Metformin therapy in COVID-19: inhibition of NETosis

Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis -     

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma: diagnostic challenges,histopathologic features and ancillary testing

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is an aggressive thyroid malignancy with high mortality rate. This malignancy arises in thyroid follicular cells either denovo or with an associated differentiated thyroid carcinoma component. Clinically, it usually presents as a rapidly enlarging mass, pain and locally compressive symptoms. Histopathologic variability and heterogeneity often pose diagnostic challenges, especially in scant and paucicellular specimens. This article describes the clinical, histopathologic and molecular features of ATC and also addresses the associated diagnostic limitations and challenges.     

A comparison of the academic impact of plastic surgery units in the United Kingdom and Ireland using bibliometric analysis

Academic output is just one aspect of a successful career as a plastic surgeon. However, for those with a strong interest in academia, the academic output of a department will likely be a key factor when deciding how to rank jobs. The aim of this study was to quantify and rank the academic output of plastic surgery units across the UK and Ireland. The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science Bibliometric analysis tool was used to collate cumulative (1950–2016), 10 year (2006–2016) and 3 years (2013–2015) research output data for plastic surgery units in the UK and Ireland. Sixty-six plastic surgery units were identified. Departments were ranked for each time period according to the number of papers produced, number of citations (Nc) and h-index (a measure of the impact of scientific output). The top 3 departments for number of papers in the last 10 years were The Royal Free Hospital, London (226) Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford (218), and Morriston Hospital and Swansea (188). The top 3 for h-number were The Royal Free Hospital (21) Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester (18) and Morriston Hospital (17). Academic output varies across plastic surgery units in the UK and Ireland. A number of departments have consistently maintained high academic outputs across the years and will be of interest to surgeons hoping to pursue a career in academia.     

Effect of obstructive sleep apnoea on retinal microvascular function: a randomised controlled trial

Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology - Retinal microvascular endothelial dysfunction is thought to be of importance in the development of ocular vascular diseases....     

Oxyhemoglobin changes in the prefrontal cortex in response to cognitive tasks: a systematic review

Purpose of the study: the aim of this study was to synthesize PFC fNIRS outcomes on the effects of cognitive tasks compared to resting/baseline tasks in healthy adults from studies utilizing a pre/post design.

Material and methods: original research studies were searched from seven databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, CINAHL, SCOPUS, PEDro and PubMed). Subsequently, two independent reviewers screened the titles and abstracts followed by full-text reviews to assess the studies' eligibility.

Results: eleven studies met the inclusion criteria and had data abstracted and quality assessed. Methodology varied considerably and yet cognitive tasks resulted in the ΔO₂Hb increasing in 8 of the 11 and ΔHHb decreasing in 8 of 8 studies that reported this outcome. The cognitive tasks from 10 of the 11 studies were classified as “Working Memory” and “Verbal Fluency Tasks”.

Conclusions: although, the data comparison was challenging provided the heterogeneity in methodology, the results across studies were similar.     

Loss of basal forebrain P75(NTR) immunoreactivity in subjects with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.

The long-held belief that degeneration of the cholinergic basal forebrain was central to Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis and occurred early in the disease process has been questioned recently. In this regard, changes in some cholinergic basal forebrain (CBF) markers (e.g. the high affinity trkA receptor) but not others (e.g., cortical choline acetyltransferase [ChAT] activity, the number of ChAT and vesicular acetylcholine transporter-immunoreactive neurons) suggest specific phenotypic changes, but not frank neuronal degeneration, early in the disease process. The present study examined the expression of the low affinity p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75(NTR)), an excellent marker of CBF neurons, in postmortem tissue derived from clinically well-characterized individuals who have been classified as having no cognitive impairment (NCI), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and mild AD. Relative to NCI individuals, a significant and similar reduction in the number of nucleus basalis p75(NTR)-immunoreactive neurons was seen in individuals with MCI (38%) and mild AD (43%). The number of p75(NTR)-immunoreactive nucleus basalis neurons was significantly correlated with performance on the Mini-Mental State Exam, a Global Cognitive Test score, as well as some individual tests of working memory and attention. These data, together with previous reports, support the concept that phenotypic changes, but not frank neuronal degeneration, occur early in cognitive decline. Although there was no difference in p75(NTR) CBF cell reduction between MCI and AD, it remains to be determined whether these findings lend support to the hypothesis that MCI is a prodromal stage of AD.