Journal articles on the topic 'Neuro-degenerative disorders'
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Husain, Masud, and Christopher Kennard. "Neuro-ophthalmology of degenerative neurological disorders." Current Opinion in Ophthalmology 6, no. 6 (December 1995): 41–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00055735-199512000-00007.
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C. Deocaris, Custer, Wen-Jing Lu, Sunil C. Kaul, and Renu Wadhwa. "Druggability of Mortalin for Cancer and Neuro-Degenerative Disorders." Current Pharmaceutical Design 19, no. 3 (November 1, 2012): 418–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1381612811306030418.
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C. Deocaris, Custer, Wen-Jing Lu, Sunil C. Kaul, and Renu Wadhwa. "Druggability of Mortalin for Cancer and Neuro-Degenerative Disorders." Current Pharmaceutical Design 19, no. 3 (January 1, 2013): 418–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/138161213804143680.
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Valente, André, Paulo Oliveira, Svetlana Khaiboullina, András Palotás, and Albert Rizvanov. "Biological Insight, High-Throughput Datasets and the Nature of Neuro-Degenerative Disorders." Current Drug Metabolism 14, no. 7 (August 1, 2013): 814–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/13892002113149990100.
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Mohammadian Rad, Nastaran, Twan van Laarhoven, Cesare Furlanello, and Elena Marchiori. "Novelty Detection using Deep Normative Modeling for IMU-Based Abnormal Movement Monitoring in Parkinson’s Disease and Autism Spectrum Disorders." Sensors 18, no. 10 (October 19, 2018): 3533. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s18103533.
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Detecting and monitoring of abnormal movement behaviors in patients with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are beneficial for adjusting care and medical treatment in order to improve the patient’s quality of life. Supervised methods commonly used in the literature need annotation of data, which is a time-consuming and costly process. In this paper, we propose deep normative modeling as a probabilistic novelty detection method, in which we model the distribution of normal human movements recorded by wearable sensors and try to detect abnormal movements in patients with PD and ASD in a novelty detection framework. In the proposed deep normative model, a movement disorder behavior is treated as an extreme of the normal range or, equivalently, as a deviation from the normal movements. Our experiments on three benchmark datasets indicate the effectiveness of the proposed method, which outperforms one-class SVM and the reconstruction-based novelty detection approaches. Our contribution opens the door toward modeling normal human movements during daily activities using wearable sensors and eventually real-time abnormal movement detection in neuro-developmental and neuro-degenerative disorders.
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Piazzi, Manuela, Alberto Bavelloni, Vittoria Cenni, Irene Faenza, and William L. Blalock. "Revisiting the Role of GSK3, A Modulator of Innate Immunity, in Idiopathic Inclusion Body Myositis." Cells 10, no. 11 (November 21, 2021): 3255. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells10113255.
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Idiopathic or sporadic inclusion body myositis (IBM) is the leading age-related (onset >50 years of age) autoimmune muscular pathology, resulting in significant debilitation in affected individuals. Once viewed as primarily a degenerative disorder, it is now evident that much like several other neuro-muscular degenerative disorders, IBM has a major autoinflammatory component resulting in chronic inflammation-induced muscle destruction. Thus, IBM is now considered primarily an inflammatory pathology. To date, there is no effective treatment for sporadic inclusion body myositis, and little is understood about the pathology at the molecular level, which would offer the best hopes of at least slowing down the degenerative process. Among the previously examined potential molecular players in IBM is glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3, whose role in promoting TAU phosphorylation and inclusion bodies in Alzheimer’s disease is well known. This review looks to re-examine the role of GSK3 in IBM, not strictly as a promoter of TAU and Abeta inclusions, but as a novel player in the innate immune system, discussing some of the recent roles discovered for this well-studied kinase in inflammatory-mediated pathology.
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Balasubramanian, Kishore, NP Ananthamoorthy, and K. Ramya. "Prediction of neuro-degenerative disorders using sunflower optimisation algorithm and Kernel extreme learning machine: A case-study with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease." Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine 236, no. 3 (December 20, 2021): 438–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09544119211060989.
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Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease are believed to be most prevalent and common in older people. Several data-mining approaches are employed on the neuro-degenerative data in predicting the disease. A novel method has been built and developed to diagnose Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s (PD) in early stages, which includes image acquisition, pre-processing, feature extraction and selection, followed by classification. The challenge lies in selecting the optimal feature subset for classification. In this work, the Sunflower Optimisation Algorithm (SFO) is employed to select the optimal feature set, which is then fed to the Kernel Extreme Learning Machine (KELM) for classification. The method is tested on the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) and local dataset for AD, the University of California, Irvine (UCI) machine learning repository and the Istanbul dataset for PD. Experimental outcomes have demonstrated a high accuracy level in both AD and PD diagnosis. For AD diagnosis, the highest classification rate is obtained for the AD versus NC classification using the ADNI dataset (99.32%) and local dataset (98.65%). For PD diagnosis, the highest accuracy of 99.52% and 99.45% is achieved on the UCI and Istanbul datasets, respectively. To show the robustness of the method, the method is compared with other similar methods of feature selection and classification with 10-fold cross-validation (CV) and with unseen data. The method proposed has an excellent prospect, bringing greater convenience to clinicians in making a better solid decision in clinical diagnosis of neuro-degenerative diseases.
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Tejeswinee, K., Gracia Jacob Shomona, and R. Athilakshmi. "Feature Selection Techniques for Prediction of Neuro-Degenerative Disorders: A Case-Study with Alzheimer’s And Parkinson’s Disease." Procedia Computer Science 115 (2017): 188–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2017.09.125.
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Elmi, Gul Rehman, Kalsoom Saleem, Mirza Muhammad Faran Ashraf Baig, Muhammad Naeem Aamir, Minglian Wang, Xiuli Gao, Muhammad Abbas, and Masood Ur Rehman. "Recent Advances of Magnetic Gold Hybrids and Nanocomposites, and Their Potential Biological Applications." Magnetochemistry 8, no. 4 (April 1, 2022): 38. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/magnetochemistry8040038.
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Magnetic gold nanoparticles (mGNP) have become a great interest of research for nanomaterial scientists because of their significant magnetic and plasmonic properties applicable in biomedical applications. Various synthetic approaches and surface modification techniques have been used for mGNP including the most common being the coprecipitation, thermal decomposition, and microemulsion methods in addition to the Brust Schiffrin technique, which involves the reduction of metal precursors in a two-phase system (water and toluene) in the presence of alkanethiol. The hybrid magnetic–plasmonic nanoparticles based on iron core and gold shell are being considered as potential theranostic agents. In this critical review, in addition to future works, we have summarized recent developments for synthesis and surface modification of mGNP with their applications in modern biomedical science such as drug and gene delivery, bioimaging, biosensing, and neuro-regeneration, neuro-degenerative and arthritic disorders. This review includes techniques and biological applications of mGNP majorly based on research from the previous six years.
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Adkins, Austin M., Laurie L. Wellman, and Larry D. Sanford. "Controllable and Uncontrollable Stress Differentially Impact Fear Conditioned Alterations in Sleep and Neuroimmune Signaling in Mice." Life 12, no. 9 (August 26, 2022): 1320. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life12091320.
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Stress induces neuroinflammation and disrupts sleep, which together can promote a number of stress-related disorders. Fear memories associated with stress can resurface and reproduce symptoms. Our previous studies have demonstrated sleep outcomes can be modified by stressor controllability following stress and fear memory recall. However, it is unknown how stressor controllability alters neuroinflammatory signaling and its association with sleep following fear memory recall. Mice were implanted with telemetry transmitters and experienced escapable or inescapable footshock and then were re-exposed to the shuttlebox context one week later. Gene expression was assessed with Nanostring® panels using RNA extracted from the basolateral amygdala and hippocampus. Freezing and temperature were examined as behavioral measures of fear. Increased sleep after escapable stress was associated with a down-regulation in neuro-inflammatory and neuro-degenerative related genes, while decreased sleep after inescapable stress was associated with an up-regulation in these genes. Behavioral measures of fear were virtually identical. Sleep and neuroimmune responses appear to be integrated during fear conditioning and reproduced by fear memory recall. The established roles of disrupted sleep and neuroinflammation in stress-related disorders indicate that these differences may serve as informative indices of how fear memory can lead to psychopathology.
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V. Raghuram, Gorantla, Shahid Chaudhary, Shweta Johari, and Indraneel Mittra. "Illegitimate and Repeated Genomic Integration of Cell-Free Chromatin in the Aetiology of Somatic Mosaicism, Ageing, Chronic Diseases and Cancer." Genes 10, no. 6 (May 28, 2019): 407. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes10060407.
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Emerging evidence suggests that an individual is a complex mosaic of genetically divergent cells. Post-zygotic genomes of the same individual can differ from one another in the form of single nucleotide variations, copy number variations, insertions, deletions, inversions, translocations, other structural and chromosomal variations and footprints of transposable elements. High-throughput sequencing has led to increasing detection of mosaicism in healthy individuals which is related to ageing, neuro-degenerative disorders, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. These age-related disorders are also known to be associated with significant increase in DNA damage and inflammation. Herein, we discuss a newly described phenomenon wherein the genome is under constant assault by illegitimate integration of cell-free chromatin (cfCh) particles that are released from the billions of cells that die in the body every day. We propose that such repeated genomic integration of cfCh followed by dsDNA breaks and repair by non-homologous-end-joining as well as physical damage to chromosomes occurring throughout life may lead to somatic/chromosomal mosaicism which would increase with age. We also discuss the recent finding that genomic integration of cfCh and the accompanying DNA damage is associated with marked activation of inflammatory cytokines. Thus, the triple pathologies of somatic mosaicism, DNA/chromosomal damage and inflammation brought about by a common mechanism of genomic integration of cfCh may help to provide an unifying model for the understanding of aetiologies of the inter-related conditions of ageing, degenerative disorders and cancer.
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Reale, Marcella, and Erica Costantini. "Cholinergic Modulation of the Immune System in Neuroinflammatory Diseases." Diseases 9, no. 2 (April 12, 2021): 29. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diseases9020029.
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Frequent diseases of the CNS, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and psychiatric disorders (e.g., schizophrenia), elicit a neuroinflammatory response that contributes to the neurodegenerative disease process itself. The immune and nervous systems use the same mediators, receptors, and cells to regulate the immune and nervous systems as well as neuro-immune interactions. In various neurodegenerative diseases, peripheral inflammatory mediators and infiltrating immune cells from the periphery cause exacerbation to current injury in the brain. Acetylcholine (ACh) plays a crucial role in the peripheral and central nervous systems, in fact, other than cells of the CNS, the peripheral immune cells also possess a cholinergic system. The findings on peripheral cholinergic signaling, and the activation of the “cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway” mediated by ACh binding to α7 nAChR as one of the possible mechanisms for controlling inflammation, have restarted interest in cholinergic-mediated pathological processes and in the new potential therapeutic target for neuro-inflammatory-degenerative diseases. Herein, we focus on recent progress in the modulatory mechanisms of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway in neuroinflammatory diseases.
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Trager, Robert J., Sarah E. Prosak, Kellee A. Leonard, Jessica E. Sigel, and Jeffery A. Dusek. "Diagnosis and Management of Sciatic Endometriosis at the Greater sciatic Foramen: a Case Report." SN Comprehensive Clinical Medicine 3, no. 8 (May 5, 2021): 1816–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s42399-021-00941-0.
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AbstractSciatic endometriosis is a rare condition in which endometrial tissue invades or compresses the lumbosacral plexus and/or sciatic nerve and causes sciatic pain, which is often cyclical. Its diagnosis depends on the recognition of signs and symptoms atypical to common degenerative lumbar disorders and its treatment requires timely and coordinated care. A 26-year-old woman presented to a chiropractor at a hospital-based outpatient clinic with a 6-month exacerbation of radiating pain and paresthesia from the right gluteal region into the leg and foot. She was previously treated for over 3 months for suspected lumbosacral radiculopathy with physical therapy. Multisegmental neurologic deficits inconsistent with her prior lumbar imaging prompted further investigation. Pelvis and hip MRI identified a 7×5 cm mass extending through the greater sciatic foramen which compressed and infiltrated the lumbosacral plexus, sciatic nerve, and superior gluteal nerve, and was confirmed via biopsy to be endometriosis. Referral and co-management with a neurologist and obstetrician resulted in a conservative strategy of hormone therapy with the option of having surgical excision if needed. Sciatic endometriosis is a rare disorder that may be misdiagnosed due to its tendency to mimic common lumbar disorders. This case highlights the role of a chiropractor coordinating care for a complex disorder that benefits from early diagnosis for optimal management. It also illustrates how integration of chiropractors into a hospital system can facilitate their ability to manage neuro-musculoskeletal disorders as they can easily refer to and communicate with other medical specialties within the network.
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Schedel, H., C. D. Reimers, T. Vogl, and T. N. Witt. "Muscle Edema in MR Imaging of Neuromuscular Diseases." Acta Radiologica 36, no. 3 (May 1995): 228–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/028418519503600303.
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Muscle edema has been described as a typical finding on MR images in acute neuromuscular disorders, predominantly in acute inflammatory myopathies, but also in neuro- and myopathies. The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency of muscle edema and the diagnostic usefulness of Gd-DTPA in neuromuscular diseases. 144 consecutive patients with various generalized neuromuscular diseases were examined by MR imaging. Areas of high signal intensity, relative to normal muscle, were seen in 36% of T2-weighted images, whereas the corresponding T1-weighted images showed normal or lower signal intensities. These edema-like abnormalities — Enlargement of the extracellular fluid space — Were found more often in inflammatory and metabolic myopathies, but were also seen in degenerative myopathies. Contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images in 25 patients were not more sensitive than plain T2-weighted images.
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Жлоба, A. Zhloba, Никитина, V. Nikitina, Баранцевич, and E. Barantsevich. "Method of Diagnostics the Severity Level of Degenerative and Dystrophic Disease of the Spine in the Patients." Journal of New Medical Technologies 21, no. 3 (September 5, 2014): 39–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.12737/5894.
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Diagnostic research can be used to diagnose the severity level of degenerative and dystrophic disease of the spine (DSP) in the patients. The authors analyzed the results of the examination of 60 patients suffering from DSP. Inclusion criteria patients in the study were that they have verified DSP. Diagnoses of diseases in the patients were clinically verified and by means of neuro-imaging methods: X-ray study of the spine and magnetic resonance imaging of the spine. Criterion for exclusion from the study was the absence of DSP. The age of the patients of the 1st group was 61,1±8,3 years, the age of the patients of the 2nd group 2 was 58,1±10,9 years. Method to diagnose the severity of the current verified DSP in patients differs in that the discriminant function D. was calculated using discriminant analysis. If the value of D>0, then the patients have DSP with diskogenic disorders, if D<0 – the patients have DSP without hernia formations of intervertebral disks. Discriminant function: D=6,029×P+0,292×G-3,709×psevdoparal+0,088×ascending-0,691×TT+2,550×CDBVofVBP+1,537×HDL-4,9. Neurological study of the patients with DSP is insufficient for the study of pathogenetic mechanisms of formation of neurological disorders. A great role in patients with these diseases plays the formation of violations of production of antioxidants, hypercholesterolemia, coagulographic disorders of the blood plasma.
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Shelkovnikova, Tatyana A. "Modelling FUSopathies: focus on protein aggregation." Biochemical Society Transactions 41, no. 6 (November 20, 2013): 1613–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/bst20130212.
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The discovery of a causative link between dysfunction of a number of RNA-binding proteins with prion-like domains and the development of certain (neuro)degenerative diseases has completely changed our perception of molecular mechanisms instigating pathological process in these disorders. Irreversible aggregation of these proteins is a crucial pathogenic event delineating a type of proteinopathy. FUS (fused in sarcoma) is a prototypical member of the class, and studies into the causes and consequences of FUSopathies have been instrumental in characterizing the processes leading to deregulation of RNA metabolism in neurodegeneration. In vivo models of FUSopathy have provided critical insights into the mechanisms of FUS toxicity and clues on the role of non-amyloid aggregates, which are hallmarks of these diseases. The present review summarizes the data on FUS aggregation signatures in available model organisms on the basis of overexpression of FUS variants.
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Schmitt, H. Peter. "Protein ubiquitination, degradation and the proteasome in neuro-degenerative disorders: No clear evidence for a significant pathogenetic role of proteasome failure in Alzheimer disease and related disorders." Medical Hypotheses 67, no. 2 (January 2006): 311–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2006.02.023.
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Schabron, Bridget, Jaydip Desai, and Yimesker Yihun. "Wheelchair-Mounted Upper Limb Robotic Exoskeleton with Adaptive Controller for Activities of Daily Living." Sensors 21, no. 17 (August 26, 2021): 5738. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s21175738.
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Neuro-muscular disorders and diseases such as cerebral palsy and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy can severely limit a person’s ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL). Exoskeletons can provide an active or passive support solution to assist these groups of people to perform ADL. This study presents an artificial neural network-trained adaptive controller mechanism that uses surface electromyography (sEMG) signals from the human forearm to detect hand gestures and navigate an in-house-built wheelchair-mounted upper limb robotic exoskeleton based on the user’s intent while ensuring safety. To achieve the desired position of the exoskeleton based on human intent, 10 hand gestures were recorded from 8 participants without upper limb movement disabilities. Participants were tasked to perform water bottle pick and place activities while using the exoskeleton, and sEMG signals were collected from the forearm and processed through root mean square, median filter, and mean feature extractors prior to training a scaled conjugate gradient backpropagation artificial neural network. The trained network achieved an average of more than 93% accuracy, while all 8 participants who did not have any prior experience of using an exoskeleton were successfully able to perform the task in less than 20 s using the proposed artificial neural network-trained adaptive controller mechanism. These results are significant and promising thus could be tested on people with muscular dystrophy and neuro-degenerative diseases.
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Inan-Eroglu, Elif, Aylin Ayaz, and Zehra Buyuktuncer. "Formation of advanced glycation endproducts in foods during cooking process and underlying mechanisms: a comprehensive review of experimental studies." Nutrition Research Reviews 33, no. 1 (November 8, 2019): 77–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954422419000209.
