Effects of dual-task interventions on gait performance of patients with parkinson’s disease: a systematic review

OBJECTIVE: Parkinson’s disease is characterized by motor and non-motor symptoms that impair patients’ gait performance, especially while performing dual/concurrent tasks. These deficits impair patients’ daily function, because dual-tasking is a crucial ability in terms of everyday living. The aim of this study was to systematically review the effects of dual task interventions on gait performance of patients with Parkinson’s disease. METHOD: Studies were retrieved from MEDLINE/PubMed, LILACS and SciELO. We used the PICOS strategy to determine eligibility criteria. The search strategy included an advanced search on the included databases, using the following search query: “Parkinson’s Disease” AND “Double Task” OR “Concurrent Tasks” OR “Gait” AND “Walk”. Study selection was carried out by two independent researchers and a third one was called when consensus was needed. RESULTS: A total of 188 articles were identified: 169 articles from Medline/PubMed, 10 articles in SciELO, 8 articles in LILACS and 1 item from manual searches. A total of 56 articles were analyzed regarding the eligibility and exclusion criteria based on full text. A final total of 7 studies were included in the systematic review. CONCLUSION: The different types of dual-task interventions reported (dance, sound stimuli, visual and somatosensory) were associated to improvements in several gait performance indicators of Parkinson’s disease patients, including gait speed, stride time and length, cadence and step length. External stimuli seem to play a critical role on specific training effects on dual-task gait performance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Endometriosis-induced intussusception of the caecal appendix

Appendicular intussusception is an uncommon entity, with a reported incidence of 0.01%. The diagnosis is difficult and often only performed at the time of surgery. Intussusception has multiple causes including tumours, foreign bodies and polyps. The definitive treatment is surgical, and the extent of resection is determined by the underlying pathology and degree of invagination. Endometriosis is a rare cause of appendicular intussusception, with 194 cases described in the English literature. We report a case of a 42-year-old woman who presented with chronic abdominal pain in the lower right quadrant. A mass at the caecum was identified during investigations for renal stones by CT. Colonoscopy showed a polypoid lesion, with presumed origin in the appendix. Ileocaecal resection was performed because an appendicular tumour was suspected. Pathological examination identified endometriosis of the appendix and associated peritoneum with invagination of the caecum. The patient was discharged 7 days after surgery and is currently asymptomatic

A novel haemoglobin variant mimicking cyanotic congenital heart disease

Screening for critical congenital heart defects in newborn babies can aid in early recognition, with the prospect of improved outcome. However, as this universal newborn screening is implemented, there will be an increasing number of false-positive results. In order to avoid multiple investigations and uncertainty, an haemoglobin (Hb) variant must be included in the differential diagnosis in otherwise well newborns with low oxygen saturation by pulse oximetry. We describe a novel fetal Hb variant (heterozygous γ-globin gene (HBG1) mutation in exon 2 c.202G>A (p.Val68Met)) identified in a newborn with positive pulse oximetry screening for congenital heart disease.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Instabilities in neutrino-plasma density waves

One examines the interaction and possible resonances between supernova neutrinos and electron plasma waves. The neutrino phase space distribution and its boundary regions are analyzed in detail. It is shown that the boundary regions are too wide to produce non-linear resonant effects. The growth or damping rates induced by neutrinos are always proportional to the neutrino flux and $G_{{\rm F}}^{2}$.Comment: 9 pages, a few words modified to match PRD publicatio

Kinetics and thermodynamics of sucrose crystallization from pure solution at different initial supersaturations

