Theta frequency deep brain stimulation in the subthalamic nucleus improves working memory in Parkinson's disease.

Most research in Parkinson's disease focuses on improving motor symptoms. Yet, up to 80% of patients present with non-motor symptoms that often have a large impact on patients' quality of life. Impairment in working memory, a fundamental cognitive process, is common in Parkinson's disease. While deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) improves motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease, its impact on cognitive functions is less well studied. Here, we examine the effect of DBS in the theta, beta, low and high gamma frequency on working memory in 20 Parkinson's disease patients with bilateral STN-DBS. A linear mixed effects model demonstrates that STN-DBS in the theta frequency improves working memory performance. This effect is frequency-specific and was absent for beta and gamma frequency stimulation. Further, this effect is specific to cognitive performance, as theta frequency DBS did not affect motor function. A non-parametric cluster-based permutation analysis of whole-brain normative structural connectivity shows that working memory enhancement by theta frequency stimulation is associated with higher connectivity between the stimulated subthalamic area and the right middle frontal gyrus. Again, this association is frequency- and task-specific. These findings highlight the potential of theta frequency STN-DBS as a targeted intervention to improve working memory in patients with Parkinson's disease.

A novel removal of Ni2+ ions from water solutions using dispersive solid-phase extraction method with nano Fe3O4/chitosan-acrylamide hydrogel.

The effluent release containing heavy metals as Ni2+ ions has drastic risks to both the natural environment and human health. In this research, the nano Fe3O4/chitosan-acrylamide hydrogel was prepared as a novel nano sorbent for dispersive solid-phase extraction of Ni2+ ions and applied to the water sample solution. The pH, amount and type of elution solvent, the extraction time, etc. were optimized to improve the efficiency of the proposed method. Analytical parameters such as concentration factor and relative standard deviation (%) were achieved as 33.3 and 1.8%, respectively. The capacity in equilibrium sorption was calculated at 22.54 mg g-1. Furthermore, to estimate the adsorption mode, Freundlich, Langmuir, and Temkin models were fitted with experimental isotherm data. Besides, to check the basic process of the metal adsorption mechanism, pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and Roginsky-Zeldovich models were investigated and the results were fitted with the pseudo-second-order model. The value of change in entropy (⊿S) obtained is -65.24 (J(mol K)-1). Negative values of change in enthalpy, ⊿H in (kJ mol-1) is -24.45 (kJ mol-1) which indicates both physical and chemical adsorptions involved in the process of adsorption. Finally, the nano Fe3O4/chitosan-acrylamide hydrogel exhibited high performance to remove the Ni2+ ions from water sample solution.

Neuropsychiatric manifestations due to anticholinergic agents and anabolic steroids ingestion: A case series and literature review.

Anticholinergic toxicity is a common occurrence in the emergency room, making it crucial for emergency clinicians to have a good understanding of this toxidrome. The neuropsychiatric effects of anticholinergic agents and anabolic steroids (ASs) can manifest as symptoms like anxiety, agitation, dysarthria, confusion, seizures, visual hallucinations, bizarre behavior, delirium, psychosis, and coma. When dealing with a conscious patient who has ingested an anticholinergic substance, a detailed history of ingestion can aid clinicians in making an accurate diagnosis. However, the lack of information about the substances consumed can complicate diagnosis. In cases where the exposure is unknown, clinicians should consider anticholinergic poisoning in patients showing signs of altered mental status and physical examination findings consistent with anticholinergic toxicity. We report four cases presenting a range of symptoms, including neuropsychiatric manifestations, following the ingestion of the same bodybuilding powders with anticholinergic properties. All four patients consumed yellow and white powders at the same time and in the same place. Laboratory analysis revealed that yellow powder and white powder contained ASs and cyproheptadine, respectively.

Effect of Lower- versus Higher-Intensity Isometric Handgrip Training in Adults with Hypertension: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

This study compared the effects of lower- versus higher-intensity isometric handgrip exercise on resting blood pressure (BP) and associated clinical markers in adults with hypertension. Thirty-nine males were randomly assigned to one of three groups, including isometric handgrip at 60% maximal voluntary contraction (IHG-60), isometric handgrip at 30% IHG-30, or a control group (CON) that had been instructed to continue with their current activities of daily living. The volume was equated between the exercise groups, with IHG-60 performing 8 × 30-s contractions and IHG-30 performing 4 × 2-min contractions. Training was performed three times per week for 8 weeks. Resting BP (median [IQR]), flow-mediated dilation, heart rate variability, and serum markers of inflammation and oxidative stress were measured pre- and post-intervention. Systolic BP was significantly reduced for IHG-60 (−15.5 mmHg [−18.75, −7.25]) and IHG-30 (−5.0 mmHg [−7.5, −3.5]) compared to CON (p < 0.01), but no differences were observed between both the exercise groups. A greater reduction in diastolic BP was observed for IHG-60 (−5.0 mmHg [−6.0, −4.25] compared to IHG-30 (−2.0 mmHg [−2.5, −2.0], p = 0.042), and for both exercise groups compared to CON (p < 0.05). Flow-mediated dilation increased for both exercise groups versus CON (p < 0.001). IHG-30 had greater reductions in interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α compared to the other groups (p < 0.05) and CON (p = 0.018), respectively. There was a reduction in Endothelin-1 for IHG-60 compared to CON (p = 0.018). Both the lower- and higher-intensity IHG training appear to be associated with reductions in resting BP and improvements in clinical markers of inflammation and oxidative stress.

