence, are patients with finger agnosia unable to keep tactile information perceived over several fingers separate? Here, we tested a finger agnosic patient (GO) on two tasks that measured the ability to keep tactile information simultaneously perceived by individual fingers separate. In experiment 1 GO performed a haptic search task, in which a target (the absence of a protruded line) needed to be identified among distracters (protruded lines). The lines were presented simultaneously to the fingertips of both hands. Similarly to the controls, her reaction time decreased when her fingers were aligned as compared to when her fingers were stretched and in an unaligned position. This suggests that she can keep tactile input from different fingers separate. In experiment two, GO was required to judge the position of a target tactile stimulus to the index finger, relatively to a reference tactile stimulus to the middle finger, both in fingers uncrossed and crossed position. GO was able to indicate the relative position of the target stimulus as well as healthy controls, which indicates that she was able to keep tactile information perceived by two neighbouring fingers separate. Interestingly, GO performed better as compared to the healthy controls in the finger crossed condition. Together, these results suggest the GO is able to implicitly distinguish between tactile information perceived by multiple fingers. We therefore conclude that finger agnosia is not caused by minor disruptions of low-level somatosensory processing. These findings further underpin the idea of a selective impaired higher order body representation restricted to the fingers as underlying cause of finger agnosia. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An estimation of finger-tapping rates and load capacities and the effects of various factors.

PubMed

Ekşioğlu, Mahmut; İşeri, Ali

2015-06-01

The aim of this study was to estimate the finger-tapping rates and finger load capacities of eight fingers (excluding thumbs) for a healthy adult population and investigate the effects of various factors on tapping rate. Finger-tapping rate, the total number of finger taps per unit of time, can be used as a design parameter of various products and also as a psychomotor test for evaluating patients with neurologic problems. A 1-min tapping task was performed by 148 participants with maximum volitional tempo for each of eight fingers. For each of the tapping tasks, the participant with the corresponding finger tapped the associated key in the standard position on the home row of a conventional keyboard for touch typing. The index and middle fingers were the fastest fingers for both hands, and little fingers the slowest. All dominant-hand fingers, except little finger, had higher tapping rates than the fastest finger of the nondominant hand. Tapping rate decreased with age and smokers tapped faster than nonsmokers. Tapping duration and exercise had also significant effect on tapping rate. Normative data of tapping rates and load capacities of eight fingers were estimated for the adult population. In designs of psychomotor tests that require the use of tapping rate or finger load capacity data, the effects of finger, age, smoking, and tapping duration need to be taken into account. The findings can be used for ergonomic designs requiring finger-tapping capacity and also as a reference in psychomotor tests. © 2015, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Genome and Transcriptome sequence of Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) provides insights into drought tolerance and nutraceutical properties.

PubMed

Hittalmani, Shailaja; Mahesh, H B; Shirke, Meghana Deepak; Biradar, Hanamareddy; Uday, Govindareddy; Aruna, Y R; Lohithaswa, H C; Mohanrao, A

2017-06-15

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) is an important staple food crop widely grown in Africa and South Asia. Among the millets, finger millet has high amount of calcium, methionine, tryptophan, fiber, and sulphur containing amino acids. In addition, it has C4 photosynthetic carbon assimilation mechanism, which helps to utilize water and nitrogen efficiently under hot and arid conditions without severely affecting yield. Therefore, development and utilization of genomic resources for genetic improvement of this crop is immensely useful. Experimental results from whole genome sequencing and assembling process of ML-365 finger millet cultivar yielded 1196 Mb covering approximately 82% of total estimated genome size. Genome analysis showed the presence of 85,243 genes and one half of the genome is repetitive in nature. The finger millet genome was found to have higher colinearity with foxtail millet and rice as compared to other Poaceae species. Mining of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) yielded abundance of SSRs within the finger millet genome. Functional annotation and mining of transcription factors revealed finger millet genome harbors large number of drought tolerance related genes. Transcriptome analysis of low moisture stress and non-stress samples revealed the identification of several drought-induced candidate genes, which could be used in drought tolerance breeding. This genome sequencing effort will strengthen plant breeders for allele discovery, genetic mapping, and identification of candidate genes for agronomically important traits. Availability of genomic resources of finger millet will enhance the novel breeding possibilities to address potential challenges of finger millet improvement.

Strength training improves the tri-digit finger-pinch force control of older adults.

PubMed

Keogh, Justin W; Morrison, Steve; Barrett, Rod

2007-08-01

To investigate the effect of unilateral upper-limb strength training on the finger-pinch force control of older men. Pretest and post-test 6-week intervention study. Exercise science research laboratory. Eleven neurologically fit older men (age range, 70-80y). The strength training group (n=7) trained twice a week for 6 weeks, performing dumbbell bicep curls, wrist flexions, and wrists extensions, while the control group subjects (n=4) maintained their normal activities. Changes in force variability, targeting error, peak power frequency, proportional power, sample entropy, digit force sharing, and coupling relations were assessed during a series of finger-pinch tasks. These tasks involved maintaining a constant or sinusoidal force output at 20% and 40% of each subject's maximum voluntary contraction. All participants performed the finger-pinch tasks with both the preferred and nonpreferred limbs. Analysis of covariance for between-group change scores indicated that the strength training group (trained limb) experienced significantly greater reductions in finger-pinch force variability and targeting error, as well as significantly greater increases in finger-pinch force, sample entropy, bicep curl, and wrist flexion strength than did the control group. A nonspecific upper-limb strength-training program may improve the finger-pinch force control of older men.

Learning a stick-balancing task involves task-specific coupling between posture and hand displacements.

PubMed

Cluff, Tyler; Boulet, Jason; Balasubramaniam, Ramesh

2011-08-01

Theories of motor learning argue that the acquisition of novel motor skills requires a task-specific organization of sensory and motor subsystems. We examined task-specific coupling between motor subsystems as subjects learned a novel stick-balancing task. We focused on learning-induced changes in finger movements and body sway and investigated the effect of practice on their coupling. Eight subjects practiced balancing a cylindrical wooden stick for 30 min a day during a 20 day learning period. Finger movements and center of pressure trajectories were recorded in every fifth practice session (4 in total) using a ten camera VICON motion capture system interfaced with two force platforms. Motor learning was quantified using average balancing trial lengths, which increased with practice and confirmed that subjects learned the task. Nonlinear time series and phase space reconstruction methods were subsequently used to investigate changes in the spatiotemporal properties of finger movements, body sway and their progressive coupling. Systematic increases in subsystem coupling were observed despite reduced autocorrelation and differences in the temporal properties of center of pressure and finger trajectories. The average duration of these coupled trajectories increased systematically across the learning period. In short, the abrupt transition between coupled and decoupled subsystem dynamics suggested that stick balancing is regulated by a hierarchical control mechanism that switches from collective to independent control of the finger and center of pressure. In addition to traditional measures of motor performance, dynamical analyses revealed changes in motor subsystem organization that occurred when subjects learned a novel stick-balancing task.

Know thyself: behavioral evidence for a structural representation of the human body.

PubMed

Rusconi, Elena; Gonzaga, Mirandola; Adriani, Michela; Braun, Christoph; Haggard, Patrick

2009-01-01

Representing one's own body is often viewed as a basic form of self-awareness. However, little is known about structural representations of the body in the brain. We developed an inter-manual version of the classical "in-between" finger gnosis task: participants judged whether the number of untouched fingers between two touched fingers was the same on both hands, or different. We thereby dissociated structural knowledge about fingers, specifying their order and relative position within a hand, from tactile sensory codes. Judgments following stimulation on homologous fingers were consistently more accurate than trials with no or partial homology. Further experiments showed that structural representations are more enduring than purely sensory codes, are used even when number of fingers is irrelevant to the task, and moreover involve an allocentric representation of finger order, independent of hand posture. Our results suggest the existence of an allocentric representation of body structure at higher stages of the somatosensory processing pathway, in addition to primary sensory representation.

Know Thyself: Behavioral Evidence for a Structural Representation of the Human Body

PubMed Central

Rusconi, Elena; Gonzaga, Mirandola; Adriani, Michela; Braun, Christoph; Haggard, Patrick

2009-01-01

Background Representing one's own body is often viewed as a basic form of self-awareness. However, little is known about structural representations of the body in the brain. Methods and Findings We developed an inter-manual version of the classical “in-between” finger gnosis task: participants judged whether the number of untouched fingers between two touched fingers was the same on both hands, or different. We thereby dissociated structural knowledge about fingers, specifying their order and relative position within a hand, from tactile sensory codes. Judgments following stimulation on homologous fingers were consistently more accurate than trials with no or partial homology. Further experiments showed that structural representations are more enduring than purely sensory codes, are used even when number of fingers is irrelevant to the task, and moreover involve an allocentric representation of finger order, independent of hand posture. Conclusions Our results suggest the existence of an allocentric representation of body structure at higher stages of the somatosensory processing pathway, in addition to primary sensory representation. PMID:19412538

Aging reduces experience-induced sensorimotor plasticity. A magnetoencephalographic study.

PubMed

Mary, Alison; Bourguignon, Mathieu; Wens, Vincent; Op de Beeck, Marc; Leproult, Rachel; De Tiège, Xavier; Peigneux, Philippe

2015-01-01

Modulation of the mu-alpha and mu-beta spontaneous rhythms reflects plastic neural changes within the primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1). Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we investigated how aging modifies experience-induced plasticity after learning a motor sequence, looking at post- vs. pre-learning changes in the modulation of mu rhythms during the execution of simple hand movements. Fifteen young (18-30 years) and fourteen older (65-75 years) right-handed healthy participants performed auditory-cued key presses using all four left fingers simultaneously (Simple Movement task - SMT) during two separate sessions. Following both SMT sessions, they repeatedly practiced a 5-elements sequential finger-tapping task (FTT). Mu power calculated during SMT was averaged across 18 gradiometers covering the right sensorimotor region and compared before vs. after sequence learning in the alpha (9/10/11Hz) and the beta (18/20/22Hz) bands separately. Source power maps in the mu-alpha and mu-beta bands were localized using Dynamic Statistical Parametric Mapping (dSPM). The FTT sequence was performed faster at retest than at the end of the learning session, indicating an offline boost in performance. Analyses conducted on SMT sessions revealed enhanced rebound after learning in the right SM1, 3000-3500ms after the initiation of movement, in young as compared to older participants. Source reconstruction indicated that mu-beta is located in the precentral gyrus (motor processes) and mu-alpha is located in the postcentral gyrus (somatosensory processes) in both groups. The enhanced post-movement rebound in young subjects potentially reflects post-training plastic changes in SM1. Age-related decreases in post-training modulatory effects suggest reduced experience-dependent plasticity in the aging brain. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Central Nervous Insulin Signaling in Sleep-Associated Memory Formation and Neuroendocrine Regulation.

PubMed

Feld, Gordon B; Wilhem, Ines; Benedict, Christian; Rüdel, Benjamin; Klameth, Corinna; Born, Jan; Hallschmid, Manfred

2016-05-01

The neurochemical underpinnings of sleep's contribution to the establishment and maintenance of memory traces are largely unexplored. Considering that intranasal insulin administration to the CNS improves memory functions in healthy and memory-impaired humans, we tested whether brain insulin signaling and sleep interact to enhance memory consolidation in healthy participants. We investigated the effect of intranasal insulin on sleep-associated neurophysiological and neuroendocrine parameters and memory consolidation in 16 men and 16 women (aged 18-30 years), who learned a declarative word-pair task and a procedural finger sequence tapping task in the evening before intranasal insulin (160 IU) or placebo administration and 8 h of nocturnal sleep. On the subsequent evening, they learned interfering word-pairs and a new finger sequence before retrieving the original memories. Insulin increased growth hormone concentrations in the first night-half and EEG delta power during the second 90 min of non-rapid-eye-movement sleep. Insulin treatment impaired the acquisition of new contents in both the declarative and procedural memory systems on the next day, whereas retrieval of original memories was unchanged. Results indicate that sleep-associated memory consolidation is not a primary mediator of insulin's acute memory-improving effect, but that the peptide acts on mechanisms that diminish the subsequent encoding of novel information. Thus, by inhibiting processes of active forgetting during sleep, central nervous insulin might reduce the interfering influence of encoding new information.

Investigation of force, contact area, and dwell time in finger-tapping tasks on membrane touch interface.

PubMed

Liu, Na; Yu, Ruifeng

2018-06-01

This study aimed to determine the touch characteristics during tapping tasks on membrane touch interface and investigate the effects of posture and gender on touch characteristics variables. One hundred participants tapped digits displayed on a membrane touch interface on sitting and standing positions using all fingers of the dominant hand. Touch characteristics measures included average force, contact area, and dwell time. Across fingers and postures, males exerted larger force and contact area than females, but similar dwell time. Across genders and postures, thumb exerted the largest force and the force of the other four fingers showed no significant difference. The contact area of the thumb was the largest, whereas that of the little finger was the smallest; the dwell time of the thumb was the longest, whereas that of the middle finger was the shortest. Relationships among finger sizes, gender, posture and touch characteristics were proposed. The findings helped direct membrane touch interface design for digital and numerical control products from hardware and software perspectives. Practitioner Summary: This study measured force, contact area, and dwell time in tapping tasks on membrane touch interface and examined effects of gender and posture on force, contact area, and dwell time. The findings will direct membrane touch interface design for digital and numerical control products from hardware and software perspectives.

Task-specific kinetic finger tremor affects the performance of carrom players.

PubMed

Kahathuduwa, Chanaka N; Weerasinghe, Vajira S; Dassanayake, Tharaka L; Priyadarshana, Rajeewa; Dissanayake, Arunika L; Perera, Christine

2016-01-01

We aimed to determine the effect of task-specific kinetic finger tremor, as indexed by surface electromyography (EMG), on the accuracy of a carrom stroke. Surface EMG of extensor digitorum communis muscle of the playing arm was recorded during rest, isometric contraction and stroke execution in 17 male carrom players with clinically observed finger tremor and 18 skill- and age-matched controls. Log-transformed power spectral densities (LogPSDs) of surface EMG activity (signifying tremor severity) at a 1-s pre-execution period correlated with angular error of the stroke. LogPSDs in 4-10 Hz range were higher in players with tremor than controls during pre-execution (P < 0.001), but not during the resting state (P = 0.067). Pre-execution tremor amplitude correlated with angular deviation (r = 0.45, P = 0.007). For the first time, we document a task-specific kinetic finger tremor in carrom players. This finger tremor during the immediate pre-execution phase appears to be a significant determinant of stroke accuracy.

On the nature of phase attraction in sensorimotor synchronization with interleaved auditory sequences.

PubMed

Repp, Bruno H

2004-10-01

In a task that requires in-phase synchronization of finger taps with an isochronous sequence of target tones that is interleaved with a sequence of distractor tones at various fixed phase relationships, the taps tend to be attracted to the distractor tones, especially when the distractor tones closely precede the target tones [Repp, B. H. (2003a). Phase attraction in sensorimotor synchronization with auditory sequences: Effects of single and periodic distractors on synchronization accuracy. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 29, 290-309]. The present research addressed two related questions about this distractor effect: (1) Is it a function of the absolute temporal separation or of the relative phase of the two stimulus sequences? (2) Is it the result of perceptual grouping (integration) of target and distractor tones or of simultaneous attraction to two independent sequences? In three experiments, distractor effects were compared across two different sequence rates. The results suggest that absolute temporal separation, not relative phase, is the critical variable. Experiment 3 also included an anti-phase tapping task that addressed the second question directly. The results suggest that the attraction of taps to distractor tones is caused mainly by temporal integration of target and distractor tones within a fixed window of 100-150 ms duration, with the earlier-occurring tone being weighted more strongly than the later-occurring one.

One Digit Interruption: The Altered Force Patterns during Functionally Cylindrical Grasping Tasks in Patients with Trigger Digits

PubMed Central

Chen, Po-Tsun; Lin, Chien-Ju; Jou, I-Ming; Chieh, Hsiao-Feng; Su, Fong-Chin; Kuo, Li-Chieh

2013-01-01

Most trigger digit (TD) patients complain that they have problems using their hand in daily or occupational tasks due to single or multiple digits being affected. Unfortunately, clinicians do not know much about how this disease affects the subtle force coordination among digits during manipulation. Thus, this study examined the differences in force patterns during cylindrical grasp between TD and healthy subjects. Forty-two TD patients with single digit involvement were included and sorted into four groups based on the involved digits, including thumb, index, middle and ring fingers. Twelve healthy subjects volunteered as healthy controls. Two testing tasks, holding and drinking, were performed by natural grasping with minimal forces. The relations between the force of the thumb and each finger were examined by Pearson correlation coefficients. The force amount and contribution of each digit were compared between healthy controls and each TD group by the independent t test. The results showed all TD groups demonstrated altered correlation patterns of the thumb relative to each finger. Larger forces and higher contributions of the index finger were found during holding by patients with index finger involved, and also during drinking by patients with affected thumb and with affected middle finger. Although no triggering symptom occurred during grasping, the patients showed altered force patterns which may be related to the role of the affected digit in natural grasping function. In conclusion, even if only one digit was affected, the subtle force coordination of all the digits was altered during simple tasks among the TD patients. This study provides the information for the future studies to further comprehend the possible injuries secondary to the altered finger coordination and also to adopt suitable treatment strategies. PMID:24391799

One digit interruption: the altered force patterns during functionally cylindrical grasping tasks in patients with trigger digits.

PubMed

Chen, Po-Tsun; Lin, Chien-Ju; Jou, I-Ming; Chieh, Hsiao-Feng; Su, Fong-Chin; Kuo, Li-Chieh

2013-01-01

Most trigger digit (TD) patients complain that they have problems using their hand in daily or occupational tasks due to single or multiple digits being affected. Unfortunately, clinicians do not know much about how this disease affects the subtle force coordination among digits during manipulation. Thus, this study examined the differences in force patterns during cylindrical grasp between TD and healthy subjects. Forty-two TD patients with single digit involvement were included and sorted into four groups based on the involved digits, including thumb, index, middle and ring fingers. Twelve healthy subjects volunteered as healthy controls. Two testing tasks, holding and drinking, were performed by natural grasping with minimal forces. The relations between the force of the thumb and each finger were examined by Pearson correlation coefficients. The force amount and contribution of each digit were compared between healthy controls and each TD group by the independent t test. The results showed all TD groups demonstrated altered correlation patterns of the thumb relative to each finger. Larger forces and higher contributions of the index finger were found during holding by patients with index finger involved, and also during drinking by patients with affected thumb and with affected middle finger. Although no triggering symptom occurred during grasping, the patients showed altered force patterns which may be related to the role of the affected digit in natural grasping function. In conclusion, even if only one digit was affected, the subtle force coordination of all the digits was altered during simple tasks among the TD patients. This study provides the information for the future studies to further comprehend the possible injuries secondary to the altered finger coordination and also to adopt suitable treatment strategies.

Melodic Priming of Motor Sequence Performance: The Role of the Dorsal Premotor Cortex.

PubMed

Stephan, Marianne A; Brown, Rachel; Lega, Carlotta; Penhune, Virginia

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether exposure to specific auditory sequences leads to the induction of new motor memories and to investigate the role of the dorsal premotor cortex (dPMC) in this crossmodal learning process. Fifty-two young healthy non-musicians were familiarized with the sound to key-press mapping on a computer keyboard and tested on their baseline motor performance. Each participant received subsequently either continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) or sham stimulation over the dPMC and was then asked to remember a 12-note melody without moving. For half of the participants, the contour of the melody memorized was congruent to a subsequently performed, but never practiced, finger movement sequence (Congruent group). For the other half, the melody memorized was incongruent to the subsequent finger movement sequence (Incongruent group). Hearing a congruent melody led to significantly faster performance of a motor sequence immediately thereafter compared to hearing an incongruent melody. In addition, cTBS speeded up motor performance in both groups, possibly by relieving motor consolidation from interference by the declarative melody memorization task. Our findings substantiate recent evidence that exposure to a movement-related tone sequence can induce specific, crossmodal encoding of a movement sequence representation. They further suggest that cTBS over the dPMC may enhance early offline procedural motor skill consolidation in cognitive states where motor consolidation would normally be disturbed by concurrent declarative memory processes. These findings may contribute to a better understanding of auditory-motor system interactions and have implications for the development of new motor rehabilitation approaches using sound and non-invasive brain stimulation as neuromodulatory tools.

Reorganization of finger coordination patterns through motor exploration in individuals after stroke.

PubMed

Ranganathan, Rajiv

2017-09-11

Impairment of hand and finger function after stroke is common and affects the ability to perform activities of daily living. Even though many of these coordination deficits such as finger individuation have been well characterized, it is critical to understand how stroke survivors learn to explore and reorganize their finger coordination patterns for optimizing rehabilitation. In this study, I examine the use of a body-machine interface to assess how participants explore their movement repertoire, and how this changes with continued practice. Ten participants with chronic stroke wore a data glove and the finger joint angles were mapped on to the position of a cursor on a screen. The task of the participants was to move the cursor back and forth between two specified targets on a screen. Critically, the map between the finger movements and cursor motion was altered so that participants sometimes had to generate coordination patterns that required finger individuation. There were two phases to the experiment - an initial assessment phase on day 1, followed by a learning phase (days 2-5) where participants trained to reorganize their coordination patterns. Participants showed difficulty in performing tasks which had maps that required finger individuation, and the degree to which they explored their movement repertoire was directly related to clinical tests of hand function. However, over four sessions of practice, participants were able to learn to reorganize their finger movement coordination pattern and improve their performance. Moreover, training also resulted in improvements in movement repertoire outside of the context of the specific task during free exploration. Stroke survivors show deficits in movement repertoire in their paretic hand, but facilitating movement exploration during training can increase the movement repertoire. This suggests that exploration may be an important element of rehabilitation to regain optimal function.

Early-Stage Chunking of Finger Tapping Sequences by Persons Who Stutter and Fluent Speakers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smits-Bandstra, Sarah; De Nil, Luc F.

2013-01-01

This research note explored the hypothesis that chunking differences underlie the slow finger-tap sequencing performance reported in the literature for persons who stutter (PWS) relative to fluent speakers (PNS). Early-stage chunking was defined as an immediate and spontaneous tendency to organize a long sequence into pauses, for motor planning,…

Interference effects between memory systems in the acquisition of a skill.

PubMed

Gagné, Marie-Hélène; Cohen, Henri

2016-10-01

There is now converging evidence that the declarative memory system (hippocampus dependent) contributes to sequential motor learning in concert with the procedural memory system (striatum dependent). Because of the competition for shared neuronal resources, introducing a declarative memory task can impair learning of a new motor sequence and interference may occur during the procedural consolidation process. Here, we investigated the extent to which interference effects between memory systems are seen at the retrieval phase of skill learning. Healthy participants were assigned to a control (n = 15) or a declarative condition (n = 15) and trained on a sequence of finger movements (FOS task). Both groups showed similar improvement at the end of the practice session on the first day. Twenty-four hours later, controls were tested solely on the FOS task, while subjects in the declarative condition first engaged in a visuospatial task. Additional offline gains in performance were observed only in the control condition. The introduction of a visuospatial memory task just before retrieval of the motor skill was sufficient to eliminate these gains. This suggests that interference between procedural and declarative memory systems may also occur during subsequent motor recall. It is proposed that the interference effects are linked, in part, to the spatial nature of the motor and declarative tasks, which specifically depends upon hippocampal involvement.

An augmented reality home-training system based on the mirror training and imagery approach.

PubMed

Trojan, Jörg; Diers, Martin; Fuchs, Xaver; Bach, Felix; Bekrater-Bodmann, Robin; Foell, Jens; Kamping, Sandra; Rance, Mariela; Maaß, Heiko; Flor, Herta

2014-09-01

Mirror training and movement imagery have been demonstrated to be effective in treating several clinical conditions, such as phantom limb pain, stroke-induced hemiparesis, and complex regional pain syndrome. This article presents an augmented reality home-training system based on the mirror and imagery treatment approaches for hand training. A head-mounted display equipped with cameras captures one hand held in front of the body, mirrors this hand, and displays it in real time in a set of four different training tasks: (1) flexing fingers in a predefined sequence, (2) moving the hand into a posture fitting into a silhouette template, (3) driving a "Snake" video game with the index finger, and (4) grasping and moving a virtual ball. The system records task performance and transfers these data to a central server via the Internet, allowing monitoring of training progress. We evaluated the system by having 7 healthy participants train with it over the course of ten sessions of 15-min duration. No technical problems emerged during this time. Performance indicators showed that the system achieves a good balance between relatively easy and more challenging tasks and that participants improved significantly over the training sessions. This suggests that the system is well suited to maintain motivation in patients, especially when it is used for a prolonged period of time.

Comparative functional MRI study to assess brain activation upon active and passive finger movements in patients with cerebral infarction.

PubMed

Fu, Yue; Zhang, Quan; Zhang, Jing; Zhang, Yun Ting

2015-01-01

To compare the effects of active and passive movements on brain activation in patients with cerebral infarction using fMRI. Twenty-four hemiplegic patients with cerebral infarction were evaluated using fMRI. All patients performed active and passive finger opposition movements. Patients were instructed to perform the finger opposition movement for the active movement task. For the passive movement task, the subject's fingers were moved by the examiner to perform the finger opposition movement. Statistical parametric mapping software was used for statistical analyses and to process all data. In the affected hemisphere, sensorimotor cortex (SMC) activation intensity and range were significantly stronger during the passive movement of the affected fingers compared to the active movement of the affected fingers (p < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences between active and passive movements of unaffected fingers in SMC activation intensity and range in the unaffected hemisphere (p > 0.05). In addition, the passive movement activated many other regions of the brain. The brain regions activated by passive movements of the affected fingers tended to center toward the contralateral SMC. Our findings suggest that passive movements induce cortical reorganization in patients with cerebral infarction. Therefore, passive movement is likely beneficial for motor function recovery in patients with cerebral infarction.

Transcriptome wide identification and characterization of starch branching enzyme in finger millet.

PubMed

Tyagi, Rajhans; Tiwari, Apoorv; Garg, Vijay Kumar; Gupta, Sanjay

2017-01-01

Starch-branching enzymes (SBEs) are one of the four major enzyme classes involved in starch biosynthesis in plants and play an important role in determining the structure and physical properties of starch granules. Multiple SBEs are involved in starch biosynthesis in plants. Finger millet is calcium rich important serial crop belongs to grass family and the transcriptome data of developing spikes is available on NCBI. In this study it was try to find out the gene sequence of starch branching enzyme and annotate the sequence and submit the sequence for further use. Rice SBE sequence was taken as reference and for characterization of the sequence different in silico tools were used. Four domains were found in the finger millet Starch branching enzyme like alpha amylase catalytic domain from 925 to2172 with E value 0, N-terminal Early set domain from 634 to 915 with E value 1.62 e-42, Alpha amylase, C-terminal all-beta domain from 2224 to 2511 with E value 5.80e-24 and 1,4-alpha-glucan-branching enzyme from 421 to 2517 with E value 0. Major binding interactions with the GLC (alpha-d-glucose), CA (calcium ion), GOL (glycerol), TRS (2-amino-2-hydroxymethylpropane- 1, 3-diol), MG (magnesium ion) and FLC (citrate anion) are fond with different residues. It was found in the phylogenetic study of the finger millet SBE with the 6 species of grass family that two clusters were form A and B. In cluster A, finger millet showed closeness with Oryzasativa and Setariaitalica, Sorghum bicolour and Zea mays while cluster B was formed with Triticumaestivum and Brachypodium distachyon. The nucleotide sequence of Finger millet SBE was submitted to NCBI with the accession no KY648913 and protein structure of SBE of finger millet was also submitted in PMDB with the PMDB id - PM0080938. This research presents a comparative overview of Finger millet SBE and includes their properties, structural and functional characteristics, and recent developments on their post-translational regulation.

The multi-zinc finger protein ZNF217 contacts DNA through a two-finger domain.

PubMed

Nunez, Noelia; Clifton, Molly M K; Funnell, Alister P W; Artuz, Crisbel; Hallal, Samantha; Quinlan, Kate G R; Font, Josep; Vandevenne, Marylène; Setiyaputra, Surya; Pearson, Richard C M; Mackay, Joel P; Crossley, Merlin

2011-11-04

Classical C2H2 zinc finger proteins are among the most abundant transcription factors found in eukaryotes, and the mechanisms through which they recognize their target genes have been extensively investigated. In general, a tandem array of three fingers separated by characteristic TGERP links is required for sequence-specific DNA recognition. Nevertheless, a significant number of zinc finger proteins do not contain a hallmark three-finger array of this type, raising the question of whether and how they contact DNA. We have examined the multi-finger protein ZNF217, which contains eight classical zinc fingers. ZNF217 is implicated as an oncogene and in repressing the E-cadherin gene. We show that two of its zinc fingers, 6 and 7, can mediate contacts with DNA. We examine its putative recognition site in the E-cadherin promoter and demonstrate that this is a suboptimal site. NMR analysis and mutagenesis is used to define the DNA binding surface of ZNF217, and we examine the specificity of the DNA binding activity using fluorescence anisotropy titrations. Finally, sequence analysis reveals that a variety of multi-finger proteins also contain two-finger units, and our data support the idea that these may constitute a distinct subclass of DNA recognition motif.

The Multi-zinc Finger Protein ZNF217 Contacts DNA through a Two-finger Domain*

PubMed Central

Nunez, Noelia; Clifton, Molly M. K.; Funnell, Alister P. W.; Artuz, Crisbel; Hallal, Samantha; Quinlan, Kate G. R.; Font, Josep; Vandevenne, Marylène; Setiyaputra, Surya; Pearson, Richard C. M.; Mackay, Joel P.; Crossley, Merlin

2011-01-01

Classical C2H2 zinc finger proteins are among the most abundant transcription factors found in eukaryotes, and the mechanisms through which they recognize their target genes have been extensively investigated. In general, a tandem array of three fingers separated by characteristic TGERP links is required for sequence-specific DNA recognition. Nevertheless, a significant number of zinc finger proteins do not contain a hallmark three-finger array of this type, raising the question of whether and how they contact DNA. We have examined the multi-finger protein ZNF217, which contains eight classical zinc fingers. ZNF217 is implicated as an oncogene and in repressing the E-cadherin gene. We show that two of its zinc fingers, 6 and 7, can mediate contacts with DNA. We examine its putative recognition site in the E-cadherin promoter and demonstrate that this is a suboptimal site. NMR analysis and mutagenesis is used to define the DNA binding surface of ZNF217, and we examine the specificity of the DNA binding activity using fluorescence anisotropy titrations. Finally, sequence analysis reveals that a variety of multi-finger proteins also contain two-finger units, and our data support the idea that these may constitute a distinct subclass of DNA recognition motif. PMID:21908891

Equifinality and its violations in a redundant system: multifinger accurate force production.

PubMed

Wilhelm, Luke; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M; Latash, Mark L

2013-10-01

We explored a hypothesis that transient perturbations applied to a redundant system result in equifinality in the space of task-related performance variables but not in the space of elemental variables. The subjects pressed with four fingers and produced an accurate constant total force level. The "inverse piano" device was used to lift and lower one of the fingers smoothly. The subjects were instructed "not to intervene voluntarily" with possible force changes. Analysis was performed in spaces of finger forces and finger modes (hypothetical neural commands to fingers) as elemental variables. Lifting a finger led to an increase in its force and a decrease in the forces of the other three fingers; the total force increased. Lowering the finger back led to a drop in the force of the perturbed finger. At the final state, the sum of the variances of finger forces/modes computed across repetitive trials was significantly higher than the variance of the total force/mode. Most variance of the individual finger force/mode changes between the preperturbation and postperturbation states was compatible with constant total force. We conclude that a transient perturbation applied to a redundant system leads to relatively small variance in the task-related performance variable (equifinality), whereas in the space of elemental variables much more variance occurs that does not lead to total force changes. We interpret the results within a general theoretical scheme that incorporates the ideas of hierarchically organized control, control with referent configurations, synergic control, and the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis.

Losing dexterity: patterns of impaired coordination of finger movements in musician’s dystonia

PubMed Central

Furuya, Shinichi; Tominaga, Kenta; Miyazaki, Fumio; Altenmüller, Eckart

2015-01-01

Extensive training can bring about highly-skilled action, but may also impair motor dexterity by producing involuntary movements and muscular cramping, as seen in focal dystonia (FD) and tremor. To elucidate the underlying neuroplastic mechanisms of FD, the present study addressed the organization of finger movements during piano performance in pianists suffering from the condition. Principal component (PC) analysis identified three patterns of fundamental joint coordination constituting finger movements in both patients and controls. The first two coordination patterns described less individuated movements between the “dystonic” finger and key-striking fingers for patients compared to controls. The third coordination pattern, representing the individuation of movements between the middle and ring fingers, was evident during a sequence of strikes with these fingers in controls, which was absent in the patients. Consequently, rhythmic variability of keystrokes was more pronounced during this sequence of strikes for the patients. A stepwise multiple-regression analysis further identified greater variability of keystrokes for individuals displaying less individuated movements between the affected and striking fingers. The findings suggest that FD alters dexterous joint coordination so as to lower independent control of finger movements, and thereby degrades fine motor control. PMID:26289433

Genotyping-by-Sequencing Analysis for Determining Population Structure of Finger Millet Germplasm of Diverse Origins.

PubMed

Kumar, Anil; Sharma, Divya; Tiwari, Apoorv; Jaiswal, J P; Singh, N K; Sood, Salej

2016-07-01

Finger millet [ (L.) Gaertn.] is grown mainly by subsistence farmers in arid and semiarid regions of the world. To broaden its genetic base and to boost its production, it is of paramount importance to characterize and genotype the diverse gene pool of this important food and nutritional security crop. However, as a result of nonavailability of the genome sequence of finger millet, the progress could not be made in realizing the molecular basis of unique qualities of the crop. In the present investigation, attempts have been made to characterize the genetically diverse collection of 113 finger millet accessions through whole-genome genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), which resulted in a genome-wide set of 23,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) segregating across the entire collection and several thousand SNPs segregating within every accession. A model-based population structure analysis reveals the presence of three subpopulations among the finger millet accessions, which are in parallel with the results of phylogenetic analysis. The observed population structure is consistent with the hypothesis that finger millet was domesticated first in Africa, and from there it was introduced to India some 3000 yr ago. A total of 1128 gene ontology (GO) terms were assigned to SNP-carrying genes for three main categories: biological process, cellular component, and molecular function. Facilitated access to high-throughput genotyping and sequencing technologies are likely to improve the breeding process in developing countries, and as such, this data will be very useful to breeders who are working for the genetic improvement of finger millet. Copyright © 2016 Crop Science Society of America.

An involuntary stereotypical grasp tendency pervades voluntary dynamic multifinger manipulation

PubMed Central

Rácz, Kornelius; Brown, Daniel

2012-01-01

We used a novel apparatus with three hinged finger pads to characterize collaborative multifinger interactions during dynamic manipulation requiring individuated control of fingertip motions and forces. Subjects placed the thumb, index, and middle fingertips on each hinged finger pad and held it—unsupported—with constant total grasp force while voluntarily oscillating the thumb's pad. This task combines the need to 1) hold the object against gravity while 2) dynamically reconfiguring the grasp. Fingertip force variability in this combined motion and force task exhibited strong synchrony among normal (i.e., grasp) forces. Mechanical analysis and simulation show that such synchronous variability is unnecessary and cannot be explained solely by signal-dependent noise. Surprisingly, such variability also pervaded control tasks requiring different individuated fingertip motions and forces, but not tasks without finger individuation such as static grasp. These results critically extend notions of finger force variability by exposing and quantifying a pervasive challenge to dynamic multifinger manipulation: the need for the neural controller to carefully and continuously overlay individuated finger actions over mechanically unnecessary synchronous interactions. This is compatible with—and may explain—the phenomenology of strong coupling of hand muscles when this delicate balance is not yet developed, as in early childhood, or when disrupted, as in brain injury. We conclude that the control of healthy multifinger dynamic manipulation has barely enough neuromechanical degrees of freedom to meet the multiple demands of ecological tasks and critically depends on the continuous inhibition of synchronous grasp tendencies, which we speculate may be of vestigial evolutionary origin. PMID:22956798

Predicting Job Performance for the Visually Impaired: Validity of the Fine Finger Dexterity Work Task.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giesen, J. Martin; And Others

The study was designed to determine the reliability and criterion validity of a psychomotor performance test (the Fine Finger Dexterity Work Task Unit) with 40 partially or totally blind adults. Reliability was established by using the test-retest method. A supervisory rating was developed and the reliability established by using the split-half…

The Speech Focus Position Effect on Jaw-Finger Coordination in a Pointing Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rochet-Capellan, Amelie; Laboissiere, Rafael; Galvan, Arturo; Schwartz, Jean-Luc

2008-01-01

Purpose: This article investigates jaw-finger coordination in a task involving pointing to a target while naming it with a 'CVCV (e.g., /'papa/) versus CV'CV (e.g., /pa'pa/) word. According to the authors' working hypothesis, the pointing apex (gesture extremum) would be synchronized with the apex of the jaw-opening gesture corresponding to the…

Ergonomic design and evaluation of new surgical scissors.

PubMed

Shimomura, Yoshihiro; Shirakawa, Hironori; Sekine, Masashi; Katsuura, Tetsuo; Igarashi, Tatsuo

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to design a new surgical scissors handle and determine its effectiveness with various usability indices. A new scissors handle was designed that retains the professional grip but has the shapes of the eye rings modified to fit the thumb and ring finger and finger rests for the index and little finger. The newly designed scissors and traditional scissors were compared by electromyography, subjective evaluation and task performance in experiments using cutting and peeling tasks. The newly designed scissors reduced muscle load in both hand during cutting by the closing action, and reduced the muscle load in the left hand during peeling by the opening action through active use of the right hand. In evaluation by surgeons, task performance improved in addition to the decrease in muscle load. The newly designed scissors used in this study demonstrated high usability. A new scissors handle was designed that has the eye rings modified to fit the thumb and ring finger. The newly designed scissors reduced muscle load and enabled active use of the right hand. In evaluation by surgeons, task performance improved in addition to the decrease in muscle load.

Instrumented Glove Measures Positions Of Fingers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bozeman, Richard J., Jr.

1993-01-01

Glove instrumented with flat membrane potentiometers to obtain crude measurements of relative positions of fingers. Resistance of each potentiometer varies with position of associated finger; translator circuit connected to each potentiometer converts analog reading to 1 of 10 digital levels. Digitized outputs from all fingers fed to indicating, recording, and/or data-processing equipment. Gloves and circuits intended for use in biomedical research, training in critical manual tasks, and other specialized applications.

The speech focus position effect on jaw-finger coordination in a pointing task.

PubMed

Rochet-Capellan, Amélie; Laboissière, Rafael; Galván, Arturo; Schwartz, Jean-Luc

2008-12-01

This article investigates jaw-finger coordination in a task involving pointing to a target while naming it with a CVCV (e.g., /papa/) versus CVCV (e.g., /papa/) word. According to the authors' working hypothesis, the pointing apex (gesture extremum) would be synchronized with the apex of the jaw-opening gesture corresponding to the stressed syllable. Jaw and finger motions were recorded using Optotrak (Northern Digital, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada). The effects of stress position on jaw-finger coordination were tested across different target positions (near vs. far) and different consonants in the target word (/t/ vs. /p/). Twenty native Portuguese Brazilian speakers participated in the experiment (all conditions). Jaw response starts earlier, and finger-target alignment period is longer for CVCV words than for CVCV ones. The apex of the jaw-opening gesture for the stressed syllable appears synchronized with the onset of the finger-target alignment period (corresponding to the pointing apex) for CVCV words and with the offset of that period for CVCV words. For both stress conditions, the stressed syllable occurs within the finger-target alignment period because of tight finger-jaw coordination. This result is interpreted as evidence for an anchoring of the speech deictic site (part of speech that shows) in the pointing gesture.

Response Preparation with Static versus Moving Hands

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adam, Jos J.; Moresi, Sofie

2007-01-01

This research tested the response inhibition account of the hand-advantage found in the finger precuing task. According to this account, the advantage of preparing two fingers on one hand (represented in one hemisphere) as opposed to preparing two fingers on two hands (represented in two hemispheres) is due, in part, to a response inhibition…

Equifinality and its violations in a redundant system: multifinger accurate force production

PubMed Central

Wilhelm, Luke; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M.

2013-01-01

We explored a hypothesis that transient perturbations applied to a redundant system result in equifinality in the space of task-related performance variables but not in the space of elemental variables. The subjects pressed with four fingers and produced an accurate constant total force level. The “inverse piano” device was used to lift and lower one of the fingers smoothly. The subjects were instructed “not to intervene voluntarily” with possible force changes. Analysis was performed in spaces of finger forces and finger modes (hypothetical neural commands to fingers) as elemental variables. Lifting a finger led to an increase in its force and a decrease in the forces of the other three fingers; the total force increased. Lowering the finger back led to a drop in the force of the perturbed finger. At the final state, the sum of the variances of finger forces/modes computed across repetitive trials was significantly higher than the variance of the total force/mode. Most variance of the individual finger force/mode changes between the preperturbation and postperturbation states was compatible with constant total force. We conclude that a transient perturbation applied to a redundant system leads to relatively small variance in the task-related performance variable (equifinality), whereas in the space of elemental variables much more variance occurs that does not lead to total force changes. We interpret the results within a general theoretical scheme that incorporates the ideas of hierarchically organized control, control with referent configurations, synergic control, and the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis. PMID:23904497

Interaction of finger enslaving and error compensation in multiple finger force production.

PubMed

Martin, Joel R; Latash, Mark L; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M

2009-01-01

Previous studies have documented two patterns of finger interaction during multi-finger pressing tasks, enslaving and error compensation, which do not agree with each other. Enslaving is characterized by positive correlation between instructed (master) and non-instructed (slave) finger(s) while error compensation can be described as a pattern of negative correlation between master and slave fingers. We hypothesize that pattern of finger interaction, enslaving or compensation depends on the initial force level and the magnitude of the targeted force change. Subjects were instructed to press with four fingers (I index, M middle, R ring, and L little) from a specified initial force to target forces following a ramp target line. Force-force relations between master and each of three slave fingers were analyzed during the ramp phase of trials by calculating correlation coefficients within each master-slave pair and then two-factor ANOVA was performed to determine effect of initial force and force increase on the correlation coefficients. It was found that, as initial force increased, the value of the correlation coefficient decreased and in some cases became negative, i.e. the enslaving transformed into error compensation. Force increase magnitude had a smaller effect on the correlation coefficients. The observations support the hypothesis that the pattern of inter-finger interaction--enslaving or compensation--depends on the initial force level and, to a smaller degree, on the targeted magnitude of the force increase. They suggest that the controller views tasks with higher steady-state forces and smaller force changes as implying a requirement to avoid large changes in the total force.

Successful Graded Mirror Therapy in a Patient with Chronic Deafferentation Pain in Whom Traditional Mirror Therapy was Ineffective: A Case Report.

PubMed

Mibu, Akira; Nishigami, Tomohiko; Tanaka, Katsuyoshi; Osumi, Michihiro; Tanabe, Akihito

2016-04-01

A 43-year-old man had deafferentation pain in his right upper extremity secondary to brachial plexus avulsion from a traffic accident 23 years previously. On our initial examination, he had severe tingling pain with numbness in the right fingers rated 10 on the numerical rating scale. The body perception of the affected third and fourth fingers was distorted in the flexed position. Although he performed traditional mirror therapy (TMT) for 4 weeks in the same methods as seen in previous studies, he could not obtain willed motor imagery and pain-alleviation effect. Therefore, we modified the task of TMT: Graded mirror therapy (GMT). GMT consisted of five stages: (1) observation of the mirror reflection of the unaffected side without imagining any movements of the affected side; (2) observation of the mirror reflection of the third and fourth fingers changing shape gradually adjusted from a flexed position to a extended position; (3) observation of the mirror reflection of passive movement; (4) motor imagery of affected fingers with observation of the mirror reflection (similar to TMT); (5) motor imagery of affected fingers without mirror. Each task was performed for 3 to 4 weeks. As a result, pain intensity during mirror therapy gradually decreased and finally disappeared. The body perception of the affected fingers also improved, and he could imagine the movement of the fingers with or without mirror. We suggested that GMT starting from the observation task without motor imagery may effectively decrease deafferentation pain compared to TMT. © 2016 World Institute of Pain.

Neural control of finger movement via intracortical brain-machine interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Irwin, Z. T.; Schroeder, K. E.; Vu, P. P.; Bullard, A. J.; Tat, D. M.; Nu, C. S.; Vaskov, A.; Nason, S. R.; Thompson, D. E.; Bentley, J. N.; Patil, P. G.; Chestek, C. A.

2017-12-01

Objective. Intracortical brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) are a promising source of prosthesis control signals for individuals with severe motor disabilities. Previous BMI studies have primarily focused on predicting and controlling whole-arm movements; precise control of hand kinematics, however, has not been fully demonstrated. Here, we investigate the continuous decoding of precise finger movements in rhesus macaques. Approach. In order to elicit precise and repeatable finger movements, we have developed a novel behavioral task paradigm which requires the subject to acquire virtual fingertip position targets. In the physical control condition, four rhesus macaques performed this task by moving all four fingers together in order to acquire a single target. This movement was equivalent to controlling the aperture of a power grasp. During this task performance, we recorded neural spikes from intracortical electrode arrays in primary motor cortex. Main results. Using a standard Kalman filter, we could reconstruct continuous finger movement offline with an average correlation of ρ  =  0.78 between actual and predicted position across four rhesus macaques. For two of the monkeys, this movement prediction was performed in real-time to enable direct brain control of the virtual hand. Compared to physical control, neural control performance was slightly degraded; however, the monkeys were still able to successfully perform the task with an average target acquisition rate of 83.1%. The monkeys’ ability to arbitrarily specify fingertip position was also quantified using an information throughput metric. During brain control task performance, the monkeys achieved an average 1.01 bits s-1 throughput, similar to that achieved in previous studies which decoded upper-arm movements to control computer cursors using a standard Kalman filter. Significance. This is, to our knowledge, the first demonstration of brain control of finger-level fine motor skills. We believe that these results represent an important step towards full and dexterous control of neural prosthetic devices.

Molecular cloning and characterization of a novel RING zinc-finger protein gene up-regulated under in vitro salt stress in cassava.

PubMed

dos Reis, Sávio Pinho; Tavares, Liliane de Souza Conceição; Costa, Carinne de Nazaré Monteiro; Brígida, Aílton Borges Santa; de Souza, Cláudia Regina Batista

2012-06-01

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is one of the world's most important food crops. It is cultivated mainly in developing countries of tropics, since its root is a major source of calories for low-income people due to its high productivity and resistance to many abiotic and biotic factors. A previous study has identified a partial cDNA sequence coding for a putative RING zinc finger in cassava storage root. The RING zinc finger protein is a specialized type of zinc finger protein found in many organisms. Here, we isolated the full-length cDNA sequence coding for M. esculenta RZF (MeRZF) protein by a combination of 5' and 3' RACE assays. BLAST analysis showed that its deduced amino acid sequence has a high level of similarity to plant proteins of RZF family. MeRZF protein contains a signature sequence motif for a RING zinc finger at its C-terminal region. In addition, this protein showed a histidine residue at the fifth coordination site, likely belonging to the RING-H2 subgroup, as confirmed by our phylogenetic analysis. There is also a transmembrane domain in its N-terminal region. Finally, semi-quantitative RT-PCR assays showed that MeRZF expression is increased in detached leaves treated with sodium chloride. Here, we report the first evidence of a RING zinc finger gene of cassava showing potential role in response to salt stress.

Early-stage chunking of finger tapping sequences by persons who stutter and fluent speakers.

PubMed

Smits-Bandstra, Sarah; De Nil, Luc F

2013-01-01

This research note explored the hypothesis that chunking differences underlie the slow finger-tap sequencing performance reported in the literature for persons who stutter (PWS) relative to fluent speakers (PNS). Early-stage chunking was defined as an immediate and spontaneous tendency to organize a long sequence into pauses, for motor planning, and chunks of fluent motor performance. A previously published study in which 12 PWS and 12 matched PNS practised a 10-item finger tapping sequence 30 times was examined. Both groups significantly decreased the duration of between-chunk intervals (BCIs) and within-chunk intervals (WCIs) over practice. PNS had significantly shorter WCIs relative to PWS, but minimal differences between groups were found for the number of, or duration of, BCI. Results imply that sequencing differences found between PNS and PWS may be due to differences in automatizing movements within chunks or retrieving chunks from memory rather than chunking per se.

Identification of SNP and SSR Markers in Finger Millet Using Next Generation Sequencing Technologies

PubMed Central

Gimode, Davis; Odeny, Damaris A.; de Villiers, Etienne P.; Wanyonyi, Solomon; Dida, Mathews M.; Mneney, Emmarold E.; Muchugi, Alice; Machuka, Jesse; de Villiers, Santie M.

2016-01-01

Finger millet is an important cereal crop in eastern Africa and southern India with excellent grain storage quality and unique ability to thrive in extreme environmental conditions. Since negligible attention has been paid to improving this crop to date, the current study used Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies to develop both Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) and Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers. Genomic DNA from cultivated finger millet genotypes KNE755 and KNE796 was sequenced using both Roche 454 and Illumina technologies. Non-organelle sequencing reads were assembled into 207 Mbp representing approximately 13% of the finger millet genome. We identified 10,327 SSRs and 23,285 non-homeologous SNPs and tested 101 of each for polymorphism across a diverse set of wild and cultivated finger millet germplasm. For the 49 polymorphic SSRs, the mean polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.42, ranging from 0.16 to 0.77. We also validated 92 SNP markers, 80 of which were polymorphic with a mean PIC of 0.29 across 30 wild and 59 cultivated accessions. Seventy-six of the 80 SNPs were polymorphic across 30 wild germplasm with a mean PIC of 0.30 while only 22 of the SNP markers showed polymorphism among the 59 cultivated accessions with an average PIC value of 0.15. Genetic diversity analysis using the polymorphic SNP markers revealed two major clusters; one of wild and another of cultivated accessions. Detailed STRUCTURE analysis confirmed this grouping pattern and further revealed 2 sub-populations within wild E. coracana subsp. africana. Both STRUCTURE and genetic diversity analysis assisted with the correct identification of the new germplasm collections. These polymorphic SSR and SNP markers are a significant addition to the existing 82 published SSRs, especially with regard to the previously reported low polymorphism levels in finger millet. Our results also reveal an unexploited finger millet genetic resource that can be included in the regional breeding programs in order to efficiently optimize productivity. PMID:27454301

Identification of SNP and SSR Markers in Finger Millet Using Next Generation Sequencing Technologies.

PubMed

Gimode, Davis; Odeny, Damaris A; de Villiers, Etienne P; Wanyonyi, Solomon; Dida, Mathews M; Mneney, Emmarold E; Muchugi, Alice; Machuka, Jesse; de Villiers, Santie M

2016-01-01

Finger millet is an important cereal crop in eastern Africa and southern India with excellent grain storage quality and unique ability to thrive in extreme environmental conditions. Since negligible attention has been paid to improving this crop to date, the current study used Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies to develop both Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) and Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers. Genomic DNA from cultivated finger millet genotypes KNE755 and KNE796 was sequenced using both Roche 454 and Illumina technologies. Non-organelle sequencing reads were assembled into 207 Mbp representing approximately 13% of the finger millet genome. We identified 10,327 SSRs and 23,285 non-homeologous SNPs and tested 101 of each for polymorphism across a diverse set of wild and cultivated finger millet germplasm. For the 49 polymorphic SSRs, the mean polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.42, ranging from 0.16 to 0.77. We also validated 92 SNP markers, 80 of which were polymorphic with a mean PIC of 0.29 across 30 wild and 59 cultivated accessions. Seventy-six of the 80 SNPs were polymorphic across 30 wild germplasm with a mean PIC of 0.30 while only 22 of the SNP markers showed polymorphism among the 59 cultivated accessions with an average PIC value of 0.15. Genetic diversity analysis using the polymorphic SNP markers revealed two major clusters; one of wild and another of cultivated accessions. Detailed STRUCTURE analysis confirmed this grouping pattern and further revealed 2 sub-populations within wild E. coracana subsp. africana. Both STRUCTURE and genetic diversity analysis assisted with the correct identification of the new germplasm collections. These polymorphic SSR and SNP markers are a significant addition to the existing 82 published SSRs, especially with regard to the previously reported low polymorphism levels in finger millet. Our results also reveal an unexploited finger millet genetic resource that can be included in the regional breeding programs in order to efficiently optimize productivity.

Contribution of finger tracing to the recognition of Chinese characters.

PubMed

Yim-Ng, Y Y; Varley, R; Andrade, J

2000-01-01

Finger tracing is a simulation of the act of writing without the use of pen and paper. It is claimed to help in the processing of Chinese characters, possibly by providing additional motor coding. In this study, blindfolded subjects were equally good at identifying Chinese characters and novel visual stimuli through passive movements made with the index finger of the preferred hand and those made with the last finger of that hand. This suggests that finger tracing provides a relatively high level of coding specific to individual characters, but non-specific to motor effectors. Beginning each stroke from the same location, i.e. removing spatial information, impaired recognition of the familiar characters and the novel nonsense figures. Passively tracing the strokes in a random sequence also impaired recognition of the characters. These results therefore suggest that the beneficial effect of finger tracing on writing or recall of Chinese characters is mediated by sequence and spatial information embedded in the motor movements, and that proprioceptive channel may play a part in mediating visuo-spatial information. Finger tracing may be a useful strategy for remediation of Chinese language impairments.

Temporal Processing Instability with Millisecond Accuracy Is a Cardinal Feature of Sensorimotor Impairments in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Analysis Using the Synchronized Finger-Tapping Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morimoto, Chie; Hida, Eisuke; Shima, Keisuke; Okamura, Hitoshi

2018-01-01

To identify a specific sensorimotor impairment feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we focused on temporal processing with millisecond accuracy. A synchronized finger-tapping task was used to characterize temporal processing in individuals with ASD as compared to typically developing (TD) individuals. We found that individuals with ASD…

A rapid, generally applicable method to engineer zinc fingers illustrated by targeting the HIV-1 promoter.

PubMed

Isalan, M; Klug, A; Choo, Y

2001-07-01

DNA-binding domains with predetermined sequence specificity are engineered by selection of zinc finger modules using phage display, allowing the construction of customized transcription factors. Despite remarkable progress in this field, the available protein-engineering methods are deficient in many respects, thus hampering the applicability of the technique. Here we present a rapid and convenient method that can be used to design zinc finger proteins against a variety of DNA-binding sites. This is based on a pair of pre-made zinc finger phage-display libraries, which are used in parallel to select two DNA-binding domains each of which recognizes given 5 base pair sequences, and whose products are recombined to produce a single protein that recognizes a composite (9 base pair) site of predefined sequence. Engineering using this system can be completed in less than two weeks and yields proteins that bind sequence-specifically to DNA with Kd values in the nanomolar range. To illustrate the technique, we have selected seven different proteins to bind various regions of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) promoter.

Spontaneous eye blinks are entrained by finger tapping.

PubMed

Cong, D-K; Sharikadze, M; Staude, G; Deubel, H; Wolf, W

2010-02-01

We studied the mutual cross-talk between spontaneous eye blinks and continuous, self-paced unimanual and bimanual tapping. Both types of motor activities were analyzed with regard to their time-structure in synchronization-continuation tapping tasks which involved different task instructions, namely "standard" finger tapping (Experiment 1), "strong" tapping (Experiment 2) requiring more forceful finger movements, and "impulse-like" tapping (Experiment 3) where upward-downward finger movements had to be very fast. In a further control condition (Experiment 4), tapping was omitted altogether. The results revealed a prominent entrainment of spontaneous blink behavior by the manual tapping, with bimanual tapping being more effective than unimanual tapping, and with the "strong" and "impulse-like" tapping showing the largest effects on blink timing. Conversely, we found no significant effects of the tapping on the timing of the eye blinks across all experiments. The findings suggest a functional overlap of the motor control structures responsible for voluntary, rhythmic finger movements and eye blinking behavior.

Continuous functional magnetic resonance imaging reveals dynamic nonlinearities of "dose-response" curves for finger opposition.

PubMed

Berns, G S; Song, A W; Mao, H

1999-07-15

Linear experimental designs have dominated the field of functional neuroimaging, but although successful at mapping regions of relative brain activation, the technique assumes that both cognition and brain activation are linear processes. To test these assumptions, we performed a continuous functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) experiment of finger opposition. Subjects performed a visually paced bimanual finger-tapping task. The frequency of finger tapping was continuously varied between 1 and 5 Hz, without any rest blocks. After continuous acquisition of fMRI images, the task-related brain regions were identified with independent components analysis (ICA). When the time courses of the task-related components were plotted against tapping frequency, nonlinear "dose- response" curves were obtained for most subjects. Nonlinearities appeared in both the static and dynamic sense, with hysteresis being prominent in several subjects. The ICA decomposition also demonstrated the spatial dynamics with different components active at different times. These results suggest that the brain response to tapping frequency does not scale linearly, and that it is history-dependent even after accounting for the hemodynamic response function. This implies that finger tapping, as measured with fMRI, is a nonstationary process. When analyzed with a conventional general linear model, a strong correlation to tapping frequency was identified, but the spatiotemporal dynamics were not apparent.

Action-perception coupling in violinists.

PubMed

Kajihara, Takafumi; Verdonschot, Rinus G; Sparks, Joseph; Stewart, Lauren

2013-01-01

The current study investigates auditory-motor coupling in musically trained participants using a Stroop-type task that required the execution of simple finger sequences according to aurally presented number sequences (e.g., "2," "4," "5," "3," "1"). Digital remastering was used to manipulate the pitch contour of the number sequences such that they were either congruent or incongruent with respect to the resulting action sequence. Conservatoire-level violinists showed a strong effect of congruency manipulation (increased response time for incongruent vs. congruent trials), in comparison to a control group of non-musicians. In Experiment 2, this paradigm was used to determine whether pedagogical background would influence this effect in a group of young violinists. Suzuki trained violinists differed significantly from those with no musical background, while traditionally trained violinists did not. The findings extend previous research in this area by demonstrating that obligatory audio-motor coupling is directly related to a musicians' expertise on their instrument of study and is influenced by pedagogy.

Neuronal Substrates Underlying Performance Variability in Well-Trained Skillful Motor Task in Humans.

PubMed

Mizuguchi, Nobuaki; Uehara, Shintaro; Hirose, Satoshi; Yamamoto, Shinji; Naito, Eiichi

2016-01-01

Motor performance fluctuates trial by trial even in a well-trained motor skill. Here we show neural substrates underlying such behavioral fluctuation in humans. We first scanned brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging while healthy participants repeatedly performed a 10 s skillful sequential finger-tapping task. Before starting the experiment, the participants had completed intensive training. We evaluated task performance per trial (number of correct sequences in 10 s) and depicted brain regions where the activity changes in association with the fluctuation of the task performance across trials. We found that the activity in a broader range of frontoparietocerebellar network, including the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate and anterior insular cortices, and left cerebellar hemisphere, was negatively correlated with the task performance. We further showed in another transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) experiment that task performance deteriorated, when we applied anodal tDCS to the right DLPFC. These results indicate that fluctuation of brain activity in the nonmotor frontoparietocerebellar network may underlie trial-by-trial performance variability even in a well-trained motor skill, and its neuromodulation with tDCS may affect the task performance.

A developmental study of the effect of music training on timed movements.

PubMed

Braun Janzen, Thenille; Thompson, William F; Ranvaud, Ronald

2014-01-01

When people clap to music, sing, play a musical instrument, or dance, they engage in temporal entrainment. We examined the effect of music training on the precision of temporal entrainment in 57 children aged 10-14 years (31 musicians, 26 non-musicians). Performance was examined for two tasks: self-paced finger tapping (discrete movements) and circle drawing (continuous movements). For each task, participants synchronized their movements with a steady pacing signal and then continued the movement at the same rate in the absence of the pacing signal. Analysis of movements during the continuation phase revealed that musicians were more accurate than non-musicians at finger tapping and, to a lesser extent, circle drawing. Performance on the finger-tapping task was positively associated with the number of years of formal music training, whereas performance on the circle-drawing task was positively associated with the age of participants. These results indicate that music training and maturation of the motor system reinforce distinct skills of timed movement.

Static Prehension of a Horizontally Oriented Object in Three Dimensions

PubMed Central

Wu, Yen-Hsun; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M.; Latash, Mark L.

2011-01-01

We studied static prehension of a horizontally oriented object. Specific hypotheses were explored addressing such issues as the sharing patterns of the total moment of force across the digits, presence of mechanically unnecessary digit forces, and trade-off between multi-digit synergies at the two levels of the assumed control hierarchy. Within the assumed hierarchy, at the upper level, the task is shared between the thumb and virtual finger (an imagined finger producing a wrench equal to the sum of the wrenches of individual fingers). At the lower level, action of the virtual finger is shared among the four actual fingers. The subjects held statically a horizontally oriented handle instrumented with six-component force/torque sensors with different loads and torques acting about the long axis of the handle. The thumb acted from above while the four fingers supported the weight of the object. When the external torque was zero, the thumb produced mechanically unnecessary force of about 2.8 N, which did not depend on the external load magnitude. When the external torque was not zero, tangential forces produced over 80% of the total moment of force. The normal forces by the middle and ring fingers produced consistent moments against the external torque, while the normal forces of the index and little fingers did not. Force and moment variables at both hierarchical levels were stabilized by co-varied across trials adjustments of forces/moments produced by individual digits with the exception of the normal force analyzed at the lower level of the hierarchy. There was a trade-off between synergy indices computed at the two levels of the hierarchy for the three components of the total force vector, but not for the moment of force components. Overall, the results have shown that task mechanics are only one factor that defines forces produced by individual digits. Other factors, such as loading sensory receptors may lead to mechanically unnecessary forces. There seems to be no single rule (for example, ensuring similar safety margin values) that would describe sharing of the normal and tangential forces and be valid across tasks. Fingers that are traditionally viewed as less accurate (e.g., the ring finger) may perform more consistently in certain tasks. The observations of the trade-off between the synergy indices computed at two levels for the force variables but not for the moment of force variables suggest that the degree of redundancy (the number of excessive elemental variables) at the higher level is an important factor. PMID:22071684

A three-finger multisensory hand for dexterous space robotic tasks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murase, Yuichi; Komada, Satoru; Uchiyama, Takashi; Machida, Kazuo; Akita, Kenzo

1994-01-01

The National Space Development Agency of Japan will launch ETS-7 in 1997, as a test bed for next generation space technology of RV&D and space robot. MITI has been developing a three-finger multisensory hand for complex space robotic tasks. The hand can be operated under remote control or autonomously. This paper describes the design and development of the hand and the performance of a breadboard model.

Napping to renew learning capacity: enhanced encoding after stimulation of sleep slow oscillations.

PubMed

Antonenko, Daria; Diekelmann, Susanne; Olsen, Cathrin; Born, Jan; Mölle, Matthias

2013-04-01

As well as consolidating memory, sleep has been proposed to serve a second important function for memory, i.e. to free capacities for the learning of new information during succeeding wakefulness. The slow wave activity (SWA) that is a hallmark of slow wave sleep could be involved in both functions. Here, we aimed to demonstrate a causative role for SWA in enhancing the capacity for encoding of information during subsequent wakefulness, using transcranial slow oscillation stimulation (tSOS) oscillating at 0.75 Hz to induce SWA in healthy humans during an afternoon nap. Encoding following the nap was tested for hippocampus-dependent declarative materials (pictures, word pairs, and word lists) and procedural skills (finger sequence tapping). As compared with a sham stimulation control condition, tSOS during the nap enhanced SWA and significantly improved subsequent encoding on all three declarative tasks (picture recognition, cued recall of word pairs, and free recall of word lists), whereas procedural finger sequence tapping skill was not affected. Our results indicate that sleep SWA enhances the capacity for encoding of declarative materials, possibly by down-scaling hippocampal synaptic networks that were potentiated towards saturation during the preceding period of wakefulness. © 2013 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Involuntary Neuromuscular Coupling between the Thumb and Finger of Stroke Survivors during Dynamic Movement.

PubMed

Jones, Christopher L; Kamper, Derek G

2018-01-01

Finger-thumb coordination is crucial to manual dexterity but remains incompletely understood, particularly following neurological injury such as stroke. While being controlled independently, the index finger and thumb especially must work in concert to perform a variety of tasks requiring lateral or palmar pinch. The impact of stroke on this functionally critical sensorimotor control during dynamic tasks has been largely unexplored. In this study, we explored finger-thumb coupling during close-open pinching motions in stroke survivors with chronic hemiparesis. Two types of perturbations were applied randomly to the index with a novel Cable-Actuated Finger Exoskeleton: a sudden joint acceleration stretching muscle groups of the index finger and a sudden increase in impedance in selected index finger joint(s). Electromyographic signals for specific thumb and index finger muscles, thumb tip trajectory, and index finger joint angles were recorded during each trial. Joint angle perturbations invoked reflex responses in the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS), first dorsal interossei (FDI), and extensor digitorum communis muscles of the index finger and heteronymous reflex responses in flexor pollicis brevis of the thumb ( p  < 0.017). Phase of movement played a role as a faster peak reflex response was observed in FDI during opening than during closing ( p  < 0.002) and direction of perturbations resulted in shorter reflex times for FDS and FDI ( p  < 0.012) for extension perturbations. Surprisingly, when index finger joint impedance was suddenly increased, thumb tip movement was substantially increased, from 2 to 10 cm ( p  < 0.001). A greater effect was seen during the opening phase ( p  < 0.044). Thus, involuntary finger-thumb coupling was present during dynamic movement, with perturbation of the index finger impacting thumb activity. The degree of coupling modulated with the phase of motion. These findings reveal a potential mechanism for direct intervention to improve poststroke hand mobility and provide insight on prospective neurologically oriented therapies.

Persistent suppression of subthalamic beta-band activity during rhythmic finger tapping in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Joundi, Raed A; Brittain, John-Stuart; Green, Alex L; Aziz, Tipu Z; Brown, Peter; Jenkinson, Ned

2013-03-01

The function of synchronous oscillatory activity at beta band (15-30Hz) frequencies within the basal ganglia is unclear. Here we sought support for the hypothesis that beta activity has a global function within the basal ganglia and is not directly involved in the coding of specific biomechanical parameters of movement. We recorded local field potential activity from the subthalamic nuclei of 11 patients with Parkinson's disease during a synchronized tapping task at three different externally cued rates. Beta activity was suppressed during tapping, reaching a minimum that differed little across the different tapping rates despite an increase in velocity of finger movements. Thus beta power suppression was independent of specific motor parameters. Moreover, although beta oscillations remained suppressed during all tapping rates, periods of resynchronization between taps were markedly attenuated during high rate tapping. As such, a beta rebound above baseline between taps at the lower rates was absent at the high rate. Our results demonstrate that beta desynchronization in the region of the subthalamic nucleus is independent of motor parameters and that the beta resynchronization is differentially modulated by rate of finger tapping, These findings implicate consistent beta suppression in the facilitation of continuous movement sequences. Copyright © 2012 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measurement of Visual Reaction Times Using Hand-held Mobile Devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mulligan, Jeffrey B.; Arsintescu, Lucia; Flynn-Evans, Erin

2015-01-01

Modern mobile devices provide a convenient platform for collecting research data in the field. But,because the working of these devices is often cloaked behind multiple layers of proprietary system software, it can bedifficult to assess the accuracy of the data they produce, particularly in the case of timing. We have been collecting datain a simple visual reaction time experiment, as part of a fatigue testing protocol known as the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT). In this protocol, subjects run a 5-minute block consisting of a sequence of trials in which a visual stimulus appears after an unpredictable variable delay. The subject is required to tap the screen as soon as possible after the appearance of the stimulus. In order to validate the reaction times reported by our program, we had subjects perform the task while a high-speed video camera recorded both the display screen, and a side view of the finger (observed in a mirror). Simple image-processing methods were applied to determine the frames in which the stimulus appeared and disappeared, and in which the finger made and broke contact with the screen. The results demonstrate a systematic delay between the initial contact by the finger and the detection of the touch by the software, having a value of 80 +- 20 milliseconds.

Stability of hand force production. I. Hand level control variables and multifinger synergies.

