Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2021 May 15;14(5). Epub 2021 May 15.

iMED.Ulisboa, Research Institute for Medicines, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Prof. Gama Pinto, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal.

L. () is a shrub widespread in Europe and western Asia, traditionally used in medicine, that has become popular in recent years as a potential source of a wide range of interesting bioactive compounds. The aim of the present work was to develop a topical extract formulation based on ethosomes and thus to support its health claims with scientific evidence. Read More

Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2021 Apr 1. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas, Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, Texas, USA.

Aim: There is limited information on ultrasound data from pregnant women SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2) positive. Our aim was to describe and compare ultrasound and Doppler findings from pregnant women either SARS-CoV-2 positive or negative evaluated during the pandemic period.

Methods: One hundred and six (106) pregnant women who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 at the time or within one week of the ultrasound (US) scan were evaluated. Read More

J Med Life 2021 Jan-Mar;14(1):2-6

Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Clinical Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology "Filantropia", Bucharest, Romania.

Meningiomas are common primary tumors of the central nervous system. The incidence at the age of fertility is low, although there are some hormonal mechanisms involved. Growth in size was observed during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, which could lead to developing new symptoms during pregnancy or worsening of the already existing ones. Read More

J Ultrasound Med 2021 Jan 11. Epub 2021 Jan 11.

Ultrasound Unit, The Helen Schneider Women's Hospital, Rabin Medical Center, Petach Tikva, Israel.

Objectives: Congenital portosystemic shunt (CPSS) in a growth-restricted fetus may lead to cardiac overload and ultimately hemodynamic imbalance. The aim of the study was to describe the application of tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) for surveillance of cardiac function in growth-restricted fetuses diagnosed with CPSS.

Methods: The study group consisted of 7 fetuses with growth restriction diagnosed with CPSS between 2018 and 2020. Read More

Sensors (Basel) 2020 Dec 31;21(1). Epub 2020 Dec 31.

Faculty of Information Technology and Bionics, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Práter utca 50/a, 1083 Budapest, Hungary.

The detailed assessment of fetal breathing movement (FBM) monitoring can be a pre-indicator of many critical cases in the third trimester of pregnancy. Standard 3D ultrasound monitoring is time-consuming for FBM detection. Therefore, this type of measurement is not common. Read More

J Neurosurg 2020 Sep 25:1-9. Epub 2020 Sep 25.

1Division of Neurosurgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Objective: Magnetic resonance imaging-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) is an emerging treatment modality that enables incisionless ablative neurosurgical procedures. Bilateral MRgFUS capsulotomy has recently been demonstrated to be safe and effective in treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). Preliminary evidence has suggested that bilateral MRgFUS capsulotomy can present increased difficulties in reaching lesional temperatures as compared to unilateral thalamotomy. Read More

J Neurosci Methods 2021 01 21;347:108955. Epub 2020 Sep 21.

The Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado, Denver, CO 80204, USA; State Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI, Institute of Microelectronics, University of Macau, Macau, China. Electronic address:

Background: Some experimental approaches in neuroscience research require the precise placement of a recording electrode, pipette or other tool into a specific brain area that can be quite small and/or located deep beneath the surface. This process is typically aided with stereotaxic methods but remains challenging due to a lack of advanced technology to aid the experimenter. Currently, procedures require a significant amount of skill, have a high failure rate, and take up a significant amount of time. Read More

J Appl Physiol (1985) 2020 11 10;129(5):1062-1074. Epub 2020 Sep 10.

Laboratory of Pulmonary Investigation, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Obesity is associated with bioenergetic dysfunction of peripheral muscles; however, little is known regarding the impact of obesity on the diaphragm. We hypothesized that obesity would be associated with diaphragm dysfunction attributable to mitochondrial oxygen consumption and structural and ultrastructural changes. Wistar rat litters were culled to 3 pups to induce early postnatal overfeeding and consequent obesity. Read More

Chemistry 2021 Feb 7;27(10):3326-3337. Epub 2020 Dec 7.

Department of Oncology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.

