Assessment of the upper limb of the tetraplegic patient.

The aim of our study is to describe the assessment of the upper limb in tetraplegic patients to follow his (her) neurological progression and to define the medical or surgical treatment program. We selected upper limb assessment tools and scales for tetraplegic patients described in the medical literature through a PubMed search over the last four decades. For each method, we present the implementation rules and its metrological properties, including its validity in French.

Testosterone is significantly reduced in endurance athletes without impact on bone mineral density.

Aims: To compare the basal plasma reproductive hormonal profile in three groups of athletes involved in different training programs, and to define the relationship between androgen level and bone mineral density (BMD) in male athletes.

Methods: Basal serum total testosterone (TT), free androgen index (FAI), sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), cortisol, cortisol to TT ratio, luteinizing hormone (LH), estrogen and BMD were evaluated in cyclists (CY; n = 11), triathletes (TR; n = 14) and swimmers (SW; n = 13) and compared with less active controls (n = 10).

Results: TT and FAI levels were lower (p < 0.

Use of bone biochemical markers with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry for early determination of bone loss in persons with spinal cord injury.

Our cross-sectional study aimed at the early determination of changes in bone metabolism in terms of bone mineral density (BMD) and bone turnover in persons with complete spinal cord injury (SCI) during the acute phase of paraplegia. Combined dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and specific biochemical markers of bone turnover were used to determine bone metabolism. Seven persons with SCI (age, 31.

A mouse model of acute ischemic spinal cord injury.

Mice models of spinal cord injury (SCI) should improve our knowledge of the mechanisms of injury and repair of the nervous tissue. They represent a powerful tool for the development of therapeutic strategies in the fields of pharmacological, cellular, and genetic approaches of neurotrauma. We demonstrate here that the photochemical graded ischemic spinal cord injury model, described in rats, can be successfully adapted in mice, in a reliable and reproducible manner.

Neuroprotective effects of a novel NMDA antagonist, Gacyclidine, after experimental contusive spinal cord injury in adult rats.

The aim of this study was to analyze the optimal time-window for neuroprotection by a novel NMDA antagonist, Gacyclidine, after experimental spinal cord injury, in terms of its functional, histopathological and electrophysiological effects. This molecule has already demonstrated its capacity for reducing the extent of an ischemic lesion and is currently experimented in a clinical trial of spinal cord injury. In this study, the spinal cord of rats was damaged by a contusive method and the animals were treated by saline or 1 mg/kg of Gacyclidine i.

Neuroprotective effects of gacyclidine after experimental photochemical spinal cord lesion in adult rats: dose-window and time-window effects.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy, optimal dose, and optimal time-window of gacyclidine, a novel N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, in terms of its functional, histopathological, and electrophysiological effects after experimental spinal cord injury. The spinal cord of rats was damaged by a photochemical method and the animals were treated by saline or gacyclidine at doses of 1, 2.5, or 5 mg/kg 10 min after injury or gacyclidine 1 mg/kg 10, 30, 60, and 120 min after injury.

Variability of the fatigue response of paralyzed skeletal muscle in relation to the time after spinal cord injury: mechanical and electrophysiological characteristics.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the time after spinal cord injury (less than and greater than 10 months) on the mechanical and electrophysiological characteristics of muscle fatigue of the paralyzed electrically stimulated quadriceps muscle. Morphologically and histochemically, a relationship was observed between muscle fatigue and the delay from injury, revealing a critical period of enzymatic turning and a maximum peak of atrophy around the 10th month after the injury, followed by a long-term stabilization. Knee-torque output and M-wave variables (amplitude, latency, duration, and root mean square, RMS) of two muscular heads of the quadriceps were recorded in 19 paraplegic patients during a 120-s isometric contraction.

Surface action potentials related to torque output in paraplegics' electrically stimulated quadriceps muscle.

We recorded in 15 complete paraplegic patients the torque output and the surface action potentials (SAP) produced by the electrically stimulated quadriceps muscle during an isometric contraction lasting 126 s. We studied the evolution during the test of the peak to peak amplitude, the latency from the onset of stimulation, the rising time to peak, the peak to peak duration, the area of the recorded SAPs and we tried to relate those data to the torque production. Results were extremely different among patients but the general behaviour facing this test was comparable.