Baseline gray matter volume associates with working memory performance after prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation.

Working memory is crucial for daily life and is often impaired in neuropsychiatric conditions. Attempts to enhance it using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) have shown mixed results, possibly due to large inter-individual variability. This study assessed whether baseline regional brain volume was associated with working memory performance following tDCS.

Speed-dependent changes in the arm swing during independent walking in individuals after stroke.

Background: Increasing one's walking speed is an important goal in post-stroke gait rehabilitation. Insufficient arm swing in people post-stroke might limit their ability to propel the body forward and increase walking speed.

Purpose: To investigate the speed-dependent changes (and their contributing factors) in the arm swing of persons post-stroke.

Does rehabilitation improve work participation in patients with chronic spinal pain after spinal surgery: a systematic review.

Objective: Patients with therapy-refractory chronic spinal pain after spinal surgery experience increased disability, resulting in substantial loss of employment and consequently lower quality of life. Despite findings that rehabilitation improves socio-economic outcomes in other chronic pain conditions, evidence for patients with chronic spinal pain after spinal surgery is limited. A systematic review was conducted to provide an overview of rehabilitation interventions and their effectiveness to improve work participation for patients with chronic spinal pain after spinal surgery.

The cerebellum is involved in implicit motor sequence learning.

Background: Implicit motor sequence learning (IMSL) is a cognitive function that allows us to execute multiple movements in a specific sequential order and plays a crucial role in our daily functional activities. Although the role of the basal ganglia network in IMSL is well-established, the exact involvement of the cerebellar network is less clear.

Aim: Here, we aimed to address this issue by investigating the effects of cerebellar transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) on IMSL.

Virtual Reality to Improve Sleep Quality in Patients Suffering from Painful Diabetic Polyneuropathy: A Proof of Concept Study.

: Sleep disturbance is often observed in the context of chronic pain. We hypothesize that, by providing an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) experience with a serious game to chronic pain patients an hour before bedtime, attention can be diverted from the pain condition, consequently leading to improved sleep quality. The aim is to evaluate the efficacy of VR compared to usual care in reducing the number of awakenings during the night and increasing sleep efficiency in patients suffering from painful diabetic polyneuropathy (PDPN).

Assessment of Dementia in Minority Ethnic Groups in Europe: A 14-Year Follow-Up Survey.

Objectives: There is no European consensus on good clinical practice for timely diagnosis and culturally appropriate care of people with dementia from minority ethnic groups. Despite significant advances in culture-sensitive dementia diagnostics, little is known about how this has been implemented in clinical practice. The aims of this follow-up survey were to explore current practices for assessing dementia in patients from minority ethnic groups in Europe and to determine whether barriers in access to specialized dementia services have changed during the last 14 years.

The potential of lower limb exoskeletons to enhance life-space mobility and to leverage green exercise in the rehabilitation of older adults: an expert perspective.

Purpose: As the global population aged 60+ grows, ensuring mobility and independence for older adults is a critical public health goal. This paper examines barriers to life-space mobility in older adults and explores wearable lower limb exoskeletons (LLEs) and green exercise as innovative solutions.

Methods: Literature search and interdisciplinary expert input were utilized.

Effects of semi-immersive virtual reality and manipulation of optic flow speed on gait biomechanics in people post-stroke.

Objectives: To investigate how people post-stroke and healthy people experience the addition of semi-immersive virtual reality (VR) and optic flow speed manipulation while walking on a treadmill, and if optic flow speed manipulation could be used in rehabilitation to elicit changes in post-stroke gait biomechanics.

Methods: Sixteen people post-stroke and 16 healthy controls walked on a self-paced treadmill. After 2 habituation trials (without and with VR), participants walked 3 more trials under the following conditions of optic flow: matched, slow, and fast.

Reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome (RPLS) in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) treated with Acalabrutinib, a Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor: a case report.

RPLS is a rare neuroradiologic syndrome characterized by headache, visual disturbances, focal deficits and confusion. There are several underlying mechanisms causing RPLS, including arterial hypertension and renal failure, but also treatments with immunosuppressive therapy, chemotherapy or targeted therapy (such as small molecule inhibitors). Acalabrutinib is a novel second-generation BTK inhibitor, frequently used as treatment for B-cell malignancies.

