Functional changes in the cortical semantic network in amnestic mild cognitive impairment

Semantic memory impairment has been documented in older individuals with amnestic Mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), who are at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD), yet little is known about the neural basis of this breakdown. The main objective of this study was to investigate the brain mechanisms associated with semantic performance in patients with aMCI. Method: A group of aMCI patients and a group of healthy older controls carried out a semantic categorization task while their brain activity was recorded using magnetoencephalography (MEG). During the task, participants were shown famous faces and had to determine whether each famous person matched a given occupation. The main hypotheses were that: (i) semantic processing should be compromised for aMCI patients, and (ii) these deficits should be associated with cortical dysfunctions within specific areas of the semantic network. Results: Behavioural results showed that aMCI participants were significantly slower and less accurate than control participants at the semantic task, corroborating previous reports. Additionally, relative to controls, a significant pattern of hyperactivation was found in the aMCI group within specific regions of the semantic network, including the right anterior temporal lobe and inferior prefrontal cortex. Conclusions: Abnormal functional activation within key areas of the semantic network suggests that it is compromised early in the disease process. Moreover, this pattern of increased activation in aMCI was positively associated with grey matter integrity in specific areas, but was not associated with any specific pattern of atrophy, suggesting that functional hyperactivation may precede atrophy of the semantic network in aMCI

Factores mercadológicos utilizados por las organizaciones de producción cinematográfica mexicanas (OPCM) y su impacto en los ingresos en taquilla:.

This document is intended to capture the marketing factors impact in the spectator purchase decisions of ticket at the box office in Monterrey and it metropolitan area, thereby increasing the income of the Mexican Motion Pictures Production Organizations (OPCM). Reference is made to the Mexican booming film industry of the 40´s generating economic and cultural wealth. We analyze the recent performance of Mexican and U.S. cinema referencing to the years from 2002 to 2007. We discuss some factors that can be used as supporting tools for marketing by de OPCM in their productions, such as special effects, enhancing the club effect, merchandising, genre and film classification, as well as the release date. We study in detail the marketing main factors used by the OPCM: advertising, critics, talent, recommendations and availability in theaters; and through the application of a poll and a linear regression analysis, we determine the impact of these on box office revenues

Restricted Outbreak of American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis with high microfocal transmission

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is endemic in Salta, the northwestern province of Argentina. We describe an outbreak involving five recreational hunters whose exposure was limited to several hours in a residual patch of primary forest. All patients presented with typical cutaneous lesions after a mean incubation period of 59 days (range 15–78), and one developed simultaneous mucosal involvement. Polymerase chain reaction analysis of lesions confirmed Leishmania (V.) braziliensis as the etiologic agent in three cases. All patients were cured with anti-Leishmania treatment. Entomologic surveys in the transmission area revealed a predominance of Lutzomyia neivai. This outbreak report confirms a microfocal transmission pattern of tegumentary leishmaniasis in the Americas and based on a well-determined exposure, allows the determination of incubation times for leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania braziliensis.Fil: Krolewiecki, Alejandro Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Salta. Instituto de Patología Experimental; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Sede Regional Oran. Instituto de Investigación de Enfermedades Tropicales; ArgentinaFil: Gil, José Fernando. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Sede Regional Oran. Instituto de Investigación de Enfermedades Tropicales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Quipildor, Marcelo. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Sede Regional Oran. Instituto de Investigacion de Enfermedades Tropicales; Argentina. Hospital San Vicente de Paul; ArgentinaFil: Cajal, Silvana P.. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Sede Regional Oran. Instituto de Investigacion de Enfermedades Tropicales; ArgentinaFil: Pravia, Carlos Alberto. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología; ArgentinaFil: Juarez, Marisa. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Sede Regional Oran. Instituto de Investigacion de Enfermedades Tropicales; ArgentinaFil: Villalpando, Carlos. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Sede Regional Oran. Instituto de Investigacion de Enfermedades Tropicales; ArgentinaFil: Locatelli, Fabricio M.. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Sede Regional Oran. Instituto de Investigacion de Enfermedades Tropicales; ArgentinaFil: Chanampa, Mariana del Milagro. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Sede Regional Oran. Instituto de Investigacion de Enfermedades Tropicales; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Castillo, Gabriela. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Oreste, Maria Fernanda. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Hoyos, Carlos Lorenzo. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Sede Regional Oran. Instituto de Investigacion de Enfermedades Tropicales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Negri, Vanesa. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología; ArgentinaFil: Nasser, Julio Rubén. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Sede Regional Oran. Instituto de Investigacion de Enfermedades Tropicales; Argentin

Discurso juridico, sobre la succession en la Varonia de Quinto defensa de la hija de el ultimo possedor, contra el patruo transversal satisfacion a los motivos que tuvo la Corte del Ilustrissimo Señor Justicia de Aragon, para pronunciar a favor de el Masculo, en el processo Maria Perez super apprehensione : por la ...señora doña Maria Regalado de Funes, Villalpando, y Ariño, Condesa de Montijo, Marquesa de Ossera y de Castañeda : disputase en la apelacion, que ha interpuesto su Excelencia à la Real Audiencia Civil de este Reyno

Precede al texto en p.1, viñeta con la inscripción: "Jesus, Maria, Joseph"Copia digital : Diputación Provincial de Zaragoza. Servicio de Archivos y Bibliotecas, 2010Datos de tít, tomados de p.1, y mención de responsabilidad del final del textoTexto fechado al final del mismo en Zaragoza ... 1703Sign.: A-Z\p2\s, 2A-2Z\p2\sInic. grab. xil. en p.

Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease and Other Diseases Affect Adults and Recruits of Major Reef Builders at Different Spatial Scales in the Dominican Republic

Monitoring programs can help understand coral disease dynamics. Here, we present results from a national program in the Dominican Republic (DR) aimed at evaluating coral diseases 3 times a year following a nested spatial design. Prevalence of coral diseases in DR varied from sites to regions, suggesting that disease dynamics can be driven by local processes and/or across larger spatial scales. Three diseases were common: Dark Spot (DSD), Yellow Band (YBD) and Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD). DSD and YBD were more prevalent across the western coast (north and south), whereas SCTLD was restricted for the study period to the northern coast. SCTLD has become endemic in the northwestern coast, epizootic in the northeastern, and absent in other sites across DR. SCTLD prevalence in the northwest was below 10% across sites, whereas in the northeast it varied from 2.13±3.69% (mean± sd) to 38.7±13.55% in Galeras and from 1.9±0.99% to 38.5±19.8% in Samaná. Over 10 coral species were affected by SCTLD in DR, with Pseudodiploria spp, Dendrogyra cylindrus, Eusmilia fastigiata, Siderastrea siderea, Montastraea cavernosa and Meandrina spp, being the most susceptible. We observed SCTLD affecting recruits and juvenile corals with 5% prevalence on average. Furthermore, we observed Oreaster reticulatus climbing on 1% healthy and 27% SCTLD P. strigosa colonies in Samaná. We conclude that SCTLD is a serious problem in DR, producing rapid loss of coral cover of major reef builders that are locally used for propagation efforts. This monitoring plan will provide future insights to design more effective disease responses

A novel criticality analysis method for assessing obesity treatment efficacy

Human gait is a significant indicator of overall health and well-being due to its dependence on metabolic requirements. Abnormalities in gait can indicate the presence of metabolic dysfunction, such as diabetes or obesity. However, detecting these can be challenging using classical methods, which often involve subjective clinical assessments or invasive procedures. In this work, a novel methodology known as Criticality Analysis (CA) was applied to the monitoring of the gait of teenagers with varying amounts of metabolic stress who are taking part in an clinical intervention to increase their activity and reduce overall weight. The CA approach analysed gait using inertial measurement units (IMU) by mapping the dynamic gait pattern into a nonlinear representation space. The resulting dynamic paths were then classified using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm, which is well-suited for this task due to its ability to handle nonlinear and dynamic data. The combination of the CA approach and the SVM algorithm demonstrated high accuracy and non-invasive detection of metabolic stress. It resulted in an average accuracy within the range of 78.2% to 90%. Additionally, at the group level, it was observed to improve fitness and health during the period of the intervention. Therefore, this methodology showed a great potential to be a valuable tool for healthcare professionals in detecting and monitoring metabolic stress, as well as other associated disorders

Analysis of protein-coding genetic variation in 60,706 humans

Large-scale reference data sets of human genetic variation are critical for the medical and functional interpretation of DNA sequence changes. We describe the aggregation and analysis of high-quality exome (protein-coding region) sequence data for 60,706 individuals of diverse ethnicities generated as part of the Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC). This catalogue of human genetic diversity contains an average of one variant every eight bases of the exome, and provides direct evidence for the presence of widespread mutational recurrence. We have used this catalogue to calculate objective metrics of pathogenicity for sequence variants, and to identify genes subject to strong selection against various classes of mutation; identifying 3,230 genes with near-complete depletion of truncating variants with 72% having no currently established human disease phenotype. Finally, we demonstrate that these data can be used for the efficient filtering of candidate disease-causing variants, and for the discovery of human “knockout” variants in protein-coding genes