Longitudinal anemia status and risk for adverse outcomes in former smokers with COPD.

Background: Anemia is a prevalent comorbidity in COPD associated with increased morbidity. However, the significance of longitudinal anemia status and variation in anemia status trends over time in COPD are not known. Furthermore, individuals with COPD and smoking history often have multiple comorbidities, in particular cardiovascular disease.

Care to Explain? AI Explanation Types Differentially Impact Chest Radiograph Diagnostic Performance and Physician Trust in AI.

Background It is unclear whether artificial intelligence (AI) explanations help or hurt radiologists and other physicians in AI-assisted radiologic diagnostic decision-making. Purpose To test whether the type of AI explanation and the correctness and confidence level of AI advice impact physician diagnostic performance, perception of AI advice usefulness, and trust in AI advice for chest radiograph diagnosis. Materials and Methods A multicenter, prospective randomized study was conducted from April 2022 to September 2022.

Association of clinical and imaging characteristics with pulmonary function testing in patients with Long-COVID.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify clinical and imaging characteristics associated with post-COVID pulmonary function decline.

Methods: This study included 22 patients recovering from COVID-19 who underwent serial spirometry pulmonary function testing (PFT) before and after diagnosis. Patients were divided into two cohorts by difference between baseline and post-COVID follow-up PFT: Decline group (>10 % decrease in FEV1), and Stable group (≤10 % decrease or improvement in FEV1).

Utilizing Deep Learning and Computed Tomography to Determine Pulmonary Nodule Activity in Patients With Nontuberculous Mycobacterial-Lung Disease.

Purpose: To develop and evaluate a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) model for the classification of acute and chronic lung nodules from nontuberculous mycobacterial-lung disease (NTM-LD) on computed tomography (CT).

Materials And Methods: We collected a data set of 650 nodules (316 acute and 334 chronic) from the CT scans of 110 patients with NTM-LD. The data set was divided into training, validation, and test sets in a ratio of 4:1:1.

A Multicenter, Single-Arm, Prospective Trial Assessing the Diagnostic Yield of Electromagnetic Bronchoscopic and Transthoracic Navigation for Peripheral Pulmonary Nodules.

Strict adherence to procedural protocols and diagnostic definitions is critical to understand the efficacy of new technologies. Electromagnetic navigational bronchoscopy (ENB) for lung nodule biopsy has been used for decades without a solid understanding of its efficacy, but offers the opportunity for simultaneous tissue acquisition via electromagnetic navigational transthoracic biopsy (EMN-TTNA) and staging via endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS). To evaluate the diagnostic yield of EBUS, ENB, and EMN-TTNA during a single procedure using a strict definition of diagnostic yield with central pathology adjudication.

Assessment of the Antioxidant and Anticancer Properties of Stipe Extracts.

Background/aim: Flammulina velutipes (FV), also known as the golden needle mushroom, is an edible and medicinal fungus that contains bioactive substances regulating various physiological functions. While the fruiting bodies of FV are commonly consumed, their stipes are often discarded despite containing polysaccharides. In this study, the biological functions of FV stipes (FV-S) were investigated to reduce waste and pollution while increasing their value.

Anti-MDA5-positive dermatomyositis and remission in a single referral centre population.

Objectives: To describe a single-centre North American adult cohort of anti-MDA5-positive dermatomyositis patients, with emphasis on drug-free long-term remission.

Methods: We conducted an observational retrospective cohort study of anti-MDA5-positive DM patients. All consented patients seen in the Johns Hopkins Myositis Centre from 2003-2020 with suspected muscle disease were routinely screened for myositis-specific autoantibodies.

Two Cases of Subsequent Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Responsive NSCLC: A Case Report.

As novel therapeutic regimens continue to lead to increased survival of patients with lung cancer, it is imperative to remain mindful of the accompanying increase in the incidence of new primary malignancies. Although the most common secondary malignancies in patients with lung cancer have historically included colon, rectal, esophageal, and thyroid cancers, we report here two rare cases of new primary hepatocellular carcinomas in patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy for NSCLC. In both cases, the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma, rather than assuming a hepatic metastasis, was crucial for determining the appropriate approach for treatment.

Urine and Plasma Markers of Platelet Activation and Respiratory Symptoms in COPD.

Introduction: Antiplatelet therapy has been associated with fewer exacerbations and reduced respiratory symptoms in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Whether platelet activation is associated with respiratory symptoms in COPD is unknown.

Methods: Former smokers with spirometry-confirmed COPD had urine 11-dehydro-thromboxane B2 (11dTxB2), plasma soluble CD40L (sCD40L), and soluble P-selectin (sP-selectin) repeatedly measured during a 6- to 9-month study period.

Indoor Air Pollution and Impaired Cardiac Autonomic Function in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Indoor air pollution represents a modifiable risk factor for respiratory morbidity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The effects of indoor air pollution, as well as the impact of interventions to improve indoor air quality, on cardiovascular morbidity in COPD remain unknown. To determine the association between indoor particulate matter (PM) and heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of cardiac autonomic function tied to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, as well as the impact of household air purifiers on HRV.

Rapidly progressive interstitial lung disease in patients with anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5-positive dermatomyositis: serial changes on HRCT.

Background: Anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 (anti-MDA5) antibodies in patients with dermatomyositis are associated with rapidly progressive interstitial lung disease (RP-ILD). Computed tomography (CT) plays a central role in the diagnosis of RP-ILD and may help characterize the temporal changes.

Methods: We report five anti-MDA5-positive dermatomyositis patients with serial CT scans spanning their acute RP-ILD disease course.

Nebulized Bacteriophage in a Patient With Refractory Lung Disease.

An elderly man with refractory lung disease previously developed anti-phage neutralizing antibodies while receiving intravenous phage therapy. Subsequent phage nebulization resulted in transient weight gain, decreased C-reactive protein, and reduced burden. Weak sputum neutralization may have limited the outcomes, but phage resistance was not a contributing factor.

Comparison of radiologist versus natural language processing-based image annotations for deep learning system for tuberculosis screening on chest radiographs.

Although natural language processing (NLP) can rapidly extract disease labels from radiology reports to create datasets for deep learning models, this may be less accurate than having radiologists manually review the images. In this study, we compared agreement between natural language processing (NLP) and radiologist-curated labels for possible tuberculosis (TB) on chest radiographs (CXR) and evaluated the performance of deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN) trained to identify TB using the preceding two sets of labels. We collected 10,951 CXRs from the NIH ChestX-ray14 dataset and labeled them as positive or negative for possible TB based on two methods: 1) NLP-derived disease labels and 2) radiologist-review of images.

Presence and Implications of Anti-Angiotensin Converting Enzyme-2 Immunoglobulin M Antibodies in Anti-Melanoma-Differentiation-Associated 5 Dermatomyositis.

Objective: Patients with anti-melanoma-differentiation-associated 5 (anti-MDA5)-positive dermatomyositis (DM) share several striking similarities to patients with SARS-CoV-2. Our objective was to assess the prevalence of anti-angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies, found in patients with severe SARS-CoV-2, in two independent anti-MDA5-positive DM cohorts.

Methods: Anti-ACE2 IgM antibodies were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in two anti-MDA5-positive DM cohorts: a predominantly outpatient North American cohort (n = 52) and a Japanese cohort enriched for new-onset disease (n = 32).

COVID-19 mortality prediction in the intensive care unit with deep learning based on longitudinal chest X-rays and clinical data.

Objectives: We aimed to develop deep learning models using longitudinal chest X-rays (CXRs) and clinical data to predict in-hospital mortality of COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: Six hundred fifty-four patients (212 deceased, 442 alive, 5645 total CXRs) were identified across two institutions. Imaging and clinical data from one institution were used to train five longitudinal transformer-based networks applying five-fold cross-validation.

Conference Attendance Tracking and Evaluation in the Era of Virtual Conferences.

Rationale And Objectives: The coronavirus pandemic upended in-person radiology education and led to a transition to virtual platforms. We needed a new method to monitor lecture attendance, previously relying on a physical badge system. Our goal was to develop and implement a virtual conference attendance system that is user-friendly, automated, useable in any virtual conference environment, and accurate.

Deep learning prediction of sex on chest radiographs: a potential contributor to biased algorithms.

Background: Deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) for diagnosis of disease on chest radiographs (CXR) have been shown to be biased against males or females if the datasets used to train them have unbalanced sex representation. Prior work has suggested that DCNNs can predict sex on CXR, which could aid forensic evaluations, but also be a source of bias.

Objective: To (1) evaluate the performance of DCNNs for predicting sex across different datasets and architectures and (2) evaluate visual biomarkers used by DCNNs to predict sex on CXRs.

Improving lung cancer screening: An equitable strategy through a tobacco treatment clinic.

Annual screening with low dose chest tomography has been adopted for those at high risk to aid in the early detection of lung cancer. In addition to screening, it is recommended that such persons receive evidence-based smoking-cessation. However, both lung cancer screening and evidence-based smoking-cessation strategies are underutilized in the US.