Practical considerations in the establishment of psychedelic research programs.

Rationale: There is increasing interest in establishing psychedelic research programs at academic medical centers. However, psychedelics are intensely psychoactive, carry considerable sociopolitical baggage, and most are Schedule I drugs, creating significant potential impediments to implementation. There is little formal guidance for investigators on navigating the complex on-the-ground obstacles associated with establishing psychedelic research programs.

Utility of large language models for creating clinical assessment items.

Purpose: To compare student performance, examiner perceptions and cost of GPT-assisted (generative pretrained transformer-assisted) clinical and professional skills assessment (CPSAs) items against items created using standard methods.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, controlled, double-blinded comparison of CPSA items developed using GPT-assistance with those created through standard methods. Two sets of six practical cases were developed for a formative assessment sat by final year medical students.

The environmental impact of AI in the lab: a double-edged sword?

Computational tools, particularly AI, are becoming more ubiquitous in scientific research; but what impact do they have on the environment?[Formula: see text].

An observational study protocol to capture, validate and characterise lucid episodes in people living with advanced dementia receiving hospice care.

Introduction: Lucid episodes (LEs) in advanced neurodegenerative disease, characterised by a transient recovery of abilities, have been reported across neurological conditions, including Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Evidence on LEs in dementia is extremely limited and draws predominantly from retrospective case reports. Lucidity in dementia has received growing attention given the clinical, caregiving and potential epidemiological implications of even a temporary return of abilities in advanced disease.

Feasibility and Acceptability of a Multifaceted Observational Protocol to Investigate Lucidity in Advanced Dementia.

Objective: Episodes of lucidity (ELs), characterized by spontaneous, transient recovery of abilities, are reported across neurological conditions, including advanced dementia. Despite the significance of these events, existing research is limited to retrospective reports. Approaches to prospectively capturing and characterizing ELs in dementia are lacking.

Unilateral tongue atrophy as the initial clinical manifestation in a patient with prostate cancer.

Key Clinical Message: Unilateral tongue atrophy can be a rare and crucial early indicator of metastatic prostate cancer, highlighting the need for vigilant monitoring in clinical assessments. This case underscores the importance of considering cranial nerve involvement, especially the twelfth, for timely intervention and comprehensive patient care.

Abstract: Prostate cancer, ranking among the most prevalent cancers, often manifests with skeletal metastases.

HIV: the pursuit of an elusive vaccine.

In 1984, when it was discovered that the HIV-1 virus caused AIDS, the US Health and Human Services Secretary, Margaret Heckler, declared that a vaccine would be available within 2 years. So why, 40 years on, are we still searching for an HIV vaccine? [Formula: see text].

The Role of Pretherapy Quantitative Imaging and Dosimetry in Radioiodine Therapy for Advanced Thyroid Cancer.

Radioactive iodine is well established as a successful treatment for differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), although around 15% of patients have local recurrence or develop distant metastases and may become refractory to radioactive iodine (RAI). A personalized approach to treatment, based on the absorbed radiation doses delivered and using treatments to enhance RAI uptake, has not yet been developed. We performed a multicenter clinical trial to investigate the role of selumetinib, which modulates the expression of the sodium iodide symporter, and hence iodine uptake, in the treatment of RAI-refractory DTC.

How is spatial transcriptomics influencing cancer research and diagnostics?

[Formula: see text] Spatial transcriptomics has continued to rise in popularity since it was developed in 2016; but how is it being utilized in tumor biology and diagnostics research?

Risk and response adapted therapy following autologous stem cell transplant in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (RADAR (UK-MRA Myeloma XV Trial): study protocol for a phase II/III randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Multiple myeloma is a plasma cell malignancy that accounts for 1%-2% of newly diagnosed cancers.At diagnosis, approximately 20% of patients can be identified, using cytogenetics, to have inferior survival (high-risk). Additionally, standard-risk patients, with detectable disease (minimal residual disease (MRD)-positive) postautologus stem cell transplant (ASCT), fare worse compared with those who do not (MRD-negative).

railty-adjusted therapy n ransplant on-ligible patient with newly diagnoed Multiple Myeloma (FiTNEss (UK-MRA Myeloma XIV Trial)): a study protocol for a randomised phase III trial.

