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Internal Segment (internal + segment)
Selected AbstractsPrior pallidotomy reduces and modifies neuronal activity in the subthalamic nucleus of Parkinson's disease patientsEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 2 2008A. Zaidel Abstract Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with prior radio-frequency lesions in the internal segment of the globus pallidus (GPi, pallidotomy), whose symptoms have deteriorated, may be candidates for further invasive treatment such as subthalamic deep brain stimulation (STN DBS). Six patients with prior pallidotomy (five unilaterally; one bilaterally) underwent bilateral STN DBS. The microelectrode recordings (MERs, used intraoperatively for STN verification), ipsilateral and contralateral to pallidotomy, and MERs from 11 matched PD patients who underwent bilateral STN DBS without prior pallidotomy were compared. For each trajectory, average, variance and mean successive difference (MSD, a measure of irregularity) of the root mean square (RMS) of the STN MER were calculated. The RMS in trajectories ipsilateral to pallidotomy showed significant reduction of the mean average and MSD of STN activity when compared with trajectories from patients without prior pallidotomy. The RMS parameters contralateral to pallidotomy tend to lie between those ipsilateral to pallidotomy and those without prior pallidotomy. The average STN power spectral density of oscillatory activity was notably lower ipsilateral to pallidotomy than contralateral, or without prior pallidotomy. The finding that pallidotomy reduces STN activity and changes firing characteristics, in conjunction with the effectiveness of STN DBS despite prior pallidotomy, calls for reappraisal and modification of the current model of the basal ganglia (BG) cortical network. It highlights the critical role of direct projections from the BG to brain-stem structures and suggests a possible GPi,STN reciprocal positive-feedback mechanism. [source] Development of a sensitive diagnostic assay for fish nervous necrosis virus based on RT-PCR plus nested PCRJOURNAL OF FISH DISEASES, Issue 5 2000L Dalla Valle A polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assay to detect nervous necrosis virus (NNV) in fish was developed by using two sets of primers designed on a highly conserved region of the coat protein gene encoded by RNA2 of NNV. The first pair of primers amplified a fragment of 605 bp by one-step reverse-transcription (RT)-PCR, while the second pair amplified an internal segment of 255 bp by nested PCR. Addition of nested PCR increased the assay sensitivity 100-fold when carried out in a separate tube (two-step assay) and 10-fold when performed in the same tube (one-step assay). The sensitivity of the two-step assay was 104 times higher than that of virus cultivation. Nested PCR served also to confirm the specificity of the first amplification, as verified also by Southern hybridization analysis and direct sequencing. In species known to be susceptible to infection, such as European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax, and gilthead seabream, Sparus aurata, NNV was often detectable in brain tissue by RT-PCR alone but only by the two-step assay in blood, sperm, ovarian tissue or larvae. The same was true for sperm and ovarian tissue of shi drum, Umbrina cirrosa. NNV was also detected in the brains of Japanese red seabream, Pagrus major and brown meagre, Sciaena umbra, suggesting that these species can also be infected. No NNV was detected in samples of Artemia salina nauplii and rotifers obtained from a fish farm with an NNV outbreak. The inclusion of nested PCR in the assay appears to be necessary to screen out NNV-positive broodfish by blood sampling and testing of their larval progeny. [source] Neuronal activity in the globus pallidus of multiple system atrophy patientsMOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 12 2004Luiz C.M. Pereira MD Abstract The pathophysiological changes in neural activity that characterize multiple system atrophy (MSA) are largely unknown. We recorded the activity of pallidal neurons in 3 patients with clinical and radiological features of MSA who underwent unilateral microelectrode-guided pallidotomy for disabling parkinsonism. Findings in these patients were compared with 4 control patients with a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD). The position, firing rates, and firing patterns of single neurons in the pallidal complex were analyzed in both MSA and PD patients. The mean spontaneous firing rate of neurons in the internal segment of the globus pallidus internus (GPii) was significantly lower in MSA than in PD patients. There were no significant differences between MSA and PD patients, however, in firing rates of neurons in the external globus pallidus (GPe) or in the external segment of GPi (GPie). In addition, no significant differences in firing pattern were found between MSA and PD patients. In conclusion, this study has shown that firing rates of neurons in GPii but not in GPie and GPe are different in MSA patients compared with that in PD patients, a finding that may reflect the poor clinical results of pallidotomy reported in patients with MSA. © 2004 Movement Disorder Society [source] Human 18 kDa phosphotyrosine protein phosphatase (ACP1) polymorphism: studies of rare variants provide evidence that substitutions within or near alternatively spliced exons affect splicing resultANNALS OF HUMAN GENETICS, Issue 2 2000L. RUDBECK The mammalian low molecular weight phosphotyrosine protein phosphatase is expressed as two distinct isoforms. The human ,fast' and ,slow' isoforms differ only in the sequence of an internal segment of 34 residues, and the ACP1 gene contains two adjacent exons (E3F and E3S) which encode these segments. We have previously suggested that the fast and slow isoforms are generated by mutually exclusive pre-mRNA splicing of E3F and E3S. The common alleles ACP1*A, *B and *C express the fast and slow isoforms in different ratios. The *A and *C alleles differ from *B by C , T transitions in E3S and E3F respectively. To test the idea that the fast:slow ratio is determined by nucleotide substitutions in the E3F-I3F-E3S region, four groups of rare ACP1 variants with unusual fast : slow ratios and the rare *E and *R alleles, expressing fast : slow ratios similar to *C and *B, respectively, were analysed. Gene segments of the I2-I3S region were amplified by PCR and analysed by SSCP and variant bands were excised and sequenced. For each of the rare isozymic variants one of six different nucleotide substitutions in E3F (nts+42, +85, +109, +110), I3F (nt+1) and I3S (nt+8) was observed. The *E and *R alleles showed C and B sequence, respectively, in accordance with the fast : slow ratio. The results support the hypothesis that the fast : slow ratio is constitutive. [source] Molecular analysis of tetracycline resistance in Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovars Typhimurium, Enteritidis, Dublin, Choleraesuis, Hadar and Saintpaul: construction and application of specific gene probesJOURNAL OF APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2000G. Frech A total of 65 epidemiologically unrelated tetracycline-resistant isolates of the six Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica (Salm.) serovars Dublin, Choleraesuis, Typhimurium, Enteritidis, Hadar and Saintpaul were investigated for the presence of tetracycline resistance genes. For this, specific gene probes of the tetracycline resistance genes (tet) of the hybridization classes A, B, C, D, E and G were constructed by cloning PCR-amplified internal segments of the respective tet structural genes. These gene probes were sequenced and used in hybridization experiments with plasmid DNA or endonuclease digested whole cell DNA as targets. Only tet(A) genes were detected on plasmids in all Salm. Dublin isolates as well as in single isolates of Salm. Choleraesuis and Salm. Typhimurium. Genes of the hybridization classes B, C, D and G, but also in some cases those of class A, were located in the chromosomal DNA of the corresponding Salmonella isolates. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) of tet gene carrying fragments were detected in chromosomally tetracycline-resistant isolates. These RFLPs might represent valuable additional tools for the identification and characterization of tetracycline-resistant Salmonella isolates. [source] | ||||||||||