Hasil untuk "Medical technology"

Yuan Zhang, Ya Zhang, Jing Wang et al.

Abstract Objective By conducting TORCH screening and risk assessment analysis on childbearing-age women in different regions of China, the aim is to provide reference for reducing adverse pregnancy outcomes and improving the health status of childbearing-age women. Methods Between February and May 2021, in the eastern, central, and western regions of China (Beijing, Henan, Gansu), a total of 1,942 couples aged 18 to 49, from both urban and rural areas, were included in this cross-sectional study. TORCH screening was conducted on all these women of childbearing-age, and risk assessment was performed based on the examination results. Result In this study, toxoplasmosis, rubella, CMV, HSV, IgM positive rate were 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.3%, 0.3%, respectively, and CT, TP, HBsAg, HCV, HIV, positive rate were 0.1%, 0.2%, 2.1%, 0.3%, 0.0%, respectively. The total TORCH screening identified 63.4% of women as having potential risks, compared to 15.5% of routine ToRCH screening. The distribution of the risk population shows significant differences among provinces, ethnicities, education levels, and age groups (p ≤ 0.001). Trend chi-square tests revealed that as the level of education increased, the proportion of the risk population decreased. Conclusions The TORCH screening utilized in this study demonstrates advantages over ToRCH, as it can identify more women of childbearing age with potential risks before pregnancy, allowing for early interventions. Simultaneously, these findings underscore the necessity for targeted health education, especially for young women in economically underdeveloped areas and those with relatively lower education levels.

Tesfu Fekensa Tujuba, Roman V. Yakovlev, Aidas Saldaitis et al.

African golden-spotted lappet moths from the genera Haplopacha Aurivillius, 1905 and Dasychirinula Hering, 1926 are reviewed. Antennae, heads and legs are investigated in addition to the traditional comparison of habitus, genitalia, and distribution areas. Two new genera are established and four new species are described as a result: Eudoumbia gen. n. with the type-species Eudoumbia thorogood sp. n. from Angola, Namibia, and Botswana; Auripluvia gen. n. with the type species Auripluvia sophia sp. n. from Ethiopia; Haplopacha mason sp. n. from Tanzania; and Dasychirinula julia sp. n. from Ethiopia. One species is reattributed to the new genus as Eudoumbia ndoumoi (Dupont, Simonsen & Zilli, 2016) stat. n. One new synonymy is established for two Tanzanian species: Dasychirinula chrysogramma Hering, 1926 = Haplopacha lunata Dupont, Simonsen & Zilli, 2016 syn. n.; and one potential synonymy is remarked between Haplopacha tangani Dupont, Simonsen & Zilli, 2016 from Tanzania and Malawi and Haplopacha riftensis Dupont, Simonsen & Zilli, 2016 from Malawi. Photos of the related material stored in the main collections of Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (Pretoria, RSA) and Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) are showed.

Karosham Diren Reddy, Dikaia Xenaki, Ian M. Adcock et al.

<b>Background:</b> Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by progressive and incurable airflow obstruction and chronic inflammation. Both TGF-β1 and CXCL8 have been well described as fundamental to COPD progression. DNA methylation and histone acetylation, which are well-understood epigenetic mechanisms regulating gene expression, are associated with COPD progression. However, a deeper understanding of the complex mechanisms associated with DNA methylation, histone post-translational changes and RNA methylation in the context of regulatory pathways remains to be elucidated. We here report on how DNA methylation and histone acetylation inhibition differentially affect CXCL8 signaling in primary human non-COPD and COPD airway cells. <b>Methods:</b> Airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells, a pivotal cell type in COPD, were isolated from the small airways of heavy smokers with and without COPD. Histone acetylation and DNA methylation were inhibited before the TGF-β1 stimulation of cells. Subsequently, CXCL8 production and the abundance and activation of pertinent transcription regulatory proteins (NF-κB, p38 MAPK and JNK) were analyzed. <b>Results:</b> TGF-β1-stimulated CXCL8 release from ASM cells from ‘healthy’ smoker subjects was significantly modulated by DNA methylation (56.32 pg/mL and 56.60 pg/mL) and acetylation inhibitors (27.50 pg/mL and 48.85 pg/mL) at 24 and 48 h, respectively. However, modulation via the inhibition of DNA methylation (34.06 pg/mL and 43.18 pg/mL) and acetylation (23.14 pg/mL and 27.18 pg/mL) was observed to a lesser extent in COPD ASM cells. These changes were associated with differences in the TGF-β1 activation of NF-κB and MAPK pathways at 10 and 20 min. <b>Conclusions:</b> Our findings offer insight into differential epigenetics in controlling COPD ASM cells and provide a foundation warranting future studies on epigenetic differences associated with COPD diagnosis. This would provide a scope for developing therapeutic interventions targeting signaling and epigenetic pathways to improve patient outcomes.

