Effects of lesions of the amygdala central nucleus on autoshaped lever pressing

PubMed Central

Chang, Stephen E.; Wheeler, Daniel S.; Holland, Peter C.

2012-01-01

Neutral cues paired with rewards often appear to acquire motivational significance, as if the incentive motivational value of the reward is transferred to the cue. Such cues have been reported to modulate the performance of instrumental action (Pavlovian-instrumental transfer, PIT), serve as conditioned reinforcers in the establishment of new learning, and be the targets of approach and other cue-directed behaviors. Here we examined the effects of lesions of the amygdala central nucleus (CeA) on the acquisition of discriminative autoshaped lever-pressing. Insertion of one lever into the experimental chamber was reinforced by sucrose delivery, but insertion of another lever was not reinforced. Although sucrose delivery was not contingent on lever pressing, both CeA- and sham-lesioned rats rapidly came to press the reinforced but not the nonreinforced lever. Despite their showing little evidence of impairments in autoshaped lever pressing, these same CeA-lesioned rats showed significant deficits in the expression of PIT in a subsequent phase of the experiment. The lack of impaired autoshaping in CeA-lesioned rats contrasts with effects previously reported for conditioned orienting responses (ORs) and for other putative measures of incentive learning including PIT and conditioned approach to visual cues. PMID:22386516

Medial Amygdala Lesions Selectively Block Aversive Pavlovian–Instrumental Transfer in Rats

PubMed Central

McCue, Margaret G.; LeDoux, Joseph E.; Cain, Christopher K.

2014-01-01

Pavlovian conditioned stimuli (CSs) play an important role in the reinforcement and motivation of instrumental active avoidance (AA). Conditioned threats can also invigorate ongoing AA responding [aversive Pavlovian–instrumental transfer (PIT)]. The neural circuits mediating AA are poorly understood, although lesion studies suggest that lateral, basal, and central amygdala nuclei, as well as infralimbic prefrontal cortex, make key, and sometimes opposing, contributions. We recently completed an extensive analysis of brain c-Fos expression in good vs. poor avoiders following an AA test (Martinez et al., 2013, Learning and Memory). This analysis identified medial amygdala (MeA) as a potentially important region for Pavlovian motivation of instrumental actions. MeA is known to mediate defensive responding to innate threats as well as social behaviors, but its role in mediating aversive Pavlovian–instrumental interactions is unknown. We evaluated the effect of MeA lesions on Pavlovian conditioning, Sidman two-way AA conditioning (shuttling) and aversive PIT in rats. Mild footshocks served as the unconditioned stimulus in all conditioning phases. MeA lesions had no effect on AA but blocked the expression of aversive PIT and 22 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations in the AA context. Interestingly, MeA lesions failed to affect Pavlovian freezing to discrete threats but reduced freezing to contextual threats when assessed outside of the AA chamber. These findings differentiate MeA from lateral and central amygdala, as lesions of these nuclei disrupt Pavlovian freezing and aversive PIT, but have opposite effects on AA performance. Taken together, these results suggest that MeA plays a selective role in the motivation of instrumental avoidance by general or uncertain Pavlovian threats. PMID:25278858

A test of the opponent-process theory of motivation using lesions that selectively block morphine reward.

PubMed

Vargas-Perez, Hector; Ting-A-Kee, Ryan A; Heinmiller, Andrew; Sturgess, Jessica E; van der Kooy, Derek

2007-06-01

The opponent-process theory of motivation postulates that motivational stimuli activate a rewarding process that is followed by an opposed aversive process in a homeostatic control mechanism. Thus, an acute injection of morphine in nondependent animals should evoke an acute rewarding response, followed by a later aversive response. Indeed, the tegmental pedunculopontine nucleus (TPP) mediates the rewarding effects of opiates in previously morphine-naive animals, but not other unconditioned effects of opiates, or learning ability. The aversive opponent process for acute morphine reward was revealed using a place-conditioning paradigm. The conditioned place aversion induced by 16-h spontaneous morphine withdrawal from an acute morphine injection in nondependent rats was abolished by TPP lesions performed prior to drug experience. However, TPP-lesioned rats did show conditioned aversions for an environment paired with the acute administration of the opioid antagonist naloxone, which blocks endogenous opioids. The results show that blocking the rewarding effects of morphine with TPP lesions also blocked the opponent aversive effects of acute morphine withdrawal in nondependent animals. Thus, this spontaneous withdrawal aversion (the opponent process) is induced by the acute rewarding effects of morphine and not by other unconditioned effects of morphine, the pharmacological effects of morphine or endogenous opioids being displaced from opiate receptors.

Differential involvement of the basolateral amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex in the formation of sensory-specific associations in conditioned flavor preference and magazine approach paradigms.

PubMed

Scarlet, Janina; Delamater, Andrew R; Campese, Vincent; Fein, Matthew; Wheeler, Daniel S

2012-06-01

Four experiments examined the roles of the basolateral amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex in the formation of sensory-specific associations in conditioned flavor preference and conditioned magazine approach paradigms using unconditioned stimulus (US) devaluation and selective Pavlovian-instrumental transfer procedures in Long Evans rats. Experiment 1 found that pre-training amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex lesions had no detectable effect on the formation or flexible use of sensory-specific flavor-nutrient associations in a US devaluation task, where flavor cues were paired either simultaneously or sequentially with nutrient rewards in water-deprived subjects. In Experiment 2, pre-training amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex lesions both attenuated outcome-specific Pavlovian-instrumental transfer. Experiment 3 indicated that amygdala lesions have no effect on the formation of sensory-specific flavor-nutrient associations in a US devaluation task in food-deprived subjects. Finally, Experiment 4 demonstrated that the outcomes used in Experiment 3 were sufficiently motivationally significant to support conditioned flavor preference. These findings suggest that, although both orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala lesions attenuate the acquisition of sensory-specific associations in magazine approach conditioning, neither lesion reduces the ability to appropriately respond to a flavor cue that was paired with a devalued outcome. © 2012 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2012 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Effect of Dorsal and Ventral Hippocampal Lesions on Contextual Fear Conditioning and Unconditioned Defensive Behavior Induced by Electrical Stimulation of the Dorsal Periaqueductal Gray

PubMed Central

Ballesteros, Carolina Irurita; de Oliveira Galvão, Bruno; Maisonette, Silvia; Landeira-Fernandez, J.

2014-01-01

The dorsal (DH) and ventral (VH) subregions of the hippocampus are involved in contextual fear conditioning. However, it is still unknown whether these two brain areas also play a role in defensive behavior induced by electrical stimulation of the dorsal periaqueductal gray (dPAG). In the present study, rats were implanted with electrodes into the dPAG to determine freezing and escape response thresholds after sham or bilateral electrolytic lesions of the DH or VH. The duration of freezing behavior that outlasted electrical stimulation of the dPAG was also measured. The next day, these animals were subjected to contextual fear conditioning using footshock as an unconditioned stimulus. Electrolytic lesions of the DH and VH impaired contextual fear conditioning. Only VH lesions disrupted conditioned freezing immediately after footshock and increased the thresholds of aversive freezing and escape responses to dPAG electrical stimulation. Neither DH nor VH lesions disrupted post-dPAG stimulation freezing. These results indicate that the VH but not DH plays an important role in aversively defensive behavior induced by dPAG electrical stimulation. Interpretations of these findings should be made with caution because of the fact that a non-fiber-sparing lesion method was employed. PMID:24404134

Cholinergic Septo-Hippocampal Innervation Is Required for Trace Eyeblink Classical Conditioning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fontan-Lozano, Angela; Troncoso, Julieta; Munera, Alejandro; Carrion, Angel Manuel; Delgado-Garcia, Jose Maria

2005-01-01

We studied the effects of a selective lesion in rats, with 192-IgG-saporin, of the cholinergic neurons located in the medial septum/diagonal band (MSDB) complex on the acquisition of classical and instrumental conditioning paradigms. The MSDB lesion induced a marked deficit in the acquisition, but not in the retrieval, of eyeblink classical…

Effects of selective excitotoxic lesions of the nucleus accumbens core, anterior cingulate cortex, and central nucleus of the amygdala on autoshaping performance in rats.

PubMed

Cardinal, Rudolf N; Parkinson, John A; Lachenal, Guillaume; Halkerston, Katherine M; Rudarakanchana, Nung; Hall, Jeremy; Morrison, Caroline H; Howes, Simon R; Robbins, Trevor W; Everitt, Barry J

2002-08-01

The nucleus accumbens core (AcbC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) are required for normal acquisition of tasks based on stimulus-reward associations. However, it is not known whether they are involved purely in the learning process or are required for behavioral expression of a learned response. Rats were trained preoperatively on a Pavlovian autoshaping task in which pairing a visual conditioned stimulus (CS+) with food causes subjects to approach the CS+ while not approaching an unpaired stimulus (CS-). Subjects then received lesions of the AcbC, ACC, or CeA before being retested. AcbC lesions severely impaired performance; lesioned subjects approached the CS+ significantly less often than controls, failing to discriminate between the CS+ and CS-. ACC lesions also impaired performance but did not abolish discrimination entirely. CeA lesions had no effect on performance. Thus, the CeA is required for learning, but not expression, of a conditioned approach response, implying that it makes a specific contribution to the learning of stimulus-reward associations.

Effect of quinolinic acid-induced lesions of the subthalamic nucleus on performance on a progressive-ratio schedule of reinforcement: A quantitative analysis

PubMed Central

Bezzina, G.; Boon, F.S. den; Hampson, C.L.; Cheung, T.H.C.; Body, S.; Bradshaw, C.M.; Szabadi, E.; Anderson, I.M.; Deakin, J.F.W.

2008-01-01

The subthalamic nucleus (STN), a major relay in the indirect striatofugal pathway, plays an important role in extrapyramidal motor control. Recent evidence indicates that it may also be involved in regulating the incentive value of food reinforcers. Objective To examine the effect of lesions of the STN on performance on a progressive-ratio schedule using a quantitative model that dissociates effects of interventions on motor and motivational processes [Killeen PR. Mathematical principles of reinforcement. Behav Brain Sci 1994;17:105–72]. Rats with bilateral quinolinic acid-induced lesions of the STN (n = 14) or sham lesions (n = 14) were trained to press a lever for food-pellet reinforcers under a progressive-ratio schedule. In Phase 1 (90 sessions) the reinforcer was one pellet; in Phase 2 (30 sessions) it was two pellets; in Phase 3 (30 sessions) it was again one pellet. Results The performance of both groups conformed to the model of progressive-ratio schedule performance. The motor parameter, δ, was significantly higher in the STN-lesioned than the sham-lesioned group, reflecting lower overall response rates in the lesioned group. The motivational parameter, a, was significantly higher in the STN-lesioned group than in the sham-lesioned group, consistent with enhanced reinforcer value in the STN-lesioned group compared to the sham-lesioned group. In both groups, a was sensitive to changes in reinforcer size, being significantly greater under the two-pellet condition (Phase 2) than under the one-pellet condition (Phases 1 and 3). The results suggest that destruction of the STN impairs response capacity and enhances the incentive value of food reinforcers. PMID:18840473

Different involvement of medial prefrontal cortex and dorso-lateral striatum in automatic and controlled processing of a future conditioned stimulus.

PubMed

Pérez-Díaz, Francisco; Díaz, Estrella; Sánchez, Natividad; Vargas, Juan Pedro; Pearce, John M; López, Juan Carlos

2017-01-01

Recent studies support the idea that stimulus processing in latent inhibition can vary during the course of preexposure. Controlled attentional mechanisms are said to be important in the early stages of preexposure, while in later stages animals adopt automatic processing of the stimulus to be used for conditioning. Given this distinction, it is possible that both types of processing are governed by different neural systems, affecting differentially the retrieval of information about the stimulus. In the present study we tested if a lesion to the dorso-lateral striatum or to the medial prefrontal cortex has a selective effect on exposure to the future conditioned stimulus (CS). With this aim, animals received different amounts of exposure to the future CS. The results showed that a lesion to the medial prefrontal cortex enhanced latent inhibition in animals receiving limited preexposure to the CS, but had no effect in animals receiving extended preexposure to the CS. The lesion of the dorso-lateral striatum produced a decrease in latent inhibition, but only in animals with an extended exposure to the future conditioned stimulus. These results suggest that the dorsal striatum and medial prefrontal cortex play essential roles in controlled and automatic processes. Automatic attentional processes appear to be impaired by a lesion to the dorso-lateral striatum and facilitated by a lesion to the prefrontal cortex.

Different involvement of medial prefrontal cortex and dorso-lateral striatum in automatic and controlled processing of a future conditioned stimulus

PubMed Central

Pérez-Díaz, Francisco; Díaz, Estrella; Sánchez, Natividad; Vargas, Juan Pedro; Pearce, John M.

2017-01-01

Recent studies support the idea that stimulus processing in latent inhibition can vary during the course of preexposure. Controlled attentional mechanisms are said to be important in the early stages of preexposure, while in later stages animals adopt automatic processing of the stimulus to be used for conditioning. Given this distinction, it is possible that both types of processing are governed by different neural systems, affecting differentially the retrieval of information about the stimulus. In the present study we tested if a lesion to the dorso-lateral striatum or to the medial prefrontal cortex has a selective effect on exposure to the future conditioned stimulus (CS). With this aim, animals received different amounts of exposure to the future CS. The results showed that a lesion to the medial prefrontal cortex enhanced latent inhibition in animals receiving limited preexposure to the CS, but had no effect in animals receiving extended preexposure to the CS. The lesion of the dorso-lateral striatum produced a decrease in latent inhibition, but only in animals with an extended exposure to the future conditioned stimulus. These results suggest that the dorsal striatum and medial prefrontal cortex play essential roles in controlled and automatic processes. Automatic attentional processes appear to be impaired by a lesion to the dorso-lateral striatum and facilitated by a lesion to the prefrontal cortex. PMID:29240804

The Effects of Basolateral Amygdala Lesions on Unblocking

PubMed Central

Chang, Stephen E.; McDannald, Michael A.; Wheeler, Daniel S.; Holland, Peter C.

2012-01-01

Prior reinforcement of a neutral stimulus often blocks subsequent conditioning of a new stimulus if a compound of the original and new cues is paired with the same reinforcer. However, if the value of the reinforcer is altered when the compound is presented, the new cue typically acquires conditioning, a result called unblocking. Blocking, unblocking and related phenomena have been attributed to variations in processing of either the reinforcer, for example, the Rescorla-Wagner (1972) model, or cues, for example, the Pearce-Hall (1980) model. Here, we examined the effects of lesions of the basolateral amygdala on the occurrence of unblocking when the food reinforcer was increased in quantity at the time of introduction of the new cue. The lesions had no effects on unblocking in a simple design (Experiment 1), which did not distinguish between unblocking produced by variations in reward or cue processing. However, in a procedure that distinguished between unblocking due to direct conditioning by the added reinforcer, consistent with the Rescorla-Wagner (1972) model, and that due to increases in conditioning to the original reinforcer, consistent with the Pearce-Hall (1980) and other models of learning, the lesions prevented unblocking of the latter type. These results were discussed in the context of roles of the basolateral amygdala in coding and using reward prediction error information in associative learning. PMID:22448857

Soluble Dietary Fiber Can Protect the Gastrointestinal Mucosa Against Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs in Mice.

PubMed

Satoh, Hiroshi; Urushidani, Tetsuro

2016-07-01

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-induced small intestinal damage is a serious problem in patients, but effective therapy is not available at present. The effects of feeding conditions and dietary fiber (DF) on NSAID-induced gastrointestinal lesions were examined in mice. NSAIDs (indomethacin, diclofenac, loxoprofen, aspirin) were administered to male mice in various feeding conditions. Gastrointestinal lesions were examined 24 h after NSAID dosing. Regular diets, dietary-fiber-free diet (FFD), and diets supplemented with various types of DF were given to mice. NSAIDs produced marked ulcers and perforations selectively in the gastric antrum when they were administered after feeding of regular diet for 2 h after a 22-h fast. When NSAIDs, except for aspirin, were administered in unfasted conditions, they caused marked lesions in the small intestine. When mice were given FFD, antral ulcers and intestinal lesions induced by indomethacin (30 mg/kg, s.c.) markedly decreased, but when cellulose, an insoluble DF, was added to FFD, the lesions appeared again. The addition of pectin, a soluble DF, to regular diet containing 4.1 % crude fiber significantly inhibited the formation of antral ulcers as well as intestinal lesions caused by indomethacin or diclofenac (100 mg/kg, s.c.). The results indicated that NSAIDs given after feeding of diet produced ulcers selectively in the gastric antrum. The severity of the gastrointestinal lesions depended on the concentration of soluble or insoluble DF in food. Our results suggest that soluble DF such as pectin may be a safe means for protecting the gastrointestinal mucosa against NSAIDs.

Ameliorating effect of Yokukansan on the development of atopic dermatitis-like lesions and scratching behavior in socially isolated NC/Nga mice.

PubMed

Funakushi, Naoko; Yamaguchi, Takuji; Jiang, Ju; Imamura, Sachiko; Kuhara, Takatoshi; Suto, Hajime; Ueki, Rie; Kase, Yoshio; Kobayashi, Hiroyuki; Ogawa, Hideoki; Ikeda, Shigaku

2011-11-01

Yokukansan (YKS) has been used in Japan as a remedy for neurosis, insomnia, and children with night crying. In a previous study, we reported that YKS controls scratching behavior and inhibits the development of atopic dermatitis (AD)-like lesions in NC/Nga mice. In this study, we investigated the effects of YKS on the development of AD-like lesions in socially isolated NC/Nga mice compared with the effects of fexofenadine and elucidated the mechanism of the ameliorating effect of YKS on the skin lesions. Ten-week-old male NC/Nga mice were divided into three groups (n = 5/group): the conventional control, the YKS-treated, and the fexofenadine-treated groups, and were kept isolated under conventional conditions for 6 weeks. Measurements were made of dermatitis scores and transepidermal water loss (TEWL), scratching and grooming behaviors. Immunohistochemistry and mRNA levels were also evaluated. We performed similar experiments under specific pathogen free (SPF) conditions that served as a SPF control. YKS and fexofenadine inhibited the aggravation of skin lesions and decreased TEWL, but only YKS decreased the numbers of scratching and pathologic grooming behaviors. Immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR revealed that N-methyl-D: -aspartate (NMDA) receptor expression was increased in the skin of conventional control mice and was decreased in YKS-treated mice. Glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1) mRNA levels were decreased in the skin of conventional control mice and were increased in YKS-treated mice. The results indicate that YKS ameliorates AD-like skin lesions in NC/Nga mice through a mechanism distinct from that of fexofenadine. Furthermore, the effects of YKS are suggested to be mediated via glutamate signaling in the skin lesions.

Surface pre-conditioning with bioactive glass air-abrasion can enhance enamel white spot lesion remineralization.

PubMed

Milly, Hussam; Festy, Frederic; Andiappan, Manoharan; Watson, Timothy F; Thompson, Ian; Banerjee, Avijit

2015-05-01

To evaluate the effect of pre-conditioning enamel white spot lesion (WSL) surfaces using bioactive glass (BAG) air-abrasion prior to remineralization therapy. Ninety human enamel samples with artificial WSLs were assigned to three WSL surface pre-conditioning groups (n=30): (a) air-abrasion with BAG-polyacrylic acid (PAA-BAG) powder, (b) acid-etching using 37% phosphoric acid gel (positive control) and (c) unconditioned (negative control). Each group was further divided into three subgroups according to the following remineralization therapy (n=10): (I) BAG paste (36 wt.% BAG), (II) BAG slurry (100 wt.% BAG) and (III) de-ionized water (negative control). The average surface roughness and the lesion step height compared to intra-specimen sound enamel reference points were analyzed using non-contact profilometry. Optical changes within the lesion subsurface compared to baseline scans were assessed using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Knoop microhardness evaluated the WSLs' mechanical properties. Raman micro-spectroscopy measured the v-(CO3)(2-)/v1-(PO4)(3-) ratio. Structural changes in the lesion were observed using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDX). All comparisons were considered statistically significant if p<0.05. PAA-BAG air-abrasion removed 5.1 ± 0.6 μm from the lesion surface, increasing the WSL surface roughness. Pre-conditioning WSL surfaces with PAA-BAG air-abrasion reduced subsurface light scattering, increased the Knoop microhardness and the mineral content of the remineralized lesions (p<0.05). SEM-EDX revealed mineral depositions covering the lesion surface. BAG slurry resulted in a superior remineralization outcome, when compared to BAG paste. Pre-conditioning WSL surfaces with PAA-BAG air-abrasion modified the lesion surface physically and enhanced remineralization using BAG 45S5 therapy. Copyright © 2015 Academy of Dental Materials. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gustatory thalamus lesions in the rat: III. Simultaneous contrast and autoshaping.

PubMed

Reilly, S; Pritchard, T C

1997-12-01

The performance of rats with electrophysiologically guided electrolytic lesions of the gustatory thalamus (GT) was compared to that of control subjects in two experiments. In Experiment 1, the lesioned rats showed normal simultaneous contrast effects (both positive and negative) during brief, alternating access to 0.15% saccharin and 1.0 M sucrose. There was, however, a substantial lesion-induced impairment in the level of conditioned stimulus-directed maintenance responding on the autoshaping procedure of Experiment 2. These findings are discussed with respect to the anticipatory contrast deficit recently reported in GT-lesioned rats.

Effects of lesions of the dorsal noradrenergic bundle on conditioned suppression to a CS and to a contextual background stimulus.

PubMed

Tsaltas, E; Schugens, M M; Gray, J A

1989-01-01

The aim of the experiment was to determine whether the dorsal noradrenergic bundle (DB) plays a role in conditioning to context. Rats received either bilateral lesions of the DB by local injection of 6-hydroxydopamine, vehicle injections only, or sham operations. All animals were then trained to barpress for food on a variable interval (VI) schedule. Two 5-min intrusion periods were superimposed on the VI baseline during each session. An 'envelope' stimulus (flashing light) was on throughout each intrusion period. In addition, embedded in the two intrusion periods of each session, there occurred 8 presentations of a 'punctate' conditioned stimulus (CS) (a 15-s clicker), and 8 presentations of a 0.5-s footshock. Within each surgical condition rats were randomly allocated to one of three conditioning groups, receiving 100%, 50% or 0% temporal association between CS and shock. Conditioning to the punctate CS and to the context provided by the envelope stimulus was assessed by the degree of suppression of the barpress response relative to the VI baseline. Responding was most suppressed in the punctate CS in the 100 and 50% conditions, and most suppressed in the envelope stimulus in the 0% condition. DB lesions released response suppression to the punctate CS, had no effect on suppression to the envelope stimulus, and reduced sensitivity to CS-shock probability as measured by response suppression during the punctate CS. These results confirm previous reports that DB lesions alleviate response suppression to shock-associated cues, identify some of the parameters that affect this phenomenon, but fail to support a role for the DB in contextual conditioning.

Enamel demineralization and remineralization under plaque fluid-like conditions: a quantitative light-induced fluorescence study.

PubMed

Lippert, F; Butler, A; Lynch, R J M

2011-01-01

The present study investigated de- and remineralization in enamel lesions under plaque fluid (PF)-like conditions using quantitative light-induced fluorescence (QLF). Preformed lesions were exposed to partially saturated lactic acid solutions, varying in pH and fluoride concentration ([F]) based on a 5 × 3 factorial study design (0/0.1/0.5/1.5/4 ppm F; pH 4.9/5.2/5.5). Average fluorescence loss (ΔF) was monitored for 11 days. Subsequently, lesions were demineralized in a partially saturated acetic acid solution for two 24-hour periods. Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of covariance. Lesions exposed to PF at 4 ppm F and pH 5.5 showed not only the most remineralization (ΔΔF = 28.2 ± 14.0%) for all groups after 11 days, but also the most demineralization (ΔΔF = -19.3 ± 13.5%) after subsequent acetic acid exposure. Increased [F] resulted in more remineralization, regardless of pH. Higher pH values resulted in more remineralization. No remineralization was observed in lesions exposed to F-free solutions, regardless of pH. Remineralization was noticeable under the following conditions: pH 4.9 - [F] = 4 ppm, pH 5.2 - [F] ≥ 1.5 ppm, and pH 5.5 - [F] ≥ 0.5 ppm. Overall, [F] had a stronger effect on remineralization than pH. Subsequent demineralization showed that little protection was offered by PF-like solutions, and further demineralization compared with baseline was observed on lesions not remineralized initially. [F] had a stronger effect on net mineral change than pH. The present study has shown that QLF is a valuable tool in studying lesion de- and remineralization under PF-like conditions, where [F] was shown to be more important than pH. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Scar modulation in subacute and chronic CNS lesions: Effects on axonal regeneration.

PubMed

Stichel, Christine C.; Lausberg, Friederike; Hermanns, Susanne; Müller, Hans Werner

1999-01-01

After injury of the adult mammalian CNS axonal regeneration across or around the lesion scar is negligible. Previously, we have shown that the lesion-induced basal membrane (BM) within the lesion center participates in a growth barrier for axon regeneration and that its reduction by means of pharmacological or immunochemical treatment is a prerequisite and sufficient condition for regrowing axons to cross the lesion site. The present study was designed to further investigate this observation by analyzing the effect of a delayed treatment on the regeneration of both subacutely and chronically lesioned axons.Adult rats underwent unilateral transection of the postcommissural fornix. At one to five days after transection one group of animals received a local injection of 2, 2'-dipyridyl (DPY), an inhibitor of collagen triple helix formation and synthesis. Another group received a second transection within the former lesion site followed by an immediate DPY-injection at five days or 4 weeks after transection. Six weeks after the last surgery BM deposition and axonal regeneration were analysed using immunocytochemical methods.A local injection of DPY clearly reduced the lesion-induced BM deposition when applied within the first 3 days after transection. Under these conditions regrowing axons still crossed the former impermeable lesion site and regenerated within their normal pathway up to their former target, the mammillary body. However, in late subacute (5 d) and chronic stages (4 w) the double transection+injection paradigm failed to reduce BM deposition and, in consequence, also to induce axonal regeneration.These results demonstrate the potential of the collagen IV-reducing strategy to promote axonal regeneration across the lesion scar not only in acute but also in early subacute traumatic injuries.

The relative effects of cavitation and nonlinear ultrasound propagation on HIFU lesion dynamics in a tissue phantom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khokhlova, Vera A.; Bailey, Michael R.; Reed, Justin; Kaczkowski, Peter J.

2004-05-01

The relative importance of the effects of acoustic nonlinearity and cavitation in HIFU lesion production is studied experimentally and theoretically in a polyacrylamide gel. A 2-MHz transducer of 40-mm diameter and 45-mm focal length was operated at different regimes of power, and in cw or duty-cycle regimes with equal mean intensity. Elevated static pressure was applied to suppress bubbles, increase boiling temperature, and thus to isolate the effect of acoustic nonlinearity in the enhancement of lesion production. Experimental data were compared with the results of simulations performed using a KZK acoustic model combined with the bioheat equation and thermal dose formulation. Boiling and the typical tadpole-shaped lesion shifting towards the transducer were observed under standard atmospheric pressure. No boiling was detected and a symmetric thermal lesion formed in the case of overpressure. A delay in lesion inception time was registered with overpressure, which was hypothesized to be due to suppressed microbubble dynamics. The effect of acoustic nonlinearity was revealed as a substantial decrease in the lesion inception time and an increase in the lesion size for high-amplitude waves under both standard and overpressure conditions. [Work supported by ONRIFO, NASA/NSBRI, NIH Fogarty, and CRDF grants.

Time-dependent reorganization of the brain components underlying memory retention in trace eyeblink conditioning.

PubMed

Takehara, Kaori; Kawahara, Shigenori; Kirino, Yutaka

2003-10-29

Many studies have confirmed the time-limited involvement of the hippocampus in mnemonic processes and suggested that there is reorganization of the responsible brain circuitry during memory consolidation. To clarify such reorganization, we chose trace classical eyeblink conditioning, in which hippocampal ablation produces temporally graded retrograde amnesia. Here, we extended the temporal characterization of retrograde amnesia to other regions that are involved in acquisition during this task: the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the cerebellum. At a various time interval after establishing the trace conditioned response (CR), rats received an aspiration of one of the three regions. After recovery, the animals were tested for their CR retention. When ablated 1 d after the learning, both the hippocampal lesion and the cerebellar lesion group of rats exhibited a severe impairment in retention of the CR, whereas the mPFC lesion group showed only a slight decline. With an increase in interval between the lesion and the learning, the effect of the hippocampal lesion diminished and that of the mPFC lesion increased. When ablated 4 weeks after the learning, the hippocampal lesion group exhibited as robust CRs as its corresponding control group. In contrast, the mPFC lesion and the cerebellar lesion groups failed to retain the CRs. These results indicate that the hippocampus and the cerebellum, but only marginally the mPFC, constitute a brain circuitry that mediates recently acquired memory. As time elapses, the circuitry is reorganized to use mainly the mPFC and the cerebellum, but not the hippocampus, for remotely acquired memory.

Basolateral amygdala lesions abolish mutual reward preferences in rats.

PubMed

Hernandez-Lallement, Julen; van Wingerden, Marijn; Schäble, Sandra; Kalenscher, Tobias

2016-01-01

In a recent study, we demonstrated that rats prefer mutual rewards in a Prosocial Choice Task. Here, employing the same task, we show that the integrity of basolateral amygdala was necessary for the expression of mutual reward preferences. Actor rats received bilateral excitotoxic (n=12) or sham lesions (n=10) targeting the basolateral amygdala and were subsequently tested in a Prosocial Choice Task where they could decide between rewarding ("Both Reward") or not rewarding a partner rat ("Own Reward"), either choice yielding identical reward to the actors themselves. To manipulate the social context and control for secondary reinforcement sources, actor rats were paired with either a partner rat (partner condition) or with an inanimate rat toy (toy condition). Sham-operated animals revealed a significant preference for the Both-Reward-option in the partner condition, but not in the toy condition. Amygdala-lesioned animals exhibited significantly lower Both-Reward preferences than the sham group in the partner but not in the toy condition, suggesting that basolateral amygdala was required for the expression of mutual reward preferences. Critically, in a reward magnitude discrimination task in the same experimental setup, both sham-operated and amygdala-lesioned animals preferred large over small rewards, suggesting that amygdala lesion effects were restricted to decision making in social contexts, leaving self-oriented behavior unaffected. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Immunotoxic cholinergic lesions in the basal forebrain reverse the effects of entorhinal cortex lesions on conditioned odor aversion in the rat.

PubMed

Ferry, Barbara; Herbeaux, Karin; Cosquer, Brigitte; Traissard, Natalia; Galani, Rodrigue; Cassel, Jean-Christophe

2007-07-01

Conditioned odor aversion (COA) corresponds to the avoidance of an odorized-tasteless solution (conditioned stimulus, CS) previously paired with toxicosis. COA occurs only when the interstimulus interval (ISI) is kept short, suggesting that the memory trace of the odor is subject to rapid decay. Previous experiments have shown that the entorhinal cortex (EC) is involved in the acquisition of COA, since lesion of the EC rendered COA tolerant to long ISI. Because EC lesions induce a septo-hippocampal cholinergic sprouting, the present experiment investigated whether COA tolerance to long ISI may be linked to this sprouting reaction. In a first experiment, male Long-Evans rats subjected to bilateral excitotoxic EC lesions combined to intracerebroventricular infusions of the selective cholinergic immunotoxin 192 IgG-saporin were exposed to odor-toxicosis pairing using a long ISI (120 min). Results showed that EC-lesioned rats displayed COA with the long ISI but not the control groups. In rats with EC combined to 192 IgG-saporin lesions, histological analysis demonstrated no evidence for cholinergic septo-hippocampal sprouting. In a second experiment, animals with 192-IgG saporin lesion showed a marked COA with a short ISI (5 min). These results suggest that the COA with the long ISI found in rats with EC lesions might involve a functional activity related to the EC lesion-induced hippocampal cholinergic sprouting. As the injection of 192 IgG-saporin alone did not affect COA with a short ISI, our data also point to a possible role of hippocampal cholinergic neurons in the modulation of memory processes underlying COA.

A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study to evaluate the efficacy of a citrus bioflavanoid blend in the treatment of senile purpura.

PubMed

Berlin, Joshua M; Eisenberg, David P; Berlin, Mindy B; Sarro, Robert A; Leeman, Douglas R; Fein, Howard

2011-07-01

Senile purpura is a common, chronic skin condition affecting more than 10 percent of individuals over the age of 50. Despite being a benign condition, the continual development of purpura lesions in afflicted patients is frequently a source of significant visual and social concern. To date, there are no known effective treatments for this condition. To evaluate the efficacy of a novel nutraceutical citrus bioflavonoid blend in improving the skin's appearance in patients with senile purpura. A six-week, randomized, multicenter, placebo-controlled, double-blind study was conducted to determine whether a uniquely formulated, oral citrus bioflavonoid supplement could treat active lesions of senile purpura while preventing new lesions from arising. Seventy patients with senile purpura were enrolled and 67 completed the study. Subjects were randomized into two groups receiving either a citrus bioflavonoid blend or placebo medication, which was taken orally twice daily for six weeks. Clinical evaluations were performed by blinded investigators at two locations. A statistically significant reduction in the number of new purpura lesions in the skin area undergoing clinical study was documented. At the end of six weeks, the citrus bioflavonoid blend treated group showed a 50 percent reduction in purpura lesions from baseline. Patient self-assessment of the effectiveness of the medication echoed the results of an investigator global assessment with a statistically significant improvement in the skin's appearance noted by the patients receiving the active medication. No adverse effects were noted by either the patients or investigators. This new treatment appears to both safely and effectively diminish skin bruising in patients with senile purpura.

Parallel learning in an autoshaping paradigm.

PubMed

Naeem, Maliha; White, Norman M

2016-08-01

In an autoshaping task, a single conditioned stimulus (CS; lever insertion) was repeatedly followed by the delivery of an unconditioned stimulus (US; food pellet into an adjacent food magazine) irrespective of the rats' behavior. After repeated training trials, some rats responded to the onset of the CS by approaching and pressing the lever (sign-trackers). Lesions of dorsolateral striatum almost completely eliminated responding to the lever CS while facilitating responding to the food magazine (US). Lesions of the dorsomedial striatum attenuated but did not eliminate responding to the lever CS. Lesions of the basolateral or central nucleus of the amygdala had no significant effects on sign-tracking, but combined lesions of the 2 structures impaired sign-tracking by significantly increasing latency to the first lever press without affecting the number of lever presses. Lesions of the dorsal hippocampus had no effect on any of the behavioral measures. The findings suggest that sign-tracking with a single lever insertion as the CS may consist of 2 separate behaviors learned in parallel: An amygdala-mediated conditioned orienting and approach response and a dorsal striatum-mediated instrumental response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Pronounced reduction of acquisition of conditioned eyeblink responses in young adults with focal cerebellar lesions impedes conclusions on the role of the cerebellum in extinction and savings.

PubMed

Ernst, T M; Beyer, L; Mueller, O M; Göricke, S; Ladd, M E; Gerwig, M; Timmann, D

2016-05-01

Human cerebellar lesion studies provide good evidence that the cerebellum contributes to the acquisition of classically conditioned eyeblink responses (CRs). As yet, only one study used more advanced methods of lesion-symptom (or lesion-behavior) mapping to investigate which cerebellar areas are involved in CR acquisition in humans. Likewise, comparatively few studies investigated the contribution of the human cerebellum to CR extinction and savings. In this present study, young adults with focal cerebellar disease were tested. A subset of participants was expected to acquire enough conditioned responses to allow the investigation of extinction and saving effects. 19 participants with chronic surgical lesions of the cerebellum and 19 matched control subjects were tested. In all cerebellar subjects benign tumors of the cerebellum had been surgically removed. Eyeblink conditioning was performed using a standard short delay protocol. An initial unpaired control phase was followed by an acquisition phase, an extinction phase and a subsequent reacquisition phase. Structural 3T magnetic resonance images of the brain were acquired on the day of testing. Cerebellar lesions were normalized using methods optimized for the cerebellum. Subtraction analysis and Liebermeister tests were used to perform lesion-symptom mapping. As expected, CR acquisition was significantly reduced in cerebellar subjects compared to controls. Reduced CR acquisition was significantly more likely in participants with lesions of lobule VI and Crus I extending into Crus II (p<0.05, Liebermeister test). Cerebellar subjects could be subdivided into two groups: a smaller group (n=5) which showed acquisition, extinction and savings within the normal range; and a larger group (n=14) which did not show acquisition. In the latter, no conclusions on extinction or savings could be drawn. Previous findings were confirmed that circumscribed areas in lobule VI and Crus I are of major importance in CR acquisition. In addition, the present data suggest that if the critical regions of the cerebellar cortex are lesioned, the ability to acquire CRs is not only reduced but abolished. Subjects with lesions outside these critical areas, on the other hand show preserved acquisition, extinction and saving effects. As a consequence, studies in human subjects with cerebellar lesions do not allow drawing conclusions on CR extinction and savings. In light of the present findings, previous reports of reduced extinction in humans with circumscribed cerebellar disease need to be critically reevaluated. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ABA and ABC renewal of conditioned magazine approach are not impaired by dorsal hippocampus inactivation or lesions

PubMed Central

Campese, Vincent; Delamater, Andrew R.

2013-01-01

Three experiments investigated the role of the dorsal hippocampus (DH) in renewal of conditioned and then extinguished magazine approach responding in rats. Experiments 1 and 2 found no effect of muscimol inactivation of the DH during testing on ABA and ABC renewal, respectively. However, subjects from these studies were subsequently found to be impaired on a delayed non-matching-to-place task following muscimol but not saline infusions. Experiment 3 found no effects of post-training excitotoxic lesions of the DH on ABA and ABC renewal. Lesioned subjects were, however, impaired on the delayed non-matching-to-place task compared to control subjects. These findings suggest that the DH may not play a similar role in Pavlovian extinction in appetitive learning tasks as has previously been reported in aversive learning. PMID:23583520

Formamidopyrimidines in DNA: mechanisms of formation, repair, and biological effects.

PubMed

Dizdaroglu, Miral; Kirkali, Güldal; Jaruga, Pawel

2008-12-15

Oxidatively induced damage to DNA results in a plethora of lesions comprising modified bases and sugars, DNA-protein cross-links, tandem lesions, strand breaks, and clustered lesions. Formamidopyrimidines, 4,6-diamino-5-formamidopyrimidine (FapyAde) and 2,6-diamino-4-hydroxy-5-formamidopyrimidine (FapyGua), are among the major lesions generated in DNA by hydroxyl radical attack, UV radiation, or photosensitization under numerous in vitro and in vivo conditions. They are formed by one-electron reduction of C8-OH-adduct radicals of purines and thus have a common precursor with 8-hydroxypurines generated upon one-electron oxidation. Methodologies using mass spectrometry exist to accurately measure FapyAde and FapyGua in vitro and in vivo. Formamidopyrimidines are repaired by base excision repair. Numerous prokaryotic and eukaryotic DNA glycosylases are highly specific for removal of these lesions from DNA in the first step of this repair pathway, indicating their biological importance. FapyAde and FapyGua are bypassed by DNA polymerases with the insertion of the wrong intact base opposite them, leading to mutagenesis. In mammalian cells, the mutagenicity of FapyGua exceeds that of 8-hydroxyguanine, which is thought to be the most mutagenic of the oxidatively induced lesions in DNA. The background and formation levels of the former in vitro and in vivo equal or exceed those of the latter under various conditions. FapyAde and FapyGua exist in living cells at significant background levels and are abundantly generated upon exposure to oxidative stress. Mice lacking the genes that encode specific DNA glycosylases accumulate these lesions in different organs and, in some cases, exhibit a series of pathological conditions including metabolic syndrome and cancer. Animals exposed to environmental toxins accumulate formamidopyrimidines in their organs. Here, we extensively review the mechanisms of formation, measurement, repair, and biological effects of formamidopyrimidines that have been investigated in the past 50 years. Our goal is to emphasize the importance of these neglected lesions in many biological and disease processes.

Effects of inferior olive lesion on fear-conditioned bradycardia

PubMed Central

Kotajima, Hiroko; Sakai, Kazuhisa; Hashikawa, Tsutomu

2014-01-01

The inferior olive (IO) sends excitatory inputs to the cerebellar cortex and cerebellar nuclei through the climbing fibers. In eyeblink conditioning, a model of motor learning, the inactivation of or a lesion in the IO impairs the acquisition or expression of conditioned eyeblink responses. Additionally, climbing fibers originating from the IO are believed to transmit the unconditioned stimulus to the cerebellum in eyeblink conditioning. Studies using fear-conditioned bradycardia showed that the cerebellum is associated with adaptive control of heart rate. However, the role of inputs from the IO to the cerebellum in fear-conditioned bradycardia has not yet been investigated. To examine this possible role, we tested fear-conditioned bradycardia in mice by selective disruption of the IO using 3-acetylpyridine. In a rotarod test, mice with an IO lesion were unable to remain on the rod. The number of neurons of IO nuclei in these mice was decreased to ∼40% compared with control mice. Mice with an IO lesion did not show changes in the mean heart rate or in heart rate responses to a conditioned stimulus, or in their responses to a painful stimulus in a tail-flick test. However, they did show impairment of the acquisition/expression of conditioned bradycardia and attenuation of heart rate responses to a pain stimulus used as an unconditioned stimulus. These results indicate that the IO inputs to the cerebellum play a key role in the acquisition/expression of conditioned bradycardia. PMID:24784584

Lesions of the medial prefrontal cortex cause maladaptive sexual behavior in male rats.

PubMed

Davis, Jon F; Loos, Maarten; Di Sebastiano, Andrea R; Brown, Jennifer L; Lehman, Michael N; Coolen, Lique M

2010-06-15

An inability to inhibit behaviors once they become maladaptive is a component of several psychiatric illnesses, and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was identified as a potential mediator of behavioral inhibition. The current study tested if the mPFC is involved in inhibition of sexual behavior when associated with aversive outcomes. Using male rats, effects of lesions of the infralimbic and prelimbic areas of the mPFC on expression of sexual behavior and ability to inhibit mating were tested using a paradigm of copulation-contingent aversion. Medial prefrontal cortex lesions did not alter expression of sexual behavior. In contrast, mPFC lesions completely blocked the acquisition of sex-aversion conditioning and lesioned animals continued to mate, in contrast to the robust behavioral inhibition toward copulation in mPFC intact male animals, resulting in only 22% of intact male animals continuing to mate. However, rats with mPFC lesions were capable of forming a conditioned place preference to sexual reward and conditioned place aversion for lithium chloride, suggesting that these lesions did not alter associative learning or sensitivity for lithium chloride. The current study indicates that animals with mPFC lesions are likely capable of forming the associations with aversive outcomes of their behavior but lack the ability to suppress seeking of sexual reward in the face of aversive consequences. These data may contribute to a better understanding of a common pathology underlying impulse control disorders, as compulsive sexual behavior has a high prevalence of comorbidity with psychiatric disorders and Parkinson's disease.

Intracranial hypertension secondary to a skull lesion without mass effect.

PubMed

Serlin, Yonatan; Benifla, Mony; Kesler, Anat; Cohen, Avi; Shelef, Ilan

2016-09-01

We report and discuss five patients with intracranial hypertension due to a skull lesion reducing cerebral sinus patency with a compressive, non-thrombotic mechanism. We illustrate the importance of a high level of suspicion for this condition in patients presenting with headache, papilledema and increased intracranial pressure in the absence of focal signs or radiological evidence of mass effect. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factitious buccal lesion secondary to bruxism in a child with cerebral palsy

PubMed Central

Harris, D

2006-01-01

Children with cerebral palsy are at greater risk of a whole range of oral conditions than their peers. These include bruxism (tooth grinding), oral skill dysfunction, gross malocclusion due to effects of the abnormal orofacial muscle tone on tooth eruption, drooling of saliva, and poor oral hygiene.1 A challenging case of a painful buccal lesion in a 2 year old girl with cerebral palsy (CP) that did not respond to antifungal, antiviral or antibiotic treatment is presented as a factitious lesion. The recognition and significance of self‐injurious behaviour and factitious lesions in children are discussed. PMID:16373789

Factitious buccal lesion secondary to bruxism in a child with cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Harris, D

2006-01-01

Children with cerebral palsy are at greater risk of a whole range of oral conditions than their peers. These include bruxism (tooth grinding), oral skill dysfunction, gross malocclusion due to effects of the abnormal orofacial muscle tone on tooth eruption, drooling of saliva, and poor oral hygiene. A challenging case of a painful buccal lesion in a 2 year old girl with cerebral palsy (CP) that did not respond to antifungal, antiviral or antibiotic treatment is presented as a factitious lesion. The recognition and significance of self-injurious behaviour and factitious lesions in children are discussed.

ABA and ABC renewal of conditioned magazine approach are not impaired by dorsal hippocampus inactivation or lesions.

PubMed

Campese, Vincent; Delamater, Andrew R

2013-07-01

Three experiments investigated the role of the dorsal hippocampus (DH) in renewal of conditioned and then extinguished magazine approach responding in rats. Experiments 1 and 2 found no effect of muscimol inactivation of the DH during testing on ABA and ABC renewal, respectively. However, subjects from these studies were subsequently found to be impaired on a delayed non-matching-to-place task following muscimol but not saline infusions. Experiment 3 found no effects of post-training excitotoxic lesions of the DH on ABA and ABC renewal. Lesioned subjects were, however, impaired on the delayed non-matching-to-place task compared to control subjects. These findings suggest that the DH may not play a similar role in Pavlovian extinction in appetitive learning tasks as has previously been reported in aversive learning. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A dual task priming investigation of right hemisphere inhibition for people with left hemisphere lesions

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background During normal semantic processing, the left hemisphere (LH) is suggested to restrict right hemisphere (RH) performance via interhemispheric suppression. However, a lesion in the LH or the use of concurrent tasks to overload the LH's attentional resource balance has been reported to result in RH disinhibition with subsequent improvements in RH performance. The current study examines variations in RH semantic processing in the context of unilateral LH lesions and the manipulation of the interhemispheric processing resource balance, in order to explore the relevance of RH disinhibition to hemispheric contributions to semantic processing following a unilateral LH lesion. Methods RH disinhibition was examined for nine participants with a single LH lesion and 13 matched controls using the dual task paradigm. Hemispheric performance on a divided visual field lexical decision semantic priming task was compared over three verbal memory load conditions, of zero-, two- and six-words. Related stimuli consisted of categorically related, associatively related, and categorically and associatively related prime-target pairs. Response time and accuracy data were recorded and analyzed using linear mixed model analysis, and planned contrasts were performed to compare priming effects in both visual fields, for each of the memory load conditions. Results Control participants exhibited significant bilateral visual field priming for all related conditions (p < .05), and a LH advantage over all three memory load conditions. Participants with LH lesions exhibited an improvement in RH priming performance as memory load increased, with priming for the categorically related condition occurring only in the 2- and 6-word memory conditions. RH disinhibition was also reflected for the LH damage (LHD) group by the removal of the LH performance advantage following the introduction of the memory load conditions. Conclusions The results from the control group are consistent with suggestions of an age related hemispheric asymmetry reduction and indicate that in healthy aging compensatory bilateral activation may reduce the impact of inhibition. In comparison, the results for the LHD group indicate that following a LH lesion RH semantic processing can be manipulated and enhanced by the introduction of a verbal memory task designed to engage LH resources and allow disinhibition of RH processing. PMID:22429687

Accuracy and variability of texture-based radiomics features of lung lesions across CT imaging conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Yuese; Solomon, Justin; Choudhury, Kingshuk; Marin, Daniele; Samei, Ehsan

2017-03-01

Texture analysis for lung lesions is sensitive to changing imaging conditions but these effects are not well understood, in part, due to a lack of ground-truth phantoms with realistic textures. The purpose of this study was to explore the accuracy and variability of texture features across imaging conditions by comparing imaged texture features to voxel-based 3D printed textured lesions for which the true values are known. The seven features of interest were based on the Grey Level Co-Occurrence Matrix (GLCM). The lesion phantoms were designed with three shapes (spherical, lobulated, and spiculated), two textures (homogenous and heterogeneous), and two sizes (diameter < 1.5 cm and 1.5 cm < diameter < 3 cm), resulting in 24 lesions (with a second replica of each). The lesions were inserted into an anthropomorphic thorax phantom (Multipurpose Chest Phantom N1, Kyoto Kagaku) and imaged using a commercial CT system (GE Revolution) at three CTDI levels (0.67, 1.42, and 5.80 mGy), three reconstruction algorithms (FBP, IR-2, IR-4), four reconstruction kernel types (standard, soft, edge), and two slice thicknesses (0.6 mm and 5 mm). Another repeat scan was performed. Texture features from these images were extracted and compared to the ground truth feature values by percent relative error. The variability across imaging conditions was calculated by standard deviation across a certain imaging condition for all heterogeneous lesions. The results indicated that the acquisition method has a significant influence on the accuracy and variability of extracted features and as such, feature quantities are highly susceptible to imaging parameter choices. The most influential parameters were slice thickness and reconstruction kernels. Thin slice thickness and edge reconstruction kernel overall produced more accurate and more repeatable results. Some features (e.g., Contrast) were more accurately quantified under conditions that render higher spatial frequencies (e.g., thinner slice thickness and sharp kernels), while others (e.g., Homogeneity) showed more accurate quantification under conditions that render smoother images (e.g., higher dose and smoother kernels). Care should be exercised is relating texture features between cases of varied acquisition protocols, with need to cross calibration dependent on the feature of interest.

Abdominal Wall Endometriosis Mimicking Metastases.

PubMed

Nambiar, Rakul; Anoop, T M; Mony, Rari P

2018-06-01

Abdominal wall lesions can be broadly divided into nontumorous and tumorous conditions. Nontumorous lesions include congenital lesion, abdominal wall hernia, inflammation and infection, vascular lesions, and miscellaneous conditions like hematoma. Tumorous lesions include benign and malignant neoplasms. Here, we report an unusual case of abdominal wall endometriosis mimicking metastases in a patient with breast carcinoma.

Lesions of the SDN-POA inhibit sexual behavior of male Wistar rats.

PubMed

De Jonge, F H; Louwerse, A L; Ooms, M P; Evers, P; Endert, E; van de Poll, N E

1989-12-01

Discrete bilateral lesions in the SDN-POA of sexually naive adult male rats were found to decrease the number of animals ejaculating and/or to increase latencies to the first mount, intromission and ejaculation. The deleterious effects of the lesions disappeared after 4 tests for sexual behavior but were reinstated when the males were tested under suboptimal conditions, i.e., when they were tested with a marginally receptive female or when they had only limited access to the stimulus female. It was subsequently shown that males with a bilaterally lesioned SDN-POA still showed an increase in plasma testosterone. LH and prolactin levels in response to sexual stimulation. Effects of the lesions on scent marking were not found. Together with previous data indicating that SDN-POA-lesions disrupt masculine sexual behavior in females, these data are taken as evidence that the SDN-POA plays a role in the regulation of masculine sexual behavior. The data further suggest that previously reported negative results of SDN-POA-lesions on masculine sexual behavior in male rats might be attributed to the use of sexually experienced instead of sexually inexperienced animals.

Salt appetite of adrenalectomized rats after a lesion of the SFO.

PubMed

Wilson, Wendy L; Starbuck, Elizabeth M; Fitts, Douglas A

2002-11-15

Circumventricular organs such as the subfornical organ (SFO) may mediate the effects of circulating angiotensin (ANG) II on salt appetite under conditions of sodium depletion in the rat. We studied the effects of an electrolytic lesion of SFO on salt appetite after adrenalectomy (ADX) in Long-Evans rats. The SFO lesion had no effect on saline intake, but it did abolish water intake after acute peripheral treatments with 2 mg/kg of captopril or a 10 mg/kg of furosemide. These findings contrast with other recent data from this laboratory demonstrating large reductions in salt appetite in adrenal-intact rats with lesions of either SFO or the organum vasculosum laminae terminalis during acute iv infusions of ANG II. Thus, the SFO may contribute to the salt appetite response to circulating ANG II, but it is not essential for the response to adrenalectomy. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science B.V.

Changes in Context-Specificity during Memory Reconsolidation: Selective Effects of Hippocampal Lesions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winocur, Gordon; Frankland, Paul W.; Sekeres, Melanie; Fogel, Stuart; Moscovitch, Morris

2009-01-01

After acquisition, memories associated with contextual fear conditioning pass through a labile phase, in which they are vulnerable to hippocampal lesions, to a more stable state, via consolidation, in which they engage extrahippocampal structures and are resistant to such disruption. The process is accompanied by changes in the form of the memory…

Differential effects of unilateral lesions in the medial amygdala on spontaneous and induced ovulation.

PubMed

Sanchez, M A; Dominguez, R

1995-01-01

The possible existence of asymmetry in the control of ovulation by the medial amygdala was explored. Unilateral lesions of the medial amygdala were performed on each day of the estrous cycle. The estral index diminished in almost all animals with a lesion in the right side of medial amygdala. Lesions of the right medial amygdala, when performed on diestrus-1, resulted in a significant decrease in the number of rats ovulating compared to controls (4/8 vs. 8/8, p < 0.05). In ovulating animals a significant reduction in the number of ova shed by the left ovary was found (2.2 +/- 0.8 vs. 6.3 +/- 0.8, p < 0.05). Lesions of the stria terminalis performed on diestrus-1 did not affect ovulation. In a second experiment, administration of GnRH did not restore ovulation in rats with lesions of the right medial amygdala. However, sequential injections of PMSG-hCG did result in ovulation by all members of a group of lesioned animals. In this last condition a significant decrease in the number of ova shed by the right ovary was found compared to animals in the lesion-only condition (1.5 +/- 0.5 vs. 6.0 +/- 1.5, p < 0.05). These data suggest that control of ovulation by the medial amygdala is asymmetric and varies during the estrous cycle.

Effects of atomoxetine on attention and impulsivity in the five-choice serial reaction time task in rats with lesions of dorsal noradrenergic ascending bundle.

PubMed

Liu, Yia-Ping; Huang, Teng-Shun; Tung, Che-Se; Lin, Chen-Cheng

2015-01-02

Atomoxetine, a noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor (NRI), which is a non-stimulating medicine that is used for the treatment of patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has been found to be effective in reducing behavioral impulsivity in rodents, but its efficacy in a dorsal noradrenergic ascending bundle (DNAB)-lesioned condition has not been examined. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of DNAB lesions on attention and impulsive control in the five-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT) in rats treated with atomoxetine. The drug-induced changes in noradrenaline efflux in the medial prefrontal cortex were also measured. 5-CSRTT-trained rats were included in one of the following groups: N-(2-chloroethyl)-N-ethyl-2-bromobenzylamine (DSP-4)/Atomoxetine, Sham/Atomoxetine, DSP-4/Saline, or Sham/Saline. Acute atomoxetine (0.3 mg/kg) was administered 14 days after the DSP-4 regime. The behavioral testing included manipulations of the inter-trial interval (ITI), stimulation duration and food satiety. In vivo microdialysis of the noradrenaline efflux in the medial prefrontal cortex and the expression of the noradrenaline transporter (NAT) in the DNAB areas were examined. Atomoxetine reduced impulsivity and perseveration in the long-ITI condition with no effects on any other variables. This phenomenon was not influenced by DSP-4 pre-treatment. The DNAB-lesioned rats had lower noradrenaline efflux in the medial prefrontal cortex. DSP-4 caused no change in NAT expression in the DNAB areas. These findings suggested that noradrenaline reuptake may not be exclusively responsible for the atomoxetine effects in adjusting impulsivity. The role of DNAB should also be considered, particularly in conditions requiring greater behavioral inhibition. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Alleviation of response suppression to conditioned aversive stimuli by lesions of the dorsal noradrenergic bundle.

PubMed

Tsaltas, E; Gray, J A; Fillenz, M

1984-08-01

Rats with neurotoxic lesions of the dorsal ascending noradrenergic bundle (DB) were compared with sham-operated (SH) controls on the acquisition, steady state and extinction of response suppression maintained by a classical (conditioned suppression) or an instrumental (discriminated punishment) contingency. DB lesions interfered neither with the acquisition of the reference response of sucrose-rewarded barpressing nor with unconditioned responding to the overhead flashing light subsequently used as a signal of shock. The acquisition of discriminated response suppression was also unaffected by the lesion under both types of contingency. However, once discriminated suppression had stabilized, both the conditioned and the discriminative stimulus used were significantly less effective in maintaining suppression in DB animals than in SH controls provided that low intensity footshock (0.2 mA) was used as the unconditioned stimulus (UCS). Upon increase of UCS intensity (to 0.5 mA) normal suppression was observed in the DB group under both contingencies. Extinction of the classical contingency reinstated the difference between DB and SH performance: DB lesion resulted in significantly faster extinction of fear. In contrast, extinction of the discriminated punishment contingency was unaffected by the lesion, although generalized response suppression dissipated faster in the DB than in the SH animals trained under this condition. Our results offer no support for the reinforcement hypothesis of DB function (normal acquisition of barpressing and of discriminated suppression of barpressing); mixed support (greater initial generalization of suppression in DB animals) and contradiction (more rapid extinction of conditioned suppression in DB animals) for the attentional hypothesis; and weak support (reduced suppression and more rapid extinction of suppression in DB animals, but only within limited experimental parameters) for the anxiety hypothesis of DB function. Hence none of the extant theories of DB function offer a ready explanation of the pattern of results presented here. A simple interpretation which conforms with the sparsity of positive behavioural findings in the literature on DB lesions is that forebrain noradrenaline contributes to the detection and utilization of conditioned stimuli; but that this contribution is critical only for the detection of stimuli with low associative strength.

A comment on the paper 'A comparison between lesions found during meat inspection of finishing pigs raised under organic/free-range conditions and conventional indoor conditions' by Alban et al. 2015.

PubMed

Sørensen, Jan Tind

2016-01-01

This is a critical comment on a paper published in Porcine Health Management in 2015, presenting a comparison between lesions from meat inspection at one abattoir on slaughter pigs classified in to two different production forms: organic/free-range conditions and conventional indoor conditions. The conclusion made by the paper that 13 lesion types has a higher prevalence in organic/free-range pigs and 4 lesion types occurred less frequently in organic/free-range finishers compared to conventional finishers is correct except that 5 (instead of 4) lesion types occurred less frequently in organic/free-range finishers. However, these five types of lesions represent 74 % of all lesions recorded among conventional indoor, conventional free-range and organic pigs in one slaughter house from October 1 2012 to September 26 2013.

pH modulation ameliorates the red blood cell storage lesion in a murine model of transfusion.

PubMed

Chang, Alex L; Kim, Young; Seitz, Aaron P; Schuster, Rebecca M; Pritts, Timothy A

2017-05-15

Prolonged storage of packed red blood cells (pRBCs) induces a series of harmful biochemical and metabolic changes known as the RBC storage lesion. RBCs are currently stored in an acidic storage solution, but the effect of pH on the RBC storage lesion is unknown. We investigated the effect of modulation of storage pH on the RBC storage lesion and on erythrocyte survival after transfusion. Murine pRBCs were stored in Additive Solution-3 (AS3) under standard conditions (pH, 5.8), acidic AS3 (pH, 4.5), or alkalinized AS3 (pH, 8.5). pRBC units were analyzed at the end of the storage period. Several components of the storage lesion were measured, including cell-free hemoglobin, microparticle production, phosphatidylserine externalization, lactate accumulation, and byproducts of lipid peroxidation. Carboxyfluorescein-labeled erythrocytes were transfused into healthy mice to determine cell survival. Compared with pRBCs stored in standard AS3, those stored in alkaline solution exhibited decreased hemolysis, phosphatidylserine externalization, microparticle production, and lipid peroxidation. Lactate levels were greater after storage in alkaline conditions, suggesting that these pRBCs remained more metabolically viable. Storage in acidic AS3 accelerated erythrocyte deterioration. Compared with standard AS3 storage, circulating half-life of cells was increased by alkaline storage but decreased in acidic conditions. Storage pH significantly affects the quality of stored RBCs and cell survival after transfusion. Current erythrocyte storage solutions may benefit from refinements in pH levels. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

New long-wavelength Nd:YAG laser at 1.44 micron: effect on brain.

PubMed

Martiniuk, R; Bauer, J A; McKean, J D; Tulip, J; Mielke, B W

1989-02-01

A wavelength-shifted Nd:YAG laser, tuned to coincide with the infrared absorption peak of water at 1.44 microns, was used to make lesions in normal rabbit brain. A total of 48 lesions were made with power up to 20 W, with energy up to 40 joules, and with two different spot sizes. These lesions were compared to lesions made with 1.06 microns radiation from an Nd:YAG laser under identical operating conditions. Measurements of blood-brain barrier damage and width, depth, and volume of tissue affected were obtained 30 minutes after placement of the lesions. It was found that 1.44-microns lesions produced photoevaporative tissue loss at the highest intensities used. The layer of coagulated tissue remaining after photovaporization had a mean thickness of 0.6 mm irrespective of the volume of tissue removed. There was no photovaporization in the 1.06-microns lesions. In addition, the amount of peripheral edema per unit volume of tissue coagulated was approximately half at the 1.44-microns wavelength. These findings suggest that the 1.44-microns Nd:YAG laser may be a useful surgical instrument since it combines the photoevaporative effect of the CO2 laser while maintaining the advantages of the conventional Nd:YAG laser (quartz fiber delivery and effective hemostasis).

Enhanced consumption of salient solutions following pedunculopontine tegmental lesions.

PubMed

MacLaren, D A A; Markovic, T; Daniels, D; Clark, S D

2015-01-22

Rats with lesions of the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg) reliably overconsume high concentration sucrose solution. This effect is thought to be indicative of response-perseveration or loss of behavioral control in conditions of high excitement. While these theories have anatomical and behavioral support, they have never been explicitly tested. Here, we used a contact lickometer to examine the microstructure of drinking behavior to gain insight into the behavioral changes during overconsumption. Rats received either excitotoxic (ibotenic acid) damage to all PPTg neuronal subpopulations or selective depletion of the cholinergic neuronal sub-population (diphtheria toxin-urotensin II (Dtx-UII) lesions). We offered rats a variety of pleasant, neutral and aversive tastants to assess the generalizability and specificity of the overconsumption effect. Ibotenic-lesioned rats consumed significantly more 20% sucrose than sham controls, and did so through licking significantly more times. However, the behavioral microstructure during overconsumption was unaffected by the lesion and showed no indications of response-perseveration. Furthermore, the overconsumption effect did not generalize to highly consumed saccharin. In contrast, while only consuming small amounts of quinine solution, ibotenic-lesioned rats had significantly more licks and bursts for this tastant. Selective depletion of cholinergic PPTg neurons had no effect on consumption of any tastant. We then assessed whether it is the salience of the solution which determines overconsumption by ibotenic-lesioned rats. While maintained on free-food, ibotenic-lesioned rats had normal consumption of sucrose and hypertonic saline. After mild food deprivation ibotenic PPTg-lesioned rats overconsumed 20% sucrose. Subsequently, after dietary-induced sodium deficiency, lesioned rats consumed significantly more saline than controls. These results establish that it is the salience of the solution which is the determining factor leading to overconsumption following excitotoxic PPTg lesion. They also find no support for response-perseveration contributing to this effect. Results are discussed in terms of altered dopamine (DA) and salience signaling. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electrolytic lesions of the nucleus accumbens enhance locomotor sensitization to nicotine in rats.

PubMed

Kelsey, John E; Willmore, Ellen J

2006-06-01

Electrolytic lesions of the medial core of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in male Long-Evans rats increased spontaneous locomotion, enhanced the locomotor stimulating effect of acute 5.0 mg/kg cocaine, enhanced the development and subsequent expression of locomotor sensitization produced by repeated injections of 0.4 mg/kg nicotine but not 7.5 mg/kg cocaine, and enhanced the expression of conditioned locomotion. Given that 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of the NAc typically have effects on locomotor-related processes that are opposite of those produced by electrolytic and excitotoxic lesions, these data are consistent with a hypothesis that the NAc output, especially from the core, inhibits a variety of such processes and that the DA input to the NAc enhances these processes by inhibiting this inhibitory output. Copyright 2006 APA, all rights reserved.

Electrolytic lesions of the bilateral ventrolateral orbital cortex inhibit methamphetamine-associated contextual memory formation in rats.

PubMed

Zhao, Yan; Liu, Peng; Chu, Zheng; Liu, Fei; Han, Wei; Xun, Xi; Dang, Yong-Hui

2015-10-22

The memories that are formed between rewarding and drug-associated contextual cues have been suggested to contribute to drug addiction relapse. Recent evidence has indicated that the ventrolateral orbital cortex (VLO) plays important roles in reward-based learning and reversal learning. However, whether the VLO is required for methamphetamine-induced contextual memory formation is not well understood. In the present study, a three-phase methamphetamine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) model was used to investigate the effects of VLO lesions on the formation of drug-associated contextual memories in rats. We found that the VLO lesions themselves elicited no observable effects on place preferences. However, the VLO lesions delayed the acquisition and extinction phases of CPP without affecting the expression level. Furthermore, the VLO lesions did not have an obvious influence on CPP reinstatement. These results indicate that electrolytic lesions of the bilateral ventrolateral orbital cortex can inhibit the formation of methamphetamine-induced contextual memories in rats. Moreover, VLO may not be critically involved in memory storage and retrieval. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Epidermal growth factor, innovation and safety].

PubMed

Esquirol Caussa, Jordi; Herrero Vila, Elisabeth

2015-10-05

Bioidentical recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF) is available in concentrations and purity suitable for therapeutic use in long time stable formulations. Beneficial effects in several skin pathologies and lesions have been reported (traumatic and surgical wound healing, laser induced wounds, abnormal scars, keloids, radiation or chemotherapy induced dermatitis, post inflammatory hyperpigmentation or for skin aging damage repairing) and also may be considered for the treatment of several oropharingeal and high gastroesophageal tract mucosa diseases (mouth sores, pharyngeal fistulas, ulcers), and several corneal or conjunctive mucosa lesions. rhEGF has not shown any important side or collateral effects in humans or in laboratory experimentation animals, showing optimal tolerability and safety with continuous use for months. Compounding gives advantages of versatility, individualization, personalization, molecular stability, safety and effectiveness in ideal conditions, showing good tissue penetration, both on intact skin and skin lesions that expose the lower planes to the surface. rhEGF compounds can be considered for prevention or as a treatment of diverse skin and mucosa diseases and conditions through compounding preparations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

TU-G-204-05: The Effects of CT Acquisition and Reconstruction Conditions On Computed Texture Feature Values of Lung Lesions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lo, P; Young, S; Kim, G

2015-06-15

Purpose: Texture features have been investigated as a biomarker of response and malignancy. Because these features reflect local differences in density, they may be influenced by acquisition and reconstruction parameters. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of radiation dose level and reconstruction method on features derived from lung lesions. Methods: With IRB approval, 33 lung tumor cases were identified from clinically indicated thoracic CT scans in which the raw projection (sinogram) data were available. Based on a previously-published technique, noise was added to the raw data to simulate reduced-dose versions of each case at 25%, 10%more » and 3% of the original dose. Original and simulated reduced dose projection data were reconstructed with conventional and two iterative-reconstruction settings, yielding 12 combinations of dose/recon conditions. One lesion from each case was contoured. At the reference condition (full dose, conventional recon), 17 lesions were randomly selected for repeat contouring (repeatability). For each lesion at each dose/recon condition, 151 texture measures were calculated. A paired differences approach was employed to compare feature variation from repeat contours at the reference condition to the variation observed in other dose/recon conditions (reproducibility). The ratio of standard deviation of the reproducibility to repeatability was used as the variation measure for each feature. Results: The mean variation (standard deviation) across dose levels and kernel was significantly different with a ratio of 2.24 (±5.85) across texture features (p=0.01). The mean variation (standard deviation) across dose levels with conventional recon was also significantly different with 2.30 (7.11) (p=0.025). The mean variation across reconstruction settings of original dose has a trend in showing difference with 1.35 (2.60) among all features (p=0.09). Conclusion: Texture features varied considerably with variations in dose and reconstruction condition. Care should be taken to standardize these conditions when using texture as a quantitative feature. This effort supported in part by a grant from the National Cancer Institute’s Quantitative Imaging Network (QIN): U01 CA181156; The UCLA Department of Radiology has a Master Research Agreement with Siemens Healthcare; Dr. McNitt-Gray has previously received research support from Siemens Healthcare.« less

Dissociable effects of cingulate and medial frontal cortex lesions on stimulus-reward learning using a novel Pavlovian autoshaping procedure for the rat: implications for the neurobiology of emotion.

PubMed

Bussey, T J; Everitt, B J; Robbins, T W

1997-10-01

The effects of quinolinic acid-induced lesions of the anterior cingulate, posterior cingulate, and medial frontal cortices on stimulus-reward learning were investigated with a novel Pavlovian autoshaping procedure in an apparatus allowing the automated presentation of computer-graphic stimuli to rats (T. J. Bussey, J. L. Muir, & T. W. Robbins, 1994). White vertical rectangles were presented on the left or the right of a computer screen. One of these conditioned stimuli (the CS+) was always followed by the presentation of a sucrose pellet; the other, the CS-, was never followed by reward. With training, rats came to approach the CS+ more often than the CS-. Anterior cingulate cortex-lesioned rats failed to demonstrate normal discriminated approach, making significantly more approaches to the CS- than did sham-operated controls. Medial frontal cortex-lesioned rats acquired the task normally but had longer overall approach latencies. Posterior cingulate cortex lesions did not affect acquisition.

Effects of lesions to the dorsal noradrenergic bundle on counterconditioning of punished barpressing.

PubMed

Tsaltas, E; Gray, J A; Preston, G C

1987-01-01

The possible contribution of the dorsal noradrenergic bundle (DB) to the development of a simple form of counterconditioning (an associative mechanism leading to behavioural tolerance for stress) was assessed by comparison of the performance of animals with 6-hydroxydopamine-induced lesions of the DB to that of sham-operated (SH) animals. Animals engaging in barpressing for food reward on a random-interval (RI) 64 sec schedule were presented with a stimulus signalling the concurrent operation of an RI-64 sec schedule of response-contingent shock. In the control condition (punishment), shock and reward never occurred as a result of the same barpress. In the experimental condition (counterconditioning), the frequency of shock and reward were the same as for the punishment condition but the two events always occurred in succession, with food following shock, as a consequence of the same barpress. DB lesions had no effect on the acquisition of rewarded barpressing or on the initial acquisition of the discrimination between the shock-free and shock-containing (signalled) components of the schedule. However, once performance on the discrimination had reached asymptote, DB animals in the punishment control group showed significantly less suppression to the signal than SH animals. The counterconditioning schedule used was effective, leading to significantly reduced response suppression in the SH animals in comparison to the SH group subjected to punishment. The pattern of findings in the DB groups was consistent with a blockade by the lesion of the development of counterconditioning. These results suggest, therefore, that the DB is involved in at least one associative mechanism leading to tolerance for stress.

Lesions of the lateral habenula facilitate active avoidance learning and threat extinction.

PubMed

Song, Mihee; Jo, Yong Sang; Lee, Yeon-Kyung; Choi, June-Seek

2017-02-01

The lateral habenula (LHb) is an epithalamic brain structure that provides strong projections to midbrain monoaminergic systems that are involved in motivation, emotion, and reinforcement learning. LHb neurons are known to convey information about aversive outcomes and negative prediction errors, suggesting a role in learning from aversive events. To test this idea, we examined the effects of electrolytic lesions of the LHb on signaled two-way active avoidance learning in which rats were trained to avoid an unconditioned stimulus (US) by taking a proactive shuttling response to an auditory conditioned stimulus (CS). The lesioned animals learned the avoidance response significantly faster than the control groups. In a separate experiment, we also investigated whether the LHb contributes to Pavlovian threat (fear) conditioning and extinction. Following paired presentations of the CS and the US, LHb-lesioned animals showed normal acquisition of conditioned response (CR) measured with freezing. However, extinction of the CR in the subsequent CS-only session was significantly faster. The enhanced performance in avoidance learning and in threat extinction jointly suggests that the LHb normally plays an inhibitory role in learning driven by absence of aversive outcomes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rewarding brain stimulation reverses the disruptive effect of amygdala damage on emotional learning.

PubMed

Kádár, Elisabet; Ramoneda, Marc; Aldavert-Vera, Laura; Huguet, Gemma; Morgado-Bernal, Ignacio; Segura-Torres, Pilar

2014-11-01

Intracranial self-stimulation (SS) in the lateral hypothalamus, a rewarding deep-brain stimulation, is able to improve acquisition and retention of implicit and explicit memory tasks in rats. SS treatment is also able to reverse cognitive deficits associated with aging or with experimental brain injuries and evaluated in a two-way active avoidance (2wAA) task. The main objective of the present study was to explore the potential of the SS treatment to reverse the complete learning and memory impairment caused by bilateral lesion in the lateral amygdala (LA). The effects of post-training SS, administered after each acquisition session, were evaluated on distributed 2wAA acquisition and 10-day retention in rats with electrolytic bilateral LA lesions. SS effect in acetylcholinestaresase (AchE) activity was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in LA-preserved and Central nuclei (Ce) of the amygdala of LA-damaged rats. Results showed that LA lesion over 40% completely impeded 2wAA acquisition and retention. Post-training SS in the LA-lesioned rats improved conditioning and retention compared with both the lesioned but non-SS treated and the non-lesioned control rats. SS treatment also seemed to induce a decrease in AchE activity in the LA-preserved area of the lesioned rats, but no effects were observed in the Ce. This empirical evidence supports the idea that self-administered rewarding stimulation is able to completely counteract the 2wAA acquisition and retention deficits induced by LA lesion. Cholinergic mechanisms in preserved LA and the contribution of other brain memory-related areas activated by SS could mediate the compensatory effect observed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Medial Amygdala-Medullary PrRP-Synthesizing Neuron Pathway Mediates Neuroendocrine Responses to Contextual Conditioned Fear in Male Rodents

PubMed Central

Yoshida, Masahide; Takayanagi, Yuki

2014-01-01

Fear responses play evolutionarily beneficial roles, although excessive fear memory can induce inappropriate fear expression observed in posttraumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, and phobia. To understand the neural machineries that underlie these disorders, it is important to clarify the neural pathways of fear responses. Contextual conditioned fear induces freezing behavior and neuroendocrine responses. Considerable evidence indicates that the central amygdala plays an essential role in expression of freezing behavior after contextual conditioned fear. On the other hand, mechanisms of neuroendocrine responses remain to be clarified. The medial amygdala (MeA), which is activated after contextual conditioned fear, was lesioned bilaterally by infusion of N-methyl-d-aspartate after training of fear conditioning. Plasma oxytocin, ACTH, and prolactin concentrations were significantly increased after contextual conditioned fear in sham-lesioned rats. In MeA-lesioned rats, these neuroendocrine responses but not freezing behavior were significantly impaired compared with those in sham-lesioned rats. In contrast, the magnitudes of neuroendocrine responses after exposure to novel environmental stimuli were not significantly different in MeA-lesioned rats and sham-lesioned rats. Contextual conditioned fear activated prolactin-releasing peptide (PrRP)-synthesizing neurons in the medulla oblongata. In MeA-lesioned rats, the percentage of PrRP-synthesizing neurons activated after contextual conditioned fear was significantly decreased. Furthermore, neuroendocrine responses after contextual conditioned fear disappeared in PrRP-deficient mice. Our findings suggest that the MeA-medullary PrRP-synthesizing neuron pathway plays an important role in neuroendocrine responses to contextual conditioned fear. PMID:24877622

The medial amygdala-medullary PrRP-synthesizing neuron pathway mediates neuroendocrine responses to contextual conditioned fear in male rodents.

PubMed

Yoshida, Masahide; Takayanagi, Yuki; Onaka, Tatsushi

2014-08-01

Fear responses play evolutionarily beneficial roles, although excessive fear memory can induce inappropriate fear expression observed in posttraumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, and phobia. To understand the neural machineries that underlie these disorders, it is important to clarify the neural pathways of fear responses. Contextual conditioned fear induces freezing behavior and neuroendocrine responses. Considerable evidence indicates that the central amygdala plays an essential role in expression of freezing behavior after contextual conditioned fear. On the other hand, mechanisms of neuroendocrine responses remain to be clarified. The medial amygdala (MeA), which is activated after contextual conditioned fear, was lesioned bilaterally by infusion of N-methyl-d-aspartate after training of fear conditioning. Plasma oxytocin, ACTH, and prolactin concentrations were significantly increased after contextual conditioned fear in sham-lesioned rats. In MeA-lesioned rats, these neuroendocrine responses but not freezing behavior were significantly impaired compared with those in sham-lesioned rats. In contrast, the magnitudes of neuroendocrine responses after exposure to novel environmental stimuli were not significantly different in MeA-lesioned rats and sham-lesioned rats. Contextual conditioned fear activated prolactin-releasing peptide (PrRP)-synthesizing neurons in the medulla oblongata. In MeA-lesioned rats, the percentage of PrRP-synthesizing neurons activated after contextual conditioned fear was significantly decreased. Furthermore, neuroendocrine responses after contextual conditioned fear disappeared in PrRP-deficient mice. Our findings suggest that the MeA-medullary PrRP-synthesizing neuron pathway plays an important role in neuroendocrine responses to contextual conditioned fear.

Premalignant lesions skew spleen cell responses to immune modulation by adipocytes.

PubMed

Vielma, Silvana A; Klein, Richard L; Levingston, Corinne A; Young, M Rita I

2013-05-01

Obesity can promote a chronic inflammatory state and is associated with an increased risk for cancer. Since adipocytes can produce mediators that can regulate conventional immune cells, this study sought to determine if the presence of premalignant oral lesions would skew how immune cells respond to adipocyte-derived mediators to create an environment that may be more favorable for their progression toward cancer. While media conditioned by adipocytes stimulated normal spleen cell production of the T helper (Th) type-1 cytokines interleukin (IL)-2, interferon-γ (IFN-γ), IL-12 and granulocyte-monocyte colony-stimulating factor (GM CSF), media from premalignant lesion cells either blocked or had no added affect on the adipocyte-stimulated Th1 cytokine production. In contrast, media conditioned by premalignant lesion cells exacerbated adipocyte-stimulated spleen cell production of the Th2 cytokines IL-10 and IL-13, although it did not further enhance the adipocyte-stimulated spleen cell production of IL-4 and TGF-β. The premalignant lesion environment also heightened the adipocyte-stimulated spleen cell production of the inflammatory mediators IL 1α, IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-9, although it did not further increase the adipocyte-stimulated production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). IL 17 production was unaffected by the adipocyte-derived mediators, but was synergistically triggered by adding media from premalignant lesion cells. These stimulatory effects on spleen cell production of Th2 and inflammatory mediators were not induced in the absence of media conditioned by adipocytes. In contrast, media conditioned by adipocytes did not stimulate production of predominantly monocyte-derived chemokine C-X-C motif ligand (CXCL)9, chemokine C-C motif ligand (CCL)3 or CCL4, although it stimulated production of CCL2 and the predominantly T cell-derived chemokine CCL5, which was the only chemokine whose production was further increased by media from premalignant lesions. These results suggest that the responsiveness of spleen cells to adipocyte-derived mediators is influenced by mediators from premalignant lesion cells to favor conventional immune cell production of a Th2 and inflammatory cytokines.

Mucosal protective agents prevent exacerbation of NSAID-induced small intestinal lesions caused by antisecretory drugs in rats.

PubMed

Satoh, Hiroshi; Amagase, Kikuko; Takeuchi, Koji

2014-02-01

Antisecretory drugs such as histamine H₂-receptor antagonists and proton pump inhibitors are commonly used for the treatment of upper gastrointestinal mucosal lesions induced by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). However, it has recently been reported that these drugs exacerbate NSAID-induced small intestinal lesions in rats. Unfortunately, there are few effective agents for the treatment of this complication. We examined the effects of mucosal protective agents (MPAs) (misoprostol, irsogladine, and rebamipide) and mucin of porcine stomach on diclofenac-induced intestinal lesions and the exacerbation of the lesions by ranitidine or omeprazole. The effects of the drugs on intestinal motility and mucus distribution/content were also examined. Male Wistar rats (180-220 g) were used. Each drug was administered orally under fed conditions. Diclofenac (1-10 mg/kg) produced multiple lesions in the small intestine dose-dependently. Both ranitidine (30 mg/kg) and omeprazole (100 mg/kg) significantly increased the intestinal lesions induced by low doses (3 and 6 mg/kg) of diclofenac. Misoprostol (0.03-0.3 mg/kg), irsogladine (3-30 mg/kg), and rebamipide (30-300 mg/kg), as well as mucin (30-300 mg/kg) inhibited the formation of intestinal lesions caused by a high dose (10 mg/kg) of diclofenac alone and prevented the exacerbation of diclofenac-induced lesions by antisecretory drugs. Diclofenac (10 mg/kg) markedly increased the intestinal motility and decreased the mucosal mucus, and the decrease of mucus was significantly inhibited by the MPAs. These results indicate the usefulness of the MPAs for the treatment of intestinal lesions induced by NSAIDs alone or by coadministration with antisecretory drugs, and suggest that mucus plays an important role in the protection of intestinal mucosa by the MPAs.

Evaluating the effects of bedding materials and elevated platforms on contact dermatitis and plumage cleanliness of commercial broilers and on litter condition in broiler houses.

PubMed

Kaukonen, E; Norring, M; Valros, A

2017-10-01

1. Experiment 1, comparing wood shavings and ground straw bedding with peat, was performed on 7 broiler farms over two consecutive batches during the winter season. Experiment 2, assessing the effect of elevated (30 cm) platforms, was conducted in three farms replicated with 6 consecutive batches. 2. Footpad lesions were inspected at slaughter following the Welfare Quality® (WQ) assessment and official programme. Hock lesions, plumage cleanliness and litter condition were assessed using the WQ assessment. Litter height, pH, moisture and ammonia were determined. 3. Footpad condition on wood shavings appeared to be worse compared with peat using both methods of assessment and was accompanied by inferior hock skin health. WQ assessment resulted in poorer footpad and hock skin condition on ground straw compared with peat. Farms differed in footpad and hock skin condition. Footpad and hock lesions were not affected by platform treatment. Peat appeared more friable than ground straw. The initial pH of wood shavings was higher and moisture was lower than in peat, but at the end of production period there were no differences. Ground straw exhibited higher initial and lower end pH, and was drier in the beginning than peat. Litter condition and quality were not affected by platform treatment. 4. This study provides new knowledge about the applicability of peat as broiler bedding and shows no negative effects of elevated platforms on litter condition or the occurrence of contact dermatitis in commercial environments. The results suggest a complicated relationship between litter condition, moisture and contact dermatitis. Furthermore, it is concluded that the farmer's ability to manage litter conditions is important, regardless of the chosen litter material. Peat bedding was beneficial for footpad and hock skin health compared with wood shavings and ground straw.

The influence of predegenerated nerve grafts on axonal regeneration from prelesioned peripheral nerves.

PubMed

Hasan, N A; Neumann, M M; de Souky, M A; So, K F; Bedi, K S

1996-10-01

Recent in vitro work has indicated that predegenerated segments of peripheral nerve are more capable of supporting neurite growth from adult neurons than fresh segments of nerve, whereas previous in vivo studies which investigated whether predegenerated nerve segments used as grafts are capable of enhancing axonal regeneration produced conflicting results. We have reinvestigated this question by using predegenerated nerve grafts in combination with conditioning lesions of the host nerve to determine the optimal conditions for obtaining the maximal degree of regeneration of myelinated axons. The sciatic nerve of adult Dark Agouti rats were sectioned at midthigh level, and the distal portion was allowed to predegenerate for 0, 6 or 12 d in situ. 10-15 mm lengths of these distal nerve segments were then syngenically grafted onto the central stumps of sciatic nerves which had themselves received a conditioning lesion 0, 6, and 12 d previously, making a total of 9 different donor-host combinations. The grafts were assessed histologically 3 or 8 wk after grafting. Axonal regeneration in the 9 different donor-host combinations was determined by counting the numbers of myelinated axons in transverse sections through the grafts. All grafts examined contained regenerating myelinated axons. The rats given a 3 wk postgrafting survival period had an average of between 1400 and 5300 such axons. The rats given an 8 wk postgrafting survival period had between about 13,000 and 25,000 regenerating myelinated axons. Analysis of variance revealed significant main effects for both the Donor and Host conditions as well as Weeks (i.e. survival period after grafting). These results indicate that both a conditioning lesion of the host neurons and the degree of predegeneration of peripheral nerve segments to be used as grafts are of importance in influencing the degree of axonal regeneration. Of these 2 factors the conditioning lesion of the host appears to have the greater effect on the final number of regenerating myelinated axons.

