Body mass index is not suitable for assessing body composition in children with spastic cerebral palsy.

Purpose: To measure body composition by using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and body mass index (BMI) and to investigate the correlation and agreement between BMI and fat mass percentage in children with spastic Cerebral Palsy.

Materials And Methods: BIA was used to assess fat mass percentage and BMI was determined from body weight and height. BMI and fat mass percentage were both categorized into five categories.

Interventions for reducing sedentary behaviour in people with stroke.

Background: Stroke survivors are often physically inactive as well as sedentary,and may sit for long periods of time each day. This increases cardiometabolic risk and has impacts on physical and other functions. Interventions to reduce or interrupt periods of sedentary time, as well as to increase physical activity after stroke, could reduce the risk of secondary cardiovascular events and mortality during life after stroke.

Sport participation after the HandbikeBattle: benefits, barriers, facilitators from the event-a follow-up survey.

Objectives: To investigate sports participation among individuals in the HandbikeBattle project 1.5-5.5 years after the event, the barriers and facilitators to sport participation and benefits of participating in the event.

Multi-target visual search organisation across the lifespan: cancellation task performance in a large and demographically stratified sample of healthy adults.

Accurate tests of cognition are vital in (neuro)psychology. Cancellation tasks are popular tests of attention and executive function, in which participants find and 'cancel' targets among distractors. Despite extensive use in neurological patients, it remains unclear whether demographic variables (that vary among patients) affect cancellation performance.

Effect of magnesium on cognition after aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage in a randomized trial.

Background And Purpose: In randomized trials magnesium supplementation did not improve clinical outcome after aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (aSAH) on handicap scales. After aSAH, many patients have cognitive problems that may not translate into handicap. The effect of magnesium on cognitive outcome after aSAH was studied.

Beneficial Effect of BH Treatment in a 15-Year-Old Boy with Biallelic Mutations in DNAJC12.

Background: Biallelic mutations in DNAJC12 were recently identified as a BH-responsive cause of hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA). Outcome was only favorable when treatment was initiated early in life. We report on a 15-year-old boy with HPA due to a homozygous deletion in DNAJC12 in whom - despite his advanced age - treatment was initiated.

Brain activation is related to smoothness of upper limb movements after stroke.

It is unclear whether additionally recruited sensorimotor areas in the ipsilesional and contralesional hemisphere and the cerebellum can compensate for lost neuronal functions after stroke. The objective of this study was to investigate how increased recruitment of secondary sensorimotor areas is associated with quality of motor control after stroke. In seventeen patients (three females, fourteen males; age: 59.

Brain Function and Upper Limb Outcome in Stroke: A Cross-Sectional fMRI Study.

Objective: The nature of changes in brain activation related to good recovery of arm function after stroke is still unclear. While the notion that this is a reflection of neuronal plasticity has gained much support, confounding by compensatory strategies cannot be ruled out. We address this issue by comparing brain activity in recovered patients 6 months after stroke with healthy controls.

Lack of multisensory integration in hemianopia: no influence of visual stimuli on aurally guided saccades to the blind hemifield.

In patients with visual hemifield defects residual visual functions may be present, a phenomenon called blindsight. The superior colliculus (SC) is part of the spared pathway that is considered to be responsible for this phenomenon. Given that the SC processes input from different modalities and is involved in the programming of saccadic eye movements, the aim of the present study was to examine whether multimodal integration can modulate oculomotor competition in the damaged hemifield.

Decreased fixation stability of the preferred retinal location in juvenile macular degeneration.

Macular degeneration is the main cause for diminished visual acuity in the elderly. The juvenile form of macular degeneration has equally detrimental consequences on foveal vision. To compensate for loss of foveal vision most patients with macular degeneration adopt an eccentric preferred retinal location that takes over tasks normally performed by the healthy fovea.

Developmental coordination disorder and overweight and obesity in children: a systematic review.

Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) find themselves less competent than typically developing children with regard to their physical abilities and often experience failure. They are therefore likely to avoid physical activity. Physical inactivity is considered an important risk factor for developing overweight and obesity.

Health-enhancing physical activity in children with cerebral palsy: more of the same is not enough.

Physical activity is important for young people's health. The emphasis over the last 2 decades has been on moderate to vigorous exercise when designing activity and exercise programs for children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP). Emerging evidence suggests that sedentary behavior is distinctly different from a lack of moderate to vigorous physical activity and has independent and different physiological mechanisms.

Reliability and validity of short-term performance tests for wheelchair-using children and adolescents with cerebral palsy.

Aim: To investigate the test-retest reproducibility of the Muscle Power Sprint Test (MPST), the 10 × 5-m sprint test, and the arm-cranking Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT) in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP). A secondary objective was to assess the construct validity of the MPST.

Method: Twenty-three participants with spastic CP (mean age 13 y 3 mo, range 7-18 y, SD 3.

Is gait speed or walking distance a better predictor for community walking after stroke?

Objective: To determine if gait speed or walking distance is a better predictor for community walking after stroke.

Methods: Data from the FIT-Stroke trial were used in a cross-sectional design. Community walking was measured with a self-administered questionnaire.

