Effect of music-based movement therapy on the freezing of gait in patients with Parkinson's disease: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Progression of freezing of gait (FOG), a common pathological gait in Parkinson's disease (PD), has been shown to be an important risk factor for falls, loss of independent living ability, and reduced quality of life. However, previous evidence indicated poor efficacy of medicine and surgery in treating FOG in patients with PD. Music-based movement therapy (MMT), which entails listening to music while exercising, has been proposed as a treatment to improve patients' motor function, emotions, and physiological activity. In recent years, MMT has been widely used to treat movement disorders in neurological diseases with promising results. Results from our earlier pilot study revealed that MMT could relieve FOG and improve the quality of life for patients with PD. Objective: To explore the effect of MMT on FOG in patients with PD. Materials and methods: This was a prospective, evaluator-blinded, randomized controlled study. A total of 81 participants were randomly divided into music-based movement therapy group (MMT, n = 27), exercise therapy group (ET, n = 27), and control group (n = 27). Participants in the MMT group were treated with MMT five times (1 h at a time) every week for 4 weeks. Subjects in the ET group were intervened in the same way as the MMT group, but without music. Routine rehabilitation treatment was performed on participants in all groups. The primary outcome was the change of FOG in patients with PD. Secondary evaluation indicators included FOG-Questionnaire (FOG-Q) and the comprehensive motor function. Results: After 4 weeks of intervention, the double support time, the cadence, the max flexion of knee in stance, the max hip extension, the flexion moment of knee in stance, the comprehensive motor function (UPDRS Part III gait-related items total score, arising from chair, freezing of gait, postural stability, posture, MDS-UPDRS Part II gait-related items total score, getting out of bed/a car/deep chair, walking and balance, freezing), and the FOG-Q in the MMT group were lower than that in the control group and ET group (p < 0.05). The gait velocity, the max ankle dorsiflexion in stance, ankle range of motion (ROM) during push-off, ankle ROM over gait cycle, the knee ROM over gait cycle, and the max extensor moment in stance (ankle, knee) in the MMT group were higher than that in the control group and ET group (p < 0.05). However, no significant difference was reported between the control group and ET group (p > 0.05). The stride length and hip ROM over gait cycle in the MMT group were higher than that in the control group (p < 0.05), and the max knee extension in stance in the MMT group was lower than that in the control group (p < 0.05). Nevertheless, there was no significant difference between the ET group and MMT group (p > 0.05) or control group (p > 0.05). Conclusion: MMT improved gait disorders in PD patients with FOG, thereby improving their comprehensive motor function.

The assessment of immature microvascular density in brain gliomas with dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging.

PURPOSE: This study was designed to quantitatively evaluate the immature microvascular density (MVD) of brain gliomas using the volume transfer constant (K(trans)) and volume of extravascular extracellular space per unit volume of tissue (Ve) from dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) noninvasively. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-seven patients (35 males, 22 females; age range, 14-70, mean age 46±12 years old) with brain glioma were included in this study. The maximal values of K(trans) and Ve of all patients with brain glioma (grade II 24, III 7 and IV 26) were obtained. The CD105-microvascular density (CD105-MVD) of each tumor was measured in surgical specimen. The differences of K(trans), Ve and CD105-MVD between the different grades of gliomas were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U-test. The Pearman correlation coefficient was determined between K(trans), Ve and CD105-MVD. A P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The differences in K(trans), Ve and CD105-MVD were statistically significant between low-grade glioma (LGG) and high-grade glioma (HGG) (P=0.001, P<0.001, P<0.001). The K(trans), Ve and CD105-MVD of grade II were significantly lower than those of grade III and IV. K(trans) and Ve were positively correlated with CD105-MVD in HGG (P<0.001, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest DCE-MRI plays an important part in noninvasively evaluating the immature MVD of brain gliomas.

[Regional heterogeneity of lake eutrophication effects in China].

Although biomass of algae (Chl-a) were in variant levels between different lake regions in China under the same nutrients conditions, it demonstrated that efficiencies of TN/TP used by algae had regional differences. In order to clarify the differences, curve estimation in SPSS was used to analyze the linear relationship between Ig Chl-a and Ig TN/lg TP. The slopes of these linear equations were identified as the efficiencies of TN/TP used by algae. The slopes of linear equations from Mengxin Plateau, Yungui Plateau, Northeast Mountain-Plain, lower reach of Yangtze River Plain and North Plain were 1.002, 0.817, 0.761, 0.545, 0.250, orderly. The efficiencies of TN used by algae ranged from the highest to the lowest were lower reach of Yangtze River Plain, Yungui Plateau, North Plain, Northeast Mountain-Plain, Mengxin Plateau, and the slopes of linear equations were 1.401, 1.058, 0.447, 0.239, 0. 099, respectively. Consequently, in Northeast Mountain-Plain, Mengxin Plateau the efficiencies of TP used by algae were higher than those of TN, and in Yangtze River Plain, Yungui Plateau, North Plain, the efficiencies of TN used by algae were higher than those of TP. On the other hand, in order to describe the effects of algae on transparency in different lakes, the relationships between Chl-a and SD were analyzed. The results showed that in Yungui Plateau the effect of algae on transparency was the most obvious as the variation of SD explained by Chl-a was the highest, and Northeast Mountain-Plain, Mengxin Plateau and North Plain followed. However, in lower reach of Yangtze River Plain, the relationship between Chl-a and SD was not significant.

