Purpose: In the United States, stroke is the leading cause of disability. The majority of survivors sustain permanent physical and/or cognitive impairments. Stroke survivors with impairments experience depression, loss of functional independence, and poor quality of life (QOL). Stroke disparities exist among different racial and ethnic groups of the US population. Latinos experience a first time stroke at a younger age compared to non-Latino Whites. As a result, Latinos live with impairments for a greater number of years. The vast majority of stroke survivors return to live in their communities. Reintegrating into home and social activities is key to survivors’ perceived QOL. This dissertation project sought to understand from an ecological framework the post-stroke community reintegration experiences of Latino older adults in an urban New York City neighborhood. The study also sought to examine the viewpoints of health and social service providers, whose opinions, actions, and programs can support stroke survivors’ reintegration into community. Methods: Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 Latino stroke survivors 50 years of age and older who had experienced a disabling stroke within 36 months. In addition, 20 health and social service providers based in a large medical center, and multiple senior centers in the northern Manhattan section of New York City were interviewed. The stroke survivor data was analyzed using a phenomenological approach. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the data from the health and social service informants. Data analysis identified physical, psychological, social, and environmental factors pertinent to stroke survivors’ community integration experiences. These identified factors were categorized into macro-, exo-, meso-, and micro-levels to capture the psycho, social, and environmental ecology in which community reintegration takes place for Latino stroke survivors. Results: Qualitative accounts of survivors revealed several microsystem factors, including a struggle to maintain a positive self-concept and to engage in activities associated with valued identities and roles, while simultaneously suffering chronic pain, fatigue, and functional limitations. Changes in their affect lead survivors to socially isolate themselves. In addition, they relied more on women than men for social support, a salient mesosystem factor. Survivors encountered significant exosystem level barriers in the environment that limited their ability to travel and access activities. For some, these barriers inadvertently left survivors homebound. Survivors also encountered a societal culture, a macrosystem factor, which stigmatized them due to their impairments. Interviews with health and social service professionals revealed various factors that influenced community reintegration of people with stroke. At the macrosystem level, funding for programs and healthcare financing dictated services and eligibility criteria. In the exosystem, a segmented medical model of care postponed the conversation on community integration. Professional practices, organizational level constraints and culture were mesosystem level factors that influenced community reintegration. The confluence of these factors created an ecological system that influenced stroke survivors’ opportunities to socially engage in their home and community life. Conclusion: An ecological approach provides a useful framework to understand the complexity and potential interplay of factors that contribute to community integration post-stroke for Latino older adults in an urban area.

Orientador: Maria Aparecida Coelho de Arruda Henry / Coorientador: Arthur Oscar Schelp / Coorientador: Roberta Gonçalves da Silva / Banca: Célia Maria Giacheti / Banca: Luiz Roberto Lopes / Resumo: Estudos têm proposto a utilização da Escala Internacional de Acidente Vascular Cerebral do Instituto Nacional de Saúde (NIHSS) como um instrumento de triagem, como preditor clínico da presença de disfagia orofaríngea e indicador de via de alimentação nos indivíduos pós-AVC, mesmo este não pontuando o distúrbio de deglutição. No entanto, a maioria deles preconizou o uso de parâmetros clínicos na avaliação da deglutição, o que dificulta a identificação de alterações específicas que podem direcionar