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SUPERTASTING MAY BE LINKED WITH SECRETED PROTEIN, RESEARCHERS REPORT
NEWS
TRANSCRANIAL DIRECT CURRENT STIMULATION MIGHT IMPROVE POSTSTROKE DYSPHAGIA, STUDY SHOWS
ranscranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) might enhance the outcome of swallowing therapy for patients with poststroke dysphagia, according to a study in the July issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. Researchers from Seoul National University in South Korea enrolled 16 patients with acute poststroke dysphagia in a pilot study. They assigned them randomly to a treatment or control group. The investigators fitted all participants with an electrode on the scalp, on the side of the brain affected by the stroke and in the region associated with swallowing. For the first 20 minutes of the 30-minute sessions, the researchers administered tDCS to those in the treatment group and then provided swallowing training alone for 10 minutes. In the control group, the researchers tapered the direct current and turned it off after 30 seconds. One patient from each group underwent positron emission tomography (PET) before and just after treatment to enable the researchers to visualize its effect on metabolism. All patients experienced improvement in dysphagia after the 10 treatment sessions, without much difference between the two groups, the authors wrote. However, at the three-month follow-up evaluation, patients in the treatment group exhibited significantly greater improvement in functional dysphagia scale scores compared with those in patients in the control group. The study results showed significant differences in cerebral metabolism between the
T
834 JADA 143(8)
http://jada.ada.org
first and second PET scans in the patient who received tDCS. The researchers observed increased glucose metabolism in the unaffected hemisphere, although they had applied tDCS to the affected hemisphere only, indicating that tDCS might activate a large area of cortical network engaged in swallowing recovery rather than just the areas stimulated under the electrode. “The results indicate that tDCS can enhance the outcome of swallowing therapy in [patients with] poststroke dysphagia,” said Nam-Jong Paik, MD, PhD, of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Medicine. “As is always the case in exploratory research, further investigation involving a greater number of patients is needed to confirm our results.”
taste buds compared with those in control mice, the authors wrote. These features suggest that the mice might be a model for supertasters, whose tongues have an increased number of fungiform taste buds. “By generating the supertaster rodent model, we are able to study the supertasting phenomenon in detail,” Dr. Nosrat said. “Furthermore, brain-derived neurotrophic factor is important for proper development of the nervous system, and this mouse model can facilitate the development of therapies for nerve injuries in which taste signaling to the brain has been damaged.” This study was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., through the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
SUPERTASTING MAY BE LINKED WITH SECRETED PROTEIN, RESEARCHERS REPORT
SUCROSE, MENTHOL MAY CURB COUGHING, STUDY FINDS
he phenomenon known as “supertasting” may be associated with overexpressed brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a secreted protein that acts on certain neurons, according to researchers writing in the May 11 issue of Journal of Biological Chemistry. Dr. Christopher Nosrat and colleagues at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis and the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia developed novel transgenic mice in which transgene expression was driven by an α-gustducin promoter coupling BDNF expression to the postnasal expression of gustducin in taste cells. The mice with high BDNF expression had larger taste buds, an increased number of taste cells per taste bud and a greater supply of nerves in the
T
ucrose and menthol, common ingredients in cough medications, may act independently to reduce coughing, researchers reported in the June issue of Pulmonary Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
S
JADAPreview COMING IN SEPTEMBER
dOral health literacy and knowledge among first-time pregnant women dComponents of patient satisfaction with a dental restorative visit: results from The Dental Practice-Based Research Network dDenosumab-related osteonecrosis of the jaw Look for this and more in the September issue of JADA.
August 2012
Copyright © 2012 American Dental Association. All rights reserved.
TRANSCRANIAL DIRECT CURRENT STIMULATION MIGHT IMPROVE POSTSTROKE DYSPHAGIA, STUDY SHOWS
ranscranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) might enhance the outcome of swallowing therapy for patients with poststroke dysphagia, according to a study in the July issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. Researchers from Seoul National University in South Korea enrolled 16 patients with acute poststroke dysphagia in a pilot study. They assigned them randomly to a treatment or control group. The investigators fitted all participants with an electrode on the scalp, on the side of the brain affected by the stroke and in the region associated with swallowing. For the first 20 minutes of the 30-minute sessions, the researchers administered tDCS to those in the treatment group and then provided swallowing training alone for 10 minutes. In the control group, the researchers tapered the direct current and turned it off after 30 seconds. One patient from each group underwent positron emission tomography (PET) before and just after treatment to enable the researchers to visualize its effect on metabolism. All patients experienced improvement in dysphagia after the 10 treatment sessions, without much difference between the two groups, the authors wrote. However, at the three-month follow-up evaluation, patients in the treatment group exhibited significantly greater improvement in functional dysphagia scale scores compared with those in patients in the control group. The study results showed significant differences in cerebral metabolism between the
T
834 JADA 143(8)
http://jada.ada.org
first and second PET scans in the patient who received tDCS. The researchers observed increased glucose metabolism in the unaffected hemisphere, although they had applied tDCS to the affected hemisphere only, indicating that tDCS might activate a large area of cortical network engaged in swallowing recovery rather than just the areas stimulated under the electrode. “The results indicate that tDCS can enhance the outcome of swallowing therapy in [patients with] poststroke dysphagia,” said Nam-Jong Paik, MD, PhD, of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Medicine. “As is always the case in exploratory research, further investigation involving a greater number of patients is needed to confirm our results.”
taste buds compared with those in control mice, the authors wrote. These features suggest that the mice might be a model for supertasters, whose tongues have an increased number of fungiform taste buds. “By generating the supertaster rodent model, we are able to study the supertasting phenomenon in detail,” Dr. Nosrat said. “Furthermore, brain-derived neurotrophic factor is important for proper development of the nervous system, and this mouse model can facilitate the development of therapies for nerve injuries in which taste signaling to the brain has been damaged.” This study was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., through the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
SUPERTASTING MAY BE LINKED WITH SECRETED PROTEIN, RESEARCHERS REPORT
SUCROSE, MENTHOL MAY CURB COUGHING, STUDY FINDS
he phenomenon known as “supertasting” may be associated with overexpressed brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a secreted protein that acts on certain neurons, according to researchers writing in the May 11 issue of Journal of Biological Chemistry. Dr. Christopher Nosrat and colleagues at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis and the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia developed novel transgenic mice in which transgene expression was driven by an α-gustducin promoter coupling BDNF expression to the postnasal expression of gustducin in taste cells. The mice with high BDNF expression had larger taste buds, an increased number of taste cells per taste bud and a greater supply of nerves in the
T
ucrose and menthol, common ingredients in cough medications, may act independently to reduce coughing, researchers reported in the June issue of Pulmonary Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
S
JADAPreview COMING IN SEPTEMBER
dOral health literacy and knowledge among first-time pregnant women dComponents of patient satisfaction with a dental restorative visit: results from The Dental Practice-Based Research Network dDenosumab-related osteonecrosis of the jaw Look for this and more in the September issue of JADA.
August 2012
Copyright © 2012 American Dental Association. All rights reserved.