Tapping Patterns Research Articles

Association of Finger Tapping Movements with Frailty Status in older Japanese Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Finger tapping impairment and frailty share overlapping pathophysiology and symptoms in older adults, however, the relationship between each other has not been previously studied. To investigate how finger tapping movements correlate with frail status in older Japanese adults. Data were from a cross-sectional study called the Cognition and Activity in Rural Environment of Hokkaido Senior Survey 2018. A total of 244 community-dwelling older adults (mean age 75.3 years) were included. Participants underwent physical examinations, gait and finger tapping tests, and completed self-administered questionnaires. Frailty was assessed using Fried's frailty phenotype, and factor analysis was conducted to extract relevant finger tapping factors. Multinomial logistic regression was employed to analyze associations, generating adjusted odds ratios. Of the participants, 18 were frail, and 145 pre-frail. Analysis identified three distinct finger tapping patterns: "Range of Motion - Nondominant Hand," "Variability - Dominant Hand - Anti," and "Variability - Nondominant Hand - Anti." These patterns showed significant associations with aspects of Fried's frailty phenotype, particularly low physical activity (P = 0.002), weakness (P = 0.003), and slowness (P = 0.004). A larger range of motion in the nondominant hand correlated with a lower frailty risk (Odds Ratio: 0.09, 95% CI: 0.02-0.46), while higher variability in the same hand increased the risk of pre-frailty (Odds Ratio: 2.19, 95% CI: 1.09-4.39). Finger tapping movements are significantly associated with frailty status as determined by Fried's phenotype. The findings underscore the importance of further longitudinal studies to understand the relationship between motor function and frailty.

Roles of the cerebellum and basal ganglia in temporal integration: Insights from a synchronized tapping task

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to clarify the roles of the cerebellum and basal ganglia for temporal integration. MethodsWe studied 39 patients with spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD), comprising spinocerebellar atrophy 6 (SCA6), SCA31, Machado–Joseph disease (MJD, also called SCA3), and multiple system atrophy (MSA). Thirteen normal subjects participated as controls. Participants were instructed to tap on a button in synchrony with isochronous tones. We analyzed the inter-tap interval (ITI), synchronizing tapping error (STE), negative asynchrony, and proportion of delayed tapping as indicators of tapping performance. ResultsThe ITI coefficient of variation was increased only in MSA patients. The standard variation of STE was larger in SCD patients than in normal subjects, especially for MSA. Negative asynchrony, which is a tendency to tap the button before the tones, was prominent in SCA6 and MSA patients, with possible basal ganglia involvement. SCA31 patients exhibited normal to supranormal performance in terms of the variability of STE, which was surprising. ConclusionsCerebellar patients generally showed greater STE variability, except for SCA31. The pace of tapping was affected in patients with possible basal ganglia pathology. SignificanceOur results suggest that interaction between the cerebellum and the basal ganglia is essential for temporal processing. The cerebellum and basal ganglia and their interaction regulate synchronized tapping, resulting in distinct tapping pattern abnormalities among different SCD subtypes.

Multidimensional recurrence quantification analysis of human-metronome phasing.

Perception-action coordination (also known as sensorimotor synchronization, SMS) is often studied by analyzing motor coordination with auditory rhythms. The current study assesses phasing-a compositional technique in which two people tap the same rhythm at varying phases by adjusting tempi-to explore how SMS is impacted by individual and situational factors. After practice trials, participants engaged in the experimental phasing task with a metronome at tempi ranging from 80-140 beats per minute (bpm). Multidimensional recurrence quantification analysis (MdRQA) was used to compare nonlinear dynamics of phasing performance. Varying coupling patterns emerged and were significantly predicted by tempo and linguistic experience. Participants who successfully phased replicated findings from an original case study, demonstrating stable tapping patterns near in-phase and antiphase, while those unsuccessful at phasing showed weaker attraction to in-phase and antiphase.

Free will strikes back: Steady-state movement-related cortical potentials are modulated by cognitive control

In psychology and neuroscience, opposition to free will has asserted that any degree of perceived self-control or choice is a mere epiphenomenon which provides no meaningful influence on action. The present research tested the validity of this conclusion by designing a paradigm in which the potential effect of self-monitoring on motor output could be investigated. Using a repetitive finger tapping task that evokes automatic patterns in participants tapping responses, we have obtained evidence that (1) participants may voluntarily reduce the predictability of their tapping patterns (2) by exercising cognitive control that (3) modulates response-locked steady-state movement-related potentials over primary and supplementary motor areas. These findings challenge the most radical accounts of the nonexistence of free will and instead provide support for a more balanced model of human behaviour in which cognitive control may constrain automatic response tendencies in response preparation and action execution.

