Effects of a Footbath Program on Heart Rate Variability, Blood Pressure, Body Temperature and Fatigue in Stroke Patients

PURPOSE: This study was to examine the effects of a footbath program on heart rate variability, blood pressure, body temperature and fatigue of stroke patients with stroke-induced hemiparesis. METHODS: A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. Participants were 40 stroke patients, twenty for the footbath program and twenty for the control group, who were hospitalized in a long-term rehabilitation hospital in G city of Korea, from February to April 2014. The twenty participants in the experimental group received the intervention of footbaths and an educational program focused on the prevention of stroke complications; Collected data were analyzed by the IBM SPSS WIN 20.0 program using a t-test, chi2 test, Mann-Whitney U test and repeated measures ANOVA. RESULTS: Significant differences were found in heart rate variability, systolic blood pressure, hand and foot temperatures and fatigue between the two groups. But no significant differences were found in diastolic blood pressure, core temperatures, forehead temperatures, and hand temperatures between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The footbath program was an effective intervention for skin temperature change and fatigue reduction for stroke patients. Therefore, it is recommended that the footbath program can be utilized as an effective nursing intervention for stroke patients in long-term rehabilitation care hospitals.

Heterologous Expression of Phanerochaete chrysoporium Glyoxal Oxidase and its Application for the Coupled Reaction with Manganese Peroxidase to Decolorize Malachite Green

cDNA of the glx1 gene encoding glyoxal oxidase (GLX) from Phanerochaete chrysosporium was isolated and expressed in Pichia pastoris. The recombinant GLX (rGLX) produces H2O2 over 7.0 nmol/min/mL using methyl glyoxal as a substrate. Use of rGLX as a generator of H2O2 improved the coupled reaction with recombinant manganese peroxidase resulting in decolorization of malachite green up to 150 microM within 90 min.

Heterologous Expression of Endo-1,4-beta-xylanaseA from Phanerochaete chrysosporium in Pichia pastoris

The cDNA of endo-1,4-beta-xylanaseA, isolated from Phaenerocheate chrysosporium was expressed in Pichia pastoris. Using either the intrinsic leader peptide of XynA or the alpha-factor signal peptide of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, xylanaseA is efficiently secreted into the medium at maximum concentrations of 1,946 U/L and 2,496 U/L, respectively.