International Clinical Neuroscience Journal
Year:2018 | Volume:5 | Issue:3|Papers Count:8

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disorder of the central nervous system that affects various parts of the brain and the spinal cord, leading to interruptions of the nervous, defense and movement systems, which usually affect balance and gait. Considering that the diagnosis of MS and its classification is a function of the expertise of the physician, the use of creative methods can help physicians to diagnose and classify different levels of the disease. Methods: The primary objective of the present study was to detect different levels of MS disease based on the nonlinear evaluation of body features. To do so, we studied eight MS patients and posture information of these patients such as the center of pressure (COP) were recorded at different levels with various degrees of Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) by a motion analyzer device, while subjects were standing on the force plate in the eyes-opened and eyes-closed modes. After extracting and validating features that are used to assess posture disorders and explain the balancing behavior, the support vector machine (SVM) was employed to classify different levels of disease. Using the Spearman correlation test, each feature evaluated by the EDSS test. Results: The features obtained from Higuchi’ s fractal dimensional algorithm in both anterior-posterior and mediolateral directions of the COP, which were significant (P < 0. 05) were selected and provided to SVM and neural network for classification of different levels. It found that SVM outperformed neural network and was able to carry out the classification with the accuracy of 90. 7%. Conclusion: As an intelligent method, the non-linear evaluation of body features such as dimensional fractal analysis of the COP can help physicians diagnose different levels of MS with greater precision.

Background: Most nurses, especially operating room personnel, seems to be more likely to be affected by mood disorders than other social strata. The present study attempted to systematically review the prevalence of depression and its main determinants among operating room personnel in Iran. Methods: The method of this systematic review is documenting in a published protocol in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist. After this massive search, titles and abstracts of retrieved documents have screened and all irrelevant articles excluded. Two reviewers screened the documents and selected all relevant studies and assessed included articles separately. Results: Totally, 12 citations found in the initial literature search where four citations excluded, as they did not meet the inclusion criteria. The final number of studies available for analysis was 12 including a total of 373 operating room personnel (86 men and 287 women, mean the age of 27. 71 years ranged from 20 to 36 years). The pooled prevalence of depression among operating room personnel was estimated to be 45. 3%. In this regard, 27. 0% of personnel suffered from severe depression. A significant heterogeneity found in the overall analysis of the overall prevalence of depression and its severe pattern. Conclusion: A notable number of operating room personnel in Iran suffer from depression even in its severe condition emphasizing the importance of the managerial approach to minimize its adverse effects on their performance as well as to improve their quality of life.

Background: Electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds are considered as promising candidates in neural tissue regeneration due to their ability to support neural cell attachment, spreading and proliferation. Methods: In this paper, various type of nanofibers scaffold based on polycaprolactone) (PCL) were fabricated using electrospinning. The main drawback of PCL scaffolds is their low bioactivity of scaffold surface. To overcome this surface and composition modification was used to enhanced hydrophilicity and bioactivity of scaffold. Results: The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results indicate that fiber diameter entirely depends on the solvent system and added component of gelatin and chitosan which by adding gelatin and chitosan fiber diameter decreased. In vitro studies using PC12 cells revealed that the plasma surface modified and blended scaffold with chitosan and gelatin nanofibrous scaffold supports cell attachment, spreading and indicate a significant increase in proliferation of PC12 in the presence of chitosan. The results demonstrated that gelatin and chitosan caused a significant enhancement in the bioactivity of the scaffold, which confirmed by MTT assay and improved the cell spreading and proliferation of neural cell on the scaffolds. Conclusion: Based on the experimental results, the PCL/chitosan/PPy conductive substrate could be used as a potential scaffold for clinical research in the field of neural regeneration and healing.

