Effect of rehabilitation on a patient suffering from a tuberculous brain abscess with Gerstmann’s syndrome: case report

There are few reports in the literature of tuberculous brain abscess. Tuberculous brain abscess usually occurs in an immunocompromised host. Almost all previously documented cases have involved acquired immune deficiency syndrome. We encountered a 53-year-old right-handed immunocompetent male who was initially suspected of having a cerebrovascular accident due to acute-onset right hemiparesis and paresthesia. A tentative diagnosis of brain tumor versus brain abscess was made on imaging studies. The patient was finally diagnosed with a tuberculous brain abscess based upon deterioration on imaging and a positive tuberculosis culture. The tuberculous brain abscess was located in the left parietal lobe, which resulted in Gerstmann’s syndrome and right-sided apraxia. Stereotactic surgery was performed. He was also given antituberculosis chemotherapy and comprehensive rehabilitation. Considerable improvement was noted after rehabilitation. The patient even returned to a normal life and work. Our case demonstrates that an aggressive intensive inpatient rehabilitation program combined with stereotactic surgery and effective antituberculosis therapy play an important role in improving the outcome for patients with tuberculous brain abscess, Gerstmann’s syndrome, and right-sided apraxia

Serum Bone Resorption Markers after Parathyroidectomy for Renal Hyperparathyroidism: Correlation Analyses for the Cross-Linked N-telopeptide of Collagen I and Tartrate-Resistant Acid Phosphatase

Patients on long-term dialysis may develop secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) with increased serum concentrations of bone resorption markers such as the cross-linked N-telopeptide of type I collagen (NTX) and type-5b tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP). When SHPT proves refractory to treatment, parathyroidectomy (PTX) may be needed. Renal patients on maintenance HD who received PTX for refractory SHPT (n=23) or who did not develop refractory SHPT (control subjects; n=25) were followed prospectively for 4 weeks. Serum intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), NTX, TRAP, and bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP) concentrations were measured serially and correlation analyses were performed. iPTH values decreased rapidly and dramatically. BAP values increased progressively with peak increases observed at 2 weeks after surgery. NTX and TRAP values decreased concurrently and progressively through 4 weeks following PTX. A significant correlation between TRAP and NTX values was observed before PTX but not at 4 weeks after PTX. Additionally, the fractional changes in serum TRAP were larger than those in serum NTX at all times examined after PTX. Serum iPTH, TRAP, and NTX values declined rapidly following PTX for SHPT. Serum TRAP values declined to greater degrees than serum NTX values throughout the 4-week period following PTX

Editorial Advanced Techniques for Computational and Information Sciences

New techniques in computational and information sciences have played an important role in keeping advancing the so called knowledge economy. Advanced techniques have been introduced to or emerging in almost every field of the scientific world for hundreds of years, which has been accelerated since the late 1970s when the advancement in computers and digital technologies brought the world into the Information Era. In addition to the rapid development of computational intelligence and new data fusion techniques in the past thirty years This special issue is to facilitate dissemination of recent research outcomes resulting from applying innovative and advanced techniques in computational and information sciences to various scientific and engineering disciplines. The papers included in this special issue were selected from submissions to both Mathematical Problems in Engineering (MPE) directly and the 2014 International Conference on Information Technology, Computation and Applications (ICITCA2014) held in Anyang of China in December 2014, which followed the success of ICITCA2013 Categorically, there are 15 papers in the broad area of digital audio, video, and image processing and pattern recognition. S. Zhao et al. presented a variational Bayesian superresolution approach using adaptive image prior model. All these papers have made new contributions to the broad areas of computational and information sciences

Oral Rg1 supplementation strengthens antioxidant defense system against exercise-induced oxidative stress in rat skeletal muscles

BACKGROUND: Previous studies reported divergent results on nutraceutical actions and free radical scavenging capability of ginseng extracts. Variations in ginsenoside profile of ginseng due to different soil and cultivating season may contribute to the inconsistency. To circumvent this drawback, we assessed the effect of major ginsenoside-Rg1 (Rg1) on skeletal muscle antioxidant defense system against exhaustive exercise-induced oxidative stress. METHODS: Forty weight-matched rats were evenly divided into control (N = 20) and Rg1 (N = 20) groups. Rg1 was orally administered at the dose of 0.1 mg/kg bodyweight per day for 10-week. After this long-term Rg1 administration, ten rats from each group performed an exhaustive swimming, and remaining rats considered as non-exercise control. Tibialis anterior (TA) muscles were surgically collected immediately after exercise along with non-exercise rats. RESULTS: Exhaustive exercise significantly (p<0.05) increased the lipid peroxidation of control group, as evidenced by elevated malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. The increased oxidative stress after exercise was also confirmed by decreased reduced glutathione to oxidized glutathione ratio (GSH/GSSG ratio) in control rats. However, these changes were completely eliminated in Rg1 group. Catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities were significantly (p<0.05) increased by Rg1 in non-exercise rats, while no significant change after exercise. Nevertheless, glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activities were significantly increased after exercise in Rg1 group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provide compelling evidences that Rg1 supplementation can strengthen antioxidant defense system in skeletal muscle and completely attenuate the membrane lipid peroxidation induced by exhaustive exercise. Our findings suggest that Rg1 can use as a nutraceutical supplement to buffer the exhaustive exercise-induced oxidative stress

Comparison of Cortical Bone Trajectory to Pedicle-Based Dynamic Stabilization: An Analysis of 291 Patients

