Effects of amyloid precursor protein peptide APP96-110, alone or with human mesenchymal stromal cells, on recovery after spinal cord injury.

Delivery of a peptide (APP96-110), derived from amyloid precursor protein (APP), has been shown to elicit neuroprotective effects following cerebral stroke and traumatic brain injury. In this study, the effect of APP96-110 or a mutant version of this peptide (mAPP96-110) was assessed following moderate (200 kdyn, (2 N)) thoracic contusive spinal cord injury (SCI) in adult Nude rats. Animals received a single tail vein injection of APP96-110 or mAPP96-110 at 30 minutes post-SCI and were then assessed for functional improvements over the next 8 weeks. A cohort of animals also received transplants of either viable or non-viable human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) into the SC lesion site at one week post-injury to assess the effect of combining intravenous APP96-110 delivery with hMSC treatment. Rats were perfused 8 weeks post-SCI and longitudinal sections of spinal cord analyzed for a number of factors including hMSC viability, cyst size, axonal regrowth, glial reactivity and macrophage activation. Analysis of sensorimotor function revealed occasional significant differences between groups using Ladderwalk or Ratwalk tests, however there were no consistent improvements in functional outcome after any of the treatments. mAPP96-110 alone, and APP96-110 in combination with both viable and non-viable hMSCs significantly reduced cyst size compared to SCI alone. Combined treatments with donor hMSCs also significantly increased ßIII tubulin+, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP+) and laminin+ expression, and decreased ED1+ expression in tissues. This preliminary study demonstrates that intravenous delivery of APP96-110 peptide has selective, modest neuroprotective effects following SCI, which may be enhanced when combined with hMSC transplantation. However, the effects are less pronounced and less consistent compared to the protective morphological and cognitive impact that this same peptide has on neuronal survival and behaviour after stroke and traumatic brain injury. Thus while the efficacy of a particular therapeutic approach in one CNS injury model may provide justification for its use in other neurotrauma models, similar outcomes may not necessarily occur and more targeted approaches suited to location and severity are required. All animal experiments were approved by The University of Western Australia Animal Ethics Committee (RA3/100/1460) on April 12, 2016.

[Adaptation level to social rules as a predictive index for degree of cooperation in orthodontic treatment of adolescent and preadolescent patients]. / Livello di adattamento alle regole sociali come indice predittivo del grado di cooperazione al trattamento ortognatodontico in soggetti preadolescenti e adolescenti.

Aim of this work was to study psychological aspects of orthodontic patients cooperation. The Authors used "lie-scale" of Busnelli, Dall'Aglio and Faina's questionnaire that measures social desirability. In fact more social desirability results in "cooperative" than in "no cooperative" patients.

[Use of psychological evaluation in orthodontics]. / Utilità della valutazione psicologica in ortognatodonzia.

The Authors have checked the behavioural and psychological differences between co-operate e not co-operate patients emploing three psychodiagnostic tests in diagnostic phase. While in order to appraise the standard of patient's compliance during the terapeutical phase, the Authors have planed a variable of co-operation list.

Interhemispheric transfer of visual information in schizophrenics.

Groups of 12 male schizophrenic inpatients and 12 normal controls of the same age, sex, and schooling underwent a tachistoscopic test. Each subject was shown an alphabetical letter which he subsequently had to recognize among various other alphabetical letters also shown tachistoscopically. The visual hemifields of the two displays were ipsilateral and crossed. Relative to the normal group the schizophrenics showed higher perceptual thresholds, lower over-all mean performance, and greater lateralization. The results are discussed in terms of rigidly and poorly integrated systems of analysis of information between one hemisphere and the other for schizophrenic patients.

Perceptual experience in learning to read.

A group of 24 children (12 boys and 12 girls) aged 10 yr. was given the Children's Embedded Figures Test and a Reading Ability Test on Comprehension, Accuracy, and Speed. Only the correlation of CEFT and Accuracy scores was statistically significant, while that for CEFT and Comprehension scores fell just short of significance, and that for CEFT and Speed was nonsignificant. Data are discussed in terms of more holistic and more articulated processes in learning to read, respectively, as adopted by more field-dependent and more field-independent subjects.

Hemispheric functionality patterns between dextrals and sinistrals in tactile-visual tasks at lower or higher level of mental processes.

Two different patterns of unilateral tactile-visual recognition tasks with random shapes were administered to 64 subjects, 32 right-handed (16 males, 16 females) and 32 left-handed (16 males, 16 females). The main effects were found in the over-all performance: dextral subjects performed better than sinistral subjects; males performed better than females. On the task at a lower level of mental process dextral subjects performed better over-all than the sinistral subjects; however, neither group showed superiority of one hand over the other. On the task at a higher level of mental process performance of sinistral subjects improved to a level equivalent to that of the dextral subjects. Dextral subjects tended to perform better with their left hands, whereas the sinistral subjects scored equally with both hands. The findings are discussed in terms of quantitative and qualitative differences in patterns of hemispheric functionality between dextral and sinistral subjects, and the more specific cerebral activation for tasks at a higher level of mental process is hypothesized.

Children's reaction times to verbal and nonverbal tachistoscopic stimuli exposed to the left and right visual hemifields.

Tachistoscopic tests of the left and right visual hemifields to identify three-letter words and simple geometric figures were administered to 64 children (32 boys, 32 girls) in the age group 7 to 8 yr. and in their second year of school. The results show no significant differences in visual perceptual threshold between the two hemifields for either of the two tests (three-letter words and simple geometric figures). The authors interpret the results as confirming a lesser and not definitely determined lateralization in children.