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Objective: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether playing exergames can enhance quality of life among young adults and it examines the potential moderators. Methods: A 12-week randomized controlled trial was conducted. Quality of life was measured using the short-form 36-item version (SF-36) scale. All the participants were between 20 and 24 years old in Taiwan. Participants in the intervention group (n = 55) were asked to play exergames for 12 weeks, three times a week and 30 minutes at a time, while participants in the control group (n = 62) did not play exergames. The changes in the scores on quality of life between the beginning and the end of the 12-week trial were calculated. Independent t-tests were used to analyze the differences. Results: The intervention group participants experienced an enhanced quality of life in terms of physical functioning, role-physical (role limitations due to physical health), general health, and social functioning. Moreover, the intervention group participants who were not enthusiastic about exercisers experienced an enhanced quality of life in physical functioning, role-physical, and general health. The intervention group participants who attempted to control their weight experienced enhanced general health, vitality, and mental health. Conclusion: Playing exergaming could contribute to users’ quality of life in terms of both physical and mental health.

Aiming at the problem that the Beidou B1I navi¬gation receiver is susceptible to continuous-wave interfer¬ence (CWI), it is of great significance to investigate the interference effect and mechanism of the B1I navigation receiver. With the threshold of carrier-to-noise ratio (C/N0) as the criterion of satellite tracking missing, the CWI injection experiment is conducted on a kind of B1I navigation receiver. The results indicate that the power spectrum of the satellite signal affects the CWI's ability to interfere with each satellite. Then, a prediction model of satellite tracking loss under dual-frequency CWI is proposed, and the accuracy of the model is verified through experiments. The experiment results demonstrate that the power combination between the dual-frequency CWI is negatively correlated, and the error of this model is less than 2 dB. Finally, the sensitive frequency bands of the navigation receiver under out-of-band CWI are obtained through experiments. It is confirmed by theoretical and simulation analysis that the mixer is the main non-linear circuit generating these sensitive frequency bands. Furthermore, improving the selectivity of the radio frequency (RF) front-end circuit can enhance the performance of anti out-of-band interference.

The Western Desert is located in Egypt and it consists of a few extensional coastal rift-basins. It started as rifts and was formed during the Jurassic time in association with the opening of the Tethys Sea. There were three major tectonic events that occurred in Western Desert within Jurassic to Eocene time and resulted in NE-SW trend and NW-SE trend normal fault, and inversion of Western Desert basin due to rifting of Neo-Tethys followed by South America & Africa Atlantic rifting and Transpressional Syrian Arc event which had contributed to the formation of hydrocarbon trap. The generation, migration and accumulation of hydrocarbon started in the Late Cretaceous (95–90 Ma) and it continues to the present time. There is proven petroleum system named as Khatatba-Khatatba petroleum system within the Western Desert. The source of hydrocarbons is the Middle Jurassic Khatatba organicz-rich shales which contains type II- III and type III kerogen source migrated into Khatatba sandstones reservoir rock. Khatatba sandstones are mostly quartz arenite, which composed mainly of more than 95 % quartz. These sandstones have high porosity and high permeability with well sorted and are mostly subangular to subrounded grains. Masajid carbonate acts as regional seal within the basin. Hence, the Western Desert of Egypt has a significant hydrocarbon potential for exploration or development targeting on inversion structure.

