Infertility treatment and autism risk using the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT).

Study Question: Are toddlers conceived by fertility treatment at higher risk of failing a screening tool for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) than toddlers not conceived by treatment?

Summary Answer: Compared with children not conceived by infertility treatment, children conceived by any infertility treatment, ovulation induction with or without intrauterine insemination (OI/IUI), or assisted reproductive technologies (ART) appeared to have had higher odds of failing an ASD screening; however, results were inconclusive and need replication.

What Is Known Already: Although most of the studies which have examined risk of ASD after ART show no association, the results are mixed. Thus, further studies are needed to clarify this association.

Current experts' views on precision nuclear medicine imaging of phaeochromocytoma and paraganglioma.

The EANM/SNMMI 2019 guidelines for radionuclide imaging of phaeochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PPGL) describe the current experts' views on molecular imaging in the era of precision medicine, and contain all of the information needed by nuclear physicians for performing, interpreting, and reporting the results of imaging investigations. This editorial, from a clinician's perspective, describes the first-choice radiopharmaceutical for a particular clinical setting as an important element of the revised guidelines. It also gives new evidence-based data showing the steadily growing role of nuclear imaging in PPGL phenotyping and assessment of their clinical characteristics and outcomes.

European Association of Nuclear Medicine Practice Guideline/Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Procedure Standard 2019 for radionuclide imaging of phaeochromocytoma and paraganglioma.

Purpose: Diverse radionuclide imaging techniques are available for the diagnosis, staging, and follow-up of phaeochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PPGL). Beyond their ability to detect and localise the disease, these imaging approaches variably characterise these tumours at the cellular and molecular levels and can guide therapy. Here we present updated guidelines jointly approved by the EANM and SNMMI for assisting nuclear medicine practitioners in not only the selection and performance of currently available single-photon emission computed tomography and positron emission tomography procedures, but also the interpretation and reporting of the results.

Advances in the treatment of hypoparathyroidism with PTH 1-34.

Hypoparathyroidism is a rare disorder of calcium metabolism which is treated with calcium and vitamin D analogs. Although conventional therapy effectively raises serum calcium, it bypasses the potent calcium reabsorption effects of PTH on the kidney which leads to hypercalciuria and an increased risk of nephrocalcinosis and renal insufficiency. Twenty-five years ago, we launched the first systematic investigation into synthetic human PTH 1-34 replacement therapy in both adults and children.

DNA Conformation Induces Adaptable Binding by Tandem Zinc Finger Proteins.

Tandem zinc finger (ZF) proteins are the largest and most rapidly diverging family of DNA-binding transcription regulators in mammals. ZFP568 represses a transcript of placental-specific insulin like growth factor 2 (Igf2-P0) in mice. ZFP568 binds a 24-base pair sequence-specific element upstream of Igf2-P0 via the eleven-ZF array.

Ca and lipid signals hold hands at endoplasmic reticulum-plasma membrane contact sites.

Discovery of the STIM1 and Orai proteins as the principal components of store-operated Ca entry has drawn attention to contact sites between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the plasma membrane (PM). Such contacts between adjacent membranes of different cellular organelles, primarily between the mitochondria and the ER, had already been known as the sites where Ca released from the ER can be efficiently channelled to the mitochondria and also where phosphatidylserine synthesis and transfer takes place. Recent studies have identified contact sites between virtually every organelle and the ER and the functional importance of these small specialized membrane domains is increasingly recognized.

Potential Acceptability of a Pediatric Ventilator Management Computer Protocol.

Objectives: To examine issues regarding the granularity (size/scale) and potential acceptability of recommendations in a ventilator management protocol for children with pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Design: Survey/questionnaire.

Setting: The eight PICUs in the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network.

SIRT1 is a transcriptional enhancer of the glucocorticoid receptor acting independently to its deacetylase activity.

Glucocorticoids have strong effects on diverse human activities through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) is a NAD-dependent histone deacetylase and promotes longevity by influencing intermediary metabolism and other regulatory activities including mitochondrial function. In this study, we examined the effects of SIRT1 on GR-mediated transcriptional activity.

Potential Role of Metabolic Intervention in the Management of Advanced Differentiated Thyroid Cancer.

Well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) is the most common endocrine malignancy that has an excellent prognosis with a 5-year survival rate of about 98%. However, approximately 50% of the patients with DTC who present with distant metastases (advanced DTC) die from the disease within 5 years of initial diagnosis even after getting the appropriate therapy. Apart from recent advancements in chemotherapy agents, the potential role of metabolic interventions, including the use of metformin, ketogenic diet, and high-dose vitamin C in the management of advanced cancers have been investigated as a less toxic co-adjuvant therapies.

Decreased Motor Neuron Support by SMA Astrocytes due to Diminished MCP1 Secretion.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal-recessive disorder characterized by severe, often fatal muscle weakness due to loss of motor neurons. SMA patients have deletions and other mutations of the () gene, resulting in decreased SMN protein. Astrocytes are the primary support cells of the CNS and are responsible for glutamate clearance, metabolic support, response to injury, and regulation of signal transmission.

ProQ/FinO-domain proteins: another ubiquitous family of RNA matchmakers?

