| 1. |
- Rinne, Nea, et al.
(författare)
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Developmental dyslexia susceptibility genes DNAAF4, DCDC2, and NRSN1 are associated with brain function in fluently reading adolescents and young adults
- 2024
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Ingår i: Cerebral Cortex. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1047-3211 .- 1460-2199. ; 34:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Reading skills and developmental dyslexia, characterized by difficulties in developing reading skills, have been associated with brain anomalies within the language network. Genetic factors contribute to developmental dyslexia risk, but the mechanisms by which these genes influence reading skills remain unclear. In this preregistered study (https://osf.io/7sehx), we explored if developmental dyslexia susceptibility genes DNAAF4, DCDC2, NRSN1, and KIAA0319 are associated with brain function in fluently reading adolescents and young adults. Functional MRI and task performance data were collected during tasks involving written and spoken sentence processing, and DNA sequence variants of developmental dyslexia susceptibility genes previously associated with brain structure anomalies were genotyped. The results revealed that variation in DNAAF4, DCDC2, and NRSN1 is associated with brain activity in key language regions: the left inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, and intraparietal sulcus. Furthermore, NRSN1 was associated with task performance, but KIAA0319 did not yield any significant associations. Our findings suggest that individuals with a genetic predisposition to developmental dyslexia may partly employ compensatory neural and behavioral mechanisms to maintain typical task performance. Our study highlights the relevance of these developmental dyslexia susceptibility genes in language-related brain function, even in individuals without developmental dyslexia, providing valuable insights into the genetic factors influencing language processing.
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| 2. |
- Salmi, Juha, et al.
(författare)
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Disentangling the Role of Working Memory in Parkinson's Disease
- 2020
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1663-4365. ; 12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Working memory (WM) represents a core cognitive function with a major striatal contribution, and thus WM deficits, commonly observed in Parkinson's disease (PD), could also relate to many other problems in PD patients. Our online study aimed to determine the subdomains of WM that are particularly affected in PD and to clarify the links between WM and everyday cognitive deficits, other executive functions, psychiatric and PD symptoms, as well as early cognitive impairment. Fifty-two mild-to-moderate PD patients and 54 healthy controls performed seven WM tasks tapping selective updating, continuous monitoring, or maintenance of currently active information. Self-ratings of everyday cognition, depression, and apathy symptoms, as well as screenings of global cognitive impairment, were also collected. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Of the three WM domains, only selective updating was directly predictive of PD group membership. More widespread WM deficits were observed only in relation to global cognitive impairment in PD patients. Self-rated everyday cognition or psychiatric symptoms were not linked to WM performance but correlated with each other. Our findings suggest that WM has a rather limited role in the clinical manifestation of PD. Nevertheless, due to its elementary link to striatal function, the updating component of WM could be a candidate for a cognitive marker of PD also in patients who are otherwise cognitively well-preserved.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Fellman, Daniel, et al.
(författare)
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The role of strategy use in working memory training outcomes
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of memory and language (Print). - : Elsevier. - 0749-596X .- 1096-0821. ; 110
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cognitive mechanisms underlying the limited transfer effects of working memory (WM) training remain poorly understood. We tested in detail the Strategy Mediation hypothesis, according to which WM training generates task-specific strategies that facilitate performance on the trained task and its untrained variants. This large-scale pre-registered randomized controlled trial (n = 258) used a 4-week adaptive WM training with a single digit n-back task. Strategy use was probed with open-ended strategy reports. We employed a Strategy training group (n = 73) receiving external strategy instruction, a Traditional training group (n = 118) practicing without strategy instruction, and Passive controls (n = 67). Both training groups showed emerging transfer to untrained n-back task variants already at intermediate test after 3 training sessions, extending to all untrained n-back task variants at posttest after 12 training sessions. The Strategy training group outperformed the Traditional training group only at the beginning of training, indicating short-lived strategy manipulation effects. Importantly, in the Traditional training group, strategy evolvement modulated the gains in the trained and untrained n -back tasks, supporting the Strategy Mediation hypothesis. Our results concur with the view of WM training as cognitive skill learning.
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| 5. |
- Kallionpaa, Roope A., et al.
(författare)
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Characterization of Immune Cell Populations of Cutaneous Neurofibromas in Neurofibromatosis 1
- 2024
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Ingår i: LABORATORY INVESTIGATION. - 0023-6837 .- 1530-0307. ; 104:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cutaneous neurofibromas (cNFs) are characteristic of neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1), yet their immune microenvironment is incompletely known. A total of 61 cNFs from 10 patients with NF1 were immunolabeled for different types of T cells and macrophages, and the cell densities were correlated with clinical characteristics. Eight cNFs and their overlying skin were analyzed for T cell receptor CDR domain sequences, and mass spectrometry of 15 cNFs and the overlying skin was performed to study immune-related processes. Intratumoral T cells were detected in all cNFs. Tumors from individuals younger than the median age of the study participants (33 years), growing tumors, and tumors smaller than the data set median showed increased T cell density. Most samples displayed intratumoral or peritumoral aggregations of CD3-positive cells. T cell receptor sequencing demonstrated that the skin and cNFs host distinct T cell populations, whereas no dominant cNF-specific T cell clones were detected. Unique T cell clones were fewer in cNFs than in skin, and mass spectrometry suggested lower expression of proteins related to T cell-mediated immunity in cNFs than in skin. CD163-positive cells, suggestive of M2 macrophages, were abundant in cNFs. Human cNFs have substantial T cell and macrophage populations that may be tumorspecific.
