Search

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most common chronic endocrine diseases, characterized by hyperglycemia, due to abnormal nitric oxide synthesis. The trend of an increase in the number of patients with DM continues. The medical and economic burden of DM is not only associated with hyperglycemia management but also with the management of DM‐related complications. Most chronic DM–associated complications are vascular in nature. Thus, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can be used for primary and/or secondary prevention of vascular complications. This systematic review is aimed at providing an up‐to‐date analysis of the effects of HBOT in patients with diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) on the prevention of amputation, fitting, and rehabilitation of amputees. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed to conduct this systematic review. PubMed and Web of Science (WOS) database were employed in the search, which ended in November 2023. A risk of bias analysis was performed using the Evidence Project tool. After analyzing the records obtained, 10 studies were identified. However, seven fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included in this systematic review. All included patients were over 18 years of age and had DM. The degree of DFU was assessed with the Wagner scale, being between 2 and 4, and the age of previous treatment of these DFU was taken into account. The results of the current systematic review showed that significant improvements can be achieved with HBOT when comparing its effects to those of the control group that followed usual care. Most studies included in the review showed positive results for DFU, amputation prevention, fitting, and rehabilitation of amputees. Therefore, the use of a hyperbaric chamber and standard care, as opposed to standard care alone, is favorable in patients with chronic DFUs. Promising and positive results were achieved for wound healing in DFU and the prevention of amputations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of this study are to determine the displacement of the center of pressure (CoP) and its association with the spectral energy density of the acceleration required for the maintenance of postural balance in different standing positions in healthy participants using design observational and setting laboratorial studies. Participants were 30 healthy university students aged between 18 and 32 years old (mean [M] ± standard deviation [SD] = 21,57 ± 3,31 years). Triaxial accelerometer and a pressure platform were used in order to obtain energy spectral density and CoP sway measurements during four balance tasks. Statistically significant differences were found for anteroposterior (p = 0.002) and mediolateral (p = 0.009) CoP displacement between the conditions eyes closed and stable surface and the conditions eyes closed and unstable surface. A statistically significant correlation was also observed between Z-axis (anterior-posterior) of the accelerometer and mediolateral axis of the CoP (r = 0.465; p = 0.01) and between Y-axis accelerometer (mediolateral) and displacement of the CoP in the anteroposterior axis (r = 0.413; p = 0.023). Spectral energy density appears to be associated with the displacement of CoP in healthy participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: cystic fibrosis is a hereditary, autosomal recessive disease that affects different organs and systems with a greater impact on the respiratory system with secretion accumulations and frequent infections. Positive expiratory pressure techniques are those that generate a positive pressure in the airways facilitating secretions removal and preventing airways collapse. Objective: to understand how positive expiratory pressure is used with cystic fibrosis patients and to compare it with other respiratory physiotherapy techniques. Material and method: systematic examination review of experimental clinical trials, published between 2004 and 2016 in Medline, Scopus and PEDro databases, whose participants were diagnosed cystic fibrosis and treated with positive expiratory pressure treatment techniques. We selected 10 out of 453 found studies and analysed variables such as; objective of the sample, number of subjects, analysis of short and long-term effects, devices used, technique applied and results. Results: the application of positive expiratory pressure provides benefits to cystic fibrosis patients, especially in the matter of expectoration, decrease in the number of exacerbations and improvement in arterial blood gas pressure, as well as a decrease of maximal expiratory flow-volume in the first second of the forced expiration. Conclusion: the application of positive expiratory pressures could be considered to be an effective cystic fibrosis treatment in conjunction with additional respiratory physiotherapy techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerebral palsy (CP) treatment includes physical therapy and various complementary therapies to the standard clinical treatment. However, there are not many reviews that focus on the methods used and evaluation procedures. This study aims to analyze which tools are most suitable for the evaluation and methodology of patients with CP treated with physical therapy. Following the PRISMA statement, through a PICOS strategy, PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science (WOS), Scopus, Science Direct, and Scielo were searched with the following terms: cerebral palsy AND (physical therapy modalities OR therapeutics) AND outcome assessment. The methodological quality of the RCTs was assessed with the Evidence Project risk of bias tool. Thirty-seven RCTs and six RCT protocols, comprising 1359 participants with different types of CP: spastic hemiplegia/paresis, spastic diplegia/paresis, and spastic CP, met the inclusion criteria, uncovering 21 variables measured through 77 different instruments and several interventions. The therapies most widely used in CP are gaming or technology-assisted therapies, aerobic training, hippotherapy, music therapy, gait training, and aquatic exercises. This study provides an overview of what the authors used in the neurorehabilitation field through procedure evaluation and checking the technological advance that began to be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]