165 research outputs found

    Screening for Parkinsonā€™s Disease with Response Time Barriers: A Pilot Study

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    Background: Although significant response time deficits (both reaction time and movement time) have been identified in numerous studies of patients with Parkinsonā€™s disease (PD), few attempts have been made to evaluate the use of these measures in screening for PD. Methods: Receiver operator characteristic curves were used to identify cutoff scores for a unitweighted composite of two choice response tasks in a sample of 40 patients and 40 healthy participants. These scores were then cross-validated in an independent sample of 20 patients and 20 healthy participants. Results: The unit-weighted movement time composite demonstrated high sensitivity (90%) and specificity (90%) in the identification of PD. Movement time was also significantly correlated (r = 0.59, p \u3c 0.025) with the motor score of the Unified Parkinsonā€™s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). Conclusions: Measures of chronometric speed, assessed without the use of biomechanically complex movements, have a potential role in screening for PD. Furthermore, the significant correlation between movement time and UPDRS motor score suggests that movement time may be useful in the quantification of PD severity

    SHIMMER (1.0) : a novel mathematical model for microbial and biogeochemical dynamics in glacier foreļ¬eld ecosystems

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    SHIMMER (Soil biogeocHemIcal Model for Microbial Ecosystem Response) is a new numerical modelling framework which is developed as part of an interdisciplinary, iterative, model-data based approach fully integrating ļ¬eldwork and laboratory experiments with model development, testing, and application. SHIMMER is designed to simulate the establishment of microbial biomass and associated biogeochemical cycling during the initial stages of ecosystem development in glacier foreļ¬eld soils. However, it is also transferable to other extreme ecosystem types (such as desert soils or the surface of glaciers). The model mechanistically describes and predicts transformations in carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus through aggregated components of the microbial community as a set of coupled ordinary differential equations. The rationale for development of the model arises from decades of empirical observation on the initial stages of soil development in glacier foreļ¬elds. SHIMMER enables a quantitative and process focussed approach to synthesising the existing empirical data and advancing understanding of microbial and biogeochemical dynamics. Here, we provide a detailed description of SHIMMER. The performance of SHIMMER is then tested in two case studies using published data from the Damma Glacier foreļ¬eld in Switzerland and the Athabasca Glacier in Canada. In addition, a sensitivity analysis helps identify the most sensitive and unconstrained model parameters. Results show that the accumulation of microbial biomass is highly dependent on variation in microbial growth and death rate constants, Q10 values, the active fraction of microbial biomass, and the reactivity of organic matter. The model correctly predicts the rapid accumulation of microbial biomass observed during the initial stages of succession in the foreļ¬elds of both the case study systems. Simulation results indicate that primary production is responsible for the initial build-up of substrate that subsequently supports heterotrophic growth. However, allochthonous contributions of organic matter are identiļ¬ed as important in sustaining this productiviity. Microbial production in young soils is supported by labile organic matter, whereas carbon stocks in older soils are more refractory. Nitrogen ļ¬xing bacteria are responsible for the initial accumulation of available nitrates in the soil. Biogeochemical rates are highly seasonal, as observed in experimental data. The development and application of SHIMMER not only provides important new insights into foreļ¬eld dynamics, but also highlights aspects of these systems that require further ļ¬eld and laboratory research. The most pressing advances need to come in quantifying nutrient budgets and biogeochemical rates, in exploring seasonality, the fate of allochthonous deposition in relation to autochthonous production, and empirical studies of microbial growth and cell death, to increase understanding of how glacier foreļ¬eld development contributes to the global biogeochemical cycling and climate in the future
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