a conduta sobre a via e consistência de alimentação. Sendo assim, este estudo teve como objetivo verificar a correlação entre a pontuação obtida no NIHSS e a presença de penetração laríngea e aspiração laringotraqueal nos indivíduos pós-AVC isquêmico, utilizando o exame de videofluoroscopia da deglutição. Participaram deste estudo 74 indivíduos pós-AVC isquêmico submetidos à avaliação neurológica e aplicação do NIHSS. Os indivíduos foram divididos em quatro grupos conforme a gravidade do AVC na pontuação do NIHSS, sendo G1 (0-4 pontos), G2 (5-10), G3 (11-20) e G4 (≥ 20). Destes indivíduos, dois foram excluídos da avaliação fonoaudiológica da deglutição por apresentarem comprometimento neurológico grave mensurado pelo NIHSS. 72 indivíduos foram submetidos à avaliação fonoaudiológica clinica e ao exame videofluoroscópico da deglutição, realizados no mesmo dia, com o pastoso fino e líquido ralo, observando a presença de penetração laríngea e aspiração laringotraqueal. Foi verificada a ausência de correlação estatisticamente significante entre a pontuação no NIHSS e a presença de penetração laríngea com pastoso fino ... / Abstract: The use of the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) have been proposed as a screening tool, as clinical predictors of the presence of oropharyngeal dysphagia and an indicator of the safe way of feeding in individuals after stroke, even these not scoring the swallowing disorder. However, most studies recommend the use of clinical parameters in evaluating of swallowing, which hinder identification of specific alterations that could help to decide the way of feeding and the safe consistency. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the correlation between the NIHSS score and the presence of laryngeal penetration and tracheal aspiration in individuals after ischemic stroke, using videofluoroscopic evaluation of swallowing. Seventy-four after ischemic stroke individuals were evaluated; they had been submitted to neurological and NIHSS evaluation. They were divided into four groups according to the severity of stroke in NIHSS score, G1 (0-4 points), G2 (5-10 points), G3 (11-20 points) and G4 (≥ 20 points). Two of these individuals were excluded from the swallowing clinical assessment because they have severe neurological impairment measured by NIHSS. Seventy two subjects were submitted to swallowing clinical evaluation and videofluoroscopy of swallowing, performed on the same day, using thin pasty e liquid consistencies , observing the presence of laryngeal penetration and tracheal aspiration. The absence of a statistically significant correlation between the NIHSS score and the presence of laryngeal penetration with thin pasty (P = 0.3270) and liquid (P= 0.8138) was verified. Likewise, there was no correction between the NIHSS and the presence of tracheal aspiration with thin pastoso (P = 0.3714) and liquid (P=0.6292). The laryngeal penetration occurred in only 06 (8.33%) individuals with thin pasty, distributed in G1 (66.6%) and G2 (33.3%) of the NIHSS. With liquid, laryngeal penetration ... / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-14T13:22:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 449212.pdf: 2913871 bytes, checksum: 1b5c92db8b6cb9f3e32d917f83605009 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-18 / The Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment Battery (MTL-BR) has been adapted, extensively revised and redesigned from French to Brazilian Portuguese to assess components of spoken and written language, praxis and mathematical ability after brain injury. The aim of this thesis was to collect evidence toward the validity and reliability of this instrument, verifying the role of age, education, aphasia and unilateral brain injury on performance in the MTL-BR Battery through three empirical studies. The first study aimed at analyzing the effects of age and education on the performance of 463 healthy adults in the MTL-BR, so as to contribute to normative data. Mean group scores were compared using a two-way ANOVA with post-hoc Bonferroni tests. Descriptive analyses for the normative data were also conducted. The second study looked for evidence toward the construct/convergent validity and reliability of the instrument in clinical and non-clinical adults. Test-retest