Recurrence After Resection of Pancreatic Cancer: Can Radiomics Predict Patients at Greatest Risk of Liver Metastasis?

Background: Liver metastasis (LM) after pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) resection is common but difficult to predict and has grave prognosis. We combined preoperative clinicopathological variables and quantitative analysis of computed tomography (CT) imaging to predict early LM.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated patients with PDAC submitted to resection between 2005 and 2014 and identified clinicopathological variables associated with early LM.

Quantitative Computed Tomography Image Analysis to Predict Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor Grade.

Purpose: The therapeutic management of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) is based on pathological tumor grade assessment. A noninvasive imaging method to grade tumors would facilitate treatment selection. This study evaluated the ability of quantitative image analysis derived from computed tomography (CT) images to predict PanNET grade.

Radiomic feature reproducibility in contrast-enhanced CT of the pancreas is affected by variabilities in scan parameters and manual segmentation.

Objectives: This study aims to measure the reproducibility of radiomic features in pancreatic parenchyma and ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC) in patients who underwent consecutive contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) scans.

Methods: In this IRB-approved and HIPAA-compliant retrospective study, 37 pairs of scans from 37 unique patients who underwent CECTs within a 2-week interval were included in the analysis of the reproducibility of features derived from pancreatic parenchyma, and a subset of 18 pairs of scans were further analyzed for the reproducibility of features derived from PDAC. In each patient, pancreatic parenchyma and pancreatic tumor (when present) were manually segmented by two radiologists independently.

Critical Care Beds With Continuous Lateral Rotation Therapy to Prevent Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia and Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injury: A Cost-effectiveness Analysis.

Objectives: Mechanical ventilation increases the risk of hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) such as ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and pressure injury (PrI). Beds with continuous lateral rotation therapy (CLRT) are shown to reduce HAC incidence, but the value of switching to CLRT beds is presently unknown. We compared the cost-effectiveness of CLRT beds with standard care in intensive care units.

Comparative study of the influence of pregnancy and hormonal treatment on mammary carcinogenesis.

Since it has been shown that pregnancy protects the mammary gland from chemically induced carcinogenesis, this study was designed with the dual purpose of determining whether treatment of young virgin rats with the placental hormone chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) mimics pregnancy-induced changes in the tumourigenic response of the mammary gland and also whether the effect induced by both pregnancy and hormonal treatments was transitory, or a more permanent one, exerting the same effect when the period of time between delivery or termination of treatment and exposure to the carcinogen is lengthened. Virgin Sprague-Dawley rats were utilised in two experimental protocols. For protocol I, 50 day-old rats were either mated (Group II), or started receiving a daily intraperitoneal injection of 100 IU hCG (Group III) at age 50.

Effect of human chorionic gonadotropin on mammary gland differentiation and carcinogenesis.

The observation that mammary carcinogenesis is inhibited in rats which completed a pregnancy prior to exposure to the chemical carcinogen 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) led us to determine whether the protective effect of pregnancy could be mimicked by treatment with the placental hormone chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). We also studied the effect of this treatment on mammary gland structure and differentiation, and determined whether hCG exerts toxic or collateral effects on body weight and endocrine organs. The systemic effect of hCG on body wt and endocrine organs and mammary gland was studied in outbred virgin Sprague-Dawley rats which at the age of 50 days started receiving 100 IU hCG i.

Protective effect of chorionic gonadotropin on DMBA-induced mammary carcinogenesis.

The effect of the placental hormone chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) on 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary tumours was studied in young virgin Sprague-Dawley rats. This hormone when administered at a dose of 100 IU day-1 does not induce toxic effects, measured as alterations in body weight or weight of endocrine organs, and has a reversible effect on oestrous cycle. The lack of toxicity and the fact that hCG treatment terminated prior to administration of the chemical carcinogen DMBA protects the mammary gland from malignant transformation, led us to test the effect of hCG treatment on DMBA-initiated mammary tumours.

Human chorionic gonadotropin and rat mammary cancer prevention.

The observation that mammary cancer induced by 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) in young, virgin, Sprague-Dawley rats is abolished by pregnancy led us to test the possibility of protecting the mammary gland from chemically induced carcinogenesis by using the placental hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Fifty-day-old, outbred, virgin, Sprague-Dawley rats were utilized in two different experimental protocols. In protocol 1, four groups of virgin rats received either no hCG (group I) or a daily intraperitoneal injection of hCG at 1 IU (group II), 10 IU (group III), or 100 IU (group IV) for 21 days; group I and groups II-IV, at 21 days after the last injection, were given a single intragastric dose of 8 mg of DMBA per 100 g of body weight.

Fetal lung maturity assessment by a modified A650 determination.

This paper presents an evaluation of a modified absorbance method for estimating fetal lung maturity. Absorbance at 650 nm in combination with a two-step centrifugation procedure was used in an attempt to focus more directly on lamellar bodies and evaluate the contribution of residual absorbance due to non-lamellar body materials. Absorbance values after centrifugation at 250 X g for 5 minutes (A250) and 10,000 X g for 20 minutes (A10,000) were taken as estimates of total absorbance due to lamellar bodies plus non-lamellar body material and that due to non-sedimentable, non-lamellar body material respectively.

The effects of internal electronic fetal heart rate monitoring on maternal and infant infections in high-risk pregnancies.

A controlled prospective study of the effects of fetal monitoring on mothers and infants was conducted at Denver General Hospital, Denver, Colorado. A total of 690 high-risk patients in labor were randomly assigned to one of three groups; auscultation alone, electronic fetal monitoring and electronic fetal monitoring with the option to obtain a scalp pH sample. Maternal and neonatal infectious morbidity after vaginal or cesarean delivery was unchanged with internal fetal monitoring.

Rapid gentamicin elimination in obstetric patients.

Wide interpatient variation in gentamicin elimination rates and dosage requirements was demonstrated in 67 obstetric patients with normal serum creatinine levels. A poor correlation occurred between the elimination rate of gentamicin and creatinine clearance (r = .23).