Practical Overview of I-Ioflupane Imaging in Parkinsonian Syndromes.

Parkinsonian syndromes are a heterogeneous group of progressive neurodegenerative disorders involving the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway and are characterized by a wide spectrum of motor and nonmotor symptoms. These syndromes are quite common and can profoundly impact the lives of patients and their families. In addition to classic Parkinson disease, parkinsonian syndromes include multiple additional disorders known collectively as Parkinson-plus syndromes or atypical parkinsonism.

Utility of SPECT Functional Neuroimaging of Pain.

Functional neuroimaging modalities vary in spatial and temporal resolution. One major limitation of most functional neuroimaging modalities is that only neural activation taking place inside the scanner can be imaged. This limitation makes functional neuroimaging in many clinical scenarios extremely difficult or impossible.

Production of Betacyanins in Transgenic Increases Tolerance to Salinity.

Although red betalain pigments (betacyanins) have been associated with salinity tolerance in some halophytes like , efforts to determine whether they have a causal role and the underlying mechanisms have been hampered by a lack of a model system. To address this, we engineered betalain-producing , by the introduction of three betalain biosynthetic genes. The plants were violet-red due to the accumulation of three betacyanins: betanin, isobetanin, and betanidin.

The Role of the Cerebellum in Pain Perception: A Brain SPECT Perfusion Study in Patients with Burn Injuries.

Background And Purpose: Virtual reality (VR) is a promising tool for distraction analgesia. This study aims to compare brain perfusion patterns while patients were undergoing burn wound care in two conditions-VR distraction and control (NoVR).

Methods: With IRB approval, four patients hospitalized for acute burn care (three males and one female) participated in the study.

Virtual Reality to Relieve Pain in Burn Patients Undergoing Imaging and Treatment.

Pain from burn injuries is among the most excruciating encountered in clinical practice. Pharmacological methods often fail to achieve acceptable level of analgesia in these patients, especially during burn wound dressing and debridement. Virtual reality (VR) distraction is a promising analgesic technique that progressed significantly in the last decade with development of commercially available, low-cost, high-resolution, wide field-of-view, standalone VR devices that can be used in many clinical scenarios.

Impact of decompressive craniectomy on brain perfusion scintigraphy as an ancillary test for brain death diagnosis.

Objectives: Decompressive craniectomy is occasionally performed for patients with impending brain death, which is intended to relieve critically elevated intracranial pressure to keep effective intracranial perfusion. It has been in debate if this surgery later affects the result of brain perfusion scintigraphy performed as an ancillary test in the course of brain death diagnosis because rigid closed skull is deemed essential to elevate intracranial pressure to the point of total absence of intracranial radiotracer uptake on scintigraphy. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the impact of decompressive craniectomy on the result of brain perfusion scintigraphy in patients with suspected brain death.

Boron: the essential element for vascular plants that never was.

Although a requirement for boron is a well-established feature of vascular plants, its designation, for almost a century, as essential is challenged and, instead, the proposal is made that it has never been so as conventionally defined. This is because an alternative interpretation of published evidence negates its compliance with one of the criteria for essentiality, that its effects are direct. The alternative, here postulated, is that boron is, and always has been, potentially toxic, a feature which, for normal growth, development and reproduction, needed to be nullified.

Insights into carotenoid accumulation using VIGS to block different steps of carotenoid biosynthesis in petals of California poppy.

Viral-induced gene silencing of selected biosynthetic genes decreased overall carotenoid accumulation in California poppy. Regulation of carotenogenesis was linked with pigment sequestration, not changes in biosynthetic gene expression. Genes of carotenogenesis are well described, but understanding how they affect carotenoid accumulation has proven difficult because of plant lethality when the pigments are lacking.

Hepatotoxic Dose Thresholds by Positron-Emission Tomography After Yttrium-90 Radioembolization of Liver Tumors: A Prospective Single-Arm Observational Study.

Purpose: To define a threshold radiation dose to non-tumoral liver from Y radioembolization that results in hepatic toxicity using pair-production PET.

Materials And Methods: This prospective single-arm study enrolled 35 patients undergoing radioembolization. A total of 34 patients (27 with HCC and 7 with liver metastases) were included in the final analysis.

Prospective Trial Using Internal Pair-Production Positron Emission Tomography to Establish the Yttrium-90 Radioembolization Dose Required for Response of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Purpose: To prospectively assess the threshold dose for objective response of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), using Y internal pair-production positron emission tomography (PET) to quantify the radiation dose delivered to hepatic tumors after radioembolization.

Methods And Materials: A prospective study was performed under institutional review board approval from 2012 to 2014. Thirty-five patients with primary and secondary liver tumors undergoing Y treatment were recruited.

I-131 uptake in fat necrosis of the breast.

I-131 uptake in the breast has been described with a variety of normal and pathologic conditions. We present the case of a 38-year-old female who received 317 millicuries of radioactive I-131 treatment for papillary thyroid carcinoma. Post-treatment scan demonstrated I-131 uptake in an area of fat necrosis in the breast.

Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension With Site of Leak Detected Only After 111In-DTPA Cisternogram.

A 54-year-old man with a 3-week history of orthostatic headache and acute on chronic subdural hematoma presented with imaging findings suggestive of spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Three myelograms were negative for leak, and nontargeted epidural blood patches did not result in symptom relief. A cerebrospinal fluid leak study using In-DTPA with SPECT/CT demonstrated a focal area of asymmetric activity at the left C2 nerve root.

Advances in PET Imaging of Degenerative, Cerebrovascular, and Traumatic Causes of Dementia.

In this review we present the most recent advances in nuclear medicine imaging as a diagnostic and management tool for dementia. The clinical diagnosis of dementia syndromes can be challenging for physicians, particularly in the early stages of disease. Given the growing number of individuals affected by dementia, early and accurate diagnosis can lead to improved clinical management of patients.

Characterisation of betalain biosynthesis in Parakeelya flowers identifies the key biosynthetic gene DOD as belonging to an expanded LigB gene family that is conserved in betalain-producing species.

Plant betalain pigments are intriguing because they are restricted to the Caryophyllales and are mutually exclusive with the more common anthocyanins. However, betalain biosynthesis is poorly understood compared to that of anthocyanins. In this study, betalain production and betalain-related genes were characterized in Parakeelya mirabilis (Montiaceae).

Differential alterations of dopamine transporter in the striatum and midbrain in patients with parkinsonian syndrome.

Objectives: Differential vulnerabilities of subregional dopamine neurons have been suggested in movement disorders such as idiopathic Parkinson disease. In this study, we examined dopamine transporter (DaT) density in the striatum versus midbrain (MB) in patients with nigrostriatal denervation.

Methods: Brain SPECT was performed in 39 patients with parkinsonian syndrome (age 61 ± 15 years, 18 male patients) 4 hours after IV injection of 3 to 5 mCi 123I ioflupane using SPECT-CT acquisition.

Regreening in spathes of Zantedeschia after anthesis: its physiology and control by fructification and hormones.

The mature pigmented spathe of Zantedeschia is characterized by a developmental process, wherein the spathe regreens after anthesis and prior to senescence of the inflorescence. Previous research has shown that spathe regreening involves redifferentiation of chloroplasts and re-accumulation of chlorophyll, but the detailed physiological changes associated with regreening are still largely unknown. Using Zantedeschia aethiopica and the Zantedeschia pentlandii variety 'Best Gold' as models, this study explores the physiological mechanism and possible roles of fructification, 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and gibberellin (GA3 ) in induction or progression of spathe regreening.

Intraperitoneal urine leak after prostatectomy confirmed by 99mTc-MAG3 renogram.

A 67-year-old patient presented with abdominal pain and distension 2 days after robotic radical prostatectomy for prostate carcinoma. He became anuric, and his serum creatinine level doubled, making IV contrast contraindicated. Abdominal CT without contrast demonstrated hypodense fluid in the peritoneum.

A conserved network of transcriptional activators and repressors regulates anthocyanin pigmentation in eudicots.

Plants require sophisticated regulatory mechanisms to ensure the degree of anthocyanin pigmentation is appropriate to myriad developmental and environmental signals. Central to this process are the activity of MYB-bHLH-WD repeat (MBW) complexes that regulate the transcription of anthocyanin genes. In this study, the gene regulatory network that regulates anthocyanin synthesis in petunia (Petunia hybrida) has been characterized.

131I therapy using rhTSH stimulation and dosimetry in metastatic malignant struma ovarii.

A 38-year-old woman with metastatic malignant struma ovarii, including massive liver metastases and retroperitoneal lymphadenopathy, underwent ovarian resection and retroperitoneal lymph nodes excision, partial hepatectomy, and radiofrequency ablation for liver metastases. She underwent thyroidectomy and received three I treatments using recombinant human thyrotropin stimulation and radioiodine dosimetry. posttherapy I imaging, anatomic images, and thyroglobulin levels showed significant diminution in the tumor burdens and remarkable decline in thyroglobulin levels.