Journal of internal medicine
-
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is caused by a head impact with a force exceeding regular exposure from normal body movement which the brain normally can accommodate. People affected include, but are not restricted to, sport athletes in American football, ice hockey, boxing as well as military personnel. Both single and repetitive exposures may affect the brain acutely and can lead to chronic neurodegenerative changes including chronic traumatic encephalopathy associated with the development of dementia. ⋯ Even though the human brain gross anatomy is different from rodents implicating different energy transfer upon impact, especially rotational forces, animal models of TBI are important tools to investigate the changes that occur upon TBI at molecular and cellular levels. Importantly, such models may help to increase the knowledge of how the pathologies develop, including the spreading of tau pathologies, and how to diagnose the severity of the TBI in the clinic. In addition, animal models are helpful in the development of novel biomarkers and can also be used to test potential disease-modifying compounds in a preclinical setting.
-
The increasing incidence of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in ageing populations places a significant burden on healthcare systems. Co-morbidity, frailty, and reduced organ and physiological reserve contribute to treatment-related complications. The optimal dose intensity of R-CHOP to optimize outcome across different ages with variable frailty and comorbidity burden is unclear. ⋯ 'R-mini-CHOP' provides adequate lymphoma-specific disease control and represents a reasonable treatment option in elderly patients ≥80 years aiming for cure.
-
Environmental factors have been suggested in the pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases. We here investigated whether infections increase the risk of developing primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). ⋯ Infections increase the risk of developing pSS, most prominently SSA/SSB autoantibody-positive disease, suggesting that microbial triggers of immunity may partake in the pathogenetic process of pSS.