Effects of the hippocampal deep brain stimulation on cortical epileptic discharges in penicillin - induced epilepsy model in rats

Aim: Experimental and clinical studies have revealed that hippocampal DBS can control epileptic activity, but the mechanism of action is obscure and optimal stimulation parameters are not clearly defined. The aim was to evaluate the effects of high frequency hippocampal stimulation on cortical epileptic activity in penicillin-induced epilepsy model. Material and Methods: Twenty-five Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted DBS electrodes. In group-1 (n=10) hippocampal DBS was off and in the group-2 (n=10) hippocampal DBS was on (185 Hz, 0.5V, 1V, 2V, and 5V for 60 sec) following penicillin G injection intracortically. In the control group hippocampal DBS was on following 8μl saline injection intracortically. EEG recordings were obtained before and 15 minutes following penicillin-G injection, and at 10th minutes following each stimulus for analysis in terms of frequency, amplitude, and power spectrum. Results: High frequency hippocampal DBS suppressed the acute penicillin-induced cortical epileptic activity independent from stimulus intensity. In the control group, hippocampal stimulation alone lead only to diffuse slowing of cerebral bioelectrical activity at 5V stimulation. Conclusion: Our results revealed that continuous high frequency stimulation of the hippocampus suppressed acute cortical epileptic activity effectively without causing secondary epileptic discharges. These results are important in terms of defining the optimal parameters of hippocampal DBS in patients with epilepsy

Assessment of potential effects of the electromagnetic fields of mobile phones on hearing

BACKGROUND: Mobile phones have become indispensable as communication tools; however, to date there is only a limited knowledge about interaction between electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted by mobile phones and auditory function. The aim of the study was to assess potential changes in hearing function as a consequence of exposure to low-intensity EMF's produced by mobile phones at frequencies of 900 and 1800 MHz. METHODS: The within-subject study was performed on thirty volunteers (age 18–30 years) with normal hearing to assess possible acute effect of EMF. Participants attended two sessions: genuine and sham exposure of EMF. Hearing threshold levels (HTL) on pure tone audiometry (PTA) and transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE's) were recorded before and immediately after 10 min of genuine and/or sham exposure of mobile phone EMF. The administration of genuine or sham exposure was double blind and counterbalanced in order. RESULTS: Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences in the mean HTLs of PTA and mean shifts of TEOAE's before and after genuine and/or sham mobile phone EMF 10 min exposure. The data collected showed that average TEOAE levels (averaged across a frequency range) changed less than 2.5 dB between pre- and post-, genuine and sham exposure. The greatest individual change was 10 dB, with a decrease in level from pre- to post- real exposure. CONCLUSION: It could be concluded that a 10-min close exposure of EMFs emitted from a mobile phone had no immediate after-effect on measurements of HTL of PTA and TEOAEs in young human subjects and no measurable hearing deterioration was detected in our study

Measurements of Elastic Moduli of Silicone Gel Substrates with a Microfluidic Device

Thin layers of gels with mechanical properties mimicking animal tissues are widely used to study the rigidity sensing of adherent animal cells and to measure forces applied by cells to their substrate with traction force microscopy. The gels are usually based on polyacrylamide and their elastic modulus is measured with an atomic force microscope (AFM). Here we present a simple microfluidic device that generates high shear stresses in a laminar flow above a gel-coated substrate and apply the device to gels with elastic moduli in a range from 0.4 to 300 kPa that are all prepared by mixing two components of a transparent commercial silicone Sylgard 184. The elastic modulus is measured by tracking beads on the gel surface under a wide-field fluorescence microscope without any other specialized equipment. The measurements have small and simple to estimate errors and their results are confirmed by conventional tensile tests. A master curve is obtained relating the mixing ratios of the two components of Sylgard 184 with the resulting elastic moduli of the gels. The rigidity of the silicone gels is less susceptible to effects from drying, swelling, and aging than polyacrylamide gels and can be easily coated with fluorescent tracer particles and with molecules promoting cellular adhesion. This work can lead to broader use of silicone gels in the cell biology laboratory and to improved repeatability and accuracy of cell traction force microscopy and rigidity sensing experiments

