Publications by authors named "Christodoulou A"

, commonly known as absinthe, is a perennial plant with distinctive broad ovate pointed leaves of a silvery-gray color, reaching a height of 1.5 m. The utilization of this herb as a source of natural compounds and as the primary ingredient in the alcoholic beverage absinthe has recently seen a resurgence following a period of prohibition.

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Purpose To evaluate the performance of a high-dynamic-range quantitative susceptibility mapping (HDR-QSM) cardiac MRI technique to detect intramyocardial hemorrhage (IMH) and quantify iron content using phantom and canine models. Materials and Methods A free-running whole-heart HDR-QSM technique for IMH assessment was developed and evaluated in calibrated iron phantoms and 14 IMH female canine models. IMH detection and iron content quantification performance of this technique was compared with the conventional iron imaging approaches, R2*(1/T2*) maps, using measurements from ex vivo imaging as the reference standard.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study aims to reduce the time needed for Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST) imaging by using a method that combines Z-spectrum undersampling with deep learning to create accurate CEST maps.* -
  • The research involved a U-NET neural network trained on data from 18 volunteers to effectively generate CEST maps even from significantly undersampled images, showcasing notable improvements over traditional models.* -
  • Results indicated that the U-NET can reduce scan time by up to 3.5 times while maintaining reliable accuracy in CEST measurements, making it a promising approach for future imaging studies, including those focused on glioblastoma.*
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: Recent studies have focused on the association between the risk of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and the rs1501299 and rs2241766 polymorphisms of the ADIPOQ gene; however, their results remain inconclusive. Thus, a systematic review and meta-analysis were carried out to clarify the role of these polymorphisms in the development of DR. : A systematic search of electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane Library) was conducted until 25 June 2024, and a reference list of relevant articles was collected, which explored the association between the rs1501299 and rs2241766 polymorphisms of the ADIPOQ gene and the risk of DR.

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Background: Vaccination uptake is a complex behavior, influenced by numerous factors. Behavioral science theories are commonly used to explain the psychosocial determinants of an individual's health behavior. This study examined the behavioural, cognitive, and emotional determinants of COVID-19 vaccination intention based on well-established theoretical models: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behaviour (COM-B) and the Health Belief Model (HBM).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study introduces a new MR Multitasking (MT) technique designed to enhance radiotherapy treatment planning for abdominal sites by providing motion-resolved and multi-contrast images in a single scan.
  • The MT technique employs advanced imaging methods to accurately capture motion and structural details, showing promising results in both digital simulations and real patient studies, with favorable correlations to traditional imaging methods.
  • Initial clinical evaluations indicate that the MT technique allows for effective target delineation, suggesting that it could simplify and improve the abdominal radiotherapy planning process.
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Clinical studies have previously established the role of olive products in cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention, whilst the identification of the responsible constituents for the beneficial effects is still pending. We sought to assess and compare the cardioprotective potential of oleuropein (OL), hydroxytyrosol (HT), oleocanthal (OC) and oleanolic Acid (OA), regarding Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury (IRI) and CVD risk factors alleviation. The scope of the study was to design a potent and safe combinatorial therapy for high-cardiovascular-risk patients on a bench-to-bedside approach.

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Purpose To clarify the predominant causative plaque constituent for periprocedural myocardial injury (PMI) following percutaneous coronary intervention: erythrocyte-derived materials, indicated by a high plaque-to-myocardium signal intensity ratio (PMR) at coronary atherosclerosis T1-weighted characterization (CATCH) MRI, or lipids, represented by a high maximum 4-mm lipid core burden index (maxLCBI) at near-infrared spectroscopy intravascular US (NIRS-IVUS). Materials and Methods This retrospective study included consecutive patients who underwent CATCH MRI before elective NIRS-IVUS-guided percutaneous coronary intervention at two facilities. PMI was defined as post-percutaneous coronary intervention troponin T values greater than five times the upper reference limit.

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Background: The rotating Cartesian k-space multiphase steady-state imaging with contrast (ROCK-MUSIC) pulse sequence enables acquisition of whole-heart, cardiac phase-resolved images in pediatric congenital heart disease (CHD) without reliance on the ventilator gating signal. Multidimensional reconstruction with low rank tensor (LRT) has shown promise for resolving complex cardiorespiratory motion.

Purpose: To enhance ROCK-MUSIC by resolving cardiorespiratory phases using LRT reconstruction and to enable semi-automatic hyperparameter tuning by developing an image quality scoring model.

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Purpose: Hemiplegic shoulder pain (HSP) is reported in up to 40% of people with stroke. Causes of HSP are often multifactorial. To inform appropriate treatment, reliable/valid assessments are critical.

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Victims of a radiation terrorist event will include pregnant women and unborn fetuses. Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress are key pathogenic factors of fetal radiation injury. The goal of this preclinical study is to investigate the efficacy of mitigating fetal radiation injury by maternal administration of the mitochondrial-targeted gramicidin S (GS)-nitroxide radiation mitigator JP4-039.

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Predictive tools provide a unique opportunity to explain the observed differences in outcome between patients of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to associate individual demographic and clinical characteristics with disease severity in COVID-19 patients and to highlight the importance of machine learning (ML) in disease prognosis. The study enrolled 344 unvaccinated patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection.

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Inborn errors of immunity (IEI) are a group of diseases in humans that typically present as increased susceptibility to infections, autoimmunity, hyperinflammation, allergy, and in some cases malignancy. Among newly identified genes linked to IEIs include 3 independent reports of 9 individuals from 7 independent kindreds with severe primary immunodeficiency disease (PID) and autoimmunity due to loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding Hematopoietic protein 1 (HEM1). HEM1 is a hematopoietic cell specific component of the WASp family verprolin homologous (WAVE) regulatory complex (WRC), which acts downstream of multiple immune receptors to stimulate actin nucleation and polymerization of filamentous actin (F-actin).

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Purpose: To develop a self-supervised learning method to retrospectively estimate T and T values from clinical weighted MRI.

Methods: A self-supervised learning approach was constructed to estimate T, T, and proton density maps from conventional T- and T-weighted images. MR physics models were employed to regenerate the weighted images from the network outputs, and the network was optimized based on loss calculated between the synthesized and input weighted images, alongside additional constraints based on prior information.

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Background: The placenta is a transient organ critical for fetal development. Disruptions of normal placental functions can impact health throughout an individual's entire life. Although being recognized by the NIH Human Placenta Project as an important organ, the placenta remains understudied, partly because of a lack of non-invasive tools for longitudinally evaluation for key aspects of placental functionalities.

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Introduction: Dietary choices play a crucial role in influencing systemic inflammation and the eventual development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII®) is a novel tool designed to assess the inflammatory potential of one's diet. Firefighting, which is characterized by high-stress environments and elevated CVD risk, represents an interesting context for exploring the dietary inflammatory-CVD connection.

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Today, many individuals read the daily news from social media platforms. Research has shown that news with negative valence might influence the well-being of individuals. Existing research that examined the impact of headlines on individuals' well-being has primarily focused on examining the positive or negative polarity of words used in the headlines.

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Purpose: To develop a novel low-rank tensor reconstruction approach leveraging the complete acquired data set to improve precision and repeatability of multiparametric mapping within the cardiovascular MR Multitasking framework.

Methods: A novel approach that alternated between estimation of temporal components and spatial components using the entire data set acquired (i.e.

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Background: Irregular cardiac motion can render conventional segmented cine MRI nondiagnostic. Clustering has been proposed for cardiac motion binning and may be optimized for complex arrhythmias.

Purpose: To develop an adaptive cluster optimization method for irregular cardiac motion, and to generate the corresponding time-resolved cine images.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cancer therapy-related cardiovascular adverse events (CAEs), especially with drugs like Carfilzomib (Cfz), are a growing concern in patients who also have comorbidities like cardiometabolic syndrome (CMS) and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).
  • In experiments with mice models, it was found that Cfz did not worsen LV dysfunction in CMS but caused metabolic issues; co-administration of metformin and atorvastatin helped protect against these cardiac complications.
  • The study concludes that while CMS and HFrEF can worsen Cfz-related CAEs through metabolic and inflammatory mechanisms, metformin shows potential as a protective agent in mitigating these adverse effects.
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Greater Cairo, the largest megacity of the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region, is currently suffering from major aerosol pollution, posing a significant threat to public health. However, the main sources of pollution remain insufficiently characterized due to limited atmospheric observations. To bridge this knowledge gap, we conducted a continuous 2-month field study during the winter of 2019-2020 at an urban background site, documenting for the first time the chemical and physical properties of submicron (PM) aerosols.

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Introduction: Seclusion or restraint (S/R) are last-resort measures used in psychiatry to ensure the safety of the patient and the staff. However, they have harmful physical and psychological effects on patients, and efforts to limit their use are needed. We describe the characteristics and correlates of S/R events in four Parisian psychiatric centers.

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Unlabelled: Victims of a radiation terrorist event will include pregnant women and unborn fetuses. Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress are key pathogenic factors of fetal irradiation injury. The goal of this preclinical study is to investigate the efficacy of mitigating fetal irradiation injury by maternal administration of the mitochondrial-targeted gramicidin S (GS)- nitroxide radiation mitigator, JP4-039.

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Article Synopsis
  • A new method called CATCH was created to better measure high-intensity plaque in heart arteries, which can help predict heart problems after procedures.
  • The study looked at 137 areas in 125 patients before they had stents put in their hearts using this new MRI method.
  • Results showed that the new CATCH method was better at predicting heart issues than the old method, making it an important advancement in heart health monitoring.
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Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) protocols can be lengthy and complex, which has driven the research community to develop new technologies to make these protocols more efficient and patient-friendly. Two different approaches to improving CMR have been proposed, specifically "all-in-one" CMR, where several contrasts and/or motion states are acquired simultaneously, and "real-time" CMR, in which the examination is accelerated to avoid the need for breathholding and/or cardiac gating. The goal of this two-part manuscript is to describe these two different types of emerging rapid CMR.

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