Low-dose electron beam radiation and romidepsin therapy for symptomatic cutaneous T-cell lymphoma lesions.

Background: Romidepsin is a structurally unique histone deacetylase inhibitor approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for therapy of relapsed or refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL).

Cerebral folate receptor autoantibodies in autism spectrum disorder.

Cerebral folate deficiency (CFD) syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder typically caused by folate receptor autoantibodies (FRAs) that interfere with folate transport across the blood-brain barrier. Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and improvements in ASD symptoms with leucovorin (folinic acid) treatment have been reported in some children with CFD. In children with ASD, the prevalence of FRAs and the response to leucovorin in FRA-positive children has not been systematically investigated.

Effects of high-fructose corn syrup and sucrose on the pharmacokinetics of fructose and acute metabolic and hemodynamic responses in healthy subjects.

It is unclear whether high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which contains a higher amount of fructose and provides an immediate source of free fructose, induces greater systemic concentrations of fructose as compared with sucrose. It is also unclear whether exposure to higher levels of fructose leads to increased fructose-induced adverse effects. The objective was to prospectively compare the effects of HFCS- vs sucrose-sweetened soft drinks on acute metabolic and hemodynamic effects.

A review of research trends in physiological abnormalities in autism spectrum disorders: immune dysregulation, inflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and environmental toxicant exposures.

Recent studies have implicated physiological and metabolic abnormalities in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other psychiatric disorders, particularly immune dysregulation or inflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and environmental toxicant exposures ('four major areas'). The aim of this study was to determine trends in the literature on these topics with respect to ASD. A comprehensive literature search from 1971 to 2010 was performed in these four major areas in ASD with three objectives.

Multimodal quantitative magnetic resonance imaging of thalamic development and aging across the human lifespan: implications to neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis.

The human brain thalami play essential roles in integrating cognitive, sensory, and motor functions. In multiple sclerosis (MS), quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI) measurements of the thalami provide important biomarkers of disease progression, but late development and aging confound the interpretation of data collected from patients over a wide age range. Thalamic tissue volume loss due to natural aging and its interplay with lesion-driven pathology has not been investigated previously.

Laterality of temporoparietal causal connectivity during the prestimulus period correlates with phonological decoding task performance in dyslexic and typical readers.

We examined how effective connectivity into and out of the left and right temporoparietal areas (TPAs) to/from other key cortical areas affected phonological decoding in 7 dyslexic readers (DRs) and 10 typical readers (TRs) who were young adults. Granger causality was used to compute the effective connectivity of the preparatory network 500 ms prior to presentation of nonwords that required phonological decoding. Neuromagnetic activity was analyzed within the low, medium, and high beta and gamma subbands.

Effect of cytochrome P450 3A5 genotype on atorvastatin pharmacokinetics and its interaction with clarithromycin.

Abstract Study Objective. To assess the effects of the cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A genotype, CYP3A5, on atorvastatin pharmacokinetics and its interaction with clarithromycin. Design.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor pathway gene polymorphism associated with extent of coronary artery disease in patients with type 2 diabetes in the bypass angioplasty revascularization investigation 2 diabetes trial.

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the major cause of death in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Although demographic and clinical factors associated with extent of CAD in patients with diabetes mellitus have been described, genetic factors have not. We hypothesized that genetic variation in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) pathway genes, important in diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis, would be associated with extent of CAD in patients with diabetes mellitus.

Profibrinolytic, antithrombotic, and antiinflammatory effects of an insulin-sensitizing strategy in patients in the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes (BARI 2D) trial.

Background: Effects were compared in patients in the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes (BARI 2D) trial of 2 mechanistically different strategies for treatment of hyperglycemia, insulin-sensitizing and insulin-providing strategies, on biomarker profiles reflecting the balance between fibrinolysis and thrombosis and the intensity of inflammation implicated in diabetic vasculopathy.

Methods And Results: A total of 2368 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and clinically stable, angiographically documented coronary artery disease were randomized to treatment with 1 of the 2 strategies and followed for an average of 5 years. Plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 antigen and activity, tissue plasminogen activator antigen, fibrinogen, D-dimer, C-reactive protein, insulin, and hemoglobin A(1c) were assayed in blood samples acquired at baseline and at 12 regular intervals throughout the follow-up interval.

A comparison of multivariate causality based measures of effective connectivity.

During the past several years a variety of methods have been developed to estimate the effective connectivity of neural networks from measurements of brain activity in an attempt to study causal interactions among distinct brain areas. Understanding the relative strengths and weaknesses of these methods, the assumptions they rely on, the accuracy they provide, and the computation time they require is of paramount importance in selecting the optimal method for a particular experimental task and for interpreting the results obtained. In this paper, the accuracy of the six most commonly used techniques for calculating effective connectivity are compared, namely directed transfer function, partial directed coherence, squared partial directed coherence, full frequency directed transfer function, direct directed transfer function, and Granger causality.

Multichannel least-squares linear regression provides a fast, accurate, unbiased and robust estimation of Granger causality for neurophysiological data.

The most common method for calculating Granger causality requires the fitting of a system of autoregressive equations to multiple interrelated signals. Historically, the Levinson, Wiggins, Robinson (LWR) algorithm and the least-squares linear regression (LSLR) approach are the most widely used methods for fitting these autoregressive equations. In this manuscript we compare these algorithms head-to-head.

Inhibitory effects of commonly used herbal extracts on UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A4, 1A6, and 1A9 enzyme activities.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of commonly used botanicals on UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) 1A4, UGT1A6, and UGT1A9 activities in human liver microsomes. The extracts screened were black cohosh, cranberry, echinacea, garlic, ginkgo, ginseng, milk thistle, saw palmetto, and valerian in addition to the green tea catechin epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Formation of trifluoperazine glucuronide, serotonin glucuronide, and mycophenolic acid phenolic glucuronide was used as an index reaction for UGT1A4, UGT1A6, and UGT1A9 activities, respectively, in human liver microsomes.

Absolute/relative bioavailability and metabolism of dodeca-2E,4E,8Z,10E/Z-tetraenoic acid isobutylamides (tetraenes) after intravenous and oral single doses to rats.

The present study assessed the absolute and relative bioavailabilities of dodeca-2 E,4 E,8 Z,10 E/ Z-tetraenoic acid isobutylamides (tetraenes), the main bioactive constituents in Echinacea, administered as pure compounds or in the form of an Echinacea purpurea root extract preparation. Tetraenes were administered orally by gavage or intravenously in a dose of 0.75 mg/kg.

Traditional and non-traditional treatments for autism spectrum disorder with seizures: an on-line survey.

Background: Despite the high prevalence of seizure, epilepsy and abnormal electroencephalograms in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there is little information regarding the relative effectiveness of treatments for seizures in the ASD population. In order to determine the effectiveness of traditional and non-traditional treatments for improving seizures and influencing other clinical factor relevant to ASD, we developed a comprehensive on-line seizure survey.

Methods: Announcements (by email and websites) by ASD support groups asked parents of children with ASD to complete the on-line surveys.

Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy mutations associated with infantile-onset myoclonic epilepsy.

Epilepsy syndromes with onset in the first year of life, especially when they include myoclonic features, have special significance since they are associated with long-term developmental and neurological abnormalities. Dravet's severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy is especially interesting as it is associated with fever-provoked seizures and mutations in the alpha subunit of the sodium channel (SCN1A) in about one-third of the cases. Here, we report 2 children who had clinical features of severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy without mutations in the SCN1A gene who were found to have mitochondrial DNA mutations associated with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy.

Are women more influenced than men by top-down semantic information when listening to disrupted speech?

Perception is a product of the interaction between bottom-up sensory processing and top-down higher order cognitive activity. For example, when the initial phoneme of a word is obliterated and replaced with noise, listeners hear it as intact provided there is semantic context. We modified this phonemic restoration paradigm by masking (not obliterating) the initial phoneme of a target word and presenting it within a carrier phrase which was informative (I), uninformative (U), or misinformative (M).

Melatonin in autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate melatonin-related findings in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), including autistic disorder, Asperger syndrome, Rett syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorders, not otherwise specified.

Method: Comprehensive searches were conducted in the PubMed, Google Scholar, CINAHL, EMBASE, Scopus, and ERIC databases from their inception to October 2010. Two reviewers independently assessed 35 studies that met the inclusion criteria.

Effects of optimal medical treatment with or without coronary revascularization on angina and subsequent revascularizations in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and stable ischemic heart disease.

Background: In the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes (BARI 2D) trial, an initial strategy of coronary revascularization and optimal medical treatment (REV) compared with an initial optimal medical treatment with the option of subsequent revascularization (MED) did not reduce all-cause mortality or the composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and stroke in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and stable ischemic heart disease. In the same population, we tested whether the REV strategy was superior to the MED strategy in preventing worsening and new angina and subsequent coronary revascularizations.

Methods And Results: Among the 2364 men and women (mean age, 62.