Scapular winging: anatomical review, diagnosis, and treatments

Scapular winging is a rare debilitating condition that leads to limited functional activity of the upper extremity. It is the result of numerous causes, including traumatic, iatrogenic, and idiopathic processes that most often result in nerve injury and paralysis of either the serratus anterior, trapezius, or rhomboid muscles. Diagnosis is easily made upon visible inspection of the scapula, with serratus anterior paralysis resulting in medial winging of the scapula. This is in contrast to the lateral winging generated by trapezius and rhomboid paralysis. Most cases of serratus anterior paralysis spontaneously resolve within 24 months, while conservative treatment of trapezius paralysis is less effective. A conservative course of treatment is usually followed for rhomboid paralysis. To allow time for spontaneous recovery, a 6–24 month course of conservative treatment is often recommended, after which if there is no recovery, patients become candidates for corrective surgery

Prognostic significance of body mass index and other tumor and patient characteristics in non- metastatic renal cell carcinoma

PubMed ID: 29464679Purpose: In this retrospective study, we aimed to investigate the prognostic effect of body mass index (BMI) in localized renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cases who underwent surgical treatment. Furthermore, the assessment of various patient and tumor characteristics and surgical methods on survival has been identified as additional targets. Materials and Methods: Three hundred and eighty patients with localised, non-metastatic, unilateral RCC who underwent radical or partial nephrectomy in our clinic between January 2007 and December 2016 were enrolled in this study. Age, gender, height, weight, BMI, operation type and method, pathology results and tumor stage of the patients were recorded. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to body mass index (BMI): Normal weight ( < 25 kg/m2), overweight (25-30 kg/m2) and obese ( > 30 kg/m2) as groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively. We analyzed the relation between the BMI, gender, smoking, hypertension, type and method of surgical treatment, histologic subtype, tumor stage, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and cancer-specific (CSS) and recurrence free survival (RFS). All data analysis was performed using SPSS® Statistical Software for Windows (Version 13.0) and a P value less than 0.05 was considered to be significant. Results: The effect of BMI on both CSS and RFS was statistically significant (P < .001). There was also a significant relation between smoking, operation type (partial/radical), eGFR and tumor stage and CSS and RFS. Conclusion: Our findings show that overweight and obese RCC patients according to the BMI have a more favorable prognosis. Multicenter, prospective studies with more cases and longer oncological follow-up period are needed to support these findings. © 2018 Urology and Nephrology Research Centre

The need for antibiotic prophylaxis before urodynamic studies [Ürodinamik çali{dotless}şmalar öncesi antbiyotik profilaksisi gerekliligi]

Aim: The use of antibiotic prophylaxis before urodynamic studies (US) is not recommended routinely. We investigated the factors that would enable us to predict bacteriuria that is likely to develop after US, and that make us consider the need for prophylaxis. Materials and methods: One hundred and four patients who would undergo US with a suspicion of lower urinary tract dysfunction were enrolled in the present study and followed up prospectively. The relationship between bacteriuria and several parameters, such as gender, age, body mass index, glomerular filtration rates, systemic diseases, urinary flow rates, residual urine volume, the type of process performed, and maximum cystometric capacity values, was investigated. Results: Following US, a bacteria level of 105 was detected in 7 of 104 patients (6.7%). According to the results of the Pearson's chi square test, there was a statistically significant relationship only between the presence of diabetes and bacteriuria (P = 0.013). Logistic regression analysis revealed statistically significant results indicating a direct proportion between the incidence of bacteriuria and increased post-void residual volume (P < 0.0001), with an inverse proportion between the frequency of bacteriuria and decreased bladder capacity (P = 0.021). Conclusion: Due to low rates of bacteriuria after US, the use of prophylactic antibiotics is not a routine procedure except in selected patients. © TÜBİTAK

Cross-talk between ribosome biogenesis, translation, and mTOR in CD133+4/CD44+prostate cancer stem cells

