Novelty preference assessed by eye tracking: A sensitive measure of impaired recognition memory in epilepsy.

Objective: Epilepsy patients often report memory deficits despite normal objective testing, suggesting that available measures are insensitive or that non-mnemonic factors are involved. The Visual Paired Comparison Task (VPCT) assesses novelty preference, the tendency to fixate on novel images rather than previously viewed items, requiring recognition memory for the "old" images. As novelty preference is a sensitive measure of hippocampal-dependent memory function, we predicted impaired VPCT performance in epilepsy patients compared to healthy controls.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors in liver transplantation: Current practice, challenges, and opportunities.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are becoming a mainstay of cancer treatment. While first studied and approved for patients with unresectable disease, due to their efficacy, they are becoming increasingly used in the perioperative period across many cancer types. In patients with HCC, immune checkpoint inhibitors have now become the standard of care in the advanced setting and have shown promising results in the adjuvant setting after liver resection.

Proposed mechanisms of tau: relationships to traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer's disease, and epilepsy.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and epilepsy share proposed mechanisms of injury, including neuronal excitotoxicity, cascade signaling, and activation of protein biomarkers such as tau. Although tau is typically present intracellularly, in tauopathies, phosphorylated (p-) and hyper-phosphorylated (hp-) tau are released extracellularly, the latter leading to decreased neuronal stability and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Tau cleavage at particular sites increases susceptibility to hyper-phosphorylation, NFT formation, and eventual cell death.

Evaluation of technical urinary tract complications in kidney transplantation recipients with a prolonged dialysis history.

Background: The kidney transplant waiting list continues to expand, resulting in prolonged dialysis times exceeding 8 years before transplantation in some regions. The relationship between long-term dialysis and urinary tract complications after kidney transplant remains largely unexplored. This study aims to evaluate post-kidney transplant complications in patients with a history of prolonged dialysis.

In-scanner head motion and structural covariance networks.

In-scanner head motion systematically reduces estimated regional gray matter volumes obtained from structural brain MRI. Here, we investigate how head motion affects structural covariance networks that are derived from regional gray matter volumetric estimates. We acquired motion-affected and low-motion whole brain T1-weighted MRI in 29 healthy adult subjects and estimated relative regional gray matter volumes using a voxel-based morphometry approach.

Dual inhibition of αβ and αβ reduces fibrogenesis in lung tissue explants from patients with IPF.

Rationale: α integrins, key regulators of transforming growth factor-β activation and fibrogenesis in in vivo models of pulmonary fibrosis, are expressed on abnormal epithelial cells (αβ) and fibroblasts (αβ) in fibrotic lungs.

Objectives: We evaluated multiple α integrin inhibition strategies to assess which most effectively reduced fibrogenesis in explanted lung tissue from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Methods: Selective αβ and αβ, dual αβ/αβ, and multi-α integrin inhibitors were characterized for potency, selectivity, and functional activity by ligand binding, cell adhesion, and transforming growth factor-β cell activation assays.

Treatment and outcomes of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with Sickle cell disease: a population-based study in the U.S.

Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a rare hemoglobinopathy which can result in chronic liver disease and cirrhosis. Patients with SCD have an increased risk of hematologic malignancy, but the prevalence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in this population is unknown. Herein, the association of SCD with HCC was examined using registry data.

Estimation of in-scanner head pose changes during structural MRI using a convolutional neural network trained on eye tracker video.

Introduction: In-scanner head motion is a common cause of reduced image quality in neuroimaging, and causes systematic brain-wide changes in cortical thickness and volumetric estimates derived from structural MRI scans. There are few widely available methods for measuring head motion during structural MRI. Here, we train a deep learning predictive model to estimate changes in head pose using video obtained from an in-scanner eye tracker during an EPI-BOLD acquisition with participants undertaking deliberate in-scanner head movements.

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery pleurectomy: a suitable alternative for treating malignant pleural effusions.

Background: Malignant pleural effusions (MPEs) are common manifestations of metastatic cancers and are associated with a dismal prognosis. Talc pleurodesis has been proven to be effective in the management of MPEs, however, class-action lawsuits linking talc to ovarian adenocarcinoma have rendered it unavailable at many institutions. As a result, surgeons have resorted to less effective chemical pleurodesis as an alternative to indwelling pleural drainage catheters.

Generative Adversarial Networks Improve the Reproducibility and Discriminative Power of Radiomic Features.

Purpose: To assess the contribution of a generative adversarial network (GAN) to improve intermanufacturer reproducibility of radiomic features (RFs).

Materials And Methods: The authors retrospectively developed a cycle-GAN to translate texture information from chest radiographs acquired using one manufacturer (Siemens) to chest radiographs acquired using another (Philips), producing fake chest radiographs with different textures. The authors prospectively evaluated the ability of this texture-translation cycle-GAN to reduce the intermanufacturer variability of RFs extracted from the lung parenchyma.

Perioperative Multimodal Anesthetic Care Incorporating Transversus Abdominis Plane Block Is Associated With Reduced Narcotic Use in Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy.

Background: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is the most commonly performed bariatric surgery performed in North America. As our knowledge of the importance in limiting narcotic use in postoperative patients increases, we sought to evaluate the effect of transversus abdominis plane (TAP) blocks on inpatient narcotic use in patients undergoing LSG.

