[Intra- and perioperative imaging options in neurosurgery]. / Az intra- és perioperatív képalkotás lehetoségei az idegsebészetben.

The treatment of central nervous system tumors is still a major challenge for the oncological and neurosurgical teams. Due to the heterogeneous histological and topological characteristics of these neoplasms, every case requires individual evaluation. In addition to histology and stage, survival is largely determined by the extent of resection, which can be severely limited by the proximity of eloquent brain regions. A key component of current modern neuro-oncological care is the planning and execution of surgical intervention to ensure the longest possible progression-free survival with adequate quality of life. The simultaneous development of several pre- and intra-operative imaging modalities is making optimal therapy more and more accessible and safe. Structural, diffusion and functional MRI offers the possibility to visualize the tumor and the surrounding areas both before and during surgery. For the surgeon, the optimal intra-operative environment, orientation and visual acuity are provided by increasingly sophisticated microscopes, navigation devices, intra-operative imaging equipment, endo- and exoscopes.

Conversion of a medical implant into a versatile computer-brain interface.

BACKGROUND: Information transmission into the human nervous system is the basis for a variety of prosthetic applications. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) systems are widely available, have a well documented safety record, can be implanted minimally invasively, and are known to stimulate afferent pathways. Nonetheless, SCS devices are not yet used for computer-brain-interfacing applications. OBJECTIVE: Here we aimed to establish computer-to-brain communication via medical SCS implants in a group of 20 individuals who had been operated for the treatment of chronic neuropathic pain. METHODS: In the initial phase, we conducted interface calibration with the aim of determining personalized stimulation settings that yielded distinct and reproducible sensations. These settings were subsequently utilized to generate inputs for a range of behavioral tasks. We evaluated the required calibration time, task training duration, and the subsequent performance in each task. RESULTS: We could establish a stable spinal computer-brain interface in 18 of the 20 participants. Each of the 18 then performed one or more of the following tasks: A rhythm-discrimination task (n = 13), a Morse-decoding task (n = 3), and/or two different balance/body-posture tasks (n = 18; n = 5). The median calibration time was 79 min. The median training time for learning to use the interface in a subsequent task was 1:40 min. In each task, every participant demonstrated successful performance, surpassing chance levels. CONCLUSION: The results constitute the first proof-of-concept of a general purpose computer-brain interface paradigm that could be deployed on present-day medical SCS platforms.

Probabilistic modeling and risk characterization of the chronic aflatoxin M1 exposure of Hungarian consumers.

Aflatoxin contamination can appear in various points of the food chain. If animals are fed with contaminated feed, AFB1 is transformed-among others-to aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) metabolite. AFM1 is less toxic than AFB1, but it is still genotoxic and carcinogenic and it is present in raw and processed milk and all kinds of milk products. In this article, the chronic exposure estimation and risk characterization of Hungarian consumers are presented, based on the AFM1 contamination of milk and dairy products, and calculated with a probabilistic method, the two-dimensional Monte-Carlo model. The calculations were performed using the R plugin (mc2d package) integrated into the KNIME (Konstanz Information Miner) software. The simulations were performed using data from the 2018-2020 food consumption survey. The AFM1 analytical data were derived from the Hungarian monitoring survey and 1,985 milk samples were analyzed within the framework of the joint project of the University of Debrecen and the National Food Chain Safety Office of Hungary (NÉBIH). Limited AFM1 concentrations were available for processed dairy products; therefore, a database of AFM1 processing factors for sour milk products and various cheeses was produced based on the latest literature data, and consumer exposure was calculated with the milk equivalent of the consumed quantities of these products. For risk characterization, the calculation of hazard index (HI), Margin of Exposure, and the hepatocellular carcinoma incidence were used. The results indicate that the group of toddlers that consume a large amount of milk and milk products are exposed to a certain level of health risk. The mean estimated daily intake of toddlers is in the range of 0.008-0.221 ng kg-1 bw day-1; the 97.5th percentile exposure of toddlers is between 0.013 ng kg-1 bw day-1 and 0.379 ng kg-1 bw day-1, resulting in a HI above 1. According to our study, the exposure of older age groups does not pose an emergent health risk. Nevertheless, the presence of carcinogenic compounds should be kept to a minimum in the whole population.

A Systematic Review of the Efficacy of Interventions to Control Aflatoxins in the Dairy Production Chain-Feed Production and Animal Feeding Interventions.

The study presents a systematic review of published scientific articles investigating the effects of interventions aiming at aflatoxin reduction at the feed production and animal feeding phases of the milk value chain in order to identify the recent scientific trends and summarize the main findings available in the literature. The review strategy was designed based on the guidance of the systematic review and knowledge synthesis methodology that is applicable in the field of food safety. The Web of Science and EBSCOhost online databases were searched with predefined algorithms. After title and abstract relevance screening and relevance confirmation with full-text screening, 67 studies remained for data extraction, which were included in the review. The most important identified groups of interventions based on their mode of action and place in the technological process are as follows: low-moisture production using preservatives, acidity regulators, adsorbents and various microbiological additives. The results of the listed publications are summarized and compared for all the identified intervention groups. The paper aimed to help feed producers, farmers and relevant stakeholders to get an overview of the most suitable aflatoxin mitigation options, which is extremely important in the near future as climate change will likely be accompanied by elevated mycotoxin levels.

Possible inhibitory effect of microbial transglutaminase on the formation of biogenic amines during Trappist cheese ripening.

Trappist cheese (semi-hard, rennet-coagulated cheese with round eyes) was manufactured and matured for 4 weeks at 12 ± 1°C, 85% relative humidity (RH). The effect of microbial transglutaminase (MTGase) was followed by measuring the levels of free amino acids (FAAs) and biogenic amines (BAs) every 2 weeks during 4 weeks of cheese ripening. Results show that MTGase can decrease the cadaverine production by 30%, but only at the initial stage of ripening. Application of MTGase results in 49% less putrescine, 12% less tyramine production at the end of 4 weeks ripening time, and can decrease histamine levels by 8% after 2 weeks of ripening time in the examined semi-hard cheese type.

Corrigendum: Detection of Aflatoxins in Different Matrices and Food-Chain Positions.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01916.].

Detection of Aflatoxins in Different Matrices and Food-Chain Positions.

Aflatoxins, produced mainly by filamentous fungi Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, are one of the most carcinogenic compounds that have adverse health effects on both humans and animals consuming contaminated food and feed, respectively. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and aflatoxin B2 (AFB2) as well as aflatoxin G1(AFG1) and aflatoxin G2 (AFG2) occur in the contaminated foods and feed. In the case of dairy ruminants, after the consumption of feed contaminated with aflatoxins, aflatoxin metabolites [aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) and aflatoxin M2 (AFM2)] may appear in milk. Because of the health risk and the official maximum limits of aflatoxins, there is a need for application of fast and accurate testing methods. At present, there are several analytical methods applied in practice for determination of aflatoxins. The aim of this review is to provide a guide that summarizes worldwide aflatoxin regulations and analytical methods for determination of aflatoxins in different food and feed matrices, that helps in the decision to choose the most appropriate method that meets the practical requirements of fast and sensitive control of their contamination. Analytical options are outlined from the simplest and fastest methods with the smallest instrument requirements, through separation methods, to the latest hyphenated techniques.

Anti-PD-1 Therapy Does Not Influence Hearing Ability in the Most Sensitive Frequency Range, but Mitigates Outer Hair Cell Loss in the Basal Cochlear Region.

The administration of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) often leads to immune-related adverse events. However, their effect on auditory function is largely unexplored. Thorough preclinical studies have not been published yet, only sporadic cases and pharmacovigilance reports suggest their significance. Here we investigated the effect of anti-PD-1 antibody treatment (4 weeks, intraperitoneally, 200 µg/mouse, 3 times/week) on hearing function and cochlear morphology in C57BL/6J mice. ICI treatment did not influence the hearing thresholds in click or tone burst stimuli at 4-32 kHz frequencies measured by auditory brainstem response. The number and morphology of spiral ganglion neurons were unaltered in all cochlear turns. The apical-middle turns (<32 kHz) showed preservation of the inner and outer hair cells (OHCs), whilst ICI treatment mitigated the age-related loss of OHCs in the basal turn (>32 kHz). The number of Iba1-positive macrophages has also increased moderately in this high frequency region. We conclude that a 4-week long ICI treatment does not affect functional and morphological integrity of the inner ear in the most relevant hearing range (4-32 kHz; apical-middle turns), but a noticeable preservation of OHCs and an increase in macrophage activity appeared in the >32 kHz basal part of the cochlea.