Rapid motor fluctuations reveal short-timescale neurophysiological biomarkers of Parkinson's disease.

Objective: Identifying neural activity biomarkers of brain disease is essential to provide objective estimates of disease burden, obtain reliable feedback regarding therapeutic efficacy, and potentially to serve as a source of control for closed-loop neuromodulation. In Parkinson's disease (PD), microelectrode recordings (MER) are routinely performed in the basal ganglia to guide electrode implantation for deep brain stimulation (DBS). While pathologically-excessive oscillatory activity has been observed and linked to PD motor dysfunction broadly, the extent to which these signals provide quantitative information about disease expression and fluctuations, particularly at short timescales, is unknown.

A low-cost solution for quantification of movement during DBS surgery.

Background: During the deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrode implantation operation with microelectrode recordings (MER) in awake patients, somatotopic testing and test stimulation are performed to improve electrode placement and provide the most beneficial symptom reduction possible, while minimizing side effects. As this procedure is commonly used to alleviate abnormal movements associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) and Essential Tremor (ET), intraoperative assessment of a patient's movements is critical to optimizing surgical benefit. However, despite its importance, movement assessment is typically subjective and qualitative.

Genes of the transforming growth factor-beta signalling pathway are associated with pre-implantation embryonic development in cattle.

One of the main factors affecting cattle fertility is pre-implantation development of the bovine embryo, which is a complex process regulated by various signal-transduction pathways. The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signalling system, which is responsible for many biological processes including cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis, also is involved in embryo development. We hypothesized that altered expression of TGF-β genes in pre-implantation bovine embryos is associated with morphological abnormalities of these embryos.

Physiotherapy practice and delegation policies in oxygen administration: a survey of ontario hospitals.

Purpose: As of 2008, the Regulated Health Professions Act in Ontario stipulates that administration of oxygen is a controlled act, which physiotherapists are not authorized to perform but which may be delegated to physiotherapists by another health professional authorized to perform this act. The aims of this study were (1) to survey physiotherapy practice of oxygen administration in Ontario hospitals and (2) to determine the proportion and characteristics of hospitals with delegation policies for physiotherapists to administer oxygen.

Method: Postal surveys were sent to 208 hospitals.