Rural-urban outcome differences associated with COVID-19 hospitalizations in North Carolina.

People living in rural regions in the United States face more health challenges than their non-rural counterparts which could put them at additional risks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Few studies have examined if rurality is associated with additional mortality risk among those hospitalized for COVID-19. We studied a retrospective cohort of 3,991 people hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 infections discharged between March 1 and September 30, 2020 in one of 17 hospitals in North Carolina that collaborate as a clinical data research network. Patient demographics, comorbidities, symptoms and laboratory data were examined. Logistic regression was used to evaluate associations of rurality with a composite outcome of death/hospice discharge. Comorbidities were more common in the rural patient population as were the number of comorbidities per patient. Overall, 505 patients died prior to discharge and 63 patients were discharged to hospice. Among rural patients, 16.5% died or were discharged to hospice vs. 13.3% in the urban cohort resulting in greater odds of death/hospice discharge (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1, 1.6). This estimate decreased minimally when adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, payer, disease comorbidities, presenting oxygen levels and cytokine levels (adjusted model OR 1.2, 95% CI 1.0, 1.5). This analysis demonstrated a higher COVID-19 mortality risk among rural residents of NC. Implementing policy changes may mitigate such disparities going forward.

Mindfulness-based strengths practice improves well-being and retention in undergraduates: a preliminary randomized controlled trial.

ObjectiveWith high rates of mental health concerns on college campuses, effective positive psychology interventions could greatly improve student well-being and academic outcomes. Participants: Working undergraduates (N = 52). Methods: This preliminary, randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of the 8-week Mindfulness-based strengths practice (MBSP) on Seligman's five domains of well-being, as measured by the PERMA-Profiler, Workplace PERMA-Profiler, and student retention in working undergraduates. Results: Students in the MBSP intervention had significantly higher well-being, engagement, meaning, and health following the MBSP program (P < 0.0042). No such changes were observed in the control group. Students in the intervention group also had modestly higher retention rates in the following academic year than those in the control group. Conclusions: This study provides the first evidence to date that an MBSP program can improve college student well-being and retention.

Accuracy of self-perception and Body Mass Index compared to actual body fat percentage in athletes and non-athletes.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of self-reported weight status compared to weight status based on actual body fat percentage in athletes and non-athletes. METHODS: Adult athletes (N.=76; 43 female and 33 male) and non-athletes (N.=80; 43 female and 37 male) participated in this cross-sectional study. Participants were asked to identify their perceived weight status. Height and weight were measured, and BMI was calculated. Body fat percentage was assessed using BOD POD. Cross-tabs analyses were used to determine agreement between perceived weight status, weight status based on body fat percentage, and weight status based on BMI. RESULTS: Overall, agreement between perceived weight status and actual weight status based on body fat percentage was fair. Of the 43 overweight/obese participants, 42% under-estimated weight status, thinking they were normal weight. Of the 114 normal weight participants, 6% over-estimated their weight status, thinking they were overweight. Although there were lower rates of overweight/obesity among athletes, 50% of overweight/obese athletes thought they were normal weight, while 39% of overweight/obese non-athletes thought they were normal weight. None of the normal weight athletes (N.=56) over-estimated their weight status. In contrast, 20% of male non-athletes, and 9% of female non-athletes who were normal weight thought they were overweight. CONCLUSIONS: Similar to trends observed in recent studies, results from the current study indicate that a high proportion of overweight/obese adults underestimate their weight status, and athletes may not be immune to this trend. Reasons as to why this phenomenon may be occurring and future directions are discussed.

Age-related hip proprioception declines: effects on postural sway and dynamic balance.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of age on hip proprioception, and determine whether age-related hip proprioception declines disrupt balance. DESIGN: Survey of proprioception and balance differences between 3 age groups. SETTING: University balance laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Volunteer sample of independent community-dwelling adults (N=102) without sensory or other neurologic impairments in 3 age groups: younger (mean age, 24.6y; range, 19-37y), mid-aged (mean age, 53.3y; range, 40-64y), and older adults (mean age, 76.3y; range, 65-94y). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hip joint position sense (JPS) and kinesthesia were measured using a custom-built device. JPS error was determined by the magnitude of matching errors during vision and no-vision conditions. Kinesthesia was evaluated by the ability to detect passive limb rotation without vision. Postural sway was assessed during static stance and measured using root mean square of center of pressure (COP) displacement and velocity of COP displacement. Clinical balance and fear of falling were assessed with the mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (mini-BESTest) and Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale, respectively. RESULTS: Both older and mid-aged adults had significantly increased JPS error compared with younger adults (P<.05). Kinesthesia accuracy was significantly decreased in older adults compared with mid-aged and younger adults (P≤.01). Both measures of proprioception error correlated with age (P≤.001). There were no relationships between hip proprioception error and postural sway during static stance. However, older adults with lower proprioceptive error had significantly higher mini-BESTest scores of dynamic balance abilities (P=.005). CONCLUSIONS: These results provide evidence of significant hip proprioception declines with age. Although these declines are not related to increases in postural sway, participants with hip proprioception declines demonstrated disrupted dynamic balance, as indicated by decreased mini-BESTest scores.

