Actual insights into the clinical management of febrile seizures

Febrile seizures (FS) are a benign epileptic manifestation of infancy occurring between 3 months and 5 years of age and affecting an estimated 2–5 % of children. They have usually no important negative effects on motor and cognitive development. Simple FS (generalized seizures, lasting less than 10 min and single episodes during the same febrile event) have a benign prognosis in almost all cases and do not require an extensive diagnostic workup. In complex FS (focal semiology and lasting more than 10 min, more than one episode during the same febrile event), a more detailed clinical, electroencephalographic, laboratory, and neuroimaging evaluation is necessary because of a higher percentage of underlying detectable causes and a mildly higher risk for later development of epilepsy. Febrile status epilepticus is the most severe type of complex FS even if its morbidity and mortality is extremely low. Simple FS plus (more than one convulsive episode in 24 h) have the same benign prognosis of simple FS. Neither intermittent nor continuous prophylaxis is actually recommended both in simple and complex FS because its side effects outweigh its possible benefits. Conclusion: This review summarizes recent developments into the clinical management of FS including a suggested algorithm for simple and complex FS, the concept of simple FS plus, the controversies about the relationships between FS and hippocampal sclerosis, the relationships between FS and complex syndrome such as Dravet syndrome, genetic epilepsy with FS plus or febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome, and the results of recent epidemiologic studies on febrile status epilepticus.     

Subarachnoid hemorrhage simulating myocardial infarction

We describe a patient with a subarachnoid hemorrhage that presented with electrocardiographic evidence of transmural myocardial infarction. The patient was found to have normal coronaries and on autopsy revealed generalized myocytolysis with no evidence of transmural myocardial infarction. This case illustrates the value of acute coronary angiography in patients with altered mental status and suspected myocardial infarction. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Mechanical Properties of a 3D-Printed Wall Segment Made with an Earthen Mixture

This study provides a contribution to the research field of 3D-printed earthen buildings, focusing, for the first time, on the load-bearing capacity of these structures. The study involves the entire production and testing process of the earthen elements, from the design, to the preparation of the mixture and the 3D printing, up to the uniaxial compression test on a wall segment. The results indicate that 3D-printed earthen elements have a compressive strength of 2.32 MPa, comparable to that of rammed earth structures. The experimental data also made it possible to draw conclusions on the action of the infill, which seems to have the function of stopping the propagation of cracks. This has a positive effect on the overall behavior of 3D-printed earthen elements, since it avoids the onset of dilative behavior in the final stages of the load test and maintains ultimate load values higher than 50% of the maximum load.     

Reading errors in patients with cerebellar vermis lesions

Dyslexia, both developmental and acquired, has been considered the result of cerebrocortical dysfunction, affecting the temporo-parieto-occipital brain regions. However, dyslexia may involve abnormalities of the magnocellular component of the visual system, leading to binocular instability or alterations of accommodation. To test the hypothesis of cerebellar involvement in the reading process – justified by its emergent role in language and cognition – we studied 10 patients with cerebellar vermis/paravermis lesions using reading tests and we compared the results with those produced by 10 normal volunteers. The data obtained demonstrate an increased number of reading mistakes in the patient group, resulting from a possible alteration of the diffuse connection system from the cerebellum to different cerebrocortical and subcortical structures. Acquired dyslexia due to cerebellar impairment may be due to oculomotor alteration or, more subtly, to the intimate cerebellar-encephalic projections, connecting the cerebellum to the attentive and alerting processes and to the language system. We discuss the data with an overview of literature. Received: 22 May 2001, Received in revised form: 14 September 2001, Accepted: 25 September 2001     

Lewis lung carcinoma cells enhance the synthesis of C3 and are opsonized by C3 secreted from murine macrophages

We investigated the effect of Lewis Lung carcinoma cells on the production of C3 by murine macrophages and examined the capacity of secreted C3 to opsonize Lewis Lung carcinoma cells. C3 released in culture from macrophages obtained from tumor-bearing C57Bl/6 mice as well as from normal macrophages exposed to Lewis Lung carcinoma cells in vitro was measured by hemolytic assays and by Western blot. We found that contact with tumor cells in vivo as well as in vitro enhanced the amount of C3 secreted by murine macrophages by a factor of 2-3. The inflammatory agent carrageenan caused only a small increase in the amount of secreted C3. On Western blots of concentrated macrophage supernatants, there was partial cleavage of secreted C3 which was, however, not more pronounced in the case of C3 from tumor-stimulated macrophages than from normal macrophages. Supernatants from normal as well as tumor-stimulated macrophages were capable of opsonizing Lewis Lung carcinoma cells as shown by their capacity to bind human erythrocyte in an immune adherence reaction. Pretreatment of the tumor cells with a protease inhibitor, PMSF, inhibited the capacity of the tumor cells to bind C3, suggesting that a tumor cell-associated protease might be involved in the binding of C3 to the tumor cell surface.