Ruptured Anterior Communicating Artery Aneurysm Causing Bilateral Oculomotor Nerve Palsy : A Case Report

A rare case of bilateral third cranial nerve palsy due to a ruptured anterior communicating artery aneurysm is presented. A 68-yr-old woman was semicomatose with bilaterally fixed dilated pupil, abducted eyes, and ptosis. A computed tomography demonstrated extensive hemorrhage spreading around the both Sylvian and interhemisheric fissure without focal mass effect. Intracranial pressure via extraventricular drainage before surgery was 15-50 mmHg. Three months later, brain MRI showed infarction of left posterior cerebral artery territory and lacuna infarction of the pons. Eleven months after aneurysm repair, nerve palsy improved slowly and recovered partially. The patient communicated well with simple words. The author reviewed and discussed the possible mechanism of this rare neuro-ophthalmological manifestation in view of a false localizing sign

Healthier Bowen Shire Partnership: Healthy Eating, Healthy Shire Project, To Undertake a Comprehensive Research Project to Evaluate How Food and Nutrition Strategies Influence Determinant Risk Behaviours of Chronic Disease at a Local Level

The Healthy Eating, Healthy Shire Project (HEHS) was one of four population-based community-development projects that received funding from Health Promotion Queensland (HPQ) in 2003-2004. The major purpose of the funding was to implement food and nutrition strategies to influence determinant risk behaviours of chronic disease at the local level. Simultaneously, HPQ provided separate funds for a research team from the University of Queensland (UQ) to carry out an independent Evaluation Research Project (ERP) of the four projects. HEHS is managed by the Healthier Bowen Shire Partnership (HBSP) with support from the Bowen Shire Council. HBSP is a community health promotion organisation with strong links to the Queensland Health Tropical Population Health (QH/TPHU) and a wide cross section of community groups. A number of community groups in Bowen and Collinsville have participated in HBSP initiatives. These include: Bowen Shire Council, Bowen Neighbourhood Centre, , Collinsville Schools, Collinsville Lions Club, Collinsville Regional Health Service, Bowen State School, Bowen Flexi Care, Murroona Gardens, St Mary’s School, , Bowen and Collinsville Aged Care Sector, Local Canteens and Tuckshops and the Zonta Club of Bowen HBSP was originally a partnership between Bowen Shire Community, University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland Health (including the Bowen Health District Service and the Tropical Public Health Unit) and non-government organisations (including the National Heart Foundation of Australia, Queensland Branch). It was developed as a two-year, community capacity building project originally funded by Health Promotion Queensland in 2000. To achieve sustainability HBSP incorporated in 2002, with the aim of continuing its activities

The E-Wave

The E-Wave is a recyclable solution designed to provide the Internet on a global scale.Ope

A block to pre-prepared movement in gait freezing, relieved by pedunculopontine nucleus stimulation

Gait freezing and postural instability are disabling features of Parkinsonian disorders, treatable with pedunculopontine nucleus stimulation. Both features are considered deficits of proximal and axial musculature, innervated predominantly by reticulospinal pathways and tend to manifest when gait and posture require adjustment. Adjustments to gait and posture are amenable to pre-preparation and rapid triggered release. Experimentally, such accelerated release can be elicited by loud auditory stimuli—a phenomenon known as ‘StartReact’. We observed StartReact in healthy and Parkinsonian controls. However, StartReact was absent in Parkinsonian patients with severe gait freezing and postural instability. Pedunculopontine nucleus stimulation restored StartReact proximally and proximal reaction times to loud stimuli correlated with gait and postural disturbance. These findings suggest a relative block to triggered, pre-prepared movement in gait freezing and postural instability, relieved by pedunculopontine nucleus stimulation

Post-peak fracture behavior during direct shear tests of rock joints

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Balance control systems in Parkinson's disease and the impact of pedunculopontine area stimulation

Impaired balance is a major contributor to falls and diminished quality of life in Parkinson’s disease, yet the pathophysiology is poorly understood. Here, we assessed if patients with Parkinson’s disease and severe clinical balance impairment have deficits in the intermittent and continuous control systems proposed to maintain upright stance, and furthermore, whether such deficits are potentially reversible, with the experimental therapy of pedunculopontine nucleus deep brain stimulation. Two subject groups were assessed: (i) 13 patients with Parkinson’s disease and severe clinical balance impairment, implanted with pedunculopontine nucleus deep brain stimulators; and (ii) 13 healthy control subjects. Patients were assessed in the OFF medication state and blinded to two conditions; off and on pedunculopontine nucleus stimulation. Postural sway data (deviations in centre of pressure) were collected during quiet stance using posturography. Intermittent control of sway was assessed by calculating the frequency of intermittent switching behaviour (discontinuities), derived using a wavelet-based transformation of the sway time series. Continuous control of sway was assessed with a proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controller model using ballistic reaction time as a measure of feedback delay. Clinical balance impairment was assessed using the ‘pull test’ to rate postural reflexes and by rating attempts to arise from sitting to standing. Patients with Parkinson’s disease demonstrated reduced intermittent switching of postural sway compared with healthy controls. Patients also had abnormal feedback gains in postural sway according to the PID model. Pedunculopontine nucleus stimulation improved intermittent switching of postural sway, feedback gains in the PID model and clinical balance impairment. Clinical balance impairment correlated with intermittent switching of postural sway (rho = − 0.705, P < 0.001) and feedback gains in the PID model (rho = 0.619, P = 0.011). These results suggest that dysfunctional intermittent and continuous control systems may contribute to the pathophysiology of clinical balance impairment in Parkinson’s disease. Clinical balance impairment and their related control system deficits are potentially reversible, as demonstrated by their improvement with pedunculopontine nucleus deep brain stimulation

Subthalamic stimulation affects homophone meaning generation in Parkinson's disease

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) has often been associated with reduced verbal fluency performance. This study aimed to directly assess semantic switching as a function of STN stimulation in PD participants with the Homophone Meaning Generation Test (HMGT). Seventeen participants with PD who had received STN DBS completed the HMGT in on and off stimulation conditions. Twenty-one non-neurologically impaired participants acted as controls. PD participants (in both on and off stimulation conditions) generated significantly fewer meanings than control participants and consistent with the previous reports of verbal fluency impairment, PD participants produced fewer definitions in the on stimulation condition. PD participants (in both on and off stimulation conditions) also had greater difficulty generating definitions for nonhomographic homophones compared with homographic homographs. The results of this study indicate that STN stimulation exacerbates impairment in semantic switching

Finance & Stochastic

The study analyses quantitative models for financial markets by starting from geometric Brown process and Wiener process by analyzing Ito’s lemma and first passage model. Furthermore, it is analyzed the prices of the options, Vanilla & Exotic, by using the expected value and numerical model with geometric applications. From contingent claim approach ALM strategies are also analyzed so to get the effective duration measure of liabilities by assuming that clients buy options for protection and liquidity by assuming defaults protection barrier as well. Furthermore, the study analyses interest rate models by showing that the yields curve is given by the average of the expected short rates & variation of GDP with the liquidity risk, but in the case we have crisis it is possible to have risk premium as well, the study is based on simulated modelisation by using the drift condition in combination with the inflation models as expectation of the markets. Moreover, the CIR process is considered as well by getting with modification of the diffusion process the same result of the simulated modelisation but we have to consider that the CIR process is considered in the simulated environment as well. The credit risk model is considered as well in intensity model & structural model by getting the liquidity and risk premium and the PD probability from the Rating Matrix as well by using the diagonal. Furthermore, the systemic risk is considered as well by using a deco relation concept by copula approaches. Moreover, along the equilibrium condition between financial markets is achieved the equity pricing with implications for the portfolio construction in simulated environment with Bayesian applications for smart beta. Finally, Value at Risk is also analyzed both static and dynamic with implications for the percentile of daily return and the tails risks by using a simulated approach

The Actin Cytoskeleton as a Barrier to Virus Infection of Polarized Epithelial Cells

Many diverse viruses target a polarized epithelial monolayer during host invasion. The polarized epithelium is adept at restricting the movement of solutes, ions, macromolecules, and pathogens across the mucosa. This regulation can be attributed to the presence of a junctional complex between adjacent cells and to an intricate network of actin filaments that provides support to the subapical membrane and stabilizes intercellular junctions. It is therefore not surprising that many viruses have evolved highly varied strategies to dissolve or modulate the cortical actin meshwork to promote infection of polarized cells. In this review, we will discuss the cell biological properties of the actin cytoskeleton in polarized epithelial cells and review the known mechanisms utilized by viral pathogens to manipulate this system in order to facilitate their infection