Background Both the direct anterior approach (DAA) and posterior approach (PA) to THA have known advantages and disadvantages. The comparison between DAA and PA THA has been widely explored during the early postoperative period. However, few randomized trials have compared these approaches at a minimum follow-up of 5 years; doing so would be important to establish any differences in mid-term outcomes or complications. Questions/purposes We performed a randomized trial comparing DAA and PA in THA in terms of (1) patient-reported outcome scores, (2) quality of life and functional outcomes assessed by the EQ-5D and 10-meter walk test results, (3) radiographic analysis, and (4) survivorship and surgical complications at a minimum of 5 years follow-up. Methods Two hip specialist surgeons performed both DAA and PA THA using the same THA components at two hospital sites. One hundred twelve patients on the elective THA surgical waitlist were invited to participate in the study. Thirty-four patients did not meet the study's inclusion criteria and were excluded, and three patients declined to participate in the study. The remaining 75 patients who were eligible were randomized into DAA and PA groups. Thirty-seven patients were initially randomized to receive DAA THA, but two did not and were excluded, resulting in 48% (35 of 73) of patients who received DAA THA; 52% (38 of 73) of patients were randomized into and received PA THA. Over a minimum 5 years of follow-up, 3% (1 of 35) of DAA patients were lost to follow-up, and none of the patients undergoing PA THA were lost. A per-protocol analysis was adopted, resulting in further patients being excluded from analysis. Of the 73 study patients, 99% (72; DAA: 35, PA: 37) were analyzed at 1 year, 95% (69; DAA: 34, PA: 35) were analyzed at 2 years, and 72% (52; DAA: 23, PA: 29) were analyzed at 5 years. The primary outcome was the Oxford Hip Score (OHS) and WOMAC score. Secondary outcomes included the EQ-5D and EQ-5D VAS scores, 10-meter walk test results, radiographic evidence of loosening (femoral: lucency > 2 mm at the implant-bone interface, subsidence > 2 mm; acetabular: migration or change in inclination), 5-year survivorship analysis from all-cause revisions, and surgical complications. The study was powered to detect a 10-point difference in the WOMAC score, which is equivalent to the minimum clinically important difference (MCID). Results There were no differences in primary outcomes (OHS and WOMAC scores) or secondary outcomes (EQ-5D scores, EQ-5D VAS scores, and 10-meter walk test result) between the DAA and PA groups at the 5-year follow-up interval. The median (range) OHS at 5 years was 46 (16 to 48) for DAA and 47 (18 to 48) for PA groups (p = 0.93), and the median WOMAC score was 6 (0 to 81) for DAA and 7 (0 to 59) for PA groups (p = 0.96). The median EQ-5D score was 1 (0.1 to 1) for DAA and 1 (0.5 to 1) for PA groups (p = 0.45), and the median EQ-5D VAS score was 85 (60 to 100) for DAA and 95 (70 to 100) for PA groups (p = 0.29). There were no cases of component loosening on radiographs. There was no difference in component survival between the two approaches at 5 years (DAA: 97% [95% CI 85% to 100%] versus PA: 97% [95% CI 87% to 100%]). Eight of 23 patients in the DAA group reported decreased sensation in the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve distribution. Conclusion DAA and PA are both effective approaches in performing primary THA. Each approach has its associated risks and complications. The choice of THA should be based on individual patient factors, surgeon experience, and shared decision-making. Early registry data indicate DAA and PA THA are comparable, but longer-term data with larger numbers of patients will be required before one can safely conclude equal survivorship between both approaches. Level of evidence Level I, therapeutic study.

This study investigates the antecedents of environmentally responsible behaviour by creating a theoretical model of relationships between service quality, place attachment and environmentally responsible behaviour. A questionnaire survey was conducted among tourists who visited six famous tourist attractions in Shaanxi, China. The results of the research demonstrate that service quality exerts influence on environmentally responsible behaviour and place attachment in a positive manner. Additionally, the findings suggest that place attachment affects environmentally responsible behaviour in a direct and positive manner. Moreover, it is also found that service quality strengthens its effect on environmentally responsible behaviour through place attachment, indicating the mediating role of place attachment in the link between service quality and environmentally responsible behaviour. The current research contributes to tourism literature in that it helps to better understand the tourists’ environmentally responsible behaviour and provides management with evidence of the significance for improving the service quality at tourist attractions.

