Potential of vascular endothelial growth factor as a biomarker of coronary artery disease in subjects undergoing CABG surgery

Introduction: • Coronary artery disease (CAD) causes local hypoxia due to reduced blood flow • Hypoxic conditions are known to induce vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) production, a key contributor to angiogenesis • The purpose of this study was to determine the potential of VEGF as a marker of myocardial stress in subjects with CAD undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surger

Evaluation of fetal absorbed doses from computed tomography examinations of pregnant patients: A systematic review

BACKGROUND: Currently, no systematic data are available on fetal radiation exposure as a result of radiographic studies during pregnancy. Consequently, there are no approved methods of its calculation that can be used in clinical practice. It is especially relevant for computed tomography scans as it is a widely used and highly informative method of diagnostic imaging associated with high exposure levels. AIM: to systematize currently available data on radiation dose absorbed by the fetus from computed tomography scans in pregnant women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The search for publications in Russian and English was conducted in PubMed/Medline, Google Scholar and еLibrary. The final analysis included 12 papers including 8 studies using human body phantoms, 3 retrospective studies and one prospective clinical study. RESULTS: Abdominal and pelvic computed tomography scans as well as whole-body scans were found to be associated with the highest fetal radiation exposure. However, in none of the publications the fetal exposure limit was exceeded. CONCLUSION: Clinically indicated non-contrast-enhanced computed tomography scans in pregnant women are not likely to be associated with the fetal absorbed doses that exceed the limit of 100 mGy regardless of the scanned area. However, this limit might be exceeded in case of performing multiple studies or if multiphase abdominal or pelvic computed tomography scans, or whole-body computed tomography scans are performed in patients with multiple trauma. In these cases, a decision regarding the need for these investigations should be made by a multi-disciplinary team (including radiation safety specialists, diagnostic radiologists and clinicians) based on the results of additional risk assessment

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements