Relationships between bone age, physical performance, and motor coordination among adolescent male and female athletes.

Biological maturity significantly impacts youth athletes' physical performance throughout adolescence. However, how this differs between male and female youth athletes remains unclear. Thus, the present study aimed to assess associations between maturity, physical performance and motor coordination in females and males.

Norwegian male U14 soccer players have superior running capacity compared to Icelandic players.

The organisation and development strategies of youth soccer differ between Norway and Iceland. Whether this affect physical capacity is unknown. Thus, the first aim of the present study is to compare physical capacity between players from Iceland and Norway.

Feasibility of deep learning-based tumor segmentation for target delineation and response assessment in grade-4 glioma using multi-parametric MRI.

Background: Tumor burden assessment is essential for radiation therapy (RT), treatment response evaluation, and clinical decision-making. However, manual tumor delineation remains laborious and challenging due to radiological complexity. The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of the HD-GLIO tool, an ensemble of pre-trained deep learning models based on the nnUNet-algorithm, for tumor segmentation, response prediction, and its potential for clinical deployment.

Associations between biological maturity level, match locomotion, and physical capacities in youth male soccer players.

Introduction: Biological maturity level has shown to affect sport performance in youths. However, most previous studies have used noninvasive methods to estimate maturity level. Thus, the main aim of the present study was to investigate the association between skeletal age (SA) as a measure of biological maturation level, match locomotion, and physical capacity in male youth soccer players.

Can adults with cerebral palsy perform and benefit from ballistic strength training to improve walking outcomes? A mixed methods feasibility study.

Background: Power bursts of hips and ankle plantar flexors are prerequisites to walking propulsion. However, these power bursts are reduced during gait for persons with cerebral palsy (CP) and mainly in the ankle plantar flexors. Hence, task specific training, such as ballistic strength training, is suggested to increase muscle power in walking but not investigated in adults with CP.

Effect of radiographer-led intervention on reassurance, treatment satisfaction, and recurring chest pain in patients with a normal coronary computed tomography angiography-a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Chest pain is a common complaint in the general practitioner's (GP) office. Computed tomography (CT) is one of the main diagnostic tools available for assessing coronary artery disease (CAD), with a low probability of a false-negative result (<1%). Despite normal CT findings, many patients with non-coronary chest pain believe they suffer from CAD.

Repurposing F-FMISO as a PET tracer for translational imaging of nitroreductase-based gene directed enzyme prodrug therapy.

Nitroreductases (NTR) are a family of bacterial enzymes used in gene directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT) that selectively activate prodrugs containing aromatic nitro groups to exert cytotoxic effects following gene transduction in tumours. The clinical development of NTR-based GDEPT has, in part, been hampered by the lack of translational imaging modalities to assess gene transduction and drug cytotoxicity, non-invasively. This study presents translational preclinical PET imaging to validate and report NTR activity using the clinically approved radiotracer, F-FMISO, as substrate for the NTR enzyme.

Sequential bortezomib and temozolomide treatment promotes immunological responses in glioblastoma patients with positive clinical outcomes: A phase 1B study.

Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive malignant brain tumor where median survival is approximately 15 months after best available multimodal treatment. Recurrence is inevitable, largely due to O methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) that renders the tumors resistant to temozolomide (TMZ). We hypothesized that pretreatment with bortezomib (BTZ) 48 hours prior to TMZ to deplete MGMT levels would be safe and tolerated by patients with recurrent GBM harboring unmethylated MGMT promoter.

Physical capacity, not skeletal maturity, distinguishes competitive levels in male Norwegian U14 soccer players.

The main aim of the present study was to compare skeletal maturity level and physical capacities between male Norwegian soccer players playing at elite, sub-elite and non-elite level. Secondary, we aimed to investigate the association between skeletal maturity level and physical capacities. One hundred and two U14 soccer players (12.

Epac1 mice have elevated baseline permeability and do not respond to histamine as measured with dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging with contrast agents of different molecular weights.

Aim: Epac1 mice, but not Epac2 mice have elevated baseline permeability to albumin. This study extends the investigations of how Epac-dependent pathways modulate transvascular exchange in response to the classical inflammatory agent histamine. It also evaluates the limitations of models of blood-to-tissue exchange in transgenic mice in DCE-MRI measurements.

Semi-parametric arterial input functions for quantitative dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging in mice.

Objective: An extension of single- and multi-channel blind deconvolution is presented to improve the estimation of the arterial input function (AIF) in quantitative dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI).

Methods: The Lucy-Richardson expectation-maximization algorithm is used to obtain estimates of the AIF and the tissue residue function (TRF). In the first part of the algorithm, nonparametric estimates of the AIF and TRF are obtained.

Surgical debulking promotes recruitment of macrophages and triggers glioblastoma phagocytosis in combination with CD47 blocking immunotherapy.

Surgical resection is a standard component of treatment in the clinical management of patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). However, experimental therapies are rarely investigated in the context of tumor debulking in preclinical models. Here, a surgical debulking GBM xenograft model was developed in nude rats, and was used in combination with CD47 blocking immunotherapy, a novel treatment strategy that triggers phagocytosis of tumor cells by macrophages in diverse cancer types including GBM.

Multimodal Imaging of Orthotopic Mouse Model of Endometrial Carcinoma.

Background: Orthotopic endometrial cancer models provide a unique tool for studies of tumour growth and metastatic spread. Novel preclinical imaging methods also have the potential to quantify functional tumour characteristics in vivo, with potential relevance for monitoring response to therapy.

Methods: After orthotopic injection with luc-expressing endometrial cancer cells, eleven mice developed disease detected by weekly bioluminescence imaging (BLI).

Melanoma brain metastasis is independent of lactate dehydrogenase A expression.

Background: The key metabolic enzyme lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) is overexpressed in many cancers, and several preclinical studies have shown encouraging results of targeted inhibition. However, the mechanistic importance of LDHA in melanoma is largely unknown and hitherto unexplored in brain metastasis.

Methods: We investigated the spatial, temporal, and functional features of LDHA expression in melanoma brain metastasis across multiple in vitro assays, in a robust and predictive animal model employing MRI and PET imaging, and in a unique cohort of 80 operated patients.

Bevacizumab treatment induces metabolic adaptation toward anaerobic metabolism in glioblastomas.

Anti-angiogenic therapy in glioblastoma (GBM) has unfortunately not led to the anticipated improvement in patient prognosis. We here describe how human GBM adapts to bevacizumab treatment at the metabolic level. By performing (13)C6-glucose metabolic flux analysis, we show for the first time that the tumors undergo metabolic re-programming toward anaerobic metabolism, thereby uncoupling glycolysis from oxidative phosphorylation.

Targeting glioblastoma with NK cells and mAb against NG2/CSPG4 prolongs animal survival.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most malignant brain tumor where patients' survival is only 14.6 months, despite multimodal therapy with debulking surgery, concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. There is an urgent, unmet need for novel, effective therapeutic strategies for this devastating disease.

Single-channel blind estimation of arterial input function and tissue impulse response in DCE-MRI.

Multipass dynamic MRI and pharmacokinetic modeling are used to estimate perfusion parameters of leaky capillaries. Curve fitting and nonblind deconvolution are the established methods to derive the perfusion estimates from the observed arterial input function (AIF) and tissue tracer concentration function. These nonblind methods are sensitive to errors in the AIF, measured in some nearby artery or estimated by multichannel blind deconvolution.

Targeting the NG2/CSPG4 proteoglycan retards tumour growth and angiogenesis in preclinical models of GBM and melanoma.

Aberrant expression of the progenitor marker Neuron-glia 2 (NG2/CSPG4) or melanoma proteoglycan on cancer cells and angiogenic vasculature is associated with an aggressive disease course in several malignancies including glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and melanoma. Thus, we investigated the mechanism of NG2 mediated malignant progression and its potential as a therapeutic target in clinically relevant GBM and melanoma animal models. Xenografting NG2 overexpressing GBM cell lines resulted in increased growth rate, angiogenesis and vascular permeability compared to control, NG2 negative tumours.

Anti-VEGF treatment reduces blood supply and increases tumor cell invasion in glioblastoma.

Bevacizumab, an antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), is a promising, yet controversial, drug in human glioblastoma treatment (GBM). Its effects on tumor burden, recurrence, and vascular physiology are unclear. We therefore determined the tumor response to bevacizumab at the phenotypic, physiological, and molecular level in a clinically relevant intracranial GBM xenograft model derived from patient tumor spheroids.

Longitudinal investigation of permeability and distribution of macromolecules in mouse malignant transformation using PET.

Purpose: We apply positron emission tomography (PET) to elucidate changes in nanocarrier extravasation during the transition from premalignant to malignant cancer, providing insight into the use of imaging to characterize early cancerous lesions and the utility of nanoparticles in early disease.

Experimental Design: Albumin and liposomes were labeled with (64)Cu (half-life 12.7 hours), and longitudinal PET and CT imaging studies were conducted in a mouse model of ductal carcinoma in situ.

Atrial natriuretic peptide modulation of albumin clearance and contrast agent permeability in mouse skeletal muscle and skin: role in regulation of plasma volume.

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) via its guanylyl cyclase-A (GC-A) receptor participates in regulation of arterial blood pressure and vascular volume. Previous studies demonstrated that concerted renal diuretic/natriuretic and endothelial permeability effects of ANP cooperate in intravascular volume regulation. We show that the microvascular endothelial contribution to the hypovolaemic action of ANP can be measured by the magnitude of the ANP-induced increase in blood-to-tissue albumin transport, measured as plasma albumin clearance corrected for intravascular volume change, relative to the corresponding increase in ANP-induced renal water excretion.