Objective: To observe the effect of action observation combined with occupational therapy on the upper limb function and ability in the activities of daily living after a stroke. Methods: Forty-two stroke survivors were randomly divided into a treatment group and a control group, each of 21. Both groups were given conventional rehabilitation training and conventional occupational therapy. The treatment group additionally performed action observation. The Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA-UE), a Hong Kong version of the functional test for the hemiplegic upper extremity (FTHUE-HK) and the Modified Barthel index (MBI) were used for assessment before and after 8 weeks of treatment. Results: Before the treatment there were no significant differences between the two groups. Afterward, significant improvement was observed in all of the measurements in both groups. Compared with the control group, the treatment group showed more significant improvement in its average FMA-UE, FTHUE-HK and MBI scores. Conclusion Action observation can improve the effects of rehabilitation and occupational therapy after stroke.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of intervention with oral probiotic METHODS: This study were conducted among 155 women in the third trimester of pregnancy with positive results of GBS culture in the Outpatient Department of Zhujiang Hospital from March to November, 2019. After excluding 32 patients who received lactobacillus intervention for less than 2 weeks or underwent postpartum GBS retesting, the women were divided into oral probiotics intervention group (60 cases) and non-intervention group (63 cases). According to the results of GBS retesting, the 60 women in the intervention group were divided into GBS-negative group (18 cases) and persistent GBS-positive group (42 cases). At the end of the intervention, the rates of negative GBS culture result were calculated and the pregnancy outcomes were compared. From 5 women randomly selected from the intervention group, samples of vaginal secretions were collected before and after the intervention for amplicon sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. RESULTS: At the end of the intervention, the GBS-negative rate in the intervention group was 30% (18/60), as compared with 23% (3/13) in the non-intervention group. Probiotic intervention significantly reduced the incidence of premature rupture of membranes ( CONCLUSIONS Intervention with oral probiotics can reduce vaginal GBS colonization in late pregnancy and improve the pregnancy outcome.
Female ; Humans ; Lactobacillus reuteri ; Lactobacillus rhamnosus ; Microbiota ; Pregnancy ; Probiotics/therapeutic use* ; Streptococcus agalactiae ; Vagina