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Vein of Galen aneurysmal malformations (VGAMs) can, through multiple mechanisms, complicate with hydrocephalus (HCP). It is generally agreed that management strategies in this scenario should focus on endovascular embolizations. Treatment options for non-responders, however, have been only scarcely reported upon.We present a nine-month-old boy with a mural type VGAM complicated by HCP. Despite endovascular occlusion of the sole feeder, the child exhibited hydrocephalus progression prompting an Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV). This procedure restored a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) circulation otherwise impaired by aqueduct obstruction. Later, a new feeder arose and a second embolization was ultimately needed in order to achieve VGAM regression. Throughout four years of follow up, the child attained all developmental marks.VGAMs are prone to hydrocephalus development as there is both an underlying venous congestion and a mechanical, obstructive component. Although there is a rationale for addressing both components, the underlying AV shunts and subsequent venous pressure elevations usually determine failure of traditional CSF shunting strategies. It is therefore challenging to manage HCP in patients who failed to improve following endovascular embolizations. For such cases, ETV stands as an elegant minimal invasive alternative with potential to provide a more physiologic drainage route and thus better allow for neurological development.

The postglacial vegetation and fire history of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is known from low and middle elevations, but little is known about high elevations. Paleoecologic data from Fairy Lake in the Bridger Range, southwestern Montana, provide a new high-elevation record that spans the last 15,000 yr. The records suggest a period of tundra-steppe vegetation prior to ca. 13,700 cal yr BP was followed by openPiceaforest at ca. 11,200 cal yr BP.Pinus-Pseudotsugaparkland was present after ca. 9200 cal yr BP, when conditions were warmer/drier than present. It was replaced by mixed-conifer parkland at ca. 5000 cal yr BP. Present-day subalpine forest established at ca. 2800 cal yr BP. Increased avalanche or mass-wasting activity during the early late-glacial period, the Younger Dryas chronozone, and Neoglaciation suggest cool, wet periods. Sites at different elevations in the region show (1) synchronous vegetation responses to late-glacial warming; (2) widespread xerothermic forests and frequent fires in the early-to-middle Holocene; and (3) a trend to forest closure during late-Holocene cooling. Conditions in the Bridger Range were, however, wetter than other areas during the early Holocene. Across the Northern Rockies, postglacial warming progressed from west to east, reflecting range-specific responses to insolation-driven changes in climate.

The complexity of the lung microenvironment together with changes in cellular composition during disease progression make it exceptionally hard to understand the molecular mechanisms leading to the development of chronic lung diseases. Although recent advances in cell type resolved and single-cell sequencing approaches hold great promise for studying complex diseases, their implementation greatly relies on local access to fresh tissue, as traditional methods to process and store tissue do not allow viable cell isolation. To overcome these hurdles, we developed a novel, versatile workflow that allows long-term storage of human lung tissue with high cell viability, permits thorough sample quality check before cell isolation, and is compatible with next generation sequencing-based profiling, including single-cell approaches. We demonstrate that cryopreservation is suitable for isolation of multiple cell types from different lung locations and is applicable to both healthy and diseased tissue, including COPD and tumor samples. Basal cells isolated from cryopreserved airways retain the ability to differentiate, indicating that cellular identity is not altered by cryopreservation. Importantly, using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and Illumina EPIC Array, we show that genome-wide gene expression and DNA methylation signatures are preserved upon cryopreservation, emphasizing the suitability of our workflow for -omics profiling of human lung cells. In addition, we obtained high-quality single-cell RNA sequencing data of cells isolated from cryopreserved human lung, demonstrating that cryopreservation empowers single-cell approaches. Overall, thanks to its simplicity, our cryopreservation workflow is well-suited for prospective tissue collection by academic collaborators and biobanks, opening worldwide access to human tissue.

The presented contribution is a description of first output from a project and describes a software solution architecture of performance management tool for public sector economy. The contribution defines the functional and system requirements and their technological implementation, data integration procedures, and design and creation of a database consisting of available public sector databases. The project team uses a multidisciplinary approach—a mix of methods of economics, operational research, and information technology. The subject of goals in this research project is a description of the current state of research in the field of application of nonparametric statistical methods (DEA, FDH) for analysis, development of a software tool, and comparison of municipal efficiency with it. The project research outputs can be identified with the creation of the information system that consists of software application together with efficiency analysis methodology. The next aim is to create a web application as support of processes defined by the methodology of analysis which can serve as a support tool for easy use by potential users. The statistical algorithms DEA and FDH are the output of a team of economists and statisticians and are ported to the back-end of the web application by being delivered to a team responsible for developing a software application in the form of functions written in R along with a validation set of data.

High-resolution records of geochemical data from four lakes in the Greater Yellowstone region were used to investigate watershed and lake history during the late-glacial and early-Holocene periods. Clastic input to regional lakes was high and variable during the early stages of lake development, when the surrounding landscape was geomorphically unstable and sparsely vegetated, and it decreased as vegetation gradually developed in each catchment. The decrease of clastic input was not regionally synchronous but occurred in a time-transgressive pattern from south to north. Long-term organic matter concentration and diatom production were inversely related to catchment erosion during the early stages of lake development and increased as temperatures warmed and in-lake nutrient concentrations increased. Similarly, calcite production usually was low following lake formation and increased over time, driven by climate change and its associated influences on lake-level, algal production, and lake thermal structure. Overall differences in the timing and pattern of geochemical change indicate that once the landscape had stabilized following deglaciation, changes in the geochemical character of the sediments were strongly influenced by local factors.

Additional file 3: Figure S2. Barplot with the number of peaks called for each condition and for both cell lines (a) for all peaks and (b) for peaks overlapping a TSS − 1 Kb or a TSS + 1 Kb. (c) Stacked barplot showing the percentage of peaks falling in TSS −/+ 1 Kb (blue), H3K27ac marked regions excluding TSS −/+ 1 Kb (orange) and other intergenic or genic regions excluding TSS −/+ 1 Kb and H3K27ac marked sites (gray) after treating cells in DMSO, 50 nM, 500 nM or 5000 nM I-BET151.

We analyzed the results of internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis treatment at our institution according to the treatment modality-carotid endarterectomy (CEA) vs. carotid artery stenting (CAS).During 2003-2015, a total of 1894 procedures were performed for ICA stenosis. CEA was done in 1064 cases and CAS in 830 cases.The primary outcome was disabling stroke (mRS 2) or myocardial infarction within 30 days of treatment. Secondary outcomes were transitory ischemic attacks (TIAs), minor strokes (stroke without impaired activities of daily living), and any other significant complications.Major mortality and morbidity were divided according to their treatment groups; this reached 0.9% in the CEA and 2.5% in the CAS group (p = 0.007). Minor stroke was recorded at 1.5% and 2.7% in the CEA and CAS groups (p = 0.077), TIAs in 1.0% (CEA) and 4.0% (CAS) (p 0.001), and any complication in 12.4% (CEA) and 13.0% (CAS) (p = 0.694).CEA is a safe procedure in patients who meet the correct treatment indications. In all subgroup analyses CEA proved to be equal to or better than CAS. This study supports the idea of CEA being the preferred treatment and CAS being reserved for selected cases only.

