Search results for "Aging"

Analysis of the morphological dynamics of blastocysts after vitrification/warming: defining new predictive variables of implantation

2017

Objective To describe the morphological dynamics of vitrified/warmed blastocysts and to identify quantitative morphological variables related to implantation. Subsequently, by using the most predictive parameters, to develop a hierarchical model by subdividing vitrified/warmed blastocysts into categories with different implantation potentials. Design Observational, retrospective, cohort study. Setting University-affiliated private IVF center. Patient(s) The study included 429 vitrified/warmed blastocysts with known implantation data, which were evaluated by time-lapse imaging. Blastocysts were routinely placed in EmbryoScope (Vitrolife) immediately after warming until transfer. Intervention…

Automated Categorization of Parkinsonian Syndromes Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging in a Clinical Setting

2020

Background Machine learning algorithms using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data can accurately discriminate parkinsonian syndromes. Validation in patients recruited in routine clinical practice is missing. Objective The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of a machine learning algorithm trained on a research cohort and tested on an independent clinical replication cohort for the categorization of parkinsonian syndromes. Methods Three hundred twenty-two subjects, including 94 healthy control subjects, 119 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), 51 patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) with Richardson's syndrome, 35 with multiple system atrophy (MSA) of the parkinsoni…

Cardiovascular disease in aging: an overview on thoracic aortic aneurysm as an emerging inflammatory disease

2017

Medial degeneration associated with thoracic aortic aneurysm and acute aortic dissection was originally described by Erdheim as a noninflammatory lesion related to the loss of smooth muscle cells and elastic fibre fragmentation in the media. Recent evidences propose the strong role of a chronic immune/inflammatory process in aneurysm evocation and progression. The coexistence of inflammatory cells with markers of apoptotic vascular cell death in the media of ascending aorta with aneurysms and type A dissections raises the possibility that activated T cells and macrophages may contribute to the elimination of smooth muscle cells and degradation of the matrix. On the other hand, several infla…

2020

The brain ventricles are part of the fluid compartments bridging the CNS with the periphery. Using MRI, we previously observed a pronounced increase in ventricle volume (VV) in the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of multiple sclerosis (MS). Here, we examined VV changes in EAE and MS patients in longitudinal studies with frequent serial MRI scans. EAE mice underwent serial MRI for up to 2 months, with gadolinium contrast as a proxy of inflammation, confirmed by histopathology. We performed a time-series analysis of clinical and MRI data from a prior clinical trial in which RRMS patients underwent monthly MRI scans over 1 year. VV increased dramatically during preonset E…

Automatic time-lapse instrument is superior to single-point morphology observation for selecting viable embryos: retrospective study in oocyte donati…

2016

Objective To correlate the different categories provided by a commercial diagnostic test with blastocyst formation, quality, implantation potential, and ongoing pregnancy (OPR) for the purpose of validating the automatic annotations and the classification algorithm. Design Observational, retrospective, multicenter cohort study. Setting University-affiliated private IVF center. Patient(s) A total of 3,002 embryos, including 521 transferred embryos with known implantation, from 626 IVF cycles that were incubated in a conventional incubator and monitored with an automatic time-lapse test. Interventions(s) None. Main Outcome Measure(s) Embryo selection was based on morphology and the classifica…

Is there any therapeutic role of pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy in apparent early stage epithelial ovarian cancer?

2020

Objective: The therapeutic role of pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy in surgical staging of apparent early-stage epithelial ovarian cancer (eEOC) is still under debate. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential therapeutic role of systematic lymphadenectomy in patients with eEOC. Methods: Multi-center retrospective cohort study, comparing women with apparent eEOC who underwent comprehensive bilateral pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy (defined as ≥20 lymph nodes) versus patients receiving no lymphadenectomy or lymph node sampling, from 05/1985 to 12/2016. Patients with bulky nodes at CT-scan and those without complete intra-peritoneal surgical staging were excluded. Only …

Age and muscle function are more closely associated with intracellular magnesium, as assessed by 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy, than with serum…

2019

Total serum magnesium is a common clinical measurement for assessing magnesium status; however, magnesium in blood represents less than 1% of the body’s total magnesium content. We measured intramuscular ionized magnesium by phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS) and tested the hypothesis that this measure better correlates with skeletal muscle function and captures more closely the effect of aging than the traditional measure of total serum magnesium. Data were collected from 441 participants (age 24–98 years) in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), a study of normative aging that encompasses a broad age range. Results showed that intramuscular ionized magnesium …

Vessel shape alterations of the vertebrobasilar arteries in Mucopolysaccharidosis type IVa (Morquio A) patients.

2017

Main symptom of mucopolysaccharidosis type IVa (MPS IVa) is progressive systemic skeletal dysplasia. This is routinely monitored by cerebral and spinal MRI. The vascular system is generally not in the primary focus of interest. In our population of MPS IVa patients we observed vessel shape alterations of the vertebrobasilar arteries, which has not been described before.MRI-datasets of 26 patients with MPS IVa acquired between 2008 and 2015 were eligible for retrospective analysis of the vertebrobasilar arteries. The vessel length and angle of the basilar artery (BA) and both vertebral arteries (VA) were analyzed. A deflection angle between 90° and 130° in the vessel course was defined as to…

The hard road to data interpretation: 3 or 6 months of adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with stage III colon cancer?

2019

Background Six months of adjuvant oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy is standard for patients with stage III colon cancer following surgery. However, oxaliplatin is associated with peripheral neurotoxicity which worsens over treatment duration. Consequently, a shorter treatment duration, if equally effective, would be extremely beneficial. A pooled analysis of data for 12 834 stage III colon cancer patients, from six randomised phase III trials of adjuvant therapy, the International Duration Evaluation of Adjuvant chemotherapy study, was carried out and the results presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting 2017. To clarify the potential impact of these results on clinical practice, ESMO decided to s…

Randomized controlled trial comparing embryo culture in two incubator systems: G185 K-System versus EmbryoScope

2017

Objective To study whether the closed culture system, as compared with a benchtop incubator with similar culture conditions, has a positive impact on intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes. Design Randomized controlled trial. Setting University hospital. Patient(s) A total of 386 patients undergoing ICSI cycles with at least six mature oocytes were randomized. Intervention(s) Of these patients, 195 were assigned to the group with culture in a time-lapse imaging (TLI) system (EmbryoScope) and 191 to the group with culture in the G185 K-System (G185). Main Outcome Measure(s) Rate of implantation (primary endpoint) and embryo morphology grade. Result(s) No significant differences wer…