Disturbance of motor imagery after cerebellar stroke

The authors studied the possible involvement of the cerebellum in nonexecutive motor functions needed for a normal performance of complex motor patterns by analyzing (using chronometric evaluation) finger movement sequences and their respective motor imagery (a mental simulation of motor patterns). Patients suffering from a cerebellar stroke (n=11) were compared with aged-matched control volunteers (n=11). Patients that had apparently recovered from a unilateral cerebellar stroke showed a marked slowing of motor performance in both hands (ipsi- and contralateral to lesion). This effect was accompanied by a similar slowing of motor imagery, suggesting that the cerebellum, traditionally implicated in the control of motor execution, is also involved in nonexecutive motor functions such as the planning and internal simulation of movements.     

Heterogeneity of structural abnormalities in the 7q31.3 approximately q34 region in myeloid malignancies

Abnormalities in the long arm of chromosome 7 are a frequent chromosomal aberration in myeloid disorders. Most studies have focused on the analysis of del(7q), demonstrating the presence of several minimal deleted regions in 7q22 approximately q31. By contrast, few studies in myeloid disorders have been devoted to the analysis of translocations, either balanced or unbalanced, involving 7q. In this study, we used fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to characterize the 7q31.3 approximately q34 region (markers D7S480-D7S2227) in patients with deletion or translocation of 7q. A total of 910 cases of myeloid disorders were studied by conventional cytogenetics. Fifty-eight (6%) patients had structural aberrations of 7q. FISH studies were carried out in the 27 patients with involvement of 7q31 approximately q34: 14 cases had an acute myelogenous leukemia and 13 cases had a myelodysplastic syndrome. FISH analysis revealed the existence of high complexity in the 7q31.3 approximately q34 region in patients with unbalanced translocations. No breakpoints in 7q31.3 approximately q34 were found in the cases with deletion or balanced translocation. Nevertheless, studies of unbalanced translocations showed several breakpoints in markers D7S480-D7S2227, which delineate a commonly altered region. The complexity of 7q rearrangements suggests that a synergy of different genetic factors, rather than the alteration of a single tumor suppressor gene, could be involved in the pathogenesis of del(7q) in myeloid disorders.     

Polymorphisms in the insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) gene and the insulin receptor substrate-2 (IRS-2) gene influence glucose homeostasis and body mass index in women with polycystic ovary syndrome and non-hyperandrogenic controls

BACKGROUND: We aimed to evaluate the influence of the Gly972Arg variant of the insulin receptor substrate-1 gene (IRS-1) and the Gly1057Asp variant in IRS-2 on insulin resistance and glucose tolerance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and healthy controls. METHODS: Genotypes, allelic frequencies, indexes of insulin resistance, glucose tolerance and hormone profiles were studied in a large sample of Spanish PCOS (n = 103) women compared with a control group (n = 48) of healthy women matched for body mass index. RESULTS: No differences in genotype or allelic frequencies were found between PCOS patients and healthy controls. When considering control subjects and PCOS patients as a whole, IRS-1 Arg972 carriers also presented with increased fasting insulin (133 +/- 60 versus 95 +/- 67 pmol/l, P = 0.008) and insulin resistance measured by homeostasis model assessment (4.3 +/- 2.1 versus 3.1 +/- 2.4, P = 0.009) compared with subjects homozygous for Gly972 alleles. These differences were even higher when restricting the analysis to PCOS patients. Subjects homozygous for the Gly1057 allele of IRS-2 presented with increased 60 and 90 min oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) glucose levels compared with carriers of one or two Asp1057 alleles (7.9 +/- 2.1 versus 7.1 +/- 2.1 mmol/l, P = 0.042 and 7.0 +/- 2.1 versus 6.0 +/- 1.8 mmol/l, P = 0.014), and a similar tendency was observed for 120 min OGTT glucose levels. CONCLUSIONS: The Gly972Arg in IRS-1 and Gly1057Asp in IRS-2 polymorphisms influence glucose homeostasis in premenopausal women, but are not associated with PCOS.     

Laboratory detection of Haemophilus influenzae with decreased susceptibility to nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, and moxifloxacin due to GyrA and ParC mutations

The detection of clinical isolates with decreased fluoroquinolone susceptibilities and a resistance mechanism is of epidemiological and clinical interest. We studied the susceptibilities of 62 clinical isolates and 2 American Type Culture Collection reference strains of Haemophilus influenzae to ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, and nalidixic acid by the microdilution and disk diffusion methods. The ciprofloxacin MICs for 34 of the isolates were >/=0.12 micro g/ml (range, 0.12 to 32 micro g/ml), and the ciprofloxacin MICs for 28 matched control isolates were /=0.5 micro g/ml and the vast majority of those for which nalidixic acid MICs were >/=32 micro g/ml exhibited amino acid changes in GyrA and ParC. Nalidixic acid and the other three fluoroquinolones studied could be used to screen H. influenzae isolates for the detection of decreased susceptibilities to quinolones due to the acquisition of two amino acid changes in the QRDRs of GyrA and ParC (sensitivity, >95%; specificity, >80%).     

Single layer continuous absorbable sutures for gastrointestinal anastomosis

Authors evaluated the safety of single layer continuous sutured anastomosis technique with two different types of absorbable sutures in 252 anastomoses performed on 178 patients. In the prospective, randomized study 5 oesophagus, 26 stomach, 117 small intestine, 32 colonic, 29 pancreatic and 43 biliary anastomoses were performed. In 136 cases poliglecaprone 25 (Monocryl), in 116 cases glycomer 631 (Biosyn) were used. All procedures were carried out by the same surgeon. Anastomosis related complication was detected in 7 cases (2.8%), some kind of anastomosis insufficiency--including minor leakage--in 5 cases (2.0%), but reoperation only in one case (0.4%) was required. There was no anastomosis related death. Authors overview the advantages of the technique, which is safe, cheap, easy to carry out, physiological and least harmful to the blood supply, so they recommend its use in the gastrointestinal surgery as a standard procedure.