Explore the vast range of titles available.

The ability to read minds has long been a fascination of science fiction, but revolutionary new brain-imaging methods are bringing it closer to scientific reality. The New Mind Readers provides a compelling look at the origins, development, and future of these extraordinary tools, revealing how they are increasingly being used to decode our thoughts and experiences--and how this raises sometimes troubling questions about their application in domains such as marketing, politics, and the law. Russell Poldrack takes readers on a journey of scientific discovery, telling the stories of the visionaries behind these breakthroughs. Along the way, he gives an insider's perspective on what is perhaps the single most important technology in cognitive neuroscience today--functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, which is providing astonishing new insights into the contents and workings of the mind. He highlights both the amazing power and major limitations of these techniques and describes how applications outside the lab often exceed the bounds of responsible science. Poldrack also details the unique and sometimes disorienting experience of having his own brain scanned more than a hundred times as part of a landmark study of how human brain function changes over time. Written by one of the world's leading pioneers in the field, The New Mind Readers cuts through the hype and misperceptions surrounding these emerging new methods, offering needed perspective on what they can and cannot do--and demonstrating how they can provide new answers to age-old questions about the nature of consciousness and what it means to be human. -- Inside jacket flap.

Background Gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction is frequent in the critically ill but can be overlooked as a result of the lack of standardization of the diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. We aimed to develop a research agenda for GI dysfunction for future research. We systematically reviewed the current knowledge on a broad range of subtopics from a specific viewpoint of GI dysfunction, highlighting the remaining areas of uncertainty and suggesting future studies. Methods This systematic scoping review and research agenda was conducted following successive steps: (1) identify clinically important subtopics within the field of GI function which warrant further research; (2) systematically review the literature for each subtopic using PubMed, CENTRAL and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; (3) summarize evidence for each subtopic; (4) identify areas of uncertainty; (5) formulate and refine study proposals that address these subtopics; and (6) prioritize study proposals via sequential voting rounds. Results Five major themes were identified: (1) monitoring, (2) associations between GI function and outcome, (3) GI function and nutrition, (4) management of GI dysfunction and (5) pathophysiological mechanisms. Searches on 17 subtopics were performed and evidence summarized. Several areas of uncertainty were identified, six of them needing consensus process. Study proposals ranked among the first ten included: prevention and management of diarrhoea; management of upper and lower feeding intolerance, including indications for post-pyloric feeding and opioid antagonists; acute gastrointestinal injury grading as a bedside tool; the role of intra-abdominal hypertension in the development and monitoring of GI dysfunction and in the development of non-occlusive mesenteric ischaemia; and the effect of proton pump inhibitors on the microbiome in critical illness. Conclusions Current evidence on GI dysfunction is scarce, partially due to the lack of precise definitions. The use of core sets of monitoring and outcomes are required to improve the consistency of future studies. We propose several areas for consensus process and outline future study projects.

Objective To identify an optimal imaging strategy for the accurate detection of urgent conditions in patients with acute abdominal pain.Design Fully paired multicentre diagnostic accuracy study with prospective data collection.Setting Emergency departments of two university hospitals and four large teaching hospitals in the Netherlands.Participants 1021 patients with non-traumatic abdominal pain of >2 hours’ and <5 days’ duration. Exclusion criteria were discharge from the emergency department with no imaging considered warranted by the treating physician, pregnancy, and haemorrhagic shock.Intervention All patients had plain radiographs (upright chest and supine abdominal), ultrasonography, and computed tomography (CT) after clinical and laboratory examination. A panel of experienced physicians assigned a final diagnosis after six months and classified the condition as urgent or non-urgent.Main outcome measures Sensitivity and specificity for urgent conditions, percentage of missed cases and false positives, and exposure to radiation for single imaging strategies, conditional imaging strategies (CT after initial ultrasonography), and strategies driven by body mass index and age or by location of pain.Results 661 (65%) patients had a final diagnosis classified as urgent. The initial clinical diagnosis resulted in many false positive urgent diagnoses, which were significantly reduced after ultrasonography or CT. CT detected more urgent diagnoses than did ultrasonography: sensitivity was 89% (95% confidence interval 87% to 92%) for CT and 70% (67% to 74%) for ultrasonography (P<0.001). A conditional strategy with CT only after negative or inconclusive ultrasonography yielded the highest sensitivity, missing only 6% of urgent cases. With this strategy, only 49% (46% to 52%) of patients would have CT. Alternative strategies guided by body mass index, age, or location of the pain would all result in a loss of sensitivity.Conclusion Although CT is the most sensitive imaging investigation for detecting urgent conditions in patients with abdominal pain, using ultrasonography first and CT only in those with negative or inconclusive ultrasonography results in the best sensitivity and lowers exposure to radiation.