PubMed

Reschechtko, Sasha; Latash, Mark L

2017-12-01

We combined the theory of neural control of movement with referent coordinates and the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis to explore synergies stabilizing the hand action in accurate four-finger pressing tasks. In particular, we tested a hypothesis on two classes of synergies, those among the four fingers and those within a pair of control variables, stabilizing hand action under visual feedback and disappearing without visual feedback. Subjects performed four-finger total force and moment production tasks under visual feedback; the feedback was later partially or completely removed. The "inverse piano" device was used to lift and lower the fingers smoothly at the beginning and at the end of each trial. These data were used to compute pairs of hypothetical control variables. Intertrial analysis of variance within the finger force space was used to quantify multifinger synergies stabilizing both force and moment. A data permutation method was used to quantify synergies among control variables. Under visual feedback, synergies in the spaces of finger forces and hypothetical control variables were found to stabilize total force. Without visual feedback, the subjects showed a force drift to lower magnitudes and a moment drift toward pronation. This was accompanied by disappearance of the four-finger synergies and strong attenuation of the control variable synergies. The indexes of the two types of synergies correlated with each other. The findings are interpreted within the scheme with multiple levels of abundant variables. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We extended the idea of hierarchical control with referent spatial coordinates for the effectors and explored two types of synergies stabilizing multifinger force production tasks. We observed synergies among finger forces and synergies between hypothetical control variables that stabilized performance under visual feedback but failed to stabilize it after visual feedback had been removed. Indexes of two types of synergies correlated with each other. The data suggest the existence of multiple mechanisms stabilizing motor actions. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Two short basic sequences surrounding the zinc finger of nucleocapsid protein NCp10 of Moloney murine leukemia virus are critical for RNA annealing activity.

PubMed

De Rocquigny, H; Ficheux, D; Gabus, C; Allain, B; Fournie-Zaluski, M C; Darlix, J L; Roques, B P

1993-02-25

The 56 amino acid nucleocapsid protein (NCp10) of Moloney Murine Leukemia Virus, contains a CysX2CysX4HisX4Cys zinc finger flanked by basic residues. In vitro NCp10 promotes genomic RNA dimerization, a process most probably linked to genomic RNA packaging, and replication primer tRNA(Pro) annealing to the initiation site of reverse transcription. To characterize the amino-acid sequences involved in the various functions of NCp10, we have synthesized by solid phase method the native protein and a series of derived peptides shortened at the N- or C-terminus with or without the zinc finger domain. In the latter case, the two parts of the protein were linked by a Glycine - Glycine spacer. The in vitro studies of these peptides show that nucleic acid annealing activities of NCp10 do not require a zinc finger but are critically dependent on the presence of specific sequences located on each side of the CCHC domain and containing proline and basic residues. Thus, deletion of 11R or 49PRPQT, of the fully active 29 residue peptide 11RQGGERRRSQLDRDGGKKPRGPRGPRPQT53 leads to a complete loss of NCp10 activity. Therefore it is proposed that in NCp10, the zinc finger directs the spatial recognition of the target RNAs by the basic domains surrounding the zinc finger.

The role of tactile sensation in online and offline hierarchical control of multi-finger force synergy.

PubMed

Koh, Kyung; Kwon, Hyun Joon; Yoon, Bum Chul; Cho, Yongseok; Shin, Joon-Ho; Hahn, Jin-Oh; Miller, Ross H; Kim, Yoon Hyuk; Shim, Jae Kun

2015-09-01

The hand, one of the most versatile but mechanically redundant parts of the human body, must overcome imperfect motor commands and inherent noise in both the sensory and motor systems in order to produce desired motor actions. For example, it is nearly impossible to produce a perfectly consistent note during a single violin stroke or to produce the exact same note over multiple strokes, which we denote online and offline control, respectively. To overcome these challenges, the central nervous system synergistically integrates multiple sensory modalities and coordinates multiple motor effectors. Among these sensory modalities, tactile sensation plays an important role in manual motor tasks by providing hand-object contact information. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of tactile feedback in individual finger actions and multi-finger interactions during constant force production tasks. We developed analytical techniques for the linear decomposition of the overall variance in the motor system in both online and offline control. We removed tactile feedback from the fingers and demonstrated that tactile sensors played a critical role in the online control of synergistic interactions between fingers. In contrast, the same sensors did not contribute to offline control. We also demonstrated that when tactile feedback was removed from the fingers, the combined motor output of individual fingers did not change while individual finger behaviors did. This finding supports the idea of hierarchical control where individual fingers at the lower level work together to stabilize the performance of combined motor output at the higher level.

Force illusions and drifts observed during muscle vibration.

PubMed

Reschechtko, Sasha; Cuadra, Cristian; Latash, Mark L

2018-01-01

We explored predictions of a scheme that views position and force perception as a result of measuring proprioceptive signals within a reference frame set by ongoing efferent process. In particular, this hypothesis predicts force illusions caused by muscle vibration and mediated via changes in both afferent and efferent components of kinesthesia. Healthy subjects performed accurate steady force production tasks by pressing with the four fingers of one hand (the task hand) on individual force sensors with and without visual feedback. At various times during the trials, subjects matched the perceived force using the other hand. High-frequency vibration was applied to one or both of the forearms (over the hand and finger extensors). Without visual feedback, subjects showed a drop in the task hand force, which was significantly smaller under the vibration of that forearm. Force production by the matching hand was consistently higher than that of the task hand. Vibrating one of the forearms affected the matching hand in a manner consistent with the perception of higher magnitude of force produced by the vibrated hand. The findings were consistent between the dominant and nondominant hands. The effects of vibration on both force drift and force mismatching suggest that vibration led to shifts in both signals from proprioceptors and the efferent component of perception, the referent coordinate and/or coactivation command. The observations fit the hypothesis on combined perception of kinematic-kinetic variables with little specificity of different groups of peripheral receptors that all contribute to perception of forces and coordinates. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We show that vibration of hand/finger extensors produces consistent errors in finger force perception. Without visual feedback, finger force drifted to lower values without a drift in the matching force produced by the other hand; hand extensor vibration led to smaller finger force drift. The findings fit the scheme with combined perception of kinematic-kinetic variables and suggest that vibration leads to consistent shifts of the referent coordinate and, possibly, of coactivation command to the effector.

Advanced analysis of finger-tapping performance: a preliminary study.

PubMed

Barut, Cağatay; Kızıltan, Erhan; Gelir, Ethem; Köktürk, Fürüzan

2013-06-01

The finger-tapping test is a commonly employed quantitative assessment tool used to measure motor performance in the upper extremities. This task is a complex motion that is affected by external stimuli, mood and health status. The complexity of this task is difficult to explain with a single average intertap-interval value (time difference between successive tappings) which only provides general information and neglects the temporal effects of the aforementioned factors. This study evaluated the time course of average intertap-interval values and the patterns of variation in both the right and left hands of right-handed subjects using a computer-based finger-tapping system. Cross sectional study. Thirty eight male individuals aged between 20 and 28 years (Mean±SD = 22.24±1.65) participated in the study. Participants were asked to perform single-finger-tapping test for 10 seconds of test period. Only the results of right-handed (RH) 35 participants were considered in this study. The test records the time of tapping and saves data as the time difference between successive tappings for further analysis. The average number of tappings and the temporal fluctuation patterns of the intertap-intervals were calculated and compared. The variations in the intertap-interval were evaluated with the best curve fit method. An average tapping speed or tapping rate can reliably be defined for a single-finger tapping test by analysing the graphically presented data of the number of tappings within the test period. However, a different presentation of the same data, namely the intertap-interval values, shows temporal variation as the number of tapping increases. Curve fitting applications indicate that the variation has a biphasic nature. The measures obtained in this study reflect the complex nature of the finger-tapping task and are suggested to provide reliable information regarding hand performance. Moreover, the equation reflects both the variations in and the general patterns associated with the task.

Do Differences in Levels, Types, and Duration of Muscle Contraction Have an Effect on the Degree of Post-exercise Depression?

PubMed

Miyaguchi, Shota; Kojima, Sho; Kirimoto, Hikari; Tamaki, Hiroyuki; Onishi, Hideaki

2016-01-01

We conducted two experiments to determine how differences in muscle contraction levels, muscle contraction types, and movement duration affect degree of post-exercise depression (PED) after non-exhaustive, repetitive finger movement. Twelve healthy participants performed repetitive abduction movements of the right index finger at 2 Hz. In experiment 1, we examined the effects of muscle contraction levels at 10, 20, and 30% maximum voluntary contraction and the effects of muscle contraction types at isotonic and isometric contraction. In experiment 2, we examined the effects of movement duration at 2 and 6 min. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the right first dorsal interosseous muscle before movement tasks and 1-10 min after movement tasks. MEP amplitudes after isotonic contraction tasks were significantly smaller than those after isometric contraction tasks and decreased with increasing contraction levels, but were independent of movement duration. This study demonstrated that the degree of PED after non-exhaustive repetitive finger movement depended on muscle contraction levels and types. Thus, the degree of PED may depend on the levels of activity in the motor cortex during a movement task. This knowledge will aid in the design of rehabilitation protocols.

Perseveration Found in a Human Drawing Task: Six-Fingered Hands Drawn by Patients with Right Anterior Insula and Operculum Damage

PubMed Central

Niki, Chiharu; Maruyama, Takashi; Muragaki, Yoshihiro; Kumada, Takatsune

2014-01-01

Background. Perseveration has been observed in a number of behavioural contexts, including speaking, writing, and drawing. However, no previous report describes patients who show perseveration only for drawing a human figure. Objective. The present report describes a group of patients who show body awareness-related cognitive impairment during a human figure drawing task, a different presentation from previously described neuropsychological cases. Methods. Participants were 15 patients who had a frontal lobe brain tumour around the insula cortex of the right hemisphere and had subsequently undergone a neurosurgical resective operation. Participants were asked to draw a human figure in both “hands-down” and “hands-up” configurations. Results. Eight of the 15 patients drew a human figure with six fingers during the “hands-up” and the “hands-down” human figure drawing tasks (one patient drew eight fingers). A statistical analysis of potential lesion areas revealed damage to the right anterior frontal insula and operculum in this group of patients relative to the five-finger drawing group. Conclusions. Our findings reveal a newly described neuropsychological phenomenon that could reflect impairment in attention directed towards body representations. PMID:24876665

Weber (slope) analyses of timing variability in tapping and drawing tasks.

PubMed

Spencer, Rebecca M C; Zelaznik, Howard N

2003-12-01

Timing variability in continuous drawing tasks has not been found to be correlated with timing variability in repetitive finger tapping in recent studies (S. D. Robertson et al., 1999; H. N. Zelaznik, R. M. C. Spencer, & R. B. Ivry, 2002). Furthermore, the central component of timing variability, as measured by the slope of the timing variance versus the square of the timed interval, differed for tapping and drawing tasks. On the basis of those results, the authors posited that timing in tapping is explicit and as such uses a central representation of the interval to be timed, whereas timing in drawing tasks is implicit, that is, the temporal component is an emergent property of the trajectory produced. The authors examined that hypothesis in the present study by determining the linear relationship between timing variance and squared duration for tapping, circle-drawing, and line-drawing tasks. Participants (N = 50) performed 1 of 5 tasks: finger tapping, line drawing in the x dimension, line drawing in the y dimension, continuous circle drawing timed in the x dimension, or continuous circle drawing timed in the y dimension. The slopes differed significantly between finger tapping, line drawing, and circle drawing, suggesting separable sources of timing variability. The slopes of the 2 circle-drawing tasks did not differ from one another, nor did the slopes of the 2 line-drawing tasks differ significantly, suggesting a shared timing process within those tasks. Those results are evidence of a high degree of specificity in timing processes.

Synchronized tapping facilitates learning sound sequences as indexed by the P300.

PubMed

Kamiyama, Keiko S; Okanoya, Kazuo

2014-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether and how single finger tapping in synchrony with sound sequences contributed to the auditory processing of them. The participants learned two unfamiliar sound sequences via different methods. In the tapping condition, they learned an auditory sequence while they tapped in synchrony with each sound onset. In the no tapping condition, they learned another sequence while they kept pressing a key until the sequence ended. After these learning sessions, we presented the two melodies again and recorded event-related potentials (ERPs). During the ERP recordings, 10% of the tones within each melody deviated from the original tones. An analysis of the grand average ERPs showed that deviant stimuli elicited a significant P300 in the tapping but not in the no-tapping condition. In addition, the significance of the P300 effect in the tapping condition increased as the participants showed highly synchronized tapping behavior during the learning sessions. These results indicated that single finger tapping promoted the conscious detection and evaluation of deviants within the learned sequences. The effect was related to individuals' musical ability to coordinate their finger movements along with external auditory events.

Synchronized tapping facilitates learning sound sequences as indexed by the P300

PubMed Central

Kamiyama, Keiko S.; Okanoya, Kazuo

2014-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether and how single finger tapping in synchrony with sound sequences contributed to the auditory processing of them. The participants learned two unfamiliar sound sequences via different methods. In the tapping condition, they learned an auditory sequence while they tapped in synchrony with each sound onset. In the no tapping condition, they learned another sequence while they kept pressing a key until the sequence ended. After these learning sessions, we presented the two melodies again and recorded event-related potentials (ERPs). During the ERP recordings, 10% of the tones within each melody deviated from the original tones. An analysis of the grand average ERPs showed that deviant stimuli elicited a significant P300 in the tapping but not in the no-tapping condition. In addition, the significance of the P300 effect in the tapping condition increased as the participants showed highly synchronized tapping behavior during the learning sessions. These results indicated that single finger tapping promoted the conscious detection and evaluation of deviants within the learned sequences. The effect was related to individuals’ musical ability to coordinate their finger movements along with external auditory events. PMID:25400564

Building intelligent communication systems for handicapped aphasiacs.

PubMed

Fu, Yu-Fen; Ho, Cheng-Seen

2010-01-01

This paper presents an intelligent system allowing handicapped aphasiacs to perform basic communication tasks. It has the following three key features: (1) A 6-sensor data glove measures the finger gestures of a patient in terms of the bending degrees of his fingers. (2) A finger language recognition subsystem recognizes language components from the finger gestures. It employs multiple regression analysis to automatically extract proper finger features so that the recognition model can be fast and correctly constructed by a radial basis function neural network. (3) A coordinate-indexed virtual keyboard allows the users to directly access the letters on the keyboard at a practical speed. The system serves as a viable tool for natural and affordable communication for handicapped aphasiacs through continuous finger language input.

Interpersonal synergies: static prehension tasks performed by two actors.

PubMed

Solnik, Stanislaw; Reschechtko, Sasha; Wu, Yen-Hsun; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M; Latash, Mark L

2016-08-01

We investigated multidigit synergies stabilizing components of the resultant force vector during joint performance of a static prehension task by two persons as compared to similar tasks performed by a single person using both hands. Subjects transferred the instrumented handle from the right hand to the left hand (one-person condition) or passed that handle to another person (two-person condition) while keeping the handle's position and orientation stationary. Only three digits were involved per hand, the thumb, the index finger, and the middle finger; the forces and moments produced by the digits were measured by six-component sensors. We estimated the performance-stabilizing synergies within the uncontrolled manifold framework by quantifying the intertrial variance structure of digit forces and moments. The analysis was performed at three levels: between hands, between virtual finger and virtual thumb (imagined digits producing the same mechanical variables as the corresponding actual digits combined) produced by the two hands (in both interpersonal and intrapersonal conditions), and between the thumb and virtual finger for one hand only. Additionally, we performed correlation and phase synchronization analyses of resultant tangential forces and internal normal forces. Overall, the one-person conditions were characterized by higher amount of intertrial variance that did not affect resultant normal force components, higher internal components of normal forces, and stronger synchronization of the normal forces generated by the hands. Our observations suggest that in two-person tasks, when participants try to achieve a common mechanical outcome, the performance-stabilizing synergies depend on non-visual information exchange, possibly via the haptic and proprioceptive systems. Therefore, synergies quantified in tasks using visual feedback only may not be generalizable to more natural tasks.

Identification of unique repeated patterns, location of mutation in DNA finger printing using artificial intelligence technique.

PubMed

Mukunthan, B; Nagaveni, N

2014-01-01

In genetic engineering, conventional techniques and algorithms employed by forensic scientists to assist in identification of individuals on the basis of their respective DNA profiles involves more complex computational steps and mathematical formulae, also the identification of location of mutation in a genomic sequence in laboratories is still an exigent task. This novel approach provides ability to solve the problems that do not have an algorithmic solution and the available solutions are also too complex to be found. The perfect blend made of bioinformatics and neural networks technique results in efficient DNA pattern analysis algorithm with utmost prediction accuracy.

Finger tapping and pre-attentive sensorimotor timing in adults with ADHD.

PubMed

Hove, Michael J; Gravel, Nickolas; Spencer, Rebecca M C; Valera, Eve M

2017-12-01

Sensorimotor timing deficits are considered central to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the tasks establishing timing impairments often involve interconnected processes, including low-level sensorimotor timing and higher level executive processes such as attention. Thus, the source of timing deficits in ADHD remains unclear. Low-level sensorimotor timing can be isolated from higher level processes in a finger-tapping task that examines the motor response to unexpected shifts of metronome onsets. In this study, adults with ADHD and ADHD-like symptoms (n = 25) and controls (n = 26) performed two finger-tapping tasks. The first assessed tapping variability in a standard tapping task (metronome-paced and unpaced). In the other task, participants tapped along with a metronome that contained unexpected shifts (±15, 50 ms); the timing adjustment on the tap following the shift captures pre-attentive sensorimotor timing (i.e., phase correction) and thus should be free of potential higher order confounds (e.g., attention). In the standard tapping task, as expected, the ADHD group had higher timing variability in both paced and unpaced tappings. However, in the pre-attentive task, performance did not differ between the ADHD and control groups. Together, results suggest that low-level sensorimotor timing and phase correction are largely preserved in ADHD and that some timing impairments observed in ADHD may stem from higher level factors (such as sustained attention).

Bimanual motor coordination controlled by cooperative interactions in intrinsic and extrinsic coordinates.

PubMed

Sakurada, Takeshi; Ito, Koji; Gomi, Hiroaki

2016-01-01

Although strong motor coordination in intrinsic muscle coordinates has frequently been reported for bimanual movements, coordination in extrinsic visual coordinates is also crucial in various bimanual tasks. To explore the bimanual coordination mechanisms in terms of the frame of reference, here we characterized implicit bilateral interactions in visuomotor tasks. Visual perturbations (finger-cursor gain change) were applied while participants performed a rhythmic tracking task with both index fingers under an in-phase or anti-phase relationship in extrinsic coordinates. When they corrected the right finger's amplitude, the left finger's amplitude unintentionally also changed [motor interference (MI)], despite the instruction to keep its amplitude constant. Notably, we observed two specificities: one was large MI and low relative-phase variability (PV) under the intrinsic in-phase condition, and the other was large MI and high PV under the extrinsic in-phase condition. Additionally, using a multiple-interaction model, we successfully decomposed MI into intrinsic components caused by motor correction and extrinsic components caused by visual-cursor mismatch of the right finger's movements. This analysis revealed that the central nervous system facilitates MI by combining intrinsic and extrinsic components in the condition with in-phases in both intrinsic and extrinsic coordinates, and that under-additivity of the effects is explained by the brain's preference for the intrinsic interaction over extrinsic interaction. In contrast, the PV was significantly correlated with the intrinsic component, suggesting that the intrinsic interaction dominantly contributed to bimanual movement stabilization. The inconsistent features of MI and PV suggest that the central nervous system regulates multiple levels of bilateral interactions for various bimanual tasks. © 2015 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience published by Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Sequence skill learning in persons who stutter: implications for cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical dysfunction.

PubMed

Smits-Bandstra, Sarah; De Nil, Luc F

2007-01-01

The basal ganglia and cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical connections are known to play a critical role in sequence skill learning and increasing automaticity over practice. The current paper reviews four studies comparing the sequence skill learning and the transition to automaticity of persons who stutter (PWS) and fluent speakers (PNS) over practice. Studies One and Two found PWS to have poor finger tap sequencing skill and nonsense syllable sequencing skill after practice, and on retention and transfer tests relative to PNS. Studies Three and Four found PWS to be significantly less accurate and/or significantly slower after practice on dual tasks requiring concurrent sequencing and colour recognition over practice relative to PNS. Evidence of PWS' deficits in sequence skill learning and automaticity development support the hypothesis that dysfunction in cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical connections may be one etiological component in the development and maintenance of stuttering. As a result of this activity, the reader will: (1) be able to articulate the research regarding the basal ganglia system relating to sequence skill learning; (2) be able to summarize the research on stuttering with indications of sequence skill learning deficits; and (3) be able to discuss basal ganglia mechanisms with relevance for theory of stuttering.

Two short basic sequences surrounding the zinc finger of nucleocapsid protein NCp10 of Moloney murine leukemia virus are critical for RNA annealing activity.

PubMed Central

De Rocquigny, H; Ficheux, D; Gabus, C; Allain, B; Fournie-Zaluski, M C; Darlix, J L; Roques, B P

1993-01-01

The 56 amino acid nucleocapsid protein (NCp10) of Moloney Murine Leukemia Virus, contains a CysX2CysX4HisX4Cys zinc finger flanked by basic residues. In vitro NCp10 promotes genomic RNA dimerization, a process most probably linked to genomic RNA packaging, and replication primer tRNA(Pro) annealing to the initiation site of reverse transcription. To characterize the amino-acid sequences involved in the various functions of NCp10, we have synthesized by solid phase method the native protein and a series of derived peptides shortened at the N- or C-terminus with or without the zinc finger domain. In the latter case, the two parts of the protein were linked by a Glycine - Glycine spacer. The in vitro studies of these peptides show that nucleic acid annealing activities of NCp10 do not require a zinc finger but are critically dependent on the presence of specific sequences located on each side of the CCHC domain and containing proline and basic residues. Thus, deletion of 11R or 49PRPQT, of the fully active 29 residue peptide 11RQGGERRRSQLDRDGGKKPRGPRGPRPQT53 leads to a complete loss of NCp10 activity. Therefore it is proposed that in NCp10, the zinc finger directs the spatial recognition of the target RNAs by the basic domains surrounding the zinc finger. Images PMID:8451185

On the origins of logarithmic number-to-position mapping.

PubMed

Dotan, Dror; Dehaene, Stanislas

2016-11-01

The number-to-position task, in which children and adults are asked to place numbers on a spatial number line, has become a classic measure of number comprehension. We present a detailed experimental and theoretical dissection of the processing stages that underlie this task. We used a continuous finger-tracking technique, which provides detailed information about the time course of processing stages. When adults map the position of 2-digit numbers onto a line, their final mapping is essentially linear, but intermediate finger location show a transient logarithmic mapping. We identify the origins of this log effect: Small numbers are processed faster than large numbers, so the finger deviates toward the target position earlier for small numbers than for large numbers. When the trajectories are aligned on the finger deviation onset, the log effect disappears. The small-number advantage and the log effect are enhanced in dual-task setting and are further enhanced when the delay between the 2 tasks is shortened, suggesting that these effects originate from a central stage of quantification and decision making. We also report cases of logarithmic mapping-by children and by a brain-injured individual-which cannot be explained by faster responding to small numbers. We show that these findings are captured by an ideal-observer model of the number-to-position mapping task, comprising 3 distinct stages: a quantification stage, whose duration is influenced by both exact and approximate representations of numerical quantity; a Bayesian accumulation-of-evidence stage, leading to a decision about the target location; and a pointing stage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Stabilization of the total force in multi-finger pressing tasks studied with the ‘inverse piano’ technique

PubMed Central

Martin, J.R.; Budgeon, M.K.; Zatsiorsky, V.M.; Latash, M.L.

2010-01-01

When one finger changes its force, other fingers of the hand can show unintended force changes in the same direction (enslaving) and in the opposite direction (error compensation). We tested a hypothesis that externally imposed changes in finger force predominantly lead to error compensation effects in other fingers thus stabilizing the total force. A novel device, the “inverse piano”, was used to impose controlled displacements to one of the fingers over different magnitudes and at different rates. Subjects (n =10) pressed with four fingers at a constant force level and then one of the fingers was unexpectedly raised. The subjects were instructed not to interfere with possible changes in the finger forces. Raising a finger caused an increase in its force and a drop in the force of the other three fingers. Overall, total force showed a small increase. Larger force drops were seen in neighbors of the raised finger (proximity effect). The results show that multi-finger force stabilizing synergies dominate during involuntary reactions to externally imposed finger force changes. Within the referent configuration hypothesis, the data suggest that the instruction “not to interfere” leads to adjustments of the referent coordinates of all the individual fingers. PMID:21450360

Differing roles for zinc fingers in DNA recognition: Structure of a six-finger transcription factor IIIA complex

PubMed Central

Nolte, Robert T.; Conlin, Rachel M.; Harrison, Stephen C.; Brown, Raymond S.

1998-01-01

The crystal structure of the six NH2-terminal zinc fingers of Xenopus laevis transcription factor IIIA (TFIIIA) bound with 31 bp of the 5S rRNA gene promoter has been determined at 3.1 Å resolution. Individual zinc fingers are positioned differently in the major groove and across the minor groove of DNA to span the entire length of the duplex. These results show how TFIIIA can recognize several separated DNA sequences by using fewer fingers than necessary for continuous winding in the major groove. PMID:9501194

Finger tapping ability in healthy elderly and young adults.

PubMed

Aoki, Tomoko; Fukuoka, Yoshiyuki

2010-03-01

The maximum isometric force production capacity of the fingers decreases with age. However, little information is available on age-related changes in dynamic motor capacity of individual fingers. The purpose of this study was to compare the dynamic motor function of individual fingers between elderly and young adults using rapid single-finger and double-finger tapping. Fourteen elderly and 14 young adults performed maximum frequency tapping by the index, middle, ring, or little finger (single-finger tapping) and with alternate movements of the index-middle, middle-ring, or ring-little finger-pair (double-finger tapping). The maximum pinch force between the thumb and each finger, tactile sensitivity of each fingertip, and time taken to complete a pegboard test were also measured. Compared with young subjects, the older subjects had significantly slower tapping rates in all fingers and finger-pairs in the tapping tasks. The age-related decline was also observed in the tactile sensitivities of all fingers and in the pegboard test. However, there was no group difference in the pinch force of any finger. The tapping rate of each finger did not correlate with the pinch force or tactile sensitivity for the corresponding finger in the elderly subjects. Maximum rate of finger tapping was lower in the elderly adults compared with the young adults. The decline of finger tapping ability in elderly adults seems to be less affected by their maximum force production capacities of the fingers as well as tactile sensitivities at the tips of the fingers.

Multi-Finger Interaction and Synergies in Finger Flexion and Extension Force Production

PubMed Central

Park, Jaebum; Xu, Dayuan

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to discover finger interaction indices during single-finger ramp tasks and multi-finger coordination during a steady state force production in two directions, flexion, and extension. Furthermore, the indices of anticipatory adjustment of elemental variables (i.e., finger forces) prior to a quick pulse force production were quantified. It is currently unknown whether the organization and anticipatory modulation of stability properties are affected by force directions and strengths of in multi-finger actions. We expected to observe a smaller finger independency and larger indices of multi-finger coordination during extension than during flexion due to both neural and peripheral differences between the finger flexion and extension actions. We also examined the indices of the anticipatory adjustment between different force direction conditions. The anticipatory adjustment could be a neural process, which may be affected by the properties of the muscles and by the direction of the motions. The maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) force was larger for flexion than for extension, which confirmed the fact that the strength of finger flexor muscles (e.g., flexor digitorum profundus) was larger than that of finger extensor (e.g., extensor digitorum). The analysis within the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) hypothesis was used to quantify the motor synergy of elemental variables by decomposing two sources of variances across repetitive trials, which identifies the variances in the uncontrolled manifold (VUCM) and that are orthogonal to the UCM (VORT). The presence of motor synergy and its strength were quantified by the relative amount of VUCM and VORT. The strength of motor synergies at the steady state was larger in the extension condition, which suggests that the stability property (i.e., multi-finger synergies) may be a direction specific quantity. However, the results for the existence of anticipatory adjustment; however, no difference between the directional conditions suggests that feed-forward synergy adjustment (changes in the stability property) may be at least independent of the magnitude of the task-specific apparent performance variables and its direction (e.g., flexion and extension forces). PMID:28674489

Orofacial and thumb-index finger ramp-and-hold isometric force dynamics in young neurotypical adults.

PubMed

Barlow, Steven M; Hozan, Mohsen; Lee, Jaehoon; Greenwood, Jake; Custead, Rebecca; Wardyn, Brianna; Tippin, Kaytlin

2018-04-27

The relation among several parameters of the ramp-and-hold isometric force contraction (peak force and dF/dt max during the initial phase of force recruitment, and the proportion of hold-phase at target) was quantified for the right and left thumb-index finger pinch, and lower lip midline compression in 40 neurotypical right-handed young adults (20 female/20 males) using wireless force sensors and data acquisition technology developed in our laboratory. In this visuomotor control task, participants produced ramp-and-hold isometric forces as 'rapidly and accurately' as possible to end-point target levels at 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2 Newtons presented to a computer monitor in a randomized block design. Significant relations were found between the parameters of the ramp-and-hold lip force task and target force level, including the peak rate of force change (dF/dt max ), peak force, and the criterion percentage of force within ±5% of target during the contraction hold phase. A significant performance advantage was found among these force variables for the thumb-index finger over the lower lip. The maximum voluntary compression force (MVCF) task revealed highly significant differences in force output between the thumb-index fingers and lower lip (∼4.47-4.70 times greater for the digits versus lower lip), a significant advantage of the right thumb-index finger over the non-dominant left thumb-index finger (12% and 25% right hand advantage for males and females, respectively), and a significant sex difference (∼1.65-1.73 times greater among males). Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Experimental Evaluation of a Braille-Reading-Inspired Finger Motion Adaptive Algorithm.

PubMed

Ulusoy, Melda; Sipahi, Rifat

2016-01-01

Braille reading is a complex process involving intricate finger-motion patterns and finger-rubbing actions across Braille letters for the stimulation of appropriate nerves. Although Braille reading is performed by smoothly moving the finger from left-to-right, research shows that even fluent reading requires right-to-left movements of the finger, known as "reversal". Reversals are crucial as they not only enhance stimulation of nerves for correctly reading the letters, but they also show one to re-read the letters that were missed in the first pass. Moreover, it is known that reversals can be performed as often as in every sentence and can start at any location in a sentence. Here, we report experimental results on the feasibility of an algorithm that can render a machine to automatically adapt to reversal gestures of one's finger. Through Braille-reading-analogous tasks, the algorithm is tested with thirty sighted subjects that volunteered in the study. We find that the finger motion adaptive algorithm (FMAA) is useful in achieving cooperation between human finger and the machine. In the presence of FMAA, subjects' performance metrics associated with the tasks have significantly improved as supported by statistical analysis. In light of these encouraging results, preliminary experiments are carried out with five blind subjects with the aim to put the algorithm to test. Results obtained from carefully designed experiments showed that subjects' Braille reading accuracy in the presence of FMAA was more favorable then when FMAA was turned off. Utilization of FMAA in future generation Braille reading devices thus holds strong promise.

Experimental Evaluation of a Braille-Reading-Inspired Finger Motion Adaptive Algorithm

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Braille reading is a complex process involving intricate finger-motion patterns and finger-rubbing actions across Braille letters for the stimulation of appropriate nerves. Although Braille reading is performed by smoothly moving the finger from left-to-right, research shows that even fluent reading requires right-to-left movements of the finger, known as “reversal”. Reversals are crucial as they not only enhance stimulation of nerves for correctly reading the letters, but they also show one to re-read the letters that were missed in the first pass. Moreover, it is known that reversals can be performed as often as in every sentence and can start at any location in a sentence. Here, we report experimental results on the feasibility of an algorithm that can render a machine to automatically adapt to reversal gestures of one’s finger. Through Braille-reading-analogous tasks, the algorithm is tested with thirty sighted subjects that volunteered in the study. We find that the finger motion adaptive algorithm (FMAA) is useful in achieving cooperation between human finger and the machine. In the presence of FMAA, subjects’ performance metrics associated with the tasks have significantly improved as supported by statistical analysis. In light of these encouraging results, preliminary experiments are carried out with five blind subjects with the aim to put the algorithm to test. Results obtained from carefully designed experiments showed that subjects’ Braille reading accuracy in the presence of FMAA was more favorable then when FMAA was turned off. Utilization of FMAA in future generation Braille reading devices thus holds strong promise. PMID:26849058

Arrhythmokinesis is evident during unimanual not bimanual finger tapping in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Trager, Megan H; Velisar, Anca; Koop, Mandy Miller; Shreve, Lauren; Quinn, Emma; Bronte-Stewart, Helen

2015-01-01

Arrhythmokinesis, the variability in repetitive movements, is a fundamental feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). We hypothesized that unimanual repetitive alternating finger tapping (AFT) would reveal more arrhythmokinesis compared to bimanual single finger alternating hand tapping (SFT), in PD. The variability of inter-strike interval (CVISI) and of amplitude (CVAMP) during AFT and SFT were measured on an engineered, MRI-compatible keyboard in sixteen PD subjects off medication and in twenty-four age-matched controls. The CVISI and CVAMP of the more affected (MA) and less affected (LA) sides in PD subjects were greater during AFT than SFT (P < 0.05). However, there was no difference between AFT and SFT for controls. Both CVISI and CVAMP were greater in the MA and LA hands of PD subjects versus controls during AFT (P < 0.01). The CVISI and CVAMP of the MA, but not the LA hand, were greater in PDs versus controls during SFT (P < 0.05). Also, AFT, but not SFT, detected a difference between the MA and LA hands of PDs (P < 0.01). Unimanual, repetitive alternating finger tapping brings out more arrhythmokinesis compared to bimanual, single finger tapping in PDs but not in controls. Arrhythmokinesis during unimanual, alternating finger tapping captured a significant difference between both the MA and LA hands of PD subjects and controls, whereas that during a bimanual, single finger tapping task only distinguished between the MA hand and controls. Arrhythmokinesis underlies freezing of gait and may also underlie the freezing behavior documented in fine motor control if studied using a unimanual alternating finger tapping task.

Molecular and functional characterization of two drought-induced zinc finger proteins, ZmZnF1 and ZmZnF2 from maize kernels

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We have isolated two cDNA clones encoding Zinc Finger proteins, designated as ZmZnF1 and ZmZnF2, from water-stressed maize kernels. Sequence analyses indicates that ZmZnF1 is homologous to the A20/AN1-type zinc finger protein and contains the zinc finger motif of Cx2–Cx10–CxCx4Cx2Hx5HxC. Whereas ZmZ...

An fMRI study comparing rhythmic finger tapping in children and adults

PubMed Central

De Guio, François; Jacobson, Sandra W.; Molteno, Christopher D.; Jacobson, Joseph L.; Meintjes, Ernesta M.

2011-01-01

This study compared brain activations during unpaced rhythmic finger tapping in 12-year old children with those of adults. The subject pressed a button at a pace initially indicated by a metronome (12 consecutive tones) and then continued for 16 seconds of unpaced tapping to provide an assessment of his/her ability to maintain a steady rhythm. In particular, the analyses focused on the superior vermis of the cerebellum, which is known to play a key role in timing. 12 adults and 12 children performed this rhythmic finger tapping task in a 3T scanner. Whole-brain analyses were performed in Brain Voyager with a random effects analysis of variance using the general linear model. A dedicated cerebellar atlas was used to localise cerebellar activations. As in adults, unpaced rhythmic finger tapping in children showed activations in the primary motor cortex, premotor cortex, and cerebellum. However, overall activation was different in that adults showed much more deactivation in response to the task, particularly in the occipital and frontal cortex. The other main differences were additional recruitment of motor and premotor areas in children compared to adults along with increased activity in the vermal region of the cerebellum. These findings suggest that the timing component of the unpaced rhythmic finger tapping task is less efficient and automatic in children, who needed to recruit the superior vermis more intensively to maintain the rhythm, even though they performed somewhat more poorly than the adults. PMID:22264703

Functional magnetic resonance imaging study comparing rhythmic finger tapping in children and adults.

PubMed

De Guio, François; Jacobson, Sandra W; Molteno, Christopher D; Jacobson, Joseph L; Meintjes, Ernesta M

2012-02-01

This study compared brain activation during unpaced rhythmic finger tapping in 12-year-old children with that of adults. Subjects pressed a button at a pace initially indicated by a metronome (12 consecutive tones), and then continued for 16 seconds of unpaced tapping to provide an assessment of their ability to maintain a steady rhythm. These analyses focused on the superior vermis of the cerebellum, which is known to play a key role in timing. Twelve adults and 12 children performed this rhythmic finger tapping task in a 3 T scanner. Whole-brain analyses were performed in Brain Voyager, with a random-effects analysis of variance using a general linear model. A dedicated cerebellar atlas was used to localize cerebellar activations. As in adults, unpaced rhythmic finger tapping in children demonstrated activations in the primary motor cortex, premotor cortex, and cerebellum. However, overall activation was different, in that adults demonstrated much more deactivation in response to the task, particularly in the occipital and frontal cortices. The other main differences involved the additional recruitment of motor and premotor areas in children compared with adults, and increased activity in the vermal region of the cerebellum. These findings suggest that the timing component of the unpaced rhythmic finger tapping task is less efficient and automatic in children, who need to recruit the superior vermis more intensively to maintain the rhythm, although they performed somewhat more poorly than adults. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Grasp and index finger reach zone during one-handed smartphone rear interaction: effects of task type, phone width and hand length.

PubMed

Lee, Songil; Kyung, Gyouhyung; Lee, Jungyong; Moon, Seung Ki; Park, Kyoung Jong

2016-11-01

Recently, some smartphones have introduced index finger interaction functions on the rear surface. The current study investigated the effects of task type, phone width, and hand length on grasp, index finger reach zone, discomfort, and muscle activation during such interaction. We considered five interaction tasks (neutral, comfortable, maximum, vertical, and horizontal strokes), two device widths (60 and 90 mm) and three hand lengths. Horizontal (vertical) strokes deviated from the horizontal axis in the range from -10.8° to -13.5° (81.6-88.4°). Maximum strokes appeared to be excessive as these caused 43.8% greater discomfort than did neutral strokes. The 90-mm width also appeared to be excessive as it resulted in 12.3% increased discomfort relative to the 60-mm width. The small-hand group reported 11.9-18.2% higher discomfort ratings, and the percent maximum voluntary exertion of their flexor digitorum superficialis muscle, pertaining to index finger flexion, was also 6.4% higher. These findings should be considered to make smartphone rear interaction more comfortable. Practitioner Summary: Among neutral, comfortable, maximum, horizontal, and vertical index finger strokes on smartphone rear surfaces, maximum vs. neutral strokes caused 43.8% greater discomfort. Horizontal (vertical) strokes deviated from the horizontal (vertical) axis. Discomfort increased by 12.3% with 90-mm- vs. 60-mm-wide devices. Rear interaction regions of five commercialised smartphones should be lowered 20 to 30 mm for more comfortable rear interaction.

Cells in the monkey ponto-medullary reticular formation modulate their activity with slow finger movements

PubMed Central

Soteropoulos, Demetris S; Williams, Elizabeth R; Baker, Stuart N

2012-01-01

Recent work has shown that the primate reticulospinal tract can influence spinal interneurons and motoneurons involved in control of the hand. However, demonstrating connectivity does not reveal whether reticular outputs are modulated during the control of different types of hand movement. Here, we investigated how single unit discharge in the pontomedullary reticular formation (PMRF) modulated during performance of a slow finger movement task in macaque monkeys. Two animals performed an index finger flexion–extension task to track a target presented on a computer screen; single units were recorded both from ipsilateral PMRF (115 cells) and contralateral primary motor cortex (M1, 210 cells). Cells in both areas modulated their activity with the task (M1: 87%, PMRF: 86%). Some cells (18/115 in PMRF; 96/210 in M1) received sensory input from the hand, showing a short-latency modulation in their discharge following a rapid passive extension movement of the index finger. Effects in ipsilateral electromyogram to trains of stimuli were recorded at 45 sites in the PMRF. These responses involved muscles controlling the digits in 13/45 sites (including intrinsic hand muscles, 5/45 sites). We conclude that PMRF may contribute to the control of fine finger movements, in addition to its established role in control of more proximal limb and trunk movements. This finding may be especially important in understanding functional recovery after brain lesions such as stroke. PMID:22641776

The impact of finger counting habits on arithmetic in adults and children.

PubMed

Newman, Sharlene D; Soylu, Firat

2014-07-01

Here, we explored the impact of finger counting habits on arithmetic in both adults and children. Two groups of participants were examined, those that begin counting with their left hand (left-starters) and those that begin counting with their right hand (right-starters). For the adults, performance on an addition task in which participants added 2 two-digit numbers was compared. The results revealed that left-starters were slower than right-starters when adding and they had lower forward and backward digit-span scores. The children (aged 5-12) showed similar results on a single-digit timed addition task-right-starters outperformed left-starters. However, the children did not reveal differences in working memory or verbal and non-verbal intelligence as a function of finger counting habit. We argue that the motor act of finger counting influences how number is represented and suggest that left-starters may have a more bilateral representation that accounts for the slower processing.

Hand-grasping and finger tapping induced similar functional near-infrared spectroscopy cortical responses

PubMed Central

Kashou, Nasser H.; Giacherio, Brenna M.; Nahhas, Ramzi W.; Jadcherla, Sudarshan R.

2016-01-01

Abstract. Despite promising advantages such as low cost and portability of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), it has yet to be widely implemented outside of basic research. Specifically, fNIRS has yet to be proven as a standalone tool within a clinical setting. The objective of this study was to assess hemodynamic concentration changes at the primary and premotor motor cortices as a result of simple whole-hand grasping and sequential finger-opposition (tapping) tasks. These tasks were repeated over 3 days in a randomized manner. Ten healthy young adults (23.8±4.8  years) participated in the study. Quantitatively, no statistically significant differences were discovered between the levels of activation for the two motor tasks (p>0.05). Overall, the signals were consistent across all 3 days. The findings show that both finger-opposition and hand grasping can be used interchangeably in fNIRS for assessment of motor function which would be useful in further advancing techniques for clinical implementation. PMID:27335888

Tactile spatial resolution in blind braille readers.

PubMed

Van Boven, R W; Hamilton, R H; Kauffman, T; Keenan, J P; Pascual-Leone, A

2000-06-27

To determine if blind people have heightened tactile spatial acuity. Recently, studies using magnetic source imaging and somatosensory evoked potentials have shown that the cortical representation of the reading fingers of blind Braille readers is expanded compared to that of fingers of sighted subjects. Furthermore, the visual cortex is activated during certain tactile tasks in blind subjects but not sighted subjects. The authors hypothesized that the expanded cortical representation of fingers used in Braille reading may reflect an enhanced fidelity in the neural transmission of spatial details of a stimulus. If so, the quantitative limit of spatial acuity would be superior in blind people. The authors employed a grating orientation discrimination task in which threshold performance is accounted for by the spatial resolution limits of the neural image evoked by a stimulus. The authors quantified the psychophysical limits of spatial acuity at the middle and index fingers of 15 blind Braille readers and 15 sighted control subjects. The mean grating orientation threshold was significantly (p = 0.03) lower in the blind group (1.04 mm) compared to the sighted group (1.46 mm). The self-reported dominant reading finger in blind subjects had a mean grating orientation threshold of 0.80 mm, which was significantly better than other fingers tested. Thresholds at non-Braille reading fingers in blind subjects averaged 1.12 mm, which were also superior to sighted subjects' performances. Superior tactile spatial acuity in blind Braille readers may represent an adaptive, behavioral correlate of cortical plasticity.

Cognitively-Impaired-Not-Demented Status Moderates the Time-Varying Association between Finger Tapping Inconsistency and Executive Performance.

PubMed

Halliday, Drew W R; Stawski, Robert S; MacDonald, Stuart W S

2017-02-01

Response time inconsistency (RTI) in cognitive performance predicts deleterious health outcomes in late-life; however, RTI estimates are often confounded by additional influences (e.g., individual differences in learning). Finger tapping is a basic sensorimotor measure largely independent of higher-order cognition that may circumvent such confounds of RTI estimates. We examined the within-person coupling of finger-tapping mean and RTI on working memory, and the moderation of these associations by cognitive status. A total of 262 older adults were recruited and classified as controls, cognitively-impaired-not-demented (CIND) unstable or CIND stable. Participants completed finger-tapping and working-memory tasks during multiple weekly assessments, repeated annually for 4 years. Within-person coupling estimates from multilevel models indicated that on occasions when RTI was greater, working-memory response latency was slower for the CIND-stable, but not for the CIND-unstable or control individuals. The finger-tapping task shows potential for minimizing confounds on RTI estimates, and for yielding RTI estimates sensitive to central nervous system function and cognitive status. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

In vitro selection of zinc fingers with altered DNA-binding specificity.

PubMed

Jamieson, A C; Kim, S H; Wells, J A

1994-05-17

We have used random mutagenesis and phage display to alter the DNA-binding specificity of Zif268, a transcription factor that contains three zinc finger domains. Four residues in the helix of finger 1 of Zif268 that potentially mediate DNA binding were identified from an X-ray structure of the Zif268-DNA complex. A library was constructed in which these residues were randomly mutated and the Zif268 variants were fused to a truncated version of the gene III coat protein on the surface of M13 filamentous phage particles. The phage displayed the mutant proteins in a monovalent fashion and were sorted by repeated binding and elution from affinity matrices containing different DNA sequences. When the matrix contained the natural nine base pair operator sequence 5'-GCG-TGG-GCG-3', native-like zinc fingers were isolated. New finger 1 variants were found by sorting with two different operators in which the singly modified triplets, GTG and TCG, replaced the native finger 1 triplet, GCG. Overall, the selected finger 1 variants contained a preponderance of polar residues at the four sites. Interestingly, the net charge of the four residues in any selected finger never derived more that one unit from neutrality despite the fact that about half the variants contained three or four charged residues over the four sites. Measurements of the dissociation constants for two of these purified finger 1 variants by gel-shift assay showed their specificities to vary over a 10-fold range, with the greatest affinity being for the DNA binding site for which they were sorted.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Examining impairment of adaptive compensation for stabilizing motor repetitions in stroke survivors.

PubMed

Kim, Yushin; Koh, Kyung; Yoon, BumChul; Kim, Woo-Sub; Shin, Joon-Ho; Park, Hyung-Soon; Shim, Jae Kun

2017-12-01

The hand, one of the most versatile but mechanically redundant parts of the human body, suffers more and longer than other body parts after stroke. One of the rehabilitation paradigms, task-oriented rehabilitation, encourages motor repeatability, the ability to produce similar motor performance over repetitions through compensatory strategies while taking advantage of the motor system's redundancy. The previous studies showed that stroke survivors inconsistently performed a given motor task with limited motor solutions. We hypothesized that stroke survivors would exhibit deficits in motor repeatability and adaptive compensation compared to healthy controls in during repetitive force-pulse (RFP) production tasks using multiple fingers. Seventeen hemiparetic stroke survivors and seven healthy controls were asked to repeatedly press force sensors as fast as possible using the four fingers of each hand. The hierarchical variability decomposition model was employed to compute motor repeatability and adaptive compensation across finger-force impulses, respectively. Stroke survivors showed decreased repeatability and adaptive compensation of force impulses between individual fingers as compared to the control (p < 0.05). The stroke survivors also showed decreased pulse frequency and greater peak-to-peak time variance than the control (p < 0.05). Force-related variables, such as mean peak force and peak force interval variability, demonstrated no significant difference between groups. Our findings indicate that stroke-induced brain injury negatively affects their ability to exploit their redundant or abundant motor system in an RFP task.

Cloning and characterization of a novel zinc finger gene in Xp11.2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Derry, J.M.J.; Jess, U.; Francke, U.

1995-11-20

During a systematic search for open reading frames in chromosome band Xp11.2, a novel gene (ZNF157) that encodes a putative 506-amino-acid protein with the sequence characteristics of a zinc-finger-containing transcription factor was isolated. ZNF157 is encoded by four exons distributed over >20 kb of genomic DNA. The second and third exons contain sequences similar to those of the previously described KRAB-A and KRAB-B domains, motifs that have been shown to mediate transcriptional repression in other members of the protein family. A fourth exon contains 12 zinc finger DNA binding motifs and finger linking regions characteristic of ZNF proteins of themore » Krueppel family. ZNF157 maps to the telomeric end of a cluster of ZNF genes that includes ZNF21, ZNF41, and ZNF81. 19 refs., 2 figs.« less

Information theoretic analysis of proprioceptive encoding during finger flexion in the monkey sensorimotor system.

PubMed

Witham, Claire L; Baker, Stuart N

2015-01-01

There is considerable debate over whether the brain codes information using neural firing rate or the fine-grained structure of spike timing. We investigated this issue in spike discharge recorded from single units in the sensorimotor cortex, deep cerebellar nuclei, and dorsal root ganglia in macaque monkeys trained to perform a finger flexion task. The task required flexion to four different displacements against two opposing torques; the eight possible conditions were randomly interleaved. We used information theory to assess coding of task condition in spike rate, discharge irregularity, and spectral power in the 15- to 25-Hz band during the period of steady holding. All three measures coded task information in all areas tested. Information coding was most often independent between irregularity and 15-25 Hz power (60% of units), moderately redundant between spike rate and irregularity (56% of units redundant), and highly redundant between spike rate and power (93%). Most simultaneously recorded unit pairs coded using the same measure independently (86%). Knowledge of two measures often provided extra information about task, compared with knowledge of only one alone. We conclude that sensorimotor systems use both rate and temporal codes to represent information about a finger movement task. As well as offering insights into neural coding, this work suggests that incorporating spike irregularity into algorithms used for brain-machine interfaces could improve decoding accuracy. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Involuntary Neuromuscular Coupling between the Thumb and Finger of Stroke Survivors during Dynamic Movement

PubMed Central

Jones, Christopher L.; Kamper, Derek G.

2018-01-01

Finger–thumb coordination is crucial to manual dexterity but remains incompletely understood, particularly following neurological injury such as stroke. While being controlled independently, the index finger and thumb especially must work in concert to perform a variety of tasks requiring lateral or palmar pinch. The impact of stroke on this functionally critical sensorimotor control during dynamic tasks has been largely unexplored. In this study, we explored finger–thumb coupling during close–open pinching motions in stroke survivors with chronic hemiparesis. Two types of perturbations were applied randomly to the index with a novel Cable-Actuated Finger Exoskeleton: a sudden joint acceleration stretching muscle groups of the index finger and a sudden increase in impedance in selected index finger joint(s). Electromyographic signals for specific thumb and index finger muscles, thumb tip trajectory, and index finger joint angles were recorded during each trial. Joint angle perturbations invoked reflex responses in the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS), first dorsal interossei (FDI), and extensor digitorum communis muscles of the index finger and heteronymous reflex responses in flexor pollicis brevis of the thumb (p < 0.017). Phase of movement played a role as a faster peak reflex response was observed in FDI during opening than during closing (p < 0.002) and direction of perturbations resulted in shorter reflex times for FDS and FDI (p < 0.012) for extension perturbations. Surprisingly, when index finger joint impedance was suddenly increased, thumb tip movement was substantially increased, from 2 to 10 cm (p < 0.001). A greater effect was seen during the opening phase (p < 0.044). Thus, involuntary finger–thumb coupling was present during dynamic movement, with perturbation of the index finger impacting thumb activity. The degree of coupling modulated with the phase of motion. These findings reveal a potential mechanism for direct intervention to improve poststroke hand mobility and provide insight on prospective neurologically oriented therapies. PMID:29545767

Cortical and reticular contributions to human precision and power grip.

PubMed

Tazoe, Toshiki; Perez, Monica A

2017-04-15

The corticospinal tract contributes to the control of finger muscles during precision and power grip. We explored the neural mechanisms contributing to changes in corticospinal excitability during these gripping configurations. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by cortical, but not by subcortical, stimulation were more suppressed during power grip compared with precision grip and index finger abduction. Intracortical inhibition was more reduced during power grip compared with the other tasks. An acoustic startle cue, a stimulus that engages the reticular system, suppressed MEP size during power grip to a lesser extent than during the other tasks at a cortical level and this positively correlated with changes in intracortical inhibition. Our findings suggest that changes in corticospinal excitability during gross more than fine finger manipulations are largely cortical in origin and that the reticular system contributed, at least in part, to these effects. It is well accepted that the corticospinal tract contributes to the control of finger muscles during precision and power grip in humans but the neural mechanisms involved remain poorly understood. Here, we examined motor evoked potentials elicited by cortical and subcortical stimulation of corticospinal axons (MEPs and CMEPs, respectively) and the activity in intracortical circuits (suppression of voluntary electromyography) and spinal motoneurons (F-waves) in an intrinsic hand muscle during index finger abduction, precision grip and power grip. We found that the size of MEPs, but not CMEPs, was more suppressed during power grip compared with precision grip and index finger abduction, suggesting a cortical origin for these effects. Notably, intracortical inhibition was more reduced during power grip compared with the other tasks. To further examine the origin of changes in intracortical inhibition we assessed the contribution of the reticular system, which projects to cortical neurons, and projects to spinal motoneurons controlling hand muscles. An acoustic startle cue, which engages the reticular system, suppressed MEP size during power grip to a lesser extent than during the other tasks and this positively correlated with changes in intracortical inhibition. A startle cue decreased intracortical inhibition, but not CMEPs, during power grip. F-waves remained unchanged across conditions. Our novel findings show that changes in corticospinal excitability present during power grip compared with fine finger manipulations are largely cortical in origin and suggest that the reticular system contributed, at least in part, to these effects. © 2016 The Authors. The Journal of Physiology © 2016 The Physiological Society.

SCAR marker specific to detect Magnaporthe grisea infecting finger millets (Eleusine coracana).

PubMed

Gnanasing Jesumaharaja, L; Manikandan, R; Raguchander, T

2016-09-01

To determine the molecular variability and develop specific Sequence Characterized Amplified Region (SCAR) marker for the detection of Magnaporthe grisea causing blast disease in finger millet. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was performed with 14 isolates of M. grisea using 20 random primers. SCAR marker was developed for accurate and specific detection of M. grisea infecting only finger millets. The genetic similarity coefficient within each group and variation between the groups was observed. Among the primers, OPF-08 generated a RAPD polymorphic profile that showed common fragment of 478 bp in all the isolates. This fragment was cloned and sequenced. SCAR primers, Mg-SCAR-FP and Mg-SCAR-RP, were designed using sequence of the cloned product. The specificity of the SCAR primers was evaluated using purified DNA from M. grisea isolates from finger millets and other pathogens viz., Pyricularia oryzae, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Colletotrichum falcatum and Colletotrichum capcisi infecting different crops. The SCAR primers amplified only specific 460 bp fragment from DNA of M. grisea isolates and this fragment was not amplified in other pathogens tested. SCAR primers distinguish blast disease of finger millet from rice as there is no amplification in the rice blast pathogen. PCR-based SCAR marker is a convenient tool for specific and rapid detection of M. grisea in finger millets. Genetic diversity in fungal population helps in developing a suitable SCAR marker to identify the blast pathogen at the early stage of infection. © 2016 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Learning piano melodies in visuo-motor or audio-motor training conditions and the neural correlates of their cross-modal transfer.

PubMed

Engel, Annerose; Bangert, Marc; Horbank, David; Hijmans, Brenda S; Wilkens, Katharina; Keller, Peter E; Keysers, Christian

2012-11-01

To investigate the cross-modal transfer of movement patterns necessary to perform melodies on the piano, 22 non-musicians learned to play short sequences on a piano keyboard by (1) merely listening and replaying (vision of own fingers occluded) or (2) merely observing silent finger movements and replaying (on a silent keyboard). After training, participants recognized with above chance accuracy (1) audio-motor learned sequences upon visual presentation (89±17%), and (2) visuo-motor learned sequences upon auditory presentation (77±22%). The recognition rates for visual presentation significantly exceeded those for auditory presentation (p<.05). fMRI revealed that observing finger movements corresponding to audio-motor trained melodies is associated with stronger activation in the left rolandic operculum than observing untrained sequences. This region was also involved in silent execution of sequences, suggesting that a link to motor representations may play a role in cross-modal transfer from audio-motor training condition to visual recognition. No significant differences in brain activity were found during listening to visuo-motor trained compared to untrained melodies. Cross-modal transfer was stronger from the audio-motor training condition to visual recognition and this is discussed in relation to the fact that non-musicians are familiar with how their finger movements look (motor-to-vision transformation), but not with how they sound on a piano (motor-to-sound transformation). Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Unintentional force changes in cyclical tasks performed by an abundant system: Empirical observations and a dynamical model.

PubMed

Reschechtko, Sasha; Hasanbarani, Fariba; Akulin, Vladimir M; Latash, Mark L

2017-05-14

The study explored unintentional force changes elicited by removing visual feedback during cyclical, two-finger isometric force production tasks. Subjects performed two types of tasks at 1Hz, paced by an auditory metronome. One - Force task - required cyclical changes in total force while maintaining the sharing, defined as relative contribution of a finger to total force. The other task - Share task - required cyclical changes in sharing while keeping total force unchanged. Each trial started under full visual feedback on both force and sharing; subsequently, feedback on the variable that was instructed to stay constant was frozen, and finally feedback on the other variable was also removed. In both tasks, turning off visual feedback on total force elicited a drop in the mid-point of the force cycle and an increase in the peak-to-peak force amplitude. Turning off visual feedback on sharing led to a drift of mean share toward 50:50 across both tasks. Without visual feedback there was consistent deviation of the two force time series from the in-phase pattern (typical of the Force task) and from the out-of-phase pattern (typical of the Share task). This finding is in contrast to most earlier studies that demonstrated only two stable patterns, in-phase and out-of-phase. We interpret the results as consequences of drifts of parameters in a dynamical system leading in particular to drifts in the referent finger coordinates toward their actual coordinates. The relative phase desynchronization is caused by the right-left differences in the hypothesized drift processes, consistent with the dynamic dominance hypothesis. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Unintentional force changes in cyclical tasks performed by an abundant system: Empirical observations and a dynamical model

PubMed Central

Reschechtko, Sasha; Hasanbarani, Fariba; Akulin, Vladimir M.; Latash, Mark L.

2017-01-01

The study explored unintentional force changes elicited by removing visual feedback during cyclical, two-finger isometric force production tasks. Subjects performed two types of tasks at 1 Hz, paced by an auditory metronome. One – Force task – required cyclical changes in total force while maintaining the sharing, defined as relative contribution of a finger to total force. The other task – Share task – required cyclical changes in sharing while keeping total force unchanged. Each trial started under full visual feedback on both force and sharing; subsequently, feedback on the variable that was instructed to stay constant was frozen, and finally feedback on the other variable was also removed. In both tasks, turning off visual feedback on total force elicited a drop in the mid-point of the force cycle and an increase in the peak-to-peak force amplitude. Turning off visual feedback on sharing led to a drift of mean share toward 50:50 across both tasks. Without visual feedback there was consistent deviation of the two force time series from the in-phase pattern (typical of the Force task) and from the out-of-phase pattern (typical of the Share task). This finding is in contrast to most earlier studies that demonstrated only two stable patterns, in-phase and out-of-phase. We interpret the results as consequences of drifts of parameters in a dynamical system leading in particular to drifts in the referent finger coordinates toward their actual coordinates. The relative phase desynchronization is caused by the right-left differences in the hypothesized drift processes, consistent with the dynamic dominance hypothesis. PMID:28344070

Timing at peak force may be the hidden target controlled in continuation and synchronization tapping.

PubMed

Du, Yue; Clark, Jane E; Whitall, Jill

2017-05-01

Timing control, such as producing movements at a given rate or synchronizing movements to an external event, has been studied through a finger-tapping task where timing is measured at the initial contact between finger and tapping surface or the point when a key is pressed. However, the point of peak force is after the time registered at the tapping surface and thus is a less obvious but still an important event during finger tapping. Here, we compared the time at initial contact with the time at peak force as participants tapped their finger on a force sensor at a given rate after the metronome was turned off (continuation task) or in synchrony with the metronome (sensorimotor synchronization task). We found that, in the continuation task, timing was comparably accurate between initial contact and peak force. These two timing events also exhibited similar trial-by-trial statistical dependence (i.e., lag-one autocorrelation). However, the central clock variability was lower at the peak force than the initial contact. In the synchronization task, timing control at peak force appeared to be less variable and more accurate than that at initial contact. In addition to lower central clock variability, the mean SE magnitude at peak force (SEP) was around zero while SE at initial contact (SEC) was negative. Although SEC and SEP demonstrated the same trial-by-trial statistical dependence, we found that participants adjusted the time of tapping to correct SEP, but not SEC, toward zero. These results suggest that timing at peak force is a meaningful target of timing control, particularly in synchronization tapping. This result may explain the fact that SE at initial contact is typically negative as widely observed in the preexisting literature.

Daytime Sleep Enhances Consolidation of the Spatial but Not Motoric Representation of Motor Sequence Memory

PubMed Central

Albouy, Geneviève; Fogel, Stuart; Pottiez, Hugo; Nguyen, Vo An; Ray, Laura; Lungu, Ovidiu; Carrier, Julie; Robertson, Edwin; Doyon, Julien

2013-01-01

Motor sequence learning is known to rely on more than a single process. As the skill develops with practice, two different representations of the sequence are formed: a goal representation built under spatial allocentric coordinates and a movement representation mediated through egocentric motor coordinates. This study aimed to explore the influence of daytime sleep (nap) on consolidation of these two representations. Through the manipulation of an explicit finger sequence learning task and a transfer protocol, we show that both allocentric (spatial) and egocentric (motor) representations of the sequence can be isolated after initial training. Our results also demonstrate that nap favors the emergence of offline gains in performance for the allocentric, but not the egocentric representation, even after accounting for fatigue effects. Furthermore, sleep-dependent gains in performance observed for the allocentric representation are correlated with spindle density during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep of the post-training nap. In contrast, performance on the egocentric representation is only maintained, but not improved, regardless of the sleep/wake condition. These results suggest that motor sequence memory acquisition and consolidation involve distinct mechanisms that rely on sleep (and specifically, spindle) or simple passage of time, depending respectively on whether the sequence is performed under allocentric or egocentric coordinates. PMID:23300993

Prehension Synergies in Three Dimensions

PubMed Central

Shim, Jae Kun; Latash, Mark L.; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M.

2010-01-01

The goal of this study was to investigate the conjoint changes of digit forces/moments in 3 dimensions during static prehension under external torques acting on the object in one plane. The experimental paradigm was similar to holding a book vertically in the air where the center of mass of the book is located farther from the hand than the points of digit contacts. Three force and 3 moment components from each digit were recorded during static prehension of a customized handle. Subjects produced forces and moments in all 3 directions, although the external torques were exerted on the handheld object about only the Z-axis. The 3-dimensional response to a 2-dimensional task was explained by the cause– effect chain effects prompted by the noncollinearity of the normal forces of the thumb and the 4 fingers (represented by the “virtual finger”). Because the forces are not collinear (not along the same line), they generate moments of force about X- and Y-axes that are negated by the finger forces along the Y- and X-directions. The magnitudes of forces produced by lateral fingers (index and little) with longer moment arms were larger compared with the central fingers (middle and ring). At the virtual finger (an imaginary digit whose mechanical action is equivalent to the summed action of the 4 fingers) level, the relative contribution of different fractions of the resistive moment produced by subjects did not depend on the torque magnitude. We conclude that the CNS 1) solves a planar prehension task by producing forces and moments in all 3 directions, 2) uses mechanical advantage of fingers, and 3) shares the total torque among finger forces and moments in a particular way disregarding the torque magnitude. PMID:15456799

Finger-Based Numerical Skills Link Fine Motor Skills to Numerical Development in Preschoolers.

PubMed

Suggate, Sebastian; Stoeger, Heidrun; Fischer, Ursula

2017-12-01

Previous studies investigating the association between fine-motor skills (FMS) and mathematical skills have lacked specificity. In this study, we test whether an FMS link to numerical skills is due to the involvement of finger representations in early mathematics. We gave 81 pre-schoolers (mean age of 4 years, 9 months) a set of FMS measures and numerical tasks with and without a specific finger focus. Additionally, we used receptive vocabulary and chronological age as control measures. FMS linked more closely to finger-based than to nonfinger-based numerical skills even after accounting for the control variables. Moreover, the relationship between FMS and numerical skill was entirely mediated by finger-based numerical skills. We concluded that FMS are closely related to early numerical skill development through finger-based numerical counting that aids the acquisition of mathematical mental representations.

The discovery of zinc fingers and their development for practical applications in gene regulation and genome manipulation.

PubMed

Klug, Aaron

2010-02-01

A long-standing goal of molecular biologists has been to construct DNA-binding proteins for the control of gene expression. The classical Cys2His2 (C2H2) zinc finger design is ideally suited for such purposes. Discriminating between closely related DNA sequences both in vitro and in vivo, this naturally occurring design was adopted for engineering zinc finger proteins (ZFPs) to target genes specifically. Zinc fingers were discovered in 1985, arising from the interpretation of our biochemical studies on the interaction of the Xenopus protein transcription factor IIIA (TFIIIA) with 5S RNA. Subsequent structural studies revealed its three-dimensional structure and its interaction with DNA. Each finger constitutes a self-contained domain stabilized by a zinc (Zn) ion ligated to a pair of cysteines and a pair of histidines and also by an inner structural hydrophobic core. This discovery showed not only a new protein fold but also a novel principle of DNA recognition. Whereas other DNA-binding proteins generally make use of the 2-fold symmetry of the double helix, functioning as homo- or heterodimers, zinc fingers can be linked linearly in tandem to recognize nucleic acid sequences of varying lengths. This modular design offers a large number of combinatorial possibilities for the specific recognition of DNA (or RNA). It is therefore not surprising that the zinc finger is found widespread in nature, including 3% of the genes of the human genome. The zinc finger design can be used to construct DNA-binding proteins for specific intervention in gene expression. By fusing selected zinc finger peptides to repression or activation domains, genes can be selectively switched off or on by targeting the peptide to the desired gene target. It was also suggested that by combining an appropriate zinc finger peptide with other effector or functional domains, e.g. from nucleases or integrases to form chimaeric proteins, genomes could be modified or manipulated. The first example of the power of the method was published in 1994 when a three-finger protein was constructed to block the expression of a human oncogene transformed into a mouse cell line. The same paper also described how a reporter gene was activated by targeting an inserted 9-base pair (bp) sequence, which acts as the promoter. Thus, by fusing zinc finger peptides to repression or activation domains, genes can be selectively switched off or on. It was also suggested that, by combining zinc fingers with other effector or functional domains, e.g. from nucleases or integrases, to form chimaeric proteins, genomes could be manipulated or modified. Several applications of such engineered ZFPs are described here, including some of therapeutic importance, and also their adaptation for breeding improved crop plants.

Precision manipulation with a dextrous robot hand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michelman, Paul

1994-01-01

In this thesis, we discuss a framework for describing and synthesizing precision manipulation tasks with a robot hand. Precision manipulations are those in which the motions of grasped objects are caused by finger motions alone (as distinct from arm or wrist motion). Experiments demonstrating the capabilities of the Utah-MIT hand are presented. This work begins by examining current research on biological motor control to raise a number of questions. For example, is the control centralized and organized by a central processor? Or is the control distributed throughout the nervous system? Motor control research on manipulation has focused on developing classifications of hand motions, concentrating solely on finger motions, while neglecting grasp stability and interaction forces that occur in manipulation. In addition, these taxonomies have not been explicitly functional. This thesis defines and analyzes a basic set of manipulation strategies that includes both position and force trajectories. The fundamental purposes of the manipulations are: (1) rectilinear and rotational motion of grasped objects of different geometries; and (2) the application of forces and moments against the environment by the grasped objects. First, task partitioning is described to allocate the fingers their roles in the task. Second, for each strategy, the mechanics and workspace of the tasks are analyzed geometrically to determine the gross finger trajectories required to achieve the tasks. Techniques illustrating the combination of simple manipulations into complex, multiple degree-of-freedom tasks are presented. There is a discussion of several tasks that use multiple elementary strategies. The tasks described are removing the top of a childproof medicine bottle, putting the top back on, rotating and regrasping a block and a cylinder within the grasp. Finally, experimental results are presented. The experimental setup at Columbia University's Center for Research in Intelligent Systems and experiments with a Utah-MIT hand is discussed. First, the overall system design is described. Two hybrid position/force controllers were designed and built. After a discussion of the entire system, experimental results are presented describing each of the basic manipulation and complex manipulation strategies.

The genetic map of finger millet, Eleusine coracana.

PubMed

Dida, Mathews M; Srinivasachary; Ramakrishnan, Sujatha; Bennetzen, Jeffrey L; Gale, Mike D; Devos, Katrien M

2007-01-01

Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), expressed-sequenced tag (EST), and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to generate a genetic map of the tetraploid finger millet (Eleusine coracana subsp. coracana) genome (2n = 4x = 36). Because levels of variation in finger millet are low, the map was generated in an inter-subspecific F(2) population from a cross between E. coracana subsp. coracana cv. Okhale-1 and its wild progenitor E. coracana subsp. africana acc. MD-20. Duplicated loci were used to identify homoeologous groups. Assignment of linkage groups to the A and B genome was done by comparing the hybridization patterns of probes in Okhale-1, MD-20, and Eleusine indica acc. MD-36. E. indica is the A genome donor to E. coracana. The maps span 721 cM on the A genome and 787 cM on the B genome and cover all 18 finger millet chromosomes, at least partially. To facilitate the use of marker-assisted selection in finger millet, a first set of 82 SSR markers was developed. The SSRs were identified in small-insert genomic libraries generated using methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes. Thirty-one of the SSRs were mapped. Application of the maps and markers in hybridization-based breeding programs will expedite the improvement of finger millet.

