[A pilot study of transcranial alternating current stimulation in the treatment of drug-naive adult patients with major depressive disorder].

Objective: To explore the efficacy, adverse reactions, feasibility, and acceptability of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) treating drug-naive adult patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), and provide basis for further study with a large sample. Methods: The study was performed in the Neuromodulation laboratory, Department of Neurology of Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University (Beijing, China) from July, 2017 to June, 2018. Thirty Eligible first-episode MDD outpatients were randomized 1∶1 to receive active tACS or sham intervention. The tACS was administered in a 40 minute, 77.5 Hz frequency, 15 mA session with one forehead (Fp1, Fpz, and Fp2, in the 10/20 international placement system, 4.45 cm×9.53 cm) and two mastoid (3.18 cm×3.81 cm) stimulation for 20 times in 4 consecutive weeks at fixed day time frame once daily from Monday through Friday, with weekends off (week 4), followed by 4 weeks with no tACS treatment (week 8). By utilizing the Hamilton rating scale for depression-17 item (HRSD-17) to assess the depressive severity of MDD patients, adverse events were administered by the treatment-emergent adverse events, the Young mania rating scale, and the self-made common questionnaire on cranial electrical stimulation. The primary efficacy outcome was the remission rate defined as HRSD-17 score ≤7 at week 8. Secondary outcomes included the rates of remission at week 4 and response at weeks 4 and 8. Safety was assessed by evaluation of adverse events. Also the proportions of participants accepting the intervention and this study procedure were evaluated at weeks 4 and 8. Results: Thirty MDD patients completed the study, and both groups had no statistical differences on their demographic characteristics (P>0.05). At week 8, the active group had a remission rate of 10/15, which was higher than 3/15 in the sham group (P<0.05). Also, the remission rate (14/15) in the active group was higher than 5/15 of the sham group at week 4 (P<0.05). For the response rates, significant differences were found between groups at week 8. For safety, both groups showed no severe adverse events and no mania/hypomania. One participant per group had 2 times of tinnitus cerebri during the intervention days. All patients accepted the intervention and the study procedure. Conclusions: The pilot study indicated that tACS with 77.5 Hz and 15 mA may have a therapeutic effect on depressive symptoms. It is well-tolerated and safe, as well as feasible and acceptable for adults with MDD.

[Profiles of cognitive and language impairment of logopenic and non-fluent variant of primary progressive aphasia].

OBJECTIVE: To decipher the cognitive and linguistic feature of logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia (lv-PPA) and nonfluent variant primary progressive aphasia (nfv-PPA) and to explore the extent to which cognitive and language impairment contribute to the dysfunction of activity of daily living(ADL). METHODS: Seven lv-PPA and five nfv-PPA were enrolled in memory clinic of Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University from January 2015 to January 2016 accordig to the international consensus criteria for PPA and its three subtypes. 20 age-matched normal controls (NC) were included. Both the patients and the NC completed a battery of neuropsychological test, lingusitic test and brain magnetic resonance imaging. All the patients conducted (11)C Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) PET imaging. RESULT: Lv-PPA patients were characterized by deficits in lexical retrieval and long sentenses repetition, while nfv-PPA were with motor speech apraxia and phonetic distortion. Compared with nfv-PPA, lv-PPA patient displayed more severe cognitive deficit with younger onset of age (56±5 vs 61±5, P<0.05) , rapid decline of MMSE score within 1.5 years and pariental cortex dysfunctions such as ideomotor praxis, Gerstmann syndrome and contructional apraxia. Correlation analysis indicated that there was more significant association between pariental cortex dysfunction and ADL/mini-mental state examination(MMSE) than that of language deficit(r=-0.868, r=-0.922; r=0.312, r=-0.257). All seven lv-PPA were PiB-PET positive and five nfv-PPA were negative. CONCLUSION: This study enriched the chinical and linguistic characterization of lv-PPA and nfv-PPA, which has implication for diagnosis, disease management and treatment for clinicians.

Structural and antigenic analysis and cloning of surface antigen protein 5 in Toxoplasma gondii.

Toxoplasma gondii is identified as an obligate intracellular apicomplexan parasite that infects warm blooded animals and humans worldwide. SAG5 protein includes SAG5A, -5B, -5C, -5D, and -5E five subtypes. SAG5A, -5B, -5C, and -5D are expressed on the surface of Toxoplasma gondii. In this study, we used online T-Coffee tool to analyze SAG5 proteins sequence alignment. SMART software was used to predict secondary structures of SAG5A, -5B, -5C, and -5D. The 3D models of SAG5 proteins were constructed and analyzed with SWISS-MODEL server and VMD software. Results indicated that SAG5A, -5B, -5C, and -5D are highly homologous proteins. Furthermore, liner-B cell epitopes and Th-cell epitopes of the four proteins were predicted using DNAMAN software and Epitope Database online service. The bioinformatics analysis of SAG5A, -5B, -5C, and -5D proteins could provide valuable information on prevention and treatment of toxoplasmosis. In addition, the four genes were obtained by PCR and inserted into an eukaryotic expression vector pEGFP-C1 respectively. Identified by restriction enzyme digestion, the four recombinant plasmids were transfected into HEK 293-T cells and tested by RT-PCR. Results showed that the constructed plasmids were all transfected to HEK 293-T cells successfully.