Objective:To evaluate the value of 18F-FDG PET/CT for preoperative localization of epileptogenic foci in refractory epilepsy patients with negative MRI. Methods:Clinical data (550 lobes) of 55 epilepsy patients (38 males, 17 females, age (20.0±8.1) years) with negative MRI who underwent preoperative 18F-FDG PET/CT-MRI between January 2014 and June 2020 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University were retrospectively analyzed. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of 18F-FDG PET/CT, video electroencephalogram (VEEG), PET/CT+ VEEG and PET/CT-VEEG for localizing epileptogenic foci were calculated using stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) and the outcomes of at least 1 year of postoperative follow-up as reference standards. χ2 test was used to compare the efficiencies of different examination modalities for unilobar, multilobar and all patients. Results:The correct lateralization rate of epileptogenic foci was 92.6%(25/27) using PET/CT. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV and NPV of PET/CT for localization of epileptogenic foci were 65.1%(54/83), 77.9%(364/467), 76.0%(418/550), 34.4%(54/157) and 92.6%(364/393), respectively. The sensitivities of PET/CT-VEEG for localization of epileptogenic foci in all patients and patients with multilobar epilepsy were higher than those of VEEG alone (75.9%(63/83) vs 45.8%(38/83), 68.6%(35/51) vs 31.4%(16/51); χ2 values: 15.80, 14.16, both P<0.001). The specificities of PET/CT+ VEEG for localization of epileptogenic foci in all patients and patients with unilobar epilepsy were higher than those of VEEG alone (97.6%(456/467) vs 94.6%(442/467), 97.9%(282/288) vs 94.1%(271/288); χ2 values: 5.66, 5.48; P values: 0.017, 0.019). The sensitivity of PET/CT-VEEG (PET/CT and VEEG concordance) for localization of epileptogenic foci was higher than that of PET/CT+ VEEG (PET/CT and VEEG discordance) (8/9 vs 28.4%(21/74); χ2=10.40, P=0.001), and its specificity and accuracy were higher than those of PET/CT-VEEG (PET/CT and VEEG discordance) (93.4%(57/61) vs 71.7%(291/406), 92.9%(65/70) vs 72.1%(346/480); χ2 values: 13.23, 13.96; both P<0.001). Conclusions:18F-FDG PET/CT can localize and lateralize epileptogenic foci in patients with negative MRI. The combination of 18F-FDG PET/CT and VEEG improves the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for epileptogenic foci detection. 18F-FDG PET/CT is more accurate in detecting epileptogenic foci when it is concordant with VEEG.

Objective:To explore the effect of visual processing patterns on emotional face processing in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).Methods:From June 2020 to August 2021, twenty-two AD patients (AD group) who met the conditions of this study were selected from the memory impairment clinic of the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, and demographically matched twenty-one elderly healthy people (control group) were selected from the patients' family members and community residents. The two groups of subjects performed emotional face visual scanning and facial recognition experiments after completing the evaluation of the cognitive scale and eye movement data were recorded in the emotional face visual scanning task. Statistical analysis of the obtained results was performed using SPSS 23.0 Windows version software. The data that conformed to the normal distribution were tested by independent samples t-test and variance analysis, and the data that did not conform to the normal distribution were tested by nonparametric test. Results:(1)In the emotional face recognition task, the total accuracy of facial emotion recognition of AD patients(0.52(0.42, 0.59)) was lower than that of the normal control group(0.67(0.64, 0.69)), and the difference was statistically significant( Z=-4.023, P<0.01), which was mainly manifested in recognizing complex facial emotion. (2) In the emotional face visual processing task, the saccade count ((1.96±0.97), (2.50±0.44)), fixation count ((3.93±2.58), (6.37±2.08))and fixation time ((1 205.89±727.32)s, (1 761.38±525.54)s)of AD patients were lower than those of the control group( t=-2.314, -3.402, -2.880, all P<0.05), and the surrounding facial fixation time (384.95 (276.51, 587.78)s, 276.06 (190.03, 384.55)s) was higher than that of the control group( Z=-2.478, P=0.013). Patients with AD had a lower fixation count than that in the control group on the eye area of surprise ((3.76±2.90), (6.25±2.19)), anger ((4.48±2.72), (7.06±2.55)) and disgust ((4.10±2.45), (6.67±2.45)), and the differences were statistically significant ( t=-3.164, -3.207, -3.436, all P<0.05). Patients with AD had a lower fixation time than those of the control group on the eye area of surprise ((1 150.26±753.22)s, (1 779.91±551.66)s), angry ((1 430.85±869.52)s, (1 944.51±612.63)s) and disgust ((1 266.14±765.67)s, (1 898.33±676.02)s), and the differences were statistically significant ( t=-3.115, -2.247, -2.865, all P<0.05). (3) Spearman correlation analysis showed that the accuracy of overall emotional face recognition was positively correlated with the fixation time in the eye area in AD patients ( r=0.429, P<0.05). Conclusion:The impaired visual processing of AD patients causes emotional face recognition disorders. Therefore, AD patients have different visual processing patterns in emotional face processing than age-matched normal controls, mainly manifested as the decreased fixation on the eye area.

