Incidence and Risk Factors for Dysphagia Following Cerebellar Stroke: a Retrospective Cohort Study.

The cerebellum is known to play a supportive role in swallowing-related functions; however, wide discrepancies about the incidence rate of swallowing disorders following cerebellar strokes exist within the literature. This study aimed to investigate the incidence rate of dysphagia and the factors which may affect the presence of dysphagia and clinical recovery in individuals diagnosed with cerebellar stroke. A retrospective chart audit of 1651 post-stroke patients (1049 males and 602 females) admitted with a cerebellar stroke to a comprehensive tertiary hospital in China was conducted. Data on demographics, medical, along with swallowing function assessment were collected. Differences between dysphagic and non-dysphagic groups were evaluated using t-tests and Pearson's chi-square test. Univariate logistic regression analysis was performed to establish factors associated with the presence of dysphagia. A total of 11.45% of participants were identified with dysphagia during inpatient admission. Individuals with mixed types of stroke, multiple lesions in the cerebellum, and ages older than 85 years old were more likely to develop dysphagia. Moreover, the prognosis of dysphagia following a cerebellar stroke was associated with lesions in different parts of the cerebellum. The cumulative recovery rates from the best to worse were the right hemisphere group, the cerebellum vermis or peduncle group, and both the hemisphere group and the left hemisphere group, respectively.

Transcriptome Profiles of Leaves and Roots of Goldenrain Tree (Koelreuteria paniculata Laxm.) in Response to Cadmium Stress.

Cadmium (Cd) pollution is a widespread environmental problem. In this study, we explored the transcriptome and biochemical responses of goldenrain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata Laxm.) leaves and roots to Cd stress. Leaf and root growth decreased substantially under Cd stress (50 mg/L CdCl2), but leaf and root antioxidant mechanisms were significantly activated. In RNA-seq analysis, roots treated with 25 mg/L CdCl2 featured enriched GO terms in cellular components related to intracellular ribonucleoprotein complex, ribonucleoprotein complex, and macromolecular complex. In leaves under Cd stress, most differentially expressed genes were enriched in the cellular component terms intrinsic component of membrane and membrane part. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis and analysis of module-trait relations revealed candidate genes associated with superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) activities and malondialdehyde (MDA). Ten transcription factors responded to Cd stress expression, including those in C2H2, MYB, WRKY, and bZIP families. Transcriptomic analysis of goldenrain tree revealed that Cd stress rapidly induced the intracellular ribonucleoprotein complex in the roots and the intrinsic component of membrane in the leaves. The results also indicate directions for further analyses of molecular mechanisms of Cd tolerance and accumulation in goldenrain tree.

Augmentative and alternative communication intervention for in-patient individuals with post-stroke aphasia: study protocol of a parallel-group, pragmatic randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: People with post-stroke aphasia commonly receive speech-language therapy (SLT) when they are admitted to hospitals. Commonly, these patients reported communication difficulties in in-patient settings. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) has been reported as an effective treatment approach to improve communication effectiveness, language performance, decreasing depression, and improving quality of life for this population. However, little evidence has demonstrated the use of AAC intervention (AACT) in early recovery from people with post-stroke aphasia in in-patient rehabilitation settings for improving these patients' communication effectiveness. The pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) will explore the effectiveness and feasibility of including AACT in regular SLT for in-patient people with post-stroke aphasia. METHOD: This pilot RCT is a single-blind, randomized controlled trial with two parallel groups. Both groups receive a 1-h treatment session, including either both AACT and SLT or SLT only for ten consecutive days. We aim to include 22 in-patient participants with post-stroke aphasia in each group. Participants will be assessed at pre- and post-intervention and 2 weeks after intervention. The primary outcomes are the ability of communication measured by the communication of basic needs subtest in the Functional Assessment of Communication Skills for Adult (FACS) and the overall language performance measured by the Chinese Standard Aphasia Battery (ABC). The secondary outcomes include a 10-min conversation, the 10-item Hospital version of the Stroke Aphasic Depression Questionnaire (SADQH-10), the Stroke-Specific Quality of Life Scale (SS-QOL), and a patient and caregiver satisfaction questionnaire. DISCUSSION: This pilot RCT will contribute to new scientific evidence to the field of aphasia rehabilitation in early recovery during the in-patient period. The paper describes the trial, which will explore the effect of combining AACT and SLT and SLT only, our choice of primary and secondary outcome measures, and proposed analyses. The study results will provide information for implementing AACT in the regular in-patient SLT of future RCTs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry database (ChiCTR) ChiCTR2000028870 . Registered on 5 January 2020.

Exogenous gibberellin weakens lipid breakdown by increasing soluble sugars levels in early germination of zanthoxylum seeds.

