Adiponectin: a potential target for obesity-associated Alzheimer’s disease

Metabolic Brain Disease - Obesity and dementia are two growing problems worldwide. Obesity act as a crucial risk factor for various diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Several...     

Oral valganciclovir in human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients suffering from cytomegalovirus retinitis at a tertiary care hospital in North India

Purpose:To study clinical efficacy of valganciclovir in cytomegalovirus retinitis (CMVR) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive-positive patients in a tertiary care clinic in a developing nation.Methods: In a retrospective study, systemic and ocular records of HIV patients suffering from CMVR and treated with valganciclovir, were analyzed. Primary outcome measures were involvement of the other eye, incidence of retinal detachment, systemic involvement, and mortality encountered. Secondary outcome measures included change in BCVA.Results: Out of nine patients who were included, two patients developed CMVR in the other eye and only one patient (11.11%) developed retinal detachment during the course of the study. No patient developed any systemic manifestations or had mortality during the course of the study. The change in BCVA was not statistically significant.Conclusion: Use of oral valganciclovir showed good outcome and was found to be a better alternative compared to the use of intravitreal ganciclovir in the literature. Introduction of valganciclovir at an affordable price in developing nations can decrease disease burden.     

ITO Thin Films for Low-Resistance Gas Sensors

Indium tin oxide thin films were deposited by magnetron sputtering on ceramic aluminum nitride substrates and were annealed at temperatures of 500 °C and 600 °C. The structural, optical, electrically conductive and gas-sensitive properties of indium tin oxide thin films were studied. The possibility of developing sensors with low nominal resistance and relatively high sensitivity to gases was shown. The resistance of indium tin oxide thin films annealed at 500 °C in pure dry air did not exceed 350 Ohms and dropped by about 2 times when increasing the annealing temperature to 100 °C. Indium tin oxide thin films annealed at 500 °C were characterized by high sensitivity to gases. The maximum responses to 2000 ppm hydrogen, 1000 ppm ammonia and 100 ppm nitrogen dioxide for these films were 2.21 arbitrary units, 2.39 arbitrary units and 2.14 arbitrary units at operating temperatures of 400 °C, 350 °C and 350 °C, respectively. These films were characterized by short response and recovery times. The drift of indium tin oxide thin-film gas-sensitive characteristics during cyclic exposure to reducing gases did not exceed 1%. A qualitative model of the sensory effect is proposed.     

Minocycline confers early but transient protection in the immature brain following focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion.

The incidence of neonatal stroke is high and currently there are no strategies to protect the neonatal brain from stroke or reduce the sequelae. Agents capable of modifying inflammatory processes hold promise. We set out to determine whether delayed administration of one such agent, minocycline, protects the immature brain in a model of transient middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion in 7-day-old rat pups. Injury volume in minocycline (45 mg/kg/dose, beginning at 2 h after MCA occlusion) and vehicle-treated pups was determined 24 h and 7 days after onset of reperfusion. Accumulation of activated microglia/macrophages, phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) p38 in the brain, and concentrations of inflammatory mediators in plasma and brain were determined at 24 h. Minocycline significantly reduced the volume of injury at 24 h but not 7 days after transient MCA occlusion. The beneficial effect of minocycline acutely after reperfusion was not associated with changed ED1 phenotype, nor was the pattern of MAPK p38 phosphorylation altered. Minocycline reduced accumulation of IL-1beta and CINC-1 in the systemic circulation but failed to affect the increased levels of IL-1beta, IL-18, MCP-1 or CINC-1 in the injured brain tissue. Therefore, minocycline provides early but transient protection, which is largely independent of microglial activation or activation of the MAPK p38 pathway.     

An experimental unit for high-resolution electrocardiography and the method of recording of late ventricular potentials

One of the methods of recording late ventricular potentials, markers of decelerated depolarization of the heart ventricles, is depicted. The complex suggested by the authors consists of an interface connected to the personal computer, a block for cardiosignal processing, and an analog-to-digital converter. The averaging is realized after preliminary signal processing, which results in the computation of the mean period of the QRS. The mode of automatic amplification is provided as are alterations of the lower frequency of the section of the band-pass filters as well as the switching on of the rejection filter.     

Motor evoked potentials enable differentiation between motor and sensory branches of peripheral nerves in animal experiments

Differentiation between motor and sensory fascicles is frequently necessary in reconstructive peripheral nerve surgery. The goal of this experimental study was to verify if centrally motor evoked potentials (MEP) could be implemented to differentiate sensory from motor fascicles, despite the well-known intermingling between nerve fascicles along their course to their distant periphery. This new procedure would enable surgeons to use MEP for placing nerve grafts at corresponding fascicles in the proximal and distal stumps without the need to use time-consuming staining. In ten sheep, both ulnar nerves were exposed at the terminal bifurcation between the last sensory and motor branch. Animals were then relaxed to avoid volume conduction. On central stimulation, the evoked nerve compound action potentials were simultaneously recorded from both terminal branches. In all cases, neurogenic motor nerve action potentials were recorded only from the terminal motor branch. The conclusion was that MEPs can be used for intraoperative differentiation between sensory and motor nerves. Further studies are necessary to develop this method for in situ measurements on intact nerve trunks.     

Secular trends of antimicrobial resistance of blood isolates in a newly founded Greek hospital

Background  

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most challenging issues in modern medicine.