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Journal of Bone Oncology Apr 2020Whereas preemptive screening for the presence of lymph node and lung metastases is standard-of-care in thyroid cancer patients, bone metastases are less well studied and... (Review)
Review
Whereas preemptive screening for the presence of lymph node and lung metastases is standard-of-care in thyroid cancer patients, bone metastases are less well studied and are often neglected in thyroid cancer patient surveillance. Bone metastases in thyroid cancer are, however, independently associated with poor/worse prognosis with a median overall survival from detection of only 4 years despite an otherwise excellent prognosis for the vast majority of thyroid cancer patients. In this review we summarize the state of current knowledge as pertinent to bony metastatic disease in thyroid cancer, including clinical implications, impacts on patient function and quality of life, pathogenesis, and therapeutic opportunities, proposing approaches to patient care accordingly. In particular, bone metastasis pathogenesis appears to reflect cooperatively between cancer and the bone microenvironment creating a "vicious cycle" of bone destruction rather than due exclusively to tumor invasion into bone. Additionally, bone metastases are more frequent in follicular and medullary thyroid cancers, requiring closer bone surveillance in patients with these histologies. Emerging data also suggest that treatments such as multikinase inhibitors (MKIs) can be less effective in controlling bone, as opposed to other (e.g. lung), metastases in thyroid cancers, making special attention to bone critical even in the setting of active MKI therapy. Although locoregional therapies including surgery, radiotherapy and ablation play important roles in palliation, antiresorptive agents including bisphosphonates and denosumab appear individually to delay and/or lessen skeletal morbidity and complications, with dosing frequency of every 3 months appearing optimal; their early application should therefore be strongly considered.
PubMed: 32154098
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbo.2020.100282 -
Development & Reproduction Dec 2022Today's Eastern philosophers try to use the formal logic organized by Aristotle, saying that there was no logic in the East. This researcher found that Confucius and...
Today's Eastern philosophers try to use the formal logic organized by Aristotle, saying that there was no logic in the East. This researcher found that Confucius and other Asians used Che-Yong logic. The Che-Yong logic is based on the Che-Yong law, which is a natural law. The Che-Yong law consists of the Che-Yong principle and the Hyeon-Mi principle. The Hyeon-Mi principle is that if there is an appearance on the outside, there is a corresponding cause in it. The Che-Yong principle is that the highest common cause of various appearances is Che, and the Che grows and changes on its own to become a Yong. Identifying Che and predicting Yong is Che-Yong logic. Here, I'd like to introduce Che-Yong logic and suggest a new research methodology to apply it.
PubMed: 36817356
DOI: 10.12717/DR.2022.26.4.183 -
Computational and Structural... 2023The nematode () is of significant interest for research into neurodegenerative diseases, aging, and drug screening. However, conducting these assays manually is a...
The nematode () is of significant interest for research into neurodegenerative diseases, aging, and drug screening. However, conducting these assays manually is a tedious and time-consuming process. This paper proposes a methodology to achieve a generalist C. elegans detection algorithm, as previous work only focused on dataset-specific detection, tailored exclusively to the characteristics and appearance of the images in a given dataset. The main aim of our study is to achieve a solution that allows for robust detection, regardless of the image-capture system used, with the potential to serve as a basis for the automation of numerous assays. These potential applications include worm counting, worm tracking, motion detection and motion characterization. To train this model, a dataset consisting of a wide variety of appearances adopted by has been curated and dataset augmentation methods have been proposed and evaluated, including synthetic image generation. The results show that the model achieves an average precision of 89.5% for a wide variety of appearances that were not used during training, thereby validating its generalization capabilities.
PubMed: 37867974
DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2023.09.039 -
Possible heterogeneity of initial pancreatic islet beta-cell autoimmunity heralding type 1 diabetes.Journal of Internal Medicine Aug 2023The etiology of type 1 diabetes (T1D) foreshadows the pancreatic islet beta-cell autoimmune pathogenesis that heralds the clinical onset of T1D. Standardized and... (Review)
Review
The etiology of type 1 diabetes (T1D) foreshadows the pancreatic islet beta-cell autoimmune pathogenesis that heralds the clinical onset of T1D. Standardized and harmonized tests of autoantibodies against insulin (IAA), glutamic acid decarboxylase (GADA), islet antigen-2 (IA-2A), and ZnT8 transporter (ZnT8A) allowed children to be followed from birth until the appearance of a first islet autoantibody. In the Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) study, a multicenter (Finland, Germany, Sweden, and the United States) observational study, children were identified at birth for the T1D high-risk HLA haploid genotypes DQ2/DQ8, DQ2/DQ2, DQ8/DQ8, and DQ4/DQ8. The TEDDY study was preceded by smaller studies in Finland, Germany, Colorado, Washington, and Sweden. The aims were to follow children at increased genetic risk to identify environmental factors that trigger the first-appearing autoantibody (etiology) and progress to T1D (pathogenesis). The larger TEDDY study found that the incidence rate of the first-appearing autoantibody was split into two patterns. IAA first peaked already during the first year of life and tapered off by 3-4 years of age. GADA first appeared by 2-3 years of age to reach a plateau by about 4 years. Prior to the first-appearing autoantibody, genetic variants were either common or unique to either pattern. A split was also observed in whole blood transcriptomics, metabolomics, dietary factors, and exposures such as gestational life events and early infections associated with prolonged shedding of virus. An innate immune reaction prior to the adaptive response cannot be excluded. Clarifying the mechanisms by which autoimmunity is triggered to either insulin or GAD65 is key to uncovering the etiology of autoimmune T1D.
