Publications by authors named "Erin Schwartz"

Article Synopsis
  • - The white paper highlights seven key challenges in radiology, including issues like declining reimbursement and labor shortages, which are critical for the profession’s future sustainability.
  • - It emphasizes the impact of corporatization, imaging appropriateness, and burnout on radiologists, alongside the ongoing conflicts with nonphysicians and the need for improved workflow efficiency.
  • - The Intersociety Summer Conference-2023 gathered experts to discuss these challenges and brainstorm potential solutions to ensure the viability of the radiology field moving forward.
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Objectives: To decrease call burden on pediatric neuroradiologists, we developed guidelines for appropriate use of MR overnight. These guidelines were implemented using triage by in-house generalist pediatric radiologists. Process measures and balancing measures were assessed during implementation.

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The ACR Intersociety Committee meeting of 2022 (ISC-2022) was convened around the theme of "Recovering From The Great Resignation, Moral Injury and Other Stressors: Rebuilding Radiology for a Robust Future." Representatives from 29 radiology organizations, including all radiology subspecialties, radiation oncology, and medical physics, as well as academic and private practice radiologists, met for 3 days in early August in Park City, Utah, to search for solutions to the most pressing problems facing the specialty of radiology in 2022. Of these, the mismatch between the clinical workload and the available radiologist workforce was foremost-as many other identifiable problems flowed downstream from this, including high job turnover, lack of time for teaching and research, radiologist burnout, and moral injury.

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Neuroimaging protocols play an important role in the timely evaluation and treatment of pediatric stroke and its mimics. MRI protocols for stroke in the pediatric population should be guided by the clinical scenario and neurologic examination, with consideration of age, suspected infarct type and underlying risk factors. Acute stroke diagnosis and causes in pediatric age groups can differ significantly from those in adult populations, and delay in stroke diagnosis among children is a common problem.

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Background: Electroconvulsive therapy is used to treat depression and schizophrenia with infrequent use in pediatric patients. We report a case of an adolescent with autism spectrum disorder and acute catatonia that presented with status epilepticus (SE) and prolonged neurologic deficits with unilateral left cerebral edema on imaging following unilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on the right side, subsequently found to have a CACNA1a pathogenic variant. This case highlights a potential adverse effect of ECT in patients with CACNA1a related disorders.

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Purpose: There is limited data concerning neuroimaging findings and longitudinal evaluation of familial cerebral cavernous malformations (FCCM) in children. Our aim was to study the natural history of pediatric FCCM, with an emphasis on symptomatic hemorrhagic events and associated clinical and imaging risk factors.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all children diagnosed with FCCM in four tertiary pediatric hospitals between January 2010 and March 2022.

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Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence and characteristics of spinal cord cavernous malformations (SCCM) and intraosseous spinal vascular malformations (ISVM) in a pediatric familial cerebral cavernous malformation (FCCM) cohort and evaluate clinico-radiological differences between children with (SCCM +) and without (SCCM-) SCCM.

Methods: All patients with a pediatric diagnosis of FCCM evaluated at three tertiary pediatric hospitals between January 2010 and August 2021 with [Formula: see text] 1 whole spine MR available were included. Brain and spine MR studies were retrospectively evaluated, and clinical and genetic data collected.

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Carcinogenic insult, such as UV light exposure, creates DNA lesions that evolve into mutations if left unrepaired. These resulting mutations can contribute to carcinogenesis and drive malignant phenotypes. Susceptibility to carcinogens (i.

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Exposure to the ultraviolet (UV) radiation in sunlight creates DNA lesions, which if left unrepaired can induce mutations and contribute to skin cancer. The two most common UV-induced DNA lesions are the cis-syn cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) and pyrimidine (6-4) pyrimidone photoproducts (6-4PPs), both of which can initiate mutations. Interestingly, mutation frequency across the genomes of many cancers is heterogenous with significant increases in heterochromatin.

