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Two spayed female cats presented with hepatic encephalopathy due to hyperammonaemia. On abdominal ultrasound, concurrent portal vein thrombosis and splenosystemic shunts were suspected in both cats. Computed tomographic angiography clearly detected thrombi as non‐contrast enhancing intraluminal structures in the main portal vein of both cats. Additionally, splenorenal shunts were revealed in both cats. Follow‐up computed tomographic angiography for portal vein thrombosis was performed in both cats, only one of whom received anticoagulant therapy. In the untreated cat, portal vein thrombosis had progressed with the development of an aberrant tortuous vessel. In the cat treated with low‐molecular‐weight heparin, the thrombus progressively decreased in size and disappeared on follow‐up diagnostic imaging. Computed tomographic angiography might be useful for the diagnosis and follow‐up of portal vein thrombosis in cats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the use of electrocardiography-gated non-helical CT angiography in the treatment of patent ductus arteriosus in a small breed dog. The study involved a 6-year-old Maltese dog, and the CT angiography was performed using a 320-row area detector CT. The non-helical method was chosen to overcome the limitations of the helical method and to select the best reconstructed image. The study found that electrocardiography-gated non-helical CT angiography was helpful in selecting an appropriate device option for closing the patent ductus arteriosus. [Extracted from the article]

A 13‐month‐old female Toy Poodle was presented for progressive ataxia and intention tremors of head movement. The diagnosis of Sandhoff's disease (GM2 gangliosidosis) was confirmed by deficient β‐N‐acetylhexosaminidase A and B activity in circulating leukocytes and identification of the homozygous mutation (HEXB: c.283delG). White matter in the cerebrum and cerebellum was hyperintense on T2‐weighted and fluid‐attenuated inversion recovery magnetic resonance images. Over the next 2 years, the white matter lesions expanded, and bilateral lesions appeared in the cerebellum and thalamus, associated with clinical deterioration. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy showed progressive decrease in brain N‐acetylaspartate, and glycine‐myo‐inositol and lactate‐alanine were increased in the terminal clinical stage. The concentrations of myelin basic protein and neuron specific enolase in cerebrospinal fluid were persistently increased. Imaging and spectroscopic appearance correlated with histopathological findings of severe myelin loss in cerebral and cerebellar white matter and destruction of the majority of cerebral and cerebellar neurons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 9-year-old female neutered Weimaraner presented with a 2-month history of progressive right head tilt, ataxia and left temporal muscle atrophy. In humans, myxoid meningioma is rare and is a form of metaplastic meningioma, characterised by the proliferation of mesenchymal components, but MRI findings, treatment and outcome do not differ from those associated with typical types of meningioma. Impression smears predominantly consisted of individual round cells (histocytes and plasma cells), suggesting a round cell tumour, such as histiocytic sarcoma (Fig 1C), but the final histopathologic diagnosis was myxoid meningioma (Fig 1D). [Extracted from the article]

Differential diagnosis included intervertebral disc lesions, syringomyelia (SM) associated with Chiari-like malformation (CM) and inflammatory diseases. Syringomyelia fluid flow on time-spatial labeling inversion pulse (Time-SLIP) images in a dog Magnetic resonance imaging revealed CM/SM from C1 to L3 vertebral level, and intervertebral disc herniation with loss of hyperintense signal of the nucleus pulposus suggesting dehydration at C3-4 (Fig 1a-c). [Extracted from the article]

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL), an aggressive neoplasm etiologically associated with human T-lymphotropic virus type-1 (HTLV-1), is resistant to treatment. In this study, we examined the effects of a new inhibitor of deacetylase enzymes, LBH589, on ATLL cells. LBH589 effectively induced apoptosis in ATLL-related cell lines and primary ATLL cells and reduced the size of tumors inoculated in SCID mice. Analyses, including with a DNA microarray, revealed that neither death receptors nor p53 pathways contributed to the apoptosis. Instead, LBH589 activated an intrinsic pathway through the activation of caspase-2. Furthermore, small interfering RNA experiments targeting caspase-2, caspase-9, RAIDD, p53-induced protein with a death domain (PIDD) and RIPK1 (RIP) indicated that activation of RAIDD is crucial and an event initiating this pathway. In addition, LBH589 caused a marked decrease in levels of factors involved in ATLL cell proliferation and invasion such as CCR4, IL-2R and HTLV-1 HBZ-SI, a spliced form of the HTLV-1 basic zipper factor HBZ. In conclusion, we showed that LBH589 is a strong inducer of apoptosis in ATLL cells and uncovered a novel apoptotic pathway initiated by activation of RAIDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteophytes of the cervical spine are usually seen in elderly adults. When prominent, they have been blamed for dysphagia, cough, dysphonia and dyspnoea. This paper reports on an obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) patient with cervical spinal osteophytes, one cause of airway obstruction. A 75-year-old male complained of pronounced snoring. The diagnosis was mild OSA, apnoea hypopnoea index was 9·4. Patient reported no restrictions in neck movements, experiences of neck pain or neck trauma. Previously, patient underwent a tonsillectomy due to discomfort in the pharyngeal region. A lateral cephalometric image was taken to observe airway before oral appliance therapy. The image revealed the presence of large osteophytes or sclerotic enthesopathy, lying on anterior surfaces from the fourth to seventh cervical vertebrae. A computed tomography (CT) image revealed the relationship of airway position to the spine. In the reconstructed three-dimensional (3D) image, the airway appeared displaced to the right of the craniomandiblar bone, with the hyoid bone similarly displaced in a manner to that of the airway. The spine also appeared displaced to the left side ofcraniomandiblar bone. Additionally, the 3D image revealed calcification of the stylohyoideum ligament and ligamentum nuchae. This present case highlights the necessity of CT examination for OSA patients. There were several ligament calcifications in the head and neck region. Cervical spine osteophytes, as a component of Forestier’s or cervical spine disease, have been associated with dysphagia and dysphonia. It was reported that bilateral vocal cord paralysis was caused by osteophytes compressing the post-cricoid area of larynx. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arrow indicates the kidney in the pelvic cavity and arrowhead indicates rectal compression by the kidney. The renal artery to the left kidney starts level with the L6 and L7 vertebrae (arrowhead) and the renal vein from the left kidney ends level with L5 and L6 vertebrae (arrow). Several types of ectopic kidney have been reported in cats including simple ipsilateral/bilateral renal ectopia, complex ectopia and fusion of the kidneys. [Extracted from the article]

"T-SLIP" MRI imaging of cerebrospinal fluid flow through the mesencephalic aqueduct T-SLIP images were acquired only after surgery (because we needed to limit anaesthesia time when the dog initially presented as an emergency) and confirmed CSF flow through the aqueduct (Fig., Video S1, Supporting information). Before shunting, the lateral and third ventricles are enlarged and CSF signal in the cerebral sulci is not visible (a: arrow heads). [Extracted from the article]