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AbstractAdvanced glycation endproducts (AGE) are a group of complex and heterogeneous molecules, sharing some common characteristics such as covalent cross-link formation among proteins, the effect of transforming the colour of food products into yellow-brown colours and fluorescence formation. AGE are linked to many diseases including diabetes, renal diseases, CVD, liver diseases, neuro-degenerative and eye disorders, female reproductive dysfunction, and even cancer. AGE are formed endogenously but are also provided from exogenous sources including diet and tobacco. Western diet, rich in processed and/or heat-treated foods, fat and sugar, increases the exposure to AGE. The foods that contain high levels of fat and protein are generally rich in terms of AGE, and are also prone to AGE formation during cooking compared with carbohydrate-rich foods such as vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains. The present article aimed to review the literature about the effects of different cooking methods and conditions on the AGE content of food and AGE formation mechanisms using a comprehensive approach.
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Kotelnikova, Anastasia V., Anastasia A. Kukshina, Elena A. Turova, and Anastasia S. Tihonova. "Binaural Acoustic Beats in the Psychological Rehabilitation of Patients with Impaired Motor Functions." Bulletin of Rehabilitation Medicine 20, no. 1 (February 26, 2021): 60–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.38025/2078-1962-2021-20-1-60-69.
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The course of diseases associated with movement disorders violates the possibility of independent existence of the individual and is accompanied by the formation of symptoms of increased anxiety, depression and catastrophizing. Over the last years, in addition to psychopharmacological drugs, non-drug methods have been actively included in the complex of treatment and rehabilitation for this patients’ group allowing them to influence the patient’s psyche by neuro-biological activation of sanogenesis links. Aim. To study the possibility of using resonance-acoustic vibration (PRAV) programs in the “relaxation” mode when organizing psychological support for patients with movement disorders in the course of medical rehabilitation. Materials and methods. The study included 93 patients with movement disorders of two nosological groups: movement disorders against the stroke (n=57) and motor disorders against the degenerative-dystrophic diseases of large joints and spine of large joints and spine (n=36), undergoing a standard inpatient course of medical rehabilitation. Results. The dynamics of the emotional state, the intensity of the pain syndrome, characteristics of the cognitive sphere (memory, attention) as a result of psychological correction using PRAV were analyzed. The positive effect of the inclusion of the binaural beats complex in the psychological correction of the patients with impaired motor functions state of health as well as an indifferent response to the attempt to correct memory and attention were determined. Conclusion. It testifies that the application of the method is appropriate in correcting the emotional state, general well-being, overcoming fear of movement and is not effective for pain and recovery of cognitive functions.
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Mofio, B. M., and P. E. Ofure. "Evaluation of The Antioxidant Properties of Abid Rahim Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.)fruit." Journal of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences 2, no. 1 (February 1, 2019): 157–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.36108/jvbs/9102.20.0191.
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Free radicals are implicated as a cause and consequence of diverse health pathologies including neuro-degenerative diseases, cardiovascular ailments, diabetes mellitus, cancer, nephropathies, inflammatory disorders, auto-immune diseases, idiosyncratic reactions etc. There is however a renewed interest in the study of plants for novel antioxidants. The present study evaluated the antioxidant properties of the ethanol extract of Date palm (Phoenix datylifera L.) fruit using 2,2 diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and also conducted phyto-chemical analysis using standard protocols. The crude extract produced a reduced antioxidant effect compared to ascorbic acid. Specifically, at high test concentrations (0.50 and 0.25 mg/ml), the mean antioxidant activity of the extract was 65.7% and 55.2% respectively relative to 79.0% and 76.8% with ascorbic acid at the same concentration. The extract also induced an abysmally low antioxidant activity of less than 32% below 0.25 mg/ml. Phyto-chemical analysis revealed that the extract contained flavonoids, alkaloids, steroids, terpenoids and cardiac glycosides. Phoenix datylifera L. fruit could be a potential source for isolation of potent antioxidant principles..
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Carrera, Iván, and Ramón Cacabelos. "Current Drugs and Potential Future Neuroprotective Compounds for Parkinson’s Disease." Current Neuropharmacology 17, no. 3 (February 14, 2019): 295–306. http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1570159x17666181127125704.
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The research progress of understanding the etiology and pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) has yet lead to the development of some clinical approaches intended to treat cognitive and behavioral symptoms, such as memory and perception disorders. Despite the major advances in different genetic causes and risk factors for PD, which share common pathways to cell dysfunction and death, there is not yet a complete model of PD that can be used to accurately predict the effect of drugs on disease progression. Clinical trials are also important to test any novel neuro-protective agent, and recently there have been great advances in the use of anti-inflammatory drugs and plant flavonoid antioxidants to protect against specific neuronal degeneration and its interference with lipid and cholesterol metabolism. The increasing knowledge of the molecular events underlying the degenerative process of PD has stimulated research to identify natural compounds capable of halting or slowing the progress of neural deterioration. Polyphenols and flavonoids, which play a neuroprotective role in a wide array of in vitro and in vivo models of neurological disorders, emerged from among the multi-target bio-agents found mainly in plants and microorganisms. This review presents a detailed overview of the multimodal activities of neuroprotective bio-agents tested so far, emphasizing their neurorescue/neuroregenerative activity. The brain-penetrating property of bioagents may make these compounds an important class of natural drugs for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Although there are numerous studies demonstrating beneficial effects in the laboratory by identifying critical molecular targets, the clinical efficacy of these neuroprotective treatments remains to be proven accurately.
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Tully, A. M., H. M. Roche, R. Doyle, C. Fallon, I. Bruce, B. Lawlor, D. Coakley, and M. J. Gibney. "Low serum cholesteryl ester-docosahexaenoic acid levels in Alzheimer's disease: a case–control study." British Journal of Nutrition 89, no. 4 (April 2003): 483–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/bjn2002804.
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Lown-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) status may be associated with neuro-degenerative disorders, in particular Alzheimer's disease, which has been associated with poor dietary fish orn-3 PUFA intake, and low docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) status. The present case–control study used an established biomarker ofn-3 PUFA intake (serum cholesteryl ester-fatty acid composition) to determinen-3 PUFA status in patients with Alzheimer's disease, who were free-living in the community. All cases fulfilled the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association criteria for Alzheimer's disease. Detailed neuropsychological testing and neuroimaging established the diagnosis in all cases. The subjects (119 females and twenty-nine males) aged 76·5 (SD 6·6) YEARS HAD A CLINICAL DEMENTIA RATING (CDR) OF 1 (sd 0·62) and a mini mental state examination (MMSE) score of 19·5 (sd 4·8). The control subjects (thirty-six females and nine males) aged 70 (sd 6·0) years were not cognitively impaired (defined as MMSE score <24): they had a mean MMSE score of 28·9 (sd 1·1). Serum cholesteryl ester-eicosapentaenoic acid and DHA levels were significantly lower (P<0·05 andP<0·001 respectively) in all MMSE score quartiles of patients with Alzheimer's disease compared with control values. Serum cholesteryl ester-DHA levels were progressively reduced with severity of clinical dementia. DHA levels did not differ in patients with Alzheimer's disease across age quartiles: all were consistently lower than in control subjects. Step-wise multiple regression analysis showed that cholesteryl ester-DHA and total saturated fatty acid levels were the important determinants of MMSE score and CDR. It remains to be determined whether low DHA status in Alzheimer's disease is a casual factor in the pathogenesis and progression of Alzheimer's disease.
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Mohiuddin, Omair Anwar, and Chris Biggs. "Evaluation of the effect of natural peptide 'Urocortin' on corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF) receptor expression in ND7/23 cells." Brazilian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 51, no. 1 (March 2015): 233–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/s1984-82502015000100023.
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CRF receptors are involved in the stress management of the cells and are believed to have a cytoprotective role in the body. CRF receptors have been reported to be potential drug targets for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. The cell line used in the study is ND7/23 (mouse neuroblastoma and rat dorsal root ganglion neuron hybridoma). The aim of the study was to confirm the expression of CRF receptors in ND7/23 cells and to determine if urocortin (Ucn) can enhance the expression of CRF receptors. ND7/23 cells were cultured in RPMI 1640 media and cells grown after the second passage were used for the experiments. RNA was extracted from the cells and amplified by RT-PCR to confirm the presence of CRF receptors. The cells were then subjected to oxidative stress by hydrogen peroxide (0.00375%) and divided into two groups i.e. control and Ucn (10-8 μM) treated. Later RNA was extracted from both group of cells and PCR was performed. Finally, densitometry analysis was conducted on the agarose gel to determine the quantity of PCR product formed. PCR experiment confirmed the expression of both CRF-R1 and CRF-R2 in the cell line, but CRF-R1 was found to be expressed more strongly. Densitometry analysis of the PCR product and calculation of the relative expression of CRF receptors indicated a higher level of expression of CRF receptors in samples treated with Ucn as compared to those that were kept untreated. The results indicate that Ucn may be useful for the management of neuro-degenerative disorders and further studies may be carried out to establish its use as a therapeutic agent.
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Ciuntu, Roxana Elena, Nicoleta Anton, Alina Cantemir, Anisia Iuliana Alexa, Camelia Margareta Bogdanici, Daniela Boişteanu, Alin Vasilescu, et al. "Clinical Study on the Ocular Manifestations in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome—Preliminary Results." Applied Sciences 11, no. 2 (January 8, 2021): 569. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app11020569.
