Predicting cerebrovascular age and its clinical relevance: Modeling using 3D morphological features of brain vessels.

Aging manifests as many phenotypes, among which age-related changes in brain vessels are important, but underexplored. Thus, in the present study, we constructed a model to predict age using cerebrovascular morphological features, further assessing their clinical relevance using a novel pipeline. Age prediction models were first developed using data from a normal cohort (n = 1181), after which their relevance was tested in two stroke cohorts (n = 564 and n = 455). Our novel pipeline adapted an existing framework to compute generic vessel features for brain vessels, resulting in 126 morphological features. We further built various machine learning models to predict age using only clinical factors, only brain vessel features, and a combination of both. We further assessed deviation from healthy aging using the age gap and explored its clinical relevance by correlating the predicted age and age gap with various risk factors. The models constructed using only brain vessel features and those combining clinical factors with vessel features were better predictors of age than the clinical factor-only model (r = 0.37, 0.48, and 0.26, respectively). Predicted age was associated with many known clinical factors, and the associations were stronger for the age gap in the normal cohort. The age gap was also associated with important factors in the pooled cohort atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk score and white matter hyperintensity measurements. Cerebrovascular age, computed using the morphological features of brain vessels, could serve as a potential individualized marker for the early detection of various cerebrovascular diseases.

Global intracranial arterial tortuosity is associated with intracranial atherosclerotic burden.

The effect of arterial tortuosity on intracranial atherosclerosis (ICAS) is not well understood. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of global intracranial arterial tortuosity on intracranial atherosclerotic burden in patients with ischemic stroke. We included patients with acute ischemic stroke who underwent magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and classified them into three groups according to the ICAS burden. Global tortuosity index (GTI) was defined as the standardized mean curvature of the entire intracranial arteries, measured by in-house vessel analysis software. Of the 516 patients included, 274 patients had no ICAS, 140 patients had a low ICAS burden, and 102 patients had a high ICAS burden. GTI increased with higher ICAS burden. After adjustment for age, sex, vascular risk factors, and standardized mean arterial area, GTI was independently associated with ICAS burden (adjusted odds ratio [adjusted OR] 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09-1.62). The degree of association increased when the arterial tortuosity was analyzed limited to the basal arteries (adjusted OR 1.48; 95% CI 1.22-1.81). We demonstrated that GTI is associated with ICAS burden in patients with ischemic stroke, suggesting a role for global arterial tortuosity in ICAS.

Application of sodium alginate-based edible coating with citric acid to improve the safety and quality of fresh-cut melon (Cucumis melo L.) during cold storage.

The safety and quality of fresh-cut melons is reduced by a series of decay processes by enzymatic browning and microbial contamination. This study aimed to assess the impact of a 2% sodium alginate-based edible coating (ALC) combined with different concentrations of citric acid (CA; 0.5%, 1%, 2%, and 3%) on the microbial safety and physical quality of fresh-cut melons during a 7-day storage period at 10 °C. The findings revealed that the combination of ALC and 3% CA was successful in preventing the growth of pathogenic bacteria (Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus) and natural microflora on fresh-cut melons during storage. In addition, treating fresh-cut melons with ALC containing 3% CA improved their quality by reducing browning and softening during storage at 10 °C. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that using ALC with 3% CA is an effective method to improve the safety and quality of fresh-cut melons.

