Adding quantitative T1rho-weighted imaging to conventional MRI improves specificity and sensitivity for differentiating malignant from benign breast lesions.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the feasibility of T1rho-weighted imaging in differentiating malignant from benign breast lesions and to explore the additional value of T1rho to conventional MRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We prospectively enrolled consecutive women with breast lesions who underwent preoperative T1rho-weighted imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging, and dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) between November 2021 and July 2023. The T1rho, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), and semi-quantitative parameters from DCE-MRI were obtained and compared between benign and malignant groups. The diagnostic performance was analyzed and compared using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and the Delong Test. RESULTS: This study included 113 patients (74 malignant and 39 benign lesions). The mean T1rho value in the benign group (92.61 ± 22.10 ms) was significantly higher than that in the malignant group (72.18 ± 16.37 ms) (P < 0.001). The ADC value and time to peak (TTP) value in the malignant group (1.13 ± 0.45 and 269.06 ± 106.01, respectively) were lower than those in the benign group (1.57 ± 0.45 and 388.30 ± 81.13, respectively) (all P < 0.001). T1rho combined with ADC and TTP showed good diagnostic performance with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.896, a sensitivity of 81.0%, and a specificity of 87.1%. The specificity and sensitivity of the combination of T1rho, ADC, and TTP were significantly higher than those of the combination of ADC and TTP (87.1% vs. 84.6%, P < 0.005; 81.0% vs. 77.0%, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: T1rho-weighted imaging was a feasible MRI sequence for differentiating malignant from benign breast lesions. The combination of T1rho, ADC and TTP could achieve a favorable diagnostic performance with improved specificity and sensitivity, T1rho could serve as a supplementary approach to conventional MRI.

Starches modification with rose polyphenols under multi-frequency power ultrasonic fields: Effect on physicochemical properties and digestion behavior.

As the main source of energy for human beings, starch is widely present in people's daily diet. However, due to its high content of rapidly digestive starch, it can cause a rapid increase in blood glucose after consumption, which is harmful to the human body. In the current study, the complexes made from edible rose polyphenols (ERPs) and three starches (corn, potato and pea) with different typical crystalline were prepared separately by multi-frequency power ultrasound (MFPU). The MFPU includes single-frequency modes of 40, 60 kHz and dual-frequency of 40 and 60 kHz in sequential and simultaneous mode. The results of the amount of complexes showed that ultrasound could promote the formation of polyphenol-starch complexes for all the three starches and the amount of ERPs in complexes depended on the ultrasonic parameters including treatment power, time and frequency. Infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction indicated that ERPs with or without ultrasound could interact with the three starches through non-covalent bonds to form non-V-type complexes. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the shape of starches changed obviously from round/oval to angular and the surface of the starches were no longer smooth and appeared obvious pits, indicating that the ultrasonic field destroyed the structure of starches. In addition, compared to the control group, the in vitro digestibility study with 40/60 kHz sonication revealed that ultrasonic treatment greatly improved the digestive properties of the polyphenol-starch complexes by significantly increasing the content of resistant starch (20.31%, 17.27% and 14.98%) in the three starches. Furthermore, the viscosity properties of the three starches were all decreased after ERPs addition and the effect was enhanced by ultrasound both for single- and dual-frequency. In conclusion, ultrasound can be used as an effective method for preparing ERPs-starch complexes to develop high value-added products and low glycemic index (GI) foods.

Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Feature Tracking: A Novel Method to Assess Left Ventricular Three-Dimensional Strain Mechanics After Chronic Myocardial Infarction.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to assess left ventricular deformation after chronic myocardial infarction (CMI) using cardiac magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT) technology, and analyze its relationship with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and infarcted transmurality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety-six patients with CMI and 72 controls underwent 3.0 T CMR scanning. Strain parameters were measured by dedicated software, including global peak longitudinal strain (GPLS), global peak circumferential strain (GPCS), global peak radial strain (GPRS), segmental peak longitudinal strain (PLS), peak circumferential strain (PCS), and peak radial strain (PRS). All enhanced myocardium segments were divided into subendocardial infarction (SI) and transmural infarction (TI) group. Pearson, intraclass correlation coefficient and receiver operating characteristic analysis were performed to compare the parameters' mean values between SI and TI groups. RESULTS: GPLS, GPRS, and GPCS in CMI group were significantly decreased comparing with control group. PRS and PCS in TI group were significantly lower than those in SI group, whereas no statistical difference was observed in PLS. In Pearson correlation analysis, LVEF was strongly correlated with GPLS, GPRS, and GPCS in CMI patients. Additionally, excellent reproducibility of all strain parameters was observed. In receiver operating characteristic analysis, segmental PRS and PCS might differentiate SI from TI with higher diagnostic efficiency (p < 0.05), while PLS was less valuable (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: CMR-FT could noninvasively and quantitatively assess global and regional myocardial strain in CMI patients with excellent reproducibility and strong correlation with LVEF. Additionally, segmental myocardial strain parameters indicate potential clinical value in differentiating myocardial infarction subtype.

Prediction Model Combining Clinical and MR Data for Diagnosis of Lymph Node Metastasis in Patients With Rectal Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Determining the status of lymph node (LN) metastasis in rectal cancer patients preoperatively is crucial for the treatment option. However, the diagnostic accuracy of current imaging methods is low. PURPOSE: To develop and test a model for predicting metastatic LNs of rectal cancer patients based on clinical data and MR images to improve the diagnosis of metastatic LNs. STUDY TYPE: Retrospective. SUBJECTS: In all, 341 patients with histologically confirmed rectal cancer were divided into one training set (120 cases) and three validation sets (69, 103, 49 cases). FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: 3.0T, axial and sagittal T2 -weighted turbo spin echo and diffusion-weighted imaging (b = 0 s/mm2 , 800 s/mm2 ) ASSESSMENT: In the training dataset, univariate logistic regression was used to identify the clinical factors (age, gender, and tumor markers) and MR data that correlated with LN metastasis. Then we developed a prediction model with these factors by multiple logistic regression analysis. The accuracy of the model was verified using three validation sets and compared with the traditional MRI method. STATISTICAL TESTS: Univariate and multivariate logistic regression. The area under the curve (AUC) value was used to quantify the diagnostic accuracy of the model. RESULTS: Eight factors (CEA, CA199, ADCmean, mriT stage, mriN stage, CRM, EMVI, and differentiation degree) were significantly associated with LN metastasis in rectal cancer patients (P<0.1). In the training set (120) and the three validation sets (69, 103, 49), the AUC values of the model were much higher than the diagnosis by MR alone (training set, 0.902 vs. 0.580; first validation set, 0.789 vs. 0.743; second validation set, 0.774 vs. 0.573; third validation set, 0.761 vs. 0.524). DATA CONCLUSION: For the diagnosis of metastatic LNs in rectal cancer patients, our proposed logistic regression model, combining clinical and MR data, demonstrated higher diagnostic efficiency than MRI alone. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4 TECHNICAL EFFICACY STAGE: 2.

Advanced myocardial characterization in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: feasibility of CMR-based feature tracking strain analysis in a case-control study.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and reproducibility of using cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT) for analysis of bi-ventricular strain and strain rate (SR) in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients as well as to explore the correlation between right ventricular (RV) and left ventricular (LV) deformation. METHODS: A total of 60 HCM patients and 48 controls were studied. Global and segmental peak values of bi-ventricular longitudinal, circumferential, radial strain, and systolic SR were analyzed. Pearson analysis was performed to investigate the correlation of RV and LV deformation. Intra-observer and inter-observer reproducibility were also assessed. RESULTS: LV mass in the HCM group was significantly higher than that in the control group. LV end-systolic and end-diastolic volume and RV end-systolic and end-diastolic volume in the HCM group were all significantly lower than the correlated parameters in the control group (p < 0.001, respectively), whereas no statistical difference was found in ejection fraction (p > 0.05). Global longitudinal strain (GLS), global longitudinal strain rate (GLSR), global circumferential strain (GCS), global circumferential strain rate (GCSR), global radial strain (GRS), and global radial strain rate (GRSR) of the LV and RV were all significantly lower than the control group, and segmental strain and SR were also true (p < 0.001, respectively). Bi-ventricular strain and SR measurements were highly reproducible at both intra- and inter-observer levels. Additionally, Pearson analysis showed RV GCS, GLS, and GRS positively correlated with LV GCS, GLS, and GRS (r = 0.713, p < 0.001; r = 0.728, p < 0.001; r = 0.730, p < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: CMR-FT is a promising approach to analyze impairment of global and segmental myocardium deformation in HCM patients non-invasively and quantitatively. KEY POINTS: • CMR-FT allows for advanced myocardial characterization with high reproducibility. • As compared with controls, HCM patients have significant differences in CMR-FT strain analysis while ejection fraction was similar. • CMR-FT may serve as an early biomarker of HCM in subjects at risk.

