Anemia as a risk factor for restenosis in femoropopliteal arterial disease after drug-coated balloon angioplasty.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between anemia and restenosis in patients with femoropopliteal arterial disease following drug-coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty. METHODS: 194 patients treated with DCB for femoropopliteal lesions were retrospectively analyzed for up to 12 months of follow-up between January 2017 and September 2020. Baseline clinical and procedural characteristics were compared between the anemia and non-anemia patients, and predictors of restenosis were identified using logistic regression. RESULTS: 32.5% of the patients undergoing DCB angioplasty had anemia. Patients with anemia were significantly older, with higher rates of hypertension, coronary artery disease, chronic renal insufficiency, and diabetes, and with lower rates of smoking and male gender. In the multivariate analysis, anemia was independently and significantly associated with a higher risk of restenosis (OR, 3.872; 95% CI, 1.556-9.638; P = 0.004). CONCLUSION: Anemia is independently associated with restenosis in patients treated with DCB for femoropopliteal arterial disease. Patients with lower baseline hemoglobin might have more chances to develop restenosis at follow-up.

Combination of RotarexⓇS Rotational Atherothrombectomy and Drug-Coated Balloonangioplasty for Femoropopliteal Total In-Stent Occlusion.

BACKGROUND: Currently, there is little information on the optimal treatment for patients with femoropopliteal total in-stent occlusion.The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefit of drug-coated balloon(DCB) angioplasty after RotarexⓇS rotational atherectomy plus thrombectomy for femoropopliteal total in-stent occlusion at 12 months. METHODS: From June 2016 to April 2019, 36 patients (21 male, mean age 71.1 ± 8.2 years) with femoropopliteal total in-stent occlusion were treated using Rotarex S rotational atherectomy plus thrombectomy in combination with DCB angioplasty and 29 (18 male, meanage68.8 ± 7.2 years) underwent DCB angioplasty alone. Primary patency and freedom from target lesion revascularization (TLR) rates during12 months of follow-up were retrospectively compared between the 2 groups. RESULTS: Procedural success was achieved in all patients. There were no procedure-related adverse events. The mean lesion length was 26.1 ± 6.5 cm in the combination therapy group and 25.5 ± 6.1 cm in the DCB only group (P = 0.703). The 6-month and 12-month primary patency rates were significantly higher in the combination therapy group (94.4% [standard error, 0.038] and 77.8% [0.069], respectively) than in the DCB only group (72.4% [0.083] and 48.3% [0.093]; P = 0.010). The freedom from TLR rate at 12 months was 86.1% (standard error, 0.060) in the combination therapy group and 62.1% (0.096) in the DCB only group (P = 0.016). Three patients (combination therapy, n = 2; DCB only, n = 1) developed distal embolization and were treated successfully by additional 6-F guiding catheter aspiration. No deaths or amputations occurred in either group during 12 months of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Rotarex S rotational atherectomy plus thrombectomyin combination with DCB was safe and effective in patients with femoropopliteal total in-stent occlusion during12 months of follow-up.

More than the bottom line: Exploring social responsibility practices in hospital settings in the United States.

The purpose of this article is to examine hospital social responsibility practices using a content analysis method. It selected a sample of 522 hospitals in U.S. and collected data from hospitals' official websites. Significant emphasis is found to be placed on CSR practices associated with marketplace activities that are mostly stakeholder-driven. Non-profit hospitals had stronger awareness on the actions of being a socially responsible organization. The results also confirm significant relationship between active CSR programs and hospital. The findings shed light on hospital social responsibility and provides a unifying conceptual basis that explains how hospitals in U.S execute CSR programs.

Development of a Prognostic Risk Model Based on Oxidative StressRelated Genes for Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer Patients.

