Effect of ketamine on anxiety: findings from the Ketamine for Adult Depression Study.

Background: Anxiety disorders and treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (TRD) are often comorbid. Studies suggest ketamine has anxiolytic and antidepressant properties.

Aims: To investigate if subcutaneous racemic ketamine, delivered twice weekly for 4 weeks, reduces anxiety in people with TRD.

Enhancement of anti-sarcoma immunity by NK cells engineered with mRNA for expression of a EphA2-targeted CAR.

Background: Paediatric sarcomas, including rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma, represent a group of malignancies that significantly contribute to cancer-related morbidity and mortality in children and young adults. These cancers share common challenges, including high rates of metastasis, recurrence or treatment resistance, leading to a 5-year survival rate of approximately 20% for patients with advanced disease stages. Despite the critical need, therapeutic advancements have been limited over the past three decades.

NOMPC ion channel hinge forms a gating spring that initiates mechanosensation.

The sensation of mechanical stimuli is initiated by elastic gating springs that pull open mechanosensory transduction channels. Searches for gating springs have focused on force-conveying protein tethers such as the amino-terminal ankyrin tether of the Drosophila mechanosensory transduction channel NOMPC. Here, by combining protein domain duplications with mechanical measurements, electrophysiology, molecular dynamics simulations and modeling, we identify the NOMPC gating-spring as the short linker between the ankyrin tether and the channel gate.

Subthalamic nucleus oscillations during facial emotion processing and apathy in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is primarily characterized by motor symptoms, but patients also experience a relatively high prevalence of non-motor symptoms, including emotional and cognitive impairments. While the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is a common target for deep brain stimulation to treat motor symptoms in PD, its role in emotion processing is still under investigation. This study examines the subthalamic neural oscillatory activities during facial emotion processing and its association with affective characteristics.

Monitoring the Land and Sea: Enhancing Efficiency Through CRISPR-Cas Driven Depletion and Enrichment of Environmental DNA.

Characterizing biodiversity using environmental DNA (eDNA) represents a paradigm shift in our capacity for biomonitoring complex environments, both aquatic and terrestrial. However, eDNA biomonitoring is limited by biases toward certain species and the low taxonomic resolution of current metabarcoding approaches. Shotgun metagenomics of eDNA enables the collection of whole ecosystem data by sequencing all molecules present, allowing characterization and identification.

Lipid imbalance and inflammatory oxylipin cascade at the maternal-fetal interface in recurrent spontaneous abortion.

Background: Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) is intricately linked to metabolic dysregulation at the maternal-fetal interface during early gestation. Abnormal levels of essential fatty acids and downstream oxylipins in decidua and chorionic villi have been identified as potential risk factors for RSA. Oxylipins have been linked to excessive inflammation, which might disrupt maternal-fetal immune tolerance, potentially contributing to RSA.

Both Sides, Now: A Personal Stroke Recovery Journey.

This is a personal narrative of my stroke and recovery experience, and the medical, psychological, and social circumstances surrounding it.

Seroprevalence and risk factors for Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus exposure among febrile patients in northern Tanzania.

Background: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is a tick-borne zoonotic disease that may be severe and is present in many African countries. We aimed to understand the seroprevalence and risk for Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus in Tanzania by testing archived serum samples from patients enrolled in a prospective cohort study.

Methods: We prospectively enrolled febrile inpatients and outpatients from 2012 through 2014 at two referral hospitals in northern Tanzania.

A 10-Year Comparative Analysis of the Two Most Common Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty Implants (Delta Xtend and SMR) in the New Zealand Joint Registry.

Hypothesis And Background: As the incidence of reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA) continues to rise, better understanding of the long-term risks and complications is necessary to determine the best choice of implant. The majority (75%) of RTSA performed in New Zealand use either SMR (Systema Multiplana Randelli, Lima-LTO, Italy) or Delta Xtend (DePuy Synthes, USA). The aim of this registry-based study was to compare implant survival, risk of revision and reasons for revision between the two most frequently used RTSA prostheses: SMR and Delta Xtend.

Induction of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Periodontitis Rat Model.

Objectives:  Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process that shifts cellular phenotype. It is linked to several different inflammatory diseases including periodontitis. This study was conducted to investigate the involvement of the EMT process in an experimental periodontitis (EP) model.

Screening and outcomes of co-occurring traumatic brain injury among people with spinal cord injury: a scoping review.

Objective: To map existing knowledge on screening and rehabilitation outcomes for co-occurring traumatic brain injury among people with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI).

Methods: Articles focusing on screening and rehabilitation outcomes in participants sustaining co-occurring traumatic brain injury and traumatic spinal cord injury (all ages) were identified in Ovid, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses electronic databases. There were no limitations on study design, date, or geographical location.

Nanoparticle-Based gene therapy strategies in retinal delivery.

Vision loss and blindness are significant issues in both developed and developing countries. There are a wide variety of aetiologies that can cause vision loss, which are outlined in this review. Although treatment has significantly improved over time for some conditions, nearly half of all people with vision impairment are left untreated.

Integrating environmental physiotherapy into New Zealand undergraduate education: exploring current practice.

This paper describes the integration of environmental physiotherapy education into the physiotherapy curriculum in a New Zealand university in response to the environmental physiotherapy agenda and the University of Otago Sustainability Framework. We describe and discuss three learning activities, the associated challenges and lessons learnt, and the current position. Given the encompassing nature of environmental and health interactions, we aimed for multilayer immersive experiences using a range of pedagogical approaches.

Access to Healthy Built and Natural Environments and Physical Activity and Screen Time in New Zealand Adolescents: A Geospatial Cross-Sectional Study.

The built and natural environment can facilitate (un)healthy behaviors in adolescence. However, most previous studies have focused on examining associations between singular aspects of the environment. This study examined the association between the mixture of health-promoting and health-constraining environmental features in a Healthy Location Index (HLI) and physical activity and screen time among adolescents.

Biomarkers for immunotherapy resistance in non-small cell lung cancer.

Immunotherapy has revolutionised the treatment landscape of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), significantly improving survival outcomes and offering renewed hope to patients with advanced disease. However, the majority of patients experience limited long-term benefits from immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) due to the development of primary or acquired immunotherapy resistance. Accurate predictive biomarkers for immunotherapy resistance are essential for individualising treatment strategies, improving survival outcomes, and minimising potential treatment-related harm.

A safety and feasibility randomized placebo controlled trial exploring electroencephalographic effective connectivity neurofeedback treatment for fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition contributing to significant disability worldwide. Neuroimaging studies identify abnormal effective connectivity between cortical areas responsible for descending pain modulation (pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, pgACC) and sensory components of pain experience (primary somatosensory cortex, S1). Neurofeedback, a brain-computer interface technique, can normalise dysfunctional brain activity, thereby improving pain and function.

Immune correlates of early clearance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis among tuberculosis household contacts in Indonesia.

Some individuals, even when heavily exposed to an infectious tuberculosis patient, do not develop a specific T-cell response as measured by interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA). This could be explained by an IFN-γ-independent adaptive immune response, or an effective innate host response clearing Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) without adaptive immunity. In heavily exposed Indonesian tuberculosis household contacts (n = 1347), a persistently IGRA negative status was associated with presence of a BCG scar, and - especially among those with a BCG scar - with altered innate immune cells dynamics, higher heterologous (Escherichia coli-induced) proinflammatory cytokine production, and higher inflammatory proteins in the IGRA mitogen tube.

Incidence of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Canterbury, New Zealand, 2018-2023.

Background: New diagnoses of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), can highlight health system burden and potentially give clues to disease aetiology. This population-based study aimed to measure the annual incidence of IBD over six years (2018-2023) in the Canterbury region of New Zealand.

Methods: The medical records from public and private gastroenterology clinics were examined for new patients with a confirmed diagnosis of IBD from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2023.

Efficacy, Safety, and Immunogenicity of the MATISSE (Maternal Immunization Study for Safety and Efficacy) Maternal Respiratory Syncytial Virus Prefusion F Protein Vaccine Trial.

Objective: To evaluate descriptive efficacy data, exploratory immunogenicity data, and safety follow-up through study completion from the global, phase 3 MATISSE (Maternal Immunization Study for Safety and Efficacy) maternal vaccination trial of bivalent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prefusion F protein vaccine (RSVpreF).

Methods: MATISSE was a phase 3, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Healthy pregnant participants aged 49 years or younger at 24-36 weeks of gestation were randomized (1:1) to receive a single RSVpreF 120 micrograms or placebo dose.

Toward the Bayesian brain: a generative model of information transmission by vestibular sensory neurons.

The relative accessibility and simplicity of vestibular sensing and vestibular-driven control of head and eye movements has made the vestibular system an attractive subject to experimenters and theoreticians interested in developing realistic quantitative models of how brains gather and interpret sense data and use it to guide behavior. Head stabilization and eye counter-rotation driven by vestibular sensory input in response to rotational perturbations represent natural, ecologically important behaviors that can be reproduced in the laboratory and analyzed using relatively simple mathematical models. Models drawn from dynamical systems and control theory have previously been used to analyze the behavior of vestibular sensory neurons.

Comparison of Paired Immunofluorescent Antibody Serology and Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Testing for the Detection of Acute Q Fever among Febrile Patients in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, 2012-2014.

Acute Q fever diagnosis via paired serology is problematic because it requires follow-up for convalescent sample collection; as such, it cannot provide a diagnosis to inform a treatment decision at the time of acute presentation. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) may be a useful approach for the diagnosis of acute Q fever in endemic settings. Among febrile patients enrolled in a sentinel surveillance study for Q fever at two referral hospitals in Moshi, Tanzania, from 2012 to 2014, we analyzed those with paired sera for IgG to Coxiella burnetii (C.