Neuroscience
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Motor actions adapt dynamically to external changes through the brain's ability to predict sensory outcomes and adjust for discrepancies between anticipated and actual sensory inputs. In this study, we investigated how changes in target speed (vT) and direction influenced visuomotor responses, focusing on gaze and manual joystick control during an interception task. Participants tracked a moving target with sinusoidal variations in vT and directional changes, generating sensory prediction errors and requiring real-time adjustments. ⋯ Participants also exhibited rapid within-trial adjustments, with peak gaze and joystick gains increasing linearly with vT frequency, highlighting the critical role of manual control in matching or exceeding vT for successful interception. Additionally, responses to sudden phase changes in the vT sinusoid revealed the continuous monitoring of prediction errors driven by the magnitude of phase shifts. These findings illustrate the brain's predictive system's ability to integrate continuous visual feedback and sensory prediction errors to fine-tune motor responses and anticipate future target speeds.
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Epilepsy, a neurological disorder causing recurring seizures, is often studied in zebrafish by exposing animals to pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), which induces clonic- and tonic-like behaviors. While adult zebrafish seizure-like behaviors are well characterized, manual assessment remains challenging due to its time-consuming nature, potential for human error/bias, and the risk of overlooking subtle behaviors. Aiming to circumvent these issues, we developed a machine learning model for automating the analysis of subtle abnormal and seizure-like behaviors in PTZ-exposed adult zebrafish. ⋯ Altogether, our novel data highlights the use of machine learning models to better understand complex behavioral phenotypes associated to PTZ-induced seizures. The ability to detect frame-by-frame and distinct actions of anticonvulsant drugs provides new perspectives on measuring seizure-like responses, as well as possible therapeutic strategies. The approach used here constitutes an important leap on behavioral analysis that can accelerate the discovery of new treatments for seizure disorders.
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Review Meta Analysis
Risk factors for delirium in patients with COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Delirium is one of the serious neurological complications of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality in patients with COVID-19, especially in older patients. There is currently no meta-analysis of risk factors for delirium in patients with COVID-19. This study aimed to identify potential risk factors for delirium in patients with COVID-19 through a meta-analysis of observational clinical studies. ⋯ Notably, the administration of hydrocortisone and azithromycin, among other specific medications designated for COVID-19, exhibited a potential to be positively associated with the incidence of delirium in patients afflicted with COVID-19. In conclusion, the present study identified potential predisposing and precipitating factors linked with delirium in COVID-19 patients. It is anticipated that these results will have a considerable impact on the management and treatment of delirium in COVID-19 patients.
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Review
"Current and emerging drug therapies in Alzheimer's disease: A pathophysiological Perspective".
The analytical and experimental investigation of several targets and biomarkers that help in explaining significant cognitive deficits, covering drug development and precision medicine aimed at different chronic neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease, synaptic dysfunction, brain damage from neuronal apoptosis, and other disease pathologies; this served as the foundation for all phase studies. The focus of current therapeutic approaches is on developing humanized antibodies, agonist and antagonist drugs, receptors, signaling molecules, major targeted drug-metabolizing enzymes, and other metabolites to treat neurodegeneration in the AD brain brought on by tau hyperphosphorylation, amyloid plagues, or other cholinergic effects. ⋯ Studies on the biotransformation of xenobiotic compounds and the metabolism of exogenous and endogenous substances are conducted under Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III trials because the pivotal pharmacokinetic properties of drugs, such as absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME), aid in understanding variations in the crucial improvement of various target drugs. This review also highlights the developments in soon-to-be genetically created targeted medications that may serve as ground-breaking treatments for cholinergic illnesses in the brains of AD patients and other neurodegenerative conditions.
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Heart failure (HF) frequently suffers from brain abnormalities and cognitive impairments. This study aims to investigate brain structure and function alteration in patients with chronic HF. This retrospective study included 49 chronic HF and 49 health controls (HCs). ⋯ Decreased GMV showed positive correlations with cognitive performance (r = 0.025-0.577, p = 0.025-0.001), while decreased fractional anisotropy was negatively correlated with anxiety scores (r = -0.339, p = 0.040) in patients with chronic HF. This study revealed that patients with chronic HF exhibited brain structure injury affecting gray matter and white matter, as well as FC abnormalities of brain regions responsible for cognition, sensorimotor and visual function. These findings suggest GMV could serve as a neuroimaging biomarker for cognitive impairments and a potential target for neuroprotective therapies in patients with chronic HF.