Medical physics

PURPOSE: Interventional Cone-Beam CT (CBCT) offers 3D visualization of soft-tissue and vascular anatomy, enabling 3D guidance of abdominal interventions. However, its long acquisition time makes CBCT susceptible to patient motion. Image-based autofocus offers a suitable platform for compensation of deformable motion in CBCT, but it relies on handcrafted motion metrics based on first-order image properties and that lack awareness of the underlying anatomy. This work proposes a data-driven approach to motion quantification via a learned, context-aware, deformable metric, <mml:math xmlns:mml="https://www...

BACKGROUND: Physical activity (PA) may be an important fall prevention strategy. Current PA guidelines emphasize total PA dose, but daily patterning of PA is underappreciated. With aging, PA bouts become less frequent and shorter in duration (i.e.: more fragmented). PA fragmentation may be an indicator of fall risk, but the relationship is not well understood. This study examined daily PA accumulation and patterns with fall risk in older adults. METHODS: Participants (n=685, 54...

Thanks to medical advances, life expectancy is increasing. With it comes an increased incidence of diseases, of which age is a risk factor. Stroke is among these diseases, and is one of the causes of long-term disability. The opportunity to treat these patients is via rehabilitation. A promising new technology that can enhance rehabilitation is virtual reality (VR). However, this technology is not widely used by elderly patients, and, moreover, the elderly often do not use modern technology at all. It therefore becomes a legitimate question whether elderly people will be able to use virtual reality in rehabilitation...

Biodegradable polymers have been extensively researched in the field of biomedicine. Polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), a biodegradable polymer material, has been widely used in drug delivery systems and has shown great potential in various medical fields, including vaccines, tissue engineering such as bone regeneration and wound healing, and 3D printing. Cancer, a group of diseases with high mortality rates worldwide, has recently garnered significant attention in the field of immune therapy research. In recent years, there has been growing interest in the delivery function of PLGA in tumor immunotherapy...

Three-dimensional printing-especially with fused deposition modeling (FDM)-is widely used in the medical field as it enables customization. FDM is versatile owing to the availability of various materials, but selecting the appropriate material for a certain application can be challenging. Understanding materials' mechanical behaviors, particularly those of polymeric materials, is vital to determining their suitability for a given application. Physical testing with universal testing machines is the most used method for determining the mechanical behaviors of polymers...

Adequate diet, physical activity, and dietary supplementation with muscle-targeted food for special medical purposes (FSMP) or dietary supplement (DS) are currently considered fundamental pillars in sarcopenia treatment. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a DS (containing hydroxy-methyl-butyrate, carnosine, and magnesium, for its action on muscle function and protein synthesis and butyrate and lactoferrin for their contribution to the regulation of gut permeability and antioxidant/anti-inflammation activity) on muscle mass (assessed by dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)), muscle function (by handgrip test, chair test, short physical performance battery (SPPB) test, and walking speed test), inflammation (tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a), C-reactive protein (CRP), and visceral adipose tissue (VAT)) and gut axis (by zonulin)...

Cardiovascular diseases are a broadly understood concept focusing on vascular and heart dysfunction. Lack of physical exercise, type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, thromboembolism, and kidney and lung diseases all contribute to the development of heart and blood vessel dysfunction. Although effective and important, traditional treatment with diuretics, statins, beta blockers, calcium inhibitors, ACE inhibitors, and anti-platelet drugs remains a second-line treatment after dietary interventions and lifestyle changes...

A 15-year-old young girl was found dead at home. There were no indications of any intervention or the application of force. On the previous day, she was admitted to hospital because of palpitations, fatigue, a headache, and a swollen neck. During a physical examination, a swollen thyroid gland and tachycardia were found. In the family history, her mother had thyroid disease. According to the laboratory values, she had elevated thyroid hormone levels. After administration of beta-blockers, the patient was discharged and died at home during the night...

In transplantation, hypothermic machine perfusion (HMP) has been shown to be superior to static cold storage (SCS) in terms of functional outcomes. Ex vivo machine perfusion offers the possibility to deliver drugs or other active substances, such as Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs), directly into an organ without affecting the recipient. MSCs are multipotent, self-renewing cells with tissue-repair capacities, and their application to ameliorate ischemia- reperfusion injury (IRI) is being investigated in several preclinical and clinical studies...

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are vital components of the innate immune system, serving as the first line of defense against pathogens by recognizing a wide array of molecular patterns. This review summarizes the critical roles of TLRs in immune surveillance and disease pathogenesis, focusing on their structure, signaling pathways, and implications in various disorders. We discuss the molecular intricacies of TLRs, including their ligand specificity, signaling cascades, and the functional consequences of their activation...

