Effect of chest wall mobilization on respiratory muscle function in patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Clinical trials have demonstrated positive correlation between pulmonary function and chest wall expansion in COPD. Decrease in chest wall expansion in patients with COPD compromises rib cage mobility and functional length of respiratory muscles that ultimately jeopardize the efficacy and function of respiratory system.

Method: Thirty male adults (mean age: 74.

Effectiveness of a structured physical rehabilitation program on the physical fitness, mental health and pain for Chinese patients with major depressive disorders in Hong Kong - a randomized controlled trial with 9-month follow-up outcomes.

Purpose: The long-term and specific impacts on the physical and mental health for Chinese people with major depressive disorders (MDD) are not well-studied. The aim of the study is to investigate both short-and long-term effects of a structured physical rehabilitation program on the physical and mental health and pain for Chinese patients with MDD.

Methods: 84 Chinese patients with MDD were randomized to intervention ( = 42) or control group ( = 42).

Emergent Phototactic Responses of Cyanobacteria under Complex Light Regimes.

Environmental cues can stimulate a variety of single-cell responses, as well as collective behaviors that emerge within a bacterial community. These responses require signal integration and transduction, which can occur on a variety of time scales and often involve feedback between processes, for example, between growth and motility. Here, we investigate the dynamics of responses of the phototactic, unicellular cyanobacterium sp.

Long-term microfluidic tracking of coccoid cyanobacterial cells reveals robust control of division timing.

Background: Cyanobacteria are important agents in global carbon and nitrogen cycling and hold great promise for biotechnological applications. Model organisms such as Synechocystis sp. and Synechococcus sp.

Maintenance of motility bias during cyanobacterial phototaxis.

Signal transduction in bacteria is complex, ranging across scales from molecular signal detectors and effectors to cellular and community responses to stimuli. The unicellular, photosynthetic cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 transduces a light stimulus into directional movement known as phototaxis.

Interfollicular epidermal stem cells self-renew via autocrine Wnt signaling.

The skin is a classical example of a tissue maintained by stem cells. However, the identity of the stem cells that maintain the interfollicular epidermis and the source of the signals that control their activity remain unclear. Using mouse lineage tracing and quantitative clonal analyses, we showed that the Wnt target gene Axin2 marks interfollicular epidermal stem cells.

Motility enhancement through surface modification is sufficient for cyanobacterial community organization during phototaxis.

The emergent behaviors of communities of genotypically identical cells cannot be easily predicted from the behaviors of individual cells. In many cases, it is thought that direct cell-cell communication plays a critical role in the transition from individual to community behaviors. In the unicellular photosynthetic cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp.

Risk of fall for people with diabetes.

Purpose: To examine the risk of fall for people with diabetes compared with healthy control subjects. Correlation between tactile sensation and postural control was examined for subjects with diabetes.

Methods: Subjects with type 2 diabetes were classified into two groups: (i) diabetes without neuropathy (n = 23) and (ii) diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) (n = 9).

Do the biomechanical properties of the ankle-foot complex influence postural control for people with Type 2 diabetes?

Background: The ankle-foot complex plays an important role in the mechanics of postural control. The objectives of this study were to compare the biomechanical properties of the ankle-foot complex of people with diabetes who had or did not have peripheral neuropathy with those healthy individuals; and to examine its correlation with postural control.

Methods: A total of 64 individuals participated in this study: 9 people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, 23 diabetes without neuropathy, and 32 healthy controls.

Determination of serotonin, melatonin and metabolites in gastrointestinal tissue using high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection.

In this paper we show a simple isocratic chromatographic method for the detection of serotonin and its precursors and metabolites from various types of gastrointestinal tissue. The paper measures for the first time basal measurements of melatonin in the gastrointestinal tract, which has recently been shown to be released from the musosal lining of the gut. Tissue samples were stable following sample preparation in either 0.