Medical Sciences Commons^™

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Quantification Of Bronchodilator Effects By Using Hyperpolarized ³He Mr Imaging, Miranda Kirby, Lindsay Mathew, Mohammadreza Heydarian, Roya Etemad-Rezai, David G Mccormack, Grace Parraga

Medical Biophysics Publications

PURPOSE: To evaluate short-acting bronchodilator effects in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by using hyperpolarized helium 3 (³He) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, spirometry, and plethysmography.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen ex-smokers with COPD provided written informed consent to a local ethics board-approved and Health Insurance and Portability Accountability Act-compliant protocol and underwent hyperpolarized ³He and hydrogen 1 MR imaging, spirometry, and plethysmography before and a mean of 25 minutes ± 2 (standard deviation) after administration of 400 μg salbutamol. Distribution of ³He gas was evaluated by using semiautomated segmentation of ³He voxel intensities, where cluster 1 represented regions of signal void …

The Incidence Of Deep Vein Thrombosis Detected By Routine Surveillance Ultrasound In Neurosurgery Patients Receiving Dual Modality Prophylaxis., Patricia C Henwood, Thomas M Kennedy, Lynda Thomson, Taki Galanis, George L Tzanis, Geno J Merli, Walter K. Kraft

Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Faculty Papers

The optimal method of thromboprophylaxis and the value of screening ultrasonography for detection of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in neurosurgery patients remains unclear. The goal of this study was to determine the incidence of DVT in neurosurgical patients who, by hospital protocol, receive surveillance ultrasonography of the lower extremities twice weekly, in addition to prophylaxis with unfractionated heparin and external pneumatic compression sleeves. A retrospective review of 7,298 ultrasound studies carried out on 2,593 patients over 4 years at a university neurosurgical hospital was conducted. There was a 7.4% incidence of proximal lower extremity DVT and a 9.7% total incidence …

Tumor-Derived Interleukin-10 As A Prognostic Factor In Stage Iii Patients Undergoing Adjuvant Treatment With An Autologous Melanoma Cell Vaccine., Amit Mahipal, Mizue Terai, David Berd, Inna Chervoneva, Kashyap Patel, Michael Mastrangelo, Takami Sato

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVES: Interleukin-10 (IL-10) downregulates T-cell-mediated immune responses. We studied the association between IL-10 production by freshly isolated melanoma cell suspensions in vitro and overall survival in patients undergoing adjuvant treatment with a vaccine prepared from the same autologous melanoma cells modified with a hapten, dinitrophenyl (DNP).

METHODS: Forty-four patients with cutaneous melanoma (29 stage III and 15 stage IV) were prospectively evaluated. Tumor cells were extracted from metastatic deposits for production of DNP-modified autologous melanoma cell vaccine. Small aliquots of the melanoma cell suspensions were separated prior to vaccine processing and cultured overnight for IL-10 production. Based on a blind …

Marital Status And Survival In Pancreatic Cancer Patients: A Seer Based Analysis., Michael J. Baine, Freshta Sahak, Chi Lin, Subhankar Chakraborty, Surinder K. Batra, Elizabeth R. Lyden

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

BACKGROUND: Recent findings suggest that marital status affects survival in patients with different types of cancer. However, its role in the survival of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is unknown. In this study, we investigated whether there was an association between marital status and overall survival (OS) in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

METHODS: Adult patients diagnosed with PDAC between 1998 and 2003 with known marital statuses were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry of the National Cancer Institute. OS for these patients was plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method. Comparative risks of mortality were evaluated by …

The Effect Of Dopamine Therapy On Ventral And Dorsal Striatum-Mediated Cognition In Parkinson's Disease: Support From Functional Mri., Penny A Macdonald, Alex A Macdonald, Ken N Seergobin, Ruzbeh Tamjeedi, Hooman Ganjavi, Jean-Sebastien Provost, Oury Monchi

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

The central aim of our study was to elucidate functions mediated by the ventral and dorsal striatum, respectively, to better understand the cognitive effects of dopamine replacement in Parkinson's disease. We proposed that the ventral striatum underlies general learning of stimulus associations, whereas the dorsal striatum promotes integration of various influences on selecting. In Parkinson's disease, dopamine depletion is substantially less notable in the ventral relative to the dorsal striatum, and therefore greater improvements are expected for dorsal striatum-mediated functions with dopamine replacement. Using a simple selection task, we found that dopamine replacement impaired encoding and facilitation of consistent stimulus-stimulus …

