Occipital Areas Research Articles

Paresthesia and Pain in Both Arms when Shampooing One’s Hair: Symptoms of Neurogenic Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) is a clinical diagnosis based on the reproduction of a patient’s symptoms with a provocation test (arm elevation) after excluding other conditions that might cause similar symptoms. Neurologic symptoms and signs can vary from mild paresthesia and numbness to intrinsic hand muscle atrophy. The main controversy in patients with neurogenic TOS involves neurologic-type complaints of paresthesia, numbness, and pain. However, there is no positive objective test to identify the cause. A 54-year-old female patient presented with numbness and radiating pain in her bilateral arms that occurred every time she bowed her head while shampooing. The patient had a history of two neck sprains due to slipping before the onset of symptoms. In addition to pain and numbness in both arms at arm elevation, pain in the suprascapular and occipital areas was also present. After excluding cervical nerve root lesions and other bone abnormalities, the patient's symptoms disappeared by brachial plexus decompression through a supraclavicular approach. It is difficult to diagnose neurogenic TOS with pain and paresthesia without muscle weakness in the upper extremities. If physicians do not consider the possibility of neurogenic TOS in patients with upper extremity paresthesia and pain, unnecessary multiple treatments may be performed, prolonging patients’ suffering. The exacerbation of pain and paresthesia in both arms and hands can occur immediately after the head is lowered during shampooing. This can be interpreted as a characteristic symptom of a constricted interscalene triangle and brachial plexus compression caused by hyperabduction of the arm.

(A)symmetry during gait initiation in people with Parkinson's disease: A motor and cortical activity exploratory study.

Gait asymmetry and deficits in gait initiation (GI) are among the most disabling symptoms in people with Parkinson's disease (PwPD). Understanding if PwPD with reduced asymmetry during GI have higher asymmetry in cortical activity may provide support for an adaptive mechanism to improve GI, particularly in the presence of an obstacle. This study quantified the asymmetry of anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs), stepping parameters and cortical activity during GI, and tested if the presence of an obstacle regulates asymmetry in PwPD. Sixteen PwPD and 16 control group (CG) performed 20-trials in two conditions: unobstructed and obstructed GI with right and left limbs. We measured, through symmetry index, (i) motor parameters: APAs and stepping, and (ii) cortical activity: the PSD of the frontal, sensorimotor and occipital areas during APA, STEP-I (moment of heel-off of the leading foot in the GI until the heel contact of the same foot); and STEP-II (moment of the heel-off of the trailing foot in the GI until the heel contact of the same foot) phases. Parkinson's disease showed higher asymmetry in cortical activity during APA, STEP-I and STEP-II phases and step velocity (STEP-II phase) during unobstructed GI than CG. However, unexpectedly, PwPD reduced the level of asymmetry of anterior-posterior displacement (p < 0.01) and medial-lateral velocity (p < 0.05) of the APAs. Also, when an obstacle was in place, PwPD showed higher APAs asymmetry (medial-lateral velocity: p < 0.002), with reduced and increased asymmetry of the cortical activity during APA and STEP-I phases, respectively. Parkinson's disease were not motor asymmetric during GI, indicating that higher cortical activity asymmetry can be interpreted as an adaptive behavior to reduce motor asymmetry. In addition, the presence of obstacle did not regulate motor asymmetry during GI in PwPD.

