Locating the STN-DBS electrodes and resolving their subsequent networks using coherent source analysis on EEG

The deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is the most effective surgical therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD). The first aim of the study was to locate the STN-DBS electrode by applying source analysis on EEG. Secondly, to identify tremor related areas which are associated with the STN. The Dynamic imaging of coherent sources (DICS) was used to find the coherent sources in the brain. The capability of the source analysis to detect deep sources like STN in the brain using EEG data was tested with two model dipole simulations. The simulations were concentrated on two aspects, the angle of the dipole orientation and the disturbance of the cortical areas on locating subcortical regions. In all the DBS treated Parkinsonian tremor patients the power spectrum showed a clear peak at the stimulated frequency and followed by there harmonics. The DBS stimulated frequency constituted a network of primary sensory motor cortex, supplementary motor area, prefrontal cortex, diencephalon, cerebellum and brainstem. Thus the STN was located in the region of the diencephalon. The resolved network may give better understanding to the pathophysiology of the effected tremor network in PD patients with STN-DBS

AN OVERVIEW ON THE BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES OF NARDOSTACHYS JATAMANSI

Nardostachys jatamansi is a flowering plant of the Valerianaceae family, which is a native plant of the Indian and Nepal Himalaya. It is found from 2200m to 5000m asl. in random forms. It is also called as spikenard, nard, nardin, or muskroot used in the formulation of traditional Ayurvedic medicines as well as modern herbal preparations for curing various ailments. The plant abounds in sesquiterpenes predominantly; jatamansone and nardostachone. Nardostachys jatamansi possesses biological properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticholinesterase, oxidative stress, antidepressant and anti-inflammatory activities. It is also useful in the management of insomnia and CNS disorders. This study has detailed information regarding the various activities and mainly focuses on the pharmacological activity of Nardostachys jatamansi.Â

Functional connectivity analysis using whole brain and regional network metrics in MS patients

In the present study we investigated brain network connectivity differences between patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and healthy controls (HC) as derived from functional resonance magnetic imaging (fMRI) using graph theory. Resting state fMRI data of 18 RRMS patients (12 female, mean age ± SD: 42 ± 12.06 years) and 25 HC (8 female, 29.2 ± 5.38 years) were analyzed. In order to obtain information of differences in entire brain network, we focused on both, local and global network connectivity parameters. And the regional connectivity differences were assessed using regional network parameters. RRMS patients presented a significant increase of modularity in comparison to HC, pointing towards a network structure with densely interconnected nodes within one module, while the number of connections with other modules outside decreases. This higher decomposable network favours cost-efficient local information processing and promotes long-range disconnection. In addition, at the regional anatomical level, the network parameters clustering coefficient and local efficiency were increased in the insula, the superior parietal gyrus and the temporal pole. Our study indicates that modularity as derived from fMRI can be seen as a characteristic connectivity feature that is increased in MS patients compared to HC. Furthermore, specific anatomical regions linked to perception, motor function and cognition were mainly involved in the enhanced local information processing

Pathophysiologie des Tremors

Tremor ist klinisch als rhythmische, oszillierende Bewegung von Körperpartien definiert, die funktionell zu einer Beeinträchtigung der Koordination und Ausführung zielgerichteter Bewegungen führen kann. Er kann Symptom einer Grunderkrankung sein, wie beispielweise der Ruhetremor bei Morbus Parkinson, oder als eigenständige Krankheit auftreten, wie z. B. der essenzielle oder der orthostatische Tremor. Bei der Entstehung von Tremor spielen sowohl zerebrale als auch spinale und muskuläre Mechanismen eine wichtige Rolle. Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt die Ergebnisse neuer bildgebender und elektrophysiologischer Untersuchungen dar, die zu wichtigen Fortschritten in unserem Verständnis der Pathophysiologie von Tremorerkrankungen geführt haben. Wir diskutieren Modelle für die Entstehung des Ruhetremors bei M. Parkinson, des essenziellen und des orthostatischen Tremors. Dabei schildern wir die aktuellen Weiterentwicklungen vom klassischen Generator-Modell mit einer Beteiligung einzelner zerebraler Regionen hin zu einer Netzwerkperspektive, in der pathologische Oszillationen durch Interaktionen in den neuronalen Netzwerken entstehen und sich ausbreiten. Dabei werden insbesondere neue translationale Ansätze vorgestellt, die als Grundlage für die Entwicklung neuer Therapiestrategien dienen könnten

AI Solutions for MDS: Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Misuse Detection and Localisation in Telecommunication Environments

