Comparison of the efficacy of carbamazepine, haloperidol and valproic acid in the treatment of children with Sydenham\u27s chorea: clinical follow-up of 18 patients

In order to compare and contrast the efficacy of haloperidol, carbamazepine, and valproic acid in the treatment of Sydenham\u27s chorea a prospective study including 18 cases of this disorder was undertaken. Age of patients ranged from 7 to 15 years. Ten children were female and 8 were male. All but one had generalized, either symmetric or asymmetric chorea. The patients were divided in three equal groups, and were given a standardized dose of each of the drugs built-up over a week. Following therapy, the six children receiving valproic acid showed remarkable improvement, without side effects. Five patients receiving carbamazepine showed improvement without side effects. Only three of the patients that received haloperidol improved. In the 4 cases that did not show clinical improvement after one week of treatment, therapy with valproic acid led to disappearance of the symptoms in a lapse that ranged from 4 to 7 days. Recurrence related to discontinuation of treatment was observed in two patients. In view of the present results we recommend valproic acid as the first choice drug to treat Sydenham chorea

NMO in pediatric patients: brain involvement and clinical expression

Abstract Objective: To analyze the clinical, neuroimaging characteristics and positivity of the acquaporin water channel (NMO-IgG) in pediatric patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO). This disorder could have a variable clinical expression. To address such variability, the term NMO spectrum has been suggested. Method: We evaluated six pediatric patients, with a median age of 11 years at the time of the study, with the diagnosis of NMO by the Wingerchuck criteria. Results: All the cases exhibited bilateral optic neuritis (ON). Four patients had abnormalities on brain MRI from the onset,although only three of them developed symptoms correlated to those lesions during the course of their disorder. NMO-IgG was positive in 80%. Conclusion: Optic neuropathy is the most impaired feature in NMO patients. Brain MRI lesions are not compatible with multiple sclerosis and positivity of the NMO-IgG are also present in NMO pediatric patients, confirming the heterogeneity in the expression of this disorder. - RESUMEN Objetivo: Analizar las características clínicas y de neuroimagen, y la positividad del canal de agua acuaporin (NMO-IgG) en pacientes pediátricos con neuromielitis óptica (NMO). Este trastorno puede tener una expresión clínica variable. El término espectro de NMO ha sido propuesto para poder incluir la variabilidad. Metodo: Evaluamos seis pacientes pediátricos, con una mediana de edad de 11 años al momento del estudio, con el diagnóstico de NMO de acuerdo a los criterios de Wingerchuck. Resultados: Todos los casos exhibían neuritis óptica bilateral (ON). Cuatro pacientes tuvieron anormalidades en la RM cerebral desde el inicio, aunque solo tres de ellos desarrollaron síntomas relacionados con las lesiones durante el curso de la enfermedad. NMO-IgG fue positiva en el 80%. Conclusión: Neuropatía óptica es la característica mayormente observada en los pacientes con NMO. Lesiones cerebrales en la RM cerebral no compatibles con esclerosis multiple y positividad de la NMO-IgG están también presentes en los pacientes pediátricos con NMO; lo cual confirma la heterogeneidad en la expresión clínica de este trastorno

