Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Governmental Policies on Rehabilitation Services and Physical Medicine in Jordan: A Retrospective Study.

: Although the COVID-19 pandemic led to a series of governmental policies and regulations around the world, the effect of these policies on access to and provision of rehabilitation services has not been examined, especially in low and middle- income countries. : The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of governmental policies and procedures on the number of patients who accessed rehabilitation services in the public sector in Jordan during the pandemic and to examine the combined effect of sociodemographic factors (age and gender) and the governmental procedures on this number of patients. : A retrospective cohort study was conducted based on records of 32,503 patients who visited the rehabilitation center between January 2020 and February 2021.

Physiotherapists' job satisfaction in the workplace: A cross-sectional study in Jordan, Lebanon, West Bank, and Gaza.

Background: Job satisfaction among physiotherapists has been studied in many developing and developed countries, but not yet in areas recently affected by wars and refugee crises in the Middle East, including Jordan, Lebanon, West Bank, and Gaza regions.

Objectives: To explore physiotherapists' job satisfaction in Jordan, Lebanon, West Bank, and Gaza and examine differences in job satisfaction according to regions, gender, academic qualifications, and years of clinical experience.

Methods: A cross-sectional study using a self-administered online questionnaire.

Home-Based Exercise to Improve Motor Functions, Cognitive Functions, and Quality of Life in People with Huntington's Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Exercise in different settings has become a fundamental part of Huntington's disease (HD) management. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate the effectiveness of home-based exercises (HBE) in HD. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the effect of HBE on motor, cognitive, or health-related quality of life (QoL) outcomes in HD were included.

Modulation of Resting-State Brain Complexity After Bilateral Cerebellar Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: a Randomized Controlled Trial Study.

Background: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by aberrant neural networks. Cerebellum is best known for its role in controlling motor behaviors; however, recently, there have been significant reports showed that dysfunction in cerebellar-cerebral networks contributes significantly to many of the clinical features of ASD. Hereby, this is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) study examining the potential modulating effects of bilateral anodal tDCS stimulation over cerebellar hemispheres on the resting-state brain complexity in children with ASD.

Evidence- based physiotherapy practice in Jordan: Evaluation and identification of implementation factors.

Background: Evidence-based physiotherapy practice (EBPTP) is becoming increasingly important to improve patient outcomes and clinical decision-making in the physiotherapy profession.

Objective: To evaluate the EBPTP in Jordan and identify the barriers to its implementation in clinical practice.

Method: The study used a cross-sectional survey of licensed physiotherapists working in Jordan using EBPTP self-reported questionnaire.

EMD-based analysis of complexity with dissociated EEG amplitude and frequency information: a data-driven robust tool -for Autism diagnosis- compared to multi-scale entropy approach.

Objective: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is usually characterised by altered social skills, repetitive behaviours, and difficulties in verbal/nonverbal communication. It has been reported that electroencephalograms (EEGs) in ASD are characterised by atypical complexity. The most commonly applied method in studies of ASD EEG complexity is multiscale entropy (MSE), where the sample entropy is evaluated across several scales.

Therapeutics effects of inhaled magnesium sulfate combined with adrenergic beta-2 agonist on children with acute asthma: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aim: To review the evidence on the effectiveness of inhaled magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) combined with beta-2 (B2) agonist as compared to inhaled B2 agonist alone in treating pediatric patients with moderate to severe asthma attacks METHODS: The search was conducted on five electronic databases namely the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Medline, PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar.

Results: Eight trials were included in the review. All studies involved a total of 1585 children aged 2-17 years with moderate to severe asthma attacks.

Effectiveness of non-pharmacological rehabilitation interventions in pain management in patients with multiple sclerosis: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive inflammatory and autoimmune neurological disease caused by inflammation and demyelination of the central nervous system. Pain is a typical symptom of central nervous system demyelination, affecting 63% of adults with MS. Recently, the role of non-pharmacological pain management in patients is growing because the non-pharmacological interventions are considered safe, affordable, easy, and accessible.