Ragavendran Chinnasamy, Kamaraj Chinnaperumal, Natarajan Devarajan et al.

Judith Owokuhaisa, Eleanor Turyakira, Frank Ssedyabane et al.

Abstract Background Cervical cancer continues to threaten women’s health, especially in low-resource settings. Regular follow-up after screening and treatment is an effective strategy for monitoring treatment outcomes. Consequently, understanding the factors contributing to patient non-attendance of scheduled follow-up visits is vital to providing high-quality care, reducing morbidity and mortality, and unnecessary healthcare costs in low-resource settings. Methods A descriptive qualitative study was done among healthcare providers and patients who attended the cervical cancer screening clinic at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital in southwestern Uganda. In-depth interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analysed in line with the social-ecological model to identify barriers and facilitators. Results We conducted 23 in-depth interviews with 5 healthcare providers and 18 patients. Health system barriers included long waiting time at the facility, long turnaround time for laboratory results, congestion and lack of privacy affecting counselling, and healthcare provider training gaps. The most important interpersonal barrier among married women was lacking support from male partners. Individual-level barriers were lack of money for transport, fear of painful procedures, emotional distress, and illiteracy. Inadequate and inaccurate information was a cross-cutting barrier across the individual, interpersonal, and community levels of the socio-ecological model. The facilitators were social support, positive self-perception, and patient counselling. Conclusions Our study revealed barriers to retention in care after cervical cancer screening, including lack of partner support, financial and educational constraints, and inadequate information. It also found facilitators that included social support, positive self-perception, and effective counselling.

Nicla Gentile, Fernando Carrasquer, Ana Marco-Fuertes et al.

ABSTRACT: The concept of backyard poultry historically encompassed “food-producing animals.” Nevertheless, a recent shift in livestock production paradigms within developed countries is evident, as backyard poultry owners now raise their birds for purposes beyond self-consumption, raising animals in a familiar way, and fostering emotional bonds with them. Because backyard animals are frequently privately owned, and the resulting products are typically not marketed, very little information is available about the demographic profile of backyard owners and information on flocks’ characteristics, husbandry, and welfare. Thus, this review aims to clarify the characteristics of backyard poultry, highlighting the prevalent infectious diseases and the zoonotic risk to which farmers are exposed. According to the FAO, there are different types of poultry production systems: intensive, sub-intensive, and extensive. The system conditions, requirements, and the resulting performance differ extensively due to the type of breed, feeding practices, prevalence of disease, prevention and control of diseases, flock management, and the interactions among all these factors. The presence and transmission of infectious diseases in avian species is a problem that affects both the animals themselves and public health. Bacterial (Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Mycoplasma), parasitic (helminths, louses, and mites), and viral (Avian influenza, Newcastle, Marek, Infectious Bronchitis, Gumboro, Infectious Laringotracheitis, and Fowlpox) are the most important pathogens involved in backyard poultry health. In addition, Avian influenza, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and E. coli, could be a risk for backyard farmers and/or backyard-derived products consumers. Thus, proper biosecurity implementation measures are mandatory to control them. While the principles and practices of on-farm biosecurity may be well-versed among commercial farmers, hobbyists, and backyard farmers might not be familiar with the necessary steps to protect their flocks from infectious diseases and curb their transmission. This sector represents the fourth category of poultry farming, characterized by the lowest biosecurity standards. Consequently, it is imperative to address the legal status of backyard poultry, educate owners about biosecurity measures, and promote proper veterinary care and disease control.

