Evaluation of Oral Vasoactive Medications to Maintain Mean Arterial Pressure in Spinal Cord Injury.

Introduction: An acute spinal cord injury (SCI) results in significant morbidity worldwide. Guidelines recommend mean arterial pressure (MAP) augmentation to prevent hypoperfusion. Although there is no consensus on a single vasoactive agent for MAP augmentation, intravenous vasopressors are commonly utilized, requiring an intensive care unit (ICU).

Unraveling the gut microbiome's contribution to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: mechanistic insights and therapeutic perspectives.

The gut microbiome plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), influencing oncogenesis, immune responses, and treatment outcomes. Studies have identified microbial species like Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum, that promote PDAC progression through various mechanisms. Additionally, the gut microbiome affects immune cell activation and response to immunotherapy, including immune checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T therapy.

Circulating Tumor DNA (ctDNA) Clearance May Predict Treatment Response in Neoadjuvant Colorectal Cancer Management.

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is extracellular DNA released by tumors and has been proposed as a marker of residual disease as well as a predictor of disease recurrence in the adjuvant setting. However, data are lacking on the utility of this biomarker in the neoadjuvant setting. We performed a retrospective study of stage III and IV colorectal cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant treatment at a single institution.

Prophylactic Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy for Patients at High Risk of Developing Gallbladder Cancer Peritoneal Metastases: Case Report and Rationale for a Prospective Clinical Trial.

Gallbladder cancer is a devastating disease with a 5-year survival of only 18%. The majority of gallbladder cancers are discovered incidentally in patients undergoing cholecystectomy. During non-oncologic laparoscopic cholecystectomy for gallbladder disease, gallbladder perforation occurs in 29% of cases and spillage of gallstones occurs in 9% of cases.

Recent advances for treatment of upper gastrointestinal malignancy.

Recent prospective trials for esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) are encouraging. This manuscript reviews selected recently published studies. Not surprisingly, immunotherapy dominates the current clinical trial landscape.

Current and future imaging modalities in gastric cancer.

Gastric adenocarcinoma treatment can include endoscopic mucosal resection, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and palliative measures depending on staging. Both invasive and noninvasive staging techniques have been used to dictate the best treatment pathway. Here, we review the current imaging modalities used in gastric cancer as well as novel techniques to accurately stage and screen these patients.

A Rare Presentation of Ileocecal Mucormycosis in a Heart Transplant Recipient.

is an order of angioinvasive fungi that classically infects immunocompromised patients. As an aerogenous pathogen, it most frequently causes disease of the lungs and paranasal sinuses. Gastrointestinal mucormycosis represents a particularly rare site of infection.

Modeling other minds: Bayesian inference explains human choices in group decision-making.

To make decisions in a social context, humans have to predict the behavior of others, an ability that is thought to rely on having a model of other minds known as "theory of mind." Such a model becomes especially complex when the number of people one simultaneously interacts with is large and actions are anonymous. Here, we present results from a group decision-making task known as the volunteer's dilemma and demonstrate that a Bayesian model based on partially observable Markov decision processes outperforms existing models in quantitatively predicting human behavior and outcomes of group interactions.

Investigating Neural Sensorimotor Mechanisms Underlying Flight Expertise in Pilots: Preliminary Data From an EEG Study.

Over the last decade, the efforts toward unraveling the complex interplay between the brain, body, and environment have set a promising line of research that utilizes neuroscience to study human performance in natural work contexts such as aviation. Thus, a relatively new discipline called neuroergonomics is holding the promise of studying the neural mechanisms underlying human performance in pursuit of both theoretical and practical insights. In this work, we utilized a neuroergonomic approach by combining insights from ecological psychology and embodied cognition to study flight expertise.

Shared multisensory experience affects Others' boundary: The enfacement illusion in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia has been described as a psychiatric condition characterized by deficits in one's own and others' face recognition, as well as by a disturbed sense of body-ownership. To date, no study has integrated these two lines of research with the aim of investigating Enfacement Illusion (EI) proneness in schizophrenia. To accomplish this goal, the classic EI protocol was adapted to test the potential plasticity of both Self-Other and Other-Other boundaries.

Sensing the Worst: Neurophenomenological Perspectives on Neutral Stimuli Misperception in Schizophrenia Spectrum.

While investigating social cognitive impairments in schizophrenia, prominent evidence has been found that patients with schizophrenia show a tendency to misclassify neutral stimuli as negatively valenced. Within this population, patients presenting delusions are more prone to this phenomenon. In a previous study, Schizophrenia spectrum (SzSp) patients rated positive, negative and neutral stimuli that were multimodally presented, while assessed with a checklist exploring anomalous subjective experiences and evaluated for positive and negative symptomatology.

Incidence of prosthesis-patient mismatch in patients receiving mitral Biocor® porcine prosthetic valves.

Background: The aim was to assess the incidence of prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM) after mitral valve replacement (MVR) in patients receiving Biocor® porcine or mechanical valves, and to evaluate the effect of PPM on long-term survival.

