The healthy control subject in psychiatric research: impulsiveness and volunteer bias

48 patients suffering from classic erosive RA with conditions persisting for more than 6 years were examined together with 69 healthy control subject with regard to associations to supertypic HLA-D specificities. We found a significant increase of HLA-DRw53 in patients with RF positive RA (22/31 pat. = 71%,Chi2 = 13.2, p<0.01). Our results confirm the hypothesis that the HLA-DRβ2 chain gene is closer related to the disease susceptibility of seropositive RA than the DRβ1 chain gene (DR4).

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Motor Imagery Training of Reaching-to-Grasp Movement Supplemented by a Virtual Environment in an Individual With Congenital Bilateral Transverse Upper-Limb Deficiency

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.638780 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Joanna Mencel ◽

Anna Jaskólska ◽

Jarosław Marusiak ◽

Łukasz Kamiński ◽

Marek Kurzyński ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Control Subject ◽

Virtual Environment ◽

Motor Imagery ◽

Upper Limb ◽

Cortical Activity ◽

Healthy Control Subject ◽

Activation Patterns ◽

Imagery Training ◽

Healthy Control ◽

Limb Deficiency

This study explored the effect of kinesthetic motor imagery training on reaching-to-grasp movement supplemented by a virtual environment in a patient with congenital bilateral transverse upper-limb deficiency. Based on a theoretical assumption, it is possible to conduct such training in this patient. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether cortical activity related to motor imagery of reaching and motor imagery of grasping of the right upper limb was changed by computer-aided imagery training (CAIT) in a patient who was born without upper limbs compared to a healthy control subject, as characterized by multi-channel electroencephalography (EEG) signals recorded before and 4, 8, and 12 weeks after CAIT. The main task during CAIT was to kinesthetically imagine the execution of reaching-to-grasp movements without any muscle activation, supplemented by computer visualization of movements provided by a special headset. Our experiment showed that CAIT can be conducted in the patient with higher vividness of imagery for reaching than grasping tasks. Our results confirm that CAIT can change brain activation patterns in areas related to motor planning and the execution of reaching and grasping movements, and that the effect was more pronounced in the patient than in the healthy control subject. The results show that CAIT has a different effect on the cortical activity related to the motor imagery of a reaching task than on the cortical activity related to the motor imagery of a grasping task. The change observed in the activation patterns could indicate CAIT-induced neuroplasticity, which could potentially be useful in rehabilitation or brain-computer interface purposes for such patients, especially before and after transplantation. This study was part of a registered experiment (ID: NCT04048083).

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The Role of Transferrin and Laminin Biomarkers in the Diagnosis of Diabetic Nephropathy in Type II Diabetic Patients

Journal of Advances in Medicine and Medical Research ◽

10.9734/jammr/2021/v33i730876 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 69-80

Author(s):

Mohy Eldin Abd EL-Fattah ◽

Laila Ahmed Rashed ◽

Suzan Magdy Mohammed Nasr

Keyword(s):

Diabetic Nephropathy ◽

Significant Positive Correlation ◽

Inverse Correlation ◽

Healthy Control Subject ◽

P Value ◽

Diabetic Patients ◽

Serum Transferrin ◽

Type Ii ◽

Significant Inverse Correlation ◽

Healthy Control

Background/Aim: Diabetic nephropathy is one of the most important microvascular complications associated with type II diabetic patients. It occurs in 20-40% patients with diabetes mellitus, and microalbuminuria is still considered as the first sign of diabetic nephropathy. Low sensitivity and specificity of microalbuminuria leads to more sensitive biomarkers that may be used to detect diabetic nephropathy at an earlier stage with higher accuracy. This study was carried out to detect the validity of using serum Transferrin and Laminin as a diagnostic biomarkers for diabetic nephropathy in type ΙΙ diabetic patients. Methods: Egyptian patients (n=96) included 72 type 2 diabetic patients who were classified into three groups: group 1 - normoalbuminuric patients (uACR up to 30 mg/g), group 2 - microalbuminuric patients (uACR from 30 – 300 mg/g), group 3 - macroalbuminuric patients (uACR from >300 mg/g) and 24 healthy control were surveyed in a cross-sectional study over a period of 6 months at biochemistry department, KASR ALAINY Hospital of Cairo University. Patients were subjected to measurement of Albumin creatinine ratio, eGFR, Serum creatinine, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and lipid profile. The serum concentrations of transferrin and lamnin were measured using a highly sensitive one-step sandwich enzyme immunoassay kit. Results: Serum laminin was significantly higher in macroalbuminuric patients than in the microalbuminuric and in microalbuminuric patients than in the normoalbuminuric and healthy control subject. By comparing these goups according to serum laminin concentration we found statistically significant positive correlation (p value <0.001, r= 0.670), serum transferrin was significantly lower in macroalbuminuric patients than in the microalbuminuric and in microalbuminuric patients than in the normoalbuminuric and healthy control subject. By comparing these goups according to serum transferrin concentration we found statistically significant inverse correlation (p value <0.001, r= -0.579). There was no correlation between level of serum transferrin /laminin and glycoregulation, and statistically significant positive correlation was found between serum laminin and duration of diabetes and statistically significant inverse correlation was found between serum transferrin and duration of diabetes. Conclusions: The results from this study provide the evidence that serum laminin and transferrin could be used as a diagnostic markers of diabetic nephropathy.

