Logopenic and nonfluent variants of primary progressive aphasia are differentiated by acoustic measures of speech production

Differentiation of logopenic (lvPPA) and nonfluent/agrammatic (nfvPPA) variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia is important yet remains challenging since it hinges on expert based evaluation of speech and language production. In this study acoustic measures of speech in conjunction with voxel-based morphometry were used to determine the success of the measures as an adjunct to diagnosis and to explore the neural basis of apraxia of speech in nfvPPA. Forty-one patients (21 lvPPA, 20 nfvPPA) were recruited from a consecutive sample with suspected frontotemporal dementia. Patients were diagnosed using the current gold-standard of expert perceptual judgment, based on presence/absence of particular speech features during speaking tasks. Seventeen healthy age-matched adults served as controls. MRI scans were available for 11 control and 37 PPA cases; 23 of the PPA cases underwent amyloid ligand PET imaging. Measures, corresponding to perceptual features of apraxia of speech, were periods of silence during reading and relative vowel duration and intensity in polysyllable word repetition. Discriminant function analyses revealed that a measure of relative vowel duration differentiated nfvPPA cases from both control and lvPPA cases (r2 = 0.47) with 88% agreement with expert judgment of presence of apraxia of speech in nfvPPA cases. VBM analysis showed that relative vowel duration covaried with grey matter intensity in areas critical for speech motor planning and programming: precentral gyrus, supplementary motor area and inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally, only affected in the nfvPPA group. This bilateral involvement of frontal speech networks in nfvPPA potentially affects access to compensatory mechanisms involving right hemisphere homologues. Measures of silences during reading also discriminated the PPA and control groups, but did not increase predictive accuracy. Findings suggest that a measure of relative vowel duration from of a polysyllable word repetition task may be sufficient for detecting most cases of apraxia of speech and distinguishing between nfvPPA and lvPPA

Plant Products Affect Growth and Digestive Efficiency of Cultured Florida Pompano (Trachinotus carolinus) Fed Compounded Diets

Costs of compounded diets containing fish meal as a primary protein source can be expected to rise as fish meal prices increase in response to static supply and growing demand. Alternatives to fish meal are needed to reduce production costs in many aquaculture enterprises. Some plant proteins are potential replacements for fish meal because of their amino acid composition, lower cost and wide availability. In this study, we measured utilization of soybean meal (SBM) and soy protein concentrate (SPC) by Florida pompano fed compounded diets, to determine the efficacy of these products as fish meal replacements. We also calculated apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) for canola meal (CM), corn gluten meal (CGM), and distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), following typical methods for digestibility trials. Juvenile Florida pompano were fed fish-meal-free diets containing graded levels of SBM and SPC, and weight gain was compared to a control diet that contained SBM, SPC, and fish meal. Fish fed diets that contained 25–30 percent SBM in combination with 43–39 percent SPC had weight gain equivalent to fish fed the control diet with fish meal, while weight gain of fish fed other soy combinations was significantly less than that of the control group. Apparent crude protein digestibility of CGM was significantly higher than that of DDGS but not significantly different from CM. Apparent energy digestibility of DDGS was significantly lower than CGM but significantly higher than CM. Findings suggested that composition of the reference diet used in a digestibility trial affects the values of calculated ADCs, in addition to the chemical and physical attributes of the test ingredient

Primary progressive aphasia: a clinical approach

This work was supported by the Alzheimer’s Society (AS-PG-16-007), the National Institute for Health Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre and the UCL Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre (PR/ylr/18575). Individual authors were supported by the Leonard Wolfson Foundation (Clinical Research Fellowship to CRM), the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR Doctoral Training Fellowship to AV), the National Brain Appeal–Frontotemporal Dementia Research Fund (CNC) and the Medical Research Council (PhD Studentships to CJDH and RLB, MRC Research Training Fellowship to PDF, MRC Clinician Scientist to JDR). MNR and NCF are NIHR Senior Investigators. SJC is supported by Grants from ESRC-NIHR (ES/L001810/1), EPSRC (EP/M006093/1) and Wellcome Trust (200783). JDW was supported by a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship in Clinical Science (091673/Z/10/Z)

A 12-years study of curative radiotherapy in testicular seminoma patients referred to Tehran cancer institute's radiation-oncology Department

