Time course of surface electromyography during walking of children with spastic cerebral palsy treated with botulinum toxin type A and its rehabilitation implications.

Background: The timing of the effects of botulinum toxin A on spastic muscles is not yet fully clarified. The goal of this study was to follow the temporal changes of surface electromyographic activity of lower limb muscles during walking, after a therapeutic dose of botulinum toxin A injected into the calf muscles of children with spastic cerebral palsy.

Methods: A group of children with spastic equinus foot was administered botulinum toxin A into the gastrocnemius medialis and lateralis muscles.

A Multi-Centre COVID-19 Study Examining Symptoms and Medication Use in the Final Week of Life.

Context: Guidelines exist to direct end-of-life symptom management in COVID-19 patients. However, the real-world symptom patterns, and degree of concordance with guidelines on medication use, and palliative care involvement has received limited attention.

Objectives: To describe the evolution of COVID-19 symptoms, medication used to alleviate these, and degree of palliative care involvement in the final week of life.

A multi-centre study on patients dying from COVID-19: communication between clinicians, patients and their families.

Background: COVID-19 has led to challenges in providing effective and timely communication in healthcare. Services have been required to adapt and evolve as successful communication remains core to high-quality patient-centred care.

Aim: To describe the communication between admitted patients, their families and clinicians (medical, nursing, allied health) during end-of-life care.

Timing of muscle response to a sudden leg perturbation: comparison between adolescents and adults with Down syndrome.

Movement disturbances associated with Down syndrome reduce mechanical stability, worsening the execution of important tasks such as walking and upright standing. To compensate these deficits, persons with Down syndrome increase joint stability modulating the level of activation of single muscles or producing an agonist-antagonist co-activation. Such activations are also observed when a relaxed, extended leg is suddenly released and left to oscillate passively under the influence of gravity (Wartenberg test).