Neuronavigation assisted endoscopic sinus surgery

In the past two decades, endoscopic sinus surgeries (ESS) have been widely advocated as a safe and effective treatment for disorders of paranasal sinuses that are refractory to medical therapy. ESS caters surgeons with two-dimensional visualization of the anatomical structures; however in scenarios where there is a close anatomical relation between the disease and delicate intracranial or intraorbital structures drastic complications can occur. Hence, endoscopic procedures had to be converted into open surgical procedures if the extent of the disease could not be visualized or cleared thoroughly. Recently however; neuronavigation systems have been combined with ESS to yield better results and facilitate this procedure. The implementation of these systems with ESS has aided surgeons in difficult approaches. We recently decided to use the neuronavigation system of our Neurosurgical department to help aid eradicate various nasal and sinus pathologies in a series of patients

Characteristics of post hoc subgroup analyses of oncology clinical trials: A systematic review

BACKGROUND: Subgroup analyses in clinical trials assess intervention effects on specific patient subgroups, ensuring generalizability. However, they are usually only able to generate hypotheses rather than definitive conclusions. This study examined the prevalence and characteristics of post hoc subgroup analysis in oncology. METHODS: We systematically reviewed published subgroup analyses from 2000 to 2022. We included articles presenting secondary, post hoc, or subgroup analyses of interventional clinical trials in oncology, cancer survivorship, or cancer screening, published separately from the original clinical trial publication. We collected cancer type, year of publication, where and how subgroup analyses were reported, and funding. RESULTS: Out of 16 487 screened publications, 1612 studies were included, primarily subgroup analyses of treatment trials for solid tumors (82%). Medical writers contributed to 31% of articles, and 58% of articles reported conflicts of interest. Subgroup analyses increased significantly over time, with 695 published between 2019 and 2022, compared to 384 from 2000 to 2014. Gastrointestinal tumors (25%) and lymphoid lineage tumors (39%) were the most frequently studied solid and hematological malignancies, respectively. Industry funding and reporting of conflicts of interest increased over time. Subgroup analyses often neglected to indicate their secondary nature in the title. Most authors were from high-income countries, most commonly North America (45%). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the rapidly growing use of post hoc subgroup analysis of oncology clinical trials, revealing that the majority are supported by pharmaceutical companies, and they frequently fail to indicate their secondary nature in the title. Given the known methodological limitations of subgroup analyses, caution is recommended among authors, readers, and reviewers when conducting and interpreting these studies

Toxoplasma gondii IgG Serointensity Is Positively Associated With Frailty

Background: Persistent inflammation related to aging (inflammaging) is exacerbated by chronic infections and contributes to frailty in older adults. We hypothesized associations between Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), a common parasite causing an oligosymptomatic unremitting infection, and frailty, and secondarily between T. gondii and previously reported markers of immune activation in frailty.Methods: We analyzed available demographic, social, and clinical data in Spanish and Portuguese older adults [N = 601; age: mean (SD) 77.3 (8.0); 61% women]. Plasma T. gondii immunoglobulin G (IgG) serointensity was measured with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The Fried criteria were used to define frailty status. Validated translations of Mini-Mental State Examination, Geriatric Depression Scale, and the Charlson Comorbidity Index were used to evaluate confounders. Previously analyzed biomarkers that were significantly associated with frailty in both prior reports and the current study, and also related to T. gondii serointensity, were further accounted for in multivariable logistic models with frailty as outcome.Results: In T. gondii-seropositives, there was a significant positive association between T. gondii IgG serointensity and frailty, accounting for age (p = .0002), and resisting adjustment for multiple successive confounders. Among biomarkers linked with frailty, kynurenine/tryptophan and soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor II were positively associated with T. gondii serointensity in seropositives (p < .05). Associations with other biomarkers were not significant.Conclusions: This first reported association between T. gondii and frailty is limited by a cross-sectional design and warrants replication. While certain biomarkers of inflammaging were associated with both T. gondii IgG serointensity and frailty, they did not fully mediate the T. gondii-frailty association.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation: MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033(grant PID2020-113788RB-I00); Xunta de Galicia (grant ED431B 2022/16); Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (grant BEAGAL18/00142 to V.V.); and Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, cofinanced by the European Social Fund (grant RYC-2015-18394 to L.L.-L.). Additionally supported, in part, by the University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Research on Aging in Baltimore, Maryland; a Clinical Science Research & Development Service Merit Award, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, District of Columbia (grant 1 I01 CX001310-01 to T.T.P.); a R01 grant from the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (grant NIA R01 AG018859 to E.J.K.); and by the Military and Veteran Microbiome: Consortium for Research and Education in Aurora, Colorado (L.A.B., A.J.H., C.A.L., T.T.P.). The opinions expressed in the article belong to the authors and cannot be construed as official positions or opinions of the funders, including the U.S. Veterans Affairs Administration and the National Institutes of Health. Data collected and used for the analyses reported in this article are not available because the initial consent did not include this sharing and because other primary analyses have not been completed. Funding for open access charge: Universidade da Coruna/CISUG

Toxoplasma gondii IgG serointensity is positively associated with frailty

[Abstract] Background: Persistent inflammation related to aging ("inflammaging") is exacerbated by chronic infections and contributes to frailty in older adults. We hypothesized associations between Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), a common parasite causing an oligosymptomatic unremitting infection, and frailty, and secondarily between T. gondii and previously reported markers of immune activation in frailty. Methods: We analyzed available demographic, social, and clinical data in Spanish and Portuguese older adults [N = 601; age: mean (SD) 77.3 (8.0); 61% women]. Plasma T. gondii immunoglobulin G (IgG) serointensity was measured with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The Fried criteria were used to define frailty status. Validated translations of Mini-Mental State Examination, Geriatric Depression Scale, and the Charlson Comorbidity Index were used to evaluate confounders. Previously analyzed biomarkers that were significantly associated with frailty in both prior reports and the current study, and also related to T. gondii serointensity, were further accounted for in multivariable logistic models with frailty as outcome. Results: In T. gondii-seropositives, there was a significant positive association between T. gondii IgG serointensity and frailty, accounting for age (p = .0002), and resisting adjustment for multiple successive confounders. Among biomarkers linked with frailty, kynurenine/tryptophan and soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor II were positively associated with T. gondii serointensity in seropositives (p < .05). Associations with other biomarkers were not significant. Conclusions: This first reported association between T. gondii and frailty is limited by a cross-sectional design and warrants replication. While certain biomarkers of inflammaging were associated with both T. gondii IgG serointensity and frailty, they did not fully mediate the T. gondii-frailty association.info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Programa Estatal de I+D+i Orientado a los Retos de la Sociedad/PID2020-113788RB-I00/ES/IDENTIFICACION DE FACTORES DE RIESGO Y BIOMARCADORES DE VULNERABILIDAD AL DETERIORO COGNITIVO Y FISICO EN EL ENVEJECIMIENTOXunta de Galicia; ED431B 2022/16Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes (España); BEAGAL18/0014

Genetic and Epigenetic Alterations of the NF2 Gene in Sporadic Vestibular Schwannomas

BACKGROUND: Mutations in the neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) tumor-suppressor gene have been identified in not only NF2-related tumors but also sporadic vestibular schwannomas (VS). This study investigated the genetic and epigenetic alterations in tumors and blood from 30 Korean patients with sporadic VS and correlated these alterations with tumor behavior. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: NF2 gene mutations were detected using PCR and direct DNA sequencing and three highly polymorphic microsatellite DNA markers were used to assess the loss of heterozygosity (LOH) from chromosome 22. Aberrant hypermethylation of the CpG island of the NF2 gene was also analyzed. The tumor size, the clinical growth index, and the proliferative activity assessed using the Ki-67 labeling index were evaluated. We found 18 mutations in 16 cases of 30 schwannomas (53%). The mutations included eight frameshift mutations, seven nonsense mutations, one in-frame deletion, one splicing donor site, and one missense mutation. Nine patients (30%) showed allelic loss. No patient had aberrant hypermethylation of the NF2 gene and correlation between NF2 genetic alterations and tumor behavior was not observed in this study. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The molecular genetic changes in sporadic VS identified here included mutations and allelic loss, but no aberrant hypermethylation of the NF2 gene was detected. In addition, no clear genotype/phenotype correlation was identified. Therefore, it is likely that other factors contribute to tumor formation and growth

Genomic Runs of Homozygosity Record Population History and Consanguinity

The human genome is characterised by many runs of homozygous genotypes, where identical haplotypes were inherited from each parent. The length of each run is determined partly by the number of generations since the common ancestor: offspring of cousin marriages have long runs of homozygosity (ROH), while the numerous shorter tracts relate to shared ancestry tens and hundreds of generations ago. Human populations have experienced a wide range of demographic histories and hold diverse cultural attitudes to consanguinity. In a global population dataset, genome-wide analysis of long and shorter ROH allows categorisation of the mainly indigenous populations sampled here into four major groups in which the majority of the population are inferred to have: (a) recent parental relatedness (south and west Asians); (b) shared parental ancestry arising hundreds to thousands of years ago through long term isolation and restricted effective population size (N(e)), but little recent inbreeding (Oceanians); (c) both ancient and recent parental relatedness (Native Americans); and (d) only the background level of shared ancestry relating to continental N(e) (predominantly urban Europeans and East Asians; lowest of all in sub-Saharan African agriculturalists), and the occasional cryptically inbred individual. Moreover, individuals can be positioned along axes representing this demographic historic space. Long runs of homozygosity are therefore a globally widespread and under-appreciated characteristic of our genomes, which record past consanguinity and population isolation and provide a distinctive record of the demographic history of an individual's ancestors. Individual ROH measures will also allow quantification of the disease risk arising from polygenic recessive effects

Argininosuccinate synthetase activity in cultured human lymphocytes

The activity of argininosuccinate synthetase (E.C. 6.3.4.5), a urea cycle enzyme, was measured in cultured human lymphocytes using a new radioactive assay. Control cells had a maximum specific activity of 15.7±8.7 nmoles per hour per milligram of protein and an apparent K m for citrulline of 2 × 10 −4 m , whereas cells derived from a patient with citrullinemia had no detectable activity. A nutritional variant, selected out of the citrullinemic lymphocyte population by ability to grow in citrulline, had a maximum specific activity of 10.7±3.8 nmoles/hr/mg and an apparent K m for citrulline of 2 × 10 −2 m . These measurements confirm the observation that citrullinemia is associated with a defect in argininosuccinate synthetase activity and provide further evidence that citrullinemia is expressed in cultured lymphocytes. The emergence of a nutritional variant with a partial defect in argininosuccinate synthetase enzyme suggests that this citrullinemic patient has a heterogeneous population of cells, some totally defective and others only partially defective in argininosuccinate synthetase. The new activity assay is described in detail.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44125/1/10528_2004_Article_BF00484469.pd