Management of sagittal craniosynostosis: morphological comparison of eight surgical techniques

The aim of this study was to carry out a retrospective multicentre study comparing the morphological outcome of 8 techniques used for the management of sagittal synostosis versus a large cohort of control patients. Computed tomographic (CT) images were obtained from children CT-scanned for non-craniosynostosis related events (n = 241) and SS patients at preoperative and postoperative follow-up stages (n = 101). No significant difference in morphological outcomes was observed between the techniques considered in this study. However, the majority of techniques showed a tendency for relapse. Further, the more invasive procedures at older ages seem to lead to larger intracranial volume compared to less invasive techniques at younger ages. This study can be a first step towards future multicentre studies, comparing surgical results and offering a possibility for objective benchmarking of outcomes between methods and centres.     

Preferential responses to faces in superior temporal and medial prefrontal cortex in three-year-old children

Perceiving faces and understanding emotions are key components of human social cognition. Prior research with adults and infants suggests that these social cognitive functions are supported by superior temporal cortex (STC) and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). We used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to characterize functional responses in these cortical regions to faces in early childhood. Three-year-old children (n = 88, M(SD) = 3.15(.16) years) passively viewed faces that varied in emotional content and valence (happy, angry, fearful, neutral) and, for fearful and angry faces, intensity (100%, 40%), while undergoing fNIRS. Bilateral STC and MPFC showed greater oxygenated hemoglobin concentration values to all faces relative to objects. MPFC additionally responded preferentially to happy faces relative to neutral faces. We did not detect preferential responses to angry or fearful faces, or overall differences in response magnitude by emotional valence (100% happy vs. fearful and angry) or intensity (100% vs. 40% fearful and angry). In exploratory analyses, preferential responses to faces in MPFC were not robustly correlated with performance on tasks of early social cognition. These results link and extend adult and infant research on functional responses to faces in STC and MPFC and contribute to the characterization of the neural correlates of early social cognition.     

基于内容分析法的中医类APP现状分析

随着手机APP对人们日常工作和生活方式的改变，中医类APP日益得到关注。文章基于内容分析法对目前中医类APP现状进行梳理，分析存在的问题，对未来中医类APP的设计和开发提出建议。以每一个APP为分析单元，从一般情况、主要功能、用户评价等3个方面进行分析，建立了7个维度22个细目的编码体系，进行频数统计和分析。发现目前中医类APP功能丰富，用户广泛，成为中医药服务及中医科学传播的重要载体，具有良好的用户粘度及巨大市场需求，但存在质量良莠不齐、内容资源不佳等问题。提出中医类APP开发应符合中医药发展战略的方向，应进一步规范中医类APP隐私政策和相关法律法规；并探索中医类APP的评价标准和评价指标体系，促进和规范中医类APP的质量提升和不断发展。     

Safety and immunogenicity of NVX-CoV2373 (TAK-019) vaccine in healthy Japanese adults: Interim report of a phase I/II randomized controlled trial

BackgroundWe evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of NVX-CoV2373, a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 nanoparticle vaccine, in healthy Japanese participants.MethodsThis phase 1/2, randomized, observer-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted in Japan (two sites), enrolled healthy Japanese adults aged ≥ 20 years with no history/risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and no prior exposure to other approved/investigational SARS-CoV-2 vaccines or treatments. Participants were stratified by age (< 65 or ≥ 65 years) and randomized to receive two doses of either NVX-CoV2373 (5 μg SARS-CoV-2 rS; 50 μg Matrix-M1) or placebo, 21 days apart. Primary outcomes were safety and immunogenicity assessed by serum IgG antibody levels against SARS-CoV-2 rS protein on day 36. Herein, we report the primary data analysis at 4 weeks after the second dose, ahead of 12-month follow-up completion (data cut-off: 8 May 2021).ResultsBetween 12 February 2021 and 17 March 2021, 326 subjects were screened, and 200 participants enrolled and randomized: NVX-CoV2373, n = 150; placebo, n = 50. Solicited adverse events (AEs) through 7 days after each injection occurred in 121/150 (80.7%) and 11/50 (22.0%) participants in the NVX-CoV2373 and placebo arms, respectively. In the NVX-CoV2373 arm, tenderness and injection site pain were the most frequently reported solicited AEs after each vaccination, irrespective of age. Robust immune responses occurred with NVX-CoV2373 (n = 150) by day 36: IgG geometric mean fold rise (95% confidence interval) 259 (219, 306); seroconversion rate 100% (97.6, 100). No such response occurred with placebo (n = 49).ConclusionTwo doses of NVX-CoV2373 given with a 21-day interval demonstrated acceptable safety and induced robust anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in healthy Japanese adults. Funding: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED). ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04712110.     

