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Short-Term Benefits Seen With Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Focal Hand Dystonia

Daphne Watrin — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:58:46 +0000

In a study of 17 people with FHD, 68% reported that their symptoms improved after 5 daily sessions of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and 58% said their symptoms were better 10 days post-treatment. After completion of the study, three patients contacted the investigators for additional treatment, indicating that they felt their symptoms had improved for several months. While encouraging, the objective measure of handwriting pressure was not improved at the 10 day follow up. None of the five people who received sham stimulation reported any clinical benefits, which may suggest that some people are susceptible to benefit, but it is not universal.

rTMS did produce some other short-term changes. For instance, 3 days of rTMS significantly enhanced intracortical inhibition (as indicated by prolongation of the cortical silent period) but by 5 days, the changes were no longer significant, suggesting there is not a cumulative effect of inhibition from the rTMS. Handwriting analysis showed that rTMS significantly reduced axial pen force at day 5, without reducing writing velocity.

“Focal hand dystonia is a movement disorder associated with deficient inhibition throughout the central nervous system, including the motor cortex,” says lead author Teresa Jacobson Kimberley, PT, PhD, of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Minnesota. “Several studies have shown that low-frequency rTMS can alter deficient intracortical inhibition in the primary motor cortex and produce transient changes in symptoms in focal hand dystonia, but for the change to be clinically meaningful, there must be a longer lasting benefit.”

While other studies have found subtle beneficial effects from rTMS, this study was unique in that the stimulation was given while patients performed writing movements that did not trigger their dystonic symptoms and was delivered daily for 5 days. The authors speculated that in this state, dystonic neurons (i.e. those producing the FHD) would be less active than the normally functioning non-dystonic neurons, and thus would be more susceptible to the inhibitory effects of rTMS. The lack of clinically meaningful findings do not support this hypothesis, say the authors, but different parameters of stimulation may produce different results.

Noting that the patients included in the study manifested different types of hand dystonia (musician’s and writer’s cramp) and a wide range of symptom duration, the authors hope to be able to identify subpopulations that might benefit from rTMS intervention and assess the benefit as an adjunct to other interventions. They also intend to follow up on their finding that age was negatively correlated with responsiveness.

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

“Multiple sessions of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in focal hand dystonia: clinical and physiological effects,” by Teresa Jacobson Kimberley, Michael R. Borich, Sanjeev Arora, and Hartwig R. Siebner. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 31:3 (May 2013), DOI 10.3233/RNN-120259. Published by IOS Press online ahead of issue. This article is open access and freely available.

Full text of the article is available to credentialed journalists upon request. Contact Daphne Watrin, IOS Press at +31 20 688 3355 or d.watrin@iospress.nl. Journalists wishing to interview the authors should contact Teresa Jacobson Kimberley, PhD, PT at +1 612-626-4096 or tjk@umn.edu.

ABOUT RESTORATIVE NEUROLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE (RNN)

An interdisciplinary journal under the editorial leadership of Bernhard Sabel, PhD, Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience publishes papers relating the plasticity and response of the nervous system to accidental or experimental injuries and their interventions, transplantation, neurodegenerative disorders and experimental strategies to improve regeneration or functional recovery and rehabilitation. Experimental and clinical research papers adopting fresh conceptual approaches are encouraged. The overriding criteria for publication are novelty, significant experimental or clinical relevance and interest to a multidisciplinary audience. www.iospress.com/journal/restorative-neurology-and-neuroscience

RNN Editorial Office
Prof. Dr. Bernhard Sabel
Institut für Medizinische Psychologie
Medizinische Fakultät
Otto-v.-Guericke Universität Magdeburg
39120 Magdeburg/Germany
Tel: +49-391-672-1800
Fax: +49-391-672-1803
Email: rnn@med.ovgu.de

ABOUT IOS PRESS

Commencing its publishing activities in 1987, IOS Press (www.iospress.com) serves the information needs of scientific and medical communities worldwide. IOS Press now (co-)publishes over 100 international journals and about 120 book titles each year on subjects ranging from computer sciences and mathematics to medicine and the natural sciences.

IOS Press continues its rapid growth, embracing new technologies for the timely dissemination of information. All journals are available electronically and an e-book platform was launched in 2005.

