The Inflammatory Milieu of Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngioma and Its Implications for Treatment.

Pediatric Adamantinomatous Craniopharyngiomas (ACPs) are histologically benign brain tumors that often follow an aggressive clinical course. Their suprasellar location leaves them in close proximity to critical neurological and vascular structures and often results in significant neuroendocrine morbidity. Current treatment paradigms, involving surgical resection and radiotherapy, confer significant morbidity to patients and there is an obvious need to discover effective and safe alternative treatments.

The empirical replicability of task-based fMRI as a function of sample size.

Replicating results (i.e. obtaining consistent results using a new independent dataset) is an essential part of good science.

Dietary methylsulfonylmethane supplementation and oxidative stress in broiler chickens.

Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) is an organic, sulfur-containing compound widely used as a dietary supplement to improve joint health and treat arthritic pain. An experiment was conducted to study the effects of feeding 0.05% MSM to broilers exposed to diet-induced oxidative stress on tissue MSM distribution, growth performance, oxidative stress biomarkers, and immune responsivity.

Randomized Controlled Trial of a Smartphone Application as an Adjunct to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Smoking Cessation.

There is a major public health need for innovative and efficacious behavioral and cognitive interventions for smoking cessation. This randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) smartphone application in augmenting ACT group treatment for smoking cessation. One hundred fifty adults smoking 10 or more cigarettes per day were randomly assigned to 6 weekly group sessions of behavioral support, ACT, or ACT combined with the smartphone application.

Predicting change trajectories of neuroticism from baseline brain structure using whole brain analyses and latent growth curve models in adolescents.

Adolescence is a vulnerable time for personality development. Especially neuroticism with its link to the development of psychopathology is of interest concerning influential factors. The present study exploratorily investigates neuroanatomical signatures for developmental trajectories of neuroticism based on a voxel-wise whole-brain structural equation modelling framework.

Aberrant reward prediction errors in young adult at-risk alcohol users.

Previous studies suggest that individuals with substance use disorder have abnormally large responses to unexpected outcomes (reward prediction errors [RPEs]). However, there is much less information on RPE in individuals at risk of alcohol misuse, prior to neurobiological adaptations that might result from sustained alcohol use. Here, participants (mean age 23.

Pressurized Intraperitoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy, a Palliative Treatment Approach for Patients With Peritoneal Carcinomatosis: Description of Method and Systematic Review of Literature.

Background: Peritoneal metastases arise in patients with a variety of primary cancers, and are associated with a poor prognosis. Systemic chemotherapy is the mainstay of treatment; however, the morbidity is considerable and the survival benefit is modest. Cytoreductive surgery and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy is a potentially curative treatment available to a minority of patients; however, most develop recurrent disease.

Contralateral delay activity is not a robust marker of cognitive function in older adults at risk of mild cognitive impairment.

Contralateral delay activity (CDA) has been proposed as a pre-clinical neural marker for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, existing evidence is limited to one study with a small sample size (n = 24). Our aim was to extend previous work by investigating the relationship between the CDA and MCI risk in a large sample of older adults (n = 76).

Association of Gray Matter and Personality Development With Increased Drunkenness Frequency During Adolescence.

Importance: Alcohol abuse correlates with gray matter development in adolescents, but the directionality of this association remains unknown.

Objective: To investigate the directionality of the association between gray matter development and increase in frequency of drunkenness among adolescents.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study analyzed participants of IMAGEN, a multicenter brain imaging study of healthy adolescents in 8 European sites in Germany (Mannheim, Dresden, Berlin, and Hamburg), the United Kingdom (London and Nottingham), Ireland (Dublin), and France (Paris).

EEG spectral power, but not theta/beta ratio, is a neuromarker for adult ADHD.

Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been described as having altered resting-state electroencephalographic (EEG) spectral power and theta/beta ratio (TBR). However, a recent review (Pulini et al. 2018) identified methodological errors in neuroimaging, including EEG, ADHD classification studies.

Cortical Surfaces Mediate the Relationship Between Polygenic Scores for Intelligence and General Intelligence.

Recent large-scale, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified hundreds of genetic loci associated with general intelligence. The cumulative influence of these loci on brain structure is unknown. We examined if cortical morphology mediates the relationship between GWAS-derived polygenic scores for intelligence (PSi) and g-factor.

Epigenome-wide meta-analysis of blood DNA methylation and its association with subcortical volumes: findings from the ENIGMA Epigenetics Working Group.

DNA methylation, which is modulated by both genetic factors and environmental exposures, may offer a unique opportunity to discover novel biomarkers of disease-related brain phenotypes, even when measured in other tissues than brain, such as blood. A few studies of small sample sizes have revealed associations between blood DNA methylation and neuropsychopathology, however, large-scale epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) are needed to investigate the utility of DNA methylation profiling as a peripheral marker for the brain. Here, in an analysis of eleven international cohorts, totalling 3337 individuals, we report epigenome-wide meta-analyses of blood DNA methylation with volumes of the hippocampus, thalamus and nucleus accumbens (NAcc)-three subcortical regions selected for their associations with disease and heritability and volumetric variability.

