Preferred Side Research Articles

Analogous laterality in trunk movements in captive African elephants: A pilot study

ABSTRACT Lateralization of hand use in primates has been extensively studied in a variety of contexts, and starts to be investigated in other species and organs in order to understand the evolution of the laterality according to different tasks. In elephants, the orientation of the movements of the trunk has been observed mainly in feeding and social contexts, in free conditions. However, little is known about the influence of task complexity on trunk laterality. In this study, we compared the lateralization of the trunk in two conditions: standardized and free. We offered granules to six African elephants on each side of an opened trapdoor to create a constraining environment and reported the different behaviours employed and their orientation. In addition, we observed the same individuals in free conditions and noted the lateralization of the use of their trunk. We revealed a common right side preference in all our elephants, both in standardized and free conditions. This side bias was stronger in our constraining task, adding evidence for the task complexity theory. We finally described laterality in new behaviours in the literature on elephants, such as pinching, gathering or exploration with the trunk.

The Effect of Sleep Position Preference on Eyelid and Eyebrow Symmetry.

To investigate the relationship between sleep position preference and eyebrow and eyelid position and degree of upper eyelid dermatochalasis. A prospective study evaluating the impact of sleep position on facial asymmetry was conducted at an academic ophthalmology department. Eligibility criteria included the absence of periocular-altering trauma or surgery, contact lens use, or other periorbital disease processes. Patients reported their sleep position preference on a questionnaire. Standardized digital photographs of patients were obtained, and Image J software was used for measurements and converted into millimeters based on a standard corneal limbus-to-limbus ratio. Upper and lower eyelid position, upper eyelid dermatochalasis, and eyebrow position were assessed by the following image-derived measurements: marginal reflex distance 1 (iMRD1), marginal reflex distance 2 (iMRD2), tarsal platform show (iTPS), and central brow position (iBP). These results were compared with the patient reported sleep position preference to determine correlation. Seventy-one patients were enrolled and reported the following sleep position preferences: 28 (right), 24 (left), 13 (both), and 6 (supine). Patients with a right- or left-sided preference demonstrated lower iMRD1 measurements for the preferred sleep side (p < 0.0004) with no other significant difference in periorbital measurements. A larger degree of upper eyelid height (iMRD1) asymmetry was observed among patients with a sleep side preference. Patients with a predominant sleep side preference demonstrate a significant increase in ipsilateral upper eyelid asymmetry and an inferior upper eyelid position on the sleep side. There were no differences noted in lower eyelid position, central eyebrow position, or amount of upper eyelid dermatochalasis.

Facial asymmetry and chewing sides in twins

Objective To resolve how the preferred chewing side (PCS) affects facial asymmetry in twins, whether there are differences between monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins, and whether the twins with PCS have more asymmetric faces compared to symmetrically chewing twins. Material and methods The study included 106 Lithuanian twin pairs of the same sex, 59 MZ and 47 DZ pairs. The data were analysed from facial 3D images and manually added landmarks. 3D images were analysed by Rapidform2006 software and statistical analyses were done by using the R software environment version 4.1.0. Results The contralateral effect of PCS and larger chin side was dominant among right and non-right side chewing twins. Being female increased the whole face symmetry. Conclusion The volume of the chin becomes larger on the side opposite to the twins’ habitual chewing side. As the results are quite similar in both twin types, functional factors are more prominent than heredity.

Perioperative neurologic outcomes of right versus left upper extremity access for fenestrated-branched endovascular aortic aneurysm repair