INTRODUCTION: Ovarian Cancer (OC) is a heterogeneous malignancy with poor outcomes. Oxidative stress plays a crucial role in developing drug resistance. However, the relationships between Oxidative Stress-related Genes (OSRGs) and the prognosis of platinum-resistant OC remain unclear. This study aimed to develop an OSRGs-based prognostic risk model for platinum-resistant OC patients. METHODS: Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed to determine the expression difference of OSRGs between platinum-resistant and -sensitive OC patients. Cox regression analyses were used to identify the prognostic OSRGs and establish a risk score model. The model was validated by using an external dataset. Machine learning was used to determine the prognostic OSRGs associated with platinum resistance. Finally, the biological functions of selected OSRG were determined via in vitro cellular experiments. RESULTS: Three gene sets associated with oxidative stress-related pathways were enriched (p < 0.05), and 105 OSRGs were found to be differentially expressed between platinum-resistant and - sensitive OC (p < 0.05). Twenty prognosis-associated OSRGs were identified (HR: 0:562-5.437; 95% CI: 0.319-20.148; p < 0.005), and seven independent OSRGs were used to construct a prognostic risk score model, which accurately predicted the survival of OC patients (1-, 3-, and 5-year AUC=0.69, 0.75, and 0.67, respectively). The prognostic potential of this model was confirmed in the validation cohort. Machine learning showed five prognostic OSRGs (SPHK1, PXDNL, C1QA, WRN, and SETX) to be strongly correlated with platinum resistance in OC patients. Cellular experiments showed that WRN significantly promoted the malignancy and platinum resistance of OC cells. CONCLUSION: The OSRGs-based risk score model can efficiently predict the prognosis and platinum resistance of OC patients. This model may improve the risk stratification of OC patients in the clinic.

Relationship Between Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio and Drug-Coated Balloon Restenosis in Patients With Femoropopliteal Arterial Disease.

We investigated the relationship between neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and restenosis in patients with femoropopliteal arterial disease following drug-coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty. Patients (n = 120) were divided into 3 groups according to the development of restenosis and the time of restenosis occurrence. The postoperative NLR was higher in the late-restenosis group than that in the no-restenosis group (3.53 vs 2.70; p = .011). In multivariate logistic analysis, postoperative NLR was an independent predictor of late restenosis (odds ratio: 1.404, 95% confidence interval: 1.073-1.839; p = .014). The postoperative NLR cutoff value for predicting late restenosis was 2.78 with a sensitivity of 80.8% and a specificity of 53.2% (area under the ROC curve was .666 (95% CI: .541-.791, p = .010). The incidence of late restenosis in the NLR ≥2.78 group was higher than that in the NLR <2.78 group (32.3 vs 9.1%; p = .002). Postoperative NLR is independently associated with late restenosis in patients treated with DCB for femoropopliteal arterial disease.

Early-onset Alzheimer's disease with depression as the first symptom: a case report with literature review.

Background: Alzheimer's disease is a common neurodegenerative disease, and patients with early-onset Alzheimer's disease (onset age < 65 years) often have atypical symptoms, which are easily misdiagnosed and missed. Multimodality neuroimaging has become an important diagnostic and follow-up method for AD with its non-invasive and quantitative advantages. Case presentation: We report a case of a 59-year-old female with a diagnosis of depression at the age of 50 after a 46-year-old onset and a 9-year follow-up observation, who developed cognitive dysfunction manifested by memory loss and disorientation at the age of 53, and eventually developed dementia. Combined with neuropsychological scales (MMSE and MOCA scores decreased year by year and finally reached the dementia criteria) and the application of multimodal imaging. MRI showed that the hippocampus atrophied year by year and the cerebral cortex was extensively atrophied. 18F-FDG PET image showed hypometabolism in right parietal lobes, bilateral frontal lobes, bilateral joint parieto-temporal areas, and bilateral posterior cingulate glucose metabolism. The 18F-AV45 PET image showed the diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease was confirmed by the presence of Aß deposits in the cerebral cortex. Conclusion: Early-onset Alzheimer's disease, which starts with depression, often has atypical symptoms and is prone to misdiagnosis. The combination of neuropsychological scales and neuroimaging examinations are good screening tools that can better assist in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Graphical Abstract.