reliability (correlation and repeated measure) and internal consistency (Cronbach s alpha) were analyzed. Validity was analyzed by correlating performance across subtests. The third study investigated criterion-related validity. One hundred and four adults divided into clinical (with three groups: left hemisphere damaged LHD with aphasia, LHD without aphasia and right hemisphere damaged -RHD) and control (healthy adults) groups participated in this study. Performance was compared between groups with a one-way ANCOVA with depression as a covariate, and post-hoc Bonferroni tests. Both education and age influenced performance in the MTL-BR Battery, but the effect of education was more important. The MTL-BR Battery presented adequate indicators of reliability and validity, adequate internal reliability and testretest correlations, as well as satisfactory correlations with similar instruments. As expected, patients with aphasia had lower scores than controls on all tasks except in the spoken word comprehension subtask. The LHD group without aphasia underperformed the control group only in phonological verbal fluency. There were no significant differences in any subtasks between LHD patients without aphasia and RHD, or RHD versus controls. The findings of all three studies suggested that the MTL-BR has adequate external validity. The data obtained contribute to clinical assessment of aphasia in Brazil and to reflections upon the implications of linguistic-communicative changes on diagnosis and rehabilitation. / A Bateria Montreal-Toulouse de Avalia??o da Linguagem (Bateria MTL-BR) ? um instrumento adaptado e amplamente revisado e reformulado do Franc?s para o Portugu?s Brasileiro para avaliar o funcionamento de diferentes componentes de linguagem oral e escrita, de praxias e de calculias, ap?s les?o cerebral. Esta tese objetivou buscar evid?ncias de validade e de fidedignidade verificando-se o papel da idade, da escolaridade, da afasia e da les?o cerebral unilateral no desempenho da MTL-BR por meio de tr?s estudos emp?ricos. O primeiro estudo visou a analisar os efeitos de idade e da escolaridade no desempenho lingu?stico de 463 indiv?duos adultos neurologicamente saud?veis na Bateria MTL-BR, procurando contribuir com dados normativos. Os escores m?dios foram comparados entregrupos por uma two-way ANOVA, com procedimento post-hoc Bonferroni, al?m de an?lises descritivas para normas. O segundo estudo avaliou evid?ncias de validade de construto/convergente e de fidedignidade do instrumento em amostras cl?nicas e neurologicamente saud?veis. A fidedignidade foi analisada a partir das t?cnicas teste-reteste (correla??o e medidas repetidas) e consist?ncia interna (alpha de Cronbach). Quanto ? validade, analisaram-se correla??es entre desempenhos de diferentes tarefas de exame da linguagem. O terceiro estudo averiguou evid?ncias de validade com rela??o a crit?rios externos cl?nicos. Participaram deste estudo 104 adultos, divididos em quatro grupos: cl?nicos (com tr?s subgrupos, indiv?duos com les?o de hemisf?rio direito - LHD, les?o de hemisf?rio esquerdo - LHE - sem afasia e LHE com afasia) e controle (sem les?o neurol?gica). Compararam-se desempenhos m?dios entre grupos pelo teste ANCOVA One-way, tendo o n?vel de depress?o como covariante, com post-hoc Bonferroni. A escolaridade e a idade influenciaram no desempenho da Bateria MTL-BR, sendo que o efeito da educa??o foi mais importante. A Bateria MTL-BR apresentou adequados indicadores de fidedignidade e validade, adequadas confiabilidade interna e correla??es teste-reteste, al?m de ter boa correla??o com o desempenho de instrumentos semelhantes. Conforme esperado, pacientes com afasia apresentaram escores inferiores aos controles em todas as tarefas, exceto na subtarefa de compreens?o oral de palavras. O grupo LHE sem afasia apresentou desempenho inferior ao grupo controle apenas na tarefa de flu?ncia verbal fonol?gica. Os grupos cl?nicos LHD e LHE sem afasia n?o diferenciaram entre si em nenhuma tarefa, assim como LHD de controles. Os achados dos tr?s estudos sugeriram ?ndices de validade por rela??o com vari?veis externas. Os dados obtidos contribuem para avalia??o cl?nica de afasiologia brasileira, para a reflex?o sobre implica??es diagn?sticas e de reabilita??o de altera??es lingu?stico-comunicativas.