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We examined the impact of an APOE ε4 genotype on Alzheimer's disease (AD) subject platelet and lymphocyte metabolism. Mean platelet mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase Vmax activity was lower in APOE ε4 carriers and lymphocyte Annexin V, a marker of apoptosis, was significantly higher. Proteins that mediate mitophagy and energy sensing were higher in APOE ε4 lymphocytes which could represent compensatory changes and recapitulate phenomena observed in post-mortem AD brains.

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Objective: To address which body composition (BC) measures best correlate with cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in firefighters and develop a model for accurate CRF estimation compared with traditional methods.

Methods: Career firefighters had body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) measured in addition to body fat percentage (FM%) by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). CRF as maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) was estimated by rowing machine and measured by indirect calorimetry in a treadmill exercise test.

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Alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) in human cells is a conserved process that is often activated in telomerase-deficient human cancers. This process exploits components of the recombination machinery to extend telomere ends, thus allowing for increased proliferative potential. Human MUS81 (Mus81 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is the catalytic subunit of structure-selective endonucleases involved in recombination and has been implicated in the ALT mechanism.

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Increased performance demands have interacted with suboptimal use of technology and contributed to burnout among radiologists. Although the problem of radiologist burnout has been well documented, there is a gap in the literature in terms of how technology can be better utilized to lessen the problem. Informatics-based modifications to existing technology hold the potential to reduce the amount of time radiologists spend on noninterpretive tasks, decrease interruptions, facilitate connections with colleagues, and improve patient care.

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Context: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are used in parallel with clinical evidence to inform decisions made by industry, clinicians, regulators, health technology assessment bodies and other health-care decision-makers. In addition, PRO data can also guide shared decision making and individual patient choice. Yet, the quality of many PROs in cancer clinical trials is suboptimal and requires improvement to add value to health care and policy decision making.

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Purpose: To determine the trajectory of age-dependent cerebral blood flow (CBF) change in infants and young children by fitting mathematical models to the imaging data.

Methods: In this retrospective study, we reviewed the arterial spin-labeling imaging studies of 49 typically developing infants and young children at postmenstrual age (PMA) ranging from 38 to 194 weeks. All patients had normal structural MR imaging.

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Background: General anesthesia and sedation are used routinely for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies in children to optimize image quality. Airway devices such as supraglottic airways (SGAs) can alter the appearance of cervical soft tissue regions on an MRI and increase the risk of misdiagnosis. This phenomenon has not been well described in vivo.

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Background: Although heterologous vascular composite allotransplantation has become a burgeoning treatment option for adult amputees, there have been no successful cases previously reported in children. Here, we describe the surgical, immunological, and neurorehabilitation details with functional outcomes 18 months after heterologous bilateral hand and forearm transplantation in an 8-year-old child with quadrimembral amputations and a previous kidney transplant.

Methods: 2 years of extensive preparation by medical and surgical teams preceded the hand-forearm transplantation of this child.

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Background: Bleeding is the major risk of aspirin treatment, especially in the elderly. A consensus definition for clinically significant bleeding (CSB) in aspirin primary prevention trials is lacking in the literature.

Methods: This paper details the development, modification, application, and quality control of a definition for clinically significant bleeding in the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) trial, a primary prevention trial of aspirin in 19,114 community-dwelling elderly men and women.

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Chromatin remodeling complexes are essential for gene expression programs that coordinate cell function with metabolic status. However, how these remodelers are integrated in metabolic stability pathways is not well known. Here, we report an expansive genetic screen with chromatin remodelers and metabolic regulators in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

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In this repeated measures case study, we show that sensory deafferentation after limb amputation leads to changes in cortical somatotopic maps which are reversible after restoration of sensory input. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we observed in a child with bilateral hand transplants large-scale shifts in somatosensory lip cortical representation from anatomic hand area to anatomic face region. After recovery of tactile sensation in the digits, responses to finger stimulation were localized to orthotopic sensory cortex, but with atypical electrophysiologic features (amplitude and frequencies).

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Background: As electronic health records and computerized workflows expand, there are unprecedented opportunities to digitally connect with patients using secure portals. To realize the value of patient portals, initial reach across populations will need to be demonstrated, as well as sustained usage over time.

Objective: The study aim was to identify patient factors associated with short-term and long-term portal usage after patients registered to access all portal functions.

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