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Inroduction. Mediastinal ectopic thyroid tissue (ETT) represents a rare entity. Clinically, it can manifest with thyroid gland disfunction or with symptoms and signs caused by compressive effect on the surrounding structures, but in the majority of cases it is an asymptomatic condition and incidental finding. All pathologic processes, including malignancy, that can occur in the orthotopic thyroid gland can also develop in the ETT. Case report. Here we discuss a case of 17-year-old female with incidentaly found mediastinal ETT. Beside ETT, patient had an orthotopic thyroid gland and was euthyroid. During follow up, mild compressive symptoms developed. MRI examination showed non-significant increase of the mediastinal mass volume, but due to its morphological changes, a suspicion of another etiology was raised. A discrepancy between the positive technetium-99m pertechnetate and negative 131 iodine radionuclide imaging of the mediastinal mass was highly suspicious for malignancy. Surgery was performed and the pathologist confirmed that it was a coloid goiter in the mediastinal ETT. Conclusion. Mediastinal ectopic thyroid tissue should be taken into account in the differential diagnosis of mediastinal tumor mass. Increase in size of the mediastinal EET, development of compressive symptoms or suspected malignant alteration requests surgical treatment.

Background Bisphenol A (BPA), a widespread industrial substance is recognized as endocrine disrupting chemical and therefore could be associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) related metabolic disturbances. Patients In this study 29 women of reproductive age with diagnosed PCOS were enrolled. Methods BPA in urine samples was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results BPA was detected in urines of 48.28% participants. The waist-to-height ratio (WtHR) was statistically significant higher in PCOS BPA+ in comparison to PCOS BPA− women (p = 0.046). PCOS BPA+ women had 6.88 times (95%Cl 1.3481–35.0600, z = 2.319, p = 0.020) higher risk for waist circumference above 80 cm and 4.95 odds (95%Cl 1.0169–24.096, z = 1.981, p = 0.048) to have WtHR over 0.5 when compared to PCOS BPA−. Statistically significant positive association between BPA urine concentrations and insulin serum levels (p = 0.038) was obtained. BPA urine values were associated with elevated HOMA-IR values and reduced HDL levels with moderate significance (p = 0.079 and p = 0.061, respectively). Also, there was 3.75 times (95%Cl 0.7936–17.7203, z = 1.668, p = 0.095) higher risk for PCOS BPA+ women to have testosterone levels above reference values. Conclusion The obtained results suggested that the BPA exposition in PCOS women was followed by increased metabolic risk through promotion of obesity, especially the visceral type, hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and elevated androgen levels.

Whereas the etiology of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is complex, the role of nutrition as a causing and preventive factor is not fully explored. The aim of this study is to associate dietary patterns with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parameters in a European population (Greece, Italy, and Serbia) affected by NAFLD. For the first time, iron-corrected T1 (cT1), proton density fat fraction (PDFF), and the liver inflammation fibrosis score (LIF) were examined in relation to diet. A total of 97 obese patients with NAFLD from the MAST4HEALTH study were included in the analysis. A validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to assess the quality of diet and food combinations. Other variables investigated include anthropometric measurements, total type 2 diabetes risk, physical activity level (PAL), and smoking status. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to identify dietary patterns. Six dietary patterns were identified, namely “High-Sugar”, “Prudent”, “Western”, “High-Fat and Salt”, “Plant-Based”, and “Low-Fat Dairy and Poultry”. The “Western” pattern was positively associated with cT1 in the unadjusted model (beta: 0.020, p-value: 0.025) and even after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), PAL, smoking, the center of the study, and the other five dietary patterns (beta: 0.024, p-value: 0.020). On the contrary, compared with low-intake patients, those with medium intake of the “Low-Fat Dairy and Poultry” pattern were associated with lower values of cT1, PDFF, and LIF. However, patients with a “Low-Fat Dairy and Poultry” dietary pattern were negatively associated with MRI parameters (cT1: beta: −0.052, p-value: 0.046, PDFF: beta: −0.448, p-value: 0.030, LIF: beta: −0.408, p-value: 0.025). Our findings indicate several associations between MRI parameters and dietary patterns in NAFLD patients, highlighting the importance of diet in NAFLD.

On behalf of MAST4HEALTH consortium: et al., [Scope]: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease with poor therapeutic strategies. Mastiha possesses antioxidant/anti-inflammatory and lipid-lowering properties. The authors investigate the effectiveness of Mastiha as a nonpharmacological intervention in NAFLD., [Methods and Results]: Ninety-eight patients with NAFLD in three countries (Greece, Italy, Serbia) are randomly allocated to either Mastiha or Placebo for 6 months, as part of a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group clinical trial. The authors assess NAFLD severity via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning and LiverMultiScan technique and evaluate the effectiveness of Mastiha through medical, anthropometric, biochemical, metabolomic, and microbiota assessment. Mastiha is not superior to Placebo on changes in iron-corrected T1 (cT1) and Liver Inflammation Fibrosis score (LIF) in entire patient population; however, after BMI stratification (BMI ≤ 35 kg m-2 and BMI > 35 kg m-2), severely obese patients show an improvement in cT1 and LIF in Mastiha versus Placebo. Mastiha increases dissimilarity of gut microbiota, as shown by the Bray-Curtis index, downregulates Flavonifractor, a known inflammatory taxon and decreases Lysophosphatidylcholines-(LysoPC) 18:1, Lysophosphatidylethanolamines-(LysoPE) 18:1, and cholic acid compared to Placebo., [Conclusion]: Mastiha supplementation improves microbiota dysbiosis and lipid metabolite levels in patients with NAFLD, although it reduces parameters of liver inflammation/fibrosis only in severely obese patients., This project was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 researchand innovation program MAST4HEALTH under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 691042.

Introduction. Sturge-Weber syndrome is a neurocutaneous disorder characterized by neurological features such as headaches, developmental delay, mental retardation and seizures, facial anomalies such as port-wine stain and glaucoma which is the most common ocular manifestation. The main neuroimaging findings in patients with Sturge-Weber syndrome are leptomeningeal angiomatosis and corticopial calcifications associated with underlying cortical atrophy. The purpose of this report is to present a rare case of a patient with seizures whose magnetic resonance imaging findings suggested a Sturge-Weber syndrome variant. Case Report. We report a case of a 14-yearold boy with a two year history of well controlled generalized tonic clonic seizures with visual aura, who was admitted to our institution for neuroimaging examination. Neuropsychological testing showed normal cognitive and psychomotor development. Electroencephalography revealed unilateral runs of right occipital spikes with secondary generalization. Neuroimaging findings showed focal cerebral leptomeningeal enhancement in the right parasagittal occipital region associated with focal cortical atrophy, whereas susceptibility weighted imaging showed hypointense intracortical calcification and hyperplastic enhanced ipsilateral choroid plexus. The computed tomography confirmed cortical calcifications. Also, an overlying parietooccipital subcutaneous lipoma was found in the innervation field of the ophthalmic nerve. Conclusion. Magnetic resonance imaging is the key imaging modality that confirmed the clinical suspicion of Sturge-Weber syndrome based on a physical and neurological examination. Neither magnetic resonance imaging nor clinical examination is sufficient for a correct diagnosis.