Color perception deficits in co-existing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and chronic tic disorders

Preliminary findings suggest that color perception, particularly of blue-yellow stimuli, is impaired in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as in chronic tic disorders (CTD). However, these findings have been not replicated and it is unclear what these deficits mean for the comorbidity of ADHD + CTD. Four groups (ADHD, CTD, ADHD + CTD, controls) of children with similar age, IQ and gender distribution were investigated with the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test (FMT) and the Stroop-Color-Word Task using a factorial design. Color perception deficits, as indexed by the FMT, were found for both main factors (ADHD and CTD), but there were no interaction effects. A preponderance of deficits on the blue-yellow compared to the red-green axis was detected for ADHD. In the Stroop task only the 'pure' ADHD group showed impairments in interference control and other parameters of Stroop performance. No significant correlations between any FMT parameter and color naming in the Stroop task were found. Basic color perception deficits in both ADHD and CTD could be found. Beyond that, it could be shown that these deficits are additive in the case of comorbidity (ADHD + CTD). Performance deficits on the Stroop task were present only in the 'pure' ADHD group. Hence, the latter may be compensated in the comorbid group by good prefrontal capabilities of CTD. The influence of color perception deficits on Stroop task performance might be negligible. © 2007 Springer-Verlag

Prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex abnormalities in Tourette Syndrome: evidence from voxel-based morphometry and magnetization transfer imaging

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pathophysiological evidence suggests an involvement of fronto-striatal circuits in Tourette syndrome (TS). To identify TS related abnormalities in gray and white matter we used optimized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) which are more sensitive to tissue alterations than conventional MRI and provide a quantitative measure of macrostructural integrity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Volumetric high-resolution anatomical T1-weighted MRI and MTI were acquired in 19 adult, unmedicated male TS patients without co-morbidities and 20 age- and sex-matched controls on a 1.5 Tesla neuro-optimized GE scanner. Images were pre-processed and analyzed using an optimized version of VBM in SPM2.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using VBM, TS patients showed significant decreases in gray matter volumes in prefrontal areas, the anterior cingulate gyrus, sensorimotor areas, left caudate nucleus and left postcentral gyrus. Decreases in white matter volumes were detected in the right inferior frontal gyrus, the left superior frontal gyrus and the anterior corpus callosum. Increases were found in the left middle frontal gyrus and left sensorimotor areas. In MTI, white matter reductions were seen in the right medial frontal gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally and the right cingulate gyrus. Tic severity was negatively correlated with orbitofrontal structures, the right cingulate gyrus and parts of the parietal-temporal-occipital association cortex bilaterally.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our MRI <it>in vivo </it>neuropathological findings using two sensitive and unbiased techniques support the hypothesis that alterations in frontostriatal circuitries underlie TS pathology. We suggest that anomalous frontal lobe association and projection fiber bundles cause disinhibition of the cingulate gyrus and abnormal basal ganglia function.</p

Motor-Cortical Interaction in Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome

BACKGROUND: In Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) increased activation of the primary motor cortex (M1) before and during movement execution followed by increased inhibition after movement termination was reported. The present study aimed at investigating, whether this activation pattern is due to altered functional interaction between motor cortical areas. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: 10 GTS-patients and 10 control subjects performed a self-paced finger movement task while neuromagnetic brain activity was recorded using Magnetoencephalography (MEG). Cerebro-cerebral coherence as a measure of functional interaction was calculated. During movement preparation and execution coherence between contralateral M1 and supplementary motor area (SMA) was significantly increased at beta-frequency in GTS-patients. After movement termination no significant differences between groups were evident. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The present data suggest that increased M1 activation in GTS-patients might be due to increased functional interaction between SMA and M1 most likely reflecting a pathophysiological marker of GTS. The data extend previous findings of motor-cortical alterations in GTS by showing that local activation changes are associated with alterations of functional networks between premotor and primary motor areas. Interestingly enough, alterations were evident during preparation and execution of voluntary movements, which implies a general theme of increased motor-cortical interaction in GTS

