[Superficial siderosis, an underestimated entity].

Objective: To review the clinical and MRI aspects in a series of cases with superficial siderosis of the central nervous system.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the patients with imaging evidence of superficial siderosis, investigated in two radiological centers between January 2006 and January 2010. The patients with aneurysms or arterio-venous malformations were excluded from this study.

[Toxic leucoencephalopathy after use of sniffed heroin, an unrecognized form of beneficial evolution].

Introduction: Serious leukoencephalopathy can be related to heroin injection or inhalation.

Observation: We report the first case of leukoencephalopathy observed three weeks after a 46-year-old man sniffed heroin. The clinical presentation included cognitive and behaviour disorders, pyramidal irritation and slight gait instability.

Effects of disodium cromoglycate on cationic exchange of deoxygenated sickle cells.

In the present work, we explored the way in which cromoglycate, a drug used to treat allergies acts on ion movements in sickle cells. Cells were either slowly deoxygenated by overnight exposure to nitrogen or acutely deoxygenated by exposure to metabisulfite, a strong reducing agent which induces sickling of red blood sickle cells. Flushing the cells with nitrogen increased the intracellular concentration of Na(+) and decreased the intracellular concentration of K(+) and the sum of the concentrations of the two cations.

Sickle cell disease from Africa to Belgium, from neonatal screening to clinical management.

Aim: To describe the severity of sickle cell disease (SCD) in newborns in Belgium and evaluate the impact of neonatal screening (NS) on clinical outcome.

Methods: Universal NS of umbilical cord blood for hemoglobinopathy was progressively deployed in Brussels and Liège starting in 1994. No particular population was targeted.

Gunshot injury without direct injury to the cord may lead to complete paraplegia.

Paraplegia following gunshot injury without direct injury to the cord is extremely rare. We describe the case of a 31-year-old woman who was admitted to our trauma resuscitation unit for a penetrating gunshot wound to the abdomen with hemorrhagic shock and paraplegia. Computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen showed severe hepatic and pulmonary injuries, with the trajectory of the missile away from the spinal canal.

Tuning the electrochemistry of Re2(6+) species with divergent bicyclic guanidinate ligands and by modification of axial π interactions.

Four Re(2)(6+) paddlewheel compounds with equatorial bicyclic guanidinate ligands and two monodentate anions in axial positions show a large change in the metal-metal distance that depends on the bite angle of the ligands and whether there are pi interactions between the dimetal unit and the axial ligands. These processes are accompanied by significant changes in the redox behavior. The two pairs of compounds that have been synthesized are Re(2)(tbn)(4)Cl(2), 1, and Re(2)(tbn)(4)(SO(3)CF(3))(2), 2, as well as Re(2)(tbo)(4)Cl(2), 3, and Re(2)(tbo)(4)(SO(3)CF(3))(2), 4, where tbn is the anion of a bicyclic guanidinate with six- and five-membered rings (1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.

Erythrocyte membrane protein analysis by sodium dodecyl sulphate-capillary gel electrophoresis in the diagnosis of hereditary spherocytosis.

Background: Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) is currently the reference method for detecting protein deficiencies related to hereditary spherocytosis. The aim of the study was to evaluate an automated capillary gel electrophoresis system, the Experion instrument from BioRad, for its ability to separate and quantify the erythrocyte membrane proteins.

Methods: The major erythrocyte membrane proteins (actin, protein 4.

Anatomic variation: absence of portal vein bifurcation.

Purpose: To describe in CT scan the absence of a portal vein bifurcation.

Methods: We described the contrast-enhanced CT scan appearance of an absence of portal vein bifurcation in an "asymptomatic" 39 year old woman.

Results: It was a single intrahepatic portal vein which crossed the entire liver parenchyma from the right to the left and with a gradually decreasing diameter.

Degeneration of the Arnold's prefrontopontocerebellar tract in a case of locked-in syndrome over a 23-year period.

A 52-year-old woman has been under observation for a complete locked-in syndrome of vascular origin, since 1984. Her cognitive functions today are still normal. When first diagnosed, a CT-scan was made and 23 years later performed, a cerebral MRI was performed.

Multiple transfusions for sickle cell disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo: the importance of the hepatitis C virus.

Background And Objectives: Improvement of transfusion security in sub-Saharan countries requires the determination of priorities taking into account the specific context.

