-
Cureus Dec 2023This is a case of an orbital abscess evidenced radiologically in a 41-year-old female with no comorbidities. She was healthy and had no history of trauma or infection of...
This is a case of an orbital abscess evidenced radiologically in a 41-year-old female with no comorbidities. She was healthy and had no history of trauma or infection of the adjacent structures. She denied having symptoms of upper or lower respiratory and urinary tract infections. The decision for surgical drainage was made following a slow response to antimicrobial agents after 24 hours, a progressive painful erythematous eyelid swelling, and further deterioration of vision. Her clinical condition and visual acuity improved following cutaneous incision and drainage. Culture and sensitivity results for urine and orbital abscess were positive for Staphylococcus (S.) aureus. The patient regained full visual recovery without any sequelae. In conclusion, an orbital abscess is a blinding and life-threatening condition that rarely occurs in immunocompetent individuals and uncommonly arises from distant sources. A high index of suspicion, early institution of appropriate diagnostic imaging, and aggressive medical and surgical treatment are necessary for a favorable visual outcome in orbital abscess cases.
PubMed: 38229775
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.50693 -
Scientific Reports Jan 2024Anterior Visual Pathway (aVP) damage may be linked to diverse inflammatory, degenerative and/or vascular conditions. Currently however, a standardized methodological...
Anterior Visual Pathway (aVP) damage may be linked to diverse inflammatory, degenerative and/or vascular conditions. Currently however, a standardized methodological framework for extracting MRI biomarkers of the aVP is not available. We used high-resolution, 3-D MRI data to generate a probabilistic anatomical atlas of the normal aVP and its intraorbital (iOrb), intracanalicular (iCan), intracranial (iCran), optic chiasm (OC), and tract (OT) subdivisions. We acquired 0.6 mm steady-state free-precession images from 24 healthy participants using a 3 T scanner. aVP masks were obtained by manual segmentation of each aVP subdivision. Mask straightening and normalization with cross-sectional area (CSA) preservation were obtained using scripts developed in-house. A probabilistic atlas ("aVP-24") was generated by averaging left and right sides of all subjects. Leave-one-out cross-validation with respect to interindividual variability was performed employing the Dice Similarity Index (DSI). Spatially normalized representations of the aVP subdivisions were generated. Overlapping CSA values before and after normalization demonstrate preservation of the aVP cross-section. Volume, length, CSA, and ellipticity index (ε) biometrics were extracted. The aVP-24 morphology followed previous descriptions from the gross anatomy. Atlas spatial validation DSI scores of 0.85 in 50% and 0.77 in 95% of participants indicated good generalizability across the subjects. The proposed MRI standardization framework allows for previously unavailable, geometrically unbiased biometric data of the entire aVP and provides the base for future spatial-resolved, group-level investigations.
Topics: Humans; Visual Pathways; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Optic Chiasm; Vascular Diseases; Biometry; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
PubMed: 38172589
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-50980-x -
Current Issues in Molecular Biology Feb 2024Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer's disease. In our previous studies, we showed that wheat bran extract (WBE) reduced...
Inhibition of Glial Activation and Subsequent Reduction in White Matter Damage through Supplementation with a Combined Extract of Wheat Bran, Citrus Peel, and Jujube in a Rat Model of Vascular Dementia.
Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer's disease. In our previous studies, we showed that wheat bran extract (WBE) reduced white matter damage in a rat VaD model and improved memory in a human clinical trial. However, starch gelatinization made the large-scale preparation of WBE difficult. To simplify the manufacturing process and increase efficacy, we attempted to find a decoction containing an optimum ratio of wheat bran, sliced citrus peel, and sliced jujube (WCJ). To find an optimal ratio, the cell survival of C6 (rat glioma) cultured under hypoxic conditions (1% O) was measured, and apoptosis was assessed. To confirm the efficacies of the optimized WCJ for VaD, pupillary light reflex, white matter damage, and the activation of astrocytes and microglia were assessed in a rat model of bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) causing chronic hypoperfusion. Using a combination of both searching the literature and cell survival experiments, we chose 6:2:1 as the optimal ratio of wheat bran to sliced citrus peel to sliced jujube to prepare WCJ. We showed that phytic acid contained only in wheat bran can be used as an indicator component for the quality control of WCJ. We observed in vitro that the WCJ treatment improved cell survival by reducing apoptosis through an increase in the Bcl-2/Bax ratio. In the BCCAO experiments, the WCJ-supplemented diet prevented astrocytic and microglial activation, mitigated myelin damage in the corpus callosum and optic tract, and, consequently, improved pupillary light reflex at dosages over 100 mg/kg/day. The results suggest that the consumption of WCJ can prevent VaD by reducing white matter damage, and WCJ can be developed as a safe, herbal medicine to prevent VaD.
