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Background There are multiple tools available to visualize the retinal and choroidal vasculature of the posterior globe. However, there are currently no reliable in vivo imaging techniques that can visualize the entire retrobulbar course of the retinal and ciliary vessels. Purpose To identify and characterize the central retinal artery (CRA) using cone-beam CT (CBCT) images obtained as part of diagnostic cerebral angiography. Materials and Methods In this retrospective study, patients with catheter DSA performed between October 2019 and October 2020 were included if CBCT angiography included the orbit in the field of view. The CBCT angiography data sets were postprocessed with a small field-of-view volume centered in the posterior globe to a maximum resolution of 0.2 mm. The following were evaluated: CRA origin, CRA course, CRA point of penetration into the optic nerve sheath, bifurcation of the CRA at the papilla, visualization of anatomic variants, and visualization of the central retinal vein. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. Results Twenty-one patients with 24 visualized orbits were included in the analysis (mean age, 55 years ± 15; 14 women). Indications for angiography were as follows: diagnostic angiography (n = 8), aneurysm treatment (n = 6), or other (n = 7). The CRA was identified in all orbits; the origin, course, point of penetration of the CRA into the optic nerve sheath, and termination in the papilla were visualized in all orbits. The average length of the intraneural segment was 10.6 mm (range, 7-18 mm). The central retinal vein was identified in six of 24 orbits. Conclusion Cone-beam CT, performed during diagnostic angiography, consistently demonstrated the in vivo central retinal artery, demonstrating excellent potential for multiple diagnostic and therapeutic applications. © RSNA, 2021 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

Objective To evaluate clinical outcome of cementless ceramic on ceramic primary total hip arthroplasty in young patients of Avascular necrosis of Femoral head. Methods A total of 30 hips undergoing cementless ceramic on ceramic primary total hip arthroplasty using S-ROM femoral stem were prospectively and retrospectively evaluated. Results Pre-operatively the mean HHS was 32.73 which increased to a mean of 87.8 post-operatively. The difference was statistically significant (p value Conclusion Based on our study, we recommend ceramic on ceramic THR for younger patients in the age group of less than 50 years of age.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Various patterns of leukoencephalopathy have been described in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this article, we aimed to describe the clinical and imaging features of acute disseminated leukoencephalopathy in critically ill patients with COVID-19 and the imaging evolution during a short-term follow-up. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We identified and reviewed the clinical data, laboratory results, imaging findings, and outcomes for 8 critically ill patients with COVID-19 with acute disseminated leukoencephalopathy. RESULTS: All patients demonstrated multiple areas of white matter changes in both cerebral hemispheres; 87.5% (7/8) of patients had a posterior predilection. Four patients (50%) had short-term follow-up imaging within a median of 17 days after the first MR imaging; they developed brain atrophy, and their white matter lesions evolved into necrotizing cystic cavitations. All (8/8) patients had inflammatory cytokine release syndrome as demonstrated by elevated interleukin-6, D-dimer, lactate dehydrogenase, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, and ferritin levels. Most (7/8; 87.5%) patients were on prolonged ventilator support (median, 44.5 days; interquartile range, 20.5 days). These patients had poor functional outcomes (6/8 [75%] patients were discharged with mRS 5) and high mortality (2/8, 25%). CONCLUSIONS: Critically ill patients with COVID-19 can develop acute disseminated leukoencephalopathy that evolves into cystic degeneration of white matter lesions with brain atrophy during a short period, which we dubbed virus-associated necrotizing disseminated acute leukoencephalopathy. This may be the result of COVID-19-related endothelial injury, cytokine storm, or thrombotic microangiopathy.

ObjectiveTo determine the prevalence and associated mortality of well-defined neurologic diagnoses among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), we prospectively followed hospitalized severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)–positive patients and recorded new neurologic disorders and hospital outcomes.MethodsWe conducted a prospective, multicenter, observational study of consecutive hospitalized adults in the New York City metropolitan area with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. The prevalence of new neurologic disorders (as diagnosed by a neurologist) was recorded and in-hospital mortality and discharge disposition were compared between patients with COVID-19 with and without neurologic disorders.ResultsOf 4,491 patients with COVID-19 hospitalized during the study timeframe, 606 (13.5%) developed a new neurologic disorder in a median of 2 days from COVID-19 symptom onset. The most common diagnoses were toxic/metabolic encephalopathy (6.8%), seizure (1.6%), stroke (1.9%), and hypoxic/ischemic injury (1.4%). No patient had meningitis/encephalitis or myelopathy/myelitis referable to SARS-CoV-2 infection and 18/18 CSF specimens were reverse transcriptase PCR negative for SARS-CoV-2. Patients with neurologic disorders were more often older, male, white, hypertensive, diabetic, intubated, and had higher sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores (all p < 0.05). After adjusting for age, sex, SOFA scores, intubation, history, medical complications, medications, and comfort care status, patients with COVID-19 with neurologic disorders had increased risk of in-hospital mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 1.38, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17–1.62, p < 0.001) and decreased likelihood of discharge home (HR 0.72, 95% CI 0.63–0.85, p < 0.001).ConclusionsNeurologic disorders were detected in 13.5% of patients with COVID-19 and were associated with increased risk of in-hospital mortality and decreased likelihood of discharge home. Many observed neurologic disorders may be sequelae of severe systemic illness.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text., Background and Purpose: We conducted this study to investigate the prevalence and distribution of cerebral microbleeds and leukoencephalopathy in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and correlate with clinical, laboratory, and functional outcomes. Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of 4131 COVID-19 positive adult patients who were admitted to 3tertiary care hospitals of an academic medical center at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City from March 1, 2020, to May 10, 2020, to identify patients who had magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. We evaluated the MRIs in detail, and identified a subset of patients with leukoencephalopathy and/or cerebral microbleeds. We compared clinical, laboratory, and functional outcomes for these patients to patients who had a brain MRI that did not show these findings. Results: Of 115 patients who had an MRI of the brain performed, 35 (30.4%) patients had leukoencephalopathy and/or cerebral microbleeds. Patients with leukoencephalopathy and/or cerebral microbleeds had neuroimaging performed later during the hospitalization course (27 versus10.6 days; P