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Design and Biomechanical Evaluation Methodology of Pneumatic Ergonomic Crutch

2017 Design of Medical Devices Conference ◽

10.1115/dmd2017-3512 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Chenzhang Xiao ◽

Omid Jahanian ◽

Alyssa Schnorenberg ◽

Brooke Slavens ◽

Elizabeth Hsiao-Wecksler

Keyword(s):

Joint Pain ◽

Healthy Control Subject ◽

Evaluation Methodology ◽

Full System ◽

Safety Protection ◽

Healthy Control ◽

Tunnel Syndrome ◽

Biomechanical Evaluation ◽

Overall Effectiveness

Lofstrand, or forearm, crutch users experience a concerning amount of force in their wrists that can approach 30% of body weight during swing-through gait, along with hyperextension of the wrist [1]. Such repetitive large loads and poor wrist posture could cause joint pain, injury and carpal tunnel syndrome in long-term crutch users [2]. To address these issues in Lofstrand crutch users, we previously reported two different designs. The first involved attaching a passive orthosis to the grip handle and shaft that directly supported the wrist [3]. The second proposed a soft pneumatic sleeve attached to the forearm cuff of the crutch along with a concept to harvest pneumatic energy during walking via a piston pump at the crutch tip, i.e., the Pneumatic Ergonomic Crutch (PEC) [4]. This paper first describes the full system design of the PEC, which contains an improved pneumatic sleeve orthosis, an energy-harvesting shock-absorbing crutch tip, and a control system with three modes of operation and safety protection. We also present pilot data from one healthy control subject performing a proposed biomechanical evaluation of the pneumatic sleeve orthosis. More tests will be conducted with a group of able-bodied subjects to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the PEC.

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Articulatory Behavior Pre and Post Full-Mouth Tooth Extraction and Alveoloplasty

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.2303.630 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 23 (3) ◽

pp. 630-645 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Gerald Zimmermann ◽

J.A. Scott Kelso ◽

Larry Lander

Keyword(s):

Control Subject ◽

High Speed ◽

Tooth Extraction ◽

Kinematic Parameters ◽

Experimental Conditions ◽

Mean Values ◽

Articulatory Movements ◽

The Mean ◽

Experimental Subjects ◽

Normal Speech

High speed cinefluorography was used to track articulatory movements preceding and following full-mouth tooth extraction and alveoloplasty in two subjects. Films also were made of a control subject on two separate days. The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of dramatically altering the structural dimensions of the oral cavity on the kinematic parameters of speech. The results showed that the experimental subjects performed differently pre and postoperatively though the changes were in different directions for the two subjects. Differences in both means and variabilities of kinematic parameters were larger between days for the experimental (operated) subjects than for the control subject. The results for the Control subject also showed significant differences in the mean values of kinematic variables between days though these day-to-day differences could not account for the effects found pre- and postoperatively. The results of the kinematic analysis, particularly the finding that transition time was most stable over the experimental conditions for the operated subjects, are used to speculate about the coordination of normal speech.

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Vitamin D Treatment in Patients with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis may Decrease the Development of Hypothyroidism

International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research ◽

10.1024/0300-9831/a000269 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 86 (1-2) ◽

pp. 9-17 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Bekir Ucan ◽

Mustafa Sahin ◽

Muyesser Sayki Arslan ◽

Nujen Colak Bozkurt ◽

Muhammed Kizilgul ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vitamin D ◽

Vitamin D Deficiency ◽

Hashimoto’S Thyroiditis ◽

Healthy Control Group ◽

Hashimoto's Thyroiditis ◽

Control Group ◽

Endocrine Society ◽

Thyroid Autoantibody ◽

Healthy Control ◽

The Mean

Abstract.The relationship between Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and vitamin D has been demonstrated in several studies. The aim of the present study was to evaluate vitamin D concentrations in patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, the effect of vitamin D therapy on the course of disease, and to determine changes in thyroid autoantibody status and cardiovascular risk after vitamin D therapy. We included 75 patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and 43 healthy individuals. Vitamin D deficiency is defined as a 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D3) concentration less than 20ng/mL. Vitamin D deficient patients were given 50.000 units of 25(OH)D3 weekly for eight weeks in accordance with the Endocrine Society guidelines. All evaluations were repeated after 2 months of treatment. Patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis had significantly lower vitamin D concentrations compared with the controls (9.37±0.69 ng/mL vs 11.95±1.01 ng/mL, p < 0.05, respectively). Thyroid autoantibodies were significantly decreased by vitamin D replacement treatment in patients with euthyroid Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Also, HDL cholesterol concentrations improved in the euthyroid Hashimoto group after treatment. The mean free thyroxine (fT4) concentrations were 0.89±0.02 ng/dL in patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and 1.07±0.03 ng/dL in the healthy control group (p < 0.001). The mean thyroid volumes were 7.71±0.44 mL in patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and 5.46±0.63 mL in the healthy control group (p < 0.01). Vitamin D deficiency is frequent in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and treatment of patients with this condition with Vitamin D may slow down the course of development of hypothyroidism and also decrease cardiovascular risks in these patients. Vitamin D measurement and replacement may be critical in these patients.

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