Multifunctional Nanocarrier for Synergistic Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease by Inhibiting ß-Amyloid Aggregation and Scavenging Reactive Oxygen Species.

The excessive depositions of ß-amyloid (Aß) and abnormal level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are considered as the important pathogenic factors of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Strategies targeting only one of them have no obvious effects in clinic. In this study, a multifunctional nanocarrier CICe@M-K that crosses the blood-brain barrier (BBB) efficiently was developed for inhibiting Aß aggregation and scavenging ROS synchronously. Antioxidant curcumin (Cur) and photosensitizer IR780 were loaded in mesoporous silica nanomaterials (MSNs). Their surfaces were grafted with cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs) and a short peptide K (CKLVFFAED). Living imaging showed that CICe@M-K was mainly distributed in the brain, liver, and kidneys, indicating CICe@M-K crossed BBB efficiently and accumulated in brain. After the irradiation of 808 nm laser, Cur was continuously released. Both of Cur and the peptide K can recognize and bind to Aß through multiple interaction including π-π stacking interaction, hydrophobic interaction, and hydrogen bond, inhibiting Aß aggregation. On the other hand, Cur and CeO2 NPs cooperate to relieve the oxidative stress in the brains by scavenging ROS. In vivo assays showed that the CICe@M-K could diminish Aß depositions, alleviate oxidative stress, and improve cognitive ability of the APP/PS1 AD mouse model, which demonstrated that CICe@M-K is a potential agent for AD treatment.

Differential Effects of n-3 and n-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids on Placental and Embryonic Growth and Development in Diabetic Pregnant Mice.

The present study aimed to investigate the differential effects of n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on placental and embryonic development. Pregnant mice were assigned to five groups: healthy control (HC), diabetes mellitus control (DMC), diabetes + low-dose n-3 PUFA (Ln-3), diabetes + high-dose n-3 PUFA (Hn-3), and diabetes + n-6 PUFA (n-6). On E12.5d, the Hn-3 group, but not the n-6 group, had a higher placenta weight. The weight ratio of embryo to placenta in the n-6 group was significantly lower than in the Hn-3 group but higher than in the DMC group. The Hn-3 group had significantly higher protein levels of VEGF, IGF-1, and IGFBP3, while the n-6 group had lower VEGF than the DMC group. Compared with the DMC group, embryonic Cer-16:0 was significantly higher in the Hn-3 group, while embryonic PC (36:6), PC (38:7), and PE (40:7) were significantly lower in the n-6 group. The embryo and placenta weights were positively correlated with placental VEGF, IGFBP3, and embryonic Cer-16:0, and they were negatively correlated with embryonic PC (36:6) and PE (40:7). The weight ratio of embryo to placenta was negatively correlated with embryonic PC (36:6). In addition, embryonic Cer-16:0 was positively correlated with placental VEGF and IGFBP3. In conclusion, n-3 PUFA and n-6 PUFA improved placental and embryonic growth through different mechanisms.

Highly-accelerated CEST MRI using frequency-offset-dependent k-space sampling and deep-learning reconstruction.

PURPOSE: To develop a highly accelerated CEST Z-spectral acquisition method using a specifically-designed k-space sampling pattern and corresponding deep-learning-based reconstruction. METHODS: For k-space down-sampling, a customized pattern was proposed for CEST, with the randomized probability following a frequency-offset-dependent (FOD) function in the direction of saturation offset. For reconstruction, the convolution network (CNN) was enhanced with a Partially Separable (PS) function to optimize the spatial domain and frequency domain separately. Retrospective experiments on a self-acquired human brain dataset (13 healthy adults and 15 brain tumor patients) were conducted using k-space resampling. The prospective performance was also assessed on six healthy subjects. RESULTS: In retrospective experiments, the combination of FOD sampling and PS network (FOD + PSN) showed the best quantitative metrics for reconstruction, outperforming three other combinations of conventional sampling with varying density and a regular CNN (nMSE and SSIM, p < 0.001 for healthy subjects). Across all acceleration factors from 4 to 14, the FOD + PSN approach consistently outperformed the comparative methods in four contrast maps including MTRasym, MTRrex, as well as the Lorentzian Difference maps of amide and nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE). In the subspace replacement experiment, the error distribution demonstrated the denoising benefits achieved in the spatial subspace. Finally, our prospective results obtained from healthy adults and brain tumor patients (14×) exhibited the initial feasibility of our method, albeit with less accurate reconstruction than retrospective ones. CONCLUSION: The combination of FOD sampling and PSN reconstruction enabled highly accelerated CEST MRI acquisition, which may facilitate CEST metabolic MRI for brain tumor patients.

Free-breathing abdominal chemical exchange saturation transfer imaging using water presaturation and respiratory gating at 3.0 T.

Free-breathing abdominal chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) has great potential for clinical application, but its technical implementation remains challenging. This study aimed to propose and evaluate a free-breathing abdominal CEST sequence. The proposed sequence employed respiratory gating (ResGat) to synchronize the data acquisition with respiratory motion and performed a water presaturation module before the CEST saturation to abolish the influence of respiration-induced repetition time variation. In vivo experiments were performed to compare different respiratory motion-control strategies and B0 offset correction methods, and to evaluate the effectiveness and necessity of the quasi-steady-state (QUASS) approach for correcting the influence of the water presaturation module on CEST signal. ResGat with a target expiratory phase of 0.5 resulted in a higher structural similarity index and a lower coefficient of variation on consecutively acquired CEST S0 images than breath-holding (BH) and respiratory triggering (all p < 0.05). B0 maps derived from the abdominal CEST dataset itself were more stable for B0 correction, compared with the separately acquired B0 maps by a dual-echo time scan and B0 maps derived from the water saturation shift referencing approach. Compared with BH, ResGat yielded more homogeneous magnetization transfer ratio asymmetry maps at 3.5 ppm (standard deviation: 3.96% vs. 3.19%, p = 0.036) and a lower mean squared difference between scan and rescan (27.52‱ vs. 16.82‱, p = 0.004). The QUASS approach could correct the water presaturation-induced CEST signal change, but its necessity for in vivo scanning needs further verification. The proposed free-breathing abdominal CEST sequence using ResGat had an acquisition efficiency of approximately four times that using BH. In conclusion, the proposed free-breathing abdominal CEST sequence using ResGat and water presaturation has a higher acquisition efficiency and image quality than abdominal CEST using BH.

Mussel oil is superior to fish oil in preventing atherosclerosis of ApoE-/- mice.

Objectives: The present study aimed to explore the preventive effect of mussel oil (MO) on atherosclerosis and the potential mechanism in apolipoprotein E-null (ApoE-/-) mice. Methods: ApoE-/- mice were fed with a high-fat and high-cholesterol chow and given corn oil (CO), fish oil (FO), MO, or aspirin (ASP, dissolved in CO) by gavage for 12 weeks. The total n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in MO (51.01%) and FO (46.82%) were comparable (mainly C22:6n-3 and C20:5n-3). Wild-type mice were fed with a normal chow and given equivalent CO as health control (CON). Results: Compared with the CON group, obvious atherosclerotic plaque appeared at aorta and aortic sinus in the CO group. Compared with the CO group, MO but not FO had a significantly smaller atherosclerotic plaque area in the aorta. The aortic atherosclerotic plaque area was comparable in the MO, CON, and ASP groups. The MO group had a significantly smaller atherosclerotic plaque area, lower lipid deposition, lower contents of smooth muscle cell (SMC), and slightly lower contents of macrophage at the aortic sinus than the FO group. Serum concentrations of IL-1ß, NF-κB, and VCAM-1 were comparable in the MO and FO groups and were significantly lower than the CO group. Compared with the CO group, the MO group but not FO group had significantly lower aortic protein levels of p65NF-κB, p38MAPK, and VCAM-1. The aortic protein levels of p-p65NF-κB and p-p38MAPK were significantly lower in the MO group than the FO group. Conclusion: In conclusion, MO is more potent than FO in preventing atherosclerosis, and the possible mechanism may be by downregulating p38MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathway, decreasing VCAM-1 and macrophage, and inhibiting proliferation and migration of SMC.

Personality traits and their influence on Echo chamber formation in social media: a comparative study of Twitter and Weibo.

