IS LUMBAR PUNCTURE ALWAYS NECESSARY IN THE FEBRILE CHILD WITH CONVULSION?

ObjectiveFebrile convulsion is the most common benign convulsive disorder in children. Meningitis is one of the most important causes of fever and convulsions, diagnosed by lumbar puncture (LP), a painful and invasive procedure much debated  regarding its necessity. This study evaluates the frequency of abnormal LP findings in a group of patients, to determine whether or not unnecessary LP can be prevented without missing patients with serious problems such as meningitis.Materials& MethodsThe study was a descriptive, cross sectional study, conducted on 200 children suffering from fever and convulsions. Medical files of patients were taken from the hospital records and relevant data were collected to complete the appropriate forms.ResultsOf 200 patients included in the study, 116 (58%) children were male, and 84 (42%) were female. 47 cases (23.5%) underwent LP, of whom just one (0.5%) had abnormal LP and meningitis.ConclusionRegarding Considering the low prevalence of meningitis in children with convulsion and fever, we conclude that by means of precise clinical examination and monitoring, it is possible to prevent unnecessary LP in these patients.Key Words:Fever and convulsion, Lumbar puncture, Meningitis

A Novel, All-Optical Tool for Controllable and Non- Destructive Poration of Cells with Single-Micron Resolution

We demonstrate controllable poration within ≈1 µm regions of individual cells, mediated by a near-IR laser interacting with thin-layer amorphous silicon substrates. This technique will allow new experiments in single-cell biology, particularly in neuroscience. As our understanding of the fundamental mechanistic processes underpinning biology expands, so does the need for high-precision tools to allow the dissection of the heterogeneity and stochastic processes that dominate at the single- and sub-cellular level. Here, we demonstrate a highly controllable and reproducible optical technique for inducing poration within specific regions of a target cell’s plasma membrane, permitting localized delivery of payloads, depolarization and lysis experiments to be conducted in unprecedented detail. Experiments support a novel mechanism for the process, based upon a thermally-induced change triggered by the interactions of a near-IR laser with a biocompatible thin film substrate at powers substantially below that used in standard optoporation experiments

Computational Complexity of Atomic Chemical Reaction Networks

Informally, a chemical reaction network is "atomic" if each reaction may be interpreted as the rearrangement of indivisible units of matter. There are several reasonable definitions formalizing this idea. We investigate the computational complexity of deciding whether a given network is atomic according to each of these definitions. Our first definition, primitive atomic, which requires each reaction to preserve the total number of atoms, is to shown to be equivalent to mass conservation. Since it is known that it can be decided in polynomial time whether a given chemical reaction network is mass-conserving, the equivalence gives an efficient algorithm to decide primitive atomicity. Another definition, subset atomic, further requires that all atoms are species. We show that deciding whether a given network is subset atomic is in $\textsf{NP}$, and the problem "is a network subset atomic with respect to a given atom set" is strongly $\textsf{NP}$-$\textsf{Complete}$. A third definition, reachably atomic, studied by Adleman, Gopalkrishnan et al., further requires that each species has a sequence of reactions splitting it into its constituent atoms. We show that there is a $\textbf{polynomial-time algorithm}$ to decide whether a given network is reachably atomic, improving upon the result of Adleman et al. that the problem is $\textbf{decidable}$. We show that the reachability problem for reachably atomic networks is $\textsf{Pspace}$-$\textsf{Complete}$. Finally, we demonstrate equivalence relationships between our definitions and some special cases of another existing definition of atomicity due to Gnacadja

Delayed-onset heparin-induced thrombocytopenia presenting with multiple arteriovenous thromboses: case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Delayed-onset heparin-induced thrombocytopenia with thrombosis, albeit rare, is a severe side effect of heparin exposure. It can occur within one month after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with manifestation of different thrombotic events.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 59-year-old man presented with weakness, malaise, bilateral lower limb pitting edema and a suspected diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis 18 days after CABG. Heparin infusion was administered as an anticoagulant. Clinical and paraclinical work-up revealed multiple thrombotic events (stroke, renal failure, deep vein thrombosis, large clots in heart chambers) and 48 ×10³/μl platelet count, whereupon heparin-induced thrombocytopenia was suspected. Heparin was discontinued immediately and an alternative anticoagulant agent was administered, as a result of which platelet count recovered. Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, which causes thrombosis, is a serious side effect of heparin therapy. It is worthy of note that no case of delayed-onset heparin-induced thrombocytopenia with thrombosis associated with cardiopulmonary bypass surgery has thus far been reported in Iran.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Delayed-onset heparin-induced thrombocytopenia should be suspected in any patient presenting with arterial or venous thromboembolic disorders after recent heparin therapy, even though the heparin exposure dates back to more than a week prior to presentation; and it should be ruled-out before the initiation of heparin therapy.</p

