Influence of probiotics on water quality in intensified Litopenaeus vannamei ponds under minimum-water exchange.

The effects of two probiotics on NH3 degradation, as well as the magnetic field (21.56 m tesla) on the germination and proliferation of Bacillus spores, were studied in-vitro. Additionally, the effect of these probiotics on water quality maintenance in Litopenaeus vannamei holding ponds was investigated. For 180 min, NH3 degradation was assessed as follows: Set 1: ammonia-free tap water with NH3; Probiotic A (5 × 1010 viable Bacillus spores/g) with NH3; Probiotic B (multi spp. 2 × 109 CFU/g) with NH3; and Set 2: same as set 1 with 30 mg L-1 OM. The magnetic field was tested on Probiotic A (3.5 × 107 CFU) for 36 h in triplicate. In the presence of organic matter, both probiotics degrade NH3. The viable Bacillus count increased within 6 h of being exposed to the magnetic field, reaching its peak after 36 h. Firstly, fifteen ponds (250,000 PL/acre) were investigated, then 360 water samples were collected from the same corresponding pond for 8 weeks, and subjected to T1: control; T2: Probiotic A (0.007 g/m3/2 weeks); T3: Probiotic B (0.03 g/m3/2 weeks). Both probiotics with TVC and NH3 demonstrated a negative correlation, on the other hand, they showed a significant (P ≤ 0.01) improvement in DO and pH. Overall, both probiotics were able to degrade NH3 and the magnetic field (21.56 m tesla) was efficient to improve the germination and proliferation of Bacillus spores in-vitro. Probiotics were also effective for reducing TVC and NH3 levels by increasing dissolved oxygen and pH in pond water.

A modern series of subdiaphragmatic craniopharyngiomas.

OBJECTIVE: The endoscopic endonasal approach has been proposed as a primary surgical strategy for select craniopharyngiomas. However, those tumors that arise from the sella have not been classified with the other craniopharyngioma subtypes in terms of surgical nuances, intraoperative findings, and postoperative outcomes. The authors describe their experience with a select subtype of craniopharyngioma arising within the sella subjacent to the diaphragma sellae and refer to these tumors as type 0. METHODS: After obtaining IRB approval, three institutions retrospectively reviewed their data collected from 2005 to 2017. Patients eligible for inclusion in the study were those who had tumors that originated from the sella inferior to the diaphragma sellae. Demographic, clinical, radiological, surgical, and follow-up data were examined and analyzed. RESULTS: Twenty-eight patients (average age 19.3 years, range 3-60 years) were included in this study. Sixteen patients (57%) were younger than 18 years of age. All patients had characteristic imaging features of an expanded sella. Seventy-five percent of the patients presented with some form of visual field deficit (89% had radiographic optic apparatus compression) and 39% with hypopituitarism. The average maximal tumor diameter in the axial, coronal, or sagittal plane was 3.1 cm. Gross-total resection was achieved in 82% of the patients. Twenty-one percent of patients experienced an iatrogenic complication, and there were only two cases (7%) of postoperative cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage. Only two patients (7%) required the use of a nasoseptal flap as part of their original reconstruction. Pathology was uniformly the adamantinomatous subtype. Postoperative objective visual outcomes were improved in 71% of the patients with visual symptoms or visual field deficits on presentation and stable in 24%. Mean follow-up was 45.1 months (range 3-120 months) with an 18% recurrence rate at a mean of 44.4 months (range 10-84 months). One patient was lost to follow-up. Thirty-six percent of patients received postoperative radiation to treat recurrence or residual tumor. Endocrine data are also presented. CONCLUSIONS: Craniopharyngiomas that originate within the sella below the diaphragma sellae are a select subtype characterized by 1) an enlarged sella, 2) an intact diaphragma sellae at surgery, and 3) an adamantinomatous pathology. These tumors can be treated transnasally without the absolute need for neurovascular flap reconstruction, as there is a low risk of CSF leakage.

Presentation and outcomes in surgically and conservatively managed pediatric Rathke cleft cysts.