The Role of Muscarinic and Nicotinic Cholinergic Neurotransmission in Aversive Conditioning: Comparing Pavlovian Fear Conditioning and Inhibitory Avoidance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tinsley, Matthew R.; Quinn, Jennifer J.; Fanselow, Michael S.

2004-01-01

Aversive conditioning is an ideal model for studying cholinergic effects on the processes of learning and memory for several reasons. First, deficits produced by selective lesions of the anatomical structures shown to be critical for Pavlovian fear conditioning and inhibitory avoidance (such as the amygdala and hippocampus) resemble those deficits…

Speckle tracking and speckle content based composite strain imaging for solid and fluid filled lesions.

PubMed

Rabbi, Md Shifat-E; Hasan, Md Kamrul

2017-02-01

Strain imaging though for solid lesions provides an effective way for determining their pathologic condition by displaying the tissue stiffness contrast, for fluid filled lesions such an imaging is yet an open problem. In this paper, we propose a novel speckle content based strain imaging technique for visualization and classification of fluid filled lesions in elastography after automatic identification of the presence of fluid filled lesions. Speckle content based strain, defined as a function of speckle density based on the relationship between strain and speckle density, gives an indirect strain value for fluid filled lesions. To measure the speckle density of the fluid filled lesions, two new criteria based on oscillation count of the windowed radio frequency signal and local variance of the normalized B-mode image are used. An improved speckle tracking technique is also proposed for strain imaging of the solid lesions and background. A wavelet-based integration technique is then proposed for combining the strain images from these two techniques for visualizing both the solid and fluid filled lesions from a common framework. The final output of our algorithm is a high quality composite strain image which can effectively visualize both solid and fluid filled breast lesions in addition to the speckle content of the fluid filled lesions for their discrimination. The performance of our algorithm is evaluated using the in vivo patient data and compared with recently reported techniques. The results show that both the solid and fluid filled lesions can be better visualized using our technique and the fluid filled lesions can be classified with good accuracy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Amygdala central nucleus interacts with dorsolateral striatum to regulate the acquisition of habits

PubMed Central

Lingawi, Nura W.; Balleine, Bernard W.

2012-01-01

The role of the amygdala central nucleus (CeN) in habit learning was assessed in two experiments. First we examined the effects of bilateral lesions of the anterior CeN on an overtraining-induced lever press habit evaluated using an outcome devaluation protocol. Overtraining generated habitual performance and rendered sham lesioned rats insensitive to outcome devaluation, an effect that was also found in rats given control lesions of the posterior CeN. In contrast, rats with lesions of the anterior CeN did not show normal habit acquisition and their performance remained goal-directed and sensitive to outcome devaluation. Nevertheless, lesions of either the posterior or the anterior CeN abolished the general excitatory influence of a Pavlovian CS on instrumental performance. Next we assessed the functional interaction between the CeN and dorsolateral striatum (DLS), a region previously implicated in the acquisition of habits, using asymmetrical lesions to disconnect these structures. Rats were given a unilateral lesion of anterior CeN and a unilateral lesion of the DLS, made either ipsilateral (control) or contralateral (disconnection) to the CeN lesion, and given overtraining followed by outcome devaluation. Although the ipsilateral lesioned rats were insensitive to devaluation, the contralateral CeN-DLS lesion impaired habit acquisition rendering performance sensitive to the devaluation treatment. These results are the first to implicate the CeN and its connection with a circuit involving DLS in habit learning. They imply that, in instrumental conditioning, regions of amygdala parse the instrumental outcome into the reward and reinforcement signals mediating goal-directed and habitual actions, respectively. PMID:22262905

[Cryosurgery of precancerous conditions of the oral cavity and pharynx].

PubMed

Moszyński, B; Kolanowski, R; Miszka, K

1990-01-01

In ENT Clinic, II Faculty of Medical Academy in Warszawa 108 patients with precancerous lesions were treated by cryosurgery during the years 1975-84. In 43 patients the lesions were in oral and in pharyngeal cavities, 33 out of 43 have had before the cryosurgery some form of therapy, conservative or radical without lasting effects. In all treated cryosurgically patients the positive results were obtained, which were consecutively verified during 3 to 9 years of observations. There were no malignant transformations, no other complications. The authors found, that the cryosurgery is a promising method of therapy in precancerous lesions.

[Precancerous conditions and lesions of the stomach].

PubMed

Falt, P; Hanousek, M; Kundrátová, E; Urban, O

2013-01-01

Gastric carcinoma is a common malignant disease associated with an unfavorable prognosis in the case of late dia-gnosis. The most significant precancerous condition is chronic atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia caused by Helicobacter pylori infection. These longlasting changes may lead to formation of dysplastic precancerous lesions. Upper endoscopy and histologic examination of forceps bio-psy specimens play a key role in the dia-gnosis of gastric precancerous conditions and lesions. Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy and endoscopic surveillance are main therapeutic modalities of gastric precancerous conditions. Localized precancerous lesions and early gastric neoplasia without the risk of lymphatic spread could be cured by means of endoscopic resection techniques.

Reduced dopamine function within the medial shell of the nucleus accumbens enhances latent inhibition.

PubMed

Nelson, A J D; Thur, K E; Horsley, R R; Spicer, C; Marsden, C A; Cassaday, H J

2011-03-01

Latent inhibition (LI) manifests as poorer conditioning to a CS that has previously been presented without consequence. There is some evidence that LI can be potentiated by reduced mesoaccumbal dopamine (DA) function but the locus within the nucleus accumbens of this effect is as yet not firmly established. Experiment 1 tested whether 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced lesions of DA terminals within the core and medial shell subregions of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) would enhance LI under conditions that normally disrupt LI in controls (weak pre-exposure). LI was measured in a thirst motivated conditioned emotional response procedure with 10 pre-exposures (to a noise CS) and 2 conditioning trials. The vehicle-injected and core-lesioned animals did not show LI and conditioned to the pre-exposed CS at comparable levels to the non-pre-exposed controls. 6-OHDA lesions to the medial shell, however, produced potentiation of LI, demonstrated across two extinction tests. In a subsequent experiment, haloperidol microinjected into the medial shell prior to conditioning similarly enhanced LI. These results underscore the dissociable roles of core and shell subregions of the NAc in mediating the expression of LI and indicate that reduced DA function within the medial shell leads to enhanced LI. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effect of expert knowledge on medical search: medical experts have specialized abilities for detecting serious lesions.

PubMed

Nakashima, Ryoichi; Watanabe, Chisaki; Maeda, Eriko; Yoshikawa, Takeharu; Matsuda, Izuru; Miki, Soichiro; Yokosawa, Kazuhiko

2015-09-01

How does domain-specific knowledge influence the experts' performance in their domain of expertise? Specifically, can visual search experts find, with uniform efficiency, any type of target in their domain of expertise? We examined whether acquired knowledge of target importance influences an expert's visual search performance. In some professional searches (e.g., medical screenings), certain targets are rare; one aim of this study was to examine the extent to which experts miss such targets in their searches. In one experiment, radiologists (medical experts) engaged in a medical lesion search task in which both the importance (i.e., seriousness/gravity) and the prevalence of targets varied. Results showed decreased target detection rates in the low prevalence conditions (i.e., the prevalence effect). Also, experts were better at detecting important (versus unimportant) lesions. Results of an experiment using novices ruled out the possibility that decreased performance with unimportant targets was due to low target noticeability/visibility. Overall, the findings suggest that radiologists do not have a generalized ability to detect any type of lesion; instead, they have acquired a specialized ability to detect only those important lesions relevant for effective medical practices.

Fractional CO2 laser is an effective therapeutic modality for xanthelasma palpebrarum: a randomized clinical trial.

PubMed

Esmat, Samia M; Elramly, Amany Z; Abdel Halim, Dalia M; Gawdat, Heba I; Taha, Hanaa I

2014-12-01

Xanthelasma palpebrarum (XP) is a common cosmetic concern. Although there is a wide range of therapeutic modalities for XP, there is no general consensus on the optimal treatment for such condition. Compare the efficacy and safety of super pulsed (SP) and fractional CO2 lasers in the treatment of XP. This prospective randomized comparative clinical study included 20 adult patients with bilateral and symmetrical XP lesions. Xanthelasma palpebrarum lesions were randomly assigned to treatment by either single session of ablative SP CO2 laser or 3 to 5 sessions of ablative fractional CO2 laser with monthly intervals. All patients were assessed using digital photography and optical coherence tomography images. Xanthelasma palpebrarum lesions on both sides were successfully removed with significant improvement in size, color, and thickness. Although lesions treated by SP CO2 laser showed significantly better improvement regarding color and thickness of the lesions, downtime and patient satisfaction were significantly better for lesions treated with fractional CO2 laser. Scarring and recurrence were significantly higher in lesions treated by SP CO2 laser. Ablative fractional CO2 laser is an effective and safe therapeutic option for XP with significantly shorter downtime and higher patient satisfaction compared with SP CO2 laser.

Preventive effect of fluoridated orthodontic resins subjected to high cariogenic challenges.

PubMed

Passalini, Paula; Fidalgo, Tatiana Kelly da Silva; Caldeira, Erika Machado; Gleiser, Rogerio; Nojima, Matilde da Cunha Gonçalves; Maia, Lucianne Cople

2010-01-01

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the in vitro caries preventive effect of fluoridated orthodontic resins under pH cycling with two types of acid demineralizing saliva. Brackets were bonded to 60 bovine incisors, using either Transbond Plus Color Change (n=30) or Orthodontic Fill Magic (n=30) orthodontic resins. Each group of resin was divided into 3 subgroups (n=10): immersion in remineralizing artificial saliva for 14 days, pH cycling with high cariogenic challenge in acid saliva with pH 5.5, and acid saliva with pH 4.5. After 14 days of pH cycling, the caries preventive effect on the development of white spot lesion was evaluated considering the presence of inhibition zones to white spot lesions using two scores: 0= absence and 1= presence. Kruskal Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests (a=0.05) were used. Formation of white spot lesions was observed only under pH cycling using acid saliva with pH 4.5; with Transbond Plus Color Change being significantly more effective (p<0.05) in preventing the appearance of white spot lesions effect than Orthodontic Fill Magic. The acidity of the demineralizing solution influenced the formation of white spot lesions around orthodontic brackets under highly cariogenic conditions. Transbond Plus Color Change resin presented higher caries preventive effect than Orthodontic Fill Magic.

Dissociable contributions of the orbitofrontal and infralimbic cortex to pavlovian autoshaping and discrimination reversal learning: further evidence for the functional heterogeneity of the rodent frontal cortex.

PubMed

Chudasama, Y; Robbins, Trevor W

2003-09-24

To examine possible heterogeneity of function within the ventral regions of the rodent frontal cortex, the present study compared the effects of excitotoxic lesions of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the infralimbic cortex (ILC) on pavlovian autoshaping and discrimination reversal learning. During the pavlovian autoshaping task, in which rats learn to approach a stimulus predictive of reward [conditional stimulus (CS+)], only the OFC group failed to acquire discriminated approach but was unimpaired when preoperatively trained. In the visual discrimination learning and reversal task, rats were initially required to discriminate a stimulus positively associated with reward. There was no effect of either OFC or ILC lesions on discrimination learning. When the stimulus-reward contingencies were reversed, both groups of animals committed more errors, but only the OFC-lesioned animals were unable to suppress the previously rewarded stimulus-reward association, committing more "stimulus perseverative" errors. In contrast, the ILC group showed a pattern of errors that was more attributable to "learning" than perseveration. These findings suggest two types of dissociation between the effects of OFC and ILC lesions: (1) OFC lesions impaired the learning processes implicated in pavlovian autoshaping but not instrumental simultaneous discrimination learning, whereas ILC lesions were unimpaired at autoshaping and their reversal learning deficit did not reflect perseveration, and (2) OFC lesions induced perseverative responding in reversal learning but did not disinhibit responses to pavlovian CS-. In contrast, the ILC lesion had no effect on response inhibitory control in either of these settings. The findings are discussed in the context of dissociable executive functions in ventral sectors of the rat prefrontal cortex.

Differential effects of serotonin-specific and excitotoxic lesions of OFC on conditioned reinforcer devaluation and extinction in rats

PubMed Central

West, Elizabeth A.; Forcelli, Patrick A.; McCue, David L.; Malkova, Ludise

2013-01-01

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is critical for behavioral adaptation in response to changes in reward value. Here we investigated, in rats, the role of OFC and, specifically, serotonergic neurotransmission within OFC in a reinforcer devaluation task (which measures behavioral flexibility). This task used two visual cues, each predicting one of two foods, with the spatial position (left-right) of the cues above two levers pseudorandomized across trials. An instrumental action (lever press) was required for reinforcer delivery. After training, rats received either excitotoxic OFC lesions made by NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartic acid), serotonin-specific OFC lesions made by 5,7-DHT (5,7-dihydroxytryptamine), or sham lesions. In sham-lesioned rats, devaluation of one food (by feeding to satiety) significantly decreased responding to the cue associated with that food, when both cues were presented simultaneously during extinction. Both types of OFC lesions disrupted the devaluation effect. In contrast, extinction learning was not affected by serotonin-specific lesions and was only mildly retarded in rats with excitotoxic lesions. Thus, serotonin within OFC is necessary for appropriately adjusting behavior towards cues that predict reward but not for reducing responses in the absence of reward. Our results are the first to demonstrate that serotonin in OFC is necessary for reinforcer devaluation, but not extinction. PMID:23458741

Differential effects of serotonin-specific and excitotoxic lesions of OFC on conditioned reinforcer devaluation and extinction in rats.

PubMed

West, Elizabeth A; Forcelli, Patrick A; McCue, David L; Malkova, Ludise

2013-06-01

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is critical for behavioral adaptation in response to changes in reward value. Here we investigated, in rats, the role of OFC and, specifically, serotonergic neurotransmission within OFC in a reinforcer devaluation task (which measures behavioral flexibility). This task used two visual cues, each predicting one of two foods, with the spatial position (left-right) of the cues above two levers pseudorandomized across trials. An instrumental action (lever press) was required for reinforcer delivery. After training, rats received either excitotoxic OFC lesions made by NMDA (N-methyl-d-aspartic acid), serotonin-specific OFC lesions made by 5,7-DHT (5,7-dihydroxytryptamine), or sham lesions. In sham-lesioned rats, devaluation of one food (by feeding to satiety) significantly decreased responding to the cue associated with that food, when both cues were presented simultaneously during extinction. Both types of OFC lesions disrupted the devaluation effect. In contrast, extinction learning was not affected by serotonin-specific lesions and was only mildly retarded in rats with excitotoxic lesions. Thus, serotonin within OFC is necessary for appropriately adjusting behavior toward cues that predict reward but not for reducing responses in the absence of reward. Our results are the first to demonstrate that serotonin in OFC is necessary for reinforcer devaluation, but not extinction. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Involvement of interleukin-23 induced by Porphyromonas endodontalis lipopolysaccharide in osteoclastogenesis

PubMed Central

Ma, Nan; Yang, Di; Okamura, Hirohiko; Teramachi, Jumpei; Hasegawa, Tomokazu; Qiu, Lihong; Haneji, Tatsuji

2017-01-01

Periapical lesions are characterized by the destruction of periapical bone, and occur as a result of local inflammatory responses to root canal infection by microorganisms including Porphyromonas endodontalis (P. endodontalis). P. endodontalis and its primary virulence factor, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), are associated with the development of periapical lesions and alveolar bone loss. Interleukin-23 (IL-23) is critical in the initiation and progression of periodontal disease via effects on peripheral bone metabolism. The present study investigated the expression of IL-23 in tissue where a periapical lesion was present, and the effect of P. endodontalis LPS on the expression of IL-23 in periodontal ligament (PDL) cells. Reverse transcription- quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry revealed increased levels of IL-23 expression in tissue with periapical lesions compared with healthy PDL tissue. Treatment with P. endodontalis LPS increased the expression of IL-23 in the SH-9 human PDL cell line. BAY11-7082, a nuclear factor κB inhibitor, suppressed P. endodontalis LPS-induced IL-23 expression in SH-9 cells. Treatment of RAW264.7 cells with conditioned medium from P. endodontalis LPS-treated SH-9 cells promoted osteoclastogenesis. By contrast, RAW264.7 cells treated with conditioned medium from IL-23-knockdown SH-9 cells underwent reduced levels of osteoclastogenesis. The results of the present study indicated that the expression of IL-23 in PDL cells induced by P. endodontalis LPS treatment may be involved in the progression of periapical lesions via stimulation of the osteoclastogenesis process. PMID:28000855

Effects of radiation quality and oxygen on clustered DNA lesions and cell death.

PubMed

Stewart, Robert D; Yu, Victor K; Georgakilas, Alexandros G; Koumenis, Constantinos; Park, Joo Han; Carlson, David J

2011-11-01

Radiation quality and cellular oxygen concentration have a substantial impact on DNA damage, reproductive cell death and, ultimately, the potential efficacy of radiation therapy for the treatment of cancer. To better understand and quantify the effects of radiation quality and oxygen on the induction of clustered DNA lesions, we have now extended the Monte Carlo Damage Simulation (MCDS) to account for reductions in the initial lesion yield arising from enhanced chemical repair of DNA radicals under hypoxic conditions. The kinetic energy range and types of particles considered in the MCDS have also been expanded to include charged particles up to and including (56)Fe ions. The induction of individual and clustered DNA lesions for arbitrary mixtures of different types of radiation can now be directly simulated. For low-linear energy transfer (LET) radiations, cells irradiated under normoxic conditions sustain about 2.9 times as many double-strand breaks (DSBs) as cells irradiated under anoxic conditions. New experiments performed by us demonstrate similar trends in the yields of non-DSB (Fpg and Endo III) clusters in HeLa cells irradiated by γ rays under aerobic and hypoxic conditions. The good agreement among measured and predicted DSBs, Fpg and Endo III cluster yields suggests that, for the first time, it may be possible to determine nucleotide-level maps of the multitude of different types of clustered DNA lesions formed in cells under reduced oxygen conditions. As particle LET increases, the MCDS predicts that the ratio of DSBs formed under normoxic to hypoxic conditions by the same type of radiation decreases monotonically toward unity. However, the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of higher-LET radiations compared to (60)Co γ rays (0.24 keV/μm) tends to increase with decreasing oxygen concentration. The predicted RBE of a 1 MeV proton (26.9 keV/μm) relative to (60)Co γ rays for DSB induction increases from 1.9 to 2.3 as oxygen concentration decreases from 100% to 0%. For a 12 MeV (12)C ion (681 keV/μm), the 'predicted RBE for DSB induction increases from 3.4 (100% O(2)) to 9.8 (0% O(2)). Estimates of linear-quadratic (LQ) cell survival model parameters (α and β) are closely correlated to the Monte Carlo-predicted trends in DSB induction for a wide range of particle types, energies and oxygen concentrations. The analysis suggests α is, as a first approximation, proportional to the initial number of DSBs per cell, and β is proportional to the square of the initial number of DSBs per cell. Although the reported studies provide some evidence supporting the hypothesis that DSBs are a biologically critical form of clustered DNA lesion, the induction of Fpg and Endo III clusters in HeLa cells irradiated by γ rays exhibits similar trends with oxygen concentration. Other types of non-DSB cluster may still play an important role in reproductive cell death. The MCDS captures many of the essential trends in the formation of clustered DNA lesions by ionizing radiation and provides useful information to probe the multiscale effects and interactions of ionizing radiation in cells and tissues. Information from Monte Carlo simulations of cluster induction may also prove useful for efforts to better exploit radiation quality and reduce the impact of tumor hypoxia in proton and carbon-ion radiation therapy.

Effects of orbitofrontal cortex lesions on autoshaped lever pressing and reversal learning.

PubMed

Chang, Stephen E

2014-10-15

A cue associated with a rewarding event can trigger behavior towards the cue itself due to the cue acquiring incentive value through its pairing with the rewarding outcome (i.e., sign-tracking). For example, rats will approach, press, and attempt to "consume" a retractable lever conditioned stimulus (CS) that signals delivery of a food unconditioned stimulus (US). Attending to food-predictive CSs is important when seeking out food, and it is just as important to be able to modify one's behavior when the relationships between CSs and USs are changed. Using a discriminative autoshaping procedure with lever CSs, the present study investigated the effects of orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) lesions on sign-tracking and reversal learning. Insertion of one lever was followed by sucrose delivery upon retraction, and insertion of another lever was followed by nothing. After the acquisition phase, the contingencies between the levers and outcomes were reversed. Bilateral OFC lesions had no effect on the acquisition of sign-tracking. However, OFC-lesioned rats showed substantial deficits in acquiring sign-tracking compared to sham-lesioned rats once the stimulus-outcome contingencies were reversed. Over the course of reversal learning, OFC-lesioned rats were able to reach comparable levels of sign-tracking as sham-lesioned rats. These findings suggest that OFC is not necessary for the ability of a CS to acquire incentive value and provide more evidence that OFC is critical for modifying behavior appropriately following a change in stimulus-outcome contingencies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Differential roles of polar orbital prefrontal cortex and parietal lobes in logical reasoning with neutral and negative emotional content.

PubMed

Eimontaite, Iveta; Goel, Vinod; Raymont, Vanessa; Krueger, Frank; Schindler, Igor; Grafman, Jordan

2018-05-14

To answer the question of how brain pathology affects reasoning about negative emotional content, we administered a disjunctive logical reasoning task involving arguments with neutral content (e.g. Either there are tigers or women in NYC, but not both; There are no tigers in NYC; There are women in NYC) and emotionally laden content (e.g. Either there are pedophiles or politicians in Texas, but not both; There are politicians in Texas; There are no pedophiles in Texas) to 92 neurological patients with focal lesions to various parts of the brain. A Voxel Lesion Symptom Mapping (VLSM) analysis identified 16 patients, all with lesions to the orbital polar prefrontal cortex (BA 10 & 11), as being selectively impaired in the emotional reasoning condition. Another 17 patients, all with lesions to the parietal cortex, were identified as being impaired in the neutral content condition. The reasoning scores of these two patient groups, along with 23 matched normal controls, underwent additional analysis to explore the effect of belief bias. This analysis revealed that the differences identified above were largely driven by trials where there was an incongruency between the believability of the conclusion and the validity of the argument (i.e. valid argument /false conclusion or invalid argument /true conclusion). Patients with lesions to polar orbital prefrontal cortex underperformed in incongruent emotional content trials and over performed in incongruent neutral content trials (compared to both normal controls and patients with parietal lobe lesions). Patients with lesions to parietal lobes underperformed normal controls (at a trend level) in neutral trials where there was a congruency between the believability of the conclusion and the validity of the argument (i.e. valid argument/true conclusion or invalid argument/false conclusion). We conclude that lesions to the polar orbital prefrontal cortex (i) prevent these patients from enjoying any emotionally induced cognitive boost, and (ii) block the belief bias processing route in the neutral condition. Lesions to parietal lobes result in a generalized impairment in logical reasoning with neutral content. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Role of the area postrema in three putative measures of motion sickness in the rat

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sutton, Richard L.; Fox, Robert A.; Daunton, Nancy G.

1991-01-01

After thermal cauterization of the area postrema in rats, the absence of conditioned taste aversion of sucrose paired with lithium chloride (0.15M, 3.3 ml/kg) was used as a pharmacologic/behavioral index of area postrema damage. In a subsequent experiment the effects of area postrema lesions on three measures proposed as species-relevant measures of motion sickness were studied, using off-vertical rotation at 150 deg/s for either 30 or 90 min. Lesions of area postrema did not alter postrotational suppression of drinking or amount of defecation during motion. The initial acquisition of conditioned taste aversion to a novel cider vinegar solution paired with motion was not affected by lesioning of the area postrema, but these taste aversions extinguished more slowly in lesioned rats than in sham-operates or intact controls. Results are discussed in terms of proposed humoral factors which may induce motion sickness and in light of recent data on the role of the area postrema in similar measures in species possessing the complete emetic reflex.

Benchmarking of pluck lesions at slaughter as a health monitoring tool for pigs slaughtered at 170kg (heavy pigs).

PubMed

Scollo, Annalisa; Gottardo, Flaviana; Contiero, Barbara; Mazzoni, Claudio; Leneveu, Philippe; Edwards, Sandra A

2017-09-01

Abattoir post-mortem inspections offer a useful tool for the development and monitoring of animal health plans and a source of data for epidemiological investigation. The aim of the present work was to develop an abattoir benchmarking system which provides feedback on the prevalence and severity of lesions of the pluck (lung, pleura and liver) in batches of pigs to inform individual producers and their veterinarians of the occurrence of pathological conditions affecting their herds. The weekly collection of data throughout a year (from September 2014 to September 2015) supported the further aim of providing benchmark values for the prevalence of lesions and their seasonality in Italian heavy pig production. Finally, correlations and redundancies among different lesions were evaluated. In total, 727 batches of heavy pigs (around 165kg live weight and 9 months of age) derived from 272 intensive commercial farms located in Northern Italy were monitored. Within each batch, an average number of 100 plucks was individually scored, assigning a value for lesions of lungs (0-24), pleura (0-4) and liver (1-3). Presence of lung scars, abscesses, consolidations, lobular/chessboard pattern lesions and pleural sequestra was also recorded. Statistical analysis showed a strong farm effect (36-68% of variation depending of the lesion) and a seasonal effect on all lesions. Winter showed the lowest percentage of severe lung and pleural lesions (P<0.001 and P=0.005), whereas lung scars from older lesions (P=0.003), as well as severe hepatic lesions (P<0.001), were reduced in autumn. In order to allow effective benchmarking of each farm in a determined health class, scores for each quartile of the population are reported. Whilst such a benchmarking scheme provides useful data for herd health management, challenges of repeatability of scoring and cost of implementation need to be overcome. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Monitoring using Harmonic Motion Imaging for Focused Ultrasound (HMIFU) under boiling or slow denaturation conditions

PubMed Central

Hou, Gary Y.; Marquet, Fabrice; Wang, Shutao; Apostolakis, Iason-Zacharias; Konofagou, Elisa E.

2015-01-01

Harmonic Motion Imaging for Focused Ultrasound (HMIFU) is a recently developed High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) treatment monitoring method that utilizes an amplitude-modulated therapeutic ultrasound beam to induce an oscillatory radiation force at the HIFU focus and estimates the focal tissue displacement to monitor the HIFU thermal treatment. In this study, the performance of HMIFU under acoustic, thermal and mechanical effects were investigated. The performance of HMIFU was assessed in ex vivo canine liver specimens (n=13) under slow denaturation or boiling regimes. Passive Cavitation Detector (PCD) was used to assess the acoustic cavitation activity while a bare-wire thermocouple was used to monitor the focal temperature change. During lesioning with slow denaturation, high quality displacements (correlation coefficient above 0.97) were observed under minimum cavitation noise, indicating tissue the initial-softening-then-stiffening property change. During HIFU with boiling, HMIFU monitored a consistent change in lesion-to-background displacement contrast (0.46±0.37) despite the presence of strong cavitation noise due to boiling during lesion formation. Therefore, HMIFU effectively monitored softening-then-stiffening during lesioning under slow denaturation, and detected lesioning under boiling with a distinct change in displacement contrast under boiling in the presence of cavitation. In conclusion, HMIFU was shown effective in HIFU monitoring and lesioning identification without being significantly affected by cavitation noise. PMID:26168177

Effects of medial prefrontal cortex lesions in rats on the what-where-when memory of a fear conditioning event.

PubMed

Li, Jay-Shake; Hsiao, Kun-Yuan; Chen, Wei-Min

2011-03-17

Previous animal studies have defined the ability to remember the details of what, where, and when of an event as an episodic-like memory to be used to model episodic memory in humans. Numerous findings indicate that the hippocampal-frontal cortical circuitry plays a major part in its neural mechanism. Researchers have intensively studied roles of diverse hippocampus sub-regions using animal models. By contrast, the impact of prefrontal cortex lesions on episodic-like memory in animals is still unknown. Here we show that Wistar rats with bilateral medial prefrontal cortex lesions failed to use the temporal-contextual information to retrieve memory of a fear-conditioning event, indicating impairments in their episodic-like memory. Subsequent experiments excluded alternative interpretations that the manipulation impaired the fear-conditioning per se, or interfered with the sensory preconditioning process. We concluded that damages in this area might impair temporal information processing, or interfere with integrating temporal and contextual elements of fear-conditioning events to form a conjunctive entity. These findings can help understand how the medial prefrontal cortex contributes to episodic-like memory. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enhancing second-order conditioning with lesions of the basolateral amygdala.

PubMed

Holland, Peter C

2016-04-01

Because the occurrence of primary reinforcers in natural environments is relatively rare, conditioned reinforcement plays an important role in many accounts of behavior, including pathological behaviors such as the abuse of alcohol or drugs. As a result of pairing with natural or drug reinforcers, initially neutral cues acquire the ability to serve as reinforcers for subsequent learning. Accepting a major role for conditioned reinforcement in everyday learning is complicated by the often-evanescent nature of this phenomenon in the laboratory, especially when primary reinforcers are entirely absent from the test situation. Here, I found that under certain conditions, the impact of conditioned reinforcement could be extended by lesions of the basolateral amygdala (BLA). Rats received first-order Pavlovian conditioning pairings of 1 visual conditioned stimulus (CS) with food prior to receiving excitotoxic or sham lesions of the BLA, and first-order pairings of another visual CS with food after that surgery. Finally, each rat received second-order pairings of a different auditory cue with each visual first-order CS. As in prior studies, relative to sham-lesioned control rats, lesioned rats were impaired in their acquisition of second-order conditioning to the auditory cue paired with the first-order CS that was trained after surgery. However, lesioned rats showed enhanced and prolonged second-order conditioning to the auditory cue paired with the first-order CS that was trained before amygdala damage was made. Implications for an enhanced role for conditioned reinforcement by drug-related cues after drug-induced alterations in neural plasticity are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Housing conditions influence motor functions and exploratory behavior following focal damage of the rat brain.

PubMed

Gornicka-Pawlak, Elzbieta; Jabłońska, Anna; Chyliński, Andrzej; Domańska-Janik, Krystyna

2009-01-01

The present study investigated influence of housing conditions on motor functions recovery and exploratory behavior following ouabain focal brain lesion in the rat. During 30 days post-surgery period rats were housed individually in standard cages (IS) or in groups in enriched environment (EE) and behaviorally tested. The EE lesioned rats showed enhanced recovery from motor impairments in walking beam task, comparing with IS animals. Contrarily, in the open field IS rats (both lesioned and control) traveled a longer distance, showed less habituation and spent less time resting at the home base than the EE animals. Unlike the EE lesioned animals, the lesioned IS rats, presented a tendency to hyperactivity in postinjury period. Turning tendency was significantly affected by unilateral brain lesion only in the EE rats. We can conclude that housing conditions distinctly affected the rat's behavior in classical laboratory tests.

A practical comparison of Copper Bromide Laser for the treatment of vascular lesions.

PubMed

Lee, SunWoo; Lee, TaeBum; Kim, HoYoun; Kim, JungSoo; Eun, HyeJun; Kim, RyunKyung

2013-01-01

The recent rapid growth in demand for aesthetic non-invasive laser treatments such as unwanted skin rejuvenation, removal of age-related vascular blemishes has led to a boom in the medical devices to treat these conditions. Among diverse laser for skin treatment, copper bromide laser is a very effective, safe, and well tolerated treatment for facial telangiectasia at various energy levels and the most important thing of the copper bromide laser device is that the stability of the energy. However there is no evidence about effective copper bromide laser's energy level for the treatment of vascular lesions. We compared energy stability and treatment performance between two energy levels in 2 W and 8 W which commonly use in laser treatment for the vascular lesions. 8 W copper bromide laser was more stable compared than 2 W copper bromide laser. Also, 8 W copper bromide laser was effectively superior to 2 W copper bromide laser in treatment of vascular legion. Consequently, 8 W copper bromide laser treatment for vascular lesion might be more suitable than 2 W copper bromide laser.

The characteristics of hospital emergency department visits made by people with mental health conditions who had dental problems.

PubMed

Nalliah, Romesh P; Da Silva, John D; Allareddy, Veerasathpurush

2013-06-01

There is a paucity of knowledge regarding nationally representative estimates of hospital-based emergency department (ED) visits for dental problems made by people with mental health conditions. The authors conducted a study to provide nationwide estimates of hospital-based ED visits attributed to dental caries, pulpal and periapical lesions, gingival and periodontal lesions and mouth cellulitis/abscess made by people with mental health conditions. The authors used the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, which is a component of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. ED visits attributable to dental caries, pulpal and periapical lesions, gingival and periodontal lesions and mouth cellulitis/abscess were identified by the emergency care provider by using diagnostic codes in International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification. The authors examined outcomes, including hospital charges. They used simple descriptive statistics to summarize the data. In 2008, people with mental health conditions made 15,635,253 visits to hospital-based ED in the United States. A diagnosis of dental caries, pulpal and periapical lesions, gingival and periodontal lesions and mouth cellulitis/abscess represented 63,164 of these ED visits. The breakdown of the ED visits was 34,574 with dental caries, 25,352 with pulpal and periapical lesions, 9,657 with gingival and periodontal lesions, and 2,776 with mouth cellulitis/abscess. The total charge for ED visits in the United States was $55.46 million in 2008. In 2008, people with mental health conditions made 63,164 visits to hospital-based EDs and received a diagnosis of dental caries, pulpal and periapical lesions, gingival and periodontal lesions or mouth cellulitis/abscess. These ED visits incurred substantial hospital charges. Programs designed to reduce the number of ED visits made by this population for common dental problems could have a substantial impact in reducing the use of hospital resources. Practical Implications. Clinicians should implement preventive practices for patients with mental health conditions. The authors identified combinations of mental health conditions and dental problems that led to patients with mental health conditions making visits to hospital-based EDs for dental problems more frequently than did patients in the general population.

Lesions of the rat nucleus basalis magnocellularis disrupt appetitive-to-aversive transfer learning.

PubMed

Butt, A E; Schultz, J A; Arnold, L L; Garman, E E; George, C L; Garraghty, P E

2003-01-01

Rats with selective lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) and sham-lesion control animals were tested in an operant appetitive-to-aversive transfer task. We hypothesized that NBM lesions would not affect performance in the appetitive phase, but that performance would be impaired during subsequent transfer to the aversive phase of the task. Additional groups of NBM lesion and control rats were tested in the avoidance condition only, where we hypothesized that NBM lesions would not disrupt performance. These hypotheses were based on the argument that the NBM is not necessary for simple association learning that does not tax attention. Both the appetitive phase of the transfer task and the avoidance only task depend only on simple associative learning and are argued not to tax attention. Consequently, performance in these tasks was predicted to be spared following NBM lesions. Complex, attention-demanding associative learning, however, is argued to depend on the NBM. Performance in the aversive phase of the transfer task is both attentionally demanding and associatively more complex than in either the appetitive or aversive tasks alone; thus, avoidance performance in the NBM lesion group was predicted to be impaired following transfer from prior appetitive conditioning. Results supported our hypotheses, with the NBM lesion group acquiring the appetitive response normally, but showing impaired performance following transfer to the aversive conditioning phase of the transfer task. Impairments were not attributable to disrupted avoidance learning per se, as avoidance behavior was normal in the NBM lesion group tested in the avoidance condition only.

Bone marrow lesions and subchondral bone pathology of the knee.

PubMed

Kon, Elizaveta; Ronga, Mario; Filardo, Giuseppe; Farr, Jack; Madry, Henning; Milano, Giuseppe; Andriolo, Luca; Shabshin, Nogah

2016-06-01

Bone marrow lesions (BMLs) around the knee are a common magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) finding. However, despite the growing interest on BMLs in multiple pathological conditions, they remain controversial not only for the still unknown role in the etiopathological processes, but also in terms of clinical impact and treatment. The differential diagnosis includes a wide range of conditions: traumatic contusion and fractures, cyst formation and erosions, hematopoietic and infiltrated marrow, developmental chondroses, disuse and overuse, transient bone marrow oedema syndrome and, lastly, subchondral insufficiency fractures and true osteonecrosis. Regardless the heterogeneous spectrum of these pathologies, a key factor for patient management is the distinction between reversible and irreversible conditions. To this regard, MRI plays a major role, leading to the correct diagnosis based on recognizable typical patterns that have to be considered together with coexistent abnormalities, age, and clinical history. Several treatment options have been proposed, from conservative to surgical approaches. In this manuscript the main lesion patterns and their management have been analysed to provide the most updated evidence for the differential diagnosis and the most effective treatment.

Effect of Poultry Litter Treatment(R) (PLT(R)) on the development of respiratory tract lesions in broilers.

PubMed

Terzich, M; Quarles, C; Goodwin, M A; Brown, J

1998-01-01

In previous studies, Poultry Litter Treatment(R) (PLT(R)) was shown to reduce atmospheric ammonia levels and ascites death rates, and produce higher profit value in broiler chickens. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of PLT(R) on atmospheric ammonia levels, the development of respiratory tract lesions, and body weight gains in broiler chickens. Data were collected from chicks that were raised in containment conditions that resembled commercial settings. Atmospheric ammonia levels, gross thoracic air sac lesion scores, and the numbers and magnitudes of histopathologic tracheal mucosal injuries were significantly (P = 0.001) reduced in chickens that were raised on PLT(R)-treated litter than in their untreated-litter control counterparts. In addition, mean body weights and lung:body weight ratios were significantly (P < 0.03) larger in broilers that were raised on treated litter. The reductions in respiratory tract lesions among broilers raised on PLT(R)-treated litter were attributed to reductions in atmospheric ammonia levels.

Deep Cerebellar Nuclei Play an Important Role in Two-Tone Discrimination on Delay Eyeblink Conditioning in C57BL/6 Mice

PubMed Central

Sakamoto, Toshiro; Endo, Shogo

2013-01-01

Previous studies have shown that deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN)-lesioned mice develop conditioned responses (CR) on delay eyeblink conditioning when a salient tone conditioned stimulus (CS) is used, which suggests that the cerebellum potentially plays a role in more complicated cognitive functions. In the present study, we examined the role of DCN in tone frequency discrimination in the delay eyeblink-conditioning paradigm. In the first experiment, DCN-lesioned and sham-operated mice were subjected to standard simple eyeblink conditioning under low-frequency tone CS (LCS: 1 kHz, 80 dB) or high-frequency tone CS (HCS: 10 kHz, 70 dB) conditions. DCN-lesioned mice developed CR in both CS conditions as well as sham-operated mice. In the second experiment, DCN-lesioned and sham-operated mice were subjected to two-tone discrimination tasks, with LCS+ (or HCS+) paired with unconditioned stimulus (US), and HCS− (or LCS−) without US. CR% in sham-operated mice increased in LCS+ (or HCS+) trials, regardless of tone frequency of CS, but not in HCS− (or LCS−) trials. The results indicate that sham-operated mice can discriminate between LCS+ and HCS− (or HCS+ and LCS−). In contrast, DCN-lesioned mice showed high CR% in not only LCS+ (or HCS+) trials but also HCS− (or LCS−) trials. The results indicate that DCN lesions impair the discrimination between tone frequency in eyeblink conditioning. Our results suggest that the cerebellum plays a pivotal role in the discrimination of tone frequency. PMID:23555821

The effect of word prediction settings (frequency of use) on text input speed in persons with cervical spinal cord injury: a prospective study.

PubMed

Pouplin, Samuel; Roche, Nicolas; Antoine, Jean-Yves; Vaugier, Isabelle; Pottier, Sandra; Figere, Marjorie; Bensmail, Djamel

2017-06-01

To determine whether activation of the frequency of use and automatic learning parameters of word prediction software has an impact on text input speed. Forty-five participants with cervical spinal cord injury between C4 and C8 Asia A or B accepted to participate to this study. Participants were separated in two groups: a high lesion group for participants with lesion level is at or above C5 Asia AIS A or B and a low lesion group for participants with lesion is between C6 and C8 Asia AIS A or B. A single evaluation session was carried out for each participant. Text input speed was evaluated during three copying tasks: • without word prediction software (WITHOUT condition) • with automatic learning of words and frequency of use deactivated (NOT_ACTIV condition) • with automatic learning of words and frequency of use activated (ACTIV condition) Results: Text input speed was significantly higher in the WITHOUT than the NOT_ACTIV (p< 0.001) or ACTIV conditions (p = 0.02) for participants with low lesions. Text input speed was significantly higher in the ACTIV than in the NOT_ACTIV (p = 0.002) or WITHOUT (p < 0.001) conditions for participants with high lesions. Use of word prediction software with the activation of frequency of use and automatic learning increased text input speed in participants with high-level tetraplegia. For participants with low-level tetraplegia, the use of word prediction software with frequency of use and automatic learning activated only decreased the number of errors. Implications in rehabilitation   Access to technology can be difficult for persons with disabilities such as cervical spinal cord injury (SCI). Several methods have been developed to increase text input speed such as word prediction software.This study show that parameter of word prediction software (frequency of use) affected text input speed in persons with cervical SCI and differed according to the level of the lesion. • For persons with high-level lesion, our results suggest that this parameter must be activated so that text input speed is increased. • For persons with low lesion group, this parameter must be activated so that the numbers of errors are decreased. • In all cases, the activation of the parameter of frequency of use is essential in order to improve the efficiency of the word prediction software. • Health-related professionals should use these results in their clinical practice for better results and therefore better patients 'satisfaction.

Coronary arteriosclerosis in Atlantic salmon. No regression of lesions after spawning.

PubMed

Saunders, R L; Farrell, A P

1988-01-01

The incidence and severity of coronary arteriosclerosis were studied in 209 wild and cultured Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) during various stages of recovery of bodily condition after spawning. All recently spawned fish had lesions of moderate to extreme severity. The incidence of lesions for each fish was high (73% to 94% of all arterial cross-sections examined). The incidence and severity of lesions did not decrease during 5 months in a group of wild salmon reconditioned in the laboratory. Wild salmon that were examined in the spring angling fishery in the Miramichi River, New Brunswick, about 5 months after spawning had a high incidence (89%) of severe lesions, not significantly different from recently spawned salmon from the same and another river. A population of cultured salmon sampled at intervals from a sea cage during 9 months after spawning showed no evidence of lesion regression, but rather a continued increase in both incidence and severity during recovery of bodily condition and growth. Thus, in contrast with previous studies with steelhead trout and Atlantic salmon where the possibility of lesion regression has been suggested, our observations on a large number of Atlantic salmon from various sources gave no evidence of lesion regression. Coronary arteriosclerosis in Salmo salar appears to be a progressive condition, which continues during recovery of bodily condition and growth after spawning.

Involvement of interleukin‑23 induced by Porphyromonas endodontalis lipopolysaccharide in osteoclastogenesis.

PubMed

Ma, Nan; Yang, Di; Okamura, Hirohiko; Teramachi, Jumpei; Hasegawa, Tomokazu; Qiu, Lihong; Haneji, Tatsuji

2017-02-01

Periapical lesions are characterized by the destruction of periapical bone, and occur as a result of local inflammatory responses to root canal infection by microorganisms including Porphyromonas endodontalis (P. endodontalis). P. endodontalis and its primary virulence factor, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), are associated with the development of periapical lesions and alveolar bone loss. Interleukin‑23 (IL‑23) is critical in the initiation and progression of periodontal disease via effects on peripheral bone metabolism. The present study investigated the expression of IL‑23 in tissue where a periapical lesion was present, and the effect of P. endodontalis LPS on the expression of IL‑23 in periodontal ligament (PDL) cells. Reverse transcription‑ quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry revealed increased levels of IL‑23 expression in tissue with periapical lesions compared with healthy PDL tissue. Treatment with P. endodontalis LPS increased the expression of IL‑23 in the SH‑9 human PDL cell line. BAY11‑7082, a nuclear factor κB inhibitor, suppressed P. endodontalis LPS‑induced IL‑23 expression in SH‑9 cells. Treatment of RAW264.7 cells with conditioned medium from P. endodontalis LPS‑treated SH‑9 cells promoted osteoclastogenesis. By contrast, RAW264.7 cells treated with conditioned medium from IL‑23‑knockdown SH‑9 cells underwent reduced levels of osteoclastogenesis. The results of the present study indicated that the expression of IL‑23 in PDL cells induced by P. endodontalis LPS treatment may be involved in the progression of periapical lesions via stimulation of the osteoclastogenesis process.

Evaluation of sensitivity and specificity of cytologic examination: 269 cases (1999-2000).

PubMed

Cohen, Michele; Bohling, Mark W; Wright, James C; Welles, Elizabeth A; Spano, Joseph S

2003-04-01

To determine sensitivity and specificity of cytologic examination used in a clinical setting. Retrospective study. 216 dogs, 44 cats, 4 horses, 2 ferrets, 1 llama, 1 rat, and 1 mouse. Records were reviewed of cases in which a cytologic diagnosis was followed by a surgical biopsy or postmortem examination within 3 days with subsequent histopathologic diagnosis. Diagnoses were compared for agreement at various levels, including complete agreement, partial agreement, no agreement, or no comparison possible because of insufficient or incorrect cytologic specimen. Levels of agreement were compared for different categories of lesions, including neoplastic, inflammatory, dysplastic-hyperplastic-other, and normal tissue. Additionally, levels of agreement for neoplastic lesions were categorized with regard to cell type, degree of malignancy, and location. Sensitivity and specificity of cytologic examination were calculated. At the level of general agreement (complete and partial agreement), the sensitivity of cytologic examination ranged from 33.3 to 66.1%, depending on the location of the lesion. Cytologic examination was most accurate when used to diagnose cutaneous and subcutaneous lesions and least accurate for diagnosis of liver lesions. Cytologic examination was most effective in diagnosis of neoplastic disease and least effective in diagnosis of dysplastic or hyperplastic conditions. Cytologic examination is a valuable diagnostic tool, although our results indicated lower accuracy than previously reported. False-negative results (missing a diagnosis) were far more common than false-positive results (categorizing a healthy animal as diseased): therefore, if the clinical index of suspicion is high, cytologic examination should be repeated or another technique should be selected to rule out the suspected condition.

Comparison of the Effects of Curcumin Mucoadhesive Paste and Local Corticosteroid on the Treatment of Erosive Oral Lichen Planus Lesions.

PubMed

Nosratzehi, Tahereh; Arbabi-Kalati, Fateme; Hamishehkar, Hamed; Bagheri, Sudabeh

2018-02-01

Lichen planus is a prevalent chronic mucocutaneous condition, whose exact pathogenesis has not been elucidated yet and its standard treatment at present involves the use of local corticosteroids. Curcumin is a colored material extracted from Curcuma longa plant species and is used as an appetizer and for medical purposes. It has anti-inflammatory, antioxidative and anti-cancerous properties. In the present study, the effect of mucoadhesive pastes containing curcumin and local corticosteroids was evaluated for the treatment of erosive lichen planus lesions. In this case‒control study, 40 patients with oral lichen planus were evaluated. Twenty patients, as the cases, were given mucoadhesive pates containing curcumin and 20 patients, as the controls, were given local corticosteroids. The lesion sizes were recorded in the first session and during the follow-up sessions. Pain severities were measured and recorded using the visual analogue scale (VAS) on the first session and during the follow-up sessions. Data were analyzed with SPSS 19, using Student's t-test and Mann-Whitney test. Data are significant P < 0.05. The lesion sizes, pain severities and changes in classification of the lesions exhibited significant differences at different follow-up sessions (weeks 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12) in the two groups (P < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences between the group treated with curcumin and the group treated with local corticosteroids (P > 0.05). Curcumin was effective in the treatment of oral lichen planus lesions and resulted in decreases in lesion sizes, pain and burning sensation severities and changes in classification of the lesions without any complications. Copyright © 2018 National Medical Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of Galla chinensis on the remineralization of two bovine root lesions morphous in vitro.

PubMed

Guo, Bin; Que, Ke-Hua; Jing Yang; Wang, Bo; Liang, Qian-Qian; Xie, Hong-Hui

2012-09-01

The present study aims to evaluate the effect of Galla chinensis compounds on the remineralization of two artificial root lesions morphous in vitro. Sixty bovine dentine blocks were divided into two groups and individually treated with two levels of demineralization solutions to form erosive and subsurface artificial carious lesions in vitro. Each group was then divided into three subgroups, each of which were treated with a remineralization solution (positive control), deionized water (negative control), or 4 000 mg⋅L(-1) aqueous solutions of Galla chinensis extract. The dentine blocks were then subjected to a pH-cycling regime for 7 days. During the first 4 days, the daily cycle included 21-h deal and 3-h demineralization applications. The dentine blocks were dealt with the entire day during the remaining 3 days. Two specimens from each of the treatment groups were selected and observed under a polarized light microscope. Data collected using a laser scanning confocal microscope were computerized and analyzed. Galla chinensis extract clearly enhanced the remineralization of both erosive lesion and subsurface lesion patterns in the specimens (P<0.05). The level of remineralization of the erosive lesion by Galla chinensis extract was lower than that of the subsurface lesion (P<0.05). In addition, the remineralization of the subsurface lesion by Galla chinensis extract was higher than that of the remineralization solution (P<0.05). No significant difference between the remineralization of erosive lesions by Galla chinensis extract and the remineralization solution was observed (P>0.05). So Galla chinensis extract has the potential to improve the remineralization of artificial root lesions under dynamic pH-cyclic conditions, indicating its potential use as a natural remineralization medicine.

Screening for gastric cancer and surveillance of premalignant lesions: a systematic review of cost-effectiveness studies.

PubMed

Areia, Miguel; Carvalho, Rita; Cadime, Ana Teresa; Rocha Gonçalves, Francisco; Dinis-Ribeiro, Mário

2013-10-01

Cost-effectiveness studies are highly dependent on the models, settings, and variables used and should be based on systematic reviews. We systematically reviewed cost-effectiveness studies that address screening for gastric cancer and/or surveillance of precancerous conditions and lesions. A systematic review of cost-effectiveness studies was performed by conducting a sensitive search in seven databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Current Contents Connect, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, Academic Search Complete, and CINAHL Plus), independently evaluated by two investigators. Articles were evaluated for type of study, perspective, model, intervention, incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, clinical or cost variables, and quality, according to published guidelines. From 2395 abstracts, 23 articles were included: 19 concerning population screening and 4 on following up premalignant lesions. Studies on Helicobacter pylori screening concluded that serology was cost-effective, depending on cancer incidence and endoscopy cost (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio: 6264-25,881), and eradication after endoscopic resection was also cost-effective (dominant) based on one study. Studies on imaging screening concluded that endoscopy was more cost-effective than no screening (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio: 3376-26,836). Articles on follow-up of premalignant lesions reported conflicting results (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio: 1868-72,519 for intestinal metaplasia; 18,600-39,800 for dysplasia). Quality assessment revealed a unanimous lack of a detailed systematic review and fulfillment of a median number of 23 items (20-26) of 35 possible ones. The available evidence shows that Helicobacter pylori serology or endoscopic population screening is cost-effective, while endoscopic surveillance of premalignant gastric lesions presents conflicting results. Better implementation of published guidelines and accomplishment of systematic detailed reviews are needed. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Comparison Between Various Color Spectra and Conventional Grayscale Imaging for Detection of Parenchymal Liver Lesions With B-Mode Sonography.

PubMed

Merkel, Daniel; Brinkmann, Eckard; Kämmer, Joerg C; Köhler, Miriam; Wiens, Daniel; Derwahl, Karl-Michael

2015-09-01

The electronic colorization of grayscale B-mode sonograms using various color schemes aims to enhance the adaptability and practicability of B-mode sonography in daylight conditions. The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic effectiveness and importance of colorized B-mode sonography. Fifty-three video sequences of sonographic examinations of the liver were digitized and subsequently colorized in 2 different color combinations (yellow-brown and blue-white). The set of 53 images consisted of 33 with isoechoic masses, 8 with obvious lesions of the liver (hypoechoic or hyperechoic), and 12 with inconspicuous reference images of the liver. The video sequences were combined in a random order and edited into half-hour video clips. Isoechoic liver lesions were successfully detected in 58% of the yellow-brown video sequences and in 57% of the grayscale video sequences (P = .74, not significant). Fifty percent of the isoechoic liver lesions were successfully detected in the blue-white video sequences, as opposed to a 55% detection rate in the corresponding grayscale video sequences (P= .11, not significant). In 2 subgroups, significantly more liver lesions were detected with grayscale sonography compared to blue-white sonography. Yellow-brown-colorized B-mode sonography appears to be similarly effective for detection of isoechoic parenchymal liver lesions as traditional grayscale sonography. Blue-white colorization in B-mode sonography is probably not as effective as grayscale sonography, although a statistically significant disadvantage was shown only in the subgroup of hyperechoic liver lesions. © 2015 by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.

Functions of the nucleus of the optic tract (NOT)

PubMed Central

Yakushin, Sergei B.; Gizzi, Martin; Reisine, Harvey; Raphan, Theodore; Büttner-Ennever, Jean; Cohen, Bernard

2007-01-01

Ocular pursuit in monkeys, elicited by sinusoidal and triangular (constant velocity) stimuli, was studied before and after lesions of the nucleus of the optic tract (NOT). Before NOT lesions, pursuit gains (eye velocity/target velocity) were close to unity for sinusoidal and constant-velocity stimuli at frequencies up to 1 Hz. In this range, retinal slip was less than 2°. Electrode tracks made to identify the location of NOT caused deficits in ipsilateral pursuit, which later recovered. Small electrolytic lesions of NOT reduced ipsilateral pursuit gains to below 0.5 in all tested conditions. Pursuit was better, however, when the eyes moved from the contra-lateral side toward the center (centripetal pursuit) than from the center ipsilaterally (centrifugal pursuit), although the eyes remained in close proximity to the target with saccadic tracking. Effects of lesions on ipsilateral pursuit were not permanent, and pursuit gains had generally recovered to 60–80% of baseline after about 2 weeks. One animal had bilateral NOT lesions and lost pursuit for 4 days. Thereafter, it had a centrifugal pursuit deficit that lasted for more than 2 months. Vertical pursuit and visually guided saccades were not affected by the bilateral NOT lesions in this animal. We also compared effects of these and similar NOT lesions on opto-kinetic nystagmus (OKN) and optokinetic after-nystagmus (OKAN). Correlation of functional deficits with NOT lesions from this and previous studies showed that rostral lesions of NOT in and around the pretectal oli-vary nucleus, which interrupted cortical input through the brachium of the superior colliculus (BSC), affected both smooth pursuit and OKN. In two animals in which it was tested, NOT lesions that caused a deficit in pursuit also decreased the rapid and slow components of OKN slow-phase velocity and affected OKAN. It was previously shown that slightly more caudal NOT lesions were more effective in altering gain adaptation of the angular vestibulo-ocular relfex (aVOR). The present findings suggest that cortical pathways through rostral NOT play an important role in maintenance of ipsilateral ocular pursuit. Since lesions that affected ocular pursuit had similar effects on ipsilateral OKN, processing for these two functions is probably closely linked in NOT, as it is elsewhere. PMID:10803412

Sustained conditional knockdown reveals intracellular bone sialoprotein as essential for breast cancer skeletal metastasis.

PubMed

Kovacheva, Marineta; Zepp, Michael; Berger, Stefan M; Berger, Martin R

2014-07-30

Increased bone sialoprotein (BSP) serum levels are related to breast cancer skeletal metastasis, but their relevance is unknown. We elucidated novel intracellular BSP functions by a conditional knockdown of BSP. Conditional MDA-MB-231 subclones were equipped with a novel gene expression cassette containing a tet-reg-ulated miRNA providing knockdown of BSP production. These clones were used to assess the effect of BSP on morphology, proliferation, migration, colony formation and gene expression in vitro, and on soft tissue and osteolytic le-sions in a xenograft model by three imaging methods. BSP knockdown caused significant anti-proliferative, anti-migratory and anti-clonogenic effects in vitro (p<0.001). In vivo, significant de-creases of soft tissue and osteolytic lesions (p<0.03) were recorded after 3 weeks of miRNA treatment, leading to complete remission within 6 weeks. Microarray data revealed that 0.3% of genes were modulated in response to BSP knockdown. Upregulated genes included the endoplasmic reticulum stress genes ATF3 and DDIT3, the tumor suppressor gene EGR1, ID2 (related to breast epithelial differentiation), c-FOS and SERPINB2, whereas the metastasis associated genes CD44 and IL11 were downregulated. Also, activation of apoptotic pathways was demonstrated. These results implicate that intracellular BSP is essential for breast cancer skeletal metastasis and a target for treating these lesions.

Sustained conditional knockdown reveals intracellular bone sialoprotein as essential for breast cancer skeletal metastasis

PubMed Central

Kovacheva, Marineta; Zepp, Michael; Berger, Stefan M.; Berger, Martin R.

2014-01-01

Increased bone sialoprotein (BSP) serum levels are related to breast cancer skeletal metastasis, but their relevance is unknown. We elucidated novel intracellular BSP functions by a conditional knockdown of BSP. Conditional MDA-MB-231 subclones were equipped with a novel gene expression cassette containing a tet-regulated miRNA providing knockdown of BSP production. These clones were used to assess the effect of BSP on morphology, proliferation, migration, colony formation and gene expression in vitro, and on soft tissue and osteolytic lesions in a xenograft model by three imaging methods. BSP knockdown caused significant anti-proliferative, anti-migratory and anti-clonogenic effects in vitro (p<0.001). In vivo, significant decreases of soft tissue and osteolytic lesions (p<0.03) were recorded after 3 weeks of miRNA treatment, leading to complete remission within 6 weeks. Microarray data revealed that 0.3% of genes were modulated in response to BSP knockdown. Upregulated genes included the endoplasmic reticulum stress genes ATF3 and DDIT3, the tumor suppressor gene EGR1, ID2 (related to breast epithelial differentiation), c-FOS and SERPINB2, whereas the metastasis associated genes CD44 and IL11 were downregulated. Also, activation of apoptotic pathways was demonstrated. These results implicate that intracellular BSP is essential for breast cancer skeletal metastasis and a target for treating these lesions. PMID:24980816

Histopathology investigation on the Vardar chub (Squalius vardarensis) populations captured from the rivers impacted by mining activities.

PubMed

Jordanova, Maja; Rebok, Katerina; Dragun, Zrinka; Ramani, Sheriban; Ivanova, Lozenka; Kostov, Vasil; Valić, Damir; Krasnići, Nesrete; Filipović Marijić, Vlatka; Kapetanović, Damir

2016-07-01

Many natural freshwater ecosystems, especially in the north eastern Macedonia, are polluted with heavy metals, which are released by active mines. Long-term exposure to high levels of dissolved metals might result in increased metal bioaccumulation in organs of aquatic organisms, and consequently might cause various sub-toxic and toxic effects. The aim of this study was to assess the health of Vardar chub (Squalius vardarensis) inhabiting mining impacted rivers Zletovska and Kriva, in comparison with chub from the reference Bregalnica River. It was done by use of indicators of tissue damage (histopathology of liver and gonads) and general indicators of exposure to environmental stressors (condition factor, organo-somatic indices and external/internal macroscopic lesions). Histological assessment of gonads revealed good reproductive health in all three rivers, indicating high tolerance of gonads to contaminant exposure. Contrary, several external/internal lesions were more pronounced in chub from severely metal contaminated Zletovska River. Prevalence of hepatic lesions was also higher in mining impacted rivers (in Kriva, 70%; in Zletovska, 59%) compared to Bregalnica River (38%). The spectrum of histological lesions observed in chub liver varied from non-specific minor degenerative conditions, such as lymphocyte infiltration, fibrosis, parasites, granulomas and lipidosis, to extensive and/or more severe changes such as bile duct proliferation, necrosis, megalocytosis, light-dark hepatocytes and hepatocytes regeneration. The results of histopathological investigation for all three rivers showed clear signs of water contamination, especially prominent in mining influenced rivers. More research efforts should be devoted to study of environmental conditions and metal contamination in the mining impacted rivers worldwide, especially of their effects on health of local ichthyofauna. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Detection of infarct lesions from single MRI modality using inconsistency between voxel intensity and spatial location--a 3-D automatic approach.

PubMed

Shen, Shan; Szameitat, André J; Sterr, Annette

2008-07-01

Detection of infarct lesions using traditional segmentation methods is always problematic due to intensity similarity between lesions and normal tissues, so that multispectral MRI modalities were often employed for this purpose. However, the high costs of MRI scan and the severity of patient conditions restrict the collection of multiple images. Therefore, in this paper, a new 3-D automatic lesion detection approach was proposed, which required only a single type of anatomical MRI scan. It was developed on a theory that, when lesions were present, the voxel-intensity-based segmentation and the spatial-location-based tissue distribution should be inconsistent in the regions of lesions. The degree of this inconsistency was calculated, which indicated the likelihood of tissue abnormality. Lesions were identified when the inconsistency exceeded a defined threshold. In this approach, the intensity-based segmentation was implemented by the conventional fuzzy c-mean (FCM) algorithm, while the spatial location of tissues was provided by prior tissue probability maps. The use of simulated MRI lesions allowed us to quantitatively evaluate the performance of the proposed method, as the size and location of lesions were prespecified. The results showed that our method effectively detected lesions with 40-80% signal reduction compared to normal tissues (similarity index > 0.7). The capability of the proposed method in practice was also demonstrated on real infarct lesions from 15 stroke patients, where the lesions detected were in broad agreement with true lesions. Furthermore, a comparison to a statistical segmentation approach presented in the literature suggested that our 3-D lesion detection approach was more reliable. Future work will focus on adapting the current method to multiple sclerosis lesion detection.

Orbitofrontal cortex and basolateral amygdala lesions result in suboptimal and dissociable reward choices on cue-guided effort in rats

PubMed Central

Ostrander, Serena; Cazares, Victor A.; Kim, Charissa; Cheung, Shauna; Gonzalez, Isabel; Izquierdo, Alicia

2011-01-01

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA) are important neural regions in responding adaptively to changes in the incentive value of reward. Recent evidence suggests these structures may be differentially engaged in effort and cue-guided choice behavior. In two t-maze experiments, we examined the effects of bilateral lesions of either BLA or OFC on 1) effortful choices where rats could climb a barrier for a high reward or select a low reward with no effort and 2) effortful choices when a visual cue signaled changes in reward magnitude. In both experiments, BLA rats displayed transient work aversion, choosing the effortless low reward option. OFC rats were work averse only in the no cue conditions, displaying a pattern of attenuated recovery from the cue conditions signaling reward unavailability in the effortful arm. Control measures rule out an inability to discriminate the cue in either lesion group. PMID:21639604

Liquid nitrogen cryotherapy for lip mucous membrane venous malformation in infants.

PubMed

Zhang, Da-Ming; Wang, You-Yuan; Lin, Zhao-Yu; Yang, Zhao-Hui; Chen, Wei-Liang

2015-03-01

Lip mucous membrane venous malformations are common benign lesions in infants. This clinical study evaluates the efficacy and safety of liquid nitrogen cryotherapy used to treat this condition. A total of 84 pediatric patients undergoing liquid nitrogen cryotherapy for venous malformations involving the lips were reviewed, with 45 males and 39 females treated. The overall median age at mucous membrane venous malformation diagnosis was 5.6 months (range 2-18 months). The venous malformations involved the vermilion of the lower lip in 44 cases, the vermilion of the upper lip in 31 cases, and both vermilions in 9 cases. No complications due to anesthesia occurred. After a follow-up period of 2-38 months (mean 25 months), 65 lesions (77.4 %) were completely involuted, 14 lesions (16.7 %) were mostly involuted, and 5 lesions (5.9 %) were partially involuted; no lesions showed a minor amount of involution. Liquid nitrogen cryotherapy is an effective, simple, and safe management tool for mucous membrane venous malformations of the lip in infants.

The Role of Nucleus Accumbens Shell in Learning about Neutral versus Excitatory Stimuli during Pavlovian Fear Conditioning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bradfield, Laura A.; McNally, Gavan P.

2010-01-01

We studied the role of nucleus accumbens shell (AcbSh) in Pavlovian fear conditioning. Rats were trained to fear conditioned stimulus A (CSA) in Stage I, which was then presented in compound with a neutral stimulus and paired with shock in Stage II. AcbSh lesions had no effect on fear-learning to CSA in Stage I, but selectively prevented learning…

Intact renewal after extinction of conditioned suppression with lesions of either the retrosplenial cortex or dorsal hippocampus.

PubMed

Todd, Travis P; Jiang, Matthew Y; DeAngeli, Nicole E; Bucci, David J

2017-03-01

Extinction of fear to a Pavlovian conditioned stimulus (CS) is known to be context-specific. When the CS is tested outside the context of extinction, fear returns, or renews. Several studies have demonstrated that renewal depends upon the hippocampus, although there are also studies where renewal was not impacted by hippocampal damage, suggesting that under some conditions context encoding and/or retrieval of extinction depends upon other regions. One candidate region is the retrosplenial cortex (RSC), which is known to contribute to contextual and spatial learning and memory. Using a conditioned-suppression paradigm, Experiment 1 tested the impact of pre-training RSC lesions on renewal of extinguished fear. Consistent with previous studies, lesions of the RSC did not impact acquisition or extinction of conditioned fear to the CS. Further, there was no evidence that RSC lesions impaired renewal, indicating that contextual encoding and/or retrieval of extinction does not depend upon the RSC. In Experiment 2, post-extinction lesions of either the RSC or dorsal hippocampus (DH) also had no impact on renewal. However, in Experiment 3, both RSC and DH lesions did impair performance in an object-in-place procedure, an index of place memory. RSC and DH contributions to extinction and renewal are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of Perfusion on Radiofrequency Ablation in Swine Kidneys1

PubMed Central

Chang, Isaac; Mikityansky, Igor; Wray-Cahen, Diane; Pritchard, William F.; Karanian, John W.; Wood, Bradford J.

2008-01-01

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of vascular occlusion on the size of radiofrequency (RF) ablation lesions and to evaluate embolization as an occlusion method. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The kidneys of six swine were surgically exposed. Fifteen RF ablation lesions were created in nine kidneys by using a 2-cm-tip single-needle ablation probe in varying conditions: Seven lesions were created with normal blood flow and eight were created with blood flow obstructed by means of vascular clamping (n = 5) or renal artery embolization (n = 3). The temperature, applied voltage, current, and impedance were recorded during RF ablation. Tissue-cooling curves acquired for 2 minutes immediately after the ablation were compared by using regression analysis. Lesions were bisected, and their maximum diameters were measured and compared by using analysis of variance. RESULTS: The mean diameter of ablation lesions created when blood flow was obstructed was 60% greater than that of lesions created when blood flow was normal (1.38 cm ± 0.05 [standard error of mean] vs 0.86 cm ± 0.07, P < .001). The two methods of flow obstruction yielded lesions of similar mean sizes: 1.40 cm ± 0.06 with vascular clamping and 1.33 cm ± 0.07 with embolization. The temperature at the probe tip when lesions were ablated with normal blood flow decreased more rapidly than did the temperature when lesions were ablated after flow obstruction (P < .001), but no significant differences in tissue-cooling curves between the two flow obstruction methods were observed. CONCLUSION: Obstruction of renal blood flow before and during RF ablation resulted in larger thermal lesions with potentially less variation in size compared with the lesions created with normal nonobstructed blood flow. Selective arterial embolization of the kidney vessels may be a useful adjunct to RF ablation of kidney tumors. PMID:15128994

Thermal energy effects on articular cartilage: a multidisciplinary evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaplan, Lee D.; Ernsthausen, John; Ionescu, Dan S.; Studer, Rebecca K.; Bradley, James P.; Chu, Constance R.; Fu, Freddie H.; Farkas, Daniel L.

2002-05-01

Partial thickness articular cartilage lesions are commonly encountered in orthopedic surgery. These lesions do not have the ability to heal by themselves, due to lack of vascular supply. Several types of treatment have addressed this problem, including mechanical debridement and thermal chondroplasty. The goal of these treatments is to provide a smooth cartilage surface and prevent propagation of the lesions. Early thermal chondroplasty was performed using lasers, and yielded very mixed results, including severe damage to the cartilage, due to poor control of the induced thermal effects. This led to the development (including commercial) of probes using radiofrequency to generate the thermal effects desired for chondroplasty. Similar concerns over the quantitative aspects and control ability of the induced thermal effects in these treatments led us to test the whole range of complex issues and parameters involved. Our investigations are designed to simultaneously evaluate clinical conditions, instrument variables for existing radiofrequency probes (pressure, speed, distance, dose) as well as the associated basic science issues such as damage temperature and controllability (down to the subcellular level), damage geometry, and effects of surrounding conditions (medium, temperature, flow, pressure). The overall goals of this work are (1) to establish whether thermal chondroplasty can be used in a safe and efficacious manner, and (2) provide a prescription for multi-variable optimization of the way treatments are delivered, based on quantitative analysis. The methods used form an interdisciplinary set, to include precise mechanical actuation, high accuracy temperature and temperature gradient control and measurement, advanced imaging approaches and mathematical modeling.

Effect of certain psychopharmacological preparations on adaptation under stress conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stanishevskaya, A. V.; Mezentseva, L. N.

1980-01-01

Experiments staged on rats demonstrated that the formation of pathological states caused by stress and accompanied by the development of ulcerative lesion of the gastric mucosa are associated with the degree of the catecholamines level drop in the mesencephalon and hypothalamus. The application of seduxen and also of combinations consisting of L-DOPA with seduxen, or with an L-adrenoblocking agent pyroxan tends to reduce the frequency of developing alcerative lesions of the stomach. The protective effect produced by the combination of L-DOPA with an L-adrenoblocking agent pyroxan is barred by an additional administration of an B-adrenoblocking agent, inderal.

Radiation lesion to liver DNA of rats exposed to radiation during flight aboard the Kosmos-690 biosatellite. [Effect of weightlessness on. gamma. -radioinduced DNA strand breaks

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Komolova, G.S.; Makeeva, V.F.; Egorov, I.A.

1978-10-26

A prime role is attributed to disturbances in DNA structure of nuclear chromatin as the mechanisms of radiation lesions in living cells. For this reason, it may be assumed that a change in the biological effectiveness of radiation delivered to animals under conditions that are extreme for vital functions, including space flight, may occur via modification of radiolesions in chromatin DNA. For this reason, the DNA of rats exposed to radiation from an onboard gamma source in the course of an actual space flight in the Kosmos-690 biosatellite was examined.

Automatic Skin Lesion Segmentation Using Deep Fully Convolutional Networks With Jaccard Distance.

PubMed

Yuan, Yading; Chao, Ming; Lo, Yeh-Chi

2017-09-01

Automatic skin lesion segmentation in dermoscopic images is a challenging task due to the low contrast between lesion and the surrounding skin, the irregular and fuzzy lesion borders, the existence of various artifacts, and various imaging acquisition conditions. In this paper, we present a fully automatic method for skin lesion segmentation by leveraging 19-layer deep convolutional neural networks that is trained end-to-end and does not rely on prior knowledge of the data. We propose a set of strategies to ensure effective and efficient learning with limited training data. Furthermore, we design a novel loss function based on Jaccard distance to eliminate the need of sample re-weighting, a typical procedure when using cross entropy as the loss function for image segmentation due to the strong imbalance between the number of foreground and background pixels. We evaluated the effectiveness, efficiency, as well as the generalization capability of the proposed framework on two publicly available databases. One is from ISBI 2016 skin lesion analysis towards melanoma detection challenge, and the other is the PH2 database. Experimental results showed that the proposed method outperformed other state-of-the-art algorithms on these two databases. Our method is general enough and only needs minimum pre- and post-processing, which allows its adoption in a variety of medical image segmentation tasks.

Temporal changes and risk factors for foot-pad dermatitis in Danish broilers.

PubMed

Kyvsgaard, Niels Chr; Jensen, Henrik Bang; Ambrosen, Thorkil; Toft, Nils

2013-01-01

Foot-pad dermatitis is a major welfare concern of broilers caused by ammonia irritation from the bedding material. In Denmark, an action plan to control the condition was implemented in 2002 with monitoring through a foot scoring system at slaughter and with predefined limits that trigger sanctions. The objective of the present study was to study time trends and to identify predisposing factors on the flock lesion scores. The analysis was carried out on a database created by merging abattoir lesion data with antemortem evaluation data, and the flock productivity database managed by the farmers' association. The database had a record for each flock and variables containing information on both flock foot-pad scores and a range of management factors. We observed a dramatic decline in flock lesion scores between the years 2002 and 2005 followed by a minimal decline hereafter. Mean flock lesion scores differed between abattoirs, and subsequent analysis was performed in a mixed effect model where abattoir was considered a random effect. The analysis showed that flock lesion scores increased when the litter quality was evaluated as poor during the on-site antemortem evaluation. Other significant risk factors were winter season as opposed to summer, low daily weight gain, straw as bedding material in contrast to wood shavings and sphagnum peat, and high age at slaughter. Stocking density was only weakly associated with flock lesion scores.

Automated diagnosis of focal liver lesions using bidirectional empirical mode decomposition features.

PubMed

Acharya, U Rajendra; Koh, Joel En Wei; Hagiwara, Yuki; Tan, Jen Hong; Gertych, Arkadiusz; Vijayananthan, Anushya; Yaakup, Nur Adura; Abdullah, Basri Johan Jeet; Bin Mohd Fabell, Mohd Kamil; Yeong, Chai Hong

2018-03-01

Liver is the heaviest internal organ of the human body and performs many vital functions. Prolonged cirrhosis and fatty liver disease may lead to the formation of benign or malignant lesions in this organ, and an early and reliable evaluation of these conditions can improve treatment outcomes. Ultrasound imaging is a safe, non-invasive, and cost-effective way of diagnosing liver lesions. However, this technique has limited performance in determining the nature of the lesions. This study initiates a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system to aid radiologists in an objective and more reliable interpretation of ultrasound images of liver lesions. In this work, we have employed radon transform and bi-directional empirical mode decomposition (BEMD) to extract features from the focal liver lesions. After which, the extracted features were subjected to particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique for the selection of a set of optimized features for classification. Our automated CAD system can differentiate normal, malignant, and benign liver lesions using machine learning algorithms. It was trained using 78 normal, 26 benign and 36 malignant focal lesions of the liver. The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of lesion classification were 92.95%, 90.80%, and 97.44%, respectively. The proposed CAD system is fully automatic as no segmentation of region-of-interest (ROI) is required. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Facial nerve palsy associated with a cystic lesion of the temporal bone.

PubMed

Kim, Na Hyun; Shin, Seung-Ho

2014-03-01

Facial nerve palsy results in the loss of facial expression and is most commonly caused by a benign, self-limiting inflammatory condition known as Bell palsy. However, there are other conditions that may cause facial paralysis, such as neoplastic conditions of the facial nerve, traumatic nerve injury, and temporal bone lesions. We present a case of facial nerve palsy concurrent with a benign cystic lesion of the temporal bone, adjacent to the tympanic segment of the facial nerve. The patient's symptoms subsided after facial nerve decompression via a transmastoid approach.

[Cytotoxicity of lysomustine and its isomers, and their potential use for selection of cells].

PubMed

Rozov, F N; Grinenko, T S; Levit, G L; Grishakov, A N; Beliavskiĭ, A V; Krasnov, V P

2011-01-01

N epsilon-Nitroso-N epsilon- [N'-(2-chloroethyl)carbamoyl]-L-lysine (I) and N epsilon- [N'-(2-chloroethyl)-N'-nitrosocarbamoyl]-L-lysine (II), the isomers being the constituents of antitumor agent Lysomustine, were obtained by RFHPLC. The study of cytotoxicity of the above compounds against K562 cells showed that the lesions induced by isomer (II) produce a significant cytotoxic effect but can be efficiently repaired by the action of MGMT (O6-methylaguanine DNA methyltransferase). Under similar conditions, the lesions induced by isomer (I) produce substantially smaller effect but are weakly if at all repairable by MGMT. The effects of a clinically approved agent Lysomustine, which is the mixture of isomers (I) and (II), are similar to those of isomer (II). The results obtained point to a different chemical nature of DNA lesions induced by two Lysomustine isomers. Our data indicate that Lysomustine and its isomer (II) can be used for in vitro selection of cells expressing MGMT.

A software system for the simulation of chest lesions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryan, John T.; McEntee, Mark; Barrett, Saoirse; Evanoff, Michael; Manning, David; Brennan, Patrick

2007-03-01

We report on the development of a novel software tool for the simulation of chest lesions. This software tool was developed for use in our study to attain optimal ambient lighting conditions for chest radiology. This study involved 61 consultant radiologists from the American Board of Radiology. Because of its success, we intend to use the same tool for future studies. The software has two main functions: the simulation of lesions and retrieval of information for ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) and JAFROC (Jack-Knife Free Response ROC) analysis. The simulation layer operates by randomly selecting an image from a bank of reportedly normal chest x-rays. A random location is then generated for each lesion, which is checked against a reference lung-map. If the location is within the lung fields, as derived from the lung-map, a lesion is superimposed. Lesions are also randomly selected from a bank of manually created chest lesion images. A blending algorithm determines which are the best intensity levels for the lesion to sit naturally within the chest x-ray. The same software was used to run a study for all 61 radiologists. A sequence of images is displayed in random order. Half of these images had simulated lesions, ranging from subtle to obvious, and half of the images were normal. The operator then selects locations where he/she thinks lesions exist and grades the lesion accordingly. We have found that this software was very effective in this study and intend to use the same principles for future studies.

Neurturin overexpression in dopaminergic neurons induces presynaptic and postsynaptic structural changes in rats with chronic 6-hydroxydopamine lesion

PubMed Central

Reyes-Corona, David; Vázquez-Hernández, Nallely; Escobedo, Lourdes; Orozco-Barrios, Carlos E.; Ayala-Davila, Jose; Moreno, Mario Gil; Amaro-Lara, Miriam E.; Flores-Martinez, Yazmin M.; Espadas-Alvarez, Armando J.; Fernandez-Parrilla, Manuel A.; Gonzalez-Barrios, Juan A.; Gutierrez-Castillo, ME; González-Burgos, Ignacio

2017-01-01

The structural effect of neurturin (NRTN) on the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system in animals remains unknown, although NRTN has been shown to be effective in Parkinson’s disease animal models. Herein, we aimed to demonstrate that NRTN overexpression in dopaminergic neurons stimulates both neurite outgrowths in the nigrostriatal pathway and striatal dendritic spines in aging rats with chronic 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesion. At week 12 after lesion, pTracer-mNRTN-His or pGreenLantern-1 plasmids were intranigrally transfected using the NTS-polyplex nanoparticles system. We showed that the transgenic expression in dopaminergic neurons remained until the end of the study (12 weeks). Only animals expressing NRTN-His showed recovery of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)+ cells (28 ± 2%), their neurites (32 ± 2%) and the neuron-specific cytoskeletal marker β-III-tubulin in the substantia nigra; striatal TH(+) fibers were also recovered (52 ± 3%), when compared to the healthy condition. Neurotensin receptor type 1 levels were also significantly recovered in the substantia nigra and striatum. Dopamine recovery was 70 ± 4% in the striatum and complete in the substantia nigra. The number of dendritic spines of striatal medium spiny neurons was also significantly increased, but the recovery was not complete. Drug-activated circling behavior decreased by 73 ± 2% (methamphetamine) and 89 ± 1% (apomorphine). Similar decrease was observed in the spontaneous motor behavior. Our results demonstrate that NRTN causes presynaptic and postsynaptic restoration of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system after a 6-OHDA-induced chronic lesion. However, those improvements did not reach the healthy condition, suggesting that NRTN exerts lesser neurotrophic effects than other neurotrophic approaches. PMID:29176874

Neurturin overexpression in dopaminergic neurons induces presynaptic and postsynaptic structural changes in rats with chronic 6-hydroxydopamine lesion.

PubMed

Reyes-Corona, David; Vázquez-Hernández, Nallely; Escobedo, Lourdes; Orozco-Barrios, Carlos E; Ayala-Davila, Jose; Moreno, Mario Gil; Amaro-Lara, Miriam E; Flores-Martinez, Yazmin M; Espadas-Alvarez, Armando J; Fernandez-Parrilla, Manuel A; Gonzalez-Barrios, Juan A; Gutierrez-Castillo, M E; González-Burgos, Ignacio; Martinez-Fong, Daniel

2017-01-01

The structural effect of neurturin (NRTN) on the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system in animals remains unknown, although NRTN has been shown to be effective in Parkinson's disease animal models. Herein, we aimed to demonstrate that NRTN overexpression in dopaminergic neurons stimulates both neurite outgrowths in the nigrostriatal pathway and striatal dendritic spines in aging rats with chronic 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesion. At week 12 after lesion, pTracer-mNRTN-His or pGreenLantern-1 plasmids were intranigrally transfected using the NTS-polyplex nanoparticles system. We showed that the transgenic expression in dopaminergic neurons remained until the end of the study (12 weeks). Only animals expressing NRTN-His showed recovery of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)+ cells (28 ± 2%), their neurites (32 ± 2%) and the neuron-specific cytoskeletal marker β-III-tubulin in the substantia nigra; striatal TH(+) fibers were also recovered (52 ± 3%), when compared to the healthy condition. Neurotensin receptor type 1 levels were also significantly recovered in the substantia nigra and striatum. Dopamine recovery was 70 ± 4% in the striatum and complete in the substantia nigra. The number of dendritic spines of striatal medium spiny neurons was also significantly increased, but the recovery was not complete. Drug-activated circling behavior decreased by 73 ± 2% (methamphetamine) and 89 ± 1% (apomorphine). Similar decrease was observed in the spontaneous motor behavior. Our results demonstrate that NRTN causes presynaptic and postsynaptic restoration of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system after a 6-OHDA-induced chronic lesion. However, those improvements did not reach the healthy condition, suggesting that NRTN exerts lesser neurotrophic effects than other neurotrophic approaches.

[Precancerous conditions in the ENT area].

PubMed

Gál, B; Mrzena, L; Hort, P

2013-01-01

An important part of tumor prevention is early detection, dia-gnosis, treatment and screening of precancerous conditions. Correct detection and screening of premalignant lesions leads to early dia-gnosis of a malignant process which provides a better chance to completely cure the patient and also predicts better quality of life. Precancerous conditions look like whitish, red or mixed mucose lesions (leukoplakia, erytroplakia, erytroleukoplakia) which are visible during clinical examination. Nevertheless, these mucose changes are not absolutely conclusive. Therefore, histological testing is necessary for dia-gnosis and determination of bio-logical potencial of precancerous lesions. Precancerous lesions as a term of histological terminology means dysplasia. The risk of progression of dysplasia into a carcinoma depends on a grade of dysplasia. The conservative or surgical treatment is chosen according to localisation and grade of dysplasia.

Chronic Morel-Lavallée Lesion: A Novel Minimally Invasive Method of Treatment.

PubMed

Mettu, Ramireddy; Surath, Harsha Vardhan; Chayam, Hanumantha Rao; Surath, Amaranth

2016-11-01

A Morel-Lavallée lesion is a closed internal degloving injury resulting from a shearing force applied to the skin. The etiology of this condition may be motor vehicle accidents, falls, contact sports (ie, football, wrestling),1 and iatrogenic after mammoplasty or abdominal liposuction.2 Common sites of the lesions include the pelvis and/or thigh.3 Isolated Morel-Lavallée lesions without underlying fracture are likely to be missed, which result in chronicity. Management of this condition often requires extensive surgical procedures such as debridement, sclerotherapy, serial percutaneous drainage, negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT), and skin grafting.4,5 The authors wish to highlight a minimally invasive technique for the treatment of chronic Morel-Lavallée lesions.

Production of Pycnidia and Conidia by Guignardia bidwellii, the Causal Agent of Grape Black Rot, as Affected by Temperature and Humidity.

PubMed

Onesti, G; González-Domínguez, E; Rossi, V

2017-02-01

Black rot, caused by the fungus Guignardia bidwellii, is a polycyclic disease affecting grape leaves and berries. In environmentally controlled experiments and in a 3-year field study, the effects of temperature and relative humidity (RH) were assessed on the following growth parameters of G. bidwellii: (i) formation of pycnidia and cirri in grape leaf lesions, (ii) production and germination of conidia, and (iii) length of the period between lesion appearance and pycnidia production. Pycnidia were produced between 5 and 35°C and at 90 to 100% RH but more pycnidia were produced between 20 and 30°C. No pycnidia were produced at RH < 90%. The first pycnidia were produced in approximately 2 days after lesion appearance at ≥20°C and in 8 days at 5°C; pycnidia continued to be produced on the same lesion for 5 to 16 days after lesion appearance, depending on the temperature. Models were developed to describe the effect of temperature and RH on pycnidia production, accounting for 95 and 97% of variability, respectively. Cirri were extruded only between 15 and 35°C and mainly at 100% RH. Field experiments confirmed that pycnidia are produced for several days on a leaf lesion and that the length of the period between lesion appearance and pycnidia production depends on temperature. Overall, the findings showed that production of conidia requires high humidity; under field conditions, some hours at high humidity, which usually occur at nighttime, rather than constant high humidity may be sufficient.

Digestion products of the PH20 hyaluronidase inhibit remyelination.

PubMed

Preston, Marnie; Gong, Xi; Su, Weiping; Matsumoto, Steven G; Banine, Fatima; Winkler, Clayton; Foster, Scott; Xing, Rubing; Struve, Jaime; Dean, Justin; Baggenstoss, Bruce; Weigel, Paul H; Montine, Thomas J; Back, Stephen A; Sherman, Larry S

2013-02-01

Oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) recruited to demyelinating lesions often fail to mature into oligodendrocytes (OLs) that remyelinate spared axons. The glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan (HA) accumulates in demyelinating lesions and has been implicated in the failure of OPC maturation and remyelination. We tested the hypothesis that OPCs in demyelinating lesions express a specific hyaluronidase, and that digestion products of this enzyme inhibit OPC maturation. Mouse OPCs grown in vitro were analyzed for hyaluronidase expression and activity. Gain of function studies were used to define the hyaluronidases that blocked OPC maturation. Mouse and human demyelinating lesions were assessed for hyaluronidase expression. Digestion products from different hyaluronidases and a hyaluronidase inhibitor were tested for their effects on OPC maturation and functional remyelination in vivo. OPCs demonstrated hyaluronidase activity in vitro and expressed multiple hyaluronidases, including HYAL1, HYAL2, and PH20. HA digestion by PH20 but not other hyaluronidases inhibited OPC maturation into OLs. In contrast, inhibiting HA synthesis did not influence OPC maturation. PH20 expression was elevated in OPCs and reactive astrocytes in both rodent and human demyelinating lesions. HA digestion products generated by the PH20 hyaluronidase but not another hyaluronidase inhibited remyelination following lysolecithin-induced demyelination. Inhibition of hyaluronidase activity lead to increased OPC maturation and promoted increased conduction velocities through lesions. We determined that PH20 is elevated in demyelinating lesions and that increased PH20 expression is sufficient to inhibit OPC maturation and remyelination. Pharmacological inhibition of PH20 may therefore be an effective way to promote remyelination in multiple sclerosis and related conditions. Copyright © 2012 American Neurological Association.

Paracoccidioidomycosis: a series of 66 patients with oral lesions from an endemic area.

PubMed

Brazão-Silva, Marco Túllio; Andrade, Marília Ferreira; Franco, Talita; Ribeiro, Rosy Iara Maciel Azambuja; Silva, Weuler dos Santos; Faria, Gabriele; Faria, Paulo Rogério de; Cardoso, Sérgio Vitorino; Loyola, Adriano Mota

2011-07-01

Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is the most important systemic mycosis in Latin America. It has been regarded as a multifocal disease, with oral lesions as the prominent feature. To provide useful information concerning the diagnosis and management of the disease, this study describes demographic and clinical data from the medical records of a consecutive series of 66 Brazilian patients from an endemic area, evaluated in a referral centre for oral diagnosis. In this sample of patients, there was a predominance of middle-aged male patients, who were primarily rural workers. Chronic multifocal disease was prevalent, with lesions also detected in the lungs, lymph nodes, skin or adrenal glands. Most of the cases presented with lesions at the gingival mucosa followed by the palate and lips; these conditions occurring in the oral cavity were frequently associated with pain. Importantly, most of the patients sought professional care for oral lesions. The diagnosis was obtained through exfoliative cytology and/or biopsy of the oral lesions. Medical treatment was effective, and there were no mortalities in the sample. The present findings not only confirm the importance of oral lesions in the diagnosis and management of PCM but also illustrate that questions still remain unclear, such as the possibility of direct inoculation of the fungus onto oral tissues. © 2010 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Polyphosphate-Accumulating Bacteria: Potential Contributors to Mineral Dissolution in the Oral Cavity

PubMed Central

Breiland, Ashley A.; Flood, Beverly E.; Nikrad, Julia; Bakarich, John; Husman, Matthew; Rhee, TaekHyun; Jones, Robert S.

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT Bacteria that accumulate polyphosphates have previously been shown to dynamically influence the solubility of phosphatic minerals in marine settings and wastewater. Here, we show that dental plaque, saliva, and carious lesions all contain abundant polyphosphate-accumulating bacteria. Saturation state modeling results, informed by phosphate uptake experiments using the model organism Lactobacillus rhamnosus, which is known to inhabit advanced carious lesions, suggest that polyphosphate accumulation can lead to undersaturated conditions with respect to hydroxyapatite under some oral cavity conditions. The cell densities of polyphosphate-accumulating bacteria we observed in some regions of oral biofilms are comparable to those that produce undersaturated conditions (i.e., those that thermodynamically favor mineral dissolution) in our phosphate uptake experiments with L. rhamnosus. These results suggest that the localized generation of undersaturated conditions by polyphosphate-accumulating bacteria constitutes a new potential mechanism of tooth dissolution that may augment the effects of metabolic acid production. IMPORTANCE Dental caries is a serious public health issue that can have negative impacts on overall quality of life and oral health. The role of oral bacteria in the dissolution of dental enamel and dentin that can result in carious lesions has long been solely ascribed to metabolic acid production. Here, we show that certain oral bacteria may act as a dynamic shunt for phosphate in dental biofilms via the accumulation of a polymer known as polyphosphate—potentially mediating phosphate-dependent conditions such as caries (dental decay). PMID:29352083

Satellite lesions in congenital melanocytic nevi--time for a change of name.

PubMed

Kinsler, Veronica

2011-01-01

The term "satellite lesions" is used in many conditions in dermatology, generally to describe smaller lesions near the edges of a principal lesion. An online medical dictionary gives the definition "a smaller lesion accompanying a main one and situated nearby," and this can apply both macroscopically and microscopically. The implication is that the smaller lesions have spread from the parent lesion. Given this definition and usual understanding of the term its use is not apt in the case of congenital melanocytic nevi (CMN). In the vast majority of cases where the patient is said to have satellite lesions these are not restricted to the area around or near the edge of the principal lesion, and are not necessarily significantly smaller. It seems likely that the early use of the term in this condition is an adaptation of the established and correct use in the context of melanoma. Not only is the term not apt clinically but has no known etiological basis. This leaves us with the question of what to call these lesions in cases of CMN. This proposal is to categorize cases into single or multiple CMN, where multiple is 2 or more nevi of any size at birth. An accurate count or good estimate of the number of lesions at birth should also be recorded, and the largest lesion classified as usual with respect to projected adult size. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Unconditioned stimulus pathways to the amygdala: effects of lesions of the posterior intralaminar thalamus on foot-shock-induced c-Fos expression in the subdivisions of the lateral amygdala.

PubMed

Lanuza, E; Moncho-Bogani, J; Ledoux, J E

2008-08-26

The lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) is a site of convergence for auditory (conditioned stimulus) and foot-shock (unconditioned stimulus) inputs during fear conditioning. The auditory pathways to LA are well characterized, but less is known about the pathways through which foot shock is transmitted. Anatomical tracing and physiological recording studies suggest that the posterior intralaminar thalamic nucleus, which projects to LA, receives both auditory and somatosensory inputs. In the present study we examined the expression of the immediate-early gene c-fos in the LA in rats in response to foot-shock stimulation. We then determined the effects of posterior intralaminar thalamic lesions on foot-shock-induced c-Fos expression in the LA. Foot-shock stimulation led to an increase in the density of c-Fos-positive cells in all LA subnuclei in comparison to controls exposed to the conditioning box but not shocked. However, some differences among the dorsolateral, ventrolateral and ventromedial subnuclei were observed. The ventrolateral subnucleus showed a homogeneous activation throughout its antero-posterior extension. In contrast, only the rostral aspect of the ventromedial subnucleus and the central aspect of the dorsolateral subnucleus showed a significant increment in c-Fos expression. The density of c-Fos-labeled cells in all LA subnuclei was also increased in animals placed in the box in comparison to untreated animals. Unilateral electrolytic lesions of the posterior intralaminar thalamic nucleus and the medial division of the medial geniculate body reduced foot-shock-induced c-Fos activation in the LA ipsilateral to the lesion. The number of c-Fos labeled cells on the lesioned side was reduced to the levels observed in the animals exposed only to the box. These results indicate that the LA is involved in processing information about the foot-shock unconditioned stimulus and receives this kind of somatosensory information from the posterior intralaminar thalamic nucleus and the medial division of the medial geniculate body.

Jaw Intraosseous Lesions Biopsied Extracted From 1998 to 2010 in an Iranian Population

PubMed Central

Jamshidi, Shokoofeh; Shojaei, Setareh; Roshanaei, Ghodratollah; Modabbernia, Shirin; Bakhtiary, Esmaeel

2015-01-01

Background: Jaw bones might be potential locations for different lesions. Differences in prevalence and the type of lesions can help in designing and programming prevention procedures in health care centers. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of intraosseous lesions in the jaws of patients referred to diagnostic and therapeutic centers in Hamadan during 1990-2010. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive analytical study was carried out in Hamadan in 2011. Data sheets of the subjects were used to collect all the data of patients with intraosseous lesions, including their age, gender, location of the lesion, the radiographic view of lesions, and their type and histopathological diagnoses. Data were analyzed with SPSS, using means and frequencies. Results: A total of 284 intraosseous lesions were reported in our study. The mean age of the subjects was 28.8 ± 15.2 years. The lesions were distributed in males and females almost similarly. The most prevalent lesions were cystic lesions (54.58%), manifestations of systemic conditions in jaw bones (18.3%), benign tumors (15.5%), malignant lesions (6.7%), and inflammatory lesions (4.92%), in a descending order. The most common cystic lesion was radicular cyst; the most common manifestation of systemic conditions in jaw bones was central giant cell granuloma; the most common benign tumor was ameloblastoma; the most common malignant lesion was osteosarcoma; and the most common inflammatory lesion was periapical granuloma. Conclusions: Our data provided information on the prevalence and types of intraosseous lesions among an Iranian population. This study provided baseline information to help in designing and programming procedures in health care centers in every community so that preventive therapeutic measures can be adopted. PMID:26328061

Distinct Contributions of Median Raphe Nucleus to Contextual Fear Conditioning and Fear-Potentiated Startle

PubMed Central

Silva, R. C. B.; Cruz, A. P. M.; Avanzi, V.; Landeira-Fernandez, J.; Brandão, M. L.

2002-01-01

Ascending 5-HT projections from the median raphe nucleus (MRN), probably to the hippocampus, are implicated in the acquisition of contextual fear (background stimuli), as assessed by freezing behavior. Foreground cues like light, used as a conditioned stimulus (CS) in classical fear conditioning, also cause freezing through thalamic transmission to the amygdala. As the MRN projects to the hippocampus and amygdala, the role of this raphe nucleus in fear conditioning to explicit cues remains to be explained. Here we analyzed the behavior of rats with MRN electrolytic lesions in a contextual conditioning situation and in a fear-potentiated startle procedure. The animals received MRN electrolytic lesions either before or on the day after two consecutive training sessions in which they were submitted to 10 conditioning trials, each in an experimental chamber (same context) where they. received foot-shocks (0.6 mA, 1 sec) paired to a 4-sec light CS. Seven to ten days later, the animals were submitted to testing sessions for assessing conditioned fear when they were placed for five shocks, and the duration of contextual freezing was recorded. The animals were then submitted to a fear-potentiated startle in response to a 4-sec light-CS, followed by white noise (100 dB, 50 ms). Control rats (sham) tested in the same context showed more freezing than did rats with pre- or post-training MRN lesions. Startle was clearly potentiated in the presence of light CS in the sham-lesioned animals. Whereas pretraining lesions reduced both freezing and fear-potentiated startle, the post-training lesions reduced only freezing to context, without changing the fear-potentiated startle. In a second experiment, neurotoxic lesions of the MRN with local injections of N-methyl-D-aspartate or the activation of 5-HT1A somatodendritic auto-receptors of the MRN by microinjections of the 5-HT1A receptor agonist 8-hydroxy- 2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin (8-OH-DPAT) before the training sessions also reduced the amount of freezing and the fear-potentiated startle. Freezing is a prominent response of contextual fear conditioning, but does not seem to be crucial for the enhancement of the startle reflex by explicit aversive cues. As fear-potentiated startle may be produced in posttraining lesioned rats that are unable to freeze to fear contextual stimuli, dissociable systems seem to be recruited in each condition. Thus, contextual fear and fear-potentiated startle are conveyed by distinct 5-HT-mediated circuits of the MRN. PMID:12959153

Comprehensive MR imaging of acute gynecologic diseases.

PubMed

Dohke, M; Watanabe, Y; Okumura, A; Amoh, Y; Hayashi, T; Yoshizako, T; Yasui, M; Nakashita, S; Nakanishi, J; Dodo, Y

2000-01-01

Rapid advances in techniques of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging have enabled diagnosis of acute gynecologic conditions, which are characterized by sudden onset of lower abdominal pain, fever, genital bleeding, intraperitoneal bleeding, or symptoms of shock. The chemical-selective fat-suppression technique not only helps establish the characteristics of lesions that contain fat components but also increases the conspicuity of inflammatory lesions. When a T2-weighted image is obtained with a very long effective echo time (>250 msec), even a small amount of ascites can be easily identified and the contrast between urine and complex fluid becomes more conspicuous. T2*-weighted images are useful for identification of hemorrhagic lesions by demonstrating deoxyhemoglobin and hemosiderin. Contrast material-enhanced dynamic subtraction MR imaging performed with a three-dimensional fast field-echo sequence and a rapid bolus injection of gadopentetate dimeglumine allows evaluation of lesion vascularity and the anatomic relationship between pelvic vessels and a lesion and allows identification of the bleeding point by demonstrating extravasation of contrast material. To optimize the MR imaging examination, attention should be given to the parameters of each pulse sequence and proper combination of the sequences.

Multimodal digital color imaging system for facial skin lesion analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bae, Youngwoo; Lee, Youn-Heum; Jung, Byungjo

2008-02-01

In dermatology, various digital imaging modalities have been used as an important tool to quantitatively evaluate the treatment effect of skin lesions. Cross-polarization color image was used to evaluate skin chromophores (melanin and hemoglobin) information and parallel-polarization image to evaluate skin texture information. In addition, UV-A induced fluorescent image has been widely used to evaluate various skin conditions such as sebum, keratosis, sun damages, and vitiligo. In order to maximize the evaluation efficacy of various skin lesions, it is necessary to integrate various imaging modalities into an imaging system. In this study, we propose a multimodal digital color imaging system, which provides four different digital color images of standard color image, parallel and cross-polarization color image, and UV-A induced fluorescent color image. Herein, we describe the imaging system and present the examples of image analysis. By analyzing the color information and morphological features of facial skin lesions, we are able to comparably and simultaneously evaluate various skin lesions. In conclusion, we are sure that the multimodal color imaging system can be utilized as an important assistant tool in dermatology.

HIFU procedures at moderate intensities--effect of large blood vessels.

PubMed

Hariharan, P; Myers, M R; Banerjee, R K

2007-06-21

A three-dimensional computational model is presented for studying the efficacy of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) procedures targeted near large blood vessels. The analysis applies to procedures performed at intensities below the threshold for cavitation, boiling and highly nonlinear propagation, but high enough to increase tissue temperature a few degrees per second. The model is based upon the linearized KZK equation and the bioheat equation in tissue. In the blood vessel the momentum and energy equations are satisfied. The model is first validated in a tissue phantom, to verify the absence of bubble formation and nonlinear effects. Temperature rise and lesion-volume calculations are then shown for different beam locations and orientations relative to a large vessel. Both single and multiple ablations are considered. Results show that when the vessel is located within about a beam width (few mm) of the ultrasound beam, significant reduction in lesion volume is observed due to blood flow. However, for gaps larger than a beam width, blood flow has no major effect on the lesion formation. Under the clinically representative conditions considered, the lesion volume is reduced about 40% (relative to the no-flow case) when the beam is parallel to the blood vessel, compared to about 20% for a perpendicular orientation. Procedures involving multiple ablation sites are affected less by blood flow than single ablations. The model also suggests that optimally focused transducers can generate lesions that are significantly larger (>2 times) than the ones produced by highly focused beams.

HIFU procedures at moderate intensities—effect of large blood vessels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hariharan, P.; Myers, M. R.; Banerjee, R. K.

2007-07-01

A three-dimensional computational model is presented for studying the efficacy of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) procedures targeted near large blood vessels. The analysis applies to procedures performed at intensities below the threshold for cavitation, boiling and highly nonlinear propagation, but high enough to increase tissue temperature a few degrees per second. The model is based upon the linearized KZK equation and the bioheat equation in tissue. In the blood vessel the momentum and energy equations are satisfied. The model is first validated in a tissue phantom, to verify the absence of bubble formation and nonlinear effects. Temperature rise and lesion-volume calculations are then shown for different beam locations and orientations relative to a large vessel. Both single and multiple ablations are considered. Results show that when the vessel is located within about a beam width (few mm) of the ultrasound beam, significant reduction in lesion volume is observed due to blood flow. However, for gaps larger than a beam width, blood flow has no major effect on the lesion formation. Under the clinically representative conditions considered, the lesion volume is reduced about 40% (relative to the no-flow case) when the beam is parallel to the blood vessel, compared to about 20% for a perpendicular orientation. Procedures involving multiple ablation sites are affected less by blood flow than single ablations. The model also suggests that optimally focused transducers can generate lesions that are significantly larger (>2 times) than the ones produced by highly focused beams.

Treatment of acne vulgaris with fractional radiofrequency microneedling.

PubMed

Kim, Sang Tae; Lee, Kang Hoon; Sim, Hyung Jun; Suh, Kee Suck; Jang, Min Soo

2014-07-01

Fractional radiofrequency microneedling is a novel radiofrequency technique that uses insulated microneedles to deliver energy to the deep dermis at the point of penetration without destruction of the epidermis. It has been used for the treatment of various dermatological conditions including wrinkles, atrophic scars and hypertrophic scars. There have been few studies evaluating the efficacy of fractional radiofrequency microneedling in the treatment of acne, and none measuring objective parameters like the number of inflammatory and non-inflammatory acne lesions or sebum excretion levels. The safety and efficacy of fractional radiofrequency microneedling in the treatment of acne vulgaris was investigated. In a prospective clinical trial, 25 patients with moderate to severe acne were treated with fractional radiofrequency microneedling. The procedure was carried out three times at 1-month intervals. Acne lesion count, subjective satisfaction score, sebum excretion level and adverse effects were assessed at baseline and at 4, 8 and 12 weeks after the first treatment as well as 4, 8 and 12 weeks after the last treatment. Number of acne lesions (inflammatory and non-inflammatory) decreased. Sebum excretion and subjective satisfaction were more favorable at every time point compared with the baseline values (P < 0.05). Inflammatory lesions responded better than non-inflammatory lesions (P < 0.05). Adverse effects such as pinpoint bleeding, pain and erythema were noted, but were transient and not severe enough to stop treatment. Fractional radiofrequency microneedling is a safe and effective treatment for acne vulgaris. © 2014 Japanese Dermatological Association.

Stereo-electro-encephalography-Guided Radiofrequency Thermocoagulation: From In Vitro and In Vivo Data to Technical Guidelines.

PubMed

Bourdillon, Pierre; Isnard, Jean; Catenoix, Hélène; Montavont, Alexandra; Rheims, Sylvain; Ryvlin, Philippe; Ostrowsky-Coste, Karine; Mauguiere, François; Guénot, Marc

2016-10-01

Deep brain electrodes have been used for the past 10 years to produce bipolar stereo-electro-encephalography-guided radiofrequency thermocoagulation (SEEG RF-TC). However, this technique is based on empiric knowledge. The aim of this study is 3-fold: 1) provide in vivo animal data concerning the effect of bipolar RF-TC on brain and its safety; 2) assess the parameters of this procedure (current delivery and dipole selection) that produce the most efficient lesion; and 3) provide technical guidelines. First we achieved in vivo RF-TC on rabbit brains with several conditions (power delivered and lesioning duration) and analyzed their influence on the lesion produced. Only a difference in terms of volume was found, and type of histologic lesions was similar whatever the settings were. We then performed multiple RF-TC in vitro on egg albumen, first with several parameters of radiofrequency and then with different dipole spatial selections. The end point was the size of the radiofrequency thermolesion produced. Using unfixed parameters of radiofrequency current delivery and increasing it until the power delivered by the generator collapsed produced significantly larger lesions (P = 0.008) than other conditions. Concerning the dipole selection, the use of contiguous contacts on electrodes led to lesions with a higher volume (P = 7.7 × 10 -13 ) than those produced with noncontiguous ones. Besides the target selection in SEEG RF-TC, which is summarized on the basis of a literature review, we report the optimal parameters: Radiofrequency current must be increased until the power delivered collapses, and dipoles should be constituted by contiguous electrode contacts. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Diminished Progression of Periapical Lesions with Zoledronic Acid in Ovariectomized Rats.

PubMed

Wayama, Marcelo Tadahiro; Yoshimura, Hitoshi; Ohba, Seigo; Yoshida, Hisato; Matsuda, Shinpei; Kobayashi, Junichi; Kobayashi, Motohiro; Gomes Filho, João Eduardo; Sano, Kazuo

2015-12-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of systemically administered zoledronic acid (ZOL) on the progression of periapical lesions in estrogen-deficient rats. Female Wistar rats were divided into the following groups: SHAM-veh, sham surgery treated with vehicle (physiological saline); OVX-veh, ovariectomy treated with vehicle; SHAM-ZOL, sham surgery treated with ZOL; and OVX-ZOL, ovariectomy treated with ZOL. Vehicle or ZOL was administered intravenously once a week for 4 weeks. The pulp of the mandibular first molar of all rats was exposed to the oral environment to induce a periapical lesion, and the lesions were analyzed after 7 and 30 days. The mandibles were examined by micro-computed tomographic imaging and histopathologic, histometric, and immunohistochemical analyses. Histopathologically, the OVX-veh group had more severe inflammation and bone loss and a larger number of cells that were positive for tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase compared with the SHAM-veh and OVX-ZOL groups; the SHAM-veh and OVX-ZOL groups were similar to each other. The SHAM-ZOL group had the lowest magnitude of these conditions. Tomographically, the OVX-veh group had greater bone loss than the other groups at both time points. The SHAM-veh, SHAM-ZOL, and OVX-ZOL groups had similar bone loss at both time points. In the sagittal section on day 30, the SHAM-ZOL group had lower bone loss compared with the SHAM-veh and OVX-ZOL groups. The hypoestrogenic condition aggravates the progression of periapical lesions. ZOL therapy may help contain bone destruction of periapical lesions. Copyright © 2015 American Association of Endodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interaction between endodontics and periodontics.

PubMed

Rotstein, Ilan

2017-06-01

Endodontic-periodontal lesions present challenges to the clinician regarding diagnosis, treatment planning and prognosis. Etiologic factors, such as bacteria and viruses, as well as contributing factors, such as trauma, root resorptions, perforations, cracks and dental malformations, play an important role in the development and progression of such lesions. Treatment and prognosis of endodontic-periodontal lesions vary, depending on the etiology, pathogenesis and correct diagnosis of each specific condition. This chapter will appraise the interrelationship between endodontic and periodontal lesions and provide biological and clinical evidence for diagnosis, prognosis and decision-making in the treatment of these conditions. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Appraisal of transverse nasal groove: a study.

PubMed

Sathyanarayana, Belagola D; Basavaraj, Halevoor B; Nischal, Kuchangi C; Swaroop, Mukunda R; Umashankar, Puttagangu N; Agrawal, Dhruv P; Swamy, Suchetha S; Okram, Sarda

2012-01-01

Transverse nasal groove is a condition of cosmetic concern which awaits due recognition and has been widely described as a shallow groove that extends transversely over the dorsum of nose. However, we observed variations in the clinical presentations of this entity, hitherto undescribed in literature. We conducted a clinicoepidemiological study of transverse nasal lesions in patients attending our outpatient department. We conducted a prospective observational study. We screened all patients attending our out-patient department for presence of transverse nasal lesions, signs of any dermatosis and associated other skin conditions. One hundred patients were recruited in the study. Females (80%) predominated over males. Most patients were of 15-45 years age group (70%). Majority of the transverse nasal lesions were classical transverse nasal groove (39%) and others included transverse nasal line (28%), strip (28%), ridge (4%) and loop (1%). Seborrhoeic diathesis was the most common condition associated with transverse nasal lesion. Occurrence of transverse nasal line, strip, ridge and loop, in addition to classical transverse nasal groove implies that latter is actually a subset of transverse nasal lesions. Common association of this entity with seborrheic dermatitis, seborrhea and dandruff raises a possibility of whether transverse nasal lesion is a manifestation of seborrheic diathesis.

Cerebellar dentate nuclei lesions reduce motivation in appetitive operant conditioning and open field exploration.

PubMed

Bauer, David J; Kerr, Abigail L; Swain, Rodney A

2011-02-01

Recently identified pathways from the dentate nuclei of the cerebellum to the rostral cerebral cortex via the thalamus suggest a cerebellar role in frontal and prefrontal non-motor functioning. Disturbance of cerebellar morphology and connectivity, particularly involving these cerebellothalamocortical (CTC) projections, has been implicated in motivational and cognitive deficits. The current study explored the effects of CTC disruption on motivation in male Long Evans rats. The results of two experiments demonstrate that electrolytic lesions of the cerebellar dentate nuclei lower breaking points on an operant conditioning progressive ratio schedule and decrease open field exploration compared to sham controls. Changes occurred in the absence of motor impairment, assessed via lever pressing frequency and rotarod performance. Similar elevated plus maze performances between lesioned and sham animals indicated that anxiety did not influence task performance. Our results demonstrate hedonic and purposive motivational reduction and suggest a CTC role in global motivational processes. These implications are discussed in terms of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and autism, in which cerebellar damage and motivational deficits often present concomitantly. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Thermal distribution of microwave antenna for atrial fibrillation catheter ablation.

PubMed

Zhang, Huijuan; Nan, Qun; Liu, Youjun

2013-09-01

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of ablation parameters on thermal distribution during microwave atrial fibrillation catheter ablation, such as ablation time, ablation power, blood condition and antenna placement, and give proper ablative parameters to realise transmural ablation. In this paper, simplified 3D antenna-myocardium-blood finite element method models were built to simulate the endocardial ablation operation. Thermal distribution was obtained based on the coupled electromagnetic-thermal analysis. Under different antenna placement conditions and different microwave power inputs within 60 s, the lesion dimensions (maximum depth, maximum width) of the ablation zones were analysed. The ablation width and depth increased with the ablation time. The increase rate significantly slowed down after 10 s. The maximum temperature was located in 1 mm under the antenna tip when perpendicular to the endocardium, while 1.5 mm away from the antenna axis and 26 mm along the antenna (with antenna length about 30 mm) in the myocardium when parallel to the endocardium. The maximum temperature in the ablated area decreased and the effective ablation area (with the temperature raised to 50°C) shifted deeper into the myocardium due to the blood cooling. The research validated that the microwave antenna can provide continuous long and linear lesions for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. The dimensions of the created lesion widths were all larger than those of the depths. It is easy for the microwave antenna to produce transmural lesions for an atrial wall thickness of 2-6 mm by adjusting the applied power and ablation time.

Betel nut chewing behaviour and its association with oral mucosal lesions and conditions in Ghaziabad, India.

PubMed

Prasad, Sumanth; Anand, Richa; Dhingra, Chandan

2014-01-01

To assess the practices and behaviour among Betel nut users in Ghaziabad and to detect the clinically associated oral mucosal lesions and conditions. A community-based survey was conducted in Ghaziabad among 332 betel nut users. Data on betel nut use was obtained through a self-administered questionnaire. Oral mucosal lesions and conditions were recorded using WHO criteria. Out of 332 betel nut users, 32.8% consumed Gutkha. 62.3% users used betel nut with tobacco. Most of the study population started chewing betel nut because of peer pressure and the habit started at the workplace or school. A majority found that there was no physical discomfort due to the habit. The significant oral diseases detected were oral leukoplakia in 11.7% and oral submucous fibrosis in 6.1% of individuals. The findings of the present study revealed that 74.7% of the participants were current chewers. 30.4% of all participants had oral mucosal lesions and conditions.

Angiomatous reaction Kaposi-sarcoma-like as a side effect of topical corticosteroid therapy in lichen sclerosus of the penis.

PubMed

Catricalà, Caterina; Marenda, Samantha; Muscardin, Luca Maria; Donati, Pietro; Lepri, Andrea; Eibenschutz, Laura

2009-01-01

Lichen sclerosus (LS) is a chronic inflammatory skin condition usually located in the anogenital area. Topical corticosteroid therapy is the first choice treatment which may arrest or delay the progression of the disorder. We report the case of a 74-year-old man presented with a 6-month history of nodular lesions localized on penis. The man had a previous history of genital lesions that had been diagnosed as LS and treated with long-term topical corticosteroid therapy. After 3 months of corticosteroid therapy, the patient observed the appearance of several nodular erythematous lesions on the penis with progressive disappearance of the clinical symptoms of LS. These purple to red asymptomatic angiomatoid nodules resembled the clinical features of Kaposi sarcoma.

Effect of resin infiltration and microabrasion on the microhardness, surface roughness and morphology of incipient carious lesions.

PubMed

Yazkan, Basak; Ermis, R Banu

2018-02-15

The effects of resin infiltration and microabrasion on incipient carious lesions by surface microhardness, roughness and morphological assessments, and resistance to further acid attack of treated lesions were evaluated. Eighty artificially-induced incipient lesions were randomly divided into five groups (n = 16): resin infiltration with an adhesive resin (Excite F, Ivoclar Vivadent, Schaan, Liechtenstein), resin infiltration with a resin infiltrant (Icon, DMG, Hamburg, Germany), microabrasion without polishing (Opalustre, Ultradent, South Jordan, UT, USA), microabrasion with polishing (Opalustre, Ultradent, Diamond Excel, FGM, Joinville, SC, Brazil), and distilled water (control group). All specimens were exposed to demineralization for another 10 d. Microhardness, roughness and morphological assessments were done at baseline, following initial demineralization, treatment and further demineralization. Data were analysed by the Kruskal-Wallis, Friedman's and Bonferroni tests (p < .05). Enamel lesions treated with resin infiltrant and microabrasion demonstrated similar hardness values, with a nonsignificant difference compared with sound enamel. Resin infiltration demonstrated lower roughness values than those of microabrasion, and the values did not reach the values of sound enamel. Further demineralization for 10 d did not affect the hardness but increased the roughness of infiltrated and microabraded enamel surfaces. Polishing did not influence the roughness of microabraded enamel surfaces. After resin infiltration, porosities on enamel were sealed completely. The surface structure was similar to that of the enamel conditioning pattern for microabraded enamel lesions. Within the limitations of this study, the icon infiltration and microabrasion technique appeared to be effective for improving microhardness. Icon appeared to provide reduced roughness, although not equal to sound enamel. Further research is needed to elucidate their clinical relevance.

A method to induce stable atopic dermatitis-like symptoms in NC/Nga mice housed with skin-lesioned mice.

PubMed

Takano, N; Arai, I; Kurachi, M

2006-03-01

Itching is a characteristic symptom in various forms of dermatosis, especially atopic dermatitis; consequently it is a major diagnostic criterion. All features are similar to events seen in patients, hence NC/Nga mice are considered to be a suitable model of human atopic dermatitis. However, there were data spreads in commencing time and the degree of skin lesions in NC/Nga mice. In the present study, we attempted to improve experimental conditions to induce stable skin lesions and to establish a more appropriate method. Methods NC/Nga mice were kept together with skin-lesioned mice during the experiment period (mixed-NC mice). The dermatitis scores of face, ears and rostral back were assessed. Scratching behaviour was measured using an apparatus, MicroAct (Neuroscience, Tokyo, Japan). Transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and serum total IgE levels were also measured. To observe the presence of mites, the skin of the rostral backs of the mixed-NC mice was stripped using cellulose tape. We also investigated the effects of fipronil (Wako, Osaka, Japan), an acaricidal compound, on skin lesions and scratching behaviour of these mixed-NC mice. In mixed-NC mice, skin lesions appeared from 2 weeks, worsened gradually and reached peak levels of a dermatitis score in 8 weeks. Scratching behaviour increased significantly from day 3. TEWL also increased from day 3, but total IgE increased from day 7. Mites were observed on the rostral backs of mixed-NC mice from day 3, and all mice had these mites on day 28. Giving pretreatment with fipronil (Wako), the skin lesions and scratching behaviour of mixed-NC mice was significantly suppressed. The findings of the present study suggest that the method of being kept together with skin-lesioned mice can induce stable skin lesions and scratching behaviour at an early stage, without skin lesions. This method could help investigate a more stable evaluation of the effects on symptoms of atopic dermatitis, and mechanisms of the itching. It was considered that parasitism of mites, not allergic reactions, was the pathogenesis of skin lesions and scratching behaviour in mixed-NC mice.

Contributions of dorsal striatal subregions to spatial alternation behavior.

PubMed

Moussa, Roula; Poucet, Bruno; Amalric, Marianne; Sargolini, Francesca

2011-07-01

Considerable evidence has shown a clear dissociation between the dorsomedial (DMS) and the dorsolateral (DLS) striatum in instrumental conditioning. In particular, DMS activity is necessary to form action-outcome associations, whereas the DLS is required for developing habitual behavior. However, few studies have investigated whether a similar dissociation exists in more complex goal-directed learning processes. The present study examined the role of the two structures in such complex learning by analyzing the effects of excitotoxic DMS and DLS lesions during the acquisition and extinction of spatial alternation behavior, in a continuous alternation T-maze task. We demonstrate that DMS and DLS lesions have opposite effects, the former impairing and the latter improving animal performance during learning and extinction. DMS lesions may impair the acquisition of spatial alternation behavior by disrupting the signal necessary to link a goal with a specific spatial sequence. In contrast, DLS lesions may accelerate goal-driven strategies by minimizing the influence of external stimuli on the response, thus increasing the impact of action-reward contingencies. Taken together, these results suggest that DMS- and DLS-mediated learning strategies develop in parallel and compete for the control of the behavioral response early in learning.

Impingement syndrome of the ankle caused by a medial meniscoid lesion.

PubMed

Egol, K A; Parisien, J S

1997-08-01

Meniscoid lesion of the ankle is a well-described condition involving the anterolateral aspect of the ankle joint. To our knowledge, there are no reports of this condition involving the medial aspect of the ankle in the literature. We present the case of a 27-year-old man with a chronic deltoid ligament rupture who had developed anteromedial impingement syndrome of the ankle. The patient was treated with an arthroscopic debridement of the lesion and experienced a complete recovery.

[The magneto-, photo- and laser therapy of headaches in patients with vascular brain lesions].

PubMed

Troshin, V D; Miasnikov, I G; Belousova, T E

1994-01-01

To manage vascular cephalalgia, a combined approach is proposed: segmentally oriented magnetic, photo- and photomagnetic therapy plus intravenous laser treatment. The effect was directly correlated with cerebral hemodynamic condition, damage to vegetative innervation segmental-peripheral link and physiotherapeutic factors.

Ozone therapy effectiveness in patients with ulcerous lesions due to diabetes mellitus.

PubMed

Rosul, Myroslav V; Patskan, Bohdan M

2016-01-01

Development of purulo-necrotic foot lesions is one of the most dangerous surgical complications of diabetes mellitus, it causes high lethality, early disability, considerable economical expenses on treatment and rehabilitation. Mentioned above determine substantial actuality of diabetic foot problem and condition the necessity of further search of new ways and effective methods of lower extremities lesions complex treatment. of our research was to study the effectiveness of ozone use in complex therapy among patients with diabetic foot. Under our observation were 47 patients with I and II stages of diabetic foot that correspond to superficial and deep ulcers without involving of subcutaneous tissue, ligaments, tendons and muscles into the process, without bone lesion, phlegmons and abscess forming according to Meggit-Wagner (1978) classification. Depending on treatment every group of patients was divided into subgroups. B group composed patients that received traditional therapy.A group composed patients that along with traditional therapy course received course of systemic and regional ozone therapy for 12-14 days, one session per day. Cytological examination of discharge from wounds was carried, lipid peroxidation state and antioxidant protection state was assessed. Ozone use has more evident clinical effect, significantly affects the phase course of wound process, promotes the improvement of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant protection indexes, reduces the length of hospital stay and term of treatment of patients with diabetic foot. СONCLUSIONS: Studies conducted showed that including of ozone therapy into complex surgical treatment has positive effect on wound process.

Effects of Excitotoxic Lesion with Inhaled Anesthetics on Nervous System Cells of Rodents.

PubMed

Quiroz-Padilla, Maria Fernanda; Guillazo-Blanch, Gemma; Sanchez, Magdy Y; Dominguez-Sanchez, Maria Andrea; Gomez, Rosa Margarita

2018-01-01

Different anesthesia methods can variably influence excitotoxic lesion effects on the brain. The main purpose of this review is to identify potential differences in the toxicity to nervous system cells of two common inhalation anesthesia methods, isoflurane and sevoflurane, used in combination with an excitotoxic lesion procedure in rodents. The use of bioassays in animal models has provided the opportunity to examine the role of specific molecules and cellular interactions that underlie important aspects of neurotoxic effects relating to calcium homeostasis and apoptosis activation. Processes induced by NMDA antagonist drugs involve translocation of Bax protein to mitochondrial membranes, allowing extra-mitochondrial leakage of cytochrome C, followed by sequence of changes that ending in activation of CASP-3. The literature demonstrates that the use of these anesthetics in excitotoxic surgery increases neuroinflammation activity facilitating the effects of apoptosis and necrosis on nervous system cells, depending on the concentration and exposure duration of the anesthetic. High numbers of microglia and astrocytes and high levels of proinflammatory cytokines and caspase activation possibly mediate these inflammatory responses. However, it is necessary to continue studies in rodents to understand the effect of the use of inhaled anesthetics with excitotoxic lesions in different developmental stages, including newborns, juveniles and adults. Understanding the mechanisms of regulation of cell death during development can potentially provide tools to promote neuroprotection and eventually achieve the repair of the nervous system in pathological conditions. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Ionic plasticity and pain: The loss of descending serotonergic fibers after spinal cord injury transforms how GABA affects pain.

PubMed

Huang, Yung-Jen; Grau, James W

2018-05-02

Activation of pain (nociceptive) fibers can sensitize neural circuits within the spinal cord, inducing an increase in excitability (central sensitization) that can foster chronic pain. The development of spinally-mediated central sensitization is regulated by descending fibers and GABAergic interneurons. In adult animals, the co-transporter KCC2 maintains a low intracellular concentration of the anion Cl - . As a result, when the GABA-A receptor is engaged, Cl - flows in the neuron which has a hyperpolarizing (inhibitory) effect. Spinal cord injury (SCI) can down-regulate KCC2 and reverse the flow of Cl - . Under these conditions, engaging the GABA-A receptor can have a depolarizing (excitatory) effect that fosters the development of nociceptive sensitization. The present paper explores how SCI alters GABA function and provides evidence that the loss of descending fibers alters pain transmission to the brain. Prior work has shown that, after SCI, administration of a GABA-A antagonist blocks the development of capsaicin-induced nociceptive sensitization, implying that GABA release plays an essential role. This excitatory effect is linked to serotonergic (5HT) fibers that descend through the dorsolateral funiculus (DLF) and impact spinal function via the 5HT-1A receptor. Supporting this, blocking the 5HT-1A receptor, or lesioning the DLF, emulated the effect of SCI. Conversely, spinal application of a 5HT-1A agonist up-regulated KCC2 and reversed the effect of bicuculline treatment. Finally, lesioning the DLF reversed how a GABA-A antagonist affects a capsaicin-induced aversion in a place conditioning task; in sham operated animals, bicuculline enhanced aversion whereas in DLF-lesioned rats biciculline had an antinociceptive effect. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Management of Recurrent Post-partum Pregnancy Tumor with Localized Chronic Periodontitis.

PubMed

Reddy, N Raghavendra; Kumar, P Mohan; Selvi, Tamil; Nalini, H Esther

2014-05-01

Pregnancy tumor is a benign, hyperplastic lesion of the gingiva, considered to be reactive or traumatic rather than neoplastic in nature. The term pyogenic granuloma is a misnomer as it is not filled with pus or granulomatous tissue histologically. It is multi factorial in nature, which shows an exaggerated response to stimuli such as low grade or chronic irritation, trauma or hormonal variations. Higher levels of sex hormones during pregnancy produce effects on sub gingival microflora, the immune system, the vasculature and specific cells of periodontium which in turn in the presence of local irritants exaggerate the lesion. Since the lesion is clinically indistinguishable from other type of hyperplastic conditions, histological findings are required for proper diagnosis. We present a case report of recurrent pyogenic tumor which showed the evidence of pre-existing localized periodontitis with extensive horizontal bone destruction. The lesion was excised by electrocautery combined with conventional flap procedure after parturition period. During 3 and 6 months follow-up period post-operative healing showed satisfactory results without recurrence.

Herpes zoster of gingiva in an older woman: a rare case report.

PubMed

Chopra, Aditi; Sivaraman, Karthik; Thomas, Betsy S

2017-06-01

The aim of the article is to highlight the distinguishing features of secondary varicella gingival infection in an older women. Herpes zoster is an acute sporadic, painful viral infection in older people caused by the reactivation of the latent varicella zoster virus. Herpes zoster affecting the gingiva without any dermal lesions is a rare pathological condition that mimics many intraoral vesiculobullous lesions. The ambiguous nature of this condition creates a diagnostic dilemma. A 58-year-old woman presented with an acute, unilateral and persistent burning sensation and pain in the gingiva with desqaumating vesicullobulous lesion. The women was diagnosed with secondary varicella zoster infection. Herpes zoster of the gingiva could manifest as painful desquamative vesicular lesions, pulpal or other painful neuralgic condition in older individuals which need careful diagnosis before formulating appropiate treatment plan. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S and The Gerodontology Association. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Infection experiments with Aphanomyces invadans in four species of estuarine fish

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, R.A.; Zabrecky, J.; Kiryu, Y.; Shields, J.D.

2004-01-01

Along the eastern seaboard of the US, Atlantic menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus, develop characteristic ulcerative lesions, a condition termed ulcerative mycosis. These lesions are identical to those seen across Asia in fish affected by epizootic ulcerative syndrome, a condition caused by the fungus-like oomycete Aphanomyces Invadans. Young-of-the-year menhaden inhabiting estuarine environments are the primary species affected in the USA and little is known about the factors involved in the initiation of the lesions, or why menhaden are predominantly infected. Atlantic menhaden, hogchoker, Trinectus maculatus, striped killifish, Fundulus majalis, and mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus, were inoculated with A. invadans (80 zoospores per fish) to explore species differences in infection and lesion development. All four species developed lesions. Killifish developed frank lesions similar to those observed in menhaden but the gross lesions occurred later, approximately 5-10 days after those on menhaden. Hogchoker and mummichog did not develop gross skin ulcers; rather, their lesions appeared as reddened areas under the epidermis. Mummichogs also showed evidence of significant healing with a well-developed granuloma and significant myocyte regeneration. These experiments show that species barriers as well as ecological barriers can explain some of the factors involved in the development of lesions in, and specificity of the water mould for, menhaden.

Varix of the vortex vein ampulla simulating choroidal melanoma: report of four cases.

PubMed

Gündüz, K; Shields, C L; Shields, J A

1998-01-01

Varix of the vortex vein ampulla is a condition that can cause diagnostic confusion with choroidal melanoma. A case series review was performed from the Ocular Oncology Service, Wills Eye Hospital. In all four cases, the patients were referred with the diagnosis of a small choroidal melanoma. The lesions were located in the nasal quadrant of the fundus near the equator. One patient had two lesions in the same quadrant. In all cases, the fundus lesion became more prominent when the eye gazed in the direction of the lesion and diminished in primary gaze. The mass measured up to 6.0 mm in base diameter and 2.5 mm in thickness in proper gaze. B-scan ultrasonography showed acoustic solidity and gaze-evoked dynamic enlargement of the lesion. Indocyanine green angiography demonstrated early pooling of dye and gaze-evoked fluctuation of the hyperfluorescence in the lesion. Color Doppler imaging, performed in one patient, showed a vascular lesion of venous origin that filled when the eye was placed in the direction of the lesion. Varix of the vortex vein is a condition that should be considered in the differential diagnosis of equatorial small choroidal melanoma. The dynamic nature of the lesion is characteristic and diagnostic.

Dermatitis neglecta: a challenging diagnosis in psychodermatology.

PubMed

Lopes, Sofia; Vide, Júlia; Antunes, Isabel; Azevedo, Filomena

2018-06-01

Dermatitis neglecta is a condition affecting the skin caused by a lack of hygiene. It may be related to psychiatric and neurological disturbances. The appearance of skin lesions results from neglect, which helps distinguish this condition from other similar clinical entities. Resolution of the lesions with adequate cleansing aids a definitive diagnosis.

AN EVALUATION OF INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY FOR DETECTION OF BUMBLEFOOT (PODODERMATITIS) IN PENGUINS.

PubMed

Duncan, Ann E; Torgerson-White, Lauri L; Allard, Stephanie M; Schneider, Tom

2016-06-01

The objective of this study was to evaluate infrared thermography as a noninvasive screening tool for detection of pododermatitis during the developing and active stages of disease in three species of penguins: king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) , macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus), and rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome). In total, 67 penguins were examined every 3 mo over a 15-mo period. At each exam, bumblefoot lesions were characterized and measured, and a timed series of thermal images were collected over a 4-min period. Three different methods were compared for analysis of thermograms. Feet with active lesions that compromise the surface of the foot were compared to feet with inactive lesions and no lesions. The hypothesis was that feet with active lesions would have warmer surface temperatures than the other conditions. Analysis of the data showed that although feet with active bumblefoot lesions are warmer than feet with inactive or no lesions, the variability seen in each individual penguin from one exam day to the next and the overlap seen between temperatures from each condition made thermal imaging an unreliable tool for detection of bumblefoot in the species studied.

Dysplastic lesions and abnormalities in amphibians associated with environmental conditions.

PubMed

Mizgireuv, I V; Flax, N L; Borkin, L J; Khudoley, V V

1984-01-01

High incidence of developmental anomaly and tumor-like dysplasia of osteochondrous tissue of hind limbs has been detected in frogs and toads the larval development of which has taken place in water, contaminated with sewage. Correlation between frequency of dysplasia and the level of water oxidation has been noted. Study on histogenesis of the marked tumor-like dysplasia were performed. It is assumed that the major mechanism responsible for anomaly consists in cytotoxic effect of teratogenic agent and that the differentiation lesion of cartilaginous tissue is caused by blocking of maturation and death of chondrocytes.

Maternal vascular malperfusion of the placental bed associated with hypertensive disorders in the Boston Birth Cohort.

PubMed

Bustamante Helfrich, Blandine; Chilukuri, Nymisha; He, Huan; Cerda, Sandra R; Hong, Xiumei; Wang, Guoying; Pearson, Colleen; Burd, Irina; Wang, Xiaobin

2017-04-01

The associations of maternal conditions, before or during pregnancy, with placental lesions have not been adequately studied in populations. In the Boston Birth Cohort, we evaluated associations between three maternal medical conditions (hypertensive disorders [HDs], gestational/pre-gestational diabetes and obesity), and placental histological findings, using a standardized classification system proposed by the Amsterdam Placental Workshop Group. Placental pathology diagnoses and clinical data from 3074 mothers with clinical indications who delivered singleton live births at the Boston Medical Center between October 1998 and November 2013 were evaluated. Associations between each maternal condition and maternal vascular malperfusion (MVM) of the placental bed and its standardized subgroups were examined using multivariate logistic and multinomial regressions. Women with HDs (chronic hypertension, eclampsia, preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome) had significantly increased odds of MVM lesions when compared to women with no HD (aOR 2.08 95% CI 1.74-2.50), after adjusting for demographics, substance use, diabetes and body mass index. No significant differences in frequencies or aORs were seen in women with and without diabetes, or across body mass index categories. Co-morbid condition patterns that included HDs were more likely to be associated with MVM than those without. Using a standardized classification system, we showed that MVM is strongly and specifically associated with maternal HDs, but not other maternal conditions. Additional studies are needed to confirm and validate our findings, and evaluate the role of maternal vascular lesions of the placental bed in relation to postnatal growth and development of the offspring and effect modifiers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ethanol-induced conditioned taste avoidance: reward or aversion?

PubMed

Liu, Chuang; Showalter, John; Grigson, Patricia Sue

2009-03-01

Rats avoid intake of a palatable taste cue when paired with all drugs of abuse tested. Evidence suggests that, at least for morphine and cocaine, rats avoid the taste cue because they are anticipating the rewarding properties of the drug. Thus, the suppressive effects of a rewarding sucrose solution and cocaine, but not those of the putatively aversive agent, lithium chloride (LiCl), are exaggerated in drug-sensitive Lewis rats. Likewise, the suppressive effects of sucrose and morphine, but not those of LiCl, are eliminated by bilateral lesions of the gustatory thalamus. Unlike morphine and cocaine, it is less clear whether rewarding or aversive drug properties are responsible for ethanol-induced suppression of intake of a taste cue. The present set of studies tests whether, like cocaine, ethanol-induced suppression of intake of a taste cue also is greater in the drug-sensitive Lewis rats and whether the suppressive effects of the drug are prevented by bilateral lesions of the taste thalamus. In Experiment 1, fluid-deprived Lewis and Fischer rats were given 5-minute access to 0.15% saccharin and then injected with saline or a range of doses of ethanol (0.5, 0.75, 1.0, or 1.5 g/kg). There was a total of 6 such pairings. In Experiments 2 and 3, Sprague-Dawley rats received bilateral electrophysiologically guided lesions of the gustatory thalamus. After recovery, suppression of intake of the saccharin cue was evaluated following repeated daily pairings with either a high (1.5 g/kg) or a low (0.75 g/kg) dose of ethanol. Ethanol-induced suppression of intake of the saccharin conditioned stimulus (CS) did not differ between the drug-sensitive Lewis rats relative to the less-sensitive Fischer rats. Lesions of the taste thalamus, however, prevented the suppressive effect of the 0.75 g/kg dose of the drug, but had no impact on the suppressive effect of the 1.5 g/kg dose of ethanol. The results suggest that the suppressive effects of ethanol on CS intake are mediated by both rewarding and aversive consequences, varying as a function of dose.

Satellite Lesions in Congenital Melanocytic Nevi—Time for a Change of Name

PubMed Central

KINSLER, VERONICA

2011-01-01

Abstract The term “satellite lesions” is used in many conditions in dermatology, generally to describe smaller lesions near the edges of a principal lesion. An online medical dictionary gives the definition “a smaller lesion accompanying a main one and situated nearby,” and this can apply both macroscopically and microscopically. The implication is that the smaller lesions have spread from the parent lesion. Given this definition and usual understanding of the term its use is not apt in the case of congenital melanocytic nevi (CMN). In the vast majority of cases where the patient is said to have satellite lesions these are not restricted to the area around or near the edge of the principal lesion, and are not necessarily significantly smaller. It seems likely that the early use of the term in this condition is an adaptation of the established and correct use in the context of melanoma. Not only is the term not apt clinically but has no known etiological basis. This leaves us with the question of what to call these lesions in cases of CMN. This proposal is to categorise cases into single or multiple CMN, where multiple is 2 or more nevi of any size at birth. An accurate count or good estimate of the number of lesions at birth should also be recorded, and the largest lesion classified as usual with respect to projected adult size. PMID:21418289

Successful Treatment of Lung Calciphylaxis With Sodium Thiosulfate in a Patient With Sickle Cell Disease

PubMed Central

Arrestier, Romain; Dudreuilh, Caroline; Remy, Philippe; Boulahia, Ghada; Bentaarit, Bouteina; Leibler, Claire; Adedjouma, Amir; Kofman, Tomek; Matignon, Marie; Sahali, Dil; Dufresne, Roger; Deux, Jean-Francois; Colin, Charlotte; Grimbert, Philippe; Lang, Philippe; Bartolucci, Pablo; Maitre, Bernard; Tran Van Nhieu, Jeanne; Audard, Vincent

2016-01-01

Abstract Calciphylaxis is a small vessel vasculopathy, characterized by medial wall calcification that develops in a few patients with chronic renal failure. The prognosis of skin calciphylaxis has improved considerably since the introduction of sodium thiosulfate (STS), but it remains unclear whether this therapy is effective against organ lesions related to calciphylaxis. Pulmonary calciphylaxis is a usually fatal medical condition that may occur in association with skin involvement in patients with end-stage renal disease. We report here the case of a 49-year-old woman homozygous sickle cell disease patient on chronic hemodialysis with biopsy-proven systemic calciphylaxis involving the lungs and skin. On admission, ulcerative skin lesions on the lower limbs and bilateral pulmonary infiltrates on chest computerized tomography scan were the main clinical and radiological findings. Skin and bronchial biopsies demonstrated calciphylaxis lesions. The intravenous administration of STS in association with cinacalcet for 8 consecutive months led to a clear improvement in skin lesions and thoracic lesions on chest computerized tomography scan. This case suggests for the first time that organ lesions related to calciphylaxis, and particularly lung injury, are potentially reversible. This improvement probably resulted from the combination of 3 interventions (more frequent dialysis, cinacalcet, and STS), rather than the administration of STS alone. PMID:26871829

Hydroxyurea-induced oral ulceration.

PubMed

Badawi, Maha; Almazrooa, Soulafa; Azher, Fatima; Alsayes, Fatin

2015-12-01

Hydroxyurea is an antimetabolite that is widely used in the treatment of many benign and malignant conditions. This drug is usually well tolerated but has a number of side effects that vary in incidence. In cases of clinically significant adverse events, hydroxyurea is usually discontinued either temporarily or permanently, depending on treatment need versus harm caused by side effects. Here, we report a case of oral ulceration associated with hydroxyurea treatment in a patient who had chronic myelogenous leukemia. The patient rapidly developed an oral ulcer 12 days after administration of the drug. Hydroxyurea was discontinued, and the oral lesion appreciably decreased in size and severity. Physicians and dentists should be aware of the association between hydroxyurea and oral lesions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

UVA photoactivation of DNA containing halogenated thiopyrimidines induces cytotoxic DNA lesions

PubMed Central

Brem, Reto; Zhang, Xiaohui; Xu, Yao-Zhong; Karran, Peter

2015-01-01

Photochemotherapy, the combination of a photosensitiser and ultraviolet (UV) or visible light, is an effective treatment for skin conditions including cancer. The high mutagenicity and non-selectivity of photochemotherapy regimes warrants the development of alternative approaches. We demonstrate that the thiopyrimidine nucleosides 5-bromo-4-thiodeoxyuridine (SBrdU) and 5-iodo-4-thiodeoxyuridine (SIdU) are incorporated into the DNA of cultured human and mouse cells where they synergistically sensitise killing by low doses of UVA radiation. The DNA halothiopyrimidine/UVA combinations induce DNA interstrand crosslinks, DNA-protein crosslinks, DNA strand breaks, nucleobase damage and lesions that resemble UV-induced pyrimidine(6-4)pyrimidone photoproducts. These are potentially lethal DNA lesions and cells defective in their repair are hypersensitive to killing by SBrdU/UVA and SIdU/UVA. DNA SIdU and SBrdU generate lethal DNA photodamage by partially distinct mechanisms that reflect the different photolabilities of their C–I and C–Br bonds. Although singlet oxygen is involved in photolesion formation, DNA SBrdU and SIdU photoactivation does not detectably increase DNA 8-oxoguanine levels. The absence of significant collateral damage to normal guanine suggests that UVA activation of DNA SIdU or SBrdU might offer a strategy to target hyperproliferative skin conditions that avoids the extensive formation of a known mutagenic DNA lesion. PMID:25747491

Regulation of podocyte lesions in diabetic nephropathy via miR-34a in the Notch signaling pathway.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiangying; Song, Shuping; Luo, Huixin

2016-11-01

The activation of the Notch signaling pathway has been shown to play an important role in diabetic nephropathy (DN) development. Besides, Notch-1 is a target gene in miR-34a. However, the regulation of the podocyte lesions involved in DN by miR-34a has not been identified. This study utilized miR-34a mimics and small interfering RNA transfection to construct miR-34a overexpression and lower-expression model to investigate the effect of miR-34a on the regulation of the Notch signaling pathway and podocyte lesions in DN. Western blotting and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction were applied for the quantitative testing of mRNA and protein expression. Apoptosis of podocyte was detected by TUNEL staining. In high-glucose (HG) conditions, miR-34a overexpression inhibited the expression of Notch 1, Jagged 1, NICD, Hes 1, and Hey 1 proteins. Further, cleaved caspase-3, Bax, and phosphorylation of p53 (p-p53) were reduced significantly. Therefore, miR-34a overexpression inhibited the Notch signaling pathway and podocyte lesions induced by HG. β-arrestin was slightly reduced in HG conditions. Meanwhile, miR-34a overexpression could remit the inhibition. Results from this study provide evidence that miR-34a may offer a new approach for the treatment of diabetes.

Interactions between prefrontal cortex and cerebellum revealed by trace eyelid conditioning.

PubMed

Kalmbach, Brian E; Ohyama, Tatsuya; Kreider, Joy C; Riusech, Frank; Mauk, Michael D

2009-01-01

Eyelid conditioning has proven useful for analysis of learning and computation in the cerebellum. Two variants, delay and trace conditioning, differ only by the relative timing of the training stimuli. Despite the subtlety of this difference, trace eyelid conditioning is prevented by lesions of the cerebellum, hippocampus, or medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), whereas delay eyelid conditioning is prevented by cerebellar lesions and is largely unaffected by forebrain lesions. Here we test whether these lesion results can be explained by two assertions: (1) Cerebellar learning requires temporal overlap between the mossy fiber inputs activated by the tone conditioned stimulus (CS) and the climbing fiber inputs activated by the reinforcing unconditioned stimulus (US), and therefore (2) trace conditioning requires activity that outlasts the presentation of the CS in a subset of mossy fibers separate from those activated directly by the CS. By use of electrical stimulation of mossy fibers as a CS, we show that cerebellar learning during trace eyelid conditioning requires an input that persists during the stimulus-free trace interval. By use of reversible inactivation experiments, we provide evidence that this input arises from the mPFC and arrives at the cerebellum via a previously unidentified site in the pontine nuclei. In light of previous PFC recordings in various species, we suggest that trace eyelid conditioning involves an interaction between the persistent activity of delay cells in mPFC-a putative mechanism of working memory-and motor learning in the cerebellum.

Temporary Basolateral Amygdala Lesions Disrupt Acquisition of Socially Transmitted Food Preferences in Rats

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fontanini, Alfredo; Katz, Donald B.; Wang, Yunyan

2006-01-01

Lesions of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) have long been associated with abnormalities of taste-related behaviors and with failure in a variety of taste- and odor-related learning paradigms, including taste-potentiated odor aversion, conditioned taste preference, and conditioned taste aversion. Still, the general role of the amygdala in…

Design of novel injectable in-situ forming scaffolds for non-surgical treatment of periapical lesions: In-vitro and in-vivo evaluation.

PubMed

Shamma, Rehab N; Elkasabgy, Nermeen A; Mahmoud, Azza A; Gawdat, Shaimaa I; Kataia, Mohamed M; Abdel Hamid, Mohamed A

2017-04-15

Periapical lesions are considered one of the common pathological conditions affecting alveolar bone. The primary focus of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of formulating an injectable in-situ forming scaffold-loaded with risedronate (bone resorption inhibitor) and with lornoxicam (anti-inflammatory drug) for the non-surgical treatment of periapical lesions. The scaffolds were prepared using solvent-induced phase inversion technique. Two insoluble copolymers were investigated namely; PLGA (ester-terminal) and PLGA-A (acid-terminal), additionally, SAIB was added as a high viscosity water-insoluble carrier. The addition of porogenic agents like hydrolyzed collagen was also investigated. The prepared scaffolds were characterized by analyzing their in-vitro release, DSC and rheological properties, besides their morphological properties. The results showed that the scaffolds prepared using 30% (w/v) PLGA or combined PLGA: SAIB (1:1, w/w) with total polymer concentration of 30% (w/v) possessed the most sustained drug release profile. Selected scaffolds were tested for their therapeutic effect to study the effect of porogenic agent, anti-inflammatory drug and risedronate in periapical lesions induced in dogs' teeth. Results declared that the selected scaffolds succeeded in improving the inflammation and enhancing the formation of new bony regions confirming the success of the prepared scaffolds as an innovative approach in the treatment of bone defects. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Fornix and retrosplenial contribution to a hippocampo-thalamic circuit underlying conditional learning.

PubMed

Dumont, Julie R; Petrides, Michael; Sziklas, Viviane

2010-05-01

Rats with combined bilateral lesions of the retrosplenial cortex and the fornix or rats with unilateral lesions to the anterior thalamus and the hippocampus, made in opposite hemispheres (disconnection preparation), and combined with unilateral damage of the retrosplenial cortex in either hemisphere, were tested on a spatial-visual conditional learning task in which they learned arbitrary associations between stimuli and the scene in which they were embedded. All experimental groups were impaired in comparison with normal animals. The more severe deficits occurred when (1) both the fornix and the retrosplenial cortex were damaged bilaterally thus depriving the hippocampus both from subcortical interactions via the fornix and retrosplenial-mediated interactions and (2) when, in the crossed lesion preparation, the unilateral retrosplenial lesion was made in the hemisphere with the intact hippocampus, again because this lesion would be maximally disconnecting the hippocampus from functional interaction with the anterior thalamic nucleus and retrosplenial-mediated input.

Environmental enrichment brings a beneficial effect on beam walking and enhances the migration of doublecortin-positive cells following striatal lesions in rats.

PubMed

Urakawa, S; Hida, H; Masuda, T; Misumi, S; Kim, T-S; Nishino, H

2007-02-09

Rats raised in an enriched environment (enriched rats) have been reported to show less motor dysfunction following brain lesions, but the neuronal correlates of this improvement have not been well clarified. The present study aimed to elucidate the effect of chemical brain lesions and environmental enrichment on motor function and lesion-induced neurogenesis. Three week-old, recently weaned rats were divided into two groups: one group was raised in an enriched environment and the other group was raised in a standard cage for 5 weeks. Striatal damage was induced at an age of 8 weeks by injection of the neuro-toxins 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) or quinolinic acid (QA) into the striatum, or by injection of 6-OHDA into the substantia nigra (SN), which depleted nigrostriatal dopaminergic innervation. Enriched rats showed better performance on beam walking compared with those raised in standard conditions, but both groups showed similar forelimb use asymmetry in a cylinder test. The number of bromodeoxyuridine-labeled proliferating cells in the subventricular zone was increased by a severe striatal lesion induced by QA injection 1 week after the lesion, but decreased by injection of 6-OHDA into the SN. Following induction of lesions by striatal injection of 6-OHDA or QA, the number of cells positive for doublecortin (DCX) was strongly increased in the striatum; however, there was no change in the number of DCX-positive cells following 6-OHDA injection into the SN. Environmental enrichment enhanced the increase of DCX-positive cells with migrating morphology in the dorsal striatum. In enriched rats, DCX-positive cells traversed the striatal parenchyma far from the corpus callosum and lateral ventricle. DCX-positive cells co-expressed an immature neuronal marker, polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule, but were negative for a glial marker. These data suggest that environmental enrichment improves motor performance on beam walking and enhances neuronal migration toward a lesion area in the striatum.

Low-dose 5-fluorouracil in combination with salicylic acid for the treatment of actinic keratoses on the hands and/or forearms - results of a non-interventional study.

PubMed

Reinhold, U; Hadshiew, I; Melzer, A; Prechtl, A

2017-03-01

As an in situ carcinoma, actinic keratoses should be treated early. Previous studies on the efficacy of a low-dose 0.5% 5-fluorouracil solution in combination with 10% salicylic acid (low-dose 5-FU/SA) are mostly related to lesions appearing on the head and face. In contrast, actinic keratoses (AK) lesions of the upper extremities are considered to be difficult to treat. The efficacy of low-dose 5-FU/SA in the treatment of actinic keratoses on the hands and/or forearms was studied for the first time in this non-interventional study (NIS) under practical conditions in a large patient population. In addition to the clinical course during therapy and a follow-up period, the length of application and adherence were documented. As part of this NIS, 649 patients with AK were treated at 207 centres with low-dose 5-FU/SA. The data of the study were recorded at baseline, optionally during an intermediate examination, at the end of therapy and during a final assessment. The average number of AK lesions decreased during the entire observation period by 92%. Side-effects were documented only rarely in the form of local skin reactions (2%). The attending physicians assessed the efficacy, tolerability and safety of the therapy as being predominantly very good or good (in each case ≥90%). AK lesions on the hands and/or forearms were effectively treated with low-dose 5-FU/SA under routine conditions in dermatological practice and the treatment was well tolerated. © 2016 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

Effects of temperature on germination of sporangia, infection and protein secretion by Phytophthora kernoviae

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Phytophthora kernoviae has been reported to cause bleeding stem lesions and foliar necrosis on a wide range of species, with little knowledge of the optimal conditions for infection. Detached Rhododendron ponticum leaves were inoculated with six different isolates of P. kernoviae sporangia and set ...

Endodontic-periodontal microsurgery for combined endodontic-periodontal lesions: An overview

PubMed Central

Sharma, Ritu; Hegde, Vivek; Siddharth, M; Hegde, Rashmi; Manchanda, Gunsha; Agarwal, Pratul

2014-01-01

Endodontic and periodontal microsurgery has surpassed the success rates for traditional endodontic and periodontal surgical procedures. Excellent healing results are being attributed to both the techniques, when employed, for isolated endodontic or periodontal defects. Combined endodontic-periodontal lesions have been referred to as a true challenge, requiring not only endodontic microsurgical management but also concurrent bone grafting and membrane barriers techniques. The prevention of epithelial downgrowth and regeneration of periodontal cementum, fiber, and bone seals the fate of these cases. Achieving primary closure with submergence of grafts has a positive effect on GTR outcome. New techniques of periodontal microsurgery, such as minimally invasive papilla preserving flaps with passive internal mattress suturing, have managed to obtain 90% primary flap closure over grafted sites. Root surface treatment and conditioning has also shown to be beneficial for GTR. Endodontic microsurgery for the combined lesion has not integrated these advances yet. These advances, along with a recently suggested treatment strategy, are ushering in the level next in management of the combined lesions. This article offers an overview of the combined lesion, the disease, its classification, treatment strategy, regenerative tools, microsurgical recommendations, and outcome studies. PMID:25506135

Endodontic-periodontal microsurgery for combined endodontic-periodontal lesions: An overview.

PubMed

Sharma, Ritu; Hegde, Vivek; Siddharth, M; Hegde, Rashmi; Manchanda, Gunsha; Agarwal, Pratul

2014-11-01

Endodontic and periodontal microsurgery has surpassed the success rates for traditional endodontic and periodontal surgical procedures. Excellent healing results are being attributed to both the techniques, when employed, for isolated endodontic or periodontal defects. Combined endodontic-periodontal lesions have been referred to as a true challenge, requiring not only endodontic microsurgical management but also concurrent bone grafting and membrane barriers techniques. The prevention of epithelial downgrowth and regeneration of periodontal cementum, fiber, and bone seals the fate of these cases. Achieving primary closure with submergence of grafts has a positive effect on GTR outcome. New techniques of periodontal microsurgery, such as minimally invasive papilla preserving flaps with passive internal mattress suturing, have managed to obtain 90% primary flap closure over grafted sites. Root surface treatment and conditioning has also shown to be beneficial for GTR. Endodontic microsurgery for the combined lesion has not integrated these advances yet. These advances, along with a recently suggested treatment strategy, are ushering in the level next in management of the combined lesions. This article offers an overview of the combined lesion, the disease, its classification, treatment strategy, regenerative tools, microsurgical recommendations, and outcome studies.

Dorsal periaqueductal gray-amygdala pathway conveys both innate and learned fear responses in rats

PubMed Central

Kim, Eun Joo; Horovitz, Omer; Pellman, Blake A.; Tan, Lancy Mimi; Li, Qiuling; Richter-Levin, Gal; Kim, Jeansok J.

2013-01-01

The periaqueductal gray (PAG) and amygdala are known to be important for defensive responses, and many contemporary fear-conditioning models present the PAG as downstream of the amygdala, directing the appropriate behavior (i.e., freezing or fleeing). However, empirical studies of this circuitry are inconsistent and warrant further examination. Hence, the present study investigated the functional relationship between the PAG and amygdala in two different settings, fear conditioning and naturalistic foraging, in rats. In fear conditioning, electrical stimulation of the dorsal PAG (dPAG) produced unconditional responses (URs) composed of brief activity bursts followed by freezing and 22-kHz ultrasonic vocalization. In contrast, stimulation of ventral PAG and the basolateral amygdalar complex (BLA) evoked freezing and/or ultrasonic vocalization. Whereas dPAG stimulation served as an effective unconditional stimulus for fear conditioning to tone and context conditional stimuli, neither ventral PAG nor BLA stimulation supported fear conditioning. The conditioning effect of dPAG, however, was abolished by inactivation of the BLA. In a foraging task, dPAG and BLA stimulation evoked only fleeing toward the nest. Amygdalar lesion/inactivation blocked the UR of dPAG stimulation, but dPAG lesions did not block the UR of BLA stimulation. Furthermore, in vivo recordings demonstrated that electrical priming of the dPAG can modulate plasticity of subiculum–BLA synapses, providing additional evidence that the amygdala is downstream of the dPAG. These results suggest that the dPAG conveys unconditional stimulus information to the BLA, which directs both innate and learned fear responses, and that brain stimulation-evoked behaviors are modulated by context. PMID:23959880

Association of mixed hematopoietic chimerism with elevated circulating autoantibodies and chronic graft-versus-host disease occurrence.

PubMed

Perruche, Sylvain; Marandin, Aliette; Kleinclauss, François; Angonin, Régis; Fresnay, Stéphanie; Baron, Marie Hélène; Tiberghien, Pierre; Saas, Philippe

2006-02-27

Use of a reduced-intensity conditioning regimen before an allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation is frequently associated with an early state of mixed hematopoietic chimerism. Such a coexistence of both host and donor hematopoietic cells may influence posttransplant alloreactivity and may affect the occurrence and severity of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) as well as the intensity of the graft-versus-leukemia effect. Here we evaluated the relation between chimerism state after reduced-intensity conditioning transplantation (RICT), autoantibody production, and chronic GVHD (cGVHD)-related pathology. Chimerism state, circulating anticardiolipin, and antidouble stranded DNA autoantibody (Ab) titers as well as occurrence of cGVHD-like lesions were investigated in a murine RICT model. We observed a novel association between mixed chimerism state, high levels of pathogenic IgG autoantibodies, and subsequent development of cGVHD-like lesions. Furthermore, we found that the persistence of host B cells, but not dendritic cell origin or subset, was a factor associated with the appearance of cGVHD-like lesions. The implication of host B cells was confirmed by a host origin of autoantibodies. Recipient B cell persistence may contribute to the frequency and/or severity of cGVHD after RICT.

Review of Current Applications of Immunohistochemistry in Pediatric Nonneoplastic Gastrointestinal, Hepatobiliary, and Pancreatic Lesions

PubMed Central

de Nanassy, Joseph; El Demellawy, Dina

2017-01-01

Immunohistochemical (IHC) stains are widely used by pathologists for a variety of considerations in the diagnostic workup of pediatric nonneoplastic lesions in gastrointestinal (GI), hepatic, biliary, and pancreatic lesions. The pathologic changes cover a wide range and types of presentations, including inflammatory (bacterial and viral), metaplastic, posttransplant lymphoproliferative, autoimmune, metabolic, degenerative, developmental, and genetic conditions, among others. The everyday practical value of IHC stains covers primary identification, confirmation, differential, and/or exclusionary roles in the hands and eyes and minds of the practitioners. This article is intended to review and discuss the currently available IHC stains for a variety of pediatric GI, hepatobiliary, and pancreatic lesions as encountered in the day-to-day practice of pathologists and clinicians. It reflects the most recent methods and types of IHC stains with the stated aim of helping to provide a quick reference for diagnostic considerations and thereby facilitate the workup of a broad range of GI and related conditions in a pediatric population. The tables provide a handy reference on a wide range of IHC stains for commonly encountered lesions covering a variety of pediatric GI, hepatobiliary, and pancreatic conditions that are amenable to light microscopic diagnostic interpretation. PMID:28469406

Idiosyncratic Presentation of Cemento-Osseous Dysplasia - An in Depth Analysis Using Cone Beam Computed Tomography.

PubMed

Chennoju, Sai Kiran; Pachigolla, Ramaswamy; Govada, Vanya Mahitha; Alapati, Satish; Balla, Smitha

2016-05-01

Bone dysplasias comprise of a condition where the normal bone is replaced with fibrous tissue. Periapical Cemento-Osseous Dysplasia (PCOD) is a benign fibro-osseous condition where bone tissue is supplanted with fibrous tissue and cementum-like material. This condition affects mostly mandibular anterior region and rarely occurs in the maxilla. PCOD is seen above 30 years of age and has slight female predilection. Generally the teeth related to such lesions appear to be vital and are usually asymptomatic. These lesions are mostly seen during routine radiographic examination whose presentation may vary from complete radiolucency to dense radiopacity. The advent of Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) has brought a massive change in the field of dentistry which has become an important tool for diagnosis. Hence we hereby present an unusual case of cemento-osseous dysplasia in an unfamiliar location with an atypical presentation. The shape of the pathology was completely idiosyncratic and different from an orthodox lesion of COD, as the lesion was observed to grow out of the palatal surface with a prominent palatal expansion. This case highlights the importance of CBCT in radiographic diagnosis and in evaluating the characteristics of such lesion, which present with high diagnostic dilemma.

[Dual pathology].

PubMed

Rougier, A

2008-05-01

Dual pathology is defined as the association of two potentially epileptogenic lesions, hippocampal (sclerosis, neuronal loss) and extrahippocampal (temporal or extratemporal). Epileptic activity may be generated by either lesion and the relative importance of every lesion's epileptogenicity conditions the surgical strategy adopted. Most frequently associated with hippocampal sclerosis are cortical dysplasias. The common physiopathology of the two lesions is not clearly established. Extrahippocampal lesions may be undetectable on MRI (microdysgenesis, for example) and ictal discharge patterns may vary among dual pathology patients. The surgical strategy depends on the location of the extrahippocampal lesion and its relative role in seizure generation; however, reported surgical results suggest that simultaneous resection of mesial temporal structures along with the extrahippocampal lesion should be performed.

Caries-preventive effect of fissure sealant containing surface reaction-type pre-reacted glass ionomer filler and bonded by self-etching primer.

PubMed

Shimazu, Kisaki; Ogata, Kiyokazu; Karibe, Hiroyuki

2012-01-01

We aimed to evaluate the caries-preventive effect of a fissure sealant containing surface reaction-type pre-reacted glass ionomer (S-PRG) filler and bonded by self-etching primer versus those of 2 conventional resin-based sealants bonded by acid etching in terms of its impact on enamel demineralization and remineralization, enamel bond strength, and integrity of debonded enamel surfaces. Demineralization, remineralization, and bond strength on untreated enamel and enamel subsurface lesions of bovine incisors were assessed among the sealants by polarizing microscopy and microradiography; debonded enamel surfaces were examined by scanning electron microscopy. The conventional resin-based sealants bonded by acid etching caused surface defects on the enamel subsurface lesions and significantly increased the lesion depth (p = 0.014), indicative of enamel demineralization. However the S-PRG filler-containing sealant bonded by self-etching primer maintained the enamel surface integrity and inhibited enamel demineralization. No difference in bond strength on both untreated enamel and enamel subsurface lesions was noted among the sealants. An S-PRG filler-containing fissure sealant bonded by self-etching primer can prevent enamel demineralization, microleakage, and gaps without the tags created by acid etching regardless of the enamel condition. Such sealants are suitable for protecting the pits and fissures of immature permanent teeth.

Effective Management of a pregnancy tumour using a soft tissue diode laser: a case Report.

PubMed

Sharma, Ambika; Mathur, Vijay Prakash; Sardana, Divesh

2014-12-27

Pregnancy tumours (PTs) are a non-neoplastic, reactive, inflammatory conditional gingival enlargement which occurs in the oral cavity during pregnancy. The lesion most frequently occurs on the gingiva but may also develop on the lip, tongue, oral mucosa and palate. When a large PT develops, it can interfere with mastication, speech, maintenance of oral hygiene and can be aesthetically disfiguring. The treatment of PTs depends upon the size of the lesion; smaller lesions can regress after parturition however large lesions need to be surgically removed. Conventional surgical techniques have the disadvantage of more bleeding from the surgical site and delay in healing of the scar tissue. The diode laser is a relatively new alternative to conventional surgical technique in intra-oral areas with the added advantage of bloodless procedures and rapid healing. The purpose of the present study is to highlight the management of a PT in a 25-year-old female using a diode laser delivering a painless, bloodless procedure with rapid postoperative healing. Diode laser excision of a persistent pregnancy tumour in a postpartum patient was safe and effective with minimal bleeding, good coagulation, and good wound healing. Among other lasers, the diode laser can therefore be considered for excisional treatment of persistent PTs.

Prefrontal Cortex Lesions and Sex Differences in Fear Extinction and Perseveration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baran, Sarah E.; Armstrong, Charles E.; Niren, Danielle C.; Conrad, Cheryl D.

2010-01-01

Electrolytic lesions of the medial prefrontal cortex (PFCX) were examined using fear conditioning to assess the recall of fear extinction and performance in the Y-maze, open field, and object location/recognition in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats were conditioned to seven tone/footshocks, followed by extinction after 1-h and 24-h…

A possible cause of sunburn in fish

USGS Publications Warehouse

1958-01-01

A LESION DESCRIBED AS A GRAY ΡATCH GENERALLY LOCATED ΑΝΤΕRIOR TO THE DORSAL FIN has been associated with high mortality of fish on numerous occasions in production hatcheries throughout the United States. This lesion has been called "sunburn" or "backpeel." No bacteria or other pathogens have been found in fish with these symptoms. For example, at a Montana hatchery in April 1956, mortality of 10 to 15 percent occurred daily and this lesion was the only syndrome found.  On occasion, shade has prevented this condition and even restored affected fish to an apparent normal condition; thus there has seemed to be a correlation between sunshine and the condition in fish. To our knowledge, this has been the only therapy attempted.

Both pre- and post-lesion experiential therapy is beneficial in 6-hydroxydopamine dopamine-depleted female rats.

PubMed

Jadavji, N M; Metz, G A

2009-01-23

Experiential therapies, such as enriched environment (EE), have been shown to influence the neurodegenerative processes that underlie Parkinson's disease. We have previously demonstrated that EE promotes functional improvement in dopamine-depleted rats. Here we compare the influence of exposure to EE prior to versus after dopamine depletion in the 6-hydroxydopamine rat model of Parkinson's disease. Two groups of female rats were placed in an EE while two groups were housed in a standard environment (SE) for 6 weeks prior to receiving a unilateral nigrostriatal bundle infusion of the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine. After the lesion, one group remained in EE, while the second EE group (Pre-Lesion EE) was moved into SE conditions. In addition, a third group of rats was now moved into EE (Post-lesion EE). A fourth group remained in SE throughout the experimental period. Rats were tested in skilled reaching and skilled walking tasks and in non-skilled motor function up to 4 weeks after lesion. The observations demonstrated beneficial effects of both pre- and post-lesion exposure to EE on skilled movement performance by promoting compensatory limb use and partial protection or restoration of skilled movement. Exposure to pre-lesion EE in particular promoted structural plasticity as indicated by increased expression of the main cytoskeletal component microtubule associated protein-2 in the lesion dorsal striatum. Continuous EE showed absence of rotational bias suggesting attenuated dopamine loss. These data indicate that enriched lifestyle before the onset of motor symptoms and rehabilitation programs after diagnosis might be beneficial in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Lesions of the amygdala central nucleus abolish lipoprivic-enhanced responding during oil-predicting conditioned stimuli.

PubMed

Benoit, S C; Morell, J R; Davidson, T L

1999-12-01

T. L. Davidson, A. M. Altizer, S. C. Benoit, E. K. Walls, and T. L. Powley (1997) reported that rats show facilitated responding to conditioned stimuli (CSs) that predict oil, after administration of the lipoprivic agent, Na-2-mercaptoacetate (MA). This facilitation was blocked by vagal deafferentation. The present article extends that investigation to another structure, the amygdala central nucleus (CN). The CN receives inputs from dorsal vagal nuclei, and neurotoxic lesions of this nucleus are reported to abolish feeding in response to lipoprivic challenges. In Experiment 1, rats with ibotenic acid (IBO) lesions of the CN failed to show enhanced appetitive responding during oil-predicting CSs after administration of MA. Experiment 2 used a conditioned taste-aversion procedure to establish that rats with IBO lesions of the CN were able to discriminate the tastes of sucrose and peanut oil and had intact CS-US representations. It is concluded that the amygdala CN is a necessary structure for the detection of lipoprivic challenges.

Cost effectiveness of surveillance for GI cancers.

PubMed

Omidvari, Amir-Houshang; Meester, Reinier G S; Lansdorp-Vogelaar, Iris

2016-12-01

Gastrointestinal (GI) diseases are among the leading causes of death in the world. To reduce the burden of GI diseases, surveillance is recommended for some diseases, including for patients with inflammatory bowel diseases, Barrett's oesophagus, precancerous gastric lesions, colorectal adenoma, and pancreatic neoplasms. This review aims to provide an overview of the evidence on cost-effectiveness of surveillance of individuals with GI conditions predisposing them to cancer, specifically focussing on the aforementioned conditions. We searched the literature and reviewed 21 studies. Despite heterogeneity of studies in terms of settings, study populations, surveillance strategies and outcomes, most reviewed studies suggested at least some surveillance of patients with these GI conditions to be cost-effective. For some high-risk conditions frequent surveillance with 3-month intervals was warranted, while for other conditions, surveillance may only be cost-effective every 10 years. Further studies based on more robust effectiveness evidence are needed to inform and optimise surveillance programmes for GI cancers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lesions of cholinergic pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus neurons fail to affect cocaine or heroin self-administration or conditioned place preference in rats.

PubMed

Steidl, Stephan; Wang, Huiling; Wise, Roy A

2014-01-01

Cholinergic input to the ventral tegmental area (VTA) is known to contribute to reward. Although it is known that the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg) provides an important source of excitatory input to the dopamine system, the specific role of PPTg cholinergic input to the VTA in cocaine reward has not been previously determined. We used a diphtheria toxin conjugated to urotensin-II (Dtx::UII), the endogenous ligand for urotensin-II receptors expressed by PPTg cholinergic but not glutamatergic or GABAergic cells, to lesion cholinergic PPTg neurons. Dtx::UII toxin infusion resulted in the loss of 95.78 (±0.65)% of PPTg cholinergic cells but did not significantly alter either cocaine or heroin self-administration or the development of cocaine or heroin conditioned place preferences. Thus, cholinergic cells originating in PPTg do not appear to be critical for the rewarding effects of cocaine or of heroin.

