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Increase spectral attenuated inversion restoration (DSPAIR)-an effective fat suppression technique for past due gadolinium improvement at 3 tesla.
BACKGROUND Cerebral angiography, or intra-arterial digital subtraction angiography (DSA), is a fluoroscopic imaging technique. In China, until recently, transfemoral access (TFA) has been used, rather than transradial access (TRA). This retrospective study aimed to compare transfemoral cerebral angiography (TFCA) with transradial cerebral angiography (TRCA) consecutively performed by the same operator, at a single center in China, to determine whether there were benefits from the shift from TFA to TRA in terms of efficiency, safety, and feasibility. MATERIAL AND METHODS A review of 1,048 cerebral angiograms in 980 patients was performed by a single operator from June 2014 to May 2018, including the TFA group (n=513) and the transradial access (TRA) group (n=535), and 39 patients underwent both TFA and TRA. The total procedure time, duration of fluoroscopy, catheterization success rate, image quality, length of stay in hospital, complications of the procedure, and patient preference were compared between the groups. RESULTS Compared with TFCA, TRCA resulted in significantly shorter total procedure time, a higher catheterization success rate, better image quality, and shorter duration of hospital stay (P less then 0.05). There was no significant difference between the TFA and TRA groups for cardiovascular, cerebral, and access site complications. Patients in the TRA group showed a significantly reduced fluoroscopy time at the early stages of operator training (P less then 0.05). Patient preference included TRA (76.74%), TFA (16.28%), and no preference (6.89%). CONCLUSIONS During four years at a single center, and with a single operator, TRCA was safe, feasible, and more rapid when compared with TFCA. IFN-alpha1b has an immunostimulatory activity similar to IFN-alpha2b and possesses milder adverse effects on immune checkpoints and stronger inhibitory effects on melanoma cell growth than IFN-alpha2b. Therefore, IFN-alpha1b is a promising drug for the treatment of melanoma.BACKGROUND Urine pregnancy tests are usually performed by women at home and also by healthcare professionals. Ipatasertib price However, there are several conditions that may cause a false-positive urine pregnancy test, including trophoblast tumors, malignancy, nephrotic syndrome, adenomyosis, tubo-ovarian abscess, and paraneoplastic syndromes. A case is presented of a false-positive urine pregnancy test in a 28-year-old woman with a history of tubal ligation, who had a delayed diagnosis of obstructive pyelonephritis due to renal calculus. CASE REPORT A 28-year-old woman had previously been sterilized by tubal ligation. She presented with acute pyelonephritis associated with a left staghorn renal calculus and was found to have a false-positive urine pregnancy test, which delayed the diagnosis and management of her acute pyelonephritis. On follow-up, she had a negative serum pregnancy test. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) identified a left-sided staghorn calculus resulting in partial ureteric obstruction and hydronephrosis. She was treated with antibiotics, including cefazoline, and a left nephrostomy tube was sited to treat her hydronephrosis. Her pain was initially managed with acetaminophen and hydrocodone. Four days after her initial hospital admission, the patient was stable enough to go home on oral levofloxacin and pain medication. CONCLUSIONS This case of a false-positive urine pregnancy test in a 28-year-old woman with a history of tubal ligation highlights that this association may result in the delay in the diagnosis and treatment of acute pyelonephritis.BACKGROUND Parkinson's disease (PD) is a degenerative neurologic disease. This study aimed to undertake bioinformatics analysis using the publicly available Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database to integrate mRNA expression data from patients with PD and to compare differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in tissue from the substantia nigra and whole blood from patients with PD and normal controls. MATERIAL AND METHODS Integrated network analysis included GEO datasets to identify DEGs in the substantia nigra and whole blood of patients with PD. Bioinformatics analysis was used to identify the roles of the DEGs and included the development of protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment. Expression levels of DEGs were validated using GSE100054. RESULTS In patients with PD, there were 1,076 upregulated DEGs and 1,075 down-regulated DEGs in the substantia nigra tissue, and 699 upregulated and 930 down-regulated DEGs in whole blood samples. The apoptotic process, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, the Wnt signaling pathway, and the Notch signaling pathway were significantly enriched in DEGs in the substantia nigra in PD. In both the substantia nigra and whole blood, the most common DEGs were significantly enriched in lysosomes, PD, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease. SORT1 and CRYAB were the hub proteins in the network of the substantia nigra; PSMA1 and SDHA were the hub proteins in the network of whole blood in PD. CONCLUSIONS DEGs, including SORT1, CRYAB, PSMA1, and SDHA may have roles in the pathogenesis of PD through the MAPK, Wnt, and Notch signaling pathways.BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that the red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is an independent predictor of poor prognosis in type 2 diabetes (T2D) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). The mechanisms underlying the increased anisocytosis in patients with T2D and confirmed ASCVD remain poorly understood. AIMS We sought to evaluate the relationship between the leptin-adiponectin ratio, systemic low-grade inflammation and RDW in optimally treated patients with T2D and established ASCVD. METHODS A total of 68 patients, aged 47-85 years (mean 65.3 ± 6.8 years), including 21 (30.9%) females were enrolled. The patients were grouped according to the median value of RDW into those with RDW less then 13.5% (n = 33 subjects) and those with RDW ≥ 13.5% (n = 35 individuals). RESULTS Patients with RDW ≥13.5% had significantly higher serum leptin-adiponectin ratio (1.70 (0.49- 2.31) vs. 0.66 (0.31-1.25) ng/µg; P = 0.04) and TNF-α (1.58 (1.42-1.97) vs. 1.39 (1.18-1.57) pg/mL; P = 0.02). There were no significant differences in the concentrations of other inflammatory markers.
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