Publications by authors named "Joana Ramalho"

The transfer of passive immunity (TPI) is vital for newborn calf health and is typically assessed through blood sampling to measure serum or plasma IgG or total protein levels. Saliva offers a less invasive alternative. This study evaluated the potential of saliva for assessing TPI.

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Article Synopsis
  • - This study explores how gadolinium (Gd) levels in urine change over time after patients receive a Gd-based contrast agent (GBCA) for MRI, particularly focusing on those with Gd deposition disease.
  • - It involved 45 subjects with normal kidney function, who underwent urine tests to measure Gd concentration 24 hours after receiving a GBCA, and the results indicated that Gd levels remained above normal for 3 months.
  • - The findings suggest that Gd is retained in the body and is eliminated through urine in a predictable logarithmic pattern, regardless of the type of GBCA used, with significant levels observed at 1 month and a gradual decline over the following months.
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Regularly weighing calves helps to assess the efficiency of the rearing period and contributes to animal welfare by allowing more precise feeding and medication application in dairy farming, but many farmers do not weigh their calves regularly. Improving the feasibility of this process is, therefore, important. The use of morphometric measurements has been used to estimate the weight of cattle.

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This systematic review aims to evaluate the use of intrathecal baclofen (ITB) for hereditary spastic paraparesis (HSP) treatment. An extensive search in two electronical databases was performed. We identified articles published between 1990 and 2022 (PubMed, Scopus), and applied the following inclusion criteria: diagnosis of HSP at the time of the intervention, either familial or sporadic; report on the effect of ITB in patients with HSP; test trial via either bolus injections or continuous infusion tests; and ITB pump implantation.

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Objectives: The aim of this study was to summarize the current preclinical and clinical evidence on the association between exposure to gadolinium (Gd) compounds and skin toxicity in a setting similar to clinical practice.

Materials And Methods: A search of MEDLINE and PubMed references from January 2000 to December 2022 was performed using keywords related to gadolinium deposition and its effects on the skin, such as "gadolinium," "gadolinium-based contrast agents," "skin," "deposition," and "toxicity." In addition, cross-referencing was added when appropriate.

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Context: Horse riding (HR) has gain popularity in Portugal, thereby increasing the number of related injuries. This study identifies frequently occurring injuries in Portuguese riders, the conditions under which they occur, and preventive measures.

Design: A retrospective cohort study.

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Cavernous malformations (CMs) are benign vascular malformations that maybe seen anywhere in the central nervous system. They are dynamic lesions, growing or shrinking over time and only rarely remaining stable. Size varies from a few millimeters to a few centimeters.

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After the initial report in 2014 on T1-weighted (T1w) hyperintensity of deep brain nuclei following serial injections of linear gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs), a multitude of studies on the potential of the marketed GBCAs to cause T1w hyperintensity in the brain have been published. The vast majority of these studies found a signal intensity (SI) increase for linear GBCAs in the brain-first and foremost in the dentate nucleus-while no SI increase was found for macrocyclic GBCAs. However, the scientific debate about this finding is kept alive by the fact that SI differences do not unequivocally represent the amount of gadolinium retained.

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Clinicians, radiologists, and patients should be aware of the most up-to-date data on the risks of gadolinium-based contrast agent (GBCA) administration. In this review, we discuss in vivo gadolinium retention, particularly brain tissue retention, and potential toxic effects. GBCA pharmacokinetics and biodistribution are reviewed briefly.

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Gadolinium-based contrast agents have been considered extremely safe drugs with a low incidence of acute adverse reactions. Most of the reactions are mild and physiologic. However, despite being extremely rare, acute severe adverse reactions, including anaphylaxis, may occur.

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Until 2006, the main considerations regarding safety for all gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) were related to short-term adverse reactions. However, the administration of certain "high-risk" GBCAs to patients with renal failure resulted in multiple reported cases of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. Findings have been reported regarding gadolinium deposition within the body and various reports of patients who report suffering from acute and chronic symptoms secondary to GBCA's exposure.

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Head and neck cancers are a diverse group of cancers with high morbidity and mortality within an area of complex anatomy. High-quality anatomic and functional imaging is essential for preoperative, chemotherapeutic, and radiotherapy planning. Early studies show that hybrid PET-MR imaging offers great potential for improving the imaging of head and neck cancers.

