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.     

Factors accelerating recurrences and secondary tumors in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

To investigate factors that affect and also decrease the duration for recurrences and secondary tumors in cSCC.A retrospective study was conducted for all patients who were treated for a cSCC of the head and neck between 2009 and 2016. Anamnestic as well as epidemiological and histological data were noted and correlated with the occurrence of recurrences and secondary cancers. The duration between surgery and these events was used to determine if histological factors accelerate their occurrence.The highest risk for recurrences was seen in patients with previous skin cancers (RR 3.23). Histological ulceration (p = 0.003) and grading (p = 0.031) of the tumor were found as significant factors accelerating the time to relapse. Surrounding chronic precancerotic lesions (p < 0.001) and poor tumor grading (p = 0.035) were found as significant factors accelerating the time until a secondary cSCC was observed.Known risk factors increase not only the risk for a cSCC but also for recurrences. Specific histologic findings can help to adjust follow-up intervals to identify recurrences and secondary tumors at an early stage as these were shown to decrease the duration for a further event.     

Elevated serum uric acid is a predictor of contrast associated acute kidney injury in patient with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention

BackgroundContrast associated-acute kidney injury (CA-AKI) has been associated with adverse outcomes after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). However, early markers of CA-AKI are still needed to improve risk stratification. We investigated the association between elevated serum uric acid (eSUA) and CA-AKI in patients with STEMI treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI).Methods and resultsSerum creatinine (Scr) was measured at admission and 24, 48 and 72 h after pPCI. CA-AKI was defined as an increase of 25% (CA-AKI 25%) or 0.5 mg/dl (CA-AKI 0.5) of Scr level above the baseline after 48 h following contrast administration. Multivariable analyses to investigate CA-AKI predictors were performed by binary logistic regression and multivariable backward logistic regression model.In the 3023 patients considered, CA-AKI was more frequent among patients with eSUA as compared with patients with normal SUA levels, considering both CA-AKI definitions (CA-AKI25%: 20.8% vs 16.2%, p < 0.012; CA-AKI 0.5: 10.1% vs 5.8%, p < 0.001). The association between eSUA and CA-AKI was confirmed at multivariable analyses (CA-AKI 25%: odd ratio 1.32, 95% CI 1.03–1.69, p = 0.027; CA-AKI 0.5: odd ratio 1.76, 95% CI 1.11–2.79, p = 0.016).ConclusionElevated serum uric acid is associated with CA-AKI after reperfusion in patients with STEMI treated with pPCI.     

Levels and variables associated with psychological distress during confinement due to the coronavirus pandemic in a community sample of Spanish adults

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic's consequences and the state of alarm, literature has shown that people worldwide have experienced severe stressors that have been associated with increased prevalence of emotional distress. In this study, we explored psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and somatization symptoms) using an online survey platform in a sample of 1,781 Spanish adults during the confinement due to COVID-19, relationships between distress and sleep problems, affect, pain, sleep, emotional regulation, gender, type of housing, history of psychopathology, and living alone during the confinement, and differences depending on demographic and psychological variables. Results showed that between 25% and 39% of the sample referred to clinically significant levels of distress. In addition, women showed higher levels of distress, negative affect, perception of pain, and cognitive reappraisal and lower levels of emotional suppression and sleep quality than men. A history of psychopathology, being younger, living alone or in a flat was associated with higher distress. Finally, the variables most strongly related to distress were negative and positive affect, levels of pain, sleep quality, and emotional suppression. Our results highlight the important role of emotional suppression, cognitive reappraisal, and loneliness and the impact of being a woman and younger in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it would be necessary to provide assessments of distress levels in these population groups and focus psychological preventive and therapeutic online interventions on expressing emotions and preventing loneliness.     

Interoception Primes Emotional Processing: Multimodal Evidence from Neurodegeneration

Recent frameworks in cognitive neuroscience and behavioral neurology underscore interoceptive priors as core modulators of negative emotions. However, the field lacks experimental designs manipulating the priming of emotions via interoception and exploring their multimodal signatures in neurodegenerative models. Here, we designed a novel task that involves interoceptive and control-exteroceptive priming conditions followed by post-interoception and post-exteroception facial emotion recognition (FER). We recruited 114 participants, including healthy controls (HCs) as well as patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), Parkinson''s disease (PD), and Alzheimer''s disease (AD). We measured online EEG modulations of the heart-evoked potential (HEP), and associations with both brain structural and resting-state functional connectivity patterns. Behaviorally, post-interoception negative FER was enhanced in HCs but selectively disrupted in bvFTD and PD, with AD presenting generalized disruptions across emotion types. Only bvFTD presented impaired interoceptive accuracy. Increased HEP modulations during post-interoception negative FER was observed in HCs and AD, but not in bvFTD or PD patients. Across all groups, post-interoception negative FER correlated with the volume of the insula and the ACC. Also, negative FER was associated with functional connectivity along the (a) salience network in the post-interoception condition, and along the (b) executive network in the post-exteroception condition. These patterns were selectively disrupted in bvFTD (a) and PD (b), respectively. Our approach underscores the multidimensional impact of interoception on emotion, while revealing a specific pathophysiological marker of bvFTD. These findings inform a promising theoretical and clinical agenda in the fields of nteroception, emotion, allostasis, and neurodegeneration.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We examined whether and how emotions are primed by interoceptive states combining multimodal measures in healthy controls and neurodegenerative models. In controls, negative emotion recognition and ongoing HEP modulations were increased after interoception. These patterns were selectively disrupted in patients with atrophy across key interoceptive-emotional regions (e.g., the insula and the cingulate in frontotemporal dementia, frontostriatal networks in Parkinson''s disease), whereas persons with Alzheimer''s disease presented generalized emotional processing abnormalities with preserved interoceptive mechanisms. The integration of both domains was associated with the volume and connectivity (salience network) of canonical interoceptive-emotional hubs, critically involving the insula and the anterior cingulate. Our study reveals multimodal markers of interoceptive-emotional priming, laying the groundwork for new agendas in cognitive neuroscience and behavioral neurology.