Effectiveness of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation on Patients With Dysphagia With Medullary Infarction.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and compare the effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) acting on the sensory input or motor muscle in treating patients with dysphagia with medullary infarction. DESIGN: Prospective randomized controlled study. SETTING: Department of physical medicine and rehabilitation. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with dysphagia with medullary infarction (N=82). INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomized over 3 intervention groups: traditional swallowing therapy, sensory approach combined with traditional swallowing therapy, and motor approach combined with traditional swallowing therapy. Electrical stimulation sessions were for 20 minutes, twice a day, for 5d/wk, over a 4-week period. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Swallowing function was evaluated by the water swallow test and Standardized Swallowing Assessment, oral intake was evaluated by the Functional Oral Intake Scale, quality of life was evaluated by the Swallowing-Related Quality of Life (SWAL-QOL) Scale, and cognition was evaluated by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences between the groups in age, sex, duration, MMSE score, or severity of the swallowing disorder (P>.05). All groups showed improved swallowing function (P≤.01); the sensory approach combined with traditional swallowing therapy group showed significantly greater improvement than the other 2 groups, and the motor approach combined with traditional swallowing therapy group showed greater improvement than the traditional swallowing therapy group (P<.05). SWAL-QOL Scale scores increased more significantly in the sensory approach combined with traditional swallowing therapy and motor approach combined with traditional swallowing therapy groups than in the traditional swallowing therapy group, and the sensory approach combined with traditional swallowing therapy and motor approach combined with traditional swallowing therapy groups showed statistically significant differences (P=.04). CONCLUSIONS: NMES that targets either sensory input or motor muscle coupled with traditional therapy is conducive to recovery from dysphagia and improves quality of life for patients with dysphagia with medullary infarction. A sensory approach appears to be better than a motor approach.

Purification of a protein from coelomic fluid of the earthworm Eisenia foetida and evaluation of its hemolytic, antibacterial, and antitumor activities.

CONTEXT: Earthworm Eisenia foetida (Lumbricus rubellus), a traditional Chinese medicine, is used for treating many diseases, and its coelomic fluid has extensive biological functions. OBJECTIVE: The hemolytic, antibacterial and antitumor activities of an earthworm protein purified from coelomic fluid were investigated in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used ultrafiltration, gel chromatography, and ion exchange chromatography in sequence to isolate and purify an earthworm protein from coelomic fluid (ECFP), and ECFP was characterized by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Hemolytic assay and antibacterial tests were applied to determine the cytolytic activity of ECFP. The MTT method was carried out to evaluate the antitumor effect of ECFP on HeLa cells and LTEP-A2 cells. RESULTS: ECFP, with molecular weight determined to be approximately 38.6 kilodaltons (KDa), was shown to possess significant hemolytic activity to chicken red blood cells (CRBC) (minimal hemolytic concentration 0.39 µg/mL). Antibacterial effect of ECFP obviously tested against Escherichia coli (minimal bactericidal concentration, MBC 180 µg/ mL) and Staphylococcus aureus (MBC 90 µg/mL) were observed. Moreover, ECFP notably inhibited the proliferation of HeLa cells (IC50 77 µg/mL) and LTEP-A2 cells (IC50 126 µg/mL) both in a time- and dose-dependent manner. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: ECFP could serve as a component of the innate defense system of earthworms against foreign organisms, and thus it has potential pharmaceutical application in the future.

Multitrait analysis of quantitative trait loci using Bayesian composite space approach.

BACKGROUND: Multitrait analysis of quantitative trait loci can capture the maximum information of experiment. The maximum-likelihood approach and the least-square approach have been developed to jointly analyze multiple traits, but it is difficult for them to include multiple QTL simultaneously into one model. RESULTS: In this article, we have successfully extended Bayesian composite space approach, which is an efficient model selection method that can easily handle multiple QTL, to multitrait mapping of QTL. There are many statistical innovations of the proposed method compared with Bayesian single trait analysis. The first is that the parameters for all traits are updated jointly by vector or matrix; secondly, for QTL in the same interval that control different traits, the correlation between QTL genotypes is taken into account; thirdly, the information about the relationship of residual error between the traits is also made good use of. The superiority of the new method over separate analysis was demonstrated by both simulated and real data. The computing program was written in FORTRAN and it can be available for request. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the developed new method is more powerful than separate analysis.

[Effects of losartan on expressions of plasminogen activator and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 of rat proximal tubular epithelial cells cultured with high glucose].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of high glucose on expressions of plasminogen activator (PA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) of rat proximal tubular epithelial cells, and the role of angiotensin II receptor antagonist Losartan. METHODS: The cultured NRK-52E cells (a renal proximal tubular epithelial cell line of rat origin) were divided into five groups: control group, mannitol group (5 mmol/L D-glucose plus 25 mmol/L mannitol), high glucose group (30 mmol/L D-glucose), losartan group (10(-3) mmol/L losartan), high glucose plus losartan group (30 mmol/L D-glucose plus 10(-3) mmol/L losartan). Semi-quantity RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of PA/PAI-1 mRNA. RESULTS: Compared with control group, the high glucose group decreased the expressions of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) mRNAs (P < 0.01) and increased PAI-1 mRNA expression (P < 0.01) in cultured NRK-52E cells. Losartan could reverse partly the expression of PA/PAI-1 mRNA. Compared to high glucose group, the PA mRNA expression was significantly increased (P < 0.01) and the PAI-1 mRNA expression was decreased greatly (P < 0.01) to high glucose plus losartan group. CONCLUSION: The abnormal expression of PA/PAI-1 mRNA may play an important role in the accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Losartan may keep the balance of PA/PAI-1 and have a protective effect on DN.