SCH: Flexible Electronics For Assessment fo Planning By Children Born Prematurely

医疗保健的进步提高了极低出生体重早产儿的存活率 （<1.5kg）。然而，随着存活率的提高， 脑生长和长期神经发育运动、认知和社会功能减退的幸存者 病态目前迫切需要一种手段来准确地确定这些系统的功能性质， 发病率，以指导最早可能的行为干预，利用神经可塑性。一 候选发病率是力量的调节和规划使用的手。该项目采用创新的 嵌入软材料的柔性电子传感器技术，沿着戴在手上 捕捉，以检查儿童如何计划和调节部队在块建设，工具的使用，和社会 玩吧幼儿力量调节和计划的组间差异纵向测量 早产儿和发育正常的儿童将有可能确定安全性， 这种创新的传感器技术对于早期评估早产儿 出生这项研究利用了哈佛在使用软材料制造的液体电路方面的工作 （弹性体）当它们与手一致时弯曲和伸展。其结果将是一种新型的设备 舒适地戴在蹒跚学步的孩子的手上，称为“柔性手套”。柔性手套的设计与制作 几个技术挑战，包括（a）将电路嵌入多层材料中，（B）电路 精确缩放和空间排列的结构，以提供手指关节角度的测量 以及弯曲扭矩，（c）同时测量手指和腕关节角度，（d）结合 无线，电池供电技术，以及（e）电路架构，简化，以适应形式 幼儿小手的因素。这种新的柔性手套技术有可能提供一种新的 用于精确、非侵入性测量早产对力调节影响的诊断工具 和计划。 相关性（参见说明）： 迫切需要诊断工具，更准确地确定发育迟缓的性质， 早产儿。我们的项目开发嵌入软材料的柔性电子传感器， 一种名为“弹性手套”的手套，戴在18岁、24岁和30岁蹒跚学步的孩子的手上，用来测量他们在玩耍时的计划。 个月研究结果将为新的评估工具奠定基础。

Advances in medical care have improved rates of survival of very low birth weight (VLBW) premature infants (<1.5kg). However, increased survival rates have been accompanied by a significant increase in the number of survivors with reduced cerebral growth and long-term neurodevelopmental motor, cognitive, and social morbidities. There is a critical need for a means of precise identification of the functional nature of these morbidities, to guide the earliest possible behavioral interventions that leverage neural plasticity. A candidate morbidity is force modulation and planning in the use of the hands. This project uses innovative flexible electronic sensor technology embedded in soft materials worn on the hands along with motion capture to examine how children plan and modulate forces during block construction, tool use, and social play. Longitudinal measurement of group differences in force modulation and planning between toddlers born prematurely and typically developing children will make it possible to determine the safety and effectiveness of this innovative sensor technology for early assessment of morbidities due to premature birth. The research leverages work at Harvard on the use of liquid circuits fabricated in soft materials (elastomers) that bend and stretch as they conform to the hands. The outcome will be a new type of device comfortably worn on the hands of toddlers, called "flexi-mitts". Design and fabrication of flexi-mitts present several technical challenges, including (a) embedding the circuitry in multiple layers of material, (b) circuit architectures precisely scaled and spatially arranged to provide measurements of joint angles of the fingers as well as bending torques, (c) simultaneous measurement of finger and wrist joint angles, (d) incorporation of wireless, battery-powered technologies, and (e) circuit architectures that are simplified to fit the form factor of the tiny hands of toddlers. This new flexi-mitt technology has the potential to provide a new diagnostic tool for precise, non-invasive measurement of the effects of premature birth on force modulation and planning. RELEVANCE (See instructions): There is a critical need for diagnostic tools that identify more precisely the nature of developmental delays in prematurely born children. Our project develops flexible electronic sensors embedded in soft materials, called "flexi-mitts", worn on the hands of toddlers to measure planning during play at ages 18, 24, and 30 months. The results will provide the foundation for a new assessment tool.