Striatal silent lacunar infarction is associated with changes to the substantia nigra in patients with early-stage Parkinson’s disease: A diffusion kurtosis imaging study

A recent study has shown that striatal silent infarction may occur secondary to the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) of mice. However, it is uncertain whether this phenomenon occurs in patients with early-stage Parkinson’s disease (PD) and can be detected by diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI). A total of 72 untreated patients with early-stage PD underwent conventional MRI and DKI. Participants were divided into control and striatal silent lacunar infarction (SSLI) groups. The differences in mean kurtosis (MK) values of the SN, Hoehn–Yahr (H–Y) staging, and Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) III score between groups, were analyzed. Linear regression analysis was used to correlate age, SSLI count, silent lacunar infarction count in other brain areas and age-related white matter change score with MK values of the SN. Spearman correlation coefficient analysis was used to correlate MK values of the SN and SSLI count with H–Y staging and UPDRS III score. There was no significant difference in the severity of disease between two groups; however, MK values of the SN with SSLI present were significantly higher than in SN without SSLI. In addition, SSLI count had linear correlation with MK values of the SN, which had positive correlation with H–Y-staging and UPDRS III score. SSLI is associated with structural changes to the SN in patients with early-stage PD, detectable by DKI, and may aggravate their motor impairments.     

Grammatical Constructions as Relational Categories

This paper argues that grammatical constructions, specifically argument structure constructions that determine the “who did what to whom” part of sentence meaning and how this meaning is expressed syntactically, can be considered a kind of relational category. That is, grammatical constructions are represented as the abstraction of the syntactic and semantic relations of the exemplar utterances that are expressed in that construction, and it enables the generation of novel exemplars. To support this argument, I review evidence that there are parallel behavioral patterns between how children learn relational categories generally and how they learn grammatical constructions specifically. Then, I discuss computational simulations of how grammatical constructions are abstracted from exemplar sentences using a domain-general relational cognitive architecture. Last, I review evidence from adult language processing that shows parallel behavioral patterns with expert behavior from other cognitive domains. After reviewing the evidence, I consider how to integrate this account with other theories of language development.     

Markov level shifts and the unit‐root hypothesis

This paper examines the properties of tests for the presence of an autoregressive unit root in time series that are subject to multiple level shifts. The latter are assumed to be governed by a time‐homogeneous finite Markov chain, thus allowing for an arbitrary number of stochastic breaks. It is demonstrated that standard tests of the unit‐root hypothesis against stationary or single‐break alternatives experience serious difficulties in the presence of Markov level shifts.     

心房纤颤患者心房肌钙激活蛋白酶系统表达变化及意义

目的探讨慢性心房纤颤患者心房肌钙激活蛋白酶(calpain)系统表达水平改变及其与心房重构的相关性。方法选取进行人工瓣膜置换术的风湿性心脏病房颤患者28例为研究对象,风湿性心脏病窦性心律患者14例为对照组。两组患者术前均进行经胸超声心动图检查,于手术时取左心耳心肌标本,采用荧光实时定量PCR和Westernblot技术检测calpain及其抑制剂calpastatin的mRNA和蛋白的表达量。结果房颤组左心房内径和右心房内径均显著大于对照组(P<0.05～0.001),房颤组和对照组心房肌calpainⅠ、calpainⅡmRNA表达无显著性差异(P>0.05),房颤组calpastatin的mRNA表达明显高于对照组(P<0.05);房颤组calpainⅠ、calpainⅡ蛋白表达明显高于对照组(P<0.05),calpastatin蛋白表达明显低于对照组(P<0.05)。calpainⅠ、calpainⅡ蛋白表达水平与左房内径呈显著正相关(r=0.67,r=0.55,P<0.05),calpastatin蛋白表达水平与左房内径呈显著负相关(r=-0.73,P<0.05)。结论房颤所引起calpain系统的蛋白表达改变,使calpain/calpastatin系统相互间作用失衡,造成多种蛋白被降解可能是心房重构的重要机制。     

Release pattern and structural integrity of lysozyme encapsulated in core–sheath structured poly(dl-lactide) ultrafine fibers prepared by emulsion electrospinning

The purpose of this study was to investigate the structural integrity, bioactivity and release patterns of lysozyme, as a model protein, encapsulated within the core-shell structured ultrafine fibers prepared by emulsion electrospinning. Electron microscopy and laser confocal scanning microscopy images demonstrated that the fibrous mats were very porous with integrally core-shell structured, bead-free, and randomly arrayed fibers. This structural property can pronouncedly alleviate the initial burst release and improve the sustainability of ultrafine fiber-based releasing devices. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and size exclusion chromatography were used to assess the primary structure of lysozyme, indicating that the ultra-sonication and electrospinning did not cause any remarkable denaturation of protein, while the core-shell structured fibers protected the structural integrity of encapsulated protein during incubation in the medium. Fourier transform infrared analyses showed that the electrospinning process had much less effect on the secondary structure of protein than ultra-sonication. The bioactivity assay indicated around 16% of specific activity loss during the emulsification procedure, and the protective effect of the shell materials on the activity of encapsulated protein. In vitro degradation showed that the protein entrapment led to more significant mass loss and higher molecular weight reduction.     

