Smartphone-Based Pelvic Movement Asymmetry Measures for Clinical Decision Making in Equine Lameness Assessment.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Marunova E
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8228485 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Reasons for performing studyLungeing is commonly used as part of standard lameness examinations in horses. Knowledge of how lungeing influences motion symmetry in sound horses is needed.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to objectively evaluate the symmetry of vertical head and pelvic motion during lungeing in a large number of horses with symmetric motion during straight line evaluation.Study designCross-sectional prospective study.MethodsA pool of 201 riding horses, all functioning well and considered sound by their owners, were evaluated in trot on a straight line and during lungeing to the left and right. From this pool, horses with symmetric vertical head and pelvic movement during the straight line trot (n = 94) were retained for analysis. Vertical head and pelvic movements were measured with body mounted uniaxial accelerometers. Differences between vertical maximum and minimum head (HDmax, HDmin) and pelvic (PDmax, PDmin) heights between left and right forelimb and hindlimb stances were compared between straight line trot and lungeing in either direction.ResultsVertical head and pelvic movements during lungeing were more asymmetric than during trot on a straight line. Common asymmetric patterns seen in the head were more upward movement during push-off of the outside forelimb and less downward movement during impact of the inside limb. Common asymmetric patterns seen in the pelvis were less upward movement during push-off of the outside hindlimb and less downward movement of the pelvis during impact of the inside hindlimb. Asymmetric patterns in one lunge direction were frequently not the same as in the opposite direction.ConclusionsLungeing induces systematic asymmetries in vertical head and pelvic motion patterns in horses that may not be the same in both directions. These asymmetries may mask or mimic fore- or hindlimb lameness.
| S-EPMC5032979 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Emotional states such as sadness, anger, and threat have been shown to play a critical role in decision-making processes. Here we addressed the question of whether risk preferences are influenced by postural threat and whether this influence generalizes across motor tasks. We examined risk attitudes in the context of arm-reaching (ARM) and whole-body (WB) leaning movements, expecting that increased postural threat would lead to proportionally similar changes in risk-sensitivity for each motor task. Healthy young adults were shown a series of two-alternative forced-choice lotteries, where they were asked to choose between a riskier lottery and a safer lottery on each trial. Our lotteries consisted of different monetary rewards and target sizes. Subjects performed each choice task at ground level and atop an elevated platform. In the presence of this postural threat, increased physiological arousal was correlated with decreased movement variability. To determine risk-sensitivity, we quantified the frequency with which a subject chose the riskier lottery and fit lottery responses to a choice model based on cumulative prospect theory (CPT). Subjects exhibited idiosyncratic changes in risk-sensitivity between motor tasks and between elevations. However, we found that overweighting of small probabilities increased with postural threat in the WB task, indicating a more cautious, risk-averse strategy is ascribed to the possibility of a fall. Subjects were also more risk-seeking in the WB movements than in ARM at low elevation; this behavior does not seem to derive from consistent distortions in utility or probability representations but may be explained by subjects' inaccurate estimation of their own motor variability. Overall, our findings suggest that implicit threat can modify risk attitudes in the motor domain, and the threat may induce risk-aversion in salient movement tasks.
| S-EPMC4460527 | biostudies-other
Project description:Previous studies suggest that humans are capable of coregulating the speed of decisions and movements if promoted by task incentives. It is unclear however whether such behavior is inherent to the process of translating decisional information into movements, beyond posing a valid strategy in some task contexts. Therefore, in a behavioral online study we imposed time constraints to either decision- or movement phases of a sensorimotor task, ensuring that coregulating decisions and movements was not promoted by task incentives. We found that participants indeed moved faster when fast decisions were promoted and decided faster when subsequent finger tapping movements had to be executed swiftly. These results were further supported by drift diffusion modelling and inspection of psychophysical kernels: Sensorimotor delays related to initiating the finger tapping sequence were shorter in fast-decision as compared to slow-decision blocks. Likewise, the decisional speed-accuracy tradeoff shifted in favor of faster decisions in fast-tapping as compared to slow-tapping blocks. These findings suggest that decisions not only impact movement characteristics, but that properties of movement impact the time taken to decide. We interpret these behavioral results in the context of embodied decision-making, whereby shared neural mechanisms may modulate decisions and movements in a joint fashion.
