Publications by authors named "Charalambos Charalambous"

Article Synopsis
  • After a stroke affecting the corticospinal tract (CST), individuals often experience motor deficits in their upper extremities, such as decreased muscle strength and control.
  • This study compared 15 stroke patients to 28 healthy individuals, focusing on how the ipsilesional CST and contralesional corticoreticulospinal tract (CReST) relate to motor behaviors in the paretic (weakened) arm.
  • Findings indicated that stronger ipsilesional CST projections improved motor control, while stronger contralesional CReST projections improved muscle strength, suggesting their complementary roles in recovery, regardless of whether deficits were in the arm or hand.
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Introduction: Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis manifests various motor symptoms including impairments in corticospinal tract integrity, whose symptoms can be assessed using transcranial magnetic stimulation. Several factors, such as exercise and interlimb coordination, can influence the plastic changes in corticospinal tract. Previous work in healthy and chronic stroke survivors showed that the greatest improvement in corticospinal plasticity occurred during in-phase bilateral exercises of the upper limbs.

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Aims: Steroid injections are used for subacromial pain syndrome and can be administered via the anterolateral or posterior approach to the subacromial space. It is not currently known which approach is superior in terms of improving clinical symptoms and function. This is the protocol for a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to compare the clinical effectiveness of a steroid injection given via the anterolateral or the posterior approach to the subacromial space.

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Plantarflexors provide propulsion during walking and receive input from both corticospinal and corticoreticulospinal tracts, which exhibit some frequency-specificity that allows potential differentiation of each tract's descending drive. Given that stroke may differentially affect each tract and impair the function of plantarflexors during walking; here, we examined this frequency-specificity and its relation to walking-specific measures during post-stroke walking. Fourteen individuals with chronic stroke walked on an instrumented treadmill at self-selected and fast walking speed (SSWS and FWS, respectively) while surface electromyography (sEMG) from soleus (SOL), lateral gastrocnemius (LG), and medial gastrocnemius (MG) and ground reaction forces (GRF) were collected.

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The main focus of this paper is the derivation of the structural properties of the test channels of Wyner's operational information rate distortion function (RDF), R¯(ΔX), for arbitrary abstract sources and, subsequently, the derivation of additional properties for a tuple of multivariate correlated, jointly independent, and identically distributed Gaussian random variables, {Xt,Yt}t=1∞, Xt:Ω→Rnx, Yt:Ω→Rny, with average mean-square error at the decoder and the side information, {Yt}t=1∞, available only at the decoder. For the tuple of multivariate correlated Gaussian sources, we construct optimal test channel realizations which achieve the informational RDF, R¯(ΔX)=▵infM(ΔX)I(X;Z|Y), where M(ΔX) is the set of auxiliary RVs such that PZ|X,Y=PZ|X, X^=f(Y,Z), and E{||X-X^||2}≤ΔX. We show the following fundamental structural properties: (1) Optimal test channel realizations that achieve the RDF and satisfy conditional independence, PX|X^,Y,Z=PX|X^,Y=PX|X^,EX|X^,Y,Z=EX|X^=X^.

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This study aimed to examine whether we could use the discrepancy consistency method on CAS-2: Brief data collected in Cyprus. A total of 438 Grade 6 children (201 boys, 237 girls, = 135.75 months, = 4.

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Unlabelled: After corticospinal tract (CST) stroke, several motor deficits in the upper extremity (UE) emerge, including diminished muscle strength, motor control, and muscle individuation. Both the ipsilesional CST and contralesional corticoreticulospinal tract (CReST) innervate the paretic UE and may have different innervation patterns for the proximal and distal UE segments. These patterns may underpin distinct pathway relationships to separable motor behaviors.

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Aims: The primary aim of this study was to report the radiological outcomes of patients with a dorsally displaced distal radius fracture who were randomized to a moulded cast or surgical fixation with wires following manipulation and closed reduction of their fracture. The secondary aim was to correlate radiological outcomes with patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in the year following injury.

Methods: Participants were recruited as part of DRAFFT2, a UK multicentre clinical trial.

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Background: To determine whether there is any difference in graft rerupture rates and clinical outcomes between cases having vancomycin graft presoaking vs. no vancomycin presoaking in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction (ACLR).

Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

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Unlabelled: The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the relation between carpal malalignment correction and radiological union rates in surgery for scaphoid nonunions. A total of 59 scaphoid waist fracture nonunions treated with open reduction and palmar tricortical autograft were divided according to their pre- and postoperative scapholunate (SL) and radiolunate (RL) angles. We found that carpal malalignment failed to correct in 32 of 59 (54.

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Article Synopsis
  • Ankle dorsiflexion is crucial for proper foot clearance during walking, especially in stroke survivors, but traditional measures like foot clearance have limitations in assessing dorsiflexor function.
  • The study aimed to determine if measuring ankle angular velocity (Aω) and acceleration (Aα) can provide reliable insights into dorsiflexion function during gait.
  • Results showed a strong relationship between Aω, Aα, and dorsiflexion function, with excellent reliability for both measures, suggesting they are more accurate indicators of walking ability than traditional measures like peak dorsiflexion angle (DFA) and foot clearance (FCL).
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Article Synopsis
  • * A total of 242 students were evaluated on various processing skills and academic performance in reading and math, while controlling for factors like socioeconomic status.
  • * The results indicated that Attention and Successive processing skills are important for reading, while Planning and Simultaneous processing skills are crucial for math, highlighting the links between cognitive processes and academic achievement.
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Aims: Aseptic loosening is the most common cause of failure following cemented total knee arthroplasty (TKA), and has been linked to poor cementation technique. We aimed to develop a consensus on the optimal technique for component cementation in TKA.