Live-cell imaging with fluorescent probes is an essential tool in chemical biology to visualize the dynamics of biological processes in real-time. Intracellular disease biomarker imaging remains a formidable challenge due to the intrinsic limitations of conventional fluorescent probes and the complex nature of cells. This work reports the in cellulo assembly of a fluorescent probe to image cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). Read More

Magn Reson Med 2020 12 22;84(6):3409-3422. Epub 2020 Jul 22.

Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.

Purpose: Slice-selective, gradient-crushed, transient-state sequences such as those used in MR fingerprinting (MRF) relaxometry are sensitive to slice profile effects. Whereas balanced steady-state free precession MRF profile effects have been studied, less attention has been given to gradient-crushed MRF forms. Extensions of the extended phase graph (EPG) formalism, called slice-selective EPG (ssEPG), are proposed that model slice profile effects. Read More

Minim Invasive Ther Allied Technol 2020 May 19:1-8. Epub 2020 May 19.

Department of Urology SLK-Kliniken Heilbronn, University of Heidelberg, Heilbronn, Germany.

To prove the feasibility, as well as the reproducibility of laparoscopic totally intracorporeal ileal ureter replacement (LIUR), by presenting a multicenter patient cohort with a long follow-up. Records of patients undergoing different types of ureteral replacements have been collected. Follow-up included a chemical profile and urine cultures. Read More

Photoacoustics 2020 Jun 24;18:100165. Epub 2020 Apr 24.

Imaging Program, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada.

With a lifetime risk of 1 in 8, breast cancer continues to be a major concern for women and their physicians. The optimal treatment of the disease depends on the stage of the cancer at diagnosis, which is typically assessed using medical imaging. However, currently employed imaging systems for breast tumor measurement rarely agree perfectly. Read More

Mol Psychiatry 2020 09 14;25(9):1946-1957. Epub 2020 May 14.

Division of Neurosurgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) are common, often refractory, neuropsychiatric conditions for which new treatment approaches are urgently needed. Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) is a novel surgical technique permitting incisionless ablative neurosurgery. We examined the safety profile, clinical response, and imaging correlates of MRgFUS bilateral anterior capsulotomy in patients with refractory obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD, N = 6) and major depressive disorder (MDD, n = 6). Read More

Sci Rep 2020 05 6;10(1):7668. Epub 2020 May 6.

Department of Chemistry, University of Saint Joseph, West Hartford, 06117, Connecticut, USA.

With the rapid development of chemical biology, many diagnostic fluorophore-based tools were introduced to specific biomolecules by covalent binding. Bioorthogonal reactions have been widely utilized to manage challenges faced in clinical practice for early diagnosis and treatment of several tumor samples. Herein, we designed a small molecule fluorescent-based biosensor, 2Hydrazine-5nitrophenol (2Hzin5NP), which reacts with the carbonyl moiety of biomolecules through bioorthogonal reaction, therefore can be utilized for the detection of biomolecule carbonylation in various cancer cell lines. Read More

Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging 2020 05 10;5(5):542-553. Epub 2020 Feb 10.

The Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; Key Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience and Brain-Inspired Intelligence (Fudan University), Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China; Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Background: Mental disorders are typically defined as distinct diagnostic entities, but similar patterns of clinical and cognitive impairments are frequently found across diagnostic groups. We investigated whether these transdiagnostic deficits result from common neural substrates across disorders or various illness-specific mechanisms, or a combination of both.

Methods: Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected from clinically stable patients with major depressive disorder (n = 53), bipolar disorder (n = 78), or schizophrenia (n = 100) and matched healthy control subjects (n = 109) using a single scanner. Read More

Theranostics 2020 1;10(4):1604-1618. Epub 2020 Jan 1.

Physical Science Platform, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada.

: Clinical trials are currently underway to test the safety and efficacy of delivering therapeutic agents across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) using focused ultrasound and microbubbles (FUS+MBs). While acoustic feedback control strategies have largely minimized the risk of overt tissue damage, transient induction of inflammatory processes have been observed following sonication in preclinical studies. The goal of this work was to explore the potential of post-sonication dexamethasone (DEX) administration as a means to mitigate treatment risk. Read More

Neuroimage Clin 2020 13;25:102178. Epub 2020 Jan 13.

Neuroscience Graduate Program, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Mood Disorders Program and Women's Health Concerns Clinic, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. Electronic address:

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is considered a highly heterogeneous clinical and neurobiological mental disorder. We employed a novel layered treatment design to investigate whether cortical thickness features at baseline differentiated treatment responders from non-responders after 8 and 16 weeks of a standardized sequential antidepressant treatment. Secondary analyses examined baseline differences between MDD and controls as a replication analysis and longitudinal changes in thickness after 8 weeks of escitalopram treatment. Read More

Magn Reson Med 2020 09 3;84(3):1510-1517. Epub 2020 Feb 3.

Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.

Purpose: To improve the SNR of hyperpolarized carbon-13 MRI of [1- C]pyruvate using a multispectral variable flip angle (msVFA) scheme in which the spectral profile and flip angle vary dynamically with time.

Methods: Each image acquisition in a time-resolved imaging experiment used a unique spectrally varying RF pulse shape for msVFA. Therefore, the flip angle for every acquisition was optimized for pyruvate and each of its metabolites to yield the highest SNR across the acquisition. Read More

Sci Rep 2020 01 30;10(1):1487. Epub 2020 Jan 30.

Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.

Obesity is one of the major risk factor for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. A disproportional accumulation of fat at visceral (VAT) compared to subcutaneous sites (SAT) has been suspected as a key detrimental event. We used non-targeted metabolomics profiling to reveal metabolic pathways associated with higher VAT or SAT amount among subjects free of metabolic diseases to identify possible contributing metabolic pathways. Read More

Theriogenology 2020 Mar 18;145:31-38. Epub 2020 Jan 18.

Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, University of Napoli "Federico II", Via Delpino 1, 80137, Naples, Italy.

The aim of this study was to investigate the repeat breeding condition in Italian Mediterranean buffaloes that failed to conceive after at least 300 days in milk. The trial was carried out on 40 pluriparous Italian Mediterranean buffaloes with more than 300 days in milk. All the animals underwent ultrasound examination to assess endometrial thickness and oestrus synchronization by the Ovsynch-TAI Program. Read More

Curr Protein Pept Sci 2020 ;21(4):413-428

Department of Biophysics, Bose Institute, P-1/12 CIT Scheme VII (M), Kolkata 700054, India.

The emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens and their rapid adaptation against new antibiotics is a major challenge for scientists and medical professionals. Different approaches have been taken to combat this problem, which includes rationally designed potent antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and several nanoparticles and quantum dots. AMPs are considered as a new generation of super antibiotics that hold enormous potential to fight against bacterial resistance by the rapidly killing planktonic as well as their biofilm form while keeping low toxicity profile against eukaryotic cells. Read More

Magn Reson Med 2020 06 5;83(6):2221-2231. Epub 2019 Nov 5.

Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California.

Purpose: To develop a modular magnetization preparation sequence for combined T -preparation and multidimensional outer volume suppression (OVS) for coronary artery imaging.

Methods: A combined T -prepared 1D OVS sequence with fat saturation was defined to contain a 90° 180° composite nonselective tip-down pulse, two 180° hard pulses for refocusing, and a -90° spectral-spatial sinc tip-up pulse. For 2D OVS, 2 modules were concatenated, selective in X and then Y. Read More

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 2019 Aug 27;19(1):311. Epub 2019 Aug 27.

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tuen Mun Hospital, 23 Tsing Chung Koon Road, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China.

Background: Monochorionic multifetal pregnancies are at increased risk of adverse perinatal outcome because of placental vascular anastomoses. We present a case of multicystic encephalomalacia and gastrointestinal injury in two surviving fetuses following single fetal death in first trimester and subsequent fetofetal transfusion syndrome in a monochorionic triplet pregnancy.

Case Presentation: A 31-year-old nulliparous woman had a spontaneous monochorionic triamniotic triplet pregnancy. Read More

Ultrasonics 2019 Nov 15;99:105943. Epub 2019 Jul 15.

