Parameters Characterization and Cognitive-Behavioral Effects of Transcranial Pulsed Current Stimulation

Neuromodulation is being recognized as “technology impacting on the neural interface” And noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) is becoming an interesting alternative for this interface. Transcranial pulsed current stimulation (tPCS) is emerging as an option in the field of neuromodulation as a technique that employs weak, pulsed current at different frequency ranges, inducing electrical fields that reach cortical and subcortical structures; however, little is known about its properties and mechanistic effects on electrical brain activity and how it can modulate its oscillatory patterns. Moreover, there is not clear understanding in how tPCS can affect cognition and behavior or its neurophysiological correlates as indexed by autonomic responses. This research looked at the mechanisms behind tPCS in four randomized clinical trials; the main aim of each experiment was to evaluate the effects of tPCS in quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) and cognitive-behavioral testing by exploring different parameters of stimulation. Based in the findings obtained per experiment, tPCS can be defined as a safe and tolerable technique that modulates the power spectrum of qEEG signals by means of applied randomized frequencies in a pre-defined range, tPCS also facilitates connectivity in the area of influence by the electrical field and this has an impact on optimization of performance by decreasing reaction times (RT) in attention switching task and by facilitating wide-ranging network processing as in the case of arithmetic functioning. This work also delivered an insight about the potential that tPCS has for future clinical applications.The Labuschagne-Foundation Spaulding Neurmodulation Cente

Stimuli Characteristics and Psychophysical Requirements for Visual Training in Amblyopia: A Narrative Review

Active vision therapy using perceptual learning and/or dichoptic or binocular environments has shown its potential effectiveness in amblyopia, but some doubts remain about the type of stimuli and the mode and sequence of presentation that should be used. A search was performed in PubMed, obtaining 143 articles with information related to the stimuli used in amblyopia rehabilitation, as well as to the neural mechanisms implied in such therapeutic process. Visual deficits in amblyopia and their neural mechanisms associated are revised, including visual acuity loss, contrast sensitivity reduction and stereopsis impairment. Likewise, the most appropriate stimuli according to the literature that should be used for an efficient rehabilitation of the amblyopic eye are described in detail, including optotypes, Gabor’s patches, random-dot stimuli and Vernier’s stimuli. Finally, the properties of these stimuli that can be modified during the visual training are discussed, as well as the psychophysical method of their presentation and the type of environment used (perceptual learning, dichoptic stimulation or virtual reality). Vision therapy using all these revised concepts can be an effective option for treating amblyopia or accelerating the treatment period when combining with patching. It is essential to adapt the stimuli to the patient’s individual features in both monocular and binocular training.The authors C.J.H.-R., D.P.P., A.M.-M., D.d.F., L.L.-V., M.B.C.-M. have been funded by CDTI (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain) and FEDER (Fondos Europeos de Desarrollo Regional) funds by means of the program PID (“Proyectos de Investigación y Desarrollo”) in the context of the Project NEIVATECH (“Neuroplasticity through virtual reality for amblyopia”, application number 111705). The author León Morales-Quezada is supported by funding from the Spaulding Research Catalyst award. The author David P Piñero has been also supported by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness of Spain within the program Ramón y Cajal, RYC-2016-20471

Factores de riesgo asociados a enfermedades cardiovasculares en la población adulta en cuatro estratos socioeconómicos del municipio de Guatemala

Describir el comportamiento epidemiológico de los factores de riesgo asociados a enfermedades cardiovasculares crónicas no transmisibles en población adulta de cuatro estratos socioeconómicos del municipio de Guatemala. Estudio de tipo descriptivo, transversal, con muestreo no probabilístico por conveniencia, en cuatro sectores cartográficos, 223 viviendas. Los datos se recolectaron por medio de una encuesta con base al cuestionario del método progresivo (STEPS) modificado. La prevalencia de factores de riesgo modificables asociados a enfermedad cardiovascular en población adulta de cuatro Estratos socioeconómicos del municipio de Guatemala fue de: consumo de cigarrillos (15%), consumo nocivo de alcohol (26%), sedentarismo (83%), obesidad central (47% y el consumo excesivo de sal (36%). La prevalencia de factores de riesgo no modificables asociados a enfermedad cardiovascular en población adulta, en 4 estratos socioeconómicos del municipio de Guatemala fue de: grupo etario femenino con mayor riesgo cardiovascular (36%), antecedente de diabetes mellitus (11%),antecedente de hipertensión arterial (35%) y antecedente de dislipidemia (17%). El comportamiento epidemiológico de los factores de riesgo asociado a enfermedad cardiovascular varía entre los estratos socioeconómico; de los factores de riesgo modificable el más prevalente en los cuatro estratos fue el sedentarismo; de los factores de riesgo no modificables el más prevalente en los cuatro estratos fue el antecedente personal de diabetes mellitus; el sedentarismo es el factor de riesgo más prevalente en las mujeres de cuatro estratos socioeconómicos y el consumo nocivo de alcohol es el factor de riesgo más prevalente en los hombres de los cuatro estratos socioeconómicos

Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial of the NEIVATECH virtual reality system to improve visual function in children with anisometropic amblyopia

Background: Interest in developing alternative methods for the treatment of amblyopia has long been a topic of interest among clinicians and researchers, as prescribed occlusion and penalization therapies do not always provide an effective response and are associated with a high risk of recurrence and non-compliance. Here, we present the protocol of a small-scale RCT to evaluate the safety and clinical efficacy of a novel VR-based system designed to provide binocular vision training to children with anisometropic amblyopia. Methods: We aim to recruit a total of 60 children with anisometropic amblyopia aged 5-17 years with no previous treatment for amblyopia other than refractive correction from the pediatric ophthalmology units of the University Clinical Hospital of Valladolid and the Vithas Medimar International Hospital of Alicante. Children who meet the eligibility criteria and consent to participate will be randomly assigned to a three-month intervention group of 18 half-hour in-office therapy sessions with the NEIVATECH system (group A) or to a parallel group receiving 2 hours of conventional patching per day at home for the same period of time (group B). Assessments of visual function will be carried out before the intervention and at 1, 2 and 3 months, with changes in distance BCVA being the primary outcome measure to be considered. Patient safety, compliance, satisfaction and acceptance to treatment will also be assessed after therapy as other valuable outcome measures. In addition, a rsfMRI scan will be performed on a subgroup of 5 patients from each group at the pre-intervention visit and at the post-intervention visit to test the effects of both therapies on neural plasticity in the visual cortex. Discussion: The NEIVATECH system has been conceived as a serious game designed to provide binocular vision training to anisometropic amblyopic children by complementing the concepts of perceptual learning, dichoptic training and gamification in an immersive VR environment. We hope that this novel approach may lead to greater improvements in vision performance than those provided so far by conventional patching in anisometropic amblyopic children. Trial registration: This protocol was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04819386) on 29 March 2021.This work is funded by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness by means of the 2018 Research Projects program in the context of the “NEIVATECH” project: Neuroplasticity through Virtual Reality for Amblyopia (IDI-20181232). The author DP-P has also been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness within the Ramón y Cajal program (RYC-2016-20471)

Comprehensive Analysis of Germline Variants in Mexican Patients with Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Susceptibility

Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome (HBOC) represents 5–10% of all patients with breast cancer and is associated with high-risk pathogenic alleles in BRCA1/2 genes, but only for 25% of cases. We aimed to find new pathogenic alleles in a panel of 143 cancer-predisposing genes in 300 Mexican cancer patients with suspicion of HBOC and 27 high-risk patients with a severe family history of cancer, using massive parallel sequencing. We found pathogenic variants in 23 genes, including BRCA1/2. In the group of cancer patients 15% (46/300) had a pathogenic variant; 11% (33/300) harbored variants with unknown clinical significance (VUS) and 74% (221/300) were negative. The high-risk group had 22% (6/27) of patients with pathogenic variants, 4% (1/27) had VUS and 74% (20/27) were negative. The most recurrent mutations were the Mexican founder deletion of exons 9-12 and the variant p.G228fs in BRCA1, each found in 5 of 17 patients with alterations in this gene. Rare VUS with potential impact at the protein level were found in 21 genes. Our results show for the first time in the Mexican population a higher contribution of pathogenic alleles in other susceptibility cancer genes (54%) than in BRCA1/2 (46%), highlighting the high locus heterogeneity of HBOC and the necessity of expanding genetic tests for this disease to include broader gene panels

A Coffee Berry Borer (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) Bibliography

Native to Africa, the coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), has gradually invaded most coffee-growing areas worldwide. Adult females colonize the coffee berry and oviposit within galleries in the coffee seeds. Larvae and adults consume the seeds, resulting in drastic reductions in yields and quality, negatively affecting the income of approximately 20 million coffee-growing families (~100 million people) in ~80 countries, with losses surpassing more than $500 million annually (Vega et al. 2015). It has become evident that the coffee berry borer scientific community could greatly benefit from having access to a bibliography of the literature related to the insect. Such an information source would allow scientists to find out what research areas have been explored throughout the many coffee berry borer-infested countries after more than 100 years of research on the topic. It could also help to direct lead future research efforts into novel areas, and away from topics and ideas that have been thoroughly investigated in the past