The journal of spinal cord medicine
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To describe the development and psychometric properties of the Spinal Cord Injury--Quality of Life (SCI-QOL) Bladder Management Difficulties and Bowel Management Difficulties item banks and Bladder Complications scale. ⋯ The SCI-QOL Bladder Management Difficulties and Bowel Management Difficulties item banks are psychometrically robust and are available as computer adaptive tests or short forms. The SCI-QOL Bladder Complications scale is a brief, fixed-length outcomes instrument for individuals with a UTI.
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Upper cervical spinal cord hemisection causes paralysis of the ipsilateral hemidiaphragm; however, the effect of C2 hemisection on the function of the intercostal muscles is not clear. We hypothesized that C2 hemisection would eliminate inspiratory intercostal activity ipsilateral to the injury and that some activity would return in a time-dependent manner. ⋯ These results suggest that there are crossed, initially latent, respiratory connections to neurons innervating the intercostal muscles similar to those innervating phrenic motor neurons.
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Examine psychosocial outcomes of youth with spinal cord injury (SCI) as a function of neurological level (paraplegia/tetraplegia) and severity (American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale (AIS)). ⋯ Interventions should target youth with tetraplegia ABC, as they may need support in terms of participation, and both youth with tetraplegia ABC and AIS D injuries in terms of social integration.
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Controlled Clinical Trial
Lean tissue mass and energy expenditure are retained in hypogonadal men with spinal cord injury after discontinuation of testosterone replacement therapy.
To determine whether favorable changes to lean tissue mass (LTM), resting energy expenditure (REE), and testosterone (T) that occurred with 12 months of physiological testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) were retained 6 months after discontinuing treatment. ⋯ There were no significant differences between groups prior to TRT at BL for any of the study endpoints. In the hypogonadal group, a significant increase in LTM was observed from BL to TRT-12M (50.2 ± 7.4 vs. 52.9 ± 6.8 kg, P < 0.01), which persisted Post-TRT compared to BL (52.2 ± 7.8 kg, P < 0.05). The increase in REE from BL to TRT-12M (1283 ± 246 vs. 1410 ± 250 kcal/day) was also retained at Post-TRT (1393 ± 220 kcal/day). These sustained improvements in LTM and REE after termination of anabolic hormonal therapy may be associated with persistent beneficial effects on health and physical function of hypogonadal men with chronic SCI.
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Despite evidence that healthcare providers have implicit biases that can impact clinical interactions and decisions, implicit bias among physicians caring for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) has not been examined. ⋯ This pilot study indicates that SCI providers are susceptible to implicit racial bias and provides preliminary evidence that greater implicit racial bias of physicians is associated with poorer psychosocial health outcomes for individuals with SCI. It demonstrates the feasibility of studying implicit bias among SCI providers and provides guidance for future research on physician bias and patient outcomes.