Flexible bronchoscopic argon plasma coagulation for management of massive hemoptysis in bronchial Dieulafoy's disease

PubMed Central

Madan, Karan; Dhungana, Ashesh; Hadda, Vijay; Mohan, Anant; Guleria, Randeep

2017-01-01

Dieulafoy's disease is an uncommon condition, the usual site of occurrence being the gastrointestinal tract. The condition refers to the presence of a dysplastic submucosal artery with mucosal vascular branches that has propensity to cause recurrent bleeding. Dieulafoy's disease of the bronchus is rare. Herein, we describe the case of a 26-year-old male who presented with recurrent bouts of hemoptysis and bronchial Dieulafoy's disease was diagnosed. Flexible bronchoscopy was performed, and argon plasma coagulation (APC) of the bleeding lesion was done. The procedure was successful and was followed by complete eradication of the vascular malformation and cessation of hemoptysis. APC is a useful tool in the armamentarium of an interventional pulmonologist that can allow rapid and safe control of bleeding from superficially located and bleeding endobronchial lesions, and can be easily and effectively applied using a flexible bronchoscope. PMID:28144074

Morel-Lavallée Lesion: Presenting Etiology of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia in an Adolescent Athlete: A Case Report.

PubMed

Hadley, Christopher; Wowkanech, Charles; Eck, Brandon; Austin, Luke; Sankar, Wudbhav; Tjoumakaris, Fotios

2016-01-01

A 16-year-old boy presented with a concealed degloving lesion of the knee, a Morel-Lavallée lesion, 3 weeks after an injury to the right knee while playing basketball. An incidental hematologic finding led to the additional diagnosis of chronic myelogenous leukemia. Morel-Lavallée lesions often can be overlooked and appear to be subcutaneous hematomas. This case was complicated further by a leukemic condition that was likely the causative mechanism for the recalcitrant nature of the lesion in this athlete.

Efficacy of fipronil in the treatment of feline cheyletiellosis.

PubMed

Scarampella, F; Pollmeier, M; Visser, M; Boeckh, A; Jeannin, P

2005-05-15

The purpose of the present study was to confirm the efficacy of 10% (w/v) fipronil spot-on (Frontline spot-on for cats) in the treatment of feline cheyletiellosis under field conditions. A total of 16 cats of different breeds, sexes, 4 months to 14 years of age and weighing 0.5-6 kg were treated with a single topical application of 10% (w/v) fipronil spot-on according to label directions. The animals were naturally infested with Cheyletiella mites and housed in their normal environment throughout the study. Animals were selected based on clinical signs and infestation was confirmed by demonstration of mites. Mite counts and a clinical assessment of mite infestations (i.e. skin lesions and/or scales) were performed on days 0 and approximately days 14 and 28. Individual counts on day 0 ranged from 1 to 40 mites on individual animals. No mites were detected on cats treated with 10% (w/v) fipronil spot-on (Frontline spot-on for cats) at both post-treatment evaluations. Typical skin lesions and/or scales were present in all animals pre-treatment. In 56% of the cats, the lesions resolved within 14 days after treatment. At the final assessment, 75% cats were free of lesions. Two cats that still had clinical signs on day 28 were suspected of having allergic reactions to food or environmental allergens. The lesions on the remaining two cats could not be related to a specific cause. The efficacy of fipronil in elimination of mites was 100% on each occasion when compared to the pre-treatment count. The results of this study demonstrated that fipronil in a topical formulation is highly effective (100%) for the elimination of an existing Cheyletiella mite infestation under field conditions following a single topical application in cats.

308-nm excimer laser for the treatment of alopecia areata.

PubMed

Al-Mutairi, Nawaf

2007-12-01

Alopecia areata is loss of hair from localized or diffuse areas of hair-bearing area of the skin. Recently there are reports of efficacy of the 308-nm excimer radiation for this condition. To study the effect of the 308-nm excimer laser in the treatment of alopecia areata. Eighteen patients with 42 recalcitrant patches (including 1 adult with alopecia totalis) were enrolled in this study. The lesions were treated with the 308-nm excimer laser twice a week for a period of 12 weeks; one lesion on each patient was left as a control for comparison. There were 7 males and 11 females in this study. Regrowth of hair was observed in 17 (41.5%) patches. Thirteen of the 18 lesions in scalp showed a complete regrowth of hair. The extremity regions failed to show a response. Atopic diatheses had an unfavorable effect on the outcome in our patients. The 308-nm excimer laser is an effective therapeutic option for patchy alopecia areata of the scalp and for some cases with patchy alopecia areata of the beard area. It does not work for patchy alopecia areata of the extremities.

Association of linear IgA bullous disease with ulcerative colitis: a case of successful treatment with infliximab.

PubMed

Yamada, S; Makino, T; Jinnin, M; Sakai, K; Fukushima, S; Inoue, Y; Ihn, H

2013-01-01

Linear IgA bullous disease (LABD) has been reported in association with inflammatory bowel disease, in particular ulcerative colitis (UC). We reporting a 34-year-old female who developed LABD during a flare-up of UC. We administered infliximab, which has been approved for the treatment of UC; infliximab dramatically improved the cutaneous lesions and bowel symptoms. This is the first report showing a marked effect of infliximab on LABD. First, we hypothesize that infliximab works for UC and then calms down excessive production of inflammatory cytokines and autoantibodies, and so stricter control of UC by infliximab is beneficial against the skin condition of LABD. Second, we suggest that TNF-α production in the lesion of LABD is increased, so TNF-α plays an important role in developing cutaneous lesions. This case suggests that infliximab, a monoclonal antibody against TNF-α, is efficacious in the cutaneous symptoms of LABD.

Endoscopic Management of Benign Esophageal Strictures.

PubMed

Ravich, William J

2017-08-24

This paper presents the author's approach to esophageal dilation. It offers a tailored approach to the application of dilation to specific types of esophageal stenotic lesions. In patients with inflammatory stricture, recent studies confirm the importance of treating the underlying inflammatory condition in order to decrease the rate of recurrence. The paper reviews some of the novel techniques that have been suggested for the treatment of refractory benign esophageal strictures, including incisional therapy, stenting, or the injection steroids or antifibrotic agents. The endoscopist who treats esophageal strictures must be familiar with the tools of the dilation and how they are best applied to specific types of stenotic lesions. If inflammation is present, effective management requires treatment of the inflammatory process in addition to mechanical dilation of the stenotic lesion. Controlled trials of novel approaches to treatment of refractory benign esophageal strictures are limited and will be necessary to determine efficacy.

Complete regression of a melanocytic nevus under intense pulsed light therapy for axillary hair removal in a cosmetic center.

PubMed

Martín, José M; Monteagudo, Carlos; Bella, Rebeca; Reig, Irela; Jordá, Esperanza

2012-01-01

Intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy using noncoherent broad-spectrum light has been reported to be effective for hair removal, and also for treating superficial pigmented lesions like ephelides and solar lentigines. We report complete regression of a pigmented melanocytic nevus, histologically confirmed, after hair removal treatment with IPL. The use of lasers and IPL is a common procedure used by dermatologists and even other professions for the treatment of cosmetically troubling skin conditions. The main advantage of such treatment is a reduction of surgical scars, thus producing a favorable cosmetic outcome, but a major limitation is that histopathologic diagnosis is not usually obtained prior to treatment. Such devices should be carefully used in patients with potentially dangerous melanocytic lesions. We also review the recent literature regarding inadequate treatment of melanocytic lesions with lasers. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

A comparison between lesions found during meat inspection of finishing pigs raised under organic/free-range conditions and conventional, indoor conditions.

PubMed

Alban, Lis; Petersen, Jesper Valentin; Busch, Marie Erika

2015-01-01

It is often argued that pigs raised under less intensive production conditions - such as organic or free-range - have a higher level of animal welfare compared with conventionally raised pigs. To look into this, an analysis of data from a large Danish abattoir slaughtering organic, free-range, and conventionally raised finishing pigs was undertaken. First, the requirements for each of the three types of production systems were investigated. Next, meat inspection data from a period of 1 year were collected. These covered 201,160 organic/free-range pigs and 1,173,213 conventionally raised pigs. The prevalence of each individual type of lesion was calculated, followed by a statistical comparison between the prevalences in organic/free-range and conventional pigs. Because of the large number of data, the P-value for significance was lowered to P = 0.001, and only biological associations reflecting Odds Ratios above 1.2 or below 0.8 were considered to be of significance. The majority of the lesion types were recorded infrequently (<4%). Only chronic pleuritis was a common finding. A total of 13 lesion types were more frequent among organic/free-range pigs than among conventional pigs - among others old fractures, tail lesions and osteomyelitis. Four lesion types were equally frequent in the two groups: chronic pneumonia, chronic pleuritis, fresh fracture, and abscess in head/ear. Four lesion types were recorded less frequently among organic/free-range pigs compared with conventionally raised pigs. These included abscess in leg/toe, hernia and scar/hock lesion. Possible associations between the individual lesion types and the production systems - including the requirements for each system - are discussed. The results emphasize the importance of using direct animal based parameters when evaluating animal welfare in different types of production systems. Moreover, individual solutions to the health problems observed in a herd should be found, e.g. in collaboration with the veterinary practitioner and other advisors.

Role of the vomeronasal system in intersexual attraction in female mice.

PubMed

Martínez-Ricós, J; Agustín-Pavón, C; Lanuza, E; Martínez-García, F

2008-05-02

Although it is generally accepted that rodents' sociosexual behavior relies mainly on chemosignals, the specific roles played by the vomeronasal and olfactory systems in detecting these signals are presently unclear. This work reports the results of three experiments aimed at clarifying the role of the vomeronasal system on gender recognition and intersexual attraction, by analyzing the effects of lesions of the accessory olfactory bulbs (AOB) in chemically naïve female mice. The first experiment demonstrates that lesions of the AOB abolish the preference that females show for male-soiled bedding in tests in which the females can contact the bedding, thus having access to both volatile and involatile male chemosignals. The second experiment shows that airborne male-derived chemosignals are not attractive to intact, chemically naïve females but tend to be preferentially explored by females whose AOB has been lesioned. However, repeated exposure to male-soiled bedding has opposite effects in sham-operated and AOB-lesioned female mice. Whereas after this experience sham-operated females show an (acquired) attraction toward male airborne chemosignals, in AOB-lesioned females the same experience makes male-derived volatiles aversive. Finally, in the third experiment we have confirmed that our AOB-lesioned females are able to detect urine-borne male odorants, as well as to discriminate them from the synthetic terpene geraniol. These findings strongly suggest that in mice, the involatile male sexual pheromone that is intrinsically attractive is detected by the vomeronasal system of the females. In addition, the repeated experience of females with male-soiled bedding would probably allow the association of this pheromone, acting as unconditioned stimulus, with olfactory stimuli (odorants) that therefore would become conditioned attractors to the females.

Display conditions and lesion detectability: effect of background light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Razavi, Mahmood; Hall, Theodore R.; Aberle, Denise R.; Hayrapetian, Alek S.; Loloyan, Mansur; Eldredge, Sandra L.

1990-08-01

We assessed the effect of high background light on observer performance for the detection of a variety of chest radiographic abnormalities. Five observers reviewed 66 digital hard copy chest images formatted to 1 1 x 14 inch size under two display conditions: 1) on a specially prepared 1 1 x 14 inch illuminated panel with no peripheral light and 2) on a standard viewing panel designed for 14 x 17 inch radiographs. The images contained one - or more of the following conditions: pneumothorax, interstitial disease, nodules, alveolar process, or no abnormality. The results of receiver operator characteristic analysis show that extraneous light does reduce observer performance and the detectability of nodules, interstitial disease.

Digital Dermatitis in Cattle: Current Bacterial and Immunological Findings

PubMed Central

Wilson-Welder, Jennifer H.; Alt, David P.; Nally, Jarlath E.

2015-01-01

Simple Summary Digital dermatitis causes lameness in cattle. Numerous studies have identified multiple bacteria associated with these painful lesions. Several types of a spiral shaped bacteria, Treponema species, are thought to play a role in disease development. Little is known about the immune response to bacteria involved in digital dermatitis. Local inflammatory cells can contribute to the non-healing nature of the disease. Animal models of infection are required to develop effective vaccines and treatments. Abstract Globally; digital dermatitis is a leading form of lameness observed in production dairy cattle. While the precise etiology remains to be determined; the disease is clearly associated with infection by numerous species of treponemes; in addition to other anaerobic bacteria. The goal of this review article is to provide an overview of the current literature; focusing on discussion of the polybacterial nature of the digital dermatitis disease complex and host immune response. Several phylotypes of treponemes have been identified; some of which correlate with location in the lesion and some with stages of lesion development. Local innate immune responses may contribute to the proliferative, inflammatory conditions that perpetuate digital dermatitis lesions. While serum antibody is produced to bacterial antigens in the lesions, little is known about cellular-based immunity. Studies are still required to delineate the pathogenic traits of treponemes associated with digital dermatitis; and other host factors that mediate pathology and protection of digital dermatitis lesions. PMID:26569318

Effect of Acer tegmentosum bark on atopic dermatitis-like skin lesions in NC/Nga mice.

PubMed

Yang, Gabsik; An, Duckgun; Lee, Mi-Hwa; Lee, Kyungjin; Kim, Bumjung; Suman, Chinannai Khanita; Ham, Inhye; Choi, Ho-Young

2016-01-11

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic and relapsing inflammatory condition characterized by pruritic and eczematous skin lesions that requires safe and effective pharmacological therapy. The bark of Acer tegmentosum Maxim trees has been used in Korean folk and traditional medicine to treat abscesses, surgical bleeding, liver diseases, and AD. To investigate the therapeutic effect of A. tegmentosum, on a mouse model of Dermatophagoides farinae (Df)-induced AD. Development of AD-like skin lesions was induced by repetitive skin contact with barrier-disrupted backs of NC/Nga mice with Df body ointment, and the effects of A. tegmentosum were evaluated on the basis of histopathological skin assessment results, ear swelling, and cytokine production in the dorsal skin. The component of A. tegmentosum, salidroside, inhibited the production of TSLP in KCMH-1 cells, which indicated that its production could be pharmacologically regulated. Topical application of A. tegmentosum for 1 week after Df body ointment challenge significantly reduced ear swelling and improved dorsal skin lesions. Suppression of dermatitis by combined therapy was accompanied by a decrease in the skin level of Th2 cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5 and IL-13, plasma levels of thymus and activation-regulated chemokine, and IgE. Induction of thymic stromal lymphopoietin, which leads to a systemic Th2 response, was also reduced in in vivo and in vitro by A. tegmentosum and salidroside. Our findings suggest that A. tegmentosum treatment has a significant therapeutic effect on Df-induced AD-like skin lesions on NC/Nga mice through inhibition of thymic stromal lymphopoietin and IgE via a mechanism that may inhibit Th2-mediated immune responses. These results suggest that A. tegmentosum and salidroside may be useful tools for the treatment of AD. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Prelimbic Cortex Directs Attention toward Predictive Cues during Fear Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharpe, Melissa J.; Killcross, Simon

2015-01-01

The prelimbic cortex is argued to promote conditioned fear expression, at odds with appetitive research implicating this region in attentional processing. Consistent with an attentional account, we report that the effect of prelimbic lesions on fear expression depends on the degree of competition between contextual and discrete cues. Further, when…

Co2/Erbium:YAG/Dye laser combination: an effective and successful treatment for angiofibromas in tuberous sclerosis.

PubMed

Fioramonti, Paolo; De Santo, Liliana; Ruggieri, Martina; Carella, Sara; Federico, Lo Torto; Onesti, Maria Giuseppina; Scuderi, Nicolò

2014-02-01

Tuberous sclerosis, an autosomal dominant neurocutaneous syndrome seen in approximately 1 in 6,000 people worldwide, is characterized by the appearance of hamartomas in multiple organs. The classic clinical triad consists of angiofibromas, epilepsy, and developmental delay. Dermatologic disorder is one of the main characteristics. Angiofibromas, a common form of presentation, causes significant cosmetic and medical problems. The current treatment for skin lesions is laser therapy. The carbon dioxide (CO2) laser has been used satisfactorily in treating these lesions, but several studies have demonstrated a high percentage of recurrences. Erbium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (YAG) laser treatment has been used to resurface skin abnormalities in patients with dermatologic conditions. The dye laser as an alternative uses the principles of selective photothermolysis and is very effective in treating the vascular component of tuberous sclerosis. The use of all these lasers to treat skin lesions in patients affected by tuberous sclerosis has never been described in the literature. A retrospective study, conducted from 2007 to May 2013, investigated 13 patients who had tuberous sclerosis treated with an erbium:YAG/CO2/dye laser combination. All the patients showed great improvement of their skin lesions. The results were evident immediately after the first treatment. No patient experienced complications or recurrence. The combined use of the erbium:YAG/Dye/CO2 laser is a safe and effective treatment for skin lesions in patients affected by tuberous sclerosis. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

RADIATION-CAUSED CYTOCHEMICAL CHANGES IN NEURONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kagan, E.H.; Brownson, R.H.; Suter, D.B.

1962-09-01

The acute effects of ionizing radiation on the brain of rats were evaluated by using the acid phosphatase method of Gomori. Head irradiation was carried out with 1000-kv x rays at dose rates of 250 to 600 r/min and doses of 1500 to 10,000 r. The brains were examined 3 hr to 4 months later. The observed acute behavioral changes of apathy and sluggishness correlated with alterations in acidphosphatase-containing particles, which showed increased size and conglomeration in cortical neurons and especially Purkinje cells of the cerebellum. This early cytochemical effect of radiation was not noted with cresyl fast violet ormore » periodic acid-Schiff-stained material. The alterations were limited to ganglion cells; no glial or vascular lesions were noted by any staining procedure. In the Purkinje cells at higher dose ranges, up to one-half of the cells showed alterations in the form of swelling and conglomeration of the acid phosphatase particles, as well as diffuse cytoplasrnic staining. These alterations in acid-phosphatasecontaining particles were similar to changes in rat brains subjected to anoxic and anoxic-ischemic conditions, autolysis, and injection of diphtheria toxin. There was also a striking similarity between these changes and alterations in kidney and liver lysosomes as a result of experimental hydronephrosis. Animals killed four months after irradiation demonstrated the reversible nature of the lesion, which is correlated with reports of an initial reversible behavioral syndrome. The described cytochemical lesion is interpreted as morphological evidence of cell damage or altered cellular metabolism and not as a specific lesion caused by x irradiation. The apparent reversibility of the lesion and the fact that several different mechanisms have all demonstrated similar effects on acid-phosphatasecontaining particles in brain, kidney, and liver further point toward its nonspecific nature. (H.H.D.)« less

Effects of fluorotherapy on oral changes caused by a vegan diet.

PubMed

Zotti, F; Laffranchi, L; Fontana, P; Dalessandri, D; Bonetti, S

2014-05-01

The aim of this paper was to investigate the effects of fluorotherapy on the oral health of subjects who had been following a vegan diet (lacking in meat and animal derivatives) for a long period of time (at least 1 year and 6 months). A preliminary study (t0) evaluated 50 subjects, all from northern Italy and aged 24-60 years (28 male and 22 female) who had been following a vegan diet for a minimum of 18 months to a maximum of 20 years, and compared them with a control group of 50 individuals following a Mediterranean diet. All vegan subjects showed oral changes such as white spots, lesions invisible to the naked eye and decreased salivary pH values (~5-6). In a second study (t1), the 50 vegan subjects were randomly divided into two subgroups of 25. Subgroup SG1 underwent fluorotherapy with sodium fluoride (Elmex fluoride gel® 1.25%) administered once daily for 1 year. Subgroup SG2 served as controls and did not receive fluorotherapy. The following parameters were recorded before the start of fluorotherapy and again after 1 year: salivary pH; Decayed, Missing, Filled teeth Index; presence and location of white spots and lesions not visible to the naked eye; Plaque Index, and Gingival Index. In SG1, larger lesions became smaller in diameter and small lesions disappeared, a statistically significant improvement compared with SG2, despite the persistence of restricted eating habits and the oral hygiene conditions being similar to those at t0. Salivary pH showed no significant change in either subgroup. Daily application of a topical 1.25% fluoride gel is effective in reducing the incidence of white spot lesions caused by a vegan diet.

[Meniscal lesion. A pre-osteoarthritic condition of the knee joint].

PubMed

Goebel, L; Reinhard, J; Madry, H

2017-10-01

A close relationship between meniscal damage and articular cartilage exist. Likewise, (partial) meniscectomy may lead to the development of osteoarthritis (OA). With a special emphasis on therapeutic consequences for orthopaedic surgeons, the structural and functional relationship between meniscal tears/extrusion and cartilage loss, and/or the effect of meniscectomy or meniscal repair on the development of OA, are emphasized. A selective literature review with implementation of own research findings. The close topographical and functional interplay between the menisci and the tibiofemoral cartilage is the basis for the clinically important relationship between meniscal damage and cartilage degeneration. In particular, due to its close connection to tibiofemoral OA, a degenerative meniscal lesion represents a pre-osteoarthritic condition. Meniscus extrusion is also often associated with tibiofemoral OA. Even large cartilage defects can cause meniscus lesions. Partial meniscectomy is strongly associated with the incidence and risk of progression of OA. Clinical results are particularly problematic after partial resection of the lateral meniscus. Although the use of arthroscopic partial resection for degenerative meniscal lesions has been controversially discussed, no long-term studies are available. A large number of studies emphasize the medium-term value of meniscus reconstruction compared to partial meniscus resection. Combined meniscus and cartilage damage are complex cases, and the value of a simultaneous therapy remains unclear. Preserving the meniscus is the first step towards cartilage repair. Randomized and controlled studies will provide better information on the long-term outcomes of meniscal resection and repair with regard to OA development.

Repeated microinjections into the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) impair extinction of conditioned place preference in mice.

PubMed

Groblewski, Peter A; Cunningham, Christopher L

2012-04-21

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is important for extinction of many behaviors including conditioned place preference (CPP). We examined the effects of intra-mPFC inactivation (with bupivacaine) on extinction of ethanol-induced CPP in mice. Injections of both bupivacaine and vehicle impaired extinction whereas no-surgery control mice extinguished normally. Consistent with recently reported effects of mPFC lesions, these data suggest that extinction was impaired by excessive mPFC damage induced by repeated intracranial infusions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rapidly progressing facial leishmaniasis: effective treatment with liposomal amphotericin B and a review of the management of Old World cutaneous leishmaniasis.

PubMed

Islam, Shamim

2018-05-01

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), a common condition in many parts of the world, is being increasingly encountered in non-endemic countries secondary to immigration. The clinical manifestations and course can vary substantially, with appropriate management ranging from observation for self-healing lesions to urgent treatment to prevent damaging anatomical and cosmetic sequelae. While there are now several effective medications, optimal therapy is not well defined, and decision-making can be challenged by the location of lesions and various drug issues, including availability, mode of delivery and adverse effects. A 7-year-old Afghani boy who presented shortly after arriving in the United States with a rapidly progressing crusting and ulcerative facial rash caused by Leishmania tropica is described. The various drugs currently available for CL and experience of using liposomal amphotericin B specifically are reviewed.

Clinical response to glycyrrhizinic acid in genital infection due to human papillomavirus and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion

PubMed Central

Valencia, Marcelino Hernández; Pacheco, Adia Carrillo; Quijano, Tomás Hernández; Girón, Antonio Vargas; López, Carlos Vargas

2011-01-01

Human papilloma virus (HPV) can infect any of the mucosal areas of the body and cause cervical cancer. Until recently, no specific treatments were available for this condition; therefore, any damaged tissue had to be removed or destroyed, which may have presented obstetrical repercussions for some women. Recently, new drugs have been developed that have shown to be effective for the cure of HPV infection. Glycyrrhizinic acid (GA) has shown fewer side effects and its systemic use makes it possible to reach difficult-to-treat lesions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcome of GA to eliminate the epithelial lesion and HPV. We carried out a longitudinal, descriptive study that included women of reproductive age who were diagnosed with HPV associated with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL). Subjects began treatment based on GA using two routes of administration - systemic (oral) and topical (spray) - with assessments every month to determine the clinical changes of the lesions through colposcopy and Papanicolaou (Pap) smear. Simple statistics were used along with two-tailed Student's t-test; P<0.05 was considered statistically significant before and after treatment. There were 70 eligible patients, of whom 62 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Age of subjects was 27.8±9.5 years. At the time of the study, 100% of the patients had HPV infection, 40% were associated with LSIL, and only 16% used a barrier contraceptive (condom) method. Resolution was achieved in all patients from 4 weeks of treatment initiation and improvement was achieved in the majority of patients at 12 weeks (74%) (P<0.001). However, there was persistence of LSIL in 27.7% of patients and only one patient progressed to cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) II. The use of GA proved to be effective in resolving clinical HPV lesions. For cervical lesions with epithelial changes (LSIL), treatment may be required for a longer period as with other drugs used for this infection, as well as monitoring for at least 1 year according to the natural evolution of the disease. PMID:24765393

Mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus is critical for the expression of memory of methamphetamine-produced conditioned place preference in rats.

PubMed

Kuo, C-S; Chai, S-C; Chen, H-H

2011-03-31

Methamphetamine (MA) is a powerful and highly addictive psychostimulant. However, the neural substrate mediating MA-induced conditioned effects, an essential part of addiction, remain unclear. The present study investigated the involvement of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), the lateral nucleus of amygdala (LNA), and the mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus (MD) in MA-conditioned place preference (CPP). Rats underwent bilateral radio-frequency lesions of the ACC, LNA, or MD followed by MA CPP training. Lesions of the MD, but not the ACC or LNA, disrupted MA CPP learning. To clarify the role of the MD on the different stages of the MA CPP memory process, bilateral microinfusions of lidocaine into the MD were performed 5 min prior to each conditioning trial, immediately after the conditioning trial, or 5 min before the testing phase. Pretesting, but not pre- or post-conditioning, infusions of lidocaine into the MD impaired MA CPP. Furthermore, a clear preference for the previously conditioned MA paired cues was expressed when the rats were tested again 24 h after infusions of lidocaine. These results are interpreted as indicating that the MD is specifically involved in the memory retrieval process of MA associated memory which suggests the MD could have an important role in relapse in individuals suffering from MA addiction. Copyright © 2011 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The interactive effects of transportation and lairage time on welfare indicators, carcass and meat quality traits in slaughter pigs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Čobanović, N.; Vasilev, D.; Dimitrijević, M.; Teodorović, V.; Parunović, N.; Betić, N.; Karabasil, N.

2017-09-01

This study assessed the effects of transportation and lairage time and their interaction on welfare, carcass and meat quality traits in slaughter pigs under commercial conditions. The study was conducted on 120 pigs with a live weight of approximately 115 kg and about six months old. A complete blood picture was measured in pigs to assess pre-slaughter stress. Also, nine different carcass quality parameters including live weight, hot and cold carcass weights, cooling loss, dressing percentage, backfat thickness, meatiness and skin lesions score were measured. The pH and temperature measurements were performed 45 minutes post-mortem. The results showed that short transportation time and slaughtering without lairaging and long transportation time and overnight lairaging negatively influenced the hematological parameters, which meant that the animal welfare was seriously compromised under these pre-slaughter conditions. Long transportation time and overnight lairaging reduced live and carcass weights and increased the incidence of skin lesions on the carcass and DFD pork. In addition, short transportation time and slaughtering without lairaging caused a significant deterioration in pork quality. It can be concluded that, from the standpoint of animal welfare, carcass and meat quality, the above-mentioned pre-slaughter conditions are not recommended to the farmers and/or pork producers.

The effect of claw horn disruption lesions and body condition score at dry-off on survivability, reproductive performance, and milk production in the subsequent lactation.

PubMed

Machado, V S; Caixeta, L S; McArt, J A A; Bicalho, R C

2010-09-01

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of claw horn disruption lesions (CHDL; sole ulcers and white line disease) and body condition score (BCS) at dry-off on survivability, milk production, and reproductive performance during the subsequent lactation. An observational prospective cohort study was conducted on a large commercial dairy in Cayuga County, New York, from September 2008 until January 2009. A total of 573 cows enrolled at dry-off were scored for body condition and hoof trimmed; digits were visually inspected for the presence of CHDL. The BCS data were recategorized into a 3-level variable BCS group (BCSG), with cows with BCS<3 placed in BCSG 1 (n=113), cows with BCS=3 placed in BCSG 2 (n=254), and cows with BCS>3 placed in BCSG 3 (n=206). Cows in BCSG 2 were 1.35 and 1.02 times more likely to conceive than cows in BCSG 1 and 3, respectively. The cull/death hazard for BCSG 1 cows was 1.55 and 1.47 times higher than for cows in BCSG 2 and BCSG 3, respectively. Milk yield for cows in BCSG 2 (44.6 kg/d, 95% CI 43.4-45.8) was significantly greater than that for cows in BCSG 1 (41.5 kg/d, 95% CI 39.8-43.3). Cows with previous lactation days open14,054 kg had a similar 1.6 times higher odds of being classified into BCSG 1. Claw horn disruption lesions were found in 24.4% of the cows (n=140) at dry-off. Cows without CHDL were 1.4 times more likely to conceive than cows with CHDL. Additionally, lesion cows were 1.7 times more likely to die or be culled than nonlesion cows. Absence of CHDL did not have a significant effect on milk yield. These findings highlight the importance of claw health and BCS at the end of lactation on future survival and performance. Copyright (c) 2010 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sirolimus- versus paclitaxel-eluting stents in patients with stenosis in a native coronary artery.

PubMed

Doggrell, Sheila A

2004-06-01

With stenting, restenosis occurs in approximately 25% of patients and the incidence is even higher in patients with diabetes, small coronary vessels and long lesions. The sirolimus-eluting balloon-expandable stent in the treatment of patients with de novo native coronary-artery lesions (SIRIUS) trial, enrolled patients with more challenging conditions, including a higher frequency of diabetes, more complex lesion morphology and longer lesions and showed benefits in all groups. After 240 days, the frequency of stenosis of at least 50% of the luminal diameter was 3.2 and 35.4% in the sirolimus and standard stents groups, respectively. The TAXUS-IV trial was the first large-scale trial on the safety and efficacy of paclitaxel-eluting stents in a broad population of patients and lesions, and established the safety and effectiveness of this agent. After 9 months, there was a mean stenosis of 17% in the paclitaxel group compared to 37% of patients treated with a bare stent. Thus, the local delivery of potent cell cycle inhibitors (sirolimus, paclitaxel) from stents being used for revascularisation dramatically decreases the incidence of restenosis in the populations of patients studied so far and represents a major advancement in the treatment of coronary artery disease.

Occupational skin problems in construction workers.

PubMed

Shah, Kartik R; Tiwari, Rajnarayan R

2010-10-01

Construction workers handle cement which has constituents to produce both irritant contact dermatitis and corrosive effects (from alkaline ingredients, such as lime) and sensitization, leading to allergic contact dermatitis (from ingredients, such as chromium). The present study has been carried out among unorganized construction workers to find the prevalence of skin problems. The present cross-sectional study was conducted in 92 construction workers of Ahmedabad and Vadodara. All the workers were subjected to clinical examination after collection of information regarding demographic characteristics, occupational characteristics and clinical history on a predesigned proforma. Of them, 47.8% had morbid skin conditions. Frictional callosities in palm were observed in 18 (19.6%) subjects while 4 (4.3%) subjects had contact dermatitis. Other conditions included dry, fissured and scaly skin, infectious skin lesion, tinea cruris, lesion and ulcers on hands and/or soles. The skin conditions were common in the age group of 20-25 years, males, those having ≥1 year exposure and those working for longer hours. Half of the workers not using personal protective equipment had reported skin-related symptoms.

A new modified live porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome vaccine improves growth performance in pigs under field conditions.

PubMed

Park, Changhoon; Seo, Hwi Won; Kang, Ikjae; Jeong, Jiwoon; Choi, Kyuhyung; Chae, Chanhee

2014-09-01

The change in growth performance resulting from a new modified live porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) vaccine was evaluated under field conditions for registration with the government as guided by the Republic of Korea's Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency. Three farms were selected based on their history of PRRS-associated respiratory diseases. On each farm, a total of 45 3-week-old pigs were randomly allocated to one of two treatment groups, (i) vaccinated (n = 25) or (ii) control (n = 20) animals. A new modified live PRRSV vaccine increased market weight by 1.26 kg/pig (104.71 kg versus 103.45 kg; P < 0.05) and decreased mortality by 17% (1.33% versus 18.33%; P < 0.05). Pathological examination indicated that vaccination effectively reduced microscopic lung lesions compared with control animals on the 3 farms. Thus, the new modified live PRRS vaccine improved growth performance and decreased mortality and lung lesions when evaluated under field conditions. Copyright © 2014, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Idiosyncratic Presentation of Cemento-Osseous Dysplasia – An in Depth Analysis Using Cone Beam Computed Tomography

PubMed Central

Pachigolla, Ramaswamy; Govada, Vanya Mahitha; Alapati, Satish; Balla, Smitha

2016-01-01

Bone dysplasias comprise of a condition where the normal bone is replaced with fibrous tissue. Periapical Cemento-Osseous Dysplasia (PCOD) is a benign fibro-osseous condition where bone tissue is supplanted with fibrous tissue and cementum-like material. This condition affects mostly mandibular anterior region and rarely occurs in the maxilla. PCOD is seen above 30 years of age and has slight female predilection. Generally the teeth related to such lesions appear to be vital and are usually asymptomatic. These lesions are mostly seen during routine radiographic examination whose presentation may vary from complete radiolucency to dense radiopacity. The advent of Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) has brought a massive change in the field of dentistry which has become an important tool for diagnosis. Hence we hereby present an unusual case of cemento-osseous dysplasia in an unfamiliar location with an atypical presentation. The shape of the pathology was completely idiosyncratic and different from an orthodox lesion of COD, as the lesion was observed to grow out of the palatal surface with a prominent palatal expansion. This case highlights the importance of CBCT in radiographic diagnosis and in evaluating the characteristics of such lesion, which present with high diagnostic dilemma. PMID:27437374

Differential diagnosis of a neoplastic condition in a prehistoric juvenile individual from La Falda site, Northwest Argentina.

PubMed

Arrieta, Mario A; Mendonça, Osvaldo J; Bordach, María A

2018-06-01

Bone neoplasms or tumors are of great interest for paleopathological studies due to their close relationship with health and survivorship as well as for their epidemiologic and demographic relevance. However, the identification of these lesions in archaeological specimens is very uncommon. The aim of this paper is to report the case of skeleton R5 E#1 from the prehistoric cemetery La Falda, in the Northwest region of Argentina. During the osteopathological analysis of the skeletal series, proliferative lesions in several bones of the skeleton of a 7-10-year-old juvenile were observed (i.e., both scapulae; left clavicle, humerus, and ulna, both os coxae, femora, and fibulae, and right foot bones). Age-at-death estimation, location and distribution pattern, and morphological appearances of the lesions indicated that this juvenile suffered from a neoplastic condition. A comprehensive differential diagnosis was carried out, suggesting that these lesions were compatible with hereditary multiple osteochondromas. However, Ewing's sarcoma was not definitively ruled out as a probable diagnosis. Thus, this work adds new evidence to the existence of neoplastic conditions in the prehistoric populations of the Americas, and it contributes original data to perform a differential diagnosis for multiple proliferative lesions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Lasers for vascular lesions: standard guidelines of care.

PubMed

Srinivas, C R; Kumaresan, M

2011-01-01

Lasers are a good therapeutic tool for congenital and acquired vascular lesions. Technological advances in lasers have reduced the adverse effects and increased the efficacy. MACHINES: Among the various lasers used for treating vascular lesions, pulsed dye laser (PDL) has the best efficacy and safety data. The other machines that are widely available are Nd:YAG laser and intense pulse light (IPL). RATIONALE AND SCOPE OF GUIDELINE: Much variation exists in different machines and techniques, and therefore, establishing standard guidelines has limitations. The guidelines recommended here indicate minimum standards of care for lasers on vascular lesions based on current evidence. Laser may be administered by a dermatologist, who has received adequate background training in lasers during post-graduation or later at a center that provides education and training in lasers, or in focused workshops, which provide such trainings. He/she should have adequate knowledge of the lesions being treated, machines, parameters, cooling systems, and aftercare. The procedure may be performed in the physician's minor procedure room with adequate laser safety measures. PWS, hemangioma, facial telangiectasia, rosacea, spider angioma, pyogenic granuloma, venous lakes, leg veins. Absolute: Active local infection, photo-aggravated skin diseases, and medical conditions. Relative: Unstable vitiligo, psoriasis, keloid and keloidal tendencies, patient on isotretinoin, patient who is not cooperative or has unrealistic expectation. Patient selection should be done after detailed counseling with respect to the course of lesions, different treatment options, possible results, cost, need for multiple treatments, and possible postoperative complications. TREATMENT SESSIONS: The number of treatments per lesion varies from 2 to 12 or more at 6-8 week intervals. All lesions may not clear completely even after multiple sessions in many cases. Hence, a realistic expectation and proper counseling is very important. Laser parameters vary with area, type of lesion, skin color, depth of the lesion, and machine used. A test spot may be performed to determine individual specifications. Pain, edema, purpura, bleeding, scarring, postinflammatory hyperpigmentation/hypopigmentation, and atrophy changes.

Positron emission mammography (PEM): Effect of activity concentration, object size, and object contrast on phantom lesion detection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

MacDonald, Lawrence R.; Wang, Carolyn L.; Eissa, Marna

2012-10-15

Purpose: To characterize the relationship between lesion detection sensitivity and injected activity as a function of lesion size and contrast on the PEM (positron emission mammography) Flex Solo II scanner using phantom experiments. Methods: Phantom lesions (spheres 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 mm diameter) were randomly located in uniform background. Sphere activity concentrations were 3 to 21 times the background activity concentration (BGc). BGc was a surrogate for injected activity; BGc ranged from 0.44-4.1 kBq/mL, corresponding to 46-400 MBq injections. Seven radiologists read 108 images containing zero, one, or two spheres. Readers used a 5-point confidence scale to scoremore » the presence of spheres. Results: Sensitivity was 100% for lesions {>=}12 mm under all conditions except for one 12 mm sphere with the lowest contrast and lowest BGc (60% sensitivity). Sensitivity was 100% for 8 mm spheres when either contrast or BGc was high, and 100% for 4 mm spheres only when both contrast and BGc were highest. Sphere contrast recovery coefficients (CRC) were 49%, 34%, 26%, 14%, and 2.8% for the largest to smallest spheres. Cumulative specificity was 98%. Conclusions: Phantom lesion detection sensitivity depends more on sphere size and contrast than on BGc. Detection sensitivity remained {>=}90% for injected activities as low as 100 MBq, for lesions {>=}8 mm. Low CRC in 4 mm objects results in moderate detection sensitivity even for 400 MBq injected activity, making it impractical to optimize injected activity for such lesions. Low CRC indicates that when lesions <8 mm are observed on PEM images they are highly tracer avid with greater potential of clinical significance. High specificity (98%) suggests that image statistical noise does not lead to false positive findings. These results apply to the 85 mm thick object used to obtain them; lesion detectability should be better (worse) for thinner (thicker) objects based on the reduced (increased) influence of photon attenuation.« less

Precancerous lesions in the stomach: from biology to clinical patient management.

PubMed

Rugge, Massimo; Capelle, Lisette G; Cappellesso, Rocco; Nitti, Donato; Kuipers, Ernst J

2013-04-01

Gastric cancer is the final step in a multi-stage cascade triggered by long-standing inflammatory conditions (particularly Helicobacter pylori infection) resulting in atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia: these lesions represent the cancerization field in which (intestinal-type) gastric cancer develops. Intraepithelial neoplasia is consistently recognized as the phenotypic bridge between atrophic/metaplastic lesions and invasive cancer. This paper addresses the epidemiology, pathology, molecular profiling, and clinical management of advanced precancerous gastric lesions. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Temporary inhibition of dorsal or ventral hippocampus by muscimol: distinct effects on measures of innate anxiety on the elevated plus maze, but similar disruption of contextual fear conditioning.

PubMed

Zhang, Wei-Ning; Bast, Tobias; Xu, Yan; Feldon, Joram

2014-04-01

Studies in rats, involving hippocampal lesions and hippocampal drug infusions, have implicated the hippocampus in the modulation of anxiety-related behaviors and conditioned fear. The ventral hippocampus is considered to be more important for anxiety- and fear-related behaviors than the dorsal hippocampus. In the present study, we compared the role of dorsal and ventral hippocampus in innate anxiety and classical fear conditioning in Wistar rats, examining the effects of temporary pharmacological inhibition by the GABA-A agonist muscimol (0.5 ug/0.5 ul/side) in the elevated plus maze and on fear conditioning to a tone and the conditioning context. In the elevated plus maze, dorsal and ventral hippocampal muscimol caused distinct behavioral changes. The effects of ventral hippocampal muscimol were consistent with suppression of locomotion, possibly accompanied by anxiolytic effects, whereas the pattern of changes caused by dorsal hippocampal muscimol was consistent with anxiogenic effects. In contrast, dorsal and ventral hippocampal muscimol caused similar effects in the fear conditioning experiments, disrupting contextual, but not tone, fear conditioning. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Conditioned pharmacotherapeutic effects: a preliminary study.

PubMed

Ader, Robert; Mercurio, Mary Gail; Walton, James; James, Deborra; Davis, Michael; Ojha, Valerie; Kimball, Alexa Boer; Fiorentino, David

2010-02-01

To test the hypothesize that psoriasis patients treated under a partial schedule of pharmacologic (corticosteroid) reinforcement would show less severe symptoms and relapse than those given the same amount of drug under standard conditions. Behavioral conditioning as an inherent component of many pharmacotherapeutic protocols has never been examined. A double-blind, simple randomization intervention was conducted with 46 patients from California and New York. Initially, lesions were treated with 0.1% acetonide triamcinolone under standard treatment conditions. Thereafter, a Standard Therapy group continued on continuous reinforcement (active drug every treatment) with 100% of the initial dose; Partial Reinforcement patients received a full dose 25% to 50% of the time and placebo medication other times; Dose Control patients received continuous reinforcement with 25% to 50% of the initial dose. Severity of disease scores in California neither supported nor refuted the hypothesis. In New York, where there was no difference between Partial Reinforcement and Dose Control groups at baseline, partial reinforcement effected a greater reduction in lesion severity than Dose Control conditions and did not differ from Standard Therapy patients receiving two to four times more drug. For the entire population, the frequency of relapse under partial reinforcement (26.7%) was lower than in Dose Control patients (61.5%) and did not differ from full-dose treatment (22.2%). A partial schedule of pharmacotherapeutic reinforcement could maintain psoriasis patients with a cumulative amount of corticosteroid that was relatively ineffective when administered under standard treatment conditions. Conceivably, corticosteroid administration only one quarter or half as frequently as currently prescribed is sufficient to treat psoriasis. We posit, however, that these preliminary observations implicate conditioning processes in-and for the design of-regimens of pharmacotherapy.

Salutary and prophylactic effect of pentadecapeptide BPC 157 on acute pancreatitis and concomitant gastroduodenal lesions in rats.

PubMed

Sikirić, P; Seiwerth, S; Grabarević, Z; Rucman, R; Petek, M; Jagić, V; Turković, B; Rotkvić, I; Mise, S; Zoricić, I; Jurina, L; Konjevoda, P; Hanzevacki, M; Ljubanović, D; Separović, J; Gjurasin, M; Bratulić, M; Artuković, B; Jelovac, N; Buljat, G

1996-07-01

The superior effectiveness of a new pentadecapeptide, BPC 157, on gastrointestinal and liver lesions, in conjunction with an antiinflammatory and analgetic activity was recently noted. In the present study, BPC 157 was tested as either a protective or healing agent in bile duct ligation-induced acute pancreatitis in rats. In addition, the positive influence of BPC 157 on concomitantly developed gastric and duodenal lesions was simultaneously investigated. BPC 157 (10 microg, 10 ng/kg body wt, intraperitoneally or intragastrically) was given prophylactically 1 hr before ligation, whereas the therapy was given once daily beginning with the 24 hr following ligation (last application 24 hr before killing). The effect was investigated at daily intervals until the end of the fifth day after ligation. In the pretreatment regimen, a strong pancreas protection was obtained. When applied in the condition of already established severe acute pancreatitis, an obvious salutory effect was consistently noted. Assessing the appearance of the necrosis, edema, neutrophils, and mononuclears, consistently less necrosis, edema, and neutrophils, but more mononuclears, were found in BPC-treated rats. Likewise, in studies of the serum amylase values, relative to control data, a markedly lower rise (BPC pretreatment regimen) as well as a worsening of the already raised values (BPC therapy regimen) was noted. Along with its beneficial effect on pancreatitis, a positive influence of BPC 157 on the gastric and duodenal lesion course in bile duct-ligated rats was noted in both the pre- and posttreatment regimen. Taken together, in further studies of acute pancreatitis therapy, BPC could be an interesting and useful agent with an additional positive impact on concomitant gastroduodenal pathology.

Lesions of the entorhinal cortex or fornix disrupt the context-dependence of fear extinction in rats.

PubMed

Ji, Jinzhao; Maren, Stephen

2008-12-12

Recent studies have shown that the hippocampus is critical for the context-dependent expression of extinguished fear memories. Here we used Pavlovian fear conditioning in rats to explore whether the entorhinal cortex and fornix, which are the major cortical and subcortical interfaces of the hippocampus, are also involved in the context-dependence of extinction. After pairing an auditory conditional stimulus (CS) with an aversive footshock (unconditional stimulus or US) in one context, rats received an extinction session in which the CS was presented without the US in another context. Conditional fear to the CS was then tested in either the extinction context or a third familiar context; freezing behavior served as the index of fear. Sham-operated rats exhibited little conditional freezing to the CS in the extinction context, but showed a robust renewal of fear when tested outside of the extinction context. In contrast, rats with neurotoxic lesions in the entorhinal cortex or electrolytic lesions in the fornix did not exhibit a renewal of fear when tested outside the extinction context. Impairments in freezing behavior to the auditory CS were not able to account for the observed results, insofar as rats with either entorhinal cortex or fornix lesions exhibited normal freezing behavior during the conditioning session. Thus, contextual memory retrieval requires not only the hippocampus proper, but also its cortical and subcortical interfaces.

The medial prefrontal cortex is involved in spatial memory retrieval under partial-cue conditions.

PubMed

Jo, Yong Sang; Park, Eun Hye; Kim, Il Hwan; Park, Soon Kwon; Kim, Hyun; Kim, Hyun Taek; Choi, June-Seek

2007-12-05

Brain circuits involved in pattern completion, or retrieval of memory from fragmented cues, were investigated. Using different versions of the Morris water maze, we explored the roles of the CA3 subregion of the hippocampus and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in spatial memory retrieval under various conditions. In a hidden platform task, both CA3 and mPFC lesions disrupted memory retrieval under partial-cue, but not under full-cue, conditions. For a delayed matching-to-place task, CA3 lesions produced a deficit in both forming and recalling spatial working memory regardless of extramaze cue conditions. In contrast, damage to mPFC impaired memory retrieval only when a fraction of cues was available. To corroborate the lesion study, we examined the expression of the immediate early gene c-fos in mPFC and the hippocampus. After training of spatial reference memory in full-cue conditions for 6 d, the same training procedure in the absence of all cues except one increased the number of Fos-immunoreactive cells in mPFC and CA3. Furthermore, mPFC inactivation with muscimol, a GABA agonist, blocked memory retrieval in the degraded-cue environment. However, mPFC-lesioned animals initially trained in a single-cue environment had no difficulty in retrieving spatial memory when the number of cues was increased, demonstrating that contextual change per se did not impair the behavioral performance of the mPFC-lesioned animals. Together, these findings strongly suggest that pattern completion requires interactions between mPFC and the hippocampus, in which mPFC plays significant roles in retrieving spatial information maintained in the hippocampus for efficient navigation.

Mapping parahippocampal systems for recognition and recency memory in the absence of the rat hippocampus

PubMed Central

Kinnavane, L; Amin, E; Horne, M; Aggleton, J P

2014-01-01

The present study examined immediate-early gene expression in the perirhinal cortex of rats with hippocampal lesions. The goal was to test those models of recognition memory which assume that the perirhinal cortex can function independently of the hippocampus. The c-fos gene was targeted, as its expression in the perirhinal cortex is strongly associated with recognition memory. Four groups of rats were examined. Rats with hippocampal lesions and their surgical controls were given either a recognition memory task (novel vs. familiar objects) or a relative recency task (objects with differing degrees of familiarity). Perirhinal Fos expression in the hippocampal-lesioned groups correlated with both recognition and recency performance. The hippocampal lesions, however, had no apparent effect on overall levels of perirhinal or entorhinal cortex c-fos expression in response to novel objects, with only restricted effects being seen in the recency condition. Network analyses showed that whereas the patterns of parahippocampal interactions were differentially affected by novel or familiar objects, these correlated networks were not altered by hippocampal lesions. Additional analyses in control rats revealed two modes of correlated medial temporal activation. Novel stimuli recruited the pathway from the lateral entorhinal cortex (cortical layer II or III) to hippocampal field CA3, and thence to CA1. Familiar stimuli recruited the direct pathway from the lateral entorhinal cortex (principally layer III) to CA1. The present findings not only reveal the independence from the hippocampus of some perirhinal systems associated with recognition memory, but also show how novel stimuli engage hippocampal subfields in qualitatively different ways from familiar stimuli. PMID:25264133

The mesencephalic trigeminal sensory nucleus is involved in the control of feeding and exploratory behavior in mice.

PubMed

Ishii, Toshiaki; Furuoka, Hidefumi; Itou, Takuya; Kitamura, Nobuo; Nishimura, Masakazu

2005-06-28

The mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus (Me5), which receives input from oral proprioceptors and projects to higher brain regions, is involved in mastication-induced modulation of satiation. To investigate how the Me5 is involved in the control of feeding and exploratory behavior, we examined the effect of bilateral electrolytic lesions of the Me5 on feeding and exploratory behavior in mice. Mouse feeding and exploratory behaviors were analyzed using a food-search-compulsion-apparatus (FSCA), which was designed to distinguish between the two behaviors under standard living conditions. To assess anxiety in mice in an unfamiliar environment, exploratory activity was analyzed in an automated hole-board apparatus. Mice with bilateral Me5 lesions had unique feeding and exploratory behavior profiles in the FSCA compared with sham-operated mice. Me5-lesioned mice spent more time in the food chamber during each trial in the FSCA, but the number of entries into the food chamber was decreased by 40% compared to sham-operated mice. Moreover, Me5 lesions markedly inhibited exploratory behavior, manifested as low-frequency exploration. In spite of the low-frequency exploration in the FSCA, Me5 lesions had no effect on various exploratory activities analyzed in the hole-board apparatus, i.e., total locomotor activity, frequency and duration of rearing and head-dipping, and latency to the first head-dipping. These results suggest that the Me5 is involved in the control of feeding and exploratory behavior through its ascending neuronal pathways in mice without modulating the emotional state.

The alkylphenols 4-nonylphenol, 4-tert-octylphenol and 4-tert-butylphenol aggravate atopic dermatitis-like skin lesions in NC/Nga mice.

PubMed

Sadakane, Kaori; Ichinose, Takamichi; Takano, Hirohisa; Yanagisawa, Rie; Koike, Eiko; Inoue, Ken-ichiro

2014-08-01

Phthalate esters in plastics act as adjuvants for immunoglobulin production, which aggravates allergic disease. However, the effects of alkylphenols (used as plasticizers and surfactants) on atopic dermatitis have not been studied in detail. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to investigate the effects of the alkylphenols 4-nonylphenol (NP), 4-tert-octylphenol (OP) and 4-tert-butylphenol (BP) in a murine model of atopic dermatitis. NC/Nga mice were intraperitoneally administered NP, OP or BP and were subcutaneously injected with mite allergen in one ear to induce atopic dermatitis-like skin lesions (ADSLs). The condition of the skin was observed, and the levels of immunoglobulin in serum and inflammatory cytokines in lesions were determined. NP exacerbated mite allergen-induced ADSLs according to dose. OP and BP also significantly exacerbated skin lesions but not as a function of dose. Alkylphenols tended to increase the levels of IgE and antigen-specific IgG1 in serum. Further, the treatment of the alkylphenols increased the expression in lesions of inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-4 and monocyte chemotactic protein-3. Thymic stromal lymphopoietin levels increased according to ADSL severity. In contrast, the levels of the T-helper 1 cytokines (interleukin-18 and interferon-gamma) decreased. NP, OP or BP may enhance T-helper 2-type immune responses in NC/Nga mice, which aggravates mite allergen-induced ADSLs. Therefore, the uptake of very low levels of alkylphenols may contribute to the increase in the incidence of atopic dermatitis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Acute periodontal lesions.

PubMed

Herrera, David; Alonso, Bettina; de Arriba, Lorenzo; Santa Cruz, Isabel; Serrano, Cristina; Sanz, Mariano

2014-06-01

This review provides updates on acute conditions affecting the periodontal tissues, including abscesses in the periodontium, necrotizing periodontal diseases and other acute conditions that cause gingival lesions with acute presentation, such as infectious processes not associated with oral bacterial biofilms, mucocutaneous disorders and traumatic and allergic lesions. A periodontal abscess is clinically important because it is a relatively frequent dental emergency, it can compromise the periodontal prognosis of the affected tooth and bacteria within the abscess can spread and cause infections in other body sites. Different types of abscesses have been identified, mainly classified by their etiology, and there are clear differences between those affecting a pre-existing periodontal pocket and those affecting healthy sites. Therapy for this acute condition consists of drainage and tissue debridement, while an evaluation of the need for systemic antimicrobial therapy will be made for each case, based on local and systemic factors. The definitive treatment of the pre-existing condition should be accomplished after the acute phase is controlled. Necrotizing periodontal diseases present three typical clinical features: papilla necrosis, gingival bleeding and pain. Although the prevalence of these diseases is not high, their importance is clear because they represent the most severe conditions associated with the dental biofilm, with very rapid tissue destruction. In addition to bacteria, the etiology of necrotizing periodontal disease includes numerous factors that alter the host response and predispose to these diseases, namely HIV infection, malnutrition, stress or tobacco smoking. The treatment consists of superficial debridement, careful mechanical oral hygiene, rinsing with chlorhexidine and daily re-evaluation. Systemic antimicrobials may be used adjunctively in severe cases or in nonresponding conditions, being the first option metronidazole. Once the acute disease is under control, definitive treatment should be provided, including appropriate therapy for the pre-existing gingivitis or periodontitis. Among other acute conditions affecting the periodontal tissues, but not caused by the microorganisms present in oral biofilms, infectious diseases, mucocutaneous diseases and traumatic or allergic lesions can be listed. In most cases, the gingival involvement is not severe; however, these conditions are common and may prompt an emergency dental visit. These conditions may have the appearance of an erythematous lesion, which is sometimes erosive. Erosive lesions may be the direct result of trauma or a consequence of the breaking of vesicles and bullae. A proper differential diagnosis is important for adequate management of the case. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Direct inhibition of excision/synthesis DNA repair activities by cadmium: analysis on dedicated biochips.

PubMed

Candéias, S; Pons, B; Viau, M; Caillat, S; Sauvaigo, S

2010-12-10

The well established toxicity of cadmium and cadmium compounds results from their additive effects on several key cellular processes, including DNA repair. Mammalian cells have evolved several biochemical pathways to repair DNA lesions and maintain genomic integrity. By interfering with the homeostasis of redox metals and antioxidant systems, cadmium promotes the development of an intracellular environment that results in oxidative DNA damage which can be mutagenic if unrepaired. Small base lesions are recognised by specialized glycosylases and excised from the DNA molecule. The resulting abasic sites are incised, and the correct sequences restored by DNA polymerases using the opposite strands as template. Bulky lesions are recognised by a different set of proteins and excised from DNA as part of an oligonucleotide. As in base repair, the resulting gaps are filled by DNA polymerases using the opposite strands as template. Thus, these two repair pathways consist in excision of the lesion followed by DNA synthesis. In this study, we analysed in vitro the direct effects of cadmium exposure on the functionality of base and nucleotide DNA repair pathways. To this end, we used recently described dedicated microarrays that allow the parallel monitoring in cell extracts of the repair activities directed against several model base and/or nucleotide lesions. Both base and nucleotide excision/repair pathways are inhibited by CdCl₂, with different sensitivities. The inhibitory effects of cadmium affect mainly the recognition and excision stages of these processes. Furthermore, our data indicate that the repair activities directed against different damaged bases also exhibit distinct sensitivities, and the direct comparison of cadmium effects on the excision of uracile in different sequences even allows us to propose a hierarchy of cadmium sensibility within the glycosylases removing U from DNA. These results indicate that, in our experimental conditions, cadmium is a very potent DNA repair poison. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Association of mixed hematopoietic chimerism with elevated circulating autoantibodies and chronic graft-versus-host disease occurrence

PubMed Central

Perruche, Sylvain; Marandin, Aliette; Kleinclauss, François M.; Angonin, Régis; Fresnay, Stéphanie; Baron, Marie Hélène; Tiberghien, Pierre; Saas, Philippe

2006-01-01

Background Use of a reduced intensity conditioning regimen before an allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation is frequently associated with an early state of mixed hematopoietic chimerism. Such a co-existence of both host and donor hematopoietic cells may influence post-transplant alloreactivity and may affect the occurrence and severity of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) as well as the intensity of the graft-versus-leukemia effect. Here we evaluated the relation between chimerism state after reduced intensity conditioning transplantation (RICT), auto-antibody production and chronic GVHD (cGVHD)-related pathology. Methods Chimerism state, circulating anti-cardiolipin and anti-double stranded DNA auto-antibody (Ab) titers as well as occurrence of cGVHD-like lesions were investigated in a murine RICT model. Results We observed a novel association between mixed chimerism state, high levels of pathogenic IgG auto-Abs and subsequent development of cGVHD-like lesions. Furthermore, we found that the persistence of host B cells, but not dendritic cell origin or subset, was a factor associated with the appearance of cGVHD-like lesions. The implication of host B cells was confirmed by a host origin of auto-Abs. Conclusions Recipient B cell persistence may therefore contribute to the frequency and/or severity of cGVHD after RICT. PMID:16495806

Framing effect following bilateral amygdala lesion.

PubMed

Talmi, Deborah; Hurlemann, René; Patin, Alexandra; Dolan, Raymond J

2010-05-01

A paradigmatic example of an emotional bias in decision making is the framing effect, where the manner in which a choice is posed--as a potential loss or a potential gain--systematically biases an ensuing decision. Two fMRI studies have shown that the activation in the amygdala is modulated by the framing effect. Here, contrary to an expectation based on these studies, we show that two patients with Urbach-Wiethe (UW) disease, a rare condition associated with congenital, complete bilateral amygdala degeneration, exhibit an intact framing effect. However, choice preference in these patients did show a qualitatively distinct pattern compared to controls evident in an increased propensity to gamble, indicating that loss of amygdala function does exert an overall influence on risk-taking. These findings suggest either that amygdala does contribute to decision making but does not play a causal role in framing, or that UW is not a pure lesion model of amygdala function. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Detection of cavitated or non-cavitated approximal enamel caries lesions using CMOS and CCD digital X-ray sensors and conventional D and F-speed films at different exposure conditions.

PubMed

Bottenberg, Peter; Jacquet, Wolfgang; Stachniss, Vitus; Wellnitz, Johann; Schulte, Andreas G

2011-04-01

To determine the ability of digital sensors (CMOS and CCD sensors) and D and F-speed films to detect cavitated and non-cavitated enamel caries lesions at different exposure conditions compared to a gold standard. 100 extracted human molars and premolars were selected and mounted in a block between two neighboring teeth. Sensors or films were exposed with voltages of 60 or 70 kVp at varying times. Three observers assessed each approximal site independently. Lesion depth was rated according to an anatomical five-point scale (0 = no lesion to 4 = lesion reaching inner half of dentin). Serial sections of resin-embedded teeth were prepared. Gold-standard scores were established by consensus based on histological sectioning. A carious lesion was present at scores of 1 and higher. Statistical evaluation (sensitivity, specificity and receiver-operating curves) was based on caries-free surfaces and those presenting enamel caries (n=116). The ROC curves had "area under the curve" values (Az) from 0.50 (F-speed, 70 kVp, 0.20 seconds) to 0.58 (CCD 60 kVp, 0.08 seconds). The detection percentage of cavitated lesions was generally higher (0-52%, depending on technique and observer) than that of non-cavitated lesions (3-32%). The CMOS sensor showed Az values comparable to the CCD sensors but required higher exposure times. There was no significant difference between 60 and 70 kVp.

Conditional Sox9 ablation improves locomotor recovery after spinal cord injury by increasing reactive sprouting.

PubMed

McKillop, William M; York, Elisa M; Rubinger, Luc; Liu, Tony; Ossowski, Natalie M; Xu, Kathy; Hryciw, Todd; Brown, Arthur

2016-09-01

The absence of axonal regeneration after spinal cord injury (SCI) has been attributed to the up-regulation of axon-repelling molecules, such as chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) present in the glial scar that forms post-SCI. We previously identified the transcription factor SOX9 as a key up-regulator of CSPG production and also demonstrated that conditional Sox9 ablation leads to decreased CSPG levels and improved recovery of hind limb function after SCI. We herein demonstrate increased neural input onto spinal neurons caudal to the lesion in spinal cord injured Sox9 conditional knock out mice as indicated by increased levels of the presynaptic markers synaptophysin and vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (VGLUT1) compared to controls. Axonal sparing, long-range axonal regeneration and reactive sprouting were investigated as possible explanations for the increase in neural inputs caudal to the lesion and for the improved locomotor outcomes in spinal cord-injured Sox9 conditional knock out mice. Whereas retrograde tract-tracing studies failed to reveal any evidence for increased axonal sparing or for long-range regeneration in the Sox9 conditional knock out mice, anterograde tract-tracing experiments demonstrated increased reactive sprouting caudal to the lesion after SCI. Finally we demonstrate that application of a broad spectrum MMP inhibitor to reduce CSPG degradation in Sox9 conditional knock out mice prevents the improvements in locomotor recovery observed in untreated Sox9 conditional knock out mice. These results suggest that improved recovery of locomotor function in Sox9 conditional knock out mice after SCI is due to increased reactive sprouting secondary to reduced CSPG levels distal to the lesion. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Visual Search of Experts in Medical Image Reading: The Effect of Training, Target Prevalence, and Expert Knowledge

PubMed Central

Nakashima, Ryoichi; Kobayashi, Kazufumi; Maeda, Eriko; Yoshikawa, Takeharu; Yokosawa, Kazuhiko

2013-01-01

The aims of this study are (a) To determine the effect of training on the multiple-target lesion search performance; and (b) To examine the effect of target prevalence on the performance of radiologists and novices. We conducted four sessions of 500 trials in a lesion search on a medical image task in which participants searched for three different target lesions. Participants were 10 radiologists and novices. In each session, the prevalence of the different target lesions varied from low (2%) to high (40%). The sensitivity of novices was higher in the later sessions than in the first session, whereas there were no differences among sessions in radiologists. The improvement on sensitivity of novices was largely due to attenuations of false alarm (FA) errors. In addition, miss rates of the three targets did not differ in data of novices, whereas radiologists produced a higher miss rate for the highest prevalence target lesion (non-serious lesion) than for the other two lesions (serious lesions). The conclusions are (a) The training for the multiple-target lesion search task can be effective to reduce FA errors; and (b) The prevalence effect on lesion search can be attenuated by the multiple-target identification and the knowledge about seriousness of lesions. This suggests that acquired knowledge about normal cases and serious lesions is an important aspect of a radiologists’ skill in searching for medical lesions and their high performance levels. PMID:23576997

Visual search of experts in medical image reading: the effect of training, target prevalence, and expert knowledge.

PubMed

Nakashima, Ryoichi; Kobayashi, Kazufumi; Maeda, Eriko; Yoshikawa, Takeharu; Yokosawa, Kazuhiko

2013-01-01

The aims of this study are (a) To determine the effect of training on the multiple-target lesion search performance; and (b) To examine the effect of target prevalence on the performance of radiologists and novices. We conducted four sessions of 500 trials in a lesion search on a medical image task in which participants searched for three different target lesions. Participants were 10 radiologists and novices. In each session, the prevalence of the different target lesions varied from low (2%) to high (40%). The sensitivity of novices was higher in the later sessions than in the first session, whereas there were no differences among sessions in radiologists. The improvement on sensitivity of novices was largely due to attenuations of false alarm (FA) errors. In addition, miss rates of the three targets did not differ in data of novices, whereas radiologists produced a higher miss rate for the highest prevalence target lesion (non-serious lesion) than for the other two lesions (serious lesions). The conclusions are (a) The training for the multiple-target lesion search task can be effective to reduce FA errors; and (b) The prevalence effect on lesion search can be attenuated by the multiple-target identification and the knowledge about seriousness of lesions. This suggests that acquired knowledge about normal cases and serious lesions is an important aspect of a radiologists' skill in searching for medical lesions and their high performance levels.

Mouse model of necrotic tuberculosis granulomas develops hypoxic lesions.

PubMed

Harper, Jamie; Skerry, Ciaran; Davis, Stephanie L; Tasneen, Rokeya; Weir, Mariah; Kramnik, Igor; Bishai, William R; Pomper, Martin G; Nuermberger, Eric L; Jain, Sanjay K

2012-02-15

Preclinical evaluation of tuberculosis drugs is generally limited to mice. However, necrosis and hypoxia, key features of human tuberculosis lesions, are lacking in conventional mouse strains. We used C3HeB/FeJ mice, which develop necrotic lesions in response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Positron emission tomography in live infected animals, postmortem pimonidazole immunohistochemistry, and bacterial gene expression analyses were used to assess whether tuberculosis lesions in C3HeB/FeJ are hypoxic. Efficacy of combination drug treatment, including PA-824, active against M. tuberculosis under hypoxic conditions, was also evaluated. Tuberculosis lesions in C3HeB/FeJ (but not BALB/c) were found to be hypoxic and associated with up-regulation of known hypoxia-associated bacterial genes (P < .001). Contrary to sustained activity reported elsewhere in BALB/c mice, moxifloxacin and pyrazinamide (MZ) combination was not bactericidal beyond 3 weeks in C3HeB/FeJ. Although PA-824 added significant activity, the novel combination of PA-824 and MZ was less effective than the standard first-line regimen in C3HeB/FeJ. We demonstrate that tuberculosis lesions in C3HeB/FeJ are hypoxic. Activities of some key tuberculosis drug regimens in development are represented differently in C3HeB/FeJ versus BALB/c mice. Because C3HeB/FeJ display key features of human tuberculosis, this strain warrants evaluation as a more pathologically relevant model for preclinical studies.

Organochlorine-induced histopathology in kidney and liver tissue from Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus).

PubMed

Sonne, Christian; Wolkers, Hans; Leifsson, Pall S; Jenssen, Bjørn Munro; Fuglei, Eva; Ahlstrøm, Oystein; Dietz, Rune; Kirkegaard, Maja; Muir, Derek C G; Jørgensen, Even

2008-04-01

The effects of persistent organic pollutants on renal and liver morphology in farmed arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) were studied under experimental conditions. Control animals received a diet containing pork (Sus scrofa) fat with low amounts of persistent organic pollutants, while the diet of the exposed animals contained whale blubber, 'naturally' contaminated with persistent organic pollutants. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and organochlorine pesticide (OCP) concentrations in the whale blubber were 488 and 395 ng/g wet weight, respectively. Animals were sacrificed and sampled when they were at their fattest (winter) as well as their lowest body weight (summer). The results show that PCB and OCP exposure causes renal (and probably also liver) lesions in arctic foxes. The prevalence of glomerular, tubular and interstitial lesions was significantly highest in the exposed group (chi-square: all p<0.05). The frequency of liver lesions (steatosis, intravascular granulocyte accumulations, interstitial cell infiltrations, lipid granulomas, portal fibrosis and bile duct hyperplasia) were also highest in the exposed group, although not significantly (chi-square: all p>0.05). The prevalence of lesions was not significantly different between lean (winter) and fat (summer) foxes for any of the lesions (chi-square: all p>0.05). We suggest that wild arctic foxes exposed to an environmental cocktail of persistent organic pollutants, such as PCBs and OCPs, in their natural diet are at risk for developing chronic kidney and liver damage. Whether such lesions may have an impact on age and health of the animals remains uncertain.

The effect of a combined glenoid and Hill-Sachs defect on glenohumeral stability: a biomechanical cadaveric study using 3-dimensional modeling of 142 patients.

PubMed

Arciero, Robert A; Parrino, Anthony; Bernhardson, Andrew S; Diaz-Doran, Vilmaris; Obopilwe, Elifho; Cote, Mark P; Golijanin, Petr; Mazzocca, Augustus D; Provencher, Matthew T

2015-06-01

Bone loss in anterior glenohumeral instability occurs on both the glenoid and the humerus; however, existing biomechanical studies have evaluated glenoid and humeral head defects in isolation. Thus, little is known about the combined effect of these bony lesions in a clinically relevant model on glenohumeral stability. The purpose of this study was to determine the biomechanical efficacy of a Bankart repair in the setting of bipolar (glenoid and humeral head) bone defects determined via computer-generated 3-dimensional (3D) modeling of 142 patients with recurrent anterior shoulder instability. The null hypothesis was that adding a bipolar bone defect will have no effect on glenohumeral stability after soft tissue Bankart repair. Controlled laboratory study. A total of 142 consecutive patients with recurrent anterior instability were analyzed with 3D computed tomography scans. Two Hill-Sachs lesions were selected on the basis of volumetric size representing the 25th percentile (0.87 cm(3); small) and 50th percentile (1.47 cm(3); medium) and printed in plastic resin with a 3D printer. A total of 21 cadaveric shoulders were evaluated on a custom shoulder-testing device permitting 6 degrees of freedom, and the force required to translate the humeral head anteriorly 10 mm at a rate of 2.0 mm/s with a compressive load of 50 N was determined at 60° of glenohumeral abduction and 60° of external rotation. All Bankart lesions were made sharply from the 2- to 6-o'clock positions for a right shoulder. Subsequent Bankart repair with transosseous tunnels using high-strength suture was performed. Hill-Sachs lesions were made in the cadaver utilizing a plastic mold from the exact replica off the 3D printer. Testing was conducted in the following sequence for each specimen: (1) intact, (2) posterior capsulotomy, (3) Bankart lesion, (4) Bankart repair, (5) Bankart lesion with 2-mm glenoid defect, (6) Bankart repair, (7) Bankart lesion with 2-mm glenoid defect and Hill-Sachs lesion, (8) Bankart repair, (9) Bankart lesion with 4-mm glenoid defect and Hill-Sachs lesion, (10) Bankart repair, (11) Bankart lesion with 6-mm glenoid defect and Hill-Sachs lesion, and (12) Bankart repair. All sequences were used first for a medium Hill-Sachs lesion (10 specimens) and then repeated for a small Hill-Sachs lesion (11 specimens). Three trials were performed in each condition, and the mean value was used for data analysis. A statistically significant and progressive reduction in load to translation was observed after a Bankart lesion was created and with the addition of progressive glenoid defects for each humeral head defect. For medium (50th percentile) Hill-Sachs lesions, there was a 22%, 43%, and 58% reduction in stability with a 2-, 4-, and 6-mm glenoid defect, respectively. For small (25th percentile) Hill-Sachs lesions, there was an 18%, 27%, and 42% reduction in stability with a 2-, 4-, and 6-mm glenoid defect, respectively. With a ≥2-mm glenoid defect, the medium Hill-Sachs group demonstrated significant reduction in translation force after Bankart repair (P < .01), and for the small Hill-Sachs group, a ≥4-mm glenoid defect was required to produce a statistical decrease (P < .01) in reduction force after repair. Combined glenoid and humeral head defects have an additive and negative effect on glenohumeral stability. As little as a 2-mm glenoid defect with a medium-sized Hill-Sachs lesion demonstrated a compromise in soft tissue Bankart repair, while small-sized Hill-Sachs lesions showed compromise of soft tissue repair with ≥4-mm glenoid bone loss. Bipolar bony lesions of the glenoid and humeral head occur frequently together in clinical practice. Surgeons should be aware that the combined defects and glenoid bone loss of 2 to 4 mm or approximately 8% to 15% of the glenoid could compromise Bankart repair and thus may require surgical strategies in addition to traditional Bankart repair alone to optimize stability. © 2015 The Author(s).

Minds on replay: musical hallucinations and their relationship to neurological disease.

PubMed

Golden, Erin C; Josephs, Keith A

2015-12-01

The phenomenon of musical hallucinations, in which individuals perceive music in the absence of an external auditory stimulus, has been described sparingly in the literature through small case reports and series. Musical hallucinations have been linked to multiple associated conditions, including psychiatric and neurologic disease, brain lesions, drug effect, and hearing impairment. This study aimed to review the demographics of subjects with musical hallucinations and to determine the prevalence of neurological disorders, particularly neurodegenerative disease. Through the Mayo medical record, 393 subjects with musical hallucinations were identified and divided into five categories based on comorbid conditions that have been associated with musical hallucinations: neurological, psychiatric, structural, drug effect and not otherwise classifiable. Variables, including hearing impairment and the presence of visual and other auditory hallucinations, were evaluated independently in all five groups. The mean age at onset of the hallucinations was 56 years, ranging from 18 to 98 years, and 65.4% of the subjects were female. Neurological disease and focal brain lesions were found in 25% and 9% of the total subjects, respectively. Sixty-five subjects were identified with a neurodegenerative disorder, with the Lewy body disorders being the most common. Visual hallucinations were more common in the group with neurological disease compared to the psychiatric, structural, and not otherwise classifiable groups (P < 0.001), whereas auditory hallucinations were more common in the psychiatric group compared to all other groups (P < 0.001). Structural lesions associated with musical hallucinations involved both hemispheres with a preference towards the left, and all but two included the temporal lobe. Hearing impairment was common, particularly in the not otherwise classifiable category where 67.2% had documented hearing impairment, more than in any other group (P < 0.001). Those with an underlying neurodegenerative disorder or isolated hearing impairment tended to hear more persistent music, which was often religious and patriotic compared to those with a structural lesion, where more modern music was heard, and those with psychiatric disorders where music was mood-congruent. This case series shows that musical hallucinations can occur in association with a wide variety of conditions, of which neurological disease and brain lesions represent a substantial proportion, and that Lewy body disorders are the most commonly associated neurodegenerative diseases. A future prospective study would be helpful to further delineate an association between musical hallucinations and neurodegenerative disease. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Lesion of the rostromedial tegmental nucleus increases voluntary ethanol consumption and accelerates extinction of ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion.

PubMed

Sheth, Chandni; Furlong, Teri M; Keefe, Kristen A; Taha, Sharif A

2016-10-01

Ethanol has rewarding and aversive properties, and the balance of these properties influences voluntary ethanol consumption. Preclinical and clinical evidence show that the aversive properties of ethanol limit intake. The neural circuits underlying ethanol-induced aversion learning are not fully understood. We have previously shown that the lateral habenula (LHb), a region critical for aversive conditioning, plays an important role in ethanol-directed behaviors. However, the neurocircuitry through which LHb exerts its actions is unknown. In the present study, we investigate a role for the rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg), a major LHb projection target, in regulating ethanol-directed behaviors. Rats received either sham or RMTg lesions and were studied during voluntary ethanol consumption; operant ethanol self-administration, extinction, and yohimbine-induced reinstatement of ethanol-seeking; and ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion (CTA). RMTg lesions increased voluntary ethanol consumption and accelerated extinction of ethanol-induced CTA. The RMTg plays an important role in regulating voluntary ethanol consumption, possibly by mediating ethanol-induced aversive conditioning.

Association between environmental predisposing risk factors and leg disorders in broiler chickens.

PubMed

Tullo, E; Fontana, I; Peña Fernandez, A; Vranken, E; Norton, T; Berckmans, D; Guarino, M

2017-04-01

Footpad dermatitis and lameness are a major welfare concern in broiler chicken farming. In general, footpad lesions are linked to poor environmental conditions. Ulcers that arise from advanced lesions can negatively affect the gait of the birds, with effects on the animal welfare, including, in the worst cases, inability to reach the feed or water. In this study, the degree of footpad dermatitis and lameness was manually scored on 4 broiler farms across Europe, as part of an EU-wide welfare assessment program. The welfare of the chickens was assessed 3 times per production cycle (at wk 3, 4, and 5), scoring footpad dermatitis, lameness, and litter quality. In the same broiler farms, variables such as air temperature and relative humidity were automatically measured over the same period. These variables were combined into a widely accepted thermal comfort index and associated to upper and lower thresholds, which made it possible to quantify the percentage of time the birds spent out of the thermal comfort zone (POOC). The data was analyzed by combining data from the welfare assessments with environmental data collected by the automated monitoring systems. Considering the comparison between POOC classes, the highest probabilities of footpad dermatitis and lameness were obtained when POOC values exceeded the 70% threshold. Therefore, the analysis showed that footpad dermatitis and lameness were more frequent when the flock was exposed to poor environmental conditions for prolonged periods ( < 0.001). Since environmental conditions can be continuously measured, and the risk factor for footpad dermatitis and lameness increases with poor environmental conditions, there is the possibility to develop a detection and control system of severe lesions.

Lesion size estimator of cardiac radiofrequency ablation at different common locations with different tip temperatures.

PubMed

Lai, Yu-Chi; Choy, Young Bin; Haemmerich, Dieter; Vorperian, Vicken R; Webster, John G

2004-10-01

Finite element method (FEM) analysis has become a common method to analyze the lesion formation during temperature-controlled radiofrequency (RF) cardiac ablation. We present a process of FEM modeling a system including blood, myocardium, and an ablation catheter with a thermistor embedded at the tip. The simulation used a simple proportional-integral (PI) controller to control the entire process operated in temperature-controlled mode. Several factors affect the lesion size such as target temperature, blood flow rate, and application time. We simulated the time response of RF ablation at different locations by using different target temperatures. The applied sites were divided into two groups each with a different convective heat transfer coefficient. The first group was high-flow such as the atrioventricular (AV) node and the atrial aspect of the AV annulus, and the other was low-flow such as beneath the valve or inside the coronary sinus. Results showed the change of lesion depth and lesion width with time, under different conditions. We collected data for all conditions and used it to create a database. We implemented a user-interface, the lesion size estimator, where the user enters set temperature and location. Based on the database, the software estimated lesion dimensions during different applied durations. This software could be used as a first-step predictor to help the electrophysiologist choose treatment parameters.

Encapsulated living choroid plexus cells: potential long-term treatments for central nervous system disease and trauma.

PubMed

Skinner, S J M; Geaney, M S; Lin, H; Muzina, M; Anal, A K; Elliott, R B; Tan, P L J

2009-12-01

In neurodegenerative disease and in acute brain injury, there is often local up-regulation of neurotrophin production close to the site of the lesion. Treatment by direct injection of neurotrophins and growth factors close to these lesion sites has repeatedly been demonstrated to improve recovery. It has therefore been proposed that transplanting viable neurotrophin-producing cells close to the trauma lesion, or site of degenerative disease, might provide a novel means for continuous delivery of these molecules directly to the site of injury or to a degenerative region. The aim of this paper is to summarize recent published information and present new experimental data that indicate that long-lasting therapeutic implants of choroid plexus (CP) neuroepithelium may be used to treat brain disease. CP produces and secretes numerous biologically active neurotrophic factors (NT). New gene microarray and proteomics data presented here indicate that many other anti-oxidant, anti-toxin and neuronal support proteins are also produced and secreted by CP cells. In the healthy brain, these circulate in the cerebrospinal fluid through the brain and spinal cord, maintaining neuronal networks and associated cells. Recent publications describe how transplanted CP cells and tissue, either free or in an immunoprotected encapsulated form, can effectively deliver therapeutic molecules when placed near the lesion or site of degenerative disease in animal models. Using simple techniques, CP neuroepithelial cell clusters in suspension culture were very durable, remaining viable for 6 months or more in vitro. The cell culture conditions had little effect on the wide range and activity of genes expressed and proteins secreted. Recently, completed experiments show that implanting CP within alginate-poly-ornithine capsules effectively protected these xenogeneic cells from the host immune system and allowed their survival for 6 months or more in the brains of rats, causing no adverse effects. Previously reported evidence demonstrated that CP cells support the survival and differentiation of neuronal cells in vitro and effectively treat acute brain injury and disease in rodents and non-human primates in vivo. The accumulated preclinical data together with the long-term survival of implanted encapsulated cells in vivo provide a sound base for the investigation of these treatments for chronic inherited and established neurodegenerative conditions.

Encapsulated living choroid plexus cells: potential long-term treatments for central nervous system disease and trauma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skinner, S. J. M.; Geaney, M. S.; Lin, H.; Muzina, M.; Anal, A. K.; Elliott, R. B.; Tan, P. L. J.

2009-12-01

In neurodegenerative disease and in acute brain injury, there is often local up-regulation of neurotrophin production close to the site of the lesion. Treatment by direct injection of neurotrophins and growth factors close to these lesion sites has repeatedly been demonstrated to improve recovery. It has therefore been proposed that transplanting viable neurotrophin-producing cells close to the trauma lesion, or site of degenerative disease, might provide a novel means for continuous delivery of these molecules directly to the site of injury or to a degenerative region. The aim of this paper is to summarize recent published information and present new experimental data that indicate that long-lasting therapeutic implants of choroid plexus (CP) neuroepithelium may be used to treat brain disease. CP produces and secretes numerous biologically active neurotrophic factors (NT). New gene microarray and proteomics data presented here indicate that many other anti-oxidant, anti-toxin and neuronal support proteins are also produced and secreted by CP cells. In the healthy brain, these circulate in the cerebrospinal fluid through the brain and spinal cord, maintaining neuronal networks and associated cells. Recent publications describe how transplanted CP cells and tissue, either free or in an immunoprotected encapsulated form, can effectively deliver therapeutic molecules when placed near the lesion or site of degenerative disease in animal models. Using simple techniques, CP neuroepithelial cell clusters in suspension culture were very durable, remaining viable for 6 months or more in vitro. The cell culture conditions had little effect on the wide range and activity of genes expressed and proteins secreted. Recently, completed experiments show that implanting CP within alginate-poly-ornithine capsules effectively protected these xenogeneic cells from the host immune system and allowed their survival for 6 months or more in the brains of rats, causing no adverse effects. Previously reported evidence demonstrated that CP cells support the survival and differentiation of neuronal cells in vitro and effectively treat acute brain injury and disease in rodents and non-human primates in vivo. The accumulated preclinical data together with the long-term survival of implanted encapsulated cells in vivo provide a sound base for the investigation of these treatments for chronic inherited and established neurodegenerative conditions.

Commercial flight and patients with intracranial mass lesions: a caveat. Report of two cases.

PubMed

Zrinzo, Ludvic U; Crocker, Matthew; Zrinzo, Laurence V; Thomas, David G T; Watkins, Laurence

2006-10-01

The authors report two cases of neurological deterioration following long commercial flights. Both individuals harbored intracranial space-occupying lesions. The authors assert that preexisting reduced intracranial compliance diminishes an individual's reserve to accommodate the physiological changes resulting from a commercial flight. Airline passengers are exposed to a mild degree of hypercapnia as well as conditions that simulate those of high-altitude ascents. High-altitude cerebral edema following an ascent to great heights is one facet of acute mountain sickness and can be life threatening in conditions similar to those present on commercial flights. Comparable reports documenting neurological deterioration at high altitudes in patients with coexisting space-occupying lesions were also reviewed.

CT imaging spectrum of infiltrative renal diseases.

PubMed

Ballard, David H; De Alba, Luis; Migliaro, Matias; Previgliano, Carlos H; Sangster, Guillermo P

2017-11-01

Most renal lesions replace the renal parenchyma as a focal space-occupying mass with borders distinguishing the mass from normal parenchyma. However, some renal lesions exhibit interstitial infiltration-a process that permeates the renal parenchyma by using the normal renal architecture for growth. These infiltrative lesions frequently show nonspecific patterns that lead to little or no contour deformity and have ill-defined borders on CT, making detection and diagnosis challenging. The purpose of this pictorial essay is to describe the CT imaging findings of various conditions that may manifest as infiltrative renal lesions.

Effects of hyperoxia on 18F-fluoro-misonidazole brain uptake and tissue oxygen tension following middle cerebral artery occlusion in rodents: Pilot studies

PubMed Central

Jensen-Kondering, Ulf; Williamson, David J.; Sitnikov, Sergey; Sawiak, Stephen J.; Aigbirhio, Franklin I.; Hong, Young T.

