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Objective:To compare the differences in important parameters between the articulation assessment and training system of intelligently extracted speech with those from the Praat acoustic software and those manually extracted.Methods:The speech of thirty-two normal subjects was captured using the intelligent articulation assessment and training system and using Praat acoustic software. The former analyzed the mean fundamental frequencies (mF0s), the first formant peaks (F1s) and the second formant peak (F2s) of the sustained vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/. The speech parameters collected by the traditional Praat software were extracted and analyzed by professionals. The two tools′ consistency in terms of these important acoustic parameters was analyzed.Results:The results with all 32 subjects when retested returned ICC values above 0.9 with all three vowels with the exception of mF0 for /u/ (ICC=0.75), indicating excellent retest reliability for the articulation assessment and training system. The ICC values also indicated excellent consistency between the two kinds of software in analyzing mF0, F1 and F2 of the three vowels. The mF0, F1, F2, FCR, VAI, tongue spacing, VSA, and mandibular spacing of all three vowels were mostly distributed within the 95% confidence interval of the data points in Bland-Altman plots, indicating the high accuracy of both acoustic analysis systems in speech measurement. The mean fundamental frequency values of the male long vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/ were all significantly lower than for the female long versions.Conclusions:The retest reliability of the articulation assessment and training system was good, and the results of the articulation check in the natural state were in good consistency compared to the Praat check and were interchangeable in the articulation check.
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Objective:To observe any effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on learning, memory ability and the morphology of neurons in the hippocampus and cortex of rats with cognitive impairment, and also to seek any correlation between the rats′ behavior and the thickness of the granular layer in the CA1 region of the hippocampus.Methods:Thirty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into an observation group, a model group and a control group, each of 10. Cognitive impairment was induced in the observation and model groups by intraperitoneal injection of scopolamine, while the control group was injected with saline solution over the same period of time. After successful modeling, the observation group was given tDCS, while the model and control groups were connected with electrodes but not given any electrical stimulation. After 16 consecutive days of treatment, behavioral changes of each group were quantified using a shuttle box and a Morris water maze. On the 30th day after the mode-ling, the brains were collected to observe any changes in the morphology of the hippocampal and cortical neurons. The thickness of the hippocampal granular layer was also measured.Results:In the observation group the average rate of electrical impulses after the intervention [(60.5±6.67)/min] was significantly less than in the model group [(145.8±19.31)/min], while the time to find a platform was significantly shorter. The rats of the observation group also crossed the D quadrant of the platform significantly more quickly than the model group, on average. Compared with the control group, the granular layer in the CA1 region of the hippocampus [(93.47±1.07)μm] was significantly thinner on average than in the model group but compared with the model group, the observation group had significantly thicker layers [95.17±1.49)μm] on average. The thickness was negatively correlated with the number of shocks and the time to find the platform, but positively correlated with the number of crossings of the platform in the D quadrant.Conclusions:The degree of impairment generated by intraperitoneal injection of scopolamine correlates with the thickness of the CA1 granular layer of the hippocampus, at least in rats. tDCS can improve the learning and memory of such rats. Its mechanism may be related to promoting structural recovery of hippocampal cortical neurons and increasing the thickness of the granular layer.
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Objective:To explore the relationship between executive function and gait in cases of mild amnestic cognitive impairment (aMCI).Methods:Twenty aMCI hospital patients formed an observation group, while 20 healthy counterparts were the control group. Both groups underwent the Tinetti test, followed by the " normal walking" single-task test and the " normal walking + Go/No-go" dual-task test. The pace, step width, stride length, Go/No-go task response time and accuracy rate were recorded.Results:In the single-task test, there was no significant difference in pace or stride width between the two groups, but the average stride length of the observation group (1.11±0.04)cm was significantly shorter than that of the control group. However, in the dual-task test, the average pace time (0.96±0.08)sec and stride length (1.02±0.06)cm of the observation group were significantly smaller than the control group′s averages, while their step width (0.11±0.02)cm was significantly wider. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the response time in a single (Go/No-go) task, but in the dual-task test, the observation group′s average time was significantly longer than the control group′s and the accuracy was significantly poorer. Both the error rate and the non-response rate were significantly higher than among the control group.Conclusions:Mild amnestic cognitive impairment reduces stride length and pace when walking and impairs executive function.
