Preliminary results of biodistribution and dosimetric analysis of [68Ga]Ga-DOTAZOL: a new zoledronate-based bisphosphonate for PET/CT diagnosis of bone diseases

Annals of Nuclear Medicine - Pre-clinical studies with gallium-68 zoledronate ([68Ga]Ga-DOTAZOL) have proposed it to be a potent bisphosphonate for PET/CT diagnosis of bone diseases and diagnostic...     

Agreement between DSM-IV and ICD-10 criteria for opioid use disorders in two Iranian samples

The aim of this study was to determine the agreement between the two systems in opioid users in the general population and a clinical sample. Two series of data were used in this study. The first was the data of 236 home-residing opioid abusers aged 15–64, who had previously participated in the Iran Mental Health Survey (IranMHS) in 2011, and the second was the data of 104 general psychiatry patients from inpatient or outpatient wards of two psychiatry hospitals in Tehran. Opioid use disorders were evaluated with CIDI-version 2.1. The disorders were assessed in all participants who used opioid substances for at least 5 times during the past 12 months. In the sample from the general population, the agreement between the two systems on the diagnosis of dependence was excellent (0.81). The agreement between the two systems on the diagnosis of abuse and harmful use was 0.41. In the clinical sample, the agreement between the two systems on the diagnosis of dependence or any opioid use disorder was 0.96 and 0.93, respectively. The agreement between abuse and harmful use was 0.9 and − 0.02 with and without regarding hierarchy, respectively. The inter-rater reliability of both DSM-IV and ICD-10 systems for all diagnosis was more than 0.95. The results of the diagnosis of dependence in the two systems had a weak concordance with treatment. The diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV and ICD-10 regarding dependence are very similar and the diagnosis produced by each system is concordant with the other system. However, the two systems have noticeable discrepancies in the diagnosis of abuse and harmful use. The discrepancies result from their conceptual differences and necessitate further revision in the definition of these disorders in the two systems.     

Application of [68Ga]PSMA PET/CT in Diagnosis and Management of Prostate Cancer Patients

Molecular Imaging and Biology - The early and accurate diagnosis of locoregional recurrence or metastasis in prostate cancer (PC) has a significant impact on treatment options. Prostatic-specific...     

Analysis of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, integrin beta3, beta fibrinogen, and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphisms in Iranian women with recurrent pregnancy loss

Citation
Jeddi‐Tehrani M, Torabi R, Zarnani AH, Mohammadzadeh A, Arefi S, Zeraati H, Akhondi MM, Chamani‐Tabriz L, Idali F, Emami S, Zarei S. Analysis of plasminogen activator inhibitor‐1, integrin beta3, beta fibrinogen and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphisms in Iranian women with recurrent pregnancy loss. Am J Reprod Immunol 2011; 66: 149–156 Problem To identify the associations of the plasminogen activator inhibitor‐1 (PAI‐1) ?675 4G/5G, beta fibrinogen (BF) ?455G/A, integrin beta 3 (ITGB3) 1565T/C, and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677C/T and 1298A/C polymorphisms with recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). Method of study Polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR‐RFLP) were performed to assess the frequency of five candidate genetic risk factors for RPL, and the frequencies of the polymorphisms were calculated and compared between case and control groups. Results The BF ?455G/A, MTHFR 677C/T, and 1298A/C polymorphisms were found to be positively, and ITGB3 1565T/C polymorphism negatively, associated with RPL. Homozygosity but not heterozygosity for PAI‐1 ?675 4G/5G polymorphism was significantly higher in patients with RPL than in the control group. The presence of both mutations of MTHFR genes highly increased the risk of RPL. Conclusion The data highlight the importance of thrombophilia screening in patients with RPL.     

Detection of malaria infection in blood transfusion: a comparative study among real-time PCR, rapid diagnostic test and microscopy: sensitivity of Malaria detection methods in blood transfusion

The transmission of malaria by blood transfusion was one of the first transfusion-transmitted infections recorded in the world. Transfusion-transmitted malaria may lead to serious problems because infection with Plasmodium falciparum may cause rapidly fatal death. This study aimed to compare real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) with rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and light microscopy for the detection of Plasmodium spp. in blood transfusion, both in endemic and non-endemic areas of malaria disease in Iran. Two sets of 50 blood samples were randomly collected. One set was taken from blood samples donated in blood bank of Bandar Abbas, a city located in a malarious-endemic area, and the other set from Tehran, a non-endemic one. Light microscopic examination on both thin and thick smears, RDTs, and real-time PCR were performed on the blood samples and the results were compared. Thin and thick light microscopic examinations of all samples as well as RDT results were negative for Plasmodium spp. Two blood samples from endemic area were positive only with real-time PCR. It seems that real-time PCR as a highly sensitive method can be helpful for the confirmation of malaria infection in different units of blood transfusion organization especially in malaria-endemic areas where the majority of donors may be potentially infected with malaria parasites.     

Radioembolisation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma that have previously received liver-directed therapies

Purpose

Radioembolisation is part of the multimodal treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) at specialist liver centres. This study analysed the impact of prior treatment on tolerability and survival following radioembolisation.