Dalcetrapib modulates cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) activity to raise high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). After the failure of torcetrapib it was unknown if HDL produced by interaction with CETP had pro-atherogenic or pro-inflammatory properties. dal-PLAQUE is the first multicentre study using novel non-invasive multimodality imaging to assess structural and inflammatory indices of atherosclerosis as primary endpoints. In this phase 2b, double-blind, multicentre trial, patients (aged 18–75 years) with, or with high risk of, coronary heart disease were randomly assigned (1:1) to dalcetrapib 600 mg/day or placebo for 24 months. Randomisation was done with a computer-generated randomisation code and was stratified by centre. Patients and investigators were masked to treatment. Coprimary endpoints were MRI-assessed indices (total vessel area, wall area, wall thickness, and normalised wall index [average carotid]) after 24 months and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18F-FDG) PET/CT assessment of arterial inflammation within an index vessel (right carotid, left carotid, or ascending thoracic aorta) after 6 months, with no-harm boundaries established before unblinding of the trial. Analysis was by intention to treat. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00655473. 189 patients were screened and 130 randomly assigned to placebo (66 patients) or dalcetrapib (64 patients). For the coprimary MRI and PET/CT endpoints, CIs were below the no-harm boundary or the adverse change was numerically lower in the dalcetrapib group than in the placebo group. MRI-derived change in total vessel area was reduced in patients given dalcetrapib compared with those given placebo after 24 months; absolute change from baseline relative to placebo was −4·01 mm 2 (90% CI −7·23 to −0·80; nominal p=0·04). The PET/CT measure of index vessel most-diseased-segment target-to-background ratio (TBR) was not different between groups, but carotid artery analysis showed a 7% reduction in most-diseased-segment TBR in the dalcetrapib group compared with the placebo group (–7·3 [90% CI −13·5 to −0·8]; nominal p=0·07). Dalcetrapib did not increase office blood pressure and the frequency of adverse events was similar between groups. Dalcetrapib showed no evidence of a pathological effect related to the arterial wall over 24 months. Moreover, this trial suggests possible beneficial vascular effects of dalcetrapib, including the reduction in total vessel enlargement over 24 months, but long-term safety and clinical outcomes efficacy of dalcetrapib need to be analysed. F Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.

Rationale and objectivesIntroduction of post-mortem imaging has helped improve sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) management in Europe. French guidelines were issued in 2007 to homogenise SUDI investigations including imaging. The aim of this study was to evaluate current imaging management of SUDI in France.Material and methodsBetween January 2022 and July 2022, all 35 SUDI French referral centres were invited to answer an e-mailed online survey including 29 questions divided into four different sections covering imaging practices for SUDI including radiology department organisation, imaging modalities performed, methods of reading, and current training resources. Partial responses were secondarily completed by a personal call to the SUDI imaging consultant. The current implementation of the 2007 recommendations was compared with a previous evaluation from 2015 and with current North American practices.ResultsThe participation rate of centres performing SUDI imaging was 100% (35/35). Imaging was systematically performed in 94.3% (33/35) of the centres: 74.3% (26/35) using radiography; 5.7% (2/35) using ultrasound; 94.3% (33/35) using computed tomography (CT), including 89% (31/35) whole-body CT and 5.7% (2/35) brain CT; and 20% (7/35) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Two centres (5.7%, 2/35) did not systematically perform brain imaging. One (2.9%, 1/35) used ultrasound-guided biopsy. In comparison with 2015, rates of brain imaging increased by 25.4% (P=0.008). There was no significant difference in the number of forensic MRIs performed between France and North America (P=0.663).ConclusionDespite improvements since 2015, full compliance with French guidelines for SUDI investigations remains incomplete. The use of imaging, particularly CT and brain imaging, has increased. Further efforts are needed to standardise imaging practices for optimal SUDI investigations.

This expert opinion paper on cardiac imaging after acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) includes a statement of the “Heart and Brain” consortium of the German Cardiac Society and the German Stroke Society. The Stroke Unit-Commission of the German Stroke Society and the German Atrial Fibrillation NETwork (AFNET) endorsed this paper. Cardiac imaging is a key component of etiological work-up after stroke. Enhanced echocardiographic tools, constantly improving cardiac computer tomography (CT) as well as cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offer comprehensive non- or less-invasive cardiac evaluation at the expense of increased costs and/or radiation exposure. Certain imaging findings usually lead to a change in medical secondary stroke prevention or may influence medical treatment. However, there is no proof from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) that the choice of the imaging method influences the prognosis of stroke patients. Summarizing present knowledge, the German Heart and Brain consortium proposes an interdisciplinary, staged standard diagnostic scheme for the detection of risk factors of cardio-embolic stroke. This expert opinion paper aims to give practical advice to physicians who are involved in stroke care. In line with the nature of an expert opinion paper, labeling of classes of recommendations is not provided, since many statements are based on expert opinion, reported case series, and clinical experience.

Neuroscience is, by definition, a multidisciplinary field: some scientists study genes and proteins at the molecular level while others study neural circuitry using electrophysiology and high-resolution optics.A single topic can be studied using techniques from genetics, imaging, biochemistry, or electrophysiology.

