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Epilepsy Behav 2021 Apr 7;118:107940. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, London Health Sciences Centre, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Pathology and Lab Medicine, London Health Sciences Centre, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address:

Objective: To describe morphological characteristics of the brainstem nuclei in response to chronic vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in patients with refractory epilepsy.

Background: VNS is a treatment option for individuals with medically refractory epilepsy. While treatment with VNS may achieve up to 50% seizure reduction and is protective against sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), its mechanism of action is not fully understood. Read More

Environ Int 2021 Mar 26;153:106540. Epub 2021 Mar 26.

Environmental and Public Health Analytical Chemistry, Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Castellón, Spain; Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Electronic address:

The COVID-19 outbreak has forced countries to introduce severe restrictive measures to contain its spread. In particular, physical distancing and restriction of movement have had important consequences on human behaviour and potentially also on illicit drug use and supply. These changes can be associated with additional risks for users, in particular due to reduced access to prevention and harm reduction activities. Read More

J Electromyogr Kinesiol 2021 Mar 30;58:102548. Epub 2021 Mar 30.

Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London, UK.

There is a growing interest in decomposing high-density surface electromyography (HDsEMG) into motor unit spike trains to improve knowledge on the neural control of muscle contraction. However, the reliability of decomposition approaches is sometimes questioned, especially because they require manual editing of the outputs. We aimed to assess the inter-operator reliability of the identification of motor unit spike trains. Read More

Curr Opin Immunol 2021 Apr 7;72:51-58. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Laboratory of Allergic Diseases, Center for Autoimmunity and Inflammation, La Jolla Institute for Immunology, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA; Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.

Here we update receptor proximal and distant signaling events of the mast cell high affinity IgE receptor (FcεRI) launching immediate type I hypersensitivity and an inflammatory cytokine-chemokine cascade. Different physiologic antigen concentrations, their affinity, and valency for the IgE ligand produce distinct intracellular signaling events with different outcomes. Investigating mast cell degranulation has revealed a complex molecular machinery that relays proximal signaling to cytoskeletal reorganization, granule transport and membrane fusion. Read More

Cancer Treat Res Commun 2021 Mar 31;27:100363. Epub 2021 Mar 31.

Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Pathology, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Background: The uterus is one of the most dynamic organs in the human body, and this dynamic homeostasis is supported by endometrial stem/progenitor cells (ES/PCs), which are heterogeneous in their phenotype and degree of differentiation. ES/PCs are generally localized in the endometrial stroma, the site of origin for adenosarcoma and endometrial stromal sarcoma (ESS). Subsets of ESSs and adenosarcomas harbor SUZ12 or DICER1 gene alterations, two genes with roles in embryonic stem cell biology. Read More