Zanthoxylum is a precious medicinal woody plant with a very low seed germination rate in China. The gibberellin (GA) treatment extremely increased the germination rate of zanthoxylum seeds. Our previous transcriptome data showed that exogenous GA played a negative role in the expression levels of genes involved in lipid metabolism during imbibition. Our present data indicated that compared with the GA-treated seeds, the soluble sugars were more quickly consumed and lipid breakdown was prematurely and actively initiated in the water-treated seeds during the early germination. However, the application of sucrose could improve the germination of water-treated seeds and significantly inhibit lipid breakdown. Both the application of sucrose and exogenous GA could significantly reduce the catalytic activities of sugar-dependent 1 (SDP1) and isocitratelyase (ICL), the expressions of SDP1 and ICL genes, and decrease the products of lipid breakdown as well during the early germination. We suggested that exogenous GA might enhance starch hydrolysis by promoting the catalytic activity of ɑ-amylase to supplement metabolically consumed soluble sugars, thus the increased sugars levels would help to inhibit the lipid breakdown to mitigate oxidative damages in the early germination of zanthoxylum seeds. In the end, we summarized the possible molecular mechanism on the exogenous GA weakening lipid breakdown by increasing soluble sugars levels in the early germination of zanthoxylum seeds.

Transcriptome Analysis of the Effects of Shell Removal and Exogenous Gibberellin on Germination of Zanthoxylum Seeds.

The zanthoxylum seeds are oil-rich and have a very thick, dense and oily shell. In the natural conditions the seeds have a very low germination rate. Prior to treatment with GAs to promote germination, the seeds were usually soaked in sulfuric acid to remove shells easily. A high-throughput sequencing of mRNAs was performed to investigate the effects of the above treatments on the germination of zanthoxylum seeds. Seven libraries were assembled into 100,982 unigenes and 59,509 unigenes were annotated. We focused on the expression profiles of the key genes related to the oil metabolisms and hormone regulations during seed germination. Our data indicated the endogenous ABA of seeds was rich. The effects that the exogenous GAs promoted germination were apparent in the secong day of germination. Especially, for the first time our results indicated the exogenous GAs lowered the aerobic metabolism including the oil metabolisms during imbibition. We inferred that the exogenous GAs had inhibitory effects on the oil metabolisms to avoide oxidative damages to the imbibed seeds, and the seed shell played the role similiar to the exogenous GAs in the initial stage of germination in the natural conditions.

[Study on Genetic Diversity of Twelve Natural Zanthoxylum dissitum Populations].

OBJECTIVE: The genetic diversity of twelve natural Zanthoxylum dissitum populations, which is a species of Chinese herbal medicines to four provinces of southwest China, has been investigated. METHODS: By inter-simple sequence repeat markers (ISSR), the eight primers, which could amplify stable, clear and highly polymorphic bands, were screened from 100 candidate primers. RESULTS: 150 total ISSR discernible bands and 147 polymorphic were amplified by the eight checked primers. On one hand, the percentage of polymorphic bands was 98.0%, on the other hand, the population level the percent of polymorphic bands ranged from 26.0% to 62.0%. The Shannon's information index within species (Hsp) was 0.4175, while the values within population (Hpop) were ranged from 0.1328 to 0.3267. Analysis of molecular variance (ANOVA) revealed that the population genetic variation accounted for 47.98% but the intraspecific variation for 52.02%. CONCLUSION: The high level of genetic diversity exists not only in population but also in species. A high degree of genetic differentiation populations is approved to exist in Zanthoxylum dissitum. These results lay a theoretical foundation for genetic diversity analysis of Zanthoxylum dissitum.

[Preparation of mouse KCTD10 antibody and expression analysis of KCTD10 in neuroepithelium of neural tube and dorsal root ganglion].

KCTD10 is a TNF-alpha inducible protein that can interact with the small subunit of DNA polymerase a and PCNA. In order to study the function of KCTD10, we prepared the rabbit anti-mouse KCTD10 polyclonal antibody by using the His-tagged recombinant mouse KCTD10 protein to immune New Zealand white rabbit. Mouse KCTD10 shares significant similarity with PDIP1 (polymerase delta-interacting protein 1) and TNFAIP1 (tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced protein 1) protein,and then KCTD10 polyclonal antiserum possesses cross-reactivity with PDIP1 protein and TNFAIP1 protein. The partially digested fragments of homogeneous proteins PDIP1 and TNFAIP1 were mixed and incubated with anti-KCTD10 antiserum at 4 degrees C for 3 h to deplete unspecific antibodies. Through this method, we removed successfully the cross-reactivity of anti-KCTD10 antibody with PDIP1 and TNFAIP1 and obtained specific anti-KCTD10 antibody. Then, the anti-KCTD10 antibody was used in immunohistochemistry experiments of mouse. The results of immunohistochemistry on whole-mount embryo and paraffin section demonstrated that KCTD10 is highly expressed in neuroepithelium of neural tube and dorsal root ganglion of 12.5 d embryos. These results suggest that KCTD10 may play roles in the development of neuroepithelium of neural tube and dorsal root ganglion.