Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0023380 (lethargy)
 5,697 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

This report concerns a 68-year-old male who was diagnosed as having purulent ventriculitis based on CT and MRI findings. He was first admitted to a nearby hospital with fever and impaired consciousness and thought to be suffering from herpes simplex encephalitis based on laboratory findings. In spite of treatment with acyclovir and antibiotics, his symptoms persisted for one and a half months. Because of gradual deterioration of his neurological status, he was transferred to our hospital. On admission he was stuporous with nuchal rigidity and a fever of 38.5 degrees C. The CSF leukocyte count was elevated (217/mm3) with predominantly polymorphonuclear cells (mononuclear 20, polymorphonuclear 197). Gd-DTPA MRI (T1-weighted) showed marked enhancement of the ependyma of the fourth ventricle and both lateral ventricles. A diagnosis of purulent ventriculitis was made and high-dose antibiotics (ABPC 12g, CTX 9g) were started intravenously. Gradual improvement in the clinical signs was observed with rapid normalization of the CSF cell-count. The patient had completely recovered one month after the start of treatment and this was associated with disappearance of abnormal enhancement on the MRI images. Although cerebral ventriculitis occasionally occurs as a complication of neonatal meningitis, it is rare in adult purulent meningitis. In our patient, persistent meningitis combined with impaired drainage of CSF from the ventricles are presumed to have caused ventriculitis. Serial enhanced MRI is particularly helpful in diagnosing ventriculitis, and can serve as a good index for monitoring the effects of treatment.
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PMID:[MRI imaging of purulent cerebral ventriculitis]. 806 40

Calcium functions as an essential second messenger during neuronal development and synapse acquisition. Voltage-dependent calcium channels (VDCC), which are critical to these processes, are heteromultimeric complexes composed of alpha1, alpha2/delta, and beta subunits. beta subunits function to direct the VDCC complex to the plasma membrane as well as regulate its channel properties. The importance of beta to neuronal functioning was recently underscored by the identification of a truncated beta4 isoform in the epileptic mouse lethargic (lh) (Burgess, D. L., Jones, J. M., Meisler, M. H., and Noebels, J. L. (1997) Cell 88, 385-392). The goal of our study was to investigate the role of individual beta isoforms (beta1b, beta2, beta3, and beta4) in the assembly of N-type VDCC during rat brain development. By using quantitative Western blot analysis with anti-alpha1B-directed antibodies and [125I-Tyr22]omega-conotoxin GVIA (125I-CTX) radioligand binding assays, we observed that only a small fraction of the total alpha1B protein present in embryonic and early postnatal brain expressed high affinity 125I-CTX-binding sites. These results suggested that subsequent maturation of alpha1B or its assembly with auxiliary subunits was required to exhibit high affinity 125I-CTX binding. The temporal pattern of expression of beta subunits and their assembly with alpha1B indicated a developmental pattern of expression of beta isoforms: beta1b increased 3-fold from P0 to adult, beta4 increased 10-fold, and both beta2 and beta3 expression remained unchanged. As the beta component of N-type VDCC changed during postnatal development, we were able to identify both immature and mature forms of N-type VDCC. At P2, the relative contribution of beta is beta1b > beta3 >> beta2, whereas at P14 and adult the distribution is beta3 > beta1b = beta4. Although we observed no beta4 associated with the alpha1B at P2, beta4 accounted for 14 and 25% of total alpha1B/beta subunit complexes in P14 and adult, respectively. Thus, of the beta isoforms analyzed, only the beta4 was assembled with the rat alpha1B to form N-type VDCC with a time course that paralleled its level of expression during rat brain development. These results suggest a role for the beta4 isoform in the assembly and maturation of the N-type VDCC.
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PMID:Differential expression and association of calcium channel alpha1B and beta subunits during rat brain ontogeny. 960 63