International Changes in COVID-19 Clinical Trajectories Across 315 Hospitals and 6 Countries: Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Many countries have experienced 2 predominant waves of COVID-19-related hospitalizations. Comparing the clinical trajectories of patients hospitalized in separate waves of the pandemic enables further understanding of the evolving epidemiology, pathophysiology, and health care dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed electronic health record (EHR) data from patients with SARS-CoV-2 infections hospitalized in participating health care systems representing 315 hospitals across 6 countries.

Very low prevalence of ultrasound-detected tenosynovial abnormalities in healthy subjects throughout the age range: OMERACT ultrasound minimal disease study.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of ultrasound-detected tendon abnormalities in healthy subjects (HS) across the age range.

Methods: Adult HS (age 18-80 years) were recruited in 23 international Outcome Measures in Rheumatology ultrasound centres and were clinically assessed to exclude inflammatory diseases or overt osteoarthritis before undergoing a bilateral ultrasound examination of digit flexors (DFs) 1-5 and extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) tendons to detect the presence of tenosynovial hypertrophy (TSH), tenosynovial power Doppler (TPD) and tenosynovial effusion (TEF), usually considered ultrasound signs of inflammatory diseases. A comparison cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was taken from the Birmingham Early Arthritis early arthritis inception cohort.

Pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with interstitial lung diseases: Correlates of success.

Background And Aim: Benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation in Interstitial Lung Diseases (ILD) have been reported. The aim of this large multicenter study was to identify the success predictors of pulmonary rehabilitation in a real-life setting.

Methods: Data of 240 in-patients (110 idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), 106 ILD other than IPF and 24 undetermined ILD) undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation in a 10-year period were retrospectively evaluated.

Clinical Outcome and Striatal Dopaminergic Function After Shunt Surgery in Patients With Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus.

Objective: To determine changes in clinical features and striatal dopamine reuptake transporter (DAT) density after shunt surgery in patients with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH).

Methods: Participants with probable iNPH were assessed at baseline by means of clinical rating scales, brain MRI, and SPECT with [I]-N-ω-fluoropropyl-2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-iodophenyl)nortropane (FP-CIT). Levodopa responsiveness was also evaluated.

International Comparisons of Harmonized Laboratory Value Trajectories to Predict Severe COVID-19: Leveraging the 4CE Collaborative Across 342 Hospitals and 6 Countries: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Objectives: To perform an international comparison of the trajectory of laboratory values among hospitalized patients with COVID-19 who develop severe disease and identify optimal timing of laboratory value collection to predict severity across hospitals and regions.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: The Consortium for Clinical Characterization of COVID-19 by EHR (4CE), an international multi-site data-sharing collaborative of 342 hospitals in the US and in Europe.

Striatal Dopamine Deficit and Motor Impairment in Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus.

Background: Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus can present with parkinsonism. However, abnormalities of the striatal dopamine reuptake transporter are unclear.

Objectives: To explore presence and features of striatal dopaminergic deficit in subjects with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus as compared to Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and healthy controls.

Development of a new high sensitivity mechanical switch for augmentative and alternative communication access in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background: People with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (PwALS) in the advanced phase are critically affected by an almost total loss of mobility and severe communication problems. Scanning access based on the patient's interaction with a sensor (or switch) that intercepts even a weak body movement is a valid communication aid. However, its use becomes limited with the progressive decline of residual movements.

ALS-Associated SOD1(G93A) Decreases SERCA Pump Levels and Increases Store-Operated Ca Entry in Primary Spinal Cord Astrocytes from a Transgenic Mouse Model.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the selective death of motor neurons (MNs), probably by a combination of cell- and non-cell-autonomous processes. The past decades have brought many important insights into the role of astrocytes in nervous system function and disease, including the implication in ALS pathogenesis possibly through the impairment of Ca-dependent astrocyte-MN cross-talk. In this respect, it has been recently proposed that altered astrocytic store-operated Ca entry (SOCE) may underlie aberrant gliotransmitter release and astrocyte-mediated neurotoxicity in ALS.

Proposal of a new conceptual gait model for patients with Parkinson's disease based on factor analysis.

Background: Gait impairment is a risk factor for falls in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Gait can be conveniently assessed by electronic walkways, but there is need to select which spatiotemporal gait variables are useful for assessing gait in PD. Existing models for gait variables developed in healthy subjects and patients with PD show some methodological shortcomings in their validation through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and were never confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Peptides in clinical development for the treatment of brain tumors.

Peptides have emerged as novel and promising medicaments for the treatment of many human diseases, including tumors. In the treatment of cancer, they can be employed directly as bioactive therapeutics, promoting the reduction of tumor growth, but also as drug delivery systems, to facilitate the passage of drugs through cell and tissue barriers and to increase the selectivity of therapeutics for tumor cells. The advantages of peptides over standard chemotherapeutic agents are several-fold and include ease of synthesis, high efficacy, reduced side-effects, and low production cost.

Analytically Confirmed Intoxication by 4-Fluoromethylphenidate, an Analog of Methylphenidate.

4-Fluoromethylphenidate (4F-MPH) is an halogenated derivative of methylphenidate (MPH), a re-uptake inhibitor for dopamine and norepinephrine used for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorders. In the last few years, several compounds structurally related to MPH have been marked as new psychoactive substances (NPS) with stimulating and euphoric effects similar to the parent drug, but with more dopaminergic activity. This report represents the first case of an analytically confirmed non-fatal intoxication by 4F-MPH.

A Role for GDNF and Soluble APP as Biomarkers of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Pathophysiology.

The current inability of clinical criteria to accurately identify the "at-risk group" for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) development as well as its unknown etiology are fueling the interest in biomarkers aimed at completing clinical approaches for the diagnosis. The Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is a diffusible peptide critically involved in neuronal differentiation and survival. GDNF is largely studied in various neurological and neuromuscular diseases, with a great interest in the peripheral nervous system (PNS).

The role of skin biopsy in differentiating small-fiber neuropathy from ganglionopathy.

Background And Purpose: We aimed to test the clinical utility of the leg:thigh intraepidermal nerve-fiber (IENF) density ratio as a parameter to discriminate between length-dependent small-fiber neuropathy (SFN) and small-fiber sensory ganglionopathy (SFSG) in subjects with signs and symptoms of small-fiber pathology.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated thigh and leg IENF density in 314 subjects with small-fiber pathology (173 with distal symmetrical length-dependent SFN and 141 with non-length-dependent SFSG). A group of 288 healthy subjects was included as a control group.

A review discussing fluciclovine (F) PET/CT imaging in the detection of recurrent prostate cancer.

A significant number of patients radically treated for prostate cancer (PCa) will develop prostate-specific antigen recurrence (27-53%). Localizing the anatomical site of relapse is critical, in order to achieve the optimal treatment management. To date the diagnostic accuracy of standard imaging is low.