Malignant Glioma Arising at the Site of an Excised Cerebellar Hemangioblastoma after Irradiation in a von Hippel-Lindau Disease Patient

We describe herein a malignant glioma arising at the site of the resected hemangioblastoma after irradiation in a patient with von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL). The patient was a 25 year-old male with multiple hemangioblastomas at the cerebellum and spinal cord, multiple pancreatic cysts and a renal cell carcinoma; he was diagnosed as having VHL disease. The largest hemangioblastoma at the right cerebellar hemisphere was completely removed, and he received high-dose irradiation postoperatively. The tumor recurred at the same site 7 years later, which was a malignant glioma with no evidence of hemangioblastoma. The malignant glioma showed molecular genetic profiles of radiation-induced tumors because of its diffuse p53 immunostaining and the loss of p16 immunoreactivity. The genetic study to find the loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of VHL gene revealed that only the cerebellar hemangioblastoma showed allelic losses for the gene. To the best of our knowledge, this report is the first to show a malignant glioma that developed in a patient with VHL disease after radiation therapy at the site of an excised hemangioblastoma. This report also suggests that radiation therapy should be performed very carefully in VHL patients with hemangioblastomas

One-Year Follow-Up of Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation in SNCA Mutation Parkinsonism: A Case Report

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Radio-induced low-grade glioma: report of two cases and review of the literature

With the increasing number of cancer survivors, we can observe a population that will present a higher risk of developing secondary long-term toxicities related to adjuvant chemo and radiotherapy regimens. Among these, children surviving from acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that were treated with prophylactic cranial irradiation represent a group of patients at a high risk of developing secondary brain tumors. Radiation-induced intracranial tumors have been documented since 1950, and today, more than one-hundred cases have been described. We report our experience with two young patients who were hospitalized for low grade gliomas and had a positive anamnesis for ALL and consequent radiotherapy

Metabolism of no-carrier-added 2-[18F]fluoro-L-tyrosine in rats

Background: Several fluorine-18 labelled fluoroamino acids have been evaluated as tracers for the quantitative assessment of cerebral protein synthesis in vivo by positron emission tomography (PET). Among these, 2-[18F]fluoro-L-tyrosine (2-[18F]Tyr) has been studied in mice at a low specific activity. Its incorporation into proteins is fast and metabolism via other pathways is limited. The present in vivo study was carried out in normal awake rats using no-carrier-added 2-[18F]Tyr. Under normal physiological conditions, we have studied the incorporation into proteins and the metabolism of the tracer in different brain areas. Methods: No-carrier-added 2-[18F]Tyr was administered to awake rats equipped with chronic arterial and venous catheters. The time course of the plasma activity was studied by arterial blood sampling. The biodistribution of the activity in the main organs was studied at the end of the experiment. The distribution of radioactive species in plasma and brain regions was studied by acidic precipitation of the proteins and HPLC analysis of the supernatant. Results: The absolute uptake of radioactivity in brain regions was homogenous. In awake rats, nocarrier-added 2-[18F]Tyr exhibits a fast and almost quantitative incorporation into the proteins fractions of cerebellum and cortex. In striatum, this incorporation into proteins and the unchanged fraction of the tracer detected by HPLC could be lower than in other brain regions. Conclusion: This study confirms the potential of 2-[18F]fluoro-L-tyrosine as a tracer for the assessment of the rate of protein synthesis by positron emission tomography. The observed metabolism suggests a need for a correction for the appearance of metabolites, at least in plasma

Utilité de la Neurochirurgie en Psychiatrie

La conférence s'articule autour de la Stimulation Cérébrale Profonde (SCP), réservée aux patients atteint d’une forme extrêmement sévères de Trouble Obsessionnel Compulsif (TOC) et totalement résistants aux traitements habituels. A travers les questionnements que suscitent la neuromodulation, les données de la recherche et l'activité clinique du Centre, le focus est porté sur une approche médicale globale, individualisée qui oriente vers une Médecine de précision

Meta-stereotypes of groups with opposite religious views: Believers and non-believers

Recent research on meta-stereotypes, that is, ingroup members' beliefs about how the outgroup sees them, may be of importance for intergroup relations between believers and non-believers, especially in the context of increasingly secularized societies. How do believers and non-believers think that outgroup members, respectively non-believers and believers, see them? Do these meta-stereotypes accurately reflect the outgroup's actual stereotypes? We investigated these questions by focusing on a series of relevant characteristics selected on the basis of previous research on religion and personality. Participants (n = 100) provided their stereotypes and meta-stereotypes on eight personality traits. Believers and non-believers tended to share the meta-stereotype that the outgroup members see them as respectively high versus low in prosociality and conservatism and low versus high in hedonism and impulsivity. In contrast, believers seemed to ignore that non-believers see them as dogmatic and non-believers often exaggerated their meta-stereotypes in comparison to how believers actually saw them. Finally, highly identified group members tended to deny the outgroup's core characteristic, that is, believers' relative higher altruism and non-believers' relative lower dogmatism. We discuss the importance of knowing commonalities and discrepancies between stereotypic and meta-stereotypic perceptions for understanding intergroup perceptions and relations between groups that hold conflicting religious positions. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd