Mozart’s music between predictability and surprise: results of an experimental research based on electroencephalography, entropy and Hurst exponent

OBJECTIVE: The main goal of our work was to simultaneously study musical and electroencephalogram (EEG) signal while listening to Mozart’s K448 Sonata, a piece known for the “Mozart effect”, with the aim to better understand the reasons of beneficial effect of music on the brain. DESIGN: To this purpose, in a small sample of young healthy subjects, we examined the EEG correlates of modifications of brain activity, also applying the concepts of entropy and Hurst exponent H to K448 Sonata compared to a selection of Mozart’s excerpts, so that to expose the peculiar characteristics of this compositions in terms of predictability and surprise for the listener RESULTS: Spectral analysis showed that mean beta rhythm significantly grew during the listening to K448, and that this effect remaining immediately after, but to a lesser extent. Furthermore, we found that maximum values of entropy and lower values of H were reached by K448 compared to a selection of Mozart’s pieces. CONCLUSIONS: The results support the hypothesis of an overall effect of activation of the superior cortical functions during listening to K448, and immediately afterwards, in healthy young adults, and of a greater complexity of this sonata compared to a selection of Mozart’s pieces

A Stage-Based Approach to Therapy in Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that features progressive, disabling motor symptoms, such as bradykinesia, rigidity, and resting tremor. Nevertheless, some non-motor symptoms, including depression, REM sleep behavior disorder, and olfactive impairment, are even earlier features of PD. At later stages, apathy, impulse control disorder, neuropsychiatric disturbances, and cognitive impairment can present, and they often become a heavy burden for both patients and caregivers. Indeed, PD increasingly compromises activities of daily life, even though a high variability in clinical presentation can be observed among people affected. Nowadays, symptomatic drugs and non-pharmaceutical treatments represent the best therapeutic options to improve quality of life in PD patients. The aim of the present review is to provide a practical, stage-based guide to pharmacological management of both motor and non-motor symptoms of PD. Furthermore, warning about drug side effects, contraindications, as well as dosage and methods of administration, are highlighted here, to help the physician in yielding the best therapeutic strategies for each symptom and condition in patients with PD

Beijing/W Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Italy

We studied a total of 245 M. tuberculosis strains collected during a 1-year period, from January to December 2002, from the same number of TB patients hospitalized in Tuscany, Italy. Spoligotype analysis showed seven isolates with the typical Beijing/W pattern of probe hybridization only to spacer sequences 35–43. This is the first report of isolation of M. tuberculosis strains of Beijing genotype in Italy

Patient with corticobasal syndrome showing disease-associated biomarkers of dementia with Lewy Bodies: a Treviso Dementia (TREDEM) registry case report

Background: An 82-year-old right-handed man, a retired teacher, reported the occurrence, three years earlier, of difficulties in moving his left arm and foot, tremor in his left hand, and gestures of the left upper limb that appeared to be independent of the patient's will.Objective: We describe an unusual case of corticobasal syndrome (CBS) showing disease-associated biomarkers of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).Methods: Clinical, neuropsychological, imaging, and biomarker evaluations were conducted, including tau and amyloid-beta levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and a RT-QuIC assay for alpha-synuclein both in the CSF and olfactory mucosa (OM), as well as a QEEG assessment.Results: The patient presented resting tremor, mild extrapyramidal hypertonus, mild bradykinesia on the left side, and severe apraxia on the left upper limb. Brain MRI showed a diffuse right hemisphere atrophy which was prominent in the posterior parietal and temporal cortices, and moderate in the frontal cortex and the precuneus area. F-18-FDG PET imaging showed reduced glucose metabolism in the right lateral parietal, temporal, and frontal cortices with involvement of the right precuneus. The putamen did not appear to be pathological at DaTQUANT. Neuropsychological tests showed memory and visual-perceptual deficits. CSF tau and amyloid measurements did not show clear pathological values. RT-QuIC for alpha-synuclein in CSF and OM samples were positive. The QEEG analysis showed a pre-alpha dominant frequency in posterior derivations, typical of early stages of DLB.Conclusion: Although in the present patient the clinical diagnosis was of probable CBS, unexpectedly positive biomarkers for DLB suggested the co-presence of multiple pathologies

Cortical Network Topology in Prodromal and Mild Dementia Due to Alzheimer\u2019s Disease: Graph Theory Applied to Resting State EEG