ObjectiveUpper extremity (UE) access is frequently used for fenestrated-branched endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (F-BEVAR), particularly for complex repairs. Traditionally, left-side UE access has been used to avoid crossing the arch and the origin of the supra-aortic vessels, which could potentially result in cerebral embolization and an increased risk of perioperative cerebrovascular events. More recently, right UE has been more frequently used as it is more convenient and ergonomic. The purpose of this study was to assess the outcomes and cerebrovascular events after F-BEVAR with the use of right- vs left-side UE access. MethodsDuring an 8-year period, 453 patients (71% male) underwent F-BEVAR at a single institution. UE access was used in more complex repairs. Left UE access was favored in the past, whereas right UE access is currently the preferred UE access side. Brachial artery cutdown was used in all patients for the placement of a 12F sheath. Outcomes were compared between patients undergoing right vs left UE access. End points included cerebrovascular events, perioperative mortality, technical success, and local access-related complications. ResultsUE access was used in 361 (80%) patients. The right side was used in 232 (64%) and the left side in 129 (36%) patients for the treatment of 88 (25%) juxtarenal, 135 (38%) suprarenal, and 137 (38%) thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms. Most procedures were elective (94%). Technical success was achieved in 354 patients (98%). In-patient or 30-day mortality was 3.3%. Five (1%) perioperative strokes occurred in patients undergoing right UE access, of which three were ischemic and two were hemorrhagic. No transient ischemic attacks occurred perioperatively. Two hemorrhagic strokes were associated with permissive hypertension to prevent spinal cord ischemia. No perioperative strokes occurred in patients undergoing left UE access (P = .16). Overall, perioperative strokes occurred with similar frequency in patients undergoing UE (5, 1%) and femoral access only (1, 1%) (P = .99). Arm access-related complications occurred in 15 (5%) patients, 11 (4.8%) on the right side and 4 (6%) on the left side (P = .74). ConclusionsRight UE access can be used for F-BEVAR with low morbidity and minimal risk of perioperative ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attacks. In general, UE access is not associated with an increased risk of perioperative stroke compared with femoral access only. Tight blood pressure control is, however, critical to avoid intracranial bleeding related to uncontrolled hypertension.

Quantifying swimming activities using accelerometer signal processing and machine learning: A pilot study

Aerobic exercises on land could be quantified and tracked objectively, but swimming style recognition has remained unexplored. Taking the advantages of signal processing and machine learning on acceleration signals, the purpose of this study was, by analyzing swimming accelerometer data, to explore a set of algorithm in tracking swimming activities, including recognizing swimming styles, counting time and counting strokes in each style. A total of 17 participants (9 females) from the swimming team of the Southeast University of China was recruited. They performed breaststroke, front crawl, backstroke and butterfly, four 50-meter-lap each, with an ActiGraph GT9X inertia measurement unit on wrist of their preferred side. Overall, 78.7 ± 14.6, 148.5 ± 21.7, 151.2 ± 14.4, 98 ± 16.3 strokes were performed and evaluated on breaststroke, front crawl, backstroke and butterfly, respectively. In classification, three classifiers were examined and the result showed that support vector machine (SVM) provided the best accuracy of classification (over 99%). In time counting, the accuracy was over 99% and in stroke counting, the overall single-lap accuracy rate was 93.3%. In conclusion, with a combination of an objective measure and machine-learning algorithm, tracking swimming activities, including swimming style classification, counting swimming time and strokes, by a accelerometer becomes possible.

Cone-beam computed tomographic assessment of the inclination of the articular eminence in patients with temporomandibular disorders and chewing side preference

BackgroundChewing side preference (CSP) has been proposed as one etiology of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) as it can induce the structural changes of the temporomandibular joint. But its association with the inclination of the articular eminence (IAE) is unknown. This study aimed to compare IAE between patients with CSP and without CSP.MethodsCone-beam computed tomography images of 90 patients with TMD (mean age of 45.6 years, 69 with CSP, 21 without CSP) and 20 participants without TMD and CSP (mean age of 41.3 years) were measured to compare IAE and depth of the glenoid fossa (DGF)ResultsIAE and DGF showed a positive correlation among all the participants. Compared with the participants without TMD and CSP, the TMD patients without CSP presented a similar IAE but with a significantly higher value of DGF (p < 0.05); in contrast, the TMD patients with CSP presented a significantly greater IAE and DGF (p < 0.05). No bilateral differences in IAE and DGF were observed in all the participants. Except the male patients with CSP had a deeper fossa than did the female, no differences in IAE and DGF according to gender were observed.ConclusionsTMD patients with CSP seem to have a deep glenoid fossa with steep eminence which might be considered one characteristic imaging feature.

