Selective motor control of the lower extremities in children with cerebral palsy: inter-rater reliability of two tests.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the inter-rater reliability of two tests measuring selective motor control (SMC) of the lower extremities in children with cerebral palsy (CP).

Methods: Two testers independently assessed 21 children (13 boys, eight girls; mean age 6 years 5 months, SD 12 months) with spastic CP (14 unilateral and seven bilateral) using the Boyd and Graham SMC test (with an existing protocol) and the modified Trost SMC test (with a newly developed protocol). Inter-rater reliability was analysed using Cohen's Kappa.

Long-Term Health-Related Quality of Life in Major Pediatric Trauma: A Pilot Study.

Background: Major trauma is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in children of developed countries. Little research has been done about the health-related quality of life (HRQL) in these children. The aim of the current research is to describe the HRQL of children in the long term after major trauma and to compare it with healthy peers.

Predictive value of ischemic lesion volume assessed with magnetic resonance imaging for neurological deficits and functional outcome poststroke: A critical review of the literature.

Objective: Ischemic lesion volume is assumed to be an important predictor of poststroke neurological deficits and functional outcome. This critical review examines the methodological quality of MRI studies and the predictive value of hemispheric infarct volume for neurological deficits (at body function level) and functional outcome (at activities level).

Methods: Using Medline, PiCarta, and Embase to identify studies, 13 of the 747 identified studies met the authors' inclusion criteria.

Predicting long-term independency in activities of daily living after middle cerebral artery stroke: does information from MRI have added predictive value compared with clinical information?

Background And Purpose: To investigate whether neuroimaging information has added predictive value compared with clinical information for independency in activities of daily living (ADL) 1 year after stroke.

Methods: Seventy-five first-ever middle cerebral artery stroke survivors were evaluated in logistic regression analyses. Model 1 was derived on the basis of clinical variables; for model 2, neuroimaging variables were added to model 1.

Ischemic lesion volume correlates with long-term functional outcome and quality of life of middle cerebral artery stroke survivors.

Purpose: Previous studies investigating relationships between stroke lesion volume and outcome were restricted to short follow-up periods (3-6 months) and outcome measures of stroke severity and activities only, whereas functional improvement has been found to extend far beyond six months. Therefore, this study investigated relationships between infarct volume and a broad range of outcomes of stroke survivors at a long follow-up period.

Methods: Correlations between lesion volumes (determined by conventional MRI scans in the second week post-stroke) and outcomes after one year of 75 first-ever ischemic stroke survivors were investigated.

Relationship between ischemic lesion volume and functional status in the 2nd week after middle cerebral artery stroke.

Objective: To examine the relationship between the volume of the middle cerebral artery stroke lesion and functional status in the subacute phase of stroke.

Methods: Infarctvolumes of 94 patients with a 1st middle cerebral artery stroke assessed on conventional MRI scans obtained in the 2nd week poststroke were related to a clinical measure of stroke severity (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS]) and to functional status: motor impairment (Motricity Index [MI]) and limitation in activities (Barthel Index [BI] and modified Rankin Scale). Separate correlations were computed for patients with large (>30 ml) and small (30 ml) lesions, and to investigate the influence of lesion location on the relationship between volume and functional status, correlations were computed for patients with left and right hemisphere lesions and for patients with cortical and subcortical lesions.