Understanding Cognitive Aging Through White Matter: A Fixel-Based Analysis.

Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) has been frequently used to examine age-related deterioration of white matter microstructure and its relationship to cognitive decline. However, typical tensor-based analytical approaches are often difficult to interpret due to the challenge of decomposing and (mis)interpreting the impact of crossing fibers within a voxel. We hypothesized that a novel analytical approach capable of resolving fiber-specific changes within each voxel (i.

Part II. Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation: what does the scientific evidence really show?

Creatine monohydrate supplementation (CrM) is a safe and effective intervention for improving certain aspects of sport, exercise performance, and health across the lifespan. Despite its evidence-based pedigree, several questions and misconceptions about CrM remain. To initially address some of these concerns, our group published a narrative review in 2021 discussing the scientific evidence as to whether CrM leads to water retention and fat accumulation, is a steroid, causes hair loss, dehydration or muscle cramping, adversely affects renal and liver function, and if CrM is safe and/or effective for children, adolescents, biological females, and older adults.

A Model for Consolidating High-Risk Allergy Procedures in Clinic.

Allergists perform a range of procedures with inherent risks of anaphylaxis. This study developed risk assessments for various procedures performed at our specialized referral center based on the frequency of epinephrine use during these procedures. During a 5.

Maternal Literacy Skills and Children's Kindergarten Outcomes in Rural Communities with Low Incomes: The Moderating Role of Hours in Child Care.

Based on theoretical premises of ecological systems theory and the compensatory hypothesis, a subset of data from the Family Life Project ( = 773), a population-based study of rural families with low incomes, were used to test for associations between maternal literacy in infancy and children's academic outcomes and teacher-reported problem behaviors in kindergarten. A second aim tested whether increased time in child care averaged from 6-36 months moderated such relations. Results indicated that maternal literacy was significantly positively related to academic outcomes ( = .

Evaluation of the use of intraosseous access on adult patients presenting to the emergency department in urban South Africa.

Background: Timely vascular access forms a necessary part of patient management in the Emergency Department (ED). Factors such as hypotension, intravenous drug use, obesity, dark skin, patients at extremes of age, and patients with multiple injuries may make peripheral intravenous cannulation difficult. The intraosseous route remains a suitable alternative for emergency circulatory access.

Hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm-the Mayo Clinic experience and literature review.

Introduction: Hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm (HAP) is a rare and potentially life-threatening condition associated with high mortality. This study aims to review the etiology, clinical manifestations, management, and outcomes of patients diagnosed and treated for HAP at the Mayo Clinic.

Methodology: This study was a retrospective chart review of medical records for patients diagnosed and treated for hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm (HAP) at the Mayo Clinic (Florida, Minnesota, and Arizona) between September 1, 1998, and June 30, 2022.

Stretching after spinal cord injury: a call for evidence for this common clinical practice.

Stretching is a ubiquitous rehabilitation intervention for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), intended to reduce spasticity, maintain or improve joint range of motion, and prevent joint contractures. Although people with SCI report that stretching is their preferred approach to reduce spasticity, limited evidence supports the use of stretching for people with SCI, including short-term (< one hour) effects on spasticity. Further, the long-term effects and the effects of stretching on motor function have yet to be examined in humans with SCI.

Consequences of "zombie-making" and generalist fungal pathogens on carpenter ant microbiota.

The bacterial microbiome of the ant has been well characterized across body regions and maturation levels. However, potential effects of entomopathogens on the gut microbiome, and the fungal communities therein, are yet to be assessed. Additionally, the mycobiome remains often overlooked despite playing a vital role in gut ecology with potential implications for health and infection outcomes.

Current Trends and Common Themes in Publications Concerning Private Equity Investment Into Orthopaedic Surgery Practices: Key Takeaways.

Introduction: Private equity (PE) investment in health care has increased more than 250% between 2010 and 2020. This is mirrored by an increasing number of published materials in medical journals. The objective of our study was to identify and characterize trends and key themes seen within publications discussing the topic of PE investment into orthopaedic surgery practices and bias within those publications.

Leveraging pre-trained machine learning models for islet quantification in type 1 diabetes.

Human islets display a high degree of heterogeneity in terms of size, number, architecture, and endocrine cell-type compositions. An ever-increasing number of immunohistochemistry-stained whole slide images (WSIs) are available through the online pathology database of the Network for Pancreatic Organ donors with Diabetes (nPOD) program at the University of Florida (UF). We aimed to develop an enhanced machine learning-assisted WSI analysis workflow to utilize the nPOD resource for analysis of endocrine cell heterogeneity in the natural history of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in comparison to donors without diabetes.

Case report: Treatment of non-medical tetrahydrocannabinol toxicosis with transmucosal cannabidiol-infused dissolving sheets in six dogs.

Increased cases of canine tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) toxicosis have been reported in North America in recent years. Cases are often evaluated on an emergency basis and treatment has relied upon supportive care which can be costly and prohibitive for some pet owners. The purpose of this report is to describe the clinical findings and outcomes in dogs with non-medical, presumptive THC toxicosis treated by administration of a cannibidiol (CBD)-infused transmucosal dissolving sheet.

Non-progressive CRMP-5-Associated Perifoveal Retinopathy in a Breast Cancer Patient: A Rare Paraneoplastic Phenomenon.

Paraneoplastic retinopathy (PR) is a rare autoimmune condition typically associated with progressive visual loss and is often linked to anti-recoverin antibodies. Paraneoplastic optic neuropathy (PON) is classically associated with collapsin response-mediator protein (CRMP-5). We present a unique case of non-progressive CRMP-5-associated perifoveal retinitis in a 79-year-old female with a history of breast carcinoma, who has maintained a stable visual acuity over an extended follow-up period of three years.

