The Effectiveness of Occupation-based Virtual Reality Intervention on Upper Extremity Functional Improvement in Post-stroke Individuals: A Systematic Review

Purpose: Virtual reality (VR)-based therapy is an emerging practice in the clinical setting and still requires research documenting its efficacy. This review analyzed the effectiveness of VR-based therapy on upper extremity (UE) motor recovery in individuals with chronic stroke by analyzing multiple randomized controlled trials. Methods: Search limits for this review consisted of articles published between January 2010 and January 2020 and available in English. Search keywords were based on language in individual databases (e.g. stroke or cerebrovascular accident, upper extremity, occupational therapy). Articles were limited to include only randomized control trials consisting of adult patients (18+) with UE impairment due to chronic stroke (onset at least 3 months prior) and occupation-based virtual reality intervention. Results: 242 articles were screened; eight met the inclusion criteria. Forms of VR within the reviewed articles included traditional gaming systems, mobile-based game devices, and VR combined with real instrument training. These studies showed improved outcomes following VR training such as improvement of UE function, activity participation, and health-related quality of life. Conclusion: The results of this review suggest that VR-based therapy has efficacy equal to or greater than conventional therapy for improving function in the upper extremity of adult patients with chronic stroke. As supported by research, practitioners may incorporate virtual reality-based therapy into conventional clinical sessions to assist in improving UE function and interactions within different environments and to help enhance overall participation in daily tasks and occupational performance in their clients

Expressions 1981

Expressions contains selected work from the 1981 Creative Writing Contest entrants, Campus Chronicle Photography Contest entrants, and Commercial Art students at Des Moines Area Community College. Design , typography and the layout was done by Journalism students .https://openspace.dmacc.edu/expressions/1003/thumbnail.jp

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

In vitro determination of cytoplasmic and nuclear components of osmotic tolerance in Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Bibliography: leaves 85-88.Not availabl

Texas inventory of health education competencies in Texas colleges and universities

Typescript (photocopy).The problem addressed in this study involved the development of a standardized instrument for evaluating the knowledge of the entry level health educator over the competencies addressed in A Framework for the Development of Competency-Based Curricula for Entry Level Health Educators (Blue Book). Subproblems of the study included validating the instrument in Texas colleges and universities and comparing the performance of Texas students with the performance of students from a normative sample. The hypothesis of the study was that there would be no difference between the performance of Texas students on the examination and the normative sample. An initial pool of 313 multiple choice items, based on the objectives of the Blue Book, was developed by 60 health educators from throughout Texas. Following content validity, 186 of the items were deemed suitable for inclusion in two 90-item instruments, the Texas Inventory of Health Education Competencies (TIHEC), Forms A and B. Forms A and B were administered to a normative group of graduating health education students from 14 colleges and universities in the United States. Analysis of the data resulted in instrument reduction to two 50-item examinations. Analysis of the 50-item examinations using the same student sample as the 90-item instruments resulted in 2 valid and reliable 50-item instruments. Eight schools in Texas administered Forms A and B to graduating health education majors. Analysis of results indicated test statistic output comparable to that of the normative sample with the exception of reliability coefficients. Reliability coefficients for the normative sample were somewhat higher than for the Texas students. An ANOVA procedure to compare the means of Texas students with the means of the normative sample resulted in a statistically higher mean score for the normative sample than for Texas students on Form A of the TIHEC. Results of the ANOVA for Form B indicated no significant difference between the mean score of the Texas students and the normative sample. Findings of this study indicate that Forms A and B of the TIHEC are valid and reliable instruments which measure the knowledge of the entry level health educator over Blue Book competencies

T-cell development and function are modulated by dual specificity phosphatase DUSP5

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a pleiotropic cytokine that regulates lymphocyte proliferation and peripheral tolerance. IL-2 activates mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, and signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) pathways and modulates expression of target genes. Systematic analysis of IL-2 target genes has revealed regulation of potential feedback inhibitors of IL-2 signaling, including several suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) family members as well as MAPK pathway-regulating dual specificity phosphatases (DUSPs). Here we have evaluated the in vivo actions of DUSP5, an extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2)-specific phosphatase, by generating transgenic mice overexpressing DUSP5 within the lymphoid compartment. We show that transgenic DUSP5 expression results in a block in thymocyte development at the double positive stage. We also demonstrate that DUSP5-expressing mature T cells exhibit decreased IL-2-dependent proliferation and defective IL-2-mediated induction of genes. Finally, DUSP5 transgenic mice develop autoimmune symptoms, suggesting a role for the MAPK pathway in the regulation of tolerance. Thus, proper regulation of DUSP5 activity is critical for normal immune system development, IL-2 actions, and tolerance

Collecting site description.

<p>Collecting site description.</p

Characteristics of SSR markers.

<p>Characteristics of SSR markers.</p

Habitat types in Jordan identified through k-means clustering.

<p>Black dots represent the <i>Spontaneum</i> collecting sites.</p