Cerebral aneurysm treatment: modern neurovascular techniques.

Endovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysm continues to evolve with the development of new technologies. This review provides an overview of the recent major innovations in the neurointerventional space in recent years

The evolution of the EGFRvIII (rindopepimut) immunotherapy for glioblastoma multiforme patients.

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is the most common type of brain tumor and it is uniformly fatal. The community standard of treatment for this disease is gross or subtotal resection of the tumor, followed by radiation and temozolomide. At recurrence bevacizumab can be added for increased progression free survival. Many challenges are encountered while trying to devise new drugs to treat GBM, such as the presence of the blood brain barrier which is impermeable to most drugs. Therefore in the past few years attention was turned to immunological means for the treatment of this devastating disease. EGFRvIII targeting has proven a good way to attack glioblastoma cells by using the immune system. Although in still in development, this approach holds the promise as a great first step toward immune-tailored drugs for the treatment of brain cancers

The evolution of the EGFRvIII (rindopepimut) immunotherapy for glioblastoma multiforme patients.

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is the most common type of brain tumor and it is uniformly fatal. The community standard of treatment for this disease is gross or subtotal resection of the tumor, followed by radiation and temozolomide. At recurrence bevacizumab can be added for increased progression free survival. Many challenges are encountered while trying to devise new drugs to treat GBM, such as the presence of the blood brain barrier which is impermeable to most drugs. Therefore in the past few years attention was turned to immunological means for the treatment of this devastating disease. EGFRvIII targeting has proven a good way to attack glioblastoma cells by using the immune system. Although in still in development, this approach holds the promise as a great first step toward immune-tailored drugs for the treatment of brain cancers

Cerebral aneurysm treatment: modern neurovascular techniques.

Endovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysm continues to evolve with the development of new technologies. This review provides an overview of the recent major innovations in the neurointerventional space in recent years

Control of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus in Planktonic Form and Biofilms: A Biocidal Efficacy Study of Nonthermal Dielectric-Barrier Discharge Plasma

Background: Bacterial contamination of surfaces with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a serious problem in the hospital environment and is responsible for significant nosocomial infections. The pathogenic contaminants form biofilms, which are difficult to treat with routine biocides. Thus, a continuous search for novel disinfection methods is essential for effective infection control measures. This demonstration of a novel technique for the control of virulent pathogens in planktonic form as well as in established biofilms may provide a progressive alternative to standard methodology. Methods: We evaluated a novel technique of normal atmospheric nonthermal plasma known as floating-electrode dielectric-barrier discharge (FE-DBD) plasma against a control of planktonic and biofilm forms of Escherichia coli, S aureus, multidrug-resistant methicillin-resistant S aureus (MRSA) -95 (clinical isolate), -USA300, and -USA400, using widely accepted techniques such as colony count assay, LIVE/DEAD BacLight Bacterial Viability assay, and XTT (2,3-Bis(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide) assay. Results: Exposure of free living planktonic forms of E coli, S aureus, and MRSA were rapidly inactivated by DBD plasma. Approximately 107 bacterial cells were completely (100%) killed, whereas 108 and 109 were reduced by approximately 90% to 95% and 40% to 45%, respectively, in less than 60 seconds (7.8 J/cm2) and completely disinfected in ≤120 seconds. In established biofilms, the susceptibility of MRSA USA400 was comparable with USA300 but less susceptible than MRSA95 (clinical isolate), S aureus, and E coli (P \u3c .05) to FE-DBD plasma, and plasma was able to kill MRSA more than 60% within 15 seconds (1.95 J/cm2). The killing responses were plasma exposure-time dependent, and cell density dependent. The plasma was able disinfect surfaces in a less than 120 seconds. Conclusion: Application of DBD plasma can be a valuable decontamination technique for the removal of planktonic and biofilm-embedded bacteria such as MRSA -USA 300, -USA 400, methicillin-sensitive S aureus (MSSA), and E coli, the more common hospital contaminants. Of interest, E coli was more resistant than S aureus phenotypes

Ventriculoperitoneal shunt complications: A review

Ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) placement is one of the most commonly performed neurosurgical procedures and is necessary to treat most forms of hydrocephalus. Unfortunately, complications related to VPS placement are common, and multiple shunt revisions are almost expected throughout a patient's lifetime. Shunt malfunction may be attributed to multiple causes, including obstruction, infection, pseudocyst formation and bowel perforation. VPS obstruction, which is most often occurs in the proximal catheter, is the most common cause of VPS malfunction. Hardware infection is the second most common cause of VPS malfunction, and this is a complication is most often observed in infants, with premature infants being the most susceptible. Despite continuous attempts to reduce the incidence of VPS complications, such as improved sterile techniques, antibiotic impregnated catheters, and programmable valves, VPS malfunction remains a major problem, which often leads to multiple and costly hospital admissions. In the present review, the most common complications of VPS are discussed, including presentation and appropriate management. Keywords: Ventriculoperitoneal shunt, Ventriculoperitoneal shunt infection, Ventriculoperitoneal shunt malfunction, Ventriculoperitoneal shunt complications, Pediatric neurosurger

Awake ripples enhance emotional memory encoding in the human brain.

Enhanced memory for emotional experiences is hypothesized to depend on amygdala-hippocampal interactions during memory consolidation. Here we show using intracranial recordings from the human amygdala and the hippocampus during an emotional memory encoding and discrimination task increased awake ripples after encoding of emotional, compared to neutrally-valenced stimuli. Further, post-encoding ripple-locked stimulus similarity is predictive of later memory discrimination. Ripple-locked stimulus similarity appears earlier in the amygdala than in hippocampus and mutual information analysis confirms amygdala influence on hippocampal activity. Finally, the joint ripple-locked stimulus similarity in the amygdala and hippocampus is predictive of correct memory discrimination. These findings provide electrophysiological evidence that post-encoding ripples enhance memory for emotional events