Methods: A retrospective review of LSG performed at a single institution by 3 bariatric surgeons was performed.

Characteristics of Matriculants to Thoracic Surgery Residency Training Programs.

Background: Thoracic surgery (TS) residency positions are in high demand. There is no study describing the nationwide attributes of successful matriculants in this specialty. We examined the characteristics of TS resident applicants and identified factors associated with acceptance.

Methylphenidate for attention problems in epilepsy patients: Safety and efficacy.

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have an increased risk of seizures, and children with epilepsy have an increased prevalence of ADHD. Adults with epilepsy often have varying degrees of attentional dysfunction due to multiple factors, including anti-seizure medications, frequent seizures, interictal discharges, underlying lesions, and psychiatric comorbidities. Currently, there are no approved medications for the treatment of epilepsy-related attentional dysfunction.

Patient Comorbidities Drive High Mortality Rates Associated with Major Liver Resections Irrespective of Hospital Volume.

Introduction: Major hepatectomies are utilized to manage primary hepatic malignancies. Reports from high-volume centers (HVCs) with minimal perioperative mortality focus on multiple aspects of perioperative care, although patient-specific factors remain unelucidated. We identified patient factors associated with outcomes and examined whether these contribute to survival differences.

An Irreversibility-Based Criterion to Determine the Cost Formation of Residues in a Three-Pressure-Level Combined Cycle.

In an energy system, it is important to identify the origin of residue formation in order to implement actions to reduce their formation or to eliminate them as well as to evaluate their impact on the production costs of the system. In the exergetic cost theory, although there are several criteria to allocate the cost formation of residues to the productive components, no unique indication on the best choice has been defined yet. In this paper, the production exergy costs are determined by allocating the residue cost formation to the irreversibilities of the productive components from which they originate.

Gallbladder squamous cell carcinoma: An analysis of 1084 cases from the National Cancer Database.

Background/objectives: Gallbladder squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is an uncommon malignancy whose rarity has made it particularly challenging to study. We utilized a national database to shed light on the clinicopathologic characteristics, management patterns, and survival associated with these tumors.

Methods: Patients with gallbladder SCC were identified in the National Cancer Database.

Intratumoral γδ T-Cell Infiltrates, Chemokine (C-C Motif) Ligand 4/Chemokine (C-C Motif) Ligand 5 Protein Expression and Survival in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Background And Aims: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an aggressive malignancy which is often associated with a complex tumor microenvironment attributable to etiology-induced cellular inflammation. γδ T cells are known to detect and react to chronic inflammation, which is linked to cancer development, progression, and metastasis. Our recent genomic study revealed an increased infiltration of several immune cell types, including γδ T cells, in tumor microenvironments of a Thai HCC subtype associated with a good prognosis.

PKM2 inhibition may reverse therapeutic resistance to transarterial chemoembolization in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Therapeutic options for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are limited. Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is an interventional procedure used to deliver chemotherapy and embolizing agents directly to the tumor and is the procedure of choice for patients with intermediate stage HCC. While effective, more than 40% of patients do not respond to therapy, highlighting the need to investigate possible mechanisms of resistance.

Bidirectional chemotherapy in patients with gastric cancer and peritoneal metastasis.

Gastric cancer is a lethal malignancy due to the combination of late-stage presentation, propensity for early metastasis, and lack of effective systemic therapies. Given the high rates of gastric peritoneal metastasis, both macro- and microscopic, regional therapy represents both an attractive and rational treatment option for patients given its success in other peritoneal surface malignancies. Bidirectional chemotherapy (intraperitoneal and intravenous) for treatment of metastatic gastric cancer has not been evaluated prospectively in a contemporary North American cohort.

AGO2 Mediates mRNA Stability in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Deregulated RNA-binding proteins (RBP), such as Argonaute 2 (AGO2), mediate tumor-promoting transcriptomic changes during carcinogenesis, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). While AGO2 is well characterized as a member of the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), which represses gene expression through miRNAs, its role as a bona fide RBP remains unclear. In this study, we investigated AGO2's role as an RBP that regulates the transcript to promote HCC.

Gene signature predictive of hepatocellular carcinoma patient response to transarterial chemoembolization.

Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is a commonly used treatment modality in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The ability to identify patients who will respond to TACE represents an important clinical need, and tumor gene expression patterns may be associated with TACE response. We investigated whether tumor transcriptome is associated with TACE response in patients with HCC.

Tumor grade may be used to select patients with multifocal hepatocellular carcinoma for resection.

Background: While resection is a recommended treatment for patients with stage 1 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), it remains controversial for multifocal disease. We sought to identify patients with multifocal HCC with survival after resection similar to patients with clinical stage 1 HCC.

Methods: The National Cancer Database was queried to identify patients that underwent resection for HCC.

Tumor Cell Biodiversity Drives Microenvironmental Reprogramming in Liver Cancer.

Cellular diversity in tumors is a key factor for therapeutic failures and lethal outcomes of solid malignancies. Here, we determined the single-cell transcriptomic landscape of liver cancer biospecimens from 19 patients. We found varying degrees of heterogeneity in malignant cells within and between tumors and diverse landscapes of tumor microenvironment (TME).