Rehabilitation device for stroke survivors among projects from OCAD University

This article details Kate Berry's journey in transforming her mother Kim Nguyen's assisted living studio into a comfortable and calming home after Kim suffered a stroke. Kim, a Vietnamese refugee, avid gardener, and accomplished knitter, experienced paralysis on her left side, necessitating a shift to long-term care. Kate's primary goal was to create an environment that supported her mother's recovery and well-being, moving away from a sterile, hospital-like setting. The redesign focused on practical and aesthetic considerations, starting with the bed. Dissatisfied with uncomfortable hospital beds, Kate opted for a more comfortable, upholstered full-size bed from West Elm, augmenting it with an Amazon assist rail for easy transfers. The bed's larger size also allows family members to comfortably lie beside Kim during visits. Remote-controlled lighting was installed for convenience, enabling Kim to operate lights from her bed. A shallow media console was chosen for its narrow profile and storage, housing essentials and her TV, strategically placed given Kim's limited mobility. To address the apartment's carpeted floors, a thin, reversible Persian-style rug was introduced to add warmth and vibrancy. Initially, the rug bunched under Kim's wheelchair, but this was resolved by carpet-taping it down, demonstrating a creative solution to accessibility challenges. A key piece of furniture was a chair-and-a-half sleeper sofa, which serves as a comfortable spot for Kim to relax and watch TV, and also provides sleeping space for visiting family members, making visits more manageable. The kitchenette was made more functional by adding a faucet attachment, allowing Kim to reach it from her wheelchair. Although cooking capabilities are limited to a microwave, rice cooker, and kettle, efforts were made to enable her to prepare simple meals. Wall-mounted floating shelves were installed at an accessible height, serving as a display for personal items and a mini counter for Kim to use from her wheelchair, helping her stay organized and aware of her schedule. The dining area features a simple square oak table with legs wide enough for a wheelchair, positioned against a wall to maximize space and offer a view of the patio. A side table provides additional accessible storage, especially for Kim's knitting supplies. Kate ingeniously used a rubber band to secure a knitting needle to Kim's wheelchair armrest, allowing her to knit with one hand and encouraging her to return to her beloved hobby. The outdoor patio was transformed into a lush oasis with plants, citrus trees, and fresh herbs, recreating the essence of Kim's cherished garden in Orange County. Teak snap tiles were laid over the cement floor to warm the space and ensure smooth wheelchair transitions. A tall planter acts as a privacy screen from neighboring patios, and comfortable outdoor furniture creates an inviting space for Kim and her friends. Personal touches throughout the studio include soft window shades to manage light sensitivity, a sentimental glass jar for bingo winnings, a portrait of her granddaughter, and family photographs, particularly those from a memorable family vacation, to evoke happy memories and a sense of home. These elements collectively foster a healing and comforting environment for Kim, emphasizing the importance of adapting and finding joy amid difficult life changes. #AssistedLiving #InteriorDesign #Accessibility #HomeDecor #StrokeRecovery #FamilyCare #AdaptiveLiving #PersonalizedSpace #TherapeuticEnvironment

The Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS)’s new orthopedic outpatient center in Paramus, New Jersey, designed by Gensler New York, focuses on creating a calming and easily navigable environment for patients who often arrive in pain due to various orthopedic conditions. The 30,000-square-foot facility, housed within an existing office building, required significant retrofitting to meet healthcare standards. Gensler's design team, led by senior associate and design director Ju Hyun Lee, prioritized minimizing patient movement and stress. Key structural modifications included the addition of two central elevators to facilitate access to the upstairs physical therapy clinic and the installation of electromagnetic shielding for the MRI room. The overarching design philosophy centered on streamlining the patient journey and flow of movement, a direct response to the previous facility's fragmented and difficult-to-navigate layout. Gensler introduced a centralized layout with clear wayfinding to enhance ease of access. A central feature of the design is the “touchstone” in the lobby, a sculptural, circular cluster of desks that consolidates all patient-facing administrative functions. This design choice allows patients to check in and out efficiently from a single location. The touchstone's solid-surfacing composition was specifically chosen for its durability to withstand frequent contact from wheelchairs, crutches, and walkers. Privacy for sensitive conversations is ensured through the use of resin screens in HSS blue and fabric-wrapped acoustic panels of varying heights. Semimatte terroxy flooring was installed throughout to prevent slips and enhance safety. The