| S-EPMC9968293 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background/objectivesAs the elderly population and associated number of persons with dementia increase, so does the need for decision-making capacity assessments (DMCAs). Many healthcare professionals (HCPs), however, do not feel prepared to conduct DMCAs. We have provided 4-h DMCA workshops to HCPs since 2006 and offered physicians either a 3-h or 2-day DMCA workshop from 2013 to present. We evaluated the effectiveness of the workshops on self-reported key concepts of capacity.DesignPre-/post-test design.SettingDMCA workshops for physicians across Canada and HCPs within Alberta.ParticipantsTwo hundred and eighty-one physicians and 835 HCPs.MeasurementsPre-/post-workshop ratings on level of comfort with and understanding of 15 core DMCA concepts using 4-point Likert-type items.ResultsFor the DMCA workshops among physicians, ten 3-h workshops were held in 2014-2015 with 166 participants and seven 2-day workshops, between 2014 and 2018, with 115 participants. With respect to the self-report on core DMCA concepts, at least 62.7% (range: 62.7%-89.6%) of physician participants had higher post-workshop ratings (sign test; p < 0.001) than pre-workshop ratings for all core DMCA concepts. For the DMCA workshops among HCPs, 4-h workshops were delivered to 835 HCP participants from 2008 to 2012. At least 49.6% of participants (range: 49.6%-78.9%) had increased post-workshop ratings (sign test; p < 0.001) for all level of comfort items with and understanding of core DMCA concepts.ConclusionThere is a need for DMCA training for physicians and HCPs. The content and method of the workshops are effective at enhancing self-reported level of comfort with and understanding of core DMCA concepts.
| S-EPMC8247986 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The assessment of lameness in horses can be aided by objective gait analysis tools. Despite their key role of evaluating a horse at trot on a circle, asymmetry thresholds have not been determined for differentiating between sound and lame gait during this exercise. These thresholds are essential to distinguish physiological asymmetry linked to the circle from pathological asymmetry linked to lameness. This study aims to determine the Asymmetry Indices (AIs) with the highest power to discriminate between a group of sound horses and a group of horses with consistent unilateral lameness across both circle directions, as categorized by visual lameness assessment conducted by specialist veterinarians. Then, thresholds were defined for the best performing AIs, based on the optimal sensitivity and specificity. AIs were calculated as the relative comparison between left and right minima, maxima, time between maxima and upward amplitudes of the vertical displacement of the head and the withers. Except the AI of maxima difference, the head AI showed the highest sensitivity (≥69%) and the highest specificity (≥81%) for inside forelimb lameness detection and the withers AI showed the highest sensitivity (≥72%) and the highest specificity (≥77%) for outside forelimb lameness detection on circles.
| S-EPMC10650068 | biostudies-literature
Project description:During foraging, animals decide how long to stay at a patch and harvest reward, and then, they move with certain vigor to another location. How does the brain decide when to leave, and how does it determine the speed of the ensuing movement? Here, we considered the possibility that both the decision-making and the motor control problems aimed to maximize a single normative utility: the sum of all rewards acquired minus all efforts expended divided by total time. This optimization could be achieved if the brain compared a local measure of utility with its history. To test the theory, we examined behavior of people as they gazed at images: they chose how long to look at the image (harvesting information) and then moved their eyes to another image, controlling saccade speed. We varied reward via image content and effort via image eccentricity, and then, we measured how these changes affected decision making (gaze duration) and motor control (saccade speed). After a history of low rewards, people increased gaze duration and decreased saccade speed. In anticipation of future effort, they lowered saccade speed and increased gaze duration. After a history of high effort, they elevated their saccade speed and increased gaze duration. Therefore, the theory presented a principled way with which the brain may control two aspects of behavior: movement speed and harvest duration. Our experiments confirmed many (but not all) of the predictions, suggesting that harvest duration and movement speed, fundamental aspects of behavior during foraging, may be governed by a shared principle of control.
| S-EPMC6217431 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Movement health is understanding our body's ability to perform movements during activities of daily living such as lifting, reaching, and bending. The benefits of improved movement health have long been recognized and are wide-ranging from improving athletic performance to helping ease of performing simple tasks, but only recently has this concept been put into practice by clinicians and quantitatively studied by researchers. With digital health and movement monitoring becoming more ubiquitous in society, smartphone applications represent a promising avenue for quantifying, monitoring, and improving the movement health of an individual. In this paper, we validate Halo Movement, a movement health assessment which utilizes the front-facing camera of a smartphone and applies computer vision and machine learning algorithms to quantify movement health and its sub-criteria of mobility, stability, and posture through a sequence of five exercises/activities. On a diverse cohort of 150 participants of various ages, body types, and ability levels, we find moderate to strong statistically significant correlations between the Halo Movement assessment overall score, metrics from sensor-based 3D motion capture, and scores from a sequence of 13 standardized functional movement tests. Further, the smartphone assessment is able to differentiate regular healthy individuals from professional movement athletes (e.g., dancers, cheerleaders) and from movement impaired participants, with higher resolution than that of existing functional movement screening tools and thus may be more appropriate than the existing tests for quantifying functional movement in able-bodied individuals. These results support using Halo Movement's overall score as a valid assessment of movement health.
