Kragcameron7943

CONCLUSION Conventional MPR image-based assessment frequently resulted in the overestimation of the anatomical margin. We recommend using software-based assessment preoperatively in patients with tumors in the risky segments, particularly in cases involving indistinct tumors.BACKGROUND Studies on alexithymia have been primarily targeted at adult populations. Although some recent studies on alexithymia have focused on children and young adolescents, the literature is not entirely sufficient to develop an assessment tool. The aim of this study was to develop a new scale to measure alexithymia-like features in young adolescents and to evaluate its psychometric properties. METHODS A total of 1,444 Japanese junior high school students (701 males, 743 females, aged 12-15, mean age = 13.37 years, SD = 0.98) participated in two surveys conducted at their own schools. RESULTS First, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with the first survey data (n=981) demonstrated that this new scale had a unifactor structure as a result of the MAP analysis and parallel analysis. Second, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with the second survey data (n=463) also verified the unifactor structure of this new scale with acceptable goodness of model fit. The new scale also demonstrated modest internal consistency. CONCLUSIONS As the correlations between this new alexithymia scale and the related variables were significantly small in accordance with our hypothesis, we could demonstrate that this new scale had acceptable reliability and construct validity and could be useful for measuring alexithymic tendency in young adolescents.BACKGROUND As part of the planning for a future multicenter study, this preliminary clinical trial was performed to explore candidate biomarkers useful for predicting the therapeutic effects of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) for Japanese cedar pollinosis (JCP) using serum samples from patients. METHODS This prospective study included patients undergoing SLIT for JCP at our hospital. All enrolled patients (n = 17) started SLIT between June and November of 2015. With informed consent from the patients, in January, March, and June of 2016, blood samples were obtained, and an inquiry was conducted using the Japan rhino-conjunctivitis quality of life questionnaire (JRQLQ). Based on the JRQLQ results, we allocated 6 patients with the most favorable results into the high response group (HRG), and 5 patients with the most unfavorable results into the poor response group (PRG). Subsequently, we compared the serum data between the two groups to identify useful biomarkers. RESULTS The IL-12p70 and VEGF levels tended to be higher in the HRG than in the PRG in January, March and June (0.10 > p > 0.05). In addition, the IL-17 level was significantly higher (p less then 0.05) in the HRG than in the PRG only in June. CONCLUSIONS IL-12p70 and VEGF may be useful biomarkers for predicting the effects of SLIT. In addition, although it does not appear to be useful as a biomarker for evaluating treatment response at the start of SLIT, IL-17 may be useful as a biomarker after the beginning period of SLIT.Triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) tears are recognized as a cause of ulnar-sided wrist pain. Nowadays, arthroscopy plays an important role in providing treatment as well as in establishing the diagnosis. Arthroscopic repair of a TFCC tear is indicated after the failure of non-surgical treatments such as cast immobilization, splinting, and administration of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for more than 3 months. Several arthroscopic therapeutic methods have been described, including the inside-out, outside-in, and all-arthroscopic techniques. However, these arthroscopic procedures are time-consuming and technically demanding. The purpose of the present article was to present an easy-to-use technique of arthroscopic inside-out repair using double-loop sutures for ulnar-sided TFCC tears.Japanese Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs) were released as "Japan DRLs 2015" from Japan Network for Research and Information on Medical Exposure (J-RIME) in June 2015. In "Japan DRLs 2015", DRLs in angiography and interventional procedures are set at a fluoroscopic dose rate of 20 mGy/min at the interventional reference point using a phantom. In order to achieve optimization with DRLs, then it need to be revised regularly. Therefore, we (research group to examine the effect of Japan DRLs 2015 and the necessity of additional items in angiography and vascular interventions) examined the effects of "Japan DRLs 2015" on angiography and interventional procedures. And we also investigated for DRLs revision in the future. As a result, it turned out that it is important to create DRLs in medical procedures that can be effectively used in clinical settings.The purpose of this study is to compare the detectability of diseases the new image processing and the conventional image processing by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and to show the usefulness of the new image processing. Radiographs with and without nodular cancer models in the chest phantom were used for observation samples. Totally 200 radiographs were evaluated by 10 radiological technologists (each readers had over 20 years or under 4 years of experience). The mean area under the curve (AUC) calculated from the over 20 years group was 0.754 for the new processing and 0.771 for the conventional processing (p value=0.651, 95% confidence interval=-0.084/0.049 (lower bound/upper bound)). On the other hand, the average AUC calculated from under 4 years group was 0.819 for the new processing and 0.678 for the conventional processing (p value= 0.041, 95% confidence interval=0.019/0.262 (lower bound/upper bound)). New image processing provides high detectability in less than 4 years group compared to conventional processing.Specific binding ratio (SBR) is mainly used as a quantitative index of dopamine transporter scintigraphy, although it was reported that standardized uptake value (SUV) is useful for clinical diagnosis in recent years. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether xSPECT is useful for SUV in dopamine transporter scintigraphy. xSPECT is a recently developed, high-resolution image reconstruction technique that transforms single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to a computed tomography (CT) coordinate system. Furthermore, low-penetration high-resolution (LPHR), which there has been no previous physical evaluation report was also evaluated. The radioactive concentration of the image with xSPECT is automatically calculated by the periodic sensitivity calibration and one volume sensitivity calibration. In the case of images with conventional reconstruction methods as filtered back projection (FBP) and ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM), the calibration factor related to the photon count and radioactive concentration was calculated from measuring a cylinder phantom filled with Iodine-123. Radioactive concentrations of the SUV factor were measured by SPECT data acquisition with the striatal phantom in various conditions. Radioactive concentrations with conventional reconstruction methods had a lower value (for example, with FBP it was 7.53 kBq/ml, with OSEM it was 7.22 kBq/ml) compared to the actual measurement value, although that with xSPECT (12.45 kBq/ml) got close to the actual measurement value (14.68 kBq/ml). LPHR showed an approximation to low-energy high-resolution (LEHR) in terms of spatial resolution and scatter fraction estimated from energy windows. The quantitative accuracy of radioactive concentration was the highest under xSPECT.PURPOSE In this study, we evaluated the stability and reliability of absorbed dose-to-water for an HDR 192Ir sandwich setup phantom method by comparing measurements with absorbed dose-to-water determination based on the AAPM TG-43 protocol. METHODS The sandwich setup phantom was designed with a dedicated device for two ion chamber measurements of absorbed dose-to-water for a mHDR-v2r 192Ir brachytherapy source is presented. To test the reliability of sandwich setup phantom of measurements with absorbed dose-to-water, we were compared with values based on AAPM TG-43 protocol and evaluated temporal variations of the measurement, intra-rater reliability. RESULTS The measured doses at sandwich setup phantom agreed within 1.0% with AAPM TG-43 protocol. In all measurement fractions, the temporal variations of measurement value were less than 1.0%, and the intra-rater reliability were 0.94% or more. CONCLUSIONS The measurement value obtained by the absorbed dose-towater had good reliability, and sandwich setup phantom is potentially useful and convenient for daily dose management of 192Ir sources in clinics.The aims of this study were to elucidate signal pattern of cerebral aneurysm clip in brain magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) using non-contrast enhanced ultra-short echo time (UTE) sequence and to explore effective utilization of this novel technique for patients, who underwent cerebral aneurysm clipping. The clip was embedded in homemade phantom and scanned using UTE sequence. We investigated characteristic features of the artifacts derived from the clip. Besides, we compared the volume of signal loss between conventional time-of-flight (TOF) and UTE-MRA in 50 patients with the cerebral aneurysm clip. In phantom study, the clip was delineated as signal void area fully surrounded by high signal on original images. On reconstructed short-axial views for the clip, four-leaf clover pattern of artifact was observed when clip was arranged orthogonal to the static magnetic field. On the other hand, this artifact disappeared when the clip was arranged in parallel with the static magnetic field. The volume of signal loss in clinical cases was significantly reduced in UTE-MRA (P less then 0.05) 1.30, 0.52-2.77 cm3 for TOF; 0.84, 0.28-1.74 cm3 for UTE (median, range). The scan time for UTE-MRA was 2 minutes and 52 seconds. To understand the characteristic feature of the artifacts from the clip could contribute to define vascular structure in image interpretation. Adding UTE-MRA to routine protocol is useful approach for follow-up imaging after cerebral aneurysm clipping with clinically acceptable prolongation of the scan time.PURPOSE A virtual monochromatic image (VMI) is acquired from two different types of polychromatic energy X-rays, not a monochromatic X-ray. The effective energy of monochromatic X-ray does not vary in passing through the patient's body. On the other hand, beam hardening effects are seen in images because of the change of polychromatic X-ray energy. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the beam hardening improvement effect of VMI using a phantom with a bone mimicking ring. METHOD We used a water equivalent electron density phantom with a hole in the center for inserting various measurement materials (i.e. fat, two types of bone with differing densities, contrast medium, blood, and water). Then, the CT numbers of each measurement materials were obtained from single energy CT (SECT) images and VMIs, respectively. Also, an additional bone-mimetic ring was used to obtain the CT numbers for evaluation of beam hardening effect. The CT number change rates were calculated from the obtained CT numbers with and without beam hardening effect.