TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hiew, Shawn
A1  - Eibeck, Leila
A1  - Nguemeni, Carine
A1  - Zeller, Daniel
T1  - The influence of age and physical activity on locomotor adaptation
JF  - Brain Sciences
N2  - Background: Aging increases individual susceptibility to falls and injuries, suggesting poorer adaptation of balance responses to perturbation during locomotion, which can be measured with the locomotor adaptation task (LAT). However, it is unclear how aging and lifestyle factors affect these responses during walking. Hence, the present study investigates the relationship between balance and lifestyle factors during the LAT in healthy individuals across the adult lifespan using a correlational design. Methods: Thirty participants aged 20–78 years performed an LAT on a split-belt treadmill (SBT). We evaluated the magnitude and rate of adaptation and deadaptation during the LAT. Participants reported their lifelong physical and cognitive activity. Results: Age positively correlated with gait-line length asymmetry at the late post-adaptation phase (p = 0.007). These age-related effects were mediated by recent physical activity levels (p = 0.040). Conclusion: Our results confirm that locomotor adaptive responses are preserved in aging, but the ability to deadapt newly learnt balance responses is compromised with age. Physical activity mediates these age-related effects. Therefore, gait symmetry post-adaptation could effectively measure the risk of falling, and maintaining physical activity could protect against declines in balance.
KW  - locomotor adaptation
KW  - walking
KW  - physical activity
KW  - exercise
KW  - aging
KW  - balance
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-362478
SN  - 2076-3425
VL  - 13
IS  - 9
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Odorfer, Thorsten M.
A1  - Yabe, Marie
A1  - Hiew, Shawn
A1  - Volkmann, Jens
A1  - Zeller, Daniel
T1  - Topological differences and confounders of mental rotation in cervical dystonia and blepharospasm
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Mental rotation (mR) bases on imagination of actual movements. It remains unclear whether there is a specific pattern of mR impairment in focal dystonia. We aimed to investigate mR in patients with cervical dystonia (CD) and blepharospasm (BS) and to assess potential confounders. 23 CD patients and 23 healthy controls (HC) as well as 21 BS and 19 hemifacial spasm (HS) patients were matched for sex, age, and education level. Handedness, finger dexterity, general reaction time, and cognitive status were assessed. Disease severity was evaluated by clinical scales. During mR, photographs of body parts (head, hand, or foot) and a non-corporal object (car) were displayed at different angles rotated within their plane. Subjects were asked to judge laterality of the presented image by keystroke. Both speed and correctness were evaluated. Compared to HC, CD and HS patients performed worse in mR of hands, whereas BS group showed comparable performance. There was a significant association of prolonged mR reaction time (RT) with reduced MoCA scores and with increased RT in an unspecific reaction speed task. After exclusion of cognitively impaired patients, increased RT in the mR of hands was confined to CD group, but not HS. While the question of whether specific patterns of mR impairment reliably define a dystonic endophenotype remains elusive, our findings point to mR as a useful tool, when used carefully with control measures and tasks, which may be capable of identifying specific deficits that distinguish between subtypes of dystonia.
KW  - neurology
KW  - neuroscience
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-357713
VL  - 13
ER  -