Non-utopian optical properties computed of a tomographically reconstructed real photonic nanostructure.

State-of-the-art computational methods combined with common idealized structural models provide an incomplete understanding of experimental observations on real nanostructures, since manufacturing introduces unavoidable deviations from the design. We propose to close this knowledge gap by using the real structure of a manufactured nanostructure as input in computations to obtain a realistic comparison with measurements on the same nanostructure. We demonstrate this approach on the structure of a real inverse woodpile photonic bandgap crystal made from silicon, as previously obtained by synchrotron X-ray imaging.

Scaling Theory of Wave Confinement in Classical and Quantum Periodic Systems.

Functional defects in periodic media confine waves-acoustic, electromagnetic, electronic, spin, etc.-in various dimensions, depending on the structure of the defect. While defects are usually modeled by a superlattice with a typical band-structure representation of energy levels, determining the confinement associated with a given band is highly nontrivial and no analytical method is known to date.

Through the eyes of hospital-based healthcare professionals: exploring their lived experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: The spread of the COVID-19 virus has caused an unforeseen strain on the healthcare system and particularly on healthcare workers (HCW). In this study, 1 year after the COVID-19 pandemic began, we used photovoice, a visual photographic approach, to understand HCW needs, concerns and resilience and to determine improvement strategies aligned with the HCW-described challenges.

Methods: Using a qualitative design, HCW were recruited from a single Western Canadian hospital, voluntarily submitting a photographic image and narrative that depicts their experiences.

SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-related neurological complications.

Objective: To describe three cases with neurological symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.

Methods: A case series followed by a review of the literature, describing hypotheses on how neurological symptoms might develop after vaccination.

Results: The different temporal relationship between the onset or worsening of different neurological symptoms suggests different pathophysiological mechanisms.

Dopamine agonist treatment increases sensitivity to gamble outcomes in the hippocampus in de novo Parkinson's disease.

Background: Parkinson's disease is associated with severe nigro-striatal dopamine depletion, leading to motor dysfunction and altered reward processing. We previously showed that drug-naïve patients with Parkinson's disease had a consistent attenuation of reward signalling in the mesolimbic and mesocortical system. Here, we address the neurobiological effects of dopaminergic therapy on reward sensitivity in the mesolimbic circuitry, and how this may contribute to neuropsychiatric symptoms.

A User-Friendly App for Blood Coagulation Disorders.

There is a strong association between a suboptimal maternal environment and increased risk of developing age-associated diseases such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease in the offspring. Blood clotting time may be altered in all of these conditions, and it is also an important factor that requires monitoring in postoperative and cardiovascular disorder patients who are on coagulant medications. This chapter describes patient self-management of blood coagulation activity using a test strip device and the Coagu app.

Development of a User-Friendly App for Testing Blood Coagulation Status in Schizophrenia Patients.

Blood coagulation time is an important factor to consider for postoperative and cardiac disorder patients who have been prescribed anticoagulant coagulant medications. The coagulation process is also known to be perturbed in some individuals with psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia. This chapter describes a patient self-management system for a functional assessment of blood coagulation activity, determining the appropriate anticoagulant dosages using a test strip device and the Coagu app.

Development of a User-Friendly App for Assisting Anticoagulation Treatment.

Blood coagulation time is an important factor to consider for postoperative and cardiac disorder patients who have been prescribed anticoagulant coagulant medications. This chapter describes a patient self-management system for assessment of blood coagulation times and determining appropriate anticoagulant dosages using a test strip device and the Coagu app. This app can also be used as a patient reminder of treatment times and to monitor treatment and effects over time.

Effects of dopaminergic treatment on functional cortico-cortical connectivity in Parkinson's disease.

Interactions between dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) and primary motor cortex (M1) and interhemispheric inhibition (IHI) between M1 are impaired in Parkinson's disease (PD). We used dual-site transcranial magnetic stimulation to compare effects of first-time levodopa application with chronic dopaminergic therapy on these interactions in PD. Twelve untreated PD patients were studied before and after their first-ever intake of levodopa.

Attenuated neural response to gamble outcomes in drug-naive patients with Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease results from the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, manifesting as a spectrum of motor, cognitive and affective deficits. Parkinson's disease also affects reward processing, but disease-related deficits in reinforcement learning are thought to emerge at a slower pace than motor symptoms as the degeneration progresses from dorsal to ventral striatum. Dysfunctions in reward processing are difficult to study in Parkinson's disease as most patients have been treated with dopaminergic drugs, which sensitize reward responses in the ventral striatum, commonly resulting in impulse control disorders.

Depression and quality of life in monogenic compared to idiopathic, early-onset Parkinson's disease.

Quality of life (QoL) is decreased in PD and is linked with depression and anxiety. However, little is known about QoL in monogenic PD. Subjects with mutations in PD genes were recruited from ongoing family and genetic studies (manifesting carriers, n = 23; nonmanifesting carriers, n = 19).

Motor pathway excitability in ATP13A2 mutation carriers: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study.

