Giant cardiac tumours in the newborn: an unusual image

Primary heart tumours in the paediatric population are very rare and they range from 0.01% to 0.04%. Most are benign lesions of which about half are rhabdomyomas. Rhabdomyoma tumour diagnosis is associated with a 75–80% risk of tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). TSC are characterised with numerous changes of hamartoma-type located in the brain, kidneys, skin and other organs including the heart. More than two-thirds of newborns with TSC present rhabdomyomas in the heart. These changes may be asymptomatic, but in some cases they may cause heart failure, arrhythmias and death. We present a case report of an infant with giant rhabdomyoma tumours in the course of TSC

On the equivalence of the Ashkin-Teller and the four-state Potts-glass models of neural networks

We show that for a particular choice of the coupling parameters the Ashkin-Teller spin-glass neural network model with the Hebb learning rule and one condensed pattern yields the same thermodynamic properties as the four-state anisotropic Potts-glass neural network model. This equivalence is not seen at the level of the Hamiltonians.Comment: 3 pages, revtex, additional arguments presente

Brillouin scattering studies in Fe3_3O4_4 across the Verwey transition

Brillouin scattering studies have been carried out on high quality single crystals of Fe$_3$O$_4$ with [100] and [110] faces in the temperature range of 300 to 30 K. The room temperature spectrum shows a surface Rayleigh wave (SRW) mode at 8 GHz and a longitudinal acoustic (LA) mode at 60 GHz. The SRW mode frequency shows a minimum at the Verwey transition temperature $T_V$ of 123 K. The softening of the SRW mode frequency from about 250 K to $T_V$ can be quantitatively understood as a result of a decrease in the shear elastic constant C$_{44}$, arising from the coupling of shear strain to charge fluctuations. On the other hand, the LA mode frequency does not show any significant change around $T_V$, but shows a large change in its intensity. The latter shows a maximum at around 120 K in the cooling run and at 165 K in the heating run, exhibiting a large hysteresis of 45 K. This significant change in intensity may be related to the presence of stress-induced ordering of Fe$^{3+}$ and Fe$^{2+}$ at the octahedral sites, as well as to stress-induced domain wall motion.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, accepted in Physical Review B 200

Optimal coloured perceptrons

Ashkin-Teller type perceptron models are introduced. Their maximal capacity per number of couplings is calculated within a first-step replica-symmetry-breaking Gardner approach. The results are compared with extensive numerical simulations using several algorithms.Comment: 8 pages in Latex with 2 eps figures, RSB1 calculations has been adde

Septomarginal trabecula and anterior papillary muscle in primate hearts: developmental issues

The septomarginal trabecula is present in all human hearts as well as in thehearts of other primates. It usually connects the interventricular septum withthe anterior papillary muscle, although there are many variations in how this isachieved. The object of the analyses was to estimate the bilateral topography ofthe septomarginal trabecula and the anterior papillary muscle in the context ofthe ontogeny and phylogeny of primates. A total of 138 hearts were examinedfrom number of different non-human primates. The presence of the septomarginaltrabecula was confirmed in 94.9% of cases, although not in the hearts ofLemur varius. Four configurations could be distinguished by defining the locationof the septomarginal trabecula and its relation to the anterior papillary muscle.For the hearts of the Strepsirrhini and the majority of Platyrrhini neither structurewas related, whereas in all examined representatives of Hominoidea they hadfused and created morphologically varying forms. On the basis of these results,a concept was developed for the sequence of changes which the topography ofthe septomarginal trabecula and the anterior papillary muscle undergo duringontogeny and phylogeny

The effects of fermentation and enzymatic treatment of pea on nutrient digestibility and growth performance of broilers

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.The present study examined the impacts of native, fermented or enzymatically treated peas (Pisum sativum L.) inclusion in broiler diets, on growth performance and nutrient digestibility. For the fermentation process, Madonna pea was mixed with water (1/1) containing 2.57×108 Bacillus subtilis (GalliPro®) spores/kg pea and then, incubated for 48 h at 30 °C. For the enzymatic treatment process, the used water for dough production contained three enzymes, AlphaGalTM (α-galactosidase), RONOZYME® ProAct and VP (protease and pectinases respectively – DSM, Switzerland) and the pea dough incubated for 24 h at 30°C. Nine corn-wheat-soybean diets were formulated by supplying 10%, 20% and 30% of the required CP with either native, fermented or enzymatically treated peas. Performance was recorded weekly and at the end of the experiment (day 35), apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of CP, amino acids (AA), crude fat, starch, Ca, P and K were determined. Data were subjected to ANOVA using GLM procedure with a 3×3 factorial arrangement of treatments. Both processes reduced α-galactosides, phytate, trypsin inhibitor activity and resistant starch in peas. Increasing levels of pea products up to 300 g/kg diet, reduced BW gain and feed intake (P⩽0.05). Broilers fed diets containing enzymatically treated pea had the best feed conversion ratio at day 35. Different types of pea product and their inclusion levels had no effect on AID of all nutrients. The interaction between type of the pea products and inclusion levels was significant for AID of starch. For native pea diets, 10% group showed similar AID of starch to 20% native pea but it had higher AID than 30% native pea. For fermented and enzymatically treated groups, all three levels displayed similar AID of starch. In conclusion, enzymatic treatment and fermentation could improve the nutritional quality of pea. Inclusion of enzymatically treated pea in broiler diets could improve broiler performance compared with other pea products while, it displayed neither positive nor negative impact on nutrient digestibility. The present findings indicate the feasibility of these processes, particularly enzymatic treatment, for improving the nutritional quality of pea as a protein source for broiler nutrition

Influence of hereditary haemochromatosis on left ventricular wall thickness: does iron overload exacerbate cardiac hypertrophy?

Background: The left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy increases the risk of heart failure. Hypertension and infiltrative cardiomyopathies are the well-known reasons of LV hypertrophy. The growing interest of scientists in this issue affects hereditary haemochromatosis (HH), which is characterised by the excess deposition of iron mostly due to HFE gene mutation. The aim of our study was to investigate the possible influence of HH on LV parameters in patients with early-diagnosed (early HH) and long-lasting and long-treated (old HH) disease. Materials and methods: Thirty nine early HH and 19 old HH patients were prospectively enrolled in the study; age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers constituted the appropriate control groups. All participants had echocardiography performed (including three-dimension volume and mass analysis); the iron turnover parameters were measured at the time of enrolment in every HH patients. Results: Echocardiographic parameters regarding to left atrium (LA), LV thickness, mass and long axis length were significantly higher, whereas LV ejection fraction was lower in early HH in comparison to healthy persons. In old HH patients the differences were similar to those mentioned before, except LV ejection fraction. The presence of hypertension in both HH groups did not influence echo parameters, as well as diabetes in old HH. The strongest correlation in all HH group was found between the time from HH diagnosis and LA, LV thickness and volumes parameters, but the correlations between iron turnover and echo parameters were non-existent. Conclusions: Hereditary haemochromatosis, not only long-lasting, but also early-diagnosed, could lead to exacerbation of LV wall thickness and cardiac hypertrophy. This effect is not simply connected with hypertension and diabetes that are frequent additional diseases in these patients, but with the time from HH diagnosis