Clinical characteristics of the respiratory virus in children with febrile convulsion

Objective@#This study aimed to clarify the relationship between several viral infections and clinical features of febrile seizures. The clinical expression pattern was determined according to the virus. @*Methods@#Data were collected on patients who visited the emergency room with febrile seizures from March 2016 to February 2019. The clinical characteristics of seizures and the clinical differences between each respiratory viral infection were analyzed. The severity of febrile seizures was measured by checking complex febrile seizures and electroencephalogram abnormalities. @*Results@#Of the 227 febrile convulsions, 138 (60.8%) were men, and 89 (39.2%) were women. Sixty-five patients (28.6%) had a family history of febrile seizure, 68 (30.0%) had complex seizures, and 13 (7.1%) had electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities. Of the 13 respiratory viruses examined, rhinoviruses were detected more significantly in 63 patients (32.4%), but there was no significant difference when comparing the rate of febrile seizure among patients with fever. There were no significant differences in the clinical features, such as body temperature, duration, and complex seizure. In addition, each virus showed a similar incidence of EEG abnormalities. @*Conclusion@#No significant difference in the clinical features and objective examination according to the virus were observed, and the tendency of developing febrile seizures is similar.

Clinical characteristics of the respiratory virus in children with febrile convulsion

Objective@#This study aimed to clarify the relationship between several viral infections and clinical features of febrile seizures. The clinical expression pattern was determined according to the virus. @*Methods@#Data were collected on patients who visited the emergency room with febrile seizures from March 2016 to February 2019. The clinical characteristics of seizures and the clinical differences between each respiratory viral infection were analyzed. The severity of febrile seizures was measured by checking complex febrile seizures and electroencephalogram abnormalities. @*Results@#Of the 227 febrile convulsions, 138 (60.8%) were men, and 89 (39.2%) were women. Sixty-five patients (28.6%) had a family history of febrile seizure, 68 (30.0%) had complex seizures, and 13 (7.1%) had electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities. Of the 13 respiratory viruses examined, rhinoviruses were detected more significantly in 63 patients (32.4%), but there was no significant difference when comparing the rate of febrile seizure among patients with fever. There were no significant differences in the clinical features, such as body temperature, duration, and complex seizure. In addition, each virus showed a similar incidence of EEG abnormalities. @*Conclusion@#No significant difference in the clinical features and objective examination according to the virus were observed, and the tendency of developing febrile seizures is similar.

Application of Thallium Autometallography for Observation of Changes in Excitability of Rodent Brain following Acute Carbon Monoxide Intoxication

PURPOSE@#Thallium (TI+) autometallography is often used for the imaging of neuronal metabolic activity in the rodent brain under various pathophysiologic conditions. The purpose of this study was to apply a thallium autometallographic technique to observe changes in neuronal activity in the forebrain of rats following acute carbon monoxide (CO) intoxication.@*METHODS@#In order to induce acute CO intoxication, adult Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 1100 ppm of CO for 40 minutes, followed by 3000 ppm of CO for 20 minutes. Animals were sacrificed at 30 minutes and 5 days after induction of acute CO intoxication for thallium autometallography. Immunohistochemical staining and toluidine blue staining were performed to observe cellular damage in the forebrain following intoxication.@*RESULTS@#Acute CO intoxication resulted in significant reduction of TI+ uptake in major forebrain structures, including the cortex, hippocampus, thalamus, and striatum. In the cortex and hippocampal CA1 area, marked reduction of TI+ uptake was observed in the cell bodies and dendrites of pyramidal neurons at 30 minutes following acute CO intoxication. There was also strong uptake of TI+ in astrocytes in the hippocampal CA3 area following acute CO intoxication. However, there were no significant histological findings of cell death and no reduction of NeuN (+) neuronal populations in the cortex and hippocampus at 5 days after acute CO intoxication.@*CONCLUSION@#The results of this study suggest that thallium autometallography can be a new and useful technique for imaging functional changes in neural activity of the forebrain structure following mild to moderate CO intoxication.

Effect of the absence of heat shock protein 70.1 (hsp70.1) on retinal photoreceptors in normal and rd mice

The purposes of this study are to elucidate the retinal changes of heat shock protein 70.1 (hsp70.1) knockout mice and to compare them between in normal and in retinal degeneration (rd) mice. Eyes of hsp70.1 wild type (+/+) and knockout (-/-) mice in the C57BL/6 or FVB genetic backgrounds respectively, which were reared in the normal environment, were examined by fundus photography, electroretinography, light microscopy, terminal dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) stain, and immunohistochemistry. In C57BL/6 mice, fundus photography showed no changes between hsp70.1+/+ and -/- mice at 1 and 6 months of age. Electroretinographic examination showed a tendency of decreased amplitude of a- and b-wave with aging in both genotype, but there were not different statistically. The ratios of the thickness of inner nuclear and outer nuclear layer to the retinal thickness were respectively decreased with aging in both genotype, but there were not different statstically. TUNEL assay showed a few positively labeled cells in the ganglion cell, inner nuclear and outer nuclear layers and the immunohistochemistry showed no immunopositivity of hsp70 in the inner segments of photoreceptor cell layer in both genotype. In rd mice, fundus photography showed a narrowing of the retinal vessels at the age of 4 weeks, however, there were no differences of retinal changes including pigment epithelial layer in both genotype. Electroretinographic examination at the postnatal 2, 3 and 4 weeks showed no differences between them. Loss of photoreceptor cell and outer nuclear layers showed no differences in both genotype. In conclusion, there were no differences of the retinal changes at least under the normal environmental condition in hsp70.1+/+ and -/- mice. These results show that hsp70.1-/- mice can be used to study the role of hsp70.1 to the external stress to the retina.

