Validation of an item bank in a sample of community-dwelling survivors of a stroke.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to validate an item bank of questions associated with activities of daily living (ADL), using graded item response theory (G-IRT), in a sample of community-dwelling survivors of a stroke.

Methods: The study sample consisted of 364 community-dwelling individuals who reported a recent history of stroke. Sixteen line items from the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) survey were analyzed using factor analysis, internal analyses of consistency, and G-IRT.

Properties of medial gastrocnemius motor units and muscle fibers reinnervated by embryonic ventral spinal cord cells.

Severe muscle atrophy occurs after complete denervation. Here, Embryonic Day 14-15 ventral spinal cord cells were transplanted into the distal tibial nerve stump of adult female Fischer rats to provide a source of neurons for muscle reinnervation. Our aim was to characterize the properties of the reinnervated motor units and muscle fibers.