Epilepsia benigna infantil com pontas centro-temporais: análise quantitativa do EEG de alta densidade

A Epilepsia Infantil com Pontas Centro-temporais (EBIPC) é a síndrome epiléptica mais frequente na infância. A International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) classifica esta doença como sendo uma Epilepsia benigna focal idiopática, relacionada com a idade e de origem focal. Esta síndrome surge tipicamente entre os 3 e os 13 anos de idade, sendo que a sua remissão ocorre habitualmente na puberdade, por este motivo é considerada uma epilepsia benigna. O electroencefalograma (EEG) é um exame indispensável ao diagnóstico da epilepsia. No caso da EBIPC, o EEG inter-crítico mostra, para além de uma actividade de base normal, paroxismos epilépticos centro-temporais (região Rolândica) típicos, habitualmente visualizadas nos eléctrodos centrais (à volta de C3, C4, Cz), bem como, temporais médios (T3, T4,) com o envolvimento ocasional dos eléctrodos frontais (F3 e F4), temporais posteriores (T5 e T6) e parietais (P3 e P4). O EEG quantitativo (EEGq) permite uma análise mais detalhada e com maior grau de sensibilidade dos componentes do sinal. O que difere o EEG do EEGq é, neste último, depois de serem seleccionados os períodos a serem estudados, é realizada a transformada de Fourier, decompondo o sinal nas diversas frequências que o compõe. Nesta investigação, abordam-se parâmetros quantitativos do electroencefalograma em crianças com epilepsia benigna infantil com pontas centro-temporais (EBIPC). Foram estudadas 6 crianças com diagnóstico de epilepsia Rolândica. Foi realizado o electroencefalograma durante a vigília e o sono e seleccionadas cerca de 10 janelas com 2 segundos. Foram calculados valores de potência absoluta na faixa gama. A potência absoluta foi significativamente menor no hemisfério com pontas centro-temporais relativamente ao hemisfério sem pontas centro-temporais. Estes resultados revelam alterações da actividade de base na banda gama que podem indicar disfunção no hemisfério com pontas centro-temporais.Childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (EBIPC) is the most common epilepsy syndrome in childhood. The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) classifies this disease as being a focal benign idiopathic epilepsy, related to age and of focal origin. This syndrome typically appears between 3 and 13 years of age, and the remission usually occurs at puberty, for this reason is considered benign epilepsy. The electroencephalogram (EEG) is a crucial exam for the diagnosis of epilepsy. In the case of EBIPC, the inter-critical EEG shows, in addition to a normal background activity, epileptic centrotemporal typical paroxysms (rolandic region), usually seen in the central electrodes (around C3, C4, Cz) as well as middle temporal (T3, T4) with the occasional involvement of the frontal electrodes (F3 and F4), posterior temporal (T5 and T6) and parietal (P3 and P4). The quantitative EEG (EEGq) provides a detailed analysis and greater degree of sensitivity of the signal components. What distinguishes the EEG from EEGq is that, in the latter, after selecting periods to be studied, the Fourier transform is applied, decomposing the signal in different frequencies that comprise it. In this research, we discuss the parameters of the EEGq in children with EBIPC. We studied six children with rolandic epilepsy. EEG was performed during vigil and sleep and about 10 windows with 2 seconds were selected. Values of absolute power were calculated in the band of range. The absolute power was significantly lower in the hemisphere with centrotemporal spikes in relation to the hemisphere without centrotemporal spikes. These results demonstrate alterations in the basal activity on the gamma band which may indicate dysfunction in HcPCT

SARS-CoV-2 introductions and early dynamics of the epidemic in Portugal

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal was rapidly implemented by the National Institute of Health in the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic, in collaboration with more than 50 laboratories distributed nationwide. Methods By applying recent phylodynamic models that allow integration of individual-based travel history, we reconstructed and characterized the spatio-temporal dynamics of SARSCoV-2 introductions and early dissemination in Portugal. Results We detected at least 277 independent SARS-CoV-2 introductions, mostly from European countries (namely the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland), which were consistent with the countries with the highest connectivity with Portugal. Although most introductions were estimated to have occurred during early March 2020, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 was silently circulating in Portugal throughout February, before the first cases were confirmed. Conclusions Here we conclude that the earlier implementation of measures could have minimized the number of introductions and subsequent virus expansion in Portugal. This study lays the foundation for genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal, and highlights the need for systematic and geographically-representative genomic surveillance.We gratefully acknowledge to Sara Hill and Nuno Faria (University of Oxford) and Joshua Quick and Nick Loman (University of Birmingham) for kindly providing us with the initial sets of Artic Network primers for NGS; Rafael Mamede (MRamirez team, IMM, Lisbon) for developing and sharing a bioinformatics script for sequence curation (https://github.com/rfm-targa/BioinfUtils); Philippe Lemey (KU Leuven) for providing guidance on the implementation of the phylodynamic models; Joshua L. Cherry (National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) for providing guidance with the subsampling strategies; and all authors, originating and submitting laboratories who have contributed genome data on GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org/) on which part of this research is based. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States government. This study is co-funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica (234_596874175) on behalf of the Research 4 COVID-19 call. Some infrastructural resources used in this study come from the GenomePT project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184), supported by COMPETE 2020 - Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa2020), Algarve Portugal Regional Operational Programme (CRESC Algarve2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved