Objective To explore the application of submental ultrasonongraphy (SUS) in the assessment of oropharyngeal swallowing disorders in children with cerebral palsy.Methods Seventeen children with cerebral palsy and oropharyngeal swallowing difficulties (7 on nasal feeding,10 on oral feeding) constituted the treatment group while 20 normal counterparts formed the control group.SUS was applied to measure any changes in the thickness of the tongue muscle and the range of hyoid bone displacement when they swallowed 5 ml of water.The results were compared with those assessed using the functional oral intake scale to decide the best cut-off point for detecting tube-feeding-dependent dysphagia.The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of the 20 children in the control group was calculated to evaluate the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of SUS.Results The average tongue muscle thickness change and hyoid bone displacement amplitude of the children on nasal feeding were significantly smaller than those of the children without nasal feeding and the normal children.The best cut-off point for the tongue muscle thickness change data was 1.0 cm,and that of the hyoid bone displacement amplitude was 1.5 cm.All of the ICCs were above 0.4,indicating good intra-rater and inter-rater reliability for the SUS examination.Conclusion Submental ultrasonongraphy can help assess the swallowing function of children with oropharyngeal swallowing disorders.

Objective:To study the neural mechanism between abnormal brain functional activity and alertness function in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients with or without hippocampal sclerosis.Methods:A total of 21 TLE patients with hippocampal sclerosis (TLE-HS), and 18 TLE patients without hippocampal sclerosis (TLE-N) diagnosed in the Department of Neurology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from May 2016 to November 2022 and 28 healthy controls (HC) matched with demographic data were recruited.All the 67 participants completed the attention network test (ANT) and resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) scans. The REST software was used to analyze fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) and functional connectivity (FC) based on one-way ANOVA in order to obtain differential brain regions in abnormal spontaneous neuronal activity and functional connectivity among the three groups. The SPSS 26.0 software was used to analyze the correlation between fALFF/FC values in differential brain regions and alertness network efficiency by Pearson correlation analysis.Results:There was a significant difference in the alerting network effect among the three groups ( F=4.621, P=0.013), and the post-hoc analysis showed that the alerting network effect in the TLE-HS group((59.40±22.85)ms)was significantly higher than that in the HC group((38.85±21.08)ms)(Bonferroni correction, P=0.017). The fALFF analysis showed that the fALFF values of the right superior frontal gyrus in the TLE-HS group (0.16±0.52) and the TLE-N group (0.49±0.51) were significantly lower than that in the HC group (1.01±0.46), while the fALFF values of the left precentral gyrus in the TLE-HS group (0.60±0.55) was significantly higher than that in the TLE-N group (-0.19±0.51) and the HC group (-0.15±0.36) (Bonferroni correction, all P<0.05). The functional connectivity analysis revealed that the FC values between the left inferior frontal gyrus and the right superior frontal gyrus in the TLE-HS group (0.11±0.16) and TLE-N group (0.02±0.19) were significantly higher than those in the HC group (-0.18±0.18). The FC values between the right supramarginal gyrus and the right superior frontal gyrus in the TLE-HS group (0.10±0.21) were significantly higher than those in the HC group (-0.18±0.16). The FC values between the left supplementary motor area and the right superior frontal gyrus in the TLE-HS group (0.20±0.21) were significantly higher than those in the TLE-N group (-0.03±0.31) and the HC group (-0.10±0.15) (Bonferroni correction, all P<0.05). The correlation analysis showed that the FC values between the left supplementary motor area and the right superior frontal gyrus in the TLE-HS group were significantly positively correlated with alertness network efficiency ( r=0.436, P=0.048). Conclusions:There are abnormal spontaneous neuronal activity and brain functional connectivity in TLE patients with or without hippocampal sclerosis, and the abnormality is more pronounced in the TLE-HS group. The abnormal brain functional connectivity may play an essential role in alertness dysfunction.

