Clinical characteristics and MRI features of autoimmune glial fibrillary acidic protein astrocytopathy: a case series of 34 patients.

Objectives: To analyze the clinical and imaging characteristics of autoimmune glial fibrillary acidic protein astrocytopathy (GFAP-A).

Methods: Forty-three patients diagnosed with GFAP-A between March 2017 and July 2023 were retrospectively recruited. The clinical characteristics and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features were collected.

A novel parallel ant colony optimization algorithm for mobile robot path planning.

With the continuous development of mobile robot technology, its application fields are becoming increasingly widespread, and path planning is one of the most important topics in the field of mobile robot research. This paper focused on the study of the path planning problem for mobile robots in a complex environment based on the ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm. In order to solve the problems of local optimum, susceptibility to deadlocks, and low search efficiency in the traditional ACO algorithm, a novel parallel ACO (PACO) algorithm was proposed.

Multisite rTMS combined with cognitive training modulates effective connectivity in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Purpose: To investigate the effective connectivity (EC) changes after multisite repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) combined with cognitive training (COG).

Method: We selected 51 patients with mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) and delivered 10 Hz rTMS over the left dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the lateral temporal lobe (LTL) combined with COG or sham stimulation for 4 weeks. The selected AD patients were divided into real (real rTMS+COG, = 11) or sham (sham rTMS+COG, = 8) groups to undergo neuropsychological assessment, resting-state fMRI, and 3D brain structural imaging before (T0), immediately at the end of treatment (T4), and 4 weeks after treatment (T8).

Accurate measurement of magnetic resonance parkinsonism index by a fully automatic and deep learning quantification pipeline.

Objectives: This study aims at a fully automatic pipeline for measuring the magnetic resonance parkinsonism index (MRPI) using deep learning methods.

Methods: MRPI is defined as the product of the pons area to the midbrain area ratio and the middle cerebellar peduncle (MCP) width to the superior cerebellar peduncle (SCP) width ratio. In our proposed pipeline, we first used nnUNet to segment the brainstem and then employed HRNet to identify two key boundary points so as to sub-divide the whole brainstem into midbrain and pons.

Cerebral blood flow changes induced by high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with cognitive training in Alzheimer's disease.

Background And Purpose: Hypoperfusion of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and precuneus has consistently been reported in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) combined with cognitive training (COG) is effective in alleviating the symptoms of patients with mild AD. This study investigated the effects of rTMS-COG therapy on cerebral blood flow (CBF), with a special interest in the PCC/precuneus, and whether observed CBF changes are associated with changes in neuropsychological assessments in AD.

Rosai-Dorfman disease mimicking subdural hematoma: a case report.

Rosia-Dorfman disease (RDD) is a rare benign disease with exceedingly rare neural involvement. In this report, we describe a very rare case of intracranial RDD mimicking a subdural hematoma. The patient presented with headache and a suspected history of head injury.

Investigation of the risk of valproic acid-induced tremor: clinical, neuroimaging, and genetic factors.

Rationale: Investigation of associated risk factors of valproic acid (VPA)-induced tremor helped in increasing tolerance and optimizing treatment scheme individually.

Objectives: To determine the risk factors of VPA-induced tremor, with particular attention on identifying tremor-susceptible gene mutations.

Methods: Epileptic patients taking VPA were divided into a tremor and a non-tremor groups.

Characteristics of Superficial Basal Cell Carcinomas Containing More Aggressive Subtypes on Final Histopathologic Diagnosis.

Background: The prognosis and treatment of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) are largely dependent on tumor subtype, which is typically determined by punch or shave biopsy. Data regarding concordance between BCC subtype on initial biopsy and final histopathology for Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) or excision with frozen sections (EFS) are limited.

Objectives: To determine the concordance between initial biopsy and final MMS or EFS subtyping of BCC.

Sandwiched spherical tin dioxide/graphene with a three-dimensional interconnected closed pore structure for lithium storage.

Low reversion of lithium oxide (Li2O) and the tin (Sn) coarsening causing irreversible capacity loss is the main reason for the poor cycle performance in tin dioxide (SnO2) based composites. In this research, a novel sandwiched spherical tin dioxide/graphene with a three-dimensional interconnected closed pore structure is synthesized. The microstructural characterization shows that the spherical graphene with submicron sized diameters interconnects with each other forming an interconnected flexible conductive network, whereas a large number of SnO2 nanoparticles (approximately 5 nm) are limited homogeneously in between the interlayers of the sphere-like graphene shell.

Physiological response to salinity stress and tolerance mechanics of Populus euphratica.

The salinity stress inhibits the growth of Populus euphratica (P. euphratica), and the extent of inhibition tends to increase with a rise of salt concentration while the net photosynthesis rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, and internal CO concentration are seen to decline with increasing salt concentration. Compared with the control group, the percentage decline is found to be about 48.

How reliable is the Ki-67 cytological index in grading pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors? A meta-analysis.

Objective: To investigate the accuracy of the cytological Ki-67 index in distinguishing intermediate and high-grade (G2 + G3) from low-grade (G1) pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs).

Methods: Two investigators independently searched databases to identify eligible studies using the following term: ('Ki-67') AND ('pancreatic endocrine tumor' OR 'pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor' OR 'pancreatic endocrine tumour' OR 'pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour' OR 'pancreatic endocrine tumors' OR 'pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors' OR 'pancreatic endocrine tumours' OR 'pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours'), and meta-analysis was performed to calculate the pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive (PLR) and negative likelihood ratio (NLR), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR).

Results: A total of 263 lesions from 13 studies were included in the study.

Cytomegalovirus: a probable cause of steroid-refractory ulcerative colitis.

Cytomegalovirus, regarded as a trigger of several autoimmune diseases, is an opportunistic pathogen. Patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) undergoing steroid treatment are susceptible to this infection. In the presence of cytomegalovirus, inflammation becomes more complex.

ZIC1 is downregulated through promoter hypermethylation in gastric cancer.

As one of major epigenetic changes responsible for tumor suppressor gene inactivation in the development of cancer, promoter hypermethylation was proposed as a marker to define novel tumor suppressor genes. In the current study we identified ZIC1 (Zic family member 1, odd-paired Drosophila homolog) as a novel tumor suppressor gene silenced through promoter hypermethylation in gastric cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. In all of gastric cancer cells lines examined, ZIC1 expression was downregulated and such downregulation was accompanied with the hypermethylation of ZIC1 promoter.