ICAR: endoscopic skull‐base surgery

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Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Pediatric multiple sclerosis in Venezuela

OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Venezuelan pediatric patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). METHODS: Database records from the National Program for MS were searched for patients with an established diagnosis of MS whose first symptoms appeared before age 18. RESULTS: The national database held records of 1.710 patients; 3.8% had onset of the first symptoms before age 18. 46.7% were boys, yielding an F:M ratio of 1.13:1. Many children had a disease onset characterized by motor impairment (30.7%), brainstem/cerebellum and spinal cord affectation (27.6%), headache (26%). Less frequent symptoms were sensory symptoms (8%) and optic neuritis (7%). DISCUSSION: Pediatric MS patients in Venezuela represent a significant proportion of all MS cases. The clinical pattern is characterized by motor symptoms at onset, and predominantly monosymptomatic presentation with a relapsing-remitting pattern. This is the first systematic attempt to estimate the prevalence of pediatric MS in Venezuela

Supramolecular Chemistry of Carbon Nanotubes at Interfaces: Toward Applications

The properties at interfaces play important roles in biology and electronics. In the last 20 years, new carbon allotropes, like carbon nanotubes, have emerged as novel suitable substrates for the production of derivatives with wide range of technological applications. Since then, a great attention has been drawn in the study of the biological and technological properties of these novel allotropes at interfaces. Among the plethora of chemical reactions adopted to improve the properties of these nanostructured carbon species, the one employing supramolecular approaches have rapidly increased during the last years. In this chapter we will review the supramolecular approaches aimed at the functionalization of these carbon-based nanostructures focusing on their properties and applicative uses as self-organized materials at interfaces