Effects of static stretching duration on muscle stiffness and blood flow in the rectus femoris in adolescents

Aims: To compare the effects of 2 and 5 min of passive static stretching (SS) on stiffness and blood flow in the rectus femoris in adolescent athletes using shear wave elastography (SWE) and superb microvascular imaging (SMI). Material and methods: This prospective study included 20 male athletes with median age of 14.5 (12.5-16.5) years. The subjects were divided into two groups based on the SS duration as follows: 2 min (n=10) and 5 min (n=10). At rest and after 2 and 5 min of SS, stiffness and blood flow values were compared in the rectus femoris for each group. Inter-operator reliability was also analysed. Results: There was no significant difference between resting and 2 min of SS in terms of stiffness. The stiffness values decreased significantly from resting to 5 min of SS. The blood flow increased significantly from resting to 2 and 5 min of SS. Inter-operator reliability was moderate to perfect for SWE and SMI measurements (ICC: 0.52-0.83). Conclusions: SWE and SMI can be used to acquire reliable quantitative data about muscle stiffness and blood flow in adolescents. While stiffness parameters significantly decreased from resting after only 5 min, blood flow significantly increased both after 2 and 5 min. For physical rehabilitation protocols, 5 min of SS may be chosen to reduce stiffness. For competitions, 2 min of SS may be sufficient for warm-up exercise because it increases the blood flow optimally. Five min of SS may be preferred for the cool-down exercise to enhance recovery

Complete Response Evaluation of Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer to Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy Using Textural Features Obtained from T2 Weighted Imaging and ADC Maps

Background: The prediction of pathological responses for locally advanced rectal cancer using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is a challenging task for radiologists, as residual tumor cells can be mistaken for fibrosis. Texture analysis of MR images has been proposed to understand the underlying pathology. Objective: This study aimed to assess the responses of lesions to CRT in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer using the first-order textural features of MRI T2-weighted imaging (T2-WI) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps. Methods: Forty-four patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (median age: 57 years) who underwent MRI before and after CRT were enrolled in this retrospective study. The first-order textural parameters of tumors on T2-WI and ADC maps were extracted. The textural features of lesions in pathologic complete responders were compared to partial responders using Student's t- or Mann-Whitney U tests. A comparison of textural features before and after CRT for each group was performed using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated to detect the diagnostic performance of the ADC. Results: Of the 44 patients evaluated, 22 (50%) were placed in a partial response group and 50% were placed in a complete response group. The ADC changes of the complete responders were statistically more significant than those of the partial responders (P = 0.002). Pathologic total response was predicted with an ADC cut-off of 1310 x 10(-6) mm(2)/s, with a sensitivity of 72%, a specificity of 77%, and an accuracy of 78.1% after neoadjuvant CRT. The skewness of the T2-WI before and after neoadjuvant CRT showed a significant difference in the complete response group compared to the partial response group (P = 0.001 for complete responders vs. P = 0.482 for partial responders). Also, relative T2-WI signal intensity in the complete response group was statistically lower than that of the partial response group after neoadjuvant CRT (P = 0.006). Conclusion: As a result of the conversion of tumor cells to fibrosis, the skewness of the T2-WI before and after neoadjuvant CRT was statistically different in the complete response group compared to the partial response group, and the complete response group showed statistically lower relative T2-WI signal intensity than the partial response group after neoadjuvant CRT. Additionally, the ADC cut-off value of 1310 x 10(-6) mm(2)/s could be used as a marker for a complete response along with absolute ADC value changes within this dataset

Epidemiologic analysis of endometriosis awareness in Turkey

..

Corrigendum to “Detection of visual and frontoparietal network perfusion deficits in Parkinson’s disease dementia” [Eur. J. Radiol. 144 (2021) 109985]

This study was supported by TUBITAK 1001 project #115S219, Istanbul University Scientific Research Projects Unit project #1567/42362 and Bogazici University Scientific Research Projects Unit project #15222.The authors would like to add the following grant support that was accidentally not included in the original article. Acknowledgements: This study was supported by TUBITAK 1001 project #115S219, Istanbul University Scientific Research Projects Unit project #1567/42362 and Bogazici University Scientific Research Projects Unit project #15222. The authors would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused.Publisher's Versio

Detection of visual and frontoparietal network perfusion deficits in Parkinson's disease dementia

PubMed: ID34619619Mild cognitive impairment of Parkinson's disease (PD) may be an early manifestation that may progressively worsen to dementia. Cognitive decline has been associated with changes in the brain perfusion pattern. This study aimed to evaluate cerebral blood flow (CBF) deficits specific to different stages of cognitive decline. Seventeen patients with cognitively normal PD (PD-CN), 18 patients with PD with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI), and 16 patients with PD with dementia (PDD) were included in this study. The participants were scanned using a 3 T Philips MRI scanner. Arterial spin labelling magnetic resonance (ASL-MR) images were acquired, followed by calculation of the CBF maps, and registration onto the MNI152 brain atlas. A whole-brain voxel-based CBF comparison was performed among the patient groups using age as a covariate. The mean age of patients with PDD was significantly higher than that of patients with PD-MCI (P = 0.015) and PD-CN (P = 0.001). The CBF values of the three groups were significantly different in the left cuneus of the visual network (VN), left inferior frontal gyrus of the frontoparietal network (FPN), and left dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus. PDD had lower perfusion values than PD-MCI group in the same regions detected in the main group analysis. Additionally, comparison of PDD with PD-CN and non-demented groups revealed that the perfusion reduction extended into the bilateral cuneus of the VN, bilateral thalami, and left inferior frontal gyrus of the FPN. PDD could be separated from PD-MCI and PD-CN stages with CBF deficits in non-dopaminergically mediated posterior and dopaminergically mediated frontal networks.Publisher's Versio

Detection of visual and frontoparietal network perfusion deficits in Parkinson's disease dementia.

Mild cognitive impairment of Parkinson's disease (PD) may be an early manifestation that may progressively worsen to dementia. Cognitive decline has been associated with changes in the brain perfusion pattern. This study aimed to evaluate cerebral blood flow (CBF) deficits specific to different stages of cognitive decline

The impact of surgical delay on resectability of colorectal cancer: An international prospective cohort study

AimThe SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to explore the impact of surgical delays on cancer resectability. This study aimed to compare resectability for colorectal cancer patients undergoing delayed versus non-delayed surgery.MethodsThis was an international prospective cohort study of consecutive colorectal cancer patients with a decision for curative surgery (January-April 2020). Surgical delay was defined as an operation taking place more than 4 weeks after treatment decision, in a patient who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy. A subgroup analysis explored the effects of delay in elective patients only. The impact of longer delays was explored in a sensitivity analysis. The primary outcome was complete resection, defined as curative resection with an R0 margin.ResultsOverall, 5453 patients from 304 hospitals in 47 countries were included, of whom 6.6% (358/5453) did not receive their planned operation. Of the 4304 operated patients without neoadjuvant therapy, 40.5% (1744/4304) were delayed beyond 4 weeks. Delayed patients were more likely to be older, men, more comorbid, have higher body mass index and have rectal cancer and early stage disease. Delayed patients had higher unadjusted rates of complete resection (93.7% vs. 91.9%, P = 0.032) and lower rates of emergency surgery (4.5% vs. 22.5%, P ConclusionOne in 15 colorectal cancer patients did not receive their planned operation during the first wave of COVID-19. Surgical delay did not appear to compromise resectability, raising the hypothesis that any reduction in long-term survival attributable to delays is likely to be due to micro-metastatic disease