Efficiency of I-ioflupane SPECT as the marker of basal ganglia damage in acute methanol poisoning: 6-year prospective study.

Context: Investigate whether I-ioflupane SPECT (DaT SPECT) has the potential as a marker of basal ganglia damage in acute methanol poisoning.

Methods: Prospective, single-centre, cohort study of patients with confirmed methanol poisoning was conducted. DaT SPECT was performed twice with semi-quantification using DaTQUANT and MRI-based volumetry was calculated.

Toolkit for ICH E6 (R2) Quality Risk Management for Small to Medium Size Companies.

One of the most significant revisions to the ICH E6 GCP Guideline in the last 20 years was issued in November 2016, adopted by the EMA in December 2016 and by the FDA as a Guidance Document in March 2018. The new section on Quality Management requires the implementation of a systematic approach for managing risks throughout the course of a clinical study. The addendum also emphasizes appropriate sponsor oversight.

MRI-guided voxel-based automatic semi-quantification of dopamine transporter imaging.

Purpose: Functional imaging with I-FP-CIT SPECT suffers from poor spatial resolution resulting in partial-volume effect, which affects the subsequent semi-quantification. Definition of regions of interest for semi-quantification is further subject to user's experience and inter-observer variability. The aim of this work has been to develop an automatic method for definition of volumes of interest and partial-volume correction using patient-specific MRI and providing complete contrast recovery in striatal region.

Prospective memory impairment in idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate if prospective memory (PM) is impaired in idiopathic rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (iRBD). RBD is a parasomnia characterized by dream enactment and by REM sleep without muscle atonia. iRBD is considered as the initial stage of neurodegeneration with pathological storage of alpha-synuclein.

Neurological and Neurophysiological Findings in Workers with Chronic 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-Dioxin Intoxication 50 Years After Exposure.

Unlabelled: The last eight survivors of 80 workers accidentally exposed to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) during production of herbicides based on trichlorophenoxyacetic acid in 1965-1967 in a chemical factory were followed. All were men, mean age 72.4 ± 1.

Increased oxidative/nitrosative stress markers measured non- invasively in patients with high 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin plasma level.

Objectives: 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is a highly toxic persistent environmental contaminant, classified as a human carcinogen affecting any target organ. The mechanism of carcinogenesis by TCDD is unclear as TCDD shows a lack of direct genotoxicity. Experimental studies also support the role of oxidative stress in TCDD neurotoxicity and vascular dysfunction.

Chronic health impairment due to 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin exposure.

Objectives: The aim of this study, performed in 2008, was to evaluate the consequences of severe occupational intoxication with 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) that occurred during production of the herbicide trichlorophenoxyacetic acid in the period 1965-1968.

Design: Examination of 11 men, mean age 64.4+/-1.

Serum hyaluronic acid as a potential marker with a predictive value for further radiographic progression of hand osteoarthritis.

Objective: To compare serum levels of hyaluronic acid (HA) between patients with erosive and non-erosive hand osteoarthritis (HOA), and investigate its association with morphological changes and radiographic progression over 2 years.

Methods: Fifty-five women with erosive and 33 women with non-erosive HOA were included in this study. All underwent clinical examination, which included assessment of pain, swelling, deformity and deviation of small hand joints and completed health assessment questionnaires.

The effect of influential data, model and method on the precision of univariate calibration.

Building a calibration model with detection and quantification capabilities is identical to the task of building a regression model. Although commonly used by analysts, an application of the calibration model requires at first careful attention to the three components of the regression triplet (data, model, method), examining (a) the data quality of the proposed model; (b) the model quality; (c) the LS method to be used or a fulfillment of all least-squares assumptions. This paper summarizes these components, describes the effects of deviations from assumptions and considers the correction of such deviations: identifying influential points is the first step in least-squares model building, the calibration task depends on the regression model used, and finally the least squares LS method is based on assumptions of normality of errors, homoscedasticity, independence of errors, overly influential data points and independent variables being subject to error.

Neurological and neurophysiological examinations on workers with chronic poisoning by 2,3,7,8-TCDD: follow-up 35 years after exposure.

Between 1965 and 1968, about 350 workers were accidentally exposed to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) in a chemical plant, which was producing herbicides based on the trichlorophenoxyacetic acid. About 80 workers developed signs of poisoning. The estimated mean concentration of TCDD at the time of exposure was about 5000 pg/g of plasma fat.

The analysis of soil cores polluted with certain metals using the Box-Cox transformation.

To define the soil properties for a given area or country including the level of pollution, soil survey and inventory programs are essential tools. Soil data transformations enable the expression of the original data on a new scale, more suitable for data analysis. In the computer-aided interactive analysis of large data files of soil characteristics containing outliers, the diagnostic plots of the exploratory data analysis (EDA) often find that the sample distribution is systematically skewed or reject sample homogeneity.

Comorbidity of parkinsonism and schizophrenia in a patient treated with clozapine.

Clozapine is the least likely anti-psychotic to induce extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS). We present a surprising case of a woman schizophrenic patient treated with clozapine suffering from EPS. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) revealed a low density of presynaptic dopamine transporters in our patient's brain.

Assessment of the mean-value of 17-hydroxypregnenolone in the umbilical blood of newborns by the exploratory analysis of biochemical data.

The main aim of data analysis in biochemical metrology is the extraction of relevant information from biochemical data measurements. A system of extended exploratory data analysis (EDA) based on the concept of graphical tools for sample data summarization and exploration is proposed and the original EDA algorithm in S-Plus is available on the Internet at http://www.trilobyte.

Analysis of large and small samples of biochemical and clinical data.

Statistical software often offers a list of various descriptive statistics of location and scale, but rarely selects an efficient estimate that is statistically adequate for an actual univariate sample. The sample interval estimate for a specified degree of uncertainty seems to be more meaningful if it covers an unknown value of the population parameter. The concept of an interval estimate in medicine is then used for medical decision-making.

Transformation in the PC-aided biochemical data analysis.

Data transformations enable expression of original data in a new scale, more suitable for data analysis. In computer-aided interactive analysis of biochemical and clinical data an exploratory data analysis often finds that the sample distribution is systematically skewed or does not accept a sample homogeneity. Under such circumstances the original data should be transformed.

Comparison of clinical, laboratory, radiographic, and scintigraphic findings in erosive and nonerosive hand osteoarthritis. Results of a two-year study.

Objectives: The primary objective was to compare the clinical, radiologic, laboratory, and scintigraphic features in 28 patients with erosive hand osteoarthritis and in 24 with non-erosive hand osteoarthritis. Other objectives were to evaluate clinical, radiographic, and scintigraphic progression in the two groups over a two-year period and to estimate the value of bone scintigraphy for predicting clinical and radiographic progression.

Method: Prospective two-year study of 52 patients with hand osteoarthritis, of whom 28 had at least three subchondral erosions and 24 patients had no erosions.

Hepatic copper concentrations in purebred and mixed-breed dogs.

Histomorphologic, histochemical, and atomic absorption analysis studies were performed on liver tissue from 623 clinically normal purebred and mixed-breed dogs to assess the range of hepatic copper concentrations, the histologic distribution of copper, and the histomorphologic changes associated with the various copper concentrations that were found. Atomic absorption analysis revealed a continuous numerical spectrum ranging from less than 100 parts per million on a dry weight basis (ppm dw) to more than 2,000. No decisive numerical criterion was found that could be used to separate normal from abnormal copper concentrations because of this continuous array.

Erdheim-Chester disease.

A new case of Erdheim-Chester lipoid granulomatosis is described in a 40-year-old man. In this lipid storage disease, characteristic symmetrical osteosclerotic areas are observed mainly in metadiaphyses of long tubular bones. Bone biopsy is mandatory for definite diagnosis, although characteristic radiographic pictures often provide an important clue to the correct diagnosis.

Laser-micro-mass analysis (LAMMA) of metallic and organic ions in medical samples.

Laser induced mass spectra of different ions emerging from thin sections or films of biological or organic matrices are discussed by the example of Calcium, Aluminium and Diethyl (2) hexylphthalate. Since the energy transfer of laser light induces not only certain ionization processes, but causes phase transitions and enables interactions between neighbouring atoms and molecules, the ion representative for a certain substance sometimes has to be looked for carefully. Inorganic ions not bound to organic molecules belonging to the matrix are easily detected.

[The role scalene node biopsy in the treatment in carcinoma of the cervix (author's transl)].

Of 75 scalene node biopsies 18 (24%) were positive. In 56 metastasizing carcinomas of the cervix 11 (20%) scalene node biopsies were positive. In primary inoperable cases (57%) or in recurrent spreading cases (54%) of carcinoma of the cervix the scalene node biopsy is valuable for the treatment plan.