Upper Limb Movement Performance in Individuals Sustaining Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries.

Background: Individuals sustaining a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) continue to have suboptimal upper limb (UL) involvement in daily life. Intensity of task practice is one key factor to promote better motor improvement. Task-practice intensity metrics include number of repetitions/sessions, and this value is currently unknown in people with mild TBI.

Genetic polymorphisms and post-stroke upper limb motor improvement - A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Post-stroke upper limb (UL) motor improvement is associated with adaptive neuroplasticity and motor learning. Both intervention-related (including provision of intensive, variable, and task-specific practice) and individual-specific factors (including the presence of genetic polymorphisms) influence improvement. In individuals with stroke, most commonly, polymorphisms are found in Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), Apolipoprotein (APOE) and Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT).

Responsiveness of the Reaching Performance Scale for Stroke.

Objective: The objective of the study was to estimate the internal and external responsiveness of the Reaching Performance Scale for Stroke (RPSS) in individuals with stroke.

Design: Retrospective analysis of data from 4 randomized controlled trials.

Setting: Recruitment locations spanning rehabilitation centers and hospitals in Canada, Italy, Argentina, Peru, and Thailand.

Development and feasibility testing of action observation training videos in acute stroke survivors: Preliminary findings.

Action observation training (AOT) is used for lower limb (LL) stroke rehabilitation in subacute and chronic stages, but concise information regarding the types of activities to be used and the feasibility of administration in the acute stroke population is unknown. The aim of this study was to develop and validate videos of appropriate activities for LL AOT and test administrative feasibility in acute stroke.   : A video inventory of LL activities was created after a literature survey and expert scrutiny.

A Systematic Review on the Effects of Acute Aerobic Exercise on Neurophysiological, Molecular, and Behavioral Measures in Chronic Stroke.

Background: A single bout of aerobic exercise (AE) can produce changes in neurophysiological and behavioral measures in healthy individuals and those with stroke. However, the effects of AE-priming effects on neuroplasticity markers and behavioral measures are unclear.

Objectives: This systematic review aimed to examine the effects of AE on neuroplasticity measures, such as corticomotor excitability (CME), molecular markers, cortical activation, motor learning, and performance in stroke.

Intra-individual variability in cognitive performance predicts functional decline in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Cognitive deficits contribute to disability in Parkinson's disease (PD). Cognitive intra-individual variability (IIV) is associated with cognitive decline in age-related disorders, but IIV has not been related to functional ability in PD. We examined IIV in predicting functional ability in participants with PD.

Upper Limb Motor Improvement after Traumatic Brain Injury: Systematic Review of Interventions.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of adult morbidity and mortality. Individuals with TBI have impairments in both cognitive and motor domains. Motor improvements post-TBI are attributable to adaptive neuroplasticity and motor learning.

Integration of Motor Learning Principles Into Virtual Reality Interventions for Individuals With Cerebral Palsy: Systematic Review.

Background: Increasing evidence supports the use of virtual reality systems to improve upper limb motor functions in individuals with cerebral palsy. While virtual reality offers the possibility to include key components to promote motor learning, it remains unclear if and how motor learning principles are incorporated into the development of rehabilitation interventions using virtual reality.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which motor learning principles are integrated into virtual reality interventions targeting upper limb function in individuals with cerebral palsy.

Reaching performance scale for stroke - Test-retest reliability, measurement error, concurrent and discriminant validity.

Introduction: Post-stroke upper limb motor improvement can be better quantified by describing movement patterns characterizing movement quality and use of compensations. Movement patterns can be described using both kinematic and clinical outcomes. One clinical outcome that assesses movement quality and compensations used for reaching a Close (18 points) and Far target (18 points) is the Reaching Performance Scale for Stroke (RPSS).

A reference catalog of DNA palindromes in the human genome and their variations in 1000 Genomes.

A palindrome in DNA is like a palindrome in language, but when read backwards, it is a complement of the forward sequence; effectively, the two halves of a sequence complement each other from its midpoint like in a double strand of DNA. Palindromes are distributed throughout the human genome and play significant roles in gene expression and regulation. Palindromic mutations are linked to many human diseases, such as neuronal disorders, mental retardation, and various cancers.

Deficits in corticospinal control of stretch reflex thresholds in stroke: Implications for motor impairment.

Objectives: The corticospinal system (CS) regulates muscle activation through shifts in muscle-level tonic stretch-reflex thresholds (TSRT). This ability is impaired in stroke and contributes to sensorimotor impairments such as spasticity. We determined the role of CS in elbow flexor activity regulation in healthy and post-stroke subjects.

Virtual reality interventions to enhance upper limb motor improvement after a stroke: commonly used types of platform and outcomes.

Introduction: Virtual Reality (VR) based platforms are useful in enhancing post-stroke sub-optimal upper limb (UL) motor improvement. A variety of options are available from expensive highly customizable platforms to low cost turnkey solutions. Clinical outcomes primarily help assess the effects of VR-based platforms.

