The use of platelet-rich plasma in treatment of olfactory dysfunction: A pilot study.

BackgroundOlfactory dysfunction is a prevalent problem with a significant impact on quality of life and increased mortality. Limited effective therapies exist. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is an autologous biologic product with anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects. This novel pilot study evaluated the role of PRP on olfactory neuroregeneration in patients with hyposmia.MethodsSeven patients who had olfactory loss greater than 6 months in duration, no evidence of sinonasal inflammatory disease, and no improvement with olfactory training and budesonide topical rinses were enrolled in this preliminary study. Patients received a single intranasal injection of PRP into the mucosa of the olfactory cleft. The Sniffin' Sticks olfactory test consisting of threshold, discrimination, and identification measurements (TDI) was administered at the beginning of the study and at 1 and 3 months.ResultsAll patients reported a subjective improvement of their smell shortly after injection but then stabilized. At 3-month post-treatment, two patients with functional anosmia (TDI < 16) did not improve significantly. Five patients with hyposmia (TDI > 16 but <30) showed an improvement with 60% achieving normosmia (TDI > 30) at 3-month follow-up. On average, patients with baseline TDI > 16 improved by 5.85 points with the most significant improvement in the threshold subcomponent. There were no adverse outcomes from intranasal PRP injections.ConclusionPRP appears safe for use in the treatment of olfactory loss, and preliminary data suggest possible efficacy, especially for those with moderate yet persistent loss. Further studies will help determine optimal frequency and duration of use.Level of evidence 2

A specific brain structural basis for individual differences in reality monitoring.

Much recent interest has centered on understanding the relationship between brain structure variability and individual differences in cognition, but there has been little progress in identifying specific neuroanatomical bases of such individual differences. One cognitive ability that exhibits considerable variability in the healthy population is reality monitoring; the cognitive processes used to introspectively judge whether a memory came from an internal or external source (e.g., whether an event was imagined or actually occurred). Neuroimaging research has implicated the medial anterior prefrontal cortex (PFC) in reality monitoring, and here we sought to determine whether morphological variability in a specific anteromedial PFC brain structure, the paracingulate sulcus (PCS), might underlie performance. Fifty-three healthy volunteers were selected on the basis of MRI scans and classified into four groups according to presence or absence of the PCS in their left or right hemisphere. The group with absence of the PCS in both hemispheres showed significantly reduced reality monitoring performance and ability to introspect metacognitively about their performance when compared with other participants. Consistent with the prediction that sulcal absence might mean greater volume in the surrounding frontal gyri, voxel-based morphometry revealed a significant negative correlation between anterior PFC gray matter and reality monitoring performance. The findings provide evidence that individual differences in introspective abilities like reality monitoring may be associated with specific structural variability in the PFC

Objectification theory predicts college women’s attitudes toward cosmetic surgery

This study investigated cosmetic surgery attitudes within the framework of objectification theory. One hundred predominantlyWhite, British undergraduate women completed self-report measures of impression management, global selfesteem, interpersonal sexual objectification, self-surveillance, body shame, and three components of cosmetic surgery attitudes. As expected, each of the objectification theory variables predicted greater consideration of having cosmetic surgery in the future. Also, as expected, sexual objectification and body shame uniquely predicted socialmotives for cosmetic surgery, whereas self-surveillance uniquely predicted intrapersonal motives for cosmetic surgery. These findings suggest that women’s acceptance of cosmetic surgery as a way to manipulate physical appearance can be partially explained by the degree to which they view themselves through the lenses of sexual and self-objectification

Suppressing Unwanted Autobiographical Memories Reduces Their Automatic Influences: Evidence from Electrophysiology and an Implicit Autobiographical Memory Test

The present study investigated the extent to which people can suppress unwanted autobiographical memories in a mock crime memory detection context. Participants encoded sensorimotor-rich memories by enacting a lab crime (stealing a ring) and received direct suppression instructions so as to evade guilt detection in a brainwave-based concealed information test. Aftereffects of suppression on automatic memory processes were measured in an autobiographical implicit association test (aIAT). Results showed that suppression attenuated brainwave activity (P300) that is associated with crime-relevant memory retrieval, rendering innocent and guilty/suppression participants indistinguishable. However, guilty/suppression and innocent participants could nevertheless be discriminated via the late posterior negative slow wave, which may reflect the need to monitor response conflict arising between voluntary suppression and automatic recognition processes. Lastly, extending recent findings that suppression can impair implicit memory processes; we provide novel evidence that suppression reduces automatic cognitive biases that are otherwise associated with actual autobiographical memories

