Increased facial asymmetry in focal epilepsies associated with unilateral lesions

The epilepsies are now conceptualized as network disruptions: focal epilepsies are considered to have network alterations in the hemisphere of seizure onset, whilst generalized epilepsies are considered to have bi-hemispheric network changes. Increasingly, many epilepsies are also considered to be neurodevelopmental disorders, with early changes in the brain underpinning seizure biology. The development of the structure of the face is influenced by complex molecular interactions between surface ectoderm and underlying developing forebrain and neural crest cells. This influence is likely to continue postnatally, given the evidence of facial growth changes over time in humans until at least 18 years of age. In this case–control study, we hypothesized that people with lateralized focal epilepsies (i.e. unilateral network changes) have an increased degree of facial asymmetry, compared with people with generalized epilepsies or controls without epilepsy. We applied three-dimensional stereophotogrammetry and dense surface models to evaluate facial asymmetry in people with epilepsy, aiming to generate new tools to explore pathophysiological mechanisms in epilepsy. We analysed neuroimaging data to explore the correlation between face and brain asymmetry. We consecutively recruited 859 people with epilepsy attending the epilepsy clinics at a tertiary referral centre. We used dense surface modelling of the full face and signature analyses of three-dimensional facial photographs to analyse facial differences between 378 cases and 205 healthy controls. Neuroimaging around the time of the facial photograph was available for 234 cases. We computed the brain asymmetry index between contralateral regions. Cases with focal symptomatic epilepsy associated with unilateral lesions showed greater facial asymmetry compared to controls (P = 0.0001, two-sample t-test). This finding was confirmed by linear regression analysis after controlling for age and gender. We also found a significant correlation between duration of illness and the brain asymmetry index of total average cortical thickness (r = −0.19, P = 0.0075) but not for total average surface area (r = 0.06, P = 0.3968). There was no significant correlation between facial asymmetry and asymmetry of regional cortical thickness or surface area. We propose that the greater facial asymmetry in cases with focal epilepsy caused by unilateral abnormality might be explained by early unilateral network disruption, and that this is independent of underlying brain asymmetry. Three-dimensional stereophotogrammetry and dense surface modelling are a novel powerful phenotyping tool in epilepsy that may permit greater understanding of pathophysiology in epilepsy, and generate further insights into the development of cerebral networks underlying epilepsy, and the genetics of facial and neural development

Patient centric formulations for paediatrics and geriatrics: Similarities and differences

Paediatrics and geriatrics both represent highly heterogenous populations and require special consideration when developing appropriate dosage forms. This paper discusses similarities, differences and considerations with respect to the development of appropriate medicine formulations for paediatrics and geriatrics. Arguably the most significant compliance challenge in older people is polypharmacy, whereas for children the largest barrier is taste. Pharmaceutical technology has progressed rapidly and technologies including FDCs, multi-particulates and orodispersible dosage forms provide unprecedented opportunities to develop novel and appropriate formulations for both old and new drugs. However, it is important for the formulation scientists to work closely with patients, carers and clinicians to develop such formulations for both the paediatric and geriatric population

A laboratory characterisation of inorganic iodine emissions from the sea surface: dependence on oceanic variables and parameterisation for global modelling

Reactive iodine compounds play a significant role in the atmospheric chemistry of the oceanic boundary layer by influencing the oxidising capacity through catalytically removing O3 and altering the HOx and NOx balance. The sea-to-air flux of iodine over the open ocean is therefore an important quantity in assessing these impacts on a global scale. This paper examines the effect of a number of relevant environmental parameters, including water temperature, salinity and organic compounds, on the magnitude of the HOI and I2 fluxes produced from the uptake of O3 and its reaction with iodide ions in aqueous solution. The results of these laboratory experiments and those reported previously (Carpenter et al., 2013), along with sea surface iodide concentrations measured or inferred from measurements of dissolved total iodine and iodate reported in the literature, were then used to produce parameterised expressions for the HOI and I2 fluxes as a function of wind speed, sea-surface temperature and O3. These expressions were used in the Tropospheric HAlogen chemistry MOdel (THAMO) to compare with MAX-DOAS measurements of iodine monoxide (IO) performed during the HaloCAST-P cruise in the eastern Pacific ocean (Mahajan et al., 2012). The modelled IO agrees reasonably with the field observations, although significant discrepancies are found during a period of low wind speeds (< 3 m s&minus;1), when the model overpredicts IO by up to a factor of 3. The inorganic iodine flux contributions to IO are found to be comparable to, or even greater than, the contribution of organo-iodine compounds and therefore its inclusion in atmospheric models is important to improve predictions of the influence of halogen chemistry in the marine boundary layer

Essential Oil of Brachylaena hutchinsii Hutch from Tanzania: Antimicrobial Activity and Composition

East and Central African Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol.6(3) 2003: 61-6

The anomalous U(1) global symmetry and flavors from an SU(5) x SU(5)′' GUT in Z12−IZ_{12-I} orbifold compactification

In string compactifications, frequently there appears the anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry which belonged to E8$\times$E8 of the heterotic string. This anomalous U(1) gauge boson obtains mass at the compactification scale, just below $10^{18\,}$GeV, by absorbing one pseudoscalar (corresponding to the model-independent axion) from the second rank anti-symmetric tensor field $B_{MN}$. Below the compactification scale, there results a global symmetry U(1)$_{\rm anom}$ whose charge $Q_{\rm anom}$ is the original gauge U(1) charge. This is the most natural global symmetry, realizing the "invisible" axion. This global symmetry U(1)$_{\rm anom}$ is suitable for a flavor symmetry. In the simplest compactification model with the flipped SU(5) grand unification, we calculate all the low energy parameters in terms of the vacuum expectation values of the standard model singlets.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figur