Methods

This was a retrospective analysis of 325 consecutive patients with a confirmed diagnosis of HCC, who received radioembolisation with yttrium-90 resin microspheres at eight European centres between September 2003 and December 2009. The decision to treat was based on the clinical judgement of multidisciplinary teams. Patients were followed from the date of radioembolisation to last contact or death and the nature and severity of all adverse events (AEs) recorded from medical records.

Results

Most radioembolisation candidates were Child-Pugh class A (82.5%) with multinodular HCC (75.9%) invading both lobes (53.1%); 56.3% were advanced stage. Radioembolisation was used first-line in 57.5% of patients and second-line in 34.2%. Common prior procedures were transarterial (chemo)embolisation therapies (27.1%), surgical resection/transplantation (17.2%) and ablation (8.6%). There was no difference in AE incidence and severity between prior treatment subgroups. Median (95% confidence interval [CI]) survival following radioembolisation was similar between procedure-naive and prior treatment groups for Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage A: 22.1 months (15.1–45.9) versus 30.9 months (19.6–46.8); p?= 0.243); stage B: 18.4 months (11.2–19.4) versus 22.8 months (10.9–34.2); p?= 0.815; and stage C: 8.8 months (7.1–10.8) versus 10.8 months (7.7–12.6); p?= 0.976.

Conclusions

Radioembolisation is a valuable treatment option for patients who relapse following surgical, ablative or vascular procedures and remain suitable candidates for this treatment.

     

New diagnostic EEG markers of the Alzheimer’s disease using visibility graph

A new chaos–wavelet approach is presented for electroencephalogram (EEG)-based diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) employing a recently developed concept in graph theory, visibility graph (VG). The approach is based on the research ideology that nonlinear features may not reveal differences between AD and control group in the band-limited EEG, but may represent noticeable differences in certain sub-bands. Hence, complexity of EEGs is computed using the VGs of EEGs and EEG sub-bands produced by wavelet decomposition. Two methods are employed for computation of complexity of the VGs: one based on the power of scale-freeness of a graph structure and the other based on the maximum eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix of a graph. Analysis of variation is used for feature selection. Two classifiers are applied to the selected features to distinguish AD and control EEGs: a Radial Basis Function Neural Network (RBFNN) and a two-stage classifier consisting of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and the RBFNN. After comprehensive statistical studies, effective classification features and mathematical markers were discovered. Finally, using the discovered features and a two-stage classifier (PCA-RBFNN), a high diagnostic accuracy of 97.7% was obtained.     

Factors predicting tracer uptake in somatostatin receptor and MIBG scintigraphy of metastatic gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

Radiolabeled octreotide analogs (Oct) and metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) offer 2 different approaches for imaging and targeting metastatic gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NET). Despite successful establishment of the revised World Health Organization (WHO) classification, which distinguishes between low- and high-grade malignant GEP-NET, there is a lack of scintigraphic studies comparing uptake behavior on the basis of this categorization. This study aims to define predisposing factors of tracer uptake for both imaging principles implementing the updated tumor criteria of the current WHO classification. METHODS: Fifty-seven consecutive patients with histologically confirmed metastatic GEP-NET evaluated with both 111In-pentetreotide and 123I/131I-MIBG scintigraphy were included in this study. Intensity of tracer uptake was graded according to the different metastatic regions. Patients were classified as overall positive when avid uptake in the clinically relevant tumor lesions was present. Correlation was tested between the proportion of positive patients and tumor origin, function, and malignancy. RESULTS: Overall, 52 patients (91.2%) were Oct positive and 28 patients (49.1%) were MIBG positive. The proportion of tracer-positive patients was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in low-grade malignant tumors for both tracers and in functioning as well as in gastroenteral NET for MIBG. Five patients were negative for both tracers. None of the Oct-negative patients proved to be MIBG positive. CONCLUSION: Oct affinity is observed with high frequency throughout the subgroups of metastatic GEP-NET, whereas corresponding MIBG uptake is overall less prevalent and more group dependent. Tumor differentiation significantly impacts both Oct and MIBG uptake, whereas functionality predisposes only for MIBG accumulation. Though clearly inferior to Oct-based radioimaging in most GEP-NET, MIBG achieves a remarkable rate of radioligand accumulation in functioning midgut enterochromaffin cell metastases (>80% of patients positive). These results may have implications for patient management and potentially for selection and performance of targeted therapy.     

The incidence of berry aneurysm in the Iranian population: an autopsy study

Intracranial berry aneurysms are the most common kind of aneurysms in the brain, and are caused by head trauma in 1% of cases. They may remain asymptomatic for a long time or may rupture and cause intracranial hemorrhage. These aneurysms are associated with a high mortality rate. A definitive diagnosis can be made by angiography or autopsy. We studied the cadavers of 425 people who passed away accidentally. The number and location of berry aneurysms were recorded. Twelve cases (2.82%) were found to have a single berry aneurysm and two (0.47%) had multiple aneurysms. The aneurysms had a tendency to occur in the frontal half of the Circle of Willis and in approximation of the bifurcation of arteries. The main characteristics of cases of berry aneurysm in the Iranian population were in agreement with that reported in previous Western studies.