Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Todays FDA 2017 May;29(3):52-53

Behav Brain Res 2018 Dec 11. Epub 2018 Dec 11.

J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind & Behavior, and Department of Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA.

Although scientific research using mammalian models has made great strides in uncovering the enigmatic neural and molecular mechanisms orchestrating the state of drug addiction, a complete understanding has thus far eluded researchers. The complexity of the task has led to the use of invertebrate model systems to complement the research of drug-induced reward in mammalian systems. Invertebrates, such as crayfish, offer excellent model systems to help reveal the underlying mechanisms of drug addiction as they retain the ancestral neural reward circuit that is evolutionarily conserved across taxa, and they possess relatively few, large neurons, laid out in an accessible, modularly organized nervous system. Read More

Life Sci 2018 Dec 11. Epub 2018 Dec 11.

Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt. Electronic address:

Drug-induced liver toxicity is the most frequent cause of acute liver failure worldwide. Hepatotoxicity caused by acetaminophen (ACT) overdose is mediated by its metabolic product promoting oxidative stress and activation of inflammatory mediators. Nuclear factor erythroid-related factor-2 (Nrf-2) induces the release of cytoprotective enzymes in response to electrophilic or oxidative stress and is considered a promising therapeutic target. Read More

Am J Hematol 2018 Dec 14. Epub 2018 Dec 14.

Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK.

J Cardiol Cases 2012 Dec 19;6(6):e179-e182. Epub 2012 Sep 19.

Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart Failure Division, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, 5-7-1 Fujishiro-dai, Suita 565-8565, Japan.

We report a case of eosinophilic endomyocarditis caused by eosinophilia due to dobutamine allergy and successfully treated by a short-term and medium-dose steroid administration. Serial endomyocardial biopsies were useful for early diagnosis and evaluation of the effect of the treatment. Eosinophilic endomyocarditis due to dobutamine allergy is a rare entity; however, because of the high utilization rate of dobutamine in patients with low output heart failure, it is important to recognize that additional deterioration of cardiac function caused by eosinophilic endomyocarditis makes prognosis poor and early intervention is necessary. Read More

J Cardiol Cases 2016 Dec 9;14(6):185-188. Epub 2016 Sep 9.

Division of Internal Medicine and Pharmacy, Nishida Hospital, Oita, Japan.

Compared with conventional diuretic therapy, monitoring decompensated heart failure (HF) under treatment with a vasopressin antagonist is problematic because (1) use of this medication usually allows the patient free water intake to prevent drug-induced hypernatremia and (2) this medication often induces only minimal changes in the hemodynamics and blood concentration. In a 68-year-old female HF patient, use of tolvaptan did not induce much change in the urine output, presumably because of the low water intake due to a lack of thirst, but she did achieve a profound weight loss. Both the changes in chloride and sodium were negatively correlated with changes in the hemoglobin and serum creatinine, and positively correlated with changes in the mean red blood cell volume, but changes in the serum chloride were better correlated with each variable than were changes in the serum sodium. Read More

Methods Mol Biol 2019 ;1903:179-184

Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.

Inhibition of oncogenes and reactivation of tumor suppressors are well-established goals in anticancer drug development. Unfortunately many oncogenes and tumor suppressors are not classically druggable, in that they lack a targetable enzymatic activity and associated binding pockets that small molecule drugs can be directed to. This is especially relevant for transcription factors, which have long been thought to be undruggable. Read More

Cell Death Dis 2018 Dec 13;9(12):1191. Epub 2018 Dec 13.

The Fred Wyszkowski Cancer Research Laboratory, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.

Transcription factor EB (TFEB) is a master transcriptional regulator playing a key role in lysosomal biogenesis, autophagy and lysosomal exocytosis. TFEB activity is inhibited following its phosphorylation by mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) on the surface of the lysosome. Phosphorylated TFEB is bound by 14-3-3 proteins, resulting in its cytoplasmic retention in an inactive state. Read More

J Clin Med 2018 Dec 10;7(12). Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT 2617, Australia.

