-
Terrell posted an update 7 months, 1 week ago
BACKGROUND Suicide is one of the leading causes of premature death in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients. The understanding of suicidal behaviour (SB) is limited, and new and integrative approaches focusing on the likely relationship of the biological and cognitive features of SB in the early phases of psychosis are warranted. We aimed to study the relationship of brain grey matter anomalies and cognitive functioning with SB or suicidal risk in a large sample of non-affective FEP patients. METHODS We used a voxel-based morphometry analysis in 145 FEP patients to investigate the pattern of structural brain abnormalities related to SB. In addition, bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to explore the relationship between cognitive functioning and SB. RESULTS A reduction in grey matter volume in the frontal area, temporal gyrus, precuneus, uncus, amygdala, left cuneus and subcallosal gyrus as well as a marked regional volume reduction in the right hemisphere was linked with the presence of SB. Additionally, worse global cognitive functioning and living in urban areas were identified as suicide risk factors. CONCLUSIONS This study provides some insights about the brain abnormalities associated with SB in FEP patients. Specifically, the areas reported are involved in important functions related to SB, such as impulsivity, problem solving or responses to pain. Thus, the results confirm the relevant role of cognitive functioning on SB. Ketogenic diet (KD) is comprised of a distinct macronutrient combination i.e. 90% fat, 8% of protein and 2% of carbohydrates, typically characterized as a high-fat low-carbohydrate diet. KD’s efficacy was largely established for treatment resistant epilepsy in children, but its mental, emotional and behavioral effects remain largely unknown. Nevertheless, the efficacious effects of KD in childhood epilepsy provide rationale for repurposing this approach for other brain-based disorders. Consequently, clinicians and researchers should be aware of the evidence regarding efficacy, as well as the benefits and risks of adopting this diet. Results from animals and humans studies provide equivocal evidence across multiple domains of psychopathology. Conceptually, KD shows promise to serve as an efficacious treatment for mental disorders. This commentary highlights the article by Li et al that links ceramide accumulation in podocytes to cellular damage and nephrotic syndrome. Atrophy and fat accumulation is a debilitating aspect of muscle diseases that it is rarely prevented. Using a vertical approach combining anatomical with omics methodology in a tenotomy-induced sheep model for rotator cuff disease, we tested whether mitochondrial dysfunction is implicated in muscle wasting and perturbed lipid metabolism; speculating that both can be prevented by the stimulation of beta-oxidation with L-carnitine. Infraspinatus muscle lost 22% of its volume over the first six weeks after tenotomy before the area percentage of lipid increased from 8% to 18% at week sixteen. selleck Atrophy was associated with the down-regulation of mitochondrial transcripts and protein and a slow-to-fast shift in muscle composition. Correspondingly, amino acid levels were increased two weeks after tendon release when the levels of high-energy phosphates and glycerophospholipids was lowered. L-carnitine administration (0.9 g kg-1 day-1) prevented atrophy over the first two weeks, and mitigated alterations of glutamate, glycerophospholipids, and carnitine levels in released muscle but did not prevent the level decrease of high-energy phosphates and protein constituents of mitochondrial respiration, promoting the accumulation of longer lipids with an increasing saturation. We conclude that the early phase of infraspinatus muscle degeneration after tendon release involves the elimination of oxidative characteristics which is associated with an aberrant accumulation of lipid species but is largely unrelated the prevention of atrophy under oral L-carnitine administration. In biomedical research, enormous progress is being made and new candidates for putative medicinal products emerge. However, most published preclinical data are not conducted according to the standard Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). GLP is mandatory for preclinical analysis of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMP) and thereby a prerequisite for planning and conduction of clinical trials. Not inconsiderable numbers of clinical trials are terminated earlier or fail – do inadequate testing strategies or missing specialized assays during the preclinical development contribute to this severe complex of problems? Unfortunately, there is also a lack of access to GLP testing results and OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) GLP guidelines are not yet adjusted to ATMP specialties. Ultimately, GLP offers possibilities to generate reliable and reproducible data. Therefore, this review elucidates different GLP aspects in drug development, speculates on reasons of putative low GLP acceptance in the scientific community and mentions solution proposals. Over the past decades, a multitude of synthetic drug delivery systems has been developed and introduced to the market. However, applications of such systems are limited due to inefficiency, cytotoxicity and/or immunogenicity. At the same time, the field of natural drug carrier systems has grown rapidly. One of the most prominent examples of such natural carriers are extracellular vesicles (EVs). EVs are cell-derived membranous particles which play important roles in intercellular communication. EVs possess a number of characteristics that qualify them as promising vehicles for drug delivery. In order to take advantage of these attributes, an in-depth understanding of why EVs are such unique carrier systems and how we can exploit their qualities is pivotal. Here, we review unique EV features that are relevant for drug delivery and highlight emerging strategies to make use of those features for drug loading and targeted delivery. Lamellar keratoplasty (LK) procedures have gained momentum in the field of corneal transplantation due to their inherent advantages over full-thickness penetrating keratoplasty (PKP). While PKP is an open sky procedure fraught with sight threatening intraoperative and postoperative complications, LK procedures are relatively closed-system procedures that involve selective removal and replacement of diseased corneal layers and are free from these complications. Anterior lamellar procedures involve partial or lamellar replacement of anterior stroma and reduce the risk of graft rejection, retain structural integrity, and require less stringent donor criteria. Posterior lamellar procedures involve removal of the affected endothelium in eyes with relatively unaffected stroma. These procedures are associated with improved safety profile, accelerated wound healing, structurally stronger globe and minimal astigmatism, thereby producing faster visual rehabilitation and timely initiation of amblyopia therapy in children.