Methods: A UK-based, three-round, online modified Delphi Expert Consensus Study was completed focusing on cementation technique in TKA.

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Article Synopsis
  • * The study analyzed 152 SM samples and found that patients with fractures had a higher rate of progesterone receptor (PR) positivity compared to those without fractures.
  • * No significant differences were found in estrogen receptor (ER), HER2+, or Ki-67 status between the two groups, indicating that PR status may help identify high-risk fracture patients and guide treatment choices.
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Article Synopsis
  • The study aims to evaluate the occurrence of radiolucent lines (RLLs) and their connection to loosening in the ATTUNE TKA after total knee arthroplasty (TKA).
  • A systematic search of 263 studies identified 12 relevant ones, involving 3,861 TKAs, revealing a 21.4% overall rate of RLLs, with higher rates in specific designs, such as 27.4% for cruciate-retaining and 29.9% for fixed-bearing types.
  • Although the ATTUNE TKA showed higher rates of RLLs compared to other implants, the actual rates of loosening and revision are low (1.2% and 0.9
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Objective: To determine if the distribution of transcallosal inhibition (TI) acting on proximal and distal upper extremity muscles is altered in chronic stroke.

Methods: We examined thirteen healthy controls and sixteen mildly to moderately impaired chronic stroke patients. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to probe TI from the contralesional onto ipsilesional hemisphere (assigned in controls).

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Ankle dorsiflexion function during swing phase of the gait cycle contributes to foot clearance and plays an important role in walking ability post-stroke. Commonly used biomechanical measures such as foot clearance and ankle joint excursion have limited ability to accurately evaluate dorsiflexor function in stroke gait. We retrospectively evaluated ankle angular velocity and ankle angular acceleration as direct measures for swing phase dorsiflexor function in post-stroke gait of 61 chronic stroke survivors.

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Frozen shoulder is a common, painful condition that results in impairment of function. Corticosteroid injections are commonly used for frozen shoulder and can be given as glenohumeral joint (GHJ) injection or suprascapular nerve block (SSNB). Both injection types have been shown to significantly improve shoulder pain and range of motion.

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Introduction: Radial head arthroplasty (RHA) is used for the management of unstable or unreconstructable injuries of the radial head. Our aim was to investigate clinical and radiographic outcomes in patients treated with the Acumed anatomic radial head press-fit system for trauma.

Methods: Clinical and radiographic assessment of RHAs undertaken for trauma with minimum 2-year follow-up.

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Background And Objectives: Functional outcomes after stroke are strongly related to focal injury measures. However, the role of global brain health is less clear. In this study, we examined the impact of brain age, a measure of neurobiological aging derived from whole-brain structural neuroimaging, on poststroke outcomes, with a focus on sensorimotor performance.

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Article Synopsis
  • Relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis is a common neurodegenerative disease featuring episodes of motor symptoms linked to the integrity of the corticospinal tract, which can be evaluated using transcranial magnetic stimulation.
  • The study aims to explore the impact of in-phase bilateral exercises on corticospinal plasticity and clinical measures in five people with this type of MS over 12 weeks, focusing on enhancing coordination and functional movement.
  • Assessment will involve analyzing changes in corticospinal excitability and clinical outcomes related to balance, gait, and dexterity, with potential statistical analysis depending on the observed effects of the exercise intervention.
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Background And Aims: Understanding the impact of orthopaedic scientific research is vital in identifying facilitators and barriers to its implementation in clinical practice. A meta-analysis was carried out which showed that presoaking hamstring (HT) autografts in vancomycin was associated with a 10-fold reduction in infection rate in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Our aim was to determine the practice of orthopaedic surgeons with regards to vancomycin presoaking and explore whether they would adopt the findings of this meta-analysis.

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Objective: To assess the effect of PRP on knee articular cartilage content (thickness/volume) and examine the correlation between cartilage changes and clinical outcomes in patients with knee OA.

Method: A systematic literature search was performed using the Cochrane methodology in four online databases. Studies were included if they reported on cartilage content with cross-sectional imaging pre- and post-injection.

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Alpha and beta oscillations have been assessed thoroughly during walking due to their potential role as proxies of the corticoreticulospinal tract (CReST) and corticospinal tract (CST), respectively. Given that damage to a descending tract after stroke can cause walking deficits, detailed knowledge of how these oscillations mechanistically contribute to walking could be utilized in strategies for post-stroke locomotor recovery. In this review, the goal was to summarize, synthesize, and discuss the existing evidence on the potential differential role of these oscillations on the motor descending drive, the effect of transcranial alternate current stimulation (tACS) on neurotypical and post-stroke walking, and to discuss remaining gaps in knowledge, future directions, and methodological considerations.

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