Recurrent aphthous stomatitis is a painful disorder of unknown etiology. It is among the most common oral mucosal lesions with high prevalence among young adults.
To conduct a population-based study ...with 18-year-old army recruiters to assess its prevalence and associated factors in male adolescents.
Interview during clinical examination in the army.
In this group (2,427 interviewed adolescents) there was a RAS prevalence of 24.9%. Smoking, herpes labialis and socioeconomic status correlated with the outcome.
only male adolescents were interviewed.
Our results showed high prevalence of RAS; association with higher economic level and herpes simplex was found. Protective effect of smoking was confirmed.
Parkinson's disease patients are usually characterized by body motor dysfunction due to dopaminergic reduction in the central nervous system. Freezing of gait is a motor disorder that affects certain ...Parkinson's disease patients. However, it is hypothesized that non-motor functions mediated by the cholinergic system are also involved in developing freezing of gait. Visual information processing speed, or inspection time is independent of the motor response, and can be used a reliable measure of the cholinergic system integrity.
Inspection time can be used to investigate whether Parkinson's disease patients with freezing of gait symptoms have a larger impairment in cholinergic mediated functions than those patients who have no freezing of gait symptoms and healthy controls.
The inspection time was determined by a simple length discrimination task. Twenty-two Parkinson's disease patients with freezing of gait, 25 Parkinson's disease patients without freezing of gait, and 25 aged matched healthy controls participated in the study.
Based on the log values of IT score, Parkinson's disease patients with freezing of gait symptoms had statistically significant slower inspection times (mean of 1.793 ms) than Parkinson's disease patients without freezing of gait (mean of 1.655 ms) and healthy controls (mean of 1.523 ms). Inspection times for the Parkinson's disease patients without FOG symptoms were also significantly slower than healthy controls.
The results of this study support the hypothesis that the cholinergic system integrity is affected more in Parkinson's disease patients with freezing of gait symptoms.
•Non-motor symptoms are associated with Parkinson’s disease patients.•Inspection time can be used as a reliable tool to evaluate the integrity of the cholinergic system.•Patients with Parkinson’s disease especially those who showed freezing of gait symptoms had longer inspection time score which suggest they have deficit in the cholinergic system.
The behavior of the Pseudo Affine Projection (PAP) adaptive algorithm is based on the projection of the present input vector onto a subspace defined by a collection of previous input vectors. ...Existing analytic models for PAP behavior have considered such a projection using expressions that are in fact valid only after a short initialization period. As a consequence, such models are capable of accurately predict the algorithm convergence behavior whenever the parameters of the problem render the effects of this initialization period unimportant. When this is not the case, the PAP behavior predicted by these models can deviate significantly from reality. This work studies the effect of the initialization on the convergence behavior of the PAP algorithm. The analysis is performed for real-valued signals and for unity step-size (fastest convergence). A new analytical model is derived that incorporates a deterministic initial transient phase at the very beginning of the adaptation process. This phase is due both to the arbitrary initialization of the coefficient vector and to the projection subspace, and is responsible for the modified algorithm behavior. Recursive deterministic equations are derived for the mean weight and mean-square error behaviors for a large number of adaptive filter taps, when compared to the algorithm order. Steady-state theoretical equations are also derived. Monte Carlo simulations show significant modeling improvements for specific parameter sets, both during transient and in steady-state, when compared to the most accurate existing PAP model.
Visual cues are known to improve gait in Parkinson's disease (PD); however, the contribution of optic flow continues to be disputed. This study manipulated transverse line cues during two gait ...training interventions (6 weeks). PD subjects (N=42) were assigned to one of three groups: treadmill (TG), overground (OG), or control group (CG). Participants walked across lines placed on either treadmills or 16-meter carpets, respectively. The treadmill (TG) offered a reduced dynamic flow from the environment, while lines presented on the ground (OG) emphasized optic flow related to the participant's own displacement. Both interventions significantly improved (and maintained through retention period) step length, thus improving walking velocity. Only the OG improved in the TUG test, while only the TG showed hints of improving (and maintaining) motor symptoms. Since gait improvements were found in both training groups, we conclude that by reducing optic flow, gait benefits associated with visual cueing training can still be achieved.
