Post-traumatic catatonia in a teenaged patient.

Catatonia is a poorly understood and underrecognized psychomotor condition characterized by three or more catatonic symptoms, commonly including abnormalities in speech, affect, and movement. Catatonia is generally associated with psychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, but may be seen in general medical conditions and rarely after physical trauma. Here, we present the first pediatric case of catatonia following traumatic brain injury as well as the first case of catatonia in any patient following minor traumatic brain injury.

Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Being considered among the most fatal neurological conditions, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy characterized by its unknown etiology and rapidly progressive neurodegenerative symptoms that often lead to a mean survival of 6 to 12 months. The accumulation of the prionic protein causes brain matter degeneration, which leads to a set of clinical findings that include rapidly progressive dementia, myoclonus, tremors, cerebellar ataxia, and extrapyramidal signs. This clinical presentation is non-specific, which makes CJD a very difficult condition to diagnose, due to the low level of clinical suspicion. However, combining this clinical presentation with neuroimaging, a lumbar puncture and an encephalogram will help us make the correct diagnosis. We present the case of a 57-year-old male presenting to the Emergency department with complaint of personality change and intermittent memory loss. The patient's physical exam was significant for resting pill roll tremor, bilateral cogwheel rigidity, dysmetria, and shuffling gait. Magnetic resonance imaging of his brain showed symmetric bilateral diffusion signal abnormality involving the cortex, bilateral caudate heads and putamina. Continuous electroencephalogram revealed multiple bifrontal delta discharges with triphasic morphology. Lumbar puncture was significant for presence of 14-3-3 protein in cerebrospinal fluid. The multiple examinations performed in conjunction with the previous findings supported the diagnosis of acute encephalopathy secondary to sporadic CJD.

A Single Electrochemical Probe Used for Analysis of Multiple Nucleic Acid Sequences.

Electrochemical hybridization sensors have been explored extensively for analysis of specific nucleic acids. However, commercialization of the platform is hindered by the need for attachment of separate oligonucleotide probes complementary to a RNA or DNA target to an electrode's surface. Here we demonstrate that a single probe can be used to analyze several nucleic acid targets with high selectivity and low cost. The universal electrochemical four-way junction (4J)-forming (UE4J) sensor consists of a universal DNA stem-loop (USL) probe attached to the electrode's surface and two adaptor strands (m and f) which hybridize to the USL probe and the analyte to form a 4J associate. The m adaptor strand was conjugated with a methylene blue redox marker for signal ON sensing and monitored using square wave voltammetry. We demonstrated that a single sensor can be used for detection of several different DNA/RNA sequences and can be regenerated in 30 seconds by a simple water rinse. The UE4J sensor enables a high selectivity by recognition of a single base substitution, even at room temperature. The UE4J sensor opens a venue for a re-useable universal platform that can be adopted at low cost for the analysis of DNA or RNA targets.