Comparison of static balance ability with eyes open between MCI group and control group.

Comparison of static balance ability with eyes open between MCI group and control group.</p

Baseline characteristics of participants.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the static balance ability of the older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) while standing on soft and hard support surfaces.MethodsForty older adults participated in this study (21 in the MCI group and 19 in the control group). Participants were required to perform balance tests under four conditions of standing: standing on a hard support surface with eyes open, standing on a soft support surface with eyes open, standing on a hard support surface with eyes closed, and standing on a soft support surface with eyes closed. Each test was measured in three trials and each trial lasted 30 seconds. Participants were asked to take off their shoes and place their feet in a parallel position with a 20-centimeter distance for bipedal support. The trajectories of the center of pressure (COP) were measured using a Kistler force platform with a frequency of 1000 Hz to assess balance while standing in both groups, with larger COP trajectories indicating poorer static balance in older adults.ResultsWith eyes open, the displacement of COP in the anterior-posterior direction(D-ap) (hard support surface: P = 0.003) and the 95% confidence ellipse area(95%AREA-CE) (soft support surface: P = 0.001, hard support surface: P ml), and 95%AREA-CE of the COP were no significant between-group differences when standing on hard support surfaces. However, the RDIST (P = 0.014), RDISTml (P = 0.014), and 95%AREA-CE (P = 0.001) of the COP in the MCI group on the soft support surfaces were significantly larger than the control group. The 95%AREA-CE (P ml (P ConclusionWith eyes open, the older adults with MCI showed poorer static balance ability compared to the older adults with normal cognition on soft and hard support surfaces. With eyes closed, the older adults with MCI showed poorer static balance on soft support surfaces, but no differences on hard support surfaces compared with the older adults with normal cognition. With eyes open and closed, the older adults with MCI showed poorer static balance on soft support surfaces as compared to hard support surfaces.</div

Comparison of static balance ability with eyes closed between MCI group and control group.

Comparison of static balance ability with eyes closed between MCI group and control group.</p

Balance tests on hard support surface.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the static balance ability of the older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) while standing on soft and hard support surfaces.MethodsForty older adults participated in this study (21 in the MCI group and 19 in the control group). Participants were required to perform balance tests under four conditions of standing: standing on a hard support surface with eyes open, standing on a soft support surface with eyes open, standing on a hard support surface with eyes closed, and standing on a soft support surface with eyes closed. Each test was measured in three trials and each trial lasted 30 seconds. Participants were asked to take off their shoes and place their feet in a parallel position with a 20-centimeter distance for bipedal support. The trajectories of the center of pressure (COP) were measured using a Kistler force platform with a frequency of 1000 Hz to assess balance while standing in both groups, with larger COP trajectories indicating poorer static balance in older adults.ResultsWith eyes open, the displacement of COP in the anterior-posterior direction(D-ap) (hard support surface: P = 0.003) and the 95% confidence ellipse area(95%AREA-CE) (soft support surface: P = 0.001, hard support surface: P ml), and 95%AREA-CE of the COP were no significant between-group differences when standing on hard support surfaces. However, the RDIST (P = 0.014), RDISTml (P = 0.014), and 95%AREA-CE (P = 0.001) of the COP in the MCI group on the soft support surfaces were significantly larger than the control group. The 95%AREA-CE (P ml (P ConclusionWith eyes open, the older adults with MCI showed poorer static balance ability compared to the older adults with normal cognition on soft and hard support surfaces. With eyes closed, the older adults with MCI showed poorer static balance on soft support surfaces, but no differences on hard support surfaces compared with the older adults with normal cognition. With eyes open and closed, the older adults with MCI showed poorer static balance on soft support surfaces as compared to hard support surfaces.</div

Balance tests on soft support surface.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the static balance ability of the older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) while standing on soft and hard support surfaces.MethodsForty older adults participated in this study (21 in the MCI group and 19 in the control group). Participants were required to perform balance tests under four conditions of standing: standing on a hard support surface with eyes open, standing on a soft support surface with eyes open, standing on a hard support surface with eyes closed, and standing on a soft support surface with eyes closed. Each test was measured in three trials and each trial lasted 30 seconds. Participants were asked to take off their shoes and place their feet in a parallel position with a 20-centimeter distance for bipedal support. The trajectories of the center of pressure (COP) were measured using a Kistler force platform with a frequency of 1000 Hz to assess balance while standing in both groups, with larger COP trajectories indicating poorer static balance in older adults.ResultsWith eyes open, the displacement of COP in the anterior-posterior direction(D-ap) (hard support surface: P = 0.003) and the 95% confidence ellipse area(95%AREA-CE) (soft support surface: P = 0.001, hard support surface: P ml), and 95%AREA-CE of the COP were no significant between-group differences when standing on hard support surfaces. However, the RDIST (P = 0.014), RDISTml (P = 0.014), and 95%AREA-CE (P = 0.001) of the COP in the MCI group on the soft support surfaces were significantly larger than the control group. The 95%AREA-CE (P ml (P ConclusionWith eyes open, the older adults with MCI showed poorer static balance ability compared to the older adults with normal cognition on soft and hard support surfaces. With eyes closed, the older adults with MCI showed poorer static balance on soft support surfaces, but no differences on hard support surfaces compared with the older adults with normal cognition. With eyes open and closed, the older adults with MCI showed poorer static balance on soft support surfaces as compared to hard support surfaces.</div

