Non-invasive in vivo imaging of changes in Collagen III turnover in myocardial fibrosis.

Heart failure (HF) affects 64 million people globally with enormous societal and healthcare costs. Myocardial fibrosis, characterised by changes in collagen content drives HF. Despite evidence that collagen type III (COL3) content changes during myocardial fibrosis, in vivo imaging of COL3 has not been achieved.

GJ 367b: A dense, ultrashort-period sub-Earth planet transiting a nearby red dwarf star.

Ultrashort-period (USP) exoplanets have orbital periods shorter than 1 day. Precise masses and radii of USP exoplanets could provide constraints on their unknown formation and evolution processes. We report the detection and characterization of the USP planet GJ 367b using high-precision photometry and radial velocity observations.

Imaging of Dysfunctional Elastogenesis in Atherosclerosis Using an Improved Gadolinium-Based Tetrameric MRI Probe Targeted to Tropoelastin.

Dysfunctional elastin turnover plays a major role in the progression of atherosclerotic plaques. Failure of tropoelastin cross-linking into mature elastin leads to the accumulation of tropoelastin within the growing plaque, increasing its instability. Here we present Gd-TESMA, an MRI contrast agent specifically designed for molecular imaging of tropoelastin within plaques.

Glycol Chitosan Functionalized with a Gd(III) Chelate as a Redox-responsive Magnetic Resonance Imaging Probe to Label Cell Embedding Alginate Capsules.

One possibility for the non-invasive imaging of encapsulated cell grafts is to label the lumen of cell embedding capsules with a redox-responsive probe, as an increased extracellular reducing potential can be considered as a marker of hypoxia-induced necrosis. A Gd(III)-HPDO3A-like chelate has been conjugated to glycol-chitosan through a redox-responsive disulphide bond to obtain a contrast agent for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Such a compound can be interspersed with fibroblasts within the lumen of alginate-chitosan capsules.

Vestibular schwannoma: care for soft tissues and subperineural dissection: how I do it.

Background: Recognition of the right surgical cleavage plane of a vestibular schwannoma is mandatory to preserve the facial nerve function.

Method: We describe here our surgical technique that is focused on soft tissues preservation and on subperineural dissection, avoiding direct exposure of the acoustico-facial complex in order to preserve facial nerve function.

Conclusion: Soft tissue dissection helps in reducing patient's postoperative discomfort.

Decompensation of a Thoracic Meningioma Below the Operated Level: A Dramatic and Unexpected Complication.

Background: Paraplegia after lumbar spinal surgery has been previously described. It was generally provoked by a missed thoracic compression because of degenerative processes, arachnoid cyst, and spinal cord tumor such as meningioma. We describe here a case of a patient with neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF-2) with multiple spinal meningiomas that developed postoperative paraplegia because of decompensation of spinal cord compression below and far from the operated level.

Influence of Different Surface Pretreatments on Shear Bond Strength of an Adhesive Resin Cement to Various Zirconia Ceramics.

The aim of this in vitro study was to assess the influence of surface pretreatment on shear bond strength (SBS) of an adhesive resin cement (G-CEM Link Force TM, GC Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) to three different yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystalline (Y-TZP) ceramics: (1) Copran Zirconia Monolith HT, COP; (2) Katana ML Zirconia, KAT; and (3) Metoxit Z-CAD HTL Zirconia, MET. In total, 45 cylinders (5 mm in diameter, 1 mm height) for each type of zirconia ceramic were prepared used a computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) machine (software CEREC 4.2).

Gadolinium-Labelled Cell Scaffolds to Follow-up Cell Transplantation by Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Cell scaffolds are often used in cell transplantation as they provide a solid structural support to implanted cells and can be bioengineered to mimic the native extracellular matrix. Gadolinium fluoride nanoparticles (Gd-NPs) as a contrast agent for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) were incorporated into poly(lactide-co-glycolide)/chitosan scaffolds to obtain Imaging Labelled Cell Scaffolds (ILCSs), having the shape of hollow spherical/ellipsoidal particles (200-600 μm diameter and 50-80 μm shell thickness). While Gd-NPs incorporated into microparticles do not provide any contrast enhancement in T-weighted (Tw) MR images, ILCSs can release Gd-NPs in a controlled manner, thus activating MRI contrast.

Emergency placement of a Flow Diverter Stent for an Iatrogenic Internal Carotid Artery Injury During Endoscopic Pituitary Surgery.

Background: Internal carotid artery (ICA) injury is 1 of the most feared complications in endoscopic pituitary surgery. Different endovascular techniques are available for the management of early and delayed ICA injuries.

Case Report: We report a case of emergency endovascular treatment with a flow diverter stent for an ICA injury that occurred during endoscopic transphenoidal surgery for pituitary macroadenoma in a 66-year-old man.

Extended Endoscopic Endonasal Approach for Suprasellar Craniopharyngioma.

 We illustrate a suprasellar craniopharyngiomas treated with an extended endoscopic endonasal approach (EEEA).  Case report of a 43-year-old male affected by cerebral lesion located in suprasellar region involving the third ventricle and compressing the neurovascular structures, causing an anterosuperior dislocation of the chiasma. There is a complete disruption of the pituitary stalk that can explain the clinical finding of partial anterior hypopituitarism and hyperprolactinemia.

Endogenous glutamine decrease is associated with pancreatic cancer progression.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is becoming the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the Western world. The mortality is very high, which emphasizes the need to identify biomarkers for early detection. As glutamine metabolism alteration is a feature of PDAC, its evaluation may provide a useful tool for biomarker identification.

