No description available.

Of the 795,000 people that suffer a stroke in the United States every year, 65% experience hemiparesis. Foot drop is a common gait pathology in people with lower-limb paresis and is often caused by neuropathy of the peroneal nerve that innervates the muscles responsible for ankle dorsiflexion. Foot drop can impede toe clearance and increase the risk of falling, the leading cause of injury among adults ≥65 years. Lower-limb robotic exoskeletons have been used for gait training and can aid with walking, but current devices on the market can be heavy, expensive, and constrained to in-clinic use. Soft wearable robotic devices offer a lightweight and cost-effective alternative to traditional lower-limb exoskeletons. In particular, soft pneumatic systems have the potential to provide a high power-to-weight ratio making them ideal for a wearable application. The soft pneumatic exosuit consists of a footplate to collect air, storage to temporarily house the collected air, and two pneumatic actuators to provide an assistive torque around the wearer’s ankle joint while walking. EMG and IMU sensors were integrated to control the opening and closing of solenoid valves so that assistive torques could be applied to the ankle joint at optimal moments during the gait cycle. Preliminary validation of the soft pneumatic exosuit on a healthy participant demonstrated that the system could successfully deliver the air required to contract the actuators when the EMG sensors detected an increase in muscle activity. These results demonstrate that the current soft pneumatic exosuit appears to be a promising alternative to current rehabilitation exoskeletons on the market while remaining portable and low-cost. / 2025-05-24T00:00:00Z

Femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAI) is a hip impairment, which is according to recent studies significant contributor to hip osteoarthritis. Current research is dedicated to evaluate movement patterns of hip, pelvis and spine in patients with FAI using a motion analysis capture system. Biomechanics and kinesiology relations between spino-pelvic complex and lower limb joints led us to choose the topic of this thesis. The goal of this study was to define the movements of ankle and foot in patients with FAI syndrome and to compare with asymptomatic control group. To measure the parameters during gait we used Qualisys motion capture system and then the data were processed in Qualisys Track Manager 2020.03. We assessed the movements of ankle, rearfoot and the progression foot angle during the stance phase of gait cycle. Moreover, we measured the step length, gait speed and passive range of motion of the hip in both exploratory groups. In total we examinated 30 subjects, 15 with FAI syndrome and 15 asymptomatic volunteers with physiologic hip condition. We demonstrated three significant between group changes in average ankle range of motion in sagittal plane, foot progression angle and passive range of motion of the hip.

Problem: Running is one of the most widespread physical activities. Incorrect running technique, training quantity but also the runner's equipment can strongly affect health condition of the individual, both positively and negatively. For that reason various trends emerge in the area of running footwear. They include classical sports shoes with different types of impact attenuation as well as the minimalist footwear made to imitate barefoot running, which should be much more natural for humans, as insisted by B. Nigg in his book "Born to Run" - where he says that man was born to walk and run barefooted. Inappropriate shoes can cause various health complications, not only in the foot area. Objective: To find out how foot strike changes in the area of the foot-shoe interaction in running on flat ground when an amateur runner uses minimalist and sports footwear and to draw conclusions for training practice on the basis of the results. Methods: The thesis deals with amateur endurance running in different shoe types (minimalist and sports shoes). The study specimen consisted of 14 female runners (mean body weight 63,31 ± 4,89 kg, height 169,69 ± 4,71 cm, age 31,92 ± 5,34 years, speed in minimalist shoes (MO) 3,34 ± 0,06 m.s- 1 , speed in sports shoes (SO) 3,29 ± 0,06 m.s-1 , weekly mileage 37,54 ± 9,43...

