Efficacy of a new video observational training method (intensive visual simulation) for motor recovery in the upper limb in subacute stroke: a feasibility and proof-of-concept study.

Objective: To demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy  of a new video-observation training method (intensive visual simulation) to improve upper limb function.

Design: Small sample, randomized, evaluator-blind, monocentric study.

Patients: Seventeen early subacute ischaemic stroke patients with complete hemiplegia were  randomly assigned to the therapeutic group (n = 8) or control group (CG, n = 9).

Distinct and additive effects of visual and vibratory feedback for motor rehabilitation: an EEG study in healthy subjects.

Introduction: The use of visual and proprioceptive feedback is a key property of motor rehabilitation techniques. This feedback can be used alone, for example, for vision in mirror or video therapy, for proprioception in focal tendon vibration therapy, or in combination, for example, in robot-assisted training. This Electroencephalographic (EEG) study in healthy subjects explored the distinct neurophysiological impact of adding visual (video therapy), proprioceptive (focal tendinous vibration), or combined feedback (video therapy and focal tendinous vibration) to a motor imagery task.

Treatment of Acquired Deforming Hypertonia with Botulinum Toxin in Older Population: A Retrospective Study.

Acquired deforming hypertonia (ADH) affects the daily care of numerous nursing home residents. The aim of this study was to analyze the practice, aims, and effectiveness of botulinum toxin injections (BTxis) in the treatment of older patients with contractures, an indication for which BTxis are still underused. Data were extracted retrospectively from medical records regarding population, contractures, and injections.

Neural basis of lower-limb visual feedback therapy: an EEG study in healthy subjects.

Background: Video-feedback observational therapy (VOT) is an intensive rehabilitation technique based on movement repetition and visualization that has shown benefits for motor rehabilitation of the upper and lower limbs. Despite an increase in recent literature on the neurophysiological effects of VOT in the upper limb, there is little knowledge about the cortical effects of visual feedback therapies when applied to the lower limbs. The aim of our study was to better understand the neurophysiological effects of VOT.

Percutaneous needle tenotomies: indications, procedures, efficacy and safety. A systematic review.

Background: Percutaneous needle tenotomies constitute a promising approach that enables direct access to tendons through minimally invasive interventions. They can be performed rapidly without need for large incisions or general anaesthesia. However, the reported procedures are heterogeneous and currently conducted without guidelines.

The challenge of controlling an auditory BCI in the case of severe motor disability.

Background: The locked-in syndrome (LIS), due to a lesion in the pons, impedes communication. This situation can also be met after some severe brain injury or in advanced Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). In the most severe condition, the persons cannot communicate at all because of a complete oculomotor paralysis (Complete LIS or CLIS).

Structural and pathophysiological muscle changes up to one year after post-stroke hemiplegia: a systematic review.

Introduction: Muscle changes after stroke cannot be explained solely on the basis of corticospinal bundle damage. Muscle-specific changes contribute to limited functional recovery but have been poorly characterized.

Evidence Acquisition: We conducted a systematic review of muscular changes occurring at the histological, neuromuscular and functional levels during the first year after the onset of post-stroke hemiplegia.

Effects of prismatic adaptation on balance and postural disorders in patients with chronic right stroke: protocol for a multicentre double-blind randomised sham-controlled trial.

Introduction: Patients with right stroke lesion have postural and balance disorders, including weight-bearing asymmetry, more pronounced than patients with left stroke lesion. Spatial cognition disorders post-stroke, such as misperceptions of subjective straight-ahead and subjective longitudinal body axis, are suspected to be involved in these postural and balance disorders. Prismatic adaptation has showed beneficial effects to reduce visuomotor disorders but also an expansion of effects on cognitive functions, including spatial cognition.

Time course response after single injection of botulinum toxin to treat spasticity after stroke: Systematic review with pharmacodynamic model-based meta-analysis.

Background: The time-course response after a single injection of botulinum toxin (BoNT) for post-stroke spasticity is debated. We addressed this issue by conducting a systematic review and a pharmacodynamic model-based meta-analysis.

Methods: We searched Medline, PeDro and Google Scholar databases up to March 2020, selecting randomized controlled trials of post-stroke and traumatic brain injury patients with arm or leg muscle hypertonia, comparing BoNT to placebo, or different BoNT preparations.

The Effects of Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on the Walking Performance of Chronic Hemiplegic Patients.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a single session of tDCS over the primary motor cortex of the lower limb (M1-LL) vs. placebo on the walking performance in chronic hemiplegic patients.

Patients And Methods: Randomized, cross-over, double-blinded study.

Numerical Model Reduction for the Prediction of Interface Pressure Applied by Compression Bandages on the Lower Leg.

Objective: To develop a new method for the prediction of interface pressure applied by medical compression bandages.

Methods: A finite element simulation of bandage application was designed, based on patient-specific leg geometries. For personalized interface pressure prediction, a model reduction approach was proposed, which included the parametrization of the leg geometry.

Superimposition of elastic and nonelastic compression bandages.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the pressure applied by superimposed bandages and to compare it with the pressure applied by single-component bandages.

