Rheumatology

Anti-{beta}2-glycoprotein I (anti-{beta}2GPI) antibodies are central to the pathogenesis of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), an autoimmune disease characterized by a strong predisposition to venous thromboembolism (VTE). In this study, we conducted a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study (GWAS) of quantitative total anti-{beta}2GPI levels in 5,969 participants enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) and identified a genome-wide significant association at the APOH locu...

Background and Purpose: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for radiation therapy treatment planning is currently being used in many anatomical sites to better visualize soft tissue landmarks, a technique known as an MRI simulation. A core component of modern MRI simulation configurations are the use of external laser positioning systems (ELPS) to help set up the patient. Though necessary for accurate and reproducible patient setup, the ELPS, if left on during imaging, may interfere negatively with...

Objectives: Compare Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Return to Sport after Injury (ACL-RSI) scores over time following ACL reconstruction (ACLR) between male and female patients aged 15 to 25 years with primary ACL injuries and ACL reinjuries. Design: Retrospective cohort design. Setting: Sports physical therapy clinics. Participants: 332 patients aged 15-25 years who underwent ACLR following either primary ACL injury or ACL reinjury, either contralateral or ipsilateral graft reinjury, and had a...

Background: Psychological readiness to return to sport and subjective knee function are critical outcomes following ACL reconstruction (ACLR), yet they do not always progress in parallel. An athlete may demonstrate high subjective knee function but low psychological readiness, suggesting a mental barrier to return, or conversely, report high readiness despite persistent functional limitations, raising concerns of overconfidence and reinjury risk. Understanding how these domains change together d...

Background: Quadriceps weakness may reduce sagittal plane shock absorption during landing, shifting load toward the frontal plane and increasing knee abduction moment (KAM), a biomechanical risk factor for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between isokinetic quadriceps strength and peak KAM during drop vertical jump landing in adolescent athletes. Study Design: Secondary analysis of previously collected data. Methods: He...

3D-DXA reconstructs DXA hip scans to 3-dimensional images allowing measurement of trabecular and cortical bone parameters. Given the higher image quality of GE Healthcare iDXA than GE Healthcare Prodigy, it could be hypothesized that the reconstruction might differ, thereby affecting 3D-DXA results. The aim of the study was to assess agreement and precision of 3D-DXA cortical and trabecular femur parameters between Prodigy and iDXA densitometers in adult subjects. The study cohort was composed o...

Aim and ObjectivesThe study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of titanium inserts for interdental papilla reconstruction, comparing it with the Han and Takei technique using subepithelial connective tissue grafts. The objectives included assessing the black triangle height, papilla height and papilla presence index (PPI) at baseline, 1 month and 3 months postoperatively along with the evaluation of Early Wound Healing Score (EHS) during the first week of post operative healing period. Patient...

BackgroundCanine impaction represents one of the most challenging clinical scenarios in orthodontic practice, with maxillary canines being the second most commonly impacted teeth after third molars. The management of impacted canines through orthodontic traction requires an advanced understanding of biomechanical principles, surgical techniques, and patient-specific factors. The decision to attempt traction must be informed by accurate differentiation between mechanical impaction and primary fai...

Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is a powerful imaging modality that allows for improved lesion visibility, characterization, and localization compared to conventional two-dimensional digital mammography. DBT has been increasingly adopted in screening and diagnostic settings globally, particularly for women with dense breast tissue where tissue overlap presents a significant diagnostic challenge. Here we describe DBT-2026, a real world imaging dataset with 558 DBT exams from 558 patients with ...

Abstract Background: Conventional MRI cannot reliably distinguish radiation necrosis (RN) from recurrent metastasis after cranial radiotherapy, as both can show similar enhancement despite different biology. We tested whether these entities are mechanically non-equivalent in vivo and separable by MRE-derived viscoelastic metrics and perilesional interface-instability features. Methods: In a prospective, histopathology-anchored cohort, 11 post-radiotherapy enhancing lesions were classified as RN ...

