Rational Approach to Allergy Testing.

Allergy testing is commonly used when symptoms of allergic rhinitis are refractory to symptoms and there is potential for treatment with institution of avoidance measures or immunotherapy. Once the decision for testing has been made, the method of testing by either in vivo skin testing by prick/puncture or intradermal testing or in vitro testing of serum-specific IgE is dictated by factors in the clinical history and an informed decision by the patient. Because there is no perfect testing method, understanding the benefits and limitations of each method is important in selecting the best testing option for each patient.

Posterior Cingulate Neurons Dynamically Signal Decisions to Disengage during Foraging.

Foraging for resources is a fundamental behavior balancing systematic search and strategic disengagement. The foraging behavior of primates is especially complex and requires long-term memory, value comparison, strategic planning, and decision-making. Here we provide evidence from two different foraging tasks that neurons in primate posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) signal decision salience during foraging to motivate disengagement from the current strategy.

The Effect of Anthocyanin-Rich Purple Vegetable Diets on Metabolic Syndrome in Obese Zucker Rats.

Consumption of highly colored fruits and vegetables rich in anthocyanins has been associated with numerous health benefits. Purple carrots (PC) and purple potatoes (PP) have higher anthocyanin concentrations and higher biological activities compared with less pigmented cultivars. We hypothesized that substitution of the majority of carbohydrate in a high fat diet with PP or PC, for 8 weeks, would improve insulin resistance and hypertension, major components of metabolic syndrome, compared with orange carrots (OC), white potatoes (WP) or a control, high fat, sucrose-rich diet (HFD) in obese Zucker rats.

A case control study to determine the association between Perthes' disease and the recalled use of tobacco during pregnancy, and biological markers of current tobacco smoke exposure.

Aims: It is well established that there is a strong association between Perthes' disease and worsening socioeconomic deprivation. It has been suggested that the primary determinant driving this association is exposure to tobacco smoke. This study aimed to examine this hypothesis.

Using Machine Learning to Discover Latent Social Phenotypes in Free-Ranging Macaques.

Investigating the biological bases of social phenotypes is challenging because social behavior is both high-dimensional and richly structured, and biological factors are more likely to influence complex patterns of behavior rather than any single behavior in isolation. The space of all possible patterns of interactions among behaviors is too large to investigate using conventional statistical methods. In order to quantitatively define social phenotypes from natural behavior, we developed a machine learning model to identify and measure patterns of behavior in naturalistic observational data, as well as their relationships to biological, environmental, and demographic sources of variation.

Investigating the Life Expectancy and Proteolytic Degradation of Engineered Skeletal Muscle Biological Machines.

A combination of techniques from 3D printing, tissue engineering and biomaterials has yielded a new class of engineered biological robots that could be reliably controlled via applied signals. These machines are powered by a muscle strip composed of differentiated skeletal myofibers in a matrix of natural proteins, including fibrin, that provide physical support and cues to the cells as an engineered basement membrane. However, maintaining consistent results becomes challenging when sustaining a living system in vitro.

Multiplex Cathepsin Zymography to Detect Amounts of Active Cathepsins K, L, S, and V.

Cysteine cathepsins are powerful proteases that can degrade other proteins, among which are the extracellular matrix proteins collagen and elastin. Multiplex cathepsin zymography is an assay that can quantify the amount of active cathepsins in a cell or tissue preparation. This method works for measuring the amounts of active cathepsins K, L, S, and V in a cell or tissue preparation without requiring the use of antibodies for specific identification which tremendously reduces cost.

A Primer on Foraging and the Explore/Exploit Trade-Off for Psychiatry Research.

Foraging is a fundamental behavior, and many types of animals appear to have solved foraging problems using a shared set of mechanisms. Perhaps the most common foraging problem is the choice between exploiting a familiar option for a known reward and exploring unfamiliar options for unknown rewards-the so-called explore/exploit trade-off. This trade-off has been studied extensively in behavioral ecology and computational neuroscience, but is relatively new to the field of psychiatry.

Cellular interplay via cytokine hierarchy causes pathological cardiac hypertrophy in RAF1-mutant Noonan syndrome.

Noonan syndrome (NS) is caused by mutations in RAS/ERK pathway genes, and is characterized by craniofacial, growth, cognitive and cardiac defects. NS patients with kinase-activating RAF1 alleles typically develop pathological left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), which is reproduced in Raf1 knock-in mice. Here, using inducible Raf1 expression, we show that LVH results from the interplay of cardiac cell types.

Pulmonary Flow as an Improved Method for Determining Cardiac Output in Mice after Myocardial Infarction.

Background: Echocardiography is a valuable noninvasive technique to estimate cardiac output (CO) from the left ventricle (LV) not only in clinical practice but also in small-animal experiments. CO is used to grade cardiac function and is especially important when investigating cardiac injury (e.g.

Central-acting therapeutics alleviate respiratory weakness caused by heart failure-induced ventilatory overdrive.

Diaphragmatic weakness is a feature of heart failure (HF) associated with dyspnea and exertional fatigue. Most studies have focused on advanced stages of HF, leaving the cause unresolved. The long-standing theory is that pulmonary edema imposes a mechanical stress, resulting in diaphragmatic remodeling, but stable HF patients rarely exhibit pulmonary edema.

Family network size and survival across the lifespan of female macaques.

Two decades of research suggest social relationships have a common evolutionary basis in humans and other gregarious mammals. Critical to the support of this idea is growing evidence that mortality is influenced by social integration, but when these effects emerge and how long they last is mostly unknown. Here, we report in adult female macaques that the impact of number of close adult female relatives, a proxy for social integration, on survival is not experienced uniformly across the life course; prime-aged females with a greater number of relatives had better survival outcomes compared with prime-aged females with fewer relatives, whereas no such effect was found in older females.

Hello from the Other Side: How Autoantibodies Circumvent the Blood-Brain Barrier in Autoimmune Encephalitis.

Antibodies against neuronal receptors and synaptic proteins are associated with autoimmune encephalitides (AE) that produce movement and psychiatric disorders. In order to exert their pathological effects on neural circuits, autoantibodies against central nervous system (CNS) targets must gain access to the brain and spinal cord by crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a tightly regulated gateway formed by endothelial cells lining CNS blood vessels. To date, the pathogenic mechanisms that underlie autoantibody-triggered encephalitic syndromes are poorly understood, and how autoantibodies breach the barrier remains obscure for almost all AE syndromes.

The Benefits and Limitations of Targeted Training in Flexible Transnasal Laryngoscopy Diagnosis.

Importance: Targeted laryngoscopy training can be used successfully in de novo learners.

Objective: To determine the value of targeted laryngoscopy education in interns.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This prospective study of fiberoptic laryngoscopy interpretations enrolled 13 participants in an academic hospital setting from August 1 to December 31, 2015.

The Interactive Candidate Assessment Tool: A New Way to Interview Residents.

The purpose of the residency interview is to determine the extent to which a well-qualified applicant is a good fit with a residency program. However, questions asked during residency interviews tend to be standard and repetitive, and they may not elicit information that best differentiates one applicant from another. The iCAT (interactive Candidate Assessment Tool) is a novel interview instrument that allows both interviewers and interviewees to learn about each other in a meaningful way.

Computational imaging analysis of glycated fibrin gels reveals aggregated and anisotropic structures.

In this article, a computational imaging analysis method is presented for the evaluation of aggregation and anisotropy in both native (unglycated) and glycated fibrin matrix structures. The imaging analysis was used to test the hypothesis that glycated fibrin structures are more aggregated and anisotropic than unglycated (native) fibrin structures. Glycation of fibrinogen, and subsequently fibrin, occurs under normal physiological conditions; however, excess glycation due to disease states such as diabetes can disrupt the fibrin matrix and cause an abnormal structure and function.

Selective attention in peacocks during assessment of rival males.

Males in many species compete intensely for access to females. In order to minimize costly interactions, they can assess their rivals' competitive abilities by evaluating traits and behaviors. We know little about how males selectively direct their attention to make these assessments.

The association of allergic sensitization with radiographic sinus opacification.

Background: The relationship between allergic sensitization and radiographic sinus inflammation remains unclear.

Objectives: To determine whether specific allergen sensitization is correlated with sinonasal radiographic opacification.

Methods: Patients with chronic sinonasal symptoms were selected and included if they had allergy testing and a computed tomography (CT) of the paranasal sinuses.

Social Decision-Making and the Brain: A Comparative Perspective.

The capacity and motivation to be social is a key component of the human adaptive behavioral repertoire. Recent research has identified social behaviors remarkably similar to our own in other animals, including empathy, consolation, cooperation, and strategic deception. Moreover, neurobiological studies in humans, nonhuman primates, and rodents have identified shared brain structures (the so-called 'social brain') apparently specialized to mediate such functions.

Urinary Extracellular Vesicles: Potential Biomarkers of Renal Function in Diabetic Patients.

The aim of this study was to check the relationship between the density of urinary EVs, their size distribution, and the progress of early renal damage in type 2 diabetic patients (DMt2). Patients were enrolled to this study, and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) below 7% was a threshold for properly controlled diabetic patients (CD) and poorly controlled diabetic patients (UD). Patients were further divided into two groups: diabetic patients without renal failure (NRF) and with renal failure (RF) according to the Glomerular Filtration Rate.