COMPARATIVE KINEMATIC ANALYSIS OF SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN SERVE AND GROUNDSTROKES BETWEEN WHEELCHAIR AND STANDING TENNIS PLAYERS

The purpose of this study was to clarify differences in the shoulder range of motion (ROM) between wheelchair users (WU), wheelchair (WTP) and standing tennis players (TP) and differences in shoulder angles between wheelchair and standing tennis players during tennis groundstrokes and serve. 4 wheelchair users, 5 wheelchair tennis players, and 4 able-bodied tennis players served as subjects. For analysis of shoulder range of motion (ROM), internal, external and total ROM data of all subjects were collected. The tennis movements serve, backhand slice, and forehand topspin were recorded of WTP and TP. Kinematic data were collected by eight cameras and included shoulder angles of the dominant arm: anteversion, abduction and internal rotation. Statistical analysis of kinematic data showed significant differences during almost all movements between WTP and TP. Different shoulder angles and ROM might be important findings for shoulder pathology and wheelchair tennis training skills, especially flexibility training

Centerscope

Centerscope, formerly Scope, was published by the Boston University Medical Center "to communicate the concern of the Medical Center for the development and maintenance of improved health care in contemporary society.

Lung cancer stigma predicts timing of medical help-seeking in individuals with lung cancer

Purpose/Objectives To examine relationships among demographic variables, healthcare system distrust, lung cancer stigma, smoking status, and timing of medical help–seeking behavior in individuals with symptoms suggestive of lung cancer after controlling for ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and social desirability. Design Descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational study. Setting Outpatient oncology clinics in Louisville, KY. Sample 94 patients diagnosed in the past three weeks to six years with all stages of lung cancer. Methods Self-report, written survey packets were administered in person followed by a semistructured interview to assess symptoms and timing characteristics of practice-identified patients with lung cancer. Main Research Variables Timing of medical help–seeking behavior, healthcare system distrust, lung cancer stigma, and smoking status. Findings Lung cancer stigma was independently associated with timing of medical help–seeking behavior in patients with lung cancer. Healthcare system distrust and smoking status were not independently associated with timing of medical help–seeking behavior. Conclusions Findings suggest that stigma influences medical help–seeking behavior for lung cancer symptoms, serving as a barrier to prompt medical help–seeking behavior. Implications for Nursing When designing interventions to promote early medical help–seeking behavior in individuals with symptoms suggestive of lung cancer, methods that consider lung cancer stigma as a barrier that can be addressed through public awareness and patient-targeted interventions should be included

Cerebrospinal fluid promotes survival and astroglial differentiation of adult human neural progenitor cells but inhibits proliferation and neuronal differentiation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neural stem cells (NSCs) are a promising source for cell replacement therapies for neurological diseases. Growing evidence suggests an important role of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) not only on neuroectodermal cells during brain development but also on the survival, proliferation and fate specification of NSCs in the adult brain. Existing <it>in vitro </it>studies focused on embryonic cell lines and embryonic CSF. We therefore studied the effects of adult human leptomeningeal CSF on the behaviour of adult human NSCs (ahNSCs).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Adult CSF increased the survival rate of adult human NSCs compared to standard serum free culture media during both stem cell maintenance and differentiation. The presence of CSF promoted differentiation of NSCs leading to a faster loss of their self-renewal capacity as it is measured by the proliferation markers Ki67 and BrdU and stronger cell extension outgrowth with longer and more cell extensions per cell. After differentiation in CSF, we found a larger number of GFAP⁺astroglial cells compared to differentiation in standard culture media and a lower number of β-tubulin III⁺neuronal cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data demonstrate that adult human leptomeningeal CSF creates a beneficial environment for the survival and differentiation of adult human NSCs. Adult CSF is <it>in vitro </it>a strong glial differentiation stimulus and leads to a rapid loss of stem cell potential.</p

Early-phase clinical trial eligibility and response evaluation criteria for refractory, relapsed, or progressive neuroblastoma: A consensus statement from the National Cancer Institute Clinical Trials Planning Meeting

