Objective:Exploring the performance characteristics of spontaneous nystagmus（SN） in video-head impulse test（vHIT） and its possible effects on saccade. Methods:Vestibular function tests such as vHIT and SN were conducted in 48 patients with acute unilateral vestibulopathy（AUVP）. The saccade characteristics of vHIT in patients without SN and those with SN were analyzed, as well as the expression characteristics of SN in vHIT. Results:Among the 48 AUVP patients, there were 34 cases with SN, including 31 cases with saccade on the healthy side, 11 cases with both the same and opposite directions of eye movement, 19 with the opposite only, 1 with same direction only, and 3 cases without saccade. There were 14 patients without SN, of whom 10 showed saccade on the healthy side, including 4 with both eye movements in the same and opposite direction, 2 in the opposite direction only, 4 in the same direction only, and 4 without saccade. There is a correlation between reverse saccade on the healthy side and the presence of SN in patients. SN in vHIT can appear opposite to the direction of eye movement on the healthy side, while on the affected side it can appear the same as the direction of eye movement and may cause more discrete overt saccade. 32 patients in the acute phase（≤2 w）, 29 patients with SN, SN intensity of（6.7 ± 3.2） °/s, and 3 patients without SN. 16 cases in non acute phase（>2 w）, 5 cases with SN, SN intensity of（3.7 ± 2.1） °/s, and 11 cases without SN. In the acute phase there were 30 cases of saccade on the healthy side, 10 cases with both the same and opposite direction of eye movement, 18 cases with only the opposite direction, 2 cases with only the same direction and 2 cases without saccade. There is a correlation between the duration of the disease and the occurrence of reverse saccade on the healthy side. The intensity cut off point of SN for reverse saccade is 2.1 °/s in the healthy lateral semicircular canal vHIT. Conclusion:Compensatory saccades and SN waves with similar waveforms are mostly present in vHIT in AUVP patients. SN wave is in the opposite direction of the normal side and eye movement wave, and the affected side and dominant saccade direction are in the same direction and mixed together, which can affect the dispersion and amplitude of overt saccade in vHIT. Accurate identification of SN in vHIT of AUVP patients is not only the key factor to identify compensatory saccade, but also can provide help for the diagnosis and compensatory assessment of AUVP.
Humans ; Head Impulse Test/methods* ; Nystagmus, Pathologic/physiopathology* ; Saccades/physiology* ; Male ; Female ; Vestibular Diseases/physiopathology* ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Eye Movements/physiology* ; Aged

Objective:To investigate the classification of head shaking nystagmus（HSN） and its clinical value in vestibular peripheral diseases. Methods:Clinical data of 198 patients with peripheral vestibular disorders presenting with HSN were retrospectively analyzed. Video Nystagmograph（VNG） was applied to detect spontaneous nystagmus（SN）, HSN, and Caloric Test（CT）. The intensity and direction of SN and HSN as well as the unilateral weakness（UW） and direction preponderance（DP） values in caloric test was analyzed in patients. Results:Among the 198 patients with vestibular peripheral disease, there were 105 males and 93 females, with an average age of（49.1±14.4） years （range: 14-87 years）. One hundred and thirty seven patients were diagnosed as Vestibular Neuritis（VN）, 12 as Meniere's Disease（MD）, 41 as sudden deafness（SD） and 8 as Hunt's syndrome accompanied by vertigo. Among them, there were 116 patients in the acute phase, including 68 cases（58.6%） with decreased HSN, 4 cases（3.4%） with increased HSN, 5 cases（4.3%） with biphasic HSN, 38 cases（32.8%） with unchanged HSN, and 1 case（0.9%） with perverted HSN. There were 82 cases in the non-acute phase, 51 cases（62.2%） with decreased HSN, 3 cases（3.6%） with increased HSN, 9 cases（11.0%） with biphasic HSN, and 19 cases（23.2%） with unchanged HSN. In biphasic HSN, the intensity of phase I nystagmus was usually greater than that of phase II, and the difference was statistically significant（P<0.01）. There was no correlation between HSN type and course of disease or DP value. The intensity of HSN was negatively correlated with the course of disease（r=-0.320, P<0.001） and positively correlated with DP value（r=0.364, P<0.001）, respectively. The intensity of unchanged nystagmus and spontaneous nystagmus were（8.0±5.7） °/s and（8.5±6.4）°/s, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the intensity of nystagmus before and after shaking the head. Conclusion:HSN can be classified into five types and could be regarded as a potential SN within a specific frequency range （mid-frequency）. Similarly, SN could also be considered as a common sign of unilateral vestibular impairment at different frequencies. HSN intensity can reflect the dynamic process of vestibular compensation, and is valuable for assessing the frequency of damage in peripheral vestibular diseases and monitoring the progress of vestibular rehabilitation.
Male ; Female ; Humans ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Vestibular Function Tests ; Retrospective Studies ; Nystagmus, Pathologic/diagnosis* ; Vertigo/diagnosis* ; Electronystagmography ; Vestibular Diseases/diagnosis*