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Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is a multisystemic disorder associated with a series of side effects. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) includes hypoxemia and is correlated with an increased incidence for various neuronal conditions, including glaucoma, strokes, reduced mental ability, depressive disorders, peripheral neuropathy, and non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy. This study’s aims are the evaluation of the degree of ocular surface damage in obstructive sleep apnea patients (in the absence of the continuous positive airway pressure treatment) and the structural changes in the optic nerve, and to establish correlation between the degree of damage to the ocular surface (eye dryness by Schirmer test) and corneal biomechanics by ocular response analyzer. The subjects included in the study will be grouped as follows: a group of patients with glaucoma and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome that will be compared to patients with glaucoma only as well as identifying the evolution of structural changes in patients with glaucoma and sleep apnea syndrome. A prospective study included 65 eyes from 65 subjects diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (45 eyes of 45 subjects with glaucoma and OSAS as well as 20 subjects, 20 eyes with dry-eye syndrome and OSAS) who did not follow the continuous positive airway pressure treatment. The control group consisted of 45 subjects (45 eyes) with (mild or moderate) primary open-angle treated glaucoma without obstructive sleep apnea. All patients had ophthalmologic evaluations according to a standardized protocol. Moreover, respiratory functional parameters (apnea–hypopnea index—AHI) and the body mass index were recorded. Within the studied group, patients with mild or moderate primary open-angle glaucoma, with moderate or severe dry-eye syndrome, patients with floppy-eyelid syndrome, with optical non-arteritis ischemic neuropathy, and a patient with retinal central vein occlusion were identified. The increased rate of the apnea syndrome during sleep produces a severe disorder of the ocular surface and a retinal neuro-degenerative disorder. The eyes of patients with sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) and glaucoma have lower mean intraocular pressure than eyes with glaucoma without SAS. However, the mean C/D ratio in eyes with glaucoma correlates with the severity of SAS. There is a positive correlation between the severity of the apnea and the ocular disorder’s degree similar to the studies in the literature review. The joint cooperation between the sleep specialists and ophthalmologists can lead to the improvement of the vascular and ocular status for the obstructive sleep apnea patients.
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Ciuntu, Roxana Elena, Nicoleta Anton, Alina Cantemir, Anisia Iuliana Alexa, Camelia Margareta Bogdanici, Daniela Boişteanu, Alin Vasilescu, et al. "Clinical Study on the Ocular Manifestations in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome—Preliminary Results." Applied Sciences 11, no. 2 (January 8, 2021): 569. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app11020569.
Full textAbstract:
Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is a multisystemic disorder associated with a series of side effects. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) includes hypoxemia and is correlated with an increased incidence for various neuronal conditions, including glaucoma, strokes, reduced mental ability, depressive disorders, peripheral neuropathy, and non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy. This study’s aims are the evaluation of the degree of ocular surface damage in obstructive sleep apnea patients (in the absence of the continuous positive airway pressure treatment) and the structural changes in the optic nerve, and to establish correlation between the degree of damage to the ocular surface (eye dryness by Schirmer test) and corneal biomechanics by ocular response analyzer. The subjects included in the study will be grouped as follows: a group of patients with glaucoma and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome that will be compared to patients with glaucoma only as well as identifying the evolution of structural changes in patients with glaucoma and sleep apnea syndrome. A prospective study included 65 eyes from 65 subjects diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (45 eyes of 45 subjects with glaucoma and OSAS as well as 20 subjects, 20 eyes with dry-eye syndrome and OSAS) who did not follow the continuous positive airway pressure treatment. The control group consisted of 45 subjects (45 eyes) with (mild or moderate) primary open-angle treated glaucoma without obstructive sleep apnea. All patients had ophthalmologic evaluations according to a standardized protocol. Moreover, respiratory functional parameters (apnea–hypopnea index—AHI) and the body mass index were recorded. Within the studied group, patients with mild or moderate primary open-angle glaucoma, with moderate or severe dry-eye syndrome, patients with floppy-eyelid syndrome, with optical non-arteritis ischemic neuropathy, and a patient with retinal central vein occlusion were identified. The increased rate of the apnea syndrome during sleep produces a severe disorder of the ocular surface and a retinal neuro-degenerative disorder. The eyes of patients with sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) and glaucoma have lower mean intraocular pressure than eyes with glaucoma without SAS. However, the mean C/D ratio in eyes with glaucoma correlates with the severity of SAS. There is a positive correlation between the severity of the apnea and the ocular disorder’s degree similar to the studies in the literature review. The joint cooperation between the sleep specialists and ophthalmologists can lead to the improvement of the vascular and ocular status for the obstructive sleep apnea patients.
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Dai, Yifan, Alireza Molazemhosseini, and Chung Liu. "A Single-Use, In Vitro Biosensor for the Detection of T-Tau Protein, A Biomarker of Neuro-Degenerative Disorders, in PBS and Human Serum Using Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV)." Biosensors 7, no. 4 (February 19, 2017): 10. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bios7010010.
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Dai, Yifan, Alireza Molazemhosseini, and Chung Liu. "In Vitro Quantified Determination of β-Amyloid 42 Peptides, a Biomarker of Neuro-Degenerative Disorders, in PBS and Human Serum Using a Simple, Cost-Effective Thin Gold Film Biosensor." Biosensors 7, no. 4 (July 20, 2017): 29. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bios7030029.
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Guseo, András. "Parkinson’s puzzle." Orvosi Hetilap 153, no. 52 (December 2012): 2060–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/oh.2012.29461.
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Parkinson’s disease is one of the most frequent progressive degenerative disorders with unknown origin of the nervous system. The commutation of the disease on Guam led to the discovery of a neurotoxin which was also found in other continents. This neurotoxin was identified in the common cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). Early clinical observations suggested some loose correlations with gastric and duodenal ulcer and Parkinson’s disease, while recent studies revealed a toxin, almost identical to that found in cyanobacteria in one strain of Helicobacter pylori, which proved to cause Parkinson like symptoms in animals. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that there is a slowly progressive poisoning in Parkinson’s disease. The disease specific alpha-sinuclein inclusions can be found in nerve cells of the intestinal mucosa far before the appearance of clinical symptoms indicating that the disease may start in the intestines. These results are strengthened by the results of Borody’s fecal transplants, after which in Parkinson patients showed a symptomatic improvement. Based on these observations the Parkinson puzzle is getting complete. Although these observations are not evidence based, they may indicate a new way for basic clinical research, as well as a new way of thinking for clinicians. These new observations in psycho-neuro-immunology strengthen the fact that immunological factors may also play a critical factor facilitating local cell necrosis which may be influenced easily. Orv. Hetil., 2012, 153, 2060–2069.
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Grauzdytė, Dovilė, Jovilė Raudoniūtė, Ieva Kulvinskienė, Edvardas Bagdonas, Inga Stasiulaitienė, Dainius Martuzevičius, Daiva Bironaitė, Rūta Aldonytė, and Petras Venskutonis. "Cytoprotective Effects of Mangiferin and Z-Ligustilide in PAH-Exposed Human Airway Epithelium in Vitro." Nutrients 11, no. 2 (January 22, 2019): 218. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu11020218.
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According to World Health Organisation (WHO) air pollution increases the risk of cardiovascular disorders, respiratory diseases, including COPD, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections, neuro-degenerative and other diseases. It is also known that various phytochemicals may mitigate such risks. This study tested if phytochemicals mangiferin (MNG) and Z-ligustilide (Z-LG) may protect PAH-exposed human lung bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B). Organic PAH extract was obtained from the urban fine PM with high benzo(a)pyrene content collected in Eastern European mid-sized city during winter heating season. Cell proliferation traits and levels of intracellular oxidative stress were examined. Effect of MNG (0.5 µg/mL) alone or in combination with PAH on bronchial epithelium wound healing was evaluated. Both phytochemicals were also evaluated for their antioxidant properties in acellular system. Treatment with MNG produced strong cytoprotective effect on PAH-exposed cells (p < 0.01) while Z-LG (0.5 µg/mL) exhibited strong negative effect on cell proliferation in untreated and PAH-exposed cells (p < 0.001). MNG, being many times stronger antioxidant than Z-LG in chemical in vitro assays (p < 0.0001), was also able to decrease PAH-induced oxidative stress in the cell cultures (p < 0.05). Consequently MNG ameliorates oxidative stress, speeds up wound healing process and restores proliferation rate in PAH-exposed bronchial epithelium. Such protective effects of MNG in air pollution affected airway epithelium stimulate further research on this promising phytochemical.
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Ivanova, I., B. Atanasova, A. Kostadinova, Y. Bocheva, and K. Tzatchev. "Serum Copper and Zinc in a Representative Sample of Bulgarian Population." Acta Medica Bulgarica 43, no. 2 (October 1, 2016): 21–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/amb-2016-0013.
