Increased Rates of Infectious Diseases in Fibromyalgia Patients: A Population-Based Case-Control Study.

: Fibromyalgia (FM) patients are known to have medical comorbidities. This study characterized the rates of infectious diseases in FM patients compared to the general population. : A nationwide population-based case-control study was conducted, including all patients diagnosed with FM by a rheumatologist compared to a matched 5:1 control group within a large health maintenance organization in Israel (January 2002 to December 2023).

Hunger modulates exploration through suppression of dopamine signaling in the tail of striatum.

Caloric depletion leads to behavioral changes that help an animal find food and restore its homeostatic balance. Hunger increases exploration and risk-taking behavior, allowing an animal to forage for food despite risks; however, the neural circuitry underlying this change is unknown. Here, we characterize how hunger restructures an animal's spontaneous behavior as well as its directed exploration of a novel object.

Health disparities in diabetes treatment: The challenge of G6PD deficiency.

Aims: To assess the impact of Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, an enzymatic deficiency prevalent in individuals of African or Asian descent, on Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels, diabetes medication purchases, and the cumulative incidence of diabetes related complications.

Methods: A large cohort study was conducted within a national health organization, comparing 3,913 G6PD-deficient patients to a matched control group without G6PD deficiency over two decades. The main measures and outcomes were the HbA1c levels, patterns of diabetes medication purchases, and the incidence of severe diabetes-related complications.

Pain-Associated Diagnoses in Childhood Before the Diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Population-Based Study.

Pediatric pain significantly affects children's lives, leading to school absenteeism, impaired social interactions, and psychological distress. The perception of sensory signals as pain is influenced by the brain's noradrenergic system, and recent evidence suggests that chronic pain may impact cognitive functioning and emotional regulation. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with alterations in the dopaminergic/noradrenergic systems, which could affect pain perception.

Pre-operative stereotactic radiosurgery and peri-operative dexamethasone for resectable brain metastases: a two-arm pilot study evaluating clinical outcomes and immunological correlates.

Enhancing the efficacy of immunotherapy in brain metastases (BrM) requires an improved understanding of the immune composition of BrM and how this is affected by radiation and dexamethasone. Our two-arm pilot study (NCT04895592) allocated 26 patients with BrM to either low (Arm A) or high (Arm B) dose peri-operative dexamethasone followed by pre-operative stereotactic radiosurgery (pSRS) and resection (n= 13 per arm). The primary endpoint, a safety analysis at 4 months, was met.

Shifting attention to orient or avoid: a unifying account of the tail of the striatum and its dopaminergic inputs.

The tail of the striatum (TS) is increasingly recognized as a unique subdivision of the striatum, characterized by its dense sensory inputs and projections received from a distinct group of dopamine neurons. Separate lines of research have characterized the functional role of TS, and TS-projecting dopamine neurons, in three realms: saccadic eye movement towards valuable visual stimuli; tone-guided choice between two options; and defensive responses to threatening stimuli. We propose a framework for reconciling these diverse roles as varied implementations of a conserved response to salient stimuli, with dopamine in TS providing a teaching signal to promote quick attentional shifts that facilitate stimulus-driven orientation and/or avoidance.

"A day in the life" - telemedicine in family medicine and its relationship with practicing physicians' satisfaction: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Telemedicine has expanded rapidly in recent years, and many encounters that were conducted in person now take place remotely. This study aimed to assess primary care physicians' (PCPs) attitudes towards the different modalities of patient care.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional nationwide descriptive study conducted in Israel.

Microplastic-stressor responses are rarely synergistic in freshwater fishes: A meta-analysis.

Microplastic exposure can cause a range of negative effects on the biochemistry, condition and ecology of freshwater fishes depending on aspects of the exposure and the exposed fish. However, fishes are typically exposed to microplastics and additional multiple stressors simultaneously, for which the combined effects are poorly understood and may have important management consequences. Additive effects are those where the combined effect is equal to the sum, antagonistic where combined effects are less than the sum and for synergistic effects the combined effect is greater to the sum of the individual effects.

Blood flows from the SCN toward the OVLT within a new brain vascular portal pathway.

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) sets the phase of oscillation throughout the brain and body. Anatomical evidence reveals a portal system linking the SCN and the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis (OVLT), begging the question of the direction of blood flow and the nature of diffusible signals that flow in this specialized vasculature. Using a combination of anatomical and in vivo two-photon imaging approaches, we unequivocally show that blood flows unidirectionally from the SCN to the OVLT, that blood flow rate displays daily oscillations with a higher rate at night than in the day, and that circulating vasopressin can access portal vessels.

Health Care Utilization by Patients With Chronic Pelvic Pain.

Objective: To describe the patterns of health care utilization among patients with chronic pelvic pain.

Methods: Deidentified administrative claims data from the OptumLabs Data Warehouse were used. Adult female patients who had their first medical claim for chronic pelvic pain between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2019, were included.

Key HPI axis receptors facilitate light adaptive behavior in larval zebrafish.

The vertebrate stress response (SR) is mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and contributes to generating context appropriate physiological and behavioral changes. Although the HPA axis plays vital roles both in stressful and basal conditions, research has focused on the response under stress. To understand broader roles of the HPA axis in a changing environment, we characterized an adaptive behavior of larval zebrafish during ambient illumination changes.

Influence of cytochrome genotype on the risk for tramadol associated adverse effects: a retrospective cohort study.

Tramadol is primarily metabolized by the highly polymorphic enzyme, leading to a large spectrum of adverse events and clinical response. Ample evidence pointed a reduced CYPD26 activity score in individuals harboring the genotype, nevertheless, there is scarce studies on the impact of *10/*10 genetic polymorphism on long-term tramadol's adverse effects. To test the correlation between *10/*10 expression and the risk for tramadol-associated adverse effects.

Validation of a Simulation Model for Robotic Myomectomy.

Study Objective: Several simulation models have been evaluated for gynecologic procedures such as hysterectomy, but there are limited published data for myomectomy. This study aimed to assess the validity of a low-cost robotic myomectomy model for surgical simulation training.

Design: Prospective cohort simulation study.

Identifying Diabetes Related-Complications in a Real-World Free-Text Electronic Medical Records in Hebrew Using Natural Language Processing Techniques.

Background: Studies have demonstrated that 50% to 80% of patients do not receive an International Classification of Diseases (ICD) code assigned to their medical encounter or condition. For these patients, their clinical information is mostly recorded as unstructured free-text narrative data in the medical record without standardized coding or extraction of structured data elements. Leumit Health Services (LHS) in collaboration with the Israeli Ministry of Health (MoH) conducted this study using electronic medical records (EMRs) to systematically extract meaningful clinical information about people with diabetes from the unstructured free-text notes.

The Association Between Repeated Measured Febrile Episodes During Early Childhood and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Large-Scale Population-Based Study.

Objective: We examined the association between the number, magnitude, and frequency of febrile episodes during the 0 to 4 years of life and subsequent diagnosis of ADHD.

Methods: This population-based case-control study in an Israeli HMO, Leumit Health Services (LHS), uses a database for all LHS members aged 5 to 18 years between 1/1/2002 and 1/30/2022. The number and magnitude of measured fever episodes during the 0 to 4 years were recorded in individuals with ADHD ( = 18,558) and individually matched non-ADHD controls in a 1:2 ratio ( = 37,116).