Oromotor variability in children with mild spastic cerebral palsy: a kinematic study of speech motor control

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Treating motor speech dysfunction in children with CP requires an understanding of the mechanism underlying speech motor control. However, there is a lack of literature in quantitative measures of motor control, which may potentially characterize the nature of the speech impairments in these children. This study investigated speech motor control in children with cerebral palsy (CP) using kinematic analysis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We collected 10 children with mild spastic CP, aged 4.8 to 7.5 years, and 10 age-matched children with typical development (TD) from rehabilitation department at a tertiary hospital. All children underwent analysis of percentage of consonants correct (PCC) and kinematic analysis of speech tasks: poly-syllable (PS) and mono-syllable (MS) tasks using the Vicon Motion 370 system integrated with a digital camcorder. Kinematic parameters included spatiotemporal indexes (STIs), and average values and coefficients of variation (CVs) of utterance duration, peak oral opening displacement and velocity. An ANOVA was conducted to determine whether PCC and kinematic data significantly differed between groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CP group had relatively lower PCCs (80.0-99.0%) than TD group (<it>p </it>= 0.039). CP group had higher STIs in PS speech tasks, but not in MS tasks, than TD group did (<it>p </it>= 0.001). The CVs of utterance duration for MS and PS tasks of children with CP were at least three times as large as those of TD children (<it>p </it>< 0.01). However, average values of utterance duration, peak oral opening displacement and velocity and CVs of other kinematic data for both tasks did not significantly differ between two groups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>High STI values and high variability on utterance durations in children with CP reflect deficits in relative spatial and/or especially temporal control for speech in the CP participants compared to the TD participants. Children with mild spastic CP may have more difficulty in processing increased articulatory demands and resulted in greater oromotor variability than normal children. The kinematic data such as STIs can be used as indices for detection of speech motor control impairments in children with mild CP and assessment of the effectiveness in the treatment.</p

The Influences of Relationship Marketing in the Housing Brokerage Market

Many companies and salesmen try to build and maintain long-term relationship with their customer. The influences of relationship marketing activities are important issue of the housing brokerage Market. The aims of study are to learn the impacts of relationship marketing on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the housing brokerage Market. The researchers survey the customers and use the regression analysis method to test the relationships between relationship marketing, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in Taiwan. The research results show that the relationship marketing positively impacts on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, then customer satisfaction positively impacts on customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction plays a mediating role between relationship marketing and customer loyalty. Besides, the study confirm that brokers’ expertise moderates the relationship of relationship marketing process. The findings suggest that the brokers’ relationship marketing and expertise empirically impact on the customers

Real-time bioprocess and automated feed control with in-line Raman sensor

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Role of CD8+ cells in the progression of murine adriamycin nephropathy

Role of CD8+ cells in the progression of murine adriamycin nephropathy.BackgroundMany studies have shown that interstitial inflammation in human and experimental renal disease is characterized by T-cell infiltration, but published data on the involvement of inflammatory cell subsets in progressive tubulointerstitial lesions are often conflicting. A previous study suggested a role for cytotoxic T lymphocytes in the damaging effect of CD4+ T-cell depletion in murine adriamycin (ADR) nephropathy, a model of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), and tubulointerstitial inflammation. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of CD8+ cells in this model.MethodsMale BALB/c mice were treated with five intraperitoneal injections of anti-CD8 monoclonal antibody (mAb), beginning from five days after ADR treatment, when overt proteinuria was established. Seven mice in each of groups A (ADR + mAb), B (ADR only), and C (saline treated, age matched) were sacrificed at week 6. Changes in renal function and histopathological features were assessed. Tubulointerstitial inflammation and glomerular inflammation were examined immunohistochemically.ResultsmAb treatment reduced CD8+ cell levels to <2% of normal in spleen. Proteinuria in group A was no different from that in group B at week 6, but was markedly higher than in group C. Creatinine clearance was significantly ameliorated by anti-CD8 treatment (71.8 ± 4.9 μL/min vs. 29.2 ± 2.8 in group B and 81.9 ± 3.7 in group C). Morphometric analysis showed less FSGS in group A compared with group B (6.5 ± 1.9 vs. 13.0 ± 2.8, P < 0.001), as well as less tubular atrophy (indicated by increased ratio of tubule cell height to tubular diameter, 0.25 ± 0.24 in group A vs. 0.04 ± 0.02 in group B, P < 0.05). CD8 depletion also reduced interstitial expansion (6.3 ± 2.2% vs. 16.4 ± 3.1 in group B, P < 0.001) and fibrosis (P < 0.01). Macrophage infiltration in tubulointerstitium was less in group A than in group B (P = 0.052). The number of interstitial CD4+ cells appeared to increase after anti-CD8 treatment, but was not statistically different between groups A and B.ConclusionAnti-CD8 treatment protects against renal functional and structural injury in this murine model of chronic proteinuric renal disease