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is known as one of the most valuable metal nanoparticles in antibacterial and anticancer application. AgNPs-resistant bacteria has been documented, but it is unclear whether cancer cells can also escape the anti-cancer effect of AgNPs. In this study, we aimed to investigate this phenomenon and its underlying mechanism. The antibacterial activity and cytotoxicity of AgNPs were measured in the presence of HeLa cell metabolites. The status of AgNPs in the system associated with metabolites were characterized by UV-Vis, Zetasizer Nano ZS, and transmission electron microscopy. Non-targeted metabolomics was used to reveal the metabolites components that bind with AgNPs. HeLa cells were injected intraperitoneally to establish the tumor-bearing mice model, and the stability of AgNPs in mice serum was analyzed. The results manifested that HeLa cell metabolites inhibited the anticancer and antibacterial effects of AgNPs in a dose-dependent manner by causing AgNPs aggregation. Effective metabolites that inhibited the biological activity of AgNPs were stable in 100 ℃, insoluble in chloroform, containing sulfur elements, and had a molecular weight less than 1 kDa in molecular weight. There were 115 compounds bound with AgNPs. In vitro experiments showed that AgNPs aggregation occurred only when the concentration of α-ketoglutarate (AKG) and glutathione (GSH) together reached a certain threshold. Interestingly, the concentration of AKG and GSH in HeLa cellular metabolites was 10 and 6 times higher than that in normal cervical epithelial cells, respectively, which explained why the threshold was reached. Furthermore, the stability of AgNPs in the serum of tumor-bearing mice decreased by 20% (P < 0.05) compared with the healthy mice. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that HeLa cells escaped the anti-cancer effect of AgNPs through the synergistic effect of AKG and GSH, suggesting the need to develop strategies to overcome this limitation.
Humans ; Animals ; Mice ; HeLa Cells ; Silver/pharmacology* ; Ketoglutaric Acids/pharmacology* ; Metal Nanoparticles ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology* ; Glutathione ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests

Objective:To observe the effects of different kinesio taping methods on hand swelling, shoulder pain, upper limb motor function and ability in the activities of daily living of stroke survivors with shoulder-hand syndrome.Methods:Sixty stroke survivors with shoulder-hand syndrome were randomly divided into groups A, B, C and a control group, each of 15. In addition to routine rehabilitation training and drug treatment, as well as claw-shaped and I-shaped taping of the hand and wrist, group A received I-shaped kinesio taping, B received Y-shape and C received I-shape plus Y-shaped taping of the shoulder. Before and after 4 weeks, the drainage method was employed to calculate the difference in volume between the two hands. Their temperatures were also measured. The subjects reported shoulder pain using a visual analog scale (VAS). Upper limb motor functioning was quantified using Fugl-Meyer scores, and difficulties in the activities of daily living were evaluated using the modified Barthel index (MBI).Results:Before the treatment there were no significant differences among the four groups in terms of any of the measurements. Afterward the treatment, significant improvement was observed in the volume and temperature differences between hands, as well as in the VAS, FMA and MBI scores. After the treatment, group C′s average FMA score was significantly higher than those of the other groups. There was no significant difference in MBI scores among the four groups.Conclusions:Supplementing rehabilitation training with I-shaped plus Y-shaped kinesio taping can effectively reduce the volume and temperature differences between the hands, relieve shoulder pain, and improve effectiveness in the activities of daily living of persons with shoulder-hand syndrome after a stroke. Hand-claw and wrist-I taping also have some effect.

