Maoa and Maob polymorphisms and personality traits in suicide attempters and healthy controls: a preliminary study

2017 ◽  
Vol 249 ◽  
pp. 212-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Balestri ◽  
Raffaella Calati ◽  
Alessandro Serretti ◽  
Annette M. Hartmann ◽  
Bettina Konte ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Suicide Attempters ◽  
Preliminary Study

scholarly journals Comparison of Brain Activation Patterns during Olfactory Stimuli between Recovered COVID-19 Patients and Healthy Controls: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 968
Author(s):  
Roger C. Ho ◽  
Vijay K. Sharma ◽  
Benjamin Y. Q. Tan ◽  
Alison Y. Y. Ng ◽  
Yit-Shiang Lui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Identification Test ◽  
Olfactory Stimuli ◽  
Preliminary Study

Impaired sense of smell occurs in a fraction of patients with COVID-19 infection, but its effect on cerebral activity is unknown. Thus, this case report investigated the effect of COVID-19 infection on frontotemporal cortex activity during olfactory stimuli. In this preliminary study, patients who recovered from COVID-19 infection (n = 6) and healthy controls who never contracted COVID-19 (n = 6) were recruited. Relative changes in frontotemporal cortex oxy-hemoglobin during olfactory stimuli was acquired using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The area under curve (AUC) of oxy-hemoglobin for the time interval 5 s before and 15 s after olfactory stimuli was derived. In addition, olfactory function was assessed using the Sniffin’ Sticks 12-identification test (SIT-12). Patients had lower SIT-12 scores than healthy controls (p = 0.026), but there were no differences in oxy-hemoglobin AUC between healthy controls and patients (p > 0.05). This suggests that past COVID-19 infection may not affect frontotemporal cortex function, and these preliminary results need to be verified in larger samples.

scholarly journals Phosphodiesterase 8A to discriminate in blood samples depressed patients and suicide attempters from healthy controls based on A-to-I RNA editing modifications

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Salvetat ◽  
Fabrice Chimienti ◽  
Christopher Cayzac ◽  
Benjamin Dubuc ◽  
Francisco Checa-Robles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Major Depressive Disorder ◽  
Depressive Disorder ◽  
Rna Editing ◽  
Whole Blood ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Major Depressive ◽  
Suicide Attempters ◽  
Blood Samples ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
The Brain

AbstractMental health issues, including major depressive disorder, which can lead to suicidal behavior, are considered by the World Health Organization as a major threat to global health. Alterations in neurotransmitter signaling, e.g., serotonin and glutamate, or inflammatory response have been linked to both MDD and suicide. Phosphodiesterase 8A (PDE8A) gene expression is significantly decreased in the temporal cortex of major depressive disorder (MDD) patients. PDE8A specifically hydrolyzes adenosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP), which is a key second messenger involved in inflammation, cognition, and chronic antidepressant treatment. Moreover, alterations of RNA editing in PDE8A mRNA has been described in the brain of depressed suicide decedents. Here, we investigated PDE8A A-to-I RNA editing-related modifications in whole blood of depressed patients and suicide attempters compared to age-matched and sex-matched healthy controls. We report significant alterations of RNA editing of PDE8A in the blood of depressed patients and suicide attempters with major depression, for which the suicide attempt took place during the last month before sample collection. The reported RNA editing modifications in whole blood were similar to the changes observed in the brain of suicide decedents. Furthermore, analysis and combinations of different edited isoforms allowed us to discriminate between suicide attempters and control groups. Altogether, our results identify PDE8A as an immune response-related marker whose RNA editing modifications translate from brain to blood, suggesting that monitoring RNA editing in PDE8A in blood samples could help to evaluate depressive state and suicide risk.

scholarly journals Lingual–Alveolar Contact Pressure During Speech in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Preliminary Findings

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 810-825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Searl ◽  
Stephanie Knollhoff ◽  
Richard J. Barohn
Keyword(s):  
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ◽  
Healthy Volunteers ◽  
Contact Pressure ◽  
Statistical Difference ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Perceptual Judgments ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
Contact Pressures ◽  
Lateral Sclerosis

Purpose This preliminary study on lingual–alveolar contact pressures (LACP) in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) had several aims: (a) to evaluate whether the protocol induced fatigue, (b) to compare LACP during speech (LACP-Sp) and during maximum isometric pressing (LACP-Max) in people with ALS (PALS) versus healthy controls, (c) to compare the percentage of LACP-Max utilized during speech (%Max) for PALS versus controls, and (d) to evaluate relationships between LACP-Sp and LACP-Max with word intelligibility. Method Thirteen PALS and 12 healthy volunteers produced /t, d, s, z, l, n/ sounds while LACP-Sp was recorded. LACP-Max was obtained before and after the speech protocol. Word intelligibility was obtained from auditory–perceptual judgments. Results LACP-Max values measured before and after completion of the speech protocol did not differ. LACP-Sp and LACP-Max were statistically lower in the ALS bulbar group compared with controls and PALS with only spinal symptoms. There was no statistical difference between groups for %Max. LACP-Sp and LACP-Max were correlated with word intelligibility. Conclusions It was feasible to obtain LACP-Sp measures without inducing fatigue. Reductions in LACP-Sp and LACP-Max for bulbar speakers might reflect tongue weakness. Although confirmation of results is needed, the data indicate that individuals with high word intelligibility maintained LACP-Sp at or above 2 kPa and LACP-Max at or above 50 kPa.

scholarly journals Physical Feature Encoding and Word Recognition Abilities Are Altered in Children with Intractable Epilepsy: Preliminary Neuromagnetic Evidence

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Pardos ◽  
Milena Korostenskaja ◽  
Jing Xiang ◽  
Hisako Fujiwara ◽  
Ki H. Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Intractable Epilepsy ◽  
Objective Evaluation ◽  
Healthy Children ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Language Function ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Feature Encoding ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
Age And Sex

Objective evaluation of language function is critical for children with intractable epilepsy under consideration for epilepsy surgery. The purpose of this preliminary study was to evaluate word recognition in children with intractable epilepsy by using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Ten children with intractable epilepsy (M/F 6/4, mean ± SD 13.4 ± 2.2 years) were matched on age and sex to healthy controls. Common nouns were presented simultaneously from visual and auditory sensory inputs in “match” and “mismatch” conditions. Neuromagnetic responses M1, M2, M3, M4, and M5 with latencies of ~100 ms, ~150 ms, ~250 ms, ~350 ms, and ~450 ms, respectively, elicited during the “match” condition were identified. Compared to healthy children, epilepsy patients had both significantly delayed latency of the M1 and reduced amplitudes of M3 and M5 responses. These results provide neurophysiologic evidence of altered word recognition in children with intractable epilepsy.

scholarly journals Low Expression of IL-10 in Circulating Bregs and Inverted IL-10/TNF-α Ratio in Tears of Patients with Perennial Allergic Conjunctivitis: A Preliminary Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 1035 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Salazar ◽  
Israel Casanova-Méndez ◽  
Michele Pacheco-Quito ◽  
Henry Velázquez-Soto ◽  
Julio Ayala-Balboa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Allergic Conjunctivitis ◽  
Allergic Diseases ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Inflammatory Microenvironment ◽  
Tnf Α ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
Necrosis Factor ◽  
Low Expression

Allergic conjunctivitis (AC) is one of the most common ophthalmological disorders seen in clinical practice. Growing evidence from recent years suggests that a subset of IL-10-expressing B cells is involved in inflammatory allergic diseases. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the potential involvement of blood Bregs cells in perennial allergic conjunctivitis (PAC), and interleukins (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and IL-12, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, were measured in tear samples and compared with healthy controls (HC) using flow cytometry. Non-significant differences in CD19+IL-10+ cell frequency between PAC patients and healthy controls (HC) were observed. Nevertheless, when we analyzed the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of IL-10 on CD19+CD38Lo/Med/Hi-gated cells, we observed a significant decrease in MFI in all Bregs subsets in PAC patients. Additionally, tear cytokines showed 2.8 times lower levels of IL-10 than TNF-α in PAC patients when compared to HC. Our findings demonstrate an immunological dysregulation in patients with allergic conjunctivitis, characterized by the low expression of IL-10 in circulating CD19+CD38+ Bregs subsets and an inverted tear IL-10/TNF-α ratio, promoting a local pro-inflammatory microenvironment. These findings highlight the novel pathologic changes involved in ocular allergic diseases. Understanding systemic and local mechanisms will aid the design of immunomodulating therapeutics at different levels.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document