The echo chamber effect on social media has attracted attention due to its potentially disruptive consequences on society. This study presents a framework to evaluate the impact of personality traits on the formation of echo chambers. Using Weibo and Twitter as platforms, we first define an echo chamber as a network where users interact solely with those sharing their opinions, and quantify echo chamber effects through selective exposure and homophily. We then employ an unsupervised personality recognition method to assign a personality model to each user, and compare the distribution differences of echo chambers and personality traits across platforms and topics. Our findings show that, although user personality trait models exhibit similar distributions between topics, differences exist between platforms. Among 243 personality model combinations, over 20% of Weibo echo chamber members are "ynynn" models, while over 15% of Twitter echo chamber members are "nnnny" models. This indicates significant differences in personality traits among echo chamber members between platforms. Specific personality traits attract like-minded individuals to engage in discussions on particular topics, ultimately forming homogeneous communities. These insights are valuable for developing targeted management strategies to prevent the spread of fake news or rumors.

Comparison of efficacy between endoscope-assisted anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) and open ACDF in the treatment of single-segment cervical spondylotic myelopathy.

BACKGROUND: In this study, we compared the clinical efficacy of endoscope-assisted anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) with open ACDF in the treatment of single-segment cervical spondylotic myelopathy. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on 52 patients with single-segment cervical spondylotic myelopathy between June 2021 and February 2022, including 33 males and 19 females, with a mean age of 58.42 ± 9.26) years. Among them, 28 patients were treated with endoscope-assisted ACDF (Group A), including 2 cases of C4/5 segment, 16 cases of C5/6 segment, and 10 cases of C6/7 segment; 24 patients were treated with open ACDF (Group B), including 4 cases of C4/5 segment, 11 cases of C5/6 segment, and 9 cases of C6/7 segment. The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, hospital stay, and complications were recorded and compared between the two groups. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score were used for clinical evaluation during the follow-up in the 1st month and 3rd month after surgery, and at the final follow-up. RESULTS: The 52 patients were followed up on average for 13.04 months (12-17 months). The operation time in Group A and Group B was (105.18 + 8.66) minutes and (81.88 + 6.05) minutes, the intraoperative blood loss was (84.29 + 13.45) mL and (112.92 + 17.81) mL, and the hospital stay was (6.75 + 1.29) days and (7.63 + 1.41) days, respectively. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The VAS and JOA scores in the 1st month and the 3rd month after surgery and the last follow-up significantly improved in both groups compared with those before surgery (P < 0.05). The VAS and JOA scores of Group A in the 1st month, 3rd month after surgery, and the last follow-up were better than those in Group B (P < 0.05). The complication rate in Group A was 7% (2/28), which was not significantly different from the 17% (4/24) in Group B (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Both endoscope-assisted ACDF and open ACDF can achieve satisfactory clinical efficacy in the treatment of single-segment cervical spondylotic myelopathy. Although the operation time of endoscope-assisted ACDF is prolonged, it has the advantages of clear vision, thorough decompression, less blood loss, and reduced risk of nerve damage, and is worthy of clinical promotion and application.

Influence of interpersonal distance on collaborative performance in the joint Simon task-An fNIRS-based hyperscanning study.

Collaboration is a critical skill in everyday life. It has been suggested that collaborative performance may be influenced by social factors such as interpersonal distance, which is defined as the perceived psychological distance between individuals. Previous literature has reported that close interpersonal distance may promote the level of self-other integration between interacting members, and in turn, enhance collaborative performance. These studies mainly focused on interdependent collaboration, which requires high levels of shared representations and self-other integration. However, little is known about the effect of interpersonal distance on independent collaboration (e.g., the joint Simon task), in which individuals perform the task independently while the final outcome is determined by the parties. To address this issue, we simultaneously measured the frontal activations of ninety-four pairs of participants using a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning technique while they performed a joint Simon task. Behavioral results showed that the Joint Simon Effect (JSE), defined as the RT difference between incongruent and congruent conditions indicating the level of self-other integration between collaborators, was larger in the friend group than in the stranger group. Consistently, the inter-brain neural synchronization (INS) across the dorsolateral and medial parts of the prefrontal cortex was also stronger in the friend group. In addition, INS in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex negatively predicted JSE only in the friend group. These results suggest that close interpersonal distance may enhance the shared mental representation among collaborators, which in turn influences their collaborative performance.

Tensile Property of 7075 Aluminum Alloy with Strengthening Layer by Laser Remelting-Cladding Treatment.