The prolongation of the QT interval is a relatively rare but serious adverse drug reaction. It can lead to torsade de pointes, which is potentially life-threatening. The study's objectives were: determine the use of QT interval-prolonging drugs in an elderly community-dwelling population at risk of medication misadventure and identify recommendations regarding the risk of QT interval prolongation made by pharmacists when performing medication reviews. Read More

Medicine (Baltimore) 2018 Dec;97(49):e13478

School of Graduates, Tianjin Medical University.

Background: Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a potentially severe adverse drug reaction especially in susceptible patients. But there are no sensitive or specific parameters to detecting DILI. The specific expression of miR-122 in the liver has been a hotspot in the evaluation of hepatic toxicity due to its high stability and sensitivity. Read More

Neuropsychobiology 2018 Dec 13:1-6. Epub 2018 Dec 13.

Department of Biomedical and NeuroMotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna,

Several antipsychotics and antidepressants have been associated with electrocardiogram alterations, the most clinically relevant of which is the heart rate-corrected QT interval (QTc) prolongation, a risk factor for sudden cardiac death. Genetic variants influence drug-induced QTc prolongation and can provide valuable information for precision medicine. The effect of genetic variants on QTc prolongation as well as the possible interaction between polymorphisms and risk medications in determining QTc prolongation were investigated. Read More

Int Arch Allergy Immunol 2018 Dec 13:1-5. Epub 2018 Dec 13.

Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario,

Background: Ibuprofen is the most frequently used over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) in North America. While it has been commonly implicated in drug-induced hypersensitivity reactions, there is limited literature specifically on ibuprofen hypersensitivity.

Objectives: To characterize the demographics and clinical course of hypersensitivity reactions in a cohort of patients with ibuprofen allergy. Read More

Oncotarget 2018 Nov 13;9(89):35873-35874. Epub 2018 Nov 13.

Aaron Goldman: Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Division of Engineering in Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.

Orv Hetil 2018 Sep;159(39):1607-1610

I. Belgyógyászati Osztály - Kardiológia, Uzsoki utcai Kórház Budapest.

Authors report the case of a patient with drug-induced long QT syndrome. This case highlights the importance of ECG signs of LQTS that may lead to torsade de pointes tachycardia. The patient received the QT prolonging moxifloxacine and the QT remained long even after the offending drug was discontinued. Read More

Oncotarget 2018 Nov 13;9(89):35875-35890. Epub 2018 Nov 13.

Department of Medicine, University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, AZ, USA.

Double-hit (DH) or double-expresser (DE) lymphomas are high-grade diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL) that are mostly incurable with standard chemo-immunotherapy due to treatment resistance. The generation of drug-induced aneuploid/polyploid (DIAP) cells is a common effect of anti-DLBCL therapies (e.g. Read More

Nat Rev Rheumatol 2018 Dec 12. Epub 2018 Dec 12.

Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) affects systemic small vessels and is accompanied by the presence of ANCAs in the serum. This disease entity includes microscopic polyangiitis, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis and drug-induced AAV. Similar to other autoimmune diseases, AAV develops in patients with a predisposing genetic background who have been exposed to causative environmental factors. Read More

BMC Infect Dis 2018 Dec 12;18(1):648. Epub 2018 Dec 12.

Unité de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Département de Virologie, Bactériologie-Hygiène, Parasitologie-Mycologie, DHU VIC, CHU Henri Mondor, AP-HP, Créteil, France.

Background: Liver transplant recipients are at high risk of developing invasive aspergillosis and in particular by Aspergillus fumigatus which is the most commonly encountered species in this population. Other non-fumigatus Aspergillus species with reduced susceptibility to antifungal drugs can also be involved. Accurate identification associated to antifungal susceptibility testing is essential for therapy adjustment. Read More

Klin Onkol 2018 ;31(5):361-365

Background: Authors describe the incidence and character of neurologic and neuropsychiatric complications - particularly depression and parkinsonism - during adjuvant treatment of malignant melanoma (MM) with high dose interferon (HDI). Among the most frequently observed side effects are fatigue, hematotoxicity, and hepatotoxicity. Most research has been directed at depression and parkinsonism because of the lack of literature concerning these complications. Read More

J Int Med Res 2018 Dec 7:300060518814118. Epub 2018 Dec 7.