Clinical Hospital Center Rijeka, Krešimirova 42, 51 000 Rijeka, Croatia; University of Rijeka, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Physics and Biophysics, Braće Branchetta 20, 51 000 Rijeka, Croatia. Electronic address:

The evaluation of the performance of nine physiotherapy ultrasound transducers used clinically was performed in the hospital environment using an acoustically absorbing thermocromic tile developed at the National Physical Laboratory (UK). The method consists of exposing an acoustic absorber tile, part of which contains a thermochromic pigment, to the ultrasonic beam, thereby forming an image of the intensity profile of the transducer. Images acquired using thermochromic materials were postprocessed in order to estimate effective radiating area (ERA) and beam nonuniformity ratio (BNR) for ultrasound transducers operating within the frequency range from 1. Read More

Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2020 Jun;55(6):806-814

Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, affiliated with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Objectives: To evaluate the utility of ultrasound markers in the management of pregnancies complicated by preterm prelabor rupture of membranes (PPROM) between 23 + 0 and 33 + 6 weeks' gestation, and to assess the ability of ultrasound markers to predict adverse neonatal outcomes.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of all patients with PPROM between 23 + 0 and 33 + 6 weeks' gestation and latency period (PPROM to delivery) > 48 h, who delivered before 34 weeks' gestation at a tertiary referral center between 2005 and 2017. All patients underwent a non-stress test daily and an ultrasound scan twice a week for assessment of amniotic fluid volume, biophysical profile (BPP) and umbilical artery (UA) pulsatility index (PI). Read More

J Control Release 2019 09 18;309:25-36. Epub 2019 Jul 18.

Division of Neurosurgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Sunnybrook Research Institute, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program, Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Electronic address:

The blood-brain barrier, while fundamental in maintaining homeostasis in the central nervous system, is a bottleneck to achieving efficacy for numerous therapeutics. Improved brain penetration is also desirable for reduced dose, cost, and systemic side effects. Transient disruption of the blood-brain barrier with focused ultrasound (FUS) can facilitate drug delivery noninvasively with precise spatial and temporal specificity. Read More

J Am Heart Assoc 2019 07 9;8(14):e011852. Epub 2019 Jul 9.

3 Murdoch Children's Research Institute Parkville Victoria Australia.

Background High-throughput nuclear magnetic resonance profiling of circulating metabolites is suggested as an adjunct for cardiovascular risk evaluation. The relationship between metabolites and subclinical atherosclerosis remains unclear, particularly among children. Therefore, we examined the associations of metabolites with carotid intima-media thickness ( cIMT ) and arterial pulse wave velocity ( PWV ). Read More

Neuroimage 2019 10 4;200:474-481. Epub 2019 Jul 4.

Research Center for Motor Control and Neuroplasticity, KU Leuven, 3001, Leuven, Belgium; Brain Imaging and Neural Dynamics Research Group, IRCCS San Camillo Hospital, 30126, Venice, Italy. Electronic address:

Electrophysiological studies revealed that different neuronal oscillations, among which the alpha (8-13 Hz) rhythm in particular, but also the beta (13-30 Hz) and gamma (30-80 Hz) rhythms, are modulated during rest in the default mode network (DMN). Little is known, however, about the role of these rhythms in supporting DMN connectivity. Biophysical studies suggest that lower and higher frequencies mediate long- and short-range connectivity, respectively. Read More

Brachytherapy 2019 Sep - Oct;18(5):658-667. Epub 2019 Jun 22.

Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Radiation Medicine Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Canada.

Purpose: To develop a treatment planning platform for episcleral Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study plaque therapy in an established treatment planning software and to improve an existing quality assurance (QA) process for nonuniformly loaded plaques that measures air kerma strengths (AKSs) and loading profile.

Materials And Methods: Treatment planning is performed in Pinnacle using scripts that let the planner choose plaque size and notching. Scripts load seed positions for each plaque and five source groups corresponding to available stock seeds that can be placed into each seed position. Read More

J Neurosurg 2019 May 10;132(6):1802-1809. Epub 2019 May 10.

1Physical Sciences Platform, Sunnybrook Research Institute.

Objective: The object of this study was to correlate lesion size with accumulated thermal dose (ATD) in transcranial MRI-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) treatments of essential tremor with focal temperatures limited to 50°C-54°C.

Methods: Seventy-five patients with medically refractory essential tremor underwent MRgFUS thalamotomy at the authors' institution. Intraoperative MR thermometry was performed to measure the induced temperature and thermal dose distributions (proton resonance frequency shift coefficient = -0. Read More