RESULTS: iCLIP analysis found SAFB1 binding was enriched, specifically in exons, ncRNAs, 3' and 5' untranslated regions. SAFB1 was found to recognise a purine-rich GAAGA motif with the highest frequency and it is therefore likely to bind core AGA, GAA, or AAG motifs. Confirmatory RT-PCR experiments showed that the expression of coding and non-coding genes with SAFB1 cross-link sites was altered by SAFB1 knockdown. For example, we found that the isoform-specific expression of neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM1) and ASTN2 was influenced by SAFB1 and that the processing of miR-19a from the miR-17-92 cluster was regulated by SAFB1. These data suggest SAFB1 may influence alternative splicing and, using an NCAM1 minigene, we showed that SAFB1 knockdown altered the expression of two of the three NCAM1 alternative spliced isoforms. However, when the AGA, GAA, and AAG motifs were mutated, SAFB1 knockdown no longer mediated a decrease in the NCAM1 9-10 alternative spliced form. To further investigate the association of SAFB1 with splicing we used exon array analysis and found SAFB1 knockdown mediated the statistically significant up- and downregulation of alternative exons. Further analysis using RNAmotifs to investigate the frequency of association between the motif pairs (AGA followed by AGA, GAA or AAG) and alternative spliced exons found there was a highly significant correlation with downregulated exons. Together, our data suggest SAFB1 will play an important physiological role in the central nervous system regulating synaptic function. We found that SAFB1 regulates dendritic spine density in hippocampal neurons and hence provide empirical evidence supporting this conclusion.
CONCLUSIONS: iCLIP showed that SAFB1 has previously uncharacterised specific RNA binding properties that help coordinate the isoform-specific expression of coding and non-coding genes. These genes regulate splicing, axonal and synaptic function, and are associated with neuropsychiatric disease, suggesting that SAFB1 is an important regulator of key neuronal processes.
Methods: A single blind randomized controlled trial on 34 patients with COPD was conducted. The participants were divided into two groups, including honey (n = 22) and standard care (n = 12). St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) was used to assess the QoL. The QoL total score was analysed using repeated measure ANOVA.
Result: There were no significant differences between the honey and standard care groups for socio-demographic and QoL variables. The within-time analysis showed statistically significant differences between baseline and post 2, 4 and 6-months in the total QoL score in the honey group. Otherwise, only marginally significant difference was detected between baseline and post 2-months in the standard care group. A comparison of total QoL score between the two groups, based on time (between and within), favoured the honey group. The honey group demonstrated a significantly lower mean total QoL score compared with the standard group at 4-months (28.89; 95% CI: 21.19, 36.59 vs 42.38; 95% CI: 31.95, 52.81) and 6 months (22.91; 95% CI: 14.94, 30.87 vs 41.95; 95% CI: 31.17, 52.73).
Conclusion: Supplementation of honey in patients with COPD results in better intermediate and long-term changes in the overall QoL.
Objective: To investigate the effect of dual-task (dual-motor and dual-cognitive task) conditions on spatiotemporal gait parameters during timed up and go test in children with traumatic brain injury.
Methods and Material: A total of 14 children with traumatic brain injury and 21 typically developing children participated in this case-control study. Functional balance was assessed before the actual testing to predict the risk of falls. Timed up and go test was performed under single-task and dual-task (dual-motor and dual-cognitive task) conditions. Spatiotemporal gait parameters were determined using the APDM Mobility Lab system. The descriptive statistics and t-test were used to analyze demographic characteristics and repeated measure ANOVA test was used to analyze the gait parameters.
Results: Under dual-task (dual-motor and dual-cognitive task) conditions during the timed up and go test, gait performance significantly deteriorated. Furthermore, the total time to complete the timed up and go test, stride velocity, cadence, and step time during turning were significantly different between children with traumatic brain injury and typically developing children.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that gait parameters were compromised under dual-task conditions in children with traumatic brain injury. Dual-task conditions may become a component of gait training to ensure a complete and comprehensive rehabilitation program.
METHODS: Fifty-eight diabetic patients with ulcers at Wagner Grade 2 and above involved in this study after presented at two study centres of tertiary teaching hospitals. The assigned patients received conventional wound care with additional HBOT given at 2.4 ATA for 90 minutes. Patients in the control group who received conventional wound care only were treated and observed for 30 days. The progress of wound healing was observed and measured at day 0, 10, 20 and 30 of study. The data collected were analysed using SPSS software (ver. 22) to study the association of HBOT towards healing of the diabetic foot ulcers.
RESULTS: Repeated Measures ANOVA analysis with Greenhouse-Geisser correction indicated that the means of wound size over time points (Day 0, 10, 20 and 30) among patients under HBOT group were statistically significantly different [F(1,61)=30.86, p<0.001)] compared to conventional therapy group. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that HBOT group has nearly 44 times higher odds to achieve at least 30% wound size reduction within the study period (95%CI: 7.18, 268.97, p<0.001).
CONCLUSION: The results obtained in this study indicated that as an adjunctive therapy to conventional wound care, HBOT affected the rate of healing in diabetic foot ulcers significantly in terms of wound size reduction when compared to administering the conventional wound care alone.