Purpose: To evaluate the performance improvement of individuals with hemiparesis cerebral palsy (CP) using a virtual task. Participants and methods: Twenty individuals were selected and distributed into two groups. The experimental group (CP group) comprised ten individuals with a medical diagnosis of CP, and ten individuals with typical development (sex-and age-matched) composed the control group (TD group). Both groups followed the same intervention protocol, which included a virtual coincident timing task: the participants performed upper limb movements in front of a computer's webcam and interacted with the task with the aim of virtually intercepting spheres that fell in four rows following the rhythm of a pre-selected song during an 8-minute period. To verify the influence on a real task, pre-and posttests were performed in a similar task, but with physical contact (using the spacebar on the keyboard of a computer). To analyze the data, we evaluated the variable, constant, and absolute errors during the task and in the pre-and posttests. Results: The results showed that there was an improvement in performance between the pre-and posttests; that is, after practicing the task in an environment without physical contact, there was a performance improvement in posttests in the real task, but only for the CP group. Moreover, there were significant differences in precision and accuracy between the two groups, with worse performance in the CP group. Conclusion: Individuals with CP presented better performance in the real task after practice in a virtual reality task, albeit with worse performance compared with individuals with TD. This is an interesting result that supports the possible use of virtual tasks for the rehabilitation of individuals with CP.

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Individuals with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) have an impairment of cardiac autonomic function categorized by parasympathetic reduction and sympathetic predominance. The objective of this study was to assess the cardiac autonomic modulation of individuals with DMD undergoing therapy with Prednisone/Prednisolone and Deflazacort and compare with individuals with DMD without the use of these medications and a typically developed control group. Methods: A cross-sectional study was completed, wherein 40 boys were evaluated. The four treatment groups were: Deflazacort; Prednisone/Prednisolone; no corticoid use; and typical development. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) was investigated via linear indices (Time Domain and Frequency Domain) and non-linear indices Results: The results of this study revealed that individuals with DMD undertaking pharmacotherapies with Prednisolone demonstrated HRV comparable to the Control Typically Developed (CTD) group. In contrast, individuals with DMD undergoing pharmacotherapies with Deflazacort achieved lower HRV, akin to individuals with DMD without any medications, as demonstrated in the metrics: RMSSD; LF (n.u.), HF (n.u.), LF/HF; SD1, α1, and α1/α2, and a significant effect for SD1/SD2; %DET and Ratio; Shannon Entropy, 0 V%, 2 LV% and 2 ULV%. Conclusions: Corticosteroids have the potential to affect the cardiac autonomic modulation in adolescents with DMD. The use of Prednisone/Prednisolone appears to promote improved responses in terms of sympathovagal activity as opposed to Deflazacort.

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