Effect of extracurricular tutoring on adolescent students cognitive ability: A propensity score matching analysis.

In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of adolescent students attending extracurricular tutoring. However, extracurricular tutoring, being a distinct form of education, may have varying effects on cognitive capabilities compared to conventional education. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to conduct a thorough examination of the effects of extracurricular tutoring on cognitive abilities among adolescent students. The study utilized national data from the China Family Panel Study 2018 to explore the relationship between involvement in extracurricular tutoring among students and cognitive abilities. The study included 2567 valid respondents. A binary logistic regression model was built to determine the factors associated with tutoring involvement while controlling for 19 individual, family, and school factors. Furthermore, a propensity score-matched analysis was conducted in order to mitigate potential bias by using confounding variables identified in the previous step. The study results show that participation in extracurricular tutoring can significantly increase the level of cognitive ability of adolescent students, with adjustments made for age, gender, ethnicity, number of family members, net family income per capita, education and training expenditure in the past years, change of residence for enrollment, change of domicile address for enrollment, locality of the current school, class size, hold a position as a class cadre, average daily study time on weekdays, average study time per day during weekends. The findings imply that the government should provide tutorial subsidies to disadvantaged groups of adolescent students, allocate educational resources equitably, and invest more in education resources in less developed regions to foster fair and healthy development of education and improve the cognitive abilities of young students in the long-term.

Evaluating T1, T2 Relaxation, and Proton Density in Normal Brain Using Synthetic MRI with Fast Imaging Protocol.

Synthetic MRI is being increasingly used for the quantification of brain longitudinal relaxation time (T1), transverse relaxation time (T2), and proton density (PD) values. However, the effect of fast imaging protocols on these quantitative values has not been fully estimated. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of fast scan parameters on T1, T2, and PD measured with a multi-dynamic multi-echo (MDME) sequence of normal brain at 3.0T. Thirty-four volunteers were scanned using 3 MDME sequences with different scan times (named Fast, 2 min, 29 sec; Routine, 4 min, 07 sec; and Research, 7 min, 46 sec, respectively). The measured T1, T2, and PD in 18 volumes of interest (VOI) of brain were compared between the 3 sequences using rank sum test, t test, coefficients of variation (CVs) analysis, correlation analysis, and Bland-Altman analysis. We found that even though T1, T2, and PD were significantly different between the 3 sequences in most of the brain regions, the intersequence CVs were relatively low and linear correlation were high. Bland-Altman plots showed that most of the values fall within the 95% prediction limits. We concluded that fast imaging protocols of MDME sequence used in our study can potentially be used for quantitative evaluation of brain tissues. Since changing scan parameters can affect the measured T1, T2, and PD values, it is necessary to use consistent scan parameter for comparing or following up cases quantitatively.

hsa_circ_0000285 sponging miR-582-3p promotes neuroblastoma progression by regulating the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway.

Circular RNA has been reported to play a key role in neuroblastoma (NB); however, the role of circ_0000285 in NB remains unclear. The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of circ_0000285 in NB. We studied the expression patterns of miR-582-3p and circ_0000285 in NB tissues and cells using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The expression of proteins associated with apoptosis (Bax and Bcl-2) and the proteins associated with Wnt/ß-catenin (Wnt, p-Gsk-3ß, Gsk-3ß, ß-catenin, and C-myc) were quantified by western blotting. In vivo animal models were prepared for the functional verification of circ_0000285 on tumor growth. The potential binding of circ_0000285 to miR-582-3p was ascertained using dual-luciferase reporter and RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation experiments. Noticeable upregulation of circ_0000285 expression was observed in NB tumor samples and cell lines. In vivo and in vitro experiments indicated that the absence of circ_0000285 repressed NB cell proliferation and migration, provoked apoptosis, and impaired the activity of Wnt/ß-catenin signaling. miR-582-3p is targeted by circ_0000285 and is poorly expressed in NB cells. The additional repression of miR-582-3p in NB cells after circ_0000285 silencing largely recovered circ_0000285 silencing-suppressed NB cell proliferation and migration and enhanced apoptosis. The absence of miR-582-3p restored Wnt/ß-catenin signaling activity impaired by the knockdown of circ_0000285. circ_0000285 functions as an miR-582-3p sponge to strengthen Wnt/ß-catenin signaling activity, thus exacerbating NB development.