Changhee Yun, Bomi Eom, Sungjun Park et al.

In the medical field, it is delicate to anticipate good performance in using deep learning due to the lack of large-scale training data and class imbalance. In particular, ultrasound, which is a key breast cancer diagnosis method, is delicate to diagnose accurately as the quality and interpretation of images can vary depending on the operator’s experience and proficiency. Therefore, computer-aided diagnosis technology can facilitate diagnosis by visualizing abnormal information such as tumors and masses in ultrasound images. In this study, we implemented deep learning-based anomaly detection methods for breast ultrasound images and validated their effectiveness in detecting abnormal regions. Herein, we specifically compared the sliced-Wasserstein autoencoder with two representative unsupervised learning models autoencoder and variational autoencoder. The anomalous region detection performance is estimated with the normal region labels. Our experimental results showed that the sliced-Wasserstein autoencoder model outperformed the anomaly detection performance of others. However, anomaly detection using the reconstruction-based approach may not be effective because of the occurrence of numerous false-positive values. In the following studies, reducing these false positives becomes an important challenge.

Huilai Zhang, Jingwei Yu, He LI et al.

Khadyga Hussein Abdel Fadil, Eman Mohammed Mahmoud, Saedia Abdel Hady Sayed El-Ahl et al.

Trichinella spiralis larvae have very special characters that make them able to completely transform the function of the affected muscle cells towards a self-serving environment, offering them nourishment and protection via what is known as “nurse cells”. This setting may be affected by drugs that are used for the treatment of co-morbidities and co-infections as calcium channel blockers, which are widely used in clinical practice. In the present study, the effects of verapamil, ivermectin (IVM), and their combined administration on the parasitic burden, immuno-pathology and angiogenesis were investigated during experimental trichinellosis. Estimation of intestinal adult parasitic stages and muscle larvae was done. VEGF gene expression and CD31 immunohistochemical local expression were measured to investigate angiogenesis, in addition to histopathological examination to explore the extent of inflammation. Although verapamil did not have an effect on the adult worm count during the intestinal phase, it induced an anti-inflammatory effect on intestinal pathology. During the muscle phase, it was very effective in reducing the larval count by 93.78%. IVM effectively reduced the worm count by 85.34%, and the muscle larval count by 97.84%, while combined verapamil and IVM administration resulted in a significant reduction in both adult parasites by 69.5% and larval stages by 99%. Both verapamil and IVM and their combination induced a potent decrease in local CD31 protein expression and VEGF gene expression. The important role of calcium and calcium channels during the pathology of trichinellosis, in addition to the pivotal role of calcium on biological processes such as immunity and angiogenesis, make calcium-channel blockers promising candidates for drug repurposing in the management of helminthic infection.

European Society of Radiology (ESR)

Abstract The Patient Advisory Group (PAG) of the European Society of Radiology aims to highlight, in this short paper, patients’ expectations from the radiological community and support workers, throughout the patient’s medical imaging journey for completion of diagnostic or interventional examinations. In order to maintain constant awareness of patients’ expectations, key expectations have been summarised in an easy-to-remember mnemonic: PATIENTS CARERS AIMS. Due to disparate healthcare systems and medical imaging services in Europe, not all patient expectations can be systematically met, but healthcare providers should be mindful, when setting up new operational procedures, of the need to focus on patient-centred needs and care. At times when new or improved technology is being introduced, such as artificial intelligence applications, telemedicine, robotisation of interventional procedures and digitised records, the impact on radiologist–patient communication and interactions should be considered.

