Mauro Rossini - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Mauro Rossini

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2020

This document summarizes a master thesis project trying to bring a new solution to hemiplegia reh... more This document summarizes a master thesis project trying to bring a new solution to hemiplegia rehabilitation, one of the numerous consequences of strokes. A hemiplegic patients observe paralysis on one side of their body, and as so, loses autonomy and their quality of life decreases. In this study, we decided to only focus on the hand rehabilitation aspect. However, there is a clear tendency in stroke patients to stop training regularly when returning home from the hospital and the first part of their rehabilitation is over. They often experience demotivation, having the feeling that they will never get back to a fully autonomous person ever again and tend to put their training aside, especially when they do not see clear and visible results anymore. This is also due to the supervised training becoming sparser. All of this results in patients stagnating or even worse, regressing. Thus, we decided to offer a motivating solution for hand rehabilitation at home through gamification.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2022

PLOS ONE

The Performance of the Upper Limb (PUL) module is an externally-assessed clinical scale, initiall... more The Performance of the Upper Limb (PUL) module is an externally-assessed clinical scale, initially designed for the Duchenne muscular dystrophy population. It provides an upper extremity functional score suitable for both weaker ambulatory and non-ambulatory phases up to the severely impaired patients. It is capable of characterizing overall progression and severity of disease and of tracking the stereotypical proximal-to-distal progressive loss of upper limb function in muscular dystrophy. Since the PUL module has been validated only with Duchenne patients, its use also for Becker and Limb-Girdle muscular dystrophy patients has been here evaluated, to verify its reliability and extend its use. In particular, two different assessors performed this scale on 32 dystrophic subjects in two consecutive days. The results showed that the PUL module has high reliability, both absolute and relative, based on the calculation of Pearson's r (0.9942), Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (0.9943), Standard Error of Measurement (1.36), Minimum Detectable Change (3.77), and Coefficient of Variation (3%). The Minimum Detectable Change, in particular, can be used in clinical trials to perform a comprehensive longitudinal evaluation of the effects of interventions with the lapse of time. According to this analysis, an intervention is effective if the difference in the PUL score between subsequent evaluation points is equal or higher than 4 points; otherwise, the observed effect is not relevant. Inter-rater reliability with ten different assessors was evaluated, and it has been demonstrated that deviation from the mean is lower than calculated Minimum Detectable Change. The present work provides evidence that the PUL module is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring upper limb ability in people with different forms of muscular dystrophy. Therefore, the PUL module might be extended to other pathologies and reliably used in multicenter settings.

Converging Clinical and Engineering Research on Neurorehabilitation III, 2018

Stroke is the main cause of permanent and complex long-term disability in adults. RETRAINER S2 is... more Stroke is the main cause of permanent and complex long-term disability in adults. RETRAINER S2 is a system able to recover and support person’s ability to perform Activities of Daily Living (ADL) in early stage after stroke. The system is based on exercises for hand and wrist performed using Neuro Muscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES). This work describes the preliminary results of a multi-center Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) aimed at evaluating effectiveness of the system. The preliminary results were calculated on 18 patients who completed the protocol. Data is promising, the RETRANER S2 system seems to be a good tool for stroke rehabilitation. Data confirms also a general good usability of the system.

Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, 2018

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2016

This paper describes the implementation of a Multimodal Guidance System (MGS) for upper limb reha... more This paper describes the implementation of a Multimodal Guidance System (MGS) for upper limb rehabilitation through vision, haptic and sound. The system consists of a haptic device that physically renders virtual path of 2D shapes through the point-based approach, while sound technology provides audio feedback inputs about patient’s actions while performing a manual task as for example: starting and/or finishing an sketch; different sounds related to the hand’s velocity while sketching. The goal of this sonification approach is to strengthen the patient’s understanding of the virtual shape which is used in the rehabilitation process, and to inform the patient about some attributes that could otherwise remain unseen. Our results provide conclusive evidence that the effect of using the sound as additional feedback increases the accuracy in the tasks operations.

IFMBE Proceedings, 2014

In the field of assistive technologies, the possibility to maximally exploit the residual capabil... more In the field of assistive technologies, the possibility to maximally exploit the residual capabilities of the user to increase the independence of persons with disabilities is a really promising approach. This prospective was the starting point of the European project MUNDUS that developed a customizable and modular system for recovering direct interaction capabilities of severely motor impaired people based on arm reaching and hand functions. The present work provides a quantitative evaluation of the simplest configuration of the MUNDUS system on three neurological patients. The apparatus consisted of a lightweight passive arm exoskeleton for weight relief, equipped with electromagnetic brakes for locking each degree of freedom. The user could autonomously activate and deactivate the brakes through a pre-defined contraction of a muscle of the contralateral arm. The subjects tested the system in a 3-day session. Each day, they were asked to execute four tasks: drinking, touching the left shoulder, touching the left hand, and pressing a button. A group of healthy volunteers were also involved in the trials to define normality ranges. Smoothness and straightness of the wrist trajectories were assessed. The usability of the system was also evaluated using the System Usability Scale (SUS). All subject were able to execute all the required tasks and to autonomously control the brakes from the first day, suggesting that no training was needed to learn how to use the system. In terms of performance over days, one subject’s trajectories were more rectilinear and more smooth after the first day, one subject worsened some kinematic parameters on the third day and one subject did not show any significant differences. In terms of usability, all subjects showed a good satisfaction with the system (SUS > 90/100) and would like to use the system in their daily life.

