Rim lesions and ring-enhancing lesions are present in close to 10% of patients with MS, and frequently both lesions appear independently one to the other. The association of ring enhancement with worst prognosis needs to be confirmed in prospective studies.

Somatostatin receptors (ssts) are expressed in thyroid cancer cells, but their biological significance is not well understood. The aim of this study was to assess ssts in well differentiated (WDTC) and poorly differentiated thyroid cancer (PDTC) by means of imaging and molecular tools and its relationship with the efficacy of somatostatin analog treatment. Thirty-nine cases of thyroid carcinoma were evaluated (20 PDTC and 19 WDTC). Depreotide scintigraphy and mRNA levels of sst-subtypes, including the truncated variant sst5TMD4, were carried out. Depreotide scans were positive in the recurrent tumor in the neck in 6 of 11 (54%) PDTC, and in those with lung metastases in 5/11 cases (45.4%); sst5TMD4 was present in 18/20 (90%) of PDTC, being the most densely expressed sst-subtype, with a 20-fold increase in relation to sst2. In WDTC, sst2 was the most represented, while sst5TMD4 was not found; sst2 was significantly increased in PDTC in comparison to WDTC. Five depreotide positive PDTC received octreotide for 3–6 months in a pilot study with no changes in the size of the lesions in 3 of them, and a significant increase in the pulmonary and cervical lesions in the other 2. All PDTC patients treated with octreotide showed high expression of sst5TMD4. ROC curve analysis demonstrated that only sst5TMD4 discriminates between PDTC and WDTC. We conclude that sst5TMD4 is overexpressed in PDTC and may be involved in the lack of response to somatostatin analogue treatment.

In our series of 54 melanomas, 10-MHz sonography measured lesion thickness with good accuracy compared with histopathology. Sonography was effective in discriminating between tumors < or = 1 mm thick and those > 1 mm thick.

The in vivo optical and hemodynamic properties of the healthy (n = 22) and pathological (n = 2) human thyroid tissue were measured non-invasively using a custom time-resolved spectroscopy (TRS) and diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) system. Medical ultrasound was used to guide the placement of the hand-held hybrid optical probe. TRS measured the absorption and reduced scattering coefficients (μa, μs′) at three wavelengths (690, 785 and 830 nm) to derive total hemoglobin concentration (THC) and oxygen saturation (StO2). DCS measured the microvascular blood flow index (BFI). Their dependencies on physiological and clinical parameters and positions along the thyroid were investigated and compared to the surrounding sternocleidomastoid muscle. The THC in the thyroid ranged from 131.9 μM to 144.8 μM, showing a 25–44% increase compared to the surrounding sternocleidomastoid muscle tissue. The blood flow was significantly higher in the thyroid (BFIthyroid = 16.0 × 10-9 cm2/s) compared to the muscle (BFImuscle = 7.8 × 10-9 cm2/s), while StO2 showed a small (StO2, muscle = 63.8% to StO2, thyroid = 68.4%), yet significant difference. Two case studies with thyroid nodules underwent the same measurement protocol prior to thyroidectomy. Their THC and BFI reached values around 226.5 μM and 62.8 × 10-9 cm2/s respectively showing a clear contrast to the nodule-free thyroid tissue as well as the general population. The initial characterization of the healthy and pathologic human thyroid tissue lays the ground work for the future investigation on the use of diffuse optics in thyroid cancer screening.

