Gleasonmcclain8964
While behavior-based pelvic floor muscle exercise therapy is an effective treatment for overactive bladder in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, cognitive function may be a predictor of rehabilitation outcomes.
In a planned exploratory analysis, participants who had a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) with a score ≥18 who were randomized in a clinical trial to behavioral treatment were classified by perceived improvement (Benefit vs. No Benefit) as reported on a validated Satisfaction and Benefit Questionnaire. General cognition (MoCA), motor procedural learning (Serial reaction time task), verbal memory (Buschke delayed recall), spatial memory (Nonverbal/Spatial selective reminding test), and working memory (Wisconsin card sorting task) were compared between the two groups using Wilcoxon rank-sum test.
Of the 26 participants randomized to behavioral treatment (70% male, mean age 71 ± 6.1 years), 22 participants (85%) reported Benefit and four reported No Benefit. General cognition, motor procedural r was not associated with measures of baseline cognition other than faster completion of the SRTT. This is noteworthy because many behavior-based therapy studies exclude participants with mild cognitive impairment. Additional studies may evaluate if domain-specific cognitive function, particularly the assessment of implicit memory, could lead to individualized behavioral therapy recommendations.
Many individuals with type 1 diabetes retain residual β-cell function, with increased endogenous insulin secretion associated with reduced hyperglycaemia, hypoglycaemia and glycaemic variability. However, it is unknown when these improvements occur during the day. Dysglycaemia is common in overnight and postprandial periods and associated with diabetes complications. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the influence of residual β-cell function upon nocturnal and postprandial glycaemic control in established type 1 diabetes.
Under free-living conditions, 66 participants wore a blinded continuous glucose monitor (CGM), kept a food diary, and completed a stimulated urine C-peptide creatinine (UCPCR) test. Nocturnal, and postprandial CGM outcomes (participant means and discrete event analysis) were compared between UCPCR groups undetectable (Cpep
), low (Cpep
0.001-0.19nmol/mmol) and high (Cpep
≥0.2nmol/mmol).
Greater β-cell function was associated with incremental improvements in glycaemia. Cp.
Residual β-cell function is associated with improved nocturnal and postprandial glycaemic control. These data may be of clinical importance for identifying specific periods and individuals where further glycaemic management strategies would be beneficial.
Develop and evaluate a deep learning approach to estimate cerebral blood flow (CBF) and arterial transit time (ATT) from multiple post-labeling delay (PLD) ASL MRI.
ASL MRI were acquired with 6 PLDs on a 1.5T or 3T GE system in adults with and without cognitive impairment (N=99). Voxel-level CBF and ATT maps were quantified by training models with distinct convolutional neural network architectures (1) convolutional neural network (CNN) and (2) U-Net. Models were trained and compared via 5-fold cross validation. Performance was evaluated using mean absolute error (MAE). Model outputs were trained on and compared against a reference ASL model fitting after data cleaning. Minimally processed ASL data served as another benchmark. Model output uncertainty was estimated using Monte Carlo dropout. The better-performing neural network was subsequently re-trained on inputs with missing PLDs to investigate generalizability to different PLD schedules.
Relative to the CNN, the U-Net yielded lower MAE on training data. On test data, the U-Net MAE was 8.4 ± 1.4mL/100 g/min for CBF and 0.22 ± 0.09 s for ATT. A significant association was observed between MAE and Monte Carlo dropout-based uncertainty estimates. Neural network performance remained stable despite systematically reducing the number of input images (i.e., up to 3 missing PLD images). click here Mean processing time was 10.77 s for the U-Net neural network compared to 10min 41 s for the reference pipeline.
It is feasible to generate CBF and ATT maps from 1.5T and 3T multi-PLD ASL MRI with a fast deep learning image-generation approach.
It is feasible to generate CBF and ATT maps from 1.5T and 3T multi-PLD ASL MRI with a fast deep learning image-generation approach.
Literature on the laboratory diagnosis of uroperitoneum is scarce, and it is mostly based on the biochemical findings of cavitary fluid and serum. Cell count and protein concentrations measurements are rarely used and available studies on this subject are based on a relatively small cohort of individuals.
We aimed to use a large sample pool of dogs to establish cutoff points for biochemical analytes in cavitary fluids and serum for the diagnosis of uroperitoneum. We also sought to evaluate the general classification of these cavitary fluids.
In a retrospective and prospective study, 180 canine abdominal effusion cases were evaluated, 30 of which were uroperitoneum (uroperitoneum group, UG) and 150 with other etiologies (non-uroperitoneum group, NUG).
The results showed that 83.3% of UG and 12.7% of NUG abdominal fluid cases were not classified as transudates or exudates. The use of specific cutoffs for fluid creatinine concentrations (≥2.1 mg/dL) and fluidserum creatinine ratios (Cf Cs ≥ 1.25) in these unclassified effusions resulted in an accuracy of 99.0% for the laboratory diagnosis of uroperitoneum.