A Flexible Artificial Sensory Nerve Enabled by Nanoparticle-Assembled Synaptic Devices for Neuromorphic Tactile Recognition.

Tactile perception enabled by somatosensory system in human is essential for dexterous tool usage, communication, and interaction. Imparting tactile recognition functions to advanced robots and interactive systems can potentially improve their cognition and intelligence. Here, a flexible artificial sensory nerve that mimics the tactile sensing, neural coding, and synaptic processing functions in human sensory nerve is developed to achieve neuromorphic tactile recognition at device level without relying on algorithms or computing resources. An interfacial self‐assembly technique, which produces uniform and defect‐less thin film of semiconductor nanoparticles on arbitrary substrates, is employed to prepare the flexible synaptic device. The neural facilitation and sensory memory characteristics of the proton‐gating synaptic device enable this system to identify material hardness during robotic grasping and recognize tapping patterns during tactile interaction in a continuous, real‐time, high‐accuracy manner, demonstrating neuromorphic intelligence and recognition capabilities. This artificial sensory nerve produced in wearable and portable form can be readily integrated with advanced robots and smart human–machine interfaces for implementing human‐like tactile cognition in neuromorphic electronics toward robotic and wearable applications.

Influence of masticating cycles and chewing patterns on inadvertent enamel wear caused by zirconia brackets.

Little information is available about enamel wear caused by zirconia brackets, an inadvertent side effect of orthodontic treatment. The purpose of this study was to examine potential enamel damage induced by contact with zirconia brackets. Sliding and impact wear simulations were performed using bovine enamel specimens positioned at a 25° slant to a zirconium ball to determine wear behaviour. Different chewing patterns, tapping and grinding, were simulated. Specimens were profiled using confocal laser scanning microscopy, and the mean maximum depth and surface roughness were measured. Scanning electron microscopy was also performed. The mean maximum depth of wear values differed according to the number of mastication cycles, with a higher number of cycles producing higher depths of wear. The facet wear depth was significantly greater with the tapping pattern than with the grinding pattern. Scanning electron microscopic observation of the wear facets revealed that surface textures at the edges were rougher than those at the centre of all facets. The results of this study indicated that enamel wear was induced by contact with zirconia brackets during the early period of mastication, and that the patterns and number of cycles of mastication affected the wear progression of enamel.

Beat Patterns Determine Inter-Hand Differences in Synchronization Error in a Bimanual Coordination Tapping Task.

A previous study reported the unique finding that people tapping a beat pattern with the right hand produce larger negative synchronization error than when tapping with the left hand or other effectors, in contrast to previous studies that have shown that the hands tap patterns simultaneously without any synchronization errors. We examined whether the inter-hand difference in synchronization error occurred due to handedness or to a specificity of the beat pattern employed in that study. Two experiments manipulated the hand–beat assignments. A comparison between the identical beat to the pacing signal and a beat with a longer interval excluded the handedness hypothesis and demonstrated that beat patterns with relatively shorter intervals were tapped earlier (Experiment 1). These synchronization errors were not local but occurred consistently throughout the beat patterns. Experiment 2 excluded alternative explanations. These results indicate that the apparent inconsistency in previous studies was due to the specificity of the beat patterns, suggesting that a beat pattern with a relatively shorter interval between hands is tapped earlier than beats with longer intervals. Our finding that the bimanual tapping of different beat patterns produced different synchronization errors suggests that the notion of a central timing system may need to be revised.

Better later: evening practice is advantageous for motor skill consolidation in the elderly.

How does the time of day of a practice session affect learning of a new motor sequence in the elderly? Participants practiced a given finger tapping sequence either during morning or evening hours. All participants robustly improved performance speed within the session concurrent with a reorganization of the tapping pattern of the sequence. However, evening-trained participants showed additional gains overnight and at 1 wk posttraining; moreover, evening training led to a further reorganization of the tapping pattern offline. A learning experience preceding nocturnal sleep can lead to a task-specific movement routine as an expression of novel “how to” knowledge in the elderly.

