Intermittent fasting and neurocognitive disorders: What the evidence shows.

Introduction: Intermittent fasting (IF) has emerged as a potential lifestyle intervention for mitigating cognitive decline and enhancing brain health in individuals with mild to major neurocognitive disorders. Unlike preventive strategies, this review evaluates IF as a therapeutic approach, focusing on its effects on neuroplasticity, inflammation, and cognitive function.

Methods: A narrative review was conducted using a comprehensive PubMed search with the terms "intermittent fasting AND neurocognition" and "intermittent fasting AND neuroplasticity".

The impact of cognitive reserve relative to risk of Alzheimer's disease and rate of progression: an up-to-date review of the literature.

Introduction: Cognitive reserve (CR) is a crucial factor in explaining individual differences in the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cognitive decline. CR refers to the brain's ability to cope with pathology through compensatory mechanisms. This review examines the various methods used to measure, predict, and influence CR.

Management of Concomitant Severe Thermal Injury and ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

Acute coronary thrombosis is a known, but rare, contributor to morbidity and mortality in patients with thermal and electrical injuries. The overall incidence of myocardial infarction among burn patients is 1%, with an in-hospital post-infarction mortality of approximately 67%, whereas the overall mortality rate of the general burn patient population is from 1.4% to 18%.

Are acute hospital trust mergers associated with improvements in the quality of care?

Purpose: This study aims to assess the extent to which acute hospital trust mergers in England are associated with quality improvements.

Design/methodology/approach: We apply an event study design using difference-in-difference (DID) and coarsened exact matching to compare the before-and-after performance of eight mergers from 2011 to 2015.

Findings: We find little evidence that mergers contribute to quality improvements other than some limited increases in the proportion of patients waiting a maximum of 18 weeks from referral to treatment.

Evaluating the effectiveness of simvastatin in slowing the progression of disability in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS-STAT2): protocol for a multicentre, randomised controlled, double-blind, phase 3 clinical trial in the UK.

Introduction: There remains a high unmet need for disease-modifying therapies that can impact disability progression in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). Following positive results of the phase 2 MS-STAT study, the MS-STAT2 phase 3 trial will evaluate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of repurposed high-dose simvastatin in slowing the progression of disability in SPMS.

Methods And Analysis: MS-STAT2 will be a multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial of participants aged between 25 and 65 (inclusive) who have SPMS with an Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score of 4.

Alpha-2-Macroglobulin Attenuates Posttraumatic Osteoarthritis Cartilage Damage by Inhibiting Inflammatory Pathways With Modified Intra-articular Drilling in a Yucatan Minipig Model.

Background: Posttraumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) arises secondarily to joint trauma and is driven by catabolic inflammatory pathways. Alpha-2-macroglobulin (αM) is a naturally occurring proteinase inhibitor found in human serum and synovial fluid that binds proteases as well as proinflammatory cytokines involved in the pathogenesis of PTOA.

Purpose: (1) To investigate the therapeutic potential of intra-articular αM injections during the acute stages of PTOA by inhibiting inflammatory pathways driven by the cytokines expressed by the synovium in a large preclinical Yucatan minipig model and (2) to determine if 3 intra-articular αM injections have greater chondroprotective effects compared with 1 intra-articular injection.

Synthesis of -Alkenylated Heterocycles via TP-Promoted Condensation with Ketones.

Herein, we describe a convenient protocol for the synthesis of -alkenylated heterocycles using abundant ketone electrophiles and TP as a water scavenger under microwave irradiation. The method can be applied to a diverse range of -heterocycles and ketones with good to excellent yields (up to 94%). This procedure is particularly attractive, as it is metal- and base-free, tolerates a variety of functional groups, and offers ease of product purification.

Structure and Function Are Not the Same: The Case for Restoring Mechanoreceptor Continuity Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury.

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, particularly in increasingly young and active adolescents, continues to pose a clinical challenge with re-injury rates reported as high as 30%. Evidence also suggests that current standard-of-care ACL reconstruction (ACLR) does not mitigate post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) risk. Bridge- enhanced ACL restoration (BEAR) is a recently developed and tested ACL surgery that promotes primary healing of the native ACL with excellent early results.

The Discovery of New Inhibitors of Insulin-Regulated Aminopeptidase by a High-Throughput Screening of 400,000 Drug-like Compounds.

With the ambition to identify novel chemical starting points that can be further optimized into small drug-like inhibitors of insulin-regulated aminopeptidase (IRAP) and serve as potential future cognitive enhancers in the clinic, we conducted an ultra-high-throughput screening campaign of a chemically diverse compound library of approximately 400,000 drug-like small molecules. Three biochemical and one biophysical assays were developed to enable large-scale screening and hit triaging. The screening funnel, designed to be compatible with high-density microplates, was established with two enzyme inhibition assays employing either fluorescent or absorbance readouts.

Pain and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: Dyadic Relationships Between Canadian Armed Forces Members/Veterans With Chronic Pain and Their Offspring.

Chronic pain and mental health issues occur at higher rates in Veterans than the general population. One widely recognized mental health issue faced by Veterans is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Trauma symptoms and pain frequently co-occur and are mutually maintained due to shared mechanisms.