Analysis of the correlation between chewing side preference and disc displacement types and clinical symptoms in patients with anterior disc displacement of temporomandibular joint

Objective: To analyze the clinical symptoms and types of disc displacement of patients with anterior disc displacement (ADD) of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and to explore the correlation between chewing side preference (CSP) and the clinical symptoms and types of disc displacement of ADD patients. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of the ADD patients diagnosed by clinical symptoms and MRI findings of TMJ in the Department of Stomatology, General Hospital of Chinese PLA from January 2018 to December 2019. A total of 111 ADD patients [33 males and 78 females, aged(31.0±10.9) years old] were included. The patients were divided into two groups according to whether they had CSP: non-CSP group (n=40) and CSP group (n=71). The clinical symptoms and types of ADD were observed and recorded. According to the specific side of CSP in the CSP group, the patients were further divided into the ipsilateral side and the contralateral side of CSP. The pain, TMJ sounds and the ADD types were also observed. Chi square test was used to compare the pain, TMJ sounds, limited mouth opening and ADD types of the two groups. Binary Logistic regression model was used to analyze the correlation between CSP and clinical symptoms and ADD characteristics. Results: The incidence of pain in the CSP group [89% (63/71)] was significantly higher than that in the non-CSP group [70% (28/40)] (P<0.05). In CSP patients, the incidences of pain and joint sounds on the ipsilateral side of CSP were significantly higher than that on the contralateral side (P<0.05). MRI showed that the incidence of bilateral ADD in the CSP group [58%(41/71)] was significantly higher than that in the non-CSP group [37%(15/40)] (P<0.05).There were significant differences in the incidences of no disc displacement (DD), anterior disk displacement with reduction(ADDwR) and anterior disk displacement without reduction (ADDwoR) between ipsilateral and contralateral joints of the CSP patients (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the incidences of no DD, ADDwR and ADDwoR between left and right joints of the non-CSP patients (P>0.05). The incidence of ADDwoR in ipsilateral side of the CSP patients was significantly higher than that in contralateral side (P<0.05). Pain (OR=3.375) and the side of disc displacement (OR=2.278) in patients with ADD were positively correlated with CSP (P<0.05). Conclusions: The clinical symptoms and types of disc displacement between patients with and without CSP were significantly different. The incidences of pain and bilateral disc displacement in the CSP group were significantly higher than those in the non-CSP group. In addition, the incidences of pain, TMJ sounds and anterior disk displacement without reduction on the ipsilateral side of patients with CSP were significantly higher than those on the contralateral side. The pain symptoms and side of disc displacement were positively related to CSP.

Maternal immune activation leads to atypical turning asymmetry and reduced DRD2 mRNA expression in a rat model of schizophrenia

Atypical asymmetries have been reported in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, linking higher symptom severity to weaker lateralization. Furthermore, both lateralization and schizophrenia are influenced by the dopaminergic system. However, whether a direct link between the etiology of schizophrenia and atypical asymmetries exists is yet to be investigated. In this study, we examined whether maternal immune activation (MIA), a developmental animal model for schizophrenia and known to alter the dopaminergic system, induces atypical lateralization in adolescent and adult offspring. As the dopaminergic system is a key player in both, we analyzed neuronal dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) mRNA expression. MIA was induced by injecting pregnant rats with 10 mg/kg polyinosinic:polycytidylic (PolyI:C) at gestational day 15. Controls were injected with 0.9 % NaCl. Offspring were tested at adolescence or early adulthood for asymmetry of turning behavior in the open field test. The total number of left and right turns per animal was assessed using DeepLabCut. Strength and preferred side of asymmetry were analyzed by calculating lateralization quotients. Additionally, DRD2 mRNA expression in the prefrontal cortex of offspring at both ages was analyzed using real-time PCR. MIA was associated with a rightward turning behavior in adolescents. In adults, MIA was associated with an absence of turning bias, indicating reduced asymmetry after MIA. The analysis of DRD2 mRNA expression revealed significantly lower mRNA levels after MIA compared to controls in adolescent, but not adult animals. Our results reinforce the association between atypical asymmetries, reduced DRD2 mRNA expression, and schizophrenia. However, more preclinical research is needed.