Background Huntington’s Disease (HD), is a hereditary, fatal neurodegenerative disorder due to CAG trinucleotide expansion in exon 1 of the HD gene (HTT). Recent findings revealed that the process of alternative splicing (AS) might be compromised in HD. AS regulation is crucial not only to the establishment of a repertoire of protein coding isoforms extremely relevant for the proper physiological characteristics of the nervous system, but also to the biogenesis of circular RNAs (circRNAs), unusually stable, highly expressed non-coding RNAs produced by the circularization of exons which, seems to have important roles during neuronal development and functioning. Aims Therefore, the overarching goal of our research was to take advantage of genetically engineered Htt knock-in (KI) mouse cellular and in vivo model systems bearing normal or pathological Htt CAG repeat lengths to discover alterations in linear and back-splicing events that might reflect on the levels of expression as well as the composition of a repertoire of proteins, thus contributing to HD striatal vulnerability and pathogenesis. Methods/techniques To discover alterations in linear splicing, we resourced to a publicly available dataset (Langfelder P. et al., 2016, Nature Neuroscience) analyzing full transcriptomic profiling dataset for striatum, cortex and liver at different developmental time points, identifying and quantifying the total numbers of differential AS events for each genotype/sample type and time point. Results/outcome Our analysis demonstrated that specifically for the striatum – most vulnerable to HD degeneration – the total number of detected, differential AS events increased significantly at 6 and 10 month with increasing CAG expansion. Interestingly, not all the AS events increased with CAG-expansion and age, but only a specific subtype of AS event – EXON SKIPPING – revealed to be strongly and specifically affected. On the other hand, we identified and characterized the first circular RNA originating locally from the HTT locus, expressed in whole body, but predominantly in the brain and spinal cord and presenting augmented expression level with increasing HTT CAG size. Moreover, at genome-wide level, data analysis of circRNA-seq showed a decreased circRNAs production when mutant huntingtin is expressed. Specifically, 12 circRNAs, identified by stringent cut-off criteria, showed continuous decreased expression following CAG expansion in neuronal progenitor cells. Since, most of the CAG-sensitive circRNAs have annotated human orthologues, their expression can be further characterized and functionally studied in human cell lines. Conclusions In conclusion, our results support the idea that AS machinery is responding to HD mutational process altering both linear and back-splicing events locally at the HTT locus, but also at genome-wide level. This knowledge will pave the way to new trials of therapeutic intervention aimed to possibly target spliceosomal-circRNAs alterations through specific drugs or genetic manipulation.

Aim: Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) is characterized clinically by high LDL plasma concentrations from birth leading to premature atherosclerosis and CHD. Only 40% of the patients enrolled in the Portuguese FH Study carry a putative pathogenic mutation. The remaining individuals may have polygenic forms of dyslipidaemia or mutations in genes not yet associated with FH. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Objectives Several plaque and lesion characteristics have been associated with an increased risk for procedural stroke during or shortly after carotid artery stenting (CAS). While technical advancements in stent design and cerebral protection devices (CPD) may help reduce the procedural stroke risk, and anatomy remains important, tailoring stenting procedures according to plaque and lesion characteristics might be a useful strategy in reducing stroke associated with CAS. In this descriptive report of the ongoing Asymptomatic Carotid Surgery Trial-2 (ACST-2), it was assessed whether choice for stent and use or type of CPD was influenced by plaque and lesion characteristics. Materials and methods Trial patients who underwent CAS between 2008 and 2015 were included in this study. Chi-square statistics were used to study the effects of plaque echolucency, ipsilateral preocclusive disease (90–99%), and contralateral high-grade stenosis (>50%) or occlusion of the carotid artery on interventionalists' choice for stent and CPD. Differences in treatment preference between specialties were also analysed. Results In this study, 831 patients from 88 ACST-2 centres were included. Almost all procedures were performed by either interventional radiologists (50%) or vascular surgeons (45%). Plaque echolucency, ipsilateral preocclusive disease (90–99%), and significant contralateral stenosis (>50%) or occlusion did not affect the choice of stent or either the use of cerebral protection and type of CPD employed (i.e., filter/flow reversal). Vascular surgeons used a CPD significantly more often than interventional radiologists (98.6% vs. 76.3%; p < .001), but this choice did not appear to be dependent on patient characteristics. Conclusions In ACST-2, plaque characteristics and severity of stenosis did not primarily determine interventionalists' choice of stent or use or type of CPD, suggesting that other factors, such as vascular anatomy or personal and centre preference, may be more important. Stent and CPD use was highly heterogeneous among participating European centres.

