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J Clin Med 2022 Jun 20;11(12). Epub 2022 Jun 20.

Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Poznan University of Physical Education, 61-871 Poznań, Poland.

Research in modern neurorehabilitation focusses on cognitive and motor recovery programmes tailored to each stroke patient, with particular emphasis on physiological parameters. The objectives of this review were to determine whether a single bout of endurance activity or long-term endurance activity regulates exercise-dependent serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels and to evaluate the methodological quality of the studies. To assess the effectiveness of endurance exercise among patients in the chronic post-stroke phase, a systematic review was performed, including searching EBSCOhost, PEDro, PubMed, and Scopus for articles published up to the end of October 2021. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022 Jun 8;19(12). Epub 2022 Jun 8.

Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Rouen Normandy, CETAPS EA3832, 76821 Mont Saint Aignan, France.

This study investigated the effects of a coordinative in-water training. Total 26 young swimmers (16 boys) were divided in a training group (that performed two sets of 6 × 25-m front crawl, with manipulated speed and stroke frequency, two/week for eight weeks) and a control group. At the beginning and end of the training period, swimmers performed 50-m front crawl sprints recorded by seven land and six underwater Qualisys cameras. Read More

Brain Sci 2022 May 31;12(6). Epub 2022 May 31.

Santa Lucia Foundation, Via Ardeatina 306, 00179 Rome, Italy.

Strokes often lead to a deficit in motor control that contributes to a reduced balance function. Impairments in the balance function severely limit the activities of daily living (ADL) in stroke survivors. The present systematic review and meta-analysis primarily aims to explore the efficacy of overground robot-assisted gait training (o-RAGT) on balance recovery in individuals with stroke. Read More

Maedica (Bucur) 2022 Mar;17(1):169-176

Neurology Department, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece.

Stroke represents a major cause of upper limb motor impairment among stroke survivors, resulting in functional disability and affecting negatively their quality of life. Thus, it is imperative that stroke rehabilitation be efficient. Up to the present, several intervention methods have been proposed in an attempt to improve recovery potential poststroke, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and mirror therapy (MT) being among them. Read More

Trials 2022 Jun 22;23(1):523. Epub 2022 Jun 22.

Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, USA.

Background: Various priming techniques to enhance neuroplasticity have been examined in stroke rehabilitation research. Most priming techniques are costly and approved only for research. Here, we describe a priming technique that is cost-effective and has potential to significantly change clinical practice. Read More

Sci Rep 2022 Jun 22;12(1):10598. Epub 2022 Jun 22.

Department of Emergency, Critical Care and Disaster Medicine, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 142-8555, Japan.

Global warming increases heatstroke incidence. After heatstroke, patients exhibit neurological symptoms, suggesting cerebellar damage. However, the potential long-term adverse outcomes are poorly understood. Read More

IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 2022 Jun 22;PP. Epub 2022 Jun 22.

Soft robotic glove with brain computer interfaces (BCI) control has been used for post-stroke hand function rehabilitation. Motor imagery (MI) based BCI with robotic aided devices has been demonstrated as an effective neural rehabilitation tool to improve post-stroke hand function. It is necessary for a user of MI-BCI to receive a long time training, while the user usually suffers unsuccessful and unsatisfying results in the beginning. Read More

J Rehabil Med 2022 Jun 22. Epub 2022 Jun 22.

School of Nursing and Health Studies, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Ho Man Tin.

Background: Previous studies have reported that movement-based computer gaming is more effective than conventional intervention in enhancing upper limb rehabilitation.

Objective: To evaluate whether the use of bilateral movement-based computer games could augment the effects of conventional intervention in improving the upper limb motor function, grip strength and health-related quality of life of subacute stroke survivors.

Methods: A total of 93 subjects with subacute stroke were randomized into 2 groups receiving one of two 3. Read More

J Am Heart Assoc 2022 Jun 22:e025868. Epub 2022 Jun 22.

