±0.20 W/kg−1vs 1.06±0.23 W/kg−1, P=.0098).
Gross and net energy cost of walking were higher while wearing unstable
shoes compared with conventional shoes (gross: 4.20±0.42 J/kg−1/m−1vs 4.01±0.39 J/kg−1/m−1, P=.0035; net: 3.37±0.41 J/kg−1/m−1vs 3.21±0.37 J/kg−1/m−1; P=.032).Severe aphasia, adult left hemispherectomy, Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS), and other neurological disorders have in common an increased use of swearwords. There are shared linguistic features in common across these language behaviors, as well as important differences. We explore the nature of swearing in normal human communication, and then compare the clinical presentations of selectively preserved, impaired and augmented swearing. These neurolinguistic observations, considered along with related neuroanatomical and neurochemical information, provide the basis for considering the neurobiological foundation of various types of swearing behaviors.
Dick Kaniper sat tall in his wheelchair. His white tufts of hair were combed and his beard was trimmed close, but his most noticeable feature was his smile.
The 81-year-old stroke survivor from Williams Township looked upon his wife, his certified nursing assistant and therapists with determination, optimism and compassion.
More than a year ago, this picture was different.
His stroke robbed him of mobility, speech and peace of mind. He did not have the attention span for reading, and his short-term memory was spotty. He said he would lie in the hospital bed wondering if he would ever be able to ride his tractor again.
“I have a smart mouth,” he said. “The nurse asked me if I needed anything, and I said, ‘Yes. A gun.’”
After being passed around the rehabilitation center circuit, Kaniper found the ATA Revitalization Institute in Palmer Township that employs experimental therapy with lasers and light-emitting diodes.
“I saw noticeable change in a week,” said his wife, Dawn Kaniper. “I’ve seen more progress in three months than I saw the entire year after Dick’s stroke.”
The technology has been used on surgical patients and athletes for muscle and tissue healing but has never before been used on the brain, according to Easton Hospital cardiothoracic surgeon Ab Boonswang, a co-founder of the institute.
Kaniper said the procedure is painless. The laser technology is paired with muscle/bone/joint/soft tissue therapy called muscle recovery. Muscle recovery ensures that the muscles are strong enough, realigned with nerves and they will be able to move correctly.
Kaniper received treatment three times a week for the past three months. He spends an hour at ATA during each session and also seeks additional physical therapy.
When he started physical therapy, he “hung like meat” from a harness attached to a treadmill, Dawn Kaniper said. Now he can stand on the treadmill, and last week he was able to walk for eight and a half minutes, she said.
“This is the first time I’ve seen so much progress in a stroke patient,” certified nursing assistant Naomi Monjes said. “He can get up on his own. … I don’t have to do bear hug transfers anymore.”
The droop on the left side of Kaniper’s face has disappeared and his speech has dramatically improved.
ATA employs its rehabilitation techniques on four stroke patients. All have improved, Boonswang said.
Low-level light therapy is FDA approved but not for stroke rehabilitation purposes. As a result, ATA does not accept insurance. A three-month stroke rehabilitation protocol costs about $5,800, but ATA offers a money-back guarantee.
“If we can get this going, maybe we can effect change,” Boonswang said. “We can revolutionize the way physical therapy is done. We’re looking at changing the landscape of stroke patient recovery.”
Dawn Kaniper is thrilled with her husband’s progress.
“Whatever it is, it’s magic and it works,” she said.
Phenomenological Theory. A theory that expresses mathematically the results of observed phenomena without paying detailed attention to their fundamental significance.[1]http://www.naric.com/research/rehab/record.cfm?search=2&type=all&criteria=J61565&phrase=no&rec=116294
HUH!!!
The researchers discovered that for every 10 decibels or more of road noise, a person’s risk of having a stroke increased by 14 percent.
For people younger than 65, that did not translate into a statistically significant risk, but researchers found that among those 65 or older, stroke risk increased significantly, by 27 percent for every additional 10 decibels of noise. Also, in older people the researchers found evidence of a threshold limit around 60 decibels, above which the risk of stroke increased still more.
The study involved more than 57,000 people between the ages of 50 and 64 living near Copenhagen and Aarhus who were recruited for the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort study between 1993 and 1997, according to study author Mette Sorensen, senior researcher at the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology of Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen. The average follow-up time was 10 years.
“Although our study was the first study on traffic noise and stroke, I was not surprised of the results as earlier studies have found traffic noise to be associated with other cardiovascular diseases,” Sorensen said. The study showed only an association between loud noise and stroke, she noted, adding that more research would need to be done to confirm the findings.
The study authors noted that their study took place in an urban area and so was not representative of the whole country. But by taking noise exposures at different dwellings into account and applying the findings across Denmark, Sorensen estimates that 600 new cases of stroke each year in her country could be attributed to road traffic noise. The 5.5 million inhabitants of Denmark suffer 12,400 new cases of stroke annually.
Although the study does not determine how road noise influences health, Sorensen believes stress is likely a factor.
“Exposure to traffic noise is believed to provoke a stress response and disturb sleep, which might increase the risk for stroke, through mechanisms including increased level of stress hormones, increased heart rate and blood pressure and impaired immune system,” Sorensen said.
Researchers analyzed participants’ medical and residential histories during an average 10-year period. A total of 1,881 suffered a stroke.
The researchers then measured their exposure to traffic sound over time using a noise calculation program designed to map noise levels in a variety of locations in Scandinavia for several years. The program takes into account a variety of factors that could amplify or blunt road noise, including traffic composition and speed, road surface and road type, nearby buildings and the position and heights of homes above the roads.
At the time the volunteers joined the study, 35 percent of them were exposed to noise levels greater than 60 decibels, and the majority (72 percent) lived at the same address throughout the study. Researchers estimated the lowest noise exposure to be 40 decibels and the highest to be 82 decibels.
They also accounted for a variety of other risk factors for stroke, such as air pollution, railway and aircraft noise, smoking, diet, alcohol and caffeine consumption.
The study is published in the current issue of the European Heart Journal.
The researchers “did a reasonable job of trying to control for other potential things that could affect the outcome,” said Dr. Larry B. Goldstein, director of the Duke Stroke Center at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
However, Goldstein noted that there are likely a number of additional factors that could not have been accounted for. “These epidemiological studies are always subject to a variety of unmeasured biases that could potentially affect the outcome,” he said.
For example, people living in areas with loud traffic noise are also likely have better access to fast food restaurants, and probably have a lower socioeconomic status than people in quieter suburban and rural areas, he noted. (The researchers also reported that a higher percentage of those exposed to noise over 60 decibels were from a lower income group, and since lower socioeconomic class is itself a predictor of stroke, they concluded they could not rule out the possibility that that skewed the results.)
“The other thing is, what do you do about it even if it’s true? Move to electric cars and no horns?” Goldstein added.
The researchers had an answer for that.
Sorensen said the study could be used to argue for construction methods that limit exposure to traffic noise, such as roads built with noise-reducing asphalt and noise barriers, or homes built with noise-isolating windows and other materials that dampen loud sounds.
More information
To find out more about how loud noise affects your health, visit the World Health Organization.
roke/Nope.
From an American Heart Association media release:
Professional dental cleanings may reduce risk of heart attack, stroke
Professional tooth scaling was associated with fewer heart attacks and strokes in a study (Abstract 17704) from Taiwan presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2011.
Among more than 100,000 people, those who had their teeth scraped and cleaned (tooth scaling) by a dentist or dental hygienist had a 24 percent lower risk of heart attack and 13 percent lower risk of stroke compared to those who had never had a dental cleaning. The participants were followed for an average of seven years.
Scientists considered tooth scaling frequent if it occurred at least twice or more in two years; occasional tooth scaling was once or less in two years.
The study included more than 51,000 adults who had received at least one full or partial tooth scaling and a similar number of people matched with gender and health conditions who had no tooth scaling. None of the participants had a history of heart attack or stroke at the beginning of the study.