European clinical guidelines for Tourette syndrome and other tic disorders. Part II: pharmacological treatment

To develop a European guideline on pharmacologic treatment of Tourette syndrome (TS) the available literature was thoroughly screened and extensively discussed by a working group of the European Society for the Study of Tourette syndrome (ESSTS). Although there are many more studies on pharmacotherapy of TS than on behavioral treatment options, only a limited number of studies meets rigorous quality criteria. Therefore, we have devised a two-stage approach. First, we present the highest level of evidence by reporting the findings of existing Cochrane reviews in this field. Subsequently, we provide the first comprehensive overview of all reports on pharmacological treatment options for TS through a MEDLINE, PubMed, and EMBASE search for all studies that document the effect of pharmacological treatment of TS and other tic disorders between 1970 and November 2010. We present a summary of the current consensus on pharmacological treatment options for TS in Europe to guide the clinician in daily practice. This summary is, however, rather a status quo of a clinically helpful but merely low evidence guideline, mainly driven by expert experience and opinion, since rigorous experimental studies are scarce

When push comes to nudge: a Chinese digital civilisation in-the-making

© The Author(s) 2019. China’s emergence as a technological power is now unquestioned. Since the early 2000s, the Chinese government has invested heavily in information and communication technology. Rather than seeing the internet as a challenge to its hegemony, the government has allowed leading communications companies to offer new digital services, many of which enhance peoples’ lifestyles, while others allow people to express their loyalty to the nation. The Party-state has in the process found a new solution to asserting control. This article investigates the concept of a ‘digital civilisation’, in particular how civilisational discourses associated with the Party-state since the beginning of the economic reforms have found new applications in online technologies. It draws on the ancient metaphor of flood control to show how behaviour is redirected, or nudged, towards digital lifestyle choices. Examples discussed include the multiplicity of QR codes, mobile payments, the social credit system, the Strong Nation (xuexi qiangguo) app and the Huawei Harmony operating system (OS)

Dimensionality Reduction Techniques Applied to the Design of Hypersonic Aerial Systems

Presented at AIAA Aviation 2020 ForumThis study presents a methodology for the use of parametric Reduced Order Modeling (ROM) techniques to generate predictive models of hypersonic aerodynamic flow fields. The goal of this study is to synthesize a methodology for the development of these field surrogate models using techniques and procedures from the literature. This methodology is applied to two analytical test problems and one CFD application to demonstrate the functionality of the methodology and quantify the performance of models generated using various ROM techniques. The models compared in this study were generated using Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) as a representative linear dimensionality reduction method, along with ISOMAP and Locally Linear Embedding (LLE) as representative Nonlinear Dimensionality Reduction (NLDR) methods. Based on the results of study, it is observed that the NLDR-based ROMs provide better predictions in the regions of fields near shocks, while linear methods are found to outperform non-linear methods when predicting steady-state behaviors far from shocks. Furthermore, nonlinear ROMs generated models of lower dimension than their linear counterparts, which resulted in significantly lower evaluation cost and could have significant ramifications if these predictive models are applied to coupled systems analyses

Quality Of Service Support For Protocol Processing Within Endsystems

We describe a framework for providing quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees within the endsystem for networked multimedia applications. There are four components in this framework namely---QoS specification, QoS mapping, QoS enforcement, and protocol implementation. QoS specifications are at a high level, and use a small number of parameters to allow applications greater ease in specifying their requirements. Based on the QoS specifications, QoS mapping operations derive resource requirements for each end-to-end session of the application. Important resources considered are the cpu and the network connection. The third component of the framework is QoS enforcement. Enforcement is mainly concerned with providing real-time processing guarantees for protocol code during data transfer. We have implemented a real-time upcall (rtu) facility which is an enhancement to the well known upcall mechanism for structuring protocols. rtus are scheduled using a policy called rate monotonic with delayed..