Efficacy of Personalized Postoperative Epilepsy Management in Patients with Glioblastoma Utilizing IDH1 Gene Assessment

Gao-Qiang Meng,1,* Shu Chen,2,* Han-Bin Ye,1 Bao-Jun Ma,1 Shuo Tao,3 Zi Ye1 1Department of Neurosurgery, Affiliated Hospital 2 of Nantong University, Nantong First People’s Hospital, Nantong, 226000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Endocrinology, Affiliated Hospital 2 of Nantong University, Nantong First People’s Hospital, Nantong, 226000, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Out-Patient, Affiliated Hospital 2 of Nantong University, Nantong First People’s Hospital, Nantong, 226000, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Zi Ye, Department of Neurosurgery, Affiliated Hospital 2 of Nantong University, Nantong First People’s Hospital, No. 666 of Shengli Road, Chongchuan District, Jiangsu, Nantong, 226000, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected] Shuo Tao, Department of Out-patient, Affiliated Hospital 2 of Nantong University, Nantong First People’s Hospital, No. 666 of Shengli Road, Chongchuan District, Jiangsu, Nantong, 226000, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 0513 81111429, Email [email protected]: We explored the correlation between the presence of isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 (IDH1) mutations and the incidence of postoperative epilepsy in patients with glioblastoma, as well as assessed the efficacy of preemptive administration of antiepileptic medications in mitigating the occurrence of postoperative epilepsy.Methods: Fifty-three patients who received a postoperative pathological diagnosis of glioblastoma, were enrolled in this study. Tumor specimens were subjected to IDH1 gene analysis. The patient cohort was stratified based on their IDH1 mutation status and the administration of prophylactic antiepileptic drugs during the postoperative phase. We subsequently conducted a comparative analysis of postoperative epileptic complications within each patient subgroup.Results: In the cohort of 53 patients under study, the occurrence of epilepsy was observed in 10 out of 21 patients carrying IDH1 mutations, while 5 out of 32 patients with wild-type IDH1 also experienced epilepsy, revealing a statistically significant difference (P 0.05). However, when performing a subgroup analysis, it was found that 3 out of 12 patients with IDH1 mutations who received prophylactic antiepileptic drugs experienced epilepsy, whereas 7 out of 9 patients who did not receive prophylactic antiepileptic drugs developed epilepsy, demonstrating a statistically significant difference (P 0.05).Conclusion: In individuals with IDH1 mutant glioblastoma who have undergone surgical resection, the implementation of preventive antiepileptic therapy demonstrates a potential to diminish the occurrence of postoperative epilepsy.Keywords: epilepsy, glioblastoma, isocitrate dehydrogenase-1, prophylactic antiepileptic therap

Hospital-acquired invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in patients with hepatic failure

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a rapid, progressive, fatal disease that occurs mostly in immunocompromised patients. Patients with severe liver disease are at a heightened risk for infections. Little is known about the clinical presentation including predisposing factors and treatment of IPA in patients with hepatic failure.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Medical records of patients with hepatic failure between November 2005 and February 2007 were reviewed for lung infection. Nine medical records of definitive diagnosis of IPA and three of probable IPA were identified.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The main predisposing factors were found to be prolonged antibiotic therapy and steroid exposure. Clinical signs and radiological findings were non-specific and atypical. Timely use of caspofungin was found to reduce the mortality due to the disease.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A high index of suspicion is required for early IPA diagnosis in patients with hepatic failure.</p

Comparison of hospital charge prediction models for gastric cancer patients: neural network vs. decision tree models

