α-Synuclein Gene Hypomethylation in LRRK2 Parkinson's Disease Patients.

Background: α-Synuclein (SNCA) gene hypomethylation was reported in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (iPD). Based on a high clinical resemblance between iPD and leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2)-driven Parkinson's disease (L2PD), we investigated the epigenetic status of SNCA in an extensive LRRK2 clinical cohort from Spain.

Methods: We assessed the methylation levels of 23 CpG sites in the SNCA promoter region using peripheral blood DNA from L2PD patients (n = 151), LRRK2 nonmanifesting carriers (n = 55), iPD patients (n = 115), and healthy control subjects (n = 154) (total: N = 475).

Effects of low-glycemic-index diets in pregnancy on maternal and newborn outcomes in pregnant women: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Purpose: Maternal diet with a high glycemic index (GI) is associated with fetal overgrowth and higher infant body adiposity. Effects of low-GI diet on maternal and newborn outcomes have been assessed in both healthy pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus, but the results remain inconclusive. This meta-analysis aimed to examine the effects of low-GI diets on maternal and newborn outcomes.

FGF control of E-cadherin targeting in the Drosophila midgut impacts on primordial germ cell motility.

Embryo formation requires tight regulation and coordination of adhesion in multiple cell types. By undertaking imaging, three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions and genetic analysis during posterior midgut morphogenesis in Drosophila, we find a new requirement for the conserved fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling pathway in the maintenance of epithelial cell adhesion through FGF modulation of zygotic E-cadherin. During Drosophila gastrulation, primordial germ cells (PGCs) are transported with the posterior midgut while it undergoes dynamic cell shape changes.

Raloxifene as an Adjunctive Treatment for Postmenopausal Women With Schizophrenia: A 24-Week Double-Blind, Randomized, Parallel, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Unlabelled: The potential therapeutic utility of estrogens in schizophrenia is increasingly being recognized. Raloxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator, appears to act similarly to estrogens on dopamine and serotonin brain systems. One previous trial by our team found that raloxifene was useful to improve negative, positive, and general psychopathological symptoms, without having the negative side effects of estrogens.

Nutrient Intakes of Pregnant Women and their Associated Factors in Eight Cities of China: A Cross-sectional Study.

Background: During the last 3 decades, China has dramatic changes of the dietary pattern among its citizens, particularly in urban cities. This study aimed to determine the nutrient intake status and factors associated with nutrient intakes of urban Chinese pregnant women now-a-day.

Methods: The multistage stratified random sampling method was applied in the cross-sectional study.

Spinal cord toxoplasma lesion in AIDS: MR findings.

Toxoplasma gondii is the cause of the most common opportunistic infection of the brain in AIDS but is extremely rare as the cause of a solitary lesion of the spinal cord. Symptoms are weakness of the lower limbs followed closely by paralysis unless diagnosed and treated early. We present such a case in an intravenous drug abuser with AIDS and emphasize that MRI is the diagnostic tool of choice and that the index of suspicion should be high in immunosuppressed patients.

[Radiologic manifestations of histiocytosis in childhood].

The radiologic changes that ocurred in 37 cases of histiocytosis are reported. According to established clinical types, they are grouped and analyzed stressing in bone lesions their aspect, characteristics and distribution, together with the evident differential diagnosis and the X-ray guideline to be followed to determine the course. The importance of plain X-ray is stressed and other less frequent changes are mentioned in those cases with diagnostic problems.