Context & Objective Chronic glucocorticoid (GC) overexposure, resulting from endogenous Cushing’s syndrome (CS) or exogenous GC therapy, causes several adverse outcomes, including persistent central fat accumulation associated with a low-grade inflammation. However, no previous multi-omics studies in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) from patients exposed to high levels of unsuppressed GC during active CS or after remission are available yet. Methods We employed a translational approach combining high-throughput data on endogenous CS patients and a reversible CS mouse model. We performed RNA-seq and ChIP-seq on histone modifications (H3K4me3, H3K27ac and H3K27me3) to identify persistent transcriptional and epigenetic signatures in VAT produced during active CS and maintained after remission. Results VAT dysfunction was associated with low-grade pro-inflammatory status, macrophage infiltration and extracellular matrix remodeling. Most notably, chronic hypercortisolism caused a persistent circadian rhythm disruption in VAT through core clock genes modulation. Importantly, changes in the levels of two histone modifications associated to gene transcriptional activation (H3K4me3 and H3K27ac) correlated with the observed differences in gene expression during active CS and after CS remission. Conclusion We identified for the first time, the persistent transcriptional and epigenetic signatures induced by hypercortisolism in VAT, providing a novel integrated view of molecular components driving the long-term VAT impairment associated with CS.

We report on the design, performance assessment, and first in vivo measurement of a Time-Resolved Diffuse Optical system for broadband (600-1350 nm) nm measurement of absorption and scattering spectra of biological tissues for non-invasive clinical diagnostics. Two strategies to reduce drift and enhance responsivity are adopted. The system was enrolled in a first in vivo test phase on healthy volunteers, carrying out non-invasive, in vivo quantification of key tissue constituents (oxy-and deoxy-hemoglobin, water, lipids, collagen) and tissue micro-structure (scatterer size and density).

We present the LUCA device, a multi-modal platform combining eight-wavelength near infrared time resolved spectroscopy, sixteen-channel diffuse correlation spectroscopy and a clinical ultrasound in a single device. By simultaneously measuring the tissue hemodynamics and performing ultrasound imaging, this platform aims to tackle the low specificity and sensitivity of the current thyroid cancer diagnosis techniques, improving the screening of thyroid nodules. Here, we show a detailed description of the device, components and modules. Furthermore, we show the device tests performed through well established protocols for phantom validation, and the performance assessment for in vivo. The characterization tests demonstrate that LUCA device is capable of performing high quality measurements, with a precision in determining in vivo tissue optical and dynamic properties of better than 3%, and a reproducibility of better than 10% after ultrasound-guided probe repositioning, even with low photon count-rates, making it suitable for a wide variety of clinical applications.

Background Persistent inflammation and immune activation are associated with lymph node fibrosis and end‐organ diseases in treatment‐suppressed people living with HIV (PLWH). We investigated the effect of switching to raltegravir and/or adding losartan on lymphoid tissue fibrosis and on the inflammatory/immune‐activation mediators in treated HIV patients. Methods Chronic HIV‐infected patients treated with two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (2NRTI) and one non‐NRTI (NNRTI) or protease inhibitor (PI) during at least 48 weeks were randomized to four groups (n = 48): 2NRTI + efavirenz (EFV), 2NRTI + EFV + losartan, 2NRTI + raltegravir and 2NRTI + raltegravir + losartan for 48 weeks. Tonsillar biopsy and peripheral blood markers of CD4 and CD8 T‐lymphocyte activation and senescence, monocyte activation and soluble markers of inflammation were determined at baseline and at week 48 and compared between groups. Results No changes in lymphoid tissue architecture were observed. Adding losartan had no impact on lymphocyte subsets. Conversely, patients who switched to raltegravir showed a higher decrease in all activated [CD4+CD38+HLA‐DR+, −0.3 vs. 0.48 (P = 0.033); CD8+CD38+ HLA‐DR+, −1.6 vs. 1.3 (P = 0.02)] and senescent [CD4+CD28–CD57+, −0.3 vs. 0.26 (P = 0.04); CD8+CD28–CD57+, −6.1 vs. 3.8 (P = 0.002)] T lymphocytes. In addition, the median CD4/CD8 ratio increased by 0.35 in patients in the raltegravir group vs. 0.03 in the other arms (P = 0.002). Differences between groups in monocyte subpopulations or soluble inflammation markers were not observed. Conclusions Losartan had no effect on lymphoid fibrosis or immune activation/inflammation. Conversely, switching to a regimen with raltegravir significantly decreased activated and senescent T‐lymphocyte subpopulations and increased CD4/CD8 ratio in successfully treated PLWH.