Stereotaxic gamma knife surgery in treatment of critically located pilocytic astrocytoma: preliminary result

BACKGROUND: Low-grade gliomas are uncommon primary brain tumors, located more often in the posterior fossa, optic pathway, and brain stem and less commonly in the cerebral hemispheres. CASE PRESENTATIONS: Two patients with diagnosed recurrent cystic pilocytic astrocytoma critically located within the brain (thalamic and brain stem) were treated with gamma knife surgery. Gamma knife surgery (GKS) did improve the patient's clinical condition very much which remained stable later on. Progressive reduction on the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of the solid part of the tumor and almost disappearance of the cystic component was achieved within the follow-up period of 36 months in the first case with the (thalamic located lesion) and 22 months in the second case with the (brain stem located lesion). CONCLUSION: Gamma knife surgery represents an alternate tool in the treatment of recurrent and/or small postoperative residual pilocytic astrocytoma especially if they are critically locate

Doksisiklin sebagai Inhibitor Mmp-2 dan Mmp-9 pada Dermatitis Paederus dengan Metode Gelatin Zimografi

Tomcat (Paederus sp.) venom can bring a condition called dermaconecrosis. Initially, paederin toxins was thought that come from the body of Tomcat (Paederus sp.). However, based on Piel's research, the genes come from biosynthesis of tomcat (Paederus sp.) venom is more approach to Pseudomonas aeruginosa genes than body itself. In other fact, Pseudomonas aeruginosa can secrete enzymes metalloprotease (MMP), especially extracellular MMP-2 and MMP-9. MMP-2 and MMP-9 are gelatinase that can destroy the gelatin on human skin. There has been no previous report about the treatment of dermatitis paederus based on the mechanism of action except for the use of corticosteroids as symptomatic drugs. Because of that, researcher hypotheses that MMP-2 and MMP-9 have a role on dermatitis paederus and doxycycline can inhibit that process as MMP inhibitor and antibiotics component. The research design is quasi-experimental research, in vitro with a post-test only control group design. The research steps are Tomcat (Paederus sp.) venom extraction, doxycycline solution preparation, and electrophoresis of gelatin zymografi. The independent variables are induction of Tomcat (paederin sp.) venom and the doses of doxycycline, while the dependent variable is the density of the gel. Gel density was measured using densitometry software ImageJ and calibrated as optical density. This study describes the first time the mechanism Paederus dermatitis caused by MMP-2 and MMP-9, so that the first line of therapy that can be used is doxycycline with an effective dose of 10 mM in vitro

Microarray detection of human parainfluenzavirus 4 infection associated with respiratory failure in an immunocompetent adult.

A pan-viral DNA microarray, the Virochip (University of California, San Francisco), was used to detect human parainfluenzavirus 4 (HPIV-4) infection in an immunocompetent adult presenting with a life-threatening acute respiratory illness. The virus was identified in an endotracheal aspirate specimen, and the microarray results were confirmed by specific polymerase chain reaction and serological analysis for HPIV-4. Conventional clinical laboratory testing using an extensive panel of microbiological tests failed to yield a diagnosis. This case suggests that the potential severity of disease caused by HPIV-4 in adults may be greater than previously appreciated and illustrates the clinical utility of a microarray for broad-based viral pathogen screening

The Structure of the [Zn_In - V_P] Defect Complex in Zn Doped InP

We study the structure, the formation and binding energies and the transfer levels of the zinc-phosphorus vacancy complex [Zn_In - V_P] in Zn doped p-type InP, as a function of the charge, using plane wave ab initio DFT-LDA calculations in a 64 atom supercell. We find a binding energy of 0.39 eV for the complex, which is neutral in p-type material, the 0/-1 transfer level lying 0.50 eV above the valence band edge, all in agreement with recent positron annihilation experiments. This indicates that, whilst the formation of phosphorus vacancies (V_P) may be involved in carrier compensation in heavily Zn doped material, the formation of Zn-vacancy complexes is not. Regarding the structure: for charge states Q=+6 to -4 the Zn atom is in an sp^2 bonded DX position and electrons added/removed go to/come from the remaining dangling bonds on the triangle of In atoms. This reduces the effective vacancy volume monatonically as electrons are added to the complex, also in agreement with experiment. The reduction occurs through a combination of increased In-In bonding and increased Zn-In electrostatic attraction. In addition, for certain charge states we find complex Jahn-Teller behaviour in which up to three different structures, (with the In triangle dimerised, antidimerised or symmetric) are stable and are close to degenerate. We are able to predict and successfully explain the structural behaviour of this complex using a simple tight binding model.Comment: 10 pages text (postscript) plus 8 figures (jpeg). Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Ground-state properties of rutile: electron-correlation effects

Electron-correlation effects on cohesive energy, lattice constant and bulk compressibility of rutile are calculated using an ab-initio scheme. A competition between the two groups of partially covalent Ti-O bonds is the reason that the correlation energy does not change linearly with deviations from the equilibrium geometry, but is dominated by quadratic terms instead. As a consequence, the Hartree-Fock lattice constants are close to the experimental ones, while the compressibility is strongly renormalized by electronic correlations.Comment: 1 figure to appear in Phys. Rev.

Ab initio density functional investigation of B_24 cluster: Rings, Tubes, Planes, and Cages

We investigate the equilibrium geometries and the systematics of bonding in various isomers of a 24-atom boron cluster using Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics within the framework of density functional theory. The isomers studied are the rings, the convex and the quasiplanar structures, the tubes and, the closed structures. A staggered double-ring is found to be the most stable structure amongst the isomers studied. Our calculations reveal that a 24-atom boron cluster does form closed 3-d structures. All isomers show staggered arrangement of nearest neighbor atoms. Such a staggering facilitates $sp^2$ hybridization in boron cluster. A polarization of bonds between the peripheral atoms in the ring and the planar isomers is also seen. Finally, we discuss the fusion of two boron icosahedra. We find that the fusion occurs when the distance between the two icosahedra is less than a critical distance of about 6.5a.u.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures in jpeg format Editorially approved for publication in Phys. Rev.

Crystal Undulator As A Novel Compact Source Of Radiation

A crystalline undulator (CU) with periodically deformed crystallographic planes is capable of deflecting charged particles with the same strength as an equivalent magnetic field of 1000 T and could provide quite a short period L in the sub-millimeter range. We present an idea for creation of a CU and report its first realization. One face of a silicon crystal was given periodic micro-scratches (grooves), with a period of 1 mm, by means of a diamond blade. The X-ray tests of the crystal deformation have shown that a sinusoidal-like shape of crystalline planes goes through the bulk of the crystal. This opens up the possibility for experiments with high-energy particles channeled in CU, a novel compact source of radiation. The first experiment on photon emission in CU has been started at LNF with 800 MeV positrons aiming to produce 50 keV undulator photons.Comment: Presented at PAC 2003 (Portland, May 12-16

Ground states of unfrustrated spin Hamiltonians satisfy an area law

We show that ground states of unfrustrated quantum spin-1/2 systems on general lattices satisfy an entanglement area law, provided that the Hamiltonian can be decomposed into nearest-neighbor interaction terms which have entangled excited states. The ground state manifold can be efficiently described as the image of a low-dimensional subspace of low Schmidt measure, under an efficiently contractible tree-tensor network. This structure gives rise to the possibility of efficiently simulating the complete ground space (which is in general degenerate). We briefly discuss "non-generic" cases, including highly degenerate interactions with product eigenbases, using a relationship to percolation theory. We finally assess the possibility of using such tree tensor networks to simulate almost frustration-free spin models.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, small corrections, added a referenc