Classification-Based Screening of Parkinson’s Disease Patients through Graph and Handwriting Signals

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases, affecting millions of people worldwide, especially among the elderly population. It has been demonstrated that handwriting impairment can be an important early marker for the detection of this disease. The aim of this study was to propose a simple and quick way to discriminate PD patients from controls through handwriting tasks using machine-learning techniques. We developed a telemonitoring system based on a user-friendly application for drawing tablets that enabled us to collect real-time information about position, pressure, and inclination of the digital pen during the experiment and, simultaneously, to supply visual feedback on the screen to the subject. We developed a protocol that includes drawing and writing tasks, including tasks in the Italian language, and we collected data from 22 healthy subjects and 9 PD patients. Using the collected signals and data from a preexisting database, we developed a machine-learning model to automatically discriminate PD patients from healthy control subjects with an accuracy of 77.5%

Cortical Plasticity Induced by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation during Wakefulness Affects Electroencephalogram Activity during Sleep

BACKGROUND:Sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) brain oscillations in the low-frequency range show local signs of homeostatic regulation after learning. Such increases and decreases of slow wave activity are limited to the cortical regions involved in specific task performance during wakefulness. Here, we test the hypothesis that reorganization of motor cortex produced by long-term potentiation (LTP) affects EEG activity of this brain area during subsequent sleep. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:By pairing median nerve stimulation with transcranial magnetic stimulation over the contralateral motor cortex, one can potentiate the motor output, which is presumed to reflect plasticity of the neural circuitry. This paired associative stimulation increases M1 cortical excitability at interstimulus intervals of 25 ms. We compared the scalp distribution of sleep EEG power following paired associative stimulation at 25 ms to that following a control paradigm with 50 ms intervals. It is shown that the experimental manipulation by paired associative stimulation at 25 ms induces a 48% increase in amplitude of motor evoked potentials. This LTP-like potentiation, induced during waking, affects delta and theta EEG power in both REM and non-REM sleep, measured during the following night. Slow-wave activity increases in some frontal and prefrontal derivations and decreases at sites neighboring and contralateral to the stimulated motor cortex. The magnitude of increased amplitudes of motor evoked potentials by the paired associative stimulation at 25 ms predicts enhancements of slow-wave activity in prefrontal regions. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:An LTP-like paradigm, presumably inducing increased synaptic strength, leads to changes in local sleep regulation, as indexed by EEG slow-wave activity. Enhancement and depression of slow-wave activity are interpreted in terms of a simultaneous activation of both excitatory and inhibitory circuits consequent to the paired associative stimulation at 25 ms

Acute Delta Hepatitis in Italy spanning three decades (1991–2019): Evidence for the effectiveness of the hepatitis B vaccination campaign

Updated incidence data of acute Delta virus hepatitis (HDV) are lacking worldwide. Our aim was to evaluate incidence of and risk factors for acute HDV in Italy after the introduction of the compulsory vaccination against hepatitis B virus (HBV) in 1991. Data were obtained from the National Surveillance System of acute viral hepatitis (SEIEVA). Independent predictors of HDV were assessed by logistic-regression analysis. The incidence of acute HDV per 1-million population declined from 3.2 cases in 1987 to 0.04 in 2019, parallel to that of acute HBV per 100,000 from 10.0 to 0.39 cases during the same period. The median age of cases increased from 27 years in the decade 1991-1999 to 44 years in the decade 2010-2019 (p < .001). Over the same period, the male/female ratio decreased from 3.8 to 2.1, the proportion of coinfections increased from 55% to 75% (p = .003) and that of HBsAg positive acute hepatitis tested for by IgM anti-HDV linearly decreased from 50.1% to 34.1% (p < .001). People born abroad accounted for 24.6% of cases in 2004-2010 and 32.1% in 2011-2019. In the period 2010-2019, risky sexual behaviour (O.R. 4.2; 95%CI: 1.4-12.8) was the sole independent predictor of acute HDV; conversely intravenous drug use was no longer associated (O.R. 1.25; 95%CI: 0.15-10.22) with this. In conclusion, HBV vaccination was an effective measure to control acute HDV. Intravenous drug use is no longer an efficient mode of HDV spread. Testing for IgM-anti HDV is a grey area requiring alert. Acute HDV in foreigners should be monitored in the years to come

Evoluzione del cariotipo negli animali del suolo: i miriapodi Pauropodi.

Vengono presentati i primi dati sulla cariologia dei Pauropodi al momento praticamente nulli. Si riferiscono i dati preliminari dell'analisi cariotipica di tre diverse specie. Allopauropus (A.) brevisetus, Allopauropus (A.) danicus e pauropus huxley

Chromosome studies in Protura Eosentomoidea

Karyological investigations on specimens diagnosed as Eosentomon transitorium, collected in different sites, was carried out

Karyotypes and habitat interrelations among soil Arthropoda: Collembola and Protura

In five species of Onychiurus (Collembola Onychiuridae) the diploid chromosome number is higher in animals of narrower width. In three species of Acerentomon (Protura, Acerentomidae) the number of the chromosome arms (FN), not the chromosme number, is inversely correlated to the length of the foretarsus and consequently to the narrowness of the passages they can frequent

Chromosomes of Pauropoda.

The karyotypes of 4 species of Pauropoda belonging to two genera of the family Pauropodidae are studied. The chromosomes of different species are found to vary in number between 2n=12 and 2n=28. This range of variation is similar to that known for Chilopoda and Diplopoda. We also succeeded in analyzing the female meiotic process of two pauropod species which in other myriapods has hitherto proved problematical. Sex determination is of the X0 type for Pauropus furcifer and Pauropus huxleyi, and of the XY type for Allopauropus danicus

Analisi cariologica di tre specie di Onichiuridi (Collembola, Insecta)

L'analisi cariologica di tre specie di collemboli onichiuridi, tutti appartenenti allo stesso genere Onychiurus (Protaphorura) ha messo in evidenza l'alto numero di cromosomi del corredo diploide di queste specie, con 2n= 16 in O. quadriocellatus e 2n= 18 in O. armatus e O. glebatus. Questi numeri sono i più alti finora accertati nei collemboli

Metodi per la rilevazione degli effetti dell'atrazina ed altri erbicidi sulla pedofauna.

Vengono presentati metodi per la valutazione degli effetti sulla pedofauna di erbicidi con particolare riguardo all'atrazina. Vengono prese in considerazione prove in laboratorio e prove in campo