Examining Reliability and Validity of the Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test Among Children With Cerebral Palsy.

Manual dexterity has strongly predicted functional independence for daily life activities among children with cerebral palsy (CP). The Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test (JTHFT) is the most widely used assessment tool for exploring manual dexterity in the CP population, though no research has yet examined its psychometric properties for this use. This cross-sectional study explored the validity and internal consistency of the JTHFT in an Italian sample of inpatient and outpatient children with CP aged between 6-18 years (35 girls and 49 boys). We calculated internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha and tested validity against the Manual Ability Classification System (MACS) using Pearson's correlation coefficient. To better understand how the JTHFT compares with different levels of the MACS, we performed dominant hand timing variability for each test item. Results showed excellent internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha of .944 and .911, respectively, for nondominant and dominant hands. There was also a statistically significant positive linear Pearson's correlation coefficient between the JTHFT and the MACS (p < .01). We observed high variability in writing performance (Item 1 of the JTHFT) within this sample for each level of the MACS. This study confirms that the JTHFT is a valid assessment tool when used in children with CP aged 6-18 years.

Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Barthel Index in an Italian ischemic stroke population in the acute phase: a cross-sectional study.

The objective of this study was to assess and validate the psychometric properties of the Italian culturally adapted Barthel Index (IcaBI) in a cohort of people with ischemic stroke. The validation process was conducted in an Italian cohort of 99 stroke inpatients to whom the IcaBI was administered in order to test its structural validity, and inter-and intrarater reliability. The internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.901. Factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure. The interclass correlation coefficient 3,1 (ICC) for intra-rater reliability was estimated at 0.987 (95% CI: 0.975-0.993), while the ICC for inter-rater reliability was 0.909 (95% CI: 0.852-0.948). This study demonstrates the psychometric properties of the IcaBI in an Italian stroke population, and therefore shows that the scale can be considered a valid and reliable assessment tool for measuring functional disability in Italian acute ischemic stroke survivors.

The effect of physiotherapy on fatigue and physical functioning in chronic fatigue syndrome patients: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this work were to fill the gap in the scientific literature and to evaluate the results of physical therapy treatments in individuals affected by chronic fatigue syndrome, considering only studies that employed a randomized controlled trial. METHODS: A systematic review was carried out according to PRISMA guidelines. Three bibliographic databases were searched: MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and PEDro. The minimum prerequisites for papers to be included in the systematic review were that they had to (a) employ a randomized controlled trial; (b) be published in English; and (c) be published during the last ten years (2007-2017). The studies were evaluated according to Jadad score. RESULTS: Four studies were included. This systematic review suggests that a treatment that is more effective than all the others cannot be defined. This conclusion is related to the low number of investigated studies; therefore, the collected results cannot be generalized. CONCLUSION: Chronic fatigue syndrome is not yet a well-understood pathology, and the physical mechanisms that influence the outcomes still need more study. Rehabilitation programs that promote physiotherapy techniques such as exercise, mobilization, and body awareness (e.g., MRT and GET) are the most effective in reducing medium and long-term fatigue severity in CFS patients.

[Construction and validation of a tool for the evaluation of environmental risks and limitations to the manual handling of loads: cross-sectional study].

INTRODUCTION: The manual handling of loads has a strong impact on many types of work. All health professionals, due to their job, are subjected to a high risk of disease from the manual handling of loads. TARGET: The purpose of our work has been therefore the construction and the validation of a specific tool for the evaluation of both environmental risks and individual limitations of the manual handling of loads / patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The questionnaire we created is composed of two main sections: the first section includes the registry card of the operator personal data while the second section, consisting of eleven items it is further organized into two sections/parts. The first part consists of four items about environmental risk factors, while the second part consists of seven items about generic limitations and the assessment of pain from manual handling of loads. RESULTS: The operators'health nurses, including those ones with a coordination responsibility, that are available in the structure are 704 while the response rate to the questionnaire was of 93.18%. The test-retest showed optimal values of the intra-class correlation coefficient (0.843) so demonstrating the absence of measurement errors in the two administrations. The values related to the internal consistency of the two sections of the questionnaire were greater than 0.80that also demonstrated the internal stability of the questionnaire. CONCLUSIONS: The tool we described therefore is to be intended as a means of assessment for environmental risks, restrictions on movement of loads and pain associated with the task.

Histo-cytological diagnostic accuracy in lung cancer.