Melatonin serum level, sleep functions, and depression level after bilateral anodal transcranial direct current stimulation in patients with Parkinson's disease: a feasibility study.

Objective: Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with non-motor complications such as sleep disturbance and depression. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) showed therapeutic effects on the motor dysfunctions. However, the potential effects of tDCS therapy on melatonin hormone, sleep dysfunctions, and depression in patients with PD still unclear.

The Effect of Bilateral Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation versus Treadmill Training on Brain Activities, Gait Functions, Level of Participation and Enjoyment of Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol.

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) possesses bilateral sensory-motor cortical excitability alterations. In past studies, researchers have applied unilateral anodal transcranial direct stimulation (tDCS) with inconsistent findings.

Objective: Examining the effects of treadmill training with either unilateral or bilateral anodal tDCS stimulation on brain activities, gait, and body functions of children with CP.

Melatonin and dopamine serum level associations with motor, cognitive, and sleep dysfunctions in patients with Parkinson's disease: A cross-sectional research study.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a multisystem-progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by dopaminergic neurons, however, the role of the non-dopaminergic system (such as melatonin hormone) in the pathogenesis of PD is now emerging.

Objective: To identify any potential correlation between the dopamine and melatonin serum levels, and motor, cognitive, and sleep dysfunctions in patients with PD.

Method: Cross-sectional piloting study conducted with a sample of 34 patients with PD (aged 50-72 yrs old).

Therapeutic Effects of Bilateral Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Prefrontal and Motor Cortical Areas in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Pilot Study.

Dysfunctional frontal cortical areas associated with clinical features are observed in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study attempted to identify any potential therapeutic effects of bilateral anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied over the left and right prefrontal and motor areas on the clinical characteristics of children with ASD. Fifty children with confirmed ASD medical diagnoses were divided equally and randomly into a tDCS treatment group and a control group.

Brain Complexity in Children with Mild and Severe Autism Spectrum Disorders: Analysis of Multiscale Entropy in EEG.

Multiscale entropy (MSE) model quantifies the complexity of brain functions by measuring the entropy across multiple time-scales. Although MSE model has been applied in children with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in previous studies, they were limited to distinguish children with ASD from those normally developed without corresponding severity level of their autistic features. Therefore, we aims  to explore and to identify the MSE features and patterns in children with mild and severe ASD by using a high dense 64-channel array EEG system.

Automated identification for autism severity level: EEG analysis using empirical mode decomposition and second order difference plot.

Background: Previous automated EEG-based diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) using various nonlinear EEG analysis methods were limited to distinguish only children with ASD from those normally developed without approaching their autistic features severity.

Objectives: Identifying potential differences between children with mild and sever ASD based on EEG analysis using empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and second-order difference plot (SODP) models, and determining the accuracy of such model outcome measures to distinguish ASD severity levels.

Methods: Resting-state EEG data recorded for 36 children, who divided equally into two matched groups of mild and sever ASD.

Sleep Quality, Depression, and Quality of Life After Bilateral Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Patients with Parkinson's Disease.

BACKGROUND Sleep dysfunctions impose a large burden on quality of life for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Several studies on PD reported potential therapeutic effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on motor and non-motor functions, but not related to sleep quality. Therefore, the present study examined sleep quality, depression perception, and quality of life changes after bilateral anodal tDCS in patients with PD.

Dopamine, BDNF and motor function postbilateral anodal transcranial direct current stimulation in Parkinson's disease.

Aim: To examine BDNF, dopamine, and motor function changes after bilateral anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Methods: 20 patients undertook ten sessions of bilateral anodal tDCS stimulation applied simultaneously over FC1/FC2, targeting left and right prefrontal and motor areas. Dopamine and BDNF serum levels, and Movement Disorders Society - Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part three (MDS-UPDRS-III) total score and disability sub-scores were examined pre/post-tDCS stimulation.

