Early signal from the hippocampus for memory encoding

The mediotemporal lobe (MTL), including the hippocampus, is involved in all stages of episodic memory including memory encoding, consolidation, and retrieval. However, the exact timing of the hippocampus' involvement immediately after stimulus encounter remains unclear. In this study, we used high‐density 156‐channel electroencephalography to study the processing of entirely new stimuli, which had to be encoded, in comparison to highly overlearned stimuli. Sixteen healthy subjects performed a continuous recognition task with meaningful pictures repeated up to four consecutive times. Waveform and topographic cluster analyses of event‐related potentials revealed that new items, in comparison to repetitions, were processed significantly differently at 220–300 ms. Source estimation localized activation for processing new stimuli in the right MTL. Our study demonstrates the occurrence of a transient signal from the MTL in response to new information already at 200–300 ms poststimulus onset, which presumably reflects encoding as an initial step toward memory consolidation.     

Multimodal Imaging Assisting the Early Diagnosis of Cat-Scratch Neuroretinitis

To describe how a multifocal fundus imaging system assisted the early diagnosis of cat scratch neuroretinitis in a case of a 27-year-old male with unilateral visual loss, neuroretinitis, and a peripapillary angiomatous lesion. Multimodal fundus imaging analysis was an essential contributor to the clinical diagnosis of cat scratch neuroretinitis during the early stage of the disease.     

Ischemic stroke and dose adjustment of oral Factor Xa inhibitors in patients with atrial fibrillation

Journal of Neurology - Oral Factor Xa inhibitors for the prevention of stroke in atrial fibrillation require dose adjustment based on certain clinical criteria, but the off-label use of the reduced...     

Innovation and Integration of Sexuality in Family Life Education

As a fundamental aspect of the human experience, sexuality is experienced at every stage in the life span. Sexual values, behaviors, and health are important components of individual and family well-being. Educating about such a fundamental aspect of life is both obvious and crucial. In this article, we consider the potential of sexuality education in the field and profession of family life education (FLE). We critique sexuality education in the United States and the marginal place of human sexuality in the FLE field. We then offer recommendations for incorporating life span, socioecological, family systems, and intersectionality perspectives into sexuality education, and recommendations for FLE and sexuality education research and practice. We argue that educating about sexuality in the context of FLE—and activating the profession of FLE for sexuality education—will strategically advance sexuality education, sexual health, and the field of FLE.     

Assessing the variability of 23Na MRI in skeletal muscle tissue: Reproducibility and repeatability of tissue sodium concentration measurements in the lower leg at 3 T

The goal of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility and repeatability of tissue sodium concentration (TSC) measurements using ²³Na MRI in skeletal muscle tissue. ²³Na MRI was performed at 3 T on the right lower leg of eight healthy volunteers (aged 28 ± 4 years). The examinations were repeated at the same site after ~ 22 weeks to assess the variability over a medium‐term period. Additionally, they were scanned at a second site shortly before or shortly after the first visit (within 3 weeks) to evaluate the inter‐site reproducibility. Moreover, we analysed the effect of B₀ correction on the variability. Coefficients of variations (CVs) from mean TSC values as well as Bland–Altman plots were used to assess intra‐site repeatability and inter‐site reproducibility. In phantom measurements, the B₀ correction improved the quantitative accuracy. We observed differences of up to 4.9 mmol/L between the first and second visit and a difference of up to 3.7 mmol/L between the two different sites. The CV for the medium‐term repeatability was 15% and the reproducibility CV was 9%. The Bland–Altman plots indicated high agreement between the visits in all muscle regions. The systematic bias of ?0.68 mmol/L between site X and Y (P = 0.03) was slightly reduced to ?0.64 mmol/L after B₀ correction (P = 0.04). This work shows that TSC measurements in healthy skeletal muscle tissue can be performed with good repeatability and reproducibility, which is of importance for future longitudinal or multicentre studies.     

Pharmacological treatment of high‐normal blood pressure (prehypertension) in high‐risk patients for primary prevention of cardiovascular events

Currently, the best treatment strategy for patients with a high‐normal blood pressure (prehypertension) is not known. The authors aimed to determine whether pharmacological reduction of systolic blood pressure (SBP) to a normal level (<120 mm Hg) would prevent cardiac morbidity and mortality in prehypertensive patients. In this secondary analysis, the authors obtained the data from SPRINT from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute data repository center. Among 9361 patients enrolled in SPRINT, 289 high‐risk (ASCVD risk = 24.8% ± 13.0 [10‐65]) prehypertensive patients without previous cardiovascular disease and not receiving any antihypertensive medications were enrolled. One hundred and forty‐eight of them were assigned to standard treatment which consisted of clinical follow‐up till SBP goes above 140 mm Hg and then staring medications to keep SBP <140 mm Hg. One hundred and forty‐one were assigned to the intensive treatment receiving pharmacological SBP reduction to <120 mm Hg upon enrollment. The primary composite outcome was myocardial infarction, and other acute coronary syndromes, stroke, heart failure, or death from cardiovascular causes. Throughout the 3.06 years of follow‐up, a primary outcome event was confirmed in three participants (0.74% per year) in the intensive‐treatment group and 8 (1.61% per year) in the standard‐treatment group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.19; P = .045). Rates of serious adverse events were not increased by intensive‐treatment (HR, 0.83; P = .506). Based on this secondary post hoc analysis, intensive SBP reduction may probably be beneficial for primary prevention of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in high‐risk prehypertensive patients. This finding needs to be evaluated in a larger trial designed specifically to answer this question.