Πέμπτη 16 Φεβρουαρίου 2023

Surface Electromyography-Based Analysis of the Lower Limb Muscle Network and Muscle Synergies at Various Gait Speeds

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Gait movement is an important activity in daily human life. The coordination of gait movement is directly affected by the cooperation and functional connectivity between muscles. However, the mechanisms of muscle operation at different gait speeds remain unclear. Therefore, this study addressed the gait speed effect on the changes in co operative modules and functional connectivity between muscles. To this end, surface electromyography (sEMG) signals were collected from eight key lower extremity muscles of twelve healthy subjects walking on a treadmill at high, middle, and low motion speeds. Nonnegative matrix factorization (NNMF) was applied to the sEMG envelope and intermuscular coherence matrix, yielding five muscle synergies. Muscle functional networks were constructed by decomposing the intermuscular coherence matrix, revealing different layers of functional muscle networks across frequencies. In addition, the coupling strength between cooperative muscles grew with gait speed. Different coordination patterns among muscles with changes in gait speed related to the neuromuscular system regulation were identified.
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Fasting Plasma Glucose Increase and Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio as Risk Predictors of Clinical Outcome of COVID-19 Pneumonia in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

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Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes
DOI: 10.1055/a-2009-6937

Aim of the study To evaluate fasting plasma glucose (FPG) increase and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as risk predictors of severe clinical outcome of COVID-19 pneumonia in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) hospitalised patients. Patients and methods Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients hospitalised between March 2020 and February 2021 were studied retrospectively. The NLR ratio at admission and FPG increase (day 7, day with maximal FPG) were evaluated in association with the clinical progression of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results Three hundred patients (165 men, 135 women) were included in the study. The mean age was 67.17±8.65 years. Severe COVID-19 pneumonia was diagnosed in 170 patients (56.7%). Fifty-four patients (18%) were intubated and 49 (16.3%) died. Greater increase in FPG (79.5 vs. 44.5 mg/dL for day 1–7, p<0.001; and 113.5 vs. 75 mg/dL for day 1-day with maximum glucose value, p<0.001) and higher NLR at admission (10.65 vs. 6.85) were seen in patients with need of high-flow oxygen compared to those without need, and they were associated with a higher probability of intubation and death. Conclusion FPG increase and NLR could be significant risk predictors of severe COVID-19 pneumonia in T2DM hospitalised patients.
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Georg Thieme Verlag KG Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

Article in Thieme eJournals:
Table of contents  |  Abstract  |  Full text

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Magnetic Resonance Imaging Virtual Biopsy of Common Solid Renal Masses—A Pictorial Review

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imageThe expanded application of radiologic imaging resulted in an increased incidence of renal masses in the recent decade. Clinically, it is difficult to determine the malignant potential of the renal masses, thus resulting in complex management. Image-guided biopsies are the ongoing standard of care to identify molecular variance but are limited by tumor accessibility and heterogeneity. With the evolving importance of individualized cancer therapi es, radiomics has displayed promising results in the identification of tumoral mutation status on routine imaging. This article discusses how magnetic resonance imaging features can guide a radiologist toward identifying renal mass characteristics.
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Τετάρτη 15 Φεβρουαρίου 2023

Esophageal Glomus Tumors: Rare Neoplasms with Aggressive Clinical Behavior

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Esophageal Glomus Tumors: Rare Neoplasms with Aggressive Clinical Behavior


Aims

Glomus tumors are neoplasms with perivascular smooth muscle differentiation, which rarely occur in the esophagus and may behave aggressively in this site based upon prior case reports. This study describes the clinicopathologic features of 3 esophageal glomus tumors diagnosed at 2 large academic institutions between 1984 and 2022.

Methods and Results

Three cases of esophageal glomus tumors were identified. Patients included 2 females and 1 male, with an age range of 19-65 years. All 3 tumors behaved in a malignant fashion, with metastases to various sites (lymph nodes, lung, pericardium, pleura, diaphragm, scalp). One patient developed an aorto-esophageal fistula, resulting in a fatal hemorrhage. Tumors ranged in size from 4.5 to 8.1 cm. Histologically, all tumors had a multinodular, perivascular growth pattern. The neoplasms showed varying degrees of cytologic atypia and spindling, elevated mitotic activity (2-12 mitotic figures per 10 high-power fields), and necrosis was seen in in 2 cases. All tumors expressed smooth muscle actin by immunohistochemistry, and harbored NOTCH gene alterations (MIR143::NOTCH2 fusion in 2 cases; NOTCH3 rearrangement and NOTCH1 point mutation in 1 case). An ATRX splicing mutation in exon 10 was also identified in 1 case.

Conclusions

Esophageal glomus tumors pose diagnostic challenges given their rarity at this site but can be recognized by their characteristic perivascular growth pattern, round central nuclei, and supportive ancillary studies. Given the propensity for aggressive behavior in this location, we recommend management by a multidisciplinary sarcoma team for optimal outcome.

