Multimodal Management of Coexisting Atlantoaxial Subluxation and Spinal Stenosis in an Older Adult: A Case Report and Literature Review.

This case report investigates the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges caused by the coexistence of atlantoaxial subluxation and spinal stenosis in a 70-year-old male patient with chronic progressive numbness in both hands. A detailed assessment showed that the patient's symptoms were primarily caused by spinal stenosis, not atlantoaxial subluxation. Considering the patient's age and preference for nonsurgical treatment, a conservative chiropractic care plan was implemented, significantly improving his symptoms and quality of life.

Conservative Management of Low Back Pain and Scoliosis in a Patient With Rheumatoid Arthritis: Eight Years Follow-Up.

Scoliosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can cause significant pain and disability. RA has been extensively studied in relation to the cervical spine, yet the pathology of the thoracic and lumbar spine in RA patients has been largely overlooked. A 66-year-old woman, with longstanding RA and severe scoliosis, presented to the chiropractic clinic with a five-month history of exacerbated low back pain radiating to the right lower limb.

Parotid Oncocytoma on 99mTc-Sestamibi Scintigraphy and SPECT/CT.

Oncocytomas in the parotid gland are a rare benign neoplasm composed of mitochondrial-rich oncocytes. Here we present the case of an 85-year-old man with a history of biopsy-proven right parotid gland oncocytoma who underwent 99mTc-sestamibi scintigraphy and SPECT/CT in the context of primary hyperparathyroidism. Focal intense uptake of radiotracer is detected within the right parotid gland on sestamibi scintigraphy.

A Rare Case of Vulvar Hibernoma Treated With Resection.

Hibernoma is a rare benign neoplasm of brown adipose tissue most frequently involving the thigh, shoulder, back, and neck. Differentiating this benign entity from other lipomatous tumors such as well-differentiated liposarcoma is essential, given the different surgical approaches and prognosis associated with each diagnosis. It is helpful for the radiologist to recognize the uncommon locations of hibernoma, as well as characteristic imaging features, in order to properly include it in the differential considerations.

Bilateral ovarian metastasis of clear-cell renal cell carcinoma: A case report.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) accounts for 2-3% of all adult malignancies. Clear-cell type RCC is the most common type, accounting for approximately 75% of all renal cancer cases. The most common sites of metastasis include the lung, bone, and liver.

Split-Dose F-FDG PET/CT-Guided Microwave Ablation for Liver Metastasis Recurrence with Immediate Treatment Assessment.

A 48-y-old man with a history of colon cancer presented with recurrent hepatic metastasis along a prior microwave ablation bed. Split-bolus, intraprocedural F-FDG PET was performed to guide repeat microwave ablation and immediately confirm complete treatment. PET-guided ablation is highly accurate for targeting and treating malignant hepatic lesions and feasible for nonspecialized tertiary care hospitals without an onsite cyclotron.

Perfusion Imaging in Acute Traumatic Brain Injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant problem worldwide and neuroimaging plays a critical role in diagnosis and management. Recently, perfusion neuroimaging techniques have been explored in TBI to determine and characterize potential perfusion neuroimaging biomarkers to aid in diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. In this article, computed tomography (CT) bolus perfusion, MR imaging bolus perfusion, MR imaging arterial spin labeling perfusion, and xenon CT are reviewed with a focus on their applications in acute TBI.

Texture-based Quantification of Centrilobular Emphysema and Centrilobular Nodularity in Longitudinal CT Scans of Current and Former Smokers.

Rationale And Objectives: The effect of smoking cessation on centrilobular emphysema (CLE) and centrilobular nodularity (CN), two manifestations of smoking-related lung injury on computed tomography (CT) images, has not been clarified. The objective of this study is to leverage texture analysis to investigate differences in extent of CLE and CN between current and former smokers.

Materials And Methods: Chest CT scans from 350 current smokers, 401 former smokers, and 25 control subjects were obtained from the multicenter COPDGene Study, a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant study approved by the institutional review board of each participating clinical study center.

Swimming Microrobot Optical Nanoscopy.

