Age-related loss in attention-based modulation of tactile stimuli at early stages of somatosensory processing

Three inferior prefrontal regions in the monkey receive afferents from somatosensory cortices: the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), the ventral area of the principal sulcus, and the anterior frontal operculum. To determine whether these areas show responses to tactile stimuli in humans, we examined data from an ongoing series of PET studies of somatosensory processing. Unlike previous work showing ventral frontal activity to hedonic (pleasant/unpleasant) sensory stimulation, the tactile stimuli used in these studies had a neutral hedonic valence. Our data provide evidence for at least two discrete ventral frontal brain regions responsive to somatosensory stimulation: 1) the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and adjacent anterior frontal operculum, and 2) the OFC. The former region (posterior IFG/anterior frontal operculum) may have a more specific role in attending to tactile stimuli.

Download Full-text

741. AAV Delivered Ribozymes to Recapitulate the Early Stages of Age Related Macular Degeneration

Molecular Therapy ◽

10.1016/j.ymthe.2005.07.281 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

pp. S287-S288

Keyword(s):

Macular Degeneration ◽

Age Related Macular Degeneration ◽

Early Stages ◽

Age Related

Download Full-text

Dopamine Alters Tactile Perception in Parkinson's Disease

Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences / Journal Canadien des Sciences Neurologiques ◽

10.1017/s0317167100012683 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 39 (1) ◽

pp. 52-57 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Aimee J. Nelson ◽

Azra Premji ◽

Navjot Rai ◽

Tasnuva Hoque ◽

Mark Tommerdahl ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Temporal Order ◽

Temporal Order Judgment ◽

Tactile Perception ◽

Somatosensory Processing ◽

Motor Impairments ◽

Tactile Acuity ◽

Tactile Stimuli ◽

The Right

Background:Abnormal somatosensory processing may contribute to motor impairments observed in Parkinson's disease (PD). Dopaminergic medications have been shown to alter somatosensory processing such that tactile perception is improved. In PD, it remains unclear whether the temporal sequencing of tactile stimuli is altered and if dopaminergic medications alter this perception.Methods:Somatosensory tactile perception was investigated using temporal order judgment in patients with Parkinson's disease on and off dopaminergic medications and in aged-matched healthy controls. Measures of temporal order judgment were acquired using computer controlled stimulation to digits 2 and 3 on the right hand and subjects were required to determine which stimuli occurred first. Two experimental tasks were compared, temporal order judgment without and with synchronization whereby digits 2 and 3 were vibrated synchronously in advance of the temporal order judgment sequence of stimuli.Results:Temporal order judgment in PD patients off and on medications were similar to controls. Temporal order judgment preceded by synchronous vibration impaired tactile acuity in controls and in PD off medications to similar degrees, but this perceptual impairment by synchronous vibration was not present in PD patients on medications.Conclusions:These findings suggest that dopamine in PD reduces cortico-cortical connectivity within SI and this leads to changes in tactile sensitivity.

Download Full-text

Predicting Alzheimer’s disease progression trajectory and clinical subtypes using machine learning

10.1101/792432 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Vipul K. Satone ◽

Rachneet Kaur ◽

Anant Dadu ◽

Hampton Leonard ◽

Hirotaka Iwaki ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Machine Learning ◽

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Disease Progression ◽

Disease Onset ◽

Machine Learning Techniques ◽

Progression Rate ◽

Early Stages ◽

Age Related ◽

Learning Techniques

AbstractBackgroundAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common, age-related, neurodegenerative disease that impairs a person’s ability to perform day-to-day activities. Diagnosing AD is challenging, especially in the early stages. Many patients still go undiagnosed, partly due to the complex heterogeneity in disease progression. This highlights a need for early prediction of the disease course to assist its treatment and tailor therapy options to the disease progression rate. Recent developments in machine learning techniques provide the potential to not only predict disease progression and trajectory of AD but also to classify the disease into different etiological subtypes.Methods and findingsThe work shown here clusters participants in distinct and multifaceted progression subgroups of AD and discusses an approach to predict the progression rate from baseline diagnosis. We observed that the myriad of clinically reported symptoms summarized in the proposed AD progression space corresponds directly with memory and cognitive measures, which are routinely used to monitor disease onset and progression. Our analysis demonstrated accurate prediction of disease progression after four years from the first 12 months of post-diagnosis clinical data (Area Under the Curve of 0.96 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.92-1.0), 0.81 (95% CI, 0.74-0.88) and 0.98 (95% CI, 0.96-1.0) for slow, moderate and fast progression rate patients respectively). Further, we explored the long short-term memory (LSTM) neural networks to predict the trajectory of an individual patient’s progression.ConclusionThe machine learning techniques presented in this study may assist providers in identifying different progression rates and trajectories in the early stages of the disease, hence allowing for more efficient and personalized healthcare deliveries. With additional information about the progression rate of AD at hand, providers may further individualize the treatment plans. The predictive tests discussed in this study not only allow for early AD diagnosis but also facilitate the characterization of distinct AD subtypes relating to trajectories of disease progression. These findings are a crucial step forward for early disease detection. These models can be used to design improved clinical trials for AD research.

Download Full-text

Zpráva o grantovém projektu Emoční kreativita a kognitivní deficity u seniorů

E-psychologie ◽

10.29364/epsy.396 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 94-95

Author(s):

Radek Trnka ◽

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Decline ◽

Cognitive Abilities ◽

Emotional Experience ◽

The Elderly ◽

Emotional Life ◽

Psychosocial Studies ◽

Early Stages ◽

Age Related ◽

Age Related Cognitive Decline ◽

The Relationship

This report summarizes the main outputs of the finished grant project „Emotional creativity and cognitive decline in the elderly“ (GA ČR 18–26094S), conducted at the Prague College of Psychosocial Studies between the years 2018 and 2020. The main goal of this project was to explore the relationship between emotional creativity, defined as a set of cognitive abilities and personality traits related to the originality of emotional experience, and age-related cognitive impairments in older adults. The results of this project showed that age and age-related cognitive decline influence how people creatively think about their own, as well as other peoples’, emotions. This project produced empirical evidence showing that cognitive decline reduces not only creativity in problem solving, but also reduces the creativity that is closely related to the emotional life of older people. More importantly, the published preliminary study on patients in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease also indicates that emotional creativity could become another diagnostic tool for unveiling the early stages of neurodegenerative diseases in the elderly.

Download Full-text

Do patients with chronic unilateral orofacial pain due to a temporomandibular disorder show increased attending to somatosensory input at the painful side of the jaw?

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.4310 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. e4310 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Stefaan Van Damme ◽

Charlotte Vanden Bulcke ◽

Linda Van Den Berghe ◽

Louise Poppe ◽

Geert Crombez

Keyword(s):

Orofacial Pain ◽

Temporomandibular Disorder ◽

Control Group ◽

Somatosensory Processing ◽

Spatial Bias ◽

Fear Avoidance ◽

Fear Avoidance Beliefs ◽

Tactile Stimuli ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Somatosensory Input

Background Patients with chronic orofacial pain due to temporomandibular disorders (TMD) display alterations in somatosensory processing at the jaw, such as amplified perception of tactile stimuli, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study investigated one possible explanation, namely hypervigilance, and tested if TMD patients with unilateral pain showed increased attending to somatosensory input at the painful side of the jaw. Methods TMD patients with chronic unilateral orofacial pain (n = 20) and matched healthy volunteers (n = 20) performed a temporal order judgment (TOJ) task indicated which one of two tactile stimuli, presented on each side of the jaw, they had perceived first. TOJ methodology allows examining spatial bias in somatosensory processing speed. Furthermore, after each block of trials, the participants rated the perceived intensity of tactile stimuli separately for both sides of the jaw. Finally, questionnaires assessing pain catastrophizing, fear-avoidance beliefs, and pain vigilance, were completed. Results TMD patients tended to perceive tactile stimuli at the painful jaw side as occurring earlier in time than stimuli at the non-painful side but this effect did not reach conventional levels of significance (p = .07). In the control group, tactile stimuli were perceived as occurring simultaneously. Secondary analyses indicated that the magnitude of spatial bias in the TMD group is positively associated with the extent of fear-avoidance beliefs. Overall, intensity ratings of tactile stimuli were significantly higher in the TMD group than in the control group, but there was no significant difference between the painful and non-painful jaw side in the TMD patients. Discussion The hypothesis that TMD patients with chronic unilateral orofacial pain preferentially attend to somatosensory information at the painful side of the jaw was not statistically supported, although lack of power could not be ruled out as a reason for this. The findings are discussed within recent theories of pain-related attention.

Download Full-text