Fitness, Gray Matter Volume, and Executive Function in Cognitively Normal Older Adults: Cross-Sectional Findings From the AGUEDA Trial.

The aim of the study is to investigate the association of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and muscular strength indicators with gray matter volume (GMV) and to study whether fitness-related regions of GMV are associated to executive function (EF) in cognitively normal older adults. Ninety-one cognitively normal older adults (71.69 ± 3.

Associations between muscular strength and mental health in cognitively normal older adults: a cross-sectional study from the AGUEDA trial.

Objective: To examine the associations between muscular strength and mental health.

Design: We used baseline data of 91 cognitively healthy older adults (71.69 ± 3.

Physical activity and amyloid beta in middle-aged and older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: One of the pathological hallmarks distinguishing Alzheimer's disease from other dementias is the accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ). Higher physical activity is associated with decreased dementia risk, and one potential path could be through Aβ levels modulation. We aimed to explore the relationship between physical activity and Aβ in middle-aged and older adults.

Active Gains in brain Using Exercise During Aging (AGUEDA): protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Alzheimer's disease is currently the leading cause of dementia and one of the most expensive, lethal and severe diseases worldwide. Age-related decline in executive function is widespread and plays a key role in subsequent dementia risk. Physical exercise has been proposed as one of the leading non-pharmaceutical approaches to improve executive function and ameliorate cognitive decline.

[F]FDG PET/CT in Short-Term Complications of COVID-19: Metabolic Markers of Persistent Inflammation and Impaired Respiratory Function.

SARS-CoV-2 virus infects organs other than the lung, such as mediastinal lymph nodes, spleen, and liver, but, to date, metabolic imaging studies obtained in short-term follow-ups of patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 infection are rare. Our objective was to evaluate the usefulness of [F]FDG-PET/CT in the short-term follow-up of patients admitted for COVID-19 pneumonia and to explore the association of the findings with clinical prognostic markers. The prospective study included 20 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia (November 2020-March 2021).

New insights into the evaluation of peripheral nerves lesions: a survival guide for beginners.

Purpose: To perform a review of the physical basis of DTI and DCE-MRI applied to Peripheral Nerves (PNs) evaluation with the aim of providing readers the main concepts and tools to acquire these types of sequences for PNs assessment. The potential added value of these advanced techniques for pre-and post-surgical PN assessment is also reviewed in diverse clinical scenarios. Finally, a brief introduction to the promising applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for PNs evaluation is presented.

Differential Diagnosis of Hepatic Mass with Central Scar: Focal Nodular Hyperplasia Mimicking Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma is a primary hepatic tumor that usually appears in young adults. Radical surgery is considered curative for this kind of tumor, so early diagnosis becomes essential for the prognosis of the patients. The main characteristic of this entity is the central scar, which is the center of differential diagnosis.

Dual-Phase 18F-Florbetaben PET/CT: Unsuspected Thalamic Infarction Mimicking Alzheimer Disease.

Dual-phase amyloid PET is considered a useful protocol to study patients with cognitive impairment. Early-phase 18F-florbetaben PET/CT has been proposed as a surrogate of 18F-FDG PET/CT providing information related to regional brain perfusion. We report the case of a 61-year-old woman referred to the cognitive impairment unit for study, preliminary diagnosed as probable Alzheimer disease.

PET-Amyloid After Inconclusive Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers in Clinical Practice. Is it Necessary to Duplicate Procedures?

Introduction: In the absence of a gold standard for in vivo Alzheimer disease (AD) diagnosis, AD biomarkers such as cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers (CSF-B) and PET-Amyloid are considered diagnostically useful in clinical practice guidelines and have consensual appropriate use criteria (AUC). However, little evidence has been published on their utilization in the clinical setting or on approaches to mismatched results. The objective of this work was to evaluate the use of AD biomarkers in clinical practice, focusing on the implementation of PET-Amyloid in cases of inconclusive CSF-B.

Impact of amyloid-PET in daily clinical management of patients with cognitive impairment fulfilling appropriate use criteria.

To evaluate the use of amyloid-positron emission tomography (PET) in routine clinical practice, in a selected population with cognitive impairment that meets appropriate use criteria (AUC).A multicenter, observational, prospective case-series study of 211patients from 2 level-3 hospitals who fulfilled clinical AUC for amyloid-PET scan in a naturalistic setting. Certainty degree was evaluated using a 5-point Likert scale: 0 (very low probability); 1 (low probability); 2 (intermediate probability); 3 (high probability); and 4 (practically sure), before and after amyloid PET.

Usefulness of 18F-fluorocoline PET/CT in prostate cancer patients with biochemical recurrence: Influence of PSA kinetics and hormone therapy.

Purpose: To evaluate the capacity of 18f-fluorocholine positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FCH PET/CT) to detect biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer and to determine the correlation with PSA kinetics and influence of antiandrogen hormone therapy.

Patients And Methods: Observational and retrospective study, which included patients with prostate cancer and criteria for biochemical recurrence and/or resistance to castration, according to the European Association of Urology. FCH PET/CT results were classified as positive or negative, using as gold standard the pathology report, findings of other imaging test, and/or clinical follow-up results.

Usefulness of Dual-Point Amyloid PET Scans in Appropriate Use Criteria: A Multicenter Study.

