The Registry of Fast Myocardial Perfusion Imaging with Next-Generation SPECT (REFINE SPECT) has been expanded to include more patients and CT attenuation correction imaging. We present the design and initial results from the updated registry. Methods: The updated REFINE SPECT is a multicenter, international registry with clinical data and image files. SPECT images were processed by quantitative software and CT images by deep learning software detecting coronary artery calcium (CAC). Patients were followed for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) (death, myocardial infarction, unstable angina, late revascularization). Results: The registry included scans from 45,252 patients from 13 centers (55.9% male, 64.7 ± 11.8 y). Correlating invasive coronary angiography was available for 3,786 (8.4%) patients. CT attenuation correction imaging was available for 13,405 patients. MACEs occurred in 6,514 (14.4%) patients during a median follow-up of 3.6 y (interquartile range, 2.5–4.8 y). Patients with a stress total perfusion deficit of 5% to less than 10% (unadjusted hazard ratio [HR], 2.42; 95% CI, 2.23–2.62) and a stress total perfusion deficit of at least 10% (unadjusted HR, 3.85; 95% CI, 3.56–4.16) were more likely to experience MACEs. Patients with a deep learning CAC score of 101–400 (unadjusted HR, 3.09; 95% CI, 2.57–3.72) and a CAC of more than 400 (unadjusted HR, 5.17; 95% CI, 4.41–6.05) were at increased risk of MACEs. Conclusion: The REFINE SPECT registry contains a comprehensive set of imaging and clinical variables. It will aid in understanding the value of SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging, leverage hybrid imaging, and facilitate validation of new artificial intelligence tools for improving prediction of adverse outcomes incorporating multimodality imaging.

In Canada and across the globe, access to PSMA PET/CT is limited and expensive. For patients with biochemical recurrence (BCR) after treatment for prostate cancer, novel strategies are needed to better stratify patients who may or may not benefit from a PSMA PET scan. The role of the free-to-total prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ratio (FPSAR) in posttreatment prostate cancer, specifically in the PSMA PET/CT era, remains unknown. Our aim in this study was to determine the association of FPSAR in patients referred for ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT in the BCR setting and assess the correlation between FPSAR and ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT positivity (local recurrence or distant metastases). Methods: This prospective study included 137 patients who were referred for ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT and had BCR with a total PSA of less than 1 ng/mL after radical prostatectomy (RP) (including adjuvant or salvage radiotherapy). Blood samples were collected on the day of ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT. FPSAR was categorized as less than 0.10 or as 0.10 or more. A positive ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT scan was defined by a PROMISE classification lesion score of 2 or 3, irrespective of the site of increased tracer uptake (e.g., prostate, pelvic nodes, bone, or viscera). Results: Overall, 137 blood samples of patients with BCR after RP were analyzed to calculate FPSAR. The median age at ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT was 68.6 y (interquartile range, 63.0–72.4 y), and the median PSA at ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT was 0.3 ng/mL (interquartile range, 0.3–0.6 ng/mL). Eighty-six patients (62.8%) had an FPSAR of less than 0.10, whereas 51 patients (37.2%) had an FPSAR of 0.10 or more. An FPSAR of 0.10 or more was identified as an independent predictor of a positive ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT scan, with an odds ratio of 6.99 (95% CI, 2.96–16.51; P < 0.001). Conclusion: An FPSAR of 0.10 or more after RP independently correlated with increased odds of a positive ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT scan among BCR post-RP patients. These findings may offer an inexpensive method by which to triage access to ¹⁸F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT in jurisdictions where availability is not replete.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

Mechanical thrombectomy is a fundamental intervention for acute ischemic stroke treatment. While conventional techniques are effective, cyclic aspiration (CyA) shows potential for better recanalization rates. We aim to investigate factors affecting CyA and compare them with static aspiration (StA).

The current growth and consumption based economy is not sustainable. The world must move towards a circular economy and sustainability.

The post Degrowth, green energy, social equity, and circular economy appeared first on rabble.ca.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is condemning reported atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and he says those responsible — perhaps the country’s military — will be held accountable.

Tillerson says accounts of the suffering of the Rohingya are “heartbreaking” — and that if those reports are true, then “someone is going to be held to account for that.”

Tillerson — who’s set to visit South Asia next week — is urging the Myanmar government to improve humanitarian access to the population in western Rakhine state.

Amnesty International has accused Myanmar’s security forces of killing hundreds of men, women and children during a systematic campaign to expel the Rohingya. More than 580,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since late August.

“We really hold the military leadership accountable for what’s happening,” Tillerson said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. “What’s most important to us is that the world can’t just stand idly by and be witness to the atrocities that are being reported in that area.”

He also called Wednesday for the U.S. and India to expand strategic ties. He pointedly criticized China, which he accused of challenging international norms needed for global stability.

He said the world needed the U.S. and India to have a strong partnership. The two nations share goals of security, free navigation, free trade and fighting terrorism in the Indo-Pacific, and serve as “the eastern and western beacons” for an international rules-based order which is increasingly under strain, he said.

