A cochlear implant (CI) is a kind of surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person who has severe to profound sensorineural hearing impairment. However, studies have shown that the performance in music perception for CI users has not been achieved to an ideal level. It is important to evaluate the ability to perceive music using well designed music perception test materials, in order to improve the quality of life for cochlear implant users. This paper reviewed the studies on assessing music perception ability for adult cochlear implant users from the existing literature.
Cochlear Implantation ; Cochlear Implants ; Humans ; Music ; Pitch Perception

Objective To observe apoptosis and its relationship between the expression of caspase-3 and programmed cell death 5 (PDCD5) protein in perihematoma tissue after intracerebral hemorrhage in rats and to investigate the injury mechanism after intracerebral hemorrhage. Methods A total of 54 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into sham operation and intracerebral hemorrhage groups, and the latter were redivided into 3,6, 12 hours, days 1,2,3, 5, and 7 subgroups (n = 6 in each group). A model of intracerebral hemorrhage was induced by injecting 50 μL autologous tail artery blood into the caudate nucleus. Apoptosis was detected by TUNEL method. The expressions of Caspase-3 and PDCD5 was observed by immunohistochemistry. Results The apoptotic cells were found in perihematoma tissue of rats at 3 hours,they reached the peak at day 2 to day 3 and reduced gradually after 3 days. Caspose-3 and PDCD5 positive cells were found in perihematoma tissue of rats at 3 hours, they reached peak at day 1 to day 2 and reduced gradually after 3 days. The numbers of Caspase-3 (r =0. 971, P ＜0. 01 ) and PDCD5 (r = -0. 334, P ＜0. 01 ) positive cells were positively correlated with those of apoptotic cells in perihematoma tissue after intracerebral hemorrhage in rats. Conclusions The perihematoma tissue of intracerebral hemorrhage in rats existed apoptosis, and it was consistent with the expressions of Caspase-3 and PDCD5. Caspase-3 and PDCD5 may promote apoptosis in perihematoma tissue after intracerebral hemorrhage.

OBJECTIVE: The present study was aimed to assess the ability of tone recognition performance for postlingually deafed cochlear implanted adults using no-duration tone test materials. METHOD: Sixteen cochlear implanted users have used their devices at least six months. Ten monosyllabic syllables were selected, and combined with four lexical tones which were made up of 40 tone tokens. Then, these original words were recorded using one adult male and one adult female native Beijing Mandarin speaker. The speakers were asked to record these 40 monosyllabic words multiple times, and the 80 tokens in which the durations of four tones in each monosyllabic word were within 5 ms precision were chosen as the original tone tokens. The subjects were asked to perform a four alternative forced-choice study and select the tone they had heard. RESULT: The mean score of lexical tone perception tasks for 16 cochlear implanted users is (70.7 ± 22.0)%, and Tone 4 was the easiest to perceive, while Tone 2 was the hardest for cochlear implanted subjects to perceive. Tone 1 was more often misperceived as Tone 2 relative to other tones. Tone 2 was more often misperceived as Tone 1 and 3. Tone 3 was more often misperceived as Tone 2. The tone perception performance was positively correlated with duration of hearing aid use. CONCLUSION Duration cues may impact on the ability of tone recognition performance for cochlear implant subjects, especially for tone 3. Due to the limited ability for cochlear implant subjects on pitch perception, tone l and tone 2, and tone 2 and tone 3 are most often confused with each other without duration cues. The experience of hearing aid use may benefit for postlingual deafness cochlear implant recipients on tone perception performance.
Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cochlear Implantation ; Cochlear Implants ; Female ; Hearing ; Hearing Aids ; Humans ; Language ; Male ; Pitch Perception ; Speech Perception ; Tongue

Objective:To study feasibility of preparing artificial antigen by membrane coated with hapten-carrier.To compare the Emodin-BSA membrane antigen immunogenicity and specificity against the liquid antigen.Methods:Emodin-BSA-PVDF membrane was prepared by the method that BSA was coated on PVDF membrane and the BSA was coupled with Emodin-couplint agent derivative.Rats were immunized by subcutaneous implantation.The immunogenicity and antibody specificity were characterized using Emodin-CA or Chrysophanol-CA or Physcion-CA membrane immunoassay. Results: The immunogenicity of Emodin-BSA coated membrane antigen was higher than Emodin-BSA liquid antigen;the specificity for three anthraquinones was almost the same(P>0.05). Conclusion:Emodin antiserum generated using Emodin-BSA coated membrane antigen has a high immunogenicity and specificity to Emodin.The results show it is feasible that membrane coated with hapten-carrier is used as artificial antigen.

