Perceived Stress and Coffee and Energy Drink Consumption Predict Poor Sleep Quality in Podiatric Medical Students A Cross-sectional Study.

Background: A cross-sectional survey administered to first- and second-year podiatric medical students aimed to investigate the effect of coffee intake, energy drink consumption, and perceived stress on sleep quality in medical students during their preclinical studies.

Methods: Ninety-eight of 183 students contacted (53.6%) completed a questionnaire comprising standard instruments measuring sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness scale), and perceived stress (ten-item Perceived Stress Scale).

Neural circuits underlying motor facilitation during observation of implied motion.

In the present study we used single and paired-pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to evaluate the effect of implied motion on primary motor cortex microcircuits. We found that observation of the implied motion of a static image increases MEP amplitude and reduces short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI), without significant modulation of intracortical facilitation and sensory-motor integration. Our results add to the existing literature on the activation of the observation-execution matching system and describe a selective modulation of GABAergic cortical microcircuits during observation of implied motion.

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation for chronic pain in the elderly: a pilot study.

Background And Aims: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive neuromodulatory technique that can affect human pain perception. The present open-label, single-arm study investigated whether primary motor cortex anodal tDCS treatment reduces chronic foot pain intensity and improves depression and pain-related anxiety symptoms in patients with chronic plantar fasciitis.

Methods: Ten patients with symptomatic treatment-resistant plantar fasciitis were enrolled in the study.

Severe chronic heel pain in a diabetic patient with plantar fasciitis successfully treated through transcranial direct current stimulation.

Background: Recently, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a noninvasive brain stimulation technique, was proposed as a suitable method for the treatment of several chronic pain syndromes. We describe a case of severe heel pain in a diabetic patient with plantar fasciitis successfully treated with tDCS.

Methods: The present study investigated whether tDCS treatment could reduce pain and pain-related anxiety in a 65-year-old diabetic man affected by treatment-resistant right heel pain due to plantar fasciitis.

Symmetric corticospinal excitability and representation of vastus lateralis muscle in right-handed healthy subjects.

The purpose of this study was to determine the size and location of the representations of the anterior thigh muscles on the human motor cortex in the dominant and non-dominant hemispheres. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation were recorded from the right and left vastus lateralis (rVL, lVL) muscles. A total of ten right-handed healthy volunteers participated in the study.