Psychological outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic in patients with Parkinson's disease: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: There were concerns about the psychological outcomes of coronavirus disease from the beginning of the pandemic. Parkinson's disease (PD) patients seem to be more vulnerable to mental health disorders like stress, depression, anxiety, or worsening quality of life during COVID-19 lockdown. We aimed to conduct a systematic review to investigate the psychological outcomes of COVID-19 among the PD population. METHODS: A systematic search was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. We included original studies which reported the psychological impact of COVID-19 in the PD population with a minimum of 10 cases. RESULTS: After the screening, 21 studies with a total of 5236 PD cases were included in our qualitative synthesis. Depression, anxiety, and to less extent sleep disorders and apathy are the most studied psychological outcomes. Most of the studies indicated that the severity or the prevalence of psychiatric disturbance increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic in PD patients. The prevalence of anxiety was 14% to 66.5%, while depression was reported in 0% to 50% of PD patients during and after the pandemic. Also, sleep problems were reported in 35.4% to 68.9% of PD patients. CONCLUSION: Considering the overall trend of increment in the severity of the main psychological outcomes observed in the present systematic review, it is suggested that future studies conduct a more accurate analysis of the prevalence, severity, and associated pathology of psychological outcomes of COVID-19 in PD patients.

Epidemiological status of type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Middle East and North Africa, 1990-2019

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is associated with various complications and imposes significant economic pressures. Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiological status and the burden of T2D in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries during 1990–2019; to inform targeting of prevention strategies. Methods: The study population included 21 countries, covering a population of about 400 million. The global burden of disease 2019 database was used. Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were computed by summing up the years of life lost and the years lived with disability. Prevalence, incidence, death rates and DALY rates per 100 000 people for all locations by age-standardized rates were calculated. Results: In 2019, Qatar had the highest prevalence [16312.4; 95% unit interval (UI): 15050.0–17723.2] and incidence rates (818.0; 95% UI: 773.9–868.7) of T2D Bahrain had the highest death (127.0; 95% UI: 102.5–154.6) and DALYs (3232.5; 95% UI: 2622.4–3929.3) rates In the MENA area, average DALY rates increased by nearly 31% (808.3 to 1060.8) and average death rates increased by 0.2% (24.8 to 25.2) during 1990–2019. The highest increase for T2D-related DALYs (516.5 to 958.1; 85%) and the highest increase for T2D-related deaths (12.5 to 22.0; 76%) was in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Conclusion: Prevalence, incidence, deaths and DALYs rates for T2D have continued to increase in most of the MENA countries. Health care systems must make efforts to control modifiable risk factors.

Positive electrostatic therapy of metastatic tumors: selective induction of apoptosis in cancer cells by pure charges.

BACKGROUND: We discovered that pure positive electrostatic charges (PECs) have an intrinsic suppressive effect on the proliferation and metabolism of invasive cancer cells (cell lines and animal models) without affecting normal tissues. METHODS: We interacted normal and cancer cell lines and animal tumors with PECs by connecting a charged patch to cancer cells and animal tumors. many biochemical, molecular and radiological assays were carried out on PEC treated and control samples. RESULTS: Correlative interactions between electrostatic charges and cancer cells contain critical unknown factors that influence cancer diagnosis and treatment. Different types of cell analyses prove PEC-based apoptosis induction in malignant cell lines. Flowcytometry and viability assay depict selective destructive effects of PEC on malignant breast cancer cells. Additionally, strong patterns of pyknotic apoptosis, as well as downregulation of proliferative-associated proteins (Ki67, CD31, and HIF-1α), were observed in histopathological and immunohistochemical patterns of treated mouse malignant tumors, respectively. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction results demonstrate up/down-regulated apoptotic/proliferative transcriptomes (P21, P27, P53/CD34, integrin α5, vascular endothelial growth factor, and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor) in treated animal tumors. Expression of propidium iodide in confocal microscopy images of treated malignant tissues was another indication of the destructive effects of PECs on such cells. Significant tumor size reduction and prognosis improvement were seen in over 95% of treated mouse models with no adverse effects on normal tissues. CONCLUSION: We discovered that pure positive electrostatic charges (PECs) have an intrinsic suppressive effect on the proliferation and metabolism of invasive cancer cells (cell lines and animal models) without affecting normal tissues. The findings were statistically and observationally significant when compared to radio/chemotherapy-treated mouse models. As a result, this nonionizing radiation may be used as a practical complementary approach with no discernible side effects after passing future human model studies.

Biochemical mechanisms of dose-dependent cytotoxicity and ROS-mediated apoptosis induced by lead sulfide/graphene oxide quantum dots for potential bioimaging applications.

Colloidal quantum dots (CQD) have attracted considerable attention for biomedical diagnosis and imaging as well as biochemical analysis and stem cell tracking. In this study, quasi core/shell lead sulfide/reduced graphene oxide CQD with near infrared emission (1100 nm) were prepared for potential bioimaging applications. The nanocrystals had an average diameter of ~4 nm, a hydrodynamic size of ~8 nm, and a high quantum efficiency of 28%. Toxicity assay of the hybrid CQD in the cultured human mononuclear blood cells does not show cytotoxicity up to 200 µg/ml. At high concentrations, damage to mitochondrial activity and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) due to the formation of uncontrollable amounts of intracellular oxygen radicals (ROS) was observed. Cell membrane and Lysosome damage or a transition in mitochondrial permeability were also noticed. Understanding of cell-nanoparticle interaction at the molecular level is useful for the development of new fluorophores for biomedical imaging.

Effects of neurofeedback on the short-term memory and continuous attention of patients with moderate traumatic brain injury: A preliminary randomized controlled clinical trial / 中华创伤杂志(英文版)

<p><b>PURPOSE</b>There are some studies which showed neurofeedback therapy (NFT) can be effective in clients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) history. However, randomized controlled clinical trials are still needed for evaluation of this treatment as a standard option. This preliminary study was aimed to evaluate the effect of NFT on continuous attention (CA) and short-term memory (STM) of clients with moderate TBI using a randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>In this preliminary RCT, seventeen eligible patients with moderate TBI were randomly allocated in two intervention and control groups. All the patients were evaluated for CA and STM using the visual continuous attention test and Wechsler memory scale-4th edition (WMS-IV) test, respectively, both at the time of inclusion to the project and four weeks later. The intervention group participated in 20 sessions of NFT through the first four weeks. Conversely, the control group participated in the same NF sessions from the fifth week to eighth week of the project.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Eight subjects in the intervention group and five subjects in the control group completed the study. The mean and standard deviation of participants' age were (26.75 ± 15.16) years and (27.60 ± 8.17) years in experiment and control groups, respectively. All of the subjects were male. No significant improvement was observed in any variables of the visual continuous attention test and WMS-IV test between two groups (p ≥ 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Based on our literature review, it seems that our study is the only study performed on the effect of NFT on TBI patients with control group. NFT has no effect on CA and STM in patients with moderate TBI. More RCTs with large sample sizes, more sessions of treatment, longer time of follow-up and different protocols are recommended.</p>