Browse the latest research summaries in the field of physiology for spinal cord injury patients and caregivers.
Showing 191-200 of 321 results
J Physiol, 2017 • July 28, 2017
The study investigated whether pairing motor cortex stimulation and cervical spinal cord stimulation could strengthen motor responses through their convergence. They placed epidural electrodes over mo...
KEY FINDING: Pairing motor cortex stimulation with spinal cord epidural stimulation significantly augmented motor cortex evoked potentials, but only when timed to converge in the spinal cord.
Cognitive Neurodynamics, 2016 • July 1, 2016
This study investigates changes in nonlinear dynamics after chronic spinal cord injury in rats using EEG and nonlinear dynamics measurements. Nonlinear metrics, including sample entropy, Kolmogorov co...
KEY FINDING: Sample entropy values decreased immediately after injury, then gradually increased during recovery, indicating a loss and regain of complexity in brain dynamics.
J Neurosci Methods, 2015 • May 30, 2015
This study evaluated the effects of different epidural stimulation electrode configurations on forelimb motor function in rats with cervical spinal cord injury. The researchers examined the ability of...
KEY FINDING: sMEPs were evoked in all muscles tested, and their characteristics depended on electrode configurations and current intensities.
Frontiers in Physiology, 2015 • May 12, 2015
This study investigates the use of local scale exponent α(t) to characterize heart rate variability (HRV) in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) compared to healthy controls during postural chan...
KEY FINDING: Local scale exponent α(t) in healthy controls rapidly decreased with scale at small scales in both sitting and prone postures, but decreased slowly in SCI subjects.
The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, 2017 • July 1, 2017
This case report investigated the effects of a 56-month home-based FES-LEC program on the body composition of an adult male with chronic tetraplegia. The participant showed an increase in total body l...
KEY FINDING: Total body lean mass increased by 18.5% over the 56 months of FES-LEC.
J Muscle Res Cell Motil, 2015 • October 1, 2015
This review focuses on the role of focal adhesion kinase (FAK), a prominent and well-studied protein that responds to changes in cellular tension. FAK has multiple roles within skeletal muscle, includ...
KEY FINDING: Changes in FAK expression and phosphorylation correlate with myoblast differentiation, muscle fiber formation, and muscle size changes due to loading and unloading.
Ann Rehabil Med, 2015 • June 1, 2015
This study investigated the relationship between fat mass percentage (FMP) and body mass index (BMI) with obesity in Korean spinal cord injury (SCI) patients, considering the severity and duration of ...
KEY FINDING: FMP increases with the duration of spinal cord injury, especially in patients with motor complete tetraplegia.
Neural Plasticity, 2015 • May 27, 2015
This review examines the clinical application of intermittent hypoxia (IH) in humans with spinal cord injury (SCI). IH appears to be a safe and efficient method for enhancing physical function, partic...
KEY FINDING: Short-term IH administration enhances respiratory function in humans with SCI.
Aging and Disease, 2015 • August 1, 2015
Spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to serious body composition changes, with increased fat mass (FM) and decreased lean mass (LM), potentially causing cardio-metabolic disorders. Upper extremity (UE) circ...
KEY FINDING: SCI results in increased fat mass and decreased lean mass, leading to cardio-metabolic disorders.
Frontiers in Physiology, 2016 • December 9, 2016
This study investigated the effects of passive robotic leg exercise (PE) and functional electrical stimulation (FES) on cardiovascular parameters during head-up tilt in healthy subjects. The findings ...
KEY FINDING: Head-up tilt alone increases heart rate and diastolic blood pressure, but not systolic blood pressure.