Irini Kakaletri, Maximilian Linxweiler, Serine Ajlouni, Patra Charalampaki
{"title":"Development, Implementation and Application of Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy in Brain, Head and Neck Surgery-A Review.","authors":"Irini Kakaletri, Maximilian Linxweiler, Serine Ajlouni, Patra Charalampaki","doi":"10.3390/diagnostics12112697","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12112697","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>When we talk about visualization methods in surgery, it is important to mention that the diagnosis of tumors and how we define tumor borders intraoperatively in a correct way are two main things that would not be possible to achieve without this grand variety of visualization methods we have at our disposal nowadays. In addition, histopathology also plays a very important role, and its importance cannot be neglected either. Some biopsy specimens, e.g., frozen sections, are examined by a histopathologist and lead to tumor diagnosis and the definition of its borders. Furthermore, surgical resection is a very important point when it comes to prognosis and life survival. Confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) is an imaging technique that provides microscopic information on the tissue in real time. CLE of disorders, such as head, neck and brain tumors, has only recently been suggested to contribute to both immediate tumor characterization and detection. It can be used as an additional tool for surgical biopsies during biopsy or surgical procedures and for inspection of resection margins during surgery. In this review, we analyze the development, implementation, advantages and disadvantages as well as the future directions of this technique in neurosurgical and otorhinolaryngological disciplines.</p>","PeriodicalId":520604,"journal":{"name":"Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9689276/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40678382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Petros I Tatsios, Eirini Grammatopoulou, Zacharias Dimitriadis, George A Koumantakis
{"title":"The Effectiveness of Manual Therapy in the Cervical Spine and Diaphragm, in Combination with Breathing Reeducation Exercises, in Patients with Non-Specific Chronic Neck Pain: Protocol for Development of Outcome Measures and a Randomized Controlled Trial.","authors":"Petros I Tatsios, Eirini Grammatopoulou, Zacharias Dimitriadis, George A Koumantakis","doi":"10.3390/diagnostics12112690","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12112690","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Until now, non-specific chronic neck pain has mainly been considered as a musculoskeletal system dysfunction, with associated psychological involvement due to its prolonged or recurrent nature. However, patients with non-specific chronic neck pain frequently additionally exhibit respiratory dysfunction. Emerging evidence suggests that addressing the respiratory dysfunction in these patients will provide additional therapeutic benefits in musculoskeletal and respiratory-related outcomes for several reasons (biomechanical, biochemical, and psychological). Motor control dysfunction of the muscles surrounding the spine (diaphragm included) negatively affects the mechanics and biochemistry of breathing (pH-homeostasis). An impaired and ineffective breathing pattern has been recognized as the primary source of many unexplained symptoms (anxiety, depression, confusion, chest pain, hypocapnia, and breathlessness) in patients with non-specific chronic neck pain. The proposed protocol's purpose is dual: to assess the relative effectiveness of manual therapy in the cervical spine and the diaphragm, in combination with breathing reeducation exercises, along with cervical spine manual therapy or usual physical therapy care on the underlying dysfunctions in patients with non-specific chronic neck pain via a randomized controlled clinical trial, and to validate part of the outcome measures. Several musculoskeletal and respiratory dysfunction outcomes will be employed to delimit the initial extent and level of dysfunction and its resolution with the treatments under study.</p>","PeriodicalId":520604,"journal":{"name":"Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9689657/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40677973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Detection of Urinary Molecular Marker Test in Urothelial Cell Carcinoma: A Review of Methods and Accuracy.","authors":"Catalin Bulai, Petrisor Geavlete, Cosmin-Victor Ene, Isabela Bulai, Razvan-Ionut Popescu, Cristian Mares, Corina Daniela Ene, Ana-Maria Punga, Bogdan Geavlete","doi":"10.3390/diagnostics12112696","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12112696","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Early detection of bladder cancer has a positive impact on prognosis. A variety of biomarkers have been developed to detect bladder tumors in urine early and reduce the need for cystoscopy. To detect bladder cancer, several