High-fidelity vibrokinetic stimulation induces sustained changes in intercortical coherence during a cinematic experience.

OBJECTIVE: High-fidelity vibrokinetic (HFVK) technology is widely used to enhance the immersiveness of audiovisual (AV) entertainment experiences. However, despite evidence that HFVK technology does subjectively enhance AV immersion, the underlying mechanism has not been clarified. Neurophysiological studies could provide important evidence to illuminate this mechanism, thereby benefiting HFVK stimulus design, and facilitating expansion of HFVK technology. APPROACH: We conducted a between-subjects (VK, N = 11; Control, N = 9) exploratory study to measure the effect of HFVK stimulation through an HFVK seat on electroencephalographic cortical activity during an AV cinematic experience. Subjective appreciation of the experience was assessed and incorporated into statistical models exploring the effects of HFVK stimulation across cortical brain areas. We separately analyzed alpha-band (8-12 Hz) and theta-band (5-7 Hz) activities as indices of engagement and sensory processing, respectively. We also performed theta-band (5-7 Hz) coherence analyses using cortical seed areas identified from the theta activity analysis. MAIN RESULTS: The right fusiform gyrus, inferiotemporal gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus, known for emotion, AV-spatial, and vestibular processing, were identified as seeds from theta analyses. Coherence from these areas was uniformly enhanced in HFVK subjects in right motor areas, albeit predominantly in those who were appreciative. Meanwhile, compared to control subjects, HFVK subjects exhibited uniform interhemispheric decoherence with the left insula, which is important for self-processing. SIGNIFICANCE: The results collectively point to sustained decoherence between sensory and self-processing as a possible mechanism for how HFVK increases immersion, and that coordination of emotional, spatial, and vestibular processing hubs with the motor system may be required for appreciation of the HFVK-enhanced experience. Overall, this study offers the first ever demonstration that HFVK stimulation has a real and sustained effect on brain activity during a cinematic experience.

The influence of carbohydrate structures present in common allergen sources on specific IgE results.

BACKGROUND: Cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants (CCD) are well known interferants in specific IgE assays (sIgE). Glyco-epitopes are not restricted to CCD and extracts used to prepare in vitro tests contain many other glycoproteins able to bind glycan-specific IgE. The overall amounts of IgE-bindable glycan structures in allergen sources are unknown. OBJECTIVE: We aimed at quantifying the influence of N-glycan structures on IgE reactivity to commonly tested allergen sources. METHODS: IgE reactivity to 51 allergen extracts, one purified natural allergen and 10 recombinant allergens was measured on Phadia UniCAP system using 2 sera demonstrating significant levels of glycan-related IgE reactivity. Immobilized bromelain and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) were used to capture N-glycan-specific IgE from these sera. Residual IgE reactivity was measured for 42 allergen sources and 4 recombinant/purified allergens. RESULTS: An obviously excessive number of positive CAP-results were obtained with both sera, especially for plant-based allergen sources. Capture of glycan-specific IgE led to a decrease of serum IgE ractivity, variable among allergen sources and between sera. Among others, peanut results were proven largely interfered by the presence of glycan-specific IgE. Unexpectedly some allergen sources showed a slight influence of glycan-related reactivity, such as cockroach, mosquito, mussel, shrimp and domestic mites. CONCLUSION: In patients sensitized to pollens or to Hymenoptera venoms sIgE results should be interpreted with caution. One cannot substract the result of a glyco-reporter test (bromelain and/or HRP) in order to compute glycan-free slgE results for common allergen sources like peanuts. As long as the demonstration of a significant role for glycan structures in clinical allergic reactions is lacking, a simple pre-treatment able to discard glycan-specific IgE from serum would be useful to improve accuracy of in vitro diagnostic tests.

Word fluency after a right-hemisphere lesion.

Joanette and Goulet (Neuropsychologia, 1986, 24, 875-879) reported that right-handed patients suffering from a right-hemisphere stroke were impaired on semantic but not on orthographic criteria when they were submitted to a word fluency task. The interpretation of this dissociation was that the right hemisphere would subtend a particular contribution to the semantic component of word processing in right handers. The goal of the research reported here was to challenge this dissociation. In contrast with the first study, the production criteria were presented randomly and their level of productivity was a controlled factor. The semantic-orthographic dissociation was not replicated under these conditions.

The interrater reliability of force measurements using a modified sphygmomanometer in elderly subjects.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Physical therapists working with elderly people require an instrument that provides reliable force measurements and can be used in a clinical setting. The modified sphygmomanometer has been identified as potentially fulfilling these requirements, yet there is an absence of research on the reliability of measurements taken with this instrument on elderly patients. This study was undertaken to investigate the interrater reliability of force measurements, in a group of elderly subjects, using a modified sphygmomanometer. SUBJECTS: Thirty-six hospitalized subjects (mean age=75.28 years, SD=9.43, range=62-95) participated in the study. METHODS: With the modified sphygmomanometer, 3 examiners evaluated the isometric force of the elbow extensors and hip extensors using a break test and a make test, respectively. RESULTS: Intraclass correlation coefficients (2,1) reflecting reliability were .87 for the elbow extensors and .65 for the hip extensors. The estimation of the components of variance for hip extensors revealed that these results were due in part to the raters but that random error contributed to a much larger extent. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION: The modified sphygmomanometer appears to be practical to use, and the high correlations found in this study for the elbow extensors suggest that reliable measurements can be obtained with this instrument. Further research is needed, however, to specify the manner in which the modified sphygmomanometer can be used when assessing different muscle groups.

