Potential use and challenges of functional connectivity mapping in intractable epilepsy.

This review focuses on the use of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data to assess functional connectivity in the human brain and its application in intractable epilepsy. This approach has the potential to predict outcomes for a given surgical procedure based on the pre-surgical functional organization of the brain. Functional connectivity can also identify cortical regions that are organized differently in epilepsy patients either as a direct function of the disease or through indirect compensatory responses.

Naming outcome after left or right temporal lobectomy in patients with bilateral language representation by Wada testing.

Objective: This study aimed to examine language outcome after left or right anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) in patients with epilepsy with bilateral language representation on intracarotid sodium amobarbital (Wada) testing.

Methods: Twenty-two patients with epilepsy with bilateral language (Wada laterality index between -50 and 50) underwent right ATL (RATL, n=10) or left ATL (LATL, n=12). All the patients were administered the Boston Naming Test preoperatively and six months postoperatively.

Limitations of Wada memory asymmetry as a predictor of outcomes after temporal lobectomy.

Background: The intracarotid amobarbital (Wada) test can be used to evaluate hemispheric memory capacity before anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL). Most patients demonstrate better memory with injection ipsilateral to planned resection (expected asymmetry [EA]), but a substantial minority show better memory with contralateral injection (unexpected asymmetry [UA]). Both degree and direction of Wada memory asymmetry (WMA) have been associated with worse surgical outcome in small series.

Effect of ibuprofen on the acute-phase response and protein metabolism in patients with cancer and weight loss.

The aim of this study was to determine whether administration of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent ibuprofen might attenuate the acute-phase response in patients with colonic cancer. Cytokines and acute-phase proteins were measured before administration of ibuprofen and again 3 days later, when protein synthesis was measured using 15N-glycine. In patients with cancer, ibuprofen caused a significant reduction in the plasma concentration of all five acute-phase proteins studied.

Regulation of tumor necrosis factor production in healthy humans and in patients with cancer.

To study the factors that influence cytokine release, the effect of endotoxin on in vitro tumor necrosis factor production by monocytes from debilitated patients with cancer (n = 6) was compared with that from healthy controls (n = 5). Spontaneous and endotoxin-stimulated monocyte tumor necrosis factor production was similar in patients with cancer and controls. However, with total peripheral blood mononuclear cells, enhancement of tumor necrosis factor production by endotoxin in patients with cancer (46 +/- 12, mean +/- SEM) was greater than in controls (0% +/- 7%).

Bioassay of bovine interleukin-1-like activity.

A bioassay for bovine interleukin-1 (IL1) activity is described. The assay is based on the IL1-stimulated proliferation of a mouse T-lymphocyte cell line, D10(N4)M. Bovine mononuclear cells stimulated with lipopolysaccharide produce an interleukin-1-like activity which stimulated the growth of the D10(N4)M cell line in a dose-dependent manner.

Bioassay of interleukin 1 (IL-1) in human gingival crevicular fluid during experimental gingivitis.

The cytokine IL-1 was demonstrated in crevicular fluid during a 14- and 21-day experimental gingivitis in healthy human volunteers. A sensitive and specific bioassay allowed detection of biologically active IL-1 at levels ranging from 0.18 ng/microliters at baseline to 1.

Detection of TNF alpha receptors on ovine leucocytes by flow cytofluorimetry.

Tumour necrosis factor receptor activity was detected on sheep leucocytes using flow cytofluorimetry and commercially available fluorescent human tumour necrosis factor. The density of receptors per cell and the proportion of cells expressing TNF receptor activity was found to be in the following rank order: monocytes greater than granulocytes greater than lymphocytes.

Elevated circulating interleukin-6 is associated with an acute-phase response but reduced fixed hepatic protein synthesis in patients with cancer.

It has been suggested that, as part of the inflammatory response to the presence of a tumor, various cytokines are produced and these induce hepatic synthesis of acute-phase proteins (APP). Under these circumstances it is not known what changes occur in the fixed component of hepatic protein synthesis. The aim of this study was to compare circulating interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) concentrations and fixed hepatic protein synthesis rates in a group of healthy controls (n = 6) with a group of patients with an established APP response secondary to hepatic metastasis from colorectal cancer (n = 6).

Synaptic membrane complex carbohydrates in experimental hepatic encephalopathy.

To evaluate further the status of synaptic plasma membranes (SPMs) in the brain in the syndrome of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) lipid- and protein-bound sialic acid and ganglioside and protein composition were investigated in SPMs from the brains of six rabbits with galactosamine-induced fulminant hepatic failure and five normal rabbits. HE was associated with no appreciable changes in the chromatographic pattern of gangliosides or the concentration of protein-bound sialic acid, but the syndrome was associated with a 20% increase in lipid-bound sialic acid and, as assessed electrophoretically, an increase in the concentration of a protein with a molecular weight of about 70 kDa. Thus, changes in the composition of complex carbohydrates and protein in SPMs occur in a model of HE.

The serum interleukin 6 response to elective surgery.

We have investigated changes in serum interleukin 6 (IL-6) in patients undergoing elective cholecystectomy. Serum IL-6 increased in all patients within 1.5 hour of incision, reaching a maximum between 1.

Lipopolysaccharide structure and serum sensitivity of non-serogroupable Neisseria meningitidis.

Bactericidal activities of normal human serum for non-serogroupable strains of Neisseria meningitidis were determined. In similar experiments with isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae from localized infections, strains with group I lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were uniformly serum resistant and those with group II were serum sensitive. We found no similar association between serum sensitivity of the meningococcal strains and their lipopolysaccharide groups determined by the same pyocin typing system used to classify the gonococcal isolates.

Factors influencing host susceptibility to meningococcal disease.

Host-parasite interactions influencing the development of the protective humoral immune response to Neisseria meningitidis are briefly reviewed. Possible consequences of the observed decreased titres of bactericidal activity specific for meningococcal serogroups A, B and C among patients with gonorrhoea are discussed with reference to: the epidemiology of the two diseases, the protective role of "natural" antibodies to the Neisseria species and the carriage rate of serogroupable strains of N. meningitidis among patients with gonorrhoea and a control population.

Host-parasite interactions influencing establishment of gonococcal infection--a paradox resolved?

This study indicates that the gonococcal strains of lipopolysaccharide group (II) most frequently isolated from localized infections have a growth advantage over strains of group I. Their increased association with neutrophil polymorphs and their susceptibility to lysis by normal human serum would seem to act to the disadvantage of the bacteria. Our findings taken together with the cytotoxic effect of gonococci on neutrophil polymorphs offer an explanation for this apparent paradox.

Absence of bactericidal antibodies against Group-I lipopolysaccharide determinants of Neisseria gonorrhoeae during human infection.

None of 34 sera from patients with gonorrhoea contained antibodies bactericidal for strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae with Group-I lipopolysaccharide (LPS). All contained antibodies against a strain with Group-II LPS, as do sera from uninfected controls. The absence of Group I-LPS antibodies in infected humans contrasts with previous findings that mice immunised with strains from either of the LPS groups produced bactericidal antibody to Group I.

Alteration of pyocin-sensitivity pattern of Neisseria gonorrhoeae is associated with induced resistance to killing by human serum.

A laboratory-grown strain of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, selected in vivo, BS4 (agar), is susceptible to complement-mediated killing by fresh human serum but is relatively resistant to killing by human phagocytes. It can be induced to serum resistance by incubation with a small molecular weight fraction of guinea pig serum. The serum-susceptible and induced-resistant forms show differences in pyocin sensitivity tests.

Binding of Neisseria gonorrhoeae by lectin-like receptors on human phagocytes.

The adherence of gonococci to phagocytes was examined for the presence of "lectin-like" receptors capable of binding these bacteria. The data suggests such "lectin-like" receptors are present on PMN and monocytes that recognize sugars present in the gonococcal cell wall and that there are quantitative and qualitative differences in expression of these receptors. These findings may have importance in investigation of the interaction of gonococci with phagocytes and with the subsequent induction of immunity in the disease.

ABO blood groups and susceptibility to gonococcal infection. III. Role of isohemagglutinins in increased association of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to monocytes from blood group B individuals.

The association of human monocytes of different ABO blood groups with gonococci was examined under various conditions. Blood group B monocytes in the presence of autologous heat inactivated serum (HIS) showed increased association over monocytes of the other ABO groups with their autologous sera. No statistically significant trends in ABO monocyte association were noted for assays carried out in the absence of autologous HIS.

Blood groups and susceptibility to gonococcal infection. II. The relationship of lipopolysaccharide type to gonococcal sensitivity to the bactericidal activity of normal human serum.

This study examines the bactericidal activity of normal human sera from individuals of blood groups A and B for gonococcal strains with simple and complex lipopolysaccharides (defined by pyocin-sensitivity) isolated from localised and disseminated infection. The bactericidal activity did not depend on A or B isohaemagglutinins. Resistance to normal human serum exhibited by strains from localised infections appeared to be due to lack of part of the lipopolysaccharide antigen, whereas resistance of strains from disseminated infection appeared to depend on a separate mechanism yet to be defined.

ABO blood group and susceptibility to gonococcal infection. I. Factors affecting phagocytosis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

The effect of opsonization of Neisseria gonorrhoeae by isohaemagglutinins from normal serum on attachment to human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) was investigated. No significant differences between sera from blood groups O, A, B or AB were found. Differences in attachment of gonococci were related to differences in lipopolysaccharide detected by sensitivity to R-type pyocines of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.