Predictors of Large-for-Gestational-Age Birthweight Among Pregnant Women With Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Objective: Our aim in this study was to compare the effects of risk factors for large-for-gestational-age (LGA) birthweight between women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus (TIDM and T2DM, respectively).

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted for women with T1DM (n=152) and T2DM (n=255) attending a diabetes/pregnancy clinic during the period from 2009 to 2016. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify variables associated with LGA birthweight.

True functional ability of chronic stroke patients.

Background: There is a paucity of information regarding visuospatial (VS) and visuomotor (VM) task performance in patients with chronic right fronto-parietal lobe stroke, as the majority of knowledge to date in this realm has been gleaned from acute stroke patients. The goal of this paper is to determine how VS and VM performance in chronic stroke patients compare to the performance of healthy participants.

Methods: Nine patients with stroke involving the right fronto-parietal region were evaluated against match controls on neuropsychological tests and a computerized visuomotor assessment task.

Long-term prediction of functional outcome after stroke using the Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score in the subacute stage.

Stroke patients who arrive at hospital more than 24 hours after symptom onset could benefit from a simple means of assessing long-term prognosis in this subacute stage. We evaluated whether clinical factors along with ischemic injury assessed subacutely using the Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score (ASPECTS) had predictive value for functional independence after stroke. Computed tomography (CT) scans obtained ≥ 2 days after first-ever ischemic stroke were scored independently and retrospectively by 3 stroke neurologists using the ASPECTS.

Correlating lesion size and location to deficits after ischemic stroke: the influence of accounting for altered peri-necrotic tissue and incidental silent infarcts.

Background: Investigators frequently quantify and evaluate the location and size of stroke lesions to help uncover cerebral anatomical correlates of deficits observed after first-ever stroke. However, it is common to discover silent infarcts such as lacunes in patients identified clinically as 'first-ever' stroke, and it is unclear if including these incidental findings may impact lesion-based investigations of brain-behaviour relationships. There is also debate concerning how to best define the boundaries of necrotic stroke lesions that blend in an ill-defined way into surrounding tissue, as it is unclear whether including this altered peri-necrotic tissue region may influence studies of brain-behaviour relationships.

Exposure to low amounts of ultrasound energy does not improve soft tissue shoulder pathology: a systematic review.

Background: Although therapeutic ultrasound is commonly used to treat shoulder injuries, research to date on the ability of ultrasound to improve outcomes for shoulder pathologies is conflicting.

Objective: This study aimed to systematically and critically review available literature to ascertain whether beneficial effects of ultrasound were associated with certain shoulder pathologies or particular ultrasound treatment protocols.

Methods: Five electronic databases were searched, and the included studies, identified through pair consensus, were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that utilized ultrasound for soft tissue shoulder injury or pain.

Association between gait asymmetry and brain lesion location in stroke patients.

Background And Purpose: Associations between the site of brain injury and poststroke gait impairment are poorly understood. Temporal gait asymmetry after stroke is a salient index of gait dysfunction that has important functional consequences. The current study investigated whether subtraction lesion analysis could distinguish brain regions associated with persisting temporal gait asymmetry in chronic stroke patients.