Endogenous RGS proteins facilitate dopamine D(2S) receptor coupling to G(alphao) proteins and Ca2+ responses in CHO-K1 cells.

The role of RGS proteins on dopaminergic D2S receptor (D2SR) signalling was investigated in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 cells, using recombinant RGS protein- and PTX-insensitive G alphao proteins. Dopamine-mediated [35S]GTPgammaS binding was attenuated by more than 60% in CHO-K1 D2SR cells coexpressing a RGS protein- and PTX-insensitive G(alphao)Gly184Ser:Cys351Ile protein versus cells coexpressing a similar amount of PTX-insensitive G alphaoCys351Ile protein. Dopamine-agonist-mediated Ca2+ responses were dependent on the coexpression with a G alphao Cys351Ile protein and were fully abolished upon coexpression with a G alphaoGly184Ser:Cys351Ile protein.

Effects of magnesium sulphate on amplitude-integrated continuous EEG in asphyxiated term neonates.

Unlabelled: In this study it is hypothesized that magnesium sulphate in asphyxiated full-term neonates could lead to a gradual improvement in background pattern of the amplitude integrated EEG (aEEG), an early marker of hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury. In a double-blind, randomized, controlled pilot study of 22 asphyxiated full-term neonates 8 received magnesium sulphate, reaching serum Mg2+ levels of 2.5 mmol/L.

Bedside scoring procedure for the diagnosis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy in young patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Objective: To test the applicability of a bedside scoring method for screening for diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) in an ambulatory clinic. The prevalence of DPN was estimated and its risk factors identified.

Methods: A total of 217 patients (102 males) with type 1 DM, median age 23.

Comparison between simultaneously recorded amplitude integrated electroencephalogram (cerebral function monitor) and standard electroencephalogram in neonates.

Objective: To assess the value and the limitations of amplitude integrated electroencephalogram (EEG) using the cerebral function monitor (CFM) in comparison with standard EEG in neonates who have hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy or were suspected of having convulsions.

Methods: In 36 neonates with a gestational age > or =36 weeks, CFM and simultaneously recorded EEG traces were analyzed off-line and independently classified. CFM background activity: continuous normal voltage; continuous normal voltage, slightly discontinuous (DNV); burst-suppression (BS); continuous extremely low voltage; flat tracing.

Early versus late treatment of posthaemorrhagic ventricular dilatation: results of a retrospective study from five neonatal intensive care units in The Netherlands.

Unlabelled: Posthaemorrhagic ventricular dilatation (PHVD) in very preterm infants carries a poor prognosis. As earlier studies have failed to show a benefit of early intervention, it is recommended that PHVD be first treated when head circumference is rapidly increasing and/or when symptoms of raised intracranial pressure develop. Infants with PHVD, admitted to 5 of the 10 Dutch neonatal intensive care units were studied retrospectively, to investigate whether there was a difference in the time of onset of treatment of PHVD and, if so, whether this was associated with a difference in the requirement of a ventriculo-peritoneal (VP) shunt and/or neurodevelopmental outcome.

Neonatal diffusion-weighted MR imaging: relation with histopathology or follow-up MR examination.

Purpose: Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) has become a standard method for early evaluation of stroke in adults, but its value in neonates is less well established. In this study neonatal DWI was compared with histopathology in those patients who died, or with sequelae seen on a second MR in the surviving neonates.

Patients And Methods: DWI was performed in 2 groups.

Cerebral proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of neonates after extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Unlabelled: During venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation the right carotid artery is ligated in a hypoxic neonate. The aim of the present study was to compare the morphology and metabolism of the left and right basal ganglia in 10 neonates after extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, using proton magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy. Data could be obtained in 9 neonates.

Perinatal risk factors for adverse neurodevelopmental outcome after spontaneous preterm birth.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate to what extend perinatal factors contribute to the neurodevelopmental outcome in a group neonates born after spontaneous preterm labour with or without prolonged rupture of the membranes (PROM).

Methods: In a cohort of neonates born after the spontaneous onset of labour with or without PROM before 34 weeks of gestation a stepwise forward logistic regression was performed to analyse the influence of antenatal and postnatal variables on adverse outcome. Adverse neurodevelopmental outcome was defined as a Griffith's developmental score <85, cerebral palsy, a major disability or perinatal death associated with severe cerebral damage.

[Nocturnal back pain; a misdiagnosed symptom of spinal tumor].

