China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Key human anatomy and physiology principles as they relate to rehabilitation engineering
Published in Alex Mihailidis, Roger Smith, Rehabilitation Engineering, 2023
Qussai Obiedat, Bhagwant S. Sindhu, Ying-Chih Wang
Damage to a sensory nerve may lead to inability to detect external stimuli such as touch, pressure, or temperature sensation. If damage occurs to a motor neuron that connects the brain to an effector muscle, an individual may lose the control to move a single or a group of muscles innervated by that nerve. Damage somewhere in the ascending/sensory or descending/motor pathways will interrupt the transmission of the signals. Damage to the cerebellum may lead to a variety of motor control problems including (but not limited to) loss of coordination of motor movement, undershoot or overshoot of intended position with the hand, arm, leg, or eye (dysmetria), inability to perform rapid alternating movements (adiadochokinesia), and staggering, wide-based walking (ataxic gait). Loss of dopamine-secreting cells in the basal ganglia may lead to Parkinson's disease, a slowly progressive neurologic disorder, and is characterized by rigidity or stiffness in movements, slowness of movement, and inability to initiate movement. Accumulating Huntingtin protein in the brain, especially in cells in the basal ganglia, may gradually lead to Huntington's disease, characterized by involuntary movements (chorea), unsteady gait, and slurred speech (Lundy-Ekman 2013).
Design of Manual Handling and Load Carriage Tasks
Published in R. S. Bridger, Introduction to Human Factors and Ergonomics, 2017
The antigravity reflexes are centered in the hindbrain (pons and medulla) and cause automatic bracing of a limb when it is loaded by body weight. Although they are essential for the maintenance of an upright posture, they do not assist in the maintenance of equilibrium. A second set of postural reflexes (located in the basal ganglia of the midbrain) controls the posture of the various body parts in relation to each other (as in the postural fixation of limbs, for example) and of the whole body itself. The cerebellum is also involved in posture in the coordination of body movements.
Nanocarriers for Brain Targeting
Published in Raj K. Keservani, Anil K. Sharma, Rajesh K. Kesharwani, Nanocarriers for Brain Targeting, 2019
B. A. Aderibigbe, I. A. Aderibigbe, A. P. I. Popoola
The central nervous system is composed of the spinal cord and the brain (Fig. 4.1) (Rughani, 2015). The brain is composed of the cerebrum, the brainstem, and the cerebellum (Rughani, 2015). At the lower part of the brain is the brainstem and the cerebellum lies posterior to the brainstem. The brainstem extends from the cervical spinal cord to the diencephalon of the cerebrum, the largest part of the brain (Rughani, 2015). The cerebrum is responsible for the decisions, behavior, perception, vision, emotion, speech, and memory (Anatomy of the brain). The brainstem is responsible for involuntary actions, such as blood pressure, digestion, hormone regulation, breathing, heartbeat, etc. The cerebellum is responsible for coordination, movement, and balance (Anatomy of the Brain). The brain is made of two types of nerves, namely, neuron and glia cells (Neurons: The Building Blocks of the Nervous System). The neurons are of varied shapes and sizes. They are composed of axon, cell body, and dendrites. They transmit information via signals that are chemical and electrical across a tiny gap known as a synapse. The dendrites act as antennae by receiving messages from the nerve cells that are transmitted to the cell body, which then accesses the message to determine its suitability for further transmission (Neurons: The Building Blocks of the Nervous System). Important messages are transmitted to the end of the axon, which contains neurotransmitters that open into the synapse. Glia provides the neurons with structural support, protection, and nourishment (Neurons: The Building Blocks of the Nervous System). Some of the glia cells are oligodendroglia, astroglia, ependymal, and microglia that act as an insulator to the neurons, transport nutrients to the neurons, secrete cerebrospinal fluid, digest dead neurons, respectively (Neurons: The Building Blocks of the Nervous System).
Developments in the human machine interface technologies and their applications: a review
Published in Journal of Medical Engineering & Technology, 2021
Harpreet Pal Singh, Parlad Kumar
The brain has three main parts- cerebrum, cerebellum and brainstem, which are further fragmented into 52 discrete sections [26]. The cerebrum is divided into two cerebral hemispheres: left and right. Each hemisphere has four sections, called lobes: frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe and occipital lobe. In these four lobes, each lobe controls specific functions. The cerebrum specifically controls the limb's movements, learning, reasoning, emotions, memory, judgment, speech along with the senses of touch, hear and sight [27]. The function of the cerebellum part of the brain is to maintain the balance of the human body during locomotion superintendence, to establish the right body posture and to coordinate the muscles movements to perform several body movements in the right way [28]. The brainstem is the connecting part of the cerebrum and cerebellum to the spinal cord, which performs many involuntary muscle movements like breathing, eye movements, digestion, coughing, sneezing, vomiting along controlling the heart rate and body temperatures [29–32]. Another important function of the brain is to acquire the alertness level very quickly to process high priority signals [33].
Simplified cerebellum-like spiking neural network as short-range timing function for the talking robot
Published in Connection Science, 2018
The main purpose of this research is to build a cerebellum-like neural network model as a short-range timing function for the talking robot. Although the timing function for the talking robot can be straightforward calculated by using mathematical analysis and be implemented to the talking robot, we employed a human-like regulator mechanism to control a human-like mechanical system. The cerebellum has been known for its role in precision, coordination and accurate timing of motor control (Ackermann, 2008), (Ivry & Spencer, 2004), (Lewis & Miall, 2003), (Koekkoek et al., 2003). Slurred speech is clear evidence of cerebellar ataxia as described in the papers cited by Boyd (2010). Research by Ivry, Keele, and Diener (1988) showed that lateral cerebellar lesions patients had difficulty in discriminating sound duration interval but had no trouble in discriminating the intensity of sounds. The fMRI evidence given by Nieto-Castanon, et al. (2003) shown the timely control contribution of cerebellum to vocalism. Thus, the approach for building a timing model based on cerebellum anatomy is employed in this study. Some models of cerebellar neural network have been introduced by Chapeau and Chauvet (1991) as delay line model, by Bullock, Fiala, and Grossberg (1994) as oscillator model, by Garenne and Chauvet (2004) as spectral timing model, and most recently by Yamazaki and Tanaka (2005) as internal clock of random projection model. Among these models, random projection model is believed to be more biologically plausible as described in the research conducted by Yamazaki and Tanaka (2005). The passage of time (POT) or timing control function of Yamazaki model is mainly derived from the neural signal of the granular layer, and the timing characteristic is lost if granular layer is malfunctioned. Therefore, assumption of short-range timing function derived from eye-blink paradigm is proposed to apply to the talking robot. For hardware design and implementation, Bamford et al. (2012) built a VLSI field-programmable mixed-signal array based system, and Luo (2014) built an FPGA based system which can simulate a 1 second of cerebellum activities in less than 26 milliseconds. Based on the model of spiking neural network introduced by Yamazaki and Tanaka (2007) and FPGA implementation by Luo (2014), the timing function for the talking robot is modelled using System Generator (SG) software, and then a co-simulation with Xilinx SP605 FPGA board is done to get the timing analysis data as the timing function. The timing function is combined with motor position control function to fully control talking robot’s speech output.