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Mult Scler Relat Disord 2022 Jun 11;64:103962. Epub 2022 Jun 11.

Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, College of Applied Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 219 Freer Hall, 906 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL 61801, USA; Center on Health, Aging, and Disability, College of Applied Health Sciences, Champaign, IL, USA. Electronic address:

Background: Seventy-five percent (75%) of full-time wheelchair or scooter users with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience at least one fall in a period of 6 months. Falls are detrimental for the independence, quality of life, and community participation. No previous prospective study has evaluated fall risk factors in this segment of MS community. Read More

BMC Med 2022 Jun 14;20(1):225. Epub 2022 Jun 14.

Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST), ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.

Background: The epidemiological international landscape of traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) has evolved over the last decades along with given inherent differences in acute care and rehabilitation across countries and jurisdictions. However, to what extent these differences may influence neurological and functional recovery as well as the integrity of international trials is unclear. The latter also relates to historical clinical data that are exploited to inform clinical trial design and as potential comparative data. Read More

Physiol Rev 2022 Jun 9. Epub 2022 Jun 9.

Internal Medicine, Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States.

The human body constantly exchanges heat with the environment. Temperature regulation is a homeostatic feedback control system that ensures deep body temperature is maintained within narrow limits despite wide variations in environmental conditions and activity-related elevations in metabolic heat production. Extensive research has been performed to study the physiological regulation of deep body temperature. Read More

BMC Musculoskelet Disord 2022 May 25;23(1):493. Epub 2022 May 25.

Research Program in Men's Health: Aging and Metabolism, Boston Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center for Function Promoting Therapies, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Background: A spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating, life-changing event that has profoundly deleterious effects on an individual's health and well-being. Dysregulation of neuromuscular, cardiometabolic, and endocrine organ systems following an SCI contribute to excess morbidity, mortality and a poor quality of life. As no effective treatments currently exist for SCI, the development of novel strategies to improve the functional and health status of individuals living with SCI are much needed. Read More

J Cell Immunol 2022 ;4(2):50-64

Sanders Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States of America.

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) has been shown to acutely alter the gut microbiome diversity and composition, known as dysbiosis, which can further exacerbate metabolic and vascular changes in the brain in both humans and rodents. However, it remains unknown how mTBI affects the gut microbiome in the chronic phase recovery (past one week post injury). It is also unknown if injury recovery can be improved by mitigating dysbiosis. Read More

J Neurol 2022 May 24. Epub 2022 May 24.

Neurotoxin Research Center of Key Laboratory of Spine and Spinal Cord Injury Repair and Regeneration of Ministry of Education, Neurological Department of Tongji Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, 389 Xincun Road, 200065, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

T lymphocytes are involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD), while the heterogeneity of T-cell subpopulations remains elusive. In this study, we analyzed up to 22 subpopulations of T lymphocytes in 115 PD patients and 60 matched healthy controls (HC) using flow cytometry. We found that PD patients exhibited decreased naïve CD8 T cells (CD3 CD8 CD45RA CD45RO) and increased late-differentiated CD4 T cells (CD3 CD4 CD28 CD27), compared to HC, which were not affected by anti-parkinsonism medication administration. Read More

Front Aging Neurosci 2022 29;14:899678. Epub 2022 Apr 29.

Department of Pharmacy, The Children's Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou, China.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a common cerebrovascular disease with high mortality and disability rates. Despite progressive advances in drugs and surgical techniques, neurological dysfunction in surviving SAH patients have not improved significantly. Traditionally, vasospasm has been considered the main cause of death and disability following SAH, but anti-vasospasm therapy has not benefited clinical prognosis. Read More

J Clin Med 2022 Apr 20;11(9). Epub 2022 Apr 20.

Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Amager and Hvidovre, 2650 Hvidovre, Denmark.

Degenerative spinal cord compression is a frequent pathological condition with increasing prevalence throughout aging. Initial non-myelopathic cervical spinal cord compression (NMDC) might progress over time into potentially irreversible degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM). While quantitative MRI (qMRI) techniques demonstrated the ability to depict intrinsic tissue properties, longitudinal in-vivo biomarkers to identify NMDC patients who will eventually develop DCM are still missing. Read More

Science 2022 05 13;376(6594):eabd5926. Epub 2022 May 13.

Division of Neuroscience, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK.

Aging is associated with increased prevalence of axonal injuries characterized by poor regeneration and disability. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In our experiments, RNA sequencing of sciatic dorsal root ganglia (DRG) revealed significant aging-dependent enrichment in T cell signaling both before and after sciatic nerve injury (SNI) in mice. Read More

Top Spinal Cord Inj Rehabil 2022 12;28(2):153-175. Epub 2022 Apr 12.

Department of Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation Science and Athletic Training, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas.

Background: Falls are common, detrimental events among ambulatory individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Following SCI, changes to lower limb function are probable and likely to impact an individual's fall risk, yet no comprehensive review has been completed on the topic.

