Small Increase of Actual Physical Activity 6 Months After Total Hip or Knee Arthroplasty

Limitation in daily physical activity is one of the reasons for total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, studies of the effects of THA or TKA generally do not determine actual daily activity as part of physical functioning. We determined the effect of THA or TKA on patients’ actual physical activity and body function (pain, stiffness), capacity to perform tasks, and self-reported physical functioning. We also assessed whether there are differences in the effect of the surgery between patients undergoing THA or TKA and whether the improvements vary between these different outcome measures. We recruited patients with long-standing end-stage osteoarthritis of the hip or knee awaiting THA or TKA. Measurements were performed before surgery and 3 and 6 months after surgery. Actual physical activity improved by 0.7%. Patients’ body function, capacity, and self-reported physical functioning also improved. The effects of the surgery on these aspects of physical functioning were similar for THA and TKA. The effect on actual physical activity (8%) was smaller than on body function (80%–167%), capacity (19%–36%), and self-reported physical functioning (87%–112%). Therefore, in contrast to the large effect on pain and stiffness, patients’ capacity, and their self-reported physical functioning, the improvement in actual physical activity of our patients was less than expected 6 months after surgery

Piccolo genotype modulates neural correlates of emotion processing but not executive functioning

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by affective symptoms and cognitive impairments, which have been associated with changes in limbic and prefrontal activity as well as with monoaminergic neurotransmission. A genome-wide association study implicated the polymorphism rs2522833 in the piccolo (PCLO) gene—involved in monoaminergic neurotransmission—as a risk factor for MDD. However, the role of the PCLO risk allele in emotion processing and executive function or its effect on their neural substrate has never been studied. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate PCLO risk allele carriers vs noncarriers during an emotional face processing task and a visuospatial planning task in 159 current MDD patients and healthy controls. In PCLO risk allele carriers, we found increased activity in the left amygdala during processing of angry and sad faces compared with noncarriers, independent of psychopathological status. During processing of fearful faces, the PCLO risk allele was associated with increased amygdala activation in MDD patients only. During the visuospatial planning task, we found no genotype effect on performance or on BOLD signal in our predefined areas as a function of increasing task load. The PCLO risk allele was found to be specifically associated with altered emotion processing, but not with executive dysfunction. Moreover, the PCLO risk allele appears to modulate amygdala function during fearful facial processing in MDD and may constitute a possible link between genotype and susceptibility for depression via altered processing of fearful stimuli. The current results may therefore aid in better understanding underlying neurobiological mechanisms in MDD

The effects of amisulpride on five dimensions of psychopathology in patients with schizophrenia: a prospective open- label study

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of antipsychotics can be evaluated using the dimensional models of schizophrenic symptoms. The D(2)/D(3)-selective antagonist amisulpride has shown similar efficacy and tolerability to other atypical antipsychotics. The aim of the present study was to determine the efficacy of amisulpride on the dimensional model of schizophrenic symptoms and tolerability in latin schizophrenic patients. METHOD: Eighty schizophrenic patients were enrolled and 70 completed a prospective open-label 3-month study with amisulpride. The schizophrenic symptoms, psychosocial functioning and side-effects were evaluated with standardized scales. RESULTS: The patients showed significant improvement in the five dimensions evaluated. Amisulpride (median final dose 357.1 mg/d) was well-tolerated without treatment-emergent extrapyramidal side-effects. CONCLUSION: Amisulpride showed efficacy on different psychopathological dimensions and was well tolerated, leading to consider this drug a first line choice for the treatment of schizophrenia

Proteome changes in platelets activated by arachidonic acid, collagen, and thrombin

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Platelets are small anucleated blood particles that play a key role in the control of bleeding. Platelets need to be activated to perform their functions and participate in hemostasis. The process of activation is accompanied by vast protein reorganization and posttranslational modifications. The goal of this study was to identify changes in proteins in platelets activated by different agonists. Platelets were activated by three different agonists - arachidonic acid, collagen, and thrombin. 2D SDS-PAGE (pI 4-7) was used to separate platelet proteins. Proteomes of activated and resting platelets were compared with each other by Progenesis SameSpots statistical software; and proteins were identified by nanoLC-MS/MS.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>190 spots were found to be significantly different. Of these, 180 spots were successfully identified and correspond to 144 different proteins. Five proteins were found that had not previously been identified in platelets: protein CDV3 homolog, protein ETHE1, protein LZIC, FGFR1 oncogene partner 2, and guanine nucleotide-binding protein subunit beta-5. Using spot expression profile analysis, we found two proteins (WD repeat-containing protein 1 and mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) that may be part of thrombin specific activation or signal transduction pathway(s).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results, characterizing the differences within proteins in both activated (by various agonists) and resting platelets, can thus contribute to the basic knowledge of platelets and to the understanding of the function and development of new antiplatelet drugs.</p

Ranging characteristics of the domestic cat (Felis catus) in an urban environment

In many countries, high densities of domestic cats (Felis catus) are found in urban habitats where they have the potential to exert considerable predation pressure on their prey. However, little is known of the ranging behaviour of cats in the UK. Twenty cats in suburban Reading, UK, were fitted with GPS trackers to quantify movement patterns. Cats were monitored during the summer and winter for an average of 6.8 24 h periods per season. Mean daily area ranged (95 % MCP) was 1.94 ha. Including all fixes, mean maximum area ranged was 6.88 ha. These are broadly comparable to those observed in urban areas in other countries. Daily area ranged was not affected by the cat’s sex or the season, but was significantly larger at night than during the day. There was no relationship between area ranged and habitat availability. Taking available habitat into account, cat ranging area contained significantly more garden and other green space than urban habitats. If cats were shown to be negatively affecting prey populations, one mitigation option for consideration in housing developments proposed near important wildlife sites would be to incorporate a ‘buffer zone’ in which cat ownership was not permitted. Absolute maximum daily area ranged by a cat in this study was 33.78 ha. This would correspond to an exclusory limit of approximately 300–400 m to minimise the negative effects of cat predation, but this may need to be larger if cat ranging behaviour is negatively affected by population densit

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

Search for the neutral Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric standard model in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for neutral Higgs bosons of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is reported. The analysis is based on a sample of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The data were recorded in 2011 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb-1 to 4.8 fb-1. Higgs boson decays into oppositely-charged muon or τ lepton pairs are considered for final states requiring either the presence or absence of b-jets. No statistically significant excess over the expected background is observed and exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are derived. The exclusion limits are for the production cross-section of a generic neutral Higgs boson, φ, as a function of the Higgs boson mass and for h/A/H production in the MSSM as a function of the parameters mA and tan β in the mhmax scenario for mA in the range of 90GeV to 500 GeV. Copyright CERN

Mechanisms and therapeutic applications of electromagnetic therapy in Parkinson's disease

© 2015 Vadalà et al. Electromagnetic therapy is a non-invasive and safe approach for the management of several pathological conditions including neurodegenerative diseases. Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative pathology caused by abnormal degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra pars compacta in the midbrain resulting in damage to the basal ganglia. Electromagnetic therapy has been extensively used in the clinical setting in the form of transcranial magnetic stimulation, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, high-frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy which can also be used in the domestic setting. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms and therapeutic applications of electromagnetic therapy to alleviate motor and non-motor deficits that characterize Parkinson's disease