Stand up! Are normal weight-bearing forces sufficient for a 12/14 Morse taper locking in total hip arthroplasty?

The aim of this study was to investigate total hip arthroplasty (THA) Morse taper pull-off strengths after impaction prior to cyclical loading compared to cyclical loading alone. The practical relevance of the experiment is to provide a perspective on what may be clinically satisfactory taper assembly given the spectrum of head tapping patterns used by surgeons, as well as compare traditional impaction performed in standard THA with alternate methods of taper engagement such as 'in situ assembly' used in micro-invasive techniques. 36 taper constructs utilising a combination of cobalt-chrome alloy and ceramic-titanium alloy junctions were investigated in vitro in wet and dry conditions with cyclical loading of the constructs. Taper disengagement strengths with and without impaction were compared. Secondary investigation of the surface roughness of the heads and tapers was also assessed. An impaction to a wet taper resulted in a greater pull off force compared to a dry taper with a CoCr head and taper combination. Impacting the head and dryness of the taper did not affect pull off forces of a ceramic femoral head on titanium taper. Pulling a head off a taper significantly alters the head surface roughness. Impaction of a taper does not provide any benefit over cyclical loading of a taper assembly alone for pull-off strength.

(Invited) Point-of-Use Flexible Sensors for Health and Environmental Applications: Assessment of Motor Skills and Chemical Exposure

Rapid, on-site assessment is highly desirable in the fields of both medical treatment and novel robotics. To achieve this goal, our research aims to develop low-cost, flexible, large-area sensor devices for different health and environmental applications. In this presentation, we discuss case studies using similar pressure sensors for two different point-of-use applications: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) motor skills characterization. There is no objective metric for evaluating motor skill training progress in autistic children, and current assessments rely on qualitative surveys. A common method used is a finger tapping test that requires videotaping and unreliable, time-consuming manual analysis, with large room for errors, even with computer vision analysis algorithms. We have fabricated an instrumented glove with touch sensors on textile for straightforward finger tapping patterns characterization. The results provide immediate objective feedback not only on the tapping counts, but on the temporal data (such as tapping duration and variation in duration) as well, which was not collected before. For the index finger tapping test, children with ASD perform less counts per minute compare to typically developing (TD) children. In addition, children with ASD tap their finger for an average longer duration, with larger variation between tap durations. In a 4 fingers tapping test children with ASD tend to have more irregular patterns and skip fingers compared to TD children. This glove could find future use for characterizing motor skills of people suffering from Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy seizures, and other neurological motor disorders. Robotic sensors for simultaneous pressure and organophosphate (OP) pesticide detection. There is an urgent need of sensor technologies to monitor hazardous materials for security and environmental applications. In particular, the occurrence of OP pesticide residues in agricultural products that poses a serious concern in the food and agriculture industries. Hence, rapid on-site detection of OPs through remote robotic sampling is highly desired to avoid placing people at exposure risks. To handle sample collection, the robotic manipulator requires tactile feedback, in order to ensure no damage will be done to either the robot or the other object in contact due to excessive force. To provide tactile feedback, pressure sensors based on capacitive mechanism were chosen. The sensitivity of the capacitive pressure sensors was tuned by adjusting the dielectric compressibility. Particularly, the sensitivity was increased by choosing softer materials, e. elastomers with low elastic modulus and porous structure that further lower elastic moduli of the foam dielectrics compared to solid films of the same material. We have combined low-cost chemical and pressure sensors together on disposable gloves, and demonstrated successive simultaneous tactile sensing and OP pesticide detection in a point-of-use platform that is scalable and economical.

Effectiveness of retro-reflective tape at the rear of heavy trucks to increase visibility and reduce rear-end collisions

