Cognitive and psychiatric signs revealing Sneddon syndrome: A case report.

Key Clinical Message: The diagnosis of Sneddon Syndrome should be considered in adults with young-onset dementia accompanied by neuropsychiatric signs and livedo racemosa. Magnetic resonance imaging and cerebral angiography are essential. A cutaneous biopsy may help in the diagnosis. Abstract: Sneddon syndrome (SS) is a clinical entity corresponding to a noninflammatory thrombotic vasculopathy that typically includes livedo racemosa and cerebrovascular ischemia. Psychiatric symptoms with cognitive impairment often occur but are rarely the inaugural symptoms. We present a case of secondary SS in a 45-year-old man in whom dementia and psychosis revealed the disease.

Methyl jasmonate induces oxidative/nitrosative stress and the accumulation of antioxidant metabolites in Phoenix dactylifera L.

OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to explore the eliciting effects of increasing concentrations (50, 100, and 200 µM) of methyl jasmonate (MeJA). We cultivated actively proliferating buds of Phoenix dactylifera L. cv. Barhee in a temporary immersion system and we monitored the bioactive compound accumulation after 7 days of culture. METHODS: Total phenolic (TPC) and flavonoid (TFC) contents were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), and radical scavenging activity using DPPH and ABTS assays. We also explored the activity of phenylpropanoid pathway enzymes, namely phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), tyrosine ammonia-lyase (TAL) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO). RESULTS: Our results revealed that MeJA treatment induced oxidative stress, and at the same time increased the activity of related defense enzymes in a dose-dependent manner. Exogenous application of MeJA at 200 µM increased ROS (two fold), hydrogen peroxide (3.7 fold), nitric oxide (14 fold), MDA (6.3 fold), superoxide dismutase (5.9 fold), catalase (4.4 fold) and guaiacol peroxidase (3.87 fold). Furthermore, the results demonstrated that 200 µM MeJA treatment enhanced the activities of PAL (3.65 fold), TAL (4.35 fold), PPO (threefold) and increased TPC (twofold) and TFC (1.75 fold) contents in buds cultures higher than the control. HPLC analysis showed that buds cultures exposed to 200 µM MeJA accumulated maximum amount of catechin (11 fold), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (1.48 fold), caffeic acid (2.5 fold) and p-coumaric acid (1.76 fold) and demonstrate antioxidant capacity with the lowest DPPH (114.5 µg ml-1) and ABTS (90.2 µg ml-1) IC50 values on day 7 of culture as compared to the control. The MeJA in the culture medium directly reduced cell viability in a dose dependent manner up to 35% with the highest concentration. CONCLUSION: The results of this study has revealed, for the first time, that MeJA offers a promising potential for the production of phenolic compound in Phoenix dactylifera L. buds.

Case report: Schizophrenia and hypertrophic osteoarthropathy, a rare syndrome hiding a life-threatening condition.

Schizophrenia is associated to somatic disorders especially cardio-vascular and auto-immune. Through this case report, we describe an association with hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HPO). For this patient, it was a paraneoplastic syndrome secondary to lung cancer. This syndrome is rare but important to recognize since it could hide a life-threatening condition.

In Vitro Cryopreservation of Date Palm Caulogenic Meristems.

Cryopreservation is the technology of choice not only for plant genetic resource preservation but also for virus eradication and for the efficient management of large-scale micropropagation. In this chapter, we describe three cryopreservation protocols (standard vitrification, droplet vitrification, and encapsulation vitrification) for date palm highly proliferating meristems that are initiated from vitro-cultures using plant growth regulator-free MS medium. The positive impact of sucrose preculture and cold hardening treatments on survival rates is significant. Regeneration rates obtained with standard vitrification, encapsulation-vitrification, and droplet-vitrification protocols can reach 30, 40, and 70%, respectively. All regenerated plants from non-cryopreserved or cryopreserved explants don't show morphological variation by maintaining genetic integrity without adverse effect of cryogenic treatment. Cryopreservation of date palm vitro-cultures enables commercial tissue culture laboratories to move to large-scale propagation from cryopreserved cell lines producing true-to-type plants after clonal field-testing trials. When comparing the cost of cryostorage and in-field conservation of date palm cultivars, tissue cryopreservation is the most cost-effective. Moreover, many of the risks linked to field conservation like erosion due to climatic, edaphic, and phytopathologic constraints are circumvented.

Indirect Somatic Embryogenesis of Date Palm Using Juvenile Leaf Explants and Low 2,4-D Concentration.

This chapter describes an efficient protocol for large-scale micropropagation of date palm. Somatic embryo-derived plants are regenerated from highly proliferating suspension cultures. Friable embryogenic callus is initiated from juvenile leaves using slightly modified Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.1 mg/L 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Suspension cultures consisting of proembryonic masses are established from highly competent callus for somatic embryogenesis using half-strength MS medium enriched with 0.1 mg/L 2,4-D and 300 mg/L activated charcoal. The productivity of cultures increased 20-fold when embryogenic cell suspensions were used instead of standard protocols on solidified media. The overall production of somatic embryos mostly exceeds 10,000 units per liter per month. Partial desiccation of mature somatic embryos, corresponding to a decrease in water content from 90 down to 75%, significantly improved germination rates.