IpsiHand Brain-Computer Interface Therapy Induces Broad Upper Extremity Motor Rehabilitation in Chronic Stroke.

Background: Chronic hemiparetic stroke patients have very limited benefits from current therapies. Brain-computer interface (BCI) engaging the unaffected hemisphere has emerged as a promising novel therapeutic approach for chronic stroke rehabilitation.

Objectives: This study investigated the effectiveness of contralesionally-controlled BCI therapy in chronic stroke patients with impaired upper extremity motor function.

Clinicians' perspectives and usage of rehabilitation technology: a survey.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate clinicians' perspectives regarding their usage of rehabilitation technology in their day-to-day practice and uncover the factors that impact clinicians' use of rehabilitation technology in their daily practice.

Materials And Methods: An online survey was used to gather cross-sectional data from American occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, physical therapists, physical therapy assistants, and speech language pathologists. This survey used Likert-scale, multiple choice, and free-response questions.

IpsiHand Brain-Computer Interface Therapy Induces Broad Upper Extremity Motor Recovery in Chronic Stroke.

Background And Purpose: Chronic hemiparetic stroke patients have very limited benefits from current therapies. Brain-computer interface (BCI) engaging the unaffected hemisphere has emerged as a promising novel therapeutic approach for chronic stroke rehabilitation. This study investigated the effectiveness of the IpsiHand System, a contralesionally-controlled BCI therapy in chronic stroke patients with impaired upper extremity motor function.

A Reverse Genetic Approach for Studying sRNAs in Chlamydia trachomatis.

sRNAs are noncoding transcripts that play critical roles in posttranscriptional regulation in prokaryotes. In the intracellular bacterium Chlamydia, sRNAs have been identified, but functional studies have been limited to an E. coli heterologous system.

The Small Molecule H89 Inhibits Inclusion Growth and Production of Infectious Progeny.

is an obligate intracellular bacterium and the most common reportable cause of human infection in the United States. This pathogen proliferates inside a eukaryotic host cell, where it resides within a membrane-bound compartment called the chlamydial inclusion. It has an unusual developmental cycle, marked by conversion between a replicating form, the reticulate body (RB), and an infectious form, the elementary body (EB).

A central role for the transcriptional regulator VtlR in small RNA-mediated gene regulation in Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

LysR-type transcriptional regulators (LTTRs) are the most common type of transcriptional regulators in prokaryotes and function by altering gene expression in response to environmental stimuli. In the class Alphaproteobacteria, a conserved LTTR named VtlR is critical to the establishment of host-microbe interactions. In the mammalian pathogen Brucella abortus, VtlR is required for full virulence in a mouse model of infection, and VtlR activates the expression of abcR2, which encodes a small regulatory RNA (sRNA).

Characterizing the transport and utilization of the neurotransmitter GABA in the bacterial pathogen Brucella abortus.

The neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the most abundant inhibitory neurotransmitter in the human brain; however, it is becoming more evident that this non-proteinogenic amino acid plays multiple physiological roles in biology. In the present study, the transport and function of GABA is studied in the highly infectious intracellular bacterium Brucella abortus. The data show that 3H-GABA is imported by B.

The Endoribonuclease RNase E Coordinates Expression of mRNAs and Small Regulatory RNAs and Is Critical for the Virulence of Brucella abortus.

RNases are key regulatory components in prokaryotes, responsible for the degradation and maturation of specific RNA molecules at precise times. Specifically, RNases allow cells to cope with changes in their environment through rapid alteration of gene expression. To date, few RNases have been characterized in the mammalian pathogen In the present work, we sought to investigate several RNases in and determine what role, if any, they have in pathogenesis.

The Repressor Function of the Late Regulator EUO Is Enhanced by the Plasmid-Encoded Protein Pgp4.

A critical step in intracellular infection is the production of infectious progeny through the expression of late genes. This differentiation step involves conversion from a reticulate body (RB), which is the replicating form of the bacterium, into an elementary body (EB), which is the developmental form that spreads the infection to a new host cell. EUO is an important chlamydial transcription factor that controls the expression of late genes, but the mechanisms that regulate EUO are not known.

Characterization of Three Small Proteins in Brucella abortus Linked to Fucose Utilization.

Elucidating the function of proteins <50 amino acids in length is no small task. Nevertheless, small proteins can play vital roles in the lifestyle of bacteria and influence the virulence of pathogens; thus, the investigation of the small proteome is warranted. Recently, our group identified the protein VtlR as a transcriptional activator of four genes, one of which is the well-studied small regulatory RNA AbcR2, while the other three genes encode hypothetical small proteins, two of which are highly conserved among the order This study provides evidence that all three genes encode authentic small proteins and that all three are highly expressed under oxidative stress, low-pH, and stationary-phase growth conditions.

Endoribonuclease YbeY Is Linked to Proper Cellular Morphology and Virulence in Brucella abortus.

The YbeY endoribonuclease is one of the best-conserved proteins across the kingdoms of life. In the present study, we demonstrated that YbeY in is linked to a variety of important activities, including proper cellular morphology, mRNA transcript levels, and virulence. Deletion of in led to a small-colony phenotype when the bacteria were grown on agar medium, as well as to significant aberrations in the morphology of the bacterial cell as evidenced by electron microscopy.

An account of evolutionary specialization: the AbcR small RNAs in the Rhizobiales.

The AbcR small RNAs (sRNAs) are a fascinating example of two highly conserved sRNAs that differ tremendously at the functional level among organisms. From their transcriptional activation to their regulatory capabilities, the AbcR sRNAs exhibit varying characteristics in three well-studied bacteria belonging to the Rhizobiales order: the plant symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti, the plant pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens, and the animal pathogen Brucella abortus. This review outlines the similarities and differences of the AbcR sRNAs between each of these organisms, and discusses reasons as to why this group of sRNAs has diverged in their genetic organization and regulatory functions across species.

Proline utilization system is required for infection by the pathogenic α-proteobacterium Brucella abortus.

Proline utilization (Put) systems have been described in a number of bacteria; however, the importance and functionality of the Put system in the intracellular pathogen Brucellaabortus has not been explored. Generally, bacterial Put systems are composed of the bifunctional enzyme proline dehydrogenase PutA and its transcriptional activator PutR. Here, we demonstrate that the genes putA (bab2_0518) and putR (bab2_0517) are critical for the chronic infection of mice by B.

A 6-Nucleotide Regulatory Motif within the AbcR Small RNAs of Mediates Host-Pathogen Interactions.

In , two small RNAs (sRNAs), AbcR1 and AbcR2, are responsible for regulating transcripts encoding ABC-type transport systems. AbcR1 and AbcR2 are required for virulence, as a double chromosomal deletion of both sRNAs results in attenuation in mice. Although these sRNAs are responsible for targeting transcripts for degradation, the mechanism utilized by the AbcR sRNAs to regulate mRNA in has not been described.

A LysR-family transcriptional regulator required for virulence in Brucella abortus is highly conserved among the α-proteobacteria.

Small RNAs are principal elements of bacterial gene regulation and physiology. Two small RNAs in Brucella abortus, AbcR1 and AbcR2, are required for wild-type virulence. Examination of the abcR loci revealed the presence of a gene encoding a LysR-type transcriptional regulator flanking abcR2 on chromosome 1.

Coordinated zinc homeostasis is essential for the wild-type virulence of Brucella abortus.

Unlabelled: Metal homeostasis in bacterial cells is a highly regulated process requiring intricately coordinated import and export, as well as precise sensing of intracellular metal concentrations. The uptake of zinc (Zn) has been linked to the virulence of Brucella abortus; however, the capacity of Brucella strains to sense Zn levels and subsequently coordinate Zn homeostasis has not been described. Here, we show that expression of the genes encoding the zinc uptake system ZnuABC is negatively regulated by the Zn-sensing Fur family transcriptional regulator, Zur, by direct interactions between Zur and the promoter region of znuABC.