Search results for "Hand"
showing 10 items of 1364 documents
Handgrip strength is associated with suicidal thoughts in men: Cross-sectional analyses from NHANES
2019
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between handgrip strength and suicidal thoughts in a representative sample of the US adult population using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). POPULATION AND METHODS: Data from two waves of NHANES (2011-2014) were aggregated. Handgrip strength in kilogram (kg) was defined as the maximum value from the dominant hand. Suicidal thoughts were assessed using one question "Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problem: Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way?" and dichotomized to no (not at all) and yes (several days/ more than half the days/ nea…
Deep pain thresholds in the distal limbs of healthy human subjects.
2003
Pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) in distal limbs have been under-investigated despite their potential clinical importance. Therefore, we compared PPTs over nail bed, bony prominences, and muscle in distal parts of upper and lower limbs. We investigated 12 healthy subjects using three handheld devices: a spring-loaded, analogue pressure threshold meter (PTM) with two operating ranges, and an electronic Algometer. PPTs were determined with three series of ascending stimulus intensities with a ramp of about 50 kPa/s. PPTs were normally distributed in logarithmic space. PPTs over different tissues varied significantly (ANOVA, p0.001): mean thresholds and 95% confidence intervals were 615 kPa (26…
Spatial discrimination thresholds for pain and touch in human hairy skin
2001
The traditional concept that pain is poorly localized has been challenged by recent studies, where subjects were able to point to the stimulated spot on the skin with an accuracy of 10-20 mm. Pointing movements themselves, however, have errors of about 15 mm. To determine the limits of sensory performance of the nociceptive system independent of motor performance, point localization of heat pain (540 mJ punctate laser stimuli, 5 mm diameter), mechanical pain (256 mN punctate probe, 200 microm diameter), and touch (16 mN von Frey probe, 1.1 mm diameter) were tested in a two-alternative forced-choice paradigm in 12 healthy subjects. Stimuli were applied in randomized order to two parallel lin…
Hand-arm vibration syndrome: clinical characteristics, conventional electrophysiology and quantitative sensory testing.
2013
Abstract Objective Workers exposed to vibrating tools may develop hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS). We assessed the somatosensory phenotype using quantitative sensory testing (QST) in comparison to electrophysiology to characterize (1) the most sensitive QST parameter for detecting sensory loss, (2) the correlation of QST and electrophysiology, and (3) the frequency of a carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in HAVS. Methods QST, cold provocation tests, fine motor skills, and median nerve neurography were used. QST included thermal and mechanical detection and pain thresholds. Results Thirty-two patients were examined (54 ± 11 years, 91% men) at the more affected hand compared to 16 matched contro…
Muscular synergies during motor corrections: investigation of the latencies of muscle activities.
2010
To reduce the complexity of muscular control, a small number of muscular activations are combined to produce an infinity of movements. This concept of muscle synergies has been widely investigated, mainly by means of principal component analyses (PCA) in the case of unperturbed movements. However, reaching movements can be altered at any time if the target location is changed during their execution. In this case, PCA does not precisely measure the latencies of muscles activities. We develop here a simple method to investigate how a random target jump toward a single location induced motor corrections in the whole musculature by precisely determining the latencies of muscle activities during…
Functional assessment of the quality of human hepatocyte preparations for cell transplantation.
2008
Hepatocyte transplantation is an alternative therapy to orthotopic liver transplantation for the treatment of liver diseases. Good quality freshly isolated or cryopreserved human hepatocytes are needed for clinical transplantation. However, isolation, cryopreservation, and thawing processes can seriously impair hepatocyte viability and functionality. The aim of the present study was to develop a fast and sensitive procedure to estimate the quality of hepatocyte preparations prior to clinical cell infusion. To this end, cell viability, attachment efficiency, and metabolic competence (urea synthesis and drug-metabolizing P450 activities) were selected as objective criteria. Viability of hepat…
Dominant vs. nondominant arm advantage in mentally simulated actions in right handers
2013
Although plentiful data are available regarding mental states involving the dominant-right arm, the evidence for the nondominant-left arm is sparse. Here, we investigated whether right-handers can generate accurate predictions with either the right or the left arm. Fifteen adults carried out actual and mental arm movements in two directions with varying inertial resistance (inertial anisotropy phenomenon). We recorded actual and mental movement times and used the degree of their similarity as an indicator for the accuracy of motor imagery/prediction process. We found timing correspondences (isochrony) between actual and mental right arm movements in both rightward (low inertia resistance) …
Train in Vain: The role of the self in claimed self-handicapping strategies
2012
International audience; Two field studies investigate the role of self in the tendency of athletes to engage in claimed handicapping strategies during training (anticipatively claiming that handicaps may interfere with their performance). Study 1 tested the relationship between trait self-esteem and athletes’ engagement in claimed self-handicapping. As hypothesized, low physical self-esteem athletes claimed more handicaps than high physical self-esteem athletes. For stronger evidence for the causal role of the self, Study 2 tested whether securing athletes’ self-worth through self-affirmation would lead to decreased claimed self-handicapping by using a mixed model design that allows for bot…
Associations between self-estimated and measured physical fitness among 40-year-old men and women
2005
The aim was to evaluate whether 40-year-old men and women are able to estimate their level of fitness compared with actual measured physical fitness. Twenty-nine men and 35 women first completed a questionnaire at home and then their physical fitness was measured at laboratory. The index of self-estimated physical fitness was calculated by summing up the scores of self-estimated endurance, strength, speed and flexibility. The index of self-estimated endurance was calculated by summing up the scores of self-estimated endurance and those of the self-estimated distance they could run, cycle, ski and walk. The index of measured physical fitness was calculated by summing up the z-scores of a sub…
Self-rated health and mortality: Could clinical and performance-based measures of health and functioning explain the association?
2005
It is well established that self-rated health (SRH) predicts mortality even when other indicators of health status are taken into account. It has been suggested that SRH measures a wide array of mortality-related physiological and pathological characteristics not captured by the covariates included in the analyses. Our aim was to test this hypothesis by examining the predictive value of SRH on mortality controlling for different measurements of body structure, performance-based functioning and diagnosed diseases with a population-based, prospective study over an 18-year follow-up. Subjects consisted of 257 male residents of the city of Jyväskylä, central Finland, aged 51-55 and 71-75 years.…