Manifolds associated with (Z2)n(Z_2)^n-colored regular graphs

In this article we describe a canonical way to expand a certain kind of $(\mathbb Z_2)^{n+1}$-colored regular graphs into closed $n$-manifolds by adding cells determined by the edge-colorings inductively. We show that every closed combinatorial $n$-manifold can be obtained in this way. When $n\leq 3$, we give simple equivalent conditions for a colored graph to admit an expansion. In addition, we show that if a $(\mathbb Z_2)^{n+1}$-colored regular graph admits an $n$-skeletal expansion, then it is realizable as the moment graph of an $(n+1)$-dimensional closed $(\mathbb Z_2)^{n+1}$-manifold.Comment: 20 pages with 9 figures, in AMS-LaTex, v4 added a new section on reconstructing a space with a $(Z_2)^n$-action for which its moment graph is a given colored grap

Equivariant KK-theory of GKM bundles

Given a fiber bundle of GKM spaces, $\pi\colon M\to B$, we analyze the structure of the equivariant $K$-ring of $M$ as a module over the equivariant $K$-ring of $B$ by translating the fiber bundle, $\pi$, into a fiber bundle of GKM graphs and constructing, by combinatorial techniques, a basis of this module consisting of $K$-classes which are invariant under the natural holonomy action on the $K$-ring of $M$ of the fundamental group of the GKM graph of $B$. We also discuss the implications of this result for fiber bundles $\pi\colon M\to B$ where $M$ and $B$ are generalized partial flag varieties and show how our GKM description of the equivariant $K$-ring of a homogeneous GKM space is related to the Kostant-Kumar description of this ring.Comment: 15 page

Pengaruh Pemberian Ekstrak Kulit Buah Pepaya (Carica Papaya) terhadap Penurunan Kadar Glukosa Darah Mencit (Mus Musculus) Hiperglikemik

Hiperglikemik merupakan kondisi yang disebabkan oleh peningkatan kadar glukosa yang signifikan di dalam darah. Kondisi hiperglikemik dipicu oleh aktifitas radikal bebas yang dapat berasal dari makanan yang mengandung lemak jenuh. Aktivitas radikal bebas merusak sel-sel pankreas yang berfungsi menghasilkan insulin. Salah satu alternatif untuk mengatasi kondisi hiperglikemik adalah dengan memanfaatkan sumber antioksidan. Antioksidan bersifat melindungi sel dari radikal bebas oksigen reaktif. Salah satu sumber antioksidan alami yang terdapat di alam berasal dari kulit buah pepaya. Pendekatan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah pendekatan kuantitatif dan jenis penelitian eksperimen dengan menggunakan pola Rancangan Acak Lengkap (RAL) yang terdiri dari 6 perlakuan dan 4 ulangan. Perlakuan terdiri dari P0 (Perlakuan kontrol), P1 (Hiperglikemik), P2 (Hiperglikemik + Ekstrak kulit buah pepaya 70 mg/KgBB), P3 (Hiperglikemik + Ekstrak kulit buah pepaya 90 mg/KgBB), P4 (Hiperglikemik + Ekstrak kulit buah pepaya 90 mg/KgBB), dan P5 (Hiperglikemik + metformin). Analisis data dilakukan dengan análisis varian (ANAVA) dan uji Beda Nyata Terkecil (BNT). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ekstrak kulit buah pepaya (Carica papaya) berpengaruh nyata (P<0,01) terhadap penurunan kadar glukosa darah mencit. Pemberian ekstrak kulit Carica papaya dengan dosis 70 mg/KgBB dapat menurunkan kadar glukosa darah mencit sebesar 58 %. Persentase penurunan menggunakan ekstrak kulit Carica papaya sama dengan pemberian metformin. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian disimpulkan bahwa pemberian ekstrak kulit Carica papaya dapat menurunkan kadar glukosa darah pada mencit hiperglikemik

Analisis Sistem Jaringan Pipa Transmisi Air Baku Kecamatan Bunga Raya Kabupaten Siak

Clean water obtained by the population of Sabak Auh up until now is still very limited. Raw water is taken from Bunga Raya and processed in Bunga Raya water treatment installation which is then the clean water is transmitted to Sabak Auh. Therefore, an alternative of transmission pipe is needed to fulfill water requirement pipe in Sabak Auh. Calculation result shows that water requirement after twenty years is 31 liters/second. Clean water transmission from Bunga Raya to Sabak Auh is 18925,1 meters in length. This research used 4 alternatives, 3 alternatives of Transmission pipe using booster pump and from the relation of discharge and head obtained, it can be conduded that the pumps used in this 4 pump alternatives are Grundfos pump with 2-pole and 4-pole. Clean water transmission system simulation for Sabak Auh is expected to be a guide for the design of transmission of PDAM Bunga Raya

Implicit Tensor-Mass solver on the GPU

International audienceThe realist and interactive simulation of deformable objects has become a challenge in Computer Graphics. For this, the Tensor-Mass model is a good candidate: it enables local solving of mechanical equations, making it easier to control deformations from collisions or tool interaction. In this paper, a GPU implementation is presented for the implicit integration scheme. Results show a notable speedup, especially for complex scenes