The intestinal flora: The key to unraveling heterogeneity in immune thrombocytopenia?

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an autoimmune bleeding disorder characterized by enhanced platelet destruction and impaired platelet production, due to a loss of immune tolerance that leads to targeting of platelets and megakaryocytes by glycoprotein-autoantibodies and/or cytotoxic T cells. There is a high degree of heterogeneity in ITP patients signified by unpredictable disease trajectories and treatment responses. Initial studies in humans have identified intestinal microbiota perturbance in ITP.

Dietary Restraint Fallacy.

For decades, the prevailing assumption in the field of eating disorders has been that dietary restraint causes weight gain and eating disorder symptoms, like binge eating. This belief resulted in widespread recommendations to reduce dietary restraint in treatments of eating disorders and obesity. However, recent findings by Grilo and Pittman (2024; International Journal of Eating Disorders xxx:xxxx-xxxx) contradict this view, showing reduced binge frequency and greater weight loss with increased rigid dietary restraint.

Vigabatrin-associated brain magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities and clinical symptoms in infants with tuberous sclerosis complex.

Objective: Previous retrospective studies have reported vigabatrin-associated brain abnormalities on magnetic resonance imaging (VABAM), although clinical impact is unknown. We evaluated the association between vigabatrin and predefined brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) changes in a large homogenous tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) cohort and assessed to what extent VABAM-related symptoms were reported in TSC infants.

Methods: The Dutch TSC Registry and the EPISTOP cohort provided retrospective and prospective data from 80 TSC patients treated with vigabatrin (VGB) before the age of 2 years and 23 TSC patients without VGB.

Existing operational standards for field deployments of rapid response mobile laboratories: a scoping review.

Introduction: Rapid response mobile laboratories (RRML) play an important role in responding to emergencies such as outbreaks and humanitarian crises, working in coordination with national authorities. This scoping review aims to provide evidence to support the development of minimum operational standards for the deployment of RRMLs across the five key workstreams: operational support and logistics, biosafety and biosecurity, laboratory information management system, quality management systems and interoperability and coordination.

Methods: We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE and the grey literature focusing on RRML deployment missions.

Characterizing Hand Function in Parkinson's Disease Patients with a Self-Administered Electronic Manual Dexterity Test.

Background: Dexterous dysfunction is a bothersome patient-reported symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD). Current clinical assessments do not directly evaluate goal-directed hand function. This project sought to determine the capability of the electronic Manual Dexterity Test (MDT) to characterize dexterity across a range of PD patients.