Health Needs Of Hiv-Infected Women In The United States: Insights From The Women Living Positive Survey., Kathleen E Squires, Sally L Hodder, Judith Feinberg, Dawn Averitt Bridge, Staats Abrams, Stephen P Storfer, Judith A Aberg

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

The objective of this study was to describe attitudes, opinions, and perceived health needs of HIV-infected women in the United States. In this cross-sectional study, women were invited to participate in the Women Living Positive survey, a structured interview instrument with 45 questions. Collected data were deidentified and the margin of error was calculated as four percentage points. Incoming toll-free phone interviews were conducted from December 21, 2006, through March 14, 2007 among subjects recruited from a U.S. national network of AIDS counseling centers. Seven hundred HIV-infected women (43% African American, 28.5% Hispanic, 28.5% Caucasian; median age, 42.5 years) receiving …

The Variable Presentations Of Anaplastic Spindle Cell Squamous Carcinoma Associated With Tall Cell Variant Of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma., Pallavi P Gopal, Kathleen T Montone, Zubair Baloch, Madalina Tuluc, Virginia Livolsi

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: In 1976, Hawk and Hazard described the tall cell variant (TCV) of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). While the lesions they described had cytologic features of papillary carcinoma, they showed more aggressive behavior with a greater propensity for extrathyroid extension and lymphovascular invasion than classic PTC. In 1991, Bronner and LiVolsi described a series of patients with TCV that progressed to spindle cell squamous carcinoma (SCSC), a unique form of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. This study describes the variable clinical and pathologic presentations in 31 patients with anaplastic SCSC arising in association with TCV.

METHODS: The surgical pathology archives as well …

Patterns Of Microrna Expression In Normal And Early Alzheimer's Disease Human Temporal Cortex: White Matter Versus Gray Matter, Wang-Xia Wang, Qingwei Huang, Yanling Hu, Arnold J. Stromberg, Peter T. Nelson

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Faculty Publications

MicroRNA (miRNA) expression was assessed in human cerebral cortical gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) in order to provide the first insights into the difference between GM and WM miRNA repertoires across a range of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. RNA was isolated separately from GM and WM portions of superior and middle temporal cerebral cortex (N = 10 elderly females, postmortem interval < 4 h). miRNA profiling experiments were performed using state-of-the-art Exiqon^© LNA-microarrays. A subset of miRNAs that appeared to be strongly expressed according to the microarrays did not appear to be conventional miRNAs according to Northern blot analyses. Some well-characterized miRNAs were substantially enriched in WM …

Evidence-Based Genomic Diagnosis Characterized Chromosomal And Cryptic Imbalances In 30 Elderly Patients With Myelodysplastic Syndrome And Acute Myeloid Leukemia., Renu Bajaj, Fang Xu, Bixia Xiang, Katherine Wilcox, Autumn J Diadamo, Rachana Kumar, Alexandra Pietraszkiewicz, Stephanie Halene, Peining Li

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the clinical validity of genome-wide oligonucleotide array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) for detecting somatic abnormalities, we have applied this genomic analysis to 30 cases (13 MDS and 17 AML) with clonal chromosomal abnormalities detected in more than 50% of analyzed metaphase cells.

RESULTS: The aCGH detected all numerical chromosomal gains and losses from the mainline clones and 113 copy number alterations (CNAs) ranging from 0.257 to 102.519 megabases (Mb). Clinically significant recurrent deletions of 5q (involving the RPS14 gene), 12p12.3 (ETV6 gene), 17p13 (TP53 gene), 17q11.2 (NF1 gene) and 20q, double minutes containing the MYC gene and …

The Cardiac Atlas Project--An Imaging Database For Computational Modeling And Statistical Atlases Of The Heart, Carissa G. Fonseca, Michael Backhaus, David A. Bluemke, Randall D. Britten, Jae Do Chung, Brett R. Cowan, Alan H. Kadish

Office of the President Publications and Research

MOTIVATION: Integrative mathematical and statistical models of cardiac anatomy and physiology can play a vital role in understanding cardiac disease phenotype and planning therapeutic strategies. However, the accuracy and predictive power of such models is dependent upon the breadth and depth of noninvasive imaging datasets. The Cardiac Atlas Project (CAP) has established a large-scale database of cardiac imaging examinations and associated clinical data in order to develop a shareable, web-accessible, structural and functional atlas of the normal and pathological heart for clinical, research and educational purposes. A goal of CAP is to facilitate collaborative statistical analysis of regional heart shape …

