Impact of movement training on upper limb motor strategies in persons with shoulder impingement syndrome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Movement deficits, such as changes in the magnitude of scapulohumeral and scapulathoracic muscle activations or perturbations in the kinematics of the glenohumeral, sternoclavicular and scapulothoracic joints, have been observed in people with shoulder impingement syndrome. Movement training has been suggested as a mean to contribute to the improvement of the motor performance in persons with musculoskeletal impairments. However, the impact of movement training on the movement deficits of persons with shoulder impingement syndrome is still unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the short-term effects of supervised movement training with feedback on the motor strategies of persons with shoulder impingement syndrome.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirty-three subjects with shoulder impingement were recruited. They were involved in two visits, one day apart. During the first visit, supervised movement training with feedback was performed. The upper limb motor strategies were evaluated before, during, immediately after and 24 hours after movement training. They were characterized during reaching movements in the frontal plane by EMG activity of seven shoulder muscles and total excursion and final position of the wrist, elbow, shoulder, clavicle and trunk. Movement training consisted of reaching movements performed under the supervision of a physiotherapist who gave feedback aimed at restoring shoulder movements. One-way repeated measures ANOVAs were run to analyze the effect of movement training.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>During, immediately after and 24 hours after movement training with feedback, the EMG activity was significantly decreased compared to the baseline level. For the kinematics, total joint excursion of the trunk and final joint position of the trunk, shoulder and clavicle were significantly improved during and immediately after training compared to baseline. Twenty-four hours after supervised movement training, the kinematics of trunk, shoulder and clavicle were back to the baseline level.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Movement training with feedback brought changes in motor strategies and improved temporarily some aspects of the kinematics. However, one training session was not enough to bring permanent improvement in the kinematic patterns. These results demonstrate the potential of movement training in the rehabilitation of movement deficits associated with shoulder impingement syndrome.</p

Radio emission from Supernova Remnants

The explosion of a supernova releases almost instantaneously about 10^51 ergs of mechanic energy, changing irreversibly the physical and chemical properties of large regions in the galaxies. The stellar ejecta, the nebula resulting from the powerful shock waves, and sometimes a compact stellar remnant, constitute a supernova remnant (SNR). They can radiate their energy across the whole electromagnetic spectrum, but the great majority are radio sources. Almost 70 years after the first detection of radio emission coming from a SNR, great progress has been achieved in the comprehension of their physical characteristics and evolution. We review the present knowledge of different aspects of radio remnants, focusing on sources of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds, where the SNRs can be spatially resolved. We present a brief overview of theoretical background, analyze morphology and polarization properties, and review and critical discuss different methods applied to determine the radio spectrum and distances. The consequences of the interaction between the SNR shocks and the surrounding medium are examined, including the question of whether SNRs can trigger the formation of new stars. Cases of multispectral comparison are presented. A section is devoted to reviewing recent results of radio SNRs in the Magellanic Clouds, with particular emphasis on the radio properties of SN 1987A, an ideal laboratory to investigate dynamical evolution of an SNR in near real time. The review concludes with a summary of issues on radio SNRs that deserve further study, and analyzing the prospects for future research with the latest generation radio telescopes.Comment: Revised version. 48 pages, 15 figure

Stimulus-Dependent Adjustment of Reward Prediction Error in the Midbrain

Previous reports have described that neural activities in midbrain dopamine areas are sensitive to unexpected reward delivery and omission. These activities are correlated with reward prediction error in reinforcement learning models, the difference between predicted reward values and the obtained reward outcome. These findings suggest that the reward prediction error signal in the brain updates reward prediction through stimulus–reward experiences. It remains unknown, however, how sensory processing of reward-predicting stimuli contributes to the computation of reward prediction error. To elucidate this issue, we examined the relation between stimulus discriminability of the reward-predicting stimuli and the reward prediction error signal in the brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Before main experiments, subjects learned an association between the orientation of a perceptually salient (high-contrast) Gabor patch and a juice reward. The subjects were then presented with lower-contrast Gabor patch stimuli to predict a reward. We calculated the correlation between fMRI signals and reward prediction error in two reinforcement learning models: a model including the modulation of reward prediction by stimulus discriminability and a model excluding this modulation. Results showed that fMRI signals in the midbrain are more highly correlated with reward prediction error in the model that includes stimulus discriminability than in the model that excludes stimulus discriminability. No regions showed higher correlation with the model that excludes stimulus discriminability. Moreover, results show that the difference in correlation between the two models was significant from the first session of the experiment, suggesting that the reward computation in the midbrain was modulated based on stimulus discriminability before learning a new contingency between perceptually ambiguous stimuli and a reward. These results suggest that the human reward system can incorporate the level of the stimulus discriminability flexibly into reward computations by modulating previously acquired reward values for a typical stimulus

