Ultrasound-Enhanced Fine-Needle Biopsy Improves Yield in Human Epithelial and Lymphoid Tissue.

Objective: Needle biopsy is a common technique used to obtain cell and tissue samples for diagnostics. Currently, two biopsy methods are widely used: (i) fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) and (ii) core needle biopsy (CNB). However, these methods have limitations.

Patient influence on general practice service improvement decision making: a participatory research mixed-methods intervention study.

Background: Health policy promotes patient participation in decision making about service organisation. In English general practice this happens through contractually required patient participation groups (PPGs). However, there are problems with the enactment of PPGs that have not been systematically addressed.

Diagnostic Performance, Triage Safety, and Usability of a Clinical Decision Support System Within a University Hospital Emergency Department: Algorithm Performance and Usability Study.

Background: Computerized clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) are increasingly adopted in health care to optimize resources and streamline patient flow. However, they often lack scientific validation against standard medical care.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the performance, safety, and usability of a CDSS in a university hospital emergency department setting in Kuopio, Finland.

An ultrasonically actuated needle promotes the transport of nanoparticles and fluids.

Non-invasive therapeutic ultrasound (US) methods, such as high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), have limited access to tissue targets shadowed by bones or presence of gas. This study demonstrates that an ultrasonically actuated medical needle can be used to translate nanoparticles and fluids under the action of nonlinear phenomena, potentially overcoming some limitations of HIFU. A simulation study was first conducted to study the delivery of a tracer with an ultrasonically actuated needle (33 kHz) inside a porous medium acting as a model for soft tissue.

An ultrasonically actuated fine-needle creates cavitation in bovine liver.

Ultrasonic cavitation is being used in medical applications as a way to influence matter, such as tissue or drug vehicles, on a micro-scale. Oscillating or collapsing cavitation bubbles provide transient mechanical force fields, which can, e.g.

A capaciflector provides continuous and accurate respiratory rate monitoring for patients at rest and during exercise.

Respiratory rate (RR) is a marker of critical illness, but during hospital care, RR is often inaccurately measured. The capaciflector is a novel sensor that is small, inexpensive, and flexible, thus it has the potential to provide a single-use, real-time RR monitoring device. We evaluated the accuracy of continuous RR measurements by capaciflector hardware both at rest and during exercise.

Modelling aerosol transport and virus exposure with numerical simulations in relation to SARS-CoV-2 transmission by inhalation indoors.

We provide research findings on the physics of aerosol and droplet dispersion relevant to the hypothesized aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during the current pandemic. We utilize physics-based modeling at different levels of complexity, along with previous literature on coronaviruses, to investigate the possibility of airborne transmission. The previous literature, our 0D-3D simulations by various physics-based models, and theoretical calculations, indicate that the typical size range of speech and cough originated droplets ( ) allows lingering in the air for ) so that they could be inhaled.

EZH2 Cooperates with DNA Methylation to Downregulate Key Tumor Suppressors and IFN Gene Signatures in Melanoma.

The histone methylase EZH2 is frequently dysregulated in melanoma and is associated with DNA methylation and silencing of genes involved in tumor suppression. In this study, we used chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing to identify key suppressor genes that are silenced by histone methylation in constitutively active EZH2 mutant melanoma and assessed whether these regions were also sites of DNA methylation. The genes identified were validated by their re-expression after treatment with EZH2 and DNA methyltransferase inhibitors.

Lateral fluid-percussion injury leads to pituitary atrophy in rats.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes neuroendocrine dysregulation in up to 40% of humans, which is related to impaired function of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal axis and contributes to TBI-related co-morbidities. Our objective was to investigate whether hypophyseal atrophy can be recapitulated in rat lateral fluid-percussion injury model of human TBI. High-resolution structural magnetic resonance images (MRI) were acquired from rats at 2 days and 5 months post-TBI.

Multimodal MRI assessment of damage and plasticity caused by status epilepticus in the rat brain.

Status epilepticus or other brain-damaging insults launch a cascade of events that may lead to the development of epilepsy. MRI techniques available today, including T(2) - and T(1) -weighted imaging, functional MRI, manganese enhanced MRI (MEMRI), arterial spin labeling (ASL), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and phase imaging, can detect not only damage caused by status epilepticus but also plastic changes in the brain that occur in response to damage. Optimal balance between damage and recovery processes is a key for planning possible treatments, and noninvasive imaging has the potential to greatly facilitate this process and to make personalized treatment plans possible.

Genes and gene ontologies common to airflow obstruction and emphysema in the lungs of patients with COPD.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major public health problem with increasing prevalence worldwide. The primary aim of this study was to identify genes and gene ontologies associated with COPD severity. Gene expression profiling was performed on total RNA extracted from lung tissue of 18 former smokers with COPD.

High intake of folate from food sources is associated with reduced risk of esophageal cancer in an Australian population.

Folate plays a key role in DNA synthesis and methylation. Limited evidence suggests high intake may reduce risks of esophageal cancer overall; however, associations with esophageal cancer subtypes and Barrett's esophagus (BE), a precancerous lesion, remain unexplored. We evaluated the relation between intake of folate, B vitamins, and methyl-group donors (methionine, choline, betaine) from foods and supplements, polymorphisms in key folate-metabolizing genes, and risk of BE, esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in 2 population-based case-control studies in Australia.

Chronic hyperperfusion and angiogenesis follow subacute hypoperfusion in the thalamus of rats with focal cerebral ischemia.

Cerebral blood flow (CBF) is disrupted after focal ischemia in rats. We examined long-term hemodynamic and cerebrovascular changes in the rat thalamus after focal cerebral ischemia. Cerebral blood flow quantified by arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging was decreased in the ipsilateral and contralateral thalamus 2 days after cerebral ischemia.

Association of chronic vascular changes with functional outcome after traumatic brain injury in rats.

We tested the hypothesis that vascular remodeling in the cortex, hippocampus, and thalamus is associated with long-term functional recovery after traumatic brain injury (TBI). We induced TBI with lateral fluid-percussion (LFP) injury in adult rats. Animals were followed-up for 9 months, during which we tested motor performance using a neuroscore test, spatial learning and memory with a Morris water maze, and seizure susceptibility with a pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) test.

Elevated cerebral blood flow and vascular density in the amygdala after status epilepticus in rats.

Cerebrovascular changes following status epilepticus (SE) are not well understood, yet they may contribute to epileptogenesis. We studied hemodynamic changes in the cerebral cortex and amygdala by arterial spin labeling (ASL) and dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) MRI at 2 days and 14 days after pilocarpine-induced SE in rats. There were no cortical hemodynamic changes, yet in the amygdala we found prolonged elevation in cerebral blood flow (CBF, 129% of control mean, day 14, p<0.

Magnetic resonance imaging of regional hemodynamic and cerebrovascular recovery after lateral fluid-percussion brain injury in rats.

Hemodynamic and cerebrovascular factors are crucially involved in secondary damage after traumatic brain injury (TBI). With magnetic resonance imaging, this study aimed to quantify regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) by arterial spin labeling and cerebral blood volume by using an intravascular contrast agent, during 14 days after lateral fluid-percussion injury (LFPI) in rats. Immunohistochemical analysis of vessel density was used to evaluate the contribution of vascular damage.