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Patients with fibromyalgia often report forgetfulness as well as declines in cognitive function, memory, and mental alertness-symptoms that have been termed 'fibrofog' in popular and electronic media as well as in professional literature. 'Fibrofog' is the subjectively experienced cognitive dysfunction associated with fibromyalgia and is a clinically important yet comparatively less well-studied aspect of the disorder; it includes loss of mental clarity (mental fogginess) as well as attention and memory impairment. Although until recently cognitive symptoms have been largely ignored, these symptoms can be more disturbing than the widespread pain and can change these patients' lives, sometimes dramatically so. Whereas widespread musculoskeletal pain, tenderness, and fatigue may be the hallmark symptoms of fibromyalgia, patients rank cognitive dysfunction highly in terms of disease impact. This review addresses (1) the prevalence of self-reported cognitive disturbances in fibromyalgia, (2) the clinical presentation of fibrofog, (3) neuropsychological test performance, with particular attention to discrepancies between self-report and test results, (3) clinical correlates of impaired cognitive function in fibromyalgia, (4) neurobiology relevant to cognitive disturbances in fibromyalgia, and (5) clinical management of fibrofog. Although the pathophysiology of fibromyalgia remains an enigma, evidence suggests that it may be a brain disorder, with cognitive deficits ('fibrofog') reflecting disturbed centrally mediated processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in imaging and the development of commercially available enzyme therapy have significantly altered the traditional radiology of Gaucher disease. The cost of treatment and need for monitoring response to therapy have magnified the importance of imaging. There are no recent comprehensive reviews of the radiology of this relatively common lysosomal storage disease. This article describes the modern imaging, techniques and radiological manifestations of Gaucher disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major goal of the second International Workshop on “Brain Uptake and Utilization of Fatty Acids, Lipids and Lipoproteins: Application to Neurological Disorders” was the identification of important future research areas that would lead to accelerated and systematic progress in the field. Major themes identified for future research include the following: (1) Rigorous research protocols for fatty acid (FA) studies should be established to overcome errors introduced by small differences in chain length and degree of unsaturation. (2) Using cellular integration models consisting of endothelial cells, astrocytes, and neurons, investigation of functional lipidomics, cell-specific signaling by lipids, and nutritional considerations should be undertaken. (3) Educational programs should be undertaken for women of childbearing age on the health benefits of ω3 long chain (LC) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) from fish consumption vs risks of mercury in fish. (4) Studies of the “flip–flop” model of passive diffusion should be extended to include other quantitative measures, such as the sizes of different fatty acid pools. (5) Investigations to establish physiologic roles and concentrations of ω3 LC-PUFA in various compartments of the brain should be undertaken. (6) Further studies should be carried out to illuminate the role and behavior of tight junctions in the microvascular endothelium of the blood–brain barrier and astrocytes, with emphasis on developing new LC-PUFA and lipid-based carriers of biomolecules across this barrier. (7) Roles and localization of very low density lipoproteins, low density lipoprotein (LDL), and the LDL receptor in the brain and their interactions with ω3 LC-PUFA, cholesterol, apolipoprotein E1-4, and their derivatives in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) should be assessed. (8) Investigation of intraneuronal synthesis of DHA and its effects on signal transduction, apoptosis, and neurite growth stimulation should be undertaken. (9) Nutrition-based behavioral affects of EPA and DHA, particularly with respect to the ω6:ω3 FA ratio, gene regulation, neurodevelopment, and conversion to bioactive molecules by cyclooxygenases (COX) and lipoxygenase, should be explored. (10) Further assessment of brain lipid metabolism and neurodevelopment should be performed in DHA-deficient rodent models, including the use of imaging techniques. (11) Potential toxic effects of COX overexpression and the possible consequences of DHA over-supplementation in various neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders should be characterized. (12) The relationship between LC-PUFA, stroke, and AD should be clarified, and neurogenetic metabolic diseases that could benefit from supplementation with ω3 LC-PUFA such as DHA should be identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirty-five posters were presented at the Workshop on Brain Uptake And Utilization Of Fatty Acids, Lipids, and Lipoproteins. They were grouped into four categories: (1) mechanisms of lipid uptake and transport to the brain, (2) lipoproteins and polyunsaturated fatty acids, (3) eicosanoids in brain function, and (4) fatty acids and lipids in brain disorders. This article summarizes the highlights of the research presented in these posters. The