Segmental abnormalities of white matter microstructure in multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder identified by automated fiber quantification.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) are different in pathogenesis, but both could lead to white matter (WM) microstructural damage. The aim of this study was to explore the differences in the patterns of WM fiber tract damage in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) and NMOSD by automated fiber quantification (AFQ).

Materials And Methods: Forty-one RRMS patients, 30 NMOSD patients and 30 healthy controls (HC) underwent MRI examination.

Evaluating the diagnostic and therapeutic significance of KL-6 in patients with interstitial lung diseases.

Background: This study aimed to assess the diagnostic value of Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6), Surfactant protein-A (SP-A), SP-D and molecular matrixmetalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7) in discriminating patients with interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) from disease control subjects.

Methods: Serum levels of KL-6, SP-A, SP-D and MMP-7 were measured in both the ILD and non-ILD (NILD) groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was conducted to evaluate the diagnostic potential of these markers and laboratory indices.

The impact of paramagnetic rim lesions on cortical thickness and gray to white matter contrast in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Background: Paramagnetic rim lesions (PRLs) on susceptibility magnetic resonance sequences have been suggested as an imaging marker of disease progression in multiple sclerosis. This retrospective cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the impact of PRLs on cortical thickness and gray matter (GM) to white matter (WM) contrast in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).

Methods: A total of 82 RRMS patients (40 patients with at least 1 PRL and 42 patients without PRL) and 43 healthy controls (HC) were included in this study.

Enlarged choroid plexus in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis may lead to brain structural changes through the glymphatic impairment.

Objectives: To investigate the potential link among choroid plexus (CP) volume, glymphatic clearance and brain structural change in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients.

Materials And Methods: Sixty-five RRMS patients and 48 healthy controls (HC) underwent MRI examination. The diffusion tensor image analysis along the perivascular space (DTI-ALPS) was calculated to reflect glymphatic system function.

The changes of oxygen extraction fraction in different types of lesions in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: A cross-sectional and longitudinal study.

Objectives: To explore the oxygen metabolism level of different types of lesions in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients by oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) both cross-sectionally and longitudinally.

Methods: Forty-six RRMS patients and forty-one healthy controls (HC) went MRI examination. The quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and OEF map were reconstructed from a 3D multi-echo gradient echo sequence.

SR-TTS: a rhyme-based end-to-end speech synthesis system.

Deep learning has significantly advanced text-to-speech (TTS) systems. These neural network-based systems have enhanced speech synthesis quality and are increasingly vital in applications like human-computer interaction. However, conventional TTS models still face challenges, as the synthesized speeches often lack naturalness and expressiveness.

Ultralow-cost piezoelectric sensor constructed by thermal compression bonding for long-term biomechanical signal monitoring in chronic mental disorders.

Wearable bioelectronic devices, which circumvent issues related to the large size and high cost of clinical equipment, have emerged as powerful tools for the auxiliary diagnosis and long-term monitoring of chronic psychiatric diseases. Current devices often integrate multiple intricate and expensive devices to ensure accurate diagnosis. However, their high cost and complexity hinder widespread clinical application and long-term user compliance.

Structural covariance in subcortical regions in multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders: An MRI-based study with automated brain volumetry.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the alterations of brain volumetry and associated structural covariance in subcortical regions in multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD).

Materials And Methods: Fourty MS patients, 35 NMOSD patients and 34 healthy controls (HC) underwent 3D T1-weighted image and 3D T2 FLAIR of MRI. The volume differences in subcortical regions were compared between the MS, NMOSD, and HC groups by automated brain volumetry.

Fractional anisotropy helps to differentiate the optic nerve impairment between neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders and multiple sclerosis.

Objectives: To assess the characteristics of optic nerve impairment between neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) and multiple sclerosis (MS) patients by fractional anisotropy (FA).

Methods: Thirty-one NMOSD patients, 25 MS patients, and 17 heathy controls (HC) who underwent optic nerve DTI were included. The optic nerves of the NMOSD and MS patients were divided into vision-impaired (VI) subgroups and normal-appearing (NA) subgroups according to visual status, respectively.

Age and anatomical location related hemodynamic changes assessed by 4D flow MRI in the carotid arteries of healthy adults.

