Sociodemographic factors predict outcomes and reveal spatial tumor patterns in glioblastoma.

Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the deadliest malignant glioma of the central nervous system. Postsurgical functional impairment correlates with survival and is estimated using metrics such as extent and location of resection. This study uses machine learning to evaluate the predictive ability of baseline sociodemographic and lifestyle factors for forecasting postoperative functional outcomes in GBM patients.

Aging and the Spectral Properties of Brain Hemodynamics.

Cerebral glucose metabolism (CMRGlc) systematically decreases with advancing age. We sought to identify correlates of decreased CMRGlc in the spectral properties of fMRI signals imaged in the task-free state. Lifespan resting-state fMRI data acquired in 455 healthy adults (ages 18-87 years) and cerebral metabolic data acquired in a separate cohort of 94 healthy adults (ages 25-45 years, 65-85 years) were analyzed.

Hyperglycemia selectively increases cerebral non-oxidative glucose consumption without affecting blood flow.

Multiple studies have shown that hyperglycemia increases the cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (CMRglc) in subcortical white matter. This observation remains unexplained. Using positron emission tomography (PET) and pancreatic glucose clamps with basal insulin replacement in twenty-nine healthy young adults (34.

The Importance of Disruptive Innovation in the Allergy Immunology Clinic.

The field of allergy-immunology has been at the forefront of medical innovation, particularly innovations that are disruptive. A disruptive innovation (DI) represents a market change that meets some aspect of a consumer demand more successfully than a prior mainstream alternative but may be more limited in application. It is important for allergists-immunologists to recognize innovation, and DI in particular, both to better appreciate the contributions of our dynamic specialty and to critically evaluate the ever-changing landscape of health care delivery.

The brain's "dark energy" puzzle : [F]FDG uptake, delivery and phosphorylation, and their coupling with resting-state brain activity.

The brain's resting-state energy consumption is expected to be driven by spontaneous activity. We previously used 50 resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) features to predict [F]FDG SUVR as a proxy of glucose metabolism. Here, we expanded on our effort by estimating [F]FDG kinetic parameters (irreversible uptake), (delivery), (phosphorylation) in a large healthy control group (n = 47).

Evaluation of Immunosuppression Levels and Risk of Graft-Versus-Host Disease in Allogeneic Blood or Marrow Transplantation With Post-Transplantation Cyclophosphamide.

Post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCy) is standard graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis for allogeneic blood or marrow transplantation (alloBMT), although optimal therapeutic levels of immunosuppression (IS) therapy combined with PTCy remain contested. Previously, with tacrolimus and methotrexate GVHD prophylaxis, week 1 tacrolimus levels >12 ng/mL were associated with a decreased incidence of grade 2 to 4 acute GVHD (aGVHD). We evaluated if associations between aGVHD and early IS levels were observed amongst patients receiving PTCy.

Precision measurements of brain oxygen utilization with positron emission tomography.

Oxygen utilization is important for studies of brain metabolism, alongside other measurements such as for glucose metabolism. Oxygen and other measurements with [ O] tracers and PET, however, are significantly more challenging than measurements of [ F]fluorodeoxyglucose, the standard for probing tissue glucose metabolism in vivo, in part due to the much shorter radioactive half-life of [ O]. This work examines details of precision measurement of [ O] tracers and their kinetics.

Aging and the Spectral Properties of Brain Hemodynamics.

Cerebral glucose metabolism (CMRGlc) systematically decreases with advancing age. We sought to identify correlates of decreased CMRGlc in the spectral properties of fMRI signals imaged in the task-free state. We analyzed lifespan resting-state fMRI data acquired in 455 healthy adults (ages 18-87 years) and cerebral metabolic data acquired in a separate cohort of 94 healthy adults (ages 25-45 years, 65-85 years).

Perioperative Antibiotic Choice Does Not Affect Wound Complications in the Operative Treatment of Ankle Fractures.

Background and aims Ankle injuries are one of the most common lower extremity traumas reported, with nearly half needing surgical intervention. For those who undergo surgical treatment, surgical site infection (SSI) is not a rare complication. Cefazolin is the recommended preoperative surgical chemoprophylaxis for surgical site infection.

Individual-level metabolic connectivity from dynamic [F]FDG PET reveals glioma-induced impairments in brain architecture and offers novel insights beyond the SUVR clinical standard.

Purpose: This study evaluates the potential of within-individual Metabolic Connectivity (wi-MC), from dynamic [F]FDG PET data, based on the Euclidean Similarity method. This approach leverages the biological information of the tracer's full temporal dynamics, enabling the direct extraction of individual metabolic connectomes. Specifically, the proposed framework, applied to glioma pathology, seeks to assess sensitivity to metabolic dysfunctions in the whole brain, while simultaneously providing further insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms regulating glioma progression.

The brain's "dark energy" puzzle : [F]FDG uptake, delivery and phosphorylation, and their coupling with resting-state brain activity.

The brain's resting-state energy consumption is expected to be mainly driven by spontaneous activity. In our previous work, we extracted a wide range of features from resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI), and used them to predict [F]FDG PET SUVR as a proxy of glucose metabolism. Here, we expanded upon our previous effort by estimating [F]FDG kinetic parameters according to Sokoloff's model, i.

Hyperglycemia selectively increases cerebral non-oxidative glucose consumption without affecting blood flow.

