Improving the Reliability of Peer Review Without a Gold Standard.

Peer review plays a crucial role in accreditation and credentialing processes as it can identify outliers and foster a peer learning approach, facilitating error analysis and knowledge sharing. However, traditional peer review methods may fall short in effectively addressing the interpretive variability among reviewing and primary reading radiologists, hindering scalability and effectiveness. Reducing this variability is key to enhancing the reliability of results and instilling confidence in the review process.

[Identification by enzyme immunoassay of escape mutants S143L and G145R of hepatitis B virus ()].

Introduction: The achievement of the goal of the World Health Organization to eliminate viral hepatitis B by 2030 seems to be problematic partly due to the presence of escape mutants of its etiological agent, hepatitis B virus (HBV) (<i>Hepadnaviridae: Orthohepadnavirus: Hepatitis B virus</i>), that are spreading mainly in the risk groups. Specific routine diagnostic assays aimed at identification of HBV escape mutants do not exist.The study aimed the evaluation of the serological fingerprinting method adapted for routine detection of escape mutations in 143 and 145 aa positions of HBV surface antigen (HBsAg).

Variability in diagnostic error rates of 10 MRI centers performing lumbar spine MRI examinations on the same patient within a 3-week period.

Background Context: In today's health-care climate, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is often perceived as a commodity-a service where there are no meaningful differences in quality and thus an area in which patients can be advised to select a provider based on price and convenience alone. If this prevailing view is correct, then a patient should expect to receive the same radiological diagnosis regardless of which imaging center he or she visits, or which radiologist reviews the examination. Based on their extensive clinical experience, the authors believe that this assumption is not correct and that it can negatively impact patient care, outcomes, and costs.

[Search for RNA of the hepatitis E virus autochthonous for Russia in the most likely infection sources].

The research carried out for 30 years from the moment of hepatitis E virus (HEV) discovery has proved the presence of the autochthonous HEV in non-endemic areas: Europe and Russia. Monitoring of the HEV antibodies (anti-HEV) among the Russian population has revealed regions with increased seroprevalence that testifies to high probability of local HEV infection in these areas. Contact with HEV can represent special danger for patients of the risk groups.

Magnetic resonance imaging-guided renal artery stent placement in a Swine model: comparison of two tracking techniques.

Background: Magnetic resonance (MR)-guided interventions have evolved from a pure research application to a preclinical method over the last decade. Among the device-tracking techniques, susceptibility artifact-based tracking relies on the contrast between the surrounding blood and the device, and radiofrequency coil-based tracking relies on the local gradient field amplification in a resonating circuit attached to the interventional device.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility and precision of susceptibility artifact-based and microcoil-based MR guidance methods for renal artery stent placement in a swine model.

[Assessment of sensitivity of commercial test-systems for HBsAg immunodetection according to their ability to detect HBsAg-mutants of hepatitis B virus].

Comparative study of widely distributed on Russian market commercial test-systems for HBsAg detection by enzyme immunoassay was performed. Panel of serum samples containing mutant forms of HBsAg was developed for the study. It showed that only 2 out of 7 studied test-systems are able to detect mutant forms of HBsAg with the same sensitivity as "wild-type" forms of HBsAg.

[Algorithm of serologic screening and assessment of prevalence of serologically meaningful mutations of HBsAg in hepatitis B virus carriers].

Algorithm of serologic screening for HBsAg-mutants in hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers with high level of HBsAg was developed which is based on the detection of defects of interactions of serum HBsAg with monoclonal anti-HBs realizing as a decrease of ELISA sensitivity in 10 times or more during serial 10-fold dilutions. During 1st stage commercial test-systems based on monoclonal antibodies was used to select serum samples with discrepancy of test results. During 2nd stage HBsAg contained in selected sera was analyzed by the panel of monoclonal and polyclonal anti-HBs conjugates using decrease in ELISA sensitivity as a criterion.

