Benign Enhancing Foramen Magnum Lesions: Clinical Report of a Newly Recognized Entity.

Intradural extramedullary foramen magnum enhancing lesions may be due to meningioma, nerve sheath tumor, aneurysm, or meningeal disease. In this clinical report of 14 patients, we describe a novel imaging finding within the foramen magnum that simulates disease. The lesion is hyperintense on 3D-FLAIR and enhances on 3D gradient-echo sequences but is not seen on 2D-TSE T2WI. It occurs at a characteristic location related to the posterior aspect of the intradural vertebral artery just distal to the dural penetration. Stability of this lesion was demonstrated in those patients who underwent follow-up imaging. Recognition of this apparently benign lesion may prevent unnecessary patient anxiety and repeat imaging.

Dissociation and the development of spatial correlation in a molecular ultracold plasma.

Penning ionization initiates the evolution of a dense molecular Rydberg gas to plasma. This process selects for pairs of excited molecules separated by a distance of two Rydberg orbital diameters or less. The deactivated Penning partners predissociate, depleting the leading edge of the distribution of nearest-neighbor distances. For certain density and orbital radii, this sequence of events can form a plasma in which large distances separate a disproportionate fraction of the ions. Experimental results and model calculations suggest that the reduced potential energy of this Penning lattice significantly affects the development of strong coupling in an ultracold plasma.

Evaluation of N-butylbenzenesulfonamide (NBBS) neurotoxicity in Sprague-Dawley male rats following 27-day oral exposure.

N-Butylbenzenesulfonamide (NBBS) is widely used as a plasticizer in polyacetals, polyamides, and polycarbonates and has been found in ground water and effluent from wastewater treatment sites. The compound is lipophilic and distributes rapidly to the brain but also clears rapidly and shows little evidence of accumulation. Limited studies in the literature report neurotoxicity of NBBS in rabbits and rats. Adult Sprague-Dawley male rats (Harlan) received corn oil vehicle or NBBS (100, 200, or 400mg/kg/d) via oral gavage (5 ml/kg bwt) daily/5d/week for 27 d. Deaths were observed in the 400mg/kg/d dose group in the first 5d and dosing was decreased to 300 mg/kg/d. No alterations were observed in gait, locomotor activity, and rearing behavior. No histological lesions were observed in the testis, seminal vesicles, coagulating gland, epididymis, and prostate. In the liver, minimal centrilobular hypertrophy was evident in all rats of the high dose group. Contrary to previous reports, there was no evidence of peripheral nerve lesions or gliosis in the hippocampus or cerebellum. mRNA levels for glial fibrillary acidic acid protein, interferon gamma, CXCR-3, intracellular adhesion molecule-1, and CD11b were not altered in the hippocampus while Iba-1 levels were decreased. These data do not support previous reports of neurotoxicity for NBBS within a 4-week exposure regimen; however, neuropathological injury occurring over an extended period of exposure cannot be ruled out and given the potential for human exposure requires further examination.

The impact of chemokine receptor CX3CR1 deficiency during respiratory infections with Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Francisella tularensis.

Recruitment of immune cells to infection sites is a critical component of the host response to pathogens. This process is facilitated partly through interactions of chemokines with cognate receptors. Here, we examine the importance of fractalkine (CX3CL1) receptor, CX3CR1, which regulates function and trafficking of macrophages and dendritic cells, in the host's ability to control respiratory infections with Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Francisella tularensis. Following low-dose aerosol challenge with M. tuberculosis, CX3CR1(-/-) mice were no more susceptible to infection than wild-type C57BL/6 mice as measured by organ burden and survival time. Similarly, following inhalation of F. tularensis, CX3CR1(-/-) mice displayed similar organ burdens to wild-type mice. CX3CR1(-/-) mice had increased recruitment of monocytes and neutrophils in the lung; however, this did not result in increased abundance of infected monocytes or neutrophils. We conclude that CX3CR1-deficiency affects immune-cell recruitment; however, loss of CX3CR1 alone does not render the host more susceptible to M. tuberculosis or F. tularensis.

Evolution from a molecular Rydberg gas to an ultracold plasma in a seeded supersonic expansion of NO.