Faculty of Medicine Jordan University of Science and Technology Irbid Jordan.

Background Several studies investigated the role of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in improving poststroke recovery; thus, we have decided to conduct this systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the efficacy and safety of SSRIs in poststroke recovery. Methods and Results In this meta-analysis we searched the following databases: PubMed, Cochrane, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The studies were included if they were placebo-controlled trials in design and reported SSRIs' effects on poststroke depression, anxiety, disability, dependence, motor abilities, and cognitive functions. Read More

Trials 2022 Jun 20;23(1):518. Epub 2022 Jun 20.

Laboratory of Synthetic, Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems (SPECS), Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Barcelona, Spain.

Background: There is a pressing need for scalable healthcare solutions and a shift in the rehabilitation paradigm from hospitals to homes to tackle the increase in stroke incidence while reducing the practical and economic burden for patients, hospitals, and society. Digital health technologies can contribute to addressing this challenge; however, little is known about their effectiveness in at-home settings. In response, we have designed the [email protected] study to investigate the effectiveness, acceptance, and cost of a deep tech solution called the Rehabilitation Gaming System (RGS). Read More

J Med Internet Res 2022 Jun 20;24(6):e24111. Epub 2022 Jun 20.

Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China (Hong Kong).

Background: In recent years, efforts have been made to implement virtual reality (VR) to support the delivery of poststroke upper extremity motor rehabilitation exercises. Therefore, it is important to review and analyze the existing research evidence of its effectiveness.

Objective: Through a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, this study examined the effectiveness of using VR-supported exercise therapy for upper extremity motor rehabilitation in patients with stroke. Read More

Chin J Integr Med 2022 Jun 20. Epub 2022 Jun 20.

Department of Rehabilitation, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510120, China.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Tibetan medicine Ruyi Zhenbao Pills (RZPs) in the treatment of patients with motor and sensory dysfunction after stroke.

Methods: A total of 120 convalescent stroke patients hospitalized in the Rehabilitation Department of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine from June 2017 to December 2019 were enrolled in this trial. Patients were assigned to control (60 cases) and research (60 cases) groups by computer random assignment. Read More

Front Hum Neurosci 2022 26;16:896367. Epub 2022 May 26.

Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Taegu, South Korea.

This review discusses the role of the contra-lesional corticoreticular tract (CRT) in motor recovery of the paretic leg in stroke patients by reviewing related diffusion tensor tractography studies. These studies suggest that the contra-lesional CRT can contribute to the motor recovery of the paretic leg in stroke patients, particularly in patients with complete injuries of the ipsilesional corticospinal tract and CRT. Furthermore, a review study reported that the motor recovery of the paretic ankle dorsiflexor, which is mandatory for achieving a good gait pattern without braces in hemiparetic stroke patients, was closely related to the contra-lesional CRT. Read More

Front Hum Neurosci 2022 2;16:871239. Epub 2022 Jun 2.

Motor Behavior and Neurorehabilitation Laboratory, Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Background: Evidence supports cortical reorganization in sensorimotor areas induced by constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT). However, only a few studies examined the neural plastic changes as a function of task specificity. This retrospective analysis aims to evaluate the functional brain activation changes during a precision and a power grasp task in chronic stroke survivors who received 2-weeks of CIMT compared to a no-treatment control group. Read More

BMJ Neurol Open 2022 7;4(1):e000275. Epub 2022 Jun 7.

Department of Neurology, Shin-Oyama City Hospital, Oyama, Japan.

Objective: To examine the role of primary motor cortex in gait through exploring the dissociation of impaired voluntary leg muscle contraction and preserved rhythmic activities during gait in a patient who had a stroke.

Subject And Methods: A 49-year-old man with an infarct in the primary motor cortex exhibited automatic-voluntary dissociation in the paretic leg. Functional studies were conducted using surface electromyography (EMG) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Read More

Front Neurosci 2022 1;16:886909. Epub 2022 Jun 1.

