Immune System Induction of Nerve Growth Factor in an Animal Model of Multiple Sclerosis: Implications in Re-Myelination and Myelin Repair.

Nerve growth factor (NGF) expression is augmented during neuroinflammation. However, its function in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and spinal cord (SC) during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the inflammatory model of Multiple Sclerosis, is indistinct. Thus, the role of antigenically induced NGF in Lewis rats under a state of EAE was considered.

Antenatal onset of haemorrhagic and/or ischaemic lesions in preterm infants: prevalence and associated obstetric variables.

Aim: To assess the prevalence of an antenatal onset of haemorrhagic and/or ischaemic lesions in preterm infants; to identify possibly related obstetric risk factors.

Methods: A prospective cohort study was made of 1332 infants born at less than 34 completed weeks, using cranial ultrasound, for the presence of antenatal brain lesions (group A) involving the periventricular white matter (PVWM) or central grey matter. Entry criteria were presence of (i) cysts in the PVWM < 7 days; (ii) increased PVWM echogenicity < 6 hours, confirmed to be white matter necrosis at post mortem examination; (iii) a unilateral porencephalic cyst < 3 days; (iv) an intraventricular haemorrhage with unilateral parenchymal involvement < 6 hours; and (v) symmetrical areas of increased echogenicity in the thalami, confirmed to be areas of calcification on post mortem examination.

Less severe retinopathy of prematurity induced by surfactant replacement therapy.

To assess the effect of surfactant replacement therapy (SRT) on the prevalence and severity of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), we compared data from 160 SRT-treated preterm infants with data from 230 historic controls. The prevalence of ROP was 30.6% in the treatment group and 23.

Dosimetric characteristics of a liquid-filled electronic portal imaging device.

Purpose: To determine the characteristics of a commercial electronic portal imaging device (EPID), based on a two-dimensional matrix of liquid-filled ionization chambers, for transmission dose measurements during patient treatment.

Methods And Materials: Electronic portal imaging device measurements were performed in a cobalt-60 beam and two accelerator x-ray beams, and compared with measurements performed with a Farmer-type ionization chamber in air in a miniphantom and in an extended water phantom.

Results: The warming up time of the EPID is about 1 h.

Surfactant replacement therapy: a new risk factor in developing retinopathy of prematurity?

We documented the prevalence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in a group of 46 infants suffering from a moderate or severe respiratory distress syndrome and treated with surfactant replacement therapy (SRT) and 61 controls admitted in the year prior to the institution of SRT. Mortality in the treatment group was lower than in the control group (15.5% versus 23.