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Objective:To observe the effect of well-designed board sanding training on the upper extremity motor functioning of hemiplegic stroke survivors.Methods:Sixty stroke survivors with hemiplegia were randomly divided into an observation group (30 cases) and a control group (30 cases). All received conventional rehabilitation. The observation group′s training involved intelligent board sanding, while the control group′s training involved traditional sanding.Results:After the treatment, significant improvement was observed in the Fugl-Meyer upper extremity scores, modified Barthel index scores and reported shoulder pain in both groups, with the observation group′s averages significantly better than those of the control group. After the intervention, the average scores of both groups on the modified Ashforth scale had also improved significantly.Conclusions:Supplementing conventional rehabilitation treatment with intelligent board sanding can significantly improve upper extremity motor function and ability in the activities of daily living of stroke survivors with hemiplegia while somewhat relieving shoulder pain. The effect is better than with traditional board sanding.
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Objective:To explore the effect of handicraft training administered over the Internet on sensation disorders and on the mental status and life quality of stroke survivors.Methods:A total of 75 stroke survivors in the sequelae stage and with sensory disturbance were randomly divided into a general training group of 26 (group A), a handicraft training group of 26 (group B), and a handicraft training group of 23 using Internet instruction (group C). In addition to 40 minutes of routine physical and sensory training rehabilitation every morning, groups A and B were given traditional training and handicraft training, while group C was given handicraft training delivered over the Internet for 40 minutes every afternoon, five days a week for 4 weeks. The traditional training involved inserting wooden boards, plate grinding, as well as sorting beans. The handicraft training involved digital painting, making non-woven flowers, silk screening flowers and paper-rolling. Before and after the 4 weeks of treatment, all of the subjects were assessed using the Fugl-Meyer sensory assessment (FMA-S), the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), the Modified Barthel Index (MBI), and the physical component summary scale (PCS) and mental component summary scale (MCS) of the 36-item short-form health survey.Results:After the treatment, significant improvement was observed in their average scores of all three groups in all of the assessments. Groups B and C showed significantly greater improvement in the average FMA-S, HAMA and MBI scores than group A. And the average HAMA and MCS scores of group C were significantly better than those of group B.Conclusion:Handicraft training delivered over the Internet can improve the sensory functioning, mental status and life quality of stroke survivors in the sequelae stage with sensory disturbance.
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Objective@#To investigate the relationship between classroom lighting and poor vision of primary and middle school students of poor vision with classroom natural light selecting and artificial lighting, so as to provide reference and basis for the prevention and control of eyesight of primary and middle school students.@*Methods@#A total of 1 734 students from 45 classrooms in 7 primary and secondary schools (2 in primary school, 2 in junior high school, and 1 in vocational school) in Baiyun District, Guangzhou were selected by stratified cluster sampling method for research. The classroom lighting environment was monitored by the illuminometer, the naked eye vision of students was detected by 5 m standard logarithmic vision light box, and the basic information and myopia-related behaviors of students were investigated by questionnaire. And the correlation between poor vision of primary and middle school students and classroom lighting was analyzed.@*Results@#The poor vision rate of primary and middle school students in Baiyun District of Guangzhou was 74.2%(1 286), the girls’ rate(79.7%) was higher than boys’(69.4%), the rate of senior high school students(63.4%) was higher than that of middle school students(81.1%), the rate of vocational school students(82.8%) was higher that of primary school students(60.2%), the rate of resident students(78.5%) was higher than that of non-resident students(69.6%). The results of multivariate analysis after controlling for confangulation factors showed that average illumination on the blackboard, and uneven illumination on the desk were associated with higher risk of poor vision[OR(OR95%CI)=1.51(1.01-2.25), 1.42(1.02-1.98),P<0.05)].@*Conclusion@#Poor eyesight of primary and middle school students in Baiyun District of Guangzhou city is serious, especially that of female students, senior high school students and resident students. There is a significant correlation between classroom lighting and poor vision in primary and middle school students. The blackboard and desk lighting are associated with higher risk of poor vision in primary and middle school students.