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SummaryCopper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) are essential for life. Body Cu and Zn content depends on variety of factors - age, gender, and diet, type of drinking water, geographical location and genetic predisposition. Copper status becomes even more relevant not only in rare genetic disorders such as Wilson disease but in diseases such as cardiovascular ones, impaired glucose tolerance and neuro-degenerative and tumor diseases. The study aimed to examine the distribution of serum Cu and Zn in a representative group of the Bulgarian population and to describe factors which influence metal content. It also aimed to describe the link between serum Cu levels and the frequency of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in Bulgarians. Cu and Zn in serum were measured in 379 individuals (172 males and 207 females) from 5 different regions in Bulgaria by flame atomic absorption using AAnalyst 400, Perkin Elmer. Statistical analyses were performed by SPSS, 19. Median and inert-quartile range (IQR) for blood Cu were 15.89 (13.87-7.89) μmol/L and for Zn - 13.00 (11.7-14.68) μmol/L in the examined group. Higher Cu levels in females than in males were found (p < 0.001). Decrease of Zn with aging was established (p > 0.05). Significant difference (p < 0.05) was found in serum Cu between young people (< 30 year old) and adults over 61 year old. Statistically significant difference in Cu and Zn was observed (p < 0.05) in respect of residences. Difference without significance was measured between serum lipids and serum Cu (p = 0.541) and Zn (p = 0.741).
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Yan, Yan, Kamen Ivanov, Olatunji Mumini Omisore, Tobore Igbe, Qiuhua Liu, Zedong Nie, and Lei Wang. "Gait Rhythm Dynamics for Neuro-Degenerative Disease Classification via Persistence Landscape- Based Topological Representation." Sensors 20, no. 7 (April 3, 2020): 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s20072006.
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Neuro-degenerative disease is a common progressive nervous system disorder that leads to serious clinical consequences. Gait rhythm dynamics analysis is essential for evaluating clinical states and improving quality of life for neuro-degenerative patients. The magnitude of stride-to-stride fluctuations and corresponding changes over time—gait dynamics—reflects the physiology of gait, in quantifying the pathologic alterations in the locomotor control system of health subjects and patients with neuro-degenerative diseases. Motivated by algebra topology theory, a topological data analysis-inspired nonlinear framework was adopted in the study of the gait dynamics. Meanwhile, the topological representation–persistence landscapes were used as input of classifiers in order to distinguish different neuro-degenerative disease type from healthy. In this work, stride-to-stride time series from healthy control (HC) subjects are compared with the gait dynamics from patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington’s disease (HD), and Parkinson’s disease (PD). The obtained results show that the proposed methodology discriminates healthy subjects from subjects with other neuro-degenerative diseases with relatively high accuracy. In summary, our study is the first attempt to provide a topological representation-based method into the disease classification with gait rhythms measured from the stride intervals to visualize gait dynamics and classify neuro-degenerative diseases. The proposed method could be potentially used in earlier interventions and state monitoring.
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Al-Garawi, Zahraa S. "Zinc Metal Ion Affected the Structural Stability of Amyloid-Like Nanofibrils." Al-Mustansiriyah Journal of Science 29, no. 3 (March 10, 2019): 50. http://dx.doi.org/10.23851/mjs.v29i3.622.
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Synthetic peptides that self-assemble into well-defined structures with a cross-β arrangement are called amyloid-like fibrils. Amyloids are associated with a list of disorders and neuro-degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson`s disease. We previously showed that amyloid-like nanofibrils with a repeating motif “IHIH” were functional fibrils. They were able to bind a metal ion through imidazole moieties and mimic the native carbonic anhydrase enzyme by hydrolysing the CO2 molecule. Thus, these synthetic amyloid fibrils were suggest-ed to be good candidates to moderate and update the modern enzymatic molecules. This study aims to shed a light on the stability of these amyloid nanofibrils over a study period of 25 days, in the presence/absence of a metal ion. The work continued for approximately 7 months in the Biochemistry department, School of Life Sciences at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. A set of designed peptides with a repeating motif “IHIH” were ex-plored, based on some structural studies. Short and long peptides with free ends as well as closed ends were investigated. Peptides allowed to self-assemble with and without a metal ion (zinc) were then examined using circular dichroism, fluorimetry and electron microscopy for structural biophysical analysis. Regardless of the metal ion contribution, peptides showed stable secondary structures with a -sheet conformation for the incubation time of 25 days. Their morphologies did not appear to change over time. However, the presence of a zinc ion has an effect on the secondary structure of the mature fibrils. Results indicated that fibrils grown with the zinc ion have a significantly higher propensity to form -sheets secondary structures during incubation time. The presence of a zinc ion also affected the dimensions of the amyloid-like fibrils by the end of the study course, at which point they significantly re-duced. This effect of zinc ion on synthetic amyloid fibrils has not been previously reported. The stabilities of the zinc-nanofibrils point to their potential for use in modifying or updating the enzyme-mimic analytical reactions. The effect of adding zinc on the fibrillation seems to be crucial. Although it apparently improved the -sheet assembly, it affected the width/length of the synthetic amyloids. This effect could be promising toward reducing the generation of amyloid fibrils and ultimately understanding the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease.
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F., Valera Garrido, Minaya Muñoz F., Ramírez Martínez P., and Medina i. Mirapeix F. "Adverse effects associated to the application of ultrasound-guided percutaneous needle electrolysis." Revista Fisioterapia Invasiva / Journal of Invasive Techniques in Physical Therapy 02, no. 02 (December 2019): 115–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0039-3402498.
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Abstract Background Percutaneous needle electrolysis is a technique of invasive physical therapy which is increasingly used by physical therapists in their clinical practice. However, to date, no studies have analyzed the presence of adverse effects.The aim of the present study was to evaluate the incidence of adverse effects and the associated impact of the application of ultrasound-guided percutaneous needle electrolysis in disorders of the neuro-musculoskeletal system. Material and Method A prospective case series study was performed over a period of six months at the Sannus Clinic center (Madrid). A sample of patients was identified and recruited, and follow-up was performed up to six months after discharge. Initial information was collected regarding demographic data (age and sex) and clinical data (affected structure, area, type of pain and process associated to the pathology). During each of the sessions performed, percutaneous needle electrolysis was applied in an isolated manner and data were gathered on the treatment received, as well as the presence of any adverse effects. An adverse effect was considered as being any incident related with the application of percutaneous needle electrolysis which caused any damage, as perceived by both the patient and the physical therapist who applied the treatment. The type of adverse effect was recorded (pain, bleeding, hematoma, post-intervention vegetative reactions [sweating, pallor, abdominal discomfort], syncope, skin lesions, damage to organs, nerve lesions, pneumothorax, metal allergy), the moment these appeared (during application, after application, days after the application), its severity (transitory (<48h), reversible (resolved at discharge), irreversible), its impact (did not require any specific intervention, required an additional specific physical therapy intervention, required intervention from medical staff (without hospitalization), and cause (insufficient skill with the technique, malpractice, inappropriate protocol). The adverse effects were classified as mild or severe depending on whether or not an intervention was required. Results 214 patients (60.7% men; 39.3% women) received a total of 772 sessions, the mean number (and standard deviation) of sessions was 3.6 (1.1). The totality of patients treated with ultrasound-guided percutaneous electrolysis received more than one session, according to the methodology described by Valera & Minaya. The main reasons for consultation were tendinous pathologies (70.5%), muscle pathologies (11.7%), ligaments (6.5%), joint capsule-synovia (5.6%), nerve entrapments (4.2%) and others (1.4%). Degenerative processes were more common than acute inflammatory processes. The greatest incidence was in the lower limbs. Degenerative processes were significantly more frequent than tendinous problems. During the 772 sessions of ultrasound-guided percutaneous needle electrolysis, the most common adverse effects were pain during the intervention (96.1%) and in the days following treatment (71.1%), as well as mild vasovagal responses post-intervention (80.1%). One syncope was recorded (0.13%). All the effects were transitory and without impact. No hematomas were detected in the days after a mild bleeding, when this occurred (9.3%). Interventions were performed on the thorax in 1.5% of the procedures, close to organs (0.5%) or close to peripheral nerves (4.2%) without any adverse effect. In the 6-week follow-up after discharge no adverse effects were detected. Conclusions Percutaneous needle electrolysis is a safe technique. The adverse effects provoked by the application of percutaneous needle electrolysis are mild, transitory, without impact on the person's health and following a homogenous pattern. The pain and the mild vasovagal response associated with the intervention are frequent and inherent to the stimulus generated by the needling and the electric current employed.
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Altaf, Shafaq. "TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS IN NEUROREHABILITATION." Rehabilitation Journal 3, no. 2 (December 31, 2019): 105–6. http://dx.doi.org/10.52567/trj.v3i02.14.