[Highly sensitive enzyme-linked assay based on monoclonal antibodies for detection of Brucella antigens].

Mice monoclonal antibodies against lypopolysaccharides (LPS) of Brucella abortus has been obtained and characterized. The antibodies detected LPS of B. abortus, B.

Image-guided and -monitored renal artery stenting using only MRI.

Purpose: To demonstrate the ability of a unique interventional MR system to be used safely and effectively as the only imaging modality for all phases of MR-guided stent-supported angioplasty.

Materials And Methods: An experimental disease model of renal stenosis was created in six pigs. An interventional MR system, which employed previously reported tools for real-time catheter tracking with automated scan-plane positioning, adaptive image parameters, and radial true-FISP imaging with steady-state precession (True-FISP) imaging coupled with a high-speed reconstruction technique, was then used to guide all phases of the intervention, including: guidewire and catheter insertion, stent deployment, and confirmation of therapeutic success.

An augmented reality system for MR image-guided needle biopsy: initial results in a swine model.

Purpose: To evaluate an augmented reality (AR) system in combination with a 1.5-T closed-bore magnetic resonance (MR) imager as a navigation tool for needle biopsies.

Materials And Methods: The experimental protocol had institutional animal care and use committee approval.

MR imaging-guided percutaneous angioplasty and stent placement in a swine model comparison of open- and closed-bore scanners.

Rationale And Objectives: The purpose of this study is to compare the feasibility and precision of renal artery angioplasty and stent placement using two different MR scanners.

Materials And Methods: MR imaging-guided angioplasty and stent placements were performed on seven pigs using 0.2 and 1.

A review of technical advances in interventional magnetic resonance imaging.

Initial research in the development of interventional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s focused on pulse sequences, devices, and clinical applications. This focus was largely a result of the limited number of areas in which the academic research community leading the development could provide innovation on the MR systems of the time. However, during the past decade, computational power, higher bandwidth graphical displays, faster computer networks, improved pulse sequence architectures, and improved technical specifications have accelerated the pace of development on modern MR systems.

The catheter-driven MRI scanner: a new approach to intravascular catheter tracking and imaging-parameter adjustment for interventional MRI.

Objective: Our aim was to test the feasibility of a hands-free approach to MRI that allows the interventionalist to track an angiographic catheter in real time throughout the procedure and to automatically change imaging parameters by catheter manipulation.

Materials And Methods: A tracking method that is based on an active device localization was implemented on a 1.5-T MRI scanner.

Active device tracking and high-resolution intravascular MRI using a novel catheter-based, opposed-solenoid phased array coil.

A novel two-element, catheter-based phased array coil was designed and built for both active MR device tracking and high-resolution vessel wall imaging. The device consists of two independent solenoid coils that are wound in opposite directions, connected to separate receive channels, and mounted collinearly on an angiographic catheter. The elements were used independently or together for tracking or imaging applications, respectively.

Real-time catheter tracking and adaptive imaging.

Purpose: To evaluate the performance of a real-time MR system for interventional procedures that adjusts specific image parameters in real time based on a catheter's speed of insertion.

Materials And Methods: The system was implemented using only the hardware provided with a standard short-bore 1.5 T scanner (Siemens Magnetom Sonata) (with the exception of small tracking markers affixed to the catheter).

Performance of ELISA HBsAg Test Kits with Use of the Different Types of Panels Containing HBsAg.

Serological diagnostics of hepatitis B in clinical laboratories is mainly based on detection of HBs antigen (HBsAg) in human serum or plasma using commercial ELISA kits. In manufacturing and laboratory practice, sensitivity of ELISA kit is measured against either international or national reference standard. This approach is necessary, but limited as it does not take into account factors that influence on HBsAg detection kit potency at low HBsAg concentration and when HBsAg subtypes/variants are present in species.

[Evaluation of the system for controlling the quality of the HBsAg detection in the system of screening laboratories].