The Ni60-SiC-CeO2 strengthening layer with deep remelting pools was constructed on the surface of 7075 aluminum alloy using the laser remelting-cladding processing method, and a soft and hard interphase was prepared on the matrix by the interval of laser remelting, which was inspired by soft-hard interphase structure with excellent crack inhibition performance from the natural world. The microstructure and microhardness of the remelting region and the remelting-cladding region of the strengthening layer were studied. The tensile characteristics of two distinct strengthening layers were investigated in the laboratory. The results showed that the grain size of remelting pools is finer, and the microhardness is higher than that of the matrix, which makes crack propagation more difficult. In addition, the results show that the strengthening layer has compact and flawless microstructure and has been metallurgically integrated with the matrix, and the microhardness of the regions treated by laser cladding and laser remelting-cladding has been improved obviously. Toughness has improved, as has the problem of toughness reduction after cladding ceramic particles. The sample's strength is also significantly greater than that of the untreated sample.

Multi-parametric MRI assessment of melatonin regulating the polarization of microglia in rats after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury.

OBJECTIVES: Multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide comprehensive and valuable information for precise diagnosis and treatment evaluation of a number of diseases. In this study, the neuroprotective effects of melatonin (Mel) on a rat model of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury (CIRI) were assessed by multi-parametric MRI combined with histopathological techniques for longitudinal monitoring of the lesion microenvironment. METHODS: Sixty Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into three groups: the Sham, CIRI and CIRI + Mel groups. At multiple time points after ischemia, MRI scanning was performed on a 7.0 Tesla MRI scanner. Multi-parametric MRI includes T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), and chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST)-MRI. CEST effects were calculated by the Lorentzian difference method, 3.5 ppm indicates amide protons of mobile proteins/peptide (Amide-CEST) and 2.0 ppm indicates amine protons (Guan-CEST). Multiple histopathological techniques were used to examine the histopathological changes and explore the therapeutic effects of Mel. RESULTS: T2WI and DWI-MRI could localize the infarct foci and areas in CIRI rats, which was further validated by staining, 2, 3, 5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining, hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate-biotin nick end labelling (TUNEL) staining. After Mel treatment, T2WI and DWI-MRI showed smaller infarct volume, and neurons displayed improved morphology with less apoptosis rates. Notably, Amide-CEST and Guan-CEST signal decreased as early as 2 h after CIRI (all P <0.001), reflecting the change of pH after ischemia. After Mel treatment, both Amide-CEST and Guan-CEST signal increased in ischemic cortex and striatum compared with control group (all P < 0.001). The immunofluorescence staining and western blotting analysis suggested the expression of M2 microglia increased after Mel treatment; While，after Mel treatment the inflammatory factor interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) decreased compared with control CIRI rats. CONCLUSIONS: Multi-parametric MRI was shown to be an effective method to monitor the brain damage in a rat model of CIRI and assess the therapeutic effects of Mel treatment. Amide-CEST and Guan-CEST were especially sensitive to the changes in brain microenvironment during the early stage after CIRI. Furthermore, the neuroprotective effect of Mel treatment is associated with its promotion of the microglia polarized to M2 type in CIRI rats.

COMET: Cross-space Optimization-based Mutual learning network for super-resolution of CEST-MRI.

Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer Magn-etic Resonance Imaging (CEST-MRI) is a promising approach for detecting tissue metabolic changes. However, due to the constraints of scan time and contrast-noise-ratio, CEST-MRI always exhibits low spatial resolution, hindering the clinical applications especially for detection of small lesions. Many super-resolution (SR) methods have shown good performance in medical images. However, when applied to CEST-MRI, these methods have two shortcomings that may limit their performance. Firstly, CEST-MRI has an additional frequency dimension, but the information along this dimension is not fully utilized. The second is that these SR methods mainly focus on improving the quality of the CEST-weighted images, while the accuracy of the quantitative maps is the most concerned aspect for CEST-MRI. To address these shortcomings, we propose a Cross-space Optimization-based Mutual learning nETwork (COMET) for SR of CEST-MRI. COMET incorporates novel spatio-frequency extraction modules and a mutual learning module to leverage and combine information from both spatial and frequency spaces, thereby enhancing the SR performance. Furthermore, we propose a novel CEST-based normalization loss to address the normalization-induced distribution problem and preserve the sharpness of quantitative maps, enabling more accurate CEST-MRI quantification. COMET is evaluated on an ischemia rat brain dataset and a human brain dataset. The results demonstrate COMET achieves 8-fold SR, providing accurate quantitative maps. Moreover, COMET outperforms all other state-of-the-art SR methods. Additionally, COMET exhibits its potential in prospective study.

