Neuroscience Journal of Shefaye Khatam
Year:2019 | Volume:7 | Issue:4 |Papers Count:13

Introduction The aim of this study was to determine the role of meta-cognition and verbal ability in prediction of the mathematical performance of preschool children. Materials and Methods This study was descriptive and correlational. Based on Morgan table band cluster sampling method, a sample of 196 preschool children were selected from preschool children in Ilkhechi during 2016-2017. The mathematical performance, metacognition test Salonen and verbal ability test were performed. Results The results revealed a significant positive relationship between meta-cognition and verbal ability with mathematical performance in preschool children. Results of multiple regression analysis showed that metacognition and verbal abilities are capable to predict mathematical performance of preschool children. Conclusion Meta-cognitive and verbal ability can be used to improve the mathematical performance of children.

Introduction Encoding models are used to predict human brain activity in response to sensory stimuli. The purpose of these models is to explain how sensory information represent in the brain. Convolutional neural networks trained by images are capable of encoding magnetic resonance imaging data of humans viewing natural images. Considering the hemodynamic response function, these networks are capable of estimating the blood oxygen level dependence of subject viewing videos without any recurrence or feedback mechanism. For this purpose, feature map extracted from the convolutional neural network and the concept of receptive field has been used for the encoding model. The main assumption of this model is that activity in each voxel encodes a spatially localized region across multiple feature maps and for each voxel and this area are fixed for all feature maps. Contribution of each feature map in the activity of each voxel is determined by the corresponding weight. Materials and Methods In this study, three healthy volunteers watching a set of videos. This collection contains images that represent real-life visual experience. MRI and fMRI data are acquired on a 3 tesla MRI system phase-array surface coil. Results Data revealed that human visual cortex has hierarchical structure. Earlier visual areas have a smaller receptive field size in and response to simple feature like edge, whereas higher visual areas have a larger receptive field size and response to more complex features, such as pattern. Conclusion This model of video stimuli has a higher interpretation capacity than the previous models

Introduction Human and animal models have demonstrated that seizure during pregnancy can cause cognitive and motor impairments in the offspring. However, the mechanisms of this effect need to be elucidated. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of seizure during pregnancy on cognitive and motor performances of the adult male offspring with an emphasis on the hypothalamic– pituitary– adrenal (HPA) axis. Materials and Methods Adult female ICR mice were randomly separated into two groups that received intraperitoneally either saline or pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) for 30 days. Then the fully kindled mice and control animals were allowed to mate. PTZ administration during pregnancy was continued until delivery, while the control group received saline at the same time. The cognitive performance and period motor coordination of adult male offspring were evaluated by novel object recognition task and raised-beam task, respectively. Results We found that maternal seizure during pregnancy leads to a significant cognitive and motor coordination deficiency as well as an enhancement of corticosterone serum levels in adult male offspring. Conclusion These findings suggest that seizure in pregnancy leads to cognitive deficiency and motor coordination impairment in adult male offspring, possibly through increased corticosterone serum levels.

Introduction Pain is one of the complications of electromyography. The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of acetaminophen-oxycodone and lorazepam on the pain caused by needling in electromyography. Materials and Methods In this clinical study, 150 patients were divided into three groups (receiving lorazepam, acetaminophen and placebo). Pain was measured by visual analogue scale. Results There was no significant difference between acetaminophen and lorazepam groups. Conclusion there is no difference between lorazepam and acetaminophen on the pain induced by electromyography.

Introduction Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain disorder, which slowly eliminates memory and intellectual ability and eventually destroys the ability to carry out the simple tasks. β amyloid plaque and neurofibrillary tangles are two important signatures of this disease, which caused by mutant in Tau, BACE1, and APP genes. They could be important targets for treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Materials and Methods Twenty-eight adult male Wistar rats weighing 180-240 g were classified into four groups, including control, morphine treatment, exercise treatment, and both morphine and exercise groups. After RNA extraction from hippocampal tissues and cDNA synthesis, Real time PCR for evaluation of different expressions of BACE1 and APP genes were performed. Results Data revealed that the expressions of BACE1 and APP significantly decreased during morphine and exercise treatment. Conclusion The present study suggests the possible role of morphine and exercise in treatment of Alzheimer's disease, possibly due to down-regulation of BACE1 and APP.

