Psychometric evaluation of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale in pregnant women.

Purpose: Although many women experience obsessive-compulsive symptoms during the perinatal period, the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) has not yet been psychometrically evaluated in this population. This study examined the internal consistency, convergent and divergent validity, and factor structure of the YBOCS among pregnant women.

Methods: 256 Women who were 20 to 24 weeks pregnant completed the clinician-administered YBOCS and Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) along with a series of self-report questionnaires including the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Perinatal Anxiety Screening Scale (PASS) and Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R).

Telehealth memory clinics in primary healthcare: real-world experiences from low-resource settings in Greece.

Background: The role of primary healthcare is pivotal in the management of the surge of dementia prevalence particularly in low-resource areas. In this study, two telehealth-based memory clinics in primary healthcare operating within the frames of the INTegRated InterveNtion of pSychogerIatric Care (INTRINSIC) are presented.

Methods: The first clinic, which is led by a general practitioner, operates at a primary healthcare center in a semi-mountainous area and closely collaborates with the geriatric psychiatry outpatient clinic of the Patras University General Hospital via a telehealth medicine platform.

Rapid assessment of the osteogenic capacity of hydroxyapatite/aragonite using a murine tibial periosteal ossification model.

Biomaterials are widely used as orthopaedic implants and bone graft substitutes. We aimed to develop a rapid osteogenic assessment method using a murine tibial periosteal ossification model to evaluate the bone formation/remodelling potential of a biomaterial within 2-4 weeks. A novel hydroxyapatite/aragonite (HAA) biomaterial was implanted into C57BL/6 mice juxtaskeletally between the tibia and tibialis anterior muscle.

A roadmap to reduce the incidence and mortality of breast cancer by rethinking our approach to women's health.

Despite progress, breast cancer remains the most feared disease among women. In the USA alone, the incidence is now almost 300,000 new cancers per year, a rate that has nearly doubled in the last 30 years. Most women survive, but over 40,000 women a year still die of their disease [99].

The Role of Amide Proton Transfer (APT)-Weighted Imaging in Glioma: Assessment of Tumor Grading, Molecular Profile and Survival in Different Tumor Components.

Amide Proton Transfer-weighted (APTw) imaging is a molecular MRI technique used to quantify protein concentrations in gliomas, which have heterogeneous components with varying cellularity and metabolic activity. This study aimed to assess the correlation between the component-specific APT signal of the neoplasm and WHO grade, molecular profile and survival status. Sixty-one patients with adult-type diffuse gliomas were retrospectively analyzed.

Intraoperative Comparison Between Strain Elastography and Preoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging Features in High-Grade Gliomas Using Fusion Imaging: A Pilot Study.

Objective: To compare the elastographic patterns of high-grade gliomas (HGGs) solid portions and those of adjacent healthy brain parenchyma, on intraoperative ultrasound, with magnetic resonance image (MRI) characteristics.

Methods: Clinical records and images of HGGs patients, operated between June and December 2018, were retrospectively reviewed. Fusion images were used to compare preoperative gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted MRI/fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images (Gd-T1 MRI/FLAIR) to intraoperative strain elastography (SE).

Increased levels of circulating cell-free double-stranded nucleic acids in the plasma of glioblastoma patients.

Circulating cell-free nucleic acids are considered a promising source of biomarkers for diseases and cancer. Liquid biopsy biomarkers for brain tumours represent a major, still unmet, clinical need. In plasma, nucleic acids can be free or be associated with extracellular vesicles (EVs).

Simulation to become a better neurosurgeon. An international prospective controlled trial: The Passion study.

Introduction: Surgical training traditionally adheres to the apprenticeship paradigm, potentially exposing trainees to an increased risk of complications stemming from their limited experience. To mitigate this risk, augmented and virtual reality have been considered, though their effectiveness is difficult to assess.

Research Question: The PASSION study seeks to investigate the improvement of manual dexterity following intensive training with neurosurgical simulators and to discern how surgeons' psychometric characteristics may influence their learning process and surgical performance.

Focused ultrasound therapy in movement disorders: management roadmap toward optimal pathway organization.

MRI-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) lesioning is an innovative, safe and effective treatment which provides an innovative development in the field of minimally invasive stereotactic neurosurgery. Based on the application of focused ultrasound energy under full MR planning and thermal imaging control, unilateral lesioning of the thalamus, subthalamic nucleus, and globus pallidus is indicated for the treatment of movement disorders, including essential tremor, Parkinson's disease, and dystonia. We started to apply this technique in February 2019 for the treatment of patients with movement disorders.

The Immunomodulatory Effects of Fluorescein-Mediated Sonodynamic Treatment Lead to Systemic and Intratumoral Depletion of Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells in a Preclinical Malignant Glioma Model.

Fluorescein-mediated sonodynamic therapy (FL-SDT) is an extremely promising approach for glioma treatment, resulting from the combination of low-intensity focused ultrasound (FUS) with a sonosensitizer. In the present study, we evaluated the efficacy and immunomodulation of SDT with fluorescein as the sonosensitizer in immunocompetent GL261 glioma mice for the first time. In vitro studies demonstrated that the exposure of GL261 cells to FL-SDT induced immunogenic cell death and relevant upregulation of MHC class I, CD80 and CD86 expression.

