Boerhavia diffusa attenuates podocyte injury in rats with adenine induced chronic kidney disease by enhancing nephrin expression.

Nephrin is a transmembrane protein that maintains the slit diaphragm of renal podocyte. In chronic kidney disease (CKD), podocyte effacement causes damage to glomerular basement membrane barrier leading to proteinuria. Boerhavia diffusa, (BD), an Ayurveda herb, is used in treatment of various diseases particularly in relation to the urinary system.

Deep Learning-Generated Synthetic MR Imaging STIR Spine Images Are Superior in Image Quality and Diagnostically Equivalent to Conventional STIR: A Multicenter, Multireader Trial.

Background And Purpose: Deep learning image reconstruction allows faster MR imaging acquisitions while matching or exceeding the standard of care and can create synthetic images from existing data sets. This multicenter, multireader spine study evaluated the performance of synthetically created STIR compared with acquired STIR.

Materials And Methods: From a multicenter, multiscanner data base of 328 clinical cases, a nonreader neuroradiologist randomly selected 110 spine MR imaging studies in 93 patients (sagittal T1, T2, and STIR) and classified them into 5 categories of disease and healthy.

Mathematical modeling of SARS-nCoV-2 virus in Tamil Nadu, South India.

The purpose of this paper is to build a mathematical model for the study of the roles of lock-down, social distancing, vaccination, detection efficiency, and health care capacity planning of the COVID-19 pandemic taking into account the demographic topology of the State of Tamil Nadu, India. Two mathematical models are proposed for the evolution of the first and second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The model for the first wave considers lock-down orders, social distancing measures, and detection efficiency.

Clinical Assessment of Deep Learning-based Super-Resolution for 3D Volumetric Brain MRI.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-based image enhancement has the potential to reduce scan times while improving signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and maintaining spatial resolution. This study prospectively evaluated AI-based image enhancement in 32 consecutive patients undergoing clinical brain MRI. Standard-of-care (SOC) three-dimensional (3D) T1 precontrast, 3D T2 fluid-attenuated inversion recovery, and 3D T1 postcontrast sequences were performed along with 45% faster versions of these sequences using half the number of phase-encoding steps.

Deep Learning Image Processing Enables 40% Faster Spinal MR Scans Which Match or Exceed Quality of Standard of Care : A Prospective Multicenter Multireader Study.

Objective: This prospective multicenter multireader study evaluated the performance of 40% scan-time reduced spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reconstructed with deep learning (DL).

Methods: A total of 61 patients underwent standard of care (SOC) and accelerated (FAST) spine MRI. DL was used to enhance the accelerated set (FAST-DL).

Deep Learning Enables 60% Accelerated Volumetric Brain MRI While Preserving Quantitative Performance: A Prospective, Multicenter, Multireader Trial.

Background And Purpose: In this prospective, multicenter, multireader study, we evaluated the impact on both image quality and quantitative image-analysis consistency of 60% accelerated volumetric MR imaging sequences processed with a commercially available, vendor-agnostic, DICOM-based, deep learning tool (SubtleMR) compared with that of standard of care.

Materials And Methods: Forty subjects underwent brain MR imaging examinations on 6 scanners from 5 institutions. Standard of care and accelerated datasets were acquired for each subject, and the accelerated scans were enhanced with deep learning processing.

Effectiveness of navigator-based prospective motion correction in MPRAGE data acquired at 3T.

In MRI, subject motion results in image artifacts. High-resolution 3D scans, like MPRAGE, are particularly susceptible to motion because of long scan times and acquisition of data over multiple-shots. Such motion related artifacts have been shown to cause a bias in cortical measures extracted from segmentation of high-resolution MPRAGE images.

Toward personalised diffusion MRI in psychiatry: improved delineation of fibre bundles with the highest-ever angular resolution in vivo tractography.

Diffusion MRI (dMRI) tractography is a uniquely powerful tool capable of demonstrating structural brain network abnormalities across a range of psychiatric disorders; however, it is not currently clinically useful. This is because limitations on sensitivity effectively restrict its application to scientific studies of cohorts, rather than individual patients. Recent improvements in dMRI hardware, acquisition, processing and analysis techniques may, however, overcome these measurement limitations.

