La gestión del conocimiento en prácticas docentes en la enseñanza de la gastronomía

El propósito de este proyecto fue la sistematización de las prácticas docentes que producen aprendizajes significativos en los alumnos en clases de gastronomía. Se buscó que la sistematización permitiera continuar con las prácticas docentes óptimas y su posible replicación en otras instituciones educativas del área gastronómica

18F-FDG-PET/CT analysis in hospitalized patients affected by pulmonary disease: The experience of the Nuclear Medicine Unit of "policlinico Tor Vegata"

Objective: The main aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the clinical data and outcomes of a cohort of 492 hospitalized patients who underwent fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG)-PET/CT analysis at the nuclear medicine unit of 'Policlinico Tor Vergata' in Rome during the years 2017 and 2018 with particular emphasis for patients affected by pulmonary diseases. Methods: Anamnestic data (age and gender), main pathologic conditions, results of F-FDG-PET/CT examination, appropriateness of the request, and medical records of 492 consecutive hospitalized patients who underwent F-FDG-PET/CT analysis (55.38 ± 3.78 years; range 33-81 years) from January 2017 to December 2018 were obtained. Results: Considering all examinations, positive results were observed in 66.9% of cases whereas it was not possible to perform a diagnosis in 12.7% of cases (doubt results). About 20-fold increase in the percentage of doubt results was observed in F-FDG-PET/CT analysis with no appropriateness as compared to those with double appropriateness (both the request and clinical). Noteworthy, our data showed a 95% higher concordance between the positive results of the F-FDG-PET/CT examination and the histologic diagnosis. Conversely, the concordance between the analysis of the bronchoalveolar lavages and the PET analysis was very low. Conclusion: Data here reported showed the high accuracy of the F-FDG-PET/CT performed in our department, mainly for pulmonary diseases, also highlighting the importance of continuously updating the selection criteria for patients who need PET examinations

Detection of local recurrence of prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy: Is there a role for early ¹⁸F-FCH PET/CT?

TTo investigate the diagnostic performance of early acquisition compared to late imaging for the detection of local recurrence of prostate cancer by means of 18F-FCH PET/CT. Materials and methods 99 patients with radical prostatectomy (mean PSA 3.9 ± 5.03) were subjected to early dynamic PET/CT acquisition of the pelvis and a whole body PET/CT in the same exam session. None of the patients examined was subjected to radiotherapy for local or distant recurrence. All the subjects were taken off hormonal therapy. Results 58 subjects did not show local recurrence in both early and late acquisition, 22 were positive in both modalities, 10 showed a positive early and a negative late acquisition while 9 showed a negative early and a positive late acquisition (Cohen’s k = 0.558). When the results of imaging modalities were considered separately, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value resulted: 78.9, 96.7, 93.8 and 88.1 % for early acquisition and 73.7, 95.1, 90.3 and 85.3 % for late acquisition, respectively. When the results of early and late acquisition were considered together, results were 97.4, 93.4, 90.2 and 98.3 %, respectively. Conclusions The combination of early acquisition with late acquisition lead to an increase of the diagnostic accuracy of 18F-FCH PET/CT for the diagnosis of local recurrence in prostate cancer

PET/CT with 18F-choline after radical prostatectomy in patients with PSA ≤2 ng/ml. Can PSA velocity and PSA doubling time help in patient selection?

Purpose To investigate the performance of F-18-fluorocholine (F-18-FCH) PET/CT in relation to the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) kinetic indexes, PSA doubling time (PSAdt) and PSA velocity (PSAve), in detecting recurrent prostate cancer (PC) in a selected population of patients treated with radical prostatectomy and with PSA a parts per thousand currency sign2 ng/ml.Methods The study group comprised 79 patients (mean age 70 +/- 7 years, range 58 - 77 years) who had been treated with radical surgery 30 to 90 months previously and with biochemical failure (defined as a measurable serum PSA level) who were evaluated with F-18-FCH PET/CT. In order to establish the optimal threshold for PSAdt and PSAve, the diagnostic performance of PSA, PSAdt and PSAve were compared by receiver operating characteristic analysis.Results In the population examined, PSA (mean +/- SD) was 1.37 +/- 0.44 ng/ml (range 0.21 - 2 ng/ml) before PET/CT examination, PSAdt was 10.04 +/- 16.67 months and PSAve was 2.75 +/- 3.11 ng/ml per year. F-18-FCH PET/CT was positive in 44 patients (55 %). PSAve and PSAdt were significantly different between patients with a positive and a negative F-18-FCH PET/CT scan. Thresholds of 6 months for PSAdt and 1 ng/ml per year for PSAve were selected. For PSAdt a parts per thousand currency sign6 months the detection rate (DR) was 65 %, and for PSAve > 1 ng/ml per year the DR was 67 %. PSA values were not significantly different between patients with a positive and a negative PET/CT scan.Conclusion The results of our study suggest that F-18-FCH PET/CT could be considered for the evaluation of patients with biochemical recurrence of PC and with low PSA levels. Fast PSA kinetics could be useful in the selection of these patients

