Moyamoya disease in early infancy: case report and literature review.

Moyamoya disease is a progressive, occlusive, cerebrovascular arteriopathy, characterized by bilateral stenosis of the distal internal carotid arteries or branches, with the development of compensatory collateral vessels. It is infrequently reported during infancy. We describe a 2-month-old boy presenting with stroke secondary to moyamoya disease, successfully treated with revascularization surgery at age 3 months.

3D visualization of subdural electrode shift as measured at craniotomy reopening.

Purpose: Subdural electrodes are implanted for recording intracranial EEG (iEEG) in cases of medically refractory epilepsy as a means to locate cortical regions of seizure onset amenable to surgical resection. Without the aid of imaging-derived 3D electrode models for surgical planning, surgeons have relied on electrodes remaining stationary from the time between placement and follow-up resection. This study quantifies electrode shift with respect to the cortical surface occurring between electrode placement and subsequent reopening.

Corpus callosotomy in multistage epilepsy surgery in the pediatric population.

Object: The object of this study was to evaluate surgical outcome in a select group of patients with medically refractory epilepsy who had undergone corpus callosotomy combined with bilateral subdural electroencephalography (EEG) electrode placement as the initial step in multistage epilepsy surgery.

Methods: A retrospective chart review of 18 children (ages 3.5-18 years) with medically refractory symptomatic generalized or localization-related epilepsy was undertaken.

A clinical evaluation of glass-fibre posts and restorative materials used for the reconstruction of fractured canines after one-step root canal treatment in cats.

This article describes a procedure for a one-step root canal treatment and the subsequent restoration of fractured canine teeth in cats. Standard glass fibre posts were used in the reconstruction of the teeth which were then divided into two groups and restored anatomically using two different composite materials. The procedures were successfully performed on six cats.

Structures of domains I and IV from YbbR are representative of a widely distributed protein family.

YbbR domains are widespread throughout Eubacteria and are expressed as monomeric units, linked in tandem repeats or cotranslated with other domains. Although the precise role of these domains remains undefined, the location of the multiple YbbR domain-encoding ybbR gene in the Bacillus subtilis glmM operon and its previous identification as a substrate for a surfactin-type phosphopantetheinyl transferase suggests a role in cell growth, division, and virulence. To further characterize the YbbR domains, structures of two of the four domains (I and IV) from the YbbR-like protein of Desulfitobacterium hafniense Y51 were solved by solution nuclear magnetic resonance and X-ray crystallography.

Structures of bacterial biosynthetic arginine decarboxylases.

Biosynthetic arginine decarboxylase (ADC; also known as SpeA) plays an important role in the biosynthesis of polyamines from arginine in bacteria and plants. SpeA is a pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme and shares weak sequence homology with several other PLP-dependent decarboxylases. Here, the crystal structure of PLP-bound SpeA from Campylobacter jejuni is reported at 3.

Phase III Study of Silver Leaf Nylon Dressing vs Standard Care for Reduction of Inframammary Moist Desquamation in Patients Undergoing Adjuvant Whole Breast Radiation Therapy.

Aims: The primary objective of this study was to assess silver leaf nylon dressings as a prophylactic measure in reducing inframammary fold radiation induced dermatitis in women receiving adjuvant whole breast radiotherapy compared with standard skin care. A secondary objective was to assess if the dressing influenced breast skin-related pain, itching and burning resulting from whole breast radiotherapy.

Material And Methods: A prospective randomized trial compared silver leaf nylon dressing worn continuously from the sixth fraction of whole breast radiotherapy until 14 days after therapy completion to standard skin care in patients deemed to be at risk of inframammary radiation induced dermatitis by virtue of a large breast volume or a significant inframammary skin fold in the treatment position.

The clinical significance of class III (suspicious) urine cytology.

Background: Urine cytology, combined with cystoscopy, is the mainstay of the diagnosis and surveillance of urothelial carcinoma (UC). While classes I and II urine cytology are considered benign and classes IV and V are considered malignant the clinical significance of class III urine cytology is unclear. We evaluated the positive predictive value of class III urine cytology for concurrent and subsequent UC.

A big-world network in ASD: dynamical connectivity analysis reflects a deficit in long-range connections and an excess of short-range connections.

Over the last years, increasing evidence has fuelled the hypothesis that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a condition of altered brain functional connectivity. The great majority of these empirical studies relies on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) which has a relatively poor temporal resolution. Only a handful of studies has examined networks emerging from dynamic coherence at the millisecond resolution and there are no investigations of coherence at the lowest frequencies in the power spectrum-which has recently been shown to reflect long-range cortico-cortical connections.

A wavelet approach for on-line spike sorting in tetrode recordings.

A new method for spike sorting of tetrode recordings during data acquisition is introduced. For each tetrode channel, putative spikes are detected by means of a threshold, and then convolved with a cascade of wavelet filters. These transformed putative spikes are averaged and this average is used as a matched filter to find portions of signals that are likely to contain a spike.

Characterization of border structure using fractal dimension in melanomas.

There are many characteristics that differentiate normal moles (nevi) from melanomas. One of them is their boundary irregularity, which can be quantified using Fractal Dimension. In this work, fractal dimension of normal moles and melanoma was computed using the box counting method.

Neuronal bursting properties in focal and parafocal regions in pediatric neocortical epilepsy stratified by histology.

