In flowering plants, male gametes are immotile and carried by dry pollen grains to the female organ. Dehydrated pollen is thought to withstand abiotic stress when grains are dispersed from the anther to the pistil, after which sperm cells are delivered via pollen tube growth for fertilization and seed set. Yet, the underlying molecular changes accompanying dehydration and the impact on pollen development are poorly understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMRI-based prognostic evaluation in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) has historically used markers of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) and feature tracking (FT)-derived left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LVGLS). Early data indicate that FT-derived left atrial strain (LAS) parameters, including reservoir, conduit, and booster, may also have prognostic roles in such patients. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the prognostic utility of LAS parameters, derived from MRI FT, in patients with ischemic or nonischemic DCM, including in comparison with the traditional parameters of LGE and LVGLS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUrothelial carcinoma (UC) is the 10 most common cancer globally with an almost 4 times higher prevalence in men. The main risk factors for development of urothelial carcinoma are advanced age, smoking, arsenic contamination, exposure to carcinogens. Metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) has overall poor prognosis with a 5-year overall survival rate of only < 5%.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrior small single-center studies have yielded conflicting results regarding the prognostic significance of myocardial strain parameters derived from feature tracking (FT) on cardiac MRI in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic utility of FT parameters on cardiac MRI in patients with ischemic and nonischemic DCM and to determine the optimal strain parameter for outcome prediction. This retrospective study included 471 patients (median age, 61 years; 365 men, 106 women) with ischemic ( = 233) or nonischemic ( = 238) DCM and left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) less than 50% who underwent cardiac MRI at any of four centers from January 2011 to December 2019.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL™) 4.0 is a health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measure designed for clinical practice and research, health policy evaluation, and general population surveys. There is a dearth of instruments measuring quality of life in children which are available in Chinese and validated for Chinese populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF