Reliability and Validity of the 6-Minute Step Test for Clinical Assessment of Cardiorespiratory Fitness in People at Risk of Cardiovascular Disease.

Giacomantonio, N, Morrison, P, Rasmussen, R, and MacKay-Lyons, MJ. Reliability and validity of the 6-minute step test for clinical assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness in people at risk of cardiovascular disease. J Strength Cond Res 34(5): 1376-1382, 2020-The purpose of this study was to determine the test-retest reliability and validity of the 6-minute step test (6MST) as a potential assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) of people at risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

A randomized trial of two home-based exercise programmes to improve functional walking post-stroke.

Objective: To estimate the relative effectiveness in improving walking ability and other mobility and health outcomes post-stroke of two home-based exercise programmes - stationary cycling and an exercise and walking programme.

Design: An observer-blinded, randomized, pragmatic, trial with repeated measures.

Setting: Hospital centers in two Canadian cities.

Ethics of involving children in health-related research: applying a decision-making framework to a clinical trial.

Purpose: This paper explores ethical issues related to the involvement of children in health-related research through the application of a conceptual model (the Miller and Kenny framework) to a current clinical trial on casting protocols for equinus gait of children with cerebral palsy (CP).

Summary Of Key Points: The direct involvement of children in health-related research is important for maintaining and improving standards of paediatric clinical care. Ethical considerations around investigations involving this highly vulnerable population are complex, however, requiring the involvement of many levels of decision makers-government, research ethics boards (REBs), health care providers, parents, and children.

Reduced cardiorespiratory fitness after stroke: biological consequences and exercise-induced adaptations.

Evidence from several studies consistently shows decline in cardiorespiratory (CR) fitness and physical function after disabling stroke. The broader implications of such a decline to general health may be partially understood through negative poststroke physiologic adaptations such as unilateral muscle fiber type shifts, impaired hemodynamic function, and decrements in systemic metabolic status. These physiologic changes also interrelate with reductions in activities of daily living (ADLs), community ambulation, and exercise tolerance, causing a perpetual cycle of worsening disability and deteriorating health.

Metabolic syndrome and its components in individuals undergoing rehabilitation after stroke.

Background And Purpose: : Individuals participating in stroke rehabilitation are in jeopardy of future vascular events, including a second stroke. Nevertheless, vascular risk assessment is often overlooked in this population. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) may be a useful construct for risk assessment because of its predictive ability in distinguishing patients who are at high risk of future morbidity.

Assessment protocol for serial casting after botulinum toxin a injections to treat equinus gait.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate feasibility of an assessment protocol for a trial of post-Botox casting to treat equinus gait in cerebral palsy.

Methods: Ten children (ages, 26-75 months) were recruited. Nine were assessed 1 week before botulinum toxin-A injections and reassessed 1 week after removal of the final cast.

Exercise capacity and cardiovascular adaptations to aerobic training early after stroke.

Clinicians are becoming increasingly interested in the use of aerobic training to enhance functional outcomes after stroke. Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of training among individuals in the chronic poststroke period. However, there is limited information on the response to training in earlier stages of recovery.

Longitudinal changes in exercise capacity after stroke.

Objective: To determine if stroke patients without specific aerobic training experience a change in the first 6 months after stroke.

Design: Descriptive, longitudinal study with repeated measures of exercise capacity at 1, 2, 3, and 6 months after stroke.

Setting: Exercise testing laboratory in a tertiary care hospital.

Exercise capacity early after stroke.

Objective: To evaluate exercise capacity of patients with a poststroke interval of less than 1 month.

Design: Prospective, cohort, observational study.

Setting: Exercise testing laboratory in a tertiary care hospital.

Cardiovascular stress during a contemporary stroke rehabilitation program: is the intensity adequate to induce a training effect?

Objectives: To investigate the level of cardiovascular stress of physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) sessions of a contemporary stroke rehabilitation program and to identify therapeutic activities that elicit heart rate responses adequate to induce a training effect.

Design: A descriptive, longitudinal study with heart rate and activity monitoring of PT and OT sessions at biweekly intervals, 2 to 14 weeks poststroke.

Setting: An acute inpatient stroke unit and inpatient and outpatient stroke rehabilitation units.