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Trials 2022 May 24;23(1):442. Epub 2022 May 24.

School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, 3654 Promenade Sir-William-Osler, Québec, Montréal, Canada.

Rationale: Cardiovascular exercise is an effective method to improve cardiovascular health outcomes, but also promote neuroplasticity during stroke recovery. Moderate-intensity continuous cardiovascular training (MICT) is an integral part of stroke rehabilitation, yet it may remain a challenge to exercise at sufficiently high intensities to produce beneficial adaptations to neuroplasticity. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) could provide a viable alternative to achieve higher intensities of exercise by using shorter bouts of intense exercise interspersed with periods of recovery. Read More

J Tradit Chin Med 2022 Jun;42(3):379-388

Institute of Acupuncture and Meridian, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, China.

Objective: To explore whether the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) participates in regulation of the anti-myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) effect of electroacupuncture (EA) and whether this is achieved through the PVN-interposed nucleus (IN) neural pathway.

Methods: The modeling method of myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury was achieved by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery in Sprague-Dawley rats. We used the Powerlab multi-channel physiological recorder system to record electro-cardiograms and analyze the changes in ST segment displacement; 2,3,5-Triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining was used to observe the percentage of myocardial infarction areas. Read More

J Tradit Chin Med 2022 Jun;42(3):321-331

Nursing school, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang 550000, China.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of meridian massage on motor function after a stroke.

Methods: This systematic review and Meta-analysis of randomised (RCTs) and quasi-randomised controlled trials (qRCTs) was performed to determine the effects of meridian massage on motor dysfunction following a stroke. Articles published until December 2020 related to stroke and meridian massage from National Library of Medicine, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, KoreaMed, Japan science and Technology Agency, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, Wanfang Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database and China Science and Technology Journal Database were searched. Read More

PLoS One 2022 24;17(5):e0268833. Epub 2022 May 24.

Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland.

Background: Hospital-acquired venous thromboembolism (VTE) is one of the leading preventable causes of in-hospital mortality. However, its risk assessment in medically ill inpatients is complicated due to the patients' heterogeneity and complexity of currently available risk assessment models (RAMs). The simplified Geneva score provides simplicity but has not yet been prospectively validated. Read More

Eur Heart J 2022 May 24. Epub 2022 May 24.

Adult Congenital Heart Centre and National Centre for Pulmonary Hypertension, Royal Brompton and Harefield National Health Service Foundation Trust, Imperial College London, SW3 6NP London, UK.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is often comprised of complex three-dimensional (3D) anatomy that must be well understood to assess the pathophysiological consequences and guide therapy. Thus, detailed cardiac imaging for early detection and planning of interventional and/or surgical treatment is paramount. Advanced technologies have revolutionized diagnostic and therapeutic practice in CHD, thus playing an increasing role in its management. Read More

Stroke 2022 Jun 23;53(6):e230-e231. Epub 2022 May 23.

Melbourne Medical School (H.Q., I.R., L.N.), The University of Melbourne, Australia.

Stroke 2022 Jun 23;53(6):1827. Epub 2022 May 23.

Front Immunol 2022 6;13:897413. Epub 2022 May 6.

Department of Risk Group Dentistry, Chair of Pediatric Dentistry, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.

Stroke is one of the most common cerebrovascular diseases. Despite significant progress in understanding stroke pathogenesis, cases are still increasing. Thus, laboratory biomarkers of stroke are sought to allow rapid and non-invasive diagnostics. Read More

Front Pediatr 2022 6;10:892445. Epub 2022 May 6.

Neuroradiology, Department of Neurological Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.

Background: Moyamoya is a rare progressive cerebral arteriopathy, occurring as an isolated phenomenon (moyamoya disease, MMD) or associated with other conditions (moyamoya syndrome, MMS), responsible for 6-10% of all childhood strokes and transient ischemic attacks (TIAs).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective multicenter study on pediatric-onset MMD/MMS in Italy in order to characterize disease presentation, course, management, neuroradiology, and outcome in a European country.

Results: A total of 65 patients (34/65 women) with MMD (27/65) or MMS (38/65) were included. Read More

Front Neurol 2022 6;13:854158. Epub 2022 May 6.

The Academy of Rehabilitation Industry, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, China.

Background And Purpose: This study investigates the effect of physical activity (PA) on cognition in patients with cerebrovascular disease and explored the maximum benefit of different PA characteristics.

Methods: Databases, such as Pubmed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library, were searched from their inception to May 31, 2021. Standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (s) were calculated to generate a forest plot. Read More

Spinal Cord Ser Cases 2022 May 21;8(1):56. Epub 2022 May 21.

Department of Spinal Cord Injury, Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System, East Orange, NJ, 07018, USA.

Introduction: Oral baclofen is commonly used for spasticity management, especially with neurogenic bladder in spinal cord injury (SCI). A less common side effect of baclofen is transient alterations of consciousness, which can easily be confused for altered mental status secondary to orthostatic hypotension in SCI.

