Objective To investigate the effect of cognitive intervention on language function and quality of life (QOL) in elderly patients with post-stroke aphasia.Methods Fifty-five elderly patients with post-stroke aphasia were randomly divided into the control group (n =27) and the experimental group (n=28).The control group received comprehensive treatment including speech-language therapy (SLT),while the experimental group was subjected to additional cognitive intervention.All patients were enrolled in an eight-week rehabilitation program.The mini-mental state examination (MMSE) was used to assess cognitive function,a device for diagnosis and treatment of language disorders,ZM 2.1,was used to evaluate language function,and the 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36) (Chinese version) was used to assess quality of life (QOL),before and after treatment.Results After treatment,MMSE scores,language function scores in all categories and QOL scores in all dimensions improved in both groups (P＜0.05 for both).Furthermore,after treatment,there were significant differences between the two groups in MMSE scores of orientation,recall,attention and calculation,and in scores of overall language ability and the individual categories (P＜0.05 for all).Scores of the experimental group vs.the control group for the individual categories of language function were as follows:simple instructions (76.6 ± 14.1 vs.67.4± 19.3),complex instructions (66.1±12.8 vs.58.2±14.9),yes or no (72.5±12.1 vs.63.0±14.1),naming (55.0 19.5 vs.43.3±22.2),simple comprehension (67.5±21.4 vs.55.620.6),complex comprehension (44.8±17.0 vs.35.0±18.9),listening and reading words (65.4±16.7 vs.53.7±19.3),calculation (39.3±25.8 vs.25.9±19.2),memory (36.4±18.7 vs.26.3±17.8),matching (75.9±18.6 vs.65.3±17.1),simple general knowledge (68.3±18.2 vs.58.0±19.5),complex general knowledge (58.7±17.4 vs.50.0±13.3),orientation (70.7±19.6 vs.60.5±17.2) and comparison (59.9± 14.6 vs.50.2±17.5) (P＜0.05 for all).There were significant differences between the two groups in emotional function (66.7±18.2 vs.53.1±21.2),general health (67.2±12.6 vs.60.7±9.8),mental health (71.0±5.6 vs.63.1±4.2),social functioning (64.7±9.0 vs.59.3±10.2) and vitality (55.4±14.8 vs.46.9±15.6) (P＜0.05 for all).Conclusions Cognitive intervention combined with SLT can contribute to the recovery of language function and the improvement of QOL in elderly patients with post-stroke aphasia.

Objective To evaluate the effect of endemic disease prevention in Shaanxi province caused by earthquake and supply a scientific basis for making decision regarding restoration and reconstruction after the earthquake.Methods Forty different drinking water samples were collected respectively from Mianxian county and Chencang district the earthquakes'most severely hit areas in Shaanxi province with drinking-water-borne fluorosis.The contents of fluorine and arsenic in the water was detected by Fluoride ion-selective electrode and hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry,respectively.Two hundreds iodized salt and urine samples were collected from affected household women aged 18-45 in severely hit Ningqiang and Lveyang countie with iodine deficiency disorders.The contents of iodine in the salt was detected by semi-quantitative and of urinary iodine of household women was determined by AsⅢ-Ce4+ catalytic spectrophotometry.Two hundred children aged 7-12 were detected by clinical and X-ray examination from Ningqiang and Lveyang counties of Kashin-Beck disease prevailing areas.Hair and food samples from 20 children were collected.The contents of selenium were determined by 2,3-Diamino naphthalene fluorescence spectrophotometry and of T-2 toxin in the food was detected by ELISA.Results No incidents of serious hydrologieM or geological damage were found.Fluoride content in one of eighty water samples was beyond 1.5 mg/L,accounting for 1.25%;five samples were between 1.0 mg/L and 1.5 mg/L,accounting for 6.25%:the arsenic content of all samples were below 0.01 mg/L;all the salt samples from the home of household aged 18-45 were iodine salt,the median of urine iodine of household wonlen Was 303.03μg/L (21.40-1133.54 μg/L) and 325.21 μg/L(27.61 - 1191.46 μg,/L) in Ningqiang and Lveyang counties, respectively.No clinical and X-ray patients were found in the children aged 7 - 12, the average content of selenium in hair was (0.2638 ± 0.0875)mg/kg; the content of T-2 toxin in the forty food samples was below 100 μg/kg. Conclusions The prevention of the endemic disease in the four counties has been moderately affected by the earthquake, but the situation of endemic disease is stable and there is no evidence of the endemic disease.

In order to cultivate the students’ abilities of thinking and practicing and enhance their comprehensive abilities in microbiology experiment, the authors try to search for some new teaching ways and assessment methods in microbiology experimental teaching and also attempt to make some improvement in the textbook and adjustment in teaching schedule so as to develop the students into specialized talents.

