Metabolic and dopaminergic correlates of intellectual enrichment in de-novo Parkinson's disease patients.

Background: Cognitive reserve (CR) is an expression of brain resilience in response to damage. Education, occupational experience and leisure activities are thought to increase CR and have beneficial effects on global cognition and cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease (PD). We aimed to disclose brain metabolic and dopaminergic correlates of CR in de-novo PD patients.

Composite Prediction Score to Interpret Bone Focal Uptake in Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer Patients Imaged with [F]PSMA-1007 PET/CT.

Unspecific bone uptake (UBU) related to [F]PSMA-1007 PET/CT imaging represents a clinical challenge. We aimed to assess whether a combination of clinical, biochemical, and imaging parameters could predict skeletal metastases in patients with [F]PSMA-1007 bone focal uptake, aiding in result interpretation. We retrospectively analyzed [F]PSMA-1007 PET/CT performed in hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (PCa) patients at 3 tertiary-level cancer centers.

Amyloid PET Imaging: Standard Procedures and Semiquantification.

Amyloid plaques are a neuropathologic hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which can be imaged through positron emission tomography (PET) technology using radiopharmaceuticals that selectively bind to the fibrillar aggregates of amyloid-β plaques (Amy-PET). Several radiotracers for amyloid PET have been validated (C-Pittsburgh compound B and the F-labeled compounds such as F-florbetaben, F-florbetapir, and F-flutemetamol). Images can be interpreted by means of visual/qualitative, semiquantitative, and quantitative criteria.

Mandatory role of endoplasmic reticulum and its pentose phosphate shunt in the myocardial defense mechanisms against the redox stress induced by anthracyclines.

Anthracyclines' cardiotoxicity involves an accelerated generation of reactive oxygen species. This oxidative damage has been found to accelerate the expression of hexose-6P-dehydrogenase (H6PD), that channels glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) through the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) confined within the endoplasmic/sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). To verify the role of SR-PPP in the defense mechanisms activated by doxorubicin (DXR) in cardiomyocytes, we tested the effect of this drug in H6PD knockout mice (H6PD).

Cardiac Metastasis from Prostate Cancer: A Case Study Underlying the Crucial Role of the PSMA PET/CT.

Prostate cancer still represents one of the most frequent cancers and causes of death worldwide, despite the huge therapeutic advances in the last decades. The introduction into clinical practice of prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PSMA PET/CT) has significantly improved diagnostic capacity, allowing for the identification of lesions previously undetectable. The case we are presenting is about a 90-year-old man affected by metastatic prostate cancer and treated with hormonal therapies.

The prognostic value of FIGO staging defined by combining MRI and [F]FDG PET/CT in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer.

The last version of the FIGO classification recommended imaging tools to complete the clinical assessment of patients with cervical cancer. However, the preferable imaging approach is still unclear. We aimed to explore the prognostic power of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), contrast-enhanced Computed Tomography (ceCT), and [F]-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography ([F]FDG-PET)/CT in patients staged for locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC, FIGO stages IB3-IVA).

Divergent Oxidative Stress in Normal Tissues and Inflammatory Cells in Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Background: Previous studies reported mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum redox stress in peripheral blood mononucleated cells (PBMCs) of treatment-naïve Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients. Here, we assessed whether this response also applies to non-HL (NHL) patients, and whether the oxidative damage is a selective feature of PBMCs or, rather, also affects tissues not directly involved in the inflammatory response.

Methods: Isolated PBMCs of 28 HL, 9 diffuse large B cell lymphoma, 8 less aggressive-NHL, and 45 controls underwent flow cytometry to evaluate redox stress and uptake of the glucose analogue 2-NBDG.