Several research works have been carried out on Shoushan Basin, Western Desert including the petroleum system in the Shoushan Basin. However, there is no proper classification was done on Shoushan Basin, Western Desert, Egypt using Global Basin Classification. The objective of this study is to classify Shoushan Basin using Global Basin Classification as proposed by Kingston et al. (1983a, b). The study which was done by integrating different types of data including geochemical, well log, seismic data from literature review provided a better understanding of the evolution and the hydrocarbon potential of Western Desert. Shoushan Basin consists of two basin types which included Margin Sag (MS) Cycle Basin and Wrench Cycle Basin (LL). The combination of these cycles, stages and tectonic event results in the formula being written from the youngest to the oldest as follows: LL – 2/LD/MS – 321321321.

Six-day fieldwork was conducted in the north-west coast of Sarawak to examine the outcrops along Bintulu- Niah- Miri areas which cover southern part of Balingian Province and Baram Delta Province. The aim of this fieldwork is to synthesize the observations of structure and sedimentology of outcrops along Bintulu-Niah-Miri areas and discuss the implication of reservoir characteristics based on observation. The study was conducted by sketching the main structural elements of outcrops followed by detailed sedimentological analysis which include observation and facies description were conducted on different outcrops along Bintulu-Niah- Miri areas using sedimentary logs. The findings show that Bintulu- Niah- Miri areas outcrops consists of mixed-environment deposited succession with tidal and wave characteristic. This resulted in reservoir architect will be different and result in different in reservoir properties included horizontal and vertical permeability of fluids. Niah Cave is a good place to study the distribution of the types of breccia due to collapsed paleokarst at reservoir scale and also good analog for Central Luconia Platform where large resources of hydrocarbon have been discovered due to the its environment setting or forming process is same as Central Luconia Platform. In addition, Miri Airport Outcrop succession consist of Type 4- Fracture Create Flow Barriers which could lead to potential production problems.

This study aimed to clarify the mechanism of propofol on proliferation and apoptosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) cell. SW620 and HCT15 cells were exposed to different concentrations of propofol, the proliferation and apoptotic rate, were measured by MTT, colony formation and flow cytometry assays, respectively. The expressions of miR-1-3p and insulin-like growth factors 1 (IGF1) were examined by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Western bolt was employed to quantify the protein levels of IGF1 and apoptotic proteins. The molecular interaction between miR-1-3p and IGF1 was validated using dual-luciferase reporter assay. A xenograft tumor model was established to further assess the effects of propofol on CRC in vivo. Propofol dramatically decreased the proliferation and elevated apoptotic rate of CRC cells. RT-qPCR assay demonstrated that miR-1-3p was downregulated in CRC cells, and could be strikingly increased by propofol. Importantly, miR-1-3p inhibited IGF-1 expression through interacting with its 3'-UTR region, thus inactivating AKT/mTOR signals. Gain or loss of functional study revealed that miR-1-3p downregulation remarkedly diminished the anti-tumor roles of propofol by directly inhibiting IGF1. In vivo study showed that propofol inhibited tumor growth by regulating miR-1-3p/IGF1 axis. Our data eventually elucidated that propofol suppressed CRC progression by promoting miR-1-3p which targeted IGF1. These results might provide a scientific basis for the application of propofol on the clinical surgery and the prognosis of patients with CRC.

