Publications by authors named "Straus C"

Purpose: Historically, infraclavicular brachial plexus injuries (IBPIs) were considered neuropraxic injuries that would improve with nonsurgical intervention. However, more recent studies suggest that these injuries may benefit from surgical intervention. The aims of this retrospective study were to (1) describe injury patterns and associated injuries of isolated, traumatic IBPIs, (2) evaluate the concordance of preoperative ultrasound and magnetic resonance neurography with surgical findings of patients who underwent surgical intervention for IBPIs, and (3) describe outcomes of surgical intervention for these injuries.

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  • Parkinson's disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA) may be foreshadowed by isolated REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD), which prompts research into potential biomarkers like sighing patterns during sleep.
  • A study involving 73 MSA participants, 111 with iRBD, 257 with PD, and 115 controls found that the MSA group exhibited the highest rate of sighing during slow wave sleep (N3), with a specific sigh index being effective in distinguishing MSA from controls.
  • The findings suggest that monitoring sigh frequency during sleep could serve as a useful screening tool for MSA in middle-aged individuals, although further research is needed to investigate the implications of sighing in those with
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  • The study analyzed how different probability thresholds affect the accuracy of tumor delineations for pleural mesothelioma using a convolutional neural network (CNN) on CT scans.
  • Results showed that a lower probability threshold reduced the difference in tumor volume estimated by the CNN compared to a radiologist's contours.
  • However, no single optimal threshold was found that worked well for both tumor volume accuracy and spatial overlap, highlighting the need to evaluate both metrics when assessing CNN performance.
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To improve awareness and understanding of cybersecurity threats to radiology practice and better equip healthcare practices to manage cybersecurity risks associated with medical imaging, this article reviews topics related to cybersecurity in healthcare, with emphasis on common vulnerabilities in radiology operations. This review is intended to assist radiologists and radiology administrators who are not information technology specialists to attain an updated overview of relevant cybersecurity concepts and concerns relevant to safe and effective practice of radiology and provides a succinct reference for individuals interested in learning about imaging-related vulnerabilities in healthcare settings. As cybersecurity incidents have become increasingly common in healthcare, we first review common cybersecurity threats in healthcare and provide updates on incidence of healthcare data breaches, with emphasis on the impact to radiology.

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  • The study explored how medical hypnosis can alleviate dyspnoea (difficulty breathing) compared to visual distraction techniques in healthy participants subjected to induced respiratory challenges.
  • 20 volunteers participated in controlled experiments to assess the effectiveness of hypnosis in reducing both sensory (physical sensation) and affective (emotional response) aspects of dyspnoea.
  • Results showed that medical hypnosis significantly outperformed visual distraction in reducing both dimensions of dyspnoea, suggesting its potential benefit for patients with persistent breathing difficulties.
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  • - The STROMA-CoV-2 study evaluated the effects of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (UC-MSCs) on patients with severe respiratory issues from SARS-CoV-2, finding no significant effectiveness despite good safety results after 28 days.
  • - An extended follow-up assessed the long-term safety and health outcomes of UC-MSC administration in the same patient cohort at 6 and 12 months post-hospital discharge, focusing on various health metrics.
  • - Results indicated a favorable safety profile with no significant differences between UC-MSC and placebo groups, although some patients experienced lingering lung issues and declines in quality of life over the year.
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Introduction And Objectives: The human congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) is caused by mutations in the PHOX2B (paired-like homeobox 2B) gene. Genetically engineered PHOX2B rodents exhibit defective development of the brainstem retrotrapezoid nucleus (RTN), a carbon dioxide sensitive structure that critically controls expiratory muscle recruitment. This has been linked to a blunted exercise ventilatory response.

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After a fortuitous observation of two cases of chemosensitivity recovery in women with congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) who took desogestrel, we aimed to evaluate the ventilatory response to hypercapnia of five CCHS patients with or without treatment consisting of desogestrel (DESO) or levonorgestrel (LEVO). Only two patients became responsive to hypercapnia under treatment, according to their basal vagal heart rate variability. These results suggest that heart rate variability may be promising tool to discriminate patients susceptible to become responsive to hypercapnia under DESO-LEVO treatment.

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  • Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is primarily caused by asbestos exposure, and its treatment response is assessed through tumor measurements from CT scans, with tumor volume being the more accurate metric.
  • The study tested the effectiveness of deep learning methods, specifically a CNN model, to automatically segment MPM tumors, comparing its results with those from a radiologist using varying probability thresholds.
  • Results indicated that while CNN segmentations generally yielded smaller tumor volumes than radiologist contours, no optimal threshold was found suitable for both tumor volume and the Dice Similarity Coefficient, highlighting the need to balance multiple performance metrics in evaluating AI-generated tumor segmentations.
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Question: Human mutations result in life-threatening sleep-related hypoventilation (congenital central hypoventilation syndrome, CCHS). Most patients retain ventilatory activity when awake through a respiratory-related cortical network. We hypothesised that this need to mobilise cortical resources to breathe would lead to breathing-cognition interferences during cognitive loading.

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Introduction: Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome, a rare disease caused by mutation, is associated with absent or blunted CO/H chemosensitivity due to the dysfunction of PHOX2B neurons of the retrotrapezoid nucleus. No pharmacological treatment is available. Clinical observations have reported non-systematic CO/H chemosensitivity recovery under desogestrel.

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  • The study investigates the connection between immune-checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-associated myotoxicity, specifically looking at myocarditis and myositis, which can be life-threatening.
  • It details a treatment strategy that involved the use of mechanical ventilation for respiratory muscle issues and the administration of the drugs abatacept and ruxolitinib in patients diagnosed with severe ICI myocarditis.
  • Results showed a significant drop in myotoxicity-related fatalities from 60% in the initial patient group to just 3.4% in the later group, indicating the effectiveness of early intervention and specific treatment adjustments.
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The Clinical Excellence Scholars Track was developed in 2012 as a shared initiative between the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence, the University of Chicago (UChicago) Careers in Healthcare office, and the UChicago Medicine Office of Community and External Affairs. The goal of the Clinical Excellence Scholars Track is to foster an understanding of the physician career and the doctor-patient relationship for a select group of undergraduate students. The Clinical Excellence Scholars Track achieves this goal through carefully tailored curricular requirements and direct mentoring experiences between Bucksbaum Institute Faculty Scholars and the student scholars.

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Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive primary malignancy of the pleura that presents unique radiologic challenges with regard to accurate and reproducible assessment of disease extent at staging and follow-up imaging. By optimizing and harmonizing technical approaches to imaging MPM, the best quality imaging can be achieved for individual patient care, clinical trials, and imaging research. This consensus statement represents agreement on harmonized, standard practices for routine multimodality imaging of MPM, including radiography, computed tomography, F-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging, by an international panel of experts in the field of pleural imaging assembled by the International Mesothelioma Interest Group.

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Radiology education of medical students is increasingly important given the intersection of radiology with virtually all medical specialties and integral role of imaging in modern patient care. Yet radiology education requirements in US medical schools are variable with only a minority of schools requiring a clerkship in radiology. When required, the radiology curriculum is often limited to anatomy courses in the preclinical years or partially incorporated into required core clerkships and often taught by nonradiologists.

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Integrating diversity into healthcare systems has its challenges and advantages. Academic medicine strives to expand the diversity of the healthcare workforce. The Association of University Radiologists (AUR) put together a task force to review the concept of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) as it pertains to Radiology and to propose strategies for better integrating DEI in Radiology.

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US physicians in multiple specialties who order or conduct radiological procedures lack formal radiation science education and thus sometimes order procedures of limited benefit or fail to order what is necessary. To this end, a multidisciplinary expert group proposed an introductory broad-based radiation science educational program for US medical schools. Suggested preclinical elements of the curriculum include foundational education on ionizing and nonionizing radiation (eg, definitions, dose metrics, and risk measures) and short- and long-term radiation-related health effects as well as introduction to radiology, radiation therapy, and radiation protection concepts.

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  • The study aimed to evaluate the perceived level of diversity and the acceptance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in Radiology Residency Programs across the U.S.
  • A survey sent to Radiology Program Directors showed a low response rate, revealing progress in increasing women and Asian representation but significant underrepresentation of African American and Latinx radiologists.
  • Although many programs have DEI leadership and express commitment to diversity in recruitment, there is a need for more formalized efforts and evaluation metrics to effectively improve the representation of underrepresented minorities.
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Rationale And Objectives: Many medical schools offer minimal exposure to radiology, leading to a decreased understanding of the field and negative perceptions among medical students. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a radiology intensive series piloted by a novel virtual radiology interest group. Specifically, we were interested in how radiologists and medical educators can expand students' general awareness, drive greater interest in the field, and achieve more uniform national messaging across all trainees.

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Purpose: Imaging of the peritoneum and related pathology is a challenge. Among peritoneal diseases, malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (MPeM) is an uncommon tumor with poor prognosis. To date, there are no specific guidelines or imaging protocols dedicated for the peritoneum and MPeM.

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