Target position and avoidance margin effects on path planning in obstacle avoidance

This study examined how people choose their path to a target, and the visual information they use for path planning. Participants avoided stepping outside an avoidance margin between a stationary obstacle and the edge of a walkway as they walked to a bookcase and picked up a target from different locations on a shelf. We provided an integrated explanation for path selection by combining avoidance margin, deviation angle, and distance to the obstacle. We found that the combination of right and left avoidance margins accounted for 26%, deviation angle accounted for 39%, and distance to the obstacle accounted for 35% of the variability in decisions about the direction taken to circumvent an obstacle on the way to a target. Gaze analysis findings showed that participants directed their gaze to minimize the uncertainty involved in successful task performance and that gaze sequence changed with obstacle location. In some cases, participants chose to circumvent the obstacle on a side for which the gaze time was shorter, and the path was longer than for the opposite side. Our results of a path selection judgment test showed that the threshold for participants abandoning their preferred side for circumventing the obstacle was a target location of 15 cm to the left of the bookcase shelf center.

Wearable motion sensor-based chewing side detection

Chewing side preference means a tendency to use one side to chew food more frequently than the other. Medical studies show that chewing side preference can result in lateral facial asymmetry, teeth abrasion, temporomandibular disorders, malocclusion, and stomach illness. To continuously detect chewing side preference and quantify its severity in daily life, several wearable sensor-based methods have been proposed in recent years. However, these methods are either intrusive or not fine-grained enough. In this paper, we propose a wearable motion sensor-based chewing side detection method. We observe that chewing activity generates mastication muscle bulge and skull vibration, which can be sensed by motion sensors worn on the mastication muscles. In addition, the muscle bulge and skull vibration of the chewing side are different from those of the non-chewing side. These observations motivate us to deploy motion sensors on the left and right temporalis muscles to detect chewing sides. We propose a heuristic-rules based method to exclude non-chewing data and segment each chew accurately. The relative difference series of the left and right sensors are then calculated to characterize the difference of muscle bulge and skull vibration between the chewing side and the non-chewing side. A two-class classifier is trained using long short-term memory (LSTM), an artificial recurrent neural network, to model the data samples and classify chewing sides. A real-world evaluation dataset of eight food types is collected from eight human subjects. The average detection accuracy reaches 84.8%. The highest detection accuracy for a single subject is up to 97.4%.

Methamphetamine‐induced conditioned place preference in male rats eating standard or high fat chow

Eating a high fat diet has several negative health consequences, including dysfunction to dopamine systems. It has also been shown to enhance the sensitivity of male rats to methamphetamine-induced locomotor sensitization. However, it is not known if sensitivity to the other (i.e., rewarding) effects of methamphetamine are similarly enhanced in rats eating a high fat diet. To test the hypothesis that eating high fat chow enhances sensitivity of rats to the rewarding effects of methamphetamine, male Sprague Dawley rats were fed standard (17% kcal from fat) or high fat chow (60% kcal from fat) for 4 weeks prior to conditioned place preference (CPP) training, using a biased design. Before training, rats were given free access to both sides of the chamber to determine a side preference. Rats were then trained on alternating days with saline or methamphetamine (0.1, 0.32 and 1.0 mg/kg, i.p.) with drug conditioned in the initially non-preferred side. A 2 × 4 between-subjects ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of methamphetamine dose, but no main effect of diet, and no significant diet × dose interaction effect. Tukey HSD post-hoc analyses revealed that male rats conditioned with 0.32 mg/kg and 1.0 mg/kg methamphetamine displayed significantly larger preference scores than male rats conditioned with saline, regardless of diet. That is, at the two largest doses, methamphetamine induced a significant CPP. Preference scores for rats conditioned with the smallest dose of methamphetamine (0.1 mg/kg) did not significantly differ from the saline conditioned group nor the two larger doses of methamphetamine. Though no effect of diet was found, in contrast to what might have been predicted based on previous studies with methamphetamine-induced locomotion, future studies should explore a wider range of doses, as well as other assays (e.g., intravenous self-administration). Future studies will also examine female rats to investigate potential sex differences.

