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Objective: To map the effect of motor-based interventions on motor skills in children with ADHD. Method: A systematic literature search was performed in Pubmed, Web of Science, and the SCOPUS database (last search: October 30th 2022). Methodological quality was assessed using the PEDro-scale and the quality of evidence was determined with the GRADE-method. Meta-analysis was performed when at least five studies were available. Results: Thirteen studies (7 RCTs) satisfied the inclusion criteria, five of which were eligible for meta-analysis. Only one of the included studies reached the low risk of bias threshold. Comparing different motor-based interventions to any non-motor control intervention showed large motor skill improvements (SMD = 1.46; 95% CI = [1.00;1.93]; I² = 47.07%). The most effective type of motor-based intervention and the optimal treatment parameters could not be determined yet. Conclusion: Motor-based interventions in general seem to improve motor skills in children with ADHD. Additional RCTs are needed to increase current low GRADE confidence.

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-jad-10.1177_10870547221146244 for A Critical View on Motor-based Interventions to Improve Motor Skill Performance in Children With ADHD: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis by Lize Kleeren, Ann Hallemans, Jasmine Hoskens, Katrijn Klingels, Bouwien Smits-Engelsman and Evi Verbecque in Journal of Attention Disorders

AimThis cohort study aimed to describe functional mobility in Dravet syndrome, a developmental and epileptic encephalopathy. MethodFunctional mobility was assessed in individuals (aged 3-25 years), diagnosed with Dravet syndrome, using the Functional Mobility Scale (FMS), Mobility Questionnaire 28 (MobQues28), and estimated walking distance. Secondary outcome variables were Gait Profile Score (GPS), walking velocity, age at independent walking, intellectual disability, seizure frequency, genetic variant type, and body mass index (BMI). ResultsForty participants aged 3 years to 24 years 2 months (mean = 12 years 2 months) had a median MobQues28 of 79%, median scores of 5, 5, and 4 for the FMS 5 m, 50 m, and 500 m and a median estimated walking distance of 1 km to 3 km. Most difficulties were seen in walking up and down the stairs, walking over obstacles, kicking a ball, and running. MobQues28 scores showed a significant decrease (-6.6%, p = 0.016) in the age category of young adults (>= 18 years). After correcting for age, MobQues28 was correlated to age at independent walking (-0.485, p = 0.002), GPS (-0.460, p = 0.003), and walking velocity (0.334, p = 0.038). Analysis of variance showed a significant effect of intellectual disability and BMI on MobQues28 (p = 0.029, p = 0.049). No effect of seizure frequency or genetic variant was found (p = 0.579, p = 0.337). InterpretationFunctional mobility limitations were observed mainly in dual tasks and activities requiring stability, with limitations increasing from the age of 18 years. Age at independent walking, gait impairments, intellectual disability, and BMI can impact functional mobility in Dravet syndrome.

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-2-jad-10.1177_10870547221146244 for A Critical View on Motor-based Interventions to Improve Motor Skill Performance in Children With ADHD: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis by Lize Kleeren, Ann Hallemans, Jasmine Hoskens, Katrijn Klingels, Bouwien Smits-Engelsman and Evi Verbecque in Journal of Attention Disorders

This qualitative study investigates the learning experiences of students in an online oral presentation class where both course delivery, presentation assignments and exams were recorded submissions uploaded to an online classroom. The objective of this study is to understand if the constructivist format of the class encouraged Kolb’s experiential learning environment and to garner any positive or negative takeaways from the experience. Data collected revealed that most students spent 1-2 hours preparing for their presentations and an additional 1-2 hours recording. The additional time spent recording alluded to the idea that recorded submissions directly impacted student motivation to improve. It was also determined that most students preferred recorded submissions because they provided an opportunity to self-reflect and correct mistakes and released them from the anxiety of performing before a live audience thus enhancing the constructivist classroom environment. While many researchers believe that oral presentations are best practiced before a live audience where the skills are normally used, in the post-COVID work environment, more people are expected to work remotely and will require online oral presentation proficiencies. Developing the skills required to deliver asynchronous presentations will make students more competitive in the job market.

