White matter changes and confrontation naming in retired aging national football league athletes

Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), we assessed the relationship of white matter integrity and performance on the Boston Naming Test (BNT) in a group of retired professional football players and a control group. We examined correlations between fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) with BNT T-scores in an unbiased voxelwise analysis processed with tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). We also analyzed the DTI data by grouping voxels together as white matter tracts and testing each tract's association with BNT T-scores. Significant voxelwise correlations between FA and BNT performance were only seen in the retired football players (p < 0.02). Two tracts had mean FA values that significantly correlated with BNT performance: forceps minor and forceps major. White matter integrity is important for distributed cognitive processes, and disruption correlates with diminished performance in athletes exposed to concussive and subconcussive brain injuries, but not in controls without such exposure

Human matrix metalloproteinases: An ubiquitarian class of enzymes involved in several pathological processes

Human matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) belong to the M10 family of the MA clan of endopeptidases. They are ubiquitarian enzymes, structurally characterized by an active site where a Zn(2+) atom, coordinated by three histidines, plays the catalytic role, assisted by a glutamic acid as a general base. Various MMPs display different domain composition, which is very important for macromolecular substrates recognition. Substrate specificity is very different among MMPs, being often associated to their cellular compartmentalization and/or cellular type where they are expressed. An extensive review of the different MMPs structural and functional features is integrated with their pathological role in several types of diseases, spanning from cancer to cardiovascular diseases and to neurodegeneration. It emerges a very complex and crucial role played by these enzymes in many physiological and pathological processes

Grand challenges in the digitalisation of wind energy

The availability of large amounts of data is starting to impact how thewind energy community works. From turbine design to plant layout,construction, commissioning, and maintenance and operations, newprocesses and business models are springing up. This is the process ofdigitalisation, and it promises improved efficiency and greater insight,ultimately leading to increased energy capture and significant savingsfor wind plant operators, thus reducing the levelised cost of energy.Digitalisation is also impacting research, where it is both easing andspeeding up collaboration, as well as making research results moreaccessible. This is the basis for innovations that can be taken up byend users. But digitalisation faces barriers. This paper uses aliterature survey and the results from an expert elicitation to identifythree common industry-wide barriers to the digitalisation of windenergy. Comparison with other networked industries and past and ongoinginitiatives to foster digitalisation show that these barriers can onlybe overcome by wide-reaching strategic efforts, and so we see these as"grand challenges" in the digitalisation of wind energy. They are,first, creating FAIR data frameworks; secondly, connecting people and data to foster innovation; and finally, enabling collaboration and competition between organisations. The grand challenges in the digitalisation of wind energy thus include a mix of technical, cultural, and business aspects thatwill need collaboration between businesses, academia, and government tosolve. Working to mitigate them is the beginning of a dynamic processthat will position wind energy as an essential part of a global cleanenergy future

Risk factors for earlier dementia onset in autopsy-confirmed Alzheimer\u27s disease, mixed Alzheimer\u27s with Lewy bodies, and pure Lewy body disease.

INTRODUCTION: Clinical Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies often have mixed AD and Lewy pathology, making it difficult to delineate risk factors. METHODS: Six risk factors for earlier dementia onset due to autopsy-confirmed AD (n = 647), mixed AD and Lewy body disease (AD + LBD; n = 221), and LBD (n = 63) were entered into multiple linear regressions using data from the National Alzheimer\u27s Coordinating Center. RESULTS: In AD and AD + LBD, male sex and apolipoprotein E (APOE) ɛ4 alleles each predicted a 2- to 3-year-earlier onset and depression predicted a 3-year-earlier onset. In LBD, higher education predicted earlier onset and depression predicted a 5.5-year-earlier onset. DISCUSSION: Male sex and APOE ɛ4 alleles increase risk for earlier dementia onset in AD but not LBD. Depression increases risk for earlier dementia onset in AD, LBD, and AD + LBD, but evaluating the course, treatment, and severity is needed in future studies