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Background: In highly complex social settings, an animal's motivational drive to pursue an object depends not only on the intrinsic properties of the object, but also on whether the decision-making animal perceives an object as being the most desirable among others. Mimetic desire refers to a subject's preference for objects already possessed by another subject. To date, there are no appropriate animal models for studying whether mimetic desire is at play in guiding the decision-making process. Furthermore, the neuropharmacological bases of decision-making processes are not well understood. In this study, we used an animal model (rat) to investigate a novel food-foraging paradigm for decision-making, with or without a mimetic desire paradigm.Results: Faced with the choice of foraging in a competitive environment, rats preferred foraging for the desirable object, indicating the rats' ability for decision-making. Notably, treatment with the non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist MK-801, but not with the dopamine D1 or D2 receptor antagonists, SCH23390 and haloperidol, respectively, suppressed the food foraging preference when there was a competing resident rat in the cage. None of these three antagonists affected the food-foraging preference for palatable food. Moreover, MK-801 and SCH23390, but not haloperidol, were able to abolish the desirable environment effect on standard food-foraging activities in complex social settings.Conclusions: These results highlight the concept that mimetic desire exerts a powerful influence on food-foraging decision-making in rats and, further, illustrate the various roles of the glutamatergic and dopaminergic systems in mediating these processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the mechanism for the improvement of p-type doping efficiency in Mg-Al0.14Ga0.86N/GaN superlattices (SLs). It is shown that the hole concentration of SLs increases by nearly an order of magnitude, from 1.1✕1017 to 9.3✕1017 cm-3, when an AlN interlayer is inserted to modulate the strains. Schrodinger-Poisson self-consistent calculations suggest that such an increase could be attributed to the reduction of donor-like defects caused by the strain modulation induced by the AlN interlayer. Additionally, the donor-acceptor pair emission exhibits a remarkable decrease in intensity of the cathodoluminescence spectrum for SLs with an AlN interlayer. This supports the theoretical calculations and indicates that the strain modulation of SLs could be beneficial to the donor-like defect suppression as well as the p-type doping efficiency improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Digital subtraction angiography (DSA), the gold standard for the diagnosis of intracranial arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), can show clean nidus resection, leading to a perceived cure. Most cases of intracranial AVM recurrence have been reported in pediatric patients. The conventional understanding indicates that AVMs arise when abnormal blood vessels develop between the fourth and eighth weeks of embryonic development, which coincides with the typical period of blood vessel formation in the brain. As such, recurrent ectopic AVM are rare in adults., Case Summary: Herein, we present the case of a 31-year-old adult with a history of an intracranial AVM originally diagnosed with a symptomatic de novo cerebellar AVM formation. Recurrence was observed five years following angiographically-confirmed excision of the initial AVM. DSA performed prior to initial AVM resection indicated no cerebellar abnormalities. Moreover, the recurrent arteries exhibited differences in arteries and draining veins. In addition to reporting this case, we analyzed six previously-reported adult patients with similar ectopic recurrent AVMs. These cases are summarized to review and explore the potential causes of ectopic AVM recurrence in adults, which increase the likelihood of acquired AVM., Conclusion: The clinical course of the reported patients demonstrated the possibility of ectopic AVM recurrence in adults. The median time between the diagnosis of the initial AVM and the occurrence of ectopic recurrent AVM in adults was 11 years (range: 5-20 years). Magnetic resonance imaging follow-up for more than 10 years may be required in adult AVM-treated patients., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that they have no competing interests., (©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The rare co-occurrence of oligodendroglioma and arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in the same intracranial location., Case Summary: In a 61-year-old man presenting with progressive headaches, is described in this case study. Preoperative multimodal imaging techniques (computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, digital subtraction angiography, and computed tomography angiography) were employed to detect hemorrhage, cystic and solid lesions, and arteriovenous shunting in the right temporal lobe. The patient underwent right temporal craniotomy for lesion removal, and postoperative pathological analysis confirmed the presence of oligodendroglioma (World Health Organization grade II, not otherwise specified) and AVM., Conclusion: The preoperative utilization of multimodal imaging examination can help clinicians reduce the likelihood of misdiagnosis or oversight of these conditions, and provides important information for subsequent treatment. This case supports the feasibility of craniotomy for the removal of glioma with AVM., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest concerning this article., (©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

Sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE) refers to diffuse brain dysfunction caused by sepsis, which is characterized by decreased attention, directional impairment, being prone to irritation, and in severe cases the patient will experience drowsiness and coma. The pathogenesis of SAE mainly includes neuroinflammation, damage of blood-brain barrier, cerebral vascular dysfunction, and neurometabolic changes, among which neuroinflammation is the core pathological process. Microglia are considered to be important immune cells of the central nervous system and play an important role in neuroinflammation. This article systematically describes the role of microglia in the development of SAE, and discusses the phenotype and related signaling pathways of microglia, in order to clarify the role of microglia in SAE and provide a theoretical basis for clinical treatment of SAE.

The Taiwan Join Commission on Hospital Accreditation identified pressure ulcers as an important clinical care indicator in 2011. Pressure ulcers are a particularly critical medical care issue in hospital intensive care units. Pressure ulcers can influence patient physiology in terms of greater perceived pain, elevated infection and sepsis incidence, increased unplanned surgical treatments, and reduced activities of daily living (ADL). Pressure ulcers can also affect psychology through induced depression, stress, and anxiety. They can also increase patient and societal costs and prolong hospital stay length. This article explores the prevention and management of pressure ulcer in serious illness patients and introduces effective assessment and management techniques. We hope this article raises clinical nurse awareness of this critical issue and helps decrease the incidence of pressure ulcer-related complications in order to enhance overall quality of care.