Comparison of negative pressure dressing and conventional dressing in the management of skin grafts at the donor site of the latissimus dorsi flap.

INTRODUCTION: Delayed and incomplete healing of the skin graft at the donor site of an LD flap is common because of seroma formation. The authors aimed to evaluate whether the application of an NPD could improve the healing process after STSG at LD donor sites. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From July 2019 to September 2021, 32 patients underwent STSG with NPD at the LD donor site, and 27 patients underwent STSG with TBDs. Data were collected and analyzed using the chi-square test, t test, and Spearman correlation test. RESULTS: The overall Spearman correlations of graft loss with seroma, hematoma, and infection were 0.56 (P <.01), 0.64 (P <.01), and 0.70 (P <.01), respectively. Compared with the TBD group, the STSG take rate was significantly higher in the NPD group (90.3% vs 84.5%, P =.046) while the seroma rate (18.8% vs 44.4%, P =.033), graft loss (9.4% vs 29.6%, P =.047), and mean length of stay (10.9 ± 1.8 vs 12.1 ± 2.4, P =.037) were significantly lower. CONCLUSIONS: NPDs for STSG at the LD donor site contribute significantly to improved graft acceptance with reduced seroma formation.

Clinical Feasibility of Automated Brain Tissue and Myelin Volumetry of Normal Brian Using Synthetic Magnetic Resonance Imaging With Fast Imaging Protocol: A Single-Center Pilot Study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the clinical feasibility of synthetic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with fast imaging protocol for automated brain tissue and myelin volumetry in healthy volunteers at 3.0-T MRI. METHODS: Thirty-four healthy volunteers were scanned using synthetic MRI with 3 sets of scan parameters: groups Fast (FAS; 2 minutes, 29 seconds), Routine (ROU; 4 minutes, 7 seconds), and Research (RES; 7 minutes, 46 seconds). White matter (WM), gray matter (GM), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), non-WM/GM/CSF (NoN), brain parenchymal volume (BPV), intracranial volume (ICV), and myelin volume (MYV) were compared between 3 groups. Linear correlation analysis was performed for measured volumes of groups FAS and ROU versus group RES. RESULTS: Significant differences were found in all the measured brain tissue volumes between groups FAS and ROU (P < 0.001), FAS and RES (P < 0.05), and ROU and RES (P < 0.05), except for NoN between groups ROU and RES (P = 0.0673), ICV between groups FAS and ROU (P = 0.2552), and ICV between groups FAS and RES (P = 0.4898). The intergroup coefficients of variation were 4.36% for WM, 6.39% for GM, 10.14% for CSF, 67.5% for NoN, 1.21% for BPV, 0.08% for ICV, and 5.88% for MYV. Strong linear correlation was demonstrated for WM, GM, CSF, BPV, ICV, and MYV (R = 0.9230-1.131) between FAS versus RES, and ROU versus RES. CONCLUSIONS: Using synthetic MRI with fast imaging protocol can change the measured brain tissue volumes of volunteers. It is necessary to use consistent acquisition protocols for comparing or following up cases quantitatively.

Integrating the Fast-Track surgery concept into the surgical treatment of gynecomastia.

Background: The use of fast-track surgery pathway has been reported to reduce the stress of operation and accelerate rehabilitation in various surgical specialties. However, there has been a relative dearth of research on this subject for surgical treatment of gynecomastia.Materials and methods: The gynecomastia was treated by liposuction plus pull-through technique. The safety and recovery profiles were retrospectively compared between the patients in a standard pathway (including general anesthesia and postoperative drainage) and those in a fast-track pathway (including patient education, local tumescent anesthesia, no drainage, and effective pain control). Registered outcomes included postoperative complications, time to normal life, length of stay, patient satisfaction, etc.Results: From October of 2017 to October of 2021, 126 gynecomastia patients with Simon's grade I or II who underwent the surgical treatments were included in the study, of which 25 patients were treated according to standard pathway, and 101 patients underwent the fast-track pathway. During the follow-up, there was no difference between the cohorts in the incidence of postoperative complications. Both the time to normal life and length of stay significantly decreased to 0 after the introduction of fast-track pathway. Overall, 94.1% of the patients ranked the fast-track surgical pathway as 'great' or 'moderate' at the 3-month follow-up.Conclusions: The proposed fast-track pathway is feasible for surgical treatment of gynecomastia, leading to an enhanced recovery and high patient satisfaction without increasing the rate of complications. The fast-track surgery concept with implementation of local anesthetic techniques should be given serious consideration in gynecomastia management.

