Role of ABCB1 C3435T variant in response to antiepileptic drugs in epilepsy: a review

Over-expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), the encoded product of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC), sub-family B, member 1 (ABCB1/MDR1) gene, plays an important role in mediating multidrug resistance to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in about 30% of patients with epilepsy. Genetic variation may in part explain inter-individual differences in phenotype-genotype relationships in the pharmacological response of epilepsy patients to AEDs. The synonymous C3435T polymorphism is one of the most common allelic variants in the ABCB1/MDR1 gene, proposed in the causation of refractory epilepsy. Many studies have shown the relationship between C3435T polymorphism and refractoriness to AEDs in epilepsy. However, there is controversy between the findings of various studies, that is, whether ABCB1/MDR1 C3435T gene polymorphism is associated with response to AEDs in epilepsy patients. This review provides a background and discusses the results of investigations on possible confounding factors affecting the interpretation and implementation of association studies in this area

Spin texture and magnetoroton excitations at nu=1/3

Neutral spin texture (ST) excitations at nu=1/3 are directly observed for the first time by resonant inelastic light scattering. They are determined to involve two simultaneous spin flips. At low magnetic fields, the ST energy is below that of the magnetoroton minimum. With increasing in-plane magnetic field these mode energies cross at a critical ratio of the Zeeman and Coulomb energies of eta(c)=0.020 +/- 0.001. Surprisingly, the intensity of the ST mode grows with temperature in the range in which the magnetoroton modes collapse. The temperature dependence is interpreted in terms of a competition between coexisting phases supporting different excitations. We consider the role of the ST excitations in activated transport at nu=1/3

Superconductivity. Quasiparticle mass enhancement approaching optimal doping in a high-T(c) superconductor.

In the quest for superconductors with higher transition temperatures (T(c)), one emerging motif is that electronic interactions favorable for superconductivity can be enhanced by fluctuations of a broken-symmetry phase. Recent experiments have suggested the existence of the requisite broken-symmetry phase in the high-T(c) cuprates, but the impact of such a phase on the ground-state electronic interactions has remained unclear. We used magnetic fields exceeding 90 tesla to access the underlying metallic state of the cuprate YBa2Cu3O(6+δ) over a wide range of doping, and observed magnetic quantum oscillations that reveal a strong enhancement of the quasiparticle effective mass toward optimal doping. This mass enhancement results from increasing electronic interactions approaching optimal doping, and suggests a quantum critical point at a hole doping of p(crit) ≈ 0.18.This work is supported by the US Department of Energy BES \Science at 100 T," the National Science Foundation, the State of Florida, the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. S.E.S. ac- knowledges support from the Royal Society and the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agree- ment no. 337425.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available at http://www.sciencemag.org/content/348/6232/317.abstract?sid=a882093c-ded2-481c-b62b-2f79a56b5689

Influence of curing on pore properties and strength of alkali activated mortars

The paper investigates the effect of wet/dry, wet and dry curing on the pore properties and strength of an alkali activated cementitious (AACM) mortar. The pore characteristics were determined from the cumulative and differential pore volume curves obtained by mercury intrusion porosimetry. AACM mortars possess a bimodal pore size distribution while the control PC mortar is unimodal. AACM mortars have a lower porosity, higher capillary pore volume, lower gel pore volume and lower critical and threshold pore diameters than the PC mortar which indicate greater durability potential of AACMs. Wet/dry curing is optimum for AACM mortars while wet curing is optimum for the PC mortar. Shrinkage and retarding admixtures improve the strength and pore structure of the AACMs

Fragile charge order in the nonsuperconducting ground state of the underdoped high-temperature superconductors.