List of primers utilized in the present paper. (PDF 120Â kb)

Amino acid multiple alignments of the salivary gland low abundance proteins. Clustal W multiple alignments of the (A) hyaluronidase, (B) pyrophosphatase and (C) adenosine deaminase proteins of Psychodidae and Culicidae species. (PDF 97Â kb)

Sex-specific alternative splicing isoforms of the validated sex-biased transcripts. Clustal-W alignments of the sex-specific isoforms of the validated transcripts are reported. The 5â and 3â sequenced consensus sequences are represented in underlined case. Nucleotides matching with the sequenced consensus sequences are in bold case. (PDF 90Â kb)

Legislation launched with the EWTD was born as a “Protection of the clinical personnel against overwork for the benefit of Patients” (consumer protection and safety). It appeared that this legislation is in direct and severe conflict with former EU legislation to train competent surgical specialists.

The phase I study of the Protocol approved by State Institute for Drug Control and State Office for Nuclear Safety of the Czech Republic has been used to define the limiting toxicity of the BNCT procedure. The group of nine patients received BSH and underwent surgery, five patients with glioblastoma multiforme were treated using BSH and the epithermal neutron facility of LVR-15 reactor in NRI Rez.

A new stereological relationship is derived for the estimation of average size (average width) of a collection of convex particles in a 3D microstructure. The average size is estimated from measurements performed on projected images of the microstructure generated by total vertical projections. The stereological relationship is as follows: D = IC/(2N0beta). D is the average width, ;IC is the average absolute number of intersections between the specifically oriented and regularly spaced cycloid shape test lines and particle boundaries observed in the total vertical projections, N0 is the total number of particles observed in the total vertical projection and the parameter beta is a characteristic of the measurement grid; it has units of reciprocal of length. The result is applicable to any arbitrary collection of convex particles; the particle orientations need not be isotropic. Only 'intersection counts' are required; it is not necessary to measure sizes of the particles in the projected images.

The plant Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) has become an important model species for the study of many aspects of plant biology. The relatively small size of the nuclear genome and the availability of extensive physical maps of the five chromosomes provide a feasible basis for initiating sequencing of the five chromosomes. The YAC (yeast artificial chromosome)-based physical map of chromosome 4 was used to construct a sequence-ready map of cosmid and BAC (bacterial artificial chromosome) clones covering a 1.9-megabase (Mb) contiguous region, and the sequence of this region is reported here. Analysis of the sequence revealed an average gene density of one gene every 4.8 kilobases (kb), and 54% of the predicted genes had significant similarity to known genes. Other interesting features were found, such as the sequence of a disease-resistance gene locus, the distribution of retroelements, the frequent occurrence of clustered gene families, and the sequence of several classes of genes not previously encountered in plants.

The aim of the project presented here is to study statistical properties of surface intensity estimators using the model-based approach to stationary surface structures. The class of estimators investigated enables a clear description of second order quantities in the anisotropic case, where the geometry of the surface structure, sampling design and observation window interact in a complex manner. Although the paper does not deal with real data, it includes theoretical examples and offers the readers a better understanding of stereological formulas up to second moments.

The article presents possibilities of application of selected geophysical methods in railway engineering. The text below is supported mainly by the measurements performed under the INNOTRACK projects (6th FP EU) at the sites in the Czech Republic, France, Spain and Sweden. The geophysical testing has proved that the geophysical methods can reliably, quickly, in detail and a relatively low cost inform about problematic zones on the track. The effect of the geophysical application can be enhanced by long-term monitoring track segments. Virtually at all sites subjected to the measurements, the methods of refraction seismics, seismic tomography, resistivity tomography and gravimetry were applied.

