Introduction Le bénéfice de l’allogreffe d’îlots chez un patient diabétique de type 1 (DID1) doit être mis en balance avec les effets secondaires du traitement immunosuppresseur. Le but de ce travail ...était d’évaluer si la greffe d’îlots était susceptible de stabiliser la neuropathie périphérique (NP) chez des patients DID1 greffés ou non d’un rein. Patients et méthodes De 2002 à 2007, 24 patients DID 1 âgés de 44 ± 7 ans, pesant 72 ± 9 kg ont reçu 2 à 3 infusions d’îlots sur une période de 3 mois (n = 20) à 6 mois (n = 4). Les 24 patients étaient divisés en 2 groupes : 14 ayant reçu une greffe d’îlots seuls (ITA) et 10 d’îlots après rein (IAK) avec un délai moyen entre la greffe de rein et d’îlots de 22 ± 9 mois. Le protocole d’immunosupression comportait du daclizumab, du tacrolimus et du sirolimus. Un électromyogramme avec vitesses de conduction motrice et sensitive des 4 membres a été effectué avant greffe d’îlots (et après greffe de rein pour les IAK), puis annuellement chez les 21 patients ayant un recul > 1 an (14 ITA + 7 IAK), quel que soit le statut C-peptidique. À la date de la dernière évaluation, 18/21 patients avaient un C-peptide détectable, 10/21 recevaient de l’insuline, 14/21patients avaient une HbA1c < 6,5 %. Résultats Avant greffe, 6/14 patients ITA et 6/7 IAK avaient une NP et 8/14 ITA et 1/7 IAK une absence de NP. Un à 4 ans après greffe, une amélioration de la NP était observée chez 3/6 patients ITA et 3/6 IAK souffrant d’une NP avant greffe. Une stabilité était notée chez les 6 autres patients présentant une NP (3 ITA et 3 IAK). Il n’y a pas eu de détérioration chez les 8 patients ITA et le patient IAK initialement indemmes de NP. Conclusion Nos résultats suggèrent qu’un équilibre glycémique strict permet non seulement de prévenir, mais également de faire régresser la neuropathie avérée. En effet 1. Une amélioration de la NP objectivée par l’électromyogramme est constatée chez 6/12 patients (50 %) préalablement atteints d’une NP un à 4 ans après greffe d’îlots ; 2. la même efficacité est observée chez les patients greffés d’îlots après rein et d’îlots seuls ; 3. En dépit de la neurotoxicité potentielle des immunosuppresseurs, aucune détérioration n’est constatée chez les patients n’ayant pas de neuropathie avant greffe.
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Zach de Beer’s political career began in 1950 when as a student leader and a member of the Civil Rights League he addressed a public meeting in the Cape Town City Hall to protest the banning of the ...Communist Party. Forty years later, in February 1990, he was in parliament when President F.W. de Klerk announced the unbanning of the Communist Party, the African National Congress, and the Pan Africanist Congress. During the darkest years of the apartheid state he, along with others, kept liberal democratic ideals alive. In 1959 he helped to form the liberal Progressive Party, and in 1960 he opposed the banning of the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress. This was a courageous action that would cost him his parliamentary seat in the 1961 general election and led to years in the political wilderness. Outside of parliament, as a prominent figure in the financial world, he continued to encourage constitutional and political reform. In 1988, he became leader of the Progressive Federal Party and played a leading role in the founding of the Democratic Party in 1989. This article shows that the party’s good performance in the general election of that year was a crucial factor in pushing De Klerk to initiate the dismantling of the apartheid state in 1990. In recognition of his contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle, President Nelson Mandela appointed him as South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands in 1994.
Extracted from text ... I wish to express my gratitude to John Lambert, Christopher Saunders, Greg Cuthbertson, Noel Garson and Bridget Theron for their comments and criticisms on this article. 1. P. ...Lewsen, 'What History Means to Me', South African Historical Journal, 28 (May 1993), 4. 2. For biographical detail on Lewsen's career, see her autobiography, Reverberations: A Memoir (Cape Town, 1996), a tribute in the South African Historical Journal, 28 (May 1993), and Chris Barron's obituary, Sunday Times, 28 Jan. 2001. 3. I benefited from her advice and encouragement. My copy of Merriman with her inscription, '... to a colleague and fellow worker', ..