lobby's ceiling design is another notable element, with an open-cell configuration surrounded by a stretched system and a reflective finish that creates an illusion of increased height, counteracting the original cramped feeling of the space. An illuminated soffit, with an undulating form inspired by human movement, appears to float beneath the ceiling, adding to the serene atmosphere. The furniture selection in the lobby balances aesthetic appeal with functionality, featuring residential-esque walnut-framed upholstered armchairs alongside healthcare-specific high seating designed for comfort and ease of use. Exam rooms are systematically organized in rows, with care teams strategically placed between them for accessibility. The ceiling design and circular light fixtures within these areas subtly serve as wayfinding cues, indicating staff-only zones. The physical therapy clinic upstairs is designed to resemble a high-end gym, incorporating warm wood accents and a south-facing window wall that allows ample natural light to flood the space. These design elements aim to create an uplifting environment, encouraging patients to find joy in their recovery and movement. The project team included James Crispino, Valentin Lieu, Stephen Hegeman, Ju Hyun Lee, Matt Leonard, Amy Carter, Margarita Di Modugno, Scarlett Zhao, Jhanvi Jagani, and Becca Blodgett, with products sourced from various manufacturers like Bernhardt, Armstrong, Newmat, Wilsonart, Carnegie, 3Form, Krug, USG, Beta-Calco, Spartan Surfaces, Coronet, Formica, Terrazzo & Marble Supply, and Teknoflor. #HealthcareDesign #InteriorArchitecture #Gensler #HospitalDesign #PatientExperience #Wayfinding #OrthopedicCenter #MedicalFacility #DesignInnovation

The central nervous system’s capacity for neural circuit regeneration is limited, posing significant challenges for complete recovery from brain injuries like stroke and trauma, which often damage descending motor pathways and cause severe motor impairments. However, residual pathways can reorganize dynamically to compensate for injured circuits, leading to modest spontaneous recovery. Recent advancements in cell-type classification and manipulation have revealed the structural and functional diversity of these pathways, offering new therapeutic avenues. This review focuses on three primary descending motor pathways—the corticospinal tract (CST) from the cerebral cortex, the rubrospinal tract (RbST) from the red nucleus, and the reticulospinal tract (RtST) from the reticular formation—summarizing their structures and functions, particularly in rodent models. The CST originates from multiple cortical areas (motor and somatosensory cortices) and projects to distinct spinal interneurons (INs), playing crucial roles in skilled movements. Its diverse subcortical collaterals allow commands to be transmitted to parallel descending pathways. The RbST, originating primarily from the magnocellular region of the red nucleus, shares many features with the CST, including contralateral innervation and topographical organization. It is essential for fine motor control, such as dexterous digit movements. The RtST, originating from various brainstem reticular formation nuclei, is the most complex, characterized by diverse neuronal subtypes and neurotransmitters, and projects predominantly to the ipsilateral spinal cord. It plays pivotal roles in locomotor control and can modulate multiple aspects of movement. Understanding these pathways’ structural and functional properties, as well as their similarities and differences, is crucial for developing therapeutic strategies. Following injuries like stroke and spinal cord injury (SCI), these descending pathways undergo significant reorganization, including axon sprouting and functional remodeling, to compensate for lost connections. For instance, after cortical injury, intact CST axons from the contralesional cortex can sprout into denervated spinal areas, contributing to motor recovery, with the extent of rewiring dependent on lesion size and location. In subcortical injuries, the red nucleus plays a vital compensatory role, with rehabilitation enhancing corticorubral projections. When the corticorubral pathway is silenced, the corticoreticular pathway compensates. In SCI, spared CST axons can form detour pathways, and the RtST, often relatively preserved, relays cortical commands to the spinal cord, with rehabilitation further enhancing corticoreticular and RtSN projections. Future research aims to enhance recovery by overcoming intrinsic and extrinsic factors that inhibit axon growth. Interventions targeting myelin-related proteins, axon growth inhibitors, and intrinsic neuronal capacities have shown promise in promoting axon growth. However, simply promoting growth is insufficient; axons must reconstruct functional connections with appropriate target neurons. Elucidating the precise connections of different descending pathway subpopulations and target INs using advanced tracing and omics approaches is essential. Identifying critical molecules, like BDNF and Scg2, that drive rewiring and understanding how neural activity coordinates functional connections during rehabilitation are key steps. Maximizing the effects of treatment involves optimizing rehabilitation protocols—considering type, intensity, time, and duration—and combining them with electrical stimulation, pharmacotherapy, or genetic interventions. Finally, bridging the knowledge gap between rodent findings and clinical applications is crucial, considering species-specific anatomical and functional differences, to translate laboratory successes into effective human therapies. #axonReorganization #corticospinalTract #neuralCircuitPlasticity #redNucleus #reticularFormation #spinalCordInjury #spinalInterneurons #stroke #rodentModels

