RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Body motion evaluation (BME) by markerless systems is increasingly being considered as an alternative to traditional marker-based technology because they are faster, simpler, and less expensive. They are increasingly used in clinical settings in patients with movement disorders; however, the wide variety of systems available makes results conflicting. RESEARCH QUESTION: The objective of this study was to determine whether a markerless 3D motion capture system is a useful instrument to objectively differentiate between PD patients with DBS in On and Off states and controls and its correlation with the evaluation by means of MDS-UPDRS. METHODS: Six PD patients who underwent deep brain stimulation (DBS) bilaterally in the subthalamic nucleus were evaluated using BME and the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS-III) with DBS turned On and Off. BME of 16 different movements in six controls paired by age and sex was compared with that in PD patients with DBS in On and Off states. RESULTS: A better performance in the BME was correlated with a lower UPDRS-III score. There was no statistically significant difference between patients in Off and On states of DBS regarding BME. However, some items such as left shoulder flexion (p=0.038), right shoulder rotation (p=0.011), and left trunk rotation (p=0.023) were different between Off patients and healthy controls. SIGNIFICANCE: Kinematic data obtained with this markerless system could contribute to discriminate between PD patients and healthy controls. This emerging technology may help to clinically evaluate PD patients more objectively.
RESUMO
The translational efficiency of an mRNA can be modulated by elements located in the 5'-untranslated region. The flavin-containing polyamine oxidases catabolize oxidative deamination of spermidine and spermine, thus contributing to polyamine homeostasis as well as diverse biological processes through their reaction products. In this study, we characterized the uORF of AtPAO2 gene using the GUS reporter gene. Transgenic lines harboring the native AtPAO2 promoter or the constitutive CaMV 35S promoter show that the uORF negatively affects GUS expression. Exogenous applications of PAs positively modulate GUS expression, thus alleviating the negative effect of AtPAO2 uORF, while treatments with MGBG inhibitor show an opposite effect. Our data suggest that AtPAO2 uORF regulatory mechanism is modulated by polyamines. In addition, we present a comparative in silico study of the uORFs identified in several plant transcripts encoding polyamine oxidases in both mono- and dicotyledonous plants as well as in the Bryophyte Physcomitrella patens. The polyamine oxidase uORF-encoded peptides are conserved among families and share conserved features such as their position, length, and amino acid sequence. Our findings provide new insights into the regulatory mechanism of polyamine oxidase genes and encourage further exploration to assess the biological significance of uORFs in the polyamine catabolic pathway.