PubMed: 38392214
DOI: 10.3390/cimb46020096 -
American Journal of Ophthalmology Case... Dec 2023To report the case of a pediatric patient with optic neuritis in whom changes in the retinal ganglion cell complex (GCC) and superficial retinal vessel density were...
PURPOSE
To report the case of a pediatric patient with optic neuritis in whom changes in the retinal ganglion cell complex (GCC) and superficial retinal vessel density were dissociated.
OBSERVATIONS
An 8-year-old girl had an upper respiratory tract infection in early February 2019, after which she began to experience oculomotor pain and vision loss in her left eye. She was diagnosed with optic neuritis of the left eye. Initial examination showed a visual acuity of 20/20 in her right eye and light perception in her left eye. After steroid pulse therapy, her left visual acuity improved to 20/20 in April 2019, with no further symptoms to date. The GCC in the affected eye continued to become thinner until November 2019. However, optical coherence tomography angiography carried out after improvement in her visual function showed no difference in vascular density of the superficial retinal capillary plexus between the right and left eyes.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPORTANCE
In glaucoma, GCC thinning and vascular density loss occur almost simultaneously at an early stage. However, the current neuritis case showed changes in GCC but no corresponding changes in vascular density in the same area. This report suggests that optic neuritis and glaucoma involve different mechanisms of GCC thinning.
PubMed: 37860669
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajoc.2023.101937 -
Journal of Biomedical Optics May 2024Fiber-optic microendoscopy is a promising approach to noninvasively visualize epithelial nuclear morphometry for early cancer and precancer detection. However, the...
SIGNIFICANCE
Fiber-optic microendoscopy is a promising approach to noninvasively visualize epithelial nuclear morphometry for early cancer and precancer detection. However, the broader clinical application of this approach is limited by a lack of topical contrast agents available for use.
AIM
The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability to image nuclear morphometry with a novel fiber-optic microendoscope used together with topical application of methylene blue (MB), a dye with FDA approval for use in chromoendoscopy in the gastrointestinal tract.
APPROACH
The low-cost, high-resolution microendoscope implements scanning darkfield imaging without complex optomechanical components by leveraging programmable illumination and the rolling shutter of the image sensor. We validate the integration of our system and MB staining for visualizing epithelial cell nuclei by performing imaging on fresh animal specimens and imaging on healthy volunteers.
RESULTS
The results indicate that scanning darkfield imaging significantly reduces specular reflection and resolves epithelial nuclei with enhanced image contrast and spatial resolution compared to non-scanning widefield imaging. The image quality of darkfield images with MB staining is comparable to that of fluorescence images with proflavine staining.
CONCLUSIONS
Our approach enables real-time microscopic evaluation of nuclear patterns and has the potential to be a powerful noninvasive tool for early cancer detection.
Topics: Methylene Blue; Animals; Humans; Cell Nucleus; Fiber Optic Technology; Equipment Design; Endoscopy; Administration, Topical
PubMed: 38774711
DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.29.5.050501 -
Internal Medicine (Tokyo, Japan) Oct 2023We encountered a 37-year-old Japanese man with KIF1A-associated neurological disorder (KAND) who exhibited motor developmental delay, intellectual disability, and slowly...
