July 23, 2021 EXPO 2021 Poster

Ankle Movement Indicators for Cerebral Palsy Diagnosis

[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/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=”35.4%” 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/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=”35.4%” 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/IMG_1540-Semanti-Naiken-scaled.jpg” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|phone” module_id=”circle-image” _builder_version=”3.23.3″ width=”35.4%” 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. Theresa Moulton, Dr. Colleen Peyton
Subject: Life Sciences
DOI: 10.21985/n2-vfn5-0w36

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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.

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.

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”]By assessing infants’ movements, our research goal was to determine if particular movement characteristics are indicators for cerebral palsy (CP), a disorder caused by a brain injury to the fetus/infant that leads to impaired development of movement. Our research may contribute to developing an earlier diagnosis for CP, and therefore earlier intervention. This would benefit children since the early promotion of motor skill development may correlate with better outcomes later in life. My specific focus seeks to identify characteristics of ankle movement to incorporate into early CP screens and diagnoses. This project involved URAP students coding videos of sixteen infants (12-14 weeks corrected age), eight with CP and eight without, for the timing of their active movements at each joint. I specifically examined the frequency and duration of each ankle’s movement into plantar flexion, which is a pointed foot position. These measures were compared between the two groups of infants and a t-test was run to determine statistical significance. While infants with CP showed significantly longer average duration compared to typically developing infants (right p=0.01, left p=0.03), the frequency of plantar flexion between the two groups was nearly but not significant (p=0.07). Future studies with greater sample sizes of infants would be warranted to further understand the generalizability and implications of this finding. If further research leads to the conclusion that frequency and/or duration of plantar flexion differ significantly in children with CP, then this movement could be added to the collection of indicators used for early CP diagnosis.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.23.3″][/et_pb_code][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.23.3″][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.23.3″][/et_pb_code][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]