Hyperpolarized (3)He Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Derived Pulmonary Pressure-Volume Curves, Stephen Choy, Andrew Wheatley, David G Mccormack, Grace Parraga

Medical Biophysics Publications

We aimed to evaluate the potential for the use of hyperpolarized helium-3 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) surrogates of alveolar size, together with literature-based morphological parameters in a theoretical model of lung mechanics to simulate noninvasive transpulmonary pressure-volume curves. Fourteen ex-smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (n = 8 stage II, n = 6 stage III/IV COPD) and five age-matched never-smokers, provided written, informed consent and were evaluated at baseline and 26 + or - 2 mo later (n = 15 subjects) using plethysmography, spirometry, and (3)He MRI at 3.0 T. Total lung capacity, residual volume, …

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Longitudinal Hyperpolarized (3)He Mr Imaging, Miranda Kirby, Lindsay Mathew, Andrew Wheatley, Giles E Santyr, David G Mccormack, Grace Parraga

Medical Biophysics Publications

PURPOSE: To quantitatively evaluate a small pilot group of ex-smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and healthy volunteers during approximately 2 years by using hyperpolarized helium 3 ((3)He) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: All subjects provided written informed consent to the study protocol, which was approved by the local research ethics board and Health Canada and was compliant with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and HIPAA. Hyperpolarized (3)He MR imaging, hydrogen 1 MR imaging, spirometry, and plethysmography were performed in 15 ex-smokers with COPD and five healthy volunteers (with the same mean age and …

Human Papillomavirus And Survival Of Patients With Oropharyngeal Cancer., K Kian Ang, Jonathan Harris, Richard Wheeler, Randal Weber, David I Rosenthal, Phuc Felix Nguyen-Tân, William H Westra, Christine H Chung, Richard C Jordan, Charles Lu, Harold Kim, Rita S. Axelrod, Md, C Craig Silverman, Kevin P Redmond, Maura L Gillison

Jefferson Hospital Staff Papers and Presentations

BACKGROUND: Oropharyngeal squamous-cell carcinomas caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) are associated with favorable survival, but the independent prognostic significance of tumor HPV status remains unknown.

METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of the association between tumor HPV status and survival among patients with stage III or IV oropharyngeal squamous-cell carcinoma who were enrolled in a randomized trial comparing accelerated-fractionation radiotherapy (with acceleration by means of concomitant boost radiotherapy) with standard-fractionation radiotherapy, each combined with cisplatin therapy, in patients with squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Proportional-hazards models were used to compare the risk of death among patients with HPV-positive …

White Matter Diffusion Alterations In Normal Women At Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease, Charles D. Smith, Himachandra Chebrolu, Anders H. Andersen, David A. Powell, Mark A. Lovell, Shuling Xiong, Brian T. Gold

Neurology Faculty Publications

Increased white matter mean diffusivity and decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) has been observed in subjects diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). We sought to determine whether similar alterations of white matter occur in normal individuals at risk of AD. Diffusion tensor images were acquired in 42 cognitively normal right-handed women with both a family history of dementia and at least one apolipoprotein E4 allele. These were compared with images from 23 normal women without either AD risk factor. Group analyses were performed using tract-based spatial statistics. Reduced FA was observed in the fronto-occipital and inferior temporal …

Schedule For Ct Image Guidance In Treating Prostate Cancer With Helical Tomotherapy., G Beldjoudi, S Yartsev, G Bauman, Jerry J. Battista Dr., Jacob Van Dyk

Oncology Publications

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of reducing the number of image guidance sessions and patient-specific target margins on the dose distribution in the treatment of prostate cancer with helical tomotherapy. 20 patients with prostate cancer who were treated with helical tomotherapy using daily megavoltage CT (MVCT) imaging before treatment served as the study population. The average geometric shifts applied for set-up corrections, as a result of co-registration of MVCT and planning kilovoltage CT studies over an increasing number of image guidance sessions, were determined. Simulation of the consequences of various imaging scenarios on the dose …

Mir-107 Is Reduced In Alzheimer's Disease Brain Neocortex: Validation Study, Peter T. Nelson, Wang-Xia Wang

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Faculty Publications

MiR-107 is a microRNA (miRNA) that we reported previously to have decreased expression in the temporal cortical gray matter early in the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here we study a new group of well-characterized human temporal cortex samples (N=19). MiR-107 expression was assessed, normalized to miR-124 and let-7a. Correlation was observed between decreased miR-107 expression and increased neuritic plaque counts (P< 0.05) and neurofibrillary tangle counts (P< 0.02) in adjacent brain tissue. Adjusted miR-107 and BACE1 mRNA levels tended to correlate negatively (trend with regression P< 0.07). In sum, miR-107 expression tends to be lower relative to other miRNAs as AD progresses.

