Rumination Syndrome, Supragastric Belching, and Abdominophrenic Dyssynergia: How to Diagnose and Treat?

Purpose Of Review: Supragastric belching (SGB), rumination syndrome (RS), and abdominophrenic dyssynergia are often misunderstood and underdiagnosed syndromes. Better understanding of these conditions is needed to increase recognition and guide treatment.

Recent Findings: Diagnosis is typically made by history and physical examination though supplementary evaluations can be considered in difficult to diagnose cases.

Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease- surgical treatment options.

Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease (LCPD), is a rare avascular osteonecrosis of the proximal femur usually occurring in children between 5 and 10 years of age. The cause of ischemia leading to necrosis of the femoral head remains unknown. The goal of surgical treatment for LCPD is to improve the containment of the femoral head to restore the function of the hip joint and prevent further damage to the femoral head leading to premature hip osteoarthritis.

Mulberry leaf extract combined with tryptophan improves sleep and post wake mood in adults with sleep complaints - A randomized cross-over study.

Purpose: In the current study we evaluated a blend of ingredients containing mulberry leaf extract (to lower postprandial glucose of the evening meal), tryptophan (facilitator of the sleep initiation) to benefit sleep initiation and quality in adults with self-reported difficulties with sleep initiation.

Methods: Forty-three adults aged between 25 and 50 years enrolled in a randomized, crossover, double-blind, controlled trial. Participants received standardized meals with a glycemic load of 55 ± 10% and were assigned to receive treatment comprising a combination of mulberry leaf extract (750 mg), whey protein containing 120 mg tryptophan, zinc (1.

Impacts of spring freeze events on a perennial tree fruit crop across the central and eastern USA.

This study uses a crop simulation model driven by 40 years (1981-2020) of daily gridded meteorological data from PRISM to assess the impacts of spring freeze events on cherry trees, a representative temperate perennial tree-fruit crop, across six regions of the central and eastern USA: the Northern and Southern Great Plains (NGP, SGP), Upper Midwest (UMW), Ohio Valley (OHV), New York-Pennsylvania (NY-PA), and Virginia-North Carolina (VA-NC). Freeze damage exhibits a clear latitudinal gradient, with damage frequency and severity decreasing from south to north. The most frequent and severe damage occurs in the SGP, followed by VA-NC, while the least is observed in the UMW and NY-PA.

Emerging concepts in introducing foods for food allergy prevention.

Purpose Of Review: This review focuses on the latest information regarding the role of complementary feeding practices and food allergen introduction in the prevention of food allergies.

Recent Findings: Early introduction of food allergens for food allergy prevention is recommended by food allergy prevention guidelines and is supported by the latest randomized controlled trials. Diet diversity is recommended, supported by the latest studies from Asia.

Long-term safety and effectiveness of fenfluramine in children and adults with Dravet syndrome.

Objective: We analyzed the long-term safety and effectiveness of fenfluramine (FFA) in patients with Dravet syndrome (DS) in an open-label extension (OLE) study after participating in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or commencing FFA de novo as adults.

Methods: Patients with DS who participated in one of three RCTs or were 19 to 35 years of age and started FFA de novo were included. Key endpoints were: incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) in the safety population, and median percentage change in monthly convulsive seizure frequency (MCSF) from the RCT baseline to end of study (EOS) in the modified intent-to-treat (mITT) population.

Expectancy Effects, Failure of Blinding Integrity, and Placebo Response in Trials of Treatments for Psychiatric Disorders: A Narrative Review.

Importance: Expectancy effects are significant confounding factors in psychiatric randomized clinical trials (RCTs), potentially affecting the interpretation of study results. This narrative review is the first, to our knowledge, to explore the relationship between expectancy effects, compromised blinding integrity, and the effects of active treatment/placebo in psychiatric RCTs. Additionally, we present statistical and experimental approaches that may help mitigate the confounding impact of expectancy effects.

Nicotine Exposure From Smoking Tobacco and Vaping Among Adolescents.

Importance: It remains unknown whether nicotine intake among youths who vape is lower, comparable, or higher than among youths who smoke.

Objective: To examine potential differences in biomarkers of exposure to nicotine (1) between adolescents who smoke tobacco, vape, both vape and smoke (dual use), or do not use; (2) between adolescents in 3 countries; and (3) by nicotine content and form in the vaping product last used among adolescents who exclusively vaped.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This population-based, observational cross-sectional study invited adolescents aged 16 to 19 years in Canada, England, and the US who had previously completed national surveys to participate in a biomarker study based on their vaping and smoking status.

Exercise and Psychosexual Education to Improve Sexual Function in Men With Prostate Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Sexual dysfunction is a common adverse effect of prostate cancer treatment, and current management strategies do not adequately address physical and psychological causes. Exercise is a potential therapy in the management of sexual dysfunction.

Objective: To investigate the effects of supervised, clinic-based, resistance and aerobic exercise with and without a brief psychosexual education and self-management intervention (PESM) on sexual function in men with prostate cancer compared with usual care.

