Case description A 12 year old scoliotic subject was recruited in this study. They walked and stood with and without Milwaukee orthosis. Motions of the joint and the forces applied on the leg were collected by use of motion analysis system and a Kistler faceplate. The length of erector spine, external oblique and internal oblique abdominalis tendons was evaluated during walking with and without...

Using stable isotope mixing models (SIMMs) as a tool to investigate the foraging ecology of animals is gaining popularity among researchers. As a result, statistical methods are rapidly evolving and numerous models have been produced to estimate the diets of animals--each with their benefits and their limitations. Deciding which SIMM to use is contingent on factors such as the consumer of inter...

In the commonly used SIMM software, which includes a complete musculoskeletal model of the lower limbs, the reaction forces at the knee are computed. These reaction forces represent the bone-on-bone contact forces and the soft tissue forces (e.g. ligaments) other than muscles acting at the joint. In the knee model integrated into this software, a patellotibial joint rather than a patellofemoral...

Computer models of the neuromusculoskeletal systems can be used to study different aspects of movement and its control in humans and animals. SIMM with Dynamics Pipeline (Musculographics Inc., Chicago) and SD-Fast (Symbolic Dynamics Inc., Mountain View, CA) are software packages commonly used for graphic and dynamic simulation of movement in musculoskeletal systems. Building dynamic models with...

Realistic models of neuromusculoskeletal systems can provide a safe and convenient environment for the design and evaluation of controllers for functional electrical stimulation (FES) prior to clinical trials. We have developed a set of integrated musculoskeletal modeling tools to facilitate the model building process. Simulink models of musculoskeletal systems are created using two software pa...

Immigration patterns over the last decade have contributed significantly to changing the demographic profile of the United States. Not only have the numbers of foreign-born immigrants living in the United States increased, but also a larger proportion of this population consists of families and children. During the 1990s, more than 15 million immigrants entered the United States, an increase of...

There are not "universal methods" to determine diet composition of predators. Most traditional methods are biased because of their reliance on differential digestibility and the recovery of hard items. By relying on assimilated food, stable isotope and Bayesian mixing models (SIMMs) resolve many biases of traditional methods. SIMMs can incorporate prior information (i.e. proportional diet compo...

Next-generation sequencing technologies (NGST) are being used to discover causal mutations in ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS)-mutagenized plant populations. However, the published protocols often deliver too many candidate sites and sometimes fail to find the mutant gene of interest. Accurate identification of the causal mutation from massive background polymorphisms and sequencing deficiencies re...