Exploring the role of macrophages in the progression from atypical hyperplasia to endometrial carcinoma through single-cell transcriptomics and bulk transcriptomics analysis.

Introduction: In this study, we aimed to identify key genes in endometrial cancer by conducting single-cell analysis of macrophages. Methods: We sourced clinical data from the TCGA database as well as supplementary datasets GSE201926 and GSE173682. Using bulk-seq data of atypical endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial cancer, we pinpointed key differentially expressed genes. Single-cell RNA sequencing was utilized for further gene expression analysis. Cluster analysis was conducted on TCGA tumor data, identifying two distinct subtypes. Statistical methods employed included LASSO regression for diagnostic modeling and various clustering algorithms for subtype identification. Results: We found that subtype B was closely related to cellular metabolism. A diagnostic model was established using LASSO regression and was based on the genes CDH18, H19, PAGE2B, PXDN, and THRB. This model effectively differentiated the prognosis of cervical cancer. We also constructed a prognosis model and a column chart based on these key genes. Discussion: Through CIBERSORT analysis, CDH18 and PAGE2B were found to be strongly associated with macrophage M0. We propose that these genes influence the transformation from atypical endometrial hyperplasia to endometrial cancer by affecting macrophage M0. In conclusion, these key genes may serve as therapeutic targets for endometrial cancer. A new endometrial cancer risk prognosis model and column chart have been constructed based on these genes, offering a reliable direction for future cervical cancer treatment.

Effects of lipid extract from blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) on gut microbiota, and its relationship with glycemic traits in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients: a double-blind randomized controlled trial.

Studies have shown that blue mussel lipid extract (BMLE) can improve the glycemic traits, inflammatory cytokines, and lipid profile of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in China. Gut microbiota is closely related to T2DM. This study aims to explore whether BMLE can improve the glycemic status of T2DM patients by regulating gut microbiota in a 60-day double-blind randomized controlled trial. A total of 133 T2DM subjects were randomized into BMLE (n = 44), fish oil (FO) (n = 44), and corn oil (CO) (n = 45) groups. The participants were asked to take two corresponding oil capsules (0.8 g per capsule each) every day. The faecal microbiota, glycemic traits, and other cardiometabolic factors were analyzed at baseline and endpoint. The α diversity estimators of Ace and Chao1 decreased significantly in all three groups, but there was no significant difference between the groups. Eight bacteria decreased significantly in the BMLE group but not in the FO and CO groups: unclassified_Clostridia_UCG_014, unclassified_Bacteroidia, Erysipelotrichaceae, and uncultured_Ruminococcaceae_bacterium at the family level and unclassified_Bacteroidia, uncultured_Ruminococcaceae_bacterium, unclassified_Clostridia_UCG_014, and Turicibacter at genus level. In the BMLE group, the change in the relative abundance of Erysipelotrichaceae was positively correlated with the changes in the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (r = 0.454, p < 0.01) and fasting insulin (r = 0.414, p < 0.01). The change in the relative abundance of Turicibacter was positively correlated with the changes in HOMA-IR (r = 0.431, p < 0.01), fasting insulin (r = 0.414, p < 0.01), total cholesterol (TC) (r = 0.358, p < 0.05), and triacylglycerol (TG) (r = 0.393 p = 0.013). In conclusion, BMLE might improve glycemic traits by modulating gut microbiota in T2DM patients.

Case report: The intrauterine suture surgery-an original method in the treatment of old uterine false passage.

Objective: To introduce an effective approach using the hysteroscopy system for patients with old uterine false passage after a failed conservative treatment. Materials and methods: This study presents the case of a 34-year-old woman who was treated in the Department of Gynecology of Shenzhen Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital in 2018 with the complaint of "menstrual volumereduction for 2 years after abortion." A hysteroscopy was performed to make a clear diagnosis: (1) uterine cavity adhesion and (2) old uterine false passage. After the separation of adhesions, the patient was treated with estradiol and progesterone in sequence (estradiol valerate 3 mg, b.i.d., oral for 21 days; and dydrogesterone tablets 10 mg, b.i.d., oral for the second half of the cycle) for 3 months. After the review of the hysteroscopy results, it was found that there was no improvement in the old false passage; therefore, a suture and knotting surgery under hysteroscopy was performed to treat the old false passage in the uterus within 10 min, and the intraoperative blood loss was 2 ml. The patient was discharged 24 h postoperatively without any adverse perioperative complications. Results: Two months after the operation, the review of the hysteroscopy results showed that the old false passage in the uterus disappeared. After the 6-month follow-up, the menstrual volume increased compared with the previous one, close to the normal menstrual volume, and the patient experienced no pain and menstrual discomfort. The patient was lost to follow-up and was contacted again in 2022. It was found out that in 2019, she was pregnant with a baby boy who is now 3 years old and healthy. Conclusion: The intrauterine suture surgery presents a clear visual field to old uterine false passage after a failed conservative treatment. In patients with old uterine false passage suffering from reduced fertility, the intrauterine suture surgery can be a minimally invasive and effective alternative if the conservative treatment for old uterine false passage failed.

