Background and Purpose: Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder. About one third of epilepsy patients will suffer from drug resistance after rational selection of antiepileptic drug ...treatment. The formation of drug-resistant epilepsy has quite a few causes of which genetic factors are considered to be the most important. Previous studies have suggested that the aquaporin 4(AQP4) and inward rectifier potassium ion channel Kir4.1 (encoded by gene KCNJ10) may act in concert to adjust water homeostasis and concentration of potassium ions in extracellular spaces of the central nervous system. Therefore, these two molecules would play a major role in the regulation of the excitability of neurons. In order to explore the potential mechanism of genetic factors related to AQP4 and Kir4.1, we conducted a study to analyze the effects of the AQP4 and KCNJ10 genes' single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on epileptic drug resistance and seizure susceptibility in a group of Chinese Han patients with focal epilepsy. Materials and Methods: In total, 510 patients with focal-onset seizures and 206 healthy controls were recruited. Among the patients, 222 were drug resistant and 288 were responsive. The selection of tag SNPs was based on the Hapmap database and Haploview software. Genotyping of three loci of the AQP4 gene (rs1058424, rs3763043 and rs35931) and nine loci of the KCNJ10 gene (rs12122979, rs1186685, rs6690889, rs2486253, rs1186675, rs12402969, rs12729701, rs1890532 and rs3795339) was conducted on the Sequenom MassARRAY iPLEX platform. Results: The distribution of genotype and allele frequencies of selected SNP loci of AQP4 and KCNJ10 genes showed no significant difference between the drug-resistant and drug-responsive groups (p>0.05), and no significant difference between all the idiopathic focal epilepsy patients and healthy controls either. Conclusion: AQP4 and KCNJ10 genetic polymorphisms may not be associated with drug resistance or seizure susceptibility of focal epilepsy in the Chinese Han population. Keywords: AQP4, KCNJ10, focal epilepsy, polymorphism, Chinese Han population
Veszprém in Hungary was awarded the title of the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) in the year of 2023. The project aims to involve a wide range of audience, with special attention to younger people ...including university students, however, this depends on their willingness to be involved both as participants and volunteers. The current study aims to assess the willingness of university students to participate as volunteers in the ECoC programme Furthermore it explaines the factors that can influence students' willingness to volunteer, including their cultural consumption patterns, their cultural- and emotional intelligence levels. A survey on the willingness to volunteer in the ECoC project was conducted among Hungarian and international students of the University of Pannonia in 2018 to determine the factors influencing their intentions to participate in the programme. This was followed by a second survey in 2020, focusing on the influence of emotional and cultural intelligence levels of students on their willingness to volunteer in events. The results reveal that the most popular events for both participation and volunteering are pop- and rock concerts, sport and travel programmes, and motivations are stronger when programmes bring mutual benefits to organisers and volunteers. There is a significant positive relationship between cultural intelligence levels as well as emotional intelligence levels of university students and their participation in community leisure activities and cultural events. However, emotional intelligence is not significantly related to willingness to volunteer.
Chronic pain is a major public health challenge as people age, and it is linked with impaired physical capacity, falls, fatigue, and depression. Despite growing research on chronic pain management, ...there is little research into chronic pain prevention. Research suggests that combinations of physical and psychosocial factors could be protective against the development of chronic pain in older age. But there is still a clear need to identify specific multimodal activities that could be encouraged as part of a broader healthy lifestyle.
Using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, we tracked adults aged 50 years or older who were free from chronic pain at baseline across a decade (wave 2 2004–05 to wave 7 2014–15) and explored whether physical activity (weekly moderate or vigorous activity) or psychosocial engagement (monthly visits to the theatre, concerts, or museums or participation in community groups) reduced the risk of developing chronic pain. To confirm that pre-existing health conditions did not affect activity levels and predispose individuals to develop chronic pain, we further excluded individuals with a chronic health condition at baseline (eg, arthritis, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, stroke, angina). We used logistic regression analyses adjusted for identified socioeconomic, health, and social confounders and weighted for differential non-response.
Data from 2062 individuals were analysed (50·8% female, mean age 62·4 years SD 7·6). Over the 10 years, 748 participants (36·3%) experienced moderate-to-severe chronic pain, and for 337 (16·3%) this pain lasted for more than 2 years. Engaging in vigorous weekly activity was protective against the development of chronic pain (odds ratio 0·76, 95% CI 0·62–0·93) when controlling for all identified confounders. No effects were found for moderate weekly activity. Monthly cultural engagement was also protective against the development of chronic pain (0·77, 0·62–0·95), but community group participation was not. Sensitivity analyses found no evidence of reverse causality.
This study supports previous work suggesting that vigorous (but not moderate) physical activity can be protective against the development of chronic pain in older age, and shows for the first time, to our knowledge, that cultural engagement could be a protective psychosocial activity. These results have implications for clinicians working with high-risk groups.
Wellcome Trust (grant 205407/Z/16/Z) (for DF).
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