Necrotizing fasciitis following primary peritonitis caused by Streptococcus pyogenes with covS mutation in a healthy woman: a case report.

Background: Primary peritonitis due to Streptococcus pyogenes (S. pyogenes) is uncommon in patients without comorbid conditions such as immunosuppression, nephritic disease, or liver cirrhosis. Furthermore, it does not cause another infection at the same time in a healthy person.

Presepsin as a powerful monitoring tool for the prognosis and treatment of sepsis: a multicenter prospective study.

Presepsin is a protein whose levels increase specifically in the blood of patients with sepsis. It is proposed as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for assessing the degree of sepsis severity. The present multicenter prospective study compared the clinical utility of presepsin with other conventional sepsis biomarkers including procalcitonin, interleukin-6, and C-reactive protein for evaluating the severity of sepsis during follow-up.

Usefulness of presepsin in the diagnosis of sepsis in a multicenter prospective study.

The clinical usefulness of presepsin for discriminating between bacterial and nonbacterial infections (including systemic inflammatory response syndrome) was studied and compared with procalcitonin (PCT) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in a multicenter prospective study. Suspected sepsis patients (n = 207) were enrolled into the study. Presepsin levels in patients with systemic bacterial infection and localized bacterial infection were significantly higher than in those with nonbacterial infections.

cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) is required for epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced cell proliferation and serum response element activation in neural stem cells isolated from the forebrain subventricular zone of adult mice.

Neurogenesis, which occurs not only in the developing brain but also in restricted regions in the adult brain including the forebrain subventricular zone (SVZ), is regulated by a variety of environmental factors, extracellular signals, and intracellular signal transduction pathways. We investigated whether the transcription factor cAMP response element (CRE)-binding protein (CREB) is involved in the regulation of cell proliferation of neural stem cells (NSCs) isolated from the SVZ of adult mice. Treatment of NSCs with the protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitors H89 and KT5720 inhibited epidermal growth factor (EGF)-stimulated NSC proliferation.

Orotracheal intubation with an AirWay Scope in a patient with Treacher Collins syndrome.

Treacher Collins syndrome (TCS) is a congenital malformation of craniofacial development; in these patients conventional direct laryngoscopy is very difficult and often unsuccessful because of the upper airway malformation. A 20-year-old man with TCS was scheduled for elective tympanoplasty. The patient showed the characteristic facial appearance of TCS, and a difficult airway was anticipated.

Impairment of theory of mind in patients in remission following first episode of schizophrenia.

The aim of this study was to investigate theory of mind (ToM) ability in patients in remission after the first episode of schizophrenia. A ToM task which contained four pictures was given to 30 patients with schizophrenia in remission and 30 matched healthy controls. Patients with schizophrenia in remission showed statistically significant impairment in the ToM tasks.

Suppression of cell proliferation by interferon-alpha through interleukin-1 production in adult rat dentate gyrus.

The therapeutic use of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha), a proinflammatory cytokine, is known to cause various neuropsychiatric adverse effects. In particular, depression occurs in 30-45% of patients, frequently interrupting treatment. IFN-alpha-treated animals also show depression-like behaviors.