Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus as an Unusual Presentation of Supratentorial Extraventricular Space-Occupying Processes: Report on Two Cases

Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a clinical and radiographic syndrome characterized by ventriculomegaly, abnormal gait, urinary incontinence, and dementia. The condition may occur due to a variety of secondary causes but may be idiopathic in approximately 50% of patients. Secondary causes may include head injury, subarachnoid hemorrhage, meningitis, and central nervous system tumor. Here, we describe two extremely rare cases of supratentorial extraventricular space-occupying processes: meningioma and glioblastoma multiforme, which initially presented with NPH

The Specifics of the City Chronotope in L. Andreev’s Story “The Curse of the Beast”

Благодарности: выражаю благодарность своему научному руководителю, заведующей кафедрой русской, зарубежной литературы и массовых коммуникаций БГУ Никитиной Ирине Николаевне за помощь в проделанной работе, мудрые наставления и профессионализм.Acknowledgments: I express my gratitude to my scientific supervisor, Head of the Department of Russian, Foreign Literature and Mass Communications of Bryansk State University Irina N. Nikitina for her help in the work done, wise instructions and professionalism.В статье рассматривается образ города, его роль и функции в сюжете произведения, анализируется рассказ «Проклятие зверя» как художественная система с позиции мотивной структуры, концепции личности, хронотопа города, поэтики и психологизма. Выявляются закономерности воздействия образа города на идейно-тематический комплекс рассказа.The article examines the image of the city, its role and functions in the plot of the work. The stories “The Curse of the Beast” is analyzed as an artistic system from the perspective of the motive structure, the concept of personality, the chronotope of the city, poetics, and psychologism. On the basis of thematic and aesthetic criteria, the regularities of the impact of the city image on the ideological and thematic complex of the story are revealed

Experimental Designs for Binary Data in Switching Measurements on Superconducting Josephson Junctions

We study the optimal design of switching measurements of small Josephson junction circuits which operate in the macroscopic quantum tunnelling regime. Starting from the D-optimality criterion we derive the optimal design for the estimation of the unknown parameters of the underlying Gumbel type distribution. As a practical method for the measurements, we propose a sequential design that combines heuristic search for initial estimates and maximum likelihood estimation. The presented design has immediate applications in the area of superconducting electronics implying faster data acquisition. The presented experimental results confirm the usefulness of the method. KEY WORDS: optimal design, D-optimality, logistic regression, complementary log-log link, quantum physics, escape measurement

Connexin-mimetic peptide Gap 27 decreases osteoclastic activity

BACKGROUND: Bone remodelling is dependent on the balance between bone resorbing osteoclasts and bone forming osteoblasts. We have shown previously that osteoclasts contain gap-junctional protein connexin-43 and that a commonly used gap-junctional inhibitor, heptanol, can inhibit osteoclastic bone resorption. Since heptanol may also have some unspecific effect unrelated to gap-junctional inhibition we wanted to test the importance of gap-junctional communication to osteoclasts using a more specific inhibitor. METHODS: A synthetic connexin-mimetic peptide, Gap 27, was used to evaluate the contribution of gap-junctional communication to osteoclastic bone resorption. We utilised the well-characterised pit-formation assay to study the effects of the specific gap-junctional inhibitor to the survival and activity of osteoclasts. RESULTS: Gap 27 caused a remarked decrease in the number of both TRAP-positive mononuclear and multinucleated rat osteoclasts cultured on bovine bone slices. The decrease in the cell survival seemed to be restricted to TRAP-positive cells, whereas the other cells of the culture model seemed unaffected. The activity of the remaining osteoclasts was found to be diminished by measuring the percentage of osteoclasts with actin rings of all TRAP-positive cells. In addition, the resorbed area in the treated cultures was greatly diminished. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of these results we conclude that gap-junctional communication is essential for the action of bone resorbing osteoclasts and for proper remodelling for bone

Vascular endothelial growth factor acts as an osteolytic factor in breast cancer metastases to bone

