Vascular adhesion protein-1 blockade in primary sclerosing cholangitis: Open-label, multicenter, single-arm, phase II trial.

Background: Primary sclerosing cholangitis is a progressive inflammatory liver disease characterized by biliary and liver fibrosis. Vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1) is important in the inflammatory process driving liver fibrosis. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of VAP-1 blockade with a monoclonal antibody (timolumab, BTT1023) in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis.

Enantio- and Regioselective Copper-Catalyzed 1,2-Dearomatization of Pyridines.

A copper-catalyzed dearomative alkynylation of pyridines is reported with excellent regio- and enantioselectivities. The synthetically valuable enantioenriched 2-alkynyl-1,2-dihydropyridine products afforded are generated from the readily available feedstock, pyridine, and commercially available terminal alkynes. The three-component reaction between a pyridine, a terminal alkyne, and methyl chloroformate employs copper chloride and StackPhos, a chiral biaryl P,N- ligand, as the catalytic system.

Recent treatment advances and practical management of hepatitis D virus.

Hepatitis D virus (HDV), also referred to as hepatitis delta virus, is the smallest virus capable of causing human disease. It is unable to replicate on its own and can only propagate in the presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV). Infection with both HBV and HDV frequently results in more severe disease than HBV alone, with higher instances of cirrhosis, liver failure and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Transcatheter versus surgical closure of atrial septal defects: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical outcomes.

Background: Atrial septal defects are a common form of CHD and dependent on the size and nature of atrial septal defects, closure may be warranted. The paper aims to compare outcomes of transcatheter versus surgical repair of atrial septal defects.

Methods: A comprehensive electronic literature search was conducted.

Type 2 Autoimmune Hepatitis and Nonadherence to Medication Correlate With Premature Birth and Risk of Postpartum Flare.

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is an immune-mediated chronic liver disease that affects all ages, including women of childbearing age. Optimal management during pregnancy is poorly defined. We aimed to explore the clinical and biochemical course of AIH in the antenatal and postpartum periods, and assess factors associated with premature birth and postpartum flares.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Intensive Care Unit Patients.

Chest radiography is the most frequent and primary imaging modality in the intensive care unit (ICU), given its portability, rapid image acquisition, and availability of immediate information on the bedside preview. Due to the severity of underlying disease and frequent need of placement of monitoring devices, ICU patients are very likely to develop complications related to underlying disease process and interventions. Portable chest radiography in the ICU is an essential tool to monitor the disease process and the complications from interventions; however, it is subject to overuse especially in stable patients.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Hemoptysis.

Hemoptysis, the expectoration of blood, ranges in severity from nonmassive to massive. This publication reviews the literature on the imaging and treatment of hemoptysis. Based on the literature, the imaging recommendations for massive hemoptysis are both a chest radiograph and CT with contrast or CTA with contrast.

Variabilities of Magnetic Resonance Imaging-, Computed Tomography-, and Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography-Based Tumor and Lymph Node Delineations for Lung Cancer Radiation Therapy Planning.

Purpose: To investigate interobserver delineation variability for gross tumor volumes of primary lung tumors and associated pathologic lymph nodes using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and to compare the results with computed tomography (CT) alone- and positron emission tomography (PET)-CT-based delineations.

Methods And Materials: Seven physicians delineated the tumor volumes of 10 patients for the following scenarios: (1) CT only, (2) PET-CT fusion images registered to CT ("clinical standard"), and (3) postcontrast T1-weighted MRI registered with diffusion-weighted MRI. To compute interobserver variability, the median surface was generated from all observers' contours and used as the reference surface.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria Suspected Pulmonary Hypertension.

Pulmonary hypertension may be idiopathic or related to a large variety of diseases. Various imaging examinations that may be helpful in diagnosing and determining the etiology of pulmonary hypertension are discussed. Imaging examinations that may aid in the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension include chest radiography, ultrasound echocardiography, ventilation/perfusion scans, CT, MRI, right heart catheterization, pulmonary angiography, and fluorine-18-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose PET/CT.

Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) change on repeated diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging during radiochemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer: A pilot study.

Objectives: Serial diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) during radiochemotherapy of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is analyzed to investigate the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) as a potential biomarker for tumor response.

Methods: Ten patients underwent DW-MRI prior to and at three and six weeks during radiochemotherapy. Three methods of contouring primary tumors (PT) were performed to evaluate the impact of tumor heterogeneity on ADC values: PTT: whole tumor volume; PTT-N: PTT-necrosis; PTL: small volume of presumed active tumor with low ADC value.

Estimation of optimal b-value sets for obtaining apparent diffusion coefficient free from perfusion in non-small cell lung cancer.

The purpose of this study was to determine optimal sets of b-values in diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) for obtaining monoexponential apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) close to perfusion-insensitive intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) model ADC (ADCIVIM) in non-small cell lung cancer. Ten subjects had 40 DW-MRI scans before and during radiotherapy in a 1.5 T MRI scanner.

Total artificial heart implantation: clinical indications, expected postoperative imaging findings, and recognition of complications.

Objective: The purposes of this article are to review the treatment options for late-stage biventricular heart failure, discuss the clinical indications for total artificial heart (TAH) implantation, illustrate the expected imaging findings after uncomplicated TAH implantation, and highlight the radiologic findings of common and uncommon complications associated with TAH implantation through case examples.

Conclusion: TAH implantation is an effective therapeutic option for the treatment of patients with end-stage biventricular heart failure. The duration of implantation varies depending on a particular patient's medical condition and the eventual availability of a human heart for orthotopic transplantation.

Use of a hybrid iterative reconstruction technique to reduce image noise and improve image quality in obese patients undergoing computed tomographic pulmonary angiography.

Purpose: To determine whether an iterative reconstruction (IR) technique (iDose, Philips Healthcare) can reduce image noise and improve image quality in obese patients undergoing computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA).

Materials And Methods: The study was Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliant and approved by our institutional review board. A total of 33 obese patients (average body mass index: 42.

Electronic publishing in radiology: economics and the future.

Scholarly publishing is a large market involving thousands of peer-reviewed journals but a decreasing number of publishers. An economic model can be described in which authors give their work to publishers who then sell access to this work. Because each published article is a unique work with few if any substitutes, publishers have some degree of monopoly power and can price their products accordingly.

Electronic publishing in radiology: beginnings, current status, and expanding horizons.

Electronic publishing in radiology began in the 1980s and gathered momentum as use of the personal computer and subsequently the World Wide Web became commonplace. The ease of access and wide distribution that the Internet affords have presented both experts and lay users with the challenge of distinguishing reliable from unreliable material. In the field of radiology, peer-reviewed journals, the sine qua non of reliability in the scientific realm, began to appear in online versions in 1988, and now, nearly all such journals currently have online versions.

Tumoral calcinosis: pearls, polemics, and alternative possibilities.

Massive periarticular calcinosis of the soft tissues is a unique but not rare radiographic finding. On the contrary, tumoral calcinosis is a rare familial disease. Unfortunately, the term tumoral calcinosis has been liberally and imprecisely used to describe any massive collection of periarticular calcification, although this term actually refers to a hereditary condition associated with massive periarticular calcification.