Shourong Lu, Ying Yang, Qiao Xu et al.

Gut microbial alteration is closely associated with brain disorders including cognitive impairment (CI). Gut microbes have the potential to predicate the development of diseases. However, the gut microbial markers for CI remain to be elucidated. In this study, the gut microbial alterations were assessed using16S rRNA sequencing, and identified the gut microbial markers using a random forest model. The results showed that there were significant gut microbial differences between the control and CI groups based on beta diversity (p &lt; 0.002). Patients with CI had higher abundances of Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria but lower proportions of Bcateroidetes and Firmicutes vs. that in the control group. Patients had 39 special genera and the control subjects had 11 special genera. Furthermore, 11 genera such as Blautia, Roseburia, and Lactococcus and 18 genera such as Lactobacillus, Ruminococcus 2, and Akkermansia were the differential taxa in the control and CI groups, respectively. Gene functions related to nutrient metabolisms were upregulated in patients with CI. This suggested that the huge differences in gut microbes between the two groups and gut microbiota had the potential to predicate the development of CI. Based on machine learning results, 15 genera such as Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Akkermansia were selected as the optimal marker set to predicate CI with an area under curve (AUC) value of 78.4%. The results revealed the gut microbial markers for CI and provided a potential diagnosis tool to prevent the development of CI in the elderly.

Wael Abdul Alrazzaq Alwaeli, Mohammed Abdul Sattar Alsegar

Heat-polymerized resins are common substances utilized for construction of removable dental prostheses (i.e. Orthodontic appliances). Such materials should have appropriate physical properties. The use of disinfectant solutions might influence the physical characteristics of the acrylic materials.  This study was conducted to assess the influence of different disinfectants on heat polymerized resins in terms of surface hardness. Forty specimens were made from heat-polymerized acrylic resins in total. The investigation comprised 4 groups according to the disinfectants utilized and each group had ten specimens. The 1st group was immersed in distilled water (control); the 2nd group was disinfected in Efferdent; the 3rd group was disinfected in 4 % Chlorhexidine; and the 4th group was disinfected in 1% hypochlorite. All specimens were tested via a hardness tester three times and the average reading was measured for all specimens. The statistical results indicated a slight decline in the mean values of surface hardness of acrylic specimens following immersion in disinfectants. The greatest value of mean was for distilled water specimens whereas the lowest value of mean was for 4% Chlorhexidine specimens. Furthermore, no significant differences were found among all groups (P>0.05). The study concluded that the use of disinfectants solutions slightly decreases the hardness of heat polymerized resins. It is recommended to evaluate the chemical interaction between the acrylic resins and disinfectants.

Abolfazl Jahangiri, Parviz Owlia, Iraj Rasooli et al.

Abstract Acinetobacter baumannii is a serious health threat with a high mortality rate. We have already reported prophylactic effects of IgYs raised against OmpA and Omp34 as well as against inactivated whole-cell (IWC) of A. baumannii in a murine pneumonia model. However, the infection was exacerbated in the mice group that received IgYs raised against the combination of OmpA and Omp34. The current study was conducted to propose reasons for the observed antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) in addition to the therapeutic effect of specific IgYs in the murine pneumonia model. This phenomenon was hypothetically attributed to topologically inaccessible similar epitopes of OmpA and Omp34 sharing similarity with peptides of mice proteins. In silico analyses revealed that some inaccessible peptides of OmpA shared similarity with peptides of Omp34 and Mus musculus. Specific anti-OmpA and anti-Omp34 IgYs cross-reacted with Omp34 and OmpA respectively. Specific IgYs showed different protectivity against A. baumannii AbI101 in the murine pneumonia model. IgYs triggered against OmpA or IWC of A. baumannii were the most protective antibodies. IgY triggered against Omp34 is ranked next after those against OmpA. The lowest protection was observed in mice received IgYs raised against the combination of rOmpA and rOmp34. In conclusion, specific IgYs against OmpA, Omp34, and IWC of A. baumannii could serve as novel biotherapeutics against A. baumannii pneumonia.

Jie Xu, Jie Xu, Can Chen et al.

Objective: To determine the predictive value of cytokeratin 19 (CK19) for evaluating the safety of ovarian preservation in patients with endometrial cancer (EC).Methods: Five hundred and seventeen EC patients hospitalized from November 2010 to June 2016 were reviewed retrospectively. Pre-operative tumor biomarkers including CA125, HE4, CK19, and CA19-9 were obtained. Predictive biomarkers associated with ovarian metastasis were selected using univariate and multivariate Logistic regression. The cut-off values were determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Kaplan-Meier method and Cox multivariate regression model was used to perform survival analysis.Results: Among clinical parameters and biomarkers included, age &gt; 65, type II EC, CA125 ≥ 35 u/ml, CK19 &gt; 3.3 ng/ml, and myometrial invasion ≥ 50% depth appeared as significant predictors of the risk of ovarian involvement in univariable logistic analysis. In multivariable analysis, CK19 &gt; 3.3 ng/ml (OR = 11.541, 95%CI: 1.968–67.668, P = 0.007) and Type II EC (OR = 8.336, 95%CI: 1.456–47.722, P = 0.017) were independent risk predictors of ovarian metastasis in pre-menopausal women. In pre-menopausal women with Type I EC (n = 142), CK19 level could satisfactorily predict the risk of ovarian metastasis (AUC = 0.860, 95%CI: 0.792–0.912, P &lt; 0.001), and when the cut-off point was set as 2.45 ng/ml, the negative predictive value and negative likelihood ratio were 99% and 0.19, with the maximum Youden index of 0.598.Conclusions: The present study advocates the necessity of incorporating serum CK19 measurement into the pre-operative evaluation of EC, especially as extension of current standard approach with ovarian preservation counseling.

Christian Ekanger, MD, Svein Inge Helle, MD, PhD, Daniel Heinrich, MD et al.

Purpose: There is no consensus on how to treat high-risk prostate cancer, and long-term results from hypofractionated radiation therapy are lacking. We report 10-year results after image guided, intensity modulated radiation therapy with hypofractionated simultaneous integrated boost and elective pelvic field. Methods and Materials: Between 2007 and 2009, 97 consecutive patients with high-risk prostate cancer were included, treated with 2.7 to 2.0 Gy × 25 Gy to the prostate, seminal vesicles, and elective pelvic field. Toxicity was scored according to Radiation Therapy Oncology Group criteria and biochemical disease-free survival (BFS) defined by the Phoenix definition. Patients were subsequently divided into 3 groups: high risk (HR; n = 32), very high risk (VHR; n = 50), and N+/s–prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ≥100 (n = 15). Differences in outcomes were examined using Kaplan-Meier analyses. Results: BFS in the patients at HR and VHR was 64%, metastasis-free survival 80%, prostate cancer-specific survival 90%, and overall survival (OS) 72%. VHR versus HR subgroups demonstrated significantly different BFS, 54% versus 79% (P = .01). Metastasis-free survival and prostate cancer-specific survival in the VHR group versus HR group were 76% versus 87% (P = .108) and 74% versus 100% (P = .157). Patients reaching nadir PSA <0.1 (n = 80) had significantly better outcomes than the rest (n = 17), with BFS 70% versus 7% (P < .001). Acute grade 2 gastrointestinal tract (GI) and genitourinary tract (GU) toxicity occurred in 27% and 40%, grade 3 GI and GU toxicity in 1% and 3%. Late GI and GU grade 2 toxicity occurred in 1% and 8%. Conclusions: High-risk prostate cancer patients obtained favorable 10-year outcomes with low toxicity. There were significantly better results in the HR versus the VHR group, both better than the N+/PSA ≥100 group. A nadir PSA value < 0.1 predicted good prognosis.

Tomoya Uchimura, Seiji Hara, Takashi Yazawa et al.