Objectives: This study systematically reviewed data on the relationship between lower limb function and fall prevalence in ambulatory individuals with SCI. Read More

Nat Rev Neurosci 2022 Jul 3;23(7):411-427. Epub 2022 May 3.

Departments of Neurology, and Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.

Macroautophagy is an evolutionarily conserved process that delivers diverse cellular contents to lysosomes for degradation. As our understanding of this pathway grows, so does our appreciation for its importance in disorders of the CNS. Once implicated primarily in neurodegenerative events owing to acute injury and ageing, macroautophagy is now also linked to disorders of neurodevelopment, indicating that it is essential for both the formation and maintenance of a healthy CNS. Read More

Orthop Surg 2022 Apr 29. Epub 2022 Apr 29.

Department of Spinal Surgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) causes a variety of signs and symptoms, such as low back pain (LBP), intervertebral disc herniation, and spinal stenosis, which contribute to high social and economic costs. IDD results from many factors, including genetic factors, aging, mechanical injury, malnutrition, and so on. The pathological changes of IDD are mainly composed of the senescence and apoptosis of nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs), the progressive degeneration of extracellular matrix (ECM), the fibrosis of annulus fibrosus (AF), and the inflammatory response. Read More

J Spinal Cord Med 2022 Apr 29:1-8. Epub 2022 Apr 29.

Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Context/objectives: Cardiometabolic disease (CMD) is increased after spinal cord injury (SCI), with an increased number of CMD risk factors that relate to higher mortality. The study objective was to characterize the relationship of age and injury duration with CMD.

Design: Retrospective cohort assessment of CMD risks using unbiased recursive partitioning to divide for group comparison: (1) Lowest Risk, (2) Moderate Risk, and (3) Highest Risk based on classification and regression trees predicting CMD diagnosis by age and injury duration. Read More

Spinal Cord 2022 Apr 27. Epub 2022 Apr 27.

Department of Physical Therapy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.

Study Design: Feasibility study, consisting of random-order, cross-over study of a single intervention session, followed by a parallel-arm study of 16 sessions.

Objectives: To investigate the feasibility of a novel combinatorial approach with simultaneous delivery of transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS) and locomotor training (tsDCS + LT) after spinal cord injury, compared to sham stimulation and locomotor training (sham + LT), and examine preliminary effects on walking function.

Setting: Clinical research center in the southeastern United States. Read More

Front Neurosci 2022 8;16:877167. Epub 2022 Apr 8.

Institute of Experimental Neuroregeneration, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria.

Dormant non-proliferative neuronal precursors (dormant precursors) are a unique type of undifferentiated neuron, found in the adult brain of several mammalian species, including humans. Dormant precursors are fundamentally different from canonical neurogenic-niche progenitors as they are generated exquisitely during the embryonic development and maintain a state of protracted postmitotic immaturity lasting up to several decades after birth. Thus, dormant precursors are not pluripotent progenitors, but to all effects extremely immature neurons. Read More

J Alzheimers Dis 2022 ;87(1):305-315

Medical, Scientific, Memory Screening Advisory Board, Alzheimer's Foundation of American (AFA), New York, USA.

Wang et al. analyze Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment accuracy as screening tests for detecting dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Such tests are at the center of controversy regarding recognition and treatment of AD. Read More

J Clin Invest 2022 04;132(8)

Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Mice with experimental nerve damage can display long‑lasting neuropathic pain behavior. We show here that 4 months and later after nerve injury, male but not female mice displayed telomere length (TL) reduction and p53‑mediated cellular senescence in the spinal cord, resulting in maintenance of pain and associated with decreased lifespan. Nerve injury increased the number of p53‑positive spinal cord neurons, astrocytes, and microglia, but only in microglia was the increase male‑specific, matching a robust sex specificity of TL reduction in this cell type, which has been previously implicated in male‑specific pain processing. Read More

Cell Mol Life Sci 2022 Apr 13;79(5):239. Epub 2022 Apr 13.

Center for Aging and Regeneration, Departamento de Biología Celular Y Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, 8331150, Santiago, Chile.

Many people around the world suffer from some form of paralysis caused by spinal cord injury (SCI), which has an impact on quality and life expectancy. The spinal cord is part of the central nervous system (CNS), which in mammals is unable to regenerate, and to date, there is a lack of full functional recovery therapies for SCI. These injuries start with a rapid and mechanical insult, followed by a secondary phase leading progressively to greater damage. Read More

Int J Mol Sci 2022 Mar 25;23(7). Epub 2022 Mar 25.

BRABE Group, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Life and Natural Sciences, University of Nebrija, C/del Hostal, 28248 Madrid, Spain.

Oxidative stress has been recognized as a contributing factor in aging and in the progression of multiple neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's dementia, ischemic stroke, and head and spinal cord injury. The increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) has been associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, altered metal homeostasis, and compromised brain antioxidant defence. All these changes have been reported to directly affect synaptic activity and neurotransmission in neurons, leading to cognitive dysfunction. Read More

Aging (Albany NY) 2022 04 10;14(7):3216-3232. Epub 2022 Apr 10.