The purpose of this study is to compare the visibility of various colors and patterns of retroreflective tapes and evaluate the effect of human and environmental factors on the detection of distance, perception-reaction time, and heart rate while driving behind heavy trucks with different patterns of retroreflective tapes. The Kitami Institute of Technology Driving Simulator (KITDS) was used for the experiment throughout this study. BACS Advance (TAOS Institute) is another piece of equipment used to measure heart rate and used to determine the driver's level of stress. Five patterns of retroreflective tape designs were evaluated and compared. The results of the study clearly show that the most visible retroreflective tap pattern is the fully outlined alternating red and yellow retroreflective tape following Regulation No.48 from UNECE, in comparison to the other patterns tested. Gender, driver age, the speed of the following vehicles, tape width, tape pattern, lighting conditions, and weather conditions significantly affect the detection distance. Driver age significantly affects the perception-reaction time. The perception-reaction time is significantly longer for drivers behind trucks with no retroreflective tape at the rear-end. Therefore, the selection of the most effective color and pattern of retroreflective tape is very important in order to increase the visibility of heavy trucks and reduce the chances of rear-end truck collisions, particularly at nighttime or in conditions with limited visibility. This study strongly recommends that countries which have not implemented regulations concerning the placement of retroreflective tape on the rear of large trucks, or have implemented the regulation but not in accordance with UNECE Regulation No.48, should consider revising their regulation to improve the visibility of large trucks.

Susceptibility of consolidated procedural memory to interference is independent of its active task-based retrieval.

Reconsolidation theory posits that upon retrieval, consolidated memories are destabilized and need to be restabilized in order to persist. It has been suggested that experience with a competitive task immediately after memory retrieval may interrupt these restabilization processes leading to memory loss. Indeed, using a motor sequence learning paradigm, we have recently shown that, in humans, interference training immediately after active task-based retrieval of the consolidated motor sequence knowledge may negatively affect its performance levels. Assessing changes in tapping pattern before and after interference training, we also demonstrated that this performance deficit more likely indicates a genuine memory loss rather than an initial failure of memory retrieval. Here, applying a similar approach, we tested the necessity of the hypothetical retrieval-induced destabilization of motor memory to allow its impairment. The impact of memory retrieval on performance of a new motor sequence knowledge acquired during the interference training was also evaluated. Similar to the immediate post-retrieval interference, interference training alone without the preceding active task-based memory retrieval was also associated with impairment of the pre-established motor sequence memory. Performance levels of the sequence trained during the interference training, on the other hand, were impaired only if this training was given immediately after memory retrieval. Noteworthy, an 8-hour interval between memory retrieval and interference allowed to express intact performance levels for both sequences. The current results suggest that susceptibility of the consolidated motor memory to behavioral interference is independent of its active task-based retrieval. Differential effects of memory retrieval on performance levels of the new motor sequence encoded during the interference training further suggests that memory retrieval may influence the way new information is stored by facilitating its integration within the retrieved memory trace. Thus, impairment of the pre-established motor memory may reflect interference from a competing memory trace rather than involve interruption of reconsolidation.

Design methodology for combined production and distribution for domestic hot water and space heating

As local heat demand is reducing due to an increased insulation rate, investing in sustainable heat production becomes less interesting. Nevertheless a substantial demand of heat remains in which the thermal energy needed for the generation of domestic hot water grows relatively in importance. In the last two years standards to size production and distribution systems were revised and methods based on tap patterns were elaborated. Nevertheless, some aspects were not covered yet, e.g. how to deal with decentralized storage and how to use these results and new insights in combined heating systems, taking into account that modifications in standards for both space heating and domestic hot water installations are reducing the oversizing. In this paper, first some critical points of attention due to this evolution are illustrated with a case example. Next it is shown how different rules of thumb often developed by different manufacturers deal with these aspects, but lacking however compatibility with existing standards and/or new insights. Finally, a methodology is proposed and illustrated how to size distribution and production systems for combined heating systems taking into account central and decentralized storage and different kind of end users. The method can be used to size heating systems in collective housing or in district heating networks.

Shipborne Underwater Acoustic Communication System and Sea Trials with Submersible Shenhai Yongshi

