CT perfusion as a selection tool for mechanical thrombectomy, a single-centre study

Background: Recently, CT perfusion (CTP) has been proposed as a selection tool for stroke patients to be treated with endovascular thrombectomy. We investigated whether functional outcome following endo-vascular treatment was improved after the introduction of CTP. Methods: This retrospective single-centre study includes all patients with a major vessel occlusion in the anterior circulation that received a CTP and underwent a mechanical thrombectomy from 2014 up to 2015. CTP were visually evaluated. Demographics, stroke and time data, procedural data, functional outcomes as measured by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and the association between these variables were studied. A comparison was made with the results of a similar local retrospective study from before the CTP "era". Results: Eighty-nine patients were included in this study. Median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was 16 (Interquartile range 6). At three months, good functional outcome (GFO; mRS 0-2) was achieved in 48.4% and excellent functional outcome (EFO; mRS 0-1) in 34.4% of patients. The mortality rate at three months was 14.5%. GFO at one year was 44.8%, EFO was 31.3% and mortality 21.1%. The duration of the thrombectomy procedure and the EFO were associated (p = 0.032). The outcome improvement achieved with CTP was higher compared to the reference study (GFO 48.4% versus 44%; EFO 34.4% versus 29%) but remained below the statistical significance. Conclusions: Mechanical thrombectomy for anterior circulation strokes based on CTP did not result in a significant functional outcome improvement. The duration of the thrombectomy procedure was the sole time-interval related to improved functional outcome

Electroactivity of phototrophic river biofilms and constitutive cultivable bacteria

Electroactivity is a property of microorganisms assembled in biofilms that has been highlighted in a variety of environments. This characteristic was assessed for phototrophic river biofilms at the community scale and at the bacterial population scale. At the community scale, electroactivity was evaluated on stainless steel and copper alloy coupons used both as biofilm colonization supports and as working electrodes. At the population scale, the ability of environmental bacterial strains to catalyze oxygen reduction was assessed by cyclic voltammetry. Our data demonstrate that phototrophic river biofilm development on the electrodes, measured by dry mass and chlorophyll a content, resulted in significant increases of the recorded potentials, with potentials of up to +120 mV/saturated calomel electrode (SCE) on stainless steel electrodes and +60 mV/SCE on copper electrodes. Thirty-two bacterial strains isolated from natural phototrophic river biofilms were tested by cyclic voltammetry. Twenty-five were able to catalyze oxygen reduction, with shifts of potential ranging from 0.06 to 0.23 V, cathodic peak potentials ranging from −0.36 to −0.76 V/SCE, and peak amplitudes ranging from −9.5 to −19.4 μA. These isolates were diversified phylogenetically (Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Alpha-, Beta-, and Gammaproteobacteria) and exhibited various phenotypic properties (Gram stain, oxidase, and catalase characteristics). These data suggest that phototrophic river biofilm communities and/or most of their constitutive bacterial populations present the ability to promote electronic exchange with a metallic electrode, supporting the following possibilities: (i) development of electrochemistry-based sensors allowing in situ phototrophic river biofilm detection and (ii) production of microbial fuel cell inocula under oligotrophic conditions

Ageing of reverse osmosis membranes under gamma irradiation

Reverse osmosis (RO) shows a real growth among the water and wastewater treatment processes available (evaporation, ions exchange, electrodialysis) since forty years. RO has become the most used processes for desalination of seawater or saline water. Following Fukushima-Daiichi accident, RO has been chosen as the final treatment of the seawater used to cool the damaged nuclear reactors. Only very few studies and data has been published about RO applied to radioactive wastewater. Currently RO membranes are made of polymers that are sensitive to irradiation and could be strongly damaged due to these ionizing radiations. Data about the ageing of the membranes under these operating conditions are very difficult to obtain even if RO seems to be efficient in the process used in Fukushima. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Complicaties na marsupialisatie van een arachnoïd diverticulum bij een rottweiler

A young male Rottweiler had neurological signs since birth. The dog had hypermetria on his front limbs, ataxia on his hind limbs and proprioception was reduced on the hind limbs as well. Computer tomographic examination post myelography and MRI scans showed a long dorsal subarachnoidal diverticulum from cranial C2 up to cranial C5, causing compression of the spinal cord, thus explaining the neurological signs. A cervical dorsal laminectomy was performed, followed by durotomy and marsupialization. Postoperative complications led to revision surgery and on top of that, the patient needed five more days of mechanical ventilation. From then on, the dog was able to breathe on his own and his neurological condition improved step by step. He made a full recovery and eleven months after surgery, he was still doing well

Influence of genetic background on the occurrence of chromosomal rearrangements in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chromosomal rearrangements such as duplications and deletions are key factors in evolutionary processes because they promote genomic plasticity. Although the genetic variations in the <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>species have been well documented, there is little known to date about the impact of the genetic background on the appearance of rearrangements.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using the same genetic screening, the type of rearrangements and the mutation rates observed in the S288c <it>S. cerevisiae </it>strain were compared to previous findings obtained in the FL100 background. Transposon-associated rearrangements, a major chromosomal rearrangement event selected in FL100, were not detected in S288c. The mechanisms involved in the occurrence of deletions and duplications in the S288c strain were also tackled, using strains deleted for genes implicated in homologous recombination (HR) or non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). Our results indicate that an Yku80p-independent NHEJ pathway is involved in the occurrence of these rearrangements in the S288c background.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The comparison of two different <it>S</it>. <it>cerevisiae </it>strains, FL100 and S288c, allowed us to conclude that intra-species genomic variations have an important impact on the occurrence of chromosomal rearrangement and that this variability can partly be explained by differences in Ty1 retrotransposon activity.</p