OBJECTIVE: The majority of patients with lung cancer are treated on the basis of a diagnosis made from the analysis of a small tumour biopsy or a cytological sample and histotype is becoming a critical variable in clinical workup as it has led to the introduction of newer biologically targeted therapies. Consequently, simply classifying cancers as small cell lung cancers or non-small cell lung cancers is no longer sufficient. METHODS: From 2009 to 2011, a review of the histo-cytological database was conducted to identify all small biopsy and cytology specimens collected for diagnostic purposes in patients with a thoracic lesion. In total, 941 patients were studied by examining exfoliative and/or aspirative cytological samples. To establish the accuracy of these methods, cytological and biopsy diagnoses were compared with each other and with subsequent resection specimens when available. Moreover, during the diagnostic workup, we examined a validated panel of immunohistochemical markers. RESULTS: The diagnostic concordance of pre-operative diagnoses with surgical samples was high in both cytology and biopsy samples [κ = 0.71, confidence interval (CI) = 0.6-0.81; P < 0.0001 and κ = 0.61, CI = 0.41-0.82; P < 0.0001 respectively; good agreement] but concordance between cytology and biopsy was moderate (κ = 0.5, CI = 0.43-0.54; P < 0.0001). Immunohistochemistry-aided diagnoses were definitive for histotype in 92.8% of both cytology (206/222) and biopsy (155/167) specimens. CONCLUSION: We found that lung cancer diagnosis and subtyping of cytology and biopsy samples are highly feasible and concordant; thus, the diagnostic approach to lung cancer does not require more invasive procedures.

Intergenerational instability and marked anticipation in SCA-17.

The authors describe an Italian family with autosomal dominant ataxia, dementia, psychiatric and extrapyramidal features, epilepsy, mild sensorimotor axonal neuropathy, and MRI findings of cerebral and cerebellar atrophy. A child had a distinctive presentation with onset at 3 years, growth retardation, fast progression, and early death. Molecular analysis demonstrated an expanded CAG/CAA repeat in the TBP gene (SCA-17). The repeat size was 66 triplets in the child and 53 in all the other patients.

Dementia, ataxia, extrapyramidal features, and epilepsy: phenotype spectrum in two Italian families with spinocerebellar ataxia type 17.

We observed two families with a dominantly inherited complex neurological syndrome with onset in adulthood. Family F included 9 affected in four generations. One patient showed prominent anticipation of onset age. Onset was with cerebellar signs followed by dementia, psychiatric symptoms, seizures, and extrapyramidal features. Family M included 14 affected individuals in five generations. Presenting symptoms were either psychiatric and cognitive impairment or a cerebellar syndrome. Extrapyramidal features, dysphagia, incontinence, seizures, and myoclonus may occur. In both families magnetic resonance imaging showed marked atrophy of the brain and cerebellum. Molecular analyses demonstrated an expanded CAG/CAA repeat in the in the TATA box-binding protein (TBP) gene (SCA17).

Phenotypic effects of expanded ataxin-1 polyglutamines with interruptions in vitro.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 is a neurodegenerative disease caused by expansion of an uninterrupted glutamine repeat in ataxin-1 protein. Protein aggregation and immunoreactivity to 1C2 monoclonal antibody are two distinct pathognomonic features of expanded ataxin-1, as well as of other polyglutamine disorders. Rare cases of non-affected elderly subjects carrying expanded ataxin-1 alleles were found in random population. However, in these alleles the glutamine stretch was interrupted by histidines. Due to lack of phenotype, these alleles should be considered "normal". Most importantly, occurrence of these unusual alleles provides a unique opportunity to investigate which molecular properties of expanded ataxin-1 are not coupled to polyglutamine pathogenesis. Towards this goal, we compared in vitro the immunoreactivity to 1C2 antibody and the ability to form aggregates of interrupted and uninterrupted alleles. Immunoblotting showed that expanded-interrupted ataxin-1 had an affinity to 1C2 resembling that of normal ataxin-1. On the contrary, filter assay showed that aggregation rate of expanded-interrupted ataxin-1 resembles that of expanded-uninterrupted ataxin-1. These observations indicate that affinity for 1C2 does not directly correlate with self-aggregation of ataxin-1. Moreover, self-aggregation is not directly affected by histidine interruptions. In conclusion, these results support the hypothesis that mechanisms underlying neuronal degeneration are triggered by protein misfolding rather than by protein aggregation.

Analysis of heat shock transcription factor for suppression of polyglutamine toxicity.

Individually over-expressed chaperones can interfere with cytotoxicity and aggregation of polyglutamine proteins in disease models. As chaperones cooperate, the analysis of suppression or reversal of polyglutamine pathology may require ways to up-regulate multiple chaperone coding genes. This condition might be achieved by exogenous expression of de-repressed forms of heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1), which mediates induction of several genes coding cytosolic and nuclear chaperones. Here we present the rationale behind this possible approach and the caveats, and employ a non-neuronal cell system to test whether Ataxin-1 aggregation can be modulated by de-repressed HSF1 mutants through augmented expression of chaperone coding genes. In our experiments, HSF1 mutants have induced heat shock protein 70 and Human DnaJ (HDJ)-1 to intermediate levels. Cells expressing such mutants also showed partial reduction of Ataxin-1 [31Q] aggregation. A consolidated positive outcome of these tests in cellular models would encourage experiments in transgenic mice and prospects for pharmacological modulation of HSF1 activity or delivery.

