Efficacy of synchronous verbal training during repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in patients with chronic aphasia.

Background And Purpose: Although multiple studies have suggested that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may facilitate recovery after stroke, the efficacy of synchronous speech therapy integrated with an rTMS protocol has yet to be determined. We investigated language responses to this strategy and determined the longevity of the resulting therapeutic outcomes.

Methods: Forty-five patients with stroke who presented with nonfluent aphasia were randomly assigned to the TMSsyn group and underwent synchronous picture-naming training together with contralesional 1 Hz-rTMS for 10 daily sessions.

Corticospinal integrity and motor impairment predict outcomes after excitatory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation: a preliminary study.

Objective: To identify the effective predictors for therapeutic outcomes based on intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS).

Design: A sham-controlled, double-blind parallel study design.

Setting: A tertiary hospital.

Inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the contralesional premotor and primary motor cortices facilitate poststroke motor recovery.

Purpose: The premotor cortex plays a major role in motor planning and control, exhibiting hierarchical importance comparable to that of the primary motor cortex (M1). In this study, we compared the effects of cPMd modulation, which was achieved using inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), with those of contralesional M1 (cM1) modulation, to elucidate the roles of both regions on longitudinal motor recovery following a stroke.

Methods: Forty-four patients who had sustained hemiplegia for 3 to 12 months were randomly allocated to a cPMd group, cM1 group, or sham group and received 10 sessions of 1-Hz rTMS.

Long-term sacral magnetic stimulation for refractory stress urinary incontinence.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of sacral magnetic stimulation (SMS) on functional and urodynamic improvement in patients with refractory stress urinary incontinence (SUI).

Design: A sham-controlled, double-blind, parallel study design with a 4.5-month follow-up.

The persistent and broadly modulating effect of inhibitory rTMS in nonfluent aphasic patients: a sham-controlled, double-blind study.

Background: While prior preliminary studies have broadened our understanding of how repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) improves language outcomes in stroke patients with nonfluent aphasia, the evidence base of the effectiveness of this method remains inadequate.

Objective: In this study, we aimed to strengthen the evidence that this approach improves language performance and to identify characteristics of patients predisposed to benefit most from this treatment.

Methods: Fifty-six stroke patients with nonfluent aphasia were randomly allocated to a real or a sham stimulation group: Group A (n = 33), who underwent 10 sessions of 1-Hz rTMS over the contralesional pars triangularis (PTr), and Group B (n = 23), who received sham 1-Hz stimulation.

Differential effect of conditioning sequences in coupling inhibitory/facilitatory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for poststroke motor recovery.

Introduction: While neuromodulation through unihemispheric repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has shown promise for the motor recovery of stroke patients, the effectiveness of the coupling of different rTMS protocols remains unclear.

Aims: We aimed to test the long-term efficacy of this strategy with different applying sequences and to identify the electrophysiological correlates of motor improvements to the paretic hand.

Results: In our sham-controlled, double-blinded parallel study, 48 stroke patients (2-6 months poststroke) were randomly allocated to three groups.

Efficacy of coupling inhibitory and facilitatory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to enhance motor recovery in hemiplegic stroke patients.

Background And Purpose: Although there has been extensive research on the effectiveness of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to improve patients' motor performance after experiencing chronic stroke, explicit findings on the coupling of different rTMS protocols are meager. We designed this sham-controlled randomized study to investigate the potential for a consecutive suppressive-facilitatory TMS protocol to improve motor outcomes after chronic stroke.

Methods: Fifty-four chronic hemiplegic stroke patients were allocated across 4 groups to undergo 20 daily sessions of (1) 1 Hz rTMS over the contralesional primary motor cortex (M1) and then intermittent theta burst stimulation over the ipsilesional M1 (group A); (2) contralesional sham stimulation and then ipsilesional real intermittent theta burst stimulation (group B); (3) contralesional real 1 Hz rTMS and then ipsilesional sham stimulation (group C); or (4) bilateral sham-control procedures (group D).

Efficacy of spinal magnetic stimulation in elderly persons with chronic constipation.

Background: The development of primary constipation in elderly adults usually has a multifactorial etiology. Slow transit constipation and pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) are the two most commonly seen constipation subtypes in the elderly. PFD is usually a persistent condition that remains unresponsive to treatment in spite of various therapies currently available to relieve constipation.

Functional magnetic stimulation in constipation associated with Parkinson's disease.

Objective: The aims of this study were: (i) to investigate the effect of functional magnetic stimulation on total colonic transit time in patients with Parkinson's disease; (ii) to compare the changes in dynamic recto-anal behaviour during filling and defaecation in response to this regimen; and (iii) to study the carry-over effects with a 3-month follow-up.

Design: A longitudinal, prospective before-after trial.

Subjects: Sixteen patients with Parkinson's disease enrolled in this study.

Efficacy of functional magnetic stimulation in neurogenic bowel dysfunction after spinal cord injury.

Objective: The aims of this study were to assess the usefulness of functional magnetic stimulation in controlling neurogenic bowel dysfunction in spinal cord injured patients with supraconal and conal/caudal lesions, and to investigate the efficacy of this regimen with a 3-month follow-up.

Design: A longitudinal, prospective before-after trial.

Subjects: A total of 22 patients with chronic spinal cord injured and intractable neurogenic bowel dysfunction.

Transactivation of the proximal promoter of human oxytocin gene by TR4 orphan receptor.

The human testicular receptor 4 (TR4) shares structural homology with members of the nuclear receptor superfamily. Some other members of this superfamily were able to regulate the transcriptional activity of the human oxytocin (OXT) promoter by binding to the first DR0 regulatory site. However, little investigation was conducted systematically in the study of the second dDR4 site of OXT proximal promoter, and the relationship between the first and the second sites of OXT promoter.

Concordance and discrepancy between electrodiagnosis and magnetic resonance imaging in cervical root avulsion injuries.

To clarify the relationships between electromyography (EMG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we compared findings in 37 selected patients who presented with cervical root avulsion injuries. Nerve root repair with C4-T1 hemilaminectomy was subsequently performed on 19 patients. The agreement between the two evaluative modalities with complete or incomplete lesions of ventral root and pre- or postganglionic lesions of dorsal root was measured for each root level.