Publicación a texto completo no autorizada por el autor / Manifiesta que se revisaron los registros de ingreso de pacientes al Hospital de Apoyo Junín, desde enero de 2006 a diciembre de 2010. Por otro lado, a 137 personas adultas, aparentemente sanas, nativas y residentes de esa localidad se les midió la presión arterial y se les extrajo una muestra de sangre para evaluar, utilizando métodos espectrofotométricos, los valores de hemoglobina, glucosa y perfil lipídico; a 78 personas se les evaluó los niveles de óxido nítrico sérico y a 40 pobladores con iguales características se les determinaron los valores de glutatión en sangre total; se llevaron a cabo las mismas determinaciones en pobladores de Lima. De los 11 661 ingresos al hospital se encontraron 14 casos de accidente cerebro vascular (0,12%), algunos de los cuales vinculados a policitemia, la presión arterial se presentó elevada en un 7,25 % observandose que el incremento no guarda proporción con la edad, lo que si ocurre en Lima (30,1%). Como era de esperarse la Hemoglobina es superior 19,01 y 16,50 para hombres y mujeres, frente a 14,81 y 13,51 mg/dL respectivamente en Lima; mientras que, la glucosa, colesterol total y LDL séricos, en promedio, resultaron estadisticamente inferiores y HDL mayor repecto a lo evaluado en Lima; no observandose diferencia estadisticamente significativa en los valores de triglicéridos; finalmente, con diferencias estadísticamente significativas tanto la concentración de óxido nítrico (28,88 uM/mL) como de glutation (1,067 uM/mL) en Junín resultaron superiores a las halladas en Lima 9,78 uM/mL y 0,615 uM/mL respectivamente, suponiendo contribuir a evitar mayor incidencia de ACV en altura. / Tesis

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is defined as a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and is characterized by a devastating mental decline. There are three pathological hallmarks of the disease necessary for its diagnosis, these are extracellular amyloid plaques comprised of the beta-amyloid (Aβ) protein, intracellular neurofibrillary tangles comprised of hyperphosphorylated tau protein, and marked neuronal loss. Active immunization against Aβ1-42 or passive immunization with monoclonal anti-Aβ antibodies has been shown to reduce amyloid deposition and improve cognition in transgenic mouse models of AD, aged beagles, and nonhuman primates. Unfortunately, due to cerebrovascular adverse events, both active and passive immunization strategies targeting Aβ have failed in clinical trials. It is, therefore, necessary to identify novel amyloid-clearing therapeutics that do not induce cerebrovascular adverse events. We hypothesized that neuroinflammatory modulation could be a potential novel target. Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-2 (TREM2) is a lipid and lipoprotein binding receptor expressed exclusively in the brain by microglia. Homozygous TREM2 loss of function mutations cause early-onset progressive presenile dementia while heterozygous, function-reducing point mutations triple the risk of sporadic, late-onset AD. Heterozygous TREM2 point mutations, which reduce either ligand binding or cell surface expression, are associated with a reduction in the number of microglia surrounding amyloid plaques, microglial inability to phagocytose compact Aβ deposits and form a barrier between plaques and neurons, an increase in the number of phospho- tau-positive dystrophic neurites and increased tau in the cerebrospinal fluid. Heterozygous mutations also double the rate of brain atrophy and decrease the age of AD onset by 3-6 years. Although human genetics supports the notion that loss of TREM2 function exacerbates neurodegeneration, it is unclear whether activation of TREM2 in a disease state is beneficial. The work we present here characterizes a TREM2 agonizing antibody as a potential therapeutic for amyloid reduction. We found that its administration results in immune modulation, recruitment of microglia to the site of amyloid plaques, reduced amyloid deposition and improvement in spatial learning and novel object recognition memory in the 5xFAD model of AD. More specifically, we show that intracranial injection of TREM2 agonizing antibodies into the frontal cortex and hippocampus of 5xFAD mice leads to clearance of diffuse and compact amyloid. We also show that systemic injection of TREM2 agonizing antibodies weekly over a period of 14 weeks results in clearance of diffuse and compact amyloid as well as elevated plasma concentrations of Aβ1-40 and Aβ1-42. Furthermore, systemic administration of these antibodies led to immune modulation and enhanced cognitive performance on radial arm water maze and novel object recognition tests. Importantly, we show the TREM2 agonizing antibody does not induce the adverse cerebrovascular events known to accompany amyloid modifying therapies. Though systemic administration of both TREM2 agonizing and anti-Abantibodies does not further enhance amyloid clearance or cognitive performance, co-administration mitigates the adverse cerebrovascular events associated with anti-Aβ antibodies. Collectively, these data indicate TREM2 activators may be an effective therapeutic target for the treatment of AD.

