Suspected limbic encephalitis and seizure in cats associated with voltage-gated potassium channel (VGKC) complex antibody.

BACKGROUND: Treatment-resistant complex partial seizures (CPS) with orofacial involvement recently were reported in cats in association with hippocampal pathology. The features had some similarity to those described in humans with limbic encephalitis and voltage-gated potassium channel (VGKC) complex antibody. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate cats with CPS and orofacial involvement for the presence of VGKC-complex antibody. ANIMALS: Client-owned cats with acute orofacial CPS and control cats were investigated. METHODS: Prospective study. Serum was collected from 14 cats in the acute stage of the disease and compared with 19 controls. VGKC-complex antibodies were determined by routine immunoprecipitation and by binding to leucine-rich glioma inactivated 1 (LGI1) and contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CASPR2), the 2 main targets of VGKC-complex antibodies in humans. RESULTS: Five of the 14 affected cats, but none of the 19 controls, had VGKC-complex antibody concentrations above the cut-off concentration (>100 pmol/L) based on control samples and similar to those found in humans. Antibodies in 4 cats were directed against LGI1, and none were directed against CASPR2. Follow-up sera were available for 5 cats in remission and all antibody concentrations were within the reference range. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Our study suggests that an autoimmune limbic encephalitis exists in cats and that VGKC-complex/LGI1 antibodies may play a role in this disorder, as they are thought to in humans

An ultracold high-density sample of rovibronic ground-state molecules in an optical lattice

Control over all internal and external degrees of freedom of molecules at the level of single quantum states will enable a series of fundamental studies in physics and chemistry. In particular, samples of ground-state molecules at ultralow temperatures and high number densities will facilitate new quantum-gas studies and future applications in quantum information science. However, high phase-space densities for molecular samples are not readily attainable because efficient cooling techniques such as laser cooling are lacking. Here we produce an ultracold and dense sample of molecules in a single hyperfine level of the rovibronic ground state with each molecule individually trapped in the motional ground state of an optical lattice well. Starting from a zero-temperature atomic Mott-insulator state with optimized double-site occupancy, weakly bound dimer molecules are efficiently associated on a Feshbach resonance and subsequently transferred to the rovibronic ground state by a stimulated four-photon process with >50% efficiency. The molecules are trapped in the lattice and have a lifetime of 8 s. Our results present a crucial step towards Bose–Einstein condensation of ground-state molecules and, when suitably generalized to polar heteronuclear molecules, the realization of dipolar quantum-gas phases in optical lattices

Origin of primary PGM assemblage in сhromitite from a mantle tectonite at Harold's Grave (Shetland Ophiolite Complex, Scotland)

In this paper we present textural and mineral chemistry data for a PGM inclusion assemblage and whole-rock platinum-group element (PGE) concentrations of chromitite from Harold’s Grave, which occurrs in a dunite pod in a mantle tectonite at Unst in the Shetland Ophiolite Complex (SOC), Scotland. The study utilized a number of analytical techniques, including acid digestion and isotope dilution (ID) ICP-MS, hydroseparation and electron microprobe analysis. The chromitite contains a pronounced enrichment of refractory PGE (IPGE: Os, Ir and Ru) over less refractory PGE (PPGE: Rh, Pt and Pd), typical of mantle hosted ‘ophiolitic’ chromitites. A ‘primary’ magmatic PGM assemblage is represented by euhedrally shaped (up to 60 μm in size) single and composite inclusions in chromite. Polyphase PGM grains are dominated by laurite and osmian iridium, with subordinate laurite + osmian iridium + iridian osmium and rare laurite + Ir-Rh alloy + Rh-rich sulphide (possibly prassoite). The compositional variability of associated laurite and Os-rich alloys at Harold’s Grave fit the predicted compositions of experiment W-1200-0.37 of Andrews and Brenan (Can Mineral 40: 1705–1716, 2002) providing unequivocal information on conditions of their genesis, with the upper thermal stability of laurite in equilibrium with Os-rich alloys estimated at 1200–1250 °C and f(S2) of 10−0.39–10−0.07