(Press-News.org) In multiple sclerosis, gray matter atrophy is extensive, and cognitive deficits and mood disorders are frequently encountered. It has been conjectured that focal atrophy is associated with emotional decline. However, conventional MRI has revealed that the pathological characteristics cannot fully account for the mood disorders. Dr. Aiyu Lin and colleagues from the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University used the voxel-based morphometry method to compare the difference in the clinical manifestations and imaging parameters of Chinese patients with multiple sclerosis and healthy controls. Furthermore, our study is the first to apply the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status scale in Chinese patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis to evaluate cognitive function. The researchers suggest that gray matter atrophy exists in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, and the cingulate and frontal cortices of the dominant hemisphere are the most severely atrophic regions of the brain. Additionally, this atrophy is correlated with cognitive decline and emotional abnormalities. These findings are published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 21, 2013).
INFORMATION:
Article: " Regional gray matter atrophy and neu-ropsychologcal problems in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis," by Aiyu Lin1, Fuyong Chen2, Fang Liu3, Zhiwen Li1, Ying Liu4, Shifang Lin1, Xiaoyi Wang2, Jiting Zhu1 (1 Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350005, Fujian Province, China; 2 Department of Neurosurgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350005, Fujian Province, China; 3 Department of Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment, the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350005, Fujian Province, China; 4 Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350005, Fujian Province, China)
Lin AY, Chen FY, Liu F, Li ZW, Liu Y, Lin SF, Wang XY, Zhu JT. Regional gray matter atrophy and neuropsychological problems in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Neural Regen Res. 2013;8(21):1958-1965.
Contact:
Meng Zhao
eic@nrren.org
86-138-049-98773
Neural Regeneration Research
http://www.nrronline.org/
Full text: http://124.16.31.131:8080/Jweb_sjzs/CN/article/downloadArticleFile.do?attachType=PDF&id=666
Regional gray matter atrophy in multiple sclerosis causes neuropsychologcal problems
2013-08-09
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Helper cells aptly named in battle with invading pathogens
2013-08-09
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- By tracking the previously unknown movements of a set of specialized cells, Whitehead Institute scientists are shedding new light on how the immune system mounts a successful defense against hostile, ever-changing invaders.
Central to the immune response is the activity inside structures known as germinal centers (GCs), which form in the body's lymph nodes upon detection of a foreign virus or bacteria. Within the GCs, populations of antibody-producing B cells move through continual cycles of mutation in an effort to generate antibodies perfectly suited ...
How parents see themselves may affect their child's brain and stress level
2013-08-09
Boston, Mass., -- A mother's perceived social status predicts her child's brain development and stress indicators, finds a study at Boston Children's Hospital. While previous studies going back to the 1950s have linked objective socioeconomic factors -- such as parental income or education -- to child health, achievement and brain function, the new study is the first to link brain function to maternal self-perception.
In the study, children whose mothers saw themselves as having a low social status were more likely to have increased cortisol levels, an indicator of stress, ...
Low childhood conscientiousness predicts adult obesity
2013-08-09
Results from a longitudinal study show that children who exhibit lower conscientiousness (e.g., irresponsible, careless, not persevering) could experience worse overall health, including greater obesity, as adults. The Oregon Research Institute (ORI) study examines the relationship between childhood personality and adult health and shows a strong association between childhood conscientiousness (organized, dependable, self-disciplined) and health status in adulthood. ORI scientist Sarah Hampson, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health, Hawaii report ...
Deep Earth heat surprise
2013-08-09
Washington, D.C—The key to understanding Earth's evolution is to look at how heat is conducted in the deep lower mantle—a region some 400 to 1,800 miles (660 to 2,900 kilometers) below the surface. Researchers at the Carnegie Institution, with colleagues at the University of Illinois, have for the first time been able to experimentally simulate the pressure conditions in this region to measure thermal conductivity using a new measurement technique developed by the collaborators and implemented by the Carnegie team on the mantle material magnesium oxide (MgO). They found ...
Bubbles are the new lenses for nanoscale light beams
2013-08-09
Bending light beams to your whim sounds like a job for a wizard or an a complex array of bulky mirrors, lenses and prisms, but a few tiny liquid bubbles may be all that is necessary to open the doors for next-generation, high-speed circuits and displays, according to Penn State researchers.
To combine the speed of optical communication with the portability of electronic circuitry, researchers use nanoplasmonics -- devices that use short electromagnetic waves to modulate light on the nanometer scale, where conventional optics do not work. However, aiming and focusing this ...
Tahiti: A very hot biodiversity hot spot in the Pacific
2013-08-09
A collaborative biological survey that focused on the insects of French Polynesia has resulted in the discovery of over 100 tiny predatory beetle species in Tahiti, 28 of these species newly described in the open-access journal ZooKeys.
The predatory beetles range in size from 3-8 mm long, and have evolutionarily lost their flight wings, making them homebodies living in small patches of mountain forest. The author, James Liebherr of Cornell University, states "It is exhilarating working with such a fauna, because every new locality or ecological situation has the high ...
The code of objects
2013-08-09
Opening our eyes and seeing the world before us, full of objects, is a simple action we may take for granted. Yet our brain is constantly carrying out a huge analysis only to let us see a flower, a pen, the face of our children. Where exactly in our brain does shape become meaning? A group of scientists coordinated by Davide Zoccolan of SISSA of Trieste, in collaboration with the team headed over by Riccardo Zecchina of Polytechnic University of Turin (within the Programma Neuroscienze 2008/2009 financed by Compagnia di San Paolo), studied a specific area of the brain ...
The day before death: A new archaeological technique gives insight into the day before death
2013-08-09
The day before the child's death was not a pleasant one, because it was not a sudden injury that killed the 10-13 year old child who was buried in the medieval town of Ribe in Denmark 800 years ago. The day before death was full of suffering because the child had been given a large dose of mercury in an attempt to cure a severe illness.
This is now known to chemist Kaare Lund Rasmussen from University of Southern Denmark – because he and his colleagues have developed a new methodology that can reveal an unheard amount of details from very shortly before a person's death. ...
New hope for improved TB treatments
2013-08-09
Researchers at the University of Southampton have identified new markers of tuberculosis (TB) that may help in the development of new diagnostic tests and treatments.
Published online in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, the study investigated the proteins that are released by a break down of the lung structure in TB patients. Lung damage causes both transmission of infection and mortality.
They found that fragments released by break down of the lung's key proteins (collagen and elastin), are increased in the sputum of patients with TB. They also discovered that ...
Whole-genome sequencing uncovers the mysteries of the endangered Chinese alligator
2013-08-09
August 9, 2013, Shenzhen, China - In a study published in Cell Research, Chinese scientists from Zhejiang University and BGI have completed the genome sequencing and analysis of the endangered Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis). This is the first published crocodilian genome, providing a good explanation of how terrestrial-style reptiles adapt to aquatic environments and temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD).
The Chinese alligator is a member of the alligator family that lives in China. It is critically endangered with a population of ~100 wild and ~10,000 ...