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Abstract Background The large-scale digitalization of healthcare has induced shifts in patient preferences, prompting the introduction of therapies utilizing novel technologies. In this context, the targeted application of these interventions is deemed as crucial as assessing their overall effectiveness. The aim of this study was to characterize the patient profile who benefited most from immersive virtual reality (VR) therapy. Methods Based on the results from the previous randomized controlled trial study, we employed an exploratory study design to determine the factors associated with the most significant mental health improvement. A secondary analysis was conducted on a sample of 83 participants, with further analysis of participants with elevated depression symptoms, as indicated by a score of > 10 on the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-30). Both groups participated in a similar post-stroke rehabilitation program; however, the experimental group also received additional VR therapy through an immersive VR garden intervention. The GDS-30 was used to assess mood and depressive symptoms, and sociodemographic, cognitive status as well as stroke-related variables were considered as potential factors. Results In both the experimental (mean change 5.3) and control groups (mean change 2.8), interventions significantly reduced depressive symptoms, with a more pronounced difference in the experimental group (p

Abstract Technological advancements facilitate feedback adaptation in rehabilitation through virtual reality (VR) exergaming, serious gaming, wearables, and telerehabilitation for older adults fall prevention. Although studies have evaluated these technologies, no comparisons of their effectiveness have been conducted to date. Thus, this study aims to assess the differences in effectiveness of these interventions on balance and functional mobility in the older adults. A systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA) were conducted to identify the most effective interventions for improving balance and functional mobility in adults aged 60 and over. The search was conducted in five databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Scopus, and Web of Science) up to June 10, 2023. The eligibility criteria were: (1) older adults, (2) functional mobility, balance, or gait as the primary outcome, (3) new technology intervention, and (4) randomized study design. New technology interventions were classified into five categories: exergaming with balance platforms or motion capture technologies, other serious gaming, interventions with wearables, and telerehabilitation. Additionally, two categories of control interventions (conventional exercises and no treatment) were extracted. The NMA was performed for the aggregated results of all outcomes, and separately for clinical functional scales, functional mobility, and gait speed results. Fifty-two RCTs with 3081 participants were included. Exergaming with motion capture was found to be statistically significant in producing a better effect than no treatment in the analysis of the functional mobility with an SMD of −0.70 (P

Using virtual reality (VR) for Muscular Dystrophy (MD) rehabilitation promises to be a novel therapeutic approach, potentially enhancing motor learning, functional outcomes, and overall quality of life. This systematic review primarily aimed to provide a comprehensive summary of the current understanding regarding the application of VR in supporting MD rehabilitation. A systematic search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science to identify relevant articles. The inclusion criteria encompassed studies involving individuals diagnosed with MD who underwent VR interventions, with a primary focus on assessing functional improvement. Methodological quality of the studies was assessed by using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale. Seven studies, involving 440 individuals with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), were included in the review. Among these studies, six primarily explored the motor learning potential of VR, while one study investigated the impact of VR training on functional abilities. In conclusion, the qualitative synthesis supports VR-based interventions’ potential positive effects on motor learning, performance improvement, and functional outcomes in individuals with DMD. However, current usage mainly focuses on assessing the potential mechanisms’ benefits, suggesting the importance of expanding clinical adoption to harness their therapeutic potential for MD patients.

Background: While cardiac rehabilitation (CR) primarily focuses on restoring physical strength, preventing relapse, and reducing rehospitalization rates, psychological interventions play a complementary role by supporting mental health, which is crucial for patients' long-term adherence and overall recovery. The effectiveness of psychological interventions in CR is debated, and while technologies like virtual reality (VR) therapy show promise, they have limitations for patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Therefore, this study examines non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) relaxation, a novel and easily implementable technique, and compares its impact on depression, anxiety, and stress with VR therapy and standard care. Methods: Forty-five CAD patients undergoing CR in ambulatory conditions were divided into three groups: the NSDR group, which received eight sessions of NSDR relaxation as part of their rehabilitation; the VR group, which received eight sessions of VR therapy as part of their rehabilitation; and the control group, which received standard care including Schultz Autogenic Training (SAT). The outcomes were measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Perception of Stress Questionnaire (PSQ). Results: Both NSDR relaxation and VR therapy were effective in reducing the HADS total score, anxiety levels, the PSQ general score, and emotional tension. No significant differences were observed between the two treatment approaches. However, SAT was found to be insufficient for effectively improving the mental state of cardiac patients. Conclusions: This study suggests that NSDR relaxation is an effective psychotherapeutic intervention in CR. NSDR and VR therapy showed similar benefits, offering promising alternatives to traditional methods. Integrating these techniques could enhance patient outcomes and adherence in CR. Further research is needed to refine these interventions and optimize their clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using virtual reality (VR) for Muscular Dystrophy (MD) rehabilitation promises to be a novel therapeutic approach, potentially enhancing motor learning, functional outcomes, and overall quality of life. This systematic review primarily aimed to provide a comprehensive summary of the current understanding regarding the application of VR in supporting MD rehabilitation. A systematic search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science to identify relevant articles. The inclusion criteria encompassed studies involving individuals diagnosed with MD who underwent VR interventions, with a primary focus on assessing functional improvement. Methodological quality of the studies was assessed by using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale. Seven studies, involving 440 individuals with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), were included in the review. Among these studies, six primarily explored the motor learning potential of VR, while one study investigated the impact of VR training on functional abilities. In conclusion, the qualitative synthesis supports VR-based interventions' potential positive effects on motor learning, performance improvement, and functional outcomes in individuals with DMD. However, current usage mainly focuses on assessing the potential mechanisms' benefits, suggesting the importance of expanding clinical adoption to harness their therapeutic potential for MD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The physical fitness of athletes is well above the average of normal people. In addition, the response time has to be much better to reach the championship level, therefore the training demands have changed greatly over the decades. Traditional exercise will always be a fundamental factor in training, however, new technologies have to be considered in order to maximize their effectiveness. An example of a technology is Virtual Reality (VR), where the athlete's "awareness" to a purpose-built world, where they can gain experience and skills similar to the conditions during the competition. The aim of this narrative review was to determine the utilization of VR in training of competitive athletes. Methods: A literature review using PubMed has been conducted to examine the current state of the art in the available literature using VR in the aspect of competitive sports. For the complete review 157 articles on the use of VR in sports were identified, but no article indicated competitive sports. After the individual sports search, 6 articles were adopted for this review of the literature. Results: The presented research results show positive results with the use of VR for athletes on academic level. Not only do they improve the response time in decision-making during competitions, but they also have the opportunity to learn new schemes for use in competitions more quickly. The presented articles describe the performance of competitive athletes at the academic championship level, so there is still a lack of confirmed research on top athletes in the available literature. Conclusions: Based on the limited number of scientific articles available, it can be assumed that the use of Virtual Reality has a positive impact even on the development of competitive athletes in order to achieve the best possible performance and new skills. It is not possible to make preliminary conclusions and further research is needed on the leading athletes in the respective sports.

Abstract The development of civilization resulted in the creation of many new sports disciplines. Many of them are still unexplored and the effects and benefits of exercise remain unclear. One of these sports is slacklining, which seems to affect the balance of trainees. The aim of the study was to analyze changes in human balance after a supervised slackline training session. The study enrolled 10 healthy volunteers who were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. Each participant underwent an initial and a final balance assessment using the Tandem Walk protocol on the Balance Master platform. The intervention lasted 5 days, with 15 minutes of supervised training per day. Changes in balance after training were considered as a primary outcome. The analysis of the data showed no significant changes in step width, speed and end sway parameters of Tandem Walk test for both experimental and control group. The results suggest that 5-days, 15-minutes slackline training does not affect the parameters of the task-specific Tandem Walk balance test. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24040/sjss.2020.6.2.16-22

Obserwowane zjawiska we współczesnym świecie wskazują, że elementy działań wywiadowczych występują w działalności służb innych niż wywiad klasyczny. Ponadto istnieje wiele wskazań, że również struktury nieformalne, takie jak organizacje terrorystyczne lub organizacje przestępcze, choć nie zawsze w pełni świadome, wykorzystują w swoich działaniach elementy stanowiące znaczną część działań wywiadowczych. Dlatego istnieje potrzeba stworzenia nowej metody badawczej, technicznie nazwanej analizą działań wywiadowczych, która zajmowałaby się analizowaniem wzorców i schematów tych działań. W postulowanym sensie schematy działań wywiadowczych są powtarzalnymi elementami i ich układami, obserwowanymi głównie na podstawie jawnych informacji i badań historycznych. Celem postulowanej analizy byłoby przede wszystkim stworzenie narzędzi do teoretycznego opisu zjawisk określonych jako działania wywiadowcze. Po drugie, celem byłoby opracowanie zasad wspólnych dla wszystkich wzorców aktywności opartych na działaniach wywiadowczych. Po trzecie, dzięki wypracowanym efektom możliwe byłoby położenie podwalin pod najbardziej optymalną strategię zwalczania zagrożeń powstających w wyniku działań wywiadowczych zagranicznych służb specjalnych lub organizacji przestępczych. Taka analiza mogłaby zatem wnieść pozytywny wkład w działalność krajowych służb wywiadowczych i kontrwywiadowczych, które również biorą udział w analizie tych zjawisk, ale głównie tylko w ramach bieżącej pracy operacyjnej.

The aim of this paper was to present an analysis of the feasibility of voice quality prediction on the roughness, breathiness, hoarseness (RBH) scale for children with vocal nodules on the basis of both acoustic parameters and electroglottographic (EGG) examination. The first step to achieve this goal involved the creation of a dedicated database, Voice Pathology Analysis Database (VPADB), containing voice recordings from patients, the EGG signal, medical diagnosis, and the classification of voice quality on the above-mentioned scale. The database also contains data concerning the patients' age and sex. The next step involved performing statistical analyses to test the relationship between the values of objective parameters, such as peak slope and normalized amplitude quotient, and the classification of voice quality. The study made use of voice recordings of 57 patients with vocal nodules and 37 healthy individuals. The RBH classification was carried out by two independent voice specialists. It was found that speech signal parameters can be used to predict expert evaluation with regard to roughness and hoarseness.

The application of IT solutions in medicine makes it possible to develop new, more accurate, and noninvasive medical diagnostics. The aim of this study was to propose this kind of solution. It enables the accurate assessment of vocal nodules in children while measuring glottal insufficiency. The input data includes voice and electroglottographic recordings of patients' voices as well as diagnoses made by practitioners. The recordings were parameterized and used to develop a classifier to assess glottal insufficiency of vocal nodules. The classifier was designed with the help of a genetic algorithm. The diagnoses established thanks to the classifier show a 92% agreement with those reached through medical examination. Such effective performance renders the classifier a useful noninvasive screening tool. We compared our method with Deep Neural Network classifier and the Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy (CMA-ES) evolutionary algorithm. The solution that we propose offers a more accurate continuous diagnosis in comparison with the discrete diagnosis of a deep neural network as well as greater accuracy in relation to the CMA-ES algorithm. Another advantage of the proposed solution is the ease with which it can be implemented by healthcare professionals. A Visual Basic for the Applications (VBA) code for LibreOffice macro for the classifier is attached at the end of this paper.

This paper describes the influence of the presence of an obstacle near the flue pipe’s mouth on the air jet, which directly affects the parameters of the sound generated by the flue pipe. Labial pipes of the most common types of mouth were tested. The method of interval calculus was used instead of invasive measuring instruments. The obtained results prove that the proximity of an obstacle affects the sound’s fundamental frequency, as the airflow speed coming out of the flue pipe’s mouth changes. The relationship between the airflow speed, the value of the Reynolds number, and the Strouhal number was also established. The thesis of the influence of the proximity of an obstacle on the fundamental frequency of the sound of a flue pipe was generalized, and formulas for calculating the untuning of the sound of the pipe were presented for various types of mouth.

The chest organ, which gained popularity at the beginning of the 17th century, is a small pipe organ the size of a large box. Several years ago, while compiling an inventory, a previously unidentified chest organ was discovered at St. John the Baptist’s Co-Cathedral in Kamień Pomorski. Regrettably, the instrument did not possess any of its original pipes. What remained, however, was an image of the front pipes preserved on the chest door. The main issue involved in the reconstruction of a historic instrument is the restoration of its original tuning (temperament). Additionally, it is important to establish the frequency of A4, as this sound serves as a standard pitch reference in instrument tuning. The study presents a new method that aims to address the above-mentioned problems. To this end, techniques to search for the most probable temperament and establish the correct A4 frequency were developed. The solution is based on the modeling of sound generation in flue pipes, as well as statistical analysis to help match a model to the parameters preserved in the chest organ drawing. Additionally, differentalues of the A4 sound values were defined for temperatures ranging from 10 ∘C to 20 ∘C. The tuning system proposed in 1523 by Pietro Aaron proved to be the most probable temperament. In the process of testing the developed flue pipe model, the maximum tuning temperature was established as 15.8 ∘C.

