Application of Spatial Modulation of Magnetization to Cervical Spinal Stenosis for Evaluation of the Hydrodynamic Changes Occurring in Cerebrospinal Fluid

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the hydrodynamic changes occurring in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow in cervical spinal stenosis using the spatial modulation of magnetization (SPAMM) technique. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using the SPAMM technique, 44 patients with cervical spinal stenosis and ten healthy volunteers were investigated. The degree of cervical spinal stenosis was rated as low-, intermediate-, or high-grade. Lowgrade stenosis was defined as involving no effacement of the subarachnoid space, intermediate-grade as involving effacement of this space, and high-grade as involving effacement of this space, together with compressive myelopathy. The patterns of SPAMM stripes and CSF velocity were evaluated and compared between each type of spinal stenosis and normal spine. RESULTS: Low-grade stenosis (n = 23) revealed displacement or discontinuity of stripes, while intermediate- (n = 10) and high-grade (n = 11) showed a continuous straight band at the stenotic segment. Among low-grade cases, 12 showed wave separation during the systolic phase. Peak systolic CSF velocity at C4-5 level in these cases was lower than in volunteers (p .05). In high-grade stenosis, both diastolic and systolic velocities were significantly lower (p <.05). CONCLUSION: Various hydrodynamic changes occurring in CSF flow in cervical spinal stenosis were demonstrated by the SPAMM technique, and this may be a useful method for evaluating CSF hydrodynamic change in cervical spinal stenosis.ope

An unusual case of complete pathological response to Paget's disease of the breast.

Mammary Paget's disease is a rare form of breast cancer present in ~0.5-2.8% of breast cancers. The patients have a poorer prognosis, and usually, the appropriate therapy is based on the pathologic findings of the mass and axillary staging. This report adds the outcomes of Paget's disease following neoadjuvant chemotherapy to the literature by description of a case of a 48-year-old patient with Paget's disease who had a complete pathological response to Paget's disease of the breast following neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Analysis of New Functional Profiles of Protein Isoforms Yielded by Ds Exonization in Rice

Insertion of transposable elements (TEs) into introns can lead to their activation as alternatively spliced cassette exons, an event called exonization. Exonization can enrich the complexity of transcriptomes and proteomes. Previously, we performed a genome-wide computational analysis of Ds exonization events in the monocot Oryza sativa (rice). The insertion patterns of Ds increased the number of transcripts and subsequent protein isoforms, which were determined as interior and C-terminal variants. In this study, these variants were scanned with the PROSITE database in order to identify new functional profiles (domains) that were referred to their reference proteins. The new profiles of the variants were expected to be beneficial for a selective advantage and more than 70% variants achieved this. The new functional profiles could be contributed by an exon–intron junction, an intron alone, an intron–TE junction, or a TE alone. A Ds -inserted intron may yield 167 new profiles on average, while some cases can yield thousands of new profiles, of which C-terminal variants were in major. Additionally, more than 90% of the TE-inserted genes were found to gain novel functional profiles in each intron via exonization. Therefore, new functional profiles yielded by the exonization may occur in many local regions of the reference protein

MOESM1 of Weight changes before and after lurasidone treatment: a real-world analysis using electronic health records

Additional file 1. Analysis examining potential overestimation of weight change by linear model

Open vs. closed skill sports and the modulation of inhibitory control.

BackgroundInhibitory control, or the ability to suppress planned but inappropriate prepotent actions in the current environment, plays an important role in the control of human performance. Evidence from empirical studies utilizing a sport-specific design has shown that athletes have superior inhibitory control. However, less is known about whether this superiority might (1) still be seen in a general cognitive task without a sport-related context; (2) be modulated differentially by different sporting expertise (e.g., tennis versus swimming).Methodology/principal findingsHere we compared inhibitory control across tennis players, swimmers and sedentary non-athletic controls using a stop-signal task without a sport-specific design. Our primary finding showed that tennis players had shorter stop-signal reaction times (SSRTs) when compared to swimmers and sedentary controls, whereas no difference was found between swimmers and sedentary controls. Importantly, this effect was further confirmed after considering potential confounding factors (e.g., BMI, training experience, estimated levels of physical activity and VO2max), indicative of better ability to inhibit unrequired responses in tennis players.Conclusions/significanceThis suggests that fundamental inhibitory control in athletes can benefit from open skill training. Sport with both physical and cognitive demands may provide a potential clinical intervention for those who have difficulties in inhibitory control