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Gadolinium based contrast agents (GBCAs) play an important role in the diagnostic evaluation of many patients. The safety of these agents has been once again questioned after gadolinium deposits were observed and measured in brain and bone of patients with normal renal function. This retention of gadolinium in the human body has been termed "gadolinium storage condition".

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Over the last 2years several studies have been published regarding gadolinium deposition in brain structures in patients with normal renal function after repeated administrations of gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs). Most of the publications are magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based retrospective studies, where gadolinium deposition may be indirectly measured by evaluating changes in T1 signal intensity (SI) in brain tissue, particularly in the dentate nucleus (DN) and/or globus pallidi (GP). The direct correlation between T1 signal changes and gadolinium deposition was validated by human pathology studies.

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Myelopathy describes any neurologic deficit related to the spinal cord. It is most commonly caused by its compression by neoplasms, degenerative disc disease, trauma, or infection. Less common causes of myelopathy include spinal cord tumors, infection, inflammatory, neurodegenerative, vascular, toxic, and metabolic disorders.

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Purpose: Plasma volume and blood volume are imaging-derived parameters that are often used to evaluation intracranial tumors. Physiologically, these parameters are directly related, but their two different methods of measurements, T1-dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE)- and T2-dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC)-MR utilize different model assumptions and approaches. This poses the question of whether the interchangeable use of T1-DCE-MRI derived fractionated plasma volume (vp) and relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) assessed using DSC-MRI, particularly in glioblastoma, is reliable, and if this relationship can be generalized to other types of brain tumors.

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Purpose: To describe the clinical manifestations of presumed gadolinium toxicity in patients with normal renal function.

Materials And Methods: Participants were recruited from two online gadolinium toxicity support groups. The survey was anonymous and individuals were instructed to respond to the survey only if they had evidence of normal renal function, evidence of gadolinium in their system beyond 30days of this MRI, and no pre-existent clinical symptoms and/or signs of this type.

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Objective: The literature informs us that gadolinium can cause health issues. At least four major gadolinium disorders, including the two well-recognized nephrogenic systemic fibrosis and severe acute adverse event, have been identified.

Conclusion: We propose naming the histopathologically proven presence of gadolinium in brain tissue "gadolinium storage condition," and we describe a new entity that represents symptomatic deposition of gadolinium in individuals with normal renal function, for which we propose the designation "gadolinium deposition disease.

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Objectives: To evaluate the impact of previous administration of gadodiamide and neural tissue gadolinium deposition in patients who received gadobenate dimeglumine.

Methods: Our population included 62 patients who underwent at least three administrations of gadobenate dimeglumine, plus an additional contrast-enhanced last MRI for reference, divided into two groups: group 1, patients who in addition to gadobenate dimeglumine administrations had prior exposure to multiple doses of gadodiamide; group 2, patients without previous exposure to other gadolinium-based contrast agent (GBCAs). Quantitative analysis was performed on the first and last gadobenate dimeglumine MRIs in both groups.

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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) represents a significant public health problem in modern societies. It is primarily a consequence of traffic-related accidents and falls. Other recently recognized causes include sports injuries and indirect forces such as shock waves from battlefield explosions.

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Purpose: To determine if a correlation exists between the number of previous enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging examinations and high signal intensity in the globus pallidus (GP) and dentate nucleus (DN) in patients who received gadodiamide (Omniscan), a linear nonionic gadolinium-based contrast agent, and in those who received gadobenate dimeglumine (MultiHance), a linear ionic contrast agent.

Materials And Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained for this single-center retrospective study, with waiver of informed consent. The study population included 69 patients divided into two groups: Group 1 included patients who underwent gadodiamide-enhanced MR imaging, and group 2 included patients who underwent gadobenate dimeglumine-enhanced MR imaging.

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Introduction: Behçet's disease (BD) is a multisystem inflammatory disease of unknown etiology that may affect the CNS - Neuro-Behçet (NB). Our aim was to evaluate the frequency of neurological involvement and characterize a cohort of our NB patients.

Methods: We retrospectively revised the clinical, laboratory and imaging data of a cohort of BD patients, followed in our hospital outpatient clinic.

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Primary cardiac sarcomas are rare tumours carrying poor prognosis. Postradiation sarcoma has been reported in patients with breast, cervical and head and neck cancers. We report a case of a 56-year-old woman with stage IIA breast cancer diagnosed in 1997, submitted to mastectomy, adjuvant chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonotherapy.

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