UNLABELLED: An important research application of amyloid imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) is detection of the earliest evidence of fibrillar amyloid-beta (Aβ) deposition. Use of amyloid PET for this purpose, requires a reproducible method for defining a cutoff that separates individuals with no significant Aβ deposition from those in which Aβ deposition has begun. We previously reported the iterative outlier approach (IO) for the analysis of Pittsburgh Compound-B (PiB) PET data.
IMPORTANCE: Recent studies show that cerebral β-amyloid (Aβ) deposition is associated with blood pressure and measures of arterial stiffness in nondemented individuals.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between measures of arterial stiffness and change in Aβ deposition over time.
Controversy remains regarding the mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia. A prevailing theory, largely unproven in humans, is that it involves the activation of endogenous opioid antinociceptive systems and mu-opioid receptors (MORs). This is also a neurotransmitter system that mediates the effects of placebo-induced analgesia. This overlap in potential mechanisms may explain the lack of differentiation between traditional acupuncture and either non-traditional or sham acupuncture in multiple controlled clinical trials.
Recent studies have reported memory deficits and reduced hippocampal volumes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The goal of the current research was to use functional neuroimaging and a validated explicit memory paradigm to examine hippocampal function in PTSD. We used positron emission tomography (PET) and a word-stem completion task to study regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the hippocampus in 16 firefighters: 8 with PTSD (PTSD group) and 8 without PTSD (Control group).
Somatostatin receptors (SSTR) are highly expressed in well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (NET). Octreotide, an SSTR agonist, has been used to suppress the production of vasoactive hormones and relieve symptoms of hormone hypersecretion with functional NETs. In a clinical trial, an empiric dose of octreotide treatment prolonged time to tumor progression in patients with small bowel neuroendocrine (carcinoid) tumors, irrespective of symptom status.
This pilot study investigates the value of baseline total lesion glycolysis (TLG) in (18)F-FDG PET/CT scans for prediction of progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL). We also evaluate the role of other quantitative parameters measured at baseline and interim PET/CT for prediction of PFS. A retrospective review (2003-2010) of patients with DLBCL who underwent (18)F-FDG PET/CT before, after cycle two, and after completion of R-CHOP treatment, identified 84 patients. Twenty patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria.
OBJECTIVES: Often peptides used in synthesis of radiopharmaceutical PET tracers are lipophilic and adhere to the walls of container closure systems (CCS) such that costly peptide and product are not fully recoverable after synthesis occurs. This investigation compares a standard United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Type I borosilicate glass CCS to a cyclic polyolefin copolymer Crystal Zenith(®) (CZ) CCS, for (68)Ga-chloride and (68)Ga-DOTATOC ([(68)Ga] Ga-DOTA-D-Phe1-Tyr3-octreotide) retention in the reaction vial after labeling.
The PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway has frequently been found activated in human tumors. We show that in addition to Wnt signaling dysfunction, the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway is often upregulated in mouse Msh2(-/-) initiated intestinal tumors. NVP-BEZ235 is a dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor toxic to many cancer cell lines and currently involved in clinical trials. We have treated two mouse models involving Msh2 that develop small intestinal and/or colonic tumors with NVP-BEZ235, and a subset of animals with NVP-BEZ235 and MEK inhibitor ADZ4266.
Of 31 patients with lung cancer, 19 underwent PET-CT and 12 had CT followed by PET. Thoracic lymph nodes were sampled by mediastinoscopy or thoracotomy. Sensitivities, specificities, positive (PPV), and negative predictive values (NPV) were calculated based on histopathology. Ninety nodes (41 malignant) were identified. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV were 94%, 73%, 66%, and 96% for PET-CT, respectively. In 12 patients who underwent PET and CT separately, these values were 90%, 31%, 64%, and 71% for PET and 81%, 50%, 69%, and 66% for CT, respectively.
UNLABELLED: Over the last several years, epidemiologic data have suggested that the antidiabetes drug metformin (MET), an adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activator, improves progression-free survival of patients with multiple cancers; more than 30 clinical trials are under way to confirm this finding.