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Objective:To explore the characteristics of cerebellar metabolites of autistic children using the magnetic resonance spectrum (MRS) and analyze their correlation with clinical symptoms.Methods:An autism group ( n=14) and a control group ( n=8) both underwent bilateral MRS scans of their cerebella. The NAA, Cho and Cr absolute values were recorded along with the NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr ratios. Those values were correlated with clinical symptoms of autism (the CARS and ABC scales), as well as with age. Results:There were no significant differences between the two groups in cerebellar metabolite levels, but the autism group exhibited significantly higher Cho/Cr ratios in the right cerebellum than in the left. There was a significant positive correlation between the Cho/Cr ratio in the right cerebellum and CARS scores, and between the NAA/Cr ratio in the right cerebellum and age.Conclusions:There is metabolic abnormality in the left and right cerebellar hemispheres of autistic children. The metabolic abnormality is related to the severity of clinical symptoms. However, metabolism in the cerebellum improves gradually with age.
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Objective:To observe the pronunciation of consonants among children with developmental speech sound disorder and explore the correlation between mispronounced consonants and short-term memory so as to determine the pathogenesis of the disorder.Methods:Thirty-six children with developmental speech sound disorder and aged 4 to 13 years were evaluated. Their pronunciation of consonants at the phoneme and lexical levels was tested to record the error types and error rate. Twelve of the children were then randomly chosen to form a voice disorder group. Another 10 healthy counterparts constituted a control group. The short-term memory of both groups was assessed and any correlation between pronunciation and short-term memory was analyzed.Results:The children with a developmental speech sound disorder differed significantly from the controls in terms of the numbers of errors in articulating blade-alveolar, blade-palatal and velar consonants. On the phoneme level, the highest substitution error rate occurred when pronouncing lingua-palatal consonants (42.86%), followed by supradental consonants (32%). The highest distortion and non-acquisition error rates were with blade-palatal consonants (14%) and lingua-palatal consonants (9.5%). On the vocabulary level, the highest substitution, distortion, ellipsis and non-acquisition error rates appeared when pronouncing lingua-palatal and velar consonants, velar and blade-palatal consonants, supradental consonants as well as blade-palatal consonants. Significant differences were found between the phoneme and lexical levels in the substitution of supradental and blade-palatal consonants as well as in the ellipsis of blade-alveolar consonants. They were moderately associated with pronunciation level. There was, however, no significant difference in working memory span between the two groups, and no significant correlation was observed between working memory span and pronunciation level.Conclusion:The mispronunciation of consonants by children with developmental speech disorders is higher at the lexical than at the phoneme level. They mainly substitute lingua-palatal and velar consonants and elide supradental consonants, which may be related to short-term memory span.
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Objective To explore the efficacy of conventional physical therapy,acupuncture and hormone intervention for treating Bell's palsy so as to suggest an optimal treatment in clinical practice.Methods Clinical data on 1170 patients with Bell's palsy (BP) treated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University between October 2012 and November 2015 were collected and analyzed retrospectively.The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the differences in disease course and in total cost among the patients.Seasons of the year,age,treatments,as well as the presence of immune-related diseases were the covariates studied.Multivariate logistic regression equation was used to test for any significant relationships.Results Physical therapy and hormones were found to have shortened the average course of treatment,but immune-related complicating diseases were shown to be risk factors.Patients receiving acupuncture for more than 1 month had longer courses of the disease than those without.Patients whose treatment combined hormones with physical therapy had the shortest disease course and lower total cost on average.Conclusion Early hormone intervention combined with physical therapy can shorten the course of BP and lower the cost of treatment.