Sexuality, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Rehabilitation

Daphne Watrin — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 07:53:20 +0000

“Sexuality in patients with chronic disease or physical handicaps warrants attention and consideration so that effective intervention plans can be formulated. A healthy sex life may decrease muscular and emotional tension, increase pain threshold, reduce physical stress, improve sleep, and diminish emotional stress within relationships,” says Jhon Alexander Moreno, doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology at Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada. He has made this important issue the central topic of his research work, which is conducted under the international direction of Professors Michelle McKerral at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation in Montréal, and Juan Carlos Arango Lasprilla from the University of Deusto, Spain, in collaboration with Caron Gan from Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto, Canada. “A lack of information and education on sexuality and disability is a major contributing factor towards the stigma attached to them.”

To help clinicians understand the complexity of interactions between psychological factors, physical factors, and relationship factors, investigators have applied a biopsychosocial model in which all three areas intersect to affect sexuality after TBI:

Neuropsychological and psychological effects — A review of existing literature reveals that cognitive deficits and changes in body image, loss of identity, adjustment, depression, and anxiety can affect an individual’s confidence level and ease in forming new relationships.

Medical and physical issues — Medications prescribed to those with TBI may interfere with sexual function. Drugs such as antihypertensives, antidepressants, stimulants, and anticonvulsants can lower libido and cause erectile, ejaculatory, arousal, or orgasmic problems. Physical changes after TBI can also pose additional limitations in sexual functioning.

Relationship changes — Stress on the patient and family members can cause marked shifts in relationships. For example, spouses of TBI survivors often perceive important personality changes. Social skills such as meeting people, explaining the TBI to others, and learning appropriate boundaries may need to be taught or relearned.

The critical review also provides perspectives from multiple viewpoints: Professional, survivor, and patient/partner. The team’s evaluation of the existing literature notes methodological limitations that include insufficient sample sizes and an underrepresentation of women.

“Sexual difficulties are common in TBI survivors and affect both the individual and the family system. Sexual dysfunction is only one part of sexual difficulties observed in TBI patients, as the existence of other deficits in cognition, emotion and functionality may affect the expression of sexuality,” says Moreno. “Assessment, treatment, and systematic follow-up of post-TBI sexual difficulties should always be part of the clinical agenda throughout all rehabilitation and post-rehabilitation stages.”

The research team further notes that future studies need to explore the partner’s perspectives and that researchers should favor studies considering both the patient’s and the partner’s viewpoints. In addition, they mention the need to include Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBT) considerations in the assessment and rehabilitation agenda of TBI.

# # #

NOTES FOR EDITORS

“Sexuality After Traumatic Brain Injury: A Critical Review,” by Jhon Alexander Moreno, Juan Carlos Arango Lasprilla, Caron Gan, and Michelle McKerral. It appears in NeuroRehabilitation, Volume 32, Issue 1, published by IOS Press.

Full text of the articles is available to credentialed journalists. Contact Daphne Watrin, IOS Press, at +31 20 688 3355 or d.watrin@iospress.nl to obtain full text of the articles listed below. Journalists wishing to request interviews with authors should contact Jhon Alexander Moreno at 1 514 527 4527, ext. 2715 or jhon.alexander.moreno@umontreal.ca.

ABOUT NEUROREHABILITATION: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL

NeuroRehabilitation; An Interdisciplinary Journal is an international journal that emphasizes publication of scientifically based, practical information relevant to all aspects of neurologic rehabilitation. Founded in 1991, it features peer-reviewed articles that are interdisciplinary in nature and cover the full life span and range of neurological disabilities including stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, neuromuscular disease, and other neurological disorders. Information is intended for an interdisciplinary audience. Issues of the journal are thematically organized. Themes have focused on specific clinical disorders, types of therapy, and age groups. www.iospress.com/journal/neurorehabilitation

ABOUT IOS PRESS

IOS Press continues its rapid growth, embracing new technologies for the timely dissemination of information. All journals are available electronically and an e-book platform was launched in 2005.