Institute of Medical Research, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China.

Objective: Increased muscle co-contraction of the agonist and antagonist muscles during voluntary movement is commonly observed in the upper limbs of stroke survivors. Much remain to be understood about the underlying mechanism. The aim of the study is to investigate the correlation between increased muscle co-contraction and the function of the corticospinal tract (CST). Read More

J Nutr Health Aging 2022 ;26(6):590-597

Yoshihiro Yoshimura, Kumamoto Rehabilitation Hospital, Kikuchi, Kumamoto, Japan,

Objectives: To investigate the predictive value of the BIA-derived phase angle with respect to the functional prognosis and baseline sarcopenia in patients undergoing post-stroke rehabilitation.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting And Participants: Overall, 577 Japanese patients admitted to a post-acute care hospital from 2016 to 2020 were recruited. Read More

Keio J Med 2022 Jun 17. Epub 2022 Jun 17.

Professor, Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Yokohama, Japan.

Because recovery from upper limb paralysis after stroke is challenging, compensatory approaches have been the main focus of upper limb rehabilitation. However, based on fundamental and clinical research indicating that the brain has a far greater potential for plastic change than previously thought, functional restorative approaches have become increasingly common. Among such interventions, constraint-induced movement therapy, task-specific training, robotic therapy, neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES), mental practice, mirror therapy, and bilateral arm training are recommended in recently published stroke guidelines. Read More

Brain Inform 2022 Jun 19;9(1):13. Epub 2022 Jun 19.

Department of Neurology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 655 W. Baltimore Street, Bressler Research Building, 12th Floor, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA, on behalf of the GPAS Collaboration, Phenotyping Core.

Stroke is a leading cause of neurological injury characterized by impairments in multiple neurological domains including cognition, language, sensory and motor functions. Clinical recovery in these domains is tracked using a wide range of measures that may be continuous, ordinal, interval or categorical in nature, which can present challenges for multivariate regression approaches. This has hindered stroke researchers' ability to achieve an integrated picture of the complex time-evolving interactions among symptoms. Read More

Stroke 2022 Jun 17:101161STROKEAHA121038196. Epub 2022 Jun 17.

Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Center for Prevention and Rehabilitation, Heart Vascular Stroke Institute, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea (W.H.C., Y.-H.K.).

Background: We aimed to verify the validity of the proportional recovery model for the lower extremity.

Methods: We reviewed clinical data of patients enrolled in the Korean Stroke Cohort for Functioning and Rehabilitation between August 2012 and May 2015. Recovery proportion was calculated as the amount of motor recovery over initial motor impairment, measured as the Fugl-Meyer Assessment of Lower Extremity score. Read More

J Neuroinflammation 2022 Jun 15;19(1):146. Epub 2022 Jun 15.

Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S1A8, Canada.

Background: Neonatal stroke is a devastating insult that can lead to life-long impairments. In response to hypoxic-ischaemic injury, there is loss of neurons and glia as well as a neuroinflammatory response mediated by resident immune cells, including microglia and astrocytes, which can exacerbate damage. Administration of the antidiabetic drug metformin has been shown to improve functional outcomes in preclinical models of brain injury and the cellular basis for metformin-mediated recovery is unknown. Read More

Nat Methods 2022 Jun 16. Epub 2022 Jun 16.

Computational and Systems Biology, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Transcription factor over-expression is a proven method for reprogramming cells to a desired cell type for regenerative medicine and therapeutic discovery. However, a general method for the identification of reprogramming factors to create an arbitrary cell type is an open problem. Here we examine the success rate of methods and data for differentiation by testing the ability of nine computational methods (CellNet, GarNet, EBseq, AME, DREME, HOMER, KMAC, diffTF and DeepAccess) to discover and rank candidate factors for eight target cell types with known reprogramming solutions. Read More

IBRO Neurosci Rep 2022 Dec 2;13:15-21. Epub 2022 Jun 2.

