Prostate tumor volume measurement with combined T2-weighted imaging and diffusion-weighted MR: correlation with pathologic tumor volume.

Purpose: To retrospectively determine the accuracy of diffusion-weighted (DW) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for identifying cancer in the prostate peripheral zone (PZ) and to assess the accuracy of tumor volume measurements made with T2-weighted imaging and combined T2-weighted and DW MR imaging by using surgical pathologic examination as the reference standard.

Materials And Methods: The institutional review board issued a waiver of informed consent for this HIPAA-compliant study. Forty-two patients underwent endorectal MR at 1.

The role of positron emission tomography/computed tomography in the diagnosis of pleural diseases.

Background: The aim of the study was to assess the role of F-18 fluoro-2-D-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography ( (18)FDG-PET)/computed tomography (CT) in patients with undiagnosed pleural diseases and to compare the findings with those of invasive diagnostic procedures.

Methods: The study included 83 patients with pleural lesions (63 with pleural effusion; 20 with pleural thickening) on CT scan performed between November 2005 and December 2007. The study group consisted of 63 males and 20 females; their median age was 47 years.

Focal treatment or observation of prostate cancer: pretreatment accuracy of transrectal ultrasound biopsy and T2-weighted MRI.

Objectives: To test the hypothesis that men with prostate cancer (PCA) and preoperative disease features considered favorable for focal treatment would be accurately characterized with transrectal biopsy and prostate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by performing a retrospective analysis of a selected cohort of such patients treated with radical prostatectomy (RP).

Methods: A total of 202 patients with PCA who had preoperative MRI and low-risk biopsy criteria (no Gleason grade 4/5, 1 involved core, < 2 mm, PSA density < or = 0.10, clinical stage < or = T2a) were included in the study.

The role of MRI and MRSI in diagnosis, treatment selection, and post-treatment follow-up for prostate cancer.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is increasingly being recognized as a valuable tool for the assessment of prostate cancer. In recent years, MRI technology has matured, image acquisition and interpretation have improved, and a multitude of clinical studies have demonstrated the potential of MRI techniques for contributing to prostate cancer care. This review will provide a brief overview of MRI techniques relevant to prostate cancer, including MR spectroscopic imaging, and discuss the ways that they can aid in diagnosis, treatment selection, and post-treatment follow-up.

Comparison of LabUMat-with-UriSed and iQ200 fully automatic urine sediment analysers with manual urine analysis.

Urine analysis is one of the most common tests for assessing urinary-tract and kidney diseases. In recent years there have been new developments in the automation of this test. The objective of the present study was to compare the performances of two urine sediment analysers, namely LabUMat with UriSed (77 Elektronika Kft, Budapest, Hungary) and iQ200 (Iris Diagnostics, Chatsworth, CA, U.

Recovery of urinary continence after radical prostatectomy: association with urethral length and urethral fibrosis measured by preoperative and postoperative endorectal magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: Limited data on endorectal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features and urinary continence after radical prostatectomy (RP) are available.

Objective: To assess whether recovery of urinary continence after RP is associated with endorectal MRI findings regarding preoperative and postoperative membranous urethral length (MUL), percent change in MUL, and postoperative urethral and periurethral fibrosis.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Sixty-four patients who received an MRI scan before and after RP for localized prostate cancer were evaluated in a retrospective study at a single institution.

Stereotactic aspiration and antibiotic treatment combined with hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the management of bacterial brain abscesses.

Objective: Despite advances in surgical techniques in the management of the brain abscess, long-term antibiotics are as crucial to cure as the initial surgical procedure itself. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of adjuvant hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy on the duration of antibiotic treatment.

Methods: Between 1999 and 2004, 13 patients with bacterial brain abscesses treated with stereotactic aspiration combined with HBO and systemic antibiotic therapy.

Local changes in bone marrow at MRI after treatment of extremity soft tissue sarcoma.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and appearance of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signal changes that occur in local bone marrow after radiation therapy (RT) and/or chemotherapy for extremity soft tissue sarcoma (STS).

Materials And Methods: Seventy patients with primary STS at the level of a long bone who also had undergone pretreatment MRI and at least one post-treatment MRI of the tumor bed were identified. MRIs of each patient were retrospectively reviewed for new changes in marrow signal in the region of the tumor bed and for the morphology, relative signal intensities, heterogeneity, and progression or regression of changes over time.

Serum leptin and ghrelin concentrations of maternal serum, arterial and venous cord blood in healthy and preeclamptic pregnant women.

Preeclampsia, a common complication of pregnancy, is associated with alteration in the concentration of leptin in maternal blood. The action of leptin is antagonistic to that of ghrelin. Here, we compared the levels of leptin and ghrelin in maternal serum and in arterial and venous cord blood between healthy pregnant women and those suffering from mild and severe preeclampsia.

Solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical behavior of solitary fibrous tumors of the pleura and consider the optimal surgical approach for these rare tumors.

Material And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of nine patients who underwent thoracotomy for tumor resection in our clinic between 1997 and 2006.

Results: Nine patients were operated in this period and their median age was 46 years.

Perihepatic metastases from ovarian cancer: sensitivity and specificity of CT for the detection of metastases with and those without liver parenchymal invasion.

Purpose: To determine retrospectively the sensitivity and specificity of computed tomography (CT) for the differentiation of perihepatic metastases with and those without liver parenchymal invasion (LPI) in patients with ovarian cancer by using interpretations of radiologists with different experience levels and staging laparotomy and pathologic examination findings as the reference standards.

Materials And Methods: Institutional review board approval and waiver of informed consent were obtained for this HIPAA-compliant study; 121 patients with ovarian cancer (age range, 29-94 years; mean age, 57.8 years) formed the study group.

Capping protein increases the rate of actin-based motility by promoting filament nucleation by the Arp2/3 complex.

Capping protein (CP) is an integral component of Arp2/3-nucleated actin networks that drive amoeboid motility. Increasing the concentration of capping protein, which caps barbed ends of actin filaments and prevents elongation, increases the rate of actin-based motility in vivo and in vitro. We studied the synergy between CP and Arp2/3 using an in vitro actin-based motility system reconstituted from purified proteins.

Presence of obestatin in breast milk: relationship among obestatin, ghrelin, and leptin in lactating women.

Objective: The peptide hormones ghrelin and leptin have been found in blood and breast milk. This study was undertaken to investigate whether breast milk also contains obestatin, which is derived from the same gene as ghrelin but has opposite actions, and to characterize the relations among serum and milk ghrelin, obestatin, and leptin levels in lactating mothers.

Methods: Venous blood, colostrum, and mature milk were obtained from healthy lactating women (n = 31) just before suckling.

Association between sarcoidosis and testicular carcinoma: a diagnostic pitfall.

Background And Aim Of The Work: Sarcoidosis is a multisystemic, non-caseous, benign granulomatous disease of unknown etiology that is sometimes associated with testicular cancer. This association, which does not appear to be accidental, can give rise to diagnostic problems because adenopathies or parenchymatous pulmonary nodules related to sarcoidosis can lead to the presumption of metastatic testicular cancer. The objective of this article was to assess the clinical, histological, and radiological characteristics of the association between sarcoidosis and testicular cancer to help clinicians avoid potentially fatal diagnostic traps and management errors.

Cutaneous drug eruptions by current antiepileptics: case reports and alternative treatment options.

Serious cutaneous drug eruptions due to antiepileptics have been defined for many drugs like carbamazepine, diphenylhydantoin, phenytoin and valproate. In recent years, adverse cutaneous reactions due to the current antiepileptic drugs have also been reported. In this paper, two cases are presented: a 48-year-old female receiving gabapentin for postherpetic neuralgia who developed leukocytoclastic vasculitis after 8 weeks and a 23-year-old male receiving lamotrigine for epileptic seizures who developed toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) in 15 days.

Sodium nitroprusside as a nitric oxide donor in a rat intestinal ischemia-reperfusion model.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of sodium nitroprusside in the reduction of the intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury as a nitric oxide donor after intraperitoneal administration.

Methods: The histopathological examinations and tissue malonyldialdehyde levels of 35 Wistar albino rats that were subjected to ischemia-reperfusion, were performed in 5 groups. The groups include Control, Ischemia -reperfusion, Sodium nitroprusside, NG-Nitro-L-Arginine Methyl Ester (L-NAME) and Sodium nitroprusside+L-NAME.

Prostate cancer imaging.

As prostate cancer is a biologically heterogeneous disease for which a variety of treatment options are available, the major objective of prostate cancer imaging is to achieve more precise disease characterization. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may enhance the staging of prostate cancer compared with clinical evaluation, transrectal ultrasound, or computed tomography (CT), and allows concurrent evaluation of prostatic, periprostatic, and pelvic anatomy. In clinical practice, the fusion of MRI or dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) with MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) is improving the evaluation of cancer location, size, and extent, while providing an indication of tumor aggressiveness.

Effects of Cholerella sp. microalgae extract on colonic anastomosis in rats with protein-energy malnutrition.

Objective: Algae, which are used as supplementary nutrients in various countries, are products rich in protein, vitamins and minerals. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of algae extracts on the healing of colonic anastomosis in malnourished rats.

Method: Seventy-two rats were randomized to three groups.

Peroxisome proliferators-activated alpha agonist treatment ameliorates hepatic damage in rats with obstructive jaundice: an experimental study.

Background: Peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha) activation modulates cholesterol metabolism and suppresses bile acid synthesis. This study aims to evaluate the effect of short-term administration of fenofibrate, a PPARalpha agonist, on proinflammatory cytokines, apoptosis, and hepatocellular damage in cholestasis.

Methods: Forty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: I = sham operated, II = bile duct ligation (BDL), III = BDL + vehicle (gum Arabic), IV = BDL + fenofibrate (100 mg/kg/day).

Painless burn injury caused by post-traumatic syringomyelia.

Background: Syringomyelia, which is generally related to congenital malformations and tumors, may lead to paresthesia and dysfunctions in thermo-algesic perception. Post-traumatic syringomyelia (PTS) is a rare type of this disease characterised by the development of a cystic formation containing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which develops inside the spinal cord after spinal trauma.

Aim: The description of a case diagnosed as painless burn injury caused by PTS.

Localized plasmon-engineered spontaneous emission of CdSe/ZnS nanocrystals closely-packed in the proximity of Ag nanoisland films for controlling emission linewidth, peak, and intensity.

Using metallic nanoislands, we demonstrate the localized plasmonic control and modification of the spontaneous emission from closely-packed nanocrystal emitters, leading to significant changes in their collective emission characteristics tuned spectrally and spatially by plasmon coupling. Using randomly-distributed silver nanoislands, we show that the emission linewidth of proximal CdSe/ZnS core-shell quantum dots is reduced by 22% and their peak emission wavelength is shifted by 14nm, while their ensemble photoluminescence is enhanced via radiative energy transfer by 21.6 and 15.

Detection of prostate cancer with MR spectroscopic imaging: an expanded paradigm incorporating polyamines.

Purpose: To characterize benign and malignant prostate peripheral zone (PZ) tissue retrospectively by using a commercial magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopic imaging package and incorporating the choline plus creatine-to-citrate ratio ([Cho + Cr]/Cit) and polyamine (PA) information into a statistically based voxel classification procedure.

Materials And Methods: The institutional review board approved this HIPAA-compliant study and waived the requirement for informed consent. Fifty men (median age, 60 years; range, 44-69 years) with untreated biopsy-proved prostate cancer underwent combined endorectal MR imaging and MR spectroscopic imaging.

Craniocervical junction arachnoid cyst causing hydrocephalus: case report and review of the literature.

Objective: Arachnoid cysts (ACs) of the craniocervical junction are extremely rare entities. This report describes a craniocervical junction AC with unusual clinical course at an unusual anatomical location.

Methods: A 21-year-old man was admitted to our clinic after a craniospinal trauma.