Spectral analysis of infant EEG and behavioral outcome at age five

Power spectral and discriminant analysis techniques were used to compare EEG records obtained at term and at 3 months past term from 5 groups of varying risk and developmental outcome. The groups were: healthy full-terms; healthy pre-terms with normal outcomes; sick pre-terms with normal outcomes; sick pre-terms with delayed development; sick pre-terms with later neurological problems. The EEG samples recorded at term were identified as belonging to the correct subject group at 52-70% accuracy, 20% being chance for 5 groups. The accuracy varied with the 4 classes of EEG patterns used. The individual subjects were also classified into their correct groups with few exceptions. Similar success was obtained with EEG samples selected from recording at 3 months past term. The predominant power spectral discriminating features were changes in intra- and inter-hemispheric coherence, and increased power, particularly in the middle and higher frequency range. Thus, computer analyses of EEG samples, using features not readily identified visually, differentiated risk from non-risk infants and also differentiated infants with substantial neonatal medical complications who have good or poor developmental outcomes.     

Primitive Cerebral Tumor with Rhabdoid Features: A Case of Phenotypic Rhabdoid Tumor of the Central Nervous System

The rhabdoid tumor (RT) was first described as an aggressive neoplasm of unknown histogenesis affecting the kidneys of infants and young children, but has since been reported in all ages and in many other primary sites, including the central nervous system. It has been shown, however, that the histologic and cytologic features of RT can be mimicked by many other tumors of known histogenesis. For this and other reasons it remains controversial whether cases of putative extrarenal RT represent the same histogenetic entity as RT of the kidney (RTK), another entity or entities, or merely a diverse collection of unrelated tumors sharing a common morphologic phenotype. The present paper describes a lethal primary cerebral tumor in a 26-month-old Hispanic boy that was composed predominantly of cells exhibiting the “classic” rhabdoid phenotype by light microscopy. lmmunocytochemical and ultrastructural studies disclosed features of primitive neuroglial differentiation not seen in RTK. The findings in this case, as well as evidence from other studies, would seem to support the notion that primary RT of the brain may in fact constitute a morphologic and clinicopathologic entity. However, hat entity likely represents a distinctive type of neuroglial neoplasm, more closely related t o other primitive brain tumors than t o RTK.     

The effects of co-culture with human fibroblasts on human embryo development in vitro and implantation

In a human in-vitro fertilization (IVF) programme, the effect of co- culture of embryos with human fibroblasts was evaluated with respect to pregnancy rate and embryo development. Patients were included in the study after giving informed written consent. The IVF treatments were randomly assigned by stratification of both age (<36 versus > or =36 years) and previous IVF attempts (yes versus no). After fertilization was established, the zygotes were transferred to a 4-well dish with or without fibroblasts and cultured for 2 days. On the third day after ovum pick-up (OPU), cell number and quality [5 (good) to 1 (poor)] of the embryos were scored and a maximum of three embryos was transferred. Supernumerary embryos of good quality were cryopreserved. The design of this study was a group sequential trial with the objective of detecting differences between pregnancy rates following IVF with conventional incubation or incubation in co-culture with fibroblasts. This design included one evaluation at half-way data collection. In the study, 148 patients had an OPU, of whom 77 were allocated to the co-culture group. There was no statistically significant difference in pregnancy rate, cell number and embryo quality between the two groups. The ongoing pregnancy rate per embryo transfer was 27% in co-culture and 30% in the conventional culture group. The implantation rates per transferred embryo were 17 and 18% respectively. Using a multivariate logistic regression model for the probability of ongoing pregnancies, the odds ratio of co-culture, adjusted for age and previous IVF attempts, was not statistically significant. In conclusion, co-culture with human fibroblasts does not contribute to an improvement of embryo quality nor to a higher pregnancy rate after IVF in an unselected group of patients.      

Premature targeting of a cell division protein to midcell allows dissection of divisome assembly in Escherichia coli

Cell division in Escherichia coli requires the recruitment of at least 10 essential proteins to the bacterial midcell. Recruitment of these proteins follows a largely linear dependency pathway in which depletion of one cell division protein leads to the absence from the division site of "downstream" proteins in the pathway. Analysis of events that underlie this pathway is complicated by the fact that a protein's ability to recruit "downstream" proteins is dependent on its own recruitment by "upstream" proteins. Hence, one cannot separate the individual contributions of various upstream proteins to any specific recruitment step. Here we present a method--premature targeting--for bypassing the normal localization requirements of a cell division protein and apply it to FtsQ, a protein recruited midway through the pathway. We fused FtsQ to the FtsZ-binding protein ZapA such that FtsQ was targeted to FtsZ rings independently of proteins FtsA and FtsK, which are normally required for FtsQ localization. Analysis of the resulting ZapA-FtsQ fusion suggests that FtsQ associates with a large complex of cell division proteins and that premature targeting of FtsQ can restore localization of this complex under conditions in which neither FtsQ nor the associated proteins would normally be localized.     

The right to an heir in the era of assisted reproduction

The latest remarkable technological advances in assisted reproduction, which enable cryopreservation of spermatozoa, embryos and ovarian tissue, raise difficult and debatable legal, social, ethical and moral issues concerning the right to posthumous reproduction. Furthermore, reports on the attitudes of the general public and of centres licensed for infertility treatment in the United Kingdom found that the majority of women and centres support the idea of posthumous reproduction. In this paper we review the data published on this issue, and after considering the various aspects, we conclude that each case should be discussed and authorized by a multidisciplinary committee that includes physicians, clergy, psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologists and other appropriate parties. In our opinion, the main principles that should guide this committee would allow posthumous reproduction in the context of marriage when a prior consent exists. For unmarried persons, post-mortem donation of gametes should be done only anonymously, if they are in agreement with existing laws concerning infertility treatments in every country and after appropriate consent and proper counselling. Moreover, any case which involves consanguinity or a possibility of incest should be forbidden, both for ethical and genetic reasons. In a case of pre-existing siblings, they should be consulted and their informed consent should be granted in advance so as to avoid legal problems in the inheritance of property.