A literature review on surgery for cervical vagal schwannomas

Cervical vagal schwannoma is a benign, slow-growing mass, often asymptomatic, with a very low lifetime risk of malignant transformation in general population, but diagnosis is still a challenge. Surgical resection is the treatment of choice even if its close relationship with nerve fibres, from which it arises, threats vagal nerve preservation. We present a case report and a systematic review of literature. All studies on surgical resection of cervical vagal schwannoma have been reviewed. Papers matching the inclusion criteria (topic on surgical removal of cervical vagal schwannoma, English language, full text available) were selected. Fifty-three patients with vagal neck schwannoma submitted to surgery were identified among 22 studies selected. Female/male ratio was 1.5 and median age 44 years. Median diameter was 5 cm (range 2 to 10). Most schwannoma were asymptomatic (68.2%) and received an intracapsular excision (64.9%). Postoperative symptoms were reported in 22.6% of patients. Cervical vagal schwannoma is a benign pathology requiring surgical excision, but frequently postoperative complications can affect patients lifelong, so, surgical indications should be based carefully on the balance between risks and benefits

Variation of DNA Fragmentation Levels During Density Gradient Sperm Selection for Assisted Reproduction Techniques: A Possible New Male Predictive Parameter of Pregnancy?

Predicting the outcome of in vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is one main goal of the present research on assisted reproduction. To understand whether density gradient centrifugation (DGC), used to select sperm, can affect sperm DNA integrity and impact pregnancy rate (PR), we prospectively evaluated sperm DNA fragmentation (sDF) by TUNEL/PI, before and after DGC. sDF was studied in a cohort of 90 infertile couples the same day of IVF/ICSI treatment. After DGC, sDF increased in 41 samples (Group A, median sDF value: 29.25% [interquartile range, IQR: 16.01–41.63] in pre- and 60.40% [IQR: 32.92–93.53] in post-DGC) and decreased in 49 (Group B, median sDF value: 18.84% [IQR: 13.70–35.47] in pre- and 8.98% [IQR: 6.24–15.58] in post-DGC). PR was 17.1% and 34.4% in Group A and B, respectively (odds ratio [OR]: 2.58, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.95–7.04, P = 0.056). After adjustment for female factor, female and male age and female BMI, the estimated OR increased to 3.12 (95% CI: 1.05–9.27, P = 0.041). According to the subgroup analysis for presence/absence of female factor, heterogeneity in the association between the Group A and B and PR emerged (OR: 4.22, 95% CI: 1.16–15.30 and OR: 1.53, 95% CI: 0.23–10.40, respectively, for couples without, n = 59, and with, n = 31, female factor). This study provides the first evidence that the DGC procedure produces an increase in sDF in about half of the subjects undergoing IVF/ICSI, who then show a much lower probability of pregnancy, raising concerns about the safety of this selection procedure. Evaluation of sDF before and after DGC configures as a possible new prognostic parameter of pregnancy outcome in IVF/ICSI. Alternative sperm selection strategies are recommended for those subjects who undergo the damage after DGC

Urinary ATP as an indicator of infection and inflammation of the urinary tract in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms

BACKGROUND: Adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) is a neurotransmitter and inflammatory cytokine implicated in the pathophysiology of lower urinary tract disease. ATP additionally reflects microbial biomass thus has potential as a surrogate marker of urinary tract infection (UTI). The optimum clinical sampling method for ATP urinalysis has not been established. We tested the potential of urinary ATP in the assessment of lower urinary tract symptoms, infection and inflammation, and validated sampling methods for clinical practice. METHODS: A prospective, blinded, cross-sectional observational study of adult patients presenting with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and asymptomatic controls, was conducted between October 2009 and October 2012. Urinary ATP was assayed by a luciferin-luciferase method, pyuria counted by microscopy of fresh unspun urine and symptoms assessed using validated questionnaires. The sample collection, storage and processing methods were also validated. RESULTS: 75 controls and 340 patients with LUTS were grouped as without pyuria (n = 100), pyuria 1-9 wbc ?l(-1) (n = 120) and pyuria ?10 wbc ?l(-1) (n = 120). Urinary ATP was higher in association with female gender, voiding symptoms, pyuria greater than 10 wbc ?l(-1) and negative MSU culture. ROC curve analysis showed no evidence of diagnostic test potential. The urinary ATP signal decayed with storage at 23°C but was prevented by immediate freezing at ??-20°C, without boric acid preservative and without the need to centrifuge urine prior to freezing. CONCLUSIONS: Urinary ATP may have a role as a research tool but is unconvincing as a surrogate, clinical diagnostic marker

Targeting molecular networks for drug research.

