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According to the modular hypothesis for the control of movement, muscles are recruited in synergies, which capture muscle coordination in space, time, or both. In the last two decades, muscle synergy analysis has become a well-established framework in the motor control field and for the characterization of motor impairments in neurological patients. Altered modular control during a locomotion task has been often proposed as a potential quantitative metric for characterizing pathological conditions. Therefore, the purpose of this systematic review is to analyze the recent literature that used a muscle synergy analysis of neurological patients' locomotion as an indicator of motor rehabilitation therapy effectiveness, encompassing the key methodological elements to date. Searches for the relevant literature were made in Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus. Most of the 15 full-text articles which were retrieved and included in this review identified an effect of the rehabilitation intervention on muscle synergies. However, the used experimental and methodological approaches varied across studies. Despite the scarcity of studies that investigated the effect of rehabilitation on muscle synergies, this review supports the utility of muscle synergies as a marker of the effectiveness of rehabilitative therapy and highlights the challenges and open issues that future works need to address to introduce the muscle synergies in the clinical practice and decisional process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upper extremity (UE) paresis is one of the most frequent and disabling clinical consequences after stroke. Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) are wearable virtual reality devices that seem effective in promoting the recovery of functional abilities by increasing adherence levels in this population. This scoping review is aimed at collecting available evidence on the use of HMD-based immersive virtual reality systems for UE rehabilitation treatment in stroke survivors. Four electronic bibliographic databases were consulted from inception until 18 January 2023. A total of 19 clinical trials in which HMDs were used as a clinical tool for increasing UE functioning, as a single intervention or in adjunct to other rehab treatments, were included; no restrictions were applied for UE paresis severity or stroke onset. The large majority of the clinical trials involved chronic stroke patients (15 out of 19), with a wide range of UE impairments. Overall, HMD use seemed to be well-tolerated and promising for increasing UE motor function in adult chronic stroke survivors, with benefits in subjects' arm use and independence. The possibility of executing highly realistic and task-oriented movements appears to be promising in enhancing gesture relevance, thus promoting new motor strategies in a "virtual ecological way". Across studies, we found a high heterogeneity in protocol design and a lack of reporting that prevents us drawing conclusions regarding potential subgroups of patients that could benefit more from HMD-based interventions or suggested treatment modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Understanding the neuronal mechanisms of learning and memory is one of the major goals in neurophysiology and neuropsychology. Disorders related to memory consolidation are often the consequences of dynamic plasticity changes, which may lead to a reduction in spine number and density, impairing neural networks. Sleep is one of the major physiological prerequisites for memory consolidation, especially during NREM sleepwhen glymphatic system clearance takes place, too. Method: We recently validated a protocol of SF, which mimics more closely than sleep deprivation a typical impaired sleep behavior in psychiatric and neurological disorders. In this project we want to extend our previously study on the WT mouse model to unravel the mechanisms responsible for glymphatic system disruption and its correlation with memory circuitry malfunction. We will investigate which neuronal population is affected by SF by considering three regions involved in memory consolidation: hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and the amygdala. Additionally, chronic EEG‐recordings during natural sleep/wake behavior will be performed in freely behaving mice, and all temporal and spectral parameters involved in memory consolidation will be analyzed. As for glymphatic system, we will study through MRI the possible glymphatic flux alteration with Gd‐DTPA as MRI tracer in the three interested regions. Result: In addition to the proof that SF accelerates Alzheimer's Disease (AD) pathology, we observed interesting modifications of cognitive abilities in wild type (WT) mice during behavioral tests. Moreover, in both the 5xFAD mouse model for AD and the corresponding WT mice after SF, we detected an aquaporin‐4 (AQP4) modulation, which is known to play a role in neurological diseases by disrupting the glymphatic system flux. Our final goal will be to understand which is the specific circuit that leads to memory impairment, and what happens to the neurons involved during SF: degeneration, excitotoxicity or astrocyte communication failure. A future study could be to test the ability to restore cognitive functions by letting the mice free to sleep one month after SF protocol. Conclusion: Thanks to this project, we go back to the bench to find the correlation never observed before between memory circuit deficits and the possible involvement of glymphatic system during SF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]