Fractalkine modulates pulmonary angiogenesis and tube formation by modulating CX3CR1 and growth factors in PVECs.

This study aimed to investigate effects of pulmonary fractalkine (FKN/CX3CL1) on angiogenesis and tube formation. Tube forming capability of pulmonary vascular endothelial cells (PVECs) was evaluated. CCK-8 assay was used to evaluate proliferation of PVECs. RT-PCR assay was used to determine angiogenesis specific biomarkers. Western blot was applied to identify CX3CR1, Akt, phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt), Erk1/2, phosphorylated Erk1/2 (p-Erk1/2), vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression. VEGF-A and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) levels were examined using ELISA. FKN was safe and triggered tube formation in PVECs. FKN significantly enhanced VEGF-A, PDGF, and iNOS gene transcription compared to the Control group (p < 0.05). CX3CR1 interfering (LV5-CX3CR1 shRNA) remarkably reduced CX3CR1 expression compared to those in LV5 blank group (p < 0.05). Ratios of p-Akt/Akt and p-Erk/Erk were significantly decreased in CX3CR1 shRNA-treated PVECs administered Akt inhibitor (or Erk inhibitor) and 10 ng/mL FKN compared to CX3CR1 shRNA-treated PVECs administered 10 ng/mL FKN (p < 0.05). FKN increased VEGF-A and iNOS expression through activating Akt/Erk pathway. FKN promoted VEGF-A/iNOS expression and triggered p-Akt/Akt and p-Erk/Erk pathway through modulating CX3CR1. FKN-treated macrophages enhanced activation of Akt/Erk pathway. FKN-treated macrophages enhanced PDGF and VEGF-1 expression in PVECs. FKN modulated pulmonary angiogenesis and tube formation through modulating CX3CR1 and growth factors and activating p-Akt/Akt and p-Erk/Erk signaling pathway.

Surgical Removal of Foreign Material by Suction Curettage After Injection Rhinoplasty: Patient-Reported Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Though generally safe, injection rhinoplasty with synthetic non-hyaluronic fillers may lead to various deformities, which impose a psychological burden on the patients. As the injected material is technically hard to be fully cleared in the nose, the surgery is primarily chosen to address the patients' psychological distress caused by injection. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of data regarding patient-reported outcomes of this procedure. METHODS: From August of 2017 to June of 2021, the authors retrospectively reviewed all cases who underwent the foreign material removals by suction curettage after injection rhinoplasties. The relevant demographic, treatment characteristics and complication details were collected. The modified Rhinoplasty Outcome Evaluation (ROE) questionnaires were prospectively completed before and 6 months after the surgery. RESULTS: Of the 46 patients, four cases developed minor surface irregularities on the nasal dorsum postoperatively; two cases who had recurrent nasal dorsum redness and swelling before the surgery still exhibited the redness with a less degree after the surgery; no patients needed secondary revision. There was a significant improvement in any of patient-reported outcomes at 6-month follow-up, relative to the preoperative baseline scores. CONCLUSION: The injected foreign material in the nose could be effectively removed by suction curettage with minimal complications. The patients' satisfaction and quality of life, which was severely impaired preoperatively, could be significantly improved after the surgery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: Therapeutic study. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors   www.springer.com/00266 .

Effect of parental absence during infancy and early childhood on cognition and depression in later life: A national household longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Early life experiences may have a persistent influence throughout life. However, little is known about the effect of parental absence during infancy and early childhood on offspring's cognition and risk of depression. METHODS: Data were obtained from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). We examined the effect of parental absence during infancy and early childhood on cognitive development and depression in later life using weighted linear regression models. A series of sensitivity analyses and subgroup analyses were also conducted. RESULTS: Parental absence during infancy and early childhood was associated with poor mathematics performance and high depression scores measured 8 years later. The coefficients of association between parental absence and math test performance and depression were -0.012 (95%CI: -0.024, -0.001, P = 0.031) and 0.009 (95%CI: 0.001, 0.017, P = 0.028) in adjusted models, respectively. Moreover, a similar association was observed among children who were females, urban dwellers, and had more years of education. LIMITATIONS: Recall bias may exist for the exposure measure, and the current study cannot control residual confounders. CONCLUSION: Long parental absence during infancy and early childhood may attenuate the cognitive process and increase risk of depression in later life, indicating the necessity of parental care as an intervention initiative.

