Pituitary insufficiency after operation of supratentorial intra- and extraaxial tumors outside of the sellar–parasellar region?

Recent studies investigating pituitary function after non-sellar brain tumor surgery showed that up to 38.2% of patients have pituitary insufficiency (PI). It has been assumed that the operation causes the PI, but preoperative hormone testing, which would have been necessary to prove this assumption, was not performed. The objective of this study is to answer the question if indeed microsurgery is the culprit of PI in patients with operatively treated non-sellar brain tumors. In this prospective trial, 54 patients with supratentorial non-sellar tumors were included. The basal levels of cortisol, prolactin, testosterone, estrogen, IGF-1, fT3, fT4, STH, TSH, ACTH, FSH, and LH were recorded preoperatively on days 1 and 7 after surgery. If basal hormone screening revealed an abnormality, a releasing hormone assay was performed. Before surgery, 24 of the 54 patients (44.4%) already had PI. Additional 25 patients showed either hypocortisolism or hypothyreoidism. As those patients had been pre-treated with dexamethasone and l-thyroxine, these findings were considered not to represent PI but drug effects. Hormone testing on days 1 and 7 after surgery revealed no changes. With 44.4% PI is a frequent finding in brain tumor patients already before surgery. The factors causing preoperative PI remain yet to be identified. The endocrine results after surgery are unchanged which rules out that surgery is the cause of PI

The genesis of material transported in the channel in the light of the integrated model of soil erosion in the lowland catchment

This paper presents new concept of integrated model of soil erosion in the catchment. There is one input (rainfall transformed into effective rainfall) and three outputs: hydrograph of runoff, sediment yield in a form of sedimentgraph and spatial distribution of erosion in the catchment. The main body of the model is represented by sedimentgraph, which is constructed using instantaneous unit hydrograph (IUH) and instantaneous unit sedimetgraph (IUSG). The mathematical formula of IUSG was developed. The map of erosion in a catchment is modeled using USLE formula. To verify described model measurements in Olszanka watershed were organized by author. Verification showed that new version of IUSG gives satisfactory results and requires further research both in the modeling of erosion in a catchment scale and monitoring of sources of material transported in the channel

Prognostic factors for recurrence and complications in the surgical management of primary chordoid gliomas: A systematic review of literature

INTRODUCTION: Chordoid Gliomas (CG) are rare neoplasms which frequently arise within the third ventricle. Surgery remains the mainstay treatment for CG. The present study comprehensively reviews all reported cases of CG within the literature in order to identify risk factors for surgical complications and tumor recurrence. METHODS: A comprehensive search on MEDLINE (OVID and Pubmed), Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science was conducted following PRISMA guidelines to identify all reported cases of CG. RESULTS: A total of 81 patients met the study criteria, comprised of 33 males and 48 females. Median age at diagnosis was 48 years with a range from 5 to 72 years, and mean tumor size was 3.1 cm. Biopsy, subtotal resection (STR), and gross total resection (GTR) was achieved in 8, 34, and 33 patients, respectively, with 6 cases not reporting extent of eresection (EOR). Thirteen patients underwent adjuvant radiotherapy. Postoperative complications were noted in 30 cases (37%), with new onset diabetes insipidus being the most common. Postoperative morbidity was not associated with age, tumor size, or extent of resection. A trans-lamina terminalis approach demonstrated a strong trend towards decreased overall rates of postoperative morbidity compared to other approaches (p=0.051). GTR was associated with improved progression-free survival (PFS; p=0.028), while adjuvant radiotherapy, age, tumor size and MIB-I were not predictive of patient outcomes. CONCLUSION: GTR should be the primary goal for the management of CG, as it is associated with improved rates of tumor control without an increased rate of postoperative complications. Surgical approach was a stronger predictor of complication rates than extent of resection. Morbidity remains high, and future studies to further elaborate on factors predictive of postoperative complications are critical

Epigenetically repressing human cytomegalovirus lytic infection and reactivation from latency in THP-1 model by targeting H3K9 and H3K27 histone demethylases

<div><p>Human Cytomegalovirus (hCMV) infects a broad range of the population and establishes life-long latency in the infected individuals. Periodically the latently infected virus can reactivate and becomes a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised individuals. In latent infection, the viral genome is suppressed in a heterochromatic state and viral gene transcription is silenced. Upon reactivation, the repressive chromatin is remodeled to an active form, allowing viral lytic gene transcription, initiated by the expression of viral Immediate Early (IE) genes. During this process, a number of histone modification enzymes, including histone demethylases (HDMs), play important roles in driving IE expression, but the mechanisms involved are not fully understood. To get a better understanding of these mechanisms, we focused on two HDMs, KDM4 and KDM6, which reverse the repressive histone H3-lysine 9 and lysine 27 methylation, respectively. Our studies show that in lytic infection, both demethylases are important in the activation of viral IE gene expression. Simultaneous disruption of both via genetic or chemical methods leads to severely impaired viral IE gene expression and viral replication. Additionally, in an experimental latency-reactivation model in THP-1 cells, the KDM6 family member JMJD3 is induced upon viral reactivation and its knockdown resulted in reduced IE gene transcription. These findings suggest pharmacological inhibition of these HDMs may potentially block hCMV lytic infection and reactivation, and control the viral infection associated diseases, which are of significant unmet medical needs.</p></div