| S-EPMC9445016 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The relationship between lameness-related adaptations in equine appendicular motion and muscle activation is poorly understood and has not been studied objectively. The aim of this study was to compare muscle activity of selected fore- and hindlimb muscles, and movement of the joints they act on, between baseline and induced forelimb (iFL) and hindlimb (iHL) lameness. Three-dimensional kinematic data and surface electromyography (sEMG) data from the fore- (triceps brachii, latissimus dorsi) and hindlimbs (superficial gluteal, biceps femoris, semitendinosus) were bilaterally and synchronously collected from clinically non-lame horses (n = 8) trotting over-ground (baseline). Data collections were repeated during iFL and iHL conditions (2-3/5 AAEP), induced on separate days using a modified horseshoe. Motion asymmetry parameters and continuous joint and pro-retraction angles for each limb were calculated from kinematic data. Normalized average rectified value (ARV) and muscle activation onset, offset and activity duration were calculated from sEMG signals. Mixed model analysis and statistical parametric mapping, respectively, compared discrete and continuous variables between conditions (α= 0.05). Asymmetry parameters reflected the degree of iFL and iHL. Increased ARV occurred across muscles following iFL and iHL, except non-lame side forelimb muscles that significantly decreased following iFL. Significant, limb-specific changes in sEMG ARV, and activation timings reflected changes in joint angles and phasic shifts of the limb movement cycle following iFL and iHL. Muscular adaptations during iFL and iHL are detectable using sEMG and primarily involve increased bilateral activity and phasic activation shifts that reflect known compensatory movement patterns for reducing weightbearing on the lame limb. With further research and development, sEMG may provide a valuable diagnostic aid for quantifying the underlying neuromuscular adaptations to equine lameness, which are undetectable through human observation alone.
| S-EPMC9679508 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Recent studies evaluating horses in training and considered free from lameness by their owners have identified a large proportion of horses with motion asymmetries. However the prevalence, type and magnitude of asymmetries when trotting in a straight line or on the lunge have not been investigated. The aim of this study was to objectively investigate the presence of motion asymmetries in riding horses in training by identifying the side and quantifying the degree and type (impact, pushoff) of forelimb and hind limb asymmetries found during straight line trot and on the lunge. In a cross-sectional study, vertical head and pelvic movement symmetry was measured in 222 Warmblood type riding horses, all without perceived performance issues and considered free from lameness by their owners. Body-mounted uni-axial accelerometers were used and differences between maximum and minimum head (HDmax, HDmin) and pelvic (PDmax, PDmin) vertical displacement between left and right forelimb and hind limb stances were calculated during straight line trot and on the lunge. Previously reported symmetry thresholds were used. The thresholds for symmetry were exceeded in 161 horses for at least one variable while trotting in a straight line, HDmin (n = 58, mean 14.3 mm, SD 7.1), HDmax (n = 41, mean 12.7 mm, SD 5.5), PDmax (n = 87, mean 6.5 mm, SD 3.10), PDmin (n = 79, mean 5.7 mm, SD 2.1). Contralateral and ipsilateral concurrent forelimb and hind limb asymmetries were detected in 41 and 49 horses, respectively. There was a linear association between the straight line PDmin values and the values on the lunge with the lame limb to the inside of the circle. A large proportion (72.5%) of horses in training which were perceived as free from lameness by their owner showed movement asymmetries above previously reported asymmetry thresholds during straight line trot. It is not known to what extent these asymmetries are related to pain or to mechanical abnormalities. Therefore, one of the most important questions that must be addressed is how objective asymmetry scores can be translated into pain, orthopedic abnormality, or any type of unsoundness.
| S-EPMC5404851 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The use of visual attention for evaluating consumer behavior has become a relevant field in recent years, allowing researchers to understand the decision-making processes beyond classical self-reports. In our research, we focused on using eye-tracking as a method to understand consumer preferences in children. Twenty-eight subjects with ages between 7 and 12 years participated in the experiment. Participants were involved in two consecutive phases. The initial phase consisted of the visualization of a set of stimuli for decision-making in an eight-position layout called Alternative Forced-choice. Then the subjects were asked to freely analyze the set of stimuli, they needed to choose the best in terms of preference. The sample was randomly divided into two groups balanced by gender. One group visualized a set of icons and the other a set of toys. The final phase was an independent assessment of each stimulus viewed in the initial phase in terms of liking/disliking using a 7-point Likert scale. Sixty-four stimuli were designed for each of the groups. The visual attention was measured using a non-obstructive eye-tracking device. The results revealed two novel insights. Firstly, the time of fixation during the last four visits to each stimulus before the decision-making instant allows us to recognize the icon or toy chosen from the eight alternatives with a 71.2 and 67.2% of accuracy, respectively. The result supports the use of visual attention measurements as an implicit tool to analyze decision-making and preferences in children. Secondly, eye movement and the choice of liking/disliking choice are influenced by stimuli design dimensions. The icon observation results revealed how gender samples have different fixation and different visit times which depend on stimuli design dimension. The toy observations results revealed how the materials determinate the largest amount fixations, also, the visit times were differentiated by gender. This research presents a relevant empirical data to understand the decision-making phenomenon by analyzing eye movement behavior. The presented method can be applied to recognize the choice likelihood between several alternatives. Finally, children's opinions represent an extra difficulty judgment to be determined, and the eye-tracking technique seen as an implicit measure to tackle it.
| S-EPMC7543050 | biostudies-literature