Objective While stress reportedly impairs memory, saffron enhances it. This study investigated the therapeutic effects of saffron extract on different memory types, anxiety-like behavior, and expressions of BDNF and TNF-α genes in sub-chronically stressed rats.Methods Rats were randomly assigned to control, restraint stress (6 h/day/7 days), two 7-days saffron treatments with 30 and 60 mg/kg, and two stress-saffron groups (30 and 60 mg/kg/7 post-stress days). Serum cortisol level and hippocampal BDNF and TNF-α gene expressions were measured. Open field, passive avoidance, novel object recognition, and object location tests were performed to assess anxiety-like behavior and avoidance as well as cognitive and spatial memories, respectively.Results The low saffron dose in the sub-chronic stressed group led to a significant increase in passive avoidance latency from day 3 onward whereas this effect was observed after 7 days under the high-dose treatment that simultaneously led to a significant decline in serum cortisol level. While the low saffron dose led to a sharp drop in hippocampal TNF-α gene expression, the high dose significantly increased the hippocampal BDNF gene expression in the sub-chronic stress group. Finally, both saffron doses reduced anxiety in the stressed groups.Conclusion Compared to the low saffron dose, the high dose had a latent but long-lasting impact. Cognitive and spatial memories remained unaffected by either stress or saffron treatment. In addition, only the high saffron dose reversed anxiety in the sub-chronically stressed group. These findings suggest that various doses of saffron act differently on different brain functions under sub-chronic stress conditions.Abbreviations Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), novel object recognition task (NORT), novel object location task (NOLT), open field test (OFT), passive avoidance (PA).Emergency department presentations of sodium nitrate poisoning are increasing in frequency. Point-of-care blood gas analysis is useful for identifying methaemoglobinaemia and other abnormalities in such patients. Topically applied nitrate is known to positively interfere with chloride measurement in both point-of-care instruments and automated analysers of the clinical chemistry laboratory. In this article, the authors describe a case of pseudohyperchloraemia caused by sodium nitrate, which was consumed orally for the purpose of suicide. Consistent with the established pattern of interference, the ABL800 (Radiometer Medical, Brønshøj Copenhagen) blood gas analyser produced spuriously high chloride results, whilst the Alinity (Abbott Diagnostics, Abbot Park, Illinois) automated analyser resulted in chloride measurements comparable to those of inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Both instruments, measure chloride with ion-selective electrodes (ISEs). The ABL800 (Radiometer) uses a membrane electrode, which is vulnerable to permeation by lipophilic nitrate ions, whereas the Alinity (Abbott) employs a silver chloride redox electrode system that is resistant to precipitation of silver nitrate due to its relatively high solubility. These mechanistic differences likely explain why nitrate interferes with some point-of-care devices but does not appear to affect the results of automated analysers.The most internationally studied models of successful aging defend that there are several pillars for a good aging absence of disease, good cognitive and physical function, a high commitment and social activity, social capital, personal resources, life satisfaction, and spirituality. This study examines the relationships between personal resources, perceived social support, hope, spirituality, self-care and subjective well-being variables, as bases for a successful aging. One thousand and sixteen community-dwelling Spanish adults, aged 55-92 years, participated in the study. Information on variables assessed was collected using self-reported questionnaires. Confirmatory Factor Analyses and Structural models with latent variables relating all indicators and factors were estimated. The structural model positing background variables affecting personal resources which then affected self-care behaviors and finally affected life satisfaction was supported by the data. Entinostat The model results emphasize the importance of personality, because largely affects the use of personal resources. The three selected personal resources (support, hope and spirituality) favor self-care behaviors. And finally, these behaviors improved life satisfaction in the old age. This result is of particular importance when policies for a successful and satisfactory aging of the population have to be designed.The aim of this study was to analyze whether the baseline metabolic parameters of 18F-FDG PET/CT in pediatric patients with Burkitt lymphoma (BL) can predict treatment response and prognosis. We retrospectively analyzed 68 pediatric patients with BL who underwent PET/CT before treatment. PET images were analyzed semi-quantitatively by measuring the maximum standardized uptake (SUVmax), total metabolic tumor volume (tMTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG). Survival curves were plotted according to the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess the relation between potential variables and outcomes. tMTV and TLG were significantly lower in patients with complete response compared with those with partial response at the end of treatment. PET metabolic parameters (tMTV and TLG) were the independent prognostic values for outcome. TMTV and TLG were significantly connected with treatment response and prognosis in pediatric with BL.Some lines of evidence have shown that sensory input, especially related to vestibular and somatosensory stimulation, may reduce the symptoms related to simulator sickness and increase the sense of presence in VR. The present study aims at understanding how mechanical vibration and auditory stimulation can be used to improve user experience in the context of VR mediated by head-mounted displays. Four different groups comprising a total of 80 participants were tested under different conditions of sensory input (visual and vibration, visual-auditory, combined visual-auditory and vibratory, and visual only), during a VR roller-coaster experience. No significant differences in simulator sickness were found between the groups exposed to seat vibration and/or audio. However, sense of presence showed to be increased when vibratory stimuli were included. Post-hoc analyses showed that female users but not male ones, experienced an increase of sense of presence when vibratory stimulation was used. Practitioner summary The study showed that including sound or vibration stimulation during VR experience does not reduce simulator sickness.