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Scientific research involving non-human primates has contributed towards many advances in medicine and surgery. This review discusses its role in the progress made towards our understanding of Parkinson's disease and its treatment. Established medical treatments like dopamine agonists continue to need primate models to assess their efficacy, safely, and mechanism of action. The recently developed treatment of deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus required validation in primates before entering the clinic. Controversies surrounding future treatments such as gene therapy show the need for properly evaluated preclinical research using appropriate animal models before progression to clinical trials. Research on primates has played—and continues to play—a crucial part in deepening our understanding of Parkinson's disease, improving current therapies, and developing new treatments that are both safe and effective. In animal research, the ‘three Rs’ of humane technique—reduction, refinement, and replacement—should be adhered to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic, idiopathic, inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation and ulcers in the innermost layers of the large intestine (colon) and rectum. Assessment of intestinal inflammation in UC is crucial and still remains a difficult challenge for the clinician. Although endoscopic modalities with biopsy sampling seem to be the most reliable method for estimating disease severity, they are invasive and costly. Apart from endoscopic interventions, disease severity can be assessed using both laboratory studies and non-invasive imaging tests. C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), white blood cells (WBCs), acid glycoprotein, platelet count and albumin are in common use but have only modest accuracy in reflecting UC disease activity. Therefore, adjunctive use of additional serum markers that will be more sensitive and specific for determination of disease activity and achieving diagnostic accuracy is strongly needed in daily clinical practice. Aim of the Work: to investigate the diagnostic utility of beta 2 microglobulin (B2-M) levels and analyze this correlation with the activity of ulcerative colitis disease. Patients and Methods: a case control study that was conducted at the Gastroenterology Clinic, Internal Medicine Department, Ain Shams University during the period of January to July 2018. 60 patients were recruited for the study. They were divided as follows; Group "A": 40 patients newly diagnosed as ulcerative colitis based on colonoscopy and biopsy, subdivided as follows; 20 patients with active ulcerative colitis and 20 patients with inactive ulcerative colitis. Group "B": 20 healthy individuals free from any systemic diseases serving as a control group. Results: in this study, the serum levels of serum B2-microglobulins were highest in patients with active ulcerative colitis compared to those with inactive ulcerative colitis and the control groups. Also B2-microglobulins values become higher with higher number of presenting symptoms and endoscopic activity, which becomes higher in severe disease. Conclusion: our results revealed that serum B2-microglobulin was simple and non-invasive marker that could be helpful for differentiating active UC from inactive disease. Moreover, it was more helpful when used together with serum laboratory inflammatory indices (ESR and CRP). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2) syndrome, genetic testing offers early diagnosis, stratifies the risk of developing medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) and informs the timing of thyroidectomy. The efficacy of treatment, which depends on timely and safe surgery, is not well established. Methods: This was a retrospective review of diagnostic and clinicopathological outcomes of prophylactic thyroidectomy in children with MEN2 between 1995 and 2013 in the UK. American Thyroid Association (ATA) 2009 guidelines were used as a benchmark for adequate treatment. Results: Seventy‐nine children from 16 centres underwent total thyroidectomy. Thirty‐eight patients (48 per cent) underwent genetic testing and 36 (46 per cent) had an operation performed above the age recommended by the ATA 2009 guidelines; pathology showed MTC in 30 patients (38 per cent). Late surgery, above‐normal preoperative calcitonin level and MTC on pathology correlated with late genetic testing. Twenty‐five children had lymphadenectomy; these patients had more parathyroid glands excised (mean difference 0·61, 95 per cent c.i. 0·24 to 0·98; P = 0·001), and were more likely to have hypocalcaemia requiring medication (relative risk (RR) 3·12, 95 per cent c.i. 1·54 to 6·32; P = 0·002) and permanent hypoparathyroidism (RR 3·24, 1·29 to 8·11; P = 0·010) compared with those who underwent total thyroidectomy alone. Age did not influence the development of complications. Conclusion: Late genetic testing may preclude age‐appropriate surgery, increasing the risk of operating when MTC has already developed. Early genetic testing and age‐appropriate surgery may help avoid unnecessary lymphadenectomy and improve outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neural substrates that enable individuals to achieve their fastest and strongest motor responses have long been enigmatic. Importantly, characterization of such activities may inform novel therapeutic strategies for patients with hypokinetic disorders, such as Parkinson's disease. Here, we ask whether the basal ganglia may play an important role, not only in the attainment of maximal motor responses under standard conditions but also in the setting of the performance enhancements known to be engendered by delivery of intense stimuli. To this end, we recorded local field potentials from deep brain stimulation electrodes implanted bilaterally in the subthalamic nuclei of 10 patients with Parkinson's disease, as they executed their fastest and strongest handgrips in response to a visual cue, which was accompanied by a brief 96-dB auditory tone on random trials. We identified a striking correlation between both theta/alpha (5-12 Hz) and high-gamma/high-frequency (55-375 Hz) subthalamic nucleus activity and force measures, which explained close to 70% of interindividual variance in maximal motor responses to the visual cue alone, when patients were ON their usual dopaminergic medication. Loud auditory stimuli were found to enhance reaction time and peak rate of development of force still further, independent of whether patients were ON or OFF l-DOPA, and were associated with increases in subthalamic nucleus power over a broad gamma range. However, the contribution of this broad gamma activity to the performance enhancements observed was only modest (≤13%). The results implicate frequency-specific subthalamic nucleus activities as substantial factors in optimizing an individual's peak motor responses at maximal effort of will, but much less so in the performance increments engendered by intense auditory stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]