A longitudinal study of neurocysticercosis through CT scan of the brain

Relationship between brain-derived neurotrophic factor and cognitive function of obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome patients

OBJECTIVE

To determine the relationship between the blood serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) level and cognitive function deterioration in patients with obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS), and to explore the possible mechanism of cognitive impairment.

METHODS

Twenty-eight male OSAHS patients and 14 normal males (as controls) were enrolled in the study. Polysomnography and the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) were conducted. The blood serum BDNF levels were measured using ELISA.

RESULTS

The OSAHS group had significantly decreased blood serum BDNF levels compared with the control group (t = -10.912, P = 0.000). The blood serum BDNF level of the subjects was significantly positively associated with the MoCA score (r = 0.544, P = 0.000), significantly negatively associated with the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and shallow sleep (S1+S2) (AHI: r = -0.607, P = 0.000; S1+S2: r = -0.768, P = 0.000), and significantly positively associated with the lowest SaO(2) (LSO), slow wave sleep (S3+S4), and rapid eye movement sleep (REM) (LSO: r = 0.566, P = 0.000; S3+S4: r = 0.778, P = 0.000; REM: r = 0.575, P = 0.000).

CONCLUSIONS

OSAHS patients have significantly decreased blood serum BDNF levels compared with the control. Nocturnal hypoxia as well as the deprivation of slow wave sleep and REM may lead to the decreased serum BDNF level of OSAHS patients. This decreased blood serum BDNF level may contribute to the cognitive impairment in OSAHS.

Human cystic echinococcosis: epidemiologic, zoonotic, clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic aspects

This review represents an updated scenario on the transmission cycle, epidemiology, clinical features and pathogenicity, diagnosis and treatment, and prevention and control measures of a cestode parasite Echincoccus granulosus (E. granulosus) infection causing cystic echinococcosis (CE) in humans. Human CE is a serious life-threatening neglected zoonotic disease that occurs in both developing and developed countries, and is recognized as a major public health problem. The life cycle of E. granulosus involves a definitive host (dogs and other canids) for the adult E. granulosus that resides in the intestine, and an intermediate host (sheep and other herbivores) for the tissue-invading metacestode (larval) stage. Humans are only incidentally infected; since the completion of the life cycle of E. granulosus depends on carnivores feeding on herbivores bearing hydatid cysts with viable protoscoleces, humans represent usually the dead end for the parasite. On ingestion of E. granulosus eggs, hydatid cysts are formed mostly in liver and lungs, and occasionally in other organs of human body, which are considered as uncommon sites of localization of hydatid cysts. The diagnosis of extrahepatic echinococcal disease is more accurate today because of the availability of new imaging techniques, and the current treatments include surgery and percutaneous drainage, and chemotherapy (albendazole and mebendazole). But, the wild animals that involve in sylvatic cycle may overlap and interact with the domestic sheep-dog cycle, and thus complicating the control efforts. The updated facts and phenomena regarding human and animal CE presented herein are due to the web search of SCI and non-SCI journals.