Background and Purpose— The first of the 2 NINDS (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) Study trials did not show a significant increase in early neurological improvement, defined as National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) improvement by ≥4, with alteplase treatment. We hypothesized that early neurological improvement defined as a percentage change in NIHSS (percent change NIHSS) at 24 hours is superior to other definitions in predicting 3-month functional outcomes and using this definition there would be treatment benefit of alteplase over placebo at 24 hours. Methods— We analyzed the NINDS rt-PA Stroke Study (Parts 1 and 2) trial data. Percent change NIHSS was defined as ([admission NIHSS score−24-hour NIHSS score]×100/admission NIHSS score] and delta NIHSS as (admission NIHSS score−24-hour NIHSS score). We compared early neurological improvement using these definitions between alteplase versus placebo patients. We also used receiver operating characteristic curve to determine the predictive association of early neurological improvement with excellent 3-month functional outcomes (Barthel Index score of 95–100 and modified Rankin Scale score of 0–1), good 3-month functional outcome (modified Rankin Scale score of 0–2), and 3-month infarct volume. Results— There was a significantly greater improvement in the 24-hour median percent change NIHSS among patients treated with alteplase compared with the placebo group (28% versus 15%; P =0.045) but not median delta NIHSS (3 versus 2; P =0.471). Receiver operating characteristic curve comparison showed that percent change NIHSS (ROC percent ) was better than delta NIHSS (ROC delta ) and admission NIHSS (ROC admission ) with regards to excellent 3-month Barthel Index (ROC percent , 0.83; ROC delta , 0.76; ROC admission , 0.75), excellent 3-month modified Rankin Scale (ROC percent , 0.83; ROC delta , 0.74; ROC admission , 0.78), and good 3-month modified Rankin Scale (ROC percent , 0.83; ROC delta , 0.76; ROC admission , 0.78). Conclusions— In the NINDS rt-PA trial, alteplase was associated with a significant percent change improvement in NIHSS at 24 hours. Percent change in NIHSS may be a better surrogate marker of thrombolytic activity and 3-month outcomes.

ObjectiveTo present the clinical, radiologic, and pathologic findings of a patient with carotid intimal sarcoma.MethodsDetailed medical interview, neurologic examination, and diagnostic evaluation including CT angiography head and neck, MRI brain and neck, digital subtraction angiography, and biopsy of the mass were performed.ResultsWe report a patient who presented with symptoms of multifocal, bilateral strokes over weeks caused by an enlarging tumor thrombus associated with an intimal sarcoma of the carotid artery. The presence of a carotid space mass encasing the left internal carotid artery was initially not recognized on imaging and was mistakenly attributed to soft atheromatous plaque rather than tumor thrombus. Rapid disease progression resulted in multiple intracranial metastases from tumor embolization.ConclusionClinical and radiologic findings of intimal sarcoma may be similar to those of thrombotic disease. However, patients with sarcoma may show an associated perivascular soft tissue mass and an unusual distribution of vessel stenosis. Reevaluation of imaging should be considered in patients presenting with initial imaging findings suggestive of rapidly progressive thrombotic disease who have a poor response to antithrombotic therapy and do not follow an expected clinical course.

Introduction: We sought to evaluate the accuracy of perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) in late presenting patients for estimating the infarct volume at 24 hours after presentation. Methods: This is a secondary analysis of DEFUSE 3, which included stroke patients with anterior circulation occlusion within 6-16 hours of last known normal. The primary outcome is the final infarct volume on a 24-hour MRI scan (volume of DWI positive tissue), adjusted for the baseline infarct volume. We censored 3 patients with 24-hour follow-up MRI infarct volumes >300 mL, which we considered non-physiologic for a hemispheric stroke. The primary predictors are the baseline volume of Tmax >6s, Tmax >10s, and hypoperfusion intensity ratio (HIR: Tmax10/Tmax6) on CT/MR perfusion at hospital admission. We stratified the cohort into 4 categories (untreated, TICI 0-2a, TICI 2b, and TICI3) and fit linear regression models to each of our predictors. Results: We included 147 patients, of which 69 were untreated, 17 had TICI 0-2a, 46 had TICI 2b, and 15 had TICI 3. In untreated patients, both HIR and Tmax10 volume were predictive of adjusted 24-hour follow-up infarct volume (Table). In treated patients, there were no consistent relationships between the perfusion imaging variables and adjusted final infarct volume (Table). Conclusion: For patients with late window anterior circulation large vessel occlusion stroke, HIR and Tmax10 volume appear to be reliable predictors of subsequent infarct volume in untreated patients. For patients treated with thrombectomy, further research is warranted to better understand the more complex relationship between baseline perfusion imaging and the 24 hour, and beyond, infarct volume.

Background Evolution of brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is unknown. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 4530 critically ill patients with COVID-19 admitted to three tertiary care hospitals in New York City from March 1 to June 30, 2020 to identify patients who had more than one brain MRI. We reviewed the initial and final MRI for each patient to (1) measure the percent change in the bicaudate index and third ventricular diameter and (2) evaluate changes in the presence and severity of white matter changes. Results Twenty-one patients had two MRIs separated by a median of 22 [Interquartile range (IQR) 14–30] days. Ventricle size increased for 15 patients (71%) between scans [median bicaudate index 0.16 (IQR 0.126–0.181) initially and 0.167 (IQR 0.138–0.203) on final imaging (p

A 38-year-old male presented with a three-week history of bilateral lower extremity choreiform movements. History included sleep abnormalities, rushed and unintelligible speech, with delusions two to six months prior to presentation. He also developed mild dysphagia, staring spells, and anterograde amnesia. On examination, he had pressured speech, asynchronous cycling movements of the bilateral lower extremities persisting during sleep, occasional ballistic movements of the upper extremities, and ataxia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain showed high cortical signal change in bilateral parieto-occipital cortices with evidence of medullary olive hypertrophy bilaterally. Electroencephalography showed generalized slowing without periodic spikes. Cerebrospinal fluid was positive for protein 14-3-3 and real-time quaking-induced conversion. Genetic testing was positive for autosomal dominant prion protein gene (PRNP) genetic mutation. The patient passed away three months after discharge. This case provides previously undescribed imaging and movement abnormalities in a patient with familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), and suggests that CJD should not be removed from the differential in patients with these atypical findings.

