Effects of practice variability on learning of relaxed phonation in vocally hyperfunctional speakers

The present study investigated the effects of practice variability on the learning of relaxed phonation using a motor learning perspective. Twenty-one individuals with hyperfunctional voice problems were evenly and randomly assigned to three groups of practice conditions: constant, blocked, and random practice conditions. During training, participants in the constant practice condition were asked to read aloud sentence stimuli with four Chinese characters. Participants in the blocked practice condition were asked to read aloud sentence stimuli with increasing sentence length, starting from sets of two characters to five characters. Participants in the random practice condition were asked to practice reading sentence stimuli of variable length from two to five characters presented in a random fashion. Surface electromyographic feedback (sEMG) from the thyrohyoid muscle site was given to each participant after reading every two sentence stimuli. Results demonstrated that for all the participants, voice motor learning was evidenced by the decreased sEMG levels in delayed retention test. Generalization to untrained passage was shown as well. However, results did not reveal any difference in the learning among the three practice conditions. The findings from the present study did not support the hypothesis of contextual interference, which states that practice using variable items presented in a random mode is more beneficial to learning than practice using constant items. © 2011 The Voice Foundation.postprin

Oral Health Status of Chinese Paediatric and Adolescent Oncology Patients with Chemotherapy in Hong Kong: a Pilot Study

Aim: To study the oral health status of Chinese children and adolescents undergoing chemotherapy in Hong Kong. Method: All Chinese children and adolescent oncology patients aged 18 or below attending the Children's Centre for Cancer and Blood Disease at a hospital for chemotherapy were invited and parental consent was sought before they were accepted into the study. The study comprised of 1) a parental questionnaire, 2) the collection of medical history and 3) a clinical examination for tooth decay (caries) and mucosal status. Results: A total of 69 patients were invited, and they all participated in this study. Their mean age was 9.2±5.0 and 44 (64%) were males. Twenty-six patients (38%) had no caries experience (DMFT and/or dmft = 0). Higher caries experience was detected in participants that were not born in Hong Kong, had completed active chemotherapy, participated in school dental care service and whose parents had low educational levels. There were 41 patients with active chemotherapy, 24 of whom were diagnosed with acute leukaemia, 5 with haematological malignancies other than leukaemia and 11 with solid tumours. Antimetabolites, cytotoxic antibiotics, alkylating agents and plant alkaloids were administered in 49%, 32%, 24% and 22% of them, respectively. Twenty-six (63%) patients showed no mucosal complications. The most common oral complication was oral mucositis (24%) followed by petechiae (10%). Conclusion: About two-thirds of paediatric and adolescent cancer patients had caries experience, which was more common among those who had completed chemotherapy. Oral mucositis followed by petechiae were the two most common complications of receiving chemotherapy.published_or_final_versio

Mechanical oscillations enhance gene delivery into suspended cells

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Next-generation sequencing with a myeloid gene panel in core-binding factor AML showed KIT activation loop and TET2 mutations predictive of outcome

Clinical outcome and mutations of 96 core-binding factor acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients 18-60 years old were examined. Complete remission (CR) after induction was 94.6%. There was no significant difference in CR, leukemia-free-survival (LFS) and overall survival (OS) between t(8;21) (N=67) and inv(16) patients (N=29). Univariate analysis showed hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at CR1 as the only clinical parameter associated with superior LFS. Next-generation sequencing based on a myeloid gene panel was performed in 72 patients. Mutations in genes involved in cell signaling were associated with inferior LFS and OS, whereas those in genes involved in DNA methylation were associated with inferior LFS. KIT activation loop (AL) mutations occurred in 25 patients, and were associated with inferior LFS (P=0.003) and OS (P=0.001). TET2 mutations occurred in 8 patients, and were associated with significantly shorter LFS (P=0.015) but not OS. Patients negative for KIT-AL and TET2 mutations (N=41) had significantly better LFS (P<0.001) and OS (P=0.012) than those positive for both or either mutation. Multivariate analysis showed that KIT-AL and TET2 mutations were associated with inferior LFS, whereas age ⩾40 years and marrow blast ⩾70% were associated with inferior OS. These observations provide new insights that may guide better treatment for this AML subtype.published_or_final_versio

The 23-valent polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccination is not useful in BMT patients at risk of pneumococcal bacteremic sepsis

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Effects of Azithromycin in bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome after hematopoietic SCTa randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled study

Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) is an important complication after hematopoietic SCT (HSCT). Recent observations suggested that azithromycin might improve lung function in BOS after HSCT. We conducted a randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled study on azithromycin in patients with BOS after HSCT. The treatment group (n10) received oral azithromycin 250 mg daily while the control group (n12) received placebo daily for 12 weeks. Respiratory symptoms were assessed by the St George Respiratory Questionnaires and spirometry at baseline (drug commencement), 1, 2, 3 (drug cessation) and 4 months (1 month after drug cessation). There was no significant difference in the baseline demographic characteristics between the treatment and the control groups in age, gender, time from HSCT to BOS, time since diagnosis of BOS, chronic GVHD, baseline respiratory symptom scores and baseline forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV 1). Throughout and after 3 months of treatment, there were no significant changes in respiratory symptom scores and FEV 1 measurements between the treatment and the control groups. In conclusion, there was no significant benefit of 3 months of oral azithromycin on the respiratory symptoms and lung function in patients with relatively late BOS after HSCT in this randomized placebo-controlled study. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited.postprin

Biphasic short-circuit current response to noradrenalin mediated by Ca 2+ and cAMP in cultured rat epididymal epithelium

A study was carried out to investigate the short-circuit current (I(SC)) response to noradrenaline (NA) and the signal transduction mechanisms involved in cultured rat cauda epididymal epithelium. In normal Krebs-Henseleit solution, NA (10 μmol·l -1) added basolaterally elicited a biphasic I(SC) response consisting of a transient spike followed by a second sustained response. The biphasic response was almost abolished by removing ambient Cl -. Preloading the tissues with a cell permeant Ca 2+ chelator, 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy) ethane-N,N,N',N',-tetraacetic acid acetoxymethyl ester (BAPTA/AM), or pretreating them with thapsigargin (Tg), a microsomal adenosine triphosphatase inhibitor abolished the initial spike in the I(SC) response to NA, but had little effect on the second component. Pretreating the tissues with a non-selective β-antagonist, nadolol, reduced the second I(SC) response in a dose-dependent fashion but the initial spike was not affected. Microfluorimetric studies showed that NA (100 μmol·l -1) elicited single Ca 2+ spikes in isolated epididymal cells, which could be abolished by prior treatment with Tg. Biochemical assays showed that NA (10 μmol·l -1) increased intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate concentration ([cAMP](i)) and the response was abolished by prior treatment with nadolol (50 μmol·l -1). The results showed that NA elicited a biphasic I(SC) response mediated by a rise in intracellular Ca 2+ concentration ([Ca 2+](i)) followed by a rise in [cAMP](i). The Ca 2+-mediated I(SC) response had a faster onset and more transient action than the cAMP counterpart. It is suggested that NA released from noradrenergic nerve endings regulates transepithelial Cl - secretion in the epididymis thereby providing the specialized milieu vital for sperm storage and maturation.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

A method for studying apical anion conductance in cultured rat epididymal cells using the short-circuit current technique

79P–138P of this journal issue entitled: Proceedings of the Physiological Society, 18-20 July 1991, Cambridge Meeting: Communications: Part 1link_to_OA_fulltex

Ca 2+ release in cultured rat epididymal cells during hypoosmotic swelling

Microfluorimetric studies were carried out to investigate the effects of hypoosmotic swelling on intracellular Ca 2+ concentration ([Ca 2+](i)) in single rat epididymal cells. In Ca 2+-free solution containing 50 μmol/l ethylenebis(oxonitrilo)tetraacetate (EGTA) hypoosmotic swelling (-160 mosmol/l) induced a transient rise in [Ca 2+](i)< which was either monophasic, biphasic or oscillatory. The [Ca 2+](i) responses to repeated hypoosmotic stimulations followed a decremental pattern. However, if 2.5 mmol/l Ca 2+ was admitted during the recovery period between successive stimulations, the second and the third [Ca 2+](i) responses were slightly greater than the first. Increasing the change in osmolarity from -14 ± 1.0 to -154 ± 1.5 mosmol/l increased the rise in [Ca 2+](i) but reduced the [Ca 2+](i) response to subsequent ionomycin stimulation (4 μmol/l). The swelling- and the ionomycin-induced rises in [Ca 2+](i) followed a reciprocal pattern. It was suggested that intracellular Ca 2+ release in response to cell swelling in the epididymal epithelium might play a role in cell volume regulation and the control of epididymal fluid osmolarity.link_to_subscribed_fulltex