Supportive and palliative care indicators tool (SPICT™) in a Danish healthcare context: translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and content validation.

Background: Early identification of patients who require palliative and supportive care at the general palliative care level is challenging. The Supportive & Palliative Care Indicators Tool (SPICT™) might provide a helpful framework for this process.

Aim: To translate, culturally adapt and content validate SPICT™-DK in hospital, primary care, and general practice and within the broader Danish health care context.

Loss of inhibition in ipsilateral somatosensory areas following altered afferent nerve signaling from the hand.

Cutaneous stimulation of the hand results in increased neural activity in the contralateral primary somatosensory cortex (S1) in humans, whereas an inhibition of neurons is seen in the ipsilateral S1. The aim of this study was to assess changes in neural activity in the S1 bilaterally, with a focus on the ipsilateral hemisphere, following altered afferent nerve signaling from the hand. Three cohorts, all with altered afferent nerve signaling from the hand, participated in the study.

Cerebral Reorganization in Patients with Brachial Plexus Birth Injury and Residual Shoulder Problems.

The functional outcome after a brachial plexus birth injury (BPBI) is based on changes in the peripheral nerve and in the central nervous system. Most patients with a BPBI recover, but residual deficits in shoulder function are not uncommon. The aim of this study was to determine cerebral activation patterns in patients with BPBI and also residual symptoms from the shoulder.

Normalized activation in the somatosensory cortex 30 years following nerve repair in children: an fMRI study.

The clinical outcome following a peripheral nerve injury in the upper extremity is generally better in young children than in teenagers and in adults, but the mechanism behind this difference is unknown. In 28 patients with a complete median nerve injury sustained at the ages of 1-13 years (n = 13) and 14-20 years (n = 15), the cortical activation during tactile finger stimulation of the injured and healthy hands was monitored at a median time since injury of 28 years using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 3 Tesla. The results from the fMRI were compared with the clinical outcome and electroneurography.