Machine learning may predict individual hand motor activation from resting-state fMRI in patients with brain tumors in perirolandic cortex.

Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the predictive validity of the neural network (NN) method for presurgical mapping of motor areas using resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) data of patients with brain tumor located in the perirolandic cortex (PRC).

Methods: A total of 109 patients with brain tumors occupying PRC underwent rs-fMRI and hand movement task-based fMRI (tb-fMRI) scans. Using a NN model trained on fMRI data of 47 healthy controls, individual task activation maps were predicted from their rs-fMRI data.

Diffusion tensor imaging revealed different pathological processes of white matter hyperintensities.

Background: Although increasing evidence showed the correlations between white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and cognitive impairment, the relationship between them is still modest. Many researchers began to focus on the variation caused by the heterogeneity of WMH. We tried to explore the pathological heterogeneity in WMH by using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), so as to provide a new insight into the future research.

Optimal Factors of Diffusion Tensor Imaging Predicting Corticospinal Tract Injury in Patients with Brain Tumors.

Objective: To identify the optimal factors in diffusion tensor imaging for predicting corticospinal tract (CST) injury caused by brain tumors.

Materials And Methods: This prospective study included 33 patients with motor weakness and 64 patients with normal motor function. The movement of the CST, minimum distance between the CST and the tumor, and relative fractional anisotropy (rFA) of the CST on diffusion tensor imaging, were compared between patients with motor weakness and normal function.

Neutrophil CD64 as a diagnostic marker for neonatal sepsis: Meta-analysis.

Background: Neutrophil CD64 (nCD64) is a promising marker for diagnosing bacterial infections. Several studies have investigated the performance of nCD64 for diagnosing neonatal sepsis and the results are variable. Interest in nCD64 for detecting serious bacterial infections is increasing rapidly.

Spontaneous isolated dissection and atherosclerotic plaques of superior mesenteric artery: the vastly different occurrence site suggests the opposite haemodynamic aetiology.

Objective: The development of atherosclerotic plaques and spontaneous isolated dissection (SID) of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) was considered to be related to opposite haemodynamics. The purpose of this study was to compare their occurrence sites and the morphology of the SMA to confirm the haemodynamic aetiologies.

Methods: 57 patients with SID and 64 patients with atherosclerotic plaques were compared about patient characteristics, location of SID and plaque, the distance from lesion to the aortic ostia, SMA branching angle and inlet diameter of the SMA.

Assessing Region of Interest Schemes for the Corticospinal Tract in Patients With Brain Tumors.

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) techniques are widely used for identifying the corticospinal tract (CST) white matter pathways as part of presurgical planning. However, mass effects in patients with brain tumors tend to cause anatomical distortions and compensatory functional reorganization of the cortex, which may lead to inaccurate mapping of white matter tracts. To overcome these problems, we compared different region-of-interest (ROI) selection schemes to track CST fibers in patients with brain tumors.

Motor network plasticity and low-frequency oscillations abnormalities in patients with brain gliomas: a functional MRI study.

Brain plasticity is often associated with the process of slow-growing tumor formation, which remodels neural organization and optimizes brain network function. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether motor function plasticity would display deficits in patients with slow-growing brain tumors located in or near motor areas, but who were without motor neurological deficits. We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to probe motor networks in 15 patients with histopathologically confirmed brain gliomas and 15 age-matched healthy controls.

[Transforming growth factor β1 enhances the invasiveness of human glioma cell line via ERK/MAPK pathway].

Objective: To investigate the effect of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) on the invasiveness of human glioma SF767 cell line in vitro and explore the possible molecular mechanism.

Methods: Human glioma SF767 cell line treated with TGF-β1 for 12, 24, or 48 h were examined for the expressions of epithelial-mesenchymal transition- and ERK/MAPK pathway-associated proteins using Western blotting. MTT assay and Transwell assay were employed to assess the changes in the cell proliferation and invasiveness after TGF-β1 treatment, respectively.

Magnetic resonance cholangiography in assessing biliary anatomy in living donors: a meta-analysis.

Aim: To establish the role of magnetic resonance cholangiography (MRC) in diagnosis of biliary anatomy in living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) donors.

Methods: A systematic review was performed by searching electronic bibliographic databases prior to March 2013. Studies with diagnostic results and fulfilled inclusion criteria were included.

Does diffusion tensor tractography of the corticospinal tract correctly reflect motor function?

Objective: To investigate the consistency of diffusion tensor tractography of the corticospinal tract on motor function. CLINICAL PRESENTATIONS AND INTERVENTION: Three patients with brain tumor were admitted to our hospital with impaired motor function. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tractography were performed in these patients to assess their affected corticospinal tract.

Association of Helicobacter pylori with elevated blood ammonia levels in cirrhotic patients: a meta-analysis.

Purpose: The association between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and blood ammonia levels in cirrhotic patients is controversial. We aimed to clarify this controvercy by performing a meta-analysis of published studies.

Diffusion tensor imaging and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in brain tumor: Correlation between structure and metabolism.

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy and diffusion tensor imaging are non-invasive techniques used to detect metabolites and water diffusion in vivo. Previous studies have confirmed a positive correlation of individual fractional anisotropy values with N-acetylaspartate/creatine and N-acetylaspartate/choline ratios in tumors, edema, and normal white matter. This study divided the brain parenchyma into tumor, peritumoral edema, and normal-appearing white matter according to MRI data, and analyzed the correlation of metabolites with water molecular diffusion.

Differentiation of pure vasogenic edema and tumor-infiltrated edema in patients with peritumoral edema by analyzing the relationship of axial and radial diffusivities on 3.0T MRI.

Object: The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship of axial diffusivity (AD) and radial diffusivity (RD) in peritumoral edema of high grade glioma, metastasis, and meningioma, and to differentiate tumor-infiltrated edema from pure vasogenic edema.

Materials And Methods: Twenty patients with high-grade glioma and 16 with meningioma or metastatic tumor were enrolled in our study. All cases were confirmed by histopathological study.

Accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging in grading knee chondral defects.

Purpose: To determine the accuracy of routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the grading of knee cartilage lesions through a meta-analysis.

Methods: A search of English-language literature published before February 2012 was carried out in PubMed. Articles using arthroscopy as a gold standard, a 6-knee region dividing method, and a 5-level grading system were included in our meta-analysis.

[Accuracy of MR perfusion weighted imaging for cerebral glioma grading: a meta-analysis].

Objective: To evaluate values of MR perfusion weighted imaging(PWI) in the grading of intracranial gliomas by a meta-analysis.

Methods: All English and Chinese literatures published before November 2009 in PUBMED and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) were searched. Literature searching requirements: (1) MR PWI with region of interest (ROI) must have been applied in the grading of gliomas; (2) histopathological results must have been used as the reference standards.

[Analysis on the relationship between tensor veli palatini and secretory otitis media in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma after radiotherapy].

Objective: The analyze the relationship between secretory otitis media (SOM) and injury of tensor veli palatini (TVP) muscle injury after radiotherapy, then to explore the pathogenesis of SOM in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after radiotherapy.

Method: The cross section area (CSA) of TVP and medial pterygoid (MP) muscle were measured in MRI of 32 patients with NPC before and after radiotherapy, meanwhile the incidence of SOM were surveyed after radiotherapy, then to analyze the relationship between the change of TVP and the incidence of SOM after radiotherapy.

Result: Of 48 ears without SOM before radiotherapy, 27 ears developed post-irradiation SOM, including 24 ears with TVP atrophy and 3 ears without TVP atrophy, and 21 ears had no post-irradiation SOM, including 8 ears with TVP atrophy and 13 ears without TVP atrophy.