Experience With Anti-TNF-α Biologic Agents in Succession in Patients With Crohn's Disease: A Retrospective Analysis of a Single Center.

Goals: Our aim was to identify and compare the effectiveness of antitumor necrosis factor biologics when used as initial agents and when used in succession for the treatment of moderate to severe Crohn's disease (CD).

Background: Studies directly comparing the efficacy of biologics are lacking. When one biologic loses efficacy, patients are often treated with an alternate biologic.

Stimuli from conspecifics influence brain mast cell population in male rats.

It is well established that mast cells occur within the brain of many species, and that the brain mast cell population is not static, but changes with the behavioral and physiological state of the animal. In this study, we tested whether exposure to conspecifics alters the number of brain mast cells in male rats, and then investigated the nature of stimuli influencing the changes observed in the number and localization of brain mast cells. Five days of cohabitation with an ovariectomized, estrogen-progesterone (OVX + EP)-treated female resulted in the largest number of thalamic mast cells, while pairing with such a female physically separated by a wire mesh or with a novel male produced a smaller, but significant increase over other pairings (OVX females for 5 days, OVX and OVX + EP females for 1 day, familiar or isolated males for 5 days).