Redo-redo aortic root replacement with a mechanical valved conduit in a patient with von Willebrand's disease: Case report

A 40 year-old female, with a history of cardiac surgery for congenital aortic valve stenosis and von Willebrand's disease (VWD) presented with increasing shortness of breath due to mixed aortic valve dysfunction. With a paucity of such cases in the literature, we describe the successful outcome of a patient with VWD who underwent elective redo-redo aortic root replacement with a mechanical valved conduit. She was given a three-month trial of warfarin pre-operatively to evaluate the extent of bleeding risk. Her post-operative course was uneventful and she was discharged home after six days

Menstruation and the cycle of poverty: a cluster quasi-randomised control trial of sanitary pad and puberty education provision in Uganda

BACKGROUND: Poor menstrual knowledge and access to sanitary products have been proposed as barriers to menstrual health and school attendance. In response, interventions targeting these needs have seen increasing implementation in public and private sectors. However, there has been limited assessment of their effectiveness. // OBJECTIVES: Assess the impact of providing reusable sanitary pads and puberty education on girls’ school attendance and psychosocial wellbeing outcomes. // METHODS: A cluster quasi-randomised controlled trial was conducted across 8 schools, including 1124 girls, in rural Uganda. Schools were allocated to one of four conditions: the provision of puberty education alone; reusable sanitary pads alone; puberty education and reusable sanitary pads; and a control (no intervention). The primary outcome was school attendance. Secondary outcomes reflected psychosocial wellbeing. // RESULTS: At follow-up, school attendance had worsened for girls across all conditions. Per-protocol analysis revealed that this decline was significantly greater for those in the control condition d = 0.52 (95%CI 0.26–0.77), with those in control schools having a 17.1% (95%CI: 8.7–25.5) greater drop in attendance than those in any intervention school. There were no differences between the intervention conditions. High rates of school drop-out and transfer meant the trial suffered from substantial participant drop-out. Intention-to-treat analyses using two different imputation strategies were consistent with the main results, with mean differences of 5.2% attendance in best-case and 24.5% in worst-case imputations. Results were robust to adjustments for clustering. There was no impact of the interventions on girls’ self-reported shame or insecurity during menstruation. // CONCLUSION: Results of the trial support the hypothesised positive impact of providing sanitary pads or puberty education for girls’ school attendance in a developing country context. Findings must be interpreted with caution in light of poor participant retention, intervention fidelity, and the attendance measures used

An experimental model of rhinovirus induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations: a pilot study

BACKGROUND: Acute exacerbations of COPD are a major cause of morbidity, mortality and hospitalisation. Respiratory viruses are associated with the majority of exacerbations but a causal relationship has not been demonstrated and the mechanisms of virus-induced exacerbations are poorly understood. Development of a human experimental model would provide evidence of causation and would greatly facilitate understanding mechanisms, but no such model exists. METHODS: We aimed to evaluate the feasibility of developing an experimental model of rhinovirus induced COPD exacerbations and to assess safety of rhinovirus infection in COPD patients. We carried out a pilot virus dose escalating study to assess the minimum dose of rhinovirus 16 required to induce experimental rhinovirus infection in subjects with COPD (GOLD stage II). Outcomes were assessed by monitoring of upper and lower respiratory tract symptoms, lung function, and virus replication and inflammatory responses in nasal lavage. RESULTS: All 4 subjects developed symptomatic colds with the lowest dose of virus tested, associated with evidence of viral replication and increased pro-inflammatory cytokines in nasal lavage. These were accompanied by significant increases in lower respiratory tract symptoms and reductions in PEF and FEV(1). There were no severe exacerbations or other adverse events. CONCLUSION: Low dose experimental rhinovirus infection in patients with COPD induces symptoms and lung function changes typical of an acute exacerbation of COPD, appears safe, and provides preliminary evidence of causation

Mitochondrial genome deletions and minicircles are common in lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera)

Background The gene composition, gene order and structure of the mitochondrial genome are remarkably stable across bilaterian animals. Lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) are a major exception to this genomic stability in that the canonical single chromosome with 37 genes found in almost all other bilaterians has been lost in multiple lineages in favour of multiple, minicircular chromosomes with less than 37 genes on each chromosome. Results Minicircular mt genomes are found in six of the ten louse species examined to date and three types of minicircles were identified: heteroplasmic minicircles which coexist with full sized mt genomes (type 1); multigene chromosomes with short, simple control regions, we infer that the genome consists of several such chromosomes (type 2); and multiple, single to three gene chromosomes with large, complex control regions (type 3). Mapping minicircle types onto a phylogenetic tree of lice fails to show a pattern of their occurrence consistent with an evolutionary series of minicircle types. Analysis of the nuclear-encoded, mitochondrially-targetted genes inferred from the body louse, Pediculus, suggests that the loss of mitochondrial single-stranded binding protein (mtSSB) may be responsible for the presence of minicircles in at least species with the most derived type 3 minicircles (Pediculus, Damalinia). Conclusions Minicircular mt genomes are common in lice and appear to have arisen multiple times within the group. Life history adaptive explanations which attribute minicircular mt genomes in lice to the adoption of blood-feeding in the Anoplura are not supported by this expanded data set as minicircles are found in multiple non-blood feeding louse groups but are not found in the blood-feeding genus Heterodoxus. In contrast, a mechanist explanation based on the loss of mtSSB suggests that minicircles may be selectively favoured due to the incapacity of the mt replisome to synthesize long replicative products without mtSSB and thus the loss of this gene lead to the formation of minicircles in lice

Diminution of Voltage Threshold Plays a Key Role in Determining Recruitment of Oculomotor Nucleus Motoneurons during Postnatal Development

The size principle dictates the orderly recruitment of motoneurons (Mns). This principle assumes that Mns of different sizes have a similar voltage threshold, cell size being the crucial property in determining neuronal recruitment. Thus, smaller neurons have higher membrane resistance and require a lower depolarizing current to reach spike threshold. However, the cell size contribution to recruitment in Mns during postnatal development remains unknown. To investigate this subject, rat oculomotor nucleus Mns were intracellularly labeled and their electrophysiological properties recorded in a brain slice preparation. Mns were divided into 2 age groups: neonatal (1–7 postnatal days, n = 14) and adult (20–30 postnatal days, n = 10). The increase in size of Mns led to a decrease in input resistance with a strong linear relationship in both age groups. A well-fitted inverse correlation was also found between input resistance and rheobase in both age groups. However, input resistance versus rheobase did not correlate when data from neonatal and adult Mns were combined in a single group. This lack of correlation is due to the fact that decrease in input resistance of developing Mns did not lead to an increase in rheobase. Indeed, a diminution in rheobase was found, and it was accompanied by an unexpected decrease in voltage threshold. Additionally, the decrease in rheobase co-varied with decrease in voltage threshold in developing Mns. These data support that the size principle governs the recruitment order in neonatal Mns and is maintained in adult Mns of the oculomotor nucleus; but during postnatal development the crucial property in determining recruitment order in these Mns was not the modifications of cell size-input resistance but of voltage threshold

Multiple populations in globular clusters. Lessons learned from the Milky Way globular clusters

Recent progress in studies of globular clusters has shown that they are not simple stellar populations, being rather made of multiple generations. Evidence stems both from photometry and spectroscopy. A new paradigm is then arising for the formation of massive star clusters, which includes several episodes of star formation. While this provides an explanation for several features of globular clusters, including the second parameter problem, it also opens new perspectives about the relation between globular clusters and the halo of our Galaxy, and by extension of all populations with a high specific frequency of globular clusters, such as, e.g., giant elliptical galaxies. We review progress in this area, focusing on the most recent studies. Several points remain to be properly understood, in particular those concerning the nature of the polluters producing the abundance pattern in the clusters and the typical timescale, the range of cluster masses where this phenomenon is active, and the relation between globular clusters and other satellites of our Galaxy.Comment: In press (The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review

Repeated Methamphetamine Administration Differentially Alters Fos Expression in Caudate-Putamen Patch and Matrix Compartments and Nucleus Accumbens

