Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging- Guided Dose-Escalated Radiation Therapy for Localized Prostate Cancer: A Prospective Phase 2 Trial.

Purpose: This trial's purpose was to determine the late toxicity associated with dose escalation to Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) III-V lesions on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with an image guided combined IMRT-stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) approach in men with localized prostate cancer.

Methods And Materials: In this phase 2 trial patients with localized prostate cancer with clinical tumor stage T1-T3bN0 and at least one PIRADS III-V lesion were recruited to receive 45 Gy in 25 fractions to the prostate and seminal vesicles followed by a boost of 18 Gy in 3 fractions to the prostate with a simultaneous integrated boost 21 Gy in 3 fractions to the PI-RADS lesion(s). The primary endpoint was the cumulative incidence of late grade ≥3 genitourinary and gastrointestinal toxicity by 18 months (National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.

Central zone lesions on magnetic resonance imaging: Should we be concerned?

Introduction And Objective: The Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) score was developed to evaluate lesions in the peripheral and transition zone on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) of the prostate. We aim to determine if the PI-RADS scoring system can be used to evaluate central zone lesions on mpMRI.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective review of 73 patients who underwent mpMRI/ultrasound (US) fusion-guided biopsy of 143 suspicious lesions between February 2014 and October 2015 was performed.

MRI: is there a role in obstetrics?

Magnetic resonance imaging has a complementary role in obstetrical imaging to ultrasound (US). Although US has advantages as an initial imaging technique, there are significant numbers of patients who cannot be adequately evaluated for a variety of reasons including calvarial calcification, oligoanhydramnios, or simply obesity. MR can provide additional information that cannot be obtained by US and is invaluable in central nervous system anomaly evaluation, airway management, and planning for postnatal intervention.

Effects of crude aqueous medicinal plant extracts on growth and invasion of breast cancer cells.

Plants used in folklore medicine continue to be an important source of discovery and development of novel therapeutic agents. In the present study, we determined the effects of crude aqueous extracts of a panel of medicinal plants on the growth and invasion of cancer cells. Our results showed that extracts of L.

Structural simplification of bioactive natural products with multicomponent synthesis: dihydropyridopyrazole analogues of podophyllotoxin.

A three-component condensation of 5-amino-3-methylpyrazole, tetronic acid, and various aromatic, heteroaromatic, and aliphatic aldehydes leads to the formation of dihydropyridopyrazole analogues of a cytotoxic lignan podophyllotoxin. This new heterocyclic scaffold-based library allows a drastic reduction of the structural complexity of the natural product with the retention of its potent cytotoxic properties. Similarly to podophyllotoxin, the presented analogues induce apoptosis in Jurkat cells.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of aromatic analogues of conduritol F, L-chiro-inositol, and dihydroconduritol F structurally related to the amaryllidaceae anticancer constituents.

Pancratistatin is a potent anticancer natural product, whose clinical evaluation is hampered by the limited natural abundance and the stereochemically complex structure undermining practical chemical preparation. Fifteen aromatic analogues of conduritol F, l-chiro-inositol, and dihydroconduritol F that possess four of the six pancratistatin stereocenters have been synthesized and evaluated for anticancer activity. These compounds serve as truncated pancratistatin analogues lacking the lactam ring B, but retaining the crucial C10a-C10b bond with the correct stereochemistry.

Non-invasive cardiac evaluation in heart failure patients using magnetic resonance imaging: a feasibility study.

Background: To assess the feasibility of a fast, flow-insensitive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol in heart failure patients for the evaluation of cardiac function, cardiovascular anatomy, and myocardial viability.

Methods And Results: Thirty-two consecutive patients with left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction and 13 control subjects were prospectively evaluated with MRI. The exam consisted of cine imaging with a steady-state free precession sequence, followed by time-resolved, three-dimensional angiography and delayed, contrast-enhanced imaging.

Contrast-enhanced MR angiography of the carotid and vertebrobasilar circulations.

Background And Purpose: Contrast-enhanced MR angiography (CE MRA) is a proven diagnostic tool in evaluation of the carotid arteries; however, few studies have addressed its accuracy in the vertebrobasilar system. The purpose of this study was to assess the sensitivity and specificity of CE MRA compared with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) for detection of vertebrobasilar disease.

Methods: Forty patients with suspected atherosclerotic disease of the carotid and vertebrobasilar circulations underwent CE MRA on a 1.

Left ventricular mass: manual and automatic segmentation of true FISP and FLASH cine MR images in dogs and pigs.

Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy of manually and automatically segmented true fast imaging with steady-state precession (FISP) and fast low-angle shot (FLASH) cine magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the determination of left ventricular (LV) mass.

Materials And Methods: Nine dogs and five pigs underwent cine MR imaging of the entire LV from base to apex. Manual and automatic segmentation times were recorded, and LV masses determined with each were compared with each other and with the true LV mass at autopsy.

