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Purpose: The purposes of meta-analysis are to evaluate evidence about the effects of Rehabilitation Exercise Program on the balance of post-stroke patients, evaluated by the Berg Balance Scale (BBS). Methods: The search was conducted 'stroke,' 'rehabilitation,' 'dynamic balance,' 'Berg Balance Scale,' 'exercise' and 'randomized controlled trial'using MEDLINE (accessed by PubMed), Web of Science (WoS), ProQuest, and Google Scholar for journal studies published from January 2018 to October 2022. Two independent reviewers performed the article selection, data extraction, and methodological quality assessment. The main outcome was dynamic balance assessed by the Berg Balance scale. Results: The review included 30 papers and a total of 540 patients. The overall effect size was 0.550, a medium effect size according to the Cohen's standard. It was observed that gender has moderate effect size in male (0.551), female (0.458) and higher in male. Exercise type results showed large effect sizes in balance training (0.966), and aquatic activities (0.830), moderate effect sizes in virtual reality (0.762), moderate effect sizes in physically active (0.581), gait training (0.541), dual-task (0.478), trunk control (0.284), and small effect sizes in resistance training (0.128). Conclusions: Exercise programs are effective in improving dynamic balance in stroke patients. Especially, the meta-analysis showed higher Effect Size for balance training and virtual reality than for other programs making this relevant interventions for future head to head superiority studies that compare different balance interventions in stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As women's labor participation has increased, the fertility rate has decreased. However, there is little research addressing economic well-being among females and the effect of females' economic well-being on the fertility rate. Through this study, we examines the effects of females' economic well-being on fertility and differences in the association across ethnicity/race. The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 was used. 3734 females were selected for the final sample. The sample consists of 1834 non-Hispanic Whites, 1175 African Americans, and 725 Hispanics. Ordinary Linear Regression Analyses and Logistic Regression Analyses were conducted. There were ethnic/racial disparities in economic well-being amongst females. Poverty was positively associated with both having more children and higher numbers of miscarriages/stillbirths. Interaction effects were found: African Americans and Hispanics moderated the association between poverty and number of children. This research contributes to further understanding ethnic/racial disparities between females' economic well-being and fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined financial maltreatment from the perspectives of Chinese American elders via a mixed method approach. Three focus groups of Chinese American elders and one group of service professionals recruited from Phoenix metropolitan areas shared their insights of financial maltreatment and contributed to the refinement of questions in the followed survey that included 325 elders (Mage = 75.6, SD = 7.00). Two types of financial maltreatment: Financial exploitation and financial neglect were identified from focus group discussions. About 9.2% experienced financial exploitation and 1.5% experienced financial neglect. Both financial exploitation and neglect were related to higher vulnerability scores for abuse assessed using the H-S/EAST elder abuse screening scale. Financial maltreatment needs to be understood in legal, cultural, and family contexts, incorporating the perspectives of older adults. Prevention of financial maltreatment hinges on increased awareness and knowledge of this issue among elders, families and service professionals, and the collaborative efforts of stakeholders from ethnic communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) is commonly used as a plasticizer and its usage continues to increase in conjunction with plastic consumption. DBP is readily released into air, drinking water, and soil, and unfortunately, is a potent endocrine disrupter that impairs central nervous system functions. Previously DBP was found to (1) arrest the cell cycle of C17.2 neural progenitor cells (NPCs) at the G1 phase, (2) reduce numbers of newly generated neural stem cells in the mouse hippocampus, and (3) adversely affect learning and memory. Other investigators also noted DBP-mediated neurotoxic effects, but as yet, no study has addressed the adverse effects of DBP on neuronal differentiation. Data demonstrated that at 200 μM DBP induced apoptosis in rat embryo primary neurons by increasing reactive oxygen species levels and inducing mitochondrial dysfunction. However, no significant effect was detected on neurons at concentrations of ≤100 μM. In contrast, doublecortin/microtubule associated protein-2 (DCX/MAP2) immunocytochemistry showed that DBP at 100 μM delayed neuronal maturation by increasing protein levels of DCX (an immature neuronal marker), without markedly affecting cell viability. Further in vivo studies confirmed that DCX+ cell numbers were significantly elevated in the hippocampus of DBP-treated mice, indicating that DBP delayed neuronal maturation, which is known to be associated with impaired memory retention. Data demonstrated that DBP might disrupt neuronal maturation, which is correlated with reduced neurocognitive functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate changes in the intracellular metabolism resulting from cisplatin (CDDP)-induced nephrotoxicity in normal kidney tubular epithelial NRK-52E cells. Cytotoxicity, cell cycle analysis, and apoptotic cell death were all evaluated in NRK-52E cells treated with CDDP. Subsequently, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy was used to investigate cellular metabolic profiles. CDDP-induced nephrotoxicity was determined in vivo model. Cytotoxicity in the NRK-52E cells significantly rose following treatment with CDDP and these increases were found to be concentration-dependent. Both p53 and Bax protein expression was increased in CDDP-treated NRK-52E cells, correlating with enhanced cellular apoptosis. In addition, a number of metabolites were altered in both media and cell lysates in these cells. In cell lysates, citrate, creatinine, and acetate levels were dramatically reduced following treatment with 20 µM CDDP concentrations, while glutamate level was elevated. Lactate and acetate levels were significantly increased in culture media but citrate concentrations were reduced following high 20 µM CDDP concentrations incubation. In addition, excretion of clusterin, calbindin, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), selenium binding protein 1 (SBP1), and pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) into the culture media was significantly increased in CDDP-treated cells while expression of acetyl CoA synthetase 1 (AceCS1) was markedly reduced in these cells. These findings suggest that acetate-dependent metabolic pathway may be a reliable and useful biomarker for detecting CDDP-induced nephrotoxicity. Taken together, data demonstrate that the discovery of novel biomarkers by metabolite profiling in target cells may contribute to the detection of nephrotoxicity and new drug development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]