Translated article] Outbreak of Dermatophyte Infections on the Head and Neck Related to Shave Haircuts: Description of a Multicenter Case Series

IntroductionSince 2021, an increase in cases of tinea capitis has been detected in adolescents who shave their hair with fade haircut. Patients and methodsMulticenter retrospective observational study of cases of cephalic pole dermatophytosis with a history of having been acquired after frequent shaving in hairdressing. A call was made to dermatologists from the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV) to provide cases observed between January 2021 and December 2022. Patients with microbiological confirmation by culture or direct examination with KOH were included. Results107 cases were collected, 106 of which were male. 78 non-inflammatory forms were observed, compared to 29 inflammatory. The most frequently isolated fungus was Trichophyton tonsurans (75.7% of cases). The lesions appeared predominantly on the nape of the neck and temporal area. ConclusionsThe distribution by sex, age and lesional location seems to indicate that a new social trend, in which male adolescents regularly go to hairdressers to shave the occipital and temporal areas, would be the cause of this grouping of cases of ringworm of the scalp. The most frequent microorganism in our study (T. tonsurans) coincides with the most prevalent in our environment. This study shows an accumulation of cases that can be taken into account by competent Public Health agencies, which are responsible for ensuring compliance with the rules of disinfection of the material used for shaving.

Influence of Strenuous Physical Activity and Cardiorespiratory Fitness on Age-Related Differences in Brain Activations During Varieties of Cognitive Control

While there is extensive literature on the beneficial effects of physical activity on age differences in cognitive control, limited research exists on comparing the contributions of strenuous physical activity (sPA) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) to fluctuations in the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals during varieties of cognitive control. The current study addresses this gap in knowledge by investigating BOLD signal differences between high-fit and low-fit older adults, determined by their sPA or CRF, during a novel fMRI task with a hybrid block and event-related design that included transient activations (during switching, updating and their combination trials) and sustained activations (during proactive and reactive control blocks). fBOLD signals from older (n = 25) were compared to more functionally efficient younger (n = 15) adults. High-sPA old showed higher task accuracy than Low-sPA old and similar accuracy as young. Whole-brain fMRI analyses identified higher BOLD activations (esp. dlPFC/MFG) in high-fit old during updating and combination trials that were similar to young, suggesting maintenance of BOLD signals in higher fit older adults during working memory updating. Additionally, both High-sPA and High-CRF related compensatory overactivation were observed in left parietal and occipital areas during sustained activations, which were positively correlated with older adults' accuracy. These results suggest that physical fitness is a modifier of age-related changes in BOLD signal modulation elicited in response to increasing cognitive control demands, with higher fitness in old contributing to both compensatory overactivations and maintenance of task-related brain activations during cognitive control, whereas lower fitness contributed to maladaptive overactivations during lower cognitive demands.

Encephalo-Duro-Pericranio-Synangiosis for the Treatment of Moyamoya Disease with Posterior Cerebral Artery Lesions

We describe our experience performing encephalo-duro-pericranio synangiosis for the parieto-occipital region (EDPS-p) as a treatment for moyamoya disease (MMD) with hemodynamic disturbances caused by lesions of the posterior cerebral artery. From 2004 to 2020, 60 hemispheres of 50 patients with MMD (38/50 females, age 1-55 years) underwent EDPS-p as a treatment for hemodynamic disturbances in the parieto-occipital region. A skin incision was made on the parieto-occipital area to avoid the major skin arteries, and the pedicle flap was created by attaching the pericranium to the dura mater under the craniotomy with multiple small incisions. The surgical outcome was assessed on the basis of the following points: perioperative complications, postoperative improvement of clinical symptoms, subsequent novel ischemic events, qualitative assessment of the development of collateral vessels by magnetic resonance arteriography, quantitative assessment of postoperative perfusion improvement based on the mean transit time, and cerebral blood volume on dynamic susceptibility contrast imaging. Perioperative infarction occurred in 7/60 hemispheres (11.7%). The transient ischemic symptoms observed preoperatively disappeared in 39/41 hemispheres (95.1%) during the follow-up period (12-187 months), and none of the patients experienced novel ischemic events. Collateral vessels supplied from the occipital arteries, middle meningeal arteries, and posterior auricular arteries developed postoperatively in 56/60 hemispheres (93.3%). Postoperative mean transit time and cerebral blood volume showed significant improvement in the occipital, parietal, and temporal areas (P < 0.001), as well as the frontal area (P= 0.01). EDPS-p seems to be an effective surgical treatment for patients with MMD who suffer hemodynamic disturbances caused by posterior cerebral artery lesions.