Magnetic resonance cinematography of the fingers: a 3.0 Tesla feasibility study with comparison of incremental and continuous dynamic protocols.

PubMed

Bayer, Thomas; Adler, Werner; Janka, Rolf; Uder, Michael; Roemer, Frank

2017-12-01

To study the feasibility of magnetic resonance cinematography of the fingers (MRCF) with comparison of image quality of different protocols for depicting the finger anatomy during motion. MRCF was performed during a full flexion and extension movement in 14 healthy volunteers using a finger-gating device. Three real-time sequences (frame rates 17-59 images/min) and one proton density (PD) sequence (3 images/min) were acquired during incremental and continuous motion. Analyses were performed independently by three readers. Qualitative image analysis included Likert-scale grading from 0 (useless) to 5 (excellent) and specific visual analog scale (VAS) grading from 0 (insufficient) to 100 (excellent). Signal-to-noise calculation was performed. Overall percentage agreement and mean absolute disagreement were calculated. Within the real-time sequences a high frame-rate true fast imaging with steady-state free precession (TRUFI) yielded the best image quality with Likert and overall VAS scores of 3.0 ± 0.2 and 60.4 ± 25.3, respectively. The best sequence regarding image quality was an incremental PD with mean values of 4.8 ± 0.2 and 91.2 ± 9.4, respectively. Overall percentage agreement and mean absolute disagreement were 47.9 and 0.7, respectively. No statistically significant SNR differences were found between continuous and incremental motion for the real-time protocols. MRCF is feasible with appropriate image quality during continuous motion using a finger-gating device. Almost perfect image quality is achievable with incremental PD imaging, which represents a compromise for MRCF with the drawback of prolonged scanning time.

Finger tapping analysis in patients with Parkinson's disease and atypical parkinsonism.

PubMed

Djurić-Jovičić, Milica; Petrović, Igor; Ječmenica-Lukić, Milica; Radovanović, Saša; Dragašević-Mišković, Nataša; Belić, Minja; Miler-Jerković, Vera; Popović, Mirjana B; Kostić, Vladimir S

2016-08-01

The goal of this study was to investigate repetitive finger tapping patterns in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), progressive supranuclear palsy-Richardson syndrome (PSP-R), or multiple system atrophy of parkinsonian type (MSA-P). The finger tapping performance was objectively assessed in PD (n=13), PSP-R (n=15), and MSA-P (n=14) patients and matched healthy controls (HC; n=14), using miniature inertial sensors positioned on the thumb and index finger, providing spatio-temporal kinematic parameters. The main finding was the lack or only minimal progressive reduction in amplitude during the finger tapping in PSP-R patients, similar to HC, but significantly different from the sequence effect (progressive decrement) in both PD and MSA-P patients. The mean negative amplitude slope of -0.12°/cycle revealed less progression of amplitude decrement even in comparison to HC (-0.21°/cycle, p=0.032), and particularly from PD (-0.56°/cycle, p=0.001), and MSA-P patients (-1.48°/cycle, p=0.003). No significant differences were found in the average finger separation amplitudes between PD, PSP-R and MSA-P patients (pmsa-pd=0.726, pmsa-psp=0.363, ppsp-pd=0.726). The lack of clinically significant sequence effect during finger tapping differentiated PSP-R from both PD and MSA-P patients, and might be specific for PSP-R. The finger tapping kinematic parameter of amplitude slope may be a neurophysiological marker able to differentiate particular forms of parkinsonism. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Role of Response Repetition in Task Switching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Stephen; Mari-Beffa, Paloma

2008-01-01

When switching between tasks, participants are sometimes required to use different response sets for each task. Thus, task switch and response set switch are confounded. In 5 experiments, the authors examined transitions of response within a linear 4-finger arrangement. A random baseline condition was compared with the cuing of specific response…

Sequence Discrimination by Alternatively Spliced Isoforms of a DNA Binding Zinc Finger Domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gogos, Joseph A.; Hsu, Tien; Bolton, Jesse; Kafatos, Fotis C.

1992-09-01

Two major developmentally regulated isoforms of the Drosophila chorion transcription factor CF2 differ by an extra zinc finger within the DNA binding domain. The preferred DNA binding sites were determined and are distinguished by an internal duplication of TAT in the site recognized by the isoform with the extra finger. The results are consistent with modular interactions between zinc fingers and trinucleotides and also suggest rules for recognition of AT-rich DNA sites by zinc finger proteins. The results show how modular finger interactions with trinucleotides can be used, in conjunction with alternative splicing, to alter the binding specificity and increase the spectrum of sites recognized by a DNA binding domain. Thus, CF2 may potentially regulate distinct sets of target genes during development.

Robot-Assisted Guitar Hero for Finger Rehabilitation after Stroke

PubMed Central

Taheri, Hossein; Rowe, Justin B.; Gardner, David; Chan, Vicky; Reinkensmeyer, David J.; Wolbrecht, Eric T.

2014-01-01

This paper describes the design and testing of a robotic device for finger therapy after stroke: FINGER (Finger Individuating Grasp Exercise Robot). FINGER makes use of stacked single degree-of-freedom mechanisms to assist subjects in moving individual fingers in a naturalistic grasping pattern through much of their full range of motion. The device has a high bandwidth of control (−3dB at approximately 8 Hz) and is backdriveable. These characteristics make it capable of assisting in grasping tasks that require precise timing. We therefore used FINGER to assist individuals with a stroke (n = 8) and without impairment (n = 4) in playing a game similar to Guitar Hero©. The subjects attempted to move their fingers to target positions at times specified by notes that were graphically streamed to popular music. We show here that by automatically adjusting the robot gains, it is possible to use FINGER to modulate the subject’s success rate at the game, across a range of impairment levels. Modulating success rates did not alter the stroke subject’s effort, although the unimpaired subjects exerted more force when they were made less successful. We also present a novel measure of finger individuation that can be assessed as individuals play Guitar Hero with FINGER. The results demonstrate the ability of FINGER to provide controlled levels of assistance during an engaging computer game, and to quantify finger individuation after stroke. PMID:23366783

Effect of cognitive and motor tasks on postural stability in Parkinson's disease: a posturographic study.

PubMed

Marchese, Roberta; Bove, Marco; Abbruzzese, Giovanni

2003-06-01

To analyse the effect of concomitant cognitive or motor task performance on balance control in Parkinson's disease (PD), we performed a posturographic study in 24 PD patients and in 20 sex- and age-matched control subjects. Postural sway was measured with eyes open (EO) and eyes closed (EC) during quiet stance and during performance of calculation or motor sequence of thumb opposition to the other fingers. No difference of centre of foot pressure (COP) parameters was observed during quiet standing (either EO or EC) between patients and controls, but visual deprivation induced in both groups a worsening of postural stability. COP area was significantly increased in PD patients during dual task performance, whereas no difference of COP path and x-y axes was observed. The effects induced by the performance of cognitive or motor task were significantly more evident in PD patients with clinical evidence of postural instability (presence of prior falls in the history). This study demonstrates that dual task interference on postural control can be observed in PD patients during performance of cognitive as well as motor tasks. The balance deterioration during dual task performance was significantly enhanced in patients with history of prior falls. These findings have some implications for the strategies to be used in reducing the risk of fall in PD. Copyright 2003 Movement Disorder Society

Writing in the air: A visualization tool for written languages.

PubMed

Itaguchi, Yoshihiro; Yamada, Chiharu; Yoshihara, Masahiro; Fukuzawa, Kazuyoshi

2017-01-01

The present study investigated interactions between cognitive processes and finger actions called "kusho," meaning "air-writing" in Japanese. Kanji-culture individuals often employ kusho behavior in which they move their fingers as a substitute for a pen to write mostly done when they are trying to recall the shape of a Kanji character or the spelling of an English word. To further examine the visualization role of kusho behavior on cognitive processing, we conducted a Kanji construction task in which a stimulus (i.e., sub-parts to be constructed) was simultaneously presented. In addition, we conducted a Kanji vocabulary test to reveal the relation between the kusho benefit and vocabulary size. The experiment provided two sets of novel findings. First, executing kusho behavior improved task performance (correct responses) as long as the participants watched their finger movements while solving the task. This result supports the idea that visual feedback of kusho behavior helps cognitive processing for the task. Second, task performance was positively correlated with the vocabulary score when stimuli were presented for a relatively long time, whereas the kusho benefits and vocabulary score were not correlated regardless of stimulus-presentation time. These results imply that a longer stimulus-presentation could allow participants to utilize their lexical resources for solving the task. The current findings together support the visualization role of kusho behavior, adding experimental evidence supporting the view that there are interactions between cognition and motor behavior.

Neural networks for Braille reading by the blind.

PubMed

Sadato, N; Pascual-Leone, A; Grafman, J; Deiber, M P; Ibañez, V; Hallett, M

1998-07-01

To explore the neural networks used for Braille reading, we measured regional cerebral blood flow with PET during tactile tasks performed both by Braille readers blinded early in life and by sighted subjects. Eight proficient Braille readers were studied during Braille reading with both right and left index fingers. Eight-character, non-contracted Braille-letter strings were used, and subjects were asked to discriminate between words and non-words. To compare the behaviour of the brain of the blind and the sighted directly, non-Braille tactile tasks were performed by six different blind subjects and 10 sighted control subjects using the right index finger. The tasks included a non-discrimination task and three discrimination tasks (angle, width and character). Irrespective of reading finger (right or left), Braille reading by the blind activated the inferior parietal lobule, primary visual cortex, superior occipital gyri, fusiform gyri, ventral premotor area, superior parietal lobule, cerebellum and primary sensorimotor area bilaterally, also the right dorsal premotor cortex, right middle occipital gyrus and right prefrontal area. During non-Braille discrimination tasks, in blind subjects, the ventral occipital regions, including the primary visual cortex and fusiform gyri bilaterally were activated while the secondary somatosensory area was deactivated. The reverse pattern was found in sighted subjects where the secondary somatosensory area was activated while the ventral occipital regions were suppressed. These findings suggest that the tactile processing pathways usually linked in the secondary somatosensory area are rerouted in blind subjects to the ventral occipital cortical regions originally reserved for visual shape discrimination.

Development of a CPM Machine for Injured Fingers.

PubMed

Fu, Yili; Zhang, Fuxiang; Ma, Xin; Meng, Qinggang

2005-01-01

Human fingers are easy to be injured. A CPM machine is a mechanism based on the rehabilitation theory of continuous passive motion (CPM). To develop a CPM machine for the clinic application in the rehabilitation of injured fingers is a significant task. Therefore, based on the theories of evidence based medicine (EBM) and CPM, we've developed a set of biomimetic mechanism after modeling the motions of fingers and analyzing its kinematics and dynamics analysis. We also design an embedded operating system based on ARM (a kind of 32-bit RISC microprocessor). The equipment can achieve the precise control of moving scope of fingers, finger's force and speed. It can serves as a rational checking method and a way of assessment for functional rehabilitation of human hands. Now, the first prototype has been finished and will start the clinical testing in Harbin Medical University shortly.

A neural network for recognizing movement patterns during repetitive self-paced movements of the fingers in opposition to the thumb.

PubMed

Van Vaerenbergh, J; Vranken, R; Briers, L; Briers, H

2001-11-01

A data glove is a typical input device to control a virtual environment. At the same time it measures movements of wrist and fingers. The purposes of this investigation were to assess the ability of BrainMaker, a neural network, to recognize movement patterns during an opposition task that consisted of repetitive self-paced movements of the fingers in opposition to the thumb. The neural network contained 56 inputs, 3 hidden layers of 20 neurons, and one output. The 5th glove '95 (5DT), a commercial glove especially designed for virtual reality games, was used for finger motion capture. The training of the neural network was successful for recognizing the thumb, the index finger and the ring finger movements during the repetitive self-paced movements and neural network performed well during testing.

Human ribosomal protein L37 has motifs predicting serine/threonine phosphorylation and a zinc-finger domain.

PubMed

Barnard, G F; Staniunas, R J; Puder, M; Steele, G D; Chen, L B

1994-08-02

Ribosomal protein L37 mRNA is overexpressed in colon cancer. The nucleotide sequences of human L37 from several tumor and normal, colon and liver cDNA sources were determined to be identical. L37 mRNA was approximately 375 nucleotides long encoding 97 amino acids with M(r) = 11,070, pI = 12.6, multiple potential serine/threonine phosphorylation sites and a zinc-finger domain. The human sequence is compared to other species.

Quantifying Forearm Muscle Activity during Wrist and Finger Movements by Means of Multi-Channel Electromyography

PubMed Central

Gazzoni, Marco; Celadon, Nicolò; Mastrapasqua, Davide; Paleari, Marco; Margaria, Valentina; Ariano, Paolo

2014-01-01

The study of hand and finger movement is an important topic with applications in prosthetics, rehabilitation, and ergonomics. Surface electromyography (sEMG) is the gold standard for the analysis of muscle activation. Previous studies investigated the optimal electrode number and positioning on the forearm to obtain information representative of muscle activation and robust to movements. However, the sEMG spatial distribution on the forearm during hand and finger movements and its changes due to different hand positions has never been quantified. The aim of this work is to quantify 1) the spatial localization of surface EMG activity of distinct forearm muscles during dynamic free movements of wrist and single fingers and 2) the effect of hand position on sEMG activity distribution. The subjects performed cyclic dynamic tasks involving the wrist and the fingers. The wrist tasks and the hand opening/closing task were performed with the hand in prone and neutral positions. A sensorized glove was used for kinematics recording. sEMG signals were acquired from the forearm muscles using a grid of 112 electrodes integrated into a stretchable textile sleeve. The areas of sEMG activity have been identified by a segmentation technique after a data dimensionality reduction step based on Non Negative Matrix Factorization applied to the EMG envelopes. The results show that 1) it is possible to identify distinct areas of sEMG activity on the forearm for different fingers; 2) hand position influences sEMG activity level and spatial distribution. This work gives new quantitative information about sEMG activity distribution on the forearm in healthy subjects and provides a basis for future works on the identification of optimal electrode configuration for sEMG based control of prostheses, exoskeletons, or orthoses. An example of use of this information for the optimization of the detection system for the estimation of joint kinematics from sEMG is reported. PMID:25289669

Differentiating Visual from Response Sequencing during Long-term Skill Learning.

PubMed

Lynch, Brighid; Beukema, Patrick; Verstynen, Timothy

2017-01-01

The dual-system model of sequence learning posits that during early learning there is an advantage for encoding sequences in sensory frames; however, it remains unclear whether this advantage extends to long-term consolidation. Using the serial RT task, we set out to distinguish the dynamics of learning sequential orders of visual cues from learning sequential responses. On each day, most participants learned a new mapping between a set of symbolic cues and responses made with one of four fingers, after which they were exposed to trial blocks of either randomly ordered cues or deterministic ordered cues (12-item sequence). Participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups (n = 15 per group): Visual sequences (same sequence of visual cues across training days), Response sequences (same order of key presses across training days), Combined (same serial order of cues and responses on all training days), and a Control group (a novel sequence each training day). Across 5 days of training, sequence-specific measures of response speed and accuracy improved faster in the Visual group than any of the other three groups, despite no group differences in explicit awareness of the sequence. The two groups that were exposed to the same visual sequence across days showed a marginal improvement in response binding that was not found in the other groups. These results indicate that there is an advantage, in terms of rate of consolidation across multiple days of training, for learning sequences of actions in a sensory representational space, rather than as motoric representations.

Brain Activations for Vestibular Stimulation and Dual Tasking Change with Spaceflight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yuan, Peng; Koppelmans, Vincent; Reuter-Lorenz, Patricia; De Dios, Yiri; Gadd, Nichole; Wood, Scott; Riascos, Roy; Kofman, Igor; Bloomberg, Jacob; Mulavara, Ajitkumar;

Differing Dynamics of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Coordination: Two-finger and Four-Finger Tapping Experiments

PubMed Central

Kodama, Kentaro; Furuyama, Nobuhiro; Inamura, Tetsunari

2015-01-01

Finger-tapping experiments were conducted to examine whether the dynamics of intrapersonal and interpersonal coordination systems can be described equally by the Haken—Kelso—Bunz model, which describes inter-limb coordination dynamics. This article reports the results of finger-tapping experiments conducted in both systems. Two within-subject factors were investigated: the phase mode and the number of fingers. In the intrapersonal experiment (Experiment 1), the participants were asked to tap, paced by a gradually hastening auditory metronome, looking at their fingers moving, using the index finger in the two finger condition, or the index and middle finger in the four-finger condition. In the interpersonal experiment (Experiment 2), pairs of participants performed the task while each participant used the outside hand, tapping with the index finger in the two finger condition, or the index and middle finger in the four-finger condition. Some results did not agree with the HKB model predictions. First, from Experiment 1, no significant difference was observed in the movement stability between the in-phase and anti-phase modes in the two finger condition. Second, from Experiment 2, no significant difference was found in the movement stability between the in-phase and anti-phase mode in the four-finger condition. From these findings, different coordination dynamics were inferred between intrapersonal and interpersonal coordination systems against prediction from the previous studies. Results were discussed according to differences between intrapersonal and interpersonal coordination systems in the availability of perceptual information and the complexity in the interaction between limbs derived from a nested structure. PMID:26070119

Maintaining rotational equilibrium during object manipulation: linear behavior of a highly non-linear system

PubMed Central

Gao, Fan; Latash, Mark L.

2010-01-01

We address issues of simultaneous control of the grasping force and the total moment of forces applied to a handheld object during its manipulation. Six young healthy male subjects grasped an instrumented handle and performed its cyclic motion in the vertical direction. The handle allowed for setting different clockwise (negative) or counterclockwise torques. Three movement frequencies: 1, 1.5 and 2 Hz, and five different torques: −1/3, −1/6, 0, 1/6 and 1/3 Nm, were used. The rotational equilibrium was maintained by two means: (1) Concerted changes of the moments produced by the normal and tangential forces, specifically anti-phase changes of the moments during the tasks with zero external torque and in-phase changes during the non-zero-torque tasks, and (2) Redistribution of the normal forces among individual fingers such that the agonist fingers—the fingers that resist external torque—increased the force in phase with the acceleration, while the forces of the antagonist fingers—those that assist the external torque—especially, the fingers with the large moment arms, the index and little fingers, stayed unchanged. The observed effects agree with the principle of superposition—according to which some complex actions, for example, prehension, can be decomposed into elemental actions controlled independently—and the mechanical advantage hypothesis according to which in moment production the fingers are activated in proportion to their moment arms with respect to the axis of rotation. We would like to emphasize the linearity of the observed relations, which was not prescribed by the task mechanics and seems to be produced by specific neural control mechanisms. PMID:16328302

Masked response priming in expert typists.

PubMed

Heinemann, Alexander; Kiesel, Andrea; Pohl, Carsten; Kunde, Wilfried

2010-03-01

In masked priming tasks responses are usually faster when prime and target require identical rather than different responses. Previous research has extensively manipulated the nature and number of response-affording stimuli. However, little is known about the constraints of masked priming regarding the nature and number of response alternatives. The present study explored the limits of masked priming in a six-choice reaction time task, where responses from different fingers of both hands were required. We studied participants that were either experts for the type of response (skilled typists) or novices. Masked primes facilitated responding to targets that required the same response, responses with a different finger of the same hand, and with a homologous finger of the other hand. These effects were modulated by expertise. The results show that masked primes facilitate responding especially for experts in the S-R mapping and with increasing similarity of primed and required response.

Finger force changes in the absence of visual feedback in patients with Parkinson’s disease

PubMed Central

Jo, Hang Jin; Ambike, Satyajit; Lewis, Mechelle M.; Huang, Xuemei; Latash, Mark L.

2015-01-01

Objectives We investigated the unintentional drift in total force and in sharing of the force between fingers in two-finger accurate force production tasks performed without visual feedback by patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and healthy controls. In particular, we were testing a hypothesis that adaptation to the documented loss of action stability could lead to faster force drop in PD. Methods PD patients and healthy controls performed accurate constant force production tasks without visual feedback by different finger pairs, starting with different force levels and different sharing patterns of force between the two fingers. Results Both groups showed an exponential force drop with time and a drift of the sharing pattern towards 50:50. The PD group showed a significantly faster force drop without a change in speed of the sharing drift. These results were consistent across initial force levels, sharing patterns, and finger pairs. A pilot test of four subjects, two PD and two controls, showed no consistent effects of memory on the force drop. Conclusions We interpret the force drop as a consequence of back-coupling between the actual and referent finger coordinates that draws the referent coordinate towards the actual one. The faster force drop in the PD group is interpreted as adaptive to the loss of action stability in PD. The lack of group differences in the sharing drift suggests two potentially independent physiological mechanisms contributing to the force and sharing drifts. Significance The hypothesis on adaptive changes in PD with the purpose to ensure stability of steady states may have important implications for treatment of PD. The speed of force drop may turn into a useful tool to quantify such adaptive changes. PMID:26072437

Optimization for Guitar Fingering on Single Notes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Itoh, Masaru; Hayashida, Takumi

This paper presents an optimization method for guitar fingering. The fingering is to determine a unique combination of string, fret and finger corresponding to the note. The method aims to generate the best fingering pattern for guitar robots rather than beginners. Furthermore, it can be applied to any musical score on single notes. A fingering action can be decomposed into three motions, that is, a motion of press string, release string and move fretting hand. The cost for moving the hand is estimated on the basis of Manhattan distance which is the sum of distances along fret and string directions. The objective is to minimize the total fingering costs, subject to fret, string and finger constraints. As a sequence of notes on the score forms a line on time series, the optimization for guitar fingering can be resolved into a multistage decision problem. Dynamic programming is exceedingly effective to solve such a problem. A level concept is introduced into rendering states so as to make multiple DP solutions lead a unique one among the DP backward processes. For example, if two fingerings have the same value of cost at different states on a stage, then the low position would be taken precedence over the high position, and the index finger would be over the middle finger.

Multiple hybrid de novo genome assembly of finger millet, an orphan allotetraploid crop

PubMed Central

Hatakeyama, Masaomi; Aluri, Sirisha; Balachadran, Mathi Thumilan; Sivarajan, Sajeevan Radha; Patrignani, Andrea; Grüter, Simon; Poveda, Lucy; Shimizu-Inatsugi, Rie; Baeten, John; Francoijs, Kees-Jan; Nataraja, Karaba N; Reddy, Yellodu A Nanja; Phadnis, Shamprasad; Ravikumar, Ramapura L; Schlapbach, Ralph; Sreeman, Sheshshayee M; Shimizu, Kentaro K

2018-01-01

Abstract Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) is an important crop for food security because of its tolerance to drought, which is expected to be exacerbated by global climate changes. Nevertheless, it is often classified as an orphan/underutilized crop because of the paucity of scientific attention. Among several small millets, finger millet is considered as an excellent source of essential nutrient elements, such as iron and zinc; hence, it has potential as an alternate coarse cereal. However, high-quality genome sequence data of finger millet are currently not available. One of the major problems encountered in the genome assembly of this species was its polyploidy, which hampers genome assembly compared with a diploid genome. To overcome this problem, we sequenced its genome using diverse technologies with sufficient coverage and assembled it via a novel multiple hybrid assembly workflow that combines next-generation with single-molecule sequencing, followed by whole-genome optical mapping using the Bionano Irys® system. The total number of scaffolds was 1,897 with an N50 length >2.6 Mb and detection of 96% of the universal single-copy orthologs. The majority of the homeologs were assembled separately. This indicates that the proposed workflow is applicable to the assembly of other allotetraploid genomes. PMID:28985356

Gene Discovery and Advances in Finger Millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.] Genomics-An Important Nutri-Cereal of Future.

PubMed

Sood, Salej; Kumar, Anil; Babu, B Kalyana; Gaur, Vikram S; Pandey, Dinesh; Kant, Lakshmi; Pattnayak, Arunava

2016-01-01

The rapid strides in molecular marker technologies followed by genomics, and next generation sequencing advancements in three major crops (rice, maize and wheat) of the world have given opportunities for their use in the orphan, but highly valuable future crops, including finger millet [ Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.]. Finger millet has many special agronomic and nutritional characteristics, which make it an indispensable crop in arid, semi-arid, hilly and tribal areas of India and Africa. The crop has proven its adaptability in harsh conditions and has shown resilience to climate change. The adaptability traits of finger millet have shown the advantage over major cereal grains under stress conditions, revealing it as a storehouse of important genomic resources for crop improvement. Although new technologies for genomic studies are now available, progress in identifying and tapping these important alleles or genes is lacking. RAPDs were the default choice for genetic diversity studies in the crop until the last decade, but the subsequent development of SSRs and comparative genomics paved the way for the marker assisted selection in finger millet. Resistance gene homologs from NBS-LRR region of finger millet for blast and sequence variants for nutritional traits from other cereals have been developed and used invariably. Population structure analysis studies exhibit 2-4 sub-populations in the finger millet gene pool with separate grouping of Indian and exotic genotypes. Recently, the omics technologies have been efficiently applied to understand the nutritional variation, drought tolerance and gene mining. Progress has also occurred with respect to transgenics development. This review presents the current biotechnological advancements along with research gaps and future perspective of genomic research in finger millet.

Gene Discovery and Advances in Finger Millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.] Genomics—An Important Nutri-Cereal of Future

PubMed Central

Sood, Salej; Kumar, Anil; Babu, B. Kalyana; Gaur, Vikram S.; Pandey, Dinesh; Kant, Lakshmi; Pattnayak, Arunava

2016-01-01

The rapid strides in molecular marker technologies followed by genomics, and next generation sequencing advancements in three major crops (rice, maize and wheat) of the world have given opportunities for their use in the orphan, but highly valuable future crops, including finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.]. Finger millet has many special agronomic and nutritional characteristics, which make it an indispensable crop in arid, semi-arid, hilly and tribal areas of India and Africa. The crop has proven its adaptability in harsh conditions and has shown resilience to climate change. The adaptability traits of finger millet have shown the advantage over major cereal grains under stress conditions, revealing it as a storehouse of important genomic resources for crop improvement. Although new technologies for genomic studies are now available, progress in identifying and tapping these important alleles or genes is lacking. RAPDs were the default choice for genetic diversity studies in the crop until the last decade, but the subsequent development of SSRs and comparative genomics paved the way for the marker assisted selection in finger millet. Resistance gene homologs from NBS-LRR region of finger millet for blast and sequence variants for nutritional traits from other cereals have been developed and used invariably. Population structure analysis studies exhibit 2–4 sub-populations in the finger millet gene pool with separate grouping of Indian and exotic genotypes. Recently, the omics technologies have been efficiently applied to understand the nutritional variation, drought tolerance and gene mining. Progress has also occurred with respect to transgenics development. This review presents the current biotechnological advancements along with research gaps and future perspective of genomic research in finger millet. PMID:27881984

Grip type and task goal modify reach-to-grasp performance in post-stroke hemiparesis.

PubMed

Schaefer, Sydney Y; DeJong, Stacey L; Cherry, Kendra M; Lang, Catherine E

2012-04-01

This study investigated whether grip type and/or task goal influenced reaching and grasping performance in poststroke hemiparesis. Sixteen adults with poststroke hemiparesis and twelve healthy adults reached to and grasped a cylindrical object using one of two grip types (3-finger or palmar) to achieve one of two task goals (hold or lift). Performance of the stroke group was characteristic of hemiparetic limb movement during reach-to-grasp, with more curved handpaths and slower velocities compared with the control group. These effects were present regardless of grip type or task goal. Other measures of reaching (reach time and reach velocity at object contact) and grasping (peak thumb-index finger aperture during the reach and peak grip force during the grasp) were differentially affected by grip type, task goal, or both, despite the presence of hemiparesis, providing new evidence that changes in motor patterns after stroke may occur to compensate for stroke-related motor impairment.

Grip type and task goal modify reach-to-grasp performance in post-stroke hemiparesis

PubMed Central

Schaefer, Sydney Y.; DeJong, Stacey L.; Cherry, Kendra M.; Lang, Catherine E.

2011-01-01

This study investigated whether grip type and/or task goal influenced reaching and grasping performance in post-stroke hemiparesis. Sixteen adults with post-stroke hemiparesis and twelve healthy adults reached to and grasped a cylindrical object using one of two grip types (3-finger or palmar) to achieve one of two task goals (hold or lift). Performance of the stroke group was characteristic of hemiparetic limb movement during reach-to-grasp, with more curved handpaths and slower velocities compared to the control group. These effects were present regardless of grip type or task goal. Other measures of reaching (reach time and reach velocity at object contact) and grasping (peak thumb-index finger aperture during the reach and peak grip force during the grasp) were differentially affected by grip type, task goal, or both, despite the presence of hemiparesis, providing new evidence that changes in motor patterns after stroke may occur to compensate for stroke-related motor impairment. PMID:22357103

Effects of Visual Feedback and Memory on Unintentional Drifts in Performance During Finger Pressing Tasks

PubMed Central

Solnik, Stanislaw; Qiao, Mu; Latash, Mark L.

2017-01-01

This study tested two hypotheses on the nature of unintentional force drifts elicited by removing visual feedback during accurate force production tasks. The role of working memory (memory hypothesis) was explored in tasks with continuous force production, intermittent force production, and rest intervals over the same time interval. The assumption of unintentional drifts in referent coordinate for the fingertips was tested using manipulations of visual feedback: Young healthy subjects performed accurate steady-state force production tasks by pressing with the two index fingers on individual force sensors with visual feedback on the total force, sharing ratio, both, or none. Predictions based on the memory hypothesis have been falsified. In particular, we observed consistent force drifts to lower force values during continuous force production trials only. No force drift or drifts to higher forces were observed during intermittent force production trials and following rest intervals. The hypotheses based on the idea of drifts in referent finger coordinates have been confirmed. In particular, we observed superposition of two drift processes: A drift of total force to lower magnitudes and a drift of the sharing ratio to 50:50. When visual feedback on total force only was provided, the two finger forces showed drifts in opposite directions. We interpret the findings as evidence for the control of motor actions with changes in referent coordinates for participating effectors. Unintentional drifts in performance are viewed as natural relaxation processes in the involved systems; their typical time reflects stability in the direction of the drift. The magnitude of the drift was higher in the right (dominant) hand, which is consistent with the dynamic dominance hypothesis. PMID:28168396

Task specific grip force control in writer's cramp.

PubMed

Schneider, A S; Fürholzer, W; Marquardt, C; Hermsdörfer, J

2014-04-01

Writer's cramp is defined as a task specific focal dystonia generating hypertonic muscle co-contractions during handwriting resulting in impaired writing performance and exaggerated finger force. However, little is known about the generalisation of grip force across tasks others than writing. The aim of the study was to directly compare regulation of grip forces during handwriting with force regulation in other fine-motor tasks in patients and control subjects. Handwriting, lifting and cyclic movements of a grasped object were investigated in 21 patients and 14 controls. The applied forces were registered in all three tasks and compared between groups and tasks. In addition, task-specific measures of fine-motor skill were assessed. As expected, patients generated exaggerated forces during handwriting compared to control subjects. However there were no statistically significant group differences during lifting and cyclic movements. The control group revealed a generalisation of grip forces across manual tasks whereas in patients there was no such correlation. We conclude that increased finger forces during handwriting are a task-specific phenomenon that does not necessarily generalise to other fine-motor tasks. Force control of patients with writer's cramp in handwriting and other fine-motor tasks is characterised by individualised control strategies. Copyright © 2013 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Does finger training increase young children's numerical performance?

PubMed

Gracia-Bafalluy, Maria; Noël, Marie-Pascale

2008-04-01

Butterworth (1999) suggested that fingers are important in representing numerosities. Furthermore, scores on a finger gnosis test are a better predictor of numerical performance up to 3 years later than intellectual measures (Marinthe et al., 2001; Noël, 2005). We hypothesised that training in finger differentiation would increase finger gnosis and might also improve numerical performance. Accordingly, 47 first-grade children were selected and divided into 3 groups: children with poor finger gnosis who followed the finger-differentiation training programme (G1), a control-intervention who were trained in story comprehension (G2), and a group with high finger gnosis scores who just continued with normal school lessons (G3). The finger training consisted of 2 weekly sessions of half an hour each, for 8 weeks. Before the training period, children in G3 performed better in finger gnosis and enumeration than children in the two other groups. After the training period this pattern remained for the children in G2 and G3, but the children in G1 were significantly better than those in G2 at finger gnosis, representation of numerosities with fingers, and quantification tasks; they also tended to be better at the processing of Arabic digits. These results indicate that improving finger gnosis in young children is possible and that it can provide a useful support to learning mathematics. Such an approach could be particularly appropriate for children with a developmental Gerstmann syndrome. Theoretically, these results are important because they suggest a functional link between finger gnosis and number skills.

The synergic control of multi-finger force production: Stability of explicit and implicit task components

PubMed Central

Reschechtko, Sasha; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M.; Latash, Mark L.

2016-01-01

Manipulating objects with the hands requires the accurate production of resultant forces including shear forces; effective control of these shear forces also requires the production of internal forces normal to the surface of the object(s) being manipulated. In the present study, we investigated multi-finger synergies stabilizing shear and normal components of force, as well as drifts in both components of force, during isometric pressing tasks requiring a specific magnitude of shear force production. We hypothesized that shear and normal forces would evolve similarly in time, and also show similar stability properties as assessed by the decomposition of inter-trial variance within the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis. Healthy subjects were required to accurately produce total shear and total normal forces with four fingers of the hand during a steady-state force task (with and without visual feedback) and a self-paced force pulse task. The two force components showed similar time profiles during both shear force pulse production and unintentional drift induced by turning the visual feedback off. Only the explicitly instructed components of force, however, were stabilized with multi-finger synergies. No force-stabilizing synergies and no anticipatory synergy adjustments were seen for the normal force in shear force production trials. These unexpected qualitative differences in the control of the two force components – which are produced by some of the same muscles and show high degree of temporal coupling – are interpreted within the theory of control with referent coordinates for salient variables. These observations suggest the existence of two classes of neural variables: one that translates into shifts of referent coordinates and defines changes in magnitude of salient variables, and the other controlling gains in back-coupling loops that define stability of the salient variables. Only the former are shared between the explicit and implicit task components. PMID:27601252

Oscillatory motor network activity during rest and movement: an fNIRS study

PubMed Central

Bajaj, Sahil; Drake, Daniel; Butler, Andrew J.; Dhamala, Mukesh

2014-01-01

Coherent network oscillations (<0.1 Hz) linking distributed brain regions are commonly observed in the brain during both rest and task conditions. What oscillatory network exists and how network oscillations change in connectivity strength, frequency and direction when going from rest to explicit task are topics of recent inquiry. Here, we study network oscillations within the sensorimotor regions of able-bodied individuals using hemodynamic activity as measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Using spectral interdependency methods, we examined how the supplementary motor area (SMA), the left premotor cortex (LPMC) and the left primary motor cortex (LM1) are bound as a network during extended resting state (RS) and between-tasks resting state (btRS), and how the activity of the network changes as participants execute left, right, and bilateral hand (LH, RH, and BH) finger movements. We found: (i) power, coherence and Granger causality (GC) spectra had significant peaks within the frequency band (0.01–0.04 Hz) during RS whereas the peaks shifted to a bit higher frequency range (0.04–0.08 Hz) during btRS and finger movement tasks, (ii) there was significant bidirectional connectivity between all the nodes during RS and unidirectional connectivity from the LM1 to SMA and LM1 to LPMC during btRS, and (iii) the connections from SMA to LM1 and from LPMC to LM1 were significantly modulated in LH, RH, and BH finger movements relative to btRS. The unidirectional connectivity from SMA to LM1 just before the actual task changed to the bidirectional connectivity during LH and BH finger movement. The uni-directionality could be associated with movement suppression and the bi-directionality with preparation, sensorimotor update and controlled execution. These results underscore that fNIRS is an effective tool for monitoring spectral signatures of brain activity, which may serve as an important precursor before monitoring the recovery progress following brain injury. PMID:24550793

Analysis of dystonic tremor in musicians using empirical mode decomposition.

PubMed

Lee, A; Schoonderwaldt, E; Chadde, M; Altenmüller, E

2015-01-01

Test the hypotheses that tremor amplitude in musicians with task-specific dystonia is higher at the affected finger (dystonic tremor, DT) or the adjacent finger (tremor associated with dystonia, TAD) than (1) in matched fingers of healthy musicians and non-musicians and (2) within patients in the unaffected and non-adjacent fingers of the affected side within patients. We measured 21 patients, 21 healthy musicians and 24 non-musicians. Participants exerted a flexion-extension movement. Instantaneous frequency and amplitude values were obtained with empirical mode decomposition and a Hilbert-transform, allowing to compare tremor amplitudes throughout the movement at various frequency ranges. We did not find a significant difference in tremor amplitude between patients and controls for either DT or TAD. Neither differed tremor amplitude in the within-patient comparisons. Both hypotheses were rejected and apparently neither DT nor TAD occur in musician's dystonia of the fingers. This is the first study assessing DT and TAD in musician's dystonia. Our finding suggests that even though MD is an excellent model for malplasticity due to excessive practice, it does not seem to provide a good model for DT. Rather it seems that musician's dystonia may manifest itself either as dystonic cramping without tremor or as task-specific tremor without overt dystonic cramping. Copyright © 2014 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of Novel Design Strategies for Developing Zinc Finger Nucleases Tools for Treating Human Diseases

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bach, Christian; Sherman, William; Pallis, Jani

Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) are associated with cell death and apoptosis by binding at countless undesired locations. This cytotoxicity is associated with the binding ability of engineered zinc finger domains to bind dissimilar DNA sequences with high affinity. In general, binding preferences of transcription factors are associated with significant degenerated diversity and complexity which convolutes the design and engineering of precise DNA binding domains. Evolutionary success of natural zinc finger proteins, however, evinces that nature created specific evolutionary traits and strategies, such as modularity and rank-specific recognition to cope with binding complexity that are critical for creating clinical viable toolsmore » to precisely modify the human genome. Our findings indicate preservation of general modularity and significant alteration of the rank-specific binding preferences of the three-finger binding domain of transcription factor SP1 when exchanging amino acids in the 2nd finger.« less

Evaluation of Novel Design Strategies for Developing Zinc Finger Nucleases Tools for Treating Human Diseases

DOE PAGES

Bach, Christian; Sherman, William; Pallis, Jani; ...

2014-01-01

Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) are associated with cell death and apoptosis by binding at countless undesired locations. This cytotoxicity is associated with the binding ability of engineered zinc finger domains to bind dissimilar DNA sequences with high affinity. In general, binding preferences of transcription factors are associated with significant degenerated diversity and complexity which convolutes the design and engineering of precise DNA binding domains. Evolutionary success of natural zinc finger proteins, however, evinces that nature created specific evolutionary traits and strategies, such as modularity and rank-specific recognition to cope with binding complexity that are critical for creating clinical viable toolsmore » to precisely modify the human genome. Our findings indicate preservation of general modularity and significant alteration of the rank-specific binding preferences of the three-finger binding domain of transcription factor SP1 when exchanging amino acids in the 2nd finger.« less

Enhanced left-finger deftness following dominant upper- and lower-limb amputation.

PubMed

Swanberg, Kelley M; Clark, Abigail M; Kline, Julia E; Yurkiewicz, Ilana R; Chan, Brenda L; Pasquina, Paul F; Heilman, Kenneth M; Tsao, Jack W

2011-09-01

After amputation, the sensorimotor cortex reorganizes, and these alterations might influence motor functions of the remaining extremities. The authors examined how amputation of the dominant or nondominant upper or lower extremity alters deftness in the intact limbs. The participants were 32 unilateral upper- or lower-extremity amputees and 6 controls. Upper-extremity deftness was tested by coin rotation (finger deftness) and pegboard (arm, hand, and finger deftness) tasks. Following right-upper- or right-lower-extremity amputation, the left hand's finger movements were defter than the left-hand fingers of controls. In contrast, with left-upper- or left-lower-extremity amputation, the right hand's finger performance was the same as that of the controls. Although this improvement might be related to increased use (practice), the finding that right-lower-extremity amputation also improved the left hand's finger deftness suggests an alternative mechanism. Perhaps in right-handed persons the left motor cortex inhibits the right side of the body more than the right motor cortex inhibits the left side, and the physiological changes induced by right-sided amputation reduced this inhibition.

A Degradation Analysis Methodology for Maintenance Tasks

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-05-12

Support Maintenance Company ......... ................... ...... 115 ................. .................. ,.... - ’ vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1-I...Versus Individual Effectiveness ..................... 115 5-4. Effectiveiess Results for Threat One ..................... 117 5-5. Effectiveness...model does not differenti - ate between a task which requires a high degree of fine finger dexteri- ty from another task involving only gross body

An open-source model and solution method to predict co-contraction in the finger.

PubMed

MacIntosh, Alexander R; Keir, Peter J

2017-10-01

A novel open-source biomechanical model of the index finger with an electromyography (EMG)-constrained static optimization solution method are developed with the goal of improving co-contraction estimates and providing means to assess tendon tension distribution through the finger. The Intrinsic model has four degrees of freedom and seven muscles (with a 14 component extensor mechanism). A novel plugin developed for the OpenSim modelling software applied the EMG-constrained static optimization solution method. Ten participants performed static pressing in three finger postures and five dynamic free motion tasks. Index finger 3D kinematics, force (5, 15, 30 N), and EMG (4 extrinsic muscles and first dorsal interosseous) were used in the analysis. The Intrinsic model predicted co-contraction increased by 29% during static pressing over the existing model. Further, tendon tension distribution patterns and forces, known to be essential to produce finger action, were determined by the model across all postures. The Intrinsic model and custom solution method improved co-contraction estimates to facilitate force propagation through the finger. These tools improve our interpretation of loads in the finger to develop better rehabilitation and workplace injury risk reduction strategies.

Multiple Fingers - One Gestalt.

PubMed

Lezkan, Alexandra; Manuel, Steven G; Colgate, J Edward; Klatzky, Roberta L; Peshkin, Michael A; Drewing, Knut

2016-01-01

The Gestalt theory of perception offered principles by which distributed visual sensations are combined into a structured experience ("Gestalt"). We demonstrate conditions whereby haptic sensations at two fingertips are integrated in the perception of a single object. When virtual bumps were presented simultaneously to the right hand's thumb and index finger during lateral arm movements, participants reported perceiving a single bump. A discrimination task measured the bump's perceived location and perceptual reliability (assessed by differential thresholds) for four finger configurations, which varied in their adherence to the Gestalt principles of proximity (small versus large finger separation) and synchrony (virtual spring to link movements of the two fingers versus no spring). According to models of integration, reliability should increase with the degree to which multi-finger cues integrate into a unified percept. Differential thresholds were smaller in the virtual-spring condition (synchrony) than when fingers were unlinked. Additionally, in the condition with reduced synchrony, greater proximity led to lower differential thresholds. Thus, with greater adherence to Gestalt principles, thresholds approached values predicted for optimal integration. We conclude that the Gestalt principles of synchrony and proximity apply to haptic perception of surface properties and that these principles can interact to promote multi-finger integration.

Extrinsic finger and thumb muscles command a virtual hand to allow individual finger and grasp control.

PubMed

Birdwell, J Alexander; Hargrove, Levi J; Weir, Richard F ff; Kuiken, Todd A

2015-01-01

Fine-wire intramuscular electrodes were used to obtain electromyogram (EMG) signals from six extrinsic hand muscles associated with the thumb, index, and middle fingers. Subjects' EMG activity was used to control a virtual three-degree-of-freedom (DOF) hand as they conformed the hand to a sequence of hand postures testing two controllers: direct EMG control and pattern recognition control. Subjects tested two conditions using each controller: starting the hand from a predefined neutral posture before each new posture and starting the hand from the previous posture in the sequence. Subjects demonstrated their abilities to simultaneously, yet individually, move all three DOFs during the direct EMG control trials; however, results showed subjects did not often utilize this feature. Performance metrics such as failure rate and completion time showed no significant difference between the two controllers.

Finger impedance evaluation by means of hand exoskeleton.

PubMed

Fiorilla, Angelo Emanuele; Nori, Francesco; Masia, Lorenzo; Sandini, Giulio

2011-12-01

Modulation of arm mechanical impedance is a fundamental aspect for interaction with the external environment and its regulation is essential for stability preservation during manipulation. Even though past research on human arm movements has suggested that models of human finger impedance would benefit the study of neural control mechanisms and the design of novel hand prostheses, relatively few studies have focused on finger and hand impedance. This article touches on the two main aspects of this research topic: first it introduces a mechanical refinement of a device that can be used to effectively measure finger impedance during manipulation tasks; then, it describes a pilot study aimed at identifying the inertia of the finger and the viscous and elastic properties of finger muscles. The proposed wearable exoskeleton, which has been designed to measure finger posture and impedance modulation while leaving the palm free, is capable of applying fast displacements while monitoring the interaction forces between the human finger and the robotic links. Moreover, due to the relatively small inertia of the fingers, it allows us to meet some stringent specifications, performing relatively large displacements (~45°) before the stretch reflex intervenes (~25 ms). The results of measurements on five subjects show that inertia, damping, and stiffness can be effectively identified and that the parameters obtained are comparable with values from previous studies.

Identification and molecular characterization of 48 kDa calcium binding protein as calreticulin from finger millet (Eleusine coracana) using peptide mass fingerprinting and transcript profiling.

PubMed

Singh, Manoj; Metwal, Mamta; Kumar, Vandana A; Kumar, Anil

2016-01-30

Attempts were made to identify and characterize the calcium binding proteins (CaBPs) in grain filling stages of finger millet using proteomics, bioinformatics and molecular approaches. A distinctly observed blue color band of 48 kDa stained by Stains-all was eluted and analyzed as calreticulin (CRT) using nano liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (nano LC-MS). Based on the top hits of peptide mass fingerprinting results, conserved primers were designed for isolation of the CRT gene from finger millet using calreticulin sequences of different cereals. The deduced nucleotide sequence analysis of 600 bp amplicon showed up to 91% similarity with CRT gene(s) of rice and other plant species and designated as EcCRT1. Transcript profiling of EcCRT1 showed different levels of relative expression at different stages of developing spikes. The higher expression of EcCRT1 transcripts and protein were observed in later stages of developing spikes which might be due to greater translational synthesis of EcCRT1 protein during seed maturation in finger millet. Preferentially higher synthesis of this CaBP during later stages of grain filling may be responsible for the sequestration of calcium in endoplasmic reticulum of finger millet grains. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Developmental Trajectory of Motor Deficits in Preschool Children with ADHD.

PubMed

Sweeney, Kristie L; Ryan, Matthew; Schneider, Heather; Ferenc, Lisa; Denckla, Martha Bridge; Mahone, E Mark

2018-01-01

Motor deficits persisting into childhood (>7 years) are associated with increased executive and cognitive dysfunction, likely due to parallel neural circuitry. This study assessed the longitudinal trajectory of motor deficits in preschool children with ADHD, compared to typically developing (TD) children, in order to identify individuals at risk for anomalous neurological development. Participants included 47 children (21 ADHD, 26 TD) ages 4-7 years who participated in three visits (V1, V2, V3), each one year apart (V1=48-71 months, V2=60-83 months, V3=72-95 months). Motor variables assessed included speed (finger tapping and sequencing), total overflow, and axial movements from the Revised Physical and Neurological Examination for Subtle Signs (PANESS). Effects for group, visit, and group-by-visit interaction were examined. There were significant effects for group (favoring TD) for finger tapping speed and total axial movements, visit (performance improving with age for all 4 variables), and a significant group-by-visit interaction for finger tapping speed. Motor speed (repetitive finger tapping) and quality of axial movements are sensitive markers of anomalous motor development associated with ADHD in children as young as 4 years. Conversely, motor overflow and finger sequencing speed may be less sensitive in preschool, due to ongoing wide variations in attainment of these milestones.

C terminal retroviral-type zinc finger domain from the HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein is structurally similar to the N-terminal zinc finger domain

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

South, T.L.; Blake, P.R.; Hare, D.R.

Two-dimensional NMR spectroscopic and computational methods were employed for the structure determination of an 18-residue peptide with the amino acid sequence of the C-terminal retriviral-type (r.t.) zinc finger domain from the nucleocapsid protein (NCP) of HIV-1 (Zn(HIV1-F2)). Unlike results obtained for the first retroviral-type zinc finger peptide, Zn (HIV1-F1) broad signals indicative of confomational lability were observed in the {sup 1}H NMR spectrum of An(HIV1-F2) at 25 C. The NMR signals narrowed upon cooling to {minus}2 C, enabling complete {sup 1}H NMR signal assignment via standard two-dimensional (2D) NMR methods. Distance restraints obtained from qualitative analysis of 2D nuclear Overhausermore » effect (NOESY) data were sued to generate 30 distance geometry (DG) structures with penalties in the range 0.02-0.03 {angstrom}{sup 2}. All structures were qualitatively consistent with the experimental NOESY spectrum based on comparisons with 2D NOESY back-calculated spectra. These results indicate that the r.t. zinc finger sequences observed in retroviral NCPs, simple plant virus coat proteins, and in a human single-stranded nucleic acid binding protein share a common structural motif.« less

Physiology, anatomy, and plasticity of the cerebral cortex in relation to musical instrument performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tramo, Mark Jude

2004-05-01

The acquisition and maintenance of fine-motor skills underlying musical instrument performance rely on the development, integration, and plasticity of neural systems localized within specific subregions of the cerebral cortex. Cortical representations of a motor sequence, such as a sequence of finger movements along the keys of a saxophone, take shape before the figure sequence occurs. The temporal pattern and spatial coordinates are computed by networks of neurons before and during the movements. When a finger sequence is practiced over and over, performance gets faster and more accurate, probably because cortical neurons generating the sequence increase in spatial extent, their electrical discharges become more synchronous, or both. By combining experimental methods such as single- and multi-neuron recordings, focal stimulation, microanatomical tracers, gross morphometry, evoked potentials, and functional imaging in humans and nonhuman primates, neuroscientists are gaining insights into the cortical physiology, anatomy, and plasticity of musical instrument performance.

Structural insights into the evolution of a sexy protein: novel topology and restricted backbone flexibility in a hypervariable pheromone from the red-legged salamander, Plethodon shermani.

PubMed

Wilburn, Damien B; Bowen, Kathleen E; Doty, Kari A; Arumugam, Sengodagounder; Lane, Andrew N; Feldhoff, Pamela W; Feldhoff, Richard C

2014-01-01

In response to pervasive sexual selection, protein sex pheromones often display rapid mutation and accelerated evolution of corresponding gene sequences. For proteins, the general dogma is that structure is maintained even as sequence or function may rapidly change. This phenomenon is well exemplified by the three-finger protein (TFP) superfamily: a diverse class of vertebrate proteins co-opted for many biological functions - such as components of snake venoms, regulators of the complement system, and coordinators of amphibian limb regeneration. All of the >200 structurally characterized TFPs adopt the namesake "three-finger" topology. In male red-legged salamanders, the TFP pheromone Plethodontid Modulating Factor (PMF) is a hypervariable protein such that, through extensive gene duplication and pervasive sexual selection, individual male salamanders express more than 30 unique isoforms. However, it remained unclear how this accelerated evolution affected the protein structure of PMF. Using LC/MS-MS and multidimensional NMR, we report the 3D structure of the most abundant PMF isoform, PMF-G. The high resolution structural ensemble revealed a highly modified TFP structure, including a unique disulfide bonding pattern and loss of secondary structure, that define a novel protein topology with greater backbone flexibility in the third peptide finger. Sequence comparison, models of molecular evolution, and homology modeling together support that this flexible third finger is the most rapidly evolving segment of PMF. Combined with PMF sequence hypervariability, this structural flexibility may enhance the plasticity of PMF as a chemical signal by permitting potentially thousands of structural conformers. We propose that the flexible third finger plays a critical role in PMF:receptor interactions. As female receptors co-evolve, this flexibility may allow PMF to still bind its receptor(s) without the immediate need for complementary mutations. Consequently, this unique adaptation may establish new paradigms for how receptor:ligand pairs co-evolve, in particular with respect to sexual conflict.

Learning redundant motor tasks with and without overlapping dimensions: facilitation and interference effects.

PubMed

Ranganathan, Rajiv; Wieser, Jon; Mosier, Kristine M; Mussa-Ivaldi, Ferdinando A; Scheidt, Robert A

2014-06-11

Prior learning of a motor skill creates motor memories that can facilitate or interfere with learning of new, but related, motor skills. One hypothesis of motor learning posits that for a sensorimotor task with redundant degrees of freedom, the nervous system learns the geometric structure of the task and improves performance by selectively operating within that task space. We tested this hypothesis by examining if transfer of learning between two tasks depends on shared dimensionality between their respective task spaces. Human participants wore a data glove and learned to manipulate a computer cursor by moving their fingers. Separate groups of participants learned two tasks: a prior task that was unique to each group and a criterion task that was common to all groups. We manipulated the mapping between finger motions and cursor positions in the prior task to define task spaces that either shared or did not share the task space dimensions (x-y axes) of the criterion task. We found that if the prior task shared task dimensions with the criterion task, there was an initial facilitation in criterion task performance. However, if the prior task did not share task dimensions with the criterion task, there was prolonged interference in learning the criterion task due to participants finding inefficient task solutions. These results show that the nervous system learns the task space through practice, and that the degree of shared task space dimensionality influences the extent to which prior experience transfers to subsequent learning of related motor skills. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/348289-11$15.00/0.

Twenty-seven nonoverlapping zinc finger cDNAs from human T cells map to nine different chromosomes with apparent clustering.

PubMed Central

Huebner, K; Druck, T; Croce, C M; Thiesen, H J

1991-01-01

cDNA clones encoding zinc finger structures were isolated by screening Molt4 and Jurkat cDNA libraries with zinc finger consensus sequences. Candidate clones were partially sequenced to verify the presence of zinc finger-encoding regions; nonoverlapping cDNA clones were chosen on the basis of sequences and genomic hybridization pattern. Zinc finger structure-encoding clones, which were designated by the term "Kox" and a number from 1 to 32 and which were apparently unique (i.e., distinct from each other and distinct from those isolated by other laboratories), were chosen for mapping in the human genome. DNAs from rodent-human somatic cell hybrids retaining defined complements of human chromosomes were analyzed for the presence of each of the Kox genes. Correlation between the presence of specific human chromosome regions and specific Kox genes established the chromosomal locations. Multiple Kox loci were mapped to 7q (Kox 18 and 25 and a locus detected by both Kox 8 cDNA and Kox 27 cDNA), 8q24 5' to the myc locus (Kox 9 and 32), 10cen----q24 (Kox 2, 15, 19, 21, 30, and 31), 12q13-qter (Kox 1 and 20), 17p13 (Kox 11 and 26), and 19q (Kox 5, 6, 10, 22, 24, and 28). Single Kox loci were mapped to 7p22 (Kox 3), 18q12 (Kox 17), 19p (Kox 13), 22q11 between IG lambda and BCR-1 (locus detected by both Kox 8 cDNA and Kox 27 cDNA), and Xp (Kox 14). Several of the Kox loci map to regions in which other zinc finger structure-encoding loci have already been localized, indicating possible zinc finger gene clusters. In addition, Kox genes at 8q24, 17p13, and 22q11--and perhaps other Kox genes--are located near recurrent chromosomal translocation breakpoints. Others, such as those on 7p and 7q, may be near regions specifically active in T cells. Images Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 2 Figure 3 PMID:2014798

How Do Alternative Ways of Responding Influence 3- and 4-Year-Olds' Performance on Tests of Executive Function and Theory of Mind?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carroll, Daniel J.; Riggs, Kevin J.; Apperly, Ian A.; Graham, Kate; Geoghegan, Ceara

2012-01-01

A total of 69 preschool children were tested on measures of false belief understanding (the Unexpected Transfer task), inhibitory control (the Grass/Snow task), and strategic reasoning (the Windows task). For each task, children indicated their response either by pointing with their index finger or by using a nonstandard response mode (pointing…

Development of motor speed and associated movements from 5 to 18 years.

PubMed

Gasser, Theo; Rousson, Valentin; Caflisch, Jon; Jenni, Oskar G

2010-03-01

To study the development of motor speed and associated movements in participants aged 5 to 18 years for age, sex, and laterality. Ten motor tasks of the Zurich Neuromotor Assessment (repetitive and alternating movements of hands and feet, repetitive and sequential finger movements, the pegboard, static and dynamic balance, diadochokinesis) were administered to 593 right-handed participants (286 males, 307 females). A strong improvement with age was observed in motor speed from age 5 to 10, followed by a levelling-off between 12 and 18 years. Simple tasks and the pegboard matured early and complex tasks later. Simple tasks showed no associated movements beyond early childhood; in complex tasks associated movements persisted until early adulthood. The two sexes differed only marginally in speed, but markedly in associated movements. A significant laterality (p<0.001) in speed was found for all tasks except for static balance; the pegboard was most lateralized, and sequential finger movements least. Associated movements were lateralized only for a few complex tasks. We also noted a substantial interindividual variability. Motor speed and associated movements improve strongly in childhood, weakly in adolescence, and are both of developmental relevance. Because they correlate weakly, they provide complementary information.

Comparative analyses reveal high levels of conserved colinearity between the finger millet and rice genomes.

PubMed

Srinivasachary; Dida, Mathews M; Gale, Mike D; Devos, Katrien M

2007-08-01

Finger millet is an allotetraploid (2n = 4x = 36) grass that belongs to the Chloridoideae subfamily. A comparative analysis has been carried out to determine the relationship of the finger millet genome with that of rice. Six of the nine finger millet homoeologous groups corresponded to a single rice chromosome each. Each of the remaining three finger millet groups were orthologous to two rice chromosomes, and in all the three cases one rice chromosome was inserted into the centromeric region of a second rice chromosome to give the finger millet chromosomal configuration. All observed rearrangements were, among the grasses, unique to finger millet and, possibly, the Chloridoideae subfamily. Gene orders between rice and finger millet were highly conserved, with rearrangements being limited largely to single marker transpositions and small putative inversions encompassing at most three markers. Only some 10% of markers mapped to non-syntenic positions in rice and finger millet and the majority of these were located in the distal 14% of chromosome arms, supporting a possible correlation between recombination and sequence evolution as has previously been observed in wheat. A comparison of the organization of finger millet, Panicoideae and Pooideae genomes relative to rice allowed us to infer putative ancestral chromosome configurations in the grasses.

Multiple hybrid de novo genome assembly of finger millet, an orphan allotetraploid crop.

PubMed

Hatakeyama, Masaomi; Aluri, Sirisha; Balachadran, Mathi Thumilan; Sivarajan, Sajeevan Radha; Patrignani, Andrea; Grüter, Simon; Poveda, Lucy; Shimizu-Inatsugi, Rie; Baeten, John; Francoijs, Kees-Jan; Nataraja, Karaba N; Reddy, Yellodu A Nanja; Phadnis, Shamprasad; Ravikumar, Ramapura L; Schlapbach, Ralph; Sreeman, Sheshshayee M; Shimizu, Kentaro K

2017-09-05

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) is an important crop for food security because of its tolerance to drought, which is expected to be exacerbated by global climate changes. Nevertheless, it is often classified as an orphan/underutilized crop because of the paucity of scientific attention. Among several small millets, finger millet is considered as an excellent source of essential nutrient elements, such as iron and zinc; hence, it has potential as an alternate coarse cereal. However, high-quality genome sequence data of finger millet are currently not available. One of the major problems encountered in the genome assembly of this species was its polyploidy, which hampers genome assembly compared with a diploid genome. To overcome this problem, we sequenced its genome using diverse technologies with sufficient coverage and assembled it via a novel multiple hybrid assembly workflow that combines next-generation with single-molecule sequencing, followed by whole-genome optical mapping using the Bionano Irys® system. The total number of scaffolds was 1,897 with an N50 length >2.6 Mb and detection of 96% of the universal single-copy orthologs. The majority of the homeologs were assembled separately. This indicates that the proposed workflow is applicable to the assembly of other allotetraploid genomes. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Kazusa DNA Research Institute.

[cDNA library construction from panicle meristem of finger millet].

PubMed

Radchuk, V; Pirko, Ia V; Isaenkov, S V; Emets, A I; Blium, Ia B

2014-01-01

The protocol for production of full-size cDNA using SuperScript Full-Length cDNA Library Construction Kit II (Invitrogen) was tested and high quality cDNA library from meristematic tissue of finger millet panicle (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) was created. The titer of obtained cDNA library comprised 3.01 x 10(5) CFU/ml in avarage. In average the length of cDNA insertion consisted about 1070 base pairs, the effectivity of cDNA fragment insertions--99.5%. The selective sequencing of cDNA clones from created library was performed. The sequences of cDNA clones were identified with usage of BLAST-search. The results of cDNA library analysis and selective sequencing represents prove good functionality and full length character of inserted cDNA clones. Obtained cDNA library from meristematic tissue of finger millet panicle represents good and valuable source for isolation and identification of key genes regulating metabolism and meristematic development and for mining of new molecular markers to conduct out high quality genetic investigations and molecular breeding as well.

Linear versus non-linear measures of temporal variability in finger tapping and their relation to performance on open- versus closed-loop motor tasks: comparing standard deviations to Lyapunov exponents.

PubMed

Christman, Stephen D; Weaver, Ryan

2008-05-01

The nature of temporal variability during speeded finger tapping was examined using linear (standard deviation) and non-linear (Lyapunov exponent) measures. Experiment 1 found that right hand tapping was characterised by lower amounts of both linear and non-linear measures of variability than left hand tapping, and that linear and non-linear measures of variability were often negatively correlated with one another. Experiment 2 found that increased non-linear variability was associated with relatively enhanced performance on a closed-loop motor task (mirror tracing) and relatively impaired performance on an open-loop motor task (pointing in a dark room), especially for left hand performance. The potential uses and significance of measures of non-linear variability are discussed.

Interactional synchrony in chimpanzees: Examination through a finger-tapping experiment.

PubMed

Yu, Lira; Tomonaga, Masaki

2015-05-11

Humans often unconsciously coordinate behaviour with that of others in daily life. This interpersonal coordination, including mimicry and interactional synchrony, has been suggested to play a fundamental role in social interaction. If this coordinative behavior is socially adaptive, it may be shared with other highly social animal species. The current study targeted chimpanzees, which phylogenetically are the closest living relatives of humans and live in complex social groups, and examined whether interactional synchrony would emerge in pairs of chimpanzees when auditory information about a partner's movement was provided. A finger-tapping task was introduced via touch panels to elicit repetitive and rhythmic movement from each chimpanzee. We found that one of four chimpanzees produced significant changes in both tapping tempo and timing of the tapping relative to its partner's tap when auditory sounds were provided. Although the current results may have limitations in generalizing to chimpanzees as a species, we suggest that a finger-tapping task is one potential method to investigate interactional synchrony in chimpanzees under a laboratory setup.

Role of protein structure and the role of individual fingers in zinc finger protein-DNA recognition: a molecular dynamics simulation study and free energy calculations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamed, Mazen Y.

2018-05-01

Molecular dynamics and MM_GBSA energy calculations on various zinc finger proteins containing three and four fingers bound to their target DNA gave insights into the role of each finger in the DNA binding process as part of the protein structure. The wild type Zif 268 (PDB code: 1AAY) gave a ΔG value of - 76.1 (14) kcal/mol. Zinc fingers ZF1, ZF2 and ZF3 were mutated in one experiment and in another experiment one finger was cut and the rest of the protein was studied for binding. The ΔΔG values for the Zinc Finger protein with both ZF1 and ZF2 mutated was + 80 kcal/mol, while mutating only ZF1 the ΔΔG value was + 52 kcal/mol (relative to the wild type). Cutting ZF3 and studying the protein consisting only of ZF1 linked to ZF2 gave a ΔΔG value of + 68 kcal/mol. Upon cutting ZF1, the resulting ZF2 linked to ZF3 protein gave a ΔΔG value of + 41 kcal/mol. The above results shed light on the importance of each finger in the binding process, especially the role of ZF1 as the anchoring finger followed in importance by ZF2 and ZF3. The energy difference between the binding of the wild type protein Zif268 (1AAY) and that for individual finger binding to DNA according to the formula: ΔΔGlinkers, otherstructuralfactors = ΔGzif268 - (ΔGF1+F2+F3) gave a value = - 44.5 kcal/mol. This stabilization can be attributed to the contribution of linkers and other structural factors in the intact protein in the DNA binding process. DNA binding energies of variant proteins of the wild type Zif268 which differ in their ZF1 amino acid sequence gave evidence of a good relationship between binding energy and recognition and specificity, this finding confirms the reported vital role of ZF1 in the ZF protein scanning and anchoring to the target DNA sequence. The role of hydrogen bonds in both specific and nonspecific amino acid-DNA contacts is discussed in relation to mutations. The binding energies of variant Zinc Finger proteins confirmed the role of ZF1 in the recognition, specificity and anchoring of the zinc finger protein to DNA.

Role of protein structure and the role of individual fingers in zinc finger protein-DNA recognition: a molecular dynamics simulation study and free energy calculations.

PubMed

Hamed, Mazen Y

2018-05-03

Molecular dynamics and MM_GBSA energy calculations on various zinc finger proteins containing three and four fingers bound to their target DNA gave insights into the role of each finger in the DNA binding process as part of the protein structure. The wild type Zif 268 (PDB code: 1AAY) gave a ΔG value of - 76.1 (14) kcal/mol. Zinc fingers ZF1, ZF2 and ZF3 were mutated in one experiment and in another experiment one finger was cut and the rest of the protein was studied for binding. The ΔΔG values for the Zinc Finger protein with both ZF1 and ZF2 mutated was + 80 kcal/mol, while mutating only ZF1 the ΔΔG value was + 52 kcal/mol (relative to the wild type). Cutting ZF3 and studying the protein consisting only of ZF1 linked to ZF2 gave a ΔΔG value of + 68 kcal/mol. Upon cutting ZF1, the resulting ZF2 linked to ZF3 protein gave a ΔΔG value of + 41 kcal/mol. The above results shed light on the importance of each finger in the binding process, especially the role of ZF1 as the anchoring finger followed in importance by ZF2 and ZF3. The energy difference between the binding of the wild type protein Zif268 (1AAY) and that for individual finger binding to DNA according to the formula: ΔΔG linkers, otherstructuralfactors  = ΔG zif268  - (ΔG F1+F2+F3 ) gave a value = - 44.5 kcal/mol. This stabilization can be attributed to the contribution of linkers and other structural factors in the intact protein in the DNA binding process. DNA binding energies of variant proteins of the wild type Zif268 which differ in their ZF1 amino acid sequence gave evidence of a good relationship between binding energy and recognition and specificity, this finding confirms the reported vital role of ZF1 in the ZF protein scanning and anchoring to the target DNA sequence. The role of hydrogen bonds in both specific and nonspecific amino acid-DNA contacts is discussed in relation to mutations. The binding energies of variant Zinc Finger proteins confirmed the role of ZF1 in the recognition, specificity and anchoring of the zinc finger protein to DNA.

Light-Inducible Gene Regulation with Engineered Zinc Finger Proteins

PubMed Central

Polstein, Lauren R.; Gersbach, Charles A.

2014-01-01

The coupling of light-inducible protein-protein interactions with gene regulation systems has enabled the control of gene expression with light. In particular, heterodimer protein pairs from plants can be used to engineer a gene regulation system in mammalian cells that is reversible, repeatable, tunable, controllable in a spatiotemporal manner, and targetable to any DNA sequence. This system, Light-Inducible Transcription using Engineered Zinc finger proteins (LITEZ), is based on the blue light-induced interaction of GIGANTEA and the LOV domain of FKF1 that drives the localization of a transcriptional activator to the DNA-binding site of a highly customizable engineered zinc finger protein. This chapter provides methods for modifying LITEZ to target new DNA sequences, engineering a programmable LED array to illuminate cell cultures, and using the modified LITEZ system to achieve spatiotemporal control of transgene expression in mammalian cells. PMID:24718797

Influence of action-effect associations acquired by ideomotor learning on imitation.