In order to evaluate gastric motility and its circadian rhythm in patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA) and healthy control subjects, we measured gastric myoelectrical activity (GMA) for 24 hours using a cutaneous electrogastrogram (EGG) recorder in 14 MSA patients and 9 age-matched controls.We analyzed six 10-minute segments of EGG before and after each meal and two 20-minute EGG segments during sleep; three parameters were used for the analysis: dominant frequency (DF), instability coefficient of dominant frequency (ICDF), and dominant power (DP). DF increased during daytime and decreased during sleep in the control, while this circadian variation was blunted in the patients with MSA. The average DF of the eight segments in the MSA patients did not differ from that of the control. Both MSA patients and control subjects did not show the circadian variation of ICDF and DP. The average ICDF of the eight segments in the patients with MSA was significantly decreased when compared with that of the control (p<0.01). No differences were observed in DP between the two groups. This study indicates that the healthy subjects appear to have a circadian rhythm of DF, and the patients with MSA appear to have impaired circadian rhythm of DF and decreased ICDF possibly due to the degeneration of the central autonomic neurons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a patient who developed acute rhabdomyolysis after taking cerivastatin. A 74-year-old hypercholestrerolaemic woman taking cerivastatin (0·15 mg/day) for 22 days complained of general muscle weakness and muscle pain. Her serum creatinine phosphokinase level was 19 190 IU/L. Serum myoglobin was over 3000 ng/mL. Serum concentration of cerivastatin at 6 h after taking the last dose (0·15 mg) was 8062·5 ng/L, which was almost 5·7 times higher than that of normal persons. The serum concentration of cerivastatin showed that the half-life of cerivastatin in this patient was 22·4 h, compared with 2·4 h for normal controls. Cerivastatin is catabolized by cytochrome P450, 3A4 and 2C8 to M-1, and by 2C8 to M-23. The ratio of M-23 to M-1 in her serum was much lower than that of control persons (0·64 vs. 2·08). She had previously taken simvastatin which is metabolized by CYP3A4, without any sign and symptoms of rhabdomyolysis. These results suggest that the slowed clearance of cerivastatin in this patient might have been compounded by cytochrome P450, 2C8 dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-pole writers and tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) readers for 140-Gb/in[SUP2] perpendicular recording were fabricated and their recording performance was tested. Data erasure, which is observed as write instability in a repeated read-write operation, can be suppressed by combining a laminated pole and low throat height. Fe-Co/Ni-Cr laminated film was used to reduce the remanent magnetization of the main pole after patterning. Narrow track writers with a 120-nm-wide trapezoidal pole showed a good write ability of 30 dB or more in overwrite for media with high coercivity of up to 7 kOe. Also, negligibly small skew writing was confirmed. TMR heads with a sensor width of 85 nm and a head resistance of 250 Ω showed approximately 30dB of head signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). A potentially higher SNR with a higher operating voltage was suggested from a measured output versus sensing current curve. Calculations showed that the side reading was suppressed in a side-shielded design. A 10% amplitude width of the microtrack profile of a 100-nm-wide reader was reduced from 198 to 162 nm by applying the side shields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a 3-year study, seasonal and daily soil water fluctuations in a California blue oak woodland were investigated by measuring soil water potential (Ψs) at hourly intervals. Soil water potential remained relatively high well into the annual summer drought, with values above –0.5 MPa until June even in a dry year. As drought progressed, Ψs (at 25, 50, 75, and 100 cm depth) decreased to less than –3 MPa, providing evidence for continued blue oak root activity throughout the summer. We observed diurnal Ψs fluctuations (gradual increase at night and rapid decrease during daytime) characteristic of hydraulic lift, a process by which plant roots redistribute water from wet to dry soil layers. These diurnal fluctuations were observed at all four soil depths and began to appear when Ψs reached approximately –0.3 MPa. When Ψs reached approximately –3 MPa, fluctuations became "offset" from those typical of hydraulic lift. These offset fluctuations (apparent at low water potentials when temperature fluctuations were large) closely followed diurnal fluctuations in soil temperature. We propose that these offset patterns resulted from a combination of hydraulic lift cessation and an over-correction for temperature in the model used to calculate Ψs from raw sensor data. The appearance and disappearance of hydraulic lift fluctuations seemed to depend on Ψs. While soil temperatures and dates at which hydraulic lift appeared (and disappeared) were significantly different between wet and dry years, Ψs values associated with hydraulic lift appearance were not significantly different. Hydraulic lift occurred too late in summer to benefit annual forage grasses. However, water released by blue oak trees at night could slow the rate of soil water depletion and extend blue oaks' growing season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this case, a surgical approach through the temporal bone underintraoperative ultrasound guidance allowed gross resection of the intraventricular tumour without postoperative complications. Postsurgical MRI revealed grossly complete resection of the mass lesion (Fig 1F). A metastatic tumour or high grade glioma - including anaplastic astrocytoma or glioblastoma - was suspected from MR spectroscopy, with decreased N-acetyl aspartate/creatine (Cr) and increased choline/Cr and lipids/Cr. [Extracted from the article]

Both MR myelography techniques add valuable information to confirm the intradural-extramedullary origin of the lesion that is difficult to classify on conventional MR images. Movie of maximum intensity projection (MIP) image which is created using FE3D-SSFP data to observe the lesion from a different angle (starting with a dorsal view of the spinal cord). It is clearly observed that the teardrop-shaped lesion is not connected with the central canal cranially (upper side in the video) but there is a connection between the lesion and subarachnoid space caudally (lower side in the video). [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the case a 12-year-old girl with autosomal dominant disease. It notes that the girl was presented with thickened nails and palmoplantar hyperkeratosis with a complaint of plantar pain during exercising. The patient's family pedigree presented six persons affected over three generations,an inheritance pattern that is compatible with the disease. The article explores the nature, cause, and involving factors in the mutation of the gene.

Presents an abstract of a study that investigated the sensitivity distribution profiles of magnetoresistive heads using a microtrack technique and computer simulation.