We encountered a 37-year-old Japanese man with KIF1A-associated neurological disorder (KAND) who exhibited motor developmental delay, intellectual disability, and slowly progressive cerebellar ataxia, hypotonia, and optic neuropathy. Pyramidal tract signs were evident late in this case. At 30 years old, the patient developed a neurogenic bladder. A molecular diagnosis revealed a uniallelic missense de novo variant (p.L278P) of KIF1A. Serial neuroradiological studies revealed atrophy of the cerebellum at an early age, and cerebral hemisphere atrophy progressed slowly over a 22-year observation period. Our study suggests that the primary etiology of KAND may be acquired, long-standing neurodegeneration rather than congenital hypoplasia.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Male; Atrophy; Cerebellum; East Asian People; Intellectual Disability; Kinesins; Mutation, Missense; Neurodegenerative Diseases
PubMed: 36889712
DOI: 10.2169/internalmedicine.1184-22 -
Frontiers in Neuroscience 2024Optical Projection Tomography (OPT) and light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) are high resolution optical imaging techniques, ideally suited for ex vivo 3D whole...
INTRODUCTION
Optical Projection Tomography (OPT) and light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) are high resolution optical imaging techniques, ideally suited for ex vivo 3D whole mouse brain imaging. Although they exhibit high specificity for their targets, the anatomical detail provided by tissue autofluorescence remains limited.
METHODS
T1-weighted images were acquired from 19 BABB or DBE cleared brains to create an MR template using serial longitudinal registration. Afterwards, fluorescent OPT and LSFM images were coregistered/normalized to the MR template to create fusion images.
RESULTS
Volumetric calculations revealed a significant difference between BABB and DBE cleared brains, leading to develop two optimized templates, with associated tissue priors and brain atlas, for BABB (OCUM) and DBE (iOCUM). By creating fusion images, we identified virus infected brain regions, mapped dopamine transporter and translocator protein expression, and traced innervation from the eye along the optic tract to the thalamus and superior colliculus using cholera toxin B. Fusion images allowed for precise anatomical identification of fluorescent signal in the detailed anatomical context provided by MR.
DISCUSSION
The possibility to anatomically map fluorescent signals on magnetic resonance (MR) images, widely used in clinical and preclinical neuroscience, would greatly benefit applications of optical imaging of mouse brain. These specific MR templates for cleared brains enable a broad range of neuroscientific applications integrating 3D optical brain imaging.
PubMed: 38601090
DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1328815 -
Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) Dec 2023is a self-propagating microorganism that commonly causes respiratory tract infections. It can also cause a variety of extrapulmonary symptoms with or independently of...
is a self-propagating microorganism that commonly causes respiratory tract infections. It can also cause a variety of extrapulmonary symptoms with or independently of respiratory symptoms, such as skin lesions, arthralgia, myalgia, hemolysis, cardiac lesions, gastrointestinal symptoms, and central nervous system lesions, which are rare manifestations reported in approximately 0.1% of cases. In this study, we present a unique case of Mycoplasma-related abducens nerve palsy, polyarthritis, and erythema multiforme without respiratory disease. The patient was a 69-year-old woman who presented to our hospital with a skin rash, fever, arthralgia, and diplopia without respiratory symptoms. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed optic neuritis on the right side, suggesting the diplopia was caused by right abducens nerve palsy. However, the etiologies of abducens nerve palsy were not revealed by the physical examination, blood biochemistry tests, or bacteriological examinations, including the cerebrospinal fluid examination obtained at admission. Mycoplasma infection was suspected from erythema multiforme revealed by a skin biopsy and polyarthralgia, and it was finally diagnosed according to elevated Mycoplasma particle agglutination (PA) antibodies in paired serum. Though minocycline did not improve her diplopia, the daily administration of 30 mg of prednisolone gradually improved her symptoms, and the Mycoplasma PA antibody titer, which was regularly measured in the clinical course, also decreased, suggesting a relationship between Mycoplasma infection and abducens nerve palsy. This is the first case of isolated abducens nerve palsy, which was reported as the only central neurological symptom in an adult patient with Mycoplasma infection. The mechanism or pathogenesis of CNS manifestations caused by remains to be elucidated, and further investigation is needed. Hence, Mycoplasma infection is a common disease. Clinicians should be aware of the diverse manifestations, including abducens nerve palsy, of Mycoplasma infection and should consider Mycoplasma infection even in the absence of typical respiratory symptoms.
