Search results for "Motor act"
showing 10 items of 495 documents
Glial expression of Swiss cheese (SWS), the Drosophila orthologue of neuropathy target esterase (NTE), is required for neuronal ensheathment and func…
2016
ABSTRACT Mutations in Drosophila Swiss cheese (SWS) or its vertebrate orthologue neuropathy target esterase (NTE), respectively, cause progressive neuronal degeneration in Drosophila and mice and a complex syndrome in humans that includes mental retardation, spastic paraplegia and blindness. SWS and NTE are widely expressed in neurons but can also be found in glia; however, their function in glia has, until now, remained unknown. We have used a knockdown approach to specifically address SWS function in glia and to probe for resulting neuronal dysfunctions. This revealed that loss of SWS in pseudocartridge glia causes the formation of multi-layered glial whorls in the lamina cortex, the firs…
Education modulates the association of the FTO rs9939609 polymorphism with body mass index and obesity risk in the Mediterranean population
2012
Objective To define whether the rs9939609 FTO (fat mass and obesity associated) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) is associated with anthropometric measurements and its modulation by educational level in a Mediterranean population. Methods We studied 3 independent adult samples: a random sample (n = 1580) from the general population (GP), obese hospital patients (OHP) (n = 203) and elderly subjects (n = 1027) with high cardiovascular risk (HCR). Weight and height were directly measured. Education and physical activity (PA) were measured using questionnaires. Results The rs9939609 presented heterogeneous associations with BMI. In the GP, the minor A-allele was significantly associated wit…
DETERMINATION OF MAXIMAL FAT OXIDATION FOR PRESCRIBING EXERCISE IN SEDENTARY NON-OBESE TYPE 2 DIABETES SUBJECTS
2014
Aim: To determine the exercise intensity that elicits the highest fat oxidation rate in sedentary non-obese subjects with type 2 diabetes. Methods: Eleven sedentary subjects with type 2 diabetes (T2DS) and eleven healthy sedentary subjects (HS), aged 45 to 65 and non-obese, were evaluated to a graded exercise test. Oxygen uptake (VO2) and fat oxidation rate (FAT) were detected. FAT was then plotted as a function of exercise intensity, expressed as percentage of VO2max. We determined the exercise intensity (%VO2max) at which fat oxidation was maximal (FATmax). Results: Absolute FATmax was not significantly different between T2DS and HS (0.51 0.13 vs. 0.56 0.29 g∙min-1). FATmax occurred a…
Dual modulation of striatal acetylcholine release by hyperforin, a constituent of St. John's wort.
2002
Extracts of the medicinal plant St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) are widely used for the treatment of mild to moderate depression. Hyperforin, a constituent of St. John's wort, is known to inhibit the sodium-dependent uptake of catecholamines and amino acids into synaptic nerve endings, probably by interference with mechanisms controlling the synaptic sodium concentration. Because de novo synthesis of acetylcholine (ACh) is dependent on sodium-dependent high-affinity choline uptake, we studied the effect of hyperforin on choline (Ch) uptake in vitro and on striatal ACh release in vivo using microdialysis. In rat brain synaptosomes, hyperforin inhibited high-affinity choline uptake wit…
Kinesiophobia Levels in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease: A Case-Control Investigation
2021
Background: Kinesiophobia can be an obstacle to physical and motor activity in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). PD affects patients’ independence in carrying out daily activities. It also impacts a patient’s biopsychosocial well-being. The objective of this study was to analyze the levels and scores of kinesiophobia in PD patients and compare them with healthy volunteers. Methods: We deployed a case-control study and recruited 124 subjects (mean age 69.18 ± 9.12). PD patients were recruited from a center of excellence for Parkinson’s disease (cases n = 62). Control subjects were recruited from the same hospital (control n = 62). Kinesiophobia total scores and categories were self-rep…
The role of attention in preschoolers’ working memory
2015
Abstract Recent studies showed that introducing an unfilled delay or a secondary task between encoding and recall reduces recall performance in preschoolers, whereas increasing the attentional demand of this secondary task does not. Based on these results, different authors drew opposing conclusions regarding the use of attention in preschoolers’ memory maintenance. This study aimed to bring further evidence to bear on the issue. In two experiments, recall was reduced when an unfilled delay was introduced before recall, but also when the demand of the concurrent task increased. These effects did not interact with age, although performance improved from 4 to 6 years of age. A third experimen…
Adaptive independent vector analysis for multi-subject complex-valued fMRI data.
2017
Abstract Background Complex-valued fMRI data can provide additional insights beyond magnitude-only data. However, independent vector analysis (IVA), which has exhibited great potential for group analysis of magnitude-only fMRI data, has rarely been applied to complex-valued fMRI data. The main challenges in this application include the extremely noisy nature and large variability of the source component vector (SCV) distribution. New method To address these challenges, we propose an adaptive fixed-point IVA algorithm for analyzing multiple-subject complex-valued fMRI data. We exploited a multivariate generalized Gaussian distribution (MGGD)- based nonlinear function to match varying SCV dis…
Three-dimensional Hall effect accelerometer for recording head movements of freely moving laboratory animals
1991
A Hall effect device was constructed for a measurement of head movements in three spatial dimensions during classical conditioning experiments in cats. A Hall sensor was used to detect movements of a magnetic fragment floating in a small (15 x 15 mm) cube. The magnetic fragment was kept in the centre of the sealed cube with a thin coil spring which was filled with thin oil for damping excessive afteroscillations. A comparison of this device to a commercial accelerometer showed that the accuracy of the Hall device is sufficient for the movement recordings and that the device is sensitive also to slowly accelerating movements. The construction is compact and can be easily mounted, for example…
Individual Differences in Novelty-Seeking and Behavioral Responses to Nicotine: A Review of Animal Studies
2010
Individual differences in the behavioral responses to a novel environment have been proposed as a research tool to predict responsiveness to other behavioral tasks, response to certain events and individual vulnerability to nicotine addiction. In rats and mice, novelty seeking (defined as enhanced specific exploration of novel situations) is a complex behavior confirmed by a large body of neurochemical, endocrinological and behavioral data. We review the main standardized procedures employed to measure the novelty seeking trait in rodents and the ontogeny of this behavior throughout the life-span taking into account that novelty seeking can be permanently modified as a consequence of partic…
A “Noise Gene” for Econets
1993
Genetically controlled noise is applied to the weights of neural networks trained with a genetic algorithm. Networks simulate simple organisms living in an environment Reproduction is based on the ability of each network, during its life, to respond to sensory information from the environment with appropriate motor action. Each network has an amount of noise which is genetically inherited (in the ‘noise gene’) with mutations and it varies interindividually. Noise modifies the value of a weight differently for each spreading of the activation through the network. Such noise has a positive effect on the evolutionary increase in fitness and it makes fitness less dependent on the initial choice…