Ataxin-1 with an expanded glutamine tract alters nuclear matrix-associated structures.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) is one of several neurodegenerative disorders caused by an expansion of a polyglutamine tract. It is characterized by ataxia, progressive motor deterioration, and loss of cerebellar Purkinje cells. To understand the pathogenesis of SCA1, we examined the subcellular localization of wild-type human ataxin-1 (the protein encoded by the SCA1 gene) and mutant ataxin-1 in the Purkinje cells of transgenic mice. We found that ataxin-1 localizes to the nuclei of cerebellar Purkinje cells. Normal ataxin-1 localizes to several nuclear structures approximately 0.5 microm across, whereas the expanded ataxin-1 localizes to a single approximately 2-microm structure, before the onset of ataxia. Mutant ataxin-1 localizes to a single nuclear structure in affected neurons of SCA1 patients. Similarly, COS-1 cells transfected with wild-type or mutant ataxin-1 show a similar pattern of nuclear localization; with expanded ataxin-1 occurring in larger structures that are fewer in number than those of normal ataxin-1. Colocalization studies show that mutant ataxin-1 causes a specific redistribution of the nuclear matrix-associated domain containing promyelocytic leukaemia protein. Nuclear matrix preparations demonstrate that ataxin-1 associates with the nuclear matrix in Purkinje and COS cells. We therefore propose that a critical aspect of SCA1 pathogenesis involves the disruption of a nuclear matrix-associated domain.

Cloning and developmental expression analysis of the murine homolog of the spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 gene (Sca1).

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by the expansion of a CAG trinucleotide repeat which encodes glutamine in the novel protein ataxin-1. In order to characterize the developmental expression pattern of SCA1 and to identify putative functional domains in ataxin-1, the murine homolog (Sca1) was isolated. Cloning and characterization of the murine Sca1 gene revealed that the gene organization is similar to that of the human gene. The murine and human ataxin-1 are highly homologous but the CAG repeat is virtually absent in the mouse sequence suggesting that the polyglutamine stretch is not essential for the normal function of ataxin-1 in mice. Cellular and developmental expression of the murine homolog was examined using RNA in situ hybridization. During cerebellar development, there is a transient burst of Sca1 expression at postnatal day 14 when the murine cerebellar cortex becomes physiologically functional. There is also marked expression of Sca1 in mesenchymal cells of the intervertebral discs during development of the spinal column. These results suggest that the normal Sca1 gene, has a role at specific stages of both cerebellar and vertebral column development.

SCA1 transgenic mice: a model for neurodegeneration caused by an expanded CAG trinucleotide repeat.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) is an autosomal dominant inherited disorder characterized by degeneration of cerebellar Purkinje cells, spinocerebellar tracts, and selective brainstem neurons owing to the expansion of an unstable CAG trinucleotide repeat. To gain insight into the pathogenesis of the SCA1 mutation and the intergenerational stability of trinucleotide repeats in mice, we have generated transgenic mice expressing the human SCA1 gene with either a normal or an expanded CAG tract. Both transgenes were stable in parent to offspring transmissions. While all six transgenic lines expressing the unexpanded human SCA1 allele had normal Purkinje cells, transgenic animals from five of six lines with the expanded SCA1 allele developed ataxia and Purkinje cell degeneration. These data indicate that expanded CAG repeats expressed in Purkinje cells are sufficient to produce degeneration and ataxia and demonstrate that a mouse model can be established for neurodegeneration caused by CAG repeat expansions.

Expression analysis of the ataxin-1 protein in tissues from normal and spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 individuals.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by expansion of a CAG trinucleotide repeat which codes for glutamine in the protein ataxin-1. We have investigated the effect of this expansion on ataxin-1 by immunoblot analysis. The wild-type protein is detected in both normal and affected individuals; however, a mutant protein which varies in its migration properties according to the size of the CAG repeat is detected in cultured cells and tissues from SCA1 individuals. The protein has a nuclear localization in all normal and SCA1 brain regions examined but a cytoplasmic localization of ataxin-1 was also observed in cerebellar Purkinje cells. Our data show that in SCA1, the expanded alleles are faithfully translated into proteins of apparently normal stability and distribution.

Identification and characterization of the gene causing type 1 spinocerebellar ataxia.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by expansion of a CAG trinucleotide repeat. In this study, we describe the identification and characterization of the gene harbouring this repeat. The SCA1 transcript is 10,660 bases and is transcribed from both the wild type and SCA1 alleles. The CAG repeat, coding for a polyglutamine tract, lies within the coding region. The gene spans 450 kb of genomic DNA and is organized in nine exons. The first seven fall in the 5' untranslated region and the last two contain the coding region, and a 7,277 basepairs 3' untranslated region. The first four non-coding exons undergo alternative splicing in several tissues. These features suggest that the transcriptional and translational regulation of ataxin-1, the SCA1 encoded protein, may be complex.

