Transcranial direct current stimulation reveals inhibitory deficiency in migraine

The issue of interictal excitability of cortical neurons in migraine patients is controversial: some studies have reported hypo-, others hyperexcitability. The aim of the present study was to observe the dynamics of this basic interictal state by further modulating the excitability level of the visual cortex using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in migraineurs with and without aura. In healthy subjects anodal tDCS decreases, cathodal stimulation increases transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-elicited phosphene thresholds (PT), which is suggested as a representative value of visual cortex excitability. Compared with healthy controls, migraine patients tended to show lower baseline PT values, but this decrease failed to reach statistical significance. Anodal stimulation decreased phosphene threshold in migraineurs similarly to controls, having a larger effect in migraineurs with aura. Cathodal stimulation had no significant effect in the patient groups. This result strengthens the notion of deficient inhibitory processes in the cortex of migraineurs, which is selectively revealed by activity-modulating cortical input.

Shaping the Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of the Human Motor Cortex

Transcranial DC stimulation (tDCS) induces stimulation polarity-dependent neuroplastic excitability shifts in the human brain. Because it accomplishes long-lasting effects and its application is simple, it is used increasingly. However, one drawback is its low focality, caused by 1) the large stimulation electrode and 2) the functionally effective reference electrode, which is also situated on the scalp. We aimed to increase the focality of tDCS, which might improve the interpretation of the functional effects of stimulation because it will restrict its effects to more clearly defined cortical areas. Moreover, it will avoid unwanted reversed effects of tDCS under the reference electrode, which is of special importance in clinical settings, when a homogeneous shift of cortical excitability is needed. Because current density (current strength/electrode size) determines the efficacy of tDCS, increased focality should be accomplished by 1) reducing stimulation electrode size, but keeping current density constant; or 2) increasing reference electrode size under constant current strength. We tested these hypotheses for motor cortex tDCS. The results show that reducing the size of the motor cortex DC-stimulation electrode focalized the respective tDCS-induced excitability changes. Increasing the size of the frontopolar reference electrode rendered stimulation over this cortex functionally inefficient, but did not compromise the tDCS-generated motor cortical excitability shifts. Thus tDCS-generated modulations of cortical excitability can be focused by reducing the size of the stimulation electrode and by increasing the size of the reference electrode. For future applications of tDCS, such paradigms may help to achieve more selective tDCS effects.

Sequence-dependent synergy of the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib and cytarabine in mantle cell lymphoma

Single-agent bortezomib, a potent, selective and reversible inhibitor of the 26S proteasome, has demonstrated clinical efficacy in relapsed and refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Objective response is achieved in up to 45% of the patients; however, complete remission rates are low and duration of response proved to be short. These limitations may be overcome by combining proteasome inhibition with conventional chemotherapy. Here we present two case reports and in vitro data suggesting synergistic efficacy of bortezomib combined with cytarabine in MCL. Interestingly, efficacy in vitro correlated with sequence of treatment, indicating that pretreatment with cytarabine, followed by proteasome inhibition, may be the preferred approach.

Phased attenuation correction in respiration correlated computed tomography/positron emitted tomography

The motion of lung tumors with respiration causes difficulties in the imaging with computed tomography (CT) and positronemitted tomography (PET). Since an accurate knowledge of the position of the tumor and the surrounding tissues is needed for radiation treatment planning, it is important to improve CT/PET image acquisition. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential to improve image acquisition using phased attenuation correction in respiration correlated CT/PET, where data of both modalities were binned retrospectively. Respiration correlated scans were made on a Siemens Biograph Sensation 16 CT/PET scanner which was modified to make a low pitch CT scan and list mode PET scan possible. A lollipop phantom was used in the experiments. The sphere with a diameter of 3.1 cm was filled with approximately 20 MBq 18F-FDG. Three longitudinal movement amplitudes were tested: 2.5, 3.9, and 4.8 cm. After collection of the raw CT data, list mode PET data, and the respiratory signal CT/PET images were binned to ten phases with the help of in-house-built software. Each PET phase was corrected for attenuation with CT data of the corresponding phase. For comparison, the attenuation correction was also performed with nonrespiration correlated (non-RC) CT data. The volume and the amplitude of the movement were calculated for every phaseof both the CT and PET data (with phased attenuation correction). Maximum and average activity concentrations were compared between the phased and nonphased attenuation corrected PET. With a standard non-RC CT/PET scan, the volume was underestimated by as much as 46% in CT and the PET volume was overestimated to 370%. The volumes found with RC-CT/PET scanning had average deviations of 1.9% (+/- 4.8%) and 1.5% (+/- 3.4%) from the actual volume, for the CT and PET volumes, respectively. Evaluation of the maximum activity concentration showed a clear displacement in the images with non-RC attenuation correction, and activity values were on average14% (+/- 12%) lower than with phased attenuation correction. The standard deviation of the maximum activity values found in the different phases was a factor of 10 smaller when phased attenuation correction was applied. In this phantom study, we have shown that a combination of respiration correlated CT/PET scanning with application of phased attenuation correction can improve the imaging of moving objects and can lead to improved volume estimation and a more precise localization and quantification of the activity.

Sickle cell 'girdle syndrome' progressing to ischaemic colitis and colonic perforation

Abdominal pain of presumed vasocclusive origin, often termed 'girdle syndrome' because of the circumferential distribution of the pain, is common in sickle cell anaemia (SCA). Evidence of progression to bowel infarction is rare. A 27-year-old man with SCA developed chest and abdominal pain unresponsive to opiate analgesia. Abdominal X-ray showed dilated bowel loops because of partial obstruction. Despite reduction of HbS to 23% by automated red cell exchange, abdominal pain worsened. A CT scan was the most informative investigation and showed free peritoneal air. He underwent emergency hemicolectomy and reversible ileostomy formation. Histology of the resected colon was consistent with acute ischaemic colitis. Early surgical intervention remains essential in SCA when abdominal pain does not respond to maximal therapy including red cell exchange: as this case illustrates, sickle girdle syndrome has the capacity to progress to irreversible ischaemic colitis and necrotic perforation of the bowel wall.

Altered motion perception in migraineurs: evidence for interictal cortical hyperexcitability

Much research on visual functions in migraine has pinpointed the existence of abnormal visual processing between attacks. However, it is not clear if this is due to cortical hyper- or hypoexcitability. We aimed to clarify this issue by comparing motion perception thresholds of subjects with migraine with (MA) or without aura (MoA) and control subjects. Two types of dot kinetograms were used: in the first experiment coherently moving dots were presented in an incoherent environment, while in the second only coherent motion was seen. Subjects with migraine displayed significantly impaired motion perception compared with controls when they had to detect the direction of the coherently moving dots in an incoherent environment, while they were slightly better in a direction discrimination task, where only coherent motion was presented. This pattern of results is comparable to those achieved by an external excitability enhancement of V5 induced in healthy human subjects in a former study of our group. According to this, a cortical excitability enhancement can result in an impaired focusing on a given signal against a noisy background, but improves perception of non-ambiguous stimuli. Thus we conclude that migraineurs display enhanced visual cortical excitability between attacks in V5.