Citations

Objective Vacuoles, E1 enzyme, X‐linked, autoinflammatory, somatic syndrome (VEXAS) syndrome is characterized by a complex spectrum of inflammatory and hematologic manifestations. Clinical research to identify effective therapies is urgently needed but is hindered by the lack of validated outcome measures. A VEXAS‐specific disease activity index (DAI) is an essential tool for reliably capturing changes in disease activity over time, thereby supporting clinical research and informing patient care in this emerging disease. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive DAI to assess disease‐related inflammation across affected organ systems in patients with VEXAS syndrome. Methods Inflammatory manifestations of VEXAS were previously identified through a systematic literature review and expert input. A multinational expert advisory committee developed the VEXAS‐DAI using modified Delphi methodology until consensus (defined as ≥75% concurrence) was reached. Item grading was adapted from the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events. Scoring criteria were developed based on 158 test cases using the Physician Global Assessment of Inflammation. Results Consensus on the VEXAS‐DAI was achieved after four Delphi rounds. The index assesses inflammatory activity at the time of evaluation across 12 domains: inflammatory rash, chondritis, periorbital, ophthalmologic, joint, pulmonary, cardiovascular, genitourinary, neurologic, oral and gastrointestinal, renal, and constitutional symptoms. The total score ranges from 0 to 40. Conclusion The VEXAS‐DAI is a novel instrument designed to quantify active inflammation over time in patients with VEXAS. Prospective validation within a clinical trial setting is ongoing. image

Abstract Rural and low-socioeconomic status women face social determinants of health barriers leading to disproportionately low rates of breast cancer screening and markedly reduced participation in clinical trials. To address this gap, we developed the WeCARE (Women’s Engagement for Cancer Awareness, Resources, and Education) intervention using a community-engaged approach. This paper describes how Community Advisory Board feedback informed the development of Mayo Clinic Health System’s WeCARE intervention components. Their input was systematically analyzed using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR 2.0) to identify determinants of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility and to guide actionable refinements to intervention content and delivery.

Importance Multidomain lifestyle interventions slow cognitive decline in at-risk older adults, but effects on cerebrovascular injury and whether any effect differs by age or across magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers remain unclear. Objectives To test whether a structured multidomain lifestyle intervention, vs a self-guided program, alters trajectories of cerebrovascular MRI markers and whether baseline diffusion MRI estimates subsequent vascular injury. Design, Setting, and Participants POINTER Imaging was a prespecified secondary imaging analysis of the US POINTER (US Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk) randomized clinical trial conducted at multiple US sites. Starting August 1, 2020, and continuing until March 1, 2023, all newly enrolled US POINTER trial participants who met criteria, including being 60 to 79 years of age and at increased risk for cognitive decline, were given the opportunity to enroll in POINTER Imaging. Annual MRIs were performed at baseline and up to 2 follow-up visits at 12 and 24 months. The imaging study ended May 14, 2025. Interventions Structured multidomain lifestyle arm (supervised exercise, dietary counseling, cognitive and social engagement, and health coaching) vs self-guided educational arm. Main Outcomes and Measures Primary outcomes were cerebrovascular MRI markers of global white matter free water (FW), fractional anisotropy (FA), peak width of skeletonized mean diffusivity (PSMD), analysis along the perivascular space (ALPS) index, white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume, and incident cerebral microbleeds (CMBs). Age-group analyses (<70 vs ≥70 years) were prespecified. Linear mixed-effects models tested time, intervention arm, age group, and interactions for continuous outcomes; logistic regression evaluated incident CMBs. All analyses were adjusted for sex, hypertension, diabetes, and smoking and were conducted for the evaluable population. Data were analyzed September 5 to December 11, 2025. Results For 959 participants included in the analysis, the mean (SD) age was 68 (5) years, and 594 (61.9%) were female. A significant time × arm × age group interaction was observed for FW (β = 0.050; SE = 0.018; P = .006). In participants younger than 70 years, the structured intervention, compared with the self-guided intervention, attenuated the FW increase over time (β = −0.031; SE = 0.012; P = .009); no intervention arm difference was observed in participants aged 70 years or older (β = 0.019; SE = 0.014; P = .18). No intervention-related interactions were detected (eg, time × intervention arm interaction) for WMH (β = 0.002; SE = 0.016; P = .90), FA (β = 0.016; SE = 0.016; P = .30), PSMD (β = −0.011; SE = 0.021; P = .60), or ALPS (β = 0.006; SE = 0.021; P = .79). Overall, greater odds of incident CMBs were associated with higher baseline FW (odds ratio, 1.63 [95% CI, 1.24-2.14]; P < .001) and PSMD (odds ratio, 1.40 [95% CI, 1.08-1.81]; P < .001). Greater WMH progression was associated with higher baseline FW (β = 0.014; SE = 0.006; P = .02) and lower baseline FA (β = −0.018; SE = 0.006; P = .004). Conclusions and Relevance In this secondary imaging analysis of a randomized clinical trial, FW was the cerebrovascular MRI marker most responsive to lifestyle intervention in adults 60 to 70 years of age, showing attenuated small-vessel disease–related injury. Findings suggested greater microvascular benefit when intensive lifestyle intervention is implemented earlier in late life. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03688126

Abstract Colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor-related adult-onset leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia (CSF1R-ALSP) is a rare, fatal, autosomal-dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by pathogenic CSF1R variants and characterized by progressive cognitive, neuropsychiatric, and motor dysfunction, white matter lesions on brain imaging, and white matter demyelination, swollen axons, and pigmented glial cells on pathology. Limited data regarding clinical, biofluid or radiological biomarkers of disease severity are available, and no clinical trial endpoints have yet been validated. The objectives of this first-of-its-kind, prospective, observational natural history study were to characterize the clinical trajectory of CSF1R-ALSP and to identify and evaluate key biomarkers and clinical endpoints indicative of disease severity and progression. ILLUMINATE (NCT05020743) was a multicentre, noninterventional natural history study of adults with CSF1R-ALSP and prodromal carriers of CSF1R variants. Participants were followed for up to 36 months, with clinical assessments, fluid biomarkers and volumetric MRI assessments of brain atrophy collected at screening and every 6 months. This study was terminated early (4 June 2025). The analyses reported here include data collected through 19 February 2025. Of 53 participants, 19 were prodromal and 34 were symptomatic (11 of whom had a history of haematopoietic stem cell transplant and 23 who did not). Mean participant age was 47.8 (standard deviation, 4.5) years, and 36.4% were female. Prodromal participants remained relatively stable over 36 months, with little change in neurological function, neurodegeneration biomarkers or radiological disease burden. Impaired neurological function, MRI characteristics of CSF1R-ALSP, and elevated NfL (neurofilament light chain; neurodegeneration biomarker) and GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein; astrogliosis biomarker) levels were more pronounced at baseline and often showed progression over time among symptomatic participants who had not previously received haematopoietic stem cell transplant compared with participants who had previously received haematopoietic stem cell transplant. Significant correlations were observed at baseline and longitudinally between MRI measures of brain atrophy and clinical outcome measures. Based on the fluid biomarkers, MRI measures, and clinical outcome assessments evaluated here, active neurodegeneration, widespread changes visualized on brain MRI, and impaired cognitive and motor function were observed in symptomatic patients with CSF1R-ALSP. The neurological impairment can be assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Cortical Basal ganglia Functional Scale. Our data suggest that quantification of brain atrophy using MRI volumetry is a potential biomarker of disease severity and progression in CSF1R-ALSP. It is hoped that this report will contribute to the understanding of disease progression in CSF1R-ALSP and inform future drug development.

