The gut microbiome in alcohol use disorder and alcohol-associated liver disease: A systematic review of clinical studies.

Evidence suggests that a relationship exists between the gut microbiome and the pathogenesis of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and alcohol-associated liver disease (AALD). This systematic review identified studies that investigated the gut microbiome in individuals with an AUD or an AALD. A search was conducted on October 27, 2022, in PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase databases. Fifty studies satisfied eligibility criteria. Most studies found evidence for gut dysbiosis in individuals with AUD and AALD. Microbiome intervention studies have mostly been conducted in AALD patients; fecal microbial transplant interventions show the most promise. Because most studies were conducted cross-sectionally, the causal relationship between the gut microbiome and alcohol use is unknown. Furthermore, almost all studies have been conducted in predominantly male populations, leaving critical questions regarding sex differences and generalizability of the findings. The study summaries and recommendations provided in this review seek to identify areas for further research and to highlight potential gut microbial interventions for treating AUD and AALD.

Combined approaches to the skull base for intracranial extension of tumors via perineural spread can improve patient outcomes.

Many neoplasms of the head and neck extend centripetally, gaining access to the central nervous system via nerves through the skull base foramina. Often patients with perineural spread have been excluded from aggressive interventions given the overall poor prognosis and technical difficulty when addressing the perineural components. However, in carefully selected patients combined surgical approaches can provide the greatest potential for disease control as well as neural decompression for symptom relief. We performed a retrospective chart review of 20 consecutive patients who underwent skull base approaches for resection of tumors with intracranial extension via perineural spread from 2011 to 2014. Patients were evaluated for symptom change, surgical approaches, histopathology, adjuvant therapy, outcome, and prognosis. The most common presenting symptoms were pain or cranial nerve palsies. 55% of patients underwent endoscopic endonasal approaches, 50% transcranial approaches, and 15% underwent transfacial approaches. Overall 85% of patients reported symptom improvement in the post-operative period while 40% were completely asymptomatic following surgical resection. Ultimately, we observed a 45% mortality rate with an average survival of 8 months after diagnosis. In carefully selected patients, an aggressive multidisciplinary approach using a combination of surgical avenues to the skull base for the treatment of intracranial tumor via perineural extension can improve patient quality of life.

Fingermark evidence evaluation based on automated fingerprint identification system matching scores: the effect of different types of conditioning on likelihood ratios.

In recent studies, the evidential value of the similarity of minutiae configurations of fingermarks and fingerprints, for example expressed by automated fingerprint identification systems (AFIS), is determined by likelihood ratios (LRs). The paper explores whether there is an effect on LRs if conditioning takes place on specified fingers, fingerprints, or fingermarks under competing hypotheses: In addition, an approach is explored where conditioning is asymmetric. Comparisons between fingerprints and simulated fingermarks with eight minutiae are performed to produce similarity score distributions for each type of conditioning, given a fixed AFIS matching algorithm. Both similarity scores and LRs are significantly different if the conditioning changes. Given a common-source scenario, "LRs" resulting from asymmetric conditioning are on average higher. The difference may reach a factor of 2000. As conditioning on a suspect's finger(print) is labor-intensive and requires a cooperating suspect, it is recommended to just condition on the number of minutiae in the fingermark.

Transcription of the immediate-early gene Arc in CA1 of the hippocampus reveals activity differences along the proximodistal axis that are attenuated by advanced age.

