Objective To determine the influence of aerobic exercise on advanced glycation end products (AGEs)in plasma using a rat model of type 2 diabetes,and to provide an experimental basis for explaining the rehabilitative mechanism of aerobic exercise in type 2 diabetes.Methods Fifty-two healthy 8-week-old male SpragueDawley rats were allocated at random into a normal control group(n=10)and a type 2 diabetes model group(n=42).The latter were overfed with a high-sugar,high-fat and high-energy diet for 4 weeks,then 30ms/kg of streptozotocin was injected intraperitoneally to create a model of type 2 diabetes.Thirty diabetic rats were then allocated at random into a diabetes control group,a low intensity exercise group and a moderate intensity exercise group with 10 in each group.The treadmill exercise was administered to the animals in the low and moderate exercise groups accordingly.Results Compared with the normal control group,plasma AGEs increased significantly in the diabetes control and moderate intensity exercise groups.Compared with the diabetes control group,AGEs in the lower intensity exercise group were significantly lower.Compared with the moderate intensity exercise group,plasma AGEs in the low intensity exercise group were somewhat lower,but not significantly.Conclusion Aerobic exercise can reduce plasma AGE levels in rats with a model of type 2 diabetes.The effect is probably related to decreasing excessive blood glncose and the exercise intensity.

Objective To assess the influence of pre-exposure to non-ablating ultrasound on the effect of high intensity focused ultrasound(HIFU)ablation.Methods Forty rabbits with transplanted VX2 tumors on their livers were divided into three pre-exposure groups(60 W,80 W and 100 W)and a control group(O W),with 10 rabbits in each group.Each group was pre-exposed to lower intensity focused ultrasound at the corresponding power.From each group,5 rabbits were randomly selected to be exposed to HIFU on the next day.Each group received 14scans.The rabbits were sacrificed 24 h later to take tissue samples for tfipheny tetrazolium chloride(TTC)staining to measure the amount of coagulative necrosis.Hematoxylin and eosin(HE)staining and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH)were also measured to observe the structure and activation of pre-exposed tumors.Results After HIFU exposure,the ablated volumes increased with pre-exposure acoustic intensity,and all volumes were larger than those in the control group.The ablating efficiency in the 100 W group was the highest.The pre-exposure did not itself ablate tumor tissue,but in the 80 W and 100 W groups the structure and activation of the tissues changed.Those in the 60 W group were not obviously altered.Conclusion Prior exposure to non-ablating ultrasound can highly enhance the efficacy of HIFU ablation.

Objective To determine the characteristics of early cognitive dysfunction and N300 event-related potentials(ERPs)in patients with acute cerebral infarction(ACI).Methods Thirty patients with ACI and thirty normal healthy elderly people were studied.The two groups were examined with a picture recognition test and EEG waveforms were recorded.The ERPs were analysed statistically.The mini-mental state examination(MMSE) was used to evaluate cognitive function,and the results were correlated with the ERPs. Results The average MMSE scores of the ACI and control groups were significantly different.Reaction times(RTs)in the picture recognition test were(798.63±49.32)ms in the ACI group and(765.21±35.67)ms in the control group,a difference significant at the 5% confidence level.The average accuracy rates,(59.75±8.45)%and(65.26±9.28)%,were also significantly different.Average N300 ERPs the in the ACI group were significantly lower than those in the control group,and the average latencies were significantly longer.Both latency and amplitude in the ACI group showed a linear correlation with MMSE scores. Conclusion The ERPs of ACI patients have some clinical significance,and can be used as a scale-based assessment of cognitive function.

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of three-dimensional rapid traction combined with sacral hiatus epidural blocking for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation(LDH). Methods A totsl of 450 patients with LDH were divided into three groups.Group A received conventional slow traction,group B received three-dimensional rapid traction,and group C received sacral hiatus injections for epidural blocking combined with three-dimensional rapid traction.The Japanese Orthopadedic Association(JOA)scale for lumbar disease and a visual analogue scale(VAS)were used to evaluate the treatment effect and the patients'subsequent quality of life.All of the patients were followed up for 1 year and evaluated using standard clinical evaluations. Results The average VAS scores and JOA scores of the three groups were not significantly different before treatment,and all had significantly improved after treatment.The overall effectiveness rates were 63.33% for group A,90.67%for group B and 94% for group C,and these differences were all statistically significant.After one year the recurrence rates in the A,B and C groups were 20.7%,14.0%and 8.7% respectively,and these differences were again statistically significant.Conclusion Sacral hiatus epidural blocking combined with three-dimensional rapid traction showed good therapeutic effect and safety for LDH patients and was superior to simple rapid traction or slow traction.

Objective To study the effect of low frequency electric stimulation and urethral catheter balloon dilatation therapy on dysphagia in nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC)patients after radiation therapy. Methods Eighteen dysphagic NPC patients who had received radiation therapy were studied.They included 15 males and 3 females with a mean age of 49.5 years.Thirteen were being fed with a nasogastric tube and 5 with a gastmstomy tube.Low frequency electric stimulation was applied to the swallowing muscles and urethral catheter balloon dilatation therapy was used for the crieopharygeus muscle.Before and after treatment the effects were evaluated with a videofluoroscopic study of swallowing.Results Most swallowing function improved after treatment.After treatment the pharyngeal transit time of paste iodine and fluid iodine(diatriazoate)through the mouth and hypopharynx showed significant improvement.Displacement of the hyoid bone was significantly greater after treatment.Before treatment the incidence of pyriform sinus stasis and aspiration were 100%:after treatment these were 44.4%and 16.6% respectively.Videofluoroscopy showed that 7 cases had been cured(38.9%),9 cases had improved(50.0%)and 2 cases showed no effect(11.1%).In 15 cases the nasogastric or gastrostomy tube could be removed. Conclusion Low frequency electric stimulation and urethral catheter balloon dilatation can improve swallowing in NPC patients with dysphagia after radiation therapy.This treatment was easy to administer,safe and reliable.