A bespoke water T-maze apparatus and protocol: an optimized, reliable, and repeatable method for screening learning, memory, and executive functioning in laboratory mice.

The Morris Water Maze (MWM) is the most commonly used assay for evaluating learning and memory in laboratory mice. Despite its widespread use, contemporary reviews have highlighted substantial methodological variation in experimental protocols and that the associated testing procedures are acutely (each trial) and chronically (testing across days) stressful; stress impairs attention, memory consolidation and the retrieval of learned information. Moreover, the interpretation of behavior within the MWM is often difficult because of wall hugging, non-spatial swim strategies, floating, and jumping off the escape platform.

Targeting Na1.7 and Na1.8 with a PIKfyve inhibitor to reverse inflammatory and neuropathic pain.

PIKfyve (1-phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate 5-kinase), a lipid kinase, plays an important role in generating phosphatidylinositol (3,5)-bisphosphate (PI(3,5)P). SGC-PIKFYVE-1, a potent and selective inhibitor of PIKfyve, has been used as a chemical probe to explore pathways dependent on PIKfyve activity. Based on reported changes in membrane dynamics and ion transport in response to PIKfyve inhibition, we hypothesized that pharmacological inhibition of PIKfyve could modulate pain.

Efficiency of potato peel extract in the preservation of cow butter.

This study investigates that the phenolic compound extracted from the potato peels using ethanol by maceration as a natural preservation agent for cow butter, yielding 10.42 ± 0.03 % phenolic compound.

Sensitivity of contributing factors to heterogeneity corrections in dosimetry of ocular brachytherapy using iodine-125 COMS plaques.

Purpose: To investigate sensitivity of contributing factors to heterogeneity corrections in ocular brachytherapy using iodine-125 (I) Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study (COMS) plaques.

Material And Methods: Using egs_brachy, Monte Carlo (MC) simulations were performed for I COMS plaques (model: IsoAid IAI-125A). Homogeneous dose (D) was estimated under the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Task Group-43 assumptions, with 85 Gy prescribed to a 5 mm depth.

Characterizing the antibody response to amustaline/glutathione pathogen-reduced red blood cells.

Background: The clinical significance of natural and treatment-emergent antibodies specific for amustaline/glutathione pathogen-reduced red blood cells (PRRBCs) is not known.

Study Design And Methods: A Phase 3, randomized clinical trial of PRRBCs (ReCePI) compared PRRBCs with conventional RBCs in cardiac or thoracic-aorta surgery. Subjects transfused during and for 7 days after surgery were screened for PRRBC-specific antibodies at baseline, 28 and 75 days post-surgery.

Environmental Control of Queuosine Levels in Streptococcus mutans tRNAs.

Queuosine (Q) is a modification of the wobble base in tRNAs that decode NA(C/U) codons. It is ubiquitous in bacteria, including many pathogens. Streptococcus mutans is an early colonizer of dental plaque biofilm and a key player in dental caries.

Ischemic Stroke Prevention in Patients Atrial Fibrillation and a Recent Ischemic Stroke, TIA, or Intracranial Hemorrhage; a World Stroke Organisation (WSO) Scientific Statement.

Background: Secondary stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the fastest growing areas in the field of cerebrovascular diseases. This Scientific statement from the World Stroke Organization Brain & Heart Task Force provides a critical analysis of the strength of current evidence this topic, highlights areas of current controversy, identifies knowledge gaps, and proposes priorities for future research.

Methods: We select topics with the highest clinical relevance and perform a systematic search to answer specific practical questions.

The N400 component reflecting semantic and repetition priming of visual scenes is suppressed during the attentional blink.

In the attentional blink paradigm, participants attempt to identify two targets appearing in a rapidly presented stream of distractors. Report accuracy is typically high for the first target (T1) while identification of the second target (T2) is impaired when it follows within about 200-400 ms of T1. An important question is whether T2 is processed to a semantic level even when participants are unaware of its identity.

Randomized Pilot Trial of the Text-Based Adherence Game for Ghanaian Youth with HIV.

This study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a mobile intervention called the Text-Based Adherence Game (TAG). TAG aimed to improve HIV treatment adherence among young people with HIV (YPWH) in Ghana. Participants, YPWH aged 18 to 24, were recruited from an HIV clinic in Kumasi, Ghana where study procedures were conducted.

Transforming Households with Refraction and Innovative Financial Technology (THRIFT): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of vision interventions and online banking among the elderly in Kurigram.

Introduction: Presbyopia, difficulty in seeing close-ups, affects a billion people globally. Mobile financial services (MFS) have been mandated since January 2021 for Bangladesh government social safety net payments, including old age allowance (OAA) and widow allowance (WA). We report the protocol for the Transforming Households with Refraction and Innovative Financial Technology randomised trial assessing the impact on the use of online banking of providing presbyopic safety net beneficiaries with reading glasses, and brief smartphone and mobile banking app training.

Seroprevalence of Brucellosis in Livestock and Farmers' Choice of Milk Marketing Channels in Rwamagana District, Rwanda.

Brucellosis remains an endemic disease in livestock populations in Rwanda, but the prevalence of the disease varies by geographic region. The common use of informal milk marketing channels represents a health hazard to humans when milk from Brucella-infected cows from one or more households is mixed with milk from other households for human consumption. In Rwanda, knowledge about the burden of brucellosis in livestock and factors associated with farmers' choice of milk marketing channels is very limited.