Contribution of scarred uterus to ruptured uterus in rural Nigeria

Background: Ruptured Uterus is one of the worst obstetric catastrophes that cause maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Though surgical incisions on the uterus are thought to contribute to this catastrophe, no work had been done in our environment to find out how scarred uterus had been contributing to uterine rupture in our area of practice hence the need for this work.Methods: This is a retrospective study involving all the cases of ruptured uterus managed at Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Afikpo in Ebonyi State of Nigeria over 10 years.Results: During the ten years under review, the incidence of ruptured uterus was 0.66% or 1 in 151 deliveries. Of the 74 cases of ruptured uterus, 28 or 37.8% occurred in those with scarred uterus. This translates to 1 uterine rupture caused by scarred uterus in every 2.6 cases of uterine rupture. Previous cesarean section was the commonest scar followed by previous uterine rupture and cornual ectopic pregnancy. There was no rupture from a myomectomy scar.Conclusions: Scarred uterus is a significant cause of uterine rupture, every effort must be made to reduce uterine scars and our women should be encouraged to utilize available health services

Reduced duration mismatch negativity in adolescents with psychotic symptoms: further evidence for mismatch negativity as a possible biomarker for vulnerability to psychosis

Background: Deficits in the mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a components are the most reliable and robust findings in schizophrenia. These abnormalities have also been recently documented in individuals clinically at risk for psychosis, indicating that the MMN may be a potential biomarker for psychosis. However, the at risk samples included in MMN studies are characterised by pre-existing clinical symptomatology and significant functional decline which are related to MMN amplitude. These factors may be potential confounds in determining whether deficient MMN is present prior to clinical manifestation of the disorder. Therefore, investigating the MMN in the extended psychosis phenotype comprising adolescents with psychotic symptoms from the general population may provide important information on whether abnormal MMN is apparent in the earliest stages of risk. Methods: Thirty six adolescents completed a duration deviant MMN task. Fourteen adolescents with psychotic symptoms comprised the at risk group and 22 with no psychotic symptoms comprised the Controls. The task consisted of 85% standard tones (25 ms) and 15% deviant tones (50 ms). The groups were compared on MMN and P3a amplitude and latency across frontocentral and temporal electrodes. Results: Adolescents with psychotic symptoms were characterised by a reduction in MMN amplitude at frontal and temporal regions compared to the controls. Conclusions: This is the first study to demonstrate impaired auditory discrimination for duration deviant tones in nonclinical adolescents with psychotic symptoms. These findings suggest that MMN amplitude may be a possible biomarker for vulnerability to psychosis

Genome-wide association study of endo-parasite phenotypes using imputed whole-genome sequence data in dairy and beef cattle

peer-reviewedBackground: Quantitative genetic studies suggest the existence of variation at the genome level that affects the ability of cattle to resist to parasitic diseases. The objective of the current study was to identify regions of the bovine genome that are associated with resistance to endo-parasites. Methods: Individual cattle records were available for Fasciola hepatica-damaged liver from 18 abattoirs. Deregressed estimated breeding values (EBV) for F. hepatica-damaged liver were generated for genotyped animals with a record for F. hepatica-damaged liver and for genotyped sires with a least one progeny record for F. hepatica-damaged liver; 3702 animals were available. In addition, individual cow records for antibody response to F. hepatica on 6388 genotyped dairy cows, antibody response to Ostertagia ostertagi on 8334 genotyped dairy cows and antibody response to Neospora caninum on 4597 genotyped dairy cows were adjusted for non-genetic effects. Genotypes were imputed to whole-sequence; after edits, 14,190,141 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 16,603,644 SNPs were available for cattle with deregressed EBV for F. hepatica-damaged liver and cows with an antibody response to a parasitic disease, respectively. Association analyses were undertaken using linear regression on one SNP at a time, in which a genomic relationship matrix accounted for the relationships between animals. Results: Genomic regions for F. hepatica-damaged liver were located on Bos taurus autosomes (BTA) 1, 8, 11, 16, 17 and 18; each region included at least one SNP with a p value lower than 10−6. Five SNPs were identified as significant (q value < 0.05) for antibody response to N. caninum and were located on BTA21 or 25. For antibody response to F. hepatica and O. ostertagi, six and nine quantitative trait loci (QTL) regions that included at least one SNP with a p value lower than 10−6 were identified, respectively. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed a significant association between functional annotations related to the olfactory system and QTL that were suggestively associated with endo-parasite phenotypes. Conclusions: A number of novel genomic regions were suggestively associated with endo-parasite phenotypes across the bovine genome and two genomic regions on BTA21 and 25 were associated with antibody response to N. caninum

Electrophysiological correlates of flicker-induced form hallucinations

Form hallucinations can be reliably induced using temporally modulated light within a specific frequency range (15-30Hz). The neural substrates of such states have yet to be established with certainty. Brain activity of 5 "high responders" was recorded as they completed a visual report paradigm in flickering Ganzfeld (FGF) conditions. Illusory geometric forms were induced via stimulation of the Ganzfeld with rapid and intermittent square-wave light pulses of 3,000 cd/m2 at 15-30Hz. On experiencing a specified target form (point, rectangle, spiral or circle) a left index button press was made to terminate the flicker presentation. A synchronization of activity in the theta (3.5-7Hz) and gamma (30-70Hz) frequency bands reflective of top-down and bottom-up processing respectively may enable the apperception of geometric form