Acikgoz, Eda/0000-0002-6772-3081WOS: 000491662000001PubMed: 31630355Objective To investigate the gene expression profile of CSCs and to explore the key pathways and specific molecular signatures involved in the characteristic of CSCs. Materials and methods CD133+ /CD44+ CSCs and bulk population (non-CSCs) were isolated from DU-145 cells using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). We used Illumina HumanHT-12 v4 Expression to investigate gene expression profiling of CSCs and non-CSCs. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis was performed using the STRING database. Biomarkers selected based on gene expression profiling were visually analyzed using immunofluorescence staining method. An image analysis program, ImageJ (R), was used for the analysis of fluorescence intensity. Results in microarray analysis, we found that many ribosomal proteins and translation initiation factors that constitute the mTOR complex were highly expressed. PPI analysis using the 33 genes demonstrated that there was a close interaction between ribosome biogenesis, translation, and mTOR signaling. the fluorescence amount of mTOR and MLST8 were higher in CSCs compared to non-CSCs. Conclusions the increase in a number of genes associated with ribosome biogenesis, translation, and mTOR signaling may be important to evaluate prognosis and determine treatment approach for prostate cancer (PCa). A better understanding of the molecular pathways associated with CSCs may be promising to develop targeted therapies to prolong survival in PCa

Protective effects of Vitamins C, alone or in combination with Vitamin A, on endotoxin-induced oxidative renal tissue damage in rats

This study was designed to investigate the protective effects of vitamin C and vitamin A on oxidative renal tissue damage. Male Wistar rats were given an intraperitoneal injection of 0.5 ml saline (control) or 0.5 ml solution of lipopolysaccharide (10 mg/kg), which caused endotoxemia. Immediately (within 5 min) after the endotoxin injection, the endotoxemic rats were untreated or treated with intraperitoneal injection of vitamin A (195 mg/kg bw), vitamin C (500 mg/kg bw) or their combination. After 24 hours, tissue and blood samples were obtained for histopathological and biochemical investigation. Endotoxin injection caused renal tissue damage and increased erythrocyte and tissue malondialdehyde (MDA) and serum nitric oxide (NO), urea and creatinine concentrations, but decreased the superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase (CAT) activities compared to the parameters of control animals. Treatment with vitamin C or with vitamins C and A significantly decreased the MDA levels and serum NO, urea and creatinine levels, recovered the antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, GSH-Px and CAT), and prevented the renal tissue damage in endotoxemic rats. In contrast, vitamin A alone did not change the altered parameters except for creatinine levels. Notably, the better effects were observed when vitamins A and C given together. It is concluded that vitamin C treatment, alone or its combination with vitamin A, may be beneficial in preventing endotoxin-induced oxidative renal tissue damage and shows potential for clinical use. © 2005 Tohoku University Medical Press

Protective effects of vitamin C, alone or in combination with vitamin A, on endotoxin-induced oxidative renal tissue damage in rats

WOS: 000228824400010PubMed: 15888972This study was designed to investigate the protective effects of vitamin C and vitamin A on oxidative renal tissue damage. Male Wistar rats were given an intraperitoneal injection of 0.5 ml saline (control) or 0.5 ml solution of lipopolysaccharide (10 mg/kg), which caused endotoxemia. Immediately (within 5 min) after the endotoxin injection, the endotoxemic rats were untreated or treated with intraperitoneal injection of vitamin A (195 mg/kg bw), vitamin C (500 mg/kg bw) or their combination. After 24 hours, tissue and blood samples were obtained for histopathological and biochemical investigation. Endotoxin injection caused renal tissue damage and increased erythrocyte and tissue malondialdehyde (MDA) and serum nitric oxide (NO), urea and creatinine concentrations, but decreased the superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase (CAT) activities compared to the parameters of control animals. Treatment with vitamin C or with vitamins C and A significantly decreased the MDA levels and serum NO, urea and creatinine levels, recovered the antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, GSH-Px and CAT), and prevented the renal tissue damage in endotoxemic rats. In contrast, vitamin A alone did not change the altered parameters except for creatinine levels. Notably, the better effects were observed when vitamins A and C given together. It is concluded that vitamin C treatment, alone or its combination with vitamin A, may be beneficial in preventing endotoxin-induced oxidative renal tissue damage and shows potential for clinical use. - endotoxemia; vitamin A; vitamin C; malondialdehyde; kidney (c) 2005 Tohoku University Medical Press