Is it possible to accurately predict outcome of a drop-foot in patients admitted to a hospital stroke unit?

The aim of this study was to determine whether recovery from a drop-foot at 6 months can be predicted within 72 h after stroke and to investigate the effect of timing on the accuracy of prediction. One hundred and five patients with a first-ever anterior circulation stroke without full voluntary ankle dorsiflexion in standing position following the Fugl-Meyer motor score at 72 h were included for further analysis. Determinants were measured within 72 h, and at days 5 and 9 after stroke onset.

Determinants of health-related quality of life after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: a systematic review.

Background And Purpose: Many persons with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) from a ruptured intracranial aneurysm recover to functional independence but nevertheless experience reduced quality of life (QoL). The aim of this study was to summarize the evidence on determinants of reduced QoL in this diagnostic group.

Methods: Databases PubMed, PsychINFO, and CINAHL were used to identify empirical studies reporting on quantitative relationships between possible determinants and QoL in persons with aneurysmal SAH and published in English.

How to increase activity level in the acute phase after stroke.

Aims And Objectives: To study how patients with acute stroke spend their day and to determine whether activity levels of patients with acute stroke in a Dutch university hospital increase after the implementation of interventions to stimulate activity.

Background: Previous studies suggest that patients with acute stroke are prone to inactivity. Early mobilisation and increasing levels of activities are part of several guidelines for patients with stroke.

Predictors of long-term health-related quality of life in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Objective: To determine the predictive value of physical and psychological factors assessed three months after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) for health-related quality of life (HRQoL) one year after the SAH.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Subjects: Patients with SAH (n=113) who visited our SAH-outpatient clinic three months after SAH and who were living independently in the community one year after SAH.

Is outdoor use of the six-minute walk test with a global positioning system in stroke patients' own neighbourhoods reproducible and valid?

Objective: To examine the reproducibility, responsiveness and concurrent validity of the six-minute walk test (6MWT) when tested outdoors in patients' own neighbourhoods using a global positioning system (GPS) or a measuring wheel.

Methods: A total of 27 chronic stroke patients, discharged to their own homes, were tested twice, within 5 consecutive days. The 6MWT was conducted using a GPS and an measuring wheel simultaneously to determine walking distance.

Perceptions of pediatric physical therapists and physical educators on classifying learning styles of children and adolescents with cerebral palsy.

The purpose of this study was to examine professionals' perceptions on classifying learning styles in the context of teaching motor activities to children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP). The participants were 21 pediatric physical therapists (PPTs) and seven physical educators (PEs) in three schools for special education in The Netherlands. All participants were introduced to the key descriptions of two existing learning style instruments (Kolb's Learning Style Inventory and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), applied them to children and adolescents with CP, and reported their perceptions in written surveys.

The 220-age equation does not predict maximum heart rate in children and adolescents.

Our primary purpose was to provide maximum heart rate (HR(max) ) values for ambulatory children with cerebral palsy (CP). The secondary purpose was to determine the effects of age, sex, ambulatory ability, height, and weight on HR(max) . In 362 ambulatory children and adolescents with CP (213 males and 149 females; age range 6-19y; 195 spastic unilateral, 162 spastic bilateral, and five ataxic CP), HR(max) was measured during a 10-m (Gross Motor Function Classification System [GMFCS] levels I and II) or 7.

Development of non-verbal intellectual capacity in school-age children with cerebral palsy.

Background: Children with cerebral palsy (CP) are at greater risk for a limited intellectual development than typically developing children. Little information is available which children with CP are most at risk. This study aimed to describe the development of non-verbal intellectual capacity of school-age children with CP and to examine the association between the development of non-verbal intellectual capacity and the severity of CP.

What influences participation in leisure activities of children and youth with physical disabilities? A systematic review.

In 2001 the International Classification of Functioning (ICF) defined participation as 'someone's involvement in life situations'. Participation in leisure activities contributes to the development of children and their quality of life. Children with physical disabilities are known to be at risk for participation in fewer activities.

Identification of a core set of exercise tests for children and adolescents with cerebral palsy: a Delphi survey of researchers and clinicians.

Aim: Evidence-based recommendations regarding which exercise tests to use in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) are lacking. This makes it very difficult for therapists and researchers to choose the appropriate exercise-related outcome measures for this group. This study aimed to identify a core set of exercise tests for children and adolescents with CP.

Comparing content of therapy for people with a spinal cord injury in postacute inpatient rehabilitation in Australia, Norway, and The Netherlands.

Background: Research reports have described the contents of therapy in spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation only as the total number of therapy hours. We developed the Spinal Cord Injury-Interventions Classification System (SCI-ICS) as a tool to classify therapy to improve mobility and self-care into 3 levels (body functions, basic activities, and complex activities) and 25 categories.

Objective: The purposes of this study were: (1) to compare specific contents and amount of therapy provided, with the aim of improving mobility and self-care for people with SCI in Australia, Norway, and the Netherlands and (2) to evaluate the use of the SCI-ICS outside the Netherlands.