ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of hippotherapy on psychosocial and emotional parameters in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and their caregivers.MethodsEight children with CP were recruited (three males and five females; mean age, 7.3 years; Gross Motor Function Classification System levels 1–3). Hippotherapy sessions were conducted for 30 minutes once weekly for 10 consecutive weeks in an indoor riding arena. The Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM), Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS), and the Korean version of the Modified Barthel Index were evaluated. All children were evaluated by the Children's Depression Inventory, Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, State Anxiety Inventory for Children, Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale, and the Korean-Satisfaction with Life Scale (K-SWLS). Their caregivers were evaluated with the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the K-SWLS. We assessed children and their caregivers with the same parameters immediately after hippotherapy.ResultsSignificant improvements on the GMFM, dimension E in the GMFM, and the PBS were observed after hippotherapy compared with the baseline assessment (p<0.05). However, no improvements were detected in the psychosocial or emotional parameters in children with CP or their caregivers. None of the participants showed any adverse effects or accidents during the 10 weeks hippotherapy program.ConclusionsHippotherapy was safe and effectively improved gross motor and balance domains in children with CP. However, no improvements were observed in psychosocial or emotional parameters.

Objective: To investigate the effects of robot-assisted arm training on motor and functional recovery of upper limb in patients with subacute stroke. Method: Thirty one subacute stroke patients were randomly divided into 2 groups. Robot-assisted arm training group received robot-assisted therapy using

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the recovery of gross motor function and cerebrovascular reserve (CVR) capacity measured by brain perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in patients with first-ever supratentorial infarction. Gross motor function was assessed according to the locomotor and mobility subset of the functional independence measure. The CVR was measured as the difference in the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) after acetazolamide (ACZ)-challenged 99m Tc-ECD perfusion SPECT from baseline rCBF. All 22 hemiplegic patients (mean age, 60.97 years) enrolled were admitted at a mean of 20.86 days from onset and received rehabilitation care for an average of 38.82 days. The recovery of gross motor function was significantly correlated with baseline rCBF and CVR of ACZ-SPECT in the areas of affected supratentorial hemisphere (r = 0.447 and r = 0.444, respectively, p < 0.05). Analysis of the linear regression model, adjusted for time to SPECT testing, revealed that the CVR in the affected supratentorial hemisphere was a significant predictor of the gross motor outcome (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the CVR of the affected supratentorial hemisphere may be employed along with other parameters to predict the gross motor recovery of patients with subacute infarction.

We report the first branching-ratio measurement of the superallowed 0 + → 0 + β-transition from 38 Ca. The result, 0.7728(16), leads to an f t value of 3062.3(68)s with a relative precision of ±0.2%. This makes possible a high-precision comparison of the f t values for the mirror superallowed transitions, 38 Ca → 38m K and 38m K → 38 Ar, which sensitively tests the isospin symmetry-breaking corrections required to extract V ud , the up-down quark-mixing element of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix, from superallowed β decay. The result supports the corrections currently used, and points the way to even tighter constraints on CKM unitarity.