Validation of an Augmented Reality Based Functional Method to Determine and Render the Hip Rotation Centre During Total Hip Arthroplasty.

Background: We present a method to determine and visualise the functional centre of rotation (FCOR) of the hip during total hip arthroplasty using an augmented reality head mounted display (AR-HMD).

Methods: We developed software allowing a HoloLens to provide inside-out infrared tracking of markers affixed to cadaver femurs and 3D printed acetabuli. Two observers rotated 20 cadaver femurs twice in a matching cup, producing 80 measurements.

Antioxidant, neuroprotective, and neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) differentiation effects of melanins and arginine-modified melanins from Daedaleopsis tricolor and Fomes fomentarius.

Background: Microbial melanins possess a broad spectrum of biological activities. However, there is little understanding of their neuroprotective and neuronal cell differentiation properties. This study aimed to extract, purify, and modify melanins from two medicinal fungi (Daedaleopsis tricolor and Fomes fomentarius), and to evaluate their antioxidant activity, as well as their cell protective ability against neurotoxins.

Differential target multiplexed spinal cord stimulation in patients with Persistent Spinal Pain Syndrome Type II: a study protocol for a 12-month multicentre cohort study (DETECT).

Introduction: Differential target multiplexed spinal cord stimulation (DTM SCS) is a new stimulation paradigm for chronic pain management with the aim of modulating glial cells and neurons in order to rebalance their interactions. Animal studies revealed positive effects of this type of stimulation; however, studies in humans are still scarce, pointing towards the need for an evaluation of the effectiveness and safety of DTM SCS in clinical settings. Furthermore, the differential target multiplexed (DTM) algorithm consists of a combination of several programmes, which will presumably consume more energy from the spinal cord stimulation (SCS) battery.

Augmented reality guidance improves accuracy of orthopedic drilling procedures.

In several orthopedic procedures, the accurate use of surgical power tools is critical to avoid damage to surrounding tissues. As such, various guidance techniques and safety measures were developed. Augmented reality (AR) guidance shows promise but requires validation.

Effects of Cerebellar Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Bilingual Logopenic Primary Progressive Aphasia.

Background: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a language-based dementia, causing progressive decline of language functions. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can augment effects of speech-and language therapy (SLT). However, this has not been investigated in bilingual patients with PPA.

Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Sleep, but not Physical Activity, are Associated with Functional Connectivity in Older Adults.

Background: Aging results in changes in resting state functional connectivity within key networks associated with cognition. Cardiovascular function, physical activity, sleep, and body composition may influence these age-related changes in the brain. Better understanding these associations may help clarify mechanisms related to brain aging and guide interventional strategies to reduce these changes.

Inflammation-Related Genes Are Differentially Expressed in Lipopolysaccharide-Stimulated Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells after 3 Months of Resistance Training in Older Women.

Recently, we showed that three months of resistance exercise significantly alters 18 canonical pathways related to chronic inflammation in PBMCs of older adults. In this exploratory sub-study, the aim is to explore whether resistance exercise enhances the PBMCs stress response by mimicking an acute infection through in vitro LPS stimulation. Women (≥65 years) were randomly divided into intensive strength training (IST), strength endurance training (SET), or flexibility training (as control group, CON) groups.

Large-scale CSF proteome profiling identifies biomarkers for accurate diagnosis of Frontotemporal Dementia.

Diagnosis of Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and the specific underlying neuropathologies (frontotemporal lobar degeneration; FTLD- Tau and FTLD-TDP) is challenging, and thus fluid biomarkers are needed to improve diagnostic accuracy. We used proximity extension assays to analyze 665 proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from a multicenter cohort including patients with FTD (n = 189), Alzheimer's Disease dementia (AD; n = 232), and cognitively unimpaired individuals (n = 196). In a subset, FTLD neuropathology was determined based on phenotype or genotype (FTLD-Tau = 87 and FTLD-TDP = 68).

Cardiac sensing at a spinal cord stimulation lead: a promising on-device potential biomarker for pain and wellbeing.

In the search for objective measures of therapeutic outcomes for patients with spinal cord stimulation (SCS) devices, various metrics of cardiac performance have been linked to pain as well as overall health. To track such measures at home, recent studies have incorporated wearables to monitor cardiac activity over months or years. The drawbacks to wearables, such as patient compliance, would be obviated by on-device sensing that incorporates the SCS lead.