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.

Heme oxygenase-1 system and gastrointestinal inflammation: a short review.

Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) system catalyzes heme to biologically active products: carbon monoxide, biliverdin/bilirubin and free iron. It is involved in maintaining cellular homeostasis and many physiological and pathophysiological processes. A growing body of evidence indicates that HO-1 activation may play an important protective role in acute and chronic inflammation of gastrointestinal tract. This review focuses on the current understanding of the physiological significance of HO-1 induction and its possible roles in the gastrointestinal inflammation studied to date. The ability to upregulate HO-1 by pharmacological means or using gene therapy may offer therapeutic strategies for gastrointestinal inflammation in the future.

Lack of association between the GRP78 polymorphisms in the promoter and 3' UTR and susceptibility to chronic HBV infection in a Chinese Han population.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection causes large amount of unfolding or false-folding protein accumulation in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which in turn induces the expression of glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78). The aim in the present study was to analyse the potential association between GRP78 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and the risk of HBV infection. METHODS: The associations between seven common GRP78 polymorphisms in the promoter (rs391957, rs17840762, rs17840761, rs11355458) and in the 3' untranslated region (UTR) (rs16927997, rs1140763, rs12009) and possible risk of chronic HBV infection were assessed in a case-control study. 496 cases and 539 individually matched healthy controls were genotyped. RESULTS: Overall, no associations were observed in genotypic analyses. In addition, haplotypes and diplotypes combining those SNPs in the promoter or in the 3' UTR in high linkage disequilibrium (LD) were also not associated with HBV risk. CONCLUSION: These observations do not support a role for GRP78 polymorphisms in HBV infection in a predominantly Chinese Han population.

Heme oxygenase-1 system and gastrointestinal tumors.

Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) system catabolizes heme into three products: carbon monoxide, biliverdin/bilirubin and free iron. It is involved in many physiological and pathophysiological processes. A great deal of data has demonstrated the roles of HO-1 in the formation, growth and metastasis of tumors. The interest in this system by investigators involved in gastrointestinal tumors is fairly recent, and few papers on HO-1 have touched upon this subject. This review focuses on the current understanding of the physiological significance of HO-1 induction and its possible roles in the gastrointestinal tumors studied to date. The implications for possible therapeutic manipulation of HO-1 in gastrointestinal tumors are also discussed.

WITHDRAWN: Transplantation of bone mesenchymal stem cells containing the nerve growth factor gene in adult rat brain with Fimbria Fornix lesion.

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) are a promising source for cell-based treatment of brain injury, but the therapy of BMSCs is restricted by low cell survival. We examined whether nerve growth factor (NGF) improve BMSCs viability in the brain with Fimbria-Fornix lesion (FF). After transduction of NGF gene via recombinant retroviral vectors, the rat BMSCs were transformed into the NGF-GFP positive BMSCs, nearly 100% of cells expressed NGF. After transplanted into basal forebrain of rat with FF, the NGF-GFP positive BMSCs expressed the exogenous NGF gene in the host brain, and interesting, the survival number of BMSCs in the NGF group was significant more than that of the void plasmid group. Furthermore, the number of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immunoreactive neurons of NGF group was also significant higher than those of the void plasmid group (p<0.05) or the PBS group (p<0.01). Performance in the water maze test was improved in these rats in NGF group. These results indicate that NGF increased BMSCs survival in brain with FF, which results in better improvement of brain function than injected with BMSCs alone.