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Introduction/Aims: Nerve enlargement has been described in autoimmune nodopathy and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). However, comparisons of the distribution of enlargement between autoimmune nodopathy and CIDP have not been well characterized. To fill this gap, we explored differences in the ultrasonographic and electrophysiological features between autoimmune nodopathy and CIDP. Methods: Between March 2015 and June 2023, patients fulfilling diagnostic criteria for CIDP were enrolled; among them, those with positive antibodies against nodal–paranodal cell‐adhesion molecules were distinguished as autoimmune nodopathy. Nerve ultrasound and nerve conduction studies (NCS) were performed. Results: Overall, 114 CIDP patients and 13 patients with autoimmune nodopathy were recruited. Cross‐sectional areas (CSA) at all sites were larger in patients with CIDP and autoimmune nodopathy than in healthy controls. CSAs at the roots and trunks of the brachial plexus were significantly larger in patients with anti‐neurofascin‐155 (NF155), anti‐contactin‐1 (CNTN1), and anti‐contactin‐associated protein 1 (CASPR1) antibodies than in CIDP patients. The patients with anti‐NF186 antibody did not have enlargement in the brachial plexus. NCS showed more frequent probable conduction block at Erb's point in autoimmune nodopathy than in CIDP (61.9% vs. 36.6% for median nerve, 52.4% vs. 39.5% for ulnar nerve). Markedly prolonged distal motor latencies were also present in autoimmune nodopathy. Discussion: Patients with autoimmune nodopathies had distinct distributions of peripheral nerve enlargement revealed by ultrasound, as well as distinct NCS patterns, which were different from CIDP. This suggests the potential utility of nerve ultrasound and NCS to supplement clinical characteristics for distinguishing nodopathies from CIDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: Identifying patients with inflammatory motor neuropathies (IMNs) is warranted since effective treatments are available and the prognosis of these patients differs from that of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients. Methods: Between January 2019 and May 2022, 102 consecutive treatment‐naïve lower motor neuron syndrome (LMNS) patients were recruited; these patients were suspected of having multifocal motor neuropathy, pure motor chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with initial lower motor neuron presentation. Neuromuscular ultrasound (US) and nerve conduction studies (NCSs) were conducted at baseline. Relevant diagnostic investigations were performed if clinically warranted. The proposed US evidence of IMN was as follows: (i) nerve enlargement at ≥1 of the predetermined sites or (ii) absence of high intensity fasciculations in predefined muscle groups. Final diagnoses were made by experienced physicians after a prolonged follow‐up period (≥12 months). IMN patients were defined as LMNS patients who experienced convincing improvements in response to immunotherapies. IMN patients without electrodiagnostic demyelinating features were diagnosed with treatment‐responsive LMNS (TR‐LMNS). Results: In total, 16 patients were classified as IMN, including nine chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy/multifocal motor neuropathy patients and seven TR‐LMNS patients. Six TR‐LMNS patients were identified by neuromuscular US. The sensitivity and specificity of NCSs, nerve US and muscle US were 56.3% and 100%, 43.8% and 90.7% and 68.8% and 97.7%, respectively. When these three modalities were combined, the sensitivity and specificity were 93.8% and 88.4%, respectively. Conclusion: Neuromuscular US studies are supplementary modalities to NCSs, and the combined use of these techniques might improve the identification of IMNs in LMNS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Comorbidity of Myasthenia gravis (MG) and Graves' disease (GD) in treated HIV‐infected individuals has rarely been described and little study has been done on the link between HIV‐related immune reconstitution and autoimmune diseases occurring post antiretroviral therapy. Case Presentation: Here we report on a 33‐year‐old Chinese man with HIV infection who had been virologically suppressed since 2018. The patient was diagnosed with GD and was treated in 2020. Early in 2022, he developed fluctuating weakness and fatigue involving the bilateral extraocular muscles and limbs. With a positive neostigmine test, he was considered to have MG, but showed a poor response to oral medication. After multiple failed medication