Tag: nevin manimala

Clin Hemorheol Microcirc. 2022 Mar 3. doi: 10.3233/CH-211324. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the application value of three-dimensional arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion imaging in detecting cerebral hemodynamics of neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).

METHODS: Sixty normal full-term neonates and 60 HIE neonates were enrolled in this study and were respectively divided into three groups: the 1-3 days group, the 4-7 days group, and the 8-15 days group. The brains of these neonates were scanned with the 3D ASL sequence, and cerebral blood flow (CBF) images were obtained. The CBF values of the bilateral symmetrical brain regions and brain stem were measured on CBF images, and the values were averaged. The cerebral blood flow of HIE neonates in the 1-3 days group, the 4-7 days group, and the 8-15 days group was compared with normal neonates at matched ages, and the characteristics of cerebral hemodynamics in HIE neonates at different ages were summarized.

RESULTS: The CBF values of the basal ganglia, thalamus, and brainstem in the 1-3 days HIE group were higher than normal neonates at matched ages, and the CBF value of the frontal lobe was lower than the normal group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The CBF values of the basal ganglia, thalamus, corona radiata, and frontal lobe in the 4-7 days HIE group were lower than the normal group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in CBF values of different brain regions between the 8-15 days HIE and normal groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Early hyperperfusion of the basal ganglia and thalamus is helpful for early diagnosis and prognosis of HIE.

PMID:35253735 | DOI:10.3233/CH-211324

J Alzheimers Dis. 2022 Feb 28. doi: 10.3233/JAD-215568. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is generally regarded as the prodromal stage of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), is associated with morphological changes in brain structures, particularly the hippocampus. However, the indicators for characterizing the deformation of hippocampus in conventional methods are not precise enough and ignore the evolution information with the course of disease.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the temporal evolution pattern of MCI and predict the conversion of MCI to AD by using the multivariate morphometry statistics (MMS) as fine features.

METHODS: First, we extracted MMS features from MRI scans of 64 MCI converters (MCIc), 81 MCI patients who remained stable (MCIs), and 90 healthy controls (HC). To make full use of the time information, the dynamic MMS (DMMS) features were defined. Then, the areas with significant differences between pairs of the three groups were analyzed using statistical methods and the atrophy/expansion were identified by comparing the metrics. In parallel, patch selection, sparse coding, dictionary learning and maximum pooling were used for the dimensionality reduction and the ensemble classifier GentleBoost was used to classify MCIc and MCIs.

RESULTS: The longitudinal analysis revealed that the atrophy of both MCIc and MCIs mainly distributed in dorsal CA1, then spread to subiculum and other regions gradually, while the atrophy area of MCIc was larger and more significant. And the introduction of longitudinal information promoted the accuracy to 91.76% for conversion prediction.

CONCLUSION: The dynamic information of hippocampus holds a huge potential for understanding the pathology of MCI.

PMID:35253759 | DOI:10.3233/JAD-215568

Front Aging Neurosci. 2022 Feb 16;14:793129. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.793129. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: For patients with severe spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage on antiplatelet therapy (patients with APT-SICH), postoperative rebleeding (PR) is an important cause of poor outcomes after surgery. As impacted by coagulation disorder caused by APT, patients with APT-SICH are likely to suffer from PR. This study aimed to assess the risk of PR in patients with APT-SICH receiving emergency surgery using a novel coagulation classification.

METHODS: This prospective, multicenter cohort study consecutively selected patients with APT-SICH between September 2019 and March 2021. The preoperative coagulation factor function was recorded, and the platelet function was assessed using thrombelastography. Based on platelet and coagulation factor function, a novel four-type coagulation classification, i.e., Type I (severe coagulation disorder), Type IIa (low platelet reserve capacity), Type IIb (normal coagulation), and Type III (hypercoagulation), was presented. The primary outcome was PR, defined as the rebleeding in the operative region or new intracerebral hemorrhage correlated with the operation.