Both India and China had benefited from that order, but Tillerson said India had done so while respecting rules and norms, while China had “at times” undermined them. To make his point, he alluded to China’s island building and expansive territorial claims in seas where Beijing has long-running disputes with Southeast Asian neighbors.

“China’s provocative actions in the South China Sea directly challenge the international law and norms that the United States and India both stand for,” Tillerson said in an address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

He added that the U.S. seeks constructive relations with China but “won’t shrink” from the challenges it poses when it “subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries, and disadvantages the U.S. and our friends.”

U.S.-India relations have generally prospered in the past decade, in part because of their shared concerns about the rise of China. While President Donald Trump has looked to deepen cooperation with China on addressing the nuclear threat from North Korea, he’s also sought a closer relationship with India, which shares U.S. worries on Islamic extremism.

“In this period of uncertainty and angst, India needs a reliable partner on the world stage. I want to make clear: with our shared values and vision for global stability, peace and prosperity, the United States is that partner,” Tillerson said.

Tillerson said the U.S. wants to help improve India’s military capabilities, and also improve security cooperation among the region’s major democracies, which included Japan and Australia.

Tillerson said the U.S. and India were leading regional efforts on counterterrorism. He called for India’s archrival Pakistan “to take decisive action against terrorist groups based within their own borders that threaten its own people and the broader region.”

The post Tillerson: ‘Heartbreaking’ reports of suffering in Myanmar appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

There's not a ton of news right now, which isn't a big surprise considering the current challenges of making games. Instead we deep dive into our current games, with Jonathan, Josh, Kelley and Peter leading the charge. Anna Marie and Chris share hosting duties to wrap up this week's panel.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 542: “Hell House? Hold My Beer” appeared first on RPGamer.

With many media events getting pushed back, the news is a little trim this week. But we still manage to pull together our basket of zany personalities for a podcast we hope brings a smile to your face.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 545: “Did You Infect My Game With Harvest Moon?” appeared first on RPGamer.

Kelley ruins Warcraft by including Conker. Chris mortgages his Xbox. Josh's cat won't let him control his Xbox. And Microsoft has announced their new Candy Crush themed Windows 12.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 615: “The New Dialga Looks Like My Brother’s Broken Vacuum Cleaner” appeared first on RPGamer.

Kelley puts a price on a good nap. Josh complains about Pokémon (someone has to). And Chris's true Dark Souls adventure begins with his dryer.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 621: “My Elden Ring Fever Dreams” appeared first on RPGamer.

It's a duo show this week as Chris wants to try the fancy feast, while Kelley is deceived by that Oreo cookie look from her devil of a cat.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 637: “Alice Ate My Licorice” appeared first on RPGamer.

Chris is a bojo cause he forgot the boards don't work on water unless you've got POWER. Kelley is entertained by legally distinct Michael Jackson. And Robert can't stop talking about the HD Spit Shine.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 673: “My Kitten Blew a Tire” appeared first on RPGamer.

Kelley "accidentally" barbecues her horse. Josh slaps "Trails" onto Horizon: Forbidden West to get Americans to play it. Jason has to go get a tako taco.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 677: “My Parents Thought Final Fantasy Tactics Was a Strategy Guide” appeared first on RPGamer.

Kelley tries to capture a goat. Robert is trapped in a corner by the nightmares. Josh upgrades his tank and hopes to get a good ending this time. Will Chris beat FFXVI this week?

The post RPG Cast – Episode 685: “You Erased My Save, Now You Have to Beat It” appeared first on RPGamer.

Kelley turns into a trashy paranormal romance novel. Chris opens up a Pokémon sweatshop. And Josh only interacts with League of Legends side content.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 708: “My Oculus Ow!” appeared first on RPGamer.

Chris got extra hands and became too weird even for SMT. Kelley got to the boat song and noped out. Phil destroyed half the furniture in his living room. Now go give your cat some nose drops.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 743: “There’s a Body in My Inventory” appeared first on RPGamer.

Deller on politics, music and his film Everybody in the Place, now showing at The Vinyl Factory's Reverb exhibition.

The post Interview: Jeremy Deller appeared first on Fact Magazine.

In his monologue Wednesday, Jimmy Kimmel played a montage of Fox News anchors praising Bret Baier for his interview with Kamala Harris, where they described Baier’s performance as “incredible” and “a masterful job.”

Kimmel responded, “Alright, save it for the post-show orgy, everybody! Come on now.”

The late night host was skeptical that the Fox News pundits’ praise came from a genuine place of journalistic integrity. “They all sit there in fear, imagining Donald Trump on the toilet watching them,” he said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

It appears Donald Trump is once again attempting to silence Stormy Daniels, despite his recent convictions in that category.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow reports that Trump’s lawyers tried to “get another hush money deal” with the adult film star, to keep her from making any “public or private statements related to any alleged past interactions” with the former president. In exchange for her written agreement, Trump’s team reportedly offered to adjust the debt she owes Trump for the unsuccessful defamation case her lawyer brought against him in 2018.

