ObjectiveTo investigate the presence of gender disparity in academic involvement during radiology residency and to identify and characterize any gender differences in perceived barriers for conducting research.MethodsAn international call for participation in an online survey was promoted via social media and through multiple international and national radiological societies. A 35-question survey invited radiology trainees worldwide to answer questions regarding exposure and barriers to academic radiology during their training. Gender differences in response proportions were analyzed using either Fisher’s exact or chi-squared tests.ResultsEight hundred fifty-eight participants (438 men, 420 women) from Europe (432), Asia (241), North and South America (144), Africa (37), and Oceania (4) completed the survey. Fewer women radiology residents were involved in research during residency (44.3%, 186/420 vs 59.4%, 260/438; p ≤ 0.0001) and had fewer published original articles (27.9%, 117/420 vs. 40.2%, 176/438; p = 0.001).Women were more likely to declare gender as a barrier to research (24.3%, 102/420 vs. 6.8%, 30/438; p < 0.0001) and lacked mentorship/support from faculty (65%, 273/420 vs. 55.7%, 244/438; p = 0.0055). Men were more likely to declare a lack of time (60.3%, 264/438 vs. 50.7%, 213/420; p = 0.0049) and lack of personal interest (21%, 92/438 vs. 13.6%, 57/420, p = 0.0041) in conducting research.ConclusionFewer women were involved in academic activities during radiology residency, resulting in fewer original published studies compared to their men counterparts. This is indicative of an inherent gender imbalance. Lack of mentorship reported by women radiologists was a main barrier to research.
Systematic evaluation of biomarkers in representative populations is needed to validate their clinical utility. In this work, we assessed the diagnostic performance of cerebrospinal fluid neurofilament light chain (NfL) in a neurocognitive clinical setting. A total of 51 patients with different cognitive clinical syndromes and 11 cognitively normal individuals were evaluated in a memory clinic in Argentina. Clinical conditions included: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n=12), Dementia of Alzheimer's Type (DAT, n=14), Behavioral variant Frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD, n=13), and Primary Progressive Aphasia [logopenic (lvPPA, n=6), semantic (svPPA, n=2), and non-fluent (nfvPPA, n=4)]. We quantified CSF NfL and core Alzheimer's disease biomarkers using commercially available ELISA kits. Cortical thickness was analyzed on brain MRI scans from 10 controls and 10 patients. CSF NfL was significantly increased in MCI, FTD and DAT patients compared to controls (Kruskal-Wallis, p<0.0001). Interestingly, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed the highest area under the curve (AUC) value when analyzing control versus bvFTD patients (AUC= 0.9441). Also, we observed a marginally significant correlation between NfL levels and left orbito-frontal cortex thickness in a small group of patients with FTD. Overall, our results further support CSF NfL as a promising biomarker in the diagnostic work up of bvFTD.
Pediatric myopathies comprise a very heterogeneous group of disorders that may develop at different ages and affect different muscle groups. Its diagnosis is sometimes difficult and must be confirmed by muscle biopsy and/or genetic analysis. In recent years, muscle involvement patterns observed on MRI have become a valuable tool, aiding clinical diagnosis and enriching pathological and genetic assessments. We selected eight myopathy cases from our institutional database in which the pattern of muscle involvement observed on MRI was almost pathognomonic and could therefore contribute to establishing diagnosis. Muscle biopsy, genetic diagnosis or both confirmed all cases.
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