Association of β-Amyloid, Microglial Activation, Cortical Thickness, and Metabolism in Older Adults Without Dementia.

Background And Objectives: Plasma β-amyloid (Aβ)/Aβ levels have shown promise in identifying Aβ-PET positive individuals. This study explored the concordance and discordance of plasma Aβ/Aβ positivity (Plasma±) with CSF Aβ/Aβ positivity (CSF±) and Aβ-PET positivity (PET±) in older adults without dementia. Associations of Aβ deposition, cortical thickness, glucose metabolism, and microglial activation were also investigated.

Enhanced synergistic removal of Cu(II) and Cr(VI) with multifunctional biomass hydrogel from strong-acid media.

Simultaneous recovery of heavy metal ions (HMIs) such as Cu(II) and Cr(VI) from strong-acid media was a great challenge due to the inhibition of protons. Herein, a novel biomass hydrogel (CMC/PEI-PD) containing various groups (bis-picolylamine, amino, and hydroxyl groups) was newly prepared by a facile two-step process. The static experiments relating pH, kinetics and isothermal co-adsorption confirmed the synergistic effect towards Cu(II) and Cr(VI) consistently.

A new projection correction based voting strategy for breast calcification artifact reduction.

Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) is an imaging technique that combines traditional tomography with image processing and reconstruction techniques. In screening for breast cancer, high attenuation lesion will cause calcification hardening artifacts, which reduces the reconstructed image quality and limits diagnostic accuracy. We focus on the reconstruction artifacts that are caused by high-attenuation features in DBT, and aim to propose an efficient and accurate method to remove calcification artifacts and retain calcification information.

The value of DCE- MRI of the breast as a diagnostic tool in assessing amorphous calcifications in screening mammography.

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging in differentiating benign and malignant amorphous calcifications.

Methods: This study included 193 female patients with 197 suspicious amorphous calcifications detected on screening mammography. The patients' demographics, clinical follow-up, imaging, and pathology outcomes were reviewed, and sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of DCE-MRI were calculated.

Connectivity based Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback Training in Youth with a History of Major Depressive Disorder.

Background: Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback (rtfMRI-nf) has proven to be a powerful technique to help subjects to gauge and enhance emotional control. Traditionally, rtfMRI-nf has focused on emotional regulation through self-regulation of amygdala. Recently, rtfMRI studies have observed that regulation of a target brain region is accompanied by connectivity changes beyond the target region.

Efficient wastewater disinfection by raised O yield through enhanced electron transfer and intersystem crossing via photocatalysis of peroxymonosulfate with CuS quantum dots modified MIL-101(Fe).

Peroxymonosulfate (PMS)-based photocatalysis is a promising alternative approach for wastewater disinfection. Singlet oxygen (O) is sensitive and efficient for bacterial inactivation. This study developed a O-predominated PMS disinfection technique under visible light with CuS quantum dots (QDs) modified MIL-101(Fe) (CSQDs@MF).

Metaplastic Carcinoma of the Breast: MRI Features with Clinical and Histopathologic Correlation.

Rationale And Objectives: Metaplastic carcinoma of the breast (MCB) is a rare type of breast carcinoma, and there are only limited data about the MRI findings of MCB. This article aimed to review the MRI features of MCB and correlate the MRI findings with clinical and histopathologic characteristics.

Materials And Methods: A total of 23 patients were enrolled from a signal institution.

[Establishment of 14-Color Panel for Determining Leukocyte Subsets in Human Peripheral Blood with Flow Cytometry].

Objective: To establish a 14-color flow cytometry protocol for the examination of leukocyte subsets in human peripheral blood.

Methods: We used cell membrane surface antibodies CD45, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19, CD56, CD16, CD14, CD25, CD127, HLA-DR, CD123, CD11c and nucleus staining dye DAPI to establish a 14-color flow cytometry assay to determine the major cell subsets in human peripheral blood. We collected peripheral blood specimens from healthy volunteers to test for antibody titers and optimal photomultiplier tube (PMT) voltage, and to conduct single-color staining and fluorescence minus one control staining.

A Three-Dimensional-reconstruction-based study on the ocular volume of Chinese children with high myopia.

Background: Highly myopic eyes differ in morphology from emmetropic eyes, and the correct estimation of the vitreous volume is difficult. To explore an effective method to estimate ocular volume using refractive factors in children.

Methods: This is a retrospective study of children with high myopia who visited the Shenzhen Shekou People's Hospital (July-December 2018) before undergoing posterior scleral reinforcement surgery.

Comprehensive Analysis of Monocarboxylate Transporter 4 (MCT4) expression in breast cancer prognosis and immune infiltration via integrated bioinformatics analysis.

Lactate blunts the anticancer immune response in breast cancer (BC). However, little is known about the exact effect of lactate transporters such as monocarboxylate transporter 4 (MCT4) on immunotherapy. In this study, we investigated the expression status and prognostic value of MCT4 in BC through large-scale transcriptome data.

Recent Progress on Immunotherapy for Breast Cancer: Tumor Microenvironment, Nanotechnology and More.

Immunotherapy is a treatment for breast cancer (BC). However, not all breast cancer patients derive benefit from immunotherapy. Predictive biomarkers of immunotherapy, such as tumor mutation burden and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, are promising to stratify the patients with BC and optimize the therapeutic effect.

