Translating New Imaging Technologies to Clinical Practice.

Radiology continues to benefit from constant innovation and technological advances. However, for promising new imaging technologies to reach widespread clinical practice, several milestones must be met. These include regulatory approval, early clinical evaluation, payer reimbursement, and broader marketplace adoption. Successful implementation of new imaging tests into clinical practice requires active stakeholder engagement and a focus on demonstrating clinical value during each phase of translation.

Building for tomorrow today: opportunities and directions in radiology resident research.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: With rapid scientific and technological advancements in radiological research, there is renewed emphasis on promoting early research training to develop researchers who are capable of tackling the hypothesis-driven research that is typically funded in contemporary academic research enterprises. This review article aims to introduce radiology residents to the abundant radiology research opportunities available to them and to encourage early research engagement among trainees. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To encourage early resident participation in radiology research, we review the various research opportunities available to trainees spanning basic, clinical, and translational science opportunities to ongoing research in information technology, informatics, and quality improvement research. CONCLUSIONS: There is an incredible breadth and depth of ongoing research at academic radiology departments across the country, and the material presented herein aspires to highlight both subject matter and opportunities available to radiology residents eager to engage in radiologic research. The opportunities for interested radiology residents are as numerous as they are broad, spanning the basic sciences to clinical research to informatics, with abundant opportunities to shape our future practice of radiology.

Online social networking for radiology.

Online social networking services have changed the way we interact as a society and offer many opportunities to improve the way we practice radiology and medicine in general. This article begins with an introduction to social networking. Next, the latest advances in online social networking are reviewed, and areas where radiologists and clinicians may benefit from these new tools are discussed. This article concludes with several steps that the interested reader can take to become more involved in online social networking.

Age-related trends in utilization of the internet and electronic communication devices for coordination of cancer care in elderly patients.

OBJECTIVES: In this rapidly changing electronic era, we implemented a study to define age dependent variations in access and use of internet and electronic devices in the exchange of healthcare related information (HRI) and coordination of clinical care (CCC) among elderly patients with cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data was collected through independently completed surveys after obtaining IRB approval in a single institution cancer center over a 4-month period. Questions regarding internet access and use of electronic media to obtain health information and coordinate care were distributed. The sample was divided in two groups based upon the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of geriatric patients: <65 y/o (group A) and ≥65 y/o (group B). RESULTS: One hundred and twenty-six surveys were analyzed with 70 patients in group A and 56 patients in group B. Access to the internet and use of email was higher in the group A (77% and 71%) vs. group B (36% and 33%, p < 0.001). The younger group felt more comfortable using the internet when compared to the older group (70% vs. 40%, p = 0.01). Patients in group B demonstrated a strong preference for paper copy based HRI and phone calls to CCC than text messages or emails (73% and 95%, p < 0.001). A transition zone between the ages of 65 and 70 years was defined to identify patients with increased reluctance to use internet and electronic devices to exchange HRI and CCC. CONCLUSION: The data supports that there is an age-defined underutilization of internet and electronic devices to exchange HRI and CCC. Characterization of this age-dependent transition zone will enable clinicians to identify patients who may not interface well with electronic communication strategies, and to improve delivery of HRI and CCC for the elderly.

Mobile computing for radiology.

The rapid advances in mobile computing technology have the potential to change the way radiology and medicine as a whole are practiced. Several mobile computing advances have not yet found application to the practice of radiology, while others have already been applied to radiology but are not in widespread clinical use. This review addresses several areas where radiology and medicine in general may benefit from adoption of the latest mobile computing technologies and speculates on potential future applications.

Radiology research and medical students.

Fostering radiology research among medical students can enhance a student's interest and understanding of radiology and research. It increases the academic productivity of the mentor and the department. Radiology faculty and departments should actively seek to recruit and engage students in research. Once involved, students benefit greatly from being given clear responsibility, close supervision, timely feedback, and a degree of autonomy. At the heart of the student research process is the crucial mentor-mentee relationship, and mentors should be cognizant of their vital role and methods of encouraging and enhancing this relationship. Ultimately, the advancement of the field of radiology depends on constant innovation and improvement. Radiology research by medical students fuels both innovation and the development of future academic radiologists and physician-scientists, helping to secure future growth for our field.

FDG PET/CT in the management of primary pleural tumors and pleural metastases.

OBJECTIVE. FDG PET/CT is emerging as an important modality in the evaluation of pleural tumors. PET/CT has an established role in the diagnosis and staging and shows promise in therapy planning, therapy response assessment, and providing prognostic information in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. This modality has distinct advantages in characterizing other primary pleural tumors and pleural metastases. CONCLUSION. FDG PET/CT is a useful imaging modality in the management of patients with primary pleural tumors and pleural metastases.