The aim of this study was to examine and compare the contribution of central neuromuscular fatigue and peripheral neuromuscular fatigue to total neuromuscular fatigue in the hemiplegic leg of people with stroke, with that of a matched control group.Study Design: This experimental study utilised a repeated measures block design.Participants: Fifteen people with chronic stroke who had mild to moderate physical disability and fifteen age, height and weight matched controls were compared.Main outcome measures: Participants physical function was evaluated using the 30s Chair Stand Test, Comfortable Paced Walking Speed and Fast Paced Walking Speed. Neuromuscular function was measured using maximal voluntary isometric contraction force and voluntary activation. Total neuromuscular fatigue, central neuromuscular fatigue and peripheral neuromuscular fatigue was measured during a 90 second sustained maximal voluntary isometric contraction of the quadriceps muscle.Results: The fatigue profile of stroke participants differed from that of control participants. Stroke participants demonstrated less total neuromuscular fatigue (U=41.00, p=.026) and less peripheral neuromuscular fatigue (U=14.00, p=.000) than the control participants. While stroke participants did demonstrate greater central neuromuscular fatigue than control participants, this finding was not statistically significant (U=80.00, p=.817).Conclusions: Statistically significant differences were found in the performance of people with mild to moderate physical disability following stroke on measures of neuromuscular fatigue when compared to age, weight and height matched healthy adults.

Complications due to stroke account for a significant proportion of admissions to medical wards in Thailand. Unlike western countries where community rehabilitation programs have been established to provide services following the acute stage of stroke recovery, there is no stroke rehabilitation team in the community and family care givers are the primary source of ongoing care and support. This research was a comparative study with concurrent controls, using a two-group pre-test and post test design. The aims of this study were to develop and implement a nurse led supportive educative learning program for care givers of stroke survivors, and to evaluate outcomes for patients and their carers. The study demonstrated that providing education and support to the family caregiver of stroke survivors does benefit both the survivors and caregiver by empower carers to make decisions about the care they provide which has a follow on effect of reducing care stress and burden. It is recommended that programs to provide carers with skills and knowledge to assume an active and therapeutic role in the management of family members who suffer a stroke be established and appropriately supported. Furthermore, implementing this research in other regions of Thailand is recommended. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

There is increasing evidence that stroke survivors benefit from the provision of intensive, task-specific therapy in the rehabilitation of motor function. Providing such therapy to a number of stroke survivors in a group setting (know as circuit class therapy) has been proposed as an alternative model of physiotherapy service delivery within the inpatient rehabilitation setting. This study investigated the effectiveness and feasibility of circuit class therapy, as compared to the standard practice of one-to-one therapy sessions, within a representative sample of stroke survivors receiving inpatient rehabilitation.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2006. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-134). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) is classified as a Cardiovirus in the Picornaviridae family. An enteric virus, TMEV, spreads within the mouse population by the fecal-oral route. The neurovirulent GDVII strain of Theiler's virus causes a fatal encephalitis in all strains of mice following intra-cranial infection of the virus. Persistent BeAn strain of Theiler's virus causes a demyelinating disease in susceptible strains of mice, which is similar to the human disease - Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Although a well-recognized model for MS, the route of entry of the virus into the central nervous system (CNS) following natural infection has not been well understood. One of the proposed portals of entry includes the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This report indicates the ability of both the neurovirulent and the persistent strains of Theiler's virus to induce apoptosis in the functional units of the BBB - the cerebrovascular endothelial cells (CVE) both in vitro and in vivo. Induction of apoptosis in CVE was demonstrated by Annexin staining, electron microscopy, DNA fragmentation assay, Hoechst staining and by caspase-3 staining. Corresponding to results by other authors, GDVII is a stronger inducer of apoptosis in CVE compared to BeAn. Induction of apoptosis is dependent on the MOI of the virus. UV-inactivated virus is not capable of inducing apoptosis and induction of apoptosis appears to be an internal event not requiring activation of death receptors. Determining the pathway of induction of apoptosis by TMEV in CVE indicated the involvement of a Ca2+ dependent pathway for apoptosis - the calpain pathway. Involvement of calpain in apoptosis has been reported in MS. Induction of apoptosis in CVE in vivo was also demonstrated following the intra-peritoneal inoculation of Theiler's virus. Induction of apoptosis in CVE following Theiler' virus infection could lead to a breach of the BBB and entry of inflammatory cells as well as virus into the central nervous system. This finding could aid understanding the neuropathogenesis of Theiler's virus.