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Abstract TSH-secreting adenomas are rare tumors, representing only 0.5 to 2.5% of pituitary adenomas. Their main clinical characteristics include signs of thyrotoxicosis, diffuse goiter and a ...compressive syndrome. Biologically, free T4 and T3 serum levels are elevated, contrasting with inadequate serum TSH levels and increased alpha chains. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging shows a pituitary tumor, the main differential diagnosis being resistance to thyroid hormones. Treatment is based on surgery, possibly associated with somatostatin analogs and radiotherapy. Though the long-term evolution of this rare pathology seems to have improved, some clinical situations are still a challenge to treat. We report one such case that was resistant to both stereotactic radiotherapy and somatostatin analogs, but surprisingly improved with cabergoline. We suggest that cabergoline should be considered as an alternative treatment in cases of pituitary adenomas that resist traditional treatments.
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Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to abnormal accumulation of phosphorylated α-synuclein. GBA1 is the gene encoding the lysosomal enzyme glucocerebrosidase ...(GCase), whose mutations are a risk factor of DLB.
To report all available data exploring the association between GBA1 mutations and DLB.
All publications focused on GCase and DLB in humans between 2003 and 2022 were identified on PubMed, Cochrane and ClinicalTrials.gov.
29 studies were included and confirmed the strong association between GBA1 mutations and DLB (Odds Ratio OR: 8.28). GBA1 mutation carriers presented a more malignant phenotype, with earlier symptom onset, more severe motor and cognitive dysfunctions, more visual hallucinations and rapid eye movement sleep disorder. GBA1 mutations were associated with “purer” neuropathological DLB. No therapeutic recommendations exist and clinical trials targeting GCase are just starting in DLB patients.
This review reports a link between GBA1 mutations and the DLB phenotype with limited evidence due to the small number of studies.
•GBA mutations are associated with Parkinson’s disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies.•The link between GBA mutations and Parkinson’s disease has already been explored but little is known about GBA mutations and Dementia with Lewy Bodies.•Available data report more severe symptoms in DLB GBA mutation carriers and purer neuropathological lesions.
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Synaptic dysfunction is an early core feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD), closely associated with cognitive symptoms. Neuregulin 1 (NRG1) is a growth and differentiation factor with a key role in ...the development and maintenance of synaptic transmission. Previous reports have shown that changes in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) NRG1 concentration are associated with cognitive status and biomarker evidence of AD pathology. Plasma biomarkers reflecting synaptic impairment would be of great clinical interest.
To measure plasma NRG1 concentration in AD patients in comparison with other neurodegenerative disorders and neurological controls (NC) and to study its association with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) core AD and synaptic biomarkers.
This retrospective study enrolled 127 participants including patients with AD at mild cognitive impairment stage (AD-MCI, n = 27) and at dementia stage (n = 35), non-AD dementia (n = 26, Aβ-negative), non-AD MCI (n = 19), and neurological controls (n=20). Plasma and CSF NRG1, as well as CSF core AD biomarkers (Aβ 42/Aβ 40 ratio, phospho-tau, and total tau), were measured using ELISA. CSF synaptic markers were measured using ELISA for GAP-43 and neurogranin and through immunoprecipitation mass spectrometry for SNAP-25.
Plasma NRG1 concentration was higher in AD-MCI and AD dementia patients compared with neurological controls (respectively P = 0.005 and P < 0.001). Plasma NRG1 differentiated AD MCI patients from neurological controls with an area under the curve of 88.3%, and AD dementia patients from NC with an area under the curve of 87.3%. Plasma NRG1 correlated with CSF NRG1 (β = 0.372, P = 0.0056, adjusted on age and sex). Plasma NRG1 was associated with AD CSF core biomarkers in the whole cohort and in Aβ-positive patients (β = -0.197-0.423). Plasma NRG1 correlated with CSF GAP-43, neurogranin, and SNAP-25 (β = 0.278-0.355). Plasma NRG1 concentration correlated inversely with MMSE in the whole cohort and in Aβ-positive patients (all, β = -0.188, P = 0.038; Aβ+: β = -0.255, P = 0.038).
