Fluctuating Hemiparesis Secondary to Moyamoya Phenomenon in a Child with Down Syndrome: a case report

Moyamoya phenomenon is a term used to describe extensive collateralization of the circle of Willis arteries associated with severe unilateral or bilateral internal carotid artery stenosis or occlusion in the presence of certain conditions. Down syndrome is among these conditions. A case is reported of a young girl with Down syndrome who presented with fluctuating right-sided weakness and facial droop found to have cerebral ischemia. Subsequent investigations disclosed characteristic "puff of smoke" patterns on angiographic studies consistent with moyamoya phenomenon. The patient was initially treated with aspirin and eventually underwent an encephalomyosynangiosis. This young patient with Down syndrome and moyamoya phenomenon serves as a reminder of the association between these two conditions

The Minimum Backlog Problem

We study the minimum backlog problem (MBP). This online problem arises, e.g., in the context of sensor networks. We focus on two main variants of MBP. The discrete MBP is a 2-person game played on a graph $G=(V,E)$. The player is initially located at a vertex of the graph. In each time step, the adversary pours a total of one unit of water into cups that are located on the vertices of the graph, arbitrarily distributing the water among the cups. The player then moves from her current vertex to an adjacent vertex and empties the cup at that vertex. The player's objective is to minimize the backlog, i.e., the maximum amount of water in any cup at any time. The geometric MBP is a continuous-time version of the MBP: the cups are points in the two-dimensional plane, the adversary pours water continuously at a constant rate, and the player moves in the plane with unit speed. Again, the player's objective is to minimize the backlog. We show that the competitive ratio of any algorithm for the MBP has a lower bound of $\Omega(D)$, where $D$ is the diameter of the graph (for the discrete MBP) or the diameter of the point set (for the geometric MBP). Therefore we focus on determining a strategy for the player that guarantees a uniform upper bound on the absolute value of the backlog. For the absolute value of the backlog there is a trivial lower bound of $\Omega(D)$, and the deamortization analysis of Dietz and Sleator gives an upper bound of $O(D\log N)$ for $N$ cups. Our main result is a tight upper bound for the geometric MBP: we show that there is a strategy for the player that guarantees a backlog of $O(D)$, independently of the number of cups.Comment: 1+16 pages, 3 figure

PutidaNET: Interactome database service and network analysis of Pseudomonas putida KT2440

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Pseudomonas putida </it>KT2440 (<it>P. putida </it>KT2440) is a highly versatile saprophytic soil bacterium. It is a certified bio-safety host for transferring foreign genes. Therefore, the bacterium is used as a model organism for genetic and physiological studies and for the development of biotechnological applications. In order to provide a more systematic application of the organism, we have constructed a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis system of <it>P. putida </it>KT2440.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>PutidaNET is a comprehensive interaction database and server of <it>P. putida </it>KT2440 which is generated from three protein-protein interaction (PPI) methods. We used PSIMAP (Protein Structural Interactome MAP), PEIMAP (Protein Experimental Interactome MAP), and Domain-domain interactions using iPfam. PutidaNET contains 3,254 proteins, and 82,019 possible interactions consisting of 61,011 (PSIMAP), 4,293 (PEIMAP), and 30,043 (iPfam) interaction pairs except for self interaction. Also, we performed a case study by integrating a protein interaction network and experimental 1-DE/MS-MS analysis data <it>P. putida</it>. We found that 1) major functional modules are involved in various metabolic pathways and ribosomes, and 2) existing PPI sub-networks that are specific to succinate or benzoate metabolism are not in the center as predicted.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We introduce the PutidaNET which provides predicted interaction partners and functional analyses such as physicochemical properties, KEGG pathway assignment, and Gene Ontology mapping of <it>P. putida </it>KT2440 PutidaNET is freely available at <url>http://sequenceome.kobic.kr/PutidaNET</url>.</p

Exploiting inflammation for therapeutic gain in pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive malignancy associated with &#60;5% 5-year survival, in which standard chemotherapeutics have limited benefit. The disease is associated with significant intra- and peritumoral inflammation and failure of protective immunosurveillance. Indeed, inflammatory signals are implicated in both tumour initiation and tumour progression. The major pathways regulating PDAC-associated inflammation are now being explored. Activation of leukocytes, and upregulation of cytokine and chemokine signalling pathways, both have been shown to modulate PDAC progression. Therefore, targeting inflammatory pathways may be of benefit as part of a multi-target approach to PDAC therapy. This review explores the pathways known to modulate inflammation at different stages of tumour development, drawing conclusions on their potential as therapeutic targets in PDAC

Antimicrobial resistance profiles of bacteria associated with lower respiratory tract infections in cats and dogs in England.

