MEG data for five cerebral palsy patients were taken using a whole-head 122-channel MEG system. An experiment was designed to identify the possible effect of external pico-Tesla weak magnetic fields. ...The subjects were five male volunteers 17-46 years of age. External stimulation, field amplitude 1-7.5 pico-Tesla, was applied to each subject at their alpha-rhythm frequency. Fast Fourier transforms were applied to the data of all MEG channels and the rhythms of the patients were evaluated before and after pico-Tesla transcranial magnetic stimulation. The appliance of pico-Tesla weak magnetic fields showed the brains of the cerebral palsy patients had an enhance of the frequencies of (2-7 Hz) for each patient. This was followed by an improvement and normalization of their MEG. The results had a statistical significance in four out of five subjects (80%) and suggested the stimulation provided a positive contribution to the management of the symptoms of cerebral palsy patients.
Background:
Improvement of the management of pancreatic cancer requires a better understanding of the genetic and molecular changes responsible for the development of the disease. The family of ...p21-activated kinases (PAKs) and especially PAK1 appears to mediate many cellular processes that contribute to the development and progression of pancreatic cancer, but the clinical relevance of PAK1 expression with the disease still remains unclear. Aim of the study was to assess the clinical value and the potential prognostic significance of PAK1 in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
Methods:
We investigated the relationship between the PAK1 expression and the clinical and histopathologic characteristics of pancreatic cancer patients and the potential significance of PAK1 on survival. We examined tissue samples from 51 patients operated for pancreatic cancer. PAK1 expression was investigated with immunohistochemistry and correlated to clinicopathological parameters.
Results:
PAK1 was detected in all tumor samples and high expression was found in most patients. High PAK1 expression was also associated with younger age and well-differentiated tumors, but no association was found between PAK1 expression and Tumor-Node-Metastasis stage as well as deceased or alive status on follow-up. Moderate to high PAK1 expression favored higher 6-month and 1-year survival and low PAK1 expression 2-year survival but without statistical significance.
Conclusions
Our results indicate that PAK1 could potentially be used as a prognostic marker in pancreatic cancer. Further studies could clarify whether utilization of PAK1 in therapeutic protocols for the treatment of pancreatic cancer will render them more effective.
Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is the recording of the magnetic field produced by the flowing of ions in the brain. This article reports our experience in the application of MEG in patients and healthy ...volunteers in the Greek population. We provide a brief description of our research work. The MEG data were recorded in a magnetically shielded room with a whole-head 122 channel or an one-channel biomagnetometer. Our results lead us to believe that the MEG is an important research field which is evolving quickly with a number of interesting findings with respect to normal and abnormal functions of the human brain. It could provide clinical practice with an easy to perform non invasive method, which could be adjunct to conventional methods for the evaluation of brain disorders.
Purpose/aim: To examine with immunohistochemical assay MTA1 protein expression levels in pancreatic cancer tissues defining its prognostic value. Material and Methods: The specimens derived from 51 ...patients who underwent surgery. The levels of MTA1 protein were compared with the age of the patients, their survival, and prognosis. Also, we studied clinical and histopathological factors such as the degree of tumor differentiation and its stage in correlation with MTA1 protein levels. In parallel, there was correlation between the expression of the ΜΤΑ1 protein and the aforementioned factors regarding survival rate. Furthermore, we independently correlated the patient's survival in relation to whether they had undergone adjuvant chemotherapy or not. Results: It has been found to be low, moderate, or high expression of MTA1 levels in 48 out of 51 cancer tissues. Specifically, 49.0% of patients had low expression, 33.3% moderate, and 11.8% high expression of MTA1. Regarding the expression of MTA1 protein in correlation with various clinical and histopathological factors, a statistically significant correlation was observed with the degree of differentiation (p = 0.0068) and with the stage of the disease (p = 0.0173), but not with survival (p = 0.0740) or the age of them (p = 0.1547). Finally, it was found that overexpression of the MTA1protein is a prognostic factor for shorter survival in patients with pancreatic cancer (average 4.67 ± 0.95 months). Conclusions: MTA 1 protein may constitute an important prognostic marker in pancreatic cancer and could improve prognosis and treatment.
Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings from the brain of 10 children with autism (6 boys and 4 girls, with ages range from 5-12 years, meanFormula: see textFormula: see textFormula: see textSD: ...8.3Formula: see textFormula: see textFormula: see text2.1) were obtained using a whole-head 122-channel MEG system in a magnetically shielded room of low magnetic noise. A double-blind experimental design was used in order to look for possible effect of external pico-Tesla Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (pT-TMS). The pT-TMS was applied on the brain of the autistic children with proper field characteristics (magnetic field amplitude: 1-7.5Formula: see textpT, frequency: the alpha - rhythm of the patient 8-13Formula: see textHz). After unblinding it was found a significant effect of an increase of frequencies in the range of 2-7Formula: see textHz across the subjects followed by an improvement and normalization of their MEG recordings. The statistical analysis of our results showed a statistical significance at 6 out of 10 patients (60%). It is also observed an increase of alpha activity in autistic children at the end of one month after pT-TMS treatment at home. In conclusion, the application of pT-TMS has the prospective to be a noninvasive, safe and important modality in the management of autism children.
Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings of the brain in Parkinson's disease were obtained in order to look for possible effect of pico-Tesla transcranial magnetic stimulation (pT-TMS). We found a ...significant effect of an increase of frequencies in the range of 2-7 Hz across subjects. In addition, we observed the mean peak frequency difference within the 2-7 Hz band towards frequencies of less or equal to those frequencies of the alpha frequency range (8-13 Hz).
Endometrial cancer is the sixth most common cancer in women. Galectin-3 (GAL-3) and CRIP-1 are multifunctional proteins which seem to be involved in many neoplasias. This study aims to point out ...correlations between clinicopathological findings and endometrial cancer patient survival to GAL-3 and CRIP-1 expression in order to enfold their diagnostic/prognostic potential. Tissues from 46 patients diagnosed with endometrial cancer were studied by immunohistochemistry, using monoclonal antibodies for GAL-3 and CRIP-1, and expression levels were correlated with clinicopathological findings and survival. Analysis was performed at single protein level or as co-expression. High expression of GAL-3 and CRIP-1 was independently associated with tumor depth and histological grade, respectively. Also, there was a significant correlation between high co-expression of the two proteins and the histological grade (aOR 2.66), the tumor depth (aOR 0.32) and the histological type (aOR 1.32), but not with the patients’ age. Moreover, high expression of both proteins was observed in patients with shorter survival times. Interestingly, the co-expression of the two proteins exhibited some degree of monotony (Spearman’s
ρ
= 0.768), indicating a common molecular pathway. This study provides evidence for a prognostic clinical potential of the combined study of GAL-3 and CRIP-1 in endometrial cancer. These factors are poorly studied in endometrium, and their role in the carcinogenetic process and on effective therapy awaits further elucidation.
Background: Acute pancreatitis is associated with acute lung injury. The aim of the present study is to evaluate alterations of lungs in an experimental model of acute pancreatitis (AP) following ...both bilio-pancreatic duct obstruction close to the duodenum. Acute pancreatitis is a common disease with significant mortality. This situation makes the need of finding protective factors for the lung parenchyma, imperative. In the present study there is an effort to clarify the role of apigenin, a substance which is well known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, on lung injury, following acute pancreatitis in rats. Materials and methods: In the present study, 126 male Wistar-type rats 3-4 months old and 220-350 g weight were used. At time 0 we randomly assigned the following groups: Group Sham: Rats were subjected to virtual surgery. Group Control: Rats were subjected to surgery for induction of acute pancreatitis. Group Apigenin: Rats were subjected to surgery for induction of acute pancreatitis and enteral feeding with apigenin. Immunochemistry for TNF-α and IL-6 as well as MPO activity were measured at predetermined time intervals 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h, in order to evaluate architectural disturbances of the lung tissue. Results: From the pathological reports we realized that comparing the control group with the apigenin group, there is an improvement of lung tissue damage following apigenin administration, with statistical significance. Apigenin reduces most histopathological alterations of the pulmonary tissue, reduces MPO and TNF-α activity at 48 hours and, furthermore, reduces IL-6 activity at 72 hours post-administration. Conclusions: Oral Apigenin administration in rats, following experimental induced acute pancreatitis, seems to be protective on the lung tissue. Apigenin administration to humans could potentially ameliorate acute lung injuries. However, special caution is required for humans' use, as more detailed studies are needed.
The aim of this study is to assess any cerebral dysfunction in young children, who experienced febrile seizures, by means of magnetoencephalography. Our study population included 15 children (9 boys, ...6 girls) within the age range of 2 to 7 years. The magnetoencephalography data were recorded with a 122-channel biomagnetometer. Equivalent current dipoles were calculated for epileptic spikes on magnetoencephalography recordings according to the single dipole model. Of 15 children, 8 showed equivalent current dipoles that located at the left—temporal, right—temporal, occipital, and frontal lobe, as active regions responsible for febrile seizures. We assumed that the interictal epileptiform discharges are a consequence of febrile seizures. Of course, further study in a larger number of patients is needed to evaluate the exact role of the equivalent current dipoles, in young children, who experienced febrile seizures.
PDF