Expectation affects neural repetition suppression in infancy

Recent work provides evidence that the infant brain is able to make top-down predictions, but this has been explored only in limited contexts and domains. We build upon this evidence of predictive processing in infants using a new paradigm to examine auditory repetition suppression (RS). RS is a well-documented neural phenomenon in which repeated presentations of the same stimulus result in reduced neural activation compared to non-repeating stimuli. Many theories explain RS using bottom-up mechanisms, but recent work has posited that top-down expectation and predictive coding may bias, or even explain, RS. Here, we investigate whether RS in the infant brain is similarly sensitive to top-down mechanisms. We use fNIRS to measure infants’ neural response in two experimental conditions, one in which variability in stimulus presentation is expected (occurs 75% of the time) and a control condition where variability and repetition are equally likely (50% of the time). We show that 6-month-old infants exhibit attenuated frontal lobe response to blocks of variable auditory stimuli during contexts when variability is expected as compared to the control condition. These findings suggest that young infants’ neural responses are modulated by predictions gained from experience and not simply by bottom-up mechanisms.     

Pharmacological control of inflammation in wound healing

Wound inflammation is a rapid and highly orchestrated process that significantly impacts the wound healing cascade. Consequent to injury, a series of events set off that include inflammatory, proliferation and maturation phases leading to wound closure and restoration of normal skin integrity. Stimuli causing stress to host immune system or induce inflammatory response include tissue damage and pathogenic microbial infection.Several evidences points towards the positive role of inflammation as it essential to fight against the attack of invading pathogens and to remove dead tissues from the site of injury. Besides its positive role, prolonged inflammation is injurious and may result in deregulated stages of the wound healing which may lead to excessive scarring. Achieving balance in inflammatory cascade is one of the challenging tasks for development of a wound healing drug.This review mainly focuses on the pharmacological control of inflammation by agents which critically balance the inflammatory cascade. However, none of the agent is available in the healthcare market which exclusively plays a role in wound repair. In this review we shall explore different factors or agents affecting inflammation in wound healing. This information might be helpful in designing and development new process, technologies or drugs for better management of wound care. In addition, understanding the effect of inflammation on the outcome of the healing process will serve as a significant milestone in the area of pathological tissue repair.     

Changes in Gene Expression of Selected Genes in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes and Pancreas Transplant in Peripheral Blood

BackgroundDiabetes is an autoimmunologic disease that may have a different background. The aim of our study was to show that type 1 diabetes is accompanied by changes in gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. We analyzed the genes characteristic of pancreatic islet cells and genes playing a big part in autoimmune diseases and cancer.DesignThe study included 21 patients and was performed to examine the expression of 9 genes. The patients were divided into 3 research groups: people with type 1 diabetes, people with diabetes after pancreas transplant, and a control group of healthy patients. To assess the level of expression, RNA material was obtained from peripheral blood collected from individuals qualified for the study.ResultsThe results of the study showed many interesting changes in the expression level of the analyzed genes. It was demonstrated that CASR gene expression was significantly higher in transplant patients than in diabetic patients. Differences in the level of activity are also noted in genes that take part in autoimmune diseases.ProposalProfiling gene expression in peripheral blood samples may be a useful and noninvasive diagnostic tool that allows early detection of changes leading to the onset or resumption of diabetes.     

Prevalence of Key Forms of Violence Against Adolescents in the Arab Region: A Systematic Review

Purpose

This article presents a systematic review of the prevalence of violence against adolescents in the 22 countries of the Arab League.