No description available.

Les enfants atteints de paralysie cérébrale unilatérale spastique ont un membre supérieur dont les mouvements sont dégradés. Un des symptômes en cause est la co-activation spastique, une activation excessive de certains muscles qui s’opposent au mouvement. En clinique, il n’existe pas d’outil pour distinguer quels muscles ont une activation pathologique. Les signaux électromyographiques, mesurés de façon non invasive, peuvent discriminer des activations musculaires pathologiques. Cependant, ils sont rarement mesurés au membre supérieur des enfants atteints de paralysie cérébrale, en raison d’obstacles méthodologiques et statistiques. Cette thèse aborde ces obstacles. Les signaux électromyographiques de muscles du membre supérieur ont été mesurés chez 63 enfants avec et sans paralysie cérébrale unilatérale spastique, dans le cadre de 5 études de recherche. Les 2 premières études ont consisté à détecter et caractériser les anomalies de commande musculaire chez les enfants avec une paralysie cérébrale, afin de cibler les paramètres électromyographiques pertinents. La 3ème étude a validé la mesure électromyographique au membre supérieur, en évaluant sa variabilité. Les 4ème et 5ème études ont appliqué la méthodologie développée à des problématiques cliniques : distinguer, pour chaque enfant, les muscles responsables des limitations de mouvements actifs ; évaluer les modifications d’activation musculaire à la suite de thérapies. Le développement méthodologique lié à ces études a permis d’évaluer la fiabilité de l’analyse électromyographique du membre supérieur, et a montré son fort potentiel pour le « diagnostic fonctionnel » des enfants atteints de paralysie cérébrale. / Children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy have restricted movement of one upper limb.One of the symptoms responsible for this limitation is spastic co-activation, which is an excessive activation from specific muscles opposing the movement. In clinical routine, no tool can detect which muscles have a pathological activation.Electromyographic signals, measured non-invasively, can discriminate pathological muscle activations.However, they are rarely measured at the upper limb of children with cerebral palsy, due to methodological and statistical difficulties. This thesis addresses these difficulties. Electromyographic signals of upper limb muscles were measured in 63 children with and without unilateral spastic cerebral palsy, as part of 5 research studies.The first two studies consisted in detecting and characterizing abnormal muscle activations in children with cerebral palsy, in order to target relevant electromyographic parameters. The third study validated the measure of upper limb electromyography, and evaluated its variability.Fourth and fifth studies applied the developed methodology to clinical problems: the distinction, for each child, of the muscles responsible for active movement restrictions; the evaluation of muscle activation modifications following a therapy.Methodological development associated with these studies assessed the reliability of upper limb electromyography, and showed its strong potential for the “functional diagnosis” of children with cerebral palsy.

No description available.

No description available.

La réduction du CO₂ est considérée comme une des approches les plus intéressantes pour convertir ce gaz en produits chimique d’intérêt tels que les acides carboxyliques. Le marché de ces composés devrait augmenter considérablement au cours des prochaines années, d'où la nécessité de trouver des méthodes de production durables et respectueuses de l'environnement. Les complexes de samarium divalents sont reconnus pour leur fort pouvoir réducteur monoélectronique, ce qui en fait des réactifs de choix pour la réduction de certains groupes fonctionnels difficiles à réduire tels que le CO₂. Cependant, dans la littérature, bien que ce réactif ait été utilisé en association avec le CO₂, prouvant ainsi que la réduction du CO₂ est possible, mais jamais à notre connaissance pour des applications synthétiques. Nous rapportons ici l'activation du CO₂ initiée par le samarium bivalent électrogénéré. Grâce à notre méthode, récemment mise au point, pour la production électrochimique in situ d’espèces divalentes de samarium, la synthèse de dérivés de l’acide benzoïque a été réalisée avec succès. De plus, les conditions d'activation électrocatalytique du CO₂ ont été établies dans ce travail et appliquées non seulement à la préparation des acides phénylacétiques à partir de dérivés du chlorure de benzyle, mais également à l'hydrocarboxylation régiosélective des analogues du styrène et du phénylacétylène. Ce protocole à base de Sm (II) électrogénéré offre la prochaine génération de systèmes durables pour la transformation du CO₂ en molécules de haute valeur sous des conditions douces et sans l'ajout de co-réducteurs. / CO₂ activation is considered one of the most attractive tools to convert this cheap, abundant and non-toxic gas into valuable chemical feedstocks such as carboxylic acids. The market value of these compounds is expecting a significant increase in the next few years, thus the urgent need for sustainable and eco-friendly production pathways. Divalent samarium complexes are known for their strong monoelectronic reductive power that made them the perfect choice for the reduction of some challenging functional groups. Indeed, in the literature, this reagent has been used in combination with CO₂ but only to achieve the reductive disproportionation of CO₂ while no example reported C-C bond formation via CO₂ activation using the Sm(II) complexes. Herein, we report the CO₂ activation initiated by electrogenerated divalent samarium. Taking advantage of our recently developed method for the in situ generation of Sm(II) species, the synthesis of benzoic acid derivatives was successfully achieved. Furthermore, electrocatalytic CO₂ activation conditions were established in this work and applied not only for the preparation of phenylacetic acids from benzyl chloride derivatives but also for the regioselective hydrocarboxylation of styrene and phenylacetylene analogs. This electrochemical Sm(II)-based protocol offers the next generation of sustainable system to transform CO₂ into highly valued molecules under mild conditions and without the addition of co-reductants.

