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PKAN, CoPAN, MePAN, and PDH‐E2 deficiency share key phenotypic features but harbor defects in distinct metabolic processes. Selective damage to the globus pallidus occurs in these genetic neurodegenerative diseases, which arise from defects in CoA biosynthesis (PKAN, CoPAN), protein lipoylation (MePAN), and pyruvate dehydrogenase activity (PDH‐E2 deficiency). Overlap of their clinical features suggests a common molecular etiology, the identification of which is required to understand their pathophysiology and design treatment strategies. We provide evidence that CoA‐dependent activation of mitochondrial acyl carrier protein (mtACP) is a possible process linking these diseases through its effect on PDH activity. CoA is the source for the 4′‐phosphopantetheine moiety required for the posttranslational 4′‐phosphopantetheinylation needed to activate specific proteins. We show that impaired CoA homeostasis leads to decreased 4′‐phosphopantetheinylation of mtACP. This results in a decrease of the active form of mtACP, and in turn a decrease in lipoylation with reduced activity of lipoylated proteins, including PDH. Defects in the steps of a linked CoA‐mtACP‐PDH pathway cause similar phenotypic abnormalities. By chemically and genetically re‐activating PDH, these phenotypes can be rescued, suggesting possible treatment strategies for these diseases.

In veel land- en tuinbouwgewassen worden fungiciden ingezet om schimmels te bestrijden. Sinds 1970 is het meerdere malen voorgekomen dat schimmels resistentie opgebouwd hebben tegen fungiciden, die daardoor hun effectiviteit verliezen. 10 korte bijdragen van diverse onderzoekers.

A new dataglove is developed and presented. Inertial sensors are placed on various hand and finger segments to estimate the hand pose.

Dynamic interaction between the human body and the environment can be assessed by measuring force and estimating velocity at their interface. A sensorized glove with movement and force sensing is developed in which this principles is applied

Inertial and magnetic sensors, attached to various segments of the human hand, can be used to measure movements of the hand. This paper proposes a new method to assess hand kinematics by applying an Extended Kalman Filter in which prior information of the hand is fused with actual measurements obtained from various sensors.

The objective of the recently started EU project INTERACTION is to develop an unobtrusive and modular system for monitoring the quality of daily-life activities of stroke subjects involving the upper and lower limbs.

This paper presents a method to estimate power transfer between the human body and the environment during short interactions and relatively arbitrary movements with net displacement and varying loads (mass and spring), and appeared to be accurate within 4%.

Traditionally, human body movement analysis is done in socalled ‘gait laboratories’, equipped with several measurement systems such as optical position measurement systems, EMG or force plates. The measured signals are used to estimate important gait variables. An important variable is the center of mass, an imaginary point at which the total body mass can be assumed to be concentrated. Several methods exist for center of mass estimation, of which the segmental kinematics method and the double integration of ground reaction force method are the most important ones. Other important variables are joint moment and powers. These can be estimated from estimations of body movement and ground reaction forces by applying inverse dynamics methods. A major drawback of the existing systems is the restriction to the laboratory environment. Therefore research is required for the development of measurement systems to perform these measurements in an ambulatory environment. The objective of this study is to give an overview of the possibilities of the forceshoe. The forceshoe is an ambulatory measurement system able to measure the ground reaction force and movement of foot and ankle.

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Center of Mass (CoM) displacement, an important variable to characterize human walking, was estimated in this study using an ambulatory measurement system. The ambulatory system was compared to an optical reference system. Root-mean-square differences between the magnitudes of the CoM appeared to be comparable to those described in literature.

INTRODUCTION Traditionally, human body movement analysis is done in so-called ‘gait laboratories’. In these laboratories, body movement is measured by a camera system using optical markers, the ground reaction force by a force plate fixed in the floor, and the muscle activity by EMG. From the body movements and ground reaction forces, joint moments and powers can be estimated by applying inverse dynamics methods. However, the main drawback is the restriction to the laboratory environment. In order to overcome this lab restriction, several research groups try to develop ambulatory measurement systems (e.g. [2]). This study presents an ambulatory measurement system for the measurement of the Ground Reaction Force (GRF), and the estimation of ankle and foot dynamics. METHODS The measurement system consisted of an orthopaedic sandal with two six degrees-of-freedom force/moment sensors beneath the heel and the forefoot (Figure 1). The position and orientation of heel and forefoot were estimated using the 3D accelerometer and 3D gyroscope of two miniature inertial ensors (Xsens Motion Technologies, http://www.xsens), rigidly attached to the force sensors. Moreover, a third inertial sensor was attached to the lower leg. The GRF was measured by the force/moment sensors beneath the shoe. A derivation of the calculation of the dynamics of ankle and foot can be found in [1]. The performance of the developed measurement system was evaluated by comparing the ambulatory measurement system with a reference measurement system, consisting of an optical measurement system (Vicon) and a force plate (AMTI). During the measurements, a healthy subject wearing the instrumented shoes, inertial sensors and optical markers, was asked to walk repeatedly over the force plate. In order to compare the signals measured with both measurement systems, a global coordinate system was defined with the x-axis pointing forward, the y-axis to the right, and the z-axis upward, resulting in a right-handed orthogonal coorinate system. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The three components of the measured GRF of a healthy subject are shown in Figure 2. The signals measured with the instrumented shoe show good correspondence with the signals measured with the force plate, which is confirmed by the root-mean-square error between the magnitudes of the GRF, being 0.02 N/N or 1.8 % of the maximal magnitude. Figure 3 shows an integration of the measured GRF with the estimated position of the heel and forefoot sensor. The figure indicates the possibility of the ambulatory measurement system to measure several steps during a single measurement, which is not possible with the reference system. A detailed discussion about the performance of the ambulatory measurement system can be found in [1]. REFERENCES 1. Schepers HM, et al. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., Accepted, 2007. 2.Baten CTM, et al. ISEK, Torino, Italy, 2006. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research is part of the FreeMotion project, supported by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.