This report considers the application of Articial Intelligence (AI) techniques to the problem of misuse detection and misuse localisation within telecommunications environments. A broad survey of techniques is provided, that covers inter alia rule based systems, model-based systems, case based reasoning, pattern matching, clustering and feature extraction, articial neural networks, genetic algorithms, arti cial immune systems, agent based systems, data mining and a variety of hybrid approaches. The report then considers the central issue of event correlation, that is at the heart of many misuse detection and localisation systems. The notion of being able to infer misuse by the correlation of individual temporally distributed events within a multiple data stream environment is explored, and a range of techniques, covering model based approaches, `programmed' AI and machine learning paradigms. It is found that, in general, correlation is best achieved via rule based approaches, but that these suffer from a number of drawbacks, such as the difculty of developing and maintaining an appropriate knowledge base, and the lack of ability to generalise from known misuses to new unseen misuses. Two distinct approaches are evident. One attempts to encode knowledge of known misuses, typically within rules, and use this to screen events. This approach cannot generally detect misuses for which it has not been programmed, i.e. it is prone to issuing false negatives. The other attempts to `learn' the features of event patterns that constitute normal behaviour, and, by observing patterns that do not match expected behaviour, detect when a misuse has occurred. This approach is prone to issuing false positives, i.e. inferring misuse from innocent patterns of behaviour that the system was not trained to recognise. Contemporary approaches are seen to favour hybridisation, often combining detection or localisation mechanisms for both abnormal and normal behaviour, the former to capture known cases of misuse, the latter to capture unknown cases. In some systems, these mechanisms even work together to update each other to increase detection rates and lower false positive rates. It is concluded that hybridisation offers the most promising future direction, but that a rule or state based component is likely to remain, being the most natural approach to the correlation of complex events. The challenge, then, is to mitigate the weaknesses of canonical programmed systems such that learning, generalisation and adaptation are more readily facilitated

Acute effect of gibberellic acid on serum enzymes and blood markers in male albino rats

This study was designed to evaluate the influence of a phytohormone, gibberellic acid (GA3) on marker enzymes and biomarkers of serum, and blood hemoglobin and its blood cells counts of rat. In order to evaluate the positive/negative effects, the rats were administered 75μg, 150μg and 300μg of GA3/kg body weight as a single dose. GA3 treatments produced differential effects on the different parameters at dose dependent manner after 4 hours.The down regulation in specific activities of ALT, ALP, GGT and amylase were noted against the control with significant up regulation of AST activity. GA3 also produced dose dependent effect on biomarkers. There is a substantial reduction in the quantity of glucose, urea, creatinine, calcium, phosphorus, sodium and potassium was recorded against the control. On the other hand, the insignificant increase in content of total protein, albumin and uric acid was observed at all dose of GA3 treatment against the control. GA3 increased the RBC, WBC and neutrophil by decreasing the lymphocyte total numbers. Platelets, monocytes and oesinophils count were not altered by any dose of GA3.In conclusion, GA3 produced dose dependent effect on different parameters of rat blood serum.Keywords: phytohormone; gibberellic acid; creatinine; neutrophi

Antitumor and antioxidant potential of Tragia Plukenetii R.Smith on Ehrlich ascites carcinoma in mice

This investigation aims to evaluate the antitumour and antioxidant potential of the ethanol extract of Tragia Plukenetii R.Smith (ETP) on Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) tumor model. Tumor was inducedin mice by intraperitoneal injection of EAC cells (2x106 cells/mouse). Ethanol extract of T. Plukenetii (ETP) was administered to the experimental animals at the dose levels of 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg/day after 24 h of tumour inoculation. The antitumour effect of ETP was evaluated by assessing in vitro cytotoxicity, survival time, hematological and antioxidant parameters. Oral administration of ETPincreased the survival time of the EAC bearing mice. The ETP brought back the altered levels of the hematological and antioxidant parameters in a dose dependent manner in EAC bearing mice. The results were comparable to that of the result obtained from the animals treated with the standard drug 5-flurouracil (20 mg/kg.bw). Thus present study revealed that ETP possessed significant antitumor and antioxidant activity

Short term effect of 28-homobrassinolide on serum, liver and kidney marker enzymes and other biochemical parameters of male albino rats

Brassinosterols (BS) are ubiquitous pluripotent growth regulator present in plants. They exist in isoforms of epi and homobrassinolides (HB).  BS act as potent stimulators of root and shoot elongation, cell division, DNA and RNA polymerase activity, ethylene production and of stress tolerance to temperature, water scarcity and salinity in plants. It is also used to increase the yield of crop and to protect the plants against pesticides. Consumption of plant material as diet and used as growth regulator in animals, and application of BS in agriculture would increases its availability to the host tissues. In the present study, the effect of 28-HB, an isomer of brassinosterol on serum, liver and kidney marker enzymes, lipid peroxidation, tissue histology and the blood parameters of rat were investigated. The rats were given the compound by intradermal mode at the concentration of 75µg, 150µg and 300µg as single dose and the effects were observed after 4 hr to study the immediate response of the animal. The treatment of rats with 28-HB, caused different effects on the serum, liver and kidney parameters of this study. In conclusion, the present study showed that 28-HB affects the structure and function of rat tissues in a dose dependent manner.Keywords: Brassinosterols; homobrassinolides; 28-HB; lipid peroxidatio