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It has been a few decades since neurological rehabilitation is recognized as a formal technique for therapeutic treatment of stroke patients or individuals suffering disabilities following spinal cord injuries. Despite the nervous system having a plasticity mechanism that facilitates spontaneous recovery to some extent, it is essential for most patients to receive specialized treatment protocol, to restore their motor function, including physical therapy and occupational therapy. More recently, experts of neurological rehabilitation have inculcated specialized therapies making use of computer and electronic devices to positively influence cortical excitability of damaged parts of cerebral hemispheres in order to improve neuroplasticity.1 The advancements aim to take advantage of the functionally preserved neuromuscular structures in compensating for the functions of the damaged areas as well as restoring function of the affected brain tissue; something for which the use of technology was not seen being implemented around two decades back.1, 2 While traditional approach to neuro-rehabilitation would focus on preventing worsening of a functional limitation through exercises such as passive range of motion and stretching,2 a better understanding of neuroplasticity has swung the rehabilitation pendulum in favor of use of several electrotherapeutic devices including transcranial magnetic stimulation modality, robot for limb training, robotic lower extremity orthoses and brain-computer interfaces which offer benefits for patients with neuronal injury.1 Non-invasive brain stimulation facilitates perceptual learning as well motor and cognitive performance in case of brain lesions.2 In order to ensure adherence to various therapies in the process of rehabilitation, interactive treatment strategies are being developed. These include the application of virtual and augmented reality systems which not only motivate the patient but make the repetitive exercise interesting in a controlled environment.3, 4 This approach has challenged the traditional paradigm by the use of biosensors as biofeedback tools to enlighten the patients about internal activities by them visualizing their muscle activity eventually helping them control their bodies better by knowing which muscles to contract to produce the correct movement.5 A proven successful mode of rehabilitation includes virtual reality (VR) technology, which is practical to use at homes, however, requires professional input when it comes to software development and application. Along with ensuring safety and effectiveness, new strategies are being developed which would allow clinicians who do not hold programming expertise to create game-based VR tasks and make further advancements in the field of neurological rehabilitation.6 Amongst the many causes of disability including trauma and musculoskeletal degenerative changes, nervous system disorders are most prevalent resulting in physical, cognitive, linguistic and behavioral issues all at the same time. According to a report by World Health Organization in year 2006, up to 1 billion people are suffering from neurological disorders worldwide constituting around 6% of the global burden of disease and is only escalating since then. Lower-income countries are significantly more affected than high-income countries as 80% disability- stricken individuals live in low-income countries.7 Considering rehabilitation, particularly the neurological aspect, as being relatively young medical specialty, improvement have been made in the years especially in the developed world with better quality rehabilitation services being offered by multidisciplinary teams consisting of highly trained physicians and physical therapists along with supporting staff.8 We are gradually, however, surely moving in the direction of figuring out new and effective approaches to neurorehabilitation by not only compensating for disabilities following neurological injuries but trying to reduce T Rehabili. J. Volume 03, Issue 02 2019 106 impairments by restoring neuronal structure and function.2 The technological advancements made in the developing countries are slow paced; however, keeping in mind the available resources, the responsibility lies with the clinicians to select and provide a comprehensive rehabilitation program which cost-efficient and easy to implement in the long run 9. In a nutshell, a truly effective neuro-rehabilitative program would focus on strategies to fully enable an individual to carry out activities of daily life, increase mobility, improve the ability to function independently and be an integral part of society.
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Oppelt, Konrad, Aidan Hogan, Felix Stief, Paul Alfred Grützner, and Ursula Trinler. "Movement Analysis in Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery – Measurement Systems and Clinical Applications." Zeitschrift für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie 158, no. 03 (July 10, 2019): 304–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/a-0873-1557.
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Abstract Background Technical development lead to an enhancement of clinical movement analysis in the last few decades and expanded its research and clinical applications. Since the mid 20th century, human movement analysis has made its way into clinical practice, e.g. in treating poliomyelitis and infantile cerebral palsy. Today, it has a wide range of applications in various clinical areas. The aim of this narrative review is to illustrate the variety of camera-based systems for human movement analysis and their clinical applications, specifically in the field of orthopaedics and trauma surgery (O/U). Benefits and limitations of each system are shown. Future development and necessary improvements are discussed. Material and Methods A selective literature review was undertaken with the databases PubMed and Google Scholar using keywords related to clinical human movement analysis in the field of orthopaedics and trauma surgery. Furthermore standard book references were included. Results Common video camera systems (VS) are used for basic visual movement analysis. Instrumented movement analysis systems include marker-based systems (MBS), markerless optical systems (MLS) and rasterstereographic analysis systems (VRS). VS, MBS and MLS have clinical use for dynamic examination of patients with various disorders in movement and gait. Among such are e.g. neuro-orthopaedic disorders, muscular insufficiencies, degenerative and post-trauma deficiencies with e.g. resultant pathologic leg axis. Besides the measurement of kinematic data by MBS and MLS, the combination with kinetic measurements to detect abnormal loading patterns as well as the combination with electromyography (EMG) to detect abnormal muscle function is a great advantage. Validity and reliability of kinematic measurements depend on the camera systems (MBS, MLS), the applied marker models, the joints of interest and the observed movement plane. Movements in the sagittal plane of the hip and knee joint, pelvic rotation and tilt as well as hip abduction are generally measured with high reliability. In the frontal and transverse planes of the knee and ankle joint substantial angular variabilities were noted due to the small range of motion of the joints in these planes. Soft tissue artefacts and marker placement are the biggest sources of errors. So far MLS did not improve these limitations. MBS are most accurate and remain the gold-standard in clinical and scientific movement analysis. VRS is used clinically for static 3D-analysis of the trunk posture and spine deformities. Current systems allow the dynamic measurement and visualisation of trunk and spine movement in 3D during gait and running. Planar x-ray-imaging (Cobbʼs angle) and to some extent cross sectional imaging with CT-scan or MRI are commonly used for the evaluation of patients with spinal deformities. VRS offers functional 3D data of trunk and spine deformities without radiation exposure, thus allowing safer clinical monitoring of the mainly infantile and adolescent patients. The accuracy, validity and reliability of measurements of different VRS-systems for the clinical use has been proven by several studies. Conclusion The instrumented movement analysis is an additional tool that aids clinical practitioners of O/U in the dynamic assessment of pathologic movement and loading patterns. In conjunction with common radiologic imaging it aids in the planning of type and extent of corrective surgical interventions. In the field of orthopaedics and trauma surgery movement analysis can help as an additional diagnostic tool to develop therapeutic strategies and evaluate clinical outcomes.
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Hulette, Christine M., Thomas F. Farmer, Martha S. Wingfield, Sue A. Lynch, and F. Stephen Vogel. "NEUROPATHOLOGIC FEATURES OF A PREVIOUSLY UNDESCRIBED FAMILIAL NEURO-DEGENERATIVE DISORDER PRESENTING WITH ATAXIA, CHOREA, SEIZURES, AND DEMENTIA." Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology 48, no. 3 (May 1989): 312. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00005072-198905000-00039.
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Cotticelli, M. Grazia, Fabio Acquaviva, Shujuan Xia, Avinash Kaur, Yongping Wang, and Robert B. Wilson. "Phenotypic Screening for Friedreich Ataxia Using Random shRNA Selection." Journal of Biomolecular Screening 20, no. 9 (August 18, 2015): 1084–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1087057115600433.
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Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is an autosomal recessive neuro- and cardio-degenerative disorder for which there are no proven effective treatments. FRDA is caused by decreased expression and/or function of the protein frataxin. Frataxin chaperones iron in the mitochondrial matrix and regulates the iron–sulfur cluster (ISC) assembly complex. ISCs are prosthetic groups critical for the function of the Krebs cycle and the mitochondrial electron transport chain. Decreased expression of frataxin is associated with decreased ISC assembly, mitochondrial iron accumulation, and increased oxidative stress, all of which contribute to mitochondrial dysfunction. In media with beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) as carbon source, primary FRDA fibroblasts grow poorly and/or lose viability over several days. We screened a random, short-hairpin-RNA (shRNA)-expressing library in primary FRDA fibroblasts and identified two shRNAs that reverse the growth/viability defect in BHB media. One of these two clones increases frataxin expression in primary FRDA fibroblasts, either as a vector-expressed shRNA or as a transfected short-interfering RNA (siRNA).
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Priya, S. Jeba, Arockia Jansi Rani, M. S. P. Subathra, Mazin Abed Mohammed, Robertas Damaševičius, and Neha Ubendran. "Local Pattern Transformation Based Feature Extraction for Recognition of Parkinson’s Disease Based on Gait Signals." Diagnostics 11, no. 8 (August 1, 2021): 1395. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11081395.
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Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neuro-degenerative disorder primarily triggered due to the deterioration of dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia nigra of the human brain. The early detection of Parkinson’s disease can assist in preventing deteriorating health. This paper analyzes human gait signals using Local Binary Pattern (LBP) techniques during feature extraction before classification. Supplementary to the LBP techniques, Local Gradient Pattern (LGP), Local Neighbour Descriptive Pattern (LNDP), and Local Neighbour Gradient Pattern (LNGP) were utilized to extract features from gait signals. The statistical features were derived and analyzed, and the statistical Kruskal–Wallis test was carried out for the selection of an optimal feature set. The classification was then carried out by an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for the identified feature set. The proposed Symmetrically Weighted Local Neighbour Gradient Pattern (SWLNGP) method achieves a better performance, with 96.28% accuracy, 96.57% sensitivity, and 95.94% specificity. This study suggests that SWLNGP could be an effective feature extraction technique for the recognition of Parkinsonian gait.
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Boni, U. De. "Cultured cells of the nervous system, including human neurones, in the study of the neuro-degenerative disorder, Alzheimer's disease: an overview." Xenobiotica 15, no. 8-9 (January 1985): 643–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/00498258509047422.
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Subah, Faria Zarin, Kaushik Deb, Pranab Kumar Dhar, and Takeshi Koshiba. "A Deep Learning Approach to Predict Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Multisite Resting-State fMRI." Applied Sciences 11, no. 8 (April 18, 2021): 3636. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app11083636.
