Using recognition testing to support semantic learning in developmental amnesia

Patients with developmental amnesia (DA) have suffered hippocampal damage in infancy and subsequently shown poor episodic memory, but good semantic memory. It is not clear how patients with DA learn semantic information in the presence of episodic amnesia. However, patients with DA show good recognition memory and it is possible that semantic learning may be supported by recognition. Building on previous work, we compared two methods for supporting semantic learning in DA; recognition-learning and recall-learning. In each condition, a patient with DA (aged 8 years) was presented with semantic information in animated videos. After each presentation of a video, learning was supported by an immediate memory test. Two videos were paired with a cued recall test. Another two videos were paired with a multiple-choice test to enable recognition-based learning. The outcome measure was semantic recall performance after a short delay of 30 min and a long delay of one week. Results showed a benefit of recognition-learning compared to recall-learning on cued recall in the patient with DA (76% vs. 35%). This finding indicates that young people with severe hippocampal damage can utilize recognition to support semantic learning. This has implications for the support of school-aged children with episodic memory difficulties

Multi-lag stacking for blood glucose level prediction

This work investigates blood glucose level prediction for type 1 diabetes in two horizons of 30 and 60 minutes. Initially, three conventional regression tools—partial least square regression (PLSR), multilayer perceptron, and long short-term memory—are deployed to create predictive models. They are trained once on 30 minutes and once on 60 minutes of historical data resulting in six basic models for each prediction horizon. A collection of these models are then set as base-learners to develop three stacking systems; two uni-lag and one multi-lag. One of the uni-lag systems uses the three basic models trained on 30 minutes of lag data; the other uses those trained on 60 minutes. The multi-lag system, on the other hand, leverages the basic models trained on both lags. All three stacking systems deploy a PLSR as meta-learner. The results obtained show: i) the stacking systems outperform the basic models, ii) among the stacking systems, the multi-lag shows the best predictive performance with a root mean square error of 19.01 mg/dl and 33.37 mg/dl for the prediction horizon of 30 and 60 minutes, respectively

Data fusion of activity and CGM for predicting blood glucose levels

This work suggests two methods—both relying on stacked regression and data fusion of CGM and activity—to predict the blood glucose level of patients with type 1 diabetes. Method 1 uses histories of CGM data appended with the average of activity data in the same histories to train three base regressions: a multilayer perceptron, a long short- term memory, and a partial least squares regression. In Method 2, histories of CGM and activity data are used separately to train the same base regressions. In both methods, the predictions from the base regressions are used as features to create a combined model. This model is then used to make the final predictions. The results obtained show the effectiveness of both methods. Method 1 provides slightly better results

Determination of IL-6 and CRP in Patients with Type Two - Diabetes Mellitus in Baghdad/ Iraq

يعد داء السكري ((DM Diabetes mellitus المعروف عالميا كمشكلة صحية الذي يؤدي الى الاعتلال و الموت . تتضمن الاضطرابات المناعية للمرض الاستجابة المناعية الخلوية للخلايا اللمفية T- cells التي تساهم في المسار الفسيولوجيPath physiological l لمرض السكري من النوع الثاني (Two- DM)  Diabetes   mellitus . شملت الدراسة (50) فرد تتراوح اعمارهم بين (15-85) سنة الذين حضروا الى مستشفى الكاظمية التعليمي في بغداد وقسمت الافراد الى مجموعتين الاولى تضمنت  (35) مريض  (20 انثى و 15 رجل) والمجموعة الثانية (15) فرد من الاصحاء  كسيطرة . تم فحص انترلوكين 6 - IL و البروتين الفعال C- ((CRP  لكل من مرضى السكري والاصحاء. فقد اشارت الدراسة بعدم وجود اختلاف معنوي(p≥0.05)  بين كل من CRP (-ve-) و CRP (+ve) في الدم السكري وكذلك بوجود اختلاف معنوي (p≥0.05)   في مستويات  الانترلوكين IL 6 - في المرضى السكري والأصحاء. لقد هدفت الدراسة تقييم ومقارنة انترلوكين 6-  ILو البروتين الفعال C- (CRP) في مرضى السكري في المرضى العراقيين في مدينة بغداد.Diabetes mellitus (DM) type Two is a major worldwide health problem leading to an increase mortality and serious morbidity. Immunological disturbances involving the cell mediated immune system and improper-lymphocyte function contributes to the path physiological of type Two- DM. The study consist of 50 subjects, ages ranging between (15-85) years who attended to Al-kazimaih medical hospital in Baghdad/Iraq which divided in to two groups; the first group consists 35 patient  (20 females and 15 male) and the second 15 (5 female and 10 males) normal healthy as a control. The patients with type Two -DM were detected for IL-6 and CRP markers so as for control by ELISA test and agglutination test respectively. The results revealed that’s no significant differences (p≥0.05) between the level of CRP in patients type Two- DM and level of CRP in control. So as there were significant differences (p≤0.05) between the levels of IL-6 concentrations in type Two- DM and control represented by increase of IL- 6 in control than in patients. This study aimed to assess and compare the level of serum IL-6 and CRP in patient of type Two- DM in Iraqi patients in Baghdad city

