Dynamics of biomarkers across the stages of traumatic spinal cord injury - implications for neural plasticity and repair.

Background: Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a complex medical condition causing significant physical disability and psychological distress. While the adult spinal cord is characterized by poor regenerative potential, some recovery of neurological function is still possible through activation of neural plasticity mechanisms. We still have limited knowledge about the activation of these mechanisms in the different stages after human SCI.

Reliability and validity of the international standards for neurological classification of spinal cord injury in patients with non-traumatic spinal cord lesions.

Study Design: Prospective, observational study.

Objectives: The International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) represent the gold standard for the assessment of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and their measurement properties have been evaluated in patients with traumatic lesions. Albeit the ISNCSCI are widely used also for the assessment and prognosis of patients with non-traumatic SCI, a validation of this grading system in this sample has never been performed.

Changes in gut microbiota in the acute phase after spinal cord injury correlate with severity of the lesion.

After spinal cord injury (SCI), patients face many physical and psychological issues including intestinal dysfunction and comorbidities, strongly affecting quality of life. The gut microbiota has recently been suggested to influence the course of the disease in these patients. However, to date only two studies have profiled the gut microbiota in SCI patients, months after a traumatic injury.

Validation of the ICF Core Set for Vocational Rehabilitation from the perspective of patients with spinal cord injury using focus groups.

Introduction: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Set for Vocational Rehabilitation is an application of the ICF of the World Health Organization with the purpose of identifying problems and resources relevant for people in a vocational rehabilitation given a health condition.

Objective: The objective of the study was to validate the Comprehensive ICF Core Set for Vocational Rehabilitation from the perspective of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). The specific aims were to explore the aspects of functioning and health important to patients with SCI regarding return to work and to examine to what extent these aspects are represented by the current version of the Comprehensive ICF Core Set for Vocational Rehabilitation.

Functioning and disability in traumatic brain injury: the Italian patient perspective in developing ICF Core Sets.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to explore the aspects of functioning and health relevant to patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to the caregivers of TBI patients explicitly involved in the preliminary study for the Development of the ICF Core Set for TBI using a qualitative research method.

Method: The sampling of patients followed the maximum variation strategy. To respect this strategy, we involved patients with different degrees of impairment and so, for some people it was not possible to join the group because of their severe cognitive impairment, in this case we interviewed their caregivers.