Competition and habitat quality influence age and sex distribution in wintering rusty blackbirds.

Bird habitat quality is often inferred from species abundance measures during the breeding and non-breeding season and used for conservation management decisions. However, during the non-breeding season age and sex classes often occupy different habitats which suggest a need for more habitat-specific data. Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) is a forested wetland specialist wintering in bottomland hardwood forests in the south-eastern U. S. and belongs to the most steeply declining songbirds in the U.S. Little information is available to support priority birds such as the Rusty Blackbird wintering in this threatened habitat. We assessed age and sex distribution and body condition of Rusty Blackbirds among the three major habitats used by this species in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley and also measured food availability. Overall, pecan groves had the highest biomass mainly driven by the amount of nuts. Invertebrate biomass was highest in forests but contributed only a small percentage to overall biomass. Age and sex classes were unevenly distributed among habitats with adult males primarily occupying pecan groves containing the highest nut biomass, females being found in forests which had the lowest nut biomass and young males primarily staying in forest fragments along creeks which had intermediate nut biomass. Males were in better body condition than females and were in slightly better condition in pecan groves. The results suggest that adult males occupy the highest quality habitat and may competitively exclude the other age and sex classes

Latitudinal gradient in dairy production with the introduction of farming in Atlantic Europe

International audienceThe introduction of farming had far-reaching impacts on health, social structure and demography. Although the spread of domesticated plants and animals has been extensively tracked, it is unclear how these nascent economies developed within different environmental and cultural settings. Using molecular and isotopic analysis of lipids from pottery, here we investigate the foods prepared by the earliest farming communities of the European Atlantic seaboard. Surprisingly, we find an absence of aquatic foods, including in ceramics from coastal sites, except in the Western Baltic where this tradition continued from indigenous ceramic using hunter-gatherer-fishers. The frequency of dairy products in pottery increased as farming was progressively introduced along a northerly latitudinal gradient. This finding implies that early farming communities needed time to adapt their economic practices before expanding into more northerly areas. Latitudinal differences in the scale of dairy production might also have influenced the evolution of adult lactase persistence across Europe

Kaposi's Sarcoma Associated Herpes Virus (KSHV) Induced COX-2: A Key Factor in Latency, Inflammation, Angiogenesis, Cell Survival and Invasion

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), an enigmatic endothelial cell vascular neoplasm, is characterized by the proliferation of spindle shaped endothelial cells, inflammatory cytokines (ICs), growth factors (GFs) and angiogenic factors. KSHV is etiologically linked to KS and expresses its latent genes in KS lesion endothelial cells. Primary infection of human micro vascular endothelial cells (HMVEC-d) results in the establishment of latent infection and reprogramming of host genes, and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is one of the highly up-regulated genes. Our previous study suggested a role for COX-2 in the establishment and maintenance of KSHV latency. Here, we examined the role of COX-2 in the induction of ICs, GFs, angiogenesis and invasive events occurring during KSHV de novo infection of endothelial cells. A significant amount of COX-2 was detected in KS tissue sections. Telomerase-immortalized human umbilical vein endothelial cells supporting KSHV stable latency (TIVE-LTC) expressed elevated levels of functional COX-2 and microsomal PGE2 synthase (m-PGES), and secreted the predominant eicosanoid inflammatory metabolite PGE2. Infected HMVEC-d and TIVE-LTC cells secreted a variety of ICs, GFs, angiogenic factors and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which were significantly abrogated by COX-2 inhibition either by chemical inhibitors or by siRNA. The ability of these factors to induce tube formation of uninfected endothelial cells was also inhibited. PGE2, secreted early during KSHV infection, profoundly increased the adhesion of uninfected endothelial cells to fibronectin by activating the small G protein Rac1. COX-2 inhibition considerably reduced KSHV latent ORF73 gene expression and survival of TIVE-LTC cells. Collectively, these studies underscore the pivotal role of KSHV induced COX-2/PGE2 in creating KS lesion like microenvironment during de novo infection. Since COX-2 plays multiple roles in KSHV latent gene expression, which themselves are powerful mediators of cytokine induction, anti-apoptosis, cell survival and viral genome maintainence, effective inhibition of COX-2 via well-characterized clinically approved COX-2 inhibitors could potentially be used in treatment to control latent KSHV infection and ameliorate KS

