Detection of thrombosis in microvessels with indocyanine green videoangiography

Atherosclerosis is a systemic condition that is responsible for many diseases, and becomes a problem in cases where plaques form at several sites. The formation of a thrombotic embolus may jeopardise vascular operations, including microvascular anastomoses in replantation procedures or free tissue transfers. A mobile imaging tool for the detection of thrombosis preoperatively or intraoperatively would be valuable. An intimal injury, simulating removal of atherosclerotic plaques, was made microsurgically in 60 rat aortas, and results were analysed macroscopically, histologically, and with intraoperative indocyanine green (ICG) videoangiography immediately postoperatively. The Spearman and Pearson correlation tests were used to compare the three techniques. The sensitivity and specificity of ICG videoangiography was calculated in relation to both macroscopic and histological results. Detection of thrombosis was possible in 25 cases, and in 18 cases no thrombosis was correctly diagnosed by all methods used. In 31 of 60 specimens formation of thrombus was detected histologically, and in 29 of 60 examinations it was detected clinically, which yielded a correlation of 93.5% between the two examinations. Macroscopic analysis correlated better with ICG videoangiography (sensitivity 86.2% and specificity 64.5%) than histological observations (sensitivity 80.6% and specificity 62.1%). There was a significant correlation among all comparisons (each p ≤ 0.001) with correlation indexes of 0.94, 0.52, and 0.44 for macroscopic/histological, clinical/ICG videoangiographic, and ICG videoangiographic/histological results, respectively. Our results show that ICG videoangiography is an important method for the detection of formation of acute thrombi and may be an important tool in vascular procedures

Natural History of Tuberculosis: Duration and Fatality of Untreated Pulmonary Tuberculosis in HIV Negative Patients: A Systematic Review

Background The prognosis, specifically the case fatality and duration, of untreated tuberculosis is important as many patients are not correctly diagnosed and therefore receive inadequate or no treatment. Furthermore, duration and case fatality of tuberculosis are key parameters in interpreting epidemiological data. Methodology and Principal Findings To estimate the duration and case fatality of untreated pulmonary tuberculosis in HIV negative patients we reviewed studies from the pre-chemotherapy era. Untreated smear-positive tuberculosis among HIV negative individuals has a 10-year case fatality variously reported between 53% and 86%, with a weighted mean of 70%. Ten-year case fatality of culture-positive smear-negative tuberculosis was nowhere reported directly but can be indirectly estimated to be approximately 20%. The duration of tuberculosis from onset to cure or death is approximately 3 years and appears to be similar for smear-positive and smear-negative tuberculosis. Conclusions Current models of untreated tuberculosis that assume a total duration of 2 years until self-cure or death underestimate the duration of disease by about one year, but their case fatality estimates of 70% for smear-positive and 20% for culture-positive smear-negative tuberculosis appear to be satisfactory

Excitation/inhibition balance in the aMCC influences resting state activity in the CEN

Introduction: Excitation/inhibition balance can be used as a predictor not only for the functional regional response in the task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) but also for functional connectivity (FC) strength measured within and between networks [1]. Previous studies reported that both Glutamate (Glu) and γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels can predict within network connectivity patterns [2,3]. However, the results were inconsistent and they were mainly focused on the default mode network confirming that there is a need for more robust and extensive measurements. Therefore, we investigated whole brain associations between the main excitatory – Glu – and inhibitory neurotransmitter – GABA – with the FC of the anterior mid cingulate cortex (aMCC), a node of the salience network (SN), with a particular focus on regions of the central executive network (CEN). We additionally explored how these metabolites influence basic neuronal measurements such as fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF). Methods: 106 subjects (age = 27.09 ± 6.72, 44 females) completed a research paradigm that included a resting-state fMRI and a magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) session in 7T. An MRS voxel was placed in the aMCC, and Glu, GABA and Creatine (Cr) levels were acquired using a stimulated-echo acquisition mode (STEAM) sequence. A regression analysis was conducted in SPM8 between metabolites and aMCC voxel–seed FC maps with age, sex and grey matter ratio as covariates of nuisance. Additionally, the same regression analysis was performed for fALFF. Results are reported on FWE < 0.05 cluster level significance with an initial threshold of p < 0.001, uncorrected. Results: Glu/Cr and aMCC voxel FC showed a strong negative association in the left posterior frontal gyrus and several nodes of the visual cortex. A regionally converging positive correlation was found between fALFF and GABA/Cr in the left posterior frontal gyrus. Conclusions: Both GABA and Glu levels measured in the aMCC predict the strength and the basal activity of the posterior frontal gyrus, which is a node of the CEN

Eukaryotic and prokaryotic stomatins: the proteolytic link.