Methods: All patients undergoing MVR between 2009 and 2013 received either mechanical or bioprosthetic valves (Biocor® porcine). PPM was defined as severe when the indexed effective ori-fice area was < 0.

Anomalous echo: Exploring abnormal experience correlates of emotional motor resonance in Schizophrenia Spectrum.

Anomalous experiences such as Basic Symptoms (BS) are considered the first subjective manifestation of the neurobiological substrate of schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to explore whether a low or high emotional motor resonance occurring in Schizophrenia Spectrum (SzSp) patients was related to patients׳ clinical features and to their anomalous subjective experiences as indexed by the Bonn Scale for the Assessment of Basic Symptoms (BSABS). To this aim, we employed a validated paradigm sensitive in evoking a congruent facial mimicry (measured by means of facial electromyographic activity, EMG) through multimodal positive and negative emotional stimuli presentation.

Mirroring the self: testing neurophysiological correlates of disturbed self-experience in schizophrenia spectrum.

Background: Self-disorders (SDs) have been described as a core schizophrenia spectrum vulnerability phenotype, both in classic and contemporary psychopathological literature. However, such a core phenotype has not yet been investigated adopting a trans-domain approach that combines the phenomenological and the neurophysiological levels of analysis. The aim of this study is to investigate the relation between SDs and subtle, schizophrenia-specific impairments of emotional resonance that are supposed to reflect abnormalities in the mirror neurons mechanism.

When age matters: differences in facial mimicry and autonomic responses to peers' emotions in teenagers and adults.

Age-group membership effects on explicit emotional facial expressions recognition have been widely demonstrated. In this study we investigated whether Age-group membership could also affect implicit physiological responses, as facial mimicry and autonomic regulation, to observation of emotional facial expressions. To this aim, facial Electromyography (EMG) and Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) were recorded from teenager and adult participants during the observation of facial expressions performed by teenager and adult models.

Understanding of action-related and abstract verbs in comparison: a behavioral and TMS study.

Does the comprehension of both action-related and abstract verbs rely on motor simulation? In a behavioral experiment, in which a semantic task was used, response times to hand-action-related verbs were briefer than those to abstract verbs and both decreased with repetition of presentation. In a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) experiment, single-pulse stimulation was randomly delivered over hand motor area of the left primary motor cortex to measure cortical-spinal excitability at 300 or 500 ms after verb presentation. Two blocks of trials were run.

Facial reactions in response to dynamic emotional stimuli in different modalities in patients suffering from schizophrenia: a behavioral and EMG study.

Emotional facial expression is an important low-level mechanism contributing to the experience of empathy, thereby lying at the core of social interaction. Schizophrenia is associated with pervasive social cognitive impairments, including emotional processing of facial expressions. In this study we test a novel paradigm in order to investigate the evaluation of the emotional content of perceived emotions presented through dynamic expressive stimuli, facial mimicry evoked by the same stimuli, and their functional relation.

When early experiences build a wall to others' emotions: an electrophysiological and autonomic study.

Facial expression of emotions is a powerful vehicle for communicating information about others' emotional states and it normally induces facial mimicry in the observers. The aim of this study was to investigate if early aversive experiences could interfere with emotion recognition, facial mimicry, and with the autonomic regulation of social behaviors. We conducted a facial emotion recognition task in a group of "street-boys" and in an age-matched control group.

Abstract art and cortical motor activation: an EEG study.

The role of the motor system in the perception of visual art remains to be better understood. Earlier studies on the visual perception of abstract art (from Gestalt theory, as in Arnheim, 1954 and 1988, to balance preference studies as in Locher and Stappers, 2002, and more recent work by Locher et al., 2007; Redies, 2007, and Taylor et al.

Regression of left ventricular hypertrophy and improvement of renal hemodynamics in hypertensive patients treated with quinapril.

Of 17 patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension, 8 showed echocardiographic evidence of left ventricular hypertrophy. Cardiac and renal function evaluated by glomerular filtration rate (GFR) were studied in all patients before and after 20 weeks of quinapril treatment. Systolic pressure decreased from 174.

[Comparison of nisoldipine and diltiazem in the treatment of effort angina pectoris].

Background: In order to evaluate the benefits of a calcium-antagonist medium-term treatment, 20 patients with effort stable angina pectoris were treated with nisoldipine in comparison to diltiazem.

Methods: Twenty patients with stable effort angina completed a double-blind, placebo controlled trial, comparing 10 twice daily nisoldipine per os and diltiazem 120 three times daily per os for 28 days. After wash-out, placebo and drug period, ergometer stress tests were performed.

[Acute effects of propranolol and its association with nifedipine in aged patients with effort stable angina. Randomized double-blind crossover study, under placebo control].

Calcium-antagonist and B-blockers are effective in improving exercise tolerance in patients with effort angina. We studied the short effects of oral administration of nifedipine (10 mg) and propranolol (80 mg) alone and in combination in 15 elderly patients with chronic exertional angina pectoris in a double-blind, randomized, cross-over study. The 15 patients (13 men and 2 women, mean age 69 years) performed symptoms-limits bicycle exercise stress test 3 h after placebo or active substance administration.