Functional correlates of TSH, fT3 and fT4 in Alzheimer disease: A F-18 FDG PET/CT study

The present study was aimed to investigate the relationships between thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), freeT3 (fT3) and freeT4 (fT4) and brain glucose consumption as detectable by means of 2-deoxy-2-(F-18) fluoro-D-glucose (F-18 FDG) Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) in a selected population with Alzheimer disease (AD). We evaluated 87 subjects (37 males and 50 females, mean age 70 (\ub16) years old) with AD. All of them were subjected to TSH, fT3 and fT4 assay and to cerebrospinal fluid amyloid (A\u3b21-42) and tau [phosphorylated-tau (p-tau) and total-tau (t-tau)] assay prior PET/CT examination. Values for TSH, fT3 and fT4 were in the normal range. The relationships were evaluated by means of statistical parametric mapping (SPM8) using age, sex, MMSE, scholarship and CSF values of amyloid and tau as covariates. We found a significant positive correlation between TSH values and cortical glucose consumption in a wide portion of the anterior cingulate cortex bilaterally (BA32) and left frontal lobe (BA25) (p FWE-corr <0.001; p FDRcorr <0.000; cluster extent 66950). No significant relationships were found between cortical F-18 FDG uptake and T3 and T4 serum levels. The results of our study suggest that a cortical dysfunction in anterior cingulate and frontal lobes may affect serum values of TSH in AD patients

Cardiac sympathetic denervation is not related to nigrostriatal degeneration in Parkinson's disease

The aim of our study was to investigate the relationship between myocardial sympathetic degeneration and nigrostriatal impairment in patients affected by Parkinson's disease (PD) by means of (123)I-metaiodobenzylguanidine ((123)I MIBG) scintigraphy and N-(3-fluoropropyl)-2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-[(123)I]iodophenyl)nortropane ((123)I FP-CIT) scintigraphy

Functional correlates of TSH, fT3 and fT4 in Alzheimer disease: A F-18 FDG PET/CT study

The present study was aimed to investigate the relationships between thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), freeT3 (fT3) and freeT4 (fT4) and brain glucose consumption as detectable by means of 2-deoxy-2-(F-18) fluoro-D-glucose (F-18 FDG) Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) in a selected population with Alzheimer disease (AD). We evaluated 87 subjects (37 males and 50 females, mean age 70 (±6) years old) with AD. All of them were subjected to TSH, fT3 and fT4 assay and to cerebrospinal fluid amyloid (Aβ1-42) and tau [phosphorylated-tau (p-tau) and total-tau (t-tau)] assay prior PET/CT examination. Values for TSH, fT3 and fT4 were in the normal range. The relationships were evaluated by means of statistical parametric mapping (SPM8) using age, sex, MMSE, scholarship and CSF values of amyloid and tau as covariates. We found a significant positive correlation between TSH values and cortical glucose consumption in a wide portion of the anterior cingulate cortex bilaterally (BA32) and left frontal lobe (BA25) (p FWE-corr <0.001; p FDRcorr <0.000; cluster extent 66950). No significant relationships were found between cortical F-18 FDG uptake and T3 and T4 serum levels. The results of our study suggest that a cortical dysfunction in anterior cingulate and frontal lobes may affect serum values of TSH in AD patients

Reverse perfusion pattern in myocardial spect with 99mTc-sestaMIBI.

Rationale. The aim of our study was to investigate the myocardial perfusion deficit in rest images as compared to stress images in myocardial scintigraphy (MS). Objectives. The aim of this study is to investigate the reverse perfusion (RP) pattern in MS. Methods and Results. 263 patients were enrolled in the study (72 females and 191 males; mean age 65.7 ± 9.5 years old). Mean body mass index (BMI) was of 27.6 ± 3.8 Kg/m2. 115 patients were positive for a previous history of myocardial infarction (MI). 142 patients reported a revascularization treatment (percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, PTCA, cardiac stent placement, coronary artery bypass grafting, CABG). All the patients underwent MS following standard single day Stress/Rest protocol. In our series, 27 patients presented a RP pattern. We did not find statistically significant differences when considering age (p = 0.7988), sex (p = 0.0657), BMI (p = 0.8611), diabetes (p = 0.8259), dyslipidemia (p = 0.1464) or smoking status (p = 0.6829) in RP patients vs. non-RP patients. A history of MI is related to a RP pattern (p < 0.0001). A history of previous revascularization was not related with RP (p = 0.6868). Discussion. The result of our study suggested that RP is probably related to artifacts of various origins. Further studies are necessary especially in microvascular dysfunction or a long history of disease. Abbreviations: MS: myocardial scintigraphy, RR: reverse redistribution, RP: reverse perfusion, MI: myocardial infarction, CAD: coronary artery disease, CABG: coronary artery bypass grafting; PTCA: percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty; PCI: percutaneous coronary intervention, SPECT: single-photon emission computed tomogram