Thinning of the retinal nerve fiber and choroidal layers in adolescents with anorexia nervosa: A controlled study

PURPOSE

We aimed to evaluate retinal nerve fiber and choroidal layer alterations in adolescents with anorexia nervosa using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.

METHODS

Thirty patients with anorexia nervosa and 30 healthy adolescents aged 12-18 years were included in this study. Their age, sex, body mass index, anorexia nervosa type, disease duration, and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography data were recorded.

RESULTS

Central macular thickness and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in the temporal and inferior regions were significantly lesser in patients with anorexia than in healthy controls (p<0.05). Moreover, significant choroidal thinning around the foveal and subfoveal regions in patients with anorexia was observed (p<0.05). In addition, a statistically significant relation between the increase in disease duration and the thinning of the inferior retinal nerve fiber layer was detected (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

The retinal nerve fiber layer and choroidal layer thicknesses were lesser in patients with anorexia than in healthy controls. Screening for retinal indices might prevent the development of irreversible retinal pathologies in adolescents with anorexia nervosa. In addition, thinning of the retinal nerve fiber and choroidal layers could reflect structural or functional changes in the brain of adolescents with anorexia nervosa.

Do Histologically Aggressive Subtypes of Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma have Worse Clinical Outcome than Non-Aggressive Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma Subtypes? A Multicenter Cohort Study

Histologically aggressive micropapillary thyroid carcinomas (PTMC) subtypes are thought to be associated with an aggressive clinical course. However, evidence for unfavorable clinical outcomes in patients with aggressive PTMC subtypes is not clear. In this study, we intended to determine the difference in clinical outcomes between patients with aggressive and non-aggressive PTMC subtypes. In this multicenter cohort study, the computer-recorded clinical and histopathological data of patients who underwent thyroid surgery between January 2000 - January 2021 in 9 referral centers and were diagnosed as PTMC were analyzed. A total of 1585 patients [female 1340 (84.5%), male 245 (15.5%), mean age 47.9±11.63 years), with a mean follow-up time of 66.55±37.16 months], were included in the study. Ninety-eight cases were diagnosed as aggressive and 1487 as non-aggressive subtypes. Persistent/recurrent disease was observed in 33 (33.7% )and 41 (2.8%) patients with aggressive and non-aggressive subtypes (p<0.001). Diseases-free survival rates were markedly lower in patients with aggressive than in those with non-aggressive PTMC subtypes (66.3 vs. 94.8%, log-rank p<0.001). Moreover, in multivariate analysis, aggressive histology was an independent predictor of persistent/recurrent disease, after controlling for other contributing factors (HR 5.78, 95% CI 3.32-10, p<0.001). Patients with aggressive PTMC subtypes had higher rates of incomplete biochemical and structural response than patients with non-aggressive subtypes as well (p<0.001). Aggressive PTMC subtypes share many characteristics with histologically identical tumors>1 cm in size. Therefore, the histopathological subtype of PTMC should be taken into consideration to tailor a personalized management plan.

Dynamic changes in the food-cue processing of obese adolescents: A controlled eye-tracking study from a dual-system perspective

Adolescent obesity is a growing global health problem. Studies have demonstrated that exposure to food cues plays a role in both the development and the persistence of obesity. Understanding how visual attention changes dynamically in response to food cues may explain how they contribute to obesity. The primary aims were to evaluate attentional bias for food cues and conduct a time-course analysis of obese adolescents' food-cue processing. We also investigated the roles of inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and eating styles in their visual attention to food stimuli. A total of 60 age- and gender-matched 12-16-year-olds (n = 30, obese group; n = 30, control group; M = 13.9 years, SD = 1.26) were included in this study's sample. The participants viewed a series of high-calorie and low-calorie food images along with nonfood images in the free exploration paradigm during eye-tracking. Time-course analysis of the proportion of fixations on images of food and high-calorie foods determined that the attentional processing of the two groups differed, especially in later stages. The obese group had higher Stroop Interference and Trail Making Test-B scores than the control group, but these executive functions' scores did not affect their proportions of fixations on food and high-calorie food images over time. Higher Perceptual Reasoning Index scores led to a decrease in the proportions of fixations on high-calorie food images over time in the obese group, and this was particularly noticeable after about 4000 ms. This study found that time-course analysis of visual attention to food cues allows us to understand how it changes dynamically over larger time intervals. Future studies should provide knowledge about maintained attention for food cues and their relationship with top-down factors in obese adolescents.

