Effects of oral administration of the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG on the proteomic profiles of cerebrospinal fluid and immunoregulatory signaling in the hippocampus of adult male rats.

Introduction: The microbiome-gut-brain axis, by modulating bidirectional immune, metabolic, and neural signaling pathways in the host, has emerged as a target for the prevention and treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders. Oral administration of the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG; ATCC 53103) exhibits anti-inflammatory effects, although the precise mechanisms by which LGG benefits host physiology and behavior are not known. The goal of this study was to explore the general effects of LGG on the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteome and a biological signature of anti-inflammatory signaling in the central nervous system (CNS) of undisturbed, adult male rats.

Bilateral hippocampal toxicity in a patient using kratom.

As an emerging toxic recreational drug, kratom use has been associated with a range of adverse effects, but reports of structural changes in the central nervous system are rare. We report a case of a young man in his 20s with a history of anxiety and depression who presented with an altered mental status and anterograde and retrograde amnesia following kratom use. His labs showed elevated alanine aminotransferase and ammonia levels, and his MRI revealed bilateral hippocampal T2 hyperintensity signal changes.

Metastatic Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma to the Right Ventricle.

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is a rare, yet extremely aggressive form of thyroid cancer characterized by rapid growth and early metastasis to distant sites. Cardiac involvement is very uncommon and the presentation of cardiac metastasis in ATC can vary widely, highlighting the importance of early clinical recognition. We describe an extremely rare case of metastatic ATC that spread to the right ventricle.

Comprehensive analysis of targetable mutations and tumor microenvironment in urachal cancer.

Urachal cancer, a rare malignancy, generally presents in the clinical setting with advanced stages of disease. Systemic treatment with chemotherapy is generally utilized in this setting. However, there remains a paucity of data on the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors or targeted therapies for urachal cancer.

Transcorneal Vitrectomy In Eyes With Regressed Retinoblastoma.

Purpose: Current treatments for retinoblastoma facilitate globe salvage but can result in vitreoretinal disorders that may require surgery. There is controversy on surgical approaches in eyes with retinoblastoma. Here, we describe a transcorneal vitrectomy approach that avoids the use of chemotherapy or cryotherapy.

Single-molecule analysis reveals that IPMK enhances the DNA-binding activity of the transcription factor SRF.

Serum response factor (SRF) is a master transcription factor that regulates immediate early genes and cytoskeletal remodeling genes. Despite its importance, the mechanisms through which SRF stably associates with its cognate promoter remain unknown. Our biochemical and protein-induced fluorescence enhancement analyses showed that the binding of SRF to serum response element was significantly increased by inositol polyphosphate multikinase (IPMK), an SRF cofactor.

Hemorrhagic Cervical Synovial Cyst With Atypical Chest Pain Presentation.

Cervical synovial cysts are rare, especially hemorrhagic cervical synovial cysts. The patient was a 58-year-old male with a five-month history of tingling in his right shoulder region, radicular pain in his right arm, and increased pain on the right chest wall that worsened with lying supine down. The patient was diagnosed with a right-sided hemorrhagic synovial cyst at the C7-T1 level.

Can brain neurons change identity? Lessons from obesity.

It has long been thought that the functional identity of mammalian brain neurons is programmed during development and remains stable throughout adult life; however, certain populations of neurons continue to express active regulators of neuronal identity into adulthood. Prolonged exposure to diet-induced metabolic stress induces features of neuronal identity modification in adult mice, and maladaptive changes in neuronal identity maintenance have been linked to cognitive impairment in humans suffering from neurodegenerative diseases often associated with obesity. Here we discuss how, by unraveling the neurological roots of obesity, we may solve the puzzle of whether mammalian brain neurons retain identity plasticity into adulthood, while advancing knowledge of the pathogenic mechanisms at the interface of metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders.

Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Outcomes in Unilateral Coats Disease: A Global Collaborative Study.

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical outcomes and prognostic factors in unilateral Coats disease in the era of anti-VEGF therapy.

Design: Global, multicenter, retrospective case series.

Subjects: Six hundred fifty-six eyes of 656 subjects with Coats disease were included in this study.

Insights into Nitrogen-Associated Protein 50 (NAP50) as a Tyrosyl-DNA Phosphodiesterase in Dinoflagellates.

Nitrogen-associated protein 50 (NAP50) is an abundant plastid protein with an unknown function identified in (Dinophyceae). No progress has been made in discovering the function of NAP50 since its first characterization in 2009. The present study is a continuation of work on the predicted function of NAP50.

Proteomic insights of interaction between ichthyotoxic dinoflagellate Karenia mikimotoi and algicidal bacteria Maribacter dokdonensis.

Omics technology has been employed in recent research on algicidal bacteria, but previous transcriptomic studies mainly focused on bacteria or algae, neglecting their interaction. This study explores interactions between algicidal bacterium Maribacter dokdonesis P4 and target alga Karenia mikimotoi KMHK using proteomics. Proteomics responses of KMHK after co-culture with P4 in separate compartments of the transwell for 8 and 24 h were evaluated using tandem mass tags (TMT) proteomics, and changes of P4 proteomics were also assessed.

