Prenatal ontogenetic history of the principal neurons of the neocortex of the cat (Felis domestica) a golgi study

Summary The individual prenatal ontogenetic history of the horizontal neurons (the Cajal-Retzius cells) of layer I, the Martinotti neurons of layer VI, the pyramid-like neurons (the polymorphous or spindle cells) of layer VI, and the pyramidal neurons of layer V of the cat neocortex have been investigated. These neurons undergo, in the course of prenatal ontogenesis, a series of significant changes in their dendritic and axonic arborizations resulting in their complete structural transformation. Some of these changes have led to the appearance of new types of neurons quite different from the original in their morphological features as wells as in the territory of distribution of their axons. The horizontal neurons of layer I (superficial plexiform layer) come to assume the morphological characteristics of Cajal-Retzius cells late in prenatal ontogenesis. Also, the pyramid-like neurons of layer VI (deep plexiform layer) acquire the features of polymorphous (spindle) neurons of layer VI late in prenatal neocortical ontogenesis.Certainly, the resulting functional transformations that these neuronal changes cause are important and of great significance in the understanding of the organization of the mammalian neocortex. In the course of prenatal ontogenesis the following occur: the horizontal neurons of layer I lose their axonic connections with layer VI and acquire an increasing relevance in the structural organization of layer I; the pyramid-like neurons of layer VI lose their axonic and dendritic connections with layer I and undergo pronounced regressive changes in their dendritic and axonic arborizations; and the Martinotti neurons lose their axonic connections with layer I and also undergo regressive changes in their dendritic arborizations. In addition, the structural-functional interrelationships among these three neurons, which are quite prominent during early neocortical ontogenesis, fade away in the course of late prenatal ontogenesis and possibly disappear altogether by the time of birth in the cat. These three neurons are the basic neuronal elements of the early, precallosal organization (the primordial neocortical organization) of the mammalian neocortex. Phylogenetically, these three types of neurons are very old ones and have been described in the cerebral cortices of amphibians and reptiles. Therefore, it is not surprising that the early, precallosal organization of the mammalian neocortex should resemble the structural organization of the reptilian (general cortex) neocortex.It is postulated in this communication that these neuronal transformations are the result of a restructuring in the organization of the mammalian neocortex which follows the arrival of the callosal fibers and of a new type of corticipetal fibers at the pyramidal plate. this restructuring represents a transformation of the fibrillary-neuronal structure of the mammalian neocortex from its early, precallosal (reptilian) organization into a more distinctly mammalian one. The mammalian neocortical organization is characterized by the sequential maturation of several strata of true pyramidal neuronal systems. In the course of prenatal ontogenesis the fibrillar and neuronal elements of the early, precallosal neocortical organization lose progressively their relevance in the structural organization of the mammalian neocortex while the new pyramidal neuronal systems acquire an increasing relevance in it.Supported by Grant HD-03298 and by General Research Support Grant FR-05392 from the General Research Branch, National Institutes of Health.     

Encuesta nacional sobre valoración de la actividad de los médicos internos residentes en los servicios de urgencias españoles

Introduction

The care activity of internal resident doctors is common to practically all medical and surgical training programs; however, there are no national data available regarding the situation of this activity from the perspective of the resident. The present study has sought to collect the opinion of the resident internal physicians on the health care performance and the teaching character that links them to their corresponding emergency departments, in the following areas: overall training value, appreciation of the workload, characteristics of the morning rotation, supervision or tutoring, etc.

A functional survey of the enhancer activity of conserved non-coding sequences from vertebrate Iroquois cluster gene deserts

Recent studies of the genome architecture of vertebrates have uncovered two unforeseen aspects of its organization. First, large regions of the genome, called gene deserts, are devoid of protein-coding sequences and have no obvious biological role. Second, comparative genomics has highlighted the existence of an array of highly conserved non-coding regions (HCNRs) in all vertebrates. Most surprisingly, these structural features are strongly associated with genes that have essential functions during development. Among these, the vertebrate Iroquois (Irx) genes stand out on both fronts. Mammalian Irx genes are organized in two clusters (IrxA and IrxB) that span >1 Mb each with no other genes interspersed. Additionally, a large number of HCNRs exist within Irx clusters. We have systematically examined the enhancer activity of HCNRs from the IrxB cluster using transgenic Xenopus and zebrafish embryos. Most of these HCNRs are active in subdomains of endogenous Irx expression, and some are candidates to contain shared enhancers of neighboring genes, which could explain the evolutionary conservation of Irx clusters. Furthermore, HCNRs present in tetrapod IrxB but not in fish may be responsible for novel Irx expression domains that appeared after their divergence. Finally, we have performed a more detailed analysis on two IrxB ultraconserved non-coding regions (UCRs) duplicated in IrxA clusters in similar relative positions. These four regions share a core region highly conserved among all of them and drive expression in similar domains. However, inter-species conserved sequences surrounding the core, specific for each of these UCRs, are able to modulate their expression.     

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.     

Design and development of a digital stethoscope encapsulation for simultaneous acquisition of phonocardiography and electrocardiography signals: the SmartHeart case study

Abstract

The stethoscope is a major symbol of modern medicine. It is used for diagnosis of different conditions and enables physicians to listen to internal body sounds. Electrocardiography was only introduced in medicine in the beginning of the twentieth century. Today measuring heart’s electrical activity is also fundamental cardiac diseases diagnosis. Although performed with independent devices, requiring physician and patient presence in the same physical space, in combination they enhance cardiovascular assessment. In this paper, a digital stethoscope encapsulation was designed, adding new functionality to this advanced medical device. Today wired and wireless communications enable different medical devices to share data and information, over long distances. Using low-cost hardware technologies, the encapsulation will add the ability to acquire and transmit via Bluetooth the Electrocardiographic activity, determined in the same cardiac focus and synchronised with the Phonocardiographic sound recordings. Several encapsulation concepts were developed and prototyped using 3D printing. They were easily fitted to the digital stethoscope and tested in a hospital environment for ergonomics, acoustic and electric signals acquisition. The best concept was chosen with the help of a physician’s opinion and the final prototype performance was very satisfactory.     

Profilin-mediated food-induced allergic reactions are associated with oral epithelial remodeling

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Management of chronic viral hepatitis in HIV-infected patients: Spanish Consensus Conference. October 2000

Co-infection by human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis B and C viruses is quite common because they share similar routes of transmission. The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy has significantly improved the life expectancy of HIV-infected patients in the last few years. However, chronic viral hepatitis represents an emerging cause of morbidity and mortality in this population, either as a result of end-stage liver disease or as a consequence of hepatotoxicity induced by antiretroviral drugs. The main goal of the Consensus Conference was to establish specific recommendations for the management of chronic viral hepatitis B and C in HIV-infected patients. The role of orthotopic liver transplantation for co-infected individuals with end-stage liver disease was also assessed.