Expression Of The Intestinal Biomarkers Guanylyl Cyclase C And Cdx2 In Poorly Differentiated Colorectal Carcinomas., Brody Winn, Rosemarie Tavares, Andres Matoso, Lelia Noble, Jacqueline Fanion, Scott A Waldman, Murray B Resnick

Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Faculty Papers

Guanylyl cyclase C, a receptor for bacterial diarrheagenic enterotoxins, is expressed selectively by intestinal epithelium and is an endogenous downstream target of CDX2. The expression of Guanylyl cyclase C is preserved throughout the adenoma/carcinoma sequence in the colorectum. Detection of Guanylyl cyclase C expression by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction is currently being validated as a technique to identify occult lymph node metastases in patients with colorectal cancer and for circulating cells in the blood for postoperative surveillance. Although Guanylyl cyclase C is widely expressed by well-differentiated colorectal cancer, its expression in poorly differentiated colorectal cancer has not been evaluated. A …

Sox11 Expression Is Highly Specific For Mantle Cell Lymphoma And Identifies The Cyclin D1-Negative Subtype., Ana Mozos, Cristina Royo, Elena Hartmann, Daphne De Jong, Cristina Baró, Alexandra Valera, Kai Fu, Dennis D. Weisenburger, Jan Delabie, Shih-Sung Chuang, Elaine S. Jaffe, Carmen Ruiz-Marcellan, Sandeep Dave, Lisa Rimsza, Rita Braziel, Randy D. Gascoyne, Francisco Solé, Armando López-Guillermo, Dolors Colomer, Louis M. Staudt, Andreas Rosenwald, German Ott, Pedro Jares, Elias Campo

Journal Articles: Pathology and Microbiology

BACKGROUND: Cyclin D1-negative mantle cell lymphoma is difficult to distinguish from other small B-cell lymphomas. The clinical and pathological characteristics of patients with this form of lymphoma have not been well defined. Overexpression of the transcription factor SOX11 has been observed in conventional mantle cell lymphoma. The aim of this study was to determine whether this gene is expressed in cyclin D1-negative mantle cell lymphoma and whether its detection may be useful to identify these tumors.

DESIGN AND METHODS: The microarray database of 238 mature B-cell neoplasms was re-examined. SOX11 protein expression was investigated immunohistochemically in 12 cases of cyclin …

Intracranial Eeg Reveals A Time- And Frequency-Specific Role For The Right Inferior Frontal Gyrus And Primary Motor Cortex In Stopping Initiated Responses, Nicole Swann, Nitin Tandon, Ryan Canolty, Timothy M Ellmore, Linda K Mcevoy, Stephen Dreyer, Michael Disano, Adam R Aron

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Inappropriate response tendencies may be stopped via a specific fronto/basal ganglia/primary motor cortical network. We sought to characterize the functional role of two regions in this putative stopping network, the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the primary motor cortex (M1), using electocorticography from subdural electrodes in four patients while they performed a stop-signal task. On each trial, a motor response was initiated, and on a minority of trials a stop signal instructed the patient to try to stop the response. For each patient, there was a greater right IFG response in the beta frequency band ( approximately 16 Hz) …

Jnk1 Activation Predicts The Prognostic Outcome Of The Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Qingshan Chang, Jianguo Chen, Kevin J. Beezhold, Vince Castranova, Xianglin Shi, Fei Chen

Toxicology and Cancer Biology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide with an extremely poor prognosis. The classification of HCC based on the molecular signature is not well-established.