Testicular germ-cell tumors are the most common malignancy among men aged 20-40 years, and 60 percent of them are seminomas. These tumors are now an important socio-economic problem, considering their growing incidence. Thus we undertook to evaluate the results of curative irradiation in our testicular seminoma patients and compare them to literature results considering the use of cobalt-60 systems in our department (in contrast to the use of linear accelerators). All testicular seminoma cases referred after orchiectomy to Radiation-Oncology Department of Tehran Cancer Institute and treated curatively during the 12-years period of 1987-1998 were reviewed. These included 147 patients. The results showed a mean age of 34.5 years. Eighty-six patients (58.5 percent) were in stage I, 57 (38.8 percent) in stage II and 4 (2.7 percent) in stage III. With a mean follow-up time of 53.5 months (range 2-158 months) after radiotherapy, there were 12 (9 percent) local relapses and 8 (6.5 percent) distant metastases among the 122 patients who came back for follow-up. The 10-years overall survival was 97.9 percent and disease-free survival 79.7 percent (life-tables). Mean overall and disease-free survival time was 155 and 133 months respectively, with a median survival time of more than 158 months (Kaplan-Meier). The only significant prognostic factor was stage of the disease (P=0.01), though lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was significant only in multi-factorial analysis (P=0.02). In conclusion, our survival figures were all favorably comparable to literature results, considering the higher ratio of stage II in our patients. We recommend training of young men for testicular self-examination and a greater attention to LDH measurement, and hope for installation of linear accelerators in our department to further improve the treatment results with less side effects

Modularized steel rail particle damper for vibration and noise reduction of rail transit

Inventor name used in this publication: 萨贾迪·阿勒哈萨姆·赛义德·马苏德Inventor name used in this publication: 倪一清Inventor name used in this publication: 林志轩Inventor name used in this publication: 张超Title in Traditional Chinese: 一種用於軌道交通減振降噪的模塊化鋼軌顆粒阻尼器China202212 bcchVersion of RecordPublishe

Rail transit vibration and noise reduction method based on modular steel rail particle damper

Inventor name used in this publication: 萨贾迪·阿勒哈萨姆·赛义德·马苏德Inventor name used in this publication: 倪一清Inventor name used in this publication: 林志轩Inventor name used in this publication: 张超Title in Traditional Chinese: 一種基於模塊化鋼軌顆粒阻尼器的軌道交通減振降噪方法China202212 bcchVersion of RecordPublishe

"CONCURRENT CHEMORADIATION FOR ESOPHAGEAL CARCINOMA: PRELIMINARY RESULTS"

Despite all advances, treatment of esophageal carcinoma is still unsatisfactory. Currently the standard non-surgical treatment of esophageal cancer is concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy (chemoradiation), with results comparable to best surgical series. A few years ago, we started a chemoradiation protocol for the cancer of esophagus as a curative treatment, of which we present the preliminary results here. Files of all esophageal carcinoma patients treated in our department since 1996 until mid 2001 were checked, and those treated by chemoradiation were selected and reviewed. Overall survival was measured from the start of radiotherapy to the time of last follow-up or death. Results were compared to historical controls treated by radiotherapy alone in our department, reviewed in a recent study. Twenty-eight patients (17 males and 11 females, mean age 59 years, tumor location in the middle-third of esophagus in 54%, all squamous carcinoma except one adenocarcinoma) were treated by two courses of cisplatin and 5-FU chemotherapy with concurrent radiotherapy. Radiation dose was mostly 50 Gy in 25 fractions. Mean overall survival was 17 months and median survival was not reached yet due to relatively short follow-up. Compared to 283 patients treated by radiotherapy alone with a mean and median survival of 12 and 8 months, chemoradiation was significantly superior (P=0.0004). Concurrent chemoradiation as used in our department offers a definitely better chance of survival compared to radiotherapy alone. To improve the results, we are pursuing the combination of neoadjuvant chemoradiation and surgery in a clinical trial

A new approach for modeling of magnetorheological elastomers

202104 bcvcAccepted ManuscriptSelf-fundedPublishe

Evaluating the potential of offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Oman using the MENA-CORDEX wind speed data simulations

202106 bcvcVersion of RecordSelf-fundedPublishe