RESULTS: Of the included 197 patients with APT-SICH, PR occurred in 40 patients (20.3%). The novel coagulation classification categorized 28, 32, 122, and 15 patients into Type I, Type IIa, Type IIb, and Type III, respectively. The Type I patients had the highest incident rate of PR (39.3 per 100 persons), followed by the Type IIa patients (31.3 per 100 persons). In the PR-related analysis, the large hematoma volume (hazard ratio (HR): 1.02; 95% CI: 1.02-1.03; p < 0.001), Type I (HR: 9.72; 95% CI: 1.19-79.67; p = 0.034), and Type IIa (HR: 8.70; 95% CI: 1.09-69.61; p = 0.041) were correlated with the highest risk of PR. The coagulation classification could discriminate the PR patients from no PR (NPR) patients (p < 0.001), and it outperformed the conventional coagulation assessment (only considering platelet count and coagulation factor function) (c-statistic, 0.72 vs. 0.55).

CONCLUSION: The novel coagulation classification could discriminate the patients with APT-SICH with the highest risk of PR preoperatively. For the Type I and Type IIa patients, emergency surgery should be performed carefully.

PMID:35250539 | PMC:PMC8888928 | DOI:10.3389/fnagi.2022.793129

Front Aging Neurosci. 2022 Feb 17;14:821789. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.821789. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are multifactorial conditions resulting from a complex crosstalk among multiple molecular and biological processes. The present study investigates the association of variants localized in genes and miRNAs with aMCI and AD, which may represent susceptibility, prognostic biomarkers or multi-target treatment options for such conditions. We included 371 patients (217 aMCI and 154 AD) and 503 healthy controls, which were genotyped for a panel of 120 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and, subsequently, analyzed by statistical, bioinformatics and machine-learning approaches. As a result, 21 SNPs were associated with aMCI and 13 SNPs with sporadic AD. Interestingly, a set of variants shared between aMCI and AD displayed slightly higher Odd Ratios in AD with respect to aMCI, highlighting a specific risk trajectory linking aMCI to AD. Some of the associated genes and miRNAs were shown to interact within the signaling pathways of APP (Amyloid Precursor Protein), ACE2 (Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2), miR-155 and PPARG (Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor Gamma), which are known to contribute to neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. Overall, results of this study increase insights concerning the genetic factors contributing to the neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative mechanisms underlying aMCI and sporadic AD. They have to be exploited to develop personalized approaches based on the individual genetic make-up and multi-target treatments.

PMID:35250545 | PMC:PMC8892382 | DOI:10.3389/fnagi.2022.821789

Front Comput Neurosci. 2022 Feb 18;15:759254. doi: 10.3389/fncom.2021.759254. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

In this work, we extend an influential statistical model based on the spatial classical receptive field (CRF) and non-classical receptive field (nCRF) interactions (Coen-Cagli et al., 2012) to explain the typical orientation adaptation effects observed in V1. If we assume that the temporal adaptation modifies the “state” of the model, the spatial statistical model can explain all of the orientation adaptation effects in the context of neuronal output using small and large grating observed in neurophysiological experiments in V1. The “state” of the model represents the internal parameters such as the prior and the covariance trained on a mixed dataset that totally determine the response of the model. These two parameters, respectively, reflect the probability of the orientation component and the connectivity among neurons between CRF and nCRF. Specifically, we have two key findings: First, neural adapted results using a small grating that just covers the CRF can be predicted by the change of the prior of our model. Second, the change of the prior can also predict most of the observed results using a large grating that covers both CRF and nCRF of a neuron. However, the prediction of the novel attractive adaptation using large grating covering both CRF and nCRF also necessitates the involvement of a connectivity change of the center-surround RFs. In addition, our paper contributes a new prior-based winner-take-all (WTA) working mechanism derived from the statistical-based model to explain why and how all of these orientation adaptation effects can be predicted by relying on this spatial model without modifying its structure, a novel application of the spatial model. The research results show that adaptation may link time and space by changing the “state” of the neural system according to a specific adaptor. Furthermore, different forms of stimulus used for adaptation can cause various adaptation effects, such as an a priori shift or a connectivity change, depending on the specific stimulus size.