individual abstracts follow these synopses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia / Journal Canadien d'Anesthésie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The main objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of dissociation and its relationships to symptom reporting in fibromyalgia (FM) and other rheumatic disorders (non-FM). The participants were 73 women with FM and 85 relatively matched women with other rheumatic disorders. The participants were administered the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), the Profile Of Mood States (POMS), and a 50-item medical checklist. The prevalence of dissociation (DES ⩾ 25) was significantly higher in FM patients(30.1%) compared to other rheumatic disorders (7.0%). Symptom reporting correlated with measures of dissociation in both patient groups (FM:R = 0.42, p < .001; non-FM: R = 0:44, p < .001), when controlled for age, depression, and anxiety. A regression analysis confirmed the strong linkage between somatic variation and dissociation. The results suggest that dissociation is a problem for a substantial segment of patients with fibromyalgia and that dissociation is related to certain physical symptoms of fibromyalgia. Dissociation offers a different perspective on medically unexplained symptoms and may need to be addressed in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For over 30 years, Blum's Medial Axis Transform (MAT) has proven to be an intriguing tool for analyzing and computing with form, but it is one that is notoriously difficult to apply in a robust and stable way. It is well documented how a tiny change to an object's boundary can cause a large change in its MAT. There has also been great difficulty in using the MAT to decompose an object into a hierarchy of parts reflecting the natural parts-hierarchy that we perceive. This paper argues that the underlying cause of these problems is that medial representations embody both the substance of each part of an object and the connections between adjacent parts. A small change in an object's boundary corresponds to a small change in its substance but may involve a large change in its connection information. The problems with Blum's MAT are generated because it does not explicitly represent this dichotomy of information. To use the Blum MAT to it's full potential, this paper presents a method for separating the substance and connection information of an object. This provides a natural parts-hierarchy while eliminating instabilities due to small boundary changes. The method also allows for graded, fuzzy classifications of object parts to match the ambiguity in human perception of many objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia / Journal Canadien d'Anesthésie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The brain is rich in diverse fatty acids saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids with chain lengths ranging from less than 16 to more than 24 carbons that make up the complex lipids present in this organ. While some fatty acids are derived from endogenous synthesis, others must come from exogenous sources. The mechanism(s) by which fatty acids enter cells has been the subject of much debate. While some investigators argue for a protein-mediated process, others suggest that simple diffusion is sufficient. In the brain, uptake is further complicated by the presence of the blood-brain barrier. Brain fatty acid homeostasis is disturbed in many human disorders, as typified by the peroxisomal biogenesis diseases. A workshop designed to bring together researchers from varied backgrounds to discuss these issues in an open forum was held in March, 2000. In addition to assessing the current state of knowledge, areas requiring additional investigation were identified and recommendations for future research were made. A brief overview of the invited talks is presented here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The average track model describes the response of physical and biological systems using radial dose distribution as the key physical descriptor. We report on an extension of this model to describe the average distribution of electron spectra as a function of radial distance from an ion. We present calculations of these spectra for ions of identical linear energy transfer (LET), but dissimilar charge and velocity to evaluate the differences in electron spectra from these ions. To illustrate the usefulness of the radial electron spectra for describing effects that are not described by electron dose, we consider the evaluation of the indirect events in microdosimetric distributions for ions. We show that folding our average electron spectra model with experimentally determined frequency distributions for photons or electrons provides a good representation of radial event spectra from high-energy ions in 0.5–2 μm sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children who read poorly have difficulty naming objects, and their errors usually bear a semantic or a phonetic resemblance to the correct words. Excessive semantic and phonetic naming errors could both be due to underlying phonological deficiencies in poor readers. When children cannot name an object because its name is not represented well in long-term memory or cannot be processed well, semantic information as well as partially available phonological information may be used in selecting an alternative response. This