Parent Anxiety, Depression, Protective Responses, and Parenting Stress in the Context of Parent and Child Chronic Pain: A Daily Diary Study of Parent Variability.

Parents with (vs without) chronic pain report poorer psychosocial functioning (eg, worse mental health, parenting difficulties), which has been linked to poorer child outcomes (eg, child pain). However, emerging research suggests that individuals vary in their functioning from day-to-day, particularly those with chronic pain. This study used daily diaries to compare parents with (versus without) chronic pain on variability in their anxiety, mood, protective responses, and parenting stress.

The Sensitivity to Pain Traumatization Scale-Child Version (SPTS-C): Development and preliminary validation.

Background: Sensitivity to pain traumatization is defined as the propensity to develop cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses to pain that resemble a traumatic stress reaction. To date, sensitivity to pain traumatization has been assessed in adults (Sensitivity to Pain Traumatization Scale [SPTS-12]) and parents of youth with chronic pain (Sensitivity to Pain Traumatization Scale-Parent version [SPTS-P]). SPT may be relevant in the context of pediatric chronic pain given the substantial comorbidity between posttraumatic stress symptoms and pain.

The association between parent mental health and pediatric chronic pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Mental health problems are common among parents of children with chronic pain and associated with worse outcomes for the child with chronic pain. However, the effect sizes of these associations between parent mental health and pediatric chronic pain vary widely across studies. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to generate pooled estimates of the (1) prevalence of mental health problems among parents of children with chronic pain and (2) associations between parent mental health and the (2a) presence of child chronic pain and (2b) functioning of children with chronic pain.

Assessment of ultrashort echo time (UTE) T* mapping at 3T for the whole knee: repeatability, the effects of fat suppression, and knee position.

Background: Knee tissues such as tendon, ligament and meniscus have short T* relaxation times and tend to show little to no signal in conventional magnetic resonance acquisitions. An ultrashort echo time (UTE) technique offers a unique tool to probe fast-decaying signals in these tissues. Clinically relevant factors should be evaluated to quantify the sensitivity needed to distinguish diseased from control tissues.

Gene expression changes in the cerebellum are associated with persistent post-injury pain in adolescent rats exposed to early life stress.

Chronic pain develops following injury in approximately 20% of adolescents, at twice the rate in females than males. Adverse childhood experiences also increase the risk for poor health outcomes, such as chronic pain. Emerging literature suggests the cerebellum to be involved in pain processing, however detailed explorations into how the cerebellum contributes to pain are lacking.

Investigating the phylogenetic history of toxin tolerance in mushroom-feeding .

Understanding how and when key novel adaptations evolved is a central goal of evolutionary biology. Within the radiation of , many mushroom-feeding species are tolerant of host toxins, such as cyclopeptides, that are lethal to nearly all other eukaryotes. In this study, we used phylogenetic and functional approaches to investigate the evolution of cyclopeptide tolerance in the radiation of .

Barriers to Surgical Intervention and Factors Influencing Motor Outcomes in Patients with Severe Peripheral Nerve Injury: A Province Wide Cohort Study.

Introduction: Despite the importance of timing of nerve surgery after peripheral nerve injury, optimal timing of intervention has not been clearly delineated. The goal of this study is to explore factors that may have a significant impact on clinical outcomes of severe peripheral nerve injury that requires reconstruction with nerve transfer or graft.

Materials And Methods: Adult patients who underwent peripheral nerve transfer or grafting in Alberta were reviewed.

Investigating the phylogenetic history of toxin tolerance in mushroom-feeding .

Understanding how and when key novel adaptations evolved is a central goal of evolutionary biology. Within the radiation of , many mushroom-feeding species are tolerant of host toxins, such as cyclopeptides, that are lethal to nearly all other eukaryotes. In this study, we used phylogenetic and functional approaches to investigate the evolution of cyclopeptide tolerance in the radiation of .

Enhancing involvement of people with multiple sclerosis in clinical trial design.

Background: Although often overlooked, patient and public involvement (PPI) is vital when considering the design and delivery of complex and adaptive clinical trial designs for chronic health conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: We conducted a rapid review to assess current status of PPI in the design and conduct of clinical trials in MS over the last 5 years. We provide a case study describing PPI in the development of a platform clinical trial in progressive MS.

Gut instinct: Sex differences in the gut microbiome are associated with changes in adolescent nociception following maternal separation in rats.

Adolescent chronic pain is a growing public health epidemic. Our understanding of its etiology is limited; however, several factors can increase susceptibility, often developing in response to an acute pain trigger such as a surgical procedure or mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), or an adverse childhood experience (ACE). Additionally, the prevalence and manifestation of chronic pain is sexually dimorphic, with double the rates in females than males.

Predicting anterior cruciate ligament failure load with T* relaxometry and machine learning as a prospective imaging biomarker for revision surgery.

Non-invasive methods to document healing anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) structural properties could potentially identify patients at risk for revision surgery. The objective was to evaluate machine learning models to predict ACL failure load from magnetic resonance images (MRI) and to determine if those predictions were related to revision surgery incidence. It was hypothesized that the optimal model would demonstrate a lower mean absolute error (MAE) than the benchmark linear regression model, and that patients with a lower estimated failure load would have higher revision incidence 2 years post-surgery.