Clinicopathologic Features, Pathogenesis, and Treatment of Monoclonal Gammopathy-Associated Myopathies.

Monoclonal gammopathy-associated myopathies (MGAMs) are rare yet treatable myopathies that occur in association with monoclonal gammopathies. These myopathies include light chain (AL) amyloidosis myopathy, sporadic late-onset nemaline myopathy (SLONM), scleromyxedema with associated myopathy, and newly reported monoclonal gammopathy-associated glycogen storage myopathy (MGGSM), including the vacuolar myopathy with monoclonal gammopathy and stiffness. All these 4 distinct subtypes of MGAMs typically present in patients aged 40 or older, frequently with a subacute onset of rapidly progressive proximal and axial muscle weakness.

Minimally Invasive vs Open Surgery for Thoracolumbar Fractures in Patients With Ankylosing Spinal Diseases: A Meta-Analysis.

Background: Surgical management of thoracolumbar fractures in patients with ankylosing spinal disorders such as ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis remains debated. Although several studies have compared minimally invasive surgery to open fixation of thoracolumbar fractures in this patient population, a meta-analysis compiling the literature on this topic is lacking.

Methods: Following the PRISMA guidelines, PubMed, Cochrane, and Google Scholar (pages 1 to 20) were accessed and explored until October 2024.

SREBP-mediated Signaling Restores Stem Cell Niche Properties in Human Lung Fibroblasts.

Emphysema is characterized by chronic alveolar destruction. Lipofibroblasts (LIF) are crucial in the stem cell niche surrounding alveolar type II (AT2) cells and may contribute to alveolar regeneration. We aim to determine whether emphysema is associated with LIF reduction and whether Sterol regulatory binding protein (SREBP) activation promotes LIF differentiation and fibroblast stem cell niche properties.

[Will nanopores also sequence proteins ?].

DNA sequencing using nanopores is now well established. Could the approach be extended to proteins ? There are a number of difficulties but work by many groups has shown proof-of-principle solutions for most of them. Further progress could indeed lead to a workable protein sequencing approach that would have many applications in research and in the clinic.

[New therapeutic approaches for the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis].

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is a rare disease for which management long consisted of a single treatment: ursodeoxycholic acid. In 2015-2016, this disease regained interest with the first studies on obeticholic acid (FXR agonist) and then on bezafibrate (PPAR agonist). Subsequently, over the past five years, significant progress has been made in the management of PBC.

[The internal condom: overview, practical aspects and analysis of the barriers to its use].

The internal condom (commonly referred to as the female condom), which can be used by both men and women, is a single-use medical device that can be inserted several hours before sexual intercourse for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and for contraception. This review presents an overview of its use, and a summary of the technical and regulatory aspects. We will see that this device is almost as effective as its external counterpart and offers better protection against STIs, but that it remains very underused in the general population.

[Transitioning to adult oncology for adolescents and young adults (AYAs): The experience of an AYA unit].

Supporting the transition from pediatric to adult oncology presents challenges for all stakeholders, including adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients, their parents, pediatric oncologists, and medical oncologists. In this article, we describe the different stages of this transition and the transfer of care, the obstacles to the transition, and potential solutions. We discuss the contribution of AYA care in oncology through collaborations between pediatric and medical oncologists, and the importance of multidisciplinary support for patient empowerment.

[From the emergence of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to global health emergencies].

For a long time neglected, the mpox virus has caused two public health emergency declarations by the World Health Organization in just two years. Rapid detection and characterization of the viral strains involved are crucial for better control of the disease. Recent work on viral genome sequencing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has shown the emergence in 2023 of clade Ib, with sustained human-to-human transmission and rapid spread to several other non-endemic neighboring countries, as well as outside Africa.

[Harnessing retroviral engineering for genome reprogramming].

The accumulated knowledge on the biology of the HIV-1 virus has led to the emergence of technologies that exploit the architecture of retroviruses and their integration or vectorization properties. This field of study constitutes retroviral vectorology, democratized in laboratories by the use of lentiviral vectors. By hijacking retroviral assembly, other systems are emerging and are increasingly mentioned in recent literature.

Adjusting the management of the Antarctic krill fishery to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Antarctic krill () is the central prey species in the Southern Ocean food web, supporting the largest and fastest-growing fishery in the region, managed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Climate change is threatening krill populations and their predators, while current catch limits do not take into account climate variability or krill population dynamics. In 2024, CCAMLR was unable to renew its spatial catch limits, highlighting the urgent need for improved management of the krill fishery to prevent any harm to the Southern Ocean ecosystem.

Randomized Sham Controlled Trial of Targeted Lung Denervation in Patients with COPD (AIRFLOW-3).

Rationale: AIRFLOW-3 was a 1:1 randomized, double blind, sham controlled trial of the d'Nerva Targeted Lung Denervation (TLD) System in patients with COPD.

Objective: Evaluate the impact of TLD on COPD exacerbations compared to optimal medical treatment.

Methods: AIRFLOW-3 patients were symptomatic (CAT ≥10) with moderate to very severe airflow obstruction (25% ≤ FEV ≤ 80% predicted) and GOLD E status (≥2 moderate or ≥1 severe exacerbation over prior 12 months).

A novel DNA repair-independent role for Gen nuclease in promoting unscheduled polyploidy cell proliferation.

Unscheduled whole genome duplication (WGD), also described as unscheduled or non-physiological polyploidy, can lead to genetic instability and is commonly observed in human cancers. WGD generates DNA damage due to scaling defects between replication factors and DNA content. As a result DNA damage repair mechanisms are thought to be critical for ensuring cell viability and proliferation under these conditions.

Cytotoxic CX3CR1+ Vδ1 T cells clonally expand in an interplay of CMV, microbiota, and HIV-1 persistence in people on antiretroviral therapy.

Vδ1 γδ T cells are key players in innate and adaptive immunity, particularly at mucosal interfaces such as the gut. An increase in circulating Vδ1 cells has long been observed in people with HIV-1, but remains poorly understood. We performed a comprehensive characterization of Vδ1 T cells in blood and duodenal intra-epithelial lymphocytes, obtained from endoscopic mucosal biopsies of 15 people with HIV-1 on antiretroviral therapy and 15 HIV-seronegative controls, in a substudy of the ANRS EP61 GALT study (NCT02906137).

The G-OBIM tongue model: An accurate open-source biomechanical model of a male human tongue.

Background And Objectives: We present a new Finite Element (FE) tongue model that was designed to precisely account for 3D tongue shapes produced during isolated French speech sounds by a male individual (RS). Such a high degree of realism will enable scientists to precisely and quantitatively assess, in a speaker-specific manner, hypotheses about speech motor control and the impact of tongue anatomy, muscle arrangements, and tongue dynamics in this context.

Methods: The shape and topology of the FE model were generated from 3D high resolution orofacial MR images of RS having his tongue in "neutral" posture.

Evaluating Long-Term Effectiveness of Cystic Fibrosis Modulator Therapies After Rapid Adoption: A Dual-Approach Study.

Rationale: Modulator therapies like ivacaftor have revolutionized clinical management of cystic fibrosis (CF), showing marked short-term benefits in trials but heterogeneous findings in long-term observational studies. Since newer modulators have become the standard of care for the majority living with CF in the U.S.

A dual interaction between RSV NS1 and MED25 ACID domain reshapes antiviral responses.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants, elicits a remarkably weak innate immune response. This is partly due to type I interferon (IFN) antagonism by the non-structural RSV NS1 protein. It was recently suggested that NS1 could modulate host transcription via an interaction with the MED25 subunit of the Mediator complex.