Circulating Blood-Based Proteins in Psychopathology and Cognition: A Mendelian Randomization Study.

Importance: Peripheral (blood-based) biomarkers for psychiatric illness could benefit diagnosis and treatment, but research to date has typically been low throughput, and traditional case-control studies are subject to potential confounds of treatment and other exposures. Large-scale 2-sample mendelian randomization (MR) can examine the potentially causal impact of circulating proteins on neuropsychiatric phenotypes without these confounds.

Objective: To identify circulating proteins associated with risk for schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BD), and major depressive disorder (MDD) as well as cognitive task performance (CTP).

Leukemogenic Kras mutation reprograms multipotent progenitors to facilitate its spread through the hematopoietic system.

Leukemia-driving mutations are thought to arise in hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), yet the natural history of their spread is poorly understood. We genetically induced mutations within endogenous murine HSC and traced them in unmanipulated animals. In contrast to mutations associated with clonal hematopoiesis (such as Tet2 deletion), the leukemogenic KrasG12D mutation dramatically accelerated HSC contribution to all hematopoietic lineages.

Volumetric, Microfluidic Plasmonic RT-PCR.

Decentralized molecular detection of pathogens remains an important goal for public health. Although polymerase chain reaction (PCR) remains the gold-standard molecular detection method, thermocycling using Peltier heaters presents challenges in decentralized settings. Recent work has demonstrated plasmonic PCR, where nanomaterials on a surface or nanoparticles in solution heat upon stimulation by light, as a promising method for rapid thermocycling.

Hepatic Dearterialization for Nonresectable Liver Tumors in Five Dogs and Two Cats.

Introduction: Some massive or nodular liver tumors can make surgical resection dangerous. Transarterial embolization and chemoembolization recently have been evaluated in dogs and cats, but multinodular or diffuse tumors make selective embolization difficult, impractical, and may require multiple anesthetic events. Hepatic dearterialization in humans has been shown to be safe and sometimes successful in promoting temporary tumor regression.

Iatrogenic Primary Hypothyroidism Associated With Sulfamethoxazole-Trimethoprim Treatment of Nocardiosis in a Cat.

A 9-year-old mixed breed cat with a history of recurrent ulcerated skin lesions was diagnosed with nocardiosis. Three months after initiating potentiated sulfonamide treatment, the cat developed goitrous hypothyroidism, characterized by palpable enlargement of both thyroid lobes, low serum concentrations of total thyroxine (T4) and free thyroxine (fT4), and high serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) concentration. Thyroid scintigraphy identified symmetrical enlargement of both thyroid lobes, with increased radionuclide (Tc-pertechnetate) uptake.

Deep Learning Estimation of Small Airways Disease from Inspiratory Chest CT: Clinical Validation, Repeatability, and Associations with Adverse Clinical Outcomes in COPD.

Rationale: Quantifying functional small airways disease (fSAD) requires additional expiratory computed tomography (CT) scan, limiting clinical applicability. Artificial intelligence (AI) could enable fSAD quantification from chest CT scan at total lung capacity (TLC) alone (fSAD).

Objectives: To evaluate an AI model for estimating fSAD, compare it with dual-volume parametric response mapping fSAD (fSAD), and assess its clinical associations and repeatability in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

A Spatial Epidemiologic Analysis of Opioid Use Disorder Treatment in New York State.

Background: Opioid agonist treatments (OAT; methadone and buprenorphine) for opioid use disorder (OUD) reduce overdose death by more than 50%. Low population-level rates of OAT are missed opportunities to reduce OUD-related mortality.

Objective: We examined county-level OAT utilization patterns to guide state-level and county-level initiatives to improve equitable access and utilization in New York State (NYS).

Abrasion Effect on Heating Performance of Carbon Nanotube/Epoxy Composites.

The effects of abrasion on the heating performance of carbon nanotube (CNT)/epoxy composites were investigated in terms of Joule's heat, convective heat, and radiative heat under moderate-to-severe and localized abrasive conditions. While the overall heating behavior was characterized by the heating rate and the curvature of the transient response, a numerical solution of the heat equation was used to quantify convective and radiative heat transfers, incorporating the specific heat of each component, the convective heat transfer coefficient, and the Biot number. CNT reinforcement significantly improved wear resistance at a CNT concentration of 0.

Interleukin 24 Promotes Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Glucose Regulation, and Apoptosis by Inactivating Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 Beta in Human Prostate Cancer Cells.

Interleukin 24 (IL-24) is a tumor-suppressing protein currently in clinical trials. We previously demonstrated that IL-24 leads to apoptosis in cancer cells through protein kinase A (PKA) activation in human breast cancer cells. To better understand the mechanism by which IL-24 induces apoptosis, we analyzed the role of glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK3β), a highly conserved serine/threonine kinase in cancer cells and a downstream target of PKA.