Effects of oxygen concentration and flow rate on cognitive ability and physiological responses in the elderly

The supply of highly concentrated oxygen positively affects cognitive processing in normal young adults. However, there have been few reports on changes in cognitive ability in elderly subjects following highly concentrated oxygen administration. This study investigated changes in cognitive ability, blood oxygen saturation （%）, and heart rate （beats/min） in normal elderly subjects at three different levels of oxygen [21% （1 L/min）, 93% （1 L/min）, and 93% （5 L/min）] administered during a 1-back task. Eight elderly male （75.3 ＋ 4.3 years old） and 10 female （71.1 ＋ 3.9 years old） subjects, who were normal in cognitive ability as shown by a score of more than 24 points in the Mini-Mental State Examination-Korea, participated in the experiment. The experiment consisted of an adaptation phase after the start of oxygen administration （3 minutes）, a control phase to obtain stable baseline measurements of heart rate and blood oxygen saturation before the task （2 minutes） and a task phase during which the 1-back task was performed （2 minutes）. Three levels of oxygen were administered throughout the three phases （7 minutes）. Blood oxygen saturation and heart rate were measured during each phase. Our results show that blood oxygen saturation increased, heart rate decreased, and response time in the 1-back task decreased as the concentration and amount of administered oxygen increased. This shows that administration of sufficient oxygen for optimal cognitive functioning increases blood oxygen saturation and decreases heart rate.

Aging effects of regional activation in a spatial task A functional magnetic resonance imaging study

BACKGROUND： An increasing number of studies have shown the effects of aging in basic cognitive processing and higher cognitive functions using functional magnetic resonance imaging （fMRI）. However, little is known about the aging effects in diverse cognitive abilities, such as spatial learning and reasoning. OBJECTIVE： To investigate the effect of aging on spatial cognitive performance and regional brain activation based on fMRI. DESIGN, TIME, AND SETTING： A block design for fMRI observation. This study was performed at the fMRI Laboratory, Brain Science Research Center, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology from March 2006 to May 2009. PARTICIPANTS： Eight right-handed, male, college students in their 20s （mean age 21.5 years） and six right-handed, male, adults in their 40s （mean age 45.7 years）, who graduated from college, participated in the study. All subjects were healthy and had no prior history of psychiatric or neurological disorders. METHODS： A spatial task was presented while brain images were acquired using a 3T fMRI system （ISOL Technology, Korea）. The spatial tasks involved selecting a shape that corresponded to a given figure using four examples, as well as selecting a development figure of a diagram. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： The accuracy rate （number of correct answers/total number of items x 100%） of spatial tasks was calculated. Using the subtraction procedure, the activated areas in the brain during spatial tasks were color-coded by T-score. The double subtraction method was used to analyze the effect of aging between the two age groups （20s versus 40s）. RESULTS： The cerebellum, occipital lobe, parietal lobe, and frontal lobe were similarly activated in the two age groups. Increased brain activations, however, were observed in bilateral parietal and superior frontal lobes of the younger group. More activation was observed in bilateral middle frontal and right inferior frontal lobes in the older group. Compared with the older group, the younger men exhibited greater spatial performance （P = 0.012）. CONCLUSION： Reduced cognitive function correlated with decreased activation areas in the parietal lobe and altered activation in the frontal lobe.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging of cerebellar activation and lateralization during verbal and visuospatial tasks

BACKGROUND： Previous studies have analyzed cerebral activation and lateralization of cognitive functions, as well as cerebellar function with reference to high-level cognitive processing. However, there has been very little research on systematization and diversification. In particular, there are no reports on cerebellar lateralization, although reliable results have been reported on cerebral lateralization. OBJECTIVE： This study analyzed cerebellar activation and lateralization in relation to verbal and visuospatial tasks using functional magnetic resonance imaging （fMRI）. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING： A block design for fMRI observation was performed at the fMRI Laboratory, Brain Science Research Center, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology from May 2006 to September 2008. PARTICIPANTS： Sixteen healthy, male, college students, aged （23.3 ± 0.5） years, and 16 healthy, male, college students, aged （21.5 ± 2.3） years, participated in the study, respectively. METHODS： Verbal and visuospatial tasks were presented while functional brain images were acquired using a 3T fMRI system. Verbal analogy testing required the subject to select the word with the same relationship as one of the given words. Verbal antonym testing required the subject to select the word with a different meaning among four words. Visuospatial tasks involved selecting a shape that corresponded to a given figure with four examples, as well as selecting a development figure of a diagram. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： Changes in cerebellar activation and lateralization between two cognition tasks. RESULTS： Bilateral hemisphere Iobules VI and IX, right hemisphere Iobule VIII, bilateral hemisphere Iobules Crus I, and vermis Iobule IV, V, and Vl were closely related to verbal tasks in comparison to visuospatial tasks. Conversely, bilateral hemisphere Iobules IV and V, as well as the right hemisphere Iobule VI, were closely related to visuospatial tasks compared to verbal tasks. There was no great difference between the number of activated voxels in the cerebellums during the tasks, and cerebellar lateralization was not observed. CONCLUSION： In the cerebellum, the activation region, but not lateralization, was different between verbal and visuospatial tasks.

Novel endogenous endoplasmic reticulum transmembrane protein SURF4 suppresses cell death by negatively regulating the STING-STAT6 axis inmyeloid leukemia

Dear Editor,Myeloid differentiation was shown to be associated with reduced leukemic cell burden and leukemia-initiating cells and improved survival[1].Reactive oxygen species(ROS)are associated with leukemia and can induce endoplasmic reticulum(ER)stress.ER stress induces several mechanisms,including cell death[2].The stimulator of interferon genes(STING)is also an ER transmembrane protein and promotes anti-tumor immunity by linking innate and adaptive immunity[3].Signal transducer and activator of transcription 6(STAT6)plays a prominent role in adaptive immunity by transducing signals fromextracellular cytokines and inducing apoptosis in cancer cells[4].