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While molecular subgrouping has revolutionized medulloblastoma classification, the extent of heterogeneity within subgroups is unknown. Similarity network fusion (SNF) applied to genome-wide DNA methylation and gene expression data across 763 primary samples identifies very homogeneous clusters of patients, supporting the presence of medulloblastoma subtypes. After integration of somatic copy-number alterations, and clinical features specific to each cluster, we identify 12 different subtypes of medulloblastoma. Integrative analysis using SNF further delineates group 3 from group 4 medulloblastoma, which is not as readily apparent through analyses of individual data types. Two clear subtypes of infants with Sonic Hedgehog medulloblastoma with disparate outcomes and biology are identified. Medulloblastoma subtypes identified through integrative clustering have important implications for stratification of future clinical trials.

Craniosynostoses are defined as closure, ossification and sclerosis of one or more cranial sutures. This condition causes different grades of brain compression, intracranial hypertension and detriment of intellectual coefficient and vision. In the first part of this review article, an overview of the history of craniosynostosis is presented from prehistorical times through the subsequent centuries, culminating with the French and Mexican experience. The Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez series are also presented. Following this, the biological bases are summarized including embryogenetic, epidemiological and etiological features, as well as pathophysiological, clinical and imaging aspects. Finally, seven different types of nonsyndromatic craniosynostoses are analyzed including those with one or more sutures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Archivos de Neurociencias is the property of Instituto Nacional de Neurologia y Neurocirugia, Departamento de Publicaciones Cientificas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Ciencias de la Salud is the property of Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction. Pediatric intracranial tumors (PIC) make up the most frequent solid neoplastic pathology in children. We present an analysis of the experience of Hospital Infantil de Mexico Federico Gomez (HIMFG), in Mexico City, over the course of 36 years in this regard. Material and methods. Cases from the archives of the Department of Clinical Records, Department of Neurosurgery and Department of Pathology at HIMFG were used for this analysis. Results were compared to data published by the Hospital for Sick Children of Toronto (HSCT) and by Instituto Nacional de Pediatria (INP) in Mexico City. Results. Of 810 cases reviewed at HIMFG, 55% belonged to the male gender. By age, older-infant and grade-school-children cases predominated (> 50%). Of those, 397 cases were supratentorial and 413 infratentorial. Most frequent tumors were: astrocytomas (23%), medulloblastomas (19%), craniopharyngiomas (11%) and ependymomas (10%). Fifth place was occupied by germinomas (4%). Mixed gliomas, meningiomas, primitive neuroectodermal tumors and ependymoblastomas were the last (1 to 3%). Conclusions. At HIMFG, the most frequent tumour types were: astrocytomas, medulloblastomas, craniopharyngiomas and ependymomas. Since the 70s, on the number of patients presenting with intracranial tumors at HIMFG has grown exponentially, and the amount carried out till now at this hospital parallels, or slightly exceeds, that carried out at similar institutions in Mexico and abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurotransmitters of the amygdala in the limbic system include monoamines (noradrenaline [NA]) acetylcholine (ACh), corticoids and histamine. Drugs infused into the amygdala may modulate consolidation in memory of inhibition of training directed to avoid stressful situations. Administration of antagonists of β NA receptors to the amygdala will affect retention in memory for a whole day when given immediately after training, but will have no effect when given six hours after training a test animal. Intra-amygdalar infusions of NA which may be accompanied by antagonists of those receptors will attenuate the memory disturbance. It is worth mentioning that later studies have been able to show that NA will produce an increment of memory consolidation, which will depend on the time as well as on the dose of application, when the drug is infused to the amygdala shortly after inhibition of training directed to avoid stressful situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurotransmitters of the amygdala in the limbic system include, among others, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABAA,B,G), glutamic acid (GLU) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), as well as the monoamines [dopamine (DA) and 5-hydroxythptamine (5-HT)]. GABA is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter. Its inhibitory activity will be blocked, for example, by the anxiolytic effects of benzodiazepines both in tile amygdala and in other nuclei of the limbic system (thalamus, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, etc.) connected to this structure. Similarly, the cerebral prefrontal cortex will regulate memory and learning processes in which an affective component may be involved through GABAergic inhibitory connections reaching the lateral nucleus (LA) of the amygdala. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of the lunar cycle phases, the lunar apogee and perigee, and the geophysical factors (humidity, temperature, and rainfall) on the childhood mortality. We designed a retrospective study by reviewing the clinical charts of the population of patient decease during the lunar pre-phase(a day before), phase (day of lunar change of phase), and post-phase (a day after), between the years 1991–1996 in a children's hospital. From the 44,982 discharges from the hospital in the interval between 1991 and 1996, 2003 corresponded to mortal cases, and 522 died within the 3 days we considered as representative for each phase. The number of deaths was approximately the same in between phases. The percentage of male deaths was higher during phase days than interphase ones. Male deceases exhibit a statistically significant predominance during lunar first quarter, full moon, and new moon. A discreet increase of mortality was present in the months of March, June, August, September, October, November, as well as during summer and fall, but these increments were not significant. Minimum and maximum temperatures exhibited no relation to this behavioral pattern for deceases, nor the humidity index. Early lactating infants presented a significant higher mortality during November, December, and March. We suggest to investigate the causes of the increase of deceases in males in relation to the circalunar rhythms, as ell as the lift up of deceases in neonates and early lactating children during November and December. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A 10-month-old girl with a Brachmann-Cornelia de Lange syndrome and a choroid plexus papilloma of the brain was studied at the Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez (HIMFG) in Mexico City., Methods and Results: Presumptive papilloma of the third ventricle was evidenced on CT and MR images and removed. Pathological analysis confirmed its origin. A posterior radiosurgery was required due to a tumor relapse. Karyotypes (GTG bands) of the patient and her parents undertaken at HIMFG were normal. Array comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) analyses of blood DNA of the patient and her parents carried out at BlueGnome's Laboratory in Cambridge, UK, set in evidence amplification of genes SPNS2, GGT6, SMTNL2, PELP1, MYBBP1A, and ALOX15 in chromosome 17p of the patient. Since MYBBP1A is a proto-oncogene and ALOX15 participates in the development of cancer and metastases of tumors, further fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses of these two genes were implemented at HIMFG. Amplification of the two genes was found in the tumor of the case under study but not in an unrelated papilloma of the choroid plexus., Discussion: Further analyses of the association of choroid plexus papillomas with disorders of psycho-neural development and its relationship to molecular genetic modifications at chromosome 17p are now under way at HIMFG.

Reports on partial lacking of the diaphragm and diaphragmatic hernia date to seventeenth century reports. In 1939 Arellano published in Mexico, a necropsy case of diaphragmatic hernia with holoprosencephaly and cyclocephaly. Agustín Arellano's was the the fifth or sixth report ever published worldwide and his manuscript was reported nine years before Bochdalek's publication. Before 1839, in the Americas, there is no other existing report describing this type of pathology, and we can safely assume Arellano's work was the first of its kind in the Western hemisphere. It is well known that, at the time, the quality ofscientific publications of this Mexican medical researcher could be compared to the level of any medical publication in the developed world. It is worth noting that the Journal were Arellano's work was published, named "Periodico de la Academia de Médicina de Mégico (sic), "founded and directed by Dr. Manuel Carpio in 1836, is the direct precursor of the present-day "Gaceta Médica de México" the oldest current medical journal in the Americas.