Long-term use of intrathecal baclofen reduces neuropathic pain and its interference with general activity in spinal cord injury individuals.

Introduction: Long-term analgesic effect of intrathecal baclofen was reported in individuals with spinal cord injury. We conducted a prospective study to evaluate the effect of intrathecal baclofen on subtypes of neuropathic pain and its interference with general activity.

Materials And Methods: Nine spinal cord injury individuals who presented with severe spasticity and moderate to severe neuropathic pain received intrathecal baclofen via an implanted pump.

Pressure ulcers acquired during inpatient rehabilitation after spinal cord injury, characterization and predictors: A 15-years' experience.

Background: Most studies focus on the risk factors associated with the development of pressure ulcers (PUs) during acute phase or community care for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Objectives: This study aimed to i) compare clinical and demographic characteristics of inpatients after SCI with PUs acquired during rehabilitation vs inpatients without PUs and ii) evaluate an existing PU risk assessment tool iii) identify first PU predictors.

Methods: Individuals (n = 1,135) admitted between 2008 and 2022 to a rehabilitation institution within 60 days after SCI were included.

Return to work within a year after first stroke: blue and white collar workers comparison, predictors and causal mediation assessed during inpatient rehabilitation.

Background: Most research focuses around impairments in body function and structure, with relatively only a small number exploring their social impact.

Objectives: 1) compare characteristics for individuals who before stroke were blue collar vs. white collar workers 2) identify clinical, functional, and job-related factors associated with return to work within 1 year after discharge 3) identify specific ADL individual items (assessed at rehabilitation discharge) as return to work predictors and 4) identify return to work causal mediators.

Investigating the application of "Guttmann Cognitest" in older adults and people with acquired brain injury.

Introduction: Digital solutions for cognitive assessment are currently not only widely used in experimental contexts but can also be useful in clinical practice for efficient screening and longitudinal follow-up. The "Guttmann Cognitest", which includes seven computerized tasks designed to assess main cognitive functions, revealed in a previous validation study to be a potential useful tool to assess cognitive functioning in healthy middle-aged adults.

Method: Here, we present results from a validation in two different populations: one consisting of older adults, and the other comprising young and middle-aged individuals, some of them affected by acquired brain injury.

Genome-wide QTL mapping across three tissues highlights several Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease loci potentially acting via DNA methylation.

DNA methylation (DNAm) is an epigenetic mark with essential roles in disease development and predisposition. Here, we created genome-wide maps of methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTL) in three peripheral tissues and used Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to assess the potential causal relationships between DNAm and risk for two common neurodegenerative disorders, i.e.

"Guttmann Cognitest," a digital solution for assessing cognitive performance in adult population: A feasibility and usability pilot study.

Background: As the world population continues to age, the prevalence of neurological diseases, such as dementia, poses a significant challenge to society. Detecting cognitive impairment at an early stage is vital in preserving and enhancing cognitive function. Digital tools, particularly mHealth, offer a practical solution for large-scale population screening and prompt follow-up assessments of cognitive function, thus overcoming economic and time limitations.

Independent living, emotional well-being, and quality of life in people with disabilities: the mediator role of self-determination and satisfaction with participation.

Background: In the field of disability and rehabilitation, has become an important therapeutic objective due to its potential impact on rehabilitation, prognosis, and patient's mid and long-term well-being. However, only a few studies have explored this issue in relation with the subjective perspective of individuals with disabilities about their decision-making capacity and satisfaction with the activities in which they participate.

Objective: Our aim is to analyze the relationship between in society of people with disabilities and both emotional well-being and quality of life, including variables about subjective perspective of (satisfaction) and the ability to decide and pursue their own preferences.

Effectiveness and efficiency of telerehabilitation on functionality after spinal cord injury: A matched case-control study.

Background: Telerehabilitation in spinal cord injury (teleSCI) is a growing field that can improve access to care and health outcomes in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). The clinical effectiveness of teleSCI is not known.

Objectives: To compare independence in activities of daily living and mobility capacity in patients following teleSCI and matched controls undergoing traditional rehabilitation.

Neuromodulation-induced prehabilitation to leverage neuroplasticity before brain tumor surgery: a single-cohort feasibility trial protocol.

Introduction: Neurosurgery for brain tumors needs to find a complex balance between the effective removal of targeted tissue and the preservation of surrounding brain areas. Neuromodulation-induced cortical prehabilitation (NICP) is a promising strategy that combines temporary inhibition of critical areas (virtual lesion) with intensive behavioral training to foster the activation of alternative brain resources. By progressively reducing the functional relevance of targeted areas, the goal is to facilitate resection with reduced risks of neurological sequelae.

Dense attention network identifies EEG abnormalities during working memory performance of patients with schizophrenia.

Introduction: Patients with schizophrenia typically exhibit deficits in working memory (WM) associated with abnormalities in brain activity. Alterations in the encoding, maintenance and retrieval phases of sequential WM tasks are well established. However, due to the heterogeneity of symptoms and complexity of its neurophysiological underpinnings, differential diagnosis remains a challenge.

Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation Improves Respiratory Muscle Strength and Function in Subjects with Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: Original Research.

(1) Background: Respiratory muscle weakness is common following cervical spinal cord injury (cSCI). Transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tSCS) promotes the motor recovery of the upper and lower limbs. tSCS improved breathing and coughing abilities in one subject with tetraplegia.

