Primary Headaches and their Relationship with the Autonomic Nervous System

Headache disorders, described as early as 3000 BC, represent both a treatment challenge and a serious public health concern, with impact on the individual and society. Existing research in primary headache syndromes (not being caused by any underlying problem) focuses mainly on pain mechanisms. However, the painful symptomatology is the main encounter for the decreased quality of life and discomfort, the vegetative manifestations that frequently accompany the cephalalgic syndromes represent an important source of distress. Despite the advancement of the understanding of the molecular basis of headache disorders and neurovascular complex interactions, there is still lack of a cohesive understanding of the neurovegetative modulation in different types of primary cephalalgic syndromes. The aim of this chapter is to present an overview of the neurochemical mechanisms and pathways, which subtend dysautonomic manifestations in headache

Kerr coefficients of plasma resonances in Josephson junction chains

We present an experimental and theoretical analysis of the self- and cross-Kerr effect of extended plasma resonances in Josephson junction chains. We calculate the Kerr coefficients by deriving and diagonalizing the Hamiltonian of a linear circuit model for the chain and then adding the Josephson non-linearity as a perturbation. The calculated Kerr-coefficients are compared with the measurement data of a chain of 200 junctions. The Kerr effect manifests itself as a frequency shift that depends linearly on the number of photons in a resonant mode. By changing the input power on a low signal level, we are able to measure this shift. The photon number is calibrated using the self-Kerr shift calculated from the sample parameters. We then compare the measured cross-Kerr shift with the theoretical prediction, using the calibrated photon number.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Cardiac autonomic modulation in drug-resistant epilepsy patients after vagus nerve stimulation therapy

The positive effect of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy is considered to be mediated by the afferent pathways of the vagus nerve, but the efferent pathways may influence the cardiac autonomic activity.Aim of the study. To assess the effects of VNS on cardiac autonomic modulation in epilepsy patients, over three months of neurostimulation.Clinical rationale for the study. Linear and non-linear heart rate variability (HRV) analysis can provide information on the sympathovagal balance and reveal particularities of the central control of the autonomic cardiovascular function.Materials and Methods. Using Biopac Acquisition System, we analysed HRV parameters in resting condition and during sympathetic and parasympathetic activation tests in five patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, who underwent VNS procedure.Results. During the sympathetic and vagal activation tests, all five patients presented normal responses of cardiac autonomic activity, reflected in RMSSD, HFnu and LF/HF dynamics in both HRV evaluations. No bradycardia, cardiac arrhythmia or orthostatic hypotension was registered during the two evaluations.Conclusions. Our results indicate that VNS appears not to alter the cardiac autonomic function after three months of neurostimulation. HRV analysis is a useful tool for evaluating cardiac autonomic modulation in epilepsy patients during VNS therapy.Clinical Implications. Patients with decreased HRV should be periodically monitored. Cardiac changes in patients with epilepsy are important because of the additional risk of arrhythmias mediated through the autonomic dysfunction

Aboveground biomass and carbon stock of the riparian vegetation in the Danube Delta

Intact wetlands can act as carbon sinks and mitigate increased amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere following climate change. In addition to organic soils, the riparian vegetation plays an important role in carbon storage and cycling within wetlands. In the context of the project ‘EDAPHIC-BLOOM Danube’, the riparian vegetation in the Danube Delta was investigated. Preliminary results show differences in aboveground biomass and carbon content between softwood and hardwood riparian forests and artificial poplar plantations. The aboveground biomass in the reed beds is much lower per plot, but due to their huge extension, they are very important for carbon storage

Obtained results regarding the optimization of grain sorghum technology in pedoclimatic conditions from Central of Moldova

In recent decades in Romania and in many other regions of the world, there is a high frequency of drought years, to three years out of every five. This climate negatively affects the productivity of agricultural crops, and agricultural research must find solutions to diversify the assortment of crops that in tougher environmental conditions guarantee the stability and profitability of agriculture. One of the safest solutions is the cultivation of sorghum, whether for grain or biomass, which due to good drought resistance, the ability to withstand high temperatures and capitalize on poorly fertile land is superior by the yields of all crops and especially, cereals and fodder plants. In the pedoclimatic conditions from the Center of Moldova, starting with 2018 year, were initiated some researches regarding the optimization of the cultivation technology for grain sorghum, in order to create a technology in relation to the new climatic conditions and in relation to the protection of the environment. The results obtained on average over two agricultural years, 2018 and 2019, indicated a very large variation of grain production depending on the sowing density provided and on the applied mineral fertilizers, this being between 4074 kg/ha and 10234 kg/ha. The best results were obtained in the variants sown with 30 g.g./sqm and fertilized with N150P80 with and without the application of the biostimulator Aminosol. From the point of view of economic efficiency, the variant sown with 30 g.g./sqm and fertilized with N150P80 was the most profitable

Identification of dorsal cutaneous perforator vessels using angio CT technique

The pig is used very often as an experimental model in plastic surgery. Identification of the correct skin flap require also identification of the cutaneous perforate vessel that irrigate the flap. The contrast medium used in radiology and CT have the capability to highlight the small vessel of the skin

Heart rate variability and vagus nerve stimulation in epilepsy patients

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) exerts a cortical modulating effect through its diffuse projections, especially involving cerebral structures related to autonomic regulation. The influence of VNS on cardiovascular autonomic function in drug-resistant epilepsy patients is still debated. We aimed to evaluate the impact of VNS on cardiovascular autonomic function in drug-resistant epilepsy patients, after three months of neurostimulation, using the heart rate variability (HRV) analysis

A Retraining Improvement of Feedforward Neural Networks, TUCS

The artificial neural networks (ANNs) ability to extract significant information from an initial set of data allows both an interpolation in the a priori defined points, as well as an extrapolation outside the range bordered by the extreme points of the training set. The main purpose of this paper is to establish how a viable ANN structure at a previous moment of time could be re-trained in an efficient manner in order to support modifications of the input-output function. To be able to fulfill our goal, we use an anterior memory, scaled with a certain convenient value. The evaluation of the computing effort involved in the retraining of an ANN shows us that a good choice for the scaling factor can substantially reduce the number of training cycles independent of the learning methods

Statistical survey on land use in Romania, in 2005, involving remote sensing techniques

The paper presents the results of statistical investigation regarding land cover with wetlands and forests for the entire country. The results are from the project entitled: “The statistical investigation regarding land use in 2005, using remote sensing techniques”. The project had two parts: the first part consisted in land use and land cover photo-interpretation using multi-spectral satellite images Landsat 2002 with 30 m resolution; the second part consisted infield investigation of the test sample spots (UPE). For the entire country there were 4440 this kind of spots, each one heaving 10 field spots (USE). After the photo-interpretation there were left 25010 field spots (USE) to be visited