Introduction The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic has led to challenges in provision of care, clinical assessment and communication with families. The unique considerations associated with evaluation of catastrophic brain injury and death by neurologic criteria in patients with Covid-19 infection have not been examined. Methods We describe the evaluation of six patients hospitalized at a health network in New York City in April 2020 who had Covid-19, were comatose and had absent brainstem reflexes. Results Four males and two females with a median age of 58.5 (IQR 47–68) were evaluated for catastrophic brain injury due to stroke and/or global anoxic injury at a median of 14 days (IQR 13–18) after admission for acute respiratory failure due to Covid-19. All patients had hypotension requiring vasopressors and had been treated with sedative/narcotic drips for ventilator dyssynchrony. Among these patients, 5 had received paralytics. Apnea testing was performed for 1 patient due to the decision to withdraw treatment (n = 2), concern for inability to tolerate testing (n = 2) and observation of spontaneous respirations (n = 1). The apnea test was aborted due to hypoxia and hypotension. After ancillary testing, death was declared in three patients based on neurologic criteria and in three patients based on cardiopulmonary criteria (after withdrawal of support (n = 2) or cardiopulmonary arrest (n = 1)). A family member was able to visit 5/6 patients prior to cardiopulmonary arrest/discontinuation of organ support. Conclusion It is feasible to evaluate patients with catastrophic brain injury and declare brain death despite the Covid-19 pandemic, but this requires unique considerations., Highlights • Patients with COVID-19 can have catastrophic brain injuries. • Family education about catastrophic brain injury is challenging during a pandemic. • The determination of brain death may be difficult in patients with COVID-19. • Medications and renal failure may confound brain death determination in COVID-19. • A modified apnea test may prevent high-risk aerosolization of COVID-19.

Objective: To describe the ischemic stroke subtypes related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in a cohort of New York City hospitals and explore their etiopathogenesis. Background: Most neurological manifestations are non-focal, but few have reported the characteristics of ischemic strokes or investigated its pathophysiology. Methods: Data were collected prospectively April 1-April 15, 2020 from two centers in New York City to review possible ischemic stroke types seen in COVID-19-positive patients. Patient presentation, demographics, related vascular risk factors, associated laboratory markers, as well as imaging and outcomes were collected. Results: The age of patients ranged between 27 and 82 years. Approximately 81% of patients had known vascular risk factors, the commonest being hypertension (75%) followed by diabetes (50%) coronary disease or atrial fibrillation. Eight patients presented with large vessel occlusion (LVO) with median age 55 years (27-82) and all were male. Eight patients presented with non-LVO syndromes, with median age 65.5 years (59-82) and most were female (62.5%). Both groups were 50% African Americans and 37.5% South Asian. Both groups had similar D-dimer levels although other acute phase reactants/disease severity markers (Ferritin, CRP, procalcitonin) were higher in the LVO group. The LVO group also had a significantly higher mortality compared to the non-LVO group. The most common etiology was cryptogenic (6 patients) followed by small vessel occlusion (3 patients) and undetermined-unclassified (3 patients). For the remaining 4 patients, 2 were identified as cardioembolic and 2 with large artery atherosclerosis. Conclusion: COVID-19-related ischemic events can present as small vessel occlusions, branch emboli or large vessel occlusions. The most common etiology is cryptogenic. Patients with LVO syndromes tend to be younger, male and may have elevated acute inflammatory markers.

Introduction: Managing distal femur non-union can be a struggle for any orthopedician as it brings along many perplexities which may not lead to satisfactory patient outcome. The target in these cases should be to reduce the morbidity and allow early rehabilitation of the patient and to accomplish this, megaprostheses can be a feasible option. The orthodox use of megaprostheses is in the musculo-skeletal oncologic surgeries but its use can be extended to traumatic etiologies. These can be offered as a single stage definite procedure in patients who have already undergone several previous surgeries. Here we report a series of four cases of persistent non-union of distal femur treated with megaprostheses and recommend this modality for achieving the desired goal but the indication should be meticulously selected. Hypotheses: Megaprosthesis as a definitive treatment option in persistent distal femur non-union and prevention of repeated surgical intervention. Methods: Four cases of persistent distal femur nonunion with failed osteosynthesis were selected who were initially treated with a distal femur locking plate. Results were assessed in terms of range of motion, limb length discrepancy, knee society score and osteointegration of the components. Results: The mean age of the patients at the time of DFEPR was 49 years (42-55). The mean follow up of patients was for approximately 2 years, with the longest follow up being 3.5 years for the first operated case of the series. The range of motion was from full extension to about 105 degrees of flexion with two patients having an extension lag of 10 degrees. Patients were ambulatory without support. Postoperatively, the mean knee society score was 83 (78–88) at last follow-up as compared to 29 (21-36) in the pre-operative period. No case of infection or loosening was reported. There was 1 cm of shortening in one patient in the operated limb which was compensated by giving shoe raise. Good osseointegration of the megaprosthesis was revealed on both anteroposterior and lateral radiographs. Conclusion: Although there are very limited studies on the use of megaprosthesis for traumatic cases, it can be considered as an alternative when we are left with only arthrodesis or amputation as the final option. Despite the operative challenges, there is marked improvement in pain and functional capacity as experienced by these severely limited patients, which are the hallmarks of a successful salvage. The use of distal femur mega-prosthesis is a novel acumen in cases, where bone stock at the fracture site at distal end of femur is so severely compromised that traditional revision osteosynthesis would not provide stable and durable fixation. The indications for this surgery must be rigorously selected and should only complement osteosynthesis procedures, which remain the reference treatment option.