Objective To assess the effectiveness of treatment of meniscal injuries of knee joints by arthroscopy.Methods 33 patients 35 joints were followed up and the parts,types and treatment under arthroscopy were analysed.Results 33 patients were followed up from six months to six years,the mean preoperative Lysholm score was 60.5 points,and the mean postoperative one was 86.7 points.Conclusion The advantage of treating meniscal injuries by arthroscopy was the result of correct examination and little wound of arthroscopy operation,and arthroscopic repair or partial menisectomy could effectively restore the function of the injured knee.

The biological!activities i.e. antineoplastic activities and antiviral activity of the two novel kinds of interferons: hIFN-?1 and hIFN-? were studied and compared. First the fusion expression vector: pcDNA3.1A-hIFN-?1-His and pcDNA3.1A-hIFN-?-His by PCR was constructed,then the two kinds of plasmids were transfected into WI-38 (human embryonic lung cells) with liposome. And cytopathic effect (CPE) suppression test was used to study and compare the antiviral activities of rhIFN-?1-His and rhIFN-?-His, meanwhile MTT assay was used to detect their antineoplastic activities.It was found that, antiproliferative activity and MxA protein induction shown by rhIFN-?1-His is more powerful than of rhIFN-?-His. The antiviral molecular mechanisms of both hIFN-?1 and hIFN-? are related to MxA.The foundation for further study on the bioactivities and mechanism of action of hIFN-?1 and hIFN-? was established.

Objective To assess the prognostic factors associated with the sudden idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss,to predict the prognosis of patient with idiopthic sensorneural hearing loss precisely.Methods Eight hundreds and eishty two patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss were retrospectively reviewed during January 2006 to March 2007.Patients whose initial hearing threshold ≤40 dB were excluded.The patients with initial hearing threshold ＞40 dB were recruited,which was divided into six subgroups based on the patterns of audiogram:downgrade audiogram subgroup,upgrade audiogram subgroup,flat audiogram subgroup,concave audiogram subgroup,profound audiogram subgroup and total deafness subgroup.Results Regarding to the relationship between the time point for initiaI intervention and the prognosis,better prognosis was obtained in patients whose initial intervention war within 3 days of the disease,good prognosis was achieved within 1 or 2 weeks of the disease,poor prognosis was noted beyond 2 weeks of this disease.Furthermore,comparison with the initial intervention within 3 week,1 month and 1 month later,the prognosis among them was not statistical different.97.7% hearing recovery was achieved in the concave subgroup with the initial hearing threshold ＞40 dB group.Comparison with the other subgroup (except total deafness subgroup),the cure rate and recovery rate was 23.8% and 57.9% respectively in the profound subgroup.Poor prognosis was demonstrated in the total deafness subgroup and inefficacy rate was 67.4% in the total deafness subgroup.Comparison with patients without companying complications,the prognosis of patients with companying complications such as diabetes or high blood pressure has negative impact in hearing recovery.The age wag correlated with the prognosis,elder had poor prognosis,patients more than 50 years old present with worse hearing than that less than 50 years old(H=7.851,P=0.0051).Conclusions The initial intervention beyond 2 weeks had negative impact on the prognosis.The initial audiogram patterns and hearing threshold were both significant factors on the prognosis of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.In addition,old patient had poor prognosis.The companying complications such as high blood pressure and diabetes had negative impact on the prognosis of idiopathic sudden hearing sensorineural loss.

OBJECTIVETo determine the effect of arousal methods for prolonged coma of 175 patients with severe traumatic brain injury and related factors.

METHODSThere were 175 cases with persistent coma longer than 1 month after severe traumatic brain injury. Coma lasted 1-12 months. Arousal procedures included hyperbaric oxygen, physical therapy and arousal drugs.

RESULTSIn the 175 prolonged coma patients 110 got recovery of consciousness; in 118 cases with coma of 1-3 months, 86 cases recovered consciousness (72.9%); in 42 cases with coma of 4-6 months, 20 cases recovered consciousness (47.6); and in 15 cases with coma of longer than 6 months, only 4 cases recovered consciousness (26.7%). The recovery of consciousness depended on patient's primary brain stem damage, cerebral hernia, GCS score, and age.

CONCLUSIONSApplication of appropriate arousal procedures improves recovery of consciousness in patients with prolonged coma.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Brain Injuries ; therapy ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Coma, Post-Head Injury ; therapy ; Female ; Glasgow Coma Scale ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Recovery of Function ; Treatment Outcome

PURPOSETo investigate the in vitro effect of short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) against Nogo receptor (NgR) on neurite outgrowth under an inhibitory substrate of central nervous system (CNS) myelin.

METHODSThree siRNA sequences against NgR were designed and transfected into cerebellar granule cells (CGCs) to screen for the most effcient sequence of NgR siRNA by using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunofluorescence staining. NgR siRNA sequence 1 was found the most efficient which was then transfected into the CGCs grown on CNS myelin substrate to observe its disinhibition for neurite outgrowth.

