The use of carbamazepine (CBZ) and oxcarbazepine (OXC) as first‐line antiepileptic drugs in the treatment of focal epilepsy is limited by hyponatremia, a known adverse effect. Hyponatremia occurs in ...up to half of people taking CBZ or OXC and, although often assumed to be asymptomatic, it can lead to symptoms ranging from unsteadiness and mild confusion to seizures and coma. Hyponatremia is probably due to the antidiuretic properties of CBZ and OXC that are, at least partly, explained by stimulation of the vasopressin 2 receptor/aquaporin 2 pathway. No known genetic risk variants for CBZ‐ and OXC‐induced hyponatremia exist, but likely candidate genes are part of the vasopressin water reabsorption pathway.
The equilibrium between self-renewal and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells is regulated by epigenetic mechanisms. In particular, Polycomb-group (PcG) proteins have been shown to be involved ...in this process by repressing genes involved in cell-cycle regulation and differentiation. PcGs are histone modifiers that reside in two multi-protein complexes: Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 and 2 (PRC1 and PRC2). The existence of multiple orthologs for each Polycomb gene allows the formation of a multitude of distinct PRC1 and PRC2 sub-complexes. Changes in the expression of individual PcG genes are likely to cause perturbations in the composition of the PRC, which affect PRC enzymatic activity and target selectivity. An interesting recent development is that aberrant expression of, and mutations in, PcG genes have been shown to occur in hematopoietic neoplasms, where they display both tumor-suppressor and oncogenic activities. We therefore comprehensively reviewed the latest research on the role of PcG genes in normal and malignant blood cell development. We conclude that future research to elucidate the compositional changes of the PRCs and methods to intervene in PRC assembly will be of great therapeutic relevance to combat hematological malignancies.
Objectives
Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy syndrome (MTLE) with specific electrophysiological and clinical characteristics and hippocampal sclerosis (HS) on MRI is considered the prototype of a ...syndrome with good surgical prognosis. Ictal onset zones in MTLE have been found to extend outside the hippocampus and neocortical seizures often involve mesial structures. It can, thus, be questioned whether MTLE with HS is different from lesional temporal epilepsies with respect to electro‐clinical characteristics and surgical prognosis. We assessed whether MTLE with HS is distinguishable from lesional TLE and which criteria determine surgical outcome.
Methods
People in a retrospective cohort of 389 individuals with MRI abnormalities who underwent temporal lobectomy, were divided into “HS only” or “lesional” TLEs. Twenty‐six presented with dual pathology and were excluded from further analysis. We compared surgical outcome and electro‐clinical characteristics.
Results
Over half (61%) had “HS only.” Four electro‐clinical characteristics (age at epilepsy onset, febrile seizures, memory dysfunction and contralateral dystonic posturing) distinguished “HS only” from “lesional” TLE, but there was considerable overlap. Seizure freedom 2 years after surgery (Engel class 1) was similar: 67% (“HS only”) vs 69% (“lesional” TLE). Neither presence of HS nor electro‐clinical criteria was associated with surgical outcome.
Conclusions
Despite small differences in electrophysiological and clinical characteristics between MTLE with HS and lesional TLE, surgical outcomes are similar, indicating that aetiology seems irrelevant in the referral for temporal surgery.
Objective
The quality of life of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) is often affected by visual complaints. A previous study suggested that visual complaints are not likely to be related to specific ...visual functions, but by a global decline of cognitive and visual functioning. In this study, we further explore this hypothesis, by investigating the relation between visual functions and global cognitive functioning, aiming to provide recommendations for rehabilitation for visual complaints.
Design
Cross-sectional study.
Setting
A rehabilitation centre for partially sighted and blind people and a MS centre at a university hospital.
Participants
102 people with MS.
Main measure
Correlations between assessments of visual functions (acuity, contrast sensitivity, visual field, smooth pursuit and saccades) and composite scores of a neuropsychological assessment (tests with a visual component and without a visual component).
Results
All composite scores correlated with visual acuity, contrast sensitivity and the sensitivity of the monocular field, but not with smooth pursuit and saccades. Similar patterns were found in various subgroups. Results showed that visual functions that related to visual complaints correlated with a diffuse decline of global cognitive functioning and that visual and cognitive functioning may decline concurrently in people with MS.
Conclusions
Visual complaints may occur as a result of a diffuse decline of the integrity of a cerebral network involved in vision and cognition. People with MS with visual complaints may benefit from neurovisual rehabilitation, in which low-vision rehabilitation and neuropsychological rehabilitation are closely intertwined.
