Age effects on the default mode and control networks in typically developing children

BACKGROUND

The investigation of neurodevelopment during late childhood and pre-adolescence has recently attracted a great deal of interest in the field of neuroimaging. One promising topic in this field is the formation of brain networks in healthy subjects. The integration between neural modules characterizes the ability of the network to process information globally. Although many fMRI-based neurodevelopment studies can be found in the literature, the analyses of very large samples (on the order of hundreds of subjects) that focus on the late childhood/pre-adolescence period and resting state fMRI are scarce, and most studies have focused solely on North American and European populations.

AIMS

In this study, we present a descriptive investigation of the developmental formation of the Default Mode Network and the Control Network based on a Brazilian, cross-sectional community sample of 447 typically developing subjects aged 7-15 years old.

METHODS

Resting state fMRI data were acquired using two MRI systems from the same manufacturer using the same acquisition parameters. We estimated the age effects on the strength of the links (between brain regions) and the network features (graph descriptors: degree and eigenvector centrality).

RESULTS

Our findings showed an increase in the antero-posterior connectivity in both studied networks during brain development. The graph analyses showed an increase in centrality with age for most regions in the Default Mode Network and the dorsal anterior and posterior cingulate, the right anterior insula and the left posterior temporal cortex in the Control Network.

CONCLUSION

We conclude that the period of 7-15 years of age is crucial for the development of both the Default Mode and Control networks, with integration between the posterior and anterior neuronal modules and an increase in the centrality measures of the hub regions.

Bose-Einstein condensation of S = 1 nickel spin degrees of freedom in NiCl2-4SC(NH2)2

It has recently been suggested that the organic compound NiCl2-4SC(NH2)2 (DTN) undergoes field-induced Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of the Ni spin degrees of freedom. The Ni S = 1 spins exhibit three-dimensional XY antiferromagnetism above a critical field H(c1) approximately 2 T. The spin fluid can be described as a gas of hard-core bosons where the field-induced antiferromagnetic transition corresponds to Bose-Einstein condensation. We have determined the spin Hamiltonian of DTN using inelastic neutron diffraction measurements, and we have studied the high-field phase diagram by means of specific heat and magnetocaloric effect measurements. Our results show that the field-temperature phase boundary approaches a power-law H - H(c1) proportional variant T(alpha)(c) near the quantum critical point, with an exponent that is consistent with the 3D BEC universal value of alpha = 1.5.

Nitazoxanide superiority to placebo to treat moderate COVID-19 - A Pilot prove of concept randomized double-blind clinical trial

BACKGROUND

The absence of specific antivirals to treat COVID-19 leads to the repositioning of candidates' drugs. Nitazoxanide (NTZ) has a broad antiviral effect.

METHODS

This was a randomized, double-blind pilot clinical trial comparing NTZ 600 mg BID versus Placebo for seven days among 50 individuals (25 each arm) with SARS-COV-2 RT-PCR+ (PCR) that were hospitalized with mild respiratory insufficiency from May 20^th, 2020, to September 21^st, 2020 (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04348409). Clinical and virologic endpoints and inflammatory biomarkers were evaluated. A five-point scale for disease severity (SSD) was used.

FINDINGS

Two patients died in the NTZ arm compared to 6 in the placebo arm (p = 0.564). NTZ was superior to placebo when considering SSD (p < 0001), the mean time for hospital discharge (6.6 vs. 14 days, p = 0.021), and negative PCR at day 21 (p = 0.035), whereas the placebo group presented more adverse events (p = 0.04). Among adverse events likely related to the study drug, 14 were detected in the NTZ group and 22 in placebo (p = 0.24). Among the 30 adverse events unlikely related, 21 occurred in the placebo group (p = 0.04). A decrease from baseline was higher in the NTZ group for d-Dimer (p = 0.001), US-RCP (p < 0.002), TNF (p < 0.038), IL-6 (p < 0.001), IL-8 (p = 0.014), HLA DR. on CD4⁺ T lymphocytes (p < 0.05), CD38 in CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T (both p < 0.05), and CD38 and HLA-DR. on CD4+ (p < 0.01).

INTERPRETATION

Compared to placebo in clinical and virologic outcomes and improvement of inflammatory outcomes, the superiority of NTZ warrants further investigation of this drug for moderate COVID-19 in larger clinical trials. A higher incidence of adverse events in the placebo arm might be attributed to COVID-19 related symptoms.

Cannabidiol for the treatment of crack-cocaine craving: an exploratory double-blind study

Objective:

To assess the efficacy of cannabidiol (CBD) in the management of crack-cocaine craving and the treatment of frequent withdrawal symptoms.

