Gyrification, cortical and subcortical morphometry in neurofibromatosis type 1: an uneven profile of developmental abnormalities.

Background: Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a monogenic disorder associated with cognitive impairments. In order to understand how mutations in the NF1 gene impact brain structure it is essential to characterize in detail the brain structural abnormalities in patients with NF1. Previous studies have reported contradictory findings and have focused only on volumetric measurements. Here, we investigated the volumes of subcortical structures and the composite dimensions of the cortex through analysis of cortical volume, cortical thickness, cortical surface area and gyrification. Methods: We studied 14 children with NF1 and 14 typically developing children matched for age, gender, IQ and right/left-handedness. Regional subcortical volumes and cortical gyral measurements were obtained using the FreeSurfer software. Between-group differences were evaluated while controlling for the increase in total intracranial volume observed in NF1. Results: Subcortical analysis revealed disproportionately larger thalami, right caudate and middle corpus callosum in patients with NF1. Cortical analyses on volume, thickness and surface area were however not indicative of significant alterations in patients. Interestingly, patients with NF1 had significantly lower gyrification indices than typically developing children primarily in the frontal and temporal lobes, but also affecting the insula, cingulate cortex, parietal and occipital regions. Conclusions: The neuroanatomic abnormalities observed were localized to specific brain regions, indicating that particular areas might constitute selective targets for NF1 gene mutations. Furthermore, the lower gyrification indices were accompanied by a disproportionate increase in brain size without the corresponding increase in folding in patients with NF1. Taken together these findings suggest that specific neurodevelopmental processes, such as gyrification, are more vulnerable to NF1 dysfunction than others. The identified changes in brain organization are consistent with the patterns of cognitive dysfunction in the NF1 phenotype. © 2013 Violante et al

Learning robotics: a review

Purpose of Review: With the growing interest for STEM/STEAM, new robotic platforms are being created with different characteristics, extras and options. There are so many diverse solutions, that it is difficult for a teacher/student to choose the ideal one. This paper intends to provide an analysis to the most common robotic platforms existent on the market. The same is happening regarding robotic events all around the world, with objectives so distinctive, and with complexity from easy to very difficult. This paper also describes some of those events which occur in many countries. Recent Findings: As the literature is showing, there has been a visible effort from schools and educators to teach robotics from very young ages, not only because robotics is the future, but also as a tool to teach STEM/STEAM areas. But as time progresses, the options for the right platforms also evolves making difficult to choose among them. Some authors opt to first choose a robotic platform and carry on from there. Others choose first a development environment and then look for which robots can be programmed from it. Summary: An actual review on learning robotics is here presented, firstly showing some literature background on history and trends of robotic platforms used in education in general, the different development environments for robotics and finishing on competitions and events. A comprehensive characterization list of robotic platforms along with robotic competitions and events is also shown

Gender effect on clinical features of achalasia: a prospective study

BACKGROUND: Achalasia is a well-characterized esophageal motor disorder but the rarity of the disease limits performing large studies on its demographic and clinical features. METHODS: Prospectively, 213 achalasia patients (110 men and 103 women) were enrolled in the study. The diagnosis established by clinical, radiographic, and endoscopic as well as manometry criteria. All patients underwent a pre-designed clinical evaluation before and within 6 months after the treatment. RESULTS: Solid dysphagia was the most common clinical symptom in men and women. Chest pain was the only symptom which was significantly different between two groups and was more complained by women than men (70.9% vs. 54.5% P value= 0.03). Although the occurrence of chest pain significantly reduced after treatment in both groups (P < 0.001), it was still higher among women (32% vs. 20.9% P value= 0.04). In both sexes, chest pain did not relate to the symptom duration, LES pressure and type of treatment patients received. Also no significant relation was found between chest pain and other symptoms expressed by men and women before and after treatment. Chest pain was less frequently reported by patients over 56 yrs of age in comparison to those less than 56 yrs (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: It seems that chest pain is the distinct symptom of achalasia which is affected by sex as well as age and does not relate to the duration of illness, LESP and the type of treatment achalasia patients receive

