Background and Purpose
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can lead to movement and balance deficits. In addition to physical therapy, brain‐based neurorehabilitation efforts have begun to show promise in improving these deficits. The present study investigated the effectiveness of translingual neural stimulation (TLNS) on patients with mild‐to‐moderate TBI (mmTBI) and related brain connectivity using a resting‐state functional connectivity (RSFC) approach.
Methods
Resting‐state images with 5‐min on GE750 3T scanner were acquired from nine participants with mmTBI. Paired t‐test was used for calculating changes in RSFC and behavioral scores before and after the TLNS intervention. The balance and movement performances related to mmTBI were evaluated by Sensory Organization Test (SOT) and Dynamic Gait Index (DGI).
Results
Compared to pre‐TLNS intervention, significant behavioral changes in SOT and DGI were observed. The analysis revealed increased RSFC between the left postcentral gyrus and left inferior parietal lobule and left Brodmann Area 40, as well as the increased RSFC between the right culmen and right declive, indicating changes due to TLNS treatment. However, there were no correlations between the sensory/somatomotor (or visual or cerebellar) network and SOT/DGI behavioral performance.
Conclusions
Although the limited sample size may have led to lack of significant correlations with functional assessments, these results provide preliminary evidence that TLNS in conjunction with physical therapy can induce brain plasticity in TBI patients with balance and movement deficits.
Background and ObjectivesHepatitis E virus (HEV) is an underrecognized and emerging infectious disease that may threaten the safety of donor blood supply in many parts of the world. We sought to elucidate whether our local community blood supply is at increased susceptibility for transmission of transfusion‐associated HEV infections.Materials and MethodsWe screened 10,002 randomly selected donations over an 8‐month period between 2017 and 2018 at the Stanford Blood Center for markers of HEV infection using commercial IgM/IgG serological tests and reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays (RT‐qPCR). Donor demographic information, including gender, age, self‐identified ethnicity, location of residence and recent travel, were obtained from the donor database and used to generate multivariate binary logistic regressions for risk factors of IgG seropositivity.ResultsA total of 10,002 blood donations from 7507 unique donors were screened, and there was no detectable HEV RNA by RT‐qPCR. The overall seropositivity rate was 12.1% for IgG and 0.56% for IgM. Multivariate analysis of unique donors revealed a significantly higher risk of IgG seropositivity with increasing age, White/Asian ethnicities and residence in certain local counties.ConclusionAlthough HEV IgG seroprevalence in the San Francisco Bay Area is consistent with ongoing infection, the screening of a large donor population did not identify any viraemic blood donors. While HEV is an underrecognized and emerging infection in other regions, there is no evidence to support routine blood screening for HEV in our local blood supply currently; however, periodic monitoring may still be required to assess the ongoing risk.
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