Survivors of brain tumors have a high risk for a wide range of cognitive problems. These dysfunctions are caused by the lesion itself and its surgical removal, as well as subsequent treatments (chemo‐ and/or radiation therapy). Multiple recent studies have indicated that children with brain tumors (BT) might already exhibit cognitive problems at diagnosis, i.e., before the start of any medical treatment. The aim of the present study was to investigate the baseline neuropsychological profile in children with BT compared to children with an oncological diagnosis not involving the central nervous system (CNS).
Methods
Twenty children with BT and 27 children with an oncological disease without involvement of the CNS (age range: 6.1–16.9 years) were evaluated with an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests tailored to the patient's age. Furthermore, the child and his/her parent(s) completed self‐report questionnaires about emotional functioning and quality of life. In both groups, tests were administered before any therapeutic intervention such as surgery, chemotherapy, or irradiation. Groups were comparable with regard to age, gender, and socioeconomic status.
Results
Compared to the control group, patients with BTs performed significantly worse in tests of working memory, verbal memory, and attention (effect sizes between 0.28 and 0.47). In contrast, the areas of perceptual reasoning, processing speed, and verbal comprehension were preserved at the time of measurement.
Telechelic amine terminated polytetrahydrofuran (PTHF) is prepared via cationic ring opening polymerization (CROP) of THF, initiated by trifluoromethanesulphonic anhydride (triflic anhydride). Hexamethylene tetramine (HMTA) is used as a terminating agent. The resulting HMTA terminated PTHF is hydrolyzed to result in an amine terminated PTHF. Reductive amination is carried out by reacting the PTHF with maltoheptaose resulting in maltoheptaose‐b‐PTHF‐b‐maltoheptaose. The product is prepared as a primer for the enzymatic polymerization to synthesize amylose‐b‐PTHF‐b‐amylose. In addition, a three‐arm PTHF is prepared via CROP of THF. The initiator is synthesized in situ by the reaction of triflic anhydride and triethanol amine. The resulting amine terminated three‐arm PTHF is reacted with maltoheptaose to synthesize a three‐arm PTHF‐b‐maltoheptaose which can be used for the enzymatic synthesis of three‐arm PTHF‐b‐amylose. Characterization of the products is difficult due to the amphiphilic behavior of both telechelic amylose‐b‐PTHF‐b‐amylose and three‐arm PTHF‐b‐amylose. Therefore, the analysis of the products is mainly based on attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.
A prospective study of 62 chemotherapy-induced neutropenic episodes in patients with acute leukaemia was conducted to determine the incidence and causes of abdominal infections, and to assess the diagnostic value of the combined use of ultrasonography (US) and microbiology. Each patient underwent US of liver, gallbladder and complete bowel before chemotherapy, on days 2-4 after the end of chemotherapy and in cases of fever, diarrhoea or abdominal pain. US was combined with a standardized clinical examination and a broad spectrum of microbiological investigations. From January to August 2001, 243 US examinations were performed. The overall incidence of abdominal infectious diseases was 17.7% (11 out of 62, 95% confidence interval (CI): 9-29%). Four patients (6.5%) developed neutropenic enterocolitis; two of them died, two survived. Bowel wall thickening (BWT) > 4 mm in these four patients ranged from 5.8 to 23.6 mm and was detected only in one patient with mucositis. In three other patients (4.8%) Clostridium difficile, and in one patient (1.6%) Campylobacter jejuni, caused enterocolitis without BWT. Cholecystitis was diagnosed in three patients (4.8%) and hepatic candidiasis was strongly suspected in one patient. Abdominal infections caused by gastroenteritis viruses, cytomegalovirus (CMV) or Cryptosporidium were not observed. We conclude that in neutropenic patients with acute leukaemia receiving chemotherapy: (i) BWT is not a feature of chemotherapy-induced mucositis and should therefore be considered as sign of infectious enterocolitis; (ii) viruses, classic bacterial enteric pathogens (Salmonella, Shigella, Yersinia, Campylobacter, Aeromonas, Vibrio subsp., enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli) and Cryptosporidium have a very low incidence; and (iii) abdominal infections may be underestimated when US is not used in every patient with abdominal pain. 相似文献
International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy - Background A frequent problem in ageing patients, and thus in nursing home residents, is dysphagia, affecting the ability to swallow solid dosage forms.... 相似文献
This article comprises the development and validation of a protocol for the qualitative analysis of 61 phase I synthetic cannabinoid metabolites in urine originating from 29 synthetic cannabinoids, combining solid‐phase extraction (SPE) utilizing a reversed phase silica‐based sorbent (phenyl) with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC?MS/MS). Validation was performed according to the guidelines of the German Society of Toxicological and Forensic Chemistry. Sufficient chromatographic separation was achieved within a total runtime of 12.3 minutes. Validation included specificity and selectivity, limit of detection (LOD), recovery and matrix effects, as well as auto‐sampler stability of processed urine samples. LOD ranged between 0.025 ng/mL and 0.5 ng/mL in urine. Recovery ranged between 43% and 97%, with only two analytes exhibiting recoveries below 50%. However, for those two analytes, the LODs were 0.05 ng/mL in urine. In addition, matrix effects between 81% and 185% were determined, whereby matrix effects over 125% were observed for 10 non‐first‐generation synthetic cannabinoid metabolites. The developed method enables the rapid and sensitive detection of synthetic cannabinoid metabolites in urine, complementing the spectrum of existing analytical tools in forensic case work. Finally, application to 61 urine samples from both routine and autopsy case work yielded one urine sample that tested positive for ADB‐PINACA N‐pentanoic acid. 相似文献
ERCC1-XPF is a multifunctional endonuclease involved in nucleotide excision repair (NER), interstrand cross-link (ICL) repair, and DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair. Only two patients with bi-allelic ERCC1 mutations have been reported, both of whom had features of Cockayne syndrome and died in infancy. Here, we describe two siblings with bi-allelic ERCC1 mutations in their teenage years. Genomic sequencing identified a deletion and a missense variant (R156W) within ERCC1 that disrupts a salt bridge below the XPA-binding pocket. Patient-derived fibroblasts and knock-in epithelial cells carrying the R156W substitution show dramatically reduced protein levels of ERCC1 and XPF. Moreover, mutant ERCC1 weakly interacts with NER and ICL repair proteins, resulting in diminished recruitment to DNA damage. Consequently, patient cells show strongly reduced NER activity and increased chromosome breakage induced by DNA cross-linkers, while DSB repair was relatively normal. We report a new case of ERCC1 deficiency that severely affects NER and considerably impacts ICL repair, which together result in a unique phenotype combining short stature, photosensitivity, and progressive liver and kidney dysfunction. 相似文献