Optical characterization of WISE selected blazar candidates

Context. Over the last decade more than five thousand γ-ray sources have been detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Given the positional uncertainty of the telescope, nearly 30% of these sources remain without an obvious counterpart at lower energies. This has motivated the release of new catalogs of γ-ray counterpart candidates and several follow up campaigns in the last decade. Aims. Recently, two new catalogs of blazar candidates were released. These are the improved and expanded version of the WISE Blazar-Like Radio-Loud Sources (WIBRaLS2) catalog and the Kernel Density Estimation selected candidate BL Lacs (KDEBLLACS) catalog, both selecting blazar-like sources based on their infrared colors from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). In this work we characterize these two catalogs, clarifying the true nature of their sources based on their optical spectra from SDSS data release 15, thus testing their efficiency in selecting true blazars. Methods. We first selected all WIBRaLS2 and KDEBLLACS sources with available optical spectra in the footprint of Sloan Digital Sky Survey data release 15. We then analyzed these spectra to verify the nature of each selected candidate and to measure the fraction of the catalogs composed by spectroscopically confirmed blazars. Finally, we evaluated the impact of selection effects, especially those related to optical colors of WIBRaLS2/KDEBLLACS sources and their optical magnitude distributions. Results. We found that at least ∼30% of each catalog is made up of confirmed blazars, with quasars being the major contaminants in the case of WIBRaLS2 (≈58%) and normal galaxies in the case of KDEBLLACS (≈38.2%). The spectral analysis also allowed us to identify the nature of 11 blazar candidates of uncertain type (BCUs) from the Fermi-LAT fourth Point Source Catalog (4FGL) and to find 25 new BL Lac objects.Fil: de Menezes, Raniere. Universidade Do Sao Paulo. Instituto Astronomia, Geofísica E Ciencias Atmosfericas. Departamento de Astronomia; Brasil. Università degli Studi di Torino; ItaliaFil: Peña Herazo, Harold A.. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica; México. Università di Torino; Italia. Istituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare.; Italia. Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino; ItaliaFil: Marchesini, Ezequiel Joaquín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; Argentina. Istituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare.; Italia. Università di Torino; ItaliaFil: D´Abrusco, Raffaele. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Estados UnidosFil: Masetti, Nicola. Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio; Italia. Universidad Andrés Bello; ChileFil: Nemmen, Rodrigo. Universidade Do Sao Paulo. Instituto Astronomia, Geofísica E Ciencias Atmosfericas. Departamento de Astronomia; BrasilFil: Massaro, Francesco. Università di Torino; Italia. Istituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare.; Italia. Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino; Italia. Consorzio Interuniversitario per la Fisica Spaziale ; ItaliaFil: Ricci, Federica. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; ChileFil: Landoni, Marco. Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera; ItaliaFil: Paggi, Alessandro. Università di Torino; ItaliaFil: Smith, Howard A.. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Estados Unido

Consultoría integral en una escuela preparatoria particular en el municipio de Tlaquepaque

ITESO, A.C

Recognition memory deficits in mild cognitive impairment

There is no agreement on the pattern of recognition memory deficits characteristic of patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (Mel). Whereas lower performance in recollection is the hallmark of Mel, there is a strong controversy about possible deficits in familiarity estimates when using recognition memory tasks. The aim of this research is to shed Iight on the pattern of responding in recollection and familiarity in MCl. Five groups of participants were tested. The main participant samples were those formed by two Mel groups differing in age and an Alzheimer's disease group (AD), which were compared with two control groups, Whereas one of the control groups served to assess the performance of the MeI and AD people, the other one, composed of young healthy participants, served the purpose of evaluating the adequacy of the experimental tasks used in the evaluation of the different components of recognition memory. We used an associative recognition task as a direct index of recollection and a choice task on a pair of stimuli, one of which was perceptually similar to those studied in the associative recognition phase, as an index of familiarity. Our results indicate that recollection decreases with age and neurological status, and familiarity remains stable in the elderly control sample but it is deficient in Me!. This research shows that a unique encoding situation generated deficits in recollective and familiarity mechanisms in mild cognitive impaired individuals, providing evidence for the existence of deficits in both retrieval processes in recognition memory in a MeI stage

Optical spectroscopic observations of gamma-ray blazar candidates, X: results from the 2018–2019 SOAR and OAN-SPM observations of blazar candidates of uncertain type

