Behavioral Assessment of Unilateral Spatial Neglect with the Catherine Bergego Scale (CBS) Using the Kessler Foundation Neglect Assessment Process (KF-NAP) in Patients with Subacute Stroke during Rehabilitation in Japan.

The Kessler Foundation Neglect Assessment Process (KF-NAP) is an assessment tool for unilateral spatial neglect (USN), which is the scoring method for the Catherine Bergego Scale (CBS) based on detailed instructions. This study is aimed at determining the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the KF-NAP (KF-NAP-J), evaluating the improvement of neglect assessment with KF-NAP-J, and comparing it with the original CBS for subacute stroke patients. We assessed subacute stroke patients admitted to our intensive rehabilitation hospital. Two KF-NAP-trained occupational therapists (OTs) assessed 22 patients. Before implementing the KF-NAP at the hospital, two other OTs assessed the other 23 patients using the CBS. We evaluated the interrater reliability of the KF-NAP and CBS using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for the total scores, weighted kappa statistics for each subscale, and internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha. We assessed the validity of the KF-NAP against the Behavioral Inattention Test (BIT) and Functional Independence Measure (FIM) using Spearman's correlation coefficient. The reliability of both the KF-NAP and CBS was excellent. The weighted kappa results demonstrated that each subscale was in better agreement with the KF-NAP than with the CBS. In the KF-NAP, all eight subscales in which weighted kappa could be calculated were in significant agreement, and two were almost in perfect agreement. The KF-NAP moderately correlated with the subscales of BIT and FIM representing USN and activities of daily living. The USN detection rates of KF-NAP and BIT in the KF-NAP group were 63.6% and 22.7%, respectively. These results suggest that the KF-NAP, as well as the CBS, is useful to assess USN, which strongly impacts the rehabilitation outcomes in subacute stroke patients.

Correlation between changes in functional connectivity in the dorsal attention network and the after-effects induced by prism adaptation in healthy humans: A dataset of resting-state fMRI and pointing after prism adaptation.

It has been reported that it is possible to observe transient changes in resting-state functional connectivity (FC) in the attention networks of healthy adults during treatment with prism adaptation. by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) (see "Prism adaptation changes resting-state functional connectivity in the dorsal stream of visual attention networks in healthy adults: A fMRI study" (Tsujimoto et al., 2018) [1]. Recent neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies support the idea that prism adaptation (PA) affects the visual attention and sensorimotor networks, which include the parietal cortex and cerebellum. These data demonstrate the effect of PA on resting-state functional connectivity between the primary motor cortex and cerebellum. Additionally, it evaluates changes of resting-state FC before and after PA in healthy individuals using fMRI. Analyses focus on FC between the primary motor cortex and cerebellum, and the correlation between changes in FC and its after-effects following a single PA session. Here, we show data that demonstrate the change in resting-state FC between the primary motor cortex and cerebellum, as well as a correlation between the change ratio of FC and the amplitude of the after-effect.

Prism adaptation changes resting-state functional connectivity in the dorsal stream of visual attention networks in healthy adults: A fMRI study.

Unilateral spatial neglect (USN) can be defined as a failure to orient to contra-lesional stimuli in the absence of either sensory or motor defects. Although the behavioral and clinical effects of prism adaptation (PA) are widely accepted, its underlying mechanisms are still controversial. However, recent neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies support the idea that PA affects the visual attention and sensorimotor networks including in the parietal cortex and cerebellum. We investigate the effect of PA on functional connectivity (FC) in attention and sensorimotor networks, evaluating changes of resting-state FC before and after PA in healthy individuals using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). MR sessions were conducted before PA, after PA (Post1), and 1 h after PA (Post2). The FC between the right frontal eye (FEF) field and the right intraparietal sulcus was significantly decreased at Post1 and that between the right FEF and the right anterior cingulate cortex was significantly increased after PA and recovered within 1 h. This is the first study to demonstrate transient changes of resting-state FC in the right dorsal attention network (DAN) by PA in healthy adults using fMRI. These results will contribute to the elucidation of the underling mechanism of PA therapy and to devising new therapies for USN and/or other higher cortical dysfunctions.