Feasibility Study of a Wearable Exoskeleton for Children: Is the Gait Altered by Adding Masses on Lower Limbs?

We are designing a pediatric exoskeletal ankle robot (pediatric Anklebot) to promote gait habilitation in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP). Few studies have evaluated how much or whether the unilateral loading of a wearable exoskeleton may have the unwanted effect of altering significantly the gait. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether adding masses up to 2.5 kg, the estimated overall added mass of the mentioned device, at the knee level alters the gait kinematics. Ten healthy children and eight children with CP, with light or mild gait impairment, walked wearing a knee brace with several masses. Gait parameters and lower-limb joint kinematics were analyzed with an optoelectronic system under six conditions: without brace (natural gait) and with masses placed at the knee level (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 kg). T-tests and repeated measures ANOVA tests were conducted in order to find noteworthy differences among the trial conditions and between loaded and unloaded legs. No statistically significant differences in gait parameters for both healthy children and children with CP were observed in the five “with added mass” conditions. We found significant differences among “natural gait” and “with added masses” conditions in knee flexion and hip extension angles for healthy children and in knee flexion angle for children with CP. This result can be interpreted as an effect of the mechanical constraint induced by the knee brace rather than the effect associated with load increase. The study demonstrates that the mechanical constraint induced by the brace has a measurable effect on the gait of healthy children and children with CP and that the added mass up to 2.5 kg does not alter the lower limb kinematics. This suggests that wearable devices weighing 25 N or less will not noticeably modify the gait patterns of the population examined here.Cerebral Palsy International Research FoundationStavros S. Niarchos Foundatio

Il ruolo dei semiochimici nella gestione delle infestazioni del punteruolo rosso delle palme

A distanza ormai di più di dieci anni dall’arrivo del Punteruolo rosso delle palme Rhynchophorus ferrugineus sul territorio nazionale, molteplici sono stati gli approcci tecnico-scientifici messi in atto per arginare il dilagare delle cruente infestazioni. Ad oggi, tuttavia, nessuna delle strategie di contenimento adottate è risultata funzionale e realmente efficace a contrastare l’azione distruttiva del coleottero nei confronti del patrimonio palmicolo che caratterizza l’arredo urbano e monumentale di molte città italiane. Infatti, la natura criptica del Punteruolo rosso delle palme, da un lato ha reso difficile eseguire una diagnosi precoce poiché nei primi stadi di infestazione la sintomatologia del danno è poco evidente, dall’altro ha spesso ritardato e compromesso lo sviluppo di strategie di controllo efficaci e sostenibili. Di conseguenza, in tale contesto, diventa cruciale una corretta e tempestiva diagnosi delle infestazioni dell’insetto, che attualmente rappresenta l’unica strategia in grado di massimizzare gli interventi di recupero e salvaguardia delle palme infestate. Analogamente, è necessario vagliare nuove e sostenibili strategie di intervento, in quanto in ambiente urbano risulta poco sostenibile l’uso dei trattamenti chimici, a causa delle gravi conseguenze che ne derivano in termini di impatto sull’ambiente e sulla salute e in considerazione delle drastiche restrizioni nell’applicazione di mezzi chimici in aree urbane a seguito delle recenti direttive comunitarie. In questa presentazione si vuole fare il punto delle ricerche sviluppate negli anni mirate a sfruttare le “scie chimiche” che entrano in gioco nelle relazioni trofiche tra insetto fitofago e pianta ospite, in termini di messa a punto di protocolli per la diagnosi precoce e di strategie di controllo basate sulla manipolazione del comportamento del fitofago. Nel primo caso, sono stati interessanti gli sviluppi ottenuti impiegando l’olfatto di cani appositamente addestrati al riconoscimento delle “tracce odorose” provenienti dalle palme colonizzate dall’insetto; nel secondo appaiono promettenti i risultati ottenuti con una combinazione di composti chimici attrattivi e repellenti ottimizzati per la definizione della tecnica del “push and pull”. Il presente contributo mira a tracciare una panoramica sulle suddette attività, riportandone i punti di maggior pregio e i principali aspetti limitativi

The Red palm weevil in Sicily: the introduction and spread of an invasive alien species

The red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is a pest from Southeast Asia accidentally introduced into North Africa and Europe two decades ago. In Sicily, RPW was recorded for the first time in 2005, then, in few years, it established becoming the most severe pest of ornamental palm species in urban, monumental and country areas. In this paper, we first report the history of its introduction and spread. Then, we reviewed the preventative and curative strategies that have been implemented with variable degrees of success in containing the invasive alien pest. Finally, we focus on the development of new strategies to detect early infestations and to prevent or contain RPW attacks.Le Charançon rouge des palmiers (CRP), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), est un ravageur provenant du Sud - Est de l’Asie, accidentellement introduit en Afrique du Nord et en Europe il y a 20 ans. En Sicile le CRP a été détecté pour la première fois en 2005, puis, dans quelques années, il s’y est installé en devenant le plus nuisible ravageur des palmiers ornementaux dans les aires urbaines, artistiques et agricoles. Dans ce travail, dans la première partie on a exposé l’histoire de son introduction et de sa diffusion, ensuite on a révisé les stratégies de prévention et de soin qu’on a appliqué, avec des degrés de réussite différents, pour limiter ce phytophage envahisseur. Enfin, on a concentré l’attention sur le développement de stratégies nouvelles pour détecter les infestations précoces et pour prévenir ou limiter les attaques du CRP

Spatiotemporal parameters of loaded and unloaded leg for children with CP.

<p>Mean and standard deviation for the spatiotemporal parameters of loaded (LL) and unloaded (UL) leg for children with CP. During gait without added masses (NG), LL represents the more affected limb of the children with CP. For each variable, the significant differences between LL and UL are reported in bold characters.</p

Spatiotemporal parameters of loaded and unloaded leg for healthy children.

<p>Mean and standard deviation for the spatiotemporal parameters of loaded (LL) and unloaded (UL) leg for healthy children. During gait without added masses (NG), LL represents the non-dominant limb of healthy subjects. No statistical differences were found.</p

Hip, knee and ankle angle time histories.

<p>Time-normalized plot of hip, knee and ankle angles collected from a representative healthy child and a representative child with CP for the six trial conditions (see legend inside the figure). The angle trends are reported for UL and LL.</p

Peaks of knee angle of loaded and unloaded leg.

<p>Mean and standard deviation for peak (KF_max) and lowest (KF_max) values of knee flexion angle of loaded (LL) and unloaded (UL) leg for healthy children and those with CP as a function of the added mass value. Asterisks indicate significant differences.</p

Peaks of hip angle of loaded and unloaded leg.

<p>Mean and standard deviation for peak values of hip flexion (HF) and extension (HE) angles of loaded (LL) and unloaded (UL) leg for healthy children and those with CP as a function of the added mass value. Asterisks indicate significant differences.</p

Knee brace.

<p>Knee brace and lead masses.</p