The Research Progress of DNA Methylation in the Development and Function of the Porcine Placenta.

The pig is the most widely consumed domestic animal in China, providing over half of the meat supply in food markets. For livestock, a key economic trait is the reproductive performance, which is significantly influenced by placental development. The placenta, a temporary fetal organ, is crucial for establishing maternal-fetal communication and supporting fetal growth throughout pregnancy.

Retroperitoneal leiomyomas with intratumoral bleeding: Presentation with multiple-organ dysfunction syndrome - A case report.

Background: Retroperitoneal leiomyomas are rare benign smooth muscle tumours. Diagnosing these tumours is often challenging due to their unique growth site and nonspecific clinical manifestations. There are a few reports of leiomyomas with intratumoral bleeding.

Reconstruct incomplete relation for incomplete modality brain tumor segmentation.

Different brain tumor magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) modalities provide diverse tumor-specific information. Previous works have enhanced brain tumor segmentation performance by integrating multiple MRI modalities. However, multi-modal MRI data are often unavailable in clinical practice.

Performance of T2 mapping in the staging of Graves' ophthalmopathy based on different region of interest selection methods.

Background: Discriminating the stage of Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) is crucial for clinical decision. Application of conventional T2-weighted imaging in the staging is still limited.

Purpose: To evaluate the performance of T2 mapping based on two different regions of interest (ROIs) for staging GO.

Mutual learning with reliable pseudo label for semi-supervised medical image segmentation.

Semi-supervised learning has garnered significant interest as a method to alleviate the burden of data annotation. Recently, semi-supervised medical image segmentation has garnered significant interest that can alleviate the burden of densely annotated data. Substantial advancements have been achieved by integrating consistency-regularization and pseudo-labeling techniques.

Associations between microstructural tissue changes, white matter hyperintensity severity, and cognitive impairment: an intravoxel incoherent motion imaging study.

Introduction: White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are a common age- and vascular risk factor-related disease and have been recognized to play an important role in cognitive impairment. However, it is still unclear what the mechanism of this effect is. In this study, intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) was employed to assess the microvasculature and parenchymal microstructure changes of WMHs and explore their relationship with cognitive function.

Transport and inhibition mechanisms of human VMAT2.

Vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) accumulates monoamines in presynaptic vesicles for storage and exocytotic release, and has a vital role in monoaminergic neurotransmission. Dysfunction of monoaminergic systems causes many neurological and psychiatric disorders, including Parkinson's disease, hyperkinetic movement disorders and depression. Suppressing VMAT2 with reserpine and tetrabenazine alleviates symptoms of hypertension and Huntington's disease, respectively.

Analgesic efficacy of an opioid-free postoperative pain management strategy versus a conventional opioid-based strategy following open major hepatectomy: an open-label, randomised, controlled, non-inferiority trial.

Background: Convincing clinical evidence regarding completely opioid-free postoperative pain management using erector spinae plane block (ESPB) in patients undergoing open major hepatectomy (OMH) is lacking. Herein, we aimed to compare the postoperative analgesic efficacy of the visualised continuous opioid-free ESPB (VC-ESPB) and conventional intravenous opioid-based postoperative pain management in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients undergoing OMH.

Methods: This open-label, randomised, controlled, non-inferiority trial enrolled patients with HCC undergone open major hepatectomy in Fujian Provincial Hospital and compared the postoperative analgesic efficacy of VC-ESPB (VC-ESPB group) and conventional intravenous opioid-based pain management regimen (conventional group).

Nomogram based on quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, apparent diffusion coefficient, and clinicopathological features for early prediction of pathologic complete response in breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Background: The aim of this study was to develop two nomograms for predicting pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) for breast cancer based on quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), and clinicopathological characteristics at two time-points: before and after two cycles of NACT, respectively.

Methods: 3.0 T MRI scans were performed before and after 2 cycles of NACT in 215 patients.

Image quality evaluation of diffusion-weighted imaging in bladder cancer: a comparison between integrated slice-specific dynamic shimming and single-shot echo-planar imaging.

Background: Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) image quality will affect how well radiologists detect lesions and judge muscular invasion. This study qualitatively and quantitatively compared the image quality of DWI with integrated slice-specific dynamic shimming (iShim) and single-shot echo-planar imaging (SS-EPI) in the diagnosis of bladder cancer (BC) using 3.0 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The Correlation between Type 2 Diabetes and Fat Fraction in Liver and Pancreas: A Study using MR Dixon Technique.

