A novel miniature telemetric system for recording EEG activity in freely moving rats

Telemetric recording systems offer the advantage to monitor physiological parameters in freely moving animals without any restrictions in their explorative behaviour. We present a novel, inexpensive, portable and reusable telemetric system to record the electroencephalogram (EEG) from adult freely moving rats under various experimental conditions. Our system consists of an implantable transmitter which communicates at a sampling rate of 500 Hz bi-directional with a receiver via radio transmission (in EU: 868.35 MHz; in USA: 916.5 MHz) over a distance of up to 3m. The switching time between receiving and transmitting signals is 20 mus and the data transmission rate amounts to 115.2 kbps. The receiver is connected to a laptop via an USB connection and the data are displayed and saved by a software developed by the authors. This system allows the simultaneous recording and storage of a video signal for direct comparison of the animal's EEG with its behaviour. EEG recordings could be obtained over 4-5 weeks and under various experimental conditions (i.e. from rats swimming in water). The current system is optimized for recording electrical activity from the animal's brain, but can be easily modified to record other physiological parameters.     

Biogenetic relationships between Annonaceous acetogenins: squamocin is not a precursor of chamuvarinin based on a semisynthetic study

In the course of reactivity studies on squamocin (1), a highly cytotoxic acetogenin from the plant family Annonaceae, two diastereomers, 3 and 4, of chamuvarinin (2) were synthesized. Based on this, a plausible relative configuration was proposed for 2, demonstrating the absence of any biogenetic link between 1 and 2. The new analogues 3, 4, and 7 were also tested for their ability to induce apoptosis.     

Acute pulmonary embolism: a current surgical approach

Acute massive pulmonary embolism has a high mortality rate despite advances in diagnosis and therapy. Thrombolysis and catheter embolectomy have recently shown various degrees of failure and adverse effect. Surgical embolectomy has now been liberalised for haemodynamic stable patients with right ventricular dysfunction. We report our surgical experience in the last ten years including massive and sub-massive pulmonary embolism. A retrospective review of charts of all patients undergoing pulmonary embolectomy at our institution over the last ten years was performed. Patients were followed up until December 2005, end point of our study. Between March 1995 and December 2005, 21 patients underwent pulmonary embolectomy. Fourteen patients had a massive pulmonary embolism and were in cardiogenic shock (group A). Seven patients had a sub-massive embolism and were haemodynamically stable with right ventricular dysfunction (group B). In group A, 43% of patients survived and were discharged from the hospital. In group B, all the patients survived and were discharged from the hospital. After a follow-up of 57+/-12 months no late death linked to pulmonary embolism was observed. Our approach by initial surgical embolectomy improved outcome in sub-massive PE. Rescue embolectomy for very compromised patients remains a current treatment for massive PE. Furthermore, surgical embolectomy in haemodynamically stable patients is an immediate and definitive treatment for PE, with excellent long-term results. Keeping in mind that thrombolysis and catheter embolectomy have varying degrees of failure and risk, we propose surgical embolectomy in (sub)massive pulmonary embolism as an alternative procedure, or even as a primary treatment.     

Recent advances in understanding inheritance of holoprosencephaly

Holoprosencephaly (HPE) is a complex genetic disorder of the developing forebrain characterized by high phenotypic and genetic heterogeneity. HPE was initially defined as an autosomal dominant disease, but recent research has shown that its mode of transmission is more complex. The past decade has witnessed rapid development of novel genetic technologies and significant progresses in clinical studies of HPE. In this review, we recapitulate genetic epidemiological studies of the largest European HPE cohort and summarize the novel genetic discoveries of HPE based on recently developed diagnostic methods. Our main purpose is to present different inheritance patterns that exist for HPE with a particular emphasis on oligogenic inheritance and its implications in genetic counseling.