We report the spontaneous formation of a plasma from a gas of cold Rydberg molecules. Double-resonant laser excitation promotes nitric oxide, cooled to 1 K in a seeded supersonic molecular beam, to single Rydberg states extending as deep as 80 cm;{-1} below the lowest ionization threshold. The density of excited molecules in the illuminated volume approaches 1x10;{13} cm;{-3}. This population evolves to produce free electrons and a durable cold plasma of electrons and intact NO+ ions.

Lift-off compensation for improved accuracy in ultrasonic lamb wave velocity measurements using electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs).

The crystalline texture of a sheet metal strongly affects its formability, so having knowledge of this texture is of great industrial relevance. The texture of rolled sheet metals, such as aluminium and steel, may be determined by ultrasonic measurement of the velocity of the zero order symmetric (S(0)) Lamb wave as a function of angle to the rolling direction. Electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) may perform this measurement without contacting the sample, therefore reducing perturbation to the plate wave system, as they are electromagnetically coupled to the sheet. The EMAT system measurements are non-destructive and may be made in real time, therefore offering advantages over the conventional techniques such as X-ray and neutron diffraction. It has been noticed that in the two EMAT pitch-catch system, the apparent arrival times of the ultrasonic waves change with variation in lift-off (distance between sample and transducer) due to impedance and aperture effects. For precise and accurate texture parameters to be obtained, accurate absolute ultrasonic velocity measurement is required and hence lift-off must be compensated for. This is of particular importance to online inspection systems where constant lift-off may be difficult to maintain. The impedance behaviour of various coil geometries has been investigated as a function of lift-off and frequency and compared to the received ultrasonic signal and the drive current pulse profile. Theoretical models have been used to explain the observed behaviour, and hence a scheme has been proposed for the compensation of lift-off effects in real time.

Development of an advanced multimode automatic ultrasonic texture measurement system for laboratory and production line application.

We present work on the development of an ultrasonic texture measurement system for sheet metals using non-contact transducers, suitable for use both in the laboratory and on the production line. Variation of the velocity of the zero-order symmetric (S0) Lamb wave is used to determine the crystallographic texture of polycrystalline metal sheets ranging in thickness from 0.1 to 3 mm. This system features improvements on previous state-of-the-art ultrasonic technology in that it probes velocity over a continuous range of angles using only two electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs). This is demonstrated to offer a significant improvement in accuracy and allows the detection and investigation of asymmetric anisotropies in the sheets. Another advantage of the system is its potential for combining several different measurements using a single pair of transducers. The capability is demonstrated for through-thickness shear wave measurements as well as the zero-order symmetric Lamb wave measurements which are the primary means of determining the texture. The change between generating Lamb and through-thickness bulk waves can be made entirely by changing the electrical circuit connected to the EMATs without modifying the transducer assembly in any way. Measurement of all of the above waves can provide information on the sheet thickness and other physical properties of the sheet in addition to texture. Certain texture parameters can be calculated from both Lamb and shear wave velocities, allowing self-calibration of the system.

Oligodendroglial dysplasia in two bullmastiff dogs.

Leukodystrophies are inherited neurological disorders involving central nervous system white matter. They are uncommon in animals but a few, breed-specific entities have been described. In 2002, two young-adult, purebred Bullmastiff dogs from central New York State presented to their referring veterinarians displaying moderate to severe ataxia of all limbs, spastic tetraparesis that was worse in the pelvic limbs, and a diffuse, action-related, whole-body tremor. Clinical signs were insidious in onset and slowly progressive. Anatomic diagnoses considered were a C1-C5 lesion or, based on the whole-body tremor, a diffuse central nervous system disorder. No gross lesions were apparent in the brain or spinal cord. Histopathologically, numerous, multifocal, sharply demarcated, small, ovoid to angular areas of myelin pallor (plaques) were present throughout the major white matter tracts of the brainstem and spinal cord. These plaques, which often were traversed by axons, did not stain with luxol fast blue for myelin and were associated with minimal astrocytosis. Ultrastructural findings include occasional hypertrophic glia in white matter, rare unmyelinated segments of axons, and focal proliferation of tubule-containing cytoplasmic glial cell processes (oligodendroglial). The described clinical and morphological findings and age of onset are similar to the well-characterized, presumably hereditary, bovine syndrome known as Charolais ataxia or oligodendroglial dysplasia. This article presents the first description of a leukodystrophy in the Bullmastiff breed and the first report of oligodendroglial dysplasia in animals other than Charolais cattle.