Encouraging responsible reporting practices in the Instructions to Authors of neuroscience and physiology journals: There is room to improve.

Journals can substantially influence the quality of research reports by including responsible reporting practices in their Instructions to Authors. We assessed the extent to which 100 journals in neuroscience and physiology required authors to report methods and results in a rigorous and transparent way. For each journal, Instructions to Authors and any referenced reporting guideline or checklist were downloaded from journal websites. Twenty-two questions were developed to assess how journal Instructions to Authors address fundamental aspects of rigor and transparency in five key reporting areas. Journal Instructions to Authors and all referenced external guidelines and checklists were audited against these 22 questions. Of the full sample of 100 Instructions to Authors, 34 did not reference any external reporting guideline or checklist. Reporting whether clinical trial protocols were pre-registered was required by 49 journals and encouraged by 7 others. Making data publicly available was encouraged by 64 journals; making (processing or statistical) code publicly available was encouraged by ∼30 of the journals. Other responsible reporting practices were mentioned by less than 20 of the journals. Journals can improve the quality of research reports by mandating, or at least encouraging, the responsible reporting practices highlighted here.

Age has no effect on ankle proprioception when movement history is controlled.

Ankle proprioceptive deficits can contribute to increased fall risks in the elderly population. We investigated whether ankle proprioception alters with age in healthy people (n = 80, aged 19-80 yr). Previous studies report conflicting results, but none have considered that proprioceptive performance is affected by previous muscle contractions and length changes. Participants sat with their leg extended and foot rested on a motorized footplate. Three proprioceptive tests were performed: threshold for detection of passive movement, proprioceptive reaction time, and a test of matching joint position sense. Muscle spindle sensitivity was controlled by repetitively moving the ankle before each target angle. Reliability of these methods was tested. Linear regression showed no effect of age on proprioceptive acuity. Mean detection threshold was 0.13 ± 0.10° (mean ± SD) and regression against age gave R2 = 0.009 (P = 0.399). Mean reaction time was 0.251 ± 0.054 s with R2 = 0.004 (P = 0.597). Three measures were calculated for joint position sense (y-intercept, -13.3 ± 9.4°; slope, 1.15 ± 0.45; R2, 0.78 ± 0.12). None were associated with age (R2 = 0.02, P = 0.19; R2 = 0.01, P = 0.36; R2 = 0.019, P = 0.23, respectively). Most measures showed good to excellent reliability. Unexpectedly, our results suggest there is little effect of age on ankle proprioceptive performance in healthy community-dwelling people when proprioception is tested with passive movements and under controlled laboratory conditions. However, we cannot rule out that impairments in proprioceptive function may be evident in older people with poor function, that is, those classified as "fallers".NEW & NOTEWORTHY It is generally accepted that proprioceptive ability deteriorates with age, although not all data support this view. We tested proprioception using three reliable tests at the ankle in 80 adults (19-80 yr). For all tests, the effects of muscle thixotropy were controlled. Under these conditions, we found no difference in proprioceptive acuity between young and old people.

Impaired central drive to plantarflexors and minimal ankle proprioceptive deficit in people with multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND: A common and disruptive symptom of multiple sclerosis is difficulty in walking. Deficits in ankle proprioception and in plantarflexor muscle function may contribute to these mobility issues. In this study, ankle proprioceptive ability and plantarflexor performance of people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) were compared to healthy controls to determine whether multiple sclerosis causes impairments in these systems. METHODS: PwMS (n = 30, median EDSS 4.0, IQR 2) were compared to age- and sex-matched healthy controls (n = 30) across tests of ankle proprioception and plantarflexor muscle performance. Proprioceptive tests: detection of passive movement, reaction time and ankle joint position sense. Plantarflexor performance: strength, fatigue, recovery and voluntary activation (level of neural drive) of the plantarflexor muscles, assessed through brief and sustained fatiguing (2 min) isometric maximal voluntary contractions with nerve stimulation to evoke superimposed and resting muscle twitches. RESULTS: PwMS had unimpaired movement detection and joint position sense but had a slower reaction time to respond with plantarflexion to an imposed ankle movement (between group difference = 0.11 [95% CI; 0.05 to 0.17] s). During brief, maximal contractions PwMS produced lower torque (difference = -25.1 [-42.0 to -8.2] Nm) with reduced voluntary activation (difference = -14.6 [-25.1 to -4.1]%) but no impairment of the muscle itself (resting twitch torque difference = 0.3 [-2.8 to 2.2] Nm). At the end of the fatiguing contraction, neural drive decreased for PwMS (-19.5 [-27.1 to -11.9]%, p <0.0001) but not for controls (-2.5 [-6.9 to 1.8]%, p = 0.242). Fatigue did not affect the resting twitch size for controls (-1.3 [-2.7 to -0.03] Nm, p = 0.134) or PwMS (-0.1 [-1.1 to 1.0] Nm, p = 0.90). CONCLUSIONS: PwMS showed no deficit in their ability to sense ankle position or imposed movements but were slow when a motor response was required. Their plantarflexor muscles produced similar torque with electrical stimulation but voluntary strength was impaired.  Both groups experienced overall fatigue following the 2-minute maximal voluntary contraction but PwMS also had significantly reduced neural drive indicating central fatigue. PwMS showed mainly central deficits in motor output at the ankle with little impairment of proprioceptive acuity.