Regional high iron deposition on quantitative susceptibility mapping correlates with cognitive decline in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Objective: To quantitatively evaluate the iron deposition and volume changes in deep gray nuclei according to threshold-method of quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) acquired by strategically acquired gradient echo (STAGE) sequence, and to analyze the correlation between the magnetic susceptibility values (MSV) and cognitive scores in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. Methods: Twenty-nine patients with T2DM and 24 healthy controls (HC) matched by age and gender were recruited in this prospective study. QSM images were used to evaluate whole-structural volumes (Vwh), regional magnetic susceptibility values (MSVRII), and volumes (VRII) in high-iron regions in nine gray nuclei. All QSM data were compared between groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to assess the discriminating ability between groups. The predictive model from single and combined QSM parameters was also established using logistic regression analysis. The correlation between MSVRII and cognitive scores was further analyzed. Multiple comparisons of all statistical values were corrected by false discovery rate (FDR). A statistically significant P-value was set at 0.05. Results: Compared with HC group, the MSVRII of all gray matter nuclei in T2DM were increased by 5.1-14.8%, with significant differences found in bilateral head of caudate nucleus (HCN), right putamen (PUT), right globus pallidus (GP), and left dentate nucleus (DN) (P < 0.05). The Vwh of most gray nucleus in T2DM group were decreased by 1.5-16.9% except bilateral subthalamic nucleus (STN). Significant differences were found in bilateral HCN, bilateral red nucleus (RN), and bilateral substantia nigra (SN) (P < 0.05). VRII was increased in bilateral GP, bilateral PUT (P < 0.05). VRII/Vwh was also increased in bilateral GP, bilateral PUT, bilateral SN, left HCN and right STN (P < 0.05). Compared with the single QSM parameter, the combined parameter showed the largest area under curve (AUC) of 0.86, with a sensitivity of 87.5% and specificity of 75.9%. The MSVRII in the right GP was strongly associated with List A Long-delay free recall (List A LDFR) scores (r = -0.590, P = 0.009). Conclusion: In T2DM patients, excessive and heterogeneous iron deposition as well as volume loss occurs in deep gray nuclei. The MSV in high iron regions can better evaluate the distribution of iron, which is related to the decline of cognitive function.

Case report: Primary intracranial mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma presenting as two primary tumors involving the cavernous sinus and extra-axial dura, respectively.

Primary intracranial mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is a rare type of brain tumor, with only a few reported cases worldwide that mostly have only one lesion with conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. Here, we present a special case of intracranial MALT lymphoma with two mass lesions radiographically consistent with meningiomas on MRI before the operation. A 66-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital with intermittent right facial pain for 1 year, aggravated for the last month. Brain MRI showed two extracerebral solid masses with similar MR signal intensity. One mass was crescent-shaped beneath the skull, and the other was in the cavernous sinus area. Lesions showed isointensity on T1WI and T2WI and an intense homogeneous enhancement after contrast agent injection. Both lesions showed hyperintensity in amide proton transfer-weighted images. The two masses were all surgically resected. The postoperative pathology indicated extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of MALT. To improve awareness of intracranial MALT lymphoma in the differential diagnosis of extra-axial lesions among clinicians, we present this report and briefly summarize previously reported cases to describe the clinical, pathological, radiological, and treatment features.

Correlation Between Cerebral Venous Oxygen Level and Cognitive Status in Patients With Alzheimer's Disease Using Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping.

PURPOSE: To quantitatively assess the blood oxygen levels of the cerebral vein using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM), and to analyze the correlation between magnetic susceptibility value (MSV) and clinical laboratory indicators/cognitive scores in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-nine patients (21 males and 38 females) with clinically confirmed AD (AD group) and 22 control subjects (12 males, 10 females; CON group) were recruited. Clinical data and laboratory examination indexes were collected. All patients underwent Mini-mental State Examination, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Clock Drawing Task, and Activity of Daily Living Scale test, as well as a routine MRI and enhanced gradient echo T2 star weighted angiography (ESWAN). RESULTS: Higher cerebral venous MSV was observed in AD group compared to CON group, significant differences were observed for bilateral thalamus veins and left dentate nucleus veins. The MSV of bilateral thalamus veins, bilateral internal cerebral veins, and bilateral dentate nucleus veins had significant negative correlation with Mini-mental State Examination score; the MSV of bilateral thalamus veins, bilateral dentate nucleus veins, right septal vein had a significant negative correlation with Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores; a significant negative correlation between the MSV of bilateral thalamus veins, left dentate nucleus vein, right septal vein and the Clock Drawing Task score; the MSV of bilateral thalamus veins, left dentate nucleus vein had a significant negative correlation with Activity of Daily Living Scale score. The MSV of left dentate nucleus vein was positively correlated with the course of the disease, the MSV of bilateral septal vein were positively correlated with the total cholesterol, and the MSV of left septal vein had a positive correlation with LDL. CONCLUSION: Decreasing cerebral venous oxygen level in AD patients may affect cognitive status, and associated with the deterioration of the disease in AD patients.