Electrorefining is the process of choice to purify several metals, among which is copper. A crucial process parameter in electrorefining, and electroplating in general, is the additive activity. Several additives are introduced to the electrolyte to ensure a morphological smooth copper deposit. Thiourea is a crucial but complex additive used in copper electrorefining, it is known to degenerate and both the reaction product as thiourea itself can complex with the copper ions. Unfortunately, time dependent additive studies and mechanistic knowledge of the effect of aged electrolyte on the cathodic part of the electrorefining process are scarce. In this work, operando Odd Random Phase Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (ORP-EIS) is used to study the electrochemistry of a copper plating system containing industrial copper concentrations. The approach applied enables the investigation of the time-varying effect of additives, in this case thiourea and chlorides, assisting the electroplating of copper.

Dravet syndrome (DS) is a rare severe epilepsy syndrome associated with slowed psychomotor development and behavioral disorders from the second year onward in a previously seemingly normal child. Among cognitive impairments, visuospatial, sensorimotor integration, and expressive language deficits are consistently reported. There have been independent hypotheses to deconstruct the typical cognitive development in DS (dorsal stream vulnerability, cerebellar-like pattern, sensorimotor integration deficit), but an encompassing framework is still lacking. We performed a scoping review of existing evidence to map the current understanding of DS cognitive and behavioral developmental profiles and to summarize the evidence on suggested frameworks. We searched PubMed, Scopus, PsycInfo, and MEDLINE to identify reports focusing on cognitive deficits and/or behavioral abnormalities in DS published between 1978 and March 15, 2020. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. Twenty-one reports were selected and tabulated by three independent reviewers based on predefined data extraction and eligibility forms. Eighteen reports provided assessments of global intelligence quotients with variable degrees of cognitive impairment. Eleven reports analyzed single subitems contribution to global cognitive scores: these reports showed consistently larger impairment in performance scales compared to verbal ones. Studies assessing specific cognitive functions demonstrated deterioration of early visual processing, fine and gross motor abilities, visuomotor and auditory-motor integration, spatial processing, visuo-attentive abilities, executive functions, and expressive language. Behavioral abnormalities, reported from 14 studies, highlighted autistic-like traits and attention and hyperactivity disorders, slightly improving with age. The cognitive profile in DS and some behavioral and motor abnormalities may be enclosed within a unified theoretical framework of the three main hypotheses advanced: a pervasive sensorimotor integration deficit, encompassing an occipito-parietofrontal circuit (dorsal stream) dysfunction and a coexistent cerebellar deficit.

Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is mainly used to display information about the respiration of a patient. However, also cardiac-related signals are present, and, although they have small amplitude, they can be distinguished by their frequencies. In this contribution, we report a method based on harmonic analysis to separate respiration and perfusion. These are described by a summation of amplitude-modulated signals at different frequencies. We report the mathematical background of the method and its application on the global impedance and, finally, show how it is possible to create frequency-related images highlighting either the respiration or the perfusion inside an EIT video.

To investigate the relation between cognitive and motor development in preschool aged children with Dravet syndrome, in particular between the age of independent walking and cognitive development.Results of cognitive and motor developmental assessments and the age of independent walking were retrieved retrospectively from the medical records of 33 children (17 males, 16 females; mean age at last evaluation 33.2mo, SD 8.2mo, range 9-48mo) diagnosed with Dravet syndrome. Cognitive and motor developmental age, derived from the Bayley Scales of Infant Development or through standardized neurodevelopmental assessment, were converted into cognitive and motor developmental quotients. Multiple test scores per child were included.A strong positive relation was found between cognitive and motor developmental quotient (Pearson r=0.854; p0.001) in 20 children (slope=0.75; 95% CI: 0.54-0.95). A later age of independent walking was associated with a lower cognitive developmental quotient (28 children; p0.001; slope=-1.01; 95% CI: -1.53 to -0.49). A higher cognitive developmental quotient was seen in children with an age at testing younger than 24 months. The cognitive developmental quotient of children with a delay in independent walking (17.6mo) was significantly lower than those without a delay (p=0.006).A strong relation exists between cognitive and motor development. Furthermore, the age of independent walking might be an important indicator of the development of children with Dravet syndrome.Cognitive and motor development are strongly related in children with Dravet syndrome. Later age of independent walking is associated with worse cognitive development in children with Dravet syndrome.

Low-voltage dc (LVdc) microgrids emerge as a viable alternative to ac microgrids. A large research interest is noted toward fast and selective protection of dc grids, typically focusing on hybrid or full solid-state solutions. In this article, the use of fuses as short-circuit protection in low-voltage dc microgrids is evaluated. The main advantage of fuses is that they are simple, cheap, standardized, and have low steady-state losses. A theoretical basis is formed to model dc short-circuit currents in grids with a limited short-circuit availability. The outcomes are applied to evaluate the possibilities of fuse protection in LVdc grids. It was found that fuses are an effective means of protection, although the required amount of capacitance at the output of the voltage balancing converter can be high, which impacts the total system cost. A fuse-based protection strategy is presented that highlights the need for additional capacitance to clear faults compared to the necessary capacitance for system stability. An experimental setup was built to validate the claims.

