Prognosis of traumatic spinal cord injury in children: Follow-up of 86 patients / 中华创伤杂志(英文版)

PURPOSE@#The long-term situation of children with spinal cord injury (SCI) was investigated, and suggestions for helping them better return to the society were provided.@*METHODS@#SCI patients less than 18 years old hospitalized in Beijing Boai Hospital from January 2011 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Information including motor function, complications, characteristic changes, self-care abilities, school attendance and social participation were collected by telephone interview and electronic questionnaire. All the answers were statistically analyzed.@*RESULTS@#A total of 86 cases were enrolled, 77 girls and 9 boys, with a median injury age of 6 years and 2 months. The follow-up time was 3-130 months. The main cause of trauma in these children was sport injury (66.3%), the thoracic spinal cord was involved the most (91.9%), and complete SCIs accounted for the majority (76.7%). In terms of complications, children with complete SCIs were more likely to have urinary incontinence, constipation and characteristic changes (p < 0.05); whereas the incomplete SCIs often have spasticity (p < 0.05). As to the daily living abilities, children with incomplete lumbar SCIs were more capable to accomplish personal hygiene, transfer, and bathing independently than those with complete injuries, or cervical/thoracic SCIs, respectively (p < 0.05). Moreover, children older than 9 years care more able to dress and transfer independently than the youngers (p < 0.05). Wheelchair users accounted for 84.9% and more than half of them were able to propel wheelchair independently, and those who move passively in wheelchairs were mostly introverted kids (p < 0.05). Almost all (93.8%) children with incomplete injuries were able to walk independently. Most (79.1%) children continued to attending school, and 41.9% participated in interest classes. Unfortunately, 67.4% of the children spent less time playing with their peers than before the injury.@*CONCLUSION@#SCIs impair physical structures and function of children, affect their independence in daily living, and restrict school attendance and social interaction. Comprehensive rehabilitation after injury is a systematic work. Medical staff and caregivers should not only pay attention to neurological function, but also help them improve self-care abilities. It is also important to balance rehabilitation training and school work and social participation.

Effect of Sensomotor Insole on Gait and Energy Expenditure for Children with Cerebral Palsy / 中国康复理论与实践

Objective:To evaluate the effects of sensomotor insole (SMI) on gait and energy expenditure in children with spastic cerebral palsy during walking. Methods:From December, 2014 to March, 2016, 42 children with spastic cerebral palsy aged three to 15 years were recruited. Their gait parameters and energy expenditure of six minute walking were measured under two test conditions: walking with shoes and walking with shoes and SMI. Results:After wearing SMI, the walking distance, speed, left step length and right step length were all greater (t = -6.022~-4.331, Z= -4.814~-4.183, P < 0.001), the both feet single limb support was shorter (t = 2.954, P < 0.05), and the energy expenditure was higher than before (t = -2.358, P < 0.05). Conclusion:SMI as a sort of orthopedic insole, could improve the gait parameters of children with cerebral palsy immediately after wearing it, and increase the energy expenditure slightly.

Reporter gene assay for detection of shellfish toxins / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the potential reporter gene assay for the detection of sodium channel-specific toxins in shellfish as an alternative for screening harmful algal bloom (HAB) toxins, considering the fact that the existing methods including HPLC and bioassay are inappropriate for identifying HAB toxins which poses a serious problem on human health and shellfish industry.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A reporter plasmid pEGFP-c-fos containing c-fos promoter and EGFP was constructed and transfected into T24 cells using LipofectAMINE 2000. Positive transfectants were screened by G418 to produce a pEGFP-c-fos-T24 cell line. After addition of increasing neurotoxic shellfish poison (NSP) or GTX2,3, primary components of paralytic shellfish poison (PSP), changes in expression of EGFP in the cell line were observed under a laser scanning confocal microscope and quantified with Image-pro Plus software.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Dose-dependent changes in the intensity of green fluorescence were observed for NSP in a range from 0 to 10 ng/mL and for GTX2,3 from 0 to 16 ng/mL.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>pEGFP-c-fos-T24 can be applied in detecting HAB toxins, and cell-based assay can be used as an alternative for screening sodium channel-specific HAB toxins.</p>