A Rare and Unusual Presentation of Neurofibromatosis Type 1: Using Available Tools To Distinguish Neurofibromas From Mimicking Pathologies on CT Scan and MRI.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1) is the most common neurocutaneous syndrome. Despite its more common appearance relative to other phakomatoses, it has a large variety of disease manifestations that can, at times, make swift diagnosis more challenging if not readily recognized, especially when presenting in an atypical manner. Our case reveals an unusual presentation of NF-1.

Loss of GSNOR1 Function Leads to Compromised Auxin Signaling and Polar Auxin Transport.

Cross talk between phytohormones, nitric oxide (NO), and auxin has been implicated in the control of plant growth and development. Two recent reports indicate that NO promoted auxin signaling but inhibited auxin transport probably through S-nitrosylation. However, genetic evidence for the effect of S-nitrosylation on auxin physiology has been lacking.

Compositional analysis of grain and forage from MON 87427, an inducible male sterile and tissue selective glyphosate-tolerant maize product for hybrid seed production.

Conventional maize hybrid seed production has historically relied upon detasseling using either manual methods or semiautomated processes to ensure the purity of the hybrid cross. Monsanto Co. has developed biotechnology-derived MON 87427 maize with tissue-selective glyphosate tolerance to facilitate the production of hybrid maize seed.

Safety of GM crops: compositional analysis.

The compositional analysis of genetically modified (GM) crops has continued to be an important part of the overall evaluation in the safety assessment program for these materials. The variety and complexity of genetically engineered traits and modes of action that will be used in GM crops in the near future, as well as our expanded knowledge of compositional variability and factors that can affect composition, raise questions about compositional analysis and how it should be applied to evaluate the safety of traits. The International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), a nonprofit foundation whose mission is to provide science that improves public health and well-being by fostering collaboration among experts from academia, government, and industry, convened a workshop in September 2012 to examine these and related questions, and a series of papers has been assembled to describe the outcomes of that meeting.

Investigation of biochemical diversity in a soybean lineage representing 35 years of breeding.

This paper reports an assessment of seed biochemical and metabolite variability and diversity in a series of nine soybean varieties; all lines share the same genetic lineage but represent ∼35 years of breeding (launch years 1972-2008) and differing yield potentials. These varieties, including six conventional and three glyphosate-tolerant lines, were grown concurrently at two replicated field sites in the United States during the 2011 growing season, and seeds were harvested at maturity. A compositional assessment included measurement of proximates, amino acids, fatty acids, tocopherols, isoflavones, saccharides, organic acids, and selected phytohormones.

Principal variance component analysis of crop composition data: a case study on herbicide-tolerant cotton.

Compositional studies on genetically modified (GM) and non-GM crops have consistently demonstrated that their respective levels of key nutrients and antinutrients are remarkably similar and that other factors such as germplasm and environment contribute more to compositional variability than transgenic breeding. We propose that graphical and statistical approaches that can provide meaningful evaluations of the relative impact of different factors to compositional variability may offer advantages over traditional frequentist testing. A case study on the novel application of principal variance component analysis (PVCA) in a compositional assessment of herbicide-tolerant GM cotton is presented.

Auxin-induced leaf blade expansion in Arabidopsis requires both wounding and detachment.

Elevation of leaf auxin (indole-3-acetic acid; IAA) levels in intact plants has been consistently found to inhibit leaf expansion whereas excised leaf strips grow faster when treated with IAA. Here we test two hypothetical explanations for this difference in growth sensitivity to IAA by expanding leaf tissues in vivo versus in vitro. We asked if, in Arabidopsis, IAA-induced growth of excised leaf strips results from the wounding required to excise tissue and/or results from detachment from the plant and thus loss of some shoot or root derived growth controlling factors.

Analysis of radiation exposure in trauma patients at a level I trauma center.

Background: Trauma patients are exposed to potentially high levels of low-dose radiation during radiologic studies.

Objectives: To assess the cumulative effective dose (CED) of radiation exposure (RE) in 177 successive patients admitted to a trauma service from January 1 through February 28, 2006.

Results: Patients received a total of 1505 radiographs and 400 computed tomography (CT) scans in the study period.

Radiation trends in trauma patients.

Today, computed tomography (CT) and other studies are used more often early in a trauma case than X-rays, exposing patients to more radiation. The long-term effects of radiation exposure (RE) in trauma patients are of great concern. Investigators randomly selected 60 patients (injury severity scores 15-25) each from the years 2000, 2003, and 2006.

Conversion of endogenous indole-3-butyric acid to indole-3-acetic acid drives cell expansion in Arabidopsis seedlings.

Genetic evidence in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) suggests that the auxin precursor indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) is converted into active indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) by peroxisomal beta-oxidation; however, direct evidence that Arabidopsis converts IBA to IAA is lacking, and the role of IBA-derived IAA is not well understood. In this work, we directly demonstrated that Arabidopsis seedlings convert IBA to IAA. Moreover, we found that several IBA-resistant, IAA-sensitive mutants were deficient in IBA-to-IAA conversion, including the indole-3-butyric acid response1 (ibr1) ibr3 ibr10 triple mutant, which is defective in three enzymes likely to be directly involved in peroxisomal IBA beta-oxidation.

BARREN INFLORESCENCE2 interaction with ZmPIN1a suggests a role in auxin transport during maize inflorescence development.

Polar auxin transport, mediated by the PIN-FORMED (PIN) class of auxin efflux carriers, controls organ initiation in plants. In maize, BARREN INFLORESCENCE2 (BIF2) encodes a serine/threonine protein kinase co-orthologous to PINOID (PID), which regulates the subcellular localization of AtPIN1 in Arabidopsis. We show that BIF2 phosphorylates ZmPIN1a, a maize homolog of AtPIN1, in vitro and regulates ZmPIN1a subcellular localization in vivo, similar to the role of PID in Arabidopsis.

Salicylic acid inhibits pathogen growth in plants through repression of the auxin signaling pathway.

The phytohormone auxin regulates almost every aspect of plant development. At the molecular level, auxin induces gene expression through direct physical interaction with the TIR1-like F box proteins, which in turn remove the Aux/IAA family of transcriptional repressors [1-4]. A growing body of evidence indicates that many plant pathogens can either produce auxin themselves or manipulate host auxin biosynthesis to interfere with the host's normal developmental processes [5-11].

Retrospective analysis of the adequacy of oral contrast material for computed tomography scans in trauma patients.

Background: This study examined the adequacy of oral contrast (OC) in adult trauma patients, the differences in the incidence of pathology and other patient characteristics related to OC adequacy, and the incidence of OC-associated emesis.

Methods: The cases of 129 adult trauma patients were reviewed from January to December 1996 for utilization of OC, administration time, time to computed tomography (CT), and emesis within 4 hours. CT films were reviewed for adequacy of OC (AC = adequate contrast, IC = inadequate contrast) and pathology.

Optic neuritis: imaging with magnetization transfer.

Objective: Our objective was to prospectively examine the optic nerves in patients with clinically severe unilateral optic neuritis, using routine spin-echo and magnetization transfer MR imaging.

Subjects And Methods: For 39 patients with such lesions, we calculated the magnetization transfer ratio along the involved intraorbital optic nerve and along the asymptomatic contralateral optic nerve in a mirror-image location. Magnetization transfer ratios were correlated with the imaging findings on routine spin-echo MR imaging.