How to Create a Makerspace – Campus Technology

Keshia Media, News

Campus Technology, an online information source for higher education, features an interview with our own Dr. Steele about how to create a Makerspace. Find out what a Makerspace is, why they are created, and what kind of space is important. Here is a quote of Dr. Steele’s pulled from the article by Leila Meyer. Click HERE to read the article in full.

Having an outlet where you can work with teams, find people with different backgrounds and use this space to turn ideas into reality is really powerful for the students, as both an educational space to complement their courses and a space where they can really dive deep and figure out what their passions are and what they want to create for the world.”

 

SSM Lee, D Gaebler-Spira, LQ Zhang, WZ Rymer, KM Steele, (2016) “Use of shear wave ultrasound elastography to quantify muscle properties in cerebral palsy.” Clinical Biomechanics

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SSM Lee, D Gaebler-Spira, LQ Zhang, WZ Rymer, KM Steele, (2016) “Use of shear wave ultrasound elastography to quantify muscle properties in cerebral palsy.” Clinical Biomechanics

Journal article in Clinical Biomechanics:

Kat Steele partnered with Sabrina Lee from Northwestern University and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago to investigate shearwave ultrasound elastography as a new tool to quantify changes in muscle properties in cerebral palsy.

Sample ultrasound images from gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior showing greater shear wave velocity on more affected limb.Abstract: Individuals with cerebral palsy tend to have altered muscle architecture and composition, but little is known about the muscle material properties, specifically stiffness. Shear wave ultrasound elastography allows shear wave speed, which is related to stiffness, to be measured in vivo in individual muscles. Our aim was to evaluate the material properties, specifically stiffness, as measured by shear wave speed of the medial gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior muscles in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy across a range of ankle torques and positions, and fascicle strains. Shear wave speed was measured bilaterally in the medial gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior over a range of ankle positions and torques using shear wave ultrasound elastography in eight individuals with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. B-mode ultrasound was used to measure muscle thickness and fascicle strain. Shear waves traveled faster in the medial gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior of the more-affected limb by 14% (P = 0.024) and 20% (P = 0.03), respectively, when the ankle was at 90°. Shear wave speed in the medial gastrocnemius increased as the ankle moved from plantarflexion to dorsiflexion (less affected: r2 = 0.82, P < 0.001; more-affected: r2 = 0.69, P < 0.001) and as ankle torque increased (less affected: r2 = 0.56,P < 0.001; more-affected: r2 = 0.45, P < 0.001). In addition, shear wave speed was strongly correlated with fascicle strain (less affected: r2 = 0.63, P < 0.001; more-affected: r2 = 0.53, P < 0.001). The higher shear wave speed in the more-affected limb of individuals with cerebral palsy indicates greater muscle stiffness, and demonstrates the clinical potential of shear wave elastography as a non-invasive tool for investigating mechanisms of altered muscle properties and informing diagnosis and treatment.

Make it Universal

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AccessEngineering and Dr. Steele’s recent work on creating guidelines for making makerspaces accessible was featured in the School Library Journal. It is a great resource, featuring different DIY and makerspace movements that support individuals with disabilities around the US. In particular, check out some of theAccessEngineering and DO-IT summer students explore the CoMotion makerspace. great work on how toys can be easily hacked for individuals with disabilities from John Schimmel and Holly Cohen, cofounders of DIYAbility, .

You can read the full article here:

Make It Universal

Arm Orthoses – Low Resolution Prototyping

Keshia News
Arm Orthoses – Low Resolution Prototyping

Low Resolution Prototyping Challenge – October 2015

A team of students, working to create new arm orthotic designs, collaborated this week in a low resolution prototyping challenge. After brainstorming a total of 50 ideas, the students were charged with the task of creating prototypes of their sketched orthoses using common everyday objects around the lab. Their ideas sprang to life while working with cardboard, duct-tape, string, paperclips, and elastic cord. Low resolution supplies allowed for sketched ideas to be communicated to a group in a quick, cheap, and testable way. After 20 minutes of building time, students showcased their prototype and discussed what worked and what did not work. Here are a few glimpses into the event!

IMG_9069CJ Smith, Sasha Portnova, Bradley Wachter, Keshia Peters, Gaurav Mukherjee, and Mark Chang took part in the challenge.

Two NIH R01 Grants Funded

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NIH logoThe Ability & Innovation Lab is excited to announce that two of our recent grant proposals have been funded! This funding will help to accelerate our mission to improve movement for individuals with neurologic disorders.

Quantifying patient-specific changes in neuromuscular control in cerebral palsy: Funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, this research will examine how new measures of neuromuscular control can be used to better predict outcomes after multi-level orthopaedic surgery for individuals with cerebral palsy. We will be working in close partnership with Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, one of the leading institutions in the management of pediatric neurological disorders. This research will address the challenge of identifying the best treatment for each individual. Cerebral palsy is caused by a brain injury and every brain injury is unique. We will be using new measures from muscle synergy analysis (see prior work here) to determine how patient-specific measures of control can be used to predict outcomes after surgery.

Ubiquitous rehabilitation to improve movement after neurologic injury: Funded by the joint NSF-NIH Smart & Connected Health Initiative, this research will work in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin to use flexible electrodes to track and train muscle activity after stroke and other neurologic injuries. We know that more practice and use after brain injury increases long-term recovery and function. This research will investigate new pathways for both motivating patients to re-learn to use their muscle and providing doctors and therapists with the data and insight needed to guide and customize therapy.