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In recent years, artificial neural network is advocated in modeling complex multivariable relationships due to its ability of fault tolerance; while decision tree of data mining technique was recommended because of its richness of classification arithmetic rules and appeal of visibility. The aim of our research was to compare the performance of ANN and decision tree models in predicting hospital charges on gastric cancer patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data about hospital charges on 1008 gastric cancer patients and related demographic information were collected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from 2005 to 2007 and preprocessed firstly to select pertinent input variables. Then artificial neural network (ANN) and decision tree models, using same hospital charge output variable and same input variables, were applied to compare the predictive abilities in terms of mean absolute errors and linear correlation coefficients for the training and test datasets. The transfer function in ANN model was sigmoid with 1 hidden layer and three hidden nodes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After preprocess of the data, 12 variables were selected and used as input variables in two types of models. For both the training dataset and the test dataset, mean absolute errors of ANN model were lower than those of decision tree model (1819.197 vs. 2782.423, 1162.279 vs. 3424.608) and linear correlation coefficients of the former model were higher than those of the latter (0.955 vs. 0.866, 0.987 vs. 0.806). The predictive ability and adaptive capacity of ANN model were better than those of decision tree model.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>ANN model performed better in predicting hospital charges of gastric cancer patients of China than did decision tree model.</p

Towards a General Theory of Neural Computation Based on Prediction by Single Neurons

Although there has been tremendous progress in understanding the mechanics of the nervous system, there has not been a general theory of its computational function. Here I present a theory that relates the established biophysical properties of single generic neurons to principles of Bayesian probability theory, reinforcement learning and efficient coding. I suggest that this theory addresses the general computational problem facing the nervous system. Each neuron is proposed to mirror the function of the whole system in learning to predict aspects of the world related to future reward. According to the model, a typical neuron receives current information about the state of the world from a subset of its excitatory synaptic inputs, and prior information from its other inputs. Prior information would be contributed by synaptic inputs representing distinct regions of space, and by different types of non-synaptic, voltage-regulated channels representing distinct periods of the past. The neuron's membrane voltage is proposed to signal the difference between current and prior information (“prediction error” or “surprise”). A neuron would apply a Hebbian plasticity rule to select those excitatory inputs that are the most closely correlated with reward but are the least predictable, since unpredictable inputs provide the neuron with the most “new” information about future reward. To minimize the error in its predictions and to respond only when excitation is “new and surprising,” the neuron selects amongst its prior information sources through an anti-Hebbian rule. The unique inputs of a mature neuron would therefore result from learning about spatial and temporal patterns in its local environment, and by extension, the external world. Thus the theory describes how the structure of the mature nervous system could reflect the structure of the external world, and how the complexity and intelligence of the system might develop from a population of undifferentiated neurons, each implementing similar learning algorithms

Synthesis and Visible-Light Photocatalytic Property of Bi2WO6Hierarchical Octahedron-Like Structures

A novel octahedron-like hierarchical structure of Bi2WO6has been fabricated by a facile hydrothermal method in high quantity. XRD, SEM, TEM, and HRTEM were used to characterize the product. The results indicated that this kind of Bi2WO6crystals had an average size of ~4 μm, constructed by quasi-square single-crystal nanosheets assembled in a special fashion. The formation of octahedron-like hierarchical structure of Bi2WO6depended crucially on the pH value of the precursor suspensions. The photocatalytic activity of the hierarchical Bi2WO6structures toward RhB degradation under visible light was investigated, and it was found to be significantly better than that of the sample fabricated by SSR. The better photocatalytic property should be strongly associated with the high specific surface area and the abundant pore structure of the hierarchical octahedron-like Bi2WO6

Nanospiral Formation by Droplet Drying: One Molecule at a Time

We have created nanospirals by self-assembly during droplet evaporation. The nanospirals, 60–70 nm in diameter, formed when solvent mixtures of methanol and m-cresol were used. In contrast, spin coating using only methanol as the solvent produced epitaxial films of stripe nanopatterns and using only m-cresol disordered structure. Due to the disparity in vapor pressure between the two solvents, droplets of m-cresol solution remaining on the substrate serve as templates for the self-assembly of carboxylic acid molecules, which in turn allows the visualization of solution droplet evaporation one molecule at a time

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO