Dynamic interactions between limb segments during planar arm movement

Movement of multiple segment limbs requires generation of appropriate joint torques which include terms arising from dynamic interactions among the moving segments as well as from such external forces as gravity. The interaction torques, arising from inertial, centripetal, and Coriolis forces, are not present for single joint movements. The significance of the individual interaction forces during reaching movements in a horizontal plane involving only the shoulder and elbow joints has been assessed for different movement paths and movement speeds. Trajectory formation strategies which simplify the dynamics computation are presented.     

Effect of body roll amplitude and arm rotation speed on propulsion of arm amputee swimmers

Only a limited amount of research has gone into evaluating the contribution made by the upper arm to the propulsion of elite swimmers with an amputation at elbow level. With assistance of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling, the swimming technique of competitive arm amputee swimmers can be assessed through numerical simulations which test the effect of various parameters on the effectiveness of the swimming propulsion.This numerical study investigates the effect of body roll amplitude and of upper arm rotation speed on the propulsion of an arm amputee swimmer, at different mean swimming speeds. Various test cases are simulated resulting in a thorough analysis of the complex body/fluid interaction with a detailed quantitative assessment of the effect of the variation of each parameter on the arm propulsion. It is found that a body roll movement with an amplitude of 45° enhances greatly the propulsive contribution from the upper arm with an increase of about 70% in the propulsive force compared to the no roll condition. An increase in the angular velocity of the upper arm also leads to a concomitant increase in the propulsive forces produced by the arm.Such results have direct implications for competitive arm amputee front crawl swimmers and for those who coach them. One important message that emerges in this present work is that there exists, for any given swimming speed, a minimum angular velocity at which the upper arm must be rotated to generate effective propulsion. Below this velocity, the upper arm will experience a net resistive drag force which adversely affects swimming performance.     

An in vitro model for cell-cell interactions

Summary Heterotypic cell-cell interactions appear to be involved in the control of development and function in a wide variety of tissues. In the vasculature, endothelial cells and mural cells (smooth muscle cells or pericytes) make frequent contacts, suggesting a role for intercellular interactions in the regulation of vascular growth and function. We have previously grown endothelial cells and mural cells together in mixed cultures and found that heterocellular contact led to endothelial growth inhibition. However, this mixed culture system does not lend itself to the examination of the effects of contact on the phenotype of the individual cell types. We have therefore developed a co-culture system in which cells can be co-cultured across a porous membrane, permitting intercellular contact while maintaining pure cell populations. Co-culture of endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells across membranes with pore sizes of 0.02, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8μm maintained the two cell types as homogeneous populations, whereas smooth muscle cells migrated across the membrane through pores of 2.0μm. Vascular cell co-culture across membranes with 0.8-μm pores resulted the inhibition of endothelial cell proliferation and the generation of conditioned media which inhibited endothelial cell growth. The arrangement of the cells in this co-culture system mimics thein vivo orientation of vascular cells in which mural cells are separated from the abluminal surface of the endothelium by a fenestrated internal elastic lamina or basement membrane. Because this co-culture system maintains separable populations of cells in contact or close proximity allowing for biochemical and molecular analyses of pure populations, it should prove useful for the study of cell-cell interactions in a variety of systems.     

Multiple interactions: An empirically suggested model

A modified version of Schoener's non-linear competition model is presented. The model describes the competitive dynamics of two species competing for a common resource. A second resource made available by species 1 for the exclusive use of species 2 is also present. This second resource is generated in an undefined way from the common resource. The presence of the exclusive resource serves to prevent the extinction of species 2 even when that species is at a great competitive disadvantage in obtaining the common resource. A feedback loop is established, dependent on the exclusive resource, making possible an increase in numbers of species 2 as the numbers of species 1 increase. This is represented as a reversal in the slope of the species 2 isocline. The behavior of the isoclines of both species is examined as certain key parameters are varied. The model is related to the results obtained from experiments involving Tribolium and Drosophila.     