methods are available, but their accuracy varies according to the sensitivity and specificity of each method. This review aims to highlight the established detection methods for bladder cancer based on the available literature. In addition, we aim to identify the combination of different effective detection methods that provides the highest degree of accuracy. In our study, a keyword retrieval method was used to search for appropriate English-language references. This bibliography has been indexed in PubMed and Scopus or has been found through systematic searches from 2015 to 2022. Based on an analysis of international guidelines, it has been revealed that there are numerous discrepancies and unresolved issues. The discovery of an ideal detection method for urothelial cell carcinoma biomarkers has been the subject of numerous efforts. In recent years, a wide range of off-label, experimental, novel, and combined approaches have been published on this topic. This review can contribute to the identification of accurate methods of detecting bladder cancer and highlight areas for future research that can be improved.</p>","PeriodicalId":520604,"journal":{"name":"Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9689047/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40677978","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Woon-Man Kung, Yao-Chin Wang, Wei-Jung Chen, Muh-Shi Lin
{"title":"Homogeneous Chronic Subdural Hematoma with Diverse Recurrent Possibilities.","authors":"Woon-Man Kung, Yao-Chin Wang, Wei-Jung Chen, Muh-Shi Lin","doi":"10.3390/diagnostics12112695","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12112695","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b>Background:</b> Evidence suggests that hyperdense (HD) chronic subdural hematomas (CSDHs) have a higher recurrence than hypodense (LD) chronic subdural hematomas. The value of mean hematoma density (MHD) has been proven to be associated with postoperative recurrence. The MHD levels in homogeneous CSDHs likely underestimate the risk of recurrence in HD homogeneous subtypes. <b>Methods:</b> This study investigated 42 consecutive CSDH cases between July 2010 and July 2014. The area of the hematoma was quantified to determine the MHD level using computer-based image analysis of preoperative brain CT scans. <b>Results:</b> In terms of the MHD distribution of the four types of CSDHs (homogeneous, laminar, separated, and trabecular), wide 95% CI (11.80-16.88) and high standard deviation (4.59) can be found in homogeneous types, reflecting a high variability in the MHD levels between cases (from low to high density). The categorization of homogeneous types into LD and HD (type five) displayed a minor standard deviation in the MHD levels for LD and HD subtypes (1.15, and 0.88, respectively). MHD values demonstrated concentrated distributions among the respective five types, compared to the four-type setting. <b>Conclusions:</b> In the current research, we provide a consideration that if LD and HD hematomas are separated from homogeneous CSDHs, the variability of the MHD quantification can potentially be reduced, thereby avoiding the possibility of undetected high-risk groups.</p>","PeriodicalId":520604,"journal":{"name":"Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9689778/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40677977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Khethiwe Nomcebo Bhengu, Pragalathan Naidoo, Ravesh Singh, Miranda N Mpaka-Mbatha, Nomzamo Nembe, Zamathombeni Duma, Roxanne Pillay, Zilungile L Mkhize-Kwitshana
{"title":"Immunological Interactions between Intestinal Helminth Infections and Tuberculosis.","authors":"Khethiwe Nomcebo Bhengu, Pragalathan Naidoo, Ravesh Singh, Miranda N Mpaka-Mbatha, Nomzamo Nembe, Zamathombeni Duma, Roxanne Pillay, Zilungile L Mkhize-Kwitshana","doi":"10.3390/diagnostics12112676","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12112676","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Helminth infections are among the neglected tropical diseases affecting billions of people globally, predominantly in developing countries. Helminths' effects are augmented by coincident tuberculosis disease, which infects a third of the world's population. The role of helminth infections on the pathogenesis and pathology of active tuberculosis (T.B.) remains controversial. Parasite-induced suppression of the efficacy of Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) has been widely reported in helminth-endemic areas worldwide. T.B. immune response is predominantly proinflammatory T-helper type 1 (Th1)-dependent. On the other hand, helminth infections induce an opposing anti-inflammatory Th2 and Th3 immune-regulatory response. This review summarizes the literature focusing on host immune response profiles during single-helminth, T.B. and dual infections. It also aims to necessitate investigations into the complexity of immunity in helminth/T.B. coinfected patients since the research data are limited and contradictory. Helminths overlap geographically with T.B., particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Each disease elicits a response which may skew the immune responses. However, these effects are helminth species-dependent, where some parasites have no impact on the immune responses to concurrent T.B. The implications for the complex immunological interactions that occur during coinfection are highlighted to inform government treatment policies and encourage the development of high-efficacy T.B. vaccines in areas where helminths are prevalent.