Optic radiation structure and anatomy in the normally developing brain determined using diffusion MRI and tractography

The optic radiation (OR) is a component of the visual system known to be myelin mature very early in life. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and its unique ability to reconstruct the OR in vivo were used to study structural maturation through analysis of DTI metrics in a cohort of 90 children aged 5–18 years. As the OR is at risk of damage during epilepsy surgery, we measured its position relative to characteristic anatomical landmarks. Anatomical distances, DTI metrics and volume of the OR were investigated for age, gender and hemisphere effects. We observed changes in DTI metrics with age comparable to known trajectories in other white matter tracts. Left lateralization of DTI metrics was observed that showed a gender effect in lateralization. Sexual dimorphism of DTI metrics in the right hemisphere was also found. With respect to OR dimensions, volume was shown to be right lateralised and sexual dimorphism demonstrated for the extent of the left OR. The anatomical results presented for the OR have potentially important applications for neurosurgical planning

Using recognition testing to support semantic learning in developmental amnesia

Patients with developmental amnesia (DA) have suffered hippocampal damage in infancy and subsequently shown poor episodic memory, but good semantic memory. It is not clear how patients with DA learn semantic information in the presence of episodic amnesia. However, patients with DA show good recognition memory and it is possible that semantic learning may be supported by recognition. Building on previous work, we compared two methods for supporting semantic learning in DA; recognition-learning and recall-learning. In each condition, a patient with DA (aged 8 years) was presented with semantic information in animated videos. After each presentation of a video, learning was supported by an immediate memory test. Two videos were paired with a cued recall test. Another two videos were paired with a multiple-choice test to enable recognition-based learning. The outcome measure was semantic recall performance after a short delay of 30 min and a long delay of one week. Results showed a benefit of recognition-learning compared to recall-learning on cued recall in the patient with DA (76% vs. 35%). This finding indicates that young people with severe hippocampal damage can utilize recognition to support semantic learning. This has implications for the support of school-aged children with episodic memory difficulties

phytochemical investigations of Iraqi Abrus precatorius Linn. plant

    The plant Abrus precatorius, which belong to Leguminosae (Fabaceae) family and known as Crab’s eyes, Rosary pea with characteristic red and black seeds. It was used in folk medicine in India, China and East Asian countries for treatment of various diseases.    The plant was extracted by '' general method of extraction'' (Harborne, 1973) using 80% aqueous ethanol as a solvent of extraction by soxhlet apparatus. Preliminary qualitative phytochemical screening were performed on the crude ethanolic extract  and revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids ,terpenoids and phytosterols in Iraqi Abrus precatorius plant. Three different fractions were obtained from crude extract which are fraction one (chloroform fraction), fraction two (ethyl acetate fraction), and fraction three (petroleum ether fraction) which are represent alkaloids, flavonoids and steroids respectively. The alkaloid abrine was isolated from the chloroform fraction  in pure form by using preparative thin layer chromatography (PTLC) and then subjected to different physico-chemical and specteral analytical techniques to identify its chemical structure: melting point (M.P.), thin layer chromatography (TLC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) , fourier transforms infrared spectra (FT-IR) and elemental microanalysis (CHNO).