http://hdl.handle.net/10027/12 UIC College of Applied Health Sciences Tue, 21 May 2013 13:09:20 GMT 2013-05-21T13:09:20Z http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9742 Role of Altered Vision and Proprioception in Control of Posture The primary objective of this dissertation was to investigate the role of altered vision and proprioception in the control of vertical posture. Four separate experiments involving 38 healthy subjects were conducted to study feedforward and feedback components of postural control. The experimental method involved external perturbations delivered at the shoulder level. Electrical activity of muscles and ground reaction forces were recorded and analyzed. In the first study visual acuity was altered by using differently powered glasses while the role of different visual cues (static vs. dynamic) was investigated in the second study. The third study laid insight on the role of altered proprioception in the control of posture by using miniature tendon vibrators. The outcome of the fourth and final study further established the significance of both somatosensory and proprioceptive inputs in the control of posture while maintaining balance on different support surfaces. The outcomes from these studies will help us understand how humans control their posture under conditions of altered vision and proprioception. It also provides a background for new rehabilitation interventions focused on improving balance in the elderly and patients with sensory deficits. Thu, 21 Feb 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9742 2013-02-21T06:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9733 Bodies of Surveillance: Disability, Femininity, and the Keepers of the Gene Pool, 1910-1925 This project focuses on eugenic field workers in the United States between 1910 and 1925 in order to highlight the ways in which the U.S. eugenic project imagined disability and femininity. The Eugenic Record Office (ERO) in Cold Spring Harbor, New York led by Charles B. Davenport and the Vineland Training School for Feeble-minded Girls and Boys in Vineland, New Jersey led by Henry H. Goddard used field workers and the data these field workers collected on feeblemindedness to promote the importance of eugenic research to institutions, state governments, and the general population. My main goal in this dissertation is to explore the work of eugenic field workers in the advancement and promotion of eugenic science as well as the dynamics between themselves and their subjects. I argue that the case of eugenic field workers demonstrates how feebleminded and normal women were situated differentially and dialectically as keepers of the national gene pool. In eugenic thought, feebleminded women, on the one hand, held the prime responsibility – over their male counterparts – for the transmission of the feebleminded germ plasm. Normal women, like the field workers, on the other hand, were “keepers” in the sense that they protected the national gene pool, ensuring that the feebleminded taint did not spread within the national population or extend to future generations. By examining eugenic field workers and their employment from a variety of angles, I demonstrate the different ways that femininity and disability were constructed by the U.S. eugenic project between 1910 and 1924 – the years in which the program was most valued and productive as a mechanism of eugenic research. I begin my project with an exploration of hereditarian explanations of degeneracy and the process by which eugenicists attempted to secure a productive nation, as these explanations became the foundation of the eugenic fieldwork program and structured the day-to-day work of the field workers. Because feeblemindedness was seen as the result of a tainted germ plasm, I argue that attempts to halt the transmission of this taint centered on feebleminded women, who were then disproportionately institutionalized and sterilized as a means of stopping their reproduction. Chapter III considers how eugenic field workers distinguished between normal and feebleminded individuals at a glance. I argue that the diagnosis of feeblemindedness centered primarily on one’s proximity to early twentieth century, white, middle- and upper-class normative gendered appearances and behaviors. The standardized intelligence tests field workers administered in institutions relied on knowledge of such social norms, which outsiders from this culture would not necessarily be aware of. Once outside institutional walls and in the field completing pedigrees, eugenic field workers utilized gendered labor norms of the household to determine whether or not an individual was normal or feebleminded. Thu, 21 Feb 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9733 2013-02-21T06:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9722 Activated Macrophages in Repair of Skeletal Muscle Injuries Macrophages (Mp) are essential for repair and regeneration in numerous tissues, but are also often associated with tissue destruction and fibrosis. These seemingly contradictory roles of macrophages may be related to the markedly different phenotypes that macrophages can assume upon exposure to different stimuli. Two of the best-characterized in vitro phenotypes of Mp are a pro-inflammatory “M1” phenotype produced by exposure to IFNγ and TNFα, and an anti-inflammatory “M2a” phenotype produced by exposure to interleukin IL-4 or IL-13. M2a Mp are frequently termed “wound healing” Mp, and are widely assumed to participate in tissue repair processes, though direct evidence for M2a Mp in vivo is lacking. The guiding hypothesis of this dissertation was that Mp after traumatic skeletal muscle injury exhibit a transition from an M1 to an M2a phenotype, and that modulation of Mp phenotype can be used to promote regeneration and reduce fibrosis in injured muscle. We found that macrophages accumulated in the lacerated mouse muscle for at least 21 days, accompanied by limited myofiber regeneration and persistent collagen deposition. However, muscle macrophages did not exhibit either an M1 or M2a phenotype, but instead upregulated both M1- and M2a-associated genes early after injury, followed by downregulation of all markers examined. Particularly, IL-10 mRNA and protein were markedly elevated in macrophages from 3 day injured muscle. Additionally, the early mixed M1/M2a gene expression was due to expression of both sets of markers by individual macrophages, rather than simultaneous presence of distinct M1 and M2a populations. Importantly, cell therapy with exogenous M1 macrophages produced a dose-dependent reduction in fibrosis in lacerated muscles but had no effect on myofiber regeneration, indicating that manipulating Mp function has potential to reduce fibrosis following traumatic injury. We also found that conditioned medium from M1 Mp increased proliferation of cultured myoblasts and decreased collagen expression in cultured fibroblasts, but these effects did not appear to be mediated by Mp production of the urokinase type plasminogen activator as we had hypothesized. An improved understanding of the reciprocal regulation of Mp phenotype and the tissue repair environment may assist in development of novel therapies to promote healing. Thu, 21 Feb 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9722 2013-02-21T06:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9717 Role of Ankle Foot Orthoses in the Outcome of Clinical Tests of Balance Purpose: The focus of the thesis was to investigate the effect of ankle foot orthoses (AFOs) on the outcome of balance assessment. Methods: Ten healthy subjects participated in clinical tests of balance with and without bilateral ankle foot orthoses (AFOs). The following clinical tests were performed: the modified Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction on Balance (mCTSIB), the Limits of Stability (LOS) and the Functional Reach test. Results: A statistically significant effect of AFOs was seen in the outcomes of the mCTSIB test (p = 0.042), LOS test (p = 0.021) and Reach test (p = 0.003). Conclusions: The results indicate that the use of AFOs may impede the performance of clinical tests of balance. This outcome should be taken into consideration while performing balance evaluations with patient populations in the clinic Thu, 21 Feb 2013 06:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10027/9717 2013-02-21T06:00:00Z