Cognitive Avoidance Is Associated with Decreased Brain Responsiveness to Threat Distractors under High Perceptual Load.

Cognitive coping strategies to deal with anxiety-provoking events have an impact on mental and physical health. Dispositional vigilance is characterized by an increased analysis of the threatening environment, whereas cognitive avoidance comprises strategies to inhibit threat processing. To date, functional neuroimaging studies on the neural underpinnings of these coping styles are scarce and have revealed discrepant findings. In the present study, we examined automatic brain responsiveness as a function of coping styles using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We administered a perceptual load paradigm with contemptuous and fearful faces as distractor stimuli in a sample of N = 43 healthy participants. The Mainz Coping Inventory was used to assess cognitive avoidance and vigilance. An association of cognitive avoidance with reduced contempt and fear processing under high perceptual load was observed in a widespread network including the amygdala, thalamus, cingulate gyrus, insula, and frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital areas. Our findings indicate that the dispositional tendency to divert one's attention away from distressing stimuli is a valuable predictor of diminished automatic neural responses to threat in several cortical and subcortical areas. A reduced processing in brain regions involved in emotion perception and attention might indicate a potential threat resilience associated with cognitive avoidance.

An Insula-Enriched Regulator of Retinoic Acid Marks a New Intersection in the Neural Circuitry of Mouse Social Behavior

An Insula-Enriched Regulator of Retinoic Acid Marks a New Intersection in the Neural Circuitry of Mouse Social Behavior

Occipital Donor Area Grading and Profile in Indian Population.

Safe donor area (SDA) in hair transplant surgery had been categorized by various studies. We designed a study to profile the occipital donor area in our population and devise a grading scale the donor area. To profile and grade the pattern of receding hair over the occipital donor area among men in the age group of 50-55 years with androgenetic alopecia (AGA). A total of 681 men with AGA (grade 3 and above Norwood scale, diffuse unpatterned AGA, and retrograde AGA) in the age group between 50 and 55 were included in the study group. Their occipital donor area was analyzed and photographed with the head in the sagittal plane. A team of two dermatologists graded the hair loss and the pattern of the receding hair over the occipital donor area and devised a grading scale and profiled the donor area. Grades 1, 2, and 3 occipital donor area constituting 76.05% of the subjects analyzed, fulfilled the standard SDA criteria and 22.31% of the subjects did not fit well into the standard SDA widely followed. Diffuse thinning and reverse thinning of the occipital donor area was observed among the subjects. There is no clear cut defined SDA. There are lot of individual variations in SDA. SDA selection should be always conservative and over harvesting of the occipital donor region should be avoided.

Revisiting reward impairments in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis for neuroimaging findings.

Abnormal reward functioning is central to anhedonia and amotivation symptoms of schizophrenia (SCZ). Reward processing encompasses a series of psychological components. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the brain dysfunction related to reward processing of individuals with SCZ spectrum disorders and risks, covering multiple reward components. After a systematic literature search, 37 neuroimaging studies were identified and divided into four groups based on their target psychology components (i.e. reward anticipation, reward consumption, reward learning, effort computation). Whole-brain Seed-based d Mapping (SDM) meta-analyses were conducted for all included studies and each component. The meta-analysis for all reward-related studies revealed reduced functional activation across the SCZ spectrum in the striatum, orbital frontal cortex, cingulate cortex, and cerebellar areas. Meanwhile, distinct abnormal patterns were found for reward anticipation (decreased activation of the cingulate cortex and striatum), reward consumption (decreased activation of cerebellum IV/V areas, insula and inferior frontal gyri), and reward learning processing (decreased activation of the striatum, thalamus, cerebellar Crus I, cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and parietal and occipital areas). Lastly, our qualitative review suggested that decreased activation of the ventral striatum and anterior cingulate cortex was also involved in effort computation. These results provide deep insights on the component-based neuro-psychopathological mechanisms for anhedonia and amotivation symptoms of the SCZ spectrum.

Exploration of electroencephalogram response to MPH treatment in ADHD patients

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is known to be associated with several diagnostic resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) patterns, including the theta/beta ratio, but no objective predictive markers for each medication. In this study, we explored EEG markers with which the therapeutic efficacy of medications could be estimated at the 1st clinical visit. Thirty-two ADHD patients and thirty-one healthy subjects participated in this study. EEG was recorded during eyes-closed resting conditions, and ADHD symptoms were scored before and after the therapeutic intervention (8 ± 2 weeks). Although comparing EEG patterns between ADHD patients and healthy subjects showed significant differences, EEG dynamics, e.g., theta/beta ratio, in ADHD patients before and after MPH treatment were not significantly different despite improvements in ADHD symptoms. We demonstrated that MPH good responders and poor responders, defined by the efficacy of MPH, had significantly different theta band power in right temporal areas, alpha in left occipital and frontal areas, and beta in left frontal areas. Moreover, we showed that MPH good responders had significant improvements toward normalization in several coherence measures after MPH treatment. Our study implies the possibility of these EEG indices as predictive markers for ADHD therapeutic efficacy.

Triangulating causality between childhood obesity and neurobehavior: Behavioral genetic and longitudinal evidence.

Childhood obesity is a serious health concern that is not yet fully understood. Previous research has linked obesity with neurobehavioral factors such as behavior, cognition, and brain morphology. The causal directions of these relationships remain mostly untested. We filled this gap by using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study cohort comprising 11,875 children aged 9-10. First, correlations between the age- and sex-specific 95th BMI percentile (%BMIp95) and neurobehavioral measures were cross-sectionally analyzed. Effects were then aggregated by neurobehavioral domain for causal analyses. Behavioral genetic Direction of Causation modeling was used to test the direction of each relationship. Findings were validated by longitudinal cross-lagged panel modeling. %BMIp95 correlated with impulsivity, motivation, psychopathology, eating behavior, and cognitive tests (executive functioning, language, memory, perception, working memory). Greater %BMIp95 was also associated with reduced cortical thickness in frontal and temporal brain areas but with increased thickness in parietal and occipital areas. Similar although weaker patterns emerged for cortical surface area and volume. Behavioral genetic modeling suggested causal effects of %BMIp95 on eating behavior (β=0.26), cognition (β=0.05), cortical thickness (β=0.15), and cortical surface area (β=0.07). Personality/psychopathology (β=0.09) and eating behavior (β=0.16) appeared to influence %BMIp95. Longitudinal evidence broadly supported these findings. Results regarding cortical volume were inconsistent. Results supported causal effects of obesity on brain functioning and morphology. The present study highlights the importance of physical health for brain development and may inform interventions aimed at preventing or reducing pediatric obesity. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: A continuous measure related to obesity, %BMIp95, has correlations with various measures of brain functioning and structure Behavioral genetic and longitudinal modeling suggest causal links from personality, psychopathology, and eating behavior to %BMIp95 Results also indicate directional links from %BMIp95 to eating behavior, cognition, cortical thickness, and cortical surface area Obesity may play a role for healthy brain development during childhood.

