Evaluation of segmental spinal cord evoked magnetic fields after sciatic nerve stimulation

Clinical applicability of non-invasive markers for liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C

“…We fully agree with Sebastiani et al [1] regarding the need for a rationale approach to implement non-invasive tests of liver fibrosis in clinical practice. We recently showed that available biological tests, from the simplest APRI to the most sophisticated Fibrotest or Fibrometer, had global diagnostic performances similar to each other with AUROC around 0.80 for the diagnosis of significant fibrosis [2].…”

“…In our algorithm, patients in the grey zone in whom neither F0F1 nor F3F4 can be affirmed are offered a liver biopsy. As highlighted by Sebastiani et al [1] these criteria are met by the majority (67% in our study) of patients, explaining the low number of avoided biopsies in our algorithm. Another option would be to choose other cut-offs in order to accurately exclude cirrhosis in patients suspected of having significant fibrosis.…”

“…Interestingly, both algorithms combine the same tests, namely, APRI and Fibrotest, which have been found to be statistically independent. In the study presented here, Sebastiani et al [1] compared the performance of these algorithms and found that both attained very good accuracy, with a greater reduction of liver biopsies by using their algorithm.…”

Magnetospinography visualizes electrophysiological activity in the cervical spinal cord

“…6a, Supplementary Video S4). In our previous studies, similar rotating magnetic fields were recorded around the intervertebral foramina 40, 43 . These rotating currents may reflect the summation of synaptic activity and currents from the dorsal column pathway.…”

“…To date, we have reported neuromagnetic fields in animals using MSG, propagation and conduction block of spinal cord evoked magnetic fields (SCEFs) 37–39 , magnetic fields evoked by synaptic activity in the lumbar spinal cord of the rabbit 40 , and the detailed characteristics of action currents and magnetic fields at the site of conduction block in isolated nerves 41, 42 . In addition, we have recorded neuromagnetic fields from the lumbar canal of human subjects 43 .…”