Abtrakt (EN) In spite of the fact that the diabetic foot syndrome is not considered a marginal complication of the patients with diabetes mellitus any more, its prevalence and incidence is not decreasing. The fact that early diagnosis and treatment or even prevention of foot ulcers is associated with a decrease in healthcare costs and, more importantly, with reducing patients' suffering, applies also in this case. The dissertation work originated in the Diabetologic Center of the Medical department I., University Hospital and Medical Faculty in Pilsen, Charles University in Prague, which has been dealing with diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in patients with diabetic foot syndrome for over 20 years. The examinations for diagnosis of the main etiologic factors, i.e. peripheral neuropathy and impaired perfusion, belong to already routine ordinary procedures here. My task was to move the diagnostics of this complication to earlier stages, even before the development of the ulcers, through diagnosing an impairment in skin microcirculation. The aim of the work was to evaluate reactivity of the skin microcirculation in patients with diabetes mellitus using laser doppler flowmetry and to introduce a new method - iontophoresis. Skin microcirculation assessment has become a center of interest of many studies...

The main objective of my diploma projest was to develop a comprehensive proposal for a town house at the intersection.This project detail design undeveloped parcel. The parcel stopping mainly apartment buildings and continues in the character of the street.

No description available.

No description available.

Although feet and shoes appear throughout surrealist visual art, their significance within surrealist theory has not been studied as thoroughly as other familiar themes of surrealist art, such as the eye or the hat. The purpose of this project is to recover feet and shoes from their lowly position and to uncover their meaning and function in surrealist theory, particularly the theory of Georges Bataille. Feet were implicitly important to surrealists like André Breton and Louis Aragon, whose early and central literary texts were based on their favorite pastime: flânerie or wandering the streets of Paris. Images of feet can play a role in Bataille's aim of flattening moral hierarchies, specifically the binary hierarchy of elevated/base that is figured in the horizontal orientation of the human body. Shoes can figure the loss of the self, because the peculiar intimacy of their relation with the body blurs the boundary of perceiving subject and perceived object; in this way, shoes as represented in surrealist art can flatten the epistemological hierarchy of subject/object.

Picornaviruses are responsible for some of the most common and debilitating diseases affecting humans and animals worldwide. The objectives of this dissertation research were (1) estimate phylogenetic relationships among 11 picornavirus genera and within three species: foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV: Aphthovirus) which afflicts cloven-hoofed animals and human rhinovirus A and B (HRV: Enterovirus) which cause the common cold; (2) better understand the impact recombination has on genomic organization and evolution; (3) characterize where positive and purifying selection has occurred in proteins and how selection has influenced phenotype. The dissertation includes four studies. The first chapter provides an overview of the evolutionary significance of recombination, its detection and estimation, and its effect on phylogenetic analysis in four biological systems: bacteria, viruses, mitochondria, and the human genome. Chapter two investigates the inter- and intra-serotypic relationships within FMDV by examining 12 genes. Gene sequences were analyzed to assess recombination breakpoint locations, genetic diversity, and natural selection in FMDV. Recombination breakpoints were located throughout the genome. Paraphyletic relationships among serotypes were not as prevalent as previously reported, suggesting that convergent evolution was prevalent. Purifying selection was the dominant evolutionary force influencing both genotype and phenotype. Chapter three examines inter- and intra-specific relationships of HRV using 11 genes. Similar hypotheses were tested as in chapter two. No recombination was detected and phylogenetic relationships among enteroviruses, HRV-A, and HRV-B remain unresolved. The evolution of HRV-A major serotypes appeared to be under extensive purifying selection, HRV-A minor serotypes under predominantly positive selection, and a nearly equal influence from both kinds of selection was evident for HRV-B serotypes. Chapter four examines phylogenetic relationships among genera using three conserved genes. The hypothesis of cospeciation between picornaviruses and their hosts was also tested. The deepest split in the family separated Hepatovirus, ‘Tremovirus’, Parechovirus, and seal picornavirus type 1 from the remainder of the family. Enterovirus and ‘Sapelovirus’ were sister taxa. Cardiovirus, ‘Senecavirus’, Aphthovirus, Erbovirus, Teschovirus, and Kobuvirus were derived from a common ancestor with Kobuvirus occupying a basal position relative to the other genera in this clade. My analyses suggest that picornaviruses have not cospeciated with their known hosts.