COP trajectories of SC and HC for a representative participant.

COP: center of pressure; SC: stood on the soft support surface with eyes closed; HC: stood on the hard support surface with eyes closed; AP: anterior-posterior; ML: medial-lateral.</p

Sepsis alters the expression of cell cycle proteins in the spleen.

<p>Mice were subjected to CLP or sham operation and spleens were harvested at day 1, 2 and 3 after CLP. Total protein was extracted from spleen and the expression of (A) cyclin D1, (B) cyclin B1, and <b>(C)</b> p57 were measured by western blotting. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 4–5 mice/group). *P < 0.05 vs. sham and ^#P < 0.05 vs. day 1 after CLP. The dotted lines on the representative Western blot reflect the corresponding groups as shown in the bar diagram bellow. CLP, cecal ligation and puncture.</p

Ghrelin increases AKT phosphorylation in sepsis.

<p>Mice were subjected to sham or CLP operation and treated with vehicle (normal saline) or ghrelin (2 nm/mouse) at 5 and 20 h following CLP operation. Spleens were harvested at day 3 after CLP. The levels of phosphorylated AKT were measured by Western blotting. Total AKT served as control. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 4–5 mice/group). *P < 0.05 vs. sham and ^#P < 0.05 vs. vehicle-treated animal. The dotted lines on the representative Western blot reflect the corresponding groups as shown in the bar diagram bellow. CLP, cecal ligation and puncture.</p

rmMFG-E8 upregulates cyclin D2 and downregulates p53 expression in neural stem cells.

<p>(A) rmMFG-E8 upregulates cyclin D2 via integrin α_V (Itgav). Treatment of cultured mouse embryonic neural stem cells with 500 ng/ml rmMFG-E8 significantly increased cyclin D2 gene expression compared with PBS. Pre-treatment of the mouse embryonic neural stem cells with 1 mg/ml anti-Itgav antibody abrogated the upregulation of cyclin D2 expression by rmMFG-E8, but not 1 mg/ml control IgG. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. *p<0.05 vs PBS; #p<0.05 vs IgG; n = 3/group. (B) rmMFG-E8 downregulates p53 via integrin α_V. Treatment of cultured mouse embryonic neural stem cells with 500 ng/ml rmMFG-E8 significantly decreased p53 gene expression compared with PBS treatment. Pre-treatment of the mouse embryonic neural stem cells with 1 mg/ml anti-Itgαv antibody prevented the downregulation of p53 by rmMFG-E8, but not 1 mg/ml control IgG. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. *p<0.05 vs PBS; #p<0.05 vs IgG; n = 3/group.</p

rhMFG-E8 promotes neurological recovery and neural stem cell proliferation after cerebral ischemia.

<p>(A) Treatment of rats with rhMFG-E8 significantly decreased neurological deficits at 7 days post-transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) compared with vehicle. Data are presented as mean ± SEM; n = 3 mice/group. The statistical analysis was done by One way Anova and Student-Newman-Keuls (SNK) test. *p<0.05 is considered as statistically significant. (B) Body weight changes of rats within 7 days after tMCAO. Both vehicle and rhMFG-E8-treated groups started to lose weight until day 2 post-tMCAO, at which point the weight of vehicle animals plateaued and rhMFG-E8-treated animals begun to gain weight slowly. Data are presented as mean ± SEM; n = 3 mice/group. The statistical analysis was done by One way Anova and Student-Newman-Keuls (SNK) test. *p<0.05 vs sham; #p<0.05 vs vehicle. (C) The striatum of sham rats (a-d) shows very little baseline neural stem cell proliferative activity as shown by BrdU⁺Nestin⁺ cells. At 7 days post-tMCAO, compared with the vehicle treated animals (e-h), rhMFG-E8 treated rats showed increased number of proliferating neural stem cells (i-l). Scale bar = 100 μm.</p