The shoulder is one of the most complex joints in the body. It has a large range of motion and has active, as well as passive, components to its stabilization. Many injuries occur every year due to overexertion and strain on the shoulder. Musculoskeletal models can be used as a proactive ergonomics tool for shoulder specific job task design, and to help prevent these injuries before they occur. The purpose of this thesis was to critically evaluate the performance of four optimization criteria (sum of squared activation, sum of cubed activation, sum of quartic activation, and entropy assisted) using the open source modeling platform OpenSIM. Experimental torque, kinematic, and EMG data were collected using ten participants for a variety of dynamic arm movements, and static arm postures, in different planes of action. The kinematic and torque data were processed and used as inputs to OpenSIM to calculate predicted muscle activations and joint reaction forces. Experimental EMG was cross correlated with the predicted muscle activity of 8 muscles, and RMSD was calculated between experimental and predicted muscle activity for evaluation. A co-contraction index was also used to assess the model’s ability to predict co-activation between muscle pairs. Overall, the sum of cubed activation and sum of quartic activation model predictions explained significantly more variance (38 ±2.5%, p<0.01) than the sum of squares and entropy models, when compared with experimental EMG. In conclusion, the type of optimization criterion chosen had an effect on the accuracy of the model predictions. Future research, in the development of optimization criterions for the shoulder, will create better model predictions of muscle forces and joint reaction forces, enabling musculoskeletal models to be more useful as a tool to the clinical and ergonomic populations. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / The shoulder is one of the most complex joints in the body. It has a large range of motion and has muscles and ligaments to support the stability of the complex. Many injuries occur every year due to overexertion and strain on the shoulder. Proactively modelling can help reduce these injuries by evaluating a job's likelihood to injure a worker before the worker does the job. The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate the performance of several different shoulder models. Experimental torque, kinematic, and EMG data were collected using ten participants for a variety of dynamic arm movements, and static arm postures, in different planes of action. The kinematic and torque data were used by the model to predict muscle activations and joint reaction forces. Experimental EMG was cross correlated with the predicted muscle activity of 8 muscles, and RMSD was calculated between experimental and predicted muscle activity for evaluation. A co-contraction index was also used to assess the model’s ability to predict co-activation between muscle pairs. Overall, the sum of cubed activation and sum of quartic activation model predictions explained significantly more variance (38 ±2.5%, p<0.01) than the sum of squares and entropy models, when compared with experimental EMG. In conclusion, the type of model chosen had an effect on the accuracy of the model predictions. Future research, in the development of optimization criterions for shoulder models, will create better model predictions of muscle forces and joint reaction forces, enabling musculoskeletal models to be more useful as a tool to the clinical and ergonomic populations.

