Robotic-assisted rehabilitation for balance in stroke patients (ROAR-S): effects of cognitive, motor and functional outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: Due to the aging population, the incidence of stroke is steadily increasing. In patients with stroke outcomes, sensory, motor and cognitive problems limit the performance of activities of daily living. The development of new technologies in rehabilitation is improving the quality and efficiency of functional recovery. Hunova robotic platform (Movendo Technology, srl, Genoa, Italy) is a robotic device for functional assessment and rehabilitation of balance. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of rehabilitation with Hunova on cognitive function and balance in older adults with stroke. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a randomized, controlled, single-blind study. Twenty-four older adults with stroke outcomes were randomized into the Hunova group (HuG), which performed a specific rehabilitation program for balance using Hunova for 12 sessions in addition to conventional rehabilitation, and the control group (CoG), which performed only conventional rehabilitation. All patients underwent a clinical cognitive, balance, quality of life and fatigue assessment, and an instrumental balance assessment with Hunova at the beginning and end of treatment. RESULTS: Statistical analysis showed significant improvements in most clinical scales in both groups. Comparing the groups, HuG showed greater improvements in executive functions, speed of information processing, attention and discrimination of multiple stimuli, static and dynamic balance and autonomy in daily activities, standing postural sway, and trunk control in static and dynamic conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Data analysis showed that elderly with stroke who underwent balance technology treatment with Hunova in combination with conventional treatment had a greater improvement in cognitive functions, balance and reduced risk of falling.

Preliminary data on the neurophysiological evaluation of male sexual dysfunction in patients with pelvic ring fractures: a multicenter retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: Traumatic pelvic ring fractures include several comorbidities due to the close anatomical relationship between the skeletal system, pelvic organs, and neurovascular structures. In this retrospective multicenter study, we evaluated patients complaining of sexual dysfunction following pelvic ring fractures, assessed through different neuro-physiological examinations. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients were enrolled one year after the injury according to their reported ASEX scores and evaluated on the basis of the Tile's type of pelvic fracture. Lower limb and sacral somatosensory evoked potentials, pelvic floor electromyography, bulbocavernosus reflex and pelvic floor motor evoked potentials were recorded, according to the neurophysiological indications. RESULTS: A total of 14 male patients (mean age 50.4; 8 subjects Tile-type B and 6 Tile-type C) were enrolled. The ages between the Tile B group and the Tile C group of patients were not significantly different (p=0.187), while the ASEX scores were significantly different (p=0.014). In 57% of patients (n=8), no alterations in nerve conduction and/or pelvic floor neuromuscular responses were found. In 6 patients, electromyographic signs of denervation were revealed (2 patients), and alterations of the sacral efferent nerve component were detected in 4 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Sexual dysfunctions after a traumatic pelvic ring fracture are more common in Tile-type B. Our preliminary data did not reveal a significant association with neurogenic aetiology. Other causes could explain the complaining impairments.

A snapshot of geriatric rehabilitation: one year experience.

OBJECTIVE: Frailty is a common condition in older adults, characterized by multimorbidity, physical weakness and nutritional deficit. Frailty can be detected early and a prehabilitation treatment could reduce the incidence of disability. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two-hundred-fifteen elderly patients were admitted to the Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine Unit of Policlinico Gemelli for one year. Patients were clinically assessed by Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and blood sample values. Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NRS) and Hand Grip Test were assessed before (T0) and after (T1) hospitalization. Number of drugs and number of infections were recorded. RESULTS: Patients were originally hospitalized in orthopaedic, neurology and medical ward. Most patients (68%) after discharge return home. Negative correlations between albumin and CCI and between total protein and CCI were recorded. Positive correlation between CCI cognitive subscore and number of drugs and a negative correlation between that subscore and Vitamin D were detected. An improvement in NRS and in the handgrip strength was recorded. At discharge an increase in the number of drugs and the number of infections was noted. CONCLUSIONS: The handgrip strength improvement increases quality of life. Pain management and NRS indicate a better recovery of activities of daily living. Malnutrition is a real problem; albumin is the principal negative acute-phase reactant and is related to a worse clinical condition and low vitamin D levels are associated with worse cognitive function. The goal of a Rehabilitation Unit is to create an effective multidisciplinary transitional care plan, involving the patient and caregivers, creating a continuity of care after discharge and a sustainable project.

Defining in Detail and Evaluating Reliability of DSM-5 Criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Among Children.

This paper describes a process to define a comprehensive list of exemplars for seven core Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and report on interrater reliability in applying these exemplars to determine ASD case classification. Clinicians completed an iterative process to map specific exemplars from the CDC Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network criteria for ASD surveillance, DSM-5 text, and diagnostic assessments to each of the core DSM-5 ASD criteria. Clinicians applied the diagnostic exemplars to child behavioral descriptions in existing evaluation records to establish initial reliability standards and then for blinded clinician review in one site (phase 1) and for two ADDM Network surveillance years (phase 2). Interrater reliability for each of the DSM-5 diagnostic categories and overall ASD classification was high (defined as very good .60-.79 to excellent ≥ .80 Kappa values) across sex, race/ethnicity, and cognitive levels for both phases. Classification of DSM-5 ASD by mapping specific exemplars from evaluation records by a diverse group of clinician raters is feasible and reliable. This framework provides confidence in the consistency of prevalence classifications of ASD and may be further applied to improve consistency of ASD diagnoses in clinical settings.

Exercise training and atrial fibrillation: a systematic review and literature analysis.

OBJECTIVE: There are concerns in maintaining adequate levels of physical activity in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). This could be related to the type of exercise delivered, different among studies, as the words used to describe it as treatment. We have analysed the state-of-art of the role of the exercise in AF by a mathematical analysis. This analysis documented the connections between topics and updated the available evidence through a systematic review of the current literature. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A literature search was conducted using specific terms for studies published between 2000 and 2019. For the descriptive analysis of the current literature, we used the LExical Network analysed by the Graph THeory (LENGTH) method, while to perform our review we followed the PRISMA statement. Downs and Black Quality Index was also used to assess the quality of studies. The LENGTH approach indicated nonspecific terms as "exercise", "physical" and "activity" as more representative than "rehabilitation" to describe the intervention. RESULTS: The systematic review identified nine studies on 882 patients of moderate (n=4) to good (n=5) quality. Training consisted of a combination of supervised ambulatory and home-based outpatient programs, focused on aerobic elements (endurance and resistance training, walking, treadmill and bicycle ergometer). Significant improvements in 6-minute walking test distance and peak oxygen uptake and in quality of life were obtained, with high adherence to training and no serious/significant adverse events. Only one trial was based on cardiac rehabilitation principles. CONCLUSIONS: Adequate exercise training can get a favourable cardiovascular outcome in patients with AF.

Preliminary evaluation of cerebral 18F-DOPA PET/CT in the differential diagnosis of brain lesions in inconclusive MR.

AIM: To evaluate the utility of brain 18F-DOPA PET/CT in the differential diagnosis of brain lesions with inconclusive MRI. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twelve patients were studied, with a total of 16 lesions, without definitive diagnosis after brain MRI. A double acquisition PET/CT brain scan was acquired at 20 and 90min. Visual and semiquantitative assessment was performed with SUVmax calculation of the lesions and calculation of the T/S Ratio (tumor/contralateral striatum) and T/N Ratio (contralateral healthy tumor/parenchyma) for each time. RESULTS: Based on the visual assessment scale and using T/S ratio ≥1 and T/N ratio ≥1.3 to determine malignancy, the values of sensitivity (S), specificity (E) and positive predictive value (PPV) were: visual assessment (S 100%, E 33.3%, VPP 71.4%), T/S Ratio (S 90%, E 100%, VPP 100%) and T/N Ratio (S 100%, E 16.6%, VPP 66.6 %). No lesion showed an increase in SUVmax in late acquisition. 18F-DOPA PET/CT modified treatment in 75% of the patients. CONCLUSION: 18F-DOPA PET/CT is a useful tool in the study of brain lesions with inconclusive MRI. Late imaging (dual-point) has no added value in the final diagnosis. FDOPA has an impact on patient management modifying therapeutic behavior.

68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT in patients with occult biochemical recurrence of prostate carcinoma and negative 18F-Choline PET/CT. Preliminary assessment of its clinical use.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the clinical usefulness of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT studies in patients with occult biochemical recurrence of prostate carcinoma, with negative or inconclusive radiologic and 18 F-Choline PET/CT imaging studies. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective descriptive study. The first 14 patients with a history of prostate carcinoma, treated with curative intent and presenting suspicion of biochemical recurrence with low PSA values (<3 ng/mL) were selected. Imaging studies, prostate ultrasound, pelvic CT and/or MRI were negative, and all of them had a negative or inconclusive 18F-Choline PET/CT. All patients were referred to 68 Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT. PROTOCOL: Dose 2.2 M Bq/kg. 20 mg furosemide at start. PET/CT images from skull base to proximal third of thighs at 60 min, and late images at 3 h if needed. RESULTS: The 68 Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT was able to localize the occult biochemical recurrence in 9 of the 14 patients (64.2%), and it affected the therapeutic attitude in all of them. Four patients (28.5%) obtained a negative or inconclusive 68 Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and continued under vigilant approach with PSA controls and imaging studies according to the clinical guidelines. These patients had the lowest PSA values (less than 1 ng/mL). One of the 68 Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT studies was inconclusive, reporting the presence of a doubtful right iliac adenopathy. CONCLUSION: 68 Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT allows an early diagnosis, with low PSA values, of occult biochemical recurrence of prostate carcinoma, even in patients with negative 18 F-Choline PET/CT.

