EANM practice guideline/SNMMI procedure standard for dopaminergic imaging in Parkinsonian syndromes 1.0.

Purpose: This joint practice guideline or procedure standard was developed collaboratively by the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI). The goal of this guideline is to assist nuclear medicine practitioners in recommending, performing, interpreting, and reporting the results of dopaminergic imaging in parkinsonian syndromes.

Methods: Currently nuclear medicine investigations can assess both presynaptic and postsynaptic function of dopaminergic synapses.

The relationships between neuroinflammation, beta-amyloid and tau deposition in Alzheimer's disease: a longitudinal PET study.

Background: The aim of this longitudinal study was to assess with positron emission tomography (PET) the relationship between levels of inflammation and the loads of aggregated β-amyloid and tau at baseline and again after 2 years in prodromal Alzheimer's disease.

Methods: Forty-three subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) had serial C-PK11195 PET over 2 years to measure inflammation changes, and C-PiB PET to determine β-amyloid fibril load; 22 also had serial F-Flortaucipir PET to determine tau tangle load. Cortical surface statistical mapping was used to localise areas showing significant changes in tracer binding over time and to interrogate correlations between tracer binding of the tracers at baseline and after 2 years.

Author Correction: Cdkn1a deletion improves stem cell function and lifespan of mice with dysfunctional telomeres without accelerating cancer formation.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

DLG2 variants in patients with pubertal disorders.

Purpose: Impaired function of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons can cause a phenotypic spectrum ranging from delayed puberty to isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH). We sought to identify a new genetic etiology for these conditions.

Methods: Exome sequencing was performed in an extended family with autosomal dominant, markedly delayed puberty.

Value of colchicine as treatment for recurrent oral ulcers: A systematic review.

Background: In oral medicine, colchicine is a therapeutic alternative for idiopathic recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS), Behçet disease (BD), periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis and cervical adenitis (PFAPA) syndrome, and mouth and genitals ulcers with inflamed cartilage (MAGIC) syndrome. The present review aims to evaluate reliability of colchicine against recurrent oral ulcers.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted, with the following PICO (Patient, Intervention, Control, Outcome) question: "In populations with idiopathic or secondary recurrent oral ulcers, is colchicine more effective in improving pain and accelerating healing, compared to other intervention or placebo?"

Results: Seven RCTs and 3 OCTs were considered eligible.

Development of a Gaussian Process - feature selection model to characterise (poly)dimethylsiloxane (Silastic ) membrane permeation.

Objectives: The current study aims to determine the effect of physicochemical descriptor selection on models of polydimethylsiloxane permeation.

Methods: A total of 2942 descriptors were calculated for a data set of 77 chemicals. Data were processed to remove redundancy, single values, imbalanced and highly correlated data, yielding 1363 relevant descriptors.

Genetics of congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism: peculiarities and phenotype of an oligogenic disease.

A genetic basis of congenital isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH) can be defined in almost 50% of cases, albeit not necessarily the complete genetic basis. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques have led to the discovery of a great number of loci, each of which has illuminated our understanding of human gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons, either in respect of their embryonic development or their neuroendocrine regulation as the "pilot light" of human reproduction. However, because each new gene linked to CHH only seems to underpin another small percentage of total patient cases, we are still far from achieving a comprehensive understanding of the genetic basis of CHH.

Elective neck dissection for salvage total laryngectomy: A systematic review, meta-analysis and "decision-to-treat" approach.

Introduction: The authors provide an updated, systematic and comprehensive summary of the literature concerning management of the N0 neck in patients for whom primary irradiation for squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx has been unsuccessful and salvage surgery in the form of total laryngectomy (TL) advocated.

Methods: Bibliographic databases MEDLINE, Cochrane, PubMed and Embase were searched from inception to April 2019, with no language restrictions. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed.

Interventions for treating oral lichen planus: corticosteroid therapies.

Background: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a relatively common chronic T cell-mediated disease, which can cause significant pain, particularly in its erosive or ulcerative forms. As pain is the indication for treatment of OLP, pain resolution is the primary outcome for this review. This review is an update of a version last published in 2011, but focuses on the evidence for corticosteroid treatment only.

Effect of rituximab or tumour necrosis factor inhibitors on lung infection and survival in rheumatoid arthritis-associated bronchiectasis.

Objective: To evaluate rituximab (RTX) in patients with RA-associated bronchiectasis (RA-BR) and compare 5-year respiratory survival between those treated with RTX and TNF inhibitors (TNFi).

Methods: A retrospective observational cohort study of RA-BR in RTX or TNFi-treated RA patients from two UK centres over 10 years. BR was assessed using number of infective exacerbation/year.

Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scan (DXA) findings in diabetic and non-diabetic female: A retrospective cohort study.

Introduction: Osteoporosis is a silent disease which has an effect on bone structure. Studies on the association between bone mineral density (BMD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) revealed conflicting results. We conducted a study to assess the prevalence of osteoporosis in females with T2DM and compare dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan results between diabetic and non-diabetic females in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Uptake of best practice recommendations in the management of patients with diabetes and periodontitis: a cross-sectional survey of healthcare professionals in primary care.

Objectives: To investigate the practices of healthcare professionals in relation to best practice recommendations for the multidisciplinary management of people with diabetes and periodontitis, focusing on two clinical behaviours: informing patients about the links between diabetes and periodontitis, and suggesting patients with poorly controlled diabetes go for a dental check-up.

Design: Cross-sectional design utilising online questionnaires to assess self-reported performance and constructs from Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and Normalisation Process Theory.

Setting: Primary care medical practices (n=37) in North East, North Cumbria and South West of England Clinical Research Networks.

Adapting Lean methods to facilitate stakeholder engagement and co-design in healthcare.

Quality improvement approaches drawn from industry can go beyond traditional concepts of value and deliver improvements in healthcare services, argue

Beyond the topics: how deep learning can improve the discriminability of probabilistic topic modelling.

The article presents a discriminative approach to complement the unsupervised probabilistic nature of topic modelling. The framework transforms the probabilities of the topics per document into class-dependent deep learning models that extract highly discriminatory features suitable for classification. The framework is then used for sentiment analysis with minimum feature engineering.

A non-randomised trial of video and written educational adjuncts in undergraduate ophthalmology.

Background: Provision of relevant pre-learning materials has been shown to increase student engagement and improve outcomes in medical education. This non-randomised study attempts to quantify the educational gains, and relative efficacy of video and written pre-learning materials, in ophthalmology undergraduate teaching.

Methods: Ninety-eight final year medical students were contacted prior to their three-day ophthalmology placements at a British tertiary ophthalmology unit.

Impact of emergency care centralisation on mortality and efficiency: a retrospective service evaluation.

Objective: Evidence favours centralisation of emergency care for specific conditions, but it remains unclear whether broader implementation improves outcomes and efficiency. Routine healthcare data examined consolidation of three district general hospitals with mixed medical admission units (MAU) into a single high-volume site directing patients from the ED to specialty wards with consultant presence from 08:00 to 20:00.

Methods: Consecutive unscheduled adult index admissions from matching postcode areas were identified retrospectively in Hospital Episode Statistics over a 3-year period: precentralisation baseline (from 16 June 2014 to 15 June 2015; n=18 586), year 1 postcentralisation (from 16 June 2015 to 15 June 2016; n=16 126) and year 2 postcentralisation (from 16 June 2016 to 15 June 2017; n=17 727).

Low plasma neurofilament light levels associated with raised cortical microglial activation suggest inflammation acts to protect prodromal Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid levels of neurofilament light (NfL), a marker of axonal degeneration, have previously been reported to be raised in patients with clinically diagnosed Alzheimer's disease (AD). Activated microglia, an intrinsic inflammatory response to brain lesions, are also known to be present in a majority of Alzheimer or mild cognitive impaired (MCI) subjects with raised β-amyloid load on their positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. It is now considered that the earliest phase of inflammation may be protective to the brain, removing amyloid plaques and remodelling synapses.

Balloon dilatation for paediatric airway stenosis: Evidence from the UK Airway Intervention Registry.

Objectives: To assess the safety and efficacy in routine clinical practice of balloon dilatation procedures in the treatment of paediatric airway stenosis.

Design: Observational data collection in prospective online research database.

Setting: Acute NHS Trusts with ENT department undertaking complex paediatric airway work.

Effect of Recanalization on Cerebral Edema in Ischemic Stroke Treated With Thrombolysis and/or Endovascular Therapy.

Background and Purpose- A large infarct and expanding cerebral edema (CED) due to a middle cerebral artery occlusion confers a 70% mortality unless treated surgically. Reperfusion may cause blood-brain barrier disruption and a risk for cerebral edema and secondary parenchymal hemorrhage (PH). We aimed to investigate the effect of recanalization on development of early CED and PH after recanalization therapy.

The prompt use of rituximab could decrease adverse effects in patient with pemphigus vulgaris: A preliminary evaluation.

Background: The systemic use of corticosteroid is the treatment of choice for patients with pemphigus vulgaris (PV), but adverse effects are frequent. To date, the use of rituximab (RTX) for PV patients is usually indicated when they failed first-line immunosuppressive therapies. The early use of RTX could theoretically lessen adverse effects.