The Dynamics of Visual Experience, an EEG Study of Subjective Pattern Formation

Background: Since the origin of psychological science a number of studies have reported visual pattern formation in the absence of either physiological stimulation or direct visual-spatial references. Subjective patterns range from simple phosphenes to complex patterns but are highly specific and reported reliably across studies. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using independent-component analysis (ICA) we report a reduction in amplitude variance consistent with subjective-pattern formation in ventral posterior areas of the electroencephalogram (EEG). The EEG exhibits significantly increased power at delta/theta and gamma-frequencies (point and circle patterns) or a series of highfrequency harmonics of a delta oscillation (spiral patterns). Conclusions/Significance: Subjective-pattern formation may be described in a way entirely consistent with identical pattern formation in fluids or granular flows. In this manner, we propose subjective-pattern structure to be represented within a spatio-temporal lattice of harmonic oscillations which bind topographically organized visual-neuronal assemblies by virtue of low frequency modulation

The dynamics of visual experience, an eeg study of subjective pattern formation

Background: Since the origin of psychological science a number of studies have reported visual pattern formation in the absence of either physiological stimulation or direct visual-spatial references. Subjective patterns range from simple phosphenes to complex patterns but are highly specific and reported reliably across studies. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using independent-component analysis (ICA) we report a reduction in amplitude variance consistent with subjective-pattern formation in ventral posterior areas of the electroencephalogram (EEG). The EEG exhibits significantly increased power at delta/theta and gamma-frequencies (point and circle patterns) or a series of high-frequency harmonics of a delta oscillation (spiral patterns). Conclusions/Significance: Subjective-pattern formation may be described in a way entirely consistent with identical pattern formation in fluids or granular flows. In this manner, we propose subjective-pattern structure to be represented within a spatio-temporal lattice of harmonic oscillations which bind topographically organized visual-neuronal assemblies by virtue of low frequency modulation

Frequency components derived from discrete Fourier analysis of the averaged component time series.

<p>The left y-axis gives normalized power while the right y-axis gives actual power. The dotted lines indicate standard errors. In (a) analysis of circles and points reveals peaks at theta (6 Hz) and mid gamma-band (46 and 48 Hz) frequencies. Subjectively, both points and circles appear at a set of independent loci that are apparently randomly distributed across the visual field. They are characterized by particularly high power in both theta and gamma bands which may index an as yet unresolved process of pattern completion. In (b), and by contrast, spirals refer to a spatially contiguous and so relatively well defined visual pattern. Fourier analysis reveals these reports to be accompanied by very low power distributed across multiple peak frequencies; including a major peak at 4 Hz. Fourier analysis carried out on the component time series for reports “spirals” for each participant separately reveals power spectra with multiple peaks tabled in (c). All peaks bar one are multiples (harmonics) of a fundamental frequency of 4 Hz, indicating subjective experience of spirals to be accompanied by a lattice of harmonic activity in the EEG.</p

Sketches of Ganzfeld phenomena.

<p>Above: drawn by <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0030830#pone.0030830-Purkinje1" target="_blank">[1]</a> these depict (right to left) “primary patterns”, “snail-rectangle” and “eight-beam”. Below: sketches from participants tested by Becker and Elliott (unpublished) of, (right to left) “hexagons”, “spirals” and “points”. The photograph shows goggles made from Ping-Pong balls (Reprinted from Consciousness and Cognition, Carsten Allefeld, Peter Pütz, Kristina Kastner, Jiří Wackermann, Flicker-light induced visual phenomena: Frequency dependence and specificity of whole percepts and percept features, in press/corrected proof, (2011), with permission from Elsevier).</p

The impact of short-term predominate breastfeeding on cognitive outcome at 5 years

Aim: Breastfeeding is associated with IQ, school attendance and income. Despite the known benefits of breastfeeding, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding up to 6-months is low globally. We examined the effect of short-term breastfeeding on long-term IQ. Methods: In this secondary analysis of the prospective Cork BASELINE Birth Cohort Study, children were categorised as predominantly breastfed (n = 288) versus exclusively formula-fed (n = 254) at 2-months of age. Infants (n = 404) receiving mixed-feeding were excluded. Outcome was assessed using the KBIT II at 5-years. Multivariable linear regression was used to adjust for confounding variables. Results: Following adjustment for confounding variables, children, predominately breastfed at 2-months of age, demonstrated increased overall IQ (2.00 points (95% CI: 0.35 to 3.65) ; p = 0.018) and non-verbal IQ at 5-years of age (1.88 points (95% CI: 0.22 to 3.54); p = 0.027) compared to those never breastfed. No significant relationship was found with verbal IQ (p = 0.154). Conclusion: A significant increase in composite and non-verbal IQ at 5-years of age was associated with short-term breastfeeding. This study adds to a growing body of evidence that short-term breastfeeding promotes healthy cognitive development