Accurate quantification of right ventricular mass at MR imaging by using cine true fast imaging with steady-state precession: study in dogs.

Purpose: To assess the accuracy of cine magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with a segmented true fast imaging with steady-state precession (FISP) technique for right ventricular (RV) mass quantification.

Materials And Methods: Fourteen dogs were imaged with a 1.5-T clinical MR imaging unit by using an electrocardiographically gated true FISP sequence.

Heart failure: evaluation of cardiopulmonary transit times with time-resolved MR angiography.

Purpose: To measure cardiopulmonary transit times in patients with heart failure by using low-dose, time-resolved magnetic resonance (MR) angiography and to determine if transit curves reflect conventional MR indexes of cardiac function.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-six patients with heart failure and left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction (17 men and nine women; age range, 22-78 years) and thirteen control subjects (eight men and five women; age range, 23-59 years) were examined with MR imaging. The examination consisted of rapid cine MR imaging throughout the heart, followed by contrast material-enhanced time-resolved three-dimensional MR angiography of the cardiac chambers and pulmonary vasculature.

Analysis of cardiopulmonary transit times at contrast material-enhanced MR imaging in patients with heart disease.

Purpose: To build a database of arm-to-aorta circulation times for contrast enhancement and to determine if measured transit times can help in discrimination between patients with and patients without heart disease.

Materials And Methods: Findings at test-bolus examinations performed before acquisition of contrast material-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) angiographic images of the head and neck were retrospectively reviewed. The times from test-bolus injection to first and peak enhancement in regions of interest were recorded in 77 patients with coronary artery disease, left ventricular hypertrophy, and/or impaired left ventricular function and 33 control subjects.

Formation of alpha-Pal/Max heterodimers synergistically activates the eIF2-alpha promoter.

The transcription factor alpha-Pal recognizes two tandem palindromic repeats within the promoter of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2-alpha (eIF2-alpha). Whereas both binding sites have the same "core domain" sequence (CGCATGCG), they differ with respect to their flanking sequences. Of the two sites, the 5'-cap proximal site has a higher binding affinity for alpha-Pal than does the 5'-cap distal site (Jacob, W.

Role of the vaccinia virus E3L and K3L gene products in rescue of VSV and EMCV from the effects of IFN-alpha.

Vaccinia virus (VV) has been shown to be relatively resistant to the antiviral effects of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) and to rescue replication of IFN-sensitive viruses, such as encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), from the antiviral effects of IFN. The E3L and K3L gene products have been implicated in the IFN resistance of VV. We have investigated the role that these VV-encoded functions play in the rescue of VSV and EMCV from the effects of IFN.

A method for determining high-resolution activation time delays in unipolar cardiac mapping.

This paper presents a method for determining activation time delays in unipolar cardiac mapping data to resolutions considerably smaller than the sample interval. The method involves taking two filtered, differentiated electrograms and computing the Hilbert transform of their cross correlation, which exhibits a negative-to-positive zero crossing at the delay time between the signals. Simultaneous endocardial/epicardial recordings of sinus rhythm were made in the swine right atrium using identical, precisely superpositioned electrode arrays.

Development of a replication-deficient recombinant vaccinia virus vaccine effective against parainfluenza virus 3 infection in an animal model.

The highly attenuated, replication-deficient, modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) was used to express the fusion (F) and/or hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) glycoproteins of parainfluenza virus 3 (PIV3). Initial recombinant viruses in which the HN gene was regulated by a very strong synthetic earlyllate promoter replicated poorly in permissive chick embryo cells evidently due to toxic levels of the gene product. This result led us to construct and evaluate a modified earlyllate promoter derived from the H5 gene of vaccinia virus.

The mouse antiphosphotyrosine immunoreactive kinase, TIK, is indistinguishable from the double-stranded RNA-dependent, interferon-induced protein kinase, PKR.

The mouse TIK protein, a serine/threonine kinase, was originally isolated from a murine pre-B cell expression library by its ability to bind anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies (Icely et al., J. Biol.

Detection of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus in an invertebrate (Callibaetis sp).

Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) was detected in the common Mayfly (Callibaetis sp) by western immunoblot assay and was propagated in fish cells (CHSE-214) in culture. When propagated in cell culture, cytopathic effect characteristic of IHNV infection was observed. Antibody specific for IHNV was used to detect all of the major proteins of IHNV in the western immunoblot assay.

Neutralizing antibodies for infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus in eggs of steelhead trout (Salmo gairdneri).

Neutralizing antibodies specific for infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) were isolated from eggs of spawning Steelhead trout (Salmo gairdneri), using sodium sulfate precipitation. The isolated material was used in place of the primary antibody (rabbit anti-IHNV) in a protein immunoblotting assay to detect IHNV proteins specifically. The egg component that bound specifically to IHNV proteins was determined to be trout antibody by using antiserum toward trout immune globulins as the second antibody conjugate in the protein immunoblotting assay.