In a group of 20 rabbits the authors compared regeneration of the nervus ischiadicus after microsuture and after gluing the severed nerve with plasma coagulum. In 10 rabbits of group A epineural suture was performed, in 10 rabbits of group B the severed nerve was glued with autologous plasma coagulum. During a three-month regeneration period the authors examined the threshold of sensation 90 days after surgery the anastomosis was examined and also the rate of conduction across the anastomosis. Firmness of the suture was proved in 100% (group A), in two glued nerves dehiscence of the anastomosis occurred, the coagulum was found to be firm in 80 % (group B). When the repaired nerves of both groups were examined, no significant difference was found during clinical examination nor in the conduction across the anastomosis. The method of gluing the nerve with plasma coagulum does not ensure sufficient firmness of the anastomosis on traction. As compared with suture, gluing and preparation of centrifuged plasma is a more tedious method. The method of choice for joining a nerve on the extremities remains microsuture with maximal efforts to achieve adaptation of the corresponding nerve fascicles. Key words: rabbit, nervus ischiadicus, regeneration, microsuture, fibrin coagulum.

Spinal osteochondromas as solitary lesions are rare tumours of a maturing adolescent skeleton. The authors treated a 75-year-old man for low back pain and neurogenic claudication. Symptoms were attributed to a tumorous expansion originating from the spinous process and right lamina of L3 and expanding into the spinal canal and adjacent facet joints. The patient underwent marginal resection of the tumour together with transpedicular stabilization of the segment, and histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of osteochondroma. The patient remains without any complaint and there are no signs of local recurrence of the tumour 4 years after the surgery. The cases of osteochondroma in an aged spine published in the literature and pertinent aspects of this extremely rare condition are discussed. Key words: spinal tumors, osteochondroma.

A short survey is given of various techniques of 3D visualization of voids and other structural defects that are inherently present in thermally spray structures. It is proven that the only condition for visualization is possibility to set up a distinguishable threshold based on the gray scale of the microscopical image of the structure. Segmented images are then further processed by commercial software for image analysis, animations and anaglyph files creation. Several softwares were applied and combined, such as Lucia, Voxblast, Amira and Voxler. The visualization technique was demonstrated on a ceramic plasma sprayed coating, where two kinds of voids – semi-globular pores and large interlamellar pores could be separated. Similarly, this visualization technique can be used to distinguish between pores and oxide particles in case of metallic coatings. The visualization is done in a real Cartesian space without any transformation. The results can be useful mainly for: a) teaching to get a better insight into the microstructure of thermally sprayed coatings, b) research, where in combination with mathematical quantification the visualized structure can show important distinctions between coatings sprayed by different techniques and with variety of process parameters.

The authors of the poster in their practical and research tasks come across a number of possibilities of application of geophysical methods for the assessment of geological and particularly geotechnical conditions in the investigations performed for the line structures (roads, railways, pipelines, protective dams). Recently, the collective of authors has been involved in the grant of the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic, addressing the issues of application of geophysical methods in the field of railway engineering. The poster shows examples of application of seismic methods (see fig. 1), including the use of a small seismic vibrator, the method of ground penetrating radar (GPR) in connection with a railway track recording car (see fig. 2), the method of gravity measurement focused on the changes of consolidation and compaction of railway ernbankment or geotechnical condition of tunnels (fig. 3 and 4), the multielectrode methods focused on embankments and landslides, and the methods of observation of corrosion of metallic objects (fig 5,6).

The gene 17 of the Bacillus subtilis phage phi29 is known to be involved in the viral DNA replication in vivo. In this paper, we show that the presence of protein p17 is required when phage infection occurs at a low multiplicity of infection (moi), which is probably the natural condition for infection, but is dispensable at a high moi. Gene 17 has been cloned in an Escherichia coli expression vector and protein p17 purified. A stimulatory effect of protein p17 was demonstrated under in vitro conditions required to amplify phi29 DNA, starting with a low amount of input DNA. We propose that p17, which is synthesized early after infection, is required at the very beginning of the phage amplification, conditions in which a low number of viral DNA molecules enter the host cell, possibly to recruit the limiting amount of initiation factors at the replication origins. Once the infection process is established and the other replication proteins reach optimal concentration, p17 becomes dispensable.