BackgroundColorectal carcinoma (CRC) remains a significant cause of cancer morbidity and mortality worldwide. Right- and left-sided tumours differ in clinical, morphological, and molecular features. Microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) tumours, often right-sided, are associated with distinct histopathological characteristics and prognostic implications. In Sri Lanka, molecular MSI testing is currently unavailable, highlighting the need for alternative predictive approaches. ObjectivesGeneral...

Introduction: Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and non-AD dementias share chronic neuroinflammatory mechanisms that contribute to neuronal injury and disease progression. While anti-inflammatory therapies (AITs) are associated with reduced neurodegenerative disease risk, knowledge regarding the impact of biological sex and treatment duration across multiple NDDs remains li...

BackgroundNo randomized clinical trial comparing the most established new modalities of treatment for patients with localized prostate cancer has been published, and there is scarce comparative effectiveness research assessing Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs). Objectiveto compare the impact of active surveillance, robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP), Intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), and real-time brachytherapy on patients, through PROMs, from pre-treatment to five years...

Amatoxin-induced acute liver failure complicates misidentified foraged mushroom ingestion worldwide; abrupt multisystem collapse punctuates apparent improvement. Our prospective single-arm clinical trial investigated proactive toxicokinetic-based management to preserve elimination capacity: sustained enhanced hydration to maintain renal clearance; fasting plus octreotide to suppress meal-driven enterohepatic circulation; and intravenous silibinin to inhibit OATP1B3-mediated hepatic uptake, enabl...

BackgroundThere is disparity between the incidence of malignant hyperthermia (MH) reactions and the prevalence of variants in the RYR1 gene associated with susceptibility to MH (where susceptibility is determined by in vitro contracture tests). Our aims were to use clinical and genetic data from the UK to explain this disparity and to examine if these data are consistent with the clinical risk of MH being inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. MethodsClinical MH and genotyping data were extr...

Handheld ultrasound devices have revolutionized point-of-care diagnostics, but their effectiveness remains limited by operator dependency and the need for specialized training. This paper presents an intelligent guidance and diagnostic assistance system for the handheld wireless ultrasound device, enabling automated carotid artery and thyroid examinations through handheld operation. Drawing inspiration from the Actor-Critic framework, we implement a simulation-based reinforcement learning approa...

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is an acute inflammatory liver disease caused not only by prescription and over-the-counter medications but also by health foods and dietary supplements. Typically, DILI patients recover once the causative substance is identified and discontinued. In contrast, autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) results from the immune-mediated destruction of hepatocytes due to a breakdown of self-tolerance mechanisms. Patients presenting with acute-onset AIH often lack characteristic cli...

We propose a lesion-centric phenotype learning pipeline for interpretable breast ultrasound (BUS). Predicted lesion masks are used for mask-weighted pooling of segmentation-encoder latents, producing compact embeddings that suppress background influence; a lightweight calibration step improves cross-dataset consistency. We cluster embeddings to discover latent phenotypes and relate phenotype structure to morphology descriptors (compactness, boundary sharpness). On BUSI and BUS-UCLM with external...

A critical challenge in endocrine neurosurgery is intraoperative discrimination between normal pituitary tissue and pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs). Suggesting the universal persistence of near-infrared autofluorescence (NIRAF) in endocrine organs and inspired by routine clinical use of NIRAF for parathyroid gland identification, we discovered that pituitary NIRAF can be employed for label-free transsphenoidal surgery guidance. Ex vivo confocal spectral imaging of 33 specimens identifi...

BackgroundStroke is a leading cause of mortality and disability globally. However, information about stroke burden in the Philippines is limited. We sought to analyze stroke burden in the Philippines from 1990 to 2023. MethodsIncidence, prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023 data were used as indicators to analyze the burden of stroke by sex and age. Temporal trends in both crude and age-standardized rates were an...