Beyond bronchial thermoplasty - where to now?

With the impending 'retirement' of bronchial thermoplasty (BT) for the treatment of patients with asthma, there is much to learn from this real-world experiment that will help us develop more effective future therapies with the same primary target i.e., airway smooth muscle (ASM) remodelling.

The Prospective Association between Early Life Growth and Breast Density in Young Adult Women.

Breast density is a strong intermediate endpoint to investigate the association between early-life exposures and breast cancer risk. This study investigates the association between early-life growth and breast density in young adult women measured using Optical Breast Spectroscopy (OBS) and Dual X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA). OBS measurements were obtained for 536 female Raine Cohort Study participants at ages 27-28, with 268 completing DXA measurements.

The distribution of breast density in women aged 18 years and older.

Purpose: Age and body mass index (BMI) are critical considerations when assessing individual breast cancer risk, particularly for women with dense breasts. However, age- and BMI-standardized estimates of breast density are not available for screen-aged women, and little is known about the distribution of breast density in women aged < 40. This cross-sectional study uses three different modalities: optical breast spectroscopy (OBS), dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and mammography, to describe the distributions of breast density across categories of age and BMI.

Quantification of smooth muscle in human airways by polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography requires correction for perichondrium.

Quantifying airway smooth muscle (ASM) in patients with asthma raises the possibility of improved and personalized disease management. Endobronchial polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) is a promising quantitative imaging approach that is in the early stages of clinical translation. To date, only animal tissues have been used to assess the accuracy of PS-OCT to quantify absolute (rather than relative) ASM in cross sections with directly matched histological cross sections as validation.

Erratum: PS-OCT needle probe scan of human skeletal muscle: publisher's note.

[This corrects the article on p. 1386 in vol. 13, PMID: 35414965.

Assessment of repeated reference measurements to inform the validity of optical breast spectroscopy.

Mammographic breast density is a strong breast cancer risk factor, and its routine clinical measurement could potentially be used to identify women at higher risk of breast cancer and/or monitor primary prevention strategies. Previous reports of optical breast spectroscopy (OBS), a novel approach to measuring breast density, demonstrated that it is safe (no ionizing radiation), portable, low-cost, and does not require image interpretation but have been limited to small, single-center studies. Reference measurements taken on a phantom breast prior to and after each woman's OBS assessment are required for the calibration of the system transfer function as a part of processing participant data.

PS-OCT needle probe scan of human skeletal muscle.

Polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) derived birefringence values effectively identify skeletal muscle structural disruption due to muscular dystrophy and exercise-related muscle damage in animal models in tissue. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if a PS-OCT needle probe inserted into the leg of a human subject could accurately identify various anatomical structures with implications for use as a diagnostic tool for the determination of skeletal muscle pathology. A healthy middle-aged subject participated in this study.

Requirements and limitations of imaging airway smooth muscle throughout the lung in vivo.

Clinical visualization and quantification of the amount and distribution of airway smooth muscle (ASM) in the lungs of individuals with asthma has major implications for our understanding of airway wall remodeling as well as treatments targeted at the ASM. This paper theoretically investigates the feasibility of quantifying airway wall thickness (focusing on the ASM) throughout the lung in vivo by means of bronchoscopic polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT). Using extensive human biobank data from subjects with and without asthma in conjunction with a mathematical model of airway compliance, we define constraints that airways of various sizes pose to any endoscopic imaging technique and how this is impacted by physiologically relevant processes such as constriction, inflation and deflation.

Polarization properties of retinal blood vessel walls measured with polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography.

A new method based on polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) is introduced to determine the polarization properties of human retinal vessel walls, . Measurements were obtained near the optic nerve head of three healthy human subjects. The double pass phase retardation per unit depth (DPPR/UD), which is proportional to the birefringence, is higher in artery walls, presumably because of the presence of muscle tissue.

Two-photon fabrication of hydrogel microstructures for excitation and immobilization of cells.

We investigate in vitro fabrication of hydrogel microstructures by two photon laser lithography for single cell immobilization and excitation. Fluorescent yeast cells are embedded in water containing the hydrogel precursor mixtures and cross-linking is used to selectively immobilize a particular cell. Cell viability within the hydrogel precursor is estimated using a life/dead assay and elastic and stiff hydrogel structures are fabricated, immobilizing cells in a microfluidic environment.

The "North German Tumor Bank of Colorectal Cancer": status report after the first 2 years of support by the German Cancer Aid Foundation.

Purpose: Research projects and clinical trials strongly rely on high-quality biospecimens which are provided by biobanks. Since differences in sample processing and storage can strongly affect the outcome of such studies, standardization between biobanks is necessary to guarantee reliable results of large, multicenter studies. The German Cancer Aid Foundation (Deutsche Krebshilfe e.

Designing and implementing a biobanking IT framework for multiple research scenarios.

This paper presents a biobanking IT framework, comprising a set of integrated biobanking information technology components. It provides adaptable and scalable IT support for varying biobanking scenarios, workflows and projects, while avoiding redundancy in data and technology. Feasibility of this approach is illustrated by implementations for four different biobanking projects at Erlangen University Hospital and with cooperating partners in Münster and Lübeck.