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BACKGROUND Negative emotions such as anxiety and depression may have a bearing on patients' psychological resilience and quality of life (QoL) following surgery. Cognitive bias modification (CBM) for attention and interpretation has been confirmed to alleviate anxiety and depression. However, the psychological effects of CBM attention and interpretation on Chinese patients with pituitary adenoma have hardly received research attention. METHODS This prospective interventional study enrolled 100 patients undergoing surgical treatment for pituitary adenoma. Participants were divided into an experimental group and a control group, with 50 cases in each group. Baseline characteristics of included patients were collected. Patients in the control group were given routine training, and those in experimental group received routine training plus CBM attention and interpretation training. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) was used to assess patients' psychological resilience. The patients' levels of anxiety and depression were assessed using the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS). QoL was assessed based on the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QoL Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30). RESULTS No statistical difference was found between the 2 groups in CD-RISC, SAS, SDS, or QoL score at baseline (P>0.05). After CBM training, psychological resilience and QoL in the experimental group improved, and the levels of anxiety and depression decreased (P

Nervus intermedius neuralgia (NIN) is a rare craniofacial neuralgia with features of paroxysmal pain in the deep ear. Because of sensory nerves overlap in the ear, the diagnosis of NIN is often difficult and not definitive. Here, we present the case of a 70-year-old woman who had deep-ear pain for more than 4 years and was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia and treated with carbamazepine without relief in another hospital. Magnetic resonance tomographic angiography revealed no neurovascular conflict with the trigeminal nerve, whereas the anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) was close to the VII/VIII complex. We performed left-sided suboccipital retrosigmoid craniotomy. Surgical exploration under endoscopy clearly showed that the nervus intermedius was compressed by the AICA from behind. The ear pain was completely relieved immediately after nervus intermedius sectioning. The intraoperative findings and postoperative results confirmed that the compression of the nervus intermedius by the AICA caused the otalgia. A patient's specific pain, combined with preoperative imaging examination, is useful in the diagnosis of NIN. Neuroendoscopy has the advantages of enabling a clear field of view and close observation, thus aiding in the identification and accurate cutting of the nervus intermedius during the operation.

DNA methylation is a key epigenetic modification which confers phenotypic plasticity and adaptation. Cyst-forming strains of Toxoplasma gondii undergo tachyzoite to bradyzoite conversion after initial acute infection of a host, and the reverse conversion may occur in immune-suppressed hosts. The formation of m5C is catalyzed by DNA methyltransferase (DNMT). We identified two functional DNA methyltransferases, TgDNMTa and TgDNMTb, in T. gondii that may mediate DNA methylation. The recombinant proteins showed intrinsic methyltransferase activity; both have higher transcription levels in bradyzoites than that in tachyzoites. We performed genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation in tachyzoites and bradyzoites. The results showed more methylation sites in bradyzoites than that in tachyzoites. The most significantly enriched GO-terms of genes with DNA methylation were associated with basal cellular processes such as energy metabolism and parasite resistance to host immunity. Tachyzoite proliferation in parasitophorous vacuoles (PV) can be inhibited by the DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5-azacytidine, a chemical analogue of the nucleotide cytosine that can inactivate DNA methyltransferases. These findings provide the first confirmation of DNA methylation in T. gondii.