LncRNA OSTM1-AS1 acts as an oncogenic factor in Wilms' tumor by regulating the miR-514a-3p/MELK axis.

Wilms' tumor (WT) is the most typical basic renal tumor in children and is associated with a high recurrence rate and improper diagnosis. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in WT development. However, the impact of the OSTM1 antisense RNA 1 (OSTM1-AS1) lncRNA on WT remains largely unexplored. Differential expression of OSTM1-AS1, miR-514a-3p and maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase (MELK) in mice with WT cells was assessed via quantitative reverse transcription-PCR and western blotting. Changes in the proliferation, migration and apoptosis of WT cells after OSTM1-AS1, miR-514a-3p or MELK knockdown were assessed using the cell counting kit-8, Transwell and caspase-3 activity assays, respectively. Additionally, the tumorigenicity of WT cells after OSTM1-AS1 knockdown in vivo was analyzed using a xenograft tumor assay. The association among OSTM1-AS1, MELK and miR-514a-3p was confirmed using the RNA binding protein immunoprecipitation and luciferase reporter assays. OSTM1-AS1 and MELK were upregulated in WT cells, whereas miR-514a-3p was downregulated. OSTM1-AS1 was mostly observed in the cytoplasm, and its knockout suppressed WT cell migration and proliferation in vitro , triggered apoptosis and attenuated tumor development in vivo . MiR-514a-3p was sponged by OSTM1-AS1, and miR-514a-3p interference counteracted the tumoricidal effect of OSTM1-AS1 knockdown. MiR-514a-3p reduced WT progression by downregulating the expression of MELK, which is the target gene of miR-514a-3p. lncRNA OSTM1-AS1 acts as an oncogenic factor in WT by releasing MELK through sponging miR-514a-3p and could be a useful target for WT diagnosis and therapy.

The association between undiagnosed diabetes and cognitive function: findings from the China health and retirement longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: The cognitive function of people with diabetes has gained an increasing interest in recent years, and this study focuses on exploring the relationship between undiagnosed diabetes and cognitive function among the middle-aged and elderly people in China. METHODS: The data came from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) which was conducted between July and October 2015. 9855 subjects were enrolled in the study. Executive function and episodic memory were used to assess cognitive function. The subjects were divided into three groups: no diabetes, diagnosed diabetes, and undiagnosed diabetes, and weighted multiple linear regression models were established to evaluate the association of undiagnosed diabetes with cognitive function. RESULTS: After controlling for covariates, undiagnosed diabetes was statistically associated with executive function (ß = -0.215, P < 0.01). In the age group of ≥65 years, undiagnosed diabetes was statistically associated with executive function (ß = -0.358, P < 0.01) and episodic memory (ß = -0.356, P < 0.01). When adjusting for confounders, no statistically significant associations were found between diagnosed diabetes and cognitive function except in 45-54 age group (ß = 0.374, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The cross-sectional study suggested that undiagnosed diabetes was linked to poor cognitive function, especially in the elderly population. Timely diagnosis and active treatment of diabetes are important to reduce the occurrence of cognitive impairment. Further prospective cohort studies are required to articulate the association between undiagnosed diabetes and cognitive function.

The effect of scan parameters on T1, T2 relaxation times measured with multi-dynamic multi-echo sequence: a phantom study.

Multi-Dynamic Multi-Echo (MDME) Sequence is a new method which can acquire various contrast-weighted images using quantitative relaxometric parameters measured from multicontrast images. The purpose of our study was to investigate the effect of scan parameters of MDME Sequence on measured T1, T2 values of phantoms at 3.0 T MRI scanner. Gray matter, white matter and cerebrospinal fluid simulation phantoms with different relaxation times (named GM, WM, CSF, respectively) were used in our study. All the phantoms were scanned 9 times on different days using MDME sequence with variations of echo train length, matrix, and acceleration factor. The T1, T2 measurements were acquired after each acquisition. The repeatability was characterized as the intragroup coefficient of variation (CV) of measured values over 9 times, and the discrepancies of measurements across different groups were characterized as intergroup CVs. The highest intragroup CVs of T1-GM, T2-GM, T1-WM, T2-WM, T1-CSF, T2-SCF were 1.36%, 1.75%, 0.74%, 1.41%, 1.70%, 7.79%, respectively. The highest intergroup CVs of T1-GM, T2-GM, T1-WM, T2-WM, T1-CSF, T2-SCF were 0.54%, 1.86%, 1.70%, 0.94%, 1.00%, 2.17%, respectively. Quantitative T1, T2 measurements of gray matter, white matter and cerebrospinal fluid simulation phantoms derived from the MDME sequence were not obviously affected by variations of scanning parameters, such as echo train length, matrix, and acceleration factor on 3T scanner.