The adoption of a new set of criteria and cutoffs based on the combination of parameters such as TP, TNCC, fluid creatinine and Cf Cs improves the diagnosis of uroperitoneum in dogs.
The adoption of a new set of criteria and cutoffs based on the combination of parameters such as TP, TNCC, fluid creatinine and Cf Cs improves the diagnosis of uroperitoneum in dogs.The plume of hot gases rising above a wildfire can heat and kill the buds in tree crowns. This can reduce leaf area and rates of photosynthesis, growth, and reproduction, and may ultimately lead to mortality. These effects vary seasonally, but the mechanisms governing this seasonality are not well understood. A trait-based physical model combining buoyant plume and energy budget theories shows the seasonality of bud necrosis height may originate from temporal variation in climate, fire behaviour, and/or bud functional traits. To assess the relative importance of these drivers, we parameterized the model with time-series data for air temperature, fireline intensity, and bud traits from Pinus contorta, Picea glauca, and Populus tremuloides. Air temperature, fireline intensity, and bud traits all varied significantly through time, causing significant seasonal variation in predicted necrosis height. Bud traits and fireline intensity explained almost all the variation in necrosis height, with air temperature explaining relatively minor amounts of variation. The seasonality of fire effects on tree crowns appears to originate from seasonal variation in functional traits and fire behaviour. Our approach and results provide needed insight into the physical mechanisms linking environmental variation to plant performance via functional traits.
To test whether the implementation of the Close Collaboration with Parents intervention at a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) decreases depression symptoms of mothers up to two years after the delivery of preterm infants.
We used a non-equivalent two-group design, comparing mothers of very low birthweight infants in the same NICU before (2001-2006) and after (2011-215) the intervention. The unit carried out the educational intervention (2009-2012) that was targeted at its healthcare team and aimed to improve their skills to collaborate with parents. Maternal depression symptoms were measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) six months and two years after the expected birth date of the infant.
We found a median difference of 2.56 (95% CI from 1.64 to 3.48) in EPDS at the two-year follow-up between the pre-intervention and post-intervention groups, p<0.001. Furthermore, we found no interaction between measurement time-points and group, implying that the intervention effect on maternal depression symptoms was similar at the six-month and two-year time-points.
The intervention seems to have long-term preventive effects on maternal depressive symptoms. This effect is of clinical significance as prolonged maternal depression associates with adverse child outcomes.
The intervention seems to have long-term preventive effects on maternal depressive symptoms. This effect is of clinical significance as prolonged maternal depression associates with adverse child outcomes.Calcium serves as a second messenger in a variety of developmental and physiological processes and has long been identified as important for plant immune responses. We discuss recent discoveries regarding plant immune-related calcium-permeable channels and how the two intertwined branches of the plant immune system are intricately linked to one another through calcium signalling. Cell surface immune receptors carefully tap the immense calcium gradient that exists between apoplast and cytoplasm in a short burst via tightly regulated plasma membrane (PM)-resident cation channels. Intracellular immune receptors form atypical calcium-permeable cation channels at the PM and mediate a prolonged calcium influx, overcoming the deleterious influence of pathogen effectors and enhancing plant immune responses.Serotonin (5-HT) is an essential neurotransmitter for the refined organization of the cerebral cortex. Studies have suggested that altered serotonin signaling contributes to cognitive impairment and psychiatric disorders. However, the exact role of this neurotransmitter on the development of hippocampal neurons is not recognized. Here we aimed to examine the effects of the para-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA; 100 mg/kg/daily, s.c. during the postnatal days 10-20), a reversible inhibitor of 5-HT synthesis, on the serotonin level of the hippocampal and prefrontal cortex. We also focused on the morphology of the neurons in the hippocampus and spatial learning and memory. Our results indicated that the administration of PCPA led to a decrease in serotonin levels in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Postnatal serotonin depletion also induced subtle alterations in the neuronal populations of the hippocampus and impaired spatial memory in the adulthood period of life. We found that critical developmental periods of serotonin depletion caused degeneration and swelling of neurons as well as significant neuronal loss in the hippocampal CA1, CA3, and dentate gyrus (DG) areas. Thus, serotonin, a strikingly important neurotransmitter, can affect neuronal morphology, development, and hippocampal-dependent memory.
Ultra-high field
1
H MR spectroscopy (MRS) is of great interest to help characterizing human spinal cord pathologies. However, very few studies have been reported so far in this small size structure at these fields due to challenging experimental difficulties caused by static and radiofrequency field heterogeneities, as well as physiological motion. In this work, in line with the recent developments proposed to strengthen spinal cord MRS feasibility at 7T, a respiratory-triggered acquisition approach was optimized to compensate for dynamic B
0
field heterogeneities and to provide robust cervical spinal cord MRS data.
A semi-LASER sequence was purposely used, and a dedicated raw data processing algorithm was developed to enhance MR spectral quality by discarding corrupted scans. To legitimate the choices done during the optimization stage, additional tests were carried out to determine the impact of breathing, voluntary motion, body mass index, and fitting algorithm.