Functional recovery from chronic writer’s cramp by brain-computer interface rehabilitation: a case report.

Background: Dystonia is often currently treated with botulinum toxin injections to spastic muscles, or deep brain stimulation to the basal ganglia. In addition to these pharmacological or neurosurgical measures, a new noninvasive treatment concept, functional modulation using a brain-computer interface, was tested for feasibility. We recorded electroencephalograms (EEGs) over the bilateral sensorimotor cortex from a patient suffering from chronic writer’s cramp. The patient was asked to suppress an exaggerated beta frequency component in the EEG during hand extension.Results: The patient completed biweekly one-hour training for 5 months without any adverse effects. Significant decrease of the beta frequency component during handwriting was confirmed, and was associated with clear functional improvement.Conclusion: The current pilot study suggests that a brain-computer Interface can give explicit feedback of ongoing cortical excitability to patients with dystonia and allow them to suppress exaggerated neural activity, resulting in functional recovery.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.journal articl

ムースアップを使用した嚥下機能検査食の試作

A thickerner can be prepared in any desired viscosity to provide a foodstuff for training aid and/or examining aid for swallowing impairment, and various products have been introduced on the market. In this study, we designed a test food to be used as an examining aid with videofluorography, by mixing Mousse-Up and Baritop as the thickener and the contrast medium, respectively. The test food was prepared with various mixture ratios of Mousse-Up, water, and Baritop. It was then evaluated in such the specificity as texture and contrast as well as its mobility during swallowing. Results are as follows: 1. The thickerner and contrast medium could be homogenized. 2. Test foods could be prepared in any desired viscosity: liquid, sort, or hard, by changing the ratio between water and the thickerner. Similar texture of test food to that of yogurt or rice gruel known as a training aid to the swallowing impaired could be prepared. The viscosity did not change when the test food was placed in a refrigerator for hours, thus the test food could be stocked in advance for the case. 3. The contrast efficiency on the videofluorogh was enough to trace the food clearly while the subject swallowed it, and contrast medium added to the test food did not affect the characteristic in viscosity. 4. To evaluate the mobility of test food during swallowing, electrical activities in the suprahyoid muscles were obtained from normal subjects. When viscosity increased and/or volume of the food increased, the duration between the time when food bolus was formed and the time when the bolus was pushed back to the tongue base increased. Furthermore the bolus became difficult to be swallowed at a stroke. These results suggested that the form and the volume of food should be decided under the consideration of the swallowing function of patients. The results suggest that the mixture made of Mousse-Up and Baritop cleared the requirements as a test food for swallowing functions.摂食・嚥下障害向けの食品として，増粘剤が数多く開発され，嚥下訓練や検査に応用されている．本研究では，増粘剤の一つであるムースアップに造影剤として汎用されているバリトップおよび水を混和して，嚥下機能検査食を試作し，物性，造影性について調べた．さらに，検査食の物性を変化させることで，どの様に嚥下動態が変わるかについて筋電図学的に検討した．その結果，以下のことが明らかとなった．　1．ムースアップと造影剤であるバリトップは均一に混和できた．　2．食品の物性の一つの要素である粘性の測定を行った．試料のムースアップ含有量を変化させることにより，液状，トロミ状，固形状といった性状の異なる試料を作成できた．嚥下訓練食として利用されているヨーグルト（ブルガリアヨーグルト）および白がゆに近い粘性を示す試料も得られた．試料は長時間冷却しても安定した粘性を示した．したがって，今回試作した試料は，粘性の変化はほとんどなく，作り置きが可能であることが示唆された．　3．エックス線テレビにて，健常者における試料の造影効果と嚥下動態を観察した．試料の造影効果は良好で，一連の嚥下動態を明瞭に観察できた．　4．試料を用いた健常者における嚥下時舌骨上筋群の筋活動を観察した．試料の粘性や嚥下量が増加すると，食塊の形成から奥舌部への送り込みまでの時間が延長したり，一塊として飲み込むのが困難であることがわかった．　したがって，嚥下機能が低下している嚥下障害者を検査する場合は，試料の形状および嚥下量に十分注意して検査する必要があると考えられた．　以上のことより，今回試作した試料は嚥下機能検査食として有用であると示唆される．journal articl

重要伝統的建造物群保存地区における空き家を活用したまちづくりに関する研究－東海地方の重要伝統的建造物群保存地区10地区を対象として－

application/pdf三重大学大学院工学研究科 建築学専攻246ｐthesi

Functional recovery from chronic writer’s cramp by brain-computer interface rehabilitation: a case report.

Background: Dystonia is often currently treated with botulinum toxin injections to spastic muscles, or deep brain stimulation to the basal ganglia. In addition to these pharmacological or neurosurgical measures, a new noninvasive treatment concept, functional modulation using a brain-computer interface, was tested for feasibility. We recorded electroencephalograms (EEGs) over the bilateral sensorimotor cortex from a patient suffering from chronic writer’s cramp. The patient was asked to suppress an exaggerated beta frequency component in the EEG during hand extension.Results: The patient completed biweekly one-hour training for 5 months without any adverse effects. Significant decrease of the beta frequency component during handwriting was confirmed, and was associated with clear functional improvement.Conclusion: The current pilot study suggests that a brain-computer Interface can give explicit feedback of ongoing cortical excitability to patients with dystonia and allow them to suppress exaggerated neural activity, resulting in functional recovery.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated

The increases of fluorescence at densities of 1250–10000 cells/well indicated the fluorescence readings designate the true cell number at these cell densities

The fluorescence at 20000 cells/well tended to decrease compared to that at 10000 cells/well, but the decrease was not statistically significant (P > 0.05, NS). To validate the modified version of Alamar Blue assay and to find whether the fluorescence drop at 20000 cells/well was a feature of the assay or cellular proliferation itself, two parallel procedures were performed simultaneously. One procedure (B) was the modified procedure similar to that in the modified Alamar Blue assay. Another procedure (C) was no modified procedure. The same range of cell densities (1250, 2500, 5000, 10000 and 20000 cells/well) were used in both procedures. At the end of two procedures, the cell numbers were assessed using CellTiter-Glo luminescent cell viability assay. Luminescence increased along with the increases of cell densities at 1250–10000 cells/well for both modified (B) and no modified (C) procedures. Luminescence at 20000 cell/well tended to decrease in both procedures, although the decreases were not statistically significant compared to that at 10000 cell/well density (P > 0.05; NS). Significance value: * P 0.05.<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Inducing apoptosis of human colon cancer cells by an IGF-I D domain analogue peptide"</p><p>http://www.molecular-cancer.com/content/7/1/17</p><p>Molecular Cancer 2008;7():17-17.</p><p>Published online 8 Feb 2008</p><p>PMCID:PMC2276513.</p><p></p

Caspase 3/7 activities in treated cancer cells increased 2–7 times compared to the untreated control cancer cells with significant effects at dose of 0

1 μM onward concentrations (P < 0.001). Caspase 8 activities in treated cancer cells also increased 2–5 times compared to the untreated control cancer cells, with significant effects at 0.1 μM onward concentrations (P < 0.001). Caspase 9 activities in treated cancer cells increased in a small scale (1.6 times), with significant effects at the higher concentrations (1 μM onward; P < 0.05) compared to caspase 3/7 and 8. Significance value: * P < 0.05; ** P < 0.001.<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Inducing apoptosis of human colon cancer cells by an IGF-I D domain analogue peptide"</p><p>http://www.molecular-cancer.com/content/7/1/17</p><p>Molecular Cancer 2008;7():17-17.</p><p>Published online 8 Feb 2008</p><p>PMCID:PMC2276513.</p><p></p