Incontinentia pigmenti presenting as hypodontia in a 3-year-old girl: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Incontinentia pigmenti or Bloch-Sulzberger syndrome is a rare X-linked dominant disease that mainly affects the skin, eyes, hair, central nervous system and teeth. The disease is predominant among women. Although dermatologic manifestations are among the most important aspects for the diagnosis of the syndrome, they are less damaging to the patient and do not require treatment. However, oral involvement characterized by hypodontia of deciduous and permanent teeth is important for the diagnosis and treatment of the patient.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 3-year-old girl with ophthalmologic and neurologic disturbances, cutaneous manifestations and hypodontia. Since the patient did not present more damaging manifestations such as neurologic and/or ophthalmologic problems, her most severe complications were related to dental anomalies. The importance of integrated dental treatment, which combines pediatric dentistry, orthodontics and conventional prosthesis, is emphasized.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Hypodontia is a frequent finding in incontinentia pigmenti, and dentists should be aware of this condition in order to help with the diagnosis.</p

Whales, dolphins or fishes? The ethnotaxonomy of cetaceans in São Sebastião, Brazil

The local knowledge of human populations about the natural world has been addressed through ethnobiological studies, especially concerning resources uses and their management. Several criteria, such as morphology, ecology, behavior, utility and salience, have been used by local communities to classify plants and animals. Studies regarding fishers' knowledge on cetaceans in the world, especially in Brazil, began in the last decade. Our objective is to investigate the folk classification by fishers concerning cetaceans, and the contribution of fishers' local knowledge to the conservation of that group. In particular, we aim to record fishers' knowledge in relation to cetaceans, with emphasis on folk taxonomy. The studied area is São Sebastião, located in the southeastern coast of Brazil, where 70 fishers from 14 communities were selected according to their fishing experience and interviewed through questionnaires about classification, nomenclature and ecological aspects of local cetaceans' species. Our results indicated that most fishers classified cetaceans as belonging to the life-form 'fish'. Fishers' citations for the nomenclature of the 11 biological species (10 biological genera), resulted in 14 folk species (3 generic names). Fishers' taxonomy was influenced mostly by the phenotypic and cultural salience of the studied cetaceans. Cultural transmission, vertical and horizontal, was intimately linked to fishers' classification process. The most salient species, therefore well recognized and named, were those most often caught by gillnets, in addition to the biggest ones and those most exposed by media, through TV programs, which were watched and mentioned by fishers. Our results showed that fishers' ecological knowledge could be a valuable contribution to cetaceans' conservation, helping to determine areas and periods for their protection, indicating priority topics for research and participating in alternative management related to the gillnet fisheries

NICE : A Computational solution to close the gap from colour perception to colour categorization

The segmentation of visible electromagnetic radiation into chromatic categories by the human visual system has been extensively studied from a perceptual point of view, resulting in several colour appearance models. However, there is currently a void when it comes to relate these results to the physiological mechanisms that are known to shape the pre-cortical and cortical visual pathway. This work intends to begin to fill this void by proposing a new physiologically plausible model of colour categorization based on Neural Isoresponsive Colour Ellipsoids (NICE) in the cone-contrast space defined by the main directions of the visual signals entering the visual cortex. The model was adjusted to fit psychophysical measures that concentrate on the categorical boundaries and are consistent with the ellipsoidal isoresponse surfaces of visual cortical neurons. By revealing the shape of such categorical colour regions, our measures allow for a more precise and parsimonious description, connecting well-known early visual processing mechanisms to the less understood phenomenon of colour categorization. To test the feasibility of our method we applied it to exemplary images and a popular ground-truth chart obtaining labelling results that are better than those of current state-of-the-art algorithms

Cardiovascular risk associated with the use of glitazones, metformin and sufonylureas: meta-analysis of published observational studies

