tDCS does not add effect to foot drop stimulator and gait training in improving clinical parameters and neuroplasticity biomarkers in chronic post-stroke: randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and foot drop stimulators (FDS) are widely used for stroke rehabilitation. However, no study has investigated if tDCS could boost the effects of FDS and gait training in improving clinical parameters and neuroplasticity biomarkers of chronic post-stroke subjects. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of combining tDCS and FDS on motor impairment, functional mobility, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) serum levels. Also, to evaluate the effects of this protocol on the insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), insulin growth factor-binding proteins-3 (IGFBP-3), interleukin (IL) 6 and 10, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels. METHODS: Thirty-two chronic post-stroke individuals were randomized to tDCS plus FDS or sham tDCS plus FDS groups. Both groups underwent ten gait training sessions for two weeks using a FDS device and real or sham tDCS. Blood samples and clinical data were acquired before and after the intervention. Motor impairment was assessed by the Fugl-Meyer Assessment and functional mobility using the Timed up and Go test. RESULTS: Both groups improved the motor impairment and functional mobility and increased the BDNF levels. Both groups also increased the IL-10 and decreased the cortisol, IL-6, and TNF-α levels. No difference was observed between groups. CONCLUSION: tDCS did not add effect to FDS and gait training in improving clinical parameters and neuroplasticity biomarkers in chronic post-stroke individuals. Only FDS and gait training might be enough for people with chronic stroke to modify some clinical parameters and neuroplasticity biomarkers.

Decontamination of a barrier facility using microisolator cages and provisional partitioning.

In 2000, the authors found endemic infections of mouse hepatitis virus, minute virus of mice, Syphacia obvelata, and Myobia musculi among mice in a large barrier facility at the University of Mainz. To eliminate the infections, they subdivided the facility into two distinct hygiene units. However, architectural constraints made it impossible to completely separate the HVAC systems of both hygiene units and to establish adequate personnel locks. To compensate for these suboptimal barrier conditions of the two newly established units, the authors replaced the open-top caging and open-servicing system with filter-top cages that were manipulated in cage-changing stations. The authors then depopulated the two units in series, independently eliminating the contaminated mice and restocking the units with SPF animals. In spite of the high infection pressure and the suboptimal barrier conditions, the authors had only a single case of recontamination.

Human endogenous retrovirus rec interferes with germ cell development in mice and may cause carcinoma in situ, the predecessor lesion of germ cell tumors.

Germ cell tumors (GCTs) are among the most common malignancies in young men. We have previously documented that patients with GCT frequently produce serum antibodies directed against proteins encoded by human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) type K sequences. Transcripts originating from the env gene of HERV-K, including the rec-relative of human immunodeficiency virus rev, are highly expressed in GCTs. We report here that mice that inducibly express HERV-K rec show a disturbed germ cell development and may exhibit, by 19 months of age, changes reminiscent of carcinoma in situ, the predecessor lesion of classic seminoma in humans. This provides the first direct evidence that the expression of a human endogenous retroviral gene previously established as a marker in human germ cell tumors may contribute to organ-specific tumorigenesis in a transgenic mouse model.