Heart rate changes during partial seizures: A study amongst Singaporean patients

INTRODUCTION: Studies in Europe and America showed that tachycardia, less often bradycardia, frequently accompanied partial seizures in Caucasian patients. We determine frequency, magnitude and type of ictal heart rate changes during partial seizures in non-Caucasian patients in Singapore. METHODS: Partial seizures recorded during routine EEGs performed in a tertiary hospital between 1995 and 1999 were retrospectively reviewed. All routine EEGs had simultaneous ECG recording. Heart rate before and during seizures was determined and correlated with epileptogenic focus. Differences in heart rate before and during seizures were grouped into 4 types: (1) >10% decrease; (2) -10 to +20% change; (3) 20–50% increase; (3) >50% increase. RESULTS: Of the total of 37 partial seizures, 18 were left hemisphere (LH), 13 were right hemisphere (RH) and 6 were bilateral (BL) in onset. 51% of all seizures showed no significant change in heart rate (type 2), 22% had moderate sinus tachycardia (type 3), 11% showed severe sinus tachycardia (type 4), while 16% had sinus bradycardia (type 1). Asystole was recorded in one seizure. Apart from having more tachycardia in bilateral onset seizures, there was no correlation between side of ictal discharge and heart rate response. Compared to Caucasian patients, sinus tachycardia was considerably less frequent. Frequency of bradycardia was similar to those recorded in the literature. CONCLUSIONS: Significant heart rate changes during partial seizures were seen in half of Singaporean patients. Although sinus tachycardia was the most common heart rate change, the frequency was considerably lower compared to Caucasian patients. This might be due to methodological and ethnic differences. Rates of bradycardia are similar to those recorded in the literature

Genome-wide association meta-analyses and fine-mapping elucidate pathways influencing albuminuria

Abstract: Increased levels of the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) are associated with higher risk of kidney disease progression and cardiovascular events, but underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here, we conduct trans-ethnic (n = 564,257) and European-ancestry specific meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies of UACR, including ancestry- and diabetes-specific analyses, and identify 68 UACR-associated loci. Genetic correlation analyses and risk score associations in an independent electronic medical records database (n = 192,868) reveal connections with proteinuria, hyperlipidemia, gout, and hypertension. Fine-mapping and trans-Omics analyses with gene expression in 47 tissues and plasma protein levels implicate genes potentially operating through differential expression in kidney (including TGFB1, MUC1, PRKCI, and OAF), and allow coupling of UACR associations to altered plasma OAF concentrations. Knockdown of OAF and PRKCI orthologs in Drosophila nephrocytes reduces albumin endocytosis. Silencing fly PRKCI further impairs slit diaphragm formation. These results generate a priority list of genes and pathways for translational research to reduce albuminuria

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Search for supersymmetry in events with one lepton and multiple jets in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for anomalous couplings in boosted WW/WZ -> l nu q(q)over-bar production in proton-proton collisions at root s=8TeV

Peer reviewe

Inclusive search for supersymmetry using razor variables in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Genome-wide association meta-analyses and fine-mapping elucidate pathways influencing albuminuria

Publisher Copyright: © 2019, The Author(s).Increased levels of the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) are associated with higher risk of kidney disease progression and cardiovascular events, but underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here, we conduct trans-ethnic (n = 564,257) and European-ancestry specific meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies of UACR, including ancestry- and diabetes-specific analyses, and identify 68 UACR-associated loci. Genetic correlation analyses and risk score associations in an independent electronic medical records database (n = 192,868) reveal connections with proteinuria, hyperlipidemia, gout, and hypertension. Fine-mapping and trans-Omics analyses with gene expression in 47 tissues and plasma protein levels implicate genes potentially operating through differential expression in kidney (including TGFB1, MUC1, PRKCI, and OAF), and allow coupling of UACR associations to altered plasma OAF concentrations. Knockdown of OAF and PRKCI orthologs in Drosophila nephrocytes reduces albumin endocytosis. Silencing fly PRKCI further impairs slit diaphragm formation. These results generate a priority list of genes and pathways for translational research to reduce albuminuria.Peer reviewe

Genome-wide association meta-analyses and fine-mapping elucidate pathways influencing albuminuria

Increased levels of the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) are associated with higher risk of kidney disease progression and cardiovascular events, but underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here, we conduct trans-ethnic (n = 564,257) and European-ancestry specific meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies of UACR, including ancestry- and diabetes-specific analyses, and identify 68 UACR-associated loci. Genetic correlation analyses and risk score associations in an independent electronic medical records database (n = 192,868) reveal connections with proteinuria, hyperlipidemia, gout, and hypertension. Fine-mapping and trans-Omics analyses with gene expression in 47 tissues and plasma protein levels implicate genes potentially operating through differential expression in kidney (including TGFB1, MUC1, PRKCI, and OAF), and allow coupling of UACR associations to altered plasma OAF concentrations. Knockdown of OAF and PRKCI orthologs in Drosophila nephrocytes reduces albumin endocytosis. Silencing fly PRKCI further impairs slit diaphragm formation. These results generate a priority list of genes and pathways for translational research to reduce albuminuria

Methotrexate induced leucoencephalopathy: A stroke mimic

With increasing usage of thrombolysis in the treatment of acute ischemic strokes within 4.5- hour window, it is becoming more important to recognize stroke mimics. Though the incidence of stroke mimics being thrombolysed is less than 3%, it is essential to diagnose them so as to avoid wrong thrombolytic treatment which carries potential complications of bleeding. We describe the case of a 17 year old girl with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, who developed stroke like episodes on two consecutive challenges with a chemotherapeutic regime which included intravenous and intrathecal methotrexate. She had MRI changes consistent with acute ischemic stroke on both occasions. Her deficits recovered completely and spontaneously, as did the MRI changes. She did not have any further episodes when methotrexate was excluded from the chemotherapeutic regime