BACKGROUND: The results of observational studies evaluating and comparing the cardiovascular safety of glitazones, metformin and sufonylureas are inconsistent.To conduct and evaluate heterogeneity in a meta-analysis of observational studies on the risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or stroke in patients with type 2 diabetes using non-insulin blood glucose–lowering drugs (NIBGLD). METHODS: We systematically identified and reviewed studies evaluating NIBGLD in patients with type 2 diabetes indexed in Medline, Embase, or the Cochrane Library that met prespecified criteria. The quality of included studies was assessed with the RTI item bank. Results were combined using fixed- and random-effects models, and the Higgins I(2) statistic was used to evaluate heterogeneity. Sensitivity analyses by study quality were conducted. RESULTS: The summary relative risk (sRR) (95 % CI) of AMI for rosiglitazone versus pioglitazone was 1.13 (1.04–1.24) [I(2) = 55 %]. In the sensitivity analysis, heterogeneity was reduced [I(2) = 16 %]. The sRR (95 % CI) of stroke for rosiglitazone versus pioglitazone was 1.18 (1.02–1.36) [I(2) = 42 %]. There was strong evidence of heterogeneity related to study quality in the comparisons of rosiglitazone versus metformin and rosiglitazone versus sulfonylureas (I(2) ≥ 70 %). The sRR (95 % CI) of AMI for sulfonylurea versus metformin was 1.24 (1.14–1.34) [I(2) = 41 %] and for pioglitazone versus metformin was 1.02 (0.75–1.38) [I(2) = 17 %]. Sensitivity analyses decreased heterogeneity in most comparisons. CONCLUSION/INTERPRETATION: Sulfonylureas increased the risk of AMI by 24 % compared with metformin; an imprecise point estimate indicated no difference in risk of AMI when comparing pioglitazone with metformin. The presence of heterogeneity precluded any conclusions on the other comparisons. The quality assessment was valuable in identifying methodological problems in the individual studies and for analysing potential sources of heterogeneity. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12872-016-0187-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Recruitment of the mitotic exit network to yeast centrosomes couples septin displacement to actomyosin constriction

The Mitotic Exit Network (MEN) promotes mitotic exit and cytokinesis but if and how MEN independently controls these two processes is unclear. Here, the authors report that MEN displaces septins from the cell division site to promote actomyosin ring constriction, independently of MEN control of mitotic exit

A Systematic Review of the Frequency of Neurocyticercosis with a Focus on People with Epilepsy

Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is a parasitic infection of the brain caused by the tapeworm Taenia solium, which infects humans and pigs. There have been increasing case reports and epidemiological studies on this disease, but its global frequency has never been determined, partly due to the fact that blood tests are not very good for the diagnosis of NCC. We present here a systematic review of the literature on the frequency of NCC diagnosed with neuroimaging worldwide. Overall, 565 articles were retrieved and 290 (51%) selected for further review. Of those, only 26 had information valid enough to estimate the frequency of NCC in various populations. Only one study estimated the prevalence of NCC in the general population. The most striking finding was that the proportion of NCC among persons with epilepsy was very consistent and estimated at 29.6% (95%CI: 23.5%–36.1%) from 12 studies conducted in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. A reinforcement of the suggested universal guidelines for the diagnostic process, declaring NCC an international reportable disease and standardizing procedures for data collection could improve our understanding of the frequency of NCC worldwide and hence its global burden

Blood lead, cadmium and mercury among children from urban, industrial and rural areas of Fez Boulemane Region (Morocco): Relevant factors and early renal effects

Objectives: To describe blood lead (Pb-B), cadmium (Cd-B) and mercury (Hg-B) levels in children living in urban, industrial and rural areas in Fez city (north of Morocco) and to identify the determinants and some renal effects of exposure. Material and Methods: The study was conducted from June 2007 to January 2008 in 209 school children (113 girls, 96 boys), aged 6-12 years, from urban, industrial and rural areas in Fez city. Interview and questionnaires data were obtained. Blood and urinary samples were analyzed. Results: The mean of blood lead levels (Pb-B) in our population was 55.53 μg/l (range: 7.5-231.1 μg/l). Children from the urban area had higher blood lead levels (BLLs) mean (82.36 μg/l) than children from industrial and rural areas (48.23 and 35.99 μg/l, respectively); with no significant difference between boys and girls. BLLs were associated with traffic intensity, passive smoking and infancy in the urban area. The mean of blood cadmium levels (BCLs) was 0.22 μg/l (range: 0.06-0.68 μg/l), with no difference between various areas. Rural boys had higher BCLs mean than rural girls, but no gender influence was noticed in the other areas. BCLs were associated with the number of cigarettes smoked at children's homes. The blood mercury levels (BMLs) mean was 0.49 μg/l (range: 0.01-5.31 μg/l). The BMLs mean was higher in urban and industrial areas than in the rural area with no gender-related difference. BMLs were associated with amalgam fillings and infancy in the urban area. About 8% of the children had BLLs ≥ 100 μg/l particularly in the urban area, microalbuminuria and a decrease in height were noticed in girls from the inner city of Fez and that can be related to high BLLs (89.45 μg/l). Conclusions: There is a need to control and regulate potential sources of contamination by these trace elements in children; particularly for lead

Colour terms affect detection of colour and colour-associated objects suppressed from visual awareness

The idea that language can affect how we see the world continues to create controversy. A potentially important study in this field has shown that when an object is suppressed from visual awareness using continuous flash suppression (a form of binocular rivalry), detection of the object is differently affected by a preceding word prime depending on whether the prime matches or does not match the object. This may suggest that language can affect early stages of vision. We replicated this paradigm and further investigated whether colour terms likewise influence the detection of colours or colour-associated object images suppressed from visual awareness by continuous flash suppression. This method presents rapidly changing visual noise to one eye while the target stimulus is presented to the other. It has been shown to delay conscious perception of a target for up to several minutes. In Experiment 1 we presented greyscale photos of objects. They were either preceded by a congruent object label, an incongruent label, or white noise. Detection sensitivity (d’) and hit rates were significantly poorer for suppressed objects preceded by an incongruent label compared to a congruent label or noise. In Experiment 2, targets were coloured discs preceded by a colour term. Detection sensitivity was significantly worse for suppressed colour patches preceded by an incongruent colour term as compared to a congruent term or white noise. In Experiment 3 targets were suppressed greyscale object images preceded by an auditory presentation of a colour term. On congruent trials the colour term matched the object’s stereotypical colour and on incongruent trials the colour term mismatched. Detection sensitivity was significantly poorer on incongruent trials than congruent trials. Overall, these findings suggest that colour terms affect awareness of coloured stimuli and colour- associated objects, and provide new evidence for language-perception interaction in the brain

Spectral hole burning: examples from photosynthesis

The optical spectra of photosynthetic pigment–protein complexes usually show broad absorption bands, often consisting of a number of overlapping, ‘hidden’ bands belonging to different species. Spectral hole burning is an ideal technique to unravel the optical and dynamic properties of such hidden species. Here, the principles of spectral hole burning (HB) and the experimental set-up used in its continuous wave (CW) and time-resolved versions are described. Examples from photosynthesis studied with hole burning, obtained in our laboratory, are then presented. These examples have been classified into three groups according to the parameters that were measured: (1) hole widths as a function of temperature, (2) hole widths as a function of delay time and (3) hole depths as a function of wavelength. Two examples from light-harvesting (LH) 2 complexes of purple bacteria are given within the first group: (a) the determination of energy-transfer times from the chromophores in the B800 ring to the B850 ring, and (b) optical dephasing in the B850 absorption band. One example from photosystem II (PSII) sub-core complexes of higher plants is given within the second group: it shows that the size of the complex determines the amount of spectral diffusion measured. Within the third group, two examples from (green) plants and purple bacteria have been chosen for: (a) the identification of ‘traps’ for energy transfer in PSII sub-core complexes of green plants, and (b) the uncovering of the lowest k = 0 exciton-state distribution within the B850 band of LH2 complexes of purple bacteria. The results prove the potential of spectral hole burning measurements for getting quantitative insight into dynamic processes in photosynthetic systems at low temperature, in particular, when individual bands are hidden within broad absorption bands. Because of its high-resolution wavelength selectivity, HB is a technique that is complementary to ultrafast pump–probe methods. In this review, we have provided an extensive bibliography for the benefit of scientists who plan to make use of this valuable technique in their future research