Studying the correlation between balance assessment by Biodex Stability System and Berg Scale in stroke individuals.

INTRODUCTION: Balance disorders are considered to be a serious clinical manifestation after stroke. Therefore, to assess stroke patients' balance performance, use of a quantitative method appears essential. A fundamental step would be the approval of the efficiency of the measurement instruments. The current study aimed to investigate correlations between balance assessment as examined by Biodex Stability System (BSS) and the clinical Berg Balance Scale (BBS) in post-stroke hemiparesis. METHODS: Twenty-five stroke survivors and 25 healthy age-sex matched subjects were recruited. The subjects were assessed using BSS during 3 days, with a 24-h interval. The high interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values showed that the system was reliable enough to continue the study. The clinical evaluation was performed by the standard BBS. RESULTS: There was a significant moderate negative correlation between the Biodex overall indices and BBS scores in the stroke groups (ravg = -0.68) and in the healthy cohort (ravg = -0.55). Also, a significant moderate negative correlation was found between the Biodex antero-posterior stability indices and BBS scores in the stroke groups (ravg = -0.67) and in healthy cohort (ravg = -0.55). The correlation between the Biodex mediolateral stability indices and BBS scores was moderate to low in the stroke and healthy groups (ravg = -0.67 and -0.39 respectively). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Moderate negative correlation between the stability indices of the Biodex Stability System and BBS scores indicates that dynamic balance status of the participants partially reflects their functional balance status.

Introduction of agarose gel as a green membrane in electromembrane extraction: An efficient procedure for the extraction of basic drugs with a wide range of polarities.

Developing green methods for analyte extraction is one of the most important topics in the field of sample preparation. In this study, for the first time, agarose gel was used as membrane in electromembrane extraction (EME) without using any organic solvent, for the extraction of four model basic drugs (rivastigmine (RIV), verapamil (VER), amlodipine (AML), and morphine (MOR)) with a wide polarity window (log P from 0.43 to 3.7). Different variables playing vital roles in the proposed method were evaluated and optimized. As a driving force, a 25V electrical field was applied to make the analyte migrate from sample solution with pH 7.0, through the agarose gel 3% (w/v) with 5mm thickness, into an acceptor phase (AP) with pH 2.0. The best extraction efficiency was obtained with an extraction duration of 25min. With this new methodology, MOR with high polarity (log P=0.43) was efficiently extracted without using any carrier or ion pair reagents. Limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) were in the ranges of 1.5-1.8ngmL-1 and 5.0-6.0ngmL-1, respectively. Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied to determine concentrations of the model drugs in the wastewater sample.