Magnetic nanobiosorbent (MG-Chi/Fe3 O4 ) for dispersive solid-phase extraction of Cu(II), Pb(II), and Cd(II) followed by flame atomic absorption spectrometry determination.

Trace amounts of Cu (II), Pb (II), and Cd (II) in a wastewater sample were preconcentrated with a novel cross-linked magnetic chitosan modified with a new synthesised methionine-glutaraldehyde Schiff's base (MG-Chi/Fe3 O4 ) as a dispersive solid-phase extraction (DSPE) adsorbent. The adsorbed metal ions were then eluted with a specific volume of suitable solution and determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). Various parameters affecting the extraction efficiency of the metal ions were investigated and optimised, including pH, amount of adsorbent, extraction time, type and volume rate of eluent, elution time, sample volume, and effect of interfering ions. The adsorption kinetics are more consistent with the pseudo-second order model. The results were statistically interpreted and the analytical performance of the proposed method was found to have preconcentration factors of 55, 60, and 50 µg L-1 for Cu(II), Pb(II), and Cd(II), respectively, limits of detection were 0.22, 0.24, and 0.10 µg L-1 for Cu(II), Pb(II), and Cd(II), respectively, with a relative standard deviation (1.5%-2.8 %), and the liner range was 5-1000 for Cu(II) and Pb(II) and 2.5-1000 for Cd(II). It was concluded that this method was suitable for successful simultaneous determination of Cu(II), Pb(II), and Cd(II) in industrial wastewater samples.

Cardiac contraction motion compensation in gated myocardial perfusion SPECT: A comparative study.

INTRODUCTION: Cardiac contraction significantly degrades quality and quantitative accuracy of gated myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) images. In this study, we aimed to explore different techniques in motion-compensated temporal processing of MPS images and their impact on image quality and quantitative accuracy. MATERIAL AND METHOD: 50 patients without known heart condition underwent gated MPS. 3D motion compensation methods using Motion Freezing by Cedars Sinai (MF), Log-domain Diffeomorphic Demons (LDD) and Free-Form Deformation (FFD) were applied to warp all image phases to fit the end-diastolic (ED) phase. Afterwards, myocardial wall thickness, myocardial to blood pool contrast, and image contrast-to noise ratio (CNR) were measured in summed images with no motion compensation (NoMC) and compensated images (MF, LDD and FFD). Total Perfusion Defect (TPD) was derived from Cedars-Sinai software, on the basis of sex-specific normal limits. RESULT: Left ventricle (LV) lateral wall thickness was reduced after applying motion compensation (p < 0.05). Myocardial to blood pool contrast and CNR in compensated images were greater than NoMC (p < 0.05). TPD_LDD was in good agreement with the corresponding TPD_MF (p = 0.13). CONCLUSION: All methods have improved image quality and quantitative performance relative to NoMC. LDD and FFD are fully automatic and do not require any manual intervention, while MF is dependent on contour definition. In terms of diagnostic parameters LDD is in good agreement with MF which is a clinically accepted method. Further investigation along with diagnostic reference standards, in order to specify diagnostic value of each technique is recommended.

A high throughput and efficient visualization method for diffusion tensor imaging of human brain white matter employing diffusion-map space.

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) possesses high dimension and complex structure, so that detecting available pattern information and its analysis based on conventional linear statistics and classification methods become inefficient. In order to facilitate classification, segmentation, compression or visualization of the data, dimension reduction is far-reaching. There have been many approaches proposed for this purpose, which mostly rely on complex low dimensional manifold embedding of the high-dimensional space. Dimension reduction is commonly applicable through linear algorithms, such as principal component analysis and multi-dimensional scaling; however, they are not able to deal with complex and high dimensional data. In this light, nonlinear algorithms with the capability to preserve the distance of high dimensional data have been developed. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new method for meaningful visualization of brain white matter using diffusion tensor data to map the 6-dimensional tensor to a three dimensional space employing Markov random walk and diffusion distance algorithms, leading to a new distance-preserving map for the DTI data with lower dimension and higher throughput information.

Copper concentration in a healthy urban adult population of southern Iran.

Nutritional deficiencies are important and widespread problems in most developing countries. Preventing and correcting micronutrient deficiencies are important because of the multiple negative consequences of these deficiencies. This study was designed to determine the prevalence of copper deficiency in an adult population in Shiraz, southern Iran. We also determined the association between copper status and other factors such as age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). In this cross-sectional study, 416 adults residing in Shiraz were selected by two-stage sampling. Serum copper was measured by flame-atomic absorption spectrometry. The data were analyzed with SPSS software. Mean age in our sample was 39.33 ± 15.06 years, and mean BMI was 26.17 ± 4.81 kg/m(2). Mean serum copper concentration was 118.15 ± 54.33 µg/dL in the whole sample, 109.74 ± 56.22 µg/dL in men, and 122.15 ± 53.04 µg/dL in women. The overall prevalence of copper deficiency was 24%. The prevalence of copper deficiency differed significantly between men and women but not between different age groups. Serum copper concentration correlated significantly with BMI (p < 0.05). This study is the first to evaluate serum copper status in a healthy population in southern Iran. We show that the mean copper concentrations were higher than those reported for Iranian populations in northern cities and were also higher compared with studies in most other countries. We suggested more detailed studies to identify the etiological determinants of this nutritional deficiency in Iran and elsewhere.