1 Department of Allergy, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Wangfujing, Beijing, China.

Cefuroxime is a second-generation cephalosporin antibiotic that causes immediate hypersensitivity reactions, ranging from mild urticaria to severe anaphylactic shock. Anaphylactic reactions typically involve multiple systems, most notably, the skin and the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Here, we report the unusual case of a patient who presented with oral cefuroxime-induced anaphylaxis with prominent neurologic manifestations. Read More

JAMA Dermatol 2018 Dec 12. Epub 2018 Dec 12.

Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology, Division of Pharmacovigilance, FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Silver Spring, Maryland.

Importance: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducts ongoing public health safety surveillance for drug and therapeutic biologic products. Identifying cases of acute and subacute noninfectious pneumonia supports the public health mission of the FDA.

Objective: To identify and analyze postmarketing cases of noninfectious pneumonia associated with ustekinumab use. Read More

J Cancer Res Ther 2018 Dec;14(Supplement):S1227-S1229

Department of Respiratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215000, China.

AZD9291 is one of epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Interstitial lung disease (ILD) induced by AZD9291 is very seldom. We provide a case of NSCLC treated with AZD9291 who developed ILD and died in order to improve the knowledge on AZD9291. Read More

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2018 12;2018:6716529. Epub 2018 Nov 12.

Institute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China.

The potential toxicity of herbal drugs, particularly drug-induced liver injury (DILI), has received extensive attention as the use of Chinese herbal medicine has rapidly increased globally. As a classic Chinese patent medicine, Zhuang Gu Guan Jie Wan (ZGGJW) has been brought into focus recently because of its satisfactory therapeutic effects on osteoarthritis (OA) as well as its unanticipated side effects. This study aimed to decipher the puzzling phenomenon of liver injury developing in response to ZGGJW that varies by the subtype of OA. Read More

Drug Healthc Patient Saf 2018 21;10:95-101. Epub 2018 Nov 21.

Department of Medical Sciences, Clinical Pharmacology and Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden,

Objectives: Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a serious adverse reaction due to flucloxacillin. The pathogenesis is not fully understood. Female sex, age over 60 years, and a longer treatment duration have been suggested to be predisposing factors. Read More

J Am Chem Soc 2018 Dec 11. Epub 2018 Dec 11.

Disruption of virus capsid assembly has compelling antiviral potential that has been applied to Hepatitis B Virus (HBV). HBV core protein assembly can be modulated by heteroaryldihydropyrimidines (HAPs), such molecules are collectively termed core protein allosteric modulators (CpAMs). Though the antiviral effects of CpAMs are acknowledged, the mechanism of action remains an open question. Read More

J Cardiol Cases 2014 Dec 30;10(6):226-230. Epub 2014 Aug 30.

Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.

A 58-year-old man was admitted for non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction. A medicated stent was used for severe coronary artery stenosis. However, consciousness level progressively deteriorated after angioplasty. Read More

J Mass Spectrom 2018 Dec 10. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Department of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, Sanofi, 153 2nd Avenue, Waltham, MA, 02451, USA.

Reactive metabolites are thought to play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of some drug induced liver injury (DILI) and idiosyncratic adverse drug reactions (IADRs), which is of concern to patient safety and has been a cause of drugs being withdrawn from the market place. To identify drugs with a lower propensity for causing DILI and /or IADRs, high-throughput assays to capture reactive metabolites are required in pharmaceutical industry for early drug discovery risk assessment. We describe the development of an assay to detect glutathione adducts with combined high sensitivity, enhanced specificity and rapid data analysis. Read More

Eur J Drug Metab Pharmacokinet 2018 Dec 10. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Katz Group Centre for Pharmacy and Health Research, Room 3-142D, 11361-87 Ave, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E1, Canada.

