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.

From movement to thought and back: a review on the role of cognitive factors influencing technological neurorehabilitation.

In recent years, cognitive theories have increasingly influenced the approach to motor rehabilitation. The connection between different aspects of cognitive and motor function is increasingly documented, underlining the importance of developing rehabilitation projects that take cognitive aspects into account. The aim of this non-systematic review is to highlight the relationship between cognition and motion and, in the light of new rehabilitation technologies, to better define how aspects of cognition can affect motor rehabilitation.

From paper to informatics: the Post Soft Care-App, an easy-to-use and fast tool to help therapists identify unmet needs in stroke patients.

Even after rehabilitation, post stroke patients remain disabled. The Post Stroke Checklist (PSC) was developed to highlight unmet needs of community-dwelling stroke patients. The present study set out to validate Post Soft Care-App, designed to administer the PSC using smartphones and tablets, in order to monitor unmet needs in chronic patients. Fifty-three patients and fifteen physiotherapists were enrolled. The therapists administered the PSC to patients using the app, and then completed a structured questionnaire on its usability and utility. The Post Soft Care-App highlighted the following unmet needs: increased spasticity (56.6%), reduced independence in activities of daily living (47.2%), reduced mobility (45.3%), absence of secondary prevention (45.3%). Therapists positively evaluated Post Soft Care-App as useful, practical, quick to complete (96.2%), and effective in helping improve communication with patients (75.5%). The Post Soft Care-App can be considered a valid assessment tool for helping therapists to monitor functional outcomes in chronic patients.

Kinetics of systemic ruthenium in human blood using a stable tracer.

The biokinetics of ruthenium after oral and intravenous administration has been investigated in two human subjects using the stable isotope 101Ru as a tracer. Tracer concentrations in blood plasma have been determined using activation analysis with protons. The results presented here prove that the stable tracer technique is a valuable tool for obtaining relevant information about the biokinetics of ruthenium in humans. From these pilot studies, it may be argued that the clearance of systemic ruthenium from plasma is significantly slower than the predictions of the biokinetic model currently recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The experimental data for the orally administered tracer, which reflect the gastrointestinal absorption process, differ from the curve derived from the ICRP model, suggesting that the uptake into the systemic circulation may be lower than predicted. On the basis of these preliminary data, investigations on a larger number of subjects with improvements in the experimental design are scheduled.

Determination of biokinetic parameters for ingestion of radionuclides of zirconium in animals using stable tracers.

Exposure to the radioactive isotope 95Zr, as in nuclear accidents, and to stable zirconium, due to its use in industry, has increased the interest in the biokinetics of this element. Information has been derived mainly from tests performed on animals by means of radioactive tracers. Due to the fact that extrapolation from animals to humans is always open to question, there is an increasing need of a methodology which allows data to be obtained directly from humans. The use of stable tracers, being ethically justifiable, is a powerful tool for providing this information. As two tracers of the same element must be utilized in order to evaluate gut absorption, an analytical technique which is capable of distinguishing and measuring simultaneously different isotopes of zirconium in biological samples is required. Preliminary tests on laboratory animals were performed in order to assess the feasibility of the double tracer technique combined with proton activation analysis.

Internal dose for ingestion of molybdenum radionuclides based on a revised biokinetic model.

Recent investigations with human volunteers showed that the model recommended by ICRP for the description of the biokinetics of molybdenum radionuclides is not able to describe some characteristic features, like the clearance from the transfer compartment and the urinary excretion profile. Therefore, a revision of the model was presented in a previous paper. In the current work, dose coefficients for ingestion of radionuclides of molybdenum from members of the public have been calculated according to the ICRP guidelines, but using the revised biokinetic model. The results obtained for the effective dose do not differ remarkably from the ICRP estimates. However, considerable deviations are observed for the equivalent dose to some individual organs; for example, the dose coefficient for colon after ingestion of 99Mo in solid form is about 7 times higher than the ICRP value, whereas for other organs the new estimates are about one tenth of the ICRP ones. This fact could be of importance with respect to deterministic effects to particularly radiosensitive organs.

A revised model of molybdenum biokinetics in humans for application in radiation protection.

The biokinetic models used to describe the fate of radionuclides incorporated by humans often lack the support of reliable experimental evidence. Recent investigations conducted in human volunteers using stable isotopes as tracers have shown that some important features of the biokinetics of ingested molybdenum are not taken into account by the model currently adopted by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. Compartmental analysis has been used to develop an improved model which better describes the available data. Major modifications with respect to the International Commission on Radiological Protection model concern the description of the urinary excretion and the values of the transfer parameters describing intestinal absorption and distribution to organs. Separate sets of parameter values for liquid and solid materials are also given.

