Subphenotypes of body composition and their association with cardiometabolic risk - Magnetic resonance imaging in a population-based sample.

Background: For characterizing health states, fat distribution is more informative than overall body size. We used population-based whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify distinct body composition subphenotypes and characterize associations with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.

Methods: Bone marrow, visceral, subcutaneous, cardiac, renal, hepatic, skeletal muscle and pancreatic adipose tissue were measured by MRI in n = 299 individuals from the population-based KORA cohort.

The Mastocytosis Control Test: A Patient-Reported Outcome Measure Assessing Disease Control.

Background: Mastocytosis is characterized by expanding neoplastic mast cells in organs such as the skin, bone marrow, and gastrointestinal tract. The release of mast cell mediators triggers cutaneous, gastrointestinal, and other symptoms. Currently, no validated mastocytosis-specific patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) exists to assess disease control.

The spine-brain axis: is spinal anatomy associated with brain volume?

First small sample studies indicate that disturbances of spinal morphology may impair craniospinal flow of cerebrospinal fluid and result in neurodegeneration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of cervical spinal canal width and scoliosis with grey matter, white matter, ventricular and white matter hyperintensity volumes of the brain in a large study sample. Four hundred participants underwent whole-body 3 T magnetic resonance imaging.

Tuning cohesin trajectories enables differential readout of the Pcdhα cluster across neurons.

Expression of Protocadherin (Pcdh) genes is critical to the generation of neuron identity and wiring of the nervous system. Pcdhα genes are arranged in clusters and exhibit a range of expression profiles, from stochastic to deterministic. Because Pcdhα promoters have high sequence identity and share distal enhancers, how distinct neurons choose which gene to express remains unclear.

Disease modification in chronic spontaneous urticaria.

Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a debilitating, inflammatory skin condition characterized by infiltrating immune cells. Available treatments are limited to improving the signs and symptoms. There is an unmet need to develop therapies that target disease-driving pathways upstream of mast cell activation to inhibit or delay the progression of CSU and associated comorbidities.

Multinational Drug Survival Study of Omalizumab in Patients With Chronic Urticaria and Potential Predictors for Discontinuation.

Importance: Treating patients with chronic urticaria using omalizumab has been shown to be safe and effective in randomized clinical trials. Multinational studies on long-term omalizumab performance in chronic urticaria in clinical practice settings are lacking, especially on drug survival. Drug survival, which refers to the length of time that patients are treated with a specific drug, is a comprehensive outcome covering effectiveness, safety, and patient and physician preferences.

Associations between adrenal gland volume and adipose tissue compartments - a whole body MRI study.

Background: Obesity is associated with alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Effects of glucocorticoids on adipose tissues appear to depend on the specific adipose depot, in which they take place. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of MRI-based adrenal gland volume as an imaging marker in association with different adipose tissue compartments.

Radiomics workflow definition & challenges - German priority program 2177 consensus statement on clinically applied radiomics.

Objectives: Achieving a consensus on a definition for different aspects of radiomics workflows to support their translation into clinical usage. Furthermore, to assess the perspective of experts on important challenges for a successful clinical workflow implementation.

Materials And Methods: The consensus was achieved by a multi-stage process.

Racial disparities in access to, and outcomes of, acute ischaemic stroke treatments in the USA.

Background: Racism contributes to higher comorbid risk factors and barriers to preventive measures for black Americans. Advancements in systems of care, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) availability and endovascular thrombectomy (ET) have impacted practice and outcomes while outpacing contemporary investigation into acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) care disparities. We examined whether recent data suggest ongoing disparity in AIS interventions and outcomes, and if hospital characteristics affect disparities.

Implementation of patient priorities-aligned care in a home-based primary care program.

Background: Older adults may be limited in their ability to access care that meets their health goals owing to disease burden, financial instability, and psychosocial barriers. A home-based primary care (HBPC) program established in 2020 within a large family medicine practice uses the Patient Priorities Care (PPC) approach to identify and address patients' health priorities. When incorporated as part of the HBPC model of care, the PPC approach has the potential to enhance person-centered care for older adults in a way that best supports their health goals.

Rotational phase transitions in antifluorite-type osmate and iridate compounds.

We present temperature-dependent single-crystal diffraction results on seven antifluorite-typeA2MeX6compounds with= Os or Ir: KOsCl,OsBrwith= K, Rb, Cs and NH, and KIrwith= Cl and Br. The structural transitions in this family arise fromoctahedron rotations that generate a rich variety of symmetries depending on the rotation axis and stacking schemes. In order to search for local distortions in the high-symmetry phase we perform refinements of anharmonic atomic displacement parameters with comprehensive data sets.

Radiosensitizing Favors Response to Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy in Patients With Highly Proliferative Neuroendocrine Malignancies: Preliminary Evidence From a Clinical Pilot Study.

Aim/introduction: Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) represents a cornerstone of treatment regimens for patients with low proliferative neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). However, in patients experiencing somatostatin receptor-positive NET with higher proliferation rates, a value and potential therapeutic benefit of PRRT as part of multimodal treatment approaches and potentially with addition of radiosensitizing agents has not yet been established.

Patients And Methods: In this study, 20 patients with histologically confirmed gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) NET with proliferation rates (Ki67) between 15% and 55% were treated either with PRRT only (n = 10) or with a combination therapy (n = 10) comprising PRRT and capecitabine/temozolomide (CAP/TEM) for at least 2 consecutive cycles.

A qualitative assessment of insomnia in recovering alcohol-dependent patients.

Insomnia is a common symptom that may interfere with the efforts of alcohol-dependent patients to initiate and maintain sobriety. This study investigates the experiences of recovering alcohol-dependent patients with insomnia as well as preferences for treatment strategies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 patients in Ukraine and Germany.

Image Quality and Quantitative PET Parameters of Low-Dose [F]FDG PET in a Long Axial Field-of-View PET/CT Scanner.

PET/CT scanners with a long axial field-of-view (LAFOV) provide increased sensitivity, enabling the adjustment of imaging parameters by reducing the injected activity or shortening the acquisition time. This study aimed to evaluate the limitations of reduced [F]FDG activity doses on image quality, lesion detectability, and the quantification of lesion uptake in the Biograph Vision Quadra, as well as to assess the benefits of the recently introduced ultra-high sensitivity mode in a clinical setting. A number of 26 patients who underwent [F]FDG-PET/CT (3.

Impact of the maximum ring difference on image quality and noise characteristics of a total-body PET/CT scanner.

Unlabelled: The sensitivity of a PET system highly depends on the axial acceptance angle or maximum ring difference (MRD), which can be particularly high for total-body scanners due to their larger axial field of views (aFOVs). This study aims to evaluate the impact on image quality (IQ) and noise performance when MRD85 (18°), the current standard for clinical use, is increased to MRD322 (52°) for the Biograph Vision Quadra (Siemens Healthineers).

Methods: Studies with a cylindrical phantom covering the 106 cm aFOV and an IEC phantom filled with F, Ga and Zr were performed for acquisition times from 60 to 1800 s and activity concentrations from 0.

Triple Semi-Circular Canal Occlusion and Cochlear Implantation: A Treatment Option for Single-Sided Menière's Disease with Functional Deafness-A Case Series.

The surgical options for patients with single-sided Menière's disease and functional deafness are challenging. Our case series reports the outcomes of surgical treatments of patients with single-sided Menière's disease and functional deafness. These patients have undergone a one-staged occlusion of all semi-circular canals and cochlear implantation.

Identification of radiomic biomarkers in a set of four skeletal muscle groups on Dixon MRI of the NAKO MR study.

In this work, we propose a processing pipeline for the extraction and identification of meaningful radiomics biomarkers in skeletal muscle tissue as displayed using Dixon-weighted MRI. Diverse and robust radiomics features can be identified that may be of aid in the accurate quantification e.g.

Guiding Post-Hospital Recovery by 'What Matters:' Implementation of Patient Priorities Identification in a VA Community Living Center.

Background: Patient priorities care (PPC) is an effective age-friendly health systems (AFHS) approach to aligning care with goals derived from 'what matters'. The purpose of this quality improvement program was to evaluate the fidelity and feasibility of the health priorities identification (HPI) process in VA Community Living Centers (CLC).

Methods: PPC experts worked with local CLC staff to guide the integration of HPI into the CLC and utilized a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model for this quality improvement project.

WAPL functions as a rheostat of Protocadherin isoform diversity that controls neural wiring.

Neural type-specific expression of clustered Protocadherin (Pcdh) proteins is essential for the establishment of connectivity patterns during brain development. In mammals, deterministic expression of the same Pcdh isoform promotes minimal overlap of tiled projections of serotonergic neuron axons throughout the brain, while stochastic expression of Pcdh genes allows for convergence of tightly packed, overlapping olfactory sensory neuron axons into targeted structures. How can the same gene locus generate opposite transcriptional programs that orchestrate distinct spatial arrangements of axonal patterns? Here, we reveal that cell type-specific Pcdh expression and axonal behavior depend on the activity of cohesin and its unloader, WAPL (wings apart-like protein homolog).