Use of biochemical and protein profiles of seminal plasma to prediction of semen quality and fertility in stallions

The identification of various substances in seminal plasma has opened the way to study their functionality. It was aimed to identify the electrophoretic protein profile (EPP) and biochemical parameters (BP) of seminal plasma (SP) as predictors of semen quality and fertility in stallion. Forty-six ejaculates from 7 fertile stallions, aged between 6-26 years, were collected from May to July and 117 mares were used to obtain fertility data. For each ejaculate, volume, sperm motility, concentration were determined and seminal plasma samples were collected to perform one- -dimensional electrophoresis and biochemical profiling. Following the estrus detection, mares were inseminated with fresh sperm. Pregnancy rates and foal rates were recorded. The concentration of 15-18 kDa molecular weight (MW) proteins has shown a positive correlation with sperm concentration and foal rate. Besides, a strong positive correlation was found between sperm concentration and 23-28 kDa MW proteins (r=0.77). The volume of 19-22 kDa MW proteins was negatively correlated with pregnancy and foal rate. Similarly, the volume of high MW proteins (173-385 kDa) correlated negatively with sperm motility and foal rate. Apart from the protein profile, while Magnesium and Glucose levels were negatively correlated with sperm quality and foal rate, Cholesterol level was a positive indicator of the quality of semen as well as the foaling rate. Moreover, the total protein level was correlated negatively with the sperm concentration whereas triglyceride was correlated positively. In conclusion, EPP and BP of seminal plasma are valuable clinical tools as predictors of fertility and semen quality in the stallion.

Body sway responses to pseudorandom support surface translations of vestibular loss subjects resemble those of vestibular able subjects

Body sway responses evoked by a horizontal acceleration of a level and firm support surface are particular in that the vestibular information on body-space angle BS resembles the proprioceptive information on body-foot angle BF. We compared corresponding eyes-closed responses of vestibular-able (VA) and vestibular-loss (VL) subjects, postulating a close correspondence. In contradistinction to previous studies, we used an unpredictable (pseudorandom) stimulus and found that the eyes-closed and eyes-open responses of the VA closely resembled those of the VL subjects, as expected. We further conclude that the vestibular signals coding head linear translation in VA subjects has in this case too little functional relevance to cause a notable difference between the subject groups.

Effect of Seminal Plasma Fractions on Stallion Sperm Survival after Cooled Storage

This study aimed to evaluate stallion sperm survival after 24 h of cooled storage in the presence of seminal plasma (SP) derived from the sperm-rich fractions (SRF) or sperm-poor fractions(SPF) of the ejaculate, without SP, or in the presence of SP from other stallions. Ejaculates were collected from four stallions using an automated phantom, which separated the semen into five cups. Centrifuged and washed spermatozoa from cup 2 (SRF) were mixed with skim milk extender to a concentration of 100 x 10(6) sperm/ml and then 1:1 (v/v) with SP from the stallion's own or another stallions' second (SP-SRF) or last cup (SP-SPF). Skim milk extender (K) and skim milk extender supplemented with modified Tyrode's medium (KMT) were used as control treatments. After a 24-h storage period in a transport container, spermatozoa were evaluated for motion characteristics and plasma membrane integrity by calcein acetoxymethyl (AM)/propidium iodide staining. The percentage of spermatozoa with intact plasma membranes after storage was lower in SP-SRF than in SP-SPF, and the highest in K (P < 0.05). Progressive motility (PMOT) was lower for sperm stored in SP-SRF than for sperm stored in SP-SPF (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in total motility (TMOT). Sperm stored in KMT (P < 0.05) registered the highest TMOT and PMOT percentages. Osmolarity was significantly higher and pH lower in K than in KMT or SP. Treatment with SP-SPF from three stallions benefited the PMOT of sperm from one stallion. These preliminary findings suggest that SP from SRFs may be more harmful during storage than SP from SPFs. Removal of SP improves sperm survival in KMT extender, and exchanging SP between stallions seems to influence sperm survival.