Subcortical nuclei volumes are associated with cognition in children post-convulsive status epilepticus: Results at nine years follow-up

PURPOSE: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between subcortical nuclei volume and cognition in children with post-convulsive status epilepticus (CSE). METHODS: Structural T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans (Siemens Avanto, 1.5 T) and neuropsychological assessments (full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) and Global Memory Scores (GMS)) were collected from subjects at a mean 8.5 years post-CSE (prolonged febrile seizures (PFS), n = 30; symptomatic/known, n = 28; and other, n = 12) and from age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC). Subjects with CSE were stratified into those with lower cognitive ability (LCA) (CSE+, n = 22) and those without (CSE-, n = 48). Quantitative volumetric analysis using Functional MRI of the Brain Software Library (FSL) (Analysis Group, FMRIB, Oxford) provided segmented MRI brain volumes. Univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed to compare subcortical nuclei volumes across subgroups. Multivariable linear regression was performed for each subcortical structure and for total subcortical volume (SCV) to identify significant predictors of LCA (FSIQ <85) while adjusting for etiology, age, socioeconomic status, sex, CSE duration, and intracranial volume (ICV); Bonferroni correction was applied for the analysis of individual subcortical nuclei. RESULTS: Seventy subjects (11.8 ± 3.4 standard deviation (SD) years; 34 males) and 72 controls (12.1 ± 3.0SD years; 29 males) underwent analysis. Significantly smaller volumes of the left thalamus, left caudate, right caudate, and SCV were found in subjects with CSE+ compared with HC, after adjustment for intracranial, gray matter (GM), or cortical/cerebellar volume. When compared with subjects with CSE-, subjects with CSE+ also had smaller volumes of the left thalamus, left pallidum, right pallidum, and SCV. Individual subcortical nuclei were not associated, but SCV was associated with FSIQ (p = 0.005) and GMS (p = 0.014). Intracranial volume and etiology were similarly predictive. CONCLUSIONS: Nine years post-CSE, SCV is significantly lower in children who have LCA compared with those that do not. However, in this cohort, we are unable to determine whether the relationship is independent of ICV or etiology. Future, larger scale studies may help tease this out

Amorphous metal-organic frameworks for drug delivery.

We report the encapsulation of the hydrophilic model molecule calcein in the Zr-based MOF UiO-66, followed by amorphization of the framework by ball-milling. We show controlled release of calcein over more than 30 days, compared with the 2 day release period from crystalline UiO-66.C.A.O. thanks Becas Chile and the Cambridge Trust for funding. T.D.B. thanks Trinity Hall (University of Cambridge) for funding. D.F.-J. thanks the Royal Society (UK) for funding through a University Research Fellowship. A.K.C is grateful to the European Research Council for an Advanced Investigator Award.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the Royal Society of Chemistry at http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C5CC05237

Video enhancement using adaptive spatio-temporal connective filter and piecewise mapping

This paper presents a novel video enhancement system based on an adaptive spatio-temporal connective (ASTC) noise filter and an adaptive piecewise mapping function (APMF). For ill-exposed videos or those with much noise, we first introduce a novel local image statistic to identify impulse noise pixels, and then incorporate it into the classical bilateral filter to form ASTC, aiming to reduce the mixture of the most two common types of noises - Gaussian and impulse noises in spatial and temporal directions. After noise removal, we enhance the video contrast with APMF based on the statistical information of frame segmentation results. The experiment results demonstrate that, for diverse low-quality videos corrupted by mixed noise, underexposure, overexposure, or any mixture of the above, the proposed system can automatically produce satisfactory results

Complete chloroplast genome sequence of Holoparasite Cistanche Deserticola (Orobanchaceae) reveals gene loss and horizontal gene transfer from Its host Haloxylon Ammodendron (Chenopodiaceae)

The central function of chloroplasts is to carry out photosynthesis, and its gene content and structure are highly conserved across land plants. Parasitic plants, which have reduced photosynthetic ability, suffer gene losses from the chloroplast (cp) genome accompanied by the relaxation of selective constraints. Compared with the rapid rise in the number of cp genome sequences of photosynthetic organisms, there are limited data sets from parasitic plants. The authors report the complete sequence of the cp genome of Cistanche deserticola, a holoparasitic desert species belonging to the family Orobanchaceae

Repeatability of IVIM biomarkers from diffusion-weighted MRI in head and neck:Bayesian probability versus neural network