Three-Dimensional Composite Heatmaps of Unilateral Lambdoid Synostosis and Deformational Plagiocephaly

Background: The differentiation of unilateral lambdoid synostosis (ULS) and deformational plagiocephaly (DP) is vital to provide appropriate treatment intervention. Three-dimensional (3D) photo grammetry provides rapid, reproducible image capture without radiation exposure. Advanced analytical methods can help identify distinctive features to differentiate the two craniofacial conditions. This study uses 3D photogrammetry of ULS and DP patients to analyze the global cranial morphology for diagnostic differentiation. Methods: A retrospective review of 3D photogrammetry of 19 ULS and 25 DP patients were analyzed. Cranial vault asymmetry index, oblique cranial length ratio, and diagonal difference were measured. 3D photogrammetry-based composites were created and overlaid on age and gender-matched controls to generate heat maps representing morphologic differences in contour. Results: Cranial vault asymmetry index and oblique cranial length ratio were significantly different between ULS and DP (0.019; 0.022). 3D photogrammetry ULS composite showed retrusion in the ipsilateral occipitoparietal area, contralateral posterior parietal projection, contralateral frontal projection, relative ipsilateral mastoid bulge, and facial projection. DP composite showed unilateral occipital projection and contralateral anterior projection. The contralateral occipital regions in the occipital and anterior areas remained equivocal to control patients. Conclusions: Diagnostic differentiation of ULS and DP has previously relied on observation and linear measurements of cranial asymmetry in a single plane. 3D photogrammetry composites provide a global contour evaluation for diagnosis and longitudinal outcome analysis.

Lateralized connectivity in the alpha band between parietal and occipital sources when spatial attention is externally and internally directed

IntroductionExternal spatial attention refers to the selection of currently present information at a specific external location, whereas internal spatial attention refers to the selection of stored information in short-term memory initially presented at a specific location. Electroencephalographic (EEG) and magnetoencephalographic (MEG) studies revealed that these two types of selection may involve the same underlying neural mechanism as in both cases a reduction in posterior alpha power was observed. However, the posterior alpha rhythm may consist of different components, which can even be related to opposite behavioral effects. Furthermore, the employed paradigms to study both selection processes are often quite different, which makes a proper comparison cumbersome.MethodsIn the current EEG experiment, two-stimulus displays were preceded or followed by non-spatial pre-cues and post-cues that specified the target, thereby minimizing procedural differences.ResultsResults of time-frequency analyses revealed that in both cue conditions the selection of relevant information was associated with an increase of ipsilateral vs. contralateral posterior alpha power. An opposite effect, an increase in contralateral vs. ipsilateral posterior power was observed in the theta-band, but only in the pre-cue condition. This activity was related to stimulus onset and likely reflects target selection. To assess attention-related connectivity, we separated posterior alpha power in a medial-parietal and two parieto-occipital sources and computed alpha phase coherence between these sources. Results revealed that in both cue conditions, increased ipsilateral vs. contralateral connectivity in the alpha band was present between the medial-parietal and parieto-occipital sources.DiscussionThe results seem to reflect a modulation from parietal to occipital areas, providing support for the view that internal and external spatial attention share a common neural mechanism.

Enhanced neural mechanisms of set shifting in musically trained adolescents and young adults: converging fMRI, EEG, and behavioral evidence.

Musically trained individuals have been found to outperform untrained peers in various tasks for executive functions. Here, we present longitudinal behavioral results and cross-sectional, event-related potential (ERP), and fMRI results on the maturation of executive functions in musically trained and untrained children and adolescents. The results indicate that in school-age, the musically trained children performed faster in a test for set shifting, but by late adolescence, these group differences had virtually disappeared. However, in the fMRI experiment, the musically trained adolescents showed less activity in frontal, parietal, and occipital areas of the dorsal attention network and the cerebellum during the set-shifting task than untrained peers. Also, the P3b responses of musically trained participants to incongruent target stimuli in a task for set shifting showed a more posterior scalp distribution than control group participants' responses. Together these results suggest that the musician advantage in executive functions is more pronounced at an earlier age than in late adolescence. However, it is still reflected as more efficient recruitment of neural resources in set-shifting tasks, and distinct scalp topography of ERPs related to updating and working memory after childhood.

