Learned phenotypes emerge during social stress modifying hippocampal orexin receptor gene expression.

Psychological distress, including anxiety or mood disorders, emanates from the onset of chronic/unpredictable stressful events. Symptoms in the form of maladaptive behaviors are learned and difficult to treat. While the origin of stress-induced disorders seems to be where learning and stress intersect, this relationship and molecular pathways involved remain largely unresolved.

Racial Disparities in Clinical Trial Enrollment Among Patients Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer: A Population-Based Cohort of Oncology Practices.

Although clinical trials should be accessible to all patients, persistent racial and ethnic disparities in clinical trial enrollment exist. Herein, we examine racial disparities in clinical trial enrollment among prostate cancer patients from a large population-based cohort of oncology practices in the United States. Using CancerLinQ Discovery, we identified men with regional (N1+) and/or metastatic (M1) prostate cancer diagnosed from 2011 to 2023.

Correction: Neonatal Circumcision: What Are the Factors Affecting Parental Decision?

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.7759/cureus.19415.

Neonatal Circumcision: What Are the Factors Affecting Parental Decision?

Introduction: The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines state that the health benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks, but these benefits are not enough to recommend universal newborn circumcision. Therefore, it is the guardians' decision to circumcise their son. In this study, we assess the factors that influence the decision-making process for newborn circumcision.

COVID-19 Endothelial Dysfunction Can Cause Erectile Dysfunction: Histopathological, Immunohistochemical, and Ultrastructural Study of the Human Penis.

Purpose: A pilot study to describe histopathological features of penile tissue of patients who recovered from symptomatic COVID-19 infection and subsequently developed severe erectile dysfunction (ED).

Materials And Methods: Penile tissue was collected from patients undergoing surgery for penile prosthesis for severe ED. Specimens were obtained from two men with a history of COVID-19 infection and two men with no history of infection.

Rising Black voices in urology - the next generation.

In 2020, made a pledge to actively work towards improving diversity in our field. As we head into 2021, Black urologists make up only 2% of the US workforce in urology; this lack of representation is detrimental to the field as a whole and to the patients it serves. In this Viewpoint, which follows on from our previous article ‘Supporting Black voices in urology’, 12 medical students who have chosen to enter the field recount their experiences, describing their reasons for entering urology and why they chose particular programmes.

Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 in Human Semen and Effect on Total Sperm Number: A Prospective Observational Study.

Purpose: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has created a surge of research to help better understand the breadth of possible sequelae. However, little is known regarding the impact on semen parameters and fertility potential. We sought to investigate for presence of viral RNA in semen of men with SARS-CoV-2 infection and to evaluate its effect on semen parameters in ejaculate.

Histopathology and Ultrastructural Findings of Fatal COVID-19 Infections on Testis.

Purpose: To evaluate the presence and analyze the pathological changes within the testes of patients who died or recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (COVID-19) complications.

Materials And Methods: Testis tissue was collected from autopsies of COVID-19 positive (n=6) and negative men (n=3). Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and subjected to immunofluorescence for angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) expression.

Strategies to Increase Testosterone in Men Seeking Fertility.

Prevalence of testosterone deficiency is increasing in the adolescent and young adult male population. As the average paternal age rises, there is a significant population of men with hypogonadism seeking testosterone therapy wishing to achieve or maintain fertility potential. Identification of potential lifestyle modifications that may improve the testosterone deficiency is one of the initial interventions of the holistic strategy in treatment.

Leydig stem cells and future therapies for hypogonadism.

Purpose Of Review: In this review, we outline the most recent advances in the development of Leydig stem cells (LSCs) and summarize the current and upcoming treatments for hypogonadism.

Recent Findings: In-vitro and in-vivo studies show that inducing stem cells to differentiate into testosterone-producing adult Leydig cells is possible. In addition, LSCs can be grafted with Sertoli cells to increase testosterone levels in vivo.

Long-term outcomes after surgery for catastrophic epilepsy in infants: institutional experience and review of the literature.

Objective: Uncontrolled epilepsy is associated with serious deleterious effects on the neurological development of infants and has been described as "catastrophic epilepsy." Recently, there has been increased emphasis on early surgical interventions to preserve or rescue neurodevelopmental outcomes in infants with early intractable epilepsy. The enthusiasm for early treatments is often tempered by concerns regarding the morbidity of neurosurgical procedures in very young patients.

Lesion Network Localization of Seizure Freedom following MR-guided Laser Interstitial Thermal Ablation.