Topics: Child; Infant, Newborn; Humans; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1; Autoimmunity; Autoantibodies; Insulin; Islets of Langerhans; Observational Studies as Topic; Multicenter Studies as Topic
PubMed: 37143363
DOI: 10.1111/joim.13648 -
Forensic Toxicology 2022Since the appearance of fentanyl followed by its many kinds of analogues around 1988, North America has been exposed to fierce synthetic opioid pandemic resulting in... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE
Since the appearance of fentanyl followed by its many kinds of analogues around 1988, North America has been exposed to fierce synthetic opioid pandemic resulting in more than 130,000 deaths due to their overdoses until May 2019, when China declared to prohibit the licit fentanyl analog production. However, the Chinese announcement did not go into force in USA due to the adroit strategies of tough traffickers. Thus, contrary to the expectation, the number of synthetic opioid products and their poisoning cases in USA has increased by about 30%; especially, various benzimidazole synthetic opioids have revived on the illicit drug market during a recent few years. In this article, the recent abrupt changes in the situations of illicit synthetic opioid market and their current abuses are described.
METHODS
Various databases, such as SciFinder, Google, and Google Scholar, were utilized to collect relevant reports referring old but newly appearing synthetic opioids.
RESULTS
At the present time, there are several families of new synthetic opioids, which are not fentanyl derivatives; MT-45 and its analogs, benzamide and 2-phenylacetamide opioids (U-series opioids), and benzimidazole opioids. Most of the above substances had been developed in 1950s to 1970s, but had never been used as analgesic medicines, because of their severe adverse effects, such as respiratory depression, physical dependence, and resulting deaths. However, there is possibility that these drugs will become main illicit synthetic opioids in place of the fentanyl analogs during coming several years from this time.
CONCLUSIONS
All of the above non-fentanyl-derived families had been developed 50-70 years ago to establish them as analgesic medicines, but had been unsuccessful. These drugs largely appeared in the illicit drug markets in North America, Europe, and Australia, during recent years. Pharmacological, toxicological, and metabolic studies are insufficient for benzamide and 2-phenylacetamide opioids, and are very scant especially for benzimidazole opioids. This time we should start studying pharmacotoxicology of the newly emerging synthetic opioids to alert forensic toxicologists in the world and to suppress their rapid and wide spread in the world.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11419-022-00624-y.
PubMed: 35528111
DOI: 10.1007/s11419-022-00624-y -
Frontiers in Psychology 2021Avatar research largely focuses on the effects of the appearance and external characteristics of avatars, but may also warrant further consideration of the effects of... (Review)
Review
Avatar research largely focuses on the effects of the appearance and external characteristics of avatars, but may also warrant further consideration of the effects of avatar movement characteristics. With , we offer an expansion the avatar-user appearances-based effects of the Proteus Effect to a systematic exploration into the role of movement in affecting social perceptions (about others) and idealized perceptions (about self). This work presents both a theoretical (typology) and methodological (physics-based measurement) approach to understanding the complex blend of physical inputs and virtual outputs that occur in the perceptual experience of VR, particularly in consideration of the collection of hippocampal (e.g., place cells, grid cells) and entorhinal neurons (e.g., speed cells) that fire topologically relative to physical movement in physical space. Offered is a novel method that distills the blend of physical and virtual kinematics to contribute to modern understandings of human-agent interaction and cognitive psychology.
PubMed: 34497562
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.705170 -
Facial Plastic Surgery : FPS Jun 2021This study aimed to evaluate satisfaction in terms of facial appearance, quality of life, and adverse effects in patients undergoing the facial thread lifting procedure...
This study aimed to evaluate satisfaction in terms of facial appearance, quality of life, and adverse effects in patients undergoing the facial thread lifting procedure using the absorbable facial threads anchored on the superficial and deep temporal fascias. The charts of patients for whom facial anchored thread lifting was performed using absorbable threads between February 2017 and September 2019 were reviewed. Demographic data including age and gender as well as data from the Face-Q scales were collected. Descriptive analysis was made for the adverse effects 1 week after the procedure. The mean value of adverse effects scales was compared 1 and 2 weeks after the procedure and also the mean values of facial appearance and quality-of-life scales were compared at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months after the procedure. All recruited subjects were females with a mean age of 43.42 years. There was a statistically significant decrease in the rate of adverse effects following the procedure between the first and second week. The mean difference in patients' perceived age 6 and 12 months after the procedure was statistically significant when compared with baseline. The psychological distress significantly decreased and the psychological function improved 6 and 12 months after the procedure. The overall satisfaction with facial appearance increased significantly after 6 months with a mean of 20.08. This was maintained at 12 months. The satisfaction in skin appearance, cheeks, nasolabial folds, marionettes, lower face, and jawline appearances improved significantly 6 months after the procedure. This was also maintained at 12 months. Face lifting using the polycaprolactone threads anchored on the temporalis fascia showed a significant improvement in the quality of life and facial appearance. The adverse effects are tolerable starting 2 weeks after the procedure.