Daniels still needs to pay “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in legal fees, Maddow explained, and in hammering out the exact amount, Trump’s lawyers allegedly offered to “pretend” she owed their client “less than they actually believed” she did. Whereas they first estimated Daniels’ debt at $650,000, Maddow reported, they said they would settle her tab for $620,000, if she promised not to make any “defamatory or disparaging statements about him, his business, and/or any affiliates, or his suitability as a candidate for president.” They then adjusted the fee, asking $635,000 if she refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Daniels reportedly turned them down, paying $627,500 and declining to sign the NDA.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

I never completed the original Red Dead Redemption, but not for the usual reasons of being terrible at the game, or thinking that open worlds are too big and boring these days and I just want to lie down forever and watch anime. I never finished it because my Xbox 360 version was not, in practice, an open world game, but a lonely farm at the bottom of a vortex of butchered spacetime. In the prologue, reformed outlaw John Marston confronts an old bandit acquaintance and gets himself roundly shot to bits. He’s rescued by local rancher Bonnie MacFarlane, who nurses him back to health and gives him a few odd jobs to warm him up for the next plot point.

Read more

It was the 20-year anniversary of Halo 2 at the weekend, which saw the shooter's modern counterparts celebrating with classic multiplayer maps and long-lost levels. But also emerging from the dust of time are insights to the sequel's development back in 2004. Rolling Stone interviewed two key designers of the game and made a fun discovery. The Flood (the sickly pale alien infestation that briefly turns Halo into sci-fi horror) was partly inspired by a colourful and innocent children's book about a nice elephant.

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Here’s a Steam quote for you: ‘The Rise Of The Golden Idol is the best game I’ve ever played where I spent most of my time staring at the screen going “well what chuffing well is it, then?!” Fiendish but fair, this detective puzzler demands a heady mix of observation, deduction, and logic, but rewards you with a progressively engaging story, and steadily more infuriatingly brilliant puzzles. Despite teaching you everything you need to know in the tutorial, it still manages to introduce new wrinkles and twists on the formula with each fresh chapter. My verdict? Imagine me lying my floor, massaging my temple with one hand and giving a fat thumbs up with the other.

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves has torpedoed the UK's economic recovery with her tax-and-spend Budget but Ed Miliband is the one who worries me.

Astronomers have been spotting strange banana-shaped galaxies and the evidence seems to indicate that filaments of dark matter make them take this shape

In the centre of a distant galaxy, a supermassive black hole has swallowed up a star 9 times the sun’s mass in the biggest and brightest such cosmic meal we’ve ever seen

A radio signal detected in 1977, sometimes claimed as evidence for aliens, may have been caused by a laser-like beam of microwave radiation

Radio astronomers teamed up with SpaceX to find a promising solution for helping expensive telescopes avoid interference from thousands of Starlink satellites

See the world's best space images from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 award

The first 18 satellites of a planned Chinese mega constellation are brighter than all but 500 stars in the sky, raising fears of a huge impact on astronomy

The books, TV, games and more that New Scientist staff have enjoyed this week

Are humanoid robots the future of space exploration? New Scientist reporter James Woodford took NASA's Valkyrie for a spin to find out

Google’s NotebookLM tool is billed as an AI-powered research assistant and can even turn your text history into a jovial fake podcast. But it could also tempt you into narcissism and nostalgia, says Jacob Aron

After seven years of voicing Elena Ferrante’s ambitious heroine, the Italian actress brings Lenù Greco home.

The election is over and the economy had a huge impact. An AP analysis said 96% of those surveyed admitted that prices of gas and groceries had an influence on their vote.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada whale researchers recently spotted one of the largest pods of orca whales ever reported off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Scientists have recreated the scent of the embalming fluid used to preserve a noblewoman more than 3,500 years ago — and they say it's quite lovely, indeed.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that Tesla founder Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy will a new Department of Government Efficiency, a White House office given the task of cutting the federal budget.

Getting virus alerts on your iPhone? Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson helps you learn how to handle fake scam alerts and boost security.

Amazon's Black Friday sales event starts Friday, Nov. 22. Kurt the CyberGuy offers some tips on how to get the best deals on merchandise.

“Synonymy is a non-profit, educational word game narrated by Richard Dawkins in which players are challenged to find the paths between random words through their network of synonyms. By taking the synonym of a word, and then a synonym of that synonym, and so on, you can ultimately arrive at any other word in the […]

Jacob Hando discusses why 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' has such an impactful front cover.

Eddie reflects on his favourite scene in cinema.

The epilepsy medication sodium valproate is linked to developmental problems in fetuses, but lab studies may now have found a way to prevent this

President-elect Trump announced that billionaire Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency.

See the interactive version of this story on our site →

Mark Stibbe was one of John Smyth's victims. He's a former vicar and is now an author.

We spoke to one of John Smyth’s victims, Mark Stibbe, a former vicar and now an author.