Neuroscience Journal of Shefaye Khatam
Year:2017 | Volume:5 | Issue:4|Papers Count:12

Introduction: Parkinson’s disease is one of the most common chronic disorders of the central nervous system. Genetic and environmental factors are known as risk factors for this disease.Conclusion: Several investigations have shown that infectious diseases, especially central nervous system nocardiosis, are likely to contribute to the onset of this disease.

Introduction: Several difficulties of students with attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are related to executive dysfunctions, which may improve by neurofeedback training. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of neurofeedback training on sustain attention and working memory in male elementary school students with ADHD.Materials and Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental investigation with a pretest-posttest design. The statistical population were included male elementary school students with ADHA that referred to counseling centers of Varamin city in 2015. Thirty students were selected using sampling method and randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group educated twelve 60-minute-sessions of neurofeedback training. To assess sustain attention and working memory, CPT and N-back computerized tests were performed, respectively.Results: There was a significant difference between the averages of sustains attention and working memory of experimental and control groups in the posttest stage. The neurofeedback training significantly increased sustain attention and working memory in male elementary school students with ADHD.Conclusion: The findings suggest use of neurofeedback training to improve cognitive dysfunction in children with ADHD.

Introduction: Studies show that changes in the average of sleep duration has unpleasant effects on physiological and cognitive functions of individuals. On the other hand, recording and analysis of biological signals are one of the safest methods for studying emotional responses, that participant is rarely able to fake them voluntarily. Given that the effects of sleep on the physiological parameters of individuals in response to emotion is not considered sufficiently, this study has attempted to provide a comprehensive evaluation on signal analysis methods, to examine the differences in autonomic parameters, including the electrocardiogram and galvanic skin response (GSR).Materials and Methods: Autonomic signals of 47 students while watching the happy and sad images were collected and analyzed. For this purpose, a wide range of linear and nonlinear characteristics were extracted from the signals and the differences between the two groups were evaluated by means of the non-parametric Mann–Whitney test.Results: 22 of the participants, had normal sleep (mean age 21.32 ± 1.67 years) while 25 subjects had insufficient sleep (mean age 21.88 ± 1.64 years). The results of present study show that physiological responses to emotional stimuli depend on the duration of sleep. The highest percentage of discrimination devote to the non-linear characteristics of GSR signal in response to the sad images. of these, the Poincare indices revealed significant differences between the two groups. The results of linear analysis also indicated better performance of GSR signal in illustrating the difference between emotional responses of two groups with different amount of sleep.Conclusion: There is a significant relation between the amount of sleep and emotional behavior of the participants. Analysis of autonomic parameters enable us to investigate this relationship. However, the results are depended on the type of stimulation and the methodology applied for data analysis.

Introduction: Several vital body systems, such as visual and auditory systems, can be influenced by fatigue. Each system can be affected based on the complexity of its tasks and the level of involvement in information processing in the brain. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of fatigue on visual and auditory reaction times after an exhaustive exercise.Materials and Methods: 15 female students of Shahid Rajaee University participated in this study. Bruce test was used to make general fatigue. The dependent variables include visual and auditory reaction times that compared in fatigue and non-fatigue conditions. Kolmogorov- Smirnov test was used for considering data distribution and Paired t test was used for considering the differences between groups.Results: The results revealed a significant increase in visual and auditory reaction times in fatigue conditions. However, the data showed that fatigue has the same effect on the visual and auditory reaction times.Conclusion: The results showed that general fatigue influenced equally the visual and auditory systems.

Introduction: Sequence variations in genes involved in inflammation system contribute to the risk of several cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke. Interleukin-6, a pleiotropic cytokine, is associated with cardiovascular disease, especially stroke. In other words, cerebral ischemia and inflammation are strongly linked. In the present study, we performed a genetic association study on two single nucleotide polymorphisms (IL6 -572 and -174 G>C) in an Iranian population in Khorasan province.Materials and Methods: Our hypothesis was tested in this case-control study on stroke patients as well as healthy controls that matched for age, sex, and some traditional risk factors. These polymorphisms were detected by Real time Taq man probe and PCR-RFLP.Results: After adjustment for the confounding risk factors, there was an association between the female patients who suffer from stroke and the IL-6 -572 G>C polymorphism and also Hemorrhagic subtype of stroke. Furthermore, there was no association between IL-6 -174 G>C and stroke, exceptone for one allele in male group.Conclusion: In conclusion, genotype of IL-6 -572 G>C May be a genetics risk factor that enhances the risk for stroke in studied population. However, it is highly controversial whether IL-6 -174 G>C is a susceptible gene for stroke in this population. This is needed to be confirmed in a larger population.

Introduction: Patients with epilepsy are markedly at the risk of depression. It is important to find out the causes of depression in these patients in order to provide comprehensive health care services. Therefore, this study was done to predict the propensity to the depression based on dysfunctional attitudes, personality traits, and family communication patterns among epileptic patients.Materials and Methods: The present research was a descriptivecorrelational study. The population included all patients with epilepsy who referred to the hospitals and medical clinic of Bandar Abbas during the year 2015 from which 150 patients were selected using convenience sampling method. Beck depression Inventory, NEO Five-Factor Inventory, Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale, and Family Communication Patterns Questionnaire were used for data collection.Results: Personality traits of neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, and openness as well as communication pattern of conformity can explain together %59.2 of depression variance in these patients. However, conscientiousness personality trait, dysfunctional attitudes, and communication pattern of conversation cannot predict depression.Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, it can be suggested that training and intervention on improving personality traits and family communication patterns are effective methods to decreasing depression of patients with epilepsy.

