Review
Physiology
Jacques Duchateau, Roger M. Enoka
Summary: The purpose of this review was to compare the distribution of motor unit properties across human muscles of different sizes and recruitment ranges. Despite innervation number being the most influential factor in this distribution, the organization of motor unit pools and discharge rates are relatively similar between hand muscles and lower leg muscles.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Weipang Chang, Melina E. Hale
Summary: Octopuses coordinate their arms through a nerve ring at the arms' base, in addition to brain-based sensorimotor integration and control. When one arm is mechanically stimulated, neural activity is generated in the nerve ring and in other arms, while the activity in the nerve ring decreases with distance from the stimulated arm. Various spiking patterns of neural activity occur in the axial nerve cords and the nerve ring.
Review
Clinical Neurology
Sumire Sato, Julia T. Choi
Summary: This narrative review aims to establish a framework for understanding age-related changes in neural control of human locomotor adaptation, focusing on reactive feedback and predictive feedforward control driven by sensory feedback during locomotion. The effects of aging on different locomotor adaptation paradigms will be discussed in light of the neural mechanisms underlying locomotion.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
David Labonte
Summary: Muscle contraction determines animal movement and is limited by the characteristic dimensionless number of effective inertia, F. Physiologically similar musculoskeletal systems possess equal fractions of muscle's maximum performance. An optimal musculoskeletal anatomy with F close to unity enables maximum work and power delivery. External forces introduce parasitic losses and challenge traditional skeletal force-velocity trade-offs. F systematically varies under isogeometric transformations, providing insights into animal locomotor performance.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Sabrina da Conceicao Pereira, Raul Manhaes-de-Castro, Diego Bulcao Visco, Glayciele Leandro de Albuquerque, Caio Matheus Santos da Silva Calado, Vanessa da Silva Souza, Ana Elisa Toscano
Summary: This study systematically evaluated CP animal models and found that combining different methods to induce CP results in more severe deficits in locomotion and motor coordination. Through qualitative synthesis of 63 studies and quantitative meta-analysis of 16 studies, this conclusion was drawn.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE METHODS
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Kelly A. Rich, Megan G. Pino, Mehmet E. Yalvac, Ashley Fox, Hallie Harris, Maria H. H. Balch, W. David Arnold, Stephen J. Kolb
Summary: KIF5A is a motor protein responsible for axonal transport. Loss of function variants in the N-terminal domain are associated with hereditary spastic paraplegia and hereditary motor neuropathy, while gain of function splice-site variants in the C-terminal domain are associated with ALS.
NEUROBIOLOGY OF DISEASE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Jason E. Chung, Kristin K. Sellers, Matthew K. Leonard, Laura Gwilliams, Duo Xu, Maximilian E. Dougherty, Viktor Kharazia, Sean L. Metzger, Marleen Welkenhuysen, Barundeb Dutta, Edward F. Chang
Summary: Action potential is a fundamental unit of neural computation. This study presents a reliable method using the Neuropixels probe to record dozens of neurons in humans during surgery, yielding up to around 100 simultaneously recorded single units. This method provides access to population single-unit activity across the depth of human neocortex at scales previously only accessible in animal models.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Marianne Barbu-Roth, Kim Siekerman, David I. Anderson, Alan Donnelly, Viviane Huet, Francois Goffinet, Caroline Teulier
Summary: The study found that there were no significant differences in the number or coordination of forward treadmill steps taken by newborns on a moving treadmill with different optic flow conditions. However, the Faster condition resulted in significantly fewer leg pumping movements compared to the Random control condition.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
George Rebec, David M. Koceja, Kendra D. Bunner
Summary: Evaluating and quantifying movement is crucial for understanding brain function. The force-plate actometer technology developed by the Fowler group minimizes limitations in data collection and provides valuable insights into neurodegenerative diseases.
BRAIN RESEARCH BULLETIN
(2022)
Article
Robotics
Chong Hong, Ziyu Ren, Che Wang, Mingtong Li, Yingdan Wu, Dewei Tang, Wenqi Hu, Metin Sitti
Summary: The article introduces a miniature magnetic gearbox for driving wireless millimeter-scale robots. The gearbox is driven by a rotating external magnetic field, producing high torque and demonstrating high transmission efficiency. This miniature device enables various functionalities, including crawling, jumping, clamping, needle-puncturing, and syringe actions.
Article
Neurosciences
Fabio Sarto, Daniel W. Stashuk, Martino Franchi, Elena Monti, Sandra Zampieri, Giacomo Valli, Giuseppe Sirago, Julian Candia, Lisa M. Hartnell, Matteo Paganini, Jamie S. McPhee, Giuseppe De Vito, Luigi Ferrucci, Carlo Reggiani, Marco Narici
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the effects of short-term unloading and active recovery (AR) on the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) and motor unit potential (MUP) and the underlying molecular mechanisms. The results showed that the NMJ was destabilized at the molecular level during unloading but remained relatively stable at low contraction intensities. However, MUP properties were affected, possibly due to alterations in ion channel dynamics and initial axonal damage and denervation. These changes were fully reversed by active recovery.
JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-LONDON
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Elliot W. Hawkes, Charles Xiao, Richard-Alexandre Peloquin, Christopher Keeley, Matthew R. Begley, Morgan T. Pope, Gunter Niemeyer
Summary: There are key differences in jump energetics between biological and engineered jumpers, with the jump height of engineered devices being able to exceed that of biological jumpers significantly. The authors have created a jumping device that can reach over 30 meters high, a significant advancement in jump height compared to previous engineering and biological systems.
Review
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Mikkel Bo Brent, Annemarie Bruel, Jesper Skovhus Thomsen
Summary: Multiple animal models of disuse-induced bone loss exist, with rats (59%) and mice (30%) being the most commonly used species. Hindlimb unloading (44%), neurectomy (15%), bandages and orthoses (15%), and botulinum toxin (9%) were the most frequently used methods to induce disuse. The median time of disuse was 21 days (quartiles: 14 days, 36 days), with a median number of animals per group subjected to disuse being 10 (quartiles: 7, 14).
CALCIFIED TISSUE INTERNATIONAL
(2021)
Review
Engineering, Biomedical
Seungmoon Song, Lukasz Kidzinski, Xue Bin Peng, Carmichael Ong, Jennifer Hicks, Sergey Levine, Christopher G. Atkeson, Scott L. Delp
Summary: Modeling human motor control has been a grand scientific challenge, with researchers exploring neuromechanical simulations and reinforcement learning to predict human movement in novel environments. While plausible motor control models have explained basic locomotion behaviors, challenges remain in modeling higher layer controls. Recent advances in deep reinforcement learning show potential for addressing these challenges, but application in neuromechanical simulations for human control remains limited. The Learn to Move competition and software platform aim to accelerate the use of reinforcement learning in this field and have attracted global participation and innovative solutions. Future opportunities lie at the intersection of human movement simulation and reinforcement learning, with plans to extend collaborative efforts in modeling human motor control.
JOURNAL OF NEUROENGINEERING AND REHABILITATION
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
David Xing, Wilson Truccolo, David A. Borton
Summary: The study reveals the existence of separate underlying subspaces in the nervous system during complex locomotion, which coordinate ongoing neural dynamics related to locomotion with voluntary gait adjustments. These findings have important implications for the development of brain-machine interfaces.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
