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Biomedical subjects

L Stark

Publications and source records attributed to L Stark.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

[The synchronous appearance of multiple testicular epidermoid cysts and of a malignant mixed germinal tumor in the contralateral testis].

We describe the simultaneous appearance of multiple epidermoid cysts in the right and an adult teratoma containing embryonal carcinoma and choriocarcinoma in the left testis. No similar case has previously been described. Epidermoid cysts of the testis are rare, accounting for about 1% of all testicular tumors. Epidermoid cysts are now regarded as monoepidermally developed teratomas of germ cell origin. Testicular teratomas in adults, however, are always malignant. Because epidermoid cysts are rare tumors, primary therapy often consists in ablation of the testis. In the case described, excision of the epidermoid cyst protected the patient from complete castration. This case demonstrates the simultaneous appearance of a malignant and a benign testicular germ cell tumor.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Practical identification of functional expansions of nonlinear systems submitted to non-Gaussian inputs.

Time-domain identification of nonlinear systems represented by functional expansions is considered. A general framework is defined for the analysis of three identification methods: the widely used cross-correlation method, Korenberg's method, and a suboptimal least-squares method based on a stochastic approximation algorithm. First, the major characteristics of the underlying estimation problem are pointed out. Then, the identification methods are interpreted as approximations to an optimal estimator, which helps gain insight into their internal functioning and to the investigation of their connections and differences. Examination of results previously published and of the simulations reported in this article indicate that stochastic approximation is an interesting alternative to other existing methods. Identification of a biological system stimulated by a non-Gaussian input confirms the practicality of this approach.

Binomial Distribution↗
PubMed1991

Interpretation of functional series expansions.

While much research has been devoted to the implementation and application of Volterra and Wiener functional series expansions in the identification and characterization of biological systems, little effort has been focused on the fundamental problem of interpreting the resulting kernels. This paper describes the application of the series to the components of a known model of the human pupil control system. As more complicated elements are put together, insight into kernel interpretation is built up incrementally until the total system is identified. Practical limitations and methods are also discussed.

Humans↗
PubMed1991

Ocular proprioception and efference copy in registering visual direction.

We measured the roles of eye muscle proprioception ("inflow") and efference copy ("outflow") in registering eye position. During monocular fixation, pressing on the side of an occluded eye results in a passive rotation, changing the proprioception without affecting oculomotor efference. As we have shown previously, a constant press on the side of the viewing eye induces active resistance to rotation, changing efference because oculomotor innervation compensates for the eyepress; the viewing eye's fixation remains constant. Using these two types of eyepress, both perceived target deviations and pointing biases in an unstructured visual field were measured in 8 subjects under efference copy, proprioception and control (no eyepress) conditions. Eye deviation was measured photoelectrically. Physiological gains of efference copy and proprioception was about 5/8 and 1/4 respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between perceptual judgement and open-loop pointing. The sum of gains of efference copy and proprioception, about 7/8, indicates incomplete registration of eye eccentricity in an unstructured field, and quantitatively accounts for several previously unexplained results in the literature.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Smooth pursuit eye movements of normal and schizophrenic subjects tracking an unpredictable target.

An experimental paradigm employed by several workers in the field of schizophrenic eye movements has involved finding sequences of stimuli that induce saccadic smooth pursuit in the eye movements of normal individuals. It is hoped that the identification of such stimuli will lead to clues concerning the etiology or nature of eye tracking dysfunction in schizophrenia. In this study, the pursuit eye movements of normal and schizophrenic subjects tracking an unpredictable target (composed of summed sine waves) were examined. Eye tracking performance was evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively using percent root-mean-square (%RMS) error and pursuit gain scores. Schizophrenics are capable of tracking an unpredictable target. This finding has implications for our understanding of schizophrenic information processing during visual tracking.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Switching control of accommodation: experimental and simulation responses to ramp inputs.

The irregular staircase appearance of the accommodation response to a ramp stimulus, slow movement of a target towards the subject's eye, suggests a switching between different states of control. Experiments and model simulations indicate that blur processing by retina and cortex underlies threshold triggering of the switch. The ON state consists of a fairly high gain, closed-loop control system that minimizes error. The OFF state provides for a quasi-open-loop state and a slow drift to a bias level, under the influence of a leaky integrator.

Accommodation, Ocular↗
PubMed1990

Topology of the near response triad.

The near response complex comprises three elements: accommodation, convergence, and pupillary constriction. The synkinesis between vergence and accommodation is well understood functionally, if not neuroanatomically. The latencies of near response components were measured in four healthy, experienced subjects to determine how the pupillary component is mediated. Addition of disparity stimulus to blur, yielding a near stimulus, reduces the latency of vergence eye movements and of accommodation by an amount that is significantly greater than the corresponding reduction in pupil latency. None of the existing hypotheses: vergence-pupil, accommodation-pupil or symmetric dual interaction, can account for this difference. Therefore, we present a new hypothesis: asymmetric dual interaction between accommodation and vergence.

Accommodation, Ocular↗
PubMed1990

Light and target distance interact to control pupil size.

Light and target distance stimuli were presented to normal human subjects, and their pupillary responses were measured. A homeomorphic computer model of the pupillary control system is presented in which the form of interaction of controller signals due to light and target distance was investigated. The error remaining when model parameters were optimized to fit experimental pupil size (area or diameter) was smaller for the linear interaction hypothesis than for either power law or logical law interaction. A generalized second-order nonlinear model with six parameters (vs. 3 for each of the other models) yielded somewhat lower residual error. With the use of a modified Akaike information criterion, the value (in an information theoretic sense) of the improved fit afforded by the three additional parameters in the generalized nonlinear model was shown to be small, and thus the generalized second-order nonlinear model was rejected in favor of the simpler and more parsimonious linear model.

Humans↗
PubMed1990

Schizophrenia, eye movements, and biocultural heterogeneity.

Smooth-pursuit eye-tracking dysfunction is a putative genetic trait marker for schizophrenia. In this study 88 Japanese schizophrenics from Kyushu and Okinawa were examined for the marker using precise high-resolution instrumentation: 76% of the schizophrenics from Kyushu and 89% of those from Okinawa had pursuit dysfunction. The presence of the culture-neutral smooth-pursuit marker for schizophrenia in Japan demonstrates that the etic concept "schizophrenia" is cross-culturally valid. Furthermore, the ubiquity of the marker in biologically and culturally diverse populations may indicate a limit on the extent of meaningful heterogeneity likely to be discovered within the condition.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Frequency analysis of accommodation: single sinusoids.

We present an experimental frequency analysis of a neurological control system, the accommodation system, using single sinusoids. Also, by means of continual experimental calibration full coverage of one subject's dynamic range, we demonstrate an AC nonlinearity saturation, which probably lies in the motor-response portion of the system; in contrast to the switching-mode nonlinearity, which probably lies in the sensory-processing portion. We offer our findings as a basis for further models. In addition, our results can be compared with studies using multiple sinusoids and transients to document how the different aspects of the accommodation system are realized given their different input conditions.

Accommodation, Ocular↗
PubMed1988

An analysis of the sources of musculoskeletal system impedance.

When antagonistic muscles co-contract, the impedance of musculoskeletal systems to applied loads is known to increase. In this paper a physiologically-based, higher-order, nonlinear antagonistic muscle-joint model is utilized to clarify the sources of impedance modulation during a variety of tasks, ranging from resisting transient loads to holding steady loads to making fast movements in unpredictable surroundings. It is shown that impedance modulation occurs automatically as a function of the specific operating ranges utilized during a given task by each of four different muscle-joint mechanical relations. The relative contribution of each relation depends on the type of task, with impedance during quasi-static conditions sensitive to muscle tension-length and sometimes joint parallel elastic properties and during dynamic tasks dominated by the series element and muscle force-velocity properties. Elimination of any of these causes a decrease in built-in biomechanical capabilities. These findings raise questions concerning past theories on stiffness-impedance modulation which appear to underestimate the role of inherent biomechanical properties.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗
PubMed1988

Estimated mechanical properties of synergistic muscles involved in movements of a variety of human joints.