Objective:To explore whether sleep quality suffers in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease(AD)and mild cognitive impairment(MCI), and to further investigate the correlation between sleep disorders and cognitive function in these patients.Methods:In this study, 30 mild AD patients, 39 MCI patients and 43 demographically matched healthy controls were enrolled.Sleep quality was assessed by the Pittsburgh sleep quality index(PSQI), and cognitive function was assessed by the mini-mental state examination(MMSE), the Montreal cognitive assessment(MoCA)and a set of neuropsychological scales.The correlation of sleep quality with cognitive function was analyzed for the three groups.Results:Differences were significant in sleep time score[0.0(1.0), 1.0(2.0) vs.1.0(1.0), F=8.18, P=0.02]and daytime function score[1.0(1.0), 1.0(1.0) vs.0.0(1.0), F=8.73, P=0.01]between mild AD, MCI and health control groups.Spearman correlation analysis suggested that scores of sleep disorders were negatively correlated with DSB( r=-0.43, P=0.02)and scores of daytime function were positively correlated with ADL( r=0.39, P=0.03)in patients with mild AD.In addition, scores of sleep quality were negatively correlated with the DSB score( r=-0.40, P=0.01), scores of sleep disorders were positively correlated with ADL( r=0.45, P<0.01), scores of daytime function were negatively correlated with DSF( r=-0.42, P=0.01), DSB( r=-0.62, P<0.01)and VFT-S( r=-0.33, P=0.04), and the total PSQI score was negatively correlated with DSF( r=-0.45, P=0.01)and DSB( r=-0.44, P=0.01)in the MCI group. Conclusions:Patients with mild AD and MCI have longer sleep time and impaired daytime function than healthy people, and sleep quality is correlated with memory, attention and daily living ability in patients with mild AD and MCI.

Objective:To summarize and analyze the clinical data of Chinese patients with colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R)-related leukoencephalopathy, and clarify the phenotypic and genetic characteristics of Chinese patients.Methods:Medical history of patients with CSF1R-related leukoencephalopathy diagnosed from April 1, 2018 to January 31, 2021 in the department of neurology of 22 hospitals in China was collected, and scores of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA), magnetic resonance severity scale were evaluated. Group comparison was performed between male and female patients.Results:A total of 62 patients were included, and the male-female ratio was 1∶1.95. The age of onset was (40.35±8.42) years. Cognitive impairment (82.3%, 51/62) and motor symptoms (77.4%,48/62) were the most common symptoms. The MMSE and MoCA scores were 18.79±7.16 and 13.96±7.23, respectively, and the scores of two scales in male patients (22.06±5.31 and 18.08±5.60) were significantly higher than those in females (15.53±7.41 , t=2.954, P=0.006; 10.15±6.26, t=3.328 , P=0.003). The most common radiographic feature was bilateral asymmetric white matter changes (100.0%), and the magnetic resonance imaging severity scale score was 27.42±11.40, while the white matter lesion score of females (22.94±8.39) was significantly higher than that of males (17.62±8.74 , t=-2.221, P<0.05). A total of 36 CSF1R gene mutations were found in this study, among which c.2381T>C/p.I794T was the hotspot mutation that carried by 17.9% (10/56) of the probands. Conclusions:The core phenotypic characteristics of CSF1R-related leukoencephalopathy in China are progressive motor and cognitive impairment, with bilateral asymmetrical white matter changes. In addition, there exist gender differences clinically, with severer cognitive impairment and imaging changes in female patients. Thirty-six CSF1R gene mutations were found in this study, and c.2381T>C/p. I794T was the hotspot mutation.

