Endocrine Factors, Retinal Vessels, and Risk of Dementia

First described 100 years ago by Alois Alzheimer, the clinico-pathological entity that we now call Alzheimer disease was initially presented as a clinically unusual type of dementia. 1 Nowadays, Alzheimer disease is recognized as the main cause of dementia and one of the most disabling and burdensome health conditions worldwide.2,3 The number of people affected by dementia is estimated to double every 20 years to over 80 million by 2040.3 This will not only affect patients and their caregivers, but will also put an enormous demand on health care and welfare resources

Dementia With Lewy Bodies A Clinicopathologic Series of False-positive Cases

Diagnosing dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is challenging as symptoms are heterogenous and not specific to the disease. Here we present a clinicopathologic series of false-positive DLB cases. Patients were enrolled retrospectively from the Netherlands Brain Bank when they met the clinical criteria of probable DLB, but with a pathologic diagnosis other than DLB or Parkinson’s disease dementia. Twenty-two false-positive cases were selected. Alzheimer disease with or without copathology was the most common (64%) pathologic diagnosis. Other pathologic diagnoses, such as frontotemporal dementia, multiple-system atrophy, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and autoimmune encephalitis, were also encountered. Atypical clinical signs for DLB were present in almost half of the cases and could be a trigger to consider other diagnoses than DLB. Additional diagnostic examinations, feedback of pathologic diagnosis, and the creation of a set of clinical features that are indicative of other conditions, could reduce the amount of false-positive DLB cases

Quantification of transpulmonary echocontrast effects

Videodensity of left heart and right heart were studied after intravenous injection of increasing dosages of 0.01-0.02 and 0.04 mL/kg bodyweight of Albunex® in 10 healthy volunteers. The increase in videodensity in the left ventricle was always lower than in the right ventricle. Possible explanations are diffusion of gases caused by ambient pressures changes and change in microspheres distribution due to the sieving effect of the lung capillary bed. These phenomena were studied in vitro and were consistent with clinical observations. These limitations restrict a quantitative assessment of left heart echocontrast after intravenous injection

Mineralogy of oxygen-rich dust shells

Wetensch. publicatieFaculteit der Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappe

Further detections of OH masers in carbon stars with silicate features

A sample of J-type carbon stars was searched for OH maser emission. The new detection of three OH lines towards two silicate carbon stars is reported. In V778 Cyg, previously known as the main-lines (1665 and 1667 MHz) maser source, the satellite 1612 MHz emission was discovered while in NSV 2814 the main OH lines were detected. The presence of OH maser lines confirms the former suggestion that oxygen-rich material is located in the vicinity ($\approx$ $10^{15-16}$ cm) of silicate carbon stars.Comment: LaTeX2e, 4 pages with 2 figure

The predictive and prognostic value of low skeletal muscle mass for dose-limiting toxicity and survival in head and neck cancer patients receiving concomitant cetuximab and radiotherapy

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the predictive value of low skeletal muscle mass (SMM) for cetuximab dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) and its prognostic value in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients treated with concomitant cetuximab and radiotherapy. Methods: Patients diagnosed with HNSCC and treated with primary or adjuvant concomitant cetuximab and radiotherapy were included. Clinical and demographic variables were retrospectively retrieved and SMM was measured at the level of the third cervical vertebra using pre-treatment diagnostic computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. An optimal cut-off value for low SMM was determined based on the lowest log-likelihood associated with cetuximab DLT. A multivariate linear regression model was used to determine predictive factors for cetuximab DLT. The prognostic value of low SMM for disease-free and overall survival was analyzed using Kaplan–Meier curves. Results: The optimal cut-off value for low SMM as a predictor of cetuximab DLT was an LSMI ≤ 45.2 cm2/m2. Of the 91 included patients, 74.7% had low SMM and 30.8% experienced cetuximab DLT. At multivariate analysis, low SMM had no predictive value for DLT (OR 0.83; 95% CI 0.27–2.56; p = 0.74). The Kaplan–Meier curve demonstrated that patients with low SMM had significantly lower overall survival (Log Rank χ2 = 5.87; p = 0.02). Conclusion: Low SMM is highly prevalent in HNSCC patients treated with concomitant cetuximab and radiotherapy. Low SMM has no predictive value for cetuximab DLT in HNSCC patients. Low SMM is probably not a prognostic factor for overall survival in highly selected HNSCC patients treated with concomitant cetuximab and radiotherapy and unfit for platin-based chemotherapy