Objective Pedicle-based dynamic stabilization (DS) has gained popularity outside of America. Although pedicle screw (PS) loosening has always been a concern, it is reportedly innocuous. Cortical bone trajectory (CBT) screw is an emerging option with less invasiveness and similar effectiveness to PS in short-segment lumbar fusion. This study aimed to verify the use of CBT for DS by comparing the outcomes between pedicle- and CBT-based DS. Methods Consecutive patients with lumbar spondylosis or low-grade spondylolisthesis who underwent 1- or 2-level DS between L3–5 with a minimum follow-up of 24 months were reviewed. Screw loosening was determined by computed tomography and the incidences were compared. Results A total of 291 patients who underwent Dynesys DS (235 pedicle- and 56 CBT-based, respectively) were compared. The demographics and preoperative conditions were similar. All the clinical outcomes improved at 24-month postoperation, while the CBT-based group had less operation time and blood loss than the pedicle-based group. The rates of screw loosening were lower in the CBT-based (5.4% per screw and 12.5% per patient) than the pedicle-based group (9% per screw and 26.4% per patient). Furthermore, there were no differences in the clinical outcomes and complication profiles. Conclusion The CBT-based DS for 1- or 2-level lumbar degeneration demonstrated equivalent clinical improvement as the pedicle-based DS. The adaption of CBT-based screws for DS could be a less invasive approach (shorter operation time and less blood loss), with lower chances of screw loosening than the conventional PS-based DS

Functional Ginger Extracts from Supercritical Fluid Carbon Dioxide Extraction via In Vitro

Supercritical fluid carbon dioxide extraction technology was developed to gain the active components from a Taiwan native plant, Zingiber officinale (ginger). We studied the biological effects of ginger extracts via multiple assays and demonstrated the biofunctions in each platform. Investigations of ginger extracts indicated antioxidative properties in dose-dependant manners on radical scavenging activities, reducing powers and metal chelating powers. We found that ginger extracts processed moderate scavenging values, middle metal chelating levels, and slight ferric reducing powers. The antibacterial susceptibility of ginger extracts on Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus sobrinus, S. mutans, and Escherichia coli was determined with the broth microdilution method technique. The ginger extracts had operative antimicroorganism potentials against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. We further discovered the strong inhibitions of ginger extracts on lethal carcinogenic melanoma through in vivo xenograft model. To sum up, the data confirmed the possible applications as medical cosmetology agents, pharmaceutical antibiotics, and food supplements

Solanum lyratum

We investigated the molecular mechanisms of cell cycle arrest and apoptotic death induced by Solanum lyratum extracts (SLE) or diosgenin in WEHI-3 murine leukemia cells in vitro and antitumor activity in vivo. Diosgenin is one of the components of SLE. Our study showed that SLE and diosgenin decreased the viable WEHI-3 cells and induced G0/G1 phase arrest and apoptosis in concentration- or time-dependent manners. Both reagents increased the levels of ROS production and decreased the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm). SLE- and diosgenin-triggered apoptosis is mediated through modulating the extrinsic and intrinsic signaling pathways. Intriguingly, the p53 inhibitor (pifithrin-α), anti-Fas ligand (FasL) mAb, and specific inhibitors of caspase-8 (z-IETD-fmk), caspase-9 (z-LEHD-fmk), and caspase-3 (z-DEVD-fmk) blocked SLE- and diosgenin-reduced cell viability of WEHI-3 cells. The in vivo study demonstrated that SLE has marked antitumor efficacy against tumors in the WEHI-3 cell allograft model. In conclusion, SLE- and diosgenin-induced G0/G1 phase arrest and triggered extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways via p53 activation in WEHI-3 cells. SLE also exhibited antitumor activity in vivo. Our findings showed that SLE may be potentially efficacious in the treatment of leukemia in the future

Second-Hand Smoke–Induced Cardiac Fibrosis Is Related to the Fas Death Receptor Apoptotic Pathway without Mitochondria-Dependent Pathway Involvement in Rats

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke has been epidemiologically linked to heart disease among nonsmokers. However, the molecular mechanism behind the pathogenesis of cardiac disease is unknown. In this study, we found that Wistar rats, exposed to tobacco cigarette smoke at doses of 5, 10, or 15 cigarettes for 30 min twice a day for 1 month, had a dose-dependently reduced heart weight to body weight ratio and enhanced interstitial fibrosis as identified by histopathologic analysis. The mRNA and activity of matrix metalloprotease-2 (MMP-2), representing the progress of cardiac remodeling, were also elevated in the heart. In addition, we used reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting to demonstrate significantly increased levels of the apoptotic effecter caspase-3 in treated animal hearts. Dose-dependently elevated mRNA and protein levels of Fas, and promoted apoptotic initiator caspase-8 (active form), a molecule of a death-receptor–dependent pathway, coupled with unaltered or decreased levels of cytosolic cytochrome c and the apoptotic initiator caspase-9 (active form), molecules of mitochondria-dependent pathways, may be indicative of cardiac apoptosis, which is Fas death-receptor apoptotic-signaling dependent, but not mitochondria pathway dependent in rats exposed to second-hand smoke (SHS). With regard to the regulation of survival pathway, using dot blotting, we found cardiac insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and IGF-1 receptor mRNA levels to be significantly increased, indicating that compensative effects of IGF-1 survival signaling could occur. In conclusion, we found that the effects of SHS on cardiomyocyte are mediated by the Fas death-receptor–dependent apoptotic pathway and might be related to the epidemiologic incidence of cardiac disease of SHS-exposed non-smokers