A deep learning-based histopathology classifier for Focal Cortical Dysplasia

A light microscopy-based histopathology diagnosis of human brain specimens obtained from epilepsy surgery remains the gold standard to confirm the underlying cause of a patient’s focal epilepsy and further inform postsurgical patient management. The differential diagnosis of neocortical specimens in the realm of epilepsy surgery remains, however, challenging. Herein, we developed an open access, deep learning-based classifier to histopathologically assess whole slide microscopy images (WSI) and to automatically recognize various subtypes of Focal Cortical Dysplasia (FCD), according to the ILAE consensus classification update of 2022. We trained a convolutional neuronal network (CNN) with fully digitalized WSI of hematoxylin–eosin stainings obtained from 125 patients covering the spectrum of mild malformation of cortical development (mMCD), mMCD with oligodendroglial hyperplasia in epilepsy (MOGHE), FCD ILAE Type 1a, 2a and 2b using 414 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded archival tissue blocks. An additional series of 198 postmortem tissue blocks from 59 patients without neurological disorders served as control to train the CNN for homotypic frontal, temporal and occipital areas and heterotypic Brodmann areas 4 and 17, entorhinal cortex and dentate gyrus. Special stains and immunohistochemical reactions were used to comprehensively annotate the region of interest. We then programmed a novel tile extraction pipeline and graphical dashboard to visualize all areas on the WSI recognized by the CNN. Our deep learning-based classifier is able to compute 1000 × 1000 µm large tiles and recognizes 25 anatomical regions and FCD categories with an accuracy of 98.8% (F1 score = 0.82). Microscopic review of regions predicted by the network confirmed these results. This deep learning-based classifier will be made available as online web application to support the differential histopathology diagnosis in neocortical human brain specimens obtained from epilepsy surgery. It will also serve as blueprint to build a digital histopathology slide suite addressing all major brain diseases encountered in patients with surgically amenable focal epilepsy.

The patent foramen ovale may alter migraine brain activity: A pilot study of electroencephalography spectrum and functional connectivity analysis.

A link has been shown between patent foramen ovale (PFO) and migraine, particularly migraine with aura. However, it is unknown if PFO might cause migraine by altering cortical excitability and neural network, which may lower the threshold of cortical spreading depression (CSD). This study aims to compare the spectrum power and functional connectivity of the alpha and beta bands of electroencephalography (EEG) across migraine patients with and without PFO. Thirty-five migraine patients with PFO (PFO +), 35 migraine patients without PFO (PFO -) and 20 PFO patients without migraine (control) were enrolled in this cross-sectional analysis. 19-channel EEG was recorded for all patients under resting state and intermittent photic stimulation. Power spectrum density (PSD) and phase lag index (PLI) of alpha and beta bands were then calculated and compared between the three groups. During photic stimulation, the beta band PSD at the occipital area was substantially higher in PFO + migraine patients compared to PFO-migraine patients (p < 0.05, Bonferroni corrected). Subgroup analysis showed that both migraine with and without aura patients with PFO had increased PSD in the alpha and beta bands at the occipital region during photic stimulation (p < 0.05, Bonferroni corrected). Meanwhile, the beta band PLI during photic stimulation was significantly elevated (adjusted p = 0.008, utilizing the network-based statistic technique) in PFO + group compared to PFO-group. Furthermore, although failed to pass the correction, the beta band power in the occipital area during photic stimulation at 20 Hz on O1 (R = 0.392, p = 0.024) and O2 channel (R = 0.348, p = 0.047) was prone to positively correlated with MIDAS score, and during photic stimulation at 12 Hz on O2 channel (R = 0.396, p = 0.022) and 20 Hz (R = 0.365, p = 0.037) on O1 channel was prone to positively correlated to HIT-6 score in PFO+ migraineurs, whereas no similar correlation was found in the PFO-group patients. The outcomes of this investigation suggested that PFO may change the cortical excitability in the occipital lobe of both migraineurs with and without aura. Meanwhile, the beta band PSD on the occipital area during photic stimulation might be an objective measure of severity in migraineurs with PFO.