PubMed

Bunlon, Frédérique; Marshall, Peter J; Quandt, Lorna C; Bouquet, Cedric A

2015-01-01

According to the ideomotor theory, actions are represented in terms of their perceptual effects, offering a solution for the correspondence problem of imitation (how to translate the observed action into a corresponding motor output). This effect-based coding of action is assumed to be acquired through action-effect learning. Accordingly, performing an action leads to the integration of the perceptual codes of the action effects with the motor commands that brought them about. While ideomotor theory is invoked to account for imitation, the influence of action-effect learning on imitative behavior remains unexplored. In two experiments, imitative performance was measured in a reaction time task following a phase of action-effect acquisition. During action-effect acquisition, participants freely executed a finger movement (index or little finger lifting), and then observed a similar (compatible learning) or a different (incompatible learning) movement. In Experiment 1, finger movements of left and right hands were presented as action-effects during acquisition. In Experiment 2, only right-hand finger movements were presented during action-effect acquisition and in the imitation task the observed hands were oriented orthogonally to participants' hands in order to avoid spatial congruency effects. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that imitative performance was improved after compatible learning, compared to incompatible learning. In Experiment 2, although action-effect learning involved perception of finger movements of right hand only, imitative capabilities of right- and left-hand finger movements were equally affected. These results indicate that an observed movement stimulus processed as the effect of an action can later prime execution of that action, confirming the ideomotor approach to imitation. We further discuss these findings in relation to previous studies of action-effect learning and in the framework of current ideomotor approaches to imitation.

Influence of Action-Effect Associations Acquired by Ideomotor Learning on Imitation

PubMed Central

Bunlon, Frédérique; Marshall, Peter J.; Quandt, Lorna C.; Bouquet, Cedric A.

2015-01-01

According to the ideomotor theory, actions are represented in terms of their perceptual effects, offering a solution for the correspondence problem of imitation (how to translate the observed action into a corresponding motor output). This effect-based coding of action is assumed to be acquired through action-effect learning. Accordingly, performing an action leads to the integration of the perceptual codes of the action effects with the motor commands that brought them about. While ideomotor theory is invoked to account for imitation, the influence of action-effect learning on imitative behavior remains unexplored. In two experiments, imitative performance was measured in a reaction time task following a phase of action-effect acquisition. During action-effect acquisition, participants freely executed a finger movement (index or little finger lifting), and then observed a similar (compatible learning) or a different (incompatible learning) movement. In Experiment 1, finger movements of left and right hands were presented as action-effects during acquisition. In Experiment 2, only right-hand finger movements were presented during action-effect acquisition and in the imitation task the observed hands were oriented orthogonally to participants’ hands in order to avoid spatial congruency effects. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that imitative performance was improved after compatible learning, compared to incompatible learning. In Experiment 2, although action-effect learning involved perception of finger movements of right hand only, imitative capabilities of right- and left-hand finger movements were equally affected. These results indicate that an observed movement stimulus processed as the effect of an action can later prime execution of that action, confirming the ideomotor approach to imitation. We further discuss these findings in relation to previous studies of action-effect learning and in the framework of current ideomotor approaches to imitation. PMID:25793755

The impact of basal ganglia lesions on sensorimotor synchronization, spontaneous motor tempo, and the detection of tempo changes.

PubMed

Schwartze, Michael; Keller, Peter E; Patel, Aniruddh D; Kotz, Sonja A

2011-01-20

The basal ganglia (BG) are part of extensive subcortico-cortical circuits that are involved in a variety of motor and non-motor cognitive functions. Accumulating evidence suggests that one specific function that engages the BG and associated cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuitry is temporal processing, i.e., the mechanisms that underlie the encoding, decoding and evaluation of temporal relations or temporal structure. In the current study we investigated the interplay of two processes that require precise representations of temporal structure, namely the perception of an auditory pacing signal and manual motor production by means of finger tapping in a sensorimotor synchronization task. Patients with focal lesions of the BG and healthy control participants were asked to align finger taps to tone sequences that either did or did not contain a tempo acceleration or tempo deceleration at a predefined position, and to continue tapping at the final tempo after the pacing sequence had ceased. Performance in this adaptive synchronization-continuation paradigm differed between the two groups. Selective damage to the BG affected the abilities to detect tempo changes and to perform attention-dependent error correction, particularly in response to tempo decelerations. An additional assessment of preferred spontaneous, i.e., unpaced but regular, production rates yielded more heterogeneous results in the patient group. Together these findings provide evidence for less efficient processing in the perception and the production of temporal structure in patients with focal BG lesions. The results also support the functional role of the BG system in attention-dependent temporal processing. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Motion tracking and electromyography assist the removal of mirror hand contributions to fNIRS images acquired during a finger tapping task performed by children with cerebral palsy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hervey, Nathan; Khan, Bilal; Shagman, Laura; Tian, Fenghua; Delgado, Mauricio R.; Tulchin-Francis, Kirsten; Shierk, Angela; Smith, Linsley; Reid, Dahlia; Clegg, Nancy J.; Liu, Hanli; MacFarlane, Duncan; Alexandrakis, George

2013-03-01

Functional neurological imaging has been shown to be valuable in evaluating brain plasticity in children with cerebral palsy (CP). In recent studies it has been demonstrated that functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a viable and sensitive method for imaging motor cortex activities in children with CP. However, during unilateral finger tapping tasks children with CP often exhibit mirror motions (unintended motions in the non-tapping hand), and current fNIRS image formation techniques do not account for this. Therefore, the resulting fNIRS images contain activation from intended and unintended motions. In this study, cortical activity was mapped with fNIRS on four children with CP and five controls during a finger tapping task. Finger motion and arm muscle activation were concurrently measured using motion tracking cameras and electromyography (EMG). Subject-specific regressors were created from motion capture and EMG data and used in a general linear model (GLM) analysis in an attempt to create fNIRS images representative of different motions. The analysis provided an fNIRS image representing activation due to motion and muscle activity for each hand. This method could prove to be valuable in monitoring brain plasticity in children with CP by providing more consistent images between measurements. Additionally, muscle effort versus cortical effort was compared between control and CP subjects. More cortical effort was required to produce similar muscle effort in children with CP. It is possible this metric could be a valuable diagnostic tool in determining response to treatment.

On the nature of unintentional action: a study of force/moment drifts during multifinger tasks.

PubMed

Parsa, Behnoosh; O'Shea, Daniel J; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M; Latash, Mark L

2016-08-01

We explored the origins of unintentional changes in performance during accurate force production in isometric conditions seen after turning visual feedback off. The idea of control with referent spatial coordinates suggests that these phenomena could result from drifts of the referent coordinate for the effector. Subjects performed accurate force/moment production tasks by pressing with the fingers of a hand on force sensors. Turning the visual feedback off resulted in slow drifts of both total force and total moment to lower magnitudes of these variables; these drifts were more pronounced in the right hand of the right-handed subjects. Drifts in individual finger forces could be in different direction; in particular, fingers that produced moments of force against the required total moment showed an increase in their forces. The force/moment drift was associated with a drop in the index of synergy stabilizing performance under visual feedback. The drifts in directions that changed performance (non-motor equivalent) and in directions that did not (motor equivalent) were of about the same magnitude. The results suggest that control with referent coordinates is associated with drifts of those referent coordinates toward the corresponding actual coordinates of the hand, a reflection of the natural tendency of physical systems to move toward a minimum of potential energy. The interaction between drifts of the hand referent coordinate and referent orientation leads to counterdirectional drifts in individual finger forces. The results also demonstrate that the sensory information used to create multifinger synergies is necessary for their presence over the task duration. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

Multi-scale recordings for neuroprosthetic control of finger movements.

PubMed

Baker, Justin; Bishop, William; Kellis, Spencer; Levy, Todd; House, Paul; Greger, Bradley

2009-01-01

We trained a rhesus monkey to perform individuated and combined finger flexions and extensions of the thumb, index, and middle finger. A Utah Electrode Array (UEA) was implanted into the hand region of the motor cortex contralateral to the monkey's trained hand. We also implanted a microwire electrocorticography grid (microECoG) epidurally so that it covered the UEA. The microECoG grid spanned the arm and hand regions of both the primary motor and somatosensory cortices. Previously this monkey had Implantable MyoElectric Sensors (IMES) surgically implanted into the finger muscles of the monkey's forearm. Action potentials (APs), local field potentials (LFPs), and microECoG signals were recorded from wired head-stage connectors for the UEA and microECoG grids, while EMG was recorded wirelessly. The monkey performed a finger flexion/extension task while neural and EMG data were acquired. We wrote an algorithm that uses the spike data from the UEA to perform a real-time decode of the monkey's finger movements. Also, analyses of the LFP and microECoG data indicate that these data show trial-averaged differences between different finger movements, indicating the data are potentially decodeable.

Re-examining sleep׳s effect on motor skills: How to access performance on the finger tapping task?

PubMed

Ribeiro Pereira, Sofia Isabel; Beijamini, Felipe; Vincenzi, Roberta Almeida; Louzada, Fernando Mazzilli

2015-01-01

Here our goal was to determine the magnitude of sleep-related motor skill enhancement. Performance on the finger tapping task (FTT) was evaluated after a 90 min daytime nap (n=15) or after quiet wakefulness (n=15). By introducing a slight modification in the formula used to calculate the offline gains we were able to refine the estimated magnitude of sleep׳s effect on motor skills. The raw value of improvement after a nap decreased after this correction (from ~15% to ~5%), but remained significantly higher than the control. These results suggest that sleep does indeed play a role in motor skill consolidation.

Stability of steady hand force production explored across spaces and methods of analysis.

PubMed

de Freitas, Paulo B; Freitas, Sandra M S F; Lewis, Mechelle M; Huang, Xuemei; Latash, Mark L

2018-06-01

We used the framework of the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) hypothesis and explored the reliability of several outcome variables across different spaces of analysis during a very simple four-finger accurate force production task. Fourteen healthy, young adults performed the accurate force production task with each hand on 3 days. Small spatial finger perturbations were generated by the "inverse piano" device three times per trial (lifting the fingers 1 cm/0.5 s and lowering them). The data were analyzed using the following main methods: (1) computation of indices of the structure of inter-trial variance and motor equivalence in the space of finger forces and finger modes, and (2) analysis of referent coordinates and apparent stiffness values for the hand. Maximal voluntary force and the index of enslaving (unintentional finger force production) showed good to excellent reliability. Strong synergies stabilizing total force were reflected in both structure of variance and motor equivalence indices. Variance within the UCM and the index of motor equivalent motion dropped over the trial duration and showed good to excellent reliability. Variance orthogonal to the UCM and the index of non-motor equivalent motion dropped over the 3 days and showed poor to moderate reliability. Referent coordinate and apparent stiffness indices co-varied strongly and both showed good reliability. In contrast, the computed index of force stabilization showed poor reliability. The findings are interpreted within the scheme of neural control with referent coordinates involving the hierarchy of two basic commands, the r-command and c-command. The data suggest natural drifts in the finger force space, particularly within the UCM. We interpret these drifts as reflections of a trade-off between stability and optimization of action. The implications of these findings for the UCM framework and future clinical applications are explored in the discussion. Indices of the structure of variance and motor equivalence show good reliability and can be recommended for applied studies.

Prevalence of self-reported finger deformations and occupational risk factors among professional cooks: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Nagasu, Miwako; Sakai, Kazuhiro; Kogi, Kazutaka; Ito, Akiyoshi; Feskens, Edith J M; Tomita, Shigeru; Temmyo, Yoshiomi; Ueno, Mitsuo; Miyagi, Shigeji

2011-05-26

Previous studies have pointed out that the school lunch workers in Japan are suffering from work-related disorders including finger deformations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of self-reported finger deformations and the association with job-related risk factors. A cross-sectional questionnaire study of 5,719 subjects (response rate: 81%, 982 men and 4,737 women) was undertaken during September 2003 to February 2004. Finger deformations were found among 11.7% of the men and 35.6% of the women studied, with significant differences among sex, age and sex-age groups. For both men and women the pattern of finger deformations across the hand was similar for the right and the left hand. For women, the deformations were found in about 10% of the distal interphalangeal joints of all fingers. Based on multiple logistic regression analyses, the factors female sex, age, the number of cooked lunches per cook and cooking activities were independently associated with the prevalence of finger deformations. High prevalence odds ratios were found for those frequently carrying or using tools by hands such as delivering containers, distributing meals, preparing dishes, washing equipment, cutting and stirring foods. Among the school lunch workers studied, women had a higher prevalence of finger deformations on all joints of both hands. Various cooking tasks were associated with the prevalence of finger deformations. The results suggest that improvements in working conditions are important for preventing work-related disorders such as finger deformations.

A Method for Recognizing State of Finger Flexure and Extension

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terado, Toshihiko; Fujiwara, Osamu

In our country, the handicapped and the elderly people in bed increase rapidly. In the bedridden person’s daily life, there may be limitations in the physical movement and the means of mutual communication. For the support of their comfortable daily lives, therefore, the development of human interface equipment becomes an important task. The equipment of this kind is being already developed by means of laser beam, eye-tracking, breathing motion and myo-electric signals, while the attachment and handling are normally not so easy. In this study, paying attention to finger motion, we have developed human interface equipment easily attached to the body, which enables one to measure the finger flexure and extension for mutual communication. The state of finger flexure and extension is identified by a threshold level analysis from the 3D-locus data for the finger movement, which can be measured through the infrared rays from the LED markers attached to a glove with the previously developed prototype system. We then have confirmed from an experiment that nearly 100% recognition for the finger movement can be achieved.

Motor Synchronization in Patients With Schizophrenia: Preserved Time Representation With Abnormalities in Predictive Timing.

PubMed

Wilquin, Hélène; Delevoye-Turrell, Yvonne; Dione, Mariama; Giersch, Anne

2018-01-01

Objective: Basic temporal dysfunctions have been described in patients with schizophrenia, which may impact their ability to connect and synchronize with the outer world. The present study was conducted with the aim to distinguish between interval timing and synchronization difficulties and more generally the spatial-temporal organization disturbances for voluntary actions. A new sensorimotor synchronization task was developed to test these abilities. Method: Twenty-four chronic schizophrenia patients matched with 27 controls performed a spatial-tapping task in which finger taps were to be produced in synchrony with a regular metronome to six visual targets presented around a virtual circle on a tactile screen. Isochronous (time intervals of 500 ms) and non-isochronous auditory sequences (alternated time intervals of 300/600 ms) were presented. The capacity to produce time intervals accurately versus the ability to synchronize own actions (tap) with external events (tone) were measured. Results: Patients with schizophrenia were able to produce the tapping patterns of both isochronous and non-isochronous auditory sequences as accurately as controls producing inter-response intervals close to the expected interval of 500 and 900 ms, respectively. However, the synchronization performances revealed significantly more positive asynchrony means (but similar variances) in the patient group than in the control group for both types of auditory sequences. Conclusion: The patterns of results suggest that patients with schizophrenia are able to perceive and produce both simple and complex sequences of time intervals but are impaired in the ability to synchronize their actions with external events. These findings suggest a specific deficit in predictive timing, which may be at the core of early symptoms previously described in schizophrenia.

Corrective jitter motion shows similar individual frequencies for the arm and the finger.

PubMed

Noy, Lior; Alon, Uri; Friedman, Jason

2015-04-01

A characteristic of visuomotor tracking of non-regular oscillating stimuli are high-frequency jittery corrective motions, oscillating around the tracked stimuli. However, the properties of these corrective jitter responses are not well understood. For example, does the jitter response show an idiosyncratic signature? What is the relationship between stimuli properties and jitter properties? Is the jitter response similar across effectors with different inertial properties? To answer these questions, we measured participants' jitter frequencies in two tracking tasks in the arm and the finger. Thirty participants tracked the same set of eleven non-regular oscillating stimuli, vertically moving on a screen, once with forward-backward arm movements (holding a tablet stylus) and once with upward-downward index finger movements (with a motion tracker attached). Participants' jitter frequencies and tracking errors varied systematically as a function of stimuli frequency and amplitude. Additionally, there were clear individual differences in average jitter frequencies between participants, ranging from 0.7 to 1.15 Hz, similar to values reported previously. A comparison of individual jitter frequencies in the two tasks showed a strong correlation between participants' jitter frequencies in the finger and the arm, despite the very different inertial properties of the two effectors. This result suggests that the corrective jitter response stems from common neural processes.

Motion tracking and electromyography-assisted identification of mirror hand contributions to functional near-infrared spectroscopy images acquired during a finger-tapping task performed by children with cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Hervey, Nathan; Khan, Bilal; Shagman, Laura; Tian, Fenghua; Delgado, Mauricio R; Tulchin-Francis, Kirsten; Shierk, Angela; Roberts, Heather; Smith, Linsley; Reid, Dahlia; Clegg, Nancy J; Liu, Hanli; MacFarlane, Duncan; Alexandrakis, George

2014-10-01

Recent studies have demonstrated functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to be a viable and sensitive method for imaging sensorimotor cortex activity in children with cerebral palsy (CP). However, during unilateral finger tapping, children with CP often exhibit unintended motions in the nontapping hand, known as mirror motions, which confuse the interpretation of resulting fNIRS images. This work presents a method for separating some of the mirror motion contributions to fNIRS images and demonstrates its application to fNIRS data from four children with CP performing a finger-tapping task with mirror motions. Finger motion and arm muscle activity were measured simultaneously with fNIRS signals using motion tracking and electromyography (EMG), respectively. Subsequently, subject-specific regressors were created from the motion capture or EMG data and independent component analysis was combined with a general linear model to create an fNIRS image representing activation due to the tapping hand and one image representing activation due to the mirror hand. The proposed method can provide information on how mirror motions contribute to fNIRS images, and in some cases, it helps remove mirror motion contamination from the tapping hand activation images.

Motion tracking and electromyography-assisted identification of mirror hand contributions to functional near-infrared spectroscopy images acquired during a finger-tapping task performed by children with cerebral palsy

PubMed Central

Hervey, Nathan; Khan, Bilal; Shagman, Laura; Tian, Fenghua; Delgado, Mauricio R.; Tulchin-Francis, Kirsten; Shierk, Angela; Roberts, Heather; Smith, Linsley; Reid, Dahlia; Clegg, Nancy J.; Liu, Hanli; MacFarlane, Duncan; Alexandrakis, George

2014-01-01

Abstract. Recent studies have demonstrated functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to be a viable and sensitive method for imaging sensorimotor cortex activity in children with cerebral palsy (CP). However, during unilateral finger tapping, children with CP often exhibit unintended motions in the nontapping hand, known as mirror motions, which confuse the interpretation of resulting fNIRS images. This work presents a method for separating some of the mirror motion contributions to fNIRS images and demonstrates its application to fNIRS data from four children with CP performing a finger-tapping task with mirror motions. Finger motion and arm muscle activity were measured simultaneously with fNIRS signals using motion tracking and electromyography (EMG), respectively. Subsequently, subject-specific regressors were created from the motion capture or EMG data and independent component analysis was combined with a general linear model to create an fNIRS image representing activation due to the tapping hand and one image representing activation due to the mirror hand. The proposed method can provide information on how mirror motions contribute to fNIRS images, and in some cases, it helps remove mirror motion contamination from the tapping hand activation images. PMID:26157980

Developmental Trajectory of Motor Deficits in Preschool Children with ADHD

PubMed Central

Sweeney, Kristie L; Ryan, Matthew; Schneider, Heather; Ferenc, Lisa; Denckla, Martha Bridge; Mahone, E. Mark

2018-01-01

Motor deficits persisting into childhood (>7 years) are associated with increased executive and cognitive dysfunction, likely due to parallel neural circuitry. This study assessed the longitudinal trajectory of motor deficits in preschool children with ADHD, compared to typically developing (TD) children, in order to identify individuals at risk for anomalous neurological development. Participants included 47 children (21 ADHD, 26 TD) ages 4–7 years who participated in three visits (V1, V2, V3), each one year apart (V1=48–71 months, V2=60–83 months, V3=72–95 months). Motor variables assessed included speed (finger tapping and sequencing), total overflow, and axial movements from the Revised Physical and Neurological Examination for Subtle Signs (PANESS). Effects for group, visit, and group-by-visit interaction were examined. There were significant effects for group (favoring TD) for finger tapping speed and total axial movements, visit (performance improving with age for all 4 variables), and a significant group-by-visit interaction for finger tapping speed. Motor speed (repetitive finger tapping) and quality of axial movements are sensitive markers of anomalous motor development associated with ADHD in children as young as 4 years. Conversely, motor overflow and finger sequencing speed may be less sensitive in preschool, due to ongoing wide variations in attainment of these milestones. PMID:29757012

Hand synergies during reach-to-grasp.

PubMed

Mason, C R; Gomez, J E; Ebner, T J

2001-12-01

An emerging viewpoint is that the CNS uses synergies to simplify the control of the hand. Previous work has shown that static hand postures for mimed grasps can be described by a few principal components in which the higher order components explained only a small fraction of the variance yet provided meaningful information. Extending that earlier work, this study addressed whether the entire act of grasp can be described by a small number of postural synergies and whether these synergies are similar for different grasps. Five right-handed adults performed five types of reach-to-grasps including power grasp, power grasp with a lift, precision grasp, and mimed power grasp and mimed precision grasp of 16 different objects. The object shapes were cones, cylinders, and spindles, systematically varied in size to produce a large range of finger joint angle combinations. Three-dimensional reconstructions of 21 positions on the hand and wrist throughout the reach-to-grasp were obtained using a four-camera video system. Singular value decomposition on the temporal sequence of the marker positions was used to identify the common patterns ("eigenpostures") across the 16 objects for each task and their weightings as a function of time. The first eigenposture explained an average of 97.3 +/- 0.89% (mean +/- SD) of the variance of the hand shape, and the second another 1.9 +/- 0.85%. The first eigenposture was characterized by an open hand configuration that opens and closes during reach. The second eigenposture contributed to the control of the thumb and long fingers, particularly in the opening of the hand during the reach and the closing in preparation for object grasp. The eigenpostures and their temporal evolutions were similar across subjects and grasps. The higher order eigenpostures, although explaining only small amounts of the variance, contributed to the movements of the fingers and thumb. These findings suggest that much of reach-to-grasp is effected using a base posture with refinements in finger and thumb positions added in time to yield unique hand shapes.

Transcriptome analysis of salinity responsiveness in contrasting genotypes of finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) through RNA-sequencing.

PubMed

Rahman, Hifzur; Jagadeeshselvam, N; Valarmathi, R; Sachin, B; Sasikala, R; Senthil, N; Sudhakar, D; Robin, S; Muthurajan, Raveendran

2014-07-01

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) is a hardy cereal known for its superior level of tolerance against drought, salinity, diseases and its nutritional properties. In this study, attempts were made to unravel the physiological and molecular basis of salinity tolerance in two contrasting finger millet genotypes viz., CO 12 and Trichy 1. Physiological studies revealed that the tolerant genotype Trichy 1 had lower Na(+) to K(+) ratio in leaves and shoots, higher growth rate (osmotic tolerance) and ability to accumulate higher amount of total soluble sugar in leaves under salinity stress. We sequenced the salinity responsive leaf transcriptome of contrasting finger millet genotypes using IonProton platform and generated 27.91 million reads. Mapping and annotation of finger millet transcripts against rice gene models led to the identification of salinity responsive genes and genotype specific responses. Several functional groups of genes like transporters, transcription factors, genes involved in cell signaling, osmotic homeostasis and biosynthesis of compatible solutes were found to be highly up-regulated in the tolerant Trichy 1. Salinity stress inhibited photosynthetic capacity and photosynthesis related genes in the susceptible genotype CO 12. Several genes involved in cell growth and differentiation were found to be up-regulated in both the genotypes but more specifically in tolerant genotype. Genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis were found to be down-regulated specifically in the salinity tolerant Trichy 1. This study provides a genome-wide transcriptional analysis of two finger millet genotypes differing in their level of salinity tolerance during a gradually progressing salinity stress under greenhouse conditions.

Functional neuroimaging of recovery from motor conversion disorder: A case report.

PubMed

Dogonowski, Anne-Marie; Andersen, Kasper W; Sellebjerg, Finn; Schreiber, Karen; Madsen, Kristoffer H; Siebner, Hartwig R

2018-03-27

A patient with motor conversion disorder presented with a functional paresis of the left hand. After exclusion of structural brain damage, she was repeatedly examined with whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging, while she performed visually paced finger-tapping tasks. The dorsal premotor cortex showed a bilateral deactivation in the acute-subacute phase. Recovery from unilateral hand paresis was associated with a gradual increase in task-based activation of the dorsal premotor cortex bilaterally. The right medial prefrontal cortex displayed the opposite pattern, showing initial task-based activation that gradually diminished with recovery. The inverse dynamics of premotor and medial prefrontal activity over time were found during unimanual finger-tapping with the affected and non-affected hand as well as during bimanual finger-tapping. These observations suggest that reduced premotor and increased medial prefrontal activity reflect an effector-independent cortical dysfunction in conversion paresis which gradually disappears in parallel with clinical remission of paresis. The results link the medial prefrontal and dorsal premotor areas to the generation of intentional actions. We hypothesise that an excessive 'veto' signal generated in medial prefrontal cortex along with decreased premotor activity might constitute the functional substrate of conversion disorder. This notion warrants further examination in a larger group of affected patients. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Identification and preliminary characterization of a protein motif related to the zinc finger.

PubMed Central

Lovering, R; Hanson, I M; Borden, K L; Martin, S; O'Reilly, N J; Evan, G I; Rahman, D; Pappin, D J; Trowsdale, J; Freemont, P S

1993-01-01

We have identified a protein motif, related to the zinc finger, which defines a newly discovered family of proteins. The motif was found in the sequence of the human RING1 gene, which is proximal to the major histocompatibility complex region on chromosome six. We propose naming this motif the "RING finger" and it is found in 27 proteins, all of which have putative DNA binding functions. We have synthesized a peptide corresponding to the RING1 motif and examined a number of properties, including metal and DNA binding. We provide evidence to support the suggestion that the RING finger motif is the DNA binding domain of this newly defined family of proteins. Images Fig. 1 Fig. 4 PMID:7681583

Individuated finger control in focal hand dystonia: an fMRI study

PubMed Central

Moore, Ryan D; Gallea, Cecile; Horovitz, Silvina G; Hallett, Mark

2012-01-01

Objectives To better understand deficient selective motor control in focal hand dystonia by determining changes in striatal activation and connectivity in patients performing individuated finger control. Methods Functional imaging with a 3-Tesla magnetic resonance scanner was performed on 18 patients and 17 controls during non-symptom producing tasks requiring right-handed individuated or coupled finger control. A global linear model and psychophysiologic interactions model compared individuated to coupled tasks for patients and controls separately, and the results were submitted to a group analysis. The sensorimotor (posterior) and associative (anterior) putamen were considered as seed regions for the connectivity analysis. Results Compared to controls, patients had significant differences in activations and connectivity during individuated compared to coupled tasks: (i) decreased activations in the bilateral postcentral gyri, right associative posterior parietal areas, right cerebellum and left posterior putamen, while activations in the left anterior putamen were not different; (ii) increased connectivity of the left posterior putamen with the left cerebellum and left sensorimotor cortex; (iii) increased connectivity of the left anterior putamen with bilateral supplementary motor areas, the left premotor cortex, and left cerebellum. Interpretation Decreased activations in the sensorimotor putamen and cerebellum controlling the affected hand might underlie low levels of surround inhibition during individuated tasks. For identical motor performance in both groups, increased connectivity of sensorimotor and associative striato-cortical circuits in FHD suggests that both affected and unaffected territories of the striatum participate in compensatory processes. PMID:22484405

Individuated finger control in focal hand dystonia: an fMRI study.

PubMed

Moore, Ryan D; Gallea, Cecile; Horovitz, Silvina G; Hallett, Mark

2012-07-16

To better understand deficient selective motor control in focal hand dystonia by determining changes in striatal activation and connectivity in patients performing individuated finger control. Functional imaging with a 3-Tesla magnetic resonance scanner was performed on 18 patients and 17 controls during non-symptom producing tasks requiring right-handed individuated or coupled finger control. A global linear model and psychophysiologic interaction model compared individuated to coupled tasks for patients and controls separately, and the results were submitted to a group analysis. The sensorimotor (posterior) and associative (anterior) parts of the putamen were considered as seed regions for the connectivity analysis. Compared to controls, patients had significant differences in activations and connectivity during individuated compared to coupled tasks: (i) decreased activations in the bilateral postcentral gyri, right associative posterior parietal areas, right cerebellum and left posterior putamen, while activations in the left anterior putamen were not different; (ii) increased connectivity of the left posterior putamen with the left cerebellum and left sensorimotor cortex; and (iii) increased connectivity of the left anterior putamen with bilateral supplementary motor areas, the left premotor cortex, and left cerebellum. Decreased activations in the sensorimotor putamen and cerebellum controlling the affected hand might underlie low levels of surround inhibition during individuated tasks. For identical motor performance in both groups, increased connectivity of sensorimotor and associative striato-cortical circuits in FHD suggests that both affected and unaffected territories of the striatum participate in compensatory processes. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Sustained negative BOLD response in human fMRI finger tapping task.

PubMed

Liu, Yadong; Shen, Hui; Zhou, Zongtan; Hu, Dewen

2011-01-01

In this work, we investigated the sustained negative blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response (sNBR) using functional magnetic resonance imaging during a finger tapping task. We observed that the sNBR for this task was more extensive than has previously been reported. The cortical regions involved in sNBR are divided into the following three groups: frontal, somatosensory and occipital. By investigating the spatial structure, area, amplitude, and dynamics of the sNBR in comparison with those of its positive BOLD response (PBR) counterpart, we made the following observations. First, among the three groups, the somatosensory group contained the greatest number of activated voxels and the fewest deactivated voxels. In addition, the amplitude of the sNBR in this group was the smallest among the three groups. Second, the onset and peak time of the sNBR are both larger than those of the PBR, whereas the falling edge time of the sNBR is less than that of the PBR. Third, the long distance between most sNBR foci and their corresponding PBR foci makes it unlikely that they share the same blood supply artery. Fourth, the couplings between the sNBR and its PBR counterpart are distinct among different regions and thus should be investigated separately. These findings imply that the origin of most sNBR foci in the finger-tapping task is much more likely to be neuronal activity suppression rather than "blood steal."

Hand rehabilitation using MIDI keyboard playing in adolescents with brain damage: a preliminary study.

PubMed

Chong, Hyun Ju; Cho, Sung-Rae; Kim, Soo Ji

2014-01-01

As a sequential, programmed movement of fingers, keyboard playing is a promising technique for inducing execution and a high level of coordination during finger movements. Also, keyboard playing can be physically and emotionally rewarding for adolescents in rehabilitation settings and thereby motivate continued involvement in treatment. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of keyboard playing using Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) on finger movement for adolescents with brain damage. Eight adolescents with brain damage, ages 9 to 18 years (M = 13 years, SD = 2.78), in physical rehabilitation settings participated in this study. Measurements included MIDI keyboard playing for pressing force of the fingers and hand function tests (Grip and Pinch Power Test, Box and Block Test of Manual Dexterity [BBT], and the Jebsen Taylor Hand Function Test). Results showed increased velocity of all fingers on the MIDI-based test, and statistical significance was found in the velocity of F2 (index finger), F3 (middle finger), and F5 (little finger) between pre- and post-training tests. Correlation analysis between the pressing force of the finger and hand function tests showed a strong positive correlation between the measure of grip power and the pressing force of F2 and F5 on the Grip and Pinch Strength Test. All fingers showed strong correlation between MIDI results and BBT. For the Jebsen Taylor Hand Function Test, only the moving light objects task at post-training yielded strong correlation with MIDI results of all fingers. The results support using keyboard playing for hand rehabilitation, especially in the pressing force of individual finger sequential movements. Further investigation is needed to define the feasibility of the MIDI program for valid hand rehabilitation for people with brain damage.

Speed invariance of independent control of finger movements in pianists

PubMed Central

Soechting, John F.

2012-01-01

Independent control of finger movements characterizes skilled motor behaviors such as tool use and musical performance. The purpose of the present study was to identify the effect of movement frequency (tempo) on individuated finger movements in piano playing. Joint motion at the digits was recorded while 5 expert pianists were playing 30 excerpts from musical pieces with different fingering and key locations either at a predetermined normal tempo or as fast as possible. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis using an expectation-maximization algorithm determined three distinct patterns of finger movement coordination for a keypress with each of the index, middle, ring, and little fingers at each of the two tempi. The finger kinematics of each coordination pattern was overall similar across the tempi. Tone sequences assigned into each cluster were also similar for both tempi. A linear regression analysis determined no apparent difference in the amount of movement covariation between the striking and nonstriking fingers at both metacarpo-phalangeal and proximal-interphalangeal joints across the two tempi, which indicated no effect of tempo on independent finger movements in piano playing. In addition, the standard deviation of interkeystroke interval across strokes did not differ between the two tempi, indicating maintenance of rhythmic accuracy of keystrokes. Strong temporal constraints on finger movements during piano playing may underlie the maintained independent control of fingers over a wider range of tempi, a feature being likely to be specific to skilled pianists. PMID:22815403

The PR/SET Domain Zinc Finger Protein Prdm4 Regulates Gene Expression in Embryonic Stem Cells but Plays a Nonessential Role in the Developing Mouse Embryo

PubMed Central

Bogani, Debora; Morgan, Marc A. J.; Nelson, Andrew C.; Costello, Ita; McGouran, Joanna F.; Kessler, Benedikt M.

2013-01-01

Prdm4 is a highly conserved member of the Prdm family of PR/SET domain zinc finger proteins. Many well-studied Prdm family members play critical roles in development and display striking loss-of-function phenotypes. Prdm4 functional contributions have yet to be characterized. Here, we describe its widespread expression in the early embryo and adult tissues. We demonstrate that DNA binding is exclusively mediated by the Prdm4 zinc finger domain, and we characterize its tripartite consensus sequence via SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) and ChIP-seq (chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing) experiments. In embryonic stem cells (ESCs), Prdm4 regulates key pluripotency and differentiation pathways. Two independent strategies, namely, targeted deletion of the zinc finger domain and generation of a EUCOMM LacZ reporter allele, resulted in functional null alleles. However, homozygous mutant embryos develop normally and adults are healthy and fertile. Collectively, these results strongly suggest that Prdm4 functions redundantly with other transcriptional partners to cooperatively regulate gene expression in the embryo and adult animal. PMID:23918801

Reorganization of finger coordination patterns during adaptation to rotation and scaling of a newly learned sensorimotor transformation.

PubMed

Liu, Xiaolin; Mosier, Kristine M; Mussa-Ivaldi, Ferdinando A; Casadio, Maura; Scheidt, Robert A

2011-01-01

We examined how people organize redundant kinematic control variables (finger joint configurations) while learning to make goal-directed movements of a virtual object (a cursor) within a low-dimensional task space (a computer screen). Subjects participated in three experiments performed on separate days. Learning progressed rapidly on day 1, resulting in reduced target capture error and increased cursor trajectory linearity. On days 2 and 3, one group of subjects adapted to a rotation of the nominal map, imposed either stepwise or randomly over trials. Another group experienced a scaling distortion. We report two findings. First, adaptation rates and memory-dependent motor command updating depended on distortion type. Stepwise application and removal of the rotation induced a marked increase in finger motion variability but scaling did not, suggesting that the rotation initiated a more exhaustive search through the space of viable finger motions to resolve the target capture task than did scaling. Indeed, subjects formed new coordination patterns in compensating the rotation but relied on patterns established during baseline practice to compensate the scaling. These findings support the idea that the brain compensates direction and extent errors separately and in computationally distinct ways, but are inconsistent with the idea that once a task is learned, command updating is limited to those degrees of freedom contributing to performance (thereby minimizing energetic or similar costs of control). Second, we report that subjects who learned a scaling while moving to just one target generalized more narrowly across directions than those who learned a rotation. This contrasts with results from whole-arm reaching studies, where a learned scaling generalizes more broadly across direction than rotation. Based on inverse- and forward-dynamics analyses of reaching with the arm, we propose the difference in results derives from extensive exposure in reaching with familiar arm dynamics versus the novelty of the manual task.

On-line confidence monitoring during decision making.

PubMed

Dotan, Dror; Meyniel, Florent; Dehaene, Stanislas

2018-02-01

Humans can readily assess their degree of confidence in their decisions. Two models of confidence computation have been proposed: post hoc computation using post-decision variables and heuristics, versus online computation using continuous assessment of evidence throughout the decision-making process. Here, we arbitrate between these theories by continuously monitoring finger movements during a manual sequential decision-making task. Analysis of finger kinematics indicated that subjects kept separate online records of evidence and confidence: finger deviation continuously reflected the ongoing accumulation of evidence, whereas finger speed continuously reflected the momentary degree of confidence. Furthermore, end-of-trial finger speed predicted the post-decisional subjective confidence rating. These data indicate that confidence is computed on-line, throughout the decision process. Speed-confidence correlations were previously interpreted as a post-decision heuristics, whereby slow decisions decrease subjective confidence, but our results suggest an adaptive mechanism that involves the opposite causality: by slowing down when unconfident, participants gain time to improve their decisions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Unilateral congenital terminal finger absences: a condition that differs from symbrachydactyly.

PubMed

Knight, Jeffrey B; Pritsch, Tamir; Ezaki, Marybeth; Oishi, Scott N

2012-01-01

To describe a type of nonhereditary unilateral transverse deficiency, which we have named hypodactyly, that is distinct from symbrachydactyly or amniotic disruption sequence. We identified 19 patients with unilateral congenital anomalies consisting of absent or short bulbous fingers that lack terminal ectodermal elements. Medical records and radiographs were retrospectively reviewed and contrasted with the typical findings of symbrachydactyly and amniotic disruption sequence. No associated syndromes or potentially causative diagnoses were identified in the hypodactyly patients. The digital absences were of a truncated pattern with thickened, tubular soft tissue coverage. Radiographs revealed a pattern of severity progression that is different from that of symbrachydactyly. Distal phalanges were the bony elements absent most frequently, followed sequentially by the middle phalanx and proximal phalanx. In all cases, metacarpals were present. Unlike symbrachydactyly, the ulnar 2 digits were more involved than the index and long fingers, and the thumb was the least involved digit. Hypodactyly appears to be a congenital hand anomaly that is clinically and radiographically different from symbrachydactyly or amniotic disruption sequence and is presumed to be caused by a distinct pathomechanism. Prognostic IV. Copyright © 2012 American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Single-trial classification of motor imagery differing in task complexity: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background For brain computer interfaces (BCIs), which may be valuable in neurorehabilitation, brain signals derived from mental activation can be monitored by non-invasive methods, such as functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Single-trial classification is important for this purpose and this was the aim of the presented study. In particular, we aimed to investigate a combined approach: 1) offline single-trial classification of brain signals derived from a novel wireless fNIRS instrument; 2) to use motor imagery (MI) as mental task thereby discriminating between MI signals in response to different tasks complexities, i.e. simple and complex MI tasks. Methods 12 subjects were asked to imagine either a simple finger-tapping task using their right thumb or a complex sequential finger-tapping task using all fingers of their right hand. fNIRS was recorded over secondary motor areas of the contralateral hemisphere. Using Fisher's linear discriminant analysis (FLDA) and cross validation, we selected for each subject a best-performing feature combination consisting of 1) one out of three channel, 2) an analysis time interval ranging from 5-15 s after stimulation onset and 3) up to four Δ[O2Hb] signal features (Δ[O2Hb] mean signal amplitudes, variance, skewness and kurtosis). Results The results of our single-trial classification showed that using the simple combination set of channels, time intervals and up to four Δ[O2Hb] signal features comprising Δ[O2Hb] mean signal amplitudes, variance, skewness and kurtosis, it was possible to discriminate single-trials of MI tasks differing in complexity, i.e. simple versus complex tasks (inter-task paired t-test p ≤ 0.001), over secondary motor areas with an average classification accuracy of 81%. Conclusions Although the classification accuracies look promising they are nevertheless subject of considerable subject-to-subject variability. In the discussion we address each of these aspects, their limitations for future approaches in single-trial classification and their relevance for neurorehabilitation. PMID:21682906

Adaptive critic neural network-based object grasping control using a three-finger gripper.

PubMed

Jagannathan, S; Galan, Gustavo

2004-03-01

Grasping of objects has been a challenging task for robots. The complex grasping task can be defined as object contact control and manipulation subtasks. In this paper, object contact control subtask is defined as the ability to follow a trajectory accurately by the fingers of a gripper. The object manipulation subtask is defined in terms of maintaining a predefined applied force by the fingers on the object. A sophisticated controller is necessary since the process of grasping an object without a priori knowledge of the object's size, texture, softness, gripper, and contact dynamics is rather difficult. Moreover, the object has to be secured accurately and considerably fast without damaging it. Since the gripper, contact dynamics, and the object properties are not typically known beforehand, an adaptive critic neural network (NN)-based hybrid position/force control scheme is introduced. The feedforward action generating NN in the adaptive critic NN controller compensates the nonlinear gripper and contact dynamics. The learning of the action generating NN is performed on-line based on a critic NN output signal. The controller ensures that a three-finger gripper tracks a desired trajectory while applying desired forces on the object for manipulation. Novel NN weight tuning updates are derived for the action generating and critic NNs so that Lyapunov-based stability analysis can be shown. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme successfully allows fingers of a gripper to secure objects without the knowledge of the underlying gripper and contact dynamics of the object compared to conventional schemes.

Force-stabilizing synergies in motor tasks involving two actors

PubMed Central

Solnik, Stanislaw; Reschechtko, Sasha; Wu, Yen-Hsun; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M.; Latash, Mark L.

2015-01-01

We investigated the ability of two persons to produce force-stabilizing synergies in accurate multi-finger force production tasks under visual feedback on the total force only. The subjects produced a time profile of total force (the sum of two hand forces in one-person tasks and the sum of two subject forces in two-person tasks) consisting of a ramp-up, steady-state, and ramp-down segments; the steady-state segment was interrupted in the middle by a quick force pulse. Analyses of the structure of inter-trial finger force variance, motor equivalence, anticipatory synergy adjustments (ASAs), and the unintentional drift of the sharing pattern were performed. The two-person performance was characterized by a dramatically higher amount of inter-trial variance that did not affect total force, higher finger force deviations that did not affect total force (motor equivalent deviations), shorter ASAs, and larger drift of the sharing pattern. The rate of sharing pattern drift correlated with the initial disparity between the forces produced by the two persons (or two hands). The drift accelerated following the quick force pulse. Our observations show that sensory information on the task-specific performance variable is sufficient for the organization of performance-stabilizing synergies. They suggest, however, that two actors are less likely to follow a single optimization criterion as compared to a single performer. The presence of ASAs in the two-person condition might reflect fidgeting by one or both of the subjects. We discuss the characteristics of the drift in the sharing pattern as reflections of different characteristic times of motion within the sub-spaces that affect and do not affect salient performance variables. PMID:26105756

Force-stabilizing synergies in motor tasks involving two actors.

PubMed

Solnik, Stanislaw; Reschechtko, Sasha; Wu, Yen-Hsun; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M; Latash, Mark L

2015-10-01

We investigated the ability of two persons to produce force-stabilizing synergies in accurate multi-finger force production tasks under visual feedback on the total force only. The subjects produced a time profile of total force (the sum of two hand forces in one-person tasks and the sum of two subject forces in two-person tasks) consisting of a ramp-up, steady-state, and ramp-down segments; the steady-state segment was interrupted in the middle by a quick force pulse. Analyses of the structure of inter-trial finger force variance, motor equivalence, anticipatory synergy adjustments (ASAs), and the unintentional drift of the sharing pattern were performed. The two-person performance was characterized by a dramatically higher amount of inter-trial variance that did not affect total force, higher finger force deviations that did not affect total force (motor equivalent deviations), shorter ASAs, and larger drift of the sharing pattern. The rate of sharing pattern drift correlated with the initial disparity between the forces produced by the two persons (or two hands). The drift accelerated following the quick force pulse. Our observations show that sensory information on the task-specific performance variable is sufficient for the organization of performance-stabilizing synergies. They suggest, however, that two actors are less likely to follow a single optimization criterion as compared to a single performer. The presence of ASAs in the two-person condition might reflect fidgeting by one or both of the subjects. We discuss the characteristics of the drift in the sharing pattern as reflections of different characteristic times of motion within the subspaces that affect and do not affect salient performance variables.

UGbS-Flex, a novel bioinformatics pipeline for imputation-free SNP discovery in polyploids without a reference genome: finger millet as a case study.

PubMed

Qi, Peng; Gimode, Davis; Saha, Dipnarayan; Schröder, Stephan; Chakraborty, Debkanta; Wang, Xuewen; Dida, Mathews M; Malmberg, Russell L; Devos, Katrien M

2018-06-15

Research on orphan crops is often hindered by a lack of genomic resources. With the advent of affordable sequencing technologies, genotyping an entire genome or, for large-genome species, a representative fraction of the genome has become feasible for any crop. Nevertheless, most genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) methods are geared towards obtaining large numbers of markers at low sequence depth, which excludes their application in heterozygous individuals. Furthermore, bioinformatics pipelines often lack the flexibility to deal with paired-end reads or to be applied in polyploid species. UGbS-Flex combines publicly available software with in-house python and perl scripts to efficiently call SNPs from genotyping-by-sequencing reads irrespective of the species' ploidy level, breeding system and availability of a reference genome. Noteworthy features of the UGbS-Flex pipeline are an ability to use paired-end reads as input, an effective approach to cluster reads across samples with enhanced outputs, and maximization of SNP calling. We demonstrate use of the pipeline for the identification of several thousand high-confidence SNPs with high representation across samples in an F 3 -derived F 2 population in the allotetraploid finger millet. Robust high-density genetic maps were constructed using the time-tested mapping program MAPMAKER which we upgraded to run efficiently and in a semi-automated manner in a Windows Command Prompt Environment. We exploited comparative GBS with one of the diploid ancestors of finger millet to assign linkage groups to subgenomes and demonstrate the presence of chromosomal rearrangements. The paper combines GBS protocol modifications, a novel flexible GBS analysis pipeline, UGbS-Flex, recommendations to maximize SNP identification, updated genetic mapping software, and the first high-density maps of finger millet. The modules used in the UGbS-Flex pipeline and for genetic mapping were applied to finger millet, an allotetraploid selfing species without a reference genome, as a case study. The UGbS-Flex modules, which can be run independently, are easily transferable to species with other breeding systems or ploidy levels.

Fine finger motor skill training with exoskeleton robotic hand in chronic stroke: stroke rehabilitation.

PubMed

Ockenfeld, Corinna; Tong, Raymond K Y; Susanto, Evan A; Ho, Sze-Kit; Hu, Xiao-ling

2013-06-01

Background and Purpose. Stroke survivors often show a limited recovery in the hand function to perform delicate motions, such as full hand grasping, finger pinching and individual finger movement. The purpose of this study is to describe the implementation of an exoskeleton robotic hand together with fine finger motor skill training on 2 chronic stroke patients. Case Descriptions. Two post-stroke patients participated in a 20-session training program by integrating 10 minutes physical therapy, 20 minutes robotic hand training and 15 minutes functional training tasks with delicate objects(card, pen and coin). These two patients (A and B) had cerebrovascular accident at 6 months and 11 months respectively when enrolled in this study. Outcomes. The results showed that both patients had improvements in Fugl-Meyer assessment (FM), Action Research Arm Test (ARAT). Patients had better isolation of the individual finger flexion and extension based on the reduced muscle co-contraction from the electromyographic(EMG) signals and finger extension force after 20 sessions of training. Discussion. This preliminary study showed that by focusing on the fine finger motor skills together with the exoskeleton robotic hand, it could improve the motor recovery of the upper extremity in the fingers and hand function, which were showed in the ARAT. Future randomized controlled trials are needed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness.

A pilot study to assess use of passive extension bias to facilitate finger movement for repetitive task practice after stroke.

PubMed

Iwamuro, B T; Fischer, H C; Kamper, D G

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether active range of finger motion could be increased through the introduction of passive, external extension joint torques in stroke survivors. Five chronic stroke survivors with severe hand impairment resulting from hemiparesis took part in the study. Participants completed 2 experimental sessions in which hand movement and function were assessed. In one session, they wore a custom orthotic glove (X-Glove) that passively supplied extension torques to the joints of the fingers. In the second session, they performed the same tasks as in the other session, but without the glove. Outcome measures consisted of active range of motion, distance of the fingertip from the hand, selected tasks from the Graded Wolf Motor Function Test (GWMFT), and the Box and Blocks (BB) test. Primary results with and without the glove were compared using paired t tests with a Bonferroni correction. Active range of motion improved significantly by over 50%, from 4.4 cm to 6.7 cm, when the X-Glove was worn (P = .011). The distance of the fingertip from the metacarpophalangeal joint increased by an average of 2.2 cm for 4 of the subjects, although this change was not significant across all 5 subjects (P = .123). No significant differences were observed in the BB or GWMFT whether the X-Glove was worn or not. Introduction of passive extension torque can improve active range of motion for the fingers, even in chronic stroke survivors with substantial hand impairment. The increased range of motion would facilitate therapeutic training of the hand, potentially even in the home environment, although the bulk of the orthosis should be minimized to facilitate interactions with real objects.

Relationship between the changes in blood flow and volume in the finger during a Braille character discrimination task.

PubMed

Murata, J; Murata, S; Soma, M; Nakae, H; Sato, Y; Kogo, H; Umeki, N

2017-11-01

We hypothesized that skin blood flow (SBF) of fingers are modulated during concentrated finger perception and that the changes in SBF reflect fluctuations in finger volume (FV). The aim of this study, therefore, was examine the relationship between the changes in SBF and FV during Braille reading. We measured SBF of the finger, cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC), FV, and arterial blood pressure during Braille reading performed under blind conditions in thirty healthy subjects. The subjects were instructed to read a flat plate with raised letters (Braille reading) for 15 seconds using their forefinger, and to touch a blank plate as a control for the Braille discrimination procedure. Arterial blood pressure slightly increased during Braille reading but remained unchanged during the touching of the blank plate. SBF, CVC, and FV were reduced during Braille reading (decreased by -26%, -29%, and -0.3 mL/100 mL respectively). Furthermore, a significant relationship was observed between the changes in SBF and FV (r=.613) during Braille reading. These results suggested that SBF of fingers is modulated during concentrated finger perception, and that the variability of blood flow reflects the response in FV. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Teleoperation of Robonaut Using Finger Tracking

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Champoux, Rachel G.; Luo, Victor

2012-01-01

With the advent of new finger tracking systems, the idea of a more expressive and intuitive user interface is being explored and implemented. One practical application for this new kind of interface is that of teleoperating a robot. For humanoid robots, a finger tracking interface is required due to the level of complexity in a human-like hand, where a joystick isn't accurate. Moreover, for some tasks, using one's own hands allows the user to communicate their intentions more effectively than other input. The purpose of this project was to develop a natural user interface for someone to teleoperate a robot that is elsewhere. Specifically, this was designed to control Robonaut on the international space station to do tasks too dangerous and/or too trivial for human astronauts. This interface was developed by integrating and modifying 3Gear's software, which includes a library of gestures and the ability to track hands. The end result is an interface in which the user can manipulate objects in real time in the user interface. then, the information is relayed to a simulator, the stand in for Robonaut, at a slight delay.

Bimanual proprioceptive performance differs for right- and left-handed individuals.

PubMed

Han, Jia; Waddington, Gordon; Adams, Roger; Anson, Judith

2013-05-10

It has been proposed that asymmetry between the upper limbs in the utilization of proprioceptive feedback arises from functional differences in the roles of the preferred and non-preferred hands during bimanual tasks. The present study investigated unimanual and bimanual proprioceptive performance in right- and left-handed young adults with an active finger pinch movement discrimination task. With visual information removed, participants were required to make absolute judgments about the extent of pinch movements made to physical stops, either by one hand, or by both hands concurrently, with the sequence of presented movement extents varied randomly. Discrimination accuracy scores were derived from participants' responses using non-parametric signal detection analysis. Consistent with previous findings, a non-dominant hand/hemisphere superiority effect was observed, where the non-dominant hands of right- and left-handed individuals performed overall significantly better than their dominant hands. For all participants, bimanual movement discrimination scores were significantly lower than scores obtained in the unimanual task. However, the magnitude of the performance reduction, from the unimanual to the bimanual task, was significantly greater for left-handed individuals. The effect whereby bimanual proprioception was disproportionately affected in left-handed individuals could be due to enhanced neural communication between hemispheres in left-handed individuals leading to less distinctive separation of information obtained from the two hands in the cerebral cortex. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Identification of microRNAs and their targets in Finger millet by high throughput sequencing.

PubMed

Usha, S; Jyothi, M N; Sharadamma, N; Dixit, Rekha; Devaraj, V R; Nagesh Babu, R

2015-12-15

MicroRNAs are short non-coding RNAs which play an important role in regulating gene expression by mRNA cleavage or by translational repression. The majority of identified miRNAs were evolutionarily conserved; however, others expressed in a species-specific manner. Finger millet is an important cereal crop; nonetheless, no practical information is available on microRNAs to date. In this study, we have identified 95 conserved microRNAs belonging to 39 families and 3 novel microRNAs by high throughput sequencing. For the identified conserved and novel miRNAs a total of 507 targets were predicted. 11 miRNAs were validated and tissue specificity was determined by stem loop RT-qPCR, Northern blot. GO analyses revealed targets of miRNA were involved in wide range of regulatory functions. This study implies large number of known and novel miRNAs found in Finger millet which may play important role in growth and development. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Aging and Haptic-Visual Solid Shape Matching.

PubMed

Norman, J Farley; Adkins, Olivia C; Dowell, Catherine J; Hoyng, Stevie C; Gilliam, Ashley N; Pedersen, Lauren E

2017-08-01

A total of 36 younger (mean age = 21.3 years) and older adults (mean age = 73.8 years) haptically explored plastic copies of naturally shaped objects (bell peppers, Capsicum annuum) one at a time for 7 s each. The participants' task was to then choose which of 12 concurrently visible objects had the same solid shape as the one they felt. The younger and older participants explored the object shapes using either one, three, or five fingers (there were six participants for each combination of number of fingers and age group). The outcome was different from that of previous research conducted with manmade objects. Unlike Jansson and Monaci (2006) , we found that for most objects, our participants' performance was unaffected by variations in the number of fingers used for haptic exploration. While there was no significant overall effect of the number of fingers, there was a significant main effect of age. The younger adults' shape matching performance was 48.6% higher than that of the older adults. When perceiving naturally shaped objects such as bell peppers, it appears that the usage of a single finger can be as effective as haptic exploration with a whole complement of five fingers.

Two potato proteins, including a novel RING finger protein (HIP1), interact with the potyviral multifunctional protein HCpro.

PubMed

Guo, Deyin; Spetz, Carl; Saarma, Mart; Valkonen, Jari P T

2003-05-01

Potyviral helper-component proteinase (HCpro) is a multifunctional protein exerting its cellular functions in interaction with putative host proteins. In this study, cellular protein partners of the HCpro encoded by Potato virus A (PVA) (genus Potyvirus) were screened in a potato leaf cDNA library using a yeast two-hybrid system. Two cellular proteins were obtained that interact specifically with PVA HCpro in yeast and in the two in vitro binding assays used. Both proteins are encoded by single-copy genes in the potato genome. Analysis of the deduced amino acid sequences revealed that one (HIP1) of the two HCpro interactors is a novel RING finger protein. The sequence of the other protein (HIP2) showed no resemblance to the protein sequences available from databanks and has known biological functions.

Feasibility Assessment of an EVA Glove Sensing Platform to Evaluate Potential Hand Injury Risk Factors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reid, Christopher R.; McFarland, Shane M.

2015-01-01

Injuries to the hands are common among astronauts who train for extravehicular activity (EVA). When the gloves are pressurized, they restrict movement and create pressure points during tasks, sometimes resulting in pain, muscle fatigue, abrasions, and occasionally more severe injuries such as onycholysis. A brief review of the Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health's injury database reveals that 58% of total astronaut hand and arm injuries from NBL training between 1993 and 2010 occurred either to the fingernail, MCP, or fingertip. The purpose of this study was to assess the potential of using small sensors to measure force acting on the fingers and hand within pressurized gloves and other variables such as blood perfusion, skin temperature, humidity, fingernail strain, skin moisture, among others. Tasks were performed gloved and ungloved in a pressurizable glove box. The test demonstrated that fingernails saw greater transverse strain levels for tension or compression than for longitudinal strain, even during axial fingertip loading. Blood perfusion peaked and dropped as the finger deformed during finger presses, indicating an initial dispersion and decrease of blood perfusion levels. Force sensitive resistors to force plate comparisons showed similar force curve patterns as fingers were depressed, indicating suitable functionality for future testing. Strategies for proper placement and protection of these sensors for ideal data collection and longevity through the test session were developed and will be implemented going forward for future testing.

The relation between attention and tic generation in Tourette syndrome.

PubMed

Misirlisoy, Erman; Brandt, Valerie; Ganos, Christos; Tübing, Jennifer; Münchau, Alexander; Haggard, Patrick

2015-07-01

Many neuropsychiatric disorders involve abnormal attentional processing. Systematic investigations of how attention may affect tic frequency in Tourette syndrome are lacking. Patients performed rhythmic finger movements, approximately once every 2 s. Each movement triggered a unique visual color stimulus. Patients were asked to monitor and remember their finger actions, the external colors caused by their actions, or their tics. Sixteen adult Tourette syndrome patients performed each task twice: once while inhibiting tics, and once without inhibiting tics. During the "freely tic" condition, patients had significantly fewer tics when attending to finger movements, or to the ensuing colors, compared with when attending to their tics. Attention to fingers produced the fewest tics overall. During tic suppression, tic frequency was reduced to an equal level in all conditions. Focusing attention away from tics significantly reduces tic frequency. This attentional process may operate by regulating motor noise. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

The Relation Between Attention and Tic Generation in Tourette Syndrome

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Objective: Many neuropsychiatric disorders involve abnormal attentional processing. Systematic investigations of how attention may affect tic frequency in Tourette syndrome are lacking. Method: Patients performed rhythmic finger movements, approximately once every 2 s. Each movement triggered a unique visual color stimulus. Patients were asked to monitor and remember their finger actions, the external colors caused by their actions, or their tics. Sixteen adult Tourette syndrome patients performed each task twice: once while inhibiting tics, and once without inhibiting tics. Results: During the “freely tic” condition, patients had significantly fewer tics when attending to finger movements, or to the ensuing colors, compared with when attending to their tics. Attention to fingers produced the fewest tics overall. During tic suppression, tic frequency was reduced to an equal level in all conditions. Conclusions: Focusing attention away from tics significantly reduces tic frequency. This attentional process may operate by regulating motor noise. PMID:25486384

Effect of transcranial magnetic stimulation on force of finger pinch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Odagaki, Masato; Fukuda, Hiroshi; Hiwaki, Osamu

2009-04-01

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is used to explore many aspects of brain function, and to treat neurological disorders. Cortical motor neuronal activation by TMS over the primary motor cortex (M1) produces efferent signals that pass through the corticospinal tracts. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) are observed in muscles innervated by the stimulated motor cortex. TMS can cause a silent period (SP) following MEP in voluntary electromyography (EMG). The present study examined the effects of TMS eliciting MEP and SP on the force of pinching using two fingers. Subjects pinched a wooden block with the thumb and index finger. TMS was applied to M1 during the pinch task. EMG of first dorsal interosseous muscles and pinch forces were measured. Force output increased after the TMS, and then oscillated. The results indicated that the motor control system to keep isotonic forces of the muscles participated in the finger pinch was disrupted by the TMS.

Excessive motor overflow reveals abnormal inter-hemispheric connectivity in Friedreich ataxia.

PubMed

Low, Sze-Cheen; Corben, Louise A; Delatycki, Martin B; Ternes, Anne-Marie; Addamo, Patricia K; Georgiou-Karistianis, Nellie

2013-07-01

This study sought to characterise force variability and motor overflow in 12 individuals with Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) and 12 age- and gender-matched controls. Participants performed a finger-pressing task by exerting 30 and 70 % of their maximum finger force using the index finger of the right and left hand. Control of force production was measured as force variability, while any involuntary movements occurring on the finger of the other, passive hand, was measured as motor overflow. Significantly greater force variability in individuals with FRDA compared with controls is indicative of cortico-cerebellar disruption affecting motor control. Meanwhile, significantly greater motor overflow in this group provides the first evidence of possible abnormal inter-hemispheric activity that may be attributable to asymmetrical neuronal loss in the dentate nucleus. Overall, this study demonstrated a differential engagement in the underlying default processes of the motor system in FRDA.

First High-Quality Draft Genome Sequence of Pasteurella multocida Sequence Type 128 Isolated from Infected Bone.

PubMed

Kavousi, Niloofar; Eng, Wilhelm Wei Han; Lee, Yin Peng; Tan, Lian Huat; Thuraisingham, Ravindran; Yule, Catherine M; Gan, Han Ming

2016-03-03

We report here the first high-quality draft genome sequence of Pasteurella multocida sequence type 128, which was isolated from the infected finger bone of an adult female who was bitten by a domestic dog. The draft genome will be a valuable addition to the scarce genomic resources available for P. multocida. Copyright © 2016 Kavousi et al.

Coherence and interlimb force control: Effects of visual gain.

PubMed

Kang, Nyeonju; Cauraugh, James H

2018-03-06

Neural coupling across hemispheres and homologous muscles often appears during bimanual motor control. Force coupling in a specific frequency domain may indicate specific bimanual force coordination patterns. This study investigated coherence on pairs of bimanual isometric index finger force while manipulating visual gain and task asymmetry conditions. We used two visual gain conditions (low and high gain = 8 and 512 pixels/N), and created task asymmetry by manipulating coefficient ratios imposed on the left and right index finger forces (0.4:1.6; 1:1; 1.6:0.4, respectively). Unequal coefficient ratios required different contributions from each hand to the bimanual force task resulting in force asymmetry. Fourteen healthy young adults performed bimanual isometric force control at 20% of their maximal level of the summed force of both fingers. We quantified peak coherence and relative phase angle between hands at 0-4, 4-8, and 8-12 Hz, and estimated a signal-to-noise ratio of bimanual forces. The findings revealed higher peak coherence and relative phase angle at 0-4 Hz than at 4-8 and 8-12 Hz for both visual gain conditions. Further, peak coherence and relative phase angle values at 0-4 Hz were larger at the high gain than at the low gain. At the high gain, higher peak coherence at 0-4 Hz collapsed across task asymmetry conditions significantly predicted greater signal-to-noise ratio. These findings indicate that a greater level of visual information facilitates bimanual force coupling at a specific frequency range related to sensorimotor processing. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optimality and stability of intentional and unintentional actions: I. Origins of drifts in performance.

PubMed

Parsa, Behnoosh; Terekhov, Alexander; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M; Latash, Mark L

2017-02-01

We address the nature of unintentional changes in performance in two papers. This first paper tested a hypothesis that unintentional changes in performance variables during continuous tasks without visual feedback are due to two processes. First, there is a drift of the referent coordinate for the salient performance variable toward the actual coordinate of the effector. Second, there is a drift toward minimum of a cost function. We tested this hypothesis in four-finger isometric pressing tasks that required the accurate production of a combination of total moment and total force with natural and modified finger involvement. Subjects performed accurate force-moment production tasks under visual feedback, and then visual feedback was removed for some or all of the salient variables. Analytical inverse optimization was used to compute a cost function. Without visual feedback, both force and moment drifted slowly toward lower absolute magnitudes. Over 15 s, the force drop could reach 20% of its initial magnitude while moment drop could reach 30% of its initial magnitude. Individual finger forces could show drifts toward both higher and lower forces. The cost function estimated using the analytical inverse optimization reduced its value as a consequence of the drift. We interpret the results within the framework of hierarchical control with referent spatial coordinates for salient variables at each level of the hierarchy combined with synergic control of salient variables. The force drift is discussed as a natural relaxation process toward states with lower potential energy in the physical (physiological) system involved in the task.

Optimality and stability of intentional and unintentional actions: I. Origins of drifts in performance

PubMed Central

Parsa, Behnoosh; Terekhov, Alexander; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M.; Latash, Mark L.

2016-01-01

We address the nature of unintentional changes in performance in two papers. This first paper tested a hypothesis that unintentional changes in performance variables during continuous tasks without visual feedback are due to two processes. First, there is a drift of the referent coordinate for the salient performance variable toward the actual coordinate of the effector. Second, there is a drift toward minimum of a cost function. We tested this hypothesis in four-finger isometric pressing tasks that required the accurate production of a combination of total moment and total force with natural and modified finger involvement. Subjects performed accurate force/moment production tasks under visual feedback, and then visual feedback was removed for some or all of the salient variables. Analytical inverse optimization was used to compute a cost function. Without visual feedback, both force and moment drifted slowly toward lower absolute magnitudes. Over 15 s, the force drop could reach 20% of its initial magnitude while moment drop could reach 30% of its initial magnitude. Individual finger forces could show drifts toward both higher and lower forces. The cost function estimated using the analytical inverse optimization reduced its value as a consequence of the drift. We interpret the results within the framework of hierarchical control with referent spatial coordinates for salient variables at each level of the hierarchy combined with synergic control of salient variables. The force drift is discussed as a natural relaxation process toward states with lower potential energy in the physical (physiological) system involved in the task. PMID:27785549

Slow Wave Sleep Induced by GABA Agonist Tiagabine Fails to Benefit Memory Consolidation

PubMed Central

Feld, Gordon B.; Wilhelm, Ines; Ma, Ying; Groch, Sabine; Binkofski, Ferdinand; Mölle, Matthias; Born, Jan

2013-01-01

Study Objectives: Slow wave sleep (SWS) plays a pivotal role in consolidating memories. Tiagabine has been shown to increase SWS in favor of REM sleep without impacting subjective sleep. However, it is unknown whether this effect is paralleled by an improved sleep-dependent consolidation of memory. Design: This double-blind within-subject crossover study tested sensitivity of overnight retention of declarative neutral and emotional materials (word pairs, pictures) as well as a procedural memory task (sequence finger tapping) to oral administration of placebo or 10 mg tiagabine (at 22:30). Participants: Fourteen healthy young men aged 21.9 years (range 18-28 years). Measurements and Results: Tiagabine significantly increased the time spent in SWS and decreased REM sleep compared to placebo. Tiagabine also enhanced slow wave activity (0.5-4.0 Hz) and density of < 1 Hz slow oscillations during NREM sleep. Fast (12-15 Hz) and slow (9-12 Hz) spindle activity, in particular that occurring phase-locked to the slow oscillation cycle, was decreased following tiagabine. Despite signs of deeper and more SWS, overnight retention of memory tested after sleep the next evening (19:30) was generally not improved after tiagabine, but on average even lower than after placebo, with this impairing effect reaching significance for procedural sequence finger tapping. Conclusions: Our data show that increasing slow wave sleep with tiagabine does not improve memory consolidation. Possibly this is due to functional differences from normal slow wave sleep, i.e., the concurrent suppressive influence of tiagabine on phase-locked spindle activity. Citation: Feld GB; Wilhelm I; Ma Y; Groch S; Binkofski F; Mölle M; Born J. Slow wave sleep induced by GABA agonist tiagabine fails to benefit memory consolidation. SLEEP 2013;36(9):1317-1326. PMID:23997364

Defective imitation of finger configurations in patients with damage in the right or left hemispheres: An integration disorder of visual and somatosensory information?

PubMed

Okita, Manabu; Yukihiro, Takashi; Miyamoto, Kenzo; Morioka, Shu; Kaba, Hideto

2017-04-01

To explore the mechanism underlying the imitation of finger gestures, we devised a simple imitation task in which the patients were instructed to replicate finger configurations in two conditions: one in which they could see their hand (visual feedback: VF) and one in which they could not see their hand (non-visual feedback: NVF). Patients with left brain damage (LBD) or right brain damage (RBD), respectively, were categorized into two groups based on their scores on the imitation task in the NVF condition: the impaired imitation groups (I-LBD and I-RBD) who failed two or more of the five patterns and the control groups (C-LBD and C-RBD) who made one or no errors. We also measured the movement-production times for imitation. The I-RBD group performed significantly worse than the C-RBD group even in the VF condition. In contrast, the I-LBD group was selectively impaired in the NVF condition. The I-LBD group performed the imitations at a significantly slower rate than the C-LBD group in both the VF and NVF conditions. These results suggest that impaired imitation in patients with LBD is partly due to an abnormal integration of visual and somatosensory information based on the task specificity of the NVF condition. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reduced activation and altered laterality in two neuroleptic-naive catatonic patients during a motor task in functional MRI.

PubMed

Northoff, G; Braus, D F; Sartorius, A; Khoram-Sefat, D; Russ, M; Eckert, J; Herrig, M; Leschinger, A; Bogerts, B; Henn, F A

1999-07-01

Catatonia, a symptom complex with motor, affective and cognitive symptoms seen in a variety of psychotic conditions and with organic disease, was examined using a motor task using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Two acute catatonic patients and two age- and sex-matched healthy controls performed sequential finger opposition (SFO) after being medicated with 2 mg of lorazepam (i.v.). Functional magnetic resonance images were collected using a gradient echo pulse sequence (EPI). Patients with catatonia showed reduced motor activation of the contralateral motor cortex during SFO of the right hand, ipsilateral activation was similar for patients and controls. There were no differences in the activation of the SMA. During left hand activation the right-handed catatonic patients showed more activation in the ipsilateral cortex, a reversal from the normal pattern of activation in which the contralateral side shows four to five times more activation than the ipsilateral side. In catatonic patients there is a decreased activation in motor cortex during a motor task compared to matched medicated healthy controls. In addition activation of the non-dominant side, left-handed activity in right-handed patients, results in a total reversal of the normal pattern of lateral activation suggesting a disturbance in hemispheric localization of activity during a catatonic state.

Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on the control of finger force during dexterous manipulation in healthy older adults.

PubMed

Parikh, Pranav J; Cole, Kelly J

2015-01-01

The contribution of poor finger force control to age-related decline in manual dexterity is above and beyond ubiquitous behavioral slowing. Altered control of the finger forces can impart unwanted torque on the object affecting its orientation, thus impairing manual performance. Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over primary motor cortex (M1) has been shown to improve the performance speed on manual tasks in older adults. However, the effects of anodal tDCS over M1 on the finger force control during object manipulation in older adults remain to be fully explored. Here we determined the effects of anodal tDCS over M1 on the control of grip force in older adults while they manipulated an object with an uncertain mechanical property. Eight healthy older adults were instructed to grip and lift an object whose contact surfaces were unexpectedly made more or less slippery across trials using acetate and sandpaper surfaces, respectively. Subjects performed this task before and after receiving anodal or sham tDCS over M1 on two separate sessions using a cross-over design. We found that older adults used significantly lower grip force following anodal tDCS compared to sham tDCS. Friction measured at the finger-object interface remained invariant after anodal and sham tDCS. These findings suggest that anodal tDCS over M1 improved the control of grip force during object manipulation in healthy older adults. Although the cortical networks for representing objects and manipulative actions are complex, the reduction in grip force following anodal tDCS over M1 might be due to a cortical excitation yielding improved processing of object-specific sensory information and its integration with the motor commands for production of manipulative forces. Our findings indicate that tDCS has a potential to improve the control of finger force during dexterous manipulation in older adults.

Impairment in explicit visuomotor sequence learning is related to loss of microstructural integrity of the corpus callosum in multiple sclerosis patients with minimal disability.

PubMed

Bonzano, L; Tacchino, A; Roccatagliata, L; Sormani, M P; Mancardi, G L; Bove, M

2011-07-15

Sequence learning can be investigated by serial reaction-time (SRT) paradigms. Explicit learning occurs when subjects have to recognize a test sequence and has been shown to activate the frontoparietal network in both contralateral and ipsilateral hemispheres. Thus, the left and right superior longitudinal fasciculi (SLF), connecting the intra-hemispheric frontoparietal circuits, could have a role in explicit unimanual visuomotor learning. Also, as both hemispheres are involved, we could hypothesize that the corpus callosum (CC) has a role in this process. Pathological damage in both SLF and CC has been detected in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS), and microstructural alterations can be quantified by Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). In light of these findings, we inquired whether PwMS with minimal disability showed impairments in explicit visuomotor sequence learning and whether this could be due to loss of white matter integrity in these intra- and inter-hemispheric white matter pathways. Thus, we combined DTI analysis with a modified version of SRT task based on finger opposition movements in a group of PwMS with minimal disability. We found that the performance in explicit sequence learning was significantly reduced in these patients with respect to healthy subjects; the amount of sequence-specific learning was found to be more strongly correlated with fractional anisotropy (FA) in the CC (r=0.93) than in the left (r=0.28) and right SLF (r=0.27) (p for interaction=0.005 and 0.04 respectively). This finding suggests that an inter-hemispheric information exchange between the homologous areas is required to successfully accomplish the task and indirectly supports the role of the right (ipsilateral) hemisphere in explicit visuomotor learning. On the other hand, we found no significant correlation of the FA in the CC and in the SLFs with nonspecific learning (assessed when stimuli are randomly presented), supporting the hypothesis that inter-hemispheric integrity is specifically relevant for explicit sequence learning. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

To What Extent Can Motor Imagery Replace Motor Execution While Learning a Fine Motor Skill?

PubMed Central

Sobierajewicz, Jagna; Szarkiewicz, Sylwia; Przekoracka-Krawczyk, Anna; Jaśkowski, Wojciech; van der Lubbe, Rob

2016-01-01

Motor imagery is generally thought to share common mechanisms with motor execution. In the present study, we examined to what extent learning a fine motor skill by motor imagery may substitute physical practice. Learning effects were assessed by manipulating the proportion of motor execution and motor imagery trials. Additionally, learning effects were compared between participants with an explicit motor imagery instruction and a control group. A Go/NoGo discrete sequence production (DSP) task was employed, wherein a five-stimulus sequence presented on each trial indicated the required sequence of finger movements after a Go signal. In the case of a NoGo signal, participants either had to imagine carrying out the response sequence (the motor imagery group), or the response sequence had to be withheld (the control group). Two practice days were followed by a final test day on which all sequences had to be executed. Learning effects were assessed by computing response times (RTs) and the percentages of correct responses (PCs). The electroencephalogram (EEG ) was additionally measured on this test day to examine whether motor preparation and the involvement of visual short term memory (VST M) depended on the amount of physical/mental practice. Accuracy data indicated strong learning effects. However, a substantial amount of physical practice was required to reach an optimal speed. EEG results suggest the involvement of VST M for sequences that had less or no physical practice in both groups. The absence of differences between the motor imagery and the control group underlines the possibility that motor preparation may actually resemble motor imagery. PMID:28154614

To What Extent Can Motor Imagery Replace Motor Execution While Learning a Fine Motor Skill?

PubMed

Sobierajewicz, Jagna; Szarkiewicz, Sylwia; Przekoracka-Krawczyk, Anna; Jaśkowski, Wojciech; van der Lubbe, Rob

2016-01-01

Motor imagery is generally thought to share common mechanisms with motor execution. In the present study, we examined to what extent learning a fine motor skill by motor imagery may substitute physical practice. Learning effects were assessed by manipulating the proportion of motor execution and motor imagery trials. Additionally, learning effects were compared between participants with an explicit motor imagery instruction and a control group. A Go/NoGo discrete sequence production (DSP) task was employed, wherein a five-stimulus sequence presented on each trial indicated the required sequence of finger movements after a Go signal. In the case of a NoGo signal, participants either had to imagine carrying out the response sequence (the motor imagery group), or the response sequence had to be withheld (the control group). Two practice days were followed by a final test day on which all sequences had to be executed. Learning effects were assessed by computing response times (RTs) and the percentages of correct responses (PCs). The electroencephalogram (EEG ) was additionally measured on this test day to examine whether motor preparation and the involvement of visual short term memory (VST M) depended on the amount of physical/mental practice. Accuracy data indicated strong learning effects. However, a substantial amount of physical practice was required to reach an optimal speed. EEG results suggest the involvement of VST M for sequences that had less or no physical practice in both groups. The absence of differences between the motor imagery and the control group underlines the possibility that motor preparation may actually resemble motor imagery.

Modeling the finger joint moments in a hand at the maximal isometric grip: the effects of friction.

PubMed

Wu, John Z; Dong, Ren G; McDowell, Thomas W; Welcome, Daniel E

2009-12-01

The interaction between the handle and operator's hand affects the comfort and safety of tool and machine operations. In most of the previous studies, the investigators considered only the normal contact forces. The effect of friction on the joint moments in fingers has not been analyzed. Furthermore, the observed contact forces have not been linked to the internal musculoskeletal loading in the previous experimental studies. In the current study, we proposed a universal model of a hand to evaluate the joint moments in the fingers during grasping tasks. The hand model was developed on the platform of the commercial software package AnyBody. Only four fingers (index, long, ring, and little finger) were included in the model. The anatomical structure of each finger is comprised of four phalanges (distal, middle, proximal, and metacarpal phalange). The simulations were performed using an inverse dynamics technique. The joint angles and the normal contact forces on each finger section reported by previous researchers were used as inputs, while the joint moments of each finger were predicted. The predicted trends of the dependence of the distal interphalangeal (DIP) and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint moments on the cylinder diameter agree with those of the contact forces on the fingers observed in the previous experimental study. Our results show that the DIP and PIP joint moments reach their maximums at a cylinder diameter of about 31mm, which is consistent with the trend of the finger contact forces measured in the experiments. The proposed approach will be useful for simulating musculoskeletal loading in the hand for occupational activities, thereby optimizing tool-handle design.

Continuous detection and decoding of dexterous finger flexions with implantable myoelectric sensors.

PubMed

Baker, Justin J; Scheme, Erik; Englehart, Kevin; Hutchinson, Douglas T; Greger, Bradley

2010-08-01

A rhesus monkey was trained to perform individuated and combined finger flexions of the thumb, index, and middle finger. Nine implantable myoelectric sensors (IMES) were then surgically implanted into the finger muscles of the monkey's forearm, without any adverse effects over two years postimplantation. Using an inductive link, EMG was wirelessly recorded from the IMES as the monkey performed a finger flexion task. The EMG from the different IMES implants showed very little cross correlation. An offline parallel linear discriminant analysis (LDA) based algorithm was used to decode finger activity based on features extracted from continuously presented frames of recorded EMG. The offline parallel LDA was run on intraday sessions as well as on sessions where the algorithm was trained on one day and tested on following days. The performance of the algorithm was evaluated continuously by comparing classification output by the algorithm to the current state of the finger switches. The algorithm detected and classified seven different finger movements, including individual and combined finger flexions, and a no-movement state (chance performance = 12.5%) . When the algorithm was trained and tested on data collected the same day, the average performance was 43.8+/-3.6% n=10. When the training-testing separation period was five months, the average performance of the algorithm was 46.5+/-3.4% n=8. These results demonstrated that using EMG recorded and wirelessly transmitted by IMES offers a promising approach for providing intuitive, dexterous control of artificial limbs where human patients have sufficient, functional residual muscle following amputation.

Tactile Ranschburg effects: facilitation and inhibitory repetition effects analogous to verbal memory.

PubMed

Roe, Daisy; Miles, Christopher; Johnson, Andrew J

2017-07-01

The present paper examines the effect of within-sequence item repetitions in tactile order memory. Employing an immediate serial recall procedure, participants reconstructed a six-item sequence tapped upon their fingers by moving those fingers in the order of original stimulation. In Experiment 1a, within-sequence repetition of an item separated by two-intervening items resulted in a significant reduction in recall accuracy for that repeated item (i.e., the Ranschburg effect). In Experiment 1b, within-sequence repetition of an adjacent item resulted in significant recall facilitation for that repeated item. These effects mirror those reported for verbal stimuli (e.g., Henson, 1998a . Item repetition in short-term memory: Ranschburg repeated. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 24(5), 1162-1181. doi:doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.24.5.1162). These data are the first to demonstrate the Ranschburg effect with non-verbal stimuli and suggest further cross-modal similarities in order memory.

Human Finger-Prick Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Facilitate the Development of Stem Cell Banking

PubMed Central

Tan, Hong-Kee; Toh, Cheng-Xu Delon; Ma, Dongrui; Yang, Binxia; Liu, Tong Ming; Lu, Jun; Wong, Chee-Wai; Tan, Tze-Kai; Li, Hu; Syn, Christopher; Tan, Eng-Lee; Lim, Bing; Lim, Yoon-Pin; Cook, Stuart A.

2014-01-01

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from somatic cells of patients can be a good model for studying human diseases and for future therapeutic regenerative medicine. Current initiatives to establish human iPSC (hiPSC) banking face challenges in recruiting large numbers of donors with diverse diseased, genetic, and phenotypic representations. In this study, we describe the efficient derivation of transgene-free hiPSCs from human finger-prick blood. Finger-prick sample collection can be performed on a “do-it-yourself” basis by donors and sent to the hiPSC facility for reprogramming. We show that single-drop volumes of finger-prick samples are sufficient for performing cellular reprogramming, DNA sequencing, and blood serotyping in parallel. Our novel strategy has the potential to facilitate the development of large-scale hiPSC banking worldwide. PMID:24646489

Hand and finger dexterity as a function of skin temperature, EMG, and ambient condition.

PubMed

Chen, Wen-Lin; Shih, Yuh-Chuan; Chi, Chia-Fen

2010-06-01

This article examines the changes in skin temperature (finger, hand, forearm), manual performance (hand dexterity and strength), and forearm surface electromyograph (EMG) through 40-min, 11 degrees C water cooling followed by 15-min, 34 degrees C water rewarming; additionally, it explores the relationship between dexterity and the factors of skin temperature, EMG, and ambient condition. Hand exposure in cold conditions is unavoidable and significantly affects manual performance. Two tasks requiring gross and fine dexterity were designed, namely, nut loosening and pin insertion, respectively. The nested-factorial design includes factors of gender, participant (nested within gender), immersion duration, muscle type (for EMG), and location (for skin temperature). The responses are changes in dexterity, skin temperature, normalized amplitude of EMG, and grip strength. Finally, factor analysis and stepwise regression are used to explore factors affecting hand and finger dexterity. Dexterity, EMG, and skin temperature fell with prolonged cooling, but the EMG of the flexor digitorum superficialis remained almost unchanged during the nut loosening task. All responses but the forearm skin temperature recovered to the baseline level at the end of rewarming. The three factors extracted by factor analysis are termed skin temperature, ambient condition, and EMG. They explain approximately two thirds of the variation of the linear models for both dexterities, and the factor of skin temperature is the most influential. Sustained cooling and warming significantly decreases and increases finger, hand, and forearm skin temperature. Dexterity, strength, and EMG are positively correlated to skin temperature. Therefore, keeping the finger, hand, and forearm warm is important to maintaining hand performance. The findings could be helpful to building safety guidelines for working in cold environments.

Grasp planning under uncertainty

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erkmen, A. M.; Stephanou, H. E.

1989-01-01

The planning of dexterous grasps for multifingered robot hands operating in uncertain environments is covered. A sensor-based approach to the planning of a reach path prior to grasping is first described. An on-line, joint space finger path planning algorithm for the enclose phase of grasping was then developed. The algorithm minimizes the impact momentum of the hand. It uses a Preshape Jacobian matrix to map task-level hand preshape requirements into kinematic constraints. A master slave scheme avoids inter-finger collisions and reduces the dimensionality of the planning problem.

Temporal and Motor Representation of Rhythm in Fronto-Parietal Cortical Areas: An fMRI Study

PubMed Central

Konoike, Naho; Kotozaki, Yuka; Jeong, Hyeonjeong; Miyazaki, Atsuko; Sakaki, Kohei; Shinada, Takamitsu; Sugiura, Motoaki; Kawashima, Ryuta; Nakamura, Katsuki

2015-01-01

When sounds occur with temporally structured patterns, we can feel a rhythm. To memorize a rhythm, perception of its temporal patterns and organization of them into a hierarchically structured sequence are necessary. On the other hand, rhythm perception can often cause unintentional body movements. Thus, we hypothesized that rhythm information can be manifested in two different ways; temporal and motor representations. The motor representation depends on effectors, such as the finger or foot, whereas the temporal representation is effector-independent. We tested our hypothesis with a working memory paradigm to elucidate neuronal correlates of temporal or motor representation of rhythm and to reveal the neural networks associated with these representations. We measured brain activity by fMRI while participants memorized rhythms and reproduced them by tapping with the right finger, left finger, or foot, or by articulation. The right inferior frontal gyrus and the inferior parietal lobule exhibited significant effector-independent activations during encoding and retrieval of rhythm information, whereas the left inferior parietal lobule and supplementary motor area (SMA) showed effector-dependent activations during retrieval. These results suggest that temporal sequences of rhythm are probably represented in the right fronto-parietal network, whereas motor sequences of rhythm can be represented in the SMA-parietal network. PMID:26076024

A Developmental Study of the Influence of Task Characteristics on Motor Overflow

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Addamo, Patricia K.; Farrow, Maree; Hoy, Kate E.; Bradshaw, John L.; Georgiou-Karistianis, Nellie

2009-01-01

Motor overflow refers to involuntary movement or muscle activity that may coincide with voluntary movement. This study examined factors influencing motor overflow in 17 children (8-11 years), and 17 adults (18-35 years). Participants performed a finger pressing task by exerting either 33% or 66% of their maximal force output using their dominant…

Effects of pressure, cold and gloves on hand skin temperature and manual performance of divers.

PubMed

Zander, Joanna; Morrison, James

2008-09-01

Cold water immersion and protective gloves are associated with decreased manual performance. Although neoprene gloves slow hand cooling, there is little information on whether they provide sufficient protection when diving in cold water. Nine divers wearing three-fingered neoprene gloves and dry suits were immersed in water at 25 and 4 degrees C, at depths of 0.4 msw (101 kPa altitude adjusted) and 40 msw (497 kPa) in a hyperbaric chamber. Skin temperatures were measured at the fingers, hand, forearm, chest and head. Grip strength, tactile sensitivity and manual dexterity were measured at three time intervals. There was an exponential decay in finger and back of hand skin temperatures with exposure time in 4 degrees C water. Finger and back of hand skin temperatures were lower at 40 msw than at 0.4 msw (P < 0.05). There was no effect of pressure or temperature on grip strength. Tactile sensitivity decreased linearly with finger skin temperature at both pressures. Manual dexterity was not affected by finger skin temperature at 0.4 msw, but decreased with fall in finger skin temperature at 40 msw. Results show that neoprene gloves do not provide adequate thermal protection in 4 degrees C water and that impairment of manual performance is dependent on the type of task, depth and exposure time.

Influence of Concurrent Finger Movements on Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)-Induced Aftereffects.

PubMed

Shirota, Yuichiro; Terney, Daniella; Antal, Andrea; Paulus, Walter

2017-01-01

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been reported to have bidirectional influence on the amplitude of motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) in resting participants in a polarity-specific manner: anodal tDCS increased and cathodal tDCS decreased them. More recently, the effects of tDCS have been shown to depend on a number of additional factors. We investigated whether a small variety of movements involving target and non-target muscles could differentially modify the efficacy of tDCS. MEPs were elicited from the right first dorsal interosseous muscle, defined as the target muscle, by single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the primary motor cortex (M1). During M1 tDCS, which lasted for 10 min applying anodal, cathodal, or sham condition, the participants were instructed to squeeze a ball with their right hand (Task 1), to move their right index finger only in the medial (Task 2), in the lateral direction (Task 3), or in medial and lateral direction alternatively (Task 4). Anodal tDCS reduced MEP amplitudes measured in Task 1 and Task 2, but to a lesser extent in the latter. In Task 3, anodal tDCS led to greater MEP amplitudes than cathodal stimulation. Alternating movements resulted in no effect of tDCS on MEP amplitude (Task 4). The results are congruent with the current notion that the aftereffects of tDCS are highly variable relying on a number of factors including the type of movements executed during stimulation.

The primary structure of L37--a rat ribosomal protein with a zinc finger-like motif.

PubMed

Chan, Y L; Paz, V; Olvera, J; Wool, I G

1993-04-30

The amino acid sequence of the rat 60S ribosomal subunit protein L37 was deduced from the sequence of nucleotides in a recombinant cDNA. Ribosomal protein L37 has 96 amino acids, the NH2-terminal methionine is removed after translation of the mRNA, and has a molecular weight of 10,939. Ribosomal protein L37 has a single zinc finger-like motif of the C2-C2 type. Hybridization of the cDNA to digests of nuclear DNA suggests that there are 13 or 14 copies of the L37 gene. The mRNA for the protein is about 500 nucleotides in length. Rat L37 is related to Saccharomyces cerevisiae ribosomal protein YL35 and to Caenorhabditis elegans L37. We have identified in the data base a DNA sequence that encodes the chicken homolog of rat L37.

Laterality of repetitive finger movement performance and clinical features of Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Stegemöller, Elizabeth; Zaman, Andrew; MacKinnon, Colum D; Tillman, Mark D; Hass, Chris J; Okun, Michael S

2016-10-01

Impairments in acoustically cued repetitive finger movement often emerge at rates near to and above 2Hz in persons with Parkinson's Disease (PD) in which some patients move faster (hastening) and others move slower (bradykinetic). The clinical features impacting this differential performance of repetitive finger movement remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to compare repetitive finger movement performance between the more and less affected side, and the difference in clinical ratings among performance groups. Forty-one participants diagnosed with idiopathic PD completed an acoustically cued repetitive finger movement task while "on" medication. Eighteen participants moved faster, 10 moved slower, and 13 were able to maintain the appropriate rate at rates above 2Hz. Clinical measures of laterality, disease severity, and the UPDRS were obtained. There were no significant differences between the more and less affected sides regardless of performance group. Comparison of disease severity, tremor, and rigidity among performance groups revealed no significant differences. Comparison of posture and postural instability scores revealed that the participants that demonstrated hastening had worse posture and postural instability scores. Consideration of movement rate during the clinical evaluation of repetitive finger movement may provide additional insight into varying disease features in persons with PD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cortical Decoding of Individual Finger and Wrist Kinematics for an Upper-Limb Neuroprosthesis

PubMed Central

Aggarwal, Vikram; Tenore, Francesco; Acharya, Soumyadipta; Schieber, Marc H.; Thakor, Nitish V.

2010-01-01

Previous research has shown that neuronal activity can be used to continuously decode the kinematics of gross movements involving arm and hand trajectory. However, decoding the kinematics of fine motor movements, such as the manipulation of individual fingers, has not been demonstrated. In this study, single unit activities were recorded from task-related neurons in M1 of two trained rhesus monkey as they performed individuated movements of the fingers and wrist. The primates’ hand was placed in a manipulandum, and strain gauges at the tips of each finger were used to track the digit’s position. Both linear and non-linear filters were designed to simultaneously predict kinematics of each digit and the wrist, and their performance compared using mean squared error and correlation coefficients. All models had high decoding accuracy, but the feedforward ANN (R=0.76–0.86, MSE=0.04–0.05) and Kalman filter (R=0.68–0.86, MSE=0.04–0.07) performed better than a simple linear regression filter (0.58–0.81, 0.05–0.07). These results suggest that individual finger and wrist kinematics can be decoded with high accuracy, and be used to control a multi-fingered prosthetic hand in real-time. PMID:19964645

Zinc finger nuclease technology: advances and obstacles in modelling and treating genetic disorders.

PubMed

Jabalameli, Hamid Reza; Zahednasab, Hamid; Karimi-Moghaddam, Amin; Jabalameli, Mohammad Reza

2015-03-01

Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) are engineered restriction enzymes designed to target specific DNA sequences within the genome. Assembly of zinc finger DNA-binding domain to a DNA-cleavage domain enables the enzyme machinery to target unique locus in the genome and invoke endogenous DNA repair mechanisms. This machinery offers a versatile approach in allele editing and gene therapy. Here we discuss the architecture of ZFNs and strategies for generating targeted modifications within the genome. We review advances in gene therapy and modelling of the disease using these enzymes and finally, discuss the practical obstacles in using this technology. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Smart Hand For Manipulators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiorini, Paolo

1987-10-01

Sensor based, computer controlled end effectors for mechanical arms are receiving more and more attention in the robotics industry, because commonly available grippers are only adequate for simple pick and place tasks. This paper describes the current status of the research at JPL on a smart hand for a Puma 560 robot arm. The hand is a self contained, autonomous system, capable of executing high level commands from a supervisory computer. The mechanism consists of parallel fingers, powered by a DC motor, and controlled by a microprocessor embedded in the hand housing. Special sensors are integrated in the hand for measuring the grasp force of the fingers, and for measuring forces and torques applied between the arm and the surrounding environment. Fingers can be exercised under position, velocity and force control modes. The single-chip microcomputer in the hand executes the tasks of communication, data acquisition and sensor based motor control, with a sample cycle of 2 ms and a transmission rate of 9600 baud. The smart hand described in this paper represents a new development in the area of end effector design because of its multi-functionality and autonomy. It will also be a versatile test bed for experimenting with advanced control schemes for dexterous manipulation.

Specific Inhibition of the transcription factor Ci by a Cobalt(III)-Schiff base-DNA conjugate

PubMed Central

Hurtado, Ryan R.; Harney, Allison S.; Heffern, Marie C.; Holbrook, Robert J.; Holmgren, Robert A.; Meade, Thomas J.

2012-01-01

We describe the use of Co(III) Schiff base-DNA conjugates, a versatile class of research tools that target C2H2 transcription factors, to inhibit the Hedgehog (Hh) pathway. In developing mammalian embryos, Hh signaling is critical for the formation and development of many tissues and organs. Inappropriate activation of the Hedgehog (Hh) pathway has been implicated in a variety of cancers including medulloblastomas and basal cell carcinomas. It is well known that Hh regulates the activity of the Gli family of C2H2 zinc finger transcription factors in mammals. In Drosophila the function of the Gli proteins is performed by a single transcription factor with an identical DNA binding consensus sequence, Cubitus Interruptus (Ci). We have demonstrated previously that conjugation of a specific 17 base-pair oligonucleotide to a Co(III) Schiff base complex results in a targeted inhibitor of the Snail family C2H2 zinc finger transcription factors. Modification of the oligonucleotide sequence in the Co(III) Schiff base-DNA conjugate to that of Ci’s consensus sequence (Co(III)-Ci) generates an equally selective inhibitor of Ci. Co(III)-Ci irreversibly binds the Ci zinc finger domain and prevents it from binding DNA in vitro. In a Ci responsive tissue culture reporter gene assay, Co(III)-Ci reduces the transcriptional activity of Ci in a concentration dependent manner. In addition, injection of wild-type Drosophila embryos with Co(III)-Ci phenocopies a Ci loss of function phenotype, demonstrating effectiveness in vivo. This study provides evidence that Co(III) Schiff base-DNA conjugates are a versatile class of specific and potent tools for studying zinc finger domain proteins and have potential applications as customizable anti-cancer therapeutics. PMID:22214326

Somato-Motor Haptic Processing in Posterior Inner Perisylvian Region (SII/pIC) of the Macaque Monkey

PubMed Central

Ishida, Hiroaki; Fornia, Luca; Grandi, Laura Clara; Umiltà, Maria Alessandra; Gallese, Vittorio

2013-01-01

The posterior inner perisylvian region including the secondary somatosensory cortex (area SII) and the adjacent region of posterior insular cortex (pIC) has been implicated in haptic processing by integrating somato-motor information during hand-manipulation, both in humans and in non-human primates. However, motor-related properties during hand-manipulation are still largely unknown. To investigate a motor-related activity in the hand region of SII/pIC, two macaque monkeys were trained to perform a hand-manipulation task, requiring 3 different grip types (precision grip, finger exploration, side grip) both in light and in dark conditions. Our results showed that 70% (n = 33/48) of task related neurons within SII/pIC were only activated during monkeys’ active hand-manipulation. Of those 33 neurons, 15 (45%) began to discharge before hand-target contact, while the remaining neurons were tonically active after contact. Thirty-percent (n = 15/48) of studied neurons responded to both passive somatosensory stimulation and to the motor task. A consistent percentage of task-related neurons in SII/pIC was selectively activated during finger exploration (FE) and precision grasping (PG) execution, suggesting they play a pivotal role in control skilled finger movements. Furthermore, hand-manipulation-related neurons also responded when visual feedback was absent in the dark. Altogether, our results suggest that somato-motor neurons in SII/pIC likely contribute to haptic processing from the initial to the final phase of grasping and object manipulation. Such motor-related activity could also provide the somato-motor binding principle enabling the translation of diachronic somatosensory inputs into a coherent image of the explored object. PMID:23936121

Age-related Differences in Pre- and Post-synaptic Motor Cortex Inhibition are Task Dependent.

PubMed

Opie, George M; Ridding, Michael C; Semmler, John G

2015-01-01

Previous research has shown age-related differences in short- (SICI) and long-interval intracortical inhibition (LICI) in both resting and active hand muscles, suggesting that healthy ageing influences post-synaptic motor cortex inhibition. However, it is not known how the ageing process effects the pre-synaptic interaction of SICI by LICI, and how these pre- and post-synaptic intracortical inhibitory circuits are modulated by the performance of different motor tasks in older adults. To examine age-related differences in pre- and post-synaptic motor cortex inhibition at rest, and during index finger abduction and precision grip. In 13 young (22.3 ± 3.8 years) and 15 old (73.7 ± 4.0 years) adults, paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to measure SICI (2 ms inter-stimulus interval; ISI) and LICI (100 and 150 ms ISI), whereas triple-pulse TMS was used to investigate SICI when primed by LICI. We found no age-related difference in SICI at rest or during index finger abduction, but significantly greater SICI in older subjects during precision grip. Older adults showed reduced LICI in resting muscle (at an ISI of 150 ms), with no age-related differences in LICI during either task. When SICI was primed by LICI, disinhibition of motor cortex was reduced in older adults at rest (100 ms ISI) and during index finger abduction (150 ms ISI), but not during precision grip. Our results support age-related differences in pre- and post-synaptic motor cortex inhibition, which may contribute to impaired hand function during task performance in older adults. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mirror Observation of Finger Action Enhances Activity in Anterior Intraparietal Sulcus: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

PubMed Central

Murayama, Takashi; Takasugi, Jun; Monma, Masahiko; Oga, Masaru

2013-01-01

Mirror therapy can be used to promote recovery from paralysis in patients with post-stroke hemiplegia, There are a lot of reports that mirror-image observation of the unilateral moving hand enhanced the excitability of the primary motor area (M1) ipsilateral to the moving hand in healthy subjects. but the neural mechanisms underlying its therapeutic effects are currently unclear. To investigate this issue, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure activity in brain regions related to visual information processing during mirror image movement observation. Thirteen healthy subjects performed a finger-thumb opposition task with the left and right hands separately, with or without access to mirror observation. In the mirror condition, one hand was reflected in a mirror placed above the abdomen in the MRI scanner. In the masked mirror condition, subjects performed the same task but with the mirror obscured. In both conditions, the other hand was held at rest behind the mirror. A between-task comparison (mirror versus masked mirror) revealed significant activation in the ipsilateral hemisphere in the anterior intraparietal sulcus (aIP) while performing all tasks, regardless of which hand was used. The right aIP was significantly activated while moving the right hand. In contrast, in the left aIP, a small number of voxels showed a tendency toward activation during both left and right hand movement. The enhancement of ipsilateral aIP activity by the mirror image observation of finger action suggests that bimodal aIP neurons can be activated by visual information. We propose that activation in the M1 ipsilateral to the moving hand can be induced by information passing through the ventral premotor area from the aIP. PMID:25792898

Fingerprint Recognition with Identical Twin Fingerprints

PubMed Central

Yang, Xin; Tian, Jie

2012-01-01

Fingerprint recognition with identical twins is a challenging task due to the closest genetics-based relationship existing in the identical twins. Several pioneers have analyzed the similarity between twins' fingerprints. In this work we continue to investigate the topic of the similarity of identical twin fingerprints. Our study was tested based on a large identical twin fingerprint database that contains 83 twin pairs, 4 fingers per individual and six impressions per finger: 3984 (83*2*4*6) images. Compared to the previous work, our contributions are summarized as follows: (1) Two state-of-the-art fingerprint identification methods: P071 and VeriFinger 6.1 were used, rather than one fingerprint identification method in previous studies. (2) Six impressions per finger were captured, rather than just one impression, which makes the genuine distribution of matching scores more realistic. (3) A larger sample (83 pairs) was collected. (4) A novel statistical analysis, which aims at showing the probability distribution of the fingerprint types for the corresponding fingers of identical twins which have same fingerprint type, has been conducted. (5) A novel analysis, which aims at showing which finger from identical twins has higher probability of having same fingerprint type, has been conducted. Our results showed that: (a) A state-of-the-art automatic fingerprint verification system can distinguish identical twins without drastic degradation in performance. (b) The chance that the fingerprints have the same type from identical twins is 0.7440, comparing to 0.3215 from non-identical twins. (c) For the corresponding fingers of identical twins which have same fingerprint type, the probability distribution of five major fingerprint types is similar to the probability distribution for all the fingers' fingerprint type. (d) For each of four fingers of identical twins, the probability of having same fingerprint type is similar. PMID:22558204

Fingerprint recognition with identical twin fingerprints.

PubMed

Tao, Xunqiang; Chen, Xinjian; Yang, Xin; Tian, Jie

2012-01-01

Fingerprint recognition with identical twins is a challenging task due to the closest genetics-based relationship existing in the identical twins. Several pioneers have analyzed the similarity between twins' fingerprints. In this work we continue to investigate the topic of the similarity of identical twin fingerprints. Our study was tested based on a large identical twin fingerprint database that contains 83 twin pairs, 4 fingers per individual and six impressions per finger: 3984 (83*2*4*6) images. Compared to the previous work, our contributions are summarized as follows: (1) Two state-of-the-art fingerprint identification methods: P071 and VeriFinger 6.1 were used, rather than one fingerprint identification method in previous studies. (2) Six impressions per finger were captured, rather than just one impression, which makes the genuine distribution of matching scores more realistic. (3) A larger sample (83 pairs) was collected. (4) A novel statistical analysis, which aims at showing the probability distribution of the fingerprint types for the corresponding fingers of identical twins which have same fingerprint type, has been conducted. (5) A novel analysis, which aims at showing which finger from identical twins has higher probability of having same fingerprint type, has been conducted. Our results showed that: (a) A state-of-the-art automatic fingerprint verification system can distinguish identical twins without drastic degradation in performance. (b) The chance that the fingerprints have the same type from identical twins is 0.7440, comparing to 0.3215 from non-identical twins. (c) For the corresponding fingers of identical twins which have same fingerprint type, the probability distribution of five major fingerprint types is similar to the probability distribution for all the fingers' fingerprint type. (d) For each of four fingers of identical twins, the probability of having same fingerprint type is similar.

Proximal arm kinematics affect grip force-load force coordination

PubMed Central

Vermillion, Billy C.; Lum, Peter S.

2015-01-01

During object manipulation, grip force is coordinated with load force, which is primarily determined by object kinematics. Proximal arm kinematics may affect grip force control, as proximal segment motion could affect control of distal hand muscles via biomechanical and/or neural pathways. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of proximal kinematics on grip force modulation during object manipulation. Fifteen subjects performed three vertical lifting tasks that involved distinct proximal kinematics (elbow/shoulder), but resulted in similar end-point (hand) trajectories. While temporal coordination of grip and load forces remained similar across the tasks, proximal kinematics significantly affected the grip force-to-load force ratio (P = 0.042), intrinsic finger muscle activation (P = 0.045), and flexor-extensor ratio (P < 0.001). Biomechanical coupling between extrinsic hand muscles and the elbow joint cannot fully explain the observed changes, as task-related changes in intrinsic hand muscle activation were greater than in extrinsic hand muscles. Rather, between-task variation in grip force (highest during task 3) appears to contrast to that in shoulder joint velocity/acceleration (lowest during task 3). These results suggest that complex neural coupling between the distal and proximal upper extremity musculature may affect grip force control during movements, also indicated by task-related changes in intermuscular coherence of muscle pairs, including intrinsic finger muscles. Furthermore, examination of the fingertip force showed that the human motor system may attempt to reduce variability in task-relevant motor output (grip force-to-load force ratio), while allowing larger fluctuations in output less relevant to task goal (shear force-to-grip force ratio). PMID:26289460

An increased duplication of ZRS region that caused more than one supernumerary digits preaxial polydactyly in a large Chinese family.

PubMed

Wang, Bin; Diao, Yutao; Liu, Qiji; An, Hongqiang; Ma, Ruiping; Jiang, Guosheng; Lai, Nannan; Li, Ziwei; Zhu, Xiaoxiao; Zhao, Lin; Guo, Qiang; Zhang, Zhen; Sun, Rong; Li, Xia

2016-12-06

Preaxial polydactyly (PPD) is inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion and characterized by the presence of one or more supernumerary digits on the thumb side. It had been identified that point mutation or genomic duplications of the long-range limb-specific cis-regulator - zone of polarizing activity regulatory sequence (ZRS) cause PPD or other limb deformities such as syndactyly type IV (SD4) and Triphalangeal thumb-polysyndactyly syndrome (TPTPS). Most previously reported cases involved with no more than one extra finger; however, the role of the point mutation or genomic duplications of ZRS in the case of more than one redundant finger polydactyly remains unclear. In this article, we reported a family case of more than one redundant finger polydactyly on the thumb side for bilateral hands with a pedigree chart of the family. Results of quantitative PCR (qPCR) and sequence analysis suggested that the relative copy number (RCN) of ZRS but not point mutation (including insertion and deletion) was involved in all affected individuals.

The investigation of brain-computer interface for motor imagery and execution using functional near-infrared spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zhen; Jiao, Xuejun; Xu, Fengang; Jiang, Jin; Yang, Hanjun; Cao, Yong; Fu, Jiahao

2017-01-01

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which can measure cortex hemoglobin activity, has been widely adopted in brain-computer interface (BCI). To explore the feasibility of recognizing motor imagery (MI) and motor execution (ME) in the same motion. We measured changes of oxygenated hemoglobin (HBO) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (HBR) on PFC and Motor Cortex (MC) when 15 subjects performing hand extension and finger tapping tasks. The mean, slope, quadratic coefficient and approximate entropy features were extracted from HBO as the input of support vector machine (SVM). For the four-class fNIRS-BCI classifiers, we realized 87.65% and 87.58% classification accuracy corresponding to hand extension and finger tapping tasks. In conclusion, it is effective for fNIRS-BCI to recognize MI and ME in the same motion.

Self-reported empathy and neural activity during action imitation and observation in schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Horan, William P.; Iacoboni, Marco; Cross, Katy A.; Korb, Alex; Lee, Junghee; Nori, Poorang; Quintana, Javier; Wynn, Jonathan K.; Green, Michael F.

2014-01-01

Introduction Although social cognitive impairments are key determinants of functional outcome in schizophrenia their neural bases are poorly understood. This study investigated neural activity during imitation and observation of finger movements and facial expressions in schizophrenia, and their correlates with self-reported empathy. Methods 23 schizophrenia outpatients and 23 healthy controls were studied with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they imitated, executed, or simply observed finger movements and facial emotional expressions. Between-group activation differences, as well as relationships between activation and self-reported empathy, were evaluated. Results Both patients and controls similarly activated neural systems previously associated with these tasks. We found no significant between-group differences in task-related activations. There were, however, between-group differences in the correlation between self-reported empathy and right inferior frontal (pars opercularis) activity during observation of facial emotional expressions. As in previous studies, controls demonstrated a positive association between brain activity and empathy scores. In contrast, the pattern in the patient group reflected a negative association between brain activity and empathy. Conclusions Although patients with schizophrenia demonstrated largely normal patterns of neural activation across the finger movement and facial expression tasks, they reported decreased self perceived empathy and failed to show the typical relationship between neural activity and self-reported empathy seen in controls. These findings suggest that patients show a disjunction between automatic neural responses to low level social cues and higher level, integrative social cognitive processes involved in self-perceived empathy. PMID:25009771

Self-reported empathy and neural activity during action imitation and observation in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Horan, William P; Iacoboni, Marco; Cross, Katy A; Korb, Alex; Lee, Junghee; Nori, Poorang; Quintana, Javier; Wynn, Jonathan K; Green, Michael F

2014-01-01

Although social cognitive impairments are key determinants of functional outcome in schizophrenia their neural bases are poorly understood. This study investigated neural activity during imitation and observation of finger movements and facial expressions in schizophrenia, and their correlates with self-reported empathy. 23 schizophrenia outpatients and 23 healthy controls were studied with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they imitated, executed, or simply observed finger movements and facial emotional expressions. Between-group activation differences, as well as relationships between activation and self-reported empathy, were evaluated. Both patients and controls similarly activated neural systems previously associated with these tasks. We found no significant between-group differences in task-related activations. There were, however, between-group differences in the correlation between self-reported empathy and right inferior frontal (pars opercularis) activity during observation of facial emotional expressions. As in previous studies, controls demonstrated a positive association between brain activity and empathy scores. In contrast, the pattern in the patient group reflected a negative association between brain activity and empathy. Although patients with schizophrenia demonstrated largely normal patterns of neural activation across the finger movement and facial expression tasks, they reported decreased self perceived empathy and failed to show the typical relationship between neural activity and self-reported empathy seen in controls. These findings suggest that patients show a disjunction between automatic neural responses to low level social cues and higher level, integrative social cognitive processes involved in self-perceived empathy.

rTMS with Motor Training Modulates Cortico-Basal Ganglia-Thalamocortical Circuits in Stroke Patients

PubMed Central

Chang, Won Hyuk; Kim, Yun-Hee; Yoo, Woo-Kyoung; Goo, Kyoung-Hyup; Park, Chang-hyun; Kim, Sung Tae; Pascual-Leone, Alvaro

2013-01-01

Background and Purpose Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may enhance plastic changes in the human cortex and modulation of behavior. However, the underlying neural mechanisms have not been sufficiently investigated. We examined the clinical effects and neural correlates of high-frequency rTMS coupled with motor training in patients with hemiparesis after stroke. Methods Twenty-one patients were randomly divided into two groups, and received either real or sham rTMS. Ten daily sessions of 1,000 pulses of real or sham rTMS were applied at 10 Hz over the primary motor cortex of the affected hemisphere, coupled with sequential finger motor training of the paretic hand. Functional MRIs were obtained before and after training using sequential finger motor tasks, and performances were assessed. Results Following rTMS intervention, movement accuracy of sequential finger motor tasks showed significantly greater improvement in the real group than in the sham group (p<0.05). Real rTMS modulated areas of brain activation during performance of motor tasks with a significant interaction effect in the sensorimotor cortex, thalamus, and caudate nucleus. Patients in the real rTMS group also showed significantly enhanced activation in the affected hemisphere compared to the sham rTMS group. Conclusion According to these results, a 10 day course of high-frequency rTMS coupled with motor training improved motor performance through modulation of activities in the cortico-basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits. PMID:22555430

Effects of intermittent theta-burst stimulation on practice-related changes in fast finger movements in healthy subjects.

PubMed

Agostino, Rocco; Iezzi, Ennio; Dinapoli, Loredana; Suppa, Antonio; Conte, Antonella; Berardelli, Alfredo

2008-08-01

In this paper we investigated the effects of intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) applied to the primary motor cortex on practice-related changes in motor performance. Seventeen healthy subjects underwent two experimental sessions, one testing real iTBS and the other testing sham iTBS. Before and after both iTBS sessions, the subjects practiced fast right index-finger abductions for a few minutes. As measures of cortical excitability we calculated resting motor threshold and motor-evoked potential amplitude. As measures of practice-related changes we evaluated the mean movement amplitude, peak velocity and peak acceleration values for each block. When subjects practiced the movement task, the three variables measuring practice-related changes improved to a similar extent during real and sham iTBS whereas cortical excitability increased only during real iTBS. In a further group of five healthy subjects we investigated the effect of real and sham iTBS on changes in motor performance after a longer task practice and found no significant changes in motor performance and retention after real and sham iTBS. From our results overall we conclude that in healthy subjects iTBS applied to the primary motor cortex leaves practice-related changes in an index finger abduction task unaffected. We suggest that iTBS delivered over the primary motor cortex is insufficient to alter motor performance because early motor learning probably engages a wide cortical and subcortical network.

EEG resolutions in detecting and decoding finger movements from spectral analysis

PubMed Central

Xiao, Ran; Ding, Lei

2015-01-01

Mu/beta rhythms are well-studied brain activities that originate from sensorimotor cortices. These rhythms reveal spectral changes in alpha and beta bands induced by movements of different body parts, e.g., hands and limbs, in electroencephalography (EEG) signals. However, less can be revealed in them about movements of different fine body parts that activate adjacent brain regions, such as individual fingers from one hand. Several studies have reported spatial and temporal couplings of rhythmic activities at different frequency bands, suggesting the existence of well-defined spectral structures across multiple frequency bands. In the present study, spectral principal component analysis (PCA) was applied on EEG data, obtained from a finger movement task, to identify cross-frequency spectral structures. Features from identified spectral structures were examined in their spatial patterns, cross-condition pattern changes, detection capability of finger movements from resting, and decoding performance of individual finger movements in comparison to classic mu/beta rhythms. These new features reveal some similar, but more different spatial and spectral patterns as compared with classic mu/beta rhythms. Decoding results further indicate that these new features (91%) can detect finger movements much better than classic mu/beta rhythms (75.6%). More importantly, these new features reveal discriminative information about movements of different fingers (fine body-part movements), which is not available in classic mu/beta rhythms. The capability in decoding fingers (and hand gestures in the future) from EEG will contribute significantly to the development of non-invasive BCI and neuroprosthesis with intuitive and flexible controls. PMID:26388720

Influence of finger and mouth action observation on random number generation: an instance of embodied cognition for abstract concepts.

PubMed

Grade, Stéphane; Badets, Arnaud; Pesenti, Mauro

2017-05-01

Numerical magnitude and specific grasping action processing have been shown to interfere with each other because some aspects of numerical meaning may be grounded in sensorimotor transformation mechanisms linked to finger grip control. However, how specific these interactions are to grasping actions is still unknown. The present study tested the specificity of the number-grip relationship by investigating how the observation of different closing-opening stimuli that might or not refer to prehension-releasing actions was able to influence a random number generation task. Participants had to randomly produce numbers after they observed action stimuli representing either closure or aperture of the fingers, the hand or the mouth, or a colour change used as a control condition. Random number generation was influenced by the prior presentation of finger grip actions, whereby observing a closing finger grip led participants to produce small rather than large numbers, whereas observing an opening finger grip led them to produce large rather than small numbers. Hand actions had reduced or no influence on number production; mouth action influence was restricted to opening, with an overproduction of large numbers. Finally, colour changes did not influence number generation. These results show that some characteristics of observed finger, hand and mouth grip actions automatically prime number magnitude, with the strongest effect for finger grasping. The findings are discussed in terms of the functional and neural mechanisms shared between hand actions and number processing, but also between hand and mouth actions. The present study provides converging evidence that part of number semantics is grounded in sensory-motor mechanisms.

Short Sleep Makes Declarative Memories Vulnerable to Stress in Humans.

PubMed

Cedernaes, Jonathan; Rångtell, Frida H; Axelsson, Emil K; Yeganeh, Adine; Vogel, Heike; Broman, Jan-Erik; Dickson, Suzanne L; Schiöth, Helgi B; Benedict, Christian

2015-12-01

This study sought to investigate the role of nocturnal sleep duration for the retrieval of oversleep consolidated memories, both prior to and after being cognitively stressed for ∼30 minutes the next morning. Participants learned object locations (declarative memory task comprising 15 card pairs) and a finger tapping sequence (procedural memory task comprising 5 digits) in the evening. After learning, participants either had a sleep opportunity of 8 hours (between ∼23:00 and ∼07:00, full sleep condition) or they could sleep between ∼03:00 and ∼07:00 (short sleep condition). Retrieval of both memory tasks was tested in the morning after each sleep condition, both before (∼08:30) and after being stressed (∼09:50). Sleep laboratory. 15 healthy young men. The analyses demonstrated that oversleep memory changes did not differ between sleep conditions. However, in their short sleep condition, following stress hallmarked by increased subjective stress feelings, the men were unable to maintain their pre-stress performance on the declarative memory task, whereas their performance on the procedural memory task remained unchanged. While men felt comparably subjectively stressed by the stress intervention, overall no differences between pre- and post-stress recalls were observed following a full night of sleep. The findings suggest that 8-h sleep duration, within the range recommended by the US National Sleep Foundation, may not only help consolidate newly learned procedural and declarative memories, but also ensure full access to both during periods of subjective stress. © 2015 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.

The 3-D vision system integrated dexterous hand

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Luo, Ren C.; Han, Youn-Sik

1989-01-01

Most multifingered hands use a tendon mechanism to minimize the size and weight of the hand. Such tendon mechanisms suffer from the problems of striction and friction of the tendons resulting in a reduction of control accuracy. A design for a 3-D vision system integrated dexterous hand with motor control is described which overcomes these problems. The proposed hand is composed of three three-jointed grasping fingers with tactile sensors on their tips, a two-jointed eye finger with a cross-shaped laser beam emitting diode in its distal part. The two non-grasping fingers allow 3-D vision capability and can rotate around the hand to see and measure the sides of grasped objects and the task environment. An algorithm that determines the range and local orientation of the contact surface using a cross-shaped laser beam is introduced along with some potential applications. An efficient method for finger force calculation is presented which uses the measured contact surface normals of an object.

Quantification of Finger-Tapping Angle Based on Wearable Sensors

PubMed Central

Djurić-Jovičić, Milica; Jovičić, Nenad S.; Roby-Brami, Agnes; Popović, Mirjana B.; Kostić, Vladimir S.; Djordjević, Antonije R.

2017-01-01

We propose a novel simple method for quantitative and qualitative finger-tapping assessment based on miniature inertial sensors (3D gyroscopes) placed on the thumb and index-finger. We propose a simplified description of the finger tapping by using a single angle, describing rotation around a dominant axis. The method was verified on twelve subjects, who performed various tapping tasks, mimicking impaired patterns. The obtained tapping angles were compared with results of a motion capture camera system, demonstrating excellent accuracy. The root-mean-square (RMS) error between the two sets of data is, on average, below 4°, and the intraclass correlation coefficient is, on average, greater than 0.972. Data obtained by the proposed method may be used together with scores from clinical tests to enable a better diagnostic. Along with hardware simplicity, this makes the proposed method a promising candidate for use in clinical practice. Furthermore, our definition of the tapping angle can be applied to all tapping assessment systems. PMID:28125051

Quantification of Finger-Tapping Angle Based on Wearable Sensors.

PubMed

Djurić-Jovičić, Milica; Jovičić, Nenad S; Roby-Brami, Agnes; Popović, Mirjana B; Kostić, Vladimir S; Djordjević, Antonije R

2017-01-25

We propose a novel simple method for quantitative and qualitative finger-tapping assessment based on miniature inertial sensors (3D gyroscopes) placed on the thumb and index-finger. We propose a simplified description of the finger tapping by using a single angle, describing rotation around a dominant axis. The method was verified on twelve subjects, who performed various tapping tasks, mimicking impaired patterns. The obtained tapping angles were compared with results of a motion capture camera system, demonstrating excellent accuracy. The root-mean-square (RMS) error between the two sets of data is, on average, below 4°, and the intraclass correlation coefficient is, on average, greater than 0.972. Data obtained by the proposed method may be used together with scores from clinical tests to enable a better diagnostic. Along with hardware simplicity, this makes the proposed method a promising candidate for use in clinical practice. Furthermore, our definition of the tapping angle can be applied to all tapping assessment systems.

Self-modulation of primary motor cortex activity with motor and motor imagery tasks using real-time fMRI-based neurofeedback

PubMed Central

Berman, Brian D.; Horovitz, Silvina G.; Venkataraman, Gaurav; Hallett, Mark

2011-01-01

Advances in fMRI data acquisition and processing have made it possible to analyze brain activity as rapidly as the images are acquired allowing this information to be fed back to subjects in the scanner. The ability of subjects to learn to volitionally control localized brain activity within motor cortex using such real-time fMRI-based neurofeedback (NF) is actively being investigated as it may have clinical implications for motor rehabilitation after central nervous system injury and brain-computer interfaces. We investigated the ability of fifteen healthy volunteers to use NF to modulate brain activity within the primary motor cortex (M1) during a finger tapping and tapping imagery task. The M1 hand area ROI (ROIm) was functionally localized during finger tapping and a visual representation of BOLD signal changes within the ROIm fed back to the subject in the scanner. Surface EMG was used to assess motor output during tapping and ensure no motor activity was present during motor imagery task. Subjects quickly learned to modulate brain activity within their ROIm during the finger-tapping task, which could be dissociated from the magnitude of the tapping, but did not show a significant increase within the ROIm during the hand motor imagery task at the group level despite strongly activating a network consistent with the performance of motor imagery. The inability of subjects to modulate M1 proper with motor imagery may reflect an inherent difficulty in activating synapses in this area, with or without NF, since such activation may lead to M1 neuronal output and obligatory muscle activity. Future real-time fMRI-based NF investigations involving motor cortex may benefit from focusing attention on cortical regions other than M1 for feedback training or alternative feedback strategies such as measures of functional connectivity within the motor system. PMID:21803163

Motor skill changes and neurophysiologic adaptation to recovery-oriented virtual rehabilitation of hand function in a person with subacute stroke: a case study.

PubMed

Fluet, Gerard G; Patel, Jigna; Qiu, Qinyin; Yarossi, Matthew; Massood, Supriya; Adamovich, Sergei V; Tunik, Eugene; Merians, Alma S

2017-07-01

The complexity of upper extremity (UE) behavior requires recovery of near normal neuromuscular function to minimize residual disability following a stroke. This requirement places a premium on spontaneous recovery and neuroplastic adaptation to rehabilitation by the lesioned hemisphere. Motor skill learning is frequently cited as a requirement for neuroplasticity. Studies examining the links between training, motor learning, neuroplasticity, and improvements in hand motor function are indicated. This case study describes a patient with slow recovering hand and finger movement (Total Upper Extremity Fugl-Meyer examination score = 25/66, Wrist and Hand items = 2/24 on poststroke day 37) following a stroke. The patient received an intensive eight-session intervention utilizing simulated activities that focused on the recovery of finger extension, finger individuation, and pinch-grasp force modulation. Over the eight sessions, the patient demonstrated improvements on untrained transfer tasks, which suggest that motor learning had occurred, as well a dramatic increase in hand function and corresponding expansion of the cortical motor map area representing several key muscles of the paretic hand. Recovery of hand function and motor map expansion continued after discharge through the three-month retention testing. This case study describes a neuroplasticity based intervention for UE hemiparesis and a model for examining the relationship between training, motor skill acquisition, neuroplasticity, and motor function changes. Implications for rehabilitation Intensive hand and finger rehabilitation activities can be added to an in-patient rehabilitation program for persons with subacute stroke. Targeted training of the thumb may have an impact on activity level function in persons with upper extremity hemiparesis. Untrained transfer tasks can be utilized to confirm that training tasks have elicited motor learning. Changes in cortical motor maps can be used to document changes in brain function which can be used to evaluate changes in motor behavior persons with subacute stroke.

The Influence of Robotic Assistance on Reducing Neuromuscular Effort and Fatigue during Extravehicular Activity Glove Use

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Madden, Kaci E.; Deshpande, Ashish D.; Peters, Benjamin J.; Rogers, Jonathan M.; Laske, Evan A.; McBryan, Emily R.

2017-01-01

The three-layered, pressurized space suit glove worn by Extravehicular Activity (EVA) crew members during missions commonly causes hand and forearm fatigue. The Spacesuit RoboGlove (SSRG), a Phase VI EVA space suit glove modified with robotic grasp-assist capabilities, has been developed to augment grip strength in order to improve endurance and reduce the risk of injury in astronauts. The overall goals of this study were to i) quantify the neuromuscular modulations that occur in response to wearing a conventional Phase VI space suit glove (SSG) during a fatiguing task, and ii) determine the efficacy of Spacesuit RoboGlove (SSRG) in reversing the adverse neuromuscular modulations and restoring altered muscular activity to barehanded levels. Six subjects performed a fatigue sequence consisting of repetitive dynamic-gripping interspersed with isometric grip-holds under three conditions: barehanded, wearing pressurized SSG, and wearing pressurized SSRG. Surface electromyography (sEMG) from six forearm muscles (flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS), flexor carpi radialis (FCR), flexor carpi ulnaris (FCU), extensor digitorum (ED), extensor carpi radialis longus (ECRL), and extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU)) and subjective fatigue ratings were collected during each condition. Trends in amplitude and spectral distributions of the sEMG signals were used to derive metrics quantifying neuromuscular effort and fatigue that were compared across the glove conditions. Results showed that by augmenting finger flexion, the SSRG successfully reduced the neuromuscular effort needed to close the fingers of the space suit glove in more than half of subjects during two types of tasks. However, the SSRG required more neuromuscular effort to extend the fingers compared to a conventional SSG in many subjects. Psychologically, the SSRG aided subjects in feeling less fatigued during short periods of intense work compared to the SSG. The results of this study reveal the promise of the SSRG as a grasp-assist device that can improve astronaut performance and reduce the risk of injury by offsetting neuromuscular effort. Modifications to the experimental protocol are needed, however, to improve the outcome of the neuromuscular fatigue metrics and determine the effectiveness of SSRG in increasing astronaut endurance. Nevertheless, these findings will improve the understanding of astronaut-spacesuit interaction and provide direction toward designing improved spacesuit gloves and robotic-assist devices, like the SSRG.

Improvement in children's fine motor skills following a computerized typing intervention.

PubMed

McGlashan, Hannah L; Blanchard, Caroline C V; Sycamore, Nicole J; Lee, Rachel; French, Blandine; Holmes, Nicholas P

2017-12-01

Children spend a large proportion of their school day engaged in tasks that require manual dexterity. If children experience difficulties with their manual dexterity skills it can have a consequential effect on their academic achievement. The first aim of this paper was to explore whether an online interactive typing intervention could improve children's scores on a standardised measure of manual dexterity. The second aim was to implement a serial reaction time tapping task as an index of children's finger movement learning, and to see whether performance on this task would improve after the intervention. Seventy-eight typically developing children aged between 8 and 10 were tested at their school on the pre-intervention Movement Assessment Battery for Children (2nd edition; MABC-2) and tapping tasks. Twenty-eight of these children volunteered to be randomly allocated to the intervention or control group. Children in the intervention group had a choice of two online games to play at home over a period of four weeks, while the children in the control group were not given these games to play. The intervention and control groups were then re-tested on the MABC-2 manual dexterity and the tapping task. Children in the intervention group significantly improved their manual dexterity scores in the MABC-2 compared to the control group. On average, all children learnt the tapping sequence, however, there were no group differences and no effect of the intervention on the tapping task. These results have important implications for implementing a freely available, easy to administer, fun and interactive intervention to help children improve their manual dexterity skills. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Identification of the "A" genome of finger millet using chloroplast DNA.

PubMed

Hilu, K W

1988-01-01

Finger millet (Eleusine corocana subsp. coracana), an important cereal in East Africa and India, is a tetraploid species with unknown genomic components. A recent cytogenetic study confirmed the direct origin of this millet from the tetraploid E. coracana subsp. africana but questioned Eleusine indica as a genomic donor. Chloroplast (ct) DNA sequence analysis using restriction fragment pattern was used to examine the phylogenetic relationships between E. coracana subsp. coracana (domesticated finger millet), E. coracana subspecies africana (wild finger millet), and E. indica. Eleusine tristachya was included since it is the only other annual diploid species in the genus with a basic chromosome number of x = 9 like finger millet. Eight of the ten restriction endonucleases used had 16 to over 30 restriction sites per genome and were informative. E. coracana subsp. coracana and subsp. africana and E. indica were identical in all the restriction sites surveyed, while the ct genome of E, tristachya differed consistently by at least one mutational event for each restriction enzyme surveyed. This random survey of the ct genomes of these species points out E. indica as one of the genome donors (maternal genome donor) of domesticated finger millet contrary to a previous cytogenetic study. The data also substantiate E. coracana subsp. africana as the progenitor of domesticated finger millet. The disparity between the cytogenetic and the molecular approaches is discussed in light of the problems associated with chromosome pairing and polyploidy.

Writer's Cramp

MedlinePlus

... cramp is a focal dystonia of the fingers, hand, and/or forearm. Symptoms usually appear when a person is trying to do a task that requires fine motor movements such as writing or playing a musical instrument. The symptoms may ...

Task Specific Tremors.

PubMed

Friedman, Joseph H

2015-07-01

A patient reported bilateral hand tremors when writing but not with other tasks. These "task specific" tremors are considered subcategories of essential tremor. Primary writing tremor, in which the tremor occurs only with writing, is probably the most common. The important teaching point is that the "standard" tremor assessment, watching the patient holding a sustained posture and touching his finger to the examiner's and then back to the nose is not adequate. Patients should be tested doing the activity that causes them the most difficulty.

Frontoxins, three-finger toxins from Micrurus frontalis venom, decrease miniature endplate potential amplitude at frog neuromuscular junction.

PubMed

Moreira, K G; Prates, M V; Andrade, F A C; Silva, L P; Beirão, P S L; Kushmerick, C; Naves, L A; Bloch, C

2010-08-01

Neurotoxicity is a major symptom of envenomation caused by Brazilian coral snake Micrurus frontalis. Due to the small amount of material that can be collected, no neurotoxin has been fully sequenced from this venom. In this work we report six new three-finger like toxins isolated from the venom of the coral snake M. frontalis which we named Frontoxin (FTx) I-VI. Toxins were purified using multiple steps of RP-HPLC. Molecular masses were determined by MALDI-TOF and ESI ion-trap mass spectrometry. The complete amino acid sequence of FTx II, III, IV and V were determined by sequencing of overlapping proteolytic fragments by Edman degradation and by de novo sequencing. The amino acid sequences of FTx I, II, III and VI predict 4 conserved disulphide bonds and structural similarity to previously reported short-chain alpha-neurotoxins. FTx IV and V each contained 10 conserved cysteines and share high similarity with long-chain alpha-neurotoxins. At the frog neuromuscular junction FTx II, III and IV reduced miniature endplate potential amplitudes in a time-and concentration-dependent manner suggesting Frontoxins block nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Brain activation for lexical decision and reading aloud: two sides of the same coin?

PubMed

Carreiras, Manuel; Mechelli, Andrea; Estévez, Adelina; Price, Cathy J

2007-03-01

This functional magnetic resonance imaging study compared the neuronal implementation of word and pseudoword processing during two commonly used word recognition tasks: lexical decision and reading aloud. In the lexical decision task, participants made a finger-press response to indicate whether a visually presented letter string is a word or a pseudoword (e.g., "paple"). In the reading-aloud task, participants read aloud visually presented words and pseudowords. The same sets of words and pseudowords were used for both tasks. This enabled us to look for the effects of task (lexical decision vs. reading aloud), lexicality (words vs. nonwords), and the interaction of lexicality with task. We found very similar patterns of activation for lexical decision and reading aloud in areas associated with word recognition and lexical retrieval (e.g., left fusiform gyrus, posterior temporal cortex, pars opercularis, and bilateral insulae), but task differences were observed bilaterally in sensorimotor areas. Lexical decision increased activation in areas associated with decision making and finger tapping (bilateral postcentral gyri, supplementary motor area, and right cerebellum), whereas reading aloud increased activation in areas associated with articulation and hearing the sound of the spoken response (bilateral precentral gyri, superior temporal gyri, and posterior cerebellum). The effect of lexicality (pseudoword vs. words) was also remarkably consistent across tasks. Nevertheless, increased activation for pseudowords relative to words was greater in the left precentral cortex for reading than lexical decision, and greater in the right inferior frontal cortex for lexical decision than reading. We attribute these effects to differences in the demands on speech production and decision-making processes, respectively.

Existing and emerging detection technologies for DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) finger printing, sequencing, bio- and analytical chips: a multidisciplinary development unifying molecular biology, chemical and electronics engineering.

PubMed

Kumar Khanna, Vinod

2007-01-01

The current status and research trends of detection techniques for DNA-based analysis such as DNA finger printing, sequencing, biochips and allied fields are examined. An overview of main detectors is presented vis-à-vis these DNA operations. The biochip method is explained, the role of micro- and nanoelectronic technologies in biochip realization is highlighted, various optical and electrical detection principles employed in biochips are indicated, and the operational mechanisms of these detection devices are described. Although a diversity of biochips for diagnostic and therapeutic applications has been demonstrated in research laboratories worldwide, only some of these chips have entered the clinical market, and more chips are awaiting commercialization. The necessity of tagging is eliminated in refractive-index change based devices, but the basic flaw of indirect nature of most detection methodologies can only be overcome by generic and/or reagentless DNA sensors such as the conductance-based approach and the DNA-single electron transistor (DNA-SET) structure. Devices of the electrical detection-based category are expected to pave the pathway for the next-generation DNA chips. The review provides a comprehensive coverage of the detection technologies for DNA finger printing, sequencing and related techniques, encompassing a variety of methods from the primitive art to the state-of-the-art scenario as well as promising methods for the future.

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

PubMed

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.

Modulation of radial blood flow during Braille character discrimination task.

PubMed

Murata, Jun; Matsukawa, K; Komine, H; Tsuchimochi, H

2012-03-01

Human hands are excellent in performing sensory and motor function. We have hypothesized that blood flow of the hand is dynamically regulated by sympathetic outflow during concentrated finger perception. To identify this hypothesis, we measured radial blood flow (RBF), radial vascular conductance (RVC), heart rate (HR), and arterial blood pressure (AP) during Braille reading performed under the blind condition in nine healthy subjects. The subjects were instructed to read a flat plate with raised letters (Braille reading) for 30 s by the forefinger, and to touch a blank plate as control for the Braille discrimination procedure. HR and AP slightly increased during Braille reading but remained unchanged during the touching of the blank plate. RBF and RVC were reduced during the Braille character discrimination task (decreased by -46% and -49%, respectively). Furthermore, the changes in RBF and RVC were much greater during the Braille character discrimination task than during the touching of the blank plate (decreased by -20% and -20%, respectively). These results have suggested that the distribution of blood flow to the hand is modulated via sympathetic nerve activity during concentrated finger perception.

Background matters: Minor vibratory stimulation during motor skill acquisition selectively reduces off-line memory consolidation.

PubMed

Korman, Maria; Herling, Zohar; Levy, Ishay; Egbarieh, Nebal; Engel-Yeger, Batya; Karni, Avi

2017-04-01

Although a ubiquitous situation, it is not clear how effective is a learning experience when task-irrelevant, sensory noise occurs in the background. Here, young adults were trained on the finger opposition sequence task, in a well-established training and testing protocol affording measures for online as well as off-line learning. During the training session, one group experienced a minor background vibratory stimulation to the trunk by the means of vibrating cushion, while the second group experienced recorded sound vibrations. A control group was trained with no extra sensory stimulation. Sensory stimulation during training had no effect on the online within-session gains, but dampened the expression of the off-line, consolidation phase, gains in the two sensory stimulation groups. These results suggest that background sensory stimulation can selectively modify off-line, procedural memory consolidation processes, despite well-preserved on-line learning. Classical studies have shown that neural plasticity in sensory systems is modulated by motor input. The current results extend this notion and suggest that some types of task-irrelevant sensory stimulation, concurrent with motor training, may constitute a 'gating' factor - modulating the triggering of long-term procedural memory consolidation processes. Thus, vibratory stimulation may be considered as a behavioral counterpart of pharmacological interventions that do not interfere with short term neural plasticity but block long-term plasticity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Typing Style and the Use of Different Sources of Information during Typing: An Investigation Using Self-Reports

PubMed Central

Rieger, Martina; Bart, Victoria K. E.

2016-01-01

We investigated to what extent different sources of information are used in typing on a computer keyboard. Using self-reports 10 finger typists and idiosyncratic typists estimated how much attention they pay to different sources of information during copy typing and free typing and how much they use them for error detection. 10 finger typists reported less attention to the keyboard and the fingers and more attention to the template and the screen than idiosyncratic typists. The groups did not differ in attention to touch/kinaesthesis in copy typing and free typing, but 10 finger typists reported more use of touch/kinaesthesis in error detection. This indicates that processing of tactile/kinaesthetic information may occur largely outside conscious control, as long as no errors occur. 10 finger typists reported more use of internal prediction of movement consequences for error detection than idiosyncratic typists, reflecting more precise internal models. Further in copy typing compared to free typing attention to the template is required, thus leaving less attentional capacity for other sources of information. Correlations showed that higher skilled typists, regardless of typing style, rely more on sources of information which are usually associated with 10 finger typing. One limitation of the study is that only self-reports were used. We conclude that typing task, typing proficiency, and typing style influence how attention is distributed during typing. PMID:28018256

Typing Style and the Use of Different Sources of Information during Typing: An Investigation Using Self-Reports.

PubMed

Rieger, Martina; Bart, Victoria K E

2016-01-01

We investigated to what extent different sources of information are used in typing on a computer keyboard. Using self-reports 10 finger typists and idiosyncratic typists estimated how much attention they pay to different sources of information during copy typing and free typing and how much they use them for error detection. 10 finger typists reported less attention to the keyboard and the fingers and more attention to the template and the screen than idiosyncratic typists. The groups did not differ in attention to touch/kinaesthesis in copy typing and free typing, but 10 finger typists reported more use of touch/kinaesthesis in error detection. This indicates that processing of tactile/kinaesthetic information may occur largely outside conscious control, as long as no errors occur. 10 finger typists reported more use of internal prediction of movement consequences for error detection than idiosyncratic typists, reflecting more precise internal models. Further in copy typing compared to free typing attention to the template is required, thus leaving less attentional capacity for other sources of information. Correlations showed that higher skilled typists, regardless of typing style, rely more on sources of information which are usually associated with 10 finger typing. One limitation of the study is that only self-reports were used. We conclude that typing task, typing proficiency, and typing style influence how attention is distributed during typing.

Stimulus-response correspondence in go-nogo and choice tasks: Are reactions altered by the presence of an irrelevant salient object?

