Gut microbiota and its impact on critical illness.

Purpose Of Review: This narrative review discusses the mechanisms connecting gut dysbiosis to adverse clinical outcomes in critically ill patients and explores potential therapeutic strategies.

Recent Findings: In recent years, the study of microbiota in ICUs has gained attention because of its potential effects on patient outcomes. Critically ill patients often face severe conditions, which can compromise their immune systems and lead to opportunistic infections from bacteria typically harmless to healthy individuals.

Antimicrobial regime for gut microbiota depletion in experimental mice models.

Mice models serve as a valuable tool to study microbiome-immune system interactions. While the use of germ-free mice may represent the gold-standard method, antibiotic-based microbiome depletion provides a more cost-efficient and feasible system. The protocol here in presented provides a mild antimicrobial regime to deplete basal microbiota in 8-week-old C57BL/6 mice, aiming to ensure reproducibility in microbiota studies.

"Utility of PET/CT with [F] F-fluorocholine in assessing the response to antiandrogenic therapy in patients with prostate cancer.".

Objective: To evaluate the correlation between response assessment measured by PET/CT with [F] F-fluorocholine (Choline PET/CT) and serum levels of PSA in patients with prostate cancer under antiandrogenic treatment.

Methodology: A retrospective study included patients with CRPC and CSPC treated with enzalutamide, abiraterone, or apalutamide between June 2018 and July 2021, who underwent baseline and a follow-up Choline PET/CT. The difference in maximum SUVmax (ΔSUV) between both studies and the PSA value before and at follow-up were recorded.

Adult vaccinations against respiratory infections.

Introduction: Lower respiratory infections have a huge impact on global health, especially in older individuals, immunocompromised people, and those with chronic comorbidities. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of vaccination. However, there are lower rates of vaccination in the adult population that are commonly due to a missed opportunity to vaccinate.

Accuracy and clinical applicability of plasma tau 181 and 217 for Alzheimer's disease diagnosis in a memory clinic cohort.

Plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (p-tau181) and 217 (p-tau217) have demonstrated high accuracy for Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnosis, defined by CSF/PET amyloid beta (Aβ) positivity, but most studies have been performed in research cohorts, limiting their generalizability. We studied plasma p-tau217 and p-tau181 for CSF Aβ status discrimination in a cohort of consecutive patients attending an academic memory clinic in Spain (July 2019-June 2024). All patients had CSF AD biomarkers performed as part of their routine clinical assessment.

Real-life outcome after failure to venetoclax and hypomethylating-based therapy for acute myeloid leukemia.

Not available.

Human Papillomavirus Infection and Cytological Atypia in Female Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Recipients.

Background: Female recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation are at high risk of developing human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated lesions and (pre)cancer. We describe the results of a cervical cancer screening program in these women.

Methods: From 2010 to 2022, 70 female recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in our institution entered a standardized protocol of gynecological evaluation.

Measuring the impact of hospitalisation for infectious diseases on the quality of life of older patients in four European countries: the AEQUI longitudinal matched cohort study (2020-2023).

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of hospitalisation for infectious diseases on the Health-Related Quality of life (HRQOL), multidimensional frailty, and functioning of older patients, we conducted a longitudinal matched cohort study in four European countries.

Methods: HRQOL, frailty, and functioning were assessed using validated questionnaires at inclusion, at discharge, and up to six months later (M6) in patients aged over 65 years hospitalised for severe acute respiratory or bloodstream infections, and matched controls hospitalised for non-infectious conditions. Comparative analyses employed multilevel mixed-effect linear or logistic models to assess changes from inclusion.

Epidemiology, Ventilation Management, and Outcomes in Invasively Ventilated Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients: An Analysis of Four Observational Studies in Four Countries on Two Continents.

Epidemiology, ventilator management, and outcomes in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) because of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been described extensively but have never been compared between countries. We performed an individual patient data analysis of four observational studies to compare epidemiology, ventilator management, and outcomes. We used propensity score weighting to control for confounding factors.

Dual Biological Role and Clinical Impact of De Novo Chromatin Activation in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

Previous studies have reported that chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) shows a de novo chromatin activation pattern as compared to normal B cells. Here, we explored whether the level of chromatin activation is related to the clinical behavior of CLL. We identified that in some regulatory regions, increased de novo chromatin activation is linked to clinical progression whereas, in other regions, it is associated with an indolent course.

Applied pharmacogenetics to predict response to treatment of first psychotic episode: study protocol.