Introduction The increasing prevalence of smoking, despite the awareness of its potential damages, may be due to various causes. Impairments of the neurocognitive functions have been identified in a variety of addictive behaviors. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to investigate neurocognitive performance relative defects in smoking people compared to the non-smoking subjects. Materials and Methods This investigation is a causal-comparative study. The sample of 50 subjects (aged 21-32 years), 25 male smoker student and 25 non-smokers were chosen through convenience sampling from the University of Guilan. These subjects answered researcher-made cigarette checklist and worked with software tests of Cambridge Gambling, Stroop’ s Color-Word, and Tower of London, for evaluation risky decision making, response inhibition, and planning and problem solving. Results The results of multivariate analysis of variance showed that two groups of smoker and non-smoker people have shown different results of software tests of Cambridge Gambling, Stroop’ s Color-Word, and Tower of London. Conclusion The findings of this study indicate that smokers have a poor relative performance in risky decision-making, response inhibition, and planning and problem-solving. These neurocognitive performance relative defects may explain their smoking behavior despite the awareness of potential damages of smoking.

Introduction The imago relationship approach is a theory on dating marriage and the process of marital conflicts treatment. Based on the main idea of this approach, choosing the spouse is done based on a mental image from ideal parents which has been formed in childhood, and compatibility with spouse is also reliant on this early image. The present study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of couple therapy based on imago relationship therapy on reducing couple burnout. Materials and Methods The present research was a semi-empirical study, which used a pretest-posttest with control group design. The statistical population of the present study included all the couples with marital conflicts referring to Rastin counseling and psychological services center in Gorgan, Iran, during the second quarter of 2018. The sample included 20 couples who were selected by available sampling method and were assigned into two experiment and control groups (10 couples per group) through ransom assignment method. The assessment of the subjects was conducted in pretest and posttest stages by using Pines’ marital burnout scale (1996). Eight sessions of group couple therapy based on imago relationship therapy were held for the experiment group while the control group received no intervention. Results The mean and standard deviation of the scores of couple burnout among the subjects of the experiment group in pretest and posttest stages equaled 81 ± 21. 97 and 68. 05 ± 15. 66, respectively. The mean and standard deviation of the scores of couple burnout in the subjects of the control group equaled 80. 95 ± 16. 79 and 82. 50 ± 14. 31 in pre-and post-intervention, respectively. Results of the covariance analysis suggested that couple burnout in the couples of the experiment group has significantly decreased after receiving the imago relationship therapy intervention. Conclusion Couple therapy based on imago relationship therapy enables the couples to understand one another, and experiencing this feeling can lead to increased happiness, intimacy, and empathy in couples and, therefore, reduce couple burnout.

Introduction Others’ decision could constantly affect our decisions. There are numerous studies which revealed this effect properly. The social influence could affect most of the decision parameters, especially the confidence. Recently, an interesting study showed that participants tend to match their confidence to each other while they preserve their decision accuracy in a group decision making task. Since the decision accuracy is not able to explain this effect, the main question is which decision parameter is changing in a way which could be resulted in changing in the confidence and ultimately the confidence matching. Materials and Methods In order to answer this question, ten subjects attended into a Psycho-Physic study with two separate sessions; Isolated and Social. In both situations, the participants were required to determine the direction of the presented motion dots and report their decision and confidence simultaneously. In the social situation, subjects were paired with four computer-generated partners, which had been created based on the data from the isolated session. The joint decisions were determined by the decision of either partner which had higher confidence. In this session, confidence and decision of the partner were represented to the participant. Results The results indicated the subjects not only try to match their confidence to their partners, but also reported higher confidence in comparison with the isolated situation. We observed although the confidence matching did not affect the decision accuracy, however, the reaction time varied significantly in both sessions. Conclusion This study reveals the role of reaction time in changing the confidence and consequently the confidence matching. This study once again emphasis on the reverse correlation of the reaction time and confidence even in a group decision making task.

