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McHugh Damsgaard posted an update 6 months, 1 week ago
Objective measurement of speech has shown promising results to monitor disease state in multiple sclerosis. In this study, we characterize the relationship between disease severity and speech metrics through perceptual (listener based) and objective acoustic analysis. We further look at deviations of acoustic metrics in people with no perceivable dysarthria.
Correlations and regression were calculated between speech measurements and disability scores, brain volume, lesion load and quality of life. Speech measurements were further compared between three subgroups of increasing overall neurological disability mild (as rated by the Expanded Disability Status Scale ≤2.5), moderate (≥3 and ≤5.5) and severe (≥6).
Clinical speech impairment occurred majorly in people with severe disability. DC_AC50 cell line An experimental acoustic composite score differentiated mild from moderate (P<0.001) and moderate from severe subgroups (P=0.003), and correlated with overall neurological disability (r=0.6, P<0.001), quality of life (r=0.5, P<0.001), white matter volume (r=0.3, P=0.007) and lesion load (r=0.3, P=0.008). Acoustic metrics also correlated with disability scores in people with no perceivable dysarthria.
Acoustic analysis offers a valuable insight into the development of speech impairment in multiple sclerosis. These results highlight the potential of automated analysis of speech to assist in monitoring disease progression and treatment response.
Acoustic analysis offers a valuable insight into the development of speech impairment in multiple sclerosis. These results highlight the potential of automated analysis of speech to assist in monitoring disease progression and treatment response.Pemphigus encompasses a group of chronic autoimmune blistering diseases of the skin and/or mucosa. Rituximab (RTX) has shown promising efficacy for the treatment of pemphigus in the past decade. Considering potential cardiac side effects, this study was conducted to assess the effects of RTX on electrocardiogram (ECG) parameters in pemphigus patients. This observational cross-sectional study was conducted in 80 consecutive patients with pemphigus who were eligible for RTX infusion. The patients’ heart rhythm was monitored before, during and after RTX infusion and ECG parameters were compared before and after the infusion. Eighty patients were included in the study. The median age of the patients was 42 years. The mean and maximum heart rate (HR) increased significantly after RTX infusion compared with pre-infusion mean and maximum HR. The mean corrected QT (QTc) interval, premature atrial contraction (PAC), and premature ventricular contraction (PVC) counts increased significantly after RTX infusion (P value 0.009, 0.004 and 0.007 respectively). According to the results of this study, RTX has potential arrhythmogenic side effects including increased mean and maximum HR, QTc interval, PAC and PVC count. However, these findings are minor and should not prevent eligible patients from receiving RTX infusion.
To evaluate the rate of postpartum glycemic screening tests (PGST) in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and to investigate risk factors for abnormal PGST results.
We retrospectively analyzed the obstetric data of 1,648 women with GDM who gave birth after 28 completed weeks of gestation between 1 July 2011 and 31 December 2019 at Taipei Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan. GDM was diagnosed by the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups criteria. PGST was carried out at 6-12weeks postpartum with a 75-g, 2-h oral glucose tolerance test, and the results were classified into normal, prediabetes and diabetes mellitus. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the associations between various risk factors and abnormal PGST results.
In total, 493 (29.9%) women underwent PGST and 162 (32.9%) had abnormal results, including 135 (27.4%) with prediabetes and 27 (5.5%) with diabetes mellitus. Significant risk factors for postpartum diabetes mellitus included insulin therapy during pregnancy (adjusted odds ratio 10.79, 95% confidence interval 4.07-28.58), birthweight >4,000g (adjusted OR 10.22, 95% CI 1.74-59.89) and preterm birth <37weeks’ gestation (adjusted OR 3.33, 95% CI 1.09-10.22); whereas prepregnancy body mass index >24.9kg/m
(adjusted OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.24-3.21) was the major risk factor for postpartum prediabetes.
Less than one-third of women with GDM underwent PGST, and nearly one-third of these women had abnormal results. Future efforts should focus on reducing the barriers to PGST in women with GDM.
Less than one-third of women with GDM underwent PGST, and nearly one-third of these women had abnormal results. Future efforts should focus on reducing the barriers to PGST in women with GDM.This article presents a personal and critical review of the history of the malate-aspartate shuttle (MAS), starting in 1962 and ending in 2020. The MAS was initially proposed as a route for the oxidation of cytosolic NADH by the mitochondria in Ehrlich ascites cell tumor lacking other routes, and to explain the need for a mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase (glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase 2 ). The MAS was soon adopted in the field as a major pathway for NADH oxidation in mammalian tissues, such as liver and heart, even though the energetics of the MAS remained a mystery. Only in the 1970s, LaNoue and coworkers discovered that the efflux of aspartate from mitochondria, an essential step in the MAS, is dependent on the proton-motive force generated by the respiratory chain for every aspartate effluxed, mitochondria take up one glutamate and one proton. This makes the MAS in practice uni-directional toward oxidation of cytosolic NADH, and explains why the free NADH/NAD ratio is much higher in the mitochondria than in the cytosol. The MAS is still a very active field of research. Most recently, the focus has been on the role of the MAS in tumors, on cells with defects in mitochondria and on inborn errors in the MAS. The year 2019 saw the discovery of two new inborn errors in the MAS, deficiencies in malate dehydrogenase 1 and in aspartate transaminase 2 (GOT2). This illustrates the vitality of ongoing MAS research.
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