Ganglioglioma: A clinicopathological study of 10 cases

The clinical, radiological, and pathological features in 10 cases of ganglioglioma are described. The clinical data were derived from the patients' medical records, including a review of the age, sex, details of the presenting symptoms, radiological imagings, surgical intervention, and the clinical outcome. Age ranged from 1 to 66 years (mean 29); there were five males and five females. The tumors were located in the fronto-medial, bifrontal, temporal, temporo-basal, temporo-parieto-occipital, and parietal lobes; the 3rd ventricle; the cervicothoracic spinal cord; and the conus medullaris. The presenting symptoms were focal seizures, headaches, hemiparesis, paraparesis, and tetraparesis. In four patients, gross total resection was achieved and in the remaining six patients only subtotal resection was possible. Tumor recurrence occurred in three patients, 1 year, 14 months, and 2 years after the first operation. The histopathologic appearance of gangliogliomas showed a broad variation of the neuronal, glial, and stromal component. Studying proliferation characteristics, labeling for Ki-67 ranged from 0 to 13.7% (mean 4.1) and for PCNA from 0 to 32.1% (mean 20.4). Due to their favorable prognosis, early recognition and correct diagnosis are important in order to avoid progressive neurological deficits and unnecessary aggressive therapy. The application of immunohistochemistry for both neuronal (synaptophysin, NSE, NFP) and astrocytic (GFAP) cell markers, as well as proliferation markers, are recommended in the diagnostic setting for gangliogliomas. The treatment of choice is total surgical resection. The role of radio- and chemotherapy is still controversial.     

Infrared spectroscopy: A new diagnostic tool in Alzheimer disease

Biological markers play an evolving role in the diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (AD). We compare conventional measurements of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tau and β-amyloid_1–42 proteins to a novel approach – Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy – a simple technique derived from chemical and physical sciences that characterizes intramolecular bonds. For automatic diagnostic analysis, we developed an artificial neural network (ANN). We examined 71 patients with a clinical diagnosis of AD and 66 controls. β-Amyloid_1–42 was decreased (sensitivity 80% and specificity 78%); tau was elevated (sensitivity 76% and specificity 88%) in CSF of AD patients. The combined tau/β-amyloid_1–42 quotient was able to distinguish healthy from diseased subjects with 99% sensitivity and 86% specificity. The ANN could separate FT-IR spectroscopy data with 88.5% sensitivity and 80% specificity. FT-IR spectroscopy proved to be cost-effective and simple to perform. Diagnostic sensitivity and specificity is in the range of CSF tau and β-amyloid_1–42 protein analysis. Larger sample numbers for ANN training and validation could increase diagnostic accuracy and thus prove to be a useful screening tool.     

Enhanced pancreatic and skin tumorigenesis in cabbage-fed hamsters and mice

Studies were conduded to evaluate the ability of dietary driedcabbage supplements to inhibit pancreatic carcinogenesis inhamsters and skin tumorigenesis in mice. Pancreatic cancer wasinduced by treatment with 40 mg/kg body wt N-nitrosobis-(2oxopropyl)amine(BOP). Cabbage was fed from before carcinogen treatment in lowfat diet and, beginning 1 week after BOP treatment, cabbagewas given in low fat and high fat diets in comparison with therespective non-cabbage containing diets. Dried cabbage was incorporatedat 9 and 11% levels into the low and high fat diets. Feedingcabbage in the high fat diet elevated the yield of BOP-inducedpancreatic ductular cardnoma (1.6 carcinomas/effedive animal)in comparison with that observed in hamsters fed cabbage ina low fat diet or in those given a high fat diet without cabbage, 0.6–0.8 carcinomaa/effedive animal (P 0.05). Furthermore,the incidence of BOP-induced gall bladder adenocadnomm was elevatedin cabbage-fed hamsters irrespedve of dietary fat intake. Effetsof dietary fat and cabbage on food consumption, body weight,and serum T₃ and T₄ values are described. Skin tumorigenesiswas induced in SENCAR mice by 10 nmd 7,12 dlmethylbenz[a]anthracene(DMBA) and promoted beginning 1 week later with twice weeklyapplications of 2 µg 12-O-tetradecanoyl-13-phorbol acetate(TPA). Dried cabbage was incorporated into AIN semi-purifieddiets from before DMBA treatment and throughout TPA treatment.Skin papilloma yield was elevated in DMBA-initiated TPA-promotedmice that were fed diets containing 10% cabbage. Mice fed cabbagedeveloped an average of 8.45 papillomas per mouse following22 weeks of promotion while mice given control diet developed7.25 papillomas per mouse (P < 0.001). Cabbage feeding didnot influence survival, food consumption or body weight of themice. These results suggest the need for further research onthe use of cabbage as a chemopreventive measure.     

Co-administration of Salvia miltiorrhiza and verapamil inhibits detrimental effects of torsion/detorsion on testicular tissue in rats

Testicular torsion/detorsion is one of the important emergencies that requires fast surgical intervention. This study aimed to investigate the effects of Salvia miltiorrhiza hydroalcoholic extract combined with verapamil on testicular ischaemia/reperfusion damage in Wistar albino rats. All animals were distributed in 3 groups (n = 8), including the sham-operated group, torsion/detorsion (TD) group and torsion/detorsion + pretreatment with 200 mg/kg Salvia miltiorrhiza extract combined with 0.3 mg/kg verapamil (SMV) group. Oxidative stress biomarkers (MDA, GPx, CAT and TAC) both in plasma and testicular tissue, sperm parameters (motility, vitality, concentration and morphology) and histopathological parameters (MSTD, GECT, Johnson's score, Cosentino's score and testicular cell thickness) were assessed in all groups. Ischaemia/reperfusion significantly increased MDA and decreased GPx, CAT and TAC levels (p < .05). Pretreatment with SMV significantly increased GPx, CAT and TAC levels (p < .05). SMV group increased progressive sperm motility and vitality and reduced non-progressive motility of spermatozoon (p < .05). Testicular torsion significantly decreased all histopathological parameters compared to the sham group (p < .05). SMV pretreatment remarkably increased MSTD, GECT and Cosentino's score in comparison with the TD group (p < .05). A combination of Salvia miltiorrhiza with verapamil could reduce damages triggered by testicular torsion detorsion and improve sperm functionality parameters and oxidative stress defence systems.