Neuroimaging Association Scores: reliability and validity of aggregate measures of brain structural features linked to mental disorders in youth.

In genetics, aggregation of many loci with small effect sizes into a single score improved prediction. Nevertheless, studies applying easily replicable weighted scores to neuroimaging data are lacking. Our aim was to assess the reliability and validity of the Neuroimaging Association Score (NAS), which combines information from structural brain features previously linked to mental disorders.

Short-interval intracortical inhibition is decreased in restless legs syndrome across a range of severity.

Background: Decreased short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the primary motor cortex was described in subjects with restless legs syndrome/Willis-Ekbom disease (RLS/WED). It remained to be determined whether the magnitude of SICI decrease would be similar across levels of RLS/WED severity. Moreover, it was unknown whether, in addition to decreases in SICI, changes in cortical thickness or area could be detected in subjects with RLS/WED compared to controls.

[Mortality trend due to ischemic heart diseases in the city of Curitiba--Brazil, from 1980 to 1998].

Objective: To assess mortality trends due to ischemic heart diseases, per sex, and acute myocardial infarction, per sex and age range, from 1980 to 1998, in the city of Curitiba.

Methods: Data of death due to ischemic heart disease and acute myocardial infarction from Sistema de Informação sobre Mortalidade do Ministério da Saúde (Information System on Mortality of Ministry of Health), per sex, age range and domicile location in Curitiba were used. Population data were obtained from Fundação Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics Foundation).