Objective To investigate the effect of high-definition transcranial direct current stimula-tion on visual spatial working memory in patients with schizophrenia. Methods Sixty-six patients with schizophrenia were enrolled in a randomized,double-blind,placebo-controlled study. The subjects were ran-domized into a true stimulation group of 33 patients and a placebo control group of 33 patients,each patient only received one stimulation. After receiving a stimulus,the left dorsolateral prefrontal lobe was stimulated by high-precision transcranial direct current. The true stimulation group was stimulated with a current of 1. 5 mA for 20 min. The control group used pseudo-stimulation,and only the current was passed within 30 s of the beginning and the end of the stimulation. Both groups completed the neuropsychological background test and the n-back task before stimulation,and the stimulation was performed after five days. After the stimula-tion,the two groups completed the n-back task again,and compared the Changes in grades to reflect changes in working memory before and after the pseudo-stimulation. Results Before the stimulation,the response rate of the 3-back task was compared with that of the control group ((0. 32±0. 21),(0. 32±0. 22)),the true stimulation group ((0. 28 ± 0. 19), ( 0. 35 ± 0. 21)), and the difference was statistically significant ( F=5. 298,P=0. 025). Conclusion Using high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation to stimulate the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex using can improve the visual memory function of patients. In the future,this technique can be applied to the cognitive promotion of memory impairment in patients with schizophrenia.

Memory function is the core component of human brain cognition.Memory impairment significantly affects people's daily life and social ability,but existing cognitive training or drug therapy can not effectively improve memory function.In recent years,new techniques and methods have been emerging in brain science research,especially neural regulation techniques,such as transcranial electrical / magnetic stimulation,which can significantly regulate cognitive ability and effectively promote memory function.Transcranial direct current stimulation is a kind of noninvasive and safe technique.It can regulate cerebral cortex activity by changing the cerebral cortex excitability,and play a role in regulating brain function.At present,there have been reports at home and abroad that transcranial direct current stimulation can promote memory function and improve memory effectively.This technique is applied to the diagnosis and treatment of clinical diseases,but its mechanism is not clear.This article reviews the mechanism and application of transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) in promoting different types of memory function in order to provide evidence for early intervention and treatment of memory impairment.

Objective To explore the basic biological characteristics of lncRNA -uc.1 67,and its spatial dis-tribution,temporal expression pattern during the mouse embryonic development.Methods The UCSC genome browser of ENCODE was used to analyze preliminary bioinformatics of lncRNAs.Real -time (RT)-PCR was applied to detect the expression of uc.1 67 and neighboring genes in the embryonic mouse heart in different stages (P7.5,P1 1 .5,P1 4.5, P1 8.5).Dimethyl sulphoxide was used to induce P1 9 cell differentiation into the cardiomyocytes.RT -PCR was applied to detect the expression changes in uc.1 67 and neighboring genes on differential day 0,4,6,8 and 1 0.Results Full -length of human uc.167 was 201 bp,and human uc.167 was located in the genome 5q14.3 (chr5:88179623 -881 79824,GRCh37 /hg1 9).uc.1 67 mainly expressed in the ventricular muscle tissue.The expression of uc.1 67 was gradually decreased in the mouse embryonic heart development process(P7.5:1 .000 ±0.1 00,P1 1 .5:0.71 4 ±0.1 07, P1 4.5:0.393 ±0.043,P1 8.5:0.1 25 ±0.01 3),while the expression of its neighboring Mef2c gene was gradually in-creased(P7.5:1 .081 ±0.1 1 8,P1 1 .5:2.340 ±0.351 ,P1 4.5:3.958 ±0.542,P1 8.5:9.361 ±0.722),which showed an opposite trend.The expression of uc.1 67 during P1 9 cell differentiation into cardiomyocytes showed a an increase at first and then a decreasepattern,and the highest level expression of uc.1 67 was on differential day 4(d0:1 .071 ± 0.1 1 7,d4:4.71 4 ±0.501 ,d6:3.572 ±0.41 4,d8:2.550 ±0.31 4,d1 0:0.786 ±0.085).The expression of neigh-boring gene Mef2c was in an opposite trend(d0:1 .01 2 ±0.041 ,d4:0.353 ±0.037,d6:2.470 ±0.329,d8:6.706 ± 0.682,d1 0:7.765 ±0.705).Conclusions It is suggested that uc.1 67 may take part in the process of embryonic heart development and may play a role through negatively regulating its neighboring gene Mef2c.