Imaging and clinical predictors of acute constipation in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Background: Constipation symptoms are highly prevalent in acute ischemic stroke, but the clinical and neuroimaging predictors are unknown. This study aimed to identify lesions and clinical features associated with acute constipation. Methods: Data from patients with acute ischemic stroke registered in a hospital-based stroke registry between January 2018 and December 2019 were analyzed. Clinical, laboratory, and imaging features were examined for associations with acute constipation. Using the topographic lesion on diffusion-weighted images, multivariate support vector regression-based lesion-symptom mapping (SVR-LSM) was conducted and compared between the non-constipation and acute constipation groups. Results: A total of 256 patients (mean age 67 years, men: 64%) were included. Acute constipation was noted in 81 patients (32%). Initial stroke severity, represented by initial National Institutes of Health and Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores, was associated with acute constipation. Laboratory parameters, including fibrin degradation products (FDP), fibrinogen, D-dimer, lipoprotein (a), and free fatty acid levels, also showed statistically significant differences between the non-constipation and constipation groups. FDP, D-dimer, and free fatty acid levels were independently associated with acute constipation in the logistic regression model after adjusting for initial NIHSS scores and potassium levels. SVR-LSM revealed that bilateral lesions in the precentral gyrus, insula, opercular part of the inferior frontal gyrus, the inferior parietal lobule, and lesions in the right middle frontal gyrus were significantly associated with acute constipation. The results were consistent after controlling for the initial NIHSS scores and poststroke potassium levels. When cardioembolic stroke subjects were excluded, the right insular and prefrontal cortex lesions lost their association with acute constipation. Conclusion: Acute constipation symptoms after acute ischemic stroke are mainly related to bilateral lesions in the insula, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and inferior parietal lobule. Clinically important predictors of acute constipation include initial neurological severity and thromboembolic markers of stroke.

The effect of intensive statin therapy in non-symptomatic intracranial arteries: The STAMINA-MRI sub-study.

Background and aims: Pleiotropic effects of statins result in the stabilization of symptomatic intracranial arterial plaque. However, little is known about the effect of statins in non-symptomatic cerebral arteries. We hypothesized that intensive statin therapy could produce a change in the non-symptomatic cerebral arteries. Methods: This is a sub-study of a prospective observational study under the title of "Intensive Statin Treatment in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients with Intracranial Atherosclerosis: a High-Resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging (HR-MRI) study." Patients with statin-naive acute ischemic stroke who had symptomatic intracranial artery stenosis (above 50%) were recruited for this study. HR-MRI was performed to assess the patients' cerebral arterial status before and 6 months after the statin therapy. To demonstrate the effect of statins in the non-symptomatic segment of intracranial cerebral arteries, we excluded symptomatic segments from the data to be analyzed. We compared the morphological changes using cerebrovascular morphometry. Results: A total of 54 patients (mean age: 62.9 ± 14.4 years, 59.3% women) were included in this study. Intensive statin therapy produced significant morphological changes of overall cerebral arteries. Among the morphological features, the arterial luminal area showed the highest number of significant changes with a range from 5.7 and 6.7%. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was an independent factor associated with relative changes in posterior circulation bed maximal diameter percentage change (beta -0.21, 95% confidence interval -0.36 to -0.07, p = 0.005). Conclusion: Intensive statin therapy produced a favorable morphological change in cerebral arteries of not only the target arterial segment but also non-symptomatic arterial segments. The change in cerebral arterial luminal diameter was influenced by the baseline SBP and was dependent on the topographic distribution of the cerebral arteries.Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT02458755.

Automated in-depth cerebral arterial labelling using cerebrovascular vasculature reframing and deep neural networks.