Purpose: To evaluate hemodynamic changes (volume, velocity, wall shear stress, pressure gradient, and energy loss) in the common carotid artery (CCA) and internal carotid artery (ICA) of healthy adults among different ages and anatomical locations using 4D flow MRI.

Methods: Sixty-two healthy volunteers aged 20-75 years were enrolled in this study. 4D flow MRI examinations were performed for each subject and were analyzed using the CVI42 platform to generate hemodynamic parameters.

Fiber Connectivity Density in Cerebral Small-Vessel Disease Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Cerebral Small-Vessel Disease Patients With Normal Cognition.

Abnormal structural connectivity of cerebral small-vessel disease (CSVD) is associated with cognitive impairment. But the different characteristics of structural connectivity have not been elucidated in early CSVD patients. The current study aimed to investigate the potential differences of structural connectivity in CSVD patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and CSVD patients with normal cognition.

Detecting normal pediatric brain development with diffusional kurtosis imaging.

Purpose: To characterise the pattern of change of diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) parameters (including kurtosis and diffusion parameters) in both white matter and gray matter in normal brain development with a large sample of subjects from term-born neonates to 14-years old children.

Methods: Two hundred and eighteen normal children (136 male, 82 female) underwent conventional magnetic resonance imaging and DKI. Regions of interest (ROIs) were placed in 7 white matter areas and 4 gray matter areas.

Automated adaptive preconditioner for quantitative susceptibility mapping.

Purpose: To develop an automated adaptive preconditioner for QSM reconstruction with improved susceptibility quantification accuracy and increased image quality.

Theory And Methods: The total field was used to rapidly produce an approximate susceptibility map, which was then averaged and trended over binning to generate a spatially varying distribution of preconditioning values. This automated adaptive preconditioner was used to reconstruct QSM via total field inversion and was compared with its empirical counterparts in a numerical simulation, a brain experiment with 5 healthy subjects and 5 patients with intracerebral hemorrhage, and a cardiac experiment with 3 healthy subjects.

Associations Between Diffusion Dynamics and Functional Outcome in Acute and Early Subacute Ischemic Stroke.

Purpose: The current study aimed to investigate the associations between diffusion dynamics of ischemic lesions and clinical functional outcome of acute and early subacute stroke.

Material And Methods: A total of 80 patients with first ever infarcts in the territory of the middle cerebral artery underwent multi-b-values diffusion-weighted imaging and diffusion kurtosis imaging. Multiple diffusion parameters were generated in postprocessing using different diffusion models.

Clinical feasibility of brain quantitative susceptibility mapping.

Purpose: To evaluate the quality of brain quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) that is fully automatically reconstructed in clinical MRI of various neurological diseases.

Methods: 393 consecutive patients in one month were recruited for this evaluation study. QSM was reconstructed using Morphology Enabled Dipole Inversion without zero reference regularization (MEDI) and using MEDI with cerebrospinal fluid automatic zero-reference regularization to generate susceptibility values (MEDI+0).

Iron concentration linked to structural connectivity in the subthalamic nucleus: implications for deep brain stimulation.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between iron and white matter connectivity in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in patients undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the STN for treatment of Parkinson's disease.

Methods: Nine Parkinson's disease patients underwent preoperative 3T MRI imaging which included acquisition of T1-weighted anatomical images along with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM). MR tractography was performed for the seed voxels located within the STN, and the correlations between normalized QSM values and the STN's connectivity to a set of a priori chosen regions of interest were assessed.

Quantitative susceptibility mapping identifies inflammation in a subset of chronic multiple sclerosis lesions.

Chronic active multiple sclerosis lesions, characterized by a hyperintense rim of iron-enriched, activated microglia and macrophages, have been linked to greater tissue damage. Post-mortem studies have determined that chronic active lesions are primarily related to the later stages of multiple sclerosis; however, the occurrence of these lesions, and their relationship to earlier disease stages may be greatly underestimated. Detection of chronic active lesions across the patient spectrum of multiple sclerosis requires a validated imaging tool to accurately identify lesions with persistent inflammation.

Highly dispersed core-shell iron nanoparticles decorating onto graphene nanosheets for superior Zn(II) wastewater treatment.

