Time Irreversibility of Resting-State Activity in the Healthy Brain and Pathology

Characterizing brain activity at rest is of paramount importance to our understanding both of general principles of brain functioning and of the way brain dynamics is affected in the presence of neurological or psychiatric pathologies. We measured the time-reversal symmetry of spontaneous electroencephalographic brain activity recorded from three groups of patients and their respective control group under two experimental conditions (eyes open and closed). We evaluated differences in time irreversibility in terms of possible underlying physical generating mechanisms. The results showed that resting brain activity is generically time-irreversible at sufficiently long time scales, and that brain pathology is generally associated with a reduction in time-asymmetry, albeit with pathology-specific patterns. The significance of these results and their possible dynamical etiology are discussed. Some implications of the differential modulation of time asymmetry by pathology and experimental condition are examined

Chronic Granulomatous Disease Presenting With Hypogammaglobulinemia

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a primary immunodeficiency disorder caused by inherited defects in the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase complex. The neutrophils of patients with CGD can ingest bacteria normally, but the oxidative processes that lead to superoxide anion formation, hydrogen peroxide production, nonoxidative pathway activation, and bacterial killing are impaired. Serious infections result from microorganisms that produce catalase. Immunoglobulin levels of patients with CGD are usually normal or elevated. We describe a patient with CGD associated with hypogammaglobulinemia, an unusual co-occurrence

Comparison of electrochemical immunosensor platforms for indiscriminate SARS-CoV-2 variant detection

[No Abstract Available

Course of IL-2-inducible T-cell kinase deficiency in a family: lymphomatoid granulomatosis, lymphoma and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in one sibling; and death in the other

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Modeling and Simulation of Void Closure during Steckel Mill Rolling for Steel Plate

Internal void defects as shrinkage porosity, gas bubble, and thermo-mechanical cracks are usually formed during steel casting processes. These defects have critical impact on the quality and service life of hot-rolled products. Study of the possibility of self-healing of existing internal defects during hot-rolling process has been of interest to industry and researchers. Prediction of void closure is extremely useful in relation to better product design and manufacturing process optimization. Herein, a 3D finite element model of the slab hot-rolling process is developed to simulate and analyze the healing of internal voids in hot-rolled steel plate. The material model for the steel plate is developed based on Johnson–Cook constitutive relation to accurately represent its viscoplastic behavior at high temperatures as well as account for strain rate sensitivity. The study evaluates the thermal and mechanical response of low-carbon steel slabs having pre-existing voids during multi-pass strands reverse hot-rolling process. Through thickness plastic strains within the slab are found to influence void closure. Results show that variation in void size and locations also affect the healing possibilities. Finally, the effect of thermal history and thermo-mechanical stresses on void closure is studied

Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson's Disease Is Reflected with Gradual Decrease of EEG Delta Responses during Auditory Discrimination

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that is characterized by loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Mild Cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia may come along with the disease. New indicators are necessary for detecting patients that are likely to develop dementia. Electroencephalogram (EEG) Delta responses are one of the essential electrophysiological indicators that could show the cognitive decline. Many research in literature showed an increase of delta responses with the increased cognitive load. Furthermore, delta responses were decreased in MCI and Alzheimer disease in comparison to healthy controls during cognitive paradigms. There was no previous study that analyzed the delta responses in PD patients with cognitive deficits. The present study aims to fulfill this important gap. 32 patients with Parkinson's disease (12 of them were without any cognitive deficits, 10 of them were PD with MCI, and 10 of them were PD with dementia) and 16 healthy subjects were included in the study. Auditory simple stimuli and Auditory Oddball Paradigms were applied. The maximum amplitudes of each subject's delta response (0.5-3.5 Hz) in 0-600 ms were measured for each electrode and for each stimulation. There was a significant stimulation x group effect [F(df = 6; 88 = 3,21; p < 0.015; eta(2)(p) = 0.180], which showed that the difference between groups was specific to the stimulation. Patients with Parkinson's disease (including PD without cognitive deficit, PD with MCI, and PD with dementia) had reduced delta responses than healthy controls upon presentation of target stimulation (p < 0.05, for all comparisons). On the other hand, this was not the case for non-target and simple auditory stimulation. Furthermore, delta responses gradually decrease according to the cognitive impairment in patients with PD