Lower extremity functional electrical stimulation cycling promotes physical and functional recovery in chronic spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of long-term lower extremity functional electrical stimulation (FES) cycling on the physical integrity and functional recovery in people with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort, mean follow-up 29.1 months, and cross-sectional evaluation. SETTING: Washington University Spinal Cord Injury Neurorehabilitation Center, referral center. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five people with chronic SCI who received FES during cycling were matched by age, gender, injury level, and severity, and duration of injury to 20 people with SCI who received range of motion and stretching. INTERVENTION: Lower extremity FES during cycling as part of an activity-based restorative treatment regimen. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Change in neurological function: motor, sensory, and combined motor-sensory scores (CMSS) assessed by the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment scale. Response was defined as ≥ 1 point improvement. RESULTS: FES was associated with an 80% CMSS responder rate compared to 40% in controls. An average 9.6 CMSS point loss among controls was offset by an average 20-point gain among FES subjects. Quadriceps muscle mass was on average 36% higher and intra/inter-muscular fat 44% lower, in the FES group. Hamstring and quadriceps muscle strength was 30 and 35% greater, respectively, in the FES group. Quality of life and daily function measures were significantly higher in FES group. CONCLUSION: FES during cycling in chronic SCI may provide substantial physical integrity benefits, including enhanced neurological and functional performance, increased muscle size and force-generation potential, reduced spasticity, and improved quality of life.

Contribution of hip joint proprioception to static and dynamic balance in cerebral palsy: a case control study.

BACKGROUND: Balance problems are common in cerebral palsy (CP) but etiology is often uncertain. The classic Romberg test compares ability to maintain standing with eyes open versus closed. Marked instability without vision is a positive test and generally indicates proprioceptive loss. From previous work showing diminished hip joint proprioception in CP, we hypothesized that static and dynamic balance without vision (positive Romberg) would be compromised in CP. METHODS: Force plate sway and gait velocity data were collected using 3D motion capture on 52 participants, 19 with diplegic CP, 13 with hemiplegic CP, and 20 without disability. Center of mass (COM) and center or pressure (COP) velocity, excursion, and differences between COM and COP in AP and ML directions were computed from static standing trials with eyes open and closed. Mean gait velocity with and without dribble glasses was compared. Hip joint proprioception was quantified as the root mean square of magnitude of limb positioning errors during a hip rotation task with and without view of the limb. Mixed model repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed with condition as within-subject (EO, EC) and group as between-subject factors (hemiplegia, diplegia, controls). Sway characteristics and gait speed were correlated with proprioception values. RESULTS: Groups with CP had greater sway in standing with eyes open indicating that they had poorer balance than controls, with the deficit relatively greater in the ML compared to AP direction. Contrary to our hypothesis, the decrement with eyes closed did not differ from controls (negative Romberg); however, proprioception error was related to sway parameters particularly for the non-dominant leg. Gait speed was related to proprioception values such that those with worse proprioception tended to walk more slowly. CONCLUSIONS: Postural instability is present even in those with mild CP and is yet another manifestation of their motor control disorder, the specific etiology of which may vary across individuals in this heterogeneous diagnostic category.

Somatosensory-evoked cortical activity in spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.

Somatosensory deficits have been identified in cerebral palsy (CP), but associated cortical brain activity in CP remains poorly understood. Functional MRI was used to measure blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) responses during three tactile tasks in 10 participants with spastic diplegia (mean age: 18.70 years, SD: 7.99 years; 5 females) and 10 age-matched controls (mean age: 18.60 years, SD: 3.86 years; 5 females). Tactile stimulation involved servo-controlled translation of smooth or embossed surfaces across the right index finger pad; the discrimination tasks with embossed surfaces involved judging whether (1) paired shapes were similar or different, and (2) a rougher set of horizontal gratings preceded or followed a smoother one. Velocity and duration of surface translation was identical across all trials. In addition, an event-related design revealed response dynamics per trial in both groups. Compared to controls, individuals with spastic diplegia had significantly reduced spatial extents in activated cortical areas and smaller BOLD response magnitudes in cortical areas for somatosensation, motor, and goal-directed/attention behaviors. These results provide mechanisms for the widespread somatosensory deficits in CP. The reduced activation noted across multiple cortical areas might contribute to motor deficits in CP.

Joint-position sense and kinesthesia in cerebral palsy.

OBJECTIVES: To examine joint-position sense and kinesthesia in all extremities in participants with diplegic or hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP). DESIGN: Survey of joint-position sense and kinesthesia differences between aged-matched controls and 2 groups with CP. SETTING: University movement assessment laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Population-based sample of participants with CP, diplegia (n=21), hemiplegia (n=17), and age-matched volunteers (n=21) without neurologic disease. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Joint-position sense and kinesthesia were measured in the transverse plane (forearm pronation/supination and hip internal/external rotation) using a custom-built device. For joint-position sense, participants actively rotated the tested limb to align the distal end with 10 target positions first with the limb and targets visible to assess their ability to perform the task motorically. The task was then repeated with vision of the limb occluded, with targets remaining visible. Joint-position sense error was determined by the magnitude and direction of the rotation errors for each limb in the vision and no vision conditions. Kinesthesia was evaluated by the ability to detect passive limb rotation without vision. RESULTS: No group differences were detected in the vision condition. Indicative of joint-position sense deficits, a significant increase in errors was found in the no vision condition in all limbs except the dominant upper limb for both groups with CP. Joint-position sense errors were systematically biased toward the direction of internal rotation. Kinesthesia deficits were evident on the nondominant upper limb in diplegia and hemiplegia, and bilaterally in the lower limbs in hemiplegia. In hemiplegia, joint-position sense and kinesthesia deficits were noted on the dominant limbs, but were significantly worse on the nondominant limbs. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that people with CP have proprioception deficits in all limbs.

Functional connectivity for somatosensory and motor cortex in spastic diplegia.

Functional connectivity (fcMRI) was analyzed in individuals with spastic diplegia and age-matched controls. Pearson correlations (r-values) were computed between resting state spontaneous activity in selected seed regions (sROI) and each voxel throughout the brain. Seed ROI were centered on foci activated by tactile stimulation of the second fingertip in somatosensory and parietal dorsal attention regions. The group with diplegia showed significantly expanded networks for the somatomotor but not dorsal attention areas. These expanded networks overran nearly all topological representations in somatosensory and motor areas despite a sROI in a fingertip focus. A possible underlying cause for altered fcMRI in the group with dipegia, and generally sensorimotor deficits in spastic diplegia, is that prenatal third trimester white-matter injury leads to localized damage to subplate neurons. We hypothesize that intracortical connections become dominant in spastic diplegia through successful competition with diminished or absent thalamocortical inputs. Similar to the effects of subplate ablations on ocular dominance columns (Kanold and Shatz, Neuron 2006;51:627-638), a spike timing-dependent plasticity model is proposed to explain a shift towards intracortical inputs.

Tactile sensory abilities in cerebral palsy: deficits in roughness and object discrimination.

Motor deficits in cerebral palsy (CP) have been well documented; however, associated sensory impairment in CP remains poorly understood. We examined tactile object recognition in the hands using geometric shapes, common objects, and capital letters. Discrimination of tactile roughness was tested using paired horizontal gratings of varied groove widths passively translated across the index finger. We tested 17 individuals with hemiplegia (mean 13y 9mo [SD 5y 2mo]; 6 males, 11 females), 21 with diplegia (mean 14y 10mo [SD 7y]; 10 males, 11 females), and 21 without disabilities (mean 14y 10mo [SD 5y 1mo]; 11 males, 10 females). All participants with CP fell within level I or II of the Gross Motor Function Classification System and level I or II of the Manual Abilities Classification System. Individuals with CP were significantly less accurate compared with those without disabilities on all tactile object-recognition tasks using their non-dominant hand. Both groups of patients also had significantly higher thresholds for groove-width differences with both hands compared with those without disabilities. Within the group with diplegia, only roughness discrimination differed between hands, whereas within the group with hemiplegia, significant between-limb differences were present for all tasks. Despite mild motor deficits compared with the entire population of individuals with CP, this sample demonstrated ubiquitous tactile deficits.

Multiple parietal operculum subdivisions in humans: tactile activation maps.

We focused the present analysis on blood-oxygen-level-dependent responses evoked in four architectonic subdivisions of human posterior parietal operculum (PO) during two groups of tasks involving either vibrotactile stimulation or rubbing different surfaces against the right index finger pad. Activity localized in previously defined parietal opercular subdivisions, OP 1-4, was co-registered to a standard cortical surface-based atlas. Four vibrotactile stimulation tasks involved attention to the parameters of paired vibrations: (1) detect rare target trials when vibration frequencies matched; (2) select the presentation order of the vibration with a higher frequency or (3) longer duration; and (4) divide attention between frequency and duration before selecting stimulus order. Surface stimulation tasks involved various discriminations of different surfaces: (1) smooth surfaces required no discrimination; (2) paired horizontal gratings required determination of the direction of roughness change; (3) paired shapes entailed identifying matched and unmatched shapes; (4) raised letters involved letter recognition. The results showed activity in multiple somatosensory subdivisions bilaterally in human PO that are plausibly homologues of somatosensory areas previously described in animals. All tasks activated OP 1, but in vibrotactile tasks foci were more restricted compared to moving surface tasks. Greater spatial extents of activity especially in OP 1 and 4 when surfaces rubbed the finger pad did not support previously reported somatotopy of the second finger representation in "S2". The varied activity distributions across OP subdivisions may reflect low-level perceptual and/or cognitive processing differences between tasks.