The application of personalized medicine in patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) requires tools for classifying patients according to their response to treatment, considering both treatment efficacy and toxicity. However, several limitations have hindered its translation into clinical practice. Here, we describe the rationale, aims and methodology of (the FarmaPRED-PEP project), which aims to develop and validate predictive algorithms to classify FEP patients according to their response to antipsychotics, thereby allowing the most appropriate treatment strategy to be selected.

Time to HIV viral rebound and frequency of post-treatment control after analytical interruption of antiretroviral therapy: an individual data-based meta-analysis of 24 prospective studies.

The only current strategy to test efficacy of novel interventions for sustained HIV control without antiretroviral therapy (ART) among people with HIV (PWH) is through an analytical treatment interruption (ATI). Inclusion of 'placebo' controls in ATIs poses ethical, logistical, and economic challenges. To understand viral dynamics and rates of post-treatment control (PTC) after ATI among PWH receiving either placebo or no intervention, we undertook an individual-participant data meta-analysis.

Interventions for adult congenital heart disease.

Advances in imaging diagnostics, surgical techniques and transcatheter interventions for paediatric patients with severe congenital heart disease (CHD) have substantially reduced mortality, thereby extending the lifespan of these individuals and increasing the number of adults with complex CHD. Transcatheter interventions have emerged as an alternative to traditional open-heart surgery to mitigate congenital defects. The evolution of techniques, the introduction of new devices and the growing experience of operators have enabled the treatment of patients with progressively more complex conditions.

The clinical assessment of lung involvement in patients with Still's disease, results from the multicentre international AIDA Network Still's Disease Registry.

Objectives: To assess the lung involvement in patients with Still's disease, an inflammatory disease assessing both children and adults. To exploit possible associated factors for parenchymal lung involvement in these patients.

Methods: A multicentre observational study was arranged assessing consecutive patients with Still's disease characterized by the lung involvement among those included in the AIDA (AutoInflammatory Disease Alliance) Network Still's Disease Registry.

Longitudinal Assessment of Abnormal Cortical Folding in Fetuses and Neonates With Isolated Non-Severe Ventriculomegaly.

Purpose: The impact of ventriculomegaly (VM) on cortical development and brain functionality has been extensively explored in existing literature. VM has been associated with higher risks of attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorders, as well as cognitive, language, and behavior deficits. Some studies have also shown a relationship between VM and cortical overgrowth, along with reduced cortical folding, both in fetuses and neonates.

Fetal Corpus Callosum Anomalies: A Review of Underlying Genetic Disorders and Prenatal Testing Options.

Anomalies of the corpus callosum (CC) are amongst the most common fetal Central Nervous System (CNS) anomalies detectable on ultrasound. Underlying genetic disease plays an important part in defining prognosis. Associations with aneuploidy and submicroscopic chromosomal deletions or duplications have been well demonstrated using chromosomal microarray analysis.

Idecabtagene vicleucel or ciltacabtagene autoleucel for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma: An international multicenter study.

Idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel) and ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel) have revolutionized the treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM), but direct comparisons are lacking. Leveraging an international multicenter RRMM cohort, we compared the outcome of ide-cel ( = 162) versus cilta-cel ( = 42). Co-primary efficacy endpoints of the study were overall response rate (ORR) and progression-free survival (PFS).

Germline structural variant as the cause of Lynch Syndrome in a family from Ecuador.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Lynch Syndrome (LS) is the most common form of hereditary CRC and it is caused by germline defects in the DNA-mismatch repair (MMR) pathway. It is of extreme importance for affected LS patients and their relatives to identify the germline causative alteration to provide intensified surveillance to those at risk and allow early diagnosis and cancer prevention.

Deep cascaded registration and weakly-supervised segmentation of fetal brain MRI.

Deformable image registration is a cornerstone of many medical image analysis applications, particularly in the context of fetal brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), where precise registration is essential for studying the rapidly evolving fetal brain during pregnancy and potentially identifying neurodevelopmental abnormalities. While deep learning has become the leading approach for medical image registration, traditional convolutional neural networks (CNNs) often fall short in capturing fine image details due to their bias toward low spatial frequencies. To address this challenge, we introduce a deep learning registration framework comprising multiple cascaded convolutional networks.

Effectiveness of positive allosteric modulators of metabotropic glutamate receptor 2/3 (mGluR2/3) in animal models of schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a deleterious brain disorder characterised by its heterogeneity and complex symptomatology consisting of positive, negative and cognitive deficits. Current antipsychotic drugs ameliorate the positive symptomatology, but are inefficient in treating the negative symptomatology and cognitive deficits. The neurodevelopmental glutamate hypothesis of SZ has opened new avenues in the development of drugs targeting the glutamatergic system.