Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis: Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Severe or Fulminant Clostridioides difficile.

Background: Severe and fulminant Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. While fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has proved to be a highly effective treatment for recurrent CDI, its efficacy in severe or fulminant CDI remains uncertain.

Aims: To perform a systematic review with meta-analysis evaluating clinical outcomes and safety of FMT in severe and fulminant CDI.

Oral Fecal Microbiota Transplant Capsules Are Safe and Effective for Recurrent Clostridioides difficile Infection: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Goals: We performed a systematic review with meta-analysis to examine the efficacy and safety of oral fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) capsules for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI).

Background: FMT through colonoscopy is established as effective and safe in treating multiple recurrences of CDI, but consensus has not been established on delivery through oral capsules.

Study: A systematic literature search was performed with multiple databases including MEDLINE and EMBASE to identify original studies including at least 10 patients that investigated the role of oral FMT capsules to treat rCDI.

Ginseng metabolite Protopanaxadiol induces Sestrin2 expression and AMPK activation through GCN2 and PERK.

Ginseng is one of the most commonly used herbs that is believed to have a variety of biological activities, including reducing blood sugar and cholesterol levels, anti-cancer, and anti-diabetes activities. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms involved. In this study, we showed that protopanaxadiol (PPD), a metabolite of the protopanaxadiol group ginsenosides that are the major pharmacological constituents of ginsengs, significantly altered the expression of genes involved in metabolism, elevated Sestrin2 (Sesn2) expression, activated AMPK, and induced autophagy.

Ginseng metabolite protopanaxadiol interferes with lipid metabolism and induces endoplasmic reticulum stress and p53 activation to promote cancer cell death.

Protopanaxadiol (PPD), a ginseng metabolite generated by the gut bacteria, was shown to induce colorectal cancer cell death and enhance the anticancer effect of chemotherapeutic agent 5-FU. However, the mechanism by which PPD promotes cancer cell death is not clear. In this manuscript, we showed that PPD activated p53 and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and induced expression of BH3-only proteins Puma and Noxa to promote cell death.

Error-checking intraoperative arterial line blood pressures.

Electronic medical records now store a wealth of intraoperative hemodynamic data. However, analysis of such data is plagued by artifacts related to the monitoring environment. Here, we present an algorithm for automated identification of artifacts and replacement using interpolation of arterial line blood pressures.

Successful clozapine re-challenge following myocarditis.

Objective: To explore the evidence around clozapine re-challenge following myocarditis.

Conclusion: This case adds to the 17 cases of clozapine re-challenge following myocarditis, of which 71% were successful (12 cases). This demonstrates that re-challenge could be performed safely and effectively in the context of clozapine-induced myocarditis, if accompanied by a strict and rigorous monitoring protocol.

The current status of human laryngeal transplantation in 2017: A state of the field review.

Objectives: Human laryngeal allotransplantation has long been contemplated as a surgical option following laryngectomy, but there is a paucity of information regarding the indications, surgical procedure, and patient outcomes. Our objectives were to identify all human laryngeal allotransplants that have been undertaken and reported in the English literature and to evaluate the success of the procedure.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, Embase, Current Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Web of Science and Scopus, and the Gray literature.

Integrative radiogenomic profiling of squamous cell lung cancer.

Radiotherapy is one of the mainstays of anticancer treatment, but the relationship between the radiosensitivity of cancer cells and their genomic characteristics is still not well defined. Here, we report the development of a high-throughput platform for measuring radiation survival in vitro and its validation in comparison with conventional clonogenic radiation survival analysis. We combined results from this high-throughput assay with genomic parameters in cell lines from squamous cell lung carcinoma, which is standardly treated by radiotherapy, to identify parameters that predict radiation sensitivity.

Specific killing of Rb mutant cancer cells by inactivating TSC2.

The retinoblastoma (Rb) tumor suppressor is often inactivated in cancers. To identify genes that can be used to specifically target such cancers, we carried out a genetic screen in Drosophila. We identified gig (fly TSC2) and found that inactivation of rbf (fly Rb) and gig synergistically induced cell death.