Solar photocatalysis for water disinfection: Materials and reactor design

As of 2010, access to clean drinking water is a human right according to UN regulations. Nevertheless, the number of people living in areas without safe drinking water is predicted to increase by three billion by the end of this decade. Several recent cases of E. coli and Cryptosporidium contamination in drinking water are also reported in a number of advanced countries. Therefore ensuring the potability of drinking water is urgent, but highly challenging to both the developing and developed world in the future. A combination of solar disinfection and photocatalysis technology offers real possibilities for removing lethal pathogenic microroganisms from drinking water. The time taken for the conventional SODIS process can be greatly reduced by semiconductor (e.g. TiO2, ZnO, nano-heterojunctions) based photocatalysis. This review addresses the fundamental reaction mechanism, advances in materials synthesis and selection and recent developments in the reactor design for solar energy driven photocatalysis using titanium dioxide. The major advantage of using photo-reactors is that they enhance disinfection by increasing photon flux into the photocatalyst. Other major factors affecting such efficiency of solar-based photocatalysis such as the illuminated volume/total volume ratio, catalyst load and flow rate, are discussed in detail. The significance of using immobilised catalysts over the catalyst powder in slurries is also highlighted. It is noted that, despite encouraging early field studies, the commercialisation and mass production of solar photocatalysis systems remains highly challenging. Recommendations for future directions for addressing issues such as mass transfer, requirement of a standard test method, photo-reactors design and visible light absorption by TiO2 coatings are also discussed

Factors associated with dental attendance among adolescents in Santiago, Chile

BACKGROUND: Dental treatment needs are commonly unmet among adolescents. It is therefore important to clarify the determinants of poor utilization of dental services among adolescents. METHODS: A total of 9,203 Chilean students aged 12–21 years provided information on dental visits, oral health related behavior, perceived oral health status, and socio-demographic determinants. School headmasters provided information on monthly tuition and annual fees. Based on the answers provided, three outcome variables were generated to reflect whether the respondent had visited the dentist during the past year or not; whether the last dental visit was due to symptoms; and whether the responded had ever been to a dentist. Aged adjusted multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the influence of the covariates gender; oral health related behaviors (self-reported tooth brushing frequency & smoking habits); and measures of social position (annual education expenses; paternal income; and achieved parental education) on each outcome. RESULTS: Analyses showed that students who had not attended a dentist within the past year were more likely to be male (OR = 1.3); to report infrequent tooth brushing (OR = 1.3); to have a father without income (OR = 1.8); a mother with only primary school education (OR = 1.5); and were also more likely to report a poor oral health status (OR = 2.0), just as they were more likely to attend schools with lower tuition and fees (OR = 1.4). Students who consulted a dentist because of symptoms were more likely to have a father without income (OR = 1.4); to attend schools with low economic entry barriers (OR = 1.4); and they were more likely to report a poor oral health status (OR = 2.9). Students who had never visited a dentist were more likely to report infrequent tooth brushing (OR = 1.9) and to have lower socioeconomic positions independently of the indicator used. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate that socioeconomic and behavioral factors are independently associated with the frequency of and reasons for dental visits in this adolescent population and that self-perceived poor oral health status is strongly associated with infrequent dental visits and symptoms

Gac two-component system in Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci is required for virulence but not for hypersensitive reaction

Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci 6605 causes wildfire disease on host tobacco plants. To investigate the regulatory mechanism of the expression of virulence, Gac two-Component system-defective mutants, Delta gacA and Delta gacS, and a double mutant, Delta gacA Delta gacS, were generated. These mutants produced smaller amounts of N-acyl homoserine lactones required for quorum sensing, had lost swarming motility, and had reduced expression of virulence-related hrp genes and the algT gene required for exopolysaccharide production. The ability of the mutants to cause disease symptoms in their host tobacco plant was remarkably reduced, while they retained the ability to induce hypersensitive reaction (HR) in the nonhost plants. These results indicated that the Gac two-component system of P. syringae pv. tabaci 6605 is indispensable for virulence on the host plant, but not for HR induction in the nonhost plants.</p

A novel long non-coding natural antisense RNA is a negative regulator of Nos1 gene expression

Long non-coding natural antisense transcripts (NATs) are widespread in eukaryotic species. Although recent studies indicate that long NATs are engaged in the regulation of gene expression, the precise functional roles of the vast majority of them are unknown. Here we report that a long NAT (Mm-antiNos1 RNA) complementary to mRNA encoding the neuronal isoform of nitric oxide synthase (Nos1) is expressed in the mouse brain and is transcribed from the non-template strand of the Nos1 locus. Nos1 produces nitric oxide (NO), a major signaling molecule in the CNS implicated in many important functions including neuronal differentiation and memory formation. We show that the newly discovered NAT negatively regulates Nos1 gene expression. Moreover, our quantitative studies of the temporal expression profiles of Mm-antiNos1 RNA in the mouse brain during embryonic development and postnatal life indicate that it may be involved in the regulation of NO-dependent neurogenesis