Paired-Pulse Inhibition in the Auditory Cortex in Parkinson's Disease and Its Dependence on Clinical Characteristics of the Patients

We aimed to determine the value of the paired-pulse inhibition (PPI) in the auditory cortex in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and analyze its dependence on clinical characteristics of the patients. The central (Cz) auditory evoked potentials were recorded in 58 patients with PD and 22 age-matched healthy subjects. PPI of the N1/P2 component was significantly (P < .001) reduced for interstimulus intervals 500, 700, and 900 ms in patients with PD compared to control subjects. The value of PPI correlated negatively with the age of the PD patients (P < .05), age of disease onset (P < .05), body bradykinesia score (P < .01), and positively with the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) cognitive score (P < .01). Negative correlation between value of PPI and the age of the healthy subjects (P < .05) was also observed. Thus, results show that cortical inhibitory processes are deficient in PD patients and that the brain's ability to carry out the postexcitatory inhibition is age-dependent

Cultural Linguistics as a Unique Basis for Language Data Interpretation

The article is devoted to the solution of several issues. The first one is the consideration of cultural linguistics as a modern science studying features of culture which are reflected in the specific language of the specific country. The second issue concerns studying and analyzing linguistic units used to create the image of V.V. Putin in British, American and Spanish news articles not older than three years. The article presents some cases of cultural influence on linguistic units chosen by the authors to describe V. Putin’s image. The reason for the choice is explained by the high frequency of V. Putin’s name referring in international news agencies, newspapers and magazines and historical and cultural features of two different cultures that have a serious impact on the way of perceiving and describing V. Putin. The article shows some particularities of the variation of the English and Spanish languages used to make the image of V. Putin. The article provides some information on the numbers of English and Spanish native speakers. The research is held by means of modern journalistic English and Spanish languages. Contrastive-comparative and contextual analysis, lingo-stylistical and continuous sampling and content methods were used in the research