Down Syndrome (DS) is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21, and leading to various developmental and cognitive defects. A critical feature of DS is the occurrence of oxidative distress particularly in the brain, which exacerbates neurodevelopmental processes. Mitochondria play a crucial role in cell energy metabolism and their impairment is one of the major causes of oxidative distress in several pathologies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntioxid Redox Signal
December 2023
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) participates in redox reactions and NAD-dependent signaling processes, which couples the enzymatic degradation of NAD to posttranslational modifications of proteins or the production of second messengers. Cellular NAD levels are dynamically controlled by synthesis and degradation, and dysregulation of this balance has been associated with acute and chronic neuronal dysfunction. A decline in NAD has been observed during normal aging and since aging is the primary risk factor for many neurological disorders, NAD metabolism has become a promising therapeutic target and prolific research field in recent years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuantum emitters respond to resonant illumination by radiating part of the absorbed energy. A component of this radiation field is phase coherent with the driving tone, whereas another component is incoherent and consists of spontaneously emitted photons, forming the fluorescence signal. Atoms, molecules and colour centres are routinely detected by their fluorescence at optical frequencies, with important applications in quantum technology and microscopy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFErbium ions embedded in crystals have unique properties for quantum information processing, because of their optical transition at 1.5 μm and of the large magnetic moment of their effective spin-1/2 electronic ground state. Most applications of erbium require, however, long electron spin coherence times, and this has so far been missing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurogenesis in the adult brain takes place in two neurogenic niches: the ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ) and the subgranular zone. After differentiation, neural precursor cells (neuroblasts) have to move to an adequate position, a process known as neuronal migration. Some studies show that in Alzheimer's disease, the adult neurogenesis is impaired.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFocus (Am Psychiatr Publ)
July 2021
(Appeared originally in Int J Mol Sci 2019, 20 5536).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiomarkers for disease diagnosis and prognosis are crucial in clinical practice. They should be objective and quantifiable and respond to specific therapeutic interventions. Optimal biomarkers should reflect the underlying process (pathological or not), be reproducible, widely available, and allow measurements repeatedly over time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOxidative stress is an early occurrence in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and one of its proposed etiologic hypotheses. There is sufficient experimental evidence supporting the theory that impaired antioxidant enzymatic activity and increased formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) take place in this disease. However, the antioxidant treatments fail to stop its advancement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVomeronasal information is critical in mice for territorial behavior. Consequently, learning the territorial spatial structure should incorporate the vomeronasal signals indicating individual identity into the hippocampal cognitive map. In this work we show in mice that navigating a virtual environment induces synchronic activity, with causality in both directionalities, between the vomeronasal amygdala and the dorsal CA1 of the hippocampus in the theta frequency range.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report measurements of electron-spin-echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) performed at millikelvin temperatures in a custom-built high-sensitivity spectrometer based on superconducting micro-resonators. The high quality factor and small mode volume (down to 0.2 pL) of the resonator allow us to probe a small number of spins, down to .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn recent years, the idea that sleep is critical for cognitive processing has gained strength. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia worldwide and presents a high prevalence of sleep disturbances. However, it is difficult to establish causal relations, since a vicious circle emerges between different aspects of the disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile Alzheimer's disease (AD) classical diagnostic criteria rely on clinical data from a stablished symptomatic disease, newer criteria aim to identify the disease in its earlier stages. For that, they incorporated the use of AD's specific biomarkers to reach a diagnosis, including the identification of Aβ and tau depositions, glucose hypometabolism, and cerebral atrophy. These biomarkers created a new concept of the disease, in which AD's main pathological processes have already taken place decades before we can clinically diagnose the first symptoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObesity is known to induce leptin and insulin resistance. Leptin is a peptide hormone synthesized in adipose tissue that mainly regulates food intake. It has been shown that insulin stimulates the production of leptin when adipocytes are exposed to glucose to encourage satiety; while leptin, via a negative feedback, decreases the insulin release and enhances tissue sensitivity to it, leading to glucose uptake for energy utilization or storage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn high sensitivity inductive electron spin resonance spectroscopy, superconducting microwave resonators with large quality factors are employed. While they enhance the sensitivity, they also distort considerably the shape of the applied rectangular microwave control pulses, which limits the degree of control over the spin ensemble. Here, we employ shaped microwave pulses compensating the signal distortion to drive the spins faster than the resonator bandwidth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVitamin E was proposed as treatment for Alzheimer's disease many years ago. However, the effectiveness of the drug is not clear. Vitamin E is an antioxidant and neuroprotector and it has anti-inflammatory and hypocholesterolemic properties, driving to its importance for brain health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Extensive efforts have been made in both academia and industry in the research and development of smart wearable systems (SWS) for health monitoring (HM). Primarily influenced by skyrocketing healthcare costs and supported by recent technological advances in micro- and nanotechnologies, miniaturisation of sensors, and smart fabrics, the continuous advances in SWS will progressively change the landscape of healthcare by allowing individual management and continuous monitoring of a patient's health status. Consisting of various components and devices, ranging from sensors and actuators to multimedia devices, these systems support complex healthcare applications and enable low-cost wearable, non-invasive alternatives for continuous 24-h monitoring of health, activity, mobility, and mental status, both indoors and outdoors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnnu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc
March 2011
This paper presents a way to keep the elderly autonomous in their daily activities. The principle is to monitor their behaviour and more specifically their trajectories of movement in the living area. Two methods have been developed and compared: supervised and unsupervised classification.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn an ageing world, maintaining good health and independence for as long as possible is essential. Instead of hospitalization or institutionalization, the elderly and disabled can be assisted in their own environment 24h a day with numerous 'smart' devices. The concept of the smart home is a promising and cost-effective way of improving home care for the elderly and the disabled in a non-obtrusive way, allowing greater independence, maintaining good health and preventing social isolation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLiquid crystalline thin films elastomers that are able to bind pesticides have been developed. The synthesis involves grafting mesogen and crosslinkable groups on a polysiloxane chain in the presence of a template molecule. The molecular imprinted material is obtained after thin film deposition, UV crosslinking and washing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Telemed Telecare
October 2008
A single elderly, dependent subject was monitored for a period of three months. Data were collected from 12 sensors in his apartment. We investigated new criteria for diagnosing abnormal events with more reliability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComput Methods Programs Biomed
July 2008
In the era of information technology, the elderly and disabled can be monitored with numerous intelligent devices. Sensors can be implanted into their home for continuous mobility assistance and non-obtrusive disease prevention. Modern sensor-embedded houses, or smart houses, cannot only assist people with reduced physical functions but help resolve the social isolation they face.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnnu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc
March 2008
In 1995, the first principles of a monitoring system based on a study of behavioural differences compared to normal living habits were put forward. These gave rise to the launch of a PROSAFE programme involving the use of distributed presence sensors and diagnostic components based on movement criteria. The approach was validated in a hospital and institutional environment, in a room being monitored at night.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Rehabil Res
March 2005
A multisensor home monitoring system has been developed within a telecare project to help elderly people by observing mobility changes indicative of abnormal events. This paper assesses the motor activity and the relationships between activity measures using the system. The motor activity data (in bed, getting up, getting out, visiting the toilets) are analysed from a statistical perspective to assess changes in occurrence, time and duration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStud Health Technol Inform
November 2004