The Use of Structured Observation as a Stroke Rehabilitation Aid: An Opinion from Neuroscience

2007 ◽  
Vol 70 (10) ◽  
pp. 454-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Holmes ◽  
Louise Ewan
Keyword(s):  
Motor Function ◽  
Stroke Rehabilitation ◽  
Occupational Therapist ◽  
Novel Therapy ◽  
Opinion Piece ◽  
Physically Based ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Motor Areas ◽  
Structured Observation

This opinion piece proposes that individuals who have experienced stroke may benefit from observing meaningful movements. Structured observation interventions, through video, activate the brain in functional motor areas that are similar to those seen for the physical execution of the observed skills. Furthermore, the occupational therapist may be ideally placed to deliver this novel therapy. The simulation of self-movements and others' movements that are meaningful for the individual may provide a valid approach for therapists to retain central motor function, promote motor plasticity and benefit more physically-based interventions.

Cannabidiolɗs Role as a Potential Target in the Treatment for Schizophrenia

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S631-S631
Author(s):  
A. Carvalho ◽  
J. Felgueiras ◽  
T. Abreu ◽  
C. Freitas ◽  
J. Silva
Keyword(s):  
Endocannabinoid System ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Novel Therapy ◽  
Considerable Uncertainty ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Brain

ObjectivesSchizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric disorder which places a significant emotional and economic strain on the individual and society-at-large. Unfortunately, currently available therapeutic strategies do not provide adequate relief and some patients are treatment-resistant. Therefore there is urgent need for the development of mechanistically different and less side effect prone antipsychotic compounds. Recently, the endocannabinoid system has emerged as a potential therapeutic target for pharmacotherapy that is involved in a wide range of disorders, including schizophrenia. Modulation of this system by the main psychoactive component in cannabis, Δ9tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), induces acute psychotic effects and cognitive impairment. However, the non-psychotropic, plant-derived cannabinoid agent cannabidiol shows great promise for the treatment of psychosis, and is associated with fewer extrapyramidal side effects than conventional antipsychotic drugs.MethodsThe aim of this review is to analyse the involvement of the endocannabinoid system in schizophrenia and the potential role of cannabidiol in its treatment.Results and conclusionsThere is still considerable uncertainty about the mechanism of action of cannabidiol as well as the brain regions which are thought to mediate its putative antipsychotic effect. Further data is warrant before this novel therapy can be introduced into clinical practice.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest

scholarly journals MIRROR THERAPY IN STROKE REHABILITATION

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lidwina S. Sengkey ◽  
Paola Pandeiroth
Keyword(s):  
Motor Function ◽  
Daily Living ◽  
Stroke Rehabilitation ◽  
Internal Capsule ◽  
Mirror Therapy ◽  
Stroke Patients ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Improve Motor Function ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Brain

Abstract: Paralysis in stroke is mainly caused by damage of any kind in internal capsule. Recovering of these damages require neuroplasticity which involves parts of the brain survivors. One kind of therapies that has some beneficial effects on neuroplasticity is mirror therapy. This therapy is used to improve motor function after stroke. Mirror therapy is easy to set up and requires very little training without taxing the patient. Data obtained from several studies show that besides it is simple and cheap, this mirror therapy might have a significant effect on motor function and improve activities of daily living as an adjunct to the rehabilitation for stroke patients. This review aims to demonstrate the benefits of mirror therapy in stroke rehabilitation. Keywords: exercise therapy, mirror therapy, rehabilitation, stroke   Abstrak: Paralisis pada stroke terutama terjadi karena kerusakan di kapsula interna. Kerusakan ini memerlukan neuroplastisitas yang melibatkan sejumlah bagian otak yang selamat untuk memulihkannya. Salah satu terapi yang bermanfaat terhadap neuroplastisitas yaitu terapi cermin. Terapi ini digunakan untuk memperbaiki fungsi motorik pasca stroke. Terapi cermin mudah dilakukan dan hanya membutuhkan latihan yang sangat singkat tanpa membebani pasien. Data yang diperoleh dari beberapa penelitian memperlihatkan bahwa terapi cermin merupakan terapi yang sederhana, murah, dan efektif dalam memperbaiki fungsi motorik (baik ekstremitas atas maupun bawah) dan aktivitas kehidupan sehari-hari, sebagai tambahan untuk rehabilitasi yang umumnya dilakukan pada pasien dengan stroke. Telaah ini bertujuan untuk menunjukkan keuntungan terapi cermin pada rehabilitasi stroke. Kata kunci: terapi latihan, terapi cermin, rehabilitasi, stroke

Fit Vs Faint: Assessing Work Causation in “Idiopathic Fall” Cases

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 3-12
Author(s):  
Lorne Direnfeld ◽  
David B. Torrey ◽  
Jim Black ◽  
LuAnn Haley ◽  
Christopher R. Brigham
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Electrical Activity ◽  
Loss Of Consciousness ◽  
Brain Electrical Activity ◽  
Medical Terminology ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
Medical Causation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Current Science