Problem Cooperation between farmers with different specialisations can support crop diversification and close local nutrient cycles. However, farmers from different sectors usually do not come into contact, and experience with setting up and maintaining partnerships is lacking. Solution Cooperation was stimulated through setting up regional farmers’ meetings, organising workshops around common topics and facilitating existing partnerships.

Nonparametric kernel-based modelling of dynamical systems offers important advantages over other nonparametric techniques; the estimate is a continuous function, the model complexity is continuously tuneable, and stability, causality and smoothness are imposed on the impulse response estimate. However, for lightly damped systems, most of the existing kernel-based approaches for estimating the impulse- or frequency response function fail because classical kernels are not appropriate for describing lowly damped resonances. Smoothness is imposed on the entire frequency axis with the diagonal correlated or stable spline kernel, with as a result that resonances cannot be captured well. By introducing the superposition of different kernels, carrying prior knowledge about the resonant poles of the system, we make the kernel-based modelling of lightly-damped systems possible with high-accuracy. We use a frequency domain local rational modelling technique as preprocessing step to determine the most dominant poles, and include these as prior knowledge in the kernels. The performance of the new kernel is demonstrated on a highly resonating simulated system and compared to the state of the art nonparametric frequency domain approaches.

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a powerful technique for characterization of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). It has extensively been used in laboratory research, but seldom in industrial applications, e.g., electrical vehicles (EVs). This is because the latter needs EIS measurements during operation, but achieving valid EIS measurements in dynamic conditions has been a long-lasting challenge. In this work, LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2 (NMC622)/graphite batteries are characterized by operando odd random phase EIS (ORP-EIS) under practical usage conditions. The validity of the EIS data is quantitatively assessed based on the robust theoretical framework of ORP-EIS. The measured impedance data reveals a continuous evolution of charge-transfer phenomena along changes of state-of-charge (SoC). The results are consistent with conventional stationary EIS data. Moreover, charge-transfer related parameters can be extracted through equivalent electric circuit models or graphical analysis methods from operando ORP-EIS. The parameters exhibit consistent behavior under various charging conditions including different temperatures, C-rates, and state-of-health (SoH). As a proof of concept, operando ORP-EIS provides unique physical insights on top of conventional current/voltage-based monitoring methods, and could be powerful technique to monitor the SoC of the batteries during fast charging.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was two-fold: (1) To evaluate the impact of the physiological aging process on somatosensory, vestibular, and balance functions, and (2) To examine the extent to which age and somatosensory and vestibular functions can predict balance performance. MATERIALS and METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 141 asymptomatic subjects were assessed for touch pressure thresholds ( TPT) with Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments (SWF), vibration thresholds (VT) with a neurothesiometer (NT) and a Rydel-Seiffer tuning fork 128Hz (RSTF). Horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflexes (HVOR gain and asymmetry) were assessed using the video Head Impulse Test (vHIT). A modified version of the Romberg test was used to assess standing balance and the Timed Up and Go test (TUG) and tandem gait (TG) to evaluate dynamic balance. RESULTS: Significant age effects were found for TPT, VT, and balance but not for HVOR gain or asymmetry. Standing balance was explained for 47.2% by age, metatarsal 1 (MT1) (NT), and heel (SWF). The variance in TUG performance was explained for 47.0% by age, metatarsal 5 (MT5) (SWF), and medial malleolus (MM) (NT). Finally, the variance in TG performance was predicted for 43.1% by age, MT1 (NT), HVOR gain, and heel (SWF). CONCLUSION: Among asymptomatic adult population, both somatosensation and balance performance deteriorate with aging. In contrast, HVOR remains rather constant with age, which is possibly explained by the process of vestibular adaptation. Furthermore, this study provides evidence that the VT, TPT, HVOR gain, and age partly predict balance performance. Still, further research is needed, especially with bigger samples in decades 8 and 9. This project is granted by STIMPRO internal funding of the University of Antwerp. Johnson, C (corresponding author), Univ Antwerp, Dept Rehabil Sci & Physiotherapy, Antwerp, Belgium. charlotte.johnson@uantwerpen.be