Production and evaluation of requests by right hemisphere brain-damaged individuals.

Several researchers have investigated the comprehension of "indirect requests" by right hemisphere brain-damaged (RHD) individuals. Until the present, however, no sound description of the phenomenon under investigation has been reached and explanatory attempts of the observed behavior are diverse. Based on a theoretical framework issued from studies in cross-cultural pragmatics, the present study is an attempt to provide a systematic description of the production of request sequences and the evaluation of direct and nonconventionally indirect requests by RHD patients. The analyses of the production data showed that, relative to the control group, the RHD patients behaved differently concerning the application of nonconventionally indirect requests, the use of external request modifiers, the evaluation of nonconventionally indirect requests, and the use of propositions. No differences in production performance were observed with regard to direct requests, conventionally indirect requests, and internal request modifiers. Further, the RHD group and the control group behaved similarly in evaluating direct requests. The results are discussed in relation to previous findings and a mental model approach is proposed as an explanatory framework. The findings suggest that the RHD patients were able to build a mental representation at a text level and a situational level but may have had problems within the realm of monitoring or planning integration processes if more than one mental model is involved. There is some indication that attention and visuospatial abilities may have influenced the verbal and evaluation abilities of the RHD subjects. It seems a worthy endeavor to pursue this issue in future research.

[Cognitive heterogeneity in Alzheimer's disease]. / Heterogeneidade cognitiva na doença de Alzheimer.

The authors describe and discuss neuropsychological aspects related to the functional organization of the brain connected to cognition in 81 Alzheimer's disease patients in the Laboratoire Théophile-Alajouanine du Centre de Recherche du Centre hospitalier Côte-des-Neiges in the University of Montreal. They confront the clinical of homogeneity against the heterogeneity within functional organization of the brain. The criteria used for diagnosis were those of the NINCDS-ADRDA. All of the patients were in the beginning of the evolution, in stages 3 and 4 of Reiberg (Functional Assessment Staging, FAST). The conclusion shows that there are two cognitive profiles: a non-recurrent profile, made up by the majority of the patients, and the heterogeneity depends on the genetic background of each individual; a recurrent profile, made up by a small group of patients that show changes in the heterogeneity of clinical, nosological, pathological and normal aging forms.

Baseline determinants of global diet quality in older men and women from the NuAge cohort.

UNLABELLED: Judicious food choices are of prime importance during aging. OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to identify individual and collective attributes determining global diet quality (DQ). METHODOLOGY: Participants were 1,793 adults (52% women) from the NuAge study on nutrition and successful aging. Subjects aged 67 to 84 years in relatively good health were recruited from the Québec Medicare Database. Sociodemographic, affective, and cognitive data, health conditions, perceived physical health and functional status, dietary habits and dietary attributes and community resources were obtained using questionnaires. Body weight and height were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Three non-consecutive 24-hour diet recalls were collected at recruitment. DQ, assessed using the Canadian Healthy Eating Index (C-HEI, /100), was computed on the mean intakes from the diet recalls. Analyses were stratified by gender. Variables significantly related to DQ in bivariate analyses (p<.05) were entered into backward stepwise multiple regression analyses. RESULTS: Among men, the final model showed higher education (ß=0.23, p=.01), diet knowledge (ß=0.96, p<.0001), number of daily meals (ß=1.91, p=.02) and perceived physical health (ß=0.06, p=.01) to be positive determinants of DQ, whereas alcohol consumption (ß=-2.25, p=.05), wearing dentures (ß=-2.31, p=.01) and eating regularly in restaurants (ß=-1.65, p=.03) were negative determinants of DQ (adjusted R2 = 13.7%). Among women, higher education (ß=0.29, p=.002), diet knowledge (ß=0.54, p=.002), number of daily meals (ß=3.61, p<.0001), and hunger (ß=0.61, p<.0001) were positive determinants of global DQ; greater BMI (ß=-0.16, p=.03) and chewing problems (ß=-0.48, p=.03) were negative determinants of DQ (adjusted R2 = 7.8%). DISCUSSION: These results point to several key factors influencing global DQ in older adults and also show gender-based differences. More research must be done to better understand how these factors change with aging and exert their impact on diet, particularly since variance in DQ was largely unexplained. As diet knowledge was an independent predictor for both genders, targeted, sustainable interventions are needed to ensure good diet quality as people age.

Painful shoulder in the hemiplegic and unilateral neglect.

Shoulder pain is a frequent and debilitating problem in hemiplegic patients, and its etiology remains poorly understood. The role played by hemineglect in the appearance of shoulder pain was studied. During two years, 94 hemiplegic subjects were involved in a rehabilitation program after cerebrovascular accidents. Their average age was 68 years; 45 (47.9%) subjects had shoulder pain, and 24 subjects (22.5%) had hemineglect. The subjects with shoulder pain were compared to those without pain (the control group) with respect to gender, age, diabetes, heart failure, cardiac ischemia, scapulohumeral arthritis, and calcified tendinitis of the rotator cuff. We were unable to demonstrate a relationship between hemineglect and shoulder pain in the hemiplegic (X2 (1) = 2.03, p = .15), although pain was significantly more frequent in subjects with right hemispheric cerebrovascular accident (X2 (1) = 5.0, p less than .025). The subjects with shoulder pain had significantly more spasticity of the affected limb (X2 (1) = 26.3, p less than .01), less sensitivity to pinprick of the upper paralyzed extremity (X2 (1) = 10.8, p less than .01), and a more severe subluxation of the affected shoulder (t(51) = 14.0, p less than .01).