BACKGROUND: Bacterial lower respiratory tract infections (bLRTIs) are common and potentially life threatening in cats and dogs. Antibiotic treatment is often initiated before the diagnosis of bLRTI; therefore improved knowledge of the aetiology and antibiotic susceptibility patterns of these infections is essential to inform empiric antibiotic choices. METHODS: A retrospective study of microbiological, cytological results and their drug susceptibilities from lower respiratory samples (n = 1989) processed in a UK commercial laboratory between 2002 and 2012 was carried out. RESULTS: Thirty-nine per cent of feline samples and 50% of canine samples were positive for bacterial growth with most yielding a single organism (72 % and 69%, respectively). Bordetella bronchiseptica (20.2% from dogs and 2.3% from cats), Pasteurella spp. (23.2%, 31.8%), E. coli (16.2%, 13.6%) and Pseudomonas spp. (11.1%, 11.4%) were most frequently isolated from cytologically positive samples which contained intracellular bacteria (10%, 14%). Amoxycillin-clavulanate, cephalothin, cefovecin, oxytetracycline and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole showed modest in vitro activity against E. coli from dogs (approximately 70% susceptibility). Pseudomonas spp. were resistant to enrofloxacin (50%), ticarcillin (25%) and marbofloxacin (13%) but showed lower or zero resistance to aminoglycosides (approximately 7%) and ciprofloxacin (0%). Multi drug resistance (acquired resistance to three or more antimicrobial drug classes) was particularly common among E. coli isolates, with 23% from feline samples and 43% from canine samples. CONCLUSION: Resistance to certain first-choice antibiotics was detected in bLRTIs highlighting the need for continued monitoring and sound evidence to inform decision-making in the management of these infections

Characterization of a multicenter pediatric-hydrocephalus shunt biobank

BACKGROUND: Pediatric hydrocephalus is a devastating and costly disease. The mainstay of treatment is still surgical shunting of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). These shunts fail at a high rate and impose a significant burden on patients, their families and society. The relationship between clinical decision making and shunt failure is poorly understood and multifaceted, but catheter occlusion remains the most frequent cause of shunt complications. In order to investigate factors that affect shunt failure, we have established the Wayne State University (WSU) shunt biobank. METHODS: To date, four hospital centers have contributed various components of failed shunts and CSF from patients diagnosed with hydrocephalus before adulthood. The hardware samples are transported in paraformaldehyde and transferred to phosphate-buffered saline with sodium azide upon deposit into the biobank. Once in the bank, they are then available for study. Informed consent is obtained by the local center before corresponding clinical data are entered into a REDCap database. Data such as hydrocephalus etiology and details of shunt revision history. All data are entered under a coded identifier. RESULTS: 293 shunt samples were collected from 228 pediatric patients starting from May 2015 to September 2019. We saw a significant difference in the number of revisions per patient between centers (Kruskal-Wallis H test, p value \u3c 0.001). The leading etiology at all centers was post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus, a fisher\u27s exact test showed there to be statistically significant differences in etiology between center (p = 0.01). Regression showed age (p \u3c 0.01), race (p = 0.038) and hospital-center (p \u3c 0.001) to explain significant variance in the number of revisions. Our model accounted for 31.9% of the variance in revisions. Generalized linear modeling showed hydrocephalus etiology (p \u3c 0.001), age (p \u3c 0.001), weight and physician (p \u3c 0.001) to impact the number of ventricular obstructions. CONCLUSION: The retrospective analysis identified that differences exist between currently enrolled centers, although further work is needed before clinically actionable recommendations can be made. Moreover, the variables collected from this chart review explain a meaningful amount of variance in the number of revision surgeries. Future work will expand on the contribution of different site-specific and patient-specific factors to identify potential cause and effect relationships

Transmission of NS5A-Inhibitor Resistance-Associated Substitutions among Men Who Have Sex with Men Recently Infected with Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 1a

The transmission of direct-acting antiviral resistance-associated substitutions (RAS) could hamper hepatitis C virus (HCV) cure rates and elimination efforts. A phylogenetic analysis of 87 men who have sex with men recently infected with HCV genotype 1a placed one-third (28/87) in a large cluster, in which 96% harbored NS5A M28V RAS.</p