Several HepaRG three-dimensional (3D) in vitro model systems have been developed to improve the predictability of xenobiotic metabolism and toxicity. In this review, we present a detailed summary and critique of the performance of various HepaRG 3D models compared to the conventional 2D monolayer culture. HepaRG 3D models can be broadly categorized into (1) scaffold-free, (2) scaffold-based, and (3) bioartificial liver (BAL) models. Read More

Front Cell Neurosci 2018 23;12:445. Epub 2018 Nov 23.

Section on Sensory Cell Biology, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.

Mechanosensory hair cells of the inner ear transduce auditory and vestibular sensory input. Hair cells are susceptible to death from a variety of stressors, including treatment with therapeutic drugs that have ototoxic side effects. There is a need for co-therapies to mitigate drug-induced ototoxicity, and we showed previously that induction of heat shock proteins (HSPs) protects against hair cell death and hearing loss caused by aminoglycoside antibiotics in mouse. Read More

Saudi Pharm J 2018 Dec 29;26(8):1146-1154. Epub 2018 Jul 29.

Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan.

Background: Torsade de Pointes (TdP) is an abnormal cardiac rhythm associated with a prolongation of QT interval. Although in most cases it spontaneously returns to the normal rhythm, TdP can lead to sudden cardiac death. Medications are the main cause of QT-prolongation and subsequent TdP flare, even though the exact mechanism of why some people evoke TdP but others do not is still unknown. Read More

Curr Opin Crit Care 2018 Dec 5. Epub 2018 Dec 5.

Université Paris Est Créteil, Faculté de Médecine de Créteil, Groupe de Recherche Clinique CARMAS, Créteil.

Purpose Of Review: A prompt identification of the cause of acute respiratory failure (ARF)/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is required in order to initiate a targeted treatment. Yet, almost 10% of ARDS patients have no identified ARDS risk factor at ARDS diagnosis. Numerous rare causes of ARF have been reported in this setting. Read More

Pancreas 2019 01;48(1):22-35

Digestive Disease Institute, Gastroenterology and Hepatology Department, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to investigate the cases of drug-induced acute pancreatitis (DIAP) with hypertriglyceridemia as the mechanism of injury.

Methods: A MEDLINE search (1963-2018) of the English language literature was performed looking for all human case reports of adults (>18 years old) with hypertriglyceridemia as the mechanism of DIAP. The latest search date was February 28, 2018. Read More

Ther Drug Monit 2018 Dec 10. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension, University of Colorado at Denver, Aurora, CO.

Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine are imperfect markers of kidney function because they are influenced by many renal and non-renal factors independent of kidney function. A biomarker that is released directly into the blood or urine by the kidney in response to injury may be a better early marker of drug-induced kidney toxicity than BUN and serum creatinine. Urine albumin and urine protein, as well as urinary markers kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), β2-microglobulin (B2M), cystatin C, clusterin, and trefoil factor-3 (TFF-3) have been accepted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency as highly sensitive and specific urinary biomarkers to monitor drug-induced kidney injury in preclinical studies and on a case-by-case basis in clinical trials. Read More

Rinsho Ketsueki 2018 ;59(11):2432-2437

Department of Pathology, Hakodate Municipal Hospital.

We report a case of a 60-year-old male who presented with fever and anasarca as well as hepatosplenomegaly, general lymphadenopathy, and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), and was, therefore, admitted to our hospital. In addition, the patient suffered from respiratory failure and renal dysfunction and had pleural effusion and ascites. The pathological diagnosis from lymph node biopsy suggested multicentric Castleman's disease of the plasma cell type; however, the presence of high IL-6 levels, myelofibrosis, thrombocytopenia, anasarca, renal dysfunction, and hepatosplenomegaly led to a definitive diagnosis of TAFRO syndrome. Read More

Int J Mycobacteriol 2018 Oct-Dec;7(4):380-386

Unit of PharmacoTherapy, Epidemiology and Economics, University of Groningen, Groningen Research Institute of Pharmacy, Groningen, The Netherlands.

