Coming soon to IJS Early view in January 2012.

Coming soon to IJS Early view in January 2012.  

Depressive symptoms as a predictor of quality of life in cerebral small vessel disease, acting independently of disability; a study in both sporadic SVD and CADASIL

Rebecca L Brookes, Thomas A Willis,  Bhavini Patel, Robin G Morris, Hugh S Markus 

Figure 1. Correlation between depression (GDS30) and quality of life (SSQoL) scores in the SVD group

Join the WSO and enjoy a fast track to IJS content

International Journal of Stroke final issue for the year is out! If you haven't received it yet and you are a member of the World Stroke Organization then please contact me on carmenl@unimelb.edu.au otherwise consider becoming a member of the WSO and enjoy a fast track to IJS content.

IJS speaks to Professor Sandy Middleton about the Quality in Acute Stroke Care

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/interview-professor-sandy/id483410287

Professor Sandy Middleton is the Director of the Nursing Research Institute, St Vincent’s & Mater Health Sydney and School of Nursing (NSW & ACT) Australian Catholic University, and Director, National Centre for Clinical Outcomes Research (NaCCOR), Australian Catholic University; Australian Catholic University Priority Research Centre and Chief investigator of the Quality in Acute Stroke Care (QASC) study.

Open science now - Michael Neilsen, physicist

As the world changes science and researchers are able to collaborate in ways never seen before, or so we keep hearing. Revolutionary modern day figures like Steve Jobs have told us again and again technology will change the way we collaborate; but how?
In this TED talk physicist turned writer, Michael Nielsen pushes the idea of believes online communication and collaboration tools are revolutionizing the way we make scientific discoveries.

http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_nielsen_open_science_now.html

Teaser 7:1 Effects of lower limb reciprocal pedalling exercise on motor function after stroke: a systematic review of randomised and non-randomised studies

After stroke, it is possible to drive beneficial functional reorganisation of the brain with behavioural training. For example, repetition of motor activity can produce changes in brain representation maps and motor skill acquisition, or motor learning, may drive these changes. These and other findings suggest that rehabilitation programmes should incorporate these underlying principles and hence involve: increasing levels of motor skill; goal-directed activity, and tasks that are meaningful for participants in rehabilitation programmes. However, it remains unclear which specific therapeutic modalities might best be used to provide the repetitive, skilled activity necessary to drive brain changes that might lead to improvements in functional activities such as gait.

World Stroke Day

Download these articles on World Stroke Day (WSD), 2011.
What will you be doing this WSD?

World Stroke Day special edition: where are we six-years on? (page 375)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-4949.2011.00663.x/full

IJS announces journal series on stroke, cognition and vascular dementia (page 375)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-4949.2011.00662.x/full

World Stroke Day (page 376)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-4949.2011.00655.x/full

World Stroke Day Editorial (page 377)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-4949.2011.00656.x/full

The International Journal of Stroke welcomes Professor Patrick Lyden as Associate Editor (page 378)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-4949.2011.00664.x/full

Stoke and stem cell research in Adelaide.

Esteemed strokeologist working with stem cell technology, Simon Koblar is featured in this attached, very interesting news article on the stroke and stem cell research happening in Adelaide. 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-09/stem-cells-hold-hope-for-stroke-cure/2879332

SAMMPRIS study

The Stenting versus Aggressive Medical Management for Preventing Recurrent Stroke in Intracranial Stenosis (SAMMPRIS) study, is the first stroke prevention trial to compare intracranial stenting with medical therapy and incorporate intensive medical management to the study design. Patients in the study were ages 30 to 80 years old and had experienced a recent transient ischemic attack or another type of non-disabling stroke. All patients participated in a lifestyle modification program focused on quitting smoking, increasing exercise, and controlling diabetes and cholesterol.

The results showed that patients at high risk for a second stroke had a lower risk of stroke and death when treated with aggressive medical therapy than patients who received a brain stent in addition to aggressive medical therapy.  The trial seems to indicate that stents are detrimental to patients at high risk of stroke. It was hypothesized by the trial investigators that those with stents would decrease their risk of death.

Your thoughts?

Circuit class or seven-day therapy for increasing intensity of rehabilitation after stroke. Protocol of the CIRCIT trial.

Circuit class or seven-day therapy for increasing intensity of rehabilitation after stroke. Protocol of the CIRCIT trial.

Susan Hillier, Coralie English, Professor Maria Crotty, Leonie Segal, Julie Bernhardt, and Adrian Esterman.

Acknowledgements and funding

This trial is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, grant number 631904. This trial is registered with the Australian and New Zealand Trial Registry (ACTRN12610000096055).

Conflicts of interest: None to declare

Key words:

Stroke, rehabilitation, therapy, clinical trial

Summary

Rationale There is strong evidence for a dose-response relationship between physical therapy early after stroke and recovery of function. The optimal method of maximizing physical therapy within finite health care resources is unknown.

Aims To determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of two alternative models of physical therapy service delivery (seven-day per week therapy services or group circuit class therapy over five days a week) to usual care for people receiving inpatient rehabilitation after stroke.

Design Multicenter, three-armed randomized controlled trial with blinded assessment of outcomes.

Study A total of 282 people admitted to inpatient rehabilitation facilities after stroke with an admission Functional Independence Measure score within the moderate range (total 40-80 points or motor 38-62 points) will be randomized to receive one of three interventions:

·      usual care therapy over five days a week

·      standard care therapy over seven-days a week, or

·      group circuit class therapy over five days a week.

Participants will receive the allocated intervention for the length of their hospital stay. Analysis will be by intention-to-treat.

Outcomes The primary outcome measure is walking ability (six-minute walk test) at four-weeks post-intervention with three and six-month follow-up. Economic analysis will include a costing analysis based on length of hospital stay and staffing/resource costs and a cost-utility analysis (incremental quality of life per incremental cost, relative to usual care). Secondary outcomes include walking speed and independence, ability to perform activities of daily living, arm function, quality of life and participant satisfaction.

Brain Centres around the world

Lou Ruvo Brain Institute in Las Vegas

Melbourne Brain Centre in Melbourne, Australia

The Melbourne Brain Centre recently opened its doors as the home of the Austin campus Florey Neuroscience Institutes. Which had me wondering how important a building is to research. Looking farther afield there seems to be much interest from the governments of  developed countries in dedicating institutes to research of the brain and brain diseases. These buildings come with custom fittings from labs to research spaces and create spaces for collaboration between stroke, dementia, epilepsy, Parkinson's, Huntington's, motor neuron disease etc.

And what could be more important than discipline collaboration? In stroke alone there is so much collaboration between disciplines, and diseases. In the coming editions of the journal we are running a Stroke and Vascular Dementia series, edited by Dr Amy Brodtmann, who is currently specializing in this very important and interesting field.  IJS, following the global trend will bring you more and more collaboration in the future.

Ontario Brain Centre, Canada

McKnight Brain Centre Florida, US

Online character simulation - avoiding research misconduct

http://ori.hhs.gov/TheLab/

In "The Lab: Avoiding Research Misconduct," you become the lead characters in an interactive movie and make decisions about integrity in research that can have long-term consequences. The simulation addresses Responsible Conduct of Research topics such as avoiding research misconduct, mentorship responsibilities, handling of data, responsible authorship, and questionable research practices.

It's a great online interactive idea - we would be interested to hear your thoughts?