Interpreting the complexities of the plastid genome in dinoflagellates: a mini-review of recent advances.

Photosynthetic dinoflagellates play crucial roles in global primary production and carbon fixation. Despite their success in filling various ecological niches, numerous mysteries about their plastid evolution and plastid genomes remain unsolved. The plastid genome of dinoflagellates presents one of the most complex lineages in the biological realm, mainly due to multiple endosymbiotic plastid events in their evolutionary history.

Disseminated Varicella-Zoster Virus Presenting With Pneumonitis and Diffuse Alveolar Hemorrhage in an Immunocompetent Patient.

Varicella pneumonitis is typically seen in individuals with risk factors such as male gender, smoking history, and immunocompromised state and is often associated with disseminated infection, whereas primary varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection usually involves a diffuse vesicular rash and rarely progresses to viral pneumonia. VZV pneumonitis accompanied by disseminated VZV infection is associated with a high mortality rate and may progress to diffuse alveolar hemorrhage in severe cases. In addition to cutaneous lesions, patients typically develop dyspnea, cough, tachypnea, chest pain, fever, and hemoptysis.

Extensive Dural Venous Thrombosis With Associated Intracerebral Hemorrhage and Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Due to Protein S Deficiency: A Case Report.

Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is an uncommon but potentially severe condition, typically affecting younger individuals, pregnant women, and those with underlying thrombophilia. We report a rare case of a 63-year-old female who presented with altered mental status, facial droop, and slurred speech and was found to have an extensive dural venous thrombosis complicated by intracerebral and subarachnoid hemorrhage due to protein S deficiency. Given her diagnosis of protein S deficiency and thrombosis, careful anticoagulation was initiated, resulting in both clinical and radiographic improvement.

A refined reweighing technique for nondiscriminatory classification.

Discrimination-aware classification methods remedy socioeconomic disparities exacerbated by machine learning systems. In this paper, we propose a novel data pre-processing technique that assigns weights to training instances in order to reduce discrimination without changing any of the inputs or labels. While the existing reweighing approach only looks into sensitive attributes, we refine the weights by utilizing both sensitive and insensitive ones.

Falling From Laughing: Laughing Gas-Induced Subacute Combined Degeneration From Nitrous Oxide.

Laughing gas is becoming increasingly popular as a recreational drug of choice, particularly among young adults. Nitrous oxide, the toxic component of laughing gas, can cause neuronal injury when used in high doses. Through multiple mechanisms, nitrous oxide leads to B12 depletion and subsequent demyelination, particularly in the spinal cord.

Initiation of retinopathy of prematurity screening examinations in extremely premature infants.

Purpose: To determine whether extremely premature infants require screening for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) if <31 weeks' postmenstrual age (PMA).

Methods: The medical records of infants born in community hospital settings at <31 weeks' gestational age (GA) were reviewed retrospectively. Prevalence and progression of ROP in infants born at <24 weeks' GA were compared with infants born at 24-30 weeks' GA.

Evaluating ChatGPT Responses on Atrial Fibrillation for Patient Education.

Background ChatGPT is a language model that has gained widespread popularity for its fine-tuned conversational abilities. However, a known drawback to the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot is its tendency to confidently present users with inaccurate information. We evaluated the quality of ChatGPT responses to questions pertaining to atrial fibrillation for patient education.

Pulmonary Embolism in Patients Admitted With Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy: Prevalence and Associated In-Hospital Adverse Events.

Introduction  Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM) is a poorly understood condition typically characterized by abnormal left ventricular wall motion without causative coronary artery disease and typically presents in post-menopausal women after the experience of a physical or emotional stressor. The pathophysiology of TCM is complex and multifactorial, resulting in complications with varied severity; one of the most concerning complications is thromboembolism, specifically, pulmonary embolism (PE), which is understudied in its relation to TCM. The purpose of this study was to characterize and evaluate the real-world prevalence and outcomes of PE in TCM.

Evaluating ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4.0 Responses on Hyperlipidemia for Patient Education.

Introduction Hyperlipidemia is prevalent worldwide and affects a significant number of US adults. It significantly contributes to ischemic heart disease and millions of deaths annually. With the increasing use of the internet for health information, tools like ChatGPT (OpenAI, San Francisco, CA, USA) have gained traction.

Unlocking Health Literacy: The Ultimate Guide to Hypertension Education From ChatGPT Versus Google Gemini.

Background Google Gemini (Google, Mountain View, CA) represents the latest advances in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI) and has garnered attention due to its capabilities similar to the increasingly popular ChatGPT (OpenAI, San Francisco, CA). Accurate dissemination of information on common conditions such as hypertension is critical for patient comprehension and management. Despite the ubiquity of AI, comparisons between ChatGPT and Gemini remain unexplored.