Analyzing growth and change: latent variable growth curve modeling with an application to clinical trials

Objective Typical methods of analyzing data from clinical trials have shortcomings, notably comparisons of group means, use of change scores from pre- and post-treatment assessments, ignoring intervening assessments, and focusing on direct effects of treatment. A comparison of group means disregards the likelihood that individuals have different trajectories of change. Moreover, change scores ignore intervening assessments that may provide useful information about change. This paper compares results from traditional regression-based methods for analyzing data from a clinical trial (e.g., regression with change scores) with those of latent growth curve modeling (LGM). Methods LGM is a method that uses structural equation modeling techniques to model individual change, assess treatment effects and the relationship among multiple outcomes simultaneously, and model measurement error. The consequence is more precise parameter estimates while using data from all available time points. Results Results demonstrate that LGM can yield stronger parameter estimates than the traditional regression-based approach and explain more variance in the outcome. In trials where there is a true effect, but it is non-significant or marginally significant using the traditional methods, LGM may provide evidence of this effect. Conclusions Analysts are encouraged to consider LGM as an additional and informative tool for analyzing clinical trial or other longitudinal data. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

结构式家庭疗法联用氯米帕明治疗儿童强迫症的临床研究

目的：研究结构式家庭疗法联用氯米帕明对儿童强迫症的疗效。方法：对30例服用氯米帕明效果不佳的儿童强迫症患者，采用结构式家庭疗法联用氯米帕明治疗，应用Yole—Brown强迫量表（Y—BOCS）、Hamilton焦虑量表（HAMA）和临床疗效总评量表（CGI—SI）于治疗前及治疗第2、4、8周末进行测评。以Y—BOCS减分率来评定疗效。结果：疗程结束后，有效率为80％，各量表评分均明显下降。结论：结构式家庭疗法联用氯米帕明对儿童强迫症有较好的疗效。     

Brain activity related to integrative processes in visual object recognition: bottom-up integration and the modulatory influence of stored knowledge

We report evidence from a PET activation study that the inferior occipital gyri (likely to include area V2) and the posterior parts of the fusiform and inferior temporal gyri are involved in the integration of visual elements into perceptual wholes (single objects). Of these areas, the fusiform and inferior temporal gyri were more activated by tasks with recognizable stimuli than by tasks with unrecognizable stimuli. We propose that the posterior parts of the fusiform and inferior temporal gyri, compared with the inferior occipital gyri, are involved in higher level integration, due to the involvement of re-entrant activation from stored structural knowledge. Evidence in favor of this interpretation comes from the additional finding that activation of the anterior part of the left fusiform gyrus and a more anterior part of the right inferior temporal gyrus, areas previously associated with access to stored structural knowledge, was found with recognizable stimuli, but not with unrecognizable stimuli. This latter finding also indicates: (i) that subjects may not refrain from (automatically) identifying objects even if they only have to attend to the objects' global shape, and (ii) that perceptual and memorial processes can be dissociated on both functional and anatomical grounds. No evidence was obtained for the involvement of the parietal lobes in the integration of single objects.     

黑麦麦角菌产生麦角甾醇的研究

从黑麦麦角菌（Claviceps purpurea）HCBO-1711发酵培养后的菌丝体液中分离纯化得到化合物HCBO-171l-1，经过理化分析、紫外吸收、质谱及核磁共振谱分析，证明该化合物为麦角甾醇。     

马蔺地下部分的化学成分

目的:研究鸢尾科鸢尾属植物马蔺(Iris lactea Pall.var.chinensis(Fisch.)koidz.)地下部分的化学成分.方法:采用70%乙醇提取,硅胶柱层析分离及重结晶等方法分离其化学成分,通过波谱及化学方法进行结构鉴定.结果:分离并鉴定了10个化合物,分别为:5-羟基-7-甲氧基黄酮(tectochrysin,Ⅰ)、5,2'-二羟基-6,7-亚甲二氧基二氢黄酮(5,2'-dihydroxy-6,7-methylenedioxyflavanone,Ⅱ)、5,7-二羟基-6,2'-二甲氧基异黄酮(5,7-dihydroxy-6,2'-dimethoxyisoflavone,Ⅲ)、4',5-二羟基-6,7-二甲氧基异黄酮(4',5-dihydroxy-6,7-dimethoxyisoflavone,Ⅳ)、4',5,7-三羟基-6-甲氧基异黄酮(tectorigenin)(4',5,7-trihydroxy-6-methoxyisoflavone,Ⅴ)、5,3'-二羟基2'-甲氧基-6,7-亚甲二氧基异黄酮(5,3'-dihydroxy-2'-methoxy-6,7-methylenedioxyisoflavone,Ⅵ)、5,2'-二羟基-6,7-亚甲二氧基异黄酮(5,2'-dihydroxy-6,7-methylenedioxyisoflavone,Ⅶ)、irisoid D(Ⅷ)、irisoid A(Ⅸ)和十七烷酸(heptadecanoic acid,X).结论:这些化合物均为在该植物中首次分得,其中化合物Ⅵ为本属植物中首次发现.