Respiratory difficulty caused by an ectopic brain tissue mass in the neck of a two-month-old baby: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Neuroglial heterotopia, heterotopic brain tissue, or differentiated neural tissue outside the cranial vault is uncommon, and these anomalies most commonly occur in the nasal cavity. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of rare pure cystic heterotopic brain tissue in a two-month-old Caucasian baby girl that presented as a large cystic neck mass and was confused with a cystic hygroma. Her mother reported a progressive increase in the size of this swelling and mild respiratory difficulty when the girl was sleeping. A computed tomography scan of the brain and neck showed a large heterogeneous mass extending from the base of the skull to the left submandibular region; a cystic component was also noted. Our patient under went total excision of the cystic mass and prevention of airway obstruction by a left submandibular approach. The final gross pathology diagnosis was heterotopic brain tissue. CONCLUSIONS: Pure cystic neck heterotopic brain tissue lesions are very uncommon, and a preoperative diagnosis of this lesion is difficult. Brain heterotopia is a rare, benign condition that should be considered in the differential diagnosis of the neonatal head and neck mass

Bioavailable Trace Metals in Neurological Diseases

Medical treatment in Wilson’s disease includes chelators (d-penicillamine and trientine) or zinc salts that have to be maintain all the lifelong. This pharmacological treatment is categorised into two phases; the first being a de-coppering phase and the second a maintenance one. The best therapeutic approach remains controversial, as only a few non-controlled trials have compared these treatments. During the initial phase, progressive increase of chelators’ doses adjusted to exchangeable copper and urinary copper might help to avoid neurological deterioration. Liver transplantation is indicated in acute fulminant liver failure and decompensated cirrhosis; in cases of neurologic deterioration, it must be individually discussed. During the maintenance phase, the most important challenge is to obtain a good adherence to lifelong medical therapy. Neurodegenerative diseases that lead to a mislocalisation of iron can be caused by a culmination of localised overload (pro-oxidant siderosis) and localised deficiency (metabolic distress). A new therapeutic concept with conservative iron chelation rescues iron-overloaded neurons by scavenging labile iron and, by delivering this chelated metal to endogenous apo-transferrin, allows iron redistribution to avoid systemic loss of iron

Oxalate oxidase and non-enzymatic compounds of the antioxidative system in young Serbian spruce plants exposed to cadmium stress

We studied changes in the concentrations of ascorbate and glutathione, composition of soluble phenolics, and activity of oxalate oxidase in 75-day-old Serbian spruce plants after exposure to 5 mu M and 50 mu M cadmium for 6-48 h. The presence of OxOx activity in a conifer species is here demonstrated for the first time. Both Cd concentrations induced a decrease of OxOx activity in treated plants in comparison with the control at all sampling dates. The concentrations of reduced glutathione, its oxidized form, and reduced ascorbate in the plants decreased during 48-h treatment with cadmium. Among simple phenolics, only catechin increased significantly during Cd treatment

Identification of recent factors that affect the formation of the upper tree line in eastern Serbia

The recent climate changes, among others, have contributed to the change in elevation of the upper tree line in high mountainous areas. At the same time, direct anthropogenic impact on the fragile ecosystems of high mountains has also been significant. The aim of this paper is to determine the actual dynamics of the formation of upper tree line in eastern Serbia and to identify the recent factors which condition it. The results obtained show that preconditions have been accomplished for the upper tree line increase, but this has not completely been confirmed by previous field researches

Three-dimensional ionospheric tomography of post-seismic perturbations produced by the Denali earthquake from GPS data

International audienceThe coupling between the solid earth and its atmosphere is responsible for vertically propagating infrasonic waves generated by seismic surface waves. These pressure waves are amplified as they propagate upward, and produce perturbations of ionospheric electron density. The electron density perturbations above California, due to the seismic surface waves generated by the Denali earthquake on 2002 November 3, have been imaged from GPS data by a tomographic method. The integrated electron content along GPS ray paths presents a noise level that is lower in the acoustic wave frequency band than in the gravity wave frequency band. Therefore, the filtered GPS data from Californian networks are inverted for a tomographic reconstruction of electron density perturbations in the acoustic frequency band. The inversion is properly resolved only in a small number of areas due to the geometry of GPS ray paths. In these areas, a wave propagating upward at 1.2 +/- 0.3 km s-1 and horizontally at 4 +/- 1 km s-1 is observed, with a timing consistent with an infrasonic wave generated by the path of seismic surface waves. The discrepancies between the observed electron density perturbation structure and the expected infrasonic wave can be explained by the poor resolution of the inverse problem or by a simple model of interactions between the neutral wave and the plasma. Future development of dense GPS networks and the advent of the Galileo system will overcome the resolution problems, and allow us to relate ionospheric perturbations to the seismic signal. Such a relation can be used to constrain the source and propagation of seismic waves as well as upper atmosphere characteristics

North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and insect damage in Serbian forests

This paper examines the relationship between North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and damage made by insects in Serbian forests. The damage has been separated into three groups: bark beetles, gypsy moth and damage made by other insects. For North Atlantic Oscillation the NAO index is used. The period of investigation was 1969-2001. Data were studied on an annual scale as well as with five-year moving averages. Analysis showed a statistically significant correlation for NAO index and gypsy moth