Mindy F. Levin

Bio: Mindy F. Levin is an academic researcher from McGill University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Trunk & Motor control. The author has an hindex of 58, co-authored 228 publications receiving 13096 citations. Previous affiliations of Mindy F. Levin include Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital & Université de Montréal.

Compensatory strategies for reaching in stroke.

Abstract: A major prerequisite for successful rehabilitation therapy after stroke is the understanding of the mechanisms underlying motor deficits common to these patients. Studies have shown that in stroke patients multijoint pointing movements are characterized by decreased movement speed and increased movement variability, by increased movement segmentation and by spatial and temporal incoordination between adjacent arm joints with respect to healthy subjects. We studied how the damaged nervous system recovers or compensates for deficits in reaching, and correlated reaching deficits with the level of functional impairment. Nine right-hemiparetic subjects and nine healthy subjects participated. All subjects were right-hand dominant. Data from the affected arm of hemiparetic subjects were compared with those from the arm in healthy subjects. Seated subjects made 40 pointing movements with the right arm in a single session. Movements were made from an initial target, for which the arm was positioned alongside the trunk. Then the subject lifted the arm and pointed to the final target, located in front of the subject in the contralateral workspace. Kinematic data from the arm and trunk were recorded with a three-dimensional analysis system. Arm movements in stroke subjects were longer, more segmented, more variable and had larger movement errors. Elbow-shoulder coordination was disrupted and the range of active joint motion was decreased significantly compared with healthy subjects. Some aspects of motor performance (duration, segmentation, accuracy and coordination) were significantly correlated with the level of motor impairment. Despite the fact that stroke subjects encountered all these deficits, even subjects with the most severe motor impairment were able to transport the end-point to the target. All but one subject involved the trunk to accomplish this motor task. In others words, they recruited new degrees of freedom typically not used by healthy subjects. The use of compensatory strategies may be related to the degree of motor impairment: severely to moderately impaired subjects recruited new degrees of freedom to compensate for motor deficits while mildly impaired subjects tended to employ healthy movement patterns. We discuss the possibility that there is a critical level of recovery at which patients switch from a strategy employing new degrees of freedom to one in which motor recovery is produced by improving the management of degrees of freedom characteristic of healthy performance. Our data also suggest that stroke subjects may be able to exploit effectively the redundancy of the motor system.

What Do Motor “Recovery” and “Compensation” Mean in Patients Following Stroke?

Abstract: There is a lack of consistency among researchers and clinicians in the use of terminology that describes changes in motor ability following neurological injury Specifically, the terms and definitions of motor compensation and motor recovery have been used in different ways, which is a potential barrier to interdisciplinary communication This Point of View describes the problem and offers a solution in the form of definitions of compensation and recovery at the neuronal, motor performance, and functional levels within the framework of the International Classification of Functioning model

The origin and use of positional frames of reference in motor control

Abstract: A hypothesis about sensorimotor integration (the λ model) is described and applied to movement control and kinesthesia. The central idea is that the nervous system organizes positional frames of reference for the sensorimotor apparatus and produces active movements by shifting the frames in terms of spatial coordinates. Kinematic and electromyographic patterns are not programmed, but emerge from the dynamic interaction among the system s components, including external forces within the designated frame of reference. Motoneuronal threshold properties and proprioceptive inputs to motoneurons may be cardinal components of the physiological mechanism that produces positional frames of reference. The hypothesis that intentional movements are produced by shifting the frame of reference is extended to multi-muscle and multi-degrees-of-freedom systems with a solution of the redundancy problem that allows the control of a joint alone or in combination with other joints to produce any desired limb configuration and movement trajectory. The model also implies that for each motor behavior, the nervous system uses a strategy that minimizes the number of changeable control variables and keeps the parameters of these changes invariant. Examples are provided of simulated kinematic and electromyographic signals from single- and multi-joint arm movements produced by suggested patterns of control variables. Empirical support is provided and additional tests of the model are suggested. The model is contrasted with others based on the ideas of programming of motoneuronal activity, muscle forces, stiffness, or movement kinematics.

Virtual Reality in Stroke Rehabilitation A Meta-Analysis and Implications for Clinicians

Abstract: Stroke is a serious condition that negatively affects patients and their families. Up to 85 % of stroke patients experience weakness in their arms and/or legs immediately after a stroke. Approximately two out of three stroke survivors continue to experience some level of longer term difficulty in performing daily activities.

Virtual reality in stroke rehabilitation: a systematic review of its effectiveness for upper limb motor recovery.

Abstract: Purpose: It is estimated that 50% to 75% of individuals who experience a stroke have persistent impairment of the affected upper limb (UL). There is a need to identify the best training strategies for retraining motor function of the UL. One intervention showing promise is virtual reality (VR), using either immersive or nonimmersive technology. Before recommending VR for use in clinical practice, it is important to understand the evidence regarding its effectiveness. Method: Two questions about the effectiveness of VR for UL rehabilitation in stroke were posed: (1) Is the use of immersive VR more effective than conventional therapy or no therapy in the rehabilitation of the UL in patients with hemiplegia? (2) Is the use of nonimmersive VR more effective than conventional therapy or no therapy in the rehabilitation of the UL in patients with hemiplegia? Results: There is level 1b evidence suggesting an advantage to training in immersive VR environments versus no therapy in UL rehabilitation, and le...

Principles of Neural Science

Abstract: I have developed "tennis elbow" from lugging this book around the past four weeks, but it is worth the pain, the effort, and the aspirin. It is also worth the (relatively speaking) bargain price. Including appendixes, this book contains 894 pages of text. The entire panorama of the neural sciences is surveyed and examined, and it is comprehensive in its scope, from genomes to social behaviors. The editors explicitly state that the book is designed as "an introductory text for students of biology, behavior, and medicine," but it is hard to imagine any audience, interested in any fragment of neuroscience at any level of sophistication, that would not enjoy this book. The editors have done a masterful job of weaving together the biologic, the behavioral, and the clinical sciences into a single tapestry in which everyone from the molecular biologist to the practicing psychiatrist can find and appreciate his or

Remembering. A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology, Cambridge (University Press) 1964.

Abstract: Part I. Experimental Studies: 2. Experiment in psychology 3. Experiments on perceiving III Experiments on imaging 4-8. Experiments on remembering: (a) The method of description (b) The method of repeated reproduction (c) The method of picture writing (d) The method of serial reproduction (e) The method of serial reproduction picture material 9. Perceiving, recognizing, remembering 10. A theory of remembering 11. Images and their functions 12. Meaning Part II. Remembering as a Study in Social Psychology: 13. Social psychology 14. Social psychology and the matter of recall 15. Social psychology and the manner of recall 16. Conventionalism 17. The notion of a collective unconscious 18. The basis of social recall 19. A summary and some conclusions.

What About Us

Abstract: Established in 2006, TATA Africa Services (Nigeria) Limited operates as the nodal point for Tata businesses in West Africa. TATA Africa Services (Nigeria) Limited has a strong presence in Nigeria with investments exceeding USD 10 million. The company was established in Lagos, Nigeria as a subsidiary of TATA Africa Holdings (SA) (Pty) Limited, South Africa and serves as the hub of Tata’s operations in Nigeria and the rest of West Africa.

The geometry of biological time , by A. T. Winfree. Pp 544. DM68. Corrected Second Printing 1990. ISBN 3-540-52528-9 (Springer)

Abstract: 1980 Preface * 1999 Preface * 1999 Acknowledgements * Introduction * 1 Circular Logic * 2 Phase Singularities (Screwy Results of Circular Logic) * 3 The Rules of the Ring * 4 Ring Populations * 5 Getting Off the Ring * 6 Attracting Cycles and Isochrons * 7 Measuring the Trajectories of a Circadian Clock * 8 Populations of Attractor Cycle Oscillators * 9 Excitable Kinetics and Excitable Media * 10 The Varieties of Phaseless Experience: In Which the Geometrical Orderliness of Rhythmic Organization Breaks Down in Diverse Ways * 11 The Firefly Machine 12 Energy Metabolism in Cells * 13 The Malonic Acid Reagent ('Sodium Geometrate') * 14 Electrical Rhythmicity and Excitability in Cell Membranes * 15 The Aggregation of Slime Mold Amoebae * 16 Numerical Organizing Centers * 17 Electrical Singular Filaments in the Heart Wall * 18 Pattern Formation in the Fungi * 19 Circadian Rhythms in General * 20 The Circadian Clocks of Insect Eclosion * 21 The Flower of Kalanchoe * 22 The Cell Mitotic Cycle * 23 The Female Cycle * References * Index of Names * Index of Subjects