Motor cortical excitability and pre-supplementary motor area neurochemistry in healthy adults with substantia nigra hyperechogenicity

Substantia nigra (SN) hyperechogenicity, viewed with transcranial ultrasound, is a risk marker for Parkinson\u27s disease. We hypothesized that SN hyperechogenicity in healthy adults aged 50 – 70 years is associated with reduced short-interval intracortical inhibition in primary motor cortex, and that the reduced intracortical inhibition is associated with neurochemical markers of activity in the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA). Short-interval intracortical inhibition and intracortical facilitation in primary motor cortex was assessed with paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation in 23 healthy adults with normal (n = 14; 61 ± 7 yrs) or abnormally enlarged (hyperechogenic; n = 9; 60 ± 6 yrs) area of SN echogenicity. Thirteen of these participants (7 SN − and 6 SN+) also underwent brain magnetic resonance spectroscopy to investigate pre-SMA neurochemistry. There was no relationship between area of SN echogenicity and short-interval intracortical inhibition in the ipsilateral primary motor cortex. There was a significant positive relationship, however, between area of echogenicity in the right SN and the magnitude of intracortical facilitation in the right (ipsilateral) primary motor cortex (p = .005; multivariate regression), evidenced by the amplitude of the conditioned motor evoked potential (MEP) at the 10 – 12 ms interstimulus interval. This relationship was not present on the left side. Pre-SMA glutamate did not predict primary motor cortex inhibition or facilitation. The results suggest that SN hyperechogenicity in healthy older adults may be associated with changes in excitability of motor cortical circuitry. The results advance understanding of brain changes in healthy older adults at risk of Parkinson\u27s disease

China : a new investment horizon

China has been growing rapidly since it started opening its doors to investors from other countries. Presently, it is not only a popular investment, it has even been predicted by some economists that China has the potential to become the most powerful economic nation in the world.BUSINES

A service plan for Philippine Daily Inquirer: Job market online

The main objective of this service plan is to: To establish Job Market Online as a service body distinct from the Philippine Daily Inquirer\u27s Classified Ads printed Job Board Job Market through increase in overall brand awareness and site usership among employers who utilize online job boards for recruitment needs. We hope to accomplish this by recommending some changes to the way the Philippine Daily Inquirer currently operates Job Market Online, to use as basis for our recommendations we created a Usage, Attitude and Image survey which we used on employers who currently use online job boards to gain an insight into their preference when it comes to choosing, using and partnering with online job boards. As a result of this survey we are able to propose some improvements to the current feature offerings of the online job board through adding things like: employers Board, avenues for employer exposure and edits to the current search criteria and others. We have also proposed some things as to how we could improve the brand and image of the online job board through branding, advertising and communications as well as promotional initiatives that the Philippine Inquirer can do. It is our hope that through implementing these changes and adding new features we will be able to get more employers to use the Job Market Online. We created feasibility report in the form of a financial plan as well as an implementation performance analysis plan. In the financial plan we took into consideration the budgeting PDI has for the next year with regards to the initiative and we use this to make sure our initiatives will not create a deficit by taking into consideration the budget and planning accordingly. Our evaluation plan also includes key performance indicators in which PDI will be able to gauge the successfulness of the proposals if so ever they choose to implement them