Improved test-retest reliability of and susceptibility quantification using multishot multi-echo 3D EPI.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the potential of 3D EPI for improving the reliability of -weighted data and quantification of decay rate and susceptibility (χ) compared with conventional gradient-echo (GRE)-based acquisition.

Methods: Eight healthy subjects in a wide age range were recruited. Each subject received repeated scans for both GRE and EPI acquisitions with an isotropic 1 mm resolution at 3 T.

Intermittent alternating magnetic fields diminish metal-associated biofilm in vivo.

Prosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a complication of arthroplasty that results in significant morbidity. The presence of biofilm makes treatment difficult, and removal of the prosthesis is frequently required. We have developed a non-invasive approach for biofilm eradication from metal implants using intermittent alternating magnetic fields (iAMF) to generate targeted heating at the implant surface.

Style Transfer-assisted Deep Learning Method for Kidney Segmentation at Multiphase MRI.

Purpose: To develop and validate a semisupervised style transfer-assisted deep learning method for automated segmentation of the kidneys using multiphase contrast-enhanced (MCE) MRI acquisitions.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant, institutional review board-approved study included 125 patients (mean age, 57.3 years; 67 male, 58 female) with renal masses.

Myocardial steatosis across the spectrum of human health and disease.

Preclinical data strongly suggest that myocardial steatosis leads to adverse cardiac remodelling and left ventricular dysfunction. Using H cardiac magnetic resonance spectroscopy, similar observations have been made across the spectrum of health and disease. The purpose of this brief review is to summarize these recent observations.

Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced (DCE) MRI.

The non-invasive dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) method provides valuable insights into tissue perfusion and vascularity. Primarily used in oncology, DCE-MRI is typically utilized to assess morphology and contrast agent (CA) kinetics in the tissue of interest. Interpretation of the temporal signatures of DCE-MRI data includes qualitative, semi-quantitative, and quantitative approaches.

Magnetic Resonance Perfusion Imaging for Breast Cancer.

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women worldwide, carrying a significant socioeconomic burden. Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with 4 major subtypes identified. Each subtype has unique prognostic factors, risks, treatment responses, and survival rates.

MR Perfusion Imaging of the Lung.

Lung perfusion assessment is critical for diagnosing and monitoring a variety of respiratory conditions. MRI perfusion provides a radiation-free technique, making it an ideal choice for longitudinal imaging in younger populations. This review focuses on the techniques and applications of MRI perfusion, including contrast-enhanced (CE) MRI and non-CE methods such as arterial spin labeling (ASL), fourier decomposition (FD), and hyperpolarized 129-Xenon (129-Xe) MRI.

Multi-scale measurement of stiffness in the developing ferret brain.

Cortical folding is an important process during brain development, and aberrant folding is linked to disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. Changes in cell numbers, size, and morphology have been proposed to exert forces that control the folding process, but these changes may also influence the mechanical properties of developing brain tissue. Currently, the changes in tissue stiffness during brain folding are unknown.

Investigating the origin of the C lactate signal in the anesthetized healthy rat brain in vivo after hyperpolarized [1- C]pyruvate injection.

The goal of this study was to investigate the origin of brain lactate (Lac) signal in the healthy anesthetized rat after injection of hyperpolarized (HP) [1- C]pyruvate (Pyr). Dynamic two-dimensional spiral chemical shift imaging with flow-sensitizing gradients revealed reduction in both vascular and brain Pyr, while no significant dependence on the level of flow suppression was detected for Lac. These results support the hypothesis that the HP metabolites predominantly reside in different compartments in the brain (i.

Vascular synthesis based on hemodynamic efficiency principle recapitulates measured cerebral circulation properties in the human brain.

Quantifying anatomical and hemodynamical properties of the brain vasculature in vivo is difficult due to limited spatiotemporal resolution neuroimaging, variability between subjects, and bias between acquisition techniques. This work introduces a metabolically inspired vascular synthesis algorithm for creating a digital representation of the cortical blood supply in humans. Spatial organization and segment resistances of a cortical vascular network were generated.