This article explores the top furniture design software options available in 2025, offering solutions for both beginners and experienced designers looking to create household furniture and various items. It highlights the economic advantage of designing custom furniture using software rather than purchasing expensive pre-made pieces. The article begins by outlining key benefits, such as efficient 3D home planning and the ability to design beautiful furniture regardless of skill level. It emphasizes that these tools can significantly reduce the substantial costs associated with furniture and home expenses. Ten different software tools are reviewed in detail. Fusion 360, a cloud-based 3D modeling tool from Autodesk, is presented as ideal for designing objects from various materials, including furniture. It supports 3D printing of components and offers powerful modeling tools for creating customizable 3D models from initial sketches. Users can also change colors and materials to achieve desired combinations for their homes. Adobe Substance 3D is introduced as a comprehensive solution for realistic house representations, providing state-of-the-art 3D art creation services. It offers prolific designing features, including 3D materials, objects, lights, and other graphic elements, functioning as a virtual studio for creating realistic art. This software allows users to add and personalize furniture and objects within a project of their future home, supporting dynamic geometry patterns, textures, and the projection of home sketches into 3D. It caters to both beginners and advanced users and supports various formats like CAD and glTF. Autodesk Autocad is identified as an ultimate solution for automated CAD design, excelling in house planning and furniture design. It incorporates machine-learning tools for 2D and 3D designs and blueprints, offering support for furniture construction designs, architecture, and mechanical toolsets, with various add-ons to accelerate workflow. Palette CAD is highlighted as a 3D interior design software capable of transforming projects by supporting home projects related to furniture and more. It allows users to design rooms according to their needs and imagination, assisting with bathroom and tiling, carpentry, joinery, interior design, and furnishing. It provides qualitative services for designers and manufacturers, ensuring precise execution of plans through digital services, customer support, and easy product ordering. SmartDraw is described as a diagramming and visual representation tool for creating raw designs for home furniture. It offers standard templates for various industries, including floor plans, and allows users to add shapes, text, images, and other elements. Its machine-learning formatting tool automatically modifies projects, and it supports a wide range of diagrams and templates for furniture design. SolidWorks is presented as versatile furniture design software for various rooms, supporting a wide array of materials like stainless steel and wood, as well as custom designs. It enables users to design any furniture component and customize it, offering 3D modeling and simulation for cabinets, countertops, stairs, and hardware. CAD Pro Furniture Design Software is a drafting tool for designing, visualizing, and sharing furniture ideas. It allows users to design any piece of furniture, send designs as images or PDF files, and use scanned drawings as traceable templates for modification. It also includes features for recording ideas and adding voice instructions or pop-up text memos. SketchList 3D is tailored for woodworking designs, simplifying repetitive tasks and allowing users to work flexibly. It offers solid 3D sketches for detailed marking and modification, virtual boards to visualize element integration, and supports Adobe 3D PDF for client sharing. It enables one-click addition of joints and contours and customizable colors and grains. PRO100 is professional software for furniture and interior design, excelling in visualizing kitchens, bathrooms, and living rooms with high-quality, detailed renderings. Its latest version includes features like design export to 3D panoramas (including VR glasses), swapping parts, a distribution tool, and export to JPG files. Finally, SketchUp is presented as a powerful, intuitive tool for furniture and interior design, suitable for beginners. It supports both 2D and 3D drawing, includes a walkthrough function for design details, and can generate presentation documents for sharing ideas. The article concludes by encouraging readers to explore these tools to design their dream furniture and bring their designs to life. #FurnitureDesign #CADSoftware #3DModeling #InteriorDesign #HomePlanning #DesignSoftware #Woodworking #ArchitecturalDesign #ProductDesign