PubMed

Lien, Mei-Ching; Pedersen, Logan; Proctor, Robert W

2016-11-01

In 2-choice tasks, responses are faster when stimulus location corresponds to response location, even when stimulus location is irrelevant. Dolk et al. (J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 39:1248-1260, 2013a) found this stimulus-response correspondence effect with a single response location in a go-nogo task when an irrelevant Japanese waving cat was present. They argued that salient objects trigger spatial coding of the response relative to that object. We examined this claim using both behavioral and lateralized readiness potential (LRP) measures. In Experiment 1 participants determined the pitch of a left- or right-positioned tone, whereas in Experiment 2 they determined the color of a dot within a centrally located hand pointing left, right, or straight ahead. In both experiments, participants performed a go-nogo task with the right-index finger and a 2-choice task with both index fingers, with a left-positioned Japanese waving cat present or absent. For the go-nogo task, the cat induced a correspondence effect on response times (RT) to the tones (Experiment 1) but not the visual stimuli (Experiment 2). For the 2-choice task, a correspondence effect was evident in all conditions in both experiments. Cat's presence/absence did not significantly modulate the effect for right and left responses, although there was a trend toward increased RT and LRP for right responses in Experiment 1. The results imply that a salient, irrelevant object could provide a reference frame for response coding when attention is available to process it, as is likely in an auditory task (Experiment 1) but not a visual task (Experiment 2).

Hand preferences in two unimanual and two bimanual coordinated tasks in the black-handed spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi).

PubMed

Motes Rodrigo, Alba; Ramirez Torres, Carlos Eduardo; Hernandez Salazar, Laura Teresa; Laska, Matthias

2018-05-01

Spider monkeys are interesting to study with regard to hand preferences, as they are one of the few primate species that lack a thumb and, thus, are unable to perform a precision grip. Further, being platyrrhine primates, they also largely lack independent motor control of the digits and, thus, have only limited manual dexterity. It was therefore the aim of the present study to assess hand preferences in black-handed spider monkeys ( Ateles geoffroyi ) in 4 tasks differing in task demand: simple unimanual reaching for food and 3 versions of the widely used tube task, including 2 bimanual versions that differ from each other in the degree of fine motor control needed and a unimanual version that does not require coordinated action of the hands. We found that black-handed spider monkeys display significant hand preferences at the individual, but not at the population, level. This was true both in the 2 bimanual coordinated tasks and in the 2 unimanual tasks. Further, our results show that the majority of animals were consistent in the hand they preferred in these 4 tasks. Our findings only partially support the notion that task demand positively correlates with strength of hand preference. Finally, we found that the index finger was the most frequently used digit in all 3 tube tasks, although the animals also used other digits and 2- and 3-finger combinations to extract food from a tube. We conclude that limited manual dexterity does not prevent spider monkeys from displaying strong and consistent hand preferences at the individual level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Low-frequency periodicity in the coordination of progressive handwriting.

PubMed

Thomassen, A J; Meulenbroek, R G

1998-11-01

The paper addresses the question how the effector segments are coordinated during handwriting, in particular as a function of the left-to-right progression within words. It studies the phase relations between wrist and finger-joint rotations during a repetitive graphic task (long words consisting of letters 'e'), and it subjects the resulting continuous phase-relation plots to autocorrelation analysis. A novel phenomenon, viz. that of low-frequency (1-Hz) periodicity, is observed which presumably reflects adjustments of the coordination pattern about once per second, i.e., after every three or four letters 'e'. Moreover, word length and word position are found to affect this periodicity in a predictable manner. These results are related to those of an earlier study which used an ad-hoc method of analysing wrist-finger coordination adjustments. The paper underlines the value of phase-relation analysis for certain graphic tasks, but it also points out its limitations for this purpose.

Decrement in manual arm performance during whole body cooling.

PubMed

Giesbrecht, G G; Bristow, G K

1992-12-01

Six subjects performed three manual arm tasks: 1) prior to immersion in 8 degrees C water; 2) soon after immersion to the neck, but prior to any decrease in core temperature; and 3) every 15 min until core temperatures decreased 2-4.5 degrees C. The tasks were speed of flexion and extension of the fingers, handgrip strength and manual dexterity. There was no immediate effect of cold immersion; however, all scores decreased significantly after core temperature decreased 0.5 degrees C. Further decrease in core temperature was associated with a progressive impairment of performance, although at a slower rate than during the first 0.5 degrees C decrease. Flexion and extension of the fingers was affected relatively more than handgrip strength or manual dexterity. Decrement in performance is a result of peripheral cooling on sensorimotor function with a probable additional effect of central cooling on cerebral function.

Elevated levels of psychophysiological arousal and cortisol in patients with somatization syndrome.

PubMed

Rief, W; Shaw, R; Fichter, M M

1998-01-01

This study investigates psychological and psychobiological processes in patients with somatization syndrome. We compared physiological measures (heart rate, finger pulse volume, electrodermal activity, electromyography), cortisol levels, and subjective well-being during rest and during a mental stress task as well as selective attention and memory for illness-related words in 58 patients with somatization syndrome and 21 healthy controls. The somatization group had higher morning salivary cortisol concentrations, higher heart rates, and lower levels of finger pulse volume. During the mental stress task, patients with somatization syndrome felt more distressed and had higher heart rates, whereas controls showed habituation to the experimental situation. We were unable to demonstrate an attention or memory bias specific for somatization. The results point to several psychological, psychophysiological, and psychobiological mechanisms that might be involved in the maintenance of somatization syndrome. These results are discussed from a cognitive-psychobiological perspective.

Getting a grip: different actions and visual guidance of the thumb and finger in precision grasping.

PubMed

Melmoth, Dean R; Grant, Simon

2012-10-01

We manipulated the visual information available for grasping to examine what is visually guided when subjects get a precision grip on a common class of object (upright cylinders). In Experiment 1, objects (2 sizes) were placed at different eccentricities to vary the relative proximity to the participant's (n = 6) body of their thumb and finger contact positions in the final grip orientations, with vision available throughout or only for movement programming. Thumb trajectories were straighter and less variable than finger paths, and the thumb normally made initial contact with the objects at a relatively invariant landing site, but consistent thumb first-contacts were disrupted without visual guidance. Finger deviations were more affected by the object's properties and increased when vision was unavailable after movement onset. In Experiment 2, participants (n = 12) grasped 'glow-in-the-dark' objects wearing different luminous gloves in which the whole hand was visible or the thumb or the index finger was selectively occluded. Grip closure times were prolonged and thumb first-contacts disrupted when subjects could not see their thumb, whereas occluding the finger resulted in wider grips at contact because this digit remained distant from the object. Results were together consistent with visual feedback guiding the thumb in the period just prior to contacting the object, with the finger more involved in opening the grip and avoiding collision with the opposite contact surface. As people can overtly fixate only one object contact point at a time, we suggest that selecting one digit for online guidance represents an optimal strategy for initial grip placement. Other grasping tasks, in which the finger appears to be used for this purpose, are discussed.

Exogrip: assisted hand strength glove - biomed 2011.

PubMed

Best, Jade E; Bostick, Nehemiah F; Connelly, John R; Dunn, Michael G; Gelles, Richard A; Norvell, Elizabeth K; Waugaman, William B; Mims, Capt Willie H

2011-01-01

A large number of American troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq have received wounds in their upper extremities leading to significant nerve damage and loss of strength. These injuries impair their ability to perform day-to-day tasks such as lifting a cup of coffee or opening a door. Although the cause of some injuries in service-people is often unique to their employment, civilian employees in other industries are also plagued with similar physical damage due to other kinds of injuries. Our goal is to develop a device to augment the strength of injured troops and civilian workers so they can perform everyday tasks despite their physical limitations. The ExoGrip is a glove designed to provide this necessary strength augmentation. The ExoGrip consists primarily of pressure sensors, linear actuators, and a microcontroller to provide a force multiplier based on a person’s strength. The goal of the first phase of the project was to conduct research and also produce a working prototype of one finger. This goal was achieved by a group of classmates who started the project a year before. Their research and feasibility analysis ended in the mechanical movement of a single finger when the sensors were activated. The next phase of this project is to design and integrate a working prototype that manipulates all four fingers, while keeping the thumb in a fixed position. This paper describes the integration of new microcontrollers, linear actuators utilizing pulse width modulation technology, and improved pressure sensors needed to manipulate the fingers, as well as laying the foundation for future testing and development of a final product.

Evaluation of handle design characteristics in a maximum screwdriving torque task.

PubMed

Kong, Y-K; Lowe, B D; Lee, S-J; Krieg, E F

2007-09-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of screwdriver handle shape, surface material and workpiece orientation on torque performance, finger force distribution and muscle activity in a maximum screwdriving torque task. Twelve male subjects performed maximum screw-tightening exertions using screwdriver handles with three longitudinal shapes (circular, hexagonal and triangular), four lateral shapes (cylindrical, double frustum, cone and reversed double frustum) and two surfaces (rubber and plastic). The average finger force contributions to the total hand force were 28.1%, 39.3%, 26.5% and 6.2%, in order from index to little fingers; the average phalangeal segment force contributions were 47.3%, 14.0%, 20.5% and 18.1% for distal, middle, proximal and metacarpal phalanges, respectively. The plastic surface handles were associated with 15% less torque output (4.86 Nm) than the rubber coated handles (5.73 Nm). In general, the vertical workpiece orientation was associated with higher torque output (5.9 Nm) than the horizontal orientation (4.69 Nm). Analysis of handle shapes indicates that screwdrivers designed with a circular or hexagonal cross-sectional shape result in greater torque outputs (5.49 Nm, 5.57 Nm), with less total finger force (95 N, 105 N). In terms of lateral shape, reversed double frustum handles were associated with less torque output (5.23 Nm) than the double frustum (5.44 Nm) and cone (5.37 Nm) handles. Screwdriver handles designed with combinations of circular or hexagonal cross-sectional shapes with double frustum and cone lateral shapes were optimal in this study.

Effect of the linkers between the zinc fingers in zinc finger protein 809 on gene silencing and nuclear localization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ichida, Yu, E-mail: ichida-y@ncchd.go.jp; Utsunomiya, Yuko; Onodera, Masafumi

2016-03-18

Zinc finger protein 809 (ZFP809) belongs to the Kruppel-associated box-containing zinc finger protein (KRAB-ZFP) family and functions in repressing the expression of Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV). ZFP809 binds to the primer-binding site (PBS)located downstream of the MoMLV-long terminal repeat (LTR) and induces epigenetic modifications at integration sites, such as repressive histone modifications and de novo DNA methylation. KRAB-ZFPs contain consensus TGEKP linkers between C2H2 zinc fingers. The phosphorylation of threonine residues within linkers leads to the inactivation of zinc finger binding to target sequences. ZFP809 also contains consensus linkers between zinc fingers. However, the function of ZFP809 linkers remainsmore » unknown. In the present study, we constructed ZFP809 proteins containing mutated linkers and examined their ability to silence transgene expression driven by MLV, binding ability to MLV PBS, and cellular localization. The results of the present study revealed that the linkers affected the ability of ZFP809 to silence transgene expression. Furthermore, this effect could be partly attributed to changes in the localization of ZFP809 proteins containing mutated linkers. Further characterization of ZFP809 linkers is required for understanding the functions and features of KRAB-ZFP-containing linkers. - Highlights: • ZFP809 has three consensus linkers between the zinc fingers. • Linkers are required for ZFP809 to silence transgene expression driven by MLV-LTR. • Linkers affect the precise nuclear localization of ZFP809.« less

Separation of fNIRS Signals into Functional and Systemic Components Based on Differences in Hemodynamic Modalities

PubMed Central

Yamada, Toru; Umeyama, Shinji; Matsuda, Keiji

2012-01-01

In conventional functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), systemic physiological fluctuations evoked by a body's motion and psychophysiological changes often contaminate fNIRS signals. We propose a novel method for separating functional and systemic signals based on their hemodynamic differences. Considering their physiological origins, we assumed a negative and positive linear relationship between oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin changes of functional and systemic signals, respectively. Their coefficients are determined by an empirical procedure. The proposed method was compared to conventional and multi-distance NIRS. The results were as follows: (1) Nonfunctional tasks evoked substantial oxyhemoglobin changes, and comparatively smaller deoxyhemoglobin changes, in the same direction by conventional NIRS. The systemic components estimated by the proposed method were similar to the above finding. The estimated functional components were very small. (2) During finger-tapping tasks, laterality in the functional component was more distinctive using our proposed method than that by conventional fNIRS. The systemic component indicated task-evoked changes, regardless of the finger used to perform the task. (3) For all tasks, the functional components were highly coincident with signals estimated by multi-distance NIRS. These results strongly suggest that the functional component obtained by the proposed method originates in the cerebral cortical layer. We believe that the proposed method could improve the reliability of fNIRS measurements without any modification in commercially available instruments. PMID:23185590

Exploring social influences on the joint Simon task: empathy and friendship

PubMed Central

Ford, Ruth M.; Aberdein, Bradley

2015-01-01

Tasks for which people must act together to achieve a goal are a feature of daily life. The present study explored social influences on joint action using a Simon procedure for which participants (n = 44) were confronted with a series of images of hands and asked to respond via button press whenever the index finger wore a ring of a certain color (red or green) regardless of pointing direction (left or right). In an initial joint condition they performed the task while sitting next to another person (friend or stranger) who responded to the other color. In a subsequent individual condition they repeated the task on their own; additionally, they completed self-report tests of empathy. Consistent with past research, participants reacted more quickly when the finger pointed toward them rather than their co-actor (the Simon Effect or SE). The effect remained robust when the co-actor was no longer present and was unaffected by degree of acquaintance; however, its magnitude was correlated positively with empathy only among friends. For friends, the SE was predicted by cognitive perspective taking when the co-actor was present and by propensity for fantasizing when the co-actor was absent. We discuss these findings in relation to social accounts (e.g., task co-representation) and non-social accounts (e.g., referential coding) of joint action. PMID:26217281

Prehension of Half-Full and Half-Empty Glasses: Time and History Effects on Multi-Digit Coordination

PubMed Central

Sun, Yao; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M.; Latash, Mark L.

2011-01-01

We explored how digit forces and indices of digit coordination depend on the history of getting to a particular set of task parameters during static prehension tasks. The participants held in the right hand an instrumented handle with a light-weight container attached on top of the handle. At the beginning of each trial, the container could be empty, filled to the half with water (0.4 l) or filled to the top (0.8 l). The water was pumped in/out of the container at a constant, slow rate over 10 s. At the end of each trial, the participants always held a half-filled container that has just been filled (Empty-Half), emptied (Full-Half), or stayed half-filled throughout the trial (Half-Only). Indices of co-variation (synergy indices) of elemental variables (forces and moments of force produced by individual digits) stabilizing such performance variables as total normal force, total tangetial force, and total moment of force were computed at two levels of an assumed control hierarchy. At the upper level, the task is shared between the thumb and virtual finger (an imagined digit with the mechanical action equal to that of the four fingers), while at the lower level, action of the virtual finger is shared among the actual four fingers. Filling or emptying the container led to a drop in the safety margin (proportion of grip force over the slipping threshold) below the values observed in the Half-Only condition. Synergy indices at both levels of the hierarchy showed changes over the Full-Half and Empty-Half condition. These changes could be monotonic (typical of moment of force and normal force) or non-monotonic (typical of tangential force). For both normal and tangential forces, higher synergy indices at the higher level of the hierarchy corresponded to lower indices at the lower level. Significant differences in synergy indices across conditions were seen at the final steady-state showing that digit coordination during steady holding an object is history dependent. The observations support an earlier hypothesis on a trade-off between synergies at the two levels of a hierarchy. They also suggest that, when a change in task parameters is expected, the neural strategy may involve producing less stable (easier to change) actions. The results suggest that synergy indices may be highly sensitive to changes in a task variable and that effects of such changes persist after the changes are over. PMID:21331525

Flexible, task-dependent use of sensory feedback to control hand movements

PubMed Central

Knill, David C.; Bondada, Amulya; Chhabra, Manu

2011-01-01

We tested whether changing accuracy demands for simple pointing movements leads humans to adjust the feedback control laws that map sensory signals from the moving hand to motor commands. Subjects made repeated pointing movements in a virtual environment to touch a button whose shape varied randomly from trial-to-trial – between squares, rectangles oriented perpendicular to the movement path and rectangles oriented parallel to the movement path. Subjects performed the task on a horizontal table, but saw the target configuration and a virtual rendering of their pointing finger through a mirror mounted between a monitor and the table. On a one-third of trials, the position of the virtual finger was perturbed by ±1 cm either in the movement direction or perpendicular to the movement direction when the finger passed behind an occluder. Subjects corrected quickly for the perturbations despite not consciously noticing them; however, they corrected almost twice as much for perturbations aligned with the narrow dimension of a target than for perturbations aligned with the long dimension. These changes in apparent feedback gain appeared in the kinematic trajectories soon after the time of the perturbations, indicating that they reflect differences in the feedback control law used throughout the duration of movements. The results indicate that the brain adjusts its feedback control law for individual movements “on-demand” to fit task demands. Simulations of optimal control laws for a two-joint arm show that accuracy demands alone, coupled with signal dependent noise lead to qualitatively the same behavior. PMID:21273407

Injury Risk Assessment of Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Phase VI and Series 4000 Gloves During Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Hand Manipulation Tasks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kilby, Melissa

2015-01-01

Functional Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs) with high precision gloves are essential for the success of Extravehicular Activity (EVA). Previous research done at NASA has shown that total strength capabilities and performance are reduced when wearing a pressurized EMU. The goal of this project was to characterize the human-space suit glove interaction and assess the risk of injury during common EVA hand manipulation tasks, including pushing, pinching and gripping objects. A custom third generation sensor garment was designed to incorporate a combination of sensors, including force sensitive resistors, strain gauge sensors, and shear force sensors. The combination of sensors was used to measure the forces acting on the finger nails, finger pads, finger tips, as well as the knuckle joints. In addition to measuring the forces, data was collected on the temperature, humidity, skin conductance, and blood perfusion of the hands. Testing compared both the Phase VI and Series 4000 glove against an ungloved condition. The ungloved test was performed wearing the sensor garment only. The project outcomes identified critical landmarks that experienced higher workloads and are more likely to suffer injuries. These critical landmarks varied as a function of space suit glove and task performed. The results showed that less forces were acting on the hands while wearing the Phase VI glove as compared to wearing the Series 4000 glove. Based on our findings, the engineering division can utilize these methods for optimizing the current space suit glove and designing next generation gloves to prevent injuries and optimize hand mobility and comfort.

Cross-Correlation of Motor Activity Signals from dc-Magnetoencephalography, Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, and Electromyography

PubMed Central

Sander, Tilmann H.; Leistner, Stefanie; Wabnitz, Heidrun; Mackert, Bruno-Marcel; Macdonald, Rainer; Trahms, Lutz

2010-01-01

Neuronal and vascular responses due to finger movements were synchronously measured using dc-magnetoencephalography (dcMEG) and time-resolved near-infrared spectroscopy (trNIRS). The finger movements were monitored with electromyography (EMG). Cortical responses related to the finger movement sequence were extracted by independent component analysis from both the dcMEG and the trNIRS data. The temporal relations between EMG rate, dcMEG, and trNIRS responses were assessed pairwise using the cross-correlation function (CCF), which does not require epoch averaging. A positive lag on a scale of seconds was found for the maximum of the CCF between dcMEG and trNIRS. A zero lag is observed for the CCF between dcMEG and EMG. Additionally this CCF exhibits oscillations at the frequency of individual finger movements. These findings show that the dcMEG with a bandwidth up to 8 Hz records both slow and faster neuronal responses, whereas the vascular response is confirmed to change on a scale of seconds. PMID:20145717

Fusarium verticillioides from finger millet in Uganda.

PubMed

Saleh, Amgad A; Esele, J P; Logrieco, Antonio; Ritieni, Alberto; Leslie, John F

2012-01-01

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is a subsistence crop grown in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Sub-continent. Fusarium species occurring on this crop have not been reported. Approximately 13% of the Fusarium isolates recovered from finger millet growing at three different locations in eastern Uganda belong to Fusarium verticillioides, and could produce up to 18,600 µg/g of total fumonisins when cultured under laboratory conditions. These strains are all genetically unique, based on AFLP analyses, and form fertile perithecia when crossed with the standard mating type tester strains for this species. All but one of the strains is female-fertile and mating-type segregates 13:20 Mat-1:Mat-2. Three new sequences of the gene encoding translation elongation factor 1-α were found within the population. These results indicate a potential health risk for infants who consume finger millet gruel as a weaning food, and are consistent with the hypothesis that F. verticillioides originated in Africa and not in the Americas, despite its widespread association with maize grown almost anywhere worldwide.

Cross-correlation of motor activity signals from dc-magnetoencephalography, near-infrared spectroscopy, and electromyography.

PubMed

Sander, Tilmann H; Leistner, Stefanie; Wabnitz, Heidrun; Mackert, Bruno-Marcel; Macdonald, Rainer; Trahms, Lutz

2010-01-01

Neuronal and vascular responses due to finger movements were synchronously measured using dc-magnetoencephalography (dcMEG) and time-resolved near-infrared spectroscopy (trNIRS). The finger movements were monitored with electromyography (EMG). Cortical responses related to the finger movement sequence were extracted by independent component analysis from both the dcMEG and the trNIRS data. The temporal relations between EMG rate, dcMEG, and trNIRS responses were assessed pairwise using the cross-correlation function (CCF), which does not require epoch averaging. A positive lag on a scale of seconds was found for the maximum of the CCF between dcMEG and trNIRS. A zero lag is observed for the CCF between dcMEG and EMG. Additionally this CCF exhibits oscillations at the frequency of individual finger movements. These findings show that the dcMEG with a bandwidth up to 8 Hz records both slow and faster neuronal responses, whereas the vascular response is confirmed to change on a scale of seconds.

Identification of the ``a'' Genome of Finger Millet Using Chloroplast DNA

PubMed Central

Hilu, K. W.

1988-01-01

Finger millet (Eleusine corocana subsp. coracana), an important cereal in East Africa and India, is a tetraploid species with unknown genomic components. A recent cytogenetic study confirmed the direct origin of this millet from the tetraploid E. coracana subsp. africana but questioned Eleusine indica as a genomic donor. Chloroplast (ct) DNA sequence analysis using restriction fragment pattern was used to examine the phylogenetic relationships between E. coracana subsp. coracana (domesticated finger millet), E. coracana subspecies africana (wild finger millet), and E. indica. Eleusine tristachya was included since it is the only other annual diploid species in the genus with a basic chromosome number of x = 9 like finger millet. Eight of the ten restriction endonucleases used had 16 to over 30 restriction sites per genome and were informative. E. coracana subsp. coracana and subsp. africana and E. indica were identical in all the restriction sites surveyed, while the ct genome of E. tristachya differed consistently by at least one mutational event for each restriction enzyme surveyed. This random survey of the ct genomes of these species points out E. indica as one of the genome donors (maternal genome donor) of domesticated finger millet contrary to a previous cytogenetic study. The data also substantiate E. coracana subsp. africana as the progenitor of domesticated finger millet. The disparity between the cytogenetic and the molecular approaches is discussed in light of the problems associated with chromosome pairing and polyploidy. PMID:8608927

Decoding of human hand actions to handle missing limbs in neuroprosthetics.

PubMed

Belić, Jovana J; Faisal, A Aldo

2015-01-01

The only way we can interact with the world is through movements, and our primary interactions are via the hands, thus any loss of hand function has immediate impact on our quality of life. However, to date it has not been systematically assessed how coordination in the hand's joints affects every day actions. This is important for two fundamental reasons. Firstly, to understand the representations and computations underlying motor control "in-the-wild" situations, and secondly to develop smarter controllers for prosthetic hands that have the same functionality as natural limbs. In this work we exploit the correlation structure of our hand and finger movements in daily-life. The novelty of our idea is that instead of averaging variability out, we take the view that the structure of variability may contain valuable information about the task being performed. We asked seven subjects to interact in 17 daily-life situations, and quantified behavior in a principled manner using CyberGlove body sensor networks that, after accurate calibration, track all major joints of the hand. Our key findings are: (1) We confirmed that hand control in daily-life tasks is very low-dimensional, with four to five dimensions being sufficient to explain 80-90% of the variability in the natural movement data. (2) We established a universally applicable measure of manipulative complexity that allowed us to measure and compare limb movements across tasks. We used Bayesian latent variable models to model the low-dimensional structure of finger joint angles in natural actions. (3) This allowed us to build a naïve classifier that within the first 1000 ms of action initiation (from a flat hand start configuration) predicted which of the 17 actions was going to be executed-enabling us to reliably predict the action intention from very short-time-scale initial data, further revealing the foreseeable nature of hand movements for control of neuroprosthetics and tele operation purposes. (4) Using the Expectation-Maximization algorithm on our latent variable model permitted us to reconstruct with high accuracy (<5-6° MAE) the movement trajectory of missing fingers by simply tracking the remaining fingers. Overall, our results suggest the hypothesis that specific hand actions are orchestrated by the brain in such a way that in the natural tasks of daily-life there is sufficient redundancy and predictability to be directly exploitable for neuroprosthetics.

Motor skills in Czech children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and their neurotypical counterparts.

PubMed

Scharoun, S M; Bryden, P J; Otipkova, Z; Musalek, M; Lejcarova, A

2013-11-01

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed neurobehavioural disorder. Characterized by recurring problems with impulsiveness and inattention in combination with hyperactivity, motor impairments have also been well documented in the literature. The aim of this study was to compare the fine and gross motor skills of male and female children with ADHD and their neurotypical counterparts within seven skill assessments. This included three fine motor tasks: (1) spiral tracing, (2) dot filling, (3) tweezers and beads; and four gross motor tasks: (1) twistbox, (2) foot tapping, (3) small plate finger tapping, and (4) large plate finger tapping. It was hypothesized that children with ADHD would display poorer motor skills in comparison to neurotypical controls in both fine and gross motor assessments. However, statistically significant differences between the groups only emerged in four of the seven tasks (spiral tracing, dot filling, tweezers and beads and foot tapping). In line with previous findings, the complexity underlying upper limb tasks solidified the divide in performance between children with ADHD and their neurotypical counterparts. In light of similar research, impairments in lower limb motor skill were also observed. Future research is required to further delineate trends in motor difficulties in ADHD, while further investigating the underlying mechanisms of impairment. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Role of LRF/Pokemon in lineage fate decisions

PubMed Central

Lunardi, Andrea; Guarnerio, Jlenia; Wang, Guocan

2013-01-01

In the human genome, 43 different genes are found that encode proteins belonging to the family of the POK (poxvirus and zinc finger and Krüppel)/ZBTB (zinc finger and broad complex, tramtrack, and bric à brac) factors. Generally considered transcriptional repressors, several of these genes play fundamental roles in cell lineage fate decision in various tissues, programming specific tasks throughout the life of the organism. Here, we focus on functions of leukemia/lymphoma-related factor/POK erythroid myeloid ontogenic factor, which is probably one of the most exciting and yet enigmatic members of the POK/ZBTB family. PMID:23396304

A two DoF finger for a biomechatronic artificial hand.

PubMed

Carrozza, M C; Massa, B; Dario, P; Zecca, M; Micera, S; Pastacaldi, P

2002-01-01

Current prosthetic hands are basically simple grippers with one or two degrees of freedom, which barely restore the capability of the thumb-index pinch. Although most amputees consider this performance as acceptable for usual tasks, there is ample room for improvement by exploiting recent progresses in mechatronics design and technology. We are developing a novel prosthetic hand featured by multiple degrees of freedom, tactile sensing capabilities, and distributed control. Our main goal is to pursue an integrated design approach in order to fulfill critical requirements such as cosmetics, controllability, low weight, low energy consumption and noiselessness. This approach can be synthesized by the definition "biomechatronic design", which means developing mechatronic systems inspired by living beings and able to work harmoniously with them. This paper describes the first implementation of one single finger of a future biomechatronic hand. The finger has a modular design, which allows to obtain hands with different degrees of freedom and grasping capabilities. Current developments include the implementation of a hand comprising three fingers (opposing thumb, index and middle) and an embedded controller.

Abnormal maximal finger tapping in abstinent cannabis users.

PubMed

Flavel, Stanley C; White, Jason M; Todd, Gabrielle

2013-11-01

To investigate movement speed and rhythmicity in abstinent cannabis users, we hypothesized that abstinent cannabis users exhibit decreased maximal finger tapping frequency and increased variability of tapping compared with non-drug users. The study involved 10 healthy adult cannabis users and 10 age-matched and gender-matched controls with no history of illicit drug use. Subjects underwent a series of screening tests prior to participation. Subjects were then asked to tap a strain gauge as fast as possible with the index finger of their dominant hand (duration 5 s). The average intertap interval did not significantly differ between groups, but the coefficient of variation of the intertap interval was significantly greater in the cannabis group than in controls (p=0.011). The cannabis group also exhibited a slow tapping frequency at the beginning of the task. Rhythmicity of finger tapping is abnormal in individuals with a history of cannabis use. The abnormality appears to be long lasting and adds to the list of functional changes present in abstinent cannabis users. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The buzz-lag effect.

PubMed

Cellini, Cristiano; Scocchia, Lisa; Drewing, Knut

2016-10-01

In the flash-lag illusion, a brief visual flash and a moving object presented at the same location appear to be offset with the flash trailing the moving object. A considerable amount of studies investigated the visual flash-lag effect, and flash-lag-like effects have also been observed in audition, and cross-modally between vision and audition. In the present study, we investigate whether a similar effect can also be observed when using only haptic stimuli. A fast vibration (or buzz, lasting less than 20 ms) was applied to the moving finger of the observers and employed as a "haptic flash." Participants performed a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) task where they had to judge whether the moving finger was located to the right or to the left of the stationary finger at the time of the buzz. We used two different movement velocities (Slow and Fast conditions). We found that the moving finger was systematically misperceived to be ahead of the stationary finger when the two were physically aligned. This result can be interpreted as a purely haptic analogue of the flash-lag effect, which we refer to as "buzz-lag effect." The buzz-lag effect can be well accounted for by the temporal-sampling explanation of flash-lag-like effects.

Short Sleep Makes Declarative Memories Vulnerable to Stress in Humans

PubMed Central

Cedernaes, Jonathan; Rångtell, Frida H.; Axelsson, Emil K.; Yeganeh, Adine; Vogel, Heike; Broman, Jan-Erik; Dickson, Suzanne L.; Schiöth, Helgi B.; Benedict, Christian

2015-01-01

Study Objective: This study sought to investigate the role of nocturnal sleep duration for the retrieval of oversleep consolidated memories, both prior to and after being cognitively stressed for ∼30 minutes the next morning. Design: Participants learned object locations (declarative memory task comprising 15 card pairs) and a finger tapping sequence (procedural memory task comprising 5 digits) in the evening. After learning, participants either had a sleep opportunity of 8 hours (between ∼23:00 and ∼07:00, full sleep condition) or they could sleep between ∼03:00 and ∼07:00 (short sleep condition). Retrieval of both memory tasks was tested in the morning after each sleep condition, both before (∼08:30) and after being stressed (∼09:50). Setting: Sleep laboratory. Participants: 15 healthy young men. Results: The analyses demonstrated that oversleep memory changes did not differ between sleep conditions. However, in their short sleep condition, following stress hallmarked by increased subjective stress feelings, the men were unable to maintain their pre-stress performance on the declarative memory task, whereas their performance on the procedural memory task remained unchanged. While men felt comparably subjectively stressed by the stress intervention, overall no differences between pre- and post-stress recalls were observed following a full night of sleep. Conclusions: The findings suggest that 8-h sleep duration, within the range recommended by the US National Sleep Foundation, may not only help consolidate newly learned procedural and declarative memories, but also ensure full access to both during periods of subjective stress. Citation: Cedernaes J, Rångtell FH, Axelsson EK, Yeganeh A, Vogel H, Broman JE, Dickson SL, Schiöth HB, Benedict C. Short sleep makes declarative memories vulnerable to stress in humans. SLEEP 2015;38(12):1861–1868. PMID:26158890

Cognitive and motor shifting aptitude disorder in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed Central

Cools, A R; van den Bercken, J H; Horstink, M W; van Spaendonck, K P; Berger, H J

1984-01-01

Eighteen patients suffering from Parkinson's disease and nineteen control subjects, who were matched for age and intelligence, were compared in tests measuring "shifting aptitude" at cognitive and motor levels (word production, sorting blocks or animals, and finger pushing sequences). It was found that Parkinson patients produced fewer different names of animals and professions in one minute than control subjects, needed more trials for detecting a shift in a sorting criterion, and produced fewer finger responses in a change of pushing sequence than control subjects. These results are interpreted as reflecting a central programming deficit that manifests itself in verbal, figural and motor modalities, that is, a diminished "shifting aptitude" characteristic of patients with dysfunctioning basal ganglia. The results are discussed in relation to changes of behaviour organisations in animals with dysfunctioning basal ganglia. PMID:6736974

The neural circuits recruited for the production of signs and fingerspelled words

PubMed Central

Emmorey, Karen; Mehta, Sonya; McCullough, Stephen; Grabowski, Thomas J.

2016-01-01

Signing differs from typical non-linguistic hand actions because movements are not visually guided, finger movements are complex (particularly for fingerspelling), and signs are not produced as holistic gestures. We used positron emission tomography to investigate the neural circuits involved in the production of American Sign Language (ASL). Different types of signs (one-handed (articulated in neutral space), two-handed (neutral space), and one-handed body-anchored signs) were elicited by asking deaf native signers to produce sign translations of English words. Participants also fingerspelled (one-handed) printed English words. For the baseline task, participants indicated whether a word contained a descending letter. Fingerspelling engaged ipsilateral motor cortex and cerebellar cortex in contrast to both one-handed signs and the descender baseline task, which may reflect greater timing demands and complexity of handshape sequences required for fingerspelling. Greater activation in the visual word form area was also observed for fingerspelled words compared to one-handed signs. Body-anchored signs engaged bilateral superior parietal cortex to a greater extent than the descender baseline task and neutral space signs, reflecting the motor control and proprioceptive monitoring required to direct the hand toward a specific location on the body. Less activation in parts of the motor circuit was observed for two-handed signs compared to one-handed signs, possibly because, for half of the signs, handshape and movement goals were spread across the two limbs. Finally, the conjunction analysis comparing each sign type with the descender baseline task revealed common activation in the supramarginal gyrus bilaterally, which we interpret as reflecting phonological retrieval and encoding processes. PMID:27459390

Transcriptome Wide Identification and Validation of Calcium Sensor Gene Family in the Developing Spikes of Finger Millet Genotypes for Elucidating Its Role in Grain Calcium Accumulation

PubMed Central

Singh, Uma M.; Chandra, Muktesh; Shankhdhar, Shailesh C.; Kumar, Anil

2014-01-01

Background In finger millet, calcium is one of the important and abundant mineral elements. The molecular mechanisms involved in calcium accumulation in plants remains poorly understood. Transcriptome sequencing of genetically diverse genotypes of finger millet differing in grain calcium content will help in understanding the trait. Principal Finding In this study, the transcriptome sequencing of spike tissues of two genotypes of finger millet differing in their grain calcium content, were performed for the first time. Out of 109,218 contigs, 78 contigs in case of GP-1 (Low Ca genotype) and out of 120,130 contigs 76 contigs in case of GP-45 (High Ca genotype), were identified as calcium sensor genes. Through in silico analysis all 82 unique calcium sensor genes were classified into eight calcium sensor gene family viz., CaM & CaMLs, CBLs, CIPKs, CRKs, PEPRKs, CDPKs, CaMKs and CCaMK. Out of 82 genes, 12 were found diverse from the rice orthologs. The differential expression analysis on the basis of FPKM value resulted in 24 genes highly expressed in GP-45 and 11 genes highly expressed in GP-1. Ten of the 35 differentially expressed genes could be assigned to three documented pathways involved mainly in stress responses. Furthermore, validation of selected calcium sensor responder genes was also performed by qPCR, in developing spikes of both genotypes grown on different concentration of exogenous calcium. Conclusion Through de novo transcriptome data assembly and analysis, we reported the comprehensive identification and functional characterization of calcium sensor gene family. The calcium sensor gene family identified and characterized in this study will facilitate in understanding the molecular basis of calcium accumulation and development of calcium biofortified crops. Moreover, this study also supported that identification and characterization of gene family through Illumina paired-end sequencing is a potential tool for generating the genomic information of gene family in non-model species. PMID:25157851

Transcriptome wide identification and validation of calcium sensor gene family in the developing spikes of finger millet genotypes for elucidating its role in grain calcium accumulation.

PubMed

Singh, Uma M; Chandra, Muktesh; Shankhdhar, Shailesh C; Kumar, Anil

2014-01-01

In finger millet, calcium is one of the important and abundant mineral elements. The molecular mechanisms involved in calcium accumulation in plants remains poorly understood. Transcriptome sequencing of genetically diverse genotypes of finger millet differing in grain calcium content will help in understanding the trait. In this study, the transcriptome sequencing of spike tissues of two genotypes of finger millet differing in their grain calcium content, were performed for the first time. Out of 109,218 contigs, 78 contigs in case of GP-1 (Low Ca genotype) and out of 120,130 contigs 76 contigs in case of GP-45 (High Ca genotype), were identified as calcium sensor genes. Through in silico analysis all 82 unique calcium sensor genes were classified into eight calcium sensor gene family viz., CaM & CaMLs, CBLs, CIPKs, CRKs, PEPRKs, CDPKs, CaMKs and CCaMK. Out of 82 genes, 12 were found diverse from the rice orthologs. The differential expression analysis on the basis of FPKM value resulted in 24 genes highly expressed in GP-45 and 11 genes highly expressed in GP-1. Ten of the 35 differentially expressed genes could be assigned to three documented pathways involved mainly in stress responses. Furthermore, validation of selected calcium sensor responder genes was also performed by qPCR, in developing spikes of both genotypes grown on different concentration of exogenous calcium. Through de novo transcriptome data assembly and analysis, we reported the comprehensive identification and functional characterization of calcium sensor gene family. The calcium sensor gene family identified and characterized in this study will facilitate in understanding the molecular basis of calcium accumulation and development of calcium biofortified crops. Moreover, this study also supported that identification and characterization of gene family through Illumina paired-end sequencing is a potential tool for generating the genomic information of gene family in non-model species.

The artificial zinc finger coding gene 'Jazz' binds the utrophin promoter and activates transcription.

PubMed

Corbi, N; Libri, V; Fanciulli, M; Tinsley, J M; Davies, K E; Passananti, C

2000-06-01

Up-regulation of utrophin gene expression is recognized as a plausible therapeutic approach in the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). We have designed and engineered new zinc finger-based transcription factors capable of binding and activating transcription from the promoter of the dystrophin-related gene, utrophin. Using the recognition 'code' that proposes specific rules between zinc finger primary structure and potential DNA binding sites, we engineered a new gene named 'Jazz' that encodes for a three-zinc finger peptide. Jazz belongs to the Cys2-His2 zinc finger type and was engineered to target the nine base pair DNA sequence: 5'-GCT-GCT-GCG-3', present in the promoter region of both the human and mouse utrophin gene. The entire zinc finger alpha-helix region, containing the amino acid positions that are crucial for DNA binding, was specifically chosen on the basis of the contacts more frequently represented in the available list of the 'code'. Here we demonstrate that Jazz protein binds specifically to the double-stranded DNA target, with a dissociation constant of about 32 nM. Band shift and super-shift experiments confirmed the high affinity and specificity of Jazz protein for its DNA target. Moreover, we show that chimeric proteins, named Gal4-Jazz and Sp1-Jazz, are able to drive the transcription of a test gene from the human utrophin promoter.

The Electronic Behavior of Zinc-Finger Protein Binding Sites in the Context of the DNA Extended Ladder Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oiwa, Nestor; Cordeiro, Claudette; Heermann, Dieter

2016-05-01

Instead of ATCG letter alignments, typically used in bioinformatics, we propose a new alignment method using the probability distribution function of the bottom of the occupied molecular orbital (BOMO), highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied orbital (LUMO). We apply the technique to transcription factors with Cys2His2 zinc fingers. These transcription factors search for binding sites, probing for the electronic patterns at the minor and major DNA groves. The eukaryotic Cys2His2 zinc finger proteins bind to DNA ubiquitously at highly conserved domains. They are responsible for gene regulation and the spatial organization of DNA. To study and understand these zinc finger DNA-protein interactions, we use the extended ladder in the DNA model proposed by Zhu, Rasmussen, Balatsky & Bishop (2007) te{Zhu-2007}. Considering one single spinless electron in each nucleotide π-orbital along a double DNA chain (dDNA), we find a typical pattern for the bottom of BOMO, HOMO and LUMO along the binding sites. We specifically looked at two members of zinc finger protein family: specificity protein 1 (SP1) and early grown response 1 transcription factors (EGR1). When the valence band is filled, we find electrons in the purines along the nucleotide sequence, compatible with the electric charges of the binding amino acids in SP1 and EGR1 zinc finger.

Does the type of somatosensory information from the contralateral finger touch affect grip force control while lifting an object?

PubMed

Chen, Bing; Aruin, Alexander S

2013-11-27

The magnitude of grip force used to lift and transport a hand-held object is decreased if a light finger touch from the contralateral arm is provided to the wrist of the target arm. We investigated whether the type of contralateral arm sensory input that became available with the finger touch to the target arm affects the way grip force is reduced. Nine healthy subjects performed the same task of lifting and transporting an instrumented object with no involvement of the contralateral arm and when an index finger touch of the contralateral arm was provided to the wrist, elbow, and shoulder. Touching the wrist and elbow involved movements of the contralateral arm; no movements were produced while touching the shoulder. Grip force was reduced by approximately the same amount in all conditions with the finger touch compared to the no touch condition. This suggests that information from the muscle and joint receptors of the contralateral arm is used in control of grip force when a finger touch is provided to the wrist and elbow, and cutaneous information is utilized when lifting an object while touching the shoulder. The results of the study provide additional evidence to support the use of a second arm in the performance of activities of daily living and stress the importance of future studies investigating contralateral arm sensory input in grip force control. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stability of Hand Force Production: II. Ascending and Descending Synergies.

PubMed

Reschechtko, Sasha; Latash, Mark L

2018-06-06

We combined the theory of neural control of movement with referent coordinates and the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis to investigate multi-finger coordination. We tested hypotheses related to stabilization of performance by co-varying control variables, translated into apparent stiffness and referent coordinate, at different levels of an assumed hierarchy of control. Subjects produced an accurate combination of total force and total moment of force with the four fingers under visual feedback on both variables and after feedback was partly or completely removed. The "inverse piano" device was used to estimate control variables. We observed strong synergies in the space of hypothetical control variables which stabilized total force and moment of force, as well as weaker synergies stabilizing individual finger forces; while the former were attenuated by alteration of visual feedback, the latter were much less affected. In addition, we investigated the organization of "ascending synergies" stabilizing task-level control variables by co-varied adjustments of finger-level control variables. We observed inter-trial co-variation of individual fingers' referent coordinates stabilizing hand-level referent coordinate, but observed no such co-variation for apparent stiffness. The observations suggest the existence of both descending and ascending synergies in a hierarchical control system. They confirm a trade-off between synergies at different levels of control and corroborate the hypothesis on specialization of different fingers for the control of force and moment. The results provide strong evidence for the importance of central back-coupling loops in ensuring stability of action.

Kinematic Origins of Motor Inconsistency in Expert Pianists.

PubMed

Tominaga, Kenta; Lee, André; Altenmüller, Eckart; Miyazaki, Fumio; Furuya, Shinichi

2016-01-01

For top performers, including athletes and musicians, even subtle inconsistencies in rhythm and force during movement production decrease the quality of performance. However, extensive training over many years beginning in childhood is unable to perfect dexterous motor performance so that it is without any error. To gain insight into the biological mechanisms underlying the subtle defects of motor actions, the present study sought to identify the kinematic origins of inconsistency of dexterous finger movements in musical performance. Seven highly-skilled pianists who have won prizes at international piano competitions played a short sequence of tones with the right hand at a predetermined tempo. Time-varying joint angles of the fingers were recorded using a custom-made data glove, and the timing and velocity of the individual keystrokes were recorded from a digital piano. Both ridge and stepwise multiple regression analyses demonstrated an association of the inter-trial variability of the inter-keystroke interval (i.e., rhythmic inconsistency) with both the rotational velocity of joints of the finger used for a keystroke (i.e., striking finger) and the movement independence between the striking and non-striking fingers. This indicates a relationship between rhythmic inconsistency in musical performance and the dynamic features of movements in not only the striking finger but also the non-striking fingers. In contrast, the inter-trial variability of the key-descending velocity (i.e., loudness inconsistency) was associated mostly with the kinematic features of the striking finger at the moment of the keystroke. Furthermore, there was no correlation between the rhythmic and loudness inconsistencies. The results suggest distinct kinematic origins of inconsistencies in rhythm and loudness in expert musical performance.

Automatic finger joint synovitis localization in ultrasound images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nurzynska, Karolina; Smolka, Bogdan

2016-04-01

A long-lasting inflammation of joints results between others in many arthritis diseases. When not cured, it may influence other organs and general patients' health. Therefore, early detection and running proper medical treatment are of big value. The patients' organs are scanned with high frequency acoustic waves, which enable visualization of interior body structures through an ultrasound sonography (USG) image. However, the procedure is standardized, different projections result in a variety of possible data, which should be analyzed in short period of time by a physician, who is using medical atlases as a guidance. This work introduces an efficient framework based on statistical approach to the finger joint USG image, which enables automatic localization of skin and bone regions, which are then used for localization of the finger joint synovitis area. The processing pipeline realizes the task in real-time and proves high accuracy when compared to annotation prepared by the expert.

Kinematic performance of a six degree-of-freedom hand model (6DHand) for use in occupational biomechanics.

PubMed

Buczek, Frank L; Sinsel, Erik W; Gloekler, Daniel S; Wimer, Bryan M; Warren, Christopher M; Wu, John Z

2011-06-03

Upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders represent an important health issue across all industry sectors; as such, the need exists to develop models of the hand that provide comprehensive biomechanics during occupational tasks. Previous optical motion capture studies used a single marker on the dorsal aspect of finger joints, allowing calculation of one and two degree-of-freedom (DOF) joint angles; additional algorithms were needed to define joint centers and the palmar surface of fingers. We developed a 6DOF model (6DHand) to obtain unconstrained kinematics of finger segments, modeled as frusta of right circular cones that approximate the palmar surface. To evaluate kinematic performance, twenty subjects gripped a cylindrical handle as a surrogate for a powered hand tool. We hypothesized that accessory motions (metacarpophalangeal pronation/supination; proximal and distal interphalangeal radial/ulnar deviation and pronation/supination; all joint translations) would be small (less than 5° rotations, less than 2mm translations) if segment anatomical reference frames were aligned correctly, and skin movement artifacts were negligible. For the gripping task, 93 of 112 accessory motions were small by our definition, suggesting this 6DOF approach appropriately models joints of the fingers. Metacarpophalangeal supination was larger than expected (approximately 10°), and may be adjusted through local reference frame optimization procedures previously developed for knee kinematics in gait analysis. Proximal translations at the metacarpophalangeal joints (approximately 10mm) were explained by skin movement across the metacarpals, but would not corrupt inverse dynamics calculated for the phalanges. We assessed performance in this study; a more rigorous validation would likely require medical imaging. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A new electromechanical trainer for sensorimotor rehabilitation of paralysed fingers: A case series in chronic and acute stroke patients

PubMed Central

Hesse, Stefan; Kuhlmann, H; Wilk, J; Tomelleri, C; Kirker, Stephen GB

2008-01-01

Background The functional outcome after stroke is improved by more intensive or sustained therapy. When the affected hand has no functional movement, therapy is mainly passive movements. A novel device for repeating controlled passive movements of paralysed fingers has been developed, which will allow therapists to concentrate on more complicated tasks. A powered cam shaft moves the four fingers in a physiological range of movement. Methods After refining the training protocol in 2 chronic patients, 8 sub-acute stroke patients were randomised to receive additional therapy with the Finger Trainer for 20 min every work day for four weeks, or the same duration of bimanual group therapy, in addition to their usual rehabilitation. Results In the chronic patients, there was a sustained reduction in finger and wrist spasticity, but there was no improvement in active movements. In the subacute patients, mean distal Fugl-Meyer score (0–30) increased in the control group from 1.25 to 2.75 (ns) and 0.75 to 6.75 in the treatment group (p < .05). Median Modified Ashworth score increased 0/5 to 2/5 in the control group, but not in the treatment group, 0 to 0. Only one patient, in the treatment group, regained function of the affected hand. No side effects occurred. Conclusion Treatment with the Finger Trainer was well tolerated in sub-acute & chronic stroke patients, whose abnormal muscle tone improved. In sub-acute stroke patients, the Finger Trainer group showed small improvements in active movement and avoided the increase in tone seen in the control group. This series was too small to demonstrate any effect on functional outcome however. PMID:18771581

The effects of a two-step transfer on a visuomotor adaptation task.

PubMed

Aiken, Christopher A; Pan, Zhujun; Van Gemmert, Arend W A

2017-11-01

The literature has shown robust effects of transfer-of-learning to the contralateral side and more recently transfer-of-learning effects to a new effector type on the ipsilateral side. Few studies have investigated the effects of transfer-of-learning when skills transfer to both a new effector type and the contralateral side (two-step transfer). The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of two-step transfer and to examine which aspects of the movement transfer and which aspects do not. Individuals practiced a 30° visual rotation task with either the dominant or non-dominant limb and with either the use of the fingers and wrist or elbow and shoulder. Following practice, participants performed the task with the untrained effector type on the contralateral side. Results showed that initial direction error and trajectory length transferred from the dominant to the non-dominant side and movement time transferred from the elbow and shoulder condition to the wrist and finger conditions irrespective of which limb was used during practice. The results offer a unique perspective on the current theoretical and practical implications for transfer-of-learning and are further discussed in this paper.

VpRFP1, a novel C4C4-type RING finger protein gene from Chinese wild Vitis pseudoreticulata, functions as a transcriptional activator in defence response of grapevine

PubMed Central

Yu, Yihe; Xu, Weirong; Wang, Shengyi; Xu, Yan; Li, Hui'e; Wang, Yuejin; Li, Shuxiu

2011-01-01

RING finger proteins comprise a large family and play important roles in regulation of growth and development, hormone signalling, and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses in plants. In this study, the identification and functional characterization of a C4C4-type RING finger protein gene from the Chinese wild grapevine Vitis pseudoreticulata (designated VpRFP1) are reported. VpRFP1 was initially identified as an expressed sequence tag (EST) from a cDNA library constructed from leaves of V. pseudoreticulata inoculated with the grapevine powdery mildew Uncinula necator. Sequence analysis of the deduced VpRFP1 protein based on the full-length cDNA revealed an N-terminal nuclear localization signal (NLS) and a C-terminal C4C4-type RING finger motif with the consensus sequence Cys-X2-Cys-X13-Cys-X1-Cys-X4-Cys-X2-Cys-X10-Cys-X2-Cys. Upon inoculation with U. necator, expression of VpRFP1 was rapidly induced to higher levels in mildew-resistant V. pseudoreticulata plants. In contrast, expression of VpRFP1 was down-regulated in mildew-susceptible V. vinifera plants. Western blotting using an antibody raised against VpRFP1 showed that VpRFP1 was also induced to higher levels in V. pseudoreticulata plants at 12–48 hours post-inoculation (hpi). However, there was only slight increase in VpRFP in V. vinifera plants in the same time frame, even though a more significant increase was observed at 96–144 hpi in these plants. Results from transactivation assays in yeast showed that the RING finger motif of VpRFP1 exhibited some activity of transcriptional activation; however, no activity was seen with the full-length VpRFP1. Overexpression of VpRFP1 in Arabidopsis plants was found to enhance resistance to Arabidopsis powdery mildew Golovinomyces cichoracearum, which seemed to be correlated with increased transcript levels of AtPR1 and AtPR2 in the pathogen-infected tissues. In addition, the Arabidopsis transgenic lines showed enhanced resistance to a virulent bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. Taken together, the results suggested that VpRFP1 may be a transcriptional activator of defence-related genes in grapevines. PMID:21862480

Participation of primary motor cortex area 4a in complex sensory processing: 3.0-T fMRI study.

PubMed

Terumitsu, Makoto; Ikeda, Kotaro; Kwee, Ingrid L; Nakada, Tsutomu

2009-05-06

The precise movement of human fingers requires continuous and reciprocal interaction between motor and sensory systems. Similar to other primates, there is double representation of the digits and wrists within the human primary motor cortex (M1), which are generally referred to as area 4 anterior (M1-4a) and area 4 posterior (M1-4p). In this high-field (3.0 T) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we hypothesized that M1-4p is more important for initiation of motion, whereas M1-4a is important for execution of a given motion involving more complex sensoriomotor interaction. We investigated M1-4a and M1-4p activation associated with two representative motor tasks, namely, finger tapping (voluntary motion, VM) and passive finger movement accomplished by continuous pressure (passive motor, PM), and two representative sensory stimulations, namely, simple stimulation of flutter vibration (simple sensory, SS), and complex stimulation by a row of pins moving either vertically or horizontally (complex sensory, CS). Both M1-4a and M1-4p were activated in both motor tasks, VM and PM. M1-4p was not activated by either of the two sensory tasks, whereas M1-4a was activated by CS but not by SS. Analysis of the center of gravities (COG) of the activated areas showed that VM and PM moved COG towards M1-4p and 3a. SS moved COG towards somatosensory cortex Brodmann areas 1, 2, and 3b, whereas CS towards M1-4a. The result clearly showed that M1-4a represents the area of secondary motor execution, which actively participates in CS processing.

Beamformer source analysis and connectivity on concurrent EEG and MEG data during voluntary movements.

PubMed

Muthuraman, Muthuraman; Hellriegel, Helge; Hoogenboom, Nienke; Anwar, Abdul Rauf; Mideksa, Kidist Gebremariam; Krause, Holger; Schnitzler, Alfons; Deuschl, Günther; Raethjen, Jan

2014-01-01

Electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) are the two modalities for measuring neuronal dynamics at a millisecond temporal resolution. Different source analysis methods, to locate the dipoles in the brain from which these dynamics originate, have been readily applied to both modalities alone. However, direct comparisons and possible advantages of combining both modalities have rarely been assessed during voluntary movements using coherent source analysis. In the present study, the cortical and sub-cortical network of coherent sources at the finger tapping task frequency (2-4 Hz) and the modes of interaction within this network were analysed in 15 healthy subjects using a beamformer approach called the dynamic imaging of coherent sources (DICS) with subsequent source signal reconstruction and renormalized partial directed coherence analysis (RPDC). MEG and EEG data were recorded simultaneously allowing the comparison of each of the modalities separately to that of the combined approach. We found the identified network of coherent sources for the finger tapping task as described in earlier studies when using only the MEG or combined MEG+EEG whereas the EEG data alone failed to detect single sub-cortical sources. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) level of the coherent rhythmic activity at the tapping frequency in MEG and combined MEG+EEG data was significantly higher than EEG alone. The functional connectivity analysis revealed that the combined approach had more active connections compared to either of the modalities during the finger tapping (FT) task. These results indicate that MEG is superior in the detection of deep coherent sources and that the SNR seems to be more vital than the sensitivity to theoretical dipole orientation and the volume conduction effect in the case of EEG.

Beamformer Source Analysis and Connectivity on Concurrent EEG and MEG Data during Voluntary Movements

PubMed Central

Muthuraman, Muthuraman; Hellriegel, Helge; Hoogenboom, Nienke; Anwar, Abdul Rauf; Mideksa, Kidist Gebremariam; Krause, Holger; Schnitzler, Alfons; Deuschl, Günther; Raethjen, Jan

2014-01-01

Electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) are the two modalities for measuring neuronal dynamics at a millisecond temporal resolution. Different source analysis methods, to locate the dipoles in the brain from which these dynamics originate, have been readily applied to both modalities alone. However, direct comparisons and possible advantages of combining both modalities have rarely been assessed during voluntary movements using coherent source analysis. In the present study, the cortical and sub-cortical network of coherent sources at the finger tapping task frequency (2–4 Hz) and the modes of interaction within this network were analysed in 15 healthy subjects using a beamformer approach called the dynamic imaging of coherent sources (DICS) with subsequent source signal reconstruction and renormalized partial directed coherence analysis (RPDC). MEG and EEG data were recorded simultaneously allowing the comparison of each of the modalities separately to that of the combined approach. We found the identified network of coherent sources for the finger tapping task as described in earlier studies when using only the MEG or combined MEG+EEG whereas the EEG data alone failed to detect single sub-cortical sources. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) level of the coherent rhythmic activity at the tapping frequency in MEG and combined MEG+EEG data was significantly higher than EEG alone. The functional connectivity analysis revealed that the combined approach had more active connections compared to either of the modalities during the finger tapping (FT) task. These results indicate that MEG is superior in the detection of deep coherent sources and that the SNR seems to be more vital than the sensitivity to theoretical dipole orientation and the volume conduction effect in the case of EEG. PMID:24618596

Encoding and choice in the task span paradigm.

PubMed

Reiman, Kaitlin M; Weaver, Starla M; Arrington, Catherine M

2015-03-01

Cognitive control during sequences of planned behaviors requires both plan-level processes such as generating, maintaining, and monitoring the plan, as well as task-level processes such as selecting, establishing and implementing specific task sets. The task span paradigm (Logan in J Exp Psychol Gen 133:218-236, 2004) combines two common cognitive control paradigms, task switching and working memory span, to investigate the integration of plan-level and task-level processes during control of sequential behavior. The current study expands past task span research to include measures of encoding processes and choice behavior with volitional sequence generation, using the standard task span as well as a novel voluntary task span paradigm. In two experiments, we consider how sequence complexity, defined separately for plan-level and task-level complexity, influences sequence encoding (Experiment 1), sequence choice (Experiment 2), sequence memory, and task performance of planned sequences of action. Results indicate that participants were sensitive to sequence complexity, but that different aspects of behavior are most strongly influenced by different types of complexity. Hierarchical complexity at the plan level best predicts voluntary sequence generation and memory; while switch frequency at the task level best predicts encoding of externally defined sequences and task performance. Furthermore, performance RTs were similar for externally and internally defined plans, whereas memory was improved for internally defined sequences. Finally, participants demonstrated a significant sequence choice bias in the voluntary task span. Consistent with past research on choice behavior, volitional selection of plans was markedly influenced by both the ease of memory and performance.

Molecular evolution and diversification of snake toxin genes, revealed by analysis of intron sequences.

PubMed

Fujimi, T J; Nakajyo, T; Nishimura, E; Ogura, E; Tsuchiya, T; Tamiya, T

2003-08-14

The genes encoding erabutoxin (short chain neurotoxin) isoforms (Ea, Eb, and Ec), LsIII (long chain neurotoxin) and a novel long chain neurotoxin pseudogene were cloned from a Laticauda semifasciata genomic library. Short and long chain neurotoxin genes were also cloned from the genome of Laticauda laticaudata, a closely related species of L. semifasciata, by PCR. A putative matrix attached region (MAR) sequence was found in the intron I of the LsIII gene. Comparative analysis of 11 structurally relevant snake toxin genes (three-finger-structure toxins) revealed the molecular evolution of these toxins. Three-finger-structure toxin genes diverged from a common ancestor through two types of evolutionary pathways (long and short types), early in the course of evolution. At a later stage of evolution in each gene, the accumulation of mutations in the exons, especially exon II, by accelerated evolution may have caused the increased diversification in their functions. It was also revealed that the putative MAR sequence found in the LsIII gene was integrated into the gene after the species-level divergence.

System description document for the Anthrobot-2: A dexterous robot hand

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ali, Michael S.; Engler, Charles, Jr.

1991-01-01

The Anthrobot-2 is an anatomically correct, fully functioning robot hand. The number of fingers, the proportions of the links, the placement and motion of the thumb, and the shape of the palm follow those of the human hand. Each of the finger and thumb joints are servo-controlled. The Anthrobot-2 also includes a two-degree-of-freedom wrist. The entire package, including wrist, hand, and actuators, will mount on the ends of a variety of industrial manipulators. A patent has been applied for on the design. The Anthrobot-2 will be useful in tasks where dexterous manipulation or telemanipulation are required.

Children benefit differently from night- and day-time sleep in motor learning.

PubMed

Yan, Jin H

2017-08-01

Motor skill acquisition occurs while practicing (on-line) and when asleep or awake (off-line). However, developmental questions still remain about whether children of various ages benefit similarly or differentially from night- and day-time sleeping. The likely circadian effects (time-of-day) and the possible between-test-interference (order effects) associated with children's off-line motor learning are currently unknown. Therefore, this study examines the contributions of over-night sleeping and mid-day napping to procedural skill learning. One hundred and eight children were instructed to practice a finger sequence task using computer keyboards. After an equivalent 11-h interval in one of the three states (sleep, nap, wakefulness), children performed the same sequence in retention tests and a novel sequence in transfer tests. Changes in the movement time and sequence accuracy were evaluated between ages (6-7, 8-9, 10-11years) during practice, and from skill training to retrievals across three states. Results suggest that night-time sleeping and day-time napping improved the tapping speed, especially for the 6-year-olds. The circadian factor did not affect off-line motor learning in children. The interference between the two counter-balanced retrieval tests was not found for the off-line motor learning. This research offers possible evidence about the age-related motor learning characteristics in children and a potential means for enhancing developmental motor skills. The dynamics between age, experience, memory formation, and the theoretical implications of motor skill acquisition are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Gender differences in laterality patterns for speaking and singing.

PubMed

Hough, M S; Daniel, H J; Snow, M A; O'Brien, K F; Hume, W G

1994-09-01

This study examined behaviors reflecting cerebral organization of speaking and singing in normal college students. The investigation focused on whether differences existed in the laterality patterns of two singing tasks and one speaking task in males and females. Performance was measured on a verbal/manual time-sharing paradigm, coupling finger tapping with three vocal tasks (speaking, singing a rote song, singing up and down a diatonic five note scale). Females exhibited less variation than males in mean tapping rates and laterality scores across all three vocal tasks, thus indicating that gender most likely influences lateralization of vocal tasks. Bilateral integration was indicated for both males and females during singing up/down the aforementioned scale. These findings suggest differential involvement of both hemispheres in processing musical functions.

Modulating the processing of emotional stimuli by cognitive demand

PubMed Central

Sternkopf, Melanie A.; Schneider, Frank; Habel, Ute; Turetsky, Bruce I.; Zilles, Karl; Eickhoff, Simon B.

2012-01-01

Emotional processing is influenced by cognitive processes and vice versa, indicating a profound interaction of these domains. The investigation of the neural mechanisms underlying this interaction is not only highly relevant for understanding the organization of human brain function. Rather, it may also help in understanding dysregulated emotions in affective disorders and in elucidating the neurobiology of cognitive behavioural therapy (e.g. in borderline personality disorder), which aims at modulating dysfunctional emotion processes by cognitive techniques, such as restructuring. In the majority of earlier studies investigating the interaction of emotions and cognition, the main focus has been on the investigation of the effects of emotional stimuli or, more general, emotional processing, e.g. instituted by emotional material that needed to be processed, on cognitive performance and neural activation patterns. Here we pursued the opposite approach and investigated the modulation of implicit processing of emotional stimuli by cognitive demands using an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging––study on a motor short-term memory paradigm with emotional interferences. Subjects were visually presented a finger-sequence consisting either of four (easy condition) or six (difficult condition) items, which they had to memorize. After a short pause positive, negative or neutral International affective picture system pictures or a green dot (as control condition) were presented. Subjects were instructed to reproduce the memorized sequence manually as soon as the picture disappeared. Analysis showed that with increasing cognitive demand (long relative to short sequences), neural responses to emotional pictures were significantly reduced in amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex. In contrast, the more difficult task evoked stronger activation in a widespread frontoparietal network. As stimuli were task-relevant go-cues and hence had to be processed perceptually, we would interpret this as a specific attenuation of affective responses by concurrent cognitive processing––potentially reflecting a relocation of resources mediated by the frontoparietal network. PMID:21258093

Effects of a Finger Tapping Fatiguing Task on M1-Intracortical Inhibition and Central Drive to the Muscle.

PubMed

Madrid, Antonio; Madinabeitia-Mancebo, Elena; Cudeiro, Javier; Arias, Pablo

2018-06-19

The central drive to the muscle reduces when muscle force wanes during sustained MVC, and this is generally considered the neurophysiological footprint of central fatigue. The question is if force loss and the failure of central drive to the muscle are responsible mechanisms of fatigue induced by un-resisted repetitive movements. In various experimental blocks, we validated a 3D-printed hand-fixation system permitting the execution of finger-tapping and maximal voluntary contractions (MVC). Subsequently, we checked the suitability of the system to test the level of central drive to the muscle and developed an algorithm to test it at the MVC force plateau. Our main results show that the maximum rate of finger-tapping dropped at 30 s, while the excitability of inhibitory M1-intracortical circuits and corticospinal excitability increased (all by approximately 15%). Furthermore, values obtained immediately after finger-tapping showed that MVC force and the level of central drive to the muscle remained unchanged. Our data suggest that force and central drive to the muscle are not determinants of fatigue induced by short-lasting un-resisted repetitive finger movements, even in the presence of increased inhibition of the motor cortex. According to literature, this profile might be different in longer-lasting, more complex and/or resisted repetitive movements.

Prediction and Identification of Krüppel-Like Transcription Factors by Machine Learning Method.

PubMed

Liao, Zhijun; Wang, Xinrui; Chen, Xingyong; Zou, Quan

2017-01-01

The Krüppel-like factors (KLFs) are a family of containing Zn finger(ZF) motif transcription factors with 18 members in human genome, among them, KLF18 is predicted by bioinformatics. KLFs possess various physiological function involving in a number of cancers and other diseases. Here we perform a binary-class classification of KLFs and non-KLFs by machine learning methods. The protein sequences of KLFs and non-KLFs were searched from UniProt and randomly separate them into training dataset(containing positive and negative sequences) and test dataset(containing only negative sequences), after extracting the 188-dimensional(188D) feature vectors we carry out category with four classifiers(GBDT, libSVM, RF, and k-NN). On the human KLFs, we further dig into the evolutionary relationship and motif distribution, and finally we analyze the conserved amino acid residue of three zinc fingers. The classifier model from training dataset were well constructed, and the highest specificity(Sp) was 99.83% from a library for support vector machine(libSVM) and all the correctly classified rates were over 70% for 10-fold cross-validation on test dataset. The 18 human KLFs can be further divided into 7 groups and the zinc finger domains were located at the carboxyl terminus, and many conserved amino acid residues including Cysteine and Histidine, and the span and interval between them were consistent in the three ZF domains. Two classification models for KLFs prediction have been built by novel machine learning methods. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Basonuclin 2 has a function in the multiplication of embryonic craniofacial mesenchymal cells and is orthologous to disco proteins

PubMed Central

Vanhoutteghem, Amandine; Maciejewski-Duval, Anna; Bouche, Cyril; Delhomme, Brigitte; Hervé, Françoise; Daubigney, Fabrice; Soubigou, Guillaume; Araki, Masatake; Araki, Kimi; Yamamura, Ken-ichi; Djian, Philippe

2009-01-01

Basonuclin 2 is a recently discovered zinc finger protein of unknown function. Its paralog, basonuclin 1, is associated with the ability of keratinocytes to multiply. The basonuclin zinc fingers are closely related to those of the Drosophila proteins disco and discorelated, but the relation between disco proteins and basonuclins has remained elusive because the function of the disco proteins in larval head development seems to have no relation to that of basonuclin 1 and because the amino acid sequence of disco, apart from the zinc fingers, also has no similarity to that of the basonuclins. We have generated mice lacking basonuclin 2. These mice die within 24 h of birth with a cleft palate and abnormalities of craniofacial bones and tongue. In the embryonic head, expression of the basonuclin 2 gene is restricted to mesenchymal cells in the palate, at the periphery of the tongue, and in the mesenchymal sheaths that surround the brain and the osteocartilagineous structures. In late embryos, the rate of multiplication of these mesenchymal cells is greatly diminished. Therefore, basonuclin 2 is essential for the multiplication of craniofacial mesenchymal cells during embryogenesis. Non-Drosophila insect databases available since 2008 reveal that the basonuclins and the disco proteins share much more extensive sequence and gene structure similarity than noted when only Drosophila sequences were examined. We conclude that basonuclin 2 is both structurally and functionally the vertebrate ortholog of the disco proteins. We also note the possibility that some human craniofacial abnormalities are due to a lack of basonuclin 2. PMID:19706529

A comprehensive catalog of human KRAB-associated zinc finger genes: Insights into the evolutionary history of a large family of transcriptional repressors

PubMed Central

Huntley, Stuart; Baggott, Daniel M.; Hamilton, Aaron T.; Tran-Gyamfi, Mary; Yang, Shan; Kim, Joomyeong; Gordon, Laurie; Branscomb, Elbert; Stubbs, Lisa

2006-01-01

Krüppel-type zinc finger (ZNF) motifs are prevalent components of transcription factor proteins in all eukaryotes. KRAB-ZNF proteins, in which a potent repressor domain is attached to a tandem array of DNA-binding zinc-finger motifs, are specific to tetrapod vertebrates and represent the largest class of ZNF proteins in mammals. To define the full repertoire of human KRAB-ZNF proteins, we searched the genome sequence for key motifs and then constructed and manually curated gene models incorporating those sequences. The resulting gene catalog contains 423 KRAB-ZNF protein-coding loci, yielding alternative transcripts that altogether predict at least 742 structurally distinct proteins. Active rounds of segmental duplication, involving single genes or larger regions and including both tandem and distributed duplication events, have driven the expansion of this mammalian gene family. Comparisons between the human genes and ZNF loci mined from the draft mouse, dog, and chimpanzee genomes not only identified 103 KRAB-ZNF genes that are conserved in mammals but also highlighted a substantial level of lineage-specific change; at least 136 KRAB-ZNF coding genes are primate specific, including many recent duplicates. KRAB-ZNF genes are widely expressed and clustered genes are typically not coregulated, indicating that paralogs have evolved to fill roles in many different biological processes. To facilitate further study, we have developed a Web-based public resource with access to gene models, sequences, and other data, including visualization tools to provide genomic context and interaction with other public data sets. PMID:16606702

Design and Fabrication of a Universal Soft Gripper

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabzehzar, Amin

Inspired from nature, soft robots capable of actively tuning their mechanical rigidity can rapidly transition between a broad range of motor tasks, from lifting heavy loads to dexterous manipulation of delicate objects. Reversible rigidity tuning also enables soft robotic actuators to reroute their internal loading and alter their mode of deformation in response to intrinsic activation. In this study, we demonstrate this principle with a three-fingered pneumatic gripper that contains programmable ligaments that change stiness when activated with electrical current. The ligaments are composed of a conductive thermoplastic elastomer composite that reversibly softens under resistive heating. Depending on which ligaments are activated, the gripper will bend inward to pick up an object, bend laterally to twist it, or bend outward to release it. Each finger consists of three PDMS phalanges that are attached with two Ecoflex joints. Three ligaments (strips of a cPBE-PDMS composite layer) are attached along the finger and are stimulated with electricity individually. When the high pressure air is injected in the hollow middle part of the finger, the finger will be bent in the opposite direction of the stimulated cPBE-PDMS element (softer wall). This enables the gripper's fingers to grab and twist objects with dierent sizes and shapes. All of the gripper motions are generated with a single pneumatic source of pressure and are controlled with an electrical board. The ability to incorporate electrically programmable ligaments in pneumatic or hydraulic actuators has the potential to enhance versatility and reduce dependency on tubing and valves. In this study, an activation/deactivation cycle can be completed within 15 s.