Objective: The increased obesity results in ectopic fat deposits in liver and pancreas, which will affect insulin resistance and elevated plasma glucose with type 2 diabetes. To assess the relationship between obesity and ectopic fat deposits and diabetes, this study used the MR Dixon method for the quantification of liver and pancreas fat fraction (FF) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients and healthy controls.

Methods: The FF of whole liver (FFWL) and pancreas (FFWP), the maximum diameters of the pancreas, the abdominal subcutaneous adipose area (SAT), the visceral adipose tissue area (VAT), and the total abdominal adipose tissue area (TAT) were measured for 157 subjects using the MR Dixon data.

Effects of Remote Expressive Arts Program in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a stage of cognitive ability loss with intact activities of daily living and an increased risk for the development of dementia.

Objective: This study evaluated the intervention effect of remote expressive arts program (rEAP) on cognitive function in older adults with MCI and investigated the underlying neurobiological mechanisms.

Methods: We assigned 73 older MCI patients to receive rEAP or health education (HE), who underwent neuropsychological evaluation and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging before and after treatment.

Black-blood Venous Imaging (BBVI): A Contrast-Free and High-Resolution Magnetic Resonance Approach for Diagnosing IVCS - a Proof of Concept Study.

Background: Iliac vein compression syndrome (IVCS) diagnosis heavily relies on an imaging test. However, non-invasive and contrast-free imaging test for the diagnosis of IVCS remains a big challenge. To address this issue, this prospective study aimed to assess the image quality and diagnostic performance of a magnetic resonance imaging technique, black-blood venous imaging (BBVI), in detecting IVCS by comparing it with contrast-enhanced computed tomography venography (CTV) and using invasive digital subtraction angiography (DSA) as the reference.

The effect of creative expression program in neurocognitive networks performance measured by task and resting-state functional MRI.

Background: The current study examined the effects of a 16-week creative expression program on brain activity during a story creating task and resting-state functional network connectivity in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) adults.

Method: Thirty-six MCI adults were allocated to either the creative expression program (CrExp, n = 18) or control group (CG,n = 18). Before and after intervention, all participants were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during story creating task performance and a resting state.

Structure of human glycosylphosphatidylinositol transamidase.

Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) molecules are complex glycophospholipids and serve as membrane anchors for tethering many proteins to the cell surface. Attaching GPI to the protein in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is catalyzed by the transmembrane GPI transamidase (GPIT) complex, which is essential for maturation of the GPI-anchored proteins. The GPIT complex is known to be composed of five subunits: PIGK, PIGU, PIGT, PIGS and GPAA1.

Peptide Capping Agent Design for Gold (111) Facet by Molecular Simulation and Experimental Approaches.

The stochastic tunneling-basin hopping method (STUN-BH) was utilized to obtain the most stable peptide S7 configuration (Ac-Ser-Ser-Phe-Pro-Gln-Pro-Asn-CONH) adsorbed on Au(111) facet. After the most stable S7 configuration was found, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was conducted to investigate the thermal stability between S7 and Au facet at 300 K in both vacuum and water environment. Moreover, further design sets of peptide sequences on Au(111) facet were used to compare with S7.

Diffusion kurtosis imaging in the differential diagnosis of parotid gland disease and parotid adenolymphoma: preliminary results.

Objectives: To study the value of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) in diagnosis of parotid gland disease (PGD) with different pathological patterns and parotid adenolymphoma (PAL).

Methods: 57 patients with different kinds of PGD were enrolled and underwent DKI and conventional diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). All patients were categorized into different groups according to their pathological patterns.

[Applications of retrospective electrocardiogram editing in dual-source computed tomography coronary angiography in patients with arrhythmia].

Objective: To evaluate the clinical value of retrospective electrocardiogram (ECG) -editing technique in dual-source computed tomography (CT) coronary angiography in patients with arrhythmia.

Methods: Totally 73 patients with arrhythmia during dual-source CT coronary angiography were included into this study. A retrospective gating technique and ECG-editing technique (Insert Sync; Disable Sync; Delete Sync; Shift R-peak) were used in patients who needed ECG-editing.