Stroke patients often experience cognitive dysfunctions. One of the parameters assessing cognitive function is the reaction time as it reflects the speed of information processing. The aim of the study was to assess cognitive and psychomotor dysfunctions and the effectiveness of rehabilitation in stroke patients. The subjects of the study were 30 stroke patients who underwent rehabilitation at the Department of Neurorehabilitation. The mean age of patients was 65.33±13.2 years. During the study, the patients’ cognitive functions, the handgrip strength, reaction time, and frequency of movements were assessed. There was a substantial improvement in patients’ cognitive function after rehabilitation. Assessing the results obtained by Mini Mental State Examination, the change was 6.4±2.3 points, and assessing by Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (Cognistat), the change was 13.3±10 points (P<0.05). Before the early stage of rehabilitation, Cognistat results showed that the majority of the patients experienced memory loss, diminished constructive abilities, and disorientation. After occupational therapy, there was a statistically significant improvement in all cognitive function domains. At the end of the inpatient rehabilitation period, there was a significant change in patients’ reaction time and movement frequency. At the end of early rehabilitation stage, the estimated reaction time in patients with stroke was compared with reaction time in healthy elderly people of the same age. There was no significant difference between these groups; consequently, we concluded that after rehabilitation, improvement of function was achieved. The results of this study showed that at the beginning of early rehabilitation period and after rehabilitation applied, there was a significant moderate correlation between mental state and reaction time in stroke patients.

Background. Lately scientists abroad and in Lithuania have been interested in the peculiarities of motor learning and control. As the recent research shows, psychomotor parameters of persons with disabilities receive much attention from the community. However, we could find only a few scientific papers dealing with the psychomotor peculiarities of the disabled people, deaf people among. Research aim was to evaluate psychomotor reactions and hemodynamic indices of persons with hearing impairments, athletes and male persons who did not go in for sports.Methods. Twenty two young persons with hearing impairments took part in the study. Among them there were deaf  players  from  the  national  basketball  team  (age  23.80  ±  2.6  years),  (45.5%,  n  =  10).  Persons  with  hearing impairments who did not go in for sports were in the control group (age 21.75 ± 1.8 years), (54.5%, n = 12). Research was carried out in the Lithuanian Sports University (LSU) using the analyser of dynamic parameters DPA – 1 for human hand and leg movements in the laboratory of motor control.Results. Simple and complex reaction time was statistically different only after physical exercise between athletes with hearing impairments and those who did not go in for sports (p < 0.05). Simple psychomotor reaction time of athletes with inborn and acquired hearing impairments before and after exercise was not statistically significantly different. There were no significant changes in simple and complex reaction time and hemodynamic parameters (double product) of athletes with inborn hearing impairment after the 6-minute walking test.Conclusion. Simple and complex reaction time in athletes with hearing impairment and those who did not go in for sports was statistically different (p < .05) only after physical strain in sportsmen. Having tested simple psychomotor time reaction in deaf persons since birth and those with the acquired hearing impairment before and after exercise we found that there was no significant difference ( p > .05) between them, but the complex reaction time in subjects with acquired hearing impairment before and after exercise was shorter than in persons who were deaf since birth. However, the difference was also not significant (p > .05). There were also no significant changes in simple and complex reaction time and hemodynamic parameters (double product) in athletes who were deaf since birth after the 6 min walking test.

The aim of the research was evaluate cognitive disorders and their dynamics in patients with stroke and to asses the effectiveness of occupational therapy. The sample consisted of 30 patients with stroke, rehabilitated in the Department of Neurorehabilitation of Kaunas University of Medicine Hospital. The average age of the subjects was 65.33 SD ± 13.2 years. During the research we evaluated patients’ cognitive functions, hand grip strength, reaction time and frequency of movements. Conclusions: After the application of individual occupational therapy, the cognitive functions of the patients significantly improved. The average change of cognitive functions estimated with MMSE was 6.4 (± 2.3) scores, and 13.3 (± 10) estimated by NCSE. In the early stage of rehabilitation most affected cognitive areas were as follows: memory (83% of patients suffered from this disorder), constructional abilities (70% of patients) and orientation (57% of patients). At the end of the rehabilitation we estimated significant improvement in all areas of cognitive functioning. The examination showed that before rehabilitation there was a significant difference between the right and the left hemisphere damage, as well as in patients’ movement frequency. After the rehabilitation we estimated a significant change in patients’ reaction time and movement frequency. The results of the research showed that there was significant, moderately strong correlation in patients’ mental state and reaction time after the applied rehabilitation.Keywords: stroke, rehabilitation, occupational therapy, cognitive disorders, reaction time.

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The purpose of the study was to assess the influence of physiotherapeutic devices on respiratory system function after coronary bypass grafting. The tasks of the study: 1. To assess and compare the factors of the respiratory function on the first group (physiotherapist employed physiotherapy once a day) and in the second group (physiotherapist employed physiotherapy twice a day). 2. To compare the factors of the respiratory function and the frequency of post-operative complications between non-smokers and smokers in the first and the second group. The study included 40 patients after coronary artery bypass grafting in the Cardiac, thoracic and vascular clinic in the hospital of Kaunas University of Medicine. The studied patients were distributed into two equal groups. The first group received physiotherapy once a day; the second group received physiotherapy twice a day. In this study we measured the factors of the respiratory function (the respiratory rate and the Hence sample) on the first and the eighth post-operation days. The patients case-histories provided the data about atelectasis. The patients were inquired whether they smoked during six weeks before the operation. We found that on the sixth day after the operation the values of the indicators of the respiratory function (the respiratory rate and the Hence sample) in the second group were significantly better (p < 0.05) than the values of the analogous indicators in the first group. Consequently it is advisable to apply physiotherapeutic procedures twice a day to the coronary artery bypass grafting patients. Smoking was contributed to development of such post-operative complications as atelectasis. We found that the values of the respiratory function indicators (the respiratory rate and the Hence sample) in non-smokers were significantly (p < 0.05) better than in the patients' who smoked (p < 0.05).Keywords: ischaemical heart disease, coronary artery bypass grafting, post-operative complications of respiratory function, smoking, physiotherapy