Detection and diagnosis of paralysis agitans

Humans’ daily behavior can reflect the main physiological characteristics of neurological diseases. Human gait is a complex behavior produced by the coordination of multiple physiological systems such as the nervous system and the muscular system. It can reflect the physiological state of human health, and its abnormality is an important basis for diagnosing some nervous system diseases. However, many early gait anomalies have not been effectively discovered because of medical costs and people's living customs. This paper proposes an effective, economical, and accurate non-contact cognitive diagnosis system to help early detection and diagnosis of paralysis agitans under daily life conditions. The proposed system extract data from wireless state information obtained from antenna-based data gathering module. Further, we implement data processing and gait classification systems to detect abnormal gait based on the acquired wireless data. In the experiment, the proposed system can detect the state of human gait and carries high classification accuracy up to 96.7 %. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed technique is feasible and cost-effective for healthcare applications

Modern conception of encephalitis lethargica

1. Encephalitis lethargica is an epidemic disease of the central nervous system quite distinct from similar affections such as acute poliomyelitis and cerebro-spinal fever. 2. Since its first appearance there has been a rapid increase in the number of cases, and this increase still continues. 3. The causal organism has not yet been isolated but it is of the nature of a filterable virus. 4. Many cases are very gradual in onset and of a chronic nature throughout, and in these the acute stage is either absent or is so mild as to pass unnoticed even by the patient. 5. There has been a very marked change in type, the initial "negative" phase in which lethargy and palsies predominated being replaced by a "positive" phase with insomnia and involuntary movements as prominent symptoms and lethargy slight or absent. 6. The symptoms vary widely in different cases and many are liable to be missed unless a careful lookout is kept for the disease. 7. No drug has yet been discovered which has any permanent effect on the course of the disease. 8. The prognosis of Parkinsonism is very uncertain but it may remain practically stationary for at least seven years. 9. In some cases of Parkinsonism great improvement follows the use of hyoscine or belladonna, but this improvement is only temporary and the drug loses its power after a time

Systematic Exploration of Associations Between Select Neural and Dermal Diseases in a Large Healthcare Database

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)In the age of big data, better use of large, real-world datasets is needed, especially ultra-large databases that leverage health information exchange (HIE) systems to gather data from multiple sources. Promising as this process is, there have been challenges analyzing big data in healthcare due to big data attributes, mainly regarding volume, variety, and velocity. Thus, these health data require not only computational approaches but also context-based controls.In this research, we systematically examined associations among select neural and dermal conditions in an ultra-large healthcare database derived from an HIE, in which computational approaches with epidemiological measures were used. After a systematic cleaning, a binary logistic model-based methodology was used to search for associations, controlling for race and gender. Age groups were chosen using an algorithm to find the highest incidence rates for each condition pair. A binomial test was conducted to check for significant temporal direction among conditions to infer cause and effect. Gene-disease association data were used to evaluate the association among the conditions and assess the shared genetic background. The results were adjusted for multiple testing, and network graphs of significant associations were created. Findings among methodologies were compared to each other and with prior studies in the literature. In the results, seemingly distant neural and dermal conditions had an extensive number of associations. Controlling for race and gender tightened these associations, especially for racial factors affecting dermal conditions, like melanoma, and gender differences on conditions like migraine. Temporal and gene associations helped explain some of the results, but not all. Network visualizations summarized results, highlighting central conditions and stronger associations. Healthcare data are confounded by many factors that hide associations of interest. Triangulating associations with separate analyses helped with the interpretation of results. There are still numerous confounders in these data that bias associations. Aside from what is known, our approach with limited variables may inform hypothesis generation. Using additional variables with controlled-computational methods that require minimal external input may provide results that can guide healthcare, health policy, and further research

Neural basis of human deceptive behavior:evidence from neuroimaging and neuropsychology(ヒトの欺瞞行動に関わる神経基盤:脳機能画像法と神経心理学からの知見)

Tohoku Universit

Simulating Idiopathic Parkinson\u27s Disease by In Vitro and Computational Models

In general there is a wide gap between experimental animal results, especially with respect to neuroanatomical data, and computational modeling. In order to be able to investigate the anatomical and functional properties of afferent and efferent connections between the different nuclei of the basal ganglia, similar studies need to be performed as described in this review for the Substantia Nigra. These studies, though very time-consuming, are essential to decide which pathways play important roles in normal functioning and therefore need to be included in modeling studies. In addition, it should be known what neuroanatomical changes take place resulting from the neurodegeneration associated with Parkinson’s disease and how they affect network behavior. For instance, the direct effects of DBS on motor control are of interest, but since DBS has a low threshold to side effects, additional non-motor pathways are expected to be involved. Including these pathways in network models may shed light on the extent and effect of stimulation. Similarly, as PPN stimulation may have a beneficial influence on gait and balance, different pathways are important regarding the different motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease

Do parkinsonian patients have trouble telling lies? The neurobiological basis of deceptive behaviour

Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disorder with both motor symptoms and cognitive deficits such as executive dysfunction. Over the past 100 years, a growing body of literature has suggested that patients with Parkinson's disease have characteristic personality traits such as industriousness, seriousness and inflexibility. They have also been described as ‘honest’, indicating that they have a tendency not to deceive others. However, these personality traits may actually be associated with dysfunction of specific brain regions affected by the disease. In the present study, we show that patients with Parkinson's disease are indeed ‘honest’, and that this personality trait might be derived from dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex. Using a novel cognitive task, we confirmed that patients with Parkinson's disease (n = 32) had difficulty making deceptive responses relative to healthy controls (n = 20). Also, using resting-state 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET, we showed that this difficulty was significantly correlated with prefrontal hypometabolism. Our results are the first to demonstrate that the ostensible honesty found in patients with Parkinson's disease has a neurobiological basis, and they provide direct neuropsychological evidence of the brain mechanisms crucial for human deceptive behaviour

BRAIN DISORDERS ASSOCIATED WITH DEMENTIA

This paper addresses the mental decline and dementia of patients suffering from brain disorders. The most common of these neurological illnesses is Alzheimer’s disease, characterized by a progressive atrophy of cortical brain areas. Alzheimer’s disease accounts by far for the largest part of all dementias and is presently one of the most serious disorders, causing an immense burden on patients and society. Vascular dementia is noticed when the brain’s supply of blood is disrupted by strokes or other vessel pathologies and just as in Alzheimer’s this leads to cortical atrophy with almost identical symptoms. Since the distinction between Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia is a gradual one, mixed pathologies are rather common. Rarer causes of dementia are frontotemporal dementia, with pathologies mainly in frontal and temporal brain regions, Parkinson’s disease with atrophy in basal ganglia which leads to motor disturbances and at times to mental decline, Lewy body dementia caused by abnormal deposits in the brain resulting in considerable damages of neural cells, and Huntington’s disease, a genetic disorder with widely dispersed brain atrophy characterized by mixed Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s symptoms. Presently, for the most part the cease of the progressive course of all these disorders is not possible. The last two disorders mentioned in this paper are normal pressure hydrocephalus, with a reduced absorption of ventricular fluid, and Korsakoff’s syndrome, caused by a deficiency of vitamin B1. In normal pressure hydrocephalus a brain shunt may reverse the pathological symptoms, while a vitamin B1 diet could improve the symptoms of Korsakoff’s syndrome. Diagnosis, symptoms and pathologies of all disorders are presented in this paper