Extra-axial inflammatory signal and its relationship to peripheral and central immunity in depression.

Although both central and peripheral inflammation have been observed consistently in depression, the relationship between the two remains obscure. Extra-axial immune cells may play a role in mediating the connection between central and peripheral immunity. This study investigates the potential roles of calvarial bone marrow and parameningeal spaces in mediating interactions between central and peripheral immunity in depression.

In Vivo Acquisition of Human Retinal Double-Pass Images during Simulated Intraocular Lens Implantation.

Background: The aim of the study was to capture images that form on the human retina after the simulated implantation of an intraocular lens (IOL). White light was used rather than the commonly used near-infrared light, which is unsuitable for the examination of diffractive IOLs. For this purpose, a special optical setup was developed to investigate the influence of the IOL design on two-dimensional retinal images .

Transcatheter bicuspid venous valve prostheses: fluid mechanical performance testing of artificial nonwoven leaflets.

Background: Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is a common disease with a high prevalence. Incompetent venous valves are considered as one of the main causes. Besides compression therapy, various surgical therapies are practiced, whereby the reconstruction of valves is of central importance.

ASCHOPLEX: A generalizable approach for the automatic segmentation of choroid plexus.

Background: The Choroid Plexus (ChP) plays a vital role in brain homeostasis, serving as part of the Blood-Cerebrospinal Fluid Barrier, contributing to brain clearance pathways and being the main source of cerebrospinal fluid. Since the involvement of ChP in neurological and psychiatric disorders is not entirely established and currently under investigation, accurate and reproducible segmentation of this brain structure on large cohorts remains challenging. This paper presents ASCHOPLEX, a deep-learning tool for the automated segmentation of human ChP from structural MRI data that integrates existing software architectures like 3D UNet, UNETR, and DynUNet to deliver accurate ChP volume estimates.

A blood-free modeling approach for the quantification of the blood-to-brain tracer exchange in TSPO PET imaging.

Introduction: Recent evidence suggests the blood-to-brain influx rate ( ) in imaging as a promising biomarker of blood-brain barrier () permeability alterations commonly associated with peripheral inflammation and heightened immune activity in the brain. However, standard compartmental modeling quantification is limited by the requirement of invasive and laborious procedures for extracting an arterial blood input function. In this study, we validate a simplified blood-free methodologic framework for estimation by fitting the early phase tracer dynamics using a single irreversible compartment model and an image-derived input function ().

Brain Fluid Clearance After Traumatic Brain Injury Measured Using Dynamic Positron Emission Tomography.

Brain fluid clearance by pathways including the recently described paravascular glymphatic system is a critical homeostatic mechanism by which metabolic products, toxins, and other wastes are removed from the brain. Brain fluid clearance may be especially important after traumatic brain injury (TBI), when blood, neuronal debris, inflammatory cells, and other substances can be released and/or deposited. Using a non-invasive dynamic positron emission tomography (PET) method that models the rate at which an intravenously injected radiolabeled molecule (in this case C-flumazenil) is cleared from ventricular cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), we estimated the overall efficiency of brain fluid clearance in humans who had experienced complicated-mild or moderate TBI 3-6 months before neuroimaging ( = 7) as compared to healthy controls ( = 9).

Microglial activation, tau and amyloid deposition in TREM2 p.R47H carriers and mild cognitive impairment patients: a multi-modal/multi-tracer PET/MRI imaging study with influenza vaccine immune challenge.

Background: Microglia are increasingly understood to play an important role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. The rs75932628 (p.R47H) TREM2 variant is a well-established risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.

Impact of maternal body mass index and gestational weight gain on maternal and neonatal outcomes in twin pregnancies.

Introduction: To date, there have only been provisional recommendations about the appropriate gestational weight gain in twin pregnancies. This study aimed to contribute evidence to this gap of knowledge.

Material And Methods: Using a cohort of 10 603 twin pregnancies delivered between 2000 and 2015 in the state of Hessen, Germany, the individual and combined impact of maternal body mass index and gestational weight gain on maternal and neonatal outcomes was analyzed using uni- and multivariable logistic regression models.

Risk Factors for Maternal Body Mass Index and Gestational Weight Gain in Twin Pregnancies.

This retrospective cohort study analyzes risk factors for abnormal pre-pregnancy body mass index and abnormal gestational weight gain in twin pregnancies. Data from 10 603/13 682 twin pregnancies were analyzed using uni- and multivariable logistic regression models to determine risk factors for abnormal body mass index and weight gain in pregnancy. Multiparity was associated with pre-existing obesity in twin pregnancies (aOR: 3.

Choroid plexus enlargement is associated with neuroinflammation and reduction of blood brain barrier permeability in depression.

Background: Recent studies have shown that choroid plexuses (CP) may be involved in the neuro-immune axes, playing a role in the interaction between the central and peripheral inflammation. Here we aimed to investigate CP volume alterations in depression and their associations with inflammation.

Methods: 51 depressed participants (HDRS score > 13) and 25 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) from the Wellcome Trust NIMA consortium were re-analysed for the study.

The blood-CSF-brain route of neurological disease: The indirect pathway into the brain.

The brain is protected by the endothelial blood-brain barrier (BBB) that limits the access of micro-organisms, tumour cells, immune cells and autoantibodies to the parenchyma. However, the classic model of disease spread across a disrupted BBB does not explain the focal distribution of lesions seen in a variety of neurological diseases and why lesions are frequently adjacent to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) spaces. We have critically reviewed the possible role of a blood-CSF-brain route as a disease entry pathway into the brain parenchyma.

Reproducibility of findings in modern PET neuroimaging: insight from the NRM2018 grand challenge.

The reproducibility of findings is a compelling methodological problem that the neuroimaging community is facing these days. The lack of standardized pipelines for image processing, quantification and statistics plays a major role in the variability and interpretation of results, even when the same data are analysed. This problem is well-known in MRI studies, where the indisputable value of the method has been complicated by a number of studies that produce discrepant results.

Supervised clustering for TSPO PET imaging.

Purpose: This technical note seeks to act as a practical guide for implementing a supervised clustering algorithm (SVCA) reference region approach and to explain the main strengths and limitations of the technique in the context of 18-kilodalton translocator protein (TSPO) positron emission tomography (PET) studies in experimental medicine.

Background: TSPO PET is the most widely used imaging technique for studying neuroinflammation in vivo in humans. Quantifying neuroinflammation with PET can be a challenging and invasive procedure, especially in frail patients, because it often requires blood sampling from an arterial catheter.

A Modest Increase in C-PK11195-Positron Emission Tomography TSPO Binding in Depression Is Not Associated With Serum C-Reactive Protein or Body Mass Index.

Background: Immune mechanisms have been implicated in the pathogenesis of depression. Translocator protein (TSPO)-targeted positron emission tomography (PET) has been used to assess neuroinflammation in major depressive disorder. We aimed to 1) test the hypothesis of significant case-control differences in TSPO binding in the anterior cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, and insula regions; and 2) explore the relationship between cerebral TSPO binding and peripheral blood C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration.

Increased serum peripheral C-reactive protein is associated with reduced brain barriers permeability of TSPO radioligands in healthy volunteers and depressed patients: implications for inflammation and depression.

The relationship between peripheral and central immunity and how these ultimately may cause depressed behaviour has been the focus of a number of imaging studies conducted with Positron Emission Tomography (PET). These studies aimed at testing the immune-mediated model of depression that proposes a direct effect of peripheral cytokines and immune cells on the brain to elicit a neuroinflammatory response via a leaky blood-brain barrier and ultimately depressive behaviour. However, studies conducted so far using PET radioligands targeting the neuroinflammatory marker 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO) in patient cohorts with depression have demonstrated mild inflammatory brain status but no correlation between central and peripheral immunity.

