diagnosis-neoplasia-barretts-esophagus-using-vital-dye-enhanced

Diagnosis of Neoplasia in Barrett&#8217;s Esophagus using Vital-dye Enhanced Fluorescence Imaging

The ability to differentiate benign metaplasia in Barrett&#8217;s Esophagus (BE) from neoplasia in vivo remains difficult as both tissue types can be flat ...

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

We report on a large Brazilian kindred with young-onset parkinsonism due to either a homozygous or heterozygous mutation in parkin. A total of 6 members were affected: 5 were homozygous and 1 heterozygous for a deletion in exon 4. Two other heterozygotes also had extrapyramidal signs. All affected subjects showed characteristic features of parkin disease with foot dystonia and an excellent response to levodopa complicated by motor fluctuations and dyskinesia within 3 years of therapy. Careful clinical follow-up over 10 years showed the phenotype was similar in all the homozygotes with asymmetrical limb bradykinesia and early walking difficulties. Some acceleration of disability was observed in some of the cases as they entered the third decade of illness, but dementia was absent.

Parkin disease in a Brazilian kindred: Manifesting heterozygotes and clinical follow-up over 10 years.

Although it is commonly assumed that posterior temporo-parietal regions are the regions of the brain essential for accessing orthographic representations for written output, patients with lesions in these areas also have reading and/or naming impairments at least early after stroke onset. This observation raises the possibility that these regions are important for components of spelling that are not specific to written output. The goal of the present study was to identify any regions of the brain that, when damaged, result in selective impairment in accessing orthographic representations for written output. We studied 54 consecutive right-handed patients with acute, left hemisphere ischemic stroke, who were barely able to perform the motor aspects of writing with the right hand and had at least 10th grade education, on a battery of lexical tasks designed to identify impaired and spared cognitive processes underlying spelling and with advanced magnetic resonance imaging. Only five patients had pure agraphia, and had evidence of impaired access to lexical-orthographic representations for output; and all five had infarct or ischemia in Brodmann's area 44 and 45. Analysis of performance across tasks of three of these patients, whose performance has not been previously reported, provides evidence for additional impairment in converting graphemes to letter shapes or letter-specific motor programs. These three patients, unlike previously reported patients with lexical-orthographic impairment and compromised function in Brodmann's area 44 and 45, also had infarcts in Brodmann's area 6. On the basis of these cases, and those in the literature, we propose a network of brain regions involved in writing words, each with a separate function. This proposal emphasizes the role of the left posterior frontal regions in modality-specific output processes.

The crucial role of posterior frontal regions in modality specific components of the spelling process.

Several studies have reported that ventriculoperitoneal shunt insertion for treatment of normal-pressure hydrocephalus results in improvement of gait and, less frequently, improvement of cognition. We sought to identify the demographic factors associated with cognitive improvement after shunt insertion to improve assessment of prognosis for cognitive gains with treatment.

Demographic factors influence cognitive recovery after shunt for normal-pressure hydrocephalus.

Sites of lesions responsible for visual, tactile, and/or motor extinction have not been clearly identified. We sought to determine the frequency of extinction in various modalities immediately after acute ischemic stroke, the rate of co-occurrence of extinction across modalities, and areas of infarct and/or hypoperfusion associated with each modality of extinction. A total of 148 patients with right supratentorial stroke were studied. In Study 1, 88 patients without hemiplegia, hemianesthesia, or visual field cuts were tested within 24 hours of onset for visual, tactile, and motor extinction, and underwent magnetic resonance diffusion and perfusion imaging. Associations between modality of extinction and areas of neural dysfunction (hypoperfusion/infarct) were identified. Of the 88 patients, 19 had only tactile extinction, 8 had only visual extinction, 12 had only motor extinction, 14 had extinction in two or more modalities, and 35 had no extinction. Tactile extinction was associated with neural dysfunction in the inferior parietal lobule; visual extinction was associated with dysfunction in the visual association cortex; and motor extinction was associated with neural dysfunction in the superior temporal gyrus. In Study 2, data from 60 patients who were excluded from Study 1 because of motor deficits were analyzed in the same way to determine whether frontal lesions contributed to visual or tactile extinction. Results again demonstrated that tactile extinction is associated with inferior parietal dysfunction, and visual extinction is associated with dysfunction of the visual association cortex. Potential accounts of the results, based on the "hemisphere rivalry" model of extinction and the limited attentional capacity model, are considered.

Neural correlates of modality-specific spatial extinction.

We hypothesized that a modified version of the Frontal Behavioral Inventory (FBI-mod), along with a few cognitive tests, would be clinically useful in distinguishing between clinically defined Alzheimer's disease (AD) and subtypes of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD): frontotemporal dementia (dysexecutive type), progressive nonfluent aphasia, and semantic dementia. We studied 80 patients who were diagnosed with AD (n = 30) or FTLD (n = 50), on the basis of a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, imaging, neurological examination, and history. We found significant between-group differences on the FBI-mod, two subtests of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (verbal learning and delayed recall), and the Trail Making Test Part B (one measure of 'executive functioning'). AD was characterized by relatively severe impairment in verbal learning, delayed recall, and executive functioning, with relatively normal scores on the FBI-mod. Frontotemporal dementia was characterized by relatively severe impairment on the FBI-mod and executive functioning in the absence of severe impairment in verbal learning and recall. Progressive nonfluent aphasia was characterized by severe impairment in executive functioning with relatively normal scores on verbal learning and recall and FBI-mod. Finally, semantic dementia was characterized by relatively severe deficits in delayed recall, but relatively normal performance on new learning, executive functioning, and on FBI-mod. Discriminant function analysis confirmed that the FBI-mod, in conjunction with the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, and the Trail Making Test Part B categorized the majority of patients as subtypes of FTLD or AD in the same way as a full neuropsychological battery, neurological examination, complete history, and imaging. These tests may be useful for efficient clinical diagnosis, although progressive nonfluent aphasia and semantic dementia are likely to be best distinguished by language tests not included in standard neuropsychological test batteries.

Utility of behavioral versus cognitive measures in differentiating between subtypes of frontotemporal lobar degeneration and Alzheimer's disease.

Peutz-Jeghers syndrome: a rare cause of gastric outlet obstruction.

Alcohol withdrawal is a common clinical condition that has a variety of complications and morbidities. The manifestations can range from mild agitation to withdrawal seizures and delirium tremens. The treatments for alcohol withdrawal include benzodiazepines, anticonvulsants, beta-blockers and antihypertensives. Although benzodiazepines are presently a first-line therapy, there is controversy regarding the efficacies of these medications compared with others. Treatment protocols often involve one of two contrasting approaches: symptom-triggered versus fixed-schedule dosing of benzodiazepines. We describe these protocols in our review and examine the data supporting symptom-triggered dosing as the preferred method for most patients in withdrawal.The Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol scoring system for alcohol withdrawal streamlines care, optimizes patient management, and is the best scale available for withdrawal assessment. Quality improvement implications for inpatient management of alcohol withdrawal include increasing training for signs of withdrawal and symptom recognition, adding new hospital protocols to employee curricula, and ensuring manageable patient-to-physician and patient-to-nurse ratios.

Alcohol withdrawal.

High-resolution microendoscopy (HRME) is a low-cost, "optical biopsy" technology that allows for subcellular imaging. The purpose of this study was to determine the in vivo diagnostic accuracy of the HRME for the differentiation of neoplastic from non-neoplastic colorectal polyps and compare it to that of high-definition white-light endoscopy (WLE) with histopathology as the gold standard.

In vivo diagnostic accuracy of high-resolution microendoscopy in differentiating neoplastic from non-neoplastic colorectal polyps: a prospective study.

Shannon Chang

Department of Gastroenterology

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Diagnosis of Neoplasia in Barrett’s Esophagus using Vital-dye Enhanced Fluorescence Imaging