Flexible boron-doped diamond spiral electrode for application in brain–computer interface based on steady-state visual evoked potential

We propose a flexible boron-doped diamond (BDD) spiral electrode for electroencephalography (EEG) recording and introduce the application of a flexible BDD-based EEG cap in brain–computer interfaces (BCI). The B-doping difference of diamond crystal planes in flexible polycrystalline BDD electrodes makes them act like a microelectrode. Hydrogen bonds between hydroxy fatty acid in the cuticle and BDD surface terminal and electrostatic adsorption between BDD-boron sites and the cuticle enhance the capacitive electric field. Combining a skin-conformal BDD electrode cap with the simplest feature extraction and classification coding can record highly stable EEG in steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP), with a high average SNR of 8.6 dB. The BCI system demonstrated competitive accuracy and information transfer rate in five channels in the occipital and parietal areas. Collectively, the BDD-based SSVEP-BCI system offers unique advantages for the real-time monitoring of brain signals, neurological rehabilitation, and disease diagnosis.

Facial Emotion Perception in Young Female Students with Single Panic Attacks

The study aimed to examine the behavioral and neural correlates of facial emotion recognition in a non-clinical group of 13 young female students with single Panic Attacks (PA) compared to 14 matched healthy controls. Subjects were asked to recognize angry, fearful, happy, disgusted, sad and surprised faces, and reaction time and Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Significant between-group differences in reaction time were not found, but the PA subjects reacted more slowly to angry and fearful expressions. More distinct between-group differences were observed in the EPRs: the PA subjects demonstrated increased amplitudes of the P100 components in the occipital area. The increased amplitude of the occipital P100 component for threat-related faces suggests that this type of high-arousal negative emotions is particularly meaningful for the PA individuals.

A Study on Changes in Hair Condition of Shampoo Containing Aroma Essential Oil

In this study, we investigated changes in hair after using an aroma shampoo containing aroma essential oils. The aroma essential oils included are Lavender, Juniper Berry, Cypress, Peppermint and Cedarwood. After the experimental group (15 persons) used the aroma shampoo for 4 weeks, the hair condition of the control group (15 persons) using the general shampoo for 4 weeks was compared and analyzed before and after. The hair was measured at 4 sites (left, right, parietal, and occipital regions) of the scalp, and changes in condition were measured with Aram Huvis' ASG (AI-Scalp Grader). As a result of the study, it was confirmed that the experimental group using aroma shampoo showed a significant increase in density and number in the occipital area, while the control group using general shampoo showed a significant decrease in number and thickness in the parietal area. By providing quantitative data that proves the hair improvement effect of aroma essential oil, it is expected that hair loss prevention and hair growth will be used as cosmetic ingredients.

Neural responses to biological motion distinguish autistic and schizotypal traits.

Difficulties in social interactions characterize both autism and schizophrenia and are correlated in the neurotypical population. It is unknown whether this represents a shared etiology or superficial phenotypic overlap. Both conditions exhibit atypical neural activity in response to the perception of social stimuli and decreased neural synchronization between individuals. This study investigated if neural activity and neural synchronization associated with biological motion perception are differentially associated with autistic and schizotypal traits in the neurotypical population. Participants viewed naturalistic social interactions while hemodynamic brain activity was measured with fMRI, which was modeled against a continuous measure of the extent of biological motion. General linear model analysis revealed that biological motion perception was associated with neural activity across the action observation network. However, intersubject phase synchronization analysis revealed neural activity to be synchronized between individuals in occipital and parietal areas but desynchronized in temporal and frontal regions. Autistic traits were associated with decreased neural activity (precuneus and middle cingulate gyrus), and schizotypal traits were associated with decreased neural synchronization (middle and inferior frontal gyri). Biological motion perception elicits divergent patterns of neural activity and synchronization, which dissociate autistic and schizotypal traits in the general population, suggesting that they originate from different neural mechanisms.