Predictive value of heterogeneously enhanced MRI findings with CT evidence of calcification for severe motor deficits in spinal meningioma

OBJECTIVE: Spinal meningioma is mostly benign, but they can exhibit neurological deficit. The relationship between neurological impairment and its radiographic findings, including intratumor magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) gadolinium enhancement and calcification in computed tomography (CT) scan, has not been studied. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of preoperative image findings with neurological status in spinal meningioma. METHODS: Patients histologically diagnosed with spinal meningioma (n = 24), with an average age of 65.4 years, were included. The patients were classified into 2 groups, the homogeneous and heterogeneous groups, based on the contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MRI findings. Further, baseline demographics (age, sex, presence of preoperative paralysis [manual muscle testing 3 or worse neurological deficit in upper and/or lower limbs], tumor level, tumor length, and tumor occupation ratio), histological findings (Ki-67 index and histological subtypes), and CT findings (presence of intratumor calcification and Hounsfield unit [HU] value) were examined. RESULTS: Preoperative paralysis was observed in 33.3% (8 of 24) of the patients. These patients exhibited frequent heterogeneous contrast-enhanced MRI findings than those without preoperative paralysis (57.1% vs. 14.3%, p = 0.040). Further, preoperative paralysis did not associate with tumor level, tumor length, tumor-occupied ratio, Ki-67 index, and histological subtypes. The heterogeneous group showed 100% intratumor calcification and higher maximum HU than the homogeneous group (1, 109.8 vs. 379.2, p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The heterogeneous contrast-induced MRI findings in the spinal meningioma were significantly associated with preoperative neurological impairment. Moreover, the intratumor contrast-deficient region in the heterogeneously enhanced tumors reflected marked calcification. The tumor hardness due to calcification may be related to preoperative neurological deficit

Paraplegia Caused by Multifocal Osteosarcoma With Spinal Lesions

Background: Multifocal osteosarcoma is a rare condition that may be either synchronous or metachronous. Spine involvement of multifocal osteosarcoma is very rare. Synchronous multifocal osteosarcoma is typically described as the occurrence of tumors at two or more sites in the absence of pulmonary metastases. Methods: A 55-year-old man initially presented with low back pain. Multiple osteosclerotic lesions were observed, primarily in the spine and pelvis, as well as in soft tissues. Lung lesions were observed, but they were relatively small at reference. Laboratory tests showed a markedly elevated alkaline phosphatase (ALP) level of 36, 416 U/L (normal range, 115-359 U/L). Based upon a diagnosis of osteosarcoma on biopsy, chemotherapy was administered, resulting in a decrease in ALP to 17, 833 U/L. Results: Decompression of the symptomatic compressed spinal cord and posterior spinal stabilization of T8-12 were performed. However, progressive extensions of multiple lesions to the spinal canal led to paraplegia with urinary dysfunction. Eleven months after the first visit to our hospital, the patient died due to multiple organ failure. Conclusions: Multifocal osteosarcoma accompanied by spinal lesions may lead to paraplegia, a clinical problem that negatively affects the quality of activities of daily living. Level of Evidence 4. Clinical Relevance: Multifocal osteosarcoma accompanied by spinal lesions may lead to paraplegia, a clinical problem that negatively affects the quality of life and activities of daily living

Fermion Scattering off CP-Violating Electroweak Bubble Wall

A general prescription to solve the Dirac equation in the presence of CP-violating electroweak bubble wall is presented. The profile of the bubble wall is not specified except that the wall height is $m_0$ and zero deep in the broken- and the symmetric-phase regions, respectively, where $m_0$ is a fermion mass given by the Higgs-vacuum-expectation value and the Yukawa coupling. The CP-violating effects are evaluated by regarding CP-violating part of the bubble wall as a perturbation to CP-conserving solutions. The basic quantity, $R_{R\rightarrow L}-\bar R_{R\rightarrow L}$, which would contribute to the cosmological baryon asymmetry, is estimated for some typical profiles of the wall, where $R_{R\rightarrow L}$($\bar R_{R\rightarrow L}$) is the reflection coefficient of right-handed chiral fermion (anti-fermion).Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures ( uuencoded tar.Z file of PS files is appended ), plain TeX with phyzzx, tables and epsf,SAGA-HE-55--KYUSHU-HET-1

Transitional CP Violation in the MSSM and Electroweak Baryogenesis

Electroweak baryogenesis depends on the profile of the bubble wall created in the first-order phase transition. It is pointed out that CP violation in the Higgs sector of the MSSM could become large enough to explain the baryon asymmetry. We confirm this by solving the equations of motion for the Higgs fields with the effective potential at the transition temperature. That is, we present an example such that the transitional CP violation is realized and show the possibility that the baryon asymmetry of the universe may be produced, if marginally, by the $\tau$ lepton interacting with the wall, when an explicit CP breaking in the Higgs sector, which is consistent with experimental bounds, is induced at the phase transition.Comment: LaTeX2e, 18 pages with 7 eps files of figure

Characterization of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus A(H5N6), Japan, November 2016

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIVs) A(H5N6) were concurrently introduced into several distant regions of Japan in November 2016. These viruses were classified into the genetic clade 2.3.4.4c and were genetically closely related to H5N6 HPAIVs recently isolated in South Korea and China. In addition, these HPAIVs showed further antigenic drift