Transient Facial Nerve Paralysis (Bell's Palsy) following Intranasal Delivery of a Genetically Detoxified Mutant of Escherichia coli Heat Labile Toxin

BACKGROUND: An association was previously established between facial nerve paralysis (Bell's palsy) and intranasal administration of an inactivated influenza virosome vaccine containing an enzymatically active Escherichia coli Heat Labile Toxin (LT) adjuvant. The individual component(s) responsible for paralysis were not identified, and the vaccine was withdrawn. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Subjects participating in two contemporaneous non-randomized Phase 1 clinical trials of nasal subunit vaccines against Human Immunodeficiency Virus and tuberculosis, both of which employed an enzymatically inactive non-toxic mutant LT adjuvant (LTK63), underwent active follow-up for adverse events using diary-cards and clinical examination. Two healthy subjects experienced transient peripheral facial nerve palsies 44 and 60 days after passive nasal instillation of LTK63, possibly a result of retrograde axonal transport after neuronal ganglioside binding or an inflammatory immune response, but without exaggerated immune responses to LTK63. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: While the unique anatomical predisposition of the facial nerve to compression suggests nasal delivery of neuronal-binding LT-derived adjuvants is inadvisable, their continued investigation as topical or mucosal adjuvants and antigens appears warranted on the basis of longstanding safety via oral, percutaneous, and other mucosal routes

Body composition in young female eating-disorder patients with severe weight loss and controls: evidence from the four-component model and evaluation of DXA

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Whether fat-free mass (FFM) and its components are depleted in eating-disorder (ED) patients is uncertain. Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is widely used to assess body composition in pediatric ED patients; however, its accuracy in underweight populations remains unknown. We aimed (1) to assess body composition of young females with ED involving substantial weight loss, relative to healthy controls using the four-component (4C) model, and (2) to explore the validity of DXA body composition assessment in ED patients. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Body composition of 13 females with ED and 117 controls, aged 10-18 years, was investigated using the 4C model. Accuracy of DXA for estimation of FFM and fat mass (FM) was tested using the approach of Bland and Altman. RESULTS: Adjusting for age, height and pubertal stage, ED patients had significantly lower whole-body FM, FFM, protein mass (PM) and mineral mass (MM) compared with controls. Trunk and limb FM and limb lean soft tissue were significantly lower in ED patients. However, no significant difference in the hydration of FFM was detected. Compared with the 4C model, DXA overestimated FM by 5 +/- 36% and underestimated FFM by 1 +/- 9% in ED patients. CONCLUSION: Our study confirms that ED patients are depleted not only in FM but also in FFM, PM and MM. DXA has limitations for estimating body composition in individual young female ED patients

Do Termites Avoid Carcasses? Behavioral Responses Depend on the Nature of the Carcasses

BACKGROUND: Undertaking behavior is a significant adaptation to social life in enclosed nests. Workers are known to remove dead colony members from the nest. Such behavior prevents the spread of pathogens that may be detrimental to a colony. To date, little is known about the ethological aspects of how termites deal with carcasses. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, we tested the responses to carcasses of four species from different subterranean termite taxa: Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki and Reticulitermes speratus (Kolbe) (lower termites) and Microcerotermes crassus Snyder and Globitermes sulphureus Haviland (higher termites). We also used different types of carcasses (freshly killed, 1-, 3-, and 7-day-old, and oven-killed carcasses) and mutilated nestmates to investigate whether the termites exhibited any behavioral responses that were specific to carcasses in certain conditions. Some behavioral responses were performed specifically on certain types of carcasses or mutilated termites. C. formosanus and R. speratus exhibited the following behaviors: (1) the frequency and time spent in antennating, grooming, and carcass removal of freshly killed, 1-day-old, and oven-killed carcasses were high, but these behaviors decreased as the carcasses aged; (2) the termites repeatedly crawled under the aging carcass piles; and (3) only newly dead termites were consumed as a food source. In contrast, M. crassus and G. sulphureus workers performed relatively few behavioral acts. Our results cast a new light on the previous notion that termites are necrophobic in nature. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the behavioral response towards carcasses depends largely on the nature of the carcasses and termite species, and the response is more complex than was previously thought. Such behavioral responses likely are associated with the threat posed to the colony by the carcasses and the feeding habits and nesting ecology of a given species

Acute thalamic connectivity precedes chronic post-concussive symptoms in mild traumatic brain injury.

Chronic postconcussive symptoms are common after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), and are difficult to predict or treat. Thalamic functional integrity is particularly vulnerable in mTBI, and may be related to long-term outcomes, but requires further investigation. We compared structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and resting state functional MRI in 108 patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of 13 to 15 and normal CT, and 76 controls. We examined whether acute changes in thalamic functional connectivity were early markers for persistent symptoms, and explored neurochemical associations of our findings using data from positron emission tomography. Of the mTBI cohort, 47% showed incomplete recovery 6 months post-injury. Despite the absence of structural changes, we found acute thalamic hyperconnectivity in mTBI, with specific vulnerabilities of individual thalamic nuclei. Acute fMRI markers differentiated those with chronic postconcussive symptoms, with time- and outcome-dependent relationships in a sub-cohort followed longitudinally. Moreover, emotional and cognitive symptoms were associated with changes in thalamic functional connectivity to known dopaminergic and noradrenergic targets, respectively. Our findings suggest that chronic symptoms can have a basis in early thalamic pathophysiology. This may aid identification of patients at risk of chronic postconcussive symptoms following mTBI, provide a basis for development of new therapies, and could facilitate precision medicine application of these therapies

Relationships Between Needle Nitrogen Concentration and Photosynthetic Responses of Douglas-Fir Seedlings to Elevated CO2 and Temperature

Here we examined correlations between needle nitrogen concentration ([N]) and photosynthetic responses of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) seedlings to growth in elevated temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations ([CO2]). Seedlings were grown in sunlit, climate-controlled chambers at ambient or ambient+3.5° C and ambient or ambient +180 μmol mol-1 CO2 in a full factorial design. Photosynthetic parameters and needle [N] were measured six times over a 21-month period. Needle [N] varied seasonally, and accounted for 30–50% of the variation in photosynthetic parameters. Across measurement periods, elevated temperature increased needle [N] by 26% and light-saturated net photosynthetic rates by 17%. Elevated [CO2] decreased needle [N] by 12%, and reduced net photosynthetic rates measured at a common [CO2], maximum carboxylation activity (Vc,max) and electrontransport capacity (Jmax), indicating photosynthetic acclimatization. Even so, elevated [CO2] enhanced net photosynthesis, and this effect increased with needle [N]. These results suggest that needle [N] may regulate photosynthetic responses of Douglas-fir to climate change. Further, needle [N] may be altered by climate change. However, effects of elevated [CO2] on photosynthesis may be similar across growth temperatures