Electroencephalography Findings in Healthy and Finnish Spitz Dogs with Epilepsy : Visual and Background Quantitative Analysis

Background: Qualitative and quantitative electroencephalography (EEG) parameters of healthy and Finnish Spitz dogs with epilepsy have not been determined. Objective: To determine if EEG can provide specific characteristics to distinguish between healthy dogs and dogs with epilepsy. Animals: Sixteen healthy and 15 Finnish Spitz dogs with epilepsy. Methods: A prospective clinical EEG study performed under medetomidine sedation. Blinded visual and quantitative EEG analyses were performed and results were compared between study groups. Results: Benign epileptiform transients of sleep and sleep spindles were a frequent finding in a majority of animals from both groups. The EEG analysis detected epileptiform activity in 3 Finnish Spitz dogs with epilepsy and in 1 healthy Finnish Spitz dog. Epileptiform activity was characterized by spikes, polyspikes, and spike slow wave complexes in posterior-occipital derivation in dogs with epilepsy and with midline spikes in control dog. The healthy dogs showed significantly less theta and beta activity than did the dogs with epilepsy (P < .01), but the only significant difference between healthy dogs and dogs with untreated epilepsy was in the alpha band (P < .001). Phenobarbital treatment increased alpha, beta (P < .001), and theta (P < .01), and decreased delta (P < .001) frequency bands compared with dogs with untreated epilepsy. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Benign epileptiform transients of sleep could be easily misinterpreted as epileptiform activity. Epileptiform activity in Finnish Spitz dogs with epilepsy seems to originate from a posterior-occipital location. The EEG of dogs with epilepsy exhibited a significant difference in background frequency bands compared with the control dogs. Phenobarbital treatment markedly influenced all background activity bands. Quantitative EEG analysis, in addition to visual analysis, seems to be a useful tool in the examination of patients with epilepsy

Calcium:Magnesium Ratio in Local Groundwater and Incidence of Acute Myocardial Infarction among Males in Rural Finland

Several epidemiologic studies have shown an association between calcium and magnesium and coronary heart disease mortality and morbidity. In this small-area study, we examined the relationship between acute myocardial infarction (AMI) risk and content of Ca, Mg, and chromium in local groundwater in Finnish rural areas using Bayesian modeling and geospatial data aggregated into 10 km × 10 km grid cells. Data on 14,495 men 35–74 years of age with their first AMI in the years 1983, 1988, or 1993 were pooled. Geochemical data consisted of 4,300 measurements of each element in local groundwater. The median concentrations of Mg, Ca, and Cr and the Ca:Mg ratio in well water were 2.61 mg/L, 12.23 mg/L, 0.27 μg/L, and 5.39, respectively. Each 1 mg/L increment in Mg level decreased the AMI risk by 4.9%, whereas a one unit increment in the Ca:Mg ratio increased the risk by 3.1%. Ca and Cr did not show any statistically significant effect on the incidence and spatial variation of AMI. Results of this study with specific Bayesian statistical analysis support earlier findings of a protective role of Mg and low Ca:Mg ratio against coronary heart disease but do not support the earlier hypothesis of a protective role of Ca

Baseline JAK phosphorylation profile of peripheral blood leukocytes, studied by whole blood phosphospecific flow cytometry, is associated with 1-year treatment response in early rheumatoid arthritis

Background: We found recently that baseline signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 phosphorylation in peripheral blood CD4(+) T cells of patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with treatment response to synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). This prompted us to study the baseline phosphorylation profiles of Janus kinases (JAKs) in blood leukocytes with respect to treatment response in early RA. Methods: Thirty-five DMARD-naive patients with early RA provided blood samples for whole blood flow cytometric determination of phosphorylation of JAKs in CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells, CD19(+) B cells, and CD14(+) monocytes. Treatment response was determined after 1 year of treatment with synthetic DMARDs, with remission defined as absence of tender and swollen joints and normal erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Exact logistic regression was used to investigate the association of baseline variables with treatment response. Ninety-five percent CIs of means were estimated by bias-corrected bootstrapping. Results: High JAK3 phosphorylation in CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells, CD19(+) B cells, and CD14(+) monocytes and low JAK2 phosphorylation in CD14(+) monocytes were significantly associated with remission following treatment with synthetic DMARDs. Conclusions: Baseline JAK phosphorylation profile in peripheral blood leukocytes may provide a means to predict treatment response achieved by synthetic DMARDs among patients with early RA.Peer reviewe

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Patients in Prolonged Remission following Interferon-alpha Monotherapy Have Distinct Cytokine and Oligoclonal Lymphocyte Profile

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Real-Time Raman Monitoring of Calcium Phosphate Precipitation in a Semi-Batch Stirred Crystallizer

TARKISTA ONKO TÄMÄ AVATTU 2019.Semi-batch precipitation of calcium monohydrogen phosphate dihydrate (CaHPO4·2H2O; also termed dicalcium phosphate dihydrate, DCPD) from a homogeneous reaction of KH2PO4 and CaCl2 was studied with inline Raman spectroscopy. In the reaction, hydroxyapatite (HAP, Ca5OH(PO4)3) formed first and transferred to DCPD throughout the entire precipitation process. Raman calibration models were created with a series of KH2PO4-NaOH-water solutions. The reliability of the calibration models was validated with offline measurement of phosphate concentration in the mother liquor. Real-time changes in HPO4 2- and H2PO4 - concentration were monitored and predicted. Comprehensive kinetic information was obtained from liquid and solid analysis. It was found that the influence of the mixing rate on the precipitation was not significant, whereas the reactant feeding rate had a remarkable impact.Peer reviewe