The complete DNA sequence (7876 nucleotides) of strawberry vein banding virus (SVBV) has been determined. Seven open reading frames are detected that potentially code for proteins of calculated weight 37.8; 18.3; 16.6; 56.0; 81.1; 59.0 and 12.6 kDa, respectively. Their position on the viral genome is the same as that of the corresponding proteins on the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) genome. Phylogenetic analysis based on the amino acid sequence of this protein shows a closer relationship of SVBV with CaMV, figwort mosaic virus and carnation etched ring virus than with other caulimoviruses.

We have determined the nucleotide sequence of 129,524 bases of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) chromosome XV. Sequence analysis revealed the presence of 59 non-overlapping open reading frames (ORFs) of length300 bp, three tRNA genes, four delta elements and one Ty-element. Among the 21 previously known yeast genes (36% of all ORFs in this fragment) were nucleoporin (NUP1), ras protein (RAS1), RNA polymerase III (RPC1) and elongation factor 2 (EF2). Further, 31 ORFs (53% of the total) were found to be homologous to known protein or DNA sequences, or sequence patterns. For seven ORFs (11% of the total) no homology was found. Among the most interesting protein identification in this DNA fragment are an inositol polyphosphatase, the second gene of this type found in yeast (homologous to the human OCRL gene involved in Lowe's syndrome), a new ADP ribosylation factor of the arf6 subfamily, the first protein containing three C2 domains, and an ORF similar to a Bacillus subtilis cell-cycle related protein. For each ORF detailed sequence analysis was carried out, with a full consideration of its biological function and pointing out key regions of interest for further functional analysis.

The regeneration of the sciatic nerve after microsuture was compared with the connection of transected nerve with a coagulum of autologous blood plasma in 20 rabbits. The epineuroperineural suture was performed in 10 rabbits (group A). The severed nerve was approximated with fibrin glue of autologous blood plasma in 10 rabbits (group B). Their skin sensation margin during a 3-month-period of regeneration was examined, 90 days after surgery the connection was inspected and the nerve conduction velocity was measured across the site of the anastomosis. The microsuture was found to be firm in all 10 animals of group A. On the other hand, in 2 animals of group B, the glue failed to keep the nerve stumps approximated (dehiscence occurred in 20% of the animals). There were no significant differences found on clinical and electrophysiological testing of regenerated nerves of both groups. The method of autologous fibrin glue in the repair of peripheral nerve transection does not provide a sufficiently firm connection. This procedure with the preparation of the centrifuged plasma is a more time-consuming method in comparison with the microsuture. Epineuroperineural microsuture with maximal effort to adapt the corresponding nerve fibres remains the method of choice for peripheral nerve reconstruction.

In several regions of Czechoslovakia with intensive agricultural production, the correlation between the amount of nitrogen fertilizer applied and the nitrate content in groundwater has been recognized. Nitrate pollution of groundwater is considered to be the most serious source of nonpoint pollution in Czechoslovakia. A program of research into the effects of farming activities on groundwater quality in Czechoslovakia is under way on experimental fields (20 to 30 hectares) and, simultaneously, in regions in which shallow, vulnerable aquifers occur. The importance of the soil organic matter's stability for maintaining the groundwater quality is emphasized. Research based on nitrogen and organic carbon balance has shown that the restoration of a soil-groundwater system is a complicated process that usually requires changes in the extent and intensity of agricultural activities and consistent attention to the effects produced by natural conditions. Regional investigation of the impact of farming on shallow aquifers in the fluvial deposits of the Elbe River in Bohemia has proved the hydrochemical instability and vertical hydrochemical heterogeneity of these aquifers. The WASTEN deterministic model was used for modeling the transport and transformation of various types of inorganic fertilizers. The input data is based on laboratory and field measurements. Special topics are the verification of model calculations and the time and spatial variability of input data with respect to the unsaturated zone. The research results are being used for making regional and national agro-groundwater managerial schemes more precise, as well as for decision-making.