Background: Cortical electrical stimulation (CES) may produce different motor responses according to the brain area stimulated. In this study, we describe a new motor response characterized by finger movements such as a person playing piano, which we named the Piano Player Hand (PPH) sign. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the CES results of 252 patients with drug-resistant epilepsy who underwent SEEG between January 2005 and December 2019 at the Grenoble-Alpes University Hospital. The patients’ characteristics, SEEG findings and CES parameters were extracted to find common clinical and anatomical features. Results: The PPH sign was identified 20 times from 12 patients, with stimulation of either the supplementary motor area (SMA), anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG), pre-SMA, middle frontal gyrus and anterior insula. It was obtained with high frequency stimulation, with intensity ranging from 0,7 to 3mA and mostly contralateral to the stimulation side (19/20). It was part of the ictal semiology of five patients. An afterdischarge was observed in five of the relevant CES. Conclusions: The PPH sign is a novel clinical sign, obtained mainly, but not exclusively, with CES of a small vicinity encompassing the SMA, pre-SMA and ACG. The PPH sign, when occurring ictally, may point to the premotor mesial frontal surface of the brain.

Accurate and complete reporting of study methods, results and interpretation are essential components for any scientific process, allowing end-users to evaluate the internal and external validity of a study. When animals are used in research, excellence in reporting is expected as a matter of continued ethical acceptability of animal use in the sciences. Our primary objective was to assess completeness of reporting for a series of studies relevant to mitigation of pain in neonatal piglets undergoing routine management procedures. Our second objective was to illustrate how authors can report the items in the Reporting guidElines For randomized controLled trials for livEstoCk and food safety (REFLECT) statement using examples from the animal welfare science literature. A total of 52 studies from 40 articles were evaluated using a modified REFLECT statement. No single study reported all REFLECT checklist items. Seven studies reported specific objectives with testable hypotheses. Six studies identified primary or secondary outcomes. Randomization and blinding were considered to be partially reported in 21 and 18 studies, respectively. No studies reported the rationale for sample sizes. Several studies failed to report key design features such as units for measurement, means, standard deviations, standard errors for continuous outcomes or comparative characteristics for categorical outcomes expressed as either rates or proportions. In the discipline of animal welfare science, authors, reviewers and editors are encouraged to use available reporting guidelines to ensure that scientific methods and results are adequately described and free of misrepresentations and inaccuracies. Complete and accurate reporting increases the ability to apply the results of studies to the decision-making process and prevent wastage of financial and animal resources.

Piglets reared in swine production in the USA undergo painful procedures that include castration, tail docking, teeth clipping, and identification with ear notching or tagging. These procedures are usually performed without pain mitigation. The objective of this project was to develop recommendations for pain mitigation in 1- to 28-day-old piglets undergoing these procedures. The National Pork Board funded project to develop recommendations for pain mitigation in piglets. Recommendation development followed a defined multi-step process that included an evidence summary and estimates of the efficacies of interventions. The results of a systematic review of the interventions were reported in a companion paper. This manuscript describes the recommendation development process and the final recommendations. Recommendations were developed for three interventions (CO2/O2 general anesthesia, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and lidocaine) for use during castration. The ability to make strong recommendations was limited by low-quality evidence and strong certainty about variation in stakeholder values and preferences. The panel strongly recommended against the use of a CO2/O2 general anesthesia mixture, weakly recommended for the use of NSAIDs and weakly recommended against the use of lidocaine for pain mitigation during castration of 1- to 28-day-old piglets.

Optically detected X-ray absorption spectroscopy (ODXAS) and X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) have been applied in parallel to the study of local bonding in luminescent diamonds. Imaging ODXAS and XEOL reveal correlations between lateral variation in colour (transmitted light and luminescence) and local carbon bonding in selected samples showing strong optical absorption contrast. Dark regions of the crystals viewed in transmitted light correlate with a lower total luminescence yield when excited with soft X-rays of photon energy ~280 eV. ODXAS reveals a higher proportion of sp2-bonded carbon species in darker (less luminescent) regions associated with graphitic micro-inclusions.

The Rank Forum on Vitamin D was held on 2nd and 3rd July 2009 at the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. The workshop consisted of a series of scene-setting presentations to address the current issues and challenges concerning vitamin D and health, and included an open discussion focusing on the identification of the concentrations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) (a marker of vitamin D status) that may be regarded as optimal, and the implications this process may have in the setting of future dietary reference values for vitamin D in the UK. The Forum was in agreement with the fact that it is desirable for all of the population to have a serum 25(OH)D concentration above 25 nmol/l, but it discussed some uncertainty about the strength of evidence for the need to aim for substantially higher concentrations (25(OH)D concentrations>75 nmol/l). Any discussion of ‘optimal’ concentration of serum 25(OH)D needs to define ‘optimal’ with care since it is important to consider the normal distribution of requirements and the vitamin D needs for a wide range of outcomes. Current UK reference values concentrate on the requirements of particular subgroups of the population; this differs from the approaches used in other European countries where a wider range of age groups tend to be covered. With the re-emergence of rickets and the public health burden of low vitamin D status being already apparent, there is a need for urgent action from policy makers and risk managers. The Forum highlighted concerns regarding the failure of implementation of existing strategies in the UK for achieving current vitamin D recommendations.