Objective This study aimed to explore the changes of interhemispheric functional homotopy in patients with different course of temporal lobe epilepsy based on voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity(VMHC).Methods Twenty temporal lobe epilepsy patients with a short disease course(TLE-SD),twenty-seven temporal lobe epilepsy patients with a long disease course(TLE-SD)and thirty healthy controls(HC)matched with demo-graphic data were enrolled.All participants finished functional MRI scans and neuropsychological assessment.Brain regions with significant changes between the TLE-SD/TLE-LD group and the healthy controls group were obtained based on the VMHC analysis,and the two-samples t-test was performed in the different brain regions of VMHC values between the two comparisons.The VMHC values of abnormal brain regions in the patient group were extracted and used for correlation analysis with the scale scores.Results Compared with HC,the VMHC values of the putamen and anterior cingulate gyrus were reduced in the TLE-SD group,while the VMHC values of the putamen,anterior cingulate gyrus,superior temporal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus were reduced in the TLE-LD group.Compared with the TLE-SD group,the VMHC values of the superior temporal gyrus in the TLE-LD group was significantly reduced(t=2.918,P=0.033).Correlation analysis showed that the VMHC values of the putamen was positively correlated with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA)scores(r=0.442,P=0.021).Conclusions The interhemispheric functional homotopy was impaired in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and the impairment may be more severe in patients with a long course of disease.Cognitive impairment in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy may be related to the abnormalities of interhemispheric functional homotopy.

Objective To study the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1a(HIF-1α) at mRNA and protein levels in the early stage of hypoxic-ischemic brain damage (HIBD) in neonatal rats and its role.Methods (1) Experiment 1:thirty-six postnatal 7-day SD rats were divided into Sham group (n =6) and model group (HIBD,n =30) according to the random table method,then the rats in the model group were divided into 5 subgroups according to the time of sacrifice after HIBD(6 h,12 h,24 h,48 h,72 h,n =6).The expression levels of HIF-1cα mRNA and protein were detected by quantitative Real-time PCR(qPCR) and Western blot,respectively.(2) Experiment 2:forty-five postnatal 7-day SD rats were randomized into 3 groups:Sham group (n =15),HIBD group (n =15) and 2-methoxyestradiol(2ME2) group(n =15).According to the experiment 1,at the time point of the highest expression levels of HIF-1 α mRNA and protein,rats were killed and the brains were collected.The location and expression of HIF-1 α protein were detected by immunofluorescence,histopathological changes of brain were observed by HE staining,brain water content was measured by dry-wet method,cell apoptosis was detected by nick end labeling(TUNEL) method.Results At the early stage of HIBD,the expression levels of HIF-1 α mRNA and protein increased at first and then decreased,and the mRNA expression level (3.38 ± 0.21) and protein expression level (2.81 ± 0.36) were the highest at 24 h after HIBD.In Sham group,HIF-1 α protein was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm,while in HIBD group it was mainly expressed in the nucleus.The number of HIF-1α staining positive cells,brain water content and apoptosis rate were significantly different among Sham group,HIBD group and 2ME2 group (all P ＜ 0.05),and which were significantly lower in 2ME2 group than those in HIBD group (all P ＜ 0.05),and the pathological changes were also less serious than those in HIBD group.Conclusions The mRNA and protein levels of HIF-1 α are the highest at 24 h after HIBD.Inhibiting the expression of HIF-1 α can ameliorate the brain damage of neonatal rats induced by hypoxia-ischemia.Therefore,it is hypothesized that HIF-1α may cause injury in the early stage of HIBD in neonatal rats.

Objective To investigate the prevalence of genital Chlamydia trachomatis (GCT) infection and associated risk factors in male clients attending sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics in Guangdong and provide integrated intervention strategy for this group.Methods Convenient sampling was used to recruit participants from April to June in 2015 in Guangdong province.The information about their socio-demographic characteristics and sexual behaviors were collected by using a questionnaire,and blood samples were taken from them to test the antibodies against HIV,syphilis and HCV.First pass urine was taken to test GCT and gonorrhea.Results A total of 1 749 participants with the average age of 39.53 years were recruited.The majority of them were married (73.87％,1 292/1 749),residents of Guangdong (92.28％,1 614/1 749) and in Han ethnic group (99.49％,1 740/1 749).The positive rates for GCT,HIV,syphilis,HCV,Neisseria gonorrhea,and WBC in urinalysis were 6.06％ (106/1 749),0.46％ (8/1 749),3.43％ (60/1 749),0.45％ (7/1 550),2.74％ (48/1 749),7.89％ (138/1 749) respectively.Multivariate analysis showed that risk factors for GCT infection include IDUs (OR=13.98,95％CI:3.35-58.38),anal sex with men (OR=3.11,95％ CI:1.45-6.71),Neisseria gonorrhea positive (OR =9.64,95％ CI:5.09-18.24),and WBC positive (OR =1.96,95％ CI:1.08-3.55).Conclusions This study demonstrated the high prevalence of GCT infection in male clients attending STD clinics in Guangdong.Therefore precision intervention should target this population at high-risk.