Background and Purpose There are a myriad of aspiration catheters used for primary aspiration for mechanical embolectomy for acute ischemic stroke. Over the past several years there has been increased interest in the use of the 6Fr Sofia Plus aspiration catheter as a primary aspiration catheter due to its trackability and navigability. We performed a multicenter retrospective study examining the efficacy of the Sofia aspiration catheter as a stand-alone aspiration treatment for large vessel occlusion. Materials and Methods This was an investigator initiated study and no study funding was received. Following Institutional Review Board Approval, consecutive cases in which the Sofia catheter was used for aspiration thrombectomy for treatment of large vessel occlusion were included. Exclusion criteria were the following: 1) Sofia not used for first pass, and 2) stent-triever used as an adjunct on the first pass. The primary outcome of the study was first pass recanalization (TICI 2b/3). Secondary outcomes included first pass TICI 2c/3, final TICI using Sofia alone, cross-over to other thrombectomy devices, number of passes, time from puncture to recanalization and complications. Results From the six centers, a total of 323 patients were included. First pass recanalization with TICI 2b/3 was achieved in 69.7% of cases. First pass recanalization with TICI 2c/3 was achieved in 48.9% of cases. 74.8% patients achieved a TICI 2b/3 with the Sofia alone. Cross-over to other thrombectomy devices occurred in 29.1% of cases. The median number of passes performed was 1.5 (IQR=1–3). Median time from puncture to recanalization was 25 (IQR=15–35). Procedure related complications occurred in 2.8% of cases. Conclusion Our study highlights the potential advantage of the 5Fr and 6Fr Sofia aspiration catheters for primary aspiration thrombectomy in acute ischemic stroke. We were able to achieve high rates of first pass recanalization with low cross-over rates to other thrombectomy devices. Median procedure time was low as were procedural complications. Disclosures W. Brinjikji: 1; C; NIH/NINDS, Cerenovus. 2; C; Microvention, Cerenovus. 4; C; Marblehead Medical LLC. R. DeLeacy: None. D. Meila: None. M. Mokin: None. E. Samaniego: None. A. Cora: None. M. Shapiro: None. S. Agarwal: None. D. Bageac: None. J. Roa: None. Z. Ren: None. W. Li: None. L. Rinaldo: None. H. Cloft: None. D. Volders: None. T. Huynh: None. E. Raz: None.

Background and Purpose The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused unprecedented demand and burden on emergency health care services in New York City. We aim to describe our experience providing acute stroke care at a comprehensive stroke center (CSC) and the impact of the pandemic on the quality of care for patients presenting with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Methods We retrospectively analyzed data from a quality improvement registry of consecutive AIS patients at New York University Langone Health's CSC between 06/01/2019-05/15/2020. During the early stages of the pandemic, the acute stroke process was modified to incorporate COVID-19 screening, testing, and other precautionary measures. We compared stroke quality metrics including treatment times and discharge outcomes of AIS patients during the pandemic (03/012020-05/152020) compared with a historical pre-pandemic group (6/1/2019-2/29/2020). Results A total of 754 patients (pandemic-120; pre-pandemic-634) were admitted with a principal diagnosis of AIS; 198 (26.3%) received alteplase and/or mechanical thrombectomy. Despite longer median door to head CT times (16 vs 12 minutes; p = 0.05) and a trend towards longer door to groin puncture times (79.5 vs. 71 min, p = 0.06), the time to alteplase administration (36 vs 35 min; p = 0.83), door to reperfusion times (103 vs 97 min, p = 0.18) and defect-free care (95.2% vs 94.7%; p = 0.84) were similar in the pandemic and pre-pandemic groups. Successful recanalization rates (TICI≥2b) were also similar (82.6% vs. 86.7%, p = 0.48). After adjusting for stroke severity, age and a prior history of transient ischemic attack/stroke, pandemic patients had increased discharge mortality (adjusted OR 2.90 95% CI 1.77 – 7.17, p = 0.021) Conclusion Despite unprecedented demands on emergency healthcare services, early multidisciplinary efforts to adapt the acute stroke treatment process resulted in keeping the stroke quality time metrics close to pre-pandemic levels. Future studies will be needed with a larger cohort comparing discharge and long-term outcomes between pre-pandemic and pandemic AIS patients.

ObjectiveTo describe the ischemic stroke subtypes related to COVID-19 in a cohort of NYC hospitals and explore their etiopathogenesis.BackgroundExtra-pulmonary involvement of COVID-19 has been reported in the hepatic, renal and hematological systems. Most neurological manifestations are non-focal, but few have reported the characteristics of ischemic strokes or investigated its pathophysiology.MethodsData were collected prospectively from March 15 to April 15, 2020 from four centers in New York City to review possible ischemic stroke types seen in COVID-19 positive patients. Patient presentation, demographics, other related vascular risk factors, associated laboratory and coagulation markers, as well as imaging and outcomes for consecutive stroke patients positive for SARS-COV2 infection over the period studied were collected.ResultsIn our study, the age range of patients was 25-75 with no significant male preponderance. The median age of LVO patients was 48. Stroke was the presenting and hospitalizing event in 70%. One fifth of patients did not have common risk factors for ischemic stroke and none had atrial fibrillation, coronary or cerebrovascular disease, or were smokers. Half had a poor outcome with 40% ending in mortality (60% in LVO group) and one in a critical condition due ARDS. All had high neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio except one who demonstrated some neurological recovery. D-dimer levels showed mild to severe elevation when collected. None of the LVO cases had known cardiac risk factors but two out of five were found to have cardiac abnormalities during their hospitalization. All LVOs had hypercoagulable lab markers especially elevated D-dimer and/or fibrinogen. The LVO patients were younger and sicker with a median age of 46 and mean NIHSS of 24 as opposed to non-LVOs with a median age of 62 and mean NIHSS of 6 respectively.ConclusionCOVID-19 related ischemic events can be small vessel, branch emboli or large vessel occlusions. The latter is often associated with either a hypercoagulable state or cardio-embolism. Patient outcomes were worse when multi-organ or pulmonary system failure prevailed.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) has helped many patients achieve functional independence. The effect of time-to-treatment based in specific epochs and as related to Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) has not been established. The goal of the study was to evaluate the association between last known normal (LKN)-to-puncture time and good functional outcome. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study of prospectively collected acute ischemic stroke patients undergoing MT for large vessel occlusion. We used binary logistic regression models adjusted for age, Modified Treatment in Cerebral Ischemia score, initial National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, and noncontrast CT ASPECTS to assess the association between LKN-to-puncture time and favorable outcome defined as Modified Rankin Score 0-2 on discharge. RESULTS Among 421 patients, 328 were included in analysis. Increased LKN-to-puncture time was associated with decreased probability of good functional outcome (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] ratio per 15-minute delay = .98; 95% confidence interval [CI], .97-.99; P = .001). This was especially true when LKN-puncture time was 0-6 hours (aOR per 15-minute delay = .94; 95% CI, .89-.99; P = .05) or ASPECTS 8-10 (aOR = .98; 95% CI, .97-.99; P = .002) as opposed to when LKN-puncture time was 6-24 hours (aOR per 15-minute delay = .99; 95% CI, .97-1.00; P = .16) and ASPECTS

