Mapping of multiple muscles with transcranial magnetic stimulation: Absolute and relative test-retest reliability

The spatial accuracy of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) may be as small as a few millimeters. Despite such great potential, navigated TMS (nTMS) mapping is still underused for the assessment of motor plasticity, particularly in clinical settings. Here, we investigate the within‐limb somatotopy gradient as well as absolute and relative reliability of three hand muscle cortical representations (MCRs) using a comprehensive grid‐based sulcus‐informed nTMS motor mapping. We enrolled 22 young healthy male volunteers. Two nTMS mapping sessions were separated by 5–10 days. Motor evoked potentials were obtained from abductor pollicis brevis (APB), abductor digiti minimi, and extensor digitorum communis. In addition to individual MRI‐based analysis, we studied normalized MNI MCRs. For the reliability assessment, we calculated intraclass correlation and the smallest detectable change. Our results revealed a somatotopy gradient reflected by APB MCR having the most lateral location. Reliability analysis showed that the commonly used metrics of MCRs, such as areas, volumes, centers of gravity (COGs), and hotspots had a high relative and low absolute reliability for all three muscles. For within‐limb TMS somatotopy, the most common metrics such as the shifts between MCR COGs and hotspots had poor relative reliability. However, overlaps between different muscle MCRs were highly reliable. We, thus, provide novel evidence that inter‐muscle MCR interaction can be reliably traced using MCR overlaps while shifts between the COGs and hotspots of different MCRs are not suitable for this purpose. Our results have implications for the interpretation of nTMS motor mapping results in healthy subjects and patients with neurological conditions

Ultrasonic diagnosis of renal abscess pyelonephritis in a child (case from practice)

This article describes a rare case of suppurative lesions of the kidney in the girlyounger than one year. She suffered from acute respiratory disease, and prolonged fever. In the blood and urine there were inflammatory changes. The ultrasound examination of the urinary system was carried out, which showed expansion of the right renal pelvis. According to the results of the survey the child was diagnosed with pyelonephritis and transferred to our clinic. Ultrasound exam performed in the Department of Nephrology revealed multiple focal formations of the right kidney up to 2.0 cm. When using a color Doppler to check for damage, the blood flow in them was not recorded, which indicated the inflammatory changes. The right kidney was enlarged compared to the left one, with increased echogenicity of the parenchyma. The paranephral fiber on the right kidney was thickened, heterogeneous structure contained a single liquid inclusion. Ultrasound specialists made a conclusion about there was an abscess of the right kidney - paranephritis. The child was operated. The revision of the right kidney revealed multiple abscesses; the puncture was performed of large focal masses and pus was removed from the paranephral fiber

Improvement of crop rotations aimed at increasing their efficiency and conserving soil fertility in conditions of biological intensification

The long-term research conducted in 2002-2017 in a long stationary experiment on studying different types of field crop rotations under conditions of the Kirov region showed that on sod-podzolic soils the loss of humus could be lowered using agro technical methods. The most critical of them include the reduction of a portion of bare fallow, transition to sown and green-manure fallow, expanded use of perennial legume and grain-legume crops and intercrop sowings. In eight-field crop rotations when using such means of a biologization as plowing of the root-stubble residues, aboveground mass of green-manure crops in fallow fields and intercrop sowings, the supply of organic substance was within 17.24-83.03 t/ha. By mineral-ization of this substance 7.64-11.51 t of humus were produced. In a crop rotation with bare fallow there is a negative balance of humus of -0.06 t/ha. The positive balance is obtained when using sown, green-manure fallows, intercrop sowings (two-three fields), and introduction of up to 25% perennial legumes to the structure of crop rotations. The formation of 0.96-1.44 t/ha of humus in the arable layer provides positive balance of 0.20-0.72 t/ha. The increase of the part of grain crops up to 62.5-75.0% in the structure of crop rotations resulted in rise of their efficiency up to 4.74-4.79 thousand fodder units. It was 0.27-0.32 thousand fodder units higher than in the control crop rotation with bare fallow. Dependence of productivity of agricultural crops on humus content was insignificantly negative (r = -0.16). The efficiency of the studied crop rotations depended considerably on the amount of productive moisture in the soil in a phase of ear formation of grain crops (r = -0.78) and on biological activity of the soil (r = -0.80)

High-Field Pauli-Limiting Behavior and Strongly Enhanced Upper Critical Magnetic Fields near the Transition Temperature of an Arsenic-Deficient LaO_0.9F_0.1FeAs_(1-\delta) Superconductor

We report upper critical field B_c2(T) data for disordered (arsenic-deficient) LaO_0.9F_0.1FeAs_(1-delta) in a wide temperature and magnetic field range up to 47 T. Because of the large linear slope of Bc2 about -5.4 T/K to -6.6 T/K near Tc = 28.5 K the T-dependence of the in-plane Bc2(T) shows a flattening near 23 K above 30 T which points to Pauli-limited behavior with Bc2(0) about 63-68 T. Our results are discussed in terms of disorder effects within conventional and unconventional superconducting pairings.Comment: Change of the title as suggested by the Editors, one author added, typos corrected, references updated, final published versio

Role of oxidative stress and glutathione system in the pathogenesis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

In recent years nonalcoholic fatty liver disease transformed from uncommon clinical entity into common ailment along with alcoholic liver disease and viral hepatitis. Increase in the number of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is registered all over the world. Nevertheless the problem of pathogenesis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is still discussable. Oxidative stress is of first importance in the development of hepatitis on the background of hepatic steatosis. Glutathione system is the main defender of cells from oxidative stress that can be used in the formation of new approaches to the treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Semaphorins Are Likely to Be Involved in the Control of Hibernation

© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York.Hibernation is unique mammals’ phenotype demonstrated surviving in seasonal adverse environment conditions. During hibernation, all of systems of organs undergo alterations in their metabolic activity and physiology similar to different physiological conditions associated with human diseases and injuries, which represent a proper model for studying new approaches in clinical treatment. In this study, we have analyzed expression of semaphorins in small hibernator edible dormouse (Glis glis). Semaphorins are factors which involved in a key process of axon guidance and cell–cell communication and can act as tumor suppressor. We found that gene coding Semaphorin-3D (SEMA3D), previously reported to be specific for brain and heart of mammals, represents one of the most upregulated transcripts in the muscles of the hibernating dormice. Furthermore, another member of the same family, Semaphorin-5B (SEMA5B), was strongly induced in the spinal cord of hibernating animals. These observations make semaphorin group, recently attracting more attention due to anti-tumor activity, one of the target for in-depth analysis in relation to the molecular mechanisms of hibernation

Distribution, Abundance, and Epidemiological Significance of <I>Ixodes ricinus</I> Ticks in the Territory of the Tula Region

Based on the analysis of the information concerning distribution and abundance of Ixodidae ticks in the territory of the Tula Region (1998-2012), obtained have been the new data on the expansion of I. ricinus habitat. Results of phyto-geographical zoning of the region have served as a landscape base for investigation of regularities as regards spatial distribution of the species. Specified have been the territories with low, medium, and high population density rate. Biotopes with the most favorable environmental conditions for the species are situated in the mixed woods of the Prioksky region and broad-leaved forests - of the Zasechny one. As for the forest-steppe areas, optimum biotopes are localized in the highland and steppificated oakwoods in the south of South-Eastern Region. Thus it has been established that in the recent decade I. ricinus ticks can be found not only in the forest areas, but in the forest-steppe ones too. This may be related to the increase in their numbers under favorable environmental conditions, reduction of farming lands, and shrub invasion. Average value for I. ricinus numbers in the forest area reaches 39.4 specimen/flag-kilometer; in the forest-steppe zone - 23.7 specimen/flag-kilometer. Identified have been potentially hazardous territories as regards natural-focal tick-borne infections, the agent circulation and transmission of which is sustained by I. ricinus. The finding in its turn sets the grounds for carrying out specific epizootiological surveillance and regulation of preventive measures

Comparative Global Gene Expression Profiles of Wild-Type Yersinia pestis CO92 and Its Braun Lipoprotein Mutant at Flea and Human Body Temperatures

Braun/murein lipoprotein (Lpp) is involved in inflammatory responses and septic shock. We previously characterized a Δlpp mutant of Yersinia pestis CO92 and found that this mutant was defective in surviving in macrophages and was attenuated in a mouse inhalation model of plague when compared to the highly virulent wild-type (WT) bacterium. We performed global transcriptional profiling of WT Y. pestis and its Δlpp mutant using microarrays. The organisms were cultured at 26 and 37 degrees Celsius to simulate the flea vector and mammalian host environments, respectively. Our data revealed vastly different effects of lpp mutation on the transcriptomes of Y. pestis grown at 37 versus 26°C. While the absence of Lpp resulted mainly in the downregulation of metabolic genes at 26°C, the Y. pestis Δlpp mutant cultured at 37°C exhibited profound alterations in stress response and virulence genes, compared to WT bacteria. We investigated one of the stress-related genes (htrA) downregulated in the Δlpp mutant relative to WT Y. pestis. Indeed, complementation of the Δlpp mutant with the htrA gene restored intracellular survival of the Y. pestis Δlpp mutant. Our results support a role for Lpp in Y. pestis adaptation to the host environment, possibly via transcriptional activation of htrA