attempts, a thymectomy was finally performed to resolve his symptoms. The consecutive onset of immunological events may have partially resulted from immune reconstitution after viral control. Conclusions: This is a rare case of HIV‐related immune reconstitution‐associated autoimmune disease (IRAD) with comorbidity of MG and GD which was reported initially. Cooperation with multidisciplinary teams is essential to avoid misdiagnosis and to promote the overall health of HIV‐infected patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: We aim to investigate nerve enlargement patterns and their correlation with clinical subtypes and treatment response using nerve ultrasound in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP). Methods: Between March 2015 and December 2021, 135 CIDP patients were recruited. Nerve ultrasound and electrophysiological studies were performed on the median and ulnar nerves. The responses to intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) or prednisone were evaluated with the disability score. Results: There were 99 typical CIDP cases, 10 Lewis‐Sumner syndrome (LSS) cases, 15 distal acquired demyelinating symmetric neuropathy (DADS) cases, nine pure motor CIDP cases, and two pure sensory CIDP cases. Sixty (61%) typical CIDP and seven (78%) pure motor CIDP patients had moderately increased or normal cross‐sectional area (CSA), and 10 (67%) DADS and seven (70%) LSS patients had significantly increased CSA. The peripheral nerve showed a diffuse enlargement pattern in 46 (51%) typical CIDP, five (50%) LSS, three (25%) DADS, and three (33%) pure motor CIDP patients and a proximal regional enlargement pattern in 11 (12%) typical CIDP, one (10%) LSS, six (50%) DADS, and four (44%) pure motor CIDP patients. Patients with diffusely moderate enlargement patterns and those with proximal regional enlargement showed a higher response rate to glucocorticoids than to IVIg. Conclusions: Various distribution patterns of nerve enlargement existed in CIDP. Although almost all patterns could be detected in each CIDP subtype, diffusely moderate enlargement was more common in typical CIDP and LSS, while proximal regional enlargement was more common in DADS and pure motor CIDP. Different enlargement patterns might indicate different treatment responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Time-Varying Parameter-Stochastic Volatility-Vector Auto Regression model, this study examines the dynamic relationship between Non-deliverable Forwards, Stock Index Gap, Interest Rate Gap, and short-term fluctuations of the RMB exchange rate during the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak. Our findings indicate that these variables exhibit time-varying characteristics and a relatively significant stable trend. Additionally, in the initial phase of the pandemic, there were substantial capital outflows from the Chinese stock market. However, as the Chinese economic situation improved and the government intervened in a timely manner, exchange rate and Non-deliverable Forwards volatility decreased, leading to a slowdown in outflows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our aim was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the efficacy and safety of oliceridine in patients with postoperative pain. Four databases were searched from the beginning of the database to the present. We included all randomized controlled trials (RCT) that evaluated the efficacy and safety of oliceridine in patients with postoperative pain. Our endpoints were the proportion of treatment responders to the oliceridine regimen and the incidence of adverse effects such as nausea and vomiting. The analysis showed that more patients responded significantly with oliceridine compared to placebo. The proportion of treatment responders to oliceridine was comparable to that of morphine. Oliceridine had analgesia effects similar to morphine compared to placebo. The incidence of respiratory safety events was significantly lower with oliceridine compared to morphine. Oliceridine was significantly associated with more adverse events such as nausea and vomiting compared to placebo. The safety profile of oliceridine was superior to morphine compared to morphine. Our systematic review and meta-analysis showed that oliceridine is an effective and safe intravenous analgesic in patients with postoperative pain, producing rapid postoperative analgesic and usually well tolerated, and reducing incidence of adverse events compared to morphine. CRD42023391581 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) is one of the most common autoimmune