Translation of PET radiotracers for cancer imaging: recommendations from the National Cancer Imaging Translational Accelerator (NCITA) consensus meeting.

Background: The clinical translation of positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracers for cancer management presents complex challenges. We have developed consensus-based recommendations for preclinical and clinical assessment of novel and established radiotracers, applied to image different cancer types, to improve the standardisation of translational methodologies and accelerate clinical implementation.

Methods: A consensus process was developed using the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method (RAM) to gather insights from a multidisciplinary panel of 38 key stakeholders on the appropriateness of preclinical and clinical methodologies and stakeholder engagement for PET radiotracer translation.

Self-healable printed magnetic field sensors using alternating magnetic fields.

We employ alternating magnetic fields (AMF) to drive magnetic fillers actively and guide the formation and self-healing of percolation networks. Relying on AMF, we fabricate printable magnetoresistive sensors revealing an enhancement in sensitivity and figure of merit of more than one and two orders of magnitude relative to previous reports. These sensors display low noise, high resolution, and are readily processable using various printing techniques that can be applied to different substrates.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning in cancer imaging.

An increasing array of tools is being developed using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for cancer imaging. The development of an optimal tool requires multidisciplinary engagement to ensure that the appropriate use case is met, as well as to undertake robust development and testing prior to its adoption into healthcare systems. This multidisciplinary review highlights key developments in the field.

Implementation of a computed tomography dose management program across a multinational healthcare organization.

Objectives: Radiation dose index monitoring (RDIM) systems may help identify CT dose reduction opportunities, but variability and complexity of imaging procedures make consistent dose optimization and standardization a challenge. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility to standardize and optimize CT protocols through the implementation of a Dose Excellence Program within a European healthcare network.

Methods: The Dose Excellence Program consisted of a multidisciplinary team that developed standardized organizational adult CT protocols and thresholds for relevant radiation dose indices (RDIs).

Coexistence of fluorescent strains in millifluidic droplet reactors.

Understanding competition and cooperation within microbiota is of high fundamental and clinical importance, helping to comprehend species' evolution and biodiversity. We co-encapsulated and cultured two isogenic Escherichia coli strains expressing blue (BFP) and yellow (YFP) fluorescent proteins into numerous emulsion droplets and quantified their growth by employing fluorescence measurements. To characterize and compare the bacterial growth kinetics and behavior in mono and co-culture, we compared the experimental observations with predictions from a simple growth model.

Artificial intelligence for reduced dose 18F-FDG PET examinations: a real-world deployment through a standardized framework and business case assessment.

Background: To determine whether artificial intelligence (AI) processed PET/CT images of reduced by one-third of 18-F-FDG activity compared to the standard injected dose, were non-inferior to native scans and if so to assess the potential impact of commercialization.

Materials And Methods: SubtlePET™ AI was introduced in a PET/CT center in Italy. Eligible patients referred for 18F-FDG PET/CT were prospectively enrolled.

Printable and Stretchable Giant Magnetoresistive Sensors for Highly Compliant and Skin-Conformal Electronics.

Highly compliant electronics, naturally conforming to human skin, represent a paradigm shift in the interplay with the surroundings. Solution-processable printing technologies are yet to be developed to comply with requirements to mechanical conformability of on-skin appliances. Here, it is demonstrated that high-performance spintronic elements can be printed on ultrathin 3 µm thick polymeric foils enabling the mechanically imperceptible printed magnetoelectronics, which can adapt to the periodic buckling surface to be biaxially stretched over 100%.

Lead exposure in clinical imaging - The elephant in the room.

Purpose: Radiation Protection Apparel (RPA) is used during diagnostic imaging and interventional procedures to minimise incidental radiation exposure. The majority of RPA in use are lead-containing, which has until now been considered safe. A recent single-centre study has demonstrated that the external surface of 63 % of RPA was contaminated with lead dust.

Two Orders of Magnitude Boost in the Detection Limit of Droplet-Based Micro-Magnetofluidics with Planar Hall Effect Sensors.

Magnetofluidics is a dynamic research field, which requires novel sensor solutions to boost the detection limit of tiny quantities of magnetized objects. Here, we present a sensing strategy relying on planar Hall effect sensors in droplet-based micro-magnetofluidics for the detection of a multiphase liquid flow, i.e.

Role of Smoking in the Evolution of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance and Laboratory Findings of Acute Myocarditis.

Purpose: The purpose is to investigate cardiac magnetic resonance and laboratory findings in patients with clinically suspected acute myocarditis and re-assess the evolution of findings in relation to clinical parameters and smoking habits.

Methods: We prospectively analyzed 68 consecutive patients (4 females, 64 males, median age 25 years) at baseline and 51 patients 12 months later with regard to age, symptoms, and signs, smoking history, cardiac troponin I, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, c-reactive protein blood levels, electrocardiography changes, and cardiac magnetic resonance findings. Statistical analysis included group comparisons and linear regression between clinical parameters and the obtained data.

A bimodal soft electronic skin for tactile and touchless interaction in real time.

The emergence of smart electronics, human friendly robotics and supplemented or virtual reality demands electronic skins with both tactile and touchless perceptions for the manipulation of real and virtual objects. Here, we realize bifunctional electronic skins equipped with a compliant magnetic microelectromechanical system able to transduce both tactile-via mechanical pressure-and touchless-via magnetic fields-stimulations simultaneously. The magnetic microelectromechanical system separates electric signals from tactile and touchless interactions into two different regions, allowing the electronic skins to unambiguously distinguish the two modes in real time.

