Lipo-prostaglandin E1 improves renal hypoxia evaluated by BOLD-MRI in patients with diabetic kidney disease.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of lipo-PGE1 on renal hypoxia in patients with DKD by BOLD-MRI.

Materials And Methods: All patients were divided into DKD group and CKD-without-diabetes group. All patients received intravenous 10 μg lipo-PGE1 once daily for 14 days.

Diagnostic value of renal perfusion in patients with chronic kidney disease using 3D arterial spin labeling.

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic value of 3D arterial spin labeling (ASL) for noninvasive quantification of renal blood flow (RBF) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Materials And Methods: CKD patients (n = 27) and healthy volunteers (n = 36) underwent renal 3T ASL magnetic resonance imaging, with inversion times from 1200 to 2000 msec for volunteers in the preliminary test, and 1800 to 2000 msec for volunteers and CKD patients in the formal experiments. The cortical RBFs were compared, and a correlation between RBF and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was evaluated.

Readout-segmented echo-planar imaging improves the image quality of diffusion-weighted MR imaging in rectal cancer: Comparison with single-shot echo-planar diffusion-weighted sequences.

Purpose: To determine whether readout-segmented echo-planar imaging (rs-EPI) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) can improve the image quality in patients with rectal cancer compared with single-shot echo-planar imaging (ss-EPI) DWI using 3.0 T magnetic resonance (MR) imaging.

Materials And Methods: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board, and informed consent was obtained from all patients.

[Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer Imaging of Creatine Metabolites: a 3.0 T MRI Pilot].

Objective: To determine the feasibility of using chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) imaging to measure creatine (Cr) metabolites with 3.0 T MR.

Methods: Phantoms containing different concentrations of Cr under various pH conditions were studied with CEST sequence on 3.

Evaluation of renal allografts function early after transplantation using intravoxel incoherent motion and arterial spin labeling MRI.

Purpose: To evaluate renal allografts function early after transplantation using intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) and arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI.

Methods: This prospective study was approved by the local ethics committee, and written informed consent was obtained from all participants. A total of 82 participants with 62 renal allograft recipients (2-4weeks after kidney transplantation) and 20 volunteers were enrolled to be scanned using IVIM and ASL MRI on a 3.

SEMAC-VAT MR Imaging Unravels Peri-instrumentation Lesions in Patients With Attendant Symptoms After Spinal Surgery.

The study aimed for evaluating the diagnostic value of a 2D Turbo Spin Echo (TSE) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging sequence implanted slice-encoding metal artifact correction (SEMAC) and view-angle tilting (VAT) in patients with spinal instrumentation.Sixty-seven consecutive patients with an average age of 59.7 ± 17.

[Longitudinal evaluation of reparative cartilage after matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte implantation with delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of the cartilage].

Objective: To estimate zonal variation of GAG content in reparative cartilage after matrix associated autologous chondrocyte implantation (MACI) using delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of the cartilage (dGEMRIC).

Methods: Seven patients (14 cartilage defects) undergoing MACI were recruited for examination with dGEMRIC at 3, 6, and 12 months after the procedure to calculate global and zonal longitudinal relaxivity (Δ R1) of the normal cartilage and reparative cartilage.

Results: The mean Δ R1 values of normal cartilage were significantly lower than those of reparative cartilage after MACI.

Assessment of renal allograft function early after transplantation with isotropic resolution diffusion tensor imaging.

Objectives: To investigate the value of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tractography in renal allografts at the early stage after kidney transplantation.

Methods: This study was approved by the institutional ethical review committee, and written informed consent was obtained. A total of 54 renal allograft recipients 2-3 weeks after transplantation and 26 age-matched healthy volunteers underwent renal DTI with a 3.

[3T magnetic resonance T2 mapping for evaluation of cartilage repair after matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte transplantation].

Objective: To assess the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2 mapping in quantitative evaluation of cartilage repair following matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte transplantation (MACT).

Methods: Six patients (with 9 plug cartilages) following MACT underwent MRI on a 3.0 Tesla MR scan system at 3, 6 and 12 months after the surgery.

[Quantitative T2 mapping evaluates the repaired articular cartilage].

Objective: To evaluate the value of T2 mapping in monitoring the repaired cartilage after matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte implantation/transplantation (MACI/MACT).

Methods: Four patients (10 plug cartilages) were examined three times by T2 mapping at 1, 3, and 6 months using a 3.0 Tesla MR scan system.

Impulse-dependent extracellular resting dopamine concentration in rat striatum in vivo.

The ambient resting dopamine (DA) concentration in brain regulates cognition and motivation. Despite its importance, resting DA level in vivo remains elusive. Here, by high-frequency stimulation of the medial forebrain bundle and immediately following the stimulus-induced DA overflow, we recorded a DA "undershoot" which is a temporal reduction of DA concentration to a level below the baseline.

Nicotine dynamically modulates dopamine clearance in rat striatum in vivo.

Nicotine binds to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on dopaminergic terminals to evoke dopamine (DA) release. The clearance of released DA occurs rapidly through reuptake into nerve terminals through the DA transporter (DAT). However, whether nicotine modulates DAT function in vivo is still not well understood.

Role of vesicle pools in action potential pattern-dependent dopamine overflow in rat striatum in vivo.

Action potential (AP) patterns and dopamine (DA) release are known to correlate with rewarding behaviors, but how codes of AP bursts translate into DA release in vivo remains elusive. Here, a given AP pattern was defined by four codes, termed total AP number, frequency, number of AP bursts, and interburst time [N, f, b, i]..

Action potential bursts enhance transmitter release at a giant central synapse.

Patterns of action potentials (APs), often in the form of bursts, are critical for coding and processing information in the brain. However, how AP bursts modulate secretion at synapses remains elusive. Here, using the calyx of Held synapse as a model we compared synaptic release evoked by AP patterns with a different number of bursts while the total number of APs and frequency were fixed.

DTNBP1, a schizophrenia susceptibility gene, affects kinetics of transmitter release.

Schizophrenia is one of the most debilitating neuropsychiatric disorders, affecting 0.5-1.0% of the population worldwide.