Importance: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has drastically changed how comprehensive ophthalmology practices care for patients. Objective: To report practice patterns for common ocular complaints during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic among comprehensive ophthalmology practices in the US. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this cross-sectional study, 40 private practices and 20 university centers were randomly selected from 4 regions across the US. Data were collected on April 29 and 30, 2020. Interventions: Investigators placed telephone calls to each ophthalmology practice office. Responses to 3 clinical scenarios-refraction request, cataract evaluation, and symptoms of a posterior vitreous detachment-were compared regionally and between private and university centers. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary measure was time to next appointment for each of the 3 scenarios. Secondary measures included use of telemedicine and advertisement of COVID-19 precautions. Results: Of the 40 private practices, 2 (5%) were closed, 24 (60%) were only seeing urgent patients, and 14 (35%) remained open to all patients. Of the 20 university centers, 2 (10%) were closed, 17 (85%) were only seeing urgent patients, and 1 (5%) remained open to all patients. There were no differences for any telemedicine metric. University centers were more likely than private practices to mention preparations to limit the spread of COVID-19 (17 of 20 [85%] vs 14 of 40 [35%]; mean difference, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.26-0.65; P < .001). Private practices had a faster next available appointment for cataract evaluations than university centers, with a mean (SD) time to visit of 22.1 (27.0) days vs 75.5 (46.1) days (mean difference, 53.4; 95% CI, 23.1-83.7; P < .001). Private practices were also more likely than university centers to be available to see patients with flashes and floaters (30 of 40 [75%] vs 8 of 20 [40%]; mean difference, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.22-0.79; P = .01). Conclusions and Relevance: In this cross-sectional study of investigator telephone calls to ophthalmology practice offices, there were uniform recommendations for the 3 routine ophthalmic complaints. Private practices had shorter times to next available appointment for cataract extraction and were more likely to evaluate posterior vitreous detachment symptoms. As there has not been a study examining these practice patterns before the COVID-19 pandemic, the relevance of these findings on public health is yet to be determined.

Objective To evaluate the safety and potential efficacy of AMG 557, a fully human antibody directed against the inducible T cell costimulator ligand (ICOSL) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with arthritis. Methods In this phase Ib, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, patients received AMG 557 210 mg (n = 10) or placebo (n = 10) weekly for 3 weeks, then every other week for 10 additional doses. The corticosteroid dosage was tapered to ≤7.5 mg/day by day 85, and immunosuppressants were discontinued by day 29. Primary end points on day 169 were safety, immunogenicity, the Lupus Arthritis Response Index (LARI; defined by a reduction in the tender and swollen joint counts), ≥1-letter improvement in the musculoskeletal domain of the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG) index, and medication discontinuation. The secondary/exploratory end points were changes in the tender and swollen joint counts, BILAG index scores (musculoskeletal, global), and the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI). Results The incidence of adverse events, most of which were mild, was similar between groups. LARI responses occurred in 3 of 10 patients receiving AMG 557 and 1 of 10 patients receiving placebo (P = 0.58). More patients in the AMG 557 group achieved a ≥4-point improvement in the SLEDAI score on day 169 (7 of 10 patients) compared with the placebo group (2 of 10 patients) (P = 0.07). Patients treated with AMG 557 (versus placebo) had greater improvements from baseline in the global BILAG index scores (-36.3% versus -24.7%) and the SLEDAI score (-47.8% versus -10.7%) and in tender (-22.8% versus -13.5%) and swollen (-62.1% versus -7.8%) joint counts on day 169. Conclusion AMG 557 showed safety and potential efficacy, supporting further evaluation of the clinical efficacy of ICOSL blockade in patients with SLE.

Objective: Patients who receive allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation may experience oral complications due to chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD). The manifestations may include progressive sclerosis-like changes that may involve various body sites, including the oropharynx.Methods and results: We present two cGVHD cases of oropharyngeal fibrotic changes that affected functions that were treated with photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy. These case reports suggest that PBM therapy represents an additional, innovative approach affecting discrete phases in cGVHD-associated fibrotic changes.Conclusions: We discuss these observations in the context of currently understood molecular mechanisms, especially induction of transforming growth factor beta and NFκB that appear to be counter-intuitive to their known roles in matrix synthesis and inflammation that contribute to tissue fibroses. The clinical benefit noted in the two cases presented clearly indicates that there are distinct mechanistic and biological insights in the regulation of these molecular pathways in determining therapeutic efficacy with PBM therapy.

