Multi-targeted screening of botanicals in food supplements by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry.

Safety, quality and composition assessments of food supplements based on botanical ingredients are of major concern, as they have usually not been through a rigorous testing process as required for the approval of therapeutic phytopreparations. Therefore, an efficient multi-targeted method was developed to screen selected botanicals of interest in herbal food supplements. Liquid chromatography coupled with a hybrid triple quadrupole linear ion trap was used for this purpose. Botanicals were characterised by means of appropriate biomarkers, which were unambiguously identified by mass spectrometry using an information dependent acquisition experiment which combined a multiple reaction monitoring survey with dependent enhanced product ion scans. During this procedure, product ion scans of targeted analytes were generated at three collision energies and compared with an in-house library of MS/MS spectra acquired from reference standards of all biomarkers. This generic method enables detection, identification and quantification of 98 biomarkers intended to characterise 79 selected plants.

Preterm birth affects dorsal-stream functioning even after age 6.

With increasing numbers of preterm infants surviving, the impact of preterm birth on later cognitive development presents a major interest. This study investigates the impact of preterm birth on later dorsal- and ventral-stream functioning. An atypical pattern of performance was found for preterm children relative to full-term controls, but in the dorsal-drawing task only. These findings suggest that the number of gestational weeks does affect dorsal-stream functioning, even after more than 6 years of favorable environmental conditions in healthy preterm children.

[Natural evolution of an aneurysm of the V4 segment of the vertebral artery into a giant aneurysm. A case report]. / Evolution naturelle d'un anévrisme du segment V4 de l'artère vertébrale vers un anévrisme géant. A propos d'un cas.

We report the case of a 78-year-old female with an aneurysm of the V4 segment of the vertebral artery and a six-year follow-up without any surgical or endovascular treatment. The natural evolution of a small aneurysm into a giant aneurysm is rarely observed. We discuss the pathophysiology of the development and growth of such aneurysms through a review of the literature.

Effect of L-dopa on dementia-related rigidity.

L-dopa 100 mg plus benserazide 25 mg versus placebo were given 3 times daily to 14 consecutive patients with dementia and rigidity. The treatment was crossed over to the alternative therapy after a 7-day period. Despite a mean 60% raise in CSF-HVA during L-dopa administration, no patient responded to the treatment. These data suggest that dementia-associated rigidity differs, at least, pharmacologically from parkinsonian rigidity.

[Apropos of 2 cases of oculo-orbital metastases of a prostatic epithelioma]. / A propos de deux cas de métastases oculo-orbitaires d'un épithélioma prostatique.

The authors report one case of choroid metastasis and one case of orbital metastasis from a prostatic carcinoma. A review of the literature confirms the exceptional nature of these metastatic sites (28 cases), which constitute a poor short-term prognostic factor. Palliative hormonal treatment allows regression of the ophthalmic signs without modifying the course of the disease.

Management of cavernous sinus meningiomas.

The management of intracavernous meningiomas remains controversial. The variety of methods of treatment reflects the difficulty of treating primary meningiomas of the cavernous sinus. Twelve personal cases and a review of the literature permit a choice between a direct surgical approach with or without radiotherapy, only radiation therapy or with no therapy. We think therefore that meningiomas of the cavernous sinus should nowadays be the subject of a surgical biopsy followed by radiotherapy according to their grading.

[Diffuse poliencephalitis and visceral neoplasm (author's transl)]. / Polioencéphalite diffuse et néoplasme viscéral.

A case of diffuse polioencephalitis associated with non-differentiated bronchial carcinoma is reported. Clinically the patient presented mental distrubance and an extra-pyramidal syndrome. Anatomopathological investigation revealed inflammation of the cerebral hemispheres and the brain stem. Similar involvement of others regions of the central nervous system has been reported in the literature, probably indicating various locations of a single nosological entity. A viral origin is probable but not yet established.