To test the hypothesis that focal and parafocal neocortical tissue from pediatric patients with intractable epilepsy exhibits cellular and synaptic differences, the authors characterized the propensity of these neurons to generate (a) voltage-dependent bursting and (b) synaptically driven paroxysmal depolarization shifts. Neocortical slices were prepared from tissue resected from patients with intractable epilepsy. Multiunit network activity and simultaneous whole-cell patch recordings were made from neurons from three patient groups: (1) those with normal histology; (2) those with mild and severe cortical dysplasia; and (3) those with abnormal pathology but without cortical dysplasia.

The endless differential diagnosis of acute obstructive renal failure: unusual challenges for the sharp-sighted clinician.

Obstruction of urine outflow can result from mechanical blockade as well as from functional defects. In adults, urinary tract obstruction is due mainly to acquired defects, such as pelvic tumors, calculi, and urethral stricture. In childhood it is mostly due to congenital malformations.

Spinal dural closure with nonpenetrating titanium clips in pediatric neurosurgery.

Object: The authors report a retrospective review of their experience using nonpenetrating titanium anastomotic clips for dural closure in 27 pediatric cases (26 patients) of spinal surgery for a variety of diagnoses. The goal of this review was to define the utility of these clips in pediatric neurosurgical spinal procedures, identify complications of their use, and assess the effects on postoperative imaging because of their use.

Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained for a retrospective chart review of all patients in whom titanium dural clips had been utilized.

Giant posterior fossa cavernous malformations in 2 infants with familial cerebral cavernomatosis: the case for early screening.

The author reports the details in 2 cases of infants with familial cerebral cavernomatosis who presented in dire condition from hemorrhagic posterior fossa cavernous malformations. In Case 1, a 4-month-old boy presented with opisthotonos, gaze palsy, and lethargy. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a multilobulated cavernous malformation in the fourth ventricle with evidence of bleeding and obstructive hydrocephalus.

Oncogenic CARD11 mutations induce hyperactive signaling by disrupting autoinhibition by the PKC-responsive inhibitory domain.

The regulated activation of NF-κB by antigen receptor signaling is required for normal B and T lymphocyte activation during the adaptive immune response. Dysregulated NF-κB activation is associated with several types of lymphoma, including diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). During normal antigen receptor signaling, the multidomain scaffold protein CARD11 undergoes a transition from a closed, inactive state to an open, active conformation that recruits several signaling proteins into a complex, leading to IKK kinase activation.

Seasonal patterns of the bacterioplankton community composition in a lake threatened by a pesticide disposal site.

Unlabelled: BACKGROUND AIM AND SCOPE: The objective of the study was to determine the effects of ca. 35 years of pesticide contamination (pesticide dump-PD) of Lake Szeląg Wielki (located in the north-eastern Poland) on changes in the microbial communities of aquatic ecosystems. In the years 2008-2009, analyses were carried out for seasonal changes in the quantity and composition of bacterioplankton in the lake examined, which is of high significance to the tourism and fishing industries and is located in the vicinity of an area subjected to reclamation after a pesticide dump.

Selected fluorescent techniques for identification of the physiological state of individual water and soil bacterial cells - review.

Stimulated by demands of the natural environment conservation, the need for thorough structural and functional identification of microorganisms colonizing different ecosystems has contributed to an intensive advance in research techniques. The article shows that some of these techniques are also a convenient tool for determination of the physiological state of single cells in a community of microorganisms. The paper presents selected fluorescent techniques, which are used in research on soil, water and sediment microorganisms.

Therapeutic efficacy of botulinum toxin in the treatment of urinary incontinence in female dogs.

Urinary incontinence in animals poses a growing therapeutic problem. Satisfactory results in the treatment of incontinence are not reported despite the wide availability of pharmaceuticals addressing the problem. The growing number of side effects and the need for sustained pharmacotherapy have prompted a search for new treatment methods.

Equivalence of fusion rates after rigid internal fixation of the occiput to C-2 with or without C-1 instrumentation.

Object: The object of this study was to assess a multiinstitutional experience with pediatric occipitocervical constructs to determine whether a difference exists between the fusion and complication rates of constructs with or without direct C-1 instrumentation.

Methods: Seventy-seven cases of occiput-C2 instrumentation and fusion, performed at 9 children's hospitals, were retrospectively analyzed. Entry criteria included atlantooccipital instability with or without atlantoaxial instability.

Accuracy and run-time comparison for different potential approaches and iterative solvers in finite element method based EEG source analysis.

Accuracy and run-time play an important role in medical diagnostics and research as well as in the field of neuroscience. In Electroencephalography (EEG) source reconstruction, a current distribution in the human brain is reconstructed noninvasively from measured potentials at the head surface (the EEG inverse problem). Numerical modeling techniques are used to simulate head surface potentials for dipolar current sources in the human cortex, the so-called EEG forward problem.

Plasticity in the rat prefrontal cortex: linking gene expression and an operant learning with a computational theory.

The plasticity in the medial Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC) of rodents or lateral prefrontal cortex in non human primates (lPFC), plays a key role neural circuits involved in learning and memory. Several genes, like brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), cAMP response element binding (CREB), Synapsin I, Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CamKII), activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (Arc), c-jun and c-fos have been related to plasticity processes. We analysed differential expression of related plasticity genes and immediate early genes in the mPFC of rats during learning an operant conditioning task.

Transcriptional target-based expression cloning of immunoregulatory molecules.

Immunologic research has benefited tremendously from expression-cloning strategies designed to isolate genes responsible for a wide variety of immunomodulatory activities, including cytokines, receptors, signaling proteins, and transcription factors. Here, we discuss the use of expression-cloning strategies that have been modified to detect cDNAs that influence gene expression as assayed by a transcriptional reporter. We summarize our experience with these screens, review important parameters, and discuss potential modifications.