Physiological Biomarkers for Assessment of Pain during Routine Blood Tests for Older Adults with Dementia in Long-Term Residential Care.

Objective: Evaluating pain in individuals with dementia can be difficult when verbal communication is limited. Vocalization has emerged as a potential avenue for assessments of pain in nonverbal populations. This study aimed to evaluate if physiological assessments of vocalization were correlated with observational assessments of pain during routine blood tests for persons with dementia.

Neuroplastic Changes Associated With Hybrid Exercise-Cognitive Training in Stroke Survivors With Mild Cognitive Decline: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Exercise and cognitive training have been shown to induce neuroplastic changes and modulate cognitive function following stroke. However, it remains unclear whether hybridized exercise-cognitive training facilitates cortical activity and further influences cognitive function after stroke.

Objective: The study aimed to investigate the effects of 2 hybridized exercise-cognitive trainings on neuroplastic changes and behavioral outcomes in stroke survivors with mild cognitive decline.

The Balance Recovery Confidence (BRC) Scale.

Background: Falls efficacy posits an understanding of the perceived ability to prevent and manage falls. There have been no validated self-reported instruments to measure the perceived ability to recover balance in response to destabilizing perturbations.

Purpose: To develop a scale of balance recovery confidence.

Baseline Global Cognitive Function Affects Cognitive and Functional Outcomes of Combined Physical and Cognitive Training Among Older Adults With Cognitive Decline.

Importance: Baseline global cognitive function may affect cognitive and functional outcomes during combined physical and cognitive training; however, how it influences the effects of combined training remains uncertain.

Objective: To determine the impact of baseline global cognitive function on cognitive and functional outcomes after combined physical and cognitive training among older adults with cognitive decline.

Design: Observational.

Differences in walking-to-turning characteristics between older adult fallers and nonfallers: a prospective and observational study using wearable inertial sensors.

Wearable inertial sensors have gradually been used as an objective technology for biomechanical assessments of both healthy and pathological movement patterns. This paper used foot-worn sensors for characterizing the spatiotemporal characteristics of walking and turning between older fallers and nonfallers. Thirty community-dwelling older fallers and 30 older nonfallers performed 10-m straight walking, turned 180° around a cone, and then walked 10-m back to the starting point.

The effects of the Otago Exercise Programme on actual and perceived balance in older adults: A meta-analysis.

Objective: Falls are serious issues in older populations. Balance problems are a major cause of falls and may lead to fear of falling and decreased balance confidence. The Otago Exercise Programme (OEP) is an effective fall prevention program that benefits balance function and fear of falling.

Clinical efficacy of aerobic exercise combined with computer-based cognitive training in stroke: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: The objectives are to evaluate the effects of a sequential combination of aerobic exercise and cognitive training, compared with exercise or cognitive training alone, on cognitive function, physical function, daily function, quality of life, and social participation in stroke survivors with cognitive impairment.

Methods: This is a single-blind, parallel, randomized controlled trial. Stroke patients with mild cognitive impairment (n = 56) were randomly assigned to aerobic exercise training (n = 18), computerized cognitive training (n = 18), and the sequential combination of aerobic exercise and computerized cognitive training (n = 20) group.

Impacts of stroke and cognitive impairment on activities of daily living in the Taiwan longitudinal study on aging.

Stroke and cognitive impairment are common in older population. They often occur together and their combined effects significantly increase disability in both basic (BADLs) and instrumental (IADLs) activities of daily living. We investigated the individual and combined impacts of stroke and cognitive impairment on BADLs and IADLs.

Near-falls in Singapore community-dwelling older adults: a feasibility study.

Background: A near-fall is defined as a loss of balance that would result in a fall if sufficient balance recovery manoeuvres are not executed. Compared to falls, near-falls and its associated balance recovery manoeuvres have been understudied. Older adults may not recognise a near-fall or identify the use of their balance recovery manoeuvres to prevent a fall.

Immediate effects of valgus bracing on knee joint moments during walking in knee-healthy individuals: Potential modifying effects of body height.

Background: The goal of valgus knee brace treatment is to reduce medial knee joint loading during walking, often indicated by external knee adduction moment (KAM) measures. However, existing healthy-subjects studies have been equivocal in demonstrating KAM reduction with valgus knee bracing.

Research Question: What are the immediate effects of valgus bracing at different tension levels on KAM during walking at a controlled speed and does body height modify the brace-KAM associations?

Methods: Data from 32 knee-healthy participants were analysed in this randomized crossover trial.

Test-retest reliability and variability of knee adduction moment peak, impulse and loading rate during walking.

Background: Previous studies have reported good test-retest reliability for peak knee adduction moment (KAM) during walking. However, reliability of other KAM measurements has not been established.

Research Question: What is the test-retest reliability of peak KAM, KAM impulse, and KAM loading rate measurements during walking in knee-healthy individuals?

Methods: Data from 32 knee-healthy participants were analysed in this test-retest reliability study.

Comparison of different fractionation strategies for in-depth phosphoproteomics by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

Phosphorylation, a major posttranslational modification of proteins, plays an important role in protein activity and cell signaling. However, it is difficult to detect protein phosphorylation because of its low abundance and the fact that the analysis can be hindered by the presence of highly abundant non-phosphoproteins. In order to reduce the sample complexity and improve the efficiency of identification of phosphopeptides, aliphatic hydroxy acid-modified metal oxide chromatography (HAMMOC) was utilized to enrich phosphopeptides from a murine macrophage cell lysate.

The Active Ingredient of Cognitive Restoration: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial of Sequential Combination of Aerobic Exercise and Computer-Based Cognitive Training in Stroke Survivors With Cognitive Decline.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of a sequential combination of aerobic exercise and cognitive training on cognitive function and other health-related outcomes in stroke survivors with cognitive decline.

Design: Intervention study and randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Hospital-based rehabilitation units.

The use of a dual-task paradigm to identify superior sensory organisation ability in rhythmic gymnasts.

Previous study has showed superior sensory organisation ability in rhythmic gymnasts, but mostly in longitudinal data. With a cross-sectional design, this study used a dual-task paradigm to examine the above phenomenon. Fifteen female rhythmic gymnasts (15.

Effects and mechanism of the HECT study (hybrid exercise-cognitive trainings) in mild ischemic stroke with cognitive decline: fMRI for brain plasticity, biomarker and behavioral analysis.

Purpose: Cognitive decline after stroke is highly associated with functional disability. Empirical evidence shows that exercise combined cognitive training may induce neuroplastic changes that modulate cognitive function. However, it is unclear whether hybridized exercise-cognitive training can facilitate cortical activity and physiological outcome measures and further influence on the cognitive function after stroke.

Synergistic effects of aerobic exercise and cognitive training on cognition, physiological markers, daily function, and quality of life in stroke survivors with cognitive decline: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Aerobic exercise and cognitive training have been effective in improving cognitive functions; however, whether the combination of these two can further enhance cognition and clinical outcomes in stroke survivors with cognitive decline remains unknown. This study aimed to determine the treatment effects of a sequential combination of aerobic exercise and cognitive training on cognitive function and clinical outcomes.

Methods/design: Stroke survivors (n = 75) with cognitive decline will be recruited and randomly assigned to cognitive training, aerobic exercise, and sequential combination of aerobic exercise and cognitive training groups.

A Preliminary Investigation of the Association of Sleep With Inflammation and Oxidative Stress Biomarkers and Functional Outcomes After Stroke Rehabilitation.

This study examined the association of sleep with inflammation and oxidative stress biomarkers, and with functional outcomes, after stroke rehabilitation. The rehabilitation effects on biomarkers and functional outcomes were also evaluated. Twenty subacute stroke survivors received 4 weeks of upper limb rehabilitation.

KAPS (kinematic assessment of passive stretch): a tool to assess elbow flexor and extensor spasticity after stroke using a robotic exoskeleton.

Background: Spasticity is a common sequela of stroke. Traditional assessment methods include relatively coarse scales that may not capture all characteristics of elevated muscle tone. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop a tool to quantitatively assess post-stroke spasticity in the upper extremity.

Using a Manipulation Check to Uncover Age-Related Difference in Focus of Attention Instruction During a Balance Task.

Background/study Context: A manipulation check was used to investigate whether there is an age-related difference in the adherence to specific external- and internal-focus instructional constraints.

Methods: Participants stood on a force platform and were to maintain a feedback cursor (representing their center of pressure) along the horizontal direction, within a target on a computer monitor. Trials were conducted with either an external focus of attention (keeping the feedback cursor within the target) or an internal focus of attention (keeping the weight evenly distributed between both legs).

Age-related changes in postural control to the demands of a precision task.

Optimal sensorimotor integration is needed to maintain the precision of a visuomotor postural task. Furthermore, cognitive resources have been suggested to be involved in maintaining balance, especially in older adults. This study investigated how older and younger adults differed in employing sensorimotor strategies in a dual-task situation.

Postural stabilization effects of light touch do not come from axis-specific cues of postural sway: a pilot study.

A light finger touch can stabilize posture despite it not providing enough force to create mechanical support. The underlying mechanism may be due to the finger touch providing information in the axis with the greatest instability. The most appropriate way to test this hypothesis is a dual-axis paradigm, i.

Visual reliance for balance control in older adults persists when visual information is disrupted by artificial feedback delays.

Sensory information from our eyes, skin and muscles helps guide and correct balance. Less appreciated, however, is that delays in the transmission of sensory information between our eyes, limbs and central nervous system can exceed several 10s of milliseconds. Investigating how these time-delayed sensory signals influence balance control is central to understanding the postural system.