There is a growing interest in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies on connectivity networks in the brain when subjects are under exposure to natural sensory stimulation. Because of a complicated coupling between spontaneous and evoked brain activity under real-world stimulation, there is no critical mapping between the experimental inputs and corresponding brain responses. The dataset contains auditory fMRI scans and T1-weighted anatomical scans acquired under eyes-closed and eyes-open conditions. Within each scanning condition, the subject was presented 12 different sound clips, including human voices followed by animal vocalizations. The dataset is meant to be used to assess brain dynamics and connectivity networks under natural sound stimulation; it also allows for empirical investigation of changes in fMRI responses between eyes-closed and eyes-open conditions, between animal vocalizations and human voices, as well as between the 12 different sound clips during auditory stimulation. The dataset is a supplement to the research findings in the paper “Brain dynamics and connectivity networks under natural auditory stimulation” published in NeuroImage. Keywords: fMRI, Connectivity networks, Real-world, Auditory

Background CT perfusion (CTP) and diffusion or perfusion MRI might assist patient selection for endovascular thrombectomy. We aimed to establish whether imaging assessments of irreversibly injured ischaemic core and potentially salvageable penumbra volumes were associated with functional outcome and whether they interacted with the treatment effect of endovascular thrombectomy on functional outcome.Methods In this systematic review and meta-analysis, the HERMES collaboration pooled patient-level data from all randomised controlled trials that compared endovascular thrombectomy (predominantly using stent retrievers) with standard medical therapy in patients with anterior circulation ischaemic stroke, published in PubMed from Jan 1,2010, to May 31, 2017. The primary endpoint was functional outcome, assessed by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at 90 days after stroke. Ischaemic core was estimated, before treatment with either endovascular thrombectomy or standard medical therapy, by CTP as relative cerebral blood flow less than 30% of normal brain blood flow or by MRI as an apparent diffusion coefficient less than 620 mu m(2)/s. Critically hypoperfused tissue was estimated as the volume of tissue with a CTP time to maximum longer than 6 s. Mismatch volume (ie, the estimated penumbral volume) was calculated as critically hypoperfused tissue volume minus ischaemic core volume. The association of ischaemic core and penumbral volumes with 90-day mRS score was analysed with multivariable logistic regression (functional independence, defined as mRS score 0-2) and ordinal logistic regression (functional improvement by at least one mRS category) in all patients and in a subset of those with more than 50% endovascular reperfusion, adjusted for baseline prognostic variables. The meta-analysis was prospectively designed by the HERMES executive committee, but not registered.Findings We identified seven studies with 1764 patients, all of which were included in the meta-analysis. CTP was available and assessable for 591 (34%) patients and diffusion MRI for 309 (18%) patients. Functional independence was worse in patients who had CTP versus those who had diffusion MRI, after adjustment for ischaemic core volume (odds ratio [OR] 0.47 [95% CI 0.30-0.72], p=0.0007), so the imaging modalities were not pooled. Increasing ischaemic core volume was associated with reduced likelihood of functional independence (CTP OR 0.77 [0.69-0.86] per 10 mL, p(interaction)=0.29; diffusion MRI OR 0.87 [0.81-0.94] per 10 mL, p(interaction)=0.94). Mismatch volume, examined only in the CTP group because of the small numbers of patients who had perfusion MRI, was not associated with either functional independence or functional improvement. In patients with CTP with more than 50% endovascular reperfusion (n=186), age, ischaemic core volume, and imaging-to-reperfusion time were independently associated with functional improvement. Risk of bias between studies was generally low.Interpretation Estimated ischaemic core volume was independently associated with functional independence and functional improvement but did not modify the treatment benefit of endovascular thrombectomy over standard medical therapy for improved functional outcome. Combining ischaemic core volume with age and expected imagingto-reperfusion time will improve assessment of prognosis and might inform endovascular thrombectomy treatment decisions. Copyright (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cav3 channels consist of three isoforms, Cav3.1 (α1G), Cav3.2 (α1H), and Cav3.3 (α1I), which produce low-threshold spikes that trigger burst firings in nociceptive neurons of the spinal dorsal horn (SDH) and dorsal root ganglion (DRG). Although Cav3.2 plays a crucial role in pathological pain, its distribution in SDH still remains controversial. One study showed that Cav3.2 is ubiquitously expressed in neurons, but another study implied that Cav3.2 is expressed restricted to astrocytes. To unravel these discrepancies, we used methods of immunohistochemistry either with or without antigen retrieval (AR) pre-treatment to detect Cav3 in SDH and DRG from both rats and mice. Moreover, Cav3.2 mRNA was detected in mice SDH using in situ hybridization. We found that the expression pattern of Cav3.2 but not Cav3.1 and Cav3.3 in SDH were largely different with or without AR pre-treatment, which showed a neuron-like and an astrocyte-like appearance, respectively. Double staining further demonstrated that Cav3.2 was mainly co-stained with the neuronal marker NeuN in the presence of AR but was with glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP, marker for astrocytes) in the absence of AR pre-treatment. Importantly, Cav3.2 mRNA was mainly co-localized with Cav3.2 but not GFAP. Together, our findings indicate that AR pre-treatment or not impacts the expression pattern of Cav3.2, which may make a significant contribution to the future study of Cav3.2 in SDH.

The analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data is challenging when subjects are under exposure to natural sensory stimulation. In this study, a two-stage approach was developed to enable the identification of connectivity networks involved in the processing of information in the brain under natural sensory stimulation. In the first stage, the degree of concordance between the results of inter-subject and intra-subject correlation analyses is assessed statistically. The microstructurally (i.e., cytoarchitectonically) defined brain areas are designated either as concordant in which the results of both correlation analyses are in agreement, or as discordant in which one analysis method shows a higher proportion of supra-threshold voxels than does the other. In the second stage, connectivity networks are identified using the time courses of supra-threshold voxels in brain areas, contingent upon the classifications derived in the first stage. In an empirical study, fMRI data were collected from 40 young adults (19 males, average age 22.76 ± 3.25), who underwent auditory stimulation involving sound clips of human voices and animal vocalizations under two operational conditions (i.e., eyes-closed and eyes-open). The operational conditions were designed to assess confounding effects due to auditory instructions or visual perception. The proposed two-stage analysis demonstrated that stress modulation (affective) and language networks in the limbic and cortical structures were respectively engaged during sound stimulation, and presented considerable variability among subjects. The network involved in regulating visuomotor control was sensitive to the eyes-open instruction, and presented only small variations among subjects. A high degree of concordance was observed between the two analyses in the primary auditory cortex which was highly sensitive to the pitch of sound clips. Our results have indicated that brain areas can be identified as concordant or discordant based on the two correlation analyses. This may further facilitate the search for connectivity networks involved in the processing of information under natural sensory stimulation.

Cutaneous paraneoplastic syndromes comprise a broad spectrum of cutaneous reactions to an underlying malignancy. These dermatoses are not the result of metastatic spread to the skin, but rather a reaction to the presence of malignancy. Cutaneous paraneoplastic syndromes often precede the identification of a malignancy. We describe the case of a 79-year-old man with a six-month history of recalcitrant treatment- resistant dermatitis. A complete blood count test performed at the time of initial presentation was normal. The patient ultimately presented with erythroderma and was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The evolution of the dermatitis to erythroderma coincided with the clinical presentation of AML, and was therefore considered to be a paraneoplastic syndrome. The patient decided against therapy and died seven weeks after diagnosis. Physicians should consider a cutaneous paraneoplastic syndrome when faced with dynamic recalcitrant dermatoses that are difficult to treat and decide on laboratory testing accordingly. Patients should be evaluated regularly for two to three years after initial diagnosis with a physical exam and review of systems to monitor for signs and symptoms of malignancy.