Background: The repeated administration of psychostimulant drugs produces a persistent and long-lasting increase (‘‘sensitization’’) in their psychomotor effects, which is thought to be due to changes in the neural circuitry that mediate these behaviors. One index of neuronal activation used to identify brain regions altered by repeated exposure to drugs involves their ability to induce immediate early genes, such as c-fos. Numerous reports have demonstrated that past drug experience alters the ability of drugs to induce c-fos in the striatum, but very few have examined Fos protein expression in the two major compartments in the striatum—the so-called patch/striosome and matrix. Methodology/Principal Findings: In the present study, we used immunohistochemistry to investigate the effects of pretreatment with methamphetamine on the ability of a subsequent methamphetamine challenge to induce Fos protein expression in the patch and matrix compartments of the dorsolateral and dorsomedial caudate-putamen and in the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens). Animals pretreated with methamphetamine developed robust psychomotor sensitization. A methamphetamine challenge increased the number of Fos-positive cells in all areas of the dorsal and ventral striatum. However, methamphetamine challenge induced Fos expression in more cells in the patch than in the matrix compartment in the dorsolateral and dorsomedial caudate-putamen. Furthermore, past experience with methamphetamine increased the number of methamphetamine-induced Fos positive cells in the patch compartment of the dorsal caudate putamen, but no

A review of elliptical and disc galaxy structure, and modern scaling laws

A century ago, in 1911 and 1913, Plummer and then Reynolds introduced their models to describe the radial distribution of stars in `nebulae'. This article reviews the progress since then, providing both an historical perspective and a contemporary review of the stellar structure of bulges, discs and elliptical galaxies. The quantification of galaxy nuclei, such as central mass deficits and excess nuclear light, plus the structure of dark matter halos and cD galaxy envelopes, are discussed. Issues pertaining to spiral galaxies including dust, bulge-to-disc ratios, bulgeless galaxies, bars and the identification of pseudobulges are also reviewed. An array of modern scaling relations involving sizes, luminosities, surface brightnesses and stellar concentrations are presented, many of which are shown to be curved. These 'redshift zero' relations not only quantify the behavior and nature of galaxies in the Universe today, but are the modern benchmark for evolutionary studies of galaxies, whether based on observations, N-body-simulations or semi-analytical modelling. For example, it is shown that some of the recently discovered compact elliptical galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5 may be the bulges of modern disc galaxies.Comment: Condensed version (due to Contract) of an invited review article to appear in "Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems"(www.springer.com/astronomy/book/978-90-481-8818-5). 500+ references incl. many somewhat forgotten, pioneer papers. Original submission to Springer: 07-June-201

When Are New Hippocampal Neurons, Born in the Adult Brain, Integrated into the Network That Processes Spatial Information?

Adult-born neurons in the dentate gyrus (DG) functionally integrate into the behaviorally relevant hippocampal networks, showing a specific Arc-expression response to spatial exploration when mature. However, it is not clear when, during the 4- to 6-week interval that is critical for survival and maturation of these neurons, this specific response develops. Therefore, we characterized Arc expression after spatial exploration or cage control conditions in adult-born neurons from rats that were injected with BrdU on one day and were sacrificed 1, 7, 15, 30, and 45 days post-BrdU injection (PBI). Triple immunostaining for NeuN, Arc, and BrdU was analyzed through the different DG layers. Arc protein expression in BrdU-positive cells was observed from day 1 to day 15 PBI but was not related to behavioral stimulation. The specific Arc-expression response to spatial exploration was observed from day 30 and 45 in about 5% of the BrdU-positive cell population. Most of the BrdU-positive neurons expressing Arc in response to spatial exploration (∼90%) were located in DG layer 1, and no Arc expression was observed in cells located in the subgranular zone (SGZ). Using the current data and that obtained previously, we propose a mathematical model suggesting that new neurons are unlikely to respond to exploration by expressing Arc after they are 301 days old, and also that in a 7-month-old rat the majority (60%) of the neurons that respond to exploration must have been born during adulthood; thus, suggesting that adult neurogenesis in the DG is highly relevant for spatial information processing