Ηand dexterities assessment in stroke patients based on augmented reality and machine learning through a box and block test.

A popular and widely suggested measure for assessing unilateral hand motor skills in stroke patients is the box and block test (BBT). Our study aimed to create an augmented reality enhanced version of the BBT (AR-BBT) and evaluate its correlation to the original BBT for stroke patients. Following G-power analysis, clinical examination, and inclusion-exclusion criteria, 31 stroke patients were included in this study. AR-BBT was developed using the Open Source Computer Vision Library (OpenCV). The MediaPipe's hand tracking library uses a palm and a hand landmark machine learning model to detect and track hands. A computer and a depth camera were employed in the clinical evaluation of AR-BBT following the principles of traditional BBT. A strong correlation was achieved between the number of blocks moved in the BBT and the AR-BBT on the hemiplegic side (Pearson correlation = 0.918) and a positive statistically significant correlation (p = 0.000008). The conventional BBT is currently the preferred assessment method. However, our approach offers an advantage, as it suggests that an AR-BBT solution could remotely monitor the assessment of a home-based rehabilitation program and provide additional hand kinematic information for hand dexterities in AR environment conditions. Furthermore, it employs minimal hardware equipment.

Assessment of Resilience of the Hellenic Navy Seals by Electrodermal Activity during Cognitive Tasks.

Stress resilience plays a key role in task performance during emergencies, especially in occupations like military special forces, with a routine consisting of unexpected events. Nevertheless, reliable and applicable measurements of resilience in predicting task performance in stressful conditions are still researched. This study aimed to explore the stress response in the Hellenic Navy SEALs (HN-SEALs), using a cognitive-physiological approach. Eighteen candidates under intense preparation for their enlistment in the HN-SEALs and 16 healthy controls (HCs) underwent Stroop tests, along with mental-state and personality examination. Simultaneously, electrodermal activity (EDA) was assessed during each one of cognitive testing procedures. Compared to healthy control values, multiple components of EDA values were found decreased (p < 0.05) in the HN-SEALs group. These results were associated with an increase in resilience level in the HN-SEALs group, since a restricted sympathetic reactivity according to the reduced EDA values was observed during the stressful cognitive testing. This is the first report providing physiological measurements of the sympathetic response of HN-SEALs to a stressful situation and suggests that EDA turns out to be a simple and objective tool of sympathetic activation and it may be used as a complementary index of resilience in HN-SEALs candidates.