Stress and the City: Mental Health in Urbanized vs. Rural Areas in Salzburg, Austria.

Background: Living in the city is associated with a higher risk of suffering from stress, anxiety, and depression. Due to an increase of migration to the city, the association between mental health and city life is highly relevant to society.

Methods: We analyzed data of 9573 participants (Ø 55.

Including educational status may improve cardiovascular risk calculations such as SCORE2.

Background: The association between education and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) has been well described for decades. Nevertheless, most cardiovascular risk models, including SCORE2, still do not take educational status into account even if this factor is easily assessed and costs nothing to acquire. Using carotid plaques as a proxy for ASCVD, we analysed educational status as associated with carotid plaque development, to determine if the relationship remains, how it relates to traditional risk factors and, how it impacts the European cardiovascular risk model, SCORE2.

Investigating the Added Value of Beck's Depression Inventory in Atherosclerosis Prediction: Lessons from Paracelsus 10,000.

Depression is the most common mental illness worldwide and generates an enormous health and economic burden. Furthermore, it is known to be associated with an elevated risk of arteriosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD), particularly stroke. However, it is not a factor reflected in many ASCVD risk models, including SCORE2.

Influence of sports on cortical excitability in patients with spinal cord injury: a TMS study.

Background: Patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) show abnormal cortical excitability that might be caused by deafferentation. We hypothesize a reduced short-interval intracortical inhibition preceding movement in patients with SCI compared with healthy participants. In addition, we expect that neuroplasticity induced by different types of sports can modulate intracortical inhibition during movement preparation in patients with SCI.

Recognition and perception of emotions in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.

Objective: Perception and recognition of emotions are fundamental prerequisites of human life. Patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) may have emotional and behavioral impairments that might influence socially desirable interactions. We aimed to investigate perception and recognition of emotions in patients with JME by means of neuropsychological tests and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Inverse Association between Educational Status and Coronary CT Calcium Scores: Should We Reflect This in Our ASCVD Risk Assumptions?

Education is not a factor included in most cardiovascular risk models, including SCORE2. However, higher education has been associated with lower cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Using CACS as a proxy for ASCVD, we studied the association between CACS and educational status.

Emotional Word Processing in Patients With Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy.

Objective: According to Panksepp's hierarchical emotion model, emotion processing relies on three functionally and neuroanatomically distinct levels. These levels comprise subcortical networks (primary level), the limbic system (secondary level), and the neocortex (tertiary level) and are suggested to serve differential emotional processing. We aimed to validate and extend previous evidence of discrete and dimensional emotion processing in patient with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME).

Prevalence of comorbidities, and affective disorders in epilepsy: A latent class analysis approach.

Objective: Epilepsies are severe chronic neurological diseases that impair several domains in life and are often accompanied by various somatic and psychiatric comorbidities. Associations between epilepsy and its comorbidities remain poorly understood. As epidemiological research mainly relies on cross-sectional designs and descriptive results, homogeneities regarding comorbidities in individuals suffering from epilepsy remain uncovered.

Allergy-induced systemic inflammation impairs tendon quality.

Background: Treatment of degenerating tendons still presents a major challenge, since the aetiology of tendinopathies remains poorly understood. Besides mechanical overuse, further known predisposing factors include rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, obesity or smoking all of which combine with a systemic inflammation.

Methods: To determine whether the systemic inflammation accompanying these conditions contributes to the onset of tendinopathy, we studied the effect of a systemic inflammation induced by an allergic episode on tendon properties.

Visuomotor integration in early Alzheimer's disease: A TMS study.

Background And Purpose: Cortical visuomotor integration is altered in Alzheimer's disease (AD), even at an early stage of the disease. The aim of this study was to assess the connections between the primary visual (V1) and motor (M1) areas in patients with early AD using a paired-pulse, twin-coil transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) technique.

