Search results for "NEUROSCIENCE"
showing 10 items of 8040 documents
Psychological and hormonal features of smokers at risk to gain weight after smoking cessation--results of a multicenter study.
2011
Preclinical and clinical data suggest modulating effects of appetite-regulating hormones and stress perception on food intake. Nicotine intake also interferes with regulation of body weight. Especially following smoking cessation gaining weight is a common but only partially understood consequence. The aim of this study was to examine the interaction between smoking habits, the appetite regulating hormone leptin, negative affectivity, and stress vulnerability on eating behavior in a clinical case-control study under standardized conditions. In a large population-based study sample, we compared leptin and cortisol plasma concentrations (radioimmunoassay) between current tobacco smokers with …
Conditional reasoning by mental models: chronometric and developmental evidence
2000
The aim of this article is to verify two predictions resulting from the mental models theory of conditional reasoning. First, the denial of antecedent (DA) and modus tollens (MT) inferences should take longer to verify than modus ponens (MP) and affirmation of consequent (AC) because the former require subjects to flesh out the initial model whereas the latter do not. This prediction was confirmed in two reaction time experiments in adults. In line with Evans' proposal (Evans, J. St. B. T. (1993). The mental model theory of conditional reasoning: critical appraisal and revision. Cognition, 48, 1-20), there was a strong directionality effect: inferences from antecedent to consequent (MP and …
When nominal features are marked on verbs: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study
2006
It has been claimed that verb processing (as opposed to noun processing) is subserved by specific neural circuits in the left prefrontal cortex. In this study, we took advantage of the unusual grammatical characteristics of clitic pronouns in Italian (e.g., lo and la in portalo and portala 'bring it [masculine]/[feminine]', respectively)-the fact that clitics have both nominal and verbal characteristics, to explore the neural correlates of verb and clitic processing. We used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to suppress the excitability of the left prefrontal cortex and to assess its role in producing verb+det+noun and verb+clitic phrases. Results showed an interference ef…
Role of TLR4 polymorphisms in inflammatory responses: implications for unsuccessful aging.
2007
The total burden of infection at various sites may affect the progression of atherosclerosis and Alzheimer's disease (AD), the risk being modulated by host genotype. The role of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) receptor TLR4 is paradigmatic. It initiates the innate immune response against gram-negative bacteria, and TLR4 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), such as +896A/G, known to attenuate receptor signaling, have been described. This SNP shows a significantly lower frequency in patients affected by myocardial infarction or AD. Thus, people genetically predisposed to developing lower inflammatory activity seem to have less chance of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) or AD. In the presen…
Inflammation, Longevity, and Cardiovascular Diseases: Role of Polymorphisms of TLR4
2006
The total burden of infection at various sites may affect the progression of atherosclerosis, the risk being modulated by host genotype. The role of lipopolysaccaride receptor TLR4 is paradigmatic. It initiates the innate immune response against gram-negative bacteria; and TLR4 polymorphisms, as ASP299GLY, suggested to attenuate receptor signaling, have been described. We demonstrated that TLR4 ASP299GLY polymorphism shows a significantly lower frequency in patients affected by myocardial infarction compared to controls, whereas centenarians show a higher frequency. Thus, people genetically predisposed to developing weak inflammatory activity, seem to have fewer chances of developing cardio…
Assessing inter- and intra-individual cognitive variability in patients at risk for cognitive impairment: the case of minimal hepatic encephalopathy
2014
Recent evidence reveals that inter- and intra-individual variability significantly affects cognitive performance in a number of neuropsychological pathologies. We applied a flexible family of statistical models to elucidate the contribution of inter- and intra-individual variables on cognitive functioning in healthy volunteers and patients at risk for hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Sixty-five volunteers (32 patients with cirrhosis and 33 healthy volunteers) were assessed by means of the Inhibitory Control Task (ICT). A Generalized Additive Model for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS) was fitted for jointly modeling the mean and the intra-variability of Reaction Times (RTs) as a function of so…
Peripheral nerve involvement in chronic liver disease. Clinical and electrophysiological study.
1986
A clinical and electrophysiological study was carried out on 19 selected patients with chronic liver disease. Clinical signs of peripheral nerve involvement were found in 4 patients (21%); while electrophysiological impairment was present in 11 patients (57.8%). These abnormalities were mostly limited to the sensory and motor fibers of the tibialis posterior nerve. Our data confirm the presence of peripheral nerve involvement in chronic liver disease, and that it may be evidenced by careful electrophysiological examination.
Cognitive variability in bipolar I disorder: A cluster-analytic approach informed by resting-state data
2019
Abstract Background While the presence of cognitive performance deficits in bipolar disorder I (BD-I) is well established, there is no consensus about which cognitive abilities are affected. Heterogeneous phenotypes displayed in BD-I further suggest the existence of subgroups among the disorder. The present study sought to identify different cognitive profiles among BD-I patients as well as potentially underlying neuronal network changes. Methods 54 euthymic BD-I patients underwent cognitive testing and resting state neuroimaging. Hierarchical cluster-analysis was performed on executive function scores of bipolar patients. The derived clusters were compared against 54 age-, gender- and IQ-m…
Increased structural white and grey matter network connectivity compensates for functional decline in early multiple sclerosis
2016
Background: The pathology of multiple sclerosis (MS) consists of demyelination and neuronal injury, which occur early in the disease; yet, remission phases indicate repair. Whether and how the central nervous system (CNS) maintains homeostasis to counteract clinical impairment is not known. Objective: We analyse the structural connectivity of white matter (WM) and grey matter (GM) networks to understand the absence of clinical decline as the disease progresses. Methods: A total of 138 relapsing–remitting MS patients (classified into six groups by disease duration) and 32 healthy controls were investigated using 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Networks were analysed using graph the…
Reduced Sympathetic Innervation in Endometriosis is Associated to Semaphorin 3C and 3F Expression
2016
Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease and one of the most common causes of pelvic pain. The mechanisms underlying pain emergence or chronic inflammation during endometriosis remain unknown. Several chronic inflammatory diseases including endometriosis show reduced amounts of noradrenergic nerve fibers. The source of the affected innervation is still unclear. Semaphorins represent potential elicitors, due to their known role as axonal guidance cues, and are suggested as nerve repellent factors in different chronic inflammatory diseases. Therefore, semaphorins might influence the progress of neuroinflammatory mechanisms during endometriosis. Here, we analyzed the noradrenergic inner…