FDG PET/CT in the management of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Objective: FDG PET/CT has a growing role in the diagnosis and management of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). FDG PET has greater efficacy for N and M staging than other modalities, which enables the treating oncologists to select the appropriate mode of treatment. FDG PET/CT helps in radiation therapy planning, provides valuable prognostic information, and is useful in the assessment of therapy response and in follow-up to detect recurrences.

FDG volumetric parameters and survival outcomes after definitive chemoradiotherapy in patients with recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to establish the predictive value of (18)F-FDG parameters for overall survival in biopsy-proven recurrent head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) patients after definitive chemoradiotherapy.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a retrospective study including 34 patients with HNSCC who had biopsy-proven recurrence between April 2004 and March 2012 and underwent FDG PET/CT at our institution at the time of recurrence. Maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), peak SUV (SUVpeak), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) were measured.

Radiation dose reduction in CT-guided spine biopsies does not reduce diagnostic yield.

Background And Purpose: CT-guided biopsy is the most commonly used method to obtain tissue for diagnosis in suspected cases of malignancy involving the spine. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that a low-dose CT-guided spine biopsy protocol is as effective in tissue sampling as a regular-dose protocol, without adversely affecting procedural time or complication rates.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent CT-guided spine procedures at our institution between May 2010 and October 2013.

Measurements of four-lepton production at the Z resonance in pp collisions at sqrt[s] = 7 and 8 TeV with ATLAS.

Measurements of four-lepton (4ℓ, ℓ=e,μ) production cross sections at the Z resonance in pp collisions at the LHC with the ATLAS detector are presented. For dilepton and four-lepton invariant mass regions m(ℓ+ℓ(-)) > 5 GeV and 80 View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Head and neck PET/CT: therapy response interpretation criteria (Hopkins Criteria)-interreader reliability, accuracy, and survival outcomes.

Unlabelled: There has been no established qualitative system of interpretation for therapy response assessment using PET/CT for head and neck cancers. The objective of this study was to validate the Hopkins interpretation system to assess therapy response and survival outcome in head and neck squamous cell cancer patients (HNSCC).

Methods: The study included 214 biopsy-proven HNSCC patients who underwent a posttherapy PET/CT study, between 5 and 24 wk after completion of treatment.

Liver standardized uptake value corrected for lean body mass at FDG PET/CT: effect of FDG uptake time.

Objective: The objective of this study is to establish the magnitude change and interreader reliability of the liver standardized uptake value corrected for lean body mass (SULmean) in dual-time-point imaging at 1 and 2 hours and 1 and 4 hours.

Patients And Methods: Early and delayed FDG PET/CT scans were included for 28 patients (13 men and 15 women) who had normal liver by CT or ultrasound. The average uptake time between the early and delayed scans were 55 minutes (range, 44-69 minutes) for pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients (n = 19) and 184 minutes (range, 140-197 minutes) for neurofibromatosis patients (n = 9).

PET/CT in the management of thyroid cancers.

Objective: Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine cancer. This review evaluates the established use of (18)F-FDG PET/CT in papillary, follicular, Hürthle cell, anaplastic, and medullary thyroid cancers. The significance of incidental diffuse and focal thyroid FDG uptake is discussed.

Analgesic efficacy of paravertebral bupivacaine during percutaneous nephrolithotomy: an observer blinded, randomized controlled trial.

Background And Purpose: A unilateral paravertebral (PVB) block with catheter can provide extendable analgesia without physiological changes. The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of PVB bupivacaine for providing perioperative pain relief in adults undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) under general anesthesia.

Methods: Fifty American Society of Anesthesiologists Grade I, II patients, aged 18 to 65 years, were included in this prospective, randomized, controlled, observer blinded trial.

A mesoscale abscisic acid hormone interactome reveals a dynamic signaling landscape in Arabidopsis.

The sesquiterpenoid abscisic acid (ABA) mediates an assortment of responses across a variety of kingdoms including both higher plants and animals. In plants, where most is known, a linear core ABA signaling pathway has been identified. However, the complexity of ABA-dependent gene expression suggests that ABA functions through an intricate network.

Ethnic variation in interleukin-6 -174 (g/c) polymorphism in the malaysian population.

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is one of the cytokines that has been well studied and implicated in many diseases including cancers. The frequency of the IL-6 -174 (G/C) polymorphism had been proven to differ in various populations. Malaysia is a country with three major ethnic populations, Malays, Chinese and Indians.

Follow-up or Surveillance (18)F-FDG PET/CT and Survival Outcome in Lung Cancer Patients.

Unlabelled: The value of performing follow-up PET/CT imaging more than 6 mo after the conclusion of therapy-either as a routine practice or because of clinically suspected recurrence-is not well established. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the added value of follow-up PET/CT to the clinical assessment and survival outcome of lung cancer patients.

Methods: This was a retrospective study of 261 biopsy-proven lung cancer patients at a single tertiary center.

FDG PET metabolic tumor volume segmentation and pathologic volume of primary human solid tumors.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to establish the correlation and reliability among the pathologic tumor volume and gradient and fixed threshold segmentations of (18)F-FDG PET metabolic tumor volume of human solid tumors.

Materials And Methods: There were 52 patients included in the study who had undergone baseline PET/CT with subsequent resection of head and neck, lung, and colorectal tumors. The pathologic volume was calculated from three dimensions of the gross tumor specimen as a reference standard.

Components of priming-induced resistance to Fusarium head blight in wheat revealed by two distinct mutants of Fusarium graminearum.

Two mutants (tri6Δ and noxABΔ) of the fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum were assessed for their ability to prime immune responses in wheat (cv. Roblin) against challenge with pathogenic F. graminearum.

Gossypiboma presenting as coloduodenal fistula--report of a rare case with review of literature.

The term gossypiboma is used to describe a mass of cotton matrix left behind in a body cavity intraoperatively. The most common site reported is the abdominal cavity. It can present with abscess, intestinal obstruction, malabsorption, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, and fistulas.

Search for quantum black hole production in high-invariant-mass lepton+jet final states using pp collisions at √s=8 TeV and the ATLAS detector.

This Letter presents a search for quantum black-hole production using 20.3 fb-1 of data collected with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at the LHC at √s = 8 TeV. The quantum black holes are assumed to decay into a final state characterized by a lepton (electron or muon) and a jet.

Impact of inadequate doses of rituximab in the treatment of diffuse large B cell lymphoma in Malaysian patients.

Background: The current standard treatment for patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is rituximab combined with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisolone (CHOP). A significant number of patients were not treated with recommended dose of rituximab due to limited financial resources in Malaysia. This study evaluates the efficacy of R-CHOP like chemotherapy in Malaysian patients with DLBCL.

Bighorn sheep × domestic sheep hybrids survive Mannheimia haemolytica challenge in the absence of vaccination.

Bighorn sheep (BHS, Ovis canadensis) are much more susceptible than domestic sheep (DS, Ovis aries) to pneumonia caused by leukotoxin (Lkt)-producing members of the Family Pasteurellaceae, particularly Mannheimia haemolytica and Bibersteinia trehalosi. Leukotoxin is widely accepted as the critical virulence factor of these bacteria since Lkt-negative mutants do not cause death of BHS. Typically, DS carry Lkt-positive M.

Giant thymolipoma in an infant.

Thymolipomas are benign neoplasms that usually occur in adults and are rarely described in children. They are usually detected incidentally but can be of massive size and lead to respiratory compromise. A 6-month-old boy presented with respiratory distress and an anterior mediastinal mass which proved to be a thymolipoma.

Brachytherapy of intra ocular tumors using 'BARC I-125 Ocu-Prosta seeds': an Indian experience.

Aim: To report our experience of brachytherapy using 'BARC I-125 Ocu-Prosta seeds' for the management of intraocular tumors with regard to tumor control, globe preservation visual outcome, and patient survival at Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, India between September 2003 and May 2011.

Materials And Methods: We reviewed records of 35 eyes of 35 patients who underwent ophthalmic brachytherapy between September 2003 and May 2011. Twenty-one cases had choroidal melanoma, nine had childhood retinoblastoma, two had adult-onset retinoblastoma, and there were one case each of vasoproliferative tumor, retinal angioma, and ciliary body melanoma.

Search for dark matter in events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector.

A search is presented for dark matter pair production in association with a W or Z boson in pp collisions representing 20.3  fb(-1) of integrated luminosity at √s=8  TeV using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with a hadronic jet with the jet mass consistent with a W or Z boson, and with large missing transverse momentum are analyzed.

Human health effects of tetrachloroethylene: key findings and scientific issues.

Background: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completed a toxicological review of tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene, PCE) in February 2012 in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS).

Head and neck squamous cell cancer (stages III and IV) induction chemotherapy assessment: value of FDG volumetric imaging parameters.

Introduction: To evaluate whether the change in the metabolic tumour volume (MTV) or total lesion glycolysis (TLG) of the primary tumour, before and after induction chemotherapy, predicts outcome for patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell cancer (SCC).

Methods: Twenty-eight patients with advanced (American Joint Committee on Cancer stage III and IV) head and neck SCC who underwent positron emission tomography (PET)/CT were included in this retrospective study. Primary tumour MTV and TLG were measured using gradient and fixed percentage threshold segmentations.

Measurement of top quark polarization in top-antitop events from proton-proton collisions at √s=7 TeV using the ATLAS detector.

This Letter presents measurements of the polarization of the top quark in top-antitop quark pair events, using 4.7  fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at √s=7  TeV. Final states containing one or two isolated leptons (electrons or muons) and jets are considered.

Interreader agreement and variability of FDG PET volumetric parameters in human solid tumors.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to evaluate the interreader agreement and variability of two (18)F-FDG PET parameters, metabolic tumor volume and total lesion glycolysis, in human solid tumors.

Materials And Methods: One hundred eleven patients (mean [± SD] age, 61.9 ± 12.