Social work‐generated evidence in traumatic brain injury from 1975 to 2014: A systematic scoping review

The International Network for Social Workers in Acquired Brain Injury (INSWABI) commissioned a systematic scoping review to ascertain the social work‐generated evidence base on people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) of working age. The review aimed to identify the output, impact and quality of publications authored by social workers on this topic. Study quality was evaluated through assessment frameworks drawn from the United Kingdom National Service Framework for Long‐Term Conditions. In the 40‐year period from 1975 to 2014, 115 items were published that met the search criteria (intervention studies, n = 10; observational studies, n = 52; literature reviews, n = 6; expert opinion or policy analysis, n = 39; and others, n = 8). The publications could be grouped into five major fields of practice: families, social inclusion, military, inequalities and psychological adjustment. There was a significant increase in the number of publications over each decade. Impact was demonstrated in that the great majority of publications had been cited at least once (80.6%, 103/115). Articles published in rehabilitation journals were cited significantly more often than articles published in social work journals. A significant improvement in publication quality was observed across the four decades, with the majority of studies in the last decade rated as high quality.     

Thigh muscle volume in relation to age, sex and femur volume

Secular changes and intra-individual differences in body shape and size can confound cross-sectional studies of muscle ageing. Normalising muscle mass to height squared is often suggested as a solution for this. We hypothesised that normalisation of muscle volume to femur volume may be a better way of determining the extent of muscle lost with ageing (sarcopenia). Thigh and femur muscle volumes were measured from serial magnetic resonance imaging sections in 20 recreationally active young men (mean age 22.4 years), 25 older men (72.3 years), 18 young women (22.1 years) and 28 older women (72.0 years). There were no age-related differences in femur volume. The relationship between thigh muscle volume and femur volume (R² = 0.76; exponent of 1.12; P < 0.01) was stronger than that with height (R² = 0.49; exponent of 3.86; P < 0.01) in young participants. For young subjects, the mean muscle/bone ratios were 16.0 and 14.6 for men and women, respectively. For older men and women, the mean ratios were 11.6 and 11.5, respectively. The Z score for the thigh muscle/bone volume ratio relative to young subjects was −2.2 ± 0.7 for older men and −1.4 ± 0.8 for older women. The extent of sarcopenia judged by the muscle/bone ratio was approximately twice that determined when normalising to height squared. These data suggest that the muscle/bone ratio captures the intra-individual loss of muscle mass during ageing, and that the age-related loss of muscle mass may be underestimated when normalised to height squared. The quadriceps seems relatively more affected by ageing than other thigh muscles.     

Filling in the gaps on FILS syndrome: A case report and literature review

FILS syndrome (facial dysmorphism, immunodeficiency, livedo, and short stature) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by pathogenic alterations in the POLE gene leading to multisystemic manifestations, including poorly characterized skin findings. We report a child with a homozygous variant, c.100C > T (p.Arg34Cys), in POLE and features consistent with poikiloderma, expanding the dermatologic signs associated with this rare disorder. Additionally, we review reported cases of FILS syndrome, discuss possible pathomechanisms for our patient's presentation, and consider implications for management.     

The generation and analyses of a novel combination of recombinant adenovirus vaccines targeting three tumor antigens as an immunotherapeutic

Phenotypic heterogeneity of human carcinoma lesions, including heterogeneity in expression of tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), is a well-established phenomenon. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), MUC1, and brachyury are diverse TAAs, each of which is expressed on a wide range of human tumors. We have previously reported on a novel adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) vector gene delivery platform (Ad5 [E1-, E2b-]) in which regions of the early 1 (E1), early 2 (E2b), and early 3 (E3) genes have been deleted. The unique deletions in this platform result in a dramatic decrease in late gene expression, leading to a marked reduction in host immune response to the vector. Ad5 [E1-, E2b-]-CEA vaccine (ETBX-011) has been employed in clinical studies as an active vaccine to induce immune responses to CEA in metastatic colorectal cancer patients. We report here the development of novel recombinant Ad5 [E1-, E2b-]-brachyury and-MUC1 vaccine constructs, each capable of activating antigen-specific human T cells in vitro and inducing antigen-specific CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells in vaccinated mice. We also describe the use of a combination of the three vaccines (designated Tri-Ad5) of Ad5 [E1-, E2b-]-CEA, Ad5 [E1-, E2b-]-brachyury and Ad5 [E1-, E2b-]-MUC1, and demonstrate that there is minimal to no “antigenic competition” in in vitro studies of human dendritic cells, or in murine vaccination studies. The studies reported herein support the rationale for the application of Tri-Ad5 as a therapeutic modality to induce immune responses to a diverse range of human TAAs for potential clinical studies.