Sleep disturbance and serum ferritin levels associate with high impulsivity and impulse control disorders in male Parkinson\u27s Disease patients

Impulse control disorders (ICDs) occur in a subset of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients on dopaminergic medications however there are currently no reliable markers to identify patients at risk. Sleep disturbances are more common in patients with an ICD. Serum ferritin levels have been associated with PD disease stage and progression, but have not previously been associated with impulsivity levels. The objective of this study was to determine if serum ferritin levels and sleep disturbance are associated with high traits of impulsivity and ICD in a cohort of PD patients attending a movement disorders clinic. This study assessed impulsiveness in 87 PD patients using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. Severity of sleep disturbance was determined using the sleep-related items of the MDS-UPDRS. Serum ferritin, iron and transferrin levels were measured in patients, as well as 36 age-matched healthy controls. Serum ferritin levels were significantly elevated in male PD patients in the high impulsivity group compared to patients in the low (p=.022) and normal range groups (p=.024) and showed a linear increase across the three groups. Sleep disturbance also demonstrated a linear trend, which was most severe in the high impulsivity group (p=.030). A subgroup of 11 male PD patients who fulfilled the DSM-5 criteria for an ICD had significantly higher ferritin levels and more severe sleep disturbance when compared with the remaining male PD cohort. Serum ferritin levels and sleep disturbance severity are highlighted as potential markers for abnormal impulsivity and ICD in PD patients

Extended Timed Up and Go assessment as a clinical indicator of cognitive state in Parkinson\u27s disease

Objective: To evaluate a modified extended Timed Up and Go (extended-TUG) assessment against a panel of validated clinical assessments, as an indicator of Parkinson’s disease (PD) severity and cognitive impairment. Methods: Eighty-seven participants with idiopathic PD were sequentially recruited from a Movement Disorders Clinic. An extended-TUG assessment was employed which required participants to stand from a seated position, walk in a straight line for 7 metres, turn 180 degrees and then return to the start, in a seated position. The extended-TUG assessment duration was correlated to a panel of clinical assessments, including the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), Quality of Life (PDQ-39), Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson’s disease (SCOPA-Cog), revised Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Index (ACE-R) and Barratt’s Impulsivity Scale 11 (BIS-11). Results: Extended-TUG time was significantly correlated to MDS-UPDRS III score and to SCOPA-Cog, ACE-R (p\u3c0.001) and PDQ-39 scores (p\u3c0.01). Generalized linear models determined the extended-TUG to be a sole variable in predicting ACE-R or SCOPA-Cog scores. Patients in the fastest extended-TUG tertile were predicted to perform 8.3 and 13.4 points better in the SCOPA-Cog and ACE-R assessments, respectively, than the slowest group. Patients who exceeded the dementia cut-off scores with these instruments exhibited significantly longer extended-TUG times. Conclusions: Extended-TUG performance appears to be a useful indicator of cognition as well as motor function and quality of life in PD, and warrants further evaluation as a first line assessment tool to monitor disease severity and response to treatment. Poor extended-TUG performance may identify patients without overt cognitive impairment form whom cognitive assessment is needed

The structure and petrology of the Cnoc nan Cuilean Intrusion, Loch Loyal Syenite Complex, NW Scotland

In NW Scotland, several alkaline intrusive complexes of Silurian age intrude the Caledonian orogenic front. The most northerly is the Loch Loyal Syenite Complex, which is divided into three separate intrusions (Ben Loyal, Beinn Stumanadh and Cnoc nan Cuilean). Mapping of the Cnoc nan Cuilean intrusion shows two main zones: a Mixed Syenite Zone (MZ) and a Massive Leucosyenite Zone (LZ), with a gradational contact. The MZ forms a lopolith, with multiple syenitic lithologies, including early basic melasyenites and later felsic leucosyenites. Leucosyenite melts mixed and mingled with melasyenites, resulting in extreme heterogeneity within the MZ. Continued felsic magmatism resulted in formation of the relatively homogeneous LZ, invading western parts of the MZ and now forming the topographically highest terrane. The identification of pegmatites, microgranitic veins and unusual biotite-magnetite veins demonstrates the intrusion's complex petrogenesis. Cross-sections have been used to create a novel 3D GoCad™ model contributing to our understanding of the intrusion. The Loch Loyal Syenite Complex is known to have relatively high concentrations of rare earth elements (REEs), and thus the area has potential economic and strategic value. At Cnoc nan Cuilean, abundant REE-bearing allanite is present within melasyenites of the MZ. Extensive hydrothermal alteration of melasyenites here formed steeply dipping biotite-magnetite veins, most enriched in allanite and other REE-bearing accessories. This study has thus identified the area of greatest importance for further study of REE enrichment processes in the Cnoc nan Cuilean intrusion

K-theory of noncommutative Bieberbach manifolds

We compute $K-theory of noncommutative Bieberbach manifolds, which quotients of a three-dimensional noncommutative torus by a free action of a cyclic group Z_N, N=2,3,4,6.Comment: 19 page

The impact of El Nino and La Nina weather patterns on Canterbury water resources

Water is an extremely important and increasingly contentious resource in the Canterbury region. An accurate assessment of the size and behaviour of the resource is fundamental to effective water management. This study attempts to calculate rainfall, runoff and evapotranspiration (ET) for Canterbury in order to ascertain a regional water balance as a means of quantifying a net excess or deficit of water in the hydrological budget. The effect of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on this water balance is investigated. Water balances are calculated for two ‘mega-catchments’; western or ‘Alpine’ Canterbury, from the Southern Alps to the foothills, and eastern or ‘Plains’ Canterbury. Long term averages (LTA) are compared with the two strongest years of positive and negative ENSO in the last thirty years, as measured by the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI). The water balance of the Alpine catchment proved problematic, with a significant deficit result. This is thought to be due to major underestimation of rainfall in the alpine region resulting from poor distribution of rainfall gauges. The rainfall figures were recalculated by addition of runoff and ET. The resulting rainfall figures show an increase in rain from LTA for El Nino years and an even greater increase for La Nina, although the high variability in rain means these differences are not statistically significant. This research indicates that there is an impact of strong ENSO events on the water budget components of Canterbury, New Zealand. La Nina conditions tend to produce increased rainfall and decreased evapotranspiration compared to El Nino conditions. The Plains catchment is where the pressure on the water resources is greatest. The LTA’s produce an annual excess of 94mm, while El Nino years with lower rainfall and higher ET, produced a deficit of 65mm. La Nina years have rainfall between the LTA and El Nino years, but a lower ET than either, and produces a deficit of 10mm. Due to data and modeling inaccuracies the La Nina deficit is not large enough to be considered certain. Availability of accurate measured data across the catchments proved to be a major issue for this study. As a result a mixture of measured and modeled data is used and results should be treated with caution. It is recommended that significant investment be made in increasing the capacity of the region to accurately quantify its water resources

A Cascade Neural Network Architecture investigating Surface Plasmon Polaritons propagation for thin metals in OpenMP

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) confined along metal-dielectric interface have attracted a relevant interest in the area of ultracompact photonic circuits, photovoltaic devices and other applications due to their strong field confinement and enhancement. This paper investigates a novel cascade neural network (NN) architecture to find the dependance of metal thickness on the SPP propagation. Additionally, a novel training procedure for the proposed cascade NN has been developed using an OpenMP-based framework, thus greatly reducing training time. The performed experiments confirm the effectiveness of the proposed NN architecture for the problem at hand