Impact of whole-body vibration training on ankle joint proprioception and balance in stroke patients: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Although whole-body vibration (WBV) training is acknowledged for its benefits in enhancing motor functions across several neurological disorders, its precise influence on ankle joint proprioception and balance in stroke patients is still not well understood. This research seeks to assess the impact of WBV training on ankle joint proprioception and balance in stroke patients, thereby filling this important research void.

Methods: In this prospective cohort study, thirty-five stroke patients were randomly assigned to either the WBV group (n = 17) or a control group (n = 18) using a random number table method.

Evaluation of foot support characteristics in young and elderly adults by plantar measurements based on a three-partition distributed force platform.

A three-partition distributed force platform (3P-DFP) is proposed to measure the plantar pressure distribution, and foot support characteristics are evaluated with the obtained pressure distribution information. Twenty-seven young adults and 40 elderly adults were randomly recruited to perform the test in three phases: double-leg stance with eyes closed, double-leg stance with eyes opened, and single-leg stance with eyes opened. The evaluation parameters of foot support surface characteristics and support point characteristics were calculated based on the average position information of the center of pressure in the lateral of sole, media of sole, posterior of heel, and entire pelma.

How to use one surface electromyography sensor to recognize six hand movements for a mechanical hand in real time: a method based on Morse code.

Surface electromyography (sEMG) signal is a kind of physiological signal reflecting muscle activity and muscle force. At present, the existing methods of recognizing human motion intention need more than two sensors to recognize more than two kinds of movements, the sensor pasting positions are special, and the hardware conditions for execution are high. In this work, a real-time motion intention recognition method based on Morse code is proposed and applied to the mechanical hand.

A new fractional fuzzy dispersion entropy and its application in muscle fatigue detection.

Recently, fuzzy dispersion entropy (DispEn) has attracted much attention as a new nonlinear dynamics method that combines the advantages of both DispEn and fuzzy entropy. However, it suffers from limitation of insensitivity to dynamic changes. To solve this limitation, we proposed fractional fuzzy dispersion entropy (FFDispEn) based on DispEn, a novel fuzzy membership function and fractional calculus.

Real-time modeling and feature extraction method of surface electromyography signal for hand movement classification based on oscillatory theory.

Research of surface electromyography (sEMG) signal modeling and feature extraction is important in human motion intention recognition, prosthesis and exoskeleton robots. However, the existing methods mostly use the signal segmentation processing method rather than the point-to-point signal processing method, and lack physiological mechanism support..

A Retrospective Study on Risk Factors for Urinary Tract Infection in Patients with Intracranial Cerebral Hemorrhage.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the risk factors of urinary tract infection (UTI) in patients with intracranial cerebral hemorrhage (ICH).

Design: This is a retrospective study, and a total of 77 patients with ICH consecutively admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC (Anhui Provincial Hospital, Hefei, China) during the period of August 2015 to August 2017 were included. The patients were divided into an UTI group (24 cases) and a non-UTI group (53 cases); patients with UTI were diagnosed according to clinical manifestations, recent urinary routines, and urine culture results.

Correction to: Spasticity assessment based on the Hilbert-Huang transform marginal spectrum entropy and the root mean square of surface electromyography signals: a preliminary study.

After the publication of the original article work [1], it was highlighted that the circuit information and the A/D converter used for acquiring sEMG signal were not correctly reported in the Methods section. The circuit included a 10 Hz high-pass filter instead of 10 Hz notch filter as stated in the original article. The A/D converter was ADS7818, instead of ADS1198 as stated in the original paper.

Spasticity Measurement Based on the HHT Marginal Spectrum Entropy of sEMG Using a Portable System: A Preliminary Study.

To facilitate stretch reflex onset (SRO) detection and improve accuracy and reliability of spasticity assessment in clinical settings, a new method to measure dynamic stretch reflex threshold (DSRT) based on Hilbert-Huang transform marginal spectrum entropy (HMSEN) of surface electromyography (sEMG) signals and a portable system to quantify modified Ashworth scale (MAS) for spasticity assessment were developed. The sEMG signals were divided into frames using a fixed-length sliding window, and the HMSEN of each frame was calculated. An adaptive threshold was set to measure the DSRT.

Spasticity assessment based on the Hilbert-Huang transform marginal spectrum entropy and the root mean square of surface electromyography signals: a preliminary study.

Background: Most of the objective and quantitative methods proposed for spasticity measurement are not suitable for clinical application, and methods for surface electromyography (sEMG) signal processing are mainly limited to the time-domain. This study aims to quantify muscle activity in the time-frequency domain, and develop a practical clinical method for the objective and reliable evaluation of the spasticity based on the Hilbert-Huang transform marginal spectrum entropy (HMSEN) and the root mean square (RMS) of sEMG signals.

Methods: Twenty-six stroke patients with elbow flexor spasticity participated in the study.

Effects of modified sit-to-stand training on balance control in hemiplegic stroke patients: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To explore the effectiveness of modified sit-to-stand training on balance function in hemiplegic stroke patients.

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Rehabilitation medical centre.

High circulating CD39(+) regulatory T cells predict poor survival for sepsis patients.

Background: Sepsis encompasses two phases, the 'hyper'-reactive phase and the 'hypo'-reactive phase. The initial inflammatory stage is quickly counterbalanced by an anti-inflammatory response, which compromises the immune system, leading to immune suppression. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of sepsis by inducing immunosuppression; however, the role of CD39(+) Tregs in the process of sepsis is uncertain.

The expression and antigenicity of a truncated spike-nucleocapsid fusion protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus.

Background: In the absence of effective drugs, controlling SARS relies on the rapid identification of cases and appropriate management of the close contacts, or effective vaccines for SARS. Therefore, developing specific and sensitive laboratory tests for SARS as well as effective vaccines are necessary for national authorities.

Results: Genes encoding truncated nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S) proteins of SARSCoV were cloned into the expression vector pQE30 and fusionally expressed in Escherichia coli M15.

Real-time quantitative fluorescent reverse transcriptase-PCR for detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus RNA.

Aim: SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) has been confirmed as the pathogen for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The aim of our study was to construct a sensitive and specific real-time quantitative fluorescent (QF) reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR method for the detection of SARS-CoV RNA.

Methods: Stored blood specimens from 44 patients with confirmed SARS were used along with blood samples from two sets of controls, 30 healthy volunteers who had no contact with SARS patients, and 30 healthy doctors and nurses who had contact with SARS patients but were without symptoms of SARS.

Antibody response and viraemia during the course of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-associated coronavirus infection.

To understand the time-course of viraemia and antibody responses to severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV), RT-PCR and ELISA were used to assay 376 blood samples from 135 SARS patients at various stages of the illness, including samples from patients who were in their early convalescent phase. The results showed that IgM antibodies decreased and became undetectable 11 weeks into the recovery phase. IgG antibodies, however, remained detectable for a period beyond 11 weeks and were found in 100 % of patients in the early convalescent phase.