An endophytic fungus isolated from finger millet (Eleusine coracana) produces anti-fungal natural products

PubMed Central

Mousa, Walaa K.; Schwan, Adrian; Davidson, Jeffrey; Strange, Philip; Liu, Huaizhi; Zhou, Ting; Auzanneau, France-Isabelle; Raizada, Manish N.

2015-01-01

Finger millet is an ancient African cereal crop, domesticated 7000 years ago in Ethiopia, reaching India at 3000 BC. Finger millet is reported to be resistant to various fungal pathogens including Fusarium sp. We hypothesized that finger millet may host beneficial endophytes (plant-colonizing microbes) that contribute to the antifungal activity. Here we report the first isolation of endophyte(s) from finger millet. Five distinct fungal species were isolated from roots and predicted taxonomically based on 18S rDNA sequencing. Extracts from three putative endophytes inhibited growth of F. graminearum and three other pathogenic Fusarium species. The most potent anti-Fusarium strain (WF4, predicted to be a Phoma sp.) was confirmed to behave as an endophyte using pathogenicity and confocal microscopy experiments. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the WF4 extract identified four anti-fungal compounds, viridicatol, tenuazonic acid, alternariol, and alternariol monomethyl ether. All the purified compounds caused dramatic breakage of F. graminearum hyphae in vitro. These compounds have not previously been reported to have anti-Fusarium activity. None of the compounds, except for tenuazonic acid, have previously been reported to be produced by Phoma. We conclude that the ancient, disease-tolerant crop, finger millet, is a novel source of endophytic anti-fungal natural products. This paper suggests the value of the crops grown by subsistence farmers as sources of endophytes and their natural products. Application of these natural chemicals to solve real world problems will require further validation. PMID:26539183

An endophytic fungus isolated from finger millet (Eleusine coracana) produces anti-fungal natural products.

PubMed

Mousa, Walaa K; Schwan, Adrian; Davidson, Jeffrey; Strange, Philip; Liu, Huaizhi; Zhou, Ting; Auzanneau, France-Isabelle; Raizada, Manish N

2015-01-01

Finger millet is an ancient African cereal crop, domesticated 7000 years ago in Ethiopia, reaching India at 3000 BC. Finger millet is reported to be resistant to various fungal pathogens including Fusarium sp. We hypothesized that finger millet may host beneficial endophytes (plant-colonizing microbes) that contribute to the antifungal activity. Here we report the first isolation of endophyte(s) from finger millet. Five distinct fungal species were isolated from roots and predicted taxonomically based on 18S rDNA sequencing. Extracts from three putative endophytes inhibited growth of F. graminearum and three other pathogenic Fusarium species. The most potent anti-Fusarium strain (WF4, predicted to be a Phoma sp.) was confirmed to behave as an endophyte using pathogenicity and confocal microscopy experiments. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the WF4 extract identified four anti-fungal compounds, viridicatol, tenuazonic acid, alternariol, and alternariol monomethyl ether. All the purified compounds caused dramatic breakage of F. graminearum hyphae in vitro. These compounds have not previously been reported to have anti-Fusarium activity. None of the compounds, except for tenuazonic acid, have previously been reported to be produced by Phoma. We conclude that the ancient, disease-tolerant crop, finger millet, is a novel source of endophytic anti-fungal natural products. This paper suggests the value of the crops grown by subsistence farmers as sources of endophytes and their natural products. Application of these natural chemicals to solve real world problems will require further validation.

Can a Soft Robotic Probe Use Stiffness Control Like a Human Finger to Improve Efficacy of Haptic Perception?

PubMed

Sornkarn, Nantachai; Nanayakkara, Thrishantha

2017-01-01

When humans are asked to palpate a soft tissue to locate a hard nodule, they regulate the stiffness, speed, and force of the finger during examination. If we understand the relationship between these behavioral variables and haptic information gain (transfer entropy) during manual probing, we can improve the efficacy of soft robotic probes for soft tissue palpation, such as in tumor localization in minimally invasive surgery. Here, we recorded the muscle co-contraction activity of the finger using EMG sensors to address the question as to whether joint stiffness control during manual palpation plays an important role in the haptic information gain. To address this question, we used a soft robotic probe with a controllable stiffness joint and a force sensor mounted at the base to represent the function of the tendon in a biological finger. Then, we trained a Markov chain using muscle co-contraction patterns of human subjects, and used it to control the stiffness of the soft robotic probe in the same soft tissue palpation task. The soft robotic experiments showed that haptic information gain about the depth of the hard nodule can be maximized by varying the internal stiffness of the soft probe.

Teaching Task Sequencing via Verbal Mediation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rusch, Frank R.; And Others

1987-01-01

Verbal sequence training was used to teach a moderately mentally retarded woman to sequence job-related tasks. Learning to say the tasks in the proper sequence resulted in the employee performing her tasks in that sequence, and the employee was capable of mediating her own work behavior when scheduled changes occurred. (Author/JDD)

Producing Gestures Facilitates Route Learning

PubMed Central

So, Wing Chee; Ching, Terence Han-Wei; Lim, Phoebe Elizabeth; Cheng, Xiaoqin; Ip, Kit Yee

2014-01-01

The present study investigates whether producing gestures would facilitate route learning in a navigation task and whether its facilitation effect is comparable to that of hand movements that leave physical visible traces. In two experiments, we focused on gestures produced without accompanying speech, i.e., co-thought gestures (e.g., an index finger traces the spatial sequence of a route in the air). Adult participants were asked to study routes shown in four diagrams, one at a time. Participants reproduced the routes (verbally in Experiment 1 and non-verbally in Experiment 2) without rehearsal or after rehearsal by mentally simulating the route, by drawing it, or by gesturing (either in the air or on paper). Participants who moved their hands (either in the form of gestures or drawing) recalled better than those who mentally simulated the routes and those who did not rehearse, suggesting that hand movements produced during rehearsal facilitate route learning. Interestingly, participants who gestured the routes in the air or on paper recalled better than those who drew them on paper in both experiments, suggesting that the facilitation effect of co-thought gesture holds for both verbal and nonverbal recall modalities. It is possibly because, co-thought gesture, as a kind of representational action, consolidates spatial sequence better than drawing and thus exerting more powerful influence on spatial representation. PMID:25426624

Implicit Learning of a Finger Motor Sequence by Patients with Cerebral Palsy After Neurofeedback.

PubMed

Alves-Pinto, Ana; Turova, Varvara; Blumenstein, Tobias; Hantuschke, Conny; Lampe, Renée

2017-03-01

Facilitation of implicit learning of a hand motor sequence after a single session of neurofeedback training of alpha power recorded from the motor cortex has been shown in healthy individuals (Ros et al., Biological Psychology 95:54-58, 2014). This facilitation effect could be potentially applied to improve the outcome of rehabilitation in patients with impaired hand motor function. In the current study a group of ten patients diagnosed with cerebral palsy trained reduction of alpha power derived from brain activity recorded from right and left motor areas. Training was distributed in three periods of 8 min each. In between, participants performed a serial reaction time task with their non-dominant hand, to a total of five runs. A similar procedure was repeated a week or more later but this time training was based on simulated brain activity. Reaction times pooled across participants decreased on each successive run faster after neurofeedback training than after the simulation training. Also recorded were two 3-min baseline conditions, once with the eyes open, another with the eyes closed, at the beginning and end of the experimental session. No significant changes in alpha power with neurofeedback or with simulation training were obtained and no correlation with the reductions in reaction time could be established. Contributions for this are discussed.

Role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in context-dependent motor performance.

PubMed

Lee, Y-Y; Winstein, C J; Fisher, B E

2016-04-01

Context-dependent motor performance is a phenomenon in which people perform better in the environmental context where they originally practised a task. Some animal and computer simulation studies have suggested that context-dependent performance may be associated with neural activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). This study aimed to determine the role of the DLPFC in context-dependent motor performance by perturbing the neural processing of the DLPFC with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in healthy adults. Thirty healthy adults were recruited into the Control, rTMS DLPFC and rTMS Vertex groups. The participants practised three finger sequences associated with a specific incidental context (a coloured circle and a location on the computer screen). One day following practice, the rTMS groups received 1 Hz rTMS prior to the testing conditions in which the sequence-context associations remained the same as practice (SAME) or changed (SWITCH). All three groups improved significantly over practice on day 1. The second day testing results showed that the DLPFC group had a significantly lower decrease in motor performance under the SWITCH condition than the Control and Vertex groups. This finding suggests a specific role of the DLPFC in context-dependent motor performance. © 2016 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Continuous and simultaneous estimation of finger kinematics using inputs from an EMG-to-muscle activation model.

PubMed

Ngeo, Jimson G; Tamei, Tomoya; Shibata, Tomohiro

2014-08-14

Surface electromyography (EMG) signals are often used in many robot and rehabilitation applications because these reflect motor intentions of users very well. However, very few studies have focused on the accurate and proportional control of the human hand using EMG signals. Many have focused on discrete gesture classification and some have encountered inherent problems such as electro-mechanical delays (EMD). Here, we present a new method for estimating simultaneous and multiple finger kinematics from multi-channel surface EMG signals. In this study, surface EMG signals from the forearm and finger kinematic data were extracted from ten able-bodied subjects while they were tasked to do individual and simultaneous multiple finger flexion and extension movements in free space. Instead of using traditional time-domain features of EMG, an EMG-to-Muscle Activation model that parameterizes EMD was used and shown to give better estimation performance. A fast feed forward artificial neural network (ANN) and a nonparametric Gaussian Process (GP) regressor were both used and evaluated to estimate complex finger kinematics, with the latter rarely used in the other related literature. The estimation accuracies, in terms of mean correlation coefficient, were 0.85 ± 0.07, 0.78 ± 0.06 and 0.73 ± 0.04 for the metacarpophalangeal (MCP), proximal interphalangeal (PIP) and the distal interphalangeal (DIP) finger joint DOFs, respectively. The mean root-mean-square error in each individual DOF ranged from 5 to 15%. We show that estimation improved using the proposed muscle activation inputs compared to other features, and that using GP regression gave better estimation results when using fewer training samples. The proposed method provides a viable means of capturing the general trend of finger movements and shows a good way of estimating finger joint kinematics using a muscle activation model that parameterizes EMD. The results from this study demonstrates a potential control strategy based on EMG that can be applied for simultaneous and continuous control of multiple DOF(s) devices such as robotic hand/finger prostheses or exoskeletons.

An EMG Interface for the Control of Motion and Compliance of a Supernumerary Robotic Finger

PubMed Central

Hussain, Irfan; Spagnoletti, Giovanni; Salvietti, Gionata; Prattichizzo, Domenico

2016-01-01

In this paper, we propose a novel electromyographic (EMG) control interface to control motion and joints compliance of a supernumerary robotic finger. The supernumerary robotic fingers are a recently introduced class of wearable robotics that provides users additional robotic limbs in order to compensate or augment the existing abilities of natural limbs without substituting them. Since supernumerary robotic fingers are supposed to closely interact and perform actions in synergy with the human limbs, the control principles of extra finger should have similar behavior as human’s ones including the ability of regulating the compliance. So that, it is important to propose a control interface and to consider the actuators and sensing capabilities of the robotic extra finger compatible to implement stiffness regulation control techniques. We propose EMG interface and a control approach to regulate the compliance of the device through servo actuators. In particular, we use a commercial EMG armband for gesture recognition to be associated with the motion control of the robotic device and surface one channel EMG electrodes interface to regulate the compliance of the robotic device. We also present an updated version of a robotic extra finger where the adduction/abduction motion is realized through ball bearing and spur gears mechanism. We have validated the proposed interface with two sets of experiments related to compensation and augmentation. In the first set of experiments, different bimanual tasks have been performed with the help of the robotic device and simulating a paretic hand since this novel wearable system can be used to compensate the missing grasping abilities in chronic stroke patients. In the second set, the robotic extra finger is used to enlarge the workspace and manipulation capability of healthy hands. In both sets, the same EMG control interface has been used. The obtained results demonstrate that the proposed control interface is intuitive and can successfully be used, not only to control the motion of a supernumerary robotic finger but also to regulate its compliance. The proposed approach can be exploited also for the control of different wearable devices that has to actively cooperate with the human limbs. PMID:27891088

Motif discovery with data mining in 3D protein structure databases: discovery, validation and prediction of the U-shape zinc binding ("Huf-Zinc") motif.

PubMed

Maurer-Stroh, Sebastian; Gao, He; Han, Hao; Baeten, Lies; Schymkowitz, Joost; Rousseau, Frederic; Zhang, Louxin; Eisenhaber, Frank

2013-02-01

Data mining in protein databases, derivatives from more fundamental protein 3D structure and sequence databases, has considerable unearthed potential for the discovery of sequence motif--structural motif--function relationships as the finding of the U-shape (Huf-Zinc) motif, originally a small student's project, exemplifies. The metal ion zinc is critically involved in universal biological processes, ranging from protein-DNA complexes and transcription regulation to enzymatic catalysis and metabolic pathways. Proteins have evolved a series of motifs to specifically recognize and bind zinc ions. Many of these, so called zinc fingers, are structurally independent globular domains with discontinuous binding motifs made up of residues mostly far apart in sequence. Through a systematic approach starting from the BRIX structure fragment database, we discovered that there exists another predictable subset of zinc-binding motifs that not only have a conserved continuous sequence pattern but also share a characteristic local conformation, despite being included in totally different overall folds. While this does not allow general prediction of all Zn binding motifs, a HMM-based web server, Huf-Zinc, is available for prediction of these novel, as well as conventional, zinc finger motifs in protein sequences. The Huf-Zinc webserver can be freely accessed through this URL (http://mendel.bii.a-star.edu.sg/METHODS/hufzinc/).

Use of low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to reduce context-dependent learning in people with Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Lee, Ya-Yun; Fisher, Beth E

2017-05-22

Compared with age-matched non-disabled adults, people with Parkinson's disease (PD) demonstrated greater context-dependent learning, a phenomenon in which an individual shows inferior motor performance when the testing environmental context is different from the original practice context. Additionally, enhanced context- dependency has been shown to be associated with an increased activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). This study aimed to determine whether context-dependent learning in people with PD could be reduced by decreasing DLPFC activation with low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Quasi-experimental pre-post test controlled study. University laboratory. Twenty-seven participants (18 individuals with PD and 9 age-matched non- disabled adults) were recruited into the PD, PD_rTMS (PD participants who received low frequency rTMS), and Control groups. All participants practiced a finger sequence task containing 3 sequences embedded within specific contexts (colored circles and spatial location on a computer screen) on the first day. On day 2, the participants were tested under the SWITCH and SAME conditions. In the SWITCH condition, the sequence-context association changed from that of practice; in the SAME condition, the sequence-context association remained the same as practice. The PD_rTMS group received 1 Hz rTMS applied over the left DLPFC on the second day before the testing conditions. Switch cost, the performance difference between the SWITCH and SAME conditions, was calculated to indicate context-dependency. All participants improved throughout practice on the first day. Analysis of the switch cost revealed a significant group main effect (p = 0.050). Post-hoc analysis revealed that the PD_rTMS group had significantly smaller switch cost than the PD group (p = 0.031) but not the Control group. Low frequency rTMS applied over DLPFC reduced context-dependency in people with PD. The findings provide a preliminary evidence of using low frequency rTMS as an adjuvant intervention approach to facilitate individuals with PD to generalize a learned motor task from one environmental context to another.

Translating working memory into action: behavioral and neural evidence for using motor representations in encoding visuo-spatial sequences.

PubMed

Langner, Robert; Sternkopf, Melanie A; Kellermann, Tanja S; Grefkes, Christian; Kurth, Florian; Schneider, Frank; Zilles, Karl; Eickhoff, Simon B

2014-07-01

The neurobiological organization of action-oriented working memory is not well understood. To elucidate the neural correlates of translating visuo-spatial stimulus sequences into delayed (memory-guided) sequential actions, we measured brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging while participants encoded sequences of four to seven dots appearing on fingers of a left or right schematic hand. After variable delays, sequences were to be reproduced with the corresponding fingers. Recall became less accurate with longer sequences and was initiated faster after long delays. Across both hands, encoding and recall activated bilateral prefrontal, premotor, superior and inferior parietal regions as well as the basal ganglia, whereas hand-specific activity was found (albeit to a lesser degree during encoding) in contralateral premotor, sensorimotor, and superior parietal cortex. Activation differences after long versus short delays were restricted to motor-related regions, indicating that rehearsal during long delays might have facilitated the conversion of the memorandum into concrete motor programs at recall. Furthermore, basal ganglia activity during encoding selectively predicted correct recall. Taken together, the results suggest that to-be-reproduced visuo-spatial sequences are encoded as prospective action representations (motor intentions), possibly in addition to retrospective sensory codes. Overall, our study supports and extends multi-component models of working memory, highlighting the notion that sensory input can be coded in multiple ways depending on what the memorandum is to be used for. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Assessing Specific Cognitive Deficits Associated with Dementia in Older Adults with Down Syndrome: Use and Validity of the Arizona Cognitive Test Battery (ACTB)

PubMed Central

Sinai, Amanda; Hassiotis, Angela; Rantell, Khadija; Strydom, Andre

2016-01-01

Background Down syndrome is associated with specific cognitive deficits. Alongside this, older adults with Down syndrome are a high risk group for dementia. The Arizona Cognitive Test Battery (ACTB), a cognitive assessment battery specifically developed for use with individuals with Down syndrome, has been proposed for use as outcome measures for clinical trials in this population. It has not been validated in older adults with Down syndrome. This study aims to assess the use and validity of the ACTB in older adults with Down syndrome. Methods Participants with Down syndrome aged 45 and over were assessed using the ACTB, standard tabletop tests and informant ratings. Results Assessment outcomes of 49 participants were analysed. Of these, 19 (39%) had a diagnosis of dementia or possible dementia. Most participants were able to attempt most of the tasks, although some tasks had high floor effects (including CANTAB Intra-Extra Dimensional shift stages completed and Modified Dots Task). Of the ACTB tasks, statistically significant differences were observed between the dementia and no dementia groups on CANTAB Simple Reaction Time median latency, NEPSY Visuomotor Precision—Car and Motorbike and CANTAB Paired Associates Learning stages completed. No significant differences were observed for CANTAB Intra-Extra Dimensional Shift, Modified Dots Task, Finger Sequencing, NEPSY Visuomotor precision—Train and Car and CANTAB Paired Associates Learning first trial memory score. Several of the tasks in the ACTB can be used in older adults with Down syndrome and have mild to moderate concurrent validity when compared to tabletop tests and informant ratings, although this varies on a test by test basis. Conclusions Overall, scores for a number of tests in the ACTB were similar when comparing dementia and no dementia groups of older adults with Down syndrome, suggesting that it would not be an appropriate outcome measure of cognitive function for clinical trials of dementia treatments without further modification and validation. PMID:27171413

Assessing Specific Cognitive Deficits Associated with Dementia in Older Adults with Down Syndrome: Use and Validity of the Arizona Cognitive Test Battery (ACTB).

PubMed

Sinai, Amanda; Hassiotis, Angela; Rantell, Khadija; Strydom, Andre

2016-01-01

Down syndrome is associated with specific cognitive deficits. Alongside this, older adults with Down syndrome are a high risk group for dementia. The Arizona Cognitive Test Battery (ACTB), a cognitive assessment battery specifically developed for use with individuals with Down syndrome, has been proposed for use as outcome measures for clinical trials in this population. It has not been validated in older adults with Down syndrome. This study aims to assess the use and validity of the ACTB in older adults with Down syndrome. Participants with Down syndrome aged 45 and over were assessed using the ACTB, standard tabletop tests and informant ratings. Assessment outcomes of 49 participants were analysed. Of these, 19 (39%) had a diagnosis of dementia or possible dementia. Most participants were able to attempt most of the tasks, although some tasks had high floor effects (including CANTAB Intra-Extra Dimensional shift stages completed and Modified Dots Task). Of the ACTB tasks, statistically significant differences were observed between the dementia and no dementia groups on CANTAB Simple Reaction Time median latency, NEPSY Visuomotor Precision-Car and Motorbike and CANTAB Paired Associates Learning stages completed. No significant differences were observed for CANTAB Intra-Extra Dimensional Shift, Modified Dots Task, Finger Sequencing, NEPSY Visuomotor precision-Train and Car and CANTAB Paired Associates Learning first trial memory score. Several of the tasks in the ACTB can be used in older adults with Down syndrome and have mild to moderate concurrent validity when compared to tabletop tests and informant ratings, although this varies on a test by test basis. Overall, scores for a number of tests in the ACTB were similar when comparing dementia and no dementia groups of older adults with Down syndrome, suggesting that it would not be an appropriate outcome measure of cognitive function for clinical trials of dementia treatments without further modification and validation.

Viral RNA annealing activities of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 nucleocapsid protein require only peptide domains outside the zinc fingers.

PubMed Central

De Rocquigny, H; Gabus, C; Vincent, A; Fournié-Zaluski, M C; Roques, B; Darlix, J L

1992-01-01

The nucleocapsid (NC) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 consists of a large number of NC protein molecules, probably wrapping the dimeric RNA genome within the virion inner core. NC protein is a gag-encoded product that contains two zinc fingers flanked by basic residues. In human immunodeficiency virus type 1 virions, NCp15 is ultimately processed into NCp7 and p6 proteins. During virion assembly the retroviral NC protein is necessary for core formation and genomic RNA encapsidation, which are essential for virus infectivity. In vitro NCp15 activates viral RNA dimerization, a process most probably linked in vivo to genomic RNA packaging, and replication primer tRNA(Lys,3) annealing to the initiation site of reverse transcription. To characterize the domains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 NC protein necessary for its various functions, the 72-amino acid NCp7 and several derived peptides were synthesized in a pure form. We show here that synthetic NCp7 with or without the two zinc fingers has the RNA annealing activities of NCp15. Further deletions of the N-terminal 12 and C-terminal 8 amino acids, leading to a 27-residue peptide lacking the finger domains, have little or no effect on NC protein activity in vitro. However deletion of short sequences containing basic residues flanking the first finger leads to a complete loss of NC protein activity. It is proposed that the basic residues and the zinc fingers cooperate to select and package the genomic RNA in vivo. Inhibition of the viral RNA binding and annealing activities associated with the basic residues flanking the first zinc finger of NC protein could therefore be used as a model for the design of antiviral agents. Images PMID:1631144

Viral RNA annealing activities of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 nucleocapsid protein require only peptide domains outside the zinc fingers.

PubMed

De Rocquigny, H; Gabus, C; Vincent, A; Fournié-Zaluski, M C; Roques, B; Darlix, J L

1992-07-15

The nucleocapsid (NC) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 consists of a large number of NC protein molecules, probably wrapping the dimeric RNA genome within the virion inner core. NC protein is a gag-encoded product that contains two zinc fingers flanked by basic residues. In human immunodeficiency virus type 1 virions, NCp15 is ultimately processed into NCp7 and p6 proteins. During virion assembly the retroviral NC protein is necessary for core formation and genomic RNA encapsidation, which are essential for virus infectivity. In vitro NCp15 activates viral RNA dimerization, a process most probably linked in vivo to genomic RNA packaging, and replication primer tRNA(Lys,3) annealing to the initiation site of reverse transcription. To characterize the domains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 NC protein necessary for its various functions, the 72-amino acid NCp7 and several derived peptides were synthesized in a pure form. We show here that synthetic NCp7 with or without the two zinc fingers has the RNA annealing activities of NCp15. Further deletions of the N-terminal 12 and C-terminal 8 amino acids, leading to a 27-residue peptide lacking the finger domains, have little or no effect on NC protein activity in vitro. However deletion of short sequences containing basic residues flanking the first finger leads to a complete loss of NC protein activity. It is proposed that the basic residues and the zinc fingers cooperate to select and package the genomic RNA in vivo. Inhibition of the viral RNA binding and annealing activities associated with the basic residues flanking the first zinc finger of NC protein could therefore be used as a model for the design of antiviral agents.

Effect of variability of sequence length of go trials preceding a stop trial on ability of response inhibition in stop-signal task.

PubMed

Hiraoka, Koichi; Kinoshita, Atsushi; Kunimura, Hiroshi; Matsuoka, Masakazu

2018-05-31

This study investigated whether the variability of the sequence length of the go trials preceding a stop trial enhanced or interfered with inhibitory control. The hypotheses tested were either inhibitory control improves when the sequence length of the go trials varies as a consequence of increased preparatory effort or it degrades as a consequence of the switching cost from the go trial to the stop trial. The right-handed participants abducted the left or right index finger in response to a go cue during the go trials. A stop cue was given at 50, 90, or 130 ms after the go cue, with 0.25 probability in the stop trial. In the less variable session, a stop trial was presented after two, three, or four consecutive go trials. In the variable session, a stop trial was presented after one, two, three, four, or five consecutive go trials. The reaction time and stop-signal reaction time were not significantly different between the sessions and between the response sides. Nevertheless, the probability of successful inhibition of the right-hand response in the variable session was higher than that in the less variable session when the stop cue was given 50 ms after a go cue. This finding supports the view that preparatory effort due to less predictability of the chance of a forthcoming response inhibition enhances the ability of the right-hand response inhibition when the stop process begins earlier.

First large scale chemical synthesis of the 72 amino acid HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein NCp7 in an active form.

PubMed

de Rocquigny, H; Ficheux, D; Gabus, C; Fournié-Zaluski, M C; Darlix, J L; Roques, B P

1991-10-31

The nucleocapsid protein (NC) of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 plays a crucial role in the formation of infectious viral particles and therefore should be a major target for the development of antiviral agents. This requires an investigation of NC protein structure and of its interactions with both primer tRNA(Lys,3) and genomic RNA. Nucleocapsid protein NCp7, which results from the maturation of NCp15, contains two zinc fingers flanked by sequences rich in basic and proline residues. Here we report the first synthesis of large quantities of NCp7 able to activate HIV-1 RNA dimerization and replication primer tRNA(Lys,3) annealing to the initiation site of reverse transcription. In addition UV spectroscopic analyses performed to characterize the Co2+ binding properties of each zinc finger suggest that the two fingers probably interact in NCp7.

The Nucleotide Sequence and Spliced pol mRNA Levels of the Nonprimate Spumavirus Bovine Foamy Virus

PubMed Central

Holzschu, Donald L.; Delaney, Mari A.; Renshaw, Randall W.; Casey, James W.

1998-01-01

We have determined the complete nucleotide sequence of a replication-competent clone of bovine foamy virus (BFV) and have quantitated the amount of splice pol mRNA processed early in infection. The 544-amino-acid Gag protein precursor has little sequence similarity with its primate foamy virus homologs, but the putative nucleocapsid (NC) protein, like the primate NCs, contains the three glycine-arginine-rich regions that are postulated to bind genomic RNA during virion assembly. The BFV gag and pol open reading frames overlap, with pro and pol in the same translational frame. As with the human foamy virus (HFV) and feline foamy virus, we have detected a spliced pol mRNA by PCR. Quantitatively, this mRNA approximates the level of full-length genomic RNA early in infection. The integrase (IN) domain of reverse transcriptase does not contain the canonical HH-CC zinc finger motif present in all characterized retroviral INs, but it does contain a nearby histidine residue that could conceivably participate as a member of the zinc finger. The env gene encodes a protein that is over 40% identical in sequence to the HFV Env. By comparison, the Gag precursor of BFV is predicted to be only 28% identical to the HFV protein. PMID:9499074

The role of musical training in emergent and event-based timing.

PubMed

Baer, L H; Thibodeau, J L N; Gralnick, T M; Li, K Z H; Penhune, V B

2013-01-01

Musical performance is thought to rely predominantly on event-based timing involving a clock-like neural process and an explicit internal representation of the time interval. Some aspects of musical performance may rely on emergent timing, which is established through the optimization of movement kinematics, and can be maintained without reference to any explicit representation of the time interval. We predicted that musical training would have its largest effect on event-based timing, supporting the dissociability of these timing processes and the dominance of event-based timing in musical performance. We compared 22 musicians and 17 non-musicians on the prototypical event-based timing task of finger tapping and on the typically emergently timed task of circle drawing. For each task, participants first responded in synchrony with a metronome (Paced) and then responded at the same rate without the metronome (Unpaced). Analyses of the Unpaced phase revealed that non-musicians were more variable in their inter-response intervals for finger tapping compared to circle drawing. Musicians did not differ between the two tasks. Between groups, non-musicians were more variable than musicians for tapping but not for drawing. We were able to show that the differences were due to less timer variability in musicians on the tapping task. Correlational analyses of movement jerk and inter-response interval variability revealed a negative association for tapping and a positive association for drawing in non-musicians only. These results suggest that musical training affects temporal variability in tapping but not drawing. Additionally, musicians and non-musicians may be employing different movement strategies to maintain accurate timing in the two tasks. These findings add to our understanding of how musical training affects timing and support the dissociability of event-based and emergent timing modes.

Task-related enhancement in corticomotor excitability during haptic sensing with the contra- or ipsilateral hand in young and senior adults.

PubMed

Master, Sabah; Tremblay, François

2012-03-14

Haptic sensing with the fingers represents a unique class of manipulative actions, engaging motor, somatosensory and associative areas of the cortex while requiring only minimal forces and relatively simple movement patterns. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we investigated task-related changes in motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude associated with unimanual haptic sensing in two related experiments. In Experiment I, we contrasted changes in the excitability of the hemisphere controlling the task hand in young and old adults under two trial conditions, i.e. when participants either touched a fine grating (smooth trials) or touched a coarse grating to detect its groove orientation (grating trials). In Experiment II, the same contrast between tasks was performed but with TMS applied over the hemisphere controlling the resting hand, while also addressing hemispheric (right vs. left) and age differences. In Experiment I, a main effect of trial type on MEP amplitude was detected (p = 0.001), MEPs in the task hand being ~50% larger during grating than smooth trials. No interaction with age was detected. Similar results were found for Experiment II, trial type having a large effect on MEP amplitude in the resting hand (p < 0.001) owing to selective increase in MEP size (~2.6 times greater) for grating trials. No interactions with age or side (right vs. left) were detected. Collectively, these results indicate that adding a haptic component to a simple unilateral finger action can elicit robust corticomotor facilitation not only in the working hemisphere but also in the opposite hemisphere. The fact that this facilitation seems well preserved with age, when task difficulty is adjusted, has some potential clinical implications.

BAF57 Modulation of Androgen Receptor Action and Prostate Cancer Progression

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

mapped the AR binding site on BAF57 to the N-terminus (proline-rich region). Furthermore, the DBD and hinge region of AR also appear to play a...Accomplishments of Task 1: BAF57 binds to DNA binding domain ( DBD ) and hinge region of AR As outlined in the initial proposal, the first task...the above construct are the well-characterized zinc finger DNA binding domain ( DBD ) and the hinge region. Given the significant role of these two

BAF57 Modulation of Androgen Receptor Action and Prostate Cancer Progression

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-12-01

has fine mapped the AR binding site on BAF57 to the N-terminus (proline-rich region). Furthermore, the DBD and hinge region of AR also appear to...Accomplishments of Task 1: BAF57 binds to DNA binding domain ( DBD ) and hinge region of AR As outlined in the initial proposal, the first task was to...construct are the well-characterized zinc finger DNA binding domain ( DBD ) and the hinge region. Given the significant role of these two domains in AR

Timing-dependent modulation of the posterior parietal cortex–primary motor cortex pathway by sensorimotor training

PubMed Central

Jin, Seung-Hyun; Joutsen, Atte; Poston, Brach; Aizen, Joshua; Ellenstein, Aviva; Hallett, Mark

2012-01-01

Interplay between posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and ipsilateral primary motor cortex (M1) is crucial during execution of movements. The purpose of the study was to determine whether functional PPC–M1 connectivity in humans can be modulated by sensorimotor training. Seventeen participants performed a sensorimotor training task that involved tapping the index finger in synchrony to a rhythmic sequence. To explore differences in training modality, one group (n = 8) learned by visual and the other (n = 9) by auditory stimuli. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to assess PPC–M1 connectivity before and after training, whereas electroencephalography (EEG) was used to assess PPC–M1 connectivity during training. Facilitation from PPC to M1 was quantified using paired-pulse TMS at conditioning-test intervals of 2, 4, 6, and 8 ms by measuring motor-evoked potentials (MEPs). TMS was applied at baseline and at four time points (0, 30, 60, and 180 min) after training. For EEG, task-related power and coherence were calculated for early and late training phases. The conditioned MEP was facilitated at a 2-ms conditioning-test interval before training. However, facilitation was abolished immediately following training, but returned to baseline at subsequent time points. Regional EEG activity and interregional connectivity between PPC and M1 showed an initial increase during early training followed by a significant decrease in the late phases. The findings indicate that parietal–motor interactions are activated during early sensorimotor training when sensory information has to be integrated into a coherent movement plan. Once the sequence is encoded and movements become automatized, PPC–M1 connectivity returns to baseline. PMID:22442568

Musical training increases functional connectivity, but does not enhance mu suppression.

PubMed

Wu, C Carolyn; Hamm, Jeff P; Lim, Vanessa K; Kirk, Ian J

2017-09-01

Musical training provides an ideal platform for investigating action representation for sound. Learning to play an instrument requires integration of sensory and motor perception-action processes. Functional neuroimaging studies have indicated that listening to trained music can result in the activity in premotor areas, even after a short period of training. These studies suggest that action representation systems are heavily dependent on specific sensorimotor experience. However, others suggest that because humans naturally move to music, sensorimotor training is not necessary and there is a more general action representation for music. We previously demonstrated that EEG mu suppression, commonly implemented to demonstrate mirror-neuron-like action representation while observing movements, can also index action representations for sounds in pianists. The current study extends these findings to a group of non-musicians who learned to play randomised sequences on a piano, in order to acquire specific sound-action mappings for the five fingers of their right hand. We investigated training-related changes in neural dynamics as indexed by mu suppression and task-related coherence measures. To test the specificity of training effects, we included sounds similar to those encountered in the training and additionally rhythm sequences. We found no effect of training on mu suppression between pre- and post-training EEG recordings. However, task-related coherence indexing functional connectivity between electrodes over audiomotor areas increased after training. These results suggest that long-term training in musicians and short-term training in novices may be associated with different stages of audiomotor integration that can be reflected in different EEG measures. Furthermore, the changes in functional connectivity were specifically found for piano tones, and were not apparent when participants listened to rhythms, indicating some degree of specificity related to training. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Coordinated turn-and-reach movements. I. Anticipatory compensation for self-generated coriolis and interaction torques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pigeon, Pascale; Bortolami, Simone B.; DiZio, Paul; Lackner, James R.

2003-01-01

When reaching movements involve simultaneous trunk rotation, additional interaction torques are generated on the arm that are absent when the trunk is stable. To explore whether the CNS compensates for such self-generated interaction torques, we recorded hand trajectories in reaching tasks involving various amplitudes and velocities of arm extension and trunk rotation. Subjects pointed to three targets on a surface slightly above waist level. Two of the target locations were chosen so that a similar arm configuration relative to the trunk would be required for reaching to them, one of these targets requiring substantial trunk rotation, the other very little. Significant trunk rotation was necessary to reach the third target, but the arm's radial distance to the body remained virtually unchanged. Subjects reached at two speeds-a natural pace (slow) and rapidly (fast)-under normal lighting and in total darkness. Trunk angular velocity and finger velocity relative to the trunk were higher in the fast conditions but were not affected by the presence or absence of vision. Peak trunk velocity increased with increasing trunk rotation up to a maximum of 200 degrees /s. In slow movements, peak finger velocity relative to the trunk was smaller when trunk rotation was necessary to reach the targets. In fast movements, peak finger velocity was approximately 1.7 m/s for all targets. Finger trajectories were more curved when reaching movements involved substantial trunk rotation; however, the terminal errors and the maximal deviation of the trajectory from a straight line were comparable in slow and fast movements. This pattern indicates that the larger Coriolis, centripetal, and inertial interaction torques generated during rapid reaches were compensated by additional joint torques. Trajectory characteristics did not vary with the presence or absence of vision, indicating that visual feedback was unnecessary for anticipatory compensations. In all reaches involving trunk rotation, the finger movement generally occurred entirely during the trunk movement, indicating that the CNS did not minimize Coriolis forces incumbent on trunk rotation by sequencing the arm and trunk motions into a turn followed by a reach. A simplified model of the arm/trunk system revealed that additional interaction torques generated on the arm during voluntary turning and reaching were equivalent to < or =1.8 g (1 g = 9.81 m/s(2)) of external force at the elbow but did not degrade performance. In slow-rotation room studies involving reaching movements during passive rotation, Coriolis forces as small as 0.2 g greatly deflect movement trajectories and endpoints. We conclude that compensatory motor innervations are engaged in a predictive fashion to counteract impending self-generated interaction torques during voluntary reaching movements.

Coordinated turn-and-reach movements. I. Anticipatory compensation for self-generated coriolis and interaction torques.

PubMed

Pigeon, Pascale; Bortolami, Simone B; DiZio, Paul; Lackner, James R

2003-01-01

When reaching movements involve simultaneous trunk rotation, additional interaction torques are generated on the arm that are absent when the trunk is stable. To explore whether the CNS compensates for such self-generated interaction torques, we recorded hand trajectories in reaching tasks involving various amplitudes and velocities of arm extension and trunk rotation. Subjects pointed to three targets on a surface slightly above waist level. Two of the target locations were chosen so that a similar arm configuration relative to the trunk would be required for reaching to them, one of these targets requiring substantial trunk rotation, the other very little. Significant trunk rotation was necessary to reach the third target, but the arm's radial distance to the body remained virtually unchanged. Subjects reached at two speeds-a natural pace (slow) and rapidly (fast)-under normal lighting and in total darkness. Trunk angular velocity and finger velocity relative to the trunk were higher in the fast conditions but were not affected by the presence or absence of vision. Peak trunk velocity increased with increasing trunk rotation up to a maximum of 200 degrees /s. In slow movements, peak finger velocity relative to the trunk was smaller when trunk rotation was necessary to reach the targets. In fast movements, peak finger velocity was approximately 1.7 m/s for all targets. Finger trajectories were more curved when reaching movements involved substantial trunk rotation; however, the terminal errors and the maximal deviation of the trajectory from a straight line were comparable in slow and fast movements. This pattern indicates that the larger Coriolis, centripetal, and inertial interaction torques generated during rapid reaches were compensated by additional joint torques. Trajectory characteristics did not vary with the presence or absence of vision, indicating that visual feedback was unnecessary for anticipatory compensations. In all reaches involving trunk rotation, the finger movement generally occurred entirely during the trunk movement, indicating that the CNS did not minimize Coriolis forces incumbent on trunk rotation by sequencing the arm and trunk motions into a turn followed by a reach. A simplified model of the arm/trunk system revealed that additional interaction torques generated on the arm during voluntary turning and reaching were equivalent to < or =1.8 g (1 g = 9.81 m/s(2)) of external force at the elbow but did not degrade performance. In slow-rotation room studies involving reaching movements during passive rotation, Coriolis forces as small as 0.2 g greatly deflect movement trajectories and endpoints. We conclude that compensatory motor innervations are engaged in a predictive fashion to counteract impending self-generated interaction torques during voluntary reaching movements.

Timing Dysfunctions in Schizophrenia as Measured by a Repetitive Finger Tapping Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carroll, Christine A.; O'Donnell, Brian F.; Shekhar, Anantha; Hetrick, William P.

2009-01-01

Schizophrenia may be associated with a fundamental disturbance in the temporal coordination of information processing in the brain, leading to classic symptoms of schizophrenia such as thought disorder and disorganized and contextually inappropriate behavior. Although a variety of behavioral studies have provided strong evidence for perceptual…

Project Aims to Bridge Neuroscience and Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samuels, Christina A.

2008-01-01

Using imaging technology that can probe the deepest workings of the brain, researchers have found that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are using less of a certain part of their brains to hold back their itchy trigger fingers, compared with typically developing children performing the same task. This information was shared…

Age-related differences in finger force control are characterized by reduced force production.

PubMed

Vieluf, Solveig; Godde, Ben; Reuter, Eva-Maria; Voelcker-Rehage, Claudia

2013-01-01

It has been repeatedly shown that precise finger force control declines with age. The tasks and evaluation parameters used to reveal age-related differences vary between studies. In order to examine effects of task characteristics, young adults (18-25 years) and late middle-aged adults (55-65 years) performed precision grip tasks with varying speed and force requirements. Different outcome variables were used to evaluate age-related differences. Age-related differences were confirmed for performance accuracy (TWR) and variability (relative root mean square error, rRMSE). The task characteristics, however, influenced accuracy and variability in both age groups: Force modulation performance at higher speed was poorer than at lower speed and at fixed force levels than at force levels adjusted to the individual maximum forces. This effect tended to be stronger for older participants for the rRMSE. A curve fit confirmed the age-related differences for both spatial force tracking parameters (amplitude and intercept) and for one temporal parameter (phase shift), but not for the temporal parameter frequency. Additionally, matching the timing parameters of the sine wave seemed to be more important than matching the spatial parameters in both young adults and late middle-aged adults. However, the effect was stronger for the group of late middle-aged, even though maximum voluntary contraction was not significantly different between groups. Our data indicate that changes in the processing of fine motor control tasks with increasing age are caused by difficulties of late middle-aged adults to produce a predefined amount of force in a short time.

The effect of music on biochemical markers and self-perceived stress among first-line nurses: a randomized controlled crossover trial.

PubMed

Lai, Hui-Ling; Li, Yin-Ming

2011-11-01

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of music on stress indices and to examine the association between music preference and stress. Although clinical studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of music on stress, study results have been inconsistent. At the time of writing, no known publications had investigated the effects of preferred music on workers in high-stress professions such as nursing. Using a randomized crossover controlled trial, 54 nurses were randomly assigned to a music/chair rest sequence or chair rest/music sequence during the period February to June 2006. Each intervention lasted for 30 minutes. Participants in the music condition listened to self-selected soothing music using headphones for 30 minutes. In the chair rest condition, participants sat quietly for 30 minutes. Serial measurements of participants' heart rate, mean arterial pressure, finger temperature and cortisol levels were taken with a BP monitor and chemillumincent immunoassay every 15 minutes throughout the procedure. Compared with chair rest, participants had a lower perceived stress level, cortisol, heart rate, mean arterial pressure and higher finger temperature while listening to music (P < 0·05). Significant differences were also found between the two conditions in terms of post-test heart rate, cortisol levels, finger temperature and mean arterial pressure (P < 0·05). Music preference scores ranged between 7 and 10, with a mean score of 8·81 (sd = 1·05), and was significantly associated with mean arterial pressure, cortisol levels, self-perceived stress and finger temperature. The findings provided evidence for nurses to use soothing music as a research-based nursing intervention for stress reduction. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Glove-Enabled Computer Operations (GECO): Design and Testing of an Extravehicular Activity Glove Adapted for Human-Computer Interface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, Richard J.; Olowin, Aaron; Krepkovich, Eileen; Hannaford, Blake; Lindsay, Jack I. C.; Homer, Peter; Patrie, James T.; Sands, O. Scott

2013-01-01

The Glove-Enabled Computer Operations (GECO) system enables an extravehicular activity (EVA) glove to be dual-purposed as a human-computer interface device. This paper describes the design and human participant testing of a right-handed GECO glove in a pressurized glove box. As part of an investigation into the usability of the GECO system for EVA data entry, twenty participants were asked to complete activities including (1) a Simon Says Games in which they attempted to duplicate random sequences of targeted finger strikes and (2) a Text Entry activity in which they used the GECO glove to enter target phrases in two different virtual keyboard modes. In a within-subjects design, both activities were performed both with and without vibrotactile feedback. Participants' mean accuracies in correctly generating finger strikes with the pressurized glove were surprisingly high, both with and without the benefit of tactile feedback. Five of the subjects achieved mean accuracies exceeding 99% in both conditions. In Text Entry, tactile feedback provided a statistically significant performance benefit, quantified by characters entered per minute, as well as reduction in error rate. Secondary analyses of responses to a NASA Task Loader Index (TLX) subjective workload assessments reveal a benefit for tactile feedback in GECO glove use for data entry. This first-ever investigation of employment of a pressurized EVA glove for human-computer interface opens up a wide range of future applications, including text "chat" communications, manipulation of procedures/checklists, cataloguing/annotating images, scientific note taking, human-robot interaction, and control of suit and/or other EVA systems.

Glove-Enabled Computer Operations (GECO): Design and Testing of an Extravehicular Activity Glove Adapted for Human-Computer Interface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, Richard J.; Olowin, Aaron; Krepkovich, Eileen; Hannaford, Blake; Lindsay, Jack I. C.; Homer, Peter; Patrie, James T.; Sands, O. Scott

2013-01-01

The Glove-Enabled Computer Operations (GECO) system enables an extravehicular activity (EVA) glove to be dual-purposed as a human-computer interface device. This paper describes the design and human participant testing of a right-handed GECO glove in a pressurized glove box. As part of an investigation into the usability of the GECO system for EVA data entry, twenty participants were asked to complete activities including (1) a Simon Says Games in which they attempted to duplicate random sequences of targeted finger strikes and (2) a Text Entry activity in which they used the GECO glove to enter target phrases in two different virtual keyboard modes. In a within-subjects design, both activities were performed both with and without vibrotactile feedback. Participants mean accuracies in correctly generating finger strikes with the pressurized glove were surprisingly high, both with and without the benefit of tactile feedback. Five of the subjects achieved mean accuracies exceeding 99 in both conditions. In Text Entry, tactile feedback provided a statistically significant performance benefit, quantified by characters entered per minute, as well as reduction in error rate. Secondary analyses of responses to a NASA Task Loader Index (TLX) subjective workload assessments reveal a benefit for tactile feedback in GECO glove use for data entry. This first-ever investigation of employment of a pressurized EVA glove for human-computer interface opens up a wide range of future applications, including text chat communications, manipulation of procedureschecklists, cataloguingannotating images, scientific note taking, human-robot interaction, and control of suit andor other EVA systems.

Rehabilitation for bilateral amputation of fingers

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stapanian, Martin A.; Stapanian, Adrienne M.P.; Staley, Keith E.

2010-01-01

We describe reconstructive surgeries, therapy, prostheses, and adaptations for a patient who experienced bilateral amputation of all five fingers of both hands through the proximal phalanges in January 1992. The patient made considerable progress in the use of his hands in the 10 mo after amputation, including nearly a 120% increase in the active range of flexion of metacarpophalangeal joints. In late 1992 and early 1993, the patient had "on-top plasty" surgeries, in which the index finger remnants were transferred onto the thumb stumps, performed on both hands. The increased web space and functional pinch resulting from these procedures made many tasks much easier. The patient and occupational therapists set challenging goals at all times. Moreover, the patient was actively involved in the design and fabrication of all prostheses and adaptations or he developed them himself. Although he was discharged from occupational therapy in 1997, the patient continues to actively find new solutions for prehension and grip strength 18 yr after amputation.

Why do alternative ways of responding improve children's performance on tests of strategic reasoning?

PubMed

Carroll, Daniel J; Fitzgibbon, Lily; Critchley, Anna

2014-06-01

Changing the way in which children respond significantly improves performance across a variety of cognitive domains. However, the basis for this response-mode effect is unknown. To address this issue, the current study tested 78 preschool children on a measure of executive functioning (the windows task: Hala & Russell, ). The task requires children to point to an empty box to receive a box with a treat in it. There were four versions of the task, differing only in the way in which children made their responses. Children in the baseline condition, who pointed with their finger, performed poorly. However, children in three alternative response-mode conditions won the treat significantly more often. Strikingly, even children who pretended to be pointing with an arrow - but were in reality pointing with their finger - performed significantly better than baseline. We suggest that non-standard response modes encourage children to reflect on their actions and that this reduces the number of unreflective errors they make. The findings demonstrate that response-mode effects do not depend on the presence of a physical means of responding (such as an arrow), but can be achieved via a purely cognitive means (such as engaging in pretence). © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

Identification and characterization of calcium transporter gene family in finger millet in relation to grain calcium content.

PubMed

Singh, Uma M; Metwal, Mamta; Singh, Manoj; Taj, Gohar; Kumar, Anil

2015-07-15

Calcium (Ca) is an essential mineral for proper growth and development of plants as well as animals. In plants including cereals, calcium is deposited in seed during its development which is mediated by specialized Ca transporters. Common cereal seeds contain very low amounts of Ca while the finger millet (Eleusine coracana) contains exceptionally high amounts of Ca in seed. In order to understand the role of Ca transporters in grain Ca accumulation, developing seed transcriptome of two finger millet genotypes (GP-1, low Ca and GP-45 high Ca) differing in seed Ca content was sequenced using Illumina paired-end sequencing technology and members of Ca transporter gene family were identified. Out of 109,218 and 120,130 contigs, 86 and 81 contigs encoding Ca transporters were identified in GP-1 and GP-45, respectively. After removal of redundant sequences, a total of 19 sequences were confirmed as Ca transporter genes, which includes 11 Ca(2+) ATPases, 07 Ca(2+)/cation exchangers and 01 Ca(2+) channel. The differential expressions of all genes were analyzed from transcriptome data and it was observed that 9 and 3 genes were highly expressed in GP-45 and GP-1 genotypes respectively. Validation of transcriptome expression data of selected Ca transporter genes was performed on different stages of developing spikes of both genotypes grown under different concentrations of exogenous Ca. In both genotypes, significant correlation was observed between the expression of these genes, especially EcCaX3, and on the amount of Ca accumulated in seed. The positive correlation of seed mass with the amount of Ca concentration was also observed. The efficient Ca transport property and responsiveness of EcCAX3 towards exogenous Ca could be utilized in future biofortification program. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Functional MRI evidence for fine motor praxis dysfunction in children with persistent speech disorders

PubMed Central

Redle, Erin; Vannest, Jennifer; Maloney, Thomas; Tsevat, Rebecca K.; Eikenberry, Sarah; Lewis, Barbara; Shriberg, Lawrence D.; Tkach, Jean; Holland, Scott K.

2014-01-01

Children with persistent speech disorders (PSD) often present with overt or subtle motor deficits; the possibility that speech disorders and motor deficits could arise from a shared neurological base is currently unknown. Functional MRI (fMRI) was used to examine the brain networks supporting fine motor praxis in children with PSD and without clinically identified fine motor deficits. Methods This case-control study included 12 children with PSD (mean age 7.42 years, 4 female) and 12 controls (mean age 7.44 years, 4 female). Children completed behavioral evaluations using standardized motor assessments and parent reported functional measures. During fMRI scanning, participants completed a cued finger tapping task contrasted passive listening. A general linear model approach identified brain regions associated with finger tapping in each group and regions that differed between groups. The relationship between regional fMRI activation and fine motor skill was assessed using a regression analysis. Results Children with PSD had significantly poorer results for rapid speech production and fine motor praxis skills, but did not differ on classroom functional skills. Functional MRI results showed that children with PSD had significantly more activation in the cerebellum during finger tapping. Positive correlations between performance on a fine motor praxis test and activation multiple cortical regions were noted for children with PSD but not for controls. Conclusions Over-activation in the cerebellum during a motor task may reflect a subtle abnormality in the non-speech motor neural circuitry in children with PSD. PMID:25481413

Changes in functional brain organization and behavioral correlations after rehabilitative therapy using a brain-computer interface.

PubMed

Young, Brittany M; Nigogosyan, Zack; Walton, Léo M; Song, Jie; Nair, Veena A; Grogan, Scott W; Tyler, Mitchell E; Edwards, Dorothy F; Caldera, Kristin; Sattin, Justin A; Williams, Justin C; Prabhakaran, Vivek

2014-01-01

This study aims to examine the changes in task-related brain activity induced by rehabilitative therapy using brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies and whether these changes are relevant to functional gains achieved through the use of these therapies. Stroke patients with persistent upper-extremity motor deficits received interventional rehabilitation therapy using a closed-loop neurofeedback BCI device (n = 8) or no therapy (n = 6). Behavioral assessments using the Stroke Impact Scale, the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT), and the Nine-Hole Peg Test (9-HPT) as well as task-based fMRI scans were conducted before, during, after, and 1 month after therapy administration or at analogous intervals in the absence of therapy. Laterality Index (LI) values during finger tapping of each hand were calculated for each time point and assessed for correlation with behavioral outcomes. Brain activity during finger tapping of each hand shifted over the course of BCI therapy, but not in the absence of therapy, to greater involvement of the non-lesioned hemisphere (and lesser involvement of the stroke-lesioned hemisphere) as measured by LI. Moreover, changes from baseline LI values during finger tapping of the impaired hand were correlated with gains in both objective and subjective behavioral measures. These findings suggest that the administration of interventional BCI therapy can induce differential changes in brain activity patterns between the lesioned and non-lesioned hemispheres and that these brain changes are associated with changes in specific motor functions.

Electromyographic Comparison of Forearm Muscle Movements for Fine Skin Suturing Between an Enlarged Pen Needle Holder and a Webster Needle Holder

PubMed Central

Ohata, Erika; Matsuo, Kiyoshi; Ban, Ryokuya; Shiba, Masato; Yasunaga, Yoshichika

2013-01-01

Background: For surgical suturing, a Webster needle holder uses wrist supinating with supinator and extrinsic muscles, whereas a pen needle holder uses finger twisting with intrinsic and extrinsic muscles. Because the latter is better suited to microsurgery, which requires fine suturing with less forearm muscle movement, we have recently adopted an enlarged pen needle holder scaled from a micro needle holder for fine skin suturing. In this study, we assessed whether the enlarged pen needle holder reduced forearm muscle movement during fine skin suturing as compared with the Webster needle holder. Methods: A fine skin-suturing task was performed using pen holding with the enlarged micro needle holder or scissor holding with the Webster needle holder by 9 experienced and 6 inexperienced microsurgeons. The task lasted for 60 seconds and was randomly performed 3 times for each method. Forearm flexor and extensor muscular activities were evaluated by surface electromyography. Results: The enlarged pen needle holder method required significantly less forearm muscle movement for experienced microsurgeons despite it being their first time using the instrument. There was no significant difference between 2 methods for inexperienced microsurgeons. Conclusions: Experienced microsurgeons conserved forearm muscle movement by finger twisting in fine skin suturing with the enlarged pen needle holder. Inexperienced microsurgeons may benefit from the enlarged pen needle holder, even for fine skin suturing, to develop their internal acquisition model of the dynamics of finger twisting. PMID:23691259

Electromyographic comparison of forearm muscle movements for fine skin suturing between an enlarged pen needle holder and a webster needle holder.

PubMed

Ohata, Erika; Matsuo, Kiyoshi; Ban, Ryokuya; Shiba, Masato; Yasunaga, Yoshichika

2013-01-01

For surgical suturing, a Webster needle holder uses wrist supinating with supinator and extrinsic muscles, whereas a pen needle holder uses finger twisting with intrinsic and extrinsic muscles. Because the latter is better suited to microsurgery, which requires fine suturing with less forearm muscle movement, we have recently adopted an enlarged pen needle holder scaled from a micro needle holder for fine skin suturing. In this study, we assessed whether the enlarged pen needle holder reduced forearm muscle movement during fine skin suturing as compared with the Webster needle holder. A fine skin-suturing task was performed using pen holding with the enlarged micro needle holder or scissor holding with the Webster needle holder by 9 experienced and 6 inexperienced microsurgeons. The task lasted for 60 seconds and was randomly performed 3 times for each method. Forearm flexor and extensor muscular activities were evaluated by surface electromyography. The enlarged pen needle holder method required significantly less forearm muscle movement for experienced microsurgeons despite it being their first time using the instrument. There was no significant difference between 2 methods for inexperienced microsurgeons. Experienced microsurgeons conserved forearm muscle movement by finger twisting in fine skin suturing with the enlarged pen needle holder. Inexperienced microsurgeons may benefit from the enlarged pen needle holder, even for fine skin suturing, to develop their internal acquisition model of the dynamics of finger twisting.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schürpf, Thomas; Chen, Qiang; Liu, Jin-huan

Developmental endothelial cell locus-1 (Del-1) glycoprotein is secreted by endothelial cells and a subset of macrophages. Del-1 plays a regulatory role in vascular remodeling and functions in innate immunity through interaction with integrin {alpha}{sub V}{beta}{sub 3}. Del-1 contains 3 epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like repeats and 2 discoidin-like domains. An Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) motif in the second EGF domain (EGF2) mediates adhesion by endothelial cells and phagocytes. We report the crystal structure of its 3 EGF domains. The RGD motif of EGF2 forms a type II' {beta} turn at the tip of a long protruding loop, dubbed the RGD finger. Whereas EGF2more » and EGF3 constitute a rigid rod via an interdomain calcium ion binding site, the long linker between EGF1 and EGF2 lends considerable flexibility to EGF1. Two unique O-linked glycans and 1 N-linked glycan locate to the opposite side of EGF2 from the RGD motif. These structural features favor integrin binding of the RGD finger. Mutagenesis data confirm the importance of having the RGD motif at the tip of the RGD finger. A database search for EGF domain sequences shows that this RGD finger is likely an evolutionary insertion and unique to the EGF domain of Del-1 and its homologue milk fat globule-EGF 8. The RGD finger of Del-1 is a unique structural feature critical for integrin binding.« less

Speech Motor Sequence Learning: Effect of Parkinson Disease and Normal Aging on Dual-Task Performance.

PubMed

Whitfield, Jason A; Goberman, Alexander M

2017-06-22

Everyday communication is carried out concurrently with other tasks. Therefore, determining how dual tasks interfere with newly learned speech motor skills can offer insight into the cognitive mechanisms underlying speech motor learning in Parkinson disease (PD). The current investigation examines a recently learned speech motor sequence under dual-task conditions. A previously learned sequence of 6 monosyllabic nonwords was examined using a dual-task paradigm. Participants repeated the sequence while concurrently performing a visuomotor task, and performance on both tasks was measured in single- and dual-task conditions. The younger adult group exhibited little to no dual-task interference on the accuracy and duration of the sequence. The older adult group exhibited variability in dual-task costs, with the group as a whole exhibiting an intermediate, though significant, amount of dual-task interference. The PD group exhibited the largest degree of bidirectional dual-task interference among all the groups. These data suggest that PD affects the later stages of speech motor learning, as the dual-task condition interfered with production of the recently learned sequence beyond the effect of normal aging. Because the basal ganglia is critical for the later stages of motor sequence learning, the observed deficits may result from the underlying neural dysfunction associated with PD.

Sports Injury-Related Fingers and Thumb Deformity Due to Tendon or Ligament Rupture.

PubMed

Bai, Rong-Jie; Zhang, Hui-Bo; Zhan, Hui-Li; Qian, Zhan-Hua; Wang, Nai-Li; Liu, Yue; Li, Wen-Ting; Yin, Yu-Ming

2018-05-05

Hand injuries are very common in sports, such as skiing and ball sports. One of the major reasons causing hand and finger deformity is due to ligament and tendon injury. The aim of this study was to investigate if the high-resolution 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can demonstrate the complex anatomy of the fingers and thumb, especially the tendons and ligaments, and provide the accurate diagnosis of clinically important fingers and thumbs deformity due to ligamentous and tendinous injuries during sport activities. Sixteen fresh un-embalmed cadaveric hands were harvested from eight cadavers. A total of 20 healthy volunteers' hands and 44 patients with fingers or thumb deformity due to sports-related injuries were included in this study. All subjects had MR examination with T1-weighted images and proton density-weighted imaging with fat suppression (PD FS) in axial, coronal, and sagittal plane, respectively. Subsequently, all 16 cadaveric hands were sliced into 2-mm thick slab with a band saw (six in coronal plane, six in sagittal plane, and four in axial plane). The correlation of anatomic sections and the MRI characteristics of tendons of fingers and the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) at the metacarpal phalangeal joint (MCPJ) of thumb between 20 healthy volunteers and 44 patients (confirmed by surgery) were analyzed. The normal ligaments and tendons in 16 cadaveric hands and 20 volunteers' hands showed uniform low-signal intensity on all the sequences of the MRI. Among 44 patients with tendinous and ligamentous injuries in the fingers or thumb, 12 cases with UCL injury at MCPJ of the thumb (Stener lesion = 8 and non-Stener lesion = 4), 6 cases with the central slip injury, 12 cases with terminal tendon injury, and 14 cases with flexor digitorum profundus injury. The ligaments and tendons disruption manifested as increased signal intensity and poor definition, discontinuity, and heterogeneous signal intensity of the involved ligaments and tendons. Sports injury-related fingers and thumb deformity are relatively common. MRI is an accurate method for evaluation of the anatomy and pathologic conditions of the fingers and thumb. It is a useful tool for accurate diagnosis of the sports-related ligaments and tendons injuries in hand.

Prehension synergies and control with referent hand configurations.

PubMed

Latash, Mark L; Friedman, Jason; Kim, Sun Wook; Feldman, Anatol G; Zatsiorsky, Vladimir M

2010-04-01

We used the framework of the equilibrium-point hypothesis (in its updated form based on the notion of referent configuration) to investigate the multi-digit synergies at two levels of a hypothetical hierarchy involved in prehensile actions. Synergies were analyzed at the thumb-virtual finger (VF) level (VF is an imaginary digit with the mechanical action equivalent to that of the four actual fingers) and at the individual finger level. The subjects performed very quick vertical movements of a handle into a target. A load could be attached off-center to provide a pronation or supination torque. In a few trials, the handle was unexpectedly fixed to the table and the digits slipped off the sensors. In such trials, the hand stopped at a higher vertical position and rotated into pronation or supination depending on the expected torque. The aperture showed non-monotonic changes with a large, fast decrease and further increase, ending up with a smaller distance between the thumb and the fingers as compared to unperturbed trials. Multi-digit synergies were quantified using indices of co-variation between digit forces and moments of force across unperturbed trials. Prior to the lifting action, high synergy indices were observed at the individual finger level while modest indices were observed at the thumb-VF level. During the lifting action, the synergies at the individual finger level disappeared while the synergy indices became higher at the thumb-VF level. The results support the basic premise that, within a given task, setting a referent configuration may be described with a few referent values of variables that influence the equilibrium state, to which the system is attracted. Moreover, the referent configuration hypothesis can help interpret the data related to the trade-off between synergies at different hierarchical levels.

An fMRI study of finger tapping in children and adults.

PubMed

Turesky, Ted K; Olulade, Olumide A; Luetje, Megan M; Eden, Guinevere F

2018-04-02

Functional brain imaging studies have characterized the neural bases of voluntary movement for finger tapping in adults, but equivalent information for children is lacking. When contrasted to adults, one would expect children to have relatively greater activation, reflecting compensation for an underdeveloped motor system combined with less experience in the execution of voluntary movement. To test this hypothesis, we acquired functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data on 17 healthy right-handed children (7.48 ± 0.66 years) and 15 adults (24.9 ± 2.9 years) while they performed an irregularly paced finger-tapping task in response to a visual cue (left- and right-hand examined separately). Whole-brain within-group analyses revealed that finger tapping in either age group and for either hand activated contralateral SM1, SMA, ipsilateral anterior cerebellum, and occipital cortices. We used an ANOVA factorial design to test for main effects of Age Group (children vs adults), Hand (left vs. right), and their interactions. For main effects of Age Group, children showed relatively greater activity in left SM1 (extending into bilateral SMA), and, surprisingly, adults exhibited relatively greater activity in right pre-SMA/SMA (extending into left pre-SMA/SMA), right lateral globus pallidus, left putamen, and right anterior cerebellum. The interaction of Age Group × Hand revealed that while both groups activated right SM1 during left finger tapping and exhibited signal decreases (i.e., below fixation baseline) during right finger tapping, both these responses were attenuated in children relative to adults. These data provide an important foundation by which to study children with motor disorders. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects of short-term piano training on measures of finger tapping, somatosensory perception and motor-related brain activity in patients with cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Alves-Pinto, Ana; Ehrlich, Stefan; Cheng, Gordon; Turova, Varvara; Blumenstein, Tobias; Lampe, Renée

2017-01-01

Playing a musical instrument demands the integration of sensory and perceptual information with motor processes in order to produce a harmonic musical piece. The diversity of brain mechanisms involved and the joyful character of playing an instrument make musical instrument training a potential vehicle for neurorehabilitation of motor skills in patients with cerebral palsy (CP). This clinical condition is characterized by motor impairments that can affect, among others, manual function, and limit severely the execution of basic daily activities. In this study, adolescents and adult patients with CP, as well as a group of typically developing children learned to play piano for 4 consecutive weeks, having completed a total of 8 hours of training. For ten of the participants, learning was supported by a special technical system aimed at helping people with sensorimotor deficits to better discriminate fingers and orient themselves along the piano keyboard. Potential effects of piano training were assessed with tests of finger tapping at the piano and tests of perception of vibratory stimulation of fingers, and by measuring neuronal correlates of motor learning in the absence of and after piano training. Results were highly variable especially among participants with CP. Nevertheless, a significant effect of training on the ability to perceive the localization of vibrations over fingers was found. No effects of training on the performance of simple finger tapping sequences at the piano or on motor-associated brain responses were registered. Longer periods of training are likely required to produce detectable changes.