Methods:

Thirty-one men with a diagnosis of crack-cocaine dependence were enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. We applied neuropsychological tests and assessed craving intensity, anxiety and depression symptoms, and substance use patterns at baseline and at the end of the trial. The participants were treated with CBD 300 mg/day or placebo for 10 days. During this period, we used a technique to induce craving and assessed the intensity of symptoms before and after the induction procedure.

Results:

Craving levels reduced significantly over the 10 days of the trial, although no differences were found between the CBD and placebo groups. Craving induction was successful in both groups, with no significant differences between them. Indicators of anxiety, depression, and sleep alterations before and after treatment also did not differ across groups.

Conclusion:

Under the conditions of this trial, CBD was unable to interfere with symptoms of crack-cocaine withdrawal. Further studies with larger outpatient samples involving different doses and treatment periods would be desirable and timely to elucidate the potential of CBD to induce reductions in crack-cocaine self-administration.

1H-NMR, 1H-NMR T2-edited, and 2D-NMR in bipolar disorder metabolic profiling

Background

The objective of this study was to identify molecular alterations in the human blood serum related to bipolar disorder, using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and chemometrics.

Methods

Metabolomic profiling, employing ¹H-NMR, ¹H-NMR T₂-edited, and 2D-NMR spectroscopy and chemometrics of human blood serum samples from patients with bipolar disorder (n = 26) compared with healthy volunteers (n = 50) was performed.

Results

The investigated groups presented distinct metabolic profiles, in which the main differential metabolites found in the serum sample of bipolar disorder patients compared with those from controls were lipids, lipid metabolism-related molecules (choline, myo-inositol), and some amino acids (N-acetyl-l-phenyl alanine, N-acetyl-l-aspartyl-l-glutamic acid, l-glutamine). In addition, amygdalin, α-ketoglutaric acid, and lipoamide, among other compounds, were also present or were significantly altered in the serum of bipolar disorder patients. The data presented herein suggest that some of these metabolites differentially distributed between the groups studied may be directly related to the bipolar disorder pathophysiology.

Conclusions

The strategy employed here showed significant potential for exploring pathophysiological features and molecular pathways involved in bipolar disorder. Thus, our findings may contribute to pave the way for future studies aiming at identifying important potential biomarkers for bipolar disorder diagnosis or progression follow-up.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40345-017-0088-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Is semantic verbal fluency impairment explained by executive function deficits in schizophrenia?

OBJECTIVE

To investigate if verbal fluency impairment in schizophrenia reflects executive function deficits or results from degraded semantic store or inefficient search and retrieval strategies.

METHOD

Two groups were compared: 141 individuals with schizophrenia and 119 healthy age and education-matched controls. Both groups performed semantic and phonetic verbal fluency tasks. Performance was evaluated using three scores, based on 1) number of words generated; 2) number of clustered/related words; and 3) switching score. A fourth performance score based on the number of clusters was also measured.

RESULTS

SZ individuals produced fewer words than controls. After controlling for the total number of words produced, a difference was observed between the groups in the number of cluster-related words generated in the semantic task. In both groups, the number of words generated in the semantic task was higher than that generated in the phonemic task, although a significant group vs. fluency type interaction showed that subjects with schizophrenia had disproportionate semantic fluency impairment. Working memory was positively associated with increased production of words within clusters and inversely correlated with switching.

CONCLUSION

Semantic fluency impairment may be attributed to an inability (resulting from reduced cognitive control) to distinguish target signal from competing noise and to maintain cues for production of memory probes.

Cholesterol levels in panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and major depression

Serum plasma total cholesterol levels were measured in 85 male or female outpatients with panic disorder (PD; N=41), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; N=23) and major depression (MD; N=21) according to DSM-IV criteria. All the patients had a mean cholesterol level within the normal range; males (N=22) and females (N=63) had approximately the same serum cholesterol levels (p >.05). No significant differences in cholesterol levels emerged between PD, GAD and MD patient groups. Both female PD and female GAD subjects had a mean cholesterol level similar to their male counterparts (p>. 05). It is concluded that both Hayward and colleagues and Bajwa et al. findings could not be replicated by our study.

Combined approach to the differential diagnosis of cholestatic jaundice with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography, ultrasonography, and liver biopsy

A prospective study of 33 patients with cholestatic jaundice was performed with combined use of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC), ultrasonography, and liver biopsy. A higher rate of success with PTC in 25 cases of extrahepatic cholestasis was offset by the better score of ERCP in 8 cases of intrahepatic cholestasis and its wider diagnostic scope. The procedures were complementary in 10 cases. Ultrasonic imaging of intrahepatic bile ducts proved useful for selecting the first cholangiographic technique. Liver biopsy established etiology in intrahepatic cholestasis. Our combined approach allowed us to develop through objective criteria a diagnostic flow chart of cholestasis.