Extracorporeal magnetotransduction therapy (EMTT) is a high-energy electromagnetic modality that delivers field strengths of 80–150 mT, effective transduction power > 60 kT/s, and dual-frequency architecture with pulse repetition near 8 Hz and oscillations of 100–300 kHz. This prospective pilot study evaluated pain and functional outcomes in patients with symptomatic midfoot osteoarthritis (OA). Eight patients (13 feet; five bilateral and three unilateral cases) with radiographic Kellgren–Lawrence (KL) grade 3 or 4 midfoot OA received eight EMTT sessions over four weeks. Outcomes were measured at baseline, after the eighth treatment at four weeks, and at 3-month and 6-month follow-up using the 0–10 Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Foot and Ankle Ability Measure—Activities of Daily Living (FAAM-ADL). VAS demonstrated a significant overall effect of time (F(3,36) = 3.93, p = 0.016), with mean scores decreasing from 4.15 ± 1.63 at baseline to 2.62 ± 1.98 at 3 months and 3.00 ± 2.08 at 6 months. Bonferroni-adjusted baseline-to-follow-up contrasts approached significance at 3 months (p = 0.067) and were not significant at 6 months (p = 0.150). FAAM-ADL improved significantly over time (F(3,30) = 13.76, p < 0.001), increasing from 61.7% ± 9.9% at baseline to 81.8% ± 11.1% at 6 months. No treatment-related adverse events were observed; one participant proceeded to surgery by 6 months and was classified as a treatment failure. These preliminary findings suggest that EMTT is safe and may provide clinically meaningful functional improvement in selected patients with midfoot OA; larger sham-controlled trials are needed.

Background Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a complex disorder of gut-brain interaction, with heterogeneous symptoms, no available biomarkers and limited pathogenetic insight. Objective To identify genetic risk factors and actionable mechanisms for future clinical translation in IBS. Design We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis of IBS in 2 775 539 individuals from 22 biobanks. IBS genetics was studied across multiple ancestries, different case definitions and symptom-related subtypes. Heritability and genetic correlations with other traits were estimated, and Mendelian randomisation was used to test causal relationships. GWAS data were functionally annotated and fine-mapped to prioritise tissues, cell types, pathways, candidate genes, specific mechanisms and druggable targets. Results Significant heritability was only detected in individuals of European ancestry, with near-identical genetic architecture across case definitions. Genetic correlations with GI, psychiatric and cardiometabolic traits were observed, including causal relationships with triglyceride (TG) levels. Functional annotation of IBS risk loci highlighted cell types and pathways relevant to brain, enteric neuro-glial and cardiometabolic domains, as well as actionable targets like GCKR, a regulator of TG metabolism. Druggability analyses converged on cardiometabolic mechanisms, including TG modulation. IBS polygenic risk scores were derived and showed a significant association with case status in an independent case-control dataset, supporting further evaluation in external population-based and clinically ascertained cohorts. Conclusions This study provides the most comprehensive assessment of IBS genetics to date, demonstrating reproducible polygenic inheritance. We link IBS risk to convergent neurogastrointestinal and novel cardiometabolic mechanisms, highlight specific biological pathways and actionable mechanisms and outline translational opportunities emerging from integrated computational analyses.

Abstract Genetic studies have significantly advanced our understanding of tauopathies, yet the genetic aetiology of Pick’s disease, a rare 3-Repeat tauopathy, remains unclear. The MAPT p.A152T variant has been identified as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy, but its role in Pick’s disease is unknown. In this study, we examined the prevalence of MAPT p.A152T in the largest series of neuropathologically confirmed Pick’s disease cases to date (n = 401). Through genotyping, we identified a single mutation carrier in the Pick’s disease cohort (minor allele frequency = 0.12%). We previously reported MAPT p.A152T at a 0.20% frequency in healthy controls (n = 2456), suggesting that it does not associate with 3-Repeat tauopathy risk. To further investigate the effect of the variant on MAPT transcript expression, we used bulk RNA sequencing in Alzheimer’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy A152T mutation carriers. We did not detect significant differences in 4-Repeat tau levels, though preliminary trends may indicate more nuanced effects that need to be examined with long-read sequencing in a larger series. Overall, our study suggests that MAPT p.A152T does not increase Pick’s disease risk and may instead be linked to 4-Repeat or mixed tau pathologies, warranting further functional investigation.

Aims Testicular sex cord‐stromal tumours (TSCSTs) are rare neoplasms that arise from (or show differentiation to) elements derived from the sex cords or intertubular stroma. The current classification (World Health Organization, 2022) is based almost entirely on morphology, with many tumour types such as granulosa cell tumours being defined based on their resemblance to ovarian counterparts. Recent studies have uncovered new clinicopathological, molecular and biological nuances within this group of tumours, underscoring differences with ovarian homologues. Methods and results Considering the new data, a group of genitourinary pathology experts (Testicular Sex Cord‐Stromal Tumour [TESST] group) has proposed a revised ‘TESST classification’ that incorporates the best available evidence. This classification is structured and hierarchical, composed of the following tiers: (1) group, (2) category, (3) entity and (4) histological pattern. ‘Group’ refers to the histological compartment a specific tumour belongs to (sex cords, stroma or both), whereas ‘category’ is defined by the phenotype of the tumour, taking non‐neoplastic elements of the ovary and testis as a reference. The third tier, ‘entity’, refers to neoplasms with shared clinicopathological and/or molecular features that justify classifying them as distinct types. Lastly, ‘histological patterns’ are recurrent morphological variations within entities that are not linked to distinct clinicopathological or molecular features. Conclusions We propose a classification that will provide a framework to improve current clinical management and guide future research in the field.

OBJECTIVE Maximal safe resection of intra-axial brain tumors near the motor cortex is aided by intraoperative motor mapping. Here, the authors compared outcomes in patients undergoing either low-frequency bipolar stimulation (LFBS) or high-frequency monopolar stimulation (HFMS) for cortical and/or subcortical motor mapping during brain tumor resection. METHODS A retrospective analysis of patients undergoing an asleep craniotomy with motor mapping or an awake craniotomy with motor and speech mapping with a single surgeon was performed. Three cohorts were compared: 1) asleep LFBS (AsLFBS), 2) awake LFBS (AwLFBS; motor + speech mapping), and 3) asleep HFMS. HFMS mapping was not used for awake craniotomies. RESULTS A total of 284 patients who underwent 300 craniotomies with motor mapping were identified. No significant differences in permanent neurological deficits (p = 0.377) or extent of resection (EOR) of nonenhancing tumors (p = 0.453) were identified between LFBS or HFMS motor mapping cases. Both EOR (92.7% vs 83.5%, p = 0.035) and permanent neurological deficits (7.6% vs 3.3%) occurred more frequently in enhancing tumors with LFBS, although the latter was not statistically significant. HFMS was associated with higher rates of subcortical motor pathway identification (p = 0.001) and fewer total intraoperative seizures (p = 0.003) compared with LFBS. Previous resection (HR 0.46, p = 0.003) and a higher cortical threshold (HR 0.95, p = 0.023) were significantly associated with longer survival, while preoperative aphasia (HR 2.24, p = 0.022), hospital length of stay (HR 1.1, p = 0.005), an insular-based tumor (HR 3.5, p = 0.021), and a histological diagnosis of glioblastoma (HR 2.9, p = 0.001) were negative predictors. Interestingly, overall FLAIR EOR was significantly associated with a marginally decreased overall survival (HR 1.01, p = 0.011). CONCLUSIONS No significant differences in postoperative neurological deficits were found between LFBS and HFMS paradigms. HFMS may identify subcortical motor fibers more reliably while resulting in significantly fewer intraoperative seizures. Although LFBS was associated with greater EOR of contrast-enhancing tumors, it may also be associated with higher rates of postoperative deficits, perhaps reflecting less reliable identification of subcortical motor fibers.