July 23, 2021 EXPO 2021 Poster

An Investigation of Infant Neuromotor Development through Proximal and Distal Arm Joint Movements

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.22.6″][et_pb_fullwidth_post_title author=”off” comments=”off” featured_image=”off” _builder_version=”3.23.3″ title_font=”Standard||||||||” title_text_color=”#ffffff” title_font_size=”61px” title_line_height=”1.3em” meta_font=”Standard2||||||||” meta_text_color=”#ffffff” background_color=”#000000″ custom_padding=”||60px” title_font_size_tablet=”39px” title_font_size_phone=”28px” title_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone”][/et_pb_fullwidth_post_title][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.23.3″ max_width=”1221px”][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_image src=”https://thenurj.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Kee_Michelle-Michelle-Kee-1-scaled.jpg” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|phone” module_id=”circle-image” _builder_version=”3.23.3″ width=”40%” width_tablet=”26%” width_last_edited=”on|desktop”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.23.3″ text_font=”Standard2||||||||” text_font_size=”27px” min_height=”40px” custom_padding=”18px||”]Michelle Kee[/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https://thenurj.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image.jpeg” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|phone” module_id=”circle-image” _builder_version=”3.23.3″ width=”40%” width_tablet=”26%” width_last_edited=”on|desktop”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.23.3″ text_font=”Standard2||||||||” text_font_size=”27px” min_height=”40px” custom_padding=”18px||”]Leah Gentner[/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https://thenurj.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/F2227E48-6AB5-4DCE-9046-3E9B977C24A8-Isabelle-Kang.jpeg” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|phone” module_id=”circle-image” _builder_version=”3.23.3″ width=”40%” width_tablet=”26%” width_last_edited=”on|desktop”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.23.3″ text_font=”Standard2||||||||” text_font_size=”27px” min_height=”40px” custom_padding=”18px||”]Isabelle Kang[/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https://thenurj.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Kao_Denise-Headshot-scaled.jpg” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|phone” module_id=”circle-image” _builder_version=”3.23.3″ width=”40%” width_tablet=”26%” width_last_edited=”on|desktop”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.23.3″ text_font=”Standard2||||||||” text_font_size=”27px” min_height=”40px” custom_padding=”18px||”]Denise Kao[/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https://thenurj.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG_1540-Semanti-Naiken-scaled.jpg” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|phone” module_id=”circle-image” _builder_version=”3.23.3″ width=”40%” width_tablet=”26%” width_last_edited=”on|desktop”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.23.3″ text_font=”Standard2||||||||” text_font_size=”27px” min_height=”40px” custom_padding=”18px||”]Semanti Naiken[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.23.3″ inline_fonts=”Times New Roman”]

Adviser: Dr. Colleen Peyton, Dr. Theresa Moulton
Subject: Life Sciences
DOI: 10.21985/n2-139y-1w55

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Michelle Kee ‘24 is a rising sophomore majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Data Science. Starting in 2021, she worked on a URAP project with Dr. Colleen Peyton and Dr. Theresa Moulton in Feinberg School of Medicine’s Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences’ Pediatric Assessment Laboratories. The lab’s research is focused on understanding infant neuromotor development to provide insight on earlier detection and intervention of cerebral palsy. Growing up with a family member with a disability, she understands the challenges families with disabilities face and the importance of research in medicine. Recently, she became interested in researching the concurrent movement of multiple joints in infants and is continuing this research in the summer of 2021. Michelle hopes to contribute to a growing understanding of infant neuromotor development research for children with CP.

Leah Gentner is a rising junior at Northwestern University majoring in Neuroscience. Through the Undergraduate Research Assistant Program, Leah was part of a research team that studies cerebral palsy.

Isabelle Kang is a third year HPME student at Weinberg pursuing a neuroscience major and a global health minor. Her previous research experience includes working with carbon nanotubes and silanes to investigate the generation and characterization of nanocomposites and their various applications, which can range from water pollution control to drug delivery systems. Now, Isabelle is currently part of the Pediatric Assessment Laboratories (PALs) lab at Feinberg working under Dr. Theresa Moulton and Dr. Colleen Peyton.

Denise Kao is going into her second year at Northwestern University. She is majoring in biology and psychology on the premed track. In her freshman year, she had the opportunity to take part in Northwestern’s URAP program under the guidance of Theresa Moulton and Colleen Peyton.

Semanti Naiken is a second-year neuroscience major also studying global health and psychology at Northwestern. She participated in this project as part of the Undergraduate Research Assistant Program, which was her first experience with research.

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.23.3″ text_font=”Standard2|600|||||||” text_font_size=”25px”]Abstract[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.23.3″ text_font=”Times New Roman||||||||” text_font_size=”19px” text_line_height=”1.5em”]Much insight into infants’ neuromotor development can be gleaned from their spontaneous movements. Specifically, a greater understanding of neuromotor development is valuable for the early diagnosis of cerebral palsy (CP), a neurological disorder resulting from brain injury or atypical development at an early age and is characterized by impaired movement and balance. This study utilized a smartphone application to collect video data of premature infants’ movements. Focusing on the upper extremities, this study sought to identify the difference between proximal (shoulder) movements and distal (forearm and wrist) movements in infants. Distal joint movements require more direct neural connections from the cortex and global observations suggest fewer distal joint movement in infants with CP. We hypothesized that infants with CP would have a significant difference in the frequency of proximal and distal joint movements compared to typically developing infants. One-minute videos were coded with the onset and offset times of joint movements in infants’ upper extremities. Raters were blinded to the outcome of CP and used Datavyu to code active movements. Results indicated no significant difference (p = 0.12-0.78) between the average frequency of proximal and distal movements in typically developing infants versus infants with CP. However, infants with CP showed a significantly higher frequency (p < 0.01) of adduction and abduction shoulder movements compared to typically developing infants, a joint that is possibly influenced by neural connections from outside of the cortex. This study’s conclusions can contribute to a growing understanding of neuromotor development for infants with CP.

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