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Investigation of Shared Genetic Risk Factors Between Parkinson's Disease and Cancers

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Abstract

Background

Epidemiological studies that examined the association between Parkinson's disease (PD) and cancers led to inconsistent results, but they face a number of methodological difficulties.

Objective

We used results from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) to study the genetic correlation between PD and different cancers to identify common genetic risk factors.

Methods

We used individual data for participants of European ancestry from the Courage-PD (Comprehensive Unbiased Risk Factor Assessment for Genetics and Environment in Parkinson's Disease; PD, N = 16,519) and EPITHYR (differentiated thyroid cancer, N = 3527) consortia and summary statistics of GWASs from iPDGC (International Parkinson Disease Genomics Consortium; PD, N = 482,730), Melanoma Meta-Analysis Consortium (MMAC), Breast Cancer Association Consortium (breast cancer), the Prostate Cancer Association Group to Investigate Cancer Associated Alterations in the Genome (prostate cancer), International Lung Cancer Consortium (lung cancer), and Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (ovarian cancer) (N comprised between 36,017 and 228,951 for cancer GWASs). We estimated the genetic correlation between PD and cancers using linkage disequilibrium score regression. We studied the association between PD and polymorphisms associated with cancers, and vice versa, using cross-phenotypes polygenic risk score (PRS) analyses.

Results

We confirmed a previously reported positive genetic correlation of PD with melanoma (Gcorr = 0.16 [0.04; 0.28]) and reported an additional significant positive correlation of PD with prostate cancer (Gcorr = 0.11 [0.03; 0.19]). There was a significant inverse association between the PRS for ovarian cancer and PD (odds ratio [OR] = 0.89 [0.84; 0.94]). Conversely, the PRS of PD was positively associated with breast cancer (OR = 1.08 [1.06; 1.10]) and inversely associated with ovarian cancer (OR = 0.95 [0.91; 0.99]). The association between PD and ovarian cancer was mostly driven by rs183211 located in an intron of the NSF gene (17q21.31).

Conclusions

We show evidence in favor of a contribution of pleiotropic genes to the association between PD and specific cancers. © 2023 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.

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Exposure to Particulate Matter and Respirable Crystalline Silica in Tunnel Construction Workers Using Tunnel Boring Machines

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Abstract
Objectives
This study aimed to assess the exposure to a selection of aerosols and gases in the work environment for workers performing tunnel construction using tunnel boring machines (TBMs), to identify determinants of exposure based on the information available and to calculate robust estimates of exposure using a statistical model. The focus was particulate matter (PM) and respirable crystalline silica (RCS). In addition, concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), elemental carbon (EC), and oil mist were assessed.
Methods
Personal sampling was conducted from February 2017 to February 2019. PM in the thoracic and the respirable aerosol fractions was collected, and RCS was determined in the respirable aerosol fraction. Context information was collected on questionnaires. Because the workers could participate in the sampling more than once and multiple measurements were performed on the same date a mixed model was use d in the analysis. Concentrations of PM and RCS are presented as estimated and measured geometric means (GMest and GMmea) and estimated arithmetic mean (AMest) in addition to the median. Measured concentrations of NO2, EC, and oil mist are presented as geometric means.
Results
A total of 290 and 289 personal samples of PM in the thoracic and respirable aerosol fractions were available for analysis, respectively. Work title/work location, type of work (production, maintenance, or a combination of the two), and date of sampling were identified as determinants of exposure. Workers in the front of the TBMs had the highest exposure to PM and RCS. The GMest of RCS exposure varied from 35 to 413 μg m–3 depending on the work title. The geometric standard deviations for measured RCS concentrations by work title ranged from 1.6 to 3.5. A total of 16 samples of NO2 and EC and 12 samples of oil mist were co llected. Maximum values of NO2 and EC were 54 µg m–3 and 23 µg m–3, respectively. The maximum measured value of oil mist was 0.08 mg m–3.
Conclusions
All TBM workers were exposed to PM and RCS. Exposure to RCS may be substantial, and workers in front of the TBM were exposed to the highest concentrations of both PM and RCS. A day-to-day variation was found, probably caused by differences in drilling activities. Preventive measures are warranted to keep the exposure to PM and consequently the exposure to RCS as low as possible to protect the health of workers in tunnel construction.
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TRIM21 inhibits irradiation-induced mitochondrial DNA release and impairs antitumour immunity in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tumour models

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Nature Communications, Published online: 16 February 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-36523-y

The molecular mechanisms determining the response to radiotherapy remain incompletely understood. Here, the authors demonstrate that the E3 ubiquitin ligase and intracellular Fc receptor, TRIM21, impairs CD8+ T cell responses in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tumour models following ionizing radiation.
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