therapy use was detected.
In a large, Swiss-based MS population, little evidence for socio-demographic barriers to physical therapy was found. Physiotherapy uptake was higher among pwMS with more impairments, lower health-related quality of life, or who have been discharged recently from inpatient rehabilitation. The uptake differences by language region warrant further investigations.
In a large, Swiss-based MS population, little evidence for socio-demographic barriers to physical therapy was found. Physiotherapy uptake was higher among pwMS with more impairments, lower health-related quality of life, or who have been discharged recently from inpatient rehabilitation. The uptake differences by language region warrant further investigations.In adults, grip force has reliably been used to investigate motor simulation evoked by linguistic action, suggesting that motor phenomena are linked to semantic action. The parietal and frontal lobes and their connexions are essential neural structures for pragmatic aspects of hand semantic action. In this perspective, the aim of the study was to determine the extent to which two groups of children and adolescents, classically characterized by degree of axonal myelination in fronto-parietal circuits, monitored the occurrence of nouns and manual action verbs presented auditorily while holding a grip force sensor. Differential effects of grip force were seen only in the adolescents when monitoring action verbs. Interestingly, weaker effects of grip force were modulated by noun targets only in the younger children, revealing that the ability to profit from a full semantic representation of verbs is not clearly established in the younger children. Grip force modulation was observed as early as 300 ms post target onset and peaked at the 500-750 ms window of observation for both groups. These group differences are in line with the motor simulation difficulties seen in younger children. The results may also indicate that degree of grip force in response to specific linguistic categories parallels the maturation of the parietal-frontal circuits, including the anterior intra-parietal area which plays a determining role in semantic aspects of hand action.Although treatable with antibiotics, tuberculosis is a leading cause of death. Mycobacterium tuberculosis antibiotic resistance is becoming increasingly common and disease control is challenging. Conventional drug susceptibility testing takes weeks to produce results, and treatment is often initiated empirically. Therefore, new methods to determine drug susceptibility profiles are urgent. Here, we used mass-spectrometry-based metabolomics to characterize the metabolic landscape of drug-susceptible (DS), multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) M. tuberculosis. Direct infusion mass spectrometry data showed that DS, MDR, and XDR strains have distinct metabolic profiles, which can be used to predict drug susceptibility and resistance. This was later confirmed by Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography and High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry, where we found that levels of ions presumptively identified as isoleucine, proline, hercynine, betaine, and pantothenic acid varied significantly between strains with different drug susceptibility profiles. We then confirmed the identification of proline and isoleucine and determined their absolute concentrations in bacterial extracts, and found significantly higher levels of these amino acids in DS strains, as compared to drug-resistant strains (combined MDR and XDR strains). Our results advance the current understanding of the effect of drug resistance on bacterial metabolism and open avenues for the detection of drug resistance biomarkers.Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are a heterogeneous family of uncommon tumours with challenging diagnosis, clinical management and unique needs that almost always requires a multidisciplinary approach. In the absence of guidance from the scientific literature, along with the rapidly changing data available on the effect of COVID-19, we report how 12 high-volume NEN centres of expertise in 10 countries at different stages of the evolving COVID-19 global pandemic along with members of international neuroendocrine cancer patient societies have suggested to preserve high standards of care for patients with NENs. We review the multidisciplinary management of neuroendocrine neoplasms during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we suggest potential strategies to reduce risk and aid multidisciplinary treatment decision-making. By sharing our joint experiences, we aim to generate recommendations for proceeding to other institutions facing the same challenges.
The clinical differentiation of face and scalp lesions (FSLs) is challenging even for trained dermatologists. Studies comparing the diagnostic performance of a convolutional neural network (CNN) with dermatologists in FSL are lacking.
A market-approved CNN (Moleanalyzer-Pro, FotoFinder Systems) was used for binary classifications of 100 dermoscopic images of FSL. The same lesions were used in a two-level reader study including 64 dermatologists (level I dermoscopy only; level II dermoscopy, clinical close-up images, textual information). Primary endpoints were the CNN's sensitivity and specificity in comparison with the dermatologists' management decisions in level II. Generalizability of the CNN results was tested by using four additional external data sets.
The CNN's sensitivity, specificityand ROC AUC were 96.2% [87.0%-98.9%], 68.8% [54.7%-80.1%]and 0.929 [0.880-0.978], respectively. In level II, the dermatologists' management decisions showed a mean sensitivity of 84.2% [82.2%-86.2%] and specificity of 69.4% [66.0%-72.8%]. When fixing the CNN's specificity at the dermatologists' mean specificity (69.4%), the CNN's sensitivity (96.2% [87.0%-98.9%]) was significantly higher than that of dermatologists (84.2% [82.2%-86.2%]; p<0.001). Dermatologists of all training levels were outperformed by the CNN (all p<0.001). In confirmation, the CNN's accuracy (83.0%) was significantly higher than dermatologists' accuracies in level II management decisions (all p<0.001). The CNN's performance was largely confirmed in three additional external data sets but particularly showed a reduced specificity in one Australian data set including FSL on severely sun-damaged skin.
