Universal detection of hepatitis E virus by two real-time PCR assays: TaqMan and Primer-Probe Energy Transfer

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a major cause of food- and waterborne diseases in countries with poor sanitation. Furthermore, travellers to such countries are also at risk of contracting the virus. Noteworthily, during the last decade an increasing number of non-travel-related cases were recorded even in countries with high sanitary standards. An alternative, direct route of infection, from animals to humans (zoonotic transmission) is suspected to be the cause of recent cases of hepatitis E. In order to provide rapid and sensitive methods for detecting the virus in various hosts, two real-time PCR methods were developed and compared: a TaqMan and Primer-Probe Energy Transfer (PriProET) assay. These highly sensitive novel methods provide valuable diagnostic tools to investigate zoonotic transmission, to detect the virus in the food chain and in research related to the potential of hepatitis E virus to cross the species barrier. The results show that the two novel PCR assays are robust, highly sensitive and specific for broad range detection of the four genotypes of HEV. Compared to PriProET, the TaqMan assay appears to perform slightly better, with higher fluorescence values for positive samples. However, the PriProET has the benefit of better tolerating the point mutations in the target nucleic acids. Thus, it provides a more powerful tool to detect new virus variants. These new molecular diagnostic assays are practical tools that can be employed in the area of public health, for disease diagnosis and for tracking outbreaks. In basic research the methods provide new tools to study HEV biology, including virus-host interactions and transmission between various host species.     

Association between surgical hernia repair techniques and the incidence of seroma: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Hernia - Ventral hernia repair (VHR) includes the surgical reconstruction of the abdominal wall (AW) using different surgical techniques. Although such procedures are usually devoid of...     

Frontostriatal system in planning complexity: a parametric functional magnetic resonance version of Tower of London task

In the present study, we sought to investigate which brain structures are recruited in planning tasks of increasing complexity. For this purpose, a parametric self-paced pseudo-randomized event-related functional MRI version of the Tower of London task was designed. We tested 22 healthy subjects, enabling assessment of imaging results at a second (random effects) level of analysis. Compared with baseline, planning activity was correlated with increased blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, striatum, premotor cortex, supplementary motor area, and visuospatial system (precuneus and inferior parietal cortex). Task load was associated with increased activity in these same regions. In addition, increasing task complexity was correlated with activity in the left anterior prefrontal cortex, a region supposed to be specifically involved in third-order higher cognitive functioning.     

Increased Trabecular Volumetric Bone Mass Density in Familial Hypocalciuric Hypercalcemia (FHH) Type 1: A Cross-Sectional Study

Familial Hypocalciuric Hypercalcaemia (FHH) Type 1 is caused by an inactivating mutation in the calcium-sensing receptor (CASR) gene resulting in elevated plasma calcium levels. We investigated whether FHH is associated with change in bone density and structure. We compared 50 FHH patients with age- and gender-matched population-based controls (mean age 56 years, 69 % females). We assessed areal BMD (aBMD) by DXA-scans and total, cortical, and trabecular volumetric BMD (vBMD) as well as bone geometry by quantitative computed tomography (QCT) and High-Resolution peripheral-QCT (HR-pQCT). Compared with controls, FHH females had a higher total and trabecular hip vBMD and a lower cortical vBMD and hip bone volume. Areal BMD and HRpQCT indices did not differ except an increased trabecular thickness and an increased vBMD at the transition zone between cancellous and cortical bone in of the tibia in FHH. Finite element analyses showed no differences in bone strength. Multiple regression analyses revealed correlations between vBMD and P-Ca²⁺ levels but not with P-PTH. Overall, bone health does not seem to be impaired in patients with FHH. In FHH females, bone volume is decreased, with a lower trabecular volume but a higher vBMD, whereas cortical vBMD is decreased in the hip. This may be due to either an impaired endosteal resorption or corticalization of trabecular bone. The smaller total bone volume suggests an impaired periosteal accrual, but bone strength is not impaired. The findings of more pronounced changes in females may suggest an interaction between sex hormones and the activity of the CaSR on bone.     

“Quid autem vides festucam in oculo fratris tui et trabem in oculo tuo non vide” on the hyperthyroidism-induced mortality and antithyroid drug-induced side effects in the era of radioiodine fake news

European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging -     

Disruption of structural and functional networks in long‐standing multiple sclerosis

Both gray matter atrophy and disruption of functional networks are important predictors for physical disability and cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS), yet their relationship is poorly understood. Graph theory provides a modality invariant framework to analyze patterns of gray matter morphology and functional coactivation. We investigated, how gray matter and functional networks were affected within the same MS sample and examined their interrelationship. Magnetic resonance imaging and magnetoencephalography (MEG) were performed in 102 MS patients and 42 healthy controls. Gray matter networks were computed at the group‐level based on cortical thickness correlations between 78 regions across subjects. MEG functional networks were computed at the subject level based on the phase‐lag index between time‐series of regions in source‐space. In MS patients, we found a more regular network organization for structural covariance networks and for functional networks in the theta band, whereas we found a more random network organization for functional networks in the alpha2 band. Correlation analysis revealed a positive association between covariation in thickness and functional connectivity in especially the theta band in MS patients, and these results could not be explained by simple regional gray matter thickness measurements. This study is a first multimodal graph analysis in a sample of MS patients, and our results suggest that a disruption of gray matter network topology is important to understand alterations in functional connectivity in MS as regional gray matter fails to take into account the inherent connectivity structure of the brain. Hum Brain Mapp 35:5946–5961, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.