Background: Gene polymorphisms have been associated with drug-induced liver injury (DILI). This study aimed to elucidate the association between polymorphisms of NAT2, CYP2E1, GSTT1, GSTM1, and HLA genes with isoniazid plasma concentration and DILI.

Methods: This study was a prospective cohort study recruiting adult newly diagnosed tuberculosis (TB) patients who met the inclusion criteria from the Public Health Centers in Yogyakarta and Lampung. Read More

Eur J Dermatol 2018 Dec 10. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Department of Dermatology.

J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol 2018 Dec;28(6):434-436

Clinical Analysis Laboratory, Policlínico Valencia, Valencia, Spain.

J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 2018 Dec 6. Epub 2018 Dec 6.

Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany; Department of Internal Medicine III, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. Electronic address:

Disorders featuring dysregulated adrenal steroidogenesis, such as primary aldosteronism, can benefit from targeted therapies. The aldosterone and cortisol producing enzymes, aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) and 11-beta-hydroxylase (CYP11B1), share 93% homology requiring selective drugs for pharmacological treatment. Herein, we introduce an effective in vitro assay for evaluation of steroidogenic enzyme kinetics based on intracellular flux calculations. Read More

Food Chem Toxicol 2018 Dec 5;124:182-191. Epub 2018 Dec 5.

Applied Biotechnology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

The liver is the most essential organ of the body performing vital functions. Hepatic disorders affect the physiological and biochemical functions of the body. These disorders include hepatitis B, hepatitis C, alcoholic liver disease (ALD), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), liver cirrhosis, hepatic failure and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Read More

Am J Kidney Dis 2018 Dec 7. Epub 2018 Dec 7.

Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC. Electronic address:

Alemtuzumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody that targets CD52 antigens on lymphocytes and monocytes, has shown efficacy in preventing relapse in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Despite known severe (yet rare) renal side effects such as anti-glomerular basement membrane disease and membranous glomerulopathy, to our knowledge, alemtuzumab has never been documented to cause drug-induced thrombotic microangiopathy. We describe a 39-year-old woman with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis who developed acute kidney injury requiring renal replacement therapy after 1 dose of alemtuzumab, as well as microangiopathic hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia. Read More

J Pharmacol Sci 2018 Nov 24. Epub 2018 Nov 24.

International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's Faculty Hospital, Brno, Czech Republic; Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.

Prolonged QT interval is an independent risk factor for development of ventricular arrhythmias. Haloperidol is one of the drugs inducing QT prolongation. Previous studies showed that haloperidol affects not only QT duration but also heart rate (RR interval). Read More

Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2018 Nov 28. Epub 2018 Nov 28.

Department of Neurology, Loma Linda University Medical Center, Loma Linda, CA, USA.

We propose the use of the term tardive dyskinesia to refer to the original description of repetitive and complex oral-buccal-lingual (OBL) movements and the analogous repetitive movements of the limbs, trunk, or pelvis. The term tardive syndrome is an umbrella term to be used to refer to the spectrum of all persistent hyperkinetic, hypokinetic, and sensory phenomenologies resulting from chronic dopamine receptor blocking agent (DRBA) exposure. TD is a type of TS. Read More

Chest 2018 Dec;154(6):e173-e176

Département de Médecine Interne, Université Paris-Diderot, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Bichat-Claude Bernard, Paris, France; Unite INSERM U1149, Paris, France. Electronic address:

Case Presentation: A 56-year-old man was admitted to the ICU with chest pain, cough, hemoptysis, increasing dyspnea, and orthopnea for 1 week. The patient reported an 8-kg weight loss over the last month and recurrent wheezing episodes for approximately 1 year. He had a history of tobacco smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, both of which he stopped 15 years ago. Read More

Ann Pharmacother 2018 Dec 10:1060028018819450. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

1 Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Weatherford, OK, USA.

