Risk of herpes zoster according to past history in the general population: The Japanese Shozu herpes zoster study.

Immunity is known to persist after vaccination for varicella zoster virus, but the duration of immunity in patients who develop herpes zoster (HZ) remains unknown. To investigate the association between a past history of HZ and its occurrence in the general population. The Shozu HZ (SHEZ) cohort study included data for 12 299 individuals aged ≥50 years with information on their HZ history.

Repetitive facilitative exercise under continuous electrical stimulation for recovery of pure motor isolated hand palsy after infarction of the "hand knob" area: A case report.

Purpose: Pure motor isolated hand palsy (PMIHP) following infarction of the "hand knob" area is a rare entity in stroke. PMIHP usually recovers within the first few days, but there are rare cases where patients do not recover rapidly. Herein, we report a case of residual PMIHP in which repetitive facilitative exercise under concurrent low-amplitude continuous neuromuscular electrical stimulation ("RFE-under-cNMES") was introduced to improve hand function.

Combination therapy with repetitive facilitative exercise program and botulinum toxin type A to improve motor function for the upper-limb spastic paresis in chronic stroke: A randomized controlled trial.

Study Design: An open-label, randomized, controlled, observer-blinded trial.

Introduction: Repetitive facilitative exercise (RFE) is a movement therapy to recover from hemiparesis after stroke. However, improvement is inhibited by spasticity.

Risk of Herpes Zoster in Relation to Body Mass Index Among Residents Aged ≥50 Years: The Shozu Herpes Zoster Study.

Background: The impact of body mass index on incidence of herpes zoster is unclear. This study investigated whether body mass index was associated with a history of herpes zoster and incidence during a 3-year follow-up, using data from a prospective cohort study in Japan.

Methods: In total, 12,311 individuals were included in the cross-sectional analysis at baseline, of whom 1,818 with a history of herpes zoster were excluded from the incidence analysis, leaving 10,493 individuals.

Improvement and Neuroplasticity after Combined Rehabilitation to Forced Grasping.

The grasp reflex is a distressing symptom but the need to treat or suppress it has rarely been discussed in the literature. We report the case of a 17-year-old man who had suffered cerebral infarction of the right putamen and temporal lobe 10 years previously. Forced grasping of the hemiparetic left upper limb was improved after a unique combined treatment.

Use of an arm weight-bearing combined with upper-limb reaching apparatus to facilitate motor paralysis recovery in an incomplete spinal cord injury patient: a single case report.

[Purpose] Training using an arm weight-bearing device combined with upper-limb reaching apparatus to facilitate motor paralysis recovery, named the "Reaching Robot", as well as Repetitive Facilitation Exercise were applied to a patient with severe impairment of the shoulder and elbow due to incomplete spinal cord injury and the effects were examined. [Subjects and Methods] A 66-year-old man with incomplete spinal cord injury participated in an upper extremity rehabilitation program involving a Reaching Robot. The program was comprised of active motor suspension, continuous low amplitude neuromuscular electrical stimulation and functional vibratory stimulation, as well as Repetitive Facilitation Exercise combined with continuous low amplitude neuromuscular electrical stimulation.

Outcomes of repetitive facilitation exercises in convalescent patients after stroke with impaired health status.

Objective: To investigate the impact of stroke on health status and the effects of repetitive facilitation exercises (RFEs) for convalescent patients after stroke.

Methods: The study was a prospective observational study of patients enrolled in an RFE programme. Between April 2008 and March 2012, 468 patients with stroke were enrolled in an intensive, comprehensive RFE programme.

Prevalence and association of visual functional deficits with lesion characteristics and functional neurological deficits in patients with stroke.

Background: Stroke frequently induces visual problems, which impair activities of daily living, lead to falls, and require rehabilitation. However, visual dysfunction has not been well characterized in stroke.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to characterize visual function in patients with stroke and the association of these characteristics with neurological dysfunction and lesion hemisphere.

