We describe 2 hospitalized patients with confirmed coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) infection in whom brain imaging showed hemorrhagic posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, and we discuss the ...possible reasons for these findings and their relationship to the infection.
Primary progressive aphasia is a clinically and neuropathologically heterogeneous group of progressive neurodegenerative disorders, characterized by language-predominant impairment and commonly ...associated with atrophy of the dominant language hemisphere. While this clinical entity has been recognized dating back to the 19th century, important advances have been made in defining our current understanding of primary progressive aphasia, with 3 recognized subtypes to date: logopenic variant, semantic variant, and nonfluent/agrammatic variant. Given the ongoing progress in our understanding of the neurobiology and genomics of these rare neurodegenerative conditions, accurate imaging diagnoses are of the utmost importance and carry implications for future therapeutic triaging. This review covers the diverse spectrum of primary progressive aphasia and its multimodal imaging features, including structural, functional, and molecular neuroimaging findings; it also highlights currently recognized diagnostic criteria, clinical presentations, histopathologic biomarkers, and treatment options of these 3 primary progressive aphasia subtypes.
Due to its high sensitivity, somatostatin receptor-PET may detect smaller lesions and more extensive disease than contrast-enhanced MR imaging, while the superior spatial resolution of MR imaging ...enables lesions to be accurately localized. We compared results of somatostatin receptor-PET/MRI with those of MR imaging alone and assessed the added value of vertex-to-thigh imaging for head and neck neuroendocrine tumors.
Somatostatin receptor-PET/CT was acquired as limited brain or head and neck imaging, with optional vertex-to-thigh imaging, following administration of
CU/
GA DOTATATE. Somatostatin receptor-PET was fused with separately acquired contrast-enhanced MR imaging. DOTATATE activity was classified as comparable, more extensive, and/or showing additional lesions compared with MR imaging. Vertex-to-thigh findings were classified as positive or negative for metastatic disease or incidental.
Thirty patients (with 13 meningiomas, 11 paragangliomas, 1 metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma, 1 middle ear neuroendocrine adenoma, 1 external auditory canal mass, 1 pituitary carcinoma, 1 olfactory neuroblastoma, 1 orbital mass) were imaged. Five had no evidence of somatostatin receptor-positive lesions and were excluded. In 11/25, somatostatin receptor-PET/MRI and MR imaging were comparable. In 7/25, somatostatin receptor-PET/MRI showed more extensive disease, while in 9/25, somatostatin receptor-PET/MRI identified additional lesions. On vertex-to-thigh imaging, 1 of 17 patients was positive for metastatic disease, 8 of 17 were negative, and 8 of 17 demonstrated incidental findings.
Somatostatin receptor-PET detected additional lesions and more extensive disease than contrast-enhanced MR imaging alone, while vertex-to-thigh imaging showed a low incidence of metastatic disease. Somatostatin receptor-PET/MRI enabled superior anatomic delineation of tumor burden, while any discrepancies were readily addressed. Somatostatin receptor-PET/MRI has the potential to play an important role in presurgical and radiation therapy planning of head and neck neuroendocrine tumors.
We present a series of 10 hospitalized patients with confirmed coronavirus 2019 infections who developed severe neurovascular complications and discuss the possible reasons for these findings and ...their relationship to the novel Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 infection.
Tunable Supercurrent Through Semiconductor Nanowires Doh, Yong-Joo; van Dam, Jorden A; Roest, Aarnoud L ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
07/2005, Letnik:
309, Številka:
5732
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Nanoscale superconductor/semiconductor hybrid devices are assembled from indium arsenide semiconductor nanowires individually contacted by aluminum-based superconductor electrodes. Below 1 kelvin, ...the high transparency of the contacts gives rise to proximity-induced superconductivity. The nanowires form superconducting weak links operating as mesoscopic Josephson junctions with electrically tunable coupling. The supercurrent can be switched on/off by a gate voltage acting on the electron density in the nanowire. A variation in gate voltage induces universal fluctuations in the normal-state conductance, which are clearly correlated to critical current fluctuations. The alternating-current Josephson effect gives rise to Shapiro steps in the voltage-current characteristic under microwave irradiation.