PMID:35250523 | PMC:PMC8895385 | DOI:10.3389/fncom.2021.759254

Front Neurosci. 2022 Feb 16;15:796530. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2021.796530. eCollection 2021.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Stroke is an important cause of cognitive impairment. Rich club organization, a highly interconnected network brain core region, is closely related to cognition. We hypothesized that the disturbance of rich club organization exists in patients with post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI).

METHODS: We collected data on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) with 21 healthy controls (HC), 16 hemorrhagic stroke (hPSCI), and 21 infarct stroke (iPSCI). 3D shape features and first-order statistics of stroke lesions were extracted using 3D slicer software. Additionally, we assessed cognitive function using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).

RESULTS: Normalized rich club coefficients were higher in hPSCI and iPSCI than HC at low-degree k-levels (k = 1-8 in iPSCI, k = 2-8 in hPSCI). Feeder and local connections were significantly decreased in PSCI patients versus HC, mainly distributed in salience network (SN), default-mode network (DMN), cerebellum network (CN), and orbitofrontal cortex (ORB), especially involving the right and left caudate with changed nodal efficiency. The feeder and local connections of significantly between-group difference were positively related to MMSE and MoCA scores, primarily distributed in the sensorimotor network (SMN) and visual network (VN) in hPSCI, SN, and DMN in iPSCI. Additionally, decreased local connections and low-degree ϕ_norm(k) were correlated to 3D shape features and first-order statistics of stroke lesions.

CONCLUSION: This study reveals the disrupted low-degree level rich club organization and relatively preserved functional core network in PSCI patients. Decreased feeder and local connections in cognition-related networks (DMN, SN, CN, and ORB), particularly involving the caudate nucleus, may offer insight into pathological mechanism of PSCI patients. The shape and signal features of stroke lesions may provide an essential clue for the damage of functional connectivity and the whole brain networks.

PMID:35250435 | PMC:PMC8890030 | DOI:10.3389/fnins.2021.796530

Bull Earthq Eng. 2022;20(3):1519-1565. doi: 10.1007/s10518-021-01303-w. Epub 2022 Jan 10.

ABSTRACT

The creation of building exposure models for seismic risk assessment is frequently challenging due to the lack of availability of detailed information on building structures. Different strategies have been developed in recent years to overcome this, including the use of census data, remote sensing imagery and volunteered graphic information (VGI). This paper presents the development of a building-by-building exposure model based exclusively on openly available datasets, including both VGI and census statistics, which are defined at different levels of spatial resolution and for different moments in time. The initial model stemming purely from building-level data is enriched with statistics aggregated at the neighbourhood and city level by means of a Monte Carlo simulation that enables the generation of full realisations of damage estimates when using the exposure model in the context of an earthquake scenario calculation. Though applicable to any other region of interest where analogous datasets are available, the workflow and approach followed are explained by focusing on the case of the German city of Cologne, for which a scenario earthquake is defined and the potential damage is calculated. The resulting exposure model and damage estimates are presented, and it is shown that the latter are broadly consistent with damage data from the 1978 Albstadt earthquake, notwithstanding the differences in the scenario. Through this real-world application we demonstrate the potential of VGI and open data to be used for exposure modelling for natural risk assessment, when combined with suitable knowledge on building fragility and accounting for the inherent uncertainties.

PMID:35250417 | PMC:PMC8887924 | DOI:10.1007/s10518-021-01303-w

Comp Clin Path. 2022 Feb 28:1-4. doi: 10.1007/s00580-022-03334-4. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Lupus is an autoimmune disease that has various manifestations in various organs. One of the manifestations of lupus is lupus nephritis (LN), which often causes kidney failure and death. Cytokines play an essential role in the pathogenesis of LN and might be helpful for LN biomarkers. This study aimed to evaluate urine TNF-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) for detecting LN since this is not an invasive procedure and is more cost-effective. The gold standard procedure for diagnosing LN needs a biopsy of the kidney. However, the procedure is invasive, high cost, and takes time. Thus, a biomarker from urine is needed for early diagnosis of LN. This research conducted was cross-sectional. The total participants were 57, consisting of 29 lupus nephritis and 28 lupus without nephritis. TWEAK levels were determined by ELISA method; urine protein, urine erythrocyte, and leukocyte were examined by a urine autoanalyzer. Statistical analysis using Mann-Whitney, Spearman correlation, Kruskal-Wallis, ROC curve analysis, and a 2 × 2 contingency table. This study showed a significant difference in TWEAK levels between lupus nephritis and lupus without nephritis (p < 0.05), but no significant difference between TWEAK level and renal domain scores of SLEDAI. There were significant correlations between TWEAK level and urine erythrocyte and urine protein, but there was no significant correlation with urine leukocytes. The sensitivity and specificity of TWEAK for determining LN were 72.4% and 72.5%, respectively, with AUC 0.77. TWEAK had a good diagnostic test for detecting lupus nephritis and substantially correlated with urine erythrocyte and urine protein.

PMID:35250424 | PMC:PMC8884517 | DOI:10.1007/s00580-022-03334-4

Rev Econ Househ. 2022 Feb 25:1-48. doi: 10.1007/s11150-022-09601-1. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Using data on full-time wage and salary workers from the 2017-2018 American Time Use Survey Leave and Job Flexibilities Module, we estimate hourly wage differentials for teleworkers and compare how workers allocate their time over the day when they work from home rather than the office. We find that some teleworkers earn a wage premium, but it varies by gender, parental status, and teleworking intensity. Fathers who telework earn more than fathers in office-based jobs, regardless of teleworking intensity. Women without children who telework occasionally earn more than their office counterparts. In industries and occupations where telework is more prevalent, mothers who work from home most days of the week pay a wage penalty compared to mothers in office-based jobs. Using time diaries, we find differences in work patterns and hours across worker groups that could drive these teleworker wage differentials. Most teleworkers work less on home days; however, those who earn wage premiums are working longer hours on weekdays, regardless of their work location. When teleworking, mothers experience more interruptions in their workdays than other workers, which could have negative effects on their productivity. We also find that teleworkers spend less time on commuting and grooming activities but more time on leisure activities and with family on work-at-home days than on office days, and female teleworkers spend more time sleeping and on household production activities.

PMID:35250416 | PMC:PMC8879172 | DOI:10.1007/s11150-022-09601-1

Geburtshilfe Frauenheilkd. 2022 Mar 3;82(3):333-340. doi: 10.1055/a-1534-2599. eCollection 2022 Mar.

ABSTRACT

Introduction The Fetal Medicine Foundation (FMF) London has developed a first trimester screening algorithm for preeclampsia (PE), based on maternal characteristics and past risk factors, mean arterial pressure (MAP), uterine artery pulsatility index (UtA-PI), and placental growth factor (PlGF). The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of integrating PE screening into routine practice. Material and Methods All pregnancies with a fetal crown-rump length of 45 – 84 mm presenting to our ultrasound department between January 2014 and September 2020 were included in this analysis. Screening for PE was offered to singleton pregnancies only. The number of screening tests performed in the eligible population was assessed and the reasons for missed screenings identified with the help of the electronic clinical database. SPSS Statistics 25 and GraphPad version 8.0 for Windows were used for statistical analysis. Results 6535 pregnancies were included, 4510 (69.0%) of which were screened for PE. The percentage of patients being offered PE screening increased over the years from 63.1 to 96.7% (r _s = 0.96; p = 0.003), while the rate of screenings performed in eligible patients remained stable at a median [range] of 86.2% [78.0 – 91.8%] (p = ns). 2025 (31.0%) pregnancies were not screened for PE, 1306 (64.5%) because they were not eligible for screening. 145 (2.2%) women explicitly declined PE screening; their background risk was lower than that of women who accepted screening. Conclusion Our study shows that integration of PE screening into the routine first trimester ultrasound scan is feasible and widely accepted by pregnant women and health care providers.

PMID:35250382 | PMC:PMC8893983 | DOI:10.1055/a-1534-2599