OBJECTIVE Rathke cleft cysts (RCCs) are sellar lesions that are commonly encountered in adults but infrequently diagnosed in the pediatric population. As a result, the optimal management of pediatric RCCs remains a subject of controversy. Only 2 prior surgical series have been published on pediatric RCCs and no study has compared the presentation and outcomes of surgically versus conservatively managed cases. The authors therefore performed a comparative analysis of pediatric cases of RCC in which patients were treated with surgery or managed in a conservative manner. METHODS All cases involving pediatric patients diagnosed with an RCC at the University of Virginia between 2000 and 2016 were included in this study. Patient medical records, operative notes, and neuroimaging findings were reviewed. Patients who developed visual field deficits, radiographic evidence of chiasmal compression, or medically refractory headaches were considered candidates for surgical intervention. All patients who were selected for surgery underwent an endoscopic endonasal approach with cyst fenestration. RESULTS A total of 24 pediatric patients were diagnosed with an RCC over a 16-year period. Seven patients ultimately underwent transsphenoidal cyst fenestration, and 17 were managed conservatively. The patients' age at diagnosis, cyst size, and pituitary function at the time of RCC diagnosis were similar in the conservatively and surgically managed cohorts. At diagnosis, 19 of 24 patients endorsed headaches that led to neuroimaging. All patients in the surgical cohort endorsed severe headaches at diagnosis compared with 71% in the conservative group. For the 7 patients treated with surgery, complete cyst evacuation was achieved in 86% of cases. Transient postoperative endocrinopathy occurred in 4 (57%) of 7 surgically treated individuals and resolved in all cases. In the conservative cohort, 1 patient developed a delayed pituitary-related endocrinopathy. Headache resolution occurred in 5 (71%) of the 7 patients who underwent surgery and 7 (58%) of the 12 who were treated without surgery. Cyst recurrence was documented in 1 individual in the surgical cohort who underwent a subtotal cyst fenestration that ultimately required re-intervention. In the conservative cohort, spontaneous cyst shrinkage occurred in 35% of patients with a median time to regression of 23.5 months. CONCLUSIONS Pediatric RCCs are benign sellar lesions that often present with headaches. While cyst fenestration mitigates headaches in most patients, the majority of conservatively managed pediatric patients with RCCs will have spontaneous headache resolution. Furthermore, spontaneous RCC regression occurs in a substantial number of individuals. Thus, in the absence of optic compression, visual field deficit, or diagnostic uncertainty, many pediatric cases of RCC can be managed conservatively.

Transsphenoidal Surgery for Mixed Pituitary Gangliocytoma-Adenomas.

BACKGROUND: Most sellar gangliocytomas are discovered with a concurrent pituitary adenoma, also known as a mixed gangliocytoma-adenoma (MGA). MGAs are rare, with fewer than 100 cases reported in the literature to date and only 1 previously documented surgical series. Because MGAs are radiologically indistinguishable from pituitary adenomas, they are often diagnosed after surgery. Combined with the paucity of clinical outcome data for these tumors, this makes their diagnosis and management challenging. Here we describe the clinical presentation and outcomes of 10 individuals who were diagnosed with a MGA at a single institution. METHODS: This retrospective case series study included patients diagnosed with a combined sellar MGA between 1993 and 2016. RESULTS: This series comprised 10 patients, mean age of 44 years (range, 28-63 years) diagnosed with an MGA. The mean tumor size was 1.6 cm (range, 0.4-2.4 cm). Five patients presented with acromegaly, and 1 patient had recurrent Cushing disease. Transsphenoidal surgery was performed in all cases, and gross total resection was achieved in 7 patients (70%). Histologically, 9 of the 10 MGAs were identified as mixed somatotroph adenoma-gangliocytomas. The median duration of follow-up was 74 months (range, 2-180 months). Following adjuvant treatment (n = 3), all patients with acromegaly (n = 4) achieved biochemical remission, and no patient experienced recurrence of the pituitary tumor with a median radiographic follow-up of 48 months. CONCLUSIONS: MGAs are often associated with a hypersecretory adenoma. Transsphenoidal surgery is well tolerated by most patients, and when performed in combination with adjuvant therapy, a low rate of recurrence and reversal of preoperative endocrinopathy can be expected.

Prospective comparison of sinonasal outcomes after microscopic sublabial or endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal surgery for nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas.