Effects of repetitive facilitative exercise with neuromuscular electrical stimulation, vibratory stimulation and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the hemiplegic hand in chronic stroke patients.

Aim: Repetitive facilitative exercise (RFE) is a developed approach to the rehabilitation of hemiplegia. RFE can be integrated with neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES), direct application of vibratory stimulation (DAVS) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). The aims of the present study were to retrospectively compare the effects of RFE and NMES, DAVS with those of RFE and rTMS, and to determine the maximal effect of the combination of RFE with NMES, DAVS, rTMS and pharmacological treatments in stroke patients.

Anti-spastic effects of footbaths in post-stroke patients: a proof-of-principle study.

Objectives: To investigate whether a footbath inhibits spasticity in the hemiplegic lower limbs of post-stroke patients.

Design: Randomized, controlled study.

Setting: Rehabilitation education and research hospital.

Novel neuromuscular electrical stimulation system for treatment of dysphagia after brain injury.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of a novel neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) to the effects of conventional treatment in patients with dysphagia after brain injury. In total, 26 patients were non-randomly divided into an experimental group (n = 12) and a control group (n = 14). The experimental group received NMES intervention followed by conventional treatment, including thermaltactile stimulation with intensive repetition of a dry-swallow task.

Novel neuromuscular electrical stimulation system for the upper limbs in chronic stroke patients: a feasibility study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of applying a novel neuromuscular electrical stimulation system, targeting shoulder flexion, elbow extension, wrist extension, and individual finger extensions, to improve motor control and function of the hemiparetic upper limbs in chronic stroke patients.

Design: Fifteen participants with chronic (>1 yr after cerebrovascular accident) upper limb hemiparesis were enrolled. The subjects underwent upper limb training for 60 mins per day, 6 days per week, for 2 wks, using both a shoulder-and-elbow stimulation device and a wrist-and-finger stimulation device developed by the study investigators.

Feasibility of using whole body vibration as a means for controlling spasticity in post-stroke patients: a pilot study.

To examine the feasibility of adapting whole body vibration (WBV) in the hemiplegic legs of post-stroke patients and to investigate the anti-spastic effects, and the improvement of motor function and walking ability. Twenty-five post-stroke patients with lower-limb spasticity were enrolled in the study. Each subject sat with hip joint angles to approximately 90° of flexion, and with knee joint angles to 0° of extension.

Repetitive facilitative exercise under continuous electrical stimulation for severe arm impairment after sub-acute stroke: a randomized controlled pilot study.

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of repetitive facilitative exercise (RFE) under surface neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) in patients with post-stroke hemiplegia.

Methods: This randomized, controlled, observer-blinded, pilot trial randomized 27 adults with severe arm impairment [Fugl-Meyer Arm scale (FMA) ≤ 20] due to stroke of 3-13 weeks duration into three groups and provided treatment on a 4-week, 40 minutes/day, 5 days/week schedule. The RFE-under-NMES group were given 100-150 repetitions of standardized movements of shoulder, elbow and wrist joints of their affected arm with concurrent low-amplitude NMES for each corresponding musculature.

Effects of repetitive trascranial magnetic stimulation on repetitive facilitation exercises of the hemiplegic hand in chronic stroke patients.

Objective: To investigate whether multiple sessions of 1-Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) facilitates the effect of repetitive facilitation exercises on hemiplegic upper-limb function in chronic stroke patients.

Design: Randomized double-blinded crossover study.

Patients: Eighteen patients with hemiplegia of the upper limb.

A new non-human primate model of photochemically induced cerebral infarction.

Background And Purpose: Rat models of photochemically induced cerebral infarction have been readily studied, but to date there are no reports of transcranial photochemically induced infarctions in the marmoset. In this report, we used this non-human primate as a model of cerebral thrombosis and observed the recovery process.

Methods: Five common marmosets were used.