Effects of short-term piano training on measures of finger tapping, somatosensory perception and motor-related brain activity in patients with cerebral palsy

PubMed Central

Alves-Pinto, Ana; Ehrlich, Stefan; Cheng, Gordon; Turova, Varvara; Blumenstein, Tobias; Lampe, Renée

2017-01-01

Playing a musical instrument demands the integration of sensory and perceptual information with motor processes in order to produce a harmonic musical piece. The diversity of brain mechanisms involved and the joyful character of playing an instrument make musical instrument training a potential vehicle for neurorehabilitation of motor skills in patients with cerebral palsy (CP). This clinical condition is characterized by motor impairments that can affect, among others, manual function, and limit severely the execution of basic daily activities. In this study, adolescents and adult patients with CP, as well as a group of typically developing children learned to play piano for 4 consecutive weeks, having completed a total of 8 hours of training. For ten of the participants, learning was supported by a special technical system aimed at helping people with sensorimotor deficits to better discriminate fingers and orient themselves along the piano keyboard. Potential effects of piano training were assessed with tests of finger tapping at the piano and tests of perception of vibratory stimulation of fingers, and by measuring neuronal correlates of motor learning in the absence of and after piano training. Results were highly variable especially among participants with CP. Nevertheless, a significant effect of training on the ability to perceive the localization of vibrations over fingers was found. No effects of training on the performance of simple finger tapping sequences at the piano or on motor-associated brain responses were registered. Longer periods of training are likely required to produce detectable changes. PMID:29123403

Observation of Simple Intransitive Actions: The Effect of Familiarity

PubMed Central

Plata Bello, Julio; Modroño, Cristián; Marcano, Francisco; González–Mora, José Luis

2013-01-01

Introduction Humans are more familiar with index – thumb than with any other finger to thumb grasping. The effect of familiarity has been previously tested with complex, specialized and/or transitive movements, but not with simple intransitive ones. The aim of this study is to evaluate brain activity patterns during the observation of simple and intransitive finger movements with differing degrees of familiarity. Methodology A functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study was performed using a paradigm consisting of the observation of 4 videos showing a finger opposition task between the thumb and the other fingers (index, middle, ring and little) in a repetitive manner with a fixed frequency (1 Hz). This movement is considered as the pantomime of a precision grasping action. Results Significant activity was identified in the bilateral Inferior Parietal Lobule and premotor regions with the selected level of significance (FDR [False Discovery Rate] = 0.01). The extent of the activation in both regions tended to decrease when the finger that performed the action was further from the thumb. More specifically, this effect showed a linear trend (index>middle>ring>little) in the right parietal and premotor regions. Conclusions The observation of less familiar simple intransitive movements produces less activation of parietal and premotor areas than familiar ones. The most important implication of this study is the identification of differences in brain activity during the observation of simple intransitive movements with different degrees of familiarity. PMID:24073213

Measures of skin conductance and heart rate in alcoholic men and women during memory performance

PubMed Central

Poey, Alan; Ruiz, Susan Mosher; Marinkovic, Ksenija; Oscar-Berman, Marlene

2015-01-01

We examined abnormalities in physiological responses to emotional stimuli associated with long-term chronic alcoholism. Skin conductance responses (SCR) and heart rate (HR) responses were measured in 32 abstinent alcoholic (ALC) and 30 healthy nonalcoholic (NC) men and women undergoing an emotional memory task in an MRI scanner. The task required participants to remember the identity of two emotionally-valenced faces presented at the onset of each trial during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. After viewing the faces, participants saw a distractor image (an alcoholic beverage, nonalcoholic beverage, or scrambled image) followed by a single probe face. The task was to decide whether the probe face matched one of the two encoded faces. Skin conductance measurements (before and after the encoded faces, distractor, and probe) were obtained from electrodes on the index and middle fingers on the left hand. HR measurements (beats per minute before and after the encoded faces, distractor, and probe) were obtained by a pulse oximeter placed on the little finger on the left hand. We expected that, relative to NC participants, the ALC participants would show reduced SCR and HR responses to the face stimuli, and that we would identify greater reactivity to the alcoholic beverage stimuli than to the distractor stimuli unrelated to alcohol. While the beverage type did not differentiate the groups, the ALC group did have reduced skin conductance and HR responses to elements of the task, as compared to the NC group. PMID:26020002

Contribution of the Cerebellum in Cue-Dependent Force Changes During an Isometric Precision Grip Task.

PubMed

Kutz, Dieter F; Schmid, Barbara C; Meindl, Tobias; Timmann, Dagmar; Kolb, Florian P

2016-08-01

The "raspberry task" represents a precision grip task that requires continuous adjustment of grip forces and pull forces. During this task, subjects use a specialised grip rod and have to increase the pull force linearly while the rod is locked. The positions of the fingers are unrestrained and freely selectable. From the finger positions and the geometry of the grip rod, a physical lever was derived which is a comprehensive measurement of the subject's grip behaviour. In this study, the involvement of the cerebellum in establishing cued force changes (CFC) was examined. The auditory stimulus was associated with a motor behaviour that has to be readjusted during an ongoing movement that already started. Moreover, cerebellar involvement on grip behaviour was examined. The results show that patients presenting with degenerating cerebellar disease (CBL) were able to elicit CFC and were additionally able to optimise grip behaviour by minimising the lever. Comparison of the results of CBL with a control group of healthy subjects showed, however, that the CFC incidence was significantly lower and the reduction of the lever was less in CBL. Hence, the cerebellum is involved not only in the classical conditioning of reflexes but also in the association of sensory stimuli with complex changes in motor behaviour. Furthermore, the cerebellum is involved in the optimisation of grip behaviour during ongoing movements. Recent studies lead to the assumption that the cerebello-reticulo-spinal pathway might be important for the reduced optimisation of grip behaviour in CBL.

Perceptual and Motor Performance of Combat-Sport Athletes Differs According to Specific Demands of the Discipline.

PubMed

Chen, Wei-Ying; Wu, Sheng K; Song, Tai-Fen; Chou, Kuei-Ming; Wang, Kuei-Yuan; Chang, Yao-Ching; Goodbourn, Patrick T

2016-12-07

The specific demands of a combat-sport discipline may be reflected in the perceptual-motor performance of its athletes. Taekwondo, which emphasizes kicking, might require faster perceptual processing to compensate for longer latencies to initiate lower-limb movements and to give rapid visual feedback for dynamic postural control, while Karate, which emphasizes both striking with the hands and kicking, might require exceptional eye-hand coordination and fast perceptual processing. In samples of 38 Taekwondo athletes (16 females, 22 males; mean age = 19.9 years, SD = 1.2), 24 Karate athletes (9 females, 15 males; mean age = 18.9 years, SD = 0.9), and 35 Nonathletes (20 females, 15 males; mean age = 20.6 years, SD = 1.5), we measured eye-hand coordination with the Finger-Nose-Finger task, and both perceptual-processing speed and attentional control with the Covert Orienting of Visual Attention (COVAT) task. Eye-hand coordination was significantly better for Karate athletes than for Taekwondo athletes and Nonathletes, but reaction times for the upper extremities in the COVAT task-indicative of perceptual-processing speed-were faster for Taekwondo athletes than for Karate athletes and Nonathletes. In addition, we found no significant difference among groups in attentional control, as indexed by the reaction-time cost of an invalid cue in the COVAT task. The results suggest that athletes in different combat sports exhibit distinct profiles of perceptual-motor performance. © The Author(s) 2016.

ATRX binds to atypical chromatin domains at the 3′ exons of zinc finger genes to preserve H3K9me3 enrichment

PubMed Central

Chowdhury, Asif H.; Hasson, Dan; Dyer, Michael A.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT ATRX is a SWI/SNF chromatin remodeler proposed to govern genomic stability through the regulation of repetitive sequences, such as rDNA, retrotransposons, and pericentromeric and telomeric repeats. However, few direct ATRX target genes have been identified and high-throughput genomic approaches are currently lacking for ATRX. Here we present a comprehensive ChIP-sequencing study of ATRX in multiple human cell lines, in which we identify the 3′ exons of zinc finger genes (ZNFs) as a new class of ATRX targets. These 3′ exonic regions encode the zinc finger motifs, which can range from 1–40 copies per ZNF gene and share large stretches of sequence similarity. These regions often contain an atypical chromatin signature: they are transcriptionally active, contain high levels of H3K36me3, and are paradoxically enriched in H3K9me3. We find that these ZNF 3′ exons are co-occupied by SETDB1, TRIM28, and ZNF274, which form a complex with ATRX. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated loss-of-function studies demonstrate (i) a reduction of H3K9me3 at the ZNF 3′ exons in the absence of ATRX and ZNF274 and, (ii) H3K9me3 levels at atypical chromatin regions are particularly sensitive to ATRX loss compared to other H3K9me3-occupied regions. As a consequence of ATRX or ZNF274 depletion, cells with reduced levels of H3K9me3 show increased levels of DNA damage, suggesting that ATRX binds to the 3′ exons of ZNFs to maintain their genomic stability through preservation of H3K9me3. PMID:27029610

A ZFY-like sequence in fish, with comments on the evolution of the ZFY family of genes in vertebrates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zimmerer, E.J.; Threlkeld, L.

1995-08-01

ZFY-like genes have been observed in a variety of vertebrate species. Although originally implicated as the primary testis-determining gene in humans and other placental mammals, more recent evidence indicates a role(s) outside that of testis determination. In this study, DNA from five species of fish, Carasius auratus, Rivulus marmoratus, Xiphophorus maculatus, X. milleri, and X. nigrensis was subjected to Southern blot analysis using a PCR-amplified fragment of mouse ZFY-like sequence as a probe. Restriction fragment patterns were not polymorphic between sexes in any one species but showed a different pattern for each species. With one exception, Rivulus, a 3.1-kb bandmore » from the EcoRI digestion was common to all. Sequence and open reading frame analysis of this fragment showed a strong homology to other known vertebrate ZFY-like genes. Of particular interest in this gene is a novel third finger domain similar to one human and one alligator ZFY-like gene. Our studies and others provide evidence for a family of vertebrate ZFY genes, with those having this novel third finger being representative of the ancestral condition. 30 refs., 3 figs., 3 tabs.« less

Computer-Vision-Assisted Palm Rehabilitation With Supervised Learning.

PubMed

Vamsikrishna, K M; Dogra, Debi Prosad; Desarkar, Maunendra Sankar

2016-05-01

Physical rehabilitation supported by the computer-assisted-interface is gaining popularity among health-care fraternity. In this paper, we have proposed a computer-vision-assisted contactless methodology to facilitate palm and finger rehabilitation. Leap motion controller has been interfaced with a computing device to record parameters describing 3-D movements of the palm of a user undergoing rehabilitation. We have proposed an interface using Unity3D development platform. Our interface is capable of analyzing intermediate steps of rehabilitation without the help of an expert, and it can provide online feedback to the user. Isolated gestures are classified using linear discriminant analysis (DA) and support vector machines (SVM). Finally, a set of discrete hidden Markov models (HMM) have been used to classify gesture sequence performed during rehabilitation. Experimental validation using a large number of samples collected from healthy volunteers reveals that DA and SVM perform similarly while applied on isolated gesture recognition. We have compared the results of HMM-based sequence classification with CRF-based techniques. Our results confirm that both HMM and CRF perform quite similarly when tested on gesture sequences. The proposed system can be used for home-based palm or finger rehabilitation in the absence of experts.

Cardiac tissue enriched factors serum response factor and GATA-4 are mutual coregulators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Belaguli, N. S.; Sepulveda, J. L.; Nigam, V.; Charron, F.; Nemer, M.; Schwartz, R. J.

2000-01-01

Combinatorial interaction among cardiac tissue-restricted enriched transcription factors may facilitate the expression of cardiac tissue-restricted genes. Here we show that the MADS box factor serum response factor (SRF) cooperates with the zinc finger protein GATA-4 to synergistically activate numerous myogenic and nonmyogenic serum response element (SRE)-dependent promoters in CV1 fibroblasts. In the absence of GATA binding sites, synergistic activation depends on binding of SRF to the proximal CArG box sequence in the cardiac and skeletal alpha-actin promoter. GATA-4's C-terminal activation domain is obligatory for synergistic coactivation with SRF, and its N-terminal domain and first zinc finger are inhibitory. SRF and GATA-4 physically associate both in vivo and in vitro through their MADS box and the second zinc finger domains as determined by protein A pullout assays and by in vivo one-hybrid transfection assays using Gal4 fusion proteins. Other cardiovascular tissue-restricted GATA factors, such as GATA-5 and GATA-6, were equivalent to GATA-4 in coactivating SRE-dependent targets. Thus, interaction between the MADS box and C4 zinc finger proteins, a novel regulatory paradigm, mediates activation of SRF-dependent gene expression.

Effects of age, task, and frequency on variability of finger tapping.

PubMed

Sommervoll, Yngve; Ettema, Gertjan; Vereijken, Beatrix

2011-10-01

The goal was to assess whether prior studies might have overestimated performance variability in older adults in dual task conditions by relying on primary motor tasks that are not constant with aging. 30 younger and 31 older adults performed a bimanual tapping task at four different frequencies in isolation or concurrently with a secondary task. Results showed that performance of younger and older adults was not significantly different in performing the tapping task at all frequencies and with either secondary task, as indicated by mean tapping performance and low number of errors in the secondary tasks. Both groups showed increased variability as tapping frequency increased and with the presence of a secondary task. Tapping concurrently while reading words increased tapping variability more than tapping concurrently while naming colours. Although older participants' performances were overall more variable, no interaction effects with age were found and at the highest frequencies of tapping, younger and older participants did not differ in performance.

Effects of laparoscopic instrument and finger on force perception: a first step towards laparoscopic force-skills training.

PubMed

Raghu Prasad, M S; Manivannan, M; Chandramohan, S M

2015-07-01

In laparoscopic surgery, no external feedback on the magnitude of the force exerted is available. Hence, surgeons and residents tend to exert excessive force, which leads to tissue trauma. Ability of surgeons and residents to perceive their own force output without external feedback is a critical factor in laparoscopic force-skills training. Additionally, existing methods of laparoscopic training do not effectively train residents and novices on force-skills. Hence, there is growing need for the development of force-based training curriculum. As a first step towards force-based laparoscopic skills training, this study analysed force perception difference between laparoscopic instrument and finger in contralateral bimanual passive probing task. The study compared the isometric force matching performance of novices, residents and surgeons with finger and laparoscopic instrument. Contralateral force matching paradigm was employed to analyse the force perception capability in terms of relative (accuracy), and constant errors in force matching. Force perception of experts was found to be better than novices and residents. Interestingly, laparoscopic instrument was more accurate in discriminating the forces than finger. The dominant hand attempted to match the forces accurately, whereas non-dominant hand (NH) overestimated the forces. Further, the NH of experts was found to be most accurate. Furthermore, excessive forces were applied at lower force levels and at very high force levels. Due to misperception of force, novices and residents applied excessive forces. However, experts had good control over force with both dominant and NHs. These findings suggest that force-based training curricula should not only have proprioception tasks, but should also include bimanual force-skills training exercises in order to improve force perception ability and hand skills of novices and residents. The results can be used as a performance metric in both box and virtual reality based force-skills training.

Visual Foraging With Fingers and Eye Gaze

PubMed Central

Thornton, Ian M.; Smith, Irene J.; Chetverikov, Andrey; Kristjánsson, Árni

2016-01-01

A popular model of the function of selective visual attention involves search where a single target is to be found among distractors. For many scenarios, a more realistic model involves search for multiple targets of various types, since natural tasks typically do not involve a single target. Here we present results from a novel multiple-target foraging paradigm. We compare finger foraging where observers cancel a set of predesignated targets by tapping them, to gaze foraging where observers cancel items by fixating them for 100 ms. During finger foraging, for most observers, there was a large difference between foraging based on a single feature, where observers switch easily between target types, and foraging based on a conjunction of features where observers tended to stick to one target type. The pattern was notably different during gaze foraging where these condition differences were smaller. Two conclusions follow: (a) The fact that a sizeable number of observers (in particular during gaze foraging) had little trouble switching between different target types raises challenges for many prominent theoretical accounts of visual attention and working memory. (b) While caveats must be noted for the comparison of gaze and finger foraging, the results suggest that selection mechanisms for gaze and pointing have different operational constraints. PMID:27433323

PRDM9 variation strongly influences recombination hot-spot activity and meiotic instability in humans.

PubMed

Berg, Ingrid L; Neumann, Rita; Lam, Kwan-Wood G; Sarbajna, Shriparna; Odenthal-Hesse, Linda; May, Celia A; Jeffreys, Alec J

2010-10-01

PRDM9 has recently been identified as a likely trans regulator of meiotic recombination hot spots in humans and mice. PRDM9 contains a zinc finger array that, in humans, can recognize a short sequence motif associated with hot spots, with binding to this motif possibly triggering hot-spot activity via chromatin remodeling. We now report that human genetic variation at the PRDM9 locus has a strong effect on sperm hot-spot activity, even at hot spots lacking the sequence motif. Subtle changes within the zinc finger array can create hot-spot nonactivating or enhancing variants and can even trigger the appearance of a new hot spot, suggesting that PRDM9 is a major global regulator of hot spots in humans. Variation at the PRDM9 locus also influences aspects of genome instability-specifically, a megabase-scale rearrangement underlying two genomic disorders as well as minisatellite instability-implicating PRDM9 as a risk factor for some pathological genome rearrangements.

PRDM9 variation strongly influences recombination hot-spot activity and meiotic instability in humans

PubMed Central

Berg, Ingrid L.; Neumann, Rita; Lam, Kwan-Wood G.; Sarbajna, Shriparna; Odenthal-Hesse, Linda; May, Celia A.; Jeffreys, Alec J.

2011-01-01

PRDM9 has recently been identified as a likely trans-regulator of meiotic recombination hot spots in humans and mice1-3. The protein contains a zinc finger array that in humans can recognise a short sequence motif associated with hot spots4, with binding to this motif possibly triggering hot-spot activity via chromatin remodelling5. We now show that variation in the zinc finger array in humans has a profound effect on sperm hot-spot activity, even at hot spots lacking the sequence motif. Very subtle changes within the array can create hot-spot non-activating and enhancing alleles, and even trigger the appearance of a new hot spot. PRDM9 thus appears to be the preeminent global regulator of hot spots in humans. Variation at this locus also influences aspects of genome instability, specifically a megabase-scale rearrangement underlying two genomic disorders6 as well as minisatellite instability7, implicating PRDM9 as a risk factor for some pathological genome rearrangements. PMID:20818382

Production of Mutated Porcine Embryos Using Zinc Finger Nucleases and a Reporter-based Cell Enrichment System.

PubMed

Koo, Ok Jae; Park, Sol Ji; Lee, Choongil; Kang, Jung Taek; Kim, Sujin; Moon, Joon Ho; Choi, Ji Yei; Kim, Hyojin; Jang, Goo; Kim, Jin-Soo; Kim, Seokjoong; Lee, Byeong-Chun

2014-03-01

To facilitate the construction of genetically-modified pigs, we produced cloned embryos derived from porcine fibroblasts transfected with a pair of engineered zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) plasmids to create targeted mutations and enriched using a reporter plasmid system. The reporter expresses RFP and eGFP simultaneously when ZFN-mediated site-specific mutations occur. Thus, double positive cells (RFP(+)/eGFP(+)) were selected and used for somatic cell nuclear transfer. Two types of reporter based enrichment systems were used in this study; the cloned embryos derived from cells enriched using a magnetic sorting-based system showed better developmental competence than did those derived from cells enriched by flow cytometry. Mutated sequences, such as insertions, deletions, or substitutions, together with the wild-type sequence, were found in the cloned porcine blastocysts. Therefore, genetic mutations can be achieved in cloned porcine embryos reconstructed with ZFN-treated cells that were enriched by a reporter-based system.

Active versus Passive Proprioceptive Straight-Ahead Pointing in Normal Subjects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chokron, Sylvie; Colliot, Pascale; Atzeni, Thierry; Bartolomeo, Paolo; Ohlmann, Theophile

2004-01-01

Eighty blindfolded healthy female subjects participated in an active and a passive straight-ahead pointing task to study the estimation of the subjective sagittal middle in the presence or absence of an active haptic exploration. Subjects were to point straight-ahead with their left or right index finger starting from different right- or…

Shift of Manual Preference in Right-Handers Following Unimanual Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teixeira, Luis Augusto; Teixeira, Maria Candida Tocci

2007-01-01

The effect of unimanual practice of the non-preferred hand on manual asymmetry and manual preference for sequential finger movements was evaluated in right-handers before, immediately after, and 30 days following practice. The results demonstrate that unimanual practice induced a persistent shift of manual preference for the experimental task in…

A Specific Role for Efferent Information in Self-Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsakiris, M.; Haggard, P.; Franck, N.; Mainy, N.; Sirigu, A.

2005-01-01

We investigated the specific contribution of efferent information in a self-recognition task. Subjects experienced a passive extension of the right index finger, either as an effect of moving their left hand via a lever ('self-generated action'), or imposed externally by the experimenter ('externally-generated action'). The visual feedback was…

An Extended Motor Network Generates Beta and Gamma Oscillatory Perturbations during Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Tony W.; Slason, Erin; Asherin, Ryan; Kronberg, Eugene; Reite, Martin L.; Teale, Peter D.; Rojas, Donald C.

2010-01-01

This study examines the time course and neural generators of oscillatory beta and gamma motor responses in typically-developing children. Participants completed a unilateral flexion-extension task using each index finger as whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) data were acquired. These MEG data were imaged in the frequency-domain using spatial…

Analysis of workers' compensation claims data for machine-related injuries in metal fabrication businesses.

PubMed

Yamin, Samuel C; Bejan, Anca; Parker, David L; Xi, Min; Brosseau, Lisa M

2016-08-01

Metal fabrication workers are at high risk for machine-related injury. Apart from amputations, data on factors contributing to this problem are generally absent. Narrative text analysis was performed on workers' compensation claims in order to identify machine-related injuries and determine work tasks involved. Data were further evaluated on the basis of cost per claim, nature of injury, and part of body. From an initial set of 4,268 claims, 1,053 were classified as machine-related. Frequently identified tasks included machine operation (31%), workpiece handling (20%), setup/adjustment (15%), and removing chips (12%). Lacerations to finger(s), hand, or thumb comprised 38% of machine-related injuries; foreign body in the eye accounted for 20%. Amputations were relatively rare but had highest costs per claim (mean $21,059; median $11,998). Despite limitations, workers' compensation data were useful in characterizing machine-related injuries. Improving the quality of data collected by insurers would enhance occupational injury surveillance and prevention efforts. Am. J. Ind. Med. 59:656-664, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Current direction-dependent modulation of human hand motor function by intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS).

PubMed

Shirota, Yuichiro; Dhaka, Suman; Paulus, Walter; Sommer, Martin

2017-05-22

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with different current directions can activate different sets of neurons. Current direction can also affect the results of repetitive TMS. To test the influence of uni-directional intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) using different current directions, namely posteroanterior (PA) and anteroposterior (AP), on motor behaviour. In a cross-over design, PA- and AP-iTBS was applied over the left primary motor cortex in 19 healthy, right-handed volunteers. Performance of a finger-tapping task was recorded before and 0, 10, 20, and 30min after the iTBS. The task was conducted with the right and left hands separately at each time point. As a control, AP-iTBS with reduced intensity was applied to 14 participants in a separate session (AP weak condition). The finger-tapping count with the left hand was decreased after PA-iTBS. Neither AP- nor AP weak -iTBS altered the performance. Current direction had a significant impact on the after-effects of iTBS. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Attentional load and implicit sequence learning.

PubMed

Shanks, David R; Rowland, Lee A; Ranger, Mandeep S

2005-06-01

A widely employed conceptualization of implicit learning hypothesizes that it makes minimal demands on attentional resources. This conjecture was investigated by comparing learning under single-task and dual-task conditions in the sequential reaction time (SRT) task. Participants learned probabilistic sequences, with dual-task participants additionally having to perform a counting task using stimuli that were targets in the SRT display. Both groups were then tested for sequence knowledge under single-task (Experiments 1 and 2) or dual-task (Experiment 3) conditions. Participants also completed a free generation task (Experiments 2 and 3) under inclusion or exclusion conditions to determine if sequence knowledge was conscious or unconscious in terms of its access to intentional control. The experiments revealed that the secondary task impaired sequence learning and that sequence knowledge was consciously accessible. These findings disconfirm both the notion that implicit learning is able to proceed normally under conditions of divided attention, and that the acquired knowledge is inaccessible to consciousness. A unitary framework for conceptualizing implicit and explicit learning is proposed.

Congruency sequence effect in cross-task context: evidence for dimension-specific modulation.

PubMed

Lee, Jaeyong; Cho, Yang Seok

2013-11-01

The congruency sequence effect refers to a reduced congruency effect after incongruent trials relative to congruent trials. This modulation is thought to be, at least in part, due to the control mechanisms resolving conflict. The present study examined the nature of the control mechanisms by having participants perform two different tasks in an alternating way. When participants performed horizontal and vertical Simon tasks in Experiment 1A, and horizontal and vertical spatial Stroop task in Experiment 1B, no congruency sequence effect was obtained between the task congruencies. When the Simon task and spatial Stroop task were performed with different response sets in Experiment 2, no congruency sequence effect was obtained. However, in Experiment 3, in which the participants performed the horizontal Simon and spatial Stroop tasks with an identical response set, a significant congruency sequence effect was obtained between the task congruencies. In Experiment 4, no congruency sequence effect was obtained when participants performed two tasks having different task-irrelevant dimensions with the identical response set. The findings suggest inhibitory processing between the task-irrelevant dimension and response mode after conflict. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Artificial grasping system for the paralyzed hand.

PubMed

Ferrari de Castro, M C; Cliquet, A

2000-03-01

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation has been used in upper limb rehabilitation towards restoring motor hand function. In this work, an 8 channel microcomputer controlled stimulator with monophasic square voltage output was used. Muscle activation sequences were defined to perform palmar and lateral prehension and power grip (index finger extension type). The sequences used allowed subjects to demonstrate their ability to hold and release objects that are encountered in daily living, permitting activities such as drinking, eating, writing, and typing.

Potential role of DNA methylation as a facilitator of target search processes for transcription factors through interplay with methyl-CpG-binding proteins

PubMed Central

Kemme, Catherine A.; Marquez, Rolando; Luu, Ross H.

2017-01-01

Abstract Eukaryotic genomes contain numerous non-functional high-affinity sequences for transcription factors. These sequences potentially serve as natural decoys that sequester transcription factors. We have previously shown that the presence of sequences similar to the target sequence could substantially impede association of the transcription factor Egr-1 with its targets. In this study, using a stopped-flow fluorescence method, we examined the kinetic impact of DNA methylation of decoys on the search process of the Egr-1 zinc-finger protein. We analyzed its association with an unmethylated target site on fluorescence-labeled DNA in the presence of competitor DNA duplexes, including Egr-1 decoys. DNA methylation of decoys alone did not affect target search kinetics. In the presence of the MeCP2 methyl-CpG-binding domain (MBD), however, DNA methylation of decoys substantially (∼10-30-fold) accelerated the target search process of the Egr-1 zinc-finger protein. This acceleration did not occur when the target was also methylated. These results suggest that when decoys are methylated, MBD proteins can block them and thereby allow Egr-1 to avoid sequestration in non-functional locations. This effect may occur in vivo for DNA methylation outside CpG islands (CGIs) and could facilitate localization of some transcription factors within regulatory CGIs, where DNA methylation is rare. PMID:28486614

Physical and mental workload in single-incision laparoscopic surgery and conventional laparoscopy.

PubMed

Koca, Dilek; Yıldız, Sedat; Soyupek, Feray; Günyeli, İlker; Erdemoglu, Ebru; Soyupek, Sedat; Erdemoglu, Evrim

2015-06-01

The aim of the present study is to evaluate mental workload and fatigue in fingers, hand, arm, shoulder in single-incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) and multiport laparoscopy. Volunteers performed chosen tasks by standard laparoscopy and SILS. Time to complete tasks and finger and hand strength were evaluated. Lateral, tripod, and pulp pinch strengths were measured. Hand dexterity was determined by pegboard. Electromyography recordings were taken from biceps and deltoid muscles of both extremities. The main outcome measurement was median frequency (MF) slope. NASA-TLX was used for mental workload. Time to complete laparoscopic tasks were longer in the SILS group (P < .05). Decrease of strength in fingers and hand were similar in SILS and standard laparoscopy. Pegboard time was increased in both hands after SILS (P < .05). MF slope of biceps muscle and deltoid muscle in SILS was far away from the reference slope. MF slope of biceps muscle and deltoid muscle in standard laparoscopy was close to reference slope, indicating there was more fatigue in biceps and deltoid muscles of both upper extremities in SILS group. NASA-TLX score was 73 ± 13.3 and 42 ± 19.5 in SILS and multiport laparoscopy, respectively (P < .01). Mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, performance, effort, and frustration were, respectively, scored 10.7 ± 3.8, 11.7 ± 3.5, 12.2 ± 2.7, 11 ± 3, 13.6 ± 2.7, and 13.5 ± 2.8 in SILS and 6.3 ± 3.1, 6.6 ± 3.3, 7.3 ± 3.3, 7.1 ± 4.1, 7.9 ± 3.9, and 6.6 ± 3.8 in standard laparoscopy (P < .01). SILS is mentally and physically demanding, particularly on arms and shoulders. Fatigue of big muscles, effort, and frustration were major challenges of SILS. Ergonomic intervention of instruments are needed to decrease mental and physical workload. © The Author(s) 2014.

Evaluation of pliers' grip spans in the maximum gripping task and sub-maximum cutting task.

PubMed

Kim, Dae-Min; Kong, Yong-Ku

2016-12-01

A total of 25 males participated to investigate the effects of the grip spans of pliers on the total grip force, individual finger forces and muscle activities in the maximum gripping task and wire-cutting tasks. In the maximum gripping task, results showed that the 50-mm grip span had significantly higher total grip strength than the other grip spans. In the cutting task, the 50-mm grip span also showed significantly higher grip strength than the 65-mm and 80-mm grip spans, whereas the muscle activities showed a higher value at 80-mm grip span. The ratios of cutting force to maximum grip strength were also investigated. Ratios of 30.3%, 31.3% and 41.3% were obtained by grip spans of 50-mm, 65-mm, and 80-mm, respectively. Thus, the 50-mm grip span for pliers might be recommended to provide maximum exertion in gripping tasks, as well as lower maximum-cutting force ratios in the cutting tasks.

Genomic tools and and prospects for new breeding techniques in flower bulb crops

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

For many of the new breeding techniques, sequence information is of the utmost importance. In addition to current breeding techniques, such as marker-assisted selection (MAS) and genetic modification (GM), new breeding techniques such as zinc finger nucleases, oligonucleotide-mediated mutagenesis, R...

Comparison of dominant hand range of motion among throwing types in baseball pitchers.

PubMed

Wang, Lin-Hwa; Kuo, Li-Chieh; Shih, Sheng-Wen; Lo, Kuo-Cheng; Su, Fong-Chin

2013-08-01

Previous research on baseball pitchers' wrists, elbows, and should joints contributes to our understanding of pitchers' control over delicate joint motion and ball release. However, limited research on forearm, wrist, and hand joints prevents full comprehension of the throwing mechanism. The present descriptive laboratory study quantifies angular performances of hand and wrist joints while pitching breaking balls, including fastballs, curveballs and sliders, among pitchers with different skill levels. Nineteen baseball pitchers performed required pitching tasks (10 from university and 9 from high school). A three-dimensional motion analysis system collected pitching motion data. The range of joint motion in the wrist and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) and metacarpophalangeal (MP) joints of the index and middle fingers were compared among fastballs, curveballs and sliders. Thirteen reflective markers were placed on selected anatomic landmarks of the wrist, middle and index fingers of the hand. Wrist flexion angle in the pitching acceleration phase was larger in fastballs (20.58±4.07°) and sliders (22.48±5.45°) than in curveballs (9.08±3.03°) (p = .001). The flexion angle of the PIP joint was significantly larger in curveballs (38.5±3.8°) than in fastballs (30.3±4.8°) and sliders (30.2±4.5°) (p=.004) of the middle finger. Abduction angle of MP joint on the middle finger was significantly larger in curveballs (15.4 ±3.6°) than in fastballs (8.9±1.2°) and sliders (6.9±2.9°) (p=.001) of the middle finger, and the abduction angle of index finger was significantly larger in sliders (13.5±15.0°) than in fastballs (7.2 ±2.8°) (p=.007). Hand and wrist motion and grip types affect the relative position between fingers and ball, which produces different types of baseball pitches. A larger extension angle of the wrist joint and the coordination of middle and index fingers are crucial when pitching a fastball. Abduction and flexion movement on the MP joint of the middle finger are important for a curveball. MP joint abduction and flexion movement of the index finger produce sliders. Understanding the control mechanism in a throwing hand can help improve training protocols in either injury prevention or performance improvement for baseball pitchers. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The structural role of the zinc ion can be dispensable in prokaryotic zinc-finger domains

PubMed Central

Baglivo, Ilaria; Russo, Luigi; Esposito, Sabrina; Malgieri, Gaetano; Renda, Mario; Salluzzo, Antonio; Di Blasio, Benedetto; Isernia, Carla; Fattorusso, Roberto; Pedone, Paolo V.

2009-01-01

The recent characterization of the prokaryotic Cys2His2 zinc-finger domain, identified in Ros protein from Agrobacterium tumefaciens, has demonstrated that, although possessing a similar zinc coordination sphere, this domain is structurally very different from its eukaryotic counterpart. A search in the databases has identified ≈300 homologues with a high sequence identity to the Ros protein, including the amino acids that form the extensive hydrophobic core in Ros. Surprisingly, the Cys2His2 zinc coordination sphere is generally poorly conserved in the Ros homologues, raising the question of whether the zinc ion is always preserved in these proteins. Here, we present a functional and structural study of a point mutant of Ros protein, Ros56–142C82D, in which the second coordinating cysteine is replaced by an aspartate, 5 previously-uncharacterized representative Ros homologues from Mesorhizobium loti, and 2 mutants of the homologues. Our results indicate that the prokaryotic zinc-finger domain, which in Ros protein tetrahedrally coordinates Zn(II) through the typical Cys2His2 coordination, in Ros homologues can either exploit a CysAspHis2 coordination sphere, previously never described in DNA binding zinc finger domains to our knowledge, or lose the metal, while still preserving the DNA-binding activity. We demonstrate that this class of prokaryotic zinc-finger domains is structurally very adaptable, and surprisingly single mutations can transform a zinc-binding domain into a nonzinc-binding domain and vice versa, without affecting the DNA-binding ability. In light of our findings an evolutionary link between the prokaryotic and eukaryotic zinc-finger domains, based on bacteria-to-eukaryota horizontal gene transfer, is discussed. PMID:19369210

The electrostatic role of the Zn-Cys2His2 complex in binding of operator DNA with transcription factors: mouse EGR-1 from the Cys2His2 family.

PubMed

Chirgadze, Y N; Boshkova, E A; Polozov, R V; Sivozhelezov, V S; Dzyabchenko, A V; Kuzminsky, M B; Stepanenko, V A; Ivanov, V V

2018-01-07

The mouse factor Zif268, known also as early growth response protein EGR-1, is a classical representative for the Cys2His2 transcription factor family. It is required for binding the RNA polymerase with operator dsDNA to initialize the transcription process. We have shown that only in this family of total six Zn-finger protein families the Zn complex plays a significant role in the protein-DNA binding. Electrostatic feature of this complex in the binding of factor Zif268 from Mus musculus with operator DNA has been considered. The factor consists of three similar Zn-finger units which bind with triplets of coding DNA. Essential contacts of the factor with the DNA phosphates are formed by three conservative His residues, one in each finger. We describe here the results of calculations of the electrostatic potentials for the Zn-Cys2His2 complex, Zn-finger unit 1, and the whole transcription factor. The potential of Zif268 has a positive area on the factor surface, and it corresponds exactly to the binding sites of each of Zn-finger units. The main part of these areas is determined by conservative His residues, which form contacts with the DNA phosphate groups. Our result shows that the electrostatic positive potential of this histidine residue is enhanced due to the Zn complex. The other contacts of the Zn-finger with DNA are related to nucleotide bases, and they are responsible for the sequence-specific binding with DNA. This result may be extended to all other members of the Cys2His2 transcription factor family.

Lateralized dual task interference in left-handers: initial value differences do not affect the outcome.

PubMed

McBride, D M; Cherry, B J; Kee, D W; Neale, P L

1995-07-01

The study was conducted to clarify factors involved in dual-task finger-tapping interference. Left-handers, as assessed by hand-writing preference and left-hand baseline tapping advantage, tapped both alone and while solving anagrams. Even though the left-hand baseline tapping advantage was experimentally removed on some (adjusted) trials, greater left- than right-hand tapping interference was observed during concurrent task performance. This result coupled with previous findings for right-handed subjects [Kee and Cherry, Neuropsychologia, Vol. 28, pp. 313-316, 1990] indicates that lateralized interference effects are not merely due to initial baseline tapping differences as proposed by Willis and Goodwin [Neuropsychologia, Vol. 25, pp. 719-724, 1987].

The challenge of non-invasive cognitive physiology of the human brain: how to negotiate the irrelevant background noise without spoiling the recorded data through electronic averaging.

PubMed

Tomberg, C; Desmedt, J E

1999-07-29

Brain mechanisms involved in selective attention in humans can be studied by measures of regional blood flow and metabolism (by positron emission tomography) which help identify the various locations with enhanced activities over a period of time of seconds. The physiological measures provided by scalp-recorded brain electrical potentials have a better resolution (milliseconds) and can reveal the actual sequences of distinct neural events and their precise timing. We studied selective attention to sensory inputs from fingers because the brain somatic representations are deployed over the brain convexity under the scalp thereby making it possible to assess distinct stages of cortical processing and representation through their characteristic scalp topographies. In the electrical response to a finger input attended by the subject, the well-known P300 manifests a widespread inhibitory mechanism which is released after a target stimulus has been identified. P300 is preceded by distinct cognitive electrogeneses such as P40, P100 and N140 which can be differentiated from the control (obligatory) profile by superimposition or electronic subtraction. The first cortical response N20 is stable across conditions, suggesting that the first afferent thalamocortical volley is not affected by selective attention. At the next stage of modality-specific cortex in which the sensory features are processed and represented, responses were enhanced (cognitive P40) only a very few milliseconds after arrival of the afferent volley at the cortex, thus documenting a remarkable precocity of attention gain control in the somatic modality. The physiology of selective attention also provides useful cues in relation to non-target inputs which the subject must differentiate in order to perform the task. When having to tell fingers apart, the brain strategy for non-target fingers is not to inhibit or filter them out, but rather to submit their input to several processing operations that are actually enhanced when the discrimination from targets becomes more difficult. While resolving a number of such issues, averaged data cannot disclose the flexibility of brain mechanisms nor the detailed features of cognitive electrogeneses because response variations along time have been ironed out by the bulk treatment. We attempted to address the remarkable versatility of humans in dealing with their sensory environment under ecological conditions by studying single non-averaged responses. We identified distinct cognitive P40, P100, N140 and P300 electrogeneses in spite of the noise by numerically assessing their characteristic scalp topography signatures. Single-trial data suggest reconsiderations of current psychophysiological issues. The study of non-averaged responses can clarify issues raised by averaging studies as illustrated by our recent study of cognitive brain potentials for finger stimuli which remain outside the subject's awareness. This has to do with the physiological basis of the 'cognitive unconscious', that is, current mental processes lying on the fringe or outside of phenomenal awareness and voluntary control, but which can influence ongoing behaviour. Averaged data suggest that, in selective auditory attention, the subject may not notice mild concomitant finger inputs. The study of non-averaged responses documents the optional and independent occurrence of the cognitive P40, P100 and N140 (but not P300) electrogeneses while the finger inputs remain outside phenomenal awareness. These results suggest that the subject unconsciously assigns limited cognitive resources to distinct somatic cortical areas thereby submitting finger inputs to an intermittent curtailed surveillance which can remain on the fringe or outside consciousness. The study of cognitive electrogeneses in single non-averaged responses is making possible a neurophysiology of cognition in real time.

Separation of the global and local components in functional near-infrared spectroscopy signals using principal component spatial filtering

PubMed Central

Zhang, Xian; Noah, Jack Adam; Hirsch, Joy

2016-01-01

Abstract. Global systemic effects not specific to a task can be prominent in functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signals and the separation of task-specific fNIRS signals and global nonspecific effects is challenging due to waveform correlations. We describe a principal component spatial filter algorithm for separation of the global and local effects. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated using fNIRS signals acquired during a right finger-thumb tapping task where the response patterns are well established. Both the temporal waveforms and the spatial pattern consistencies between oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin signals are significantly improved, consistent with the basic physiological basis of fNIRS signals and the expected pattern of activity associated with the task. PMID:26866047

Adapted cuing technique: facilitating sequential phoneme production.

PubMed

Klick, S L

1994-09-01

ACT is a visual cuing technique designed to facilitate dyspraxic speech by highlighting the sequential production of phonemes. In using ACT, cues are presented in such a way as to suggest sequential, coarticulatory movement in an overall pattern of motion. While using ACT, the facilitator's hand moves forward and back along the side of her (or his) own face. Finger movements signal specific speech sounds in formations loosely based on the manual alphabet for the hearing impaired. The best movements suggest the flowing, interactive nature of coarticulated phonemes. The synergistic nature of speech is suggested by coordinated hand motions which tighten and relax, move quickly or slowly, reflecting the motions of the vocal tract at various points during production of phonemic sequences. General principles involved in using ACT include a primary focus on speech-in-motion, the monitoring and fading of cues, and the presentation of stimuli based on motor-task analysis of phonemic sequences. Phonemic sequences are cued along three dimensions: place, manner, and vowel-related mandibular motion. Cuing vowels is a central feature of ACT. Two parameters of vowel production, focal point of resonance and mandibular closure, are cued. The facilitator's hand motions reflect the changing shape of the vocal tract and the trajectory of the tongue that result from the coarticulation of vowels and consonants. Rigid presentation of the phonemes is secondary to the facilitator's primary focus on presenting the overall sequential movement. The facilitator's goal is to self-tailor ACT in response to the changing needs and abilities of the client.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Movement initiation-locked activity of the anterior putamen predicts future movement instability in periodic bimanual movement.

PubMed

Aramaki, Yu; Haruno, Masahiko; Osu, Rieko; Sadato, Norihiro

2011-07-06

In periodic bimanual movements, anti-phase-coordinated patterns often change into in-phase patterns suddenly and involuntarily. Because behavior in the initial period of a sequence of cycles often does not show any obvious errors, it is difficult to predict subsequent movement errors in the later period of the cyclical sequence. Here, we evaluated performance in the later period of the cyclical sequence of bimanual periodic movements using human brain activity measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging as well as using initial movement features. Eighteen subjects performed a 30 s bimanual finger-tapping task. We calculated differences in initiation-locked transient brain activity between antiphase and in-phase tapping conditions. Correlation analysis revealed that the difference in the anterior putamen activity during antiphase compared within-phase tapping conditions was strongly correlated with future instability as measured by the mean absolute deviation of the left-hand intertap interval during antiphase movements relative to in-phase movements (r = 0.81). Among the initial movement features we measured, only the number of taps to establish the antiphase movement pattern exhibited a significant correlation. However, the correlation efficient of 0.60 was not high enough to predict the characteristics of subsequent movement. There was no significant correlation between putamen activity and initial movement features. It is likely that initiating unskilled difficult movements requires increased anterior putamen activity, and this activity increase may facilitate the initiation of movement via the basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuit. Our results suggest that initiation-locked transient activity of the anterior putamen can be used to predict future motor performance.

Mapping the involvement of BA 4a and 4p during Motor Imagery.

PubMed

Sharma, Nikhil; Jones, P S; Carpenter, T A; Baron, Jean-Claude

2008-05-15

Motor Imagery (MI) is an attractive but intriguing means to access the motor network. There are marked inconsistencies in the functional imaging literature regarding the degree, extent and distribution of the primary motor cortex (BA 4) involvement during MI as compared to Executed Movement (EM), which may in part be related to the diverse role of BA 4 and its two subdivisions (i.e., 4a and 4p) in motor processes as well as to methodological issues. Here we used fMRI with monitoring of compliance to show that in healthy volunteers optimally screened for their ability to perform MI the contralateral BA 4 is involved during MI of a finger opposition sequence (2, 3, 4, 5; paced at 1 Hz), albeit less than during EM of the same sequence, and in a location sparing the hand area. Furthermore, both 4a and 4p subdivisions were found to be involved in MI, but the relative involvement of BA 4p appeared more robust and closer to that seen with EM. We suggest that during MI the role of BA 4 and its subdivisions may be non-executive, perhaps related to spatial encoding, though clearly further studies are needed. Finally, we report a similar hemispheric activation balance within BA 4 with both tasks, which extends the commonalities between EM and MI.

“Effects of combined peripheral nerve stimulation and brain polarization on performance of a motor sequence task after chronic stroke”

PubMed Central

Celnik, Pablo; Paik, Nam-Jong; Vandermeeren, Yves; Dimyan, Michael; Cohen, Leonardo G.

2009-01-01

Background Recent work demonstrated that application of peripheral nerve and cortical stimulation independently can induce modest improvements in motor performance in patients with stroke. Objective To test the hypothesis that combining peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) to the paretic hand with anodal direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the ipsilesional primary motor cortex (M1) would facilitate beneficial effects of motor training more than each intervention alone or sham (tDCSSham and PNSSham). Methods Nine chronic stroke patients completed a blinded, cross-over designed study. In separate sessions, we investigated the effects of single applications of PNS+tDCS, PNS+tDCSSham, tDCS+PNSSham and PNSSham+tDCSSham prior to motor training on the ability to perform finger motor sequences with the paretic hand. Results PNS+tDCS resulted in a 41.3% improvement in the number of correct key presses relative to PNSSham+tDCSSham, 15.4% relative to PNS+tDCSSham and 22.7% relative to tDCS+PNSSham. These performance differences were maintained 1 and 6 days after the end of the training. Conclusions These results indicate that combining PNS with tDCS can facilitate the beneficial effects of training on motor performance beyond levels reached with each intervention alone, a finding of relevance for the neurorehabilitation of motor impairments after stroke. PMID:19286579

Designing a Polymerase Chain Reaction Device Working with Radiation and Convection Heat Transfer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madadelahi, M.; Kalan, K.; Shamloo, A.

2018-05-01

Gene proliferation is vital for infectious and genetic diseases diagnosis from a blood sample, even before birth. In addition, DNA sequencing, genetic finger-print analyzing, and genetic mutation detecting can be mentioned as other procedures requiring gene reproduction. Polymerase chain reaction, briefly known as PCR, is a convenient and effective way to accomplish this task; where the DNA containing sample faces three temperature phases alternatively. These phases are known as denaturation, annealing, and elongation/extension which in this study -regarding the type of the primers and the target DNA sequence- are set to occur at 95, 58, and 72 degrees of Celsius. In this study, a PCR device has been designed and fabricated which uses radiation and convection heat transfer at the same time to set and control the mentioned thermal sections. A 300W incandescent light bulb able to immediately turn off and on along with two 8×8 cm DC fans, controlled by a microcontroller as well as PID and PD controller codes are used to monitor the applied thermal cycles. In designing the controller codes it has been concerned that they not only control the temperature over the set-points as well as possible, but also increase the temperature variation rate between each two phases. The temperature data were plotted and DNA samples were used to assess the device function.

Ecological Relevance Determines Task Priority in Older Adults' Multitasking.

PubMed

Doumas, Michail; Krampe, Ralf Th

2015-05-01

Multitasking is a challenging aspect of human behavior, especially if the concurrently performed tasks are different in nature. Several studies demonstrated pronounced performance decrements (dual-task costs) in older adults for combinations of cognitive and motor tasks. However, patterns of costs among component tasks differed across studies and reasons for participants' resource allocation strategies remained elusive. We investigated young and older adults' multitasking of a working memory task and two sensorimotor tasks, one with low (finger force control) and one with high ecological relevance (postural control). The tasks were performed in single-, dual-, and triple-task contexts. Working memory accuracy was reduced in dual-task contexts with either sensorimotor task and deteriorated further under triple-task conditions. Postural and force performance deteriorated with age and task difficulty in dual-task contexts. However, in the triple-task context with its maximum resource demands, older adults prioritized postural control over both force control and memory. Our results identify ecological relevance as the key factor in older adults' multitasking. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Engineering and Application of Zinc Finger Proteins and TALEs for Biomedical Research.

PubMed

Kim, Moon-Soo; Kini, Anu Ganesh

2017-08-01

Engineered DNA-binding domains provide a powerful technology for numerous biomedical studies due to their ability to recognize specific DNA sequences. Zinc fingers (ZF) are one of the most common DNA-binding domains and have been extensively studied for a variety of applications, such as gene regulation, genome engineering and diagnostics. Another novel DNA-binding domain known as a transcriptional activator-like effector (TALE) has been more recently discovered, which has a previously undescribed DNA-binding mode. Due to their modular architecture and flexibility, TALEs have been rapidly developed into artificial gene targeting reagents. Here, we describe the methods used to design these DNA-binding proteins and their key applications in biomedical research.

Virtual three-dimensional blackboard: three-dimensional finger tracking with a single camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Andrew; Hassan-Shafique, Khurram; Shah, Mubarak; da Vitoria Lobo, N.

2004-01-01

We present a method for three-dimensional (3D) tracking of a human finger from a monocular sequence of images. To recover the third dimension from the two-dimensional images, we use the fact that the motion of the human arm is highly constrained owing to the dependencies between elbow and forearm and the physical constraints on joint angles. We use these anthropometric constraints to derive a 3D trajectory of a gesticulating arm. The system is fully automated and does not require human intervention. The system presented can be used as a visualization tool, as a user-input interface, or as part of some gesture-analysis system in which 3D information is important.

Common brain regions underlying different arithmetic operations as revealed by conjunct fMRI-BOLD activation.

PubMed

Fehr, Thorsten; Code, Chris; Herrmann, Manfred

2007-10-03

The issue of how and where arithmetic operations are represented in the brain has been addressed in numerous studies. Lesion studies suggest that a network of different brain areas are involved in mental calculation. Neuroimaging studies have reported inferior parietal and lateral frontal activations during mental arithmetic using tasks of different complexities and using different operators (addition, subtraction, etc.). Indeed, it has been difficult to compare brain activation across studies because of the variety of different operators and different presentation modalities used. The present experiment examined fMRI-BOLD activity in participants during calculation tasks entailing different arithmetic operations -- addition, subtraction, multiplication and division -- of different complexities. Functional imaging data revealed a common activation pattern comprising right precuneus, left and right middle and superior frontal regions during all arithmetic operations. All other regional activations were operation specific and distributed in prominently frontal, parietal and central regions when contrasting complex and simple calculation tasks. The present results largely confirm former studies suggesting that activation patterns due to mental arithmetic appear to reflect a basic anatomical substrate of working memory, numerical knowledge and processing based on finger counting, and derived from a network originally related to finger movement. We emphasize that in mental arithmetic research different arithmetic operations should always be examined and discussed independently of each other in order to avoid invalid generalizations on arithmetics and involved brain areas.

Altered fine motor function at school age in Inuit children exposed to PCBs, methylmercury, and lead.

PubMed

Boucher, Olivier; Muckle, Gina; Ayotte, Pierre; Dewailly, Eric; Jacobson, Sandra W; Jacobson, Joseph L

2016-10-01

Motor deficits have frequently been reported in methylmercury (MeHg) poisoning in adults. However, whether exposure to neurotoxic contaminants from environmental sources early in life is associated with neuromotor impairments has received relatively little attention. This study examines the relation of developmental exposure to MeHg, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and lead to motor function in school-age Inuit children exposed through their traditional diet. In a prospective study in Nunavik, children (mean age=11.3years) were assessed on a battery of fine motor tasks, namely the Stanford-Binet Copying subtest (N=262), the Santa Ana Form Board, and the Finger Tapping Test (N=215). The relation of mercury (Hg; as an index of MeHg exposure), PCB congener 153 (PCB153), and lead concentrations in cord and current blood samples to task performance was examined using linear regression analyses. After adjustment for potential confounders and control for the other contaminants, higher current PCB concentrations were associated with poorer Santa Ana Form Board and Finger Tapping performance. Results were virtually identical when PCB153 was replaced by other PCB congeners. Higher current Hg levels were independently associated with poorer Finger Tapping performance. This is the first prospective longitudinal study in children to provide evidence of neuromotor impairments associated with postnatal exposure to seafood contaminants from environmental sources. Fine motor speed appears particularly sensitive to the effects of postnatal PCB exposure, which is unusually high in this population. Results with postnatal MeHg are concordant with previous cross-sectional studies with children and adults. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chronic recording of hand prosthesis control signals via a regenerative peripheral nerve interface in a rhesus macaque

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Irwin, Z. T.; Schroeder, K. E.; Vu, P. P.; Tat, D. M.; Bullard, A. J.; Woo, S. L.; Sando, I. C.; Urbanchek, M. G.; Cederna, P. S.; Chestek, C. A.

2016-08-01

Objective. Loss of even part of the upper limb is a devastating injury. In order to fully restore natural function when lacking sufficient residual musculature, it is necessary to record directly from peripheral nerves. However, current approaches must make trade-offs between signal quality and longevity which limit their clinical potential. To address this issue, we have developed the regenerative peripheral nerve interface (RPNI) and tested its use in non-human primates. Approach. The RPNI consists of a small, autologous partial muscle graft reinnervated by a transected peripheral nerve branch. After reinnervation, the graft acts as a bioamplifier for descending motor commands in the nerve, enabling long-term recording of high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), functionally-specific electromyographic (EMG) signals. We implanted nine RPNIs on separate branches of the median and radial nerves in two rhesus macaques who were trained to perform cued finger movements. Main results. No adverse events were noted in either monkey, and we recorded normal EMG with high SNR (>8) from the RPNIs for up to 20 months post-implantation. Using RPNI signals recorded during the behavioral task, we were able to classify each monkey’s finger movements as flexion, extension, or rest with >96% accuracy. RPNI signals also enabled functional prosthetic control, allowing the monkeys to perform the same behavioral task equally well with either physical finger movements or RPNI-based movement classifications. Significance. The RPNI signal strength, stability, and longevity demonstrated here represents a promising method for controlling advanced prosthetic limbs and fully restoring natural movement.

Chronic recording of hand prosthesis control signals via a regenerative peripheral nerve interface in a rhesus macaque.

PubMed

Irwin, Z T; Schroeder, K E; Vu, P P; Tat, D M; Bullard, A J; Woo, S L; Sando, I C; Urbanchek, M G; Cederna, P S; Chestek, C A

2016-08-01

Loss of even part of the upper limb is a devastating injury. In order to fully restore natural function when lacking sufficient residual musculature, it is necessary to record directly from peripheral nerves. However, current approaches must make trade-offs between signal quality and longevity which limit their clinical potential. To address this issue, we have developed the regenerative peripheral nerve interface (RPNI) and tested its use in non-human primates. The RPNI consists of a small, autologous partial muscle graft reinnervated by a transected peripheral nerve branch. After reinnervation, the graft acts as a bioamplifier for descending motor commands in the nerve, enabling long-term recording of high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), functionally-specific electromyographic (EMG) signals. We implanted nine RPNIs on separate branches of the median and radial nerves in two rhesus macaques who were trained to perform cued finger movements. No adverse events were noted in either monkey, and we recorded normal EMG with high SNR (>8) from the RPNIs for up to 20 months post-implantation. Using RPNI signals recorded during the behavioral task, we were able to classify each monkey's finger movements as flexion, extension, or rest with >96% accuracy. RPNI signals also enabled functional prosthetic control, allowing the monkeys to perform the same behavioral task equally well with either physical finger movements or RPNI-based movement classifications. The RPNI signal strength, stability, and longevity demonstrated here represents a promising method for controlling advanced prosthetic limbs and fully restoring natural movement.

Neural correlates of cerebellar-mediated timing during finger tapping in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

PubMed

du Plessis, Lindie; Jacobson, Sandra W; Molteno, Christopher D; Robertson, Frances C; Peterson, Bradley S; Jacobson, Joseph L; Meintjes, Ernesta M

2015-01-01

Classical eyeblink conditioning (EBC), an elemental form of learning, is among the most sensitive indicators of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. The cerebellum plays a key role in maintaining timed movements with millisecond accuracy required for EBC. Functional MRI (fMRI) was used to identify cerebellar regions that mediate timing in healthy controls and the degree to which these areas are also recruited in children with prenatal alcohol exposure. fMRI data were acquired during an auditory rhythmic/non-rhythmic finger tapping task. We present results for 17 children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) or partial FAS, 17 heavily exposed (HE) nonsyndromal children and 16 non- or minimally exposed controls. Controls showed greater cerebellar blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activation in right crus I, vermis IV-VI, and right lobule VI during rhythmic than non-rhythmic finger tapping. The alcohol-exposed children showed smaller activation increases during rhythmic tapping in right crus I than the control children and the most severely affected children with either FAS or PFAS showed smaller increases in vermis IV-V. Higher levels of maternal alcohol intake per occasion during pregnancy were associated with reduced activation increases during rhythmic tapping in all four regions associated with rhythmic tapping in controls. The four cerebellar areas activated by the controls more during rhythmic than non-rhythmic tapping have been implicated in the production of timed responses in several previous studies. These data provide evidence linking binge-like drinking during pregnancy to poorer function in cerebellar regions involved in timing and somatosensory processing needed for complex tasks requiring precise timing.

Functional MRI evidence for fine motor praxis dysfunction in children with persistent speech disorders.

PubMed

Redle, Erin; Vannest, Jennifer; Maloney, Thomas; Tsevat, Rebecca K; Eikenberry, Sarah; Lewis, Barbara; Shriberg, Lawrence D; Tkach, Jean; Holland, Scott K

2015-02-09

Children with persistent speech disorders (PSD) often present with overt or subtle motor deficits; the possibility that speech disorders and motor deficits could arise from a shared neurological base is currently unknown. Functional MRI (fMRI) was used to examine the brain networks supporting fine motor praxis in children with PSD and without clinically identified fine motor deficits. This case-control study included 12 children with PSD (mean age 7.42 years, four female) and 12 controls (mean age 7.44 years, four female). Children completed behavioral evaluations using standardized motor assessments and parent reported functional measures. During fMRI scanning, participants completed a cued finger tapping task contrasted passive listening. A general linear model approach identified brain regions associated with finger tapping in each group and regions that differed between groups. The relationship between regional fMRI activation and fine motor skill was assessed using a regression analysis. Children with PSD had significantly poorer results for rapid speech production and fine motor praxis skills, but did not differ on classroom functional skills. Functional MRI results showed that children with PSD had significantly more activation in the cerebellum during finger tapping. Positive correlations between performance on a fine motor praxis test and activation multiple cortical regions were noted for children with PSD but not for controls. Over-activation in the cerebellum during a motor task may reflect a subtle abnormality in the non-speech motor neural circuitry in children with PSD. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

INSTRUCTIONAL TELEVISION FOR THE FOURTH GRADE. A TEACHER GUIDE SEMESTER II.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

PELIKAN, ALFRED; AND OTHERS

PROGRAMS FOR FOURTH GRADE ARE DIVIDED INTO FOUR AREAS--ART, MUSIC PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SCIENCE. ART LESSONS INCLUDE THE PAPER CONSTRUCTION OF ROCKETS AND SPACESHIPS, FINGER PUPPETS, SANDPAPER PRINTS AND GLASS ADDITIVE PRINTS. EACH LESSON IS PRESENTED COMPLETE WITH PURPOSES, PROCESS AND MEDIUM, SUBJECT, MATERIALS, PROPOSED SEQUENCE, AND…

Development of Motor Speed and Associated Movements from 5 to 18 Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gasser, Theo; Rousson, Valentin; Caflisch, Jon; Jenni, Oskar G.

2010-01-01

Aim: To study the development of motor speed and associated movements in participants aged 5 to 18 years for age, sex, and laterality. Method: Ten motor tasks of the Zurich Neuromotor Assessment (repetitive and alternating movements of hands and feet, repetitive and sequential finger movements, the pegboard, static and dynamic balance,…

Toward a Psychophysics of Agency: Detecting Gain and Loss of Control over Auditory Action Effects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Repp, Bruno H.; Knoblich, Gunther

2007-01-01

Theories of agency--the feeling of being in control of one's actions and their effects--emphasize either perceptual or cognitive aspects. This study addresses both aspects simultaneously in a finger-tapping paradigm. The tasks required participants to detect when synchronization of their taps with computer-controlled tones changed to…

Genome Editing Tools in Plants

PubMed Central

Mohanta, Tapan Kumar; Bashir, Tufail; Hashem, Abeer; Bae, Hanhong

2017-01-01

Genome editing tools have the potential to change the genomic architecture of a genome at precise locations, with desired accuracy. These tools have been efficiently used for trait discovery and for the generation of plants with high crop yields and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Due to complex genomic architecture, it is challenging to edit all of the genes/genomes using a particular genome editing tool. Therefore, to overcome this challenging task, several genome editing tools have been developed to facilitate efficient genome editing. Some of the major genome editing tools used to edit plant genomes are: Homologous recombination (HR), zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), pentatricopeptide repeat proteins (PPRs), the CRISPR/Cas9 system, RNA interference (RNAi), cisgenesis, and intragenesis. In addition, site-directed sequence editing and oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis have the potential to edit the genome at the single-nucleotide level. Recently, adenine base editors (ABEs) have been developed to mutate A-T base pairs to G-C base pairs. ABEs use deoxyadeninedeaminase (TadA) with catalytically impaired Cas9 nickase to mutate A-T base pairs to G-C base pairs. PMID:29257124

Determination and evaluation of acceptable force limits in single-digit tasks.

PubMed

Nussbaum, Maury A; Johnson, Hope

2002-01-01

Acceptable limits derived from psychophysical methodologies have been proposed, measured, and employed in a range of applications. There is little existing work, however, on such limits for single-digit exertions and relatively limited evidence on several fundamental issues related to data collection and processing of a sequence of self-regulated exertion levels. An experimental study was conducted using 14 male and 10 female participants (age range 18-31 years) from whom maximal voluntary exertions and maximal acceptable limits (MALs) were obtained using the index finger and thumb. Moderate to high levels of consistency were found for both measures between sessions separated by one day. Single MAL values, determined from a time series of exertions, were equivalent across three divergent processing methods and between values obtained from 5- and 25-min samples. A critical interpretation of these and earlier results supports continued use of acceptable limits but also suggests that they should be used with some caution and not equated with safe limits. This research can be applied toward future development of exertion limits based on perceived acceptability.

Changes in neuromagnetic beta-band oscillation after music-supported stroke rehabilitation.

PubMed

Fujioka, Takako; Ween, Jon Erik; Jamali, Shahab; Stuss, Donald T; Ross, Bernhard

2012-04-01

Precise timing of sound is crucial in music for both performing and listening. Indeed, listening to rhythmic sound sequences activates not only the auditory system but also the sensorimotor system. Previously, we showed the significance of neural beta-band oscillations (15-30 Hz) for the timing processing that involves such auditory-motor coordination. Thus, we hypothesized that motor rehabilitation training incorporating music playing will stimulate and enhance auditory-motor interaction in stroke patients. We examined three chronic patients who received Music-Supported Therapy following the protocols practiced by Schneider. Neuromagnetic beta-band activity was remarkably alike during passive listening to a metronome and during finger tapping, with or without the metronome, for either the paretic or nonparetic hand, suggesting a shared mechanism of the beta modulation. In the listening task, the magnitude of the beta decrease after the tone onset was more pronounced at the posttraining time point and was accompanied by improved arm and hand skills. The present case data give insight into the neural underpinnings of rehabilitation with music making and rhythmic auditory stimulation. © 2012 New York Academy of Sciences.

Behavioral and TMS Markers of Action Observation Might Reflect Distinct Neuronal Processes.

PubMed

Hétu, Sébastien; Taschereau-Dumouchel, Vincent; Meziane, Hadj Boumediene; Jackson, Philip L; Mercier, Catherine

2016-01-01

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies have shown that observing an action induces muscle-specific changes in corticospinal excitability. From a signal detection theory standpoint, this pattern can be related to sensitivity, which here would measure the capacity to distinguish between two action observation conditions. In parallel to these TMS studies, action observation has also been linked to behavioral effects such as motor priming and interference. It has been hypothesized that behavioral markers of action observation could be related to TMS markers and thus represent a potentially cost-effective mean of assessing the functioning of the action-perception system. However, very few studies have looked at possible relationships between these two measures. The aim of this study was to investigate if individual differences in sensitivity to action observation could be related to the behavioral motor priming and interference effects produced by action observation. To this end, 14 healthy participants observed index and little finger movements during a TMS task and a stimulus-response compatibility task. Index muscle displayed sensitivity to action observation, and action observation resulted in significant motor priming+interference, while no significant effect was observed for the little finger in both task. Nevertheless, our results indicate that the sensitivity measured in TMS was not related to the behavioral changes measured in the stimulus-response compatibility task. Contrary to a widespread assumption, the current results indicate that individual differences in physiological and behavioral markers of action observation may be unrelated. This could have important impacts on the potential use of behavioral markers in place of more costly physiological markers of action observation in clinical settings.

Speed effects of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Klostermann, Fabian; Wahl, Michael; Marzinzik, Frank; Vesper, Jan; Sommer, Werner; Curio, Gabriel

2010-12-15

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) accelerates reaction time (RT) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), particularly in tasks in which decisions on the response side have to be made. This might indicate that DBS speeds up both motor and nonmotor operations. Therefore, we studied the extent to which modifications of different processing streams could explain changes of RT under subthalamic DBS. Ten PD patients on-DBS and off-DBS and 10 healthy subjects performed a choice-response task (CRT), requiring either right or left finger button presses. At the same time, EEG recordings were performed, so that RTs could be assessed together with lateralized readiness potentials (LRP), indicative of movement preparation. Additionally, an oddball task (OT) was run, in which right finger responses to target stimuli were recorded along with cognitive P300 responses. Generally, PD patients off-DBS had longer RTs than controls. Subthalamic DBS accelerated RT only in CRT. This could largely be explained by analog shortenings of LRP. No DBS-dependent changes were identified in OT, neither on the level of RT nor on the level of P300 latencies. It follows that RT accelerations under DBS of the STN are predominantly due to effects on the timing of motor instead of nonmotor processes. This starting point explains why DBS gains of response speed are low in tasks in which reactions are initiated from an advanced level of movement preparation (as in OT), and high whenever motor responses have to be raised from scratch (as in CRT). © 2010 Movement Disorder Society.

Uncovering beat deafness: detecting rhythm disorders with synchronized finger tapping and perceptual timing tasks.

PubMed

Dalla Bella, Simone; Sowiński, Jakub

2015-03-16

A set of behavioral tasks for assessing perceptual and sensorimotor timing abilities in the general population (i.e., non-musicians) is presented here with the goal of uncovering rhythm disorders, such as beat deafness. Beat deafness is characterized by poor performance in perceiving durations in auditory rhythmic patterns or poor synchronization of movement with auditory rhythms (e.g., with musical beats). These tasks include the synchronization of finger tapping to the beat of simple and complex auditory stimuli and the detection of rhythmic irregularities (anisochrony detection task) embedded in the same stimuli. These tests, which are easy to administer, include an assessment of both perceptual and sensorimotor timing abilities under different conditions (e.g., beat rates and types of auditory material) and are based on the same auditory stimuli, ranging from a simple metronome to a complex musical excerpt. The analysis of synchronized tapping data is performed with circular statistics, which provide reliable measures of synchronization accuracy (e.g., the difference between the timing of the taps and the timing of the pacing stimuli) and consistency. Circular statistics on tapping data are particularly well-suited for detecting individual differences in the general population. Synchronized tapping and anisochrony detection are sensitive measures for identifying profiles of rhythm disorders and have been used with success to uncover cases of poor synchronization with spared perceptual timing. This systematic assessment of perceptual and sensorimotor timing can be extended to populations of patients with brain damage, neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Parkinson's disease), and developmental disorders (e.g., Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

Non-linear Relationship between BOLD Activation and Amplitude of Beta Oscillations in the Supplementary Motor Area during Rhythmic Finger Tapping and Internal Timing.

PubMed

Gompf, Florian; Pflug, Anja; Laufs, Helmut; Kell, Christian A

2017-01-01

Functional imaging studies using BOLD contrasts have consistently reported activation of the supplementary motor area (SMA) both during motor and internal timing tasks. Opposing findings, however, have been shown for the modulation of beta oscillations in the SMA. While movement suppresses beta oscillations in the SMA, motor and non-motor tasks that rely on internal timing increase the amplitude of beta oscillations in the SMA. These independent observations suggest that the relationship between beta oscillations and BOLD activation is more complex than previously thought. Here we set out to investigate this rapport by examining beta oscillations in the SMA during movement with varying degrees of internal timing demands. In a simultaneous EEG-fMRI experiment, 20 healthy right-handed subjects performed an auditory-paced finger-tapping task. Internal timing was operationalized by including conditions with taps on every fourth auditory beat, which necessitates generation of a slow internal rhythm, while tapping to every auditory beat reflected simple auditory-motor synchronization. In the SMA, BOLD activity increased and power in both the low and the high beta band decreased expectedly during each condition compared to baseline. Internal timing was associated with a reduced desynchronization of low beta oscillations compared to conditions without internal timing demands. In parallel with this relative beta power increase, internal timing activated the SMA more strongly in terms of BOLD. This documents a task-dependent non-linear relationship between BOLD and beta-oscillations in the SMA. We discuss different roles of beta synchronization and desynchronization in active processing within the same cortical region.