2017-01-01

Purpose Mapping brain hypoxia is a major goal for stroke diagnosis, pathophysiology and treatment monitoring. 18F-fluoro-misonidazole (FMISO) positron emission tomography (PET) is the gold standard hypoxia imaging method. Normobaric hyperoxia (NBO) is a promising therapy in acute stroke. In this pilot study, we tested the straightforward hypothesis that NBO would markedly reduce FMISO uptake in ischemic brain in Wistar and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs), two rat strains with distinct vulnerability to brain ischemia, mimicking clinical heterogeneity. Methods Thirteen adult male rats were randomized to distal middle cerebral artery occlusion under either 30% O2 or 100% O2. FMISO was administered intravenously and PET data acquired dynamically for 3hrs, after which magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and tetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining were carried out to map the ischemic lesion. Both FMISO tissue uptake at 2-3hrs and FMISO kinetic rate constants, determined based on previously published kinetic modelling, were obtained for the hypoxic area. In a separate group (n = 9), tissue oxygen partial pressure (PtO2) was measured in the ischemic tissue during both control and NBO conditions. Results As expected, the FMISO PET, MRI and TTC lesion volumes were much larger in SHRs than Wistar rats in both the control and NBO conditions. NBO did not appear to substantially reduce FMISO lesion size, nor affect the FMISO kinetic rate constants in either strain. Likewise, MRI and TTC lesion volumes were unaffected. The parallel study showed the expected increases in ischemic cortex PtO2 under NBO, although these were small in some SHRs with very low baseline PtO2. Conclusions Despite small samples, the apparent lack of marked effects of NBO on FMISO uptake suggests that in permanent ischemia the cellular mechanisms underlying FMISO trapping in hypoxic cells may be disjointed from PtO2. Better understanding of FMISO trapping processes will be important for future applications of FMISO imaging. PMID:29091934

Effects of hyperoxia on 18F-fluoro-misonidazole brain uptake and tissue oxygen tension following middle cerebral artery occlusion in rodents: Pilot studies.

PubMed

Fryer, Tim D; Ejaz, Sohail; Jensen-Kondering, Ulf; Williamson, David J; Sitnikov, Sergey; Sawiak, Stephen J; Aigbirhio, Franklin I; Hong, Young T; Baron, Jean-Claude

2017-01-01

Mapping brain hypoxia is a major goal for stroke diagnosis, pathophysiology and treatment monitoring. 18F-fluoro-misonidazole (FMISO) positron emission tomography (PET) is the gold standard hypoxia imaging method. Normobaric hyperoxia (NBO) is a promising therapy in acute stroke. In this pilot study, we tested the straightforward hypothesis that NBO would markedly reduce FMISO uptake in ischemic brain in Wistar and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs), two rat strains with distinct vulnerability to brain ischemia, mimicking clinical heterogeneity. Thirteen adult male rats were randomized to distal middle cerebral artery occlusion under either 30% O2 or 100% O2. FMISO was administered intravenously and PET data acquired dynamically for 3hrs, after which magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and tetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining were carried out to map the ischemic lesion. Both FMISO tissue uptake at 2-3hrs and FMISO kinetic rate constants, determined based on previously published kinetic modelling, were obtained for the hypoxic area. In a separate group (n = 9), tissue oxygen partial pressure (PtO2) was measured in the ischemic tissue during both control and NBO conditions. As expected, the FMISO PET, MRI and TTC lesion volumes were much larger in SHRs than Wistar rats in both the control and NBO conditions. NBO did not appear to substantially reduce FMISO lesion size, nor affect the FMISO kinetic rate constants in either strain. Likewise, MRI and TTC lesion volumes were unaffected. The parallel study showed the expected increases in ischemic cortex PtO2 under NBO, although these were small in some SHRs with very low baseline PtO2. Despite small samples, the apparent lack of marked effects of NBO on FMISO uptake suggests that in permanent ischemia the cellular mechanisms underlying FMISO trapping in hypoxic cells may be disjointed from PtO2. Better understanding of FMISO trapping processes will be important for future applications of FMISO imaging.

The effect of lesion characteristic on remineralization and model sensitivity.

PubMed

Schäfer, F; Raven, S J; Parr, T A

1992-04-01

A major criterion for assessing the value of any experimental model in scientific research is the degree of correspondence between its results and data from the real-life process it is designed to model. Intra-oral models aimed at predicting the anti-caries efficacy of toothpastes or other topical treatments should therefore be calibrated against treatments proven to be effective in a caries clinical trial. For this to be achieved, it is necessary that a model with high sensitivity be designed, while at the same time retaining relevance to the process to be modeled. This means that the effects of the various experimental conditions and parameters of the model on its performance must be understood. The purpose of this paper was to assess the influence of two specific factors on the performance of an in situ enamel remineralization model, which is based on human enamel slabs attached to partial dentures. The two factors are initial lesion severity and origin of enamel sample. The results indicated that initial lesion size affected whether net remineralization or net demineralization occurred during in situ treatment. Samples with an initial range of from 1500 to 2500 (delta Z) tended more toward demineralization than did samples with delta Z greater than 3500. This means that treatment groups must be well-balanced with respect to initial lesion size. Differences in initial demineralization severity between different tooth locations must also be considered so that systematic treatment bias can be avoided. The solution used in the model discussed here is based on a balanced experimental design, which allows this effect to be taken into account in the data analysis.

Effect of Levodopa on Reward and Impulsivity in a Rat Model of Parkinson’s Disease

PubMed Central

Carvalho, Miguel M.; Campos, Filipa L.; Marques, Mariana; Soares-Cunha, Carina; Kokras, Nikolaos; Dalla, Christina; Leite-Almeida, Hugo; Sousa, Nuno; Salgado, António J.

2017-01-01

The use of dopamine replacement therapies (DRT) in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD) can lead to the development of dopamine dysregulation syndrome (DDS) and impulse control disorders (ICD), behavioral disturbances characterized by compulsive DRT self-medication and development of impulsive behaviors. However, the mechanisms behind these disturbances are poorly understood. In animal models of PD, the assessment of the rewarding properties of levodopa (LD), one of the most common drugs used in PD, has produced conflicting results, and its ability to promote increased impulsivity is still understudied. Moreover, it is unclear whether acute and chronic LD therapy differently affects reward and impulsivity. In this study we aimed at assessing, in an animal model of PD with bilateral mesostriatal and mesocorticolimbic degeneration, the behavioral effects of LD therapy regarding reward and impulsivity. Animals with either sham or 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced bilateral lesions in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and ventral tegmental area (VTA) were exposed to acute and chronic LD treatment. We used the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm to evaluate the rewarding effects of LD, whereas impulsive behavior was measured with the variable delay-to-signal (VDS) task. Correlation analyses between behavioral measurements of reward or impulsivity and lesion extent in SNc/VTA were performed to pinpoint possible anatomical links of LD-induced behavioral changes. We show that LD, particularly when administered chronically, caused the development of impulsive-like behaviors in 6-OHDA-lesioned animals in the VDS. However, neither acute or chronic LD administration had rewarding effects in 6-OHDA-lesioned animals in the CPP. Our results show that in a bilateral rat model of PD, LD leads to the development of impulsive behaviors, strengthening the association between DRT and DDS/ICD in PD. PMID:28848409

Unraveling the Gordian knot: red blood cell storage lesion and transfusion outcomes

PubMed Central

Tzounakas, Vassilis L.; Kriebardis, Anastasios G.; Seghatchian, Jerard; Papassideri, Issidora S.; Antonelou, Marianna H.

2017-01-01

What is following the impressive progress that has been made? During the last couple of years several tremors have shaken the field of Transfusion Medicine. The epicentres of those tremors were located on novel insights into the RBC storage lesion, on emerging connections between storage lesion and post-transfusion performance and effects, and on acknowledging that storage time is only one (rather than the most prominent) of the parameters which contribute to the progression of storage lesion in any given unit of blood. The optimisation of bio-preservation conditions emerged at the same time with all-new scientific knowledge gained by advances in research tools, implementation of technological innovations, and application of elegant in vitro and in vivo models of transfusion. Simultaneously, one after another, all the reported randomised clinical trials concluded, with spectacular consensus, that there is no significant difference in the rate of adverse clinical events (including death) among patients who underwent transfusion with fresh (and presumably good) or standard of care (and presumably bad) blood. The comparative analysis and comprehension of the aforementioned data would set the context for the next generation of research in blood transfusion science, since the need for safer and more efficient transfusions remains. PMID:28263169

Automatic segmentation of psoriasis lesions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ning, Yang; Shi, Chenbo; Wang, Li; Shu, Chang

2014-10-01

The automatic segmentation of psoriatic lesions is widely researched these years. It is an important step in Computer-aid methods of calculating PASI for estimation of lesions. Currently those algorithms can only handle single erythema or only deal with scaling segmentation. In practice, scaling and erythema are often mixed together. In order to get the segmentation of lesions area - this paper proposes an algorithm based on Random forests with color and texture features. The algorithm has three steps. The first step, the polarized light is applied based on the skin's Tyndall-effect in the imaging to eliminate the reflection and Lab color space are used for fitting the human perception. The second step, sliding window and its sub windows are used to get textural feature and color feature. In this step, a feature of image roughness has been defined, so that scaling can be easily separated from normal skin. In the end, Random forests will be used to ensure the generalization ability of the algorithm. This algorithm can give reliable segmentation results even the image has different lighting conditions, skin types. In the data set offered by Union Hospital, more than 90% images can be segmented accurately.

Hypertension, obesity, and coronary artery disease in the survivors of congenital heart disease.

PubMed

Roche, S Lucy; Silversides, Candice K

2013-07-01

Obesity, hypertension, and coronary artery disease are prevalent in the general population and well recognized as contributors to cardiac morbidity and mortality. With surgical and medical advances, there is a growing and aging population with congenital heart disease who are also at risk of developing these comorbidities. In addition, some congenital cardiac lesions predispose patients to conditions such as hypertension or coronary artery disease. The effect of these comorbidities on the structurally abnormal heart is not well understood, but might be very important, especially in those with residual abnormalities. Thus, in addition to surveillance for and treatment of late complications it is important for the congenital cardiologist to consider and aggressively manage acquired comorbidities. In this review we explore the prevalence of hypertension, obesity, and coronary artery disease, discuss congenital lesions that predispose to these conditions and review management strategies for this unique population. Copyright © 2013 Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Autoshaping and paleostriatal lesions in the pigeon.

PubMed

Mitchell, J A

1983-07-01

Three experiments were conducted with the pigeon (Columbia livia) to investigate the effects of bilateral electrolytic lesions of the paleostriatum on classical conditioning paradigms. In Experiment 1 naive subjects were given autoshaping training to a white centre key light and it was found that paleostriatal pigeons showed higher peck rates than unoperated controls. A further group of naive paleostriatal pigeons showed higher rates of autoshaped responding but did not differ from controls on a successive autoshaping discrimination with colour (Experiment 2A) or striped (Experiment 2B) stimuli. In Experiment 3 paleostriatal pigeons performed better than controls on a go, no-go alternation. The higher response rates shown by paleostriatal pigeons during autoshaping could not readily be explained in terms of a (non-associative) motor disturbance such as a tremor which could have caused multiple key pecks to be emitted in view of the demonstrations of unimpaired discrimination (Experiment 2) and better alternation (Experiment 3). Instead, the results suggest that paleostriatal pigeons may show potentiated classical conditioning.

Modulating anosognosia for hemiplegia: The role of dangerous actions in emergent awareness.

PubMed

D'Imperio, Daniela; Bulgarelli, Cristina; Bertagnoli, Sara; Avesani, Renato; Moro, Valentina

2017-07-01

Anosognosia for hemiplegia is a lack of awareness of motor deficits following a right hemisphere lesion. Residual forms of awareness co-occur with an explicit denial of hemiplegia. The term emergent awareness refers to a condition in which awareness of motor deficits is reported verbally during the actual performance of an action involving the affected body part. In this study, two tasks were used to explore the potential effects of i) attempting actions which are impossible for sufferers of hemiplegia and ii) attempting actions which are potentially dangerous. Sixteen hemiplegic patients (8 anosognosic, and 8 non-anosognosic) were asked to perform both potentially dangerous and neutral actions. Our results confirm an increase in emergent awareness in anosognosic patients during the execution of both of these types of action. Moreover, actions that are potentially dangerous improved the degree of awareness. However, lesions in the fronto-temporal areas appear to be associated with a reduced effect of action execution (emergent awareness) while lesions in the basal ganglia and amygdale and the white matter underlying the insula and fronto-temporal areas are associated with a lesser degree of improvement resulting from attempting to perform dangerous actions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Oral administration of Uncariae rhynchophylla inhibits the development of DNFB-induced atopic dermatitis-like skin lesions via IFN-gamma down-regulation in NC/Nga mice.

PubMed

Kim, Dong-Young; Jung, Jung-A; Kim, Tae-Ho; Seo, Sang-Wan; Jung, Sung-Ki; Park, Cheung-Seog

2009-04-21

Uncariae rhynchophylla (UR) is an herb which has blood pressure lowering and anti-inflammatory effects and has been prescribed traditionally to treat stroke and vascular dementia. In the present study, we examined whether UR suppress Atopic dermatitis (AD)-like skin lesions in NC/Nga mice treated with 2, 4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) under SPF conditions. The effect of UR in DNFB- treated NC/Nga mice was determined by measuring the skin symptom severity, levels of serum IgE, and of the amounts of IL-4 and IFN-gamma secreted by activated T cells in draining lymph nodes. Oral administration of UR to DNFB-treated NC/Nga mice was found to inhibit ear thickness increases and the skin lesions induced by DNFB. IFN-gamma production by CD4+ T cells from the lymph nodes of DNFB-treated NC/Nga mice was significantly inhibited by UR treatment, although levels of IL-4 and total IgE in serum were not. UR may suppress the development of AD-like dermatitis in DNFB-treated NC/Nga mice by reducing IFN-gamma production.

Effect of Lesion Baseline Severity and Mineral Distribution on Remineralization and Progression of Human and Bovine Dentin Caries Lesions.

PubMed

Lippert, Frank; Churchley, David; Lynch, Richard J

2015-01-01

The aims of this laboratory study were to compare the effects of lesion baseline severity, mineral distribution and substrate on remineralization and progression of caries lesions created in root dentin. Lesions were formed in dentin specimens prepared from human and bovine dentin using three protocols, each utilizing three demineralization periods to create lesions of different mineral distributions (subsurface, moderate softening, extreme softening) and severity within each lesion type. Lesions were then either remineralized or demineralized further and analyzed using transverse microradiography. At lesion baseline, no differences were found between human and bovine dentin for integrated mineral loss (x0394;Z). Differences in mineral distribution between lesion types were apparent. Human dentin lesions were more prone to secondary demineralization (x0394;x0394;Z) than bovine dentin lesions, although there were no differences in x0394;L. Likewise, smaller lesions were more susceptible to secondary demineralization than larger ones. Subsurface lesions were more acid-resistant than moderately and extremely softened lesions. After remineralization, differences between human and bovine dentin lesions were not apparent for x0394;x0394;Z although bovine dentin lesions showed greater reduction in lesion depth L. For lesion types, responsiveness to remineralization (x0394;x0394;Z) was in the order extremely softened>moderately softened>subsurface. More demineralized lesions exhibited greater remineralization than shallower ones. In summary, some differences exist between human and bovine dentin and their relative responsiveness to de- and remineralization. These differences, however, were overshadowed by the effects of lesion baseline mineral distribution and severity. Thus, bovine dentin appears to be a suitable substitute for human dentin in mechanistic root caries studies. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Efficacy of Amitraz plus Metaflumizone for the treatment of canine demodicosis associated with Malassezia pachydermatis

PubMed Central

Tarallo, Viviana D; Lia, Riccardo P; Sasanelli, Mariateresa; Cafarchia, Claudia; Otranto, Domenico

2009-01-01

This case reports the efficacy of metaflumizone plus amitraz spot-on formulation (ProMeris Duo®; Fort Dodge) against generalized demodectic mange. A two year-old male dog presented at clinical examination with poor general condition, diffused alopecia, crusted lesions, pruritus, skin scales and pustules. Demodex mites, Malassezia pachydermatis yeasts and bacteria were diagnosed. The dog was treated with cephalexin and topically with metaflumizone plus amitraz spot on formulation at two weeks intervals until two consecutive skin scrapings resulted negative for mites. The number of adult mites statistically decreased at follow-up with a reduction of approximately 42 and 94% at +14 and +28 days post treatment (p.t.) respectively. Nymphs and larvae could not be detected from +28 day p.t. while eggs were no longer present +42 day p.t. The dog was negative for both bacteria and M. pachydermatis at 14 days p.t., coinciding with improved general clinical conditions, recovering skin lesions and no further signs of pruritus. These results show that metaflumizone plus amitraz associated with the antibiotic therapy is highly effective for treating generalized demodectic mange and could also be effective toward controlling M. pachydermatis opportunistic infections. PMID:19265536

Brainstem cavernous malformations: Natural history versus surgical management.

PubMed

Walcott, Brian P; Choudhri, Omar; Lawton, Michael T

2016-10-01

While brainstem cavernous malformations were once considered inoperable, improvements in patient selection, surgical exposures, intraoperative MRI-guidance, MR tractography, and neurophysiologic monitoring have resulted in good outcomes in the majority of operated patients. In a consecutive series of 104 patients with brainstem cavernous malformations, only 14% of patients experienced cranial nerve or motor dysfunction that was worse at late follow-up, relative to their preoperative condition. Outcomes were predicted by several factors, including larger lesion size, lesions that crossed the midline, the presence of a developmental venous anomaly, older age, and greater time interval from lesion hemorrhage to surgery. The 14% of patients who experienced a persistent neurological deficit as a result of surgery, while substantial from any perspective, compares favorably with the risks of observation based on a recent meta-analysis. Curative resection is a safe and effective treatment for brainstem cavernous malformations that will prevent re-hemorrhage in symptomatic patients. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lesions of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus differentially affect sign- and goal-tracking conditioned responses

PubMed Central

Haight, Joshua L.; Fraser, Kurt M.; Akil, Huda; Flagel, Shelly B.

2015-01-01

Recently evidence has emerged suggesting a role for the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) in the processing of reward-associated cues. However, the specific role of the PVT in these processes has yet to be elucidated. Here we use an animal model that captures individual variation in response to discrete reward-associated cues to further assess the role of the PVT in stimulus-reward learning. When rats are exposed to a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm, wherein a discrete cue predicts food reward, two distinct conditioned responses emerge. Some rats, termed sign-trackers, approach and manipulate the cue; whereas others, termed goal-trackers, approach the location of reward delivery upon cue presentation. For both sign- and goal-trackers the cue is a predictor; but only for sign-trackers is it also an incentive stimulus. We investigated the role of the PVT in the acquisition and expression of these conditioned responses using an excitotoxic lesion. Results indicate that PVT lesions prior to acquisition amplify the differences between phenotypes—increasing sign-tracking and attenuating goal-tracking behavior. Lesions of the PVT after rats had acquired their respective conditioned responses also attenuated the expression of the goal-tracking response, and increased the sign-tracking response, but did so selectively in goal-trackers. These results suggest that the PVT acts to suppress the attribution of incentive salience to reward cues, as disruption of the functional activity within this structure enhances the tendency to sign-track. PMID:26228683

Oral Mucosal Lesions in Indians From Northeast Brazil

PubMed Central

Cury, Patricia Ramos; Porto, Lia Pontes Arruda; dos Santos, Jean Nunes; e Ribeiro, Livia Silva Figueiredo; de Aquino Xavier, Flavia Caló; Figueiredo, Andreia Leal; Ramalho, Luciana Maria Pedreira

2014-01-01

Abstract The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the prevalence of oral mucosal lesions, and their risk indicators in adult Kiriri Indians from Northeast Brazil. Clinical oral examination was performed on a representative sample of 223 Indians (age ≥19 years). A systematic evaluation of lips, labial mucosa and sulcus, commissures, buccal mucosa and sulcus, gingiva and alveolar ridge, tongue, floor of the mouth, and soft and hard palate was performed. Bivariate analysis was conducted to assess associations between mucosal conditions and age, gender, income, educational level, diabetic status, and smoking status. Mucosal lesions were found in 50 participants (22.4%). The most prevalent lesions were fistulae (6.2%) and traumatic ulcers (4.48%). Oral mucosal was associated with higher age (≥35 years; odds ratio [OR] = 1.99, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.05–3.76, P = 0.03) and lower education level (<9 years; OR = 2.13, 95% CI: 0.96–4.71, P = 0.06). Mucosal conditions are prevalent in Kiriri Indians and the presence of mucosal lesions is associated with advanced age and lower education. A public health program aimed at preventing and treating mucosal lesions and targeted toward the high-risk group is vital to improve the oral health status of this population. PMID:25501053

Prevalence of lesions in incisors of mule deer from Colorado Springs, Colorado

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Borrero, L.M.; Scanlon, P.F.

1995-12-31

Lesions in teeth may be influenced by exposure to fluorides, malnutrition and trauma. Incisors of 228 mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) taken from the USAF Academy, Colorado Springs, CO during the 1993 hunting season were examined for lesions. A classification scheme (scale = 0--5) for lesions was derived from the method of Shupe et al. 1963. Lesions were present in at least one incisor of 84.6% of deer. Of the deer with lesions, 86% had at least one tooth with very slight effect (one to few white spots), 9.8% had a slight effect (generalized mottling), 2.6% had a moderate effect (generalizedmore » mottling and wear), 10.04% had a marked effect (mottling and hypoplasia of the enamel) , and 0.5 % ad severe effects (hypoplasia of the enamel and abnormal wear). Lesions that affect the enamel are produced during the period of formation of the tooth. The severity of lesions depends on the cause and the length of exposure to the causative agent. Generally mottling and hypoplasia of the enamel are associated with fluorosis. The relationship of lesions to bone and tooth fluoride concentrations was examined.« less

Skeletal abnormalities in humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae stranded in the Brazilian breeding ground.

PubMed

Groch, Kátia R; Marcondes, Milton C C; Colosio, Adriana C; Catão-Dias, José Luiz

2012-11-08

Skeletal tissues of 49 humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae that stranded between 2002 and 2011 along the Abrolhos Bank seashore and its adjacent waters in Brazil were studied. Twelve (24.5%) animals presented pathological changes in one or more bones. Degenerative changes and developmental malformations were most frequent (10.2% each), followed by inflammatory/infectious and traumatic lesions (8.2% each). Infectious diseases led to severe lesions of the caudal vertebrae of 2 whales. In one of these individuals, the lesions involved 6 caudal vertebrae, leading to ankylosis of 3 vertebrae. Degenerative changes were observed in the vertebral columns of 3 animals, involving the joints of 13 ribs of 1 individual, and in the humerus of 1 whale. Traumatic lesions, such as osseous callus in the ribs, were observed in 4 animals. In 1 whale, the rib showed severe osteomyelitis, possibly resulting from the infection of multiple fractures. Developmental abnormalities such as spina bifida on 3 cervical vertebrae of 1 whale, fusion of spinal processes on thoracic vertebrae of 1 individual and fusion of the first 2 ribs unilaterally or bilaterally in 4 animals were found. Chronic infectious conditions found in the axial skeleton may have restrained spinal mobility and had detrimental effects on the general health of the animals, contributing to stranding and death. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic study on skeletal lesions in stranded humpback whales.

A comparison of different models of stroke on behaviour and brain morphology.

PubMed

Gonzalez, C L R; Kolb, B

2003-10-01

We compared the effects of three models of permanent ischemia, as well as cortical aspiration, on behaviour and brain morphology. Rats received a stroke either by devascularization or by two different procedures of medial cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO; small vs. large). Animals were trained in a reaching task, forepaw asymmetry, forepaw inhibition, sunflower seed task and tongue extension. Behaviour was assessed 1 week after the lesion and at 2-week intervals for a total of 9 weeks. One week after the surgery all animals were severely impaired on all tasks and although they improved over time they only reached preoperative base lines on tongue extension. Animals with small MCAOs performed better in reaching and sunflower tasks; no other behavioural differences were detected among the groups. Pyramidal cells in forelimb and cingulate areas as well as spiny neurons of the striatum were examined for dendritic branching and spine density using a Golgi-Cox procedure. Each lesion type had a different impact on cell morphology. Overall, different changes (atrophy or hypertrophy) were observed with each kind of lesion and these changes were specific for the region (forelimb, cingulate, striatum) and the condition (intact vs. damaged hemisphere). These results suggest that: (i) different lesions to the motor cortex produce subtle differences in behaviour, and (ii) the method used to induce the lesion produces striking differences in cortical and subcortical plasticity.

Three-phase radionuclide bone imaging in sports medicine

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rupani, H.D.; Holder, L.E.; Espinola, D.A.

Three-phase radionuclide bone (TPB) imaging was performed on 238 patients with sports-related injuries. A wide variety of lesions was encountered, but the most frequent lesions seen were stress fractures of the lower part of the leg at the junction of the middle and distal thirds of the posterior tibial cortex (42 of 79 lesions). There were no differences in the type, location, or distribution of lesions between males and females or between competitive and noncompetitive athletes. In 110 cases, bone stress lesions were often diagnosed when radiographs were normal, whereas subacute or chronic soft-tissue abnormalities had few specific scintigraphic features.more » TPB imaging provides significant early diagnostic information about bone stress lesions. Normal examination results (53 cases) exclude underlying osseous pathologic conditions.« less

Enamel Carious Lesion Development in Response to Sucrose and Fluoride Concentrations and to Time of Biofilm Formation: An Artificial-Mouth Study

PubMed Central

Arthur, Rodrigo Alex; Kohara, Eduardo Kazuo; Waeiss, Robert Aaron; Eckert, George J.; Zero, Domenick; Ando, Masatoshi

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate both sucrose and fluoride concentrations and time of biofilm formation on enamel carious lesions induced by an in vitro artificial-mouth caries model. For Study 1, biofilms formed by streptococci and lactobacilli were grown on the surface of human enamel slabs and exposed to artificial saliva containing 0.50 or 0.75 ppmF (22.5 h/d) and broth containing 3 or 5% sucrose (30 min; 3x/d) over 5 d. In Study 2, biofilms were grown in the presence of 0.75 ppmF and 3% sucrose over 3 and 9 days. Counts of viable cells on biofilms, lesion depth (LD), and the integrated mineral loss (IML) on enamel specimens were assessed at the end of the tested conditions. Counts of total viable cells and L. casei were affected by sucrose and fluoride concentrations as well as by time of biofilm formation. Enamel carious lesions were shallower and IML was lower in the presence of 0.75 ppmF than in the presence of 0.50 ppmF (P < 0.005). No significant effect of sucrose concentrations was found with respect to LD and IML (P > 0.25). Additionally, deeper lesions and higher IML were found after 9 d of biofilm formation (P < 0.005). Distinct sucrose concentrations did not affect enamel carious lesion development. The severity of enamel demineralization was reduced by the presence of the higher fluoride concentration. Additionally, an increase in the time of biofilm formation produced greater demineralization. Our results also suggest that the present model is suitable for studying aspects related to caries lesion development. PMID:25664342

Prevalence of arsenic exposure and skin lesions. A population based survey in Matlab, Bangladesh

PubMed Central

Rahman, Mahfuzar; Vahter, Marie; Wahed, Mohammad Abdul; Sohel, Nazmul; Yunus, Mohammad; Streatfield, Peter Kim; Arifeen, Shams El; Bhuiya, Abbas; Zaman, Khalequz; Chowdhury, A Mushtaq R; Ekström, Eva‐Charlotte

2006-01-01

Study objective To assess prevalence of arsenic exposure through drinking water and skin lesions, and their variation by geographical area, age, sex, and socioeconomic conditions. Design, setting, and participants Skin lesion cases were identified by screening the entire population above 4 years of age (n = 166 934) living in Matlab, a rural area in Bangladesh, during January 2002 and August 2003. The process of case identification involved initial skin examinations in the field, followed by verification by physicians in a clinic, and final confirmation by two independent experts reviewing photographs. The tubewell water arsenic concentrations (n = 13 286) were analysed by atomic absorption spectrometry. Drinking water history since 1970 was obtained for each person. Exposure information was constructed using drinking water histories and data on water arsenic concentrations. Main results The arsenic concentrations ranged from <1 to 3644 μg/l, and more than 70% of functioning tubewells exceeded the World Health Organisation guideline of 10 μg/l. Arsenic exposure had increased steadily from 1970s to the late 1990s, afterwards a decrease could be noted. In total, 504 skin lesions cases were identified, and the overall crude prevalence was 3/1000. Women had significantly higher cumulative exposure to arsenic, while men had significantly higher prevalence of skin lesions (SMR 158, 95% CI 133 to 188). The highest prevalence occurred in 35–44 age groups for both sexes. Arsenic exposure and skin lesions had a positive association with socioeconomic groups and achieved educational level. Conclusions The result showed sex, age, and socioeconomic differentials in both exposure and skin lesions. Findings clearly showed the urgency of effective arsenic mitigation activities. PMID:16476755

The association between osteoporotic hip fractures and actinic lesions as a biomarker for cumulative sun exposure in older people-a retrospective case-control study in Argentina.

PubMed

Perroud, H A; Dagatti, M S; Amigot, B; Levit, G P; Tomat, M F; Morosano, M E; Masoni, A M; Pezzotto, S M

2017-05-01

The aim of this study was to analyze the association between the presence of actinic lesions (solar keratosis and non-melanoma skin cancer) and osteoporotic hip fractures in older patients. Both pathologies are common conditions in this age group. Since cumulative sun exposure is difficult to quantify, the presence of actinic lesions can be used to indirectly analyze the association between ultraviolet radiation and osteoporotic hip fractures. This was an observational case-control study. We reviewed the centralized medical records of patients with hip fracture (cases, n = 51) and patients with other diseases hospitalized in the same institution and period (controls, n = 59). The mean age of the patients was 80 ± 8.3 years (range 50-103 years). Differences in maternal hip fracture history were found between cases and controls (14.8 and 8 %, respectively; p = 0.047). Falls history in the past year was higher in cases than in controls (p < 0.0001). Actinic lesions were observed in 32.7 % of patients (prevalence rate 23.5 % in cases, 40.7 % in controls; p = 0.04). When considering patients with actinic lesions, controls have a higher FRAX score compared with cases. Although sun exposure is recommended for bone health, it represents a risk factor for actinic lesions. The presence of actinic lesions may indicate a lower osteoporotic hip fracture risk. A balance between adequate lifetime sun exposure and protection against its adverse effects is required for each patient, in the context of geographic location.

An Industrial Dental-Erosion by Chromic Acid: A Case Report

PubMed Central

Dülgergil, Ç. Türksel; Erdemir, Ebru Olgun; Ercan, Ertuḡrul; Erdemir, Ali

2007-01-01

A case of uncommon occupational dental erosion was reported in an individual who had worked in the war industry for twenty years. This occupation involved daily, at least 8 hours, inhalation of chromic acid being used for cleaning of barrel of cannons. The erosion manifested as dental sensitivity with excessive cervical erosion even with pulpal exposure in certain teeth. Moreover, due to the adverse effect of the chemical against to gingival and/or periodontal tissues, the lesions were extremely harmful with respect to the exposed root-cementum. After proper periodontal therapy, cervical lesions were treated conservatively with a compomer based restorative material without cavity preparation. Although today it is not common due to the well-controlled working conditions, occupational combined dental and medical problems via airborne fumes and/or elements can be seen at workers in chemical factories. A cumulative biohazardous effect is generally seen as not only medical but also dental disorders. PMID:19212488

Benign cystic lesions of the vagina: a literature review.

PubMed

Eilber, Karyn Schlunt; Raz, Shlomo

2003-09-01

Knowledge of the etiology, evaluation and treatment of cystic lesions of the vagina is essential as these lesions are often encountered in urological and gynecological practices. We searched MEDLINE and MeSH for literature from the last 50 years referring to cysts of the vagina. Review of the literature regarding etiology, clinical and pathological diagnosis, prognosis and treatment identified 18 journal articles and 6 books. Benign cystic lesions of the vagina present a spectrum, from small asymptomatic lesions to cysts large enough to cause urinary obstruction. History, physical examination and radiological imaging, including voiding cystourethrogram and magnetic resonance imaging, are useful in diagnosis. Treatment is determined by the severity of symptoms. Cystic lesions of the vagina are relatively common and usually represent benign conditions. A vaginal cyst may be an embryological derivative, ectopic tissue or urological abnormality. Awareness of the various diagnoses of benign cystic lesions of the vagina and associated abnormalities will aid in evaluation and treatment.

Effects of repeated Strongylus vulgaris inoculations and concurrent ivermectin treatments on mesenteric arterial lesions in pony foals.

PubMed

Klei, T R; Turk, M A; McClure, J R; Holmes, R A; Dennis, V A; Chapman, M R

1990-04-01

Eight of 10 pony foals reared under helminth-free conditions were inoculated PO with 50 Strongylus vulgaris infective larvae/week for 4 weeks, at which time 1 foal died of acute verminous arteritis. Inoculation of 7 remaining foals continued at 2-week intervals for 20 weeks. Of the 7 foals, 3 were treated with ivermectin (0.2 mg/kg of body weight) in an oral paste formulation at experiment weeks 8, 16, 24; 4 foals were not treated. Two foals were not inoculated or treated and served as controls. After the first ivermectin treatment, ivermectin-treated foals had fewer days (12 +/- 2.9) with rectal temperatures greater than 38.6 C than did nontreated foals (23.3 +/- 3.8). Mean baseline rectal temperatures were 38 +/- 0.2 C. Adverse clinical reactions to ivermectin treatment were not observed in foals. Foals were euthanatized and necropsied 3 weeks after the last ivermectin treatment (week 24). Ivermectin was effective in reducing S vulgaris arterial larval and intestinal adult parasite numbers by 100% in 3 treated foals. Strongylus vulgaris arterial larvae and/or adults were recovered from all 4 nontreated inoculated foals. One nontreated inoculated foal lacked arterial larvae or active arterial lesions, indicating that protective resistance had developed in this individual. Marked gross and histopathologic lesions typical of chronic S vulgaris infection were observed in the 3 nontreated inoculated foals with arterial larvae. Repeated killing of intra-arterial S vulgaris fourth-stage larvae in ivermectin-treated foals did not exacerbate lesions associated with verminous arteritis or induce unique lesions associated with repeated destruction of arterial larvae.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Prognostic Value of EEG Microstates in Acute Stroke.

PubMed

Zappasodi, Filippo; Croce, Pierpaolo; Giordani, Alessandro; Assenza, Giovanni; Giannantoni, Nadia M; Profice, Paolo; Granata, Giuseppe; Rossini, Paolo M; Tecchio, Franca

2017-09-01

Given the importance of neuronal plasticity in recovery from a stroke and the huge variability of recovery abilities in patients, we investigated neuronal activity in the acute phase to enhance information about the prognosis of recovery in the stabilized phase. We investigated the microstates in 47 patients who suffered a first-ever mono-lesional ischemic stroke in the middle cerebral artery territory and in 20 healthy control volunteers. Electroencephalographic (EEG) activity at rest with eyes closed was acquired between 2 and 10 days (T0) after ischemic attack. Objective criteria allowed for the selection of an optimal number of microstates. Clinical condition was quantified by the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) both in acute (T0) and stabilized (T1, 5.4 ± 1.7 months) phases and Effective Recovery (ER) was calculated as (NIHSS(T1)-NIHSS(T0))/NIHSS(T0). The microstates A, B, C and D emerged as the most stable. In patients with a left lesion inducing a language impairment, microstate C topography differed from controls. Microstate D topography was different in patients with a right lesion inducing neglect symptoms. In patients, the C vs D microstate duration differed after both a left and a right lesion with respect to controls (C lower than D in left and D lower than C in right lesion). A preserved microstate B in acute phase correlated with a better effective recovery. A regression model indicated that the microstate B duration explained the 11% of ER variance. This first ever study of EEG microstates in acute stroke opens an interesting path to identify neuronal impairments with prognostic relevance, to develop enriched compensatory treatments to drive a better individual recovery.

Reinforced cementoplasty using dedicated spindles in the management of unstable malignant lesions of the cervicotrochanteric region.

PubMed

Premat, Kévin; Clarençon, Frédéric; Bonaccorsi, Raphael; Degos, Vincent; Cormier, Évelyne; Chiras, Jacques

2017-09-01

In long bones, cementoplasty alone does not provide sufficient stability, which may cause secondary fractures. This study reviewed the safety and efficacy of reinforced cementoplasty (RC) (percutaneous internal fixation using dedicated spindles combined with cementoplasty) for unstable malignant lesions of the cervicotrochanteric region (CTR) of the proximal femur. Eighteen consecutive patients (nine women [50%] and nine men [50%]; mean age 55.1 ± 16.2 years; range 22-85) underwent RC for 19 unstable lesions of the CTR (16/19 [84.2%] bone metastases, 3/19 [15.8%] multiple myeloma lesions). All the patients were considered unsuitable for surgery. Clinical outcome was judged with a mean follow-up of 8.8 ± 7.2 months (range 1-27). The primary endpoints were occurrence of secondary fractures during the follow-up period and local pain relief measured by a visual analogue scale (VAS). No secondary fracture occurred. Mean VAS improved from 5.9 ± 3.1 (range 0-10) to 2.3 ± 2.4 (range 0-7) at 1 month (p = 0.001) to 1.6 ± 1.7 (range 0-5) at final follow-up (p = 0.0002). One symptomatic cement pulmonary embolism was recorded. RC is an original minimally invasive technique providing pain relief and effective bone stability for unstable malignant lesions of the cervicotrochanteric region in patients unsuitable for open surgery. • Reinforced cementoplasty (RC) combines intralesional spindling with cementoplasty. • RC provides effective bone stability and pain relief. • RC is a suitable minimally invasive option for patients in poor general condition.

Lexical learning in mild aphasia: gesture benefit depends on patholinguistic profile and lesion pattern.

PubMed

Kroenke, Klaus-Martin; Kraft, Indra; Regenbrecht, Frank; Obrig, Hellmuth

2013-01-01

Gestures accompany speech and enrich human communication. When aphasia interferes with verbal abilities, gestures become even more relevant, compensating for and/or facilitating verbal communication. However, small-scale clinical studies yielded diverging results with regard to a therapeutic gesture benefit for lexical retrieval. Based on recent functional neuroimaging results, delineating a speech-gesture integration network for lexical learning in healthy adults, we hypothesized that the commonly observed variability may stem from differential patholinguistic profiles in turn depending on lesion pattern. Therefore we used a controlled novel word learning paradigm to probe the impact of gestures on lexical learning, in the lesioned language network. Fourteen patients with chronic left hemispheric lesions and mild residual aphasia learned 30 novel words for manipulable objects over four days. Half of the words were trained with gestures while the other half were trained purely verbally. For the gesture condition, rootwords were visually presented (e.g., Klavier, [piano]), followed by videos of the corresponding gestures and the auditory presentation of the novel words (e.g., /krulo/). Participants had to repeat pseudowords and simultaneously reproduce gestures. In the verbal condition no gesture-video was shown and participants only repeated pseudowords orally. Correlational analyses confirmed that gesture benefit depends on the patholinguistic profile: lesser lexico-semantic impairment correlated with better gesture-enhanced learning. Conversely largely preserved segmental-phonological capabilities correlated with better purely verbal learning. Moreover, structural MRI-analysis disclosed differential lesion patterns, most interestingly suggesting that integrity of the left anterior temporal pole predicted gesture benefit. Thus largely preserved semantic capabilities and relative integrity of a semantic integration network are prerequisites for successful use of the multimodal learning strategy, in which gestures may cause a deeper semantic rooting of the novel word-form. The results tap into theoretical accounts of gestures in lexical learning and suggest an explanation for the diverging effect in therapeutical studies advocating gestures in aphasia rehabilitation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Treatment options for actinic keratoses.

PubMed

McIntyre, William J; Downs, Michael R; Bedwell, Sondra A

2007-09-01

Actinic keratoses are rough, scaly lesions that commonly occur on sun-exposed areas of the skin. The prevalence of the condition increases with age. Actinic keratoses are thought to be carcinomas in situ, which can progress to squamous cell carcinomas. The decision to treat can be based on cosmetic reasons; symptom relief; or, most importantly, the prevention of malignancy and metastasis. Treatment options include ablative (destructive) therapies such as cryosurgery, curettage with electrosurgery, and photodynamic therapy. Topical therapies are used in patients with multiple lesions. Fluorouracil has been the traditional topical treatment for actinic keratoses, although imiquimod 5% cream and diclofenac 3% gel are effective alternative therapies. There are too few controlled trials comparing treatment modalities for physicians to make sound, evidence-based treatment decisions.

Oral administration of Yokukansan inhibits the development of atopic dermatitis-like lesions in isolated NC/Nga mice.

PubMed

Jiang, Ju; Yamaguchi, Takuji; Funakushi, Naoko; Kuhara, Takatoshi; Fan, Ping-shen; Ueki, Rie; Suto, Hajime; Kase, Yoshio; Ikeda, Shigaku; Ogawa, Hideoki

2009-10-01

Increasing evidence suggests that stress can trigger and exacerbate atopic dermatitis (AD). Psychotherapy is becoming more important in the treatment of AD patients. Yokukansan (YKS, Yi-Gan San in Chinese), a traditional Japanese medicine, has been widely utilized in the treatment of neurosis, insomnia and anxiety especially in Asian countries. Furthermore, it was reported that YKS inhibited skin lesions in socially isolated mice but not in group-housed mice. Therefore, in the present study it was investigated whether or not YKS was effective in the treatment of AD using socially isolated NC/Nga mice. The present study was designed to assess the effect of YKS on the development of AD-like lesions in socially isolated NC/Nga mice to obtain information about its usefulness in the treatment of AD. Ten-week-old male NC/Nga mice were socially isolated under conventional conditions. YKS was administered orally to mice at the dose of 0.5% or 1.0% together with diet. The efficacy of YKS was evaluated by assessing skin lesion severity, scratching behaviors, skin hydration, and infiltration of inflammatory cells in the skin. Grooming behaviors evoked by social isolation stress and serum corticosterone levels were also measured. Oral administration of YKS to socially isolated NC/Nga mice resulted in the inhibition of exacerbation of AD-like skin lesions. It seemed that the inhibition of exacerbation of AD-like skin lesions observed in NC/Nga mice might be due to suppression of the scratching and grooming behaviors, inhibition of the infiltration of mast cells and eosinophils, and retention of humidity in the skin. Serum corticosterone levels were also significantly inhibited in the 1%-YKS-treated mice as compared with those of the control mice. There were no significant differences in the levels of serum total IgE and nerve growth factor (NGF) between the YKS-treated mice and the non-treated control mice. YKS inhibited the development of AD-like skin lesions in socially isolated NC/Nga mice by suppressing scratching and infiltration of inflammatory cells in the skin. These results indicate that YKS possesses an anti-itching property, and its anti-itching may be partly through attenuation on social isolation stress. It is expected that YKS might provide an effective alternative therapy for AD in human patients.

Therapeutic Effect of Lincomycin and Spectinomycin Water Medication on Swine Dysentery

PubMed Central

Hamdy, A. H.

1974-01-01

The therapeutic effects of various water medications on swine dysentery were determined in 223 pigs under controlled conditions. Carrier pigs were mixed with test animals until the disease was established. Lincomycin (22 mg/liter), spectinomycin (44 mg/liter) alone and lincomycin and spectinomycin in combination (66 mg/liter) and sodium arsanilate (161 mg/liter) in drinking water for seven days were the drugs evaluated. Negative and positive controls were also included. The experiment was terminated 41 to 43 days after initial medication. Mortality, mean value for stool consistency, incidence of dysenteric days and gross lesions of swine dysentery were the parameters measured for each treatment group. The lincomycin-spectinomycin water medication was effective for the treatment of swine dysentery. Pigs treated with lincomycin-spectinomycin had a higher survival rate, a lower incidence of dysenteric days and fewer gross lesions of swine dysentery than pigs treated with sodium arsanilate, lincomycin or spectinomycin alone or the infected controls (P < 0.05). PMID:4272953

Using chamomile solution or a 1% topical hydrocortisone ointment in the management of peristomal skin lesions in colostomy patients: results of a controlled clinical study.

PubMed

Charousaei, Firuzeh; Dabirian, Azam; Mojab, Faraz

2011-05-01

Peristomal skin complications interfere with stoma appliance use and negatively affect patient quality of life. To find an alternative to long-term peristomal skin treatment involving corticosteroid products, a prospective study was conducted to compare the effect of a German chamomile solution to topical steroids on peristomal skin lesions in colostomy patients. Persons seeking care for the treatment of a peristomal skin lesion were assigned to a treatment regimen of once-a-day hydrocortisone 1% ointment (n = 36) or twice-a-day chamomile compress (n = 36) application. Treatments were assigned by matching patient demographic, history, and skin condition variables. At baseline, no significant differences between the variables were observed. Forty-two (42) of the 72 patients were female. Most participants had their stoma for more than 1 year (18.14 months in the chamomile and 17.69 months in the steroid group). Lesions were assessed every 3 days for a maximum of 28 days. Lesions healed significantly faster in the chamomile than in the hydrocortisone group (mean time to healing 8.89 ± 4.89 and 14.53 ± 7.6 days, respectively; P = 0.001). Stoma patient symptoms (pain and itching) also resolved more expediently in the chamomile than in the hydrocortisone group. Because corticosteroids are nonspecific anti-inflammatory agents, herbal extract use can prevent the side effects of long-term topical corticosteroid use. The results of this study suggest that German chamomile can be recommended to relieve itching and inflammation and that twice-daily application facilitates healing of peristomal skin lesions. Methods to facilitate the application of topical treatments without interfering with appliance adhesion or necessitating frequent appliance removal should be refined. Additional randomized studies are needed to confirm the results of this study.

The Effect of Lesion Size on the Organization of the Ipsilesional and Contralesional Motor Cortex

PubMed Central

Touvykine, Boris; Mansoori, Babak K.; Jean-Charles, Loyda; Deffeyes, Joan; Quessy, Stephan; Dancause, Numa

2015-01-01

Recovery of hand function following lesions in the primary motor cortex (M1) is associated with a reorganization of premotor areas in the ipsilesional hemisphere, and this reorganization depends on the size of the lesion. It is not clear how lesion size affects motor representations in the contralesional hemisphere and how the effects in the 2 hemispheres compare. Our goal was to study how lesion size affects motor representations in the ipsilesional and contralesional hemispheres. In rats, we induced lesions of different sizes in the caudal forelimb area (CFA), the equivalent of M1. The effective lesion volume in each animal was quantified histologically. Behavioral recovery was evaluated with the Montoya Staircase task for 28 days after the lesion. Then, the organization of the CFA and the rostral forelimb area (RFA)—the putative premotor area in rats—in the 2 cerebral hemispheres was studied with intracortical microstimulation mapping techniques. The distal forelimb representation in the RFA of both the ipsilesional and contralesional hemispheres was positively correlated with the size of the lesion. In contrast, lesion size had no effect on the contralesional CFA, and there was no relationship between movement representations in the 2 hemispheres. Finally, only the contralesional RFA was negatively correlated with chronic motor deficits of the paretic forelimb. Our data show that lesion size has comparable effects on motor representations in premotor areas of both hemispheres and suggest that the contralesional premotor cortex may play a greater role in the recovery of the paretic forelimb following large lesions. PMID:25967757

The Effect of Lesion Size on the Organization of the Ipsilesional and Contralesional Motor Cortex.

PubMed

Touvykine, Boris; Mansoori, Babak K; Jean-Charles, Loyda; Deffeyes, Joan; Quessy, Stephan; Dancause, Numa

2016-03-01

Recovery of hand function following lesions in the primary motor cortex (M1) is associated with a reorganization of premotor areas in the ipsilesional hemisphere, and this reorganization depends on the size of the lesion. It is not clear how lesion size affects motor representations in the contralesional hemisphere and how the effects in the 2 hemispheres compare. Our goal was to study how lesion size affects motor representations in the ipsilesional and contralesional hemispheres. In rats, we induced lesions of different sizes in the caudal forelimb area (CFA), the equivalent of M1. The effective lesion volume in each animal was quantified histologically. Behavioral recovery was evaluated with the Montoya Staircase task for 28 days after the lesion. Then, the organization of the CFA and the rostral forelimb area (RFA)--the putative premotor area in rats--in the 2 cerebral hemispheres was studied with intracortical microstimulation mapping techniques. The distal forelimb representation in the RFA of both the ipsilesional and contralesional hemispheres was positively correlated with the size of the lesion. In contrast, lesion size had no effect on the contralesional CFA, and there was no relationship between movement representations in the 2 hemispheres. Finally, only the contralesional RFA was negatively correlated with chronic motor deficits of the paretic forelimb. Our data show that lesion size has comparable effects on motor representations in premotor areas of both hemispheres and suggest that the contralesional premotor cortex may play a greater role in the recovery of the paretic forelimb following large lesions. © The Author(s) 2015.

[Effects of prefrontal ablations on the reaction of the active choice of feeder under different probability and value of the reinforcement on dog].

PubMed

Preobrazhenskaia, L A; Ioffe, M E; Mats, V N

2004-01-01

The role of the prefrontal cortex was investigated on the reaction of the active choice of the two feeders under changes value and probability reinforcement. The experiments were performed on 2 dogs with prefrontal ablation (g. proreus). Before the lesions the dogs were taught to receive food in two different feeders to conditioned stimuli with equally probable alimentary reinforcement. After ablation in the inter-trial intervals the dogs were running from the one feeder to another. In the answer to conditioned stimuli for many times the dogs choose the same feeder. The disturbance of the behavior after some times completely restored. In the experiments with competition of probability events and values of reinforcement the dogs chose the feeder with low-probability but better quality of reinforcement. In the experiments with equal value but different probability the intact dogs chose the feeder with higher probability. In our experiments the dogs with prefrontal lesions chose the each feeder equiprobably. Thus in condition of free behavior one of different functions of the prefrontal cortex is the reactions choose with more probability of reinforcement.

Bactericidal Effects of Diode Laser Irradiation on Enterococcus faecalis Using Periapical Lesion Defect Model

PubMed Central

Nagayoshi, Masato; Nishihara, Tatsuji; Nakashima, Keisuke; Iwaki, Shigetsugu; Chen, Ker-Kong; Terashita, Masamichi; Kitamura, Chiaki

2011-01-01

Objective. Photodynamic therapy has been expanded for use in endodontic treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial effects of diode laser irradiation on endodontic pathogens in periapical lesions using an in vitro apical lesion model. Study Design. Enterococcus faecalis in 0.5% semisolid agar with a photosensitizer was injected into apical lesion area of in vitro apical lesion model. The direct effects of irradiation with a diode laser as well as heat produced by irradiation on the viability of microorganisms in the lesions were analyzed. Results. The viability of E. faecalis was significantly reduced by the combination of a photosensitizer and laser irradiation. The temperature caused by irradiation rose, however, there were no cytotoxic effects of heat on the viability of E. faecalis. Conclusion. Our results suggest that utilization of a diode laser in combination with a photosensitizer may be useful for clinical treatment of periapical lesions. PMID:21991489

Rosmarinic acid attenuates 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene-induced atopic dermatitis in NC/Nga mice.

PubMed

Jang, An-Hee; Kim, Tae-Ho; Kim, Gun-Dong; Kim, Jeong Eun; Kim, Ha Jin; Kim, Sung Soo; Jin, Young-Ho; Park, Yong Seek; Park, Cheung-Seog

2011-09-01

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is one of the most common skin diseases, and its incidence is increasing in industrialized countries. Furthermore, the epicutaneous application of a hapten, such as 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB), evokes an AD-like lesion in NC/Nga mice under specific pathogen-free (SPF) conditions. Rosmarinic acid (RA) is a secondary metabolite that is frequently found in herbs, and has anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and anti-microbial effects. In this study, we studied whether RA is an effective treatment against DNFB-induced AD-like skin lesions in NC/Nga mice. RA at 1 or 5 μM was found to suppress the productions of interferon (IFN)-γ and interleukin (IL)-4 significantly by activated CD4(+) T cells. Furthermore, an intraperitoneal injection of RA at 10 or 50 mg/kg significantly inhibited skin lesion development and ear thickness and total serum IgE level increases in DNFB-treated NC/Nga mice. In addition, intraperitoneal administered RA at 10 or 50 mg/kg significantly inhibited the infiltrations of CD4(+) T, CD8(+) T, and mast cells into DNFB-induced skin lesions in NC/Nga mice. This study suggests that RA suppresses the development of AD-like dermatitis in DNFB-treated NC/Nga mice by reducing IFN-γ and IL-4 production by activated T cells and total serum IgE levels. Crown Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Photocarcinogenesis study of aloe vera [CAS NO. 481-72-1(Aloe-emodin)] in SKH-1 mice (simulated solar light and topical application study).

PubMed

2010-09-01

The popular recognition of the Aloe barbadensis Miller (Aloe vera) plant as a therapeutic dermatologic agent has led to the widespread incorporation of Aloe vera leaf extracts in skincare products. Studies have suggested that Aloe vera in skincare preparations may enhance the induction of skin cancer by ultraviolet radiation. A 1-year study was conducted in mice to determine whether the topical application of creams containing Aloe vera plant extracts (aloe gel, whole leaf, or decolorized whole leaf) or creams containing aloe-emodin would enhance the photocarcinogenicity of simulated solar light (SSL). 1-YEAR STUDY: groups of 36 male and 36 female Crl:SKH-1 (hr -/hr -) hairless mice received topical applications of control cream or creams containing 3% or 6% (w/w) aloe gel, whole leaf, or decolorized whole leaf or 7.46 or 74.6 µg/g aloe-emodin to the dorsal skin region each weekday morning. The mice were irradiated with SSL emitted from filtered 6 kW xenon arc lamps each weekday afternoon. The topical applications of creams and irradiance exposures were conducted 5 days per week for a period of 40 weeks. A 12-week recovery/observation period followed the 40-week treatment/exposure period. Additional groups of 36 male and 36 female mice received no cream and were exposed to 0.00, 6.85, 13.70, or 20.55 mJ⋅CIE/cm2 SSL per day. Mice that received no cream treatment and were exposed to increasing levels of SSL showed significant SSL exposure-dependent decreases in survival and significant increases in the in-life observations of skin lesion onset, incidence, and multiplicity, and significant SSL exposure-dependent increases in the incidences and multiplicities of histopathology-determined squamous cell nonneoplastic skin lesions (squamous hyperplasia and focal atypical hyperplasia) and squamous cell neoplasms (papilloma, carcinoma in situ, and/or carcinoma). Squamous cell neoplasms were not detected in mice that received no SSL exposure. The topical treatment with the control cream of mice that were exposed to SSL did not impart a measurable effect when compared with comparable measurements in mice that received no cream treatment and were exposed to the same level of SSL, suggesting that the control cream used in these studies did not alter the efficiency of the SSL delivered to mice or the tolerability of mice to SSL. The application of aloe gel creams to mice had no effect on body weights, survival, or the in-life observations of skin lesion onset, incidence, or multiplicity. The administration of aloe gel creams to male mice had no effect on the incidences or multiplicities of histopathology-determined squamous cell nonneoplastic skin lesions or neoplasms. Female mice treated with aloe gel creams (3% and 6%) had significantly increased multiplicities of squamous cell neoplasms. There were no treatment-related effects on body weights, survival, or the in-life observations of skin lesion onset, incidence, or multiplicity in mice treated with the whole leaf creams. In male mice exposed to SSL and treated with the 6% whole leaf cream, a significant increase was observed in the multiplicity of squamous cell neoplasms. Female mice exposed to SSL and treated with the 3% whole leaf creams had significantly decreased multiplicity of squamous cell nonneoplastic lesions and significantly increased multiplicity of squamous cell neoplasms. Female mice exposed to SSL and treated with the 6% whole leaf cream had significantly decreased multiplicity of squamous cell nonneoplastic lesions. The application of decolorized whole leaf creams to mice had no effect on body weights, survival, or the in-life observations of skin lesion onset, incidence, or multiplicity. Male mice administered the 3% decolorized whole leaf cream had significantly increased multiplicity of squamous cell neoplasms. Female mice administered the 3% decolorized whole leaf cream had significantly decreased multiplicity of squamous cell nonneoplastic skin lesions and significantly increased multiplicity of squamous cell neoplasms. In female mice that received the 6% decolorized whole leaf cream, there was a significant increase in the multiplicity of squamous cell neoplasms. As with the Aloe vera plant extracts, the application of aloe-emodin creams to mice had no measurable effect on body weights, survival, or the in-life observations of skin lesion onset, incidence, or multiplicity. The administration of aloe-emodin creams to male mice had no effect on the incidence or multiplicity of histopathology-determined nonneoplastic skin lesions or squamous cell neoplasms. Female mice treated with the 74.6 µg/g aloe-emodin cream had significantly decreased multiplicity of histopathology-determined squamous cell nonneoplastic skin lesions and significantly increased multiplicity of squamous cell neoplasms. these experiments investigated the potential of topical application of creams containing extracts of Aloe barbadensis Miller plant (aloe gel, whole leaf, or decolorized whole leaf) or aloe-emodin to alter the photocarcinogenic activity of filtered xenon arc simulated solar light (SSL) in male and female SKH-1 hairless mice. Data on skin lesions were collected both on digital images during the in-life phase and by histopathologic evaluation at necropsy. No effects of creams upon SSL-induced skin lesions were identified from data collected during the in-life phase. ALOE GEL OR ALOE-EMODIN: under the conditions of these studies, there was a weak enhancing effect of aloe gel or aloe-emodin on the photocarcinogenic activity of SSL in female but not in male SKH-1 mice based on an increase in the multiplicity of histopathologically-determined squamous cell neoplasms. under the conditions of these studies, there was a weak enhancing effect of aloe whole leaf or decolorized whole leaf on the photocarcinogenic activity of SSL in both male and female SKH-1 mice based on an increase in the multiplicity of histopathologically-determined squamous cell neoplasms.

Similar mandibular osseous lesions in Tyrannosaurus rex and man.

PubMed

Neiburger, E J

2005-01-01

This report identifies several cases of similar-appearing multiple lesions in the mandibles of both humans and the dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex). A diagnosis and potential etiologies are discussed. The appearance of these lesions in prehistoric fossils suggests that this pathology is an ancient affliction which predates humans and our mammalian ancestors. Lytic lesions of the oral structures have occurred in man and higher animals throughout time. The causes range from congenital anomalies, trauma, and infections to benign and metastatic neoplasms. Not only mammals suffer from these conditions; reptiles and birds experience similar diseases.

Correlation of ultrasonographic appearance of lesions and cytologic and histologic diagnoses in splenic aspirates from dogs and cats: 32 cases (2002-2005).

PubMed

Ballegeer, Elizabeth A; Forrest, Lisa J; Dickinson, Ryan M; Schutten, Melissa M; Delaney, Fern A; Young, Karen M

2007-03-01

To determine the accuracy of cytologic diagnosis, compared with histologic diagnosis, in determination of disease in ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspirates of splenic lesions. Retrospective study. Splenic specimens from 29 dogs and 3 cats. Records were searched for dogs and cats that had undergone ultrasound-guided splenic aspiration. Criteria for inclusion were ultrasonographic identification of splenic lesions and cytologic and histologic evaluation of tissue from the same lesion. Cytologic samples were obtained by fine-needle aspiration, and histologic specimens were obtained via surgical biopsy, ultrasound-guided biopsy, or necropsy. Cytologic diagnoses corresponded with histologic diagnoses in 19 of 31 (61.3%) cases and differed in 5 of 31(16.1%) cases, and 1 aspirate was inadequate for evaluation. In 7 of 31 (22.6%) cases, histologic evaluation of tissue architecture was required to distinguish between reactive and neoplastic conditions. On the basis of histologic diagnosis in 14 animals with nonneoplastic conditions, the cytologic diagnosis was correct in 11 cases, not definitive in 2 cases, and incorrect in 1 case. In 17 animals with malignant neoplastic diseases, the cytologic diagnosis was correct in 8 cases, not definitive but consistent with possible neoplasia in 5 cases, and incorrect in 4 cases. Multiple similar-appearing nodules were significantly associated with malignancy, whereas single lesions were more often benign. Ultrasound-guided aspiration of splenic lesions is a minimally invasive tool for obtaining specimens for cytologic evaluation. Although cytologic diagnoses often reflect histologic results, if missampling or incomplete sampling occurs or tissue architecture is required to distinguish between reactive and neoplastic conditions, accurate diagnosis with fine-needle aspiration may not be possible.

Lesion of the Ventral Periaqueductal Gray Reduces Conditioned Fear but Does Not Change Freezing Induced by Stimulation of the Dorsal Periaqueductal Gray

PubMed Central

Vianna, Daniel M.L.; Graeff, Frederico G.; Landeira-Fernandez, Jesus; Brandão, Marcus L.

2001-01-01

Previously-reported evidence showed that freezing to a context previously associated with footshock is impaired by lesion of the ventral periaqueductal gray (vPAG). It has also been shown that stepwise increase in the intensity of the electrical stimulation of the dorsal periaqueductal gray (dPAG) produces alertness, then freezing, and finally escape. These aversive responses are mimicked by microinjections of GABA receptor antagonists, such as bicuculline, or blockers of the glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), such as semicarbazide, into the dPAG. In this work, we examined whether the expression of these defensive responses could be the result of activation of ventral portion of the periaqueductal gray. Sham- or vPAG electrolytic–lesioned rats were implanted with an electrode in the dPAG for the determination of the thresholds of freezing and escape responses. The vPAG electrolytic lesions were behaviorally verified through a context-conditioned fear paradigm. Results indicated that lesion of the vPAG disrupted conditioned freezing response to contextual cues associated with footshocks but did not change the dPAG electrical stimulation for freezing and escape responses. In a second experiment, lesion of the vPAG also did not change the amount of freezing and escape behavior produced by microinjections of semicarbazide into the dPAG. These findings indicate that freezing and escape defensive responses induced by dPAG stimulation do not depend on the integrity of the vPAG. A discussion on different neural circuitries that might underlie different inhibitory and active defensive behavioral patterns that animals display during threatening situations is presented. PMID:11390636

Frequency of abnormal pulmonary computed tomography findings in asylum seeking refugees in Turkey.

PubMed

Soydan, Levent; Demir, Ali Aslan; Tunaci, Atadan

2017-03-01

Lungs are particularly vulnerable to both acute infections, including TB, and chronic diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as well as to malignancies, all of which require particular attention during war times in which health conditions are far from optimal. This retrospective cross-sectional study included 1149 refugees that underwent thoracic computed tomography (CT) for respiratory symptoms between March 2013 and February 2015 in Turkey. At least one positive CT finding was seen in 231 (20.1%) of the patients. The most common findings were chronic pulmonary changes (n=197, 17.2%), followed by findings suggestive of infections (n=39, 3.4%), and mass/nodular lesions (n=16, 1.4%). The rates of the lesions suggestive of active TB and malignancy were 1.0% (n=11) and 0.7% (n=8), respectively. Age 55-64 years was an independent significant predictor for any CT lesion, chronic changes, mass lesions, and lesions suggestive of malignancy. Age>65 years was predictive of any CT lesion and chronic changes. The findings of this study indicate the need for implementation of cost-effective screening strategies in refugees, particularly during war times. Screening for TB would improve disease control among both refugees and the host populations. Middle aged and older individuals, in particular, would benefit from more proactive screening tools and strategies for the early diagnosis of pulmonary malignancies and chronic lung diseases. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Nondestructive assessment of dentin demineralization using polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography after exposure to fluoride and laser irradiation

PubMed Central

Manesh, Saman K.; Darling, Cynthia L.; Fried, Daniel

2009-01-01

Previous studies have demonstrated that polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) can be used to image natural and artificial caries in dentin. The purpose of this study was to measure non-destructively the severity of artificial caries lesions in dentin and determine the efficacy of intervention with anti-caries agents including fluoride and lasers. Although several studies have assessed the utility of PS-OCT to image caries lesions in enamel and to quantify the lesion severity, only a few studies have focused on lesions in dentin. In this study images of artificial dentin lesions on extracted human teeth were acquired with PS-OCT. Before exposure to an artificial demineralizing solution, three incisions were made on the sample surfaces using either Er:YAG, Nd:YAG (λ=355-nm), or TEA CO2 lasers and selected areas were treated with topical fluoride to create six unique treatment areas for each of the three laser conditions investigated. The integrated reflectivity and depth of demineralization were calculated for each of the six areas on each sample using the PS-OCT images. Polarized light microscopy (PLM) and transverse microradiography (TMR) were used to measure lesion severity on histological thin sections for comparison. PS-OCT successfully measured the inhibition of demineralization by topical fluoride. Laser irradiation was not particularly effective in increasing or decreasing the rate of dentin demineralization. PLM and TMR corroborated those results. This study demonstrates that PS-OCT can be used to measure demineralization on dentin surfaces and determine the degree of inhibition of demineralization by anti-caries agents. PMID:19283826

Decoupling Actions from Consequences: Dorsal Hippocampal Lesions Facilitate Instrumental Performance, but Impair Behavioral Flexibility in Rats

PubMed Central

Busse, Sebastian; Schwarting, Rainer K. W.

2016-01-01

The present study is part of a series of experiments, where we analyze why and how damage of the rat’s dorsal hippocampus (dHC) can enhance performance in a sequential reaction time task (SRTT). In this task, sequences of distinct visual stimulus presentations are food-rewarded in a fixed-ratio-13-schedule. Our previous study (Busse and Schwarting, 2016) had shown that rats with lesions of the dHC show substantially shorter session times and post-reinforcement pauses (PRPs) than controls, which allows for more practice when daily training is kept constant. Since sequential behavior is based on instrumental performance, a sequential benefit might be secondary to that. In order to test this hypothesis in the present study, we performed two experiments, where pseudorandom rather than sequential stimulus presentation was used in rats with excitotoxic dorsal hippocampal lesions. Again, we found enhanced performance in the lesion-group in terms of shorter session times and PRPs. During the sessions we found that the lesion-group spent less time with non-instrumental behavior (i.e., grooming, sniffing, and rearing) after prolonged instrumental training. Also, such rats showed moderate evidence for an extinction impairment under devalued food reward conditions and significant deficits in a response-outcome (R-O)-discrimination task in comparison to a control-group. These findings suggest that facilitatory effects on instrumental performance after dorsal hippocampal lesions may be primarily a result of complex behavioral changes, i.e., reductions of behavioral flexibility and/or alterations in motivation, which then result in enhanced instrumental learning. PMID:27375453

Distinct brain imaging characteristics of autoantibody-mediated CNS conditions and multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Jurynczyk, Maciej; Geraldes, Ruth; Probert, Fay; Woodhall, Mark R; Waters, Patrick; Tackley, George; DeLuca, Gabriele; Chandratre, Saleel; Leite, Maria I; Vincent, Angela; Palace, Jacqueline

2017-03-01

Brain imaging characteristics of MOG antibody disease are largely unknown and it is unclear whether they differ from those of multiple sclerosis and AQP4 antibody disease. The aim of this study was to identify brain imaging discriminators between those three inflammatory central nervous system diseases in adults and children to support diagnostic decisions, drive antibody testing and generate disease mechanism hypotheses. Clinical brain scans of 83 patients with brain lesions (67 in the training and 16 in the validation cohort, 65 adults and 18 children) with MOG antibody (n = 26), AQP4 antibody disease (n = 26) and multiple sclerosis (n = 31) recruited from Oxford neuromyelitis optica and multiple sclerosis clinical services were retrospectively and anonymously scored on a set of 29 predefined magnetic resonance imaging features by two independent raters. Principal component analysis was used to perform an overview of patients without a priori knowledge of the diagnosis. Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis was used to build models separating diagnostic groups and identify best classifiers, which were then tested on an independent cohort set. Adults and children with MOG antibody disease frequently had fluffy brainstem lesions, often located in pons and/or adjacent to fourth ventricle. Children across all conditions showed more frequent bilateral, large, brainstem and deep grey matter lesions. MOG antibody disease spontaneously separated from multiple sclerosis but overlapped with AQP4 antibody disease. Multiple sclerosis was discriminated from MOG antibody disease and from AQP4 antibody disease with high predictive values, while MOG antibody disease could not be accurately discriminated from AQP4 antibody disease. Best classifiers between MOG antibody disease and multiple sclerosis were similar in adults and children, and included ovoid lesions adjacent to the body of lateral ventricles, Dawson's fingers, T1 hypointense lesions (multiple sclerosis), fluffy lesions and three lesions or less (MOG antibody). In the validation cohort patients with antibody-mediated conditions were differentiated from multiple sclerosis with high accuracy. Both antibody-mediated conditions can be clearly separated from multiple sclerosis on conventional brain imaging, both in adults and children. The overlap between MOG antibody oligodendrocytopathy and AQP4 antibody astrocytopathy suggests that the primary immune target is not the main substrate for brain lesion characteristics. This is also supported by the clear distinction between multiple sclerosis and MOG antibody disease both considered primary demyelinating conditions. We identify discriminatory features, which may be useful in classifying atypical multiple sclerosis, seronegative neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders and relapsing acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, and characterizing cohorts for antibody discovery. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Excitation of lateral habenula neurons as a neural mechanism underlying ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion.

PubMed

Tandon, Shashank; Keefe, Kristen A; Taha, Sharif A

2017-02-15

The lateral habenula (LHb) has been implicated in regulation of drug-seeking behaviours through aversion-mediated learning. In this study, we recorded neuronal activity in the LHb of rats during an operant task before and after ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion (CTA) to saccharin. Ethanol-induced CTA caused significantly higher baseline firing rates in LHb neurons, as well as elevated firing rates in response to cue presentation, lever press and saccharin taste. In a separate cohort of rats, we found that bilateral LHb lesions blocked ethanol-induced CTA. Our results strongly suggest that excitation of LHb neurons is required for ethanol-induced CTA, and point towards a mechanism through which LHb firing may regulate voluntary ethanol consumption. Ethanol, like other drugs of abuse, has both rewarding and aversive properties. Previous work suggests that sensitivity to ethanol's aversive effects negatively modulates voluntary alcohol intake and thus may be important in vulnerability to developing alcohol use disorders. We previously found that rats with lesions of the lateral habenula (LHb), which is implicated in aversion-mediated learning, show accelerated escalation of voluntary ethanol consumption. To understand neural encoding in the LHb contributing to ethanol-induced aversion, we recorded neural firing in the LHb of freely behaving, water-deprived rats before and after an ethanol-induced (1.5 g kg -1 20% ethanol, i.p.) conditioned taste aversion (CTA) to saccharin taste. Ethanol-induced CTA strongly decreased motivation for saccharin in an operant task to obtain the tastant. Comparison of LHb neural firing before and after CTA induction revealed four main differences in firing properties. First, baseline firing after CTA induction was significantly higher. Second, firing evoked by cues signalling saccharin availability shifted from a pattern of primarily inhibition before CTA to primarily excitation after CTA induction. Third, CTA induction reduced the magnitude of lever press-evoked inhibition. Finally, firing rates were significantly higher during consumption of the devalued saccharin solution after CTA induction. Next, we studied sham- and LHb-lesioned rats in our operant CTA paradigm and found that LHb lesion significantly attenuated CTA effects in the operant task. Our data demonstrate the importance of LHb excitation in regulating expression of ethanol-induced aversion and suggest a mechanism for its role in modulating escalation of voluntary ethanol intake. © 2016 The Authors. The Journal of Physiology © 2016 The Physiological Society.

Excitation of lateral habenula neurons as a neural mechanism underlying ethanol‐induced conditioned taste aversion

PubMed Central

Keefe, Kristen A.; Taha, Sharif A.

2016-01-01

Key points The lateral habenula (LHb) has been implicated in regulation of drug‐seeking behaviours through aversion‐mediated learning.In this study, we recorded neuronal activity in the LHb of rats during an operant task before and after ethanol‐induced conditioned taste aversion (CTA) to saccharin.Ethanol‐induced CTA caused significantly higher baseline firing rates in LHb neurons, as well as elevated firing rates in response to cue presentation, lever press and saccharin taste.In a separate cohort of rats, we found that bilateral LHb lesions blocked ethanol‐induced CTA.Our results strongly suggest that excitation of LHb neurons is required for ethanol‐induced CTA, and point towards a mechanism through which LHb firing may regulate voluntary ethanol consumption. Abstract Ethanol, like other drugs of abuse, has both rewarding and aversive properties. Previous work suggests that sensitivity to ethanol's aversive effects negatively modulates voluntary alcohol intake and thus may be important in vulnerability to developing alcohol use disorders. We previously found that rats with lesions of the lateral habenula (LHb), which is implicated in aversion‐mediated learning, show accelerated escalation of voluntary ethanol consumption. To understand neural encoding in the LHb contributing to ethanol‐induced aversion, we recorded neural firing in the LHb of freely behaving, water‐deprived rats before and after an ethanol‐induced (1.5 g kg−1 20% ethanol, i.p.) conditioned taste aversion (CTA) to saccharin taste. Ethanol‐induced CTA strongly decreased motivation for saccharin in an operant task to obtain the tastant. Comparison of LHb neural firing before and after CTA induction revealed four main differences in firing properties. First, baseline firing after CTA induction was significantly higher. Second, firing evoked by cues signalling saccharin availability shifted from a pattern of primarily inhibition before CTA to primarily excitation after CTA induction. Third, CTA induction reduced the magnitude of lever press‐evoked inhibition. Finally, firing rates were significantly higher during consumption of the devalued saccharin solution after CTA induction. Next, we studied sham‐ and LHb‐lesioned rats in our operant CTA paradigm and found that LHb lesion significantly attenuated CTA effects in the operant task. Our data demonstrate the importance of LHb excitation in regulating expression of ethanol‐induced aversion and suggest a mechanism for its role in modulating escalation of voluntary ethanol intake. PMID:27682823

Transient inactivation of basolateral amygdala during selective satiation disrupts reinforcer devaluation in rats

PubMed Central

West, Elizabeth A.; Forcelli, Patrick A.; Murnen, Alice T.; McCue, David L.; Gale, Karen; Malkova, Ludise

2012-01-01

Basolateral amygdala (BLA) function is critical for flexible, goal-directed behavior, including performance on reinforcer devaluation tasks. Here we tested, in rats, the hypothesis that BLA is critical for conditioned reinforcer devaluation during the period when the primary reinforcer (food) is being devalued (by feeding it to satiety), but not thereafter for guiding behavioral choices. We used a spatially-independent task, which employed two visual cues, each predicting one of two foods. An instrumental action (lever press) was required for reinforcer delivery. After training, rats received BLA or sham lesions, or cannulae implanted in BLA. Under control conditions (sham lesions, saline infusions), devaluation of one food significantly decreased responding to the cue associated with that food, when both cues were presented simultaneously during extinction. BLA lesions impaired this devaluation effect. Transient inactivation of BLA by microinfusion of the GABAA agonist muscimol resulted in an impairment, only when BLA was inactivated during satiation. When muscimol was infused after satiation and, therefore, BLA was inactivated only during the choice test, rats showed no impairment. Thus, BLA is necessary for registering or updating cues to reflect updated reinforcer values, but not for guiding choices once the value has been updated. Our results are the first to describe the contribution of rat BLA to specific components of reinforcer devaluation, and are the first to show impairment in reinforcer devaluation following transient inactivation in the rat. PMID:22845705

Parallel Olfactory Processing in the Honey Bee Brain: Odor Learning and Generalization under Selective Lesion of a Projection Neuron Tract

PubMed Central

Carcaud, Julie; Giurfa, Martin; Sandoz, Jean Christophe

2016-01-01

The function of parallel neural processing is a fundamental problem in Neuroscience, as it is found across sensory modalities and evolutionary lineages, from insects to humans. Recently, parallel processing has attracted increased attention in the olfactory domain, with the demonstration in both insects and mammals that different populations of second-order neurons encode and/or process odorant information differently. Among insects, Hymenoptera present a striking olfactory system with a clear neural dichotomy from the periphery to higher-order centers, based on two main tracts of second-order (projection) neurons: the medial and lateral antennal lobe tracts (m-ALT and l-ALT). To unravel the functional role of these two pathways, we combined specific lesions of the m-ALT tract with behavioral experiments, using the classical conditioning of the proboscis extension response (PER conditioning). Lesioned and intact bees had to learn to associate an odorant (1-nonanol) with sucrose. Then the bees were subjected to a generalization procedure with a range of odorants differing in terms of their carbon chain length or functional group. We show that m-ALT lesion strongly affects acquisition of an odor-sucrose association. However, lesioned bees that still learned the association showed a normal gradient of decreasing generalization responses to increasingly dissimilar odorants. Generalization responses could be predicted to some extent by in vivo calcium imaging recordings of l-ALT neurons. The m-ALT pathway therefore seems necessary for normal classical olfactory conditioning performance. PMID:26834589

Crohn's disease of the vulva.

PubMed

Barret, Maximilien; de Parades, Vincent; Battistella, Maxime; Sokol, Harry; Lemarchand, Nicolas; Marteau, Philippe

2014-07-01

Crohn's disease (CD) of the vulva is a rare, yet under recognized condition. Fistulae arising from the digestive tract account for the greater part of genital lesions in CD. However, cutaneous so-called metastatic lesions of the vulva have been reported in the literature. They are clinically challenging for gastroenterologists as well as for gynecologists, with numerous differential diagnoses, especially among venereal diseases, and require a multidisciplinary approach. The most frequently observed features of the disease are labial swelling, vulvar ulcers, and hypertrophic lesions. Biopsy samples for histological study are mandatory, in order to establish the diagnosis of vulvar CD. Treatment options include oral prolonged courses of metronidazole and systemic immunosuppressive therapy such as corticosteroids and azathioprine, with promising data published on the efficacy of infliximab. Surgery remains restricted to medical treatment failures or resection of unsightly lesions. Prospective studies or case series with long follow-up data are still missing to guide the treatment of this condition. © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Thyroid nodules.

PubMed

Knox, Mark A

2013-08-01

Thyroid nodules are a common finding in the general population. They may present with symptoms of pressure in the neck or may be discovered during physical examination. Although the risk of cancer is small, it is the main reason for workup of these lesions. Measurement of thyroid-stimulating hormone can identify conditions that may cause hyperfunctioning of the thyroid. For all other conditions, ultrasonography and fine-needle aspiration are central to the diagnosis. Lesions larger than 1 cm should be biopsied. Lesions with features suggestive of malignancy and those in patients with risk factors for thyroid cancer should be biopsied, regardless of size. Smaller lesions and those with benign histology can be followed and reevaluated if they grow. The evaluation of thyroid nodules in euthyroid and hypothyroid pregnant women is the same as in other adults. Thyroid nodules are uncommon in children, but the malignancy rate is much higher than in adults. Fine-needle aspiration is less accurate in children, so more aggressive surgical excision may be preferable.

Reentrant spiral waves of spreading depression cause macular degeneration in hypoglycemic chicken retina

PubMed Central

Santos, Laura M.; Mattiace, Linda A.; Costa, Manoel L.; Ferreira, Luciano C.; Benabou, Kelly; Kim, Ana H.; Abrahams, John; Bennett, Michael V. L.; Rozental, Renato

2012-01-01

Spreading depression (SD), a slow diffusion-mediated self-sustained wave of depolarization that severely disrupts neuronal function, has been implicated as a cause of cellular injury in a number of central nervous system pathologies, including blind spots in the retina. Here we show that in the hypoglycemic chicken retina, spontaneous episodes of SD can occur, resulting in irreversible punctate lesions in the macula, the region of highest visual acuity in the central region of the retina. These lesions in turn can act as sites of origin for secondary self-sustained reentrant spiral waves of SD that progressively enlarge the lesions. Furthermore, we show that the degeneration of the macula under hypoglycemic conditions can be prevented by blocking reentrant spiral SDs or by blocking caspases. The observation that spontaneous formation of reentrant spiral SD waves leads to the development of progressive retinal lesions under conditions of hypoglycemia establishes a potential role of SD in initiation and progression of macular degeneration, one of the leading causes of visual disability worldwide. PMID:22308470

Light Suppresses Bacterial Population through the Accumulation of Hydrogen Peroxide in Tobacco Leaves Infected with Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci

PubMed Central

Cheng, Dan-Dan; Liu, Mei-Jun; Sun, Xing-Bin; Zhao, Min; Chow, Wah S.; Sun, Guang-Yu; Zhang, Zi-Shan; Hu, Yan-Bo

2016-01-01

Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci (Pst) is a hemibiotrophic bacterial pathogen responsible for tobacco wildfire disease. Although considerable research has been conducted on the tobacco plant’s tolerance to Pst, the role of light in the responses of the photosystems to Pst infection is poorly understood. This study aimed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of the reduced photosystem damage in tobacco leaves due to Pst infection under light conditions. Compared to dark conditions, Pst infection under light conditions resulted in less chlorophyll degradation and a smaller decline in photosynthetic function. Although the maximal quantum yield of photosystem II (PSII) and the activity of the photosystem I (PSI) complex decreased as Pst infection progressed, damage to PSI and PSII after infection was reduced under light conditions compared to dark conditions. Pst was 17-fold more abundant in tobacco leaves under dark compared to light conditions at 3 days post inoculation (dpi). Additionally, H2O2 accumulated to a high level in tobacco leaves after Pst infection under light conditions; although to a lesser extent, H2O2 accumulation was also significant under dark conditions. Pretreatment with H2O2 alleviated chlorotic lesions and decreased Pst abundance in tobacco leaves at 3 dpi under dark conditions. MV pretreatment had the same effects under light conditions, whereas 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea pretreatment aggravated chlorotic lesions and increased the Pst population. These results indicate that chlorotic symptoms and the size of the bacterial population are each negatively correlated with H2O2 accumulation. In other words, light appears to suppress the Pst population in tobacco leaves through the accumulation of H2O2 during infection. PMID:27148334

Dopamine release in rat striatum - Physiological coupling to tyrosine supply

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

During, Matthew J.; Acworth, Ian N.; Wurtman, Richard J.

1989-01-01

Intracerebral microdialysis was used to monitor dopamine release in rat striatal extracellular fluid following the intraperitoneal administration of dopamine's precursor amino acid, L-tyrosine. Dopamine concentrations in dialysates increased transiently after tyrosine (50-100 mg/kg) administration. Pretreatment with haloperidol or the partial lesioning of nigrostriatal neurons enhanced the effect of tyrosine on dopamine release, and haloperidol also prolonged this effect. These data suggest that nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons are responsive to changes in precursor availability under basal conditions, but that receptor-mediated feedback mechanisms limit the magnitude and duration of this effect.

Vulvovaginal gingival lichen planus: report of two cases and review of literature.

PubMed

Lucchese, A; Dolci, A; Minervini, G; Salerno, C; DI Stasio, D; Minervini, G; Laino, L; Silvestre, F; Serpico, R

2016-01-01

Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disease of skin and mucous membranes. Approximately 20% of women with oral lichen planus develops lesions in the genital mucosa. In 1982, Pelisse described a special form of lichen planus (LP), which consists of a triad of symptoms: vulval, vaginal and gingival (VVG)-LP lesions. Aim of the present report is to report two new cases and review the international literature. Two cases of VVG-LP are reported and a review of recent literature is performed. The onset of erosive or ulcerative mouth lesions may precede or follow by months or even years the onset of vulvovaginal lesions. Vaginal agglutination is associated with the postmenopausal state in conjunction with a dermatologic condition. Intra-lesional corticosteroids have a role in localized chronic ulceration, while systemic therapies such as corticosteroids, azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil, hydroxychloroquine, ciclosporin, methotrexate, retinoids, thalidomide and photo chemotherapy have been used in more severe cases with varying success. VVG-LP is rather a rare condition and has been documented in the literature mainly in the form of case reports. Lack of a precise diagnostic criteria of VVG-LP depends on the specialists.

Sonography of acne vulgaris.

