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We herein report a new facile strategy to ellipsoidal block copolymer nanoparticles that exhibit a pH-triggered anistropic swelling profile. In a first step, elongated particles with an axially stacked lamellae structure are selectively prepared by utilizing functional surfactants to control the phase separation of symmetric polystyrene-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P2VP) in dispersed droplets. In a second step, the dynamic shape change is realized by cross-linking the P2VP domains, thereby connecting glassy PS discs with pH-sensitive hydrogel actuators.

MED12‐related disorders represent a spectrum of rare neurodevelopmental disorders causing intellectual disability, dysmorphic features, and other systemic abnormalities. We report a case of a 21‐month‐old girl with extensive hypopigmentation following Blaschko lines attributed to underlying MED12‐related disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody associated disease (MOGAD) is a relatively new disease entity in the field of demyelinating disorders. Its first diagnostic criteria have recently been published., Objectives: We evaluated the positive predictive value (PPV) for MOG-IgG testing and report the clinical and radiologic features with respect to the recently published criteria., Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at three centers in Dallas, Texas. Patients with positive MOG-IgG testing on cell-based assays at any time were included. Positive cases were reviewed by at least two neuroimmunologists for fulfillment of the criteria., Results: We included 235 patients. The PPV of seropositivity at any time was 78.3% overall, 52.6% for low titer, and 90.1% for high titer. Children had a higher PPV than adults (93.9% versus 67.2%). Positive predictive value was 6.3% in those without a core clinical demyelinating attack. Children more often have the typical imaging features of MOGAD in optic neuritis than adults., Conclusions: We report a PPV of 78.3% for MOG-IgG testing using the 2023 MOGAD diagnostic criteria. Children had higher PPV and frequency of supporting imaging features. Careful consideration is necessary when assigning patients with no core demyelinating event and low titers a MOGAD diagnosis., Competing Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s), 2024.)

Background: Dermoscopy is a growing field that uses microscopy to allow dermatologists and primary care physicians to identify skin lesions. For a given skin lesion, a wide variety of differential diagnoses exist, which may be challenging for inexperienced users to name and understand., Objective: In this study, we describe the creation of the dermoscopy differential diagnosis explorer (D3X), an ontology linking dermoscopic patterns to differential diagnoses., Methods: Existing ontologies that were incorporated into D3X include the elements of visuals ontology and dermoscopy elements of visuals ontology, which connect visual features to dermoscopic patterns. A list of differential diagnoses for each pattern was generated from the literature and in consultation with domain experts. Open-source images were incorporated from DermNet, Dermoscopedia, and open-access research papers., Results: D3X was encoded in the OWL 2 web ontology language and includes 3041 logical axioms, 1519 classes, 103 object properties, and 20 data properties. We compared D3X with publicly available ontologies in the dermatology domain using a semiotic theory-driven metric to measure the innate qualities of D3X with others. The results indicate that D3X is adequately comparable with other ontologies of the dermatology domain., Conclusions: The D3X ontology is a resource that can link and integrate dermoscopic differential diagnoses and supplementary information with existing ontology-based resources. Future directions include developing a web application based on D3X for dermoscopy education and clinical practice., (©Rebecca Z Lin, Muhammad Tuan Amith, Cynthia X Wang, John Strickley, Cui Tao. Originally published in JMIR Medical Informatics (https://medinform.jmir.org), 21.06.2024.)

Background and Objectives: Elevated intracranial pressure (ICP) in myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) has been largely unexplored. The objectives of this study were to determine the frequency of increased ICP in MOGAD and its association with disease course and outcomes and to highlight cases requiring medical and/or surgical management of increased ICP., Methods: In this retrospective, single-center cohort study, we examined the clinical and paraclinical data from the initial presentation and follow-up data of children diagnosed with MOGAD. In those with opening pressure (OP) measurements, univariate analyses were used to evaluate factors associated with increased ICP, which was defined as OP > 28 cm H 2 O. We also present a case series of patients with or without OP measurement who required medical and/or surgical management of increased ICP., Results: Of 86 children with MOGAD, 43 (50.0%) had an OP recorded and 7 (8.1%) required ICP management. In those with OP recorded, the median (interquartile range) OP for the different MOGAD phenotypes were: 30.0 (22.8-41.6) (acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, ADEM), 20.5 (16.1-23.6) (optic neuritis), 17.0 (17.0-22.5) (myelitis), and 19.5 (16.5-29.3) (other) cm H 2 0. Overall, 20.9% had increased ICP based on an OP > 28 cm H 2 O, of whom 77.8% presented with ADEM. In a subgroup analysis of those presenting with ADEM, those with an elevated ICP had longer hospital stay ( p = 0.007) and neurologic disability (defined as modified Rankin Scale >1) ( p = 0.049). In those with or without OP recorded, 7 (6 with ADEM, one with cerebral cortical encephalitis) required ICP-directed therapies. Findings on brain MRI in these 7 children revealed extensive disease burden with bilateral cerebral involvement and evidence of restricted diffusion. While neuropsychological data in this small subset revealed significant variability, all sustained identifiable deficits after discharge, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders and language and learning disorders., Discussion: In pediatric MOGAD, increased OP and ADEM at initial presentation were associated with longer hospital stays and greater long-term morbidity. Although invasive ICP monitoring has not been specifically advocated in the management of MOGAD, it is important to recognize signs and symptoms of increased ICP in these patients and consider ICP monitoring and management strategies based on clinical and radiologic findings, especially in those presenting with ADEM and with OP > 28 cm H 2 O., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology.)

Pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (MS) is a rare but increasingly recognized condition that both parallels and diverges from adult-onset MS. Exposure to key risk determinants for MS disease pathogenesis may occur during childhood. The diagnosis of pediatric MS can be challenging due to potential for atypical presentations and a broad differential diagnosis. MS disease-modifying therapies have not been rigorously studied in children and raise difficult questions on how to manage a chronic inflammatory neurologic disease in a population of patients with developing central nervous and immune systems., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

We herein report a new facile strategy to ellipsoidal block copolymer nanoparticles that exhibit a pH-triggered anistropic swelling profile. In a first step, elongated particles with an axially stacked lamellae structure are selectively prepared by utilizing functional surfactants to control the phase separation of symmetric polystyrene-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P2VP) in dispersed droplets. In a second step, the dynamic shape change is realized by cross-linking the P2VP domains, thereby connecting glassy PS discs with pH-sensitive hydrogel actuators., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)