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Objective@#The present study was carried out to explore the tone production ability of the Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CI) by using an artificial neural network model and to examine the potential contributing factors underlining their tone production performance. The results of this study might provide useful guidelines for post-operative rehabilitation processes of pediatric CI users.@*Methods@#Two hundred and seventy-eight prelingually deafened children who received unilateral CI participated in this study. As controls, 170 similarly-aged children with normal hearing (NH) were recruited. A total of 36 Chinese monosyllabic words were selected as the tone production targets. Vocal production samples were recorded and the fundamental frequency (F0) contour of each syllable was extracted using an auto-correlation algorithm followed by manual correction. An artificial neural network was created in MATLAB to classify the tone production. The relationships between tone production and several demographic factors were evaluated.@*Results@#Pediatric CI users produced Mandarin tones much less accurately than did the NH children (58.8% vs. 91.5% correct). Tremendous variability in tone production performance existed among the CI children. Tones 2 and 3 were produced less accurately than tones 1 and 4 for both groups. For the CI group, all tones when in error tended to be judged as tone 1. The tone production accuracy was negatively correlated with age at implantation and positively correlated with CI use duration with correlation coefficients (r) of -0.215 (P=0.003) and 0.203 (P=0.005), respectively. Age was one of the determinants of tonal ability for NH children.@*Conclusions@#For children with severe to profound hearing loss, early implantation and persistent use of CI are beneficial to their tone production development. Artificial neural network is a convenient and reliable assessment tool for the development of tonal ability of hearing-impaired children who are in the rehabilitation processes that focus on speech and language expression.
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Objective To investigate the perception of Mandarin's tones by children with speech development disorders so as to provide a theoretical basis for clinical rehabilitation.Methods Thirty children with speech development disorders (DPDs) aged 4 to 6 were matched with 30 healthy counterparts as a control group.Both groups underwent the tone perception experiment,which included tone identification and discrimination tasks.The speech stimuli were 11 computer-simulated voices expressing a continuum of sounds from Mandarin speech ranging from /bá/ to /bà/.The two groups were compared in their ability to identify and differentiate the tones.Results Both groups showed typicalS-shaped identification curves in a category pattern.The category boundaries of the control group were between stimulus steps 6 and 7,significantly different from those of the experimental group where the boundary fell between stimulus steps 5 and 6.On the distinguishing curve,both groups presented obvious peak values.The stimulus steps of the peaks and the crossing points of the identification curves were consistent.In addition,the average ahsolnte value (b1) of the identification curve and the peaks' degree of steepness (DP) of the DPD group's distinguishing curve were significantly lower than those of the control group.At the same time,the average boundary width (Wcb) was significantly higher than that of the control group.Conclusion Children with speech development disorders perceive Mandarin tones with categories different from those of normal children.They may have difficulty in perceiving tones,which might be an important factor leading to pronunciation errors.
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Objective To investigate if anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (atDCS) of the right cerebellum improves verbal working memory in amnesic persons with mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).Methods Thirty-nine aMCI were randomly divided into an observation and a control group using a random number table.The observation group was given atDCS at 1.2 mA for 20 minutes every day for 5 days,while the control group was provid ed with fake atDCS in the same way.Before and after the treatment,both groups were tested using forward and back ward digit spans,word reading,visually cued sensorimotor tests and finger tapping.Results After the treatment,the forward and backward digit spans of the observation group had improved significantly compared with before the treatment and with the control group's improvements.Significant improvement was observed in the average backward digit span of the control group,but not in their forward digit span after the treatment.No significant differences be tween the two groups were observed in the other measurements before or after the treatment.Conclusion Direct current stimulation of the cerebellum may improve the verbal working memory deficits of aMCI.Further research should be conducted to find the mechanism.
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In recent years, the relationship between working memory and language comprehension received more and more attention by many researchers, especially those of psychology and pedagogy. This article reviewed the researches on the working memory and lan-guage comprehension disorder in aphasia, including the theoretical model of working memory, assessment and brain positioning, etc., and discussed the process of working memory and comprehension disorder in rehabilitation.
