scholarly journals Toward higher‐sensitivity, shorter‐interval MRI measures of atrophy in neurodegenerative dementias

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (S5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Brickhouse ◽  
Lindsay Hanford ◽  
Nicole Carvalho ◽  
Mark C. Eldaief ◽  
Ross Mair ◽  
...  
2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 75-84
Author(s):  
Venkata Vijaya K. Dalai ◽  
Jason E. Childress ◽  
Paul E Schulz

Dementia is a major public health concern that afflicts an estimated 24.3 million people worldwide. Great strides are being made in order to better diagnose, prevent, and treat these disorders. Dementia is associated with multiple complications, some of which can be life-threatening, such as dysphagia. There is great variability between dementias in terms of when dysphagia and other swallowing disorders occur. In order to prepare the reader for the other articles in this publication discussing swallowing issues in depth, the authors of this article will provide a brief overview of the prevalence, risk factors, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, diagnosis, current treatment options, and implications for eating for the common forms of neurodegenerative dementias.


1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (06) ◽  
pp. 1090-1095 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Ravanat ◽  
M Freund ◽  
S Schuhler ◽  
P Grunert ◽  
L Meyer ◽  
...  

SummaryThe purpose of this study was to develop specific and sensitive immunoassays to detect early indices of hypercoagulability in the rat. Rat platelet factor 4 (rPF4) and rat fibrinopeptide A (rFPA) assays, tools for the detection of activation of platelets and coagulation respectively, were designed using antibodies raised against purified rPF4 and against synthetic rFPA. The relevance of these new assays and of the commercially available ELISA kit for thrombin-antithrombin III (TAT) complexes was demonstrated in a rat model of a prethrombotic state induced by intravenous infusion of varying doses of thromboplastin (90 to 2400 μl/kg/h). In this model, the immunoassays allowed simultaneous detection of low levels of rFPA and rPF4 which were correlated with fibrinogen and platelet consumption and TAT generation and further proved to be of higher sensitivity than the classical methods of platelet count or measurement of fibrinogen levels. Plasma concentrations of rFPA, rPF4 and TAT were dependent on infusion time and thromboplastin dose, while hirudin (1 mg/kg) prevented their appearance. Thus the new specific immunoassays for rPF4 and rFPA and the commercial human TAT assay represent useful tools for pathophysiological studies or the screening of antithrombotic drugs in rats.


Reproduction ◽  
2000 ◽  
pp. 361-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Ubilla ◽  
PG Rebollar ◽  
D Pazo ◽  
AI Esquifino ◽  
JM Alvarino

The effects of a transient doe-litter separation on plasma prolactin, FSH and oestradiol concentrations, as well as the effect on LH response to exogenous GnRH administered at the time of artificial insemination, were determined in nursing rabbits. The effects on fertility, and litter size after parturition, as well as litter survival after doe-litter separation, were also studied. Control does (n = 12) had free access to nursing, whereas biostimulated does (n = 12) were separated from their litters for 48 h before artificial insemination. Plasma prolactin concentrations were decreased 24 h after the doe-litter separation (P < 0.05). The response of prolactin to suckling reached 10 times the basal values measured on day 10 after parturition (P < 0.0001). Increased oestradiol concentrations were found during the 48 h after the doe-litter separation: at 0 h, before artificial insemination (P< 0. 0001), 1.0-2.0 h after artificial insemination (P < 0.001), at 2.5 h (P < 0.05), 3.0 h (P < 0.01), and at 3.5 h (P < 0.05) after artificial insemination. Exogenous GnRH administered at the time of artificial insemination caused a greater LH response in does previously separated from their litters during 48 h (P < 0.01). The transient doe-litter separation did not affect plasma FSH concentrations, fertility, litter size or litter survival. These results suggest that a transient separation of nursing does from their litters before artificial insemination results in a decrease in plasma prolactin concentrations that could promote growth of follicular waves, and high steroidogenesis activity, leading to increased oestradiol concentrations and inducing higher sensitivity of the pituitary gland to exogenous GnRH. These findings associated to the absence of suckling episodes would lead to higher LH response and, therefore, exert a major effect on fertility.