We studied the aggregation of a recombinant engineering antibody (chA21). Anti-ErbB2 antibody chA21 was produced by fusing single-chain Fv (scFv) with human IgG1 Fc fragment, and it was proved to be a drug candidate for cancer therapy. We characterized the aggregation of chA21 by high performance sized-exclusive chromatography (HPSEC), dynamic light scattering (DLS), SDS-PAGE, indirect ELISA assay, and compared the influence of temperature and additive on the level of aggregation and binding activity. Conformation changes of different levels of aggregation were also analyzed via circular dichroism (CD). Finally, we analyzed which part of chA21 was involved in aggregation by cleaving it into scFv and Fc fragments. The results showed that chA21 could form aggregates in the storage solution. The aggregates interacted through non-covalent bonds and remained binding activity. Temperature and additive could slightly affect the level of aggregation and binding activity, while the conformations of chA21 were stable. Aggregation propensity of scFv fragment was almost same as chA21, indicating that scFv may be the major part to form the aggregates. The research on aggregation may be helpful to develop a suitable formulation for chA21 clinical application as well as provide direction for future antibody design and reconstruction.
Antibodies ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin Fc Fragments ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Immunoglobulin Variable Region ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Protein Conformation ; Protein Engineering ; methods ; Receptor Aggregation ; immunology ; Receptor, ErbB-2 ; chemistry ; immunology ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; chemistry ; genetics ; immunology

Objective:To investigate the esophageal microecology in patients with esophageal carcinoma (EC), and to compare the difference in esophageal flora between patients with esophageal cancer and healthy people.Methods:From July 2018 to July 2019, at Taihe Hospital, 82 EC patients and 20 age-and gender-matched healthy controls during the same period were selected. The pathology of EC were divided into poorly differentiated (8 cases), moderately differentiated (9 cases) and well differentiated cancers (13 cases) according to the degree of differentiation. The esophageal tissue samples of EC patients and healthy individuals were collected. Sample DNA was extracted and the V4 region of bacterial 16S rRNA was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Sequencing was performed by lllumina HiSeq 4000 sequencing platform. Alpha-diversity analysis and principal co-ordinates analysis (PCoA) were performed, and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) of linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) was used to screen different species. The random forest model was verified by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the esophageal bacterial phenotype was predicted by BugBase database. Non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis H test and Wilcoxon rank sum test were used for statistical analysis. Results:The Chao1 index of the EC patients was higher than that of healthy controls (362.51(284.29, 646.13) vs. 284.83(244.31, 344.74)), and the difference was statistically significant ( Z=-2.857, P=0.004). The results of PCoA showed that the distance between samples of EC patients and healthy control samples was relatively close, and there was no significant difference in the composition of microecology between the two groups ( P>0.05). The abundance of esophageal Cyanobacteria and Verrucomicrobia of EC patients were both higher than those of healthy controls (0.2% vs. 0.1%, 0.4% vs. 0), while the abundances of esophageal Proteobacteria, SR1 and TM7 phylum of EC patients were lower than those of healthy controls (21.9% vs. 34.2%, 0.1% vs. 0.2%, 0.2% vs. 0.5%), and the differences were statistically significant ( Q=0.090, 0.077, 0.010, 0.026 and 0.001, all P<0.05). The abundances of Clostridia, Elostridiales, Pasteurella, Pasteurellaceae, Eikenella, Actinobacillus and Haemophilus in poorly differentiated patients, moderately differentiated and higher differentiated patients were 28.3%, 24.2% and 17.0%, 28.3%, 24.2% and 17.0%, 3.2%, 0.3% and 5.0%, 3.2%, 0.3% and 5.0%, 0, 1.5% and 0.1%, 0.5%, 0 and 0.7%, 1.3%, 0.2% and 3.9%, respectively, and the differences were statistically significant ( Q=0.579, 0.557, 0.390, 0.711, 0.768, 0.768 and 0.768, all P<0.05). LEfSe analysis showed that the abundances of Fusobacterium, Ruminococcus, Odorbacterium and S24_7 of EC patients were higher than those of healthy controls (21.5% vs. 11.7%, 0.5% vs. 0.1%, 0.1% vs. 0 and 0 vs. 0), and the differences were statistically significant (LDA=2.591, 2.379, 2.790 and 2.927, all P<0.05). The ROC curve confirmed that the random forest model was reliable and the AUC value was 0.92. BugBase database phenotypic prediction showed that the phenotype of esophageal bacteria related to biofilm formation, pathogenic potential, mobile elements, oxygen demand (aerobic, anaerobic and facultative bacteria), and oxidative stress tolerance of EC patients were more abundant than those of healthy controls (all P<0.05). Conclusions:The esophageal flora of patients with esophageal cancer has changed. Fusobacterium, Ruminococcus, Odoribacterium and S24_7 may be potential biomarkers of esophageal flora.

