Glioblastoma in natalizumab-treated multiple sclerosis patients.

We present two natalizumab-treated multiple sclerosis patients who developed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) with variable outcomes. One patient had an isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-wildtype GBM with aggressive behavior, who declined treatment and died 13 weeks after symptoms onset. The other patient underwent resection of an IDH-mutant secondary GBM that arose from a previously diagnosed grade II astrocytoma.

Multiple Wins: Embracing Technology to Increase Efficiency and Maximize Efforts.

Clinician educators (CEs) are challenged to produce meaningful scholarship while balancing various clinical and administrative roles. The increasing availability of technology provides new opportunities for scholarly output and dissemination. This article proposes three strategies for utilizing technology to enhance scholarly output for the busy CE.

Applying Design Thinking Principles to Curricular Development in Medical Education.

Medical education is an ever-evolving field, resulting in numerous changes and modifications to curricular structure, learner assessment, feedback, and remediation. To best meet the needs of the individual learners, it is important to design curricula that meet their needs. Design thinking (DT) first gained popularity in the 1960s and, since then, has been applied to problem solving within business, primary education, and medicine.

Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank: A Review of Emerging Issues and Technologies.

This paper provides an overview of current progress in the technological advances and the use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, as presented by participants of the Fourth Annual DBS Think Tank, which was convened in March 2016 in conjunction with the Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration at the University of Florida, Gainesveille FL, USA. The Think Tank discussions first focused on policy and advocacy in DBS research and clinical practice, formation of registries, and issues involving the use of DBS in the treatment of Tourette Syndrome. Next, advances in the use of neuroimaging and electrochemical markers to enhance DBS specificity were addressed.

Preoperative Mental Health is not Predictive of Patient-reported Outcomes Following a Minimally Invasive Lumbar Discectomy.

Study Design: This is a retrospective cohort study.

Objective: To determine if preoperative mental health is associated with patient-reported outcomes (PROs) following a minimally invasive lumbar discectomy.

Summary Of Background Data: PROs are commonly used to quantify a patient's perceived health status.

The Benefit of Conserving and Gaining Resources after Trauma: A Systematic Review.

Background: Traumatic events involve loss of resources, which has consistently been found to be associated with developing stress-related illness such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Objective: The purpose of this systematic literature review was to determine if there is evidence for the salutatory effect of resource gain on PTSD, and if there are intervention models that utilize and assess gain in PTSD.

Data Sources: All relevant online databases were systematically searched using key terms and a method, detailed in Figure 1.

Sildenafil in the Treatment of Erectile Dysfunction in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common nonmotor feature in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Data regarding the tolerability and efficacy of anti-ED medication in the PD population are limited. The aim of this work was to assess the safety and efficacy of sildenafil in treatment of ED in men with PD.

Circadian rhythms of European and African-Americans after a large delay of sleep as in jet lag and night work.

Jet travel and night shift work produce large changes in when people sleep, work and eat; a challenge that was not encountered during most of our evolution. Successful adaptation would require the internal, master, circadian clock to make large phase shifts to reduce the circadian misalignment between circadian rhythms and the times for sleep, work and meals. We compared African-Americans and non-Hispanic European-Americans in how much their circadian clocks shifted after a 9 hour phase delay of the light/dark, sleep/wake and meal schedule, which has similarities to flying west or sleeping in the daytime after night shifts.

White matter hyperintensities, incident mild cognitive impairment, and cognitive decline in old age.

Objective: Examine the association of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) with risk of incident mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and rate of decline in multiple cognitive systems in community-based older persons.

Methods: Participants ( = 354) were older persons initially free of cognitive impairment from two ongoing longitudinal epidemiologic studies of aging. All underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for quantification of WMH and gray matter volumes and detailed annual clinical evaluations including 17 cognitive tests.

Perceived helpfulness of the individual components of a behavioural weight loss program: results from the Hopkins POWER Trial.

Background: Behavioural weight loss programs are effective first-line treatments for obesity and are recommended by the US Preventive Services Task Force. Gaining an understanding of intervention components that are found helpful by different demographic groups can improve tailoring of weight loss programs. This paper examined the perceived helpfulness of different weight loss program components.

Rating Scales for Pain in Parkinson's Disease: Critique and Recommendations.

Background: We aimed at critically appraising the clinimetric properties of existing pain scales or questionnaires and to give recommendations for their use in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: Clinimetric properties of pain scales used in PD were systematically evaluated. A scale was classified as 'recommended' if was used in PD, showed adequate clinimetric properties, and had been used by investigators other than the original developers; as 'suggested' if it was used in PD and fulfilled only one other criterion; and as 'listed' if it was used in PD but did not meet the other criteria.

Immune biomarkers in the spectrum of childhood noncommunicable diseases.

A biomarker is an accurately and reproducibly quantifiable biological characteristic that provides an objective measure of health status or disease. Benefits of biomarkers include identification of therapeutic targets, monitoring of clinical interventions, and development of personalized (or precision) medicine. Challenges to the use of biomarkers include optimizing sample collection, processing and storage, validation, and often the need for sophisticated laboratory and bioinformatics approaches.

Proceedings of the Third Annual Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank: A Review of Emerging Issues and Technologies.

The proceedings of the 3rd Annual Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank summarize the most contemporary clinical, electrophysiological, imaging, and computational work on DBS for the treatment of neurological and neuropsychiatric disease. Significant innovations of the past year are emphasized. The Think Tank's contributors represent a unique multidisciplinary ensemble of expert neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, scientists, engineers, and members of industry.

Post-mortem brain pathology is related to declining respiratory function in community-dwelling older adults.

Damage to brain structures which constitute the distributed neural network that integrates respiratory muscle and pulmonary functions, can impair adequate ventilation and its volitional control. We tested the hypothesis that the level of brain pathology in older adults is associated with declining respiratory function measured during life. 1,409 older adults had annual testing with spirometry (SPI) and respiratory muscle strength (RMS) based on maximal inspiratory and maximal expiratory pressures (MEPs).

Abnormal lipopolysaccharide binding protein as marker of gastrointestinal inflammation in Parkinson disease.

Objective: An inflammation-driven model of PD has been proposed based on the endotoxin lipopolysaccaride (LPS), a potential source of inflammation in the gastrointestinal system linked to neurotoxicity. Systemic exposure to bacterial endotoxin (LPS) can be determined by measuring plasma LPS binding protein (LBP). We aimed to evaluate whether lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP) can be used to distinguish PD subjects from control subjects and to assess whether LBP levels correlate with PD disease severity.

The Core Assessment Program for Surgical Interventional Therapies in Parkinson's Disease (CAPSIT-PD): Tolerability of Preoperative Neuropsychological Testing for Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease.

Objective: We examined tolerability of preoperative neuropsychological testing (the Core Assessment Program for Surgical Interventional Therapies in Parkinson's Disease [CAPSIT-PD] protocol) for DBS. We also examined factors that may influence tolerability, including fatigue, global cognitive function, depression, and patient-based characteristics.

Methods: In this retrospective study, we reviewed preoperative neuropsychological testing results from 35 patients who were scheduled to undergo DBS.

Alzheimer's loci: epigenetic associations and interaction with genetic factors.

Objective: We explore the role of DNA methylation in Alzheimer's disease (AD). To elucidate where DNA methylation falls along the causal pathway linking risk factors to disease, we examine causal models to assess its role in the pathology of AD.

Methods: DNA methylation profiles were generated in 740 brain samples using the Illumina HumanMet450K beadset.

URI expression in cervical cancer cells is associated with higher invasion capacity and resistance to cisplatin.

Cervical cancer is a common and devastating female cancer worldwide. The etiology of cervical cancer has been largely attributed to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and activation of the P13K/AKT/mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) pathway. However, the limited HPV-directed therapy, as well as therapeutic approach targeting P13K/AKT/mTOR pathway, has not yet been established or effective.

Endothelin-A receptor antagonists in prostate cancer treatment-a meta-analysis.

Prostate cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer death in men due to inefficiency of androgen deprivation therapy or androgen blockade. Endothelins (ETs) and the two endothelin receptor family members A and B (ETA and ETB) are known to play important roles in the progression of many malignancies, including prostate cancer. However, phase III clinical studies did not reach a unanimous conclusion regarding ETA receptor antagonists in prostate cancer treatment.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses T3SS to inhibit diabetic wound healing.

Diabetic foot ulcers are responsible for more hospitalizations than any other complication of diabetes. Bacterial infection is recognized as an important factor associated with impaired healing in diabetic ulcers. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most frequently detected Gram-negative pathogen in diabetic ulcers.