Contact:
Daphne Watrin
IOS Press
Tel: +31 20 688 3355
Fax: +31 20 687 0019
Email: d.watrin@iospress.com
www.iospress.com/neurorehabilitation

Shift of Language Function to Right Hemisphere Impedes Post-Stroke Aphasia Recovery

Daphne Watrin — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:45:31 +0000

“Overall, approximately 30% of patients with stroke suffer from various types of aphasia, with this deficit most common in stroke with left middle cerebral artery territory damage. Some of the affected patients recover to a certain degree in the months and years following the stroke. The recovery process is modulated by several known factors, but the degree of the contribution of brain areas unaffected by stroke to the recovery process is less clear,” says lead investigator Jerzy P. Szaflarski, MD, PhD, of the Departments of Neurology at the University of Alabama and University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center.

For the study, 27 right-handed adults who suffered from a left middle cerebral artery infarction at least one year prior to study enrollment were recruited. After language testing, 9 subjects were considered to have normal language ability while 18 were considered aphasic. Patients underwent a battery of language tests as well as a semantic decision/tone decision cognitive task during functional MRI (fMRI) in order to map language function. MRI scans were used to determine stroke volume.

The authors found that linguistic performance was better in those who had stronger left-hemispheric fMRI signals while performance was worse in those who had stronger signal-shifts to the right hemisphere. As expected, they also found a negative association between the size of the stroke and performance on some linguistic tests. Right cerebellar activation was also linked to better post-stroke language ability.

The authors say that while a shift to the non-dominant right hemisphere can restore language function in children who have experienced left-hemispheric injury or stroke, for adults such a shift may impede recovery. For adults, it is the left hemisphere that is necessary for language function preservation and/or recovery.

# # #

NOTES FOR EDITORS
“Recovered vs. not-recovered from post-stroke aphasia: The contributions from the dominant and non-dominant hemispheres,” by Jerzy P. Szaflarski, Jane B. Allendorfer, Christi Banks, Jennifer Vannest and Scott K. Holland. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 31:4 (July 2013), DOI 10.3233/RNN-120267. Published by IOS Press online ahead of issue.

Full text of the article is available to credentialed journalists upon request. Contact Daphne Watrin, IOS Press, +31 20 688 3355, d.watrin@iospress.nl. Journalists wishing to interview the authors should contact Dr. Jerzy P. Szaflarski at szaflaj@uab.edu.

This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health grants R01 HD068488 and R01 NS048281.

ABOUT RESTORATIVE NEUROLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE (RNN)
An interdisciplinary journal under the editorial leadership of Bernhard Sabel, PhD, Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience publishes papers relating the plasticity and response of the nervous system to accidental or experimental injuries and their interventions, transplantation, neurodegenerative disorders and experimental strategies to improve regeneration or functional recovery and rehabilitation. Experimental and clinical research papers adopting fresh conceptual approaches are encouraged. The overriding criteria for publication are novelty, significant experimental or clinical relevance and interest to a multidisciplinary audience. www.iospress.com/journal/restorative-neurology-and-neuroscience

ABOUT IOS PRESS
Commencing its publishing activities in 1987, IOS Press (www.iospress.com) serves the information needs of scientific and medical communities worldwide. IOS Press now (co-)publishes over 100 international journals and about 120 book titles each year on subjects ranging from computer sciences and mathematics to medicine and the natural sciences.

IOS Press continues its rapid growth, embracing new technologies for the timely dissemination of information. All journals are available electronically and an e-book platform was launched in 2005.

Contact:
Daphne Watrin
IOS Press
Tel: +31 20 688 3355
Fax: +31 20 687 0019
Email: d.watrin@iospress.nl
www.iospress.com/journal/restorative-neurology-and-neuroscience

UCLA brain-imaging tool and stroke risk test help identify cognitive decline early

Daphne Watrin — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 08:18:21 +0000

The connection between stroke risk and cognitive decline has been well established by previous research. Individuals with higher stroke risk, as measured by factors like high blood pressure, have traditionally performed worse on tests of memory, attention and abstract reasoning.

The current small study demonstrated that not only stroke risk, but also the burden of plaques and tangles, as measured by a UCLA brain scan, may influence cognitive decline.