Objective:To evaluate the effect of the tight-knit medical association model of precise assistance on nursing quality in assisted hospitals.Methods:The tight-knit medical association model of precise assistance was applied to the assisted hospital, the first stage assistance was provided from January 2015 to December 2016 and the second stage assistance was provided from January 2017 to December 2018. Before the assistance (December 2014) , after the assistance (December 2016) and the second year after the assistance (December 2018) , a total of 210 nurses and 210 patients were respectively selected to investigate the satisfaction with the convenient sampling method. The incidences of falls, in-hospital stress injuries and unplanned extubation in the assisted hospital before and after the assistance were compared.Results:In the second year after assistance, the satisfaction rate of nurses in the assisted hospital was 90.476% (190/210) , which was higher than 69.524% (146/210) before assistance and 78.571% (165/210) after assistance, and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.01) . In the second year after the assistance, the satisfaction rate of patients in the assisted hospital was 93.810% (197/210) , which was higher than 72.381% (152/210) before the assistance and 82.857% (174/210) after the assistance, and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.01) . After the assistance, the incidences of falls, in-hospital stress injuries and unplanned extubation of patients in the assisted hospital were lower than those before the assistance, and the differences were statistically significant ( P< 0.05) . Conclusions:The tight-knit medical alliance model of precise assistance can improve the satisfaction of nurses' and patients' satisfaction with nursing work in the assisted hospitals and reduce the incidences of falls, in-hospital stress injuries and unplanned extubation, which can improve nursing quality in assisted hospitals.

OBJECTIVE To determine speech perception,tone perception and the subjective preferences of mandarin-speaking adults who received the fine structure processing(FSP) coding strategy,at upgrade from the continuous interleaved sampling(CIS+) coding strategy.METHODS Thirteen mandarin-speaking subjects were tested at switch-over from CIS+ to FSP coding strategy approximately 1-,2-,and 3-month after switch-over with the mandarin hearing in noise test(M-HINT),the mandarin tone identification in noise test(M-TINT),and a visual analogue scale assessing sound and speech assessment(SSA).RESULTS Tone perception improved significantly over time with the FSP coding strategy.There were no significant differences in the MHINT over time,nor when compared to the CIS+ coding strategy.Subjects rated the FSP coding strategy with the OPUS 2 as significantly more "full" and "rich" than with the CIS+ coding strategy after 3-months.CONCLUSION Mandarin-speaking adults can use the FSP coding strategy as well as CIS+ coding strategy.Loss in performance was not observed after switch-over.Tone identification improves over time with the FSP coding strategy,which is beneficial to tonal-language users.

