Computer vision quantification of whole-body Parkinsonian bradykinesia using a large multi-site population.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurological disorder, with bradykinesia being one of its cardinal features. Objective quantification of bradykinesia using computer vision has the potential to standardise decision-making, for patient treatment and clinical trials, while facilitating remote assessment. We utilised a dataset of part-3 MDS-UPDRS motor assessments, collected at four independent clinical and one research sites on two continents, to build computer-vision-based models capable of inferring the correct severity rating robustly and consistently across all identifiable subgroups of patients. These results contrast with previous work limited by small sample sizes and small numbers of sites. Our bradykinesia estimation corresponded well with clinician ratings (interclass correlation 0.74). This agreement was consistent across four clinical sites. This result demonstrates how such technology can be successfully deployed into existing clinical workflows, with consumer-grade smartphone or tablet devices, adding minimal equipment cost and time

Modulation of alpha oscillations in the human EEG with facial preference

Facial preference that results from the processing of facial information plays an important role in social interactions as well as the selection of a mate, friend, candidate, or favorite actor. However, it still remains elusive which brain regions are implicated in the neural mechanisms underlying facial preference, and how neural activities in these regions are modulated during the formation of facial preference. In the present study, we investigated the modulation of electroencephalography (EEG) oscillatory power with facial preference. For the reliable assessments of facial preference, we designed a series of passive viewing and active choice tasks. In the former task, twenty-four face stimuli were passively viewed by participants for multiple times in random order. In the latter task, the same stimuli were then evaluated by participants for their facial preference judgments. In both tasks, significant differences between the preferred and non-preferred faces groups were found in alpha band power (8-13 Hz) but not in other frequency bands. The preferred faces generated more decreases in alpha power. During the passive viewing task, significant differences in alpha power between the preferred and non-preferred face groups were observed at the left frontal regions in the early (0.15-0.4 s) period during the 1-s presentation. By contrast, during the active choice task when participants consecutively watched the first and second face for 1 s and then selected the preferred one, an alpha power difference was found for the late (0.65-0.8 s) period over the whole brain during the first face presentation and over the posterior regions during the second face presentation. These results demonstrate that the modulation of alpha activity by facial preference is a top-down process, which requires additional cognitive resources to facilitate information processing of the preferred faces that capture more visual attention than the non-preferred faces.open

A Novel Mouse Model of <i>Schistosoma haematobium</i> Egg-Induced Immunopathology

<div><p><i>Schistosoma haematobium</i> is the etiologic agent for urogenital schistosomiasis, a major source of morbidity and mortality for more than 112 million people worldwide. Infection with <i>S. haematobium</i> results in a variety of immunopathologic sequelae caused by parasite oviposition within the urinary tract, which drives inflammation, hematuria, fibrosis, bladder dysfunction, and increased susceptibility to urothelial carcinoma. While humans readily develop urogenital schistosomiasis, the lack of an experimentally-tractable model has greatly impaired our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie this important disease. We have developed an improved mouse model of <i>S. haematobium</i> urinary tract infection that recapitulates several aspects of human urogenital schistosomiasis. Following microinjection of purified <i>S. haematobium</i> eggs into the bladder wall, mice consistently develop macrophage-rich granulomata that persist for at least 3 months and pass eggs in their urine. Importantly, egg-injected mice also develop urinary tract fibrosis, bladder dysfunction, and various urothelial changes morphologically reminiscent of human urogenital schistosomiasis. As expected, <i>S. haematobium</i> egg-induced immune responses in the immediate microenvironment, draining lymph nodes, and systemic circulation are associated with a Type 2-dominant inflammatory response, characterized by high levels of interleukin-4, eosinophils, and IgE. Taken together, our novel mouse model may help facilitate a better understanding of the unique pathophysiological mechanisms of epithelial dysfunction, tissue fibrosis, and oncogenesis associated with urogenital schistosomiasis.</p></div