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Objective To research the consonant pronunciation of patients with spastic dysarthria as a result of cerebral palsy and supply a theoretical basis for their rehabilitation.Methods Twenty-eight cerebral palsy patients with spastic dysarthria were examined using a dysarthria examination scale developed by the China Rehabilitation Research Center.The whole process of the tests was recorded using Cool Edit recording software.Praat4 was used to evaluate their pronunciation according to the pronunciation criteria of “experimental phonology”.Their error rates on 21 consonants were counted and the characteristics of the articulation errors were summarized.Results According to the location of articulation,the inaccuracy rates on labials,dentals,apicals,blade-palatals,palatals and velars in the 28 patients were 21％,71％,53％,71％,54％ and 36％ respectively.Conclusions Patients with spastic dysarthria as a result of cerebral palsy have the most difficulty pronouncing dentals and blade-palatal consonants.They find labial consonants the easiest.
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Objective To test reliability and validity of a verbal behavior assessment scale (VerBAS). Methods The VerBAS was used to evaluate 20 patients with speech disorder repeatedly by the same investigator with a two week interval to assess its reliability. The construct validity of the VerBAS was evaluated by using it to evaluate 235 patients with speech disorder. Results The test-retest correlation coefficient γ was 0.723,which was significant at the 5% confidence level. Cronbach'a a=0.819. Three distinct factors were identified: receptive speech,communicative speech and delineative speech;and their accumulated variance contribution was 83%. Conclusion The Verbal Behavior Assessment Scale had satisfactory reliability and validity, It can be used to evaluate the patients with speech disorder and could provide a reference for speech rehabilitation training.
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AIM: To explore the effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy on language function of aphasics and it's mechanisms. METHODS: Forty patients with aphasics after mild and moderate cerebral trauma and stroke were chosen and divided into therapy group (20 patients) and control group (20 patients). All the patients in both groups received routine therapy.Besides routine therapy, patients in therapy group also received HBO therapy. The HBO treatment contained three courses, each lasts for 15 days at an interval of 3 days. The language functions ( including 11 sub - items) were tested with the Apparatus ZM2.1for Diagnosis and Treatmern of Language Disorders (Language Disorders ZM2.1) before and after each course of HBO and be compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The therapeutic effects between the therapy group and the control group: the scores of 10 sub- items are significantly higher than those of the control group after the 2nd course (P＜0. 05); After the 3rd course, all 11 sub - items were improved significantly ( P ＜ 0.05). The therapeutic effects before and after each course of the therapy group:the scores of the advanced dictation, voice expression and semantic expression increased significantly after the 1st and the 2nd course ( P ＜ 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The HBO therapy might facilitate the recovery of the language function of the aphasics by promoting the recovery and the self- reparation of the neurocytes and alleviating the focal ischemia - reperfusion. The result of this effect would facilitate the original recovery velocity and not be focused on some language functions and much more obvious in the 1st and the 2nd course.
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Training quality postgraduates in clinical neurology differs from in neuroscience. Combined with the features of clinical neurology, this article discussed the training processes for quality postgraduates in clinical neurology as following: individual training plan; clinical training in multiple academic directions and subjects; keeping the update ability for clinical neurology; improving the English skill in neurology and the ability to develop clinical researches.
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AIM: To study the language characteristics and origins of subcortical aphasia. METHODS: One hundred and five patients with unilateral subcortical lesions were confirmed by CT scans. Aphasia examinations, brain electrical activity mapping (BEAM) and CT image standardization were performed at the end of two weeks, one month and two months after onset. RESULTS: Most aphasia patients had lesions in the lateral, front and upper part of basal ganglion. BEAM is largely abnormal in the aphasia patients of lateral type and thalamic aphasia who had serious auditory comprehension disturbance. Prominent dysarthria and dysprosody occurred in aphasia patients with lesions in caudate nucleus. CONCLUSION: Subcortical aphasia has its language characteristics. It is mostly due to the damage of language related zone of hemisphere caused directly or indirectly by subcortical lesions. Thalamus serves as a subcortical center in controlling language and its disturbance causes aphasia in some patients.
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0.05).CONCLUSION:The patient with Broca aphasia is independent in the course of the orthographic input,and the ability to retrieve semantic information from orthographic activation word may not affected by phonological lexicon.