Objective:To explore the effect of smoking on the wound healing of stage 4 pressure ulcers in rats.Methods:Fifty male Sprague-Dawley rats aged 6-8 weeks were divided into simple pressure ulcer group and smoking+ pressure ulcer group according to the random number table, with 25 rats in each group. After the rats in the smoking+ pressure ulcer group received passive smoking intervention for 12 weeks, an iron plate was placed in the back muscle of each rat in 2 groups, and a magnet was placed outside the skin at the corresponding position of the iron plate for 2 h at each time, with 5 times a day and continuously for 6 days to reproduce stage 4 pressure ulcer model. Immediately after establishing the model, 3 rats in each group were sacrificed and wound tissue was collected, and hematoxylin-eosin staining was applied to observe the pathological changes of the wounds. On 1, 3, 7, and 14 day (s) after establishing the model, 3 rats in each group were collected to measure the pressure ulcer wound area by the paper jam method. After measurement of the wound area, the rats were sacrificed and the wound tissue was collected, and the protein expression levels of matrix metalloproteinases 9 (MMP-9) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1) in wound tissue were detected by immunohistochemical method, and the ratio of MMP-9/TIMP-1 was calculated.The wound healing time of the remaining 10 rats in each group was recorded. Data were statistically analyzed with analysis of variance for factorial design, two independent sample t test, and Bonferroni correction. Results:(1) Immediately after establishing the model, muscle fiber necrosis and dissolution with large areas were seen on the wound, the myofibrils arranged loosely, and more lymphocytes and monocytes infiltration were seen around the wound of rats in simple pressure ulcer group. A large number of necrotic myofibers were dissolved and gradually disappeared, the myofibrils arranged loosely, and the number of diffuse lymphocytes and monocyte infiltration in wound of rats in smoking+ pressure ulcer group were significantly higher than those in simple pressure ulcer group. (2) The wound areas of rats in smoking+ pressure ulcer group were significantly larger than those in simple pressure ulcer group on 1, 3, 7, and 14 day (s) after establishing the model ( t=3.019, 2.549, 2.181, 3.674, P<0.05 or P<0.01). (3) On 1 to 14 days after establishing the model, the protein expression levels of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in the wound tissue and the ratio of MMP-9/TIMP-1 of rats in the two groups increased first and then decreased. On 1, 3, 7, and 14 day (s) after establishing the model, the protein expression levels of MMP-9 in the wound tissue and the ratio of MMP-9/TIMP-1 of rats in smoking+ pressure ulcer group were significantly higher than those in simple pressure ulcer group ( t=4.783, 4.508, 6.325, 7.204, 3.078, 2.989, 4.081, 4.696, P<0.05 or P<0.01), and the protein expression levels of TIMP-1 in wound tissue of rats in the two groups were similar. (4) The wound healing time of rats in smoking+ pressure ulcer group was (48.9±2.6) d, which was significantly longer than (35.2±2.3) d of simple pressure ulcer group ( t=12.477, P<0.05). Conclusions:Smoking can up-regulate the expression of MMP-9 in pressure ulcer wound and result in an imbalance of MMP-9/TIMP-1, thereby affecting the wound healing of stage 4 pressure ulcers in rats.

Objective:To invastigate the targets and signaling pathways of Gubiao Fanggan Modified Formula in regulating the defense against influenza A virus in immunosuppressed mice by network pharmacology,and the key targets were verified by immuno-suppressive mice model.Methods:TCMSP database was used to search the active ingredients of Gubiao Fanggan Modified Formula,and GeneCard,OMIM,PharmGkb databases were used to obtain the potential targets of the active ingredients to prevent influenza,and take their intersection targets were taken;STRING11.5 database was used to make protein-protein interaction network analyzed and finded the core targets;Cytoscape3.8.1 was used to build a traditional Chinese medicine-ingredient-disease target network,and GO enrichment analysis and KEGG enrichment analysis were performed.Intraperitoneal injection of cyclophosphamide was used to construct a mouse model of immune function suppression,normal group,model control group,Gubiao Fanggan Modified Formula group and oseltamivir group were set up,followed by prophylactic administration,and influenza virus intervention was performed on the fourth day.After 7 days of intragastric administration,the key targets were verified by mouse spleen index,HE staining,RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry.Results:There were 82 active ingredients in five traditional Chinese medicines in Gubiao Fanggan Modi-fied Formula,and 72 common targets of drugs and diseases such as IL-6,TNF-α,IL-2,etc,mainly involving IL-17,TNF and AGE-RAGE signaling pathway.Gubiao Fanggan Modified Formula could increase spleen index and significantly reduce mRNA and protein expressions of IL-6 and TNF-α in spleen tissue of mice(P<0.05 or P<0.01).Conclusion:Gubiao Fanggan Modified Formula may regulate body's immune function through targets such as IL-6 and TNF-α,thereby preventing influenza virus infection.