Can diffusion weighting replace gadolinium enhancement in magnetic resonance enterography for inflammatory bowel disease in children?

Background: Contrast-enhanced MRI is often used for diagnosis and follow-up of children with inflammatory bowel disease.

Objective: To compare the accuracy of diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) to contrast-enhanced MRI in children with known or suspected inflammatory bowel disease.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective, consecutive study included 55 children.

Increased Grik4 Gene Dosage Causes Imbalanced Circuit Output and Human Disease-Related Behaviors.

Altered glutamatergic neurotransmission is thought to contribute to mental disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Copy-number variation in genes associated with glutamatergic synapses represents a source of genetic variability, possibly underlying neurological and mental disease susceptibility. The GRIK4 gene encodes a high-affinity kainate receptor subunit of essentially unknown function, although de novo duplication of the 11q23.

Host-specific proteomic and growth analysis of maize and tomato seedlings inoculated with Azospirillum brasilense Sp7.

Azospirillum brasilense Sp7 (Sp7) is a diazotrophic, free-living plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium (PGPR) that is increasingly used for its ability to reduce stress and improve nutrient uptake by plants. To test the hypothesis that Sp7 interacts differently with the primary metabolism in C and C plants, differential proteomics were employed to study weekly protein expression in Sp7-treated maize (Zea mays cv. B73) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum cv.

Roles of the emergency medicine pharmacist: A systematic review.

Purpose: Results of a systematic literature review to identify roles for emergency medicine (EM) pharmacists beyond traditionally reported activities and to quantify the benefits of these roles in terms of patient outcomes are reported.

Summary: Emergency department (ED)-based clinical pharmacy is a rapidly growing practice area that has gained support in a number of countries globally, particularly over the last 5-10 years. A systematic literature search covering the period 1995-2016 was conducted to characterize emerging EM pharmacist roles and the impact on patient outcomes.

Reliability and Validity of National End of Rotation Examinations: An Update.

Purpose: This study sought to evaluate the reliability of the PAEA End of Rotation™ exam scores used as a combined scale. The study also investigated how closely the individual exam scores and the combined scale correlate with Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE) performance to validate their use as tools for assessing physician assistant (PA) students during their clinical training.

Methods: Deidentified PAEA End of Rotation examination and PANCE scores were used to calculate Pearson correlations, Cronbach's alpha, and value of Cronbach's alpha if individual exams were removed from the analysis.

Exergy Analyses of Onion Drying by Convection: Influence of Dryer Parameters on Performance.

This research work is concerned in the exergy analysis of the continuous-convection drying of onion. The influence of temperature and air velocity was studied in terms of exergy parameters. The energy and exergy balances were carried out taking into account the onion drying chamber.

Use of Idarucizumab for dabigatran reversal: Emergency department experience in two cases with subdural haematoma.

Introduction: Idarucizumab is the first effective humanized monoclonal antibody fragment developed specifically as a reversal agent for dabigatran, a Direct Oral Anticoagulant. Despite recent trials demonstrating reversal of clinically relevant bleeding, there is a paucity of data on use outside the trial setting. This manuscript describes the use of Idarucizumab to reverse dabigatran in two patients presenting to the emergency department of a major tertiary hospital with acute traumatic subdural haematomas (SDH).

Impaired endocrine-metabolic homeostasis: underlying mechanism of its induction by unbalanced diet.

To characterize the intrinsic mechanism by which sucrose induces β-cell dysfunction. Normal rats received for 3 weeks a standard diet supplemented with 10% sucrose in the drinking water (high sucrose (HS)) with/out an antioxidant agent (R/S α-lipoic acid). We measured plasma glucose, insulin, triglyceride, leptin, and lipid peroxidation levels; homeostasis model assessment (HOMA)-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and HOMA for β-cell function (HOMA-β) indexes were also determined.

Xanthomatous Cells in Cutaneous Graft-Versus-Host Disease Biopsies: A Clue for the Diagnosis of Hepatic Graft-Versus-Host Disease.

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is one of the most common and serious complications of hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation that mainly affects the skin, gastrointestinal tract, and liver. Hepatic GVHD is associated with high morbidity and mortality, and its diagnosis can be especially challenging because of nonspecific clinical signs and symptoms. It must be suspected in patients with elevated liver enzymes and cholestasis, especially in those with a history of preceding skin rash and diarrhea.

Encoding of danger by parabrachial CGRP neurons.

Animals must respond to various threats to survive. Neurons that express calcitonin gene-related peptide in the parabrachial nucleus (CGRP neurons) relay sensory signals that contribute to satiation and pain-induced fear behaviour, but it is unclear how they encode these distinct processes. Here, by recording calcium transients in vivo from individual neurons in mice, we show that most CGRP neurons are activated by noxious cutaneous (shock, heat, itch) and visceral stimuli (lipopolysaccharide).

Congenital Langerhans cell histiocytosis presenting in a 27-week-gestation neonate.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis is exceedingly rare in premature infants, and the few cases reported suggest a poor prognosis with systemic involvement. We present a case of Langerhans cell histiocytosis limited to a single cutaneous lesion, presenting in a 27-week-gestation infant, which is the youngest gestational age of reported Langerhans cell histiocytosis cases. The lesion showed spontaneous resolution by 41 weeks corrected gestational age, and systemic involvement was absent, demonstrating a mild course of skin-only Langerhans cell histiocytosis in a premature infant.

Extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type: a Spanish multicentric retrospective survey.

Background: Extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type (ENKTL) is an aggressive lymphoma with a very low incidence in western populations.

Objective: To review the clinicopathological features and outcome of a multicentre series of ENKTL in Spain.