PubMed

Wortsman, Ximena; Claveria, Pedro; Valenzuela, Fernando; Molina, Maria Teresa; Wortsman, Jacobo

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the sonographic morphology of the clinical and subclinical pathology of facial acne vulgaris. We studied patients with facial acne vulgaris diagnosed by certified dermatologists, and using a standardized protocol for sonographic examinations, we sequentially described the sonographic pathomorphologic characteristics. Lesions of particular interest to the referring clinician were also analyzed separately. Additionally, acne involvement was staged clinically and sonographically (SOS-Acne) using morphologic definitions of the relevant lesions and predefined scoring systems for gradation of the severity of acne lesions. A total of 245 acne lesions in 20 consecutive patients were studied. Sonographic abnormalities consisted of pseudocysts, folliculitis, fistulas, and calcinosis. Most conditions were subclinical and mostly due to lesion extensions deep into the dermis and hypodermis (52% of pseudocysts and 68% of fistulas). The statistical concordance between acne severity scores assigned by two separate clinicians was strong (κ = 0.8020), but the corresponding sonographic scores generally showed more severe and clinically occult involvement. Facial acne vulgaris often involves deeper tissues, beyond the reach of the spatially restricted clinical examination; these subclinical conditions can be detected and defined with sonography. Additionally, acne vulgaris is amenable to sonographic scoring.

A prospective cohort study of digital cushion and corium thickness. Part 1: Associations with body condition, lesion incidence, and proximity to calving.

PubMed

Newsome, R F; Green, M J; Bell, N J; Bollard, N J; Mason, C S; Whay, H R; Huxley, J N

2017-06-01

Claw horn disruption lesions (CHDL) are a major cause of lameness in dairy cattle and are likely a result of excessive forces being applied to the germinal epithelium that produces the claw horn. The digital cushion is a connective tissue structure, containing depots of adipose tissue, that sits beneath the distal phalanx and has been shown to be thicker in fatter cows. Body condition score (BCS) loss is a risk factor for CHDL, and one possible explanation is that fat is mobilized from the digital cushion during negative energy balance, causing the digital cushion to thin and lose force-dissipating capacity, leading to disruption of claw horn growth. This prospective cohort study investigated the association between measures of body fat and sole soft tissue (SST) thickness (a combined measure of the corium and digital cushion beneath the distal phalanx) in a longitudinal manner. The SST of 179 cows in 2 high-yielding dairy herds were measured at 5 assessment points between 8 wk before and 35 wk postcalving. The BCS, back fat thickness (BFT), and lesion incidence were recorded. Data were analyzed in a 4-level mixed effects regression model, with the outcome being SST thickness beneath the flexor tuberosity of the distal phalanx. Data from 827 assessment points were available for analysis. The overall mean of SST was 4.99 mm (standard deviation: 0.95). The SST was thickest 8 wk before calving (5.22 mm, standard deviation: 0.91) and thinnest 1 wk postcalving (4.68 mm, standard deviation: 0.87), suggesting an effect of calving on SST. The BFT was positively correlated with SST in the model with a small effect size (a 10 mm decrease in BFT corresponded with a 0.13 mm decrease in SST), yet the nadir of BFT was 11.0 mm at 9 to 17 wk postcalving (when SST was ∼4.95 mm), rather than occurring with the nadir of SST immediately after calving. The SST also varied with other variables [e.g., cows that developed a sole ulcer or severe sole hemorrhage during the study had thinner SST (-0.24 mm)], except when a sole ulcer was present, when it was thicker (+0.53 mm). Cows that developed lesions had a thinner digital cushion before the lesion occurrence, which became thickened with sole ulcer presence, perhaps representing inflammation. Furthermore, although BFT was correlated with SST over time, SST may also have been influenced by other factors such as integrity of the suspensory apparatus, which could have a major effect on CHDL. Measures of body fat likely contributed to having thin SST, but other factors including calving, herd, and lesion presence also had an effect. The Authors. Published by the Federation of Animal Science Societies and Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

Clay jojoba oil facial mask for lesioned skin and mild acne--results of a prospective, observational pilot study.

PubMed

Meier, Larissa; Stange, Rainer; Michalsen, Andreas; Uehleke, Bernhard

2012-01-01

External application of clay facial masks is a cosmetic procedure generally used to reduce skin lesions and to improve overall skin condition. Collecting pilot data about self-treatment with clay jojoba oil masks on participants with acne-prone, lesioned skin and acne. Open, prospective, observational pilot study: Participants received written information, instructions, and questionnaires without direct contact with the study physician. For 6 weeks, they applied the masks 2-3 times per week. The primary outcome is the difference of skin lesions: baseline vs. after 6 weeks. 194 participants (192 female, 2 male, mean age (± SE) (32.3 ± 0.7 years) returned questionnaires and diaries. 133 of these participants returned complete and precise lesion counts (per-protocol (PP) collective). A 54% mean reduction in total lesion count was observed after 6 weeks of treatment with clay facial mask. Both inflammatory and non-inflammatory skin lesions were reduced significantly after treatment compared to baseline: Median counts (MC) of pustules per affected participant were reduced from 7.0 ± 0.9 to 3.0 ± 0.5 (mean individual reduction (MIR) = 49.4%), the MC of the papules from 3.5 ± 2.2 to 1.0 ± 0.4 (MIR = 57.3%), the MC of cysts from 2.0 ± 0.8 to 0.5 ± 0.4 (MIR = 68.6%) and the MC of comedones from 26.5 ± 6.3 to 16.0 ± 4.0 (MIR = 39.1%). DLQI-average score decreased from 5.0 ± 4.5 (mean ± SE) before to 2.1 ± 2.8 after treatment. The present study gives preliminary evidence that healing clay jojoba oil facial masks can be effective treatment for lesioned skin and mild acne vulgaris. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Lumbar vertebral pedicles: radiologic anatomy and pathology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Patel, N.P.; Kumar, R.; Kinkhabwala, M.

1988-01-01

With the advancement of high-resolution computed tomography (CT) scanning the spine has added new knowledge to the various conditions affecting the pedicles. We wish to review the entire spectrum of pedicular lesions: the embryology, normal anatomy, normal variants, pitfalls, congenital anomalies, and pathological conditions are discussed. Different imaging modalities involving CT, isotope bone scanning, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are used to complement plain films of the lumbar spine. This subject review is an excellent source for future reference to lumbar pedicular lesions. 27 references.

Fluctuating lesion of the scalp after a journey to the tropics: a case of furunculoid myiasis.

PubMed

Geyer, Sara; Balakirski, Galina; Tappe, Dennis; Cacch, Claudio; Knüchel-Clarke, Ruth; Schmit, Laurenz

2018-02-15

Fluctuating lesions or furuncles of the scalp occur frequently in dermatological practice. This clinical condition is often caused by gram positive bacteria (e.g. staphylococcal or streptococcal skin infection) or fungal infection (e.g. Kerion celsi). However, a rare diagnosis such as myiasis might be considered, especially if a journey to an endemic area is reported. Herein, we present a case of furunculoid myiasis of the scalp and review the pathogenesis and therapeutic options to treat this condition.

Cocaine Drives Aversive Conditioning via Delayed Activation of Dopamine-Responsive Habenular and Midbrain Pathways

PubMed Central

Good, Cameron H.; Rowley, Courtney S.; Xu, Sheng-ping; Wang, Huikun; Burnham, Nathan W.; Hoffman, Alexander F.; Lupica, Carl R.; Ikemoto, Satoshi

2013-01-01

Many strong rewards, including abused drugs, also produce aversive effects that are poorly understood. For example, cocaine can produce aversive conditioning after its rewarding effects have dissipated, consistent with opponent process theory, but the neural mechanisms involved are not well known. Using electrophysiological recordings in awake rats, we found that some neurons in the lateral habenula (LHb), where activation produces aversive conditioning, exhibited biphasic responses to single doses of intravenous cocaine, with an initial inhibition followed by delayed excitation paralleling cocaine's shift from rewarding to aversive. Recordings in LHb slice preparations revealed similar cocaine-induced biphasic responses and further demonstrated that biphasic responses were mimicked by dopamine, that the inhibitory phase depended on dopamine D2-like receptors, and that the delayed excitation persisted after drug washout for prolonged durations consistent with findings in vivo. c-Fos experiments further showed that cocaine-activated LHb neurons preferentially projected to and activated neurons in the rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg), a recently identified target of LHb axons that is activated by negative motivational stimuli and inhibits dopamine neurons. Finally, pharmacological excitation of the RMTg produced conditioned place aversion, whereas cocaine-induced avoidance behaviors in a runway operant paradigm were abolished by lesions of LHb efferents, lesions of the RMTg, or by optogenetic inactivation of the RMTg selectively during the period when LHb neurons are activated by cocaine. Together, these results indicate that LHb/RMTg pathways contribute critically to cocaine-induced avoidance behaviors, while also participating in reciprocally inhibitory interactions with dopamine neurons. PMID:23616555

Fear Conditioning is Disrupted by Damage to the Postsubiculum

PubMed Central

Robinson, Siobhan; Bucci, David J.

2011-01-01

The hippocampus plays a central role in spatial and contextual learning and memory, however relatively little is known about the specific contributions of parahippocampal structures that interface with the hippocampus. The postsubiculum (PoSub) is reciprocally connected with a number of hippocampal, parahippocampal and subcortical structures that are involved in spatial learning and memory. In addition, behavioral data suggest that PoSub is needed for optimal performance during tests of spatial memory. Together, these data suggest that PoSub plays a prominent role in spatial navigation. Currently it is unknown whether the PoSub is needed for other forms of learning and memory that also require the formation of associations among multiple environmental stimuli. To address this gap in the literature we investigated the role of PoSub in Pavlovian fear conditioning. In Experiment 1 male rats received either lesions of PoSub or Sham surgery prior to training in a classical fear conditioning procedure. On the training day a tone was paired with foot shock three times. Conditioned fear to the training context was evaluated 24 hr later by placing rats back into the conditioning chamber without presenting any tones or shocks. Auditory fear was assessed on the third day by presenting the auditory stimulus in a novel environment (no shock). PoSub-lesioned rats exhibited impaired acquisition of the conditioned fear response as well as impaired expression of contextual and auditory fear conditioning. In Experiment 2, PoSub lesions were made 1 day after training to specifically assess the role of PoSub in fear memory. No deficits in the expression of contextual fear were observed, but freezing to the tone was significantly reduced in PoSub-lesioned rats compared to shams. Together, these results indicate that PoSub is necessary for normal acquisition of conditioned fear, and that PoSub contributes to the expression of auditory but not contextual fear memory. PMID:22076971

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 escorts XPC to UV-induced DNA lesions during nucleotide excision repair

PubMed Central

Robu, Mihaela; Shah, Rashmi G.; Purohit, Nupur K.; Zhou, Pengbo; Naegeli, Hanspeter

2017-01-01

Xeroderma pigmentosum C (XPC) protein initiates the global genomic subpathway of nucleotide excision repair (GG-NER) for removal of UV-induced direct photolesions from genomic DNA. The XPC has an inherent capacity to identify and stabilize at the DNA lesion sites, and this function is facilitated in the genomic context by UV-damaged DNA-binding protein 2 (DDB2), which is part of a multiprotein UV–DDB ubiquitin ligase complex. The nuclear enzyme poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) has been shown to facilitate the lesion recognition step of GG-NER via its interaction with DDB2 at the lesion site. Here, we show that PARP1 plays an additional DDB2-independent direct role in recruitment and stabilization of XPC at the UV-induced DNA lesions to promote GG-NER. It forms a stable complex with XPC in the nucleoplasm under steady-state conditions before irradiation and rapidly escorts it to the damaged DNA after UV irradiation in a DDB2-independent manner. The catalytic activity of PARP1 is not required for the initial complex formation with XPC in the nucleoplasm but it enhances the recruitment of XPC to the DNA lesion site after irradiation. Using purified proteins, we also show that the PARP1–XPC complex facilitates the handover of XPC to the UV-lesion site in the presence of the UV–DDB ligase complex. Thus, the lesion search function of XPC in the genomic context is controlled by XPC itself, DDB2, and PARP1. Our results reveal a paradigm that the known interaction of many proteins with PARP1 under steady-state conditions could have functional significance for these proteins. PMID:28760956

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 escorts XPC to UV-induced DNA lesions during nucleotide excision repair.

PubMed

Robu, Mihaela; Shah, Rashmi G; Purohit, Nupur K; Zhou, Pengbo; Naegeli, Hanspeter; Shah, Girish M

2017-08-15

Xeroderma pigmentosum C (XPC) protein initiates the global genomic subpathway of nucleotide excision repair (GG-NER) for removal of UV-induced direct photolesions from genomic DNA. The XPC has an inherent capacity to identify and stabilize at the DNA lesion sites, and this function is facilitated in the genomic context by UV-damaged DNA-binding protein 2 (DDB2), which is part of a multiprotein UV-DDB ubiquitin ligase complex. The nuclear enzyme poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) has been shown to facilitate the lesion recognition step of GG-NER via its interaction with DDB2 at the lesion site. Here, we show that PARP1 plays an additional DDB2-independent direct role in recruitment and stabilization of XPC at the UV-induced DNA lesions to promote GG-NER. It forms a stable complex with XPC in the nucleoplasm under steady-state conditions before irradiation and rapidly escorts it to the damaged DNA after UV irradiation in a DDB2-independent manner. The catalytic activity of PARP1 is not required for the initial complex formation with XPC in the nucleoplasm but it enhances the recruitment of XPC to the DNA lesion site after irradiation. Using purified proteins, we also show that the PARP1-XPC complex facilitates the handover of XPC to the UV-lesion site in the presence of the UV-DDB ligase complex. Thus, the lesion search function of XPC in the genomic context is controlled by XPC itself, DDB2, and PARP1. Our results reveal a paradigm that the known interaction of many proteins with PARP1 under steady-state conditions could have functional significance for these proteins.

Costs and Effectiveness of Treatment Alternatives for Proximal Caries Lesions

PubMed Central

Schwendicke, Falk; Meyer-Lueckel, Hendrik; Stolpe, Michael; Dörfer, Christof Edmund; Paris, Sebastian

2014-01-01

Objectives Invasive therapy of proximal caries lesions initiates a cascade of re-treatment cycles with increasing loss of dental hard tissue. Non- and micro-invasive treatment aim at delaying this cascade and may thus reduce both the health and economic burden of such lesions. This study compared the costs and effectiveness of alternative treatments of proximal caries lesions. Methods A Markov-process model was used to simulate the events following the treatment of a proximal posterior lesion (E2/D1) in a 20-year-old patient in Germany. We compared three interventions (non-invasive; micro-invasive using resin infiltration; invasive using composite restoration). We calculated the risk of complications of initial and possible follow-up treatments and modelled time-dependent non-linear transition probabilities. Costs were calculated based on item-fee catalogues in Germany. Monte-Carlo-microsimulations were performed to compare cost-effectiveness of non- versus micro-invasive treatment and to analyse lifetime costs of all three treatments. Results Micro-invasive treatment was both more costly and more effective than non-invasive therapy, with ceiling-value-thresholds for willingness-to-pay between 16.73 € for E2 and 1.57 € for D1 lesions. Invasive treatment was the most costly strategy. Calculated costs and effectiveness were sensitive to lesion stage, patient’s age, discounting rate and assumed initial treatment costs. Conclusions Non- and micro-invasive treatments have lower long-term costs than invasive therapy of proximal lesions. Micro-invasive therapy had the highest cost-effectiveness for treating D1 lesions in young patients. Decision makers with a willingness-to-pay over 16.73 € and 1.57 € for E2 and D1 lesions, respectively, will find micro-invasive treatment more cost-effective than non-invasive therapy. PMID:24475208

Effect of varying displays and room illuminance on caries diagnostic accuracy in digital dental radiographs.

PubMed

Pakkala, T; Kuusela, L; Ekholm, M; Wenzel, A; Haiter-Neto, F; Kortesniemi, M

2012-01-01

In clinical practice, digital radiographs taken for caries diagnostics are viewed on varying types of displays and usually in relatively high ambient lighting (room illuminance) conditions. Our purpose was to assess the effect of room illuminance and varying display types on caries diagnostic accuracy in digital dental radiographs. Previous studies have shown that the diagnostic accuracy of caries detection is significantly better in reduced lighting conditions. Our hypothesis was that higher display luminance could compensate for this in higher ambient lighting conditions. Extracted human teeth with approximal surfaces clinically ranging from sound to demineralized were radiographed and evaluated by 3 observers who detected carious lesions on 3 different types of displays in 3 different room illuminance settings ranging from low illumination, i.e. what is recommended for diagnostic viewing, to higher illumination levels corresponding to those found in an average dental office. Sectioning and microscopy of the teeth validated the presence or absence of a carious lesion. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were calculated for each modality and observer. Differences were estimated by analyzing the binary data assuming the added effects of observer and modality in a generalized linear model. The observers obtained higher sensitivities in lower illuminance settings than in higher illuminance settings. However, this was related to a reduction in specificity, which meant that there was no significant difference in overall accuracy. Contrary to our hypothesis, there were no significant differences between the accuracy of different display types. Therefore, different displays and room illuminance levels did not affect the overall accuracy of radiographic caries detection. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Enriched environment improves motor function and increases neurotrophins in hemicerebellar lesioned rats.

PubMed

Gelfo, Francesca; Cutuli, Debora; Foti, Francesca; Laricchiuta, Daniela; De Bartolo, Paola; Caltagirone, Carlo; Petrosini, Laura; Angelucci, Francesco

2011-01-01

Environmental enrichment (EE) defined as "a combination of complex inanimate and social stimulation" influences brain function and anatomy by enhancing sensory, cognitive, motor, and social stimulation. The beneficial effects of EE in the presence of brain damage have been partially attributed to upregulation of neurotrophins, proteins involved in neuronal survival and in activity-dependent plasticity. The authors tested the hypothesis that EE may have advantageous effects on recovery of motor function after cerebellar damage, associated with changes in local neurotrophin production. They performed a hemicerebellectomy in rats previously exposed to EE or reared in standard conditions. The time course of compensation of motor symptoms was analyzed in both lesioned groups. Then, the local production of the nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the spared hemicerebellum and other extracerebellar regions was evaluated. Long-term exposure to EE accelerated the motor recovery in hemicerebellectomized rats and elicited an increase in NGF levels in the spared hemicerebellum, as compared with nonenriched lesioned and control rats. BDNF levels were higher in hemicerebellectomized rats but not influenced by EE. In the frontal cortex, both NGF and BDNF levels were upregulated in hemicerebellectomized enriched rats as compared with hemicerebellectomized nonenriched and control rats. This study suggests that the beneficial effects of EE on motor symptoms after cerebellar damage may be, at least partly, because of modulation of neurotrophic proteins involved in the regeneration processes.

Rewarding and aversive effects of nicotine are segregated within the nucleus accumbens.

PubMed

Sellings, Laurie H L; Baharnouri, Golriz; McQuade, Lindsey E; Clarke, Paul B S

2008-07-01

Forebrain dopamine plays a critical role in motivated behavior. According to the classic view, mesolimbic dopamine selectively guides behavior motivated by positive reinforcers. However, this has been challenged in favor of a wider role encompassing aversively motivated behavior. This controversy is particularly striking in the case of nicotine, with opposing claims that either the rewarding or the aversive effect of nicotine is critically dependent on mesolimbic dopamine transmission. In the present study, the effects of 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of nucleus accumbens core vs. medial shell on intravenous nicotine conditioned place preference and conditioned taste aversion were examined in male adult rats. Dopaminergic denervation in accumbens medial shell was associated with decreased nicotine conditioned place preference. Conversely, denervation in accumbens core was associated with an increase in conditioned place preference. In addition, dopaminergic denervation of accumbens core but not medial shell abolished conditioned taste aversion for nicotine. We conclude that nucleus accumbens core and medial shell dopaminergic innervation exert segregated effects on rewarding and aversive effects of nicotine. More generally, our findings indicate that dopaminergic transmission may mediate or enable opposing motivational processes within functionally distinct domains of the accumbens.

Long-term effects of neonatal medial temporal ablations on socioemotional behavior in monkeys

PubMed Central

Málková, Ludise; Mishkin, Mortimer; Suomi, Stephen J.; Bachevalier, Jocelyne

2010-01-01

Socioemotional abnormalities, including low levels of social interaction and high levels of self-directed activity, were reported when rhesus monkeys with neonatal ablations of either the medial temporal lobe (AH) or the inferior temporal cortex (TE) were paired with unoperated peers at two and six months of age, though these abnormalities were more severe in the AH group (Bachevalier et al., 2001). As they reached adulthood (Experiment 1), the same monkeys were re-evaluated in the same dyads and their reactivity to novel toys, social status, and reactions to separation from age-matched peers were also assessed. Group TE now showed few if any of the abnormal behaviors observed when they were infants. By contrast, Group AH continued to display low levels of social interaction, high levels of self-directed activity and submissive behavior, and reduced responses to separation, although they reacted normally to novel toys. To determine whether this degree of socioemotional impairment was less severe than that produced by the same damage in adulthood, we assessed dyadic social interactions of monkeys raised until adulthood in laboratory conditions similar to those of the earlier groups and then given the AH ablation (Experiment 2). Two months postoperatively these adult-lesioned monkeys showed a small reduction in social interactions that became more pronounced six months postoperatively, yet remained less severe than that seen in the infant-lesioned monkeys. Also, except for an increase in food and water consumption throughout this 6-month period, they showed no other socioemotional effects. The finding that neonatal AH lesions produce more severe socioemotional disturbances than the same lesion in adulthood is the reverse of the effect commonly reported for other cognitive functions after cerebral damage. PMID:21133531

Changes in hoof health and animal hygiene in a dairy herd after covering concrete slatted floor with slatted rubber mats: a case study.

PubMed

Ahrens, F; Platz, S; Link, C; Mahling, M; Meyer, H H D; Erhard, M H

2011-05-01

The objective was to investigate the effect of changing the flooring in the alleys of a barn from slatted concrete to slatted rubber mats on hoof disorders and animal hygiene in 44 loose-housed Brown Swiss dairy cows. Cows were examined for disorders of the hind hooves (hemorrhages, white line fissures, ulcers, heel horn erosion, and digital dermatitis) and for skin lesions. The dirtiness of the animals and of the floor was recorded. Climatic (temperature, humidity) and ammonia gas conditions were measured. Evaluations were carried out when the cows were housed on a concrete slatted floor and after 4 and 10 mo on soft flooring (slatted rubber mats, 29-mm thick). The anatomical portion of claw (medial, lateral), number of lactations (parity), and days in milk were included as covariates in the statistical model. Changing the flooring from slatted concrete to slatted rubber mats increased the score for white line fissures [1.0 ± 0.3 (concrete) vs. 2.5 ± 0.4 (10 mo rubber mats)] and influenced air humidity (i.e., the difference in the absolute humidity between the inside and outside of the barn increased from 1.5 ± 0.1 to 1.7 ± 0.2g/m(3)), whereas the other hoof disorders, skin lesions (score of 8.7 ± 0.3), the dirtiness of the animals (score of 5.9 ± 0.3), and the floor (score of 2.1 ± 0.1), and ammonia gas concentration (2.6 ± 0.3mg/kg) were not affected (overall scores or measures; mean ± SE). Lateral claws were more affected (except for heel horn erosion) than medial claws (estimated effects between 1.3 ± 0.2 and 3.0 ± 0.6). Parity influenced hoof disorders (except for hemorrhages) and skin lesions (estimated effects between -0.6 ± 0.3 and 0.5 ± 0.2). Days in milk influenced hoof disorders, but had no effect on skin lesions and on the dirtiness of the animal. Irrespective of floor type, the slots (2.6 ± 0.1) were dirtier than the slats (1.6 ± 0.1). In conclusion, covering slatted concrete flooring with slatted rubber mats partially impaired hoof health but did not influence skin lesions or the dirtiness of the cows or the floor. Similar results were found for climatic conditions, as ammonia gas concentration was not affected, but absolute humidity increased in the barn when rubber mats were present. Copyright © 2011 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Environmental conditions influence tissue regeneration rates in scleractinian corals.

PubMed

Sabine, Alexis M; Smith, Tyler B; Williams, Dana E; Brandt, Marilyn E

2015-06-15

Natural and anthropogenic factors may influence corals' ability to recover from partial mortality. To examine how environmental conditions affect lesion healing, we assessed several water quality parameters and tissue regeneration rates in corals at six reefs around St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. We hypothesized that sites closer to developed areas would have poor water quality due to proximity to anthropogenic stresses, which would impede tissue regeneration. We found that water flow and turbidity most strongly influenced lesion recovery rates. The most impacted site, with high turbidity and low flow, recovered almost three times slower than the least impacted site, with low turbidity, high flow, and low levels of anthropogenic disturbance. Our results illustrate that in addition to lesion-specific factors known to affect tissue regeneration, environmental conditions can also control corals' healing rates. Resource managers can use this information to protect low-flow, turbid nearshore reefs by minimizing sources of anthropogenic stress. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neuronal Entropy-Rate Feature of Entopeduncular Nucleus in Rat Model of Parkinson's Disease.

PubMed

Darbin, Olivier; Jin, Xingxing; Von Wrangel, Christof; Schwabe, Kerstin; Nambu, Atsushi; Naritoku, Dean K; Krauss, Joachim K; Alam, Mesbah

2016-03-01

The function of the nigro-striatal pathway on neuronal entropy in the basal ganglia (BG) output nucleus, i.e. the entopeduncular nucleus (EPN) was investigated in the unilaterally 6-hyroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-lesioned rat model of Parkinson's disease (PD). In both control subjects and subjects with 6-OHDA lesion of dopamine (DA) the nigro-striatal pathway, a histological hallmark for parkinsonism, neuronal entropy in EPN was maximal in neurons with firing rates ranging between 15 and 25 Hz. In 6-OHDA lesioned rats, neuronal entropy in the EPN was specifically higher in neurons with firing rates above 25 Hz. Our data establishes that the nigro-striatal pathway controls neuronal entropy in motor circuitry and that the parkinsonian condition is associated with abnormal relationship between firing rate and neuronal entropy in BG output nuclei. The neuronal firing rates and entropy relationship provide putative relevant electrophysiological information to investigate the sensory-motor processing in normal condition and conditions such as movement disorders.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENTROPY OF SPIKE TIMING AND FIRING RATE IN ENTOPEDUNCULAR NUCLEUS NEURONS IN ANESTHETIZED RATS: FUNCTION OF THE NIGRO-STRIATAL PATHWAY

PubMed Central

Darbin, Olivier; Jin, Xingxing; von Wrangel, Christof; Schwabe, Kerstin; Nambu, Atsushi; Naritoku, Dean K; Krauss, Joachim K.; Alam, Mesbah

2016-01-01

The function of the nigro-striatal pathway on neuronal entropy in the basal ganglia (BG) output nucleus (entopeduncular nucleus, EPN) was investigated in the unilaterally 6-hyroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-lesioned rat model of Parkinson’s disease (PD). In both control subjects and subjects with 6-OHDA lesion of the nigro-striatal pathway, a histological hallmark for parkinsonism, neuronal entropy in EPN was maximal in neurons with firing rates ranging between 15Hz and 25 Hz. In 6-OHDA lesioned rats, neuronal entropy in the EPN was specifically higher in neurons with firing rates above 25Hz. Our data establishes that nigro-striatal pathway controls neuronal entropy in motor circuitry and that the parkinsonian condition is associated with abnormal relationship between firing rate and neuronal entropy in BG output nuclei. The neuronal firing rates and entropy relationship provide putative relevant electrophysiological information to investigate the sensory-motor processing in normal condition and conditions with movement disorders. PMID:26711712

VENEREAL SPIROCHETOSIS IN AMERICAN RABBITS

PubMed Central

Noguchi, Hideyo

1922-01-01

Of 50 rabbits, otherwise regarded as normal, three adult females and two adult males (10 per cent) have been found to have in their genitoperineal region certain papulosquamous, often ulcerating, lesions. A recently purchased group of twenty rabbits contained six females (30 per cent) with similar lesions. This condition runs a chronic course and is characterized by the presence of a spiral organism closely resembling Treponema pallidum. The rabbit spirochete has the same morphological features as Treponema pallidum; it is possibly a trifle thicker and longer than the average pallidum. Long specimens measuring 30 µ are frequently encountered, and they show a tendency to form loosely entangled knots. A stellate arrangement of several organisms in a mass is frequently observed. In the lesion of one rabbit there were two types of spirochete, one of the variety just described, the other a somewhat coarser organism, closely resembling Treponema calligyrum found in a human condyloma, but a trifle thinner and longer. This organism is perhaps merely a variant type of the rabbit spirochete. The histological reactions are similar to, but considerably less cellular, than those occurring in typical primary syphilitic lesions. There is a marked hyperkeratosis and interpapillary infiltration not observed in scrotal chancre. The disease is transmissible to normal rabbits, in which the usual papular lesions can be readily reproduced in the genitoperineal region. In the first passages the incubation period varied from 20 to 88 days; subsequently one of the strains produced a lesion in 20 days on the second, and in 5 days on the third passage. No typical orchitis or keratitis was produced in the rabbits of the present series, although in one of the original rabbits (No. 4) scaly, papular lesions have developed on the nose, lips, eyelid, and paws. Monkeys (Macacus rhesus) failed to show any lesions within a period of 4 months after inoculation. In one instance transmission was accomplished through the mating of an infected female with a normal male. The Wassermann reaction was uniformly negative in the five rabbits with spontaneous lesions and in eighteen rabbits experimentally infected. Salvarsan had the same therapeutic effect on the lesions produced by the rabbit spirochete as on the experimental pallidum lesion of the rabbit. The organism belongs to the genus Treponema, and may be designated Treponema cuniculi. PMID:19868615

Renal tissue damage induced by focused shock waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ioritani, N.; Kuwahara, M.; Kambe, K.; Taguchi, K.; Saitoh, T.; Shirai, S.; Orikasa, S.; Takayama, K.; Lush, P. A.

1990-07-01

Biological evidence of renal arterial wall damage induced by the microjet due to shock wave-cavitation bubble interaction was demonstrated in living dog kidneys. We also intended to clarify the mechanism of renal tissue damage and the effects of different conditions of shock wave exposure (peak pressure of focused area, number of shots, exposure rate) on the renal tissue damage in comparison to stone disintegration. Disruption of arterial wall was the most remarkable histological change in the focused area of the kidneys. This lesion appeared as if the wall had been punctured by a needle. Large hematoma formation in the renal parenchym, and interstitial hemorrhage seemed to be the results of the arterial lesion. This arterial disorder also led to ischemic necrosis of the tubules surrounding the hematoma. Micro-angiographic examination of extracted kidneys also proved such arterial puncture lesions and ischemic lesions. The number of shots required for model stone disintegration was not inversely proportional to peak pressure. It decreased markedly when peak pressure was above 700 bar. Similarly thenumber of shots for hematoma formation was not inversely proportional to peak pressure, however, this decreased markedly above 500 bar. These results suggested that a hematoma could be formed under a lower peak pressure than that required for stone disintegration.

Detecting and discriminating novel objects: The impact of perirhinal cortex disconnection on hippocampal activity patterns

PubMed Central

Amin, Eman; Olarte‐Sánchez, Cristian M.; Aggleton, John P.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Perirhinal cortex provides object‐based information and novelty/familiarity information for the hippocampus. The necessity of these inputs was tested by comparing hippocampal c‐fos expression in rats with or without perirhinal lesions. These rats either discriminated novel from familiar objects (Novel‐Familiar) or explored pairs of novel objects (Novel‐Novel). Despite impairing Novel‐Familiar discriminations, the perirhinal lesions did not affect novelty detection, as measured by overall object exploration levels (Novel‐Novel condition). The perirhinal lesions also largely spared a characteristic network of linked c‐fos expression associated with novel stimuli (entorhinal cortex→CA3→distal CA1→proximal subiculum). The findings show: I) that perirhinal lesions preserve behavioral sensitivity to novelty, whilst still impairing the spontaneous ability to discriminate novel from familiar objects, II) that the distinctive patterns of hippocampal c‐fos activity promoted by novel stimuli do not require perirhinal inputs, III) that entorhinal Fos counts (layers II and III) increase for novelty discriminations, IV) that hippocampal c‐fos networks reflect proximal‐distal connectivity differences, and V) that discriminating novelty creates different pathway interactions from merely detecting novelty, pointing to top‐down effects that help guide object selection. © 2016 The Authors Hippocampus Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. PMID:27398938

Atheroprotection through SYK inhibition fails in established disease when local macrophage proliferation dominates lesion progression.

PubMed

Lindau, Alexandra; Härdtner, Carmen; Hergeth, Sonja P; Blanz, Kelly Daryll; Dufner, Bianca; Hoppe, Natalie; Anto-Michel, Nathaly; Kornemann, Jan; Zou, Jiadai; Gerhardt, Louisa M S; Heidt, Timo; Willecke, Florian; Geis, Serjosha; Stachon, Peter; Wolf, Dennis; Libby, Peter; Swirski, Filip K; Robbins, Clinton S; McPheat, William; Hawley, Shaun; Braddock, Martin; Gilsbach, Ralf; Hein, Lutz; von zur Mühlen, Constantin; Bode, Christoph; Zirlik, Andreas; Hilgendorf, Ingo

2016-03-01

Macrophages in the arterial intima sustain chronic inflammation during atherogenesis. Under hypercholesterolemic conditions murine Ly6C(high) monocytes surge in the blood and spleen, infiltrate nascent atherosclerotic plaques, and differentiate into macrophages that proliferate locally as disease progresses. Spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) may participate in downstream signaling of various receptors that mediate these processes. We tested the effect of the SYK inhibitor fostamatinib on hypercholesterolemia-associated myelopoiesis and plaque formation in Apoe(-/-) mice during early and established atherosclerosis. Mice consuming a high cholesterol diet supplemented with fostamatinib for 8 weeks developed less atherosclerosis. Histologic and flow cytometric analysis of aortic tissue showed that fostamatinib reduced the content of Ly6C(high) monocytes and macrophages. SYK inhibition limited Ly6C(high) monocytosis through interference with GM-CSF/IL-3 stimulated myelopoiesis, attenuated cell adhesion to the intimal surface, and blocked M-CSF stimulated monocyte to macrophage differentiation. In Apoe(-/-) mice with established atherosclerosis, however, fostamatinib treatment did not limit macrophage accumulation or lesion progression despite a significant reduction in blood monocyte counts, as lesional macrophages continued to proliferate. Thus, inhibition of hypercholesterolemia-associated monocytosis, monocyte infiltration, and differentiation by SYK antagonism attenuates early atherogenesis but not established disease when local macrophage proliferation dominates lesion progression.

Area postrema ablations in cats: Evidence for separate neural routes for motion- and xylazine-induced CTA and emesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Corcoran, Meryl Lee; Fox, Robert A.; Brizzee, Kenneth R.; Crampton, G.; Daunton, Nancy G.

1991-01-01

Previous studies on the role of the area postrema (AP) in vomiting induced in the cat by motion and drugs have shown that the AP is not essential for motion-induced vomiting, but is necessary for vomiting to apomorphine and xylazine. To confirm these findings and to determine the role of the AP in the formation of Conditioned Taste Aversion (CTA), the AP was ablated bilaterally in 10 adult female cats. With one exception, the ablated cats continued to vomit to the same motion that elicited emesis before the ablation. Doses of xylazine and apomorphine that elicit emesis in intact cats, failed to induce emesis in the ablated cats. Histological examination indicated that 8 cats had complete lesions and 2 had partial lesions. Investigations of effects of AP ablations on CTA revealed that cats with complete lesions did not form CTA to flavored milk paired with xylazine-induced CTA. Seven of the eigth completely lesioned cats developed motion-induced CTA, even though emesis was not consistently elicited by motion. These results suggest that there are multiple routes for inducing CTA and the emetic reflex, that CTA can form without eliciting emesis, and that CTA may be a sensitive measure of sub-emetic motion sickness.

Posturography of ataxia induced by Coriolis- and Purkinje-effects.

PubMed

Fitger, C; Brandt, T

1982-02-01

Vestibular Coriolis- and Purkinje-effect, which are known to induce vertigo, were investigated with respect to body posture. One aim of this investigation was to provide information concerning clinical vertigo symptoms. Standing on a rotatable stabilometer, 25 healthy subjects had to execute lateral head tilts during (Coriolis), or after (Purkinje), rotation varied with different constant velocities. The conditions were varied with respect to eyes open vs. eyes closed, head upright vs. head tilt to the right and left, direction of rotation clockwise vs. counterclockwise, active vs. passive head tilt, and active vs. passive body rotation. The results supported the expectation that destabilization was less severe with open than with closed eyes and that sway amplitudes were increased after head tilt as well as with a higher velocity of rotation. The direction of the induced body shift was, as expected, opposite to the initial vestibular stimulus. A forward shift after stop without head tilt was frequently found, being independent of the previous direction of rotation. Reported perceptions coincided mostly not with the initial vestibular signal but rather with the actual movement of compensation. Active instead of passive movements did not produce clearly different effects. The Purkinje experiment appeared to be equivalent to the situation when a patient with an acute lesion of a horizontal vestibular canal bends his head. The stabilogram under this condition may allow a prediction of the side of the lesion.

Collision avoidance in persons with homonymous visual field defects under virtual reality conditions.

PubMed

Papageorgiou, Eleni; Hardiess, Gregor; Ackermann, Hermann; Wiethoelter, Horst; Dietz, Klaus; Mallot, Hanspeter A; Schiefer, Ulrich

2012-01-01

The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of homonymous visual field defects (HVFDs) on collision avoidance of dynamic obstacles at an intersection under virtual reality (VR) conditions. Overall performance was quantitatively assessed as the number of collisions at a virtual intersection at two difficulty levels. HVFDs were assessed by binocular semi-automated kinetic perimetry within the 90° visual field, stimulus III4e and the area of sparing within the affected hemifield (A-SPAR in deg(2)) was calculated. The effect of A-SPAR, age, gender, side of brain lesion, time since brain lesion and presence of macular sparing on the number of collisions, as well as performance over time were investigated. Thirty patients (10 female, 20 male, age range: 19-71 years) with HVFDs due to unilateral vascular brain lesions and 30 group-age-matched subjects with normal visual fields were examined. The mean number of collisions was higher for patients and in the more difficult level they experienced more collisions with vehicles approaching from the blind side than the seeing side. Lower A-SPAR and increasing age were associated with decreasing performance. However, in agreement with previous studies, wide variability in performance among patients with identical visual field defects was observed and performance of some patients was similar to that of normal subjects. Both patients and healthy subjects displayed equal improvement of performance over time in the more difficult level. In conclusion, our results suggest that visual-field related parameters per se are inadequate in predicting successful collision avoidance. Individualized approaches which also consider compensatory strategies by means of eye and head movements should be introduced. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Metachronous Paget's disease of the breast: case report.

PubMed

Gubitosi, A; Moccia, G; Malinconico, F A; Iside, G; Gilio, F; Cognetti, C; Foroni, F; Docimo, G; Ruggiero, R; Docimo, L; Agresti, M

2009-04-01

Paget breast disease is a kind of intraductal carcinoma that through an intracanalicular diffusion invades the basal epidermal layer, reaching the areola and nipple, producing a typical erythematous desquamative eczematous-like lesion. This neoplasia can remain undetected for a long time and inadequately treated as a dermatological affection. Synchronous or metachronous lesions are very uncommon. Surgical choice is conditioned by the presence of a tumor below the epidermal lesion, by its dimensions, and by the possible lymph node involvement. Surgical therapy can be radical or conservative. From our experience we think that lesion biopsy is always necessary to formulate a correct diagnosis and to schedule an appropriate therapeutic approach. In our case, a biopsy was performed first, then on the basis of the frozen section analysis a radical mastectomy with axillary third level lymph nodes dissection, because of the large dimensions of the lesion and the previous history of a methachronous lesion.

Correlation between clinical and histopathological diagnoses in periapical inflammatory lesions.

PubMed

Diegues, Liliane Lopes; Colombo Robazza, Carlos Roberto; Costa Hanemann, João Adolfo; Costa Pereira, Alessandro Antônio; Silva, Cléverson O

2011-08-01

  The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the correlation between clinical and histopathological diagnoses of periapical inflammatory lesions, focusing mainly on cystic conditions.   Files dating from 1998 to 2006 at the Oral Pathology Laboratory, School of Dentistry, Alfenas Federal University, Brazil, were reviewed to identify cases with histopathological diagnoses of periapical inflammatory lesions. A total of 1788 files were analyzed, and 255 cases were identified with clinical diagnoses of periapical inflammatory lesions.   The most prevalent clinical diagnosis was apical periodontal cyst (59%), followed by periapical granuloma (20%), and dentoalveolar abscess (2%). After histopathological analysis, 53% of the cases represented apical periodontal cyst, 42% periapical granuloma, and 5% dentoalveolar abscess.   The outcomes of the present study show a high prevalence of periapical cysts among periapical inflammatory lesions. Moreover, this study highlights the importance of histopathological evaluation for the correct diagnosis of periapical inflammatory lesions. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

A Unique Case of Melorheostosis Presenting with Two Radiologically Distinct Lesions in the Shoulder.

PubMed

Elsheikh, Ahmed A; Pinto, Rohan S; Mistry, Alpesh; Frostick, Simon P

2017-01-01

Melorheostosis is a rare, nonhereditary, benign, mesenchymal condition of unknown aetiology affecting the bones and surrounding tissues. A male patient complaining of left shoulder pain, swelling, and mildly limited range of motion has an exclusive combination of the classic dripping wax lesion in the scapula and the myositis ossificans-like lesion in the deltoid muscle; this combination is the first to be reported in the shoulder. Both lesions showed typical findings of melorheostosis in radiographs, CT, MRI, and bone scan. This case has a stationary course over the follow-up period, and no specific treatment is needed in due course.

A Unique Case of Melorheostosis Presenting with Two Radiologically Distinct Lesions in the Shoulder

PubMed Central

Pinto, Rohan S.; Mistry, Alpesh; Frostick, Simon P.

2017-01-01

Melorheostosis is a rare, nonhereditary, benign, mesenchymal condition of unknown aetiology affecting the bones and surrounding tissues. A male patient complaining of left shoulder pain, swelling, and mildly limited range of motion has an exclusive combination of the classic dripping wax lesion in the scapula and the myositis ossificans-like lesion in the deltoid muscle; this combination is the first to be reported in the shoulder. Both lesions showed typical findings of melorheostosis in radiographs, CT, MRI, and bone scan. This case has a stationary course over the follow-up period, and no specific treatment is needed in due course. PMID:29234550

Verruciform xanthoma of the penis: A rare benign lesion that simulates carcinoma.

PubMed

De Rose, Aldo Franco; Tosi, Mattia; Mantica, Guglielmo; Piol, Nataniele; Toncini, Carlo; Terrone, Carlo

2016-12-30

Verruciform xanthoma is a rare and benign condition predominantly affecting the oral cavity, but also skin and female anogenital mucosa. It can be flat, papular-warty or crateriform-cystic. Furthermore it can simulate HPV viral lesion such as condyloma and malignant neoplasia such as verrucous squamous cell carcinoma. An accurate diagnosis is important to avoid overtreatment, considering it is a benign lesion that does not require any radical treatment. We present an extremely rare case of a 64 year-old man with a small, slighty raised, gray reddish-dotted lesion on the left portion of the ventral side of his glans.

Thoroughness of skin examination by melanoma patients: Influence of age, sex and partner

PubMed Central

Boone, Susan L; Stapleton, Jerod; Turrisi, Rob; Ortiz, Sara; Robinson, June K; Mallett, Kimberly A

2010-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine the thoroughness of deliberate skin examination by people with a history of melanoma. Patients were randomized into one of two conditions: either to receive the brief educational and skills training intervention alone or as a couple with their spouse or cohabiting partner. Subjects recorded concerning lesions on body maps. At the 4-month visit, a total body skin examination was performed by a dermatologist blinded to the subjects’ condition and to their recorded responses. The skin surface was divided according to the region’s visibility during skin self-examination and sexual connotations: visible/not sexually sensitive, non-visible/not sexually sensitive and sexually sensitive. The primary point of comparison was missed lesions, defined as the difference between lesions recorded by the subjects and their partners and those recorded by the dermatologist. Among 130 participants, 56 subjects reported partner assistance while performing SSE. Participants missed more lesions in sexually sensitive areas than in the other regions. With the increasing age of the patient, the number of missed lesions in non-visible/not sexually sensitive and sexually sensitive areas decreased. Male patients assisted by female partners missed fewer lesions in all three regions than female patients assisted by male partners. In easily visible areas, male patients missed significantly fewer lesions than female patients (P = 0.01). Older couples performed more thorough partner-assisted skin examinations in non-visible and sexually sensitive areas than younger couples. Male patients who were assisted by female partners performed more thorough partner-assisted skin examinations than female patients assisted by male partners. PMID:19659978

Basolateral amygdala lesions and sensitivity to reinforcer magnitude in concurrent chains schedules.

PubMed

Helms, Christa M; Mitchell, Suzanne H

2008-08-22

Previous studies show that the basolateral amygdala (BLA) is required for behavior to adjust when the value of a reinforcer decreases after satiation or pairing with gastric distress. This study evaluated the effect of pre- or post-training excitotoxic lesions of the BLA on changes in preference with another type of contingency change, reinforcer magnitude reversal. Rats were trained to press left and right levers during a variable-interval choice phase for 50 microl or 150 microl sucrose delivered to consistent locations after a 16-s delay. Tones were presented during the first and last 2s of the delay to reinforcement. The tone frequency predicted the magnitude of sucrose reinforcement in baseline conditions. All groups acquired stable preference for the lever on the large (150 microl) reinforcer side. However, nose poking during the delay to large reinforcement was highly accurate (i.e., to the reinforced side) for all groups except the rats with BLA lesions induced before training, suggesting impaired control of behavior by the tone. After the acquisition of stable preference, the locations of the reinforcer magnitudes were unpredictably reversed for a single session. Pre-training lesions blunted changes in preference when the reinforcer magnitudes were reversed. Lesions induced after stable preference was acquired, but prior to reversal, did not disrupt changes in preference. The data suggest that the BLA contributes to the adaptation of choice behavior following changes in reinforcer magnitude. Impaired learning about the tone-reinforcer magnitude relationships may have disrupted discrimination of the reinforcer magnitude reversal.

All lesions great and small, part 1: diagnostic cytology in veterinary medicine.

PubMed

Sharkey, Leslie C; Seelig, Davis M; Overmann, Jed

2014-06-01

Cytopathology is a minimally invasive, rapid, and cost-effective diagnostic modality with broad utilization in veterinary medicine. Primary care clinicians often screen common cutaneous and subcutaneous aspirates, with other samples most frequently evaluated by board certified veterinary clinical pathologists in reference laboratories. Wright-Giemsa stains are frequently utilized with the application of ancillary diagnostics such as cytochemistry, immunocytochemistry, flow cytometry, and molecular diagnostic techniques complicated by the need to develop and validate species specific reagents and protocols. The interpretation of veterinary cytology samples must be undertaken with extensive knowledge of the breadth of animal species, which includes familiarity with the frequency and biological behavior of inflammatory, infectious, and neoplastic lesions that are influenced by species, breed, and husbandry conditions. This review is the first of two parts that focus on the most common domestic companion animal species (dog, cat, and horse), taking an organ system approach to survey important lesions that may be unique to veterinary species or have interesting correlates in human medicine. The first of the two-part series covers skin and subcutaneous tissue, the musculoskeletal system, and lymphoid organs. The cytologic features and biological behavior of similar lesions are compared, and selected molecular mechanisms of disease and ancillary diagnostics are reviewed when characterized. Supporting figures illustrate a subset of lesions. While not a comprehensive catalog of veterinary cytology, the goal is to give cytopathologists working in human medicine a general impression of correlates in veterinary practice. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Low-cholesterol and high-fat diets reduce atherosclerotic lesion development in ApoE-knockout mice.

PubMed

Calleja, L; París, M A; Paul, A; Vilella, E; Joven, J; Jiménez, A; Beltrán, G; Uceda, M; Maeda, N; Osada, J

1999-10-01

We have investigated the effect of most common oils used in human nutrition on the development of atherosclerosis in apoE-knockout mice. Seven groups of animals, separated according to sex, were fed for 10 weeks either chow diet or the chow diet 10% (wt/wt) enriched with different oils (palm, coconut, 2 types of olive oil, and 2 types of sunflower oil) without addition of cholesterol. At the end of this period, plasma lipid parameters were measured and vascular lesions scored. None of the diets induced changes in plasma cholesterol concentrations, whereas plasma triglycerides were uniformly reduced in all diet groups. Some diets caused significant reductions in the size of atherosclerotic lesions in males and others in females; males responded most to sunflower oils and females to palm oil and one olive oil (II). The lesion reduction in males consuming sunflower oils was associated with the decrease of triglycerides in triglyceride-rich lipoproteins, whereas the decrease in females consuming olive oil II or palm oil was accompanied by an increase in plasma apoA-I. The increase in plasma apoA-I in the latter condition, is mainly due to overexpression of hepatic message elicited by a mechanism independent of apoE ligand. The data suggest that the different diets modulate lesion development in a gender specific manner and by different mechanisms and that the development of atherosclerosis, due to genetic deficiencies, may be modulated by nutritional maneuvers that may be implemented in human nutrition.

Arthroscopic treatment of patients with anterolateral impingement of the ankle with and without chondral lesions.

PubMed

Mardani-Kivi, Mohsen; Mirbolook, Ahmadreza; Khajeh-Jahromi, Sina; Hassanzadeh, Rasool; Hashemi-Motlagh, Keyvan; Saheb-Ekhtiari, Khashayar

2013-01-01

Anterolateral impingement syndrome is defined as chronic pain in the ankle secondary to soft tissue impingement, hypertrophy, or tearing of the lateral and anterolateral ligaments of the ankle. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the results of arthroscopic treatment of anterolateral impingement syndrome and its association with chondral lesions. In this case series study, 23 patients with anterolateral impingement syndrome underwent arthroscopic debridement of the ankle. Simple radiography and magnetic resonance imaging were applied for all the patients to diagnose the spur condition and to exclude patients with other possible lesions. All the patients were evaluated preoperatively and at interval visits of 2, 4, and 6 weeks and 3 and 6 months postoperatively according to the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society criteria and Meislin score. The mean patient age was 38.13 ± 6.85 years. Significant differences were seen between the mean American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society scores, which was 59.21 before surgery and 83.56 and 88.13 at 3 and 6 months postoperatively, respectively. No significant differences were seen between the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society scores of the patients with or without chondral lesions. Arthroscopic treatment of anterolateral impingement syndrome is recommended as the treatment of choice and is still considerably effective in patients with chondral lesions. Copyright © 2013 American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Oral mucosal lesions in children from 0 to 12 years old: ten years' experience.

PubMed

Majorana, Alessandra; Bardellini, Elena; Flocchini, Pierangela; Amadori, Francesca; Conti, Giulio; Campus, Guglielmo

2010-07-01

The exact prevalence of oral lesions in childhood is not well known. We sought to define the prevalence of oral mucosal lesions in a large group of children. A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed using clinical charts from January 1997 to December 2007. Data collected included age, gender, and pathologic diagnosis. In total, 10,128 children (0-12 years old) were enrolled. Clinical diagnostic criteria proposed by the World Health Organization were followed. The frequency of children presenting oral mucosal lesions was 28.9%, and no differences related to gender were observed. The most frequent lesions recorded were oral candidiasis (28.4%), geographic tongue and other tongue lesions (18.5%), traumatic lesions (17.8%), recurrent aphthous ulcerations (14.8%), herpes simplex virus type 1 infections (9.3%), and erythema multiforme (0.9%). Children suffering from chronic diseases had a higher frequency of oral lesions compared with healthy children (chi-square: P < .01). Mucosal alterations in children are relatively common, and several oral disorders are associated with underlying medical conditions. Copyright (c) 2010 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Protective effect of remote ischemic per-conditioning in the ischemia and reperfusion-induce renal injury in rats.

PubMed

Yamaki, Vitor Nagai; Gonçalves, Thiago Barbosa; Coelho, João Vitor Baia; Pontes, Ruy Victor Simões; Costa, Felipe Lobato da Silva; Brito, Marcus Vinicius Henriques

2012-12-01

To evaluate the protective effect of remote ischemic per-conditioning in ischemia and reperfusion-induced renal injury. Fifteen rats (Rattus norvegicus) were randomized into three groups (n = 5): Group Normality (GN), Control Ischemia and Reperfusion (GIR) and Group remote ischemic per-conditioning (GPER). With the exception of the GN group, all others underwent renal ischemia for 30 minutes. In group GPER we performed the ischemic remote per-conditioning, consisting of three cycles of ischemia and reperfusion applied every five minutes during the ischemic period, to the left hindlimb of the rats by means of a tourniquet. To quantify the lesions we measured serum levels of creatinine and urea, as well as analyzed renal histopathology. The GPER group presented with better levels of urea (83.74 ± 14.58%) and creatinine (0.72 ± 26.14%) when compared to GIR group, approaching the GN group. Histopathologically, the lower levels of medullary congestion and hydropic degeneration were found in group GPER. The remote ischemic per-conditioning had a significant protective effect on renal ischemia and reperfusion.

Theories on the pathogenesis of endometriosis.

PubMed

Sourial, Samer; Tempest, Nicola; Hapangama, Dharani K

2014-01-01

Endometriosis is a common, chronic inflammatory disease defined by the presence of extrauterine endometrial tissue. The aetiology of endometriosis is complex and multifactorial, where several not fully confirmed theories describe its pathogenesis. This review examines existing theories on the initiation and propagation of different types of endometriotic lesions, as well as critically appraises the myriad of biologically relevant evidence that support or oppose each of the proposed theories. The current literature suggests that stem cells, dysfunctional immune response, genetic predisposition, and aberrant peritoneal environment may all be involved in the establishment and propagation of endometriotic lesions. An orchestrated scientific and clinical effort is needed to consider all factors involved in the pathogenesis of this multifaceted disease and to propose novel therapeutic targets to reach effective treatments for this distressing condition.

Bronchoscopic drainage of a malignant lung abscess.

PubMed

Katsenos, Stamatis; Psathakis, Konstantinos; Chatzivasiloglou, Fotini; Antonogiannaki, Elvira-Markela; Psara, Anthoula; Tsintiris, Konstantinos

2015-04-01

Bronchoscopic drainage of a pyogenic lung abscess is an established therapeutic approach in selected patients in whom conventional antibiotic therapy fails. This intervention has also been undertaken in patients with abscess owing to underlying lung cancer and prior combined radiochemotherapy. However, this procedure has rarely been performed in cavitary lesions of advanced tumor origin before initiating any chemotherapy/radiotherapy scheme. Herein, we describe a case of a 68-year-old woman with lung adenocarcinoma stage IIIB, who underwent bronchoscopic drainage of necrotizing tumor lesion, thus improving her initial poor clinical condition and rendering other treatment modalities, such as radiotherapy, more effective and beneficial. Bronchoscopic drainage of a symptomatic cancerous lung abscess should be considered as an alternative and palliative treatment approach in patients with advanced inoperable non-small cell lung cancer.

Theories on the Pathogenesis of Endometriosis

PubMed Central

Sourial, Samer; Hapangama, Dharani K.

2014-01-01

Endometriosis is a common, chronic inflammatory disease defined by the presence of extrauterine endometrial tissue. The aetiology of endometriosis is complex and multifactorial, where several not fully confirmed theories describe its pathogenesis. This review examines existing theories on the initiation and propagation of different types of endometriotic lesions, as well as critically appraises the myriad of biologically relevant evidence that support or oppose each of the proposed theories. The current literature suggests that stem cells, dysfunctional immune response, genetic predisposition, and aberrant peritoneal environment may all be involved in the establishment and propagation of endometriotic lesions. An orchestrated scientific and clinical effort is needed to consider all factors involved in the pathogenesis of this multifaceted disease and to propose novel therapeutic targets to reach effective treatments for this distressing condition. PMID:25763392

Effects of single and simultaneous lesions of serotonergic and noradrenergic pathways on open-space and bright-space anxiety-like behavior in two animal models.

PubMed

Sziray, Nóra; Kuki, Zsófia; Nagy, Katalin M; Markó, Bernadett; Kompagne, Hajnalka; Lévay, György

2010-05-01

The objective of the present study is to investigate the effects of single and simultaneous lesions of the noradrenergic and serotonergic pathways (NA-X, 5-HT-X and XX, respectively) by intracerebroventricular administration of selective neurotoxins N-(2-chloroethyl)-N-ethyl-2-bromobenzylamine-HCl (DSP-4) and 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT) on anxiety-like behavior in rats. To evaluate the effects of the various lesions, animals were tested in elevated plus-maze (EPM) and light-dark (LD) paradigms. In EPM, single lesions produced strong, statistically significant increase (p<0.001) of both time spent in the open arms (OT) and number of entries into the open arms (OE) compared to sham-lesioned animals. Simultaneous lesion further strengthened this anxiolytic effect causing an approximate 500% elevation of OT compared to sham-lesioned animals. In LD, 5-HT lesion caused a significant (p<0.05) increase in both light movement time and light horizontal activity parameters compared to intact, sham, and NA-lesioned groups. Neither of the lesions caused any change in the spontaneous locomotor activity of the animals up to 15min as measured in activity meter. These findings suggest that single and simultaneous lesions of 5-HT- and NA-pathways modify anxiety-related state of experimental animals to different extents and these modifications alter the behavior of animals differently in the two models used: NA-X and 5-HT-X reduce open space anxiety-like behavior and XX further strengthens this effect in the EPM, while only 5-HT-X is resulting in reduced bright-space anxiety-like behavior leaving the performance of NA-X and XX animals unchanged.

Recurrence rate and patient satisfaction of CO2 laser evaporation of lesions in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa: a retrospective study.

PubMed

Mikkelsen, Peter Riis; Dufour, Deirde Nathalie; Zarchi, Kian; Jemec, Gregor B E

2015-02-01

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a debilitating disease and is difficult to treat. Validation of surgical techniques is therefore of great importance in the management of HS. Carbon dioxide (CO2) laser evaporation has been shown effective, but larger-scale studies are scarce. To determine the recurrence rate, time to recurrence, and factors influencing disease recurrence in skin treated with CO2 laser evaporation, and healing by secondary intention; and patients' satisfaction with treatment. Fifty-eight patients treated with CO2 laser evaporation were interviewed regarding recurrence and satisfaction after a mean of 25.7 months. Seventeen of 58 (29%) reported recurrence of HS lesions within the borders of the treated areas after a mean of 12.7 months. Obesity was a risk factor for recurrence with a hazard ratio of 4.53. Fifty-five patients (95%) reported some or great improvement, and 91% would recommend the CO2 laser surgery to other HS patients. This study supports the claim that CO2 laser treatment is an effective modality for recurrent HS lesions in a majority of patients. The authors identified obesity as a risk factor for recurrence. Self-reported satisfaction is high, and only 3 of 58 report no change in the condition. None reported a worsening.

Effectiveness of an employee skin cancer screening program for secondary prevention.

PubMed

Uslu, Ugur; Hees, Felix; Winnik, Eva; Uter, Wolfgang; Sticherling, Michael

2016-08-01

Incidences of UV-induced skin cancer are continuously increasing. For this reason, early diagnosis is becoming more important. In this study, 783 employees of a technical company participated in an employee skin cancer screening program, which consisted of a physical examination for benign and malignant skin lesions and premalignant conditions. To ensure the quality of the examinations, screening was only performed by 5 trained dermatologists. Participants also were asked to complete a standardized questionnaire prior to examination. A total of 661 skin lesions were diagnosed among 48% of participants; 12.8% of participants exhibited 50 or more melanocytic nevi and the risk for developing skin cancer was categorized as at least moderate for 64.9%. Additionally, 84.4% of participants with at least 1 skin lesion were advised to have a checkup within 1 year. The high rate of suspicious nevi detected in this study suggested that employee skin cancer screening programs are effective and also should be recommended at companies where employees are not at increased risk for developing skin cancer due to the nature of their work (eg, those who work outdoors). Despite the comparatively selective and young study population, these examinations provide evidence of the importance of skin cancer screening for the wider population.

Precancerous Skin Lesions.

PubMed

Ferrándiz, C; Malvehy, J; Guillén, C; Ferrándiz-Pulido, C; Fernández-Figueras, M

Certain clinically and histologically recognizable skin lesions with a degree of risk of progression to squamous cell carcinoma have been traditionally grouped as precancerous skin conditions but now tend to be classified as in situ carcinomas. This consensus statement discusses various aspects of these lesions: their evaluation by means of clinical and histopathologic features, the initial evaluation of the patient, the identification of risk factors for progression, and the diagnostic and treatment strategies available today. Copyright © 2016 AEDV. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Initial Localization of the Memory Trace for a Basic Form of Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCormick, David A.; Clark, Gregory A.; Lavond, David G.; Thompson, Richard F.

1982-04-01

Electrophysiological recording of neuronal unit activity during paired training trials from various regions of the ipsilateral cerebellum in rabbits well trained in the classically conditioned eyelid/nictitating membrane response have revealed both stimulus-evoked responses and responses that form an amplitude/temporal model of the learned behavioral response. Ablation of the ipsilateral, lateral cerebellum completely and permanently abolished the behavioral conditioned response in well-trained animals but had no effect at all on the unconditioned reflex response. In marked contrast, conditioned responses were easily trained in the eye contralateral to the cerebellar lesion. We suggest that at least part of the essential neuronal plasticity that codes the learned response may be localized to the cerebellum.

Dorsal brain stem syndrome: MR imaging location of brain stem tegmental lesions in neonates with oral motor dysfunction.

PubMed

Quattrocchi, C C; Longo, D; Delfino, L N; Cilio, M R; Piersigilli, F; Capua, M D; Seganti, G; Danhaive, O; Fariello, G

2010-09-01

The anatomic extent of brain stem damage may provide information about clinical outcome and prognosis in children with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and oral motor dysfunction. The aim of this study was to retrospectively characterize the location and extent of brain stem lesions in children with oral motor dysfunction. From January 2005 to August 2009, 43 infants hospitalized at our institution were included in the study because of a history of hypoxic-ischemic events. Of this group, 14 patients showed oral motor dysfunction and brain stem tegmental lesions detected at MR imaging. MR imaging showed hypoxic-ischemic lesions in supra- and infratentorial areas. Six of 14 patients revealed only infratentorial lesions. Focal symmetric lesions of the tegmental brain stem were always present. The lesions appeared hyperintense on T2-weighted images and hypointense on IR images. We found a strong association (P < .0001) between oral motor dysfunction and infratentorial lesions on MR imaging. Oral motor dysfunction was associated with brain stem tegmental lesions in posthypoxic-ischemic infants. The MR imaging examination should be directed to the brain stem, especially when a condition of prolonged gavage feeding is necessary in infants.

Carbon dioxide laser effects on caries-like lesions of dental enamel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Featherstone, John D. B.; Zhang, S. H.; Shariati, M.; McCormack, Sandra M.

1991-05-01

Previous studies by the authors have shown that carbon dioxide (CO2) laser light has marked effects on dental hard tissues and that these effects are wavelength-dependent. The aim of the present study was to determine whether treatment by CO2 laser of caries-like lesions in human enamel would inhibit subsequent lesion progression. Nine groups of 10 teeth each with preformed caries-like lesions were treated with/without CO2 laser (9.32 micrometers , 15 mJ or 25 mJ per pulse) by a pulsed laser (100-200 nsec) for either 200 or 400 pulses. Preformed lesions were then treated with acidulated phosphate fluoride for 5 minutes with control groups with no fluoride treatment. Teeth were subjected to a subsequent pH cycling challenge to determine the protection against lesion progression. Low energy laser treatment coupled with fluoride treatment entirely inhibited subsequent lesion progression in this model system.

Tinea incognito due to Trichophyton mentagrophytes: case report.

PubMed

Quiñones, Camila; Hasbún, Paula; Gubelin, Walter

2016-11-09

Tineas are frequent infections caused by dermatophytes that are able to invade keratinized tissue, causing rounded, erythematous, scaly lesions. Nonetheless, in tinea incognito the lesions are modified because of inappropriate use of topical corticosteroids or calcineurin inhibitors, making it difficult to diagnose. We present a case of a 12-year-old male child that presents with erythematous lesions on the right eyebrow, which at first was diagnosed as a contact dermatitis, so corticosteroids were indicated. The lesions became more inflammatory and a fungus culture was requested, which was positive for Tricophyton mentagrophytes. The conclusion of this report is that tineas can mimic other dermatologic conditions therefore caution should be taken when prescribing topical corticosteroids or calcineurin inhibitors without diagnostic certainty because if lesions are caused by tinea, diagnosis and treatment may become more difficult.

Validation of carcass lesions as indicators for on-farm health and welfare of pigs.

PubMed

van Staaveren, N; Doyle, B; Manzanilla, E G; Calderón Díaz, J A; Hanlon, A; Boyle, L A

2017-04-01

Incorporating indicators for pig health and welfare at meat inspection could reduce the need for on-farm assessments. Skin and tail lesions are important welfare indicators in pigs with good potential to record during meat inspection and could possibly function as iceberg indicators of on farm welfare. The aim of this study was to validate the use of these carcass lesions at meat inspection for the assessment of pig health and welfare on farm. Thirty-one farrow-to-finish pig farms (∼12% of Irish herds) were assessed using an adapted version of the Welfare Quality protocol by inspecting 6 randomly selected pens of pigs in the first weaner (4 to 8 wk), second weaner (8 to 13 wk) and finisher stage (13 to 23 wk). The average prevalence of welfare outcomes for each stage was calculated. One batch of pigs was observed at slaughter and skin and tail lesions were scored according to severity for each carcass. The average prevalence of carcass lesion outcomes was calculated for each farm. Linear regression models were developed to predict the prevalence of each welfare outcome in each stage based on the prevalence of the different carcass lesions. The welfare outcomes of different welfare aspects that were best predicted by abattoir information (highest ) were poor body condition (first weaner stage), bursitis (second weaner stage), huddling (first weaner stage), severe tail lesions (finisher stage) and coughing (second weaner stage). Regression trees and receiver-operating curves (ROC) were used to evaluate the usefulness of carcass lesions as monitoring tools. Receiver-operating curves were created using the 75th percentile to classify farms as a problem farm for these welfare outcomes. Cut-off values of predictive carcass lesion prevalence were similar using both techniques. Models for predicting problem farms with poor body condition, bursitis and severe tail lesions were moderately accurate. Sensitivity and specificity ranged from 75 to 100% and 70 to 87%, respectively at the optimal cut-off value of the predictive carcass lesion prevalence. Results show potential for using carcass skin and tail lesions as iceberg indicators of pig health and welfare on farm. Future work is needed to evaluate the cost of including carcass lesion recording at meat inspection, the cost of failing to identify problem farms and the cost of incorrectly visiting or penalizing problem farms before carcass lesions can be used as welfare indicators in a commercial setting.

[Electrocautery and bronchoscopy as a first step for the management of central airway obstruction and associated hemoptysis].

PubMed

Jalilie, Alfredo; Carvajal, Juan Carlos; Aparicio, Rodrigo; Meneses, Manuel

2016-11-01

Central airway obstruction caused by malignant or benign lesions, associated in some cases with hemoptysis, is a condition with high morbidity and mortality. The use of electrocautery by flexible bronchoscopy is an initial treatment option with immediate improvement of obstruction symptoms. It is as effective as Nd: YAG laser. To describe the usefulness of electrocautery in the management of central obstruction of the airway and hemoptysis. A retrospective, descriptive study of patients referred for management of central airway obstruction or associated hemoptysis. Diagnoses, symptoms (dyspnea, cough, and hemoptysis) and radiology before and after the procedures were analyzed. Eighteen patients aged 59 ± 12 years (66% males) were evaluated, registering 25 endoscopic procedures. Three conditions were found: partial or complete airway obstruction, hemoptysis and post lung transplant bronchial stenosis. Seventy two percent presented with dyspnea, 61% with cough and 33% with hemoptysis. Sixty six percent of patients had airway obstruction caused by malignant metastatic lesions. After electrocautery, 17 patients (94.4%) improved their symptoms and achieved complete airway clearing. Three patients had significant bronchial stenosis after lung transplant achieving subsequent clearing after electrocautery. Electrocautery during flexible bronchoscopy is an effective and safe procedure for the management of central airway obstruction and associated hemoptysis.

The effect of developer age on the detection of approximal caries using three dental films.

PubMed

Syriopoulos, K; Velders, X L; Sanderink, G C; van Ginkel, F C; van Amerongen, J P; van der Stelt, P F

1999-07-01

To compare the diagnostic accuracy for the detection of approximal caries of three dental X-ray films using fresh and aged processing chemicals. Fifty-six extracted unrestored premolars were radiographed under standardized conditions using the new Dentus M2 (Agfa-Gevaert, Mortsel, Belgium), Ektaspeed Plus and Ultra-speed (Kodak Eastman Co, Rochester, USA) dental films. The films were processed manually using Agfa chemicals (Heraeus Kulzer, Dormagen, Germany). The procedure was repeated once a week until the complete exhaustion of the chemicals (6 weeks). Three independent observers assessed 210 radiographs using the following rating scale: 0 = sound, 1 = enamel lesion; 2 = lesion reaching the ADJ; 3 = dentinal lesion. True caries depth was determined by histological examination (14 sound surfaces, 11 enamel lesions, eight lesions reaching the ADJ and 23 dentinal lesions). True caries depth was subtracted from the values given by the observers and an analysis of variance was performed. The null hypothesis was rejected when P < 0.05. No significant differences were found in the diagnostic accuracy between the three films when using chemicals of up to 3 weeks old (P = 0.056). After the third week, Ultra-speed was significantly better than the other two films (P = 0.012). On average caries depth was underestimated. A similar level of diagnostic accuracy for approximal caries is achieved when using the three films. Dentus M2 and Ektaspeed Plus are at present the fastest available films and they should therefore be recommended for clinical practice. Agfa chemicals should be renewed every 3 weeks. Fifty per cent reduction in average gradient is indicative of renewing processing chemicals.

Dorsal Medial Habenula Regulation of Mood-Related Behaviors and Primary Reinforcement by Tachykinin-Expressing Habenula Neurons

PubMed Central

Hsu, Yun-Wei A.

2016-01-01

Abstract Animal models have been developed to investigate aspects of stress, anxiety, and depression, but our understanding of the circuitry underlying these models remains incomplete. Prior studies of the habenula, a poorly understood nucleus in the dorsal diencephalon, suggest that projections to the medial habenula (MHb) regulate fear and anxiety responses, whereas the lateral habenula (LHb) is involved in the expression of learned helplessness, a model of depression. Tissue-specific deletion of the transcription factor Pou4f1 in the dorsal MHb (dMHb) results in a developmental lesion of this subnucleus. These dMHb-ablated mice show deficits in voluntary exercise, a possible correlate of depression. Here we explore the role of the dMHb in mood-related behaviors and intrinsic reinforcement. Lesions of the dMHb do not elicit changes in contextual conditioned fear. However, dMHb-lesioned mice exhibit shorter immobility time in the tail suspension test, another model of depression. dMHb-lesioned mice also display increased vulnerability to the induction of learned helplessness. However, this effect is not due specifically to the dMHb lesion, but appears to result from Pou4f1 haploinsufficiency elsewhere in the nervous system. Pou4f1 haploinsufficiency does not produce the other phenotypes associated with dMHb lesions. Using optogenetic intracranial self-stimulation, intrinsic reinforcement by the dMHb can be mapped to a specific population of neurokinin-expressing habenula neurons. Together, our data show that the dMHb is involved in the regulation of multiple mood-related behaviors, but also support the idea that these behaviors do not reflect a single functional pathway. PMID:27482535

Dorsal Medial Habenula Regulation of Mood-Related Behaviors and Primary Reinforcement by Tachykinin-Expressing Habenula Neurons.

PubMed

Hsu, Yun-Wei A; Morton, Glenn; Guy, Elizabeth G; Wang, Si D; Turner, Eric E

2016-01-01

Animal models have been developed to investigate aspects of stress, anxiety, and depression, but our understanding of the circuitry underlying these models remains incomplete. Prior studies of the habenula, a poorly understood nucleus in the dorsal diencephalon, suggest that projections to the medial habenula (MHb) regulate fear and anxiety responses, whereas the lateral habenula (LHb) is involved in the expression of learned helplessness, a model of depression. Tissue-specific deletion of the transcription factor Pou4f1 in the dorsal MHb (dMHb) results in a developmental lesion of this subnucleus. These dMHb-ablated mice show deficits in voluntary exercise, a possible correlate of depression. Here we explore the role of the dMHb in mood-related behaviors and intrinsic reinforcement. Lesions of the dMHb do not elicit changes in contextual conditioned fear. However, dMHb-lesioned mice exhibit shorter immobility time in the tail suspension test, another model of depression. dMHb-lesioned mice also display increased vulnerability to the induction of learned helplessness. However, this effect is not due specifically to the dMHb lesion, but appears to result from Pou4f1 haploinsufficiency elsewhere in the nervous system. Pou4f1 haploinsufficiency does not produce the other phenotypes associated with dMHb lesions. Using optogenetic intracranial self-stimulation, intrinsic reinforcement by the dMHb can be mapped to a specific population of neurokinin-expressing habenula neurons. Together, our data show that the dMHb is involved in the regulation of multiple mood-related behaviors, but also support the idea that these behaviors do not reflect a single functional pathway.

Primary stenting of subclavian and innominate artery occlusive disease: a single center's experience.

PubMed

Brountzos, E N; Petersen, B; Binkert, C; Panagiotou, I; Kaufman, J A

2004-01-01

To review immediate and midterm results of primary stenting for innominate and subclavian artery occlusive lesions. Retrospective data were collected from 48 consecutive symptomatic patients (27 men and 21 women, median age 64 years) having 49 subclavian and innominate artery lesions treated with stenting. Of the patients 52% had concomitant ischemic heart disease, and 30% had carotid and/or vertebral artery disease. Indication for treatment was vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI) in 16.6% of the patients; upper limb ischemia (ULI) in 31.3%; VBI and ULI in 12.5%; transient ischemic attack in 16.7%; angina in 12.5% before or after left internal mammary artery-to-coronary artery bypass grafting; and leg claudication in 10.4% before or after axillofemoral bypass grafting. Balloon-expandable stents were used in 44 lesions and self-expandable stents in 5 lesions. In total, 53 stents were placed in 48 patients. Technical success was 96%, and clinical success 94%. We encountered four complications (two puncture site hematomas, one distal hand embolization and one transient cerebral ischemia). Two patients died within 30 days from other causes, and seven patients were lost to follow-up. Mean follow-up time was 16.7 months (range 0.3 to 68.2). Five patients had recurrent lesions treated by surgical (n = 2) or endovascular (n = 3) means. Cumulative primary patency rate was 91.7% and 77% at 12 and 24 months, respectively. Cumulative secondary patency rate was 96.5% and 91.7% at 12 and 24 months, respectively. Stenting of subclavian and innominate artery lesions resulted in immediate resolution of patients' symptoms with durable midterm effect and few complications in a larger patient group with serious comorbid conditions.

Ingrowing Hair

PubMed Central

Luo, Di-Qing; Liang, Yu-Hua; Li, Xi-Qing; Zhao, Yu-Kun; Wang, Fang; Sarkar, Rashmi

2016-01-01

Abstract Cutaneous pili migrans and creeping eruption caused by parasitic diseases may present as a moving linear lesion in skin. The former, caused by a hair shaft or fragment embedded in the superficial skin or middle dermis, is a rare condition characterized by creeping eruption with a black line observed at the advancing end. In exceptionally rare instance, the hair grows inside the skin and burrows in the uppermost dermis, such a condition has been called “ingrown hair.” We report a 30-year-old Chinese man, who was accustomed to pull or extrude the beard hairs, with 1-year history of slowly extending black linear eruption on his right chin. Cutaneous examination revealed a 4-cm long black linear lesion beneath the skin associated with edematous erythema around and folliculitis on both ends of the lesion. After treatment with topical mupirocin ointment, the erythema and folliculitis improved and 2 hairs of the beard with hair follicles were pulled out from the skin. Two weeks later, another similar black line about 1 cm in length in the skin presented on the prior lesional area, which was pulled out by a shallow incision of the skin and was also demonstrated as a beard hair with hair follicle. The patient was diagnosed as “ingrowing hair” with multiple recurrences. The lesions recovered after the beard hairs were pulled out. No recurrence occurred in a year of follow-up. We suggest that “ingrowing hair” is better than “ingrown hair” to describe such a condition. Pulling out the involved hair and correcting the bad practice are its optimal management strategies. PMID:27175694

Photochemical mechanisms of ocular photic injury (Abstract Only)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stuck, Bruce E.; Lund, David J.; Zuclich, Joseph A.

2000-03-01

Mechanisms of photic injury to the eye can be categorized as photochemical, photothermal or photodistruptive. Exposure wavelength, exposure duration, ocular tissue characteristics and response criteria are key factors in the delineation of the ocular injury mechanisms. Depending on the exposure condition, one or all of the laser-tissue interaction mechanisms can be involved. Although photic injury to the eye was initially assumed to involve thermal mechanisms, more recent research has demonstrated that ocular effects can be produced by light exposure without a significant retinal temperature rise. Photochemical mechanisms are also implicated in UV photic injury to the cornea and lens. Exposure of the retina to short visible wavelengths for prolonged durations results in photochemical retinal damage with negligible localized retinal temperature elevation. For exposure conditions where photochemical mechanisms are dominate, the reciprocity of irradiance and exposure duration is apparent. The latency until observation of a photochemical lesion is often 24-48 hours whereas a thermal lesion is observed immediately or within a few hours after the exposure. Action spectra for photochemical injury to the eye are discussed in the context of ocular injury thresholds and current permissible exposure limits.

Low level laser therapy in healing tendon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carvalho, P. T. C.; Batista, Cheila O. C.; Fabíola, C.

2005-11-01

This study aims to verify the effects of AsGa Laser in the scarring of tendon lesion in rats with low nourishment condition and to analyze the ideal light density by means of histopathologic findings highlighted by light microscopy. After the proposed nutritional condition was verified the animals were divided into 3 groups denominated as follows: GI control group, GII laser 1 J/sq.cm. and GIII laser 4 J/sq.cm. The lesions were induced by means of routine surgical process for tendon exposure: There was a crushing process with Allis pincers followed by saturated incision. The data obtained in relation to the amount of macrophage, leukocyte, fibroblast, vessel neoformation, fibrosis and collagen were submitted to parametric statistic procedures of variance analysis and "Tukey" Test and the result obtained was p < 0,05. According to the obtained results it can be concluded that low power laser therapy proved to be efficient in tendon repairing even though the animals suffered from malnutrition as well as the 1 J energy density proved to be more efficient in this case.

Low-level lasers affect Escherichia coli cultures in hyperosmotic stress

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinheiro, C. C.; Barboza, L. L.; Paoli, F.; Fonseca, A. S.

2015-08-01

Physical characteristics and practical properties have made lasers of interest for biomedical applications. Effects of low-level lasers on biological tissues could occur or be measurable depending on cell type, presence of a pathologic process or whether the cells are in an adverse environment. The objective of this work was to evaluate the survival, morphology and filamentation of E. coli cells proficient and deficient in the repair of oxidative DNA lesions exposed low-level red and infrared lasers submitted to hyperosmotic stress. Wild type and endonuclease VIII deficient E. coli cells in exponential and stationary growth phase were exposed to red and infrared lasers and submitted to hyperosmotic stress. Cell viability, filamentation phenotype and cell morphology were evaluated. Cell viability was not significantly altered but previous laser exposure induced filamentation and an altered area of stressed cells depending on physiologic condition and presence of the DNA repair. Results suggest that previous exposure to low-level red and infrared lasers could not affect viability but induced morphologic changes in cells submitted to hyperosmotic stress depending on physiologic conditions and repair of oxidative DNA lesions.

Practical use of imaging technique for management of bone and soft tissue tumors.

PubMed

Miwa, Shinji; Otsuka, Takanobu

2017-05-01

Imaging modalities including radiography, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are necessary for the diagnosis of bone and soft tissue tumors. The history of imaging began with the discovery of X-rays in the 19th century. The development of CT, MRI, ultrasonography, and positron emission tomography (PET) have improved the management of bone and soft tissue tumors. X-ray imaging and CT scans enable the evaluation of bone destruction, periosteal reaction, sclerotic changes in lesions, condition of cortical bone, and ossification. MRI enables the assessment of tissue characteristics, tumor extent, and the reactive areas. Functional imaging modalities including 201 thallium ( 201 Tl) scintigraphy can be used to differentiate benign lesions from malignant lesions and to assess chemotherapeutic effects. Real-time assessment of soft tissue tumors by ultrasonography enables accurate and safe performance of surgery and biopsy. This article describes useful imaging modalities and characteristic findings in the management of bone and soft tissue tumors. Copyright © 2017 The Japanese Orthopaedic Association. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Combined ERP/fMRI evidence for early word recognition effects in the posterior inferior temporal gyrus.

PubMed

Dien, Joseph; Brian, Eric S; Molfese, Dennis L; Gold, Brian T

2013-10-01

Two brain regions with established roles in reading are the posterior middle temporal gyrus and the posterior fusiform gyrus (FG). Lesion studies have also suggested that the region located between them, the posterior inferior temporal gyrus (pITG), plays a central role in word recognition. However, these lesion results could reflect disconnection effects since neuroimaging studies have not reported consistent lexicality effects in pITG. Here we tested whether these reported pITG lesion effects are due to disconnection effects or not using parallel Event-related Potentials (ERP)/functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. We predicted that the Recognition Potential (RP), a left-lateralized ERP negativity that peaks at about 200-250 msec, might be the electrophysiological correlate of pITG activity and that conditions that evoke the RP (perceptual degradation) might therefore also evoke pITG activity. In Experiment 1, twenty-three participants performed a lexical decision task (temporally flanked by supraliminal masks) while having high-density 129-channel ERP data collected. In Experiment 2, a separate group of fifteen participants underwent the same task while having fMRI data collected in a 3T scanner. Examination of the ERP data suggested that a canonical RP effect was produced. The strongest corresponding effect in the fMRI data was in the vicinity of the pITG. In addition, results indicated stimulus-dependent functional connectivity between pITG and a region of the posterior FG near the Visual Word Form Area (VWFA) during word compared to nonword processing. These results provide convergent spatiotemporal evidence that the pITG contributes to early lexical access through interaction with the VWFA. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Network localization of neurological symptoms from focal brain lesions

PubMed Central

Prasad, Sashank; Liu, Hesheng; Liu, Qi; Pascual-Leone, Alvaro; Caviness, Verne S.; Fox, Michael D.

2015-01-01

A traditional and widely used approach for linking neurological symptoms to specific brain regions involves identifying overlap in lesion location across patients with similar symptoms, termed lesion mapping. This approach is powerful and broadly applicable, but has limitations when symptoms do not localize to a single region or stem from dysfunction in regions connected to the lesion site rather than the site itself. A newer approach sensitive to such network effects involves functional neuroimaging of patients, but this requires specialized brain scans beyond routine clinical data, making it less versatile and difficult to apply when symptoms are rare or transient. In this article we show that the traditional approach to lesion mapping can be expanded to incorporate network effects into symptom localization without the need for specialized neuroimaging of patients. Our approach involves three steps: (i) transferring the three-dimensional volume of a brain lesion onto a reference brain; (ii) assessing the intrinsic functional connectivity of the lesion volume with the rest of the brain using normative connectome data; and (iii) overlapping lesion-associated networks to identify regions common to a clinical syndrome. We first tested our approach in peduncular hallucinosis, a syndrome of visual hallucinations following subcortical lesions long hypothesized to be due to network effects on extrastriate visual cortex. While the lesions themselves were heterogeneously distributed with little overlap in lesion location, 22 of 23 lesions were negatively correlated with extrastriate visual cortex. This network overlap was specific compared to other subcortical lesions (P < 10−5) and relative to other cortical regions (P < 0.01). Next, we tested for generalizability of our technique by applying it to three additional lesion syndromes: central post-stroke pain, auditory hallucinosis, and subcortical aphasia. In each syndrome, heterogeneous lesions that themselves had little overlap showed significant network overlap in cortical areas previously implicated in symptom expression (P < 10−4). These results suggest that (i) heterogeneous lesions producing similar symptoms share functional connectivity to specific brain regions involved in symptom expression; and (ii) publically available human connectome data can be used to incorporate these network effects into traditional lesion mapping approaches. Because the current technique requires no specialized imaging of patients it may prove a versatile and broadly applicable approach for localizing neurological symptoms in the setting of brain lesions. PMID:26264514

Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy as an adjunct for treatment of deep carious lesions-A systematic review.

