Measures for Persons with Spinal Cord Injury to Monitor Their Transitions in Care, Health, Function, and Quality of Life Experiences and Needs: A Protocol for Co-Developing a Self-Evaluation Tool.

Evaluating the experiences of persons with spinal cord injury (PwSCI) regarding their transitions in care and changes in health, function, and quality of life is complex, fragmented, and involves multiple tools and measures. A staged protocol was implemented with PwSCI and relevant expert stakeholders initially exploring and selecting existing measures or tools through a modified Delphi process, followed by choosing one of two options. The options were to either support the use of the 10 selected tools from the Delphi method or to co-develop one unique condensed tool with relevant measures to evaluate all four domains.

Urinary tract infections and urinary bladder health experiences of persons with spinal cord injury in a Canadian province: A mixed methods study showcasing infection prevention as health inequity case.

Context/objective: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most frequent secondary complications among people with spinal cord injury (SCI). The prevention and management of UTIs is prioritized by stakeholders across Canada. The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the urinary bladder (bladder) management experiences of people with SCI in Alberta communities, especially how UTIs are experienced and managed.

Outcomes of Implementing a Webinar-Based Strategy to Improve Spinal Cord Injury Knowledge and Community Building: Convergent Mixed Methods Study.

Background: COVID-19 disrupted services received by persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) worldwide. The International Disability Alliance declared the need for a disability-inclusive response to the COVID-19 crisis, as decreased access to health care services for individuals living with varying levels of function was unacceptable. As a result, an SCI community in Canada created a novel webinar-based strategy aimed at improving access to self-management information for people living with SCI and other stakeholders.

Mobilizing registry data for quality improvement: A convergent mixed-methods analysis and application to spinal cord injury.

Introduction: The rising prevalence of complex chronic conditions and growing intricacies of healthcare systems emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary partnerships to advance coordination and quality of rehabilitation care. Registry databases are increasingly used for clinical monitoring and quality improvement (QI) of health system change. Currently, it is unclear how interdisciplinary partnerships can best mobilize registry data to support QI across care settings for complex chronic conditions.

Novel Application of the World Health Organization Community-Based Rehabilitation Matrix to Understand Services' Contributions to Community Participation for Persons With Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Purpose: The aim of the study is to use the World Health Organization community-based rehabilitation matrix for understanding services' contributions to foster community participation for people with traumatic spinal cord injury.

Methods: This study used a convergent mixed-methods design with a quantitative arm describing the frequency with which services contributed to 22 of the community-based rehabilitation-matrix elements and a qualitative arm involving document reviews and stakeholder interviews. Results were integrated following Onwuegbuzie and Teddlie's method (i.

Common carotid artery responses to the cold-pressor test are impaired in individuals with cervical spinal cord injury.

Cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to autonomic cardiovascular dysfunction that underlies the three- to fourfold elevated risk of cardiovascular disease in this population. Reduced common carotid artery (CCA) dilatory responsiveness during the cold-pressor test (CPT) is associated with greater cardiovascular disease risk and progression. The cardiovascular and CCA responses to the CPT may provide insight into cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction and cardiovascular disease risk in individuals with cervical SCI.

A national survey of physical activity after spinal cord injury.

Physical activity is a powerful modifiable risk factor for disease and mortality. Physical activity levels in people with spinal cord injury (SCI) have not been quantified relative to uninjured individuals in a large population-based sample. We aimed to quantify and compare physical activity in people with and without SCI, and to examine the associations between physical activity, lifestyle, and socioeconomic factors.

Exoskeleton use in acute rehabilitation post spinal cord injury: A qualitative study exploring patients' experiences.

Context/objective: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is intensely life altering, affecting multiple body systems and functions, including the ability to walk. Exoskeleton assisted walking (EAW) is a rehabilitation tool that aims to support locomotor training, yet little is known about the patient experience. The purpose of this qualitative study, part of a prospective observational case series, was to increase our understanding of SCI patient experience using a robotic exoskeleton in this acute post-injury period.

Neuroprosthetic baroreflex controls haemodynamics after spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) induces haemodynamic instability that threatens survival, impairs neurological recovery, increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, and reduces quality of life. Haemodynamic instability in this context is due to the interruption of supraspinal efferent commands to sympathetic circuits located in the spinal cord, which prevents the natural baroreflex from controlling these circuits to adjust peripheral vascular resistance. Epidural electrical stimulation (EES) of the spinal cord has been shown to compensate for interrupted supraspinal commands to motor circuits below the injury, and restored walking after paralysis.

The Safety and Feasibility of Exoskeletal-Assisted Walking in Acute Rehabilitation After Spinal Cord Injury.

Objective: To assess safety and feasibility for persons with acute spinal cord injury (SCI) using the robotic exoskeleton.

Design: Case series observational study.

Setting: A level-1 trauma center in Canada with both acute and tertiary inpatient SCI rehabilitation units.

