The motor movements and pupillary dilation observed in this study demonstrate the capability of FUS to modulate cortical and subcortical brain structures without inducing any damage. The variety of responses observed here demonstrates the capability of FUS to perform functional brain mapping.

The development of phantom materials for elasticity imaging is reported in this paper. These materials were specifically designed to provide nonlinear stress/strain relationship that can be controlled independently of the small strain shear modulus of the material. The materials are mixtures of agar and gelatin gels. Oil droplet dispersions in these materials provide further control of the small strain shear modulus and the nonlinear parameter of the material. Since these materials are mostly water, they are assumed to be incompressible under typical experimental conditions in elasticity imaging. The Veronda–Westman model for strain energy density provided a good fit to all materials used in this study. Materials with a constant gelatin concentration (3.0% dry weight) but varying agar concentration (0.6–2.8% dry weight) demonstrated the same power law relationship between elastic modulus and agar concentration found for pure agar (1.89 ± 0.02), consistent with percolation theory, and provided a consistent nonlinearity parameter of 4.5 ± 0.3. The insights provided by this study will form the basis for stable elastography phantoms with stiffness and nonlinear stress/strain relationships in the background that differ from those in the target.

This study aimed at answering the question: do people with high bone loss have greater postural instability? Groups were separated into group 1: women with normal bone mineral density, group 2: women with osteopenia, and group 3: women with osteoporosis. The balance was evaluated in four upright postural situations. Osteoporosis group had greater oscillation in the anteroposterior displacement in all situations compared to control group and the greatest mediolateral displacement in all situations compared to other groups. Introduction It is not known whether the presence of osteoporosis can be considered a factor aggravating the postural control. This study aimed at answering the question: do people with high bone loss have greater postural instability? Methods This study was divided into three groups: group 1 (n=20) consisting of women with normal bone mineral density, group 2 (n=20) women with osteopenia, and group 3 (n=20) women with osteoporosis. All the participants were submitted to evaluation of the balance using the Polhemus system in four upright postural situations. Results Osteoporosis group had greater oscillation in the anteroposterior displacement in all situations compared to control group. The osteoporosis group also showed the greatest mediolateral displacement in all situations compared to other groups. Conclusion The results suggest that osteoporotic women had the worst balance, possibly due to the more pronounced body changes compared to non-osteoporotic women.

Deficits of postural control and perceptions of verticality are disabling problems observed in stroke patients that have been recently correlated to each other. However, there is no evidence in the literature confirming this relationship with quantitative posturography analysis. Therefore, the objectives of the present study were to analyze the relationship between Subjective Postural Vertical (SPV) and Haptic Vertical (HV) with posturography and functionality in stroke patients. We included 45 stroke patients. The study protocol was composed by clinical interview, evaluation of SPV and HV in roll and pitch planes and posturography. Posturography was measured in the sitting and standing positions under the conditions: eyes open, stable surface (EOSS); eyes closed, stable surface (ECSS); eyes open, unstable surface (EOUS); and eyes closed, unstable surface (ECUS). The median PV in roll plane was 0.34° (-1.44° to 2.54°) and in pitch plane 0.36° (-2.72° to 2.45°). The median of HV in roll and pitch planes were -0.94° (-5.86° to 3.84°) and 3.56° (-0.68° to 8.36°), respectively. SPV in the roll plane was correlated with all posturagraphy parameters in sitting position in all conditions (r = 0.35 to 0.47; p < 0.006). There were moderate correlations with the verticality perceptions and all the functional scales. Linear regression model showed association between speed and SPV in the roll plane in the condition EOSS (R2 of 0.37; p = 0.005), in the condition ECSS (R2 of 0.13; p = 0.04) and in the condition EOUS (R2 of 0.22; p = 0.03). These results suggest that verticality perception is a relevant component of postural control and should be systematically evaluated, particularly in patients with abnormal postural control.

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