The effects of treadmill or overground walking training program on gait in Parkinson's disease.

BACKGROUND: Gait impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients is characterized by the inability to generate appropriate stride length. Treadmill training has been proposed as a therapeutic tool for PD patients. However, it remains unknown whether treadmill training effects are different from overground walking training. Thus, our goal was to explore the effects of two training programs, walking on a treadmill and walking overground, in PD patients. METHODS: 22 PD patients were randomly assigned to a treadmill or overground training group. The training program consisted of 5 weeks (3 sessions/week). Before and after the program we evaluated gait kinematics during walking at preferred and maximal speed; Timed Up and Go (TUG); static posturography and knee extensors strength. Gait parameters were reevaluated in the treadmill training group one month after the cessation of the training. RESULTS: Preferred speed walking improved in both groups after the training program. The treadmill training program, but not the overground, led to an improvement in the stride length at the preferred and maximal walking speed in the PD patients. In addition, the treadmill training group showed improvement of the TUG and static posturography tests. The improvement in gait parameters was maintained one month after the cessation of the treadmill training. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence of a specific therapeutic effect of treadmill training on Parkinsonian gait and balance. Walking on a treadmill may be used as an easy, effective and accessible way to improve the stride length and balance in PD patients.

Nanoinformatics: developing new computing applications for nanomedicine.

Nanoinformatics has recently emerged to address the need of computing applications at the nano level. In this regard, the authors have participated in various initiatives to identify its concepts, foundations and challenges. While nanomaterials open up the possibility for developing new devices in many industrial and scientific areas, they also offer breakthrough perspectives for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. In this paper, we analyze the different aspects of nanoinformatics and suggest five research topics to help catalyze new research and development in the area, particularly focused on nanomedicine. We also encompass the use of informatics to further the biological and clinical applications of basic research in nanoscience and nanotechnology, and the related concept of an extended "nanotype" to coalesce information related to nanoparticles. We suggest how nanoinformatics could accelerate developments in nanomedicine, similarly to what happened with the Human Genome and other -omics projects, on issues like exchanging modeling and simulation methods and tools, linking toxicity information to clinical and personal databases or developing new approaches for scientific ontologies, among many others.

Training health professionals in bioinformatics. Experiences and lessons learned.

BACKGROUND: Genomic technologies and particularly bioinformatics have significantly changed biomedical research along the last decade and are being recognized as potential methods for application also in medical practice and public health. There exists a growing need for different collectives of the healthcare sector to receive training in the methods, tools and databases related with these new areas. OBJECTIVES: This paper describes the teaching experience of our department during the last ten years and analyzes past activities designed for teaching bioinformatics to different groups of health professionals. We aim to illustrate the main lessons learned and offer useful clues to other groups interested in setting up training initiatives in bioinformatics for health professionals. METHODS: The group selected several methodologies for the training activities ("face-to-face", online/e-learning) on the basis of three criteria: 1) the target collective, 2) the contents of the course, and 3) its length. Courses were evaluated and the results are hereby presented and discussed. RESULTS: National and international training courses on bioinformatics, biomedical informatics and genomics were developed according to specific requirements defined by the profile of each of the targeted health professional group. These activities provided the students with the necessary skills for better understanding the use of bioinformatics tools and databases and the appropriate way of applying them into specific health domains. CONCLUSIONS: The increasing demand of training courses in new technologies related to genomics and bioinformatics by health professionals provides a good opportunity for the development of tailored courses based on their specific needs, expectations and demands geared to bridge the gap between research and practice and facilitating their everyday work.

Grid requirements for the integration of biomedical information resources for health applications.

OBJECTIVES: The goal of this paper is to identify how Grid technology can be applied for the development and deployment of integration systems, bringing together distributed and heterogeneous biomedical information sources for medical applications. METHODS: The integration of new genetic and medical knowledge in clinical workflows requires the development of new paradigms for information management in which the ability to access and relate disparate data sources is essential. We adopt a requirements perspective based on the user needs we have identified in the development of the INFOGENMED system to assess current Grid technology against those requirements. RESULTS: The gap between Grid features and distributed biomedical information integration needs is characterized. Results from prospective studies are also reported. CONCLUSIONS: Grid infrastructures offer advanced features for the deployment of collaborative computational environments across virtual organizations. New Grid developments are in line with the problem of multiple site information integration. From the INFOGENMED point of view, Grid infrastructures need to evolve to implement structured data access services and semantic content description and discovery.

The effects of 5-HT on feeding behaviour in mianserin- or cyproheptadine-pretreated rats.

We examined the effects of 5-HT on the feeding behaviour patterns of rats pretreated with mianserin (5-HT(1B/2A/1D receptor antagonist) or cyproheptadine (a 5-HT(2c) receptor antagonist), injected into the pariventricular hypothalamus nucleus (PVN). The animals were kept at 21 +/- 1 degrees C with a 12 h light and 12 h dark cycle on a self-selected feeding paradigm, and provided with freely available and separate sources of proteins, carbohydrates, fats and water. The results indicate that the suppressive effect of 5-HT on carbohydrate intake can be blocked by mianserin and cyproheptadine even at the onset of the natural (dark) feeding period; however, this is a distinct blockade in the paradigm of feeding behavior. All of the meal patterns of fat intake and rest remained unaffected.

Effect of 5-HT in mianserin-pretreated rats on the structure of feeding behavior.

The present study examined the effects of intra-PVN serotonin injection in mianserin-pretreated rats at the onset of the dark phase of light cycle on the structure of feeding behavior. The drugs were injected into the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus. The animals were maintained in a self-selection feeding paradigm and provided with freely available and separate sources of protein, carbohydrate, fat and water. The suppressive effect of 5-HT on carbohydrate intake was attenuated by mianserin at the beginning of the active (dark) feeding period. Mianserin-pretreatment increased the duration of carbohydrate and protein intake, but it was unable to block the effect of 5-HT on meal frequency and local rate of carbohydrate consumption. The present data suggests that carbohydrate intake may be in part mediated by postsynaptic 5-HT(2A/2C) receptors. However, the temporal characteristics of carbohydrate ingestion are mediated by another subpopulation of 5-HT receptors in the PVN and indicates a possibly adrenergic influence.

What does the brain do while playing scrabble?: ERPs associated with a short-long-term memory task.

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded while subjects performed the scrabble paradigm, a cued recall task that demands retrieving semantic memory information from long-term memory since subjects are not exposed to a previous study phase. The task combines short- and long-term memory processes and consists of forming words from a set of letters presented in random order. Short-term memory was manipulated by varying the number of letters (three, four and five) presented to the subject, while semantic memory was examined by comparing correct trials with no response trials. Behavioral results reveal that the subjects performed the task serially, as denoted by a linear reaction time increment as the number of random letters in the set increased. Short-term memory procedures were reflected by an amplitude increase of the N200 and by an amplitude decrease of the P300 increasing the number of letters. Successfully retrieving semantic information from long-term memory was indexed by a negative slow wave recorded at left frontal and left central sites, and by a positive slow wave predominant over right hemisphere sites. These findings provide evidence that semantic retrieval memory involves activity from both left and right hemispheres.

[Common personality traits in obese individuals]. / Rasgos de personalidad comunes en obesos.

This study is part of an interdisciplinary investigation in which the obese patient is evaluated from different aspects. This paper deals with the psychometric evaluation of obese people to search for common personality traits in obese patients attending the Weight Control Program offered by the Nutrition Project of ENEP Iztacala. The results show that differences do exist between obese and non-obese people, especially on some scales of the Inventory of Temperamental Traits.