18F-DCFPyL in the Detection of Prostate Cancer Spread to the Lumbosacral Plexus.

In most cases, prostate cancer spreads locally to the seminal vesicles, via lymphatics to pelvic and abdominal lymph nodes, and hematogenously to the bones. Direct invasion along nerve roots is exceptionally rare but can occur. Here, we present a case with 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT images showing neoplastic involvement of the lumbosacral plexus in a patient with recurrent prostate cancer.

F-Fluoroazomycin Arabinoside (FAZA) PET/MR as a Biomarker of Hypoxia in Rectal Cancer: A Pilot Study.

Tumor hypoxia is a negative prognostic factor in many tumors and is predictive of metastatic spread and poor responsiveness to both chemotherapy and radiotherapy. To assess the feasibility of using F-Fluoroazomycin arabinoside (FAZA) PET/MR to image tumor hypoxia in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) prior to and following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT). The secondary objective was to compare different reference tissues and thresholds for tumor hypoxia quantification.

Serum Prestin After Ototoxin Exposure Is Not Dependent on Outer Hair Cell Loss.

Hypothesis: Cyclodextrin (CDX)-induced serum prestin burst is not dependent on outer hair cell (OHC) loss.

Background: Serum prestin has been proposed as a biomarker for ototoxicity. We recently used an automated Western approach to quantify serum prestin changes in a newly introduced model of CDX ototoxicity.

Trichoplusia ni Transcriptomic Responses to the Phytosaponin Aglycone Hederagenin: Sex-Related Differences.

Many plant species, particularly legumes, protect themselves with saponins. Previously, a correlation was observed between levels of oleanolic acid-derived saponins, such as hederagenin-derived compounds, in the legume Medicago truncatula and caterpillar deterrence. Using concentrations that reflect the foliar levels of hederagenin-type saponins, the sapogenin hederagenin was not toxic to 4th instar caterpillars of the cabbage looper Trichoplusia ni nor did it act as a feeding deterrent.

Automated Western Blot Analysis of Ototoxin-Induced Prestin Burst in the Blood after Cyclodextrin Exposure.

Hypothesis: Ototoxin cyclodextrin (CDX) will induce a burst in serum prestin when quantified with automated Western blot analysis.

Background: In the clinical realm, we primarily rely on audiological measures for diagnosis and surveillance of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and have limited therapeutic options. We have proposed a blood-based biomarker approach to overcome this challenge by measuring the outer hair cell's (OHC) electromotile protein, prestin, in the blood.

3'-Deoxy-3'-(18F) Fluorothymidine Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Treated With Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy: A Pilot Study.

Purpose: The primary objective was to compare 3'-deoxy-3'-(F) fluorothymidine (FLT) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) uptake in 3 cohorts of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) patients: (1) pre-SBRT, (2) stable post-SBRT lung fibrosis, and (3) suspicious or proven local recurrence post-SBRT. The secondary objectives were to optimize FLT-PET imaging by comparing FLT uptake in respiratory-gated (4-dimensional) versus nongated (3-dimensional) FLT-PET scans.

Methods: Patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer planned or treated with SBRT at the institution with radiographic findings of fibrosis or recurrence were eligible for the study.

Surgeon Perceptions of the Integration of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures into Clinical Practice.

Introduction: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs/PROM) are standardized, validated instruments used to measure the patient's perception of their own health status including their symptoms, functional wellbeing, and mental health. Although PROMs were initially developed as research tools, their use in clinical practice for shared decision-making and to assess the impact of disease and treatment on quality of life of individual patients has been increasing. There is a paucity of research exploring providers' perspectives on the clinical integration of PROMs.

Strongyloidiasis Hyperinfection Syndrome in COVID-19 Positive Migrants Treated with Corticosteroids.

The aim of this study is to highlight the potentially fatal risk of Strongyloidiasis Hyperinfection Syndrome for hospitalized immigrant patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 disease and undiagnosed Strongyloidiasis. We reviewed electronic medical records of immigrants from 2010 to 2022 and extracted the number of patients with eosinophilia, strongyloidiasis and COVID-19 infection, outpatient and hospitalized. While 885 outpatients were diagnosed with eosinophilia, only 356 (40.

Standing and Walking Attention Visual Field (SWAVF) task: A new method to assess visuospatial attention during walking.

Visuospatial attention during walking has been associated with pedestrian safety and fall risks. However, visuospatial attention measures during walking remained under-explored. Current studies introduced a newly-developed Standing and Walking Visual Attention Field (SWAVF) task to assess visuospatial attention during walking and examined its reliability, validity, and stability.

Noise-Based Image Harmonization Significantly Increases Repeatability and Reproducibility of Radiomics Features in PET Images: A Phantom Study.

For multicenter clinical studies, characterizing the robustness of image-derived radiomics features is essential. Features calculated on PET images have been shown to be very sensitive to image noise. The purpose of this work was to investigate the efficacy of a relatively simple harmonization strategy on feature robustness and agreement.

Phantom Validation of a Conservation of Activity-Based Partial Volume Correction Method for Arterial Input Function in Dynamic PET Imaging.

Dynamic PET (dPET) imaging can be utilized to perform kinetic modelling of various physiologic processes, which are exploited by the constantly expanding range of targeted radiopharmaceuticals. To date, dPET remains primarily in the research realm due to a number of technical challenges, not least of which is addressing partial volume effects (PVE) in the input function. We propose a series of equations for the correction of PVE in the input function and present the results of a validation study, based on a purpose built phantom.

Nursing Infection Control Practice Adherence, Related Barriers, and Methods of Intervention.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the level of infection control (IC) practice adherence and related barriers among nursing staff at a US academic medical center. Furthermore, it surveys staff to identify interventions to improve adherence with IC practices.

Background: Infectious disease emergencies have exposed healthcare workers to increased infection risk.

Evidence that nano-TiO induces acute cytotoxicity to the agronomically beneficial nitrogen-fixing bacteria .

When nano-sized titanium dioxide (nano-TiO) absorbs ultra-violet (UV-A) radiation, it produces reactive oxygen species that can be toxic to bacteria. We used the agronomically beneficial nitrogen-fixing bacterium strain 1021 as a model microorganism to detect nano-TiO toxicity. was exposed to aqueous dispersions of micrometer-sized TiO (micron-TiO, 44 μm) or nanometer-sized TiO (nano-TiO, 21 nm) at nominal concentrations of 0, 100, 300, 600, 900, and 1800 mg TiO/L.

4D-CT Attenuation Correction in Respiratory-Gated PET for Hypoxia Imaging: Is It Really Beneficial?

Previous literature has shown that 4D respiratory-gated positron emission tomography (PET) is beneficial for quantitative analysis and defining targets for boosting therapy. However the case for addition of a phase-matched 4D-computed tomography (CT) for attenuation correction (AC) is less clear. We seek to validate the use of 4D-CT for AC and investigate the impact of motion correction for low signal-to-background PET imaging of hypoxia using radiotracers such as FAZA and FMISO.

A prospective, multi-centre trial of multi-parametric MRI as a biomarker in anal carcinoma.

Background And Purpose: To investigate the role of multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (MP-MRI) as a biomarker for squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal (SCCAC).

Materials And Methods: From January 2013 to January 2017, 25 patients with non-metastatic SCCAC were enrolled in a multi-centre prospective clinical trial, of whom 20 completed protocol treatment. MP-MRIs, incorporating diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) and dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) sequences, were performed before (baseline), during the second and fourth weeks of chemo-radiotherapy (CRT), and 8 weeks following treatment completion.

Accuracy and Performance of Functional Parameter Estimation Using a Novel Numerical Optimization Approach for GPU-Based Kinetic Compartmental Modeling.

Quantitative kinetic parameters derived from dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) data are dependent on signal measurement quality and choice of pharmacokinetic model. However, the fundamental optimization analysis method is equally important and its impact on pharmacokinetic parameters has been mostly overlooked. We examine the effects of those choices on accuracy and performance of parameter estimation using both computer processing unit and graphical processing unit (GPU) numerical optimization implementations and evaluate the improvements offered by a novel optimization approach.

Phantom Validation of DCE-MRI Magnitude and Phase-Based Vascular Input Function Measurements.

Accurate, patient-specific measurement of arterial input functions (AIF) may improve model-based analysis of vascular permeability. This study investigated factors affecting AIF measurements from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) magnitude (AIF) and phase (AIF) signals, and compared them against computed tomography (CT) (AIF), under controlled conditions relevant to clinical protocols using a multimodality flow phantom. The flow phantom was applied at flip angles of 20° and 30°, flow rates (3-7.

Unified platform for multimodal voxel-based analysis to evaluate tumour perfusion and diffusion characteristics before and after radiation treatment evaluated in metastatic brain cancer.

Objective:: Early changes in tumour behaviour following stereotactic radiosurgery) are potential biomarkers of response. To-date quantitative model-based measures of dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) and diffusion-weighted (DW) MRI parameters have shown widely variable findings, which may be attributable to variability in image acquisition, post-processing and analysis. Big data analytic approaches are needed for the automation of computationally intensive modelling calculations for every voxel, independent of observer interpretation.

Measurement of Tumor Hypoxia in Patients With Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer Using Positron Emission Tomography with F-Fluoroazomyin Arabinoside.

Purpose: To assess cervical tumor hypoxia using the hypoxia tracer F-fluoroazomycin arabinoside (F-FAZA) and compare different reference tissues and thresholds for quantifying tumor hypoxia.

Methods And Materials: Twenty-seven patients with cervical cancer were studied prospectively by positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with F-FAZA before starting standard chemoradiation. The hypoxic volume was defined as all voxels within a tumor (T) with standardized uptake values (SUVs) greater than 3 standard deviations from the mean gluteus maximus muscle SUV value (M) or SUVs greater than 1 to 1.

Medicago truncatula Oleanolic-Derived Saponins Are Correlated with Caterpillar Deterrence.

Plant resistance mechanisms to insect herbivory can potentially be bred into crops as an important strategy for integrated pest management. Medicago truncatula ecotypes inoculated with the rhizobium Ensifer medicae (Sinorhizobium medica) WSM419 were screened for resistance to herbivory by caterpillars of the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua, through leaf and whole plant choice studies; TN1.11 and F83005.

Feasibility of 4D perfusion CT imaging for the assessment of liver treatment response following SBRT and sorafenib.

Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility of 4-dimensional perfusion computed tomography (CT) as an imaging biomarker for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and metastatic liver disease.

Methods And Materials: Patients underwent volumetric dynamic contrast-enhanced CT on a 320-slice scanner before and during stereotactic body radiation therapy and sorafenib, and at 1 and 3 months after treatment. Quiet free breathing was used in the CT acquisition and multiple techniques (rigid or deformable registration as well as outlier removal) were applied to account for residual liver motion.

Radiomics of Lung Nodules: A Multi-Institutional Study of Robustness and Agreement of Quantitative Imaging Features.

Radiomics is to provide quantitative descriptors of normal and abnormal tissues during classification and prediction tasks in radiology and oncology. Quantitative Imaging Network members are developing radiomic "feature" sets to characterize tumors, in general, the size, shape, texture, intensity, margin, and other aspects of the imaging features of nodules and lesions. Efforts are ongoing for developing an ontology to describe radiomic features for lung nodules, with the main classes consisting of size, local and global shape descriptors, margin, intensity, and texture-based features, which are based on wavelets, Laplacian of Gaussians, Law's features, gray-level co-occurrence matrices, and run-length features.

Inhaled resveratrol treatments slow ageing-related degenerative changes in mouse lung.

Background: Lung ageing, a significant risk factor for chronic human lung diseases such as COPD and emphysema, is characterised by airspace enlargement and decreasing lung function. Likewise, in prematurely ageing telomerase null (terc-/-) mice, p53 stabilisation within diminishing numbers of alveolar epithelial type 2 cells (AEC2) accompanies reduced lung function. Resveratrol (RSL) is a plant phytoalexin that has previously showed efficacy in enhancing invertebrate longevity and supporting mammalian muscle metabolism when delivered orally.