Center for Neurology and Rehabilitation, Vitznau, Switzerland.

Ischemic stroke frequently causes motor impairments. Despite exercise can improve motor outcomes, many stroke survivors remain life-long disabled. Understanding the mechanisms associated with motor recovery after a stroke is necessary to develop treatments. Read More

Neural Plast 2022 6;2022:4203698. Epub 2022 Jun 6.

Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital and Interdisciplinary Institute of Neuroscience and Technology, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310029, China.

Several neuroimaging methods have been proposed to assess the integrity of the corticospinal tract (CST) for predicting recovery of motor function after stroke, including conventional structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). In this study, we aimed to compare the predicative performance of these methods using different neuroimaging modalities and optimize the prediction protocol for upper limb motor function after stroke in a clinical environment. We assessed 28 first-ever stroke patients with upper limb motor impairment. Read More

Am J Phys Med Rehabil 2022 Jul 23;101(7):659-665. Epub 2021 Sep 23.

From the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Daegu, Republic of Korea.

Objective: We investigated the relationship between contralesional ankle weakness recovery and the corticospinal tract and corticoreticular tract in stroke patients with complete injuries of the ipsilesional corticospinal tract and corticoreticular tract.

Design: Thirty-six patients with complete injuries of the ipsilesional corticospinal tract and corticoreticular tract were recruited. Medical Research Council and the Functional Ambulation Category were used to determine motor function of ankle dorsiflexor and gait function. Read More

Brain Commun 2022 25;4(3):fcac136. Epub 2022 May 25.

Department of Neurological Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA.

Chronic stroke patients with upper-limb motor disabilities are now beginning to see treatment options that were not previously available. To date, the two options recently approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration include vagus nerve stimulation and brain-computer interface therapy. While the mechanisms for vagus nerve stimulation have been well defined, the mechanisms underlying brain-computer interface-driven motor rehabilitation are largely unknown. Read More

Rev Neurol 2022 06;74(12):375-382

Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 28922 Alcorcón, España.

Introduction: Motor Imagery techniques may be used as a complement to the recovery of motor sequelae after a stroke, as during the evocation of a movement the activation of neuronal circuits involved in the actual execution of the movement occurs.

Patients And Methods: A simple-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted. A total of 38 patients were randomly assigned to a study group. Read More

BMC Neurol 2022 Jun 13;22(1):219. Epub 2022 Jun 13.

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan.

Aim: To investigate the cognitive function and its relation to the home discharge of patients following subacute stroke.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 1,229 convalescent patients experiencing their first subacute stroke. We determined discharge destination and demographic and clinical information. Read More

Neurorehabil Neural Repair 2022 Jun 11:15459683221107893. Epub 2022 Jun 11.

Department Physical Therapy and Kinesiology, 14710University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA.

Up to 85% of people with chronic stroke experience somatosensory impairment, which contributes to poor sensorimotor control and non-use of the affected limb. Neurophysiological mechanisms suggest motor rehabilitation may improve tactile sense post-stroke, however, somatosensory recovery has rarely been reported in controlled trials. To compare the effect of four upper limb motor rehabilitation programs on the recovery of tactile sensation in adults with chronic stroke. Read More

Contrast Media Mol Imaging 2022 31;2022:3936655. Epub 2022 May 31.

Department of Neurosurgery, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Liaoning 110000, Shenyang, China.

The aim of this study is to analyze the application of early rehabilitation nursing in nursing intervention of neurological impairment among patients with acute ischemic stroke. 116 patients with acute ischemic stroke were selected as the research subjects in this paper. The patients were divided into 58 experimental (early rehabilitation care) and 58 control (routine rehabilitation care) groups according to the difference of care protocols, all of which were performed magnetic resonance imaging on. Read More