The value of restriction spectrum imaging in predicting lymph node metastases in rectal cancer: a comparative study with diffusion-weighted imaging and diffusion kurtosis imaging.

Background: To investigate the efficacy of three-compartment restriction spectrum imaging (RSI), diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI), and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the assessment of lymph node metastases (LNM) in rectal cancer.

Methods: A total of 77 patients with rectal cancer who underwent pelvic MRI were enrolled. RSI-derived parameters (f, f, and f), DKI-derived parameters (D and K), and the DWI-derived parameter (ADC) were calculated and compared using a Mann-Whitney U test or independent samples t-test.

Meta-analysis and systematic review of the diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced spectral mammography for the detection of breast cancer.

Objective: The objective is to evaluate the diagnostic effectiveness of contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) in the diagnosis of breast cancer.

Design: DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Embase and Cochrane libraries up to 18 June 2022.

Eligibility Criteria For Selecting Studies: We included trials studies, compared the results of different researchers on CESM in the diagnosis of breast cancer, and calculated the diagnostic value of CESM for breast cancer.

Comparison of Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging and Amide Proton Transfer Imaging in the Diagnosis and Risk Assessment of Prostate Cancer.

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate and compare the diagnostic value of DKI and APT in prostate cancer (PCa), and their correlation with Gleason Score (GS).

Materials And Methods: DKI and APT imaging of 49 patients with PCa and 51 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) were collected and analyzed, respectively. According to the GS, the patients with PCa were divided into high-risk, intermediate-risk and low-risk groups.

Comparative analysis of the diagnostic values of T2 mapping and diffusion-weighted imaging for sacroiliitis in ankylosing spondylitis.

Objective: To investigate the diagnostic values of T2 mapping and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for active sacroiliitis in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and to evaluate the correlations of T2 and ADC values with Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) and Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC) scores.

Methods: A total of 77 AS patients with sacroiliitis and 45 healthy controls were enrolled. All patients were scanned by standard magnetic resonance imaging longitudinal relaxation time (T1)-weighted imaging (T1WI), fat-saturated T2-weighted imaging (FS-T2WI)] and DWI, and T2 mapping of the sacroiliac joints.

Regrowth-delay body as a bacterial subcellular structure marking multidrug-tolerant persisters.

Bacteria have long been recognized to be capable of entering a phenotypically non-growing persister state, in which the cells exhibit an extended regrowth lag and a multidrug tolerance, thus posing a great challenge in treating infectious diseases. Owing to their non-inheritability, low abundance of existence, lack of metabolic activities, and high heterogeneity, properties of persisters remain poorly understood. Here, we report our accidental discovery of a subcellular structure that we term the regrowth-delay body, which is formed only in non-growing bacterial cells and sequesters multiple key proteins.

Functional and cooperative stabilization of a two-metal (Ca, Zn) center in α-amylase derived from Flavobacteriaceae species.

Mesophilic α-amylase from Flavobacteriaceae (FSA) is evolutionary closely related to thermophilic archaeal Pyrococcus furiosus α-amylase (PWA), but lacks the high thermostability, despite the conservation of most residues involved in the two-metal (Ca, Zn) binding center of PWA. In this study, a disulfide bond was introduced near the two-metal binding center of FSA (designated mutant EH-CC) and this modification resulted in a slight improvement in thermostability. As expected, E204G mutations in FSA and EH-CC led to the recovery of Ca-binding site.

Functional Interaction between the N and C Termini of NhaD Antiporters from Halomonas sp. Strain Y2.

Two NhaD-type antiporters, NhaD1 and NhaD2, from the halotolerant and alkaliphilic sp. strain Y2, exhibit different physiological functions in regard to Na and Li resistance, although they share high sequence identity. In the present study, the truncation of an additional 4 C-terminal residues from NhaD2 or an exchange of 39 N-terminal residues between these proteins resulted in the complete loss of antiporter activity.

Alkaline Response of a Halotolerant Alkaliphilic Halomonas Strain and Functional Diversity of Its Na+(K+)/H+ Antiporters.

Halomonas sp. Y2 is a halotolerant alkaliphilic strain from Na-rich pulp mill wastewater with high alkalinity (pH >11.0).

Efficient secretory expression of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli with a novel actinomycete signal peptide.

In well-established heterologous hosts, such as Escherichia coli, recombinant proteins are usually intracellular and frequently found as inclusion bodies-especially proteins possessing high rare codon content. In this study, successful secretory expression of three hydrolases, in a constructed inducible or constitutive system, was achieved by fusion with a novel signal peptide (Kp-SP) from an actinomycete. The signal peptide efficiently enabled extracellular protein secretion and also contributed to the active expression of the intracellular recombinant proteins.

Expression and functional analysis of two NhaD type antiporters from the halotolerant and alkaliphilic Halomonas sp. Y2.

Na(+)/H(+) antiporters play important roles in ion and pH homeostasis. In this study, two NhaD homologues that effectively catalyze Na(+)/H(+) antiporter were identified from Halomonas sp. Y2, a halotolerant and alkaliphilic strain isolated from sodium enriched black liquor.