Orientador: Mauro Gonçalves / Banca: Júlio Cerca Serrão / Banca: Camila Coelho Greco / Resumo: O presente estudo teve como objetivo verificar se as intensidades do LFEMG e do ponto de quebra são semelhantes e se há diferença no valor do índice, calculando-se o RMS em intervalos referentes a cinco segundos ou ao ciclo de passada e estudar o comportamento da freqüência de passada (FP), amplitude (RMS) e freqüência da atividade eletromiográfica nos período pré (RMS-PRE, FM-PRE) e pós contato (RMS-PRE, FM-POS) dos músculos íleocostal (IC), reto femoral (RF), vasto lateral (VL), vasto medial (VM), bíceps femoral (BF), tibial anterior (TA) e gastrocnêmio lateral (GL), bem como da co-ativação dos músculos RF/BF, VL/BF, VM/BF e GL/TA nos períodos pré (PRE) e póscontato (POS) ao longo de um teste incremental, considerando as intensidades absolutas e quatro intensidades relativas: inicial (IIN), equivalente ao LFEMG (ILF), 15% abaixo (IAB) e 15% acima (IAC) do LFEMG. Onze voluntários foram submetidos a um teste incremental de corrida até exaustão voluntária. Os valores de RMS foram obtidos de duas formas, a cada cinco segundos do intervalo de corrida e a cada ciclo de passada. O LFEMG e o ponto de quebra foram determinados. Não houve diferenças significantes entre os valores dos índices obtidos pelas duas formas de análise nem entre os músculos. Entretanto, foi evidenciado que os valores de LFEMG foram maiores do que os do ponto de quebra apenas quando determinados pelos valores de RMS obtidos nos ciclos de passada. As velocidades relativas obtidas foram 9,2±0,4 km.h-1 na IAB, 10,6±0,7 km.h-1 na LFEMG e 12,3±0,5 km.h-1 na IAC. A partir dos 11 km.h-1 a FP, a RMS-PRE para o músculo IC e a RMS-POS para os músculos VL e VM apresentaram aumento. Nas intensidades relativas, houve aumento dos valores da FP, da RMS-PRE para os músculos BF, TA e GL, da RMS-POS e FM-POS para o músculo GL a partir da ILF. As correlações foram significantes para FP e FM-PRE do VL... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The aim of the present study was to verify whether eletromyographic fatigue threshold (EMGFT) and breakpoint intensities were similar and whether there is differences in the speed value between these indexes when calculated considering five seconds intervals or referent to stride cycle and study stride frequency (SF), amplitude and frequency of electromyographic activity behaviors on pre (PRE) and post (POS) contact periods for iliocostalis (IC), rectus femoris (RF), vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM), biceps femoris (BF), tibialis anterior (TA) and gastrocnemius lateralis (GL), and co-activation ratio of RF/BF, VL/BF, VM/BF and GL/TA on PRE and POST periods during an incremental running protocol, considering absolute intensities and four relative intensities: initiail (IIN), equivalent to EMGFT (IFT), 15% below (IBE) and 15% above (IAB) EMGFT. Eleven males performed an incremental running test to exhaustion. RMS values were obtained every five seconds and during stride cycles of each running stage. EMGFT and breakpoint were determined for all muscles. There were no significant differences between two different indexes when calcula values obtained RMS calculation nor among different muscles. However, the EMGFT values were greater than breakpoint values when determined using RMS calculated for stride cycles, with no difference when obtained every five seconds. Relative intensities obtained were 9.2±0.4 km... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

No description available.

In daily activities, hand use is dominated by individuated thumb and finger movements, and by grasping. This thesis focused on the level of ???independence??? of the digits and its relationship to hand grasps, from the level of the motor units to the level of synergistic grasping forces. Four major studies were conducted in healthy adult volunteers. First, spike-triggered averages of forces produced by single motor units in flexor pollicis longus (FPL) in a grasp posture showed small but significant loading of the index, but not other fingers. This reflected a neural rather than anatomical coupling, as intramuscular stimulation produced minimal effect in any finger. Also, FPL had a surprisingly large number of low-force motor units and this may account for the thumb???s exceptional dexterity and force stability compared with the fingers. Second, independent control of extensor digitorum (ED) was more limited than flexor digitorum profundus (FDP), as more ED motor units of a ???test??? finger were recruited inadvertently by extension than by flexion of adjacent digits. Third, ???force enslavement??? in maximal voluntary tasks was greater in digit extension than flexion. The distribution of force enslavement (and deficits) matched the pattern of daily use of the digits (alone and in combination), and reveals a neural control system which preferentially lifts fingers together from an object by extension but allows an individual digit to flex to contact an object so the finger pads can engage in exploration and grasping. Finally, during grasping, irrespective of whether a digit had been lifted from the object, coherence among forces generated by the digits was similar. In addition, the coherence between finger forces was independent of any contraction of the thumb, was stable over 2 months, and required no learning. The pattern of coherence between digital grasping forces may be closely related to the level of digit independence and daily use. Overall, the grasp synergy was remarkably invariant over the various tasks and over time. In summary, this thesis demonstrates novel aspects of the properties of FPL, the lack of complete independence of the digits, and robustness in the production of flexion forces in hand grasps.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-03-11Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:28:21Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_pb_me_rcla.pdf: 790741 bytes, checksum: d5249659f04bcedba18543a60ee45546 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O presente estudo teve como objetivo verificar se as intensidades do LFEMG e do ponto de quebra são semelhantes e se há diferença no valor do índice, calculando-se o RMS em intervalos referentes a cinco segundos ou ao ciclo de passada e estudar o comportamento da freqüência de passada (FP), amplitude (RMS) e freqüência da atividade eletromiográfica nos período pré (RMS-PRE, FM-PRE) e pós contato (RMS-PRE, FM-POS) dos músculos íleocostal (IC), reto femoral (RF), vasto lateral (VL), vasto medial (VM), bíceps femoral (BF), tibial anterior (TA) e gastrocnêmio lateral (GL), bem como da co-ativação dos músculos RF/BF, VL/BF, VM/BF e GL/TA nos períodos pré (PRE) e póscontato (POS) ao longo de um teste incremental, considerando as intensidades absolutas e quatro intensidades relativas: inicial (IIN), equivalente ao LFEMG (ILF), 15% abaixo (IAB) e 15% acima (IAC) do LFEMG. Onze voluntários foram submetidos a um teste incremental de corrida até exaustão voluntária. Os valores de RMS foram obtidos de duas formas, a cada cinco segundos do intervalo de corrida e a cada ciclo de passada. O LFEMG e o ponto de quebra foram determinados. Não houve diferenças significantes entre os valores dos índices obtidos pelas duas formas de análise nem entre os músculos. Entretanto, foi evidenciado que os valores de LFEMG foram maiores do que os do ponto de quebra apenas quando determinados pelos valores de RMS obtidos nos ciclos de passada. As velocidades relativas obtidas foram 9,2±0,4 km.h-1 na IAB, 10,6±0,7 km.h-1 na LFEMG e 12,3±0,5 km.h-1 na IAC. A partir dos 11 km.h-1 a FP, a RMS-PRE para o músculo IC e a RMS-POS para os músculos VL e VM apresentaram aumento. Nas intensidades relativas, houve aumento dos valores da FP, da RMS-PRE para os músculos BF, TA e GL, da RMS-POS e FM-POS para o músculo GL a partir da ILF. As correlações foram significantes para FP e FM-PRE do VL... / The aim of the present study was to verify whether eletromyographic fatigue threshold (EMGFT) and breakpoint intensities were similar and whether there is differences in the speed value between these indexes when calculated considering five seconds intervals or referent to stride cycle and study stride frequency (SF), amplitude and frequency of electromyographic activity behaviors on pre (PRE) and post (POS) contact periods for iliocostalis (IC), rectus femoris (RF), vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM), biceps femoris (BF), tibialis anterior (TA) and gastrocnemius lateralis (GL), and co-activation ratio of RF/BF, VL/BF, VM/BF and GL/TA on PRE and POST periods during an incremental running protocol, considering absolute intensities and four relative intensities: initiail (IIN), equivalent to EMGFT (IFT), 15% below (IBE) and 15% above (IAB) EMGFT. Eleven males performed an incremental running test to exhaustion. RMS values were obtained every five seconds and during stride cycles of each running stage. EMGFT and breakpoint were determined for all muscles. There were no significant differences between two different indexes when calcula values obtained RMS calculation nor among different muscles. However, the EMGFT values were greater than breakpoint values when determined using RMS calculated for stride cycles, with no difference when obtained every five seconds. Relative intensities obtained were 9.2±0.4 km... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)