Methods: Visuomotor connections (VMCs) were assessed in 13 subjects with probable AD and 16 healthy control subjects.

Narrative Review: Quantitative EEG in Disorders of Consciousness.

In this narrative review, we focus on the role of quantitative EEG technology in the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome and minimally conscious state. This paper is divided into two main parts, i.e.

Connectivity Analysis during Rubber Hand Illusion-A Pilot TMS-EEG Study in a Patient with SCI.

Background: Bodily self-perception is an important concept for several neurological disorders, including spinal cord injury (SCI). Changing one's bodily self-perception, e.g.

Automatic vs. Manual Detection of High Frequency Oscillations in Intracranial Recordings From the Human Temporal Lobe.

High frequency oscillations (HFOs) have attracted great interest among neuroscientists and epileptologists in recent years. Not only has their occurrence been linked to epileptogenesis, but also to physiologic processes, such as memory consolidation. There are at least two big challenges for HFO research.

Facilitation of Auditory Comprehension After Theta Burst Stimulation of Wernicke's Area in Stroke Patients: A Pilot Study.

Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and high-frequency repetitive TMS (rTMS) over Wernicke's area were found to facilitate language functions in right-handed healthy subjects. We aimed at investigating the effects of excitatory rTMS, given as intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) over left Wernicke's area, on auditory comprehension in patients suffering from fluent aphasia after stroke of the left temporal lobe. We studied 13 patients with chronic fluent aphasia after an ischemic stroke involving Wernicke's area.

Role of human prefrontal cortex in the modulation of conditioned eyeblink responses.

Classical conditioning of the eyeblink reflex (EBC) is a simple form of associative motor learning. EBC is heavily dependent on cerebellar function, but experimental studies also suggest that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) orchestrates a neuronal network which interacts with the cerebellum to mediate the conditioned eyeblink responses (CR). To further investigate the role of PFC for EBC in humans, we aimed in this study at assessing whether acquisition of CR can be modulated by focal repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) given as theta burst stimulation (TBS) over the dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC).

Ipsilateral motor evoked potentials in a patient with unihemispheric cortical atrophy due to Rasmussen encephalitis.

The role of the ipsilaterally descending motor pathways in the recovery mechanisms after unilateral hemispheric damage is still poorly understood. Motor output reorganization was investigated in a 56-year-old male patient with acquired unilateral hemispheric atrophy due to Rasmussen encephalitis. In particular, the ipsilateral corticospinal pathways were explored using focal transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Imagine There Is No Plegia. Mental Motor Imagery Difficulties in Patients with Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury.

In rehabilitation of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI), imagination of movement is a candidate tool to promote long-term recovery or to control futuristic neuroprostheses. However, little is known about the ability of patients with spinal cord injury to perform this task. It is likely that without the ability to effectively perform the movement, the imagination of movement is also problematic.

Abnormal cortical neuroplasticity induced by paired associative stimulation after traumatic spinal cord injury: A preliminary study.

We aimed at assessing in this pilot study whether patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) show alterations of sensorimotor plasticity within the primary motor cortex (M1). Since learning in human M1 occurs through LTP-like mechanisms, we employed the paired associative stimulation (PAS) protocol by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which is able to induce LTP-like effects in M1, in subjects with chronic SCI. We found that PAS protocol significantly increased corticospinal excitability as long as 30min in healthy subjects and in SCI patients with good motor recovery, while it was followed by a non-significant increase of MEP amplitude in the SCI patients with poor functional recovery.

Effects of intermittent theta burst stimulation on spasticity after spinal cord injury.

Purpose: Spasticity is a common disorder in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). The aim of this study was to investigate whether intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS), a safe, non-invasive and well-tolerated protocol of excitatory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), is effective in modulating spasticity in SCI patients.

Methods: In this randomized, double-blind, crossover, sham-controlled study, ten subjects with incomplete cervical or thoracic SCI received 10 days of daily sessions of real or sham iTBS.