Clinical analysis of acute peripheral facial palsy in older adults.

OBJECTIVE: Acute facial palsy is a consequence of various diseases, with the number of patients increasing with advancing age. This study aimed to analyse the clinical characteristics of acute peripheral facial palsy in older adults. METHODS: A total of 30 patients with a mean age of 68.4 ± 9.1 years were included in the study. All patients received a standardised investigation and follow up. The hospital charts of the patients with acute facial palsy were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: The predominant causes of acute facial palsy in older adults were: Bell's palsy, Ramsay Hunt syndrome, trauma, otitis media and malignancy. At baseline, complete and incomplete facial palsies were seen in 26.7 per cent and 73.3 per cent of patients, respectively. The overall rates of good recovery, partial recovery and no recovery were 66.7 per cent, 10 per cent and 23.3 per cent, respectively. Increased age led to a significantly lower level of recovery in older adults. CONCLUSION: Bell's palsy and Ramsay Hunt syndrome were the most common aetiologies of acute facial palsy in older adults, and such patients are likely to have incomplete recovery. Active early treatment is necessary for achieving good outcomes in older adults.

Empirical assessment of biases in cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease: an umbrella review and re-analysis of data from meta-analyses.

OBJECTIVE: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a leading cause of years lived with disability in older age, and several cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) markers have been proposed in individual meta-analyses to be associated with AD but field-wide evaluation and scrutiny of the literature is not available. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed an umbrella review for the reported associations between CSF biomarkers and AD. Data from available meta-analyses were reanalyzed using both random and fixed effects models. We also estimated between-study heterogeneity, small-study effects, excess significance, and prediction interval. RESULTS: A total of 38 meta-analyses on CSF markers from 11 eligible articles were identified and reanalyzed. In 14 (36%) of the meta-analyses, the summary estimate and the results of the largest study showed non-concordant results in terms of statistical significance. Large heterogeneity (I2≥75%) was observed in 73% and small-study effects under Egger's test were shown in 28% of CSF biomarkers. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that there is an excess of statistically significant results and significant biases in the literature of CSF biomarkers for AD. Therefore, the results of CSF biomarkers should be interpreted with caution.

Evolution of the domain topology in a ferroelectric.

Topological materials, including topological insulators, magnets with Skyrmions and ferroelectrics with topological vortices, have recently attracted phenomenal attention in the materials science community. Complex patterns of ferroelectric domains in hexagonal REMnO(3) (RE: rare earths) turn out to be associated with the macroscopic emergence of Z(2)×Z(3) symmetry. The results of our depth profiling of crystals with a self-poling tendency near surfaces reveal that the partial dislocation (i.e., wall-wall) interaction, not the interaction between vortices and antivortices, is primarily responsible for topological condensation through the macroscopic breaking of the Z(2) symmetry.

Self-organization, condensation, and annihilation of topological vortices and antivortices in a multiferroic.

The interaction among topological defects can induce novel phenomena such as disclination pairs in liquid crystals and superconducting vortex lattices. Nanoscale topological vortices with swirling ferroelectric, magnetic, and structural antiphase relationships were found in multiferroic h-YMnO(3). Herein, we report the discovery of intriguing, but seemingly irregular configurations of a zoo of topological vortices and antivortices. These configurations can be neatly analyzed in terms of graph theory and reflect the nature of self-organized criticality in complexity phenomena. External stimuli such as chemistry-driven or electric poling can induce the condensation and eventual annihilation of topological vortex-antivortex pairs.

Finite-size effect on one-dimensional coupled-resonator optical waveguides.

We study the finite-size effect on the dispersion relation, group velocity, and transmission curves of one-dimensional finite-size coupled-resonator optical waveguide (CROW) structures. Both the dispersion relation and the group velocity curves of a finite-size CROW oscillate along those of the corresponding infinite-extended ones. The oscillations can be suppressed by matching the equivalent admittance of the surrounding medium to that of the unit cell. Thelen's method is used to find the parameters of the matching layer to reduce oscillations on the group velocity and transmission spectra, and to analyze the structure parameters that determine the bandwidth and the group velocity.

NMDA recepter-mediated neuroprotection by essential oils from the rhizomes of Acorus gramineus.