Background: Achievement motivation is one of the critical variables that predict educational achievement and success in the future. Therefore, the identification of effective factors upon achievement motivation may be one of the basic subjects in education. The present study aimed to evaluate the structural model of educational self-regulation based on learning strategies by the mediator of achievement motivation among students. Methods: The present study was correlation research with structural equation modeling (SEM). The statistical universe of this study consisted of all boy and girl students at secondary high schools in 2017-2018. The multistep random cluster sampling selected 375 (215 girls and 160 boys). Data gathered by the Bouffard educational self-regulation questionnaire, learning strategies questionnaire, attributional style questionnaire, and Herman’ s achievement motivation questionnaire. Data analysis gathered by path analysis and structural equations with Lisrel 8. 80 software. Results: The research results indicated the direct effects of learning strategies and attributional styles upon achievement motivation (P < 0. 05). Also, model fitting indicated indirect effects of learning strategies and attributional styles by achievement motivation upon students learning self-regulation (P < 0. 01). Conclusion: Research results indicate that self-regulation learning strategies are educational. The teaching of these strategies is effective in increasing internal attribution style for positive events and decreasing this style for adverse events among students.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) represents one of the most common disorders of the central nervous system, which leads to the dysfunction of different body systems and generates a myriad of problems for the affected individuals. Given the progressive nature of this disease, it can divide into several levels. The progression rate of the disease at each stage is essential for specialists, as it can help them to adopt appropriate therapeutic measures. Methods: One of the methods used in many MS neurological treatments is Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), which allows physicians to give an estimate of the severity of the disease to patients, learn about the stage of the patient’ s disease and prescribe appropriate medicines accordingly. Given the importance and impact of this disease on the quality of life of patients, researchers look for inexpensive and simple models with minimum side effects for examining different levels of MS and providing treatment solutions. Results: In this study, patients were asked to stand on a force plate. Then, the time series of the center of pressure and body oscillations of patients at various levels were recorded using a motion analyzer device, and a closed loop control system was proposed using the reverse pendulum (representing human body) and reinforcement learning. Conclusion: Based on the feedback received from the environment, the necessary rules for maintaining the balance of pendulum obtained, and, by observing the ankle torque at the output, a model presented that could examine different levels of MS.

Background: Parkinson disease (PD) introduced as the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease following Alzheimer disease. A patient’ s nutritional status may be compromising in PD. This study aimed to describe the outpatient nutritional status in patients with PD at a third-level hospital in Iran. Methods: The validated Persian version of the Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire was used to evaluate the nutritional status of 158 Iranian PD patients (age, 35-85 years). The exclusion criteria were as follows: chronic comorbidities affecting the nutritional status (e. g., diabetes and hypertension); adherence to special diets; and cognitive disorders. Based on the MNA questionnaire, a total score below 17 represented malnutrition, while scores 17-24 indicated a risk of malnutrition. Results: Based on the findings, 26% of the participants had low weight, 67% of whom were over 65 years. According to the MNA questionnaire, 14. 3% of the participants showed malnutrition and 26. 2% were at risk of malnutrition. Conclusion: Based on our findings, PD can contribute to reduced nutritional status. More than one-fourth of the PD population was at risk of malnutrition, which highlights the need for more attention towards nutritional assessment. Nutritional assessment is essential for the development of nutritional interventions and early detection of PD patients who are at risk of malnutrition.

Background: The goal of this study is to design a model in order to predict the muscle activation pattern because the muscle activation patterns contain valuable information about the muscle dynamics and movement patterns. Therefore, the goal of the presentation of this neural model is to identify the desired muscle activation patterns by Hopf chaotic oscillator during walking. Since the knee muscles activation has a significant effect on the movement pattern during walking, the main concentration of this study is to identify the knee muscles activation dynamics using a modeling technique. Methods: The electromyography (EMG) recording obtained from 5 healthy subjects that electrodes positioned on the tibialis-anterior (TA) and rectus femoris muscles on every 2 feet. In the proposed model, along with the chaotic oscillator, a fuzzy compensator was designed to face the unmolded dynamics. In fact, on the condition, the observed difference between the desired and actual activation patterns violate some specific quantitative ranges, the fuzzy compensator based on predefined rules modify the activity pattern produced by the Hopf oscillator. Results: Some quantitative measures used to evaluate the results. According to the achieved results, the proposed model could generate the trajectories, dynamics of which are similar to the muscle activation dynamics of the studied muscles. In this model, the generated activity pattern by the proposed model cannot follow the desired activity of the TA muscle as well as rectus femoris muscle. Conclusion: The similarity between the generated activity pattern by the model and the activation dynamics of Rectus-Femoris muscle was more in comparison with the similarity observed between activation pattern of Tibialis-Anterior and the pattern generated by the model. In other words, based on the recorded human data, the activation pattern of the Rectus-Femoris is more similar to a rhythmic pattern.

Secondary central nervous system lymphoma (SCNSL) is known as a rare disease. The risk factor of developing SCNSL is primary lymphoma type and site of involvement. We present a patient with an altered mental status known case of breast diffused large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who underwent stereotactic biopsy because of a left periventricular mass lesion, which diagnosed as secondary brain lymphoma after pathologic typing. Because of limited data about the secondary central nervous system, lymphoma and it is a risk factor, we reported an aggressive breast DLBCL with brain involvement.