Effects of ankle proprioceptive interference on locomotion after stroke.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of vibration-induced ankle proprioceptive interference on the locomotion of patients with stroke with intact and impaired ankle joint position sense (JPS). DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: Rehabilitation department in a tertiary hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Ambulatory patients (N=35) with unilateral stroke received an ankle joint repositioning test and were classified into intact (n=16) or impaired (n=19) JPS group. INTERVENTIONS: None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The plantar sensitivity and leg muscle strength were tested. Patients were instructed to walk at a self-selected pace on a computerized pressure sensor walkway under 3 conditions: no, affected, or unaffected Achilles' tendon vibration. The stride characteristics of the affected limb were analyzed. RESULTS: Patients with intact and impaired JPS did not differ in their plantar sensitivity or leg muscle strength. The differences in the stride characteristics were nonsignificant between vibration and nonvibration conditions. Shorter single support and longer swing phase were found with the affected side vibration compared with the unaffected side vibration. Patients with intact and impaired JPS did not respond to the proprioceptive interference differently. CONCLUSIONS: After stroke, there could be changes in the central sensory regulation for locomotion control and vibration-induced afferent inputs from the ankle might be viewed as sensory disturbances. Further studies that manipulate other sensory inputs are needed to gain a better understanding of the central sensory integration for locomotion control after stroke.

Can temperament be understood at birth? The relationship between neonatal pain cry and their temperament: a preliminary study.

This study investigated the relationship between the pain cries of neonates at 3-5 days and temperament at 1 month of age, as rated by mothers. A total of 68 healthy neonates' pain cries elicited by injection of the hepatitis B virus vaccine were analyzed and were categorized into "pre-part" and "post-part" cry by the determination of a regulatory point by observers, with a high consensus on spectrogram profiles. Differences in parameters between the pre-part and post-part of the pain cries and their association with the dimensions of temperament were analyzed. The results indicated that neonates who exhibited greater intensity pre-part crying had a more positive mood quality at 1 month, and those with shorter breath intervals after the regulatory point had a higher activity temperament score at 1 month. Moreover, the higher the pitch or the shorter the duration of the cry sounds in the post-part, the lower the adaptability score at 1 month. This study demonstrates that neonatal pain cry parameters could be used to understand subsequent temperament behavioral styles.

Protective effect of vaccination in chicks with local infectious bronchitis viruses against field virus challenge.

Avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) causes tremendous economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide. Different serotypes of this virus show little cross-protection. The present study investigated the relationship between differences in the genotype based on the N-terminus of the spike protein and the protection provided by vaccination with IBVs. Cross-immunization tests were performed using both killed and live viruses in specific-pathogen-free chicks. One-day-old chicks were immunized with killed or high [10(5) 50% embryo infectious dose (EID50)] or low (10(3) EID50) doses of live IBV viruses and challenged with homologous or heterologous IBV strains. The immunization efficacy was evaluated by virus isolation from the challenged chicks. In the killed-virus and high-dose live-virus test groups, IBV vaccination protected against challenge by homologous but not heterologous IBV strains. However, a low dose of live IBV showed no protection against virulent IBV challenge. These results indicate that both the genotype based on the N-terminus of the spike protein and the virus dose are essential to IBV protection from immunization. Thus, development of vaccines from different local strains is necessary to control infectious bronchitis in poultry.

Sequence variants and haplotype analysis of serotonin transporter gene and association with bipolar affective disorder in Taiwan.

OBJECTIVES: Serotonin transporter (SLC6A4) is responsible for serotonin re-uptake into presynaptic terminals, thus fine-tuning brain serotonergic neurotransmission. Current studies have found associations of SLC6A4 polymorphisms with several psychiatric traits including bipolar affective disorder (BPD) in various populations; however, studies with contradictory results were also reported. This study examined the role of SLC6A4 in etiology of BPD in a Taiwanese population. METHODS: Ten markers including two variable number tandem repeat and eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the SLC6A4 gene were used to study the genetic association with 90 unrelated BPD, type I patients and 103 controls. RESULTS: Two SNPs were not informative in a Taiwanese population and the other eight polymorphic markers were analyzed by Fisher's exact test and haplotype analysis. No association was detected for any single SLC6A4 marker and BPD. Additional statistic analyses including other factors also showed lack of association between the SLC6A4 gene polymorphisms and BPD. Significant linkage disequilibrium was obtained among eight SLC6A4 markers and eight common haplotypes were constructed that can be found in 95% of the total subjects. The four commonest haplotypes in both patients and controls were identical. However, the fifth commonest haplotype differed in patients and controls and was significantly associated with a protection from BPD. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested that a particular SLC6A4 haplotype harboring functional sequence variant could play a significant role in BPD etiology in Taiwan. However, due to its modest sample size, the conclusion is not final and should be confirmed in the future studies.