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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex and degenerative neuro-developmental disorder. Most of the existing methods utilize functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to detect ASD with a very limited dataset which provides high accuracy but results in poor generalization. To overcome this limitation and to enhance the performance of the automated autism diagnosis model, in this paper, we propose an ASD detection model using functional connectivity features of resting-state fMRI data. Our proposed model utilizes two commonly used brain atlases, Craddock 200 (CC200) and Automated Anatomical Labelling (AAL), and two rarely used atlases Bootstrap Analysis of Stable Clusters (BASC) and Power. A deep neural network (DNN) classifier is used to perform the classification task. Simulation results indicate that the proposed model outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of accuracy. The mean accuracy of the proposed model was 88%, whereas the mean accuracy of the state-of-the-art methods ranged from 67% to 85%. The sensitivity, F1-score, and area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) score of the proposed model were 90%, 87%, and 96%, respectively. Comparative analysis on various scoring strategies show the superiority of BASC atlas over other aforementioned atlases in classifying ASD and control.
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J, Maria, Samyuktha N, and Yuva Yoga Shree B. "Discourse Analysis in Tamil Speaking Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease." International Journal of Science and Healthcare Research 6, no. 4 (October 8, 2021): 11–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.52403/ijshr.20211003.
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Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. Though PD is primarily a motor speech disorder during the initial stages, as the disease progresses, a gradual decline in linguistic aspects is observed as well. The effects of disease (PD) on cognition, word retrieval, syntax, and speech/voice processes may act together to manifest uniquely in spoken language tasks. There is a dearth of studies focusing on the discourse abilities in PD, especially in Indian context. Aim: The present study aims at investigating the micro and macrostructure discourse by using personal narrative task in Tamil speaking individuals with idiopathic PD and comparing it with the neuro-typical individuals Method: Two groups comprising 5 Tamil-speaking individuals with idiopathic PD in the age range of 60–85 years and 5 neuro-typical individuals were included in the study. To assess their discourse skills, participants were engaged in a personal narrative task. The analyses done were based on macro and micro structural aspects of discourse. The raw scores were subjected to suitable statistical analysis. Results: There was a statistical significance between the Parkinson & Normal group on Total number of words, No. of Different words, No. of content words, No. of Functional words, Free morphemes, Complex structure per utterances & Relevant piece per utterance in microstructural aspects. However there was no significant difference observed in the macrostructural aspects due to smaller sample size. Conclusion: It can be concluded that in addition to speech impairment, language structure is also affected in persons with PD. Intervening at the level of discourse is an important aspect as it enhances the quality of life. Keywords: Parkinson’s disease, Discourse, Tamil speaking, Micro analysis, Macro Analysis.
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Haque, Azizul, Rachel Polcyn, Denise Matzelle, and Naren L. Banik. "New Insights into the Role of Neuron-Specific Enolase in Neuro-Inflammation, Neurodegeneration, and Neuroprotection." Brain Sciences 8, no. 2 (February 18, 2018): 33. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci8020033.
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Neurodegeneration is a complex process that leads to irreversible neuronal damage and death in spinal cord injury (SCI) and various neurodegenerative diseases, which are serious, debilitating conditions. Despite exhaustive research, the cause of neuronal damage in these degenerative disorders is not completely understood. Elevation of cell surface α-enolase activates various inflammatory pathways, including the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and some growth factors that are detrimental to neuronal cells. While α-enolase is present in all neurological tissues, it can also be converted to neuron specific enolase (NSE). NSE is a glycolytic enzyme found in neuronal and neuroendocrine tissues that may play a dual role in promoting both neuroinflammation and neuroprotection in SCI and other neurodegenerative events. Elevated NSE can promote ECM degradation, inflammatory glial cell proliferation, and actin remodeling, thereby affecting migration of activated macrophages and microglia to the injury site and promoting neuronal cell death. Thus, NSE could be a reliable, quantitative, and specific marker of neuronal injury. Depending on the injury, disease, and microenvironment, NSE may also show neurotrophic function as it controls neuronal survival, differentiation, and neurite regeneration via activation of phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase (PI3K) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways. This review discusses possible implications of NSE expression and activity in neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, and neuroprotection in SCI and various neurodegenerative diseases for prognostic and therapeutic potential.
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Louhija, Ulla-Marja, Tuula Saarela, Kati Juva, and Björn Appelberg. "Brain atrophy is a frequent finding in elderly patients with first episode psychosis." International Psychogeriatrics 29, no. 11 (June 7, 2017): 1925–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1041610217000953.
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ABSTRACTBackground:To characterize the yearly incidence, diagnostic distribution, and neuro-radiologic findings in patients aged over 60 years, referred to psychiatric treatment with first episode psychosis (FEP).Methods:A computerized search, including all patients referred to psychiatric treatment during 12 consecutive months with a de novo diagnosis of psychosis was performed in the Helsinki region catchment area with 1.2 million inhabitants. Diagnoses based on hospital records were made by a group of one neurologist and three psychiatrists. MRI- or CT scans performed as a part of routine clinical management were used when available.Results:107 patients (27 males and 80 females) with FEP were identified and categorized into four diagnostic groups: schizophrenia, delusional disorder, psychotic depression, and psychosis due to another medical condition. No patients with de novo onset mania were found. Psychosis due to another medical condition was the most common diagnosis. A high frequency of signs of cortical brain atrophy was seen in all diagnostic groups, while central atrophy was more frequent in patients with psychosis due to another medical condition than in the other groups.Conclusion:Organic brain changes related to ageing or degenerative illnesses may be an etiologic factor in elderly patients with FEP.
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Bon, Carlotta, Riccardo Luffarelli, Roberta Russo, Silvia Fortuni, Bianca Pierattini, Chiara Santulli, Cristina Fimiani, et al. "SINEUP non-coding RNAs rescue defective frataxin expression and activity in a cellular model of Friedreich's Ataxia." Nucleic Acids Research 47, no. 20 (October 4, 2019): 10728–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkz798.
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Abstract Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is an untreatable disorder with neuro- and cardio-degenerative progression. This monogenic disease is caused by the hyper-expansion of naturally occurring GAA repeats in the first intron of the FXN gene, encoding for frataxin, a protein implicated in the biogenesis of iron-sulfur clusters. As the genetic defect interferes with FXN transcription, FRDA patients express a normal frataxin protein but at insufficient levels. Thus, current therapeutic strategies are mostly aimed to restore physiological FXN expression. We have previously described SINEUPs, natural and synthetic antisense long non-coding RNAs, which promote translation of partially overlapping mRNAs through the activity of an embedded SINEB2 domain. Here, by in vitro screening, we have identified a number of SINEUPs targeting human FXN mRNA and capable to up-regulate frataxin protein to physiological amounts acting at the post-transcriptional level. Furthermore, FXN-specific SINEUPs promote the recovery of disease-associated mitochondrial aconitase defects in FRDA-derived cells. In summary, we provide evidence that SINEUPs may be the first gene-specific therapeutic approach to activate FXN translation in FRDA and, more broadly, a novel scalable platform to develop new RNA-based therapies for haploinsufficient diseases.
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Puri, Digambar Vithhalbuwa, Sanjay Nalbalwar, Anil Nandgaonkar, and Abhay Wagh. "Alzheimer’s disease detection from optimal EEG channels and Tunable Q-Wavelet Transform." Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 25, no. 3 (March 1, 2022): 1420. http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijeecs.v25.i3.pp1420-1428.
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Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a non-curable neuro-degenerative disorder that has no cure to date. However, it can be delayed through daily activity assessment using a robust Electroencephalogram (EEG) based system at an early stage. A selection tech- nique using a Shannon entropy to signal energy ratio is proposed to select optimal EEG channels for AD detection. A threshold for channel selection is calculated using the best detection accuracy during backward elimination. The selected EEG channels are decomposed using Tunable Q-wavelet transform (TQWT) into nine different sub- bands (SBs). Four features: Katz’s fractal dimension, Tsallis entropy, Relyi’s entropy, and kurtosis are extracted for each SB. These features are used to train and test sup- port vector machine, k-nearest neighbor, Ensemble bagged tree (EBT), decision tree, and neural network for detecting AD patients from normal subjects. 16-channel EEG signals from 12 AD and 11 normal subjects recorded using the 10-20 electrode place- ment method are used for evaluation. Ten optimized channels are selected, resulting in 32.5% compression. The experimental results of the proposed method showed promis- ing classification accuracy of 96.20% with the seventh SB features and EBT classifier. The significance of these features was inspected by using the Kruskal-Wallis test.
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Boschetti, Elisa, Leonardo Caporali, Roberto D’Angelo, Carolina Malagelada, Anna Accarino, Maria Teresa Dotti, Roberta Costa, et al. "Anatomical Laser Microdissection of the Ileum Reveals mtDNA Depletion Recovery in A Mitochondrial Neuro-Gastrointestinal Encephalomyopathy (MNGIE) Patient Receiving Liver Transplant." International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23, no. 15 (August 8, 2022): 8792. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms23158792.