The imaging tool used in the study was developed at UCLA and reveals early evidence of amyloid beta “plaques” and neurofibrillary tau “tangles” in the brain — the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.

The study, published in the April issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, demonstrates that taking both stroke risk and the burden of plaques and tangles into accout may offer a more powerful assessment of factors determining how people are doing now and will do in the future.

“The findings reinforce the importance of managing stroke risk factors to prevent cognitive decline even before clinical symptoms of dementia appear,” said first author Dr. David Merrill, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.

This is one of the first studies to examine both stroke risk and plaque and tangle levels in the brain in relation to cognitive decline before dementia has even set in, Merrill said.

According to the researchers, the UCLA brain-imaging tool could prove useful in tracking cognitive decline over time and offer additional insight when used with other assessment tools.

For the study, the team assessed 75 people who were healthy or had mild cognitive impairment, a risk factor for the future development of Alzheimer’s. The average age of the participants was 63.

The individuals underwent neuropsychological testing and physical assessments to calculate their stroke risk using the Framingham Stroke Risk Profile, which examines age, gender, smoking status, systolic blood pressure, diabetes, atrial fibrillation (irregular heart rhythm), use of blood pressure medications, and other factors.

In addition, each participant was injected with a chemical marker called FDDNP, which binds to deposits of amyloid beta plaques and neurofibrillary tau tangles in the brain. The researchers then used positron emission tomography (PET) to image the brains of the subjects — a method that enabled them to pinpoint where these abnormal proteins accumulate.

The study found that greater stroke risk was significantly related to lower performance in several cognitive areas, including language, attention, information-processing speed, memory, visual-spatial functioning (e.g., ability to read a map), problem-solving and verbal reasoning.

The researchers also observed that FDDNP binding levels in the brain correlated with participants’ cognitive performance. For example, volunteers who had greater difficulties with problem-solving and language displayed higher levels of the FDDNP marker in areas of their brain that control those cognitive activities.

“Our findings demonstrate that the effects of elevated vascular risk, along with evidence of plaques and tangles, is apparent early on, even before vascular damage has occurred or a diagnosis of dementia has been confirmed,” said the study’s senior author, Dr. Gary Small, director of the UCLA Longevity Center and a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences who holds the Parlow–Solomon Chair on Aging at UCLA’s Semel Institute.

Researchers found that several individual factors in the stroke assessment stood out as predictors of decline in cognitive function, including age, systolic blood pressure and use of blood pressure–related medications.

Small noted that the next step in the research would be studies with a larger sample size to confirm and expand the findings.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (grants PO1-AG025831, AG13308, P50 AG 16570, MH/AG58156, MH52453, AG10123 and MO1-RR00865); the UCLA Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, funded by the National

Institute on Aging (grant 5P30AG028748); the American Federation for Aging Research; and the John A. Hartford Foundation Centers of Excellence National Program.

UCLA owns three U.S. patents on the FDDNP chemical marker. Small and study author Dr. Jorge R. Barrio are among the inventors.

Additional UCLA authors included Prabha Sidarth, Pushpa V. Rajaa, Nathan Saito, Linda M. Ercoli, Karen J. Miller and Helen Lavretsky, Vladimir Kepe and Susan Y. Bookheimer.

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

Rachel Champeau
UCLA News
Office of Media Relations
Box 951431
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1431
rchampeau@mednet.ucla.edu
310-794-2270

Shedding Light on Early Parkinson’s Disease Pathology

Daphne Watrin — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:47:37 +0000

“The most intriguing finding of our study was the lack of a significant decrease of TH levels in the SN of the low-dose MPTP-treated mice, suggesting that this treatment does not induce a direct loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons,” says Joost Verhaagen PhD, lead investigator of the study. “These findings appear to support the ‘dying back’ hypothesis of PD, which proposes that the TH-positive terminal loss in the striatum is the first neurodegenerative event in PD, which later induces neuronal degeneration in the SN.” Dr. Verhaagen is Head of the Workgroup on Neuroregeneration at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and Professor at the Free University in Amsterdam.

The neurotoxin MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl 1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) was used to induce the degenerative changes. Chronic 5 week administration of 25 mg/kg MPTP combined with probenecid (250 mg/kg), which inhibits MPTP clearance and promotes its crossing of the blood-brain barrier, is known to cause dopaminergic neuron degeneration in the SN and decrease striatal dopaminergic nerve terminals. In the current study, 7 mice were treated with 25 mg/kg MPTP plus probenecid, 6 mice received a lower dose of MPTP (15 mg/kg) plus probenecid, and 8 control mice received saline plus probenecid. A grid test, known to be sensitive to striatal dopaminergic input, was used to detect motor deficits.

Immunohistochemical analysis using TH fluorescence revealed that only the higher dose of MPTP produced significant dopaminergic neuronal cell loss in the SN (65% fluorescence loss, p<0.001). The 15 mg/kg dose produced an 18% decline in fluorescence which was not significantly different than control.

Both dose levels significantly reduced TH immunoreactivity of the striatum. The authors believe that the motor deficits seen at both MPTP dose levels relate to the striatal dopamine depletion.

The study is also the first to report that low-dose MPTP produces astrogliosis and microgliosis in the SN and formation of α-synuclein positive inclusions. “The data suggests that gliosis in the substantia nigra plays a prominent initiating role in the introduction of dopaminergic deficits after MPTP treatment, and may be sufficient to significantly reduce TH levels in the striatum,” says Dr. Korecka, first author and principal investigator of the study and a post-doctoral fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam.

“We are the first to report that this early PD model provides an interesting window of opportunity to study the mechanisms that underlie the early neurodegenerative events that initiate the cellular death of dopaminergic neurons,” write the authors. They suggest that the model can be used to develop potential treatment strategies to counteract early PD cellular changes.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

“Modeling early Parkinson’s disease pathology with chronic low dose MPTP treatment,” by Joanna A. Korecka, Ruben Eggers, Dick F. Swaab, Koen Bossers and Joost Verhaagen. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 31:2 (March 2013), DOI 10.3233/RNN-110222. Published by IOS Press.

Full text of the article is available to credentialed journalists upon request. Contact Daphne Watrin, IOS Press, at +31 20 688 3355, d.watrin@iospress.nl. Journalists wishing to interview the authors should contact Prof. Joost Verhaagen at +31 20 566 5513 or j.verhaagen@nin.knaw.nl, and/or Joanna A. Korecka at +31 20 566 5503 or: j.korecka@nin.knaw.nl.

ABOUT RESTORATIVE NEUROLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE (RNN)

ABOUT IOS PRESS

Commencing its publishing activities in 1987, IOS Press (www.iospress.com)serves the information needs of scientific and medical communities worldwide. IOS Press now (co-)publishes over 100 international journals and about 120 book titles each year on subjects ranging from computer sciences and mathematics to medicine and the natural sciences.

IOS Press continues its rapid growth, embracing new technologies for the timely dissemination of information. All journals are available electronically and an e-book platform was launched in 2005.

Contact:
Daphne Watrin
IOS Press
Tel: +31 20 688 3355
Fax: +31 20 687 0019
Email: d.watrin@iospress.nl
www.iospress.com/journal/restorative-neurology-and-neuroscience

IOS Press Celebrates the International Year of Statistics

Saskia van Wijngaarden — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:48:33 +0000

All over the world, people are commemorating the importance of statistics. Statistics affect nearly every aspect of life, like health care, transportation, national security and climate change, to name a few.

IOS Press contributes in this endeavor with the dissemination of statistical data and analysis through the publication of the Statistical Journal of the IAOS and the Journal of Economic and Social Measurement.

About Statistical Journal of the IAOS

The Statistical Journal of the IAOS is now in its 29th volume and publishes four issues per year, ISSN 1874-7655

Editor-in-Chief
Stephen Penneck
President, International Association of Official Statistics
Former Director General, Office for National Statistics (ONS)
United Kingdom
Email: stephen.penneck@ons.gov.uk

Fritz Scheuren (as of April 15th 2013)
Senior Fellow and Vice President
Center for Excellence in Survey Research
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL
USA
Tel.: +1 301 634 9440
Email: scheuren-fritz2@norc.org

For contents, please visit: http://iospress.metapress.com/content/1874-7655/

About Journal of Economic and Social Measurement

The Journal of Economic and Social Measurement is now in its 38th volume and publishes 4 issues a year, ISSN 0747-9662.

