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Background: We aimed to investigate the usefulness of intracranial arterial pulsatility index to assess the prognosis of lacunar infarcts. Materials and Methods: Forty-nine patients with confirmed acute lacunar infarct were enrolled in the study. A transcranial color-coded sonography was performed to assess the pulsatility index of bilateral middle cerebral, posterior cerebral, vertebral, and proximal internal carotid arteries. Patients' clinical status was assessed using a modified Rankin scale. Spearman correlation was used for reporting the relation between quantitative data. Statistical significance was defined as a two-tail p-value of less than 0.05. Results: The mean age ± standard deviation was 64.1 ± 9.07 years old, and 57.1% of the patients were male. Upon discharge, only 8.2% of the patients were ranked as 0 on the modified Rankin scale; however, after a 6-month follow-up period, this number increased to 49%. There were no significant differences between the left and right pulsatility index measurements in any of the assessed arteries. Patients with vertebral artery pulsatility indexes >1 on their primary assessment had significantly worse outcomes during the first, third, and sixth months follow-up (all r > 0.3, p-values < 0.01). Pulsatility indexes from other arteries did not predict the prognosis. Conclusion: Sonography-assisted assessment of the vertebral artery blood flow during the early stage of lacunar infarct provides a reliable reference for prognosis estimation.

In the context of recent guidelines for stroke management, application of computed tomographic perfusion (CTP) is anticipated to increase, especially within 6-24 hours after stroke onset. There are commercially available software packages to help to detect the infarct core and the penumbra, however, the results of these software are not always straightforward that might cause incorrect CTP interpretation. We present here a case of acute ischemic stroke in which the CTP software misinterpreted the results by labeling the normal hemisphere as infarction and ischemia due to luxury perfusion of the infarcted hemisphere. Awareness of laterality of the patient's symptoms and the understanding of functioning of perfusion analysis software is necessary to avoid this pitfall. Keywords: Perfusion imaging, Stroke, Neurologic examination

Purpose: Superior ophthalmic vein thrombosis (SOVT) is an extremely rare condition. Few studies have been published about clinical aspects of this condition. In this study, we have studied the symptoms, underlying etiologies, treatment, pathogenesis and complication of the SOVT and we tried to classify it based on the etiology, treatment, and prognosis. Methods: We reviewed the patients’ data from a tertiary academic referral center. Each patient with SOVT was then reviewed for symptoms associated with SOVT, underlying etiology, treatment protocol, treatment response, complications, possible pathogens, and final outcome. Results: Twenty-four cases of SOVT were included in this study. Overall, 13 cases were diagnosed as right-sided SOVT, out of which, eight had simultaneous right-sided cavernous sinus thrombosis (CST). Eighteen cases were diagnosed to have left-sided SOVT, out of which, 11 had simultaneous left-sided CST. Conclusions: The SOVT can be secondary to different mechanisms. The SOVT secondary to trauma, recent surgery and coagulopathy are mostly non-aggressive, and can be managed by conservative therapy and anticoagulation. The SOVT in patients with orbital cellulitis, history of active sinusitis or paranasal sinus surgery are aggressive presenting with acute orbital swelling, abscess and visual loss. This type of SOVT can be complicated by extension to the cavernous sinus and intracranial structures. These patients require urgent antibiotics therapy and sinus surgery. The most severe type of SOVT is caused by mucormycosis which may also extend intracranially resulting in stroke and is often life-threatening. Keywords: Superior ophthalmic vein thrombosis, Thrombophlebitis, Cavernous sinus thrombosis, Orbital cellulitis, Sinusitis

Purpose: Artificial intelligence (AI) has accelerated novel discoveries across multiple disciplines including medicine. Clinical medicine suffers from a lack of AI-based applications, potentially due to lack of awareness of AI methodology. Future collaboration between computer scientists and clinicians is critical to maximize the benefits of transformative technology in this field for patients. To illustrate, we describe AI-based advances in the diagnosis and management of gliomas, the most common primary central nervous system (CNS) malignancy.Methods: Presented is a succinct description of foundational concepts of AI approaches and their relevance to clinical medicine, geared toward clinicians without computer science backgrounds. We also review novel AI approaches in the diagnosis and management of glioma.Results: Novel AI approaches in gliomas have been developed to predict the grading and genomics from imaging, automate the diagnosis from histopathology, and provide insight into prognosis.Conclusion: Novel AI approaches offer acceptable performance in gliomas. Further investigation is necessary to improve the methodology and determine the full clinical utility of these novel approaches.

Introduction: The cases of misconceptions are intellectual models of phenomena that are different from accepted scientific models of the same phenomena. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of cardiovascular misconceptions among students, and evaluate the role of cardiovascular physiology courses in eliminating them. Methods: This descriptive study was performed on 348 undergraduates in three faculties of medicine, nursing, and biology of Arak University of Medical Sciences and Arak University (year 2009). Students were asked to answer four cardiovascular questions through a questionnaire. The answers of students were analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive statistic and two tailed comparison of proportions to reveal any difference between groups. Results: The prevalence of misconception about comparison of left and right ventricular output ranged from 80 to 98 percents. The misconception was prevalent among 79 to 84 percent of students considering pulse velocity comparison to blood velocity in vessel. Between 95 to 99 percent of them had this problem about the effect of resistance increase on blood flow. Sixty Nine to 73 percent of students had trouble with parallel resistance and effect of removal of one limb on total peripheral resistance. Overall, passing cardiovascular physiology courses was not accompanied with significantly different rate of misconceptions. Conclusion: There is a wide prevalence of misconception about at least 4 cardiovascular concepts among students, and passing the courses of cardiovascular physiology has significant effect in reducing this prevalence.

Background: We assess the potency of different Doppler indices in the differentiation of obstructive and nonobstructive hydronephrosis. Materials and Methods: In this study, infants and children who were referred for the evaluation of unilateral hydronephrosis were enrolled. Ultrasonography for the assessment of the degree of hydronephrosis and a voiding cystourethrogram for the exclusion of vesicoureteral reflux was performed. Then, Doppler ultrasonography was done for both kidneys of each patient using four classic Doppler indices as well as the difference (delta) of each index between to kidneys. Diuretic renography with 99 mTc-ethylene dicysteine (99 mTc-EC) was performed for each patient. Results: Thirty-nine patients met the inclusion criteria. After diuretic renography, 29 (74.35%) patients had shown a nonobstructive pattern, and ten (25.65%) patients had a partial (intermediate) or complete obstruction. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, none of the classic indices of Doppler duplex (i.e., resistive index [RI], resistance index, end diastolic velocity, and peak systolic velocity) had the ability to make a difference between obstructive and nonobstructive hydronephrosis. However, by calculating the difference (delta) of these indices between two kidneys of each patient, delta RI could differentiate the nonobstructive condition, significantly (P = 0.006). A cutoff value of 0.055 has 60% sensitivity and 82.8% specificity. The area under the ROC curve for delta RI is 0.795 (standard error: 0.086, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.626, 0.964). Furthermore, RI ratio between two kidneys of each patient could differentiate the nonobstructive condition, significantly (P = 0.012). A cutoff point of 1.075 has 70% sensitivity and 82.8% specificity. The area under the ROC curve for RI ratio was 0.769 (standard error: 0.104, 95% CI: 0.565, 0.973). Conclusion: This study shows that RI ratio and delta RI with a high specificity could differentiate nonobstructive hydronephrosis and therefore it is a promising way to use especially in the follow-up of children with hydronephrosis.

Background. Dietary supplementation has been used as a mechanism to augment the immune system. Adjunctive therapy with L-arginine has the potential to improve outcomes in active tuberculosis. Methods. In a randomized clinical trial 63 participants with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis in Markazi Province of Iran were given arginine or placebo for 4 weeks in addition to conventional chemotherapy. The final treatment success, sputum conversion, weight gain, and clinical symptoms after one and two months were considered as primary outcomes and secondary outcomes were ESR, CRP, and Hg. Data were collected and analyzed with SPSS software (ver. 18). Results. Arginine supplementation reduced constitutional symptoms (P=0.032) in patients with smear-positive TB at the end of the first month of treatment. Arginine treated patients had significantly increased BMI at the end of the first and second months of treatment (P=0.032 and P=0.04) and a reduced CRP at the end of the first month of treatment (P=0.03) versus placebo group. Conclusion. Arginine is useful as an adjunctive therapy in patients with active tuberculosis, in which the effects are more likely mediated by the increased production of nitric oxide and improved constitutional symptoms and weight gain. This trial is registered with Clinical Trials Registry of Iran: IRCT201211179855N2.

Abstract Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a highly prevalent disease that has life-threatening consequences like micro and macrovascular complication. Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the common consequences of T2DM which is related to secretory factors like hepatokines. Angiopoietin-Like Protein 3 (ANGPTL3) is a hepatokine that is perturbated in cardiometabolic diseases and experimental studies showed its effect on renal functions and lipid metabolism. For the first time, ANGPTL3 was measured in patients with T2DM and DN in the present study. Methods Serum levels of ANGPTL3, IL-6, and TNF-α were measured in 60 healthy control, 60 T2DM patients, and 61 DN patients. Results Serum levels of ANGPTL3 increased in T2DM (252.39 ± 66.01) and DN (284.59 ± 69.27) patients compared to controls (160.22 ± 48.96), and DN patients compared with T2DM patients. Urinary albumin excretion (UAE) was higher in the DN group compared to T2DM and control groups. Moreover, serum levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were elevated in both patient groups compared to controls. Moreover, ANGPTL3 represented a positive correlation with triglycerides, creatinine, and UAE in patients with both T2DM and DN groups and showed an inverse correlation with eGFR in patients with DN. Moreover, this hepatokine had a good potential to differentiate patients from controls, especially, DN patients. Conclusions these findings provide invivo evidence for the relation of ANGPTL3 with renal dysfunction and hypertriglyceridemia in patients with DN which is in line with experimental findings and suggested a potential role for this hepatokine in DN pathogenesis.