Hierarchical K-means clustering method for accelerated Lorentzian estimation (KALE) in chemical exchange saturation transfer-magnetic resonance imaging quantification.

Background: Quantification of in vivo chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) magnetic resonance signals is challenging due to contamination from coexisting effects, including the direct water effect and asymmetric magnetization transfer. Fitting-based analysis allows the calculation of multiple types of signals from the line shape of Z-spectra. However, the conventional voxelwise method has several drawbacks, including its long computation time and its susceptibility to image noise and Z-spectra oscillations, and it is difficult to determine the initial fitting parameters. Methods: Herein, we propose a K-means clustering method for accelerated Lorentzian estimation (KALE) in CEST quantification. Briefly, voxels in CEST images are clustered into K groups according to their Z-spectra characteristics. A 'groupwise' fitting process is then performed with preset initial values, yielding a set of fitted spectra and fitted parameters for each group. With the updated initial values, each group is further clustered into subgroups, and groupwise fitting is performed again. This hierarchical K-means clustering and parameter updating process continues until the pixel number or intensity error meets the termination criteria. Voxelwise fitting could be further conducted to improve the quantification images (termed voxel-K) by utilizing the previous groupwise KALE results as the initial values (termed group-K). Results: Incorporated with Lorentzian difference (LD) quantification, KALE was first optimized and evaluated on 5 healthy human brain datasets at 3 Tesla. Compared with traditional voxel-by-voxel LD quantification, the computation times of group-K and voxel-K were significantly reduced by ~85% and ~70%, respectively (P<0.001). Furthermore, the group-K images exhibited better denoising performance than traditional LD and voxel-K. KALE was further validated on six ischemic rat brains acquired at 7 Tesla, with both LD_group-K and LD_voxel-K displaying almost identical contrast maps with traditional voxelwise maps. When incorporated with the five-pool Lorentzian fitting (LF), KALE exhibited an improved contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) for amplitude maps of each pool [P=0.003, 0.015, 0.047, and 0.047 for amide, nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE), magnetic transfer (MT) and guanidine amine, respectively] and improved fitting goodness (P=0.033). Conclusions: KALE quantification provides comparable or even superior contrast maps to traditional voxelwise fitting, with significantly reduced computation time. The 'smart' and hierarchical voxel-clustering and parameter updating process of KALE may facilitate more preclinical and clinical CEST applications.

Amide proton transfer weighted MRI in differential diagnosis of ovarian masses with cystic components: A preliminary study.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the performance of three-dimensional (3D) amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) MRI in the differentiation between benign and malignant ovarian masses based on single-slice and all-slice analysis of cystic regions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients were consecutively recruited and underwent conventional pelvic MRI and APTw MRI. Two radiologists independently assessed ovarian masses blinded to the histopathological results. Three APTw SI values were generated from the cystic regions of the masses: (1) APTw SI of a single representative slice (RS); (2) average (AVE) of APTw SIs of all slices of the mass; (3) area-weighted (AW) average of APTw SIs of all slices of the mass. O-RADS MRI score of each mass was reported. Independent sample t-test and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were performed for comparison. Inter- and intra-observer reliability were assessed by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and quadratic kappa coefficient. RESULTS: 46 ovarian masses were included for final analysis. The three APTw SI values were higher in cystic regions of malignant ovarian masses compared with benign lesions (p<0.0001). ROC curve analysis showed no significant difference in diagnostic performance among three APTw SI values and the O-RADS MRI score (AUC: RS-APTw SI, 0.930; AVE-APTw SI, 0.927; AW-APTw SI, 0.935; O-RADS score, 0.937). CONCLUSIONS: APTw MRI may be used as a noninvasive tool for the differentiation of benign and malignant ovarian masses based on the analysis of the cystic regions.