Editor-in-Chief
Dr. Charles G. Renfro
Journal of Economic and Social Measurement
11-13 Princeton Road
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004-2242
USA
Tel.: +1 212 531 4448
Email: jesmeditor@gmail.com

For contents, please visit http://iospress.metapress.com/content/0747-9662/

Contact:
Saskia van Wijngaarden
Editorial Office IOS Press
Tel.: + 31 20 688 33 55
Email: s.van.wijngaarden@iospress.nl

IOS Press Supports Women Statisticians on International Women’s Day

Saskia van Wijngaarden — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 09:24:12 +0000

Statistics2013 is a worldwide initiative that is highlighting the contributions of the statistical sciences to finding solutions to global challenges. IOS Press is a Statistics2013 participating organization. Like their counterparts in other professional fields, women pioneers in the statistical sciences have made outstanding and trailblazing contributions to their profession and have opened the field to more women.

Today, the number of women among mathematicians and statisticians equals the number of men, says a U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey report. Further, women statisticians are influential in many countries—41 of the world’s 190 statistical offices were headed by women in 2010, says The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics, a report commissioned by the United Nations. Lastly, women have earned more than 40% of math and statistics bachelor’s degrees throughout the past four decades.

Observed each year on March 8, International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, International Women’s Day is a national holiday. The event has been observed since the early 1900s, which was a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.

Probable amnestic MCI people are in the highest risk of conversion to dementia

Daphne Watrin — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:11:59 +0000

The study reports one of the largest single-site clinical MCI series reported worldwide: a five-year longitudinal follow-up of 550 MCI subjects, undertaken and led by Fundació ACE, Barcelona Alzheimer Treatment and Research Center. All individuals had a Clinical Dementia Rating scale of 0.5, they were older than 60 years old, and their DNA was available.

Therefore, MCI cases were divided into probable amnestic (Pr-aMCI, n = 115), probable non-amnestic (Pr-naMCI, n = 37), possible amnestic (Pss-aMCI, n = 234), and possible non-amnestic (Pss-naMCI, n = 164), single or multiple domain. A total of 257 (46.7%) subjects developed dementia during the five-year follow-up research. Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR) and the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer Disease Research Center (ADRC) collaborated in the analysis and the interpretation of the results. “Espinosa et al. paper is the first study that analyzes the non-amnestic group with or without comorbidities to increase the accuracy of the MCI classification”, says doctor Montserrat Alegret, Neuropsychology Chief of Fundació ACE.

The study determined which neuropsychological test performances, including episodic memory profiles, and genetic risk factors (APOE ε4) better predict early conversion to dementia among the four MCI subtypes. For the whole MCI group, neuropsychological assessment demonstrated that Orientation, Verbal Delayed Recall and visuospatial functions are of great importance in the conversion to dementia, independently of APOE ε4.

The most recent studies about MCI are focused on the search for risk factors that make patients more vulnerable to conversion to dementia, mainly AD. The results allow estimating the conversion rates from a MCI type to dementia. Moreover, “this new classification identifies probable amnestic MCI people as a new target for future AD clinical trials. In the clinical practice, neuropsychological testing is the most cost-effective and may be the most sensitive method to assess the early impaired brain functions in a Memory Clinic Diagnostic Unit”, concludes Ana Espinosa, first author of the study.

Scientific article in Espinosa A, Alegret M, Valero S, Vinyes-Junqué G, Hernández I, Mauleón A, Rosende-Roca M, Ruiz A, López O, Tárraga L, Boada M.A longitudinal follow-up of 550 mild cognitive impairment patients: Evidence for large conversion to dementia rates and detection of major risk factors involved. J Alzheimers Dis. 2013; 34(3). DOI: 10.3233/JAD-122002

ABOUT THE JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE (JAD)

The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease is an international multidisciplinary journal to facilitate progress in understanding the etiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, genetics, behavior, treatment and psychology of Alzheimer’s disease. The journal publishes research reports, reviews, short communications, book reviews, and letters-to-the-editor. Groundbreaking research that has appeared in the journal includes novel therapeutic targets, mechanisms of disease and clinical trial outcomes. The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease has an Impact Factor of 3.745 according to Thomson Reuters’ 2011 Journal Citation Reports. It is ranked #22 on the Index Copernicus Top 100 Journal List. The Journal is published by IOS Press.