Background Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been explored as a potential intervention in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and recent studies have shown promising results in cognitive, gait and motor function. However, evidence of efficacy is limited due to small size studies, short treatment periods, lack of standardization of methodologies and other study design limitations. Remotely supervised-tDCS (RS-tDCS) allows “at-home” study participation, potentially easing recruitment, compliance and overall feasibility for clinical studies. Objective Here, we aim to explore preliminary effects of RS-tDCS paired with cognitive training in PD by delivering RS-tDCS neuromodulation at participant’s home while still maintaining clinical trial standards. Methods This was a prospective, open-label study using RS-tDCS paired with cognitive training. Each PD participant completed 10 tDCS sessions (20-min, 1.5–2.0-mA, bi-hemispheric DLPFC montage, left anodal), over a span of two weeks. All tDCS sessions were supervised in real-time through videoconferencing. Outcomes included the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and Grooved Pegboard Test. Results All RS-tDCS sessions were well tolerated and completed successfully. Total UPDRS and motor UPDRS-III scores decreased significantly. Pegboard completion time improved significantly for the non-dominant hand. There was a strong positive correlation between the time of the sessions, and motor improvements in UPDRS part-III. Conclusion RS-tDCS paradigm through a ‘telemedicine protocol’ holds therapeutic potential for motor symptoms in PD while maximizing compliance and ease of recruitment. Conducting afternoon sessions might be more effective than during the morning. Our paradigm may be influential in designing future studies and facilitating larger and longer duration clinical trials.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between ruptured saccular aneurysms and aspirin use/aspirin dose. METHODS: Four thousand seven hundred one patients who were diagnosed at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital between 1990 and 2016 with 6,411 unruptured and ruptured saccular intracranial aneurysms were evaluated. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the association between aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage and aspirin use, including aspirin dose. Inverse probability weighting using propensity scores was used to adjust for potential differences in baseline characteristics between cases and controls. Additional analyses were performed to examine the association of aspirin use and rerupture before treatment. RESULTS: In multivariate analysis with propensity score weighting, aspirin use (odds ratio [OR] 0.60, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.45–0.80) was significantly associated with decreased risk of ruptured intracranial aneurysms. There was a significant inverse dose-response relationship between aspirin dose and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.53–0.81). In contrast, there was a significant association between aspirin use and increased risk of rerupture before treatment (OR 8.15, 95% CI 2.22–30.0). CONCLUSIONS: In this large case-control study, aspirin therapy at diagnosis was associated with a significantly decreased risk of subarachnoid hemorrhage, with an inverse dose-response relationship among aspirin users. However, once rupture has occurred, aspirin is associated with an increased risk of rerupture before treatment.

Bilateral thalamic strokes due to Artery of Percheron (AOP) occlusion are rare but have been previously reported in the literature. It is due to a rare anatomic variant where a solitary arterial trunk from the proximal segment of either posterior cerebral artery (PCA) supplies bilateral thalami and midbrain. Despite its description in the literature, these strokes are usually missed and patient’s symptoms are not thought to be secondary to a vascular etiology. Through this report we aim to describe the clinical and radiographic features seen in these patients. We describe a series of 6 patients who present with varying levels of somnolence and oculomotor nerve palsies who had an occlusion of the AOP with bilateral thalamic infarcts with midbrain involvement. These clinical presentations, combined with the “V” sign on MRI are important in making the diagnosis.

Introduction : Most colonoscopies are completed in the left lateral (LL) position but in cases of suboptimal caecal preparation, changing the patient’s position to supine (S) and, if needed, to right lateral (RL) improves caecal intubation rate, mucosal visibility, and adenoma detection. Aim : To determine if position change during colonoscopy facilitates optimal visualisation of the caecum. Material and methods : A total of 359 patients were grouped into three categories based on the initial caecal intubation position. After caecal intubation, caecal visibility was scored on a four-point scale depending on the number of imaginary quadrants of the caecum completely visualized – Arya Caecal Prep Score. A score of 1 or 2 was unsatisfactory, while 3 or 4 was considered satisfactory. In patients with unsatisfactory score, position was changed from LL to S and then RL and visibility was scored again. Results : The initial caecal intubation in the LL position was achieved in 66.8% of patients, S in 28.5%, and RL in 4.8% of patients. 84.5% (300/355) of patients had an acceptable visualisation score at the initial caecal intubation position. Of the 55 patients with unsatisfactory caecum visualisation scores in the initial intubation position, 30 (8.5%) had satisfactory scores after the first position change (95% CI: 5.77–11.84). Twenty-five (7.04%) subjects required two position changes (95% CI: 4.61–10.22%). An additional 9.3% (11/118) of adenomas were detected in caecum and ascending colon following position change. Conclusions : Changing patient position improves caecal intubation rate, mucosal visibility, and adenoma detection.