Materials & Methods: A multicentre retrospective study was performed based on cases of ENKTL, collected from 1995 to 2004, from 12 dermatology departments included in the Spanish Lymphoma Study Group.

Clustering of Whole-Brain White Matter Short Association Bundles Using HARDI Data.

Human brain connectivity is extremely complex and variable across subjects. While long association and projection bundles are stable and have been deeply studied, short association bundles present higher intersubject variability, and few studies have been carried out to adequately describe the structure, shape, and reproducibility of these bundles. However, their analysis is crucial to understand brain function and better characterize the human connectome.

Liver carbohydrates metabolism: A new islet-neogenesis associated protein peptide (INGAP-PP) target.

Islet-Neogenesis Associated Protein-Pentadecapeptide (INGAP-PP) increases β-cell mass and enhances glucose and amino acids-induced insulin secretion. Our aim was to demonstrate its effect on liver metabolism. For that purpose, adult male Wistar rats were injected twice-daily (10 days) with saline solution or INGAP-PP (250 μg).

INGAP-PP effects on β-cell mass and function are related to its positive effect on islet angiogenesis and VEGFA production.

Our aim was to determine whether islet angiogenesis and VEGFA production/release participate in the mechanism by which INGAP-PP enhances β-cell function and mass. We used two models: a) in vivo (normal rats injected with INGAP-PP for 10 days) and b) in vitro (normal islets cultured for 4 days with INGAP-PP, VEGFA, Rapamycin, and the specific VEGF-Receptor inhibitor, SU5416). INGAP-PP administration enhanced insulin secretion, β-cell mass, islet vascularization, and angiogenesis without affecting glucose homeostasis.

Treatment and disease management of multiple sclerosis patients: A review for nurse practitioners.

Background And Purpose: This review discusses the role of the nurse practitioner (NP) in evaluating the clinical effects, potential side effects, and monitoring requirements for treatment options in multiple sclerosis (MS) and provides guidance on how to help patients understand these issues.

Methods: A literature search was conducted on PubMed to identify publications on monitoring and disease management of MS patients. Additional resources included drug information web sites and package inserts.

First-line treatment in lymphomatoid papulosis: a retrospective multicentre study.

Background: Data regarding response to treatment in lymphomatoid papulosis (LyP) are scarce.

Aim: To assess the daily clinical practice approach to LyP and the response to first-line treatments.

Methods: This was a retrospective study enrolling 252 patients with LyP.

Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among African American Men Across the Adult Lifecourse.

Objectives: A lifecourse framework was used to examine the association between major and everyday measures of perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms among African American men and to evaluate whether these relationships differed for young, middle-aged, and older men.

Method: The association between both major and everyday discrimination and depressive symptoms, as measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale, was assessed among 296 African American men in the 2011-2014 Nashville Stress and Health Study (NSAHS) using ordinary least squares regression. Interactive associations between major and everyday discrimination and age patterns in the discrimination-depressive symptoms relationship were also investigated.

Management of syndromic diarrhea/tricho-hepato-enteric syndrome: A review of the literature.

Syndromic diarrhea/tricho-hepato-enteric syndrome (SD/THE) is a rare disease linked to the loss of function of either TTC37 or SKIV2L, two components of the SKI complex. It is characterized by a combination of 9 signs (intractable diarrhea, hair abnormalities, facial dysmorphism, immune abnormalities, IUGR/SGA, liver abnormalities, skin abnormalities, congenital heart defect and platelet abnormalities). We present a comprehensive review of the management of SD/THE and tested therapeutic regimens.

Cutaneous Indeterminate Cell Histiocytosis of Donor Origin After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Transplantation.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation and solid-organ transplantation are associated with an increased risk of secondary neoplasms. Indeterminate cell histiocytosis (ICH) is a rare disease composed of so-called indeterminate cells, an alleged cutaneous dendritic cell subset displaying histological and some ultrastructural and immunophenotypic features of Langerhans cells but lacking Birbeck granules. We report a case of cutaneous ICH occurring after allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation for a myelodysplastic syndrome in a 56-year-old man.

Schrödinger's microbes: Tools for distinguishing the living from the dead in microbial ecosystems.

While often obvious for macroscopic organisms, determining whether a microbe is dead or alive is fraught with complications. Fields such as microbial ecology, environmental health, and medical microbiology each determine how best to assess which members of the microbial community are alive, according to their respective scientific and/or regulatory needs. Many of these fields have gone from studying communities on a bulk level to the fine-scale resolution of microbial populations within consortia.

A tale of two circuits: CCK neuron stimulation controls appetite and induces opposing motivational states by projections to distinct brain regions.

Cholecystokinin (CCK)-expressing neurons within the nucleus of the solitary tract (CCK) of the mouse are responsive to satiety signals and their chemogenetic activation suppresses appetite. Optogenetic activation of CCK axon terminals within either the parabrachial nucleus (PBN) or the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVH) is sufficient to suppress feeding. An interesting dichotomy has been revealed when assessing the motivational valence of these two circuits.

Somatic mutation, a cause of biliary atresia: A hypothesis.

Despite many years of research, the causes of biliary atresia still remain elusive. Infection, immune disorder, toxins or maternal microchimerism have been cited as potential triggers of biliary atresia. This is a rare disease with a stable incidence over the years although with sizeable ethnic variations.

Normative Data for a Comprehensive Neuropsychological Test Battery used in the Assessment of Sports-Related Concussion.

Objective: The use of normative data is a hallmark of the neuropsychological assessment process. Within the context of sports-related concussion, utilizing normative data is especially essential when individualized baseline data are unavailable for comparison. The primary purpose of this study was to establish normative data for a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery used in the assessment of sports-related concussion.