Assessment of microvascular flow in human atherosclerotic carotid plaques using ultrasound localization microscopy.

Background: Neovascularisation of carotid plaques contributes to their vulnerability. Current imaging methods such as contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) usually lack the required spatial resolution and quantification capability for precise neovessels identification. We aimed at quantifying plaque vascularisation with ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM) and compared the results to histological analysis.

[Impact of precariousness on breast cancer care in the Île-de-France region: Results of the DESSEIN study].

Introduction: Precariousness has been associated with an increase in breast cancer mortality, but the links between precariousness, stage at diagnosis and care pathways are little explored. The objective of the DESSEIN study was to assess the impact of precariousness on disease and care pathways.

Methods: Prospective observational study in Île-de-France comparing precarious and non-precarious patients consulting for breast cancer and followed for 1 year.

Proteometabolomics of initial and recurrent glioblastoma highlights an increased immune cell signature with altered lipid metabolism.

Background: There is an urgent need to better understand the mechanisms associated with the development, progression, and onset of recurrence after initial surgery in glioblastoma (GBM). The use of integrative phenotype-focused -omics technologies such as proteomics and lipidomics provides an unbiased approach to explore the molecular evolution of the tumor and its associated environment.

Methods: We assembled a cohort of patient-matched initial (iGBM) and recurrent (rGBM) specimens of resected GBM.

Psychometric Properties of a Machine Learning-Based Patient-Reported Outcome Measure on Medication Adherence: Single-Center, Cross-Sectional, Observational Study.

Background: Medication adherence plays a critical role in controlling the evolution of chronic disease, as low medication adherence may lead to worse health outcomes, higher mortality, and morbidity. Assessment of their patients' medication adherence by clinicians is essential for avoiding inappropriate therapeutic intensification, associated health care expenditures, and the inappropriate inclusion of patients in time- and resource-consuming educational interventions. In both research and clinical practices the most extensively used measures of medication adherence are patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), because of their ability to capture subjective dimensions of nonadherence.

Comparative performances of machine learning algorithms in radiomics and impacting factors.

There are no current recommendations on which machine learning (ML) algorithms should be used in radiomics. The objective was to compare performances of ML algorithms in radiomics when applied to different clinical questions to determine whether some strategies could give the best and most stable performances regardless of datasets. This study compares the performances of nine feature selection algorithms combined with fourteen binary classification algorithms on ten datasets.

Development and Validation of a Multi-institutional Nomogram of Outcomes for PSMA-PET-Based Salvage Radiotherapy for Recurrent Prostate Cancer.

Importance: Prostate-specific antigen membrane positron-emission tomography (PSMA-PET) is increasingly used to guide salvage radiotherapy (sRT) after radical prostatectomy for patients with recurrent or persistent prostate cancer.

Objective: To develop and validate a nomogram for prediction of freedom from biochemical failure (FFBF) after PSMA-PET-based sRT.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective cohort study included 1029 patients with prostate cancer treated between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2020, at 11 centers from 5 countries.

Occurrence of Major Local Lower Limb Events in Type 2 Diabetic Patients with Lower Extremity Arterial Disease: Impact of Metformin.

Backgrounds: Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are particularly at risk of developing major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and peripheral artery disease (PAD) due to an acceleration of the atherosclerotic process linked to hyperglycemia and inflammation with a greater risk of local complications. We aimed to identify the predictive factors for major adverse limb events (MALE) in T2DM patients with PAD to manage modifiable factors at an early stage.

Methods: This is a prospective study in which T2DM patients with PAD were included from November 2017 to May 2018 and followed over 12 months.

Poststroke action slowing: Motor and attentional impairments and their imaging determinants. Evidence from lesion-symptom mapping, disconnection and fMRI activation studies.

Background And Objectives: Although action slowing is the main cognitive impairment in stroke survivors, its mechanisms and determinants are still poorly understood. The objectives of the present study were to determine the mechanisms of post-stroke action slowing (using validated, highly specific simple reaction time (SRT) and tapping tests) and identify its imaging determinants (using multivariate lesion-symptom mapping (mLSM)).

Methods: Action speed in the GRECogVASC cohort was assessed using finger tapping and SRT tests performed with both hands and analyzed using previously validated indices.

Nischarin Is Not the Functional I1 Imidazoline Receptor Involved in Blood Pressure Regulation.

Imidazoline receptor antisera selected/Nischarin was proposed several years ago as the functional entity for the I1 medullary receptors (I1Rs) targeted, together with α2-adrenoceptors, by the centrally acting antihypertensive drugs, such as clonidine. The objective of this study was to test this assumption using a pyrroline analog of clonidine, LNP599, which, unlike clonidine and related compounds, displays high selectivity toward I1Rs. Cardiovascular effects of LNP599 (3 mg/kg intravenous) were evaluated in anesthetized, artificially ventilated nischarin mutant rats expressing a truncated form of nischarin lacking the putative imidazoline binding site.

Validation of a deep learning segmentation algorithm to quantify the skeletal muscle index and sarcopenia in metastatic renal carcinoma.

Objectives: To validate a deep learning (DL) algorithm for measurement of skeletal muscular index (SMI) and prediction of overall survival in oncology populations.

Methods: A retrospective single-center observational study included patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma between 2007 and 2019. A set of 37 patients was used for technical validation of the algorithm, comparing manual vs DL-based evaluations.

Proton pump inhibitors are still overprescribed for hospitalized children.

Objective: The use of proton pump inhibitors has increased exponentially over the past 20 years. Several side effects have been reported and concerns exist about the consequences of long-term proton pump inhibitors on health, leading to limitation of their use. The present study analyzed prescriptions of proton pump inhibitors at inpatient units and assessed their compliance with current recommendations.