Patients And Methods: One hundred and forty patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) from one clinical centre for SCD in Kisangani, DRC were tested for HBsAg, anti-HIV antibodies, anti-HCV antibodies and for alloantibodies against red blood cells and human leucocyte antigens (HLA).

Results: Thirteen patients had not been transfused and were free of HBV, HIV or HCV infection.

Reliability of mycophenolic acid monitoring by an enzyme multiplied immunoassay technique.

Background: For mycophenolic acid (MPA), substantial inter- and intra-individual variability and drug interactions have been observed and therapeutic drug monitoring is now recommended. In this study, a MPA commercial Enzyme Multiplied Immunoassay Technique (EMIT) was evaluated and compared with the HPLC-UV reference method which is easily practicable in a routine laboratory.

Methods: Plasma samples (n = 117) were collected from adult renal graft patients treated by mycophenolate in combination with either cyclosporin A (CyA) (n = 32) or tacrolimus (n = 85).

Representation and disconnection in imaginal neglect.

Patients with neglect failure to detect, orient, or respond to stimuli from a spatially confined region, usually on their left side. Often, the presence of perceptual input increases left omissions, while sensory deprivation decreases them, possibly by removing attention-catching right-sided stimuli (Bartolomeo, 2007). However, such an influence of visual deprivation on representational neglect was not observed in patients while they were imagining a map of France (Rode et al.

Charcot spine: two new case reports and a systematic review of 109 clinical cases from the literature.

Objective: The goal of the present work was to report two new clinical cases on Charcot spinal arthropathy (Charcot spine) and to identify and review all cases reported in the literature since 1978.

Method: In parallel with a description of the clinical and radiological features of two new cases, we performed a detailed literature review after searching the PubMed and Pascal databases with the following keywords "Charcot spine", "Charcot spinal arthropathy" and "neuropathic arthropathy of the spine".

Results: We identified 36 publications comprising a total of 109 cases of Charcot spine.

Automatic temperature control for MR-guided interstitial ultrasound ablation in liver using a percutaneous applicator: ex vivo and in vivo initial studies.

Image-guided thermal ablation offers minimally invasive options for treating hepatocellular carcinoma and colorectal metastases in liver. Here, the feasibility and the potential benefit of active temperature control for MR-guided percutaneous ultrasound ablation was investigated in pig liver. An MR-compatible interstitial ultrasound applicator (flat transducer), a positioning system with rotation-translation guiding frame, and an orbital ring holder were developed.

Large changes in electronic structures of Ru2(6+) species caused by the variations of the bite angle of guanidinate ligands: tuning magnetic behavior.

Syntheses and characterization of two Ru(2)(6+) paddlewheel compounds having very different magnetic behavior are reported. The compounds Ru(2)(tbn)(4)Cl(2), 1, and Ru(2)(tbo)(4)Cl(2), 2 (where tbn = the anion of 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.3.

Acute headache followed by focal neuropsychological impairment in cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL).

Occasionally, patients with Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) present atypical features such as confusion, coma, or nonconvulsive status epilepticus. Acute focal neuropsychological syndrome revealing the disease has been poorly documented. We report the atypical presentation of two patients in whom CADASIL was revealed by an episode of headache followed by focal neuropsychological impairment.

Nature of bonding in complexes containing "supershort" metal-metal bonds. raman and theoretical study of M2(dmp)4 [M = Cr (natural abundance Cr, 50Cr, and 54Cr) and Mo; dmp = 2,6-dimethoxyphenyl].

We report an investigation of complexes of the type M(2)(dmp)(4) (M = Mo, Cr; dmp = 2,6-dimethoxyphenyl) using resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopy, Cr isotopic substitution, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Assignment of the Mo-Mo stretching vibration in the Mo(2) species is straightforward, as evidenced by a single resonance-enhanced band at 424 cm(-1), consistent with an essentially unmixed metal-metal stretch, and overtones of this vibration. On the other hand, the Cr(2) congener has no obvious metal-metal stretching mode near 650-700 cm(-1), where empirical predictions based on the Cr-Cr distance as well as DFT calculations suggest that this vibration should appear if unmixed.

Proof by EPR spectroscopy that the unpaired electron in an Os(2)(7+) species is in a delta* metal-based molecular orbital.

