Quantification of Squalene and Lactic Acid in Hair Bulbs with Damaged Sheaths: Are They Metabolic Wastes in Alopecia?

Alopecia is a pathological and multifactorial condition characterised by an altered hair growth cycle and ascribed to different pathogenic causes. Cell energetic imbalances in hair follicles occurring in this disorder could lead to the production of some "metabolic wastes", including squalene and lactic acid, which could be involved in the clinically observed sheath damage. The aim of this work was the extraction and analytical quantification of squalene and lactic acid from hair bulbs of subjects with clinical alopecia in comparison with controls, using HPLC-DAD and HPLC-MS techniques.

Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of Conventional Brain MRI in the Clinical Work-Up of Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Clinical signs of upper motor neuron (UMN) involvement are important in the diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) though are often difficult to analyze. Many studies using both qualitative and quantitative evaluations have reported abnormal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) findings at the level of the pyramidal pathway in patients with ALS. Although the most interesting results were obtained by quantitative studies using advanced MR techniques, the qualitative evaluation of MRI images remains the most-used in clinical practice.

Autosomal dominant lateral temporal lobe epilepsy associated with a novel reelin mutation.

Reelin mutations are responsible for a minority of families with autosomal dominant lateral temporal lobe epilepsy. Here, we report a novel nuclear family with distinct clinical and neuroradiological findings. We studied the proband and her mother by means of EEG, video-EEG, 3T MRI, FDG-PET and genetic testing.

Temporal lobe epilepsy and emotion recognition without amygdala: a case study of Urbach-Wiethe disease and review of the literature.

We describe the epilepsy features and emotion recognition abilities (recognition of basic facial emotions and recognition of emotional prosody) in a patient with Urbach-Wiethe disease with bilateral amygdala calcifications. Our data, supported by ictal video-EEG recording, indicated that our patient suffered from mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Emotion recognition abilities were compared to those of healthy controls and those of patients with bilateral mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

Epilepsy associated tumors: Review article.

Long-term epilepsy associated tumors (LEAT) represent a well known cause of focal epilepsies. Glioneuronal tumors are the most frequent histological type consisting of a mixture of glial and neuronal elements and most commonly arising in the temporal lobe. Cortical dysplasia or other neuronal migration abnormalities often coexist.