ABSTRACT This review examines physiological limits, longitudinal projections, and best practices for muscle hypertrophy with a focus on bodybuilding and physique sport. Recurring body composition assessments using multicompartment models are recommended for monitoring short-term fat-free mass (FFM) changes and long-term muscular development. Normative data indicate that drug-free male athletes typically gain roughly 1.4 kg of FFM over 12 weeks of resistance training, with an interquartile range of 1–2 kg. A practical upper limit for FFM index in drug-free male athletes is approximately 28.5, although higher values have been observed in the context of elevated adiposity or anabolic androgenic steroid use. Female athletes tend to have roughly 70% less FFM at baseline but make proportionally similar FFM gains in response to resistance training. The present review models plausible short-term and long-term growth trajectories for both male and female lifters. Training practices that optimize hypertrophy include moderate loads (6–12 repetition maximum), training near muscular failure, and sufficient weekly volume (12–30 fractional sets per muscle group). Nutritional factors include maintaining modest caloric surpluses (0.1–0.25% body weight gain weekly), adequate protein intake (1.6–2.2 g/kg/d), sufficient carbohydrate intake (≥3 g/kg/d), and moderate fat intake (0.5–1.5 g/kg/d). Creatine and protein supplementation provide established hypertrophic benefits, while evidence for other supplements remains inconclusive.
Gephyrin is a postsynaptic scaffold protein essential for inhibitory neurotransmission. Gephyrin‐immunoglobulin G (IgG) was reported, decades ago, in a single case of paraneoplastic stiff‐person‐like syndrome, but its broader clinical relevance remains unknown. While investigating unclassified synaptic IgGs mimicking amphiphysin‐IgG, we identified gephyrin‐IgG in 3 patients using human protein microarray. Gephyrin specificity was confirmed using confocal tissue‐based immunofluorescence assay, cell‐based assay, and Western blot. The 3 patients, all female, had: encephalitis (2) and myeloneuropathy and breast cancer (1). All had inflammatory cerebrospinal fluid and abnormal magnetic resonance imaging, and improved following immunotherapy. Gephyrin‐IgG is associated with a treatable autoimmune neurological disease, sometimes paraneoplastic. ANN NEUROL 2026
Characterizing Negative Online Reviews of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeons
Background: The growing focus on subjective patient experiences has created an increase in popularity for physician rating websites. The purpose of this study was to characterize extremely negative reviews of pediatric orthopaedic surgeons. Methods: Pediatric orthopaedic surgeons were randomly selected using the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America comprehensive list of surgeons. A search was then performed on Healthgrades.com, Vitals.com, and Yelp.com for 1-star reviews. Reviews were classified into clinical and nonclinical categories. Statistical analyses were performed regarding the frequency of reviews and complaints for each respective category. Results: Of the 279 one-star reviews categorized, 248 reviews (88.9% of reviews) included nonclinical complaints, and 182 reviews (65.2% of reviews) included clinical complaints. Nonsurgical patients were associated with 255 reviews, and the remaining 24 were related to surgical patients. Of the 430 comments within reviews, 248 referenced nonclinical aspects of care, and 182 referenced clinical care. Clinical factors most frequently noted included clinical disagreement (37%), unclear treatment plan (25%), complication (17%), misdiagnosis (15%), uncontrolled pain (13%), and delay in care (8%). The most addressed nonclinical factors included physician bedside manner (68%), time spent with provider (21%), wait time (18%), unprofessional staff (17%), scheduling issues (9%), cost (8%), and billing (8%). Compared with surgical reviews, nonsurgical reviews were more likely to contain nonclinical complaints (rate ratio: 1.5; P<0.05) and less likely to contain clinical complaints (rate ratio: 0.7; P<0.05). The most common complaint by surgical patients was complications (91.7%). Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the factors associated with negative reviews of pediatric orthopaedic surgeons. The majority of reviews of pediatric orthopaedic surgeons were left by nonsurgical patients and were related to nonclinical aspects of care. We also found surgeon-dependent factors such as poor physician bedside manner, unclear treatment plan, or parents’ disagreement with treatment plan were the most common reasons for negative reviews. Level of Evidence: Level IV.