National guidelines for cognitive assessment and rehabilitation of Iranian traumatic brain injury patients

Background: Individuals with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) often have prolonged cognitive impairments, resulting in long-term problems with their real-life activities. Given the urgent need for evidence-based recommendations for neuropsychological management of Iranian TBI patients, the current work aimed to adapt eligible international guidelines for cognitive assessment and rehabilitation of the TBI patients in Iran. Methods: The project was led by an executive committee, under the supervision of the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME). Following a systematic literature search and selection process, four guidelines were included for adaptation. Clinical recommendations of the source guidelines were tabulated as possible clinical scenarios for 90 PICO clinical questions covering all relevant phases of care. After summing up the scenarios, our initial list of recommendations was drafted according to the Iranian patients� conditions. The final decision-making, with the contribution of a national interdisciplinary panel of 37 experts from across the country, was conducted in two rounds using online and offline survey forms (Round 1), and face-to-face and telephone meetings (Round 2). Results: A total of 63 recommendations in six sections were included in the final list of recommendations, among which 24 were considered as key recommendations. In addition, some of the recommendations were identified as fundamental, meaning that proper implementation of the other recommendations is largely dependent on their implementation. Conclusion: Iranian health policy makers and rehabilitation program managers are recommended to address some fundamental issues to provide the necessary infrastructure to set up an efficient cognitive rehabilitation service system. © 2020 Academy of Medical Sciences of I.R. Iran. All rights reserved

Cu(II) complex of a Schiff base derived from pyridoxal: Synthesis, experimental characterization, DFT studies, and AIM analysis

A Cu(II) complex of the N,N'-dipyridoxyl(1,2-diaminobenzene) [=H2L] Schiff base is newly synthesized. The complex is characterized experimentally and theoretically. The density functional theory methods are employed to calculate the optimized geometry along with the natural bond orbital analysis and the vibrational frequency analysis of the complex. The computed IR frequencies are in agreement with the experimental one, confirming the validity of the proposed geometry for the complex. In the optimized geometry of the octahedral complex, dianionic L2– acts as a tetradentate ligand. Two azomethine nitrogen atoms and two phenolate oxygen atoms of the L2– ligand occupy four square positions of the complex. Also, two methanol ligands are perpendicular to the square plane. The large energy gap between the frontier orbitals demonstrates the stability of the complex. The properties of the Cu—N and Cu—O bonds are investigated by the Atoms In Molecules analysis, too.</jats:p

Stress, genotype and norepinephrine in the prediction of mouse behavior using reinforcement learning

Individual behavioral performance during learning is known to be affected by modulatory factors, such as stress and motivation, and by genetic predispositions that influence sensitivity to these factors. Despite numerous studies, no integrative framework is available that could predict how a given animal would perform a certain learning task in a realistic situation. We found that a simple reinforcement learning model can predict mouse behavior in a hole-box conditioning task if model metaparameters are dynamically controlled on the basis of the mouse's genotype and phenotype, stress conditions, recent performance feedback and pharmacological manipulations of adrenergic alpha-2 receptors. We find that stress and motivation affect behavioral performance by altering the exploration-exploitation balance in a genotype-dependent manner. Our results also provide computational insights into how an inverted U-shape relation between stress/arousal/norepinephrine levels and behavioral performance could be explained through changes in task performance accuracy and future reward discounting