Case Presentation: A 43-year-old man with an acute SCI secondary to an aortic dissection was found to have episodes of confusion after titrating oral baclofen from 5 mg three times per day to 10 mg three times per day at an acute rehabilitation facility. Read More

Heart Fail Rev 2022 May 21. Epub 2022 May 21.

Cardiac Primary Prevention Research Center, Cardiovascular Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Heyaat Avenue, Kargar St. Jalal Al-Ahmad, Tehran, 1411713138, Iran.

Thirty years ago, patients with low ejection fraction (EF) have often been excluded from rehabilitation programs due to concern about possibility of sudden death or other adverse cardiovascular events during exercise sessions. Recent studies have highlighted the fact that cardiac rehabilitation could improve exercise capacity, cardiac function, and health-related quality of life in congestive heart failure patients. This encouraged us to write a review article and update our latest knowledge about the outcome of rehabilitation program in patients with severely depressed cardiac function. Read More

Neuroreport 2022 May 8;33(7):304-311. Epub 2022 Apr 8.

Department of Physical Therapy, Niigata University of Health and Welfare.

Objective: This study investigated the effects of exercise, starting very early after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), on microglia and macrophages in a rat model. Collagenase solution was injected into the left striatum to induce ICH.

Methods: Rats were randomly assigned to receive placebo surgery without exercise (sham surgery), ICH without exercise (ICH), or ICH with very early exercise (ICH + VET). Read More

PLoS One 2022 20;17(5):e0268725. Epub 2022 May 20.

Laboratory of Recombination and Segregation Analysis, Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Novosibirsk, Russia.

Varicose veins of lower extremities (VVs) are a highly prevalent condition, the pathogenesis of which is still not fully elucidated. Mendelian randomization (MR) can provide useful preliminary information on the traits that are potentially causally related to the disease. The aim of the present study is to replicate the effects of the plasma levels of MHC class I polypeptide-related sequence B (MICB) and cluster of differentiation 209 (CD209) proteins reported in a previous hypothesis-free MR study. Read More

Stud Health Technol Inform 2022 May;293:224-231

Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Klagenfurt, Austria.

Background: Teletherapy has the potential to foster therapy efficiency by supporting the whole therapy process.

Objectives: In the ongoing project REHA2030 a service model and technology platform for telerehabilitation of stroke patients is developed.

Methods: To provide a user-friendly solution, a human-centered design process was employed throughout the whole project, where stakeholders from different professions were involved. Read More

Physiol Rep 2022 May;10(10):e15308

Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation leads to improvements in cardiovascular function in individuals with coronary artery disease. The cardiac effects of coronary artery disease (CAD) can be quantified using clinical echocardiographic measures, such as ejection fraction (EF). Measures of cardiovascular function typically only used in research settings can provide additional information and maybe more sensitive indices to assess changes after exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation. Read More

Sensors (Basel) 2022 Apr 28;22(9). Epub 2022 Apr 28.

School of Biomedical Engineering (Suzhou), Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou 215163, China.

Motor function evaluation is a significant part of post-stroke rehabilitation protocols, and the evaluation of wrist motor function helps provide patients with individualized rehabilitation training programs. However, traditional assessment is coarsely graded, lacks quantitative analysis, and relies heavily on clinical experience. In order to objectively quantify wrist motor dysfunction in stroke patients, a novel quantitative evaluation system based on force feedback and machine learning algorithm was proposed. Read More

Sensors (Basel) 2022 Apr 26;22(9). Epub 2022 Apr 26.

Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73117, USA.

Stroke often leads to the significant impairment of upper limb function and is associated with a decreased quality of life. Despite study results from several interventions for muscle activation and motor coordination, wide-scale adoption remains largely elusive due to under-doses and low user compliance and participation. Recent studies have shown that focal vibration has a greater potential to increase and coordinate muscle recruitment and build muscle strength and endurance. Read More

Med (N Y) 2022 Jan 7;3(1):58-74.e10. Epub 2022 Jan 7.

Villa Beretta Rehabilitation Center, Valduce Hospital Como, Costa Masnaga 23845, Italy.

Background: A conventional treatment outcome is suboptimal for sensory impairments in stroke patients. Novel approaches based on electrical stimulation or robotics are proposed as an adjuvant for rehabilitation, though their efficacy for motor, sensory, and body representation recovery have not been tested.

Methods: Sixty chronic stroke patients with unilateral motor deficits were included in a pseudo-randomized open-label multi-arm control trial (ClinicalTrials. Read More

J Nutr Health Aging 2022 ;26(5):445-451

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

Objectives: We aimed to investigate whether combination assessment of phase angle (PhA) and skeletal muscle index (SMI), was a possible predictor of physical function at discharge from the hospital in patients with acute stroke.

Research Methods And Procedures: In this retrospective cohort study that was conducted from May 2020 and July 2021, we determined PhA and SMI using bioimpedance analysis (BIA) in patients with acute stroke. Patients were classified as normal, low PhA + SMI group, pre-sarcopenia (low SMI only), and dynapenia (low PhA only) using cut-off points (men: SMI < 7. Read More

Biomed Res Int 2022 9;2022:6560816. Epub 2022 May 9.

