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Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability, though current rehabilitative strategies fail to yield complete recovery. Focused training of the impaired limb improves functional outcome in rodents, but these strategies require intensive training that is difficult to practice in humans. Because aerobic exercise has been found to induce beneficial changes in the brain, it is a promising rehabilitative strategy after stroke. The current study investigated the effect of voluntary poststroke aerobic exercise on functional outcome in young and aged mice. Mice were trained on a skilled reaching task before receiving focal ischemic stroke and being subdivided into 3 different groups for rehabilitative training: traditional skilled reach rehabilitation, aerobic exercise, and control procedures. Both young and aged mice benefited from aerobic exercise after stroke, though the behavioral profile somewhat differed. Aerobic exercise in young mice yielded poststroke performance levels that were equivalent to preinjury levels. In aged mice, aerobic exercise accelerated improvement in motor performance without an effect on the absolute level of performance compared with controls. Our results suggest that aerobic exercise may be an effective alternative or adjunctive rehabilitative strategy after stroke. Potential mechanisms of this effect need to be further investigated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Genes contributing to common forms of hypertension are largely unknown. A number of studies in humans and in animal models have revealed associations between insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and elevated hypertension. To identify genes contributing to blood pressure (BP) variation associated with insulin-resistant dyslipidemia, we conducted a genome-wide scan for BP in a set of 18 Dutch families exhibiting the common lipid disorder familial combined hyperlipidemia. Our results reveal a locus on chromosome 4 that exhibits a significant lod score of 3.9 with systolic BP. In addition, this locus also appears to influence plasma free fatty acid levels (lod=2.4). After adjustment for age and gender, the lod score for systolic BP increased to 4.6, whereas the lod score for free fatty acid levels did not change. The chromosome 4 locus contains an attractive candidate gene, α-adducin, which has been associated with altered BP in animal studies and in some human populations. However, we found no evidence for an association between 2 intragenic α-adducin polymorphisms and systolic BP in this sample. We also observed suggestive evidence for linkage (lod=1.8) of diastolic BP to the lipoprotein lipase gene locus on chromosome 8p, supporting a finding previously observed in a separate insulin-resistant population. In addition, we also obtained suggestive evidence for linkage of systolic BP (lod=2.4) and plasma apolipoprotein B levels (lod=2.0) to a locus on proximal chromosome 19p. In conclusion, our genome scan results support the existence of multiple genetic factors that can influence both BP and plasma lipid parameters.

For a long time, permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) were only applied in some particular fields, e.g. for servo drives. However, in recent years PMSM gained increasing importance in novel domains like automotive hybrid drive trains [1]. For Mexico, this boom represents a valuable opportunity for universities and research institutions, so that together with Mexican industry of the Electric Vehicle (EV) forming partnerships that result in an infrastructure that will enable the country to develop its own technology in terms of EV. This paper presents a competent and not complex direct torque controller (DTC) for PMSM drives.