Rehabilitation Outcomes in Spinal Abscess Patients With and Without a History of Intravenous Substance Abuse.

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare functional outcomes of acute inpatient rehabilitation for spinal epidural abscess patients with and without history of intravenous substance abuse.

Design: This is a retrospective case series study in freestanding rehabilitation hospital.

Methods: Charts of 28 spinal epidural abscess patients admitted from January 2012 to September 2015: 13 with intravenous substance abuse and 15 without intravenous substance abuse were reviewed.

Noninvasive evaluation of electrical stimulation impacts on muscle hemodynamics via integrating diffuse optical spectroscopies with muscle stimulator.

Technologies currently available for the monitoring of electrical stimulation (ES) in promoting blood circulation and tissue oxygenation are limited. This study integrated a muscle stimulator with a diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) flow-oximeter to noninvasively quantify muscle blood flow and oxygenation responses during ES. Ten healthy subjects were tested using the integrated system.

Trialing of intrathecal baclofen therapy for refractory stiff-person syndrome.

Objective: Stiff-person syndrome (SPS) is a rare disorder of the central nervous system characterized by stiffness and muscle spasms that may be progressive in nature. When oral medication is inadequate to control muscle spasticity, intrathecal baclofen may be used. We report a patient with severe SPS and glutamate decarboxylase negative [GAD(-)] (note: GAD(-) indicates the patient has no antibodies to GAD), refractory to oral standard therapies.

The long-term impact of physical and emotional trauma: the station nightclub fire.

Background: Survivors of physical and emotional trauma experience enduring occupational, psychological and quality of life impairments. Examining survivors from a large fire provides a unique opportunity to distinguish the impact of physical and emotional trauma on long-term outcomes. The objective is to detail the multi-dimensional long-term effects of a large fire on its survivor population and assess differences in outcomes between survivors with and without physical injury.

Increase in sensorimotor cortex response to somatosensory stimulation over subacute poststroke period correlates with motor recovery in hemiparetic patients.

Background: . Somatosensory input to the motor cortex may play a critical role in motor relearning after hemiparetic stroke.

Objective: .

An introduction to trialing intrathecal baclofen in patients with hemiparetic spasticity: a description of 3 cases.

Background: Intrathecal baclofen has been an effective therapy in the management of spasticity. As interventional pain physicians are rapidly becoming the experts in intrathecal drug delivery, they are now frequently asked to trial and implant intrathecal baclofen therapy. While some physicians might be very comfortable with the process of trialing and implanting, others will have next to no experience until the first consult appears on their desks.

Inpatient rehabilitation after deep brain stimulator placement: a case series.

This case series describes the inpatient rehabilitation of two medically complex patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) who had undergone deep brain stimulator (DBS) placement. Most patients may not require inpatient rehabilitation. However, a short rehabilitation stay might be of use to patients who need to be weaned off medications or who need frequent adjustments of their deep brain stimulators.

Data mining techniques to detect motor fluctuations in Parkinson's disease.

The purpose of this paper is to present preliminary evidence that data mining and artificial intelligence systems may allow one to recognize the presence and severity of motor fluctuations in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). We hypothesize that movement disorders in late-stage PD present with identifiable and predictable features that can be derived from accelerometer (ACC) and surface electromyographic (EMG) signals recorded during the execution of a standardized set of motor assessment tasks. Although this paper focuses on a specific clinical application requiring advanced analysis techniques, the approach can be generalized to numerous applications in which data mining and other techniques can be used to analyze large data sets derived from wearable sensors.

Clinical characteristics and rehabilitation outcomes of patients with posterior cerebral artery stroke.

Objectives: To describe the demographics, clinical profile, and functional outcomes in posterior cerebral artery (PCA) stroke and to identify factors associated with functional change during rehabilitation and discharge disposition.

Design: Retrospective study of patients with PCA stroke admitted to a rehabilitation hospital over an 8-year period.

Setting: Free-standing urban rehabilitation hospital in the United States.