Mirikizumab in the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis: Initial Real-World Data in a Population from a Large Tertiary Center.

Background: Mirikizumab, an anti-p19IL-23 monoclonal antibody, has shown efficacy and safety in treating moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC) in clinical trials. We assessed the effectiveness and safety of mirikizumab for the treatment of UC in a real-world setting.

Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study of adult patients with UC who were started on mirikizumab for active disease between January 1, 2024, and April 30, 2024.

Evaluation of magnetic resonance spectroscopy total sodium concentration measures, and associations with microstructure and physical impairment in cervical myelopathy.

Spinal cord injury causes a cascade of physiological responses, which may trigger a subsequent neurotoxic increase in intracellular sodium. This can lead to neurodegeneration, both at and beyond the site of injury, causing clinical symptoms and loss of function. However, in vivo measurements of tissue sodium remain challenging.

Guselkumab: A New Therapeutic Option for the Treatment of Moderately to Severely Active Ulcerative Colitis.

Objective: To summarize the evidence and pharmacologic profile of guselkumab for moderate to severe ulcerative colitis (UC).

Data Sources: A PubMed search from inception to end of October 2024 using keywords was conducted. Additional information was obtained from abstracts and package insert.

Dramatic Changes in Thiopurine Metabolite Levels in a Patient With Inflammatory Bowel Disease Treated With Tirzepatide for Weight Loss.

Thiopurines can be used to maintain remission in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Thiopurines require regular blood count monitoring and, in specific patients, thiopurine metabolites for assessment of optimization and safety. We present the case of a 42-year-old woman with ulcerative colitis postcolectomy and ileal pouch-anal anastomosis with subsequent antibiotic-resistant diffuse pouchitis and prepouch ileitis.

Immediate Infusion Reaction to Intravenous Risankizumab-rzaa but Subsequent Tolerance to Subcutaneous Risankizumab-rzaa.

Risankizumab-rzaa (RZA) is a fully human immunoglobulin G monoclonal antibody (Mab) which has fewer immunogenic concerns compared with chimeric Mabs. The pivotal trials of RZA found no significant differences in infusion reactions between drug and placebo. This case illustrates successful transition to subcutaneous RZA following a serious hypersensitivity reaction to intravenous RZA.

Long-term Effectiveness and Safety of Risankizumab in Patients with Crohn's Disease.

Background & Aims: Risankizumab is a selective interleukin-23 inhibitor approved for the treatment of Crohn's disease (CD). We report a large long-term real-world experience with risankizumab in CD.

Methods: We performed a prospective monitoring of clinical outcomes in patients at a large tertiary center who started treatment with risankizumab.

Sex differences in donor-site morbidity after microvascular free tissue head and neck reconstruction.

Background: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether sex plays a role in donor-site dysfunction after head and neck reconstruction.

Methods: In this retrospective case series, 76 patients were assessed for donor-site morbidity using the Short Form 36, Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment, disabilities of the arm, shoulder, and hand, and lower-limb core scale. Differences by sex were compared using -tests.

Learning Curve of Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy - A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Individual Participant and Aggregated Data.

Study Design: A systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant and aggregated data.

Objectives: To define the learning curves of endoscopic discectomies using unified statistical methodologies.

Methods: Searches returned 913 records, with 118 full-text articles screened.

Validation of a surgical simulator and establishment of quantitative performance thresholds-RealSpine simulation system for open lumbar decompressions.

Background Context: The majority of surgical training is conducted in real-world operations. High-fidelity surgical simulators may provide a safer environment for surgical training. However, the extent that it reflects real-world operations and surgical ability is often poorly characterized.

A primer on copay accumulators, copay maximizers, and alternative funding programs.

Insurer or self-insured employer's plans are increasingly using copay accumulator, copay maximizer, and alternative funding programs (AFPs) to reduce plan spending on high-priced prescriptions. These programs differ in their structure and impact on patient affordability but typically decrease the insurer or self-insured employer's financial responsibility for high-priced drugs and increase the complexity of specialty medication access for patients. The aim of this primer is to describe the structure of copay accumulator, copay maximizer, and AFPs to improve understanding of these cost-shifting strategies and help clinicians and patients navigate medication access and affordability issues to minimize treatment delays or non-initiation.

gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel member of the family , isolated from sea sand.

