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  • Hyde Church posted an update 1 day, 4 hours ago

    Mutations in the XPR1 gene are associated with primary familial brain calcifications (PFBC). All reported mutations are missense and inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. PFBC patients exhibited movement disorders, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and other associated symptoms with diverse severity, even within the same family.

    We identified and enrolled a patient with PFBC. Clinical data were comprehensively collected, including the age of onset, seizure types and frequency, trigger factors of paroxysmal dyskinesia, response to drugs, and general and neurological examination results. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed to detect pathogenic variants. We further systematically reviewed the phenotypic and genetic features of patients with XPR1 mutations.

    The patient showed bilateral calcification involving basal ganglia and cerebellar dentate. Clinically, he presented as paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia with infantile convulsions (PKD/IC) with favorable outcome. We identified a compound heterozygous XPR1 mutation (c.786_789delTAGA/p.D262Efs*6, c.1342C>T/p.R448W), which were inherited from unaffected parents respectively. Further literature review shows a wide range of clinical manifestations of patients with XPR1 mutations, with movement disorders being the most common.

    This is the first report of biallelic mutations in XPR1. The findings suggest for the first time a possible link between PKD/IC and XPR1 mutations.

    This is the first report of biallelic mutations in XPR1. The findings suggest for the first time a possible link between PKD/IC and XPR1 mutations.

    Although both family structure and income have previously been indicated as being associated with body mass index (BMI), the extent to which the effect of family structure on BMI is mediated through income is incompletely understood. Taking the case of the United Kingdom, this study aims to investigate the association between family structure, defined in this study as whether children live in a one- or two-adult household, and childhood BMI, and whether this varies by child sex and with increased age. Second, the study aims to examine whether family equivalised income, as a proxy for socioeconomic status, mediates the association between family structure and childhood BMI.

    This study uses data from the Millennium Cohort Study. Data from 7478 children born between 2000 and 2001 in the UK at the ages of 3, 5, 7, 11, and 14 were used. Mediation analysis was used to consider, at each age, the extent to which the association between living in a one- or two-adult household and BMI was mediated through income ovt of income as mediator in the causal pathway.

    An increasing proportion of the association between family structure and BMI is mediated by income as children grow older. The study focuses on the mediating role of income between family structure and BMI using the available data as an empirical application of the potential impact of income as mediator in the causal pathway.Homeostasis in adult tissues relies on the replication dynamics of stem cells, their progenitors and the spatial balance between them. This spatial and kinetic coordination is crucial to the successful maintenance of tissue size and its replenishment with new cells. However, our understanding of the role of cellular replicative lifespan and spatial correlation between cells in shaping tissue integrity is still lacking. We developed a mathematical model for the stochastic spatial dynamics that underlie the rejuvenation of corneal epithelium. Our model takes into account different spatial correlations between cell replication and cell removal. We derive the tradeoffs between replicative lifespan, spatial correlation length, and tissue rejuvenation dynamics. We determine the conditions that allow homeostasis and are consistent with biological timescales, pattern formation, and mutants phenotypes. Our results can be extended to any cellular system in which spatial homeostasis is maintained through cell replication.The symbiotic partnership between leaf-cutting ants and fungal cultivars processes plant biomass via ant fecal fluid mixed with chewed plant substrate before fungal degradation. Here we present a full proteome of the fecal fluid of Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants, showing that most proteins function as biomass degrading enzymes and that ca. 85% are produced by the fungus and ingested, but not digested, by the ants. Hydrogen peroxide producing oxidoreductases were remarkably common in the proteome, inspiring us to test a scenario in which hydrogen peroxide reacts with iron to form reactive oxygen radicals after which oxidized iron is reduced by other fecal-fluid enzymes. Our biochemical assays confirmed that these so-called Fenton reactions do indeed take place in special substrate pellets, presumably to degrade plant cell wall polymers. This implies that the symbiotic partnership manages a combination of oxidative and enzymatic biomass degradation, an achievement that surpasses current human bioconversion technology.

    Intra-articular lidocaine injections have been used to confirm the hip pathology and may predict the efficacy of arthroscopic surgery. We have routinely performed the injections as a surgical indicator. The aim of this study was to assess the duration and effectiveness of these diagnostic intra-articular lidocaine injections on groin pain in patients with labral tears involving early osteoarthritis.

    A total of 113 patients were included in this study. All patients received one injection of 10 ml of 1% lidocaine into the hip joint under fluoroscopy. The duration and effectiveness of the injection were assessed 2 weeks after the injection and at a minimum of 1 year of follow-up. The effect of the injection was graded as 0 unchanged or worse; 1 an effect only on the day of injection; 2 the effect lasted a few days; 3 the effect lasted about a week; and 4 symptom remission. In addition, we recorded whether hip arthroscopic surgery was eventually performed.

    The effect was rated as 0 in 19 patients (16.8%), as 1 in 30 patients (26.5%), as 2 in 38 patients (33.6%), as 3 in 13 patients (11.5%), and as 4 in 13 patients (11.5%). Seventy-two patients (63.7%) underwent hip arthroscopic surgery. No relationship with patients’ characteristics was found.

    In total, 83% of patients experienced some effect of the lidocaine injection. Furthermore, 11.5% of patients experienced complete remission of their symptoms.

    In total, 83% of patients experienced some effect of the lidocaine injection. check details Furthermore, 11.5% of patients experienced complete remission of their symptoms.