Current Issue : April - June Volume : 2015 Issue Number : 2 Articles : 7 Articles
Objectives. To explore the association between meditation and health related quality of life (HRQOL), depression, fatigue, disability\nlevel, relapse rates, and disease activity in a large international sample of people withmultiple sclerosis (MS). Methods. Participants\nwere invited to take part in an online survey and answer questions relating to HRQOL, depression, fatigue, disability, relapse rates,\nand their involvement in meditation practices. Results. Statistically and potentially clinically significant differences between those\nwhomeditated once a week or more and participants who never meditated were present formeanmental health composite (MHC)\nscores, cognitive function scale, and health perception scale. The MHC results remained statistically significant on multivariate\nregression modelling when covariates were accounted for. Physical health composite (PHC) scores were higher in those that\nmeditated; however, the differences were probably not clinically significant. Among those who meditated, fewer screened positive\nfor depression, but there was no relationship with fatigue or relapse rate. Those with worsened disability levels were more likely\nto meditate. Discussion. The study reveals a significant association between meditation, lower risk of depression, and improved\nHRQOL in people with MS....
Chronic neurodegenerative diseases are a group of devastating neurological disorders that result in significant morbidity and\nmortality in the elderly population worldwide. Recent researches have shown some interesting associations of the classical\nantiobesity hormone leptin with two most important neurodegenerative diseasesââ?¬â?Alzheimerââ?¬â?¢s disease (AD) and Parkinsonââ?¬â?¢s\ndisease (PD). Although several clinical studies have found the procognitive and memory-enhancing role of this peptide hormone\nin leptin-deficient patients, surprisingly it has not been used in any clinical trials involving patients with developing or fullblown\nneurodegenerative conditions. This review article is an attempt to bring together the existing information about the clinical\nassociations of leptin with AD and PD. It starts with the basic understanding of leptin action in the brain and its derangements in\nthese diseases and eventually discusses the potential of this hormone as a neuroprotective agent in clinical scenario....
Pathophysiological evidence suggests an involvement of frontostriatal circuits in Tourette syndrome (TS) and cognitive\nabnormalities have been detected in tasks sensitive to cognitive deficits associated with prefrontal damage (verbal fluency, planning,\nattention shifting, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and social reasoning). A disorder in counterfactual thinking (CFT),\na behavioural executive process linked to the prefrontal cortex functioning, has not been investigated in TS. CFT refers to\nthe generation of a mental simulation of alternatives to past factual events, actions, and outcomes. It is a pervasive cognitive\nfeature in everyday life and it is closely related to decision-making, planning, problem-solving, and experience-driven learningââ?¬â?\ncognitive processes that involve wide neuronal networks in which prefrontal lobes play a fundamental role. Clinical observations\nin patients with focal prefrontal lobe damage or with neurological and psychiatric diseases related to frontal lobe dysfunction (e.g.,\nParkinsonââ?¬â?¢s disease, Huntingtonââ?¬â?¢s disease, and schizophrenia) show counterfactual thinking impairments. In this work, we evaluate\nthe performance of CFT in a group of patients with Touretteââ?¬â?¢s syndrome compared with a group of healthy participants. Overall\nresults showed no statistical differences in counterfactual thinking between TS patients and controls in the three counterfactual\nmeasures proposed.The possible explanations of this unexpected result are discussed below....
The analyses of genetic factors contributing to\nAlzheimer�s disease (AD) and other dementias have evolved\nat the same pace as genetic and genomic technologies are\ndeveloped and improved. The identification of the first genes\ninvolved in AD arose from family-based studies, but risk\nfactors have mainly been identified by studies comparing\ngroups of patients with groups of controls. The best outcomes\nhave been heavily associated with the capacity of interrogating\ngenetic variability at the genome level without any particular\na priori hypothesis. In this review we assess the role of\ngenetic family studies in Alzheimer�s disease and other dementias\nwithin the current status of dementias� and, particularly,\nAD�s genetic architecture....
Objectives. To evaluate whether combining mental practice with physical practice training enhances hand function in patients\nwith stroke. Methods. 10 for treatment and 10 for control were recruited for this pre/posttraining matched case control study. In\nthe treatment group, subjects underwent combining mental practice with physical practice for four weeks. In the control group,\nsubjects only participated in physical practice. Change of hand function and the number of activated voxels of the contralateral\nsomatosensory motor cortex (SMC) acquired by functional magnetic resonance imaging were measured. Results. After training,\nthe Action Research ArmTest score increased by 12.65 for treatment and by 5.20 for control.There was a significant difference in the\nAction ResearchArm Test score between the two groups (???? = 0.04).Theactivated voxels number of the contralateral SMCincreased\nin both groups, but the activated voxels number in the contralateral SMCand the improvement of hand function for treatment were\ngreater than for control. In the treatment group, the number of activated voxels of the contralateral SMC was positively correlated\nwith better hand function scores. Conclusions. Combiningmental practice with physical practice may be amore effective treatment\nstrategy than physical training alone for hand recovery in stroke patients....
Background/Aims. Sortilin-related receptor 1 (SORL1) is involved in the neuronal transport processes and plays a role in the\nformation of amyloid plaques. This study investigated the association of 6 SORL1 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs 8, 9,\n10, 13, 19, and 23) with cognitive impairment (CI) in Filipinos. Methods. DNA samples from 484 subjects (100 Alzheimer�s Disease\n(AD) cases, 109 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) cases, 18 other types of CI, and 257 no dementia controls (NDC)) were genotyped\nusing TaqMan SNP Genotyping Assays. Data Analysis. Our study showed strong linkage disequilibrium in the SNPs 8, 9, and 10\nblock. Our results showed that CI was significantly associated with SNPs 13 and 23. None of the SORL1 SNPs studied was associated\nwith AD while SNPs 8, 9, 10, and 23 were associated with MCI. Conclusion.The findings had provided evidence that SORL1 may\npredispose individuals to CI. Further studies are needed to clarify the role of SORL1 in Filipinos with AD....
Quantitative and objective evaluation of disease severity and/or drug effect is necessary in clinical practice.Wearable accelerometers\nsuch as an actigraph enable long-term recording of a patient�s movement during activities and they can be used for quantitative\nassessment of symptoms due to various diseases. We reviewed some applications of actigraphy with analytical methods that are\nsufficiently sensitive and reliable to determine the severity of diseases and disorders such as motor and nonmotor disorders like\nParkinson�s disease, sleep disorders, depression, behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) for vascular dementia\n(VD), seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and stroke, as well as the effects of drugs used to treat them. We believe it is possible to\ndevelop analytical methods to assess more neurological or psychopathic disorders using actigraphy records....
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