Longer and better lives for patients with atrial fibrillation: the 9th AFNET/EHRA consensus conference.

Aims: Recent trial data demonstrate beneficial effects of active rhythm management in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and support the concept that a low arrhythmia burden is associated with a low risk of AF-related complications. The aim of this document is to summarize the key outcomes of the 9th AFNET/EHRA Consensus Conference of the Atrial Fibrillation NETwork (AFNET) and the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA).

Methods And Results: Eighty-three international experts met in Münster for 2 days in September 2023.

Multitarget Stool RNA Test for Noninvasive Detection of Colorectal Neoplasias in a Multicenter, Prospective, and Retrospective Cohort.

Introduction: Effective colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention and screening requires sensitive detection of all advanced neoplasias (CRC and advanced adenomas [AA]). However, existing noninvasive screening approaches cannot accurately detect adenomas with high sensitivity.

Methods: Here, we describe a multifactor assay (RNA-FIT test) that combines 8 stool-derived eukaryotic RNA biomarkers, patient demographic information (smoking status), and a fecal immunochemical test (FIT) to sensitively detect advanced colorectal neoplasias and other non-advanced adenomas in a 1,305-patient, average-risk, prospective cohort.

Dynamic risk assessment to improve quality of care in patients with atrial fibrillation: the 7th AFNET/EHRA Consensus Conference.

Aims: The risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF) and its complications continues to increase, despite good progress in preventing AF-related strokes.

Methods And Results: This article summarizes the outcomes of the 7th Consensus Conference of the Atrial Fibrillation NETwork (AFNET) and the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) held in Lisbon in March 2019. Sixty-five international AF specialists met to present new data and find consensus on pressing issues in AF prevention, management and future research to improve care for patients with AF and prevent AF-related complications.

A Case of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Anterior Urethra in a Man.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the anterior urethra in men is rare, comprising less than 1% of all urologic cancers. The mean age at diagnosis is 60 years and it is nearly twice as common in black men compared with white men. We detail a case of SCC of the anterior urethra in a man presenting with an inguinal mass, meatal stenosis, and balanitis.

Prostate Biopsy Characteristics: A Comparison Between the Pre- and Post-2012 United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) Prostate Cancer Screening Guidelines.

To compare prostate cancer (PCa) characteristics diagnosed by prostate biopsy (Pbx) in the 3 years before and after the 2012 United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations for PCa screening, we completed a retrospective comparative analysis of 402 sequential PCa patients diagnosed from 2010 to 2012 (3 years) with 552 PCa patients diagnosed from 2015 to 2017 (3 years). Data was collected on patient age, race, total number of biopsies performed, prostate specific antigen (PSA), Gleason sum score (GSS), and digital rectal examination (DRE). The data was analyzed to determine whether the 2012 USPSTF screening recommendations affected PCa characteristics.

Prostate biopsy characteristics: A comparison between pre- and post- United States Preventive Service Task Force Prostate Cancer Screening Guidelines of 2012.

This article compares prostate cancer (PCa) characteristics diagnosed by prostate biopsy in the years before and after the 2012 United States Preventative Service Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations against PCa screening. We completed a retrospective comparative analysis of 402 sequential PCa biopsy-diagnosed patients in 2010 to 2012 (3 years) with 269 PCa patients diagnosed in 2015 to 2016 (18 months). Data were collected on patient age, total number of biopsies performed, prostate-specific antigen level, Gleason sum score, and digital rectal examination results.

Smart detection of atrial fibrillation†.

Aims: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia encountered in clinical practice, and its paroxysmal nature makes its detection challenging. In this trial, we evaluated a novel App for its accuracy to differentiate between patients in AF and patients in sinus rhythm (SR) using the plethysmographic sensor of an iPhone 4S and the integrated LED only.

Methods And Results: For signal acquisition, we used an iPhone 4S, positioned with the camera lens and LED light on the index fingertip.

Technique for reliable sentinel node biopsy in squamous cell carcinomas of the floor of mouth.

Background: Applicability of sentinel node biopsy (SNB) for tumors of the floor of mouth (FOM) is controversial.

Methods: Prospective evaluation of the accuracy of gamma-probe-guided superselective neck dissection of the preglandular triangle of level I for SNB in FOM squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) after preoperative lymphoscintigraphy and single photon emission CT (SPECT)/CT.

Results: In total, 22 sentinel lymph nodes were harvested in level I.

Validation of a New Heart Rate Measurement Algorithm for Fingertip Recording of Video Signals with Smartphones.

Introduction: This study investigates the accuracy of a heart rate (HR) measurement algorithm applied to a pulse wave. This was based on video signals recorded with a smartphone. The results of electrocardiographic HR and standard linear heart rate variability (HRV) analysis were used for reference.

Constraint around Quarter-Power Allometric Scaling in Wild Tomatoes (Solanum sect. Lycopersicon; Solanaceae).

The West-Brown-Enquist (WBE) metabolic scaling theory posits that many organismal features scale predictably with body size because of selection to minimize transport costs in resource distribution networks. Many scaling exponents are quarter-powers, as predicted by WBE, but there are also biologically significant deviations that could reflect adaptation to different environments. A central but untested prediction of the WBE model is that wide deviation from optimal scaling is penalized, leading to a pattern of constraint on scaling exponents.

Tactile Corpuscle-like Bodies in Gastrointestinal-type Mucosa: A Case Series.

Tactile corpuscle-like bodies (TCLB) are microscopic Schwannian structures that simulate the superficial mechanoreceptors of the peripheral nervous system (Wagner-Meissner corpuscles). They have been described nearly exclusively in peripheral nerve sheath tumors, namely diffuse neurofibromas, and schwannomas but also in cellular nevi. There are rare reports of these structures in the gastrointestinal tract (predominantly the lower tract), with the presumption that they are incidental reactive neural proliferations.