Graph theory analysis on resting state electroencephalographic rhythms disclosed topological properties of cerebral network. In Alzheimer\u2019s disease (AD) patients, this approach showed mixed results. Granger causality matrices were used as input to the graph theory allowing to estimate the strength and the direction of information transfer between electrode pairs. The number of edges (degree), the number of inward edges (in-degree), of outgoing edges (out-degree) were statistically compared among healthy controls, patients with mild cognitive impairment due to AD (AD-MCI) and AD patients with mild dementia (ADD) to evaluate if degree abnormality could involve low and/or high degree vertices, the so called hubs, in both prodromal and over dementia stage. Clustering coefficient and local efficiency were evaluated as measures of network segregation, path length and global efficiency as measures of integration, the assortativity coefficient as a measure of resilience. Degree, in-degree and out-degree values were lower in AD-MCI and ADD than the control group for non-hubs and hubs vertices. The number of edges was preserved for frontal electrodes, where patients\u2019 groups showed an additional hub in F3. Clustering coefficient was lower in ADD compared with AD-MCI in the right occipital electrode, and it was positively correlated with mini mental state examination. Local and global efficiency values were lower in patients\u2019 than control groups. Our results show that the topology of the network is altered in AD patients also in its prodromal stage, begins with the reduction of the number of edges and the loss of the local and global efficiency

Contribution of MUTYH variants to male breast cancer risk: results from a multicenter study in Italy

Inherited mutations in BRCA1, and, mainly, BRCA2 genes are associated with increased risk of male breast cancer (MBC). Mutations in PALB2 and CHEK2 genes may also increase MBC risk. Overall, these genes are functionally linked to DNA repair pathways, highlighting the central role of genome maintenance in MBC genetic predisposition. MUTYH is a DNA repair gene whose biallelic germline variants cause MUTYH-associated polyposis (MAP) syndrome. Monoallelic MUTYH variants have been reported in families with both colorectal and breast cancer and there is some evidence on increased breast cancer risk in women with monoallelic variants. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether MUTYH germline variants may contribute to MBC susceptibility. To this aim, we screened the entire coding region of MUTYH in 503 BRCA1/2 mutation negative MBC cases by multigene panel analysis. Moreover, we genotyped selected variants, including p.Tyr179Cys, p.Gly396Asp, p.Arg245His, p.Gly264Trpfs*7, and p.Gln338His, in a total of 560 MBC cases and 1,540 male controls. Biallelic MUTYH pathogenic variants (p.Tyr179Cys/p.Arg241Trp) were identified in one MBC patient with phenotypic manifestation of adenomatous polyposis. Monoallelic pathogenic variants were identified in 14 (2.5%) MBC patients, in particular, p.Tyr179Cys was detected in seven cases, p.Gly396Asp in five cases, p.Arg245His and p.Gly264Trpfs*7 in one case each. The majority of MBC cases with MUTYH pathogenic variants had family history of cancer including breast, colorectal, and gastric cancers. In the case-control study, an association between the variant p.Tyr179Cys and increased MBC risk emerged by multivariate analysis [odds ratio (OR) = 4.54; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.17-17.58; p = 0.028]. Overall, our study suggests that MUTYH pathogenic variants may have a role in MBC and, in particular, the p.Tyr179Cys variant may be a low/moderate penetrance risk allele for MBC. Moreover, our results suggest that MBC may be part of the tumor spectrum associated with MAP syndrome, with implication in the clinical management of patients and their relatives. Large-scale collaborative studies are needed to validate these findings

The control of muscle protein turnover in patients on peritoneal dialys

Wasting is observed in a large percentage of patients receiving peritoneal dialysis (PD) and it is associated with functional impairment and worse outcome. In this article, we review the current state of our knowledge regarding the effects of PD on protein metabolism and their possible interactions with the uremia-induced and comorbidity-induced alterations in protein metabolism. Available evidence shows that glucose-based PD induces a new state in muscle protein dynamics, which is characterized by decreased turnover rates and a reduced efficiency of protein turnover, a condition which may be harmful in stress conditions, when nutrient intake is diminished or during superimposed catabolic illnesses. The effects of PD on protein turnover may overlap with the effects of aging and comorbidities to promote net catabolism. There is a need to develop more effective treatments to enhance the nutritional and functional status of PD patients. New approaches include the use of icodextrins to maintain extracellular volume, amino acids/keto acids-containing supplements combined with physical exercise, vitamin D, myostatin antagonism, and ghrelin agonism for malnourished patients refractory to standard nutritional therapy