Identifying the cerebral arterial branches is essential for undertaking a computational approach to cerebrovascular imaging. However, the complexity and inter-individual differences involved in this process have not been thoroughly studied. We used machine learning to examine the anatomical profile of the cerebral arterial tree. The method is less sensitive to inter-subject and cohort-wise anatomical variations and exhibits robust performance with an unprecedented in-depth vessel range. We applied machine learning algorithms to disease-free healthy control subjects (n = 42), patients with stroke with intracranial atherosclerosis (ICAS) (n = 46), and patients with stroke mixed with the existing controls (n = 69). We trained and tested 70% and 30% of each study cohort, respectively, incorporating spatial coordinates and geometric vessel feature vectors. Cerebral arterial images were analyzed based on the 'segmentation-stacking' method using magnetic resonance angiography. We precisely classified the cerebral arteries across the exhaustive scope of vessel components using advanced geometric characterization, redefinition of vessel unit conception, and post-processing algorithms. We verified that the neural network ensemble, with multiple joint models as the combined predictor, classified all vessel component types independent of inter-subject variations in cerebral arterial anatomy. The validity of the categorization performance of the model was tested, considering the control, ICAS, and control-blended stroke cohorts, using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and precision-recall curve. The classification accuracy rarely fell outside each image's 90-99% scope, independent of cohort-dependent cerebrovascular structural variations. The classification ensemble was calibrated with high overall area rates under the ROC curve of 0.99-1.00 [0.97-1.00] in the test set across various study cohorts. Identifying an all-inclusive range of vessel components across controls, ICAS, and stroke patients, the accuracy rates of the prediction were: internal carotid arteries, 91-100%; middle cerebral arteries, 82-98%; anterior cerebral arteries, 88-100%; posterior cerebral arteries, 87-100%; and collections of superior, anterior inferior, and posterior inferior cerebellar arteries, 90-99% in the chunk-level classification. Using a voting algorithm on the queued classified vessel factors and anatomically post-processing the automatically classified results intensified quantitative prediction performance. We employed stochastic clustering and deep neural network ensembles. Ma-chine intelligence-assisted prediction of vessel structure allowed us to personalize quantitative predictions of various types of cerebral arterial structures, contributing to precise and efficient decisions regarding the cerebrovascular disease.

Distinct co-occurrence patterns of acculturation and perceived context of reception between weekdays and weekends among Hispanic college students.

OBJECTIVE: The present study was designed to examine distinct co-occurrence patterns of acculturation and perceived context of reception between weekdays and weekends among Hispanic college students in Miami and their influences on psychosocial maladaptation. METHODS: We conducted a 12-day diary study with a sample of first- and second-generation Hispanic college students in Miami (n = 864). Depressive symptoms and physically aggressive behaviors were assessed on Days 1 and 12, and acculturation components and perceived negative context of reception were measured using single items on Days 2-11. We examined the overlap between weekday and weekend patterns of acculturation and negative context of reception, as well as links of this overlap with depressive symptoms and with physically aggressive behaviors. RESULTS: Overall, six distinct co-occurrence patterns of acculturation and perceived contexts of reception emerged from the analysis. Four of these appeared to represent stable co-occurrence patterns regardless of weekdays and weekends and two indicated changing co-occurrence patterns between weekdays and weekends. Students in patterns of the Moderate Biculturalism-High Negative Context of Reception regardless of weekdays and weekends reported high depressive symptoms and physically aggressive behaviors. Also, for the two changing co-occurrence patterns, students in patterns of the Changes in both Acculturation and Negative Context of Reception between weekdays and weekends reported high scores on both depressive symptoms and physical aggressive behaviors. CONCLUSION: Both stable and changing patterns in acculturation and context of reception co-occurrences between weekdays and weekends predicted psychosocial maladaptation.

Establishment of Patient-Derived Gastric Cancer Organoid Model From Tissue Obtained by Endoscopic Biopsies.

Cancer organoids are three-dimensional mini-organ analogues derived from cancer tissues and have been proposed as models capable of simulating the structure and function of human organs and tissues in vitro. We sought to establish gastric cancer patient-derived organoids (PDOs) from tissues obtained by endoscopic biopsies. Gastric cancer-PDOs were successfully established and cultured from cancer tissues with gastric adenocarcinoma by endoscopic biopsies. To confirm that gastric cancer-PDOs were derived from cancer tissue, the consistency of the original cancer tissue was assessed by histopathological examination. As a result, it was confirmed that the shape and internal structure of gastric cancer-PDO were derived from the original gastric cancer cells, and the tumor specificity of gastric cancer-PDO was confirmed through Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) and polyclonal carcinoembryonic antigen antibody staining. These results demonstrate that gastric cancer-PDO models show the characteristics of primary tumors and have potential for drug screening and providing a personalized medicine platform.

Longitudinal Investigations of Autoregressive Cross-Lagged Path Models Among Internet Use, Executive Function Problems, and Maternal Control in Young Korean Children.

