ABSTRACT
Multiple sclerosis (MS) exhibits demyelination, inflammatory infiltration, axonal degeneration, and gliosis, affecting widespread regions of the central nervous system (CNS). While white matter MS lesions have been well characterized pathologically, evidence indicates that the MS brain may be globally altered, with subtle abnormalities found in grossly normal appearing white matter (NAWM). These subtle changes are difficult to investigate by common methods such as histochemical stains and conventional magnetic resonance imaging. Thus, the prototypical inflammatory lesion likely represents the most obvious manifestation of a more widespread involvement of the CNS. We describe the application of spectral coherent anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (sCARS) microscopy to study such changes in chronic MS tissue particularly in NAWM. Subtle changes in myelin lipid biochemical signatures and intra-molecular disorder of fatty acid acyl chains of otherwise normal-appearing myelin were detected, supporting the notion that the biochemical involvement of the MS brain is far more extensive than conventional methods would suggest.
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to investigate the effect of a computerized visual perception and visual-motor integration training program to enhance Chinese handwriting performance among children with learning difficulties, particularly those with handwriting problems. Participants were 26 primary-one children who were assessed by educational psychologists and occupational therapists to have handwriting difficulties. They were matched according to their age and then randomly assigned into either the control group or the experimental group. Subjects in the experimental group (n=13) would receive eight sessions of computerized visual perception and visual-motor integration training together with a home training program while those in the control group (n=13) would only receive conventional handwriting training by teachers, which focused mainly on remedial handwriting exercises. Results from repeated measure ANOVA revealed that children in the experimental group showed improvements in their visual perception skills as well as in their handwriting time. Both the "On Paper" time and "In Air" time of this group were improved when compared to the control group. However, no significant differences were found in visual-motor integration skill and handwriting legibility between the two groups after the intervention. This computerized training program focusing on visual perception and visual-motor integration training appeared to be effective in enhancing the handwriting time among children with handwriting difficulties. However, the training program did not seem to improve the legibility of children.
Subject(s)
Developmental Disabilities/rehabilitation , Handwriting , Motor Skills Disorders/rehabilitation , Psychomotor Performance , Visual Perception , Asian People , Child , Computer-Assisted Instruction/methods , Developmental Disabilities/physiopathology , Education, Special/methods , Female , Hand , Humans , Male , Motor Skills , Motor Skills Disorders/physiopathologySubject(s)
Acromegaly/drug therapy , Drugs, Investigational/therapeutic use , Human Growth Hormone/drug effects , Somatostatin/analogs & derivatives , Somatostatin/therapeutic use , Acromegaly/metabolism , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Drug Evaluation , Drug Tolerance , Drugs, Investigational/adverse effects , Human Growth Hormone/metabolism , Nausea/etiology , Octreotide/adverse effects , Octreotide/therapeutic use , Receptors, Somatostatin/classification , Receptors, Somatostatin/drug effects , Reference Values , Somatostatin/adverse effects , Vomiting/etiologyABSTRACT
Up to eight redox-active ferrocenyl units have been incorporated, through the unsaturated ethynyl linkers, on the periphery of a series of cyclic tetrapyrrole derivatives including zinc(II) phthalocyanine and 2,3-naphthalocyanine, and nickel(II) meso-diphenylporphyrin. The synthesis of the former two macrocycles 4 and 7 involves the Sonogashira coupling reaction of ferrocenylethyne with 4,5-dichlorophthalonitrile (1) or 6,7-dibromonaphthalonitrile (5), respectively, followed by a base-promoted cyclization. The meso-bis(ferrocenylethynyl)porphyrin 11 has been prepared from the dibromo analogue 10 also by a palladium-catalyzed coupling reaction. These novel macrocyclic compounds have been spectroscopically and electrochemically characterized. As revealed by cyclic voltammetry, the ferrocenyl moieties appear to be electrochemically independent in these complexes and there is no significant electronic coupling among the iron(II) centers.