The study of molecular networks has recently moved into the limelight of biomedical research. While it has certainly provided us with plenty of new insights into cellular mechanisms, the challenge now is how to modify or even restructure these networks. This is especially true for human diseases, which can be regarded as manifestations of distorted states of molecular networks. Of the possible interventions for altering networks, the use of drugs is presently the most feasible. In this mini-review, we present and discuss some exemplary approaches of how analysis of molecular interaction networks can contribute to pharmacology (e.g., by identifying new drug targets or prediction of drug side effects), as well as list pointers to relevant resources and software to guide future research. We also outline recent progress in the use of drugs for in vitro reprogramming of cells, which constitutes an example par excellence for altering molecular interaction networks with drugs

The Fungal Cell Wall : Structure, Biosynthesis, and Function

N.G. is funded by the Wellcome Trust via a senior investigator award and a strategic award and by the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology. C.M. acknowledges the support of the Wellcome Trust and the MRC. N.G. and C.M. are part of the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology. J.P.L. acknowledges support from ANR, Aviesan, and FRM.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Pioneer Anomaly

Radio-metric Doppler tracking data received from the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft from heliocentric distances of 20-70 AU has consistently indicated the presence of a small, anomalous, blue-shifted frequency drift uniformly changing with a rate of ~6 x 10^{-9} Hz/s. Ultimately, the drift was interpreted as a constant sunward deceleration of each particular spacecraft at the level of a_P = (8.74 +/- 1.33) x 10^{-10} m/s^2. This apparent violation of the Newton's gravitational inverse-square law has become known as the Pioneer anomaly; the nature of this anomaly remains unexplained. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of the physical properties of the anomaly and the conditions that led to its detection and characterization. We review various mechanisms proposed to explain the anomaly and discuss the current state of efforts to determine its nature. A comprehensive new investigation of the anomalous behavior of the two Pioneers has begun recently. The new efforts rely on the much-extended set of radio-metric Doppler data for both spacecraft in conjunction with the newly available complete record of their telemetry files and a large archive of original project documentation. As the new study is yet to report its findings, this review provides the necessary background for the new results to appear in the near future. In particular, we provide a significant amount of information on the design, operations and behavior of the two Pioneers during their entire missions, including descriptions of various data formats and techniques used for their navigation and radio-science data analysis. As most of this information was recovered relatively recently, it was not used in the previous studies of the Pioneer anomaly, but it is critical for the new investigation.Comment: 165 pages, 40 figures, 16 tables; accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativit

A Differential Network Approach to Exploring Differences between Biological States: An Application to Prediabetes

Background: Variations in the pattern of molecular associations are observed during disease development. The comprehensive analysis of molecular association patterns and their changes in relation to different physiological conditions can yield insight into the biological basis of disease-specific phenotype variation. Methodology: Here, we introduce a formal statistical method for the differential analysis of molecular associations via network representation. We illustrate our approach with extensive data on lipoprotein subclasses measured by NMR spectroscopy in 4,406 individuals with normal fasting glucose, and 531 subjects with impaired fasting glucose (prediabetes). We estimate the pair-wise association between measures using shrinkage estimates of partial correlations and build the differential network based on this measure of association. We explore the topological properties of the inferred network to gain insight into important metabolic differences between individuals with normal fasting glucose and prediabetes. Conclusions/Significance: Differential networks provide new insights characterizing differences in biological states. Based on conventional statistical methods, few differences in concentration levels of lipoprotein subclasses were found between individuals with normal fasting glucose and individuals with prediabetes. By performing the differential analysis of networks, several characteristic changes in lipoprotein metabolism known to be related to diabetic dyslipidemias were identified. The results demonstrate the applicability of the new approach to identify key molecular changes inaccessible to standard approaches