hypothesis was tested by looking for the joint influence of semantics and phonology in the naming errors of third-grade children. The same children were asked to name a set of pictured objects, repeat the object names after being spoken by the examiner, and recognize the objects from their spoken names. A separate group of children produced associative responses to the same pictures. First, it was found that, compared with skilled readers, less-skilled readers who named objects without any time pressure had a deficit that could not be attributed to repetition difficulty or limited vocabulary. Second, the naming errors showed a semantic relationship to the correct words that was as strong as that of the associative responses. Third, the naming errors also showed a phonetic relationship to the correct words, whereas the associative responses did not. Finding a joint semantic and phonetic effect in the naming errors of children suggests that the errors may be attributable to phonological deficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Object-naming deficits in children with reading problems may be due to deficiencies in either the phonological stage of processing or the semantic stage. The present study approached this issue by manipulating the type of cue given (semantic or phonetic) when object drawings were not named correctly by first-grade children. Although the children who were poor readers named significantly fewer objects than the good readers, both groups of children benefited from phonetic cues. In contrast, semantic cues had relatively little effect. These results support the view that difficulty on object naming is more likely related to phonological deficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jewish approach to aging and the aged is constructive. If one no longer works, guilt is inappropriate. Old age may be a 'sabbath' of human life. In our culture, older people are led to low self-esteem less by their age than by occupational and economic status. Hence fundamental social change is needed if there is to be dignity and quality in life for older people. Old age can become, as it should, the high point of the human career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children who are poor readers have difficulty naming pictured objects. Their naming difficulty could be a result of inadequate representations of the phonology of words, inadequate processing of those representations, or both. In this study, third-grade good and poor readers were tested on object naming, and, in cases of naming failure, forced-choice recognition tasks were used to probe their knowledge of the phonology of the object names. The two reading groups showed no differences in their ability to select the initial phonemes or rhymes of object names they had not produced spontaneously. Moreover, initial phoneme prompts were helpful for both reading groups. The children differed, however, in their ability to produce words after being given rhyme information. The results indicated that, except in the ability to manipulate explicitly phonological information, the poor readers; performance was qualitatively similar to that of the good readers. It is suggested that training in phonological analysis may help poor readers overcome the deficiencies in establishing and processing phonological representations that lead to their quantitative deficit in object naming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Anaesthetists' Society Journal is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A primary goal of the international workshop “Brain Uptake and Utilization of Fatty Acids” was to identify research areas that would benefit from further investigation. The major themes for future research are presented below: (1) Elucidating the role of the developing and mature cerebrovascular endothelium (CVE) in the uptake of fatty acids (FA) into the brain. (2) Clarifying the role of diffusion and receptor-mediated uptake of FAs by various brain cell membranes and protein-mediated shuttling of FAs between the CVE and various brain cells and tissues. (3) Illuminating the mechanisms of intermediate metabolism and the roles of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in astrocytes, neurons and oligodendrocytes. Of special interest are the long-chain omega-3 PUFA and their derivatives, such as lipoproteins, phospholipids and plasmalogens, that have been associated with various disease states (such as those listed in [5], below). (4) Elucidating the role of gene expression on long-chain omega-3 PUFA incorporation in membranes and the regulatory role these and other PUFA have on gene expression in the brain. (5) Elucidating the recently identified roles of long-chain omega-3 PUFA in mood disorders, schizophrenia, stroke, peroxisomal biogenesis disorders, Huntington’s disease, other neurodegenerative disorders and disorders of oxidative stress. (6) Undertaking placebo-controlled clinical trials to assess the therapeutic potential of omega-3 PUFA in the above disorders. (7) Developing new, and utilizing existing animal models in the above studies. (8) Developing noninvasive imaging and tagging methods for quantifying the migration and distribution of PUFA and their derivatives in the brain. (9) Applying multi-disciplinary collaborations among biophysicists, physiologists and molecular biologists to the resolution of the above. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]