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a proangiogenic cytokine that is expressed highly in many solid tumours often correlating with a poor prognosis. In this study, we investigated the expression of VEGF and its receptors in bone metastases from primary human breast tumours and further characterised its effects on osteoclasts in vitro. Breast cancer metastases to bone were immunohistochemically stained for VEGF, its receptors VEGFR1 and 2 (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 and 2), demonstrating that breast cancer metastases express VEGF strongly and that surrounding osteoclasts express both VEGFR1 and VEGFR2. RAW 264.7 cells (mouse monocyte cell line) and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were cultured with VEGF, RANKL and M-CSF. VEGF and RANKL together induced differentiation of multinucleated, tartrate-resistant acid phophatase (TRAP)-positive cells in similar numbers to M-CSF and RANKL. The PBMCs were also able to significantly stimulate resorption of mineralised matrix after treatment with M-CSF with RANKL and VEGF with RANKL. We have shown that VEGF in the presence of RANKL supports PBMC differentiation into osteoclast-like cells, able to resorb substrate. Vascular endothelial growth factor may therefore play a role in physiological bone resorption and in pathological situations. Consequently, VEGF signalling may be a therapeutic target for osteoclast inhibition in conditions such as tumour osteolysis

Эколого-технологические риски применения жидкого аммиака в районах Крайнего Севера.

The risks of the emergent ecological and technical situation as a result of using liquid ammonia as a refrigerating medium in construction in Far Northern regions have been considered. Affective zone modeling/simulation during ammonia ejection into the atmosphere has been built. A model of reaction between ammonia and plastic frozen ground has been suggested. A conclusion of ammonia monitoring in the atmosphere and advisability/expediency of liquid ammonia substitution on alternative refrigerating medium, Freon-22, has been drawnРассмотрены риски возникновения чрезвычайных экологических и технических ситуаций при авариях, связанных с использованием жидкого аммиака в качестве хладагента при строительстве в зонах вечной мерзлоты. Проведено моделирование зоны поражения при выбросах аммиака в атмосферу. Предложена модель взаимодействия аммиака с пластично мерзлыми грунтами. Сделан вывод о необходимости мониторинга аммиака в атмосферном воздухе и целесообразности замены жидкого аммиака на альтернативный хладагент - хладон-22

Endostatin inhibits VEGF-A induced osteoclastic bone resorption in vitro

BACKGROUND: Endostatin is a C-terminal fragment of collagen XVIII which is a component of basement membranes with the structural properties of both collagens and proteoglycans. Endostatin has a major role in angiogenesis which is intimately associated with bone development and remodeling. Signaling between the endothelial cells and the bone cells, for example, may have a role in recruitment of osteoclastic precursor cells. Our study aims at exploring a possibility that endostatin, either as a part of basement membrane or as a soluble molecule, may control osteoclastogenesis and osteoclastic bone resorption in vitro. METHODS: Rat pit formation assay was employed in order to examine the effect of endostatin alone or in combination with vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) on bone resorption in vitro. Effect of these agents on osteoclast differentiation in vitro was also tested. Osteoclastogenesis and the number of osteoclasts were followed by tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRACP) staining and resorption was evaluated by measuring the area of excavated pits. RESULTS: Endostatin inhibited the VEGF-A stimulated osteoclastic bone resorption, whereas endostatin alone had no effect on the basal resorption level in the absence of VEGF-A. In addition, endostatin could inhibit osteoclast differentiation in vitro independent of VEGF-A. CONCLUSION: Our in vitro data indicate that collagen XVIII/endostatin can suppress VEGF-A induced osteoclastic bone resorption to the basal level. Osteoclastogenesis is also inhibited by endostatin. The regulatory effect of endostatin, however, is not critical since endostatin alone does not modify the basal bone resorption

Structural Conformers of (1,3-Dithiol-2-ylidene)ethanethioamides: The Balance Between Thioamide Rotation and Preservation of Classical Sulfur-Sulfur Hypervalent Bonds

The reaction of N-(2-phthalimidoethyl)-N-alkylisopropylamines and S2Cl2 gave 4-N-(2-phthalimidoethyl)-N-alkylamino-5-chloro-1,2-dithiol-3-thiones that quantitatively cycloadded to dimethyl or diethyl acetylenedicarboxylate to give stable thioacid chlorides, which in turn reacted with one equivalent of aniline or a thiole to give thioanilides or a dithioester. Several compounds of this series showed atropisomers that were studied by a combination of dynamic NMR, simulation of the signals, conformational analysis by DFT methods, and single crystal X-ray diffraction, showing a good correlation between the theoretical calculations, the experimental values of energies, and the preferred conformations in the solid state. The steric hindering of the crowded substitution at the central amine group was found to be the reason for the presence of permanent atropisomers in this series of compounds and the cause of a unique disposition of the thioxo group at close-to-right angles with respect to the plane defined by the 1,3-dithiole ring in the dithiafulvene derivatives, thus breaking the sulfur–sulfur hypervalent bond that is always found in this kind of compounds.Ministerio de Economıá y Competitividad, Spain (Project CTQ2012- 31611), Junta de Castilla y León, Consejería de Educación y Cultura y Fondo Social Europeo (Project BU246A12-1), and the European Commission, Seventh Framework Programme (Project SNIFFER FP7-SEC-2012-312411

Dietary fat and breast cancer risk revisited: a meta-analysis of the published literature

Animal experiments and human ecological studies suggest that dietary fat intake is associated with a risk of breast cancer, but individual-based studies have given contradictory results. We have carried out a meta-analysis of this association to include all papers published up to July 2003. Case-control and cohort studies that examined the association of dietary fat, or fat-containing foods, with risk of breast cancer were identified. A total of 45 risk estimates for total fat intake were obtained. Descriptive data from each study were extracted with an estimate of relative risk and its associated 95% confidence interval (CI), and were analysed using the random effects model of DerSimonian and Laird. The summary relative risk, comparing the highest and lowest levels of intake of total fat, was 1.13 (95% CI: 1.03-1.25). Cohort studies (N=14) had a summary relative risk of 1.11 (95% CI: 0.99-1.25) and case-control studies (N=31) had a relative risk of 1.14 (95% CI 0.99-1.32). Significant summary relative risks were also found for saturated fat (RR, 1.19; 95% CI: 1.06-1.35) and meat intake (RR, 1.17; 95% CI 1.06-1.29). Combined estimates of risk for total and saturated fat intake, and for meat intake, all indicate an association between higher intakes and an increased risk of breast cancer. Case-control and cohort studies gave similar results

Trends in pediatric epilepsy surgery in Europe between 2008 and 2015: Country‐, center‐, and age‐specific variation

OBJECTIVE: To profile European trends in pediatric epilepsy surgery (<16 years of age) between 2008 and 2015. METHODS: We collected information on volumes and types of surgery, pathology, and seizure outcome from 20 recognized epilepsy surgery reference centers in 10 European countries. RESULTS: We analyzed retrospective aggregate data on 1859 operations. The proportion of surgeries significantly increased over time (P < .0001). Engel class I outcome was achieved in 69.3% of children, with no significant improvement between 2008 and 2015. The proportion of histopathological findings consistent with glial scars significantly increased between the ages of 7 and 16 years (P for trend = .0033), whereas that of the remaining pathologies did not vary across ages. A significant increase in unilobar extratemporal surgeries (P for trend = .0047) and a significant decrease in unilobar temporal surgeries (P for trend = .0030) were observed between 2008 and 2015. Conversely, the proportion of multilobar surgeries and unrevealing magnetic resonance imaging cases remained unchanged. Invasive investigations significantly increased, especially stereo‐electroencephalography. We found different trends comparing centers starting their activity in the 1990s to those whose programs were developed in the past decade. Multivariate analysis revealed a significant variability of the proportion of the different pathologies and surgical approaches across countries, centers, and age groups between 2008 and 2015. SIGNIFICANCE: Between 2008 and 2015, we observed a significant increase in the volume of pediatric epilepsy surgeries, stability in the proportion of Engel class I outcomes, and a modest increment in complexity of the procedures