Conservation of mechanisms regulating emotional-like responses on spontaneous nicotine withdrawal in zebrafish and mammals

BackgroundNicotine withdrawal syndrome is a major clinical problem. Animal models with sufficient predictive validity to support translation of pre-clinical findings to clinical research are lacking. AimsWe evaluated the behavioural and neurochemical alterations in zebrafish induced by short- and long-term nicotine withdrawal. MethodsZebrafish were exposed to 1 mg/L nicotine for 2 weeks. Dependence was determined using behavioural analysis following mecamylamine-induced withdrawal, and brain nicotinic receptor binding studies. Separate groups of nicotine-exposed and control fish were assessed for anxiety-like behaviours, anhedonia and memory deficits following 2–60 days spontaneous withdrawal. Gene expression analysis using whole brain samples from nicotine-treated and control fish was performed at 7 and 60 days after the last drug exposure. Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactivity in pretectum was also analysed. ResultsMecamylamine-precipitated withdrawal nicotine-exposed fish showed increased anxiety-like behaviour as evidenced by increased freezing and decreased exploration. 3H-Epibatidine labeled heteromeric nicotinic acethylcholine receptors (nAChR) significantly increased after 2 weeks of nicotine exposure while 125I-αBungarotoxin labeled homomeric nAChR remained unchanged. Spontaneous nicotine withdrawal elicited anxiety-like behaviour (increased bottom dwelling), reduced motivation in terms of no preference for the enriched side in a place preference test starting from Day 7 after withdrawal and a progressive decrease of memory attention (lowering discrimination index). Behavioural differences were associated with brain gene expression changes: nicotine withdrawn animals showed decreased expression of chrna 4 and chrna7 after 60 days, and of htr2a from 7 to 60 days.The expression of c-Fos was significantly increased at 7 days. Finally, Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactivity increased in dorsal parvocellular pretectal nucleus, but not in periventricular nucleus of posterior tuberculum nor in optic tectum, at 60 days after withdrawal. ConclusionsOur findings show that nicotine withdrawal induced anxiety-like behaviour, cognitive alterations, gene expression changes and increase in pretectal TH expression, similar to those observed in humans and rodent models.

An investigation of shading devices in a hot region: A case study in a school building

Thermal comfort preference in primary schools is quite crucial because of the difficulty of young students to show and reflect their actual status of comfort: they may come with a jacket early morning in winter, but they may not take it off later in the afternoon. Little research on thermal comfort has been done in educational buildings globally as compared to other types of buildings such as working places. This research was focused on the ultimate type of shading devices in relation to thermal energy performance such as indoor air temperature, solar heat gain, and day-lighting from one side and thermal comfort preference from the other. In this research, we used a variety of tools such as thermal imaging cameras, TAS EDSL software. There is a clear lack in economical perspective for the users in this region to try to adapt without heavy reliance on air-conditioning systems, one of the major contribution of this study is to provide alternatives for sustainable buildings. We observed that vertical shading systems were generally more preferable for efficient shading in hot regions.

Force production during maximal front crawl tethered swimming: exploring bilateral asymmetries and differences between breathing and non-breathing conditions

ABSTRACT The present study focused on propulsive forces applied during tethered swimming. The main aims were to identify asymmetries between dominant and non-dominant arms, quantify the effect of breathing on force application and, explore any association between each variable and swimming performance. Fifteen regional level swimmers completed a maximal front crawl tethered swimming test, with maximal kicking, under four conditions: 1) Dominant arm strokes only, no breathing; 2) non-dominant arm strokes only, no breathing; 3) full stroke, no breathing; 4) full stroke, breathing on the preferred side. The outcome variables were: absolute and normalised (force divided by body mass) minimum, mean and maximum force; stroke cycle time and; impulse. The symmetry index was also calculated, and all variables were correlated with the swimmers’ season best times in 50 m front crawl. Some bilateral force asymmetries were found, but they did not always favour the dominant side and were not directly linked with swimming performance. There was no strong evidence that force production is higher on the dominant side or that symmetry in force production affects performance. Despite the longer stroke cycle times when breathing, the breathing actions did not affect force production. Faster swimmers often produced higher maximum force values and, sometimes, higher mean force values.

The Effect Of Special Exercises Using Assistive Devices To Build A Movement Program According To Some Biokinetic Variables In Teaching The Performance Of The Shooting Skill From The Angle, Opposite The Throwing Arm In Handball For Junior

Objectives of the study: Preparing special exercises using auxiliary means according to the values of some biomechanical variables to teach the performance of the shooting skill from the angle, unlike the preferred side of the junior handball. Knowing the effect of special exercises using auxiliary means on the values of some Biokinetic variables in teaching the skill of shooting from the corner, unlike the preferred side of the junior handball.&#x0D; Conclusions: The results showed the effectiveness of using special exercises according to the mechanical foundations of the angle shooting skill, unlike the preferred side of the hand ball for emerging players through the high level of shooting accuracy as a result of the development in the level of the series of biomechanical variables in the pre and post tests and in favor of the post test.The special exercises contributed directly to the development of the variables and characteristics of the strength characteristic, which showed in the development of values (the lowest strength in the absorption stage, the time of the lowest strength in the absorption stage, the maximum strength in the rise stage, and the area under the curve).&#x0D; Recommendations: The necessity to focus on the biomechanical laws that basically control every stage of performance, the skill of correcting from the angle, through what these values achieved in terms of moral differences that have effectively contributed to the high level of performance and with less effort.

Brain lateralization in children with upper-limb reduction deficiency

BackgroundThe purpose of the current study was to determine the influence of upper-limb prostheses on brain activity and gross dexterity in children with congenital unilateral upper-limb reduction deficiencies (ULD) compared to typically developing children (TD).MethodsFive children with ULD (3 boys, 2 girls, 8.76 ± 3.37 years of age) and five age- and sex-matched TD children (3 boys, 2 girls, 8.96 ± 3.23 years of age) performed a gross manual dexterity task (Box and Block Test) while measuring brain activity (functional near-infrared spectroscopy; fNIRS).ResultsThere were no significant differences (p = 0.948) in gross dexterity performance between the ULD group with prosthesis (7.23 ± 3.37 blocks per minute) and TD group with the prosthetic simulator (7.63 ± 5.61 blocks per minute). However, there was a significant (p = 0.001) difference in Laterality Index (LI) between the ULD group with prosthesis (LI = − 0.2888 ± 0.0205) and TD group with simulator (LI = 0.0504 ± 0.0296) showing in a significant ipsilateral control for the ULD group. Thus, the major finding of the present investigation was that children with ULD, unlike the control group, showed significant activation in the ipsilateral motor cortex on the non-preferred side using a prosthesis during a gross manual dexterity task.ConclusionsThis ipsilateral response may be a compensation strategy in which the existing cortical representations of the non-affected (preferred) side are been used by the affected (non-preferred) side to operate the prosthesis. This study is the first to report altered lateralization in children with ULD while using a prosthesis.Trial registration The clinical trial (ClinicalTrial.gov ID: NCT04110730 and unique protocol ID: IRB # 614-16-FB) was registered on October 1, 2019 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04110730) and posted on October 1, 2019. The study start date was January 10, 2020. The first participant was enrolled on January 14, 2020, and the trial is scheduled to be completed by August 23, 2023. The trial was updated January 18, 2020 and is currently recruiting

A Training Proposal to Improve Multidirectional Running Technique in Male and Female Handball Players: A Pilot Study.

Multidirectional running has been described as an important factor in team sports performance. The aim of the present study was to determine changes in T-test, 505 time, 10 m sprint, squat jump (SJ), countermovement jump (CMJ), countermovement jump right leg (CMJRL), and countermovement jump left leg (CMJLL) following exposure to 12 sessions over 4 weeks of a multidirectional running sprint training intervention in male and female handball players. A total of 31 handball players (15 male and 16 female) were recruited for this study and then randomly assigned to an experimental group (EG) or control group (CG). Male EG players showed improvements in 505 Preferred Side (PS) (p ≤ 0.05), 505 Non-Preferred Side (NPS) (p ≤ 0.05), and 10 m sprint (p ≤ 0.05), while female EG players presented statistically significant improvements between pre- and post-test for the T-test (p ≤ 0.05), 505 PS (p ≤ 0.05), 505 NPS (p ≤ 0.05), and 10 m sprint (p ≤ 0.05). No statistically significant pre- and post-test differences were observed in CG (all p ≥ 0.05) or between male and female players. We found an improvement in handball players’ agility and speed of movement following the intervention protocol, suggesting the need to introduce this program into our training sessions. It may also be necessary to select and develop more specific tests in order to evaluate multidirectional work in handball players.

Longitudinal Stability of Spatial Inattention in Children With Perinatal Stroke

BackgroundSigns of contralateral hemispatial inattention may be witnessed in children following perinatal brain infarcts (lesions), and evidence shows a pattern distinct from that in adults. This study is a longitudinal analysis of children with perinatal infarcts, with the goals of determining the pattern of inattention found in children with left or right hemisphere lesions and whether this pattern shows signs of change over time. MethodsTwenty-one children with left hemishpere lesions, nine children with right hemisphere lesions, and 80 neurologically healthy control children were given the Infant and Toddler Neglect Task at two different time points. At time 1, median age was 1.54 years (interquartile range [IQR] = 0.92 to 2.29). At time 2, median age was 3.25 years (IQR = 2.23 to 5.00). A standardized scoring system was developed to compare the children’s preference for the left versus right side of space. ResultsChildren with left hemisphere lesions showed a significantly increased preference for the left side of space and a slightly decreased preference for the right side of space at time 1 and a significantly decreased preference for the right side of space at time 2 compared with controls. Children with right hemisphere lesions showed a significantly decreased preference for the left side of space and a significantly increased preference for the right side of space compared with controls at time 1 and a significantly decreased preference for the left side of space and a significantly increased preference for the right side of space compared with controls at time 2. There were no significant within-subjects effects across time. ConclusionsThese data suggest that mechanisms of hemispatial inattention affect children early in the developmental process and that hemispatial inattention in children with both left and right hemisphere perinatal lesions likely persists at least through the early elementary school years.

Side preference of dairy cows in the milking parlour and its impact on daily milk yield

Monitoring of the side preference of dairy cows in the milking parlour was performed in a group of 40 dairy cows (Czech spotted cattle). Twenty milking sessions were evaluated for each cow, and the composition of the monitored group of cows was kept constant. A significant side preference was found in 26 (65%) cows. The results show that in the dairy herd, a significant percentage of cows prefer one side of the milking parlour. Furthermore, in dairy cows with a significant side preference, their milk yield on the preferred and non-preferred side of milking parlour was compared and a statistically significant difference was found. When the dairy cows were milked on their preferred side of the milking parlour, higher milk yield was achieved (12.21 vs. 10.38 kg).

Navigation in Multi-Agent System With Side Preference Path Optimizer

Multi-agent path planning aims to find a set of collision-free global path in the joint configuration space to move each agent from the given start states to the goal states and keep the total cost of the path to a minimum. However, the multi-agent systems in the real-world turn out to be a non-communication and partially observable system where the goal states and the planning strategy of other agents are usually unknown. In order to solve the multi-agent path planning problem in a more general environment, a social-aware navigation method is proposed in this paper. By imitating the most basic human road rules, left/right-handed rules, we add side preference to the global path planning by using a path optimizer so that each agent only needs to consider its own planning while the system is approximately optimal. The proposed path optimizer is tested in benchmark maps, robot-robot and robot-human interaction environment, respectively. With the side preference path optimizer, the success rate of multi-agent navigation with 6 agents increase from 0% to 78% at the cost of only extra 0.1 seconds planning time. The proposed method makes the navigation in human-robot interaction scenes become easier.