Mitotic activity, modulation of DNA processing, and purinergic signalling in the adult rat auditory brainstem following sensory deafferentation.

A complex scenario of cellular network reorganization is caused by unilateral sensory deafferentation (USD) in the adult rat central auditory system. We asked whether this plasticity response involves mitosis. Immunohistochemistry was applied to brainstem sections for the detection and localization of mitotic markers Ki67 and PCNA, the growth-associated protein Gap43 and purine receptor P2X4.

Sensory deafferentation modulates and redistributes neurocan in the rat auditory brainstem.

Introduction: Cochlear ablation causing sensory deafferentation (SD) of the cochlear nucleus triggers complex re-arrangements in the cellular and molecular communication networks of the adult mammalian central auditory system. Participation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in these processes is not well understood.

Methods: We investigated consequences of unilateral SD for the expression and distribution of the chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans, neurocan (Ncan) and aggrecan (Agg), alongside various plasticity markers in the auditory brainstem of the adult rat using immunohistochemical techniques.

Monaural Neonatal Deafness Induces Inhibition among Bilateral Auditory Networks under Binaural Activation.

Worldwide, almost 500 million people are hearing impaired, making hearing loss the most common sensory impairment among humans. For people with single-sided deafness (SSD), cochlear implants (CIs) can be enormously beneficial by providing binaural information. However, binaural benefits in CI users have been only incompletely realized.

Astrocyte Hypertrophy and Microglia Activation in the Rat Auditory Midbrain Is Induced by Electrical Intracochlear Stimulation.

Neuron-glia interactions contribute to tissue homeostasis and functional plasticity in the mammalian brain, but it remains unclear how this is achieved. The potential of central auditory brain tissue for stimulation-dependent cellular remodeling was studied in hearing-experienced and neonatally deafened rats. At adulthood, both groups received an intracochlear electrode into the left cochlea and were continuously stimulated for 1 or 7 days after waking up from anesthesia.

Perivascular extension of microwave ablation zone: demonstrated using an ex vivo porcine perfusion liver model.

Microwave ablation (MWA) has been proposed to suffer less from the heat sink effect compared to radiofrequency ablation but has been reported to cause extension of the ablation zone along intrahepatic vessels in clinical practice. To study this effect in detail, eight fresh porcine livers were perfused in an ex vivo organ perfusion system. Livers were perfused with oxygenated, O-positive human blood at 37 °C.

Cross-sectional study of the provision of interventional oncology services in the UK.

Objective: To map out the current provision of interventional oncology (IO) services in the UK.

Design: Cross-sectional multicentre study.

Setting: All National Health Service (NHS) trusts in England and Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland health boards.

Aspergillosis complicating a microwave ablation cavity.

We present a case of a patient who following chemotherapy developed semi-invasive pulmonary aspergillosis and an aspergilloma in a lung cavity previously formed by microwave ablation (MWA). A 55-year-old woman presented with cough and shortness of breath after finishing three cycles of chemotherapy for a metastatic nerve sheath tumour. She had been treated by MWA for pulmonary metastases 2 years previously which resulted in a residual right apical lung cavity.

Compact Nanowire Sensors Probe Microdroplets.

The conjunction of miniature nanosensors and droplet-based microfluidic systems conceptually opens a new route toward sensitive, optics-less analysis of biochemical processes with high throughput, where a single device can be employed for probing of thousands of independent reactors. Here we combine droplet microfluidics with the compact silicon nanowire based field effect transistor (SiNW FET) for in-flow electrical detection of aqueous droplets one by one. We chemically probe the content of numerous (∼10(4)) droplets as independent events and resolve the pH values and ionic strengths of the encapsulated solution, resulting in a change of the source-drain current ISD through the nanowires.

Effect of Hepatic Perfusion on Microwave Ablation Zones in an Ex Vivo Porcine Liver Model.

Purpose: To compare the size of ablation zones derived from nonperfused ex vivo livers with ablation zones created using an ex vivo perfused porcine liver model.

Materials And Methods: Six fresh porcine livers were used to evaluate microwave ablation (MWA). Perfused (n = 3) and nonperfused (n = 3) livers were warmed to 37°C by oxygenated, O-positive human blood reconstituted with Ringer solution, using an organ perfusion circuit.

Ecotoxicity assessment using ciliate cells in millifluidic droplets.

Precise analysis of the aquatic cells and their responses to the toxic chemicals, i.e., water disinfective agents, is of crucial importance due to their role in the ecosystem.

Perivascular parenchymal extension of the ablation zone following liver microwave ablation.

A 69-year-old man who presented with abdominal discomfort was, on examination, found to have a palpable abdominal mass. Contrast-enhanced CT showed a mass arising from the inferior vena cava, which biopsy confirmed to be a leiomyosarcoma. One month after chemoradiotherapy, CT demonstrated a new 15 mm solitary central right liver metastasis.

Percutaneous High-Energy Microwave Ablation for the Treatment of Pulmonary Tumors: A Retrospective Single-Center Experience.

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of percutaneous high-energy microwave ablation (MWA) for the treatment for pulmonary tumors.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective review was undertaken of 44 patients (21 men, 23 women; median age, 66 y; range, 17-89 y) who underwent 62 sessions of high-energy MWA for 87 pulmonary tumors at a single tertiary referral center between June 2012 and June 2014. Primary tumor origin was sarcoma (n = 23), colorectal (n = 16), lung (n = 2), esophageal (n = 1), breast (n = 1), and bladder (n = 1).