Author(s):  
Phạm Hồng Sơn ◽  
Phạm Hồng Kỳ ◽  
Nguyễn Thị Lan Hương ◽  
Phạm Thị Hồng Hà

. Using the method of shifting assay of standardized indirect agglutination (SSIA), the prevalence of Newcastle disease viruses (NDV) and infectious bursal disease viruses (IBDV) in chickens reared in several districts of Thua Thien Hue province in the Spring-Summer and Fall-Winter seasons was determined. In the Spring-Summer season of 2011, about 22.3% of the chickens were infected with NDV, in which A Luoi  accounted for the highest percentage of 25% of the infected chickens and Huong Thuy  the lowest  of 18.2%. Meanwhile, 36% of the same chickens were infected with IBDV, with the highest percentage (46.66%) also in A Luoi and the lowest (30.3%) also in Huong Thuy. The intensity of NDV infection in the Spring-Summer season in A Luoi and Phu Vang was highest (GMT = 1.45), and in Huong Thuy lowest (GMT = 1.31). In addition, in the Fall-Winter season, about 46% of the chickens were infected with NDV and 46.3% with IBDV in Huong Thuy and Phu Vang – two neighbouring districts of Hue City, in which NDV was detected in 54.4% of the chickens in Huong Thuy and 33.9% in Phu Vang. In contrast, IBDV was detected in 41.9% and 52.7% of the chickens respectively in the two districts. The infection was not inter-dependent. Methodically, although the differences in the infection rates were insignificant with the accuracy of 95%, faecal samples showed higher sensitivity in SSIA analyses for both cases of NDV and IBDV infection in comparision with mouth exudates. By SSIA method, results could be read clearly with unaided eyes for a long time after the performance, and it was also proven applicable for cases of haemagglutinating viruses if proper treatments for depletion of animal RBCs’ surface agglutinins could be applied.


Author(s):  
Michael B. Schmidt ◽  
Noor Jehan Saujauddin

Abstract Scan testing and passive voltage contrast (PVC) techniques have been widely used as failure analysis fault isolation tools. Scan diagnosis can narrow a failure to a given net and passive voltage contrast can give real-time, large-scale electronic information about a sample at various stages of deprocessing. In the highly competitive and challenging environment of today, failure analysis cycle time is very important. By combining scan FA with a much higher sensitivity passive voltage contrast technique, one can quickly find defects that have traditionally posed a great challenge.


Author(s):  
A. V. Shvetsov ◽  
A. I. Vaido ◽  
N. A. Dyuzhikova ◽  
A. V. Belskaya ◽  
M. V. Mikhailova ◽  
...  

A study of the dynamics of preservation of the conditioned reflex of passive avoidance (passive avoidance response) in rats of two lines with different level of excitability of the nervous system was performed: with a high and low thresholds of excitability as normal and after exposure to sodium thiopental semi-lethal dose. It was shown that a long preservation of the memorable trace under standard conditions and a higher sensitivity to the sodium thiopental action manifest in rats with a high excitability threshold in comparison with low-excitable line of rats.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-105
Author(s):  
Ramji Rathod ◽  
Faraat Ali ◽  
Amrish Chandra ◽  
Robin Kumar ◽  
Meenakshi Dahiya ◽  
...  

Background: A simple and sensitive Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry method was developed and validated to measure the concentrations of Alogliptin (ALO), Linagliptin (LIN), Saxagliptin (SAX), and Sitagliptin (SIT) using Pioglitazone (PIO) as an internal standard. Methods: Chromatographic separation of six gliptins was achieved on a C-18 column (100×2.1 mm, 2.7 μm) using a mobile phase consisting of formic acid in water, 0.1%v/v: acetonitrile in gradient elution. Electrospray ionization (ESI) source was operated in the positive ion mode. Targeted MS/MS mode on a QTOF MS was used to quantify the drug utilizing the transitions of 340.1(m/z), 473.2 (m/z), 316.2 (m/z), 408.1 (m/z), and 357.1 (m/z) for ALO, LIN, SAX, SIT and PIO respectively. Results: As per ICH Q2R1 guidelines, a detailed validation of the method was carried out and the standard curves were found to be linear over the concentration ranges of 1516.0-4548.1 ng mL-1, 519.8- 1559.4 ng mL-1, 1531.4-4594.3 ng mL-1and 1519.6-4558.8 ng mL-1 for ALO, LIN, SAX and SIT respectively. Precision and accuracy results were within the acceptable limits. The mean recovery was found to be 98.8 _ 0.76 % (GEM), 102.2 _ 1.59 % (LIN), 95.3 _ 2.74 % (SAX) and 99.2 _ 1.75 % (SIT) respectively. Conclusions: The optimized validated UPLC QTOF-MS/MS method offered the advantage of shorter analytical times and higher sensitivity and selectivity. The optimized method is suitable for application in quantitative analysis of pharmaceutical dosage forms for QC laboratory.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 2425
Author(s):  
Wei-Hsin Yuan ◽  
Anna Fen-Yau Li ◽  
Shu-Yi Yu ◽  
Ying-Yuan Chen ◽  
Chia-Hung Wu ◽  
...  

Background: Benign immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related orbital disease (IgG4-ROD)—characterized as tumors mimicking malignant orbital lymphoma (OL)—responds well to steroids, instead of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and/or surgery of OL. The objective of this study was to report the differences in computed tomography (CT) features and- serum IgG4 levels of IgG4-ROD and OL. Methods: This study retrieved records for patients with OL and IgG4-ROD from a pathology database during an eight-year-and-five-month period. We assessed the differences between 16 OL patients with 27 lesions and nine IgG4-ROD patients with 20 lesions according to prebiopsy CT features of lesions and prebiopsy serum IgG4 levels and immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels This study also established the receiver-operating curves (ROC) of precontrast and postcontrast CT Hounsfield unit scales (CTHU), serum IgG4 levels, serum IgG levels and their ratios. Results: Significantly related to IgG4-ROD (all p < 0.05) were the presence of lesions with regular borders, presence of multiple lesions—involving both lacrimal glands on CT scans—higher median values of postcontrast CTHU, postcontrast CTHU/precontrast CTHU ratios, serum IgG4 levels and serum IgG4/IgG level ratios. Compared to postcontrast CTHU, serum IgG4 levels had a larger area under the ROC curve (0.847 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.674–1.000, p = 0.005] vs. 0.766 [95% CI: 0.615–0.917, p = 0.002]), higher sensitivity (0.889 [95% CI: 0.518–0.997] vs. 0.75 [95% CI: 0.509–0.913]), higher specificity (0.813 [95% CI: 0.544–0.960] vs. 0.778 [95% CI: 0.578–0.914]) and a higher cutoff value (≥132.5 mg/dL [milligrams per deciliter] vs. ≥89.5). Conclusions: IgG4-ROD showed distinct CT features and elevated serum IgG4 (≥132.5 mg/dL), which could help distinguish IgG4-ROD from OL.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 1706-1714
Author(s):  
Nianlu Li ◽  
Mingquan Zhu ◽  
Zhenyu Feng ◽  
Wenhui Lu ◽  
Jing Chen ◽  
...  

In this work, cystine–glucose Maillard conjugates were composited with Cu1.8S microspheres (Cu1.8S–cgmc) to achieve higher sensitivity for the colorimetric analysis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang-Yuan Li ◽  
Tian-Sheng Yan ◽  
Jing Yang ◽  
Yu-Qi Li ◽  
Lin-Xi Fu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Subjects with chronic respiratory symptoms and preserved pulmonary function (PPF) may have small airway dysfunction (SAD). As the most common means to detect SAD, spirometry needs good cooperation and its reliability is controversial. Impulse oscillometry (IOS) may complete the deficiency of spirometry and have higher sensitivity. We aimed to explore the diagnostic value of IOS to detect SAD in symptomatic subjects with PPF. Methods The evaluation of symptoms, spirometry and IOS results in 209 subjects with chronic respiratory symptoms and PPF were assessed. ROC curves of IOS to detect SAD were analyzed. Results 209 subjects with chronic respiratory symptoms and PPF were included. Subjects who reported sputum had higher R5–R20 and Fres than those who didn’t. Subjects with dyspnea had higher R5, R5–R20 and AX than those without. CAT and mMRC scores correlated better with IOS parameters than with spirometry. R5, R5–R20, AX and Fres in subjects with SAD (n = 42) significantly increased compared to those without. Cutoff values for IOS parameters to detect SAD were 0.30 kPa/L s for R5, 0.015 kPa/L s for R5–R20, 0.30 kPa/L for AX and 11.23 Hz for Fres. Fres has the largest AUC (0.665, P = 0.001) among these parameters. Compared with spirometry, prevalence of SAD was higher when measured with IOS. R5 could detect the most SAD subjects with a prevalence of 60.77% and a sensitivity of 81% (AUC = 0.659, P = 0.002). Conclusion IOS is more sensitive to detect SAD than spirometry in subjects with chronic respiratory symptoms and PPF, and it correlates better with symptoms. IOS could be an additional method for SAD detection in the early stage of diseases.


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