Cognitive impairments and depressive symptoms did not impede upper limb recovery in a clinical repetitive task practice program after stroke: a pilot study.

Objective: We examined whether cognitive impairments or depressive symptoms impeded improvement in upper limb function in a clinical repetitive task practice program.

Design: Participants had mild to moderate upper limb impairment after stroke (n = 20). We characterized baseline cognitive function and depressive symptoms using the Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Status and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression.

Cyclic functional electrical stimulation does not enhance gains in hand grasp function when used as an adjunct to onabotulinumtoxinA and task practice therapy: a single-blind, randomized controlled pilot study.

Objective: To determine whether onabotulinumtoxinA injections and task practice training with or without functional electrical stimulation (FES) improve upper limb motor function in chronic spastic hemiparesis.

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Outpatient spasticity clinic.

Effect of baseline spastic hemiparesis on recovery of upper-limb function following botulinum toxin type A injections and postinjection therapy.

Objective: To determine whether baseline hand spastic hemiparesis assessed by the Chedoke-McMaster Assessment influences functional improvement after botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) injections and postinjection therapy.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Outpatient spasticity clinic.

PulseCO: a less-invasive method to monitor cardiac output from arterial pressure after cardiac surgery.

Background: Cardiac output is often monitored after cardiac operations with a pulmonary artery catheter. A new method has been introduced that measures cardiac output by lithium dilution (LiDCO) and uses these data to calibrate a system (PulseCO) that calculates cardiac output continuously from the energy of the arterial pressure waveform. It is unknown whether PulseCO measurements are valid early after cardiac surgery when changes in temperature and vascular tone or intermittent use of the arterial line for blood sampling may occur.