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

In addition to maintaining the GenBank(R) nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides analysis and retrieval resources for the data in GenBank and other biological data available through NCBI's web site. NCBI resources include Entrez, the Entrez Programming Utilities, My NCBI, PubMed, PubMed Central, Entrez Gene, the NCBI Taxonomy Browser, BLAST, BLAST Link, Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, Spidey, Splign, RefSeq, UniGene, HomoloGene, ProtEST, dbMHC, dbSNP, Cancer Chromosomes, Entrez Genome, Genome Project and related tools, the Trace, Assembly, and Short Read Archives, the Map Viewer, Model Maker, Evidence Viewer, Clusters of Orthologous Groups, Influenza Viral Resources, HIV-1/Human Protein Interaction Database, Gene Expression Omnibus, Entrez Probe, GENSAT, Database of Genotype and Phenotype, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals, the Molecular Modeling Database, the Conserved Domain Database, the Conserved Domain Architecture Retrieval Tool and the PubChem suite of small molecule databases. Augmenting the web applications are custom implementations of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized data sets. These resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Long-term efficacy of carbon dioxide laser resurfacing for facial actinic keratosis.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy and long-term effectiveness of carbon dioxide laser resurfacing in the treatment of patients with facial actinic keratosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective chart analysis was conducted of 31 patients who underwent full face carbon dioxide laser resurfacing for facial actinic keratosis from July 1998 to November 2002. RESULTS: Of 31 patients, 18 (58%) were free of lesions at their longest visit. The average actinic keratosis free period, excluding 2 deceased patients, was 27.4 months. CONCLUSION: Carbon dioxide laser resurfacing is an effective tool in the management of patients with facial actinic keratosis.

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

In addition to maintaining the GenBank nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides analysis and retrieval resources for the data in GenBank and other biological data made available through NCBI's Web site. NCBI resources include Entrez, the Entrez Programming Utilities, My NCBI, PubMed, PubMed Central, Entrez Gene, the NCBI Taxonomy Browser, BLAST, BLAST Link(BLink), Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, Spidey, Splign, RefSeq, UniGene, HomoloGene, ProtEST, dbMHC, dbSNP, Cancer Chromosomes, Entrez Genome, Genome Project and related tools, the Trace and Assembly Archives, the Map Viewer, Model Maker, Evidence Viewer, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs), Viral Genotyping Tools, Influenza Viral Resources, HIV-1/Human Protein Interaction Database, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Entrez Probe, GENSAT, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA), the Molecular Modeling Database (MMDB), the Conserved Domain Database (CDD), the Conserved Domain Architecture Retrieval Tool (CDART) and the PubChem suite of small molecule databases. Augmenting many of the Web applications are custom implementations of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized data sets. These resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

In addition to maintaining the GenBank nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides data retrieval systems and computational resources for the analysis of data in GenBank and other biological data made available through NCBI's website. NCBI resources include Entrez, Entrez Programming Utilities, PubMed, PubMed Central, Entrez Gene, the NCBI Taxonomy Browser, BLAST, BLAST Link (BLink), Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, Spidey, RefSeq, UniGene, HomoloGene, ProtEST, dbMHC, dbSNP, Cancer Chromosomes, Entrez Genomes and related tools, the Map Viewer, Model Maker, Evidence Viewer, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs), Retroviral Genotyping Tools, HIV-1/Human Protein Interaction Database, SAGEmap, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), the Molecular Modeling Database (MMDB), the Conserved Domain Database (CDD) and the Conserved Domain Architecture Retrieval Tool (CDART). Augmenting many of the Web applications are custom implementations of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized datasets. All of the resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

The status, quality, and expansion of the NIH full-length cDNA project: the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC).

The National Institutes of Health's Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) project was designed to generate and sequence a publicly accessible cDNA resource containing a complete open reading frame (ORF) for every human and mouse gene. The project initially used a random strategy to select clones from a large number of cDNA libraries from diverse tissues. Candidate clones were chosen based on 5'-EST sequences, and then fully sequenced to high accuracy and analyzed by algorithms developed for this project. Currently, more than 11,000 human and 10,000 mouse genes are represented in MGC by at least one clone with a full ORF. The random selection approach is now reaching a saturation point, and a transition to protocols targeted at the missing transcripts is now required to complete the mouse and human collections. Comparison of the sequence of the MGC clones to reference genome sequences reveals that most cDNA clones are of very high sequence quality, although it is likely that some cDNAs may carry missense variants as a consequence of experimental artifact, such as PCR, cloning, or reverse transcriptase errors. Recently, a rat cDNA component was added to the project, and ongoing frog (Xenopus) and zebrafish (Danio) cDNA projects were expanded to take advantage of the high-throughput MGC pipeline.

Observations of the marginal incision and lateral crura alar cartilage asymmetry in rhinoplasty: a fixed cadaver study.

OBJECTIVE: This anatomical cadaver study was intended to incrementally determine the precise relationship between the alar rim skin margin and the caudal aspect of the lateral crus of the nose. The second intention was to preliminarily test the hypothesis of sexual dimorphism in the lateral crura size and of right to left asymmetry of the lateral crura in the same individual. STUDY DESIGN: Demographic information of 39 Caucasian cadavers was collected. Dissection of 28 unilateral and 11 bilateral noses included the removal of all of the soft tissue from the lateral surface of lateral crura cartilages. The distance from the caudal edge of the lateral crus to the alar margin was measured beginning at the junction of the middle and lateral crura moving posteriorly. The lateral crus was then completely dissected out from the remaining surrounding soft tissue for measurement of the length, height, and thickness. RESULTS: Comparison of the cartilage dimensions between the sexes showed significant differences between the length, height, and thickness of the cartilages. The distance between the caudal aspect of the lateral crus and alar skin margin was less than 6.7 mm on average for the anterior 15 mm of the lateral crus. Comparison for intraindividual right to left asymmetry showed significant differences in 3 infracartilaginous-alar skin margin distance measurements and in cartilage length and height. CONCLUSION: The marginal incision can be close to the alar skin margin in the first 15 mm. Right to left intraindividual asymmetry in the first 20 mm was significant. Intraindividual right to left asymmetry was significant in the lateral crura length and height. Sexual dimorphism in the lateral crura length, height, and thickness was observed.