Exergaming improves functional fitness in MCI patients. Does the APOE genotype moderate the outcome?

Objectives: Mild cognitive impairment could be defined as the condition between healthy aging and dementia. MCI patients seem to retain the neuroplasticity to benefit from Physical Exercise (PE) interventions delaying the progression to dementia. The present study investigates the impact of PE via “Exergaming” on the functional fitness of MCI adults, depending on the presence of the APOE?4 allele. Methods: 159 MCI participants were recruited. They were separated to two groups (performing PE or not). The Fullerton Functional Test was used as a primary outcome measure in two-time points (prior to and after PE). Results: The Active group showed more considerable improvement compared to the Passive group in all Fullerton components despite the presence of APOE?4. Discussion: ?? via exergaming has a beneficial functional effect in MCI patients, whether carrying the APOE?4 allele or not

Detecting Manipulations in Video

This chapter presents the techniques researched and developed within InVID for the forensic analysis of videos, and the detection and localization of forgeries within User-Generated Videos (UGVs). Following an overview of state-of-the-art video tampering detection techniques, we observed that the bulk of current research is mainly dedicated to frame-based tampering analysis or encoding-based inconsistency characterization. We built upon this existing research, by designing forensics filters aimed to highlight any traces left behind by video tampering, with a focus on identifying disruptions in the temporal aspects of a video. As for many other data analysis domains, deep neural networks show very promising results in tampering detection as well. Thus, following the development of a number of analysis filters aimed to help human users in highlighting inconsistencies in video content, we proceeded to develop a deep learning approach aimed to analyze the outputs of these forensics filters and automatically detect tampered videos. In this chapter, we present our survey of the state of the art with respect to its relevance to the goals of InVID, the forensics filters we developed and their potential role in localizing video forgeries, as well as our deep learning approach for automatic tampering detection. We present experimental results on benchmark and real-world data, and analyze the results. We observe that the proposed method yields promising results compared to the state of the art, especially with respect to the algorithm’s ability to generalize to unknown data taken from the real world. We conclude with the research directions that our work in InVID has opened for the future

Differential effects of alprazolam and clonazepam on the immune system and blood vessels of non-stressed and stressed adult male albino rats

Benzodiazepines belongs to one of the most commonly used anxiolytic and anticonvulsant drugs in the world. Full description of toxic effects on different organs is lacking for nearly all the current benzodiazepines. The aim of the current work was to study the immunologic and vascular changes induced by sub-chronic administration of alprazolam and clonazepam in non-stressed and stressed adult male albino rats. Forty-two adult male albino rats were divided into 6 groups (I): (Ia) Negative control rats, (Ib): Positive control rats received distilled water, (II): Stressed rats, (III): Non-stressed rats received daily oral dose of clonazepam (0.5 mg/kg), (IV): Stressed rats received daily oral dose of clonazepam (0.5 mg/kg), (V): Non-stressed rats received daily oral dose of alprazolam (0.3 mg/kg). (VI): Stressed rats received daily oral dose of alprazolam (0.3 mg/kg). At the end of the 4th week, total leukocyte count (WBCs) and differential count were determined, anti-sheep RBC antibody (Anti-SRBC) titer and interleukin-2 (IL-2) level were assessed, thymus glands, lymph nodes, spleens and abdominal aortae were submitted to histopathological examination. Alprazolam was found to induce a significant increase in neutrophil count and a significant decrease in lymphocytes, anti-SRBC titer and IL-2 level with severe depletion of the splenic, thymal and nodal lymphocytes, accompanied by congestion and eosinophilic vasculitis of all organs tested in comparison to clonazepam treated rats. Stress enhanced the toxic effects. It was concluded that the immune system and blood vessels can be adversely affected to a greater extent by short-term chronic administration of alprazolam than by clonazepam, and these toxic effects are aggravated by stress

Greek elementary school children's beliefs about long-term effects of drinking and smoking

Tobacco use and alcohol consumption are two of the most hazardous habits, leading to serious health problems. The present study aimed at investigating Greek elementary school children's conceptions regarding the effects of long-term alcohol consumption and tobacco use, along with their attitudes towards those substances and their intentions for using them. A total of 605 students (302 boys and 303 girls) aged 10-12 years old participated in the study, in which an 18-item questionnaire was used. Our results indicate that children's knowledge on the effects of smoking and drinking were limited and somewhat confused. Regarding their attitudes, although children were negatively disposed towards smoking and drinking, they seemed to be more strict towards smoking in comparison to drinking, especially when asked about adult smoking and drinking. Finally, although the majority of children expressed no intention to smoke or drink at present, more than half of them stated that they will drink as adults

Effects of pesticides on exposed populations from four European countries

The potential genetic hazard of pesticides to humans is of great concern, in particular in occupational and environmental settings because of their widespread use for domestic and industrial applications. In the present study the genotoxic potentials of commonly applied pesticides have been evaluated using the single cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay). This method was used to quantify the level of DNA damage in lymphocytes of farmers who were occupationally exposed to pesticides. Particularly, we measured the amount of DNA damage in isolated human peripheral lymphocytes from agricultural workers from Spain, Hungary, Poland and Greece in comparison to healthy men from the same areas who had no previous occupational exposure to pesticides. All results indicated no statistically significant differences in basal DNA damage between our study groups. In addition, exposure of peripheral blood lymphocytes to hydrogen peroxide or γ-irradiation led to a similar degree of additional DNA damage and subsequent repair for all our studied populations. In conclusion the greenhouse workers who participated in this study had no detectable increased DNA damage or alteration in their cellular response to DNA damage from our control populations. ©PHARMAKON-Press

Saitohin gene is not associated with Alzheimer's disease

Objective and methods: To test the above hypothesis in a case–control association study of two independent white populations within Switzerland and Greece, comparing genotype and allele frequencies from 225 Alzheimer's disease patients and 144 healthy control subjects. Results: No differences in allelic or genotypic distributions between Alzheimer's disease patients and controls was found in the individual samples (Swiss/Greek) or in the combined sample. Stratification for the presence of apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele, sex, or age did not show significant effects in the populations studied, nor was there an effect on the age of onset. Conclusions: No evidence was found for an association of the non-synonymous polymorphism (Q7R) in STH and Alzheimer's disease. This finding is in line with earlier studies showing no association between MAPT and Alzheimer's disease

ABCA1 modulates CSF cholesterol levels and influences the age at onset of Alzheimer's disease

Increased formation of the beta-amyloid peptide (Abeta) is a central event in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). High cellular cholesterol load promotes Abeta formation. The ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) mediates cholesterol efflux from cells. We hypothesized that genetic variability in ABCA1 may influence cholesterol metabolism in the central nervous system (CNS) and, thus, interfere with the development of AD. Healthy elderly carriers of the A allele of a non-synonymous (R219K) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the ABCA1 gene (rs2234884) had on average 33% lower total cholesterol in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) than non-carriers. In 169 patients with late onset, sporadic AD, this allele was associated with delayed age at onset of the disease by 1.7 years on average. Rs2234884 and another non-synonymous SNP (R1587K) in ABCA1 (rs2234886) failed to show significant association with the risk for AD. We conclude that genetic variability of ABCA1 influences the development of AD, possibly by interfering with CNS cholesterol homeostasis