Objectives: The purpose of this article is to review the current literature on drug-induced thrombocytosis with the goal of critically assessing causality and providing a comprehensive review of the topic. Thrombopoietic growth factors, such as thrombopoietin-receptor agonists (romiplostim and eltrombopag) and erythropoietin are not included in our review.

Data Sources: The literature search included published articles limited to the English language and humans in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases. Read More

Chem Res Toxicol 2018 Dec 10. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Mitochondrial toxicity has been shown to contribute to a variety of organ toxicities such as liver, cardiac and kidney. In the past decades, two high throughput applicable screening assays (isolated rat liver mitochondria; glucose-galactose grown HepG2 cells) to assess mitochondrial toxicity have been deployed in many pharmaceutical companies and numerous publications have demonstrated its usefulness for mechanistic investigations. However, only two publications have demonstrated the utility of these screens as a predictor of human drug induced liver injury. Read More

J Thorac Oncol 2018 Dec 3. Epub 2018 Dec 3.

Tokyo Medical University Hospital, 6-7-1 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0023, Japan.

Introduction: The study objective was to determine the incidence and characteristics of drug-induced interstitial lung disease (ILD) associated with an orally available small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor, crizotinib in the real-world clinical setting.

Methods: Post-marketing surveillance was performed in Japan to obtain information on the safety and efficacy of crizotinib. Target patients included all patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received crizotinib, during the enrollment period between May 2012 and December 2014. Read More

Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2018 Dec;59(15):5803-5815

School of Ophthalmology and Optometry and Eye Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Purpose: To determine if drug-induced peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) signal pathway modulation affects refractive development and myopia in guinea pigs.

Methods: Pigmented guinea pigs were randomly divided into normal vision (unoccluded) and form deprivation myopia (FDM) groups. Each group received daily peribulbar injections of either a vehicle or (1) PPARα agonist, GW7647, clofibrate, or bezafibrate or (2) PPARα antagonist, GW6471, for 4 weeks. Read More

J Clin Invest 2018 Dec 6. Epub 2018 Dec 6.

ARHGEF1 is a RhoA-specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor expressed in hematopoietic cells. We used whole-exome sequencing to identify compound heterozygous mutations in ARHGEF1, resulting in the loss of ARHGEF1 protein expression in two primary-antibody-deficient siblings presenting with recurrent severe respiratory tract infections and bronchiectasis. Both ARHGEF1-deficient patients showed an abnormal B cell immunophenotype, with a deficiency in marginal-zone and memory B cells and an increased frequency of transitional B cells. Read More

J Diabetes 2018 Dec 5. Epub 2018 Dec 5.

Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Background: Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) or glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) treatment can preserve pancreatic β-cell mass and prevent diabetes. Recently, we reported that the combination of GABA and sitagliptin (a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor that increases endogenous GLP-1) was more effective than either agent alone in reducing drug-induced β-cell damage and promoting β-cell regeneration in mice. However, in human islets, it remains unclear whether GABA and GLP-1 exert similar effects. Read More

mSphere 2018 Dec 5;3(6). Epub 2018 Dec 5.

Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Can J Neurol Sci 2018 Dec 3:1-7. Epub 2018 Dec 3.

1Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neurology,BC Children's Hospital,Vancouver, British Columbia,Canada.

Objective: Benign epilepsy of childhood with central temporal spikes (BECTS) and absence epilepsy are common epilepsy syndromes in children with similar age of onset and favorable prognosis. However, the co-existence of the electrocardiogram (EEG) findings of rolandic spike and 3 Hz generalized spike-wave (GSW) discharges is extremely rare, with few cases reported in the literature. Our objective was to characterize the EEG findings of these syndromes in children in our center and review the electro-clinical features. Read More