Association Between Reading Habit and Sleep Among Age Over 40 Years Community Residents: A Population-Based Evidence Study.

PURPOSE: Sleep disturbance is a paramount public health concern that besets many modern middle-aged and elderly community residents. Reading is important to adults as it facilitates the completion of daily tasks, and might be associated with sleep issues. The present study aimed to analyze the association between reading and sleep using Chinese national survey data. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The 2018 China Family Panel Studies survey data were used, and the target sample was extracted according to age (>40 years). Reading behavior and reading quantity were chosen as independent variables, and sleep duration, sleep-onset time, and sleep quality were selected as dependent variables. A multilevel mixed linear/ordinal logistic regression model was employed to evaluate the association, and restricted cubic splines with 4 knots were employed to flexibly model the association of reading quantity and sleep duration. RESULTS: A total of 18,740 adults were selected, and the reading rate was 15.04%. Reading habit was significantly negatively associated with weekday sleep duration, but not with duration at weekends, as determined from the full set of confounders adjusted models. Reading behavior was also associated with delayed sleep-onset time (OR: 0.935, 95% CI: 0.908-0.964), but not with sleep quality. Reading quantity showed a nonlinear relationship with sleep duration, appropriate reading quantity was related with long sleep duration. CONCLUSION: Reading was associated with short sleep duration on weekdays, but not with sleep quality. Furthermore, reading was related to late sleep-onset time, and for the middle-aged and elderly Chinese populations, appropriate reading quantity was related with long sleep duration.

A new effective way to degrade methylene blue by introducing negative ions powder into Fe3O4/H2O2 system to accelerate Fe(III)/Fe(II) transformation.

Negative ions powders (NIP) have been widely applied in many fields because of their natural electric field and far infrared radiation, especially in wastewater treatment. In this study, the NIP was first introduced into Fe3O4/H2O2 system to degrade methylene blue (MB). The MB removal was completely achieved at 5 h via a non-photochemical pathway and the degradation rate constant of this system is about 0.565 h-1, which is about 16 times higher than in Fe3O4/H2O2 Fenton-like system (0.035 h-1). In addition, the results of quenching experiments indicate that the electron (e-) and negative oxygen ion (•O2-) are the main reactive species. It was determined that Fe3O4@NIP is the effective component that leads to the activation of H2O2 to produce •OH, which derive from the pathway: NIP acts as an electron donor to reduce Fe(III) into Fe(II). Moreover, NIP can produce negative ions, which is also conductive to degradation. This study suggests a promising direction for the practical application of NIP based catalysis by integrating it with the Fe(III)/Fe(II) transformation process.

The relationship between abnormal Core binding factor-ß expression in human cartilage and osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the effect of abnormal Core binding factor-ß expression on proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis of chondrocytes, and elucidate the relationship between Core binding factor-ß and osteoarthritis-related markers and degenerative joint disease. METHODS: Cartilage tissues, from healthy subjects and patients with osteoarthritis, were collected for histology and expression of Core binding factor-ß, MMP-13, IL-1ß, COMP, and YKL-40. Human articular chondrocytes were cultured in vitro, and a viral vector was constructed to regulate cellular Core binding factor-ß expression. Cellular proliferation and apoptosis were observed, and osteoarthritis-related inflammatory factor expression and cartilage metabolite synthesis assayed. RESULTS: Human osteoarthritis lesions had disordered cartilage structure and cellular arrangement, and increased emptying of cartilage lacunae. Normal cell counts were significantly reduced, cartilage extracellular matrix was obviously damaged, and type II collagen expression was significantly decreased. Core binding factor-ß was highly expressed in the osteoarthritis cartilage (p < 0.001), and MMP-13, IL-1ß, COMP and YKL-40 expression were greater than found in normal cartilage (p < 0.001). Cellular proliferation in the Core binding factor-ß high-expression group was reduced and the total apoptosis rate was increased (p < 0.05), while the opposite was found in the Core binding factor-ß inhibition group (p < 0.01). Compared with normal chondrocytes, high Core binding factor-ß expression (Osteoarthritis and CBFB/pCDH groups) was associated with significantly increased MMP13, IL-1ß, COMP and YKL-40 protein expression (p < 0.01), while Core binding factor-ß inhibition (CBFB/pLKO.1 group) was associated with significantly decreased COMP, MMP13, IL-1ß and YKL-40 expression in osteoarthritis cells (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Abnormal Core binding factor-ß expression might play an upstream regulatory role in mediating abnormal chondrocyte apoptosis and the inflammatory response. On inhibiting Core binding factor-ß expression, a delay in cartilage degeneration was expected. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was registered for clinical trials in ChiCTR: ChiCTR1800017066 (Reg. Date-2018/7/10).