Background The study on the classification of fungi is very important for the diagnosis and treatment of fungal keratitis.Identifying the different species of filamentous fungi is a critical factor for the application of anti-fungal drug in treating keratitis.ObjectiveThis report studies the relationship between the genotype of filamentous fungi and the clinical factors.MethodsFifty-two patients with filamentous fungal keratitis determined by clinical and laboratory examination were recruited in Tongren Hospital from January 2006-December 2006.The lesions were graded on the severity of the corneal ulcer and the presence of hypopyon.The filamentous fungal keratitis was treated with topical and systemic administration of anti-fungal drugs or corneal transplantation.The isolates were cultured in potato culture and identified by morphological characteristics based on the Nelson criterion and genotyped by the rDNA ITS method.The clinical data was retrospectively analyzed.ResultsForty-eight species (eubacteria are bacteria,not fungi)of fungus were identified by morphological characteristics,and the filamentous fungi were divided into 4 types based on the phylogenetic relationships within the rDNA ITS of the 52 filamentous fungi.The morphological characteristics and genotype were confirmed in 48 strains of eubacteria and 31 strains of 52 filamentous fungi (90.3%).The 4 groups of fungi were classified by genotype as follows:group 1 represents 22 strains including 20 strains of Fusarium solani and 2 strains of Fusarium oxysporum;group 2 represents 12 strains including 8 strains of Fusarium moniliformis,3 strains of Fusarium proliferatum and 1 strain of Fusarium incarnatum;group 3 represents 5 strains including 1 strain of Fusarium moniliformis and 4 unknown strains;group 4 represents 13 strains including 10 strains of Aspergillus spp.and 3 strains of Alternaria spp.Significant differences were found in the disease duration (P=0.00),inducing cause (P=0.03),ulcer grade (P=0.01)and outcome of the anti-fungal treatment (P=0.035)when compared between group 1 and 2 with group 3 and 4.Conclusion Filamentous fungi that cause keratitis could be correctly identified by sequencing the internal tanscribed spacer of rDNA.There are significant clinical differences among the groups classified by genotype.

Objective: To investigate association between psychosocial factors and anxious and depressive disorders in patients with diabetes mellitus. Methods: 172 patients with type 2 diabetes were inquired with a self-administered questionnaire about their socio-demographic characteristics, perceived stress caused by the disease, coping styles, social support. At the same time, anxious and depressive disorders were assessed with HAD.Results:Among our sample, 35 (20.3%) patients with anxiety, 33 (19.2%) with depression. After adjusting for gender, age, marital status, educational level and income, multivariate logistic regression analysis found the following results. Perceived stress from "Worrying about to be harmed by the disease"(OR=1.76,95%CI 1.12~2.77),"Social/family crisis caused by the disease"(OR=1.85, 95%CI 1.18~2.92),"Worrying about declining in body/physical function"(OR=2.16, 95%CI 1.28~3.67), "Declined economic condition"(OR=2.03,95%CI 1.27~3.26)and "Negative coping styles"(OR=1.94,95%CI 1.26~2.97)were significantly associated with anxious disorders. The perceived stress from "Social/family crisis caused by disease"(OR=1.79, 95%CI 1.09~2.96), "Worrying about declining in body/physical function"(OR=2.89, 95%CI 1.59~5.24)and "Negative coping styles"(OR=1.95,95%CI 1.23~3.11)were significantly associated with depressive disorders, while patients "Taking avoidant measures"(OR=0.52, 95%CI 0.30~0.90)were less depressive disorders.Conclusion: Anxious and depressive disorders in patients with 2 type diabetes were significantly associated with patients' perceived stress from the disease and their coping styles.