Changes in Maternal Body Mass Index, Weight Gain and Outcome of Singleton Pregnancies from 2000 to 2015: A Population-based Retrospective Cohort Study in Hesse/Germany.

Maternal obesity and excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) affect the outcomes of women and their offspring. Our aim was to evaluate population-based data from Germany. Data from 583 633/791 514 mother-child pairs obtained from the perinatal database in Hesse for the period from 2000 to 2015 were used after excluding incomplete or non-plausible datasets.

Challenges for better care based on the course of maternal body mass index, weight gain and multiple outcome in twin pregnancies: a population-based retrospective cohort study in Hessen/Germany within 15 years.

Introduction: Studies on maternal weight, gestational weight gain and associated outcomes in twin pregnancies are scarce. Therefore, we analyzed these items in a large cohort.

Methods: Data from 10,603/13,725 total twin pregnancies from the perinatal database in Hessen, Germany between 2000 and 2015 were used after exclusion of incomplete or non-plausible data sets.

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy evidence for declining gliosis in MS patients treated with ocrelizumab versus interferon beta-1a.

Background: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy quantitatively monitors biomarkers of neuron-myelin coupling (N-acetylaspartate (NAA)), and inflammation (total creatine (tCr), total choline (tCho), myo-inositol (mI)) in the brain.

Objective: This study aims to investigate how ocrelizumab and interferon beta-1a differentially affects imaging biomarkers of neuronal-myelin coupling and inflammation in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: Forty patients with relapsing MS randomized to either treatment were scanned at 3T at baseline and weeks 24, 48, and 96 follow-up.

Collaborative International Research in Clinical and Longitudinal Experience Study in NMOSD.

Objective: To develop a resource of systematically collected, longitudinal clinical data and biospecimens for assisting in the investigation into neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) epidemiology, pathogenesis, and treatment.

Methods: To illustrate its research-enabling purpose, epidemiologic patterns and disease phenotypes were assessed among enrolled subjects, including age at disease onset, annualized relapse rate (ARR), and time between the first and second attacks.

Results: As of December 2017, the Collaborative International Research in Clinical and Longitudinal Experience Study (CIRCLES) had enrolled more than 1,000 participants, of whom 77.

Dynamic C-PiB PET Shows Cerebrospinal Fluid Flow Alterations in Alzheimer Disease and Multiple Sclerosis.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) plays an important role in solute clearance and maintenance of brain homeostasis. C-Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) PET was recently proposed as a tool for detection of CSF clearance alterations in Alzheimer disease. The current study investigates the magnitude of C-PiB PET signal in the lateral ventricles of an independent group of Alzheimer and mild cognitive impairment subjects.

Acute Stroke Treatment by Surgical Recanalization of Extracranial Internal Carotid Artery Occlusion: A Single Center Experience.

Ischemic stroke due to an acute occlusion of the extracranial internal carotid artery (eICA) is associated with high morbidity and mortality. The best treatment option remains unclear. This study aims to increase the available therapeutic experience documented for surgical recanalization of acute eICA occlusions.

Spontaneous Chloroplast Mutants Mostly Occur by Replication Slippage and Show a Biased Pattern in the Plastome of Oenothera.

Spontaneous plastome mutants have been used as a research tool since the beginning of genetics. However, technical restrictions have severely limited their contributions to research in physiology and molecular biology. Here, we used full plastome sequencing to systematically characterize a collection of 51 spontaneous chloroplast mutants in Oenothera (evening primrose).

Expression of heterologous xyloglucan xylosyltransferases in Arabidopsis to investigate their role in determining xyloglucan xylosylation substitution patterns.

Putative XyG xylosyltransferases from Tropaeolum majus (nasturtium) and Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) homologous to characterized Arabidopsis genes were identified and shown to functionally complement Arabidopsis mutants lacking xyloglucan demonstrating they represent xyloglucan xylosyltransferases. Xyloglucan is a major hemicellulose in the plant cell wall and is important for the structural organization of the wall. The fine structure of xyloglucan can vary dependent on plant species and tissue type.