Weight loss impacts risky decisions in obesity.

Background & Aims: Risky decision making is shaped by individual psychological and metabolic state. Individuals with obesity show not only altered risk behavior, but also metabolic and psychological abnormalities. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether a substantial weight loss in individuals with severe obesity will 1) normalize their metabolic and psychological state and 2) will change their pattern of decision guidance.

Lyssa excreta: Defining parameters for fecal samples as a rabies virus surveillance method.

It is not possible to systematically screen the environment for rabies virus (RABV) using current approaches. We sought to determine under what conditions RABV is detectable from feces and other accessible samples from infected wildlife to broaden the number of biological samples that could be used to test for RABV. We employed a recently-developed quantitative RT-PCR assay called the "LN34 panlyssavirus real-time RT-PCR assay", which is highly sensitive and specific for all variants of RABV.

methylation predicts seizures and severe alcohol withdrawal syndrome.

Currently, clinicians use their judgement and indices such as the Prediction of Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome Scale (PAWSS) to determine whether patients are admitted to hospitals for consideration of withdrawal syndrome (AWS). However, only a fraction of those admitted will experience severe AWS. Previously, we and others have shown that epigenetic indices, such as the Alcohol T-Score (ATS), can quantify recent alcohol consumption.

Endangered Nectar-Feeding Bat Detected by Environmental DNA on Flowers.

(the Mexican long-nosed bat) is an endangered nectar-feeding bat species that follows "nectar corridors" as it migrates from Mexico to the southwestern United States. Locating these nectar corridors is key to their conservation and may be possible using environmental DNA (eDNA) from these bats. Hence, we developed and tested DNA metabarcoding and qPCR eDNA assays to determine whether could be detected by sampling the agave flowers on which it feeds.

Structural gray matter features and behavioral preliterate skills predict future literacy - A machine learning approach.

When children learn to read, their neural system undergoes major changes to become responsive to print. There seem to be nuanced interindividual differences in the neurostructural anatomy of regions that later become integral parts of the reading network. These differences might affect literacy acquisition and, in some cases, might result in developmental disorders like dyslexia.

Humor and Hunger Affect the Response Toward Food Cues.

The omnipresence of food cues in everyday life has been linked to troubled eating behavior and rising rates of obesity. While extended research has been conducted on the effects of negative emotions and stress on food consumption, very little is known about how positive emotions affect eating and particularly attention toward food cues. In the present study, we investigated whether humor impacts attentional bias toward food and whether it will affect preferences for healthy and unhealthy food items, depending on the hunger state.

Neural processing of vision and language in kindergarten is associated with prereading skills and predicts future literacy.

The main objective of this longitudinal study was to investigate the neural predictors of reading acquisition. For this purpose, we followed a sample of 54 children from the end of kindergarten to the end of second grade. Preliterate children were tested for visual symbol (checkerboards, houses, faces, written words) and auditory language processing (spoken words) using a passive functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm.

A short humorous intervention protects against subsequent psychological stress and attenuates cortisol levels without affecting attention.

Presentation of humor simultaneously with a stressful event has been shown to dampen the psychological and physiological responses of stress. However, whether a relatively short humorous intervention can be utilized to prevent the subsequent stress processing is still underinvestigated. Furthermore, it is unknown, whether such a humor intervention changes stress processing at a cost of cognitive functioning.

Evaluation of bowel wall thickness by ultrasound as early diagnostic tool for therapeutic response in Crohn's disease patients treated with ustekinumab.

Background:  Ustekinumab was approved for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe CD 2. Development of predictors for selecting patients responding to ustekinumab has to be the next step. US offers a noninvasive method with great sensitivity in detecting CD activity 11.

The SLS-Berlin: Validation of a German Computer-Based Screening Test to Measure Reading Proficiency in Early and Late Adulthood.

Reading proficiency, i.e., successfully integrating early word-based information and utilizing this information in later processes of sentence and text comprehension, and its assessment is subject to extensive research.

Doppler ultrasound surveillance of TIPS-patency in the era of covered stents - retrospective analysis of a large single-center cohort.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine accuracy and necessity of long-term Doppler ultrasound (DU) surveillance of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) patency after implantation of an ePTFE-covered stent-graft (Viatorr).

Methods: This single-center retrospective study includes 228 consecutive cirrhotic patients with TIPS implantation due to portal hypertensive complications. Standardized DU surveillance was scheduled 3 - 5 days, 3 months, and 6 months after TIPS implantation and every 6 months thereafter.

Same Same But Different: Processing Words in the Aging Brain.

Reading is not only one of the most appreciated leisure activities of the elderly but it clearly helps older people to maintain functional independence, which has a significant impact on life quality. Yet, very little is known about how aging affects the neural circuits of the processes that underlie skilled reading. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to systematically investigate the neural correlates of sublexical, orthographic, phonological and lexico-semantic processing in the aging brain.

Neurofunctionally dissecting the reading system in children.

The reading system can be broken down into four basic subcomponents in charge of prelexical, orthographic, phonological, and lexico-semantic processes. These processes need to jointly work together to become a fluent and efficient reader. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we systematically analyzed differences in neural activation patterns of these four basic subcomponents in children (N=41, 9-13 years) using tasks specifically tapping each component (letter identification, orthographic decision, phonological decision, and semantic categorization).

Establishment of a Molding Procedure to Facilitate Formulation Development for Co-extrudates.

Co-extrusion offers a number of advantages over conventional manufacturing techniques. However, the setup of a co-extrusion line is cost- and time-intense and formulation development is challenging. This work introduces a novel procedure to test the applicability of a co-extruded reservoir-type system at an early product development stage.

Dynamic contrast-enhanced endoscopic ultrasound: A quantification method.

Dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (DCE-US) has been recently standardized by guidelines and recommendations. The European Federation of Societies for US in Medicine and Biology position paper describes the use for DCE-US. Comparatively, little is known about the use of contrast-enhanced endoscopic US (CE-EUS).

[Geriatric ultrasound].

In geriatric patients, ultrasound is the appropriate diagnostic technique to detect and to follow-up underlying and accompanying diseases of the heart, lung, liver, kidneys, pancreas, gastrointestinal tract and of arterial and venous vessels. Based on a systematic survey of the published literature, this review describes the value of ultrasound in geriatric patients focussing on point of care.

Drifting through Basic Subprocesses of Reading: A Hierarchical Diffusion Model Analysis of Age Effects on Visual Word Recognition.

Reading is one of the most popular leisure activities and it is routinely performed by most individuals even in old age. Successful reading enables older people to master and actively participate in everyday life and maintain functional independence. Yet, reading comprises a multitude of subprocesses and it is undoubtedly one of the most complex accomplishments of the human brain.

Protein conjugation with PAMAM nanoparticles: Microscopic and thermodynamic analysis.

PAMAM dendrimers form strong protein conjugates that are used in drug delivery systems. We report the thermodynamic and binding analysis of polyamidoamine (PAMAM-G4) conjugation with human serum albumin (HSA), bovine serum albumin (BSA) and milk beta-lactoglobulin (b-LG) in aqueous solution at physiological pH. Hydrophobicity played a major role in PAMAM-protein interactions with more hydrophobic b-LG forming stronger polymer-protein conjugates.

Oral distension methods for small bowel MRI: comparison of different agents to optimize bowel distension.

Background Different methods for bowel distension prior to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations were described in recent years. Purpose To compare orally administered psyllium or locust bean gum / mannitol (LBM) with tylose administered through a duodenal catheter for bowel distension in patients undergoing MRI examination of the small bowel. Material and Methods Three different methods of bowel distension prior to MRI were compared: tylose applied through a duodenal catheter and orally administered psyllium and LBM in three groups with 15 patients each.

Slower Perception Followed by Faster Lexical Decision in Longer Words: A Diffusion Model Analysis.

Effects of stimulus length on reaction times (RTs) in the lexical decision task are the topic of extensive research. While slower RTs are consistently found for longer pseudo-words, a finding coined the word length effect (WLE), some studies found no effects for words, and yet others reported faster RTs for longer words. Moreover, the WLE depends on the orthographic transparency of a language, with larger effects in more transparent orthographies.

Mutation Analysis of Nine Chordoma Specimens by Targeted Next-Generation Cancer Panel Sequencing.

Background: Chordoma is a rare primary malignant bone tumour. Treatment options are mainly restricted to surgical excision, since chordomas are largely resistant to conventional ionising radiation and chemotherapy. Thus, there is a strong need to gain more thorough insights into the molecular biology and genetics of chordoma to allow for the development of new therapeutic options.

Incidence of bleeding in 8172 percutaneous ultrasound-guided intraabdominal diagnostic and therapeutic interventions - results of the prospective multicenter DEGUM interventional ultrasound study (PIUS study).

Purpose: To analyse the incidence of bleeding after percutaneous ultrasound guided diagnostic and therapeutic intraabdominal interventions in a prospective multicentre study (DEGUM percutaneous interventional ultrasound study).

Materials And Methods: Within a time period of 2 years diagnostic and therapeutic intraabdominal interventions (with the exclusion of ascites paracentesis) performed percutaneously under continuous ultrasound (US) guidance were prospectively assessed using a pseudonymized standardized web site entry form. Number and type of intervention, operator experience, patient characteristics, medication, lab data as well as technical aspects of the procedure and bleeding complications were analysed according to the interventional radiology standards.

Examination of survivin expression in 50 chordoma specimens--A histological and in vitro study.

Chordomas mainly arise along the axial skeleton and are characterized by their slow but destructive growth. Prognosis and quality of life are poor because treatment options are mainly limited to surgery and radiotherapy. Survivin, a member of the apoptosis inhibitor protein family, functions as a key regulator of mitosis and programmed cell death, and is overexpressed in many tumor types.

Evaluation of prognostic scoring systems for spinal metastases in 196 patients treated during 2005-2010.

Purpose: Estimating the survival time of patients with spinal metastases based on pre-treatment parameters is important for the best choice of therapy. Following two previous studies, this sequel analyzes possible changes in the impact of various parameters and scoring systems and includes a comparison to the previous dataset for the purpose to find the most predictive parameters and scores for this patient group.

Methods: Included were 196 patients retrospectively with confirmed spinal metastases treated between 2005 and 2010 (35% surgery, 65% conservative).