Thanks to magnetic resonance imaging

(MRI), it is now possible to image the baby’s immature brain and to consider subtle correlations Etomoxir mw between the brain anatomical development and the early acquisition of cognitive functions. Dedicated methodologies for image acquisition and post-treatment must then be used because the size of cerebral structures and the image contrast are very different in comparison with the adult brain, and because the examination length is a major constraint. Two recent studies have evaluated the developing brain under an original perspective. The first one has focused on cortical folding in preterm newborns, from 6 to 8 months of gestational age, assessed with T2-weighted Nutlin-3 in vivo conventional MRI. The second study has mapped the organization and maturation of white matter fiber bundles in 1- to 4-month-old healthy infants with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Both studies have enabled to highlight spatio-temporal differences in the brain regions’ maturation, as well as early anatomical asymmetries between cerebral hemispheres. These studies emphasize the potential of MRI to evaluate brain development compared with the infant’s psychomotor acquisitions after birth. (C) 2011

Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.”
“Microorganisms from diverse environments actively bore into rocks, contributing significantly to rock weathering. Carbonates are the most common substrate into which they bore, although there are also reports of microbial borings into volcanic glass. One of the most intriguing questions in microbial evolutionary biology is why some microorganisms bore. A variety of possible selection pressures, including nutrient acquisition, protection from UV radiation and predatory grazing could promote boring. None of these pressures is mutually exclusive and many of them could Farnesyltransferase have acted in concert with varying strengths in different environments to favour the development

of microorganisms that bore. We suggest that microbial boring might have begun in some environments as a mechanism against entombment by mineralization.”
“A 50-year-old male patient was admitted for a symptomatic aneurysm of the external jugular vein. Thrombosis of the aneurysm was treated by oral anticoagulant but recurrence of neck swelling and thrombosis occurred 1 year after oral anticoagulant was discontinued. No other vascular anomalies were detected, and blood tests were normal. Surgical resection was done “”en bloc”" with the muscular fibers in contact. Pathologic examination was compatible with a Masson’s vegetant intravascular hemangioendothelioma. To our knowledge, this is the first case of symptomatic Masson’s vegetant intravascular hemangioendothelioma diagnosed in a patient with thrombosed aneurysm of a cervical vein. (J Vase Surg 2011;53:1723-5.