White Matter Fiber Bundle Alterations Correlate with Gait and Cognitive Impairments in Parkinson's Disease based on HARDI Data.

Background: The neuroanatomical basis of white matter fiber tracts in gait impairments in individuals suffering from Parkinson's Disease (PD) is unclear.

Methods: Twenty-four individuals living with PD and 29 Healthy Controls (HCs) were included. For each participant, two-shell High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging (HARDI) and high-resolution 3D structural images were acquired using the 3T MRI.

Feedback-corrected laser micromachining based on depth monitoring using laser triangulation.

Conventional laser micromachining technologies rely on trial-and-error optimization to obtain precise surface geometry. In this study, we present a laser micromachining setup that enables the preparation of the desired surface geometry without the need for parameter exploration. The setup consists of a laser scanning system, a coaxial imaging system, a paraxial laser line projector, and a three-axis stage.

Wind farms reduce grassland plant community diversity and lead to plant community convergence.

Climate warming has become a hot issue of common concern all over the world, and wind energy has become an important clean energy source. Wind farms, usually built in wild lands like grassland, may cause damage to the initial ecosystem and biodiversity. However, the impact of wind farms on the functional diversity of plant communities remains a subject with unclear outcomes.

Genetic and clinical spectrum of steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome with nuclear pore gene mutation.

Background: Steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) is insensitive to steroid therapy and overwhelmingly progresses to kidney failure (KF), the known pathogenic genes of which include key subunits of the nuclear pore complex (NPC), a less-recognized contributor to glomerular podocyte injury.

Methods: After analyzing their clinical characterizations and obtaining parental consent, whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed on patients with SRNS. Several nucleoporin (NUP) biallelic pathogenic variants were identified and further analyzed by cDNA-PCR sequencing from white cells of peripheral blood, minigene assay, immunohistochemical (IHC) staining, and electron microscopy (EM) ultrastructure observation of kidney biopsy, as well as multiple in silico prediction tools, including 3D protein modeling.

Application of Raman Spectroscopy in the Non-invasive Diagnosis of Urological Diseases via Urine.

Objectives: The objective of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the utilization of Raman spectroscopy in urinary system diseases, highlighting its potential in non-invasive diagnostic methodologies for early diagnosis and prognostic assessment of urinary ailments.

Methods: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar using 'raman,' 'bladder,' 'kidney,' 'prostate,' 'cancer,' 'infection,' 'stone or urinary calculi,' and 'urine or urinary,' along with 'AND' and 'OR' to refine our search. We excluded irrelevant articles and screened potential ones based on titles and abstracts before assessing the full texts for relevance and quality.