Comparing accuracy and reproducibility of sequential and Hadamard-encoded multidelay pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling for measuring cerebral blood flow and arterial transit time in healthy subjects: A simulation and in vivo study.

Purpose: To compare performance of sequential and Hadamard-encoded pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (PCASL).

Materials And Methods: Monte Carlo simulations and in vivo experiments were performed in 10 healthy subjects. Field strength and sequence: 5-delay sequential (5-del.

Differentiation of brain tumor-related edema based on 3D T1rho imaging.

Background And Purpose: Cerebral edema associated with brain tumors is an important source of morbidity. Its type depends largely on the capillary ultra-structures of the histopathologic subtype of underlying brain tumor. The purpose of our study was to differentiate vasogenic edema associated with brain metastases and infiltrative edema related to diffuse gliomas using quantitative 3D T1 rho (T1ρ) imaging.

Synthetic MRI for Clinical Neuroimaging: Results of the Magnetic Resonance Image Compilation (MAGiC) Prospective, Multicenter, Multireader Trial.

Background And Purpose: Synthetic MR imaging enables reconstruction of various image contrasts from 1 scan, reducing scan times and potentially providing novel information. This study is the first large, prospective comparison of synthetic-versus-conventional MR imaging for routine neuroimaging.

Materials And Methods: A prospective multireader, multicase noninferiority trial of 1526 images read by 7 blinded neuroradiologists was performed with prospectively acquired synthetic and conventional brain MR imaging case-control pairs from 109 subjects (mean, 53.

Reduced field-of-view DWI with robust fat suppression and unrestricted slice coverage using tilted 2D RF excitation.

Purpose: Reduced field-of-view (rFOV) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) using 2D echo-planar radiofrequency (2DRF) excitation has been widely and successfully applied in clinical settings. The purpose of this work is to further improve its clinical utility by overcoming slice coverage limitations without any scan time penalty while providing robust fat suppression.

Theory And Methods: During multislice imaging with 2DRF pulses, periodic sidelobes in the slice direction cause partial saturation, limiting the slice coverage.

Hadamard slice encoding for reduced-FOV diffusion-weighted imaging.

Purpose: To improve the clinical utility of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) by extending the slice coverage of a high-resolution reduced field-of-view technique.

Theory: Challenges in achieving high spatial resolution restrict the use of DWI in assessment of small structures such as the spinal cord. A reduced field-of-view method with 2D echo-planar radiofrequency (RF) excitation was recently proposed for high-resolution DWI.

Navigated DENSE strain imaging for post-radiofrequency ablation lesion assessment in the swine left atria.

Aims: Prior work has demonstrated that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) strain can separate necrotic/stunned myocardium from healthy myocardium in the left ventricle (LV). We surmised that high-resolution MRI strain, using navigator-echo-triggered DENSE, could differentiate radiofrequency ablated tissue around the pulmonary vein (PV) from tissue that had not been damaged by radiofrequency energy, similarly to navigated 3D myocardial delayed enhancement (3D-MDE).

Methods And Results: A respiratory-navigated 2D-DENSE sequence was developed, providing strain encoding in two spatial directions with 1.

A selective insular perfusion deficit contributes to compromised salience network connectivity in recovering alcoholic men.

Background: Alcoholism can disrupt neural synchrony between nodes of intrinsic functional networks that are maximally active when resting relative to engaging in a task, the default mode network (DMN) pattern. Untested, however, are whether the DMN in alcoholics can rebound normally from the relatively depressed task state to the active resting state and whether local perfusion deficits could disrupt network synchrony when switching from conditions of rest to task to rest, thereby indicating a physiological mechanism of neural network adaptation capability.

Methods: Whole-brain, three-dimensional pulsed-continuous arterial spin labeling provided measurements of regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) in 12 alcoholics and 12 control subjects under three conditions: pretask rest, spatial working-memory task, and posttask rest.

Longitudinal restriction spectrum imaging is resistant to pseudoresponse in patients with high-grade gliomas treated with bevacizumab.

