View clinical trials related to Stroke.
Filter by:Injuries affecting the central nervous system may disrupt the cortical pathways to muscles causing loss of motor control. Nevertheless, the brain still exhibits sensorimotor rhythms (SMRs) during movement intents or motor imagery (MI), which is the mental rehearsal of the kinesthetics of a movement without actually performing it. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can decode SMRs to control assistive devices and promote functional recovery. Despite rapid advancements in non-invasive BCI systems based on EEG, two persistent challenges remain: First, the instability of SMR patterns due to the non-stationarity of neural signals, which may significantly degrade BCI performance over days and hamper the effectiveness of BCI-based rehabilitation. Second, differentiating MI patterns corresponding to fine hand movements of the same limb is still difficult due to the low spatial resolution of EEG. To address the first challenge, subjects usually learn to elicit reliable SMR and improve BCI control through longitudinal training, so a fundamental question is how to accelerate subject training building upon the SMR neurophysiology. In this study, the investigators hypothesize that conditioning the brain with transcutaneous electrical spinal stimulation, which reportedly induces cortical inhibition, would constrain the neural dynamics and promote focal and strong SMR modulations in subsequent MI-based BCI training sessions - leading to accelerated BCI training. To address the second challenge, the investigators hypothesize that neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) applied contingent to the voluntary activation of the primary motor cortex through MI can help differentiate patterns of activity associated with different hand movements of the same limb by consistently recruiting the separate neural pathways associated with each of the movements within a closed-loop BCI setup. The investigators study the neuroplastic changes associated with training with the two stimulation modalities.
Post-stroke spasticity in the lower extremity affects balance and gait, leading to decreased mobility and functional independence. Therefore, effective intervention for reducing spasticity is crucial in stroke rehabilitation. Recently, neurodynamics, though originally designed for pain management in orthopedic patients, has also been applied for treating spasticity in patients with neurological disorders. However, previous studies focused mainly on treating the upper extremity spasticity, but not on lower extremity spasticity, and not on possible neurophysiological changes. The present study aims to investigate the immediate effects of neurodynamics in reducing lower limb spasticity and neurophysiological changes in people with chronic stroke.
Patient-filled scales minimize the burden of data collection for clinicians in a clinical setting. Therefore, Leg activity measure, a new self-report measure of active and passive function in the leg, has been developed. Leg activity measure consists of three parts. The first part includes passive functions, the second part includes active functions, and the third part includes the assessment of quality of life. It is a valid and reliable test in adult neurological patients with lower extremity spasticity. It can be used in the evaluation of the active and passive functions of the results of the clinicians' interventions by making the cultural adaptation of the Turkish language and examining its validity and reliability. We think that it will be important to determine the limitations in activity, participation and daily living activities and to evaluate their reflections.
Thrombus shedding in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) can lead to cerebral artery embolism. Stroke caused by AF is very dangerous, which not only threatens the life of patients, but also seriously affects the quality of life. This study aims to explore the biomarkers of stroke in patients with AF by integrating proteomics and metabolomics data, and establish the network relationship of stroke in patients with AF, so as to reveal the molecular mechanism of stroke in patients with AF.
In the current project, primary health care patients with mental illness such as anxiety, depression, fatigue or sleep disorders will be followed. The study includes both health conversations with the health curve as a systematic work with lifestyle habits, and the biochemical risk marker copeptin with a focus on improved lifestyle habits and the development of cardiovascular complications. Participants will be followed up at 12 and 24 months with renewed health interview including the health curve and blood sampling. National registries will be used for a, up to 20 year long follow-up regarding cardiovascular complications and mortality.
Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been gaining increasing interest as a potential therapeutic tool to improve upper extremity (UE) rehabilitation outcomes following stroke. Within the concept of interhemispheric inhibition (IHI), most tDCS studies have applied anodal ipsilesional and/or cathodal contralesional primary motor cortex (M1) tDCS to rebalance IHI and enhance motor recovery. However, compelling evidence suggests that an excitation/inhibition model is oversimplified, and the role of both hemispheres in the encoding of information during motor learning should be acknowledged. Moreover, multiple lines of evidence have demonstrated the potential relevance of contralesional premotor cortex (PMC) for recovery after M1 injury. Objective: We are aiming to investigate and compare the effects of two tDCS montages at different cortical sites (Dual-M1 vs. a-tDCS over contralesional PMC) by measuring the clinical outcomes of the most affected UE in patients with chronic subcortical stroke. Methods: 35 participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups (Group A received dual- M1 tDCS, Group B received a-tDCS over contralesional PMC, and Group C received sham stimulation). tDCS will be applied using intensity of 2 mA for 20 min. (5 times/week) for 2 consecutive weeks. Fugl-Meyer Assessment of the Upper Extremity (FMA-UE) and Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) will be used to quantify the UE functional motor ability. Box and Block Test (BBT) will be used for gross manual dexterity and Nine Hole Peg Test (NHPT) will be used to measure fine hand dexterity. All measurements will be taken pre-treatment (T0) and post-treatment (T1) immediately after the 10th session, then 4 weeks after the end of stimulation period (T2) to assess the long-term effects. Expected results: This study would verify whether enhancing the motor cortical hyperexcitability in the contralesional hemisphere has a beneficial on recovery of the paretic hand, or regaining the balance of transcallosal inhibitory circuits between the motor areas in both hemispheres has more positive effects on the motor outcomes . This study would also provide a predictive approach to enable realistic rehabilitation goal-setting by identifying the proper tDCS montage for patients with stroke depending on their impairment level.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy of the ExoNET passive robotic device. It will provide upper-extremity gravity compensation for therapeutic movement retraining in the chronic post stroke patient population.
This study is being done to see how errors lead to improvement. Specifically, we are evaluating the errors stroke participants make during an upper extremity exercise program when reaching for a target using their affected arm. Once we understand the participant's reaching errors, we plan to create a customized reaching exercise according to the individual's specific error tendencies which will lead to better performance on movement ability after training.
Spasticity, or greater muscle resistance, is a major disabling condition following stroke. Recovery of lost motor function in patients with stroke may be affected by spasticity, which most commonly develops in elbow and ankle muscles. However, despite its clinical relevance, the natural development of spasticity over the first 3 months after stroke is not clearly understood. Indeed, common clinical measures of spasticity such as the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) do not take into account the neurophysiological origin of spasticity and lack reliability and objectivity. The objective of this study is to examine the natural history of the development of spasticity among patients with stroke over the first 3 months using a new neurophysiological measure (TSRT, the tonic stretch reflex threshold angle) and its velocity sensitivity (mu) in comparison to MAS and other common clinical tests. In addition, detailed brain imaging will be used to understand the relationship between damage to brain regions relevant to the development of spasticity and TSRT/mu values. It is hypothesized that 1) TSRT/mu will indicate the presence of spasticity earlier than MAS/clinical tests; 2) TSRT/mu measures will be more closely related to motor impairments and activity limitations than MAS; 3) the lesion severity (identified by imaging) will be related to the change in TSRT/mu values. Outcomes will be measured in a pilot cohort of 12 patients hospitalized for first-ever stroke. Measurements will be taken at the bedside within the 1st week of the patient's admission and will be done once per week for 12 weeks with a follow-up at week 16. Brain Imaging will be done around the 6th week post-stroke.
To examine the effects of using a virtual reality (VR) system to improve upper limb motor function among subacute hemiparetic stroke patients. Under this aim, the investigators have two objectives: (1) to develop and test a procedure for the quantitative assessment of stroke patients in a virtual environment; and (2) to compare the outcome measures of the two groups of stroke patients (VR-intervention vs. conventional-control) on these two modes of training.