0000000000526430
AUTHOR
Ina Tarkka
A systematic review of international clinical guidelines for rehabilitation of people with neurological conditions : what recommendations are made for upper limb assessment?
Background: Upper limb impairment is a common problem for people with neurological disabilities, affecting activity, performance, quality of life, and independence. Accurate, timely assessments are required for effective rehabilitation, and development of novel interventions. International consensus on upper limb assessment is needed to make research findings more meaningful, provide a benchmark for quality in clinical practice, more cost-effective neurorehabilitation and improved outcomes for neurological patients undergoing rehabilitation. Aim: To conduct a systematic review, as part of the output of a European COST Action, to identify what recommendations are made for upper limb assessme…
Physical activity does not inevitably improve quality of life in young adults with type 1 diabetes
Relationships between exercise, glucose control and diabetes dependent quality of life (DDQoL) are not straightforward. We investigated the DDQoL of 99 persons with type 1 diabetes and linked it to individual amount of weekly physical activity and HbA1c. Physically active lifestyle was not associated with better DDQoL or glucose control. peerReviewed
Long-term physical activity modifies automatic visual processing
Electrophysiologically registered visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) is known to represent automatic visual processing in human visual cortex. Since physical activity (PA) is generally beneficial to cerebrovascular function, we wanted to find out if automatic visual processing is affected by PA. We investigated the connection between long-term leisure-time PA and precognitive visual processing in 32 healthy young males. Participants were divided into active (n = 16) and inactive (n = 16) group according to their leisure-time PA records from the past three years. vMMN was recorded with electroencephalogram using passive oddball paradigm with visual bars. Standard (90%) and deviant (10%) stimu…
A Systematic Review of International Clinical Guidelines for Rehabilitation of People With Neurological Conditions: What Recommendations Are Made for Upper Limb Assessment?
Background: Upper limb impairment is a common problem for people with neurological disabilities, affecting activity, performance, quality of life, and independence. Accurate, timely assessments are required for effective rehabilitation, and development of novel interventions. International consensus on upper limb assessment is needed to make research findings more meaningful, provide a benchmark for quality in clinical practice, more cost-effective neurorehabilitation and improved outcomes for neurological patients undergoing rehabilitation.Aim: To conduct a systematic review, as part of the output of a European COST Action, to identify what recommendations are made for upper limb assessmen…
Left Prefrontal Cortex Contributes to Motor Imagery: A Pilot Study
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the motor cortex during motor imagery results in increased amplitudes of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in muscles specific to the imagined movement. Functional MRI studies demonstrate that motor imagery involves a widespread neural network including prefrontal and parietal areas. The purpose of this pilot TMS study was to explore whether the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) is an active part of the motor imagery network. MEPs were recorded in 5 healthy subjects in tibialis anterior (TA) muscles during the imagined right ankle dorsiflexion while the neural processes in the left PFC were disturbed by a single TMS pulse 300ms prior to the leg area stim…
Motor action execution in reaction-time movements : Magnetoencephalographic study
OBJECTIVE: Reaction-time movements are internally planned in the brain. Presumably, proactive control in reaction-time movements appears as an inhibitory phase preceding movement execution. We identified the brain activity of reaction-time movements in close proximity to movement onset and compared it with similar self-paced voluntary movements without external command. DESIGN: We recorded 18 healthy participants performing reaction-time and self-paced fast index finger abductions with 306-sensor magnetoencephalography and electromyography. Reaction-time movements were performed as responses to cutaneous electrical stimulation delivered on the hand radial nerve area. Motor field and movemen…
Design and protocol of Estrogenic Regulation of Muscle Apoptosis (ERMA) study with 47 to 55-year-old women's cohort : novel results show menopause-related differences in blood count
Objective: The multidisciplinary Estrogenic Regulation of Muscle Apoptosis (ERMA) study was designed to reveal how hormonal differences over the menopausal stages affect the physiological and psychological functioning of middle-aged women. This paper describes the protocol and nonrespondent analysis of ERMA and novel findings on menopausal differences in blood count variables and their association with female sex hormones. Methods: Women aged 47 to 55 years were assigned to pre, early peri, late peri, and postmenopausal groups based on follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and bleeding diary. Multivariate linear regression models were constructed to estimate the association of 17b-estradiol (E…