Very Severe Spinal Muscular Atrophy (Type 0): A Report of Three Cases

ObjectiveWe describe three patients with very severe Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) presented with reduced fetal movement in utero, profound hypotonia, severe weakness and respiratory insufficiency at birth. In all infants, electrodiagnostic studies were compatible with a neurogenic pattern. In genetic studies, all cases had homozygous deletions of exons 7 and 8 of Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) and exon 5 of Neuronal Apoptosis Inhibitory Protein (NAIP) gene. SMA should be considered in the differential diagnosis of reduced fetal movement and respiratory insufficiency at birth

Role of the Hippocampus During Logical Reasoning and Belief Bias in Aging

Reasoning requires initial encoding of the semantic association between premises or assumptions, retrieval of these semantic associations from memory, and recombination of information to draw a logical conclusion. Currently-held beliefs can interfere with the content of the assumptions if not congruent and inhibited. This study aimed to investigate the role of the hippocampus and hippocampal networks during logical reasoning tasks in which the congruence between currently-held beliefs and assumptions varies. Participants of younger and older age completed a series of syllogistic reasoning tasks in which two premises and one conclusion were presented and they were required to decide if the conclusion logically followed the premises. The belief load of premises was manipulated to be either congruent or incongruent with currently-held beliefs. Our whole-brain results showed that older adults recruited the hippocampus during the premise integration stage more than their younger counterparts. Functional connectivity using a hippocampal seed revealed that older, but not younger, adults recruited a hippocampal network that included anterior cingulate and inferior frontal regions when premises were believable. Importantly, this network contributed to better performance in believable inferences, only in older adults group. Further analyses suggested that, in older adults group, the integrity of the left cingulum bundle was associated with the higher rejection of believable premises more than unbelievable ones. Using multimodal imaging, this study highlights the importance of the hippocampus during premise integration and supports compensatory role of the hippocampal network during a logical reasoning task among older adults

Age-related differences in structural and functional prefrontal networks during a logical reasoning task

In logical reasoning, difficulties in inhibition of currently-held beliefs may lead to unwarranted conclusions, known as belief bias. Aging is associated with difficulties in inhibitory control, which may lead to deficits in inhibition of currently-held beliefs. No study to date, however, has investigated the underlying neural substrates of age-related differences in logical reasoning and the impact of belief load. The aim of the present study was to delineate age differences in brain activity during a syllogistic logical reasoning task while the believability load of logical inferences was manipulated. Twenty-nine, healthy, younger and thirty, healthy, older adults (males and females) completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment in which they were asked to determine the logical validity of conclusions. Unlike younger adults, older adults engaged a large-scale network including anterior cingulate cortex and inferior frontal gyrus during conclusion stage. Our functional connectivity results suggest that while older adults engaged the anterior cingulate network to overcome their intuitive responses for believable inferences, the inferior frontal gyrus network contributed to higher control over responses during both believable and unbelievable conditions. Our functional results were further supported by structure-function-behavior analyses indicating the importance of cingulum bundle and uncinate fasciculus integrity in rejection of believable statements. These novel findings lend evidence for age-related differences in belief bias, with potentially important implications for decision making where currently-held beliefs and given assumptions are in conflict

Mini Nutritional Assessment and its Correlation With Elderly Nursing Home Residents in Khorramabad, Iran

Objectives: Elderly nursing homes residents are at an increased risk of malnutrition due to a variety of factors. We aimed at investigating the prevalence of malnutrition and its correlation with elderly subjects using Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on elderly individuals (N=56; female=28) dwelling in the Sedigh Nursing Home in Khorramabad, Iran, in 2015. Nutritional status was assessed using MNA, which consisted of anthropometric measurements, global assessment, dietary questionnaire and subjective assessment. Results: The participants mean age was 74.86 (SD=&plusmn;11.82) years. The mean MNA-score of the subjects was 19.46 (SD=&plusmn;3.23). The prevalence of malnutrition and at risk of malnutrition were 20% and 70%, respectively. No significant difference (P>0.05) was observed between male and female, age subgroups, marital status, education levels and different cut-off points of the Body Mass Index (BMI), Mid-Arm Circumferences (MACs) and Calf Circumferences (CCs) regarding the nutritional status of subjects. Malnutrition and risk of malnutrition were observed significantly and more frequently in elderly who had weight loss greater than 3 kg, took more than three prescription drugs per day and had low/moderate protein intake (P<0.05). The MNA-score was independently associated with age, weight, BMI, MACs, CCs and food intake during last 3 months (P<0.05). Discussion: According to high prevalence of malnutrition and risk of malnutrition among the subjects, proper nutritional interventions are required. Longitudinal studies on elderly and primary prevention by lifestyle interventions according to the culture and habits of the region are recommended

Amygdala functional network during recognition of own-age vs. other-age faces in younger and older adults

Facial cues, such as a person's age, provide important information for social interactions. Processing such facial cues can be affected by observer bias. However, there is currently no consensus regarding how the brain is processing facial cues related to age, and if facial age processing changes as a function of the age of the observer (i.e., own-age bias). The primary study aim was to investigate functional networks involved in processing own-age vs. other-age faces among younger and older adults and determine how emotional expression of the face modulates own-age vs. other-age face processing. The secondary study aim was to examine the relation between higher social cognitive processes (i.e., empathy) and modulation of brain activity by facial age and emotional expression. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) younger and older participants were asked to recognize happy, angry, and neutral expressions in own-age and other-age faces. Functional connectivity analyses with the amygdala as seed showed that for own-age faces both age groups recruited a network of regions including the anterior cingulate and anterior insula that was involved in empathy and detection of salient information. Brain-behavior analyses furthermore showed that empathic responses in younger, but not in older, participants were positively correlated with engagement of the medial prefrontal cortex during processing of angry own-age faces. These findings identify the neurobehavioral correlates of facial age processing, and its modulation by emotion expression, and directly link facial cue processing to higher-order social cognitive functioning

Biomass-derived porous aminated graphitic nanosheets for removal of the pharmaceutical metronidazole: Optimization of physicochemical features and exploration of process mechanisms

The presence of trace levels of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in the aquatic environment threatens human health and the environment. Metronidazole (MNZ) is a soluble PhAC with low biodegradability, a possible human mutant and carcinogen. This study aimed the synthesis, physicochemical characterizations, and employment of porous amine-modified green-graphene (AMGG) for MNZ removal from aqueous solutions. Response-surface methodology (RSM) based on Box-Benken design (BBD) was used to assess the MNZ adsorption efficiency of AMGG as a function of pH (4–12), contact time (5–60 min), AMGG dose (0.1–1 g/L) and MNZ concentration (10–100 mg/L). From the model optimization, the highest MNZ removal was predicted at a pH of 5.9, a contact time of 27 min, an AMGG dose of 0.86 g /L, and an MNZ concentration of 100 mg /L. The experimental data were in agreement with the pseudo-second order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum adsorption capacity of AMGG for MNZ was 416.7 mg/g. The MNZ concentration at equilibrium increased about 4.8 mg/L when the solution temperature increased by 20 oC (from 30 to 50 °C), indicative of an exothermic process. AMGG showed an efficiency decrement from 84 % to 57 %, after five consecutive saturation-regeneration cycles. Moreover, AMGG showed a removal efficiency of 74 % when it was employed for real hospital wastewater treatment.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Sanitary Engineerin