Background: Tumefactive demyelinating disease (TDD) is a rare primary demyelinating disease with diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Methods and results: We report a 50-year old woman with TDD successfully treated with decompressive craniectomy and corticosteroids. The patient presented with seizures, subacute progressive hemispheric syndrome, and a tumourlike abnormality on MRI. Demyelinating

Intrastriatal transplantation of embryonic dopaminergic neurons is currently explored as a restorative cell therapy for Parkinson disease (PD). Clinical results have varied, probably due to differences in transplantation methodology and patient selection. In this review, we assess clinical trials and autopsy findings in grafted PD patients and suggest that a minimum number of surviving dopaminergi

Complex nanostructures are becoming increasingly important for the development of nanoscale devices and functional nanomaterials. Precise control of size and morphology of these structures is critical to their fabrication and exploitation. We have developed a method for stepwise growth of tree-like nanostructures via the vapour liquid-solid (VLS) growth mode, demonstrated for III-V semiconductor m

In a recent article Wolff et al. (2009) [1] present highly interesting results bearing on how timing of therapeutic hypothermia might affect outcome. However, some of their analyses are unadjusted for heterogeneities in the patient population, while others indicate a statistical model break-down. Moreover, the time from cardiac arrest to return of spontaneous circulation is recorded but not includ

The marketplace for probiotic foods is burgeoning, measured in billions of euro per annum. It is imperative, however, that all bacterial strains are fully assessed for human safety. The ability to bind fibrinogen is considered a potential pathogenicity trait that can lead to platelet aggregation, serious medical complications, and in some instances, death. Here we examined strains from species fre

The aim of this work was to study the diffusion-related signal attenuation curves (signal-vs.-b curves) measured perpendicular and parallel to the neuronal fibers of the corticospinal tract in vivo and to determine whether effects of restricted diffusion could be observed when varying the diffusion time (T(D)). A biexponential model and a two-compartment model including exchange according to the K

The performance of a binary phase shift keyed random time-hopping impulse radio system with pulse-based polarity randomization is analyzed. The effects of multiple access interference are investigated for both chip-synchronous and asynchronous systems. It is shown that the performance of a chip-synchronous system is the same as that for the symbol-synchronous case studied in E. Fisher and H. V. Po

There seems to be a double track in the relationship to the other. On the one hand, there is dialogue—an attitude of seeing the other as she is. On the other hand, we all seem to have some kind of worldview implying that My Way is the Best Way, at least in a certain respect—there seem to be certain points where I would like other people to see things in the same way as I do. I argue that these two

BACKGROUND: It has been hypothesized that resuscitation with crystalloids after brain trauma increases brain edema compared with colloids, but previous studies on the subject have been inconclusive. To test this hypothesis, the authors compared groups resuscitated with either colloid or crystalloid. METHODS: After fluid percussion injury, rats were subjected to a controlled hemorrhage of 20 ml/kg

Summary Accumulating evidence shows that many scavenger receptors (SR), including SR-A, MARCO and CD36, represent an important part of the innate immune defence by acting as pattern-recognition receptors (PRR), in particular against bacterial pathogens. Several SR are expressed on macrophages and dendritic cells, where they act as phagocytic receptors mediating non-opsonic phagocytosis of pathogen

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is frequently associated with aberrant activation of the Ras/Raf/MAPK pathway and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) overexpression. This study evaluated the potential for combining the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib and the specific COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib as therapy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells. METHODS: BxPC-3, MIAPaCa-2, PANC-1 and AsPC-1 pan

The optical efficiency of concentrating solar thermal and photovoltaic systems with cylindrical geometries is asymmetrical about the optical axis. Biaxial models, based on projected incidence angles, are often used to estimate the annual performance of asymmetric concentrators. However, the use of projected angles tends to underestimate optical losses in the cover glass. In this work, a biaxial mo

The properties of water in biological systems have been studied for well over a century by a wide range of physical techniques, but progress has been slow and erratic. Protein hydration-the perturbation of water structure and dynamics by the protein surface-has been a particularly rich source of controversy and confusion. Our aim here is to critically examine central concepts in the description of

BACKGROUND:: Damage control surgery and temporary open abdomen (OA) have been adopted widely, in both trauma and non-trauma situations. Several techniques for temporary abdominal closure have been developed. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the fascial closure rate in patients after vacuum-assisted wound closure and mesh-mediated fascial traction (VAWCM) for long-term OA treatment,

We report a familial case of dyschromatosis universalis hereditaria (DUH) which is compatible with an autosomal dominant inheritance. The male proband from Bangladesh presented with randomly distributed hyper- and hypo-pigmented skin lesions of variable shape and size with a mottled appearance. Three additional members of the non-consangineous family are similarly affected. Light and electron micr

We use a field experiment in a lunch restaurant to analyze how meal attributes and a “nudge” impact healthy labeled meal consumption. The nudge consists of increasing the salience of healthy labeled meals by placing them at the top of the menu. We find that certain meal attributes (e.g. poultry and red meat) greatly increase both sales and the market share of the healthy labeled meal. We conclude