Introduction: Multiple myeloma is a bone marrow cancer, which predominantly affects older people. The incidence is increasing in an ageing population.Over the last 10 years, patient outcomes have improved.

Techniques to save the sea.

Ocean health has declined dramatically over the past few decades, threatening the rich biodiversity and ecosystem services the ocean provides. In this feature, we look at the life science techniques that could potentially save the sea.

Individual Differences in Disqualifying Monitoring Underlie False Recognition of Associative and Conjunction Lures.

The current study leveraged experimental and individual differences methodology to examine whether false memories across different list-learning tasks arise from a common cause. Participants completed multiple false memory (associative and conjunction lure), working memory (operation and reading span), and source monitoring (verbal and picture) tasks. Memory discriminability in the associative and conjunction tasks loaded onto a single (general) factor and were unaffected by warnings provided at encoding.

Toxoplasmosis Related Neuroretinitis: More than Meets the Eye.

Background: The intracellular protozoan Toxoplasma ( is a parasitic infection, normally asymptomatic in immunocompetent patients. It often manifests ophthalmically, with focal necrotizing retinitis, and is more rarely associated with vitritis and anterior uveitis. Neuroretinitis, which results in severe, painless visual loss, optic disc edema, and a macular star, is an unusual first presentation of toxoplasmosis which despite being rare, when it does occur tends to affect young, immunosuppressed patients.

Case report of post streptococcal multifocal choroiditis in a young pregnant female: A success story.

Background: Multifocal choroiditis (MFC) is described as a chronic bilateral progressive inflammatory outer chorioretinopathy, that usually affects healthy myopic Caucasian women with no associated systemic/ocular diseases. This patient had a severe acute presentation of aggressive multifocal choroiditis that was treated with systemic steroids.

Case Presentation: This is a retrospective case report of a 30-year-old, white, European, female who was 10 weeks pregnant.

Combined Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Photodynamic Therapy Using Polyfunctionalised Nanoparticles Bearing Robust Gadolinium Surface Units.

A robust dithiocarbamate tether allows novel gadolinium units based on DOTAGA (q=1) to be attached to the surface of gold nanoparticles (2.6-4.1 nm diameter) along with functional units offering biocompatibility, targeting and photodynamic therapy.

Femoral Vein Cannulation in the Treatment of Osteomyelitis.

Objective: The main objective was to investigate the feasibil- ity of using the femoral vein for long-term venous access. This was accomplished in the course of treating osteomyelitis patients, using a combination of long-term (6 weeks), outpatient, intravenous (IV) an- tibiotics administered through a femoral central line. This was com- bined subsequently with the use of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy.

A longitudinal twin and sibling study of the hopelessness theory of depression in adolescence and young adulthood.

Background: Maladaptive cognitive biases such as negative attributional style and hopelessness have been implicated in the development and maintenance of depression. According to the hopelessness theory of depression, hopelessness mediates the association between attributional style and depression. The aetiological processes underpinning this influential theory remain unknown.

Sacral decubitus after cervical spine injury: a case report and suggestions for avoiding such wounds.

Sacral decubitus ulcers after cervical spine injuries are particularly debilitating wounds. An illustrative case is presented here and strategies are proposed that may help reduce the incidence of this type of wound. These include early involvement in the patient's care by a wound prevention specialist and the incorporation of a cholera cot design into the spinal transport board with a hole to completely offload the sacral tissue and permit the drainage of stool.

Monoclonal Antibodies in Cancer Therapy: Mechanisms, Successes and Limitations.

Rituximab was the first chemotherapeutic monoclonal antibody (CmAb) approved for clinical use in cancer therapeutics in 1997 and has significantly improved the clinical outcomes in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Since then, numerous CmAbs have been developed and approved for the treatment of various haematologic and solid human cancers. In this review, the classification, efficacy and significantly reduced toxicity of CmAbs available for use in the United States of America are presented.

A 75-year-old female with ulceration of breast skin.

An elderly female presented to a North Carolina wound care center (Sandhills Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine, Hamlet, NC) with ulcerative lesions of both breasts. After a thorough investigation, an Internet search yielded a list of possible causes, of which candidiasis exacerbated by friction seemed the most likely diagnosis. However, a biopsy diagnosed bullous pemphigoid.