Clinical presentation of young people (10–24 years old) with brain tumors: results from the international MOBI-Kids study

Journal of Neuro-Oncology - We used data from MOBI-Kids, a 14-country international collaborative case–control study of brain tumors (BTs), to study clinical characteristics of the tumors in...     

Validation of diffuse correlation spectroscopy against 15O-water PET for regional cerebral blood flow measurement in neonatal piglets

Diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) can non-invasively and continuously asses regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) at the cot-side by measuring a blood flow index (BFI) in non-traditional units of cm²/s. We have validated DCS against positron emission tomography using ¹⁵O-labeled water (¹⁵O-water PET) in a piglet model allowing us to derive a conversion formula for BFI to rCBF in conventional units (ml/100g/min). Neonatal piglets were continuously monitored by the BabyLux device integrating DCS and time resolved near infrared spectroscopy (TRS) while acquiring ¹⁵O-water PET scans at baseline, after injection of acetazolamide and during induced hypoxic episodes. BFI by DCS was highly correlated with rCBF (R = 0.94, p < 0.001) by PET. A scaling factor of 0.89 (limits of agreement for individual measurement: 0.56, 1.39)×10⁹× (ml/100g/min)/(cm²/s) was used to derive baseline rCBF from baseline BFI measurements of another group of piglets and of healthy newborn infants showing an agreement with expected values. These results pave the way towards non-invasive, cot-side absolute CBF measurements by DCS on neonates.     

Literature review: dermal monitoring data for pesticide exposure assessment of farm workers

Objective: To conduct a literature review to determine the types of information that existing dermal pesticide monitoring data could provide for future pesticide exposure assessment in occupational epidemiology.

Methods: A systematic literature search was performed on eight online databases. Two screening phases with predetermined criteria identified the qualifying literature. Standard information and dermal pesticide monitoring data were recorded and summarized from each qualifying study to assess its usefulness for future pesticide exposure assessment.

Results: A total of 31 farm studies qualified for review; task information was used to standardize all farm job(s) evaluated into 5 job groups: operators, applicators, mixer-loaders, field workers, and flaggers. When attempting to compare dermal exposure levels between studies, two types of variation were identified: (1) variation in study focus and reporting and 2) variation in exposure levels. The former variation type prevented exposure level comparisons between studies. Within studies, exposure levels were compared across body parts to identify that which had the highest measured exposure and to determine if results were similar in other studies that evaluated the same farm job. Using studies that measured exposure for multiple farm jobs, within study comparisons of total body exposure were performed to evaluate work factors.

Conclusion: Future dermal pesticide exposure monitoring studies should standardize reporting procedures, as suggested in this review, to allow for more extensive dermal data comparisons. Body parts with highest measured levels of dermal exposure were identified by farm job, along with work factors to be further investigated as potential dermal pesticide exposure determinants for farm workers.     

DENTAL MATURITY AS AN INDICATOR OF CHRONOLOGICAL AGE: RADIOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENT OF DENTAL AGE IN A BRAZILIAN POPULATION

Objective:

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the applicability of the methods proposed by Nolla and by Nicodemo and colleagues for assessing dental age and its correlation to chronological age.

Methods:

Panoramic radiographs of 360 patients from the city of Fortaleza (CE, Brazil) aged 7-15 years were used to assess the associations between dental and chronological age. Data were submitted to statistical analysis using the BioEstat 2.0 (2000) software. Student-Neuman-Keuls test was performed and Pearson''s correlation coefficients were calculated at 5% significance level.

Results:

When the Nolla method was applied, the mean difference between true and estimated age for males and females was underestimated. The use of the method proposed by Nicodemo and colleagues also resulted in underestimation, although it was more evident in male subjects. The correlation coefficients between chronological age and estimated dental age were high, with mean values ranging between 0.87 and 0.91 for males and between 0.84 and 0.93 for females.