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between Cloninger’s psychobiological model of character and resiliency in patients with substance abuse.Materials and Methods: A descriptive research method and a correlational research design were used in this study. This study was performed on the subjects with addiction referring to addiction centers of Bonab city in 2016. Among this population, 120 subjects were chosen as the participants via convenience sampling method. Temperament and character Inventory and Resilience Scales were used for data collection.Results: The results showed that resiliency had a significant positive correlation with novelty seeking, perseverance, cooperativeness, self-directedness, and self-transcendence. In addition, there was a significant negative correlation between harm avoidance and resiliency in subjects with substance abuse.Conclusion: Data indicate the Cloninger’s personality dimensions can predict resiliency among subjects with substance abuse. These may have some implications in the treatment of subjects with substance abuse.

Introduction: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) can improve or impair the function of the brain. This has turned tDCS into a tool that can be used for evaluation of hemispheric specialization in motor programming and final position accuracy, as components of motor control and learning.Materials and Methods: Two different studies were designed.53 male students (21.34±1.61 years) and 43 male students (20.442±1.578 years) were participated in the first and second studies, respectively. Participants were randomly assigned into four groups. C3 /C4 and F3/F4 areas were stimulated with the 2mA current in the first and second studies, respectively. The Repeated Measure test was used to analyze data.Results: In the first experiment, left M1 group (left anode/right cathode stimulation) significantly improved motor programming compared to the other groups. In the second experiment, the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex group (right cathode/left anode) significantly decreased final position accuracy compared to the other groups.Conclusion: Our data suggested that the left hemisphere is specialized for motor programming whereas the right hemisphere is specialized for final position accuracy. These results are interpretable with hybrid motor control hypothesis.

Introduction: Alginate is a natural substance derived from the brown seaweed. Alginate scaffold as a biomaterial has numerous applications in tissue engineering. It has favorable properties such as biocompatibility and highly porous scaffold organization and provides mechanical framework for cells. Furthermore, alginate hydrogel has been used as an injectable vehicle for cell culture or drug delivery. Alginate scaffold can fill cavities in the injured brain and spinal cord and provide the framework for regrowth and attachment of axons.Conclusion: Alginate scaffold maintains structural similarity to the extracellular matrices in different tissues. By proper manipulation of alginate structure, it may play several critical roles in neural tissue engineering.

Introduction: The thyroid hormones have an important effect on the development and maturation of the mammalian central nervous system before and after birth. Thyroid hormones, triiodothyronine and thyroxine, adjust the processes of brain differentiation, such as synaptogenesis, dendritic and axonal growth, migration of neuronal cells and myelination.Any impairment in thyroid function and changes in the supply of thyroid hormones during development of nervous system leads to severe and irreversible alterations in the structure and function of the brain. Timing and duration of thyroid hormone deficiency affect development of different parts of the central nervous system. However, Neurological symptoms are commonly observed in adulthood with both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism.Conclusion: Understanding the mechanisms of the effect of thyroid hormones on embryo and adult neurogenesis is essential for improving the treatment of neurological disorders.

Introduction: Death is inevitable reality and each person may have a unique attitude and response toward it. Death education refers to a variety of educational activities and experiences related to death. Its main issues are meanings and attitudes towards death, the process of dying, grief and bereavement, and the care of people who have been affected.One of the most important tasks in the end of life care is preparation for death. Despite the importance of planning for the end of life care, some of health care professionals have not enough knowledge and skills to prepare their clients for exposure to death. Death education is a relevant international approach to grief, bereavement, and suicide counseling and psychotherapy. There are various approaches to death education program, including deductive, experiential approaches, and 8A conceptual model. Death education program has formal and informal forms with different methods.Conclusion: The 8A model has been presented as a framework to provide death education to health care professionals, such as social workers, nurses, physicians, thanatologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. The 8A model, via improving of awareness, knowledge, attitude and action in individuals, can change behaviors associated with death.

Introduction: Memory is a fundamental mental process and without memory we are capable of nothing, except simple reflexes and stereotype behaviors. The memory deficits followed by head injury, stroke, psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases are common.Learning and memory is one of the main subjects that have been studied in the field of neuroscience. Considering ethical issues, humans can rarely be used as experimental model in medical researches. Thus, different kind of experimental tests have been designed that assess learning and memory deficits in animals in order to find effective treatment strategies.The purpose of this review was to evaluate the most commonly used tests for memory and learning in rats, including open field, habituation, Y-maze, step through passive avoidance test, step-down inhibitory avoidance task, the Morris water maze, active avoidance test, 8-arm radial maze, and novel object recognition test.Conclusion: Different tests have been designed to evaluate various kinds of memory (depends on function and duration). Behavioral tests in the field of learning and memory have been beneficial to improve our understanding of information processing in healthy and damaged brain as well as the physiological and psychological aspects of memory disorders. This may be helpful to design new therapies for learning and memory deficits in patients with neurological disorders.