Feasibility of Magnetic Resonance-Compatible Accelerometers to Monitor Tremor Fluctuations During Magnetic Resonance-Guided Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy: Technical Note.

Background: Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) thalamotomy is used to treat essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson disease. Feedback is collected throughout the procedure to verify the location of the target and completeness of response; however, variability in clinical judgments may underestimate or overestimate treatment response.

Objective: To objectively quantify joint motion after each sonication using accelerometers secured to the contralateral upper extremity in an effort to optimize MRgFUS treatment.

Clinical Intervention Using Focused Ultrasound (FUS) Stimulation of the Brain in Diverse Neurological Disorders.

Various surgical techniques and pharmaceutical treatments have been developed to improve the current technologies of treating brain diseases. Focused ultrasound (FUS) is a new brain stimulation modality that can exert a therapeutic effect on diseased brain cells, with this effect ranging from permanent ablation of the pathological neural circuit to transient excitatory/inhibitory modulation of the neural activity depending on the acoustic energy of choice. With the development of intraoperative imaging technology, FUS has become a clinically available noninvasive neurosurgical option with visual feedback.

7T MR of intracranial pathology: Preliminary observations and comparisons to 3T and 1.5T.

Purpose: There have been an increasing number of studies involving ultra-high-field 7T of intracranial pathology, however, comprehensive clinical studies of neuropathology at 7T still remain limited. 7T has the advantage of a higher signal-to-noise ratio and a higher contrast-to-noise ratio, compared to current low field clinical MR scanners. We hypothesized 7T applied clinically, may improve detection and characterization of intracranial pathology.

Angiomyolipoma with minimal fat on MDCT: can counts of negative-attenuation pixels aid diagnosis?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether counts of pixels with subzero attenuation on CT scans can aid in the diagnosis of renal angiomyolipoma with minimal fat.

Materials And Methods: Of 33 angiomyolipomas identified among 719 renal masses resected from 702 patients over 4 years, 15 masses in 15 patients were prospectively diagnosed on the basis of the presence of fat at MDCT. The 18 patients with minimal-fat angiomyolipoma and a matched (age, sex, tumor size) cohort of patients with renal cell carcinoma were included in this study.

Diagnostic imaging: radiation dose and patients' concerns.

Exposure to ionizing radiation during diagnostic radiologic procedures carries small but real risks, and children, young adults, and pregnant women are especially vulnerable. Exposure of patients to diagnostic energy levels of ionizing radiation should be kept to the minimum necessary to provide useful clinical information and allay patients' concerns about radiation-related risks.

Blue light generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) differentially in tumor vs. normal epithelial cells.

Objectives: Blue light of high intensity is commonly used in dentistry to activate polymerization of resin restorative materials. Other than its effects on the retina, the biological effects of blue light (380-500nm wavelengths) are poorly studied. Limited evidence suggests that blue light acts by forming intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) that then affect critical cell functions.