Objective To evaluate the therapeutic effects of electromyography feedback functional electrical stimulation (FES) on plantar pressure of stroke patients. Methods 18 subjects were included in this study, who were with drop foot resulting from stroke, but could partly dorsiflex the paretic limb's ankle (Manual Muscle Test >2). They were tested on the RS-footscan plate before and after stimulation. The plantar pressure data of paretic foot and walking velocity before and after stimulation were compared. Results The initial touchdown points of most paretic foot were changed from Meta (metatarsal) 5 to heel; the time of initial touchdown of heel medial and heel lateral significantly improved, while that of Meta 3, Meta 4 and Meta 5 significantly delayed; the peak force, impulse and contact area of the heel significantly improved after stimulation (P<0.05). At the same time, the time of initial touchdown of heel medial and heel lateral of nonparetic foot significantly improved (P<0.05). Conclusion Electromyography feedback functional electrical stimulation can improve the gait pattern and the stability of patients with stroke.

The pathogenesis of cerebral malaria is biologically complex and involves multi-factorial mechanisms such as microvascular congestion, immunopathology by the pro-inflammatory cytokine and endothelial dysfunction. Recent data have suggested that a pleiotropic T-cell immunomodulatory protein (TIP) could effectively mediate inflammatory cytokines of mammalian immune response against acute graft-versus-host disease in animal models. In this study, we identified a conserved homologue of TIP in Plasmodium berghei (PbTIP) as a membrane protein in Plasmodium asexual stage. Compared with PBS control group, the pathology of experimental cerebral malaria (ECM) in rPbTIP intravenous injection (i.v.) group was alleviated by the downregulation of pro-inflammatory responses, and rPbTIP i.v. group elicited an expansion of regulatory T-cell response. Therefore, rPbTIP i.v. group displayed less severe brain pathology and feverish mice in rPbTIP i.v. group died from ECM. This study suggested that PbTIP may be a novel promising target to alleviate the severity of ECM.
Animals ; Brain ; Cytokines ; Down-Regulation ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) ; Graft vs Host Disease ; Injections, Intravenous ; Malaria, Cerebral ; Membrane Proteins ; Mice ; Models, Animal ; Pathology ; Plasmodium berghei ; Plasmodium ; Staphylococcal Protein A ; T-Lymphocytes