Subjective and objective evaluation of alertness and sleep quality in depressed patients

BACKGROUND: The reliability of the subjective statements reports on disturbed night sleep and alertness in the daytime was assessed by their correlation to the objective indicators in patients with mild deprsssion. METHOD: Among patients with depression, altogether 28 patients with insomnia were examined. Their answers to typical questions, as they are used during a psychiatric interview, were scored. In parallel, night sleep quality and alertness level in the daytime were objectively estimated by means of polygraphic recording. RESULTS: The subjective statements on the type of insomnia, the estimated time of falling asleep, frequent awakenings and occurrence of disturbing dreams seem to be unreliable. Similarly, the results were disappointing when the patients were asked about alertness disturbances in the daytime. An unexpected finding was the lack of any significant correlation to the scores obtained by means of Epworth's scale. Among the factors possibly influencing the patients' reports, age, sex, coffee intake and also chronic administration of sedatives or hypnotics showed a low correlation with the sleep and alertness indicators. CONCLUSION: The statistical evaluation indicated rather poor agreement between the subjective and objective items. The statistical evaluation suggested that anxiety and depression significantly influence reports on sleep quality and alertness disturbances in the daytime

MALAT1 in Liquid Biopsy: The Diagnostic and Prognostic Promise for Colorectal Cancer and Adenomas?

Klara Cervena,1,2 Anna Siskova,1,2 Jiri Jungwirth,3,4 Marin Volari&cacute;,5 Jan Kral,6 Pavel Kohout,7 Miroslav Levy,8 Veronika Vymetalkova1,2,9 1Institute of Experimental Medicine, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, 142 00, Czech Republic; 2Institute of Biology and Medical Genetics, 1st Medical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, 128 00, Czech Republic; 3Institute of Physiology, 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University, Prague, 121 08, Czech Republic; 4Department of Surgery, Weiden Clinic, Weiden in der Oberpfalz, 92637, Germany; 5Laboratory for Non-Coding DNA, Ru&dstrok;er Boškovi&cacute; Institute, Zagreb, 10000, Croatia; 6Department of Hepatogastroenterology, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, 140 21, Czech Republic; 7Department of Internal Medicine, 3rd Faculty of Medicine Charles University and Faculty Thomayer Hospital Prague, Prague, 140 00, Czech Republic; 8Department of Surgery, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and Thomayer Hospital Prague, Prague, 140 59, Czech Republic; 9Biomedical Centre, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University in Prague, Pilsen, 323 00, Czech RepublicCorrespondence: Klara Cervena, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Czech Academy of Sciences, Videnska 1083, Prague, 142 00, Czech Republic, Email [email protected]: The development of colorectal cancer (CRC) is a multistep process accompanied by the accumulation of mutations that start from specific precancerous lesion – colorectal adenomas (CA). CRC incidence and mortality can be reduced by the early identification of these neoplasm. Colonoscopy is the most widely used screening method for CRC identification. Nowadays, clinical research interest is shifting to the use of liquid biopsy that may help with the early diagnosis of CA and CRC. In our previous study, we identified long non-coding RNA MALAT1 gene amplification associated with the development of CA.Methods: This study aimed to describe the potential of MALAT1 expression levels in the adenoma tissue of patients used in the previous study by real-time qPCR. Furthermore, we analysed the plasma samples of an independent group of patients with CA (n=97), CRC (n=101), and cancer-free individuals (CFI, n=48).Results: There was no difference in the MALAT1 expression level between CA patients with or without MALAT1 amplification. However, the plasma MALAT1 expression levels were significantly upregulated in patients with CRC and CA compared to CFI (for both p< 0.001). Moreover, a correlation between MALAT1 expression and histological types of adenomas was identified– high-CRC-risk adenomas also displayed the highest MALAT1 expression levels. Furthermore, in CRC patients, MALAT1 levels were associated with a response to therapy.Conclusion: MALAT1 expression levels could serve as a promising circulating biomarker for early CA and CRC diagnosis, and even as a predictor of therapy response in CRC patients.Keywords: MALAT1, colorectal adenomas, colorectal cancer, plasma, liquid biops

Functional interactions in hierarchically organized neural networks studied with spatiotemporal firing patterns and phase-coupling frequencies.

A scalable hardware/software hybrid module called Ubidule- endowed with bio-inspired ontogenetic and epigenetic features is configured to run a neural networks simulation with developmental and evolvable capabilities. We simulated the activity of hierarchically organized spiking neural networks characterized by an initial developmental phase featuring cell death followed by spike timing dependent synaptic plasticity in presence of background noise. An upstream 'sensory' network received a spatiotemporally organized external input and downstream networks were activated only via the upstream network. Precise firing sequences, formed by recurrent patterns of spikes intervals above chance levels, were observed in all recording conditions, thus suggesting the build-up of a connectivity able to sustain temporal information processing. The activity of a Ubinet -a network of Ubidules- is analyzed by means of virtual electrodes that recorded neural signals similar to EEG. The analysis of these signals was compared with a small set of human recordings and revealed common patterns of shift in quadratic phase coupling. The results suggest some interpretations of changes and plasticity of functional interactions between cortical areas driven by external stimuli and by learning/cognitive paradigms