Adaptive scan strategies for fetal MRI imaging using slice to volume techniques

© 2015 IEEE.In this paper several novel methods to account for fetal movements during fetal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fetal MRI) are explored. We show how slice-to-volume reconstruction methods can be used to account for motion adaptively during the scan. Three candidate methods are tested for their feasibility and integrated into a computer simulation of fetal MRI. The first alters the main orientation of the stacks used for reconstruction, the second stops if too much motion occurs during slice acquisition and the third steers the orientation of each slice individually. Reconstruction informed adaptive scanning can provide a peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) improvement of up to 2 dB after only two stacks of scanned slices and is more efficient with respect to the uncertainty of the final reconstruction

Prevalence of major depression in preschool children

The prevalence of preschool major depressive disorder (MDD) was studied in the community. The whole population of children between 3 and 6 years attending preschool nurseries in three areas (one urban, one rural and one suburban) in Spain (n = 1,427) were contacted. Selection was by a two-stage procedure. At stage I, the ESDM 3-6, a screening measure for preschool depression, was used to identify a sample for more intensive interviewing. Sensitivity and specificity of the cut-off point of the ESDM 3–6 had been previously tested in a pilot study (n = 229). During the first stage, 222 preschool children (15.6%) were found to be probable depressives, because they scored 27 or more, the cut-off used. At stage II, the children were interviewed and diagnosed by the consensus of two clinicians, blind to the ESDM 3-6 results. DSM-IV diagnostic criteria were used to define caseness. A total of 16 children (1.12%) met the MDD criteria. The prevalence by areas was urban 0.87%, rural 0.88%, suburban 1.43%. Sex distribution prevalence was 1:1. This study is a contribution to the scarce epidemiology of preschool depression in the community

When to Start Antiretroviral Therapy

The question of when to start combination antiretroviral therapy for treatment-naïve patients has always been controversial. This is particularly true in the current era, with major guidelines recommending very different treatment strategies. Despite a lack of clarity regarding the optimal time to begin therapy, there has been a recent shift toward earlier initiation. This more aggressive approach is driven by several observations. First, effective viral suppression with therapy can prevent non-AIDS-related morbidity and mortality. Second, therapy can prevent irreversible harm to the human immune system. Third, therapy may prevent transmission of HIV to others, and thus have a potential public health benefit. For patients who are motivated and willing to initiate early treatment, the collective benefits of early therapy may outweigh the well-documented risks of antiretroviral medications

Behavioural signs of pain in cats: an expert consensus

To identify where a consensus can be reached between veterinary experts in feline medicine on the core signs sufficient for pain (sufficient to indicate pain when they occur, but not necessarily present in all painful conditions) and necessary for pain (necessary in the presence of pain, but not always indicative of pain). Methods A modified Delphi technique was used, consisting of four rounds of questions and evaluation using nineteen participants during the period December 2014 and May 2015. Agreement was considered to be established when 80% of the experts concurred with the same opinion. Results Twenty-five signs were considered sufficient to indicate pain, but no single sign was considered necessary for it. Discussion Further studies are needed to evaluate the validity of these 25 behavioural signs if a specific pain assessment tool is to be developed that is capable of assessing pain in cats based on observational methods alone. The signs reported here may nonetheless help both vets and owners form an initial evaluation of the pain status of cats in their care

Comparison of risk factors for squamous cell and adenocarcinomas of the cervix: a meta-analysis

While most cancers of the uterine cervix are squamous cell carcinomas, the relative and absolute incidence of adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix has risen in recent years. It is not clear to what extent risk factors identified for squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix are shared by cervical adenocarcinomas. We used data from six case-control studies to compare directly risk factors for cervical adenocarcinoma (910 cases) and squamous cell carcinoma (5649 cases) in a published data meta-analysis. The summary odds ratios and tests for differences between these summaries for the two histological types were estimated using empirically weighted least squares. A higher lifetime number of sexual partners, earlier age at first intercourse, higher parity and long duration of oral contraceptive use were risk factors for both histological types. Current smoking was associated with a significantly increased risk of squamous cell carcinoma, with a summary odds ratio of 1.47 (95% confidence interval: 1.15-1.88), but not of adenocarcinoma (summary odds ratio=0.82 (0.60-1.11); test for heterogeneity between squamous cell and adenocarcinoma for current smoking: P=0.001). The results of this meta-analysis of published data suggest that squamous cell and adenocarcinomas of the uterine cervix, while sharing many risk factors, may differ in relation to smoking. Further evidence is needed to confirm this in view of the limited data available

Quantification of Rapid Myosin Regulatory Light Chain Phosphorylation Using High-Throughput In-Cell Western Assays: Comparison to Western Immunoblots

Quantification of phospho-proteins (PPs) is crucial when studying cellular signaling pathways. Western immunoblotting (WB) is commonly used for the measurement of relative levels of signaling intermediates in experimental samples. However, WB is in general a labour-intensive and low-throughput technique. Because of variability in protein yield and phospho-signal preservation during protein harvesting, and potential loss of antigen during protein transfer, WB provides only semi-quantitative data. By comparison, the "in-cell western" (ICW) technique has high-throughput capacity and requires less extensive sample preparation. Thus, we compared the ICW technique to WB for measuring phosphorylated myosin regulatory light chain (PMLC(20)) in primary cultures of uterine myocytes to assess their relative specificity, sensitivity, precision, and quantification of biologically relevant responses.ICWs are cell-based microplate assays for quantification of protein targets in their cellular context. ICWs utilize a two-channel infrared (IR) scanner (Odyssey(R)) to quantify signals arising from near-infrared (NIR) fluorophores conjugated to secondary antibodies. One channel is dedicated to measuring the protein of interest and the second is used for data normalization of the signal in each well of the microplate. Using uterine myocytes, we assessed oxytocin (OT)-stimulated MLC(20) phosphorylation measured by ICW and WB, both using NIR fluorescence. ICW and WB data were comparable regarding signal linearity, signal specificity, and time course of phosphorylation response to OT.ICW and WB yield comparable biological data. The advantages of ICW over WB are its high-throughput capacity, improved precision, and reduced sample preparation requirements. ICW might provide better sensitivity and precision with low-quantity samples or for protocols requiring large numbers of samples. These features make the ICW technique an excellent tool for the study of phosphorylation endpoints. However, the drawbacks of ICW include the need for a cell culture format and the lack of utility where protein purification, concentration or stoichiometric analyses are required

Incidence and Risk of QTc Interval Prolongation among Cancer Patients Treated with Vandetanib: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Vandetanib is a multikinase inhibitor that is under assessment for the treatment of various cancers. QTc interval prolongation is one of the major adverse effects of this drug, but the reported incidence varies substantially among clinical trials. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to obtain a better understanding in the risk of QTc interval prolongation among cancer patients administered vandetanib.Eligible studies were phase II and III prospective clinical trials that involved cancer patients who were prescribed vandetanib 300 mg/d and that included data on QTc interval prolongation. The overall incidence and risk of QTc interval prolongation were calculated using random-effects or fixed-effects models, depending on the heterogeneity of the included studies. Nine trials with 2,188 patients were included for the meta-analysis. The overall incidence of all-grade and high-grade QTc interval prolongation was 16.4% (95% CI, 8.1-30.4%) and 3.7% (8.1-30.4%), respectively, among non-thyroid cancer patients, and 18.0% (10.7-28.6%) and 12.0% (4.5-28.0%), respectively, among thyroid cancer patients. Patients with thyroid cancer who had longer treatment duration also had a higher incidence of high-grade events, with a relative risk of 3.24 (1.57-6.71), than patients who had non-thyroid cancer. Vandetanib was associated with a significantly increased risk of all-grade QTc interval prolongation with overall Peto odds ratios of 7.26 (4.36-12.09) and 5.70 (3.09-10.53) among patients with non-thyroid cancer and thyroid cancer, respectively, compared to the controls.Treatment with vandetanib is associated with a significant increase in the overall incidence and risk of QTc interval prolongation. Different cancer types and treatment durations may affect the risk of developing high-grade QTc interval prolongation

An overview of menopausal oestrogen–progestin hormone therapy and breast cancer risk

Results from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) trial support findings from observational studies that oestrogen–progestin therapy (EPT) use is associated with an increase in breast cancer risk. We conducted a meta-analysis using EPT-specific results from the Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer (CGHFBC) pooled analysis and studies published since that report to obtain an overview of EPT use and breast cancer risk. We also assessed risk by histologic subtype of breast cancer, by schedule of the progestin component of EPT, and by recency of use. We estimate that overall, EPT results in a 7.6% increase in breast cancer risk per year of use. The risk was statistically significantly lower in US studies than in European studies – 5.2 vs 7.9%. There was a significantly higher risk for continuous-combined than for sequential EPT use in Scandinavian studies where much higher total doses of progestin were used in continuous-combined than in sequential EPT. We observed no overall difference in risk for lobular vs ductal carcinoma but did observe a slightly higher risk for current vs past EPT use

Markers of Dysglycaemia and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in People without Diabetes: Reykjavik Prospective Study and Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: Associations between circulating markers of dysglycaemia and coronary heart disease (CHD) risk in people without diabetes have not been reliably characterised. We report new data from a prospective study and a systematic review to help quantify these associations. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Fasting and post-load glucose levels were measured in 18,569 participants in the population-based Reykjavik study, yielding 4,664 incident CHD outcomes during 23.5 y of mean follow-up. In people with no known history of diabetes at the baseline survey, the hazard ratio (HR) for CHD, adjusted for several conventional risk factors, was 2.37 (95% CI 1.79-3.14) in individuals with fasting glucose > or = 7.0 mmol/l compared to those or = 7 mmol/l at baseline were excluded, relative risks for CHD, adjusted for several conventional risk factors, were: 1.06 (1.00-1.12) per 1 mmol/l higher fasting glucose (23 cohorts, 10,808 cases, 255,171 participants); 1.05 (1.03-1.07) per 1 mmol/l higher post-load glucose (15 cohorts, 12,652 cases, 102,382 participants); and 1.20 (1.10-1.31) per 1% higher HbA(1c) (9 cohorts, 1639 cases, 49,099 participants). CONCLUSIONS: In the Reykjavik Study and a meta-analysis of other Western prospective studies, fasting and post-load glucose levels were modestly associated with CHD risk in people without diabetes. The meta-analysis suggested a somewhat stronger association between HbA(1c) levels and CHD risk