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Microsoft Kinect V2Ten healthy volunteers walked 20 trials, and each walk was recorded by a Kinect and infrared- and marker-based-motion capture system. Pearson's correlation and overall agreement with a method of meta-analysis of Pearson's correlation coefficient were used to assess the reliability of each parameter, including gait velocity, gait cycle time, step length, hip and knee joint angle, ground contact time of foot, and max ankle velocity. Hip and knee angles in one gait cycle were calculated in Kinect and motion capture groups.The coefficients of correlation for gait velocity (r = 0.92), step length (r = 0.81) were regarded as strong reliability. Gait cycle time (r = 0.65), minimum flexion angle of hip joint (r = 0.68) were regarded as moderate reliability. The maximum flexion angle of the hip joint (r = 0.43) and maximum flexion angle of the knee joint (r = 0.54) were regarded as fair reliability. Minimum flexion angle of knee joint (r = 0.23), ground contact time of foot (r = 0.23), and maximum ankle velocity (r = 0.22) were regarded as poor reliability. The method of meta-analysis revealed that participants with small hip and knee flexion angles tended to have poor correlations in maximum flexion angle of hip and knee joints. Similar trajectories of hip and knee angles were observed in Kinect and motion capture groups.Our results strongly suggest that Kinect could be a reliable device for evaluating gait parameters, including gait velocity, gait cycle time, step length, minimum flexion angle of the hip joint, and maximum flexion angle of the knee joint.

Aim Neurological symptom severity is a prognostic factor for post-stroke activities of daily living (ADL). Recently, it has been reported that white matter lesions indicate poor functional prognosis in patients with stroke. The present study investigated the influence of white matter lesions on the ADL of older patients with stroke who have mild neurological symptoms. Method We investigated ADL at discharge in 44 patients with stroke (men, n = 27; women, n = 17; mean age 78 years [range 71–85 years]) aged ≥65 years with National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores of ≤5 (cerebral infarction, n = 37; cerebral hemorrhage, n = 7). We used single correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis to investigate factors that correlated with ADL at discharge. ADL at discharge was also evaluated on the basis of white matter lesion severity (Fazekas classification, grades 0–3). Results Single correlation analysis showed that age (r = −0.36, P = 0.016), male sex (r = 0.362, P = 0.016), neurological symptom severity (r = −0.361, P = 0.016), ADL on starting rehabilitation (r = 0.685, P

Introduction Gait disturbance of Parkinsonian syndrome is characterized by dysrhythmic gait cycle including freezing, small steps and slowness. These symptoms are often not sufficiently responsive to dopaminergic therapy. Recently, we developed new rehabilitation system using non-invasive closed–circuit brain stimulation targeting on dysrhythmic gait dysfunction. Methods The objective of this study is to investigate whether the oscillatory closed-circuit brain stimulation mimicking the appropriate gait cycle can modulate the gait speed and cycle in patients with parkinsonian syndrome. Six patients with Parkinsonian syndrome participated in this study. Three were diagnosed as Parkinson’s disease, two as corticobasal syndrome and one as vascular parkinsonism. Before gait rehabilitation, we decided optimal brain stimulation frequency to each subject as 1/averaged gait cycle when they were best on condition. All participants performed gait rehabilitation for total ten days which contained 4 sessions (4 min. walk and 3 min. rest) per each day. During gait rehabilitation, slow oscillatory DC stimulation (current intensity 0–2 mA) was applied over ipsilateral cerebellum as symptom dominant side, which was triggered by their flat foot switch attached to the ipsilateral heels. Closed-circuit system enabled the implementation of the oscillatory brain stimulation with a fixed pre-set phase lag with respect to the intrinsic gait cycle. Ten m gait speed, cadence, laterality of gait cycle and frozen of gait questionnaire (FOGQ) were evaluated before and after gait rehabilitation. Results Gait speed and cadence were significantly increased after gait rehabilitation (speed: 98 ± 39 cm/s before and 116 ± 38 cm/s after, cadence: 114 ± 18 steps/min before and 124 ± 20 steps/min after). Laterality of gait cycle and FOGQ were significantly decreased after the rehabilitation (laterality: 0.07 ± 0.05 before and 0.0021 ± 0.004 after, FOGQ: 10 ± 7 before and 7 ± 5 after). Conclusion Closed-circuit brain stimulation during walking is useful method to parkinsonian gait disturbance possibly by normalizing dysrhythmic and lateralized gait control system in patients with Parkinsonian syndrome. This new system may provide the personalized rehabilitation in patients with Parkinson related disorders.

Neurological symptom severity is a prognostic factor for post-stroke activities of daily living (ADL). Recently, it has been reported that white matter lesions indicate poor functional prognosis in patients with stroke. The present study investigated the influence of white matter lesions on the ADL of older patients with stroke who have mild neurological symptoms.We investigated ADL at discharge in 44 patients with stroke (men, n = 27; women, n = 17; mean age 78 years [range 71-85 years]) aged ≥65 years with National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores of ≤5 (cerebral infarction, n = 37; cerebral hemorrhage, n = 7). We used single correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis to investigate factors that correlated with ADL at discharge. ADL at discharge was also evaluated on the basis of white matter lesion severity (Fazekas classification, grades 0-3).Single correlation analysis showed that age (r = -0.36, P = 0.016), male sex (r = 0.362, P = 0.016), neurological symptom severity (r = -0.361, P = 0.016), ADL on starting rehabilitation (r = 0.685, P 0.001) and white matter lesion severity (r = -0.361, P = 0.016) significantly correlated with ADL at discharge. Multiple regression analysis showed that ADL on starting rehabilitation (β = 0.519, t = 4.723, P 0.001) and white matter lesion severity (β = -0.309, t = -3.057, P 0.01) were statistically significant prognostic factors for ADL at discharge. ADL at discharge score was significantly lower in the group with high white matter lesion severity (Fazekas, grade 2) than in the other two groups (Fazekas, grade 0, P 0.01; Fazekas, grade 1, P 0.05).Severe white matter lesions are a prognostic factor for poor ADL at discharge in older patients with stroke who have mild neurological symptoms. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2016; 16: 942-947.