Morphology and signal changes of the lentiform nucleus based on susceptibility weighted imaging in parkinsonism-predominant multiple system atrophy

IntroductionIt remains challenging to make a differential diagnosis between atypical parkinsonism and Parkinson's disease (PD) from routine neuroimaging. This case-control study aimed to quantitatively investigate both morphological and signal intensity changes in susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) of the lentiform nucleus (LN) for discriminating parkinsonism-predominant multiple system atrophy (MSA-P) from PD.MethodsWe retrospectively enrolled patients with MSA-P, PD, and sex- and age-matched controls between January 2016 and November 2019 at the Movement Disorder Center who underwent 3T MR imaging of brain with SWI sequence. Two specialists at the center reviewed the medical records and made the final diagnosis, and two experienced neuroradiologists performed MRI image analysis based on a defined radiological protocol to conduct the ROI-based morphological measurements of the LN and the signal intensity.ResultsA total of 19 patients with MSA-P, 19 patients with PD and 19 controls were enrolled in this study. We found that patients with MSA-P had significant decreases size in the short line (SL) and the ratio of the SL and the long line (SLLr) and increased value in the signal intensity standard deviation of the LN (SIsd_LN) compared with the patients with PD and with the controls (P < 0.05). Combining these three indexes, this finding had a sensitivity of 94.7% and a specificity of 63.2% to distinguish MSA-P from PD.ConclusionAs compared to PD and control subjects, the SA-P patients are characterized by narrowing morphology and the inhomogeneous signal intensity of the posterior region of LN. The quantitative morphological change is a possible potential marker to differentiate MSA-P from PD on SWI.     

乙酰胆碱、阿托品、毛果芸香碱在痛觉调制中对大鼠蓝斑核神经元形态的影响

目的 研究乙酰胆碱(ACh)、阿托品、毛果芸香碱与正常大鼠蓝斑核(LC)在痛觉调制中的作用及其相互关系.方法 采用电生理学与侧脑室给药的方法,以电脉冲刺激坐骨神经作为伤害性刺激,用玻璃微电极引导LC中痛反应神经元的电变化.观察ACh、阿托品、毛果芸香碱对LC中神经元形态学改变的影响.结果 ACh可使LC内神经元形态发生改变,即神经元体积变大、外形不规则,细胞核轻度水肿等.M受体拮抗剂阿托品能阻断上述作用,使神经元结构基本恢复正常.M受体激动剂毛果芸香碱能产生与ACh相似的效应.结论 外源性ACh不仅能加强大鼠LC中痛反应神经元的电活动,而且使神经元的形态也发生了相应的改变,表现为易化疼痛效应.揭示,ACh的易化疼痛作用主要是通过M受体介导而实现的,LC内神经元形态的改变进一步证实ACh和LC在痛觉调制中起重要作用.     

Acute administration of 1-N-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), a compound producing parkinsonism in humans, stimulates [2-C]deoxyglucose uptake in the regions of the catecholaminergic cell bodies in the rat and guinea pig brains

A modification of the [2-¹⁴C]deoxyglucose (2-DG) autoradiographic technique of Sokoloff et al.¹² was used to study the effects of acute administration of 1-N-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) (10 mg/kg, s.c.) in the rat and guinea pig brains. MPTP administration resulted in both species in a dramatic increase in the 2-DG uptake in the substantia nigra pars compacta, ventral tegmental area and locus ceruleus, brain areas containing the cell bodies of dopaminergic and noradrenergic neurons. Many other brain areas were not affected. In the rat the effects were time dependent, being maximal between 1 and 2 h after drug administration. The effects of MPTP on 2-DG uptake differ from those of other dopaminergic or catecholaminergic drugs and suggest a specificity of the action of this drug on catecholaminergic neurons.     

The effect of coping on the burden in family carers of persons with dementia

Objectives: This study explores the association between coping, measured by the extent of locus of control, and the burden of care on family carers of persons with dementia (PWD).

Method: Two hundred thirty PWD living at home and their family carers were recruited from 20 Norwegian municipalities. The carers’ burden was assessed by the Relatives’ Stress Scale (RSS) and coping by the Locus of Control Behaviour Scale. The PWD were assessed by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-Q), the Physical Self-Maintenance Scale (PSMS), the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scale, and the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE).

Results: Locus of control (LoC) was found to be the most important factor associated with the burden on carers of PWD, even when we had controlled for the PWD variables, such as the NPI-Q score. The LoC and the carer's use of hours per day to assist the PWD were the only two variables the carers found that affected the extent of the burden. The NPI-Q was the most important variable in the PWD that affected the burden on the carers.

Conclusion: Carers who believe that what happens to them is the consequence of their own actions are likely to be less burdened than carers not expecting to have control. This finding gives a possibility to identify carers with a high risk of burden.     

Effects of reserpine on fast, intermediate and slow axonal transport of proteins in rat locus coeruleus neurons

The effects of a single injection of reserpine (5 mg/kg, i.p.) on protein turnover and axonal transport (AT) in locus coeruleus (LC) noradrenergic neurons was investigated in the rat. Reserpine pretreatment, at intervals of 1–21 days prior to [³H]-fucose or leucine injection into the LC, resulted in marked alterations in the turnover of [³H]glycoproteins and proteins in the LC and hypothalamus which were present for up to 14 days and varied according to the time after reserpine pretreatment. Reserpine produced an intermittent blockade, of variable degree, in rapidly and intermediately transported proteins for up to 2 weeks following injection. Slow AT was uniformly decreased over the first 10 post-treatment days to 2–42% of controls. Blockade and not a change in the rate or time of onset of transport appeared to be responsible for the observed changes. The suggested mechanism for these alterations is a re-ordering of metabolic priorities in the synthesis and transport of proteins in these noradrenergic cells secondary to a reserpine-induced depletion of norepinephrine in the nerve terminals.     

阵发性睡眠性血红蛋白尿与HLA-A^＊基因的关联研究

目的探讨阵发性睡眠性血红蛋白尿（PNH）和人类主要组织相容性复合体（HLA-A＊）基因易感的分子机制。旨在研究此基因多态性在PNH发病机制中的作用。方法采用序列特异性引物聚合酶链反应（PCR-SSP）技术,分别检测单个核细胞中的采用聚合酶链式反应和顺序特异性引物（PCR-SSP）基因分析方法,对31PNH患者及29例无血缘关系的健康人的HLA-A＊各等位基因及亚基因进行了检测分析,并将该方法与其它检测HLA等位基因的方法进行对比。结果HLA-A＊03基因与PNH组呈正相关（RR=4.697,P〈0.05）,其它HLA-A＊各等位基因未见异常,均无统计学差异。结沦本项研究结果提示,HLA-A＊03基因可能是北方汉族人PNH的致病易感基因之一,为揭示PNH的发病机制中免疫遗传学所起的作用提供了重要信息和依据。尽管目前HLA基因分型方法已有多种,但本文所采用的方法（PCR-SSP）具有快速、简便、敏感、准确和可靠等优点,值得推广应用。     

Seventeen more novel HLA-A locus alleles

This paper describes seventeen novel HLA-A locus alleles: A*0106, *0235, *0236, *0237, *1105, *2302, *2303, *24032, *2422, *2424, *2503, *2613, *3007, *3203, *3204, *6809 and *6810. All alleles were identified due to unexpected probe reaction patterns during routine SSOP typing. Exons 2 and 3 of these alleles were subsequently characterized by DNA sequencing. The alleles represent a shuffling of sequence motifs, likely by interallelic conversion, expanding the diversity of the HLA system.     

Role of incentives in the training of the frontal EMG relaxation response

Male college students were assigned to a feedback condition in which an auditory signal was correlated with forehead electromyographic (EMG) responses or to a control condition in which a constant low tone was provided. Within each condition, half of the subjects were provided with an incentive for successful reductions of EMG levels from session to session. In the control condition incentives were actually given on the basis of performance of yoked feedback partners. The remaining subjects in each condition (no incentive) were instructed that the incentive was available for reliable participation in the experiment. Feedback subjects acquired lower EMG levels than control subjects, and the yoked-incentive subjects acquired lower levels than no-incentive subjects in the control condition. There were no major differences in EMG levels attributable to locus of control orientation. The results are discussed mainly in terms of implications of incentive variables for reinforcement analyses of biofeedback effects and the validity of the locus of control construct in this application.This research was supported in part by NIMH Special Postdoctoral Fellowship No. MH58202-01 to the first author, sponsored by the Institute of Behavioral Sciences, Honolulu, Hawaii. Computer services were provided by the University of Hawaii Computing Center.Portions of this article were presented at the annual meeting of the Biofeedback Society of America, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1978.