INTRODUCTION To evaluate whether metabolic tumour volume (MTV) can be used as a prognostic indicator in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). MATERIALS AND METHODS Eighty-nine patients with DLBCL who underwent staging fluorodeoxyglucose PET-computed tomography (FDG PET-CT) scan were included in this study and followed up, up to a period of 5 years. Whole-body PET-CT was performed at staging and the total MTV of all FDG avid lesions was calculated for each patient at a threshold of 42% of SUVmax. Out of 89 patients studied, six patients had persistent disease after chemotherapy, 24 had recurrence during follow-up and 59 patients remained disease free. In this study, prognostic significance of the interim PET-CT scan was also analysed. Out of 89 patients, 81 underwent interim PET-CT scan. Receiver operator curve (ROC) analysis was done to determine MTV baseline cutoff along with sensitivity and specificity. For interim PET-CT scan prognostic evaluation, sensitivity and negative predictive value were calculated. RESULTS Among all 89 patients, the estimated area under the ROC curve was 0.851 and the MTV cutoff was 185.63 cm with sensitivity and specificity of 86.67% and 84.75%, respectively. In subset analysis of MTV cutoff, sensitivity and specificity were calculated for both the groups. For prognostic significance of the interim PET-CT scan, sensitivity and negative predictive value of staging MTV were much more than that of the interim PET-CT. CONCLUSION Baseline MTV can be used as a prognostic marker in DLBCL patients. Chemosensitive interim PET-CT scan is not a good prognostic marker compared with MTV.AIM To evaluate feasibility of establishing a clinically applicable reference value through those unaffected salivary gland on sialoscintigraphic data obtained from patients presented with obstructive sialadenitis affected a single gland. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ninety-one patients suffered from single salivary gland swelling, pain/tenderness and received sialoscintigraphic examinations were retrospectively enrolled. The quantitative data parameters, including the uptake ratio, maximal accumulation, maximal excretion, time to maximal (Tmax) and time to minimal (Tmin) activity of the affected and unaffected glands, were calculated for analysis. Data were also obtained and recorded for comparison from 50 patients who fulfill the American-European criteria for the diagnosis of Sjogren's syndrome. RESULTS The maximal excretion appeared to be the best indicator for distinguishing affected and unaffected glands of obstructive diseases, for parotid and submandibular glands (P = 0.0002 and P  less then  0.0001, respectively).  https://www.selleckchem.com/CDK.html  The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) is 0.82 for submandibular glands. In patients with Sjogren's syndrome, the maximal excretion and Tmin were the best parameters, for parotid (P = 0.002 and P  less then  0.0001, respectively) and submandibular glands (P  less then  0.0001 and P = 0.002, respectively). Uptake ratio was a good parameter for submandibular gland (P  less then  0.0001). The AUC of maximal excretion and uptake ratio for submandibular glands is 0.81 and 0.77, respectively. CONCLUSION Quantitative data obtained from the unaffected glands of patients with obstructive sialadenitis could be used as reference values for the functional evaluation of salivary gland disorders with maximal excretion as one of the reliable parameters.BACKGROUND The indocyanine green retention rate at 15 min (ICGR15) is a gold standard parameter of liver function when deciding on the extent of hepatectomy. However, ICGR15 is influenced by several hepatic conditions. To evaluate auxiliary preoperative liver functional reserve, we examined the clinical significance of modified parameters by blood tests and technetium-99m galactosyl human serum albumin (Tc-GSA) scintigraphy. METHODS We measured liver function parameters, including the hepatic uptake ratio (LHL15) and the blood pool clearance index (HH15) of Tc-GSA and their modified formulae [LHL/HH15, LHL minus HH15, and converted ICGR15 (cICGR15) from a preliminary study] in 229 patients, including 18 with biliary obstruction. RESULTS The mean values of LHL15/HH15, LHL minus HH15, and cICGR15 were 1.646 ± 0.295, 0.347 ± 0.116, and 13.2 ± 5.3%, respectively. These parameters correlated significantly with other liver functions measured by blood tests except for the bilirubin level (P  less then  0.05) although the actual ICGR15 level correlated positively with the bilirubin level. The difference of ICGR15 (ICGR15 minus cICGR15) in patients with biliary obstruction tended to be higher in comparison with that in patients without biliary obstruction (P = 0.044). Values of LHL/HH15, LHL minus HH15, and the cICGR15 were not significantly associated with postoperative complications. CONCLUSION The modified parameters of Tc-GSA were useful for evaluating hepatic function in patients with high bilirubinemia due to biliary obstruction. However, it remains difficult to establish a more reliable parameter as a standard hepatic function test instead of ICGR15.BACKGROUND Treponema-specific assays are widely adopted in the first step of the reverse algorithm of serologic syphilis screening. The new BioPlex 2200 Syphilis Total and rapid plasma reagin (RPR) test is designed to perform the first two steps of the algorithm simultaneously. However, limited data exists regarding the BioPlex Syphilis Total and RPR in clinical practice. METHODS A total of 293 random samples at a tertiary medical center were tested by BioPlex Syphilis Total and RPR, BioPlex Syphilis IgG, Architect Syphilis TP, and BD Macro-Vue RPR card. Treponema pallidum particle agglutination (TP-PA) assay and clinical chart review were used to resolve discrepancies. Comparisons were performed among treponemal specific assays and between two RPR tests. RESULTS Good overall agreements (> 91%) were achieved between BioPlex Syphilis Total, BioPlex Syphilis IgG, and Architect Syphilis TP. Overall agreement between BioPlex RPR and BD RPR was 86.8% with positive percent agreement (PPA) of 66.7% and negative percent agreement (NPA) of 96.