Contact:
Montserrat Alegret, Neuropsychology Chief of Fundació ACE. Barcelona Alzheimer Treatment and Research Center
Tel. +34 93 430 47 20, malegret@fundacioace.com

Breakthrough Study Opens Door to Broader Biomedical Applications for Raman Spectroscopy

Esther Mateike — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 13:28:16 +0000

The inelastic scattering of light from any sample is called the Raman effect, named for the Nobel prize-winner C.V. Raman. It yields a molecular fingerprint related to the intrinsic composition of the sample. With the advent of lasers for excitation, this analytical technique has been applied in many disciplines from mineral investigations to protein structure determination and single cell studies. The technique enables cancerous lesions, which are accompanied by changes in chemical composition compared to normal tissue, to be detected as a vibrational spectroscopic fingerprint. However, there are considerable challenges to using the method in a clinical setting because factors such as ambient light, background fluorescence, and ‘etaloning’ (a phenomenon that degrades the performance of thinned, back-illuminated charge-coupled devices) can hinder the interpretation of images. Pre-processing the data is prone to introduce artefacts and seriously hamper a classification.

Scientists from St. Andrews (UK) and Jena (Germany) have now demonstrated that wavelength-modulated Raman spectroscopy, an alternative to standard Raman spectroscopy with monochromatic excitation, overcomes these key problems. In this study they describe how to record Raman signals against a high auto-fluorescence background by studying liver tissue and record spectra of Paracetamol tablets in ambient light.

Corresponding author Christoph Krafft, PhD, of the Institute of Photonic Technology, Jena, Germany explains: ‘The principle of our implementation of wavelength-modulated Raman spectroscopy is that fluorescence emission, ambient light, and system transmission function do not significantly vary, whereas the Raman signals do vary upon multiple wavelength excitation with small wavelength shifts. In turn this leads us to ‘cleanly’ extract the Raman signature even in the presence of such factors. In the current work, we developed a hardware-based approach to suppress confounding factors in Raman spectra that requires a minimum of pre-processing and offers further unsurpassed advantages.”

Editor-in-Chief of Biomedical Spectroscopy and Imaging, Parvez Haris, CChem, FRSC, FRSPH, adds: “This work represents a significant step beyond current Raman microscopy that breaks completely new ground. Raman analysis for biomedicine is at a crucial juncture where there is worldwide recognition that it is on the verge of potential acceptance by the wider community and clinical practice if key issues, such as the ones the authors have raised, can be overcome.

“The straightforward nature of the technique means that biologists and researchers at the life sciences interface can benefit immediately from the advantages of the novel method,” he concludes.

# # #

NOTES FOR EDITORS

“Etaloning, fluorescence and ambient light suppression by modulated wavelength Raman spectroscopy,” by Sebastian Dochow, Norbert Bergner, Christian Matthäus, Bavishna B. Praveen, Praveen C. Ashok, Michael Mazilu, Christoph Krafft, Kishan Dholakia and Jürgen Popp. Biomedical Spectroscopy and Imaging, Volume 1/Issue 4. DOI: 10.3233/BSI-120031. Published by IOS Press.

Full text of the article has been made freely available at http://iospress.metapress.com/content/a37522877754u243/fulltext.pdf or journalists may contact Esther Mateike, IOS Press, at +31 20 688 3355 or e.mateike@iospress.nl. Reporters wishing to set up interviews should contact Dr. Christoph Krafft, Institute of Photonic Technology, at christoph.krafft@ipht-jena.de.

