[In current practice, what is the best test to detect blood in the stool ?].

"In current practice, what is the best test to detect the presence of blood in faeces? Testing for the presence of blood in faeces is still widely performed in France, although the uptake in the national colorectal cancer screening programme is less than desirable, as is use in routine practice to guide diagnosis when patients present with gastrointestinal or general symptoms. Guaiac-based tests (Hemoccult) are obsolete and have been replaced by faecal immunochemical tests (FITs), both quantitative (OC-Sensor), currently reserved for the screening programme, and qualitative, performed by all medical laboratories. However, qualitative FITs should be abandoned: their visual reading is subjective, their positivity rate is highly variable, around 50%, and their diagnostic sensitivity for colorectal cancer has not been well determined.

Corrigendum: Allelic variation contributes to bacterial host specificity.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9754.

Allelic variation contributes to bacterial host specificity.

Understanding the molecular parameters that regulate cross-species transmission and host adaptation of potential pathogens is crucial to control emerging infectious disease. Although microbial pathotype diversity is conventionally associated with gene gain or loss, the role of pathoadaptive nonsynonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) has not been systematically evaluated. Here, our genome-wide analysis of core genes within Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium genomes reveals a high degree of allelic variation in surface-exposed molecules, including adhesins that promote host colonization.

The efficacy of nabilone, a synthetic cannabinoid, in the treatment of PTSD-associated nightmares: A preliminary randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over design study.

Objective: Investigate the efficacy of nabilone capsules (NAB) in reducing the frequency and intensity of nightmares in subjects with PTSD.

Patients And Methods: Canadian male military personnel with PTSD, who despite standard treatment continued to experience trauma-related nightmares, received double-blind treatment with 0.5mg NAB or placebo (PBO), and then titrated to the effective dose (nightmare suppression) or reaching a maximum of 3.

Recording from the same neurons chronically in motor cortex.

Two rhesus monkeys were implanted with silicon arrays of 96 microelectrodes. Neural activity was recorded periodically over a period of weeks to months. We have developed a method to determine whether single units in two separate recording sessions represent the same neuron.

Control of a brain-computer interface without spike sorting.

Two rhesus monkeys were trained to move a cursor using neural activity recorded with silicon arrays of 96 microelectrodes implanted in the primary motor cortex. We have developed a method to extract movement information from the recorded single and multi-unit activity in the absence of spike sorting. By setting a single threshold across all channels and fitting the resultant events with a spline tuning function, a control signal was extracted from this population using a Bayesian particle-filter extraction algorithm.

The use of a synthetic cannabinoid in the management of treatment-resistant nightmares in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Unlabelled: This is the report of an open label clinical trial to evaluate the effects of nabilone, an endocannabinoid receptor agonist, on treatment-resistant nightmares in patients diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Methods: Charts of 47 patients diagnosed with PTSD and having continuing nightmares in spite of conventional antidepressants and hypnotics were reviewed after adjunctive treatment with nabilone was initiated. These patients had been referred to a psychiatric specialist outpatient clinic between 2004 and 2006.

Functional network reorganization during learning in a brain-computer interface paradigm.

Efforts to study the neural correlates of learning are hampered by the size of the network in which learning occurs. To understand the importance of learning-related changes in a network of neurons, it is necessary to understand how the network acts as a whole to generate behavior. Here we introduce a paradigm in which the output of a cortical network can be perturbed directly and the neural basis of the compensatory changes studied in detail.

Measuring and interpreting X-ray fluorescence from planetary surfaces.

As part of a comprehensive study of X-ray emission from planetary surfaces and in particular the planet Mercury, we have measured fluorescent radiation from a number of planetary analog rock samples using monochromatized synchrotron radiation provided by the BESSY II electron storage ring. The experiments were carried out using a purpose built X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer chamber developed by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany's national metrology institute. The XRF instrumentation is absolutely calibrated and allows for reference-free quantitation of rock sample composition, taking into account secondary photon- and electron-induced enhancement effects.

Adaptation of trigeminal ganglion cells to periodic whisker deflections.

Trigeminal ganglion neurons in adult rats adapt to periodic whisker deflections in the range of 1-40 Hz, manifested as a reduction in spike counts to progressively later stimuli in a train of pulsatile or sinusoidal deflections. For high velocity, pulsatile deflections, adaptation is time- and frequency-dependent; as in the case of thalamic and cortical neurons, adaptation is greater at higher stimulus frequencies. With slower velocity, sinusoidal movements, trigeminal ganglion cells differ from central neurons, however, by exhibiting strong adaptation even at low frequencies.