Whole-body Assessment Research Articles

Musculoskeletal Disorder Risk Assessment during the Tennis Serve: Performance and Prevention.

Addressing the risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) during a tennis serve is a challenge for both protecting athletes and maintaining performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the risk of MSD occurrence using the rapid whole-body assessment (REBA) ergonomic tool at each time step, using 3D kinematic analysis of joint angles for slow and fast serves. Two force platforms (750 Hz) and an optoelectronic system including 10 infrared cameras (150 Hz, 82 markers located on the whole body and on the racket) were used to capture the kinematics of the six REBA joint areas over five services in two young male and two young female ranked players. The mean REBA score was 9.66 ± 1.11 (ranging from 7.75 to 11.85) with the maximum value observed for the loading and cocking stage (REBA score > 11). The intermediate scores for each of the six joint areas ranged between 2 and 3 and the maximum value of their respective scales. The lowest scores were observed for the shoulder. Neck rotation and shoulder flexion are parameters that could be taken into account when analyzing performance in the context of MSD prevention.

An ergonomic evaluation using a deep learning approach for assessing postural risks in a virtual reality-based smart manufacturing context

This study proposes an integrated ergonomic evaluation designed to identify unsafe postures, whereby postural risks during industrial work are assessed in the context of virtual reality-based smart manufacturing. Unsafe postures were recognised by identifying the displacements of the centre of mass (COM) of body keypoints using a computer vision-based deep learning (DL) convolutional neural network approach. The risk levels for the identified unsafe postures were calculated using ergonomic risk assessment tools rapid upper limb assessment and rapid whole-body assessment. An analysis of variance was conducted to determine significant differences between the vertical and horizontal directions of postural movements associated with the most unsafe postures. The findings assess the ergonomic risk levels and identify the most unsafe postures during industrial work in smart manufacturing using DL method. The identified postural risks can help industry managers and researchers acquire a better understanding of unsafe postures.

Analysis and Assessment of Passenger Comfort Level in Sustainable Public Bus Transportation System

Passenger comfort and safety is one of the main factors in making the experience of using public transportation more comfortable and attractive to passengers. This study aims to assess facility design factors such as seats and handrails that are related to ergonomics, in addition to design factors, namely safety factors by identifying and minimizing hazards that can occur to passengers and procedures that need to be carried out in the event of an accident. To assess the comfort of passengers on the bus, it was measured using the Rapid whole-body assessment (REBA) guidelines, Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) and anthropometry to accurately measure body posture, as well as Quality Function Deployment (QFD). As the result, the new handle and passenger seat were proposed to comply with the ergonomic perspective. How much level of Customer satisfaction increase, can be seen in the result of this research. From using REBA Method there’s a change of score in value from before using our design customer posture got 4 for body posture evaluation score, and after using our design costumer posture score got 3 for body posture evaluation score. From using RULA method there’s a change of score in value from before using our design customer posture got 4 for body posture evaluation score, and after using our design costumer posture score got 2 for body posture evaluation score. It is concluded that the new design work and proof the new design was comply with ergonomic aspect. With this research, it will be beneficial for the sustainability of consumer comfort in Transjakarta public transportation. Because with the realization of the results of this research, improvements in Transjakarta public transportation facilities to support consumer comfort can be achieved and increase customer satisfaction.

Clinical Values of Whole-Body Blood Pool Scans and SPECT for Evaluation of Congenital Vascular Malformation.

This study examines the diagnostic potential of whole-body blood pool scintigraphy (WBBPS) using technetium-99m-labeled red blood cells to detect congenital vascular malformations (CVMs). It aims to compare its efficacy with traditional imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasonography (USG), emphasizing its potential advantages in terms of characterization of lesions and capacity for whole-body assessment. The efficacy of WBBPS and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/computed tomography (CT) imaging in diagnosing CVMs, comparing them with USG and MRI results, was evaluated in this retrospective study. Of the 38 patients, 21 were evaluated using these diagnostic methods, with CVMs classified according to the International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies guidelines. Also, this study aimed to elucidate the characteristics between WBBPS, SPECT/CT, USG, or MRI findings and their consistency with the final diagnosis. A total of 21 participants were included in this study, with an average age of 17.7 years old, with female predominance (57.1%). The most common diagnosis was vascular malformations (VMs) (71.4%), followed by combined vascular malformations (14.3%) and lymphatic malformations (9.5%). WBBPS demonstrated positive results in 95.2% of cases. Distinct imaging patterns for each condition were observed, with WBBPS being crucial in locating lesions. The study findings suggested that WBBPS with SPECT/CT could be helpful in detecting occult VM lesions and ruling out a lymphatic malformation diagnosis. Thus, it can be employed in the evaluation of CVMs.