Correction to: The effects of regenerative injection therapy compared to corticosteroids for the treatment of lateral Epicondylitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s40945-019-0063-6.].

Motor-Equivalent Intersegmental Coordination Is Impaired in Chronic Stroke.

. Kinematic abundance permits using different movement patterns for task completion. Individuals poststroke may take advantage of abundance by using compensatory trunk displacement to overcome upper limb (UL) movement deficits.

The effects of regenerative injection therapy compared to corticosteroids for the treatment of lateral Epicondylitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The lateral epicondyle is a common site for chronic tendinosis (i.e. lateral epicondylitis), a condition characterized by overuse and degeneration of a tendon due to repeated microtrauma.

Attitudes of Physical Therapy Students Toward the Population Currently Experiencing Homelessness: A Pilot Study.

Unlabelled: Homelessness is a national epidemic and individuals experiencing homelessness have decreased access to healthcare services. At the same time, physical therapy (PT) educational programs are required to teach students about cultural competence, pro-bono service, and advocacy for underserved populations. Having PT students provide pro-bono services to this population in a supervised environment is a mutually beneficial scenario for the patients, students, and the PT program.

Virtual Reality and Noninvasive Brain Stimulation in Stroke: How Effective Is Their Combination for Upper Limb Motor Improvement?-A Meta-Analysis.

Background: Efforts to augment post-stroke upper limb (UL) motor improvement include the use of newer interventions such as noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) and task practice in virtual reality environments (VEs). Despite increasing interest in using a combination of these 2 interventions, the effectiveness of this combination to enhance UL motor improvement outcomes has not been examined.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a combination of NIBS and task practice in a VE to augment post-stroke UL motor improvement.

Antibody Exchange: Information extraction of biological antibody donation and a web-portal to find donors and seekers.

Bio-molecular reagents like antibodies required in experimental biology are expensive and their effectiveness, among other things, is critical to the success of the experiment. Although such resources are sometimes donated by one investigator to another through personal communication between the two, there is no previous study to our knowledge on the extent of such donations, nor a central platform that directs resource seekers to donors. In this paper, we describe, to our knowledge, a first attempt at building a web-portal titled Antibody Exchange (or more general 'Bio-Resource Exchange') that attempts to bridge this gap between resource seekers and donors in the domain of experimental biology.

Referent control of the orientation of posture and movement in the gravitational field.

This study addresses the question of how posture and movement are oriented with respect to the direction of gravity. It is suggested that neural control levels coordinate spatial thresholds at which multiple muscles begin to be activated to specify a referent body orientation (RO) at which muscle activity is minimized. Under the influence of gravity, the body is deflected from the RO to an actual orientation (AO) until the emerging muscle activity and forces begin to balance gravitational forces and maintain body stability.

Spasticity may obscure motor learning ability after stroke.

Previous motor learning studies based on adapting movements of the hemiparetic arm in stroke subjects have not accounted for spasticity occurring in specific joint ranges (spasticity zones), resulting in equivocal conclusions about learning capacity. We compared the ability of participants with stroke to rapidly adapt elbow extension movements to changing external load conditions outside and inside spasticity zones. Participants with stroke ( n = 12, aged 57.

A pilot study on the prevalence of DNA palindromes in breast cancer genomes.

Background: DNA palindromes are a unique pattern of repeat sequences that are present in the human genome. It consists of a sequence of nucleotides in which the second half is the complement of the first half but appearing in reverse order. These palindromic sequences may have a significant role in DNA replication, transcription and gene regulation processes.

Towards Extracting Supporting Information About Predicted Protein-Protein Interactions.

One of the goals of relation extraction is to identify protein-protein interactions (PPIs) in biomedical literature. Current systems are capturing binary relations and also the direction and type of an interaction. Besides assisting in the curation PPIs into databases, there has been little real-world application of these algorithms.

Depressive symptoms influence use of feedback for motor learning and recovery in chronic stroke.

Purpose: Sensorimotor impairments and depressive symptoms (PSD) influence arm motor recovery post-stroke. Feedback provision improves upper limb motor learning in patients with chronic stroke but factors including PSD may affect ability to use feedback. We evaluated the influence of PSD on the ability to use auditory feedback for upper limb recovery and motor learning in patients with chronic stroke.

Emerging evidence of the association between cognitive deficits and arm motor recovery after stroke: A meta-analysis.

Purpose: Motor and cognitive impairments are common and often coexist in patients with stroke. Although evidence is emerging about specific relationships between cognitive deficits and upper-limb motor recovery, the practical implication of these relationships for rehabilitation is unclear. Using a structured review and meta-analyses, we examined the nature and strength of the associations between cognitive deficits and upper-limb motor recovery in studies of patients with stroke.