Clinical features associated with early drop-out among outpatients with unipolar and bipolar depression.

Drop-out from follow-up visits carries significant burden for people diagnosed with depression. The present study assesses multiple clinical moderators of drop-out among depressed outpatients. We retrospectively followed-up 131 outpatients over 6 months: 78 major depressive disorder (MDD), and 53 bipolar disorder (BD-I = 24; BD-II = 29) patients diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. Participants were assessed with standard rating scales administered by experienced psychiatrists. Upon descriptive and Cox regression analyses, 17/53 BDs (32%) dropped-out; the overall survival time until drop-out was 57.94 ± 17.79 days. BD drop-outs were younger, had an earlier age at onset, shorter illness duration, lower rates of lifetime obsessive-compulsive disorder/suicidal behavior, higher rates of substance use disorder (SUD), anxious and mixed features of depression compared to BDs attending up to six months. Among MDD patients, 10/78 cases (13%) dropped-out by month-6 with an average survival of 42.40 ± 16.45 days. Earlier age of onset, younger age, positive family history for mood disorders, lower rates of lifetime generalized anxiety disorder were significantly more frequent among drop-outs than completers, as opposite to SUD, and lifetime recurrent depression. Older age predicted lower drop-out among BDs and MDDs, although with almost null hazard ratio (HR) = 0.928, p < 0.01 vs. HR = 0.941, p < 0.01, respectively. Higher rates of lifetime SUD predicted higher drop-out rates by month-6 among MDDs (HR = 5.477, p = 0.02). Limitations of the study: retrospective design, small sample size, lack of objective measures of treatment-adherence/mood rating during follow-up. Drop-out is common in the real-world setting, warranting specific interventions since the beginning of the treatment.

Ampakines stimulate phrenic motor output after cervical spinal cord injury.

Activation of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors increases phrenic motor output. Ampakines are a class of drugs that are positive allosteric modulators of AMPA receptors. We hypothesized that 1) ampakines can stimulate phrenic activity after incomplete cervical spinal cord injury (SCI), and 2) pairing ampakines with brief hypoxia could enable sustained facilitation of phrenic bursting. Phrenic activity was recorded ipsilateral (IL) and contralateral (CL) to C2 spinal cord hemisection (C2Hx) in anesthetized adult rats. Two weeks after C2Hx, ampakine CX717 (15 mg/kg, i.v.) increased IL (61 ± 46% baseline, BL) and CL burst amplitude (47 ± 26%BL) in 8 of 8 rats. After 90 min, IL and CL bursting remained above baseline (BL) in 7 of 8 rats. Pairing ampakine with a single bout of acute hypoxia (5-min, arterial partial pressure of O2 ~ 50 mmHg) had a variable impact on phrenic bursting, with some rats showing a large facilitation that exceeded the response of the ampakine alone group. At 8 weeks post-C2Hx, 7 of 8 rats increased IL (115 ± 117%BL) and CL burst amplitude (45 ± 27%BL) after ampakine. The IL burst amplitude remained above BL for 90-min in 7 of 8 rats; CL bursting remained elevated in 6 of 8 rats. The sustained impact of ampakine at 8 weeks was not enhanced by hypoxia exposure. Intravenous vehicle (10% 2-Hydroxypropyl-ß-cyclodextrin) did not increase phrenic bursting at either time point. We conclude that ampakines effectively stimulate neural drive to the diaphragm after cervical SCI. Pairing ampakines with a single hypoxic exposure did not consistently enhance phrenic motor facilitation.

Effect of different music genres on gait patterns in Parkinson's disease.

The timing and size of repetitive, internally generated, automatic sequences of movements are particularly affected in Parkinson's disease. The most evident consequence of this deficit is the alteration of gait patterns, with a loss of rhythmicity, shorter steps, slower walking, and trunk instability. Several studies have highlighted a potential benefit of listening to music on the normalization of walking patterns. However, most of these studies investigated the effect of a single specific music. We hypothesized that different musical genres may induce different modifications of spatiotemporal parameters and trunk oscillations during walking. In this study, we enrolled healthy young subjects, healthy elderly, and patients with Parkinson's disease. They were asked to walk listening, by a wireless headset, one of six different music tracks (related to four different musical genres) while wearing an inertial measurement unit at pelvis level used to assess their walking patterns. The main effect of music tracks resulted statistically significant in all the gait parameters (p < 0.05), but for symmetry of lower trunk movements. This effect was independent by group. The only significant interaction between music and group, in fact, was found for pelvis obliquity range of motion (p = 0.019). Post hoc analyses showed as classical music reduced speed and trunk tilting (p < 0.01), whereas the range of pelvic obliquity movements in frontal plane were increased by rock, motivational, and heavy metal songs (p < 0.015). In conclusion, the gait patterns were altered by listening music depending by the musical genre, and these adaptations occurred similarly among the three groups, including patients with Parkinson's disease.