Objective To examine the effect of voice cues on nonfluent aphasia patients'performance in reading idioms.Methods Very familiar idioms were presented to aphasia patients on a computer screen either with or without an accompanying voice cue.The patients were asked to say the last two words of each idiom.The number of errors with the last two words of the idioms wag used to compare the patients'performance under the two conditions.Results The mean correct score was 9.46±13.08 when the idioms were presented without a voice cue,but 13.61±6.06 with the voice cue.The difference was statistically significant.Conclusion Voice cues can improve the speaking of familiar idioms for nonfluent aphasia patients.

Objective To study the clinical effect of qi supplementation combined with rehabilitation on the severity of fatigue after ischcmic stroke in patients with qi deficiency. Methods Ninety ischemic stroke patients with qi deficiency were randomly divided into 3 groups of 30. The treatment group was treated with an oral decoction of qi-supplementing Chinese medicine and also rehabilitation. The Western medicine control group was treated with a Chinese medicine placebo, Western medicine and rehabilitation. The blank control group was treated with the Chinese medicine placebo and rehabilitation. All groups were evaluated using a stroke-specific quality of life scale ( SSQOL) and a fatigue severity scale (FSS) before and 4 weeks after treatment. Results After treatment, the average SS-QOL and FSS scores had improved significantly compared with those before treatment, especially in the two treatment groups. There was a significant difference between the treatment group and the Western medicine control group,and between the treatment group and the blank control group on both scales. There was also a significant difference between the Western medicine control group and the blank control group in terms of SS-QOL scores, but not FSSscores. Conclusion All 3 treatments alleviated fatigue in ischemic stroke patients with a qi deficiency. Qi supplementation combined with rehabilitation was the most effective, followed by Western medicine combined with rehabilitation.

Objective To explore the effects of rhythmic auditory stimulation on the gait of patients with Parkinson's disease(PD). Methods Eight patients with PD and six healthy control subjects were studied.All subjects walked as usaal for 2 min and then Walked for 2 rain with rhythmic auditory attentional stimulation with a frequency 10% faster than their basic pace.The gait parameters in the two walking conditions were measured with three-dimension motion analysis equipment.In addition,executive function was evaluated using a frontal assessment battery (FAB)scale and the Stroop-3 test. Results In both walking conditions,average stride length and velocity were significantly lower in the PD patients than among the controls.The metronome at the higher frequency increased the cadence and stride velocity significantly in the controls.but in the PD patients it was associated with increased ca dence but decreased stride length.With auditory stimulation,the variability of velocity decreased significantly in the controls,but the variability in stride length increased significantly in the PD patients.Even with the auditory stimulation,the variability in step length,stride length and velocity were still significantly higher in the PD patients than among the controls.Executive dysfunction was clearly evident in the PD patients.Stroop-3 error rates were significantly negatively correlated with step length in the condition involving auditory stimulation.Conclusion Auditory attentional stimulation at a higher frequency becomes a new cognitive load for PD patients,and it cannot improve their gait.This may be related to executive dysfunction.

Objective To establish a mathematical model for describing and predicting the effectiveness of physical therapy on lumbar disc hernation(LDH).Methods Daily comprehensive physical therapy interventions including lumbar traction,mobilization and physical agents were administered to 31 LDH patients for 10 sessions.A visual analogue scale was used to measure the pain intensity before each session.The logistic curve model was used in the regression analysis.The first 2 to 9 pain measurements were involved in different predictive models,and the predictive results were compared among different models.Results In regression analysis,the global R2 was 0.719.In predicting analysis,the more measurements involved in the predictive model,the more effective the prediction.The predictive power was low when the model included less than 4 measurements.the prediction power was high when more than 5 measurements were used in the model.Conclusion The logistic model can describe and predict the effectiveness of multiple physical therapy on LDH patients.

Objective To explore the relationship between improved exercise endurance and inspiratory muscle strength,dyspnea and lower limb fatigue in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD)patients. Methods Twelve moderate-to-severe COPD patients were given lower limb exercise training for 12 weeks.Routine tests of pulmonary ventilation function,diffusion function,lung volume,maximal inspiratory pressure(MIP),expiratory flow limitation(EFL),cycle ergometer exercise capacity and constant work rate capacity were administered before and after the training program.Borg's scale(BS)was used to assess dyspnea and lower limb fatigue was measured during the exercise tests.Results After training,the average peak work rate(W Rpeak)and average MIP both had increased significantly,but no significant change was observed in routine pulmonary ventilation function,diffusion function or lung volume.The 5-point EFL score showed no significant change.hut Borg's scale dyspnea scores and lower limb fatigue decreased significantly.The changes in W Rpeak were positively correlated with the MIP changes,Borg scale scores and changes in Borg scores.All of these relationships were statistically significant. Conclusion The improved exercise endurance of moderate-to-severe COPD patients after lower limb exercise training is due to increased inspiratory muscle strength and decreases in the sensation of dyspnea and lower limb fatigue.