Four patients had nocturnal back pain or pain that worsened when lying down. In one of these, a 49-year-old man, the medical history mentioned a malignancy, as a result of which a spinal metastasis was suspected. In the other three patients, a 52-year old woman and two men aged 48 and 60 years, the nocturnal back pain and the back pain worsening when lying down was not recognised as indication of a spinal tumour.

Unilateral parenchymal haemorrhagic infarction in the preterm infant.

A unilateral parenchymal haemorrhage associated with a germinal matrix-intraventricular haemorrhage (GMH-IVH) is still an important problem in the preterm infant and especially in those who are very immature. This type of lesion is now considered mainly to be caused by impaired drainage of the veins in the periventricular white matter and is often referred to as a venous infarction. The risk factors and neonatal imaging findings, as well as neurodevelopmental outcome and imaging data in infancy, of this type of lesion differ from those found in children with bilateral periventricular leukomalacia.

[Aneurysm of the V. magna cerebri (vein of Galen), a cause of congestive heart failure in five neonates].

In five neonates (4 girls and 1 boy) with aneurysm of the V. magna cerebri, clinical signs of congestive heart failure were encountered. In three of the neonates the symptoms were detected postnatally and in two prenatally.

The variety of visual perceptual impairments in pre-school children with perinatal brain damage.

To study the selectivity of visual perceptual impairment in children with early brain injury, eight visual perceptual tasks (L94), were administered to congenitally disabled children both with and without risk for cerebral visual impairment (CVI). The battery comprised six object-recognition and two visuoconstructive tasks. Seven tasks were newly designed.

Parenchymal brain injury in the preterm infant: comparison of cranial ultrasound, MRI and neurodevelopmental outcome.

Aim: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is increasingly being used in high-risk preterm neonates. Cranial ultrasound (US) was compared with MRI in preterm patients with parenchymal injury and related to neurodevelopmental outcome.

Patients And Methods: Studies were performed in 61 patients.

RGS12 and RGS14 GoLoco motifs are G alpha(i) interaction sites with guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitor Activity.

The regulators of G-protein signaling (RGS) proteins accelerate the intrinsic guanosine triphosphatase activity of heterotrimeric G-protein alpha subunits and are thus recognized as key modulators of G-protein-coupled receptor signaling. RGS12 and RGS14 contain not only the hallmark RGS box responsible for GTPase-accelerating activity but also a single G alpha(i/o)-Loco (GoLoco) motif predicted to represent a second G alpha interaction site. Here, we describe functional characterization of the GoLoco motif regions of RGS12 and RGS14.

Ultrasound diagnosis and neurodevelopmental outcome of localised and extensive cystic periventricular leucomalacia.

Aims: To compare the ultrasound (US) evolution and neurodevelopmental outcome of infants with localised (grade II) and extensive (grade III) cystic periventricular leucomalacia (c-PVL).

Methods: Over a nine year period, c-PVL was diagnosed in 96/3451 (2.8%) infants in two hospital cohorts.

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) of the cerebrum in two young infants with Zellweger syndrome.

Cerebral metabolic abnormalities have been previously detected by 1H-MRS in infants with the Zellweger syndrome as young as 3 months. We hypothesized that metabolic abnormalities could also be found shortly after birth. Two fullterm infants with Zellweger syndrome were studied at 12 days and two months of age, respectively, using single voxel 1H-MRS.

Glutamate in cerebral tissue of asphyxiated neonates during the first week of life demonstrated in vivo using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

We tested the hypothesis that glutamate (Glx) levels as demonstrated by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) are elevated in brain tissue of neonates with severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Studies were performed in 26 neonates (median gestational age 40.5 weeks, range 36.

[From gene to disease; fragile X-syndrome: hereditary mental retardation due to a developmental gene].

The fragile X syndrome is the most common cause of familial intellectual disability. The identification of the 'fragile-X mental retardation' (FMR1) gene disclosed a novel genetic mechanism: an intergenerational instable cytosine-guanine-guanine (CGG) repeat leading to the absence of FMR1 protein above a threshold of 200 repeats and, subsequently, leading to familial mental retardation.

Value of (1)H-MRS using different echo times in neonates with cerebral hypoxia-ischemia.

Previous studies have shown altered brain metabolism after cerebral hypoxia-ischemia, using magnetic resonance spectroscopy with echo times (TE) of 272 and 136 ms, based on peak-area or peak-height ratios. The present study examined the additional value of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy with a short TE (31 ms) to predict a poor outcome in neonates with brain hypoxia-ischemia. Studies were performed in 21 full-term neonates with perinatal asphyxia in a 1.