Human thumb and index finger kinematics were examined for multiple repetitions of a simple grasp task as a means to evaluate motor planning and execution of these important hand movements. Subjects generated a rapid (approximately 90-ms duration) pinch movement of the index finger and thumb from an open-hand position. Approximately 400 repetitions were obtained from four naive subjects. The two...

A novel cerebral source extraction method is proposed (Functional Source Separation, FSS) starting from extra-cephalic magnetoencephalographic (MEG) signals in humans, based on source functional reactivity to the external stimulation. Their activity is obtained all along the rest state and during processing of a simple separate sensory stimuli of thumb or little finger. This method provides cer...

Despite the importance of the thumb to hand function, little is known about the origins of thumb impairment poststroke. Accordingly, the primary purpose of this study was to assess whether thumb flexors have heightened stretch reflexes (SRs) following stroke-induced hand impairment. The secondary purpose was to compare SR characteristics of thumb flexors in relation to those of finger flexors s...

BACKGROUND Non-nutritive sucking stimulation may anticipate the beginning of oral feeding and may influence the development of sucking in pre-term newborns. AIM To describe the development of the sucking pattern and the effects of NNS. METHOD Participants of this study were 95 preterm newborns (PTNB), adequate for their gestational age (GA), born with GAs inferior or equal to 33 weeks, rand...

OBJECTIVES To analyze the influence of thumb sucking and pacifier use on breastfeeding patterns in exclusively breastfed infants, on the duration of exclusive breastfeeding, and on the total breastfeeding duration. STUDY DESIGN Descriptive, longitudinal, prospective study. SETTING The subjects were recruited from a population of 15 189 infants born in the maternity ward at the University Ho...

ILLIAM NUTTALL, an English stutterer, writing in the journal Psyche, in 1937, said, in effect, that whoever finds a cure for stuttering will have found a cure for all the ills of society .. We should not permit his possible exaggeration to distract us from the peculiarly fundamental wisdom which he expressed . In a sense, what he said of stuttering might also be said of such other perplexing fo...

OBJECTIVE This study was aimed at verifying the prevalence of nutritive (breast-feeding and bottle-feeding) and non-nutritive sucking habits and the presence of malocclusion in Brazilian preschool children. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study was a cross-sectional oral health survey of 342 children (196 boys and 146 girls) between the ages of 3 and 5 in Campina Grande, Brazil. The data was collect...

One of the techniques taught in dental and dental hygiene programs is to use finger rests to stabilize the instrument while performing dental scaling or other types of dental work. It is believed that finger rests may also reduce muscle stress and prevent injury due to muscle fatigue. In this study the effects of three different finger rest positions on hand muscle activity and thumb pinch forc...