De novo epileptic confusional status in a patient with cobalamin deficiency

A 80-year-old man with cobalamin deficiency and no history of epilepsy developed a partial complex epileptic confusional status (ECS) unresponsive to acute i.v. diazepam. Brain CT scan and MRI investigation ruled out a focal cerebral lesion. Therapy with high doses (10,000 micrograms i.m. daily) of cobalamin alone was started, and the patient fully recovered in the following 72-hour. Control EEGs repeatedly performed days and weeks later showed progressive disappearance of the frontal interictal spiking, while the patient was on monotherapy with cobalamin (5,000 micrograms i.m. weekly). A month later the patient unfortunately discontinued replacement therapy and 13 weeks later he developed a fatal convulsive epileptic status. To our knowledge the association of ECS and cobalamin deficiency has not been previously reported.     

Initial experiences with the MR "magnitude contrast angiography of the lower extremities

45 patients with occlusive peripheral vascular disease were examined by MR angiography in a retrospective study. A FISP 3D sequence was used by acquiring a rephased and a dephased data set. The individual slices were post-processed by using a maximum-intensity-projection algorithm. The MRA results of the popliteal and tibioperoneal arteries were compared to conventional or digital angiography. In comparing these techniques MR angiography cannot be accepted for pre- and postoperative staging of patients with occlusive peripheral vascular disease. In future new MRA techniques may be useful in postoperative staging of patients with peripheral vascular stenosis.     

Phase I trial of inhaled natural interleukin 2 for treatment of pulmonary malignancy: toxicity, pharmacokinetics, and biological effects

Safety, local and systemic immunomodulation, and tumor response to treatment with aerosolized natural interleukin 2 (nIL-2) applied five times a day were studied in a Phase I trial in 16 patients with pulmonary malignancies refractory to conventional therapy. The toxicity of inhaled nIL-2 was different from that observed after systemic administration. Reversible airway irritation causing a nonproductive cough represented the dose-limiting toxicity. Mild to moderate reduction of the vital capacity and forced expiratory volume (FEV1) with minor effects on relative FEV1, peak expiratory flow, airway resistance, and PaO2 was experienced by individual patients. In 14 patients suffering from pulmonary metastases due to renal cell cancer, one durable complete response, one partial response, and one mixed response were observed. Inhalation of nIL-2 aerosol resulted in a dose-dependent expansion of pulmonary immunocompetent cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Posttreatment bronchoalveolar lavage showed an activated lymphocyte phenotype with increased HLA-DR expression. The only systemic biological effect detectable in peripheral blood was a marked increase of soluble interleukin 2 receptor serum levels. We conclude that treatment with aerosolized nIL-2 is an effective means for site-specific immunomodulation and deserves further investigation for the treatment of malignant and inflammatory lung disease.     

Synthesis and characterization of poly(ethylene aspartate)-metal complexes

Poly(ethylene aspartate) [PEA] was synthesized by the melt condensation of D,L-aspartic acid and ethylene glycol. PEA containing pendent amino and carbonyl groups in its repeating chain was used as the polymeric ligand for complexation with transition metal ions, viz. Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Mn(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), Ca(II), Mg(II), Pb(II) and Hg(II). Complexation was found to be most effective in DMSO. The resulting polyester-metal complexes were solid coloured materials which have been characterized by IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The thermal stability of the polyester-metal complexes was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). On the basis of the physico-chemical studies, an oxygen and nitrogen coordinated structure for the polyester-metal complexes is proposed.     

A Markovian Extension of Valiant′s Learning Model

An "Occam algorithm" learning model maintains a tentative hypothesis consistent with past observations and, when a new observation is inconsistent with the current hypothesis, updates to the next-simplest hypothesis consistent with all observations. In previous work, observations were assumed to be stochastically independent. This paper initiates study of such models under weaker Markovian assumptions on the observations, In the special case where the sequence of hypotheses satisfies a monotonicity condition, it is shown that the number of mistakes in classifying the first t observations is O(√t log 1/π_i), where π_i is the stationary probability of the initial state, i, of the Markov chain.     

