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Background; Effortful swallowing training (EST) is a remedial method for the training of swallowing-related muscles in the oropharyngeal phase. However, clinical evidence of its effectiveness is insufficient. Aims; To investigate the effects of EST on tongue strength and swallowing function in patients with stroke. Methods & Procedures; Stroke patients with dysphagia were randomly assigned to one of two groups: an experimental group (n = 12) and a control group (n = 12). The experimental group underwent EST, while the control group performed saliva swallowing. Training was conducted 5 days per week for 4 weeks. Both groups underwent conventional dysphagia treatment for 30 min/day, 5 days/week for 4 weeks. Outcomes & Results; Tongue strength was assessed using the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument. The Videofluoroscopic Dysphagia Scale (VDS), based on a videofluoroscopic swallowing study, was used to analyze oropharyngeal swallowing function. The experimental group showed greater improvements in anterior and posterior tongue strength compared with the control group (p = 0.046 and 0.042, respectively), and greater improvement in the oral phases of the VDS (p = 0.017). Conclusions & Implications; We recommend EST as a remedial strategy for improving tongue strength and oral swallowing function in patients with stroke.

Chewing exercises have been applied in clinical settings to improve the occlusal force and function of the masseter muscle in elderly individuals. However, the clinical relevance and effects of chewing exercises are unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of bilateral chewing exercises on the occlusal force and masseter muscle thickness in community‐dwelling Koreans aged 65 years. Forty community‐dwelling healthy elderly individuals were enrolled in this study. They were assigned to the experimental or the control group. The experimental group performed chewing exercises using medical equipment developed to facilitate such exercises. The chewing exercises were divided into isometric and isotonic types and were performed for 20 min/d, 5 days/wk, for 6 weeks. The control group did not perform any chewing exercises. The outcome measures were occlusal force and masseter muscle thickness, which were evaluated using an occlusometer and ultrasound device, respectively. A paired t test and an independent t test were used to evaluate the training effects. Within‐group comparisons showed that occlusal force and masseter muscle thickness improved significantly in the experimental group (P <.001 for both), while the control group showed no significant improvements (P =.098 and.130). Between‐group comparisons showed that the experimental group had a greater increase in occlusal force and masseter muscle thickness (P <.05 for both) compared to the control group. These results suggest that chewing exercises are effective in improving occlusal force and masseter muscle thickness in healthy elderly individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The resistive jaw opening exercise (RJOE) was suggested as a potential remedial treatment for patients with dysphagia. However, clinical evidence is insufficient. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of RJOE on hyoid bone movement, aspiration, and oral intake level in stroke patients with dysphagia. METHODS: Forty stroke patients with dysphagia were randomly allocated into either the experimental group (n = 20) or placebo group (n = 20). The experimental group performed RJOE using a portable device, while the placebo group performed RJOE using a sham device with fewer loads. Intervention was conducted 5 times a week for 4 weeks. Hyoid bone movement was analyzed by two-dimensional analysis of anterior and superior motion based on a videofluoroscopic swallowing study. Aspiration was assessed using a penetration-aspiration scale (PAS), and oral intake level was assessed using the functional oral intake scale (FOIS). RESULTS: Both groups showed statistically significant differences in hyoid movement, PAS, and FOIS scale (p < 0.05). However, after the intervention, there was no significant difference between the two groups except for the liquid type of PAS. Effect sizes (Cohen's d) were 0.9 and 0.7, 0.6 and 0.6, and 1.1 for the anterior and superior movement of the hyoid bone, semisolid and liquid type of PAS, and FOIS scale respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that RJOE helps in hyoid movement, aspiration reduction, and oral intake in patients with dysphagia after stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Game‐based training has been shown to improve behavioural motor learning in various medical fields including rehabilitation. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effects of a tablet PC (personal computer) game‐based tongue training on tongue strength, thickness and compliance in healthy adults. Methods: This study recruited 30 healthy volunteers. Subjects were randomly assigned to two groups (n = 15/group). Group 1 performed game‐based tongue training, and group 2 performed tongue resistance training using the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument. Both groups performed the same tongue exercises as follows: frequency (isotonic = 30 times × 3, isometric = 20 seconds × 3), intensity (70% of 1‐repeated maximum contraction) and intervention period (5 days for 6 weeks). The primary outcomes were tongue muscle strength and thickness. Secondary outcomes were assessed using a 0‐to‐10 numerical rating self‐report scale that included motivation, interest/fun, physical effort and muscle fatigue/pain. Results: Both groups showed significant improvement in tongue strength and thickness, but there were no significant differences between the groups after the intervention. The self‐report scale numerical rating revealed that group 1 had significantly higher motivation and interest/fun after the exercise than group 2. Group 1 had expended a significantly lower physical effort than group 2. No significant differences were noted between the 2 groups for muscle fatigue/pain. Conclusion: This study showed that both exercises had similar effects on tongue strength and thickness increase in healthy adults, but game‐based tongue training was more fun and physically less demanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Effortful swallowing training (EST) is a remedial method for the training of swallowing‐related muscles in the oropharyngeal phase. However, clinical evidence of its effectiveness is insufficient. Aims: To investigate the effects of EST on tongue strength and swallowing function in patients with stroke. Methods & Procedures: Stroke patients with dysphagia were randomly assigned to one of two groups: an experimental group (n = 12) and a control group (n = 12). The experimental group underwent EST, while the control group performed saliva swallowing. Training was conducted 5 days per week for 4 weeks. Both groups underwent conventional dysphagia treatment for 30 min/day, 5 days/week for 4 weeks. Outcomes & Results: Tongue strength was assessed using the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument. The Videofluoroscopic Dysphagia Scale (VDS), based on a videofluoroscopic swallowing study, was used to analyze oropharyngeal swallowing function. The experimental group showed greater improvements in anterior and posterior tongue strength compared with the control group (p = 0.046 and 0.042, respectively), and greater improvement in the oral phases of the VDS (p = 0.017). Conclusions & Implications: We recommend EST as a remedial strategy for improving tongue strength and oral swallowing function in patients with stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed a sample preparation method by using no-heating saponification after dispersive SPE and ultra-performance liquid chromatography for rapid determination of cholesterol in emulsified foods, such as cream pie, cream sandwich-type biscuit, plate chocolate, and chocobar. Optimum cholesterol extraction was obtained by using 10 mL isopropyl alcohol and 8.0 g (NH4)2SO4 per 1-2 g sample; saponification after extraction was performed using 25 mg KOH, 0.8 g NaCl, and 100 mg of a silica based NH2 SPE material. The determined cholesterol concentration was within certified reference material limits, and results of the recovery test were in the range of 97.4 to 104.8% with a relative standard deviation between 2.14 and 3.80%. Since our method had less sample preparation and chromatographic separation times, we expect our method to be used for effective quality control processes for monitoring cholesterol concentrations in confectioneries. Practical applications: A rapid analytical method for determining the cholesterol concentration in emulsified confectioneries was developed by using UPLC. The assessed cholesterol levels after comparing them with the CRMs were within the permissible range; results of the recovery tests performed using spiked materials ranged from 97.4 to 104.8% with RSD between 2.14 and 3.80%. Thus, our method could be used for accurate and precise determination of cholesterol concentration at low analysis and pretreatment time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, nonheated saponification was employed as a novel, rapid, and easy sample preparation method for the determination of cholesterol in emulsified foods. Cholesterol content was analyzed using gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID). The cholesterol extraction method was optimized for maximum recovery from baby food and infant formula. Under these conditions, the optimum extraction solvent was 10 mL ethyl ether per 1 to 2 g sample, and the saponification solution was 0.2 mL KOH in methanol. The cholesterol content in the products was determined to be within the certified range of certified reference materials (CRMs), NIST SRM 1544 and SRM 1849. The results of the recovery test performed using spiked materials were in the range of 98.24% to 99.45% with an relative standard devitation (RSD) between 0.83% and 1.61%. This method could be used to reduce sample pretreatment time and is expected to provide an accurate determination of cholesterol in emulsified food matrices such as infant formula and baby food. Practical Application: A novel, rapid, and easy sample preparation method using nonheated saponification was developed for cholesterol detection in emulsified foods. Recovery tests of CRMs were satisfactory, and the recoveries of spiked materials were accurate and precise. This method was effective and decreased the time required for analysis by 5-fold compared to the official method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The safety of dietary supplements is questionable as there have been occasional reports of products contaminated with illegal