17 research outputs found
The Individual Inclination to an Occupation and its Neuronal Correlate
Many young people decide their professional direction during adolescence. This often
coincides with vulnerable phases of puberty-related maturation that is usually
accompanied by difficulties in assessing oneâs personal inclinations and competences.
Several psychological tests have been established among teachers and career advisers
serving as a tool for professional coaching the teenagersâ competences and preferences.
Many tools are based on the âTheory of Vocational Personalities in Work Environmentâ
developed by John L. Holland since the 1950s, comprising the âRIASECâ model. Today,
this theory provides the basis for tests which are used and refined all over the world.
Professor Stanglâs online assessable âSituational Interest Testâ (SIT) is based on Hollandâs
theory. By means of 30 short assessments the SIT questionnaire assesses the
participantâs personality traits: Realistic (âDoersâ), Investigative (âThinkersâ), Artistic
(âCreatorsâ), Social (âHelpersâ), Enterprising (âPersuadersâ), and Conventional
(âOrganizersâ). Modern Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is able to discriminate
between the brainâs compartments as Gray and White Matter using Voxel-Based
Morphometry (VBM). This tool allows to reshape and to normalize human brainsâ
structure to statistically examining individual brains. Up to now findings from 20 years
of functional MRI gave detailed insights in correlations between brain structures and mental
functions. Hence, knowledge on structural base of cognitive or behavioral patterns is
available as a brainâs map for assigning anatomical regions to their functions. The present
study demonstrates that there are statistically relevant correlations between all dimensions
of Hollandâs RIASEC theory by assessing individual professional inclinations and the
neuronal structures of the brain. Results show correspondence between the
personality traits assigned by the RIASEC test and the functions of significant
structural alterations in distinct brain areas well-known from literature
Striatal dopamine transporters and cognitive function in Parkinson's disease
Background
Idiopathic Parkinsonâs disease (PD) is characterized by clinical motor symptoms including hypokinesia, rigidity and tremor. In addition to the movement disorder, cognitive deficits are commonly described. In the present study, we applied FPâCIT SPECT to investigate the impact of nigrostriatal dopaminergic degeneration on cognitive function in PD patients.
Methods
Fiftyâfour PD patients underwent [123I]FPâCIT SPECT and CERAD (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimerâs Disease) testing. FPâCIT SPECT visualized the density of presynaptic dopamine transporters in both striata, each subdivided into a limbic, executive and sensorimotor subregion according to the atlas of Tziortzi et al (Cereb Cortex 24, 2014, 1165). CERAD testing quantified cognitive function.
Results
In the CERAD testing, PD patients exhibited deficits in the domains of semantic memory, attention, visuospatial function, nonâverbal memory and executive function. After correction for multiple testing, the performance of the subtests Figure Recall and TrailâMaking Test A correlated significantly with FPâCIT uptake into the ipsilateral executive subregion. The performance of the subtest Figure Saving correlated significantly with FPâCIT uptake into the contralateral executive subregion.
Conclusions
The significant correlation between cognitive function and density of nigrostriatal dopamine transporters, as assessed by FPâCIT SPECT, indicate that striatal dopaminergic pathwaysâprimarily the executive striatal subregionâare relevant to cognitive processing in PD
Cerebral and Extracranial Neurodegeneration are Strongly Coupled in Parkinsonâs Disease
In idiopathic Parkinsonâs disease (PD), a generalized Lewy body type-degeneration in the brain as well as extracranial organs was identified. It is unclear, whether cerebral and extracranial Lewy body type-degeneration in PD are coupled or not. To address this question, cerebral [123I]FP-CIT SPECT â to quantify cerebral nigrostriatal dopaminergic degeneration â and myocardial [123I]MIBG scintigraphy â to quantify extracranial myocardial sympathetic degeneration â were performed in 95 PD patients and 20 healthy controls. At each Hoehn and Yahr stage separately, myocardial MIBG uptake correlated significantly with striatal FP-CIT uptake. No such correlation was found in the controls. Cerebral and extracranial Lewy body type-degeneration in PD do not develop independently from each other but develop in a strongly coupled manner. Obviously cerebral and extracranial changes are driven by at least similar pathomechanisms. Our findings in controls contradict a physiological correlation between nigrostriatal dopaminergic and myocardial sympathetic function
Nanolithography Based on the Formation and Manipulation of Nanometer-Size Organic Liquid Menisci
In this work we form and manipulate nanometer-size liquid bridges of nonpolar organic solvents such as octane and 1-octene with a dynamic force microscope. These menisci have been used to confine chemical reactions that gave rise to the fabrication of nanometer-size structures.Peer reviewe
Alterations in pathogen-specific cellular and humoral immunity associated with acute peripheral facial palsy of infectious origin
Background Peripheral facial palsy (PFP) is a common neurologic symptom which can be triggered by pathogens, autoimmunity, trauma, tumors, cholesteatoma or further local conditions disturbing the peripheral section
of the nerve. In general, its cause is often difcult to identify, remaining unknown in over two thirds of cases. As we
have previously shown that the quantity and quality of pathogen-specifc T cells change during active infections, we
hypothesized that such changes may also help to identify the causative pathogen in PFPs of unknown origin.
Methods In this observational study, pathogen-specifc T cells were quantifed in blood samples of 55 patients
with PFP and 23 healthy controls after stimulation with antigens from varicella-zoster virus (VZV), herpes-simplex
viruses (HSV) or borrelia. T cells were further characterized by expression of the inhibitory surface molecule CTLA-4,
as well as markers for diferentiation (CD27) and proliferation (Ki67). Pathogen-specifc antibody responses were analyzed using ELISA. Results were compared with conventional diagnostics.
Results Patients with PFP were more often HSV-seropositive than controls (p=0.0003), whereas VZV- and borreliaspecifc antibodies did not difer between groups. Although the quantity and general phenotypical characteristics
of antigen-specifc T cells did not difer either, expression of CTLA-4 and Ki67 was highly increased in VZV-specifc
T cells of 9 PFP patients, of which 5 showed typical signs of cutaneous zoster. In the remaining 4 patients, a causal
relationship with VZV was possible but remained unclear by clinical standard diagnostics. A similar CTLA-4- and Ki67-
expression profle of borrelia-specifc T cells was also found in a patient with acute neuroborreliosis.
Discussion In conclusion, the high prevalence of HSV-seropositivity among PFP-patients may indicate an underestimation of HSV-involvement in PFP, even though HSV-specifc T cell characteristics seem insufcient to identify HSV
as a causative agent. In contrast, striking alterations in VZV- and borrelia-specifc T cell phenotype and function may
allow identifcation of VZV- and borrelia-triggered PFPs. If confrmed in larger studies, antigen-specifc immune-phenotyping may have the potential to improve specifcity of the clinical diagnosis
First Measurement of the Ru(p,)Rh Cross Section for the p-Process with a Storage Ring
This work presents a direct measurement of the Ru()Rh cross section via a novel technique using a storage ring,
which opens opportunities for reaction measurements on unstable nuclei. A
proof-of-principle experiment was performed at the storage ring ESR at GSI in
Darmstadt, where circulating Ru ions interacted repeatedly with a
hydrogen target. The Ru()Rh cross section between 9
and 11 MeV has been determined using two independent normalization methods. As
key ingredients in Hauser-Feshbach calculations, the -ray strength
function as well as the level density model can be pinned down with the
measured () cross section. Furthermore, the proton optical potential
can be optimized after the uncertainties from the -ray strength
function and the level density have been removed. As a result, a constrained
Ru()Rh reaction rate over a wide temperature range is
recommended for -process network calculations.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figs, Accepted for publication at PR
Measurements of proton-induced reactions on ruthenium-96 in the ESR at GSI
8th International Conference on Nuclear Physics at Storage Rings Stori11, October 9-14, 2011 Laboratori Nazionale di Frascati, Italy.
Storage rings offer the possibility of measuring proton- and alpha-induced reactions in inverse kinematics. The combination of this approachwith a radioactive beamfacility allows, in principle, the determination of the respective cross sections for radioactive isotopes. Such data are highly desired for a better understanding of astrophysical nucleosynthesis processes like the p-process. A pioneering experiment has been performed at the Experimental Storage Ring (ESR) at GSI using a stable 96Ru beam at 9-11 AMeV and a hydrogen target. Monte-Carlo simulations of the experiment were made using the Geant4 code. In these simulations, the experimental setup is described in detail and all reaction channels can be investigated. Based on the Geant4 simulations, a prediction of the shape of different spectral components can be performed. A comparison of simulated predictions with the experimental results shows a good agreement and allows the extraction of the cross section