Plasma NRG1 concentration is increased in AD patients and correlates with CSF core AD and synaptic biomarkers and cognitive status. Thus, plasma NRG1 is a promising non-invasive biomarker to monitor synaptic impairment in AD.
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The Irish born Thomas Smartt loved South Africa, and fervently believed that his adopted countryâ??s highest destiny could only be achieved by being in the British Empire. For him the imperial ...connection with Britain was a "sacred tie", and he saw it as his duty to protect and strengthen it. As the leader of the pro-imperial Unionist Party, the official parliamentary opposition, he had all the attributes - a genial personality, eloquence, proficiency in Afrikaans, widely admired integrity, boundless energy and a record of unselfish public service - to bolster the imperial link. And yet, he was a disastrous leader of the Unionist Party, and did much to harm the "sacred tie" with Britain. Die Iers gebore Thomas Smartt was lief vir Suid-Afrika en het vuriglik geglo dat sy aangenome land net die hoogste voorbestemming kan bereik deur deel van die Britse Ryk te wees. Vir hom was die imperiale verbintenis met Brittanje 'n "onskendbare band", en hy het dit tussen 1912 en 1920 as sy plig gesien om hierdie band, as die leier van die pro-imperial Unioniste Party, die amptelike parlementêre opposisie, te beskerm en te versterk. Hy was egter 'n rampspoedige leier van die Unioniste Party wat die "onskendbare band" ernstige skade berokken het. Sy gebrekkige selfbeheer oor imperiale belange het tot gevolg gehad dat hy nie die Engelssprekendes in Suid-Afrika se gehegtheid aan Brittanje kon beheer en lei nie, en 'n vernietigende jingoïsme aangemoedig het. In die proses het hy die pogings van Louis Botha en J.C. Smuts ondermyn om die twee blanke groepe na die trauma van die Suid-Afrikaanse Oorlog te versoen, en 'n verenigde lojale Suid-Afrika binne die Ryk te skep.
We present results from a search for solar axions with the COSINE-100 experiment. We find no evidence of solar axion events from a data-set of 6,303.9 kg · days exposure and set a 90% confidence ...level upper limit on the axion-electron coupling, gae, of 1.70 ×10−11 for an axion mass less than 1 keV/c2. This limit excludes QCD axions heavier than 0.59 eV/c2 in the DFSZ model and 168.1 eV/c2 in the KSVZ model.
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Reducing DRIFT backgrounds with a submicron aluminized-mylar cathode Battat, J.B.R.; Daw, E.; Dorofeev, A. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
09/2015, Volume:
794
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Background events in the DRIFT-IId dark matter detector, mimicking potential WIMP signals, are predominantly caused by alpha decays on the central cathode in which the alpha particle is completely or ...partially absorbed by the cathode material. We installed a 0.9μm thick aluminized-mylar cathode as a way to reduce the probability of producing these backgrounds. We study three generations of cathode (wire, thin-film, and radiologically clean thin-film) with a focus on the ratio of background events to alpha decays. Two independent methods of measuring the absolute alpha decay rate are used to ensure an accurate result, and agree to within 10%. Using alpha range spectroscopy, we measure the radiologically cleanest cathode version to have a contamination of 3.3±0.1 ppt 234U and 73±2 ppb 238U. This cathode reduces the probability of producing an RPR from an alpha decay by a factor of 70±20 compared to the original stainless steel wire cathode. First results are presented from a texturized version of the cathode, intended to be even more transparent to alpha particles. These efforts, along with other background reduction measures, have resulted in a drop in the observed background rate from 500/day to 1/day. With the recent implementation of full-volume fiducialization, these remaining background events are identified, allowing for background-free operation.
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