Fluorophotometric Detection of Oxygen Free Radicals in the Cornea and Lens after Excimer Laser Photore fractive Keratecto my in Rabbit

This study was performed to detect the oxidative stress in the cornea and lens in vivo by fluorophotometer after excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy(PRK). Twenty New Zealand white rabbits(20 eyes)were divided into two groups, control group(10 eyes)and PRK group(10 eyes). Rabbits of PRK group underwent PRK(8 diopters)and 2', 7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate(DCFH-DA)was applied on the central cornea 6 hours after PRK in both groups. Fluorophotometric readings of the cornea and lens were measured 15 minutes(F15)and 30 minutes(F30)after DCFH-DA application in both groups. The cornea and lens was observed with slit lamp biomicroscope for 8 weeks. F15 and F30 of the cornea in PRK group(3.83+/-1.22 ng/ml, 5.12+/-1.57 ng/ml)were significantly higher than those in control group(2.61+/-0.59 ng/ml Eq, 3.26+/-0.76 ng/ml Eq)(p=0.01, p=0.005). F15 and F30 of the lens in PRK group(409.7+/-157.2 ng/ml, 594.9+/-242.2 ng/ml Eq)were significantly higher than those in control group(74.1+/-48.3 ng/ml Eq, 310.1+/-249.8 ng/ml Eq)(p=0.0004, p=0.01). No lens opacity developed and F15 and F30 of the cornea did not correlate with corneal haze determined at postoperative 8 weeks. In this study, we demonstrated increased oxygen free radicals in the cornea and lens after PRK by fluorophotometer in vivo and this method can be used as a useful tool to investigate the possible damage induced by oxygen free radicals in the cornea and lens after excimer laser corneal ablation.

Effect of Oxygen on Photoreceptor Degeneration in Retinal Degeneration Mice

There is still no effective treatment for retinal degenerative diseases, in which the loss of photoreceptor cells causes visual loss and eventually blindness. Despite the current studies show that intraocular injection of basic fibrobalst growth factor rescues damaged and dystrophic rat photoreceptor in transgenic animal, there is a few evidence that endogenous neurotrophic factor promotes photorecptor cell survival in retina. In the present study, retinal degeneration (rd)neonate mice were exposed to hyperoixa for 5 days, and then were returned to room air, which was presumed to cause relative hypoxia of nonperfused retina, producing a neovascular response. Using this model, we investigated the effect of relative hypoxia on degenerative process in rd mice. As a control, rd neonate mice were remained at room air from birth. At the postnatal 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 21 days, the ratio of total retinal thickness and outer nuclear layer (ONL)thickness, and neovascularization of experimental right eyes were compared with those of control. Extent of vascularization of experimental left eyes was compared with that of left eyes in control group. In rd mice, extraretinal neovascularization was observed in 62%of 93 eyes of the experimental group exposed to hyperoxia. Extent of vascularization in experimental group was smaller than that of in control. There was an oxygen-induced modulation of rates of death in experimental group, where-as the death of photoreceptor progressed in control group. In experimental group, the ratio of total retinal thickness and ONL thickness was higher than that of in control group at 18 and 21 days of age. These results suggest that the relative hypoxia in the rd mice may have rescue effect on photoreceptor in rd mice.

Amiodarone Induced Keratopathy

Amidarone hydrochloride, benzofuran derivatives, particularly effective for the treatment of arrythmias by prolong the duration of the action potential in all cardiac-conducting tissues. We studied the 25 patients with typical amiodarone keratopathy, retrospectively. In 25 patients, ten patients developed grade 1, eleven patients developed grade 2, and four patients developed grade 3 keratopathy. They complained of decreased best corrected visual acuity(1 patient), halos(1 patient), hypothyroidism(3 patients), pulmonary toxicity(2 patients), thpatic dysfunction(5 patients) and sleep dusturbance(3 patients). Therefore ophthalmologists should be alert for the complications of amiodarone and regular careful slit-lamp examination will be helpful in minimizing amidarone toxicity.

Change of Epithelial Barrier Function after Excimer Laser Photorefractive Keratectomy

We used the fluorophotometry to investigate the corneal epithelial barrier function after excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy (PRK). Twenty-five eyes of 21 subjects (13 women, 8 men) underwent PRK to correct rnyopia. Corneal epithelial healing time was measured and corneal epithelial permeability to sodiurn fluorescein was evaluated by fluorophotoinetry at I, 2, and 3 weeks after surgery. The corneal epithelial permeability increased significantly 1 week after surgery and returned to preoperative level 2 weeks after surgery. The permeability differences according to epithelial healing days and corrected diopters were not statistically significant(p>0. 05). These results suggest that PRK delays complete reconstruction of corneal epithelial barrier function. The corneal epithelium regained its functional barrier 2 weeks after PRK in patients, so, at least, during the first 2 weeks, care should be taken to miniinize further epithelial trauma from topical inedication or surgical manipulation.