Prediction and analysis of redox-sensitive cysteines using machine learning and statistical methods.

Reactive oxygen species are produced by a number of stimuli and can lead both to irreversible intracellular damage and signaling through reversible post-translational modification. It is unclear which factors contribute to the sensitivity of cysteines to redox modification. Here, we used statistical and machine learning methods to investigate the influence of different structural and sequence features on the modifiability of cysteines.

PTGL: extension to graph-based topologies of cryo-EM data for large protein structures.

Summary: We provide a software to describe the topology of large protein complexes based mainly on cryo-EM data and stored as macromolecular Crystallographic Information Files (mmCIFs) in the PDB. The software extends the Protein Topology Graph Library and implements an efficient file parser to analyze mmCIFs. The extended Protein Topology Graph Library includes a graph-based representation of the topology of protein complexes on the supersecondary and quaternary structure level.

Spine-to-Dendrite Calcium Modeling Discloses Relevance for Precise Positioning of Ryanodine Receptor-Containing Spine Endoplasmic Reticulum.

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) forms a complex endomembrane network that reaches into the cellular compartments of a neuron, including dendritic spines. Recent work discloses that the spine ER is a dynamic structure that enters and leaves spines. While evidence exists that ER Ca release is involved in synaptic plasticity, the role of spine ER morphology remains unknown.

Percutaneous Transsternal Cryoablation of Ectopic Parathyroid Adenoma in the Anterior Mediastinum.

Ectopic parathyroid adenomas are common in the context of hyperparathyroidism and represent a unique challenge in terms of localization and treatment. Often they are related to higher serum calcium levels than those associated with parathyroid adenomas in typical locations. Additionally, ectopic adenomas often lead to higher morbidity due to failed parathyroid exploration and multiple attempts at surgical removal.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria Tinnitus.

Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of an external source. It is a common symptom that can be related to hearing loss and other benign causes. However, tinnitus may be disabling and can be the only symptom in a patient with a central nervous system process disorder.

Assessment of Total Lesion Glycolysis by F FDG PET/CT Significantly Improves Prognostic Value of GEP and ISS in Myeloma.

Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography with CT attenuation correction (F-FDG PET/CT) is useful in the detection and enumeration of focal lesions and in semiquantitative characterization of metabolic activity (glycolytic phenotype) by calculation of glucose uptake. Total lesion glycolysis (TLG) and metabolic tumor volume (MTV) have the potential to improve the value of this approach and enhance the prognostic value of disease burden measures. This study aims to determine whether TLG and MTV are associated with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), and whether they improve risk assessments such as International Staging System (ISS) stage and GEP70 risk.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria Head Trauma.

Neuroimaging plays an important role in the management of head trauma. Several guidelines have been published for identifying which patients can avoid neuroimaging. Noncontrast head CT is the most appropriate initial examination in patients with minor or mild acute closed head injury who require neuroimaging as well as patients with moderate to severe acute closed head injury.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria Myelopathy.

Patients presenting with myelopathic symptoms may have a number of causative intradural and extradural etiologies, including disc degenerative diseases, spinal masses, infectious or inflammatory processes, vascular compromise, and vertebral fracture. Patients may present acutely or insidiously and may progress toward long-term paralysis if not treated promptly and effectively. Noncontrast CT is the most appropriate first examination in acute trauma cases to diagnose vertebral fracture as the cause of acute myelopathy.

Proteasome-associated autoinflammatory syndromes: advances in pathogeneses, clinical presentations, diagnosis, and management.

The disease spectrum currently known as the proteasome-associated autoinflammatory syndromes (PRAAS) was first described in 1939 in patients who presented with recurrent fevers beginning in infancy or early childhood, which were accompanied by nodular erythema, a pernio-like rash, and joint contractures. Since then, several syndromes, such as chronic atypical neutrophilic dermatosis with lipodystrophy and elevated temperature (CANDLE) syndrome, Nakajo-Nishimura syndrome (NNS), joint contractures, muscle atrophy, microcytic anemia and panniculitis-induced lipodystrophy (JMP) syndrome, and Japanese autoinflammatory syndrome with lipodystrophy (JASL), have been used to categorize patients with diseases within the same spectrum. Recently, independent studies have identified mutations in the human proteasome subunit β type 8 (PSMB8) gene, which result in a sustained inflammatory response in all syndromes.

Automated classification of radiology reports to facilitate retrospective study in radiology.

Retrospective research is an import tool in radiology. Identifying imaging examinations appropriate for a given research question from the unstructured radiology reports is extremely useful, but labor-intensive. Using the machine learning text-mining methods implemented in LingPipe [1], we evaluated the performance of the dynamic language model (DLM) and the Naïve Bayesian (NB) classifiers in classifying radiology reports to facilitate identification of radiological examinations for research projects.

Server-based enterprise collaboration software improves safety and quality in high-volume PET/CT practice.

With increasing volumes of complex imaging cases and rising economic pressure on physician staffing, timely reporting will become progressively challenging. Current and planned iterations of PACS and electronic medical record systems do not offer workflow management tools to coordinate delivery of imaging interpretations with the needs of the patient and ordering physician. The adoption of a server-based enterprise collaboration software system by our Division of Nuclear Medicine has significantly improved our efficiency and quality of service.