An Ultrasonographic Evaluation for the Early Detection of Nerve Root Changes in Herpes Zoster-associated Motor Paresis.

We herein report a case of herpes zoster complicated by right-arm paralysis, wherein cervical nerve root ultrasonography enabled the early diagnosis and a therapeutic efficacy evaluation. A 71-year-old man developed progressive weakness in the muscles innervated by the right C5-6 nerve root following the appearance of a painful rash. Cervical nerve root ultrasonography revealed C5-6 nerve root inflammatory swelling. Methylprednisolone pulse therapy and subsequent oral prednisolone therapy gradually improved the muscle weakness. At three weeks following admission, ultrasonography revealed C5-6 nerve root inflammatory swelling improvement. Ultrasonography may aid in the early detection of nerve root inflammatory swelling and help monitor treatment efficacy.

[65 years old man of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuritis (CIDP) which presented radicular swelling and was able to confirm image progress before the onset].

The case is a 65 years old man. He noticed muscle weakness of lower limbs from 3 years ago. Dysesthesia was developed, He came in our hospital in X year. He was detected muscle weakness, sensory disturbance in distal lower limbs predominance and detected radicular significant swelling in spinal cord MRI and diagnosed it with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuritis (CIDP). In the follow-up purpose of other diseases regularly, it was confirmed that nerve root was gradually swelling from around 7 years before the onset. The radicular swelling is one of the characteristics in CIDP, supports the diagnosis. This case was the valuable case that was able to chase image progress before the onset.

Coumarin Interferes with Polar Auxin Transport Altering Microtubule Cortical Array Organization in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. Root Apical Meristem.

Coumarin is a phytotoxic natural compound able to affect plant growth and development. Previous studies have demonstrated that this molecule at low concentrations (100 µM) can reduce primary root growth and stimulate lateral root formation, suggesting an auxin-like activity. In the present study, we evaluated coumarin's effects (used at lateral root-stimulating concentrations) on the root apical meristem and polar auxin transport to identify its potential mode of action through a confocal microscopy approach. To achieve this goal, we used several Arabidopsis thaliana GFP transgenic lines (for polar auxin transport evaluation), immunolabeling techniques (for imaging cortical microtubules), and GC-MS analysis (for auxin quantification). The results highlighted that coumarin induced cyclin B accumulation, which altered the microtubule cortical array organization and, consequently, the root apical meristem architecture. Such alterations reduced the basipetal transport of auxin to the apical root apical meristem, inducing its accumulation in the maturation zone and stimulating lateral root formation.

Corrigendum: Loss of the Arabidopsis Protein Kinases ANPs Affects Root Cell Wall Composition, and Triggers the Cell Wall Damage Syndrome.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2017.02234.].

Loss of the Arabidopsis Protein Kinases ANPs Affects Root Cell Wall Composition, and Triggers the Cell Wall Damage Syndrome.

The Arabidopsis NPK1-related Protein kinases ANP1, ANP2 and ANP3 belong to the MAP kinase kinase kinase (MAPKKK) superfamily and were previously described to be crucial for cytokinesis, elicitor-induced immunity and development. Here we investigate the basis of their role in development by using conditional ß-estradiol-inducible triple mutants to overcome lethality. In seedlings, lack of ANPs causes root cell bulging, with the transition zone being the most sensitive region. We uncover a role of ANPs in the regulation of cell wall composition and suggest that developmental defects of the triple mutants, observed at the cellular level, might be a consequence of the alterations of the pectic and cellulosic cell wall components. Lack of ANPs also induced a typical cell wall damage syndrome (CWDS) similar to that observed in plants treated with the cellulose biosynthesis inhibitor isoxaben (ISX). Moreover, anp double mutants and plants overexpressing single ANPs (ANP1 or ANP3) respectively showed increased and reduced accumulation of jasmonic acid and PDF1.2 transcripts upon ISX treatment, suggesting that ANPs are part of the pathway targeted by this inhibitor and play a role in cell wall integrity surveillance. Highlights: The loss of ANP function affects cell wall composition and leads to typical cell wall damage-induced phenotypes, such as ectopic lignification and jasmonic acid accumulation.

Salicylic acid alleviates cadmium-induced stress responses through the inhibition of Cd-induced auxin-mediated reactive oxygen species production in barley root tips.

Auxin is a master regulator of root growth by modulating its development under the constantly changing environment. Recently, an antagonistic interaction was suggested between SA and IAA signaling. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to analyze and compare the effect of the indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) signaling inhibitor p-chlorophenoxyisobutyric acid (PCIB) and salicylic acid (SA) as a potential IAA signaling inhibitor on the root growth, enzyme activity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in Cd- and IAA-treated barley root tips. Exposure of plants to Cd resulted in a more than threefold increase of IAA content in the root apex even 3h after the treatment. In addition, exogenously applied IAA evoked root responses such as root growth inhibition and swelling, ROS generation and activation of lipoxygenase or glutathione peroxidase identical to those induced by Cd. Furthermore, both Cd- and IAA-induced stress responses were markedly reversed by PCIB or SA post-treatment. Similarly to PCIB, SA did not affect the IAA content of root tips, suggesting the action of SA on the IAA signaling pathway in barley roots. SA probably does not alleviate the Cd toxicity in roots, but rather prevents or partially inhibits the root defense response to the presence of Cd through the inhibition of Cd-induced IAA-mediated ROS generation in roots.

Usefulness of Three Dimensional Proset MR Images for Diagnosis of Symptomatic L5-S1 Foraminal and Extraforaminal Stenosis.

OBJECTIVE: To suggest a new useful diagnostic technique, principles of the selective excitation technique-magnetic resonance images (Proset-MRI), and to know the precise radiologic findings that can prove symptomatic foraminal and extraforaminal stenosis at L5-S1. METHODS: Nineteen patients with symptomatic L5-S1 stenosis were checked by Proset-MRI. Four patients were performed decompressive surgery and 15 patients were performed selective nerve root block (SNRB) at L5. The pain scale of patients was checked by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores at the pre- and post-treatment state. RESULTS: Proset-MRI findings of patients with symptomatic stenosis are root swelling (RS) and indentation. The comparisons with VAS scores had a meaningful statistical result at each RS (p<0.01) and indentation (p<0.01). However, the findings of RS combined with indentation lacked statistical significance (p=0.0249). In addition, according to a comparison with the treatment modalities, reducing of VAS scores had statistical meaningful significance in decompressive surgery cases (p<0.01), and also in SNRB cases (p<0.01) after a 3-month follow-up period. CONCLUSION: The three dimensional Proset-MRI is very useful and sensitive technique to diagnose the symptomatic foraminal and extraforaminal stenosis at L5-S1.