BACKGROUND: Recent studies have suggested that melatonin-a hormone produced by the pineal gland under circadian control-contributes to PD-related sleep dysfunction. We hypothesized that degenerative changes to the neural structures controlling pineal function (especially the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the anterior hypothalamus) may be responsible for reduced melatonin output in these patients. We c

INTRODUCTION: Huntington's disease (HD) is an incurable chronic neurodegenerative disorder that typically presents in mid-life with a range of motor, cognitive and affective problems. Patients are currently managed using a combination of drug treatments and non-pharmacological therapies but at present there is no "gold standard" treatment for any aspect of the disease.AREAS COVERED: In this review

The maintenance of H3K9 and DNA methylation at imprinting control regions (ICRs) during early embryogenesis is key to the regulation of imprinted genes. Here, we reveal that ZFP57, its cofactor KAP1, and associated effectors bind selectively to the H3K9me3-bearing, DNA-methylated allele of ICRs in ES cells. KAP1 deletion induces a loss of heterochromatin marks at ICRs, whereas deleting ZFP57 or DN

Liabilities of newness and smallness as well as other issues (e.g., “imprinting”) that affect nascent firms represent foundational entrepreneurship issues. The articles in this Special Issue examine if and how these critical issues have changed over time, especially given recent innovations (e.g., crowdfunding) and other trends in society. We believe that a special issue devoted to these topics is

Background. Sampling of submucosal lesions in the gastrointestinal tract through a flexible endoscope is a well-recognized clinical problem. One technique often used is endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration, but it does not provide solid tissue biopsies with preserved architecture for histopathological evaluation. To obtain solid tissue biopsies from submucosal lesions, we have const

Ten haemophilia centres in northern Europe have pooled data on 202 haemophilic children who were infected with HIV between 1979 and 1986. All cases were under 16 years of age on 1 July 1985. The age at infection ranged from 1-15 years. Thirty-seven cases (18%) had progressed to AIDS by 1 July 1991 and 15 of these have died. Persistent generalised lymphadenopathy has been noted in 102 patients of w

Hippocampal extracellular levels of noradrenaline (NA), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) were monitored with the microdialysis technique in freely moving rats. In one experiment 30 min samples were collected during 24 h of continuous perfusion, and the monoamine output was compared to the behavioural activity state, as arbitrarily classified in three categories:

A Movement Disorder Society (MDS) taskforce recently proposed diagnostic criteria for Parkinson's disease with features of mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI). This study first examined the prevalence and nature of PD-MCI in a non-demented cohort using the MDS criteria. Using the generic Monte Carlo simulation method developed by Crawford and colleagues (2007), this study then estimated the base ra

Genetic variation is associated with differences in the function of the brain as well as its susceptibility to disease. The common H1 haplotypic variant of the microtubule-associated protein tau gene (MAPT) has been related to an increased risk for Parkinson's disease (PD). Furthermore, among PD patients, H1 homozygotes have an accelerated progression to dementia. We investigated the neurocognitiv

BACKGROUND: We investigated the use of a simple novel nut and bolt task in premanifest and manifest Huntington's disease (HD) patients to detect and quantify motor impairments at all stages of the disease.METHODS: Premanifest HD (n=24), manifest HD (n=27) and control (n=32) participants were asked to screw a nut onto a bolt in one direction, using three different sized bolts with their left and ri

To reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and help mitigate climate change, urban water systems need to be adapted so that electrical energy use is minimised. In this study, energy data from 2011 was used to quantify energy use in China’s urban water supply sector. The objective was to calculate the energy co-benefits of urban water conservation policies and compare energy use between China and oth

Undergraduate text in signal analysis and communication, including probability theory and coding theory.

This thesis is about how and why employees spend large proportions of their working hours on empty labor, i.e. private activities on the job. It is written against the backdrop of a highly debated subject within critical theory, namely the possibility of individuals resisting taken-for-granted power asymmetries. Critical theorists' stress on ideological power and the internalization of submission

The radioactive beam experiment (REX-ISOLDE) is now in the commissioning phase. REX-ISOLDE is a pilot experiment for testing a new concept of post acceleration at ISOLDE/CERN. The concept of REX-ISOLDE using a Penning trap-EBIS combination as a charge breeder and a compact LINAC for post acceleration requires detailed tests of all components in order to get a high efficiency. First measurements wi

A fundamental problem in robotics is the generation of motion for a task. How to translate a task to a set of movements is a non-trivial problem. The complexity of the task, the capabilities of the robot, and the desired performance, affect all aspects of the trajectory; the sequence of movements, the path, and the course of motion as a function of time.This thesis is about trajectory generation a

The endogenous reparative capacity of the adult human brain is low, and chronic neurodegenerative disorders of the central nervous system represent one of the greatest areas of unmet clinical need in the developing world. Novel therapeutic strategies to treat them include: (i) growth factor delivery to boost endogenous repair and (ii) replacement cell therapy, including replacing dopaminergic neur

Whilst life cycle assessment (LCA) boundaries are expanded to account for negative indirect consequences of bioenergy such as indirect land use change (ILUC), ecosystem services such as water purification sometimes delivered by perennial bioenergy crops are typically neglected in LCA studies. Consequential LCA was applied to evaluate the significance of nutrient interception and retention on the e