Topics: Humans; Adult; Female; Aged; Diplopia; Erythema Multiforme; Mycoplasma Infections; Abducens Nerve Diseases; Arthritis; Arthralgia
PubMed: 38256298
DOI: 10.3390/medicina60010036 -
International Journal of Molecular... Apr 2024Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) affects millions of people in the U.S. Approximately 20-30% of those individuals develop adverse symptoms lasting at least 3 months....
Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) affects millions of people in the U.S. Approximately 20-30% of those individuals develop adverse symptoms lasting at least 3 months. In a rat mTBI study, the closed-head impact model of engineered rotational acceleration (CHIMERA) produced significant axonal injury in the optic tract (OT), indicating white-matter damage. Because retinal ganglion cells project to the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) in the thalamus through the OT, we hypothesized that synaptic density may be reduced in the LGN of rats following CHIMERA injury. A modified SEQUIN (synaptic evaluation and quantification by imaging nanostructure) method, combined with immunofluorescent double-labeling of pre-synaptic (synapsin) and post-synaptic (PSD-95) markers, was used to quantify synaptic density in the LGN. Microglial activation at the CHIMERA injury site was determined using Iba-1 immunohistochemistry. Additionally, the effects of ketamine, a potential neuroprotective drug, were evaluated in CHIMERA-induced mTBI. A single-session repetitive (ssr-) CHIMERA (3 impacts, 1.5 joule/impact) produced mild effects on microglial activation at the injury site, which was significantly enhanced by post-injury intravenous ketamine (10 mg/kg) infusion. However, ssr-CHIMERA did not alter synaptic density in the LGN, although ketamine produced a trend of reduction in synaptic density at post-injury day 4. Further research is necessary to characterize the effects of ssr-CHIMERA and subanesthetic doses of intravenous ketamine on different brain regions and multiple time points post-injury. The current study demonstrates the utility of the ssr-CHIMERA as a rodent model of mTBI, which researchers can use to identify biological mechanisms of mTBI and to develop improved treatment strategies for individuals suffering from head trauma.
Topics: Animals; Ketamine; Microglia; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Rats; Male; Synapses; Head Injuries, Closed; Axons; Disease Models, Animal; Geniculate Bodies; Brain Concussion; Disks Large Homolog 4 Protein; Synapsins; Neuroprotective Agents
PubMed: 38673871
DOI: 10.3390/ijms25084287 -
Journal of Neurological Surgery. Part... Jun 2024Trigeminal schwannoma surgery has shown a remarkable improvement in functional recovery and tumor resection. In the era of radiosurgery, these outcomes need to be...
Trigeminal schwannoma surgery has shown a remarkable improvement in functional recovery and tumor resection. In the era of radiosurgery, these outcomes need to be characterized for tumors which are outside the realm of being treated with radiosurgery. We present a series of trigeminal schwannomas larger than 3 cm, surgical approaches used, and outcomes with an emphasis on functional recovery in a high-volume center with radiosurgery facilities. All consecutive cases of trigeminal schwannoma from January 2012 to May 2021 which were more than 3 cm in size and underwent microsurgery were included in this series. The surgical approach, neurological outcomes, and extent of resection were defined objectively with pre/postoperative magnetic resonance imaging. A total of 83 such cases (>3 cm) were found, with cranial nerve symptoms (5th most common) being the commonest. Twenty three percent cases had blindness due to secondary optic atrophy and eighteen percent had long tract motor symptoms signifying the tumor burden in our series. Radiological gross total excision was achieved in 75.9% cases. Large-volume schwannomas present with cranial nerve involvement and may need extensive skull base approaches. Functional outcomes need to be prioritized and can be achieved albeit with lesser gross resection rates. Hearing and facial preservation in addition to relief of trigeminal symptoms should be the goal of resection with minimal additional morbidity.
PubMed: 38721363
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1768443