Effects of dance therapy on balance, gait and neuro-psychological performances in patients with Parkinson's disease and postural instability

Postural Instability (PI) is a core feature of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and a major cause of falls and disabilities. Impairment of executive functions has been called as an aggravating factor on motor performances. Dance therapy has been shown effective for improving gait and has been suggested as an alternative rehabilitative method. To evaluate gait performance, spatial-temporal (S-T) gait parameters and cognitive performances in a cohort of patients with PD and PI modifications in balance after a cycle of dance therapy

Is it possible to compare inhibitory and excitatory intracortical circuits in face and hand primary motor cortex?

Face muscles are important in a variety of different functions, such as feeding, speech and communication of non-verbal affective states, which require quite different patterns of activity from those of a typical hand muscle. We ask whether there are differences in their neurophysiological control that might reflect this. Fifteen healthy individuals were studied. Standard single- and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) methods were used to compare intracortical inhibitory (short interval intracortical inhibition (SICI); cortical silent period (CSP)) and excitatory circuitries (short interval intracortical facilitation (SICF)) in two typical muscles, the depressor anguli oris (DAO), a face muscle, and the first dorsal interosseous (FDI), a hand muscle. TMS threshold was higher in DAO than in FDI. Over a range of intensities, resting SICF was not different between DAO and FDI, while during muscle activation SICF was stronger in FDI than in DAO (P = 0.012). At rest, SICI was stronger in FDI than in DAO (P = 0.038) but during muscle contraction, SICI was weaker in FDI than in DAO (P = 0.034). We argue that although many of the difference in response to the TMS protocols could result from the difference in thresholds, some, such as the reduction of resting SICI in DAO, may reflect fundamental differences in the physiology of the two muscle groups

Negative Effects of “Predatory” Journals on Global Health Research

Se analiza el efecto perjudicial que ocasionan en la investigación en salud las revistas conocidas como "Depredadoras".Predatory journals (PJ) exploit the open-access model promising high acceptance rate and fast track publishing without proper peer review. At minimum, PJ are eroding the credibility of the scientific literature in the health sciences as they actually boost the propagation of errors. In this article, we identify issues with PJ and provide several responses, from international and interdisciplinary perspectives in health sciences. Authors, particularly researchers with limited previous experience with international publications, need to be careful when considering potential journals for submission, due to the current existence of large numbers of PJ. Universities around the world, particularly in developing countries, might develop strategies to discourage their researchers from submitting manuscripts to PJ or serving as members of their editorial committees

Effect of Contralateral Strength Training on Muscle Weakness in People With Multiple Sclerosis: Proof-of-Concept Case Series

BackgroundThe contralateral strength training (CST) effect is a transfer of muscle performance to the untrained limb following training of the contralateral side.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to explore, in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) presenting marked lower limb strength asymmetry, the effectiveness of CST on management of muscle weakness of the more-affected limb following training of the less-affected limb.DesignA single-subject research design was used.MethodsEight individuals with MS underwent 16 to 18 high-intensity training sessions of the less-affected ankle dorsiflexor muscles. The primary outcome measure of this single-system case series was maximal strength expressed as peak moment and maximal work. Secondary outcome measures were: Six-Minute-Walk Test, Timed "Up & Go" Test, 10-Meter Timed Walk Test, and Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life–54 questionnaire.ResultsAfter the 6-week intervention, the contralateral more affected (untrained) limb showed a 22% to 24% increase in maximal strength. From pretest-posttest measurements, participants also performed significantly better on the clinical and functional secondary outcome measures. At the 12-week follow-up, the strength levels of the weaker untrained limb remained significantly superior to baseline levels in the majority (5 out of 8) of the outcome parameters.LimitationsConsidering the design used, the absence of a control group, and the sample size, these findings should be cautiously generalized and will need confirmation in a properly planned randomized controlled trial.ConclusionsThe present proof-of-concept study shows, for the first time, the occurrence of the CST effect on muscle performance of ankle dorsiflexor muscles in people with MS. These preliminary findings reveal new potential implications for CST as a promising rehabilitation approach to those conditions where unilateral muscle weakness does not allow or makes difficult performing conventional strength training of the weaker limb

Functional Relevance of Resistance Training-Induced Neuroplasticity in Health and Disease

