5 months. Both GERD and PPI use tended to be less frequent when fundoplication was performed, although these differences were not statistically significant. (7.7% vs. 37.5%; P = 0.091, 23.1% vs. 50.0%; P = 0.204, respectively). Conclusions We demonstrated the feasibility and safety of LECS for SMTs even on the EGJ. Fundoplication after LECS may be an approach for the prevention of postoperative reflux esophagitis. Future research is warranted to validate the efficacy of the addition of fundoplication.Purpose Early prediction of clinical response to conventional chemotherapy is a significant factor in determining an overall treatment strategy for osteosarcoma. Methods Cells were extracted from treatment-naïve biopsies from 16 osteosarcoma patients who received a doxorubicin and cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimen and their sensitivities to doxorubicin and cisplatin were measured as IC50 values. Associations of in vitro drug sensitivity (IDS) levels and clinical outcomes were examined. Results Primary osteosarcoma cells responded to doxorubicin and cisplatin with IC50 values of 0.088 ± 0.032 µM and 16.7 ± 8.5 µM, respectively.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/U0126.html  The patients with a non-metastatic phenotype and surviving patients showed significantly lower IC50 values for both drugs. ROC analysis defined the optimal IC50 cut-off values for doxorubicin (IDSdox) and cisplatin (IDScpt) as 0.05 µM (AUC 0.82) and 14 µM (AUC 0.87), respectively. Survival analysis found significantly longer disease-free survival (DFS, n = 14) and overall survival (OS, n = 16) times in the patients with low IDSdox (p = 0.0064 for DFS and p = 0.0102 for OS) and low IDScpt (p = 0.0204 for DFS and p = 0.0021 for OS). Interestingly, when the patients with low IDScpt and those with low IDSdox were combined (Group 1), significant associations with prolonged DFS (p = 0.0042, C-statistic 0.78) and OS (p = 0.0010, C-statistic 0.79) were found. In this cohort, histological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy could predict only OS. Conclusions This study indicates that IDS analysis could potentially be a practical, rapid, and reliable technique for predicting clinical outcomes. It could also be used to identify patients for whom conventional chemotherapy is most appropriate and, in the future, help advance personalized therapy.In preclinical models of biliary tract cancer, NUC-1031 showed less potency than gemcitabine, no correlation with potential biomarkers and only moderate additive interaction in combination with cisplatin. These findings should prompt further careful pharmacological and translational studies to better define the purported therapeutic advantage of NUC-1031 over gemcitabine. That would be a more cautious approach than the phase III clinical trial which is planning to enrol 828 patients with biliary tract tumours to compare gemcitabine/cisplatin "conventional" treatment with or without NUC-1031.The Mario S. Verani Lectureship has traditionally been an opportunity for presenters to reflect on the state of nuclear cardiology in clinical practice and expound on new innovations in the field. Mario Verani was a visionary who embraced change and, as a cardiologist, sought to define where other cardiac imaging techniques might complement nuclear cardiology for improving patient care. Over the last decade, nuclear cardiology and cardiac computed tomography (CT) have developed in parallel with both expanding beyond the evaluation of coronary artery disease. However, many consider cardiac CT a formidable threat to nuclear cardiology due to pivotal technical innovations and its subsequent exponential growth in recent years. It is only fitting that this year's lectureship explore the relative value of both techniques in evaluating and managing cardiac disease, their relative strengths and weaknesses, and the potential value of combining nuclear cardiology and cardiac CT imaging for enhancing patient management. To Mario, my mentor, colleague for over 20 years and friend, this lectureship is truly in honor and remembrance of you.Background ATTR cardiac amyloidosis (CA) can be diagnosed with Tc-99m-PYP scintigraphy. There are two recommended interpretative approaches the quantitative heart-to-contralateral lung ratio (H/CL) at 1 hour and the semi-quantitative visual system at 3 hours. This study's aim was to compare both approaches and to apply the semi-quantitative method at 1 hour. Methods Tc-99m-PYP scans of 122 consecutive subjects were reviewed using both approaches. On 1 hour planar images, regions of interest were drawn over the heart and contralateral chest to determine H/CL. Myocardial uptake was graded on 1 and 3 hour SPECT images according to the semi-quantitative method. Concordance was examined using kappa statistics. Results 31, 10, and 81 studies were positive, negative, and equivocal, respectively, for ATTR-CA using the H/CL approach. Using the grading system, 35, 77, and 10 scans were positive, negative, and equivocal, respectively. The quantitative approach led to a significantly higher proportion of equivocal studies compared to the semi-quantitative approach (P less then .0001). These approaches yielded discordant results in 2 subjects; biopsy results were concordant with SPECT grade. 1 and 3 hour SPECT grades provided concordant result in 99% of cases. Conclusions The H/CL approach resulted in a high proportion of equivocal studies. Using SPECT imaging, the semi-quantitative approach minimized this proportion and showed high concordance at 1 and 3 hours.Purpose To explore the relationship between body weight status and neurocognitive functioning in soldiers. Methods U.S. soldiers (N = 109) answered survey questions and completed neurocognitive tests including simple reaction time, code substitution, procedural reaction time, go-no-go, matching to sample, code substitution recall, and four versions of the Stroop test including congruent (color and meaning of word agreed); incongruent (color and meaning of word differed); neutral (nonsense words appeared), and emotional (combat-related words such as "I.E.D" and "convoy" appeared). Self-reported heights and weights were used to calculate BMI. A BMI ≥ 30.00 kg/m2 was categorized as obese. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze weight status differences (p ≤ 0.05) across neurocognitive variables. Binomial logistic regression analysis with obesity as the dependent variable was used to ascertain the contributions (p ≤ 0.05) of exercise and the neurocognitive measures that differed based on weight status.