Supplemental methionine exerted chemical form-dependent effects on antioxidant status, inflammation-related gene expression, and fatty acid profiles of broiler chicks raised at high ambient temperature1.

This study was to explore metabolic effects of two forms and concentrations of supplemental methionine in grower and finisher diets for broiler chickens raised at high temperature. Male Cornish cockerel chicks (total = 360, day-old) were divided into four groups (10 pens/treatment, 9 chicks/pen) and fed with 100% or 130% required methionine in the diets as DL-methionine (DL-MET) or 2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio)butanoate (HMTBA). The room was maintained at 4 to 13 °C above the suggested thermoneutral temperature.

Identifying biological markers for improved precision medicine in psychiatry.

Mental disorders represent an increasing personal and financial burden and yet treatment development has stagnated in recent decades. Current disease classifications do not reflect psychobiological mechanisms of psychopathology, nor the complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors, likely contributing to this stagnation. Ten years ago, the longitudinal IMAGEN study was designed to comprehensively incorporate neuroimaging, genetics, and environmental factors to investigate the neural basis of reinforcement-related behavior in normal adolescent development and psychopathology.

Hierarchical associations of alcohol use disorder symptoms in late adolescence with markers during early adolescence.

High adolescent alcohol consumption is predictive for alcohol problems later in life. To tailor interventions, early identification of risk groups for adolescent alcohol consumption is important. The IMAGEN dataset was utilized to investigate predictors for problematic alcohol consumption at age 18-20 years as a function self and parental personality and drug-related measures as well as life-events and cognitive variables all assessed at age 14 years (N = 1404).

Identification of neurobehavioural symptom groups based on shared brain mechanisms.

Most psychopathological disorders develop in adolescence. The biological basis for this development is poorly understood. To enhance diagnostic characterization and develop improved targeted interventions, it is critical to identify behavioural symptom groups that share neural substrates.

Splenic flexure mobilization for sigmoid and low anterior resections in the minimally invasive era: How often and at what cost?

Background: Splenic flexure mobilization (SFM) increases left colonic reach for a better vascularized and tension-free anastomosis. Open SFM is challenging due to anatomic position. Minimally invasive SFM improves visualization and minimizes splenic traction.

Functional EEG connectivity is a neuromarker for adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms.

Objective: Altered brain functional connectivity has been shown in youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, relatively little is known about functional connectivity in adult ADHD, and how it is linked with the heritability of ADHD.

Methods: We measured eyes-open and eyes-closed resting electroencephalography (EEG) from 38 adults with ADHD, 45 1st degree relatives of people with ADHD and 51 healthy controls.

A survey of trace metal burdens in increment cores from eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) across a childhood cancer cluster, Sandusky County, OH, USA.

A dendrochemical study of cottonwood trees (Populus deltoides) was conducted across a childhood cancer cluster in eastern Sandusky County (Ohio, USA). The justification for this study was that no satisfactory explanation has yet been put forward, despite extensive local surveys of aerosols, groundwater, and soil. Concentrations of eight trace metals were measured by ICP-MS in microwave-digested 5-year sections of increment cores, collected during 2012 and 2013.

Button battery versus stacked coin ingestion: A conundrum for radiographic diagnosis.

Objectives: Given the potential for devastating complications associated with esophageal impaction of a button battery, there is a need to distinguish between a button battery and look-alike stacked coins at the time of presentation. Given there have been no studies analyzing differences in radiographic density between these two entities, the study objective was to determine if a difference exists between esophageal coin and button battery radiographic density on plain radiograph and to describe the operative and treatment course following these two distinct entities of ingestion.

Methods: Retrospective case series following button battery or stacked coin ingestion in a tertiary care pediatric hospital from 2003 to present.

Anti-TSNARE1 IgG plasma levels differ by sex in patients with schizophrenia in a Chinese population.

It was recently reported that levels of plasma IgG antibodies against peptide antigens derived from proteins encoded by schizophrenia-associated genes are altered in individuals with schizophrenia treated with antipsychotics. This study aimed to replicate the initial finding in antipsychotic-naïve patients with first-episode schizophrenia and to explore the possible mechanism by which immune tolerance of B cells may be altered in this disease. A total of 408 case-control plasma samples were collected for analysis of circulating IgG antibodies against fragments derived from TCF4, TSNARE1, ZNF804A, TRANK1, ERCC4, DPYD and CD25 using an in-house ELISA.

Heavy drinking in adolescents is associated with change in brainstem microstructure and reward sensitivity.

Heavy drinker adolescents: altered brainstem microstructure.