Predicting epilepsy surgery outcome in adult patients: May psychiatric diagnosis improve predictive models?

Objective: With this study, we aimed to assess the importance of including psychiatric disorders in a comprehensive prediction model for epilepsy surgery.

Methods: Ambispective observational study with a sample of adults who underwent resective surgery. Participants were evaluated, before and one year after surgery, to collect data regarding their neurological and psychiatric history.

Diels-Alder Reactions in Water Are Determined by Microsolvation.

Nanoconfined aqueous environments and the recent advent of accelerated chemistry in microdroplets are increasingly being investigated for catalysis. The mechanisms underlying the enhanced reactivity in alternate solvent environments and whether the enhanced reactivity due to nanoconfinement is a universal phenomenon are not fully understood. Here, we use ab initio molecular dynamics simulations to characterize the free energy of a retro-Diels-Alder reaction in bulk water at very different densities and in water nanoconfined by parallel graphene sheets.

Psychiatric disorders as predictors of epilepsy surgery outcome.

Objectives: Our aim was to determine if a history of a mental disorder predicts a worst neurological outcome for patients undergoing epilepsy surgery.

Methods: We conducted an ambispective observational study including people with refractory epilepsy who underwent resective surgery. Demographic, psychiatric, and neurological data were collected, before and one year after surgery.

Personality patterns of people with medically refractory epilepsy - Does the epileptogenic zone matter?

Objectives: The aims of this study were to determine the rate of dysfunctional personality patterns before and after epilepsy surgery, their types, and the importance of the epileptogenic zone in a sample of people with refractory epilepsy.

Methods: We conducted an ambispective observational study, including refractory epilepsy surgery candidates. Demographic, psychiatric, and neurological data were recorded.

Clinical determinants of psychopathological outcomes after epilepsy surgery.

Objectives: People with refractory epilepsy submitted to surgery may improve or deteriorate their cognitive and emotional functions. The aim of this study was to determine the predictors of longitudinal changes in psychopathological symptomatology, one year after epilepsy surgery, considering clinical and demographic characteristics.

Methods: People with refractory epilepsy referred to epilepsy surgery were included in this ambispective study.

Predicting de novo psychopathology after epilepsy surgery: A 3-year cohort study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the potential risk factors for de novo psychiatric syndromes after epilepsy surgery.

Methods: Refractory epilepsy surgery candidates were recruited from our Refractory Epilepsy Reference Centre. Psychiatric evaluations were made before surgery and every year, during a 3-year follow-up period.

Dynamical inversion of the energy landscape promotes non-equilibrium self-assembly of binary mixtures.

When driven out of equilibrium, many diverse systems can form complex spatial and dynamical patterns, even in the absence of attractive interactions. Using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate the phase behavior of a binary system of particles of dissimilar size confined between semiflexible planar surfaces, in which the nanoconfinement introduces a non-local coupling between particles, which we model as an activation energy barrier to diffusion that decreases with the local fraction of the larger particle. The system autonomously reaches a cyclical non-equilibrium state characterized by the formation and dissolution of metastable micelle-like clusters with the small particles in the core and the large ones in the surrounding corona.

The contribution of four immunogenetic markers for predicting persistent activity in patients with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis or undifferentiated arthritis.

We assessed the contribution of four baseline markers-HLA-DRB1 shared epitope (SE), -308 tumor necrosis factor α gene promoter polymorphism, rheumatoid factor, and anticitrullinated peptide antibodies-for predicting persistent activity (DAS28 score ≥2.6) after one year of followup in a cohort of 201 patients with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or undifferentiated arthritis (UA) aged 16 years or older who had a 4-week to 12-month history of swelling of at least two joints. Patients had not been previously treated with corticosteroids or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD).

The value of HLA-DRB1 shared epitope, -308 tumor necrosis factor-alpha gene promoter polymorphism, rheumatoid factor, anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies, and early erosions for predicting radiological outcome in recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To study the value of HLA-DRB1 shared epitope (SE), -308 tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) gene promoter polymorphism, rheumatoid factor (RF), anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCP), and baseline erosions for predicting radiological outcome at 1 year in patients with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Radiological damage was assessed by radiographs at baseline and at 1 year in an inception cohort of 134 RA patients with disease duration View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Use of moving optical gradient fields for analysis of apoptotic cellular responses in a chronic myeloid leukemia cell model.

To facilitate quantitation of cellular apoptotic responses to various antineoplastic agents, a laser-based technology, Optophoresis, has been developed to provide analysis of cells without any need for labeling or cell processing. Optophoresis is defined as the analysis of the motion of cells, where the motion is either induced or modified by a moving optical gradient field, which produces radiation pressure forces on the cells in an aqueous suspension. Quantitation of the induced motion provides a basis for distinguishing one population of cells from another.

Optical forces for noninvasive cellular analysis.

A novel, noninvasive measurement technique for quantitative cellular analysis is presented that utilizes the forces generated by an optical beam to evaluate the physical properties of live cells in suspension. In this analysis, a focused, near-infrared laser line with a high cross-sectional intensity gradient is rapidly scanned across a field of cells, and the interaction of those cells with the beam is monitored. The response of each cell to the laser depends on its size, structure, morphology, composition, and surface membrane properties; therefore, with this technique, cell populations of different type, treatment, or biological state can be compared.