Acori graminei Rhizoma (AGR) is shown to exhibit a number of pharmacological actions including sedation and anticonvulsive action. To further characterize its actions in the CNS, the present study evaluated the effects of essential oils (EO) from AGR on the excitotoxic neuronal cell death induced in primary rat cortical cell cultures. EO inhibited the glutamate-induced excitotoxicity in a concentration-dependent manner, with the IC50 of 0.241 mg/ml. EO exerted more potent neuroprotection against the toxicity induced by NMDA (IC50 = 0.139 mg/ml). In contrast, the AMPA-induced toxicity was not inhibited by EO. Receptor-ligand binding studies were performed to investigate the neuroprotective action mechanism. EO dramatically inhibited the specific bindings of a use-dependent NMDA receptorion channel blocker [3H]MK-801, indicating an NMDA receptor antagonist-like action. However, the bindings of [3H]MDL 105,519, a ligand selective for the glycine binding site of NMDA receptor, were not considerably inhibited. These results demonstrated that EO extracted from AGR exhibited neuroprotective effects on cultured cortical neurons through the blockade of NMDA receptor activity, and that the glycine binding site appeared not to be the major site of action.

Inhibition of excitotoxic neuronal death by methanol extract of Acori graminei rhizoma in cultured rat cortical neurons.

Acori graminei rhizoma (AGR) are reported to exhibit a number of pharmacological actions in the central nervous system. The effects of the methanol extract of AGR on excitotoxic neuronal death were evaluated in the present study using cultured rat cortical neurons. Based on the phase-contrast microscopic examinations of cultures and lactate dehydrogenase activities measured in the culture media, the glutamate-induced excitotoxicity was significantly inhibited by the extract. The inhibitory action of the extract was more potent and selective for the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated toxicity. The AGR extract competed with [3H]MDL 105,519 for the specific binding to the glycine site of the NMDA receptor with the IC(50) value of 164.7 microg/ml. Modulation of the NMDA receptor activity by the extract was determined using [3H]MK-801 binding studies. The reduction of the binding in the presence of the extract indicated the receptor inactivation by AGR. These results demonstrated that the methanol extract of AGR exhibited protective action against excitotoxic neuronal death, and that the neuroprotective action was primarily due to the blockade of NMDA receptor function by the interaction with the glycine binding site of the receptor.

A tetrodotoxin-producing Vibrio strain, LM-1, from the puffer fish Fugu vermicularis radiatus.

Identification of tetrodotoxin (TTX) and its derivatives produced from a Vibrio strain in the intestine of the puffer fish Fugu vermicularis radiatus was performed by thin-layer chromatography, electrophoresis, high-performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, together with a mouse bioassay for toxicity. It was demonstrated that the isolated bacterium produced TTX, 4-epi-TTX, and anhTTX during cultivation, suggesting that Vibrio strains are responsible for the toxification of the puffer fish.

Development of a custom designed TAH using rapid prototyping.

The failure of the orthotopic implantation of a totally implantable artificial heart (TAH) was due mainly to anatomic mismatches in the conduits of the conventional TAH system. To overcome this anatomic incompatibility, a custom design and fabrication process was designed using the rapid prototyping (RP) technique. After three dimensional reconstruction of magnetic resonance imaging of the thoracic cavity and vascular remnants of the recipient, study of anatomic fit was done using the reconstructed thoracic model and three dimensional computer aided design (CAD) model. The direction of the inflow and outflow conduits of the blood sac was changed with a Unigraphics CAD. The RP model of the designed chamber was fabricated and examined for anatomic compatibility. Through this approach, the minute directional mismatch of the inflow and outflow conduits was improved. Thus, a new custom designed moving actuator Korean TAH with CAD and RP techniques was developed.

A sociological implication of environment in social development.

PIP: This study, which identifies the sociological implication of the environment in social development, was based on the notion that environmental research should recognize that the environment consists of 3 main, interdependent components: the natural environment, the man-made environment, and the social environment. The study first examines these components of environment and their internal mechanisms and, after noting that sociology has failed to explore the interdependence among these components, offers a new notion of ecosystem that modifies and expands the framework offered by Duncan's POET model (increased population creates pressure for technological change, increases urbanization, and creates more pollution). Next, the paper examines the emerging natural and social environmental problems caused by industrialization. The concluding section reviews the development of concepts about the relationship between the environment and social development based on the assumption of limited natural resources. Because it is now understood that it is more appropriate to consider the limit of ecological capacity, it is important to learn to measure social development by the successful achievement of an adaptation or by harmonization with the environment, rather than by material growth. This requires a conceptualization of man as being part of, rather than independent of, nature. New indicators must be developed to measure the degree of social development achieved.^ieng