BACKGROUND Arduous to differ clinically, extrapulmonary tuberculosis and focal complications of brucellosis remain important causes of morbidity and mortality in many countries. We developed and applied a multiplex real-time PCR assay (M RT-PCR) for the simultaneous detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and Brucella spp. METHODOLOGY Conventional microbiological techniques and M RT-P...

MicroRNA (miRNA) detection by reverse transcription (RT) quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) is the most popular method currently used to measure miRNA expression. Although the majority of miRNA families are constituted of several 3'-end length variants ("isomiRs"), little attention has been paid to their differential detection by RT-qPCR. However, recent evidence indicates that 3'-end miRNA i...

Several technologies, such as electromagnetic midsagittal articulography (EMA) or real-time magnetic resonance (RTMRI), enable studying the static and dynamic aspects of speech production. The resulting knowledge can, in turn, inform the improvement of speech production models, e.g., for articulatory speech synthesis, by enabling the identification of which articulators and gestures are involve...

PURPOSE To identify prognostic factors for disease progression and survival of patients with extracranial oligometastatic breast cancer (EOMBC), and to investigate the role of radiation therapy (RT) for metastatic lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 50 patients who had been diagnosed with EOMBC following standard treatment for primary breast cance...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to evaluate the prognostic significance of the tumor volume reduction rate (TVRR) measured during adaptive definitive radiation therapy (RT) for nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). MATERIALS AND METHODS We reviewed the RT records of 159 NPC patients treated with definitive RT with or without concurrent chemotherapy between January 2006 and February 2013. Adaptive...

PURPOSE Radiation therapy (RT) is commonly used as definitive treatment for early-stage nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin's lymphoma (NLPHL). We evaluated the cause-specific survival (CSS), overall survival (OS), and second malignancy (SM) rates in patients with early-stage NLPHL treated with RT. METHODS AND MATERIALS Patients with stage I-II NLPHL between 1988 and 2009 who underwent RT ...

BACKGROUND Manual thrombus aspiration (MTA) is completely ineffective in 30% of cases, and the high profiles of the catheters prevent their use in tortuous and calcified vessels. The rheolytic thrombectomy (RT) device has the potential for improved thrombus removal in acute myocardial infarction as compared with MTA. No data exist on the comparison between the 2 techniques. METHODS AND RESULT...

BACKGROUND To investigate whether whole-liver radiotherapy (RT) is beneficial in end-stage colorectal cancer with massive liver metastases and severe hepatic dysfunction. METHODS Between June 2004 and July 2008, 10 colorectal cancer patients, who exhibited a replacement of over three quarters of their normal liver by metastatic tumors and were of Child-Pugh class B or C in liver function with...

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is able to achieve good target conformance with a limited dose to organs at risk (OARs); however, IMRT increases the irradiation volume and monitor units (MUs) required. The present study aimed to evaluate the use of an IMRT plan with fewer segments and MUs, while maintaining quality in the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. In the present study,...

Background Early-stage oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) can currently be treated by surgical resection or definitive radiotherapy (RT). The aim of this study is to review the outcomes of early-stage OPSCC submitted to surgery or primary RT. Preliminary results have shown similar overall survival (OS) and locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS). Material/Methods Retrospective...