Medaka (Oryzias latipes) are teleost fish with a XX/XY sex determination system. Recently, it was reported that high temperature (HT) induced the masculinization of XX medaka by increasing the levels of cortisol, a major glucocorticoid produced by interrenal cells in teleosts. Cortisol secretion is regulated by adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) secreted from the pituitary gland, which is partly regulated by corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) secreted from the hypothalamus. In teleosts, two crh paralogs, named crha and crhb, have been identified. Recently, the expression of crhb but not crha was upregulated by HT during gonadal sex differentiation period in medaka and loss-of-functions of its receptors under HT suppressed masculinization of XX medaka and increase of cortisol levels, suggesting that crhb is involved in masculinization induced by HT. However, the transcriptional regulation of crhb under HT has not been elucidated. We analyzed the gene expression pattern in the hypothalamus of medaka embryos incubated under HT using DNA microarray. The expressions of heat shock protein (hsp) genes, such as hsp70.1 and hsp30, were increased. Overexpression of hsp70.1 or hsp30 in cultured rat hypothalamic 4B cells significantly induced crh gene expression. Moreover, hypothalamic hsp70.1-overexpressing transgenic medaka also showed increased crhb gene expression that increased cortisol levels compared with fish incubated at a normal temperature. These results provide the first evidence that HSPs induce cortisol levels by elevating crhb gene expression in the hypothalamus.

Xiaojie Huang, Xinchao Liu, Jieqing Chen et al.

BackgroundWestern blot (WB) assay is considered the gold standard test for HIV infection confirmation. However, it requires technical expertise and is quite time-consuming. WHO recommends blood-based rapid diagnosis to achieve same-day test and treatment. However, this rapid testing strategy has not been promoted worldwide due to inadequate research evaluating the effectiveness of rapid tests (RTs) as an alternative confirmatory HIV test for WB. This study aims to compare the diagnostic performance of rapid HIV tests compared with WB.MethodsPubMed and Web of Science were searched for publications on rapid HIV tests using blood specimen. A meta-analysis was performed to quantitatively evaluate the diagnostic performance of rapid HIV tests compared with the WB assay in terms of pooled sensitivity, specificity, area under summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve, and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR).ResultsTwenty articles involving 27,343 fresh specimens for rapid HIV tests were included in the meta-analysis. Regarding Capillus HIV-1/HIV-2, the pooled sensitivity, specificity, area under SROC curve, and DOR derived from six studies were 0.999 (95% CI, 0.956–1.000), 0.999 (95% CI, 0.991–1.00), 1.00 (95% CI, 0.99–1.00), and 1.0 × 106 (95% CI, 2.6 × 104–3.9 × 107) compared with the WB assay, respectively. With respect to Determine HIV-1/2, the pooled sensitivity, specificity area under SROC, and DOR derived from eight studies were 1.00 (95% CI, 0.789–1.000), 0.992 (95% CI, 0.985–0.996), 1.00 (95% CI, 0.99–1.00), and 1.8 × 106 (95% CI 406.049–7.8 × 109) compared with the WB assay, respectively. Regarding two-step serial RTs, the pooled sensitivity, specificity area under SROC, and DOR derived from eight studies were 0.998 (95% CI, 0.991–1.000), 0.998 (95% CI, 0.994–0.999), and 1.00 (95% CI 0.99–1.00) compared with the WB assay, respectively.ConclusionOur meta-analysis results may provide evidenced-based support for substituting RT for WB. Blood-based rapid HIV tests have comparable sensitivity and specificity to WB for HIV early therapy.