Tele-rehabilitation on independence in activities of daily living after stroke: A Matched Case-Control Study.

Objectives: To compare independence in activities of daily living (ADLs) in post-acute patients with stroke following tele-rehabilitation and matched in-person controls.

Materials And Methods: Matched case-control study. A total of 35 consecutive patients with stroke who followed tele-rehabilitation were compared to 35 historical in-person patients (controls) matched for age, functional independence at admission and time since injury to rehabilitation admission (<60 days).

Inpatient Rehabilitation Falls: Comparing Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury Versus Patients With Stroke.

Background: Cognitively impaired neurological rehabilitation inpatients are at an increased risk for falls; yet, little is known regarding fall risk of different groups, such as stroke versus traumatic brain injury.

Objectives: To determine if rehabilitation patients' fall characteristics differ for patients with stroke versus patients with traumatic brain injury.

Methods: This retrospective observational cohort study evaluates inpatients with stroke or traumatic brain injury admitted to a rehabilitation center in Barcelona, Spain, between 2005 and 2021.

Patient's assessment and prediction of recovery after stroke: a roadmap for clinicians.

Background And Purpose: In neurorehabilitation clinical practice, assessment is usually more oriented to evaluate patient's present status, than to plan interventions according to predicted outcomes. Therefore, we conducted an extensive review of current prognostic models available in the literature for recovery prediction of many functions and constructs, after stroke. We reported results in the form of a practical guide for clinicians, with the aim of promoting the culture of early clinical assessment for patient stratification, according to expected outcome.

Tele-supervised home-based transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) for Alzheimer's disease: a pilot study.

Background: Over 55 million people worldwide are currently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and live with debilitating episodic memory deficits. Current pharmacological treatments have limited efficacy. Recently, transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) has shown memory improvement in AD by normalizing high-frequency neuronal activity.

Predicting models for arm impairment: External validation of the Scandinavian models and identification of new predictors in post-acute stroke settings.

Background: Post-stroke arm impairment at rehabilitation admission as predictor of discharge arm impairment was consistently reported as extremely useful. Several models for acute prediction exist (e.g.

Brain system segregation and pain catastrophizing in chronic pain progression.

Pain processing involves emotional and cognitive factors that can modify pain perception. Increasing evidence suggests that pain catastrophizing (PC) is implicated, through pain-related self-thoughts, in the maladaptive plastic changes related to the maintenance of chronic pain (CP). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have shown an association between CP and two main networks: default mode (DMN) and dorsoattentional (DAN).

Long-term trajectories of community integration: identification, characterization, and prediction using inpatient rehabilitation variables.

Background: Community integration (CI) is often regarded as the foundation of rehabilitation endeavors after stroke; nevertheless, few studies have investigated the relationship between inpatient rehabilitation (clinical and demographic) variables and long-term CI.

Objectives: To identify novel classes of patients having similar temporal patterns in CI and relate them to baseline features.

Methods: Retrospective observational cohort study analyzing ( = 287) adult patients with stroke admitted to rehabilitation between 2003 and 2018, including baseline Functional Independence Measure (FIM) at discharge, follow-ups ( = 1264) of Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) between 2006 and 2022.

Purpose in life promotes resilience to age-related brain burden in middle-aged adults.

Background: Disease-modifying agents to counteract cognitive impairment in older age remain elusive. Hence, identifying modifiable factors promoting resilience, as the capacity of the brain to maintain cognition and function with aging and disease, is paramount. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), education and occupation are typical cognitive reserve proxies.

Long-term prediction of functional independence using adjusted and unadjusted single items of the functional independence measure (FIM) at discharge from rehabilitation.

Context: Being able to survive in the long-term independently is of concern to patients with spinal cord injury (SCI), their relatives, and to those providing or planning health care, especially at rehabilitation discharge. Most previous studies have attempted to predict functional dependency in activities of daily living within one year after injury

Objectives: (1) build 18 different predictive models, each model using one FIM (Functional Independence Measure) item, assessed at discharge, as independent predictor of total FIM score at chronic phase (3-6 years post-injury) (2) build three different predictive models, using in each model an item from a different FIM domain with the highest predictive power obtained in objective (1) to predict "good" functional independence at chronic phase and (3) adjust the 3 models from objective (2) with known confounding factors.

Methods: This observational study included 461 patients admitted to rehabilitation between 2009 and 2019.

The age-related contribution of cognitive function to dual-task gait in middle-aged adults in Spain: observations from a population-based study.

Background: Poor dual-task gait performance is associated with a risk of falls and cognitive decline in adults aged 65 years or older. When and why dual-task gait performance begins to deteriorate is unknown. This study aimed to characterise the relationships between age, dual-task gait, and cognitive function in middle age (ie, aged 40-64 years).

Falls During Inpatient Rehabilitation After Spinal Cord Injury: Characterization, Clock-Hour Visualization, and Time to Event Predictors.

Objectives: To (1) determine fall characteristics (eg, cause, location, witnesses) of inpatients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and whether they were different for ambulatory persons vs wheelchair users; (2) visualize the total number of daily falls per clock-hour for different inpatients' features (eg, cause of injury, age); (3) compare clinical and demographic characteristics of inpatients who experienced a first fall event vs inpatients who did not experience such event; and (4) identify first fall event predictors.

Design: Retrospective observational cohort study.

Setting: Institution for inpatient neurologic rehabilitation.