Growth rates of sucrose crystallization from pure solutions of initial relative supersaturation levels between 0.094 and 0.181 were studied in agitated crystallizer at 313.13 K. Birth and spread model was applicable for the obtained growth rate data in this range of supersaturation and used to estimate the principal growth parameters. The estimated interfacial free energy varied inversely with supersaturation from 0.00842 to 0.00461 J/m2, respectively. The obtained kinetic coefficient changed with the initial supersaturation from 9.45 × 10− 5 to 2.79 × 10− 7 m/s. The corresponding radius of the 2D (two dimensional) critical nucleus varied from 7.47 × 10− 9to 1.46 × 10− 9 m. Predominance of surface integration or volume diffusion mechanism during the growth process was assessed using the calculated activation free energies of the 2D nucleation process. An acceptable confirmation of the calculated radius of the critical 2D nucleus was found using atomic force microscopy (AFM) technique. The calculated interfacial free energy between the saturated sucrose solution and the crystal surface was found to be 0.02325 J/m2.The funding from Syrian Ministry of Higher Education and FEUP (Portugal) is highly appreciated

Braneworld inflation from an effective field theory after WMAP three-year data

In light of the results from the WMAP three-year sky survey, we study an inflationary model based on a single-field polynomial potential, with up to quartic terms in the inflaton field. Our analysis is performed in the context of the Randall-Sundrum II braneworld theory, and we consider both the high-energy and low-energy (i.e. the standard cosmology case) limits of the theory. We examine the parameter space of the model, which leads to both large-field and small-field inflationary type solutions. We conclude that small field inflation, for a potential with a negative mass square term, is in general favored by current bounds on the tensor-to-scalar perturbation ratio rs.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; references updated and a few comments added; final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Densidade aparente do dolo submetido a diferentes sistemas de preparo do solo e plantio, e diferentes sistemas de rotação de culturas.

A avaliação da qualidade física dos solos influem na determinação da capacidade de desenvolvimento das plantas podendo ser medida pela densidade do solo, estabilidade de agregados, porosidade, condutividade hidráulica, temperatura do solo, trocas gasosas, etc. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a densidade do solo submetido a diferentes sistemas de preparo do solo e plantio, e diferentes sistemas de rotação de culturas. O experimento esta instalado desde 2007 no Campus Experimental da Universidade Federal de Rondonia ? UNIR, localizado na cidade de Rolim de Moura, possuindo os seguintes tratamentos: 1) sistemas de preparo do solo (PDC ? plantio direto continuo, PDA ?plantio direto alternativo, PRA ? plantio alternativo e PRT ? plantio tradicional); 2) rotações de culturas (S/F ?soja/feijão, S/M ? soja/milho, M/F ? milho/feijão e M/M ? milho/milho), levando ? se em consideração as diferentes profundidades do solo analisado (0 ? 10 cm e 10 ? 20 cm). O sistema de PDC obteve uma menor densidade do solo na profundidades de 0 ? 10 e 10 ? 20 cm, já o PRT na camada de 0 ? 10 cm teve uma maior densidade e o PDA apresentou maior densidade na profundidade de 10 ? 20 cm. Logo pode ? se afirmar que o plantio direto por apresentar uma cobertura do solo e sem revolvimento profporciona uma menor densidade aparente do solo

The ν\nu-cleus experiment: A gram-scale fiducial-volume cryogenic detector for the first detection of coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering

We discuss a small-scale experiment, called $\nu$-cleus, for the first detection of coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering by probing nuclear-recoil energies down to the 10 eV-regime. The detector consists of low-threshold CaWO$_4$ and Al$_2$O$_3$ calorimeter arrays with a total mass of about 10 g and several cryogenic veto detectors operated at millikelvin temperatures. Realizing a fiducial volume and a multi-element target, the detector enables active discrimination of $\gamma$, neutron and surface backgrounds. A first prototype Al$_2$O$_3$ device, operated above ground in a setup without shielding, has achieved an energy threshold of ${\sim20}$ eV and further improvements are in reach. A sensitivity study for the detection of coherent neutrino scattering at nuclear power plants shows a unique discovery potential (5$\sigma$) within a measuring time of ${\lesssim2}$ weeks. Furthermore, a site at a thermal research reactor and the use of a radioactive neutrino source are investigated. With this technology, real-time monitoring of nuclear power plants is feasible.Comment: 14 pages, 19 figure