Reiko Nakao, Shigeki Shimba, Katsutaka Oishi

Global deletion of aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator-like ('Arntl'; also known as 'Bmal1'), a molecular component of the circadian clock, resulted in an extreme loss of muscle mass. However, the functional role of muscle BMAL1 has not been elucidated. Here, we used muscle-specific 'Bmal1' knockout mice to determine whether disrupting the muscle clock exacerbates muscle atrophy induced by sciatic denervation or aging. The muscle mass of wild-type and muscle-specific 'Bmal1' knockout mice decreased to a similar extent at seven days after denervation, although 'Bmal1' ablation partly attenuated the upregulation of genes encoding muscle atrophy-related ubiquitin ligases, muscle atrophy F-box (MAFbx) and muscle RING finger 1 (MuRF1). A comparison of adult and elderly mice aged 7 – 8 and 23 – 24 months, respectively, confirmed that ablating muscle 'Bmal1' scarcely affected the extent to which aging induced the loss of muscle mass. Muscle 'Bmal1' minimally affected the progression of muscle atrophy caused by sciatic denervation or aging.

Arheden Håkan, Söderlind Gustaf, Carlsson Marcus et al.

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Functional and morphological changes of the heart influence blood flow patterns. Therefore, flow patterns may carry diagnostic and prognostic information. Three-dimensional, time-resolved, three-directional phase contrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance (4D PC-CMR) can image flow patterns with unique detail, and using new flow visualization methods may lead to new insights. The aim of this study is to present and validate a novel visualization method with a quantitative potential for blood flow from 4D PC-CMR, called Volume Tracking, and investigate if Volume Tracking complements particle tracing, the most common visualization method used today.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eight healthy volunteers and one patient with a large apical left ventricular aneurysm underwent 4D PC-CMR flow imaging of the whole heart. Volume Tracking and particle tracing visualizations were compared visually side-by-side in a visualization software package. To validate Volume Tracking, the number of particle traces that agreed with the Volume Tracking visualizations was counted and expressed as a percentage of total released particles in mid-diastole and end-diastole respectively. Two independent observers described blood flow patterns in the left ventricle using Volume Tracking visualizations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Volume Tracking was feasible in all eight healthy volunteers and in the patient. Visually, Volume Tracking and particle tracing are complementary methods, showing different aspects of the flow. When validated against particle tracing, on average 90.5% and 87.8% of the particles agreed with the Volume Tracking surface in mid-diastole and end-diastole respectively. Inflow patterns in the left ventricle varied between the subjects, with excellent agreement between observers. The left ventricular inflow pattern in the patient differed from the healthy subjects.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Volume Tracking is a new visualization method for blood flow measured by 4D PC-CMR. Volume Tracking complements and provides incremental information compared to particle tracing that may lead to a better understanding of blood flow and may improve diagnosis and prognosis of cardiovascular diseases.</p>

Javier Willatt H, Cristian Moyano N, Camilo Apey R et al.

El sarco made Kaposies un tumor vascular de bajo grado, que manifesta típicamente cuatro formas diferentes, siendo la epidémica (o relacionada con el SIDA) la más conocida de ellas. El compromiso pulmonar de esta enfermedad está bien descrito y se manifiesta principalmente por nódulos parenquimatosos bilateral es de morfología característica ; sin embargo, esta neoplasia produce un compromiso multisistémico que no es ampliamente conocido. Debido a la creciente incidencia y sobrevida de los pacientes con VIH y el hecho de que el sarcoma de Kaposi es una de sus complicaciones frecuentes, decidimos describir su estadificación y los principales hallazgos imaginológicos en tomografía computada, por la importancia de su conocimiento para el adecuado pronóstico y manejo de esta enfermedad.<br>Kaposi's sarcoma is a low-grade vascular neoplasm that typically manifests as one of four variants, being the epidemic (or AIDS-related) the best known of them. The pulmonary involvement of this disease is well described and is expressed mainly by bilateral parenchymal nodules of characteristic morphology; however, this tumor produces a multisystemic compromise that is not widely known. Due to the increasing incidence and survival rates of patients with HIV, and the fact that Kaposi's sarcoma is one of its frequent complications, we sought to describe its staging and major imaging findings in computed tomography, given the importance of timely recognition of this neoplasm for a proper prognosis and management of the disease.