The fourth Fermi Large Area Telescope Source Catalog (4FGL) lists over 5000 γ-ray sources with statistical significance above 4 σ. About 23% of the sources listed in this catalog are unidentified/unassociated γ-ray sources while ∼26% of the sources are classified as blazar candidates of uncertain type (BCUs), lacking optical spectroscopic information. To probe the blazar nature of candidate counterparts of UGSs and BCUs, we started our optical spectroscopic follow up campaign in 2012, which up to date account for more than 350 observed sources. In this paper, the tenth of our campaign, we report on the spectroscopic observations of 37 sources, mostly BCUs, whose observations were carried out predominantly at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional San Pedro Mártir and the Southern Astrophysical Research Observatory between August 2018 and September 2019. We confirm the BL Lac nature of 27 sources and the flat spectrum radio quasar nature of three sources. The remaining ones are classified as six BL Lacs galaxy-dominated and one normal galaxy. We were also able to measure the redshifts for 20 sources, including 10 BL Lacs. As in previous analyses, the largest fraction of BCUs revealed to be BL Lac objects.Fil: de Menezes, Raniere. Universidade de Sao Paulo; Brasil. Università di Torino; ItaliaFil: Amaya Almazán, R. A.. Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica Optica y Electronica; MéxicoFil: Marchesini, Ezequiel Joaquín. Università di Torino; Italia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Peña Herazo, H. A.. Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica; Italia. Università di Torino; ItaliaFil: Massaro, F.. Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica; Italia. Università di Torino; ItaliaFil: Chavushyan, V.. Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica Optica y Electronica; MéxicoFil: Paggi, A.. Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica; ItaliaFil: Landoni, M.. Osservatorio Astronomico Di Brera; ItaliaFil: Masetti, N.. Inaf Istituto Di Astrofisica Spaziale E Fisica Cosmica, Bologna; Italia. Universidad Andrés Bello; ChileFil: Ricci, F.. Universidad Católica de Chile; ChileFil: D'Abrusco, R.. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Estados UnidosFil: La Franca, F.. Università Degli Studi Roma Tre; ItaliaFil: Smith, Howard A.. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Estados UnidosFil: Milisavljevic, D.. College Of Science; ItaliaFil: Tosti, G.. Università di Perugia; ItaliaFil: Jiménez Bailón, E.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Cheung, C. C.. Spece Sciences División. Naval Research Laboratory; Estados Unido

Estudio piloto de metilfenidato y entrenamiento a padres en el tratamiento de niños con trastorno por déficit de atención hiperactividad [A pilot study of methylphenidate and parent training in the treatment of children with attention-deficit hiperactivity disorder]

Objetivo. Este estudio comunica la eficacia de un programa de entrenamiento a padres y un ensayo clínico con medicación estimulante (metilfenidato), en la disminución de síntomas de trastorno por déficit de atención-hiperactividad (TDAH) en una muestra de niños venezolanos.Pacientes y métodos. 24 niños, con edades entre 6 y 10 años, con diagnóstico de TDAH, identificados en unas jornadas de cribado de TDAH, se asignaron aleatoriamente a los dos grupos de tratamiento: entrenamiento a padres y medicación estimulante (metilfenidato).Resultados. Ambos grupos mostraron reducción de síntomas al finalizar la fase de intervención terapéutica en diferentes grados. Estas diferencias fueron estadísticamente significativas para las valoraciones de los padres en ambos grupos, en los síntomas de falta de atención, hiperactividad e impulsividad. Las valoraciones de los profesores mostraron disminución de síntomas significativos en el grupo de medicación para las medidas de hiperactividad e impulsividad, pero no para las de falta de atención, mientras que para el grupo de entrenamiento a padres sólo hubo diferencias significativas en el índice de TDAH. No hubo diferencia en cuanto a la efectividad de ambas intervenciones.Conclusiones. Al comparar ambos programas de tratamiento, se observa que tanto el entrenamiento a padres como la medicación psicoestimulante son tratamientos efectivos para la disminución de los síntomas del TDAH. A pesar de que no existen diferencias entre la efectividad de ambas intervenciones, se observa una tendencia a que la medicación sea más efectiva. - OBJECTIVE. This study gives information about a parent training program and a clinical trial with a stimulant drug (methylphenidate) to reduce the symptoms of attention deficit hiperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a group of children in Venezuela.PATIENTS AND METHODS. 24 children, aged between 6 and 10 years and diagnosed as having ADHD, identified in ADHD screening days, were randomly assigned to two groups of treatment: parent training and a stimulant drug (methylphenidate).RESULTS. Both groups showed an improvement in their symptoms, to different degrees, after treatment. The differences were statistically significant, as evaluated by their parents, regarding the symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. The teachers observed a significant improvement for the medication group with respect to the symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsivity, but no change in the inattention, whilst in the parent training group there was only significant difference in the ADHD index. There was no difference in the effectiveness of the two types of treatment.CONCLUSIONS. When the two programs of treatment were compared it was observed that both parent training and psychostimulant medication were effective in reducing the symptoms of ADHD. Although there was no difference in the effectiveness of the two programs, there was a tendency for medication to be more effectiv