PubMed

Cieplik, Fabian; Buchalla, Wolfgang; Hellwig, Elmar; Al-Ahmad, Ali; Hiller, Karl-Anton; Maisch, Tim; Karygianni, Lamprini

2017-06-01

For deep carious lesions, a more conservative treatment modality ("selective caries removal") has been proposed, where only the heavily contaminated dentine is removed. In this regard, effective adjuncts for cavity disinfection such as the antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) can be valuable clinically prior to definitive restoration. Therefore, the aim of this study was to systematically assess clinical studies on the effectiveness of aPDT as a supplementary tool in the treatment of deep caries lesions. Searches were performed in four databases (PubMed, EMBASE, ISI Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov) from 1st January, 2011 until 21st June, 2016 for search terms relevant to the observed parameters, pathological condition, intervention and anatomic entity. The pooled information was evaluated according to PRISMA guidelines. At first, 1651 articles were recovered, of which 1249 full-text articles were evaluated, 270 articles thereof were reviewed for eligibility and finally 6 articles met all inclusion criteria. The aPDT protocols involved Methylene Blue, Toluidine Blue and aluminium-chloride-phthalocyanine as photosensitizers and diode lasers, light-emitting diodes and halogen light-sources. The data from five reports, utilizing both culture-dependent and -independent methods, disclosed significant reduction of cariogenic bacterial load after mechanical caries removal with adjunct aPDT. As these studies exhibit some methodological limitations, e.g. lack of positive controls, this systematic review can support the application of aPDT to a limited extent only in terms of reducing the microbial load in deep carious lesions before restorative treatment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Strength and fine dexterity recovery profiles after a primary motor cortex insult and effect of a neuronal cell graft.

PubMed

Vaysse, Laurence; Conchou, Fabrice; Demain, Boris; Davoust, Carole; Plas, Benjamin; Ruggieri, Cyrielle; Benkaddour, Mehdi; Simonetta-Moreau, Marion; Loubinoux, Isabelle

2015-08-01

The aim of this study was to set up (a) a large primary motor cortex (M1) lesion in rodent and (b) the conditions for evaluating a long-lasting motor deficit in order to propose a valid model to test neuronal replacement therapies aimed at improving motor deficit recovery. A mitochondrial toxin, malonate, was injected to induce extensive destruction of the forelimb M1 cortex. Three key motor functions that are usually evaluated following cerebral lesion in the clinic-strength, target reaching, and fine dexterity-were assessed in rats by 2 tests, a forelimb grip strength test and a skilled reaching task (staircase) for reaching and dexterity. The potential enhancement of postlesion recovery induced by a neuronal cell transplantation was then explored and confirmed by histological analyses. Both tests showed a severe functional impairment 2 days post lesion, however, reaching remained intact. Deficits in forelimb strength were long lasting (up to 3 months) but spontaneously recovered despite the extensive lesion size. This natural grip strength recovery could be enhanced by cell therapy. Histological analyses confirmed the presence of grafted cells 3 months postgraft and showed partial tissue reconstruction with some living neuronal cells in the graft. In contrast, fine dexterity never recovered in the staircase test even after grafting. These results suggest that cell replacement was only partially effective and that the forelimb M1 area may be a node of the sensorimotor network, where compensation from secondary pathways could account for strength recovery but recovery of forelimb fine dexterity requires extensive tissue reconstruction. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Ablation of Mouse Adult Neurogenesis Alters Olfactory Bulb Structure and Olfactory Fear Conditioning

PubMed Central

Valley, Matthew T.; Mullen, Tanner R.; Schultz, Lucy C.; Sagdullaev, Botir T.; Firestein, Stuart

2009-01-01

Adult neurogenesis replenishes olfactory bulb (OB) interneurons throughout the life of most mammals, yet during this constant flux it remains unclear how the OB maintains a constant structure and function. In the mouse OB, we investigated the dynamics of turnover and its impact on olfactory function by ablating adult neurogenesis with an x-ray lesion to the sub-ventricular zone (SVZ). Regardless of the magnitude of the lesion to the SVZ, we found no change in the survival of young adult born granule cells (GCs) born after the lesion, and a gradual decrease in the population of GCs born before the lesion. After a lesion producing a 96% reduction of incoming adult born GCs to the OB, we found a diminished behavioral fear response to conditioned odor cues but not to audio cues. Interestingly, despite this behavioral deficit and gradual anatomical changes, we found no electrophysiological changes in the GC population assayed in vivo through dendro-dendritic synaptic plasticity and odor-evoked local field potential oscillations. These data indicate that turnover in the granule cell layer is generally decoupled from the rate of adult neurogenesis, and that OB adult neurogenesis plays a role in a wide behavioral system extending beyond the OB. PMID:20582278

Comparison of Respiratory Disease Prevalence among Voluntary Monitoring Systems for Pig Health and Welfare in the UK.

PubMed

Eze, J I; Correia-Gomes, C; Borobia-Belsué, J; Tucker, A W; Sparrow, D; Strachan, D W; Gunn, G J

2015-01-01

Surveillance of animal diseases provides information essential for the protection of animal health and ultimately public health. The voluntary pig health schemes, implemented in the United Kingdom, are integrated systems which capture information on different macroscopic disease conditions detected in slaughtered pigs. Many of these conditions have been associated with a reduction in performance traits and consequent increases in production costs. The schemes are the Wholesome Pigs Scotland in Scotland, the BPEX Pig Health Scheme in England and Wales and the Pig Regen Ltd. health and welfare checks done in Northern Ireland. This report set out to compare the prevalence of four respiratory conditions (enzootic pneumonia-like lesions, pleurisy, pleuropneumonia lesions and abscesses in the lung) assessed by these three Pig Health Schemes. The seasonal variations and year trends associated with the conditions in each scheme are presented. The paper also highlights the differences in prevalence for each condition across these schemes and areas where further research is needed. A general increase in the prevalence of enzootic pneumonia like lesions was observed in Scotland, England and Wales since 2009, while a general decrease was observed in Northern Ireland over the years of the scheme. Pleurisy prevalence has increased since 2010 in all three schemes, whilst pleuropneumonia has been decreasing. Prevalence of abscesses in the lung has decreased in England, Wales and Northern Ireland but has increased in Scotland. This analysis highlights the value of surveillance schemes based on abattoir pathology monitoring of four respiratory lesions. The outputs at scheme level have significant value as indicators of endemic and emerging disease, and for producers and herd veterinarians in planning and evaluating herd health control programs when comparing individual farm results with national averages.

Altered expression of antimicrobial peptide genes in the skin of dogs with atopic dermatitis and other inflammatory skin conditions.

PubMed

Lancto, Cheryl A; Torres, Sheila M F; Hendrickson, Julie A; Martins, Kyra V; Rutherford, Mark S

2013-08-01

Reports indicate that human and canine patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) have reduced production of several skin antimicrobial peptides, but more recent data have called those results into question. To compare the mRNA expression of seven antimicrobial peptide genes in lesional and adjacent nonlesional skin biopsy specimens from dogs with AD with those from normal dogs and from dogs experiencing other inflammatory skin conditions. Normal dogs and patients with AD or other inflammatory skin conditions were enrolled with owner permission and approval of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Transcripts were measured by quantitative RT-PCR using a standard curve assessment. Normal transcript levels for all seven antimicrobial peptides varied depending on the body site assessed. Transcripts for secretory leukocyte proteinase inhibitor (SLPI) and skin-derived antileucoproteinase (SKALP; also known as elafin) were typically ~10-fold greater in number than transcripts for the canine β-defensins (CBD)-1, -102, -103, -122 and -124. Transcripts for SKALP, SLPI, CBD-1, CBD-103 and CBD-122 were lower in both lesional and adjacent nonlesional skin from dogs with AD in comparison to normal skin. Transcripts were reduced to a similar extent versus normal dogs in skin of dogs with inflammatory skin conditions from both lesional and nonlesional biopsies, except for CBD-122, which was reduced only in lesional skin. Compared with normal dog skin, transcripts for CBD-102 and CBD-124 were unaffected in dogs with AD. Both SKALP and SLPI may be important contributors to skin innate immunity, but their decreased expression in AD patients does not account for increased skin infections compared with other skin conditions. © 2013 The Authors. Veterinary Dermatology © 2013 ESVD and ACVD.

Psychogenic Purpura (Gardner-Diamond Syndrome)

PubMed Central

Bhattacharya, Gaurav

2015-01-01

Psychogenic purpura, also known as Gardner-Diamond syndrome or autoerythrocyte sensitization syndrome, is a rare condition characterized by spontaneous development of painful edematous skin lesions progressing to ecchymosis over the next 24 hours. Severe stress and emotional trauma always precede the skin lesions. The condition is most commonly seen in women, but isolated cases have been reported in adolescents and in males. Psychodermatologic evaluation and dermatology and psychiatry liaison have been successful in the treatment of these patients. This report provides an overview of psychogenic purpura and presents the case of a 15-year-old girl. PMID:26137346

Focal cemento-osseous dysplasia masquerading as a residual cyst

PubMed Central

Bhandari, Rajat; Sandhu, Simarpreet V.; Bansal, Himanta; Behl, Rashi; Bhullar, Ramanpreet Kaur

2012-01-01

Focal cemento-osseous dysplasia (FCOD) is a benign fibroosseous condition that can be seen in dentulous and edentulous patients. It is an asymptomatic lesion and needs no treatment; however, follow-up is essential due to the possibility that it can progress to a condition called florid cemento-osseous dysplasia. We report a case of FCOD of mandible in a 25-year-old female. Clinically, the lesion resembled periapical pathosis of odontogenic origin. An attempt has been made to discuss the clinical and histopathologic features along with differential diagnosis of cemento-osseous dysplasia. PMID:22629069

Focal cemento-osseous dysplasia masquerading as a residual cyst.

PubMed

Bhandari, Rajat; Sandhu, Simarpreet V; Bansal, Himanta; Behl, Rashi; Bhullar, Ramanpreet Kaur

2012-04-01

Focal cemento-osseous dysplasia (FCOD) is a benign fibroosseous condition that can be seen in dentulous and edentulous patients. It is an asymptomatic lesion and needs no treatment; however, follow-up is essential due to the possibility that it can progress to a condition called florid cemento-osseous dysplasia. We report a case of FCOD of mandible in a 25-year-old female. Clinically, the lesion resembled periapical pathosis of odontogenic origin. An attempt has been made to discuss the clinical and histopathologic features along with differential diagnosis of cemento-osseous dysplasia.

Diagnosis and management of premalignant penile lesions

PubMed Central

Shabbir, Majid; Minhas, Suks; Muneer, Asif

2011-01-01

Diagnosing premalignant penile lesions from benign penile dermatoses presents a unique challenge. The rarity of these conditions and the low incidence of penile cancer mean that the majority of our knowledge is based on small, non-randomized, retrospective studies. The introduction of specialist penile cancer centres in the UK has resulted in the centralization of expertise and resources, and has furthered our understanding of the biological behaviour and management of this rare malignancy. We review the current trends in the approach to diagnosing and treating various premalignant penile conditions. PMID:21904571

Effect of Battlefield Acupuncture and Physical Therapy Versus Physical Therapy Alone After Shoulder Surgery

ClinicalTrials.gov

2018-05-14

Opioid Use; Pain, Postoperative; SLAP Lesion; Bankart Lesion; Subacromial Impingement Syndrome; Rotator Cuff Tear; Glenohumeral Dislocation; Glenohumeral Subluxation; Hill Sach Lesion; Bony Bankart Lesion; Acromioclavicular Separation

Interdigital erosions - tinea pedis?

PubMed

Orgaz-Molina, Jacinto; Orgaz-Molina, Maria Carmen; Cutugno, Marilena; Arias-Santiago, Salvador

2012-10-01

Interdigital erosions are frequently due to tinea pedis. However, other infectious conditions, such as candidiasis, erythrasma or bacterial infections, can generate lesions that cannot be differentiated at the clinical level. Microbiological tests are therefore necessary. This clinical case shows a man with interdigital lesions of 10 months of evolution that are not responding to antifungal treatment.

The Lesioned Spinal Cord Is a “New” Spinal Cord: Evidence from Functional Changes after Spinal Injury in Lamprey

PubMed Central

Parker, David

2017-01-01

Finding a treatment for spinal cord injury (SCI) focuses on reconnecting the spinal cord by promoting regeneration across the lesion site. However, while regeneration is necessary for recovery, on its own it may not be sufficient. This presumably reflects the requirement for regenerated inputs to interact appropriately with the spinal cord, making sub-lesion network properties an additional influence on recovery. This review summarizes work we have done in the lamprey, a model system for SCI research. We have compared locomotor behavior (swimming) and the properties of descending inputs, locomotor networks, and sensory inputs in unlesioned animals and animals that have received complete spinal cord lesions. In the majority (∼90%) of animals swimming parameters after lesioning recovered to match those in unlesioned animals. Synaptic inputs from individual regenerated axons also matched the properties in unlesioned animals, although this was associated with changes in release parameters. This suggests against any compensation at these synapses for the reduced descending drive that will occur given that regeneration is always incomplete. Compensation instead seems to occur through diverse changes in cellular and synaptic properties in locomotor networks and proprioceptive systems below, but also above, the lesion site. Recovery of locomotor performance is thus not simply the reconnection of the two sides of the spinal cord, but reflects a distributed and varied range of spinal cord changes. While locomotor network changes are insufficient on their own for recovery, they may facilitate locomotor outputs by compensating for the reduction in descending drive. Potentiated sensory feedback may in turn be a necessary adaptation that monitors and adjusts the output from the “new” locomotor network. Rather than a single aspect, changes in different components of the motor system and their interactions may be needed after SCI. If these are general features, and where comparisons with mammalian systems can be made effects seem to be conserved, improving functional recovery in higher vertebrates will require interventions that generate the optimal spinal cord conditions conducive to recovery. The analyses needed to identify these conditions are difficult in the mammalian spinal cord, but lower vertebrate systems should help to identify the principles of the optimal spinal cord response to injury. PMID:29163065

Electromagnetic navigation system for CT-guided biopsy of small lesions.

PubMed

Appelbaum, Liat; Sosna, Jacob; Nissenbaum, Yizhak; Benshtein, Alexander; Goldberg, S Nahum

2011-05-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate an electromagnetic navigation system for CT-guided biopsy of small lesions. Standardized CT anthropomorphic phantoms were biopsied by two attending radiologists. CT scans of the phantom and surface electromagnetic fiducial markers were imported into the memory of the 3D electromagnetic navigation system. Each radiologist assessed the accuracy of biopsy using electromagnetic navigation alone by targeting sets of nine lesions (size range, 8-14 mm; skin to target distance, 5.7-12.8 cm) under eight different conditions of detector field strength and orientation (n = 117). As a control, each radiologist also biopsied two sets of five targets using conventional CT-guided technique. Biopsy accuracy, number of needle passes, procedure time, and radiation dose were compared. Under optimal conditions (phantom perpendicular to the electromagnetic receiver at highest possible field strength), phantom accuracy to the center of the lesion was 2.6 ± 1.1 mm. This translated into hitting 84.4% (38/45) of targets in a single pass (1.1 ± 0.4 CT confirmations), which was significantly fewer than the 3.6 ± 1.3 CT checks required for conventional technique (p < 0.001). The mean targeting time was 38.8 ± 18.2 seconds per lesion. Including procedural planning (∼5.5 minutes) and final CT confirmation of placement (∼3.5 minutes), the full electromagnetic tracking procedure required significantly less time (551.6 ± 87.4 seconds [∼9 minutes]) than conventional CT (833.3 ± 283.8 seconds [∼14 minutes]) for successful targeting (p < 0.001). Less favorable conditions, including nonperpendicular relation between the axis of the machine and weaker field strength, resulted in statistically significant lower accuracy (3.7 ± 1 mm, p < 0.001). Nevertheless, first-pass biopsy accuracy was 58.3% (21/36) and second-pass (35/36) accuracy was 97.2%. Lesions farther from the skin than 20-25 cm were out of range for successful electromagnetic tracking. Virtual electromagnetic tracking appears to have high accuracy in needle placement, potentially reducing time and radiation exposure compared with those of conventional CT techniques in the biopsy of small lesions.

Alterations in the health of hibernating bats under pathogen pressure.

PubMed

Bandouchova, Hana; Bartonička, Tomáš; Berkova, Hana; Brichta, Jiri; Kokurewicz, Tomasz; Kovacova, Veronika; Linhart, Petr; Piacek, Vladimir; Pikula, Jiri; Zahradníková, Alexandra; Zukal, Jan

2018-04-17

In underground hibernacula temperate northern hemisphere bats are exposed to Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the fungal agent of white-nose syndrome. While pathological and epidemiological data suggest that Palearctic bats tolerate this infection, we lack knowledge about bat health under pathogen pressure. Here we report blood profiles, along with body mass index (BMI), infection intensity and hibernation temperature, in greater mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis). We sampled three European hibernacula that differ in geomorphology and microclimatic conditions. Skin lesion counts differed between contralateral wings of a bat, suggesting variable exposure to the fungus. Analysis of blood parameters suggests a threshold of ca. 300 skin lesions on both wings, combined with poor hibernation conditions, may distinguish healthy bats from those with homeostatic disruption. Physiological effects manifested as mild metabolic acidosis, decreased glucose and peripheral blood eosinophilia which were strongly locality-dependent. Hibernating bats displaying blood homeostasis disruption had 2 °C lower body surface temperatures. A shallow BMI loss slope with increasing pathogen load suggested a high degree of infection tolerance. European greater mouse-eared bats generally survive P. destructans invasion, despite some health deterioration at higher infection intensities (dependant on hibernation conditions). Conservation measures should minimise additional stressors to conserve constrained body reserves of bats during hibernation.

Low direct cytotoxicity of loxoprofen on gastric mucosal cells.

PubMed

Yamakawa, Naoki; Suemasu, Shintaro; Kimoto, Ayumi; Arai, Yasuhiro; Ishihara, Tomoaki; Yokomizo, Kazumi; Okamoto, Yoshinari; Otsuka, Masami; Tanaka, Ken-Ichiro; Mizushima, Tohru

2010-01-01

Pro-drugs of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as loxoprofen are widely used for clinical purposes because they are not so harmful to the gastrointestinal mucosa. We recently showed that NSAIDs such as indomethacin and celecoxib have direct cytotoxicity (ability to induce necrosis and apoptosis in gastric mucosal cells) due to their membrane permeabilizing activities, which is involved in NSAID-induced gastric lesions. We show here that under conditions where indomethacin and celecoxib clearly induce necrosis and apoptosis, loxoprofen and its active metabolite loxoprofen-OH, do not have such effects in primary culture of guinea pig gastric mucosal cells. Loxoprofen and loxoprofen-OH induced apoptosis more effectively in cultured human gastric cancer cells than in the primary culture. Loxoprofen and loxoprofen-OH exhibited much lower membrane permeabilizing activities than did indomethacin and celecoxib. We thus consider that the low direct cytotoxicity of loxoprofen observed in vitro is involved in its relative safety on production of gastric lesions in clinical situation.

Systematic review of the relation between smokeless tobacco and non-neoplastic oral diseases in Europe and the United States

PubMed Central

Kallischnigg, Gerd; Weitkunat, Rolf; Lee, Peter N

2008-01-01

Background How smokeless tobacco contributes to non-neoplastic oral diseases is unclear. It certainly increases risk of oral mucosal lesions, but reviewers disagree as to other conditions. In some areas, especially South-East Asia, risk is difficult to quantify due to the many products, compositions (including non-tobacco ingredients), and usage practices involved. This review considers studies from Europe (in practice mainly Scandinavia) and from the USA. Methods Experimental and epidemiological studies published in 1963–2007 were identified that related risk of oral lesions to smokeless tobacco use. Data were assessed separately for oral mucosal lesions, periodontal and gingival diseases, dental caries and tooth loss, and oral pain. Results Oral mucosal lesions: Thirty-three epidemiological studies consistently show a strong dose-related effect of current snuff on oral mucosal lesion prevalence. In Scandinavia, users have a near 100% prevalence of a characteristic "snuff-induced lesion", but prevalence of the varied lesions reported in the USA is lower. Associations with chewing tobacco are weaker. The lack of clear association with former use suggests reversibility following cessation, consistent with experimental studies showing rapid lesion regression on quitting. Periodontal and gingival diseases: Two of four studies report a significant association of snuff with attachment loss and four out of eight with gingival recession. Snuff is not clearly related to gingivitis or periodontal diseases. Limited evidence suggests chewing tobacco is unrelated to periodontal or gingival diseases. Tooth loss: Swedish studies show no association with snuff, but one US study reported an association with snuff, and another with chewing tobacco. Dental caries: Evidence from nine studies suggests a possible relationship with use of smokeless tobacco, particularly chewing tobacco, and the risk of dental caries. Oral pain: Limited evidence precludes any clear conclusion. Conclusion This review confirms the strong association of current use of smokeless tobacco, particularly snuff, with prevalence of oral mucosal lesions. It provides suggestive evidence of an association of snuff use with gingival recession and attachment loss, and of chewing tobacco with dental caries. While smokeless tobacco clearly increases risk of oral mucosal lesions, interpretation for other endpoints is limited by study weaknesses, including poor confounding control. PMID:18452601

Evaluation of Five Tests for Sensitivity to Functional Deficits following Cervical or Thoracic Dorsal Column Transection in the Rat

PubMed Central

Eggers, Ruben; Tuinenbreijer, Lizz; Kouwenhoven, Dorette; Verhaagen, Joost; Mason, Matthew R. J.

2016-01-01

The dorsal column lesion model of spinal cord injury targets sensory fibres which originate from the dorsal root ganglia and ascend in the dorsal funiculus. It has the advantages that fibres can be specifically traced from the sciatic nerve, verifiably complete lesions can be performed of the labelled fibres, and it can be used to study sprouting in the central nervous system from the conditioning lesion effect. However, functional deficits from this type of lesion are mild, making assessment of experimental treatment-induced functional recovery difficult. Here, five functional tests were compared for their sensitivity to functional deficits, and hence their suitability to reliably measure recovery of function after dorsal column injury. We assessed the tape removal test, the rope crossing test, CatWalk gait analysis, and the horizontal ladder, and introduce a new test, the inclined rolling ladder. Animals with dorsal column injuries at C4 or T7 level were compared to sham-operated animals for a duration of eight weeks. As well as comparing groups at individual timepoints we also compared the longitudinal data over the whole time course with linear mixed models (LMMs), and for tests where steps are scored as success/error, using generalized LMMs for binomial data. Although, generally, function recovered to sham levels within 2–6 weeks, in most tests we were able to detect significant deficits with whole time-course comparisons. On the horizontal ladder deficits were detected until 5–6 weeks. With the new inclined rolling ladder functional deficits were somewhat more consistent over the testing period and appeared to last for 6–7 weeks. Of the CatWalk parameters base of support was sensitive to cervical and thoracic lesions while hind-paw print-width was affected by cervical lesion only. The inclined rolling ladder test in combination with the horizontal ladder and the CatWalk may prove useful to monitor functional recovery after experimental treatment in this lesion model. PMID:26934672

Effects of Scutellariae radix and Aloe vera gel extracts on immunoglobulin E and cytokine levels in atopic dermatitis NC/Nga mice.

PubMed

Kim, Jinkyung; Lee, In seok; Park, Soojin; Choue, Ryowon

2010-11-11

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of Scutellariae radix (SR) and Aloe vera gel (AV), alone or in combination, on levels of immunoglobulin E (IgE) and inflammatory cytokines in spontaneous atopic dermatitis(AD)-like skin lesions. After spontaneous AD-like skin lesion was developed by adaptation to conventional conditions, mice were randomly assigned to control, SR (50 mg/kg, p.o.), AV (0.8 mg/kg, p.o.) and SRAV (50 mg of SR and 0.8 mg of AV/kg, p.o.) groups, and were treated for 6 weeks. SR and SRAV suppressed IL-5 levels compared with control, but had no effects on IgE levels (P<0.05). AV increased IgE levels, but decreased both IL-5 and IL-10 compared with control (P<0.05). These results suggest that SR and AV modulate immunological responses in AD, mainly through influencing IL-5 or IL-10 levels. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Silk textile with antimicrobial AEM5772/5 (Dermasilk): a pilot study with positive influence on acne vulgaris on the back.

PubMed

Schaunig, Caroline; Kopera, Daisy

2017-05-01

The use of special silk textiles (Dermasilk) has shown positive effects on chronic inflammatory diseases like lichen sclerosus et atrophicus, atopic dermatitis, diabetic ulcerations, and vulvovaginal candidiasis. Wearing T-shirts of this particular fabric could be useful in the management of patients with acne vulgaris on the back and trunk. Dermasilk T-shirts were given to 14 patients with acne vulgaris papulopustulosa on the back. The patients wore these shirts every night for 6 weeks, and their acne lesions were monitored. Dermasilk represents a polymerisate of fibroin, a silk protein, and antimicrobial AEM5772/5, an unsoluble colorless, odorless ammonium with antifungal and antibacterial ability. Photographic documentation before and after 6 weeks showed a clinically significant reduction in acne lesions on the back without any concomitant treatment or change in lifestyle and living conditions. The use of Dermasilk textiles in other subacute-chronic inflammatory skin diseases has shown positive effects. This is the first report on their safe and effective use in the management of acne vulgaris papulopustulosa corporis. © 2017 The International Society of Dermatology.

R & D of an Innovative Composite Scaffold Incorporated with Phytoestrogenic Icaritin for Treatment of Steroid-associated Osteonecrosis Lesion in Rabbits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Xinhui

Bone defect is a common orthopaedic problem caused by many pathologic disorders such as tumor, trauma or metabolic diseases, including osteonecrosis (ON). ON is a disabling clinical condition characterized by the death of osteocytes, aggregation of marrow fat cells, a decrease in activity of bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) pool, and degeneration of trabecular bone matrix, which affect more frequently young adults that usually leads to bone and articular cartilage destruction in joints, especially in hip and knee. High dose of steroid is one of the risk factors associated with ON, which sometimes is used for treatment of some medical conditions such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), organ transplantation, asthma, rheumatologic arthritis (RA), and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Core decompression has been efficacious for treatment of early ON stages when the necrotic lesion is still small in size. However, ON lesion, weakens the cancellous bone within and adjacent to the necrotic region. Thus orthopaedic challenges in repair for steroid-associated ON lesion after core decompression may include the impaired osteogenic potential of stem-cell-pool under the influence of pulsed steroid and lack of platform for bone or/and neovascularization ingrowth after removal of large size necrotic bone. The proposed strategies for treatment of steroid-associated ON lesion are to provide biocompatible scaffold with required structure to fill the defect area after core decompression and osteogenic stimulator facilitating the repair of ON lesion. Previous works show that the PLGA (poly-lactic glycolic acid) and TCP (tricalcium phosphate) have good biocompatibility, osteoconduction and biodegradation to be used in bone defect repair, however no significant osteopromotive effects. Many endogenous factors are osteopromotive and also eventually osteoinductive, such as bone morphogenic proteins (BMPs). As an extraneous molecular, Icaritin, a small molecule derived from Epimedium -derived flavonoids (EF), is found to be able to facilitate matrix calcification, stimulate osteogenesis and inhibit adipogenesis of BMSCs. The present thesis work hypothesizes that the PLGA/TCP incorporating Icaritin to form a porous composite scaffold is osteopromotive and is able to enhance the repair of necrotic bone defect with steroid-associated ON after core decompression. The findings implied that the porous composite PLGA/TCP/Icaritin scaffold would be an appropriate osteopromotive scaffold implant or bone graft substitute biomaterial for potential application in skeletal tissue engineering. It was the first study to incorporate or homogenize the Chinese herbal molecule into the porous composite biomaterials for medical testing. Though the osteopromotive effect in ON model was observed in vivo, the molecular mechanism of osteogenesis remains for future investigations. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Objective assessment of psoriasis erythema for PASI scoring.

PubMed

Ahmad Fadzil, M H; Ihtatho, Dani; Mohd Affandi, Azura; Hussein, S H

2009-01-01

Skin colour is vital information in dermatological diagnosis as it reflects the pathological condition beneath the skin. It is commonly used to indicate the extent of diseases such as psoriasis, which is indicated by the appearance of red plaques. Although there is no cure for psoriasis, there are many treatment modalities to help control the disease. To evaluate treatment efficacy, the current gold standard method, PASI (Psoriasis Area and Severity Index), is used to determine severity of psoriasis lesion. Erythema (redness) is one parameter in PASI and this condition is assessed visually, thus leading to subjective and inconsistent results. Current methods or instruments that assess erythema have limitations, such as being able to measure erythema well for low pigmented skin (fair skin) but not for highly pigmented skin (dark skin) or vice versa. In this work, we proposed an objective assessment of psoriasis erythema for PASI scoring for different (low to highly pigmented) skin types. The colour of psoriasis lesions are initially obtained by using a chromameter giving the values L*, a*, and b* of CIELAB colour space. The L* value is used to classify skin into three categories: low, medium and highly pigmented skin. The lightness difference (DeltaL*), hue difference (Deltah(ab)), chroma (DeltaC*(ab)) between lesions and the surrounding normal skin are calculated and analysed. It is found that the erythema score of a lesion can be distinguished by their Deltah(ab) value within a particular skin type group. References of lesion with different scores are obtained from the selected lesions by two dermatologists. Results based on 38 lesions from 22 patients with various level of skin pigmentation show that PASI erythema score for different skin types i.e. low (fair skin) to highly pigmented (dark skin) skin types can be determined objectively and consistent with dermatology scoring.

Rats with ventral hippocampal damage are impaired at various forms of learning including conditioned inhibition, spatial navigation, and discriminative fear conditioning to similar contexts.

PubMed

McDonald, Robert J; Balog, R J; Lee, Justin Q; Stuart, Emily E; Carrels, Brianna B; Hong, Nancy S

2018-10-01

The ventral hippocampus (vHPC) has been implicated in learning and memory functions that seem to differ from its dorsal counterpart. The goal of this series of experiments was to provide further insight into the functional contributions of the vHPC. Our previous work implicated the vHPC in spatial learning, inhibitory learning, and fear conditioning to context. However, the specific role of vHPC on these different forms of learning are not clear. Accordingly, we assessed the effects of neurotoxic lesions of the ventral hippocampus on retention of a conditioned inhibitory association, early versus late spatial navigation in the water task, and discriminative fear conditioning to context under high ambiguity conditions. The results showed that the vHPC was necessary for the expression of conditioned inhibition, early spatial learning, and discriminative fear conditioning to context when the paired and unpaired contexts have high cue overlap. We argue that this pattern of effects, combined with previous work, suggests a key role for vHPC in the utilization of broad contextual representations for inhibition and discriminative memory in high ambiguity conditions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Osteochondral lesion of the talus in a recreational athlete: a case report

PubMed Central

deGraauw, Chris

1999-01-01

A 23-year-old recreational male athlete presented with intermittent pain of three weeks duration, localized to the left ankle. Pain was aggravated by walking, although his symptoms had not affected the patient’s jogging activity which was performed three times per week. Past history revealed an inversion sprain of the left ankle, sustained fifteen months previously. Examination showed mild swelling anterior to the ankle mortise joint while other tests including range of motion, strength and motion palpation of specific joints of the ankle were noted to be unremarkable. Radiographic findings revealed a defect in the medial aspect of the talus. An orthopaedic referral was made for further evaluation. Tomography revealed a Grade III osteochondral lesion of the talus. It was determined that follow-up views be taken in three months to demonstrate if the lesion was progressing or healing. Within the three month period, activity modifications and modalities for pain control were indicated. Surgery was considered a reasonable option should conservative measures fail. The present case illustrates an osteochondral lesion of the talus, a condition which has not previously been reported in the chiropractic literature. A review of the pertinent orthopaedic literature has indicated an average delay of three years in diagnosing the existence of this lesion. Although considered rare, the diagnostic frequency of the condition appears to be on the rise due to increased awareness and the use of bone and CT scans. The osteochondral lesion of the talus deserves particular consideration by practitioners working with athletes due to its higher incidence within this group. This diagnosis should be considered in patients presenting with chronic ankle pain particularly when a history of an inversion sprain exists. The purpose of this report is to increase awareness of this condition, and review diagnosis and management strategies. ImagesFigure 1Figure 2

Efficacy of 15% azelaic acid in psoriasis vulgaris: a randomized, controlled clinical trial.

PubMed

Iraji, Fariba; Faghihi, Gita; Siadat, Amir Hossein; Enshaieh, Shahla; Shahmoradi, Zabihlah; Joia, Abolfazl; Soleimani, Fatemeh

2010-08-01

Psoriasis is a common disorder affecting 1-3 percent of the general global population. Many therapeutic modalities have been suggested for treatment of this condition, but still there is no definite treatment for this disease. The objective in this study was to evaluate the efficacy of topical azelaic acid gel versus placebo in the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris. This study was a single-blinded randomized clinical trial. Overall, 31 patients were selected and the left or right sided lesions of the patients were randomized to receive either 15% azelaic acid or gel twice daily for a one-month period. Two symmetrical lesions with almost similar severity in every patient were selected and considered as index lesions to evaluate lesion response to treatment. The severity of erythema, scaling, hyperkeratosis and pruritus of the index lesions were scored in range of 0-3 for each lesion by the investigator at the baseline and follow up visits. The percent of involvement of each side of body was also measured using rule of nines. The collected data were analyzed using statistical tests including Mann-Whitney and ANOVA tests. There was no significant difference between the two groups before treatment (P > 0.05). After treatment, however, except pruritus, there was significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference regarding total psoriasis score between the two groups before treatment (P > 0.05). After treatment, however, there was significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05) in favor of more efficacy for azelaic acid. There was no significant difference regarding percent of body involvement between the two groups before treatment (P > 0.05). After treatment, however, there was a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05) in favor of more efficacy on the part of azelaic acid gel. The results of our study showed that 15% azelaic acid gel was effective in reduction of purities, scaling and hyperkeratosis of psoriasis plaques. This treatment was also effective in reduction of skin involvement with psoriasis. It is recommended that a longer study be performed that can better evaluate the efficacy of this treatment against plaque-type psoriasis.

Chronic cytoprotection: pentadecapeptide BPC 157, ranitidine and propranolol prevent, attenuate and reverse the gastric lesions appearance in chronic alcohol drinking rats.

PubMed

Prkacin, I; Aralica, G; Perovic, D; Separovic, J; Gjurasin, M; Lovric-Bencic, M; Stancic-Rokotov, D; Ziger, T; Anic, T; Sikiric, P; Seiwerth, S; Staresinic, M; Mise, S; Rotkvic, I; Jagic, V; Rucman, R; Petek, M; Turkovic, B; Marovic, A; Sjekavica, I; Sebecic, B; Boban-Blagaic, A; Ivasovic, Z

2001-01-01

Unlike severe gastric damage acutely induced by ethanol administration in rat, the ulcerogenic effect of chronic alcohol administration (3.03 g/kg b.w. or 7.28 g/kg b.w.) given in drinking water, producing liver lesions and portal hypertension, is far less investigated. Therefore, focus was on the antiulcer effect of the gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157, GEPPPGKPADDAGLV, M.W. 1419, known to have a beneficial effect in variety of gastrointestinal lesions models (10 microg or 10 ng/kg b.w. i.p. or i.g.), ranitidine (10 mg/kg b.w. i.g.) and propranol (10 mg/kg b.w. i.g.) or saline (5 ml/kg b.w. i.p./i.g.; control). They were given once daily (1) throughout 10 days preceding alcohol consumption, (2) since beginning of alcohol drinking till the end of the study, (3) throughout the last month of alcohol consumption, 2 months after alcohol drinking had been initiated. Gastric lesions were assessed, at the end of 3 months drinking [(1), (2)] or with respect to therapeutic effect of medication before medication or at the end of therapy. Pentadecapeptide BPC 157, ranitidine and propranolol may prevent gastric lesion development if given prophylactically, before alcohol drinking. Likewise, they attenuate the lesion appearance given once daily throughout the drinking period. Importantly, when given therapeutically, they may antagonize otherwise pertinent lesion presence in stomach mucosa of the drinking rats. Thus, these results demonstrate that pentadecapeptide BPC 157, ranitidine and propranol may prevent, attenuate or reverse the gastric lesions appearance in chronically alcohol drinking rats, and may be used for further therapy, while the other studies showed that their effect (except to ranitidine) is parallel with their beneficial effect on liver lesion and portal hypertension.

Successful Nonsurgical Management of Periapical Lesions of Endodontic Origin: A Conservative Orthograde Approach

PubMed Central

Karunakaran, J. V.; Abraham, Chris Susan; Karthik, A. Kaneesh; Jayaprakash, N.

2017-01-01

Periapical lesions of endodontic origin are common pathological conditions affecting periradicular tissues. Microbial infection of pulpal tissues is primarily responsible for initiation and progression of apical periodontitis. The primary objective of endodontic therapy should be to restore involved teeth to a state of normalcy nonsurgically. Different nonsurgical management techniques, namely, conservative root canal therapy, decompression technique, method using calcium hydroxide, aspiration-irrigation technique, lesion sterilization and tissue repair therapy, active nonsurgical decompression technique, and the apexum procedure have been advocated. New techniques which use drug-loaded injectable scaffolds, simvastatin, and epigallocatechin-3-gallate have been tried. Surgical option should be considered when intra- or extra-radicular infections are persistent. Incidence of nonendodontic periapical lesions has also been reported. An accurate diagnosis of the periapical lesion whether it is of endodontic or nonendodontic origin has to be made. Surgical methods have many disadvantages, and hence should be considered as an option only in the case of failure of nonsurgical techniques. Assessment of healing of periapical lesions has to be done periodically which necessitates a long-term follow-up. Even large periapical lesions and retreatment cases where the lesion is of endodontic origin have been successfully managed nonsurgically with orthograde endodontic therapy. PMID:29284973

Quantitative characterization of the progression of focal brain ischemia in a rat photochemical stroke model using in-vivo MRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van der Linden, Anne-Marie; Verhoye, Marleen; De Ryck, M.

2000-04-01

Stroke models, if used in drug evaluation studies, should have a predictable and reproducible course and outcome. While most drug trials focus on the lesion outcome, our study shows the importance of studying lesion growth instead of lesion outcome. In the study reported here, the time course of a photochemically induced neocortical infarct is studied in rats, using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, while the rats were submitted to a rigorous control of physiological parameters, ensuring constant body temperature, blood gases (pO2 and pCO2), arterial pressure, heart rate and plasma glucose levels. Under such a stable physiological condition, rats were imaged as soon as possible after lesion up to 6 hours, which is the most important period to determine the slope of further lesion growth and final outcome. The data show that the initial size of the lesion is important for the further outcome of the stroke, both in lesion size and severity of the ischemic damage, as reflected by changes in the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient.

Diabetic bone lesions: a study on 38 known modern skeletons and the implications for forensic scenarios.

PubMed

Biehler-Gomez, Lucie; Castoldi, Elisa; Baldini, Elisa; Cappella, Annalisa; Cattaneo, Cristina

2018-06-02

Diabetes mellitus is a condition with severe and life-threatening complications and epidemic proportions worldwide. The study of diabetes on bones can provide crucial information to the forensic practice, the archeological field and medical research. In this paper, the authors report and discuss the lesions observed on the skeletons of 38 individuals (plus 11 negative control samples) of the CAL Milano Cemetery Skeletal Collection with known diabetes. As a result, different types of lesions were highlighted in the feet: periosteal new bone formation, lysis of tuft, lytic lesions, evidence of trauma, osteomyelitis, and osteochondritis dissecans. In 50% of the skeletons of the study sample, lesions were located on bones of the first ray of the foot. Vascular calcifications were also collected and considered. None of these lesions is pathognomonic of diabetes and each implies a broad differential diagnosis that can be confronted with the upper and axial lesions. However, they are coherent with the disease development and complications. This study is the first to document skeletons with known diabetes from an identified collection and discuss their diagnostic potential.

Cutaneous eruptions in congenital tuberculosis.

PubMed

McCray, M K; Esterly, N B

1981-08-01

Systemic tuberculosis with morphologic skin lesions that were essentially identical developed in two infants who were born of tuberculous mothers. In each patient, the infection induced erythematous papules with central crusted dells, noted four and eight weeks after birth, respectively. In each case, the diagnosis of tuberculosis was made by examination of tissue that was obtained at laparotomy. In neither patient was Mycobacterium tuberculosis found in the skin lesions. The conditions of both patients responded well to antituberculous therapy. This article reviews the possible categorization of the skin lesions in these infants.

Functional lesional neurosurgery for tremor-a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Schreglmann, Sebastian R; Krauss, Joachim K; Chang, Jin Woo; Bhatia, Kailash P; Kägi, Georg

2017-05-09

The recent introduction of incision-less lesional neurosurgery using Gamma Knife and MRI-guided focused ultrasound has revived interest in lesional treatment options for tremor disorders. Preliminary literature researches reveal that the consistency of treatment effects after lesional neurosurgery for tremor has not formally been assessed yet. Similarly, the efficacy of different targets for lesional treatment and incidence of persistent side effects of lesional neurosurgical interventions has not been comprehensively assessed. This work therefore aims to describe a suitable process how to review the existing literature on efficacy and persistent side effects of lesional neurosurgical treatment for tremor due to Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, multiple sclerosis and midbrain/rubral tremor. We will search electronic databases (Medline, Cochrane) and reference lists of included articles for studies reporting lesional interventions for tremor in cohorts homogeneous for tremor aetiology and intervention (technique and target). We will include cohorts with a minimum number of five subjects and follow-up of 2 months. One investigator will perform the initial literature search and two investigators then independently decide which references to include for final efficacy and safety analysis. After settling of disagreement, data will be extracted from articles using a standardised template. We will perform a random-effect meta-analysis calculating standardised mean differences (Hedge's g) for comparison in Forest plots and subgroup analysis after assessment of heterogeneity using I 2 statistics. This study will summarise the available evidence on the efficacy of lesional interventions for the most frequent tremor disorders, as well as for the incidence rate of persisting side effects after unilateral lesional treatment. This data will be useful to guide future work on incision-less lesional interventions for tremor. This study has been registered with the PROSPERO database (no. CRD42016048049). © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Dermatomycosis in three central bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps) associated with Nannizziopsis chlamydospora.

PubMed

Schmidt-Ukaj, Silvana; Loncaric, Igor; Spergser, Joachim; Richter, Barbara; Hochleithner, Manfred

2016-05-01

Chronic dermatomycosis was identified in 3 central bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps), held as companion animals by the same owner. Clinical signs of dermatomycosis included subcutaneous masses as well as crusty, erosive, and ulcerative skin lesions. The facial region was affected in 2 of the 3 cases. Masses were surgically excised, and histology confirmed necrotizing and granulomatous inflammatory processes associated with fungal hyphae. Two of the bearded dragons were euthanized because of their deteriorating condition. In both cases, postmortem histology confirmed systemic fungal infections despite treatment of 1 animal with itraconazole. In the third bearded dragon, therapy with voriconazole at 10 mg/kg was initially effective, but mycotic lesions reappeared 15 months later. Nannizziopsis chlamydospora was identified by PCR and subsequent DNA sequencing in 2 of these cases. © 2016 The Author(s).

Assessment of Diastolic Function in Congenital Heart Disease

PubMed Central

Panesar, Dilveer Kaur; Burch, Michael

2017-01-01

Diastolic function is an important component of left ventricular (LV) function which is often overlooked. It can cause symptoms of heart failure in patients even in the presence of normal systolic function. The parameters used to assess diastolic function often measure flow and are affected by the loading conditions of the heart. The interpretation of diastolic function in the context of congenital heart disease requires some understanding of the effects of the lesions themselves on these parameters. Individual congenital lesions will be discussed in this paper. Recently, load-independent techniques have led to more accurate measurements of ventricular compliance and remodeling in heart disease. The combination of inflow velocities and tissue Doppler measurements can be used to estimate diastolic function and LV filling pressures. This review focuses on diastolic function and assessment in congenital heart disease. PMID:28261582

Ultrasound-guided Radiofrequency Lesioning of the Articular Branches of the Femoral Nerve for the Treatment of Chronic Post-arthroplasty Hip Pain.

PubMed

Kim, David J; Shen, Shiqian; Hanna, George M

2017-02-01

Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is a common surgical treatment for several conditions of the hip. While the majority of patients obtain satisfactory results, many develop chronic post-arthroplasty hip pain that can be difficult to treat. We evaluate the effectiveness of cooled (60°C) radiofrequency lesioning of the articular branches of the femoral nerve (ABFN) as a minimally invasive treatment for patients suffering from chronic post-arthroplasty hip pain. This treatment has never been described previously in this population. Case report. Center for Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. A 59-year-old woman with long-standing osteoarthritis of the right hip who underwent primary total hip arthroplasty and presented with chronic post-arthroplasty hip pain Intervention: Cooled (60°C) radiofrequency lesioning of the ABFN under ultrasound guidance Outcome Measure: Functional ability and numeric rating scale (NRS) scores at rest and with activity. Prior to intervention, the patient reported severe disruption in daily activities, sleep, and relationships; NRS scores at rest and with activity were 4/10 and 10/10, respectively. At 4 weeks following intervention, the patient reported significant improvement in functional ability and NRS scores decreased to 1/10 and 2/10, respectively. At 6 months, the patient's NRS scores at rest and with activity were 0/10 and 1/10, respectively. At 24-month follow-up, the patient continued to endorse significant pain relief with NRS scores at rest and with activity of 0 - 1/10 and 1 - 2/10, respectively. There were no side effects or complications including motor weakness, sensory loss, and neuralgias. Although the patient obtained good results from the intervention, the description of the study is from a single case report. Further study is necessary to investigate the widespread use of this technique and its outcomes. Cooled (60°C) radiofrequency lesioning of the ABFN under ultrasound guidance is both an effective and minimally invasive intervention for chronic post-arthroplasty hip pain. Key words: Radiofrequency lesioning, articular branches, femoral nerve, post-arthoplasty, total hip arthoplasty, hip pain, chronic pain.

Basal Cell Carcinoma Arising in a Breast Augmentation Scar.

PubMed

Edwards, Lisa R; Cresce, Nicole D; Russell, Mark A

2017-04-01

We report a case of a 46-year-old female who presented with a persistent lesion on the inferior right breast. The lesion was located within the scar from a breast augmentation procedure 12 years ago. The lesion had been treated as several conditions with no improvement. Biopsy revealed a superficial and nodular basal cell carcinoma, and the lesion was successfully removed with Mohs micrographic surgery. Basal cell carcinoma arising in a surgical scar is exceedingly rare with only 13 reported cases to date. This is the first reported case of basal cell carcinoma arising in a breast augmentation scar. We emphasize the importance of biopsy for suspicious lesions or those refractory to treatment, particularly those lesions that form within a scar. Level of Evidence V This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

Network localization of neurological symptoms from focal brain lesions.

PubMed

Boes, Aaron D; Prasad, Sashank; Liu, Hesheng; Liu, Qi; Pascual-Leone, Alvaro; Caviness, Verne S; Fox, Michael D

2015-10-01

A traditional and widely used approach for linking neurological symptoms to specific brain regions involves identifying overlap in lesion location across patients with similar symptoms, termed lesion mapping. This approach is powerful and broadly applicable, but has limitations when symptoms do not localize to a single region or stem from dysfunction in regions connected to the lesion site rather than the site itself. A newer approach sensitive to such network effects involves functional neuroimaging of patients, but this requires specialized brain scans beyond routine clinical data, making it less versatile and difficult to apply when symptoms are rare or transient. In this article we show that the traditional approach to lesion mapping can be expanded to incorporate network effects into symptom localization without the need for specialized neuroimaging of patients. Our approach involves three steps: (i) transferring the three-dimensional volume of a brain lesion onto a reference brain; (ii) assessing the intrinsic functional connectivity of the lesion volume with the rest of the brain using normative connectome data; and (iii) overlapping lesion-associated networks to identify regions common to a clinical syndrome. We first tested our approach in peduncular hallucinosis, a syndrome of visual hallucinations following subcortical lesions long hypothesized to be due to network effects on extrastriate visual cortex. While the lesions themselves were heterogeneously distributed with little overlap in lesion location, 22 of 23 lesions were negatively correlated with extrastriate visual cortex. This network overlap was specific compared to other subcortical lesions (P < 10(-5)) and relative to other cortical regions (P < 0.01). Next, we tested for generalizability of our technique by applying it to three additional lesion syndromes: central post-stroke pain, auditory hallucinosis, and subcortical aphasia. In each syndrome, heterogeneous lesions that themselves had little overlap showed significant network overlap in cortical areas previously implicated in symptom expression (P < 10(-4)). These results suggest that (i) heterogeneous lesions producing similar symptoms share functional connectivity to specific brain regions involved in symptom expression; and (ii) publically available human connectome data can be used to incorporate these network effects into traditional lesion mapping approaches. Because the current technique requires no specialized imaging of patients it may prove a versatile and broadly applicable approach for localizing neurological symptoms in the setting of brain lesions. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

BASOLATERAL AMYGDALA LESIONS AND SENSITIVITY TO REINFORCER MAGNITUDE IN CONCURRENT CHAINS SCHEDULES

PubMed Central

Helms, Christa M.; Mitchell, Suzanne H.

2008-01-01

Previous studies show that the basolateral amygdala (BLA) is required for behavior to adjust when the value of a reinforcer decreases after satiation or pairing with gastric distress. This study evaluated the effect of pre- or post-training excitotoxic lesions of the BLA on changes in preference with another type of contingency change, reinforcer magnitude reversal. Rats were trained to press left and right levers during a variable-interval choice phase for 50 µl or 150 µl sucrose delivered to consistent locations after a 16-s delay. Tones were presented during the first and last 2 s of the delay to reinforcement. The tone frequency predicted the magnitude of sucrose reinforcement in baseline conditions. All groups acquired stable preference for the lever on the large (150-µl) reinforcer side. However, nose poking during the delay to large reinforcement was highly accurate (i.e., to the reinforced side) for all groups except the rats with BLA lesions induced before training, suggesting impaired control of behavior by the tone. After the acquisition of stable preference, the locations of the reinforcer magnitudes were unpredictably reversed for a single session. Pre-training lesions blunted changes in preference when the reinforcer magnitudes were reversed. Lesions induced after stable preference was acquired, but prior to reversal, did not disrupt changes in preference. The data suggest that the BLA contributes to the adaptation of choice behavior following changes in reinforcer magnitude. Impaired learning about the tone-reinforcer magnitude relationships may have disrupted discrimination of the reinforcer magnitude reversal. PMID:18455812

Spectroscopic insights into quadruplexes of five-repeat telomere DNA sequences upon G-block damage.

PubMed

Dvořáková, Zuzana; Vorlíčková, Michaela; Renčiuk, Daniel

2017-11-01

The DNA lesions, resulting from oxidative damage, were shown to destabilize human telomere four-repeat quadruplex and to alter its structure. Long telomere DNA, as a repetitive sequence, offers, however, other mechanisms of dealing with the lesion: extrusion of the damaged repeat into loop or shifting the quadruplex position by one repeat. Using circular dichroism and UV absorption spectroscopy and polyacrylamide electrophoresis, we studied consequences of lesions at different positions of the model five-repeat human telomere DNA sequences on the structure and stability of their quadruplexes in sodium and in potassium. The repeats affected by lesion are preferentially positioned as terminal overhangs of the core quadruplex structurally similar to the four-repeat one. Forced affecting of the inner repeats leads to presence of variety of more parallel folds in potassium. In sodium the designed models form mixture of two dominant antiparallel quadruplexes whose population varies with the position of the affected repeat. The shapes of quadruplex CD spectra, namely the height of dominant peaks, significantly correlate with melting temperatures. Lesion in one guanine tract of a more than four repeats long human telomere DNA sequence may cause re-positioning of its quadruplex arrangement associated with a shift of the structure to less common quadruplex conformations. The type of the quadruplex depends on the loop position and external conditions. The telomere DNA quadruplexes are quite resistant to the effect of point mutations due to the telomere DNA repetitive nature, although their structure and, consequently, function might be altered. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Inducible DNA-repair systems in yeast: competition for lesions.

PubMed

Mitchel, R E; Morrison, D P

1987-03-01

DNA lesions may be recognized and repaired by more than one DNA-repair process. If two repair systems with different error frequencies have overlapping lesion specificity and one or both is inducible, the resulting variable competition for the lesions can change the biological consequences of these lesions. This concept was demonstrated by observing mutation in yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) exposed to combinations of mutagens under conditions which influenced the induction of error-free recombinational repair or error-prone repair. Total mutation frequency was reduced in a manner proportional to the dose of 60Co-gamma- or 254 nm UV radiation delivered prior to or subsequent to an MNNG exposure. Suppression was greater per unit radiation dose in cells gamma-irradiated in O2 as compared to N2. A rad3 (excision-repair) mutant gave results similar to wild-type but mutation in a rad52 (rec-) mutant exposed to MNNG was not suppressed by radiation. Protein-synthesis inhibition with heat shock or cycloheximide indicated that it was the mutation due to MNNG and not that due to radiation which had changed. These results indicate that MNNG lesions are recognized by both the recombinational repair system and the inducible error-prone system, but that gamma-radiation induction of error-free recombinational repair resulted in increased competition for the lesions, thereby reducing mutation. Similarly, gamma-radiation exposure resulted in a radiation dose-dependent reduction in mutation due to MNU, EMS, ENU and 8-MOP + UVA, but no reduction in mutation due to MMS. These results suggest that the number of mutational MMS lesions recognizable by the recombinational repair system must be very small relative to those produced by the other agents. MNNG induction of the inducible error-prone systems however, did not alter mutation frequencies due to ENU or MMS exposure but, in contrast to radiation, increased the mutagenic effectiveness of EMS. These experiments demonstrate that in this lower eukaryote, mutagen exposure does not necessarily result in a fixed risk of mutation, but that the risk can be markedly influenced by a variety of external stimuli including heat shock or exposure to other mutagens.

Reticulate Dermatoses

PubMed Central

Adya, Keshavmurthy A; Inamadar, Arun C; Palit, Aparna

2014-01-01

The term “reticulate” is used for clinical description of skin lesions that are configured in a net-like pattern. Many primary and secondary dermatoses present in such patterns involving specific body sites. Certain cutaneous manifestations of systemic diseases or genodermatoses also present in such manner. This review classifies and describes such conditions with reticulate lesions and briefly, their associated features. PMID:24470653

Electrolytic Lesions of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Do Not Interfere with Long-Term Memory of Extinction of Conditioned Fear

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia, Rene; Chang, Chun-hui; Maren, Stephen

2006-01-01

Lesion studies indicate that rats without the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) have difficulty recalling fear extinction acquired the previous day. Several electrophysiological studies have also supported this observation by demonstrating that extinction-related increases in neuronal activity in the mPFC participate in expression of fear…

Open season: select the best 'beast' for each skin lesion.

PubMed

Uber, Marjorie; Robl, Renata; Carvalho, Vania Oliveira; Abagge, Kerstin Taniguchi; Valério, Talita Sana; Marinoni, Leide Parolin; Cosechen Rosvailer, Mayara Schulze

2015-10-01

Animal bites can cause skin lesions that suggest other conditions, and therefore diagnosis can be a challenge. Four cases of skin injuries caused by arthropods are presented below. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Molecular etiopathology of naturally occurring reproductive diseases in female goats

PubMed Central

Beena, V.; Pawaiya, R. V. S.; Gururaj, K.; Singh, D. D.; Mishra, A. K.; Gangwar, N. K.; Gupta, V. K.; Singh, R.; Sharma, A. K.; Karikalan, M.; Kumar, Ashok

2017-01-01

Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate the molecular etiopathology of occurrence of reproductive diseases in female goats. Reproductive diseases in goats account for major economic losses to goat farmers in terms of valuable loss of offspring and animal productivity. Materials and Methods: A total of 660 female genitalia were examined for pathological conditions (macroscopic and microscopic lesions). The etiopathological study was carried out for the presence of pathogenic organisms such as Brucella, Chlamydia, and Campylobacter in the uterus and ovary. Based on the microscopic lesions, suspected samples were subjected to diagnostic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for various etiological agents employing 16srRNA genus specific primers for Campylobacter and Chlamydophila and OMP31 gene-based PCR for Brucella melitensis and nested PCR using ITS-1 gene primers for Toxoplasma gondii. For Brucella suspected samples, immunohistochemistry (IHC) was also performed. Results: In studied female genitalia, 108 (16.30%) showed gross abnormalities with overall 23.32% occurrence of pathological conditions (macroscopic and microscopic lesions). Pathological involvement of the uterus was the highest 68 (62.96%), followed by the ovaries 27 (25%) and other organs. Major uterine condition observed was endometritis (5.60%). In uterine infections, 35 (5.30%) samples were found positive for Campylobacter spp., 12 (1.81%) samples for B. melitensis, and 3 (0.45%) samples were positive for Chlamydophila spp. Among the samples positive for B. melitensis by PCR, 3 were found positive by IHC also. Corynebacterium ovis was detected by PCR using specific primers in a case of hydrosalpinx. It was concluded that many pathological lesions in female genitalia of functional significance play a major role in infertility in goats. Conclusion: The present study concluded that many pathological lesions in female genitalia of functional significance play a major role in infertility in goats. PMID:28919691

Non-DSB clustered DNA lesions. Does theory colocalize with the experiment?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nikitaki, Zacharenia; Nikolov, Vladimir; Mavragani, Ifigeneia V.; Plante, Ianik; Emfietzoglou, Dimitris; Iliakis, George; Georgakilas, Alexandros G.

2016-11-01

Ionizing radiation results in various kinds of DNA lesions such as double strand breaks (DSBs) and other non-DSB base lesions. These lesions may be formed in close proximity (i.e., within a few nanometers) resulting in clustered types of DNA lesions. These damage clusters are considered the fingerprint of ionizing radiation, notably charged particles of high linear energy transfer (LET). Accumulating theoretical and experimental evidence suggests that the induction of these clustered lesions appears under various irradiation conditions but also as a result of high levels of oxidative stress. The biological significance of these clustered DNA lesions pertains to the inability of cells to process them efficiently compared to isolated DNA lesions. The results in the case of unsuccessful or erroneous repair can vary from mutations up to chromosomal instability. In this mini review, we discuss of several Monte Carlo simulations codes and experimental evidence regarding the induction and repair of radiation-induced non-DSB complex DNA lesions. We also critically present the most widely used methodologies (i.e., gel electrophoresis and fluorescence microscopy [in situ colocalization assays]). Based on the comparison of different approaches, we provide examples and suggestions for the improved detection of these lesions in situ. Based on the current status of knowledge, we conclude that there is a great need for improvement of the detection techniques at the cellular or tissue level, which will provide valuable information for understanding the mechanisms used by the cell to process clustered DNA lesions.

4D numerical observer for lesion detection in respiratory-gated PET

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lorsakul, Auranuch; Li, Quanzheng; Ouyang, Jinsong

2014-10-15

Purpose: Respiratory-gated positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography protocols reduce lesion smearing and improve lesion detection through a synchronized acquisition of emission data. However, an objective assessment of image quality of the improvement gained from respiratory-gated PET is mainly limited to a three-dimensional (3D) approach. This work proposes a 4D numerical observer that incorporates both spatial and temporal informations for detection tasks in pulmonary oncology. Methods: The authors propose a 4D numerical observer constructed with a 3D channelized Hotelling observer for the spatial domain followed by a Hotelling observer for the temporal domain. Realistic {sup 18}F-fluorodeoxyglucose activity distributions were simulated usingmore » a 4D extended cardiac torso anthropomorphic phantom including 12 spherical lesions at different anatomical locations (lower, upper, anterior, and posterior) within the lungs. Simulated data based on Monte Carlo simulation were obtained using GEANT4 application for tomographic emission (GATE). Fifty noise realizations of six respiratory-gated PET frames were simulated by GATE using a model of the Siemens Biograph mMR scanner geometry. PET sinograms of the thorax background and pulmonary lesions that were simulated separately were merged to generate different conditions of the lesions to the background (e.g., lesion contrast and motion). A conventional ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM) reconstruction (5 iterations and 6 subsets) was used to obtain: (1) gated, (2) nongated, and (3) motion-corrected image volumes (a total of 3200 subimage volumes: 2400 gated, 400 nongated, and 400 motion-corrected). Lesion-detection signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) were measured in different lesion-to-background contrast levels (3.5, 8.0, 9.0, and 20.0), lesion diameters (10.0, 13.0, and 16.0 mm), and respiratory motion displacements (17.6–31.3 mm). The proposed 4D numerical observer applied on multiple-gated images was compared to the conventional 3D approach applied on the nongated and motion-corrected images. Results: On average, the proposed 4D numerical observer improved the detection SNR by 48.6% (p < 0.005), whereas the 3D methods on motion-corrected images improved by 31.0% (p < 0.005) as compared to the nongated method. For all different conditions of the lesions, the relative SNR measurement (Gain = SNR{sub Observed}/SNR{sub Nongated}) of the 4D method was significantly higher than one from the motion-corrected 3D method by 13.8% (p < 0.02), where Gain{sub 4D} was 1.49 ± 0.21 and Gain{sub 3D} was 1.31 ± 0.15. For the lesion with the highest amplitude of motion, the 4D numerical observer yielded the highest observer-performance improvement (176%). For the lesion undergoing the smallest motion amplitude, the 4D method provided superior lesion detectability compared with the 3D method, which provided a detection SNR close to the nongated method. The investigation on a structure of the 4D numerical observer showed that a Laguerre–Gaussian channel matrix with a volumetric 3D function yielded higher lesion-detection performance than one with a 2D-stack-channelized function, whereas a different kind of channels that have the ability to mimic the human visual system, i.e., difference-of-Gaussian, showed similar performance in detecting uniform and spherical lesions. The investigation of the detection performance when increasing noise levels yielded decreasing detection SNR by 27.6% and 41.5% for the nongated and gated methods, respectively. The investigation of lesion contrast and diameter showed that the proposed 4D observer preserved the linearity property of an optimal-linear observer while the motion was present. Furthermore, the investigation of the iteration and subset numbers of the OSEM algorithm demonstrated that these parameters had impact on the lesion detectability and the selection of the optimal parameters could provide the maximum lesion-detection performance. The proposed 4D numerical observer outperformed the other observers for the lesion-detection task in various lesion conditions and motions. Conclusions: The 4D numerical observer shows substantial improvement in lesion detectability over the 3D observer method. The proposed 4D approach could potentially provide a more reliable objective assessment of the impact of respiratory-gated PET improvement for lesion-detection tasks. On the other hand, the 4D approach may be used as an upper bound to investigate the performance of the motion correction method. In future work, the authors will validate the proposed 4D approach on clinical data for detection tasks in pulmonary oncology.« less

Hemoglobin-driven pathophysiology is an in vivo consequence of the red blood cell storage lesion that can be attenuated in guinea pigs by haptoglobin therapy.

PubMed

Baek, Jin Hyen; D'Agnillo, Felice; Vallelian, Florence; Pereira, Claudia P; Williams, Matthew C; Jia, Yiping; Schaer, Dominik J; Buehler, Paul W

2012-04-01

Massive transfusion of blood can lead to clinical complications, including multiorgan dysfunction and even death. Such severe clinical outcomes have been associated with longer red blood cell (rbc) storage times. Collectively referred to as the rbc storage lesion, rbc storage results in multiple biochemical changes that impact intracellular processes as well as membrane and cytoskeletal properties, resulting in cellular injury in vitro. However, how the rbc storage lesion triggers pathophysiology in vivo remains poorly defined. In this study, we developed a guinea pig transfusion model with blood stored under standard blood banking conditions for 2 (new), 21 (intermediate), or 28 days (old blood). Transfusion with old but not new blood led to intravascular hemolysis, acute hypertension, vascular injury, and kidney dysfunction associated with pathophysiology driven by hemoglobin (Hb). These adverse effects were dramatically attenuated when the high-affinity Hb scavenger haptoglobin (Hp) was administered at the time of transfusion with old blood. Pathologies observed after transfusion with old blood, together with the favorable response to Hp supplementation, allowed us to define the in vivo consequences of the rbc storage lesion as storage-related posttransfusion hemolysis producing Hb-driven pathophysiology. Hb sequestration by Hp might therefore be a therapeutic modality for enhancing transfusion safety in severely ill or massively transfused patients.

All lesions great and small, part 2. Diagnostic cytology in veterinary medicine.

PubMed

Sharkey, Leslie C; Seelig, Davis M; Overmann, Jed

2014-06-01

This is the second in a two-part review of diagnostic cytopathology in veterinary medicine. As in human medicine, cytopathology is a minimally invasive, rapid, and cost-effective diagnostic modality with broad utilization. In this second part, the diagnostic applications of cytology in respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, endocrine, ocular, and central nervous system tissues are discussed with a section describing fluid analysis in veterinary medicine. As noted in the previous manuscript, which characterized the cytology of the skin/subcutis, musculoskeletal, and lymphoid tissues, the interpretation of veterinary cytology samples must be undertaken with extensive knowledge of the breadth of animal species, including familiarity with the frequency and clinical progression of diseases, both of which can be influenced by species, breed, and husbandry conditions. Similar to part one, this review focuses on the most common domestic companion animal species (dog, cat, and horse) and highlights lesions that are either unique to veterinary species or have relevant correlates in people. The cytologic features and biological behavior of similar lesions are compared, and selected mechanisms of disease and ancillary diagnostics are reviewed when appropriate. Supporting figures illustrate a subset of lesions. While not an exhaustive archive of veterinary cytology, the goal is to give cytopathologists working in human medicine a general impression of correlates and unique entities in veterinary practice. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Spectrum of the Breast Lesions With Increased 18F-FDG Uptake on PET/CT

PubMed Central

Dong, Aisheng; Wang, Yang; Lu, Jianping; Zuo, Changjing

2016-01-01

Abstract Interpretation of 18F-FDG PET/CT studies in breast is challenging owing to nonspecific FDG uptake in various benign and malignant conditions. Benign conditions include breast changes in pregnancy and lactation, gynecomastia, mastitis, fat necrosis, fibroadenoma, intraductal papilloma, and atypical ductal hyperplasia. Among malignancies, invasive ductal carcinoma and invasive lobular carcinoma are common histological types of breast carcinoma. Rarely, other unusual histological types of breast carcinomas (eg, intraductal papillary carcinoma, invasive micropapillary carcinoma, medullary carcinoma, mucinous carcinoma, and metaplastic carcinoma), lymphoma, and metastasis can be the causes. Knowledge of a wide spectrum of hypermetabolic breast lesions on FDG PET/CT is essential in accurate reading of FDG PET/CT. The purpose of this atlas article is to demonstrate features of various breast lesions encountered at our institution, both benign and malignant, which can result in hypermetabolism on FDG PET/CT imaging. PMID:26975010

In vitro effect of phototherapy with low-intensity laser on HSV-1 and epithelial cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eduardo, Fernanda P.; Mehnert, Dolores U.; Monezi, Telma A.; Zezell, Denise M.; Schubert, Mark M.; Eduardo, Carlos P.; Marques, Márcia M.

2007-02-01

The effects of phototherapy on herpes lesions have been clinically demonstrated by either preventing the lesion formation or speeding their repair. The aim of this in vitro study was analyze the effect of phototherapy on epithelial cells and HSV-1 in culture. Cultures of HSV-1 and epithelial cells (Vero cell line) were used. The irradiations were done using a GaAlAs laser (660 e 780 nm, 4.0 mm2). One, two and three irradiations with 6 h-intervals were done. The experimental groups were: Control: non-irradiated; 660 nm and 3 J/cm2 (2.8 sec); 660 nm and 5 J/cm2 (3.8 sec); 780 nm and 3 J/cm2 (1.9 sec), and 780 nm and 5 J/cm2 (2.5 sec). The HSV-1 cytopatic effect and the cell viability of irradiated cultures and controls were analyzed in four different conditions: irradiation of non-infected epithelial cells; epithelial cells irradiated prior infection; virus irradiated prior infection; irradiation of HSV infected cells. The mitochondrial activity and cytopathic effects were assessed. The number of irradiations influenced the cell growth positively and proportionally, except for the 660 nm/ 3 J/cm2 group. Any variation in cytopathic effects was observed amongst the experimental groups. The viability of infected cells prior irradiation was significantly higher than that of non-irradiated cultures when 2 irradiations were done. Under the experimental conditions of this study we concluded that phototherapy is capable of enhancing epithelial cell growth and prolonging cell viability of HSV-1 infected cells. Positive benefits of phototherapy could be resultant from prolongation of infected cells viability, corroborating with host defenses.

Unilateral lesion of dorsal hippocampus in adult rats impairs contralateral long-term potentiation in vivo and spatial memory in the early postoperative phase.

PubMed

Li, Hongjie; Wu, Xiaoyan; Bai, Yanrui; Huang, Yan; He, Wenting; Dong, Zhifang

2012-05-01

It is well documented that bilateral hippocampal lesions or unilateral hippocampal lesion at birth causes impairment of contralateral LTP and long-term memory. However, effects of unilateral hippocampal lesion in adults on contralateral in vivo LTP and memory are not clear. We here examined the influence of unilateral electrolytic dorsal hippocampal lesion in adult rats on contralateral LTP in vivo and spatial memory during different postoperative phases. We found that acute unilateral hippocampal lesion had no effect on contralateral LTP. However, contralateral LTP was impaired at 1 week after lesion, and was restored to the control level at postoperative week 4. Similarly, spatial memory was also impaired at postoperative week 1, and was restored at postoperative week 4. In addition, the rats at postoperative week 1 showed stronger spatial exploratory behavior in a novel open-field environment. The sham operation had no effects on contralateral LTP, spatial memory and exploration at either postoperative week 1 or week 4. These results suggest that unilateral dorsal hippocampal lesion in adult rats causes transient contralateral LTP impairment and spatial memory deficit. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Of Soap and Seborrhea: Skin Problems in Infants

PubMed Central

Nickerson, Granville

1972-01-01

Skin lesions in infants can herald serious internal problems or be relatively benign. Interpreting skin manifestations can be extremely confusing, therefore, and although many can be ‘spot’ diagnoses, puzzling rashes should be approached systematically according to the areas that are affected and the nature of the lesions. Dr. Nickerson describes common dermatological conditions seen in the newborn and older infants and advocates a common sense approach, especially on questions of what to bathe the baby with. He outlines followup procedures for those conditions which are signs of more serious internal disorders, and emphasizes reassurance and education of the mother. PMID:20468758

Prevention and treatment of white spot lesions during and after fixed orthodontic treatment: A systematic literature review.

PubMed

Lapenaite, Egle; Lopatiene, Kristina; Ragauskaite, Aira

2016-01-01

The aim of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of fluoride and casein topical preparations in the prevention of white spot lesions during and after fixed orthodontic treatment. Information search for controlled studies on humans published in the English language between 2008 and 2013 was conducted in Medline via PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Oxford University Press: Oxford journals and The Cochrane Library, as well as the Web search Google Scholar. 177 articles were reviewed; eleven clinical studies fulfilled all inclusion criteria. In the clinical studies it was concluded that high-concentration fluoride supplements are effective in reducing white spot lesions. Results of the studies showed the same usefulness of fluoride varnish, MI Paste, and usual oral hygiene using 1100 ppm of fluoride toothpaste. Effect on the prevention and treatment of white spot lesions of oral hygiene with toothpaste containing 1450 ppm of fluoride in orthodontic patients was evaluated. The positive effect of casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate in white spot lesions treatment was found. Otherwise in some clinical studies use of casein derivates during fixed orthodontics for white spot lesions treatment was not effective. More clinical studies conducted during last five years yielded significantly positive results about the effectiveness of fluoride and caseine supplements in ameliorating white spot lesions during and after fixed orthodontic treatment. For a higher-risk patient group, additional supplements such as high-concentrated fluoride varnish, chewing sticks, or casein derivates, are required. A good oral hygiene regimen using high-fluoride toothpaste is as effective as fluoride or casein derivates in the prevention of new white spot lesions formation.

Conjunctival Lymphangioma: A Case Report and Brief Review of the Literature

PubMed Central

Seca, Mariana; Borges, Pedro; Reimão, Pedro; Gomes, Miguel; Meireles, Angelina

2012-01-01

Background. Lymphangioma is a rare venolymphatic lesion, characterized by dilation of lymphatic vessels. It may occur as an isolated lesion or, more often, represent the surface component of a deep orbital lymphangioma. Case. We report a case of a conjunctival lymphangioma on a 58-year-old male that had simultaneously an upper respiratory tract infection. Excision and biopsy confirmed the nature of the lesion, and there has been no relapse to date. Conclusion. Conjunctival lymphangioma is a rare condition in which the diagnose, must be kept in mind in patients with a red eye resistance to topical therapy and in association with an upper respiratory tract infection. Finally, it is also necessary to be aware of possible recurrence of the lesion. PMID:22666617

Vertebral pneumatocyst. A case report.

PubMed

Laufer, L; Schulman, H; Hertzanu, Y

1996-02-01

This study illustrates intraosseous pneumatocyst of the vertebral body, a benign lesion. To review the incidence and location of this benign lesion during a 1-year period. Intraosseous pneumatocyst is a rare benign condition, commonly seen in iliac bone or sacrum. The etiology of this entity is unclear. Other locations of these lesions are very rare, and only a few isolated cases are reported in the literature. In the last year (1994-1995), vertebral pneumatocyst was incidentally found in four patients who underwent computed tomography examination for presumptive discal lesion. Axial computed tomography with 2- and 4-mm slice thickness was performed. The typical computed tomography patterns of intraosseous pneumatocyst involving the cervical, dorsal, or lumbar spine were found. The bony structure and joints were normal. To the best of our knowledge, intraosseous pneumatocyst located in the spinal process has not been reported. Intraosseous pneumatocyst is a benign lesion. Biopsy and follow-up are unnecessary.

An unusual exostotic lesion of the maxillary sinus from Roman Lincoln.

PubMed

Kendall, Ross; Kendall, Ellen J; Macleod, Iain; Gowland, Rebecca; Beaumont, Julia

2015-12-01

This report provides a differential diagnosis of an exostotic bony lesion within the left maxillary sinus of a Romano-British (3rd to 4th century AD) adult male from Newport, Lincoln. Macroscopic, radiographic, and cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) analyses suggest that the lesion is likely of odontogenic origin. The overall size of the lesion and areas of sclerosis and radiolucency, together with its hypothesised odontogenic origin, suggest that the lesion represents a chronic exostotic osteomyelitic reaction to the presence of odontogenic bacteria. While modern case studies of odontogenic maxillary sinus osteomyelitis are noteworthy, published cases of this condition are extremely rare in an archaeological context and may be underreported due to the enclosed nature of the sinuses. Such infections may have serious implications for individual and population health, and non-destructive investigation should be considered in cases where significant maxillary caries are present. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia: a clinicopathologic study of 9 cases.

PubMed

Guinovart, R M; Bassas-Vila, J; Morell, L; Ferrándiz, C

2014-03-01

Angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia (ALHE) is a rare disease characterized by single or multiple angiomatous lesions typically located on the scalp and the face. We present a retrospective analysis of 9 cases of ALHE. The lesions appeared largely as multiple grouped papules or, in some cases, subcutaneous nodules, located mainly on the scalp, particularly around the ear. We also observed lesions in atypical locations, such as areas of the head other than the scalp, and the shoulder, neck, and forearm. At these sites the lesions had an atypical clinical appearance that made diagnosis difficult; this should be borne in mind in patients with single, well-delimited lesions with a vascular appearance and superficial ulceration or crusting. Surgery was the most common treatment in our series, and even though ALHE is considered a benign condition, recurrence was common. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier España, S.L. and AEDV. All rights reserved.

Restorative therapy for erosive lesions.

PubMed

Lambrechts, P; Van Meerbeek, B; Perdigão, J; Gladys, S; Braem, M; Vanherle, G

1996-04-01

More needs to be learned about the etiology of erosion lesions before they can be accurately diagnosed, confidently treated and, more importantly, prevented. The treatment is dependent on the location and the degree of erosion. The decision to treat an erosion lesion should be based on careful consideration of the etiology and progression of the condition. Reasons for restoring noncarious enamel/dentin lesions are discussed and various therapeutic measures are provided. Preventive and restorative therapeutic measures for noncarious abrasive/ erosive lesions are proposed such as: a change of dietary or behavior patterns; application of desensitization products; intensive fluoride therapy with or without iontophoresis; brushing with desensitizing dentifrices; adhesive penetration with dentin bonding agents; glass ionomers and compomers; resin composites; composite or porcelain veneers; crown and bridge work; occlusal adjustments and nightguard fabrication if the abfraction factor coincides. The clinical durability of restorative therapy and important clinical factors related to the restoration of multifactorial defects are discussed.

Human mast cell neutral proteases generate modified LDL particles with increased proteoglycan binding.

PubMed

Maaninka, Katariina; Nguyen, Su Duy; Mäyränpää, Mikko I; Plihtari, Riia; Rajamäki, Kristiina; Lindsberg, Perttu J; Kovanen, Petri T; Öörni, Katariina

2018-04-13

Subendothelial interaction of LDL with extracellular matrix drives atherogenesis. This interaction can be strengthened by proteolytic modification of LDL. Mast cells (MCs) are present in atherosclerotic lesions, and upon activation, they degranulate and release a variety of neutral proteases. Here we studied the ability of MC proteases to cleave apoB-100 of LDL and affect the binding of LDL to proteoglycans. Mature human MCs were differentiated from human peripheral blood-derived CD34 + progenitors in vitro and activated with calcium ionophore to generate MC-conditioned medium. LDL was incubated in the MC-conditioned medium or with individual MC proteases, and the binding of native and modified LDL to isolated human aortic proteoglycans or to human atherosclerotic plaques ex vivo was determined. MC proteases in atherosclerotic human coronary artery lesions were detected by immunofluorescence and qPCR. Activated human MCs released the neutral proteases tryptase, chymase, carboxypeptidase A3, cathepsin G, and granzyme B. Of these, cathepsin G degraded most efficiently apoB-100, induced LDL fusion, and enhanced binding of LDL to isolated human aortic proteoglycans and human atherosclerotic lesions ex vivo. Double immunofluoresence staining of human atherosclerotic coronary arteries for tryptase and cathepsin G indicated that lesional MCs contain cathepsin G. In the lesions, expression of cathepsin G correlated with the expression of tryptase and chymase, but not with that of neutrophil proteinase 3. The present study suggests that cathepsin G in human atherosclerotic lesions is largely derived from MCs and that activated MCs may contribute to atherogenesis by enhancing LDL retention. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dental pathology in dolphins (Cetacea: Delphinidae) from the southern coast of Brazil.

PubMed

Loch, Carolina; Grando, Liliane J; Kieser, Jules A; Simões-Lopes, Paulo C

2011-05-09

Pathological processes observed in the stomatognathic systems of mammalian species are a useful source of information about the habits, evolution and general health of such animals. Studies of pathological conditions on teeth are common in humans and other primates, but rare in wild animals in general and marine mammals in particular. For cetaceans, previous studies provided scanty records of dental anomalies in a few species. This is the first broad and systematic inventory of dental pathology in dolphins. Specimens stored at scientific collections from the southern coast of Brazil were visually inspected under a stereoscopic microscope using a dental explorer. Diagnosis of lesions and anomalies followed literature descriptions. Abnormalities such as caries-like lesions, mineralized calculus deposits, dental erosion, enamel anomalies (hypoplasia and exogenous pigmentation), root resorption, germination and other shape anomalies, were diagnosed in the delphinids Sotalia guianensis, Delphinus capensis, Stenella frontalis, Stenella coeruleoalba, Lagenodelphis hosei, Pseudorca crassidens, Orcinus orca, Steno bredanensis and Tursiops truncatus. Endogenous causes may be related to the occurrence of certain conditions, but the aetiology of caries-like lesions and calculus accumulation is still unknown for cetaceans. The diagnosis of alveolar anomalies and other bone lesions in specimens with dental pathology lead us to believe these lesions modify the integrity of the periodontal ligament and bony tissues, adding to the burden of morbidity of affected animals.

The Combined Extract of Zingiber officinale and Zea mays (Purple Color) Improves Neuropathy, Oxidative Stress, and Axon Density in Streptozotocin Induced Diabetic Rats

PubMed Central

Thiraphatthanavong, Paphaphat; Muchimapura, Supaporn; Thukhammee, Wipawee; Lertrat, Kamol; Suriharn, Bhalang

2015-01-01

Based on the protective effect of the combined extract of purple waxy corn and ginger (PWCG) on oxidative stress related disorders in diabetic condition, we aimed to determine the effect of PWCG on the functional, biochemical, and structural change of the lesion nerve in streptozotocin- (STZ-) diabetic rats. PWCG at doses of 100, 200, and 300 mg·kg−1 BW were orally given to STZ-diabetic rats which were subjected to chronic constriction (CCI) at right sciatic nerve for 21 days. The blood sugar was assessed before and at the end of study whereas the sciatic function index (SFI), paw withdrawal threshold intensity (PWTI), and paw withdrawal latency (PWL) were assessed every 3 days until the end of study. At the end of study, the determination of nerve conduction velocity (NCV), axon density, oxidative stress status, and aldose reductase (AR) activity of the lesion nerve were performed. It was found that PWCG improved SFI, PWTI, PWL, and NCV together with the improved oxidative stress status and the axon density in the lesion nerve. No changes of AR activity or blood sugar level were observed. Therefore, PWCG might improve the functional and structural changes in STZ-diabetic rats plus CCI via the improved oxidative stress status. PMID:25969689

Exercise-induced stress resistance is independent of exercise controllability and the medial prefrontal cortex

PubMed Central

Greenwood, Benjamin N.; Spence, Katie G.; Crevling, Danielle M.; Clark, Peter J.; Craig, Wendy C.; Fleshner, Monika

2014-01-01

Exercise increases resistance against stress-related disorders such as anxiety and depression. Similarly, the perception of control is a powerful predictor of neurochemical and behavioral responses to stress, but whether the experience of choosing to exercise, and exerting control over that exercise, is a critical factor in producing exercise-induced stress resistance is unknown. The current studies investigated whether the protective effects of exercise against the anxiety- and depression-like consequences of stress are dependent on exercise controllability and a brain region implicated in the protective effects of controllable experiences, the medial prefrontal cortex. Adult male Fischer 344 rats remained sedentary, were forced to run on treadmills or motorised running wheels, or had voluntary access to wheels for 6 weeks. Three weeks after exercise onset, rats received sham surgery or excitotoxic lesions of the medial prefrontal cortex. Rats were exposed to home cage or uncontrollable tail shock treatment three weeks later. Shock-elicited fear conditioning and shuttle box escape testing occurred the next day. Both forced and voluntary wheel running, but not treadmill training, prevented the exaggerated fear conditioning and interference with escape learning produced by uncontrollable stress. Lesions of the medial prefrontal cortex failed to eliminate the protective effects of forced or voluntary wheel running. These data suggest that exercise controllability and the medial prefrontal cortex are not critical factors in conferring the protective effects of exercise against the affective consequences of stressor exposure, and imply that exercise perceived as forced may still benefit affect and mental health. PMID:23121339

Microcomputed tomography evaluation of white spot lesion remineralization with various procedures.