Multiple studies have shown that hyperglycemia increases the cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (CMRglc) in subcortical white matter. This observation remains unexplained. Using positron emission tomography (PET) and euinsulinaemic glucose clamps, we found, for the first time, that acute hyperglycemia increases non-oxidative CMRglc (i.

Smoking and alcohol by HPV status in head and neck cancer: a Mendelian randomization study.

HPV-positive and HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are recognized as distinct entities. There remains uncertainty surrounding the causal effects of smoking and alcohol on the development of these two cancer types. Here we perform multivariable Mendelian randomization (MR) to evaluate the causal effects of smoking and alcohol on the risk of HPV-positive and HPV-negative HNSCC in 3431 cases and 3469 controls.

Complexity organization of resting-state functional-MRI networks.

Entropy measures are increasingly being used to analyze the structure of neural activity observed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), with resting-state networks (RSNs) being of interest for their reproducible descriptions of the brain's functional architecture. Temporal correlations have shown a dichotomy among these networks: those that engage with the environment, known as extrinsic, which include the visual and sensorimotor networks; and those associated with executive control and self-referencing, known as intrinsic, which include the default mode network and the frontoparietal control network. While these inter-voxel temporal correlations enable the assessment of synchrony among the components of individual networks, entropic measures introduce an intra-voxel assessment that quantifies signal features encoded within each blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) time series.

The role of dupilumab in the treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis.

Dupilumab has been approved to treat a variety of atopic disorders and was the first US FDA-approved medication for the treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), initially approved in May 2022, with expansion in use to patients as young as 1 year of age weighing at least 15 kg in January 2024. It is a fully human monoclonal antibody that inhibits both IL-4 and IL-13 signaling, suppressing TH2-mediated proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines and IgE implicated in EoE pathogenesis. Phase II and III trials in EoE have demonstrated histologic, endoscopic and symptomatic improvement in disease activity with an overall favorable safety profile.

Clinical Predictors of Cisplatin Chemoradiation-Induced Ototoxicity in HPV-Positive Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Case-Control Study.

Background: Cisplatin-based chemoradiation is a standard treatment for many patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC), an etiologically distinct subset of head and neck cancer. Although associated with good long-term survival, clinical risk factors for ototoxicity have been understudied in this population. This study aimed to evaluate clinical predictors associated with ototoxicity in HPV-positive OPSCC patients treated with cisplatin chemoradiation.

Multi-Tracer Studies of Brain Oxygen and Glucose Metabolism Using a Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography - Computed Tomography Scanner.

The authors have developed a paradigm using positron emission tomography (PET) with multiple radiopharmaceutical tracers that combines measurements of cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (CMRGlc), cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2), cerebral blood flow (CBF), and cerebral blood volume (CBV), culminating in estimates of brain aerobic glycolysis (AG). These in vivo estimates of oxidative and non-oxidative glucose metabolism are pertinent to the study of the human brain in health and disease. The latest positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) scanners provide time-of-flight (TOF) imaging and critical improvements in spatial resolution and reduction of artifacts.

Predicting post-surgical functional status in high-grade glioma with resting state fMRI and machine learning.

Purpose: High-grade glioma (HGG) is the most common and deadly malignant glioma of the central nervous system. The current standard of care includes surgical resection of the tumor, which can lead to functional and cognitive deficits. The aim of this study is to develop models capable of predicting functional outcomes in HGG patients before surgery, facilitating improved disease management and informed patient care.

Data-driven decomposition and staging of flortaucipir uptake in Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: Previous approaches pursuing in vivo staging of tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease (AD) have typically relied on neuropathologically defined criteria. In using predefined systems, these studies may miss spatial deposition patterns which are informative of disease progression.

Methods: We selected discovery (n = 418) and replication (n = 132) cohorts with flortaucipir imaging.

Impact of molecular symmetry on crystallization pathways in highly supersaturated KHPO solutions.

Solute structure and its evolution in supersaturated aqueous solutions are key clues to understand Ostwald's step rule. Here, we measure the structural evolution of solute molecules in highly supersaturated solutions of KHPO (KDP) and NHHPO (ADP) using a combination of electrostatic levitation and synchrotron X-ray scattering. The measurement reveals the existence of a solution-solution transition in KDP solution, caused by changing molecular symmetries and structural evolution of the solution with supersaturation.

The brain's "dark energy" puzzle: How strongly is glucose metabolism linked to resting-state brain activity?

Brain glucose metabolism, which can be investigated at the macroscale level with [F]FDG PET, displays significant regional variability for reasons that remain unclear. Some of the functional drivers behind this heterogeneity may be captured by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). However, the full extent to which an fMRI-based description of the brain's spontaneous activity can describe local metabolism is unknown.

The Impact of Screening for Perioperative ICU Admission in Geriatric Hip Fracture Patients: A Retrospective Analysis.

Background: Hip fracture patients are a subset of trauma patients with high peri-operative mortality. To mitigate the mortality risk, the use of predictive scoring systems (e.g.

Patterns of Glucose Metabolism in [ F]FDG PET Indicate Regional Variability and Neurodegeneration in the Progression of Alzheimer's Dementia.

Unlabelled: In disorders of cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer's disease, neurodegeneration is the final common pathway of disease progression. Modulating, reversing, or preventing disease progression is a clinical imperative most likely to succeed following accurate and explanatory understanding of neurodegeneration, requiring enhanced consistency with quantitative measurements and expanded interpretability of complex data. The on-going study of neurodegeneration has robustly demonstrated the advantages of accumulating large amounts of clinical data that include neuroimaging, motiving multi-center studies such as the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI).