Peripheral deposition alpha1-protease inhibitor using commercial inhalation devices.

Patients with hereditary α1‐proteinase inhibitor (α1‐PI) deficiency are at risk of developing lung emphysema. To prevent the development of this disease, α1‐PI replacement therapy via inhalation may be a more convenient and effective therapy than the intravenous administration of the drug. In order to optimise this treatment approach, lung deposition of inhaled radiolabelled α1‐PI (Prolastin®) was studied using four different commercial inhalation devices (PARI‐LC Star®, HaloLite®, and AKITA® system in combination with LC Star® and Sidestream®) in six patients with α1‐PI deficiency and mild-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The time required to deposit 50 mg of the Prolastin® (5% solution) in the lung periphery was used as a measure for the efficiency of delivery. The time was calculated from measurements of total and peripheral lung deposition of the radiolabelled α1‐PI. This time was shortest for the AKITA® system (18–24 min) and significantly higher for the PARI‐LC Star® (44 min) and the HaloLite® (100 min). The higher efficiency of drug delivery using the AKITA® system is due to the fact that this device controls breathing patterns, which are optimised for each patient individually

The integrated water balance and soil data set of the Rollesbroich hydrological observatory

The Rollesbroich headwater catchment located in western Germany is a densely instrumented hydrological observatory and part of the TERENO (Terrestrial Environmental Observatories) initiative. The measurements acquired in this observatory present a comprehensive data set that contains key hydrological fluxes in addition to important hydrological states and properties. Meteorological data (i.e., precipitation, air temperature, air humidity, radiation components, and wind speed) are continuously recorded and actual evapotranspiration is measured using the eddy covariance technique. Runoff is measured at the catchment outlet with a gauging station. In addition, spatiotemporal variations in soil water content and temperature are measured at high resolution with a wireless sensor network (SoilNet). Soil physical properties were determined using standard laboratory procedures from samples taken at a large number of locations in the catchment. This comprehensive data set can be used to validate remote sensing retrievals and hydrological models, to improve the understanding of spatial temporal dynamics of soil water content, to optimize data assimilation and inverse techniques for hydrological models, and to develop upscaling and downscaling procedures of soil water content information. The complete data set is freely available online (<a href="http://www.tereno.net" target="_blank">http://www.tereno.net</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5880/TERENO.2016.001" target="_blank">doi:10.5880/TERENO.2016.001</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5880/TERENO.2016.004" target="_blank">doi:10.5880/TERENO.2016.004</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5880/TERENO.2016.003" target="_blank">doi:10.5880/TERENO.2016.003</a>) and additionally referenced by three persistent identifiers securing the long-term data and metadata availability

Cholinergic modulation of motor sequence learning

The cholinergic system plays a key role in motor function, but whether pharmacological modulation of cholinergic activity affects motor sequence learning is unknown. The acetylcholine recepter antagonist biperiden, an established treatment in movement disorder, reduces attentional modulation, but whether it influences motor sequence learning is not clear. Using a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled crossover design, we tested thirty healthy young participants and show that biperiden impairs the ability to learn sequential finger movements, accompanied by widespread oscillatory broadband power changes (4-25 Hz) in the motor sequence learning network after receiving biperiden, with greater power in the theta, alpha, and beta bands over ipsilateral motor and bilateral parietal–occipital areas. These findings highlight the role of cholinergic processes in motor sequence learning.Behavioral data (mean normalized learning score, reaction time difference, fatigue) for each participant, depending on condition (biperiden, placebo).Cluster-based permutation test results for the main effect sequence type (repeated, random), condition (biperiden, placebo), and their interaction and corresponding grand-average event-related spectral perturbations.</p