</p>","PeriodicalId":520604,"journal":{"name":"Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9689268/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40677505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nenad Koruga, Alen Rončević, Anamarija Soldo Koruga, Dario Sabadi, Domagoj Drenjančević, Ana Prica, Tatjana Rotim, Tajana Turk, Domagoj Kretić
{"title":"Aggressive Pyogenic Spondylitis Caused by <i>S. constellatus</i>: A Case Report.","authors":"Nenad Koruga, Alen Rončević, Anamarija Soldo Koruga, Dario Sabadi, Domagoj Drenjančević, Ana Prica, Tatjana Rotim, Tajana Turk, Domagoj Kretić","doi":"10.3390/diagnostics12112686","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12112686","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Streptococcus constellatus</i> (SC) is a species of <i>Streptococcus</i> belonging to the <i>Streptococcus anginosus</i> group, along with <i>Streptococcus anginosus</i> and <i>Streptococcus intermedius</i>. Despite its commensal nature, underlying risk factors and medical conditions might lead to various anatomic site infections caused by this opportunistic pathogen. Although SC infections have mostly been associated with bacteremia, some case reports of abscess and empyema formation have been documented. Herein, we report a case of a middle-aged female patient who initially presented with radiculopathy symptoms. Subsequent neurologic imaging revealed a pyogenic abscess along paravertebral muscles, which was found to be caused by SC. The patient was successfully treated with abscess drainage from the lumbar zone and antibiotics, and the symptoms of radiculopathy have completely resolved.</p>","PeriodicalId":520604,"journal":{"name":"Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9689533/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40677507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ciro Emiliano Boschetti, Rita Vitagliano, Gianmaria Imola, Nicola Cornacchini, Maria Luisa Colella, Gianpaolo Tartaro, Giuseppe Colella
{"title":"Solitary Extrapleural Fibrous Tumor in Salivary Glands: Our Experience-Case Series and Literature Review.","authors":"Ciro Emiliano Boschetti, Rita Vitagliano, Gianmaria Imola, Nicola Cornacchini, Maria Luisa Colella, Gianpaolo Tartaro, Giuseppe Colella","doi":"10.3390/diagnostics12112688","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12112688","url":null,"abstract":"(1) Background: Extrapleural solitary fibrous tumors (ESFTs) are rare oncological entities occurring in the head and neck, and even more so in the salivary glands. The clinical presentation and histologic features are usually unspecific, resulting in frequent misclassification. As an unusual tumor, ESTFs have an unpredictable clinical behavior. (2) Methods: We present two clinical cases referred to our Maxillofacial Surgery Unit for the onset of a symptomless mass involving, in one case, the parotid gland, and in the other case, the sublingual gland. (3) Results: Solitary fibrous tumors could be considered as neoplasms with intermediate biological behavior that are not entirely predictable on the basis of morphological features, as these are mostly still unknown. However, a few histologic, immunohistochemical, and imaging features, such as a hypodense signal at the T1 sequence in an MRI, or positivity for CD34, bcl2, and CD99, and the NAB2-STATS6 fusion gene, could be useful for an early differential diagnosis of ESTFs. (4) Conclusions: All patients were alive at follow-up with no evidence of disease. Surgical management should always be considered as the first choice for oncological radicality, and clinical behavior should always be defined with the help of the study of radiological and anatomopathological features.","PeriodicalId":520604,"journal":{"name":"Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9688987/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40677509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jan Eckstein, Negin Moghadasi, Hermann Körperich, Elena Weise Valdés, Vanessa Sciacca, Lech Paluszkiewicz, Wolfgang Burchert, Misagh Piran
