Assessment of vascular perfusion kinetics using contrast-enhanced ultrasound for the diagnosis of prostatic disease in dogs

Vascular perfusion was assessed in 10 dogs without prostatic abnormalities and 26 dogs with prostatic disease using contrast-enhanced ultrasound. The time to reach peak contrast intensity (TTP) and peak perfusion intensity (PPI) were measured, and histological biopsies were collected from each dog. Biopsies confirmed normal prostate (n = 10), benign prostatic hyperplasia (n = 11), mixed benign pathology (n = 9), prostatitis (n = 1), prostatic malignancy [adenocar- cinoma (n = 4); leiomyosarcoma (n = 1)]. In normal dogs, mean PPI was 16.8% ± 5.8 SD, and mean TTP was 33.6 ± 6.4 s. Benign conditions overall were not statistically different from normal dogs (p > 0.05); for benign prostatic hyperplasia, mean PPI was 16.9 ± 3.8%, and mean TTP was 26.2 ± 5.8 s; for mixed benign pathology mean PPI was 14.8 ± 7.8%, and mean TTP was 31.9 ± 9.7 s; for prostatitis, PPI was 14.2%, and TTP was 25.9 s. The malignant conditions overall had perfusion values that differed from the normal dogs (p < 0.05), although evaluation of the data for individ- ual malignancies did not demonstrate a consistent trend; for adenocarcinomas, the PPI was numerically higher with a mean of 23.7 ± 1.9%, and the mean TTP was 26.9 ± 4.8 s, whilst for the dog with leiomyosarcoma values were numerically lower with a PPI of 14.1% and TTP of 41.3 s. Contrast- enhanced ultrasound appears to offer some ability to docu- ment differences in perfusion that may differentiate between malignant and benign lesions, although studies with larger numbers of animals are required to confirm this contention

Efficacy of hyaluronate injections in rotator cuff disorders: a level-I meta-analysis

Background: Rotator cuff disease is the most common cause of shoulder pain and weakness. Conservative treatment is the first choice of shoulder pain management. Viscosupplementation of hyaluronic acid (HA) seems to be effective for management of tendon disorders. The objective of this study was to evaluate the scientific evidence reported in literature according to HA shoulder injection in rotator cuff disorders treatment. Methods: An English-language systematic literature search was performed by two independent researchers; data sources included the following databases: MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Google scholar web, Ovid database, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), and the Cochrane Library. We performed a broad research for relevant study up to February 2017. Articles were included if they reported data on clinical and functional outcomes in patients who had undergone HA injection for management of rotator cuff pathology compared to placebo, corticosteroid injection and/or physical therapies. Methodological quality was assessed with the PEDro rating scale. The outcomes were improvement of symptoms (assessed by VAS scale) and shoulder function (assessed through DASH and ASES Score). Results: 5 RCTs studies (990 patients) were pooled in the Meta-analysis. The PEDro rating scale ranged from 2 to 8. Two studies compared HA injection with corticosteroid injections, patients were injected once a week for three weeks. Four studies compared HA injection with placebo injection, of which two used 3 weekly injections and two used 5 weekly injections. Significant difference was found in pain reduction between HA and placebo group at 26 weeks follow-up (MD= -0.51, 95% CI -0.96 to -0.07), p=0.02. Conclusion: HA injections might be a valuable safe alternative to other conservative methods for the treatment of rotator cuff disorders. Nowadays, few and low quality randomized controlled trials have been published. Therefore, to reach an overall conclusion about the effect of HA injection in rotator cuff we need more high quality studies. Level of evidence: Therapeutic Level I. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence. Study design: Meta-analys

A novel random counts estimation method for PET using a symmetrical delayed window technique and random single event acquisition

We have developed a novel logic scheme for the estimation of the random count distribution based on a dual symmetrical delayed window technique. The solution has been applied to a dual head PET case. We have also implemented a new method for noise variance reduction in the random count distribution

Comparison of two dedicated 'in beam' PET systems via simultaneous imaging of (12)C-induced beta(+)-activity.