Assessment of sugarcane cultivars with stable reaction to Xanthomonas albilineans under mechanical inoculation conditions

Leaf scald caused by Xanthomonas albilineans in sugarcane is one of the most important diseases around the world since it causes severe losses in both agricultural and industrial yields. In Cuba, resistance to this disease is considered a major selection criterion within the breeding program. The aim of this work was to detect sugarcane cultivars with stable reaction to X. albilineans by using both additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) and linear general models. For this, 16 cultivars planted simultaneously in 2015, 2016, and 2017 in two locations: Jovellanos (Matanzas) and Florida (Camagüey) in Cuba were mechanically inoculated with a bacterial isolate previously characterized by sequencing its DNA fragment. Disease severity was recorded in plant cane and first ratoon, and results were consistent in both analyses and revealed that L55-5 and C323-68 were the most susceptible cultivars and C1051-73 was the most resistant; however, C1051-73, C275-80, C86-12, C88-382, C89-147, My5514, and Ty86-28 were the most stable across the years and localities evaluated. Results will allow adapting the methodology for the evaluation of the reaction to leaf scald of new sugarcane cultivars.Fil: La O Hechavarría, María. Instituto de Investigaciones de la Caña de Azúcar; CubaFil: Puchades Izaguirre, Yaquelín. Instituto de Investigaciones de la Caña de Azúcar; CubaFil: Pérez Pérez, Yosel. Instituto de Investigaciones de la Caña de Azúcar; CubaFil: Michavila, Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Casas González, Mario A.. Instituto de Investigaciones de la Caña de Azúcar; CubaFil: Pérez Pérez, Juana. Instituto de Investigaciones de la Caña de Azúcar; CubaFil: Carvajal Jaime, Omelio. Instituto de Investigaciones de la Caña de Azúcar; CubaFil: Montalván Delgado, Joaquín. Instituto de Investigaciones de la Caña de Azúcar; CubaFil: Peña Malavera, Andrea Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Mesa Lopez, José. Instituto de Investigaciones de la Caña de Azúcar; CubaFil: Castagnaro, Atilio Pedro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Perera, María Francisca. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; Argentin

Quality of a Cambisol at different times of agricultural use in the region of Los Ríos, Tabasco, Mexico.

ABSTRACT Objective: Assessing the quality of a Cambisol soil with different times of agricultural use in the Los Ríos region (RR), Tabasco, Mexico. Design/methodology/approach: Four agricultural uses were selected in a Cambisol (CM): rainfed crops (CT), annual crops (CA), pasture (Pa) and secondary vegetation (VS), established in three stages (1984, 2000 and 2019), with four repetitions. Soil samples were collected from all surveyed sites with an auger at a depth of 0-30 cm. The following physico-chemical properties were determined in the soil samples: texture (T), bulk density (DA), aggregate stability (EA), pH, electrical conductivity (CE), organic matter (MO), total nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). An analysis of variance of the factorial experiment was performed (significance level p=0.05). The variables that presented a significant effect were subjected to Tukey's multiple comparison of means test (significance level p=0.05). Results: Statistically significant differences (p≤0.05) were obtained in the MO, P and K contents and in DA. High OM content in CM with VS at any time of establishment, shows better soil quality compared to CM with CT and CA. The high DA recorded in CM with Pa since 1984, indicates a degradation of soil quality due to compaction, as a result of grazing by extensive livestock. Limitations on study/implications: Sustainable management practices are required to recover degraded CM. Findings/conclusions: OM and DA contents were the best indicators of CM soil quality, affected by agricultural use change and time of use in the RR, Tabasco.    Objective: To evaluate the quality of a Cambisol at different times of agricultural use in the Los Ríos region (RR), Tabasco, Mexico. Design/Methodology/Approach: Four agricultural uses were selected on a Cambisol (CM): rainfed crop (RC), annual crop (AC), pasture (Pa), and secondary vegetation (SV). These were established at three different times (1984, 2000, and 2019) with four replications. Soil was collected using an auger at a depth of 0-30 cm. The physicochemical properties of the soil—such as texture (T), bulk density (BD), aggregate stability (AS), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), organic matter (OM), total nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)—were determined. A factorial analysis of variance was performed (significance level p=0.05). Variables that showed a statistically significant effect were subjected to Tukey's multiple comparison test (significance level p=0.05). Results: Statistically significant differences (p≤0.05) were obtained for OM, P, K, and BD contents. The high OM content present in CM with SV in all years shows a better soil quality compared to CM with RC and AC. The high BD recorded in CM with Pa since 1984 shows soil quality degradation by compaction resulting from grazing due to extensive livestock farming. Study limitations/Implications: Sustainable management practices are required to recover degraded CM. Findings/Conclusions: OM and BD contents were the best quality indicators for the CM affected by the change in agricultural use and time of use in RR, Tabasco

