Shifts in attention drive context-dependent subspace encoding in anterior cingulate cortex in mice during decision making.

Attention supports decision making by selecting the features that are relevant for decisions. Selective enhancement of the relevant features and inhibition of distractors has been proposed as potential neural mechanisms driving this selection process. Yet, how attention operates when relevance cannot be directly determined, and the attention signal needs to be internally constructed is less understood.

Disparities in Liver Transplantation for Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis in Women.

Background: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the fastest-growing indication for liver transplantation (LT). Sex disparities among patients with cirrhosis on the LT waitlist are well known. We wanted to understand these disparities further in women with end-stage liver disease patients listed for NASH cirrhosis in a contemporary cohort.

Shifts in attention drive context-dependent subspace encoding in anterior cingulate cortex during decision making.

Attention is a cognitive faculty that selects part of a larger set of percepts, driven by cues such as stimulus saliency, internal goals or priors. The enhancement of the attended representation and inhibition of distractors have been proposed as potential neural mechanisms driving this selection process. Yet, how attention operates when the cue has to be internally constructed from conflicting stimuli, decision rules, and reward contingencies, is less understood.

Continuous multiplexed population representations of task context in the mouse primary visual cortex.

Effective task execution requires the representation of multiple task-related variables that determine how stimuli lead to correct responses. Even the primary visual cortex (V1) represents other task-related variables such as expectations, choice, and context. However, it is unclear how V1 can flexibly accommodate these variables without interfering with visual representations.

Non-Lung Solid Organ Transplantation From SARS-CoV-2-Positive Donors to Uninfected Recipients.

Background: There is a paucity of evidence on the risk of donor-recipient transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 in solid organ transplant recipients. Initial impressions suggest non-lung solid organs may be safely transplanted from SARS-CoV-2-positive donors without risk of viral transmission.

Methods: We reviewed clinical results of transplants in which SARS-CoV-2-negative recipients received non-lung solid organs from SARS-CoV-2-positive donors at a single transplant center.

Short- and Long-Term Outcomes for Ethnic Minorities in the United States After Liver Transplantation: Parsing the Hispanic Paradox.

Background: Racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionally affected by end-stage liver disease. Unfortunately, disparities in referrals to liver transplantation (LT), organ allocation, and posttransplant outcomes exist in this population.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients over the age of 18 years undergoing LT in the United States using the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients from 2002 to 2016.

Opioid Avoidance in Liver Transplant Recipients: Reduction in Postoperative Opioid Use Through a Multidisciplinary Multimodal Approach.

The prevalence of substance use disorder in the liver transplantation (LT) population makes postoperative pain management challenging. We report our initial experience with a novel, comprehensive, multidisciplinary opioid avoidance pathway in 13 LT recipients between January 2018 and September 2019. Patients received comprehensive pre-LT education on postoperative opioid avoidance by the surgeon, pharmacist, and psychologist at the time of listing.

Drug and herbal/dietary supplements-induced liver injury: A tertiary care center experience.

Background: Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) and herbal/dietary supplements (HDS) related liver injury present unique diagnostic challenges. Collaboration between the clinician and the pathologist is required for an accurate diagnosis and management.

Aim: To report our experience on the clinical-pathological findings of hepatic injury caused by drugs/HDS.

Aggressive Epstein-Barr virus-negative B-cell post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder in a hepatitis C-negative liver transplant recipient who received a hepatitis C-positive graft: Implications for D+/R- hepatitis C virus seroconversion.

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is an uncommon, but well-described complication after liver transplantation. Most recently, Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been implicated in the development of PTLD. A HCV-negative 62-year-old man with autoimmune hepatitis received a HCV nucleic acid amplification test-positive liver graft from a 73-year-old brain-dead donor (D+/R-).

Hepatic Angiosarcoma: A Challenging Diagnosis.

Hepatic angiosarcoma (HA) accounts for 2% of primary liver tumors. Though rare, it is exceptionally deadly. The initial presentation of HA is nonspecific and no tumor markers have been associated with it.

Visually Evoked 3-5 Hz Membrane Potential Oscillations Reduce the Responsiveness of Visual Cortex Neurons in Awake Behaving Mice.

Low-frequency membrane potential () oscillations were once thought to only occur in sleeping and anesthetized states. Recently, low-frequency oscillations have been described in inactive awake animals, but it is unclear whether they shape sensory processing in neurons and whether they occur during active awake behavioral states. To answer these questions, we performed two-photon guided whole-cell recordings from primary visual cortex layer 2/3 excitatory and inhibitory neurons in awake mice during passive visual stimulation and performance of visual and auditory discrimination tasks.

Endoscopic ultrasound fine-needle aspiration characteristics of primary adenocarcinoma versus other malignant neoplasms of the pancreas.

Background: Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) with fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is often used to assist in the evaluation of pancreatic lesions and may help to diagnose benign versus malignant neoplasms. However, there is a paucity of literature regarding comparative EUS characteristics of various malignant pancreatic neoplasms (primary and metastatic).