When applied as an assistant system, the CNN's higher sensitivity at an equivalent specificity may result in an improved early detection of face and scalp skin cancers.
When applied as an assistant system, the CNN's higher sensitivity at an equivalent specificity may result in an improved early detection of face and scalp skin cancers.The nature and timing of the shift from the Late Middle Paleolithic (LMP) to the Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) varied geographically, temporally, and substantively across the Near East and Eurasia; however, the result of this process was the archaeological disappearance of Middle Paleolithic technologies across the length and breadth of their geographic distribution. Ortvale Klde rockshelter (Republic of Georgia) contains the most detailed LMP-EUP archaeological sequence in the Caucasus, an environmentally and topographically diverse region situated between southwest Asia and Europe. Tephrochronological investigations at the site reveal volcanic ash (tephra) from various volcanic sources and provide a tephrostratigraphy for the site that will facilitate future correlations in the region. We correlate one of the cryptotephra layers to the large, caldera-forming Nemrut Formation eruption (30,000 years ago) from Nemrut volcano in Turkey. We integrate this tephrochronological constraint with new radiocarbon dates and published ages in an OxCal Bayesian age model to produce a revised chronology for the site. This model increases the ages for the end of the LMP (∼47.5-44.2 ka cal BP) and appearance of the EUP (∼46.7-43.6 ka cal BP) at Ortvale Klde, which are earlier than those currently reported for other sites in the Caucasus but similar to estimates for specific sites in southwest Asia and eastern Europe. Firsocostat datasheet These data, coupled with archaeological, stratigraphic, and taphonomic observations, suggest that at Ortvale Klde, (1) the appearance of EUP technologies of bone and stone has no technological roots in the preceding LMP, (2) a LMP population vacuum likely preceded the appearance of these EUP technologies, and (3) the systematic combination of tephra correlations and absolute dating chronologies promises to substantially improve our inter-regional understanding of this critical time interval of human evolution and the potential interconnectedness of hominins at different sites.
To investigate a risk stratification strategy for lesions of uncertain malignant potential (B3) diagnosed by vacuum-assisted breast biopsy (VABB) of mammographic microcalcifications.
Patients who underwent VABB for microcalcification-only lesions with a diagnosis of B3 and subsequent surgery were included in this retrospective, IRB-approved study. Seventy-six B3-lesions (final histology 66 benign, 10 malignant) were included (Tr). Data on B3 lesion type and presence of atypia, microcalcification characteristics (BI-RADS), removal at biopsy and concomitant lesions were collected. After univariate analysis (Chi-square test), data were combined into a risk stratification algorithm by using a ten-fold, cross-validated Classification and Regression Tree analysis (CRT). The algorithm was tested on a testing dataset (Te) of 23 B3-lesions (six malignant, 17 benign).
Malignancy was more frequent in women with a concomitant cancer (P < 0.001) and highly suspicious microcalcifications (P < 0.001). The CRT algorithm retained three characteristics morphology; presence of atypia; presence of concomitant cancer. The algorithm identified 25/76 (32.9 %,Tr) and 6/23 (26.1 %,Te) lesions at low risk of malignancy. No malignant cases were identified at surgery (0/31). There were 3/76 (3.9 %,Tr) and 1/23 (4.3 %,Te) lesions assigned as high-risk by the algorithm and confirmed at surgery (4/4). In the remaining lesions (48/76, 63.1 %,Tr; 16/23, 69.6 %,Te), malignancy rates varied between 9% and 88.4 %; thus, surgery could not have been avoided.
We constructed and tested a risk stratification algorithm for B3 microcalcifications, including clinical, imaging, and pathological features, to assign probabilities of malignancy, which has the potential to reduce unnecessary surgeries.
We constructed and tested a risk stratification algorithm for B3 microcalcifications, including clinical, imaging, and pathological features, to assign probabilities of malignancy, which has the potential to reduce unnecessary surgeries.
To compare the clinical utility of single-shot echo-planar imaging (SS-EPI) using different breathing schemes and readout-segmented EPI (RS-EPI) in the repeatability of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and image quality.
In this institutional review board-approved prospective study, hepatic DWIs (b = 50, 300, 600 s/mm
) were performed in 22 volunteers on 3.0 T MRI using SS-EPI with free-breathing diffusion-weighted imaging (FB-DWI), breath-hold (BH-DWI), respiratory-triggered (RT-DWI) and navigator-triggered (NT-DWI), and readout-segmented EPI (RS-DWI). ADC and surrogate SNR (sSNR) were measured in nine anatomic locations in the right lobe, and image quality was assessed on all FB-DWI, BH-DWI, RT-DWI, NT-DWI, and RS-DWI sequences. The sequence with the optimal clinical utility was decided by systematically comparing the ADC repeatability, sSNR and image quality of the above DWIs.
In all the five sequences, NT-DWI had the most reliable intra-observer agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) 0.