Introduction: The purpose of this study was to examine the compensatory mechanism in rats, underwent left decortication at postnatal day 7 by using retrograde tracing method.
Methods: Retrograde tracers, FITC-conjugated CTB and FastBlue were injected into the right and the left sides of upper cervical segments of spinal cord, respectively, at postoperative weeks 2, 3, 4, and 5. The number of retrogradely labeled descending projective neurons was compared to the number of the same neurons in normally developed rats.
Results: Significantly more ipsilateral corticospinal neurons were labeled with FITC-CTB in the experimental rats compared to normal rats at all cases. There were also some FITC-CTB and FB double-labeled corticospinal neurons in both experimental and normal rats. In decorticated rats the number of doubly labeled neurons increased sequentially, and was significantly greater than in normal rats at postoperative weeks 4 and 5. However, only few percent of all neurons were double labeled in the treated animals. Significantly more neurons were also labeled with FITC-CTB in the medullary ventral reticulospinal area and in the medullary raphe-spinal area in the experimental rats compared to control animals at postoperative weeks 4 and 5.
Conclusion: The present results suggest that main compensatory response after unilateral neonatal decortication was formed by unlesioned ipsilateral corticospinal neurons, which were not selective in development. Furthermore, the collaterals of the corticospinal tracts originate from the cerebral cortex on the unlesioned side and descending spinal projections from brainstem are also related to compensatory response.

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Purpose: This study aimed to assess the inter-rater reliability of a modified version of the gait abnormality rating scale (GARS-M).
Methods: The GARS-M was thoroughly translated into Japanese. Outpatients aged ≥ 65 years were included. The subjects were made to walk for a short distance (7.6 m), and the entire walk was videotaped. Three physical therapists retrospectively viewed these recordings and rated the gait of each subject according to the GARS-M. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the obtained scores was calculated to evaluate inter-rater reliability.
Results: A total of 26 elderly individuals Twenty-six older persons (17 men, 73.9 ± 5.8 years) participated were rated., and the calculated The ICC was 0.83.
Conclusion: The Japanese version of the GARS-M has an acceptable inter-rater reliability and can prove beneficial for evaluating the gait of elderly individuals in Japan.

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Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine whether psychological stress is associated with changes in subjective pain intensity and changes in excitability of the somatosensory cortex.
Methods: Twenty healthy volunteers participated in this study. Of these, 10 took the Uchida-Kraeplin psychodiagnostic test as a mental stress task, whereas the remaining 10 (control group) were seated comfortably for approximately 35 minutes. Painful electrical stimuli were applied to the right median nerve of participants in both groups. We compared pain-related somatosensory evoked potentials after painful electrical stimulation between the test and control groups and pain intensity was rated according to the visual analog scale (VAS) during electrical stimulation before and after the mental stress task in the test group.
Results: VAS scores for pain intensity and the peak-to-peak amplitude of N20/P25 were found to be significantly increased after the mental stress task.
Conclusion: We concluded that mental stress increased subjective pain intensity and excitability in the primary somatosensory cortex.

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Purpose: To assess the impact of preoperative kidney function and postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) on the perioperative catecholamine therapy and early phase of postoperative cardiac rehabilitation (EPPCR).
Methods: Eight hundreds seventy three consecutive patients (572 male, 301 female, 68 ± 11yo) who underwent elective cardiac surgery were selected and divided into 3 groups depending on preoperative kidney function; non chronic kidney disease (CKD) group, CKD group and hemodialysis (HD) group. Moreover these patients were classified into 2 groups according to the presence of postoperative AKI. We evaluated the effects of preoperative kidney function and postoperative AKI on perioperative catecholamine therapy and EPPCR.
Results: In non CKD and CKD group among AKI group, catecholamine index (CI) at initiation of sitting exercise and standing exercise were significantly delayed compared with those in postoperative non AKI group. In non AKI group, progression of postoperative EPPCR were significantly delayed according to the severity of preoperative kidney function (p < 0.05). In non CKD and CKD group among AKI group, sitting, standing, walking exercise and 100 m unassisted walk were significantly delayed compared with those among non AKI group (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: EPPCR was delayed according to the severity of preoperative renal function in non AKI group. However, CI at initiation of EPPCR was higher, and progression of EPPCR was more delayed in AKI group than those in non AKI group.

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of exercise with dual-task training (DTT) on the Dynamic gait index (DGI) score among patients with stroke.
Methods: We recruited 14 patients who were capable of walking unassisted and scored 24 points or higher on the mini-mental examination state. Subjects were randomly assigned to the experimental or the control group. The experimental group received conventional individualized exercise with DTT. The control group received it without DTT. The DGI scores were collected at baseline and after training for evaluating walking ability and compared between the two groups.
Results: Both groups showed significant improvements of the DGI score after training. In addition. there was a significant time by group interaction, the experimental group showed significant higher change scores of the DGI compared with the control group.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that the exercise with DTT among patients with stroke who were capable of walking unassisted can be an effective training improving the DGI score.

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