{"title":"A Machine Learning Challenge: Detection of Cardiac Amyloidosis Based on Bi-Atrial and Right Ventricular Strain and Cardiac Function.","authors":"Jan Eckstein, Negin Moghadasi, Hermann Körperich, Elena Weise Valdés, Vanessa Sciacca, Lech Paluszkiewicz, Wolfgang Burchert, Misagh Piran","doi":"10.3390/diagnostics12112693","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12112693","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>This study challenges state-of-the-art cardiac amyloidosis (CA) diagnostics by feeding multi-chamber strain and cardiac function into supervised machine (SVM) learning algorithms.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Forty-three CA (32 males; 79 years (IQR 71; 85)), 20 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM, 10 males; 63.9 years (±7.4)) and 44 healthy controls (CTRL, 23 males; 56.3 years (IQR 52.5; 62.9)) received cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging. Left atrial, right atrial and right ventricular strain parameters and cardiac function generated a 41-feature matrix for decision tree (DT), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), SVM linear and SVM radial basis function (RBF) kernel algorithm processing. A 10-feature principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted using SVM linear and RBF.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Forty-one features resulted in diagnostic accuracies of 87.9% (AUC = 0.960) for SVM linear, 90.9% (0.996; Precision = 94%; Sensitivity = 100%; F1-Score = 97%) using RBF kernel, 84.9% (0.970) for KNN, and 78.8% (0.787) for DT. The 10-feature PCA achieved 78.9% (0.962) via linear SVM and 81.8% (0.996) via RBF SVM. Explained variance presented bi-atrial longitudinal strain and left and right atrial ejection fraction as valuable CA predictors.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>SVM RBF kernel achieved competitive diagnostic accuracies under supervised conditions. Machine learning of multi-chamber cardiac strain and function may offer novel perspectives for non-contrast clinical decision-support systems in CA diagnostics.</p>","PeriodicalId":520604,"journal":{"name":"Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9689404/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40677975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Budd-Chiari Syndrome Management: Controversies and Open Issues.","authors":"Andrea Mancuso","doi":"10.3390/diagnostics12112670","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12112670","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Budd-Chiari Syndrome (BCS) is due to thrombosis of hepatic veins (HVs), inferior vena cava (IVC) or both, leading to impaired hepatic venous outflow [...].</p>","PeriodicalId":520604,"journal":{"name":"Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2022-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9689902/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40459602","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zelun Huang, Haoran Zheng, Junqiang Huang, Yang Yang, Yupeng Wu, Linhu Ge, Liping Wang
{"title":"The Construction and Evaluation of a Multi-Task Convolutional Neural Network for a Cone-Beam Computed-Tomography-Based Assessment of Implant Stability.","authors":"Zelun Huang, Haoran Zheng, Junqiang Huang, Yang Yang, Yupeng Wu, Linhu Ge, Liping Wang","doi":"10.3390/diagnostics12112673","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12112673","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b>Objectives:</b> Assessing implant stability is integral to dental implant therapy. This study aimed to construct a multi-task cascade convolution neural network to evaluate implant stability using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). <b>Methods:</b> A dataset of 779 implant coronal section images was obtained from CBCT scans, and matching clinical information was used for the training and test datasets. We developed a multi-task cascade network based on CBCT to assess implant stability. We used the MobilenetV2-DeeplabV3+ semantic segmentation network, combined with an image processing algorithm in conjunction with prior knowledge, to generate the volume of interest (VOI) that was eventually used for the ResNet-50 classification of implant stability. The performance of the multitask cascade network was evaluated in a test set by comparing the implant stability quotient (ISQ), measured using an Osstell device. <b>Results:</b> The cascade network established in this study showed good prediction performance for implant stability classification. The binary, ternary, and quaternary ISQ classification test set accuracies were 96.13%, 95.33%, and 92.90%, with mean precisions of 96.20%, 95.33%, and 93.71%, respectively. In addition, this cascade network evaluated each implant's stability in only 3.76 s, indicating high efficiency. <b>Conclusions:</b> To our knowledge, this is the first study to present a CBCT-based deep learning approach CBCT to assess implant stability. The multi-task cascade network accomplishes a series of tasks related to implant denture segmentation, VOI extraction, and implant stability classification, and has good concordance with the ISQ.</p>","PeriodicalId":520604,"journal":{"name":"Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2022-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9689694/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40459605","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}