And here's another, susanne, denmark -----Oprindelig meddelelse----- Fra: Spinal Cord Injury Peer Net <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Til: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Dato: 3. juni 2000 19:23 Emne: Brain, Heal Thyself >Brain, Heal Thyself >Library: MED >Keywords: STROKE REHABILITATION THERAPY UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM >Description: Researchers have shown for the first time in humans that >rehabilitation therapy may help a stroke survivor's brain rewire itself, >leading to regained use of a previously unused limb. The study is in this >month's Stroke. >6/1/2000 > > >FOR RELEASE: >4 p.m. ET, Thursday >June 1, 2000 > >CONTACT: >For journal copies only, >please call: (214) 706-1173 >For other information, call: >Brian Henry: (214) 706-1135 >Carole Bullock: (214) 706-1279 [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >American Heart Association journal report: Brain, heal thyself > >DALLAS, June 2 -- Researchers have shown for the first time in humans that >rehabilitation therapy may help a stroke survivor's brain rewire itself, >leading to regained use of a previously unused limb. The study is in this >month's Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. > >"This result has been a goal in neuroscience for decades, and while it has >been shown in animals, it's the first time it's been shown for humans," says >one of the study's authors, Edward Taub, Ph.D., of the University of Alabama >at Birmingham. > >For decades it was believed that once brain cells died after a stroke, they >were gone forever. Recent research is finding that the brain is much more >"plastic" than previously thought. "Plasticity" refers to the brain's >capability to rewire its circuitry to perform tasks that it was incapable of >doing because of a severe injury. > >This finding offers hope to researchers who believe that it may be possible >to stimulate or manipulate brain areas to take over the lost functions, a >process known as cortical reorganization. > >Researchers used a procedure called focal transcranial magnetic stimulation >to map the activity of the cerebral cortex, the thin layer of gray substance >covering the surface of each hemisphere of the brain. The cerebral cortex is >involved in higher mental functions, and in the production of general >movement and behavioral reactions. > >In particular, Taub and his colleagues monitored the area of the cortex that >controls an important hand muscle, comparing the activity in the injured >part of the brain with the unaffected portion. They examined 13 stroke >survivors -- 10 men, three women -- before and after a 12-day period of >movement therapy. > >"The bottom line is that our rehabilitation technique recruits additional >areas of the brain to participate in the production of movement after >stroke," says Taub. > >Before treatment, the area of the cerebral cortex controlling movements of >the hand muscle was considerably smaller on the damaged side of the brain >than on the non-affected side. After treatment, the size of the active area >capable of generating movement in the damaged hemisphere was significantly >enlarged, corresponding to a greatly improved motor performance of the >hindered arm. > >"These results show the potential for the improvement of impaired function >after neurological injury by the use of appropriate techniques," says Taub. >"This also opens the possibility of being able to produce this effect by >other rehabilitation therapies or by pharmacological means." > >In follow-up examinations up to six months after therapy, brain activity >remained at a high level and the area of activity in the two hemispheres >became almost identical. The improved motor function also persisted over >this period of time. > >The treatment, called constraint-induced movement therapy, involves >restraining of the arm less affected by the stroke for 90 percent of waking >hours for two or three weeks. On the weekdays during the period, six hours >of therapy are interspersed over seven hours, with one hour of rest. The >effectiveness of this therapy, according to Taub, results from the fact that >it requires the continual use of the affected extremity for many hours a day >during a period of consecutive weeks. > >One day before treatment, the patients scored an average of 2.2 on a test >that tracked arm use in 20 common and important activities of daily living >and an average of 3.7 one day after treatment. A score of 2 indicates slight >use; 3, half as much use as before stroke; and 4, three-fourths as much use >as before stroke. > >By the first day after treatment, there was 37.5 percent more activity in >the damaged part of the brain than in the healthy part of the brain. This >represented a near-doubling of the active area of the brain on the affected >side. > >According to Taub, the reorganization reflects either an increase in the >excitability of neurons already involved in the development of affected hand >movements, an increase in the amount of excitable tissue in the damaged >hemisphere, or both. > >Co-authors are Joachim Liepert, M.D.; Heike Bauder, Ph.D.; Wolfgang H.R. >Miltner, Ph.D.; and Cornelius Weiller, M.D. > >### >NR00-1141 (Stroke/Taub) >Media advisory: Dr. Taub may be reached by phone at (205) 934-3850 or by >e-mail at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dr. Miltner may be reached by e-mail at >[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Please do not publish numbers.) > >For general information about stroke, visit our website at >www.StrokeAssociation.org >____________________________________________________ --------- Unsubscribe by sending a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message's body, put the following text: unsubscribe OTlist OTnow messages are archived at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] (and) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] ---------
