In vivo NMR spectroscopy is known as magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). MRS has been applied as both a research and a clinical tool in order to detect visible or nonvisible abnormalities. The adaptability of MRS allows a technique that can probe a wide variety of metabolic uses across different tissues. Although MRS is mostly applied for brain tissue, it can be used for detection, localization, staging, tumour aggressiveness evaluation, and tumour response assessment of breast, prostate, hepatic, and other cancers. In this article, the medical applications of MRS in the brain, including tumours, neural and psychiatric disorder studies, breast, prostate, hepatic, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary investigations have been reviewed. R ESUM E La spectroscopie RMN in vivo est appel ee spectroscopie par r esonance magn etique (SRM) en clinique. La SRM a et e utilis ee autant comme outil de recherche que comme outil clinique pour la d etection des anomalies visibles ou non. L'adaptabilit e de la SRM en fait une technique qui peut examiner une grande vari et e d'utilisations m etaboliques dans diff erents tissus. Bien que la SRM soit principalement utilis ee pour les tissus c er ebraux, elle peutêtre utilis ee pour la d etection, la localisation, la d etermination du stade, l' evaluation du caract ere agressif d'une tumeur et l' evaluation de la r eponse tumorale dans le cancer du sein, de la prostate, du foie et d'autres organes. Cette etude, apr es un bref examen des fondements de la SRM, passe en revue les applications m edicales de la SRM dans le cerveau, incluant les tumeurs, les applications m edicales de la SRM, incluant les cancers et l' etude des troubles neurologiques et psychiatriques, ainsi que les examens du sein, de la prostate, du foie et des syst emes gastro-intestinal et g enito-urinaire.

The aim of this study was to track dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) labeled with dextran-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Dental pulp was isolated from male Sprague Dawley rats and cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium F12 (DMEM-F12) and 10% fetal bovine serum. Effects of SPIONs on morphology, viability, apoptosis, stemness, and osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation of DPSCs were assessed. Prussian blue staining and MRI were conducted to determine in vitro efficiency of SPIONs uptake by the cells. Both non-labeled and labeled DPSCs were adherent to culture plates and showed spindle-shape morphologies, respectively. They were positive for osteogenic and adipogenic induction and expression of cluster of differentiation (CD) 73 and CD90 biomarkers, but negative for expression of CD34 and CD45 biomarkers. The SPIONs were non-toxic and did not induce apoptosis in doses less than 25 mg/mL. Internalization of the SPIONs within the DPSCs was confirmed by Prussian blue staining and MRI. Our findings revealed that the MRI-based method could successfully monitor DPSCs labeled with dextran-coated SPIONs without any significant effect on osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation, viability, and stemness of DPSCs. We provided the in vitro evidence supporting the feasibility of an MRI-based method to monitor DPSCs labeled with SPIONs without any significant reduction in viability, proliferation, and differentiation properties of labeled cells, showing that internalization of SPIONs within DPSCs were not toxic at doses less than 25 mg/mL. In general, the SPION labeling does not seem to impair cell survival or differentiation. SPIONs are biocompatible, easily available, and cost effective, opening a new avenue in stem cell labeling in regenerative medicine.

No abstract

Transthoracic ultrasound (US) is useful in the evaluation of a wide range of peripheral parenchymal, pleural, and chest wall diseases. Furthermore, it is increasingly used to guide interventional procedures of the chest and pleural space. The role of chest US in the diagnosis of pneumothorax has been established, but comparison with lung computed tomography (CT) scanning has not yet been completely performed. The purpose of this study is to prospectively compare the accuracy of US with that of chest radiography in the detection of pneumothorax, with CT as the reference standard. One hundred ninety-seven patients who were evaluated by spiral chest CT scan for various clinical indications were prospectively evaluated. Ultrasonography was performed by a radiologist, blinded to the chest CT findings. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of ultrasound in the detection of pneumothorax were then compared with chest CT scan. CT scan showed pneumothorax in 92 patients. Sonography and plain X-ray of the chest revealed 74 and 56 cases of pneumothorax, respectively. Statistical analysis disclosed the US to be 80.4 % sensitive and 89 % specific in the detection of pneumothorax with an overall accuracy of 85 %. In this study, US was more sensitive than chest radiography in the detection of pneumothorax. The results of this study suggest that thoracic US, when performed by trained individuals, can be helpful for the detection of pneumothorax.

