Gastrointestinal and genitourinary fluoroscopy: a pictorial essay of a useful evergreen technique.

Until recently, the use of direct contrast examinations with oral or intracavitary contrast agents was widespread in all general radiology departments. It provided significant answers to multiple clinical questions on the enteric organs and their mucosal surfaces. With the increased availability of CT and MRI, which also allow for the study of walls, as well as the accessibility of endoscopic examinations, the request and execution of fluoroscopy contrast studies have fallen considerably.

Cerebrospinal fluid neurofilament light chain and total-tau as biomarkers of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia.

Introduction: CSF Neurofilament light chain(NfL) is a promising biomarker of neurodegeneration, but its utility in discriminating between Alzheimer's disease(AD) and frontotemporal dementia(FTD) is limited.

Methods: 105 patients with clinical-biological diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment(MCI) due to AD (N = 72) or clinical diagnosis of FTD (N = 33) underwent neuropsychological assessment and CSF Aβ42/40, p-tau181, total-tau and NfL quantification. Group comparisons, correlations between continuous variables and ROC curve analysis were carried out to assess NfL role in discriminating between MCI due to AD and FTD, exploring the associations between NfL, ATN biomarkers and neuropsychological measures.

Self-assessment of empathy uncovers defective self-awareness in mild cognitive impairment.

Objective: Self-assessment scales are broadly used to evaluate empathy in neurological patients, but it is conceivable that some discrepancy with caregiver evaluation may emerge as consequence of reduced self-awareness. The aim of the present study was to verify the presence of discrepancies in the self-assessment of empathy in subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and to explore their neural correlates.

Method: Twenty MCI patients and 38 healthy controls (HCs) underwent the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), exploring the following four aspects of empathy: perspective taking (PT), fantasy, empathic concern, and personal distress.

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis.

Semantic Memory as an Early Cognitive Marker of Alzheimer's Disease: Role of Category and Phonological Verbal Fluency Tasks.

Background: The assessment of semantic memory may be a useful marker to identify individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who will progress to Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the early stages of the disease.

Objective: The aim of this five-year follow-up longitudinal study is to assess whether semantic assessment could predict progression in MCI.

Methods: A population of MCI (N = 251); mild (N = 178) and moderate AD (N = 114); and a sample of healthy participants (HP; N = 262) was investigated.

Semantic Priming in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Healthy Subjects: Effect of Different Time of Presentation of Word-Pairs.

Introduction: Semantic memory is impaired in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Twomain hypotheses about this finding are debated and refer to the degradation of stored knowledgeversus the impairment of semantic access mechanisms. The aim of our study is to evaluate semanticimpairment in MCI versus healthy subjects (HS) by an experiment evaluating semantic priming.

Tracheal diverticula: A retrospective analysis of patients referred for thoracic CT.

To assess the prevalence of tracheal diverticula (TD) in patients referred for thoracic Computed Tomography (CT).1679 consecutive patients subjected to thoracic CT examination for different causes, from January to June 2017, were included in this cohort study. CT was performed with a 64 slice CT, using a standard protocol and Multiplanar Reformat Images (MPR).

Disorders of consciousness and electrophysiological treatment strategies: a review of the literature and new perspectives.

The last years have witnessed a significant increase in our understanding of brain functions in survivors of severe brain injuries with disorders of consciousness (DOC). Despite there is currently no effective standardized treatment for DOC patients, in the past decade many potential pharmacological as well as non-pharmacological therapies have been proposed. A promising and increasingly growing field of non-pharmacological therapeutic trials has been supported by the application of electrophysiological techniques.