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Flaxseed, a Functional Food—Constituents and Their Health Benefits
Published in Robert Fried, Richard M. Carlton, Flaxseed, 2023
Robert Fried, Richard M. Carlton
Flaxseed Raises the Production of “Memory Boosting” Acetylcholine: Acetylcholine (Ach) is a neurotransmitter. One of its primary functions is to carry signals from motor neurons to the skeletal muscles. It can be excitatory or inhibitory depending on the site of its action: It is excitatory at the neuromuscular junction in skeletal muscle—voluntary striated muscle—causing the muscle to contract. In contrast, it is inhibitory in blood vessels—involuntary smooth muscle—and the heart, an involuntary striated muscle—where it can lower blood pressure and slow heart rate.
Natural Product Compounds from Plants in Neurodegenerative Diseases
Published in Namrita Lall, Medicinal Plants for Cosmetics, Health and Diseases, 2022
Priya Darshani, Md TanjimAlam, Prem P. Tripathi, V.S. Pragadheesh
ALS is an irreversible and progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with selective motor neuron death in the spinal cord, brain stem and motor cortex. The progressive loss of motor neurons leads to muscle weakening, atrophy and dysfunction, resulting in final respiratory failure. ALS affects the nerve cells in the CNS and PNS (peripheral nervous system), causing loss of muscle control. Protein aggregates of TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) have been reported in patients with ALS (Van Es et al., 2017). Mutation of the superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD1) gene has been attributed to the development of this disease (Ciesler and Youssef, 2013).
Progressive Neurological Diseases
Published in Amy J. Litterini, Christopher M. Wilson, Physical Activity and Rehabilitation in Life-threatening Illness, 2021
Christopher M. Wilson, Amy J. Litterini
ALS is initially a diagnosis of exclusion, where other possible neurological causes of symptomatology are ruled out by the absence of electromyographic and neuroimaging proof of other diagnoses. According to the El Escorial criteria, after ruling out other neurologic conditions, the specific diagnosis is made with evidence of: lower motor neuron degeneration by clinical, electrophysiological, and or neuropathological examination; evidence of upper motor neuron degeneration by clinical examination; and progressive spread of signs and symptoms within a region, or throughout another region of the body, by history and examination.31
Clinical features and diagnostic tools in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies
Published in Critical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory Sciences, 2022
Konstantinos I. Tsamis, Constantinos Boutsoras, Evripidis Kaltsonoudis, Eleftherios Pelechas, Ilias P. Nikas, Yannis V. Simos, Paraskevi V. Voulgari, Ioannis Sarmas
In early stages of the disease, due to findings of atrophy and weakness and before the tendon reflexes are diminished, the clinician may consider motor neuron disease as a possible diagnosis. EMG, although needed to orientate the investigation toward muscle pathology, shows nonspecific results. As most cases are diagnosed approximately 5 years from onset, EMG results are often consistent with a chronic myopathy presenting both neuropathic and myopathic findings. Thus, needle EMG examination may be difficult to interpret as both small-short and large-long motor unit action potentials (MUAPs) can be found even in the same muscle. In rare cases, the large-long MUAP may be even more prominent. The recruitment pattern can also be doubtful. Evidence of denervation such as fibrillation potentials and positive sharp waves are present. These cases are even more complicated, as in one-third to one-half of the patients, the nerve conduction studies highlight a mild sensory or sensorimotor neuropathy that is often associated with comorbidities of older age. For other patients with IBM, the EMG findings are typical of IIMs, including small-short and polyphasic MUAPs that often are associated with proximal weakness. It is noteworthy that the disease has an asymmetric pattern and that not all muscles are affected equally [112].
Perforin affects regeneration in a mouse spinal cord injury model
Published in International Journal of Neuroscience, 2021
Igor Jakovcevski, Melitta Schachner
Estimations of soma areas and perisomatic terminals were performed as described [38,41]. Coronal spinal cord sections stained for ChAT were examined under a fluorescence microscope to select sections that contained motor neuron cell bodies at a distance of approximately 0.5–1.5 mm caudal to the lesion scar, in the first segment of the lumbar spinal cord. Stacks of 1-µm-thick images were obtained on an LSM 510 confocal microscope (Zeiss) using a 63 × 2 oil immersion objective and digital resolution of 1024 × 1024 pixels. Six stacks were obtained consecutively in a rostro-caudal direction so that motor neurons throughout the lumbar spinal cord were sampled. Each stack contained cell bodies of 2-4 motor neurons. One image per cell at the level of the largest cell body cross-sectional area was used to measure cell body area, perimeter and number of perisomatic terminals. Areas and perimeters were measured using the Image Tool 2.0 software program (University of Texas, San Antonio, TX, USA). Linear density was calculated as number of perisomatic terminals per perimeter length and expressed per millimeter.
The experiences of well-being of family caregivers in palliative care: A qualitative study using thematic analysis
Published in Progress in Palliative Care, 2021
Tan Seng Beng, Yeoh Kee Ying, Cheah Ai Xin, Lim Ee Jane, Dong Chooi Lin, Lim Poh Khuen, David Paul Capelle, Sheriza Izwa Zainuddin, Loh Ee Chin, Lam Chee Loong
This study has a several limitations. Our inclusion criterion of well-being was subjective. Convenience sampling was used. Recruitment was done in the hospital. Community palliative care was not included. It was a single center study. The majority of family caregivers were children. Studies have shown that different types of family caregivers have different levels of psychological well-being.25,26 It remains unknown whether increasing the number of other family caregivers will add further insight into caregivers’ well-being. Most were taking care of cancer patients. Two were caring for patients with motor neuron disease. None was caring for patients with dementia or other types of organ failure. Since cancer often follows a different trajectory compared to organ failure and dementia, caregivers’ well-being are likely to vary according to the trajectory. All these factors limit the generalization of the results. However, the goal of qualitative study is not to generalize but to provide a rich, contextualized understanding of some aspect of human experiences.27 Transcripts and findings were not returned to participants for comment and feedback.