Background And Purpose: Antiangiogenic therapies, such as bevacizumab, decrease contrast enhancement and FLAIR hyperintensity in patients with high-grade gliomas in a manner that may not correlate with actual tumor response. This study evaluated the ability of an advanced DWI technique, restriction spectrum imaging, to improve conspicuity within regions of restricted diffusion compared with ADC in patients treated with bevacizumab and to demonstrate that unlike ADC, restriction spectrum imaging is less affected by bevacizumab-induced reductions in FLAIR hyperintensity.

Materials And Methods: Restriction spectrum imaging cellularity maps and DWI were available for 12 patients with recurrent high-grade gliomas at baseline and following initiation of bevacizumab.

High-resolution diffusion-weighted imaging for monitoring breast cancer treatment response.

Rationale And Objectives: The aim of this work was to compare a high-resolution diffusion-weighted imaging (HR-DWI) acquisition (voxel size = 4.8 mm(3)) to a standard diffusion-weighted imaging (STD-DWI) acquisition (voxel size = 29.3 mm(3)) for monitoring neoadjuvant therapy-induced changes in breast tumors.

Diffusion tensor imaging and T2 relaxometry of bilateral lumbar nerve roots: feasibility of in-plane imaging.

Lower back pain is a common problem frequently encountered without specific biomarkers that correlate well with an individual patient's pain generators. MRI quantification of diffusion and T2 relaxation properties may provide novel insight into the mechanical and inflammatory changes that occur in the lumbosacral nerve roots in patients with lower back pain. Accurate imaging of the spinal nerve roots is difficult because of their small caliber and oblique course in all three planes.

Coupling between resting cerebral perfusion and EEG.

While several studies have investigated interactions between the electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging BOLD signal fluctuations, less is known about the associations between EEG oscillations and baseline brain haemodynamics, and few studies have examined the link between EEG power outside the alpha band and baseline perfusion. Here we compare whole-brain arterial spin labelling perfusion MRI and EEG in a group of healthy adults (n = 16, ten females, median age: 27 years, range 21-48) during an eyes closed rest condition. Correlations emerged between perfusion and global average EEG power in low (delta: 2-4 Hz and theta: 4-7 Hz), middle (alpha: 8-13 Hz), and high (beta: 13-30 Hz and gamma: 30-45 Hz) frequency bands in both cortical and sub-cortical regions.

Volumetric measurement of perfusion and arterial transit delay using hadamard encoded continuous arterial spin labeling.

Creating images of the transit delay from the labeling location to image tissue can aid the optimization and quantification of arterial spin labeling perfusion measurements and may provide diagnostic information independent of perfusion. Unfortunately, measuring transit delay requires acquiring a series of images with different labeling timing that adds to the time cost and increases the noise of the arterial spin labeling study. Here, we implement and evaluate a proposed Hadamard encoding of labeling that speeds the imaging and improves the signal-to-noise ratio efficiency.

Parallel and partial Fourier imaging with prospective motion correction.

Subject motion during scan is a major source of artifacts in MR examinations. Prospective motion correction is a promising technique that tracks subject motion and adjusts the imaging volume in real time; however, additional retrospective correction may be necessary to achieve robust image quality and compatibility with other imaging options. Real-time realignment of the imaging volume by prospective motion correction changes the coil sensitivity weighting and the field inhomogeneity relative to the imaging volume.

Comparison of wideband steady-state free precession and T₂-weighted fast spin echo in spine disorder assessment at 1.5 and 3 T.

Wideband steady-state free precession (WB-SSFP) is a modification of balanced steady-state free precession utilizing alternating repetition times to reduce susceptibility-induced balanced steady-state free precession limitations, allowing its use for high-resolution myelographic-contrast spinal imaging. Intertissue contrast and spatial resolution of complete-spine-coverage 3D WB-SSFP were compared with those of 2D T₂-weighted fast spin echo, currently the standard for spine T₂-imaging. Six normal subjects were imaged at 1.

Pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling with optimized tagging efficiency.

The adiabatic inversion of blood in pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (PCASL) is highly sensitive to off-resonance effects and gradient imperfections and this sensitivity can lead to tagging efficiency loss and unpredictable variations in cerebral blood flow estimates. This efficiency loss is caused by a phase tracking error between the RF pulses and the flowing spins. This article introduces a new method, referred to as Optimized PCASL (OptPCASL), that minimizes the phase tracking error by applying an additional compensation RF phase term and in-plane gradients to the PCASL pulse train.