Chronic effects of simultaneous electromyostimulation and vibration on leg blood flow in spinal cord injury.

STUDY DESIGN: Randomized two-group parallel. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to analyze the adaptations on the popliteal artery (mean blood velocity (MBV), peak blood velocity (PBV), arterial resting diameter (RD) and blood flow (BF)) induced by 12 weeks of simultaneous application of whole-body vibration and electromyostimulation (WBV+ES) in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Secondarily, the musculoskeletal effects of this therapy on the gastrocnemius muscle thickness (MT) and femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD) were analyzed. SETTING: Valladolid, Spain. METHODS: Seventeen SCI patients (American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) A or B) were randomly assigned to the experimental group (EG=9) or the control group (CG=8). Each subject was assessed in four different occasions: at baseline, after 6 weeks (Post-6) and 12 weeks of the treatment (Post-12) and 8 weeks after the end of the treatment (Post-20). Subjects in the EG performed 30 10-min sessions of WBV+ES during 12 weeks. RESULTS: In the EG, RD increased compared with the baseline value at Post-6 (9.5%, P<0.01), Post-12 (19.0%, P<0.001) and Post-20 (16.7%, P<0.001). Similarly, in the EG, BF increased compared with the baseline value and with CG only at Post-12 ((33.9%, P<0.01) and (72.5%, P<0.05), respectively). Similarly, WBV+ES increased the MT of the gastrocnemius. BMD of both hips remained invariable during the study. CG showed no change at any point. CONCLUSIONS: WBV+ES improved popliteal artery BF, RD and MT after 12 weeks in SCI patients. This increase in RD remained above baseline after 8 weeks. The combination of WBV and ES could be considered a promising alternative to reverse the musculoskeletal atrophy and improve peripheral vascular properties in SCI patients.

Antigonorrhoeal activity of plants used in Guatemala for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.

Plants popularly used in Guatemala for the treatment of gonorrhoea were macerated in 50% alcohol and the tincture tested for in vitro activity against Neisseria gonorrhoeae using strains isolated from symptomatic patients and confirmed by standard bacteriological procedures. From 46 plants investigated, 13 (28.3%) showed evident inhibition zones (> 9 mm), seven (15.2%) showed small activity (6.1-8.9 mm) and 26 (56.5%) showed no activity; nine of these plants inhibited five strains of N. gonorrhoea freshly isolated. The most active plants of American origin were: bark of Bixa orellana fruits of Parmentiera edulis, leaf of Diphysa robinioides, Eupatorium odoratum, Gliricidia sepium, Physalis angulata, Piper aduncum and Prosopis juliflora, root of Casimiroa edulis, and whole Clematis dioica.