People with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) report many different visual complaints, but not all of them are well understood. Decline in visual, visuoperceptual and cognitive functions do occur in pwMS, ...but it is unclear to what extend those help us understand visual complaints. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to explore the relation between visual complaints and decline in visual, visuoperceptual and cognitive functions, to optimize care for pwMS. Visual, visuoperceptual and cognitive functions of 68 pwMS with visual complaints and 37 pwMS with no or minimal visual complaints were assessed. The frequency of functional decline was compared between the two groups and correlations were calculated between visual complaints and the assessed functions. Decline in several functions occurred more frequently in pwMS with visual complaints. Visual complaints may be an indication of declined visual or cognitive functioning. However, as most correlations were not significant or weak, we cannot infer that visual complaints are directly related to functions. The relationship may be indirect and more complex. Future research could focus on the overarching cognitive capacity that may contribute to visual complaints. Further research into these and other explanations for visual complaints could help us to provide appropriate care for pwMS.
We report on the time-dependent optical diffraction from ultra-high frequency laser-induced acoustic waves in thin layers of ruthenium deposited on glass substrates. We show that the thermo-optic and ...strain-optic effects dominate the optical response of Ru layers to a traveling longitudinal strain wave. In addition, we show the generation and detection of acoustic waves with a central frequency ranging from 130 GHz to 750 GHz on ultra-thin layers with thicknesses in the range of 1.2 - 20 nm. For these ultra-thin layers we measure a strong dependency of the speed of sound on the layer thickness and, thus, the frequency. This frequency-dependent speed of sound results in a frequency-dependent acoustic impedance mismatch between the ruthenium and the glass substrate, leading to a faster decay of the measured signals for increasing frequency. Furthermore, for these extremely high-frequency oscillations, we find that the frequency and phase remain constant for times longer than about 2 ps after optical excitation. Back extrapolation of the acquired acoustic signals to t = 0 gives a starting phase of −
π
/2. As this seems unlikely, we interpret this as an indication of possible dynamic changes in the phase/frequency of the acoustic wave in the first 2 ps after excitation.
Summary
In traditional cancer diagnosis, (histo)pathological images of biopsy samples are visually analysed by pathologists. However, this judgment is subjective and leads to variability among ...pathologists. Digital scanners may enable automated objective assessment, improved quality and reduced throughput time. Nucleus detection is seen as the corner stone for a range of applications in automated assessment of (histo)pathological images.
In this paper, we propose an efficient nucleus detector designed with machine learning. We applied colour deconvolution to reconstruct each applied stain. Next, we constructed a large feature set and modified AdaBoost to create two detectors, focused on different characteristics in appearance of nuclei. The proposed modification of AdaBoost enables inclusion of the computational cost of each feature during selection, thus improving the computational efficiency of the resulting detectors. The outputs of the two detectors are merged by a globally optimal active contour algorithm to refine the border of the detected nuclei. With a detection rate of 95% (on average 58 incorrectly found objects per field‐of‐view) based on 51 field‐of‐view images of Her2 immunohistochemistry stained breast tissue and a complete analysis in 1 s per field‐of‐view, our nucleus detector shows good performance and could enable a range of applications in automated assessment of (histo)pathological images.
In western Europe, Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. brasiliense is emerging as a causal agent of blackleg disease. In field experiments in the Netherlands, the virulence of this pathogen was ...compared with strains of other Dickeya and Pectobacterium species. In 2013 and 2014, seed potato tubers were vacuum infiltrated with high densities of bacteria (106 CFU mL−1) and planted in clay soil. Inoculation with P. carotovorum subsp. brasiliense and P. atrosepticum resulted in high disease incidences (75–95%), inoculation with D. solani and P. wasabiae led to incidences between 5% and 25%, but no significant disease development was observed in treatments with P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum, D. dianthicola or the water control. Co‐inoculations of seed potatoes with P. carotovorum subsp. brasiliense and D. solani gave a similar disease incidence to inoculation with only P. carotovorum subsp. brasiliense. However, co‐inoculation of P. carotovorum subsp. brasiliense with P. wasabiae resulted in a decrease in disease incidence compared to inoculation with only P. carotovorum subsp. brasiliense. In 2015, seed potatoes were inoculated with increasing densities of P. carotovorum subsp. brasiliense, D. solani or P. atrosepticum (103–106 CFU mL−1). After vacuum infiltration, even a low inoculum density resulted in high disease incidence. However, immersion without vacuum caused disease only at high bacterial densities. Specific TaqMan assays were evaluated and developed for detection of P. carotovorum subsp. brasiliense, P. wasabiae and P. atrosepticum and confirmed the presence of these pathogens in progeny tubers of plants derived from vacuum‐infiltrated seed tubers.
An overview of the classification-based least squares trained filters on picture quality improvement algorithms is presented. For each algorithm, the training process is unique and individually ...selected classification methods are proposed. Objective evaluation is carried out to single out the optimal classification method for each application. To optimize combined video processing algorithms, integrated solutions are benchmarked against cascaded filters. The results show that the performance of integrated designs is superior to that of cascaded filters when the combined applications have conflicting demands in the frequency spectrum.
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