Background Parkinson’s disease (PD) is predominantly recognized for its motor symptoms, but patients struggle from a morbid and heterogeneous collection of non-motor symptoms (NMS-PD) that can affect their quality of life even more. NMS-PD is a rather generalized term and the heterogeneity and non-specific nature of many symptoms poses a clinical challenge when a PD patient presents with non-motor complaints that may not be NMS-PD. Case presentation We report two patients with idiopathic PD who presented with acute episodes of cognitive changes. Structural brain images, cardiovascular and laboratory assessment were unremarkable. Both patients experienced a considerable delay before receiving an epilepsy-evaluation, at which point electroencephalogram abnormalities supported the diagnosis of focal non-motor seizures with alteration of awareness. Antiepileptic therapy was implemented and was effective in both cases. Conclusions Diagnosing non-motor seizures can be challenging. However, PD patients pose an even greater challenge given their eclectic non-motor clinical manifestations and other disease-related complications that could confound and mislead adequate clinical interpretation. Our two cases provide examples of non-motor seizures that may mimic non-motor symptoms of PD. Treating physicians should always consider other possible causes of non-motor symptoms that may coexist in PD patients. Epilepsy work-up should be contemplated in the differential of acute changes in cognition, behavior, or alertness.

Saliva is known to be protective for esophageal mucosa. Increased chewing strokes result in a quantitative and qualitative enhancement of saliva. Reduction in the amount of saliva produced results in an increased incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), which can be objectively measured by the DeMeester score. The impact of increased chewing strokes on the DeMeester score remains largely unknown, thus this study aimed to find out their impact on the value of the DeMeester score and its individual components.The effect of increased chewing strokes on the DeMeester score was investigated in 12 subjects (5 male and 7 female) who were diagnosed with GERD. All subjects underwent a 48-hour pH monitoring using the Bravo® pH capsule. All the patients chewed their food 20 times more on Day 2 as compared to Day 1. The data were analyzed for change in the DeMeester score and its individual components in 2 days.In patients with GERD (DeMeester score > 14.72 on Day 1), the number of long refluxes (>5 minutes) on Day 2 (mean = 3.2, SD = 2.3) was significantly lower than on Day 1 (mean = 6.4, SD = 2.7); Z = -2.032, p = 0.04. Though, the DeMeester score and its other individual parameters decreased on Day 2, they were not statistically significant.In patients with GERD, increased chewing strokes lead to a decrease in the number of long reflux episodes. Though there is a decrease in the DeMeester score and its other individual components, larger randomized controlled studies are required to reach statistical significance.

Background and Purpose: The first of the 2 NINDS Stroke Study trials did not show a significant increase in early neurological improvement (ENI), defined as NIHSS improvement by ≥ 4, with alteplase treatment. We hypothesized that ENI defined as a percentage change in NIHSS (percent change NIHSS) at 24 hours is superior to other definitions in predicting 3-month functional outcomes and using this definition there would be treatment benefit of alteplase over placebo at 24 hours. Methods: We analyzed the NINDS rt-PA Stroke Study (Parts 1 and 2) trial data. Percent change NIHSS was defined as [(admission NIHSS score–24-hour NIHSS score)x100/admission NIHSS score] and delta NIHSS as (admission NIHSS score–24-hour NIHSS score). We compared ENI using these definitions between alteplase vs. placebo patients. We also used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to determine the predictive association of ENI with excellent 3-month functional outcomes [Barthel Index (BI) score 95 – 100 and modified Rankin scale (mRS) 0-1], good 3-month functional outcome (mRS 0-2) and 3-month infarct volume. Results: There was a significantly greater improvement in the 24-hour median percent change NIHSS among patients treated with alteplase compared to the placebo group (28% vs. 15%, p = 0.045) but not median delta NIHSS (3 vs. 2, p = 0.471). ROC curve comparison showed that percent change NIHSS (ROC percent ) was better than delta NIHSS (ROC delta ) and admission NIHSS (ROC admission ) with regards to excellent 3-month BI (ROC percent 0.83, ROC delta 0.76, ROS admission 0.75), excellent 3-month mRS (ROC percent 0.83, ROC delta 0.74, ROS admission 0.78), and good 3-month mRS (ROC percent 0.83, ROC delta 0.76, ROS admission 0.78). Percentage change had a stronger association with 90-day infarct volume than delta NIHSS score and both delta NIHSS and percent change in NIHSS were more pronounced with faster treatment times. Conclusion: In the NINDS rt-PA trial, alteplase was associated with a significant percent change improvement in NIHSS at 24 hours. Percent change in NIHSS may be a better surrogate marker of thrombolytic activity and 3-month outcomes.

Background and Purpose: Early neurologic improvement (ENI) in patients treated with alteplase has been shown to correlate with functional outcome. However, the definition of ENI remains controversial and has varied across studies. We hypothesized that ENI defined as a percentage change in the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score (percent change NIHSS score) at 24-hours would better correlate with favorable outcomes at 3 months than ENI defined as the change in NIHSS score (delta NIHSS score) at 24 hours. Methods: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected single-center quality improvement data was performed of all acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients treated with alteplase. We examined delta NIHSS score and percent change NIHSS score in unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models as predictors of a favorable outcome at 3 months (defined as mRS 0-1). Results: Among 586 patients who met the inclusion criteria, 194 (33.1%) had a favorable outcome at 3 months. In fully adjusted models, both delta NIHSS score (OR per point decrease 1.27; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.19-1.36) and percent change NIHSS score (OR per 10 percent decrease 1.17; 95% CI 1.12-1.22) were associated with favorable functional outcome at 3 months. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve comparison showed that the area under the ROC curve for percent change NIHSS score (.755) was greater than delta NIHSS score (.613) or admission NIHSS (.694). Conclusions: Percentage change in NIHSS score may be a better surrogate marker of ENI and functional outcome in AIS patients after receiving acute thrombolytic therapy. More studies are needed to confirm our findings.