Evidence for a mechanism predisposing to intergenerational CAG repeat instability in spinocerebellar ataxia type I.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type I (SCAI) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease caused by the expansion of a CAG trinucleotide repeat on chromosome 6p. Normal alleles range from 19-36 repeats while SCA1 alleles contain 43-81 repeats. We now show that in 63% of paternal transmissions, an increase in repeat number is observed, whereas 69% of maternal transmissions showed no change or a decrease in repeat number. Sequence analysis of the repeat from 126 chromosomes reveals an interrupted repeat configuration in 98% of the unexpanded alleles but a contiguous repeat (CAG)n configuration in 30 expanded alleles from seven SCA1 families. This indicates that the repeat instability in SCA1 is more complex than a simple variation in repeat number and that the loss of an interruption predisposes the SCA1 (CAG)n to expansion.

Novel rat calpastatin mRNA variants.

Rat calpastatin cDNAs obtained by RT-PCR method were isolated and directly sequenced; this allowed the identification of two new variants both characterized by a 23 amino acids deletion at the end of the unique N-terminal domain L, increasing the number of functional isoforms. The deletion shows high homology to the amino acid sequence coded by exon 8 of human calpastatin gene and properly conserved splicing consensus sequences, suggesting exon skipping in domain L. Furthermore, three point mutations scattered along the coding region were found.

Expansion of an unstable trinucleotide CAG repeat in spinocerebellar ataxia type 1.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by neurodegeneration of the cerebellum, spinal cord and brainstem. A 1.2-Megabase stretch of DNA from the short arm of chromosome 6 containing the SCA1 locus was isolated in a yeast artificial chromosome contig and subcloned into cosmids. A highly polymorphic CAG repeat was identified in this region and was found to be unstable and expanded in individuals with SCA1. There is a direct correlation between the size of the (CAG)n repeat expansion and the age-of-onset of SCA1, with larger alleles occurring in juvenile cases. We also show that the repeat is present in a 10 kilobase mRNA transcript. SCA1 is therefore the fifth genetic disorder to display a mutational mechanism involving an unstable trinucleotide repeat.

Increased preproneuropeptide Y mRNA in the rat hippocampus during the development of hippocampal kindling: comparison with the expression of preprosomatostatin mRNA.

The levels of preproneuropeptide Y (ppNPY) mRNA and preprosomatostatin (ppSOM) mRNA were analyzed in different brain regions during the development of hippocampal kindling in rats. ppNPY mRNA levels were markedly elevated in the dorsal hippocampus bilaterally, two days after stage 2 (preconvulsive stage) and stage 5 (full seizure expression). The contents of ppSOM mRNA were slightly, although not significantly, increased in the dorsal hippocampus at stage 2 whereas a significant increase was observed in the ipsilateral hippocampus of fully kindled rats. ppNPY and ppSOM mRNA levels were unchanged in the cortex and striatum at both stages of kindling. These results show that an increased synthesis of somatostatin and neuropeptide Y, with a greater effect for the latter, occurs during hippocampal kindling in rats. The relative role of the two peptides in the development and expression of kindling phenomenon remains to be elucidated.

Distribution of GAP-43 mRNA in the brain stem of adult rats as evidenced by in situ hybridization: localization within monoaminergic neurons.

Using in situ hybridization, we examined the distribution of the mRNA encoding for the growth-associated protein GAP-43 in the brain stem of adult rats. GAP-43 was expressed at the highest level in the nucleus raphe dorsalis (NDR), nucleus centralis superior (NCS), substantia nigra compacta (SNc), ventral tegmental area (VTA), and locus coeruleus (LC). An intermediate level of signal was detected over the periaque-ductal gray, superior colliculi, and thalamic region, and no significant signal was detected in the substantia nigra pars reticulata and red nucleus. The hybridization signals of GAP-43 mRNA and tryptophan hydroxylase mRNA completely overlapped in the NDR and NCS, and signals for GAP-43 mRNA and tyrosine hydroxylase mRNA overlapped in the SNc, VTA, and LC. The disappearance of the hybridization signal for GAP-43 mRNA after intracerebroventricular injections of the neurotoxins 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT) or 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) indicated that high levels of GAP-43 are synthesized in the serotonergic neurons of the raphe nuclei and in the catecholaminergic neurons of the SNc, VTA, and LC. In light of the role of GAP-43 in axonal outgrowth, modulation of signal transduction, and release of different neurotransmitters in the adult CNS, this phosphoprotein might be involved in the functional plasticity and synaptic transmission of monoaminergic neurons.