Bilateral anodal transcranial direct current stimulation effect on balance and fearing of fall in patient with Parkinson's disease.

Background: A number of studies have examined the therapeutic effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) stimulation in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) using unilateral anodal stimulation applied either on the left or right brain hemisphere. However, PD involves the dysfunctions of both brain hemispheres.

Objectives: This study investigates the therapeutic effects of bilateral anodal tDCS stimulation on balance and fear of fall outcomes in patient with PD.

Dipole orientation of receptive fields in the somatosensory cortex after stimulation of the posterior tibial nerve in humans.

The origins of the earliest evoked potentials and magnetic fields after tibial nerve electrical stimulation are still controversial. We focused on the initial activity from the gyrus area and analyzed the components for the coronal and sagittal planes. In 12 healthy right-handed subjects, electrical stimuli were delivered to the left posterior tibial nerve at the ankle.

Administration of microRNA-210 promotes spinal cord regeneration in mice.

Study Design: Experimental animal study of treatment of spinal cord injury (SCI).

Objective: To investigate the therapeutic effects of administering microRNA-210 (miR-210) to promote angiogenesis in a mouse SCI model.

Summary Of Background Data: Despite many previous studies regarding SCI, there is no established treatment in clinical practice.

Optimization of mirror therapy to excite ipsilateral primary motor cortex.

Background: Mirror illusion therapy (mirror therapy) is based on the experimental substrate of a visual illusion of active hand movement to excite ipsilateral primary motor cortex (iM1).

Purpose: We tested whether iM1 excitability could be modulated by enabling or disabling vision of the active hand during mirror therapy.

Method: Motor cortical activations of healthy right-handed participants were identified by magnetoencephalography.

Somatosensory cortical plasticity after toe-to-index transfer.

We quantified and compared neuroimaging data and behavioral data (cortical plasticity and hand sensibility, respectively) from a patient who underwent toe-to-index transplantation. Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings of somatosensory-evoked fields (SEFs) response to mechanical tactile stimulation of the index and little fingers of both hands were obtained in parallel with a hand sensibility test from the patient at multiple sessions (week 4, 12, and 24 after the operation). Cortical plasticity refers to SEFs' latency, dipole strength, and primary somatosensory representation, and the Euclidean distance between primary somatosensory representations of the index and the little fingers.

Somatosensory mechanical response and digit somatotopy within cortical areas of the postcentral gyrus in humans: an MEG study.

Somatosensory evoked fields in response to compression (termed as Co) and decompression (termed as De) of glabrous skin (D1, thumb; D2, index finger; D5, little finger) were recorded. Although estimated equivalent current dipoles (ECDs) following stimulation of D1 and D5 were larger, but not significantly larger, in decompression than in compression, those of D2 were significantly larger (P = 0.035).

Motor somatotopy of extensor indicis proprius and extensor pollicis longus.

After tendon transfer of extensor indicis proprius (EIP) to extensor pollicis longus (EPL), rehabilitation is initiated to enhance motor cortex reorganization. However, patients have been described showing thumb extension immediately after the tendon transfer. At cortical level, no evidence supports either of these assumptions.

Ipsilateral primary sensorimotor cortical response to mechanical tactile stimuli.

We studied somatosensory-evoked fields elicited by mechanical versus electrical stimuli to index finger of healthy participants. Mechanical stimulation was index pulp compression and decompression by using nonmagnetic mechanical stimulator. Electrical stimulation was three times of sensory threshold and delivered to index pulp by using ball-shaped electrodes.

Monopolar surface electromyography: a better tool to assess motoneuron excitability upon passive muscle stretching.

Bipolar and monopolar surface electromyography (sEMG) are known procedures to measure the H-reflex. However, signal cancellation is a potential experimental problem of bipolar sEMG. The results of our study show that monopolar sEMG was the more sensitive procedure to differentiate motoneuron excitability at different passive muscle stretching speeds as it overcame signal cancellation.