Viewing 3D TV over two months produces no discernible effects on balance, coordination or eyesight.

With the rise in stereoscopic 3D media, there has been concern that viewing stereoscopic 3D (S3D) content could have long-term adverse effects, but little data are available. In the first study to address this, 28 households who did not currently own a 3D TV were given a new TV set, either S3D or 2D. The 116 members of these households all underwent tests of balance, coordination and eyesight, both before they received their new TV set, and after they had owned it for 2 months.

Balance and coordination after viewing stereoscopic 3D television.

Manufacturers and the media have raised the possibility that viewing stereoscopic 3D television (S3D TV) may cause temporary disruption to balance and visuomotor coordination. We looked for evidence of such effects in a laboratory-based study. Four hundred and thirty-three people aged 4-82 years old carried out tests of balance and coordination before and after viewing an 80 min movie in either conventional 2D or stereoscopic 3D, while wearing two triaxial accelerometers.

Brain oxygenation responses to an autonomic challenge: a quantitative fMRI investigation of the Valsalva manoeuvre.

In late age, the autonomic nervous system (ANS) has diminished ability to maintain physiological homeostasis in the brain in response to challenges such as to systemic blood pressure changes caused by standing. We devised an fMRI experiment aiming to map the cerebral effects of an ANS challenge (Valsalva manoeuvre (VM)). We used dual-echo fMRI to measure the effective transverse relaxation rate (R2*, which is inversely proportional to brain tissue oxygenation levels) in 45 elderly subjects (median age 80 years old, total range 75-89) during performance of the VM.

User experience while viewing stereoscopic 3D television.

3D display technologies have been linked to visual discomfort and fatigue. In a lab-based study with a between-subjects design, 433 viewers aged from 4 to 82 years watched the same movie in either 2D or stereo 3D (S3D), and subjectively reported on a range of aspects of their viewing experience. Our results suggest that a minority of viewers, around 14%, experience adverse effects due to viewing S3D, mainly headache and eyestrain.

Stereoacuity with Frisby and revised FD2 stereo tests.

We compared near stereoacuity, measured with the Frisby test, and distance stereoacuity, measured with the revised Frisby-Davis (FD2) test, enabling a comparison with the original version of the FD2. In the revised version of the FD2 test, a white background is used instead of a backlit background. We also examined the effect of age, gender and visual problems.

Resting-state functional connectivity in late-life depression: higher global connectivity and more long distance connections.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging recordings in the resting-state (RS) from the human brain are characterized by spontaneous low-frequency fluctuations in the blood oxygenation level dependent signal that reveal functional connectivity (FC) via their spatial synchronicity. This RS study applied network analysis to compare FC between late-life depression (LLD) patients and control subjects. Raw cross-correlation matrices (CM) for LLD were characterized by higher FC.

Compensatory weight gain due to dopaminergic hypofunction: new evidence and own incidental observations.

There is increasing evidence for a role of dopamine in the development of obesity. More specifically, dopaminergic hypofunction might lead to (over)compensatory food intake. Overeating and resulting weight gain may be induced by genetic predisposition for lower dopaminergic activity, but might also be a behavioral mechanism of compensating for decreased dopamine signaling after dopaminergic overstimulation, for example after smoking cessation or overconsumption of high palatable food.

Selective nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit deficits identified in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies by immunoprecipitation.

Antibodies raised against human alpha2-6 and beta2-4 nicotinic receptor subunits were utilized to fractionate (3)H-epibatidine binding in human temporal cortex and striatum. The predominant receptor subtypes in both regions contained alpha4 and beta2 subunits. In normal cortex, 10% of binding was also associated with alpha2 subunits, whereas in the striatum, contributions by alpha6 (17%) and beta3 (23%) were observed.

Does cholesterol act as a protector of cholinergic projections in Alzheimer's disease?

The relationship between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and progressive degeneration of the forebrain cholinergic system is very well established, whereas mechanisms linking this disease with cholesterol, apolipoprotein E (apoE) phenotype, and amyloid precursor protein (APP) metabolism have not been fully elucidated even though there is a plethora of publications separately on each of these issues. The intention of this hypothesis is to unify knowledge coming from all of these areas. It is based on an assumption that the process of APP hypermetabolism is a neuroprotective response for age-related cholinergic deterioration.

Involvement of alpha6/alpha3 neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in neuropsychiatric features of Dementia with Lewy bodies: [(125)I]-alpha-conotoxin MII binding in the thalamus and striatum.

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is a neurodegenerative disease associated with a range of neuropsychiatric symptoms and reduced expression of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in neocortex, hippocampus, thalamus and basal ganglia. To determine whether there are selective associations between alterations in alpha6/alpha3 neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) and the two key neuropsychiatric features of DLB, impaired consciousness (IC) and visual hallucinations (VH), quantitative [(125)I]-alpha-conotoxin MII ([(125)I]-alpha-Ctx MII) autoradiography was undertaken on 28 people with DLB and 15 control cases from the Newcastle Brain Bank. There was a highly significant overall trend for reduced thalamic [(125)I]-alpha-Ctx MII binding in DLB (p < 0.

Hypercholesterolemic diet applied to rat dams protects their offspring against cognitive deficits. Simulated neonatal anoxia model.

There is accumulating data suggesting a neuroprotective activity of cholesterol, especially in stroke and Alzheimer's disease (AD). In the present study, a protective activity of this lipid in simulated neonatal anoxia was investigated. Rats were subjected to high cholesterol by feeding their dams with a diet enriched with cholesterol.