peripheral neuropathies in adults. Membranous nephropathy (MN), focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), and other nephropathy have been reported in CIDP patients and are possibly correlated to CIDP pathogenesis. This study reviewed the previously described cases of patients with CIDP and nephropathy in order to provide comprehensive evidence on the diagnosis and treatment regarding CIDP patients in the context of renal diseases.Method: We reviewed our database to identify patients with CIDP and nephropathy. Online database including PubMed, EMBASE, and OVID were searched for relevant cases.Results: We identified a total of 18 cases with CIDP and nephropathy, including 2 cases from our database and 16 ones from online searching. A predominance of male was observed [14 (77.8%)] with the mean age of 53.3 (standard deviation, SD: 16.6) years old. Almost all patients complained paresthesia in distal limbs (94.4%), except one only presented weakness of four extremities. Corticosteroids were prescribed for 14 (77.8%) patients, and 10 showed responsiveness. Three patients experienced relapses during the gradual tapering of steroids.Conclusion: The same immune-mediated pathogenesis may be involved in CIDP and concomitant nephropathy. Male and sensory-predominant CIDP are red flags for complications of renal diseases in CIDP patients. Corticosteroids remain the first-line treatment for CIDP when complicated with renal diseases. Slower tapering or long-term maintenance of steroids may be beneficial for the prognosis of patients with CIDP and nephropathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been known pollutants, which are ubiquitous in various matrix, even in some food products and beverages like fruit juices. It is of great importance to develop efficient and simple method to detect them in such matrix. In this work, an effective magnetic composite integrating the advantages of the magnism of CoFe 2 O 4 , hydrophilicity and multisites of Ti 3 C 2 and high adsorption properties of polyaniline (CoFe 2 O 4 @Ti 3 C 2 @PANI) was designed and synthesized. CoFe 2 O 4 @Ti 3 C 2 @PANI-based magnetic solid-phase extraction coupled with gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was established for determination of nine PCBs in fruit juices. The developed method achieved low detection limits of 0.4–0.8 ng L−1. The established method was validated with three beverages and achieved good spiked recoveries ranging from 77.2 % to 104.7 %. These findings exhibited that the established method was very simple, efficient, and credible for the analysis of PCBs in food, environmental, and other fields. • CoFe 2 O 4 @Ti 3 C 2 @PANI was synthesized by oxidation self-polymerization. • Spiked recoveries of PCBs in different beverages were 77.2 %–104.7 %. • The adsorption of PCBs on CoFe 2 O 4 @Ti 3 C 2 @PANI was multilayer adsorption. • CoFe 2 O 4 @Ti 3 C 2 @PANI exhibited the synergistic merits of three materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual leucine-zipper kinase (DLK; a MAP3K) mediates neuronal responses to diverse injuries and insults through the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) family of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). Here, we identified two ways through which DLK is coupled to the neural-specific isoform JNK3 to control prodegenerative signaling. JNK3 catalyzed positive feedback phosphorylation of DLK that further activated DLK and locked the DLK-JNK3 module in a highly active state. Neither homologous MAP3Ks nor a homologous MAPK could support this positive feedback loop. Unlike the related JNK1 isoform JNK2 and JNK3 promote prodegenerative axon-to-soma signaling and were endogenously palmitoylated. Moreover, palmitoylation targeted both DLK and JNK3 to the same axonal vesicles, and JNK3 palmitoylation was essential for axonal retrograde signaling in response to optic nerve crush injury in vivo. These findings provide previously unappreciated insights into DLK-JNK signaling relevant to neuropathological conditions and answer long-standing questions regarding the selective prodegenerative roles of JNK2 and JNK3. Palmitoylation for axonal degeneration: In response to nerve injury, activation of the kinases DLK and JNK3 in axons induces retrograde signaling to the soma, where consequent gene expression changes promote neuronal degeneration. Using cultured neurons and an optic nerve crush model in mice, Niu et al. found that DLK promoted the activation of JNK3 in a localization-dependent manner. Palmitoylation of both kinases mediated their colocalization onto axon vesicles, where