PRES secondary to autonomic dysreflexia: A case series and review of the literature.

Autonomic dysreflexia (AD) is a complex syndrome seen in patients with spinal cord injuries (SCI) and can be life-threatening with a significant negative impact on the health of the individual. Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is thought to be caused, in part, by rapid elevations in blood pressure; leading to posterior cerebral circulatory edema. This can result in seizures, blindness and can progress to fatal intracranial hemorrhages.

National Survey of Bladder and Gastrointestinal Dysfunction in People with Spinal Cord Injury.

Small-scale studies indicate that spinal cord injury (SCI) may lead to significant gastrointestinal and bladder dysfunction. However, how the prevalence of chronic disease related to these dysfunctions compares with non-SCI individuals and whether there are robust relationships to level and severity of injury are still unclear. Here, our goal was to provide high-level evidence on the association between bladder and gastrointestinal dysfunction and SCI using population-level data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) and the SCI Community Survey.

Does Specialized Inpatient Rehabilitation Affect Whether or Not People with Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Return Home?

Return to living at home is an important patient-reported outcome following traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI). Specialized inpatient rehabilitation assists such patients in maximizing function and independence. Our project aim was to describe those patients receiving specialized rehabilitation after tSCI in Canada, and to determine if such rehabilitation improved the likelihood of returning home.

Long-range surface plasmon triple-output Mach-Zehnder interferometers.

A triple-output Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) operating with long-range surface plasmon-polariton waves, consisting of a MZI in cascade with a triple coupler, is demonstrated at a wavelength of ~1370 nm, using the thermo-optic effect to produce phase shifting. A theoretical model for three-waveguide coupling is also proposed and was applied to compute the transfer characteristic of various designs. Dimensions for the device were selected to optimize performance, experiments were performed, and the results were compared to theory.

Manual wheelchair propulsion by people with hemiplegia: within-participant comparisons of forward versus backward techniques.

Objective: To test the hypotheses that people with hemiplegia using arms and legs to propel their wheelchairs perform better backward than forward and prefer the backward direction.

Design: Within-participant cross-sectional design.

Participants: Manual wheelchair users (N=18) with hemiplegia caused by stroke, a sample of convenience.

Brachial neuropraxia in Canadian Atlantic University sport football players: what is the incidence of "stingers"?

Objectives: The objectives of this study were (1) to determine the incidence of brachial neuropraxia (stingers) among varsity football players during the 2010 season; (2) to determine if associations exist between sustaining a stinger and previous history of stingers, years played, equipment, age, body mass index (BMI), and conditioning; and (3) to provide descriptive statistics regarding stingers and position played, symptoms, activity during injury, mechanism of tackling, and reporting of stingers.

Design: Retrospective.

Setting: Canadian Atlantic University Sport football league.

Broadside coupling to long-range surface plasmons in metal stripes using prisms, particles, and an atomic force microscope probe.

Techniques for broadside coupling to long-range surface plasmon waves propagating along metal stripes are investigated. The baseline technique consists of evanescently coupling an optical input beam originating from a polarization maintaining fiber to the plasmon wave via a right-angle prism positioned above the metal stripe, and providing an optical output some distance away through a mirror arrangement of identical elements. The technique is modeled theoretically using plane waves and implemented to measure the attenuation of the long-range plasmon wave propagating along a metal stripe supported by a thin freestanding dielectric membrane.

Experimental observation of plasmon polariton waves supported by a thin metal film of finite width.

What are believed to be the first experimental observations of the existence of long-range plasmon-polariton waves, guided by a thin metal film of finite width, are presented. A waveguide composed of an 8-mum-wide, 20-nm-thick, 3.5-mm-long Au metal film embedded in SiO (2) was successfully excited at a free-space wavelength of 1.

Long-range surface plasmons on ultrathin membranes.

A waveguide structure supporting long-range surface plasmon waves in any gaseous or liquid environment is described. The waveguide comprises a large area dielectric membrane of nanometric thickness upon which thin metal stripes and features are deposited. This structure allows the environment to surround the stripe thus ensuring that an essentially symmetric dielectric background is always present, as required to support the wave.

Confinement and deposition of solution droplets on solvophilic surfaces using a flat high surface energy guide.

A method of depositing small amounts of solution on flat micron scale surface areas on a hydrophilic substrate or die was developed. This method utilizes the capillarity of a flat, high surface free energy guide. Interfacial forces confine the solution between the guide and the substrate surface.

The structure and location of SIMP/STT3B account for its prominent imprint on the MHC I immunopeptidome.

Proteins show drastic discrepancies in their contribution to the collection of self-peptides that shape the repertoire of CD8 T cells (MHC I self-immunopeptidome). To decipher why selected proteins are the foremost sources of MHC I-associated self-peptides, we chose to study SIMP/STT3B because this protein generates very high amounts of MHC I-associated peptides in mice and humans. We show that the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated degradation pathway and MHC I processing intersect at SIMP/STT3B.