Understanding the digestibility of rice starch-gallic acid complexes formed by high pressure homogenization.

Rice starch-Gallic acid (GA) complex (RSP-GA) was prepared by high pressure homogenization (HPH), and the effect of GA on the digestibility and multi-structure of rice starch under HPH was investigated. The results showed that, after HPH, the digestibility of starch substantially changed in the reduced rapidly digestible starch (RDS) content, and increased resistant starch (RS) after interacting with GA. In particular, the RS content of RSP-GA ranged from 5.4% to 29.7%, which were much higher than that of rice starch (1.6%). Meanwhile, the results indicated that rice starch and GA were aggregated by hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces to form a single helix V7 type complex during HPH processing. Moreover, with the increase addition of GA, the fractal structure of the RSP-GA is converted into a mass fractal structure, and the aggregate structure gradually became compact due to the enhancement of rearrangement and aggregation behavior of the degraded starch molecular chains. It thus reduced the accessibility of the starch molecules to digestive enzymes. These results demonstrated that HPH and GA complexation could be beneficial to control the digestion of starch products with desired digestibility.

Candida sp. 99-125 lipase-catalyzed synthesis of ergosterol linolenate and its characterization.

As a major sterol in edible mushroom, ergosterol has gained much attention owing to its potential bioactivities. However, ergosterol has a high melting point, poor oil solubility and stability, which restrict its scope of application. In this study, an ergosterol ester of α-linolenic acid was successfully and efficiently prepared using Candida sp. 99-125 lipase as a biocatalyst. The desired product was confirmed to be ergosterol linolenate using MS, FT-IR, and NMR analyses. Using Candida sp. 99-125 lipase, the product conversion exceeded 92% in 12 h under the following optimized parameters: 75 mmol/L ergosterol, 40 g/L lipase, 1:1.25 ergosterol-to-α-linolenic acid molar ratio, and 45 °C. The results confirmed that Candida sp. 99-125 lipase has good reusability and stability and is also relatively low cost, suggesting its great potential for large-scale production of ergosterol ester. Most importantly, the physiochemical properties (oil solubility and melting point) of ergosterol significantly improved after esterification with α-linolenic acid, thus facilitating its application in oil-based systems.

Efficient synthesis and characterization of ergosterol laurate in a solvent-free system.

Ergosterol and its derivatives have attracted much attention for a variety of health benefits, such as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. However, ergosterol esters are advantageous because this compound has better solubility than the free ergosterol. In this work, ergosterol laurate was efficiently synthesized for the first time by direct esterification in a solvent-free system. The desired product was purified, characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance, and finally confirmed to be ergosterol laurate. Meanwhile, the effect of various catalysts, catalyst dose, reaction temperature, substrate molar ratio, and reaction time were studied. Both the conversion of ergosterol and the selectivity of the desired product can reach above 89% under the selected conditions: sodium dodecyl sulfate + hydrochloric acid as the catalyst, 2:1 molar ratio of lauric acid/ergosterol, catalyst dose of 4% (w/w), 120 °C, and 2 h. The oil solubility of ergosterol and its laurate was also compared. The results showed that the solubility of ergosterol in oil was significantly improved by direct esterification with lauric acid, thus greatly facilitating the incorporation into a variety of oil-based systems.