RESULTS: In the present study, we reported HCC signature genes based on the JNK1 activation status in 31 HCC specimens relative to the matched distal noncancerous liver tissue from 31 patients. The HCCs with high JNK1 (H-JNK1) and low JNK1 (L-JNK1) were sub-grouped. Two different signature gene sets for both H-JNK1 and L-JNK1 HCC were identified through gene expression profiling. A striking overlap of signature genes was observed between the H-JNK1 …

Aging And Environmental Exposures Alter Tissue-Specific Dna Methylation Dependent Upon Cpg Island Context, Brock C. Christensen, E Andres Houseman, Carmen J. Marsit, Shichun Zheng, Margaret R. Wrensch, Joseph L. Wiemels, Heather H. Nelson, Margaret R. Karagas

Dartmouth Scholarship

Epigenetic control of gene transcription is critical for normal human development and cellular differentiation. While alterations of epigenetic marks such as DNA methylation have been linked to cancers and many other human diseases, interindividual epigenetic variations in normal tissues due to aging, environmental factors, or innate susceptibility are poorly characterized. The plasticity, tissue-specific nature, and variability of gene expression are related to epigenomic states that vary across individuals. Thus, population-based investigations are needed to further our understanding of the fundamental dynamics of normal individual epigenomes. We analyzed 217 non-pathologic human tissues from 10 anatomic sites at 1,413 autosomal CpG loci …

Long-Term Survival After Multidisciplinary Management Of Resected Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma, Matthew H G Katz, Huamin Wang, Jason B Fleming, Charlotte C Sun, Rosa F Hwang, Robert A Wolff, Gauri Varadhachary, James L Abbruzzese, Christopher H Crane, Sunil Krishnan, Jean-Nicolas Vauthey, Eddie K Abdalla, Jeffrey E Lee, Peter W T Pisters, Douglas B Evans

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Actual 5-year survival rates of 10-18% have been reported for patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PC), but the use of multimodality therapy was uncommon in these series. We evaluated long-term survival and patterns of recurrence in patients treated for PC with contemporary staging and multimodality therapy.

METHODS: We analyzed 329 consecutive patients with PC evaluated between 1990 and 2002 who underwent resection. Each received a multidisciplinary evaluation and a standard operative approach. Pre- or postoperative chemotherapy and/or chemoradiation were routine. Surgical specimens of 5-year survivors were re-reviewed. A multivariate model of factors associated with long-term survival was constructed.

RESULTS: …

Association Of Gucy2c Expression In Lymph Nodes With Time To Recurrence And Disease-Free Survival In Pn0 Colorectal Cancer., Scott A Waldman, Terry Hyslop, Stephanie Schulz, Alan Barkun, Karl Nielsen, Janis Haaf, Christine Bonaccorso, Yanyan Li, David S Weinberg

Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Faculty Papers

CONTEXT: The established relationship between lymph node metastasis and prognosis in colorectal cancer suggests that recurrence in 25% of patients with lymph nodes free of tumor cells by histopathology (pN0) reflects the presence of occult metastases. Guanylyl cyclase 2C (GUCY2C) is a marker expressed by colorectal tumors that could reveal occult metastases in lymph nodes and better estimate recurrence risk.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of occult lymph node metastases detected by quantifying GUCY2C messenger RNA, using the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, with recurrence and survival in patients with colorectal cancer.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Prospective study of 257 patients …

Adaptive Radiation Therapy For Localized Mesothelioma With Mediastinal Metastasis Using Helical Tomotherapy., James Renaud, Slav Yartsev, A Rashid Dar, Jacob Van Dyk

Oncology Publications

The purpose of this study was to compare 2 adaptive radiotherapy strategies with helical tomotherapy. A patient having mesothelioma with mediastinal nodes was treated using helical tomotherapy with pretreatment megavoltage CT (MVCT) imaging. Gross tumor volumes (GTVs) were outlined on every MVCT study. Two alternatives for adapting the treatment were investigated: (1) keeping the prescribed dose to the targets while reducing the dose to the OARs and (2) escalating the target dose while maintaining the original level of healthy tissue sparing. Intensity modulated radiotherapy (step-and-shoot IMRT) and 3D conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) plans for the patient were generated and compared. The …

Scan-Rescan And Intra-Observer Variability Of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of Carotid Atherosclerosis At 1.5 T And 3.0 T, Arvin Vidal, Yves Bureau, Trevor Wade, J David Spence, Brian K Rutt, Aaron Fenster, Grace Parraga

Medical Biophysics Publications

Carotid atherosclerosis measurements for eight subjects at baseline and 14 +/- 2 days later were examined using 1.5 T and 3.0 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A single observer blinded to field strength, subject and timepoint manually segmented carotid artery wall and lumen boundaries in randomized images in five measurement trials. Mean increases in the signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) for T1-weighted images acquired at 3.0 T compared to 1.5 T were 90% (scan) and 80% (rescan). Despite significantly improved SNR and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR) for images acquired at 3.0 T, vessel wall volume (VWV) intra-observer variability was not significantly different using …

Focus On Rna Isolation: Obtaining Rna For Microrna (Mirna) Expression Profiling Analyses Of Neural Tissue, Wang-Xia Wang, Bernard R. Wilfred, Donald A. Baldwin, R. Benjamin Isett, Na Ren, Arnold J. Stromberg, Peter T. Nelson

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are present in all known plant and animal tissues and appear to be somewhat concentrated in the mammalian nervous system. Many different miRNA expression profiling platforms have been described. However, relatively little research has been published to establish the importance of 'upstream' variables in RNA isolation for neural miRNA expression profiling. We tested whether apparent changes in miRNA expression profiles may be associated with tissue processing, RNA isolation techniques, or different cell types in the sample. RNA isolation was performed on a single brain sample using eight different RNA isolation methods, and results were correlated using a conventional …

Overexpression Of Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 In Tumor Epithelial Cells Correlates With Colorectal Cancer Metastasis., David S Zuzga, Ahmara Vivian Gibbons, Peng Li, Wilhelm Johannes Lubbe, Inna Chervoneva, Giovanni Mario Pitari

Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Faculty Papers

Colorectal cancer mortality largely reflects metastasis, the spread of the disease to distant organs. Matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) is a key regulator of metastasis and a target for anticancer strategies in colon cancer. Here, the overexpression of MMP-9 in pure tumor epithelial, but nor stromal, cell populations was associated with metastatic progression of colorectal cancer, as defined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and confirmed by immunostaining. Thus, cancer cell MMP-9 represents a novel, selective prognostic and predictive factor that may be exploited for more effective disease stage stratification and therapeutic regimen selection in patients with colorectal cancer.

Mapping And Quantifying Hyperpolarized 3he Magnetic Resonance Imaging Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Gradients, Andrea Evans, David G Mccormack, Giles Santyr, Grace Parraga

Medical Biophysics Publications

We measured hyperpolarized 3He magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) and quantified ADC gradients in each three-by-three voxel region of interest (ROI). Such local ADC gradients can be represented in vector maps showing the magnitude (|G3x3|) and direction of ADC gradients, providing a qualitative visualization tool and quantitative measurement of airway and air space heterogeneity. Twenty-four subjects (15 male, mean age=67+/-7 yr) with global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease (GOLD) stage II (n=9, mean age 68+/-6 yr), GOLD stage III chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; n=7, mean age 67+/-8 yr), and age-matched healthy volunteers (n=8, mean age …

Quantification Of Carotid Vessel Wall And Plaque Thickness Change Using 3d Ultrasound Images, Bernard Chiu, Micaela Egger, J David Spence, Grace Parraga, Aaron Fenster

Medical Biophysics Publications

Quantitative measurements of carotid plaque burden progression or regression are important in monitoring patients and in evaluation of new treatment options. 3D ultrasound (US) has been used to monitor the progression or regression of carotid artery plaques. This paper reports on the development and application of a method used to analyze changes in carotid plaque morphology from 3D US. The technique used is evaluated using manual segmentations of the arterial wall and lumen from 3D US images acquired in two imaging sessions. To reduce the effect of segmentation variability, segmentation was performed five times each for the wall and lumen. …

Freesurfer-Initiated Fully-Automated Subcortical Brain Segmentation In Mri Using Large Deformation Diffeomorphic Metric Mapping., Ali R Khan, Lei Wang, Mirza Faisal Beg

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Fully-automated brain segmentation methods have not been widely adopted for clinical use because of issues related to reliability, accuracy, and limitations of delineation protocol. By combining the probabilistic-based FreeSurfer (FS) method with the Large Deformation Diffeomorphic Metric Mapping (LDDMM)-based label-propagation method, we are able to increase reliability and accuracy, and allow for flexibility in template choice. Our method uses the automated FreeSurfer subcortical labeling to provide a coarse-to-fine introduction of information in the LDDMM template-based segmentation resulting in a fully-automated subcortical brain segmentation method (FS+LDDMM). One major advantage of the FS+LDDMM-based approach is that the automatically generated segmentations generated are …