Cortisol Correlates with Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging Parameters in Middle Aged Bulgarian Patients with Metabolic Syndrome: A Pilot Study.

Background: There is a dose-dependent relationship between chronically increased cortisol levels and the number of metabolic syndrome (MetS) components. Both cortisol and MetS are linked to various brain abnormalities.

Aim: To investigate an association of MetS components and salivary cortisol levels with cortical thickness in middle-aged Bulgarian patients with MetS.

Characteristics of Unstable Carotid Plaques - New Image Modalities.

Ischemic stroke is a socially significant health problem due to high mortality and disability. One of the leading causes for cerebrovascular accidents is the carotid atherosclerosis. The mechanism of its formation presents not only lipid accumulation in the arterial wall but a complex inflammatory disease.

Adult brain activation during visual learning and memory tasks. An experimental approach to translational neuroscience.

Rationale, Aims, And Objectives: Human brain connectome is a new and rapidly developing field in neuroscience. The pattern of structural and functional connectivity in the brain is not fixed but is continuously changing in response to experiences. Exploring these phenomena opens a powerful arsenal of analyses and computational approaches that could provide important new insights into clinical and cognitive neuroscience.

Imaging investigation of pancreatic cystic lesions and proposal for therapeutic guidelines.

Aim: To propose a diagnostic algorithm for preoperatively predicting the need for surgical intervention.

Methods: The study included 56 patients (27 men and 29 women) with a final diagnosis of cystic pancreatic lesions. The following materials were used: ultrasonic equipment with 3.

Ultrasound tomography in diagnosing cystic pancreatic neoplasms.

Unlabelled: The clinical, radiologic, and pathologic features of cystic pancreatic lesions are well known, and yet preoperative diagnosis is often difficult to make.

Aim: To present the role of ultrasound study in conventional and interventional diagnostics of cystic pancreatic neoplasms.

Patients And Methods: 65 patients (17 men, 48 women) with cystic pancreatic lesions were examined by ultrasound and computer tomography and investigated using a number of diagnostic interventional procedures over three years.

Fine needle aspiration biopsy of dense pulmonary lesions under computed tomography control.

Unlabelled: The AIM of this article was to present our experience in the field of invasive diagnosis of dense pulmonary lesions (both benign and malignant). We consider the advantages and shortcomings of this method and the complication frequency (pneumothorax, haemothorax).

Materials And Methods: 92 patients (39 women and 53 men, aged between 24-70 years) underwent fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) under computed tomography control (CTC).

Improvement of visualization in computed tomographic colonography after mechanic air insufflation.

Objective: Our aim was to develop an insufflation system for CT colonography enabling even and quick air inflation as well as pressure control and optional emergency decompression.

Patients And Methods: A modified air insufflation system for CT colonography, consisting of an electric air pump, manometer, safety valve, and a balloon tip is presented. Thirty one patients underwent CT colonography from August to December, 2004.