meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine (group A/C/Y/W135)

Cathodal tDCS in obsessive-compulsive disorder: cognitive and neurophysiological outcomes in a double-blind sham-controlled trial.

Zaks-Ohayon Rut R, Hakmon Talia Beit-On TB, Cohen Hagit H, Besser Itay I et al.

This preliminary study examined the efficacy of cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) targeting the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in reducing symptom severity, enhancing cognitive flexibility, and modulating brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). A double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled trial was conducted with 20 patients meeting DSM-V criteria for OCD, of whom 15 completed the intervention and were included in the final analysis. Participants received cathodal mPFC-tDCS (2 mA, 20 min, 10 sessions) or sham stimulation. Symptom severity (Y-BOCS), cognitive flexibility (task-switching), salivary BDNF, and frontal alpha activity (qEEG at Fz) were measured at baseline, post-treatment, and follow-up. The tDCS group exhibited greater reductions in Y-BOCS scores over time (F(2, 26) = 12.562, p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.425). Task-switching performance improved in the experimental group compared with controls (F(2, 26) = 20.351, p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.531). Salivary BDNF levels increased significantly in the tDCS group at follow-up (F(2, 16) = 6.086, p = 0.01, partial η2 = 0.432). Trends toward normalization of frontal alpha activity were observed, but did not reach statistical significance. Cathodal mPFC-tDCS was associated with reduced OCD symptom severity, improved cognitive flexibility, and increased salivary BDNF. These preliminary findings warrant replication in larger controlled samples. This study extends previous tDCS research in OCD by integrating clinical outcomes with cognitive performance and a peripheral marker of neuroplasticity. It provides preliminary support for mPFC-targeted tDCS as a potential intervention for OCD.

Dexmedetomidine as an Adjuvant in Femoral Nerve Block for Ease of Preoperative Positioning and Postoperative Analgesia in Hip and Proximal Femur Surgery.

Choudhary Anushka A, Kamath Shaila Surendra SS, Mahanta Priyanka P

Perineural dexmedetomidine has been shown to improve block quality, accelerate onset, and prolong block duration when used as an adjuvant to local anaesthetics. This study assessed the effects of adding dexmedetomidine to bupivacaine in an ultrasound-guided femoral nerve block (USG-FNB) on positioning for spinal anaesthesia and postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing surgery for hip and proximal femur fractures. This hospital-based observational study included 100 adults undergoing surgery for hip or proximal femur fractures. Using convenience sampling, participants were classified into two groups of 50 according to the femoral nerve block received: Group C received bupivacaine alone, and Group D received bupivacaine with dexmedetomidine at 1 µg/kg as an adjuvant. Once the visual analogue scale (VAS) score was < 3, patients were placed in the sitting position, and spinal anaesthesia was administered. Median heart rate was significantly higher in Group D than in Group C at all assessed time points, except at 3 hours, when the groups were comparable. Participants in Group D achieved a VAS score < 3 significantly sooner after the block and had a significantly longer time to first rescue analgesia postoperatively than those in Group C (P = 0.001). Time to recovery from spinal anaesthesia was similar between groups. The mean number of rescue analgesic doses was significantly higher in Group C than in Group D. Dexmedetomidine demonstrated a superior analgesic profile as an adjuvant to a femoral nerve block, facilitating patient positioning for spinal anaesthesia and reducing postoperative rescue analgesic requirements.

Comparative Sequence Analysis of the Envelope Gene of Kyasanur Forest Disease Virus Vaccine Strain With Currently Circulating Field Strains.

Kaje Keerthi K, Marinaik Chandranaik B CB, Gomes Amitha Reena AR, Rizwan Apsana A et al.

The present study was undertaken with the objective of performing comparative sequence analysis of the envelope (E) gene of Kyasanur forest disease virus (KFDV) vaccine strain P9605 with the circulating field strains. The study was taken up as the currently used KFDV vaccine strain, KFDV P9605, was isolated in the 1960s. For this study, we designed two sets of primers targeting the complete amplification of the E gene of KFDV. The sequencing was performed by the Sanger method, and the deduced sequence of the vaccine virus was deposited in GenBank with accession number PX067005. This sequence obtained for the vaccine virus was aligned and compared with sequences of GenBank-deposited circulating field strains. We also performed comparative sequence analysis of the Kyasanur forest disease (KFD) vaccine seed virus having passaged twice in mouse brain with the vaccine seed virus passaged six times in mouse brain to investigate whether multiple passages in mouse brain will lead to genetic mutation in the immunologically important E gene. The phylogenetic analysis revealed seven amino acid mutations in the field strains at positions A123T, S158N, D178E, D239N, A313S, M429I, and G479A when compared with the vaccine strain. We did not find any mutations at the critical fusogenic segment (residues 98-113) in the E gene of currently circulating field strains compared to the vaccine seed virus. The study found no genetic variations in the E gene of the KFD virus passed two times and passed six times in mouse brain. We performed SWISS-MODEL homology modeling, AlphaFold protein analysis, and Ramachandran plot analysis to study the E protein structures and stability. The observations made in this study suggest slow evolutionary drift and conserved structural stability of the envelope gene of KFDV ever since its emergence 7 decades ago; however, the functional implications of these amino acid substitutions need further studies on their roles in viral infectivity, transmission, and impact on immunity.

RETRACTION: Inhibitory Effect of Melatonin on Necroptosis via Repressing the Ripk3-PGAM5-CypD-mPTP Pathway Attenuates Cardiac Microvascular Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury.

H. Zhou, D. Li, P. Zhu, Q. Ma, S. Toan, J. Wang, S. Hu, Y. Chen, and Y. Zhang, "Inhibitory Effect of Melatonin on Necroptosis via Repressing the Ripk3-PGAM5-CypD-mPTP Pathway Attenuates Cardiac Microvascular Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury," Journal of Pineal Research 65, no. 3 (2018): e12503, https://doi.org/10.1111/jpi.12503. The above article, published online on 28 May 2018, in Wiley Online Library (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/) has been retracted by agreement between the journal Editor-in-Chief, Gianluca Tosini; and John Wiley and Sons Ltd. The retraction has been agreed upon following an investigation into concerns raised by a third party, which revealed inappropriate duplications of image panels of Figures 2A, 4A and 7A between this and other articles that were published either around the same time or later by different author groups, depicting different experimental conditions. Further review identified additional issues, including undisclosed splicing in Figure 1J, 4B and 5I, as well as image section insertions in Figure 4A and E. As a result, the editors have lost confidence in the integrity of the data and consider the conclusions of the manuscript to be substantially compromised. The authors and their institution were informed of these concerns and the retraction decision, but remained unresponsive.