Long-term quality of life after ETV or ETV with consecutive VP shunt placement in hydrocephalic pediatric patients.

Purpose: Endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) and ventriculoperitoneal shunting are well-established treatments of obstructive hydrocephalus (HCP) in adult and pediatric patients. However, there is a lack of data with regard to the quality of life (QoL) of these patients during long-term follow-up METHODS: Inclusion criteria were pediatric patients with endoscopic treatment of hydrocephalus at the University Medicine Greifswald between 1993 and 2016. Patients older than 14 years at present were assessed with the Short Form-12 (SF-12) questionnaire.

Osteosarcopenia: where bone, muscle, and fat collide.

As the world's population ages, the prevalence of chronic diseases increases. Sarcopenia and osteoporosis are two conditions that are associated with aging, with similar risk factors that include genetics, endocrine function, and mechanical factors. Additionally, bone and muscle closely interact with each other not only anatomically, but also chemically and metabolically.

Impact of stroke on anterior-posterior force generation prior to seat-off during sit-to-walk.

Force generation during sit-to-walk (STW) post-stroke is a poorly studied area, although STW is a common daily transfer giving rise to a risk of falling in persons with disability. The purpose of this study was to describe and compare strategies for anterior-posterior (AP) force generation prior to seat-off during the STW transfer in both subjects with stroke and in matched controls. During STW at self-selected speed, AP force data were collected by 4 force plates, beneath the buttocks and feet from eight subjects with stroke (>6 months after onset) and 8 matched controls.

Increased dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation in obese children during observation of food stimuli.

Objective: Food cues yield different patterns of brain activation in obese compared with normal-weight adults in prefrontal and limbic/paralimbic areas. For children, no mapping studies comparing representation sites for food and other stimuli between obese and normal-weight subjects are available.

Design: We used a cross-sectional design of two age-matched subject groups to investigate differences in brain activation in response to visually presented food, pleasant, and neutral pictures between obese/overweight and normal children.

Temporal coordination of the sit-to-walk task in subjects with stroke and in controls.

Objectives: To explore events and describe phases for temporal coordination of the sit-to-walk (STW) task, within a semistandardized set up, in subjects with stroke and matched controls. In addition, to assess variability of STW phase duration and to compare the relative duration of STW phases between the 2 groups.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Seat load characteristics in children with neuromuscular and syndrome-related scoliosis: effects of pathology and treatment.

The amount of correction from spine deformity surgery that is required to avoid asymmetric and unbalanced sitting is not known, and methods sensitive enough to document moderate changes in pressure distribution over time are few, as the commonly used methods are qualitative or semiquantitative. The aim was to analyse seating pressure distribution with a pressure sensor mat system in patients with nonidiopathic scoliosis and to compare the pressure distribution with that in able-bodied controls. The aim was also to apply the method in a surgically treated scoliosis group before and after the spine fusion.

Reach performance and postural adjustments during standing in children with severe spastic diplegia using dynamic ankle-foot orthoses.

Objective: To investigate the co-ordination between reaching, ground reaction forces and muscle activity in standing children with severe spastic diplegia wearing dynamic ankle-foot orthoses compared with typically developing children.

Design: Clinical experimental study.

Subjects: Six children with spastic diplegia (Gross Motor Function Classification System level III-IV) and 6 controls.

Motor control of every day motor tasks: guidance for neurological rehabilitation.

This paper reports some of the research activities conducted at the Motor Control and Physical Therapy Laboratory aimed to understand the control of the coordination between posture and voluntary actions as reflected in the performance of everyday motor tasks in subject with normal and impaired motor control. Through multi-factorial analysis regarding the kinematics, ground reaction forces and muscle activity patterns (EMG), motor control variables critical for specific task performance are identified. Target-reaching in subjects after stroke and in children with cerebral palsy are discussed in some detail.

Age-related differences in postural adjustments in connection with different tasks involving weight transfer while standing.

Weight transfer designed to change the area of the supportive base during the performance of three different motor tasks (one-leg stance, tandem stance and gait initiation) was examined both in healthy, physically active elderly people and younger adults. The former two tasks are balance tests used clinically. Our hypothesis was that the elderly subjects would demonstrate age-related changes in their postural adjustments that could be detected by analysis of the ground reaction forces.

Associated sagittal spinal movements in performance of head pro- and retraction in healthy women: a kinematic analysis.

Sagittal head excursions are frequently used as diagnostic and treatment tools by physiotherapists. Retractions are performed to promote good head-on-body orientation. This study examined the regional contribution of spinal movements to head pro- and retraction in addition to the effect of a more or less restrained sitting position in healthy women.

Transfer from table to wheelchair in men and women with spinal cord injury: coordination of body movement and arm forces.

Study Design: A complex set-up was used to investigate kinematics and ground reaction forces.

Setting: Motor Control and Physical Therapy Research Laboratory, Neurotec Department, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden.

Objective: To investigate how men and women with spinal cord injury (SCI) perform transfers from table to wheelchair with regard to timing and magnitude of force generation beneath the hands and associated body movements.

Physically active older adults display alterations in gait initiation.

An understanding of age-related changes in motor behaviour is important when considering the design of training programs for fall-prevention in the elderly. Gait initiation is a phase of walking during which falls are often provoked and this study compares strategies employed by healthy older and young adults during gait initiation. Twenty-nine older, physically active subjects (65-79 years) and 28 younger individuals (23-40 years) were instructed to cross a staged road, when a traffic light changed from red to green, leading with a freely chosen or predetermined leg.

Postural steadiness and weight distribution during tandem stance in healthy young and elderly adults.

Background: Tandem stance is a clinical measure of standing balance considered to assess postural steadiness in a heel-to-toe position by a temporal measurement. To our knowledge, no studies have evaluated the change of postural steadiness, expressed as force variability, over time. The objective of this paper is to investigate postural steadiness during 30 s of tandem stance in healthy elderly and young adults, and to explore the weight distribution between legs during tandem stance.

One-leg stance in healthy young and elderly adults: a measure of postural steadiness?

Objective: To investigate postural steadiness during 30 s of one-leg stance in healthy young and elderly adults, by analysing the pattern of the ground reaction force variability.

Design: A laboratory set-up was used to analyse the variability of the ground reaction forces in relation to time as a measure of postural steadiness.

Background: The one-leg stance test is a measure considered to assess postural steadiness in a static position by a temporal measurement.

Does the functional reach test reflect stability limits in elderly people?

Objective: To explore how the Functional Reach test correlates with the displacement of the centre of pressure and whether the test is a measure of the stability limits in healthy elderly people. Also to explore the performance parameters during the Functional Reach test.

Design: Method comparison study.

Joint coordination during whole-body lifting in women with low back pain after pregnancy.

Objective: To quantify differences in the kinematics of lifting between women with low back and/or pelvic pain after pregnancy and women without.

Design: Comparison study.

Setting: Research laboratory.

Anticipatory postural adjustments in a bimanual, whole-body lifting task seem not only aimed at minimising anterior--posterior centre of mass displacements.

Anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) were studied in a bimanual whole-body lifting task, using a mechanical analysis of the downward movement phase preceding loaded versus unloaded lifts. APAs in the backward ground reaction force were found to lead the perturbing forward box reaction with approximately 400 ms, thus inducing a backward centre of mass momentum. Both the APA onset and magnitude were scaled as a function of the load to be lifted.

Reaching-lifting-placing task during standing after stroke: Coordination among ground forces, ankle muscle activity, and hand movement.

Objective: To investigate the coordination among hand movement, ground forces, and muscle activity in standing stroke patients reaching forward and lifting an object from a table.

Design: Survey.

Setting: Research laboratory.

Forward leaning reaching task in sitting (FLRS): a new measure for clinical evaluation of hamstring length in children.

Background And Purpose: In this study, the rotation of the pelvis was taken into account when assessing the length of hamstrings. A new measure for clinical evaluation was developed to establish reference values of hamstring length in children without movement disabilities for different age groups. Subjects (N = 60) were 3-, 6-, 10- and 14-year-old children (N = 15 for each age group).

Coordinated ground forces exerted by buttocks and feet are adequately programmed for weight transfer during sit-to-stand.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis whether weight transfer during sit-to-stand (STS) is the result of coordinated ground forces exerted by buttocks and feet before seat-off. Whole-body kinematics and three-dimensional ground forces from left and right buttock as well as from left and right foot were recorded for seven adults during STS. We defined a preparatory phase from onset of the first detectable anterior/posterior (A/P) force to seat-off (buttock forces fell to 0) and a rising phase from seat-off to the decrease of center of mass (CoM) vertical velocity to zero.

Do infants have motor responses to sudden surface rotations in prone position?

This study investigated whether sudden rotation of the support surface (platform) triggers motor responses similar to reactions to sudden free fall in infants at very early age (2 to 5 weeks). Ten infants in prone position were exposed to sudden head-down rotation (mimicking the falling phase) and head-up rotation of the platform (mimicking landing phase) of 4 degrees or 6 degrees amplitude and 35 degrees/s velocity while EMGs and kinematics were recorded from the neck, trunk, and right arm. One infant, reassessed at 13 weeks, and one adult were tested for complementary developmental information.

Myotatic reflex responses of non-disabled children and children with spastic cerebral palsy.

Surface electromyography (EMG) was used to examine lower-extremity myotatic reflex responses following patellar or Achilles tendon taps to normally developing, non-disabled infants and to individuals with cerebral palsy (CP). Reflex irradiation was present in non-disabled infants and infants with CP under two years of age. The only significant differences in myotatic reflex responses between the two groups at this age was the higher amplitude of the directly stimulated muscle of children with CP.

Analysis of the New Zealand Black contribution to lupus-like renal disease. Multiple genes that operate in a threshold manner.

F1 progeny of New Zealand Black (NZB) and New Zealand White (NZW) mice spontaneously develop an autoimmune process remarkably similar to human systemic lupus erythematosus. Previous studies have implicated major genetic contributions from the NZW MHC and from a dominant NZB gene on chromosome 4. To identify additional NZB contributions to lupus-like disease, (NZB x SM/J)F1 x NZW backcross mice were followed for the development of severe renal disease and were comprehensively genotyped.