Screening with Metoclopramide Test to Reduce Unnecessary Pituitary Magnetic Resonance Studies in Moderate Hyperprolactinemia.

Background: In prolactinoma diagnosis, current guidelines recommend prolactin (PRL) assessment, considering values exceeding 200 ng/mL highly suggestive of prolactinoma. However, subtler hyperprolactinemia is more common, and to rule out potential prolactinomas, pituitary resonance magnetic imaging (MRI) studies are necessary. These present limitations in terms of availability, costs, and delays in diagnosis.

Effect of Probiotics on Gastrointestinal Health Through the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Pathway: A Systematic Review.

Probiotics are living microorganisms recognized for conferring health benefits on the host by modulating the gut microbiota. They interact with various signaling pathways, including the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), which plays a crucial role in maintaining intestinal homeostasis and immune function. The activation of AhR by probiotics has been associated with benefits such as improved intestinal barrier function, reduced inflammation, and modulation of immune responses.

Systemic messenger RNA replacement therapy is effective in a novel clinically relevant model of acute intermittent porphyria developed in non-human primates.

Objective: Acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) is a rare metabolic disorder caused by haploinsufficiency of hepatic porphobilinogen deaminase (PBGD), the third enzyme of the heme biosynthesis. Individuals with AIP experience neurovisceral attacks closely associated with hepatic overproduction of potentially neurotoxic heme precursors.

Design: We replicated AIP in non-human primates (NHPs) through selective knockdown of the hepatic gene and evaluated the safety and therapeutic efficacy of human PBGD (hPBGD) mRNA rescue.

Clinical utility of personalized reference intervals for CEA in the early detection of oncologic disease.

Objectives: Personalized reference intervals (prRI) have been proposed as a diagnostic tool for assessing measurands with high individuality. Here, we evaluate clinical performance of prRI using carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) for cancer detection and compare it with that of reference change values (RCV) and other criteria recommended by clinical guidelines (e.g.

Tracking dynamic evolution of low- and intermediate-risk differentiated thyroid cancer: Identification of individuals at risk of recurrence.

Objective: The generally good prognosis of low- and intermediate-risk differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) underscored the need to identify those few patients who relapse.

Design: Records of 299 low- or intermediate-risk DTC patients (mean follow-up 8.2 ± 6.

Extracellular vesicles in cancer: challenges and opportunities for clinical laboratories.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nano-sized particles secreted by most cells. They transport different types of biomolecules (nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids) characteristic of their tissue or cellular origin that can mediate long-distance intercellular communication. In the case of cancer, EVs participate in tumor progression by modifying the tumor microenvironment, favoring immune tolerance and metastasis development.

Analysis of Convergent Validity of Performance-Based Activities of Daily Living Assessed by PA-IADL Test in Relation to Traditional (Standard) Cognitive Assessment to Identify Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Difficulty in performing instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) is currently considered an important indicator of cognitive impairment in the elderly. A non-experimental case-control investigation was conducted to assess the convergent validity of the PA-IADL with traditional (standard) cognitive assessment tests in its ability to identify adults with mild cognitive impairment. The analysis of the data was carried out by means of various multivariate statistical tests, and the sequence in its execution led to the conclusion that 8 of the 12 Tasks that make up the PA-IADL allow for the identification of people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to the same extent as traditional cognitive assessment tests and regardless of age.

Short text classification approach to identify child sexual exploitation material.

Producing or sharing Child Sexual Exploitation Material (CSEM) is a severe crime that Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) fight daily. When the LEA seizes a computer from a potential producer or consumer of the CSEM, it analyzes the storage devices of the suspect looking for evidence. Manual inspection of CSEM is time-consuming given the limited time available for Spanish police to use a search warrant.

Clinical implications of changing thyroglobulin and antithyroglobulin antibodies analytical methods in the follow-up of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Background And Aims: Patients' response to treatment in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is classified according to serum thyroglobulin concentrations (Tg), usually using the American Thyroid Association guidelines and considering potential interfering anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (Ab-Tg). We aim to evaluate the clinical implications of changing Tg and Ab-Tg quantification method.

Material And Methods: Tg and Ab-Tg were quantified in 82 serum samples (60 from DTC patients) by Elecsys and Access immunoassays.

PSA reactivity in extracellular microvesicles to commercial immunoassays.

Aims: Characterization of PSA in extracellular microvesicles (EVs) and its reactivity to commercial methods.

Materials And Methods: EVs derived from serum of 47 prostate cancer (PCa) patients, 27 benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients and 42 healthy controls were analyzed. EVs isolation and quantification of PSA immunoreactive to total (ev-T-PSA) or free (ev-F-PSA) PSA immunoassays, were performed using commercial assays.

Real-time botnet detection on large network bandwidths using machine learning.

Botnets are one of the most harmful cyberthreats, that can perform many types of cyberattacks and cause billionaire losses to the global economy. Nowadays, vast amounts of network traffic are generated every second, hence manual analysis is impossible. To be effective, automatic botnet detection should be done as fast as possible, but carrying this out is difficult in large bandwidths.

MAPK inhibitors dynamically affect melanoma release of immune NKG2D-ligands, as soluble protein and extracellular vesicle-associated.

Metastatic melanoma presents, in many cases, oncogenic mutations in BRAF, a MAPK involved in proliferation of tumour cells. BRAF inhibitors, used as therapy in patients with these mutations, often lead to tumour resistance and, thus, the use of MEK inhibitors was introduced in clinics. BRAFi/MEKi, a combination that has modestly increased overall survival in patients, has been proven to differentially affect immune ligands, such as NKG2D-ligands, in drug-sensitive vs.

Trastuzumab and thyroid dysfunction: An association to be aware of.

The incidence of autoimmune thyroid disorders is higher among women with breast cancer (BC) than in other solid malignancies, while it has not a prognostic impact. Trastuzumab (T) is a humanized monoclonal antibody approved for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive BC in the neoadjuvant, adjuvant, and metastatic scenarios. Since 2014, subcutaneous (SC) T has been employed with the same efficacy as the intravenous formulation together with an easier way of administration.

Modification of baseline status to improve breath tests performance.

Breath tests used to evaluate carbohydrates malabsorption require baseline H and CH levels as low as possible. Test cancellation is recommended when exceeding certain cut-offs (H ≥ 20 ppm and CH ≥ 10 ppm). Although following preparation protocols, many patients have baseline levels above those cut-offs.

Impact of ultra-low temperature long-term storage on the preanalytical variability of twenty-one common biochemical analytes.

Objectives: Retrospective studies frequently assume analytes long-term stability at ultra-low temperatures. However, these storage conditions, common among biobanks and research, may increase the preanalytical variability, adding a potential uncertainty to the measurements. This study is aimed to evaluate long-term storage stability of different analytes at <-70 °C and to assess its impact on the reference change value formula.

Exosomes in Lung Cancer: Actors and Heralds of Tumor Development.

Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide and in most cases, diagnosis is reached when the tumor has already spread and prognosis is quite poor. For that reason, the research for new biomarkers that could improve early diagnosis and its management is essential. Exosomes are microvesicles actively secreted by cells, especially by tumor cells, hauling molecules that mimic molecules of the producing cells.

mRNA-based therapy in a rabbit model of variegate porphyria offers new insights into the pathogenesis of acute attacks.

Variegate porphyria (VP) results from haploinsufficiency of protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPOX), the seventh enzyme in the heme synthesis pathway. There is no VP model that recapitulates the clinical manifestations of acute attacks. Combined administrations of 2-allyl-2-isopropylacetamide and rifampicin in rabbits halved hepatic PPOX activity, resulting in increased accumulation of a potentially neurotoxic heme precursor, lipid peroxidation, inflammation, and hepatocyte cytoplasmic stress.

Lactose tolerance test as an alternative to hydrogen breath test in the study of lactose malabsorption.

Objectives: Lactose malabsorption is generally assessed by hydrogen breath testing (HBT). However, this test is not recommended in patients with high baseline hydrogen concentrations (HB). In addition, breath testing is not recommended in the current situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the potential infectiveness of the samples.

Rectification and Super-Resolution Enhancements for Forensic Text Recognition.

Retrieving text embedded within images is a challenging task in real-world settings. Multiple problems such as low-resolution and the orientation of the text can hinder the extraction of information. These problems are common in environments such as Tor Darknet and Child Sexual Abuse images, where text extraction is crucial in the prevention of illegal activities.

Assessment and Estimation of Face Detection Performance Based on Deep Learning for Forensic Applications.

Face recognition is a valuable forensic tool for criminal investigators since it certainly helps in identifying individuals in scenarios of criminal activity like fugitives or child sexual abuse. It is, however, a very challenging task as it must be able to handle low-quality images of real world settings and fulfill real time requirements. Deep learning approaches for face detection have proven to be very successful but they require large computation power and processing time.

Using an ontology of the human cardiovascular system to improve the classification of histological images.

The advantages of automatically recognition of fundamental tissues using computer vision techniques are well known, but one of its main limitations is that sometimes it is not possible to classify correctly an image because the visual information is insufficient or the descriptors extracted are not discriminative enough. An Ontology could solve in part this problem, because it gathers and makes possible to use the specific knowledge that allows detecting clear mistakes in the classification, occasionally simply by pointing out impossible configurations in that domain. One of the main contributions of this work is that we used a Histological Ontology to correct, and therefore improve the classification of histological images.

Performance comparison of two next-generation sequencing panels to detect actionable mutations in cell-free DNA in cancer patients.

Background Genomic alterations studies in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) have increasing clinical use in oncology. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology provides the most complete mutational analysis, but nowadays limited data are available related to the comparison of results reported by different platforms. Here we compare two NGS panels for cfDNA: Oncomine™ Pan-Cancer Cell-Free Assay (Thermo Fisher Scientific), suitable for clinical laboratories, and Guardant360® (GuardantHealth), with more genes targeted but only available in an outsourcing laboratory.