OBJECT Both endoscopic and microscopic transsphenoidal approaches are accepted techniques for the resection of pituitary adenomas. Although studies have explored patient outcomes for each technique individually, none have prospectively compared sinonasal and quality of life outcomes in a concurrent series of patients at the same institution, as has been done in the present study. METHODS Patients with nonfunctioning adenomas undergoing transsphenoidal surgery were assessed for sinonasal function, quality of life, and pain using the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-20 (SNOT-20), the short form of the Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation (NOSE) instrument, the SF-36, and a headache scale. Eighty-two patients undergoing either endoscopic (47 patients) or microscopic (35 patients) surgery were surveyed preoperatively and at 24-48 hours, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 1 year after surgery. RESULTS Patients who underwent endoscopic and microscopic transsphenoidal surgery experienced a similar recovery pattern, showing an initial increase in symptoms during the first 2 weeks, followed by a return to baseline by 4 weeks and improvement beyond baseline functioning by 8 weeks. Patients who underwent endoscopic surgery experienced better sinonasal outcomes at 24-48 hours (SNOT total p = 0.015, SNOT rhinologic subscale [ssRhino] p < 0.001), 2 weeks (NOSE p = 0.013), and 8 weeks (SNOT total p = 0.032 and SNOT ssRhino p = 0.035). By 1 year after surgery, no significant differences in sinonasal outcomes were observed between the 2 groups. Headache scales at 1 year improved in all dimensions except duration for both groups (total result 73%, p = 0.004; severity 46%, p < 0.001; frequency 53%, p < 0.001), with 80% of either microscopic or endoscopic patients experiencing improvement or resolution of headache symptoms. Endoscopic and microscopic patients experienced reduced vitality preoperatively compared with US population norms and remained low postoperatively. By 8 weeks after surgery, both groups experienced significant improvements in mental health (13%, p = 0.005) and vitality (15%, p = 0.037). By 1 year after surgery, patients improved significantly in mental health (14%, p = 0.03), role physical (14%, p = 0.036), social functioning (16%, p = 0.009), vitality (22%, p = 0.002), and SF-36 total (10%, p = 0.024) as compared with preoperative measures. There were no significant differences at any time point between the 2 groups for the total SF-36 or for any of the 8 subscales. CONCLUSIONS Patients who underwent either an endoscopic or a microscopic approach experienced the greatest nasal symptoms at 2 weeks postoperatively and exhibited similar time courses of recovery in nasal, headache, and quality of life assessments. Although patients who underwent endoscopic surgery experienced significantly fewer nasal symptoms during the first 8 weeks, by 1 year after surgery, there were no significant differences between the 2 groups.

Diagnostic performance of the medial hamstring reflex in L5 radiculopathy.

BACKGROUND: An avalanche of literature exists on almost every aspect of lumbar disc pathology but very limited studies have quantified the diagnostic performance of elements of clinical examination in predicting disc level, meticulously collated the reflex changes in lumbar disc herniation (LDH) as well as assessed the diagnostic performance of the medial hamstring reflex (MHR). Our study underscores the diagnostic performance of the MHR in L5 radiculopathy comparing its diagnostic power to that of the knee and ankle reflexes. METHODS: One hundred consecutive patients operated for de novo LDH in our department between January and December 2011 were prospectively followed-up. A nested case control study was designed from our cohort to assess the performance of the MHR in L5 sciatica. All patients were examined by two independent examiners pre-operatively for the MHR and the results collated and correlated to MRI and intra-operative findings. RESULTS: The MHR has a diagnostic performance intermediate to that of knee and ankle reflexes. The percentages correctly classified were respectively: 86%, 79% and 67% for the knee, MHR and ankle reflexes. The MHR is highly precise with an intra-rater reliability of 100% and inter-rater repeatability of above 90% and test-retest reproducibility of 100%. CONCLUSION: The MHR hitherto described as elusive has a high diagnostic performance and is a valid neurologic test that should be included in the routine neurologic examination of patients with suspected L5 radiculopathy.

Endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery for acromegaly: remission using modern criteria, complications, and predictors of outcome.

CONTEXT: Despite the growing application of endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery (ETSS), outcomes for GH adenomas are not clearly defined. OBJECTIVE: We reviewed our experience with ETSS with specific interest in remission rates using the 2010 consensus criteria, predictors of remission, and associated complications. DESIGN AND SETTING: This was a retrospective single institution study. PATIENTS, INTERVENTIONS, AND OUTCOME MEASURES: Sixty acromegalic patients who underwent ETSS were identified. Remission was defined as a normal IGF-I and either a suppressed GH less than 0.4 ng/ml during an oral glucose tolerance test or a random GH less than 1.0 ng/ml. RESULTS: Remission was achieved in all 14 microadenomas and 28 of 46 macroadenomas (61%). Tumor size, age, gender, and history of prior surgery were not predictive on multivariant analysis. In hospital postoperative morning GH levels less than 2.5 ng/ml provided the best prediction of remission (P < 0.001). Preoperative variables predictive of remission included Knosp score (P = 0.017), IGF-I (P = 0.030), and GH (P = 0.042) levels. New endocrinopathy consisted of diabetes insipidus in 5%, adrenal insufficiency in 5.4%, and new hypogonadism in 29% of men and 17% of women. However, 41% of hypogonadal men had normal postoperative testosterone levels and 83% of amenorrheic women regained menses. The most common complaints after surgery were sinonasal (36 of 60, 60%) resolving in all but two. CONCLUSIONS: ETSS for GH adenomas is associated with high rates of remission and a low incidence of new endocrinopathy. Despite the panoramic views offered by the endoscope, invasive tumors continue to have lower rates of remission.