The two-stage control system, ensuring the high quality of serological investigations in the network of screening laboratories in Moscow was developed and introduced into practice. At the first stage the entry control of the quality of the test system for the detection of HbsAg, coming to the screening laboratories, is made in the reference laboratory with the use of specially developed "representative" panels, as well as the test systems for comparison ("reference" test systems). Then "minipanels" are formed from specimens included into the "representative" panels, which are used for the evaluation of the quality of laboratory investigations made in the screening laboratories.

A method for fast 3D tracking using tuned fiducial markers and a limited projection reconstruction FISP (LPR-FISP) sequence.

This work demonstrates the feasibility of using wireless, tuned fiducial markers with a limited projection reconstruction-fast imaging with steady-state free precession sequence (LPR-FISP) to accurately obtain tracking information necessary for interactive scan plane selection in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The position and orientation of a rigid interventional device can be uniquely determined from the 3D coordinates of three fiducial markers mounted in a known configuration on the device. Three fiducial markers were tuned to the proton resonant frequency in a 0.

[A two-step method of purifying the surface antigen of the hepatitis B virus and its use in the passive hemagglutination reaction for indicating antibodies to the surface antigen of the hepatitis B virus].

A simple and economic scheme for the purification of HBsAg has been developed: step I--immunosorption with the use of a cellulose suspension with immobilized purified anti-HBs, and step II--isopycnic ultracentrifugation through CsCl. This method yields a 300-fold purified HBsAg, its harvest being 75%. An erythrocytic immunodiagnosticum for the passive hemagglutination test has been prepared on the basis of this purified HBsAg; the sensitivity of the test with this immunodiagnosticum is but slightly inferior to that of radioimmunoassay.

[Secondary immune response of mice immunized with a protein-cellulose complex].

It has been previously established that an intravenous injection of a protein antigen solution into mice primed with the same antigen in the form of a protein-cellulose complex induces an intensive antibody production (up to 10,000 antibody-forming cells/10(6) splenocytes and up to 3 mg of antibodies/ml of serum). The present study has shown that secondary immune response can be considerably enhanced if large amounts of the antigen are administered intraperitoneally in a protein-cellulose complex during secondary immunization. In these experiments the mean number of antibody-forming cells was 50.

[Cultivation of cells on modified porous cellulose beads].

New microcarriers for the growth of animal cells have been synthesized and studied. The preparations are porous cellulose beads, modified by diamines. Spreading and growth of L cells, MEVO and HETR cells on these beads were observed.

[Independence of alpha-fetoprotein expression from production of adult rat serum proteins in hepatoma McA-RH7777].

Clonal cell lines were isolated from rat hepatoma McA-RH7777 to study expression of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in these clones. AFP contained by the cells was determined by immunofluorescent and immunoperoxidase staining, while AFP secreted into the medium by aggregate-hemagglutination and immunoisotachophoresis. The existence of the clones that drastically differ in the intensity of AFP synthesis was demonstrated, with these clones being implicated in the monitoring of AFP synthesis.

[Synthesis of alpha-fetoprotein and albumin human embryo hepatocytes].

Population aspects of specific secreted proteins (alpha-fetoprotein and serum albumin) were analyzed in the cultured human embryo hepatocytes (6 to 12 weeks' gestation). A method based on local hemolysis in gel of sheep erythrocytes conjugated with antibodies specific of proteins in question. The great majority of individual hepatocytes synthesized both proteins.

[Immunoautoradiographic determination of beta-1 gamma globulin in the blood serum of patients with trophoblastic tumors].

The authors determined beta1-G-globulin (beta1GG) in the sera of patients with different malignant tumours and of normal donors by means of the immunodiffusion method (ID) and immunoautoradiography (IAR). In the ID-negative sera beta1GG was revealed by means of IAR in 7 out of 8 patients with chorionepithelioma of the uterus and in 1 out of 7 patients with teratomblastoma of the testis before the treatment. After the treatment the beta1GG was determined in 7 out of 21 patients with chorionepithelioma of the uterus.