Improving Detection of Hippocampal Epileptiform Activity Using Magnetoencephalography.

Purpose: Magnetoencephalography (MEG) defines the spike-generating zone and provides targets for invasive monitoring with stereotactic electroencephalography. This retrospective, blinded, cross-sectional study determined whether MEG virtual sensors could identify hippocampal epileptiform activity.

Methods: Using MEG beamformer analysis, virtual sensors were manually placed in bilateral hippocampi and corresponding virtual sensor waveforms were analyzed for the presence of epileptiform activity.

Lens fiber cell differentiation occurs independently of fibroblast growth factor receptor signaling in the absence of Pten.

Fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) signaling patterns multiple tissues in both vertebrates and invertebrates, largely through the activation of intracellular kinases. Recent studies have demonstrated that the phosphatase, PTEN negatively regulates FGFR signaling, such that the loss of PTEN can compensate for reduced FGFR signaling to rescue aspects of normal development. In the developing mouse lens, FGFR signaling promotes cell survival and fiber cell differentiation, and the loss of Pten largely compensates for the loss of Fgfr2 during lens development.

Biofilm propensity of Staphylococcus aureus skin isolates is associated with increased atopic dermatitis severity and barrier dysfunction in the MPAACH pediatric cohort.

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) patients are often colonized with Staphylococcus aureus, and staphylococcal biofilms have been reported on adult AD skin lesions. The commensal S epidermidis can antagonize S aureus, although its role in AD is unclear. We sought to characterize S aureus and S epidermidis colonization and biofilm propensity and determine their associations with AD severity, barrier function, and epidermal gene expression in the first US early-life cohort of children with AD, the Mechanisms of Progression of Atopic Dermatitis to Asthma in Children (MPAACH).