PubMed

Kucuk, Eyup Burak; Malkoc, Siddik; Demir, Abdullah

2016-09-01

The aim of this study was to use microcomputed tomography to evaluate the effects on white spot lesions of 3 remineralizing agents compared with artificial saliva (Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey). The agents were GC Tooth Mousse (GC International, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, Japan), 50-ppm sodium fluoride solution (Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey), and Clinpro 5000 (3M ESPE Dental Products (St Paul, Minn). The experimental and control teeth were stored in artificial saliva. Forty-four extracted premolars were divided into 4 groups of 11 teeth each (3 experimental groups and 1 control group). After white spot lesions were created on the teeth, a remineralizing agent was applied. Microcomputed tomography scanning was performed at the following times: T0 (sound enamel), T1 (day 0, when the white spot lesion was formed), T2 (day 15), and T3 (day 30). Volume, depth, surface area, and mineral density changes of the white spot lesions were evaluated at different time points using CTAn software (SkyScan; Bruker, Kontich, Belgium). GC Tooth Mousse and Clinpro 5000 improved all measurements after 30 days. However, Clinpro 5000 was not as effective in reducing lesion depth as it was in the other parameters. The artificial saliva group and the 50-ppm sodium fluoride solution did not show significant effects in the regression of the white spot lesions at the end of the 30-day experiment. GC Tooth Mousse and Clinpro 5000 were more effective in remineralization of white spot lesions than sodium fluoride solution and artificial saliva. They can be preferred for use clinically. Microcomputed tomography is a novel and effective method that shows promise in accurately evaluating white spot lesions and remineralization. Copyright © 2016 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The use of current source density as electrophysiological correlates in neuropsychiatric disorders: a review of human studies

PubMed Central

Kamarajan, Chella; Pandey, Ashwini K.; Chorlian, David B.; Porjesz, Bernice

2014-01-01

The use of current source density (CSD), the Laplacian of the scalp surface voltage, to map the electrical activity of the brain is a powerful method in studies of cognitive and affective phenomena. During the last few decades, mapping of CSD has been successfully applied to characterize several neuropsychiatric conditions such as alcoholism, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety disorders, childhood/developmental disorders, and neurological conditions (i.e., epilepsy and brain lesions) using electrophysiological data from resting state and during cognitive performance. Use of CSD and Laplacian measures has proven effective in elucidating topographic and activation differences between groups: i) patients with a specific diagnosis vs. healthy controls, ii) subjects at high risk for a specific diagnosis vs. low risk or normal controls, and iii) patients with specific symptom(s) vs. patients without these symptom(s). The present review outlines and summarizes the studies that have employed CSD measures in investigating several neuropsychiatric conditions. The advantages and potential of CSD-based methods in clinical and research applications along with some of the limitations inherent in the CSD-based methods are discussed in the review, as well as future directions to expand the implementation of CSD to other potential clinical applications. As CSD methods have proved to be more advantageous than using scalp potential data to understand topographic and source activations, its clinical applications offer promising potential, not only for a better understanding of a range of psychiatric conditions, but also for a variety of focal neurological disorders, including epilepsy and other conditions involving brain lesions and surgical interventions. PMID:25448264

Active avoidance learning requires prefrontal suppression of amygdala-mediated defensive reactions.

PubMed

Moscarello, Justin M; LeDoux, Joseph E

2013-02-27

Signaled active avoidance (AA) paradigms train subjects to prevent an aversive outcome by performing a learned behavior during the presentation of a conditioned cue. This complex form of conditioning involves pavlovian and instrumental components, which produce competing behavioral responses that must be reconciled for the subject to successfully avoid an aversive stimulus. In signaled AA paradigm for rat, we tested the hypothesis that the instrumental component of AA training recruits infralimbic prefrontal cortex (ilPFC) to inhibit central amygdala (CeA)-mediated Pavlovian reactions. Pretraining lesions of ilPFC increased conditioned freezing while causing a corresponding decrease in avoidance; lesions of CeA produced opposite effects, reducing freezing and facilitating avoidance behavior. Pharmacological inactivation experiments demonstrated that ilPFC is relevant to both acquisition and expression phases of AA learning. Inactivation experiments also revealed that AA produces an ilPFC-mediated diminution of pavlovian reactions that extends beyond the training context, even when the conditioned stimulus is presented in an environment that does not allow the avoidance response. Finally, injection of a protein synthesis inhibitor into either ilPFC or CeA impaired or facilitated AA, respectively, showing that avoidance training produces two opposing memory traces in these regions. These data support a model in which AA learning recruits ilPFC to inhibit CeA-mediated defense behaviors, leading to a robust suppression of freezing that generalizes across environments. Thus, ilPFC functions as an inhibitory interface, allowing instrumental control over an aversive outcome to attenuate the expression of freezing and other reactions to conditioned threat.

Predictability of lesion durability for AF ablation using phased radiofrequency: Power, temperature, and duration impact creation of transmural lesions.

PubMed

Hocini, Mélèze; Condie, Cathy; Stewart, Mark T; Kirchhof, Nicole; Foell, Jason D

2016-07-01

Long-term clinical outcomes for atrial fibrillation ablation depend on the creation of durable transmural lesions during pulmonary vein isolation and on substrate modification. Focal conventional radiofrequency (RF) ablation studies have demonstrated that tissue temperature and power are important factors for lesion formation. However, the impact and predictability of temperature and power on contiguous, transmural lesion formation with a phased RF system has not been described. The purpose of this study was to determine the sensitivity, specificity, and predictability of power and temperature to create contiguous, transmural lesions with the temperature-controlled, multielectrode phased RF PVAC GOLD catheter. Single ablations with the PVAC GOLD catheter were performed in the superior vena cava of 22 pigs. Ablations from 198 PVAC GOLD electrodes were evaluated by gross examination and histopathology for lesion transmurality and contiguity. Lesions were compared to temperature and power data from the phased RF GENius generator. Effective contact was defined as electrodes with a temperature of ≥50°C and a power of ≥3 W. Eighty-five percent (168 of 198) of the lesions were transmural and 79% (106 of 134) were contiguous. Electrode analysis showed that >30 seconds of effective contact identified transmural lesions with 85% sensitivity (95% confidence interval [CI] 78%-89%), 93% specificity (95% CI 76%-99%), and 99% positive predictive value (95% CI 94%-100%). Sensitivity for lesion contiguity was 95% (95% CI 89%-98%), with 62% specificity (95% CI 42%-78%) and 90% positive predictive value (95% CI 83%-95%). No char or coagulum was observed on the catheter or tissue. PVAC GOLD safely, effectively, and predictably creates transmural and contiguous lesions. Copyright © 2016 Heart Rhythm Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of delayed-release dimethyl fumarate on MRI measures in the phase 3 CONFIRM study.

PubMed

Miller, David H; Fox, Robert J; Phillips, J Theodore; Hutchinson, Michael; Havrdova, Eva; Kita, Mariko; Wheeler-Kingshott, Claudia A M; Tozer, Daniel J; MacManus, David G; Yousry, Tarek A; Goodsell, Mary; Yang, Minhua; Zhang, Ray; Viglietta, Vissia; Dawson, Katherine T

2015-03-17

To evaluate the effects of oral delayed-release dimethyl fumarate (DMF; also known as gastro-resistant DMF) on MRI lesion activity and load, atrophy, and magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) measures from the Comparator and an Oral Fumarate in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (CONFIRM) study. CONFIRM was a 2-year, placebo-controlled study of the efficacy and safety of DMF 240 mg twice (BID) or 3 times daily (TID) in 1,417 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS); subcutaneous glatiramer acetate 20 mg once daily was included as an active reference comparator. The number and volume of T2-hyperintense, T1-hypointense, and gadolinium-enhancing (Gd+) lesions, as well as whole brain volume and MTR, were assessed in 681 patients (MRI cohort). DMF BID and TID produced significant and consistent reductions vs placebo in the number of new or enlarging T2-hyperintense lesions and new nonenhancing T1-hypointense lesions after 1 and 2 years of treatment and in the number of Gd+ lesions at week 24, year 1, and year 2. Lesion volumes were also significantly reduced. Reductions in brain atrophy and MTR changes with DMF relative to placebo did not reach statistical significance. The robust effects on MRI active lesion counts and total lesion volume in patients with RRMS demonstrate the ability of DMF to exert beneficial effects on inflammatory lesion activity in multiple sclerosis, and support DMF therapy as a valuable new treatment option in RRMS. This study provides Class I evidence of reduction in brain lesion number and volume, as assessed by MRI, over 2 years of delayed-release DMF treatment. © 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

Combination therapy with telmisartan and parecoxib induces regression of endometriotic lesions.

PubMed

Nenicu, Anca; Gu, Yuan; Körbel, Christina; Menger, Michael D; Laschke, Matthias W

2017-08-01

Telmisartan suppresses the development of endometriotic lesions. However, the drug also up-regulates the expression of COX-2, which has been suggested to promote the progression of endometriosis. Accordingly, in the present study we analysed whether a combination therapy with telmisartan and a COX-2 inhibitor may be more effective in the treatment of endometriotic lesions than the application of telmisartan alone. Endometriotic lesions were induced in the peritoneal cavity of C57BL/6 mice, which were treated daily with an i.p. injection of telmisartan (10 mg·kg -1 ), parecoxib (5 mg·kg -1 ), a combination of telmisartan and parecoxib or vehicle. Therapeutic effects on lesion survival, growth, vascularization, innervation and protein expression were studied over 4 weeks by high-resolution ultrasound imaging as well as immunohistochemical and Western blot analyses. Telmisartan-treated lesions exhibited a significantly reduced lesion volume when compared with vehicle-treated controls and parecoxib-treated lesions. This inhibitory effect of telmisartan was even more pronounced when it was used in combination with parecoxib. The combination therapy resulted in a reduced microvessel density as well as lower numbers of proliferating Ki67-positive cells and higher numbers of apoptotic cleaved caspase-3-positive stromal cells within the lesions. This was associated with a lower expression of COX-2, MMP-9 and p-Akt/Akt when compared with controls. The application of the two drugs further inhibited the ingrowth of nerve fibres into the lesions. Combination therapy with telmisartan and a COX-2 inhibitor represents a novel, effective pharmacological strategy for the treatment of endometriosis. © 2017 The British Pharmacological Society.

Ezetimibe Attenuates Atherosclerosis Associated with Lipid Reduction and Inflammation Inhibition.

PubMed

Tie, Chunmiao; Gao, Kanglu; Zhang, Na; Zhang, Songzhao; Shen, Jiali; Xie, Xiaojie; Wang, Jian-An

2015-01-01

Ezetimibe, as a cholesterol absorption inhibitor, has been shown protecting against atherosclerosis when combined with statin. However, side by side comparison has not been made to evaluate the beneficial effects of ezetimibe alone versus statin. Herein, the study aimed to test whether ezetimibe alone would exhibit similar effects as statin and the combination therapy would be necessary in a moderate lesion size. ApoE-/- male mice that were fed a saturated-fat supplemented diet were randomly assigned to different therapeutic regimens: vehicle, ezetimibe alone (10 mg/kg/day), atorvastatin (20 mg/kg/day) or combination of ezetimibe and atorvastatin through the drinking water. On 28 days, mice were sacrificed and aorta and sera were collected to analyze the atherosclerotic lesion and blood lipid and cholesterol levels. As a result, ezetimibe alone exerted similar protective effects on atherosclerotic lesion sizes as atorvastatin, which was mediated by lowering serum cholesterol concentrations, inhibiting macrophage accumulation in the lesions and reducing circulatory inflammatory cytokines, such as monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α). In contrast to ezetimibe administration, atorvastatin alone attenuated atherosclerotic lesion which is dependent on its anti-inflammation effects. There were no significance differences in lesion areas and serum concentrations of cholesterol, oxidized LDL and inflammatory cytokines between combination therapy and monotherapy (either ezetimibe or atorvastatin). There were significant correlations between the lesion areas and serum concentrations of cholesterol, MCP-1 and TNF-α, respectively. However, there were no significant correlations between the lesion areas and serum concentrations of TGF-β1 and oxLDL. Ezetimibe alone played the same protection against a moderate atherosclerotic lesion as atorvastatin, which was associated with lowering serum cholesterol, decreasing circulating inflammatory cytokines, and inhibiting macrophage accumulation in the lesions.

Ezetimibe Attenuates Atherosclerosis Associated with Lipid Reduction and Inflammation Inhibition

PubMed Central

Tie, Chunmiao; Gao, Kanglu; Zhang, Na; Zhang, Songzhao; Shen, Jiali; Xie, Xiaojie; Wang, Jian-an

2015-01-01

Background Ezetimibe, as a cholesterol absorption inhibitor, has been shown protecting against atherosclerosis when combined with statin. However, side by side comparison has not been made to evaluate the beneficial effects of ezetimibe alone versus statin. Herein, the study aimed to test whether ezetimibe alone would exhibit similar effects as statin and the combination therapy would be necessary in a moderate lesion size. Methods and Results ApoE-/- male mice that were fed a saturated-fat supplemented diet were randomly assigned to different therapeutic regimens: vehicle, ezetimibe alone (10 mg/kg/day), atorvastatin (20 mg/kg/day) or combination of ezetimibe and atorvastatin through the drinking water. On 28 days, mice were sacrificed and aorta and sera were collected to analyze the atherosclerotic lesion and blood lipid and cholesterol levels. As a result, ezetimibe alone exerted similar protective effects on atherosclerotic lesion sizes as atorvastatin, which was mediated by lowering serum cholesterol concentrations, inhibiting macrophage accumulation in the lesions and reducing circulatory inflammatory cytokines, such as monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α). In contrast to ezetimibe administration, atorvastatin alone attenuated atherosclerotic lesion which is dependent on its anti-inflammation effects. There were no significance differences in lesion areas and serum concentrations of cholesterol, oxidized LDL and inflammatory cytokines between combination therapy and monotherapy (either ezetimibe or atorvastatin). There were significant correlations between the lesion areas and serum concentrations of cholesterol, MCP-1 and TNF-α, respectively. However, there were no significant correlations between the lesion areas and serum concentrations of TGF-β1 and oxLDL. Conclusions Ezetimibe alone played the same protection against a moderate atherosclerotic lesion as atorvastatin, which was associated with lowering serum cholesterol, decreasing circulating inflammatory cytokines, and inhibiting macrophage accumulation in the lesions. PMID:26555472

Double dissociation of the anterior and posterior dorsomedial caudate-putamen in the acquisition and expression of associative learning with the nicotine stimulus.

PubMed

Charntikov, Sergios; Pittenger, Steven T; Swalve, Natashia; Li, Ming; Bevins, Rick A

2017-07-15

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide. This habit is not only debilitating to individual users but also to those around them (second-hand smoking). Nicotine is the main addictive component of tobacco products and is a moderate stimulant and a mild reinforcer. Importantly, besides its unconditional effects, nicotine also has conditioned stimulus effects that may contribute to the tenacity of the smoking habit. Because the neurobiological substrates underlying these processes are virtually unexplored, the present study investigated the functional involvement of the dorsomedial caudate putamen (dmCPu) in learning processes with nicotine as an interoceptive stimulus. Rats were trained using the discriminated goal-tracking task where nicotine injections (0.4 mg/kg; SC), on some days, were paired with intermittent (36 per session) sucrose deliveries; sucrose was not available on interspersed saline days. Pre-training excitotoxic or post-training transient lesions of anterior or posterior dmCPu were used to elucidate the role of these areas in acquisition or expression of associative learning with nicotine stimulus. Pre-training lesion of p-dmCPu inhibited acquisition while post-training lesions of p-dmCPu attenuated the expression of associative learning with the nicotine stimulus. On the other hand, post-training lesions of a-dmCPu evoked nicotine-like responding following saline treatment indicating the role of this area in disinhibition of learned motor behaviors. These results, for the first time, show functionally distinct involvement of a- and p-dmCPu in various stages of associative learning using nicotine stimulus and provide an initial account of neural plasticity underlying these learning processes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of scalp dermatitis on chemical property of hair keratin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Kyung Sook; Shin, Min Kyung; Park, Hun-Kuk

2013-05-01

The effects of scalp dermatitis (seborrheic dermatitis (SD), psoriasis, and atopic dermatitis (AD)) on chemical properties of hair keratin were investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Hairs were collected from lesional regions affected by SD, psoriasis, and AD and non-lesional regions separately. The hairs with SD were taken from patients with ages of 16-80 years. The ages of patients with psoriasis ranged from 8 to 67 years, and all patients exhibited moderate disease. Hairs with AD were taken from the patients with ages of 24-45 years and the average SCORing atopic dermatitis (SCORAD) was 48.75. Hairs from 20 normal adults were collected as a control. The FT-IR absorbance bands were analyzed by the Gaussian model to obtain the center frequency, half width, height, and area of each band. The height and area of all bands in the spectra were normalized to the amide I centered at 1652 cm-1 to quantitatively analyze the chemical composition of keratin. The spectra of hair with scalp dermatitis were different with that of control, the amide A components centered at 3278 cm-1 were smaller than those of the control. The psoriasis hair showed a large difference in the IR absorbance band between lesional and non-lesional hairs indicating good agreement with the morphological changes. The hairs with diseases did not show differences in the content of cystine, which was centered at 1054 cm-1, from the control. The chemical properties of keratin were not significantly different between the hairs affected by SD, psoriasis, and AD. However, the changes induced by scalp dermatitis were different with weathering. Therefore, FT-IR analysis could be used to screen differences between the physiological and pathological conditions of scalp hair.

Clinical application of spectral electromagnetic interaction in breast cancer: diagnostic results of a pilot study.

PubMed

De Cicco, Concetta; Mariani, Luigi; Vedruccio, Clarbruno; Ricci, Carla; Balma, Massimo; Rotmensz, Nicole; Ferrari, Mahila Esmeralda; Autino, Elena; Trifirò, Giuseppe; Sacchini, Virgilio; Viale, Giuseppe; Paganelli, Giovanni

2006-01-01

There is a need for a cost-effective method to safely reduce the number of diagnostic procedures women undergo for breast cancer. We tested a new procedure for breast cancer diagnosis based on breast tissue response to low level electromagnetic incident waves. We tested 101 patients with suspicious palpable breast lesions detected by mammography or ultrasonography, who were scheduled to undergo an open biopsy. Using an electromagnetic field generator (tissue resonance interaction method probe [TRIMprob]), we passed the TRIMprob over the breast area and recorded the signal variation of one or more spectral lines (dB1, dB2, dB3). The results were compared with those of a control group as well as with pathology data obtained from excisional biopsy. No adverse effects of the test were observed. Pathology revealed 86 malignant breast cancers (72 invasive, 14 in situ) and 15 benign conditions. We achieved the best discrimination between normal breasts and lesions using dB1 (dB1 AUC-ROC = 0.8; dB2 AUC-ROC = 0.61; dB3 AUC-ROC = 0.76). With a specificity of 75% to 95%, the sensitivity ranged from 49% to 84%. Tumor or patient variables did not influence the results. The TRIMprob test was able to provide some degree of discrimination between normal breast tissue and lesions but not between benign and malignant lesions. The lack of influence of patient age and tumor size on test results might be advantageous in terms of early diagnosis in young women. These preliminary results need to be verified and extended in a preclinical-stage disease setting before clinical applicability can be envisaged.

Neuronal network-based mathematical modeling of perceived verticality in acute unilateral vestibular lesions: from nerve to thalamus and cortex.

PubMed

Glasauer, S; Dieterich, M; Brandt, T

2018-05-29

Acute unilateral lesions of vestibular graviceptive pathways from the otolith organs and semicircular canals via vestibular nuclei and the thalamus to the parieto-insular vestibular cortex regularly cause deviations of perceived verticality in the frontal roll plane. These tilts are ipsilateral in peripheral and in ponto-medullary lesions and contralateral in ponto-mesencephalic lesions. Unilateral lesions of the vestibular thalamus or cortex cause smaller tilts of the perceived vertical, which may be either ipsilateral or contralateral. Using a neural network model, we previously explained why unilateral vestibular midbrain lesions rarely manifest with rotational vertigo. We here extend this approach, focussing on the direction-specific deviations of perceived verticality in the roll plane caused by acute unilateral vestibular lesions from the labyrinth to the cortex. Traditionally, the effect of unilateral peripheral lesions on perceived verticality has been attributed to a lesion-based bias of the otolith system. We here suggest, on the basis of a comparison of model simulations with patient data, that perceived visual tilt after peripheral lesions is caused by the effect of a torsional semicircular canal bias on the central gravity estimator. We further argue that the change of gravity coding from a peripheral/brainstem vectorial representation in otolith coordinates to a distributed population coding at thalamic and cortical levels can explain why unilateral thalamic and cortical lesions have a variable effect on perceived verticality. Finally, we propose how the population-coding network for gravity direction might implement the elements required for the well-known perceptual underestimation of the subjective visual vertical in tilted body positions.

Pre-existing Periapical Inflammatory Condition Exacerbates Tooth Extraction–induced BRONJ Lesions in Mice

PubMed Central

Song, Minju; Alshaikh, Abdullah; Kim, Terresa; Kim, Sol; Dang, Michelle; Mehrazarin, Shebli; Shin, Ki-Hyuk; Kang, Mo; Park, No-Hee; Kim, Reuben H.

2016-01-01

Introduction Surgical interventions such as tooth extraction increase a chance of developing osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) in patients receiving bisphosphonates (BPs) for treatment of bone-related diseases. Tooth extraction is often performed to eliminate pre-existing pathological inflammatory conditions that make the tooth unsalvageable; however, the role of such conditions on bisphosphonate-related ONJ (BRONJ) development following tooth extraction is not clearly defined. Here, we examined the effects of periapical periodontitis on tooth extraction-induced BRONJ development in mice. Methods Periapical periodontitis was induced by exposing the pulp of the maxillary first molar for 3 weeks in C57/BL6 mice that were intravenously administered with BP. The same tooth was extracted, and after 3 additional weeks, the mice were harvested for histological, histomorphometric, and histochemical staining analyses. Results Pulp exposure induced periapical radiolucency as demonstrated by increased inflammatory cells, TRAP+ osteoclasts, and bone resorption. When BP was administered, pulp exposure did not induce apical bone resorption despite the presence of inflammatory cells and TRAP+ osteoclasts. While tooth extraction alone induced BRONJ lesions, pulp exposure further increased tooth extraction-induced BRONJ development as demonstrated by the presence of more bone necrosis. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that pre-existing pathological inflammatory condition such as periapical periodontitis is a predisposing factor that may exacerbate BRONJ development following tooth extraction. Our study further provides a clinical implication whereby periapical periodontitis should be controlled before performing tooth extraction in BP-users in order to reduce the risk of developing BRONJ. PMID:27637460

US of the Nongravid Cervix with Multimodality Imaging Correlation: Normal Appearance, Pathologic Conditions, and Diagnostic Pitfalls.

PubMed

Wildenberg, Joseph C; Yam, Benjamin L; Langer, Jill E; Jones, Lisa P

2016-01-01

The adult uterine cervix may exhibit a wide variety of pathologic conditions that include benign entities (eg, cervicitis, hyperplasia, nabothian cysts, cervical polyps, leiomyomas, endometriosis, and congenital abnormalities) as well as malignant lesions, particularly cervical carcinoma. In addition, lesions that arise in the uterine body may secondarily involve the cervix, such as endometrial carcinoma and prolapsed intracavitary masses. Many of these conditions can be identified and characterized at ultrasonography (US), which is considered the first-line imaging examination for the female pelvis. However, examination of the cervix is often cursory during pelvic US, such that cervical disease may be overlooked or misdiagnosed. Transabdominal US of the cervix may not afford sufficient spatial resolution to depict cervical disease in many patients; therefore, endovaginal US is considered the optimal technique. Use of supplemental imaging techniques, particularly the application of transducer pressure on the cervix, may be helpful. This review describes the normal appearance of the cervix at US, the appearance of cervical lesions and conditions that mimic abnormalities at US, and optimal US techniques for evaluation of the cervix. This information will help radiologists detect and diagnose cervical abnormalities more confidently at pelvic US. Online supplemental material is available for this article. (©)RSNA, 2016.

The role of the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus in methamphetamine conditioned place preference and locomotor activity.

PubMed

Dobbs, Lauren K; Cunningham, Christopher L

2014-05-15

Methamphetamine (METH) indirectly stimulates the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus (LDT) acetylcholine (ACh) neurons to increase ACh within the ventral tegmental area (VTA). LDT ACh inhibition attenuates METH and saline locomotor activity. The aim of these experiments was to determine whether LDT ACh contributes to METH conditioned place preference (CPP). C57BL/6J mice received a bilateral electrolytic or sham lesion of the LDT. After recovery, mice received alternating pairings of METH (0.5 mg/kg) and saline with distinct tactile floor cues over 8 days. During preference tests, mice were given access to both floor types and time spent on each was recorded. Mice were tested again after exposure to both extinction and reconditioning trials. Brains were then processed for choline acetyltransferase immunohistochemistry to label LDT ACh neurons. Lesioned mice had significantly fewer LDT ACh neurons and showed increased saline and METH locomotor activity during the first conditioning trial compared to sham mice. Locomotor activity (saline and METH) was negatively correlated with the number of LDT ACh neurons. Lesioned and sham mice showed similar METH CPP following conditioning, extinction and reconditioning trials. LDT ACh neurons are not necessary for METH reward as indexed by CPP, but may be important for basal and METH-induced locomotor activity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Interactions between Prefrontal Cortex and Cerebellum Revealed by Trace Eyelid Conditioning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalmbach, Brian E.; Ohyama, Tatsuya; Kreider, Joy C.; Riusech, Frank; Mauk, Michael D.

2009-01-01

Eyelid conditioning has proven useful for analysis of learning and computation in the cerebellum. Two variants, delay and trace conditioning, differ only by the relative timing of the training stimuli. Despite the subtlety of this difference, trace eyelid conditioning is prevented by lesions of the cerebellum, hippocampus, or medial prefrontal…

Clinical monitoring of early caries lesions using cross polarization optical coherence tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fried, Daniel; Staninec, Michal; Darling, Cynthia L.; Chan, Kenneth H.; Pelzner, Roger B.

New methods are needed for the nondestructive measurement of tooth demineralization and remineralization and to monitor the progression of incipient caries lesions (tooth decay) for effective nonsurgical intervention and to evaluate the performance of anti-caries treatments such as chemical treatments or laser irradiation. Studies have shown that optical coherence tomography (OCT) has great potential to fulfill this role, since it can be used to measure the depth and severity of early lesions with an axial resolution exceeding 10-μm. It is easy to apply in vivo and it can be used to image the convoluted topography of tooth occlusal surfaces. In this paper we present early results from two clinical studies underway to measure the effect of fluoride intervention on early lesions. CP-OCT was used to monitor early lesions on enamel and root surfaces before and after intervention with fluoride varnish. The lesion depth and internal structure were resolved for all the lesions examined and some lesions had well defined surface zones of lower reflectivity that may be indicative of arrested lesions. Changes were also noted in the structure of some of the lesions after fluoride intervention.

Adaptive potential of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) populations to the emerging pitch canker pathogen, Fusarium circinatum.

PubMed

Elvira-Recuenco, Margarita; Iturritxa, Eugenia; Majada, Juan; Alia, Ricardo; Raposo, Rosa

2014-01-01

There is a concern on how emerging pests and diseases will affect the distribution range and adaptability of their host species, especially due to different conditions derived from climate change and growing globalization. Fusarium circinatum, which causes pitch canker disease in Pinus species, is an exotic pathogen of recent introduction in Spain that threatens its maritime pine (P. pinaster) stands. To predict the impact this disease will have on the species, we examine host resistance traits and their genetic architecture. Resistance phenotyping was done in a clonal provenance/progeny trial, using three-year-old cuttings artificially inoculated with the pathogen and maintained under controlled environmental conditions. A total number of 670 ramets were assessed, distributed in 10 populations, with a total of 47 families, 2 to 5 half-sibs per family, and 3-7 ramets per clone. High genetic variation was found at the three hierarchical levels studied: population, family and clone, being both additive and non-additive effects important. Narrow-sense and broad-sense heritability estimates were relatively high, with respective values of 0.43-0.58 and 0.51-0.8, depending on the resistance traits measured (lesion length, lesion length rate, time to wilting, and survival). These values suggest the species' high capacity of evolutionary response to the F. circinatum pathogen. A population originated in Northern Spain was the most resistant, while another from Morocco was the most susceptible. The total number of plants that did not show lesion development or presented a small lesion (length<30 mm) was 224 out of 670, indicating a high proportion of resistant trees in the offspring within the analyzed populations. We found large differences among populations and considerable genetic variation within populations, which should allow, through natural or artificial selection, the successful adaptation of maritime pine to pitch canker disease.

Adaptive Potential of Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster) Populations to the Emerging Pitch Canker Pathogen, Fusarium circinatum

PubMed Central

Elvira-Recuenco, Margarita; Iturritxa, Eugenia; Majada, Juan; Alia, Ricardo; Raposo, Rosa

2014-01-01

There is a concern on how emerging pests and diseases will affect the distribution range and adaptability of their host species, especially due to different conditions derived from climate change and growing globalization. Fusarium circinatum, which causes pitch canker disease in Pinus species, is an exotic pathogen of recent introduction in Spain that threatens its maritime pine (P. pinaster) stands. To predict the impact this disease will have on the species, we examine host resistance traits and their genetic architecture. Resistance phenotyping was done in a clonal provenance/progeny trial, using three-year-old cuttings artificially inoculated with the pathogen and maintained under controlled environmental conditions. A total number of 670 ramets were assessed, distributed in 10 populations, with a total of 47 families, 2 to 5 half-sibs per family, and 3–7 ramets per clone. High genetic variation was found at the three hierarchical levels studied: population, family and clone, being both additive and non-additive effects important. Narrow-sense and broad-sense heritability estimates were relatively high, with respective values of 0.43–0.58 and 0.51–0.8, depending on the resistance traits measured (lesion length, lesion length rate, time to wilting, and survival). These values suggest the species' high capacity of evolutionary response to the F. circinatum pathogen. A population originated in Northern Spain was the most resistant, while another from Morocco was the most susceptible. The total number of plants that did not show lesion development or presented a small lesion (length<30 mm) was 224 out of 670, indicating a high proportion of resistant trees in the offspring within the analyzed populations. We found large differences among populations and considerable genetic variation within populations, which should allow, through natural or artificial selection, the successful adaptation of maritime pine to pitch canker disease. PMID:25500822

Excitotoxic lesions of the infralimbic, but not prelimbic cortex facilitate reversal of appetitive discriminative context conditioning: the role of the infralimbic cortex in context generalization

PubMed Central

Ashwell, Rachel; Ito, Rutsuko

2014-01-01

The prelimbic and infralimbic regions of the rat medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are important components of the limbic cortico-striatal circuit, receiving converging projections from the hippocampus (HPC) and amygdala. Mounting evidence points to these regions having opposing roles in the regulation of the expression of contextual fear and context-induced cocaine-seeking. To investigate this functional differentiation in motivated behavior further, this study employed a novel radial maze task previously shown to be dependent on the integrity of the hippocampus and its functional connection to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell, to investigate the effects of selective excitotoxic lesions of the prelimbic (PL) and infralimbic (IL) upon the spatial contextual control over reward learning. To this end, rats were trained to develop discriminative responding towards a reward-associated discrete cue presented in three out of six spatial locations (3 arms out of 6 radial maze arms), and to avoid the same discrete cue presented in the other three spatial locations. Once acquired, the reward contingencies of the spatial locations were reversed, such that responding to the cue presented in a previously rewarded location was no longer rewarded. Furthermore, the acquisition of spatial learning was probed separately using conditioned place preference (CPP) and the monitoring of arm selection at the beginning of each training session. Lesions of the PL transiently attenuated the acquisition of the initial cue approach training and spatial learning, while leaving reversal learning intact. In contrast, IL lesions led to a significantly superior performance of spatial context-dependent discriminative cue approach and reversal learning, in the absence of a significant preference for the new reward-associated spatial locations. These results indicate that the PL and IL have functionally dissociative, and potentially opposite roles in the regulation of spatial contextual control over appetitive learning. PMID:24616678

Aneurysmal bone cyst and other nonneoplastic conditions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dahlin, D.C.; McLeod, R.A.

1982-08-01

Aneurysmal bone cyst is a benign proliferative tumefaction of bone. Histologic similarities indicate a kinship among classic aneurysmal bone cysts, essentially 'solid' proliferative lesions in bones; giant cell reparative granulomas of the jaws, at the base of the skull, and in the small bones of the hands and feet; skeletal lesions of hyperparathyroidism; and even pseudosarcomatous myositis ossificans, proliferative myositis, and proliferative fasciitis.

[Desmoplastic fibroma. Differential diagnosis of a periapical lesion from endodontic failure].

PubMed

Zabalegui, B; Gil, J; Zabalegui, I

1989-01-01

Treatment of endodontically involved teeth requires accurate diagnosis of the clinical pulpal condition to determine the primary cause of pathosis. The case presented shows the differential diagnosis between a desmoplastic fibroma and a failure of a misdiagnosed endodontic treatment. The initial direction of treatment should had never been the endodontic therapy but local surgical curettage of the lesion.

Aeromonas hydrophila as cause of hemorrhagic septicemia in a ground-hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus).

PubMed

Ocholi, R A; Kalejaiye, J O

1990-01-01

An acute hemorrhagic septicemia in a captive ground-hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus) is reported. Aeromonas hydrophila was isolated from lungs, liver, kidney, and intestines. Postmortem lesions were characterized by hemorrhages in the internal organs. Microscopically, necrotic lesions were found in the liver, lungs, and kidney. Factors that might have contributed to the clinical disease condition are discussed.

Celecoxib-induced gastrointestinal, liver and brain lesions in rats, counteraction by BPC 157 or L-arginine, aggravation by L-NAME

PubMed Central

Drmic, Domagoj; Kolenc, Danijela; Ilic, Spomenko; Bauk, Lara; Sever, Marko; Zenko Sever, Anita; Luetic, Kresimir; Suran, Jelena; Seiwerth, Sven; Sikiric, Predrag

2017-01-01

AIM To counteract/reveal celecoxib-induced toxicity and NO system involvement. METHODS Celecoxib (1 g/kg b.w. ip) was combined with therapy with stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157 (known to inhibit these lesions, 10 μg/kg, 10 ng/kg, or 1 ng/kg ip) and L-arginine (100 mg/kg ip), as well as NOS blockade [N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME)] (5 mg/kg ip) given alone and/or combined immediately after celecoxib. Gastrointestinal, liver, and brain lesions and liver enzyme serum values in rats were assessed at 24 h and 48 h thereafter. RESULTS This high-dose celecoxib administration, as a result of NO system dysfunction, led to gastric, liver, and brain lesions and increased liver enzyme serum values. The L-NAME-induced aggravation of the lesions was notable for gastric lesions, while in liver and brain lesions the beneficial effect of L-arginine was blunted. L-arginine counteracted gastric, liver and brain lesions. These findings support the NO system mechanism(s), both NO system agonization (L-arginine) and NO system antagonization (L-NAME), that on the whole are behind all of these COX phenomena. An even more complete antagonization was identified with BPC 157 (at both 24 h and 48 h). A beneficial effect was evident on all the increasingly negative effects of celecoxib and L-NAME application and in all the BPC 157 groups (L-arginine + BPC 157; L-NAME + BPC 157; L-NAME + L-arginine + BPC 157). Thus, these findings demonstrated that BPC 157 may equally counteract both COX-2 inhibition (counteracting the noxious effects of celecoxib on all lesions) and additional NOS blockade (equally counteracting the noxious effects of celecoxib + L-NAME). CONCLUSION BPC 157 and L-arginine alleviate gastrointestinal, liver and brain lesions, redressing NSAIDs’ post-surgery application and NO system involvement. PMID:28839430

Celecoxib-induced gastrointestinal, liver and brain lesions in rats, counteraction by BPC 157 or L-arginine, aggravation by L-NAME.

PubMed

Drmic, Domagoj; Kolenc, Danijela; Ilic, Spomenko; Bauk, Lara; Sever, Marko; Zenko Sever, Anita; Luetic, Kresimir; Suran, Jelena; Seiwerth, Sven; Sikiric, Predrag

2017-08-07

To counteract/reveal celecoxib-induced toxicity and NO system involvement. Celecoxib (1 g/kg b.w. ip) was combined with therapy with stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157 (known to inhibit these lesions, 10 μg/kg, 10 ng/kg, or 1 ng/kg ip) and L-arginine (100 mg/kg ip), as well as NOS blockade [N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME)] (5 mg/kg ip) given alone and/or combined immediately after celecoxib. Gastrointestinal, liver, and brain lesions and liver enzyme serum values in rats were assessed at 24 h and 48 h thereafter. This high-dose celecoxib administration, as a result of NO system dysfunction, led to gastric, liver, and brain lesions and increased liver enzyme serum values. The L-NAME-induced aggravation of the lesions was notable for gastric lesions, while in liver and brain lesions the beneficial effect of L-arginine was blunted. L-arginine counteracted gastric, liver and brain lesions. These findings support the NO system mechanism(s), both NO system agonization (L-arginine) and NO system antagonization (L-NAME), that on the whole are behind all of these COX phenomena. An even more complete antagonization was identified with BPC 157 (at both 24 h and 48 h). A beneficial effect was evident on all the increasingly negative effects of celecoxib and L-NAME application and in all the BPC 157 groups (L-arginine + BPC 157; L-NAME + BPC 157; L-NAME + L-arginine + BPC 157). Thus, these findings demonstrated that BPC 157 may equally counteract both COX-2 inhibition (counteracting the noxious effects of celecoxib on all lesions) and additional NOS blockade (equally counteracting the noxious effects of celecoxib + L-NAME). BPC 157 and L-arginine alleviate gastrointestinal, liver and brain lesions, redressing NSAIDs' post-surgery application and NO system involvement.

Hippocampal lesions do not disrupt navigational map retention in homing pigeons under conditions when map acquisition is hippocampal dependent.

PubMed

Gagliardo, Anna; Ioalè, Paolo; Odetti, Francesca; Kahn, Meghan C; Bingman, Verner P

2004-08-12

In contrast to map-like navigation by familiar landmarks, understanding the relationship between the avian hippocampal formation (HF) and the homing pigeon navigational map has remained a challenge. With the goal of filling an empirical gap, we performed an experiment in which young homing pigeons learned a navigational map while being held in an outdoor aviary, and then half the birds were subjected to HF ablation. The question was whether HF lesion would impair retention of a navigational map learned under conditions known to require participation of HF. The pigeons, which had never flown from the aviary before, together with an additional control group that learned a navigational map with free-flight experience, were then released from two distant release sites. Contrary to expectation, the HF-lesioned birds oriented in a homeward direction in manner indistinguishable from the intact control pigeons raised in the same outdoor aviary. HF lesion did not result in a navigational map retention deficit. Together with previous results, it is now clear that regardless of the learning environment present during acquisition, HF plays no necessary role in the subsequent retention or operation of the homing pigeon navigational map.

Systemic lupus erythematosus presenting as Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis.

PubMed

Baker, Mary Grace; Cresce, Nicole D; Ameri, Mariam; Martin, Adam A; Patterson, James W; Kimpel, Donald L

2014-04-01

Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS)/toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN)-like lesions in acute cutaneous lupus erythematosus [LE]) are an unusual manifestation of systemic LE. We describe a patient with widespread vesiculobullous lesions diagnosed as SJS/TEN-like acute cutaneous LE as the initial presentation of systemic LE. Stevens-Johnson syndrome/TEN-like LE may be differentiated from other vesiculobullous lesions by factors including a history of recent LE exacerbation, photodistribution of lesions, lack of a precipitating infection or medication exposure, minimal mucosal involvement, a prolonged course, response steroid treatment, and histologic and immunofluorescence findings. It is paramount to identify SJS/TEN-like LE as this condition requires early and aggressive intervention. The optimal treatment approach for SJS/TEN-like LE is unclear, and although some case reports have shown glucocorticoids to be useful, there are also reports of cases in which additional measures, such as intravenous immunoglobulin and plasmapheresis, were required to achieve a response. Our patient's condition was refractory to high-dose corticosteroids and intravenous immunoglobulin but was successfully treated using plasma exchange. As such, this treatment may hold potential for improving the care of other patients with refractory SJS/TEN-like LE.

The simultaneous detection of mitochondrial DNA damage from sun-exposed skin of three whale species and its association with UV-induced microscopic lesions and apoptosis.

PubMed

Bowman, Amy; Martinez-Levasseur, Laura M; Acevedo-Whitehouse, Karina; Gendron, Diane; Birch-Machin, Mark A

2013-07-01

Due to life history and physiological constraints, cetaceans (whales) are unable to avoid prolonged exposure to external environmental insults, such as solar ultraviolet radiation (UV). The majority of studies on the effects of UV on skin are restricted to humans and laboratory animals, but it is important to develop tools to understand the effects of UV damage on large mammals such as whales, as these animals are long-lived and widely distributed, and can reflect the effects of UV across a large geographical range. We and others have used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) as a reliable marker of UV-induced damage particularly in human skin. UV-induced mtDNA strand breaks or lesions accumulate throughout the lifespan of an individual, thus constituting an excellent biomarker for cumulative exposure. Based on our previous studies in human skin, we have developed for the first time in the literature a quantitative real-time PCR methodology to detect and quantify mtDNA lesions in skin from sun-blistered whales. Furthermore the methodology allows for simultaneous detection of mtDNA damage in different species. Therefore using 44 epidermal mtDNA samples collected from 15 blue whales, 10 fin whales, and 19 sperm whales from the Gulf of California, Mexico, we quantified damage across 4.3 kilobases, a large region of the ~16,400 base pair whale mitochondrial genome. The results show a range of mtDNA damage in the skin of the three different whale species. This previously unreported observation was correlated with apoptotic damage and microscopic lesions, both of which are markers of UV-induced damage. As is the case in human studies, this suggests the potential use of mtDNA as a biomarker for measuring the effect of cumulative UV exposure in whales and may provide a platform to help understand the effects of changing global environmental conditions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. and Mitochondria Research Society. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.

Dermabrasion and staged excision of facial lesions in a neurofibromatosis case for improvement of facial appearance.

PubMed

Karabekmez, Furkan Erol; Duymaz, Ahmet; Karacor, Zeynep

2013-01-01

Neurofibromatosis may present with different skin lesions. Disfiguring lesions on the face might be challenging for the surgeon or clinician to correct and may have adverse effects on patients' social lives, especially in young women. To present the dermabrasion technique combined with serial excisions of a deeper accompanying lesion to treat superficial facial lesions in a young neurofibromatosis patient. Dermabrasion was applied to superficial lesions on the face, and staged excision was applied to the deeper lesion located on the forehead. We obtained high patient satisfaction with the result. The deep lesion was excised totally, and superficial lesions were decreased with dermabrasion. Dermabrasion may become a good alternative in cases of neurofibromatosis with superficial facial lesions.

A systematic approach to magnetic resonance imaging evaluation of epiphyseal lesions.

PubMed

Thawait, Shrey K; Thawait, Gaurav K; Frassica, Frank J; Andreisek, Gustav; Carrino, John A; Chhabra, Avneesh

2013-04-01

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the preferred modality of choice to image epiphyseal lesions. It provides excellent soft tissue resolution and extent of disease. A wide spectrum of tumor and tumor like lesions can involve the epiphysis. Early and accurate diagnosis as well as appropriate management of epiphyseal lesions is critical as these conditions may lead to disabling complications such as, limb length discrepancy, angular or joint surface deformities and secondary osteoarthritis. In this article, we discuss the role of conventional sequences, such as T1W, fluid sensitive T2W and intravenous (IV) Gadolinium enhanced sequences as well as the additional value of problem solving MRI sequences such as, chemical shift and diffusion weighted imaging. Based on the imaging findings on various MRI sequences and lesion characteristics, a systematic approach directed to the diagnoses of epiphyseal lesions is presented and discussed. MRI features of clinically and biopsy proven examples of the epiphyseal lesions, such as osteomyelitis, intra-osseous abscess, infiltrative malignancy, metastases, transient osteoporosis, subchondral insufficiency fracture, avascular necrosis, osteochondral fracture, osteochondritis dissecans, eosinophilic granuloma and geode are demonstrated. Using this systematic approach, the reader will be able to better characterize epiphyseal lesions with a potential to positively affect patient management. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ablation of clinically relevant kidney tissue volumes by high-intensity focused ultrasound: Preliminary results of standardized ex-vivo investigations.

PubMed

Häcker, Axel; Peters, Kristina; Knoll, Thomas; Marlinghaus, Ernst; Alken, Peter; Jenne, Jürgen W; Michel, Maurice Stephan

2006-11-01

To investigate strategies to achieve confluent kidney-tissue ablation by high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). Our model of the perfused ex-vivo porcine kidney was used. Tissue ablation was performed with an experimental HIFU device (Storz Medical, Kreuzlingen, Switzerland). Lesion-to-lesion interaction was investigated by varying the lesion distance (5 to 2.5 mm), generator power (300, 280, and 260 W), cooling time (10, 20, and 30 seconds), and exposure time (4, 3, and 2 seconds). The lesion rows were analyzed grossly and by histologic examination (hematoxylin-eosin and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide staining). It was possible to achieve complete homogeneous ablation of a clinically relevant tissue volume but only by meticulous adjustment of the exposure parameters. Minimal changes in these parameters caused changes in lesion formation with holes within the lesions and lesion-to-lesion interaction. Our preliminary results show that when using this new device, HIFU can ablate a large tissue volume homogeneously in perfused ex-vivo porcine tissue under standardized conditions with meticulous adjustment of exposure parameters. Further investigations in vivo are necessary to test whether large tissue volumes can be ablated completely and reliably despite the influence of physiologic tissue and organ movement.

Impact of Angioscopic Evaluation for Femoropopliteal In-Stent Restenosis Before and After Excimer Laser Atherectomy.

PubMed

Idemoto, Akiko; Okamoto, Naotaka; Tanaka, Akihiro; Mori, Naoki; Nakamura, Daisuke; Yano, Masamichi; Makino, Nobuhiko; Egami, Yasuyuki; Shutta, Ryu; Tanouchi, Jun; Nishino, Masami

2017-07-01

In-stent restenosis (ISR) is a prevalent problem following stenting of femoropopliteal lesions. A potential novel treatment modality for ISR including excimer laser atherectomy (ELA) has become available. We performed ELA for in-stent chronic total occlusion (CTO) of femoropopliteal lesions and evaluated lesion morphology before and after ELA by angioscopy in 2 patients. The angioscopic findings clearly showed removal of in-stent thrombi after ELA. Thus, ELA may be effective for in-stent CTO of femoropopliteal lesions. This is the first report describing the direct visualization of ELA effect for vaporization of thrombi in femoropopliteal in-stent lesions by angioscopy.

Increased number of mast cells in the dermis in actinic keratosis lesions effectively treated with imiquimod.

PubMed

Oyama, Satomi; Funasaka, Yoko; Tsuchiya, Shin-Ichi; Kawana, Seiji; Saeki, Hidehisa

2017-08-01

Actinic keratosis (AK) is a cutaneous cancer in situ which develops as a result of excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV). Toll-like receptor (TLR)7 agonist imiquimod is a topical immune response modifier and is effective for the treatment of non-melanoma skin cancers. Recently, the diagnostic role of the dermatoscope has been reported in the course of treatment of AK. In addition, mast cells are now considered to contribute to both the innate and adaptive immune systems in topical imiquimod therapy. We assessed the effect of imiquimod treatment by dermatoscopic and immunohistochemical findings in 14 patients with a total of 21 AK lesions. With the dermatoscope, though the mean erythema score was not significantly different between the cured lesions and the unresponsive lesions, the erythema/red pseudo-network ("strawberry") pattern was decreased significantly in the cured lesions. By immunohistochemistry, the number of Ki-67-positive proliferative cells in the epidermis was decreased and that of CD117-positive mast cells in the dermis was increased in the responding lesions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating that the number of mast cells in the dermis was increased in AK lesions effectively treated with imiquimod. Our present result suggests that mast cells may contribute an antitumor effect in human skin treated with topical imiquimod. © 2017 Japanese Dermatological Association.

Follow-up of bone lesions in an experimental multiple myeloma mouse model: description of an in vivo technique using radiography dedicated for mammography.

PubMed Central

Vanderkerken, K.; Goes, E.; De Raeve, H.; Radl, J.; Van Camp, B.

1996-01-01

The evolution of bone lesions in transplantable C57BL/KaLwRjj 5T mouse myeloma (MM) has been followed in vivo. Mice were anaesthetised and a radiograph of the pelvis and hind legs was performed by a radiograph dedicated for mammography. This is the first description of an in vivo technique under experimental conditions whereby the development of bone lesions owing to the MM growth was demonstrated. Images Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 6 PMID:8664113

Copolymer-1 vaccination regimens for neuroprotection in laser-induced retinal injuries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belokopytov, Mark; Dubinsky, Galina; Belkin, Michael; Epstein, Yoram; Rosner, Mordechai

2005-04-01

The neuroprotective effect of immunization by glatiramer acetate (Copolymer-1, Cop-1, Copaxone) in adjuvant against laser-induced retinal damage was previously reported. The present study quantitatively compares various regimens of this vaccination for reducing the spread of laser-induced retinal damage and investigates the cellular mechanism of Cop-1 activity. Standard argon laser lesions were created in 78 DA pigmented rats divided into five groups: three Cop-1 single treatment groups (treated 7 days before, immediately after, or 24 hours after the injury), one group treated twice (7 days before and 20 days after injury), and a control group treated with adjuvant 7 days before the injury. The retinal lesions were evaluated 3, 20, and 60 days after the injury. Immunostaining of the retinas of the pretreated and control group animals 3 days after the laser injury was performed for T-cell detection. Cop-1 pre-immunization reduced photoreceptor loss at all time points as measured over the central zone of the lesion and 3 and 20 days after lasing as measured over the whole damaged area. Lesion diameter was reduced only 60 days after laser injury in pre-treated animals. Cop-1 given immediately after injury reduced cell loss as measured 20 and 60 days later in the whole lesion and 20 days after the laser irradiation, when measured in the center of lesion. It had no effect on lesion diameter. Late treatment reduced only the lesion diameter at all time points. Repeated treatment enhanced the neuroprotective effect, decreasing the cell loss in the center of lesion and reducing the diameter of lesion. T-cells were detected in the retinal lesions of pre-immunized animals and not in non-treated group, demonstrating the cellular immune mechanism of Cop-1. Immunization with Cop-1 is neuroprotective against laser-induced retinal injuries, and repeating the treatment enhances this effect. Cellular immune action of Cop-1 of was detected.

Nd-YAG Laser Treatment for Tracheobronchial Obstruction

PubMed Central

Lee, Yu-Chin; Chiang, Kuo-Hwa

1996-01-01

The Nd-YAG laser has good tissue penetration and coagulation effects thus has become an important weapon for photoresection of tracheobronchial obstructive lesions since 1980. Treatment of benign lesions including benign tumors and scar tissues using the Nd-YAG laser has good results. In the treatment of malignant tumors however, it has a lower effectivity rate when compared to benign lesions. From July 1984 to September 1995, a total of 65 patients were treated with Nd-YAG laser for tracheobronchial obstruction. There were 32 (49%) malignant tumors and 33 (51%) benign lesions. 116 resections were performed in 48 patients using the non-contact Nd-YAG laser (MBB, Medilas 2) before 1992. Thereafter, another 41 resections were performed in 17 cases using contact Nd-YAG laser (SLT, CL-X). The overall effectivity rate was 60%. The effectivity rate for benign lesions was 81.3% and 39.4% for malignant tumor. The effectivity rate between non-contact and contact Nd-YAG laser was not significantly different. PMID:18493424

Nd-YAG Laser Treatment for Tracheobronchial Obstruction.

PubMed

Perng, R P; Lee, Y C; Chiang, K H

1996-01-01

The Nd-YAG laser has good tissue penetration and coagulation effects thus has become an important weapon for photoresection of tracheobronchial obstructive lesions since 1980.Treatment of benign lesions including benign tumors and scar tissues using the Nd-YAG laser has good results. In the treatment of malignant tumors however, it has a lower effectivity rate when compared to benign lesions. From July 1984 to September 1995, a total of 65 patients were treated with Nd-YAG laser for tracheobronchial obstruction. There were 32 (49%) malignant tumors and 33 (51%) benign lesions. 116 resections were performed in 48 patients using the non-contact Nd-YAG laser (MBB, Medilas 2) before 1992. Thereafter, another 41 resections were performed in 17 cases using contact Nd-YAG laser (SLT, CL-X). The overall effectivity rate was 60%. The effectivity rate for benign lesions was 81.3% and 39.4% for malignant tumor. The effectivity rate between non-contact and contact Nd-YAG laser was not significantly different.

Susceptibility to Phytophthora ramorum in a key infectious host: landscape variation in host genotype, host phenotype, and environmental factors.

PubMed

Anacker, Brian L; Rank, Nathan E; Hüberli, Daniel; Garbelotto, Matteo; Gordon, Sarah; Harnik, Tami; Whitkus, Richard; Meentemeyer, Ross

2008-01-01

Sudden oak death is an emerging forest disease caused by the invasive pathogen Phytophthora ramorum. Genetic and environmental factors affecting susceptibility to P. ramorum in the key inoculum-producing host tree Umbellularia californica (bay laurel) were examined across a heterogeneous landscape in California, USA. Laboratory susceptibility trials were conducted on detached leaves and assessed field disease levels for 97 host trees from 12 225-m(2) plots. Genotype and phenotype characteristics were assessed for each tree. Effects of plot-level environmental conditions (understory microclimate, amount of solar radiation and topographic moisture potential) on disease expression were also evaluated. Susceptibility varied significantly among U. californica trees, with a fivefold difference in leaf lesion size. Lesion size was positively related to leaf area, but not to other phenotypic traits or to field disease level. Genetic diversity was structured at three spatial scales, but primarily among individuals within plots. Lesion size was significantly related to amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers, but local environment explained most variation in field disease level. Thus, substantial genetic variation in susceptibility to P. ramorum occurs in its principal foliar host U. californica, but local environment mediates expression of susceptibility in nature.

Bone morphogenic protein 4 produced in endothelial cells by oscillatory shear stress stimulates an inflammatory response

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sorescu, George P.; Sykes, Michelle; Weiss, Daiana; Platt, Manu O.; Saha, Aniket; Hwang, Jinah; Boyd, Nolan; Boo, Yong C.; Vega, J. David; Taylor, W. Robert;

Late-onset social anxiety disorder following traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Chaves, Cristiano; Trzesniak, Clarissa; Derenusson, Guilherme Nogueira; Araújo, David; Wichert-Ana, Lauro; Machado-de-Sousa, João Paulo; Carlotti, Carlos Gilberto; Nardi, Antonio E; Zuardi, Antônio W; de S Crippa, José Alexandre; Hallak, Jaime E C

2012-01-01

Neuropsychiatric sequelae are the predominant long-term disability after traumatic brain injury (TBI). This study reports a case of late-onset social anxiety disorder (SAD) following TBI. A patient that was spontaneous and extroverted up to 18-years-old started to exhibit significant social anxiety symptoms. These symptoms became progressively worse and he sought treatment at age 21. He had a previous history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) at age 17. Neuroimaging investigations (CT, SPECT and MRI) showed a bony protuberance on the left frontal bone, with mass effect on the left frontal lobe. He had no neurological signs or symptoms. The patient underwent neurosurgery with gross total resection of the lesion and the pathological examination was compatible with intradiploic haematoma. Psychiatric symptoms may be the only findings in the initial manifestation of slowly growing extra-axial space-occupying lesions that compress the frontal lobe from the outside. Focal neurological symptoms may occur only when the lesion becomes large. This case report underscores the need for careful exclusion of general medical conditions and TBI history in cases of late-onset SAD and may also contribute to the elucidation of the neurobiology of this disorder.

Helicobacter pylori-Negative Primary Rectal MALT Lymphoma: Complete Remission after Radiotherapy

PubMed Central

Okamura, Takuma; Suga, Tomoaki; Iwaya, Yugo; Ito, Tetsuya; Yokosawa, Shuichi; Arakura, Norikazu; Ota, Hiroyoshi; Tanaka, Eiji

2012-01-01

Rectal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is a rare condition. Although the majority of patients undergo surgical resection, a definitive treatment for rectal MALT lymphoma has not yet been established. In the present study, we report the outcome of radiotherapy in 3 patients with rectal MALT lymphoma. Our cohort ranged from 56 to 65 years of age. The male/female ratio was 1:2, and all patients were in stage I (Lugano classification) of the disease. Endoscopic findings revealed elevated lesions resembling submucosal tumors in 2 patients, and a sessile elevated lesion with a nodular surface in 1 patient. One of the 3 patients underwent magnifying endoscopy with crystal violet staining that demonstrated a type I pit pattern (Kudo's classification) lesion with a broad intervening area caused by the upthrust of the tumor from the submucosa. All patients tolerated radiotherapy at doses of 30 Gy without major complications and achieved complete remission. Follow-up ranged from 13 to 75 months (mean 51.0 months), revealing no recurrence of MALT lymphoma. As such, we propose radiotherapy to be a safe and effective means for treating rectal MALT lymphoma. PMID:22754493

Long-term survival of an infant with diffuse brainstem lesion diagnosed by prenatal MRI: a case report and review of the literature.

PubMed

Suo-Palosaari, M; Rantala, H; Lehtinen, S; Kumpulainen, T; Salokorpi, N

2016-06-01

We describe a unique case of expansive diffuse brainstem lesion diagnosed prenatally by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with long-term survival. Findings of fetal and postpartum MRI were highly consistent with the characteristics of diffuse brainstem glioma. Diagnosis was based on the features of MRI, and histopathology was not confirmed by biopsy. Although the prognosis of diffuse brainstem tumor is usually poor, this child was asymptomatic at birth and the neurological condition is still normal at 4 years of age without any treatment. During routine imaging follow-up, diameters of the expansion have remained stable, while the size of the lesion compared to the posterior fossa size has diminished. In addition to brainstem tumor, a skin lesion of the back was observed and MRI of the thoracic spine showed a large asymptomatic extradural cystic lesion suggesting an arachnoid cyst. The pontine tumor of this infant, in agreement with a few previously reported cases, suggests a subgroup of beneficial outcome of expansive diffuse brainstem lesions, particularly in the neonatal period. In this article, we discuss the prognosis and characteristics of pediatric brainstem tumors and differential diagnosis of neonatal brainstem lesions.

Pneumatocyst, mimicking a sclerotic bony lesion on magnetic resonance imaging.

PubMed

Zarei, Fariba; Iranpour, Pooya

2010-04-01

Intravertebral pneumatocyst is an uncommon benign lesion, not related to conditions, such as osteomyelitis and postsurgical state, with only a few cases reported in the literature. The purpose of the study was to report a case of cervical pneumatocyst resembling a sclerotic lesion on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and review of literature. The study was designed to be a case report. The patient chosen was a 48-year-old woman with the chief complaint of neck pain and bilateral upper extremity paresthesia of 6 months duration. Neurologic examination and results of routine hematologic and biochemical examination were normal. Cervical spine MRI revealed a low signal bony lesion on T1 and T2 images. Considering the signal characteristics, initial diagnosis of sclerosis was made. Reviewing the cervical X-ray, a round faint lytic lesion was detected. Correlation with cervical computed tomography scan showed the lesion being of air density, compatible with the diagnosis of pneumatocyst. Intraosseous pneumatocyst of cervical spine is a benign finding, which needs no specific treatment; however, it must be included in the differential diagnosis of lucent vertebral lesions seen on conventional radiography and should be differentiated from bony neoplasm and osteomyelitis by its characteristic imaging findings.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound in diagnosis and characterization of focal hepatic lesions.

PubMed

Molins, Inés Gómez; Font, Juan Manuel Fernández; Alvaro, Juan Carrero; Navarro, Jose Luís Lledó; Gil, Marta Fernández; Rodríguez, Conrado M Fernández

2010-12-28

The extensive use of imaging techniques in differential diagnosis of abdominal conditions and screening of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic hepatic diseases, has led to an important increase in identification of focal liver lesions. The development of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) opens a new window in the diagnosis and follow-up of these lesions. This technique offers obvious advantages over the computed tomography and magnetic resonance, without a decrease in its sensitivity and specificity. The new second generation contrast agents, due to their intravascular distribution, allow a continuous evaluation of the enhancement pattern, which is crucial in characterization of liver lesions. The dual blood supply in the liver shows three different phases, namely arterial, portal and late phases. The enhancement during portal and late phases can give important information about the lesion's behavior. Each liver lesion has a different enhancement pattern that makes possible an accurate approach to their diagnosis. The role of emerging techniques as a contrast-enhanced three-dimensional US is also discussed. In this article, the advantages, indications and technique employed during CEUS and the different enhancement patterns of most benign and malignant focal liver lesions are discussed.

Lung Lesions During Fever of Unknown Origin.

PubMed

Krupa, Renata; Zielonka, Tadeusz M; Hadzik-Blaszczyk, Malgorzata; Wardyn, Kazimierz A; Zycinska, Katarzyna

2017-01-01

Fever of unknown origin (FUO) remains one of the most difficult diagnostic challenges. The causes of FUO can be various diseases located in different organs. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and nature of pulmonary lesions during FUO. One hundred and sixty one patients with FUO participated in this prospective study. We performed a detailed comprehensive history, physical examination, and a wide spectrum of tests. The most common causes of FUO were infections (39%), autoimmune conditions (28%), and neoplasms (17%). Lung lesions were found in 30% of patients. In this group 35% were infections, 30% autoimmune diseases, and 4% cancer. Among patients with respiratory infections, there were cases of tuberculosis, atypical pneumonia, lung abscess, and bronchiectases. Autoimmune pulmonary lesions were observed during vasculitis and systemic lupus. The causes of FUO in the group of patients with lung lesions were also pulmonary embolism, sarcoidosis, and pulmonary fibrosis. Chest CT played an important role in the diagnosis of the causes of FUO with pulmonary manifestations. Pulmonary lesions are a common cause of FUO. Most FUO with pulmonary lesions are recognized during infections and autoimmune diseases. An important part of diagnosing FUO is a detailed evaluation of the respiratory system.

Ectopic ossification presenting as osteoid metaplasia in a salivary mucocele in a Shih Tzu dog

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Salivary mucocele is an accumulation of saliva in a single or multiloculated cavity lined by connective tissue that is contiguous to a salivary gland-duct complex and is the most common condition affecting the salivary glands in dogs. Occasionally, different types of metaplastic lesions, such as squamous and osseous metaplasia - which are rare lesions in animals - can be observed in association with salivary mucocele. Case presentation A right facial enlargement was suddenly observed in a 4-year-old non-spayed female Shih-Tzu dog. The lesion presented itself as a soft and fluctuant mass located in the right side of the face near to the neck. Histologically, the mass consisted of a cavitary formation without an epithelial lining. Additionally, microscopic examination revealed the presence of osteoid-producing cells which gave rise to areas of bone formation, probably induced by irritation due to the presence sialoliths. Such cells and bone formations were also present in the cavity wall, consequently leading us to classify the condition as a salivary mucocele with osseous metaplasia. Conclusions In the present case, the pathogenesis was probably associated with the presence of sialoliths, which can behave as etiological agents for the metaplastic lesion. The occurrence of osteoid metaplasia is a rare peculiar condition in the canine salivar y gland, and due to the rarity and lack of information about this specific disease, no clinical data can yet be associated with the development of salivary mucocele with osseous metaplasia in dogs. PMID:22296807

Cryosurgery as an effective alternative for treatment of oral lesions in children.

PubMed

Rezende, Karla Mayra; Moraes, Paulo de Camargo; Oliveira, Luciana Butini; Thomaz, Luiz Alexandre; Junqueira, José Luiz Cintra; Bönecker, Marcelo

2014-01-01

Children can exhibit a wide variety of oral pathologies, such as oral lesions, bone lesions, tumors, cysts and cutaneous lesions. Different techniques have been described for the treatment of these lesions, but all of them are invasive. This paper presents a series of cases that demonstrate the clinical efficacy of cryosurgery as an alternative to invasive surgical treatments of the most common oral lesions in children. This technique has been well tolerated by patients due to the absence of anesthesia, rapid healing and minimal bleeding. Cryotherapy has many applications in oral medicine and is an extremely useful alternative in patients to whom surgery is contraindicated due to age or medical history. It is a simple procedure to perform, minimally invasive, low-cost and very effective in pediatric dentistry clinic.

Breast lesions of uncertain malignant nature and limited metastatic potential: Proposals to improve their recognition and clinical management

PubMed Central

Rakha, Emad A.; Badve, Sunil; Eusebi, Vincenzo; Reis-Filho, Jorge S.; Fox, Stephen B.; Dabbs, David J.; Decker, Thomas; Hodi, Zsolt; Ichihara, Shu; Lee, Andrew HS.; Palacios, José; Richardson, Andrea L.; Vincent-Salomon, Anne; Schmitt, Fernando C.; Tan, Puay-Hoon; Tse, Gary M.; Ellis, Ian O.

2016-01-01

Breast lesions comprise a family of heterogeneous entities with variable patterns of presentation, morphology and clinical behaviour. The majority of breast lesions are traditionally classified into benign and malignant conditions and their behaviour can, in the vast majority of cases, be predicted with a reasonable degree of accuracy. However, there remain lesions which show borderline features and lie in a grey-zone between benign and malignant as their behaviour cannot be predicted reliably. Defined pathological categorisation of such lesions is challenging and for some entities is recognised to be subjective and include a range of diagnoses, and forms of terminology, which may trigger over-treatment or under-treatment. The rarity of these lesions makes acquisition of clinical evidence problematic and limits the development of a sufficient evidence base to support informed decision making by clinicians and patients. Emerging molecular evidence is providing a greater understanding of the biology of these lesions, but this may or may not be reflected in their clinical behaviour. Herein we discuss some breast lesions that are associated with uncertainty regarding classification, behaviour and hence management. These include biologically invasive malignant lesions associated with uncertain metastatic potential such as low-grade adenosquamous carcinoma, low-grade fibromatosis-like spindle cell carcinoma and encapsulated papillary carcinoma. Other lesions remain of uncertain malignant nature such as mammary cylindroma, atypical microglandular adenosis, mammary pleomorphic adenoma and infiltrating epitheliosis. The concept of categories of 1) breast lesions of uncertain malignant nature and 2) breast lesions of limited metastatic potential, are proposed with details of which histological entities could be included in each category, and their management implications are discussed. PMID:26348644

Laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy of benign and malignant cutaneous lesions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borisova, Ekaterina G.; Troyanova, P. P.; Stoyanova, V. P.; Avramov, Lachezar A.

2005-04-01

The goals of this work were investigation of pigmented skin lesions by the method of laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. Fluorescence spectra were obtained from malignant and benign skin lesions after excitation with nitrogen laser at 337 nm, namely: benign nevi, dysplastic nevi, malignant melanoma (MM), keratopapilloma, base-cell papilloma and base-cell carcinoma, as well as from healthy skin areas near to the lesion that were used posteriori to reveal changes between healthy and lesion skin spectra. Initially lesions were classified by ABCD-dermatscopic method. All suspicious lesions were excised and were investigated histologically. Spectrum of healthy skin consists of one main maximum at 470-500 nm spectral region and secondary maxima at in the regions round 400 and 440 nm. In the cases of nevi and melanoma significant decrease of fluorescence intensity, which correlated with the type of pigment lesion was observed. This reduction of the signal is related to the accumulation of melanin in the lesions that re-absorb strongly the fluorescence from native skin fluorophores in whole visible spectral region. In cases of papilloma and base-cell carcinoma an intensity decrease was also observed, related to accumulation of pigments in these cutaneous lesions. An relative increase of the fluorescence peak at 440 nm were registered in the case of base-cell carcinoma, and appearance of green fluorescence, related to increase of keratin content in benign papilloma lesions were detected. The results, obtained in this investigation of the different pigment lesions could be used for better comprehension of the skin optical properties. The fluorescence spectroscopy of the human skin are very prominent for early diagnosis and differentiation of cutaneous diseases and gives a wide range of possibilities related to real-time determination of existing pathological condition.

Loss of pace capture after radiofrequency application predicts the formation of uniform transmural lesions.

PubMed

Kosmidou, Ioanna; Houde-Walter, Haley; Foley, Lori; Michaud, Gregory

2013-04-01

Lesion transmurality is critical to procedural success in radiofrequency catheter ablation. We sought to determine whether loss of pace capture (PC) with high-output unipolar and/or bipolar pacing predicts the formation of uniform transmural lesions. Ten juvenile swine were anaesthetized and prepped under sterile conditions. Seventy-seven isolated radiofrequency applications (RFAs) using a 3.5 mm tip-irrigated catheter were available for analysis. Pace capture was assessed before and after RFA at 10 mA/2 ms and catheter stability verified with a three-dimensional mapping system. Pace capture was defined as 1 : 1 or intermittent local capture per paced beat. Myocardial contact and catheter orientation were assessed using intracardiac echo. Endocardial and epicardial lesion areas were measured after sacrifice using 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining. A uniform transmural lesion was defined as an epicardial-to-endocardial surface ratio (epi/endo) ≥ 76%. Seventy-four per cent of lesions were transmural and 55.8% of lesions had an epi/endo ratio ≥ 76%. In all, 79.2% of lesions associated with loss of bipolar PC were uniform whereas 20.8% of lesions with loss of bipolar PC were non-uniform (P = 0.006). Loss of bipolar PC was associated with higher mean epicardial/endocardial ratio compared with lesions with persistent PC (P = 0.019). Echocardiographic evidence of optimal catheter contact during RFA improved the predictive accuracy of uniform lesion formation when loss of bipolar PC was noted after RFA. Loss of bipolar PC after RFA is associated with the formation of uniform lesions in atrial tissue. Optimal catheter contact further improves the predictive accuracy associated with loss of PC.

Stress in African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) following overland transportation.

PubMed

Manuel, Remy; Boerrigter, Jeroen; Roques, Jonathan; van der Heul, Jan; van den Bos, Ruud; Flik, Gert; van de Vis, Hans

2014-02-01

Of the many stressors in aquaculture, transportation of fish has remained poorly studied. The objective of this study was therefore to assess the effects of a (simulated) commercial transportation on stress physiology of market-size African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Catfish weighing approximately 1.25 kg were returned to the farm after 3 h of truck-transportation, and stress-related parameters were measured for up to 72 h following return. Recovery from transportation was assessed through blood samples measuring plasma cortisol, glucose and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and gill histology. Also, the number of skin lesions was compared before and after transport. Pre-transport handling and sorting elevated plasma cortisol levels compared to unhandled animals (before fasting). Plasma cortisol levels were further increased due to transportation. In control fish, plasma cortisol levels returned to baseline values within 6 h, whereas it took 48 h to reach baseline values in transported catfish. Plasma glucose and NEFA levels remained stable and were similar across all groups. Transported catfish did not, on average, have more skin lesions than the handling group, but the number of skin lesions had increased compared to unhandled animals. The macroscopic condition of the gills was similar in control, transported and unhandled catfish; however, light microscopy and immunohistochemistry revealed atypical morphology and chloride cell migration normally associated with adverse water conditions. From our data, we conclude that transportation may be considered a strong stressor to catfish that may add to other stressors and thus inflict upon the welfare of the fish.

Differences in optical coherence tomographic findings and clinical outcomes between excimer laser and cutting balloon angioplasty for focal in-stent restenosis lesions.

PubMed

Nishino, Masami; Lee, Yasuharu; Nakamura, Daisuke; Yoshimura, Takahiro; Taniike, Masayuki; Makino, Nobuhiko; Kato, Hiroyasu; Egami, Yasuyuki; Shutta, Ryu; Tanouchi, Jun; Yamada, Yoshio

2012-10-01

In-stent restenosis (ISR), especially focal ISR, after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remains one of the major clinical problems in the drug-eluting stent (DES) era. Several reports have revealed that excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) is useful for ISR; however, detailed findings after ELCA are unknown. Therefore, we investigated the condition of the neointima after ELCA for ISR with optical coherence tomography (OCT) and compared the OCT findings and clinical outcome between ELCA and cutting-balloon angioplasty (CBA). Twenty-one consecutive patients with focal ISR who underwent ELCA or CBA were enrolled. All patients underwent 12- to 15-month follow-up coronary angiography. OCT was performed immediately after successful PCI to evaluate the neointimal condition in the ISR lesion. We compared the following OCT parameters between ELCA and CBA groups: maximal thickness of remaining in-stent neointima (MTN), number of tears, minimum lumen dimension (MLD), and minimum lumen area (MLA). We also evaluated clinical outcomes, including target vessel revascularization, acute myocardial infarction, death, and stent thrombosis. MLA in the ELCA group (n = 10) was significantly larger than in the CBA group, and number of tears in the ELCA group was significantly lower than in the CBA group. A trend was shown toward lower TLR with ELCA versus CBA (10.0% vs 45.5%). OCT immediately after ELCA for ISR lesions revealed larger lumen area and smaller number of tears compared with CBA, which may support favorable effects of ELCA for focal ISR.

Combining Voxel-based Lesion-symptom Mapping (VLSM) With A-tDCS Language Treatment: Predicting Outcome of Recovery in Nonfluent Chronic Aphasia.

PubMed

Campana, Serena; Caltagirone, Carlo; Marangolo, Paola

2015-01-01

Most of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) studies in aphasia have already shown that significant changes in language performance could be improved by increased monitoring of the perilesional cortex in the left lesioned hemisphere with excitatory anodal tDCS (A-tDCS). However, no report to date has investigated which areas may be less predictable or may play a major role in the recovery from language impairment after brain stimulation. We investigated the relationship between the localization of damage in the left hemisphere and the amount of language recovery after A-tDCS. We conducted a Voxel-lesion mapping-symptom (VLSM) analysis on twenty non-fluent aphasics who underwent a language treatment in concomitance with left A-tDCS delivered over the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and a sham condition. Significant changes in language performance before and after the two conditions were examined in three language tasks (picture description, noun and verb naming). VLSM analysis revealed that damage to distinct left hemispheric structures and, in particular, to the basal ganglia, the insula and the superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculi, resulted in lower responses to A-tDCS in all language measures. Beneficial effects after A-tDCS over the left IFG depend on the anatomical integrity of different left subcortical structures among which are the white matter language pathways. Future studies combining different approaches on larger samples of subjects will further elucidate our understanding of how the human brain responds to tDCS. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pathogenesis of Endometriosis: Roles of Retinoids and Inflammatory Pathways

PubMed Central

Taylor, Robert N.; Kane, Maureen A.; Sidell, Neil

2016-01-01

Endometriosis is a nonmalignant, but potentially metastatic, gynecological condition manifested by the extrauterine growth of inflammatory endometrial implants. Ten percent of reproductive-age women are affected and commonly suffer pelvic pain and/ or infertility. The theories of endometriosis histogenesis remain controversial, but retrograde menstruation and metaplasia each infer mechanisms that explain the immune cell responses observed around the ectopic lesions. Recent findings from our laboratories and others suggest that retinoic acid metabolism and action are fundamentally flawed in endometriotic tissues and even generically in women with endometriosis. The focus of our ongoing research is to develop medical therapies as adjuvants or alternatives to the surgical excision of these lesions. On the basis of concepts put forward in this review, we predict that the pharmacological actions and anticipated low side-effect profiles of retinoid supplementation might provide a new treatment option for the long-term management of this chronic and debilitating gynecological disease. PMID:26132929

Palatal Perforation: A Rare Complication of Postanesthetic Necrosis

PubMed Central

Gargi, Vidisha; Mohan, Ravi Prakash Sasankoti; Kamarthi, Nagaraju; Gupta, Swati

2017-01-01

The everyday practice of dentistry relies heavily on achieving adequate local anesthesia. Even though the safety record of local anesthetic agents is high, complications do occur. Palate is a favorable site for soft-tissue lesions. Various factors such as direct effects of the drug, blanching of the tissues during injection, relatively poor blood supply, and reactivation of the latent forms of herpes can all promote to tissue ischemia and a lesion in the palate. Among various complications, anesthetic necrotic ulcer is a rare and uncommon condition occurring mostly in the hard palate possibly after a local anesthetic infiltration. The ulceration is often deep and shows spontaneous but delayed healing. If proper treatment is not instituted on time, the necrosis can reach deep into the bone causing sequestrum formation and ultimately leading to palatal perforation. Here, we report a case of palatal perforation in a male patient followed by surgical interventions and follow-up. PMID:29042744

Effects of bilateral and unilateral locus coeruleus lesions on beam-walking recovery after subsequent unilateral sensorimotor cortex suction-ablation in the rat.

PubMed

Goldstein, L B

1997-01-01

The recovery of beam-walking ability following a unilateral sensorimotor cortex lesion in the rat is hypothesized to be noradrenergically-mediated. We carried out two experiments to further test this hypothesis. In the first experiment, bilateral 6-hydroxydopamine locus coeruleus (LC) lesions or sham LC lesions were made 2 weeks prior to a right sensorimotor cortex suction-ablation lesion or sham cortex lesion. In the second experiment, unilateral left or right LC lesions or sham LC lesions were made 2 weeks prior to a right sensorimotor cortex lesion or sham cortex lesion. Beam-walking recovery was measured over the 12 days following cortex lesioning in each experiment. Bilateral, unilateral left, and unilateral right LC lesions resulted in impaired recovery. These data provide additional support for the hypothesis that beam-walking recovery after sensorimotor cortex injury is, at least in part, noradrenergically mediated.

Role of the ventrolateral orbital cortex and medial prefrontal cortex in incentive downshift situations.

PubMed

Ortega, Leonardo A; Glueck, Amanda C; Uhelski, Megan; Fuchs, Perry N; Papini, Mauricio R

2013-05-01

The present research evaluated the role of two prefrontal cortex areas, the ventrolateral orbital cortex (VLO) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), on two situations involving incentive downshifts, consummatory successive negative contrast (cSNC) with sucrose solutions and Pavlovian autoshaping following continuous vs. partial reinforcement with food pellets. Animals received electrolytic lesions and then were tested on cSNC, autoshaping, open-field activity, and sucrose sensitivity. Lesions of the VLO reduced suppression of consummatory behavior after the incentive downshift, but only during the first downshift trial, and also eliminated the enhancement of anticipatory behavior during partial reinforcement, relative to continuous reinforcement, in autoshaping. There was no evidence of specific effects of mPFC lesions on incentive downshifts. Open-field activity was also reduced by VLO lesions, but only in the central area, whereas mPFC lesions had no observable effects on activity. Animals with mPFC lesions exhibited decreased consumption of the lowest sucrose concentration, whereas no effects were observed in animals with VLO lesions. These results suggest that the VLO may exert nonassociative (i.e., motivational, emotional) influences on behavior in situations involving incentive downshifts. No clear role on incentive downshift was revealed by mPFC lesions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Treatment of molluscum contagiosum with an East Indian sandalwood oil product.

PubMed

Haque, Malika; Coury, Daniel L

2017-11-22

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of an East Indian sandalwood oil (EISO) product as a topical treatment for molluscum contagiosum. Ten subjects ranging in age from 22 months to 29 years were recruited. Subjects were instructed to apply an EISO product to the lesions twice daily. Subjects were monitored every two to three weeks during the study and were questioned regarding local or systemic side effects. Assessment of response was recorded by counting lesions and documented by photographs. Nine of ten subjects (90%) experienced complete resolution of molluscum lesions within the twelve week study period. Response was unrelated to lesion size or number, how long the molluscum rash had been present, or patient age or gender. There were no complaints of side effects, skin irritation, pain, or other adverse events reported in any subjects. In this pilot open label study, an EISO product proved to be an effective treatment for molluscum contagiosum lesions with resolution of lesions typically occurring within twelve weeks of therapy.

Effects of neonatal medial versus lateral temporal cortex injury: theoretical comment on Malkova et al. (2010).

PubMed

Kolb, Bryan

2010-12-01

The article by Malkova, Mishkin, Suomo, and Bachevalier (2010, this issue) adds an important piece to our understanding of the role of the medial versus lateral temporal regions in socioemotional behavior. In their paper, they evaluate the effect of infant and adult amygdala lesions and infant inferotemporal cortex lesions on the social interactions of monkeys in infancy and adulthood. The results show that medial temporal lesions performed in infants produce greater effects on socioaffective behavior than similar lesions in adulthood and that infant monkeys with inferotemporal lesions exhibit social deficits that are resolved by adulthood. These results are relevant to three significant issues: (1) the role of the medial temporal and lateral temporal cortex in the symptoms of the Kluver-Bucy syndrome; (2) the role of age at injury in behavioral change after cerebral injuries; and (3) the importance of lesion locus and behavioral measure for recovery from infant and adult cerebral injury. © 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

Effect of EU electrical stunning conditions on breast meat quality of broiler chickens.

PubMed

Sirri, F; Petracci, M; Zampiga, M; Meluzzi, A

2017-08-01

Electrical stunning is still the main stunning method used worldwide in commercial poultry plants. The stunning procedures in water bath stunners affect both bird welfare and meat quality attributes. The European Union (EU) Council Regulation 1099/2009 on the protection of the animal at the time of killing established the minimum current flow through an individual bird at a specified frequency to assure an effective stun that must last until the bird's death. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of the application of different stunning current flows on the prevalence of hemorrhages (classified as 1 = no lesion, 2 = moderate, and 3 = severe lesion) and some quality traits (pHu, color, drip and cooking losses, and shear force) of chicken breast meat. A total of 12 flocks of broiler chickens, each equally divided into light, medium, and heavy sizes, was submitted either to the stunning condition usually adopted before the entry into force of the current EU regulation (90 mA/bird, 400 Hz) (OLD) or to that enforced by it (150 mA/bird, 400 Hz) (NEW). Overall, the prevalence of severe hemorrhages dramatically increased in the NEW group in comparison with the OLD one (55 vs. 27%; P < 0.001) and particularly in heavy-sized birds (72 vs. 25%; P < 0.001). In general, meat quality attributes were not affected by the stunning conditions with the exception of drip loss that resulted lower in NEW than OLD birds (1.01 vs. 1.27; P < 0.001). In conclusion, the adoption of a higher current flow, as suggested by the EU regulation to protect animals at the time of killing, increases the prevalence of breast hemorrhages while maintaining meat quality traits with a possible beneficial effect on water holding capacity of fresh meat. © 2017 Poultry Science Association Inc.

Oral Candida spp carriage and periodontal diseases in HIV-infected patients in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil

PubMed Central

Lourenço, Alan Grupioni; Ribeiro, Ana Elisa Rodrigues Alves; Nakao, Cristiano; Motta, Ana Carolina Fragoso; Antonio, Luana Grupioni Lourenço; Machado, Alcyone Artioli; Komesu, Marilena Chinali

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT The majority of HIV-infected patients develop Candida spp-associated clinical oral lesions. Studies have shown that asymptomatic oral colonization of Candida spp may lead to oral lesions or become a source of disseminated infections. The aim of this study was to verify the effects of periodontal conditions on Candida spp prevalence and Candida spp carriage in the oral cavity of HIV-infected patients compared to non-infected patients. Twenty-five patients not infected with HIV and 48 HIV-infected patients were classified according to periodontal conditions as being periodontal healthy or with periodontal disease. Candida spp carriage and classification were performed in oral rinse samples. Viral load and CD4+ T lymphocyte (CD4+L) counts were performed in blood samples from HIV-infected patients. No differences in Candida spp prevalence related to HIV status or periodontal condition were detected. However, Candida spp carriage was increased in periodontally affected HIV-infected patients when compared to periodontally healthy HIV-infected patients (p= 0.04). Periodontally healthy HIV-infected patients presented Candida spp carriage in similar levels as healthy or periodontally affected non-HIV-infected patients. Candida spp carriage was correlated with CD4+L counting in HIV-infected patients. We concluded that periodontal disease is associated with increased Candida spp carriage in HIV-infected patients and may be a predisposing factor to clinical manifestations of candidiasis. PMID:28591257

Oral Candida spp carriage and periodontal diseases in HIV-infected patients in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.

PubMed

Lourenço, Alan Grupioni; Ribeiro, Ana Elisa Rodrigues Alves; Nakao, Cristiano; Motta, Ana Carolina Fragoso; Antonio, Luana Grupioni Lourenço; Machado, Alcyone Artioli; Komesu, Marilena Chinali

2017-06-01

The majority of HIV-infected patients develop Candida spp-associated clinical oral lesions. Studies have shown that asymptomatic oral colonization of Candida spp may lead to oral lesions or become a source of disseminated infections. The aim of this study was to verify the effects of periodontal conditions on Candida spp prevalence and Candida spp carriage in the oral cavity of HIV-infected patients compared to non-infected patients. Twenty-five patients not infected with HIV and 48 HIV-infected patients were classified according to periodontal conditions as being periodontal healthy or with periodontal disease. Candida spp carriage and classification were performed in oral rinse samples. Viral load and CD4+ T lymphocyte (CD4+L) counts were performed in blood samples from HIV-infected patients. No differences in Candida spp prevalence related to HIV status or periodontal condition were detected. However, Candida spp carriage was increased in periodontally affected HIV-infected patients when compared to periodontally healthy HIV-infected patients (p= 0.04). Periodontally healthy HIV-infected patients presented Candida spp carriage in similar levels as healthy or periodontally affected non-HIV-infected patients. Candida spp carriage was correlated with CD4+L counting in HIV-infected patients. We concluded that periodontal disease is associated with increased Candida spp carriage in HIV-infected patients and may be a predisposing factor to clinical manifestations of candidiasis.