Trigeminal Nerve Melanotic Schwannoma in Carney Complex.

Melanotic schwannoma (MS) is a rare peripheral nerve sheath tumor commonly found in the thoracic paraspinal region. It is present in an intracranial location rarely, with 18 out of 105 MS cases described in the literature. Trigeminal nerve was involved in only six of these cases.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)-Associated Rhino-Orbito-Cerebral Mucormycosis: A Multi-Institutional Retrospective Study of Imaging Patterns.

Background: Mucormycosis infection of the maxillofacial region and brain has been associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Mucormycosis was relatively a rare infection before COVID-19, and imaging findings are not very well described.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective imaging study of 101 patients diagnosed with COVID-19-associated mucormycosis by histopathology and/or culture was performed.

Arginine depletion as a therapeutic approach for patients with COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a source of significant morbidity and death worldwide, and effective treatments are urgently needed. Clinical trials have focused largely on direct antiviral therapies or on immunomodulation in patients with severe manifestations of COVID-19. One therapeutic approach that remains to be clinically investigated is disruption of the host-virus relationship through amino acid restriction, a strategy used successfully in the setting of cancer treatment.

Anterior Transpetrosal Approach for Petroclival Meningioma: Operative Nuances.

Petroclival meningiomas are unique neurosurgical challenges that require planning an approach to the retrosellar and upper and mid retroclival locations. The classical subtemporal-transtentorial approach went into disrepute due to excessive brain retraction. To resolve this challenge Buchenek and Kukwa introduced extradural approach with drilling of the petrous bone and called it the extended middle fossa approach.

"Contrecoup" Paravalvular Leak Closure.

Paravalvular aortic regurgitation affects some patients after surgically implanted prosthesis. The number of patients affected is likely to increase with increased utilization of nonsurgical valve replacement techniques. These patients are at increased risk of persistent clinical symptoms often requiring repair.

Trapped ipsilateral lateral ventricle: a delayed complication of hemispherotomy for Rasmussen's encephalitis.

Hemispherotomy is the currently preferred surgical treatment option for refractory unihemispheric epilepsies. The incidence of hydrocephalus is greatly reduced in this disconnective procedure when compared with the resective procedure of anatomical hemispherectomy. We describe the occurrence of ipsilateral trapped lateral ventricle months after hemispherotomy for Rasmussen's encephalitis.

Posterior quadrant disconnection for refractory epilepsy: A case series.

Objective: To analyze the surgical outcome and safety of posterior quadrant disconnection in medically refractory epilepsy arising from the posterior head region from a level IV tertiary care center over a period of three years.

Materials And Methods: Seven consecutive patients who underwent posterior quadrant disconnection for refractory epilepsy were analyzed.

Results: We analyzed the data of seven (n = 7) consecutive posterior quadrant epilepsy patients who underwent posterior quadrant disconnection with a mean age of 8.

Gender influence on selection and outcome of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease.

Background: Gender differences exist in Parkinson's disease (PD), both in clinical manifestations and response to medical treatment. We investigated whether gender differences occur in the clinical characteristics of patients selected for bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN DBS) or in the outcome when resource limits influence treatment choices made by patients.

Materials And Methods: Fifty-one consecutive patients were evaluated 1 month before, and 12 months after bilateral STN DBS.

High-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in middle-school children: association with cardiovascular risk factors and lifestyle behaviors.

To examine factors associated with low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels among middle school children. HDL-C levels were the primary outcome of interest. A total of 1,104 middle-school children (mean age 11.

Unique MR spectroscopic finding in colloid-like cyst.

Cysts morphologically identical to colloid cysts are rarely reported to be located in areas outside the third ventricle. We report the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and spectroscopic findings in three patients with colloid like cyst located in the ponto-medullary, pre-pontine cistern and suprasellar region. The MR imaging and spectroscopy performed on a 1.

Endothelial-dependent mechanisms of leukocyte recruitment to the vascular wall.

Inflammation is a fundamental process that protects organisms by removing or neutralizing injurious agents. A key event in the inflammatory response is the localized recruitment of various leukocyte subsets. Here we address the cellular and regulatory mechanisms of leukocyte recruitment to the vessel wall in cardiovascular disease and discuss our evolving understanding of the role of the vascular endothelium in this process.

Meckel's cave tuberculoma with unusual infratemporal extension.

The authors describe a rare case of intracranial tuberculoma of the Meckel's cave and cavernous sinus with extension into the infratemporal fossa causing widening of the foramen ovale and adjacent bone destruction. The rarity of the lesion and the unusual extension of the lesion are presented with a brief review of literature.

Outcome after corpus callosotomy in children with injurious drop attacks and severe mental retardation.

Wide variability in patient selection, extent of callosal section and definition of successful outcome between studies make impact of corpus callosotomy on patients with medically refractory epilepsies difficult to interpret. Severe mental retardation is considered to be predictive of unfavorable seizure outcome after callosotomy. Very little attention has been paid on the influence of callosotomy on the psychosocial burden on the patients' families.

T-bet is required for optimal proinflammatory CD4+ T-cell trafficking.

Inflammatory responses are controlled by T helper 1 (Th1) lymphocytes. An important function of this polarity is the ability of T cells to traffick appropriately in vivo. This differential trafficking is dependent upon the binding of P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 to P- and E-selectin on inflamed endothelium as well as the expression of specific chemokine receptors.

Electro-clinical characteristics and postoperative outcome of medically refractory tumoral temporal lobe epilepsy.

Background: Very few studies have specifically addressed surgical treatment and outcome of patients with tumor-related temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).

Aim: To define the postoperative seizure outcome and the factors that influenced the outcome of patients with tumor-related TLE.

Materials And Methods: We selected patients whose surgical pathology revealed a temporal lobe neoplasm and who had completed > 1 year of postoperative follow-up.

Emerging topics in the regulation of leukocyte transendothelial migration.

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Microcirculatory Society. Since the formation of this society this field has witnessed tremendous progress in understanding the process of leukocyte recruitment during inflammation, injury, and immune reactions. This topic has been an important focus of many of the members of the Microcirculatory Society as well as our colleagues worldwide.

Coordinated redistribution of leukocyte LFA-1 and endothelial cell ICAM-1 accompany neutrophil transmigration.

The leukocyte integrin lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1 (LFA-1) and its endothelial ligand intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 play an important role in transmigration as demonstrated by in vivo and in vitro models of inflammation. Despite the prominent role, little is known concerning the distribution and dynamic behavior of these adhesion molecules during leukocyte transmigration. Therefore, we examined the spatial and temporal distribution of LFA-1 on neutrophils actively transmigrating tumor necrosis factor-alpha-activated human umbilical vein endothelial monolayers under shear flow.

Elastase release by transmigrating neutrophils deactivates endothelial-bound SDF-1alpha and attenuates subsequent T lymphocyte transendothelial migration.

Leukocyte trafficking to sites of inflammation follows a defined temporal pattern, and evidence suggests that initial neutrophil transendothelial migration modifies endothelial cell phenotype. We tested the hypothesis that preconditioning of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) by neutrophils would also modify the subsequent transendothelial migration of T lymphocytes across cytokine-stimulated HUVEC in an in vitro flow assay. Using fluorescence microscopy, preconditioning of HUVEC by neutrophils was observed to significantly reduce the extent of subsequent stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1alpha [CXCL12])-mediated T lymphocyte transendothelial migration, without reducing accumulation.

KLF2 Is a novel transcriptional regulator of endothelial proinflammatory activation.

The vascular endothelium is a critical regulator of vascular function. Diverse stimuli such as proinflammatory cytokines and hemodynamic forces modulate endothelial phenotype and thereby impact on the development of vascular disease states. Therefore, identification of the regulatory factors that mediate the effects of these stimuli on endothelial function is of considerable interest.

EWI-2 modulates lymphocyte integrin alpha4beta1 functions.

The most prominent cell-surface integrin alpha4beta1 partner, a 70-kDa protein, was isolated from MOLT-4 T leukemia cells, using anti-alpha4beta1 integrin antibody-coated beads. By mass spectrometry, this protein was identified as EWI-2, a previously described cell-surface partner for tetraspanin proteins CD9 and CD81. Wild-type EWI-2 overexpression had no effect on MOLT-4 cell tethering and adhesion strengthening on the alpha4beta1 ligand, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), in shear flow assays.

Enhanced recruitment of Th2 and CLA-negative lymphocytes by the S128R polymorphism of E-selectin.

E-selectin is a cytokine-inducible endothelial cell adhesion molecule that binds a restricted population of T lymphocytes consisting of Th1 memory cells bearing the cutaneous lymphocyte Ag (CLA). A serine to arginine (S128R) polymorphism in E-selectin has been reported at increased frequency in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and atherosclerosis. Here we tested the hypothesis that the S128R substitution may contribute to increased vascular disease by altering the number and/or phenotype of lymphocytes interacting with E-selectin under shear flow.

The S128R polymorphism of E-selectin mediates neuraminidase-resistant tethering of myeloid cells under shear flow.

E-selectin mediates the rolling of circulating leukocytes on vascular endothelial cells. A polymorphism, in which serine is substituted for arginine at position 128 (S128R) in the EGF domain, has been associated with both early-onset atherosclerosis and SLE. We investigated whether the substitution alters the ligand-binding properties of E-selectin under shear flow by studying the capacity of Chinese hamster ovary cell transfectants expressing wild type (WT) or S128R E-selectin to support interactions of neutrophils, K562 cells or HL60 cells.