We present in this paper a method for obtaining a low cost and high replication precision 2D (two dimensional) nanofluidic chip with a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) sheet, which uses hot embossing and a thermal bonding technique. The hot embossing process parameters were optimized by both experiments and the finite element method to improve the replication precision of the 2D nanochannels. With the optimized process parameters, 174.67 ± 4.51 nm wide and 179.00 ± 4.00 nm deep nanochannels were successfully replicated into the PET sheet with high replication precision of 98.4%. O2 plasma treatment was carried out before the bonding process to decrease the dimension loss and improve the bonding strength of the 2D nanofluidic chip. The bonding parameters were optimized by bonding rate of the nanofluidic chip. The experiment results show that the bonding strength of the 2D PET nanofluidic chip is 0.664 MPa, and the total dimension loss of 2D nanochannels is 4.34 ± 7.03 nm and 18.33 ± 9.52 nm, in width and depth, respectively. The fluorescence images demonstrate that there is no blocking or leakage over the entire micro- and nanochannels. With this fabrication technology, low cost polymer nanochannels can be fabricated, which allows for commercial manufacturing of nano-components.

Objective: Resting-state functional connectivity (FC) has revealed marked network dysfunction in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) compared to healthy controls. However, the nature and the location of these changes have not been fully elucidated nor confirmed by other methodologies. We assessed the presence of hippocampal FC changes in TLE based on the low frequency residuals of task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging data after the removal of task-related activation [i.e., task-regressed functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI)]. Method: We employed a novel, task-regressed approach to quantify hippocampal FC, and compare hippocampal FC in 17 patients with unilateral TLE (9 left) with 17 healthy controls. Results: Our results suggest widespread FC reductions in the mesial cortex associated with the default mode network (DMN), and some local FC increases in the lateral portions of the right hemisphere. We found more pronounced FC decreases in the left hemisphere than in the right, and these FC decreases were greatest in patients with left TLE. Moreover, the FC reductions observed between the hippocampus and posterior cingulate, inferior parietal, paracentral regions are in agreement with previous resting state studies. Conclusions: Consistent with the existing literature, FC reductions in TLE appear widespread with prominent reductions in the medial portion of the DMN. Our data expand the literature by demonstrating that reductions in FC may be greatest in the left hemisphere and in patients with left TLE. Overall, our findings suggest that task-regressed FC is a viable alternative to resting state and that future studies may extract similar information on network connectivity from already existing datasets.

For any neuroimaging study in an institute, brain images are normally acquired from healthy controls and patients using a single track of protocol. Traditionally, the factor analysis procedure analyzes image data for healthy controls and patients either together or separately. The former unifies the factor pattern across subjects and the latter deals with measurement errors individually. This paper proposes a group factor analysis model for neuroimaging applications by assigning separate factor patterns to control and patient groups. The clinical diagnosis information is used for categorizing subjects into groups in the analysis procedure. The proposed method allows different groups of subjects to share a common covariance matrix of measurement errors. The empirical results show that the proposed method provides more reasonable factor scores and patterns and is more suitable for medical research based on image data as compared with the conventional factor analysis model.

In functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal change, in contrast to noise, is typically small (< 5%; e.g., Chen & Small, 2007). Although the quality of acquired image data may be improved by pre-processing images with lowor high-pass filters, classification of voxels into the active/inactive status could vary from one study to the next even when the same experimental paradigm is implemented (Maitra, 2009). Reliability assessment would contribute significantly to the knowledge on noise structures in image data, as a function of stimulus sequences, ethnic groups, imaging techniques and scanner differences (Biswal et al., 1996; Genovese et al., 1997; Maitra et al., 2002).

