10 patients with Parkinson disease on long term levodopa therapy and with fluctuations in motor performance unrelated to drug administration (on-off phenomena) were assessed on the following ...neuropsychological tests during the on and off phases: tests of attention (Toulouse-Pieron), memory (Digit Span, Rey forms 1 and 2), psychomotor capacity (maze test, single and multiple choice reaction times) and mood (Maudley Adjective Check List). The extrapyramidal symptoms were assessed on the Webster Rating Scale. We found no significant differences in attention, cognitive performance or mood between the on and off phases despite large fluctuations in motor performance.
An immortalized murine mesenchymal stem cell line (mTERT-MSC) enriched for Lin.sup.neg/Sca-1.sup.pos fraction has been obtained through the transfection of MSC with murine TERT and single-cell ...isolation. Such cell line maintained the typical MSC selfrenewal capacity and continuously expressed MSC phenotype. Moreover, mTERT-MSC retained the functional features of freshly isolated MSC in culture without evidence of senescence or spontaneous differentiation events. Thus, mTERT-MSC have been cultured onto PLA films, 30 and 100 ,wm PLA microbeads, and onto unpressed and pressed HYAFF-11 scaffolds. While the cells adhered preserving their morphology on PLA films, clusters of mTERT-MSC were detected on PLA beads and unpressed fibrous scaffolds. Finally, mTERT-MSC were not able to colonize the inner layers of pressed HYAFF-11. Nevertheless, such cell line displayed the ability to preserve Sca-1 expression and to retain multilineage potential when appropriately stimulated on all the scaffolds tested.
Experiments in bulk water confirm the existence of two local arrangements of water molecules with different densities, but, because of inevitable freezing at low temperature \(T\), can not ascertain ...whether the two arrangements separate in two phases. To avoid the freezing, new experiments measure the dynamics of water at low \(T\) on the surface of proteins, finding a crossover from a non-Arrhenius regime at high \(T\) to a regime that is approximately Arrhenius at low \(T\). Motivated by these experiments, Kumar et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 105701 (2008) investigated, by Monte Carlo simulations and mean field calculations, the relation of the dynamic crossover with the coexistence of two liquid phases in a cell model for water and predict that: (i) the dynamic crossover is isochronic, i.e. the value of the crossover time \(\tau_{\rm L}\) is approximately independent of pressure \(P\); (ii) the Arrhenius activation energy \(E_{\rm A}(P)\) of the low-\(T\) regime decreases upon increasing \(P\); (iii) the temperature \(T^*(P)\) at which \(\tau\) reaches a fixed macroscopic time \(\tau^*\geq \tau_{\rm L}\) decreases upon increasing \(P\); in particular, this is true also for the crossover temperature \(T_{\rm L}(P)\) at which \(\tau=\tau_{\rm L}\). Here, we compare these predictions with recent quasi elastic neutron scattering (QENS) experiments performed by X.-Q. Chu {\it et al.} on hydrated proteins at different values of \(P\). We find that the experiments are consistent with these three predictions.
We evaluated the tolerance to NIM in patients with adverse reactions to NSAIDs, expressed by urticaria-angioedema, bronchial asthma or erythema polymorphous on 92 patients among which 32 atopics ...affected by asthma, rhinitis or contact dermatitis. Challenge test has been performed with increasing amounts of NIM per os every 2 hrs to a maximum of 100 mg/dose. The last dosage was repeated every 12 hrs for 4 times more. No reactions were observed in 86 patients (93.4%). Moreover we evaluated the efficacy of NIM in modulating pomphoid cutaneous reaction to histamine (HIS) and codeine (COD). Three subjects were prick tested with HIS and COD solutions at different concentrations (0.1 to 10 mg/ml), before and after a 5 days therapy with NIM at different dosages/kg/die. At NIM dosages of 3.7 and 2.7 mg/kg/die we observed a strong reduction of pomphoid activity of both HIS and COD. No clear effects were detected at 2.2 mg/kg/die dosage. We assume a dose-related in vivo inhibitory effect of NIM on cutaneous mast cells releasability or a direct anti-histaminic effect. We point out the possible therapeutic role of NIM in the treatment of allergic flogosis at steroid and cromon's side.
Non Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM) in pediatric age remains not well defined as a nosological entity. The so-called Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY), for example, recognizes ...three different etiologies. Three cases are presented as an example of different possibilities of onset and evolution in pediatric age: a 12.5 year old girl presents a positive familial history of NIDDM, a slow onset of the disease and goes on well with administration of an oral hypoglycemic drug; a 12.5 year old girl too, with a positive familial history of NIDDM, with acute onset of the disease, needed an oral hypoglycemic drug when she was overweight. Having lost the ponderal excess, she goes on very well with the diet alone; a 13 year old girl without any familial history of NIDDM, who presented a dramatic onset in occasion of an intercurrent illness; she required insulin therapy only during a steroidal therapy period, administered for ovaric polycystosis. The authors argue over the age of onset, the familial history and the therapeutic approach to NIDDM in pediatric age.
Introduction: Early diagnosis by neonatal thyroid screening is crucial for intellectual and neuropsychological outcome of children with congenital hypothyroidism (CH). Nevertheless, numerous reports ...have shown that some CH children, even if early treated, still have neuropsychological sequelae at a later age. In this study, we investigate whether the occurrence of a delayed onset of therapy, despite newborn screening, can be responsible for psychomotor abnormalities.
Subject and methods: Intellectual and neuropsychological development was assessed in a group of 29 CH children diagnosed by screening in a defined Italian region, in 3 CH children detected on the basis of clinical symptoms and in 11 CH adults born before the screening program was introduced. Thyroid assessment and clinical examination were also performed in these patients.
Results: The screened CH children with delayed therapy onset (range:40–70 days) had mostly ectopic and eutopic thyroids and showed significantly lower mean intelligence quotients (90.8 ± 16 vs 106.2 ± 13) and lower mean scores on neuropsychological tests than earlier treated CH children (range: 7–30 days).
Discussion: Our study points out that children with ectopic thyroid and dyshormonogenesis, although showing a milder thyroid deficit at screening, may be at risk for delayed onset of therapy and consequent cognitive damage prompt, and adequate treatment should be given in all types of primary CH to prevent mental disturbances in CH children.
The trial has been carried out on 33 treated Parkinsonian patients and 14 healthy controls. A series of psychometric tests were employed in order to show a possible intellectual deterioration in ...Parkinsonian patients. Bender's test showed greater motor-perceptive deterioration in Parkinsonian patients respect to control, the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale evidenced in patients significant deterioration of mnesic and psychomotor capacity. When considering drug treatments patients undergoing combined treatment or anti-cholinergics alone obtained worse results in all tests made whilst patients on L-Dopa alone obtained the best results.
![Interfacing [Sca-1.sup.pos]...](http://api.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/image/issn/XR4PS5YY4K/1110-7243/small "Interfacing [Sca-1.sup.pos] mesenchymal stem cells with biocompatible scaffolds with different chemical composition and geometry")
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