Avaliação da visão funcional em crianças com deficiência visual e múltipla deficiência como estratégia de apoio para professores e responsáveis

A avaliação da visão funcional é um importante recurso para oferecer informações sobre a condição visual das crianças com múltipla deficiência, tendo em vista que grande parte desse público não recebe diagnóstico visual em tempo oportuno devido às dificuldades enfrentadas para a realização da avaliação oftalmológica. A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo avaliar a visão funcional de crianças com deficiência visual associada à múltipla deficiência, por meio do método de observação do comportamento e do teste Lea Gratings. Foi realizado um estudo de caso múltiplo com abordagem qualitativa, com cinco crianças que apresentavam deficiência visual associada à múltipla deficiência. Para a coleta de dados, foi realizada entrevista com os responsáveis e com os professores e avaliada a visão funcional das crianças participantes. Na avaliação da visão funcional constatou-se que todas as crianças apresentavam valores de acuidade de grades binocular bem abaixo dos valores padrões estabelecidos pela literatura, entretanto, possuíam visão funcional útil para o desempenho de tarefas cotidianas e escolares. Foi elaborado um instrumento denominado “suporte informacional”, que foi entregue aos participantes após o término da pesquisa, com dados sobre o resultado da avaliação da visão funcional das crianças, bem como informações sobre a visão, deficiência visual associada à múltipla deficiência e avaliação da visão funcional. O estudo demonstrou que a avaliação da visão funcional foi relevante para subsidiar a proposição de orientações adequadas para o desenvolvimento das ações dos responsáveis e das práticas pedagógicas dos professores com os alunos que participaram da pesquisa

PERFORMANCE OF DIFFUSION KURTOSIS IMAGING FOR CHARACTERIZATION OF PROSTATE LESIONS USING 1.5T MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING SCANNER

The aim of the study is to evaluate the diagnostic performance of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and apparent kurtosis coefficient (Kapp) for the characterization of prostate lesions on 1.5T MRI. This retrospective study included 34 patients with at least one lesion with PI-RADS score≥ 3. Performances of ADC and Kapp were evaluated using the Mann-Whitney U test and receiver operating characteristics curve (AUROC). Lesions with Gleason score≥6 had significantly lower Kapp compared to benign lesions (p=0.025). The ADC-ratio was the only significantly different parameter between GS≥7 and GS=6 lesions (p=0.039). Kapp showed the largest AUROC for the diagnosis of GS≥6 prostate cancers (AUROC: 0.741, p=0.025), while the largest AUROC for the diagnosis of GS≥7 prostate cancers was achieved by the ADC-ratio (AUROC: 0.709, p=0.039). While Kapp demonstrated no significant benefit in characterization of prostate cancers compared to ADC, it could be helpful to distinguish benign lesions from prostate cancers

Métabolisme du fer (Hepcidine et Prohepcidine)

L'hepcidine (25 a.a. riche en cystéine produit majoritairement par le foie sous forme d'un propeptide de 84 a.a.) régule la concentration de fer dans l'organisme en inhibant l'absorption du fer intestinal et en inhibant le stockage du fer recyclé par les macrophages. Sa production n'est pas simple à cause des ponts disulfure et de sa propension à s'agréger ce qui entraîne l'obtention de rendements faibles. L'objectif du travail était de mettre au point une méthode d'expression et de purification d'hepcidine et de prohepcidine. Les hepcidines et prohepcidines sont exprimées dans E. coli en fusion avec la thiorédoxine, et 2 différentes étiquettes. Après purification, les hepcidines et les prohepcidines sont correctement repliées et contiennent les ponts disulfures attendus sans étape de renaturation ou d'oxydation. L'hepcidine (humaine, souris) et la prohepcidine produites sont actives. Nous avons montré que la prohepcidine doit être maturée pour induire la dégradation de la ferroportine.Hepcidin (25 a.a. peptide, produced in the liver as a preprohormone 84 a.a., containing 4 disulfide bridges) control iron concentration in the body by inhibiting intestinal iron absorption and iron recycling by macrophages. Our project was to get a reliable source of hepcidin, this is not simple due to the 4 disulfide bridges problem, hepcidin is extremely prone to aggregation and its peptidic synthesis yield is very poor. We have achieved the production and purification of biologically active hepcidin (mouse and human), using a Thioredoxin fusion protein based E. Coli expression system that does not require any renaturation step. Peptides biological activity was tested for their ability to induce ferroportin degradation. Hepcidins were active. We report the production of prohepcidin wt & mutant (furin clivage resistant) with good yield. Using Prohepcidin wt & mutant, we demonstrate that activity of prohepcidin towards FPN is only related to its capacity to generate hepcidin.PARIS5-BU Saints-Pères (751062109) / SudocPARIS-BIUP (751062107) / SudocSudocFranceF

Homing experiments on pigeons subjected to bilateral destruction of the paratympanic organ

The paratympanic organ (PO) in birds is a specialised sensory organ whose function is still unknown. G. Vitali, who first described the PO from observations of the behaviour of PO-lesioned pigeons, proposed that this organ was needed to maintain normal wing muscle function and called it the 'organ of flight'. This interpretation has since been disputed. To solve this controversy and to test whether the PO is involved in flight and navigation, we performed release tests on homing pigeons subjected to bilateral destruction of this organ. No impairment of either flight or navigation was observed in the lesioned pigeons

Renal endometriosis mimicking complicated cysts of kidney: report of two cases

Endometriosis is a common gynecologic disorder characterized by ectopic endometrial tissue growth outside the uterine cavity. Although usually occurring in pelvic organs, endometrial lesions may involve urinary tract. Renal endometriosis is extremely rare and it has only occasionally been reported in the past. We report two cases of patients with renal cystic lesions, incidentally found at imaging techniques during oncologic follow-up for gastric sarcoma and melanoma, initially misinterpreted as complicated haemorrhagic cysts and then histologically characterized as renal localizations of extragenital endometriosis

MR-guided focused ultrasound-induced blood-brain barrier opening for brain metastasis: a review

: Although the therapeutic armamentarium for brain metastases (BMs) has been expanded from innovative surgical techniques and radiotherapy to include targeted therapies and immunotherapy, the prognosis of BMs remains poor. Despite the proven efficacy of numerous compounds in preclinical studies, the limited penetration of promising therapeutic agents across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) remains an unaddressed issue. Recently, low-intensity magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) in combination with microbubbles has been shown to overcome vascular and cellular transport barriers in the brain and tumor microenvironment, resulting in increased drug diffusion and preliminary effective results. Preclinical studies have investigated the increased penetration of many therapeutic agents including doxorubicin, trastuzumab, and ipilimumab into the CNS with promising results. Furthermore, anticancer drugs combined with MRgFUS-induced BBB opening have been demonstrated to improve animal survival and slow tumor progression. Accordingly, the first clinical trial has recently been launched and hopefully the results will provide evidence for the safety and efficacy of drug delivery enhanced by MRgFUS-induced BBB opening in BMs. This review aims to provide an overview of transcranial low-intensity MRgFUS application for BBB disruption and a comprehensive overview of the most relevant evidence in the treatment of BMs

Computer tomography features of pulmonary vascular involvement in Behçet's disease

Behçet’s disease is a chronic and multisystemic inflammatory vascular disease of unknown etiology, affecting vessels of all kinds and sizes. The involvement of the vascular system is observed in approximately 5-30% of patients. The most frequent vascular manifestations are venous thrombosis followed by arterial aneurysms and arterial thrombosis. The identification of vascular involvement is very important for prognosis, indeed the rupture of an arterial aneurysm represents the leading cause of sudden death in patients with Behçet’s disease. Computed tomography (CT) plays a crucial role in the identification and in the follow-up of vascular involvement. In this paper, we report the case of a 42-year-old woman with Behçet’s disease, admitted to our emergency department for hemoptysis, showing pulmonary and visceral artery aneurysms identified at CT examination. A particular “string of beads” appearance of pulmonary arteries is described. We report, also, follow-up CT examination after medical therapy showing pulmonary artery aneurysms reduction and visceral artery aneurysms stability

Congenital pulmonary airway malformation in adult: report of two rare cases and literature review

Congenital pulmonary airway malformations (CPAMs) are a heterogeneous group of congenital, non-hereditary lesions of the lung, cystic and non-cystic type with clear developmental anomalies and evident malformative changes, which derive from the excessive proliferation of the tubular bronchial structures. We described two rare cases of type IV CPAM detected in adult patients with different clinical presentation: one of these cases was symptomatic, complaining of cough and hemoptysis. Conversely, the other case was reported as incidental findings in patient with abdominal pain without respiratory symptoms. Chest computed tomography (CT) scan was performed showing voluminous cystic formations with fibrotic septa within the lesions in both patients. The patient with hemoptysis was subjected to video assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy, while the other one was hospitalized to perform biopsy, which confirmed the diagnosis of CPAM. All patients were advised to follow-up. The incidence of type IV CPAM in adult patients is probably underestimated; the knowledge of the CT features of CPAM is crucial for a correct diagnosis and an appropriate management of asymptomatic patients, which may be conservative