Effectiveness of non-conventional methods for accelerated orthodontic tooth movement: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES To assess the available evidence on the effectiveness of accelerated orthodontic tooth movement through surgical and non-surgical approaches in orthodontic patients. METHODS Randomized controlled trials and controlled clinical trials were identified through electronic and hand searches (last update: March 2014). Orthognathic surgery, distraction osteogenesis, and pharmacological approaches were excluded. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. RESULTS Eighteen trials involving 354 participants were included for qualitative and quantitative synthesis. Eight trials reported on low-intensity laser, one on photobiomodulation, one on pulsed electromagnetic fields, seven on corticotomy, and one on interseptal bone reduction. Two studies on corticotomy and two on low-intensity laser, which had low or unclear risk of bias, were mathematically combined using the random effects model. Higher canine retraction rate was evident with corticotomy during the first month of therapy (WMD=0.73; 95% CI: 0.28, 1.19, p<0.01) and with low-intensity laser (WMD=0.42mm/month; 95% CI: 0.26, 0.57, p<0.001) in a period longer than 3 months. The quality of evidence supporting the interventions is moderate for laser therapy and low for corticotomy intervention. CONCLUSIONS There is some evidence that low laser therapy and corticotomy are effective, whereas the evidence is weak for interseptal bone reduction and very weak for photobiomodulation and pulsed electromagnetic fields. Overall, the results should be interpreted with caution given the small number, quality, and heterogeneity of the included studies. Further research is required in this field with additional attention to application protocols, adverse effects, and cost-benefit analysis. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE From the qualitative and quantitative synthesis of the studies, it could be concluded that there is some evidence that low laser therapy and corticotomy are associated with accelerated orthodontic tooth movement, while further investigation is required before routine application.

Development of a magnetic resonance compatible wrist device for the analysis of movement encoding in the brain

Tese de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Biomédica e Biofísica, apresentada à Universidade de Lisboa, através da Faculdade de Ciências, 2016

Analysis of form : as displayed in Beethoven's thirty-two pianoforte sonatas : with a description of the form of each movement for the use of students /

Mode of access: Internet.

Analysis of cross-shore movement of natural longshore bars and material placed to create longshore bars /

At head of title: "Dredging Research Program."

The stock market barometer : a study of its forecast value based on Charles H. Dow's theory of the price movement. With an analysis of the market and its history since 1897 /

Reprint of 1922 ed. with a new introduction.

An analysis of trade union power : structure and conduct of the American labor movement /

Typescript.

Analysis of costs and characteristics of freight movement for scheduled common carriers of general freight by motor vehicle in western Washington, year ended June 30, 1938,

Reproduced from typewritten copy.

Analysis of the Interchurch World Movement Report on the steel strike /

Pt. 1. Analysis of the Interchurch World Movement Report on the steel strike -- pt. 2. History of the Interchurch Report on the steel strike.

The communication rights in the information society (CRIS) campaign: Applying social movement theories to an analysis of global media reform

Social movement theories offer useful conceptual and analytical tools to the study and research of global media reform movements. This article is a critical analysis of the Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) campaign. It explores its successes and blind-spots in the light of social movement theory, in particular resource mobilization theory (RMT), and offers practical directions for the movement to move on from where it is to where it ought to be.

Adaptation of motor control to training and disuse : contribution of muscle synergy analysis and movement variability

The well-known degrees of freedom problem originally introduced by Nikolai Bernstein (1967) results from the high abundance of degrees of freedom in the musculoskeletal system. Such abundance in motor control have two sides: i) because it is unlikely that the Central Nervous System controls each degree of freedom independently, the complexity of the control needs to be reduced, and ii) because there are many options to perform a movement, a repetition of a given movement is never the same. It leads to two main topics in motor control and biomechanics: motor coordination and motor variability. The present thesis aimed to understand how motor systems behave and adapt under specific conditions. This thesis comprises three studies that focused on three topics of major interest in the field of sports sciences and medicine: expertise, injury risk and fatigue. The first study (expertise) has focused on the muscle coordination topic to further investigate the effect of expertise on the muscle synergistic organization, which ultimately may represent the underlying neural strategies. Studies 2 (excessive medial knee displacement) and 3 (fatigue) both aimed to better understand its impact on the dynamic local stability. The main findings of the present thesis suggest: 1) there is a great robustness in muscle synergistic organization between swimmers at different levels of expertise (study 1, chapter II), which ultimately indicate that differences in muscle coordination is mainly explained by peripheral adaptations; 2) injury risk factors such as excessive medial knee displacement (study 2, chapter III) and fatigue (study 3, chapter IV) alter the dynamic local stability of the neuromuscular system towards a more unstable state. This change in dynamic local stability represents a loss of adaptability in the neuromuscular system reducing the flexibility to adapt to a perturbation.

The problem of measurement indeterminacy in complex neurobiological movement systems

In the study of complex neurobiological movement systems, measurement indeterminacy has typically been overcome by imposing artificial modelling constraints to reduce the number of unknowns (e.g., reducing all muscle, bone and ligament forces crossing a joint to a single vector). However, this approach prevents human movement scientists from investigating more fully the role, functionality and ubiquity of coordinative structures or functional motor synergies. Advancements in measurement methods and analysis techniques are required if the contribution of individual component parts or degrees of freedom of these task-specific structural units is to be established, thereby effectively solving the indeterminacy problem by reducing the number of unknowns. A further benefit of establishing more of the unknowns is that human movement scientists will be able to gain greater insight into ubiquitous processes of physical self-organising that underpin the formation of coordinative structures and the confluence of organismic, environmental and task constraints that determine the exact morphology of these special-purpose devices.

Geological control of physiography in Southeast Queensland: A multi-scale analysis using GIS

The study reported here, constitutes a full review of the major geological events that have influenced the morphological development of the southeast Queensland region. Most importantly, it provides evidence that the region’s physiography continues to be geologically ‘active’ and although earthquakes are presently few and of low magnitude, many past events and tectonic regimes continue to be strongly influential over drainage, morphology and topography. Southeast Queensland is typified by highland terrain of metasedimentary and igneous rocks that are parallel and close to younger, lowland coastal terrain. The region is currently situated in a passive margin tectonic setting that is now under compressive stress, although in the past, the region was subject to alternating extensional and compressive regimes. As part of the investigation, the effects of many past geological events upon landscape morphology have been assessed at multiple scales using features such as the location and orientation of drainage channels, topography, faults, fractures, scarps, cleavage, volcanic centres and deposits, and recent earthquake activity. A number of hypotheses for local geological evolution are proposed and discussed. This study has also utilised a geographic information system (GIS) approach that successfully amalgamates the various types and scales of datasets used. A new method of stream ordination has been developed and is used to compare the orientation of channels of similar orders with rock fabric, in a topologically controlled approach that other ordering systems are unable to achieve. Stream pattern analysis has been performed and the results provide evidence that many drainage systems in southeast Queensland are controlled by known geological structures and by past geological events. The results conclude that drainage at a fine scale is controlled by cleavage, joints and faults, and at a broader scale, large river valleys, such as those of the Brisbane River and North Pine River, closely follow the location of faults. These rivers appear to have become entrenched by differential weathering along these planes of weakness. Significantly, stream pattern analysis has also identified some ‘anomalous’ drainage that suggests the orientations of these watercourses are geologically controlled, but by unknown causes. To the north of Brisbane, a ‘coastal drainage divide’ has been recognized and is described here. The divide crosses several lithological units of different age, continues parallel to the coast and prevents drainage from the highlands flowing directly to the coast for its entire length. Diversion of low order streams away from the divide may be evidence that a more recent process may be the driving force. Although there is no conclusive evidence for this at present, it is postulated that the divide may have been generated by uplift or doming associated with mid-Cenozoic volcanism or a blind thrust at depth. Also north of Brisbane, on the D’Aguilar Range, an elevated valley (the ‘Kilcoy Gap’) has been identified that may have once drained towards the coast and now displays reversed drainage that may have resulted from uplift along the coastal drainage divide and of the D’Aguilar blocks. An assessment of the distribution and intensity of recent earthquakes in the region indicates that activity may be associated with ancient faults. However, recent movement on these faults during these events would have been unlikely, given that earthquakes in the region are characteristically of low magnitude. There is, however, evidence that compressive stress is building and being released periodically and ancient faults may be a likely place for this stress to be released. The relationship between ancient fault systems and the Tweed Shield Volcano has also been discussed and it is suggested here that the volcanic activity was associated with renewed faulting on the Great Moreton Fault System during the Cenozoic. The geomorphology and drainage patterns of southeast Queensland have been compared with expected morphological characteristics found at passive and other tectonic settings, both in Australia and globally. Of note are the comparisons with the East Brazilian Highlands, the Gulf of Mexico and the Blue Ridge Escarpment, for example. In conclusion, the results of the study clearly show that, although the region is described as a passive margin, its complex, past geological history and present compressive stress regime provide a more intricate and varied landscape than would be expected along typical passive continental margins. The literature review provides background to the subject and discusses previous work and methods, whilst the findings are presented in three peer-reviewed, published papers. The methods, hypotheses, suggestions and evidence are discussed at length in the final chapter.

What shapes player performance in soccer? Empirical findings from a panel analysis

In this article, we investigate the pay-performance relationship of soccer players using individual data from eight seasons of the German soccer league Bundesliga. We find a nonlinear pay-performance relationship, indicating that salary does indeed affect individual performance. The results further show that player performance is affected not only by absolute income level but also by relative income position. An additional analysis of the performance impact of team effects provides evidence of a direct impact of team-mate attributes on individual player performance.