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Purpose To compare available methods for whole-brain and gray matter (GM) atrophy estimation in multiple sclerosis (MS) in terms of repeatability (same magnetic resonance [MR] imaging unit) and reproducibility (different system/field strength) for their potential clinical applications. Materials and Methods The softwares ANTs-v1.9, CIVET-v2.1, FSL-SIENAX/SIENA-5.0.1, Icometrix-MSmetrix-1.7, and SPM-v12 were compared. This retrospective study, performed between March 2015 and March 2017, collected data from (a) eight simulated MR images and longitudinal data (2 weeks) from 10 healthy control subjects to assess the cross-sectional and longitudinal accuracy of atrophy measures, (b) test-retest MR images in 29 patients with MS acquired within the same day at different imaging unit field strengths/manufacturers to evaluate precision, and (c) longitudinal data (1 year) in 24 patients with MS for the agreement between methods. Tissue segmentation, image registration, and white matter (WM) lesion filling were also evaluated. Multiple paired t tests were used for comparisons. Results High values of accuracy (0.87-0.97) for whole-brain and GM volumes were found, with the lowest values for MSmetrix. ANTs showed the lowest mean error (0.02%) for whole-brain atrophy in healthy control subjects, with a coefficient of variation of 0.5%. SPM showed the smallest mean error (0.07%) and coefficient of variation (0.08%) for GM atrophy. Globally, good repeatability (P > .05) but poor reproducibility (P < .05) were found for all methods. WM lesion filling technique mainly affected ANTs, MSmetrix, and SPM results (P < .05). Conclusion From this comparison, it would be possible to select a software for atrophy measurement, depending on the requirements of the application (research center, clinical trial) and its goal (accuracy and repeatability or reproducibility). An improved reproducibility is required for clinical application. © RSNA, 2018 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

Introduction: We have previously shown that a tag single nucleotide polymorphism (rs10235235), which maps to\ud the CYP3A locus (7q22.1), was associated with a reduction in premenopausal urinary estrone glucuronide levels and\ud a modest reduction in risk of breast cancer in women age ≤50 years.\ud Methods: We further investigated the association of rs10235235 with breast cancer risk in a large case control study of\ud 47,346 cases and 47,570 controls from 52 studies participating in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Genotyping\ud of rs10235235 was conducted using a custom Illumina Infinium array. Stratified analyses were conducted to determine\ud whether this association was modified by age at diagnosis, ethnicity, age at menarche or tumor characteristics.\ud Results: We confirmed the association of rs10235235 with breast cancer risk for women of European ancestry but found\ud no evidence that this association differed with age at diagnosis. Heterozygote and homozygote odds ratios (ORs) were\ud OR = 0.98 (95% CI 0.94, 1.01; P = 0.2) and OR = 0.80 (95% CI 0.69, 0.93; P = 0.004), respectively (Ptrend = 0.02). There was\ud no evidence of effect modification by tumor characteristics. rs10235235 was, however, associated with age at menarche\ud in controls (Ptrend = 0.005) but not cases (Ptrend = 0.97). Consequently the association between rs10235235 and breast\ud cancer risk differed according to age at menarche (Phet = 0.02); the rare allele of rs10235235 was associated with a\ud reduction in breast cancer risk for women who had their menarche age ≥15 years (ORhet = 0.84, 95% CI 0.75, 0.94;\ud ORhom = 0.81, 95% CI 0.51, 1.30; Ptrend = 0.002) but not for those who had their menarche age ≤11 years (ORhet = 1.06,\ud 95% CI 0.95, 1.19, ORhom = 1.07, 95% CI 0.67, 1.72; Ptrend = 0.29).\ud Conclusions: To our knowledge rs10235235 is the first single nucleotide polymorphism to be associated with both\ud breast cancer risk and age at menarche consistent with the well-documented association between later age at menarche\ud and a reduction in breast cancer risk. These associations are likely mediated via an effect on circulating hormone levels.