Methods: Six different bandages, composed of one elastic bandage, one nonelastic bandage, or both, were applied in a spiral pattern on both legs of 25 patients at risk of venous thrombosis as a consequence of central or peripheral motor deficiency. Pressure was measured at four measurement points on the leg (B1 and C on the medial and lateral sides of the leg) and in three positions: supine, sitting, and standing.

Numerical Approach for the Assessment of Pressure Generated by Elastic Compression Bandage.

Compression of the lower leg by bandages is a common treatment for the advanced stages of some venous or lymphatic pathologies. The outcomes of this treatment directly result from the pressure generated onto the limb. Various bandage configurations are proposed by manufacturers: the study of these configurations requires the development of reliable methods to predict pressure distribution applied by compression bandages.

Primary motor cortex changes after amputation correlate with phantom limb pain and the ability to move the phantom limb.

A substantial body of evidence documents massive reorganization of primary sensory and motor cortices following hand amputation, the extent of which is correlated with phantom limb pain. Many therapies for phantom limb pain are based upon the idea that plastic changes after amputation are maladaptive and attempt to normalize representations of cortical areas adjacent to the hand area. Recent data suggest, however, that higher levels of phantom pain are associated with stronger local activity and more structural integrity in the missing hand area rather than with reorganization of neighbouring body parts.

[Phantom limb pains].

With the radical experience of an amputation, the adaptation of body image is often incomplete. Some people experience phantom body perceptions, often painful and difficult to treat, after the amputation of a limb.

Experimental Investigation of Pressure Applied on the Lower Leg by Elastic Compression Bandage.

Compression therapy with stockings or bandages is the most common treatment for venous or lymphatic disorders. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of bandage mechanical properties, application technique and subject morphology on the interface pressure, which is the key of this treatment. Bandage stretch and interface pressure measurements (between the bandage and the leg) were performed on 30 healthy subjects (15 men and 15 women) at two different heights on the lower leg and in two positions (supine and standing).

Neuroenhancement of the aging brain: restoring skill acquisition in old subjects.

Objective: Decline in cognitive functions, including impaired acquisition of novel skills, is a feature of older age that impacts activities of daily living, independence, and integration in modern societies.

Methods: We tested whether the acquisition of a complex motor skill can be enhanced in old subjects by the application of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the motor cortex.

Results: The main finding was that old participants experienced substantial improvements when training was applied concurrent with tDCS, with effects lasting for at least 24 hours.

Disentangling motor execution from motor imagery with the phantom limb.

Amputees can move their phantom limb at will. These 'movements without movements' have generally been considered as motor imagery rather than motor execution, but amputees can in fact perform both executed and imagined movements with their phantom and they report distinct perceptions during each task. Behavioural evidence for this dual ability comes from the fact that executed movements are associated with stump muscle contractions whereas imagined movements are not, and that phantom executed movements are slower than intact hand executed movements whereas the speed of imagined movements is identical for both hands.

Concurrent validation of a magnetometer-based step counter in various walking surfaces.

Background And Aim: Clinicians need a simple method for quantifying gait activity. The aim of this study was to develop and validate the reliability of a quantitative gait assessment based exclusively on one magnetometer located on the shank.

Methods: Twenty-five healthy volunteers were simultaneously equipped with a magnetometer (MAG system) on the right shank, and two validated step-counter systems: the StepWatch Activity Monitor (SAM) and three Force-Sensing Resistors (FSRs).

The moving phantom: motor execution or motor imagery?

Amputees who have a phantom limb often report the ability to move this phantom voluntarily. In the literature, phantom limb movements are generally considered to reflect motor imagery rather than motor execution. The aim of this study was to investigate whether amputees distinguish between executing a movement of the phantom limb and imagining moving the missing limb.

Outcomes 18 months after the first human partial face transplantation.

Background: We performed the first human partial face allograft on November 27, 2005. Here we report outcomes up to 18 months after transplantation.

Methods: The postsurgical induction immunosuppression protocol included thymoglobulins combined with tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, and prednisone.

Effects of brain polarization on reaction times and pinch force in chronic stroke.

Background: Previous studies showed that anodal transcranial DC stimulation (tDCS) applied to the primary motor cortex of the affected hemisphere (M1affected hemisphere) after subcortical stroke transiently improves performance of complex tasks that mimic activities of daily living (ADL). It is not known if relatively simpler motor tasks are similarly affected. Here we tested the effects of tDCS on pinch force (PF) and simple reaction time (RT) tasks in patients with chronic stroke in a double-blind cross-over Sham-controlled experimental design.

Effects of non-invasive cortical stimulation on skilled motor function in chronic stroke.

Stroke is a leading cause of adult motor disability. Despite recent progress, recovery of motor function after stroke is usually incomplete. This double blind, Sham-controlled, crossover study was designed to test the hypothesis that non-invasive stimulation of the motor cortex could improve motor function in the paretic hand of patients with chronic stroke.

Altered awareness of voluntary action after damage to the parietal cortex.

A central question in the study of human behavior is the origin of willed action. EEG recordings of surface brain activity from human subjects performing a self-initiated movement show that the subjective experience of wanting to move follows, rather than precedes, the 'readiness potential'--an electrophysiological mark of motor preparation. This raises the issue of how conscious experience of willed action is generated.