Evaluation of the anti-cholelithiasis activity of vinegar-soaked Ficus carica fruit in adults: A randomized controlled trial.

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of vinegar-soaked Ficus carica fruits (VSFCF) for managing cholelithiasis in adults. A parallel-group, single-blinded, randomized controlled trial at Noreen Nishat Welfare Hospital, Khanewal, Pakistan, was conducted from December 2023 to February 2024. Fifty adults with ultrasound-confirmed cholelithiasis were randomly assigned to receive either VSFCF (1 g/kg/day) or ursodiol (600 mg/day).

The genomic architecture of circulating cytokine levels points to drug targets for immune-related diseases.

Circulating cytokines orchestrate immune reactions and are promising drug targets for immune-mediated and inflammatory diseases. Exploring the genetic architecture of circulating cytokine levels could yield key insights into causal mediators of human disease. Here, we performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for 40 circulating cytokines in meta-analyses of 74,783 individuals.

Enhanced RNAi does not provide efficient innate antiviral immunity in mice.

In RNA interference (RNAi), long double-stranded RNA is cleaved by the Dicer endonuclease into small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), which guide degradation of complementary RNAs. While RNAi mediates antiviral innate immunity in plants and many invertebrates, vertebrates have adopted a sequence-independent response and their Dicer produces siRNAs inefficiently because it is adapted to process small hairpin microRNA precursors in the gene-regulating microRNA pathway. Mammalian endogenous RNAi is thus a rudimentary pathway of unclear significance.

High-resolution whole-genome DNA methylation revealed unique signatures of painful diabetic neuropathy.

The aim of this work was to describe the DNA methylation signature and to identify genes associated with neuropathic pain in type 2 diabetes mellitus. We analyzed two independent diabetic neuropathy cohorts: PROPGER consisting of 72 painful and 67 painless patients recruited at the German Diabetes Center in Düsseldorf (DE), and PROPENG comprising 27 painful and 65 painless diabetic neuropathy patients recruited at the University of Manchester (UK). Genome-wide methylation data was generated using Illumina Infinium Methylation EPIC v1.

Association of corneal endothelial cell morphology with neurodegeneration in mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

Introduction: Corneal confocal microscopy (CCM) detects neurodegeneration in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia and identifies subjects with MCI who develop dementia. This study assessed whether abnormalities in corneal endothelial cell (CEC) morphology are related to corneal nerve morphology, brain volumetry, cerebral ischemia, and cognitive impairment in MCI and dementia.

Methods: Participants with no cognitive impairment (NCI), MCI, and dementia underwent CCM to quantify corneal endothelial cell density (CECD) and area (CECA), corneal nerve fiber morphology, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain volumetry, and severity of brain ischemia.