Annals of Neurosciences

Magnetic field (MF) stimulation has the potential to reduce secondary damage and promote functional recovery after neural tissue injury. The study aimed to observe the effect of very low intensity (17.96µT) MF on general body condition, secondary damage, pain status, and locomotion.

We exposed rats to MF (2 h/day × 3 weeks) after 6.25 mm contusion spinal injury. Locomotor behavior was evaluated by BBB score, pain assessment was done by recording threshold for tail flick, expression of voltage-gated calcium channels and extent of secondary damage in the spinal cord was assessed by immunofluorescence and Cresyl violet staining, respectively.

A significant (p ≤ .001) improvement in bladder function as well as BBB score was observed after MF exposure in comparison with sham and SCI over the observation period of 3 weeks. SCI group showed an increase in the threshold for vocalization after discharge, which decreased following MF exposure. Cresyl violet staining showed significantly higher tissue sparing (73%) at the epicenter after MF exposure when compared to SCI group. This was accompanied with a significant decrease in calcium channel expression in MF group as compared to SCI.

The results suggest facilitation of sensory-motor recovery after MF exposure, which could be due to attenuation of secondary damage and calcium-mediated excitotoxicity in a mild contusion rat model of SCI.

Partial sleep deprivation is common among young adults today. Though multiple studies have stressed on the benefits of having a good sleep, medical students often compromise their sleep due to academic targets and stress. This can lead to changes in attention and cognition. The effects of acute partial sleep deprivation of a single night have been studied less and studies in the past in Indian context have shown controversial results that reaction time is decreased following acute partial sleep deprivation.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of a single night of partial sleep deprivation on the cognitive status and alertness of medical students in the Indian context and to find out the change in auditory event-related potential (AERP) and psychomotor vigilance of medical students following a single night of partial sleep deprivation.

The study was a before–after experimental trial conducted among 20 medical student volunteers of a tertiary care hospital of eastern India. Baseline psychomotor vigilance task measured by unprepared serial reaction time, and AERP measured by P300, were assessed at baseline (after normal sleep) and after four hours of sleep deprivation (intervention).

It was seen that median RT had increased from 320.4 ms to 337.6 ms after acute partial sleep deprivation (P < .001). P300 and lapses (P < .05) were also found to increase significantly (P < .05), while there was significant decrease in correctness (P < .01).

The study concluded that cognition is affected, including alertness and latency, following partial sleep deprivation even for a single night and contradicted earlier results of Indian studies stating variable effect on psychomotor vigilance.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. PD has been traditionally perceived as a motor disorder. However, it is frequently associated with pulmonary dysfunction which has been assessed by Spirometry, an effort-dependent technique.

To evaluate in patients with PD the effect of disease severity on respiratory impedance using Impulse Oscillometry (IOS) and to correlate with Spirometry.

The study was conducted on 30 patients diagnosed with PD. Pulmonary function was assessed by IOS and spirometer. IOS is an effort-independent technique that uses sound waves of different frequencies to measure airway resistance. Spirometer measures the lung volume and generates flow–volume and volume–time relationship.

The mean age of patients was 60.1±9.45. Resistance at 5 Hz (R5) was found to be negatively correlated with forced expiratory volume in the first second of the FVC manoeuver (FEV₁) (r = –0.628, P = .002), FEV₁/FVC (forced vital capacity) (r = –0.487, P = .025), and PEF (r = –0.599, P = .004), and resistance at 20 Hz (R20) with FEV₁ (r = –0.474,

P = .029) and PEF (r = –0.522, P = .015). There was significant increase in R5 (0.32(0.36–0.28) vs 0.47(0.60–0.36); P = .04) and R20 (0.25(0.28–0.20) vs 0.30(0.40–0.25); P = .04) in stage II as compared to stage I of Hoehn–Yahr scale.

IOS might be a promising tool for diagnosis of respiratory dysfunction in addition to Spirometry, especially in cases where patients are not able to perform forced manoeuvers.

Altered pattern of respiration has been shown to affect both the cardiac as well as cortical activity, which is the basis of central–autonomic dual interaction concept. On the other hand, effect of this association between altered breathing with slow cortical activity, that is, electroencephalography (EEG) theta waves (associated with learning and relaxed alertness) on the cardiac autonomic balance is largely unclear.

The study aims to understand this interaction in response to altered respiratory patterns, for example, voluntary apnea, bradypnea, and tachypnea in terms of EEG and heart rate variability (HRV) correlates in normal healthy subjects.

This study was conducted on 32 adult male subjects. EEG from F3, F4, P3, P4, O1 and O2 cortical areas and Lead II electrocardiography for HRV analysis was continuously recorded during aforesaid respiratory interventions. Power spectral analysis of EEG for theta waves and HRV measures, that is, RMSSD, pNN50, HF, LF, and LF/HF was calculated as % change taking resting value as 100%.

Apnea caused decrease in theta power, whereas an increase in LF/HF was observed in HRV. Bradypnea on the other hand, did not elicit any significant change in power of theta waves. However, decreased RMSSD and pNN50 were observed in HRV. Tachypnea led to increase in theta power with HRV depicting significantly decreased RMSSD and pNN50. Besides, significant correlation between EEG and HRV measures was found during tachypnea, which shifted toward posterior cortical sites as compared to resting condition.

Various altered respiratory patterns caused either depressed parasympathetic or increased sympathetic output, whereas increased theta power along with posterior shift of correlation between theta power and HRV measures observed during post tachypnea might be due to involvement of global brain areas due to respiration-coupled neuronal activity. Thus, a definite link between cortical activity and autonomic output in relation to altered respiratory patterns may be suggested.

Aphasia is an acquired condition affecting auditory comprehension, verbal expression, reading, writing and word-finding abilities along with sensory-motor impairments. Anomia refers to difficulty in word retrieval or naming which is seen irrespective of the type of aphasia. However, if a patient shows word-finding difficulty, in specific, a diagnosis of Anomic aphasia is made. There are variations within anomic aphasia on which the management and recovery depend. The article provides one such case report.

Speech and language profiling in anomic aphasia, specific treatment strategies, the effect of bilingualism on recovery.

Mr S, a 38-year-old bilingual male reported 5 months post-stroke with difficulty in expressing, difficulty in writing and weakness in the right side of the body. Medical history was checked and speech and language evaluations including both formal and informal assessments were performed. After this, a diagnosis of Anomic aphasia with mild dysarthria was made. An appropriate speech–language therapeutic plan and specific activities were formulated for Mr S in his first language (L1) and he was given a therapy for a span of 3 months. A follow-up evaluation in both first and second language of the patient yielded differential recovery patterns.

The diagnosis was affected by different variants of anomic aphasia; treatment was specific to the clinical profiling and followed life-participation approach of aphasia. The recovery was affected by differential recovery patterns between the languages.

Factors pertaining to diagnosis, recovery, bilingualism and treatment of the client with anomic aphasia are discussed.