Plasma neurofilament light chain as a biomarker of Alzheimer's disease in Subjective Cognitive Decline and Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Introduction: Neurofilament light chain (NfL) is becoming increasingly notable in neurological diseases including AD, and it has been suggested as a new peripherical biomarker of neurodegeneration. We aimed to compare plasma NfL levels among Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD), Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and AD patients and to evaluate relationships between NfL and CSF biomarkers and neuropsychological scores.

Materials And Methods: We enrolled 110 patients (34 SCD, 53 MCI, and 23 AD), who underwent clinical and neuropsychological evaluation, APOE genotyping, and plasma NfL analysis.

Common variants in Alzheimer's disease and risk stratification by polygenic risk scores.

Genetic discoveries of Alzheimer's disease are the drivers of our understanding, and together with polygenetic risk stratification can contribute towards planning of feasible and efficient preventive and curative clinical trials. We first perform a large genetic association study by merging all available case-control datasets and by-proxy study results (discovery n = 409,435 and validation size n = 58,190). Here, we add six variants associated with Alzheimer's disease risk (near APP, CHRNE, PRKD3/NDUFAF7, PLCG2 and two exonic variants in the SHARPIN gene).

Texture analysis in the characterization of parotid salivary gland lesions: A study on MR diffusion weighted imaging.

Background And Purpose: Parotid lesions show overlaps of morphological findings, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and types of time/intensity curve. This research aimed to evaluate the role of diffusion weighted imaging texture analysis in differentiating between benign and malignant parotid lesions and in characterizing pleomorphic adenoma (PA), Warthin tumor (WT), epithelial malignancy (EM), and lymphoma (LY).

Methods: Texture analysis of 54 parotid lesions (19 PA, 14 WT, 14 EM, and 7 LY) was performed on ADC map images.

The implication of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism in progression from subjective cognitive decline to mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease: a 9-year follow-up study.

Brain-derived natriuretic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism has been frequently reported to be associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) with contrasting results. Numerous studies showed that Met allele increased the risk of AD only in women, while other studies have found worse cognitive performance in Val/Val carriers. We aimed to inquire the effects of Val66Met polymorphism on the progression from subjective cognitive decline (SCD) to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and from MCI to AD and to ascertain if this effect is modulated by demographic and cognitive variables.

Ventricular-Arterial Coupling in Children and Infants With Congenital Heart Disease After Cardiopulmonary Bypass Surgery: Observational Study.

Objectives: Ventricular-arterial coupling represents the interaction between the left ventricle and the arterial system. Ventricular-arterial coupling is measured as the ratio between arterial elastance and ventricular end-systolic elastance. Scant information is available in critically ill children about these variables.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation in patients with small aortic annuli using a 20 mm balloon-expanding valve.

Background: While transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is established for treating high-operative risk surgical aortic valve replacement candidates, until recently the smallest transcatheter heart valve (THV) measured 23 mm, posing greater risk for annular rupture and THV failure in patients with aortic stenosis (AS) with small aortic annuli (≤20 mm).

Objectives: In the setting of a multicentre registry, we report on the safety, efficacy and early clinical outcomes of the SAPIEN XT 20 mm balloon-expanding THV.

Results: Among TAVI 55 recipients (n=30 for native AS, n=25 for a valve-in-valve procedure (V-in-V)), median age and Society of Thoracic Surgeons score were 85 (81 to 87) years and 7.