Diffusion-Tensor Imaging of Thigh Muscles in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: Correlation of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient and Fractional Anisotropy Values With Fatty Infiltration.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) values with fatty infiltration in the thigh muscles of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) using diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI).

Subjects And Methods: Twenty-one boys with DMD were recruited. The grade of fatty infiltration and the ADC and FA values of four thigh muscles (rectus femoris, semitendinosus, sartorius, and gracilis) were measured, and the FA and ADC values were compared with the grade of fatty infiltration.

Mandibuloacral dysplasia type A-associated progeria caused by homozygous LMNA mutation in a family from Southern China.

Background: Mandibuloacral dysplasia type A (MADA) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder, characterized by growth retardation, skeletal abnormality with progressive osteolysis of the distal phalanges and clavicles, craniofacial anomalies with mandibular hypoplasia, lipodystrophy and mottled cutaneous pigmentation. Some patients may show progeroid features. MADA with partial lipodystrophy, more marked acral, can be caused by homozygous or compound heterozygous mutation in the gene encoding lamin A and lamin C (LMNA).

Tracing type 1 diabetic Tibet miniature pig's bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in vitro by magnetic resonance imaging (1).

Background: Traditional cell-tracking methods fail to meet the needs of preclinical or clinical research. Thus, the aim of the present study was to establish a new method of double labeling bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) from type 1 diabetic (T1D) minipigs with super-paramagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) and enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) and tracing them using MRI in vitro.

Methods: Isolated BMSCs from T1D minipigs were labeled with eGFP and different concentrations of SPIO.

Research on PEGylation of porcine prothrombin for improving biostability and reducing animal immunogenicity.

Prothrombin is a vitamin K-dependent serine protease and plays pivotal roles in both procoagulant and anticoagulant pathway of hemostasis. In this study, prothrombin purified from porcine plasma was modified through PEGylation at N-terminal residue using 40 kDa PEG-phenyl-isothiocyanate (PIT-PEG40K). The monoPEGylated prothrombin enhanced biostability and remarkably prolonged circulating half-life in mice as compared with that of the nonmodified prothrombin.

[MRI and CT diagnosis of rhabdomyosarcoma in the extremities:a report of nine cases].

Background & Objective: Imaging studies on rhabdomyosarcoma in the extremities have seldom been reported. This study was to explore the MRI and CT features of rhabdomyosarcoma in the extremities.

Methods: MRI and CT data of 9 patients with rhabdomyosarcoma in the extremities were analyzed.