An EMG-level muscle model for a fast arm movement to target

A model of human muscle action is presented for a maximally fast, large-amplitude forearm movement to target. the inputs to the model are approximately the biceps and triceps EMG envelopes over a single movement. The model's output gives the corresponding displacement angle of the forearm about a fixed elbow position as a function of time. The idea of the model is to conceive of both EMG input drives as successions of millisecond input pulses, with each pulse resulting in a muscle tension twitch. Every twitch is amplitude-scaled, parametrically-shaped, and duration-limited as a function of the muscle's contractile history thus far in the movement. The muscle tension at any time t is the sum of the residual tension levels of all twitches begun before t. The model was developed and tested with special reference to two subjects: one, according to the model dynamics, was a comparatively slow-twitch type, and the other modelled as a fast-twitch type. Good agreement was found between model output and subject response data whenever the subject's EMG's were synchronous. The model can be used to characterize each subject's responses by a suite of twitch characteristics. This will enable us to check the accepted but now suspect correlation between muscle biopsy-and performance-determined muscle twitch type.This study was supported by contract DAMD 17-80-C-0101 from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command. The views, opinions and/or findings contained in this report are those of the authors and should not be construed as an official Department of the Army position, policy, or decision, unless so designated by other documentation     

Potential errors in fiber length measurements resulting from lever arm rotation during mechanical testing of muscle cells

In single muscle cell preparations fibers are often suspended between connectors, extending perpendicularly from a force transducer, and the lever arm of a torque motor. The fiber does not move along a horizontal plane when shortened or lengthened by lever arm rotation. An error from the true length (TL) is introduced if the expected length (EL) is calibrated along this horizontal optical plane. Lever arm length (LAL), initial fiber length (FL(i)), connector length (CL), and the magnitude of EL all contribute to this error. A mathematical model was used to determine the TL during shortening (0.96-0.80 FL(i)) and lengthening (1.10-1.50 FL(i)) at a constant LAL of 13.6mm. CL had the greatest impact on error. For FL(i) = 2mm at the longest CL modeled (15 mm), an expected shortening of 0.20 FL(i) produced a true shortening of ～ 0.17 FL(i), and an expected stretch to 1.50 FL(i) resulted in a true stretch to almost 1.60 FL(i). Under these conditions, the true sarcomere length would be 4% and 6% longer than expected during shortening and lengthening, respectively. Because of their non-linear nature, length errors at long CL's may result in an over-estimation of unloaded shortening velocity during slack tests and a left-ward shift in the passive tension-fiber length relationship at long fiber lengths. Measurement errors decreased dramatically with shorter CL's, becoming negligible (<1%) at CL = 3mm. We recommend that investigators keep CL as short as possible. Alternatively, we provide a method for adjusting the magnitude of the EL to yield a desired TL.     

A non-linear model for visual-vestibular interaction during body rotation in man

A mathematical model for visual-vestibular interaction during body rotation in an illuminated visual surround is obtained by combining a previous model of the optokinetic reflex (OKR) with a simplified model of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). OKR is activated by the slip of the image of the external world on the retina, and represents a negative feedback loop around VOR. For large retinal slip velocities OKR behaves as a basically non-linear system. The validity of the model is proved via computer simulation by comparing predicted responses with the experimental results obtained in man by Koenig et al. (1978) in different situations of visual-vestibular interaction.Work supported by C.N.R. (Rome, Italy), Special Project on Piomedical Engineering, Grant No. 79.01255.86     

Different degrees of lever arm rotation control myosin step size

Myosins are actin-based motors that are generally believed to move by amplifying small structural changes in the core motor domain via a lever arm rotation of the light chain binding domain. However, the lack of a quantitative agreement between observed step sizes and the length of the proposed lever arms from different myosins challenges this view. We analyzed the step size of rat myosin 1d (Myo1d) and surprisingly found that this myosin takes unexpectedly large steps in comparison to other myosins. Engineering the length of the light chain binding domain of rat Myo1d resulted in a linear increase of step size in relation to the putative lever arm length, indicative of a lever arm rotation of the light chain binding domain. The extrapolated pivoting point resided in the same region of the rat Myo1d head domain as in conventional myosins. Therefore, rat Myo1d achieves its larger working stroke by a large calculated approximately 90 degrees rotation of the light chain binding domain. These results demonstrate that differences in myosin step sizes are not only controlled by lever arm length, but also by substantial differences in the degree of lever arm rotation.     

An improved model for calculating the optical rotation of simple saccharides

A calculational model for the optical rotation (OR) at the sodium D-line of simple saccharides has been developed that eliminates deficiencies of a previous model. Conformational conclusions based on the earlier model are not affected, as established by a recalculation of the OR phi,psi-map of methyl 3-O-(alpha-D-mannopyranosyl)-alpha-D-mannopyranoside. The model relocates the strong long-wavelength sigma-sigma* circular dichroism (CD) component, which is mainly responsible for the NaD OR from 160 to below 130 nm, where it is now known to occur. That correction allows future modeling of CD bands of different origins that appear in the 150-190 nm region. In order to demonstrate the utility of the revised model, it was applied to calculating the OR of methyl 3-O-(alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl)-alpha-L-rhamnopyranoside. The results provide experimental support for conformational conclusions derived from a molecular mechanics study of that molecule.     