Department of Orthopedics, Ningbo First Hospital, Ningbo, China.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is the main cause of severe damage to the central nervous system and leads to irreversible tissue loss and neurological dysfunction. Ferroptosis is a cell death pattern, newly discovered in recent years. Ferroptosis is an oxidizing cell death induced by small molecules, and is an iron-dependent process caused by the imbalance between the generation and degradation of lipid reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells. Read More

Aging Dis 2022 Apr 1;13(2):552-567. Epub 2022 Apr 1.

1Department of Orthopaedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.

Nucleus pulposus (NP) cell (NPC) senescence is one of the main causes of intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD). However, the underlying mechanism of NPC senescence is still unclear. The cannabinoid type 2 receptor (CB2R) is a member of the cannabinoid system and plays an important role in antioxidative stress, anti-inflammatory and antisenescence activities. Read More

Mult Scler Relat Disord 2022 May 5;61:103726. Epub 2022 Mar 5.

National center for neurological disorders NCND, Shanghai 200040, China; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Renhe Hospital, Baoshan Branch, Shanghai 200431, China. Electronic address:

Background: Rehabilitation treatment may alleviate the disease severity of patients with NMOSD. The reports of rehabilitation exercise for NMOSD during acute phase are rare.

Objective: To explore the efficacy and safety of rehabilitation exercise in patients with NMOSD during acute phase. Read More

Front Cell Dev Biol 2022 1;10:822934. Epub 2022 Mar 1.

Human Aging Research Institute and School of Life Science, Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.

The central nervous system has enormously complex cellular diversity with hundreds of distinct cell types, yet alternative splicing features in single cells of important cell types at neurogenic regions are not well understood. By employing analysis, we systematically identified 3,611 alternative splicing events from 1,908 genes in 28 single-cell transcriptomic data of adult mouse ependymal and subependymal regions, and found that single-cell RNA-seq has the advantage in uncovering rare splicing isoforms compared to bulk RNA-seq at the population level. We uncovered that the simultaneous presence of multiple isoforms from the same gene in a single cell is prevalent, and quiescent stem cells, activated stem cells, and neuroblast cells exhibit high heterogeneity of splicing variants. Read More

J Aging Phys Act 2022 Mar 16:1-14. Epub 2022 Mar 16.

Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies, University of Regina, Regina, SK,Canada.

A mixed-methods approach was used to study an individually-tailored community exercise program for people with a range of chronic neurological conditions (e.g., stroke, spinal cord injury, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease) and abilities. Read More

Womens Midlife Health 2022 Mar 2;8(1). Epub 2022 Mar 2.

Division of Spinal Cord Injury Medicine, Shirley Ryan Abilitylab, 355 E Erie St, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA.

Getting old is hard, but it beats the alternative. This commentary explores some of the challenges of aging with a physical disability and the considerations taken to prevent further functional decline or injury during the aging process. Read More

Mov Disord 2022 May 1;37(5):1099-1101. Epub 2022 Mar 1.

Neurotoxin Research Center of Key Laboratory of Spine and Spinal Cord Injury Repair and Regeneration of Ministry of Education, Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.

Restor Neurol Neurosci 2022 ;40(1):17-33

Landon Center on Aging, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA.

Background: Closed-loop neuromodulation systems have received increased attention in recent years as potential therapeutic approaches for treating neurological injury and disease.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of intraspinal microstimulation (ISMS), triggered by action potentials (spikes) recorded in motor cortex, to alter synaptic efficacy in descending motor pathways in an anesthetized rat model of spinal cord injury (SCI).

Methods: Experiments were carried out in adult, male, Sprague Dawley rats with a moderate contusion injury at T8. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022 02 13;19(4). Epub 2022 Feb 13.

School of Kinesiology, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX 76401, USA.

An approach that provides a standardized way of continuing rehabilitative care to help patients return to their lives and activities of daily living (ADL) in an economical and efficient manner is the Team Kinesiology Model (TKM). Many patients who are given a life-altering diagnosis (i.e. Read More

Biology (Basel) 2022 Jan 26;11(2). Epub 2022 Jan 26.

Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, College of Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Bryan, TX 77807, USA.

After spinal cord injury (SCI), 80% of individuals are diagnosed with osteopenia or osteoporosis. The dramatic loss of bone after SCI increases the potential for fractures 100-fold, with post-fracture complications occurring in 54% of cases. With the age of new SCI injuries increasing, we hypothesized that a SCI-induced reduction in weight bearing could further exacerbate age-induced bone loss. Read More

Antioxidants (Basel) 2022 Feb 21;11(2). Epub 2022 Feb 21.

Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 195 Little Albany Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA.

SOD1 is the major superoxide dismutase responsible for catalyzing dismutation of superoxide to hydrogen peroxide and molecular oxygen. It is well known as an essential antioxidant enzyme for maintaining cellular redox homeostasis. SOD1 dysregulation has been associated with many diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), cancer, accelerated aging, and age-related diseases. Read More