Feasibility and test-retest reliability of an electroencephalography-based brain mapping system in children with cerebral palsy: a preliminary investigation.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the feasibility and test-retest reliability of a novel electroencephalography (EEG)-based brain mapping system in healthy children and children with cerebral palsy (CP). DESIGN: Correlation statistics. SETTING: University brain mapping and neurorehabilitation laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of children (N=12; 5 healthy children, mean ± SD, 12.6±0.89y; 7 children with CP, mean ± SD, 9.71±1.1y) participated in the study. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mu band (8-12Hz) power values in event-related spectral perturbation maps during reach and grasp hand movements were repeatedly measured on 2 separate occasions (2h apart). Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC(1,2)) tests were computed to determine test-retest reliability at the standard level of significance (P<.004). In addition, the feasibility of the system was determined by evaluating potential differences in the cortical activation areas obtained from topographical maps during actual reach and grasp motor tasks between healthy children and children with CP. RESULTS: The test-retest reliability results showed excellent reliability between the repeated measures, ranging from .93 (P=.000) to .99 (P=.000). Our EEG brain mapping system was capable of distinguishing differences in the cortical activity power (mu band power spectra) between healthy children and children with CP. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this study is the first evidence demonstrating the feasibility and reliability of the EEG brain mapping system. Clinically, this system provides important insights into neuroplasticity associated with motor recovery after treatment and can also be used as real-time neurofeedback or noninvasive neuromodulation in the course of neurologic rehabilitation.

An optimized protocol of a human-to-cattle interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer.

Human somatic cells were transferred into cattle enucleated oocytes, and a prospective, randomized study was designed to optimize donor cell preparation, fusion medium, and culture method. As a result, improved development of interspecies embryos was achieved by employing serum-starved cord fibroblasts, with Ca(2+)/Mg(2+)-free fusion medium and a serum-free medium being used for bovine embryos.

Relationship of plasma Dendroaspis natriuretic peptide-like immunoreactivity and echocardiographic parameters in chronic haemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The Dendroaspis natriuretic peptide (DNP), which was recently isolated from the venom of the green Mamba snake, Dendroaspis angusticeps, is a 38 amino acid peptide containing a 17 amino acid disulfide ring structure. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of haemodialysis (HD) on the plasma concentration of DNP, and to investigate the relationship between the 2-D echocardiographic parameters and the changes in the plasma DNP levels during HD. METHODS: Forty-five haemodialysis patients and 22 healthy individuals underwent a measurement of plasma DNP-like immunoreactivity, serum creatinine, haematocrit, blood pressure and bodyweight before and after each HD session. Echocardiography was performed before and after HD. The peak early diastolic transmitral flow velocity (E), peak late diastolic transmitral flow velocity (A), and E/A ratio were measured by using a pulsed Doppler echocardiogram. RESULTS: The plasma DNP-like immunoreactivity of those in the pre-HD state was significantly higher (235.6 +/- 45.8 pg/mL) than those of the healthy subjects (105.3 +/- 31.1 pg/mL). In addition, the plasma DNP-like immunoreactivity was significantly decreased after HD (204.4 +/- 55.4 pg/mL). The left atrial diameter, left ventricular diameter at end diastole and end systol, E velocity, A velocity, E/A ratio and inferior vena cava diameter were significantly decreased after HD. There were significant correlations between the changes of plasma DNP-like immunoreactivity and the changes in the bodyweight and inferior vena cava diameter, respectively. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the plasma DNP-like immunoreactivity might be involved in the regulation of the blood volume in patients undergoing HD.

A case of unilateral renal cystic disease.

Unilateral renal cystic disease (URCD) is a distinct entity that is one of the renal cystic diseases. The clinical importance of URCD is to make a differential diagnosis from autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), multicystic dysplastic kidney, multilocular cystic renal neoplasm, and simple cysts. To confirm the diagnosis and to rule out asynchronous ADPKD requires long-term follow up, especially in younger patients.

Blastocyst formation, karyotype, and mitochondrial DNA of interspecies embryos derived from nuclear transfer of human cord fibroblasts into enucleated bovine oocytes.

OBJECTIVE: To establish an interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (iSCNT) technique for deriving blastocysts having human chromosome complements without sacrificing human oocytes. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized study undertaken in vitro. SETTING: University-affiliated hospital and laboratory, Seoul National University. PATIENT(S): Postpartum women with natural spontaneous vaginal delivery. INTERVENTION(S): Human cord fibroblasts were retrieved from five postpartum women from whom informed consent was obtained. After subculture and cryopreservation, serum-starved cells were transferred into enucleated bovine oocytes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Embryo development, karyotype, and the presence of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). RESULT(S): A total 1,742 oocytes were provided for iSCNT and results showed that both fibroblast batch and reconstruction method significantly affected iSCNT outcome. An iSCNT using a single DC pulse of 1.9-2.1 kV/cm for 20 microseconds yielded better rates of fusion (30%-56%) and cleavage (36%) than the other iSCNT protocols. Four to 9% interspecies embryos produced with the optimized method developed to morulae or blastocysts after cultured in a serum-free medium. Results from karyotyping demonstrated that 56% of interspecies embryos evaluated had human chromosome complements. In polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of a single embryo, both human and bovine mtDNAs were detected until the 16-cell stage, whereas only the bovine mtDNA was found beyond the morula stage. CONCLUSION(S): An iSCNT using human cord fibroblasts and bovine oocytes can yield blastocysts and the results of karyotyping and mtDNA analysis confirmed the feasibility of the iSCNT technique.