Recent human studies indicate that magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, particularly diffusion weighted imaging, detects abnormalities within the descending cortico-spinal tract following stroke. Whether these changes are directly related to processes of axonal degeneration and how MR changes (e.g. apparent diffusion coefficient of water (ADC) and T 2 ) vary in their diagnostic utility over time is not known. The present study demonstrates that a commonly used rat model of neonatal transient unilateral hypoxia-ischemia provides similar diffusion weighted and ADC changes in the cerebral peduncle as those observed in human neonates clinically. Imaging the descending cortico-spinal tract in this model at defined acute (1-3 days) and chronic (1 and 4 weeks) time points demonstrates increased T 2 and progressive changes in ADC within the descending cortico-spinal tract in the first days to weeks following hypoxia-ischemia with a normalization by 1 week and further increases in ispilateral cerebral cortex by 4 weeks. These imaging changes are associated with reduced axonal neurofilament staining both at the subacute and more chronic time points. This demonstrates directly the utility of ADC and T 2 MRI to detect acute changes in axons associated with early Wallerian degeneration.

Because uncertainty exists about which glaucoma suspects should be treated, this study sought to identify the glaucoma suspects who an expert panel could agree would be appropriate or inappropriate to treat.

Therapies aimed at depleting or blocking the migration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN or neutrophils) are partially successful in the treatment of neuroinflammatory conditions and in attenuating pain following peripheral nerve injury or subcutaneous inflammation. However, the functional effects of PMN on peripheral sensory neurons such as dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons are largely unknown. We hypothesized that PMN are detrimental to neuronal viability in culture and increase neuronal activity and excitability. We demonstrate that isolated peripheral PMN are initially in a relatively resting state but undergo internal oxidative burst and activation by an unknown mechanism within 10 min of co-culture with dissociated DRG cells. Co-culture for 24 h decreases neuronal count at a threshold0.4:1 PMN:DRG cell ratio and increases the number of injured and apoptotic neurons. Within 3 min of PMN addition, fluorometric calcium imaging reveals intracellular calcium transients in small size (25 microm diam) and large size (25 microm diam) neurons, as well as in capsaicin-sensitive neurons. Furthermore, small size isolectin B4-labeled neurons undergo hyperexcitability manifested as decreased current threshold and increased firing frequency. Although co-culture of PMN and DRG cells does not perfectly model neuroinflammatory conditions in vivo, these findings suggest that activated PMN can potentially aggravate neuronal injury and cause functional changes to peripheral sensory neurons. Distinguishing the beneficial from the detrimental effects of PMN on neurons may aid in the development of more effective drug therapies for neurological disorders involving neuroinflammation, including painful neuropathies.

Multiple cytokines, including IL-2, can affect T cell proliferation and survival. However, IL-2 can lead to apoptosis as well as proliferation, making unclear whether IL-2 receptor (IL-2R) signals ultimately have a predominantly positive or negative effect. To address this issue, we examined the effect of enhancing IL-2R signals in CD8+T cells after antigen stimulation by engineering a transgenic (Tg) mouse strain with CD8+T cells capable of augmented, regulated, autocrine IL-2R signaling after target recognition by means of expression of a chimeric granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF)/IL-2R. The Tg CD8+T cells can bind the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating GM-CSF produced by antigen stimulation, but the GM-CSF binding results in delivery of an IL-2R signal. After antigen stimulationin vivo, the Tg T cells demonstrated marked increases in the initial proliferative response and cell expansion and displayed continued increases in cell expansion after repeated antigen exposure. These data suggest that the predominant role of IL-2R signals delivered to responding CD8+T cells is to set the size of the initial response to antigen by promoting T cell proliferation and survival and not cell death.

Mutations were introduced into the active site triplet (Asp-Thr-Gly) of one or both subunits of a linked dimer of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 proteinase. Mutation of Thr to Ser in one or both subunits did not alter the activity of the enzyme substantially, whereas its mutation to Asn in one subunit caused a dramatic decrease in catalytic efficiency. Mutation of Gly to Val in one subunit also yielded an enzyme with very low activity. The enzymes containing Thr-->Asn and Gly-->Val mutations in both subunits resulted in inactive enzymes, based on their inability to self-process and on assay with an oligopeptide substrate. The dramatic decrease in enzyme efficiency of the mutants was interpreted using molecular models of the enzymes.