Individual Variations in Maternal Care Early in Life Correlate with Later Life Decision-Making and c-Fos Expression in Prefrontal Subregions of Rats

Early life adversity affects hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, alters cognitive functioning and in humans is thought to increase the vulnerability to psychopathology–e.g. depression, anxiety and schizophrenia- later in life. Here we investigated whether subtle natural variations among individual rat pups in the amount of maternal care received, i.e. differences in the amount of licking and grooming (LG), correlate with anxiety and prefrontal cortex-dependent behavior in young adulthood. Therefore, we examined the correlation between LG received during the first postnatal week and later behavior in the elevated plus maze and in decision-making processes using a rodent version of the Iowa Gambling Task (rIGT). In our cohort of male and female animals a high degree of LG correlated with less anxiety in the elevated plus maze and more advantageous choices during the last 10 trials of the rIGT. In tissue collected 2 hrs after completion of the task, the correlation between LG and c-fos expression (a marker of neuronal activity) was established in structures important for IGT performance. Negative correlations existed between rIGT performance and c-fos expression in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, prelimbic cortex, infralimbic cortex and insular cortex. The insular cortex correlations between c-fos expression and decision-making performance depended on LG background; this was also true for the lateral orbitofrontal cortex in female rats. Dendritic complexity of insular or infralimbic pyramidal neurons did not or weakly correlate with LG background. We conclude that natural variations in maternal care received by pups may significantly contribute to later-life decision-making and activity of underlying brain structures

Effectiveness of individualized physiotherapy on pain and functioning compared to a standard exercise protocol in patients presenting with clinical signs of subacromial impingement syndrome. A randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Shoulder impingement syndrome is a common musculoskeletal complaint leading to significant reduction of health and disability. Physiotherapy is often the first choice of treatment although its effectiveness is still under debate. Systematic reviews in this field highlight the need for more high quality trials to investigate the effectiveness of physiotherapy interventions in patients with subacromial impingement syndrome.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>This randomized controlled trial will investigate the effectiveness of individualized physiotherapy in patients presenting with clinical signs and symptoms of subacromial impingement, involving 90 participants aged 18-75. Participants are recruited from outpatient physiotherapy clinics, general practitioners, and orthopaedic surgeons in Germany. Eligible participants will be randomly allocated to either individualized physiotherapy or to a standard exercise protocol using central randomization.</p> <p>The control group will perform the standard exercise protocol aiming to restore muscular deficits in strength, mobility, and coordination of the rotator cuff and the shoulder girdle muscles to unload the subacromial space during active movements. Participants of the intervention group will perform the standard exercise protocol as a home program, and will additionally be treated with individualized physiotherapy based on clinical examination results, and guided by a decision tree. After the intervention phase both groups will continue their home program for another 7 weeks.</p> <p>Outcome will be measured at 5 weeks and at 3 and 12 months after inclusion using the shoulder pain and disability index and patients' global impression of change, the generic patient-specific scale, the average weekly pain score, and patient satisfaction with treatment. Additionally, the fear avoidance beliefs questionnaire, the pain catastrophizing scale, and patients' expectancies of treatment effect are assessed. Participants' adherence to the protocol, use of additional treatments for the shoulder, direct and indirect costs, and sick leave due to shoulder complaints will be recorded in a shoulder log-book.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>To our knowledge this is the first trial comparing individualized physiotherapy based on a defined decision making process to a standardized exercise protocol. Using high-quality methodologies, this trial will add evidence to the limited body of knowledge about the effect of physiotherapy in patients with SIS.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN86900354</p