Neurocontrol for lateral vehicle guidance

A solution to autonomous lateral vehicle guidance using a neurocontroller that can learn from measured human-driving data without knowledge of the physical car parameters is discussed. Simulations and practical tests confirm that a small-size feedforward autonomous neural network (21 neurons) can learn to steer a vehicle at high speeds only from looking at human-driving examples. In this way, the network learns the total closed-loop behavior, including the nonlinear dynamics of the vehicle and the driver's individual driving style. The main result of practical investigations is that the neutral controller trained on human-driving examples exhibits an aperiodic behavior that does not vanish at higher speeds (tests performed up to 130 km/h) and produces fewer lateral deviations than the linear state controller     

Multidimensional augmented current equation including velocityovershoot

The augmented drift-diffusion current equation, which includes velocity overshoot effects through the space derivatives of the electric field, cannot be directly extended beyond one dimension. A new formalism is developed which considers the carrier heating and the distribution relaxation effects to obtain a multidimensional augmented drift diffusion current equation. The equivalent mobility containing the velocity overshoot correction is derived from the perturbation analysis on the carrier temperature using the energy balance equation. The issues related to the numerical implementation of this generalized model and the validity of the assumptions are also discussed     

The effect of core modelling on the self-force and self-energy of a dislocation

A verification example is solved using a core model recently introduced in a FEM approach to dislocation dynamics. The core model is compared to the more accepted cut-off procedures. It is demonstrated that these procedures give the correct self-force if the cut-off distance is selected properly. The cut-off procedures do however have some grave weaknesses. These limit their usefulness to a restricted number of problems.     

Interactions of histaminergic and serotonergic neurons in the hypothalamic regulation of prolactin and ACTH secretion

Serotonergic and histaminergic neuronal systems are both involved in mediation of the stress-induced release of the pituitary hormones prolactin (PRL) and ACTH. We investigated the possibility of an interaction between serotonin (5-HT) and histamine (HA) in regulation of PRL and ACTH secretion in conscious male rats. Animals were pretreated systemically with antagonists to 5-HT1, 5-HT2 or 5-HT3 receptors prior to intracerebroventricular (icv) administration of HA. The 5-HT1 + 2 receptor antagonist methysergide prevented and the 5-HT2 receptor antagonist LY 53857 attenuated the HA-induced PRL release while the 5-HT3 receptor antagonist ondansetron had no effect on this response. None of the three 5-HT receptor antagonists affected the ACTH response to HA. Specific blockade of HA synthesis by alpha-fluoromethylhistidine or blockade of postsynaptic HA receptors by icv infusion of the H1 receptor antagonist mepyramine or the H2 receptor antagonist cimetidine inhibited the PRL response to 5-HT or to the 5-HT precursor 5-hydroxytryptophan (5- HTP) given in combination with the 5-HT reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine (Flx). Blockade of the histaminergic system had no effect on the ACTH response to serotonergic stimulation. The H3 receptors are inhibitory HA receptors. Systemic pretreatment with the H3 receptor agonist R(alpha)methylhistamine, or the H3 receptor antagonist thioperamide had no effect on the hormone response to activation of the serotonergic system by 5-HTP plus Flx. We conclude that the serotonergic and histaminergic neuronal systems interact in their stimulation of PRL secretion, but not in their stimulation of ACTH secretion. This interaction involves serotonergic 5-HT1 and 5-HT2 receptors and histaminergic H1 and H2 receptors. Furthermore, the previously observed inhibitory effect of the H3 receptor agonist R(alpha)methylhistamine on stress-induced PRL and ACTH release seems not to be exerted by activation of presynaptic H3 receptors located on serotonergic neurons but rather on histaminergic neurons.