Evaluation of the Victorian Healthy Homes Program: protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: The evaluation of the Victorian Healthy Homes Program (VHHP) will generate evidence about the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of home upgrades to improve thermal comfort, reduce energy use and produce health and economic benefits to vulnerable households in Victoria, Australia.

Methods And Analysis: The VHHP evaluation will use a staggered, parallel group clustered randomised controlled trial to test the home energy intervention in 1000 households. All households will receive the intervention either before (intervention group) or after (control group) winter (defined as 22 June to 21 September).

Mood and Cognitive Trajectories Over the First Year after Mild Ischemic Stroke.

Objectives: Cognitive and mood dysfunction are major contributors to post-stroke disability. The longer-term trajectories of mood and cognition post-stroke remain unclear, as do which cognitive domains decline, improve, or remain stable after stroke, and in which patients. We aimed to characterize the cognitive trajectories of mild ischemic stroke survivors over one year compared to stroke-free controls, and to investigate whether symptoms of anxiety and depression were associated with cognitive function.

Neurodegeneration Over 3 Years Following Ischaemic Stroke: Findings From the Cognition and Neocortical Volume After Stroke Study.

Stroke survivors are at high risk of dementia, associated with increasing age and vascular burden and with pre-existing cognitive impairment, older age. Brain atrophy patterns are recognised as signatures of neurodegenerative conditions, but the natural history of brain atrophy after stroke remains poorly described. We sought to determine whether stroke survivors who were cognitively normal at time of stroke had greater total brain (TBV) and hippocampal volume (HV) loss over 3 years than controls.

Cognitive Recovery After Stroke: A Meta-analysis and Metaregression of Intervention and Cohort Studies.

Background: Cognition affects poststroke recovery, but meta-analyses of cognition have not yet provided a comparison of observational and intervention evidence.

Objective: To describe the trajectory of poststroke cognition and the factors that moderate it across intervention and observational cohorts.

Methods: Six databases were searched up to January 2020.

Hippocampal Volume and Amyloid PET Status Three Years After Ischemic Stroke: A Pilot Study.

Hippocampal atrophy is seen in many neurodegenerative disorders and may be a cardinal feature of vascular neurodegeneration. We examined hippocampal volume (HV) in a group of ischemic stroke survivors with amyloid 18F-NAV4694 PET imaging three years after stroke. We compared HV between the amyloid-positive (n = 4) and amyloid-negative (n = 29) groups, and associations with co-morbidities using Charlson Comorbidity Indices and multi-way ANOVA.

Determining Maximal Tolerable Aerobic Training Intensity in the Acute Phase after Stroke: a Novel Dose Ranging Trial Protocol.

Introduction: There is strong evidence that cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) training improves fitness and mobility after stroke. Despite the large number of studies, the most efficacious dose is yet to be determined. Furthermore, the safety of early post-stroke training, while theoretically beneficial, remains uncertain.

Sedentary time and activity behaviors after stroke rehabilitation: Changes in the first 3 months home.

Background: Sedentary time is prevalent following stroke, limiting functional improvement, and increasing cardiovascular risk. At discharge we examined: 1) change in sedentary time and activity over the following 3 months' and 2) physical, psychological or cognitive factors predicting any change. A secondary aim examined cross-sectional associations between factors and activity at 3 months.

Safety of Performing a Graded Exercise Test Early after Stroke and Transient Ischemic Attack.

Background: Low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is a predictor of stroke risk and poor outcome poststroke. Fitness levels are rarely assessed in the acute phase and it is unclear if it is safe for stroke survivors and people with transient ischemic attack (TIA) to perform a graded exercise test to assess fitness.

Objective: To determine if people within 14 days post stroke can safely perform a graded exercise test.

The stroke exercise preference inventory is feasible to use in a community rehabilitation setting.

Exploring exercise preferences may help people to adhere to exercise programs by promoting customized programs to suit the person's choices and concerns. We investigated if the Stroke Exercise Preference Inventory, a questionnaire designed to explore stroke survivors' preferences for exercise and potential barriers, was feasible to use, and whether it assisted physiotherapists to design ongoing exercise programs in a mixed diagnostic convenience sample attending community rehabilitation. Physiotherapy staff interviewed 42 participants, and sought feedback about the questionnaire.

Relationship between pre-stroke physical activity and symptoms of post-stroke anxiety and depression: An observational study.

Objectives: To explore mechanisms affecting mental health in patients with stroke. The aims were to investigate the association between pre-stroke physical activity and symptoms of anxiety and depression 3 months after stroke, and to investigate how self-reported physical activity changed from before to 3 months after the stroke.

Design: Secondary analyses of a prospective observational multicentre study.

Longitudinal evaluation of cognition after stroke - A systematic scoping review.

Background: Cognitive impairment affects up to 80 percent of the stroke population, however, both the available evidence about post-stroke cognition and the measures used to evaluate it longitudinally have not been well described. The aims of this systematic scoping review were: to identify and characterize studies evaluating cognition longitudinally after stroke; to summarize the cognitive instruments used and the domains they target; and to organize cognitive domains assessed using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF).

Methods: We used a systematic scoping approach to search for peer-reviewed articles involving adults with stroke that evaluated cognition longitudinally.

APOE ɛ4 Carriers Show Delayed Recovery of Verbal Memory and Smaller Entorhinal Volume in the First Year After Ischemic Stroke.

Background: The apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene ɛ4 allele is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular disease. However, its relationship with cognition and brain volume after stroke is not clear.

Objective: We compared cognition and medial temporal lobe volumes in APOEɛ4 carriers and non-carriers in the first year after ischemic stroke.

Early mobilization and quality of life after stroke: Findings from AVERT.

Objective: To determine whether early and more frequent mobilization after stroke affects health-related quality of life.

Methods: A Very Early Rehabilitation Trial (AVERT) was an international, multicenter (56 sites), phase 3 randomized controlled trial, spanning 2006-2015. People were included if they were aged ≥18 years, presented within 24 hours of a first or recurrent stroke (ischemic or hemorrhagic), and satisfied preordained physiologic criteria.

The Post Ischaemic Stroke Cardiovascular Exercise Study: Protocol for a randomised controlled trial of fitness training for brain health.

Introduction: Compared to healthy individuals, stroke patients have five times the rate of dementia diagnosis within three years. Aerobic exercise may induce neuroprotective mechanisms that help to preserve, and even increase, brain volume and cognition. We seek to determine whether aerobic fitness training helps to protect brain volume and cognitive function after stroke compared to an active, non-aerobic control.

Television Viewing Time and Stroke Risk: Australian Diabetes Obesity and Lifestyle Study (1999-2012).

Introduction: Having a low level of physical activity is an established risk factor for stroke, but little is known about the importance of common sedentary behavior-television viewing-to stroke risk.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of data that were collected as part of the longitudinal Australian Diabetes, Obesity, and Lifestyle study. Stroke events reported during the study (between baseline assessment in 1999-2000 and April 2011) were confirmed using adjudication based on medical records.

Investigating post-stroke fatigue: An individual participant data meta-analysis.

Objective: The prevalence of post-stroke fatigue differs widely across studies, and reasons for such divergence are unclear. We aimed to collate individual data on post-stroke fatigue from multiple studies to facilitate high-powered meta-analysis, thus increasing our understanding of this complex phenomenon.

Methods: We conducted an Individual Participant Data (IPD) meta-analysis on post-stroke fatigue and its associated factors.

The AVERT MoCA Data: Scoring Reliability in a Large Multicenter Trial.

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a widely used cognitive screening tool in stroke. As scoring the visuospatial/executive MoCA items involves subjective judgement, reliability is important. Analyzing data on these items from A Very Early Rehabilitation Trial (AVERT), we compared the original scoring of assessors ( = 102) to blind scoring by a single, independent rater.

Go Home, Sit Less: The Impact of Home Versus Hospital Rehabilitation Environment on Activity Levels of Stroke Survivors.

Objective: To examine whether change in rehabilitation environment (hospital or home) and other factors influence time spent sitting upright and walking after stroke.

Design: Observational study.

Setting: Two inpatient rehabilitation units and community residences following discharge.

Validity of Multisensor Array for Measuring Energy Expenditure of an Activity Bout in Early Stroke Survivors.

Stroke survivors use more energy than healthy people during activities such as walking, which has consequences for the way exercise is prescribed for stroke survivors. There is a need for wearable device that can validly measure energy expenditure (EE) of activity to inform exercise prescription early after stroke. We aimed to determine the validity and reliability of the SenseWear-Armband (SWA) to measure EE and step-counts during activity <1 month after stroke.

Lower cognitive control network connectivity in stroke participants with depressive features.

Around one-third of people develop depression following ischaemic stroke, yet the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Post-stroke depression has been linked to frontal infarcts, mainly lesions in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). But depression is a network disorder that cannot be fully characterised through lesion-symptom mapping.

The Energy Cost of Steady State Physical Activity in Acute Stroke.

Objective: Cardiorespiratory fitness levels are very low after stroke, indicating that the majority of stroke survivors are unable to independently perform daily activities. Physical fitness training improves exercise capacity poststroke; however, the optimal timing and intensity of training is unclear. Understanding the energy cost of steady-state activity is necessary to guide training prescription early poststroke.

Classifying post-stroke fatigue: Optimal cut-off on the Fatigue Assessment Scale.

Objective: Post-stroke fatigue is common and has debilitating effects on independence and quality of life. The Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS) is a valid screening tool for fatigue after stroke, but there is no established cut-off. We sought to identify the optimal cut-off for classifying post-stroke fatigue on the FAS.

Effects of Physical Activity on Poststroke Cognitive Function: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Background And Purpose: Despite the social, health, and economic burdens associated with cognitive impairment poststroke, there is considerable uncertainty about the types of interventions that might preserve or restore cognitive abilities. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the effects of physical activity (PA) training on cognitive function poststroke and identify intervention and sample characteristics that may moderate treatment effects.

Methods: Randomized controlled trials examining the association between structured PA training and cognitive performance poststroke were identified using electronic databases EMBASE and MEDLINE.

Fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) in post-stroke depression.

Depression is a common outcome following stroke, associated with reduced quality of life and poorer recovery. Despite attempts to associate depression symptoms with specific lesion sites, the neural basis of post-stroke depression remains poorly understood. Resting state fMRI has provided new insights into the neural underpinnings of post-stroke depression, but has been limited to connectivity analyses exploring interregional correlations in the time-course of activity.