Objective To study the effect of homocysteine(Hcy)on the formation of atherosclerotic and acceleration of ApoE-/-mice liver lipid metabolism disorder .Methods 12 normal 5 weeks old C57BL/6J mice served as control group ,and 36 5 weeks old C57BL/6J A poE-/- mice were randomly divided into 3 groups(n=12 for each group) ,the model control group ,the hyperhomocys-teinemia(HHcy)group and the intervention group(intervened by folate and vitamin B12 ) .18 weeks later ,the blood of the mice was gotten using a Unilateral enucleation method ,and the Serum Hcy and lipid changes were detected by Biochemical analyzer .And the changes of plaque size were measured by HE staining .The liver tissues of the 4 groups mice were taken and the changes in hepato-cyte lipid were detected by oil red O staining ,and the hepatic lipid levels were measured by enzymatic determination(by Semi-quan-titative image analysis) .Results The results showed that ,when compared with the control group ,the serum Hcy ,LDL ,TG and CHOL levels of the HHcy group significantly increased by 2 .3 ,2 .8 ,5 .0 ,10 .7 fold(P<0 .01)and the content of HDL decreased by 64% (P<0 .01) ,and the result showed that ,conpared with the HHcy group ,the seram Hcy ,LDL and CHOL levels of the interven-tion group were significantly decreased by 43% ,34% ,21% (P<0 .05) .Atherosclerotic fatty plaque could be seen in the hyperlipi-demic ,model and intervention group .Meanwhile ,there was a large number of scattered fat in A poE-/-mice liver by oil red O staining in the HHcy group ,and the CHOL and TG levels were 2 .2 fold and 2 .8 fold higher in the HHcy than that in the normal control group respectively(P<0 .01) .And compared with the HHcy group ,the serum CHOL and TG levels of the intervention group sig-nificantly decreased by 34% ,33% (P<0 .01) .Conclusion It is found that Hcy can induce the formation of As and accelerate liver lipid metabolism disorder .

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical applicability of the somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) study in early detection of diabetic neuropathy, and compare the results in different degrees of the disease. METHOD: The study was performed retrospectively with prospective data collection. The Toronto clinical scoring system was taken as well as nerve conduction study, needle electromyography, and SEPs study with median and posterior tibial nerve stimulations in thirty-eight diabetic patients and twenty non-diabetic adults. The subjects were divided into the non-neuropathy group and the neuropathy group, and the latter was divided into three subgroups (suspected, probable, and definite) according to the degree of neuropathy. Statistical analysis was performed with height and age-related correction of reference values of the latency of SEPs with posterior tibial nerve stimulation. RESULTS: The Toronto clinical scoring system showed concordance with the degree of the diabetic neuropathy (p<0.05, correlation coefficient=0.827). SEPs study with posterior tibial nerve stimulations showed statistically significant latency delay, not only in the neuropathy group, but also in the non-neuropathy group, compared with the non-diabetic group (p<0.05). Moreover, the latency delay was noted in proportion to the degree of the diabetic neuropathy within the neuropathy group. Interpretation of the data with height and age-corrected reference values of latency of posterior tibial SEPs had stronger correlation. CONCLUSION: The SEPs study is useful in the early diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy. However, application of the SEPs to clinical use needs to go through height and age correction.
Adult ; Data Collection ; Diabetic Neuropathies ; Early Diagnosis ; Electromyography ; Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory ; Humans ; Needles ; Neural Conduction ; Prospective Studies ; Reference Values ; Retrospective Studies ; Tibial Nerve

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of a nasogastric tube (NGT) on swallowing simulated saliva in stroke patients. METHODS: Three groups of participants were enrolled into the study: group A (20 stroke patients with a NGT), a control group B (25 stroke patients without a NGT), and group C (25 healthy adults with no brain lesions or dysphagia). Participants swallowed 1 mL of water to simulate saliva. Patients in group A were tested twice: once with a NGT (group A1) and once after the NGT was removed (group A2). The distance of hyoid bone movement was measured by subtracting the shortest distance between the mandible and hyoid bone (S) from the distance at resting state (R) measured with ultrasonography. The degree of the movement was calculated by (R–S)/R. The trajectory area of hyoid bone movement (Area) and the interval between the beginning of hyoid bone movement and the moment of the shortest hyoid−mandible approximation (Interval) was calculated by a computer program. RESULTS: From group A: R–S and (R–S)/R of group A2 at 1.14±0.36 cm and 0.30±0.09 cm and were significantly greater than those of group A1 at 0.81±0.36 cm and 0.22±0.08 cm (p=0.009 and p=0.005). After removing the NGT as seen in group A2, R–S and (R–S)/R were improved to the level of those of group B at 1.20±0.32 cm and 0.30±0.09 cm (p=0.909 and p=0.997). The Area of group A2 was larger and the Interval of group A2 was shorter than those of group A1 though a comparison of these factors between A2 and A1 did not show a statistically significant difference. CONCLUSION: A NGT interferes with the movement of the hyoid bone when swallowing 1 mL of water in stroke patients though the movement is restored to normal after removing the NGT.
Adult ; Brain ; Deglutition Disorders ; Deglutition* ; Humans ; Hyoid Bone* ; Mandible ; Saliva ; Stroke* ; Ultrasonography* ; Water