Adaptive learning: interventions for verbal and motor deficits.

Advances in basic and clinical neuroscience are uniting to form new optimism for treatment and rehabilitation of persons with a variety of neurologic disorders. Both cognitive and motor systems have shown remarkable degrees of plasticity in response to incoming stimuli. Understanding the brain (and spinal cord) capacity for change will lead to new topics for research as well as new approaches to rehabilitation. Adaptive learning has been shown to be a fundamental part of the developmental process and has been used in remediation of a variety of language difficulties. Using such principles to approach motor functions also is showing promise. Expanding these observations to encompass other areas of disease and rehabilitation is an area for further research. Interdisciplinary approaches including the fields of computer technology, imaging, and genetic analysis will provide new tools. Contribution of new concepts within adaptive learning must address such topics as the relation between motor and sensory responses, measures that accurately indicate cognitive health, the brain and spinal cord areas involved in particular learning tasks, the optimal time windows for intervention, and the importance of behavior and motivation in treatment and rehabilitation.

DNA damage and repair in central nervous system injury: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Workshop Summary.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: DNA damage and repair are areas of research with important implications for stroke and cerebral trauma. DNA damage is present in central nervous system (CNS) injury, and defects in repair mechanisms are associated with neurodegenerative disease. METHODS: A workshop, DNA Damage and Repair in CNS Injury, was organized by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Md, on September 11, 1995. The objective of this workshop was to promote inquiry and to foster application of research in DNA damage and repair after stroke and trauma. RESULTS: The participants discussed the connection between the fields of DNA damage and repair and stroke and trauma and identified gaps in knowledge to be filled to expand research of DNA damage and repair in CNS injury. Specific recommendations were made targeting research opportunities in the areas of DNA repair and damage in stroke and trauma. CONCLUSIONS: Research in the science of DNA injury and repair will likely provide new and important information on mechanisms of cell damage and provide opportunities for the development of novel and effective therapies to reduce CNS injury in stroke and trauma.