BACKGROUNDAlthough there were criteria for diagnosis of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and multiple sclerosis (MS), it is still difficult to differentiate NMO from MS, due to the overlapping clinical manifestations. Therefore it is necessary to characterize clinical features of NMO and MS patients in the mainland of China, to simplify the process of disease diagnosis, and to identify criteria for the differential diagnosis of NMO and MS.

METHODSA total of 138 Chinese Han patients from the mainland of China including 73 NMO, 60 MS and 5 MS-like patients with positive NMO-IgG were included in the study. Clinical records were reviewed retrospectively and the results of clinical examination, laboratory experiments, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and evoked potentials (EPs) were compared between NMO and MS patients. In addition, the relationship between the NMO-IgG serologic status and clinical characteristics were analyzed.

RESULTSCompared with MS patients (1.3: 1.0), more female prevalence was observed in NMO patients (4.2: 1.0; P = 0.003). There were also statistically significant differences in visual EPs, oligoclonal bands, brainstem lesions in MRI and longitudinally extensive spinal cord lesions (LESCLs) between NMO and MS patients. Brainstem lesions observed in brain MRI were found in 17.9% of MS patients, over 3.7 times higher than in NMO patients (4.8%, P = 0.024). When stratified NMO patients by NMO-IgG, LESCLs were found in 42.1% of NMO-IgG-negative NMO patients, over 3.5 times higher than in NMO-IgG-positive patients (11.9%, P = 0.008). Statistical difference was also observed in CD4+/CD8+ ratios between NMO-IgG-positive and -negative NMO patients.

CONCLUSIONSComprehensive analysis of MRI, laboratory and EPs data can facilitate differential diagnosis of MS and NMO. In addition, the combination of LESCLs and brain MRI findings failing to satisfy MRI criteria for MS is highly sensitive and specific for NMO.

Adult ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Sclerosis ; diagnosis ; Neuromyelitis Optica ; diagnosis ; Retrospective Studies

Objective To study the effects and security of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells transPlantation (UC-MSCs) for Patients with refractory systemic luPus erythematosus(SLE). Methods Forty Patients with refractory SLE were divided into two grouPs at random.All of Patients were treated for glucocorticoid and CTX, then Patients of the 2 grouP were transPlanted for UC-MSCs.All of Patients were observed before and 2 weeks after treatment,1 month,2 months,3 months,6 months,9 months and 12 months of clinical manifestations and laboratory Parameters . Results 2 weeks after treatment, 60%of the 1 grouP were SLEDAI<10 scores, and the 2 grouPs were 90%. There was statistically significant difference between the two grouPs (χ2=7.619, P=0.006). 1 year after treatment, PLT,ALB and C3 of the 2 grouPs were more than the 1 grouPs(P<0.05). SLEDAI,U-Pro,ESR and Hs-CRP of the 1 grouPs were more than the 2 grouPs(P<0.05). WBC,Cr and C4 of the two grouPs had not statistically significant difference(P﹥0.05). The recurrence rate of the 1 grouPs was 45%. Of the 2 grouPs was 15%.There was statistically significant difference between the two grouPs (χ2=4.286, P=0.038). Conclusion It is effective and safe for refractory SLE to transPlant UC-MSCs after using glucocorticoid and CTX. Further observation is required to evaluate long term efficacy and adverse reaction of UC-MSCs.

Objective To screen the mutation and analysis its characteristics of SPG4 and SPG3A in Chinese patients with hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP).Methods Mutation and polymorphism of the SPG4 and SPG3A were screened in the index eases of 26 autesomal dominant families (AD-HSP) and 30 sporadic cases by combination of DHPLC and sequencing analysis, then the index cases of 26 AD-HSP were further confirmed with direct sequencing.Results One novel mutation of SPG4, 1616 + 1g→t, was identified in the index ease from an AD-HSP family.Three symptomatic patients and 2 pre-symptomatic patients were found in this family by sequencing analysis.No mutation of SPG3A was detected.In addition, 8 novel SPG4 polymorphisms and 3 novel SPG3A polymorphisms were identified.Conclusions The study has broadened the mutation and polymorphism spectrums of SPG4 and SPG3A.Mutation of these two genes is less common in this group of patients.