Preoperative prediction of lymphovascular and perineural invasion in gastric cancer using spectral computed tomography imaging and machine learning.

Background: Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) and perineural invasion (PNI) are important prognostic factors for gastric cancer (GC) that indicate an increased risk of metastasis and poor outcomes. Accurate preoperative prediction of LVI/PNI status could help clinicians identify high-risk patients and guide treatment decisions. However, prior models using conventional computed tomography (CT) images to predict LVI or PNI separately have had limited accuracy.

Disturbance of thalamic metabolism and its association with regional neural dysfunction and cognitive impairment in minimal hepatic encephalopathy.

Purpose: To conduct the first investigation on thalamic metabolic alterations in minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) and elucidate their association with intrinsic neural activity change and cognitive dysfunction.

Methods: Thirty-eight cirrhotic patients [18 with MHE, 20 without MHE (NHE)] and 21 healthy controls (HC) were included, all of whom underwent H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), as well as cognitive assessment based on the Psychometric Hepatic Encephalopathy Score (PHES). Metabolite ratios in the thalamus were measured, including N-acetyl aspartate (NAA)/creatine (Cr), glutamate plus glutamine (Glx)/Cr, choline (Cho)/Cr, and myo-inositol (mI)/Cr.

Brain Cortical Complexity Alteration in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Preliminary Fractal Dimensionality Study.

Objective: Fractal dimensionality (FD) analysis provides a quantitative description of brain structural complexity. The application of FD analysis has provided evidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis- (ALS-) related white matter degeneration. This study is aimed at evaluating, for the first time, FD alterations in a gray matter in ALS and determining its association with clinical parameters.

Reduced Cortical Complexity in Cirrhotic Patients with Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy.

Purpose: Gray matter volume loss, regional cortical thinning, and local gyrification index alteration have been documented in minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE). Fractal dimension (FD), another morphological parameter, has been widely used to describe structural complexity alterations in neurological or psychiatric disease. Here, we conducted the first study to investigate FD alterations in MHE.

Identification of patients with and without minimal hepatic encephalopathy based on gray matter volumetry using a support vector machine learning algorithm.

Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) is characterized by diffuse abnormalities in cerebral structure, such as reduced cortical thickness and altered brain parenchymal volume. This study tested the potential of gray matter (GM) volumetry to differentiate between cirrhotic patients with and without MHE using a support vector machine (SVM) learning method. High-resolution, T1-weighted magnetic resonance images were acquired from 24 cirrhotic patients with MHE and 29 cirrhotic patients without MHE (NHE).

Brain white matter abnormalities and correlation with severity in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: An atlas-based diffusion tensor imaging study.

Objectives: To assess microstructural alterations in white matter (WM) in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).

Methods: DTI data were collected from 34 subjects (18 patients with ALS and 16 healthy controls). The atlas-based region of interest (ROI) analysis was conducted to assess WM microstructure in ALS by combining intra-voxel metrics, which included fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), and an inter-voxel metric, i.

Functional Network-Based Statistics Reveal Abnormal Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy.

Whole-brain functional network analysis is an emerging methodology for exploring the mechanisms underlying hepatic encephalopathy (HE). This study aimed to identify the brain subnetwork that is significantly altered within the functional connectome in minimal HE (MHE), the earliest stage of HE. The study enrolled 19 cirrhotic patients with MHE and 19 controls who underwent the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and cognitive assessment based on the Psychometric Hepatic Encephalopathy Score (PHES).

Altered Topological Properties of Gray Matter Structural Covariance Networks in Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy.

Liver cirrhosis commonly induces brain structural impairments that are associated with neurological complications (e.g., minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE)), but the topological characteristics of the brain structural network are still less well understood in cirrhotic patients with MHE.