Excessive Internet use is related to behavioral and cognitive dysfunctions, but little is known about the relationship between them in young elementary school children. This study examined the longitudinal relationship between children's Internet use for entertainment purposes, executive function problems, and maternal control. Differences by children's Internet addiction status in their associations were also examined. Data from Wave 9 (2016) to Wave 11 (2018) of 1,463 children and mothers who participated in the Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC) were used. The children's ages were 8 (grade 2), 9 (grade 3), and 10 years (grade 4) at Waves 9, 10, and 11, respectively. Associations between the variables were analyzed using autoregressive cross-lagged model estimations and multi-group analysis. The results showed the longitudinal stability of each of children's Internet use, executive function problems, and maternal control over the 3 years. Mutual associations between maternal control and children's Internet use were found especially in the low-risk group. In addition, children's executive function problems positively predicted Internet use, and negative associations from executive function problems to maternal control were significant over the years. However, some of these associations were significant only in the high-risk group. Discussions have focused on the protective role of maternal control and cognitive intervention, which could reduce children's excessive Internet use.

Evaluation of microbiological quality and safety of fresh-cut fruit products at retail levels in Korea.

The risk of foodborne illnesses caused by pathogens could be increased in fresh-cut fruit products owing to contamination during processing. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the microbiological quality and safety of commercial fresh-cut fruit products in Korea. Additionally, the growth of Listeria monocytogenes in selected fresh-cut fruits was evaluated, and their growth curves were analyzed using predictive growth modeling. The mean count of total aerobic bacteria, coliforms, and yeast/mold was 3.67±1.73 log10 CFU/g, 1.54±1.01 log10 CFU/g, and 3.81±1.51 log10 CFU/g, respectively. Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli O157:H7, L. monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., and Cyclospora spp. were not detected in any of the tested samples. Only Bacillus cereus was detected in a few samples at the mean level of 1.72±0.13 log10 CFU/g. The growth of L. monocytogenes varied depending on the type of fruit; they grew well in non-acidic fresh-cut fruit products during storage at 10 °C.

Salt, glucose, glycine, and sucrose protect Escherichia coli O157:H7 against acid treatment in laboratory media.

This study investigated the effects of combinations of acetic or malic acid and various solutes (salt, glucose, glycine, or sucrose) on the survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in laboratory broth. Additionally, the effectiveness of combining organic acids and various concentrations of salt (0-18%) or sucrose (0-100%) with different water activity values against E. coli O157:H7 were evaluated. For treatment of 1% malic acid, the addition of 3% salt showed synergistic effect. Whereas, when 3% salt, glucose, glycine, or sucrose was added to 1% acetic acid, the solutes antagonized the action of the acid against E. coli O157:H7. Acetic, lactic, or propionic acid combined with salt at either 7 or 9% or sucrose at 60, 80, or 100% resulted in the highest resistance of E. coli O157:H7. From a result of evaluating the membrane fatty acid (MFA) composition of cells, salt or sucrose significantly increased levels of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) or SFAs and cyclopropane fatty acids, respectively. From the results of this study, the addition of solutes and organic compounds may increase the tolerance of E. coli O157:H7 to acetic, lactic, and propionic acid treatments and that the salt or sucrose significantly affects cell MFA composition.

