Objective: To investigate whether the efficacy of continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) for improving visuospatial neglect can be enhanced by providing more days of stimulation and more stimulation trains per day. Methods: In a prospective study, right-handed patients with right hemisphere stroke and visuospatial neglect were randomized to cTBS or sham cTBS treatment for 2 weeks and were followed up for 4 weeks. The cTBS group received active cTBS over the posterior parietal cortex of the unaffected hemisphere, combined with conventional rehabilitation therapy. Changes in scores for two paper-pencil tests for visuospatial neglect (star cancellation and line bisection) were evaluated. Results: In each group, 10 patients completed follow up. Compared with the sham group, star cancellation test scores in the cTBS group were improved by 37.03% at the end of treatment and by 47.21% after 4 weeks' follow up, and the line bisection score improved by 21.37% at the end of treatment and by 35.99% after 4 weeks' follow up. Conclusions: These results suggest that the efficacy of cTBS in visuospatial neglect can be enhanced and prolonged by increasing the days of stimulation and the number of stimulation trains per day over the left posterior parietal cortex.

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and characteristics of staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) producing Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) isolated from food sources. A total of 412 S. aureus isolates were recovered from 1970 milk and dairy samples (n = 236) and 2450 meat samples (n = 176) in China from 2009 to 2014. Of the 412 isolates, 124 isolates were tested positive for 1 or more classical staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) genes using PCR, and 31 isolates were positive for seb gene and further proved to be SEB-producing. Four SE profiles were observed among 31 SEB-producing isolates when investigated using ELISA kit, that is, SEB (16 isolates), SEA+SEB (6 isolates), SEB+SEC (6 isolates), and SEB+SED (3 isolates). Thirteen sequence types (STs) were identified in the 31 SEB-producing S. aureus isolates using multilocus sequence typing (MLST). The 3 most detected STs were ST1 (7 isolates), ST188 (6 isolates), ST59 (3 isolates). Two distinct clusters were identified by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), each of which showed excellent consistency with ST188 and ST1 achieved by MLST, respectively. In summary, this study reveals that various SE profiles are observed in SEB-producing S. aureus isolates and the great part of SEB-producing S. aureus isolates are showed as clusters. Especially, a particular cluster of ST188 strains was observed in SEB-producing S. aureus isolates which was associated with outbreaks of SFP and needs further attention.

Spasticity is common in individuals with central nervous system (CNS) disease 1 . It causes pain and reduces voluntary movement, which can have a disabling effect on patients and negatively affect rehabilitation outcomes. Lance's widely used definition of spasticity states that spasticity is a motor disorder characterized by a velocity-dependent increase in tonic stretch reflexes (muscle tone) with exaggerated tendon jerks caused by stretch reflex hyperexcitability 2 . A later 1994 definition described "a motor disorder characterized by a velocity-dependent increase in tonic stretch reflexes that results from abnormal intra-spinal processing of primary afferent input" 3 . A definition published in 2005 described spasticity as "disordered sensori-motor control, resulting from an upper motor neuron lesion, presenting as intermittent or sustained involuntary activation of muscles" 4 . There is general agreement that spasticity is caused by adaptations at the spinal cord level distal to the lesion.Changes in spinal pathways may result in spasticity including altered muscle spindle sensitivity, presynaptic inhibition, recurrent (Renshaw) inhibition, Ib inhibition and facilitation, reciprocal Ia inhibition, group II facilitation, cutaneomuscular pathway changes, and post-activation depression 5 . The last item has been an invariant finding in spasticity 1,6,7 , and whether hemiplegic or spinal, this AbstrActThis study aimed to investigate changes of post-activation depression in two groups of patients with or without spastic equinovarus deformity (SED). Paired and independent t-tests were used to compare post-activation depression within and between the groups, respectively. There was a significant positive correlation between diminished post-activation depression and spasticity severity. The soleus and tibialis anterior (TA) post-activation depression values were significantly decreased on the affected sides of patients with SED compared to those without. In patients without SED, the soleus post-activation depression was significantly decreased on the affected side; however, TA post-activation depression was higher on the affected side. Both the soleus and TA become active, but the onset time may be different. The imbalanced muscle tone between the soleus and TA in the early stage after stroke may be related to equinus deformity.Keywords: stroke, spasticity, spastic equinovarus deformity, hemiplegia, rehabilitation. resumo O principal objetivo deste estudo é a investigação da depressão pós-ativação em pacientes com deformidade equinovarus espástica (DEE). Os pacientes foram divididos em dois grupos. Student-t testes pareados e independentes foram utilizados para comparar a depressão pós-ativação intra-e inter-grupos, respectivamente. Houve uma correlação positiva significativa entre a diminuição da depressão pós-ativação e a gravidade da espasticidade. A depressão pós-ativação dos músculos sóleo e tibial anterior (TA) estavam significativamente diminuídas no lado afetado dos pacientes com SEE em relação aos membros ...

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Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) is an important causative agent of nontyphoidal salmonellosis in human populations. In this study, we collected 72 S. Enteritidis strains from 2004 to 2014 in Ningbo, mid-east China. Of the 72 strains, we identified a dominant clone of 58 strains recovered from patient's feces (n = 48), blood (n = 1), pleural effusion (n = 1), chickens (n = 3), and dessert cakes (n = 5) by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and variable-number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA). The profile arrangements of MLVA were SE1-SE2-SE3-SE5-SE6-SE8-SE9: 4-4-3-11-10-1-3. These dominant strains were susceptible to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, cefotaxime and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and resistant to nalidixic acid. Additionally, all isolates harboured virulence genes invA, sipA, sopE, and spvB when tested by PCR. Our results reveal that genetically similar S. Enteritidis strains which accounted for several outbreaks as well as blood infection and pleural cavity infection are prevalent in China for a long-term period. This situation calls for further attention in the prevention and control of foodborne disease caused by Salmonella species.

Neurofeedback cognitive training is a promising tool used to promote cognitive functions effectively and efficiently. In this study, we investigated a novel functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)based frontoparietal functional connectivity (FC) neurofeedback training paradigm related to working memory, involving healthy adults. Compared with conventional cognitive training studies, we chose the frontoparietal network, a key brain region for cognitive function modulation, as neurofeedback, yielding a strong targeting effect. In the experiment, 10 participants (test group) received three cognitive training sessions of 15 min using fNIRS-based frontoparietal FC as neurofeedback, and another 10 participants served as the control group. Frontoparietal FC was significantly increased in the test group (p = 0.03), and the cognitive functions (memory and attention) were significantly promoted compared with the control group (accuracy of 3-back test: p = 0.0005, reaction time of 3-back test: p = 0.0009). After additional validations on long-term training effect and on different patient populations, the proposed method exhibited considerable potential to be developed as a fast, effective, and widespread training approach for cognitive function enhancement. INDEX TERMS cognitive training, functional connectivity, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, neurofeedback, working memoryThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.

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