Tag: pubmed

Int Clin Psychopharmacol. 2024 Dec 6. doi: 10.1097/YIC.0000000000000576. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Deficits in social cognition may impair emotional processing and facial emotional recognition (FER) in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia. FER is generally explored using photographs or images of static faces that do not fully capture the complexity of real-life facial stimuli. To overcome this limitation, we developed a set of dynamic virtual faces depicting six basic emotions (i.e. happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise) and a neutral expression suitable for presentation in immersive and nonimmersive virtual realities. This study presents preliminary findings on the differences in FER accuracy from a frontal view between immersive and nonimmersive virtual realities among patients experiencing a relapse of schizophrenia (n = 10), a manic phase of BD (n = 10), and a group of healthy controls (HCs) (n = 10). As a secondary objective, we compare the FER accuracy across these three groups. Patients with schizophrenia and BD showed similar accuracy in recognizing emotions in immersive and nonimmersive virtual reality settings. However, patients with schizophrenia exhibited lower FER accuracy than HCs in both settings. Individuals with BD showed intermediate accuracy between those with schizophrenia and HCs, although these differences were not statistically significant. Notably, recognition of negative emotions was significantly impaired in both groups of patients.

PMID:39641922 | DOI:10.1097/YIC.0000000000000576

Bull Math Biol. 2024 Dec 6;87(1):12. doi: 10.1007/s11538-024-01379-w.

ABSTRACT

The $\left[PS{I}^{+}\right]$ prion phenotype in yeast manifests as a white, pink, or red color pigment. Experimental manipulations destabilize prion phenotypes, and allow colonies to exhibit $\left[ps{i}^{–}\right]$ (red) sectored phenotypes within otherwise completely white colonies. Further investigation of the size and frequency of sectors that emerge as a result of experimental manipulation is capable of providing critical information on mechanisms of prion curing, but we lack a way to reliably extract this information. Images of experimental colonies exhibiting sectored phenotypes offer an abundance of data to help uncover molecular mechanisms of sectoring, yet the structure of sectored colonies is ignored in traditional biological pipelines. In this study, we present [PSI]-CIC, the first computational pipeline designed to identify and characterize features of sectored yeast colonies. To overcome the barrier of a lack of manually annotated data of colonies, we develop a neural network architecture that we train on synthetic images of colonies and apply to real images of $\left[PS{I}^{+}\right]$ , $\left[ps{i}^{–}\right]$ , and sectored colonies. In hand-annotated experimental images, our pipeline correctly predicts the state of approximately 95% of colonies detected and frequency of sectors in approximately 89.5% of colonies detected. The scope of our pipeline could be extended to categorizing colonies grown under different experimental conditions, allowing for more meaningful and detailed comparisons between experiments. Our approach streamlines the analysis of sectored yeast colonies providing a rich set of quantitative metrics and provides insight into mechanisms driving the curing of prion phenotypes.

PMID:39641894 | DOI:10.1007/s11538-024-01379-w

AMB Express. 2024 Dec 6;14(1):132. doi: 10.1186/s13568-024-01798-x.

ABSTRACT

Increasing evidence exists that the gut microbiome influences toxicity as well as outcomes in a variety of cancers. To investigate the role of the gut microbiome in pediatric neuro-oncology, microbiome analysis has been included in multiple prospective pediatric neuro-oncology clinical trials (NCT05009992, NCT04732065, NCT04775485). In these trials, the OMNIgene-GUT^tm preservation tubes are used for the collection of the feces. OMNIgene-GUT^tm has demonstrated reliability in preserving the composition of the gut microbiome in adults; however, its validation for use in the pediatric population remains limited. Therefore, we compared the quality of the DNA by 16S rRNA gene sequencing after various methods of stabilizing fecal samples in pediatric populations, from the direct freeze method at – 80 °C to preserving samples with OMNIgene-GUT^tm at room temperature for various durations. Our results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the alpha-diversity, and beta-diversity. However, pairwise differential abundance analyses demonstrated that OMNIgene-GUT™ is superior in maintaining microbial community structure compared to storing samples without any preservation method. With the OMNIgene-GUT^tm‘s stabilization of the fecal samples being superior and its ease-of-use benefits, it proves to be a valid and ideal method of stabilizing fecal samples for current and future pediatric clinical trials.

PMID:39641864 | DOI:10.1186/s13568-024-01798-x

J Math Biol. 2024 Dec 6;90(1):3. doi: 10.1007/s00285-024-02165-x.

ABSTRACT

Ben-Ari and Schinazi (J Stat Phys 162:415-425, 2016) introduced a stochastic model to study ‘virus-like evolving population with high mutation rate’. This model is a birth and death model with an individual at birth being either a mutant with a random fitness parameter in [0, 1] or having one of the existing fitness parameters with uniform probability; whereas a death event removes the entire population of the least fitness. We change this to incorporate the notion of ‘survival of the fittest’, by requiring that a non-mutant individual, at birth, has a fitness according to a preferential attachment mechanism, i.e., it has a fitness f with a probability proportional to the size of the population of fitness f. Also death just removes one individual with the least fitness. This preferential attachment rule leads to a power law behaviour in the asymptotics, unlike the exponential behaviour obtained by Ben-Ari and Schinazi (J Stat Phys 162:415-425, 2016).

PMID:39641863 | DOI:10.1007/s00285-024-02165-x

Neurogenetics. 2024 Dec 6;26(1):15. doi: 10.1007/s10048-024-00792-6.

ABSTRACT

To investigate the causal relationships between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) metabolites and various neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), we conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. This study utilized summary statistics from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of CSF metabolites and four common neurodegenerative diseases: Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), multiple sclerosis (MS), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). MR methods were employed to determine causal associations, with the inverse variance weighted method as the primary approach. Additionally, different GWAS summary data for NDDs were used to validate the initial results and perform sensitivity analyses to enhance the robustness of the findings. Finally, reverse MR analyses were conducted to assess the possibility of reverse causation. Combining results from the initial and replication phases of MR analysis, we identified potential causal relationships between various CSF metabolites and different NDDs. Specifically, we found potential causal relationships between five CSF metabolites and AD, six CSF metabolites and MS, and thirteen CSF metabolites and ALS. Further sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of these associations. Reverse MR analysis indicated causal effects of AD on glucuronate and ALS on acetylcarnitine (C2). Our study, through genetic means, demonstrates close causal associations between the specific types of CSF metabolites and the risk of NDDS (AD, PD, MS, and ALS), providing useful guidance for future clinical researches.

PMID:39641862 | DOI:10.1007/s10048-024-00792-6

Acta Neurochir (Wien). 2024 Dec 6;166(1):494. doi: 10.1007/s00701-024-06341-2.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS) is a well-established treatment for residual or growing pituitary adenomas (PAs) post-partial resection. However, some PAs grow even after initial GKRS, for which the efficacy of repeat GKRS is unclear. The primary objective of this study was to determine long-term progression-free survival (PFS) following repeated GKRS in patients with PA. The secondary objective was to determine predictors of tumor progression in these patients.

METHODS: Single-center, population-based consecutive cohort study of patients with recurrent PAs treated with repeated GKRS due to tumor progression between 1999 and 2022 at the Department of Neurosurgery, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. PFS and predictors of tumor growth were assessed.

RESULTS: 23 patients were included, with a median follow-up time of 6.3 years. The 5-year PFS rate was 57%, and the median duration from repeat GKRS to tumor progression was 2.6 years. Tumor growth after repeat GKRS occurred exclusively within the first three years post-treatment. Older age at the time of repeat GKRS was a significant predictor of continued tumor growth (OR 1.09, p = 0.036).

CONCLUSION: Repeat GKRS is a feasible treatment alternative for PAs that exhibit growth following initial GKRS.

PMID:39641851 | DOI:10.1007/s00701-024-06341-2

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2024 Dec 6. doi: 10.1007/s11356-024-35702-8. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The study analyzes the impact of environmental regulations on carbon emissions in countries with different levels of emissions, utilizing two measures of carbon emissions based on: production (PBA) and consumption (CBA) accounting. Environmental regulations are measured by means of three components of the Environmental Policy Stringency (EPS) index: market-based and non-market-based instruments, and technology support. The Moments-Quantile Regression method is employed to assess the effectiveness of these policies across countries with varying levels of emissions-high, medium, and low within the Environmental Kuznets Curve. The findings indicate that increased stringency in environmental regulations correlates with reduced carbon emissions per capita. Notably, the EPS index has a more significant effect on reducing PBA emissions compared to CBA emissions. A key finding is that the EPS index is more effective in countries with lower pollution per capita (i.e., lower quantiles) than in those with higher pollution per capita. Among the three components, market-based instruments are identified as the most effective in reducing carbon emissions. Additionally, in countries where per capita emissions are relatively low, the combination of market and non-market instruments proves to be the most effective in reducing emissions. In contrast, the highest carbon emitters per capita tend to achieve emissions reductions primarily through technological support.

PMID:39641842 | DOI:10.1007/s11356-024-35702-8

Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2024 Dec 6;29(1):17. doi: 10.1007/s10006-024-01312-4.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to explore the predictive and prognostic value of tumor-stromal ratio (TSR) and tumor budding (TB) in the recurrence and outcome of patients with Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC).

METHODS: All patients with OTSCC who underwent glossectomy with or without neck dissection in a tertiary center between 2010 and 2020 were included. The pathology slides of all patients were reviewed by a consulting pathologist. All pathologic features including tumor size, tumor grade, tumor thickness, surgical margin status, lymphovascular- and perineural invasion, T-stage, number of dissected, TB, TSR, and involved, tumor budding and tumor-stromal ratio were defined, we categorized the tumors as stroma-rich (low TSR) and stroma-poor (high TSR); as well as TB as low (0-4 buds) and high (≥ 5 buds). The inter-observer reliability of TB and TSR was assessed using the Kappa statistics analysis.

RESULTS: A total of 109 patients, with a median age of 62 (range 19-88) years, were included. There was a significant correlation between TSR and tumor budding with other adverse pathologic features and prognostic factors. In univariate analysis, both stromal-rich tumors and tumor budding were poor prognostic factors for disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). However, on multivariate analysis, N-stage, adjuvant radiotherapy, tumor size, depth of invasion (DOI) and tumor budding emerged as independent prognostic factors for DFS. Likewise, N-stage, and DOI were recognized as independent prognostic factors for OS.

CONCLUSION: Both TSR and TB are important histopathological parameters strongly linked to other pathologic prognostic indicators. Additionally, they play key roles in predicting tumor behavior, recurrence, and patient survival.

PMID:39641832 | DOI:10.1007/s10006-024-01312-4

Clin Oral Investig. 2024 Dec 6;29(1):3. doi: 10.1007/s00784-024-06081-8.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of silver diamine fluoride (SDF) and atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) in arresting caries lesions. Variables such as treatment time, adverse effects/parental aesthetic perception, anxiety and patients’ behavior were also evaluated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Children (3.53 ± 1.03 years) with dentin caries lesions on the occlusal surface of primary molars were randomized into test (SDF) and control (ART) groups. To determine the presence of caries, dmf-t and ICDAS indexes were used. Caries lesions were also classified according to activity (active or inactive). The time required to perform treatments was recorded and the children’s anxiety was assessed by a Facial Image Scale. The adverse events/aesthetic perception were registered by the operator and caregivers. The Frankl Behavioral Scale assessed patients’ behavior. The chi-square/Fisher’s exact and Mann-Whitney tests were used for comparisons between the groups.

RESULTS: Of the 118 participants who received treatment (SDF, n = 59; ART, n = 59), after 12-month follow-up, 91.5% (43/47) of caries lesions in the SDF and 90.2% (46/51) in the ART group were arrested (p = 1.000). After 24 months, 72% (18/25) were arrested in the SDF group and 95.2% (20/21) in the ART. The treatment times were 6.08 ± 1.72 and 13.58 ± 4.83, for SDF and ART, respectively (p < 0.001). No statistically significant difference of adverse effects, aesthetic perception, anxiety, and patients’ behavior were found between the groups.

CONCLUSIONS: SDF was similar to ART in arresting caries lesion but required less time for treatment. The anxiety, adverse effects/aesthetic perception and patients’ behavior were also similar between the groups. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The use of SDF may be a faster and less invasive alternative for the treatment of caries lesions. Clinical trial registration number and date of registration: NCT03063307. September 2016.

PMID:39641816 | DOI:10.1007/s00784-024-06081-8

Clin Oral Investig. 2024 Dec 6;29(1):2. doi: 10.1007/s00784-024-06080-9.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to evaluate the use of oral exfoliative cytology and highlight its limited effectiveness in diagnosing oral diseases.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 1000 consecutive cases of oral cytology were retrieved from the files of an Oral Pathology Service, comprising the period between January 2002 and December 2022. Patient data and clinical details of the lesions were collected, and all slides were reviewed. Categorical data were presented in absolute and relative frequency (%), while numerical data were expressed as the median with minimum and maximum values. The Chi-square (X²) test was employed for frequency comparisons, with a significance level of 5%.

RESULTS: Men constituted 64.6% (n = 646) of the cases, with a statistically significant predominance of white individuals (69.4%; n = 694). Of the 1000 evaluated cases, 87.8% (n = 878) were graded using Papanicolaou staining. Regarding provisional diagnoses, most clinicians (79.1%) suspected fungal lesions (n = 817). Analysis of the agreement between provisional and final cytological diagnoses revealed a statistically significant disagreement.

CONCLUSIONS: This work reinforces the limited use of exfoliative cytology in diagnosing oral lesions.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Exfoliative oral cytology should be restricted to specific cases, particularly for diagnosing fungal disease, and occasionally when oral cancer is suspected, but a biopsy cannot be performed at that time.

PMID:39641812 | DOI:10.1007/s00784-024-06080-9