Novel machine learning approaches for improving the reproducibility and reliability of functional and effective connectivity from functional MRI.

New measures of human brain connectivity are needed to address gaps in the existing measures and facilitate the study of brain function, cognitive capacity, and identify early markers of human disease. Traditional approaches to measure functional connectivity (FC) between pairs of brain regions in functional MRI, such as correlation and partial correlation, fail to capture nonlinear aspects in the regional associations. We propose a new machine learning based measure of FC () which efficiently captures linear and nonlinear aspects.

Clinical importance of changes in magnetic resonance biomarkers for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Objective: Magnetic resonance (MR) measures of muscle quality are highly sensitive to disease progression and predictive of meaningful functional milestones in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). This investigation aimed to establish the reproducibility, responsiveness to disease progression, and minimum clinically important difference (MCID) for multiple MR biomarkers at different disease stages in DMD using a large natural history dataset.

Methods: Longitudinal MR imaging and spectroscopy outcomes and ambulatory function were measured in 180 individuals with DMD at three sites, including repeated measurements on two separate days (within 1 week) in 111 participants.

Time-Resolved 3D cardiopulmonary MRI reconstruction using spatial transformer network.

The accurate visualization and assessment of the complex cardiac and pulmonary structures in 3D is critical for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular and respiratory disorders. Conventional 3D cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques suffer from long acquisition times, motion artifacts, and limited spatiotemporal resolution. This study proposes a novel time-resolved 3D cardiopulmonary MRI reconstruction method based on spatial transformer networks (STNs) to reconstruct the 3D cardiopulmonary MRI acquired using 3D center-out radial ultra-short echo time (UTE) sequences.

Neuroprotective Properties of Berberine: Molecular Mechanisms and Clinical Implications.

Berberine (BBR), an isoquinoline alkaloid natural product, is isolated primarily from and other plants. BBR possesses various bioactivities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammation, anticancer, immune-regulation, and antimicrobial activities. Growing scientific evidence underscores BBR's substantial neuroprotective potential, prompting increased interest and scrutiny.

Cortical lesions uniquely predict motor disability accrual and form rarely in the absence of new white matter lesions in multiple sclerosis.

Background And Objectives: Cortical lesions (CL) are common in multiple sclerosis (MS) and associate with disability and progressive disease. We asked whether CL continue to form in people with stable white matter lesions (WML) and whether the association of CL with worsening disability relates to pre-existing or new CL.

Methods: A cohort of adults with MS were evaluated annually with 7 tesla (T) brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and 3T brain and spine MRI for 2 years, and clinical assessments for 3 years.

Acute effects of β-hydroxybutyrate on left ventricular function in young, healthy adults.

Interest in ketones as a cardiac "super fuel" has grown significantly following reports of a marked increase in cardiac output after exogenous ketone administration in heart failure. However, the extent to which this increase in cardiac output is related to changes in cardiac contractility, and dependent on the presence of heart failure, remains incompletely understood. Therefore, we performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of oral ketone ester in young healthy volunteers.

Potassium Magnesium Citrate Is Superior to Potassium Chloride in Reversing Metabolic Side Effects of Chlorthalidone.

Background: Thiazide diuretics (TD) are the first-line treatment of hypertension because of its consistent benefit in lowering blood pressure and cardiovascular risk. TD is also known to cause an excess risk of diabetes, which may limit long-term use. Although potassium (K) depletion was thought to be the main mechanism of TD-induced hyperglycemia, TD also triggers magnesium (Mg) depletion.

A 3D-printed phantom for quality-controlled reproducibility measurements of arterial spin labeled perfusion.

Purpose: To develop a portable MR perfusion phantom for quality-controlled assessment and reproducibility of arterial spin labeled (ASL) perfusion measurement.

Methods: A 3D-printed perfusion phantom was developed that mimics the branching of arterial vessels, capillaries, and a chamber containing cellulose sponge representing tissue characteristics. A peristaltic pump circulated distilled water through the phantom, and was first evaluated at 300, 400, and 500 mL/min.