ATLANTA (September 25, 2007) Your body goes to a lot of trouble to make sure you stay upright. But when the brains neural pathways are impaired through injury, age or illness, muscles are deprived of the detailed sensory information they need to perform the constant yet delicate balancing act required for normal movement and standing.
With an eye towards building robots that can balance like humans, researchers at Georgia Tech and Emory University have created a computer simulation that sheds new light on how the nervous system reinvents its communication with muscles after sensory loss. The findings could someday be used to better diagnose and rehabilitate patients with balance problems (through normal aging or diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis or Parkinsons) by retraining their muscles and improving overall balance. The research will be published in the October issue of Nature Neuroscience.
The ultimate goal of rehabilitation is for patients to find the best way to adapt to their particular deficit. This system may help predict what the optimum combination of muscle and nerve activity looks like for each patient, helping patients and doctors set realistic goals and speeding recovery, said Lena Ting, lead researcher on the project and an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.
In a body without balance impairment, the nervous system collects sensory information from all over the body (skin, ears, feet, arms, eyes, etc.) and transmits this information to the muscles that control balance. When that information changes through the introduction of something like a strong wind, a raised crack in the pavement or an accidental bump from a nearby stranger, the nervous system sends the new information to the muscles and they adjust accordingly to maintain the bodys balance.
Impairments and injuries to the nervous system or the senses that report to
'/>"/>
| Contact: Megan McRainey megan.mcrainey@icpa.gatech.edu 404-894-6016 Georgia Institute of Technology Source:Eurekalert |
Related biology news :
1. MSI releases moleculizer - a new approach to simulation of intracellular biochemical networks
2. Large-scale Computer Simulations Reveal New Insights Into Antibiotic Resistance
3. NYU chemists use computer simulation to enhance understanding of DNA transcription
4. Sensor web simulation investigates technique to improve prediction of pollution across the globe
5. Largest computational biology simulation mimics life’s most essential nanomachine
6. Computer simulation hints at new HIV drug target
7. Virginia Techs System X supercomputer provides super tool for simulation of cell division
8. Simulations unravel outer membrane transport mechanism
9. NYU Study Reveals How Brains Immune System Fights Viral Encephalitis
10. A bacterial genome reveals new targets to combat infectious disease
11. Needling Chromosomes Reveals Cell Division Secret
| Copyright © 2003-2012 Bio-Medicine. All rights reserved. ABOUT | CONTACT US | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS AND CONDITIONS |  |