Nonsurgical treatment of a bilateral mandibular fracture in a blue-tongued skink

A 1.5-year-old male blue-tongued skink Tiliqua scincoides was presented to a veterinary clinical in Zurich, Switzerland, due to anorexia and an injury on the right lower jaw. A superficial wound on the ventrorostral aspect of the lower jaw, contaminated with sand, was found. A slight swelling was present that appeared soft and elastic on palpation. Instability involving both sides of the mandible was observed. Whole body and skull radiographs in laterolateral and dorsoventral views were obtained. Radiographs revealed a disrupted outline of the Pars horizontalis of the mandible. The fracture line was oblique with a narrow pointed end ventrocaudally and osteolysis was suspected. Based on physical examination and radiographs, a diagnosis of an open, bilateral mandibular fracture and multiple rib fractures as a result of suspected malnutrition and trauma was made. An intraoral plate reaching over all teeth to the corner of the mouth was adapted, and a muzzle made from cotton cloth tape was applied in order to stabilize the fracture. For regular feeding and medication, an oesophagostomy tube was placed on the left lateral neck region. Postoperative treatment included analgesics and antibiotic treatment. After 36 days, the intraoral plate and tape muzzle were removed and radiographs showed fracture alignment with a narrow fracture fissure. The fracture was still clearly visible 70 days after surgery, although callus production was seen ventrally on both mandibles on radiologic examination. Nevertheless, the fracture was stable on palpation. The animal was released from veterinary care in good condition with normal feeding behaviour after 12 weeks of initial therapy

Stress and reward: long term cortisol exposure predicts the strength of sexual preference

Healthy individuals tend to consume available rewards like food and sex. This tendency is attenuated or amplified in most stress-related psychiatric conditions, so we asked if it depends on endogenous levels of the ‘canonical stress hormone’ cortisol. We unobtrusively quantified how hard healthy heterosexual men would work to consume erotic images of women versus men and also measured their exposure to endogenous cortisol in the prior two months. We used linear models to predict the strength of sexual preference from cortisol level, after accounting for other potential explanations. Heterosexual preference declines with self-reported anhedonia but increases with long term exposure to endogenous cortisol. These results suggest that cortisol may affect reward-related behavior in healthy adults

Interoception of breathing and its relationship with anxiety

Interoception, the perception of internal bodily states, is thought to be inextricably linked to affective qualities such as anxiety. Although interoception spans sensory to metacognitive processing, it is not clear whether anxiety is differentially related to these processing levels. Here we investigated this question in the domain of breathing, using computational modeling and high-field (7 T) fMRI to assess brain activity relating to dynamic changes in inspiratory resistance of varying predictability. Notably, the anterior insula was associated with both breathing-related prediction certainty and prediction errors, suggesting an important role in representing and updating models of the body. Individuals with low versus moderate anxiety traits showed differential anterior insula activity for prediction certainty. Multi-modal analyses of data from fMRI, computational assessments of breathing-related metacognition, and questionnaires demonstrated that anxiety-interoception links span all levels from perceptual sensitivity to metacognition, with strong effects seen at higher levels of interoceptive processes

Value of (18F)-FDG positron emission tomography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging in diagnosing primary and recurrent ovarian carcinoma

The aim of this study was to compare prospectively the accuracy of whole-body positron emission tomography (PET), CT and MRI in diagnosing primary and recurrent ovarian cancer. Nineteen patients (age range 23-76 years) were recruited with suspicious ovarian lesions at presentation (n = 8) or follow-up for recurrence (n = 11). All patients were scheduled for laparotomy and histological confirmation. Whole-body PET with FDG, contrast-enhanced spiral CT of the abdomen, including the pelvis, and MRI of the entire abdomen were performed. Each imaging study was evaluated separately. Imaging findings were correlated with histopathological diagnosis. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for lesion characterization in patients with suspicious ovarian lesions (n = 7) were, respectively: 100, 67 and 86% for PET; 100, 67 and 86% for CT; and 100, 100 and 100% for MRI. For the diagnosis of recurrent disease (n = 10), PET had a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 50% and accuracy of 90%. The PET technique was the only technique which correctly identified a single transverse colon metastasis. Results for CT were 40, 50 and 43%, and for MRI 86, 100 and 89%, respectively. No statistically significant difference was seen. Neither FDG PET nor CT nor MRI can replace surgery in the detection of microscopic peritoneal disease. No statistically significant difference was observed for the investigated imaging modalities with regard to lesion characterization or detection of recurrent disease; thus, the methods are permissible alternatives. The PET technique, however, has the drawback of less accurate spatial assignment of small lesions compared with CT and MRI

Interoception of breathing and its relationship with anxiety

Interoception, the perception of internal bodily states, is thought to be inextricably linked to affective qualities such as anxiety. Although interoception spans sensory to metacognitive processing, it is not clear whether anxiety is differentially related to these processing levels. Here we investigated this question in the domain of breathing, using computational modeling and high-field (7 T) fMRI to assess brain activity relating to dynamic changes in inspiratory resistance of varying predictability. Notably, the anterior insula was associated with both breathing-related prediction certainty and prediction errors, suggesting an important role in representing and updating models of the body. Individuals with low versus moderate anxiety traits showed differential anterior insula activity for prediction certainty. Multi-modal analyses of data from fMRI, computational assessments of breathing-related metacognition, and questionnaires demonstrated that anxiety-interoception links span all levels from perceptual sensitivity to metacognition, with strong effects seen at higher levels of interoceptive processes