Consensus criteria; Early phase; NeuroblastomaCriteris de consens; Fase inicial; NeuroblastomaCriterios de consenso; Fase inicial; NeuroblastomaBackground International standardized criteria for eligibility, evaluable disease sites, and disease response assessment in patients with refractory, progressive, or relapsed high-risk neuroblastoma enrolled in early-phase clinical trials are lacking. Methods A National Cancer Institute–sponsored Clinical Trials Planning Meeting was convened to develop an international consensus to refine the tumor site eligibility criteria and evaluation of disease response for early-phase clinical trials in children with high-risk neuroblastoma. Results Standardized data collection of patient and disease characteristics (including specified genomic data), eligibility criteria, a definition of evaluable disease, and response evaluations for primary and metastatic sites of disease were developed. Eligibility included two distinct patient groups: progressive disease and refractory disease. The refractory disease group was subdivided into responding persistent disease and stable persistent disease to better capture the clinical heterogeneity of refractory neuroblastoma. Requirements for defining disease evaluable for a response assessment were provided; they included requirements for biopsy to confirm viable neuroblastoma and/or ganglioneuroblastoma in those patients with soft tissue or bone disease not avid for iodine-123 meta-iodobenzylguanidine. Standardized evaluations for response components and time intervals for response evaluations were established. Conclusions The use of international consensus eligibility, evaluability, and response criteria for early-phase clinical studies will facilitate the collection of comparable data across international trials and promote more rapid identification of effective treatment regimens for high-risk neuroblastoma.National Cancer Institute Pediatric and Adolescent Solid Tumor Steering Committee; Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer; Ben Towne Foundation; EVAN Foundation; Cancer Research UK Institute of Cancer Research, Grant/Award Number C347/A15403; National Institute for Health Research Research Methods Programme/Institute of Cancer Research Biomedical Research Centre

Cognitive and behavioural but not motor impairment increases brain age in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Age is the most important single risk factor of sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Neuroimaging together with machine-learning algorithms allows estimating individuals' brain age. Deviations from normal brain-ageing trajectories (so called predicted brain age difference) were reported for a number of neuropsychiatric disorders. While all of them showed increased predicted brain-age difference, there is surprisingly few data yet on it in motor neurodegenerative diseases. In this observational study, we made use of previously trained algorithms of 3377 healthy individuals and derived predicted brain age differences from volumetric MRI scans of 112 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients and 70 healthy controls. We correlated predicted brain age difference scores with voxel-based morphometry data and multiple different motoric disease characteristics as well as cognitive/behavioural changes categorized according to Strong and Rascovsky. Against our primary hypothesis, there was no higher predicted brain-age difference in the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients as a group. None of the motoric phenotypes/characteristics influenced predicted brain-age difference. However, cognitive/behavioural impairment led to significantly increased predicted brain-age difference, while slowly progressive as well as cognitive/behavioural normal amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients had even younger brain ages than healthy controls. Of note, the cognitive/behavioural normal amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients were identified to have increased cerebellar brain volume as potential resilience factor. Younger brain age was associated with longer survival. Our results raise the question whether younger brain age in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with only motor impairment provides a cerebral reserve against cognitive and/or behavioural impairment and faster disease progression. This new conclusion needs to be tested in subsequent samples. In addition, it will be interesting to test whether a potential effect of cerebral reserve is specific for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or can also be found in other neurodegenerative diseases with primary motor impairment

Compartmentalized Production of CCL17 In Vivo: Strong Inducibility in Peripheral Dendritic Cells Contrasts Selective Absence from the Spleen

Dendritic cells (DCs)* fulfill an important regulatory function at the interface of the innate and adaptive immune system. The thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC/CCL17) is produced by DCs and facilitates the attraction of activated T cells. Using a fluorescence-based in vivo reporter system, we show that CCL17 expression in mice is found in activated Langerhans cells and mature DCs located in various lymphoid and nonlymphoid organs, and is up-regulated after stimulation with Toll-like receptor ligands. DCs expressing CCL17 belong to the CD11b+CD8−Dec205+ DC subset, including the myeloid-related DCs located in the subepithelial dome of Peyer's patches. CCL17-deficient mice mount diminished T cell–dependent contact hypersensitivity responses and display a deficiency in rejection of allogeneic organ transplants. In contrast to lymphoid organs located at external barriers of the skin and mucosa, CCL17 is not expressed in the spleen, even after systemic microbial challenge or after in vitro stimulation. These findings indicate that CCL17 production is a hallmark of local DC stimulation in peripheral organs but is absent from the spleen as a filter of blood-borne antigens