Post-stroke enriched auditory environment induces structural connectome plasticity: secondary analysis from a randomized controlled trial.

Post-stroke neuroplasticity and cognitive recovery can be enhanced by multimodal stimulation via environmental enrichment. In this vein, recent studies have shown that enriched sound environment (i.e.

Isn't There Room for Music in Chronic Pain Management?

Chronic pain with its comorbidities, such as depression, insomnia, and social deprivation, is a major cause of disability and health-economic burden. Insufficient response to pain medication and potentially serious adverse effects have led the majority of chronic pain patients to seek relief from non-pharmacological remedies. Along with this trend, pain research has paid increasing interest in critical evaluation of various complementary treatments.

Resting-state language network neuroplasticity in post-stroke music listening: A randomized controlled trial.

Recent evidence suggests that post-stroke vocal music listening can aid language recovery, but the network-level functional neuroplasticity mechanisms of this effect are unknown. Here, we sought to determine if improved language recovery observed after post-stroke listening to vocal music is driven by changes in longitudinal resting-state functional connectivity within the language network. Using data from a single-blind randomized controlled trial on stroke patients (N = 38), we compared the effects of daily listening to self-selected vocal music, instrumental music and audio books on changes of the resting-state functional connectivity within the language network and their correlation to improved language skills and verbal memory during the first 3 months post-stroke.

Headache and quality of life in Finnish female municipal employees.

Objectives: Migraine and other specific types of chronic headache impair health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, undefined headache is common in general population and little is known about its impact on QoL. This study addresses the impact of undefined headache symptoms on quality of life in a population of working-age females.

Right ventral stream damage underlies both poststroke aprosodia and amusia.

Background And Purpose: This study was undertaken to determine and compare lesion patterns and structural dysconnectivity underlying poststroke aprosodia and amusia, using a data-driven multimodal neuroimaging approach.

Methods: Thirty-nine patients with right or left hemisphere stroke were enrolled in a cohort study and tested for linguistic and affective prosody perception and musical pitch and rhythm perception at subacute and 3-month poststroke stages. Participants listened to words spoken with different prosodic stress that changed their meaning, and to words spoken with six different emotions, and chose which meaning or emotion was expressed.

Vocal music listening enhances post-stroke language network reorganization.

Listening to vocal music has been recently shown to improve language recovery in stroke survivors. The neuroplasticity mechanisms supporting this effect are, however, still unknown. Using data from a three-arm single-blind randomized controlled trial including acute stroke patients (N=38) and a 3-month follow-up, we set out to compare the neuroplasticity effects of daily listening to self-selected vocal music, instrumental music, and audiobooks on both brain activity and structural connectivity of the language network.

Vocal music enhances memory and language recovery after stroke: pooled results from two RCTs.

Objective: Previous studies suggest that daily music listening can aid stroke recovery, but little is known about the stimulus-dependent and neural mechanisms driving this effect. Building on neuroimaging evidence that vocal music engages extensive and bilateral networks in the brain, we sought to determine if it would be more effective for enhancing cognitive and language recovery and neuroplasticity than instrumental music or speech after stroke.

Methods: Using data pooled from two single-blind randomized controlled trials in stroke patients (N = 83), we compared the effects of daily listening to self-selected vocal music, instrumental music, and audiobooks during the first 3 poststroke months.

The Impact of Self-Reported Recurrent Headache on Absenteeism and Presenteeism at Work Among Finnish Municipal Female Employees.

Purpose: The aim of this cross-sectional, observational study was to determine the impact of self-reported headache on absenteeism and presenteeism in a female working-age population.

Subjects And Methods: The study population consisted of 594 Finnish female municipal employees, who answered self-administered questionnaires including sociodemographic, lifestyle, health, and work-related data. Sickness absence days were obtained from the official records of the employer.

Neural architectures of music - Insights from acquired amusia.

The ability to perceive and produce music is a quintessential element of human life, present in all known cultures. Modern functional neuroimaging has revealed that music listening activates a large-scale bilateral network of cortical and subcortical regions in the healthy brain. Even the most accurate structural studies do not reveal which brain areas are critical and causally linked to music processing.

Cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying the mnemonic effect of songs after stroke.

Sung melody provides a mnemonic cue that can enhance the acquisition of novel verbal material in healthy subjects. Recent evidence suggests that also stroke patients, especially those with mild aphasia, can learn and recall novel narrative stories better when they are presented in sung than spoken format. Extending this finding, the present study explored the cognitive mechanisms underlying this effect by determining whether learning and recall of novel sung vs.

The role of psychosocial risk factors in the burden of headache.

Psychosocial risk factors are common in headache patients and affect the impact of headache in multiple ways. The aim of our study was to assess how psychosocial risk factors correlate with the headache impact test-6 (HIT-6). To our knowledge this is the first study to evaluate the impact of several psychosocial factors on the HIT-6 score.

Tooth Clenching Induces Abnormal Cerebrovascular Responses in Migraineurs.

Prevalence of masticatory parafunctions, such as tooth clenching and grinding, is higher among migraineurs than non-migraineurs, and masticatory dysfunctions may aggravate migraine. Migraine predisposes to cerebrovascular disturbances, possibly due to impaired autonomic vasoregulation, and sensitization of the trigeminovascular system. The relationships between clenching, migraine, and cerebral circulation are poorly understood.

Complication Burden Index-A tool for comprehensive evaluation of the effect of complications on functional outcome after status epilepticus.

Systemic complications are common in status epilepticus. We have no tools to evaluate total burden of complications and its effect on the outcome of status epilepticus. For Complication Burden Index (CBI) a patient is assessed for 13 complication categories: respiratory, cardiovascular, nervous, renal, hepatic, coagulation, gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal systems, electrolyte/acid-base balance, infection, hypo-/hyperglycemia, skin/allergic reactions, and mental condition.

Sung melody enhances verbal learning and recall after stroke.

Coupling novel verbal material with a musical melody can potentially aid in its learning and recall in healthy subjects, but this has never been systematically studied in stroke patients with cognitive deficits. In a counterbalanced design, we presented novel verbal material (short narrative stories) in both spoken and sung formats to stroke patients at the acute poststroke stage and 6 months poststroke. The task comprised three learning trials and a delayed recall trial.

The essence of the first 2.5 h in the treatment of generalized convulsive status epilepticus.

Purpose: This study was designed to find realistic cut-offs of the delays predicting outcome after generalized convulsive status epilepticus (GCSE) and serving protocol streamlining of GCSE patients.

Method: This retrospective study includes all consecutive adult (>16 years) patients (N = 70) diagnosed with GCSE in Helsinki University Central Hospital emergency department over 2 years. We defined ten specific delay parameters in the management of GCSE and determined functional outcome and mortality at hospital discharge.

Tracting the neural basis of music: Deficient structural connectivity underlying acquired amusia.

Acquired amusia provides a unique opportunity to investigate the fundamental neural architectures of musical processing due to the transition from a functioning to defective music processing system. Yet, the white matter (WM) deficits in amusia remain systematically unexplored. To evaluate which WM structures form the neural basis for acquired amusia and its recovery, we studied 42 stroke patients longitudinally at acute, 3-month, and 6-month post-stroke stages using DTI [tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) and deterministic tractography (DT)] and the Scale and Rhythm subtests of the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA).

Functional neural changes associated with acquired amusia across different stages of recovery after stroke.

Brain damage causing acquired amusia disrupts the functional music processing system, creating a unique opportunity to investigate the critical neural architectures of musical processing in the brain. In this longitudinal fMRI study of stroke patients (N = 41) with a 6-month follow-up, we used natural vocal music (sung with lyrics) and instrumental music stimuli to uncover brain activation and functional network connectivity changes associated with acquired amusia and its recovery. In the acute stage, amusic patients exhibited decreased activation in right superior temporal areas compared to non-amusic patients during instrumental music listening.

Relationship of musculoskeletal pain and well-being at work - Does pain matter?

Background And Aims: Musculoskeletal pain is a common symptom and many people even with chronic pain continue to work. The aim of our study is to analyze how musculoskeletal pain affects work well-being by comparing work engagement in employees with or without pain, and how pain-related risk of disability is associated with work engagement. In a separate analysis, we also studied, how psychosocial factors are related to work engagement.

Revisiting the Neural Basis of Acquired Amusia: Lesion Patterns and Structural Changes Underlying Amusia Recovery.

Although, acquired amusia is a common deficit following stroke, relatively little is still known about its precise neural basis, let alone to its recovery. Recently, we performed a voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) and morphometry (VBM) study which revealed a right lateralized lesion pattern, and longitudinal gray matter volume (GMV) and white matter volume (WMV) changes that were specifically associated with acquired amusia after stroke. In the present study, using a larger sample of stroke patients ( = 90), we aimed to replicate and extend the previous structural findings as well as to determine the lesion patterns and volumetric changes associated with amusia recovery.

How to Assess Sensory Recovery After Breast Reconstruction Surgery?

Background: We evaluated clinical against psychophysical (tactile and thermal quantitative sensory test [QST]), neurophysiologic (somatosensory evoked potential [SEP]), and epithelial nerve fiber density (ENFD) examinations in detection and follow-up of sensory alterations after breast reconstruction done with or without nerve anastomoses.

Patients And Methods: In a prospective 2-year follow-up design, 56 breast cancer patients underwent innervated and 20 patients noninnervated free rectus abdominis muscle-sparing flap (ms-TRAM) breast reconstruction. Healthy contralateral breasts (36 patients) and 20 healthy volunteer women served as control participants.

Music-based interventions in neurological rehabilitation.

During the past ten years, an increasing number of controlled studies have assessed the potential rehabilitative effects of music-based interventions, such as music listening, singing, or playing an instrument, in several neurological diseases. Although the number of studies and extent of available evidence is greatest in stroke and dementia, there is also evidence for the effects of music-based interventions on supporting cognition, motor function, or emotional wellbeing in people with Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, or multiple sclerosis. Music-based interventions can affect divergent functions such as motor performance, speech, or cognition in these patient groups.

Neural Basis of Acquired Amusia and Its Recovery after Stroke.

Unlabelled: Although acquired amusia is a relatively common disorder after stroke, its precise neuroanatomical basis is still unknown. To evaluate which brain regions form the neural substrate for acquired amusia and its recovery, we performed a voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) and morphometry (VBM) study with 77 human stroke subjects. Structural MRIs were acquired at acute and 6 month poststroke stages.

Delays and Factors Related to Cessation of Generalized Convulsive Status Epilepticus.

Introduction. This study was designed to identify the delays and factors related to and predicting the cessation of generalized convulsive SE (GCSE). Methods.