Reduced GABA/glutamate in the thalamus of individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis

Youth at clinical high risk (CHR) are a unique population enriched for precursors of major psychiatric disorders, especially schizophrenia (SCZ). Recent neuroimaging findings point to abnormalities in the thalamus of patients with SCZ, including chronic and early course patients, as well as in CHR individuals relative to healthy comparison groups, thus suggesting that thalamic dysfunctions are present even before illness onset. Furthermore, modeling data indicate that alteration between excitatory and inhibitory control, as reflected by alteration in GABAergic and glutamatergic balance (i.e., GABA/Glu), may underlie thalamic deficits linked to the risk and development of psychosis. There is, however, a lack of in vivo evidence of GABA/Glu thalamic abnormalities in the CHR state. Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) 7 Tesla (7 T) provides enhanced resolution to quantify GABA and Glu levels in the thalamus of CHR individuals. In this study, we performed 7 T MRSI in 15 CHR and 20 healthy control (HC) participants. We found that GABA/Glu was significantly reduced in the right medial anterior and right medial posterior thalamus of CHR relative to HC groups. The GABA/Glu reduction was negatively correlated with general symptoms in the right medial anterior thalamus, as well as with disorganization symptoms in the right medial posterior thalamus. Altogether, these findings indicate that GABA/Glu abnormalities are present in the thalamus before the onset of full-blown psychosis and are associated with symptom severity, thus providing putative molecular and neuronal targets for early interventions in youth at CHR.Subject terms: Predictive markers, Psychosis, Neuroscience, Risk factors     

Feasibility of Ultrasound-Based Computational Fluid Dynamics as a Mitral Valve Regurgitation Quantification Technique: Comparison with 2-D and 3-D Proximal Isovelocity Surface Area-Based Methods

Current Doppler echocardiography quantification of mitral regurgitation (MR) severity has shortcomings. Proximal isovelocity surface area (PISA)-based methods, for example, are unable to account for the fact that ultrasound Doppler can measure only one velocity component: toward or away from the transducer. In the present study, we used ultrasound-based computational fluid dynamics (Ub-CFD) to quantify mitral regurgitation and study its advantages and disadvantages compared with 2-D and 3-D PISA methods. For Ub-CFD, patient-specific mitral valve geometry and velocity data were obtained from clinical ultrasound followed by 3-D CFD simulations at an assumed flow rate. We then obtained the average ratio of the ultrasound Doppler velocities to CFD velocities in the flow convergence region, and scaled CFD flow rate with this ratio as the final measured flow rate. We evaluated Ub-CFD, 2-D PISA and 3-D PISA with an in vitro flow loop, which featured regurgitation flow through (i) a simplified flat plate with round orifice and (ii) a 3-D printed realistic mitral valve and regurgitation orifice. The Ub-CFD and 3-D PISA methods had higher precision than the 2-D PISA method. Ub-CFD had consistent accuracy under all conditions tested, whereas 2-D PISA had the lowest overall accuracy. In vitro investigations indicated that the accuracy of 2-D and 3-D PISA depended significantly on the choice of aliasing velocity. Evaluation of these techniques was also performed for two clinical cases, and the dependency of PISA on aliasing velocity was similarly observed. Ub-CFD was robustly accurate and precise and has promise for future translation to clinical practice.     

Comparison of efficacy and safety of intralesional triamcinolone and combination of triamcinolone with 5-fluorouracil in the treatment of keloids and hypertrophic scars: Randomised control trial

The treatment of keloid and hypertrophic scar is challenging with no universally accepted mode for permanent ablation. Conventional therapies yield unpredictable results, significant complications and require elaborate hardware.

Clinical aspects of infertile 47,XYY patients: a retrospective study

47,XYY syndrome is a sex chromosomal anomaly in men, which may be associated with infertility and has an incidence of 0.1% of male births. The clinical and paraclinical characteristics of men suffering from this anomaly have not been fully described. In this retrospective study, we present 37 cases of 47,XYY infertile men with sperm counts varying from normal to azoospermia, referred to the Genetics Laboratory at the Royan Institute, Iran. Thirteen individuals were mosaic and 24 non-mosaics. Non-mosaic patients were classified as azoospermic (nine cases) and normospermic/oligozoospermic men (15 cases). Two of the non-mosaic and three mosaic patients had secondary infertility. In addition, 13 of them underwent IUI, IVF or ICSI, and in seven cases, there was a biochemical pregnancy. The remaining 14 patients did not have ART. The 47,XYY syndrome is relatively unusual and can be missed clinically because of the lack of symptoms and of diverse phenotypes. Diagnosis of this aneuploidy can provide valuable data for counselling and early management of the patients who undergo fertility evaluation.     

The major bioactive components of seaweeds and their mosquitocidal potential

Seaweeds are one of the most widely studied natural resources for their biological activities. Novel seaweed compounds with unique chemical structures have been reported for their pharmacological properties. The urge to search for novel insecticidal compound with a new mode of action for development of botanical insecticides supports the relevant scientific research on discovering the bioactive compounds in seaweeds. The mosquitocidal potential of seaweed extracts and their isolated compounds are documented in this review paper, along with the discussion on bioactivities of the major components of seaweeds such as polysaccharides, phenolics, proteins, terpenes, lipids, and halogenated compounds. The effects of seaweed extracts and compounds toward different life stages of mosquito (egg, larva, pupa, and adult), its growth, development, and reproduction are elaborated. The structure-activity relationships of mosquitocidal compounds are discussed to extrapolate the possible chemical characteristics of seaweed compounds responsible for insecticidal properties. Furthermore, the possible target sites and mode of actions of the mosquitocidal seaweed compounds are included in this paper. The potential synergistic effects between seaweeds and commercial insecticides as well as the toxic effects of seaweed extracts and compounds toward other insects and non-target organisms in the same habitat are also described. On top of that, various factors that influence the mosquitocidal potential of seaweeds, such as abiotic and biotic variables, sample preparation, test procedures, and considerations for a precise experimental design are discussed. The potential of active seaweed extracts and compounds in the development of effective bioinsecticide are also discussed.