Do proprioceptive training strategies with dual-task exercises positively influence gait parameters in chronic stroke? A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the impact of proprioceptive training strategies with dual-task exercises on gait in people with chronic stroke. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review. PATIENTS: Chronic stroke. METHODS: Searches were conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines and PICOS criteria. PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were systematically searched from November 2020 to February 2022, for eligible clinical trials. Two independent reviewers thoroughly screened potential articles for relevance and assessed the methodology quality. In accordance with the GRADE, PICOS criteria, and Cochrane risk of bias tools, the authors included articles concerning the effectiveness of dual-task in proprioceptive training on gait parameters in people with chronic stroke. RESULTS: Of 3075 identified studies, 11 articles met the inclusion criteria: 7 were randomized clinical trials, 1 was not randomized, and 3 were observational studies. The overall quality of evidence, assessed using the GRADE framework, was high, indicating a high level of confidence in the systematic review's findings. The papers involved 393 stroke patients; 241 underwent dual-task in proprioceptive training, with 152 participants in other stroke rehabilitation; within the dual-task group, 71 engaged in cognitive tasks, and 170 participated in motor tasks. dual-task in proprioceptive training improved gait speed, cadence, stride time, stride length, and step length. The best effects were observed with training 3 times a week for 4 weeks, with each session lasting 30 minutes, on speed, cadence, stride length, and step length. CONCLUSION: Current evidence suggests that proprioceptive training strategies with dual-task exercises improved walking abilities in people with chronic stroke. Specifically, it enhanced gait speed, a key indicator of clinical severity.

Appendicular Skeletal Muscle Mass in Older Adults Can Be Estimated With a Simple Equation Using a Few Zero-Cost Variables.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Assessing appendicular skeletal muscle (ASM) mass is crucial for the diagnosis of numerous pathologies related to the decline of muscle mass in old age, such as sarcopenia, malnutrition, or cachexia. The dual-energy X-ray absorptiometer (DEXA) radiological technique, which is the gold standard for its assessment, is particularly costly and not routinely used in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to derive computationally simple equations capable of estimating the DEXA-measured ASM at zero cost in older adult populations. METHODS: We used the cross-sectional data collected by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) over 7 years (1999-2006). The study sample included 16,477 individuals aged 18 years and over, of which 4401 were over 60 years old. We considered 38 nonlaboratory variables. For the derivation of the equations, we employed the Brain Project, an innovative artificial intelligence tool that combines genetic programming and neural networks. The approach searches simultaneously for the mathematical expression and the variables to use in the equation. The derived equations are useful to estimate the DEXA-measured ASM. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: A simple equation that includes the body weight of the patient as the sole variable can estimate the outcome of DEXA with an accuracy equivalent to previously published equations. When used to identify individuals over 60 years old with muscle mass loss, it achieved an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.85 for both males and females. The inclusion of sex and anthropometric data (thigh and arm circumference) improved the accuracy for male individuals (AUC 0.89). The model is also suitable to be applied to the general adult population of 18 years of age or older. Using more than 3 variables does not lead to better accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: The newly proposed equations have better diagnostic accuracy than previous equations for the estimation of DEXA-measured ASM. They are readily applicable in clinical practice for the screening of muscle mass loss in the over 60-year-old population with nearly zero-cost variables. The most complex model proposed in this study requires only the inspection of a simple diagnostic chart to estimate the status of muscle mass loss.

Damage for gain: The useful damage of the Pitcher's paradox.

Introduction: Sport-specific adaptations of the glenohumeral joint may arise in adolescent overhead athletes who begin high-performance sports early in life. Research mainly addresses overuse injuries, leaving gaps in prevention, with adults studied more than youths. Objective: This study aims to investigate sport-adaptations of the glenohumeral joint in asymptomatic adolescent volleyball players to identify potential shoulder injury risk factors. Design: Observational study. Setting: Clinical screening campaign conducted at the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit of Policlinic Hospital in Catania, Italy. Participants: Forty asymptomatic under-16 athletes were evaluated. Interventions: Shoulder internal rotation (IR) and external rotation (ER), range of motion (ROM), total-rotation ROM, glenohumeral IR deficit (GIRD), general joint laxity using Beighton score, apprehension, relocation, O'Brian tests, and ultrasound (US) glenohumeral distance were tested bilaterally. Variables such as the player's position, the age they began the sport, limb dominance, weight, and height were also considered. Results: The median US glenohumeral distance was at 0.42 ± 0.26 cm, which is consistent with the range found in non-dislocated shoulders of a healthy non-athletic population. The ER ROM was significantly greater in the dominant shoulder than the contralateral one (P = 0.0001), and there was a significant correlation between the ER ROM of attackers and their US glenohumeral distance (P = 0.0413). Furthermore, shoulder IR ROM and US glenohumeral distance were not significantly different between the dominant and contralateral limbs (P = 0.05). None of the athletes presented GIRD. Other tests, including the Beighton score, apprehension, and relocation tests, yielded no significant differences between the dominant and contralateral limbs. Conclusions: Despite an increased shoulder ER in the dominant limb, the glenohumeral joint remains stable, suggesting that greater ROM in ER does not equate to instability in overhead athletes without hyperlaxity. Nevertheless, increased ER impacts glenohumeral distance in attacker volleyball players. This finding suggests that the shoulder morphological adaptation process starts early in attackers.

Can artificial intelligence simplify the screening of muscle mass loss?

Background: Sarcopenia is a risk factor for morbidity and preventable mortality in old age, with consequent high costs for the national health system. Its diagnosis requires costly radiological examinations, such as the DEXA, which complicate screening in medical centers with a high prevalence of sarcopenia. Objectives: Developing a nearly zero-cost screening tool to emulate the performance of DEXA in identifying patients with muscle mass loss. This can crucially help the early diagnosis of sarcopenia at large-scale, contributing to reduce its prevalence and related complications with timely treatments. Methods: We exploit cross-sectional data for about 14,500 patients and 38 non-laboratory variables from successive NHANES over 7 years (1999-2006). Data are analyzed through a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence approach based on decision trees. Results: A reduced number of anthropometric parameters allows to predict the outcome of DEXA with AUC between 0.92 and 0.94. The most complex model derived in this paper exploits 6 variables, related to the circumference of key corporal segments and to the evaluation of body fat. It achieves an optimal trade-off sensitivity of 0.89 and a specificity of 0.82. Restricting exclusively to variables related to lower limb, we obtain an even simpler tool with only slightly lower accuracy (AUC 0.88-0.90). Conclusions: Anthropometric data seem to contain the entire informative content of a more complex set of non-laboratory variables, including anamnestic and/or morbidity factors. Compared to previously published screening tools for muscle mass loss, the newly developed models are less complex and achieve a better accuracy. The new results might suggest a possible inversion of the standard diagnostic algorithm of sarcopenia. We conjecture a new diagnostic scheme, which requires a dedicated clinical validation that goes beyond the scope of the present study.

Artificial intelligence in health data analysis: The Darwinian evolution theory suggests an extremely simple and zero-cost large-scale screening tool for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.

AIMS: The effective identification of individuals with early dysglycemia status is key to reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes. We develop and validate a novel zero-cost tool that significantly simplifies the screening of undiagnosed dysglycemia. METHODS: We use NHANES cross-sectional data over 10 years (2007-2016) to derive an equation that links non-laboratory exposure variables to the possible presence of undetected dysglycemia. For the first time, we adopt a novel artificial intelligence approach based on the Darwinian evolutionary theory to analyze health data. We collected data for 47 variables. RESULTS: Age and waist circumference are the only variables required to use the model. To identify undetected dysglycemia, we obtain an area under the curve (AUC) of 75.3%. Sensitivity and specificity are 0.65 and 0.73 by using the optimal threshold value determined from external validation data. CONCLUSIONS: The use of uniquely two variables allows to obtain a zero-cost screening tool of analogous precision than that of more complex tools widely adopted in the literature. The newly developed tool has clinical use as it significantly simplifies the screening of dysglycemia. Furthermore, we suggest that the definition of an age-related waist circumference cut-off might help to improve existing diabetes risk factors.

Haemophilic arthropathy: A narrative review on the use of intra-articular drugs for arthritis.

INTRODUCTION: Intra-articular injections of various drugs are commonly used in patients with degenerative osteoarthritis and also in haemophilic patients. Haemophilic arthropathy is a particular type of secondary osteoarthritis (OA), but the degeneration of strong synovial, cartilaginous and subchondral constituents is provoked by the direct action of iron and blood in the joint. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of this study is to review the literature regarding the use of various intra-articular drugs in joints affected by haemophilic arthropathy. METHODS: We reviewed the data from the literature; the search was performed on three medical electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library and Scopus Web of Science) by three authors (B. E., A. M. and V. N.) from 3 December 2018 till 15 December 2018. The search string was as follows: (hyaluronic acid OR viscosupplementation OR platelet-rich plasma OR corticosteroid OR mesenchymal stem cells) AND (haemophilia OR haemophilic arthropathy OR haemophilic arthritis). RESULTS: Once the research was performed, a total of 300 articles were identified. 47 selected articles were analysed by the reviewers, and the eligibility of the study inclusion was assessed independently. Twelve papers were included based on clear fulfilment of the inclusion criteria. Thirty-five articles were excluded for the following reasons: no full text or accessible data for 14 of them, 15 involved surgery or rehabilitation therapy as the primary topic and 6 were systematic reviews (the main topics were beyond the haemophilic arthropathy). CONCLUSION: Although the degree of scientific evidence of the publications on intra-articular injections of various drugs (hyaluronic acid, corticosteriods, PRP and MSCs) in haemophilia is very low, it seems that intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid can relieve joint pain for months and can be repeated every 6-12 months, which is why they can be recommended. Corticosteroid injections seem to relieve joint pain for a few weeks, but their routine use is not recommended in haemophilia. The efficacy of PRP and MSCs in haemophilic arthropathy is pending confirmation, which is why they are not currently recommended.