The Effects of Low Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on White Matter Structural Connectivity in Children with Cerebral Palsy.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive treatment technique for recovery of movement disorders by altering cortical plasticity. In this research, we studied the effects of low-frequency rTMS on white matter (WM) structural connectivity and clinical parameters in children with cerebral palsy (CP).,Four spastic hemiplegic CP children were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. In the experimental group, at first, 1Hz rTMS treatment was performed 4 days/week for 3 weeks on two hemiplegia patients over a contralesional primary motor cortex (M1). Then, 1Hz rTMS treatment was performed 4 days/week for 3 weeks followed by a 30min occupational therapy (OT). In the control group, two CP children received sham rTMS for 3 weeks and then sham rTMS combined with OT for 3 weeks in the same schedule as the experimental group. Evaluations performed using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and clinical measurements of gait performance before and after the treatment. Graph theoretical analysis was used to characterize topological changes of structural connectivity. Our findings demonstrate the 1Hz rTMS is effective in improving motor activity in spastic hemiplegic CP children, and is more effective when combined with OT.

Assessment of neuroplasticity of corticospinal tract induced by antigravity treadmill (AlterG) in cerebral palsy children.

The aim of this study was to assess neuroplasticity that occurred in the corticospinal tract (CST) following antigravity treadmill (AlterG) training. AlterG can facilitate walking by having up to an 80% reduction of weight-bearing in patients. Systematic and intensive gait training for sufficient periods of time may lead to neuroplasticity and walking capacity improvement. AlterG gait training was done for eight weeks, 3 sessions per week, and 45 minutes each session. Three cerebral palsy (CP) children participated in this study. The function and structure of CST on the brain's more affected side were evaluated using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). Also, some common clinical tests were performed to evaluate walking capacity and endurance. DTI features such as fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) as well as some TMS features were extracted to estimate structural changes of the CST. The evaluations were performed before and after 8week AlterG training. The results showed an improvement in the DTI metrics of the CST following AlterG training. Also, TMS parameters were improved and these changes in CST function and structure were concurrent with changes in walking capacity. These results suggest that AlterG training can be used as a therapeutic tool to provide an effective and persistent gait improvement in CP children.

Structure and function of FUS gene in prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: FUS reduces the proliferator factors such as cyclin D1 and Cdk6, and increases Cdk and p27. Therefore, FUS prevents the growth of prostate cancer cells. METHODS: This review tried to summarize data about FUS gene expression in correlation with the degree of prostate cancer. To find the relevant studies, the search in PubMed, Science Direct, and Scopus were performed. RESULTS: Increasing the expression of FUS decreases and increases the rate of apoptosis of prostate cancer cells, respectively. In fact, FUS reduces the proliferator factors such as: cyclin D1 and Cdk6, and increases Cdk (an anti-proliferation factor) and p27 (a proliferative inhibitory factor). Therefore, FUS prevents the growth of prostate cancer cells. An immuno-histochemical analysis showed that FUS gene expression had an inverse correlation with the degree of prostate cancer, which suggests that patients with higher levels of FUS are more likely to survive and less likely to have bone pain. CONCLUSION: The key to FUS is the signaling of the androgen receptor and the progression of the cell cycle in prostate cancer. Based on these findings, we might be able to consider exogenous expression of FUS as a treatment for prostate cancer (Fig. 1, Ref. 32).