The aetiologies of epilepsy

The identification of the aetiology of a patient's epilepsy is instrumental in the diagnosis, prognostic counselling and management of the epilepsies. Indeed, the aetiology can be important for determining the recurrence risk of single seizures and so for making a diagnosis of epilepsy. Here, we divide the aetiologies into six categories: structural, genetic, infectious, metabolic, immune (all of which are part of the International League Against Epilepsy [ILAE] classification system) and neurodegenerative (which we have considered separately because of its growing importance in epilepsy). These are not mutually exclusive categories and many aetiologies fall into more than one category. Indeed, genetic factors probably play a role, to varying degrees, in the risk of seizures in all people with epilepsy. In each of the categories, we discuss what we regard as the most important aetiologies; importance being determined not only by prevalence but also by clinical significance. The introduction contains information suitable for level 1 competency (entry level), whilst the subsequent sections contain information aimed at level 2 competency (proficiency level) as part of the new ILAE competency-based curriculum. As we move towards precision medicine and targeted therapies, so aetiologies will play an even greater role in the management of epilepsy

A Specialized Odor Memory Buffer in Primary Olfactory Cortex

The neural substrates of olfactory working memory are unknown. We addressed the questions of whether olfactory working memory involves a verbal representation of the odor, or a sensory image of the odor, or both, and the location of the neural substrates of these processes.We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure activity in the brains of subjects who were remembering either nameable or unnameable odorants. We found a double dissociation whereby remembering nameable odorants was reflected in sustained activity in prefrontal language areas, and remembering unnameable odorants was reflected in sustained activity in primary olfactory cortex.These findings suggest a novel dedicated mechanism in primary olfactory cortex, where odor information is maintained in temporary storage to subserve ongoing tasks

Dissociated Representations of Pleasant and Unpleasant Olfacto-Trigeminal Mixtures: An fMRI Study

How the pleasantness of chemosensory stimuli such as odorants or intranasal trigeminal compounds is processed in the human brain has been the focus of considerable recent interest. Yet, so far, only the unimodal form of this hedonic processing has been explored, and not its bimodal form during crossmodal integration of olfactory and trigeminal stimuli. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate this question. To this end, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in an experiment comparing brain activation related to a pleasant and a relatively unpleasant olfacto-trigeminal mixture, and to their individual components (CO2 alone, Orange alone, Rose alone). Results revealed first common neural activity patterns in response to both mixtures in a number of regions: notably the superior temporal gyrus and the caudate nucleus. Common activations were also observed in the insula, although the pleasant mixture activated the right insula whereas the unpleasant mixture activated the left insula. However, specific activations were observed in anterior cingulate gyrus and the ventral tegmental area only during the perception of the pleasant mixture. These findings emphasized for the firs time the involvement of the latter structures in processing of pleasantness during crossmodal integration of chemosensory stimuli

Incaprettamento: An Unusual Homicide by Ligature Strangulation:

This case study regards the murder of a Tunisian national residing in a small town in southern Italy who was murdered by fellow Tunisian citizen, also living in Italy. The victim was found hogtied and hanged by a cord that was suspended from an iron staff situated between two concrete electrical poles. This method of killing is known as "incaprettemento". It is an unusual type of strangulation whereby a rope is passed around the victim’s wrists, ankles, and throat causing suffocation. This results in a very slow and painful death. Typically, it is a method employed by Italian organized crime groups, but it has also been used in the execution of war crimes. This means of killing is meant to impart a particularly degrading and humiliating revenge on the victim. It may also serve as sign of intimidation and a warning to others. There is very little written about incaprettamento in the literature, but it has, nonetheless, important psychological, anthropological, and cultural implications in the field of criminology. The perpetrator underwent psychodiagnostic evaluations, and was ultimately deemed fit to stand trial

An Isotopic Exchange Kinetic Model to Assess the Speciation of Metal Available Pool in Soil: The Case of Nickel

International audienc

Study of Ni exchangeable pool speciation in ultramafic and mining environments with isotopic exchange kinetic data and models.

International audienceSoils and ore samples influenced by mining and metallurgical activity were collected in ultramafic soils (UM) complexes of Barro Alto and Niquelândia, in order to determine the contribution of each Ni bearing phases to the total exchangeable pool of Ni, and to point out if this pool was affected by anthropic activities. For this purpose, the IEK-model previously developed by the group (Zelano et al., submitted) was applied, on the basis of IEK experiments performed on pure typical Ni scavengers (serpentines, chlorite, smectite and iron oxydes) from ultramafic systems. For each typical scavenger, this model describes the percentage of Ni associated to exchangeable pool(s) as well as their corresponding kinetic constant(s) of exchange. The mineralogical composition of soil and ore samples and Ni solid speciation were first determined, and the IEK-model was applied on these bases. In almost all samples, an important contribution of serpentine to Ni exchangeable pool was highlighted, ranging between 10% and 45%. The important amount of organic matter (OM) in one of the studied soil samples, allowed to extrapolate generic OM ENi and k parameters, which were introduced in the IEK-model to improve its predictive capability. Obtained results provided evidences of how even a small content (3 wt%) of organic carbon (OC), can represent an important contribution of OM to the total ENi pool (60%). In the investigated ore samples, up to the 60% of ENi was attribute to smectite, responsible for fast ENi pool kinetic evolution. In addition, the model highlighted the role of the Fine Black Ash (FBA), by-products of the pyrometallurgical activity, detected into a soil sample, that is responsible for the 15% of ENi. This approach allowed to determine, for the first time, the relative contribution of each Ni bearing phase to the total exchangeable pool, in terms of concentration and kinetics