Abstract When an individual falls due to a nonwork-related episode of dizziness, hits their head and sustains injury, do workers’ compensation laws consider such injuries to be compensable? Bearing in mind that each state makes its own laws, the answer depends on what caused the loss of consciousness, and the second asks specifically what happened in the fall that caused the injury? The first question speaks to medical causation, which applies scientific analysis to determine the cause of the problem. The second question addresses legal causation: Under what factual circumstances are injuries of this type potentially covered under the law? Much nuance attends this analysis. The authors discuss idiopathic falls, which in this context means “unique to the individual” as opposed to “of unknown cause,” which is the familiar medical terminology. The article presents three detailed case studies that describe falls that had their genesis in episodes of loss of consciousness, followed by analyses by lawyer or judge authors who address the issue of compensability, including three scenarios from Arizona, California, and Pennsylvania. A medical (scientific) analysis must be thorough and must determine the facts regarding the fall and what occurred: Was the fall due to a fit (eg, a seizure with loss of consciousness attributable to anormal brain electrical activity) or a faint (eg, loss of consciousness attributable to a decrease in blood flow to the brain? The evaluator should be able to fully explain the basis for the conclusions, including references to current science.

Individual Uniqueness in the Neonatal Functional Connectome

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiushi Wang ◽  
Yuehua Xu ◽  
Tengda Zhao ◽  
Zhilei Xu ◽  
Yong He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Individual Identification ◽  
Imaging Data ◽  
Functional Connectome ◽  
Middle Range ◽  
Human Connectome Project ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Identification Analysis ◽  
The Brain

Abstract The functional connectome is highly distinctive in adults and adolescents, underlying individual differences in cognition and behavior. However, it remains unknown whether the individual uniqueness of the functional connectome is present in neonates, who are far from mature. Here, we utilized the multiband resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 40 healthy neonates from the Developing Human Connectome Project and a split-half analysis approach to characterize the uniqueness of the functional connectome in the neonatal brain. Through functional connectome-based individual identification analysis, we found that all the neonates were correctly identified, with the most discriminative regions predominantly confined to the higher-order cortices (e.g., prefrontal and parietal regions). The connectivities with the highest contributions to individual uniqueness were primarily located between different functional systems, and the short- (0–30 mm) and middle-range (30–60 mm) connectivities were more distinctive than the long-range (>60 mm) connectivities. Interestingly, we found that functional data with a scanning length longer than 3.5 min were able to capture the individual uniqueness in the functional connectome. Our results highlight that individual uniqueness is present in the functional connectome of neonates and provide insights into the brain mechanisms underlying individual differences in cognition and behavior later in life.

scholarly journals Veto and Vacillation: A Neural Precursor of the Decision to Withhold Action

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 296-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erman Misirlisoy ◽  
Patrick Haggard
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Temporal Pattern ◽  
Neural Precursor ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Action Sequences ◽  
Readiness Potentials ◽  
Preparatory Activity ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Motor Areas

The capacity to inhibit a planned action gives human behavior its characteristic flexibility. How this mechanism operates and what factors influence a decision to act or not act remain relatively unexplored. We used EEG readiness potentials (RPs) to examine preparatory activity before each action of an ongoing sequence, in which one action was occasionally omitted. We compared RPs between sequences in which omissions were instructed by a rule (e.g., “omit every fourth action”) and sequences in which the participant themselves freely decided which action to omit. RP amplitude was reduced for actions that immediately preceded a voluntary omission but not a rule-based omission. We also used the regular temporal pattern of the action sequences to explore brain processes linked to omitting an action by time-locking EEG averages to the inferred time when an action would have occurred had it not been omitted. When omissions were instructed by a rule, there was a negative-going trend in the EEG, recalling the rising ramp of an RP. No such component was found for voluntary omissions. The results are consistent with a model in which spontaneously fluctuating activity in motor areas of the brain could bias “free” decisions to act or not.

How forests change transit times of transpiration, evaporation and streamflow – a modeling approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingo Heidbüchel ◽  
Jie Yang ◽  
Jan H. Fleckenstein
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Area Index ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Rooting Depth ◽  
Water Fluxes ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Transit Times ◽  
Physically Based ◽  
Forested Areas ◽  
The Individual

<p>In a recent paper we investigated how different catchment and climate properties influence transit time distributions. This was done by employing a physically-based spatially explicit 3D model in a virtual catchment running many different scenarios with different combinations of catchment and climate properties. We found that the velocity distribution of water fluxes through a catchment is more sensitive to certain properties while other factors appear less relevant. Now we expanded the approach by adding vegetation to the model and thus introducing new hydrologic processes (transpiration and evaporation) to the simulated water cycle. On the one hand we wanted to know how these new processes would influence transit times of the water fluxes to the stream, on the other hand we were interested in how exactly differences in the vegetation itself (e.g. rooting depth and leaf area index) would alter the various flux velocities (including transit times of transpiration and evaporation). It was very interesting to observe that streamflow in forested areas appeared to become older on average. We also found that transpiration was generally younger if the vegetation had shallower roots and/or a larger leaf area index. The biggest difference in the age of evaporation was detected for different amounts of subsequent precipitation (evaporation was generally younger in a wetter climate). In conclusion, we found that forests influence the age of the different water fluxes within a catchment. According to our results the overall hydrologic cycle is decelerated when adding vegetation to a model that otherwise only simulates evaporation.</p><p>Still, in order to make meaningful predictions on the age of hydrologic fluxes, it is not constructive to single out specific catchment and climate properties. The multitude of influences from different parameters makes it very challenging to find rules and underlying principles in the integrated catchment response. Therefore it is necessary to look at the individual parameters and their potential interactions and interdependencies in a bottom-up approach.</p>

Coaching skills for recovery a decade of providing coaching skills for recovery training at a healthcare NHS foundation trust

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Kathryn Cyrus
Keyword(s):  
Work Practice ◽  
Clinical Approach ◽  
Personal Recovery ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Coaching Skills ◽  
The Difference ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain

Purpose Overview of coaching for recovery. The paper aims to show an overview of work that was carried out over 11 years with groups of mental health and physical staff. As the facilitator who had run this course for the duration in Nottingham, this was an excellent opportunity to be at the forefront of a brand new project. Design/methodology/approach The introduction of the skills are taught over two consecutive days followed by a further day a month later. The idea of coaching is to be enabled to find the answers in themselves by the use of powerful questions and using the technique of the grow model, combined with practice enables the brain to come up with its own answers. Using rapport and enabling effective communication to deliver the outcome. Findings Evidence from staff/clients and the purpose of the paper shows that when you step back it allows the individual patients/staff to allow the brain to process to create to come up with their solutions, which then helps them to buy into the process and creates ownership. Research limitations/implications The evidence suggests that the approach that was there prior to the course was very much a clinical approach to working with clients and treating the person, administering medication and not focussing on the inner person or personal recovery. The staff review has shown that in the clinical context change is happening from the inside out. Practical implications “Helps change culture”; “change of work practice”; “it changed staff focus – not so prescriptive”; “powerful questions let clients come to their own conclusions”; “coaching gives the ability to find half full. Helps to offer reassurance and to find one spark of hope”. Social implications This has shown that the approach is now person-centred/holistic. This has been the “difference that has made the difference”. When this paper looks at the issues from a different angle in this case a coaching approach, applying technique, knowledge and powerful questions the results have changed. The same clients, same staff and same problems but with the use of a different approach, there is the evidence of a different outcome, which speaks for itself. The coaching method is more facilitative, therefore it illicit’s a different response, and therefore, result. Originality/value The results/evidence starts with the individual attending and their commitment to the process over the two-day course. Then going away for the four weeks/six for managers and a commitment again to practice. Returning to share the impact if any with the group. This, in turn, helps to inspire and gain motivation from the feedback to go back to work invigorated to keep going.

Febrile Convulsions, by J. Gordon Millichap, M.D., M.R.C.P. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1968, 239 pp., $7.95

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1968 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-382
Author(s):  
Randolph K. Byers
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Febrile Seizures ◽  
Cerebral Injury ◽  
Extensive Review ◽  
Cerebral Disease ◽  
Febrile Convulsions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Made In

This rather modest-looking monograph deals not only with the large experiences of the author in relation to febrile seizures, but also presents an extensive review of the modern relevant literature (266 references in the bibliography). The most useful point made in the book, it seems to me, is that febrile convulsions are just that: i.e., convulsions coinciding with fever, the result of illness not directly involving the brain or its meninges. Such a seizure may be an isolated occurrence in the life of the individual, or it may recur a few times with fever; it may be the first sign of idiopathic chronic epilepsy, or it may be evidence of more or less apparent cerebral injury of a static sort; or, it may be the presenting symptom heralding progressive cerebral disease.

scholarly journals The Localization of Activity Sources in a Three-Dimensional Model of the Human Brain Using the Joint Analysis of EEG / sMRI Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 18-28
Author(s):  
E. Bykova ◽  
A. Savostyanov
Keyword(s):  
Inverse Problem ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Human Head ◽  
Joint Analysis ◽  
Dimensional Model ◽  
Three Dimensional Model ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Brain

Despite the large number of existing methods of the diagnosis of the brain, brain remains the least studied part of the human body. Electroencephalography (EEG) is one of the most popular methods of studying of brain activity due to its relative cheapness, harmless, and mobility of equipment. While analyzing the EEG data of the brain, the problem of solving of the inverse problem of electroencephalography, the localization of the sources of electrical activity of the brain, arises. This problem can be formulated as follows: according to the signals recorded on the surface of the head, it is necessary to determine the location of sources of these signals in the brain. The purpose of my research is to develop a software system for localization of brain activity sources based on the joint analysis of EEG and sMRI data. There are various approaches to solving of the inverse problem of EEG. To obtain the most exact results, some of them involve the use of data on the individual anatomy of the human head – structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI data). In this paper, one of these approaches is supposed to be used – Electromagnetic Spatiotemporal Independent Component Analysis (EMSICA) proposed by A. Tsai. The article describes the main stages of the system, such as preprocessing of the initial data; the calculation of the special matrix of the EMSICA approach, the values of which show the level of activity of a certain part of the brain; visualization of brain activity sources on its three-dimensional model.

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