111,851 research outputs found
Multi-disciplinary optimization of a space re-entry vehicle using skeleton-based integral soft objects
No full textauthor-bios-SRD-19-0063.R1 – Supplemental material for The Network Structure of Police Misconduct
No full textSupplemental material, author-bios-SRD-19-0063.R1 for The Network Structure of Police Misconduct by George Wood, Daria Roithmayr and Andrew V. Papachristos in Socius</p
Predictors of “brain fog” 1 year after COVID-19 disease
No full textIntroduction: Brain fog has been described up to 1 year after SARS-CoV-2 infection, notwithstanding the underlying mechanisms are still poorly investigated. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence of cognitive complaints at 1-year follow-up and to identify the factors related to persistent brain fog in COVID-19 patients. Methods: Out of 246 COVID patients, hospitalized from March 1st to May 31st, a sample of 137 patients accepted to be evaluated at 1 year from discharge, through a full clinical, neurological, and psychological examination, including the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), impact of event scale-revised (IES-R), Zung self-rating depression scale (SDS), Zung self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), and fatigue severity scale (FSS). Subjects with prior cognitive impairment and/or psychiatric disorders were excluded. Results: Patients with cognitive disorders exhibited lower MoCA score (22.9 ± 4.3 vs. 26.3 ± 3.1, p = 0.002) and higher IES-R score (33.7 ± 18.5 vs. 26.4 ± 16.3, p = 0.050), SDS score (40.9 ± 6.5 vs. 35.5 ± 8.6, p = 0.004), and fatigue severity scale score (33.6 ± 16.1 vs. 23.7 ± 12.5, p = 0.001), compared to patients without cognitive complaints. Logistic regression showed a significant correlation between brain fog and the self-rating depression scale values (p = 0.020), adjusted for age (p = 0.445), sex (p = 0.178), premorbid Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS) (p = 0.288), COVID-19 severity (BCRSS) (p = 0.964), education level (p = 0.784) and MoCA score (p = 0.909). Conclusions: Our study showed depression as the strongest predictor of persistent brain fog, adjusting for demographic and clinical variables. Wider longitudinal studies are warranted to better explain cognitive difficulties after COVID-19
Autoimmunity and frontotemporal dementia
No full textBackground: Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) is a neurodegenerative disorder which asymmetrically affects the frontotemporal lobe, characterized by behavioural abnormalities, language impairment, and deficits of executive functions. Genetic studies identified mutations causing the disease, namely Microtubule Associated Protein Tau (MAPT), Granulin (GRN) and chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9orf72) mutations, which contributed to elucidate the molecular pathways involved in brain depositions of either Tau or TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP43) inclusions. However, in the majority of sporadic FTD patients, the mechanisms triggering Tau or TDP43 protein deposition are still to be uncovered. Objective: We aimed to present an extensive evaluation of literature data on immune homeostasis in FTD, in order to provide potentially evidence-based approaches for a disease still orphan of any treatment. Methods: A structured search of bibliographic databases from peer-reviewed literature was pursued focusing on autoimmunity in the brain and FTD. Results: One-hundred-fourteen papers were included in this review. The majority of studies (32) were represented by extensive literature revision on immunity, central nervous system (CNS) and autoimmunity; neuroimaging papers (11) in autoimmune diseases were evaluated, and immunomodulatory approaches (25) were revised. Six papers were found specifically related to FTD and autoimmune hypothesis, the other papers referring to current state of art on FTD. Conclusion: Overall this review contribute to expand the knowledge of a possible immune hypothesis in FTD, suggesting therapeutic perspectives in autoimmune related neurodegeneration, to reduce or revert the disease
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Progression of behavioural disturbances in frontotemporal dementia: a longitudinal observational study
No full textBackground and purpose: Behavioural disturbances are the core features of frontotemporal dementia (FTD); however, symptom progression is still not well characterized during the entire course of the disease. The aim of the present study was to investigate behavioural symptoms at baseline and during the disease course in a large cohort of patients with behavioural variant FTD (bvFTD), non-fluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA) and semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (PPA). Methods: We evaluated 403 patients with FTD, 167 of whom had at least 1-year follow-up evaluation (for a total of 764 assessments). Behavioural symptoms were assessed and rated through the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and Frontal Behavioural Inventory (FBI). Disease severity was evaluated through the Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration -Clinical Dementia Rating scale (FTLD-CDR). Linear mixed models were used to model behavioural measures (NPI, FBI and the five FBI-behavioural core criteria scores) as a function of disease severity (FTLD-CDR score) and clinical phenotype. Results: At baseline, patients with bvFTD showed more behavioural disturbances compared with those with nfvPPA (P = 0.004). Negative symptoms (apathy and loss of empathy) showed a trend to an increase throughout the course of the disease in both bvFTD and PPA (P < 0.001 until intermediate stages). Positive symptoms (disinhibition, perseverations and hyperorality) increased until intermediate phases (P < 0.001) followed by a progressive reduction in later phases, whereas they were less common in nfvPPA throughout the disease course. Conclusion: We demonstrated that behavioural disturbances differed in FTD and with disease severity. Positive symptoms appeared to improve in the advanced stages, highlighting the importance of taking into account the disease severity as outcome measure in clinical trials
Brain connectivity and information-flow breakdown revealed by a minimum spanning tree-based analysis of mri data in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia
No full textBrain functional disruption and cognitive shortfalls as consequences of neurodegeneration are among the most investigated aspects in current clinical research. Traditionally, specific anatomical and behavioral traits have been associated with neurodegeneration, thus directly translatable in clinical terms. However, these qualitative traits, do not account for the extensive information flow breakdown within the functional brain network that deeply affect cognitive skills. Behavioural variant Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by behavioral and executive functions disturbances. Deviations from the physiological cognitive functioning can be accurately inferred and modeled from functional connectivity alterations. Although the need for unbiased metrics is still an open issue in imaging studies, the graph-theory approach applied to neuroimaging techniques is becoming popular in the study of brain dysfunction. In this work, we assessed the global connectivity and topological alterations among brain regions in bvFTD patients using a minimum spanning tree (MST) based analysis of resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) data. Whilst several graph theoretical methods require arbitrary criteria (including the choice of network construction thresholds and weight normalization methods), MST is an unambiguous modeling solution, ensuring accuracy, robustness, and reproducibility. MST networks of 116 regions of interest (ROIs) were built on wavelet correlation matrices, extracted from 41 bvFTD patients and 39 healthy controls (HC). We observed a global fragmentation of the functional network backbone with severe disruption of information-flow highways. Frontotemporal areas were less compact, more isolated, and concentrated in less integrated structures, respect to healthy subjects. Our results reflected such complex breakdown of the frontal and temporal areas at both intra-regional and long-range connections. Our findings highlighted that MST, in conjunction with rs-fMRI data, was an effective method for quantifying and detecting functional brain network impairments, leading to characteristic bvFTD cognitive, social, and executive functions disorders
Variations on the Author
No full text“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Brain Connectivity and Information-Flow Breakdown Revealed by a Minimum Spanning Tree-Based Analysis of MRI Data in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia
No full textBrain functional disruption and cognitive shortfalls as consequences of neurodegeneration are among the most investigated aspects in current clinical research. Traditionally, specific anatomical and behavioral traits have been associated with neurodegeneration, thus directly translatable in clinical terms. However, these qualitative traits, do not account for the extensive information flow breakdown within the functional brain network that deeply affect cognitive skills. Behavioural variant Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by behavioral and executive functions disturbances. Deviations from the physiological cognitive functioning can be accurately inferred and modeled from functional connectivity alterations. Although the need for unbiased metrics is still an open issue in imaging studies, the graph-theory approach applied to neuroimaging techniques is becoming popular in the study of brain dysfunction. In this work, we assessed the global connectivity and topological alterations among brain regions in bvFTD patients using a minimum spanning tree (MST) based analysis of resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) data. Whilst several graph theoretical methods require arbitrary criteria (including the choice of network construction thresholds and weight normalization methods), MST is an unambiguous modeling solution, ensuring accuracy, robustness, and reproducibility. MST networks of 116 regions of interest (ROIs) were built on wavelet correlation matrices, extracted from 41 bvFTD patients and 39 healthy controls (HC). We observed a global fragmentation of the functional network backbone with severe disruption of information-flow highways. Frontotemporal areas were less compact, more isolated, and concentrated in less integrated structures, respect to healthy subjects. Our results reflected such complex breakdown of the frontal and temporal areas at both intra-regional and long-range connections. Our findings highlighted that MST, in conjunction with rs-fMRI data, was an effective method for quantifying and detecting functional brain network impairments, leading to characteristic bvFTD cognitive, social, and executive functions disorders
Premorbid vulnerability and disease severity impact on Long-COVID cognitive impairment
No full textBackground: Cognitive deficits have been increasingly reported as possible long-term manifestations after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Aims: In this study we aimed at evaluating the factors associated with cognitive deficits 6 months after hospitalization for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: One hundred and six patients, discharged from a pneumology COVID-19 unit between March 1 and May 30 2020, accepted to be evaluated at 6 months according to an extensive neurological protocol, including the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Results: Abnormal MoCA scores at 6 months follow-up were associated with higher pre-hospitalization National Health System (NHS) score (Duca et al. in Emerg Med Pract 22:1–2, 2020) (OR 1.27; 95% CI 1.05–1.6; p = 0.029) and more severe pulmonary disease expressed by the Brescia-COVID Respiratory Severity Scale (Duca et al. in Emerg Med Pract 22:1–2, 2020) (BCRSS > 1OR 4.73; 95% CI 1.53–14.63; p = 0.003) during the acute phase of the disease. Discussion: This longitudinal study showed that the severity of COVID-19, indicated by BCRSS, and a complex score given by age and premorbid medical conditions, expressed by NHS, play a major role in modulating the long-term cognitive consequences of COVID-19 disease. Conclusions: These findings indicate that the association of age and premorbid factors might identify people at risk for long-term neurological consequences of COVID-19 disease, thus deserving longer and proper follow-up
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