adulterants. The present study was carried out to develop trustworthy methodologies to screen for six anti-diabetic drugs (phenformin, rosiglitazone, glipizide, glimepiride, glybenclamide and gliclazide) and six anti-obesity drugs (ephedrine, fenfluramine, T3, T4, fluoxetine and sibutramine) in dietary supplements. A simultaneous determination method of the 12 drugs by liquid chromatography coupled with a photodiode array (LC/PDA) was established and was validated for linearity ( r2 > 0.99), precision (RSD <13.3%), recoveries (88.8-115.9%) and reproducibility. Sibutramine and its analogs, N-desmethylsibutramine, were subject to further investigation by LC/MS/MS because they were one of the major illegal adulterants. Our proposed method to monitor illegal drug adulterations in dietary supplements using LC/PDA is a simple and reliable, and therefore applicable to routine drug-adulteration screening. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iodine is an essential component of thyroid hormones, but excessive iodine intake can lead to thyroid dysfunction. Traditionally, Korean mothers consume brown seaweed soup (miyeokguk), a high source of iodine, after childbirth. There is controversy regarding the effects of excessive postpartum iodine intake on the health of mothers and infants. Thus far, there have been no nationwide large-scale surveys regarding the status of iodine intake among postpartum women in Korea. Therefore, we conducted a nationwide survey of postpartum dietary iodine intake among Korean women. In total, 1054 Korean women aged ≥19 years, at less than 8 weeks postpartum, participated in this survey. Dietary data were collected using self-reported 2-day dietary records, along with before-and-after meal photos. To evaluate the correlation between dietary iodine and urinary iodine excretion (UIE), spot urine, and 24 h urine samples were collected from 98 and 29 participants, respectively. The mean daily iodine intake among all participants was 2945.6 μg, and it gradually decreased over time after childbirth. Dietary iodine intake was significantly correlated with 24 h UIE (r = 0.396, p < 0.05) and spot urine UIE (r = 0.312, p < 0.05). Follow-up studies are required to examine the influence of excessive postpartum iodine intake on thyroid health in mothers and their infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: EEG-based brain-computer interfaces (BCI) are non-invasive approaches for replacing or restoring motor functions in impaired patients, and direct brain-to-device communication in the general population. Motor imagery (MI) is one of the most used BCI paradigms, but its performance varies across individuals and certain users require substantial training to develop control. In this study, we propose to integrate a MI paradigm simultaneously with a recently proposed Overt Spatial Attention (OSA) paradigm, to accomplish BCI control., Methods: We evaluated a cohort of 25 human subjects' ability to control a virtual cursor in one- and two-dimensions over 5 BCI sessions. The subjects used 5 different BCI paradigms: MI alone, OSA alone, MI, and OSA simultaneously towards the same target (MI+OSA), and MI for one axis while OSA controls the other (MI/OSA and OSA/MI)., Results: Our results show that MI+OSA reached the highest average online performance in 2D tasks at 49% Percent Valid Correct (PVC), and statistically outperforms both MI alone (42%) and OSA alone (45%). MI+OSA had a similar performance to each subject's best individual method between MI alone and OSA alone (50%) and 9 subjects reached their highest average BCI performance using MI+OSA., Conclusion: Integrating MI and OSA leads to improved performance over both individual methods at the group level and is the best BCI paradigm option for some subjects., Significance: This work proposes a new BCI control paradigm that integrates two existing paradigms and demonstrates its value by showing that it can improve users' BCI performance.

Since a high intake of trans fatty acids (TFA) has been associated with the increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, food regulation worldwide has been amended with respect to nutrition labeling and health claims on TFA. In the present study, the TFA levels of Korean food products were investigated to assess the regulation effect of TFA labeling. Same Korean food products within 7 different categories were purchased in years 2005 and 2008, and the contents of TFA and lipid and fatty acid composition were investigated. Lipid and TFA contents decreased in all food products manufactured in 2008. TFA levels were 0.01 to 6.88 g/100 g food in 2005, but the levels remarkably decreased to nondetectable level or up to 0.5 g TFA/100 g food in 2008. The foods from 2005 contained a various level of TFA ranging 0.6% to 44.6% of total fatty acids; however, the TFA level significantly decreased in most foods up to 3.8% from year 2008. For TFAs, trans C18:1 levels were greater than trans isomers of C18:2, and the levels in 2005 were significantly reduced in 2008 (P < 0.05). TFA levels at the sn-2 position were up to 48.3% of total fatty acids in 2005, but the level considerably decreased up to 5.4% in 2008. The considerably decreased content of TFA in 2008 suggested that food manufacturers recognized the adverse effect of TFA on human health and followed the compulsory trans fat labeling rule by Korean Food and Drug Administration (KFDA), which started December 2007.