Coincidence of Concentric Vessel-Wall Contrast Enhancement in Moyamoya Disease and Acute Postoperative Ischemic Stroke During Revascularization Procedures.

Background: Concentric vessel-wall contrast enhancement (VW-CE) of the terminal carotid artery and its proximal branches may be linked to ischemic strokes, disease activity and progression in Moyamoya disease (MMD). The objective of this retrospective cohort study is to analyze the association between VW-CE and perioperative acute ischemic stroke (PAIS) occurring within 24 h after revascularization.

Methods: All previously untreated MMD patients who required revascularization and who had undergone preoperative MRI with VW-CE-sequences were included.

Stool processing methods for Xpert Ultra testing in childhood tuberculosis: A prospective, multi-country accuracy study.

Background: Centrifuge-free processing methods support stool Xpert Ultra testing for childhood tuberculosis (TB), but there are limited data on their accuracy, acceptability and usability.

Methods: We conducted a prospective evaluation of stool Xpert Ultra in India, South Africa, and Uganda with three methods: Stool Processing Kit (SPK), Simple One-Step (SOS), and Optimized Sucrose Flotation (OSF). Children <15 years old with presumptive TB had respiratory specimen testing with Xpert Ultra and culture.

Buckling by disordered growth.

Buckling instabilities driven by tissue growth underpin key developmental events such as the folding of the brain. Tissue growth is disordered due to cell-to-cell variability, but the effects of this variability on buckling are unknown. Here, we analyze what is perhaps the simplest setup of this problem: the buckling of an elastic rod with fixed ends driven by spatially varying, yet highly symmetric growth.

Loss of Cdc42 causes abnormal optic cup morphogenesis and microphthalmia in mouse.

Congenital ocular malformations originate from defective morphogenesis during early eye development and cause 25% of childhood blindness. Formation of the eye is a multi-step, dynamic process; it involves evagination of the optic vesicle, followed by distal and ventral invagination, leading to the formation of a two-layered optic cup with a transient optic fissure. These tissue folding events require extensive changes in cell shape and tissue growth mediated by cytoskeleton mechanics and intercellular adhesion.