Assessment of spectral ghost artifacts in echo-planar spectroscopic micro-imaging with flyback readout.

In this work, echo-planar spectroscopic imaging (EPSI) with flyback readout gradient-echo train was implemented in a preclinical MR scanner. The aim of this study is to visualize and quantify the ghost spectral lines produced by two, three and four interleaved echo trains with different amplitudes of the readout gradients, and to investigate the feasibility of the flyback data acquisition in micro-imaging of small animals. Applied multi-slice EPSI sequence utilizes asymmetric gradient-echo train that combines the shortest possible rewind gradients with readout gradients.

Diagnostic challenges between takotsubo cardiomyopathy and acute myocardial infarction-where is the emergency?: a literature review.

Background: Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC) is an emergency cardiovascular disease, with clinical and paraclinical manifestations similar to acute myocardial infarction (AMI), but it is characterized by reversible systolic dysfunction of the left ventricle (LV) in the absence (most of the time) of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD).

Management Of Patients With Tc: TC seems to be more frequent in post-menopausal women and it is triggered by emotional or physical stress. The diagnosis of TC is based on the Mayo Clinic criteria.

Everyday Evaluation of Herb/Dietary Supplement-Drug Interaction: A Pilot Study.

A lack of reliable information hinders the clinician evaluation of suspected herb-drug interactions. This pilot study was a survey-based study conceived as a descriptive analysis of real-life experiences with herb-drug interaction from the perspective of herbalists, licensed health-care providers, and lay persons. Reported dietary supplement-drug interactions were evaluated against the resources most commonly cited for the evaluation of potential supplement-drug interactions.

Herb-Drug Interactions: Worlds Intersect with the Patient at the Center.

This review examines three bodies of literature related to herb-drug interactions: case reports, clinical studies, evaluations found in six drug interaction checking resources. The aim of the study is to examine the congruity of resources and to assess the degree to which case reports signal for further study. A qualitative review of case reports seeks to determine needs and perspectives of case report authors.

Animal-derived medications: cultural considerations and available alternatives.

Context: Cultural competency is a cornerstone of patient-centered health care. Religious doctrines may define appropriate consumption or use of certain animals and forbid use of others. Many medications contain ingredients that are animal-derived; these medications may be unacceptable to individual patients within the context of their religious beliefs and lifestyle choices.

In vivo localization of chronically implanted electrodes and optic fibers in mice.

Electrophysiology provides a direct readout of neuronal activity at a temporal precision only limited by the sampling rate. However, interrogating deep brain structures, implanting multiple targets or aiming at unusual angles still poses significant challenges for operators, and errors are only discovered by post-hoc histological reconstruction. Here, we propose a method combining the high-resolution information about bone landmarks provided by micro-CT scanning with the soft tissue contrast of the MRI, which allowed us to precisely localize electrodes and optic fibers in mice in vivo.

Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging using a preclinical 1 T PET/MRI in healthy and tumor-bearing rats.

Background: Hybrid positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) scanners are increasingly used for both clinical and preclinical imaging. Especially functional MRI sequences such as diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) are of great interest as they provide information on a molecular level, thus, can be used as surrogate biomarkers. Due to technical restrictions, MR sequences need to be adapted for each system to perform reliable imaging.

Thallium Labeled Citrate-Coated Prussian Blue Nanoparticles as Potential Imaging Agent.

Background: The aim of this study was to develop and characterize a nanoparticle-based image-contrast platform which is biocompatible, chemically stable, and accessible for radiolabeling with Tl. We explored whether this nanoparticle enhanced the T1 signal which might make it an MRI contrast agent as well.

Methods: The physical properties of citrate-coated Prussian blue nanoparticles (PBNPs) (iron(II);iron(III);octadecacyanide) doped with Tl isotope were characterized with atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and zeta potential measurement.

HYPERGLYCAEMIC HEMIBALLISMUS: IMPLICATIONS FROM CONNECTIVITY ANALYSIS FOR COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS.

Hyperglycaemia induced movement disorders, such as hemiballism are rare disorders. The syndrome is characterised by the triad of hemiballism, contralateral T1-hyperintense striatal lesion and non-ketotic hyperglycaemia. Here we report a patient with untreated diabetes presenting with acute onset of hemiballism.

Diffusion MRI measured white matter microstructure as a biomarker of neurodegeneration in preclinical Huntington's disease.

Background: Huntington's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, genetically determined by CAG trinucleotide expansions in the IT15 gene. The onset of the symptoms is related to the number of CAG triplets. Because the patients are asymptomatic in the early phase of the disease, in vivo biomarkers are needed to follow up the reurodegeneration and to test putative neuroprotective approaches.

Automated material map generation from MRI scout pairs for preclinical PET attenuation correction.

A novel method is presented to perform material map segmentation from preclinical MRI for corresponding PET attenuation correction. MRI does not provide attenuation ratio, hence segmenting a material map from it is challenging. Furthermore the MRI images often suffer from ghost artifacts.

White matter microstructural alterations in migraine: a diffusion-weighted MRI study.

Migraine is a common and disabling neurological disease. The pathomechanism that underlies the disorder is not entirely understood, and reliable biomarkers are missing. In the current analysis we looked for microstructural alterations of the brain white matter in migraine patients by means of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

Target identification for stereotactic thalamotomy using diffusion tractography.

Background: Stereotactic targets for thalamotomy are usually derived from population-based coordinates. Individual anatomy is used only to scale the coordinates based on the location of some internal guide points. While on conventional MR imaging the thalamic nuclei are indistinguishable, recently it has become possible to identify individual thalamic nuclei using different connectivity profiles, as defined by MR diffusion tractography.

Preliminary notes on dual relevance of ITS sequences and pigments in Hygrocybe taxonomy.

The relationships based on ITS sequences of 48 Hygrocybe s.l. specimens were studied and compared with previously described taxonomic groups.

In vitro evaluation of alternative oral contrast agents for MRI of the gastrointestinal tract.

Purpose: In vitro evaluation of different materials as potential alternative oral contrast agents for small bowel MRI.

Materials And Methods: The T1 and T2 relaxation times of rose hip syrup, black currant extract, cocoa, iron-deferoxamine solution and a commonly used oral contrast material (1 mM Gd-DTPA) were determined in vitro at different concentrations on a 1.0 T clinical MR scanner.