Optical imaging plays a fundamental role in science and technology but is limited by the ability of lenses to resolve small features below the fundamental diffraction limit. A variety of nanophotonic devices, such as metamaterial superlenses and hyperlenses, as well as microsphere lenses, have been proposed recently for subdiffraction imaging. The implementation of these micro/nanostructured lenses as practical and efficient imaging approaches requires locomotive capabilities to probe specific sites and scan large areas.

EGFR protein expression in non-small cell lung cancer predicts response to an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor--a novel antibody for immunohistochemistry or AQUA technology.

Introduction: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is not recommended for predicting response to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) due to conflicting results, all using antibodies detecting EGFR external domain (ED). We tested the predictive value of EGFR protein expression for response to an EGFR TKI with an antibody that detects the intracellular domain (ID) and compared fluorescence-based Automated QUantitative Analysis (AQUA) technology to immunohistochemistry (IHC).

Methods: Specimens from 98 gefitinib-treated NSCLC Japanese patients were evaluated by IHC (n = 98 of 98) and AQUA technology (n = 70 of 98).

Magnetization transfer enhanced vascular-space-occupancy (MT-VASO) functional MRI.

Vascular-space-occupancy (VASO) MRI is a novel technique that uses blood signal nulling to detect blood volume alterations through changes in tissue signal. VASO has relatively low signal to noise ratio (SNR) because only 10-20% of tissue signal remain at the time of blood nulling. Here, it is shown that by adding a magnetization transfer (MT) prepulse it is possible to increase SNR either by attenuating the initial tissue magnetization when the MT pulse is placed before inversion, or, accelerating the recovery process when the pulse is applied after the inversion.

Size-induced enhancement of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) contrast in liposomes.

Liposome-based chemical exchange saturation transfer (lipoCEST) agents have shown great sensitivity and potential for molecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Here we demonstrate that the size of liposomes can be exploited to enhance the lipoCEST contrast. A concise analytical model is developed to describe the contrast dependence on size for an ensemble of liposomes.

Axis-dependent anisotropy in protein unfolding from integrated nonequilibrium single-molecule experiments, analysis, and simulation.

We present a comprehensive study that integrates experimental and theoretical nonequilibrium techniques to map energy landscapes along well defined pull-axis specific coordinates to elucidate mechanisms of protein unfolding. Single-molecule force-extension experiments along two different axes of photoactive yellow protein combined with nonequilibrium statistical mechanical analysis and atomistic simulation reveal energetic and mechanistic anisotropy. Steered molecular dynamics simulations and free-energy curves constructed from the experimental results reveal that unfolding along one axis exhibits a transition-state-like feature where six hydrogen bonds break simultaneously with weak interactions observed during further unfolding.

Oxygenation and hematocrit dependence of transverse relaxation rates of blood at 3T.

Knowledge of the transverse relaxation rates R2 and R2* of blood is relevant for quantitative assessment of functional MRI (fMRI) results, including calibration of blood oxygenation and measurement of tissue oxygen extraction fractions (OEFs). In a temperature controlled circulation system, these rates were measured for blood in vitro at 3T under conditions akin to the physiological state. Single spin echo (SE) and gradient echo (GRE) sequences were used to determine R2 and R2*, respectively.

Single-molecule detection of structural changes during Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) domain activation.

The Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) domain is a ubiquitous protein module with a common three-dimensional fold involved in a wide range of regulatory and sensory functions in all domains of life. The activation of these functions is thought to involve partial unfolding of N- or C-terminal helices attached to the PAS domain. Here we use atomic force microscopy to probe receptor activation in single molecules of photoactive yellow protein (PYP), a prototype of the PAS domain family.

Differential inducibility of rat pulmonary CYP1A1 by cigarette smoke and wood smoke.

Mainstream cigarette smoke (CS) and wood smoke (WS) were compared in terms of their pulmonary CYP1A1 inducibility. The inducibility was assessed in pulmonary microsomes from rats exposed to freshly generated CS or WS and in rat lung explants treated with extracts of CS or WS total particulate matter (TPM). Mutagenicity in Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100, an effect established for CS and WS in previous studies, was also examined as a test of the biological activity of the smoke samples in the present study.