RESULTSCompared with the scrambled control sequence of siRNA, the NgR siRNA sequence 1 significantly decreased NgR mRNA level at 24 h and 48 h (p <0.05), which was recovered by 96 h after transfection. NgR immunoreactivity was also markedly reduced at 24 and 48 h after the transfection of siRNA sequence 1 compared with that before transfection (p<0.05). The NgR immunoreactivity was recovered after 72 h post-transfection. Moreover, the neurite outgrowth on the myelin substrate was greatly improved within 72 h after the transfection with siRNA sequence 1 compared with the scrambled sequence-transfected group or non-transfected group (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONsiRNA-mediated knockdown of NgR expression contributes to neurite outgrowth in vitro.

Animals ; Cells, Cultured ; Myelin Sheath ; physiology ; Neuronal Outgrowth ; physiology ; Nogo Receptor 1 ; antagonists & inhibitors ; genetics ; physiology ; RNA, Small Interfering ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo investigate the polymorphism of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) UL150 open reading frame (ORF) in low-passaged clinical isolates, and to study the relationship between the polymorphism and different pathogenesis of congenital HCMV infection.

METHODSPCR was performed to amplify the entire HCMV UL150 ORF region of 29 clinical isolates, which had been proven containing detectable HCMV-DNA using fluorescence quantitative PCR. PCR amplification products were sequenced directly, and the data were analyzed.

RESULTSTotally 25 among 29 isolates were amplified, and 18 isolates were sequenced successfully. HCMV UL150 ORF sequences derived from congenitally infected infants were high variability. The UL150 ORF in all 18 clinical isolates shifted backward by 8 nucleotides leading to frame-shift, and contained a single nucleotide deletion at nucleotide position 226 compared with that of Toledo strain. The nucleotide diversity was 0.1% to 6.8% and the amino acid diversity was 0.2% to 19.2% related to Toledo strain. However, the nucleotide diversity was 0.1% to 6.4% and amino acid diversity was 0.2% to 8.3% by compared with Merlin strain. Compared with Toledo, 4 new cysteine residues and 13 additional posttranslational modification sites were observed in UL150 putative proteins of clinical isolates. Moreover, the UL150 putative protein contained an additional transmembrane helix at position of 4-17 amino acid related to Toledo.

CONCLUSIONHCMV UL150 ORF and deduced amino acid sequences of clinical strains are hypervariability. No obvious linkage between the polymorphism and different pathogenesis of congenital HCMV infection is found.

Amino Acid Sequence ; Base Sequence ; Cytomegalovirus ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Cytomegalovirus Infections ; congenital ; virology ; DNA, Viral ; genetics ; Genes, Viral ; Genetic Variation ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Open Reading Frames ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid ; Viral Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics

To investigate the role of heme oxygenase(HO), a catalyzing enzyme of heme to produce CO, in modulation of systemic circulation in CCl4-induced cirrhotic rats. Saline(vehicle) and ZnPP were s.c. injected into the posterior necks of rats respectively and the rats were then anesthetized by pentobarbital sodium in four hours. Mean arterial pressure (MAP, kPa), heart rate (HR, b/min) and portal pressure (PP, cm/H2O) were measured by indwelling catheter. Plasma CO was determined by Chalmers method. Heme oxygenase acivity was determined by the rate of bilirubin formation. The cirrhotic rats showed significant hyperdynamic circulation indicated by decreased mean arterial pressure [MAP, (15.6+/-1.7) vs (18.9+/-0.9) kPa, t = 4.52, P less than 0.01] and increased portal pressure [PP, (16.7+/-0.8) vs (8.8+/-0.3) cm H2O, t = 23.10, P less than 0.01] as compared to normal control rats(NS). ZnPP could cause a significant increase in MAP [(17.3+/-1.5) vs (15.6+/-1.7) kPa, t = 2.18, P less than 0.05] and significant decrease in PP [(13.2+/-0.7) vs (16.7+/-0.8) cm H2O, t = 8.53, P less than 0.01] in cirrhotic rats. The cirrhotic group presented a significant increase in plasma CO [(18.0+/-1.9) vs (10.4+/-1.3)mumol/L, t = 8.42, P less than 0.01] and HO activity in the spleens [(11.1+/-0.9) vs (6.5+/-0.9) nmol bilirubin/mg protein/h, t = 9.28, P less than 0.01] and intestines [(2.5+/-0.1) vs. (1.3+/-0.2) nmol bilirubin/mg protein/h, t = 15.1, P less than 0.01]. ZnPP could cause significant decreases in plasma CO and HO activity in liver, spleen and intestine of both control and cirrhotic rats. HO-CO system activation may be an important reason for the hemodynamic disturbance of liver cirrhosis.
Animals ; Carbon Monoxide ; metabolism ; Heme Oxygenase (Decyclizing) ; metabolism ; Hemodynamics ; Liver ; physiopathology ; Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley