Giant aneurysm treated by bilateral cervical carotid artery to proximal middle cerebral artery bypass and balloon embolisation: a case report

The authors describe a case of a 59 year-old Chinese lady with a history of spontaneous left caroticocavernous fistula in 1988 treated by left internal carotid artery clipping and muscle embolisation. She subsequently presented with a subarachnoid haemorrhage in November 1997 secondary to rupture of an unclippable giant right internal carotid artery aneurysm. This was treated satisfactorily with bilateral cervical carotid artery to proximal middle cerebral artery bypass followed by balloon occlusion. Postoperatively, the patient has no neurological deficit and CT angiogram shows good patency of both grafts 6 months after surgery.     

The Regenerative Effect of Trans-spinal Magnetic Stimulation After Spinal Cord Injury: Mechanisms and Pathways Underlying the Effect

Spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to a loss of sensitive and motor functions. Currently, there is no therapeutic intervention offering a complete recovery. Here, we report that repetitive trans-spinal magnetic stimulation (rTSMS) can be a noninvasive SCI treatment that enhances tissue repair and functional recovery. Several techniques including immunohistochemical, behavioral, cells cultures, and proteomics have been performed. Moreover, different lesion paradigms, such as acute and chronic phase following SCI in wild-type and transgenic animals at different ages (juvenile, adult, and aged), have been used. We demonstrate that rTSMS modulates the lesion scar by decreasing fibrosis and inflammation and increases proliferation of spinal cord stem cells. Our results demonstrate also that rTSMS decreases demyelination, which contributes to axonal regrowth, neuronal survival, and locomotor recovery after SCI. This research provides evidence that rTSMS induces therapeutic effects in a preclinical rodent model and suggests possible translation to clinical application in humans.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13311-020-00915-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Role of TNF block genetic variants in HIV-associated sensory neuropathy in black Southern Africans

HIV-associated sensory neuropathy (HIV-SN) is a common neurological complication of HIV infection. The TNF block is a region within the central MHC that contains many immunoregulatory genes. Polymorphisms and haplotypes of the TNF block have been associated with increased risk of HIV-SN in Asians and whites. Here we investigated genetic associations with HIV-SN in 342 black Southern Africans (190 cases and 152 neuropathy-free controls) using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spanning the TNF block and a set of haplotypes defined by 31 SNPs in Asian and white populations (denoted FVa). We included population-appropriate tagSNPs derived from an African population (Yoruban, YRI, HapMap) and derived extended haplotypes comprising 61 SNPs (denoted FVa_ext b). We found no association between HIV-SN and carriage of two SNPs (TNF-1031/rs1799964*C and BAT1 (intron10)/rs9281523*C) associated with HIV-SN in whites and Asians. Additionally, a haplotype containing TNF-1031/rs1799964*C associated with increased risk of HIV-SN in Asians, but was not present in this African population. However, alleles of seven SNPs associated with reduced risk of HIV-SN (corrected for age, height and multiple comparisons). These were rs11796*A, rs3130059*G, rs2071594*C, NFKBIL1-62/rs2071592*A, rs2071591*A, LTA+252/rs909253*G, rs1041981*C. One haplotype (FV18_ext1), not containing these alleles, was associated with increased risk of HIV-SN after correction for age, height and multiple comparisons. Our results confirm the involvement of genes in the TNF block in altering risk for HIV-SN, but genotypes critical in this African population differed from those affecting HIV-SN in whites and Asians. These differences support the need for genetic association studies in diverse populations.     

Nematic-nematic immiscibility and induced smectic a phases in mixtures with liquid-crystalline side-chain polymers

Two non-ideal kinds of behaviour for solutions of liquid-crystalline side-chain polymer (LC polymer) solutes in nematic solvents of low molecular weight (LMW) are investigated, viz. immiscibility and induced smectic A phases. The former property already observed in the nematic state of some polysiloxanes is extended to polymethacrylates (or polyacrylates) leading to the conclusion that immiscibility is strongly influenced by the chemical structure of the whole macromolecule. The latter property responds in the same way as the former to molecular modifications, suggesting that they can be connected somehow.     

抗痫灵在大鼠肝脏中代谢的研究

用离体大鼠肝脏灌流法,研究了抗痫灵在肝脏灌流过程中的代谢规律。用高效液相色谱法由灌流液中分离、制备得到了两种代谢物,经紫外吸收光谱与质谱鉴定,确定代谢物的结构为3,4-次甲基二氧桂皮酰羟基哌啶及阿魏酰哌啶,后者经化学合成得到了进一步的确证。本文还研究了肝循环过程中抗痫灵的代谢动力学,揭示了大部份抗痫灵以原形结合贮存于肝脏中。     

Comparative study of the in vitro characteristics of osteoblasts from paralytic and non-paralytic children

STUDY DESIGN: Cerebral palsy is known to provoke a high loss of bone in children and adults. The potential interest of human osteoblastic cell culture for assessing the osteoblastic function in metabolic bone disorders has been demonstrated by many previous studies. Few studies have attempted to evaluate the capacities of osteoblasts isolated from immobilized or normal bones by in vitro culture methods. Moreover, a few teams did make the distinction between young spastic and flaccid patients. OBJECTIVES: We attempted to characterize mature osteoblasts (OB) and bone marrow-stromal cells (BM) originating from 56 immobile and normal children. Spastic and flaccid patients formed the paralytic group. SETTING: France. METHODS: Osteoblasts and bone marrow cells were isolated from iliac crests obtained during pelvic osteotomies of young control and paralytic patients. The in vitro viability, proliferation and differentiation parameters of the cells from paralytic patients were compared with those of cells coming from normal controls. RESULTS: No significant differences in the cell proliferation parameters were observed between the two groups. Only initial cell viability before inoculation was lower for the paralytic group, compared to the control group. On the other hand, contrary to expectations, we found that fresh and thawed OB cells from flaccid patients synthesized more osteocalcin and more collagen respectively than those of the spastic and control groups. Opposite results were obtained from BM cultures. CONCLUSION: A negative feedback mechanism by systemic or local factors, which is not conserved in vitro but controls the in vivo osteocalcin and collagen synthesis of flaccid paralytic OB cells, is hypothesized. Because these flaccid patients are known to have a high fat/lean mass, we suggest that leptin may be the potential regulating factor implicated in the hypothesized negative feedback mechanism.