In nature, many physical and biological systems have structures showing harmonic properties. Some of them were found related to the irrational number ϕ known as the golden ratio that has important symmetric and harmonic properties. In this study, the spatiotemporal gait parameters of 25 healthy subjects were analyzed using a stereophotogrammetric system with 25 retroreflective markers located on their skin. The proportions of gait phases were compared with ϕ, the value of which is about 1.6180. The ratio between the entire gait cycle and stance phase resulted in 1.620 ± 0.058, that between stance and the swing phase was 1.629 ± 0.173, and that between swing and the double support phase was 1.684 ± 0.357. All these ratios did not differ significantly from each other (F = 0.870, P = 0.422, repeated measure analysis of variance) or from ϕ (P = 0.670, 0.820, 0.422, resp., t-tests). The repetitive gait phases of physiological walking were found in turn in repetitive proportions with each other, revealing an intrinsic harmonic structure. Harmony could be the key for facilitating the control of repetitive walking. Harmony is a powerful unifying factor between seemingly disparate fields of nature, including human gait.

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The majority of motor parasomnias and almost all nocturnal seizures occur out of NREM sleep. 1,2 The only well-defined disorders that are exclusively REM related are REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) 3 and painful nocturnal erections. Catathrenia is a disorder that arises mostly but not exclusively out of REM. 4 There is also a single case report of periodic movements in sleep (PMS) occurring predominantly in REM. 5 Otherwise, the medical literature is sparse on reports of REM dependant motor parasomnias. We report an unusual case of a stereotypical REM sleep motor parasomnia.A 54-year-old man presented with a 5-year history of complex, stereotypical, and nocturnal movements that were disruptive to his wife's sleep and minimally to his as well. They tended to occur several times a week usually 4 hours into sleep and repeated approximately every 30 seconds for about an hour. Their semiology, according to his wife, did not change from night to night. He aroused easily from these and was immediately alert without any dream recall. These were not triggered either by sleep deprivation or stress. The next day he was not sleepy (Epworth sleepiness scale score 5/24), but fatigued and had sore upper extremities and neck muscles.Medical and family histories were noncontributory. He was only on antihypertensives and allopurinol. Physical examination was unremarkable.An MRI of the brain was normal. A polysomnogram (PSG) was done with 16 EEG channels, 2 EOG channels, 2 mentalis EMG channels, thermistor, pressure transducer, chest and abdomen effort belts, oximetry, 1 channel ECG, 2 bilateral tibialis anterior (TA) EMG channels, and a snore microphone. The PSG was significant only for mild positional obstructive sleep apnea with a total AHI of 10/hr, supine AHI of 22/hr, and lateral AHI of 1/hr. No PLMS occurred. No events occurred on the night of the PSG and his muscle tone was appropriately suppressed in REM sleep.The patient was monitored overnight. The previous montage was replicated with the exception of the TA electrodes, snore microphone, and the thermistor. Thirteen distinct typical events, of 3 seconds duration each, were captured, all arising from REM sleep. Three of the events occurred in the first REM period of the night at a frequency of one every 30 seconds. Three of the second REM period with a frequency of 1 per minute, another two at the beginning of the third and

Aim. Recent evidence suggested that the use of treadmill training may improve gait parameters. Visual deprivation could engage alternative sensory strategies to control dynamic equilibrium and stabilize gait based on vestibulospinal reflexes (VSR). We aimed to investigate the efficacy of a blindfolded balance training (BBT) in the improvement of stride phase percentage reliable gait parameters in patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) compared to patients treated with standard physical therapy (PT). Methods. Thirty PD patients were randomized in two groups of 15 patients, one group treated with BBT during two weeks and another group treated with standard PT during eight weeks. We evaluated gait parameters before and after BBT and PT interventions, in terms of double stance, swing, and stance phase percentage. Results. BBT induced an improvement of double stance phase as revealed (decreased percentage of double stance phase during the gait cycle) in comparison to PT. The other gait parameters swing and stance phase did not differ between the two groups. Discussion. These results support the introduction of complementary rehabilitative strategies based on sensory-motor stimulation in the traditional PD patient's rehabilitation. Further studies are needed to investigate the neurophysiological circuits and mechanism underlying clinical and motor modifications.