[Abstract] Repetitive, monotonic, and effortful voluntary muscle contractions performed for just a few weeks, i.e., resistance training, can substantially increase maximal voluntary force in the practiced task and can also increase gross motor performance. The increase in motor performance is often accompanied by neuroplastic adaptations in the central nervous system. While historical data assigned functional relevance to such adaptations induced by resistance training, this claim has not yet been systematically and critically examined in the context of motor performance across the lifespan in health and disease. A review of muscle activation, brain and peripheral nerve stimulation, and imaging data revealed that increases in motor performance and neuroplasticity tend to be uncoupled, making a mechanistic link between neuroplasticity and motor performance inconclusive. We recommend new approaches, including causal mediation analytical and hypothesis-driven models to substantiate the functional relevance of resistance training-induced neuroplasticity in the improvements of gross motor function across the lifespan in health and disease

Negative Effects of “Predatory” Journals on Global Health Research

Predatory journals (PJ) exploit the open-access model promising high acceptance rate and fast track publishing without proper peer review. At minimum, PJ are eroding the credibility of the scientific literature in the health sciences as they actually boost the propagation of errors. In this article, we identify issues with PJ and provide several responses, from international and interdisciplinary perspectives in health sciences. Authors, particularly researchers with limited previous experience with international publications, need to be careful when considering potential journals for submission, due to the current existence of large numbers of PJ. Universities around the world, particularly in developing countries, might develop strategies to discourage their researchers from submitting manuscripts to PJ or serving as members of their editorial committees

Changes in c-fos expression induced by trigeminal nerve stimulation in the rat brain

Epilepsy in many patients remains poorly controlled despite the introduction of new antiepileptic drugs. Stimulation of the vagus nerve (VNS) has become an effective method for desynchronizing the highly coherent neural activity typically associated with epileptic seizures. This technique has been used in several animal models of seizures as well as in humans suffering from drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). Stimulation of another cranial nerve, the trigeminal nerve (TNS), can also cause cortical and thalamic desynchronization, resulting in a activity reduction of pharmacologically induced-seizure in awake rats. Moreover, the an antiepileptic action of TNS has been shown in clinical studies, reporting TNS efficacy in patients DRE. These observations suggest that like VNS also TNS has a potential as a therapy for the treatment of DRE. Although it has been suggested an antiepileptic action for TNS, little is known about the brain structures that could mediate this phenomenon. Fos is a nuclear protein that is expressed under conditions of high neuronal activity. We utilized Fos immunoreactivity techniques on Sprague-Dawley rat brains to identify regions that are activated by the left trigeminal nerve stimulation. Anesthetized rats were implanted in the infraorbital branch of the trigeminal nerve (ION) with a bipolar electrode connected to a pulse generator. Three days later, the pulse generator was activated for a 3h treatment using stimulation parameters (30 sec ON, 5 min OFF; continuous cycle; 30 Hz, pulse width of 500 μs, 3.5 mA). A sham control group underwent the same surgery but the electrode was connected to a dummy pulse generator. We found that TNS induced specific increases in nuclear Fos immunolabeling in discrete brain structures, including the amygdale and cortical regions compared to control animals. We found a 4 fold increase in the number of Fos positive cells in the amygdala of TNS rats that resulted statistically significant (P<0.0001) compared to control rats. Moreover, the number of Fos positive cells in the right amigdala was 7 folds grater than the number in the left amygdala (P<0.0001). Likewise , the number of Fos positive cells in the somatosensory area of the frontoparetial cortex was increased of 2.8 folds (P<0.01) and again a difference between left and right was evident, being the number of Fos positive cells 6.6 folds grater (P<0.001) in the right cortex. These brain structures activated by TNS could be important for genesis or regulation of seizures. The activation of these structures may play a pivotal role in the antiepileptic effect of TNS that could be used as an adjuvant to drugs and/or VNS in those patients that are refractory to treatment

Questioning the efficacy of predatory journals' blacklists

We question whether blacklists are the best answer to the serious problem of predatory journals. In conjunction with the worrying recent rise in the number of predatory journals, a remarkable number of blacklists have been compiled for specific scientific fields. However, predatory journals are continuously changing names and publishers; they are set up to make easy money and buried shortly after. Predatory journals have such a rapidly evolving nature that it is hard to keep track of them and keep blacklists up to date. We therefore propose a focus on 'whitelists' and directories of virtuous journals rather than on blacklists of pseudo-journals. We suggest that a set of criteria be determined that journals have to meet to be qualify as legitimate. In addition, the scientific community should come up with strategies to close the established biomedical databases to predatory journals, thus preventing them from achieving global exposure