Expression of lncRNA NEAT1 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and its correlation with Th1/Th2 balance.

Objective: This study explored and analyzed the expression of LncRNA NEAT1 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and its correlation with Th1/Th2 balance.

Methods: We chose 97 SLE patients admitted in our hospital from Jun. 2016 to Feb.

Basophils as a potential marker of lupus nephritis by flow cytometry.

Objective: To establish a convenient and simple flow cytometry immunophenotyping panel to explore immune cellular alterations and potential cellular biomarkers in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Materials And Methods: This is a cross-sectional, case-control study including 60 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and 20 sex- and age-matched healthy controls. A 14-color immunophenotyping panel was applied to detect proportions of circulating immune mononuclear cells, and comparisons between patients and healthy controls, and subgroups of patients, were performed.

[Prediction of Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer Based on Histomorphology Analysis of Needle Biopsy Images].

Objective: The deep learning method was used to automatically segment the tumor area and the cell nucleus based on needle biopsy images of breast cancer patients prior to receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), and then, the features of the cell clusters in the tumor area were identified to predict the level of pathological remission of breast cancer after NAC.

Methods: 68 breast cancer patients who were to receive NAC at Jiangsu Province Hospital were recruited and the hematoxylin-eosin (HE) stained preoperative biopsy sections of these patients were collected. Unet++ was used to establish a segmentation model and the tumor area and nucleus of the needle biopsy images were automatically segmented accordingly.

Imbalanced Innate Lymphoid Cells are Associated With Disease Activity and Arthritis Involvement in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the frequency and absolute number of circulating innate lymphoid cell (ILC) subsets and their associations with clinical and serological features in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Patients And Methods: We recruited 28 SLE patients (6 males, 22 females; mean age 37.57 years; range, 18 to 56 years) and 13 healthy controls (4 males, 9 females; mean age 32.

Fir bark modified by Phanerodontia chrysosporium: A low-cost amendment for cd-contaminated water and agricultural soil.

In this study, a modified fir barks (MFB) was prepared by mixing fir barks (FB) and white-rot fungi (Phanerodontia chrysosporium) under aerobic fermentation. The potential of MFB for Cd adsorption was investigated by batch experiments combined with kinetic, isotherm, and thermodynamics analyses. The results revealed that the modification greatly increased the porous structures on the surfaces of fir barks and the surface area of MFB was much higher than that of FB.

Simultaneously enhanced degradation of N, N-dimethylacetamide and reduced formation of iron sludge by an efficient electrolysis catalyzed ozone process in the presence of dissolved silicate.

The generation of sludge is the main issue in iron-based electrochemical techniques. Interestingly, in this study, the effluent was totally limpid and iron sludge did not generate when dissolved silicate (NaSiO) was used as the electrolyte in an electrolysis catalyzed ozone (ECO-NaSiO) system. More importantly, the pseudo-first-order rate constants (0.

Added value of histogram analysis of apparent diffusion coefficient maps for differentiating triple-negative breast cancer from other subtypes of breast cancer on standard MRI.

Background: Triple-negative breast cancers generally occur in young women with remarkable potential to be aggressive. It will be of great help to detect this subtype of tumor early. To retrospectively evaluate the performance of histogram analysis of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps in distinguishing triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) from other subtypes of breast cancer (non-TNBC), when combined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features.

PEGylated hollow gold nanoparticles for combined X-ray radiation and photothermal therapy in vitro and enhanced CT imaging in vivo.

Up until now, hollow gold nanoparticles (HGNPs) with a spherical cavity have garnered much interest as theranostic agents in cancer therapy due to their high X-ray absorption and photothermal conversion ability. Herein, we describe the design of PEGylated hollow gold nanoparticles (mPEG@HGNPs) for combined X-ray radiation and photothermal therapy in vitro and enhanced computed tomography (CT) imaging in vivo using a breast tumor model. In vitro results revealed that mPEG@HGNPs could achieve a synergistic antitumor effect when irradiated by combined X-ray radiation and 808 nm near infrared laser light.

Applications of high-resolution magic angle spinning MRS in biomedical studies II-Human diseases.

High-resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) MRS is a powerful method for gaining insight into the physiological and pathological processes of cellular metabolism. Given its ability to obtain high-resolution spectra of non-liquid biological samples, while preserving tissue architecture for subsequent histopathological analysis, the technique has become invaluable for biochemical and biomedical studies. Using HRMAS MRS, alterations in measured metabolites, metabolic ratios, and metabolomic profiles present the possibility to improve identification and prognostication of various diseases and decipher the metabolomic impact of drug therapies.

Preoperative predicting malignancy in breast mass-like lesions: value of adding histogram analysis of apparent diffusion coefficient maps to dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging for improving confidence level.

Objective: This study aims to find out the benefits of adding histogram analysis of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps onto dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) in predicting breast malignancy.

Methods: This study included 95 patients who were found with breast mass-like lesions from January 2014 to March 2016 (47 benign and 48 malignant). These patients were estimated by both DCE-MRI and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and classified into two groups, namely, the benign and the malignant.

miR-34b inhibits nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell proliferation by targeting ubiquitin-specific peptidase 22.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the precise role of miR-34b in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Materials And Methods: The expression of miR-34b and transcription of ubiquitin-specific peptidase 22 (USP22) were examined using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Western blot analysis was used to measure the protein expression of USP22.