Longitudinal structural and metabolic changes in frontotemporal dementia.

Objective: To compare the sensitivity of structural MRI and F-fludeoxyglucose PET (FDG-PET) to detect longitudinal changes in frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

Methods: Thirty patients with behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD), 7 with nonfluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA), 16 with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA), and 43 cognitively normal controls underwent 2-4 MRI and FDG-PET scans (total scans/visit = 270) as part of the Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration Neuroimaging Initiative study. Linear mixed-effects models were carried out voxel-wise and in regions of interest to identify areas showing decreased volume or metabolism over time in patients as compared to controls.

Rates of Amyloid Imaging Positivity in Patients With Primary Progressive Aphasia.

Importance: The ability to predict the pathology underlying different neurodegenerative syndromes is of critical importance owing to the advent of molecule-specific therapies.

Objective: To determine the rates of positron emission tomography (PET) amyloid positivity in the main clinical variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA).

Design, Setting, And Participants: This prospective clinical-pathologic case series was conducted at a tertiary research clinic specialized in cognitive disorders.

Local and distant relationships between amyloid, tau and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's Disease.

The relationships between β-amyloid (Aβ), tau and neurodegeneration within Alzheimer's Disease pathogenesis are not fully understood. To explore these associations , we evaluated 30 Aβ PET-positive patients (mean ± sd age 62.4 ± 8.

Biological grafts for hemodialysis access: historical lessons, state-of-the-art and future directions.

The vast majority of arteriovenous grafts (AVG) have been constructed using expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE). While ePTFE grafts have the advantage of being relatively inexpensive and easy to manufacture, distribute, ship, and store, their primary patency rates are disappointing when compared with the native AVF. Though use of arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) in the United States has increased substantially, approximately 25% of hemodialysis patients continue to use AVG as their vascular access.

Radiation exposure in dialysis access-related procedures decreases with increase in number of procedures performed by the interventional nephrologist.

An appreciation of the inherent risks with radiation exposure to patients and to the physician performing the procedure and the staff is urgently needed. The objective of this study is to assess radiation exposure to both patients and interventional nephrologists performing procedures and see any trends in the procedure and fluoroscopy times over a 2-year period. A total of 400 procedures performed at our vascular access center by a new to practice interventional nephrologist were recorded and retrospectively analyzed.