Neurorehabilitation: bridging neurophysiology and clinical practice

Spin of information and inconsistency between abstract and full text in RCTs investigating upper limb rehabilitation after stroke: An overview study

BACKGROUND

Researchers may be tempted to favorably distort the interpretation of their findings when reporting the abstract (i.e., spin). Spin bias overemphasizes the beneficial effects of the intervention compared with the results shown in the full text.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the occurrence of spin bias and incompleteness in reporting abstracts in post-stroke upper limb (UL) rehabilitation randomized clinical trials (RCTs).

METHODS

A sample of 120 post-stroke UL rehabilitation RCTs (indexed in PEDro database), published in English between 2012 and 2020, was included. The completeness of reporting and spin were assessed using the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials for Abstracts (CONSORT-A) and the spin checklist. The relationship between CONSORT-A and spin checklist scores with RCT and journal characteristics was assessed.

RESULTS

CONSORT-A and spin checklist scored 5.3±2.4 (max 15-points, higher scores indicating better reporting) and 5.5±2.0 (max 7-points, higher scores indicating presence of spin), respectively; Significant differences were detected between abstract and full-text scores in the CONSORT-A checklist (p < 0.01) and the spin checklist (p < 0.01). Items of the CONSORT-A checklist in the abstracts and full text showed a fair agreement (k = 0.31), while a moderate agreement (k = 0.59) for the spin checklist was detected. Completeness of abstract was associated (R2 = 0.46) with journal Impact Factor (p < 0.01), CONSORT Guideline endorsement (p = 0.04), and abstract word number (p = 0.02). A lower spin was associated with a higher journal Impact Factor (p = 0.01) and CONSORT Guideline endorsement (p = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Post-stroke UL rehabilitation RCTs abstracts were largely incomplete showing spin. Authors, reviewers, publishers, and stakeholders should be aware of this phenomenon. Publishers should consider allowing more words in abstracts to improve the completeness of reporting abstracts. Although we have investigated only stroke rehabilitation, our results suggest that health care professionals of all disciplines should avoid clinical decision-making based solely upon abstracts.

Could Self-Control and Emotion Influence Physical Ability and Functional Recovery after Stroke?

Background and Objectives: This study was conducted to determine whether self-control and emotions could influence patients' physical ability and functional recovery after stroke. Materials and Methods: Twenty-four patients within eight weeks after a stroke were included in this study (age: 54.04 ± 10.31; days after stroke: 42.66 ± 8.84). The subjects participated in tests at the baseline, four weeks later, and eight weeks later. Subjects were asked to complete the following: (1) self-control level test, (2) positive and negative emotion test, (3) knee muscle strength testing, (4) static balance test, (5) gait measurement, and (6) activities of daily living evaluation. Results: The muscle strength of the knee, static balance, gait ability, and the Functional Independence Measure score increased significantly in the stroke patients over time. A significant correlation was noted between the emotion and physical variables in stroke patients. The self-control level was significantly associated with the change in the physical variables in stroke patients over time. Conclusions: The self-control level was positively related to the increases in functional recovery of stroke patients with time, while the emotions were related more to the physical abilities.

Recent Advances in the Neural Control of Movements: Lessons for Functional Recovery

We review the current views on the control and coordination of movements following the traditions set by Nikolai Bernstein. In particular, we focus on the theory of neural control of effectors - from motor units to individual muscles, to joints, limbs, and to the whole body - with spatial referent coordinates organized into a hierarchy with multiple few-to-many mappings. Further, we discuss synergies ensuring stability of natural human movements within the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis. Synergies are organized within the neural control hierarchy based on the principle of motor abundance. Movement disorders are discussed as consequences of an inability to use the whole range of changes in referent coordinates (as in spasticity) and an inability to ensure controlled stability of salient variables as reflected in indices of multi-element synergies and their adjustments in preparation to actions (as in brain disorders, including Parkinson's disease, multiple-system atrophy, and stroke). At the end of the review, we discuss possible implications of this theoretical approach to peripheral disorders and their rehabilitations using, as an example, osteoarthritis. In particular, "joint stiffening" is viewed as a maladaptive strategy, which can compromise stability of salient variables during walking.

Movement Quality: A Novel Biomarker Based on Principles of Neuroscience

A major problem in neurorehabilitation is the lack of objective outcomes to measure movement quality. Movement quality features, such as coordination and stability, are essential for everyday motor actions. These features allow reacting to continuously changing environment or to resist external perturbations. Neurological disorders affect movement quality, leading to functionally impaired movements. Recent findings suggest that the central nervous system organizes motor elements (eg, muscles, joints, fingers) into task-specific ensembles to stabilize motor tasks performance. A method to quantify this feature has been previously developed based on the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) hypothesis. UCM quantifies movement quality in a spatial-temporal domain using intertrial analysis of covariation between motor elements. In this point-of-view article, we first describe major obstacles (eg, the need for group analysis) that interfere with UCM application in clinical settings. Then, we propose a process of quantifying movement quality for a single individual with a novel use of bootstrapping simulations and UCM analysis. Finally, we reanalyze previously published data from individuals with neurological disorders performing a wide range of motor tasks, that is, multi-digit pressing and postural balance tasks. Our method allows one to assess motor quality impairments in a single individual and to detect clinically important motor behavior changes. Our solution may be incorporated into a clinical setting to assess sensorimotor impairments, evaluate the effects of specific neurological treatments, or track movement quality recovery over time. We also recommended the proposed solution to be used jointly with a typical statistical analysis of UCM parameters in cohort studies.

Non-invasive current stimulation in vision recovery: a review of the literature

Background:

Around 253 million people worldwide suffer from irreversible visual damage. Numerous studies have been carried out in order to unveil the effects of electrical stimulation (ES) as a useful tool for rehabilitation for different visual conditions and pathologies.

Objective:

This systematic review aimed to 1) examine the current evidence of ES efficacy for the treatment of visual pathologies and 2) define the corresponding degree of the recommendation of different ES techniques.

Methods:

A systematic review was conducted in MEDLINE and Cochrane Library database to collect documents published between 2000 and 2018. For each study, Level of Evidence of Effectiveness of ES as well as the Class of Quality for the treatment of different visual pathologies were determined.

Results:

Thirty-eight articles were included. Studies were grouped according to the pathology treated and the type of stimulation administered. The first group included studies treating pre-chiasmatic pathologies (age-related macular degeneration, macular dystrophy, retinal artery occlusion, retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma, optic nerve damage, and optic neuropathy) using pre-chiasmatic stimulation; the second group included studies treating both pre-chiasmatic pathologies (amblyopia, myopia) and post-chiasmatic pathologies or brain conditions (hemianopsia, brain trauma) by means of post-chiasmatic stimulation. In the first group, repetitive transorbital alternating current stimulation (rtACS) reached level A recommendation, and transcorneal electrical stimulation (tcES) reached level B. In the second group, both high-frequency random noise stimulation (hf-RNS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) reached level C recommendation.

Conclusions:

Study’s findings suggest conclusive evidence for rtACS treatment. For other protocols results are promising but not conclusive since the examined studies assessed different stimulation parameters and endpoints. A comparison of the effects of different combinations of these variables still lacks in the literature. Further studies are needed to optimize existing protocols and determine if different protocols are needed for different diseases.