Prospective and retrospective memory in mild Alzheimer's disease

Objective: To study prospective and retrospective memory in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). Method: Twenty mild AD and 20 matched normal control subjects were included. Diagnosis of AD was based on DSM-IV and NINCDS-ADRDA criteria, using CDR 1 and MMSE scores from 16 to 24 for mild AD. All subjects underwent retrospective (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, RAVLT) and prospective memory tests (the appointment and belonging subtests of the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test, RBMT; and two tests made to this study: the clock and the animals test), as well as MMSE, neuropsychological counterproofs, and Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia. The data was analyzed with Wilcoxon test and Spearman correlation coefficient. Results: AD patients performed worse than controls in prospective and retrospective memory tests, with poorer performance in retrospective memory. There was no correlation between prospective memory and attention, visual perception, executive function, or depression scores. Conclusion: Prospective and, in higher degree, retrospective memory are primarily and independently impaired in mild AD.662B31832

Accuracy of prospective memory tests in mild Alzheimer's disease

Objectives:To verify the accuracy of prospective memory (ProM) tests in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods:Twenty mild AD patients (CDR 1), and 20 controls underwent Digit Span (DS), Trail Making (TM) A and B, visual perception, Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning tests, and Cornell Scale for Depression. AD diagnosis was based on DSM-IV and NI NCDS-AD RDA criteria. ProM was assessed with the appointment and belonging subtests of Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (RBMT); and with two new tests (the clock and animal tests). Results: AD patients had a worse performance than controls on the majority of tests, except DS forward and TM-A. There was no correlation between RBMT and the new ProM tests. As for accuracy, the only significant difference concerned the higher sensitivity of our animal test versus the RBMT belonging test. Conclusions: The clock and the animal tests showed similar specificity, but higher sensitivity than the RBMT subtests.701172

Shotgun Mass Spectrometry Workflow Combining IEF and LC-MALDI-TOF/TOF

We present a high throughput shotgun mass spectrometry workflow using a bidimensional peptide fractionation procedure consisting of isoelectric focusing and RP-HPLC prior to mass spectrometric analysis, with the aim of optimizing peptide separation and protein identification. As part of the workflow we used the ‘Isotope-Coded Protein Labeling’ (ICPL) method for accurate relative quantitation of protein expression. Such workflow was successfully applied to a comparative proteome analysis of schizophrenia versus healthy control brain tissues and can be an alternative to proteome researches

Effect of immunocastration and caponization on fatty acid composition of male chicken meat

Research Areas: AgricultureAiticle in International JournalABSTRACT - Recently, immunocastration with Improvac (ImmC). has been tested in broilers and a considerable reduction in serum testosterone concentration (reduced by 79% compared to roosters) was observed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of immunocastration on meat fatty acid (FA) composition and its comparison with caponized and intact males (roosters). The study was conducted with 3 experimental groups: control group (roosters), the group of birds submitted to surgical caponization (SurgC), and the group of birds submitted to immunocastration with Improvac. The comparison of breast meat partial FA sums of castrated (SurgC and ImmC) with control birds (roosters) revealed that castrated birds showed significantly higher content of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) than control birds (1.76 vs. 1.46 g/100 g of total FA; superiority of 20.2%), which has contributed to the occurrence of significant differences on both the n-6/n-3 ratio and the atherogenicity index (AI). In contrast, on leg meat portion, castrated birds displayed higher contents of both total saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids (SFA and MUFA, with 2.2 and 4.1% more, respectively) and lower total n-6 PUFA content (8.3% less) than was observed in control birds, which contributed to significant differences in the AI index. On the other hand, the comparison of breast meat portion from SurgC with ImmC showed that immunocastration contributed to lower total SFA and higher total n-6 PUFA, which have contributed to significant differences on both Polyunsaturated/Saturated (P/S) and n-6/n-3 ratios. Whereas, on leg meat portion no significant differences were observed on partial sums and a single difference was observed on the thrombogenicity index. Immunocastration of broilers has contributed to minor changes in the FA profile, but has improved the overall lipid quality indexes in both breast and leg meat portions. Therefore, immunocastration could be applied as an alternative method to caponization without negative consequences in meat FA profile.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Faster and slower posttraining recovery in futsal: Multifactorial classification of recovery profiles