How Cerebral Vessel Tortuosity Affects Development and Recurrence of Aneurysm: Outer Curvature versus Bifurcation Type.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Previous studies have assessed the relationship between cerebral vessel tortuosity and intracranial aneurysm (IA) based on two-dimensional brain image analysis. We evaluated the relationship between cerebral vessel tortuosity and IA according to the hemodynamic location using three-dimensional (3D) analysis and studied the effect of tortuosity on the recurrence of treated IA. METHODS: We collected clinical and imaging data from patients with IA and disease-free controls. IAs were categorized into outer curvature and bifurcation types. Computerized analysis of the images provided information on the length of the arterial segment and tortuosity of the cerebral arteries in 3D space. RESULTS: Data from 95 patients with IA and 95 controls were analyzed. Regarding parent vessel tortuosity index (TI; P<0.01), average TI (P<0.01), basilar artery (BA; P=0.02), left posterior cerebral artery (P=0.03), both vertebral arteries (VAs; P<0.01), and right internal carotid artery (P<0.01), there was a significant difference only in the outer curvature type compared with the control group. The outer curvature type was analyzed, and the occurrence of an IA was associated with increased TI of the parent vessel, average, BA, right middle cerebral artery, and both VAs in the logistic regression analysis. However, in all aneurysm cases, recanalization of the treated aneurysm was inversely associated with increased TI of the parent vessels. CONCLUSIONS: TIs of intracranial arteries are associated with the occurrence of IA, especially in the outer curvature type. IAs with a high TI in the parent vessel showed good outcomes with endovascular treatment.

Development of enhanced selective media for detection of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in oysters.

This study was undertaken to develop enhanced selective media for detection of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in oysters. Primarily, tryptic soy agar (TSA) was supplemented with 4.5-5% NaCl, 0.1-0.5% oxgall, and/or 1-2% sodium citrate, and adjusted to pH 8-9. A total of 21 Vibrio spp., 24 indicators, and 26 food-borne isolates were streaked on the modified media, followed by 24 h of incubation at 37 °C. While all the indicators and isolates failed to grow on TSA containing 5% NaCl, 0.5% oxgall, and 2% sodium citrate (TSAOSS1; pH 9), V. parahaemolyticus was culturable on this selective medium. Particularly, the ability of TSAOSS1 to quantify V. parahaemolyticus in oysters was superior to thiosulphate citrate bile salts sucrose (TCBS) agar. V. parahaemolyticus distinctly produced its white-yellowish, round, and edge-pointed colony on TSAOSS1. TSAOSS1 with high selectivity potentials over TCBS may be a promising alternative for detection of V. parahaemolyticus in seafoods or natural reservoirs. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at (10.1007/s10068-021-00877-0).

High concentration of sodium chloride could induce the viable and culturable states of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis.

In the present study, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis were transferred into Luria-Bertani medium without NaCl (LBWS) and adjusted to various pHs (4, 5, 6 and 7) with lactic acid containing 0·75, 5, 10 and 30% NaCl, and stored at 25°C until the bacterial populations reached below detectable levels on tryptic soy agar (TSA). Although E. coli O157:H7 and S. Enteritidis did not grow on TSA when incubated in LBWS with 30% NaCl for 35 and 7 days, more than 60 and 70% of the bacterial cells were shown to be viable via fluorescent staining with SYTO9 and propidium iodide (PI), respectively, suggesting that a number of cells could be induced into the viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state. These bacteria that were induced into a VBNC state were transferred to a newly prepared tryptic soy broth (TSB) and then incubated at 37°C for several days. After more than 7 days, E. coli O157:H7 and S. Enteritidis regained their culturability. We, therefore, suggest that E. coli O157:H7 and S. Enteritidis entered the VBNC state under the adverse condition of higher salt concentrations and were revived when these conditions were reversed.

Prevention of Hyperuricemia by Clerodendrum trichotomum Leaf Extract in Potassium Oxonate-Induced Mice.

Clerodendrum trichotomum is a folk medicine exhibiting anti-hypertension, anti-arthritis, and anti-rheumatism properties. However, little is known about whether the material might prevent hyperuricemia and associated inflammation. In this study, we explored whether C. trichotomum leaf extract (CTE) prevented hyperuricemia induced by potassium oxonate (PO) in mice. CTE (400 mg/kg body weight) significantly reduced the serum uric acid (UA), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and serum creatinine levels and increased urine UA and creatinine levels. CTE ameliorated PO-induced inflammation and apoptosis by reducing the levels of relevant proteins in kidney tissues. Also, CTE ameliorated both UA-induced inflammatory response in RAW 263.7 cells and UA-induced cytotoxicity in HK-2 cells. In addition, liver transcriptome analysis showed that CTE enriched mainly the genes for mediating positive regulation of MAPK cascade and apoptotic signaling pathways. Together, the results show that CTE effectively prevents hyperuricemia and associated inflammation in PO-induced mice.

Resistance of pathogenic biofilms on glass fiber filters formed under different conditions.

This study investigated the survivals of two pathogens (Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Staphylococcus aureus) in different adhered forms on glass fiber filters (GFFs) at 43 and 68% relative humidity (RH). Efficacies of chemical sanitizers at reducing pathogenic biofilms on GFFs were also evaluated. Inoculated GFFs were incubated at 28 °C in TSB (type I), on TSA (type II), or on TSA under 100% RH (type III) to produce biofilms. When GFFs were incubated at 43 or 68% RH for 7 days, type III biofilms were less than 2 log10 CFU/filter reduction whereas type I and type II biofilms were 4-6 log10 CFU/filter reduction. Additionally, type III biofilms were highly resistant to sanitizing treatment compared than other biofilms (type I and II). Therefore, the method to produce biofilms used in this study could be used to produce highly resistance pathogenic biofilms in the laboratory for related experiments.

Evaluation of the microbial contamination of fresh produces and their cultivation environments from farms in Korea.

In this study, a total of 195 samples including fresh produce and farming environments was used to perform the microbial risk assessment. Levels of total aerobic bacteria ranged from 2.77 to 5.99, 6.28 to 7.81, and 1.31 to 2.74 log10 CFU/g, whereas levels of coliforms were ≤ 2.48, ≤ 3.35, and ≤ 0.85 log10 CFU/g, levels of Escherichia coli were ≤ 1.04, ≤ 0.12, and ≤ 1.69 log10 CFU/g in fresh produce, soil, and irrigation water, respectively. When the presence of pathogenic bacteria was detected, only Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus were isolated from 14 (7.2%) and 7 (3.6%) samples out of 195 samples, respectively. From the results, it was difficult to find a strong correlation between microbial contamination of fresh produce and their farming environments. However, continuous monitoring of agricultural products and related environments should be undertaken in order to ensure the microbial safety of fresh produce.

Evaluation of Diffusion Lesion Volume Measurements in Acute Ischemic Stroke Using Encoder-Decoder Convolutional Network.

Background and Purpose- Automatic segmentation of cerebral infarction on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is typically performed based on a fixed apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) threshold. Fixed ADC threshold methods may not be accurate because ADC values vary over time after stroke onset. Deep learning has the potential to improve the accuracy, provided that a large set of correctly annotated lesion data is used for training. The purpose of this study was to evaluate deep learning-based methods and compare them with commercial software in terms of lesion volume measurements. Methods- U-net, an encoder-decoder convolutional neural network, was adopted to train segmentation models. Two U-net models were developed: a U-net (DWI+ADC) model, trained on DWI and ADC data, and a U-net (DWI) model, trained on DWI data only. A total of 296 subjects were used for training and 134 for external validation. An expert neurologist manually delineated the stroke lesions on DWI images, which were used as the ground-truth reference. Lesion volume measurements from the U-net methods were compared against the expert's manual segmentation and Rapid Processing of Perfusion and Diffusion (RAPID; iSchemaView Inc) analysis. Results- In external validation, U-net (DWI+ADC) showed the highest intraclass correlation coefficient with manual segmentation (intraclass correlation coefficient, 1.0; 95% CI, 0.99-1.00) and sufficiently high correlation with the RAPID results (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.98-0.99). U-net (DWI+ADC) and manual segmentation resulted in the smallest 95% Bland-Altman limits of agreement (-5.31 to 4.93 mL) with a mean difference of -0.19 mL. Conclusions- The presented deep learning-based method is fully automatic and shows a high correlation of diffusion lesion volume measurements with manual segmentation and commercial software. The method has the potential to be used in patient selection for endovascular reperfusion therapy in the late time window of acute stroke.