Agricultural Risk Factor Petani Lansia pada Aktivitas Pertanian Padi

According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, the agricultural sector is the business field that absorbs the most elderly workers. However, elderly farmers actually become vulnerable to musculoskeletal disorders when doing agricultural work. This is because agriculture requires a lot of lifting activities, carrying heavy loads, working in bent and squatting positions, there is a risk of slipping and there is a risk of falling from the slippery paddy fields. This study aims to identify agricultural risks for elderly farmers. Data collection was carried out using Focus Group Discussions, to identify complaints with the Nordic Body Map (NBM) and risk assessment with the Agricultural Whole-Body Assessment (AWBA). Complaint data obtained, namely respondents stated that they had Gotrak complaints (muscle and skeletal disorders) on the waist and legs. Results questionnaire NBM, namely the level of complaints of pain in the highest part of the body that is felt, namely the waist. While the results of the AWBA risk assessment show that most of the work postures of elderly farmers are at high risk (high) with a percentage of 53% and a risk level of work duration of 73% of agricultural activities has a risk of 4 (very high).

A comparative 18F-FDG and an anti-PD-L1 probe PET/CT imaging of implant-associated Staphylococcus aureus osteomyelitis.

Early and accurate diagnosis of infection-induced osteomyelitis, which often involves increased PD-L1 expression, is crucial for better treatment outcomes. Radiolabeled anti-PD-L1 nuclear imaging allows for sensitive and non-invasive whole-body assessments of PD-L1 expression. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of 18F-FDG and an 18F-labeled PD-L1-binding peptide probe (18F-PD-L1P) in PET imaging of implant-associated Staphylococcus aureus osteomyelitis (IAOM). In this study, we synthesized an anti-PD-L1 probe and compared its efficacy with 18F-FDG and 18F-PD-L1P in PET imaging of implant-associated Staphylococcus aureus osteomyelitis (IAOM). The %ID/g ratios (i.e., radioactivity ratios between the infected and non-infected sides) of both probes were evaluated for sensitivity and accuracy in post-infected 7-day tibias and post-infected 21 days, and the intensity of 18F-PD-L1P uptake was compared with pathological changes measured by PD-L1 immunohistochemistry (IHC). Compared with 18F-FDG, 18F-PDL1P demonstrated higher %ID/g ratios for both post-infected 7-day tibias (P=0.001) and post-infected 21 days (P=0.028). The intensity of 18F-PD-L1P uptake reflected the pathological changes of osteomyelitic bones. In comparison to 18F-FDG, 18F-PDL1P provides earlier and more sensitive detection of osteomyelitis caused by S. aureus. Our findings suggest that the 18F-PDL1P probe is a promising tool for the early and accurate detection of osteomyelitis caused by S. aureus.

Radiomics analysis of bone marrow biopsy locations in [18F]FDG PET/CT images for measurable residual disease assessment in multiple myeloma

The combination of visual assessment of whole body [18F]FDG PET images and evaluation of bone marrow samples by Multiparameter Flow Cytometry (MFC) or Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) is currently the most common clinical practice for the detection of Measurable Residual Disease (MRD) in Multiple Myeloma (MM) patients. In this study, radiomic features extracted from the bone marrow biopsy locations are analyzed and compared to those extracted from the whole bone marrow in order to study the representativeness of these biopsy locations in the image-based MRD assessment. Whole body [18F]FDG PET of 39 patients with newly diagnosed MM were included in the database, and visually evaluated by experts in nuclear medicine. A methodology for the segmentation of biopsy sites from PET images, including sternum and posterior iliac crest, and their subsequent quantification is proposed. First, starting from the bone marrow segmentation, a segmentation of the biopsy sites is performed. Then, segmentations are quantified extracting SUV metrics and radiomic features from the [18F]FDG PET images and are evaluated by Mann–Whitney U-tests as valuable features differentiating PET+/PET− and MFC+ /MFC− groups. Moreover, correlation between whole bone marrow and biopsy sites is studied by Spearman ρ rank. Classification performance of the radiomics features is evaluated applying seven machine learning algorithms. Statistical analyses reveal that some images features are significant in PET+/PET− differentiation, such as SUVmax, Gray Level Non-Uniformity or Entropy, especially with a balanced database where 16 of the features show a p value < 0.001. Correlation analyses between whole bone marrow and biopsy sites results in significant and acceptable coefficients, with 11 of the variables reaching a correlation coefficient greater than 0.7, with a maximum of 0.853. Machine learning algorithms demonstrate high performances in PET+/PET− classification reaching a maximum AUC of 0.974, but not for MFC+/MFC− classification. The results demonstrate the representativeness of sample sites as well as the effectiveness of extracted features (SUV metrics and radiomic features) from the [18F]FDG PET images in MRD assessment in MM patients.