Use of charged particle activation as an analytical technique in the biological field.

Some applications of Charged Particle Activation Analysis (CPAA) in the biological field are presented. This technique has been used frequently for the analysis of the light elements which are inaccessible to neutron activation analysis (NAA), but it is especially effective in the detection of medium-heavy trace elements and there is increasing interest in its employment in biological and medical fields. CPAA enables the identification and simultaneous quantification of different isotopes of the same element. Recent applications show that it can be used as a reference method in stable isotope determination for biokinetic studies of selected elements in complex organic matrices such as blood plasma.

A methodology for biokinetic studies using stable isotopes: results of repeated molybdenum investigations on a healthy volunteer.

A method for biokinetic studies in humans using stable isotopes is presented. The technique is based on double tracer administration and on proton activation as the analytical method. As an application, the results of investigations on molybdenum metabolism in humans are reported. The contents of 95Mo and 96Mo in biological samples were determined by inducing (p,n) reactions and by analysing the gamma-rays emitted by the radioactive products. The minimum detectable quantity was 2 ng/mL plasma for both Mo isotopes. Four investigations on molybdenum metabolism were performed on a healthy volunteer subject in the course of 3 yr. Two absorption studies with different amounts of tracers in aqueous solution were performed by giving 96Mo orally and 95Mo intravenously. Two investigations were performed with single oral administration of 96Mo in aqueous solution and of a 96Mo solution mixed with an infant formula respectively. The stability with time of the biokinetic parameters was tested. The fractional absorption values measured in this volunteer were 0.84, 0.98 and 0.95 for three studies with Mo in HCl and 0.51 for a single study with Mo administered in an infant formula, these data are discussed.

Influence of the administered mass of tellurium on plasma clearance in rabbits.

The combination of analytical techniques such as PNA and SIMS with a compartmental approach enables the study of the metabolism and biokinetics in humans of several elements by using stable isotopes as tracers. The techniques developed for Te require the administration of greater masses than those used for similar studies performed with radioactive tracers, therefore a test was carried out in rabbits in order to assess the possible influence of the administered amounts on the determination of the biokinetic parameters. The behaviour of the tracers was found to be similar for Te administration of up to 70 micrograms/kg of body weight. An inter-individual variability in the size of the transfer compartment was observed and has to be taken into account.

Proton activation analysis of stable isotopes for a molybdenum biokinetics study in humans.

Molybdenum is a trace element essential to life. Nevertheless, little information is available on its metabolism in humans. A methodology based on stable isotope administration that combines compartmental analysis, simultaneous use of two tracers, and proton nuclear activation (PNA) is presented. A four-compartment metabolic model was adopted. The compartments are stomach, small intestine, transfer compartment, and unquantified tissue pool. The employment of two different stable isotopes of the element under investigation as tracers was made possible by PNA. Optimization of the technique for molybdenum determination in plasma led to the choice of 95Mo and 96Mo as tracers. Their concentrations in plasma can be determined measuring the disintegration gamma lines of the corresponding technetium radioisotopes produced via (p,n) reaction. In the adopted experimental conditions, a minimum detectable concentration of 2 ng isotope/ml plasma was attained. A kinetics study was performed on two healthy volunteers. To both subjects one tracer was orally administered, and the other intravenously injected. Venous blood samples were withdrawn at different postinjection times and the concentrations for both isotopes determined. The model parameters describing molybdenum kinetics were obtained for the two individuals. Total absorbed fraction was found to be 0.84 +/- 0.03 and 0.86 +/- 0.07, respectively.

Response to a single oral test of molybdenum stable isotopes for absorption studies in humans.

Two volunteer subjects were given orally enriched solutions of Mo-95 and Mo-96 respectively. Blood samples were drawn at various times following the tracer administration. The Mo-95 and Mo-96 content in plasma samples was determined by proton nuclear activation and the response to the single oral test of enriched stable molybdenum isotopes was determined. Assuming a simple two-open-compartment model where the first compartment is the gastrointestinal tract and the other is the plasma, an indicative value of the fractional intestinal absorption for the two subjects is given. The feasibility of direct quantitative measurements of Mo intestinal absorption by the double-tracer technique, using stable tracers, is evidenced.

Molybdenum metabolism studied by means of stable tracers.

An investigation on molybdenum metabolism by administration of molybdenum stable isotopes was performed. Fractional intestinal absorption was determined in animals by the double tracer technique. The investigated subjects were given an enriched solution of Mo-96 orally and, a few minutes later, an enriched solution of Mo-95 intravenously. Blood samples were drawn at different times following the tracer administration. The Mo-95 and Mo-96 contents in plasma samples were determined by proton nuclear activation. The described methodology offers a means for the study of molybdenum metabolism in humans without radiation risk.