a positive feedback phosphorylation loop between the kinases maintained their activation state as the vesicles trafficked to the soma. In addition to revealing a potentially targetable mechanism to reduce neurodegeneration, the findings uncover a role for palmitoylation in axon-to-soma signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: At present, reinfusions of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell have exhibited limited efficacy, while their efficacy on extramedullary relapse remains to be further elucidated in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Although combination with IL-15 demonstrated the potential to enhance antitumor activity of CAR-T, the efficacy of this approach remains to be validated clinically. Methods: We reported a patient with B-ALL with extramedullary relapse after allogeneic stem cell transplantation and who was resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In total, he received four treatments with CAR-T cells repeatedly under the status of disease progression. Results: First, the patient received autologous murine CAR19-CD28-CD3ζ-T cells and achieved full resolution of extramedullary leukemia lasting 8 months. After systemic disease relapse, he received autologous humanized CAR22-41BB-CD3ζ-tEGFR-T cells and achieved complete remission (CR) with incomplete blood count recovery (CRi) with minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity in the bone marrow and shrinkage of extramedullary leukemia. Over 2 months later, he experienced a relapse of the systemic disease and he received autologous murine CAR19-41BB-CD3ζ-mIL15-T cells and achieved CRiMRD- lasting 5 months with the strongest expansion and persistence of CAR. Finally, on relapse of CD19− medullary disease, he received allogeneic humanized CAR22-41BB-CD3ζ-tEGFR-T cells but only achieved a transient decrease in the number of blasts. No CAR-T-cell-related encephalopathy syndrome was observed, and all side effects were manageable. Conclusion: Our report hints the feasibility and safety of CD19 CAR-T cell expressing membrane-bound IL-15 for patient with B-ALL even if relapsed after multiple CAR-T-cell therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-project defect prediction (CPDP) refers to identifying defect-prone software modules in one project (target) using historical data collected from other projects (source), which can help developers find bugs and prioritize their testing efforts. Recently, CPDP has attracted great research interest. However, the source and target data usually exist redundancy and nonlinearity characteristics. Besides, most CPDP methods do not exploit source label information to uncover the underlying knowledge for label propagation. These factors usually lead to unsatisfactory CPDP performance. To address the above limitations, we propose a landmark selection-based kernelized discriminant subspace alignment (LSKDSA) approach for CPDP. LSKDSA not only reduces the discrepancy of the data distributions between the source and target projects, but also characterizes the complex data structures and increases the probability of linear separability of the data. Moreover, LSKDSA encodes label information of the source data into domain adaptation learning process and makes itself with good discriminant ability. Extensive experiments on 13 public projects from three benchmark datasets demonstrate that LSKDSA performs better than a range of competing CPDP methods. The improvement is 3.44%-11.23% in g-measure, 5.75%-11.76% in AUC, and 9.34%-33.63% in MCC, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The aim of our study was to assess the ultrasonographic features of peripheral nerves in patients with POEMS (polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, M protein, and skin changes) syndrome. Method: 34 POEMS syndrome patients and 26 healthy control (HC) participants were recruited prospectively. Cross‐sectional area (CSA) was measured in nerves of limbs, trunks of brachial plexus, and cervical nerve roots Results: The CSAs were mildly enlarged at the arm segment of median nerve, elbow segment of ulnar nerve and upper trunk, moderately enlarged at the forearm segment of both median and ulnar nerve, upper trunk of brachial plexus, and C6, C7 cervical nerve roots, and markedly enlarged at the arm segment of ulnar nerve, middle and lower trunk of brachial plexus, as well as C5 cervical root. Discussion: The CSAs of upper limb nerves were larger in POEMS syndrome patients than in HCs, and the enlargements were most prominent proximally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Both clinical autonomic dysfunction and involvement of autonomic nerves have been reported in a range of peripheral nerve disorders. We employed nerve ultrasound to assess the size of the vagus nerve in a serial study of patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) and Charcot‐Marie‐Tooth type 1B (CMT1B) as compared to healthy controls (HCs). We correlated these findings with involvement of the median and ulnar nerves. METHODS: Forty‐three patients with CIDP, 8 with CMT1A, and 105 HC were prospectively recruited. The cross‐sectional areas (CSAs) of the vagus, median, and ulnar nerves were measured bilaterally. The alteration of CSA of those nerves was followed longitudinally in CIDP. RESULTS: The median (range) CSA of the vagus nerve was 2 (1‐28) mm2 in CIDP, 3 (2‐6) mm2 in CMT1A, and 1 (1‐2) mm2 in HC. The vagus nerve CSA was positively correlated with the maximum CSA of median/ulnar nerve in CIDP and CMT1A. The alteration in vagus nerve CSA was positively correlated with the alteration in mean median/ulnar nerve CSA in CIDP during follow‐up. CONCLUSIONS: The vagus nerve was involved to a similar extent as the median and ulnar nerves in CIDP and CMT1A, although no symptoms or signs of vagus nerve involvement were found. Further study should be performed to explore the clinical relevance of vagus nerve enlargement in these disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Detailed morphological features of the peripheral nerves could improve the diagnostic sensitivity in some polyneuropathies. In this study we aimed to establish multiple-site, cross-sectional area (CSA) reference values for peripheral nerves of upper extremities in a healthy Chinese population.Methods: One hundred eleven healthy subjects, 15 to 70 years of age, were prospectively recruited. CSA at predetermined sites of the median, ulnar, radial nerves, and brachial plexus was measured bilaterally. Ten consecutive sites were studied along the median/ulnar nerves.Results: The CSA at ten sites of the median nerve ranged from 5.59 ± 0.89 to 8.43 ± 1.30 mm2 , and for the ulnar nerve from 2.94 ± 0.57 to 5.63 ± 1.08 mm2 . Both age and gender correlated with nerve CSA at most sites.Discussion: CSA was not uniform along the length of the median and ulnar nerves. The multiple-site reference values could be helpful for investigating polyneuropathies in the Asian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) can cause adverse reactions in the nervous system. The incidence rate is 0.1%–12% and 80% of nervous system adverse reactions occur within the first four months of application. ICIs can cause diseases of various parts of the nervous system including central nervous system diseases such as aseptic meningitis, meningeal encephalitis, necrotizing encephalitis, brainstem encephalitis, transverse myelitis, etc., and peripheral neuropathy such as cranial nerve peripheral neuropathy, multifocal nerve root neuropathy, Guillain‐Barré syndrome, spinal nerve root neuropathy, myasthenia gravis, myopathy, etc. For these complications of the nervous system, diagnosis could be difficult. Physicians require a specific collection of nervous system symptoms and signs, combined with supplementary examinations including imaging, cerebrospinal fluid cytology, EEG or electromyography in order to exclude infection or malignant tumor before reaching a final diagnosis. With regard to treatment, ICIs should be discontinued in severe cases, and large doses of glucocorticoid or gamma globulin administered, and supportive treatment may be necessary. If severe adverse reactions of the nervous system occur, the prognosis could be poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Patients with GJB1 mutations manifested as pure central nervous system (CNS) involvement without peripheral neuropathy have not been adequately reported. To expand the disease spectrum of GJB1 mutations, we report a case series. Methods: Eleven patients from 9 families with GJB1 mutations were reviewed. The clinical manifestations, electrophysiological studies, and gene tests were summarized. Results: Nine patients had peripheral neuropathy, one patient had both peripheral neuropathy and mild cognitive impairment, and one patient had recurrent episodic limbs weakness and aphasia with normal electrophysiological study, indicating CNS involvement only. Discussion: GJB1 mutations form a clinical spectrum, including most patients with peripheral nerve involvement, those with both peripheral neuropathy and CNS involvement, and patients with CNS involvement only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]