Preclinical and clinical characterization of fibroblast-derived neuregulin-1 on trastuzumab and pertuzumab activity in HER2-positive breast cancer

[Purpose]: To characterize expression of neuregulin-1 (NRG1), an HER3 ligand, in HER2-positive breast cancer and its relation with the efficacy of trastuzumab with or without pertuzumab.[Experimental Design]: Characterization of NRG1 expression in tumor cell lines, in tumor specimens, and in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). Patient-derived CAFs were used to investigate NRG1 impact on the activity of trastuzumab with or without pertuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer cells. The relationship between NRG1 expression and pathologic response to anti-HER2–based neoadjuvant therapy was assessed in a retrospective patient cohort and in the NeoSphere trial.[Results]: NRG1 was expressed in HER2-positive breast cancer–derived fibroblasts at significantly higher levels than in cancer cells. NRG1 and the conditioned media (CM) from CAFs phosphorylated HER3 and AKT in cancer cells and mediated trastuzumab resistance. Stable genetic depletion of NRG1 from CAFs overcame trastuzumab resistance. Pertuzumab effectively suppressed trastuzumab resistance mediated by either NRG1 or CAF's CM. NRG1 engaged an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition that was prevented by trastuzumab and pertuzumab. In clinical samples, stromal and/or tumor cell expression of NRG1 determined by immunohistochemistry was uncommon (13.2%) yet significantly linked with residual disease following trastuzumab-based neoadjuvant therapy. In the NeoSphere trial, the magnitude of the difference of pathologic complete response rates favoring the pertuzumab arm was higher in the NRG1-high group.[Conclusions]: CAF-derived NRG1 mediates trastuzumab resistance through HER3/AKT, which might be reverted by pertuzumab. In patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, high expression of NRG1 was associated to poor response to trastuzumab, but not in combination with pertuzumab.This work is supported by ISCIII (CIBERONC CB16/12/00481, CB16/12/00241, PI18/00382, PI18/00006, PI18/01219 and by Generalitat de Catalunya (2017 SGR 507). S. Menendez is supported by Department de Salut, Generalitat de Catalunya (PERIS SLT006/17/00040). MARBiobanc is supported by ISCiii/FEDER (PT17/0015/0011) and by “Xarxa de Bancs de tumors” sponsored by Pla Director d’ Oncologia de Catalunya (XBTC) and Fundacion Jimenez Díaz Biobanks Platform by PT13/0010/0012 grant. Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain (BFU2015-71371-R) and the CRIS Cancer Foundation provides support to A. Pandiella. Work carried out in our laboratories receive support from the European Community through the Regional Development Funding Program (FEDER). J.C. Montero is funded by the ISCIII through a Miguel Servet program (CPII17/00015) and receives research support from the same institution (PI18/00796). J. Albanell is supported by Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF20-08), Instituto de Salud Carlos III Project Reference number AC15/00062 and the EC under the framework of the ERA-NET TRANSCAN-2 initiative co-financed by FEDER, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CB16/12/00449 and PI19/01181), and Asociacion Espanola Contra el Cáncer (AECC)