scholarly journals Is mental practice effective for treating upper extremity deficits in individuals with hemiparesis after stroke? A cochrane review summary with commentary

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Francesca Gimigliano

BACKGROUND: Mental practice, which is proposed for the rehabilitative training of people post-stroke, is a training method based on the repetition of the internal representation of a movement or a task with the aim of improving the performance. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this commentary is to discuss Cochrane evidence on the efficacy of mental practice in improving upper extremity functioning in people with hemiparesis after stroke. METHODS: To summarize and discuss from a rehabilitation perspective the published Cochrane Review “Mental practice for treating upper extremity deficits in individuals with hemiparesis after stroke” by Barclay et al. RESULTS: This Cochrane Review included 25 studies involving 676 people with hemiparesis after stroke. The authors analysed the following two comparisons: mental practice versus conventional therapy and mental practice in addition to other treatment versus other treatment (±placebo). CONCLUSIONS: Mental practice in addition to other treatment, compared with other treatment, probably improves upper extremity activity and function in people with hemiparesis after stroke.

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth E Barclay-Goddard ◽  
Ted J Stevenson ◽  
William Poluha ◽  
Leyda Thalman

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 448
Author(s):  
Francesco Infarinato ◽  
Paola Romano ◽  
Michela Goffredo ◽  
Marco Ottaviani ◽  
Daniele Galafate ◽  
...  

Background: Overground Robot-Assisted Gait Training (o-RAGT) appears to be a promising stroke rehabilitation in terms of clinical outcomes. The literature on surface ElectroMyoGraphy (sEMG) assessment in o-RAGT is limited. This paper aimed to assess muscle activation patterns with sEMG in subjects subacute post stroke after training with o-RAGT and conventional therapy. Methods: An observational preliminary study was carried out with subjects subacute post stroke who received 15 sessions of o-RAGT (5 sessions/week; 60 min) in combination with conventional therapy. The subjects were assessed with both clinical and instrumental evaluations. Gait kinematics and sEMG data were acquired before (T1) and after (T2) the period of treatment (during ecological gait), and during the first session of o-RAGT (o-RAGT1). An eight-channel wireless sEMG device acquired in sEMG signals. Significant differences in sEMG outcomes were found in the BS of TA between T1 and T2. There were no other significant correlations between the sEMG outcomes and the clinical results between T1 and T2. Conclusions: There were significant functional gains in gait after complex intensive clinical rehabilitation with o-RAGT and conventional therapy. In addition, there was a significant increase in bilateral symmetry of the Tibialis Anterior muscles. At this stage of the signals from the tibialis anterior (TA), gastrocnemius medialis (GM), rectus femoris (RF), and biceps femoris caput longus (BF) muscles of each lower extremity. sEMG data processing extracted the Bilateral Symmetry (BS), the Co-Contraction (CC), and the Root Mean Square (RMS) coefficients. Results: Eight of 22 subjects in the subacute stage post stroke agreed to participate in this sEMG study. This subsample demonstrated a significant improvement in the motricity index of the affected lower limb and functional ambulation. The heterogeneity of the subjects’ characteristics and the small number of subjects was associated with high variability research, functional gait recovery was associated with minimal change in muscle activation patterns.


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 929-933
Author(s):  
Taichi KURAYAMA ◽  
Anna WATANABE ◽  
Minami TAKAMOTO ◽  
Nami SHIGETA ◽  
Yuki HASEGAWA ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Alwyn P. Johnson ◽  
Bradley Veatch

Upper-extremity (UE) prostheses are increasingly more functional and proportionately more costly, rendering them largely unattainable for impoverished amputees in the United States (US) and abroad. Recognizing the increasing need for appropriate devices, PhysioNetics, LLC is developing a heavy-duty, transradial body-powered (BP) UE prosthesis which can be prescribed with minimal instruction. The design of the key components, the split-hook terminal device [TD] and universal adjustable interface is presented in this paper. The TD is primarily fabricated from plastics to eliminate galvanic corrosion in saltwater environments, weighs 5.4 oz (153 g) and uses inexpensive rubber bands to generate pinch force. Unique gripping contours provide versatile grasp and replicate five (5) prehension patterns while six (6) discrete force settings provide 2 – 17 lbf (8.9 – 76 N) of pinch. Three (3) universal interface sizes (small, medium, and large) accommodate most amputees and comfortably support axial loads up to 40 lbf (178 N). Estimated manufacturing cost for a complete unit is less than US$250. Field testers report lower but comparable comfort to their individually custom-fabricated interfaces, and are highly satisfied with fit and function of the prosthesis overall. Ongoing development includes reduction of manufacturing costs, increasing interface comfort and implementing task-specific variant designs.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Gelman ◽  
Philip A. Romero ◽  
Anthony Gitter

ABSTRACTThe mapping from protein sequence to function is highly complex, making it challenging to predict how sequence changes will affect a protein’s behavior and properties. We present a supervised deep learning framework to learn the sequence-function mapping from deep mutational scanning data and make predictions for new, uncharacterized sequence variants. We test multiple neural network architectures, including a graph convolutional network that incorporates protein structure, to explore how a network’s internal representation affects its ability to learn the sequence-function mapping. Our supervised learning approach displays superior performance over physics-based and unsupervised prediction methods. We find networks that capture nonlinear interactions and share parameters across sequence positions are important for learning the relationship between sequence and function. Further analysis of the trained models reveals the networks’ ability to learn biologically meaningful information about protein structure and mechanism. Our software is available from https://github.com/gitter-lab/nn4dms.


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