ABSTRACT
Ohjective To explore the impact of constraint-induced aphasia therapy (CIAT) on language function and neural activity in patients with chronic Broca's aphasia.Methods Two chronic aphasics whose use of language was recovering after standard language therapy were selected to receive 1.5 h of CIAT twice daily for two weeks (30 hours in total).Before and after the CIAT they were tested using a block-designed picture-naming task,fMRIs were taken and their use of language was examined.Results The language function assessments showed relatively large improvements in the subjects' use of language after 4 weeks of conventional language training,but not much further change after 8 and 12 weeks.After the two weeks of CIAT,their language function improved further to a certain extent.fMRI showed increased activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus with or without enhanced activation in the left hemisphere,and reduced activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus.Conclusions Functional reorganization induced in the brain by CIAT was associated with up-regulation of the left inferior frontal gyrus or down-regulation of the right inferior frontal gyrus.Even the whole language network may have been modified.
ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the relationship between muscle fibrosis and the displacement of the hyoid bone while swallowing among patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after radiation therapy.Methods Twenty-six NPC patients with dysphagia were recruited.Shear wave elastography was performed to assess the fibrosis of the mylohyoid muscle.The horizontal and vertical displacement of the hyoid bone were measured based on the videofluoroscopic swallowing study,and the severity of dysphagia was determined using the penetration-aspiration scale (PAS).The correlation between the modulus value of the mylohyoid muscle and the horizontal and vertical displacement of the hyoid bone were analyzed,respectively.Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve were constructed to assess the diagnostic ability of modulus value for the severity of dysphagia above grade 5 of PAS.Results For patients whose PAS was higher than grade 5,the modulus value of mylohyoid muscle was negatively correlated with the displacement of hyoid bone,while such correlation was absent for patients whose PAS grading were less than or equal to 5.Sensitivity and specificity by modulus value to detect dysphagia were 80% and 81.8%,respectively,with the best cut-off value of 14.37 kPa.Conclusion The reduction of hyoid bone displacement can be partially attributed to muscle fibrosis for post-radiation NPC patients with severe dysphagia.The modulus value measured by Shear wave elastography could be used as a supplementary way to monitor the development of dysphagia.
ABSTRACT
Anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody (Sc7301)-paclitaxel (TAX) immunoconjugate was prepared and its specific binding to tumor cells was investigated in this study. Sc7301 was conjugated to TAX by the active ester method and then the TAX-Sc7301 immunoconjugate was obtained. After purification and labeling by Cyano-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC), the specific binding of TAX-Sc7301 to HER2-positive tumor cells (SKOV3) and HER2-negative tumor cells (HepG2) was evaluated respectively. TAX-Sc7301 (20 nmol/L) showed distinct specific binding to SKOV3 cells rather than HepG2 cells. And the uptake of the immunoconjugate by SKOV3 cells was increased with the TAX-Sc7301 concentration (3-48 nmol/L) and the incubation time (P<0.05). It was concluded that the TAX-Sc7301 immunoconjugate is potentially applicable as a targeted agent against HER2-positive tumor cells.
ABSTRACT
With the method of specific binding of DAPI and DNA, the mycoplasma contamination cell cultures are sensitively detected. In this way, the monolayer cells can be determinated if a certain cell culture has been contaminated by some mycoplasma. The process is simple and can be done within thirty minutes. This method can be widely applied as a routine determination for detecting mycoplasma contamination in laboratory cell cultures.
ABSTRACT
Immunosuppressive activities have been found in the culture supernatant of four leukemiacell lines and in the sera of four patients with leukemia. The inhibitors suppressed PHA-p in-duced lymphocytes proliferation and IL-2 production and responsiveness of T cells to IL-2, butno inhibitory activity was observed in the culture supernatant of 2BS cell line or in the sera ofnormal humam. The culture supernatant of tumor cell lines was not cytoxic. The result of PAGEshows: the molecular weight of TDSF from HL-60 human promyelocytic leukemia is about87KD. It is protein in chemical nature. The synthesis and sercretion of TDSF were partially in-hibited by drugs of anti-acute non-lymphocytic leukemia.