Does body condition scoring portray an accurate representation of a horse's condition when compared to other morphological techniques?

Background: The assessment of a horse's condition is generally carried out using body condition scoring, cresty neck scoring or weigh taping. Aim: The objective of this study was to investigate the accuracy of body condition scoring in comparison to other commonly used morphological condition assessment techniques. Methods: A recognised and well-established body condition scale adapted from Henneke et al (1983) was used, and the subsequent scores from this were compared to cresty neck scores, rump width measurements and belly and heart girth measurements. The study was carried out using seven horses and seven volunteers, who assessed each horse identifying any differences or similarities in each assessor's condition assessment. Results: The rump width measurements were the most accurately assessed condition assessment; however, using rump width measurements alone, a whole-body condition assessment cannot be made. Conclusion: It is therefore recommended that it should be combined with other condition assessments to create a whole-body assessment, with detailed localised adiposity information.

Ambient Air Pollution Associated with Body Fat Percentages at Different Body Compartments: A Cohort Study of UK Biobank Participants.

Ambient Air Pollution Associated with Body Fat Percentages at Different Body Compartments: A Cohort Study of UK Biobank Participants.

Risk factors and prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in metropolitan bus drivers: An assessment of whole body and hand-arm transmitted vibration.

Metropolitan bus drivers have higher prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) due to their nature of work and working environment. To identify the prevalence of WMSDs and associated risk factors and to conduct real-time testing to evaluate Whole Body Vibration (WBV) and Hand-Arm Vibration (HAV) in buses based on the ISO standards to assess the vibrations levels at different speeds. Participants in this study were 370 full-time male bus drivers from the north and south zones of 13 depots of Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Bengaluru, south India. Information regarding WMSDs symptoms during the previous 7 days and 12 months were collected by Modified Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (MNMQ). WBV and HAV testing was performed and vibration levels were compared with ISO-2631-1 (1997) and ISO-5349-1-2001 standards. It was found that 68.7% of participants reported WMSDs. Several individuals and work-related factors were found to be statistically significant with WMSDs. From the Gini impurity measure, vibration and road types (Asphalt pavement and Rough road) were considered as vital risk factors associated with WMSDs. From the WBV and HAV evaluations, it was found that for buses on asphalt pavement at > 60 km/h, the vibration level was higher compared to a lower speed. The vibration level exceeded the Exposure Action Value (EAV) on rough roads at all speeds (20km/h, 40km/h and 60km/h) and in several situations considered based on assumptions the vibration level exceeded the Exposure Limiting Value (ELV).

Molecular imaging of biomarkers in breast cancer

Breast cancer therapy is one of the biggest successes, ultimately defined by clinical endpoints such as survival. It is very precious to have biomarkers that can forecast the most efficacious therapies or measure response to therapy early in treatment. Molecular imaging has a promising role in complementing and overcoming some of the limitations of traditional biomarkers by providing the ability to perform non-invasive, repeatable whole-body assessments. The potential advantages of imaging biomarkers are apparent, and initial clinical studies have been promising, but proof of clinical utility still requires prospective multi-center clinical trials.

Imaging of Oligometastatic Disease.

Simple SummaryThe imaging of oligometastatic disease (OMD) is challenging as it requires precise loco-regional staging and whole-body assessment. The combination of imaging modalities is often required. The more accurate imaging tool will be selected according to tumor type, the timing with regard to measurement and treatment, metastatic location, and the patient’s individual risk for metastasis. The most commonly used modalities are contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging and metabolic and receptor-specific imaging, particularly, 18F-fluorodesoxyglucose positron emission tomography/CT, used alone or in combination.Oligometastatic disease (OMD) is an emerging state of disease with limited metastatic tumor burden. It should be distinguished from polymetastatic disease due the potential curative therapeutic options of OMD. Imaging plays a pivotal role in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with OMD. The imaging tools needed in the case of OMD will differ according to different parameters, which include primary tumor type, timing between measurement and treatment, potential metastatic location and the patient’s individual risk for metastasis. In this article, OMD is defined and the use of different imaging modalities in several oncologic situations are described in order to better understand OMD and its specific implication for radiologists.