This study reports the preparation of highly dispersed nanoscale zerovalent iron (nZVI) with core-shell structure decorated onto graphene nanosheets (Gr-NS) to form nZVI-Gr-NS composite. Meanwhile, its excellent performance for concentrated Zn(II) wastewater treatment is also studied. The adsorption of Zn(II) onto nZVI-Gr-NS is well simulated by the pseudo-second-order model, which indicates the adsorption is the rate-controlling step.

A study of neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging in ischemic stroke.

Objectives: To demonstrate the feasibility of the neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) technique in characterizing the microstructural changes in brain tissues during ischemic stroke and to compare its sensitivity with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI).

Methods: Seventy-one patients with hyperacute/acute/subacute ischemic stroke were enrolled in the study. A multishell diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) protocol was performed for each subject.

Amid proton transfer (APT) and magnetization transfer (MT) MRI contrasts provide complimentary assessment of brain tumors similarly to proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging (MRSI).

Objectives: Using MRSI as comparison, we aimed to explore the difference between amide proton transfer (APT) MRI and conventional semi-solid magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) MRI, and to investigate if molecular APT and structural MTR can provide complimentary information in assessing brain tumors.

Methods: Seventeen brain tumor patients and 17 age- and gender-matched volunteers were included and scanned with anatomical MRI, APT and MT-weighted MRI, and MRSI. Multi-voxel choline (Cho) and N-acetylaspartic acid (NAA) signals were quantified from MRSI and compared with MTR and MTR contrasts averaged from corresponding voxels.

MEDI+0: Morphology enabled dipole inversion with automatic uniform cerebrospinal fluid zero reference for quantitative susceptibility mapping.

Purpose: To develop a quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) method with a consistent zero reference using minimal variation in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) susceptibility.

Theory And Methods: The ventricular CSF was automatically segmented on the R2* map. An L -regularization was used to enforce CSF susceptibility homogeneity within the segmented region, with the averaged CSF susceptibility as the zero reference.

Diffusional kurtosis imaging in evaluating the secondary change of corticospinal tract after unilateral cerebral infarction.

We investigated to evaluate whether diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) can early detect the microstructure change of corticospinal tract (CST) after unilateral cerebral infarction solely in middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory. Seventy-seven patients with MCA territory infarct consisting of 10 subjects of hyperacute phase, 22 subjects of acute phase, 28 subjects of subacute phase and 17 subjects of chronic phase were enrolled in this study. ROI method was performed to measure the mean value of the infarcted area and the areas which belongs to CST [including the posterior limb of internal capsule (PLIC), cerebral peduncle (CP), pons, and medulla] in both ipsilateral and contralateral mirror side in all the DKI-derived parametric maps.

Clinical quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM): Biometal imaging and its emerging roles in patient care.

Unlabelled: Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) has enabled magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of tissue magnetic susceptibility to advance from simple qualitative detection of hypointense blooming artifacts to precise quantitative measurement of spatial biodistributions. QSM technology may be regarded to be sufficiently developed and validated to warrant wide dissemination for clinical applications of imaging isotropic susceptibility, which is dominated by metals in tissue, including iron and calcium. These biometals are highly regulated as vital participants in normal cellular biochemistry, and their dysregulations are manifested in a variety of pathologic processes.

Altered Intranetwork and Internetwork Functional Connectivity in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus With and Without Cognitive Impairment.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with cognitive impairment. We investigated whether alterations of intranetwork and internetwork functional connectivity with T2DM progression exist, by using resting-state functional MRI. MRI data were analysed from 19 T2DM patients with normal cognition (DMCN) and 19 T2DM patients with cognitive impairment (DMCI), 19 healthy controls (HC).

The temporal evolution of diffusional kurtosis imaging in an experimental middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model.

Purpose: Diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI), as a non-Gaussian diffusion model, has been applied in human and animal studies of ischemic stroke. This study aimed to intensively characterize the temporal evolution of DKI-derived variables in an experimental middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model, and to explore its potential application in ischemic stroke.

Materials And Methods: Eleven MCAO rats and ten control rats underwent DKI and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) scans, at different time points of 0.