Impact of the adenosine receptor A2BR expressed on myeloid cells on immune regulation during pregnancy.

During pregnancy, the maternal immune system must carefully balance protection against pathogens with tolerance toward the semiallogeneic fetus. Dysfunctions of the immune system can lead to severe complications such as preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction, or pregnancy loss. Adenosine plays a role in physiological processes and plasma-level increase during pregnancy.

Effects of midazolam on high-frequency oscillations in amygdala and hippocampus of epilepsy patients.

High-frequency oscillations (HFOs) are associated with normal brain function, but are also increasingly recognized as potential biomarkers of epileptogenic tissue. Considering the important role of interneuron activity in physiological HFO generation, we studied their modulation by midazolam (MDZ), an agonist of γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA)-benzodiazepine receptors. Here, we analyzed 80 intracranial electrode contacts in amygdala and hippocampus of 13 patients with drug-refractory focal epilepsy who had received MDZ for seizure termination during presurgical monitoring.

Epileptogenicity of white matter lesions in cerebral small vessel disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The epileptogenic properties of white matter lesions (WML) in cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) are not yet understood. The aim of our systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the association between the extent of WML in CSVD and epilepsy, analyze whether these WML are associated with an increased risk of seizure recurrence, and evaluate if treatment with anti-seizure medication (ASM) is justified in first-seizure patients with WML and no cortical lesions.

Methods: Following a pre-registered study protocol (PROSPERO-ID CRD42023390665), we systematically searched Pubmed and Embase for relevant literature comparing WML load between patients with epilepsy and controls as well as studies on seizure recurrence risk and ASM therapy in the presence vs.

Training vs. Tolerance: The Yin/Yang of the Innate Immune System.

For almost nearly a century, memory functions have been attributed only to acquired immune cells. Lately, this paradigm has been challenged by an increasing number of studies revealing that innate immune cells are capable of exhibiting memory-like features resulting in increased responsiveness to subsequent challenges, a process known as trained immunity (known also as innate memory). In contrast, the refractory state of endotoxin tolerance has been defined as an immunosuppressive state of myeloid cells portrayed by a significant reduction in the inflammatory capacity.

LogD-based modelling and ΔlogD as a proxy for pH-dependent action of ionizable chemicals reveal the relevance of both neutral and ionic species for fish embryotoxicity and possess great potential for practical application in the regulation of chemicals.

Depending on the ambient pH, ionizable substances are present in varying proportions in their neutral or charged form. The extent to which these two chemical species contribute to the pH-dependant toxicity of ionizable chemicals and whether intracellular ion trapping has a decisive influence in this context is controversially discussed. Against this background, we determined the acute toxicity of 24 ionizable substances at up to 4 different pH values on the embryonic development of the zebrafish, Danio rerio, and supplemented this dataset with additional data from the literature.

Different probiotic strains alter human cord blood monocyte responses.

Background: Probiotics have a protective effect on various diseases. In neonatology, they are predominantly used to prevent necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), a severe inflammatory disease of the neonatal intestine. The mechanisms by which probiotics act are diverse; little is known about their direct effect on neonatal immune cells.

Face-induced gamma oscillations and event-related potentials in patients with epilepsy: an intracranial EEG study.

Background: To examine the pathological effect of a mesial temporal seizure onset zone (SOZ) on local and inter-regional response to faces in the amygdala and other structures of the temporal lobe.

Methods: Intracranial EEG data was obtained from the amygdala, hippocampus, fusiform gyrus and parahippocampal gyrus of nine patients with drug-refractory epilepsy during visual stimulation with faces and mosaics. We analyzed event-related potentials (ERP), gamma frequency power, phase-amplitude coupling and phase-slope-index and compared the results between patients with versus without a mesial temporal SOZ.

Heart rate as an early warning parameter and proxy for subsequent mortality in Danio rerio embryos exposed to ionisable substances.

Environmental risk assessments of organic chemicals usually do not consider pH as a key factor. Hence, most substances are tested at a single pH only, which may underestimate the toxicity of ionisable substances with a pK in the range of 4-10. Thus, the ability to consider the pH-dependent toxicity would be crucial for a more realistic assessment.

Resective epilepsy surgery in patients aged 50years and older - a retrospective study regarding seizure outcome, memory performance, and psychopathology.

Purpose: To assess clinical and demographic characteristics in two cohorts of elderly patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy, undergoing resective epilepsy surgery (RES). Further, to determine seizure, neuropsychological, and mental health outcomes after RES and evaluate possible influencing factors.

Methods: Consecutive patients aged ≥50 years with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) who underwent curative RES in the Hamburg epilepsy surgery program (2004-2017) were identified.

Electrocorticographic and neurochemical findings after local cortical valproate application in patients with pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy.

Because oral pharmacological treatment of neocortical focal epilepsy is limited due to common systemic side effects and relatively low drug concentrations reached at the epileptic foci locally, application of antiepileptic agents directly onto the neocortical focus may enhance treatment tolerability and efficacy. We describe the effects of cortically applied sodium valproate (VPA) in two patients with pharmacoresistant neocortical focal epilepsy who were selected for epilepsy surgery after a circumscribed epileptic focus had been determined by invasive presurgical evaluation using subdural electrodes. Local VPA modified epileptic activity as electrocorticographically recorded from the chronic focus in both patients.

Decision-making in temporal lobe epilepsy surgery based on invasive stereo-electroencephalography (sEEG).

In medical refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), the epileptogenic zone can be difficult to identify and therefore difficult to treat, especially in the absence of clear MRI pathologies and specific results from presurgical evaluation. Invasive monitoring with stereo-electroencephalography (sEEG) is a tool for a better determination of the epileptogenic zone. Here, we investigate the impact of sEEG on decision-making in temporal lobe epilepsy surgery.

Residual Disability, Mortality, and Nursing Home Placement After Hip Fracture Over 2 Decades.

Objective: To examine trends in 12-month postfracture residual disability, nursing home placement, and mortality among patients with a hip fracture between 1990 and 2011.

Design: Secondary analysis of 12-month outcomes from 3 cohort studies and control arms of 2 randomized controlled trials.

Setting: Original studies were conducted as part of the Baltimore Hip Studies (BHS).

Examining Differences in Recovery Outcomes between Male and Female Hip Fracture Patients: Design and Baseline Results of a Prospective Cohort Study from the Baltimore Hip Studies.

Background: Incidence of hip fractures in men is expected to increase, yet little is known about consequences of hip fracture in men compared to women. It is important to investigate differences at time of fracture using the newest technologies and methodology regarding metabolic, physiologic, neuromuscular, functional, and clinical outcomes, with attention to design issues for recruiting frail older adults across numerous settings.

Objectives: To determine whether at least moderately-sized sex differences exist across several key outcomes after a hip fracture.

The impact of body composition, pain and resilience on physical activity, physical function and physical performance at 2 months post hip fracture.

The purpose of this study was to test a model of the factors influencing physical activity, physical function and physical performance at 2 months post hip fracture and compare model fit between men and women. Age, cognitive status, comorbidities, pain, resilience, bone mineral density, total body lean mass, total body fat and grip strength were hypothesized to be directly and/or indirectly related to physical activity, physical function and physical performance. This analysis used data from the seventh Baltimore Hip Studies (BHS-7), a prospective cohort study that included 258 community-dwelling participants, 125 (48%) men and 133 (52%) women, hospitalized for treatment of a hip fracture; survey and objective data were obtained at 2 months post hip fracture.

Difference in the trajectory of change in bone geometry as measured by hip structural analysis in the narrow neck, intertrochanteric region, and femoral shaft between men and women following hip fracture.