Benefits of a repetitive facilitative exercise program for the upper paretic extremity after subacute stroke: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Repetitive facilitative exercise (RFE), a combination of high repetition rate and neurofacilitation, is a recently developed approach to the rehabilitation of stroke-related limb impairment. Preliminary investigations have been encouraging, but a randomized controlled evaluation has yet to be performed.

Objectives: To compare the efficacy of RFE with that of conventional rehabilitation in adults with subacute stroke.

Anti-spastic effects of the direct application of vibratory stimuli to the spastic muscles of hemiplegic limbs in post-stroke patients: a proof-of-principle study.

Objective: To investigate whether the direct application of vibratory stimuli inhibits spasticity in the hemiplegic upper limbs of post-stroke patients.

Design: A randomized controlled study.

Subjects: Thirty-six post-stroke patients.

Acute effects of a single warm-water bath on serum adiponectin and leptin levels in healthy men: a pilot study.

To preliminarily assess the acute effects of a single warm-water bath (WWB) on serum adipokine activity, we measured serum adiponectin, leptin and other metabolic profiles before, immediately after and 30 minutes after WWB in seven healthy male volunteers (mean age, 39.7 ± 6.0 years; mean body mass index, 21.

Effects of thermal therapy combining sauna therapy and underwater exercise in patients with fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a chronic disorder that is characterized by widespread pain with localized tenderness. We aimed to investigate whether thermal therapy combining sauna therapy and underwater exercise improved pain, symptoms, and quality of life (QOL) in FMS patients. Forty-four female FMS patients who fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria received 12-week thermal therapy program comprising sauna therapy once daily for 3 days/week and underwater exercise once daily for 2 days/week.

Fatiguing intermittent lower limb exercise influences corticospinal and corticocortical excitability in the nonexercised upper limb.

Background: It has recently been reported that unilateral fatiguing exercise affects not only the motor area innervating the exercising muscle but also the ipsilateral motor area innervating homologous nonexercised muscle.

Objective: This study was designed to clarify the effects of fatiguing intermittent lower limb exercise on the excitability of the motor cortex representation of nonexercised muscles in the arm.

Methods: Eight subjects performed an intermittent leg press exercise composed of three bouts of 5-minute leg press (T1, T2, and T3) at 50% of maximal voluntary contraction separated by a 2-minute rest.

Effects of 5 minutes of neck-muscle vibration immediately before occupational therapy on unilateral spatial neglect.

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of neck-muscle vibration for 5 min before occupational therapy (OT) on unilateral spatial neglect (USN).

Method: In this multiple-baseline design study for 6 weeks (A(1)-B-A(2) design: A(1), A(2); conventional OT without neck-muscle vibration, B; neck-muscle vibration before OT together with conventional OT), we examined 11 right brain-damaged patients in the post-acute phase of stroke who showed USN. Sessions A(1) and A(2): conventional OT for 40 min once daily for 5 days a week.

Effect of cilostazol administration on cerebral hemodynamics and rehabilitation outcomes in poststroke patients.

Primary Objective: Cilostazol is an antiplatelet agent that inhibits phosphodiesterase III in platelets and the vascular endothelium. We assessed the effects of cilostazol on human cerebral hemodynamics and rehabilitation outcomes.

Research Design: Prospective, consecutive, observational trial with pretreatment and posttreatment evaluations.

Effects of intensive repetition of a new facilitation technique on motor functional recovery of the hemiplegic upper limb and hand.

Objective: To study the effects on the hemiplegic upper limb of repetitive facilitation exercises (RFEs) using a novel facilitation technique, in which the patient's intention to move the hemiplegic upper limb or finger was followed by realization of the movement using multiple sensory stimulations.

Methods: Twenty-three stroke patients were enrolled in a cross-over study in which 2-week RFE sessions (100 repetitions each of five-to-eight types of facilitation exercise per day) were alternated with 2-week conventional rehabilitation (CR) sessions, for a total of four sessions. Treatments were begun with the 2-week RFE session in one group and the 2-week CR session in the second group.