New prognostic parameters for very-low-risk gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

BACKGROUND: According to the National Institutes of Health consensus criteria, gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) smaller than 2 cm in diameter with less than 5 mitotic figures per 50 high-power fields are considered very-low-risk GISTs, but these two indices alone cannot reliably predict a benign outcome during long-term follow-ups. Therefore, identification of additional parameters for predicting the clinical behavior of GISTs is necessary. METHODS: Eighty-eight patients with tumors that meet the very-low-risk GIST criteria were retrospectively investigated and morphological parameters of tumors associated with the biological behavior of very-low-risk GISTs were evaluated in the present study. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate disease-free survival rates. RESULTS: Eighty-one patients were followed up for one to 16.3 years. Five cases of relapses were identified in the patients. Distinctive infiltrative growth patterns such as muscularis propria, muscularis mucosa, or nerve infiltration were identified by microscopy in 4 patients with the relapse, including three patients who experienced multiple recurrences. The infiltrative growth features became more obvious in multiple recurrent tumors compared to the single recurrent tumor, while only one developed relapse in 76 patients without infiltration (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Microscopic infiltrative growth patterns of the tumor may have clinical significance in predicting the prognosis of very-low-risk GISTs.

Correlations of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α/hypoxia-inducible factor-2α expression with angiogenesis factors expression and prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) may play an important role in the process of tumorigenesis as well as tumor progression. The aim of this study was to compare the expression between HIF-1α and HIF-2α in tumor angiogenesis and the overall impact on patient prognosis in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: In the current work we compared the immunohistochemical expression of HIF-1α and HIF-2α in surgical specimens of 140 patients with NSCLC in a tissue microarray study. Relationships between HIF-α expression and clinicopathological or angiogenic factors, including prognosis, were analyzed. RESULTS: High HIF-1α and HIF-2α expression was noted in 49/140 (35.0%) and in 64/140 (45.7%) of the cases, respectively. There was no direct correlation between HIF-1α and HIF-2α expression. Patients with advanced stage tumors had frequent high expression of HIF-2α (P = 0.007), and we also found a significant correlation between HIF-2α and T or N stage (P = 0.030 and 0.043, respectively). HIF-1α showed a marginal association with T stage (P = 0.084), which showed a higher expression in early stage tumors. A significant correlation (P = 0.045) was noticed between HIF-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression while the expression levels of thymidine phosphorylase (TP), cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and microvessel density (MVD) were significantly higher in high HIF-2α tumors (P = 0.020, 0.004, and 0.046, respectively). In addition, univariate analysis of overall survival demonstrated that HIF-2α expression, but not HIF-1α, was related to poor outcome (P = 0.001) and it retained significant in multivariate analysis (P = 0.036). CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, we conclude that HIF-1α and HIF-2α may differentially regulate the major angiogenic factors in different stages of the tumor process in NSCLC. HIF-2α may play a dominant role in tumor angiogenesis and appears to be of obvious value as a significant prognostic factor in NSCLC.

[Study on solid phase extraction and spectrophotometric determination of cadmium with 2-[2-(5-bromoquinolinylazo)]-5-diethylaminophenol].

A new chromogenic reagent 2-[2-(5-bromoquinolinylazo)]-5-diethylaminophenol (5-Br-QADEAP) was synthesized, and its structure was verified by elemental analysis, infrared spectrum, and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum. The color reaction of 5-Br-QADEAP with cadmium was studied. In the presence of pH 8.0 buffer solution and Triton X-100 medium, 5-Br-QADEAP can react with cadmium(II) to form a stable 2 : 1 complex (5-Br-QADEAP: Cd(II). The molar absorptivity is 1.60 x 10(5) L x mol(-1) x cm(-1) at 595 nm. Beer's law is obeyed in the range of 0-1.0 microg x mL(-1). The cadmium ion in the samples can be enriched and separated by solid phase extraction with anion exchange resin cartridge. This method was applied to the determination of cadmium in water and food. The relative standard deviations are 2.5%-3.2%, and the recoveries are 96%-105%. The results are satisfactory.