Valoración preliminar de la 18F-DOPA PET/TC cerebral en el diagnóstico diferencial de lesiones cerebrales con RM no concluyente.

AIM: To evaluate the utility of brain 18F-DOPA PET/CT in the differential diagnosis of brain lesions with inconclusive MRI. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twelve patients were studied, with a total of 16 lesions, without definitive diagnosis after brain MRI. A double acquisition PET/CT brain scan was acquired at 20 and 90 minutes. Visual and semiquantitative assessment was performed with SUVmax calculation of the lesions and calculation of the T/S ratio (tumor/contralateral striatum) and T/N ratio (tumor/contralateral healthy parenchyma) for each time. RESULTS: Based on the visual assessment scale and using T/S ratio ≥ 1 and T/N ratio ≥ 1.3 to determine malignancy, the values of sensitivity (S), specificity (E) and positive predictive value (PPV) were: visual assessment (S 100%, E 33.3%, VPP 71.4%), T/S ratio (S 90%, E 100%, VPP 100%) and T/N ratio (S 100%, E 16.6%, VPP 66.6%). No lesion showed an increase in SUVmax in late acquisition. 18F-DOPA PET/CT modified treatment in 75% of the patients. CONCLUSION: 18F-DOPA PET/CT is a useful tool in the study of brain lesions with inconclusive MRI. Late imaging (dual-point) has no added value in the final diagnosis. F-DOPA has an impact on patient management modifying therapeutic behavior.

PET/TC imaging with somatostatin analogues for assessment of neuroendocrine tumors, initial experience. / PET/TC con análogos de la somatostatina en el estudio de tumores neuroendocrinos, experiencia inicial.

PET with somatostatin analogues (SSA PET/CT) enables the detection of cells with overexpression of somatostatin receptors, especially subtypes 2 and 5; this detection is variable depending on the type of molecule used. This is the basis for its use in the study of neuroendocrine tumours (NETs), which are characterized by an overexpression of these receptors in more than 80% of the subtypes. This PET is now being used in our country supported by the good results published by other groups, that were superior to those of other imaging techniques. We present two of the first cases of SSA-PET/CT with 68Ga-edotreotide (SomaKit TOC®) performed in our centre. SSA-PET/CT was the test that finally determined the clinical management of both patients.

A new T helper 17 cytokine in hidradenitis suppurativa: antimicrobial and proinflammatory role of interleukin-26.

BACKGROUND: Interleukin (IL)-26 is a signature T helper 17 cytokine described as a proinflammatory and antimicrobial mediator. So far, IL-26 has been reported in several immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, but its involvement in inflammatory skin disorders is poorly known. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the role of IL-26 in hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), through its involvement in antimicrobial activity. METHODS: IL-26 was assessed in patients with HS through gene expression and protein analysis at skin and circulating levels. Ex vivo HS organ skin cultures, together with IL-26 antibody treatment, were performed to determine the IL-26 activity. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with HS and healthy controls were either silenced or not with IL-26 small interfering (si)RNA in order to measure its antimicrobial, cytotoxic and phagocytic activities against Staphylococcus aureus. RESULTS: Firstly, we observed that IL-26 is able to modulate the proinflammatory response at the immune cell level. IL-26 was increased in the plasma of patients with HS compared with healthy controls. Subsequently, we explored the bactericidal, cytotoxic and phagocytic activities of PBMCs against S. aureus in patients with HS and healthy controls. These activities were lower in patients with HS than in controls. Remarkably, the killing activities were reduced when healthy control PBMCs were transfected with IL-26 siRNA. However, the transfection did not affect the killing activity of HS PBMCs, supporting the idea that IL-26 lacks efficacy in HS. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that infection susceptibility in HS might be related to IL-26. Although the role of bacteria remains controversial in HS, this paper supports that there is a defect of antimicrobial response in these patients. What's already known about this topic? Interleukin (IL)-26 is a T helper 17 cytokine described as an antimicrobial and proinflammatory mediator. IL-26 has been reported in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, but its involvement in inflammatory skin disorders remains unclear. Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder characterized by deficiency of IL-20 and IL-22 (a close homologue of IL-26), which causes antimicrobial peptide pauperization leading to severe and recurrent skin infections. What does this study add? IL-26 plasma levels are higher in patients with HS than in healthy control individuals. The antimicrobial activity of IL-26 might be ineffective in patients with HS. What is the translational message? Cutaneous antimicrobial incompetence in HS could be related to IL-26.