Plos One
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Scientists who are members of an editorial board have been accused of preferentially publishing their scientific work in the journal where they serve as editor. Reputation and academic standing do depend on an uninterrupted flow of published scientific work and the question does arise as to whether publication mainly occurs in the self-edited journal. This investigation was designed to determine whether editorial board members of five urological journals were more likely to publish their research reports in their own rather than in other journals. ⋯ In the five journals as a whole, scientific work was not preferentially published in the journal in which the scientists served as editor. However, significant heterogeneity among the journals was evident. One journal showed a significant increase in the amount of published papers in the 'own' journal after assumption of editorship, three journals showed no change and one journal showed a highly significant decrease in publishing in the 'own' journal after assumption of editorship.
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Neurosin is a protease that in vitro degrades α-synuclein, the main constituent of Lewy bodies found in brains of patients with synucleinopathy including Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Several studies have reported reduced cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of α-synuclein in synucleinopathy patients and recent data also proposes a significant role of α-synuclein in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To investigate potential links between neurosin and its substrate α-synuclein in vivo we used a commercially available sandwich ELISA and an in-house developed direct ELISA to quantify CSF levels of α-synuclein and neurosin in patients diagnosed with DLB, PD and PD dementia (PDD) versus AD patients and non-demented controls. ⋯ Importantly, decreased α-synuclein levels in patients with synucleinopathy appear linked to low levels of the α-synuclein cleaving enzyme neurosin. In contrast, elevated levels of α-synuclein in AD patients were not related to any altered CSF neurosin levels. Thus, altered CSF levels of α-synuclein and neurosin in patients with synucleinopathy versus AD may not only mirror disease-specific neuropathological mechanisms but may also serve as fit candidates for future biomarker studies aiming at identifying specific markers of synucleinopathy.
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Anorectal transplantation is a method for patients who have lost their anorectal function or suffer from congenital anorectal dysfunction to recover this function, and this has been investigated in experimental animal models using pigs, dogs, and rats. In this study, we performed an examination of anorectal transplantation in human cadavers to investigate whether this procedure could be performed in patients. ⋯ This preliminary study indicated that human anorectal transplantation was possible anatomically and technically. We anticipate our study will aid in the potential future application of this procedure to human patients.
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Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are paroxysmal behaviors that resemble epileptic seizures but lack abnormal electrical activity. Recent studies suggest aberrant functional connectivity involving specific brain regions in PNES. Little is known, however, about alterations of topological organization of whole-brain functional and structural connectivity networks in PNES. ⋯ These regions with altered nodal characteristics likely reflect disease-specific pathophysiology in PNES. Importantly, the coupling strength of functional-structural connectivity was decreased and exhibited high sensitivity and specificity to differentiate PNES patients from healthy controls, suggesting that the decoupling strength of functional-structural connectivity might be an important characteristic reflecting the mechanisms of PNES. This is the first study to explore the altered topological organization in PNES combining functional and structural connectivity networks, providing a new way to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of PNES.
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Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are the most effective class of drugs in the endocrine treatment of breast cancer, with an approximate 50% treatment response rate. Our objective was to determine whether intratumoral expression levels of estrogen-related genes are predictive of AI responsiveness in postmenopausal women with breast cancer. Primary breast carcinomas were obtained from 112 women who received AI therapy after failing adjuvant tamoxifen therapy and developing recurrent breast cancer. ⋯ In cross-validated analyses, a combined measurement of tumor ERα and PR mRNA levels yielded a more superior specificity (36%) and identical sensitivity (96%) to the current clinical practice (ERα/PR-IHC). In patients with ERα/PR-IHC-negative tumors, analysis of mRNA expression revealed either non-significant trends or statistically significant positive predictive values for AI responsiveness. In conclusion, expression levels of estrogen-related mRNAs are predictive for AI responsiveness in postmenopausal women with breast cancer, and mRNA expression analysis may improve patient selection.