Immediate Effects of Electrical Stimulation on Oropharyngeal Structure and Laryngeal Vestibular Closure: A Pilot Study in Healthy Subjects.

Objectives: This study examined the immediate effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) on the dynamics of oropharyngeal structure and laryngeal vestibular closure (LVC) in healthy subjects.

Methods: Ten healthy male volunteers participated in this controlled, before-and-after, videofluoroscopic swallowing pilot study. The study was conducted in four phases (each performed twice): (1) saliva swallow (SS) before evaluation (BEFORE), (2) NMES while at rest with no SS (NMES AT REST), (3) SS during NMES (DURING NMES), and (4) SS to examine the aftereffects of NMES (AFTER).

Preparation and solution behavior of a thermoresponsive diblock copolymer of poly(ethyl glycidyl ether) and poly(ethylene oxide).

A thermoresponsive diblock copolymer, poly(ethyl glycidyl ether)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEGE-b-PEO), is synthesized by successive anionic ring-opening polymerization of ethyl glycidyl ether and ethylene oxide using 2-phenoxyethanol as a starting material, and its solution behavior is elucidated in water. In a dilute 1 wt % solution, the temperature-dependent alteration in the polymer hydrodynamic radius (RH) is measured in the temperature range between 5 and 45 degrees C by pulse-gradient spin-echo NMR and dynamic light scattering. The RH value increased with temperature in two steps, where the first step at 15 degrees C corresponds to the core-shell micelle formation and the second step at 40 degrees C corresponds to the aggregation of the core-shell micelles.