Study design: A literature review of worldwide epidemiology of spinal cord injury (SCI). Objectives: To review the epidemiological indicators of SCI, such as incidence, prevalence, demographic characteristics, etiology, level and severity of injury, complications and mortality.

This review is helpful for understanding the underlying mechanisms of SCI and the potential clinical value of miRNAs. miRNAs have the potential to be attractive tools and targets for novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches of SCI.

BackgroundDeveloping a stroke health-education mobile app (SHEMA) and examining its effectiveness on improvement of knowledge of stroke risk factors and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with stroke.MethodsWe recruited 76 stroke patients and randomly assigned them to either the SHEMA intervention (n = 38) or usual care where a stroke health-education booklet was provided (n = 38). Knowledge of stroke risk factors and HRQOL were assessed using the stroke-knowledge questionnaire and European Quality of Life–Five Dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaire, respectively.ResultsSixty-three patients completed a post-test survey (the SHEMA intervention, n = 30; traditional stroke health-education, n = 33). Our trial found that patients’ mean knowledge score of stroke risk factors was improved after the SHEMA intervention (Mean difference = 2.83; t = 3.44; p = .002), and patients’ knowledge was also improved in the after traditional stroke health-education (Mean difference = 2.79; t = 3.68; p = .001). However, patients after the SHEMA intervention did not have significantly higher changes of the stroke knowledge or HRQOL than those after traditional stroke health-education.ConclusionsBoth the SHEMA intervention and traditional stroke health-education can improve patients’ knowledge of stroke risk factors, but the SHEMA was not superior to traditional stroke health-education.Trial registrationNCT02591511 Verification Date 2015-10-01.