Task-specific training versus usual care to improve upper limb function after stroke: The “Task-AT Home” randomised controlled trial protocol

Background: Sixty percent of people have non-functional arms 6 months after stroke. More effective treatments are needed. Cochrane Reviews show low-quality evidence that task-specific training improves upper limb function. Our feasibility trial showed 56 h of task-specific training over 6 weeks resulted in an increase of a median 6 points on the Action Research Arm test (ARAT), demonstrating the need for more definitive evidence from a larger randomised controlled trial. Task-AT Home is a two-arm, assessor-blinded, multicentre randomised, controlled study, conducted in the home setting. Aim: The objective is to determine whether task-specific training is a more effective treatment than usual care, for improving upper limb function, amount of upper limb use, and health related quality of life at 6 weeks and 6 months after intervention commencement. Our primary hypothesis is that upper limb function will achieve a ≥ 5 point improvement on the ARAT in the task-specific training group compared to the usual care group, after 6 weeks of intervention. Methods: Participants living at home, with remaining upper limb deficit, are recruited at 3 months after stroke from sites in NSW and Victoria, Australia. Following baseline assessment, participants are randomised to 6 weeks of either task-specific or usual care intervention, stratified for upper limb function based on the ARAT score. The task-specific group receive 14 h of therapist-led task-specific training plus 42 h of guided self-practice. The primary outcome measure is the ARAT at 6 weeks. Secondary measures include the Motor Activity Log (MAL) at 6 weeks and the ARAT, MAL and EQ5D-5 L at 6 months. Assessments occur at baseline, after 6 weeks of intervention, and at 6 months after intervention commencement. Analysis will be intention to treat using a generalised linear mixed model to report estimated mean differences in scores between the two groups at each timepoint with 95% confidence interval and value of p. Discussion: If the task-specific home-based training programme is more effective than usual care in improving arm function, implementation of the programme into clinical practice would potentially lead to improvements in upper limb function and quality of life for people with stroke. Clinical Trial Registration: ANZCTR.org.au/ACTRN12617001631392p.asp

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The Global Emissions Inventory Activity (GEIA)

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GEIA’s Vision for Improved Emissions Information

International audienceAccurate, timely, and accessible emissions information is critical for understanding and making predictions about the atmosphere. We will present recent progress of the Global Emissions InitiAtive (GEIA, http://www.geiacenter.org/), a community-driven joint activity of IGAC, iLEAPS, and AIMES within the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. Since 1990, GEIA has served as a forum for the exchange of expertise and information on anthropogenic and natural emissions of trace gases and aerosols. GEIA supports a worldwide network of emissions data developers and users, providing a solid scientific foundation for atmospheric chemistry research. By the year 2020, GEIA envisions being a bridge between the environmental science, regulatory, assessment, policy, and operational communities. GEIA’s core activities include 1) facilitating analysis that improves the scientific basis for emissions data, 2) enhancing access to emissions information, and 3) strengthening linkages within the international emissions community. We will highlight GEIA’s current work distributing emissions data, organizing the development of new emissions datasets, facilitating regional emissions studies, and initiating analyses aimed at improving emissions information. GEIA welcomes new partnerships that advance emissions knowledge for the future

GEIA - Enhancing Communications on Global Emissions 2009

International audienceGEIA (Global Emissions Inventory Activity), an integrating project of the AIMES (Analysis, Integration and Modeling of the Earth System) project of the International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP) brings together people, analyses, data, and tools to: - Quantify the anthropogenic emissions and natural exchanges of trace gases and aerosols that drive earth system changes and - Facilitate use of this information by the research, assessment and policy communities. This presentation provides an overview of some of the latest global emission efforts and discusses how to make this information more readily available. Highlights include: - Data bases: data currently accessible through the GEIA portal; new information on IPCC emissions, past and future, being developed; and other international efforts on emissions - Reviews: upcoming updated overviews of state-of-the-science for man-made and natural sources - Catalogues: planned creation of a data base of papers and reports publicly available concerning emissions - New studies: improved understanding of biogenic emissions - Assessments: strategies to better integrate data from multiple countries - Wiki system: initiation of wiki-based system for emission information exchang

GEIA - The Global Emissions InitiAtive

two new programs are presently being linked within GEIA: ECCAD and CIERA. Their common aim is to facilitate access to emissions information. ECCAD (Emissions of chemical Compounds & Compilation of Ancillary Data, http://ether.ipsl. jussieu.fr/eccad) GEIA's new interactive emissions data portal that provides consistent access to global and regional emissions inventories and ancillary data, along with easy-to-use tools for analysis and visualization. CIERA (Community Initiative for Emissions Research & Applications, http://ciera-air.org/) is a GEIA community effort to develop interoperability in emissions datasets and tools, support evaluations of emissions inventories, and connect the emissions development and user communities. More details about ECCAD and CIERA are presented in the articles immediately following this note

Addressing Science and Policy Needs with Community Emissions Efforts

International audienceWe present community-driven emissions efforts within the Global Emissions InitiAtive (GEIA, http://www.geiacenter.org/), a joint IGAC/iLEAPS/AIMES initiative of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. Since 1990, GEIA has served as a forum for the exchange of expertise and information on emissions. GEIA's mission is to (1) quantify anthropogenic emissions and natural exchanges of trace gases and aerosols; and (2) facilitate the use of this information by the research, assessment, and policy communities. GEIA supports a worldwide network of over 1200 developers and users in international scientific projects, providing a solid scientific foundation for atmospheric chemistry research. Moving forward, GEIA is broadening its role to serve the scientific, regulatory, and operational emission communities. GEIA intends to demonstrate the potential for improving emission information by promoting the interoperability of datasets and tools and by making use of near-real-time observations. As a first step toward these goals, two new programs are being linked with GEIA: * ECCAD (Emissions of Chemical Compounds & Compilation of Ancillary Data, http://eccad.sedoo.fr/) is GEIA's new interactive emissions data portal, providing consistent access to emission inventories and ancillary data with easy-to-use tools for analysis and visualization. * CIERA (Community Initiative for Emissions Research & Applications, http://ciera-air.org/) is a new GEIA community project to develop interoperability in emissions datasets and tools, support evaluations of inventories, communicate emissions information in innovative ways, and connect the emissions development and user communities. We invite the scientific and policy community to join the GEIA network and build partnerships to improve emissions information

GEIA: Working Towards Better Emissions Information

International audienceAccurate, evaluated, timely, and accessible emissions information is critical for understanding and making predictions about the atmosphere. We present recent progress of the Global Emissions InitiAtive (GEIA, http://www.geiacenter.org/), a community-driven joint activity of IGAC, iLEAPS, and AIMES. For the past quarter century, GEIA has served as a forum for the exchange of expertise and information on anthropogenic and natural emissions of trace gases and aerosols. GEIA supports a worldwide network of emissions data developers and users, providing a solid scientific foundation for atmospheric chemistry research. GEIA serves as a bridge between the environmental science, regulatory, assessment, policy, and operational communities. GEIA’s core activities include 1) facilitating analysis that improves the scientific basis for emissions data, 2) enhancing access to emissions information, and 3) strengthening linkages within the international emissions community. We highlight GEIA’s current work distributing emissions data, organizing the development of new emissions datasets, facilitating regional emissions studies, and initiating analyses aimed at improving emissions information. GEIA welcomes new partnerships that advance emissions knowledge for the future