Small RNAs (sRNAs), particularly those that act by limited base pairing with mRNAs, are part of most regulatory networks in bacteria. In many cases, the base-pairing interaction is facilitated by the RNA chaperone Hfq. However, not all bacteria encode Hfq and some base-pairing sRNAs do not require Hfq raising the possibility of other RNA chaperones.

Preventing HIV among adolescents with oral PrEP: observations and challenges in the United States and South Africa.

Introduction: Adolescents and young adults aged <25 are a key population in the HIV epidemic, with very high HIV incidence rates in many geographic settings and a large number who have limited access to prevention services. Thus, any biomedical HIV prevention approach should prepare licensure and implementation strategies for young populations. Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is the first antiretroviral-based prevention intervention with proven efficacy across many settings and populations, and regulatory and policy approvals at global and national levels are occurring rapidly.

Assessing the adequacy of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist leuprolide to trigger oocyte maturation and management of inadequate response.

Objective: To compare outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles with adequate versus inadequate response to the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist trigger rescued with the use of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) retrigger, and to identify risk factors associated with an inadequate trigger.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Private practice.

Intravital Imaging Reveals Ghost Fibers as Architectural Units Guiding Myogenic Progenitors during Regeneration.

How resident stem cells and their immediate progenitors rebuild tissues of pre-injury organization and size for proportional regeneration is not well understood. Using 3D, time-lapse intravital imaging for direct visualization of the muscle regeneration process in live mice, we report that extracellular matrix remnants from injured skeletal muscle fibers, "ghost fibers," govern muscle stem/progenitor cell behaviors during proportional regeneration. Stem cells were immobile and quiescent without injury whereas their activated progenitors migrated and divided after injury.

Incidence and Outcomes of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in PICUs.

Objectives: To determine the incidence of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in PICUs and subsequent outcomes.

Design, Setting, And Patients: Multicenter prospective observational study of children younger than 18 years old randomly selected and intensively followed from PICU admission to hospital discharge in the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network December 2011 to April 2013.

Results: Among 10,078 children enrolled, 139 (1.

Recruitment strategies in two reproductive medicine network infertility trials.

Background: Recruitment of individuals into clinical trials is a critical step in completing studies. Reports examining the effectiveness of different recruitment strategies, and specifically in infertile couples, are limited.

Methods: We investigated recruitment methods used in two NIH sponsored trials, Pregnancy in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PPCOS II) and Assessment of Multiple Intrauterine Gestations from Ovarian Stimulation (AMIGOS), and examined which strategies yielded the greatest number of participants completing the trials.

Virtualization of open-source secure web services to support data exchange in a pediatric critical care research network.

Objectives: To examine the feasibility of deploying a virtual web service for sharing data within a research network, and to evaluate the impact on data consistency and quality.

Material And Methods: Virtual machines (VMs) encapsulated an open-source, semantically and syntactically interoperable secure web service infrastructure along with a shadow database. The VMs were deployed to 8 Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network Clinical Centers.

Relations between infants' emerging reach-grasp competence and event-related desynchronization in EEG.

Recent reports of similar patterns of brain electrical activity (electroencephalogram: EEG) during action execution and observation, recorded from scalp locations over motor-related regions in infants and adults, have raised the possibility that two foundational abilities--controlling one's own intentional actions and perceiving others' actions--may be integrally related during ontogeny. However, to our knowledge, there are no published reports of the relations between developments in motor skill (i.e.

Association of bleeding and thrombosis with outcome in extracorporeal life support.

Objective: Changes in technology and increased reports of successful extracorporeal life support use in patient populations, such as influenza, cardiac arrest, and adults, are leading to expansion of extracorporeal life support. Major limitations to extracorporeal life support expansion remain bleeding and thrombosis. These complications are the most frequent causes of death and morbidity.

Germline PRKACA amplification leads to Cushing syndrome caused by 3 adrenocortical pathologic phenotypes.

We describe the pathology of 5 patients with germline PRKACA copy number gain and Cushing syndrome: 4 males and 1 female, aged 2 to 43 years, including a mother and son. Imaging showed normal or slightly enlarged adrenal glands in 4 patients and a unilateral mass in the fifth. Biochemically, the patients had corticotropin-independent hypercortisolism.

Real-time electronic medical record alerts increase high blood pressure recognition in children.

Objective: Pediatric hypertension remains largely unrecognized. We hypothesized that an electronic medical record (EMR) alert would increase elevated blood pressure (BP) recognition in a pediatric primary care setting.

Study Design: Pre-post evaluation of a real-time EMR alert and one-time provider educational session.

Pediatric intensive care outcomes: development of new morbidities during pediatric critical care.

Objective: To investigate significant new morbidities associated with pediatric critical care.

Design: Randomly selected, prospective cohort.

Setting: PICU patients from eight medical and cardiac PICUs.

Use of aromatase inhibitors in large cell calcifying sertoli cell tumors: effects on gynecomastia, growth velocity, and bone age.

Context: Large cell calcifying Sertoli cell tumors (LCCSCT) present in isolation or, especially in children, in association with Carney Complex (CNC) or Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome (PJS). These tumors overexpress aromatase (CYP19A1), which leads to increased conversion of delta-4-androstenedione to estrone and testosterone to estradiol. Prepubertal boys may present with growth acceleration, advanced bone age, and gynecomastia.