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Osteoporosis is a common condition characterised by low bone mineral density (BMD) and an increased risk of fragility fractures. It affects up to 30% of women and 12% of men at some point in their lives. Two of the most important risk factors are increasing age and female gender, although other common and potentially modifiable risk factors include long-term corticosteroid therapy, chronic inflammatory disease, malabsorption and untreated premature menopause. The diagnosis of osteoporosis can be confirmed by DEXA but this should only be performed in patients who have an increased risk of fracture on the basis of clinical risk factors. DEXA should be considered if the 10-year risk of major osteoporotic fracture is > 10%. If the BMD T-score values by DEXA at the lumbar spine, femoral neck or total hip are at or below -2.5 then the diagnosis of osteoporosis is confirmed. Vertebral fractures are generally taken as diagnostic of osteoporosis, even if spine BMD values are not in the osteoporotic range. Oral bisphosphonates are the first-line treatment. If they are contraindicated or not tolerated then parenteral therapy should be considered. There is evidence that fractures occur in glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis at higher levels of BMD than in postmenopausal osteoporosis so therapy should be considered in patients with a BMD T-score of <-1.5. Although it is useful to have a DEXA scan before starting treatment to provide a baseline value to assess response, this investigation is not absolutely necessary to initiate bone protective therapy, especially in those aged above 65 since the vast majority of these patients will have a T-score of -1.5 or below. In younger individuals where BMD is likely to be higher DEXA is useful in determining if bone protective treatment is needed immediately or if it could be delayed until the T score falls below -1.5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive research has focused on transplantation of pluripotent stem cells for the treatment of central nervous system disorders, the therapeutic potential of stem cell therapy for injured peripheral nerves is largely unknown. We used a rat sciatic nerve transection model to test the ability of implanted embryonic stem (ES) cell-derived neural progenitor cells (ESNPCs) in promoting repair of a severely injured peripheral nerve. Mouse ES cells were neurally induced in vitro; enhanced expression and/or secretion of growth factors were detected in differentiating ES cells. One hour after removal of a 1-cm segment of the left sciatic nerve, ES-NPCs were implanted into the gap between the nerve stumps with the surrounding epineurium as a natural conduit. The transplantation resulted in substantial axonal regrowth and nerve repair, which were not seen in culture medium controls. One to 3 months after axotomy, co-immunostaining with the mouse neural cell membrane specific antibody M2/M6 and the Schwann cell marker S100 suggested that transplanted ES-NPCs had survived and differentiated into myelinating cells. Regenerated axons were myelinated and showed a uniform connection between proximal and distal stumps. Nerve stumps had near normal diameter with longitudinally oriented, densely packed Schwann celllike phenotype. Fluoro-Gold retrogradely labeled neurons were found in the spinal cord (T12-13) and DRG (L4-L6), suggesting reconnection of axons across the transection. Electrophysiological recordings showed functional activity recovered across the injury gap. These data suggest that transplanted neurally induced ES cells differentiate into myelin-forming cells and provide a potential therapy for severely injured peripheral nerves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: The travelers' gut microbiome is potentially assaulted by acute and chronic perturbations (e.g., diarrhea, antibiotic use, and different environments). Prior studies of the impact of travel and travelers' diarrhea (TD) on the microbiome have not directly compared antibiotic regimens, and studies of different antibiotic regimens have not considered travelers' microbiomes. This gap is important to be addressed as the use of antibiotics to treat or prevent TD-even in moderate to severe cases or in regions with high infectious disease burden-is controversial based on the concerns for unintended consequences to the gut microbiome and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) emergence. Our study addresses this by evaluating the impact of defined antibiotic regimens (single-dose treatment or daily prophylaxis) on the gut microbiome and resistomes of deployed servicemembers, using samples collected during clinical trials. Our findings indicate that the antibiotic treatment regimens that were studied generally do not lead to adverse effects on the gut microbiome and resistome and identify the relative risks associated with prophylaxis. These results can be used to inform therapeutic guidelines for the prevention and treatment of TD and make progress toward using microbiome information in personalized medical care., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.