A Gram-negative, non-motile, and creamy-white coloured bacterium, designated CAU 1616, was isolated from sea sand collected at Ayajin Beach, Goseong-gun, Republic of Korea. The bacterium was found to grow optimally at 37 °C, pH 8.0-8.

Impact of a health-system specialty pharmacy on time to upadacitinib initiation.

Purpose: Upadacitinib has been found to improve symptoms as early as day 1 in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. As a result, early and timely initiation of upadacitinib is paramount to prevent hospital admission for an acute flare. The purpose of this study was to identify the time to initiation of upadacitinib, comparing external specialty pharmacies (ESPs) to a health-system specialty pharmacy (HSSP).

Single-cell transcriptome analysis reveals subtype-specific clonal evolution and microenvironmental changes in liver metastasis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma and their clinical implications.

Background: Intratumoral heterogeneity (ITH) and tumor microenvironment (TME) of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) play important roles in tumor evolution and patient outcomes. However, the precise characterization of diverse cell populations and their crosstalk associated with PDAC progression and metastasis is still challenging.

Methods: We performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of treatment-naïve primary PDAC samples with and without paired liver metastasis samples to understand the interplay between ITH and TME in the PDAC evolution and its clinical associations.

Description of Roseibium sediminicola sp. nov. Isolated from Sediment of a Tidal Flat on the Yellow Sea Coast.

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped, motile, flagellated bacterial strain, designated as CAU 1639, was isolated from the tidal flat sediment on the Yellow Sea in the Republic of Korea. Growth of the isolate was observed at 20-37 °C, at pH 5.0-10.

Heart rate and breathing effects on attention and memory (HeartBEAM): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial in older adults.

Background: In healthy people, the "fight-or-flight" sympathetic system is counterbalanced by the "rest-and-digest" parasympathetic system. As we grow older, the parasympathetic system declines as the sympathetic system becomes hyperactive. In our prior heart rate variability biofeedback and emotion regulation (HRV-ER) clinical trial, we found that increasing parasympathetic activity through daily practice of slow-paced breathing significantly decreased plasma amyloid-β (Aβ) in healthy younger and older adults.

Lumbar decompression and fusion for symptomatic spinal stenosis in a patient with chronic thoracic sensory level from prior transverse myelitis: a case report.

Background: Many patients with transverse myelitis suffer from sensory loss below the spinal level of the lesion. This is commonly associated with chronic neuropathic pain. However, the presence of somatic pain below a complete thoracic sensory level after transverse myelitis is exceptionally rare, and it is unclear if surgical decompression is an effective form of treatment for these patients.

Dual-Targeted Therapy with Upadacitinib and Ustekinumab in Medically Complex Crohn's Disease.

Background And Aims: Ongoing efforts to break the therapeutic ceiling in inflammatory bowel disease include combination therapy approaches. Dual-targeted therapy (DTT) has been reported in case reports and small case series. This report describes our experience with ustekinumab (UST) and upadacitinib (UPA) as DTT in patients with Crohn's disease (CD).

Real World Clinical Effectiveness and Safety of Ozanimod in the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis: 1-Year Follow-Up from a Tertiary Center.

Background: Ozanimod is a first-in-class Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulator approved for the treatment of moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC). Real world data describing use of ozanimod are limited.

Aim: To provide 1-year follow-up results of our UC patient cohort treated with ozanimod.

Risankizumab Effectiveness and Safety in Crohn's Disease: Real-world Data From a Large Tertiary Center.

L23 is a recognized cytokine involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). The first IL23-targeting agent that became available for clinical use in IBD was Ustekinumab, a monoclonal antibody that targets p40, a shared subunit of both IL23 and IL12. Risankizumab (Skyrizi; Abbvie) is a humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody which binds to the p19 subunit and therefore selectively inhibits IL23.

Genomic characterization of an esthesioneuroblastoma with spinal metastases: illustrative case.

Background: Esthesioneuroblastoma (ENB) is a rare neoplasm of the sinonasal tract. Currently, the optimal treatment includes maximal resection combined with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. Although ENBs often recur and have an aggressive clinical course, spinal metastases are extremely rare and the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood.