Prediction of gastrointestinal active arterial extravasation on computed tomographic angiography using multivariate clinical modeling.

Aims: To evaluate the ability of logistic regression and machine learning methods to predict active arterial extravasation on computed tomographic angiography (CTA) in patients with acute gastrointestinal hemorrhage using clinical variables obtained prior to image acquisition.

Materials And Methods: CT angiograms performed for the indication of gastrointestinal bleeding at a single institution were labeled retrospectively for the presence of arterial extravasation. Positive and negative cases were matched for age, gender, time period, and site using Propensity Score Matching.

Breast MRI for Extent of Disease: Association of Demographic Factors and Biopsy Compliance on Surgical Decisions in Patients with BI-RADS 4 and 5 Findings.

Background: The decision to pursue bilateral mastectomy without pathological confirmation of additional preoperative MRI lesions is likely multifactorial. We investigated the association of demographic factors and biopsy compliance following preoperative breast MRI with changes in surgical management in patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer.

Methods: A retrospective review of BI-RADS 4 and 5 MRIs performed across a health system from March 2018 to November 2021 for assessment of disease extent and preoperative planning.

Association between neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, platelet-lymphocyte ratio, and survival in undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (NLR, PLR, and overall survival in UPS).

Background And Objectives: Cancer-related inflammation has been shown to be a driver of tumor growth and progression, and there has been a recent focus on identifying markers of the inflammatory tumor microenvironment. Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) are inflammatory indices that have been identified as prognostic biomarkers in various malignancies. However, there is limited and conflicting data regarding their prognostic value in soft tissue sarcoma (STS) and specifically in undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS).

Mapping cortical activations underlying covert and overt language production using high-density diffuse optical tomography.

Gold standard neuroimaging modalities such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and more recently electrocorticography (ECoG) have provided profound insights regarding the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of language, but they are limited in applications involving naturalistic language production especially in developing brains, during face-to-face dialogues, or as a brain-computer interface. High-density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT) provides high-fidelity mapping of human brain function with comparable spatial resolution to that of fMRI but in a silent and open scanning environment similar to real-life social scenarios. Therefore, HD-DOT has potential to be used in naturalistic settings where other neuroimaging modalities are limited.

Fertility after Transcatheter Arterial Embolization for Obstetric Hemorrhage: An Urban Health Care System Observational Study.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate pregnancy rate, pregnancy outcomes, and resumption of menses after transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) for obstetric hemorrhage (OH).

Study Design: Sixty-seven patients who underwent TAE for OH from 2006 to 2020 within an urban, multihospital health care system were identified retrospectively. Selected patients were interviewed by phone to complete a survey with a primary outcome of self-reported pregnancy in those seeking pregnancy.

Genetic diversity of collaborative cross mice enables identification of novel rift valley fever virus encephalitis model.

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an arboviral disease of humans and livestock responsible for severe economic and human health impacts. In humans, RVF spans a variety of clinical manifestations, ranging from an acute flu-like illness to severe forms of disease, including late-onset encephalitis. The large variations in human RVF disease are inadequately represented by current murine models, which overwhelmingly die of early-onset hepatitis.

Embracing nanomaterials' interactions with the innate immune system.

Immunotherapy has firmly established itself as a compelling avenue for treating disease. Although many clinically approved immunotherapeutics engage the adaptive immune system, therapeutically targeting the innate immune system remains much less explored. Nanomedicine offers a compelling opportunity for innate immune system engagement, as many nanomaterials inherently interact with myeloid cells (e.

Prosaposin mediates inflammation in atherosclerosis.

Macrophages play a central role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The inflammatory properties of these cells are dictated by their metabolism, of which the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway is a key regulator. Using myeloid cell-specific nanobiologics in apolipoprotein E-deficient ( ) mice, we found that targeting the mTOR and ribosomal protein S6 kinase-1 (S6K1) signaling pathways rapidly diminished plaque macrophages' inflammatory activity.

A modular approach toward producing nanotherapeutics targeting the innate immune system.

Immunotherapies controlling the adaptive immune system are firmly established, but regulating the innate immune system remains much less explored. The intrinsic interactions between nanoparticles and phagocytic myeloid cells make these materials especially suited for engaging the innate immune system. However, developing nanotherapeutics is an elaborate process.

Trained Immunity-Promoting Nanobiologic Therapy Suppresses Tumor Growth and Potentiates Checkpoint Inhibition.

Trained immunity, a functional state of myeloid cells, has been proposed as a compelling immune-oncological target. Its efficient induction requires direct engagement of myeloid progenitors in the bone marrow. For this purpose, we developed a bone marrow-avid nanobiologic platform designed specifically to induce trained immunity.

Rift Valley Fever Virus Infection Causes Acute Encephalitis in the Ferret.

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a pathogen of both humans and livestock in Africa and the Middle East. Severe human disease is associated with hepatitis and/or encephalitis. Current pathogenesis studies rely on rodents and nonhuman primates, which have advantages and disadvantages.

Imaging Cardiovascular and Lung Macrophages With the Positron Emission Tomography Sensor Cu-Macrin in Mice, Rabbits, and Pigs.

Background: Macrophages, innate immune cells that reside in all organs, defend the host against infection and injury. In the heart and vasculature, inflammatory macrophages also enhance tissue damage and propel cardiovascular diseases.