The deliverable identifies stakeholders for the project's R&D, and analyses user requirements... more The deliverable identifies stakeholders for the project's R&D, and analyses user requirements and expectations in order to establish use case scenarios.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Summary of statistical tests performed, relative sample size, correc... more Additional file 1: Table S1. Summary of statistical tests performed, relative sample size, correction for multiple comparisons and resulting p-values. NS = Non-significant (p > 0.05); THDS = Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference correction for multiple comparisons.

Recent literature analysis showed the need for upper-limb assistive devices suitable for patients... more Recent literature analysis showed the need for upper-limb assistive devices suitable for patients affected by neuromuscular pathologies. This work presents a novel upper-limb robotic exoskeleton specifically designed for muscular dystrophy patients. The exoskeleton is a 4 degrees of freedom robotic device that supports movement at the shoulder and elbow. The system can be controlled by the user in the task space by driving a joystick or by means of speech recognition. The device has been field-tested on 5 dystrophic patients with the goal of evaluating performances, comfort, safety and usability of the device during daily life activities. Quantitative results on upper-limb functional performances with and without the exoskeleton are presented showing beneficial effects. Usability of the device has been evaluated as good, suggesting promising future developments.

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-nnr-10.1177_1545968321997769 for A Robotic System with EMG-Trigg... more Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-nnr-10.1177_1545968321997769 for A Robotic System with EMG-Triggered Functional Eletrical Stimulation for Restoring Arm Functions in Stroke Survivors by Emilia Ambrosini, Giulio Gasperini, Johannes Zajc, Nancy Immick, Andreas Augsten, Mauro Rossini, Roberto Ballarati, Micheal Russold, Simona Ferrante, Giancarlo Ferrigno, Maria Bulgheroni, Walter Baccinelli, Thomas Schauer, Constantin Wiesener, Margit Gfoehler, Markus Puchinger, Mathias Weber, Sebastian Weber, Alessandra Pedrocchi, Franco Molteni and Karsten Krakow in Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair

The European Project “MUltimodal Neuroprosthesis for Daily Upper limb Support” (MUNDUS) aimed at ... more The European Project “MUltimodal Neuroprosthesis for Daily Upper limb Support” (MUNDUS) aimed at the development of an assistive platform for recovering direct interaction capabilities of severely motor impaired people based on arm reaching and hand functions. Within this project the present study is focused on the evaluation of the MUNDUS prototype in terms of usability, user satisfaction and performance gained during daily life activities. Fourteen end-users were recruited: 8 individuals with Spinal Cord Injury, 1 with multiple sclerosis, 3 with Friedreich Ataxia, and 2 with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Each subject used the MUNDUS system during a 3-day session performing 4 different tasks: drinking, touching the contralateral shoulder, and pressing a button. To assess the execution performance each task was divided into sub-actions and three experts evaluated over a 3-level score the functionality of the system for each sub-action. User satisfaction with the system was assessed...

2019 41st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), Jul 1, 2019

Robotica, 2014

SUMMARYAn assistive device for upper limb support was developed and evaluated in terms of usabili... more SUMMARYAn assistive device for upper limb support was developed and evaluated in terms of usability, user satisfaction and motor performance on six end-users affected by neuro-motor disorders (three spinal cord injury; one multiple sclerosis; two Friedreich's ataxia). The system consisted of a lightweight 3-degrees-of-freedom robotic exoskeleton arm for weight relief, equipped with electromagnetic brakes. Users could autonomously control the brakes using a USB-button or residual electromyogram activations. The system functionally supported all of the potential users in performing reaching and drinking tasks. For three of them, time, smoothness, straightness and repeatability were also comparable to healthy subjects. An overall high level of usability (system usability score, median value of 90/100) and user satisfaction (Tele-healthcare Satisfaction Questionnaire - Wearable Technology, median value of 104/120) were obtained for all subjects.

Biosystems & Biorobotics, 2013

MUNDUS is an assistive framework for recovering direct interaction capability of severely motor i... more MUNDUS is an assistive framework for recovering direct interaction capability of severely motor impaired people based on arm reaching and hand functions that exploits any residual control of the end-user. The MUNDUS controller integrates information collected by electromyography, head/eye tracking, and brain computer interface commands. MUNDUS actuators modularly combine a lightweight and non-cumbersome exoskeleton for arm weight compensation, closed-loop controlled Neuro Muscular Electrical Stimulation for arm, hand motion and grasping of collaborative functional objects recognized by radio frequency identification. MUNDUS prototype has be tested by a first group of end-users (N=6) in different configurations depending on the users clinical conditions in order to test all the modules. Even if the end users tested until now didn’t perform the complete testing protocol, all end-users were happy of using the system and very willing to re-perform tests. They assessed a positive feedback on the system functioning.

Design, Alignment, and Application

Radio frequency identification (RFId) has recently begun to receive increased interest from pract... more Radio frequency identification (RFId) has recently begun to receive increased interest from practitioners and academics. This type of technology has been widely used in healthcare organizations for different purposes, like to localize patients, devices, and medical instruments. This chapter presents the results of a study in which we used RFId technology and modern systems of cost management methodologies (e.g., activity-based costing, activity-based management, and process management) in a “proof of application” aimed at defining some specific data on care needs of a person with a disability, costs of the main activities performed during the person’s rehabilitation process, and level of performance which could be reached in order to improve the “disability management” process, from a clinical as well as a managerial perspective.

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2001