Objective: To compare and characterize primary pancreatic adenocarcinoma versus other malignant neoplasms, hereafter referred to as nonprimary pancreatic adenocarcinoma (NPPA), diagnosed by EUS-guided FNA.

High mortality of cocaine-related ischemic colitis: a hybrid cohort/case-control study.

Background: Isolated case reports describe bowel ischemia in cocaine users, and the optimal management of these patients remains uncertain.

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: Teaching hospitals.

Predictors of malignancy and recommended follow-up in patients with negative endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration of suspected pancreatic lesions.

Background: Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) with fine-needle aspiration (FNA) can characterize and diagnose pancreatic lesions as malignant, but cannot definitively rule out the presence of malignancy. Outcome data regarding the length of follow-up in patients with negative or nondiagnostic EUS-FNA of pancreatic lesions are not well-established.

Objective: To determine the long-term outcome and provide follow-up guidance for patients with negative EUS-FNA diagnosis of suspected pancreatic lesions based on imaging predictors.

Combination treatment with octreotide, midodrine, and albumin improves survival in patients with type 1 and type 2 hepatorenal syndrome.

Introduction: Few therapeutic modalities exist for the treatment of hepatorenal syndrome (HRS). The combination of octreotide, midodrine, and albumin has shown possible benefit in small preliminary studies in improving renal function and short-term survival.

Methods: We examined the effect of octreotide, midodrine, and albumin on survival (censored for liver transplantation) and renal function in patients with HRS type 1 and type 2, compared with a historical cohort that did not receive this therapy (control group).

Amyloidosis presenting as lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

AL-Amyloid rarely presents in the gastrointestinal tract as acute gastrointestinal hemorrhage, especially in the absence of clinical disease elsewhere in the body. There are no reported cases of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance progressing to AL-Amyloid presenting as lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage. We report a case of a patient initially diagnosed with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance who progressed to AL-Amyloid over the course of 1 year.

Liver transplantation: an update 2007.

Purpose Of Review: Recent attention in liver transplantation has focused on equity in organ allocation and management of posttransplant complications.

Recent Findings: Adoption of the model for end-stage liver disease for liver allocation has been successful in implementing a system based on medical urgency rather than waiting time. Refinements are being studied in improving the prediction of mortality and improving transplant benefit by balancing pretransplant mortality and posttransplant survival.

Pilot study using PET/CT as a novel, noninvasive assessment of disease activity in inflammatory bowel disease.

Background: A pilot study was performed investigating the possibility that positron emission tomography (PET) activity using 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) with nearly simultaneous computerized tomography (CT) for anatomic accuracy would identify regions of active inflammation in both ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD).

Methods: Prospective clinical data was collected in 12 patients experiencing an exacerbation of their inflammatory bowel disease; 7 with CD and 5 with UC. A PET/CT scan (GE Discovery LS PET/CT scanner) was performed in all patients.

Automated reconstruction of three-dimensional neuronal morphology from laser scanning microscopy images.

Experimental and theoretical studies demonstrate that both global dendritic branching topology and fine spine geometry are crucial determinants of neuronal function, its plasticity and pathology. Importantly, simulation studies indicate that the interaction between local and global morphologic properties is pivotal in determining dendritic information processing and the induction of synapse-specific plasticity. The ability to reconstruct and quantify dendritic processes at high resolution is therefore an essential prerequisite to understanding the structural determinants of neuronal function.

Effects of angiotensin II receptor blockade versus angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibition on ventricular remodelling following myocardial infarction in the mouse.

Left ventricular (LV) remodelling following myocardial infarction (MI) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Previous data suggest that angiotensin II (Ang II) plays a central role in the molecular events contributing to LV remodelling. We explored the effects of angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibition versus Ang II (AT(1)) receptor blockade on LV remodelling in mice post-MI.

Age-related changes in GluR2 and NMDAR1 glutamate receptor subunit protein immunoreactivity in corticocortically projecting neurons in macaque and patas monkeys.

A distinct subpopulation of neurons forming long corticocortical projections in the association neocortex is highly vulnerable to the degenerative process in Alzheimer's disease. However, the degree to which age-related molecular and morphologic alterations of identifiable neuronal populations reflects early cellular degeneration leading to functional deficits has not yet been fully investigated in the aging brain. We performed an immunohistochemical analysis of neurons forming short and long corticocortical projections in young and old monkeys using antibodies to the GluR2 and NMDAR1 glutamate receptor subunit proteins.

Morphological alterations in neurons forming corticocortical projections in the neocortex of aged Patas monkeys.

Recent studies indicate that the cognitive processes mediated by the prefrontal cortex, such as working memory, are impaired during normal aging. These disturbances in cortical function may be a consequence of abnormalities in neocortical circuits, even though the numbers of cortical neurons are preserved in normal aging. We performed retrograde tract-tracing of cortical projections connecting the temporal cortex to the prefrontal cortex in combination with dye-filling and three-dimensional neuronal reconstructions in aged patas monkeys.