The Effect of Aging and Vascular Occlusion on Gait Variability

描述（由申请人提供）：主要目标是训练候选人在与年龄相关的疾病和残疾人的步态功能方面作为一名富有成效的独立调查员进行研究。该候选人有生物力学和运动控制方面的背景。她是一名正处于博士学位论文研究阶段的学生，她计划将她的分析背景应用于临床人群的生物医学研究问题。候选人将完成战略性选择的课程，并接受与老龄化和病理人群相关的强化研究培训。她将通过在四个国家级实验室完成实验室轮转来增强她的研究经验，在那里她将与其他科学家互动。Nick Stergiou博士和Iraklis Pipinos博士将指导候选人的研究发展，并指导她进行严格的研究训练，以研究与年龄相关的疾病和残疾人的步态功能。本研究的主要目的是通过检查步行过程中的步态变异性来确定年龄和受限血流量对步态参数的影响。外周动脉疾病（PAD）患者步态功能障碍的具体机制尚不清楚，尽管进行了大量的研究。PAD患者的行动能力问题最常见的原因是间歇性跛行，然而，PAD的其他表现也可能导致该问题。确定导致功能问题的机制和确定有多少疾病夸大了问题，对于建立适当的PAD筛查和治疗方案至关重要。在生物现象研究中越来越多地使用的非线性动力学方法将用于分析和量化步行过程中关节角度数据的步态变异性。正常行走时的步态变异性将与健康青年和老年受试者诱导缺血后的行走进行比较。随后将数据与PAD患者的步态变异性进行比较，这些患者因该疾病而经历缺血。我们假设诱导缺血条件会导致健康的年轻人和老年人受试者步态变异性的改变，并且在诱导缺血条件下的步态变异性与PAD自然缺血时的步态变异性相似。本研究将进一步了解血流对PAD患者功能障碍的影响。这些信息将影响诊断程序，并可能确定患有PAD但可能没有症状的老年人跌倒的风险。这项研究的结果将为未来的研究奠定基础，评估治疗效果和制定康复方案，以改善老年患者的身体功能和降低损伤风险。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary objective is to train the candidate to perform research as a productive, independent investigator in gait function of persons with age related diseases and disabilities. The candidate is pursuing backgrounds in biomechanics and motor control. She is a student at the dissertation research stage of her doctoral training who plans to apply her analytical background to biomedical research questions in clinical populations. The candidate will complete strategically selected coursework and receive intensive research training related with aging and pathological populations. She will enhance her research experience by completing lab rotations in four state-wide laboratories, where she will interact with other scientists. Dr. Nick Stergiou and Dr. Iraklis Pipinos will mentor the candidate's research development and guide her in rigorous research training for the study of gait function in persons with age related diseases and disabilities. The primary objective of this research is to determine the effect of age and restricted blood flow on gait parameters by examining gait variability during walking. The specific mechanisms that contribute to gait dysfunction in peripheral arterial disease (PAD) patients are unclear, despite considerable research efforts. Mobility problems in PAD patients are most commonly attributed to intermittent claudication, however, other manifestations of PAD could be contributing to the problem. Identifying the mechanisms leading to functional problems and determining how much disease is exaggerating the problem is vital to establishing proper screening and treatment protocols for PAD. Methods from nonlinear dynamics, which are being used progressively more in the study of biological phenomena, will be used to analyze and quantify gait variability from joint angle data during walking. Gait variability during normal walking will be compared to walking following induced ischemia in healthy young and older subjects. Data will be subsequently compared to gait variability in PAD patients, who experience ischemia as a result of the disease. We hypothesize that the induced ischemia conditions will lead to altered gait variability in both healthy young and older subjects, and that gait variability will be similar in the induced ischemia condition compared to the natural ischemia experienced by PAD. The proposed research will further our understanding of the effect of blood flow on functional impairments in PAD patients. This information will influence diagnosis procedures and may identify risk of falling in older persons who have PAD but may not experience symptoms. Results of this research will lay the groundwork for future studies evaluating treatment effectiveness and developing rehabilitation protocols to improve physical function and decrease injury risk in older patients.