文拉法辛联合认知行为疗法治疗帕金森病抑郁、认知功能障碍的临床疗效评价

目的:探讨文拉法辛联合认知行为疗法治疗帕金森病(PD)抑郁、认知功能障碍的临床疗效和安全性。方法:选择我院收治的60例PD合并抑郁、认知功能障碍患者并将其随机分为三组,分别为对照组(单用文拉法辛治疗),联合奥氮平组(文拉法辛联合奥氮平),联合认知行为疗法组(文拉法辛联合认知行为疗法),每组20例,于治疗前及治疗后4、8周末采用汉密尔顿抑郁量表(HAMD)进行抑郁程度评定,简易精神状态评价量表(MMSE)和事件相关电位(event-related potentials,ERPs)P300进行认知功能评定。结果:治疗4、8周时,三组的HAMD评分均较治疗前有不同程度下降,P300潜伏期较治疗前有不同程度缩短,P300波幅、MMSE评分有不同程度升高(P0.05),联合奥氮平组和联合认知行为疗法组HAMD评分较对照组明显下降,P300潜伏期较对照组明显缩短,P300波幅、MMSE评分明显升高(P0.05),联合认知行为疗法组HAMD评分较联合奥氮平组明显下降,P300潜伏期明显缩短,P300波幅、MMSE评分明显升高(P0.05)。三组均无特殊不良反应。结论:文拉法辛联合认知行为疗法治疗PD抑郁、认知功能障碍疗效确切,能显著改善患者抑郁症状,提高患者的认知功能,疗效较单用文拉法辛或文拉法辛联合奥氮平治疗更好,且安全性高。     

Disturbance‐modulated symbioses in termitophily

Symbiosis, the living‐together of unlike organisms, underlies every major transition in evolution and pervades most ecological dynamics. Among examples of symbioses, the simultaneous occupation of a termite nest by its builder termites and intruding invertebrate species (so‐called termitophily) provides suitable macroscopic scenarios for the study of species coexistence in confined environments. Current evidence on termitophily abounds for dynamics occurring at the interindividual level within the termitarium, but is insufficient for broader scales such as the community and the landscape. Here, we inspect the effects of abiotic disturbance on termitophile presence and function in termitaria at these broader scales. To do so, we censused the termitophile communities inhabiting 30 termitaria of distinct volumes which had been exposed to increasing degrees of fire‐induced disturbance in a savanna‐like ecosystem in southeastern Brazil. We provide evidence that such an abiotic disturbance can ease the living‐together of termitophiles and termites. Putative processes facilitating these symbioses, however, varied according to the invader. For nonsocial invaders, disturbance seemed to boost coexistence with termites via the habitat amelioration that termitaria provided under wildfire, as suggested by the positive correlation between disturbance degree and termitophile abundance and richness. As for social invaders (ants), disturbance seemed to enhance associational defenses with termites, as suggested by the negative correlation between the presence of ant colonies and the richness and abundance of other termitarium‐cohabiting termitophiles. It is then apparent that disturbance‐modulated distinct symbioses in these termite nests.     

Long-term persistence of vaccine-derived aluminum hydroxide is associated with chronic cognitive dysfunction

Macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF) is an emerging condition, characterized by specific muscle lesions assessing long-term persistence of aluminum hydroxide within macrophages at the site of previous immunization. Affected patients mainly complain of arthromyalgias, chronic fatigue, and cognitive difficulties. We designed a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests to prospectively delineate MMF-associated cognitive dysfunction (MACD). Compared to control patients with arthritis and chronic pain, MMF patients had pronounced and specific cognitive impairment. MACD mainly affected (i) both visual and verbal memory; (ii) executive functions, including attention, working memory, and planning; and (iii) left ear extinction at dichotic listening test. Cognitive deficits did not correlate with pain, fatigue, depression, or disease duration. Pathophysiological mechanisms underlying MACD remain to be determined. In conclusion, long-term persistence of vaccine-derived aluminum hydroxide within the body assessed by MMF is associated with cognitive dysfunction, not solely due to chronic pain, fatigue and depression.     

The influence of orally administered docosahexaenoic acid on cognitive ability in aged mice

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not the role of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation on cognitive capability was related with brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nitric oxide (NO) and dopamine (DA) in aged mice. Kunming-line mice were treated with 50 and 100 mg/kg/day of DHA via oral gavage for seven successive weeks. The cognitive ability of mice was assessed by step-through and passageway water maze tests. The levels of NO in hippocampus and striatum tissues were assessed by spectrophotometric method. The levels of DA in hippocampus and striatum tissues were assessed by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. The protein levels of BDNF in hippocampus tissue were assessed by Western blotting. The results showed that the cognitive capability of mice was significantly different between the DHA-treated groups and the control group; the protein level of BDNF was significantly increased in the hippocampus; the levels of NO and DA were significantly increased in hippocampus and striatum tissues. In conclusion, during aging, DHA supplementation can improve the cognitive function in mice and can increase the protein level of BDNF in hippocampus tissue and the levels of NO and DA in hippocampus and striatum tissues. Taken together, our results suggest that DHA supplementation could improve the cognitive dysfunction due to aging, to some extent, and it may have a relationship with increasing the protein level of BDNF and the level of NO and DA.     