Nanoparticles (NPs) have shown significant potential for pulmonary administration of therapeutics for the treatment of chronic lung diseases in a localized and sustained manner. Nebulization is a suitable method of NP delivery, particularly in patients whose ability to breathe is impaired due to lung diseases. However, there are limited studies evaluating the physicochemical properties of NPs after they are passed through a nebulizer. High shear stress generated during nebulization could potentially affect the surface properties of NPs, resulting in the loss of encapsulated drugs and alteration in the release kinetics...

An imbalance between production and excretion of amyloid β peptide (Aβ) in the brain tissues of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients leads to Aβ accumulation and the formation of noxious Aβ oligomers/plaques. A promising approach to AD prevention is the reduction of free Aβ levels by directed enhancement of Aβ binding to its natural depot, human serum albumin (HSA). We previously demonstrated the ability of specific low-molecular-weight ligands (LMWLs) in HSA to improve its affinity for Aβ...

One-carbon (1-C) metabolic deficiency impairs homeostasis, driving disease development, including infertility. It is of importance to summarize the current evidence regarding the clinical utility of 1-C metabolism-related biomolecules and methyl donors, namely, folate, betaine, choline, vitamin B12, homocysteine (Hcy), and zinc, as potential biomarkers, dietary supplements, and culture media supplements in the context of medically assisted reproduction (MAR). A narrative review of the literature was conducted in the PubMed/Medline database...

Since we aim to test new options to find medication for cognitive disorders, we have begun to assess the effect of semaglutide and to conduct a review gathering studies that have attempted this purpose. This systematic review focuses on the cognitive effects of semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA), in the context of neurological and cognitive impairment. Semaglutide, a synthetic GLP-1 analog, showcased neuroprotective effects beyond metabolic regulation. It mitigated apoptosis and improved cognitive dysfunction in cerebrovascular disease, suggesting broader implications for neurological well-being...

Familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) is a complex and multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder for which no curative therapies are yet available. Indeed, no single medication or intervention has proven fully effective thus far. Therefore, the combination of multitarget agents has been appealing as a potential therapeutic approach against FAD. Here, we investigated the potential of combining tramiprosate (TM), curcumin (CU), and the JNK inhibitor SP600125 (SP) as a treatment for FAD. The study analyzed the individual and combined effects of these two natural agents and this pharmacological inhibitor on the accumulation of intracellular amyloid beta iAβ; hyperphosphorylated protein TAU at Ser202 /Thr205 ; mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm ); generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS); oxidized protein DJ-1; proapoptosis proteins p-c-JUN at Ser63 /Ser73 , TP53, and cleaved caspase 3 (CC3); and deficiency in acetylcholine (ACh)-induced transient Ca2+ influx response in cholinergic-like neurons (ChLNs) bearing the mutation I416T in presenilin 1 (PSEN1 I416T)...

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating psychological condition that may develop in certain individuals following exposure to life-threatening or traumatic events. Distressing symptoms, including flashbacks, are characterized by disrupted stress responses, fear, anxiety, avoidance tendencies, and disturbances in sleep patterns. The enduring effects of PTSD can profoundly impact personal and familial relationships, as well as social, medical, and financial stability. The prevalence of PTSD varies among different populations and is influenced by the nature of the traumatic event...

UNLABELLED: An observational cohort study of patients diagnosed with endometrial cancer (EC) stage IA G1, or atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AEH), undergoing organ-preserving treatment, was conducted. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY: To determine CDO1 , PITX2 , and CDH13 gene methylation levels in early endometrial cancer and atypical hyperplasia specimens obtained before organ-preserving treatment in the patients with adequate response and with insufficient response to hormonal treatment...

Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer is a common tumour in men and women. In case of resistance to the standard therapeutic agents, gemcitabine can be used as off-label instillation therapy into the bladder. To reduce potential side effects, continuous efforts are made to optimise the therapeutic potential of drugs, thereby reducing the effective dose and consequently the pharmacological burden of the medication. We recently demonstrated that it is possible to significantly increase the therapeutic efficacy of mitomycin C against a bladder carcinoma cell line by exposure to non-toxic doses of blue light (453 nm)...

Embryonic stem-like cells (ES-like cells) are promising for medical research and clinical applications. Traditional methods involve "Yamanaka" transcription (OSKM) to derive these cells from somatic cells in vitro. Recently, a novel approach has emerged, obtaining ES-like cells from spermatogonia stem cells (SSCs) in a time-related process without adding artificial additives to cell cultures, like transcription factors or small molecules such as pten or p53 inhibitors. This study aims to investigate the role of the Nanog in the conversion of SSCs to pluripotent stem cells through both in silico analysis and in vitro experiments...

Malaria is a severe disease that presents a significant threat to human health. As resistance to current drugs continues to increase, there is an urgent need for new antimalarial medications. Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) represent promising targets for drug development. In this study, we identified Plasmodium falciparum tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase ( Pf TyrRS) as a potential target for antimalarial drug development through a comparative analysis of the amino acid sequences and three-dimensional structures of human and plasmodium TyrRS, with particular emphasis on differences in key amino acids at the aminoacylation site...