Wide-field optical sectioning for live-tissue imaging by plane-projection multiphoton microscopy.

Optical sectioning provides three-dimensional (3D) information in biological tissues. However, most imaging techniques implemented with optical sectioning are either slow or deleterious to live tissues. Here, we present a simple design for wide-field multiphoton microscopy, which provides optical sectioning at a reasonable frame rate and with a biocompatible laser dosage.

Feasibility and willingness-to-pay for integrated community-based tuberculosis testing.

Background: Community-based screening for TB, combined with HIV and syphilis testing, faces a number of barriers. One significant barrier is the value that target communities place on such screening.

Methods: Integrated testing for TB, HIV, and syphilis was performed in neighborhoods identified using geographic information systems-based disease mapping.

Amyloid-β associated volume loss occurs only in the presence of phospho-tau.

The relationship between neurodegeneration and the 2 hallmark proteins of Alzheimer's disease, amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau, is still unclear. Here, we examined 286 nondemented participants (107 cognitively normal older adults and 179 memory impaired individuals) who underwent longitudinal magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and lumbar puncture. Using mixed effects models, we investigated the relationship between longitudinal entorhinal cortex atrophy rate, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) p-tau(181p) and CSF Aβ(1-42) .

Three-dimensional morphology of iron oxide nanoparticles with reactive concave surfaces. A compressed sensing-electron tomography (CS-ET) approach.

In this paper, we apply electron tomography (ET) to the study of the three-dimensional (3D) morphology of iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) with reactive concave surfaces. The ability to determine quantitatively the volume and shape of the NP concavity is essential for understanding the key-lock mechanism responsible for the destabilization of gold nanocrystals within the iron oxide NP concavity. We show that quantitative ET is enhanced greatly by the application of compressed sensing (CS) techniques to the tomographic reconstruction.

Basal ganglia atrophy in prodromal Huntington's disease is detectable over one year using automated segmentation.

Future clinical trials of neuroprotection in prodromal Huntington's (known as preHD) will require sensitive in vivo imaging biomarkers to track disease progression over the shortest period. Since basal ganglia atrophy is the most prominent structural characteristic of Huntington's pathology, systematic assessment of longitudinal subcortical atrophy holds great potential for future biomarker development. We studied 36 preHD and 22 age-matched controls using a novel method to quantify regional change from T(1) -weighted structural images acquired 1 year apart.

Graphical approach to model reduction for nonlinear biochemical networks.

Model reduction is a central challenge to the development and analysis of multiscale physiology models. Advances in model reduction are needed not only for computational feasibility but also for obtaining conceptual insights from complex systems. Here, we introduce an intuitive graphical approach to model reduction based on phase plane analysis.

CETP polymorphisms associate with brain structure, atrophy rate, and Alzheimer's disease risk in an APOE-dependent manner.

Two alleles in cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) gene polymorphisms have been disputably linked to enhanced cognition and decreased risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD): the V and A alleles of I405V and C-629A. This study investigates whether these polymorphisms affect brain structure in 188 elderly controls and 318 AD or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative cohort. Nominally signficant associations were dependent on APOE ε4 carrier status.

A bivariate space-time downscaler under space and time misalignment.

Ozone and particulate matter PM(2.5) are co-pollutants that have long been associated with increased public health risks. Information on concentration levels for both pollutants come from two sources: monitoring sites and output from complex numerical models that produce concentration surfaces over large spatial regions.

Problems and unmet needs of patients discharged "home to self-care".

Purpose Of Study: The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which patients discharged "home to self care" experienced problems and unmet needs. A secondary aim was to explore potential differences in problems and unmet needs between medical and surgical patients.

Primary Practice Setting: The study setting was acute care in 2 hospitals that were part of a large academic medical center in the Midwest.

Unbiased comparison of sample size estimates from longitudinal structural measures in ADNI.

Structural changes in neuroanatomical subregions can be measured using serial magnetic resonance imaging scans, and provide powerful biomarkers for detecting and monitoring Alzheimer's disease. The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) has made a large database of longitudinal scans available, with one of its primary goals being to explore the utility of structural change measures for assessing treatment effects in clinical trials of putative disease-modifying therapies. Several ADNI-funded research laboratories have calculated such measures from the ADNI database and made their results publicly available.

Bucindolol: a pharmacogenomic perspective on its use in chronic heart failure.

Bucindolol is a non-selective β-adrenergic receptor blocker with α-1 blocker properties and mild intrinsic sympatholytic activity. The Beta-Blocker Evaluation of Survival Trial (BEST), which is the largest clinical trial of bucindolol in patients with heart failure, was terminated prematurely and failed to show an overall mortality benefit. However, benefits on cardiac mortality and re-hospitalization rates were observed in the BEST trial.

Potential economic viability of two proposed rifapentine-based regimens for treatment of latent tuberculosis infection.

Rationale: Rifapentine-based regimens for treating latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) are being considered for future clinical trials, but even if they prove effective, high drug costs may limit their economic viability.

Objectives: To inform clinical trial design by estimating the potential costs and effectiveness of rifapentine-based regimens for treatment of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI).

Methods: We used a Markov model to estimate cost and societal benefits for three regimens for treating LTBI: Isoniazid/rifapentine daily for one month, isoniazid/rifapentine weekly for three months (self-administered and directly-observed), and isoniazid daily for nine months; a strategy of "no treatment" used for comparison.

Did the 'Great Recession' produce a depression in tuberculosis incidence?

In 2009, the United States experienced a record drop in its tuberculosis (TB) case rate, coinciding with a major economic downturn. To investigate this relationship, we modeled short-term changes in gross domestic product, unemployment, and immigration as predictors of TB incidence. We also correlated each state's 2009-2010 change in unemployment with its 2008-2009 change in TB incidence.

On the use of a PM(2.5) exposure simulator to explain birthweight.

In relating pollution to birth outcomes, maternal exposure has usually been described using monitoring data. Such characterization provides a misrepresentation of exposure as it (i) does not take into account the spatial misalignment between an individual's residence and monitoring sites, and (ii) it ignores the fact that individuals spend most of their time indoors and typically in more than one location. In this paper, we break with previous studies by using a stochastic simulator to describe personal exposure (to particulate matter) and then relate simulated exposures at the individual level to the health outcome (birthweight) rather than aggregating to a selected spatial unit.

Augmentation index immediately after maximal exercise in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Introduction: Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have exaggerated brachial and central (ascending aortic) blood pressure (BP) during exercise, which is associated with adverse outcomes. Central systolic loading, represented by the augmentation index (AIx), may contribute to exaggerated exercise central BP. This study sought to compare the central AIx response to peak exercise in T2DM and control patients and to identify mechanisms of altered exercise central AIx.

Assessment of pituitary adenoma volumetric change using longitudinal MR image registration.

Introduction: Change detection is a crucial factor in monitoring of slowly evolving pathologies. The objective of the study was to test a semi-automatic method applied on longitudinal MRI monitoring of volume change in pituitary macroadenomas.

Methods: The proposed method is based on a visual comparison of geometrically corrected, co-registered, intensity-normalized contrast-enhanced (CE) 3D GRE T1-weighted images.

A pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) WD40-repeat gene is a functional homologue of Arabidopsis TTG1 and is involved in the regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis during pomegranate fruit development.

Anthocyanins are the major pigments responsible for the pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) fruit skin color. The high variability in fruit external color in pomegranate cultivars reflects variations in anthocyanin composition.

Boron environments in Pyrex® glass--a high resolution, Double-Rotation NMR and thermodynamic modelling study.

It is shown, using the important technological glass Pyrex® as an example, that 1D and 2D (11)B Double-Rotation (DOR) NMR experiments, in combination with thermodynamic modelling, are able to provide unique structural information about complex glasses. (11)B DOR NMR has been applied to Pyrex® glass in order to remove both dipolar and quadrupolar broadening of the NMR lines, leading to high resolution spectra that allow unambiguous, accurate peak fitting to be carried out, of particular importance in the case of the 3-coordinated [BO(3)] (B3) trigonal planar environments. The data obtained are of sufficient quality that they can be used to test the distributions of borate and borosilicate superstructural units predicted by the thermodynamics-based Model of Associated Solutions.

Contribution of abnormal central blood pressure to left ventricular filling pressure during exercise in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction.

Background: Hypertension is ubiquitous in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and contributes to arterial and ventricular stiffening. Exertional dyspnea may result from diastolic dysfunction with exercise; however, the association of central blood pressure (BP) to left ventricular filling pressure during exercise has not been assessed in this population and was the aim of this study.

Methods: Fifteen patients with HFpEF and 15 age-matched and sex-matched controls were studied at rest, during submaximal and immediately after maximal exercise.

Time resolved velocity measurements of unsteady systems using spiral imaging.

Spiral imaging has been assessed as a tool for the measurement of spatially and temporally resolved velocity information for unsteady flow systems. Using experiments and simulated acquisitions, we have quantified the flow artefacts associated with spiral imaging. In particular, we found that despite the adverse effect of in-plane flow on the point spread function, for many physical systems the extent of blurring associated with spiral imaging is marginal because flows represented by high spatial Fourier coefficients, which would be those most affected by the distortion of the point spread function, exist at the physical boundaries of the flow and are therefore associated with much smaller velocities than are characteristic of the bulk flow.

Climate effects on anthocyanin accumulation and composition in the pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) fruit arils.

Worldwide pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) production has expanded greatly due to recent evidence on the fruit health attributes. The fruit's unique red color, conferred by anthocyanins, is an imperative sensory quality.

Effects of treatment on exercise tolerance, cardiac function, and mortality in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. A meta-analysis.

Objectives: We sought to determine whether pharmacologic interventions changed exercise capacity, diastolic function, and mortality in a meta-analysis of trials in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Background: Treatment strategies for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction remain unproven despite several large-scale trials.

Methods: Trials were included in the systematic review where clear comparisons between trial drug and diuretic or placebo were available.