Objective To study the reliability, validity, sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of the Standardized Swallowing Assessment (SSA) in assessing swallowing function. Methods Sixty-seven stroke patients with dysphagia participated in the study. They were assessed twice with the SSA within 3 days. In addition, the patients' swallowing was also assessed using videofluoroscopy. Results There was high correlation in all items of the SSA between the two separate assessment sessions. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.85 for intrarater re- liability and 0.82 for interrater reliability. The SSA and videoflouroscopy results were highly correlated in terms of their total scores (r = -0.86,P≤0.01). Using the videoflouroscopy result as the standard, the sensitivity and spe- cificity of the SSA were 77.8% and 68.1% , respectively. At the same time, the positive and negative predictive val- ues were 48.3% and 88.9% , respectively. Conclusions The SSA has satisfactory reliability and validity, and higher sensitivity and specificity than videoflouroscopy. It is recommended for assessing swallowing with stroke pa- tients.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of matrine （MT） on steatosis Chang Liver cell model induced by oleic acid （OA） and its possible mechanism. METHODS Chang Liver cells were divided into blank group， model group and MT low-dose， medium-dose group and high-dose groups （0.1， 0.5， 1.0 mmol/L）. Except for blank group， the other groups were treated with 1.0 mmol/L OA for 24 h to establish steatosis model， and MT groups were given corresponding concentrations of drugs for 24 h. The activities of steatosis Chang Liver cells were observed； the morphologies of intracellular lipid droplets were observed and lipid content was also determined. The contents of liver function indexes [alanine transaminase （ALT）， aspartate transaminase （AST）， total bilirubin （TBIL）， alkaline phosphatase （ALP）]， as well as mRNA and protein expressions of farnesoid X receptor （FXR）， cytochrome P450 7A1 （CYP7A1） and fibroblast growth factor 19 （FGF19） were all detected. RESULTS OA and MT had no significant effect on the activity of Chang Liver cells. After OA treatment， orange lipid droplets formed in cytoplasm； compared with blank group， relative lipid content and the levels of liver function indexes were increased significantly， while the mRNA and protein expressions of FXR， CYP7A1 and FGF19 were down-regulated significantly （P＜0.05）. After treatment of low， medium and high concentrations of MT， above indexes were all reversed significantly （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS MT could significantly improve the lipid content and liver function indexes of steatosis Chang Liver cells induced by OA though regulating FXR/CYP7A1/ FGF19 signaling pathway.