Treatment-resistant epilepsy is a common and debilitating neurological condition, for which neurosurgical cure is possible. Despite undergoing nearly identical ablation procedures however, individuals with treatment-resistant epilepsy frequently exhibit heterogeneous outcomes. We hypothesized that treatment response may be related to the brain regions to which MR-guided laser ablation volumes are functionally connected.

Primary Diffuse Leptomeningeal Melanomatosis: Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Background: Primary diffuse leptomeningeal melanomatosis (PDLM) is an extremely rare pathologic condition that can mimic several other neurologic disease states.

Methods: We report a rare case of PDLM without evidence of a primary focus. In addition, we performed a comprehensive review of the literature to describe all previously reported cases of PDLM.

Prospective Study of Nonbeneficial Care in Neurocritical Care Unit.

Objective: We sought to determine whether a set of simple criteria can identify patients in the neuroscience intensive care unit (NICU) at high risk of poor outcome and delivery of nonbeneficial care early in the course of their illness. Secondarily, factors affecting limitation of care protocols were assessed.

Methods: We prospectively identified patients who were admitted to the NICU with partial loss of brainstem reflexes persisting for >24 hours due to an intrinsic lesion of the brain (trauma, stroke, hemorrhage, etc.

High Expression of FGD3, a Putative Regulator of Cell Morphology and Motility, Is Prognostic of Favorable Outcome in Multiple Cancers.

Purpose: Identification of single-gene biomarkers that are prognostic of outcome can shed new insights on the molecular mechanisms that drive breast cancer and other cancers.

Methods: Exploratory analysis of 20,464 single-gene messenger RNAs (mRNAs) in the Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC) discovery cohort indicates that low expression of mRNA is prognostic for poor outcome. Prognostic significance of faciogenital dysplasia 3 (FGD3), SUSD3, and other single-gene proliferation markers was evaluated in breast cancer and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohorts.

Anxious behavior induces elevated hippocampal Cb receptor gene expression.

Anxiety is differentially expressed across a continuum of stressful/fearful intensity, influenced by endocannabinoid systems and receptors. The hippocampus plays important roles in the regulation of affective behavior, emotion, and anxiety, as well as memory. Location of Cb/Cb receptor action could be important in determining emotional valence, because while the dorsal hippocampus is involved in spatial memory and cognition, the ventral hippocampus has projections to the PFC, BNST, amygdala, and HPA axis, and is important for emotional responses to stress.

Intensity of anxiety is modified via complex integrative stress circuitries.

Escalation of anxious behavior while environmentally and socially relevant contextual events amplify the intensity of emotional response produces a testable gradient of anxiety shaped by integrative circuitries. Apprehension of the Stress-Alternatives Model apparatus (SAM) oval open field (OF) is measured by the active latency to escape, and is delayed by unfamiliarity with the passageway. Familiar OF escape is the least anxious behavior along the continuum, which can be reduced by anxiolytics such as icv neuropeptide S (NPS).

Nuance and behavioral cogency: How the Visible Burrow System inspired the Stress-Alternatives Model and conceptualization of the continuum of anxiety.

By creating the Visible Burrow System (VBS) Bob Blanchard found a way to study the interaction of genetics, physiology, environment, and adaptive significance in a model with broad validity. The VBS changed the way we think about anxiety and affective disorders by allowing the mechanisms which control them to be observed in a dynamic setting. Critically, Blanchard used the VBS and other models to show how behavioral systems like defense are dependent upon context and behavioral elements unique to the individual.

Neuropeptide S and BDNF gene expression in the amygdala are influenced by social decision-making under stress.

In a newly developed conceptual model of stressful social decision-making, the Stress-Alternatives Model (SAM; used for the 1st time in mice) elicits two types of response: escape or remain submissively. Daily (4d) aggressive social interaction in a neutral arena between a C57BL6/N test mouse and a larger, novel aggressive CD1 mouse, begin after an audible tone (conditioned stimulus; CS). Although escape holes (only large enough for smaller test animals) are available, and the aggressor is unremittingly antagonistic, only half of the mice tested utilize the possibility of escape.

Anxiolytic function of the orexin 2/hypocretin A receptor in the basolateral amygdala.

The orexin/hypocretin system interacts with many of the same circuitries contributing to stress-associated disorders like depression and anxiety. These include potentially reciprocal connections with corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) neurons which drive the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) endocrine response in addition to having an anxiogenic effect in the central amygdala (CeA). Antagonism of the orexin type 1 receptor (Orx1) in the hypothalamus has also been shown to block panic attacks.