Impact-induced changes in source depth and volume of magmatism on Mercury and their observational signatures.

Mercury's crust is mostly the result of partial melting in the mantle associated with solid-state convection. Large impacts induce additional melting by generating subsurface thermal anomalies. By numerically investigating the geodynamical effects of impacts, here we show that impact-generated thermal anomalies interact with the underlying convection modifying the source depth of melt and inducing volcanism that can significantly postdate the impact depending on the impact time and location with respect to the underlying convection pattern.

Enzyme-Responsive LipoCEST Agents: Assessment of MMP-2 Activity by Measuring the Intra-liposomal Water H NMR Shift.

Mobile proton-containing solutes can be detected by MRI by the chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) method. CEST sensitivity is dramatically enhanced by using, as exchanging protons, the water molecules confined inside liposomes, shifted by a paramagnetic shift reagent. The chemical shift of the intraliposomal water resonance (δ ) is affected by the overall shape of the supramolecular system.

Gadolinium-Decorated Silica Microspheres as Redox-Responsive MRI Probes for Applications in Cell Therapy Follow-Up.

The redox microenvironment within a cell graft can be considered as an indicator to assess whether the graft is metabolically active or hypoxic. We present a redox-responsive MRI probe based on porous silica microparticles whose surface has been decorated with a Gd-chelate through a disulphide bridge. Such microparticles are designed to be interspersed with therapeutic cells within a biocompatible hydrogel.

Variants Within TSC2 Exons 25 and 31 Are Very Unlikely to Cause Clinically Diagnosable Tuberous Sclerosis.

Inactivating mutations in TSC1 and TSC2 cause tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). The 2012 international consensus meeting on TSC diagnosis and management agreed that the identification of a pathogenic TSC1 or TSC2 variant establishes a diagnosis of TSC, even in the absence of clinical signs. However, exons 25 and 31 of TSC2 are subject to alternative splicing.

Missense mutations in the AFG3L2 proteolytic domain account for ∼1.5% of European autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxias.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 28 is an autosomal dominant form of cerebellar ataxia (ADCA) caused by mutations in AFG3L2, a gene that encodes a subunit of the mitochondrial m-AAA protease. We screened 366 primarily Caucasian ADCA families, negative for the most common triplet expansions, for point mutations in AFG3L2 using DHPLC. Whole-gene deletions were excluded in 300 of the patients, and duplications were excluded in 129 patients.

Mutations in the lamin B1 gene are not present in multiple sclerosis.

Background: Whole gene duplication of the lamin B1 gene (LMNB1), encoding for a protein of the nuclear lamina, causes an adult-onset autosomal dominant leukodystrophy (ADLD). Clinical features of ADLD (onset in adult life, dysautonomic symptoms, followed by pyramidal and cerebellar dysfunctions) partially resemble those of multiple sclerosis (MS), particularly the primary-progressive form. Our aim was to test whether LMNB1 gene mutations were present amongst patients with a diagnosis of MS.

Transmantle dysplasia in tuberous sclerosis: clinical features and surgical outcome in four children.

In the literature, several malformations of cortical development have been described as additional lesions in tuberous sclerosis complex. Among these lesions, a very large focal cortical dysplasia has peculiar magnetic resonance imaging features: a signal abnormality that extends radially inward toward the lateral ventricle from the pachygyric cortical surface plus a homogeneous clinical picture. Affected patients have early-onset drug-resistant epilepsy and severe developmental delay.

TSC1 and TSC2 deletions differ in size, preference for recombinatorial sequences, and location within the gene.

Large TSC gene rearrangements are not rare findings in tuberous sclerosis. Interestingly, all deletions, duplications and inversions so far described involve TSC2, none being associated with TSC1. In order to shed light on the structural basis of the preferential DNA rearrangements in TSC2 over TSC1 and to assess, in an unselected patient population, the prevalence of large re-arrangements in both TSC loci, we screened 202 tuberous sclerosis patients consecutively referred at our center.

Frequency of skin cancer and other ultraviolet radiation provoked skin lesions of eyelid and periocular region in the 1981-1992 period.

It is well known that the region of eyelids and periocular skin is exposed to ultraviolet radiation (UV rays), so it is the location of skin changes associated with the effects of this radiation. The analysis of basal cell carcinomas, keratoses, keratoacanthomas and cornu cutaneum of this regions covered a 12-year period. In the total of 1,398 skin biopsies from the Department of Ophthalmology, Sestre Milosrdnice University Hospital from Zagreb, the above mentioned lesions were found in 498 cases.

Restriction of the T-cell receptor V delta gene repertoire is due to preferential rearrangement and is independent of antigen selection.

To determine whether the limited V gene usage by the T-cell receptor delta (TCRD) chain is dictated by preferential rearrangement or by antigen selection, we characterized and compared the TCRDV gene repertoire of the productive with that of the unproductive allele in 80 human TCRG/TCRD clones. Six different V genes were found on the expressed allele; two of them, provisionally named DV7 and DV8, have not been described before on the surface of TCRG/TCRD T cells. Overall, six V genes and six non-V elements were isolated from the unproductive allele.

Relationship between body weight and blood pressure and some metabolic parameters in psoriatic patients.

The relationship between body weight and blood pressure, total serum cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid and glucose was investigated in 203 psoriatic patients in comparison with 904 healthy controls. In the psoriatic patients, these parameters were clearly related to their body weight. Those psoriatic patients of normal weight exhibited lower mean values of all the parameters compared with overweight psoriatic patients while they did not differ from control subjects of normal weight.