Prior studies have shown that women have declines in bone structure and strength after hip fracture, but it is unclear whether men sustain similar changes. Therefore, the objective was to examine sex differences in proximal femur geometry following hip fracture. Hip structural analysis was used to derive metrics of bone structure and strength: aerial bone mineral density, cross-sectional bone area (CSA), cortical outer diameter, section modulus (SM), and buckling ratio (BR) from dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scans performed at baseline (within 22days of hospital admission), two, six, or twelve months after hip fracture in men and women (n=282) enrolled in the Baltimore Hip Studies 7th cohort.

Differences in the trajectory of bone mineral density change measured at the total hip and femoral neck between men and women following hip fracture.

Unlabelled: Research has not examined changes in bone mineral density (BMD) between men and women following hip fracture. The aim was to evaluate sex differences in BMD following hip fracture. Men experienced significant declines in BMD, while not statistically greater than women, underscoring the necessity for better osteoporosis care in men.

Reduction of epileptiform activity through local valproate-implants in a rat neocortical epilepsy model.

Purpose: Pharmacotherapy of epilepsies is limited due to low concentrations at epileptogenic foci, side effects of high systemic doses and that some potentially efficient substances do not pass the blood-brain barrier. To overcome these limitations, we tested the efficacy of local valproate (VPA)-containing polymer implants in a model of necocortical injected tetanus toxin (TeT) in the rat.

Methods: Tetanus toxin was injected intracortically and cobalt (II) chloride (CoCl2) was applied on the cortical surface.

Gait Speed and Dismobility in Older Adults.

Objectives: To classify hospitalized older patients with slow gait speed, and test the hypothesis that slow gait speed or dismobility is associated with increased mortality risk.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: Acute care geriatric hospital unit.

Short-term changes in body composition after surgical repair of hip fracture.

Background: the deleterious changes in body composition that occur during the year after hip fracture are associated with increased disability, recurrent fracture, and mortality. While the majority of these unfavourable changes have been shown to occur during the first 2 months after fracture, potential changes in body composition occurring earlier than 2 months post-fracture have not been studied. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to rigorously assess short-term changes in body composition after hip fracture.

Locally applied valproate enhances survival in rats after neocortical treatment with tetanus toxin and cobalt chloride.

Purpose: In neocortical epilepsies not satisfactorily responsive to systemic antiepileptic drug therapy, local application of antiepileptic agents onto the epileptic focus may enhance treatment efficacy and tolerability. We describe the effects of focally applied valproate (VPA) in a newly emerging rat model of neocortical epilepsy induced by tetanus toxin (TeT) plus cobalt chloride (CoCl₂).

Methods: In rats, VPA (n = 5) or sodium chloride (NaCl) (n = 5) containing polycaprolactone (PCL) implants were applied onto the right motor cortex treated before with a triple injection of 75 ng TeT plus 15 mg CoCl₂.

Delirium outcomes in a randomized trial of blood transfusion thresholds in hospitalized older adults with hip fracture.

Objectives: To determine whether a higher blood transfusion threshold would prevent new or worsening delirium symptoms in the hospital after hip fracture surgery.

Design: Ancillary study to a randomized clinical trial.

Setting: Thirteen hospitals in the United States and Canada.

The association between body mass index, weight loss and physical function in the year following a hip fracture.

Objectives: To determine whether body mass index (BMI) at the time of hospitalization or weight change in the period immediately following hospitalization predict physical function in the year after hip fracture.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: Two hospitals in Baltimore, Maryland.

Adverse events associated with the Res-Care Intervention.

Objectives: The purpose of this secondary data analysis was to evaluate the adverse events associated with a restorative care intervention (Res-Care) in nursing home (NH) residents.

Design: A randomized controlled repeated-measure design and generalized estimating equations were used to evaluate status at baseline and 4 and 12 months after initiation of the Res-Care Intervention.

Setting: Twelve NHs in Maryland.