Murphy Oil Corporation (United States)

Palisaded encapsulated neuroma (PEN) is a nerve sheath tumor most commonly found on the face. These benign tumors are less commonly reported in skin of color and may be confused with other forms of nerve sheath tumors. Detection of the distinctive histopathologic features of PEN and recognition of its various subtypes are key to an accurate diagnosis. We report a 68-year-old Black man with a pink to skin-colored papule on the right second fingertip of 6- to 12-month duration. We describe the clinical and pathologic diagnosis of PEN and discuss the differential diagnosis. This case highlights the importance of maintaining a broad differential when managing and treating neoplasms of the nail unit, including rare or uncommon diagnoses.

ABSTRACT Fifty years after the formation of England's child protection system, the country continues to reel from new instances of high‐profile child death tragedies where children have been harmed despite practitioners complying with the processes and procedures designed to protect them. This article considers the continued obstacles posed by the ‘protocolization’ of England's child protection practice and further challenges the assumption that child protection procedures and the practitioner's knowledge about those procedures, on their own, can produce consistently child‐centred practice. The study elucidates the lived experience of a cohort of 30 child protection social workers practising across 19 different English local authorities. Data collection consisted of virtual focus groups supplemented by critical realist grounded theory—with the aim of better achieving explanatory (as opposed to descriptive) accounts of the child protection system. The results highlight ongoing barriers to the Munro Review's image of a ‘child centred’ system, characterized by practitioner discretionary space, and decisions informed more by the needs of the child, than the needs of the agency. However, results also highlight practitioner strategies (e.g., ‘professional disobedience’, ‘Seeing Triple’ and identifying a ‘shared goal’), for negotiating restrictive processes and policies of compliance, whilst also improving inter‐agency communication and overcoming parental resistance.

Habituation is a fundamental form of non-associative learning that allows organisms to filter out repetitive, non-salient stimuli but declines with age. While the kynurenine pathway (KP) of tryptophan metabolism is implicated in psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases, its role in age-related habituation deficits has been overlooked. This review proposes a systems-level framework suggesting that age-related, chronic inflammation KP dysregulation is a key driver of habituation deficits. We present evidence showing that neurotoxic metabolites from the kynurenine-3-monooxygenase (KMO)-dependent branch drive a self-reinforcing cycle of oxidative stress, excitotoxicity, and glial reactivity that destabilizes the neural circuits required for habituation. This framework redefines KP modulation as context dependent: metabolites such as kynurenic acid (KYNA), which can be disruptive when elevated in youth, may become compensatory under the oxidative load of aging. Our findings that genetic KMO deletion preserves habituation in aged and old mice provide the first direct in vivo evidence supporting this model. We propose that inhibiting the KMO branch preserves habituation not by simply altering metabolite levels but by restoring homeostatic balance across neuroimmune, redox, and plasticity networks. KMO thus emerges as a critical node for maintaining cognitive resilience, offering a therapeutic target for preserving brain function during aging.

Introduction Preclinical animal experiments and initial feasibility studies in humans have shown encouraging outcomes using the novel Saccular Endovascular Aneurysm Lattice (SEAL™) system for the treatment of both ruptured and unruptured wide‐neck intracranial aneurysms (IAs). The SEAL™ Interventional Pivotal IDE PMA Trial (SEAL™ IT) is designed to assess the safety and efficacy of the SEAL™ in patients with saccular IAs. This ongoing, prospective, multicenter trial includes three study arms and will enroll a total of 279 participants with wide‐neck bifurcation (WNBA), sidewall (SW), or acutely ruptured IAs across 50 U.S. sites. Methods Eligibility requirements include patients aged 20‐80 years with a wide‐neck saccular intracranial aneurysm (2‐19 mm) deemed suitable for treatment with the SEAL™ Intrasaccular Device (SID). Participants receive treatment using the SEAL™ device (Galaxy Therapeutics Inc.) and are monitored at discharge, and again at 3, 6, and 12 months, followed by yearly assessments for up to 5 years. The primary efficacy outcome is defined as complete aneurysm occlusion at 12 months without evidence of parent vessel stenosis or the need for retreatment, as determined by an independent core laboratory. Key safety outcomes include neurological death within 12 months, stroke occurring within the first 30 days, and ipsilateral stroke between 30 days and 1 year. Results As of submission, 163 WNBA, 58 WNSW, and 33 ruptured for a total of 254 patients (76.3% female; mean age 61.7 ± 11.3) have been enrolled at 50 sites. Mean aneurysm width was 5.2 ± 2.1, neck size of 3.7 ± 1.4, and neck‐to‐dome ratio of 1.4 ± 0.32. SEAL Arc was used in 63.6% and SEAL Base in 36.4%. Technical device success rate is 100% for WNBA, 94.8% WNSW, and 97.0% ruptured. The interim complete occlusion rate for the primary group is 84.5% at most recent date based on available imaging. Conclusion Preliminary data for the SEAL™ intrasaccular device is promising; Safety and effectiveness updates will be presented at the SVIN Conference.

Aberrant dopamine transmission is a hallmark of several psychiatric disorders. Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) display distinct activity states that are regulated by discrete afferent inputs. For example, burst firing requires excitatory input from the mesopontine tegmentum, while dopamine neuron population activity, defined as the number of spontaneously active dopamine neurons, is thought to be dependent on inhibitory drive from the ventral pallidum (VP). Rodent models used to study psychiatric disorders, such as psychosis, consistently exhibit elevated dopamine neuron population activity, due to decreased tonic inhibition from the VP. However, it remains unclear whether the VP can modulate all dopamine neurons or if only a specific subset of VTA dopamine neurons receive innervation from the VP to be recruited as required. This knowledge is critical for understanding dopamine regulation in normal and pathological conditions. Here, we used in vivo electrophysiology in male and female rats to record VTA dopamine neurons inhibited by electrical stimulation of the VP. Specifically, VP stimulation inhibited ∼22% of spontaneously active dopamine neurons; however, activation of the ventral hippocampus, a modulator of VTA population activity, increased the proportion to ∼48%. This increase suggests that VP selectively modulates a subset of dopamine neurons that can be recruited by afferent activation. Anterograde monosynaptic tracing revealed that approximately half of the VTA dopamine neurons receive input from the VP. Taken together, we demonstrate that a subset of VTA dopamine neurons receives monosynaptic input from the VP, providing valuable information regarding the regulation of VTA neuron activity.

Abstract Rapid loss of native shrubs and expansion of invasive annual plants like cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) have altered North American shrub-steppe systems across extensive areas. Predators, like Aquila chrysaetos (Golden Eagle) that forage on shrub-reliant prey, may abandon historically occupied territories or increase their territory size to cope with degraded habitat. We used a multiseason Bayesian occupancy model that accounted for imperfect detection to investigate the associations between landscape cover, fire history, conspecific neighbor density, and occupancy of 36 A. chrysaetos territories in southwestern Idaho and the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, USA from 1986 to 2022. The probability of A. chrysaetos occupancy at historically occupied territories decreased 25% from 1986 to 2022 (0.83–0.58). Once territories became vacant for 5 yr, they tended to remain vacant, suggesting that they were no longer suitable for eagles, or that no new eagles were recruiting into the population. Territory occupancy was positively associated with shrub cover (β: 0.90, 95% CrI: 0.12 to 1.71) and negatively (albeit weakly) associated with annual herbaceous cover (β: –0.63, 95% CrI: –1.32 to 0.05). Territories closer to other occupied territories had a lower probability of occupancy than territories with distant neighbors (β: –3.89, 95% CrI: –4.61 to –3.14), likely because eagles compensated for degraded habitat by expanding their territories. Years since the territory last burned had a slightly positive effect on occupancy with high uncertainty and a credible interval that overlapped 0 (β: 0.28, 95% CrI: –0.26 to 0.87). The probability of detecting eagles in an occupied territory was high (0.90) and improved in surveys conducted earlier in the day and later in the breeding season. Shrub conversion to invasive grasslands has negative bottom-up consequences on A. chrysaetos territory occupancy, which may decrease the local carrying capacity for eagles in this area.