Assessing the predictability of the H3K27M status in diffuse glioma patients using frequency importance analysis on chemical exchange saturation transfer MRI.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In diffuse glioma patients, Lys-27-Met mutations in histone 3 genes (H3K27M) are associated with an aggravated prognosis and further decreased overall survival. By using frequency importance analysis on chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI, this study aimed to assess the predictability of the H3K27M status in diffuse glioma patients. METHODS: Twenty-two patients diagnosed with diffuse glioma, with a known H3K27M status, were included in the present study. All patients underwent CEST MRI scans. The previously proposed frequency importance analysis was performed to determine the relative contribution of the amide and aliphatic protons for the differentiation between normal tissues and tumors. For this comparison, the conventional MTRasym analysis of amide protons at 3.5 ppm, i.e., the amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) signal, was employed. Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and area under the curve (AUC) analyses. RESULTS: The mean and 90th percentile of the ΔAPTw intensities, amide and aliphatic frequency importance values revealed statistically significant differences between the wildtype and the H3K27M-altered patient groups (p < 0.05). For the prediction of the H3K27M status, amide frequency importance achieved highest AUCs of 0.97, with a specificity of 0.93. In contrast, the ΔAPTw intensities and aliphatic frequency importance showed relatively lower AUCs (<0.35) in predicting the H3K27M status. CONCLUSIONS: Amide frequency importance exhibited satisfactory performance in the prediction of the H3K27M status. As such, it may be considered as a non-invasive MRI biomarker for the diagnosis of diffuse gliomas.

Effects of emotion and sex difference on item-method directed forgetting.

It is crucial to remember or forget others' faces in daily life. People can intentionally forget things they wish to forget, a phenomenon called directed forgetting (DF). This study examined the effects of stimuli's emotions and sex differences in participants and stimuli on DF. We used happy and angry faces as the items in a typical item-method paradigm and conducted three behavioral experiments. In Experiment 1, we recruited 60 participants to examine how emotions of stimuli and sex differences in participants and stimuli affected DF. In Experiment 2, we recruited 60 female participants and manipulated the durations of items presented during the study phase to examine whether the selective rehearsal theory was held. In Experiment 3, we recruited 50 female participants and attached recognition cues to the items presented during the test phase to examine whether the inhibitory control theory was held. We treated the sex of participants in Experiment 1, the durations of items presented during the study phase in Experiment 2 as the between-subject factors, and emotion and sex of stimuli as the with-subject factors. We conducted the mixed-design ANOVA for corrected hit rate, sensitivity, and bias based on the signal detection theory. As a result, we found that DF occurred easily for male participants, whereas not for female participants because of females' superior memorial performances and stronger sensitivities. Furthermore, we found that female participants owned the best and worst recognition rates for angry female faces and happy male faces, respectively. Our results supported the selective rehearsal theory, suggesting manipulations during the study phase had the potential to help females forget what they wished to forget. We presumed that psychologists and therapists should pay attention to the roles of sex difference in twofold, self and others, when studying people's memory and forgetting. Furthermore, the sensitivity of self and the emotion of others should be considered as well.

Peptide-Functionalized Prussian Blue Nanomaterial for Antioxidant Stress and NIR Photothermal Therapy against Alzheimer's Disease.

Excessive accumulations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and amyloid-ß (Aß) protein are closely associated with the complex pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Therefore, approaches that synergistically exert elimination of ROS and dissociation of Aß fibrils are effective therapeutic strategies for correcting the AD microenvironment. Herein, a novel near infrared (NIR) responsive Prussian blue-based nanomaterial (PBK NPs) is established with excellent antioxidant activity and photothermal effect. PBK NPs possess similar activities to multiple antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase, which can eliminate massive ROS and relieve oxidative stress. Under the NIR irradiation, PBK NPs can generate local heat to disaggregate Aß fibrils efficiently. By modifying CKLVFFAED peptide, PBK NPs display obvious targeting ability for blood-brain barrier penetration and Aß binding. Furthermore, in vivo studies demonstrate that PBK NPs have outstanding ability to decompose Aß plaques and alleviate neuroinflammation in AD mouse model. Overall, PBK NPs provide evident neuroprotection by reducing ROS levels and regulating Aß deposition, and may accelerate the development of multifunctional nanomaterials for delaying the progression of AD.