The study didn’t adjust for heart attack and stroke risk factors — such as weight, smoking and race — that weren’t included in the Taiwan National Health insurance data base, the source of the information used in the analysis.
“Protection from heart disease and stroke was more pronounced in participants who got tooth scaling at least once a year,” said Emily (Zu-Yin) Chen, M.D., cardiology fellow at the Veterans General Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan.
Professional tooth scaling appears to reduce inflammation-causing bacterial growth that can lead to heart disease or stroke, she said.
Hsin-Bang Leu M.D., is the study co-author. Author disclosures and funding are on the abstract.
Type of periodontal disease predicts degree of risk for heart attack, stroke, and heart failure
In a separate study (abstract 10576), researchers found that the value of markers for gum disease predict heart attack, congestive heart failure and stroke in different ways and to different degrees.
Anders Holmlund, D.D.S., Ph.D. Centre for Research and Development of the County Council of Gävleborg, Sweden, and senior consultant; Specialized Dentistry, studied 7,999 participants with periodontal disease and found people with:
- Fewer than 21 teeth had a 69 percent increased risk of heart attack compared to those with the most teeth.
- A higher number of deepened periodontal pockets (infection of the gum around the base of the tooth) had a 53 percent increased risk of heart attack compared to those with the fewest pockets.
- The least amount of teeth had a 2.5 increased risk of congestive heart failure compared to those with the most teeth.
- The highest incidence of gum bleeding had a 2.1 increased risk of stroke compared to those with the lowest incidence.
While it’s a good idea to see your dentist regularly for oral hygiene purposes, the claims here are likely invalid. Aside from the weak statistical associations and failure to consider important confounding risk factors, any correlation between dental visits and improved non-oral health is most likely economic in nature — i.e., wealthier (and, therefore, healthier) people tend to see dentists more often that poorer, less healthy people.
The 26-year-old Welshman suffered a stroke after breaking his neck while attempting a back flip at a gym, The Daily Mail reported. His then-fiancée and family stayed by his side, but when he woke, something had changed.
"It sounds strange, but when I came round I immediately felt different," Birch told the paper. "I wasn't interested in women any more. I was definitely gay. I had never been attracted to a man before - I'd never even had any gay friends."
Before the stroke, Birch was a banker who loved playing rugby, watching sports, and drinking beer with his buds. After the stroke, he found he had little in common with his blokes, quit his job to train as a hairdresser, and started dating a man.
"I went back to my job in the bank and tried hard to fit back into things but it didn't seem right anymore," Birch told The Mirror last month. "Suddenly, I hated everything about my old life. I didn't get on with my friends, hated sport, and found my job boring."
He also focused more on his appearance, lost a lot of weight - and became more confident.
Birch's neurologist told him the changes in his personality could be from the stroke "opening up" a different part of his brain, according to the Daily Mail.
What do experts have to say - can a stroke really turn you gay?
Dr. Ira G. Rashbaum, professor of rehabilitation medicine and chief of stroke rehab at NYU Langone Medical Center, wouldn't speculate on this specific case since he wasn't involved in Birch's care, but he told CBS News that it's quite common to see personality changes in patients following a stroke.
Rashbaum said some recovering stroke patients might experience anxiety, depression, or difficulties paying attention. In some cases if a stroke affects the brain's frontal lobe - which controls inhibition - a previously quiet person might become angrier, suddenly telling others off.
But a full-blown personality change?
"This is a more rare circumstance, certainly not a common thing" he told CBS News. He added that profound personality changes usually aren't permanent following rehabilitation with a team that might include psychologists and social workers.
Joe Korner, director of communications for The Stroke Association in the U.K., told CBS News in an email that he's never personally heard of a stroke changing someone's sexuality, but he doesn't doubt the stroke had some impact on Birch's life.
"Strokes are traumatic, life-changing experiences, which can make you reassess life and your feelings so perhaps that's the reason behind it," Korner said. "Whether or not the stroke turned Chris gay, or whether he was gay anyway but unaware of it, his experience seems to be a positive one, which is great."