Background: Biomarkers of neurodegeneration play a major role in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Information on both amyloid-β accumulation, e.g.

Using CT Data to Improve the Quantitative Analysis of F-FBB PET Neuroimages.

F-FBB PET is a neuroimaging modality that is been increasingly used to assess brain amyloid deposits in potential patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this work, we analyze the usefulness of these data to distinguish between AD and non-AD patients. A dataset with F-FBB PET brain images from 94 subjects diagnosed with AD and other disorders was evaluated by means of multiple analyses based on -test, ANOVA, Fisher Discriminant Analysis and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification.

Diagnosis of Neurodegenerative Diseases: The Clinical Approach.

There are a number of clinical questions for which there are no easy answers, even for well-trained doctors. The diagnostic tool commonly used to assess cognitive impairment in neurodegenerative diseases is based on established clinical criteria. However, the differential diagnosis between disorders can be difficult, especially in early phases or atypical variants.

¹⁸F-Fluorocholine PET/CT as a complementary tool in the follow-up of low-grade glioma: diagnostic accuracy and clinical utility.

Purpose: The follow-up of treated low-grade glioma (LGG) requires the evaluation of subtle clinical changes and MRI results. When the result is inconclusive, additional procedures are required to assist decision-making, such as the use of advanced MRI (aMRI) sequences and nuclear medicine scans (SPECT and PET). The aim of this study was to determine whether incorporating (18)F-fluorocholine PET/CT in the follow-up protocol for treated LGG improves diagnostic accuracy and clinical utility.

[Differential association between the regional metabolism of the prefrontal cortex and limbic structures, and the time of abstinence in substance dependent individuals].

Despite the existence of numerous neuroimaging studies demonstrating significant brain functional alterations in substance users, only a few studies have tried to analyze the association between the duration of abstinence and brain metabolism within substance users. The aim of this study was to examine the association between resting-state regional brain metabolism (measured with 18F-fluordeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDGPET) and duration of drug abstinence in a sample of 49 abstinent polysubstance users. PET images were pre-processed and analyzed using SPM5 and SPSS 15.

Ability of FDG-PET/CT in the detection of gallbladder cancer.

Purpose: To assess the value of FDG-PET/CT in the evaluation of gallbladder carcinomas (GBC).

Methods: A prospective cohort of patients with suspicion of or confirmed GBC was studied with FDG-PET/CT. Diagnostic accuracy parameters were calculated in comparison with pathology and/or the clinical course of patients.

Neural correlates of hot and cold executive functions in polysubstance addiction: association between neuropsychological performance and resting brain metabolism as measured by positron emission tomography.

The study of substance-abuse-related neuropsychological deficits and brain alterations may provide a better understanding of the neuroadaptations associated with addiction. In this study we investigated the association between performance on neuropsychological tests of cold and hot executive functions and regional brain metabolism. Measured with positron emission tomography (PET), in a sample of 49 substance-dependent individuals (SDI).

Effective diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease by means of large margin-based methodology.

Background: Functional brain images such as Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) have been widely used to guide the clinicians in the Alzheimer's Disease (AD) diagnosis. However, the subjectivity involved in their evaluation has favoured the development of Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) Systems.

Methods: It is proposed a novel combination of feature extraction techniques to improve the diagnosis of AD.

Neural correlates of the severity of cocaine, heroin, alcohol, MDMA and cannabis use in polysubstance abusers: a resting-PET brain metabolism study.

Introduction: Functional imaging studies of addiction following protracted abstinence have not been systematically conducted to look at the associations between severity of use of different drugs and brain dysfunction. Findings from such studies may be relevant to implement specific interventions for treatment. The aim of this study was to examine the association between resting-state regional brain metabolism (measured with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET) and the severity of use of cocaine, heroin, alcohol, MDMA and cannabis in a sample of polysubstance users with prolonged abstinence from all drugs used.

The value of metabolic imaging to predict tumour response after chemoradiation in locally advanced rectal cancer.

Background: We aim to investigate the possibility of using 18F-positron emission tomography/computer tomography (PET-CT) to predict the histopathologic response in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) treated with preoperative chemoradiation (CRT).

Methods: The study included 50 patients with LARC treated with preoperative CRT. All patients were evaluated by PET-CT before and after CRT, and results were compared to histopathologic response quantified by tumour regression grade (patients with TRG 1-2 being defined as responders and patients with grade 3-5 as non-responders).

Thallium-201 SPECT in brain gliomas: Quantitative assessment in differential diagnosis between tumor recurrence and radionecrosis.

Objective: To compare various published thallium-201 uptake indexes in the differential diagnosis in recurrent brain gliomas.

Material And Methods: Thallium-201 SPECT studies were performed in 79 patients previously treated for glial tumor with clinical or radiologic suspicion of recurrence. Regions of interest were established in the tumor area and in other sites with normal uptake.

Analysis of SPECT brain images for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease using moments and support vector machines.

This paper presents a computer-aided diagnosis technique for improving the accuracy of diagnosing the Alzheimer's type dementia. The proposed methodology is based on the calculation of the skewness for each m-by-m-by-m sliding block of the SPECT brain images. The center pixel in this m-by-m-by-m block is replaced by the skewness value to build a new 3-D brain image which is used for classification purposes.