Conclusion:

Although both methods proved to be reliable in estimating age, the use of correction factors is recommended.     

Microparticles and autophagy: a new frontier in the understanding of atherosclerosis in rheumatoid arthritis

Microparticles (MPs) are small membrane vesicles released by many cell types under physiological and pathological conditions. In the last years, these particles were considered as inert cell debris, but recently many studies have demonstrated they could have a role in intercellular communication. Increased levels of MPs have been reported in various pathological conditions including infections, malignancies, and autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA is an autoimmune systemic inflammatory disease characterized by chronic synovial inflammation, resulting in cartilage and bone damage with accelerated atherosclerosis increasing mortality. According to the literature data, also MPs could have a role in endothelial dysfunction, contributing to atherosclerosis in RA patients. Moreover many researchers have shown that a dysregulated autophagy seems to be involved in endothelial dysfunction. Autophagy is a reparative process by which cytoplasmic components are sequestered in double-membrane vesicles and degraded on fusion with lysosomal compartments. It has been shown in many works that basal autophagy is essential to proper vascular function. Taking into account these considerations, we hypothesized that in RA patients MPs could contribute to atherosclerosis process by dysregulation of endothelial autophagy process.     

Levels of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin in 2 patients with crush syndrome after a mudslide

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin is one of the most promising biomarkers for the diagnosis of acute kidney injury. An increase in the level of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin is a good predictor of acute kidney injury and is associated with an increase in the serum level of creatinine. Two victims of a mudslide in Messina, Italy, initially had crush syndrome followed by development of acute kidney injury. The development of acute kidney injury is the second most common cause of death after large earthquakes and other natural disasters, but at the same time, crush-related acute kidney injury is one of the few life-threatening complications of crush injuries that can be reversed if diagnosed early and treated. In this case, measuring the level of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin enabled early diagnosis of acute kidney injury and anticipation of the changes in levels of conventional markers such as creatinine.     

Spontaneous daily variability of atrial sensitivity. A study with an implanted DDD pacemaker

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous variations in the chronic stimulation threshold were widely investigated in the last few years and formed the basis of the safety margin concept of stimulation energy. The dynamic variability of sensitivity, particularly in the atrium, is less studied and, in the literature, contrasting data are present about the actual entity of these variations. A 2:1 safety margin is still recommended by many authors, although some papers reported that this value was inadequate to guarantee a correct sensing function. AIM OF THE STUDY: We evaluated daily variability of atrial sensitivity (AS) in patients implanted with the Cosmos 3 DDD cardiac pacemaker, with a special algorithm that continuously measures the minimum-maximum sensitivity values in atrium or in the ventricle during a 12-h sampling period. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 34 patients, 20 males and 14 females, with a mean age of 72+/-5 years, were implanted with a Cosmos 3 DDD pacemaker (PM). The indication to implant a PM was sick sinus syndrome in 21 patients and a high degree of AV block in 13 patients. Atrial bipolar leads were always employed. At 1, 2, 3 and 6 months after the implant, we analyzed the minimum-maximum values of atrial sensitivity for the last 12-h. This analysis was performed in the late afternoon. RESULTS: The mean AS varied more than threefold, from a mean minimum of 0.68 to a mean maximum value of 2.19 mV at 1 month, from 0.68 to 2.21 mV at 2 months, from 0.69 to 2.19 mV at 3 months and from 0.67 to 2.17 mV at 6 months, without significant differences among the four follow-up controls. In seven patients, there was a fourfold variation, while the variation was fivefold in five patients. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, from our data, we can confirm that atrial sensitivity may vary widely during the day and, consequently, we recommend that a 3:1 safety margin should be programmed and the recommended 2:1 ratio should be abandoned. Moreover, at implant, particular attention should be paid to obtaining the best atrial signal amplitude, at least threefold higher than the highest sensitivity value available in the implanted PM. To achieve this goal and to obviate to the oversensing phenomena, bipolar leads are preferable to unipolar leads.