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| 6. |
- Kelkka, Tiina, et al.
(författare)
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Mice Lacking NCF1 Exhibit Reduced Growth of Implanted Melanoma and Carcinoma Tumors
- 2013
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 8:12, s. e84148-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX2) complex is a professional producer of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and is mainly expressed in phagocytes. While the activity of the NOX2 complex is essential for immunity against pathogens and protection against autoimmunity, its role in the development of malignant tumors remains unclear. We compared wild type and Ncf1(m1J) mutated mice, which lack functional NOX2 complex, in four different tumor models. Ncf1(m1J) mutated mice developed significantly smaller tumors in two melanoma models in which B16 melanoma cells expressing a hematopoietic growth factor FLT3L or luciferase reporter were used. Ncf1(m1J) mutated mice developed significantly fewer Lewis Lung Carcinoma (LLC) tumors, but the tumors that did develop, grew at a pace that was similar to the wild type mice. In the spontaneously arising prostate carcinoma model (TRAMP), tumor growth was not affected. The lack of ROS-mediated protection against tumor growth was associated with increased production of immunity-associated cytokines. A significant increase in Th2 associated cytokines was observed in the LLC model. Our present data show that ROS regulate rejection of the antigenic B16-luc and LLC tumors, whereas the data do not support a role for ROS in growth of intrinsically generated tumors.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Luomala, Matti J., et al.
(författare)
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Adding a cooling vest during cycling improves performance in warm and humid conditions
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Thermal Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0306-4565. ; 37:1, s. 47-55
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is known that warm and humid environment reduces human physical performance. The present study examined whether the use of an ice-vest in such conditions can improve cycling performance. Seven participants cycled with consecutive, non-stop, 10-minute cycles of nine minutes at 60% of their (V) over dot O-2 max punctuated by a one-minute sprint at 80% (V) over dot O-2 max. The cycling protocol was continuously repeated until exhaustion. The protocol was performed with the ice-vest (ICE), worn after 30 min of cycling, and without the ice-vest throughout the protocol (CON). Ventilatory and thermal responses were continuously recorded. Electromyographic (EMG) signals from four muscles of the dominant leg were recorded over one minute, and subjective sensations were evaluated at 10-minute intervals. At exhaustion, the exercise time was recorded. Exercise time improved significantly while wearing the ice-vest from 61 min and 29 s to 74 min and 14 s (+21.5% +/- 7.6: p <0.05). Mean power frequency and amplitude of the EMG revealed decreased neuromuscular fatigue during ICE compared to CON. Ventilatory responses indicated a tendency towards lower ventilation, respiratory quotient was significantly lower and both thermal parameters and subjective sensations indicated lower thermal strain during ICE in comparison to CON. These results suggest that wearing an ice-vest during cycling in warm and humid conditions decreases thermal and physical strain, thereby improving cycling performance. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 9. |
- Ritakallio, Liisa, et al.
(författare)
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The Pursuit of Effective Working Memory Training : a Pre-registered Randomised Controlled Trial with a Novel Varied Training Protocol
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Cognitive Enhancement. - : Springer. - 2509-3290 .- 2509-3304. ; 6, s. 232-247
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Working memory (WM) training, typically entailing repetitive practice with one or two tasks, has mostly yielded only limited task-specific transfer effects. We developed and tested a new WM training approach where the task paradigm, stimulus type, and predictability of the stimulus sequence were constantly altered during the 4-week training period. We expected that this varied training protocol would generate more extensive transfer by facilitating the use of more general strategies that could be applied to a range of WM tasks. Pre-post transfer effects following varied training (VT group, n = 60) were compared against traditional training (TT group, training a single adaptive WM task, n = 63), and active controls (AC, n = 65). As expected, TT evidenced strong task-specific near transfer as compared to AC. In turn, VT exhibited task-specific near transfer only on one of the measures, and only as compared to the TT group. Critically, no evidence for task-general near transfer or far transfer effects was observed. In sum, the present form of VT failed to demonstrate broader transfer. Nevertheless, as VT has met with success in other cognitive domains, future studies should probe if and how it would be possible to design WM training protocols that promote structural learning where common features of specific tasks would be identified and utilised when selecting strategies for novel memory tasks.
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| 10. |
- Salmi, Juha, et al.
(författare)
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Working memory training mostly engages general-purpose large-scale networks for learning
- 2018
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Ingår i: Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. - : Elsevier. - 0149-7634 .- 1873-7528. ; 93, s. 108-122
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present meta-analytic study examined brain activation changes following working memory (WM) training, a form of cognitive training that has attracted considerable interest. Comparisons with perceptual-motor (PM) learning revealed that WM training engages domain-general large-scale networks for learning encompassing the dorsal attention and salience networks, sensory areas, and striatum. Also the dynamics of the training-induced brain activation changes within these networks showed a high overlap between WM and PM training. The distinguishing feature for WM training was the consistent modulation of the dorso- and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC/VLPFC) activity. The strongest candidate for mediating transfer to similar untrained WM tasks was the frontostriatal system, showing higher striatal and VLPFC activations, and lower DLPFC activations after training. Modulation of transfer-related areas occurred mostly with longer training periods. Overall, our findings place WM training effects into a general perception-action cycle, where some modulations may depend on the specific cognitive demands of a training task.
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