Introduction: In Parkinson’s disease (PD), postural imbalance and gait disorders (PIGD) are predictors of decreased quality of life and survival. PIGD often become unresponsive to pharmacological treatments and are commonly associated with cognitive dysfunction. Physical therapy (PT) training and falls prevention education are considered effective treatments; however, improvements are generally short-lived and only partially maintained. In this population, cognitive dysfunction hampering the consolidation of new motor skills (motor learning) is one principal reason. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an emerging tool for neuro-rehabilitation and growing evidence supports its potential to improve motor learning. Prompted by a shared location between our TMS lab and the PT rehabilitation center, we aimed to test whether adjuvant repetitive TMS combined with PT for PIGD is a feasible neuro-rehabilitation paradigm in patients with PD. Methods: Double blind, randomized, sham-controlled, pilot trial to evaluate the feasibility of recruitment, randomization, retention, assessment procedures and implementation of adjuvant TMS paired back-toback with PT in PD patients with PIGD. Result: 41 paired sessions were completed with 100% adherence. All sessions were tolerated. There were no severe adverse events. One subject withdrew consent. Blinding of study was deemed adequate. The average time between PT and TMS administration was 13.9 (SD 7.3) minutes. After completion of the 5th enrolled subject, the study was early terminated due to relocation of the PD center away from the PT facility. Clinical outcome mean values improved at follow up; however, the small sample size prevented further analysis of efficacy. Conclusions: When the TMS device is located in the proximity of a rehabilitation setting, adjuvant TMS appears to be feasible, safe, and well tolerated in PD. The efficacy of this modality of neuro-rehabilitation and its generalizability remain to be determined.

Background Dystonia is a debilitating disease that causes abnormal, often repetitive, movements, postures or both. The pathophysiology is unknown but related to loss of neuronal inhibition, aberrant sensorimotor integration, and/or derangements of synaptic plasticity. Current treatments include pharmacotherapy, botulinum toxin injections and deep brain stimulation (DBS). The response to these treatments are often limited and carry the risk of side effects requiring alternative therapies such as non-invasive brain stimulation. Case presentation We present a case report of a 65-year -old man with refractory focal ‘task-specific’ dystonia. The treatment plan included 10-daily sessions of 1 Hz, 2600 pulses of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) targeting the primary motor cortex. Conclusion There were no clinical benefits noticed. Currently, there are no rTMS protocol treatments for dystonia. Publication of negative results will help in refining the optimal stimulation parameters, thus maximizing the effectiveness and reproducibility of future therapeutic protocols. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40734-019-0076-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Tubercular dactylitis is a rare entity and usually involves bones of hands and feet, involvement of feet is less common. Here we report case of 18 years old female with neglected tubercular involvement of her left thumb and left great toe of foot with hallux varus deformity. Her diagnosis was delayed as she did not seek any healthcare advice for a long time and also lack of suspicion of entity. This entity which should be kept in mind when making differential diagnosis that can be treated conservatively when diagnosed early.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a modality of non-invasive brain stimulation involving the application of low amplitude direct current via surface electrodes on the scalp. tDCS has been studied in healthy populations and in multiple brain disorders and has the potential to be a treatment for several neuropsychiatric conditions by virtue of its capability of influencing cognitive, motor and behavioral processes. tDCS is a generally safe technique when performed within standardized protocols in research or clinical settings. Furthermore, tDCS portability, high acceptability and user-friendly interface makes it highly appealing for telemedicine practices. The term “telemedicine” refers to the procedures, educational strategies, and care services that are remotely administered by means of different communication technologies, with the final goal of increasing access to care for individuals and for improving public health. The use of telemedicine combined with tDCS protocols is increasing, although the safety of this approach in different clinical settings awaits further assessment. While “do-it-yourself” tDCS should be discouraged due to the unknown risk of adverse events, the implementation of tele-monitored tDCS (tele-tDCS) within standardized frameworks ensuring safety, tolerability, and reproducibility may allow this technology to reach larger clinical populations and bypass some of the common barriers preventing access to health services and clinical trials. This review will discuss the current evidence supporting the feasibility of tele-tDCS paradigms and their therapeutic potential, with particular emphasis on the implications for patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Background Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that has been shown to improve common symptoms of neurological disorders like depressed mood, fatigue, motor deficits and cognitive dysfunction. tDCS requires daily treatment sessions in order to be effective. We developed a remotely supervised tDCS (RS-tDCS) protocol for participants with multiple sclerosis (MS) to increase accessibility of tDCS, reducing clinician, patient, and caregiver burden. The goal of this protocol is to facilitate home use for larger trials with extended treatment periods. In this study we determine the generalizability of RS-tDCS paired with cognitive training (CT) by testing its feasibility in participants with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods Following the methods in our MS protocol development, we enrolled sixteen participants (n = 12 male, n = 4 female; mean age 66 years) with PD to complete ten open-label sessions of RS-tDCS paired with CT (2.0 mA × 20 min) at home under the remote supervision of a trained study technician. Tolerability data were collected before, during, and after each individual session. Baseline and follow-up measures included symptom inventories (fatigue and sleep) and cognitive assessments. Results RS-tDCS was feasible and tolerable for patients with PD, with at-home access leading to high protocol compliance. Side effects were mostly limited to mild sensations of transient itching and burning under the electrode sites. Similar to prior finding sin MS, we found preliminary efficacy for improvement of fatigue and cognitive processing speed in PD. Conclusions RS-tDCS paired with CT is feasible for participants with PD to receive at home treatment. Signals of benefit for reduced fatigue and improved cognitive processing speed are consistent across the PD and MS samples. RS-tDCS can be generalized to provide tDCS to a range of patients with neurologic disorders for at-home rehabilitation. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02746705. Registered April 21st 2016.

Renal involvement is an uncommon extra-glandular manifestation in Sjogren’s syndrome (SS). We present the case of a young male who presented with nephrotic range proteinuria and advanced irreversible renal disease, with positive anti-Ro antibody (Ab) and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) with myeloperoxidase (MPO) specificity. He was initially treated with steroids for suspected ANCA vasculitis but treatment was discontinued as there was no response and renal biopsy revealed interstitial lymphocytic infiltrates, advanced glomerular disease with immune complex mediated glomerulonephritis more suspicious for SS. SS usually affects exocrine glands and patients rarely have renal involvement in which cases it is commonly tubulo-interstitial nephritis. This report describes a rare case of anti-Ro Ab and MPO–ANCA positive patient with advanced irreversible renal disease due to immune-complex mediated glomerulonephritis felt to be due to SS and without any classic sicca symptoms.