Purpose: The intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) model for DWI might provide useful biomarkers for disease management in head and neck cancer. This study compared the repeatability of three IVIM fitting methods to the conventional nonlinear least-squares regression: Bayesian probability estimation, a recently introduced neural network approach, IVIM-NET, and a version of the neural network modified to increase consistency, IVIM-NETmod. Methods: Ten healthy volunteers underwent two imaging sessions of the neck, two weeks apart, with two DWI acquisitions per session. Model parameters (ADC, diffusion coefficient (Formula presented.), perfusion fraction (Formula presented.), and pseudo-diffusion coefficient (Formula presented.)) from each fit method were determined in the tonsils and in the pterygoid muscles. Within-subject coefficients of variation (wCV) were calculated to assess repeatability. Training of the neural network was repeated 100 times with random initialization to investigate consistency, quantified by the coefficient of variance. Results: The Bayesian and neural network approaches outperformed nonlinear regression in terms of wCV. Intersession wCV of (Formula presented.) in the tonsils was 23.4% for nonlinear regression, 9.7% for Bayesian estimation, 9.4% for IVIM-NET, and 11.2% for IVIM-NETmod. However, results from repeated training of the neural network on the same data set showed differences in parameter estimates: The coefficient of variances over the 100 repetitions for IVIM-NET were 15% for both (Formula presented.) and (Formula presented.), and 94% for (Formula presented.); for IVIM-NETmod, these values improved to 5%, 9%, and 62%, respectively. Conclusion: Repeatabilities from the Bayesian and neural network approaches are superior to that of nonlinear regression for estimating IVIM parameters in the head and neck

HIV Drug Resistance (HIVDR) in Antiretroviral Therapy-Naïve Patients in Tanzania Not Eligible for WHO Threshold HIVDR Survey Is Dramatically High

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended guidelines for a HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) survey for resource-limited countries. Eligibility criteria for patients include age below 25 years in order to focus on the prevalence of transmitted HIVDR (tHIVDR) in newly-infected individuals. Most of the participating sites across Africa have so far reported tHIVDR prevalences of below 5%. In this study we investigated whether the rate of HIVDR in patients <25 years is representative for HIVDR in the rest of the therapy-naïve population. HIVDR was determined in 88 sequentially enrolled ART-naïve patients from Mwanza, Tanzania (mean age 35.4 years). Twenty patients were aged <25 years and 68 patients were aged 25-63 years. The frequency of HIVDR in the study population was 14.8% (95%; CI 0.072-0.223) and independent of NVP-resistance induced by prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs. Patients >25 years had a significantly higher HIVDR frequency than younger patients (19.1%; 95% CI 0.095-0.28) versus 0%, P = 0.0344). In 2 out of the 16 patients with HIVDR we found traces of antiretrovirals (ARVs) in plasma. ART-naïve patients aged over 25 years exhibited significantly higher HIVDR than younger patients. Detection of traces of ARVs in individuals with HIVDR suggests that besides transmission, undisclosed misuse of ARVs may constitute a significant factor in the generation of the observed high HIVDR rate. The current WHO tHIVDR survey that is solely focused on the transmission of HIVDR and that excludes patients over 25 years of age may therefore result in substantial underestimation of the prevalence of HIVDR in the therapy-naïve population. Similar studies should be performed also in other areas to test whether the so far reported optimistic picture of low HIVDR prevalence in young individuals is really representative for the rest of the ART-naïve HIV-infected population

Discriminating neutrino mass models using Type II seesaw formula

In this paper we propose a kind of natural selection which can discriminate the three possible neutrino mass models, namely the degenerate, inverted hierarchical and normal hierarchical models, using the framework of Type II seesaw formula. We arrive at a conclusion that the inverted hierarchical model appears to be most favourable whereas the normal hierarchical model follows next to it. The degenerate model is found to be most unfavourable. We use the hypothesis that those neutrino mass models in which Type I seesaw term dominates over the Type II left-handed Higgs triplet term are favoured to survive in nature.Comment: No change in the results, a few references added, some changes in Type[IIB] calculation

Better Palliative Care for people with a Dementia: Summary of InterdisciplinaryWorkshop Highlighting Current Gaps and Recommendations for Future Research

Background: Dementia is the most common neurological disorder worldwide and is a life-limiting condition, but very often is not recognised as such. People with dementia, and their carers, have been shown to have palliative care needs equal in extent to those of cancer patients. However, many people with advanced dementia are not routinely being assessed to determine their palliative care needs, and it is not clear why this is so. Main body: An interdisciplinary workshop on "Palliative Care in Neurodegeneration, with a focus on Dementia", was held in Cork, Ireland, in May 2016. The key aim of this workshop was to discuss the evidence base for palliative care for people with dementia, to identify 'gaps' for clinical research, and to make recommendations for interdisciplinary research practice. To lead the discussion throughout the day a multidisciplinary panel of expert speakers were brought together, including both researchers and clinicians from across Ireland and the UK. Targeted invitations were sent to attendees ensuring all key stakeholders were present to contribute to discussions. In total, 49 experts representing 17 different academic and practice settings, attended. Key topics for discussion were pre-selected based on previously identified research priorities (e.g. James Lind Alliance) and stakeholder input. Key discussion topics included: i. Advance Care Planning for people with Dementia; ii. Personhood in End-of-life Dementia care; iii. Topics in the care of advanced dementia at home. These topics were used as a starting point, and the ethos of the workshop was that the attendees could stimulate discussion and debate in any relevant area, not just the key topics, summarised under iv. Other priorities. Conclusions: The care experienced by people with dementia and their families has the potential to be improved; palliative care frameworks may have much to offer in this endeavour. However, a solid evidence base is required to translate palliative care into practice in the context of dementia. This paper presents suggested research priorities as a starting point to build this evidence base. An interdisciplinary approach to research and priority setting is essential to develop actionable knowledge in this area