Topics: Adult; Cheek; Female; Humans; Infant; Male; Nasolabial Fold; Patient Satisfaction; Quality of Life; Rhytidoplasty
PubMed: 33621988
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1725165 -
Neurology India 2020Although rare, skull vault lesions include a vast array of pathology encompassing infection, benign, and malignant bone tumors. Given the large range of potential... (Review)
Review
Although rare, skull vault lesions include a vast array of pathology encompassing infection, benign, and malignant bone tumors. Given the large range of potential diagnoses, it is crucial to identify imaging features to differentiate one from another, ensuring early diagnosis. Radiographs are still valuable in modern radiology but have largely been superseded by computed tomography (CT) due to its high spatial resolution. Both are especially important in developing countries where access to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be limited.There are currently several publications outlining imaging appearances of skull vault lesions. However, the majority of literature is dated, with the last dedicated textbook published in 1980 (Principles of X-ray diagnosis of the skull). Despite overlapping features, a few lesions have "aunt minnie," type classical characteristics, which we will highlight. Most vault lesions also appear as a spectrum depending on location and the exact stage of the disease. A small subset within each disease entity also has atypical features not widely discussed in the current literature. In this pictorial review, we hope to focus on radiographic and CT imaging appearances to help differentiate between various skull vault lesions.
Topics: Bone Neoplasms; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Skull; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
PubMed: 32859809
DOI: 10.4103/0028-3886.293481 -
International Journal of Computer... Jul 2022This work aims for a systematic comparison of popular shape and appearance models. Here, two statistical and four deep-learning-based shape and appearance models are...
PURPOSE
This work aims for a systematic comparison of popular shape and appearance models. Here, two statistical and four deep-learning-based shape and appearance models are compared and evaluated in terms of their expressiveness described by their generalization ability and specificity as well as further properties like input data format, interpretability and latent space distribution and dimension.
METHODS
Classical shape models and their locality-based extension are considered next to autoencoders, variational autoencoders, diffeomorphic autoencoders and generative adversarial networks. The approaches are evaluated in terms of generalization ability, specificity and likeness depending on the amount of training data. Furthermore, various latent space metrics are presented in order to capture further major characteristics of the models.
RESULTS
The experimental setup showed that locality statistical shape models yield best results in terms of generalization ability for 2D and 3D shape modeling. However, the deep learning approaches show strongly improved specificity. In the case of simultaneous shape and appearance modeling, the neural networks are able to generate more realistic and diverse appearances. A major drawback of the deep-learning models is, however, their impaired interpretability and ambiguity of the latent space.
CONCLUSIONS
It can be concluded that for applications not requiring particularly good specificity, shape modeling can be reliably established with locality-based statistical shape models, especially when it comes to 3D shapes. However, deep learning approaches are more worthwhile in terms of appearance modeling.
Topics: Humans; Models, Statistical; Neural Networks, Computer
PubMed: 35128605
DOI: 10.1007/s11548-022-02567-6 -
Pharmaceutics Jun 2023Targeted radionuclide therapy has become increasingly prominent as a nuclear medicine subspecialty. For many decades, treatment with radionuclides has been mainly... (Review)
Review
Targeted radionuclide therapy has become increasingly prominent as a nuclear medicine subspecialty. For many decades, treatment with radionuclides has been mainly restricted to the use of iodine-131 in thyroid disorders. Currently, radiopharmaceuticals, consisting of a radionuclide coupled to a vector that binds to a desired biological target with high specificity, are being developed. The objective is to be as selective as possible at the tumor level, while limiting the dose received at the healthy tissue level. In recent years, a better understanding of molecular mechanisms of cancer, as well as the appearance of innovative targeting agents (antibodies, peptides, and small molecules) and the availability of new radioisotopes, have enabled considerable advances in the field of vectorized internal radiotherapy with a better therapeutic efficacy, radiation safety and personalized treatments. For instance, targeting the tumor microenvironment, instead of the cancer cells, now appears particularly attractive. Several radiopharmaceuticals for therapeutic targeting have shown clinical value in several types of tumors and have been or will soon be approved and authorized for clinical use. Following their clinical and commercial success, research in that domain is particularly growing, with the clinical pipeline appearing as a promising target. This review aims to provide an overview of current research on targeting radionuclide therapy.
PubMed: 37376181
DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15061733