NMDA receptor antibody encephalitis presenting as Transient Epileptic Amnesia

Transient Epileptic Amnesia (TEA) is a subtype of temporal lobe epilepsy, typically presenting in a person's early 60s, and of unknown aetiology. Encephalitis caused by antibodies to NMDA receptors (NMDARE) has not previously been documented in TEA. We describe a 47-year-old male who satisfied criteria for TEA, but given his atypical symptoms, was also screened for autoimmune epilepsy. High levels of serum NMDAR antibodies were found, suggesting NMDARE. Immunosuppressive treatment gradually eliminated the NMDA receptor antibodies. Our case extends the clinical spectrum associated with neuronal cell-surface autoantibodies to include atypical cases of TEA.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Publisher URL to access the full text

Seleccion de especies y procedencias del genero Eucalyptus para la region costera de Bahia, Brasil.

Con el objetivo de evaluar y seleccionar las mejores especies y/o procedencias de Eucalyptus para la region costera del Estado de Bahia (Brasil), el presente trabajo fue establecido en la Hacienda Buri, de la empresa Reflora/Ferbasa, provincia de Pojuca, Estado de Bahia, ubicada entre las coordenadas 12ø2S~51"Lat. S y 38ø19~40"Long. W, con altitud respecto al nivel del mar de 55 m. La precipitacion media anual es de 1.200 mm, concentrada entre los meses de abril y julio, con temperatura media de 25øC. Los suelos son acidos y de baja fertilidad natural. Los plantones fueron producidos en vivero de la Ernbrapa Semi-Arido, en Petrolina-PE, y conducidos al campo con altura media de 25 cm y plantados con espaciado de 3,0 m x 1,33 m, sin abono de fundacion. Fueron testadas cinco procedencias de E. urophylla, cuatro de E. camaldulensis, tres de E. brassiana y E. pellita, dos de E. citriodora, E. grandis y E. tereticornis y una de E. drepanophylla. Ei diseflo estadistico fue el de bloques al azar, con parcelas en lineas de cinco plantas, con diez repeticiones. En la evaluacion a los 30 dias del plantio, fue observado 100% de supervivencia en todas las especies y buen desempeflo silvicultural sin problemas fitosanitarios. A los 8 meses de edad los resultados apuntan variaciones significativas para la altura y supervivencia. Las especies/procedencias de mayor desarrollo en la region de Pojuca-BA, fueron E. urophylla, Proc. 14540, E. tereticornis Proc. CPATSA, E. grandis Proc. Rio Claro-SP, E. camaldulensis Proc. 14517, con alturas de 3,94; 3,64; 3,51; 3,46 y 3,45 m respectivamente, y estadisticamente superiores a las demas, con supervivencia por encima de 83%

Temperature dependence of optical transitions in AlGaAs

AlGaAs structures with different aluminum concentration (x = 0.0, 0.17, 0.30, and 0.40) were characterized by photoluminescence and photoreflectance techniques. The temperature dependence of optical transitions in the temperature ranging from 2 to 300 K were investigated. Y. P. Varshni [Physica (Utrecht) 34, 194 (1967)], L. Vina [Phys. Rev. B 30, 1979 (1984)], and R. Passler [Phys. Status Solidi B 200, 155 (1997)] models were used to fit the experimental points. The Passler model gave the best adjustment to the experimental points. The tree models showed that the empirical parameters obtained through the adjustment of the experimental data in the three different models are aluminum composition dependent in the ternary alloy. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.891116159616

Development of a LAMP assay for detection of Leishmania infantum infection in dogs using conjunctival swab samples

Background: Leishmania infantum infections in dogs play a crucial role in the transmission of pathogens causing visceral leishmaniasis to humans in the Gansu province, northwest China. To be able to control zoonotic transmission of the parasite to humans, a non-invasive loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay to specifically detect L. infantum infections in dogs was developed. Methods: The primers used in the LAMP assay were designed to target kinetoplast DNA minicircle sequences of the L. infantum isolate MCAN/CN/90/SC and tested using DNA isolated from promastigotes of different Leishmania species. The LAMP assay was evaluated with conjunctional swab samples obtained from 111 and 33 dogs living in an endemic and a non-endemic region of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis in the Gansu province, respectively. The LAMP assay was also compared with conventional PCR, ELISA and microscopy using conjunctional swab, serum and bone marrow samples from the dogs, respectively. Results: The LAMP assay detected 1 fg of L. infantum DNA purified from cultured promastigotes which was 10-fold more sensitive than a conventional PCR test using Leishmania genus-specific primers. No cross reaction was observed with DNA isolated from promastigotes of L. donovani, L. major, L. tropica, and L. braziliensis, and the L. infantum reference strain MHOM/TN/80/IPT1. The L. infantum-positive rates obtained for field-collected samples were 61.3%, 58.6%, 40.5% and 10.8% by LAMP, PCR, ELISA and microscopy, respectively. As only one out of the 33 samples from control dogs from the non-endemic region of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis was positive by the LAMP assay and the PCR test, the observed true negative rate (specificity) was 97% for both methods. Conclusion: This study has shown that the non-invasive, conjunctional swab-based LAMP assay developed was more sensitive in the detection of leishmaniasis in dogs than PCR, ELISA and microscopy. The findings indicate that the LAMP assay is a sensitive and specific method for the field surveillance of domestic dogs, particularly of asymptomatic canines, in ZVL-endemic areas in western China

Electronic and magnetic properties of SnO2/CrO2 thin superlattices

In this article, using first-principles electronic structure calculations within the spin density functional theory, alternated magnetic and non-magnetic layers of rutile-CrO2 and rutile-SnO2 respectively, in a (CrO2)n(SnO2)n superlattice (SL) configuration, with n being the number of monolayers which are considered equal to 1, 2, ..., 10 are studied. A half-metallic behavior is observed for the (CrO2)n(SnO2)n SLs for all values of n. The ground state is found to be FM with a magnetic moment of 2 μB per chromium atom, and this result does not depend on the number of monolayers n. As the FM rutile-CrO2 is unstable at ambient temperature, and known to be stabilized when on top of SnO2, the authors suggest that (CrO2)n(SnO2)n SLs may be applied to spintronic technologies since they provide efficient spin-polarized carriers

Potential role of Carvedilol in the cardiac immune response induced by experimental infection with Trypanosoma cruzi.

Trypanosoma cruzi causes a cardiac infection characterized by an inflammatory imbalance that could become the inciting factor of the illness. To this end, we evaluated the role of carvedilol, a beta-blocker with potential immunomodulatory properties, on the immune response in C57BL/6 mice infected with VL-10 strain of T. cruzi in the acute phase. Animals (? = 40) were grouped: (i) not infected, (ii) infected, (iii) infected + carvedilol, and (iv) not infected + carvedilol.We analyzed parameters related to parasitemia, plasma levels of TNF, IL-10, and CCL2, and cardiac histopathology after the administration of carvedilol for 30 days. We did not observe differences in the maximum peaks of parasitemia in the day of their detection among the groups. The plasma TNF was elevated at 60 days of infection in mice treated or not with carvedilol. However, we observed a decreased CCL2 level and increased IL-10 levels in those infected animals treated with carvedilol, which impacted the reduction of the inflammatory infiltration in cardiac tissue. For this experimentalmodel, carvedilol therapy was not able to alter the levels of circulating parasites butmodulates the pattern of CCL2 and IL-10 mediators when the VL10 strain of T. cruzi was used in C57BL6 mice