Let's read! We will often find out this sentence everywhere. When still being a kid, mom used to order us to always read, so did the teacher. Some books are fully read in a week and we need the obligation to support reading. What about now? Do you still love reading? Is reading only for you who have obligation? Absolutely not! We here offer you a new book enPDFd the perception of the visual world to read.

The Perception of the Visual World. By James J. Gibson. U.S.A.: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950 (George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., London). Price 35s.

Movement, posture and equilibrium: interaction and coordination

Falls and freezing of gait are two "episodic" phenomena that are common in Parkinson's disease. Both symptoms are often incapacitating for affected patients, as the associated physical and psychosocial consequences have a great impact on the patients' quality of life, and survival is diminished. Furthermore, the resultant loss of independence and the treatment costs of injuries add substantially to the health care expenditures associated with Parkinson's disease. In this clinically oriented review, we summarise recent insights into falls and freezing of gait and highlight their similarities, differences, and links. Topics covered include the clinical presentation, recent ideas about the underlying pathophysiology, and the possibilities for treatment. A review of the literature and the current state-of-the-art suggests that clinicians should not feel deterred by the complex nature of falls and freezing of gait; a careful clinical approach may lead to an individually tailored treatment, which can offer at least partial relief for many affected patients.

https://reylab.bidmc.harvard.edu/pubs/2004/md-2004-19-871.pdf

Falls and freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease : a review of two interconnected, episodic phenomena

Clinics in Developmental Medicine

1. Control of posture in quiet stance has been quantified by center of pressure (COP) changes in the anterior-posterior (A/P) and medial-lateral (M/L) directions from a single force platform. Recording from a single force platform, researchers are unable to recognize two separate mechanisms that become evident when two force platforms are used. Depending on the stance position taken, many combinations of an ankle mechanism and a hip (load/unload) mechanism are evident. In side-by-side stance, A/P balance is totally under ankle (plantar/dorsiflexor) control, whereas M/L balance is under hip (abductor/adductor) control. In tandem stance, the A/P balance is dominated by the hip mechanism, with mixed and small or sometimes negligible contributions by the ankle plantar/dorsiflexors: for M/L balance, the reverse is evident; ankle invertors/evertors dominate, with mixed and small contribution from the hip load/unload mechanism. In an intermediate 45 degrees stance position, both ankle and hip mechanisms contribute to the net balance control in totally different ways. In the M/L direction the two strategies reinforce, whereas in the A/P direction the ankle mechanism must overcome and cancel most of the inappropriate contribution by the hip load/unload mechanism. A spatial plot of the separate mechanisms reveals the fact that the random-looking COP scatter plot is nothing more than a spatial and temporal summation of two separate spatial plots. A straight line joining the individual COPs under each foot is the load/unload line controlled by the hip mechanism. At right angles to this load/unload line in the side-by-side and tandem positions is the independent control line by the ankle muscles. In an intermediate standing position, the separate control lines exist, but now the ankle control is not orthogonal to the load/unload line; rather, it acts at an angle of approximately 60 degrees. The direction of these ankle control and load/unload lines also allows us to pinpoint the muscle groups responsible at the ankle and hip in any of the stance positions.

Unified theory regarding A/P and M/L balance in quiet stance

The surface electromyogram (EMG) of mm. tibialis anterior and triceps surae was recorded in 10 patients with spasticity, 10 patients with rigidity and 20 normal subjects and correlated with the changes in ankle joint angle during the different phases of the gait cycle. While the strength and timing of EMG activity recorded from triceps surae during the stance phase of gait did not differ from that of normal subjects, the EMG of tibialis anterior was significantly stronger during the swing phase in both groups of patients. Although the reciprocally organized innervation pattern of the leg muscles was preserved, spastic patients could hardly lift up the affected foot during the swing phase despite the enhanced activity of tibialis anterior. There was no coactivation of the calf muscles during the hyperactivity of tibialis anterior. Therefore, no electrophysiological explanation could be found for the increased muscle tone in either group of patients. The possibilities of reduced force development by the muscle fibres of tibialis anterior or of some mechanical obstruction in the ankle joint were largely excluded as alternative explanations underlying the impeded elevation of the foot. We suppose that in both diseases the muscle fibres undergo changes which are responsible for increased muscle tone in spasticity and rigidity. The pathophysiological mechanism of these changes remains unknown.

Electrophysiological studies of gait in spasticity and rigidity. Evidence that altered mechanical properties of muscle contribute to hypertonia.

Electromyogram (e.m.g.) responses of lower leg muscles, and corresponding movements were studied following a perturbation of the limb during walking, produced by either (a) a randomly timed, short acceleration or decelerating impulse applied to the treadmill, or (b) a unilateral triceps surae contraction induced by tibial nerve stimulation. Bilateral e.m.g. responses following the perturbation were specific for the mode of perturbation and depended on the phase of the gait cycle in which the perturbation occurred. Treadmill deceleration evoked a bilateral tibialis anterior activation; acceleration evoked an ipsilateral gastrocnemius and contralateral tibialis anterior activation (latency in either condition and on both sides was 65-75 ms, duration about 150 ms). Tibial nerve stimulation at the beginning of a stance phase, was followed by an ipsilateral tibialis anterior activation; during the swing phase it was followed by an ipsilateral tibialis anterior and contralateral gastrocnemius activation (latency about 90 ms, duration about 100 ms). These patterns differed from the response seen after a unilateral displacement during static standing, which evoked a bilateral tibialis anterior activation. These early responses were in most cases followed by late ipsilateral responses, but the e.m.g. pattern of the next step cycle was usually unchanged, or affected only at its onset. The e.m.g. responses were unaltered by ischaemic nerve blockade of group I afferents, by training effects or by pre-warning of the onset of perturbation (randomly or self-induced). Despite the different e.m.g. responses following a perturbation during gait, the same basic functional mechanism was obviously at work: the early ipsilateral response achieved a repositioning of the displaced foot and leg, while the early contralateral and late ipsilateral responses provided compensation for body displacement. It is suggested that the e.m.g. responses may be mediated predominantly by peripheral information from group II and group III afferents, which modulate the basic motor pattern of spinal interneuronal circuits underlying the respective motor task.

Corrective reactions to stumbling in man: neuronal co-ordination of bilateral leg muscle activity during gait.

The effect of an optic flow pattern on human locomotion was studied in subjects walking on a self-driven treadmill. During walking an optic flow pattern was presented, which gave subjects the illusion of walking in a tunnel. Visual stimulation was achieved by a closed-loop system in which optic flow and treadmill velocity were automatically adjusted to the intended walking velocity (WV). Subjects were instructed to keep their WV constant. The presented optic flow velocity was sinusoidally varied relative to the WV with a cycle period of 2 min. The independent variable was the relative optic flow (rOF), ranging from -1, i.e., forward flow of equal velocity as the WV, and 3, i.e., backward flow 3 times faster than WV. All subjects were affected by rOF in a similar way. The results showed, firstly, an increase in stride-cycle variability that suggests a larger instability of the walking pattern than in treadmill walking without optic flow; and, secondly, a significant modulating effect of rOF on the self-chosen WV. Backward flow resulted in a decrease, whereas forward flow induced an increase of WV. Within the analyzed range, a linear relationship was found between rOF and WV. Thirdly, WV-related modulations in stride length (SL) and stride frequency (SF) were different from normal walking: whereas in the latter a change in WV is characterized by a stable linear relationship between SL and SF (i.e., an approximately constant SL to SF ratio), optic flow-induced changes in WV are closely related to a modulation of SL (i.e., a change of SL-SF ratio). Fourthly, this effect of rOF diminished by about 45% over the entire walking distance of 800 m. The results suggest that the adjustment of WV is the result of a summation of visual and leg-proprioceptive velocity informations. Visual information about ego-motion leads to an unintentional modulation of WV by affecting specifically the relationship between SL and SF. It is hypothesized that the space-related parameter (SL) is influenced by visually perceived motion information, whereas the temporal parameter (SF) remains stable. The adaptation over the entire walking distance suggests that a shift from visual to leg-proprioceptive control takes place.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/PL00005624.pdf

Visual influence on human locomotion Modulation to changes in optic flow

1. Electromyographic (EMG) responses were recorded in both legs, along with corresponding joint movements, after uni- and bilateral perturbations during stance on a treadmill with split belts. Displacements were directed forward, backward, or in opposing directions. They were induced by randomly timed ramp impulses at one of four different rates of treadmill acceleration. 2. Unilateral perturbations directed backward were followed by a bilateral gastrocnemius-EMG response, forward-directed perturbations by a bilateral tibialis anterior-EMG response. The amplitude of these responses was dependent on the rate of treadmill acceleration. Relative to the response of the displaced leg, the amplitude of the EMG response on the nondisplaced side was smaller when a gastrocnemius EMG response was induced, and about equal when the tibialis anterior muscle was activated. The onset latencies were shorter on the displaced side (displaced leg 75-96 ms, non-displaced leg 93-112 ms). 3. Bilateral perturbations in one direction were followed by larger EMG responses in both legs (in the gastrocnemius for backward-directed impulses, in the tibialis anterior for forward-directed impulses). For a given acceleration rate, their amplitude was about equal to the sum of the EMG amplitude of the displaced leg and that of the nondisplaced leg obtained during unilateral displacement. The inverse result was obtained when the legs were simultaneously displaced in opposite directions: EMG responses in both legs were significantly smaller than those obtained after unilateral displacement. 4. It is concluded that a unilateral displacement evokes reflex EMG responses in the synergistic muscles of both legs, which are graded according to the size of the proprioceptive input from the primarily displaced joint. During bilateral displacements, the activity induced by the respective contralateral leg is linearly summed or subtracted, depending on whether the legs are displaced in the same or in opposite directions. In view of the short latencies of these bilateral responses, it would seem that they are mediated by a spinal mechanism. 5. Distinct differences in the behavior of the antagonistic leg muscles were observed: 1) the coactivation of the contralateral leg muscle was significantly smaller when the gastrocnemius was stretched unilaterally, whereas it was about equal for the tibialis anterior; and 2) the gastrocnemius EMG responses were closely correlated with the displacement velocity, whereas the tibialis anterior response was more closely correlated with acceleration, i.e., the tibialis anterior response was more dynamic in nature.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Interlimb coordination of leg-muscle activation during perturbation of stance in humans.

The cerebral potentials (c.p.) evoked by electrical stimulation of the tibial nerve during stance and in the various phases of gait of normal subjects were compared with the c.p. and leg muscle e.m.g. responses evoked by perturbations of stance and gait. Over the whole step cycle of gait the c.p. evoked by an electrical stimulus were of smaller amplitude (3 microV and 9 microV, respectively) than that seen in the stance condition, and appeared with a longer latency (mean times to first positive peak: 63 and 43 ms, respectively). When the electrical stimulus was applied during stance after ischaemic blockade of group I afferents, the c.p. were similar to those evoked during gait. The c.p. evoked by perturbations were larger in amplitude than those produced by the electrical stimulus, but similar in latencies in both gait and stance (mean 26 microV and 40 microV; 65 ms and 42 ms, respectively) and configurations. The large gastrocnemius e.m.g. responses evoked by the stance and gait perturbations arose with a latency of 65 to 70 ms. Only in the stance condition was a smaller, shorter latency (40 ms) response seen. It is concluded that during gait the signals of group I afferents are blocked at both segmental and supraspinal levels which was tested by tibial nerve stimulation. It is suggested that the e.m.g. responses induced in the leg by gait perturbations are evoked by group II afferents and mediated via a spinal pathway. The c.p. evoked during gait most probably reflect the processing of this group II input by supraspinal motor centres for the coordination of widespread arm and trunk muscle activation, necessary to restablish body equilibrium.

Wiltrud Berger

Papers

Electrophysiological studies of gait in spasticity and rigidity. Evidence that altered mechanical properties of muscle contribute to hypertonia.

Corrective reactions to stumbling in man: neuronal co-ordination of bilateral leg muscle activity during gait.

Visual influence on human locomotion Modulation to changes in optic flow

Interlimb coordination of leg-muscle activation during perturbation of stance in humans.

Afferent control of human stance and gait: evidence for blocking of group I afferents during gait.