We analyze data recorded from October 2010 to September 2011, during the ascending phase of the 24th solar cycle, from an Advanced Ionospheric Sounder‐Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia ...ionosonde and a GPS Ionospheric Scintillation and total electron content (TEC) monitor scintillation receiver, colocated at low latitude in the Southern American longitudinal sector (Tucumán, 26.9°S, 294.6°E, magnetic latitude 15.5°S, Argentina). The site offers the opportunity to perform spread‐F and GPS scintillation statistics of occurrence under the southern crest of the equatorial ionospheric anomaly. Spread‐F signatures, classified into four types (strong range spread‐F (SSF), range spread‐F, frequency spread‐F (FSF), and mixed spread‐F), the phase and amplitude scintillation index (σΦ and S4, respectively), the TEC, and the rate of TEC parameter, marker of the TEC gradients, that can cause scintillations, are considered. The seasonal behavior results as follows: the occurrence of all four types of spread‐F is higher in summer and lower in winter, while the occurrence of scintillations peaks at equinoxes in the postsunset sector and shows a minimum in winter. The correspondence between SSF and scintillations seems to be systematic, and a possible correlation between S4 and FSF peaks is envisaged at the terminator. The investigation focused also on two particular periods, from 12 to 16 March 2011 and from 23 to 29 September 2011, both characterized by the simultaneous presence of SSF signatures and scintillation phenomena, allowing to discuss the role of traveling ionospheric disturbances as a strong candidate causing ionospheric irregularities.
Key Points
Simultaneous statistics of spread‐F and scintillation occurrence over Tucuman
Correspondence and inhibition of ESF and scintillation
Spread‐F and scintillation signatures related to MSTIDs
Neonatal sepsis causes up to an estimated 680,000 deaths annually worldwide, predominantly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). A significant and growing proportion of bacteria causing ...neonatal sepsis are resistant to multiple antibiotics, including the World Health Organization-recommended empiric neonatal sepsis regimen of ampicillin/gentamicin. The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership is aiming to develop alternative empiric antibiotic regimens that fulfil several criteria: (1) affordable in LMIC settings; (2) activity against neonatal bacterial pathogens, including extended-spectrum β-lactamase producers, gentamicin-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, and methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA); (3) a licence for neonatal use or extensive experience of use in neonates; and (4) minimal toxicities. In this review, we identify five antibiotics that fulfil these criteria: amikacin, tobramycin, fosfomycin, flomoxef, and cefepime. We describe the available characteristics of each in terms of mechanism of action, resistance mechanisms, clinical pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and toxicity profile. We also identify some knowledge gaps: (1) the neonatal pharmacokinetics of cefepime is reliant on relatively small and limited datasets, and the pharmacokinetics of flomoxef are also reliant on data from a limited demographic range and (2) for all reviewed agents, the pharmacodynamic index and target has not been definitively established for both bactericidal effect and emergence of resistance, with many assumed to have an identical index/target to similar class molecules. These five agents have the potential to be used in novel combination empiric regimens for neonatal sepsis. However, the data gaps need addressing by pharmacokinetic trials and pharmacodynamic characterisation.
Modern pediatric imaging seeks to provide not only exceptional anatomic detail but also physiologic and metabolic information of the pathology in question with as little radiation penalty as ...possible. Hybrid PET/MR imaging combines exquisite soft-tissue information obtained by MR imaging with functional information provided by PET, including metabolic markers, receptor binding, perfusion, and neurotransmitter release data. In pediatric neuro-oncology, PET/MR imaging is, in many ways, ideal for follow-up compared with PET/CT, given the superiority of MR imaging in neuroimaging compared with CT and the lower radiation dose, which is relevant in serial imaging and long-term follow-up of pediatric patients. In addition, although MR imaging is the main imaging technique for the evaluation of spinal pathology, PET/MR imaging may provide useful information in several clinical scenarios, including tumor staging and follow-up, treatment response assessment of spinal malignancies, and vertebral osteomyelitis. This review article covers neuropediatric applications of PET/MR imaging in addition to considerations regarding radiopharmaceuticals, imaging protocols, and current challenges to clinical implementation.
The objective of this study was to characterize differences in the cecal microbiota of chickens vaccinated for coccidiosis or receiving salinomycin in the diet. In this study, 140 male 1-day-old ...broiler chickens were divided in 2 groups: vaccine group (live vaccine) vaccinated at the first day and salinomycin group (60 ppm/kg since the first day until 35 d of age). Each treatment was composed for 7 replicates of 10 birds per pen. At 28 d, the cecal content of one bird per replicate was collected for microbiota analysis. The genetic sequencing was conducted by the Miseq Illumina platform. Vaccine group showed lower body weight, weight gain, and poorer feed conversion in the total period (P < 0.05). Bacterial 16S rRNA genes were classified as 3 major phyla (Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria), accounting for more than 98% of the total bacterial community. The microbiota complexity in the cecal was estimated based on the α-diversity indices. The vaccine did not reduce species richness and diversity (P > 0.05). The richness distribution in the salinomycin group was larger and more uniform than the vaccinated birds. Salinomycin group was related to the enrichment of Bacteroidetes, whereas Firmicutes and Proteobacteria phyla were in greater proportions in the vaccine group. The last phylum includes a wide variety of pathogenic bacteria. The vaccine did not decrease the species richness but decreased the percentage of Bacteroidetes, a phylum composed by genera that produce short-chain fatty acids improving intestinal health. Vaccine group also had higher Proteobacteria phylum, which may help explain its poorer performance.
Findings from animal and epidemiological research support the potential neuroprotective benefits from healthy diets. However, to establish diet-neuroprotective causal relations, evidence from dietary ...intervention studies is needed. NU-AGE is the first multicenter intervention assessing whether a diet targeting health in aging can counteract the age-related physiological changes in different organs, including the brain. In this study, we specifically investigated the effects of NU-AGE's dietary intervention on age-related cognitive decline.
NU-AGE randomized trial (NCT01754012, clinicaltrials.gov) included 1279 relatively healthy older-adults, aged 65-79 years, from five European centers. Participants were randomly allocated into two groups: "control" (
= 638), following a habitual diet; and, "intervention" (
= 641), given individually tailored dietary advice (NU-AGE diet). Adherence to the NU-AGE diet was measured over follow-up, and categorized into tertiles (low, moderate, high). Cognitive function was ascertained at baseline and at 1-year follow-up with the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD)-Neuropsychological Battery and five additional domain-specific single cognitive tests. The raw scores from the CERAD subtests excluding the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the single tests were standardized into
-scores. Global cognition (measured with MMSE and CERAD-total score), and five cognitive domains (perceptual speed, executive function, episodic memory, verbal abilities, and constructional praxis) were created. Cognitive changes as a function of the intervention were analyzed with multivariable mixed-effects models.
After the 1-year follow-up, 571 (89.1%) controls and 573 (89.8%) from the intervention group participated in the post-intervention assessment. Both control and intervention groups showed improvements in global cognition and in all cognitive domains after 1 year, but differences in cognitive changes between the two groups were not statistically significant. However, participants with higher adherence to the NU-AGE diet showed statistically significant improvements in global cognition β 0.20 (95%CI 0.004, 0.39),
-value = 0.046 and episodic memory β 0.15 (95%CI 0.02, 0.28),
-value = 0.025 after 1 year, compared to those adults with lower adherence.
High adherence to the culturally adapted, individually tailored, NU-AGE diet could slow down age-related cognitive decline, helping to prevent cognitive impairment and dementia.
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