The selective energy deposition of hadrontherapy has led to a growing interest in quality assurance techniques such as 'in-beam' PET. Due to the current lack of commercial solutions, dedicated detectors need to be developed. In this paper, we compare the performances of two different 'in-beam' PET systems which were simultaneously operated during and after low energy carbon ion irradiation of PMMA phantoms at GSI Darmstadt. The results highlight advantages and drawbacks of a novel in-beam PET prototype against a long-term clinically operated tomograph for ion therapy monitoring

Reprogrammable Acquisition Architecture for Dedicated Positron Emission Tomography

We have developed a flexible, cost-efficient PET architecture adaptPositron Emission Tomographyable to different applications and system geometries, such as positron emission mammography (PEM) and in-beam PET for dose delivery monitoring (ibPET). The acquisition system has been used to implement modularized dual planar detectors with very low front-end dead time, as required in PEM or in ibPET. The flexibility is obtained thanks to the FPGA-based, reprogrammable, TDC-less coincidence processor. The final goal is to propose an effective acquisition methodology and the construction of a compact, low-cost instrument able to provide early diagnosis and to improve the effectiveness of follow-up studies for smaller tumours with respect to those studied with present clinical equipment (e.g., whole-body PET, SPECT, or scintigraphy)

A flexible acquisition system for modular dual head Positron Emission Mammography

We have developed a dedicated scanner for Positron Emission Mammography, equipped with a new detection architecture that enhances its flexibility and reduces dead time. The scanner is going to use Luthetium based scintillators, which offer good detection efficiency, and a novel modular acquisition system, capable of sustaining the high scintillation rate and being less sensitive to background radiation. The final goal is the construction of an instrument able to provide an early diagnosis and to improve the effectiveness of follow-up studies for smaller tumours with respect to those studied with present clinical equipment (e.g. PET, SPECT o scintigraphy) so as to be able to visualize and characterize breast lesions with diameters < 5 mm

Characterization of an In-Beam PET Prototype for Proton Therapy With Different Target Compositions

At the University of Pisa, the DoPET (Dosimetry with a Positron Emission Tomograph) project has focused on the development and characterization of an ad hoc, scalable, dual-head PET prototype for in-beam treatment planning verification of the proton therapy. In this paper we report the first results obtained with our current prototype, consisting of two opposing lutetium yttrium orthosilicate (LYSO) detectors, each one covering an area of 4.5 × 4.5 cm2. We measured the β+-activation induced by 62 MeV proton beams at Catana facility (LNS, Catania, Italy) in several plastic phantoms. Experiments were performed to evaluate the possibility to extract accurate phantom geometrical information from the reconstructed PET images. The PET prototype proved its capability of locating small air cavities in homogeneous PMMA phantoms with a submillimetric accuracy and of distinguishing materials with different 16O and 12C content by back mapping phantom geometry through the separation of the isotope contributions. This could be very useful in the clinical practice as a tool to highlight anatomical or physiological organ variations among different treatment sessions and to discriminate different tissue types, thus providing feedbacks for the accuracy of dose deposition

Skeletal Diversification via Heteroatom Linkage Control: Preparation of Bicyclic and Spirocyclic Scaffolds from NSubstituted Homopropargyl Alcohols

The discovery and application of a new branching pathway synthesis strategy that rapidly produces skeletally diverse scaffolds is described. Two different scaffold types, one a bicyclic iodo-vinylidene tertiary amine/tertiary alcohol and the other, a spirocyclic 3-furanone, are each obtained using a two-step sequence featuring a common first step. Both scaffold types lead to intermediates that can be orthogonally diversified using the same final components. One of the scaffold types was obtained in sufficiently high yield that it was immediately used to produce a 97-compound library

Superfluid transport of information in turning flocks of starlings

Collective decision-making in biological systems requires all individuals in the group to go through a behavioural change of state. During this transition, the efficiency of information transport is a key factor to prevent cohesion loss and preserve robustness. The precise mechanism by which natural groups achieve such efficiency, though, is currently not fully understood. Here, we present an experimental study of starling flocks performing collective turns in the field. We find that the information to change direction propagates across the flock linearly in time with negligible attenuation, hence keeping group decoherence to a minimum. This result contrasts with current theories of collective motion, which predict a slower and dissipative transport of directional information. We propose a novel theory whose cornerstone is the existence of a conserved spin current generated by the gauge symmetry of the system. The theory turns out to be mathematically identical to that of superfluid transport in liquid helium and it explains the dissipationless propagating mode observed in turning flocks. Superfluidity also provides a quantitative expression for the speed of propagation of the information, according to which transport must be swifter the stronger the group's orientational order. This prediction is verified by the data. We argue that the link between strong order and efficient decision-making required by superfluidity may be the adaptive drive for the high degree of behavioural polarization observed in many living groups. The mathematical equivalence between superfluid liquids and turning flocks is a compelling demonstration of the far-reaching consequences of symmetry and conservation laws across different natural systems