Association of Age and Size of Carotid Artery Intraplaque Hemorrhage and Minor Fibrous Cap Disruption: A High Resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.

AIM: To investigate the association between the volumes of different aging intraplaque hemorrhage (IPH) and minor fibrous cap disruption (MFCD) in carotid arteries. METHODS: Patients with cerebrovascular symptoms and carotid atherosclerotic plaques determined by ultrasound were recruited and underwent multi-contrast magnetic resonance (MR) vessel wall imaging for carotid arteries. Carotid plaques with IPH on MR imaging were included in the analysis. The age (fresh or recent) and the volume of IPH for each plaque were evaluated. RESULTS: In total, 41 carotid plaques in 37 patients (mean age 70.2±11.0 years old; 32 males) were eligible for statistical analysis. The absolute volume of fresh IPH in plaques with MFCD was significantly larger than that in plaques without MFCD (109.83±75.49 mm3 vs. 30.54±20.62 mm3, P=0.002). Logistic regression showed that the absolute volume of fresh IPH was significantly associated with MFCD before (odds ratio [OR], 1.735; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.127-2.670; P=0.012) and after adjusting for confounding factors (OR, 1.823; 95% CI, 1.076-3.090; P=0.026). There was no significant association between recent IPH volume and MFCD (P＞0.05). CONCLUSION: The volume of fresh IPH is independently associated with MFCD in carotid plaques, suggesting that integrity of fibrous cap may change with different age and size of IPH.

[Correlations between apparent diffusion coefficient in diffusion?weighted magnetic resonance imaging and molecular subtypes of invasive breast cancer masses].

OBJECTIVE: To study the correlation of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measured by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with the molecular subtypes and biological prognostic factors of invasive breast cancer masses. METHODS: Breast MRI data (including dynamic enhanced and diffusion-weighted imaging) were collected from 64 patients with pathologically confirmed invasive breast cancer masses (a total of 69 lesions). The mean ADC values of the lesions were calculated and their correlations were analyzed with the 5 molecular subtypes of invasive breast cancer and the biological prognostic factors including estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2), and Ki-67 index. RESULTS: The ADC values did not differ significantly among the 5 molecular subtypes of invasive breast cancer masses (P>0.05) or among lesions with different ER, PR, or HER2 status (P>0.05). The mean ADC values were significantly higher in Ki-67-positive lesions than in the negative lesions (P=0.023 and negatively correlated with the expressions of Ki-67 (r=-0.249). CONCLUSION: ADC value can not be used to identify the molecular subtypes of invasive breast cancer masses or to evaluate the biological prognosis of the lesions, but its correlation with Ki-67 expression may help in prognostic evaluation and guiding clinical therapy of the tumors.

Kalman Filtered Bio Heat Transfer Model Based Self-adaptive Hybrid Magnetic Resonance Thermometry.