PurposeWe aimed to assess the agreement between study investigators and the core laboratory (core lab) of a thrombectomy trial for imaging scores.MethodsThe Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS), the European Collaborative Acute Stroke Study (ECASS) hemorrhagic transformation (HT) classification, and the Thrombolysis In Cerebral Infarction (TICI) scores as recorded by study investigators were compared with the core lab scores in order to assess interrater agreement, using Cohen’s unweighted and weighted kappa statistics.ResultsThere were frequent discrepancies between study sites and core lab for all the scores. Agreement for ASPECTS and ECASS HT classification was less than substantial, with disagreement occurring in more than one-third of cases. Agreement was higher on MRI-based scores than on CT, and was improved after dichotomization on both CT and MRI. Agreement for TICI scores was moderate (with disagreement occurring in more than 25% of patients), and went above the substantial level (less than 10% disagreement) after dichotomization (TICI 0/1/2a vs 2b/3).ConclusionDiscrepancies between scores assessed by the imaging core lab and those reported by study sites occurred in a significant proportion of patients. Disagreement in the assessment of ASPECTS and day 1 HT scores was more frequent on CT than on MRI. The agreement for the dichotomized TICI score (the trial’s primary outcome) was substantial, with less than 10% of disagreement between study sites and core lab.Trial registration number NCT02523261, Post-results.

Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging has the potential to improve sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping in breast cancer. Indocyanine green (ICG) is currently the only clinically available fluorophore that can be used for SLN mapping. Preclinically, ICG adsorbed to human serum albumin (ICG:HSA) improves its performance as a lymphatic tracer in some anatomical sites. The benefit of ICG:HSA for SLN mapping of breast cancer has not yet been assessed in a clinical trial. We performed a double-blind, randomized study to determine if ICG:HSA has advantages over ICG alone. The primary endpoint was the fluorescence brightness, defined as the signal-to-background ratio (SBR), of identified SLNs. Clinical trial subjects were 18 consecutive breast cancer patients scheduled to undergo SLN biopsy. All patients received standard of care using 99m Technetium-nanocolloid and patent blue. Patients were randomly assigned to receive 1.6 ml of 500 μM ICG:HSA or ICG that was injected periareolarly directly after patent blue. The Mini-Fluorescence-Assisted Resection and Exploration (Mini-FLARE) imaging system was used for NIR fluorescence detection and quantitation. SLN mapping was successful in all patients. Patient, tumor, and treatment characteristics were equally distributed over the treatment groups. No significant difference was found in SBR between the ICG:HSA group and the ICG alone group (8.4 vs. 11.3, respectively, P  = 0.18). In both groups, the average number of detected SLNs was 1.4 ± 0.5 SLNs per patient ( P  = 0.74). This study shows that there is no direct benefit of premixing ICG with HSA prior to injection for SLN mapping in breast cancer patients, thereby reducing the cost and complexity of the procedure. With these optimized parameters that eliminate the necessity of HSA, larger trials can now be performed to determine patient benefit.

Lumbar spine imaging frequently reveals findings that may seem alarming but are likely unrelated to pain. Prior work has suggested that inserting data on the prevalence of imaging findings among asymptomatic individuals into spine imaging reports may reduce unnecessary subsequent interventions. To evaluate the impact of including benchmark prevalence data in routine spinal imaging reports on subsequent spine-related health care utilization and opioid prescriptions. This stepped-wedge, pragmatic randomized clinical trial included 250 401 adult participants receiving care from 98 primary care clinics at 4 large health systems in the United States. Participants had imaging of their backs between October 2013 and September 2016 without having had spine imaging in the prior year. Data analysis was conducted from November 2018 to October 2019. Either standard lumbar spine imaging reports (control group) or reports containing age-appropriate prevalence data for common imaging findings in individuals without back pain (intervention group). Health care utilization was measured in spine-related relative value units (RVUs) within 365 days of index imaging. The number of subsequent opioid prescriptions written by a primary care clinician was a secondary outcome, and prespecified subgroup analyses examined results by imaging modality. We enrolled 250 401 participants (of whom 238 886 [95.4%] met eligibility for this analysis, with 137 373 [57.5%] women and 105 497 [44.2%] aged >60 years) from 3278 primary care clinicians. A total of 117 455 patients (49.2%) were randomized to the control group, and 121 431 patients (50.8%) were randomized to the intervention group. There was no significant difference in cumulative spine-related RVUs comparing intervention and control conditions through 365 days. The adjusted median (interquartile range) RVU for the control group was 3.56 (2.71-5.12) compared with 3.53 (2.68-5.08) for the intervention group (difference, -0.7%; 95% CI, -2.9% to 1.5%; P = .54). Rates of subsequent RVUs did not differ between groups by specific clinical findings in the report but did differ by type of index imaging (eg, computed tomography: difference, -29.3%; 95% CI, -42.1% to -13.5%; magnetic resonance imaging: difference, -3.4%; 95% CI, -8.3% to 1.8%). We observed a small but significant decrease in the likelihood of opioid prescribing from a study clinician within 1 year of the intervention (odds ratio, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.91 to 1.00; P = .04). In this study, inserting benchmark prevalence information in lumbar spine imaging reports did not decrease subsequent spine-related RVUs but did reduce subsequent opioid prescriptions. The intervention text is simple, inexpensive, and easily implemented. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02015455.