Self-Reactivities to the Non-Erythroid Alpha Spectrin Correlate with Cerebral Malaria in Gabonese Children

BACKGROUND: Hypergammaglobulinemia and polyclonal B-cell activation commonly occur in Plasmodium sp. infections. Some of the antibodies produced recognize self-components and are correlated with disease severity in P. falciparum malaria. However, it is not known whether some self-reactive antibodies produced during P. falciparum infection contribute to the events leading to cerebral malaria (CM). We show here a correlation between self-antibody responses to a human brain protein and high levels of circulating TNF alpha (TNFα), with the manifestation of CM in Gabonese children. METHODOLOGY: To study the role of self-reactive antibodies associated to the development of P. falciparum cerebral malaria, we used a combination of quantitative immunoblotting and multivariate analysis to analyse correlation between the reactivity of circulating IgG with a human brain protein extract and TNFα concentrations in cohorts of uninfected controls (UI) and P. falciparum-infected Gabonese children developing uncomplicated malaria (UM), severe non-cerebral malaria (SNCM), or CM. RESULTS/CONCLUSION: The repertoire of brain antigens recognized by plasma IgGs was more diverse in infected than in UI individuals. Anti-brain reactivity was significantly higher in the CM group than in the UM and SNCM groups. IgG self-reactivity to brain antigens was also correlated with plasma IgG levels and age. We found that 90% of CM patients displayed reactivity to a high-molecular mass band containing the spectrin non-erythroid alpha chain. Reactivity with this band was correlated with high TNFα concentrations in CM patients. These results strongly suggest that an antibody response to brain antigens induced by P. falciparum infection may be associated with pathogenic mechanisms in patients developing CM

Evaluation of silages of sweet potato vine

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo selecionar clones de batata-doce com potencial para uso na alimenta??o animal. O experimento foi conduzido em blocos ao acaso, com 11 clones e quatro repeti??es. Os clones avaliados fazem parte do banco de germoplasma da Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, sendo: BD-06, BD-25, BD-15, BD-38, Cambraia, BD-31-TO, BD-67, BD-45, BD-42, BD-54 e a cultivar Brazl?ndia Rosada. Nas ramas coletadas do experimento foram avaliados o teor de mat?ria seca e as produtividades de massa verde e massa seca. Nas silagens de ramas foram avaliados o pH e os teores de mat?ria seca (MS), prote?na bruta (PB), fibra em detergente neutro (FDN), fibra em detergente ?cido (FDA), nutrientes digest?veis totais (NDT), f?sforo, c?lcio e s?dio. N?o houve diferen?a significativa para a produtividade de massa verde e de massa seca das ramas entre os clones de batata-doce. As silagens produzidas caracterizam-se como volumosos de boa qualidade, apresentando teores satisfat?rios de prote?na bruta (11,59%), FDN (31,98 a 39,68%), FDA (29,65 a 35,45%) e NDT (62,90 a 66,91%), comprovando o potencial de utiliza??o das ramas da batata-doce na forma de silagem.Funda??o de Amparo ? Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG)Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecu?ria de Minas Gerais (EPAMIG)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico (CNPq)Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior (CAPES)The objective of this study was to select potential clones of sweet potato for animal feeding purposes. The experiment was carried out in a randomized block design with four replications. Eleven clones BD-06, BD-25, BD-15, BD-38, Cambraia, BD-31-TO, BD-67, BD-45, BD-42, BD-54 and the cultivar Brazl?ndia Rosada belonging to germplasm bank of the Federal University of Vales do Jequitinhonha and Mucuri (UFVJM) were evaluated. We estimated the dry matter content and the productivity of green and dry mass of the vine. The traits pH, dry matter, crude protein phosphorus, calcium and sodium were estimated in the evaluation of silages quality. There was no significant difference in productivity of green mass and dry mass among the clones of sweet potato. The obtained silages had sufficient levels of crude protein (11.59%), neutral detergent fiber (31.98 to 39.68%), acid detergent fiber (29.65 to 35.45%) and total digestible nutrients (62.90 to 66.91%) proving the potential use of the sweet potato vine as silage in animal feeding