BACKGROUND After radiotherapy to the head and neck, many patients experience swallowing difficulties. Preliminary work indicates that these patients benefit from the super-supraglottic swallow maneuver. METHODS Lateral videofluoroscopic studies examined oropharyngeal swallowing in 9 patients who suffered from dysphagia after radiation to the head and neck. Each patient completed two swallows ...

OBJECTIVE To determine if objective, validated scores of muscle weakness and function [manual muscle testing (MMT), childhood myositis assessment scale (CMAS)] or scores of general disease activity or function [childhood health assessment questionnaire and physician global assessment of disease activity visual analogue scale (VAS)], can predict children at risk of swallow abnormalities in juven...

of Virginia's governor Tim Kaine to sign a bill banning the use of certain state funds for embryonic stem cell research. This move has an ironic twist as Obama nominated Kaine as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, a position he will take on full time when his term as governor expires next January. In Germany, production of and research with new stem cell lines are still off limits, ...

BACKGROUND Respiratory swallowing coordination is regarded as one of the several mechanisms by which the airway is protected from aspiration during swallowing. A lack of reciprocity between respiration and swallowing has been indicated as one of the mechanisms that can lead to aspiration and pneumonia. Since chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a pulmonary condition, we have hypothes...

BACKGROUND After gastrectomy or esophagectomy, esophagogastrostomy and esophagojejunostomy are commonly used for reconstruction. Water-soluble contrast swallow is often used as a routine screening to exclude anastomotic leakage during the first postoperative week. In this retrospective study, the sensitivity and specificity of oral water-soluble contrast swallow for the detection of anastomotic...

The cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, Vieillot) could potentially play an important role in the transmission of West Nile virus (WNV) because of its breeding ecology, reservoir competence status, and potentially high natural exposure rates. These birds nest in colonies and their nests are occupied year round by swallow bugs (Oeciacus vicarius, Hovarth), hematophagus ectoparasites that fe...

BACKGROUND Videofluoroscopic swallow study (VFSS) is the gold standard for diagnosis of dysphagia in veterinary medicine but lacks standardized protocols that emulate physiologic feeding practices. Age impacts swallow function in humans but has not been evaluated by VFSS in dogs. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES To develop a protocol with custom kennels designed to allow free-feeding of 3 optimized form...

The ability of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) to influence the performance of nonnative invasive plants in their introduced range has received increasing attention. The dependence of the invasive nonnative vine pale swallow-wort on AMF was studied in three greenhouse experiments. The aims of the present work were to (1) determine AMF colonization levels of field-collected pale swallow-wort ...

Among the group of birds of tropical and subtropical distribution that reach their northern limits in the southwestern United States, the Cave Swallow (Petrochelidon fulvu) is of special interest since it nests colonially in caves. It was first reported in the United States by Scott (1890), who collected two vagrants of the.Cuban and Isle of Pines race, P. f. “caticoZa” (= cmmata, fide Hellmayr...