Hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies

Journal of Neurology - Hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies (HNPP) is characterized by recurrent sensory and motor neuropathy in individual nerves starting in adolescence or...     

Challenges Encountered by Nurses Working in Acute Psychiatric Wards: A Qualitative Study in Iran

Background: The provision of care to patients with psychiatric disorders and working in a challenging environment lead to many problems among psychiatric nurses. The aim of this study was to explore the challenges nurses faced while working in acute psychiatric wards. Design: A qualitative design using content analysis was used. Fifteen nurses working in psychiatric wards in hospitals affiliated to a university hospital in an urban area of Iran were chosen using a purposive sampling approach. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. An inductive content analysis method was used to analyse the collected data. Results: Four themes were developed based on the analysed data: “experiencing psycho-social challenges,” “experiencing psychological challenges,” “encountering catalysts causing challenges,” and “employing various strategies for coping with challenges.” Conclusions: Given the importance of physical and mental well-being of nurses and the moral and professional responsibility of an organization to protect staff health, it is of prime importance to examine the inpatient psychiatric nurses' experiences to better understand them and hopefully use such knowledge so as to improve their work life.     

Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori vacuolating cytotoxin and its allelic mosaicism as a predictive marker for Iranian dyspeptic patients

Helicobacter pylori infects the majority of the population in the developing countries. However, the rate of gastrointestinal complications such as peptic ulcers and gastric malignancies has no parallel with the infection. In order to determine whether cytotoxin (vacA) and its allelic polymorphism can serve as screening markers for such a population, H. pylori strains were isolated from one hundred and thirty two dyspeptic patients. H. pylori genomic DNA was extracted and underwent PCR-amplification for the cytotoxin alleles. Genotyping of the signal sequence region of the vacA gene identified 68% (70 out of 103) of patients with non ulcer dyspepsia (NUD) and 79% (23 out of 29) of the patients with peptic ulcer disease (PUD) possessing the s1 genotype. S1 strains were significantly more prevalent among patients with PUD as compared to the NUD (p < 0.05). In regard to the middle region, 55% of the patient isolates belonged to the m2 genotype with no correlation to disease. The s1m2 genotype was the most prevalent among all patients and significantly correlated with the PUD group (p < 0.05).     

Attenuated poxvirus expressing three immunodominant CMV antigens as a vaccine strategy for CMV infection.

BACKGROUND: Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is an important risk factor in the post-transplant (Tx) recovery phase for both hematopoietic stem cell Tx (HSCT) and solid organ Tx (SOT) recipients. CMV infection may be prevented or controlled by simultaneously inducing both CMV-specific neutralizing antibody (nAb) and cellular immunity. Soluble (s) UL55 (surface glycoprotein), UL83 (tegument protein) and UL123/e4 (nuclear protein) are immunodominant in eliciting both CMV nAb and cellular immunity. An attenuated poxvirus, modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) was selected to develop this vaccine strategy in Tx recipients, because of its clinical safety record, large foreign gene capacity, and capability to activate strong humoral and cellular immune responses against recombinant antigens. OBJECTIVES: A subunit vaccine that targets multiple CMV antigens will be used to gain maximal coverage and protective function against CMV infection. rMVA simultaneously expressing sUL55, UL83 and UL123/e4 will be generated, and humoral and cellular immunity it elicits will be characterized, after murine immunization and in vitro to amplify clinical recall responses. STUDY DESIGN: rMVA will be constructed in two steps using UL123/e4-pLW22 followed by sUL55-UL83-pLW51 transfer plasmids. Western blots will be used to characterize expression levels of each antigen. Primary immunity will be evaluated in mouse models, while recall responses to the virally expressed CMV antigens will be assessed in human peripheral blood. RESULTS: We generated CMV-MVA via homologous recombination, and demonstrated high expression levels of sUL55, UL83 and UL123/e4 by Western blot. CMV-MVA immunization potently induced both humoral and cellular immunity to sUL55, UL83 and UL123 after murine immunization, and cellular immunity to UL83 and UL123 by in vitro amplification of T cell recall responses in human PBMC. CONCLUSIONS: rMVA promotes high level expression of three immunodominant CMV antigens, which is reflected in results of immunization studies in which high titers of UL55-specific antibodies and CD4+ T-help are detected, as well as high levels of UL83-specific and moderate levels of UL123-specific CD8+ CTL.     

Monitoring the short-term effect of intravenous immunoglobulins in multifocal motor neuropathy using motor unit number index

Objective

To determine whether motor unit number index (MUNIX) is pertinent to monitor the effect of intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIg) in multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN).

Cortical versus spinal dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Little is known about the possible link between cortical and spinal motor neuron dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We correlated the characteristics of the responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with the electromechanical properties and firing pattern of single motor units (MUs) tested in nine ALS patients, three patients with Kennedy's disease, and 15 healthy subjects. In Kennedy's disease, 19 of 22 MUs were markedly enlarged with good electromechanical coupling and discharged with great variability. Their excitatory responses increased with MU size. In ALS, 17 of 34 MUs with excitatory responses behaved as in Kennedy's disease. By contrast, 28 MUs with nonsignificant responses showed poor electromechanical coupling and high firing rates, whereas 28 MUs with inhibitory responses showed moderate functional alterations. This result indicates that in ALS as in Kennedy's disease, sprouting of corticospinal axons may occur on surviving motoneurons. A clear relationship exists between the responsiveness of MUs to TMS and their functional state.     

Does listening to the sound of yourself chewing increase your enjoyment of food?

Background  

The aim of the current study is to investigate the relationship between physical anhedonia and psychopathological parameters, pharmacological parameters or motor side-effects in a sample of inpatients with schizophrenia in an acute episode of their illness.