To develop a self-adaptive and fast thermometry method by combining the original hybrid magnetic resonance thermometry method and the bio heat transfer equation (BHTE) model. The proposed Kalman filtered Bio Heat Transfer Model Based Self-adaptive Hybrid Magnetic Resonance Thermometry, abbreviated as KalBHT hybrid method, introduced the BHTE model to synthesize a window on the regularization term of the hybrid algorithm, which leads to a self-adaptive regularization both spatially and temporally with change of temperature. Further, to decrease the sensitivity to accuracy of the BHTE model, Kalman filter is utilized to update the window at each iteration time. To investigate the effect of the proposed model, computer heating simulation, phantom microwave heating experiment and dynamic in-vivo model validation of liver and thoracic tumor were conducted in this study. The heating simulation indicates that the KalBHT hybrid algorithm achieves more accurate results without adjusting λ to a proper value in comparison to the hybrid algorithm. The results of the phantom heating experiment illustrate that the proposed model is able to follow temperature changes in the presence of motion and the temperature estimated also shows less noise in the background and surrounding the hot spot. The dynamic in-vivo model validation with heating simulation demonstrates that the proposed model has a higher convergence rate, more robustness to susceptibility problem surrounding the hot spot and more accuracy of temperature estimation. In the healthy liver experiment with heating simulation, the RMSE of the hot spot of the proposed model is reduced to about 50% compared to the RMSE of the original hybrid model and the convergence time becomes only about one fifth of the hybrid model. The proposed model is able to improve the accuracy of the original hybrid algorithm and accelerate the convergence rate of MR temperature estimation.

Fast temperature estimation from undersampled k-space with fully-sampled center for MR guided microwave ablation.

PURPOSE: This study aims to accelerate MR temperature imaging using the proton resonance frequency (PRF) shift method for real time temperature monitoring during thermal ablation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The proposed method estimates temperature changes from undersampled k-space with a fully sampled center. This proposed algorithm is based on the hybrid multi-baseline and referenceless treatment image model and can be seen as an extension of the conventional k-space-based hybrid thermometry. The parameters of hybrid model are acquired by utilizing information from low resolution images which are obtained from fully-sampled centers of k-space. Registration is used to correct temperature errors due to the displacement of the subject. Phantom heating simulations, motion simulations, phantom heating and in-vivo experiments were performed to investigate the efficiency of the proposed method. SPIRiT and the conventional k-space estimation reconstruction thermometry were implemented for comparison using the same sampling pattern. RESULTS: The phantom heating simulations showed that the proposed method results in lower RMSEs than the conventional k-space hybrid thermometry and SPIRiT at various reduction factors tested. The motion simulations indicated the robustness of the proposed method to displacement of the subject. Phantom heating experiment further demonstrated the ability of the method to reconstruct temperature maps with less computation time and higher accuracy (RMSEs lower than 0.4°C) at a net reduction factor of 3.5 in the presence of large noise caused by a microwave needle. In-vivo experiments validated the feasibility of the proposed method to estimate temperature changes from undersampled k-space (net reduction factor 4.3) in presence of respiratory motion and complicated anatomical structure, while reducing computation time as much as 10-fold compared with the conventional k-space method. CONCLUSION: The proposed method accelerates the PRF-shift MR thermometry and provides more accurate temperature maps in presence of motion with relatively short computation time, which may make real time imaging for MR-guided microwave ablation possible.

[Magnetic resonance imaging characteristics of unilateral versus bilateral intraplaque hemorrhage in patients with carotid atherosclerotic plaques].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the difference in the vulnerability of carotid atherosclerotic plaques in patients with unilateral and bilateral intraplaque hemorrhage (IPH). METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted among 44 patients with unilateral IPH (30 cases) or bilateral IPH (14 cases) in the carotid plaques detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in our hospital between December, 2009 and December, 2012. The age, maximum wall thickness and incidence of fibrous cap rupture were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Compared with those with unilateral IPH, the patients with bilateral IPHs had a significantly younger age (66.6∓9.4 years vs 73.7∓9.0 years, P=0.027), a significantly greater maximum plaque thickness (6.3∓1.9 mm vs 5.0∓1.3 mm, P=0.035) and a higher incidence of ulcers (50% vs 13.3%, P=0.025). Logistic regression analysis revealed a significant association between bilateral IPHs and the occurrence of ulcer with an odd ratio (OR) of 6.5 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.5-28.7, P=0.014). After adjustment for gender in Model 1, bilateral IPHs were still significantly associated with presence of ulcer (OR=5.7, 95%CI: 1.1-29.2, P=0.036). But after adjustment for age (P=0.131) or maximum plaque thickness (P=0.139) in model 2, no significant correlation was found between bilateral IPHs and the presence of ulcer. CONCLUSION: Compared with patients with unilateral IPH, those with bilateral IPHs are at a younger age and have a greater plaque burden and a higher incidence of fibrous cap rupture, suggesting a greater vulnerability of the carotid plaques in patients with bilateral IPHs.