The Shipborne acoustic communication system of the submersible Shenhai Yongshi works in vertical, horizontal and slant channels according to the relative positions. For ease of use, an array combined by a vertical-cone directional transducer and a horizontal-toroid one is installed on the mothership. Improved techniques are proposed to combat adverse channel conditions, such as frequency selectivity, non-stationary ship noise, and Doppler effects of the platform’s nonlinear movement. For coherent modulation, a turbo-coded single-carrier scheme is used. In the receiver, the sparse decision-directed Normalized Least-Mean-Square soft equalizer automatically adjusts the tap pattern and weights according to the multipath structure, the two receivers’ asymmetry, the signal’s frequency selectivity and the noise’s spectrum fluctuation. The use of turbo code in turbo equalization significantly suppresses the error floor and decreases the equalizer’s iteration times, which is verified by both the extrinsic information transfer charts and bit-error-rate performance. For noncoherent modulation, a concatenated error correction scheme of nonbinary convolutional code and Hadamard code is adopted to utilize full frequency diversity. Robust and low-complexity synchronization techniques in the time and Doppler domains are proposed. Sea trials with the submersible to a maximum depth of over 4500 m show that the shipborne communication system performs robustly during the adverse conditions. From the ten-thousand communication records in the 28 dives in 2017, the failure rate of the coherent frames and that of the noncoherent packets are both below 10%, where both synchronization errors and decoding errors are taken into account.

Motor Synchronization in Patients With Schizophrenia: Preserved Time Representation With Abnormalities in Predictive Timing.

Objective: Basic temporal dysfunctions have been described in patients with schizophrenia, which may impact their ability to connect and synchronize with the outer world. The present study was conducted with the aim to distinguish between interval timing and synchronization difficulties and more generally the spatial-temporal organization disturbances for voluntary actions. A new sensorimotor synchronization task was developed to test these abilities.Method: Twenty-four chronic schizophrenia patients matched with 27 controls performed a spatial-tapping task in which finger taps were to be produced in synchrony with a regular metronome to six visual targets presented around a virtual circle on a tactile screen. Isochronous (time intervals of 500 ms) and non-isochronous auditory sequences (alternated time intervals of 300/600 ms) were presented. The capacity to produce time intervals accurately versus the ability to synchronize own actions (tap) with external events (tone) were measured.Results: Patients with schizophrenia were able to produce the tapping patterns of both isochronous and non-isochronous auditory sequences as accurately as controls producing inter-response intervals close to the expected interval of 500 and 900 ms, respectively. However, the synchronization performances revealed significantly more positive asynchrony means (but similar variances) in the patient group than in the control group for both types of auditory sequences.Conclusion: The patterns of results suggest that patients with schizophrenia are able to perceive and produce both simple and complex sequences of time intervals but are impaired in the ability to synchronize their actions with external events. These findings suggest a specific deficit in predictive timing, which may be at the core of early symptoms previously described in schizophrenia.

Quantitative assessment of finger tapping characteristics in mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease

Fine motor impairments are common in neurodegenerative disorders, yet standardized, quantitative measurements of motor abilities are uncommonly used in neurological practice. Thus, understanding and comparing fine motor abilities across disorders have been limited. The current study compared differences in finger tapping, inter-tap interval, and variability in Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and healthy older adults (HOA). Finger tapping was measured using a highly sensitive light-diode finger tapper. Total number of finger taps, inter-tap interval, and intra-individual variability (IIV) of finger tapping was measured and compared in AD (n = 131), PD (n = 63), MCI (n = 46), and HOA (n = 62), controlling for age and sex. All patient groups had fine motor impairments relative to HOA. AD and MCI groups produced fewer taps with longer inter-tap interval and higher IIV compared to HOA. The PD group, however, produced more taps with shorter inter-tap interval and higher IIV compared to HOA. Disease-specific changes in fine motor function occur in the most common neurodegenerative diseases. The findings suggest that alterations in finger tapping patterns are common in AD, MCI, and PD. In addition, the present results underscore the importance of motor dysfunction even in neurodegenerative disorders without primary motor symptoms.

Repetition and a Beat-Based Timing Framework: What Determines the Duration of Intervals Between Repetitions of a Tapping Pattern?

The production of speech and music are two human behaviors that involve complex hierarchical structures with implications for timing. Timing constraints may arise from a human proclivity to form ‘self-organized’ metrical structures for perceived and produced event sequences, especially those that involve repetition. To test whether the propensity to organize events in time arises even for simple motor behaviors, we developed a novel experimental tapping paradigm investigating whether participants use the beat structure of a tapped pattern to determine the interval between repetitions. Participants listened to target patterns of 3, 4, or 5 events, occurring at one of four periodic rates, and tapped out the pattern 11 times, creating 10 inter-pattern intervals (IPIs), which participants chose freely. The ratio between mean IPI and mean inter-tap interval (ITI) was used to measure the beat-relatedness of the overall timing pattern; the closer this ratio is to an integer, the more likely the participant was timing the IPI to match a multiple of the target pattern beat. Results show that a beat-based strategy contributes prominently, although not universally, to IPI duration. Moreover, participants preferred interval cycles with even numbers of beats, especially cycles with four beats. Finally, the IPI/ITI ratio was affected by rate, with more beats of silence for the IPI at faster rates. These findings support the idea that people can generate a larger global timing structure when engaging in the repetition of simple periodic motor patterns, and use that structure to govern the timing of those motor events.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ РЕАЛИЗАЦИИ /R/ В ЭВЕНКИЙСКОМ И ОРОЧОНСКОМ ЯЗЫКАХ30