Contains fulltext : 124659.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) CONTEXT: Unbalanced subtelomeric chromosomal rearrangements are often associated with intellectual disability (ID) and malformation syndromes. The prevalence of such rearrangements has been reported to be 5-9% in ID populations. AIMS: To study the prevalence of subtelomeric rearrangements in the Indonesian ID population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We tested 436 subjects with unexplained ID using multiplex ligation dependent probe amplification (MLPA) using the specific designed sets of probes to detect human subtelomeric chromosomal imbalances (SALSA P070 and P036D). If necessary, abnormal findings were confirmed by other MLPA probe kits, fluorescent in situ hybridization or Single Nucleotide Polymorphism array. RESULTS: A subtelomeric aberration was identified in 3.7% of patients (16/436). Details on subtelomeric aberrations and confirmation analyses are discussed. CONCLUSION: This is the first study describing the presence of subtelomeric rearrangements in individuals with ID in Indonesia. Furthermore, it shows that also in Indonesia such abnormalities are a prime cause of ID and that in developing countries with limited diagnostic services such as Indonesia, it is important and feasible to uncover the genetic etiology in a significant number of cases with ID.

Background The Netherlands are lacking reliable national empirical data in relation to the development of birth prevalence of Down syndrome. Our study aims at assessing valid national live birth prevalence rates for the period 1986-2007. Method On the basis of the annual child/adult ratio of Down syndrome diagnoses in five out of the eight Dutch cytogenetic centres, the national annual figures of the National Cytogenetic Network on total numbers of postnatal Down syndrome diagnoses were transformed into national figures on total numbers of postnatal Down syndrome diagnoses in newborn children only. In combination with the national annual data of the Working Group for Prenatal Diagnostics and Therapeutics on numbers of Down syndrome pregnancies not aborted after diagnosis, national figures on birth prevalence were constructed. Results For the period 1986-2007, results based on the data of the cytogenetic centres are almost similar to the theory-based model data of de Graaf et al., with a small discrepancy of approximately 4%. Down syndrome birth prevalence in the Netherlands shows an upward trend from around 11 per 10 000 births in the early 1990s to around 14 per 10 000 births nowadays. Conclusion In spite of expansion of antenatal screening in the Netherlands, Down syndrome live birth prevalence has risen in the last two decades as a result of rising maternal age. This increase in Down syndrome birth prevalence is in contrast to studies from other European countries.

Ascites is a common clinical symptom in liver cirrhosis, inflammatory disorders of the abdomen and a major late manifestation of metastatic malignancies. Standard cytopathological techniques and immunocytochemistry have specificities and sensitivities of approximately 95 and 60%, respectively for the presence of tumor cells. Development of faster and more accurate screening methods would be of great clinical utility. In this work we examined differential analysis of the unbound proteins in the supernatant of ascites fluid by Protein-Chip SELDI mass spectrometry. There were 21 tumor cell-positive and 34 tumor cell-negative samples. We used principal component analysis coupled with linear regression applied to the mass spectra of the samples to distinguish between the sample groups. Two sample sets for statistical analysis were created after randomization, a training set with 37 samples and a validation set with 18 samples resulting in a specificity of 93% and a sensitivity of 83% on the training set. The validation set yielded a specificity and sensitivity of 75%. This study suggests that SELDI-TOF mass spectrometry appears to have great potential as a surrogate diagnostic tool to evaluate effusion specimens.

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BACKGROUND/AIM: We report a case of a mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma developed in a colorectal adenocarcinoma with lymph node and liver metastases exclusively emanating from the neuroendocrine carcinoma component. The patient underwent right hemicolectomy and postoperatively received chemotherapy with cisplatin and etoposide and subsequent high-dose induction chemotherapy, followed by autologous stem cell transplantation. Following this treatment, there was a complete remission. Currently, thirthy months after treatment, the patient is in unmaintained complete remission. Comparative exome sequencing of germline DNA and DNA from the two separate malignant components revealed six somatic changes in cancer consensus genes. Both components shared somatic mutations in Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC), Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS), B-cell CLL/lymphoma 9 (BCL9) and Forkhead Box P1 (FOXP1) genes. Mutation in SWI/SNF related, matrix associated, actin dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily a, member 4 (SMARCA4) was only found in the neuroendocrine carcinoma component. The finding of several identical somatic mutations in both components supports a clonal relationship between the neuroendocrine carcinoma and the adenocarcinoma. We suggest that a mutation in SMARCA4 could be responsible for the transformation of the adenocarcinoma component into the neuroendocrine phenotype.

In this article, we present a new 3D non-rigid surface registration algorithm for unstructured point clouds. The algorithm has very low data requirements and can easily be adapted to use additional information other than vertex positions such as texture information or prior knowledge about local deformations. It is robust to noise, outliers and to some extent to missing data. The mathematical theory is based on probability density estimation. Furthermore, we use the mean shift formula for fast computation. The algorithm is able to use different regularisation models for the deformation. Quantitative and qualitative experiments are conducted on artificial surfaces and on real 3D face data.

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