Variable temperature structural and EPR studies are reported on the paddlewheel compound [Os(2)(hpp)(4)Cl(2)]PF(6), 1, (hpp = the anion of the bicyclic guanidine 1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-2H-pyrimido[1,2-a]pyrimidine) that contains a rare M(2)(7+) species, with the goal of determining whether the unpaired electron resides in a metal- or ligand-based molecular orbital. Crystallographic studies show that the Os-Os distance in 1 remains essentially unchanged from 213 to 30 K, which is consistent with no changes in electronic structure in this range of temperature. It is noteworthy that the metal-metal distance in 1 is about 0.

Endocavitary thermal therapy by MRI-guided phased-array contact ultrasound: experimental and numerical studies on the multi-input single-output PID temperature controller's convergence and stability.

Purpose: Endocavitary high intensity contact ultrasound (HICU) may offer interesting therapeutic potential for fighting localized cancer in esophageal or rectal wall. On-line MR guidance of the thermotherapy permits both excellent targeting of the pathological volume and accurate preoperatory monitoring of the temperature elevation. In this article, the authors address the issue of the automatic temperature control for endocavitary phased-array HICU and propose a tailor-made thermal model for this specific application.

Evidence of disruption of conjugation involving delta bonds in intramolecular electronic coupling.

A dimer of dimers containing two quadruply bonded [Mo(2)(DAniF)(3)](+) units (DAniF = N,N'-di(p-anisyl)formamidinate) linked by the S-donor linker, dimethyldithiooxamidate was synthesized, structurally characterized, and electronic communication was probed. The core of [Mo(2)(DAniF)(3)](2)(C(2)S(2)N(2)Me(2)), 1, formed by the Mo(2)NSC(2)SNMo(2) atoms shows two fused but non planar six-membered rings, which differs from that of the beta form of dimethyloxamidate analogue that has a heteronaphthalene-type structure (Cotton, F. A.

Influence of bonding mode of the linkers in the electronic communication of molecular pairs having dimolybdenum units linked by pseudohalides.

Depending on conditions the reactions of [Mo(2)(cis-DAniF)(2)(NCCH(3))(4)](BF(4))(2) (DAniF = N,N'-di-p-anisylformamidinate) with solutions containing thiocyanate anions lead to two compounds: a quadruple-bonded dinuclear species 1, (Bu(n)(4)N)(2)[Mo(2)(cis-DAniF)(2)(NCS)(4)], and a molecular pair 3, [Mo(2)(cis-DAniF)(2)](2)(mu(1,3)-NCS)(4). The latter has a cuboidal structure having two (cis-DAniF)(2)Mo(2)(2+) units, [Mo(2)], with four thiocyanate groups bridging two [Mo(2)] units in an end-to-end fashion in which the N and S atoms serve as the bridging units. On the contrary, the structure of the cyanate isomer, [Mo(2)(cis-DAniF)(2)](2)(mu(1,1)-NCO)(4) (2), shows an end-on binding of the cyanate linkers.

Evaluation of an automated capillary electrophoresis system in the screening for hemoglobinopathies.

Background: The biochemical diagnosis of hemoglobinopathies (thalassemias and hemoglobin (Hb) variants) is based on the separation and the quantification of Hb fractions. HPLC is the most commonly used method but capillary electrophoresis (CE) methods have also been developed successfully. The Capillarys II system is the first fully automated CE system that allows the quantification of Hb A2 and Hb F and the separation of Hb variants.

Predictive value of multimodality MRI using conventional, perfusion, and spectroscopy MR in anaplastic transformation of low-grade oligodendrogliomas.

The aim of our study was to evaluate the role of proton magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy and MR perfusion in the follow-up of low-grade gliomas, since conventional MR imaging (MRI) is not reliable in detecting the passage from a low- to high-grade tumor. Twenty-one patients with a World Health Organisation (WHO) grade II glioma were followed up using proton MR spectroscopy, perfusion, and conventional MRIs. Follow-up MRIs had been performed at the third month of evolution and then twice a year, with an average of five MR studies per patient.

[Target volume contouring for radiotherapy planning: application of multimodalities imaging].

The development of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) and intensity modulated therapy (IMRT) has enabled high dose radiation to be directed to tumors, this however subject to a perfect demarcation of the tumoral volume and the anatomical structures to be saved. At the same time, imaging modalities have improved their ability to demonstrate the location and the extension of tumors. The precise location of the target volume and the prediction of the dose absorbed by the tumor thus become an essential stage of the planning of the treatment.