Symmetric faces are a sign of successful cognitive aging

It has been proposed that a common cause underlies individual differences in bodily and cognitive decline in old age. No good marker for this common cause has been identified to date. Here, fluctuating asymmetry (FA), an indicator of developmental stability that relates to intelligence differences in young adults, was measured from facial photographs of 216 surviving members of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 at age 83 and related to their intelligence at ages 11, 79 and 83 years. FA at age 83 was unrelated to intelligence at ages 11 and 79 and to cognitive change between 11 and 79 years. It was, however, associated with intelligence and information processing efficiency at age 83 and with cognitive change between 79 and 83 years. Significant results were limited to men, a result predicted by sex differences in life history tradeoffs and life expectancy. Results were stronger when directional asymmetries were corrected in facial FA measures. Thus, FA is a candidate marker for the common cause of differential senescence.     

Species‐specific disturbance tolerance,competition and positive interactions along an anthropogenic disturbance gradient

Question: As it has been found that stress promotes positive interactions mediated by physical amelioration of the environment, is it possible that interactions may turn positive with increasing chronic anthropogenic disturbance (CAD) intensity? Also, is it possible that species that do not tolerate disturbance may require environmental amelioration by their neighbours in disturbed areas, whereas tolerant species may not? Location: The semi‐arid grassland in Concepción Buenavista, Oaxaca, southern Mexico. Methods: We assessed interaction intensity and importance through a neighbour removal experiment along a CAD gradient for three species differing in disturbance tolerance. Water potential was monitored on vegetated and bare soil. Results: A shift from competitive effects in low CAD sites to positive interactions in degraded sites was found. The disturbance‐tolerant species did not respond to CAD, whereas the less tolerant species changed its interactions drastically in terms of growth and reproduction. The species with medium tolerance had an intermediate response. Neighbours promoted germination in all species. Vegetation removal reduced soil humidity. Conclusions: Positive interactions seemingly resulted from the amelioration of the abiotic stresses induced by vegetation removal. The dependence on neighbours to germinate, grow, or reproduce suggests that if CAD eliminates the plant cover, vegetation will hardly recover. Irreversible changes are known to occur in communities where positive interactions predominate, but CAD may set the conditions for irreversible shifts even in communities where interactions are normally competitive.     

Relationship between oxidative stress and cognitive impairment in the elderly of rural vs. urban communities

Psychological stress and environmental pollution are frequently associated to urban environment and oxidative stress (OxS). Likewise, OxS is a risk factor for cognitive impairment (CI) in the elderly. Therefore, we hypothesized that the prevalence of CI in subjects of the urban area could be higher than in those of the rural area, and linked to higher OxS. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between OxS and CI in elderly individuals from rural and urban settings in Mexico. Plasmatic TBARS, plasma total antioxidant status, and the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were measured in 104 urban and 85 rural elderly individuals. Cognitive functions were evaluated through the Mini Mental State Examination. We found a greater proportion of subjects with OxS and CI in urban than in rural areas (25% vs. 9%), with an odds ratio of 5.67 (CI95% 1.14-38.02, p < 0.05). Our findings suggest that the elderly in urban areas have more OxS and a higher risk of developing CI compared with elderly individuals in a rural environment.     

Testing theories of secularization and religious belief in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Several theoretical approaches have been proposed to explain variation in religiosity, including versions of secularization hypotheses, evolved cognitive biases, and cultural transmission. In this paper we test several theories that aim to explain variation in religiosity and compare them in a representative sample collected in the Czech Republic and Slovakia (N = 2022). These two countries represent a natural experiment in religiosity; despite their high level of historical, institutional and cultural similarity, their populations differ markedly in the rate of religious belief. We examine the predictive power of cognitive biases (anthropomorphism, dualism, teleology, mentalizing, and analytic thinking); institutional insecurity; and exposure to credibility displays of belief in childhood on various factors of religious belief. We find that individual differences in cognitive biases predicted 8% of the variance belief in God, but predicted 21% of the variance in paranormal beliefs and almost no variance in religious participation. Perceived institutional insecurity explains little variance in any of these variables, but cultural transmission, measured as exposure to credibility enhancing displays (CREDs) and church attendance in childhood, predicted 17% of the variance in belief in God and 30% of religious participation, and mediated 70% of the difference between these two countries in belief in God and 80% of the difference in religious practice. These findings suggest cognitive biases may explain the existence of belief in the supernatural generally, but cultural transmission through credible belief displays is a more plausible explanation for why people adopt and maintain a specific set of religious beliefs and practices.     

Studying modulation on simultaneously activated SSVEP neural networks by a cognitive task

Since the discovery of steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP), it has been used in many fields. Numerous studies suggest that there exist three SSVEP neural networks in different frequency bands. An obvious phenomenon has been observed, that the amplitude and phase of SSVEP can be modulated by a cognitive task. Previous works have studied this modulation on separately activated SSVEP neural networks by a cognitive task. If two or more SSVEP neural networks are activated simultaneously in the process of a cognitive task, is the modulation on different SSVEP neural networks the same? In this study, two different SSVEP neural networks were activated simultaneously by two different frequency flickers, with a working memory task irrelevant to the flickers being conducted at the same time. The modulated SSVEP waves were compared with each other and to those only under one flicker in previous studies. The comparison results show that the cognitive task can modulate different SSVEP neural networks with a similar style.