ABOUT BIOMEDICAL SPECTROSCOPY AND IMAGING (BSI)

Biomedical Spectroscopy and Imaging is dedicated to providing a single forum for experts in spectroscopy and imaging as applied to biomedical problems, and also for life scientists who use these powerful methods for advancing their research work. BSI aims to promote communication, understanding and synergy across the diverse disciplines that rely on spectroscopy and imaging. It also encourages the submission of articles describing development of new devices and technologies, based on spectroscopy and imaging methods, for application in diverse areas including medicine, biomedical science, biomaterials science, environmental science, pharmaceutical science, proteomics, genomics, metabolomics, microbiology, biotechnology, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, etc. www.iospress.com/journal/biomedical-spectroscopy-and-imaging

ABOUT IOS PRESS

Commencing its publishing activities in 1987, IOS Press (www.iospress.nl) serves the information needs of scientific and medical communities worldwide. IOS Press now (co-)publishes over 100 international journals and about 120 book titles each year on subjects ranging from computer sciences and mathematics to medicine and the natural sciences.

All journals are available electronically and an ebook platform was launched in 2005.

Novel Herbal Compound Offers Potential to Prevent and Treat Alzheimer’s Disease

Daphne Watrin — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:05:08 +0000

Aberrant accumulation of α-synuclein can form insoluble aggregates that have been implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Researchers have now found that overexpression of α-synuclein increases with age and have demonstrated that α-synuclein aggregates in the hippocampus of older mice compared to normal controls.

“Our results raise the possibility that TSG might be a novel compound for the treatment of AD and dementia with Lewy body,” says co-lead investigator Lan Zhang, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Department of Pharmacology of Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University in Beijing.

The study used an animal model of AD: APPV717I transgenic (Tg) mice with the London mutation. In previous work, the authors showed that these mice show cognitive impairments beginning at 4 months of age and develop amyloid plaques in the brain that are evident by 10 months.

In one series of experiments, 4 month old Tg mice were divided into 3 groups and received daily intragastric administration of distilled water (controls), low dose TSG (120 µmol/kg/d), or high dose TSG (240 µmol/kg/d). A fourth group consisted of age-matched non-Tg controls. The mice were treated until 10 months of age. In a second series of experiments, 10-month-old mice were divided into similar control and TSG-treated groups and were treated for 6 months.

The authors used a variety of techniques to hone in on what was happening in the brains of the Tg mice compared to age-matched controls: cDNA microarray analysis, reverse transcription PCR, western blotting, and immunochemistry. They found that α-synuclein messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression levels increase in a time-dependent manner in the hippocampus of Tg mice between ages 4 and 16 months and α-synuclein aggregation was noticeable at 16 months. Age-related increases in α-synuclein were also seen in the control mice but to a lesser degree.

“We suggest that, besides increased Aβ (beta-amyloid) and amyloid plaques, overexpression and aggregation of α-synuclein in the hippocampus might partially account for cognitive impairment in this Tg mouse model of AD,” comments co-lead investigator Lin Li, MD, PhD, Professor and Director, Department of Pharmacology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University in Beijing. She adds that “α-synuclein overexpression occurs even in the early phase of AD and may accelerate Aβ production and deposition, which further facilitates α-synuclein overexpression and accumulation.”

Analysis of the TSG-treated groups showed that TSG-treatment from the age of 4 to 10 months significantly downregulated α-synuclein mRNA and protein overexpression in the hippocampus of the Tg mice, and the effect was stronger at the higher dose. This suggests that TSG may have a role in preventing the neurotoxic effects of α-synuclein on synaptic function and cell activity. In addition, the finding that Tg reduced α-synuclein overexpression in older animals (>10 months) may indicate that it has therapeutic potential even after neuropathologic changes have occurred.

In previous work, the authors found that TSG acts as a “cognitive enhancer” to improve learning and memory in both APP transgenic mice and aged rats. The authors emphasize that while it is not completely clear how TSG works, their findings open up a new area of research. “The role of α-synuclein, especially in the early phase of AD, and its interaction with Aβ should be considered when developing new therapeutic strategies to target AD pathogenesis,” says Dr. Zhang.

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

“Tetrahydroxystilbene glucoside antagonizes age-related α-synuclein overexpression in the hippocampus of APP transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease,” by Lan Zhang, Shun Yu, Ruyi Zhang, Ying Xing, Yaohua Li, and Lin Li. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 31:1 (January 2013), DOI 10.3233/RNN-120260. Published by IOS Press online ahead of issue.

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