Effects of the combined administration of vitamins C and E on the oxidative stress status and programmed cell death pathways after experimental spinal cord injury.

STUDY DESIGN: Experimental, controlled, animal study. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of vitamins C and E (VCE) treatment on oxidative stress and programmed cell deaths after rat spinal cord injury (SCI), as well as functional recovery. SETTING: Taiwan. METHODS: Fifty-four Sprague-Dawley rats were used for the experimental procedure. In the sham group, laminectomy at T10 was performed, followed by impactor contusion of the spinal cord. In the control group, only a laminectomy was performed without contusion. Oxidative stress status was assessed by measuring the spinal cord tissue content of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and gluthatione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities. We also evaluated the effects of combined VCE treatment using western blot to analyze expression of cleaved caspase-3 and microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (LC3), and the Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) scale to evaluate functional outcomes. RESULTS: Combined treatment of VCE significantly counteracted the effects of spinal cord contusion on oxidative stress represented by activities of SOD and GSH-Px (P<0.05). The VCE treatment also significantly enhanced LC3-II expression and decreased cleaved caspase-3 compared with the sham (P<0.05). Furthermore, BBB scores significantly improved in the VCE-treated group compared with the sham group (on day 14 and 28 after SCI; P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The combined administration of VCE was clearly capable of modulating the antioxidant effects, and of reducing apoptosis and increasing autophagy at the lesion epicenter leading to an improved functional outcome. Use of such clinically ready drugs could help earlier clinical trials in selected cases of human SCIs.

Differentiation of pyogenic brain abscesses from necrotic glioblastomas with use of susceptibility-weighted imaging.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A common imaging finding in brain abscess and necrotic glioblastoma is a T2 hypointense margin. The features of this hypointense rim on SWI have not been previously described, to our knowledge. We aimed to differentiate abscesses from glioblastomas by assessing the morphology of their lesion margin by using SWI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: T2WI and SWI were performed in 12 abscesses and 20 rim-enhancing glioblastomas. On T2WI and SWI, the prevalence and the border types (complete versus incomplete) of hypointense rims were qualitatively assessed. On SWI, the contour (smooth versus irregular) and the location of hypointense rims relative to the contrast-enhancing rims as well as the prevalence of the "dual rim sign," defined as 2 concentric rims at lesion margins with the outer one being hypointense and the inner one hyperintense relative to cavity contents, were also analyzed. RESULTS: Prevalence and the border types of the hypointense rims on T2WI were not different between abscesses and glioblastomas. On SWI, there were significantly more hypointense rims that were complete (P < .001) and smooth (P < .001), having the same location as the contrast-enhancing rims (P < .001) for abscesses. A dual rim sign was present in 9 of 12 abscesses but absent in all glioblastomas (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: SWI may be helpful in differentiating pyogenic abscesses from necrotic glioblastomas. The dual rim sign is the most specific imaging feature distinguishing the 2.

Dynamic recording of irrigating fluid distribution in root canals using thermal image analysis.

AIM: To investigate the influence of the size and the depth of insertion of irrigating needles, and the diameter of the master apical file on flow distribution during fluid irrigation in root canals. METHODOLOGY: Stepback canal instrumentation was employed on seven extracted human single canal teeth. The size of the master apical files ranged from sizes 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50 to size 80 within the seven teeth, respectively. A thermal imaging system (ThermaCAM; National Instruments Co., Austin, TX, USA) was used to record the dynamic fluid distribution following root canal preparation. The dynamic fluid distribution was analysed during irrigation by insertion of different irrigating needle tips (23, 25 and 27 gauge) at various depths (3, 6 and 9 mm) from the root apex. The whole process of irrigation was recorded by a video camera and analysed by two observers separately. The success of the irrigation process was defined when the irrigant was able to flow into to the apical region immediately after injection. RESULTS: The aqueous irrigant was flushed into the apical region when a size 27 gauge irrigating needle was placed into a size 30 canal at a point 3 mm from the apical stop. When the same needle tip was placed 6 mm from the root canal apex, successful irrigation was achieved only in the canals prepared to size 50 or larger. When a size 25 gauge irrigating needle was placed 3 mm from the working length, the canal size had to be no <45 to allow for successful irrigation. When a size 23 gauge needle was placed at the same position, the canal needed to be prepared to size 50 to allow thorough irrigation of the apex. At 9 mm from the apical stop, none of the irrigating needles could achieve successful irrigation of any canal size. CONCLUSION: The flow distribution of root canal irrigation can be affected adversely by large diameter irrigating needles, by greater distances between the needle tip and the apical stop, and by narrow root canals.

Spinal epidural Rosai-Dorfman disease preceding by relapsing uveitis: a case report with literature review.

STUDY DESIGN: Case report. SETTING: Tertiary referral center hospital in Taiwan. OBJECTIVES: To report a case of spinal Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD) presenting with paraparesis and also preceding by relapsing uveitis for 6 months. A thoracic laminectomy was performed to remove the solid mass. The pathological diagnosis reveals infiltrating histiocytes, emperipolesis and positivity for S-100. There is no recurrence 1 year later with MR imaging. CONCLUSIONS: The relapsing idiopathic uveitis may be a prodrome for this unusual disease, because RDD is associated closely to defective immunogical response. Early and accurate diagnosis of CNS RDD may reverse the neurologic deficits by early decompression.

Solitary intraventricular tuberculoma in adults.

Intracranial tuberculoma is typically located in the parenchyma. Lesions limited to the ventricular system are uncommon. It is difficult to make a differential diagnosis from other lesions if no systemic tuberculosis is present. This study investigates a case of solitary intraventricular tuberculoma in a 19-year-old female patient with an initial clinical symptom of progressive headache. Cranial computed tomography revealed a strongly enhanced lesion in the lateral ventricle. Histopathology of the tumor demonstrated chronic inflammation, caseous necrosis, epithelioid cells and Langhans' giant cell. The culture study grew M. Tuberculosis. Solitary intraventricular tuberculoma in adults is extremely rare. Medical treatment is the preferred management method of this disease, and surgical intervention should be considered in certain situations.

High-performance liquid chromatographic method for potency determination of amoxicillin in commercial preparations and for stability studies.

A reversed-phase column liquid chromatographic method was developed for the assay of amoxicillin and its preparations. The linear calibration range was 0.2 to 2.0 mg/ml (r = 0.9998), and recoveries were generally greater than 99%. The high-performance liquid chromatographic assay results were compared with those obtained from a microbiological assay of bulk drug substance and capsule, injection, and granule formulations containing amoxicillin and degraded amoxicillin. At the 99% confidence level, no significant intermethod differences were noted for the paired results. Commercial formulations were also analyzed, and the results obtained by the proposed method closely agreed with those found by the microbiological method. The results indicated that the proposed method is a suitable substitute for the microbiological method for assays and stability studies of amoxicillin preparations.