AIMTo evaluate various schemes for paraquat poisoning and different variables that influence the outcome of acute paraquat poisoning.METHODSIn a cross-sectional study, the information about all cases of acute paraquat poisoning who were admitted to teaching hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, in a five year period (September 2010 to September 2015) were evaluated. The variables included: Demographic data, medical assessment, therapeutic options, laboratory findings, and the outcomes. Data were analyzed using SPSS, version 22. Significant difference between groups was tested using t-test for continues outcomes and χ2 test for categorical. The significance level was considered to be P < 0.05.RESULTSA total of 104 patients (66.3% male) were evaluated. The mean age of the female patients was 22.81 ± 9.87 years and the male patients’ was 27.21 ± 11.06 years. Ninety seven (93.3%) of all the cases were suicide attempts with mortality rate of 43.2%. Despite the necessity for emergency hemodialysis during the first 6 h of intoxication, none of the patients had dialysis during this time. Immunosuppressive and corticosteroid medications were not administrated in adequate dosage in 31.1% and 60% of the patients, respectively. Ingestion of more than 22.5 cc of paraquat and increase in creatinine level were the most important predictors of mortality.CONCLUSIONTreatment should start immediately for these patients. Moreover, creating a clinical guideline according to the findings can have an impact on the treatment procedure which seems to be necessary.

Background:Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a neoplasm usually arising in a cirrhotic liver by a multistep carcinogenesis process. Early detection of HCC and accurate assessment of tumor burden are crucial to successful treatment planning and long-term survival.Objectives:In this study, we compared the accuracy of diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) combined with limited sequence magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) set as a potentially quick and practical MR candidate with ultrasonography (US) for screening of HCC in patients with cirrhosis.Patients and Methods:Of 96 patients with cirrhosis, 30 who had concomitant HCC proved by pathology were selected. MRI, DWI, and US of the liver were performed for the patients. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of DWI alone, limited sequences MRI alone, a combination of them, and US were calculated for the detection of HCC in these patients and then comparison between these modalities was performed.Results:Combination of limited sequences MRI and DWI had the highest accuracy (94.79%) followed by DWI alone followed by limited sequence MRI alone. The least accuracy was for US (78.12%) with a statistically significant difference.Conclusion:Due to the significant improvement in the treatment of early stage of HCC compared to the previous decade, we suggest a fast, non-invasive, more accurate, but more expensive method (HASTE, OP/IP T1W sequences MRI combined with DWI) rather than US for the screening of HCC in liver cirrhosis.

No abstract

Background This study was performed with the intention of comparing the clinical, laboratory, and chest computed tomography (CT) findings between severe and non-severe patients as well as between different age groups composed of pediatric patients with confirmed COVID-19. Method This study was carried out on a total of 53 confirmed COVID-19 pediatric patients who were hospitalized in Namazi and Ali Asghar Hospitals, Shiraz, Iran. The patients were divided into two severe (n = 27) and non-severe (n = 28) groups as well as into other three groups in terms of their age: aged less than two years, aged 3–12 years and 13–17 years. It should be noted that CT scans, laboratory, and clinical features were taken from all patients at the admission time. Abnormal chest CT in COVID-19 pneumonia was found to show one of the following findings: ground-glass opacities (GGO), bilateral involvement, peripheral and diffuse distribution. Result Fever (79.2%) and dry cough (75.5%) were the most common clinical symptoms. Severe COVID-19 patients showed lymphocytosis, while the non-severe ones did not (P = 0.03). C-reactive protein (CRP) was shown to be significantly lower in patients aged less than two years than those aged 3–12 and 13–17 years (P = 0.01). It was shown also that O2 saturation experienced a significant increase as did patients’ age (P = 0.01). Severe patients had significantly higher CT abnormalities than non-severe patients (48.0% compared to 17.9%, respectively) (P = 0.02). Conclusion Lymphocytosis and abnormal CT findings are among the factors most associated with COVID-19 severity. It was, moreover, showed that the severity of COVID-19, O2 saturation, and respiratory distress were improved as the age of confirmed COVID-19 pediatric patients increased.