Butyrate attenuates sympathetic activation in rats with chronic heart failure by inhibiting microglial inflammation in the paraventricular nucleus.

Sympathetic activation is a hallmark of heart failure and the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Butyrate is generated by gut microbiota and influences numerous physiological and pathological processes in the host. The present study aims to investigate whether the intestinal metabolite butyrate reduces sympathetic activation in rats with heart failure (HF) and the underlying mechanisms involved.

The value of MRI-based radiomics for evaluating early parotid gland injury in primary Sjögren's syndrome.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the value of machine learning models (ML) based on MRI radiomics in diagnosing early parotid gland injury in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS).

Methods: A total of 164 patients (114 in the training cohort and 50 in the testing cohort) with pSS (n=82) or healthy controls (HC) (n=82) were enrolled. Itksnap software was used to perform two-dimensional segmentation of the bilateral parotid glands on T1-weighted (T1WI) and fat-suppressed T2-weighted imaging (fs-T2WI) images.