RESUMO
Objective To analyze implanted children's production of vowels and to investigate the features of vowels production .Methods Thirty CI children averaged 32 .65 ± 5 .97 months were enrolled in this study .Using 19 Chinese vowels as test materials ,accuracy rates were statistically analyzed to get the difficulty gradient and main error patterns .Results /a/and /e/were the easiest vowels and /üe/,/uai/,/ü/were the most difficult vowels for CI children .From the mouth shape of vowels ,the difficulty gradients from easy to difficult were open -mouths →e-ven-teeth → close-mouths → pursed -mouths .From the structures of vowels ,triphthongs were the most diffi-culty ,while single vowels and diphthongs shared the same difficulty level .High vowel's nasalization ,the deletion of diphthongs and triphthongs ,the separation of diphthongs and triphthongs and the substitution of /o/,/ü/,and /ai/were the main error patterns .Conclusion The difficulty levels of vowels'production for CI children at average age of 31 months are rather obvious .Compared with aided children ,they show some common developmental sequences and error patterns ,but also reflect their own characteristics .When in vowel articulation therapy for little CI children ,we should provide targeted training according to error patterns on the basis of following their sequences of difficulty level to fa-cilitate their efficiency .
RESUMO
Objective To observe the effects of treadmill training on hindlimb motor recovery and noradrenaline (NA) fibers in rats with spinal cord contusion.MethodsSpinal cord contusions at the T10 level were induced in 3-month old female SD rats by dropping a 10 g rod from a height of 25 mm.The injured rats were then randomly divided into a control group and a treadmill training group ( n =15 in each group).Treadmill training began 1 week post-injury.No treatment was administered to the control group rats.Hindlimb motor function was evaluated weekly from the 1 st to the 9th week post-injury using Basso Beattie Bresnahan (BBB) scores and average combined scores (ACOs).The expression of dopamine beta hydroxylase (DBH) in the spinal cord caudal to the injured area was detected by immunohistochemical staining.ResultsThe treadmill training group exhibited significantly greater improvement in BBB scores from the 3rd week to the 7th week and in ACOs from the 2nd to the 9th week post-injury compared with the control group.The number of DBH positive fibers in the injured spinal cords and the number of DBH positive neurons in the injured frontal horns were also significantly higher in the training group.ConclusionsTreadmill training can promote the recovery of hindlimb motor function in rats after spinal cord contusion,perhaps by increasing the number of DBH positive fibers and DBH positive neurons.