The Optimal Targeting for Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy Differs between Dystonic and Essential Tremor: A 12-Month Prospective Pilot Study.

Background: Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) thalamotomy is increasingly used to treat drug-resistant essential tremor (ET). Data on MRgFUS thalamotomy in dystonic tremor (DT) are anecdotal.

Objectives: To investigate efficacy, safety, and differences in target coordinates of MRgFUS thalamotomy in DT versus ET.

Artificial Intelligence Analysis Using MRI and PET Imaging in Gliomas: A Narrative Review.

The lack of early detection and a high rate of recurrence/progression after surgery are defined as the most common causes of a very poor prognosis of Gliomas. The developments of quantification systems with special regards to artificial intelligence (AI) on medical images (CT, MRI, PET) are under evaluation in the clinical and research context in view of several applications providing different information related to the reconstruction of imaging, the segmentation of tissues acquired, the selection of features, and the proper data analyses. Different approaches of AI have been proposed as the machine and deep learning, which utilize artificial neural networks inspired by neuronal architectures.

Development of A Radiomic Model for Promoter Methylation Detection in Glioblastoma Using Conventional MRI.

The methylation of the O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase () promoter is a molecular marker associated with a better response to chemotherapy in patients with glioblastoma (GB). Standard pre-operative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analysis is not adequate to detect promoter methylation. This study aims to evaluate whether the radiomic features extracted from multiple tumor subregions using multiparametric MRI can predict promoter methylation status in GB patients.

Depressive symptoms in the entire spectrum of cognitive ageing in Greece: evidence from the Hellenic Longitudinal Investigation of Aging and Diet (HELIAD).

Objectives: To study (i) the prevalence of mild and moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms in the entire spectrum of cognitive ageing in Greece and (ii) the relationship between these symptoms and demographic and clinical data.

Methods: The study was based on the randomly selected cohort of the Hellenic Longitudinal Investigation of Aging and Diet (HELIAD). Depressive symptoms were assessed with the 15-item version of the Geriatric Depression Scale.

Brain multi-contrast, multi-atlas segmentation of diffusion tensor imaging and ensemble learning automatically diagnose late-life depression.

We investigated the potential of machine learning for diagnostic classification in late-life major depression based on an advanced whole brain white matter segmentation framework. Twenty-six late-life depression and 12 never depressed individuals aged > 55 years, matched for age, MMSE, and education underwent brain diffusion tensor imaging and a multi-contrast, multi-atlas segmentation in MRIcloud. Fractional anisotropy volume, mean fractional anisotropy, trace, axial and radial diffusivity (RD) extracted from 146 white matter parcels for each subject were used to train and test the AdaBoost classifier using stratified 12-fold cross validation.

Promising use of metformin in treating neurological disorders: biomarker-guided therapies.

Neurological disorders are a diverse group of conditions that affect the nervous system and include neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease), cerebrovascular conditions (stroke), and neurodevelopmental disorders (autism spectrum disorder). Although they affect millions of individuals around the world, only a limited number of effective treatment options are available today. Since most neurological disorders express mitochondria-related metabolic perturbations, metformin, a biguanide type II antidiabetic drug, has attracted a lot of attention to be repurposed to treat neurological disorders by correcting their perturbed energy metabolism.

The RITA-T (Rapid Interactive Screening Test for Autism in Toddlers) Community Model to Improve Access and Early Identification of Autism in Young Children.

To evaluate improved identification and the generalization of the RITA-T (Rapid interactive Screening Test for Autism in Toddlers) model through partnerships with Primary Care (PC), Early Intervention (EI), and Autism Diagnosticians. Over 3 years (2018-2021), 15 EI and 9 PC (MD and NP) centers participated in this project. We trained providers on the RITA-T and established screening models.

Low cognitive functioning and depressive symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic sclerosis: a clinical study.

Background: Recently, cognitive deficits occurring in rheumatic diseases have attracted scientific attention. Cognitive symptoms in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) have not been thoroughly studied. This study aimed to assess cognitive function and its relationship with depressive symptoms in RA and SSc and compare it to mild neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer's disease (MiND) and to individuals without cognitive impairment.

Validation of the test for finding word retrieval deficits (WoFi) in detecting Alzheimer's disease in a naturalistic clinical setting.

Background: Detecting impaired naming capacity contributes to the detection of mild (MildND) and major (MajorND) neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer's disease (AD). The Test for Finding Word retrieval deficits (WoFi) is a new, 50-item, auditory stimuli-based instrument.

Objective: The study aimed to adapt WoFi to the Greek language, to develop a short version of WoFi (WoFi-brief), to compare the item frequency and the utility of both instruments with the naming subtest of the widely used Addenbrooke's cognitive examination III (ACEIIINaming) in detecting MildND and MajorND due to AD.