Methods: We here use in vivo positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, flow cytometry, and confocal microscopy to evaluate quantitative noninvasive assessment of cardiac, arterial, and pulmonary macrophages using the nanotracer Cu-Macrin-a 20-nm spherical dextran nanoparticle assembled from nontoxic polyglucose.

Probing myeloid cell dynamics in ischaemic heart disease by nanotracer hot-spot imaging.

Ischaemic heart disease evokes a complex immune response. However, tools to track the systemic behaviour and dynamics of leukocytes non-invasively in vivo are lacking. Here, we present a multimodal hot-spot imaging approach using an innovative high-density lipoprotein-derived nanotracer with a perfluoro-crown ether payload (F-HDL) to allow myeloid cell tracking by F magnetic resonance imaging.

An epigenetic signature in peripheral blood associated with the haplotype on 17q21.31, a risk factor for neurodegenerative tauopathy.

Little is known about how changes in DNA methylation mediate risk for human diseases including dementia. Analysis of genome-wide methylation patterns in patients with two forms of tau-related dementia--progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD)--revealed significant differentially methylated probes (DMPs) in patients versus unaffected controls. Remarkably, DMPs in PSP were clustered within the 17q21.

Learning how to "make a deal": human (Homo sapiens) and monkey (Macaca mulatta) performance when repeatedly faced with the Monty Hall Dilemma.

The Monty Hall Dilemma (MHD) is a well-known probability puzzle in which players try to guess which of three doors conceals a prize. After selecting a door, players are shown that there is no prize behind one of the remaining doors. Players then are given a choice to stay with their door or switch to the other unopened door.

Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) remember future responses in a computerized task.

Planning is an important aspect of many daily activities for humans. Planning involves forming a strategy in anticipation of a future need. However, evidence that nonhuman animals can plan for future situations is limited, particularly in relation to the many other kinds of cognitive capacities that they appear to share with humans.

An efficient computerized testing method for the capuchin monkey (Cebus apella): adaptation of the LRC-CTS to a socially housed nonhuman primate species.

Even with advances in automated testing techniques, the capuchin monkey (Cebus apella) can be a difficult species to test in the laboratory, given its social/behavioral tendencies and typical activity pattern. Laboratories that maintain social colonies of capuchin monkeys are able to separate and test individuals, but the process can be very effortful and time consuming, and the resulting data can be modest in quantity. The present article describes procedures and apparatuses that were used to train a colony of computer-naive capuchin monkeys to quickly and reliably isolate themselves from group members and interact with a computerized test system in order to produce a large volume of data.

Ordinal judgments of symbolic stimuli by capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta): the effects of differential and nondifferential reward.

Ordinal learning was investigated in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). In Experiment 1, both species were presented with pairings of the Arabic numerals 0 to 9. Some monkeys were given food rewards equal to the value of the numeral selected and some were rewarded with a single pellet only for choosing the higher numeral within the pair.

Comparison of a supplemental wide field of view versus a single field of view with zoom on performance in minimally invasive surgery.

Background: The limited space and high magnification involved in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) can cause surgeons to lose sight of an instrument while performing tasks such as suturing and knot-tying. A current strategy employed to locate the instrument is zooming out and in with the endoscope, which can be a time-intensive and iterative task. This study investigates the use of a supplemental wide field of view (FOV) via a second endoscope for locating an instrument outside the FOV in a MIS setting.

Use of a single-code/default strategy by pigeons to acquire duration sample discriminations.

Past evidence that pigeons may adopt a single-code/default strategy to solve duration sample discriminations may be attributable to the similarity between the intertrial interval (ITI) and the retention interval. The present experiments tested whether pigeons would adopt a single-code/default strategy when possible ITI-retention-interval ambiguity was eliminated and sample salience was increased. Previous studies of duration sample discriminations that have purported to show evidence for the use of a single-code/default coding strategy have used durations of 0, 2, and 10 sec (Zentall, Klein, and Singer, 2004).

Repeated Cocaine Experience Facilitates Sucrose-Reinforced Operant Responding in Enriched and Isolated Rats.

The purpose of the present experiment was to determine whether repeated cocaine exposure differentially affects sucrose-reinforced operant responding in rats raised in an enriched condition (EC) or an isolated condition (IC). Specifically, the performance of EC and IC rats pressing a lever for sucrose under a high fixed-ratio schedule (FR 30) prior to and after 10 days of exposure to cocaine (15 mg/kg, i.p.

Effects of environmental enrichment on extinction and reinstatement of amphetamine self-administration and sucrose-maintained responding.

The current experiments aimed to determine whether differential rearing alters extinction and/or reinstatement of amphetamine self-administration or sucrose-maintained responding. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were raised in either an enriched condition or an isolated condition. Rats were then trained to lever press on a continuous reinforcement schedule across either 15 daily amphetamine self-administration sessions or 15 sucrose-reinforced sessions, followed by 10 sessions of extinction.

Imitation of a two-action sequence by pigeons.

Developmental psychologists have described imitation as a process that suggests perspective-taking abilities. However, imitative behavior has been found in animals, which are generally not considered capable of taking the perspective of another. Previous studies with birds have demonstrated the imitation of a single response (sometimes referred to as action-level imitation).

Contrast and the justification of effort.

When humans are asked to evaluate rewards or outcomes that follow unpleasant (e.g., high-effort) events, they often assign higher value to that reward.