Cognitive impairment in patients with Fibromyalgia syndrome as assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study evaluated the frequency of cognitive impairment in patients with Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We analyzed baseline data from all 46 patients with FMS and 92 age- and sex-matched controls per diagnosis of neuropathic (NeP) or mixed pain (MP) selected from a larger prospective study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>FMS had a slight but statistically significant lower score in the adjusted MMSE score (26.9; 95% CI 26.7-27.1) than either NeP (27.3; 95% CI 27.2-27.4) or MP (27.3; 27.2-27.5). The percentage of patients with congnitive impairment (adjusted MMSE ≤ 26) was numerically higher in FMS (15%; 95% CI 6.3-29) compared with NeP (5%; 95% CI 1.8-12.2) or MP (5%; 95% CI 1.8-12.2) and higher than in the same age stratum of the general population (0.05%).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Compared with the population reference value, patients with FMS showed high frequency of cognitive impairment.</p

Reducing high-frequency ghost cavitation signals from marine air-gun arrays

Ghost cavitation, which is a term describing that cavitation bubbles are generated acoustically, has been hypothesized to occur when the ghost reflected signals from many individual air guns beneath the sea surface produce a pressure that is close to zero in the water above the source array. Ghost cavitation is typically observed some milliseconds after the ghost reflection, and it may last for 5–15 ms, depending on the configuration of the source array. The cavitation process subsequently generates a weak high-frequency signal. To investigate this potential signal model and mechanism, we have performed a dedicated source experiment. We found that the distance between the source strings in a source array is a major factor that influences the amount and strength of the high-frequency signal. By increasing the separation distance from 6.5 to 8 m, we have observed a significant decrease in the high-frequency signal. Further, the amount of ghost cavitation can be reduced by increasing the distance between the guns. Also single sub-arrays may create ghost cavitation sound, of course weaker in signal strength compared with full arrays, in agreement with the model. Conventional air-gun modeling can be used to predict where ghost cavitation can occur. Therefore, in principle, a workflow could be developed to quantify grossly if and how much high-frequency signals could be generated by this mechanism, given the source array configuration, and further change the configuration to reduce to a very minimum the high-frequency signals, if deemed necessary. For an air-gun array consisting of two subarrays separated by 6 m and fired at 9 m depth, we found that the high-frequency signals emitted between 1 and 10 kHz were of similar strength to the noise from conventional cargo ships, depending on their size and the vessels’ speed

A synergic effect between lowered serotonin and novel situations on impulsivity measured by CPT.

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Link fieldRapid tryptophan depletion studies investigate serotonin using amino acid precursor depletion, which transiently reduces the brain level of serotonin. This study compares the effects of serotonin reduction given on the first test day (when the situation is novel) with the effects of serotonin reduction given on the second test day (when the environment and test battery are familiar). A total of 24 healthy young males were given either active tryptophan depletion or placebo in this randomized cross-over design, while impulsivity was measured by a continuous performance test. The participants showed more impulsive responses and reduced attention during tryptophan depletion, but only when this was given on the first test day when the task was novel. This could be caused by a synergic effect between novel situations and reduced neurotransmission of serotonin

A particular effect of sleep, but not pain or depression, on the blood-oxygen-level dependent response during working memory tasks in patients with chronic pain

Nicolas A Elvemo,1 Nils I Landr&oslash;,2,3 Petter C Borchgrevink,3,4 Asta K H&aring;berg1,5 1Department of Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway; 2Clinical Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; 3Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway; 4National Norwegian Advisory Unit for Complex Disorders, St Olav University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway; 5Department of Medical Imaging, St Olav University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway Background: Patients with chronic pain (CP) are often reported to have deficits in working memory. Pain impairs working memory, but so do depression and sleep problems, which are also common in CP. Depression has been linked to changes in brain activity in CP during working memory tasks, but the effect of sleep problems on working memory performance and brain activity remains to be investigated. Methods: Fifteen CP patients and 17 age-, sex-, and education-matched controls underwent blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging at 3T while performing block design 0-back, 2-back, and paced visual serial addition test paradigms. Subjects also reported their level of pain (Brief Pain Inventory), depression (Beck Depression Inventory II), and sleep problems (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) and were tested outside the scanner with neuropsychological tests of working memory. Results: The CP group reported significantly higher levels of pain, depression, and sleep problems. No significant performance difference was found on the neuropsychological tests in or outside the scanner between the two groups. There were no correlations between level of pain, depression, and sleep problems or between these and the neuropsychological test scores. CP patients exhibited significantly less brain activation and deactivation than controls in parietal and frontal lobes, which are the brain areas that normally show activation and deactivation during working memory tasks. Sleep problems independently and significantly modulated the BOLD response to the complex working memory tasks and were associated with decreased brain activation in task-positive regions and decreased deactivation in the default mode network in the CP group compared to the control group. The pain and depression scores covaried with working memory activation. Discussion: Sleep problems in CP patients had a significant impact on the BOLD response during working memory tasks, independent of pain level and depression, even when performance was shown not to be significantly affected. Keywords: magnetic resonance imaging, 2-back, serial addition test, deactivation, activatio

Patients with chronic pain lack somatic markers during decision-making

Nicolas-Andreas Elvemo,1 Kristian Bernhard Nilsen,1,2 Nils Inge Landr&oslash;,3,4 Petter Christian Borchgrevink,4,5 Asta Kristine H&aring;berg1,6 1Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; 2Department of Neurology, Section for Clinical Neurophysiology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; 3Clinical Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; 4Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; 5Department of Anesthesiology, St Olav University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway; 6Department of Medical Imaging, St Olav University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway Abstract: Patients with chronic pain have impaired cognitive functions, including decision making, as shown with the Iowa gambling task (IGT). The main aim of this study was to elucidate whether patients&#39; decision making is associated with a lack of the anticipatory skin conductance response (SCR). An increase in anticipatory SCR before making unfavorable choices is known to guide decisions in healthy controls during the IGT. Since several brain regions involved in decision making are reported to have altered morphology in patients with chronic pain, the second aim was to explore the associations between IGT performance and brain structure volumes. Eighteen patients with chronic pain of mixed etiology and 19 healthy controls matched in terms of age, sex, and education were investigated with a computerized IGT during the recording of SCR, heart rate, and blood pressure. The participants also underwent neuropsychological testing, and three-dimensional T1-weighted cerebral magnetic resonance images were obtained. Contrary to controls, patients did not generate anticipatory SCRs before making unfavorable choices, and they switched between decks of cards during the late phase of the IGT significantly more often, and this was still observed after adjusting for depression scores. None of the other autonomic measures differed during IGT performance in either group or between groups. In patients, IGT scores correlated positively with total cortical grey matter volume. In controls, there was no such association, but their IGT scores correlated with the anticipatory SCR. It may be speculated that the reduction in anticipatory SCRs makes the chronic pain patients rely more on cortical resources during decision making. Keywords: Iowa gambling task, skin conductance response, autonomic measures, magnetic resonance imaging, corte