The purpose of the study was to find out whether increasing the main caregiver's knowledge about dysphagia would help them act more effectively in the education of dysphagia rehabilitation．

The subjects for the investigation were 178 patients with a Japanese care insurance rank of 2 or more，living in homes visited by nurses in Shiga Prefecture．The main care givers were divided into two groups at random， after obtaining informed concent (experimental group：14 and control group：13)．The experimental group was educated for dysphagic care for 4 months，and the control group was only observed without education．Outcome variables were symptoms of dysphagia，Barthel Index，SpO₂ for the dysphagia patients and the main caregiver's knowledge of dysphagia．

As a result，11 of 14 variables for the knowledge/skill of the main caregivers were increased significantly after the education．

Thus， this suggests that home nurses should offer the knowledge to the main caregiver of dysphagia patients at home．

Objective: In the past，patients with palatal lift prostheses (PLPs) suffered from oral discomfort．This problem is due to excessive pressure fixing the hard palatal bar to the soft palate．This causes many people to hesitate to use PLPs．We have designed a PLP with a mobile palatal bar to overcome this problem．

Construction: The New (Fujishima Type) PLP is functionally characterized by a mobile palatal bar that gently holds the soft palate upwards while speaking and is able to bend when swallowing．The contact surface of the mobile part to the mucous membrane is polished thoroughly and coated with nail polish for smoothness．

Cases: This new prosthetic design was applied to three stroke patients with weak or paralyzed oral musculature．Clinical testing revealed decreased nasal emission and hypernasality and improved speech articulation． The effectiveness was equivalent to conventional PLPs．Patients placed a high value on the new PLP with regard to oral comfort．After several months，patients recovered soft palate muscle activities．We therefore conjecture that the mobile part of the PLP might facilitate weak muscle activities．

Conclusion: We have designed a new PLP with mobile palatal bar for stroke patients with weak or paralyzed oral musculature．This PLP decreased nasal emission and hypernasality and relieved oral discomfort when swallowing．

Purpose： It has not been clear whether the palatoglossus (PG) muscle might be involved in the digesting and/or swallowing function．The current study was aimed at electromyographically examining the relationship between direction of tongue movement and PG muscle activity．

Method： Four normal volunteers were used as subjects．Smoothed EMG signals of the PG muscle were collected．Each subject was instructed to perform four kinds of tasks as follows： 1）touching the angulus oris of the ipsilateral side of the electrode insertion site with the tongue apex； 2）touching the angulus oris of the contralateral side with the tongue apex； 3）protruding the tongue blade； and 4）raising the dorsum of the posterior tongue body to contact the palate．

Results： For all subjects，PG muscle activity was significantly greater for touching the tongue apex to angulus oris of ipsilateral side and for raising the dorsum of the tongue body than the other tasks．

Conclusion：The PG muscle might be involved in lateral movement of the tongue during the food processing stage by raising the ipsilateral side of the tongue when food is delivered and processed with the occlusal surface of the posterior teeth．