© 2019 Human Kinetics, Inc. Purpose: To investigate the existence of faster vs slower recovery profiles in futsal and factors distinguishing them. Methods: 22 male futsal players were evaluated in countermovement jump, 10-m sprint, creatine kinase, total quality of recovery (TQR), and Brunel Mood Scale (fatigue and vigor) before and immediately and 3, 24, and 48 h posttraining. Hierarchical cluster analysis allocated players to different recovery profiles using the area under the curve (AUC) of the percentage differences from baseline. One-way ANOVA compared the time course of each variable and players’ characteristics between clusters. Results: Three clusters were identified and labeled faster recovery (FR), slower physiological recovery (SLphy), and slower perceptual recovery (SLperc). FR presented better AUC in 10-m sprint than SLphy (P = .001) and SLperc (P = .008), as well as better TQR SLphy (P = .018) and SLperc (P = .026). SLperc showed better AUC in countermovement jump than SLphy (P = .014) but presented worse fatigue AUC than SLphy (P = .014) and FR (P = .008). AUC of creatine kinase was worse in SLphy than in FR (P = .001) and SLperc (P < .001). The SLphy players were younger than SLperc players (P = .027), whereas FR were slower 10-m sprinters than SLphy players (P = .003) and SLperc (P = .013) and tended to have higher maximal oxygen consumption than SLphy (effect size = 1.13). Conclusion: Different posttraining recovery profiles exist in futsal players, possibly influenced by their physical abilities and age/experience

Methionine Adenosyltransferase I/III Deficiency in Portugal: High Frequency of a Dominantly Inherited Form in a Small Area of Douro High Lands

Methionine adenosyltransferase deficienc(MAT I/III deficiency) is an inborn error of metabolism resulting in isolated hypermethioninemia, and usually inherited as an autosomal recessive trait, although a dominant form has been reported in several families. During the last 6 years, approximately 520,000 newborns were screened in the Portuguese Newborn Screening Laboratory by MS/MS, and 21 cases of persistent hypermethioninemia were found. One case was confirmed to be a deficiency of cystathionine b-synthase and 20 cases were confirmed by MAT1A gene analysis to have an elevation of methionine due to MAT I/III deficiency, which indicates an incidence for this condition of 1/26,000. Twelve of the MAT I/III deficient newborns, belonging to 11 families, were identified in the northern region of Portugal and sent to the same treatment center, where they are under follow-up. Clinical, biochemical, and genetic characteristics of individuals from these 11 families are presented. Plasma methionine and homocysteine concentrations were found to be moderately increased in all newborns, and molecular analysis revealed that they all were heterozygous for R264H mutation. Normal growth,development, and neurological examination were observed in all cases, and cerebral MRI performed in six cases revealed myelination abnormalities in one case. Plasma methionine concentration for all 12 cases was always below 300 mM, and they are all on a normal diet for their age

Donor cell engineering with GSK3 inhibitor–loaded nanoparticles enhances engraftment after in utero transplantation

Host cell competition is a major barrier to engraftment after in utero hematopoietic cell transplantation (IUHCT). Here we describe a cell-engineering strategy using glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) inhibitor–loaded nanoparticles conjugated to the surface of donor hematopoietic cells to enhance their proliferation kinetics and ability to compete against their fetal host equivalents. With this approach, we achieved remarkable levels of stable, long-term hematopoietic engraftment for up to 24 weeks post-IUHCT. We also show that the salutary effects of the nanoparticle-released GSK3 inhibitor are specific to donor progenitor/stem cells and achieved by a pseudoautocrine mechanism. These results establish that IUHCT of hematopoietic cells decorated with GSK3 inhibitor–loaded nanoparticles can produce therapeutic levels of long-term engraftment and could therefore allow single-step prenatal treatment of congenital hematological disorders