The 32kD membrane protein stomatin was first studied because it is deficient from the red cell membrane in two forms of the class of haemolytic anaemias known as "hereditary stomatocytosis." The hallmark of these conditions is a plasma membrane leak to the monovalent cations Na+ and K+: the protein is missing only in the most severely leaky of these conditions. No mutation has ever been found in the stomatin gene in these conditions. Stomatin-like proteins have been identified in all three domains of biology, yet their function remains enigmatic. Although the murine knock-out is without phenotype, we have identified a family showing a splicing defect in the stomatin mRNA, in which affected children showed a catastrophic multisystem disease not inconsistent with the now-known wide tissue distribution of stomatin. We report here a study of strongly homologous stomatin-like genes in prokaryotes, which reveals a close connection with a never-studied gene erroneously known as "nfed." This gene codes for a hydrophobic protein with a probable serine protease motif. It is possible that these stomatin-like genes and those which are known as"nfed" form an operon, suggesting that the two protein products are aimed at a common function. The corollary is that stomatin could be a partner protein for a membrane-bound proteolytic process, in both prokaryotes and in eukaryotes generally: this idea is consistent with experimental evidence

Excitation/inhibition balance in the aMCC influences resting state activity in the CEN

Background: Excitation/inhibition balance can be used as a predictor not only for the functional regional response in the task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) but also for functional connectivity (FC) strength measured within and between networks. Previous studies reported that both Glutamate (Glu) and γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels can predict within network connectivity patterns. However, the results were inconsistent and they were mainly focused on the default mode network confirming that there is a need for more robust and extensive measurements. Therefore, we investigated whole brain associations between the main excitatory - Glu - and inhibitory neurotransmitter - GABA - with the FC of the anterior mid cingulate cortex (aMCC), a node of the salience network (SN), with a particular focus on regions of the central executive network (CEN). We additionally explored how these metabolites influence basic neuronal measurements such as fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (fALFF). Methods: 78 healthy subjects (39 females, age = 26.97 ± 6.53) completed a research paradigm that included a resting-state fMRI and a magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) session in 7T. An MRS voxel was placed in the aMCC, and Glu, GABA and Creatine (Cr) levels were acquired using a stimulated-echo acquisition mode (STEAM) sequence. A regression analysis was conducted in SPM8 between metabolites and aMCC voxel-seed FC maps with age, sex and grey matter ratio as covariates of nuisance. Additionally, the same regression analysis was performed for fALFF. Results are reported on FWE < 0.05 cluster level significance with an initial threshold of p < 0.001, uncorrected. Results: Glu/Cr and aMCC voxel FC showed a strong negative association in the left posterior frontal gyrus and several nodes of the visual cortex. A regionally converging positive correlation was found between fALFF and GABA/Cr in the left posterior frontal gyrus. Conclusion: Both GABA and Glu levels measured in the aMCC predict the strength and the basal activity of the posterior frontal gyrus, which is a node of the CEN

Excitation/inhibition balance in the aMCC influences resting state activity in the CEN

Introduction: Excitation/inhibition balance can be used as a predictor not only for the functional regional response in the task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) but also for functional connectivity (FC) strength measured within and between networks [1]. Previous studies reported that both Glutamate (Glu) and γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels can predict within network connectivity patterns [2,3]. However, the results were inconsistent and they were mainly focused on the default mode network confirming that there is a need for more robust and extensive measurements. Therefore, we investigated whole brain associations between the main excitatory – Glu – and inhibitory neurotransmitter – GABA – with the FC of the anterior mid cingulate cortex (aMCC), a node of the salience network (SN), with a particular focus on regions of the central executive network (CEN). We additionally explored how these metabolites influence basic neuronal measurements such as fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF). Methods: 106 subjects (age = 27.09 ± 6.72, 44 females) completed a research paradigm that included a resting-state fMRI and a magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) session in 7T. An MRS voxel was placed in the aMCC, and Glu, GABA and Creatine (Cr) levels were acquired using a stimulated-echo acquisition mode (STEAM) sequence. A regression analysis was conducted in SPM8 between metabolites and aMCC voxel–seed FC maps with age, sex and grey matter ratio as covariates of nuisance. Additionally, the same regression analysis was performed for fALFF. Results are reported on FWE < 0.05 cluster level significance with an initial threshold of p < 0.001, uncorrected. Results: Glu/Cr and aMCC voxel FC showed a strong negative association in the left posterior frontal gyrus and several nodes of the visual cortex. A regionally converging positive correlation was found between fALFF and GABA/Cr in the left posterior frontal gyrus. Conclusions: Both GABA and Glu levels measured in the aMCC predict the strength and the basal activity of the posterior frontal gyrus, which is a node of the CEN