Epilepsy caused by hippocampal sclerosis

Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS) is one of the most distinct epileptic diseases/ syndromes with defined underlying hippocampal pathology shown on MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), clinical seizure types and postresection seizure relief. The purpose of this paper is to describe MTLE-HS diagnostic procedures, therapeutic approach and compare the results from the County Hospital in Targu Mures and the medical literature. A total number of 1467 epileptic cases (spanning from 2005 to 2010) were extracted from the archive from which 3 patients (2 females and 1 male) were diagnosed with MTLE-HS. No suggestive pathological history was found for these patients, diagnostic procedures were consistent with those in the medical literature. Seizure types were partial complex seizures and secondarily generalized seizures. The therapeutic approach consisted of antiepileptic drugs, opposed to cases from medical literature, where first line therapy was surgery. Diagnosing MTLE-HS is important, because in more than half of cases this type of epilepsy is refractory to antiepileptic drugs

Modulation of B-cell endoplasmic reticulum calcium homeostasis by Epstein-Barr virus Latent Membrane Protein-1

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Growth hormone prevents steroid-induced growth depression in health and uremia

Growth hormone prevents steroid-induced growth depression in health and uremia. Treatment with supraphysiological doses of corticosteroids results in protein wasting and impairment of growth, whereas exogenous growth hormone (GH) causes anabolism and improvement of growth. We wanted to know whether the growth depressing effects of methylprednisolone (MP) are more expressed in an organism which is chronically diseased and whether these effects can be counterbalanced by concomitant treatment with recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH). MP in doses from 1 to 9 mg/kg/day caused a dose dependent reduction of length gain, weight gain and weight gain/food intake ratio in 140 g healthy female Sprague-Dawley rats. Food intake was not affected by MP. This points to a change in food metabolism as a mechanism for growth impairment. In addition, treatment with MP inhibited endogenous GH secretion, documented by serum GH concentration profiles over seven hours, decreased IGF-1 serum concentration and disturbed growth cartilage plate architecture. Concomitant treatment with 2.5 to 20 IU/rhGH/kg/day prevented the negative effects of MP on growth in a dose dependent manner and normallized growth plate architecture. In uremic rats in which food efficiency and growth was already reduced, 6 mg MP/kg/day further decreased length gain and prevented weight gain completely by bringing the weight gain/food conversion ratio to the nadir. All effects of MP including reduction of muscle mass could be prevented by concomitant treatment with 10 IU rhGH/kg/day. The effects of MP and rhGH on food efficiency and growth in uremic animals were numerically nearly identical to those in pair fed and ad libitum fed controls, but this may be more relevant in the diseased organism in which basal growth is already suppressed

Accurate radius and mass of the transiting exoplanet OGLE-TR-132b

The exoplanet OGLE-TR-132b belongs to the new class of very hot giant planets, together with OGLE-TR-56b and OGLE-TR-113b, detected by their transits. Recently, radial velocity measurements provided a planetary mass estimate for OGLE-TR-132b. The planet parameters, however, were poorly cons trained, because of the very shallow transit in the OGLE light curve. In this letter, based on new VLT/FORS2 photometric follow-up of OGLE-TR-132 of unprecedented quality (1.2 millimagnitude relative photometry), we confirm the planetary nature of the orbiting object, and we derive an accurate measurement of its radius and mass: 1.13 +- 0.08 R_J and 1.19 +- 0.13 M_J. The refined ephemeris of OGLE-TR-132 transits is T_0 = 2453142.5888 and P = 1.689857 days.Comment: accepted in A&A letter

Effect of dietary supplementation of spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris) on carcass composition, meat physical traits, and vitamin B12 content on growing rabbits

[EN] The aim of this study was to compare the effect and duration of dietary inclusion of 5% spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) and/or 3% thyme (Thymus vulgaris) on growing rabbit carcass composition, meat and bone rheological traits, and the vitamin B12 content of Longissimus dorsi (LD) meat. The study involved 294 maternal line growing rabbits from the Pannon breeding programme. At weaning (5 wk), animals were randomly divided by dietary treatment into 7 groups of 42 rabbits each. A control group (C-C) received a pellet with no supplementation throughout the trial (5-11 wk of age), whereas the other groups were fed diets supplemented with 5% spirulina (S), 3% thyme (T) or with both ingredients (ST) for either the entire growing period (5-11 wk of age; groups: S-S, T-T, ST-ST, respectively), or its final part only (8-11 wk of age; groups: C-S, C-T, C-ST, respectively). Results showed that regardless of the duration of supplementation, spirulina and thyme provided no effect on the traits examined, except for scapular fat content, whose value was higher in the S-S group than in the C-T group (P<0.05). Spirulina was confirmed as a rich source of vitamin B12 that was successfully transferred into LD meat, thus demonstrating its value as an effective natural supplement in producing food fortified with this vital element. Further studies are necessary to clarify the effect of spirulina on carcass fat deposition, bone development, and mineralisation.: Research funded by Padova University research funds (Progetti di Ricerca di Ateneo 2011) code: CPDA117509/11, and the GOP-1.3.1-11/B-2011-0045. The authors thank Sandro Tenti and Barbara Contiero for their technical support.Dalle Zotte, A.; Cullere, M.; Sartori, A.; Dal Bosco, A.; Gerencsér, Z.; Matics, Z.; Kovàcs, M.... (2014). Effect of dietary supplementation of spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris) on carcass composition, meat physical traits, and vitamin B12 content on growing rabbits. World Rabbit Science. 22(1):11-19. https://doi.org/10.4995/wrs.2014.1449SWORD111922

Assessing the utility of geospatial technologies to investigate environmental change within lake systems

Over 50% of the world's population live within 3. km of rivers and lakes highlighting the on-going importance of freshwater resources to human health and societal well-being. Whilst covering c. 3.5% of the Earth's non-glaciated land mass, trends in the environmental quality of the world's standing waters (natural lakes and reservoirs) are poorly understood, at least in comparison with rivers, and so evaluation of their current condition and sensitivity to change are global priorities. Here it is argued that a geospatial approach harnessing existing global datasets, along with new generation remote sensing products, offers the basis to characterise trajectories of change in lake properties e.g., water quality, physical structure, hydrological regime and ecological behaviour. This approach furthermore provides the evidence base to understand the relative importance of climatic forcing and/or changing catchment processes, e.g. land cover and soil moisture data, which coupled with climate data provide the basis to model regional water balance and runoff estimates over time. Using examples derived primarily from the Danube Basin but also other parts of the World, we demonstrate the power of the approach and its utility to assess the sensitivity of lake systems to environmental change, and hence better manage these key resources in the future

Diagnostic significance of CK19, TG, Ki67 and galectin-3 expression for papillary thyroid carcinoma in the northeastern region of China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To evaluate the expression and differential diagnostic significance of CK19, TG, Ki67 and galectin-3 in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) (metastatic and non metastatic), follicular adenoma and nodular goiter in patients from the northeastern part of China.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>441 PTC specimens and 151 other benign thyroid specimens (97 cases of nodular goiter, 54 cases of nonmalignant follicular adenoma) were collected. Immunohistochemistry for CK19, TG, Ki67 and galectin-3 was performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CK19, TG, Ki67 and galectin-3 expression was 96.37% (425/441), 82.77% (365/441), and 40.59% (179/441), 96.82% (427/441), respectively, for the PTC group and the expression of these markers in the benign thyroid lesions group was 25.83% (39/151), 79.47% (120/151), and 37.09% (56/151), 50.99% (77/151), respectively. The expression of CK19 and galectin-3 in PTC was much higher than that in the nonmalignant group (p < 0.05). However, the expression of TG, Ki67 did not differ among these two groups (p > 0.05). The diagnostic efficiency of CK19 and galectin-3 for PTC was 96.37% (537/592) and 84.63% (501/592). CK19 and galectin-3 expression rate in PTC was higher than that in benign disease cases.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The diagnostic efficiency of CK19 for PTC was slightly better than galectin-3. The utilization of these markers combined with morphologic evaluation may be helpful in the differential diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma in the northeastern region of China.</p