Executive deficits in neuropsychological testing differentiate between autoimmune temporal lobe epilepsy caused by limbic encephalitis and temporal lobe epilepsies with non-autoimmune etiologies.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy caused by autoimmune limbic encephalitis (AI-TLE) clinically resemble patients with temporal lobe epilepsy with non-autoimmune etiologies (NAI-TLE) but have a different prognosis and require specific adjusted therapies. The objective of this study was to investigate whether patients with these forms of TLE can be discerned by means of neuropsychological assessment. METHODS: Data from 103 patients with TLE (n = 39 with AI-TLE and n = 64 with NAI-TLE, including n = 39 with hippocampal sclerosis [HS] and n = 25 with low-grade epilepsy-associated tumors [LEAT]) and 25 healthy controls who underwent comprehensive neuropsychological assessments were analyzed retrospectively. The neuropsychological characteristics (mean z-scores) were compared between groups using one-way ANOVA, independent-samples t-tests, and discriminant function analysis (DFA). RESULTS: The groups of patients with TLE showed significantly lower performance in attentional, visuospatial, verbal memory, and nonverbal memory functions compared to the healthy controls. Solely in the domain of executive functions, patients with AI-TLE showed significantly lower performance compared to patients with NAI-TLE regarding cognitive flexibility (p = 0.002) and verbal fluency (p = 0.018). Moreover, the DFA identified cognitive flexibility to be most appropriate to differentiate between patients with AI-TLE and patients with HS. Group membership was correctly predicted through neuropsychological assessment alone in 66.7% of the patients using cross-validation. SIGNIFICANCE: We were able to identify specific neuropsychological features in our sample of patients with AI-TLE. While all groups of patients with TLE showed the expected TLE-typical memory impairments, significant differences between patients with AI-TLE and NAI-TLE were present only in the cognitive domain of executive functions. This finding facilitates the choice of suitable psychometric tests in clinical routine and, thus, the clinical differential diagnosis between these entities.

Synthesis, Transfer, and Gas Separation Characteristics of MOF-Templated Polymer Membranes.

This paper discusses the potential of polymer networks, templated by crystalline metal-organic framework (MOF), as novel selective layer material in thin film composite membranes. The ability to create mechanically stable membranes with an ultra-thin selective layer of advanced polymer materials is highly desirable in membrane technology. Here, we describe a novel polymeric membrane, which is synthesized via the conversion of a surface anchored metal-organic framework (SURMOF) into a surface anchored gel (SURGEL). The SURGEL membranes combine the high variability in the building blocks and the possibility to control the network topology and membrane thickness of the SURMOF synthesis with high mechanical and chemical stability of polymers. Next to the material design, the transfer of membranes to suitable supports is also usually a challenging task, due to the fragile nature of the ultra-thin films. To overcome this issue, we utilized a porous support on top of the membrane, which is mechanically stable enough to allow for the easy membrane transfer from the synthesis substrate to the final membrane support. To demonstrate the potential for gas separation of the synthesized SURGEL membranes, as well as the suitability of the transfer method, we determined the permeance for eight gases with different kinetic diameters.

Hierarchically functionalized magnetic core/multishell particles and their postsynthetic conversion to polymer capsules.

The controlled synthesis of hierarchically functionalized core/multishell particles is highly desirable for applications in medicine, catalysis, and separation. Here, we describe the synthesis of hierarchically structured metal-organic framework multishells around magnetic core particles (magMOFs) via layer-by-layer (LbL) synthesis. The LbL deposition enables the design of multishell systems, where each MOF shell can be modified to install different functions. Here, we used this approach to create controlled release capsules, in which the inner shell serves as a reservoir and the outer shell serves as a membrane after postsynthetic conversion of the MOF structure to a polymer network. These capsules enable the controlled release of loaded dye molecules, depending on the surrounding media.

Catching gaseous SO2 in cone-type lanthanide complexes: an unexpected coordination mode for SO2 in f-element chemistry.

Easy come, easy go: the first molecular SO(2) complexes of the lanthanides (Ln=Sm, Eu) have been prepared. The compounds can reversibly coordinate gaseous SO(2). Concomitant with the addition and removal of SO(2), the color of the complexes changes reversibly. The structures of the SO(2) compounds could be confirmed in solution and in the solid state.