Objective To observe the effects of loaded swimming exercise on articular cartilage and the serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in knees modelling osteoarthritis in rats.Also to explore how loaded swimming might be useful in treating knee osteoarthritis (KOA) in clinical practice.Methods Fifty male Wistar rats were divided randomly into a normal group (20 rats) and a model group (30 rats).A model of knee osteoarthritis was created in the rats of the model group by papain injection.Ten rats from the normal group and 10 from the model group were sacrificed for:① gross and optical microscopic observations of pathological changes in their knee articular cartilage; ② quantifying the expression of MMP-13 in the knee articular cartilage using immunohistochemistry; ③ determining serum SOD and MDA content using enzyme-linked immunosorbet assays.The remaining 20 rats of the model group were divided into a loaded swimming group (10 rats) and a control group (10 rats).There were no extra interventions involving the rats in the normal and control groups.The rats in the loaded swimming group took loaded swimming exercise for 6 weeks.After that,the same 3 indicators were again surveyed in all groups.Results The scores of pathological changes and the expression of MMP-13 in knee articular cartilage decreased significantly more in the loaded swimming group than in the control group.Serum SOD content also increased significantly more.Conclusions Loaded swimming exercise can delay articular cartilage damage and increase the serum SOD content of osteoarthritic knees,at least in rats.

Objective To explore mood disorders after left and right cerebral hemisphere injury,to search for possible mechanisms and to provide the basis for designing rehabilitation protocols and assessing prognosis.Methods Fifty-one cases with brain injury were recruited from a rehabilitation center and divided into left and right hemisphere injury groups with 26 and 25 cases,respectively.Hamilton rating scale for depression (HRSD) scores were analyzed. Results The left hemisphere patients had significantly higher HRSD total scores and higher scores indicating 15 kinds of mood disorders (depression,feelings of guilt,suicidal thoughts etc.).Right hemisphere injury patients had significantly higher diurnal variation,depersonalization or derealization and paranoid symptoms. Conclusions The lateralization of the cerebral hemispheres may display itself in mood and emotion.After left or right hemisphere injury,the depression presentation is different,so treatment,prognosis assessment and psychological intervention should be different for left and right hemisphere injuries.

Objective To explore the cardiopulmonary function and exercise capacity of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients without pulmonary dysfunction.Methods In this retrospective study,the results of exercise tests administered to AIS patients without pulmonary dysfunction were reviewed seeking any consistent relationship between scoliosis location and severity and the test results.Correlations relating pulmonary function,body mass index (BMI),age and exercises tolerance were also sought.Results Forty-six patients were included,17with solely thoracic scoliosis,11 with solely thoracolumbar scoliosis and 18 with both thoracic and thoracolumbar scoliosis.Ten of those studied (21.74％) had normal exercise tolerance,while in 24 exercise tolerance was mildly impaired,in 11 moderately and in 1 severely.The average peak minute ventilation (MV) of the thoracic scoliosis group [(43.11±8.47) L/min] was significantly lower than that of the thoracolumbar scoliosis group [(50.81 ± 10.11)L/min].The average VO2AT/kg of the thoracic+thoracolumbar scoliosis group [(14.16±2.04) ml/kg/min] was significantly lower than that of the thoracic scoliosis group [(16.82±2.87) mL/kg/min] and of the thoracolumbar scoliosis group [(17.78±4.34) ml/kg/min].Among the thoracic scoliosis patients,no significant difference in exercise tolerance was observed between those with moderate and severe scoliosis.The peak VO2％ pred was negatively correlated with BMI,but not significantly correlated with pulmonary function or age.Conclusions Although without pulmonary dysfunction,the AIS patients showed a significantly lower tolerance for maximum exercise generally.The average peak ME was significantly lower in the thoracic scoliosis group than in the thoracolumbar scoliosis group,while the average VO2AT/kg was significantly lower in the thoracic + thoracolumbar scoliosis group than in the solely thoracic and thoracolumbar scoliosis groups.Exercise tolerance was negatively correlated with BMI,but uncorrelated with the severity of the scoliosis,pulmonary function or age.