Consider stenting of the proximal subclavian artery to correct symptomatic subclavian steal syndrome due to dialysis arteriovenous fistula.

Medical datasets including X-rays, histopathological images and blood test reports include high dimensional features. It is cumbrous task in diagnosing such high dimensional datasets. These datasets need to be reduced to lower dimensional dataset to perform computations easily on lower configuration computer systems. This paper focuses on developing a hybrid algorithm helps in medical diagnosis of the diseases with less number of computations and lower convergence time. Medical datasets analyzed includes breast cancer (WBDC), Parkinson’s disease (PD), arrhythmia, and spectf heart disease. The data has been preprocessed using hybrid model (Fuz-SOM-DE) of fuzzy c-means, self-organizing maps (SOM), and differential evolution (DE). It also includes analysis of the optimized feature selection algorithms on clustered dataset including SVM with backward search, filter wrapper method and correlation-based feature selection (CFS Subset) with best first search, greedy search, and other feature selection techniques. Usage of optimized metaheuristic techniques resulted in lower and better feature dataset. This hybrid algorithm has been analyzed on the datasets including categorical, integral, and binary outputs.

The novel concept of multiple spacecraft formation flying as a substitute for a single large vehicle will enhance future space mission performance. The benefits of a spacecraft formation include more cost effective synthetic aperture radar for observations, flexibility of the satellites altering their roles, reduction of cost owing to the reduction of mass launched into orbit etc. A significant challenge in the domain of control design is to contrive a formation maintenance controller that will enable the member spacecrafts to maintain a desired relative orbit with optimal propellant expenditure while maintaining the desired formation. This paper examines a low earth orbit formation control methodology, with the aim of evaluating formation from a propellant budget, thrust level and error dynamics standpoint. A State feedback controller has been applied on J 2 perturbed Clohessy-Wiltshire dynamics, and the system is checked for its stability and performance.

The role of general anaesthesia is to produce a reversible and safe loss of consciousness, to maintain the patient’s physiological parameters within a normal range while blunting the sympathetic response to noxious stimuli and to facilitate optimum surgical conditions for the operation.

Background Anal stricture is a disabling condition which is often unresponsive to conservative medical management. The complications of surgical procedures such as dilatations and anoplasty make it a formidable treatment challenge. Through this case, we report and explore a new medical treatment for ano-rectal strictures with an analogy to Plummer Vinson syndrome. A 69-year-old male presented with chronic constipation, rectal pain, and easy fatigability. The physical exam was negative for anal fissure and a digital rectal examination could not be completed because an index finger could not be advanced through the narrowed anus. Laboratory reports revealed microcytic hypochromic anemia with iron deficiency. A colonoscopy performed with a GIF XQ180 OLYMPUS scope, confirmed anal stricture with non-specific colitis. Conservative management with laxatives, high fiber diet, local anesthetics with a trial of mesalamine was initiated but the patient continued to have symptoms. He was referred to a hematologist for an evaluation of anemia and was started on intravenous (IV) iron infusion. Findings The patient’s symptoms of constipation, anal stricture and iron deficiency anemia resolved with iron infusion over 3 months. A repeat rectal exam was painless and confirmed resolution of anal stricture. Conclusion IV iron supplementation combined with conventional anal dilatation presents as a promising approach toward the treatment of anal strictures.

Objective: Hedging is frequently used in both the biological literature and clinical notes to denote uncertainty or speculation. It is important for text-mining applications to detect hedge cues and their scope; otherwise, uncertain events are incorrectly identified as factual events. However, due to the complexity of language, identifying hedge cues and their scope in a sentence is not a trivial task. Our objective was to develop an algorithm that would automatically detect hedge cues and their scope in biomedical literature. Methodology: We used conditional random fields (CRFs), a supervised machine-learning algorithm, to train models to detect hedge cue phrases and their scope in biomedical literature. The models were trained on the publicly available BioScope corpus. We evaluated the performance of the CRF models in identifying hedge cue phrases and their scope by calculating recall, precision and F1-score. We compared our models with three competitive baseline systems. Results: Our best CRF-based model performed statistically better than the baseline systems, achieving an F1-score of 88% and 86% in detecting hedge cue phrases and their scope in biological literature and an F1-score of 93% and 90% in detecting hedge cue phrases and their scope in clinical notes. Conclusions: Our approach is robust, as it can identify hedge cues and their scope in both biological and clinical text. To benefit text-mining applications, our system is publicly available as a Java API and as an online application at http://hedgescope.askhermes.org. To our knowledge, this is the first publicly available system to detect hedge cues and their scope in biomedical literature.

The team at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee developed an information retrieval and machine learning framework. Our framework requires only the standardized training data and depends upon minimal external knowledge resources and minimal parsing. Within the framework, we built our text mining systems and participated for the first time in all three BioCreative II.5 Challenge tasks. The results show that our systems performed among the top five teams for raw F1 scores in all three tasks and came in third place for the homonym ortholog F1 scores for the INT task. The results demonstrated that our IR-based framework is efficient, robust, and potentially scalable.

Biomedical texts can be typically represented by four rhetorical categories: Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion (IMRAD). Classifying sentences into these categories can benefit many other text-mining tasks. Although many studies have applied different approaches for automatically classifying sentences in MEDLINE abstracts into the IMRAD categories, few have explored the classification of sentences that appear in full-text biomedical articles. We first evaluated whether sentences in full-text biomedical articles could be reliably annotated into the IMRAD format and then explored different approaches for automatically classifying these sentences into the IMRAD categories. Our results show an overall annotation agreement of 82.14% with a Kappa score of 0.756. The best classification system is a multinomial naïve Bayes classifier trained on manually annotated data that achieved 91.95% accuracy and an average F-score of 91.55%, which is significantly higher than baseline systems. A web version of this system is available online at—http://wood.ims.uwm.edu/full_text_classifier/. Contact: hongyu@uwm.edu