Ferumoxytol-enhanced 4D multiphase, steady-state imaging with magnetic resonance in congenital heart disease: ventricular volume and function across 2D and 3D software platforms.

Background: Quantitative ventricular volumetry and function are important in the management of congenital heart disease (CHD). Ferumoxytol-enhanced (FE) 4D multiphase, steady state imaging with contrast enhancement (MUSIC) enables high-resolution, 3D cardiac phase-resolved magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the beating heart and extracardiac vessels in a single acquisition and without concerns about renal impairment. We aim to evaluate the semi-automatic quantification of ventricular volumetry and function of 4D MUSIC MRI using 2D and 3D software platforms.

Mechanosensitive Pathways Involved in Cardiovascular Development and Homeostasis in Zebrafish.

Cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, and cardiac arrhythmia are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in developed countries and are steadily increasing in developing countries. Fundamental mechanistic studies at the molecular, cellular, and animal model levels are critical for the diagnosis and treatment of these diseases. Despite being phylogenetically distant from humans, zebrafish share remarkable similarity in the genetics and electrophysiology of the cardiovascular system.

Spotty Calcium on Cervicocerebral Computed Tomography Angiography Associates With Increased Risk of Ischemic Stroke.

Background and Purpose- Cervicocerebral vascular calcification on computed tomography angiography is a known sign of advanced atherosclerosis. However, the clinical significance of calcification pattern remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the potential association between spotty calcium and acute ischemic stroke.

Quantitative 3D dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MR imaging of carotid vessel wall by fast T1 mapping using Multitasking.

Purpose: To develop a dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI method capable of high spatiotemporal resolution, 3D carotid coverage, and T1-based quantification of contrast agent concentration for the assessment of carotid atherosclerosis using a newly developed Multitasking technique.

Methods: 5D imaging with 3 spatial dimensions, 1 T1 recovery dimension, and 1 DCE time dimension was performed using MR Multitasking based on low-rank tensor modeling, which allows direct T1 quantification with high spatiotemporal resolution (0.7 mm isotropic and 595 ms, respectively).

Headache in an Obese Adolescent Male: A Nonclassical Presentation of an Uncommon Disease.

. Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), also known as pseudotumor cerebri, is a diagnosis of exclusion in the clinical scenario of increased intracranial pressure without an identifiable cause. This case report provides a brief review of current literature on IIH, important differential considerations to rule out prior to diagnosis, and relevant imaging findings of IIH.

Chemical exchange saturation transfer fingerprinting for exchange rate quantification.

Purpose: There is an increased interest to determine the exchange rate using CEST to provide pH information. However, current CEST quantification methods require lengthy scan times and do not address magnetization transfer effects. The purpose of this work was to apply the magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) concept to CEST to achieve more efficient and accurate exchange rate quantification.

The Effects of Low-Intensity Ultrasound on Fat Reduction of Rat Model.

Nonfocused low-intensity ultrasound is generally believed to be less efficacious than High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) at body fat reduction; nevertheless, this technology has already been widely used clinically for body contouring purposes. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of this new technology by applying 1 MHz nonfocused ultrasound at 3 W/cm to the outer-thigh region of rat models. Ultrasonography measurement demonstrated an average reduction of 0.

Ambient Ultrafine Particle Ingestion Alters Gut Microbiota in Association with Increased Atherogenic Lipid Metabolites.

Ambient particulate matter (PM) exposure is associated with atherosclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease. Ultrafine particles (UFP, d < 0.1-0.

A Review of Intravascular Ultrasound-based Multimodal Intravascular Imaging: The Synergistic Approach to Characterizing Vulnerable Plaques.

Catheter-based intravascular imaging modalities are being developed to visualize pathologies in coronary arteries, such as high-risk vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques known as thin-cap fibroatheroma, to guide therapeutic strategy at preventing heart attacks. Mounting evidences have shown three distinctive histopathological features-the presence of a thin fibrous cap, a lipid-rich necrotic core, and numerous infiltrating macrophages-are key markers of increased vulnerability in atherosclerotic plaques. To visualize these changes, the majority of catheter-based imaging modalities used intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) as the technical foundation and integrated emerging intravascular imaging techniques to enhance the characterization of vulnerable plaques.

Disturbed Flow Induces Autophagy, but Impairs Autophagic Flux to Perturb Mitochondrial Homeostasis.

Aim: Temporal and spatial variations in shear stress are intimately linked with vascular metabolic effects. Autophagy is tightly regulated in intracellular bulk degradation/recycling system for maintaining cellular homeostasis. We postulated that disturbed flow modulates autophagy with an implication in mitochondrial superoxide (mtO2(•-)) production.

Laser-scanning photoacoustic microscopy with ultrasonic phased array transducer.

In this paper, we report our latest progress on proving the concept that ultrasonic phased array can improve the detection sensitivity and field of view (FOV) in laser-scanning photoacoustic microscopy (LS-PAM). A LS-PAM system with a one-dimensional (1D) ultrasonic phased array was built for the experiments. The 1D phased array transducer consists of 64 active elements with an overall active dimension of 3.