Myosin motor domain lever arm rotation is coupled to ATP hydrolysis

We have investigated coupling of lever arm rotation to the ATP binding and hydrolysis steps for the myosin motor domain. In several current hypotheses of the mechanism of force production by muscle, the primary mechanical feature is the rotation of a lever arm that is a subdomain of the myosin motor domain. In these models, the lever arm rotates while the myosin motor domain is free, and then reverses the rotation to produce force while it is bound to actin. These mechanical steps are coupled to steps in the ATP hydrolysis cycle. Our hypothesis is that ATP hydrolysis induces lever arm rotation to produce a more compact motor domain that has stored mechanical energy. Our approach is to use transient electric birefringence techniques to measure changes in hydrodynamic size that result from lever arm rotation when various ligands are bound to isolated skeletal muscle myosin motor domain in solution. Results for ATP and CTP, which do support force production by muscle fibers, are compared to those of ATPgammaS and GTP, which do not. Measurements are also made of conformational changes when the motor domain is bound to NDP's and PP(i) in the absence and presence of the phosphate analogue orthovanadate, to determine the roles the nucleoside moieties of the nucleotides have on lever arm rotation. The results indicate that for the substrates investigated, rotation does not occur upon substrate binding, but is coupled to the NTP hydrolysis step. The data are consistent with a model in which only substrates that produce a motor domain-NDP-P(i) complex as the steady-state intermediate make the motor domain more compact, and only those substrates support force production.     

An epigenetic model for pigment patterning based on mechanical and cellular interactions

Pigment patterning in animals generally occurs during early developmental stages and has ecological, physiological, ethological, and evolutionary significance. Despite the relative simplicity of color patterns, their emergence depends upon multilevel complex processes. Thus, theoretical models have become necessary tools to further understand how such patterns emerge. Recent studies have reevaluated the importance of epigenetic, as well as genetic factors in developmental pattern formation. Yet epigenetic phenomena, specially those related to physical constraints that might be involved in the emergence of color patterns, have not been fully studied. In this article, we propose a model of color patterning in which epigenetic aspects such as cell migration, cell-tissue interactions, and physical and mechanical phenomena are central. This model considers that motile cells embedded in a fibrous, viscoelastic matrix-mesenchyme-can deform it in such a way that tension tracks are formed. We postulate that these tracks act, in turn, as guides for subsequent cell migration and establishment, generating long-range phenomenological interactions. We aim to describe some general aspects of this developmental phenomenon with a rather simple mathematical model. Then we discuss our model in the context of available experimental and morphological evidence for reptiles, amphibians, and fishes, and compare it with other patterning models. We also put forward novel testable predictions derived from our model, regarding, for instance, the localization of the postulated tension tracks, and we propose new experiments. Finally, we discuss how the proposed mechanism could constitute a dynamic patterning module accounting for pattern formation in many animal lineages.     

Effect of muscle fatigue on internal model formation and retention during reaching with the arm.

The motor system adapts to novel dynamic environments by forming internal models that predict the muscle forces needed to move skillfully. The goal of this study was to determine how muscle fatigue affects internal model formation during arm movement and whether an internal model acquired while fatigued could be recalled accurately after rest. Twelve subjects adapted to a viscous force field applied by a lightweight robot as they reached to a target. They then reached while being resisted by elastic bands until they could no longer touch the target. This protocol reduced the strength of the muscles used to resist the force field by approximately 20%. The bands were removed, and subjects adapted again to the viscous force field. Their adaptive ability, quantified by the amount and time constant of adaptation, was not significantly impaired following fatigue. The subjects then rested, recovering approximately 70% of their lost force-generation ability. When they reached in the force field again, their prediction of the force field strength was different than in a nonfatigued state. This alteration was consistent with the use of a higher level of effort than normally used to counteract the force field. These results suggest that recovery from fatigue can affect recall of an internal model, even when the fatigue did not substantially affect the motor system's ability to form the model. Recovery from fatigue apparently affects recall because the motor system represents internal models as a mapping between effort and movement and relies on practice to recalibrate this mapping.     

An in vitro model for studies on bacterial interactions in the avian caecum

An in vitro intermittent-flow model was developed for studying bacterial interactions in the avian caecum. The model provides a closer simulation of caecal conditions than others described previously but does not require elaborate instrumentation. In preliminary trials, growth of caecal bacteria from an adult chicken was shown to be inhibitory to both Salmonella infantis and entero-haemorrhagic Escherichia coli.     

Kinematic invariants during cyclical arm movements

It has been observed that the motion of the arm end-point (the hand, fingertip or the tip of a pen) is characterized by a number of regularities (kinematic invariants). Trajectory is usually straight, and the velocity profile has a bell shape during point-to-point movements. During drawing movements, a two-thirds power law predicts the dependence of the end-point velocity on the trajectory curvature. Although various principles of movement organization have been discussed as possible origins of these kinematic invariants, the nature of these movement trajectory characteristics remains an open question. A kinematic model of cyclical arm movements derived in the present study analytically demonstrates that all three kinematic invariants can be predicted from a two-joint approximation of the kinematic structure of the arm and from sinusoidal joint motions. With this approach, explicit expressions for two kinematic invariants, the two-thirds power law during drawing movements and the velocity profile during point-to-point movements are obtained as functions of arm segment lengths and joint motion parameters. Additionally, less recognized kinematic invariants are also derived from the model. The obtained analytical expressions are further validated with experimental data. The high accuracy of the predictions confirms practical utility of the model, showing that the model is relevant to human performance over a wide range of movements. The results create a basis for the consolidation of various existing interpretations of kinematic invariants. In particular, optimal control is discussed as a plausible source of invariant characteristics of joint motions and movement trajectories.     

Mini-review: Osteoblasts: An in vitro model of bone-implant interactions

Well-characterized osteoblasts provide a successful in vitro model to study bone-biomaterial interactions. Knowledge of the events occurring at this tissue-biomaterial interface could lead to the design of improved orthopedic/dental biomaterials which elicit specific and desirable responses from surrounding cells/tissues, optimize function of osteoblasts (the boneforming cells), and enhance long-term bone-implant bonding. (c) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Effect of arm position on cardiovascular responses during isometric handgrips

Sixteen subjects (eight women and eight men, age 20-25 years) carried out in the seated position, isometric contractions sustained until exhaustion of the digital flexors. The subject's arm was placed in two positions, high and low. The muscle tensions used were 30, 40 and 50% of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). Under these conditions, for a given relative force, the duration of contraction (limit-time) was not modified by the arm position. In the male subjects, increases in heart rate (HR) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) were slightly more pronounced in the low than the high position, but the differences were not significant. Limit times in the high position were similar to those in the low position, and, in the absence of an increase in HR and SBP, this seemed to be due to an increase in cardiac output consequent upon a transient improvement in venous return together with an increase in the coefficient of oxygen utilization.     

An in vivo polymicrobial biofilm wound infection model to study interspecies interactions

Chronic wound infections are typically polymicrobial; however, most in vivo studies have focused on monospecies infections. This project was designed to develop an in vivo, polymicrobial, biofilm-related, infected wound model in order to study multispecies biofilm dynamics and in relation to wound chronicity. Multispecies biofilms consisting of both Gram negative and Gram positive strains, as well as aerobes and anaerobes, were grown in vitro and then transplanted onto the wounds of mice. These in vitro-to-in vivo multi-species biofilm transplants generated polymicrobial wound infections, which remained heterogeneous with four bacterial species throughout the experiment. We observed that wounded mice given multispecies biofilm infections displayed a wound healing impairment over mice infected with a single-species of bacteria. In addition, the bacteria in the polymicrobial wound infections displayed increased antimicrobial tolerance in comparison to those in single species infections. These data suggest that synergistic interactions between different bacterial species in wounds may contribute to healing delays and/or antibiotic tolerance.     

An algorithmic approach to upper arm contouring

There has been a renewed interest in upper arm contouring given the recent advances and subsequent patient interest in weight loss. Patients undergoing bariatric surgery are often left with a significant amount of redundant skin and laxity of their upper extremity. Some patients within this group have excess fat in their upper arms with relatively good skin tone, while others have a paucity of excess fat with a significant amount of redundant skin. The optimal treatment for each patient can vary. A clinical algorithm is presented that is designed to select the best method for upper arm contouring based on the aesthetic analysis of the upper arm. Case examples are provided demonstrating results that were obtained by following this algorithm.