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mitochondrial neuro-gastrointestinal encephalomyopathy (MNGIE) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by thymidine phosphorylase (TP) enzyme defect. The absence of TP activity induces the imbalance of mitochondrial nucleotide pool, leading to impaired mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) replication and depletion. Since mtDNA is required to ensure oxidative phosphorylation, metabolically active tissues may not achieve sufficient energy production. The only effective life-saving approach in MNGIE has been the permanent replacement of TP via allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell or liver transplantation. However, the follow-up of transplanted patients showed that gut tissue changes do not revert and fatal complications, such as massive gastrointestinal bleeding, can occur. The purpose of this study was to clarify whether the reintroduction of TP after transplant can recover mtDNA copy number in a normal range. Using laser capture microdissection and droplet-digital-PCR, we assessed the mtDNA copy number in each layer of full-thickness ileal samples of a naive MNGIE cohort vs. controls and in a patient pre- and post-TP replacement. The treatment led to a significant recovery of gut tissue mtDNA amount, thus showing its efficacy. Our results indicate that a timely TP replacement is needed to maximize therapeutic success before irreversible degenerative tissue changes occur in MNGIE.
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Jankovic, Slavko, Dragoslav Sokic, Nikola Vojvodic, and Aleksandar Ristic. "The first film presentation of REM sleep behavior disorder precedes its scientific debut by 35 years." Srpski arhiv za celokupno lekarstvo 134, no. 9-10 (2006): 466–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.2298/sarh0610466j.
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The perplexing and tantalizing disease of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is characterized by peculiar, potentially dangerous behavior during REM sleep. It was described both in animals and humans. RBD in mammals was first described by Jouvet and Delorme in 1965, based on an experimental model induced by lesion in pontine region of cats [1]. In 1972, Passouant et al. described sleep with eye movements and persistent tonic muscle activity induced by tricyclic antidepressant medication [2], and Tachibana et al., in 1975, the preservation of muscle tone during REM sleep in the acute psychosis induced by alcohol and meprobamate abuse [3]. However, the first formal description of RBD in humans as new parasomnia was made by Schenck et al in 1986 [4-7]. Subsequently, in 1990, the International Classification of Sleep Disorders definitely recognized RBD as new parasomnia [8]. To our knowledge, arts and literature do not mention RBD. Except for the quotation, made by Schenck et al [6] in 2002, of Don Quixote de la Mancha whose behavior in sleep strongly suggested that Miguel de Servantes actually described RBD, no other artistic work has portrayed this disorder. Only recently we become aware of the cinematic presentation of RBD which by decades precedes the first scientific description. The first presentation of RBD on film was made prior to the era of advanced electroencephalography and polysomnography, and even before the discovery of REM sleep by Aserinsky and Kleitman in 1953. [9]. The artistic and intuitive presentation of RBD was produced in Technicolor in a famous film "Cinderella" created by Walt Disney in 1950, some 35 years prior to its original publication in the journal "Sleep" [2]. Since there is an earlier version of the film initially produced in 1920, presumably containing this similar scene, we can only speculate that the first cinematic presentation of RBD might precede its scientific debut by 65 years. In a scene in a barn, clumsy and goofy dog Bruno is, as dogs usually do, lying on a mat deeply asleep and obviously dreaming of his enemy cat Lucifer. This is clearly implied by a preceding scene showing Lucifer being extremely frightened while observing the dreaming dog in action. The cat Lucifer is instantly aware that the dog is chasing him in a dream and is horrified (Pictures 1-3). In a film sequence lasting only 16 seconds, we see Cinderella being aware that Bruno is firmly asleep, apparently having a terrible dream. While lying on the ground with total absence of any muscle atonia, the dog Bruno chases the cat Lucifer in his dream. He is running and barking, and when in his dream he catches Lucifer, he tries to devour the cat. Cinderella tries to wake him up by calling his name twice, first gently and then more vigorously, as she becomes aware of the content of Lucifer?s dream and his intention. The dog is deeply asleep and does not awake in spite of being exposed to sunlight through the opening door of the barn, and called by name by Cinderella (Pictures 4-14). For such a behavior he is reprimanded by Cinderella who definitely recognized the content of his dream (Pictures 15-36). Immediately upon awakening, Bruno shows his good natured temper and amiable character (Pictures 37-40). The film shows that the producer (Walt Disney) and film directors (Wilfred Jackson, Clyde Geronimi and Hamilton Luske) were obviously aware that a dog might enact the content of a dream. It also implies that their observation from day-to-day (better to say night-to-night) life of the dream enactment is not a rare phenomenon, and that it deserves to be shown in the film. These authors were also aware that dogs having RBD were good-natured during wakefulness and that only in dreams they showed unrestrained aggression; while awake, dog Bruno was only an opponent or enemy to the cat Lucifer, but in dreams the animosity grew to aggression. Disney noticed this peculiar kind of sleep behavior and most probably was aware of its frequency and importance, and certainly not knowing it is a disease, he used it to color his cartoon character making it more likable to the observer. Since the film was nominated for Best Score, Best Song and Best Sound, it not only reflected the artistic and observational abilities of the producer, but also his sense of the importance of the phenomenon, awareness of its frequency and presence in animals. The onlooker is tempted to speculate that Disney, while obviously having been aware of such a behavior in animals, might also have knowledge of its presence in humans. Even more, since Disney?s films frequently present different sleep disturbances (e.g., obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in dwarfs, hypersomnolence in the dwarf Sleepy, or jactatio capitis nocturna in the dwarf Dopey in film "The Snow White"), it seems plausible that he first observed RBD in man, and then artistically transferred it to his cartoon animal characters. Since the whole incident took place during the day, we assume that Bruno, apart from suffering from RBD, had another sleep disorder causing daytime REM intrusions (possibly narcolepsy and probably not OSA, as is frequent in Disney?s films, since there is no excessive daytime sleepiness). The odd thing about RBD is that it may easily, as it probably did for centuries, go as peculiar behavior in sleep ? rather than disease. While Lucifer was presented as sober and prudent cat, Bruno was clumsy and forgetful dog. We will refrain from speculating that dog?s clumsy nature could be the consequence of the CNS involvement by neuro-degenerative disease (i.e., synucleinopathy). Although we are aware that, in interpreting this episode we assumed to be at least as imaginative as the cartoon films of Walt Disney are, the fact remains that the artistic film presentation of RBD precedes its scientific description by at least 35 years.
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Sanjeev, Airy, and Venkata S. K. Mattaparthi. "Computational Study on the Role of γ-Synuclein in Inhibiting the α-Synuclein Aggregation." Central Nervous System Agents in Medicinal Chemistry 19, no. 1 (March 18, 2019): 24–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1871524918666181012160439.
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Background: α-Synuclein (αS) is the precursor protein present in Lewy Bodies that helps in the formation of highly ordered amyloid fibrils that is associated with the occurrence of Parkinson’s disease, a neuro-degenerative disorder. Many reports have now been focused on finding the probable targets to weaken this debilitating disease. Recently γ-synuclein (γS), a presynaptic protein, was highlighted to inhibit the aggregation propensity of αS both in vivo and in vitro. However the nature, location and specificity of molecular interactions existing between the αS and γS is not known in spite of the potential importance of γS as an inhibitor of αS. Objective: To understand the inhibition of αS aggregation by γS at the molecular level. Methods: Umbrella sampling method was used along with molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the conformational dynamics, degree of association and molecular interaction between the monomeric units in the αS/γS hetero-dimer. Results and Discussion: The dissociation energy barrier for αS/γS hetero-dimer was found to be higher than αS/αS homo-dimer. αS can therefore readily form a hetero-dimer by combining with γS than forming a homo-dimer. We also observed strong transient interactions involving hydrogen bonds, salt-bridges and non-bonded contacts between the monomeric units in αS/γS hetero-dimer. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that γS may inhibit the aggregation propensity of αS.
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Rotaru, Lilia. "Environmental toxic factors and clinical pattern of Parkinson’s disease." Moldovan Medical Journal 64, no. 4 (October 2021): 69–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.52418/moldovan-med-j.64-4.21.13.
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Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) – the most common neuro-degenerative movement disorder – is considered a result of a multifactorial pathogenic process modulated by cumulative and interactive effects of genes and exposures. An environmental exposure could enhance or create dopaminergic neurons vulnerability and increase PD risk. The purpose of the study was to find if excessive exposure to toxic environmental factors may influence clinical pattern of PD. Material and methods: The study was conducted on 111 patients diagnosed with PD, study group being defined as PD exposed to toxins (33 patients), control group including PD patients without toxin exposure (78 patients). General epidemiological data and clinical data were recorded. Results: Toxin exposure was found in 33 patients (29.73%), more of them – men and rural residents. Toxin exposed PD patients had an insignificantly younger age. The most common disease phenotype in the study group was the akinetic-rigid phenotype (64.7%, p = 0.040), bradykinesia being the most common sign at the disease onset (57.6%, p = 0.008). Levodopa equivalent daily dose also was higher in the study group (659.02 ± 232.46, p = 0.042). Conclusions: Excessive exposure to toxic environmental factors may influence the clinical pattern of PD. In this study the akinetic-rigid type was the predominant disease phenotype associated with toxin exposure. Doses needed for treatment were higher in PD patients exposed to toxins, as an indicator of a more severe motor impairment in this group