Safety and feasibility of NeuroFlo use in eight- to 24-hour ischemic stroke patients.

BACKGROUND: Acute treatment of ischemic stroke patients presenting more than eight-hours after symptom onset remains limited and largely unproven. Partial aortic occlusion using the NeuroFlo catheter can augment cerebral perfusion in animals. We investigated the safety and feasibility of employing this novel catheter to treat ischemic stroke patients eight-hours to 24 h following symptom onset. METHODS: A multicenter, single-arm trial enrolled ischemic stroke patients at nine international academic medical centers. Eligibility included age 18-85 years old, National Institutes of Health stroke scale (NIHSS) score between four and 20, within eight-hours to 24 h after symptom onset, and perfusion-diffusion mismatch confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging. The primary outcome was all adverse events occurring from baseline to 30 days posttreatment. Secondary outcomes included stroke severity on neurological indices through 90 days. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00436592. RESULTS: A total of 26 patients were enrolled. Of these, 25 received treatment (one excluded due to aortic morphology); five (20%) died. Favorable neurological outcome at 90 days (modified Rankin score 0-2 vs. 3-6) was associated with lower baseline NIHSS (P < 0·001) and with longer duration from symptom discovery to treatment. There were no symptomatic intracranial hemorrhages or parenchymal hematomas. Asymptomatic intracranial hemorrhage was visible on computed tomography in 32% and only on microbleed in another 20%. CONCLUSIONS: Partial aortic occlusion using the NeuroFlo catheter, a novel collateral therapeutic strategy, appears safe and feasible in stroke patients eight-hours to 24 h after symptom onset

Subcortical Brain and Behavior Phenotypes Differentiate Infants With Autism Versus Language Delay

Background Younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are themselves at increased risk for ASD and other developmental concerns. It is unclear if infants who display developmental concerns, but are unaffected by ASD, share similar or dissimilar behavioral and brain phenotypes to infants with ASD. Most individuals with ASD exhibit heterogeneous difficulties with language, and their receptive-expressive language profiles are often atypical. Yet, little is known about the neurobiology that contributes to these language difficulties. Methods In this study, we used behavioral assessments and structural magnetic resonance imaging to investigate early brain structures and associations with later language skills. High-risk infants who were later diagnosed with ASD (n = 86) were compared with high-risk infants who showed signs of early language delay (n = 41) as well as with high- and low-risk infants who did not have ASD or language delay (n = 255 and 143, respectively). Results Results indicated that diminished language skills were evident at 12 months in infants with ASD and infants with early language delay. At 24 months of age, only the infants with ASD displayed atypical receptive-expressive language profiles. Associations between 12-month subcortical volumes and 24-month language skills were moderated by group status, indicating disordinal brain-behavior associations among infants with ASD and infants with language delay. Conclusions These results suggest that there are different brain mechanisms influencing language development in infants with ASD and infants with language delay, and that the two groups likely experience unique sets of genetic and environmental risk factors

Effects of a balanced translocation between chromosomes 1 and 11 disrupting the DISC1 locus on white matter integrity

Objective Individuals carrying rare, but biologically informative genetic variants provide a unique opportunity to model major mental illness and inform understanding of disease mechanisms. The rarity of such variations means that their study involves small group numbers, however they are amongst the strongest known genetic risk factors for major mental illness and are likely to have large neural effects. DISC1 (Disrupted in Schizophrenia 1) is a gene containing one such risk variant, identified in a single Scottish family through its disruption by a balanced translocation of chromosomes 1 and 11; t(1;11) (q42.1;q14.3). Method Within the original pedigree, we examined the effects of the t(1;11) translocation on white matter integrity, measured by fractional anisotropy (FA). This included family members with (n = 7) and without (n = 13) the translocation, along with a clinical control sample of patients with psychosis (n = 34), and a group of healthy controls (n = 33). Results We report decreased white matter integrity in five clusters in the genu of the corpus callosum, the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, acoustic radiation and fornix. Analysis of the mixed psychosis group also demonstrated decreased white matter integrity in the above regions. FA values within the corpus callosum correlated significantly with positive psychotic symptom severity. Conclusions We demonstrate that the t(1;11) translocation is associated with reduced white matter integrity in frontal commissural and association fibre tracts. These findings overlap with those shown in affected patients with psychosis and in DISC1 animal models and highlight the value of rare but biologically informative mutations in modeling psychosis

Nucleon axial and pseudoscalar form factors from the covariant Faddeev equation

We compute the axial and pseudoscalar form factors of the nucleon in the Dyson-Schwinger approach. To this end, we solve a covariant three-body Faddeev equation for the nucleon wave function and determine the matrix elements of the axialvector and pseudoscalar isotriplet currents. Our only input is a well-established and phenomenologically successful ansatz for the nonperturbative quark-gluon interaction. As a consequence of the axial Ward-Takahashi identity that is respected at the quark level, the Goldberger-Treiman relation is reproduced for all current-quark masses. We discuss the timelike pole structure of the quark-antiquark vertices that enters the nucleon matrix elements and determines the momentum dependence of the form factors. Our result for the axial charge underestimates the experimental value by 20-25% which might be a signal of missing pion-cloud contributions. The axial and pseudoscalar form factors agree with phenomenological and lattice data in the momentum range above Q^2 ~ 1...2 GeV^2.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl

Are there eta-Helium bound states?

Using multiple scattering theory the scattering lengths of $\eta$ mesons on helium nuclei are calculated and checked against final state $\eta$ interactions from the $pd \rightarrow \eta ^3$He and $dd \rightarrow \eta ^4$He reactions. The existence of an $\eta^4$He quasibound state is indicated.Comment: revtex, 23 pages, 3 figures available by fax or mai

Pion interferometry in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN]=200GeV

We present a systematic analysis of two-pion interferometry in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN]=200GeV using the STAR detector at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. We extract the Hanbury-Brown and Twiss radii and study their multiplicity, transverse momentum, and azimuthal angle dependence. The Gaussianness of the correlation function is studied. Estimates of the geometrical and dynamical structure of the freeze-out source are extracted by fits with blast-wave parametrizations. The expansion of the source and its relation with the initial energy density distribution is studied

Anisotropy studies around the galactic centre at EeV energies with the Auger Observatory

Data from the Pierre Auger Observatory are analyzed to search for anisotropies near the direction of the Galactic Centre at EeV energies. The exposure of the surface array in this part of the sky is already significantly larger than that of the fore-runner experiments. Our results do not support previous findings of localized excesses in the AGASA and SUGAR data. We set an upper bound on a point-like flux of cosmic rays arriving from the Galactic Centre which excludes several scenarios predicting sources of EeV neutrons from Sagittarius $A$. Also the events detected simultaneously by the surface and fluorescence detectors (the `hybrid' data set), which have better pointing accuracy but are less numerous than those of the surface array alone, do not show any significant localized excess from this direction.Comment: Matches published versio

From the Shell-shocked Soldier to the Nervous Child: Psychoanalysis in the Aftermath of the First World War

This article investigates the development of child analysis in Britain between the wars, as the anxious child succeeded the shell-shocked soldier as a focus of psychoanalytic enquiry. Historians of psychoanalysis tend to regard the Second World War as a key moment in the discovery of the ‘war within’ the child, but it was in the aftermath of the First War that the warring psyche of the child was observed and elaborated. The personal experience of war and its aftermath, and the attention given to regression in the treatment of war neuroses, encouraged Melanie Klein, Anna Freud and others to turn their attention to children. At the same time, however, the impact of the First World War as a traumatic event, with inter-generational consequences, remained largely unaccounted for within psychoanalysis as Klein and others focused on the child's riven internal world