The present article focuses upon pronunciation patterns of etymological trill sonorant /г/ in 2 closely related languages of Tungus-Manchu subfamily of the Altaic language family -Evenki and Orochen. The results of an acoustic study are presented for Selemdzha local accent of the Amur Evenks (Russia) and three local accents of Orochen speakers from Orochen Autonomous Banner, Greater and Lesser Xing'an Mountains of Inner Mongolia (China). The obtained results demonstrate greater degree of vibration of word-final patterns in Evenki compared to Orochen. In both languages, voiced and devoiced fricative patterns are present as well as tapping patterns accompanied by friction that is stronger in Orochen compared to Evenki. Unlike in Orochen, palatalized allophones were found in Evenki. The differences in realization patterns that were discovered can be at least partly explained by language interference of dominant Russian and dominant Chinese respectively.

Finger tapping analysis in patients with Parkinson’s disease and atypical parkinsonism

The goal of this study was to investigate repetitive finger tapping patterns in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), progressive supranuclear palsy–Richardson syndrome (PSP-R), or multiple system atrophy of parkinsonian type (MSA-P). The finger tapping performance was objectively assessed in PD (n=13), PSP-R (n=15), and MSA-P (n=14) patients and matched healthy controls (HC; n=14), using miniature inertial sensors positioned on the thumb and index finger, providing spatio-temporal kinematic parameters. The main finding was the lack or only minimal progressive reduction in amplitude during the finger tapping in PSP-R patients, similar to HC, but significantly different from the sequence effect (progressive decrement) in both PD and MSA-P patients. The mean negative amplitude slope of −0.12°/cycle revealed less progression of amplitude decrement even in comparison to HC (−0.21°/cycle, p=0.032), and particularly from PD (−0.56°/cycle, p=0.001), and MSA-P patients (−1.48°/cycle, p=0.003). No significant differences were found in the average finger separation amplitudes between PD, PSP-R and MSA-P patients (pmsa-pd=0.726, pmsa-psp=0.363, ppsp-pd=0.726). The lack of clinically significant sequence effect during finger tapping differentiated PSP-R from both PD and MSA-P patients, and might be specific for PSP-R. The finger tapping kinematic parameter of amplitude slope may be a neurophysiological marker able to differentiate particular forms of parkinsonism.

Relevance of internal time and circadian robustness for cancer patients.

BackgroundAdequate circadian timing of cancer treatment schedules (chronotherapy) can enhance tolerance and efficacy several-fold in experimental and clinical situations. However, the optimal timing varies according to sex, genetic background and lifestyle. Here, we compute the individual phase of the Circadian Timing System to decipher the internal timing of each patient and find the optimal treatment timing.MethodsTwenty-four patients (11 male; 13 female), aged 36 to 77 years, with advanced or metastatic gastro-intestinal cancer were recruited. Inner wrist surface Temperature, arm Activity and Position (TAP) were recorded every 10 min for 12 days, divided into three 4-day spans before, during and after a course of a set chronotherapy schedule. Pertinent indexes, I < O and a new biomarker, DI (degree of temporal internal order maintenance), were computed for each patient and period.ResultsThree circadian rhythms and the TAP rhythm grew less stable and more fragmented in response to treatment. Furthermore, large inter- and intra-individual changes were found for T, A, P and TAP patterns, with phase differences of up to 12 hours among patients. A moderate perturbation of temporal internal order was observed, but the administration of fixed chronomodulated chemotherapy partially resynchronized temperature and activity rhythms by the end of the study.ConclusionsThe integrated variable TAP, together with the asynchrony among rhythms revealed by the new biomarker DI, would help in the personalization of cancer chronotherapy, taking into account individual circadian phase markers.