Characteristics of patients with hip fractures and comorbid fall-related injuries in the emergency department.

AimHip fracture is one of the most common fall‐related injuries in the elderly population. Although falls may cause multiple types of injuries, no study has investigated the details of fall‐related injuries accompanied by hip fractures. This study aimed to characterize the features of such injuries.MethodsThis is a cross‐sectional study using data from four tertiary emergency departments in Japan. We identified patients diagnosed with hip fracture including femoral neck fracture, trochanter fracture, or subtrochanteric fracture from May 12, 2014 to July 12, 2021. Among patients with hip fracture, we included those with fall‐related hip fracture. We excluded patients ages <40 years old and whose fall was high energy onset, defined as fall from more than three steps or 1 m.ResultsAmong 326 emergency departments patients diagnosed with fall‐related hip fracture, 288 patients were eligible for the analysis. Seventeen patients (6%) had injuries in addition to hip fractures. The most frequent injury was upper limb injury (e.g., distal radial fracture; n = 5, 30%), followed by head injury (e.g., subdural hematoma; n = 4, 24%), chest injury (e.g., pneumothorax; n = 2, 12%), and trunk injury (vertebral compression fracture; n = 2, 12%). There were no significantly different clinical characteristics between patients with hip injuries and those without.ConclusionA total of 6% of patients diagnosed with hip fracture had other fall‐related injuries. The most frequent were upper limb injury and head injury. Our findings underscore the importance of whole‐body assessment in patients with fall‐related hip fracture in the emergency department.

Reversible insulin resistance in muscle and fat unrelated to the metabolic syndrome in patients with acromegaly.

SummaryBackgroundPatients with active acromegaly exhibit insulin resistance despite a lean phenotype whereas controlled disease improves insulin sensitivity and increases fat mass. The mechanisms underlying this paradox remain elusive, but growth hormone (GH)-induced lipolysis plays a central role. The aim of the study was to investigative the molecular mechanisms of insulin resistance dissociated from obesity in patients with acromegaly.MethodsIn a prospective study, twenty-one patients with newly diagnosed acromegaly were studied at diagnosis and after disease control obtained by either surgery alone (n=10) or somatostatin analogue (SA) treatment (n=11) with assessment of body composition (DXA scan), whole body and tissue-specific insulin sensitivity and GH and insulin signalling in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle.FindingsDisease control of acromegaly significantly reduced lean body mass (p<0.001) and increased fat mass (p<0.001). At diagnosis, GH signalling (pSTAT5) was constitutively activated in fat and enhanced expression of GH-regulated genes (CISH and IGF-I) were detected in muscle and fat. Insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle, liver and adipose tissue increased after disease control regardless of treatment modality. This was associated with enhanced insulin signalling in both muscle and fat including downregulation of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) together with reduced signalling of GH and lipolytic activators in fat.InterpretationIn conclusion, the study support that uncontrolled lipolysis is a major feature of insulin resistance in active acromegaly, and is characterized by upregulation of PTEN and suppression of insulin signalling in both muscle and fat.FundingThis work was supported by a grant from the Independent Research Fund, Denmark (7016-00303A) and from the Alfred Benzon Foundation, Denmark.

Does body condition scoring portray an accurate representation of a horse's condition when compared to other morphological techniques?

Background: The assessment of a horse's condition is generally carried out using body condition scoring, cresty neck scoring or weigh taping. Aim: The objective of this study was to investigate the accuracy of body condition scoring in comparison to other commonly used morphological condition assessment techniques. Methods: A recognised and well-established body condition scale adapted from Henneke et al (1983) was used, and the subsequent scores from this were compared to cresty neck scores, rump width measurements and belly and heart girth measurements. The study was carried out using seven horses and seven volunteers, who assessed each horse identifying any differences or similarities in each assessor's condition assessment. Results: The rump width measurements were the most accurately assessed condition assessment; however, using rump width measurements alone, a whole-body condition assessment cannot be made. Conclusion: It is therefore recommended that it should be combined with other condition assessments to create a whole-body assessment, with detailed localised adiposity information.

PET and SPECT Imaging of the EGFR Family (RTK Class I) in Oncology.

