Telephone-based problem-solving intervention for family caregivers of stroke survivors: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Intervention trials for stroke caregivers after the early poststroke period are lacking. To address this gap, we examined the effectiveness of a problem-solving intervention (PSI) for stroke caregivers who provided care for at least 6 months and who experienced significant strain in their role.

Method: One hundred twenty-two family caregivers (age = 66.

Increased excitability in the primary motor cortex and supplementary motor area in patients with phantom limb pain after upper limb amputation.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and single slice FLASH technique, we investigated reorganization of the hand representation of the primary sensorimotor cortex (SMC) in 16 patients with upper extremity amputation. Patients were asked to perform finger tapping with the intact hand, repetitive eye closing and anteflexion of the amputation stump or intact shoulder. Six normal volunteers served as control.

Antinociceptive reflex alteration in acute posttraumatic headache following whiplash injury.

Brainstem-mediated antinociceptive inhibitory reflexes of the temporalis muscle were investigated in 82 patients (47 F, 35 M, mean age 28.3 years, SD 9.4) with acute posttraumatic headache (PH) following whiplash injury but without neurological deficits, bone injury of the cervical spine or a combined direct head trauma on average 5 days after the acceleration trauma.

Spontaneous oscillations in cerebral blood flow velocity give evidence of different autonomic dysfunctions in various types of headache.

Objectives: Our objectives were to determine if: (1) patients with migraine have B wave abnormalities in comparison to normal controls and patients with chronic tension headache and (2) patients with chronic tension headache have an imbalance in autonomic activity that is reflected in differences in Mayer wave activity in comparison to normal controls.

Background: B waves and Mayer waves are spontaneous oscillations in cerebral blood flow velocity with a frequency of 0.5 to 3 or 4 to 7 cycles per minute, respectively, and can be measured by transcranial Doppler sonography.

Abnormal motor cortex organization contralateral to early upper limb amputation in humans.

We performed both a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study using single slice FLASH technique and an investigation with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in a 21-year-old patient. He had suffered a left upper extremity amputation at age 7. Anteflexion of the amputation stump produced an unusual, broad activation contralateral to the movement.