PD-1 Blockade in Tumors with Mismatch-Repair Deficiency.

Background: Somatic mutations have the potential to encode "non-self" immunogenic antigens. We hypothesized that tumors with a large number of somatic mutations due to mismatch-repair defects may be susceptible to immune checkpoint blockade.

Methods: We conducted a phase 2 study to evaluate the clinical activity of pembrolizumab, an anti-programmed death 1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, in 41 patients with progressive metastatic carcinoma with or without mismatch-repair deficiency.

Comparison of cardiogoniometry and ECG at rest versus myocardial perfusion scintigraphy.

Background: Cardiogoniometry (CGM) is a novel resting electrocardiac method based on computer-generated three-dimensional data derived from cardiac potentials. The purpose of this study was to determine CGM's and electrocardiography's (ECG) accuracy for detecting myocardial ischemia and/or lesions in comparison with stress/rest myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (single photon emission computer tomography [SPECT]).

Method: A cohort of consecutively enrolled patients (n = 100) with suspected or known coronary artery disease (mean age 67.

Impact of chemotherapy for childhood leukemia on brain morphology and function.

Objective: Using multidisciplinary treatment modalities the majority of children with cancer can be cured but we are increasingly faced with therapy-related toxicities. We studied brain morphology and neurocognitive functions in adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood acute, low and standard risk lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which was successfully treated with chemotherapy. We expected that intravenous and intrathecal chemotherapy administered in childhood will affect grey matter structures, including hippocampus and olfactory bulbs, areas where postnatal neurogenesis is ongoing.

The neural representation of emotionally neutral faces and places in patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia.

Background: Panic disorder with agoraphobia (PD-A) has been associated with abnormal neural activity for threat-related stimuli (faces, places). Recent findings suggest a disturbed neural processing of emotionally neutral stimuli at a more general level.

Methods: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we investigated the neural processing of emotionally neutral faces and places in PD-A.

Canalicular adenoma--search for the cell of origin: ultrastructural and immunohistochemical analysis of 7 cases and review of the literature.

Canalicular adenoma (CA) is a rare, benign epithelial neoplasm of the salivary glands. Historically considered to be a variant of basal cell adenoma, this "monomorphic" adenoma has a distinct clinical, morphologic, and immunohistochemical profile. The putative cell of origin remains a topic of debate.

18F-FDG PET/CT in a rare malignant extraskeletal osteosarcoma.

Extraskeletal osteosarcoma (EO) is a rare malignancy and its FDG PET/CT imaging is seldom reported. We present staging and restaging images of a FDG PET/CT imaging in an EO originating from paraspinous musculature. Initial staging FDG PET/CT scan showed increased metabolism of a mass in the right paraspinous region without nodal or distant metastasis.

Functional imaging during recognition of personally familiar faces and places in Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients show better everyday functioning in a familiar setting, but they have a reduced ability to access contextual details and episodes associated with a familiar person or environment. This suggests a dysfunction in the neural networks associated with stimulus identification. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the neural activity during the recognition of personally familiar and unfamiliar faces and places among AD patients and elderly controls.

Allograft pathology in patients transplanted for idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

There are few morphologic studies on idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (CM) treated with transplant. We prospectively correlated gross, histologic, and clinical findings pertaining to hearts explanted in a 5-year period from patients with a clinical diagnosis of nonischemic CM and also correlated left ventricular diameter with preoperative echocardiographic reports. Of 64 patients with a clinical diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy (DC), 42 were men (age, 51 ± 13 y) and 22 were women (age, 42 ± 18 y).

Visual personal familiarity in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Background: Patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment are at high risk for developing Alzheimer's disease. Besides episodic memory dysfunction they show deficits in accessing contextual knowledge that further specifies a general concept or helps to identify an object or a person.

Methodology/principal Findings: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the neural networks associated with the perception of personal familiar faces and places in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and healthy control subjects.

Age and the neural network of personal familiarity.

Background: Accessing information that defines personally familiar context in real-world situations is essential for the social interactions and the independent functioning of an individual. Personal familiarity is associated with the availability of semantic and episodic information as well as the emotional meaningfulness surrounding a stimulus. These features are known to be associated with neural activity in distinct brain regions across different stimulus conditions (e.

Multivariate short-term heart rate variability: a pre-diagnostic tool for screening heart disease.

This study has aimed to develop a novel pre-diagnostic tool for primary care screening of heart disease based on multivariate short-term heart rate variability (HRV) analyzed by linear (time and frequency domain) and nonlinear methods (compression entropy (CE), detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), Poincaré plot analysis, symbolic dynamics) applied to 5-min ECG segments. Firstly, we applied HRV analysis to separate healthy subjects (REF) from heart disease patients (PAT). Then to optimize the results, we subdivided both groups according to gender: REF (♂ = 78, ♀ = 53) versus PAT (♂ = 378, ♀ = 115).

Electrocardiologic and related methods of non-invasive detection and risk stratification in myocardial ischemia: state of the art and perspectives.

Background: Electrocardiographic methods still provide the bulk of cardiovascular diagnostics. Cardiac ischemia is associated with typical alterations in cardiac biosignals that have to be measured, analyzed by mathematical algorithms and allegorized for further clinical diagnostics. The fast growing fields of biomedical engineering and applied sciences are intensely focused on generating new approaches to cardiac biosignal analysis for diagnosis and risk stratification in myocardial ischemia.