One of the most challenging aspects of biomechanical modelling is parameter estimation. Parameter values that define the nonlinear relations within the classic Hill-based muscle model structure have been estimated for a large number of muscles involved in movements of a number of joints. The technique used to estimate these parameters is based on combining information on muscle as a material with geometrical data on muscle-joint anatomy. The resulting relations are compatible with available human experimental data and with past modelling estimates. An estimation of the relative importance of the various synergistic muscle properties during dynamic movement tasks is also provided, aided by examples of muscle load-sharing as a function of optimization criteria including measures of position error, muscle stress and neural effort.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1988

Presbyopia in light of accommodation.

The "dual, indirect, active" mechanisms of accommodation proposed by Helmholtz is reviewed. New supporting evidence shows that the insertion of the ciliary muscle is onto the span fibrils of the zonule in the interciliary process regions of the ciliary body. Thus, the peripheral zonule is the elastic antagonist of a unified ciliary muscle. A biomechanical model illustrating accommodation is put forward that makes consistent and explicit the force and length changes that the six mechanical component elements undergo. The Hess-Gullstrand lenticular theory of presbyopia is compatible with this model.

Accommodation, Ocular↗
PubMed1988

Changes in accommodation with age: static and dynamic.

Accommodative amplitude decreases with age, not with aging. The decrease is largely completed by age 40 years; only minor residual accommodation is present in most subjects after the mid-40s. Dynamical measurements show the accommodative response of subjects over 30 years of age to be significantly slowed (time constants of accommodation increases). Accommodation amplitude is less than 3 D by 30 years of age. Thus prepresbyopia is a sign of continual development, not of deterioration of the accommodative mechanism. Accommodation, or the change of clear vision with change in lens power, has been studied by many distinguished scientists including Descartes and Thomas Young. Helmholtz's "Theory of Accommodation" is a dual, indirect, active theory. There are both lenticular, including lens and capsule, and also extralenticular mechanisms, comprised of the zonule of Zinn or suspensory ciliary ligament and the ciliary muscle itself. The ciliary muscle does not act directly on the lens but indirectly through its action on the zonule of Zinn. Active contraction of the ciliary muscle, a unified muscle, produces accommodation; relaxation of the ciliary muscle permits relaxation of accommodation.

Accommodation, Ocular↗
PubMed1987

Muscle models: what is gained and what is lost by varying model complexity.

Three structurally different types of models have evolved over the years to describe muscle-joint systems. The first, based on an input-output analysis of a given task, results in a simple second-order differential equation description that is adequate over a certain movement operating range. The second, based on the classic structural model of Hill (1938), results in a higher-order nonlinear model described by ordinary differential equations. The third, based on an analysis of the biophysical contractile mechanism, results in a complex partial differential equation description. The advantages and disadvantages of each type of model are considered, based on the criteria of identifying the simplest model that can adequately simulate any fundamental type of human movement without modifying model parameters for different tasks. It is shown that an eighth-order Hill-based antagonistic muscle-joint model is able to satisfy these criteria for a given joint if each of the four basic mechanically-significant non-linearities of the system are included in the model. This same model structure has been used successfully for eight different muscle-joint systems, ranging in size from knee flexion-extension to eye rotation--the only difference between the models is in the parameter values. Second-order models are shown to be task-specific special cases of the input-output behavior of the eighth-order model, while the more complex biophysical models are hypothesized to have insignificant advantages and many disadvantages over the Hill-based model during normal human movement.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Late agonist activation burst (PC) required for optimal head movement: a simulation study.

Fast as possible (time optimal) single joint movements throughout the body are characterized by the triphasic (3 pulse) pattern of activation in the agonist and antagonist muscles. Simulation studies using a sixth order, non-linear model were undertaken to determine the relationship between time optimal movement and three pulse control. Exhaustive exploration of the multidimensional space formed by descriptive parameters of the control signal yielded control signals which drove the model to produce optimal movements. The result of these one to two week computer simulation runs was that if the limb is required to stay close to the target immediately after the end of the control signal, the fastest movements are produced by a three pulse control signal.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