The normal state in the hole underdoped copper oxide superconductors has proven to be a source of mystery for decades. The measurement of a small Fermi surface by quantum oscillations on suppression of superconductivity by high applied magnetic fields, together with complementary spectroscopic measurements in the hole underdoped copper oxide superconductors, point to a nodal electron pocket from charge order in YBa2Cu3(6+δ). Here, we report quantum oscillation measurements in the closely related stoichiometric material YBa2Cu4O8, which reveals similar Fermi surface properties to YBa2Cu3(6+δ), despite the nonobservation of charge order signatures in the same spectroscopic techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, that revealed signatures of charge order in YBa2Cu3(6+δ). Fermi surface reconstruction in YBa2Cu4O8 is suggested to occur from magnetic field enhancement of charge order that is rendered fragile in zero magnetic fields because of its potential unconventional nature and/or its occurrence as a subsidiary to more robust underlying electronic correlations.B.T., A.S, and S.E.S. acknowledge support from the Royal Society, the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability, and the European Research Council under the European Unions Seventh Framework Programme (grant number FP/2007-2013)/ ERC Grant Agreement number 337425. N.H., Z.Z., F.F.B., and B.J.R. acknowl- edge support for high-magnetic-field experiments from the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, BES- MSE `Science of 100 Tesla' programme. G.G.L. acknowl- edges support from EPSRC grant EP/K012894/1. Work at NIU was supported by The Institute for Nanoscience, Engineering, and Technology - InSET. A portion of this work was performed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, which is supported by NSF co-operative agreement number DMR-0654118, the state of Florida, and the DOE. We are grateful for the experimental assis- tance provided by National High Magnetic Field Labora- tory personnel, including J. B. Betts, Y. Coulter, M. Gor- don, C. H. Mielke, A. Parish, R. McDonald, D. Rickel, and D. Roybal.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the National Academy of Sciences via http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.150416411

Enzyme‐assisted aqueous extraction of Kalahari melon seed oil: optimization using response surface methodology

Enzymatic extraction of oil from Kalahari melon seeds was investigated and evaluated by response surface methodology (RSM). Two commercial protease enzyme products were used separately: Neutrase® 0.8 L and Flavourzyme® 1000 L from Novozymes (Bagsvaerd, Denmark). RSM was applied to model and optimize the reaction conditions namely concentration of enzyme (20–50 g kg−1 of seed mass), initial pH of mixture (pH 5–9), incubation temperature (40–60 °C), and incubation time (12–36 h). Well fitting models were successfully established for both enzymes: Neutrase 0.8 L (R 2 = 0.9410) and Flavourzyme 1000 L (R 2 = 0.9574) through multiple linear regressions with backward elimination. Incubation time was the most significant reaction factor on oil yield for both enzymes. The optimal conditions for Neutrase 0.8 L were: an enzyme concentration of 25 g kg−1, an initial pH of 7, a temperature at 58 °C and an incubation time of 31 h with constant shaking at 100 rpm. Centrifuging the mixture at 8,000g for 20 min separated the oil with a recovery of 68.58 ± 3.39%. The optimal conditions for Flavourzyme 1000 L were enzyme concentration of 21 g kg−1, initial pH of 6, temperature at 50 °C and incubation time of 36 h. These optimum conditions yielded a 71.55 ± 1.28% oil recovery

Recurrent Otorrhea in A Child: Early Sign of Temporal Bone Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare disease of dendritic origin with uncertain etiology, with predilection in children. A 1-year 6-month girl with history of recurrent otorrhea, presented with mass in the ear canal and computed tomography imaging showed expansile lytic bony lesion in right mastoid with eroded ossicles. Subsequently, histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of LCH and chemotherapy was successfully commenced with complete resolution of symptoms. LCH with ear involvement are usually mistaken as other acute or chronic ear disease such as chronic otitis media or mastoiditis. Hence, in children with recurrent otorrhea with ear canal mass, with or without facial nerve palsy, LCH should be considered as one of the differential diagnosis

Accuracy of Touch Preparation versus Frozen Section for Intraoperative Diagnosis of Sentinel Lymph Node Metastases in Breast Cancer with Emphasis on Micrometastases

The sensitivity of intraoperative diagnosis of sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastases in breast cancer is variably low. The purpose of this study was to review the pros and cons of frozen section (FS) and touch preparation (TP) methods, particularly in micrometastases. Intraoperative TP or FS was performed on the SLN of consecutive breast cancer patients from 2007 to 2009. Sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy of detecting positive SLNs were calculated for FS and TP groups. There were 396 patients with SLN biopsy. 124 (31.3 %) patients had at least one positive SLN. A total of 1270 lymph nodes were examined intraoperatively, 133 with FS and 1137 with TP. FS was significantly more sensitive than TP, 82.6% and 49.6%, respectively (p<0.0001). There were a total of 57 SLNs with micrometastases. FS was performed on 10 and TP on 47. The sensitivity of FS was 50% and for TP, 19.3% (p<0.0001). Of the 10 positive SLNs using FS, 3 were negative on permanent sections (PS). We conclude that FS is superior to TP as a method of detecting micrometastases in SLNs. However, a significant subset of patients who had positive SLNs on FS became negative on PS.  This raises the possibility that some negative SLNs on FS might have been understaged.