In humans, allelic variants in Toll-like receptors (TLRs) associate with several pathologies. However, the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of this association remain largely unknown. ...Analysis of the human TLR9 promoter revealed that the C allele of the rs5743836 polymorphism generates several regulatory sites, including an IL-6-responding element. Here, we show that, in mononuclear cells carrying the TC genotype of rs5743836, IL-6 up-regulates TLR9 expression, leading to exacerbated cellular responses to CpG, including IL-6 production and B-cell proliferation. Our study uncovers a role for the rs5743836 polymorphism in B-cell biology with implications on TLR9-mediated diseases and on the therapeutic usage of TLR9 agonists/antagonists.
This paper deals with preference modeling. It concerns the concepts of discriminating thresholds as a tool to cope with the imperfect nature of knowledge in decision aiding. Such imperfect knowledge ...is related with the definition of each criterion as well as with the data we have to take into account. On the one hand, we shall present a useful theoretical synthesis for the analyst in his/her decision aiding activity, and, on the other hand, we shall provide some practical instructions concerning the approach to follow for assigning the values to these discriminating thresholds.
•Coping with imperfect knowledge in multiple criteria.•Thresholds as a tool for dealing with imperfect knowledge.•Measurement scales, discrete and continuous scales.•Multiple criteria decision analysis in practice.
Mental health services reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean in the last 20 years have led to a significant improvement of mental health services. They also contributed to the development of new ...evidence that may help the implementation of future reforms. These advances, however, were clearly insufficient to respond to the huge challenges countries of Latin American and the Caribbean face to improve mental health services. Insufficient funding, one of the most important barriers to mental health services development found in most countries, was related to the absence of a strong consensus among all stakeholders and the weakness of user and family associations. Other barriers were the lack of technical capacity of the coordination unit responsible for development of services in the ministries of health, resistance from professionals towards changing to new models of care and lack of human resources.
Transition to democracy in some countries and natural disasters proved to be windows of opportunity for mental health services reform. Facilitating factors included alliance with the human rights defence movement, development of research capacity in Latin American and the Caribbean countries, and international cooperation.
Abstract Objectives COPD and mental disorder comorbidity is commonly reported, although findings are limited by substantive weaknesses. Moreover, few studies investigate mental disorder as a risk for ...COPD onset. This research aims to investigate associations between current (12-month) DSM-IV mental disorders and COPD, associations between temporally prior mental disorders and subsequent COPD diagnosis, and cumulative effect of multiple mental disorders. Methods Data were collected using population surveys of 19 countries (n = 52,095). COPD diagnosis was assessed by self-report of physician's diagnosis. The World Mental Health-Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI) was used to retrospectively assess lifetime prevalence and age at onset of 16 DSM-IV disorders. Adjusting for age, gender, smoking, education, and country, survival analysis estimated associations between first onset of mental disorder and subsequent COPD diagnosis. Results COPD and several mental disorders were concurrently associated across the 12-month period (ORs 1.5–3.8). When examining associations between temporally prior disorders and COPD, all but two mental disorders were associated with COPD diagnosis (ORs 1.7–3.5). After comorbidity adjustment, depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and alcohol abuse were significantly associated with COPD (ORs 1.6–1.8). There was a substantive cumulative risk of COPD diagnosis following multiple mental disorders experienced over the lifetime. Conclusions Mental disorder prevalence is higher in those with COPD than those without COPD. Over time, mental disorders are associated with subsequent diagnosis of COPD; further, the risk is cumulative for multiple diagnoses. Attention should be given to the role of mental disorders in the pathogenesis of COPD using prospective study designs.
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