Objective: To describe excitability of motor pathways in Kufor-Rakeb syndrome (PARK9), an autosomal recessive nigro-striatal-pallidal-pyramidal neurodegeneration caused by a mutation in the ATP13A2 gene, using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

Methods: Five members of a Chilean family with an ATP13A2 mutation (one affected mutation carrier (MC) with a compound heterozygous mutation, 4 asymptomatic MC with a single heterozygous mutation) and 11 healthy subjects without mutations were studied. We measured motor evoked potentials (MEP), the contralateral silent period (cSP), short interval intracortical inhibition (SICI), intracortical facilitation (ICF), short latency afferent inhibition (SAI) as markers of intracortical intrahemispheric inhibition/facilitation and the ipsilateral silent period (iSP) and paired-pulse interhemispheric inhibition (IHI) to probe interhemispheric motor interactions.

Recessively inherited parkinsonism: effect of ATP13A2 mutations on the clinical and neuroimaging phenotype.

Objective: To determine clinical features and to identify changes in brain structure and function in compound heterozygous and heterozygous ATP13A2 mutation carriers.

Design: Prospective multimodal clinical and neuroimaging study.

Setting: University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.

[Imaging of genetic aspects of Parkinson's disease].

Although the mechanisms which cause Parkinson's disease (PD) are still poorly understood, research on monogenic forms of PD have demonstrated a significant genetic contribution to its etiology. Monogenic forms of PD only account for a minority of cases but offer a unique avenue of research into the pathogenesis of PD. In this article the potential of structural and functional neuroimaging in monogenic forms to provide general insights into the pathophysiology of PD, including the more common idiopathic disease is reviewed.

Impaired sense of smell and color discrimination in monogenic and idiopathic Parkinson's disease.

Olfaction is typically impaired in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD), but its role is uncertain in monogenic PD. Diminished color discrimination has been suggested as another early sign of dopaminergic dysfunction but not been systematically studied. Furthermore, it is unknown whether both deficits are linked.

Nonmotor symptoms in genetic Parkinson disease.

Objectives: To review current knowledge on nonmotor symptoms (NMS), particularly psychiatric features, in genetic Parkinson disease (PD) and to provide original data for genetic and idiopathic PD.

Data Sources: A MEDLINE search using Parkinson and known PD genes focused on the presence of depression, anxiety, hallucinations, and dementia was performed. Original data from 82 outpatients with idiopathic (n = 55) and genetic (n = 27) PD were obtained.

Mapping preclinical compensation in Parkinson's disease: an imaging genomics approach.

Mutations in the Parkin (PARK2) and PINK1 gene (PARK 6) can cause recessively inherited Parkinson's disease (PD). The presence of a single Parkin or PINK1 mutation is associated with a dopaminergic nigrostriatal dysfunction and conveys an increased risk to develop PD throughout lifetime. Therefore neuroimaging of non-manifesting individuals with a mutant Parkin or PINK1 allele opens up a window for the investigation of preclinical and very early phases of PD in vivo.

Imaging the impact of genes on Parkinson's disease.

Although Parkinson's disease (PD) has traditionally been considered to be a non-genetic disorder, recent progress in the neurogenetics of PD provided converging evidence that genetic factors play a relevant role in the etiology of PD. The strongest case for a genetic contribution to PD was made by the discovery of mutations in single genes that can cause autosomal dominant (alpha-synuclein (SNCA)) and leucine rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene) or recessive (Parkin, PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1), DJ-1, and ATP13A2 gene) forms of PD. Here, we review how structural and functional neuroimaging of individuals carrying a mutation in one of the PD genes has offered a unique avenue of research into the pathogenesis of PD.

The periarteriolar lymphocyte sheath in immunodeficiency T- or B-lymphocyte area?

T- and B-lymphocyte populations in peripheral lymphoid tissues occur in distinct compartments (e.g., the periarteriolar lymphocyte sheath of the splenic white pulp is a T-cell area).

Sequence influence on the organization of meaningless serial stimuli: economy after all.

This article provides evidence for an extension of structural information theory, a theory which describes perceptual organization formally, into a more general theory of representation that takes the role of organizations obtained earlier into account. In eight experiments, subjects study series of colored dots. Each series contained 6-8 dots of different colors, and viewing time was between 400 ms and 60 s.

Massive retrogastric bleeding caused by neurofibroma. Case report.

A case of massive retrogastric bleeding from a neurofibroma arising from the gastric wall is described. The tumour was removed without opening the gastric mucosa. The possibility of neurofibroma should be borne in mind when there is unexplained bleeding from the digestive tract or the intraperitoneal or retroperitoneal space, particularly in patients with von Recklinghausen's disease.

The hyperplastic cholecystoses: cholesterolosis and adenomyomatosis.

Cholesterolosis and adenomyomatosis, two diseases of the gallbladder that are unrelated to cholelithiasis or cholecystitis, are detected on oral cholecystograms with considerable frequency. These disorders are of uncertain etiology, and it is also unclear if they cause clinical symptoms. Cholesterolosis is the result of the accumulation of triglycerides and esterified sterols in macrophages in the lamina propria.