Gamified Closed-Loop Intervention Enhances Tic Suppression in Children: A Randomized Trial.

Background: Gamification of behavioral intervention for tic disorders (TDs) potentially enhances compliance and offers key clinical advantages. By delivering immediate positive feedback upon tic-suppression, games may counteract negative reinforcement, which presumably contribute to tic consolidation by relieving uncomfortable premonitory urges.

Objectives: We developed a gamified protocol (XTics), which leverages this potential by combining gamified tic-triggering with immediate feedback, and evaluated its clinical value in enhancing tic suppression.

Impact of movie and video game elements on tic manifestation in children.

Background And Purpose: Children in developed countries spend a significant portion of their waking hours engaging with audiovisual content and video games. The impact of media consumption on children's health and well-being has been widely studied, including its effects on tic disorders. Previous studies have shown that tic frequency can both increase and decrease during activities like gaming and television watching, resulting in mixed findings.

Factors associated with the time of presentation of acute stroke patients in an Israeli community hospital.

Recently it has been shown that effective treatment for acute stroke must be initiated within 3-6 h from onset. In order to determine whether this is feasible and the reasons for delayed presentation, a prospective study was conducted in a community hospital in Israel. Of the 216 patients enrolled, 18% arrived at the hospital within 90 min of stroke onset and 54% presented within 6 h.

The effect of verapamil calcium antagonist on autonomic imbalance in migraine: evaluation by spectral analysis of beat-to-beat heart rate fluctuations.

Abnormalities in autonomic control have been documented in migraine even during the headache-free interval. It has long been recognized that spectral analysis of heart rate (HR) fluctuations can reflect the autonomic function, especially the sympathetic to parasympathetic balance. This technique is the basis for a quantitative approach to the investigation of migraine applied in the present study.