Extra-Esophageal Presentation of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: 2020 Update.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is defined by the presence of symptoms induced by the reflux of the stomach contents into the esophagus. Although clinical manifestations of GERD typically involve the esophagus, extra-esophageal manifestations are widespread and less known. In this review, we discuss extra-esophageal manifestations of GERD, focusing on clinical presentations, diagnosis, and treatment.

Autoimmune hepatitis treatment in the elderly: A systematic review.

Background: Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a rare chronic inflammatory liver disease with a high risk of progression to liver cirrhosis. The initial treatment for AIH usually includes a steroid, with or without azathioprine. AIH can present at any age; however, the most effective and safe induction treatment for AIH in the elderly remains unclear.

Microparticles Carrying Sonic Hedgehog Are Increased in Humans with Peripheral Artery Disease.

Sonic hedgehog (Shh) is a prototypical angiogenic agent with a crucial role in the regulation of angiogenesis. Experimental studies have shown that Shh is upregulated in response to ischemia. Also, Shh may be found on the surface of circulating microparticles (MPs) and MPs bearing Shh (Shh + MPs) have shown the ability to contribute to reparative neovascularization after ischemic injury in mice.

A texture analysis approach for objective uniformity evaluation in diagnostic ultrasound imaging: A preliminary study.

Ultrasound image uniformity is an important parameter for quality assurance in diagnostic ultrasounds, but it is usually assessed by a qualitative judgement of technicians so its estimation is rough and subjective. In this work a novel method is developed to give an objective measurement of the Bmode image uniformity over the whole field of view or some of its part: the Texture Distribution Analysis Method (TDAM) is based on a segmentation of the Region of Interest, depending on some texture features calculated from co-occurrence matrices. Results on a set of 10 test images with different non-uniformities (Uniformity Image Test Set or UITS) show a good sensitivity and agreement of TDAM with the mean judgment by 5 human observers (TUV): TDAM and TUV uniformity values are coherent for the whole UITS, nevertheless a high uncertainty in uniformity values has been observed (up to 28 percent).