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In recent years, the clinical usefulness of the Wada test (WT) has been debated among researchers in the field. Therefore, we aimed to assess its contribution to the prediction of change in verbal learning and verbal memory function after epilepsy surgery. Data from 56 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy who underwent WT and subsequent surgery were analyzed retrospectively. Additionally, a standard neuropsychological assessment evaluating attentional, learning and memory, visuospatial, language, and executive function was performed both before and 12 months after surgery. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were used to determine the incremental value of WT results over socio-demographic, clinical, and neuropsychological characteristics in predicting postsurgical change in patients’ verbal learning and verbal memory function. The incorporation of WT results significantly improved the prediction models of postsurgical change in verbal learning (∆R2 = 0.233, p = .032) and verbal memory function (∆R2 = 0.386, p = .005). Presurgical performance and WT scores accounted for 41.8% of the variance in postsurgical change in verbal learning function, and 51.1% of the variance in postsurgical change in verbal memory function. Our findings confirm that WT results are of significant incremental value for the prediction of postsurgical change in verbal learning and verbal memory function. Thus, the WT contributes to determining the risks of epilepsy surgery and, therefore, remains an important part of the presurgical work-up of selected patients with clear clinical indications.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are highly heritable and are characterized by deficits in social communication and restricted and repetitive behaviors. Twin studies on phenotypic subdomains suggest a differing underlying genetic etiology. Studying genetic variation explaining phenotypic variance will help to identify specific underlying pathomechanisms. We investigated the effect of common variation on ASD subdomains in two cohorts including >2500 individuals. Based on the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), we identified and confirmed six subdomains with a SNP-based genetic heritability h2SNP = 0.2–0.4. The subdomains nonverbal communication (NVC), social interaction (SI), and peer interaction (PI) shared genetic risk factors, while the subdomains of repetitive sensory-motor behavior (RB) and restricted interests (RI) were genetically independent of each other. The polygenic risk score (PRS) for ASD as categorical diagnosis explained 2.3–3.3% of the variance of SI, joint attention (JA), and PI, 4.5% for RI, 1.2% of RB, but only 0.7% of NVC. We report eight genome-wide significant hits—partially replicating previous findings—and 292 known and novel candidate genes. The underlying biological mechanisms were related to neuronal transmission and development. At the SNP and gene level, all subdomains showed overlap, with the exception of RB. However, no overlap was observed at the functional level. In summary, the ADI-R algorithm-derived subdomains related to social communication show a shared genetic etiology in contrast to restricted and repetitive behaviors. The ASD-specific PRS overlapped only partially, suggesting an additional role of specific common variation in shaping the phenotypic expression of ASD subdomains.
Background: The city of Wrocław in Poland represents one of Central Europeans oldest capitals of science with numerous Nobel laureates. Due to a long history of political suppressions with Nazi Germany and Communism from 1933 until 1989, its scientific community was suppressed for more than half a century.
Methods: The present study assessed scientific activities in the field of social and neighbouring sciences using density equalizing mapping. On the basis of the NewQIS (New Quality and Quantity Indices in Science) platform and the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) of the Web of Science database, a total of 1787 articles originating from Wrocław were identified between 1966 and 2017.
Results: In total, 549 research collaborations of Wrocław with 96 different countries were present (30.7%). Among the 107 research areas the highest activity was found for the field of Business and Economics with n = 272 articles (average citation rate (AVR) of 12.54), followed by Psychology (n = 252 articles, AVR = 9.06), Psychiatry (n = 205 articles, AVR = 4.74) and Public, Environmental and Occupational Health (n = 145 articles, AVR = 7.96). The highest AVR was found for Operations Research (25.36 with n = 87 articles). Density equalizing mapping procedures revealed a global pattern of social sciences research collaborations with scientists from Germany, the UK and the US as the primary cooperating partner of Wrocław. The different countries had major differences in the area of research collaborations.
Conclusions: This is the first study that depicts the global network of Wrocław scientific activities in the field of social sciences. The exorbitant increase in research activity from 2006 onwards can lead to the assumption that Wrocław social sciences encounter a fruitful future.
There is mounting evidence that aerobic exercise has a positive effect on cognitive functions in older adults. To date, little is known about the neurometabolic and molecular mechanisms underlying this positive effect. The present study used magnetic resonance spectroscopy and quantitative MRI to systematically explore the effects of physical activity on human brain metabolism and grey matter (GM) volume in healthy aging. This is a randomised controlled assessor-blinded two-armed trial (n=53) to explore exercise-induced neuroprotective and metabolic effects on the brain in cognitively healthy older adults. Participants (age >65) were allocated to a 12-week individualised aerobic exercise programme intervention (n=29) or a 12-week waiting control group (n=24). The main outcomes were the change in cerebral metabolism and its association to brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels as well as changes in GM volume. We found that cerebral choline concentrations remained stable after 12 weeks of aerobic exercise in the intervention group, whereas they increased in the waiting control group. No effect of training was seen on cerebral N-acetyl-aspartate concentrations, nor on markers of neuronal energy reserve or BDNF levels. Further, we observed no change in cortical GM volume in response to aerobic exercise. The finding of stable choline concentrations in the intervention group over the 3 month period might indicate a neuroprotective effect of aerobic exercise. Choline might constitute a valid marker for an effect of aerobic exercise on cerebral metabolism in healthy aging.