The human epidermal growth factor receptor family (EGFR-family, other designations: HER family, RTK Class I) is strongly linked to oncogenic transformation. Its members are frequently overexpressed in cancer and have become attractive targets for cancer therapy. To ensure effective patient care, potential responders to HER-targeted therapy need to be identified. Radionuclide molecular imaging can be a key asset for the detection of overexpression of EGFR-family members. It meets the need for repeatable whole-body assessment of the molecular disease profile, solving problems of heterogeneity and expression alterations over time. Tracer development is a multifactorial process. The optimal tracer design depends on the application and the particular challenges of the molecular target (target expression in tumors, endogenous expression in healthy tissue, accessibility). We have herein summarized the recent preclinical and clinical data on agents for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Single Photon Emission Tomography (SPECT) imaging of EGFR-family receptors in oncology. Antibody-based tracers are still extensively investigated. However, their dominance starts to be challenged by a number of tracers based on different classes of targeting proteins. Among these, engineered scaffold proteins (ESP) and single domain antibodies (sdAb) show highly encouraging results in clinical studies marking a noticeable trend towards the use of smaller sized agents for HER imaging.

Age-Net: An MRI-Based Iterative Framework for Brain Biological Age Estimation

The concept of biological age (BA) - although important in clinical practice - is hard to grasp mainly due to the lack of a clearly defined reference standard. For specific applications, especially in pediatrics, medical image data are used for BA estimation in a routine clinical context. Beyond this young age group, BA estimation is mostly restricted to whole-body assessment using non-imaging indicators such as blood biomarkers, genetic and cellular data. However, various organ systems may exhibit different aging characteristics due to lifestyle and genetic factors. Thus, a whole-body assessment of the BA does not reflect the deviations of aging behavior between organs. To this end, we propose a new imaging-based framework for organ-specific BA estimation. In this initial study we focus mainly on brain MRI. As a first step, we introduce a chronological age (CA) estimation framework using deep convolutional neural networks (Age-Net). We quantitatively assess the performance of this framework in comparison to existing state-of-the-art CA estimation approaches. Furthermore, we expand upon Age-Net with a novel iterative data-cleaning algorithm to segregate atypical-aging patients (BA [Formula: see text] CA) from the given population. We hypothesize that the remaining population should approximate the true BA behavior. We apply the proposed methodology on a brain magnetic resonance image (MRI) dataset containing healthy individuals as well as Alzheimer's patients with different dementia ratings. We demonstrate the correlation between the predicted BAs and the expected cognitive deterioration in Alzheimer's patients. A statistical and visualization-based analysis has provided evidence regarding the potential and current challenges of the proposed methodology.

A rare case of urinary bladder paraganglioma documented by 18F-FDG PET-CT: Clinical and imaging features

Paragangliomas are extra-adrenal neural crest-derived neoplasms. Hybrid imaging allows for localization, preoperative planning and whole-body assessment. A rare case of urinary bladder paraganglioma is presented. In addition, in this case report, we highlight the selection of the appropriate radi

The role of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography in the differential diagnosis of pericardial disease

This study aimed to assess the role of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18FDG-PET/CT) in the differential diagnosis of pericardial disease. The diagnosis is often troublesome because pericardial fluid analysis or biopsy does not always provide answers. 18FDG-PET/CT can visualize both inflammation and malignancy and offers a whole-body assessment. Patients who visited the Pericardial Disease Clinic of Samsung Medical Center with an 18FDG-PET/CT order code were extracted. Exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) the purpose of the differential diagnosis was not pericardial disease; (2) the patient had a known advanced-stage malignancy; (3) the patient already have confirmative diagnosis using a serology, pericardial effusion analysis or biopsy. The analysis included 107 patients. The most common final diagnosis was idiopathic (n = 46, 43.0%), followed by tuberculosis (n = 30, 28.0%) and neoplastic (n = 11, 10.3%). A maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) ≥ 5 typically indicates tuberculosis or neoplastic pericarditis except in just one case of autoimmune pericarditis); especially all of the SUVmax scores ≥ 10 had tuberculosis. The diagnostic yield of pericardial biopsy was very low (10.2%). Interestingly, all of the pericardium with an SUVmax < 4.4 had nondiagnostic results. In contrast, targeted biopsies based on 18FDG uptake demonstrated a higher diagnostic yield (38.7%) than pericardium. The sensitivity of 18FDG-PET/CT was 63.6%. The specificity was 71.9%. The positive predictive value was 20.6%. The negative predictive value 94.5%, and the accuracy was 71.0% for excluding malignancy based upon the FDG uptake patterns. It is possible to explore the differential diagnosis in some patients with difficult pericardiocentesis or pericardial biopsy in a noninvasive manner using on the SUVmax or uptake patterns. In addition, the biopsy strategy depending on 18FDG uptake is helpful to achieve biopsy more safely and with a higher yield. 18FDG-PET may enhance the diagnostic efficacy in patients with pericardial disease.

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