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Yuichiro Soma,1 Shigeki Kubota,2 Hideki Kadone,3 Yukiyo Shimizu,1 Hiroshi Takahashi,2 Yasushi Hada,1 Masao Koda,2 Yoshiyuki Sankai,4 Masashi Yamazaki2 1Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Tsukuba Hospital, Ibaraki, Japan; 2Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan; 3Center for Innovating Medicine and Engineering (CIME), University of Tsukuba Hospital, Ibaraki, Japan; 4Faculty of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, JapanCorrespondence: Shigeki KubotaDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1, Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8575, JapanTel +81-29-853-3219Fax +81-29-853-3162Email skubota@tsukuba-seikei.comIntroduction: The hybrid assistive limb (HAL) is a wearable exoskeleton cyborg that assists walking and lower limb movements via real-time actuator control by detecting the wearer’s bioelectric signals on the surface of their skin.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to report the improvement in walking ability following HAL gait training in a patient with tetraplegia after incomplete cervical spinal cord injury (SCI).Patient and Methods: A 47-year-old man with traumatic cervical SCI for six months after fall had incomplete tetraplegic SCI grade C as classified according to the American Spinal Cord Injury Association impairment scale and was unable to walk in conventional rehabilitation.Results: The HAL gait training was received 2 or 3 times per week for 13 sessions. Improvement was observed in gait speed (baseline: 0.12; after training: 0.45 m/sec), step length (baseline: 0.30; after training: 0.45 m), and cadence (baseline: 23.1; after training: 59.6 steps/min) based on a 10-meter walking test; International Standards for Neurological and functional Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) motor score (baseline: 59; after training: 76); and walking index for spinal cord injury (WISCI) II score (baseline: 1; after training: 6).Conclusion: We report the recovery of walking ability in a patient with chronic severe incomplete tetraplegic SCI following the HAL training.Keywords: hybrid assistive limb, robotic rehabilitation, incomplete spinal cord injury, robotic gait training

Akinari Inui,1 Ippei Takahashi,2 Sizuka Kurauchi,2 Yuki Soma,2 Toshiaki Oyama,1 Yoshihiro Tamura,1 Takao Noguchi,1 Kouichi Murashita,3 Shigeyuki Nakaji,2 Wataru Kobayashi1 1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 2Department of Social Medicine, 3COI Research Initiatives Organization, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Japan Purpose: Prevention, early detection and effective rehabilitation of dysphagia are important issues to be considered in an aging society. Previous studies have shown conflicting findings regarding the association between dysphagia and its potential risk factors, including age, malnutrition, oral conditions, lifestyle and medical history. Herein, we assessed the prevalence and association of dysphagia with potential risk factors in 50- to 79-year-old adults dwelling in a community in Japan. Patients and methods: In this study, there were 532 participants (185 males and 347 females). Participants who responded positively to the question “Do you sometimes choke on drinks/food such as tea and soup?” or those who presented with abnormal repetitive saliva swallowing test findings were diagnosed with dysphagia. The data collected from these participants included the following: number of teeth, occurrence of oral dryness, age, body mass index, serum albumin concentration, smoking, drinking and exercise habits, presence of diseases, such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension, and questions from the Mini–Mental State Examination. Results: Dysphagia was observed in 33 males (17.8%) and 76 females (21.9%). To explore the effect of the potential risk factors on the prevalence of dysphagia, a model was built by multivariate logistic regression analysis. Using the forced entry method, oral dryness (odds ratio [OR] =3.683 and P=0.003 in males; OR =1.797 and P=0.032 in females) and the number of teeth (OR =0.946 and P=0.038 in males) were found to be significantly related to dysphagia. Conclusion: This cross-sectional study demonstrated associations between oral conditions and dysphagia. Factors such as oral dryness and number of teeth may contribute to dysphagia more so than aging, lifestyle and comorbidity in community-dwelling adults over the age of 50. Keywords: oral dryness, number of teeth, swallow, nutrition, lifestyle

Introduction:Hot flash is considered to be an early and common symptom of menopause. The present study aimed to determine the impact of black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) on vasomotor symptoms in postmenopausal women. Methods:This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. This study was performed on 84 postmenopausal women. The participants were randomly divided into control and intervention groups. The participants of the intervention group received one black cohosh tablet per day and the control group received one placebo tablet per day for eight weeks. The severity of vasomotor symptoms and number of hot flashes were recorded during the pre-intervention phase, and 4 and 8 weeks after the intervention. The data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA and ANCOVA tests. The level of significance was considered lower than 0.05. Results:There was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of severity and number of hot flashes in weeks 4 and 8 by controlling the intensity of vasomotor symptoms and number of hot flashes before the intervention. Moreover, using repeated measures ANOVA, the intergroup comparison indicated a significant difference in bothgroups (the test and control groups) in terms of severity of vasomotor symptoms and number of hot flashes. Conclusion:According to the findings of the study, it seems that black cohosh can be used as an effective alternative medicine in relieving menopausal vasomotor symptoms.