Background and Objectives: The relationship between physical health and mental health has been considered for years. A number of studies have shown a correlation between depressive states and the progress of somatic diseases. It seems that the proper cooperation of specialists may result in the improvement of the patient’s well-being and a positive effect on the course of the rehabilitation process. The aim of this study was to assess the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as well as the assessment of the relationship of psychological symptoms with sociodemographic factors and physical condition. Materials and Methods: The study enrolled 51 COPD patients who underwent a three-week pulmonary rehabilitation program. After admission to the rehabilitation department, the subjects were asked to complete the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire, the Perception of Stress Questionnaire (PSQ), and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Results: Anxiety states were diagnosed in 70% of respondents and depressive states were diagnosed in 54% of patients. Some of the respondents (14%) also showed a tendency to experience various grounded stresses. Additionally, there were correlations between the mental state and the results of fitness and respiratory tests. Conclusions: Patients with COPD are at risk for mental disorders, which may adversely affect their general health and significantly limit their physical and respiratory efficiencies. The development of widely available therapeutic solutions to reduce symptoms associated with depression, anxiety, and stress seems to be an important challenge for the management of patients with COPD.

The paper presents a numerical analysis of the soil-steel bridge in the scope of static loads. The Abaqus program based on the FEM was used to calculations. Maximum displacements were obtained in the shell crown, and the largest stresses in the haunches. Calculation results were compared with the experimental ones and previous calculations obtained from the Robot Millenium program. The shapes of calculated displacements and stresses are similar to those obtained with the experiment, but the absolute values were generally higher than measured ones. Using both calculation programs, the relative reductions of displacement were in the range of 15–39%, and 17–44% for stresses in favour of the Abaqus program. Developed calculation model of the soil-steel bridge in the Abaqus program allows to obtain reasonable values of internal forces in the shell structure.

The magnetization variation with a temperature of [Y.sub.x][Fe.sub.80-x][B.sub.20] and [Y.sub.x][Co.sub.70-x][B.sub.30] amorphous ribbons has been investigated. For an accurate description of the low temperature behaviour of magnetic properties the spin wave theory has been used. The value of the spin wave stiffness constant, D, was calculated for all investigated samples. For the ferromagnetic Y-Co-B alloys D is a linear function of Curie temperature, [T.sub.c]. An analogous relation for asperomagnetic Y-Fe-B ribbons was not found.

The development of civilization resulted in the creation of many new sports disciplines. Many of them are still unexplored and the effects and benefits of exercise remain unclear. One of these sports is slacklining, which seems to affect the balance of trainees. The aim of the study was to analyze changes in human balance after a supervised slackline training session. The study enrolled 10 healthy volunteers who were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. Each participant underwent an initial and a final balance assessment using the Tandem Walk protocol on the Balance Master platform. The intervention lasted 5 days, with 15 minutes of supervised training per day. Changes in balance after training were considered as a primary outcome. The analysis of the data showed no significant changes in step width, speed and end sway parameters of Tandem Walk test for both experimental and control group. The results suggest that 5-days, 15-minutes slackline training does not affect the parameters of the task-specific Tandem Walk balance test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The physical fitness of athletes is well above the average of normal people. In addition, the response time has to be much better to reach the championship level, therefore the training demands have changed greatly over the decades. Traditional exercise will always be a fundamental factor in training, however, new technologies have to be considered in order to maximize their effectiveness. An example of a technology is Virtual Reality (VR), where the athlete's "awareness" to a purpose-built world, where they can gain experience and skills similar to the conditions during the competition. The aim of this narrative review was to determine the utilization of VR in training of competitive athletes. Methods: A literature review using PubMed has been conducted to examine the current state of the art in the available literature using VR in the aspect of competitive sports. For the complete review 157 articles on the use of VR in sports were identified, but no article indicated competitive sports. After the individual sports search, 6 articles were adopted for this review of the literature. Results: The presented research results show positive results with the use of VR for athletes on academic level. Not only do they improve the response time in decision-making during competitions, but they also have the opportunity to learn new schemes for use in competitions more quickly. The presented articles describe the performance of competitive athletes at the academic championship level, so there is still a lack of confirmed research on top athletes in the available literature. Conclusions: Based on the limited number of scientific articles available, it can be assumed that the use of Virtual Reality has a positive impact even on the development of competitive athletes in order to achieve the best possible performance and new skills. It is now possible to make preliminary conclusions and recommend further research on the leading athletes in the respective sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]