Second Clinical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China.

Objective: A retrospective case-control study was performed to observe the effect and clinical significance of early electroacupuncture combined with enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) on pain perception and dysfunction after total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

Methods: About 100 patients who diagnosed with TKA from February 2019 to April 2021 were enrolled in our hospital. The patients were arbitrarily assigned into control group and study group. Read More

Dis Markers 2022 9;2022:6318721. Epub 2022 May 9.

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University, Jiamusi, China.

Objective: To analyze the role of muscle energy technique (MET) plus Neurac method in stroke patients with hemiplegia complicated by diabetes mellitus and the impact on quality of life.

Methods: From January 2021 to December 2021, 100 stroke patients with hemiplegia complicated by diabetes mellitus treated in our institution and assessed for eligibility were recruited and randomly assigned (1 : 3) via the random sampling method to either the conventional rehabilitation group or the experimental group. The patients in the experimental group were randomized (1 : 1 : 1) into either the MET group (receives MET), the Neurac group (receives Neurac), or the joint group (receives MET plus Neurac). Read More

Cardiovasc Diabetol 2022 May 18;21(1):67. Epub 2022 May 18.

The Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan.

Background: There have been scarce data comparing cardiovascular outcomes between individual sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors. We aimed to compare the subsequent cardiovascular risk between individual SGLT2 inhibitors.

Methods: We analyzed 25,315 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) newly taking SGLT2 inhibitors (empagliflozin: 5302, dapagliflozin: 4681, canagliflozin: 4411, other SGLT2 inhibitors: 10,921). Read More

Health Educ Res 2022 May;37(3):199-212

Clinical Nursing Department, School of Nursing, University of Jordan, Queen Rania Street, Amman 11942, Jordan.

Managing hypertension is not only concerned with lowering blood pressure (BP) by using antihypertensive medications but also aims at minimizing its consequences through adopting self-care. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of mobile application on self-care, BP control, self-efficacy and hypertension-related knowledge among adult patients with hypertension. A randomized design, two groups, pretest-posttest, between subjects with a 1:1 allocation ratio was used. Read More

BMC Neurol 2022 May 17;22(1):183. Epub 2022 May 17.

Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, SE-141 83 Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden.

Background: It is critical for stroke survivors in working age to develop skills and confidence for long-term self-management of physical activity and exercise training to maintain a healthy lifestyle and decrease the risk of recurrent stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. Still, knowledge is scarce about concerns and experiences of physical activity and sedentary behaviour after stroke in working age, and further qualitative studies are required. The aim of this study was to explore and describe perceptions of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in stroke survivors under 65 years who are living with disability. Read More

Sci Rep 2022 May 17;12(1):8202. Epub 2022 May 17.

Department of Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Japan.

Cognitive frailty (CF) is a clinical condition defined by the presence of both mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and physical frailty (PF). Elderly with CF are at greater risk of dementia than those with MCI or PF alone, but there are few known clinical or neuroimaging features to reliably distinguish CF from PF or MCI. We therefore conducted a population-based cross-sectional study of community elderly combining physical, cognitive, neuropsychiatric, and multisequence magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluations. Read More

J Hum Hypertens 2022 May 17. Epub 2022 May 17.

Department of Nutritional Sciences, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Sci Rep 2022 May 17;12(1):8201. Epub 2022 May 17.

Department of Cardiovascular Regeneration and Medicine, Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, 734-8551, Japan.

It is well known that white blood cell (WBC) count is an independent predictor of cardiovascular events. However, associations of WBC count and WBC subtypes with endothelial function assessed by flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) and vascular smooth muscle function assessed by nitroglycerine-induced vasodilation (NID) are unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the relationships of WBC count and WBC subtypes with vascular function assessed by FMD and NID. Read More

Circ Cardiovasc Imaging 2022 May 17;15(5):e013558. Epub 2022 May 17.

Highly Specialized Rehabilitation Hospital Motta di Livenza, Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation Unit, Treviso, Italy (F.A.-C.).

Background: Lung ultrasound detects pulmonary congestion as B-lines at rest, and more frequently, during exercise stress echocardiography (ESE).

Methods: We performed ESE plus lung ultrasound (4-site simplified scan) in 4392 subjects referred for semi-supine bike ESE in 24 certified centers in 9 countries. B-line score ranged from 0 (normal) to 40 (severely abnormal). Read More

J Med Microbiol 2022 May;71(5)

Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, The First Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, PR China.

Atherosclerosis is a chronic disorder in which plaque builds up in the arteries and is associated with several cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases such as coronary artery disease, cerebral infarction and cerebral haemorrhage. Therefore, there is an urgent need to discover new medications to treat or prevent atherosclerosis. The active components of Guanxin Xiaoban capsules may have an effect on the gut microbiome of patients with atherosclerosis and have a role in their therapeutic targets. Read More