Lack of Genetic Association between Interleukin-18 Gene Polymorphism (rs1946518) and Chronic Hepatitis B Infection

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Interleukin 18 is a member of the cytokines that play an important role in the Th1-mediated immune response by inducing interferon-gamma activity in collaboration with Interleukin-12 (IL-18). Interleukin 12 and Interleukin 18 can play an important role in purifying viruses. Considering the importance of IL-18, this study was conducted to investigate the relationship between Interleukin-18 Gene polymorphism (-607 C/A: rs1946518) and the susceptibility to chronic hepatitis B infection. METHODS: In this case-control study, the genomic DNA of 115 patients with chronic hepatitis B (with positive results of HBsAg and Anti-HBcAb serology testing) and 115 non-HBV-infected controls (negative results of HBsAg and Anti-HbcAb serology testing and no history of liver disease) was extracted by salting-out method and the genotype of single-nucleotide polymorphism (-607 C / A: rs1946518) was sequenced using PCR-RFLP method. FINDING: The genotype frequency of TT, GT, and GG in patients was 40%, 49.6%, and 10.4% in patients, and 41.7%, 42.6%, and 15.7% in the control group, respectively. No significant difference was found between the patients group and the control group. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, there was no clear relationship between IL-18 polymorphism and the potential for chronic hepatitis B infection. Therefore, this polymorphism cannot be a potential factor for chronic hepatitis B

Hemoglobin Q-Iran detected in family members from Northern Iran: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Hemoglobin Q-Iran (α75Asp→His) is an important member of the hemoglobin Q family, molecularly characterized by the replacement of aspartic acid by histidine. The first report of hemoglobin Q-Iran and the nomenclature of this hemoglobinopathy dates back to 1970. Iran is known as a country with a high prevalence of α- and β-thalassemia and different types of hemoglobinopathy. Many of these variants are yet to be identified as the practice of molecular laboratory techniques is limited in this part of the world. Applying such molecular methods, we report the first hemoglobin Q-Iran cases in Northern Iran.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>An unusual band was detected in an isoelectric focusing test and cellulose acetate electrophoresis of a sample from a 22-year-old Iranian man from Mazandaran Province. Capillary zone electrophoresis analysis identified this band as hemoglobin Q. A similar band was also detected in his mother's electrophoresis (38 years, Iranian ethnicity). The cases underwent molecular investigation and the presence of a hemoglobin Q-Iran mutation was confirmed by the amplification refractory mutation system polymerase chain reaction method. Direct conventional sequencing revealed a single guanine to cytosine missense mutation (c.226G > C; <it>G</it>AC ><it>C</it>AC) at codon 75 in the α-globin gene in both cases.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The wide spectrum and high frequency of nondeletional α-globin mutations in Mazandaran Province is remarkable and seem to differ considerably from what has been found in Mediterranean populations. This short communication reports the first cases of patients with hemoglobin Q found in that region.</p

Share of afghanistan populace in hepatitis B and hepatitis C infection's pool: is it worthwhile?

There is a notable dearth of data about Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus(HCV) prevalence in Afghanistan. Awareness program and research capacity in the field of hepatitis are very limited in Afghanistan. Number of vulnerabilities and patterns of risk behaviors signal the need to take action now

Accumulation of intraneuronal Aβ correlates with ApoE4 genotype

In contrast to extracellular plaque and intracellular tangle pathology, the presence and relevance of intraneuronal Aβ in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is still a matter of debate. Human brain tissue offers technical challenges such as post-mortem delay and uneven or prolonged tissue fixation that might affect immunohistochemical staining. In addition, previous studies on intracellular Aβ accumulation in human brain often used antibodies targeting the C-terminus of Aβ and differed strongly in the pretreatments used. To overcome these inconsistencies, we performed extensive parametrical testing using a highly specific N-terminal Aβ antibody detecting the aspartate at position 1, before developing an optimal staining protocol for intraneuronal Aβ detection in paraffin-embedded sections from AD patients. To rule out that this antibody also detects the β-cleaved APP C-terminal fragment (β-CTF, C99) bearing the same epitope, paraffin-sections of transgenic mice overexpressing the C99-fragment were stained without any evidence for cross-reactivity in our staining protocol. The staining intensity of intraneuronal Aβ in cortex and hippocampal tissue of 10 controls and 20 sporadic AD cases was then correlated to patient data including sex, Braak stage, plaque load, and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype. In particular, the presence of one or two ApoE4 alleles strongly correlated with an increased accumulation of intraneuronal Aβ peptides. Given that ApoE4 is a major genetic risk factor for AD and is involved in neuronal cholesterol transport, it is tempting to speculate that perturbed intracellular trafficking is involved in the increased intraneuronal Aβ aggregation in AD