Introduction Transient loss of consciousness (TLOC) is one of the common causes for referral to hospital. Syncope and seizure can cause TLOC. Syncope and seizures can be the consequences of each other's. Their common features often lead to misdiagnosis. Case Description The purpose of this study was to present a patient (male, over 80 years), who received antiepileptic treatment for 6 years for seizure-related transient loss of consciousness. Results Due to repeated episodes of suspected syncope, insertion of a dual-chamber PPM was done. After three years of follow-up, he did not report the occurence of the TLOC. Conclusion The frequency of the TLOC and its complications emphasize the importance of proper assessments, diagnosis, and treatment. A comprehensive history taking, exact examination, and para-clinical assessments can be very helpful for diagnosis. An incorrect diagnosis can cause economic, psychological, and social problems.

Introduction Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that occurs in the early years of life and is characterized by social impairment, verbal and non-verbal communication difficulties as well as stereotypical behaviors. Rehabilitating autistic children at the early stages of growth, in which their brain is highly flexible, yields to enhanced treatment process and provides the chance of utilizing their talents. On the other hand, late detection and treatment lead to delay in normal development of the children’ s behavior. Considering the role of eyes, as one of the most valuable sources of information in social interactions and the different patterns of eye behaviors in autistic children in response to social stimuli, the non-invasive eye tracking technique is an appropriate approach to early diagnosis of this disorder. It is possible to investigate how visual stimuli are processed in people with ASD at different ages. Conclusion To this end, this study provides a review of the studies in the field of eye-tracking data analytics conducted with the aim of identifying and discriminating the autistic and normal children eye movement patterns in response to social stimuli. The results of published investigations confirm that eye tracking is an effective approach for identifying the different patterns of eye movements in autistic children compared to normal subjects. These differences can be assumed as the basis for developing intelligent ASD screening systems.

Introduction Spinal cord injury (SCI) following traumatic events is associated with the limited therapeutic options and sever complications, which can be partly due to inflammatory response. Therefore, this study aims to explore the role of inflammation in spinal cord injury. The findings showed that the pathological conditions of nervous system lead to activation of microglia, astrocyte, neutrophil, and macrophages. It is also may be mediated by glial and lead to neuronal injury and death through production of proinflammatory factors, such as cytokines (key factors in the onset, progression and suppression of inflammation) and chemokines. Inflammation is a major component of spinal cord injury; although it is possible that inflammation has beneficial effects, such as phagocytosis of apoptotic cells and pathogens clearance. However, this could contribute to spreading, amplifying, and chronicity of tissue damage, via production of neurotoxic factors. Conclusion It seems that inflammation has a major role in the injured spinal cord. Identifying effective cells in the inflammatory responses as well as their numbers, nature of their actions, and types of released inflammatory factors, along with the discovery of appropriate coping strategies against them, will increase the hope to repair spinal cord injuries in future.

Introduction The prenatal stress is a key factor which affects the growth and function of the brain. Several studies have shown that prenatal stress induces deficits in learning and memory of the offspring. The prenatal stress alters the activity of neurotransmitters, such as noradrenaline, dopamine and serotonin, via over-activation of the hypothalamic– pituitary– adrenal axis. In addition, the prenatal stress reduces the values of various hippocampal proteins involved in learning and memory and long-term potentiation, like brain-derived neurotrophic factor, Ca2+/calmodulin dependent protein kinase II, postsynaptic density protein 95, and cAMP response element-binding protein. It seems that exercise, environmental enrichment, and antioxidants could improve learning and memory deficits induced by the prenatal stress in offspring. Conclusion Interventions to protect the offspring against stress is crucial to preserve their cognitive abilities.