Transition from child to adult health care for patients with lysosomal storage diseases in France: current status and priorities-the TENALYS study, a patient perspective survey.

Background: Transition from childhood to adulthood (TCA) is usually difficult in rare, progressive and multisystemic diseases. New treatments and modalities of care for many lysosomal diseases (LD) can increase life expectancy, and a successful TCA can help patient who reach adulthood to avoid disruption to health care. In France, some TCA initiatives have been taken by referral centers but in view of the problems encountered by Vaincre les Maladies Lysosomales (VML), the LD patient association, they seem to be insufficient.

Association Between Exposure to Effervescent Paracetamol and Hospitalization for Acute Heart Failure: A Case-Crossover Study.

We investigated whether effervescent paracetamol, as an important source of nondietary sodium and fluid load, is associated with a transient increase in the risk of hospitalization for acute heart failure (AHF). We conducted a unidirectional case-crossover study using data from the 1 in 97th representative sample from the French health care database. Subjects aged ≥18 years, hospitalized for AHF during the 2014-2016 period, were included.

Evaluation of a 5-HT receptor agonist in a murine model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Degeneration of brainstem serotonin neurons has been demonstrated in ALS patients and mouse models and was found responsible for the development of spasticity. Consistent with involvement of central serotonin pathways, 5-HT receptor (5-HTR) was upregulated in microglia of ALS mice. Its deletion worsened disease outcome in the Sod1 mouse model and led to microglial degeneration.

Characterization of the spontaneous degenerative mitral valve disease in FVB mice.

Background: The development of new non-surgical treatments dedicated to mitral valve degeneration is limited by the absence of relevant spontaneous and rapidly progressing animal experimental models.

Animals: We characterized the spontaneous mitral valve degeneration in two inbred FVB mouse strains compared to C57BL/6J and investigated a contribution of the serotonergic system.

Methods: Males and females FVB/NJ and FVB/NRj were compared to the putative C57BL/6J control at 12, 16, 20 and 24 weeks of age.

Physiological effects of adding ECCOR to invasive mechanical ventilation for COPD exacerbations.

Background: Extracorporeal CO removal (ECCOR) could be a valuable additional modality for invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) in COPD patients suffering from severe acute exacerbation (AE). We aimed to evaluate in such patients the effects of a low-to-middle extracorporeal blood flow device on both gas exchanges and dynamic hyperinflation, as well as on work of breathing (WOB) during the IMV weaning process.

Study Design And Methods: Open prospective interventional study in 12 deeply sedated IMV AE-COPD patients studied before and after ECCOR initiation.

Resistance to Insulin in Patients with Gitelman Syndrome and a Subtle Intermediate Phenotype in Heterozygous Carriers: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Gitelman syndrome is a salt-losing tubulopathy caused by mutations in the gene, which encodes the thiazide-sensitive sodium-chloride cotransporter. Previous studies suggested an intermediate phenotype for heterozygous carriers.

Methods: To evaluate the phenotype of heterozygous carriers of pathogenic mutations, we performed a cross-sectional study of patients with Gitelman syndrome, heterozygous carriers, and healthy noncarriers.

Comparison of contemporary staging systems for oropharynx cancer in a surgically treated multi-institutional cohort.

Background: Between the publication of the Union of International Cancer Control staging system (UICC) 7th and 8th editions, other staging algorithms for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) were proposed from Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), and Yale University.

Methods: With C-statistics, the above-mentioned five staging algorithms were compared for overall and relapse-free survival endpoints in a multi-institutional cohort of OPSCC cases (n = 338) treated with primary surgery.

Results: Pathological UICC 8th ed yielded the highest C-indexes in the entire cohort and in the HPV- subset, whereas MDACC was superior for HPV+ OPSCC.

Is VLSM a valid tool for determining the functional anatomy of the brain? Usefulness of additional Bayesian network analysis.

Objectives: The ability of voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) to define the functional anatomy of the human brain has not been fully assessed. With a view to assessing VLSM's validity, the present study analyzed the technique's ability to determine the known clinical-anatomic correlates of hemiparesis in stroke patients.

Design: Lesions (damaged in at least 5 patients) associated with transformed limb motor score (after adjustment on lesion volume) at 6 months were examined in 272 patients using VLSM.

Neuroimaging Determinants of Poststroke Cognitive Performance.

Background and Purpose- We aimed to define the neuroimaging determinants of poststroke cognitive performance and their relative contributions among a spectrum of magnetic resonance imaging markers, including lesion burden and strategic locations. Methods- We prospectively included patients with stroke from the GRECogVASC study (Groupe de Réflexion pour l'Évaluation Cognitive Vasculaire) who underwent 3-T magnetic resonance imaging and a comprehensive standardized battery of neuropsychological tests 6 months after the index event. An optimized global cognitive score and neuroimaging markers, including stroke characteristics, cerebral atrophy markers, and small vessel diseases markers, were assessed.

Who should undergo a comprehensive cognitive assessment after a stroke? A cognitive risk score.

Objective: To validate the ability of a specifically developed cognitive risk score to identify patients at risk of poststroke neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) who are eligible for a comprehensive cognitive assessment.

Methods: After assessing 404 patients (infarct 91.3%) in the Groupe de Réflexion pour l'Evaluation Cognitive VASCulaire (GRECogVASC) cross-sectional study with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke-Canadian Stroke Network battery 6 months after stroke, we used multivariable logistic regression and bootstrap analyses to determine factors associated with NCDs.