The CA1 region of the hippocampus receives distinct patterns of afferent input to distal (near subiculum) and proximal (near CA2) zones. Specifically, distal CA1 receives a direct projection from cells in the lateral entorhinal cortex that are sensitive to objects, whereas proximal CA1 is innervated by cells in the medial entorhinal cortex that are responsive to space. This suggests that neurons in different areas along the proximodistal axis of CA1 of the hippocampus will be functionally distinct. The current experiment investigated this possibility by monitoring behavior-induced cell activity across the CA1 axis using Arc mRNA imaging methods that compared adult and old rats in two conditions: (1) exploration of the same environment containing the same objects twice (AA) or (2) exploration of two different environments that contained identical objects (AB). The hypothesis was that CA1 place cells should show field remapping in the condition in which environments were changed, but the extent of remapping was expected to differ between proximal and distal regions and between age groups. In fact, neurons in the proximal region of CA1 in adult animals exhibited a greater degree of remapping than did distal CA1 cells when the environment changed, suggesting that cells receiving input from the medial entorhinal cortex are more sensitive to spatial context. However, in old rats, there were no differences in remapping across the proximodistal CA1 axis. Together, these data suggest that distal and proximal CA1 may be functionally distinct and differentially vulnerable to normative aging processes.

Does risk for bipolar disorder heighten the disconnect between objective and subjective appraisals of cognition?

BACKGROUND: Deficits in cognitive functioning have been associated with bipolar disorder during episodes of depression and mania, as well as during periods of symptomatic remission. Separate evidence suggests that patients may lack awareness of these deficits and may even be overly confident with self-appraisals. The extent to which these separately or together represent prodromes of the disorder versus a consequence of the disorder remains unclear. The present study sought to test whether risk for bipolar disorder in a younger, college-aged cohort of individuals would be associated with lower performance in cognitive ability yet higher self-appraisal of cognitive functioning. METHOD: Participants (N=128) completed an objective measure of working memory, a self-report measure of everyday cognitive deficits, and a measure associated with risk for bipolar disorder. RESULTS: Contrary to expectation, risk for bipolar disorder did not significantly predict poorer working memory. However, a person's risk for bipolar disorder was associated with higher self-appraisal of cognitive functioning relative to those with lower risk despite there being no indication of a difference in ability on the working memory task. LIMITATIONS: Participant recruitment relied on an analog sample; moreover, assessment of cognitive functioning was limited to working memory. CONCLUSIONS: Results add to a growing body of evidence indicating that overconfidence may be part of the cognitive profile of individuals at risk for bipolar disorder.

Performance evaluation of automated fingerprint identification systems for specific conditions observed in casework using simulated fingermarks.

Few studies have been reported on the performance evaluation of automated fingerprint identification systems (AFIS) for fingermark-to-fingerprint comparisons. This paper aims to illustrate to fingerprint examiners the relevance of evaluating the AFIS performance under specific conditions by carrying out five types of performance tests. The conditions addressed are the number of minutiae assigned to a fingermark, manual and automatic assignment of the minutiae, the finger region from which the fingermark originates, the degree of distortion in the fingermark, and the difference in orientation between fingermarks and fingerprints. In these tests, the magnitude of the influence for each condition was quantified. The comparisons were performed using a research AFIS technology with simulated fingermarks. Simulated fingermarks provide a practical way to create fingermarks for specific conditions in large quantities. The results showed that each condition influences the performance significantly, emphasizing the relevance of developing, and applying performance tests for specific conditions.

Introducing a semi-automatic method to simulate large numbers of forensic fingermarks for research on fingerprint identification.

Statistical research on fingerprint identification and the testing of automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) performances require large numbers of forensic fingermarks. These fingermarks are rarely available. This study presents a semi-automatic method to create simulated fingermarks in large quantities that model minutiae features or images of forensic fingermarks. This method takes into account several aspects contributing to the variability of forensic fingermarks such as the number of minutiae, the finger region, and the elastic deformation of the skin. To investigate the applicability of the simulated fingermarks, fingermarks have been simulated with 5-12 minutiae originating from different finger regions for six fingers. An AFIS matching algorithm was used to obtain similarity scores for comparisons between the minutiae configurations of fingerprints and the minutiae configurations of simulated and forensic fingermarks. The results showed similar scores for both types of fingermarks suggesting that the simulated fingermarks are good substitutes for forensic fingermarks.