The value of amide proton transfer imaging in assessing brain damage in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the application value of amide proton transfer (APT) magnetic resonance imaging in evaluating brain damage in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: 49 OSA patients and 25 healthy individuals matched for age and sex were included as case and control groups. All study participants underwent conventional 3D T1WI and APT imaging of the head. The APT values were measured in each of the brain regions of interest (ROI). To compare the differences in APT values of each brain region between the case and control groups, to compare the differences in the efficacy of APT values of each brain region in diagnosing OSA, and to investigate the correlation between APT values of each brain region and Apnea Hypopnea Index (AHI) and minimum blood oxygen saturation. RESULTS: Compared to the control group, patients with OSA had elevated APT values in several brain regions (P < 0.05), and the diagnostic efficacy of the combined diagnosis of OSA by multiple brain regions is better than that by each brain region alone.Left frontal APT values were positively correlated with AHI in the case group (r = 0.33, P = 0.020).In the case group, the APT values of bilateral frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, left temporal lobe, right thalamus, left internal capsule, left lenticular nucleus, right cerebellar hemisphere and splenium of corpus callosum were negatively correlated with the minimum blood oxygen saturation, and the APT values for each of the above ROIs were positively correlated. CONCLUSION: APT imaging has a certain value in evaluating brain damage in OSA patients, which may provide a new objective imaging basis for the clinical diagnosis of OSA.

High-frequency rTMS over the left DLPFC improves the response inhibition control of young healthy participants: an ERP combined 1H-MRS study.

Introduction: Unlike the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in treating neuropsychiatric diseases, little is known about how personal factors might account for the disparity of results from studies of cognition and rTMS. In this study, we investigated the effects of high-frequency rTMS on response inhibition control and explored the time course changes in cognitive processing and brain metabolic mechanisms after rTMS using event-related potentials (ERPs) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS). Methods: Participants were all right-handed and were naive to rTMS and the Go/NoGo task. Twenty-five healthy young participants underwent one 10 Hz rTMS session per day in which stimulation was applied over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and a homogeneous participant group of 25 individuals received a sham rTMS treatment for 1 week. A Go/NoGo task was performed, an electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded, and 1H-MRS was performed. Results: The results revealed that there was a strong trend of decreasing commission errors of NoGo stimuli by high frequency rTMS over the left DLPFC, whereas there was no significant difference between before and after rTMS treatment with respect to these parameters in the sham rTMS group. High-frequency rTMS significantly increased the amplitude of NoGo-N2 but not Go-N2, Go-P3, or NoGo-P3. The myo-inositol /creatine complex (MI/Cr) ratio, indexing cerebral metabolism, in the left DLPFC was decreased in the rTMS treated group. Discussion: This observation supports the view that high-frequency rTMS over the left DLPFC has the strong tendency of reducing commission errors behaviorally, increase the amplitude of NoGo-N2 and improve the response inhibition control of healthy young participants. The results are consistent with the excitatory properties of high frequency rTMS. We suggest that the increase in the NoGo-N2 amplitude may be related to the increased excitability of the DLPFC-anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) neural loop. Metabolic changes in the DLPFC may be a possible mechanism for the improvement of the response inhibition control of rTMS.

Radiomics Based on Lumbar Spine Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Detect Osteoporosis.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Signal intensity of the lumbar spine in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) correlates to bone mineral density (BMD). This study aims to explore a lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging based on the radiomics model for detecting osteoporosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 109 patients, who underwent both dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and MRI of the lumbar spine, were recruited. Among these patients, 38 patients were normal, 32 patients had osteopenia, and 39 patients had osteoporosis, according to the DEXA results. A total of 396 × 2 radiomic features were extracted from the T1WI and T2WI images of the segmentation images in the lumbar magnetic resonance imaging. The correlated radiomic features were selected to establish the radiomic classification model. Then, the classification models (based on T1WI, T2WI, and T1WI+T2WI) of normal vs. osteopenia, normal vs. osteoporosis, and osteopenia vs. osteoporosis were established. The performance of the classification models was evaluated through the estimated area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. RESULTS: The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves based on T1WI, T2WI, and T1WI+T2WI were 0.772, 0.772, and 0.810, respectively, for the models of normal vs. osteopenia, 0.724, 0.682, and 0.797, respectively, for the models of normal vs. osteoporosis, and 0.730, 0.734, and 0.769, respectively, for the models of osteopenia vs. osteoporosis. CONCLUSION: Radiomic models established based on lumbar spine MRI can be used to detect osteoporosis.

The positive effects of high-frequency right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on memory, correlated with increases in brain metabolites detected by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on memory, and its correlation with levels of hippocampal brain metabolites detected by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) in recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this randomized, double-blind sham-controlled trial, alcohol-dependent patients were enrolled and randomized into two groups: the experimental group (rTMS, 10 Hz, on right DLPFC, 20 sessions) and the control group (sham stimulation). Memory function was assessed using Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R) and Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R) before and after treatment. 1H-MRS was used to detect the levels of N-acetyl aspartic acid (NAA), choline (Cho), and creatine (Cr) in bilateral hippocampi before and after treatment. RESULTS: Thirty-eight patients (18 in the experimental group and 20 in the control group) were included in the analyses. The experimental group showed significantly greater changes in HVLT-R, BVMT-R, NAA/Cr, and Cho/Cr after rTMS from baseline than the control group. The percentage change in BVMT-R and HVLT-R correlated with the percentage change in NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr in the right brain. CONCLUSION: High-frequency right DLPFC rTMS was associated with improvement in memory dysfunction, which is correlated with levels of hippocampal brain metabolites detected by 1H-MRS in recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients.

[The effect of the metallic dental materials on magnetic resonance imaging].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the influence of conventional metal materials in oral cavity on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). METHODS: Four kinds of metal materials (metal ligature wire, forging hard and slotless denture, casting nichrome denture, casting copper alloy denture) in oral cavity were scanned through MRI. FSE sequence T1 weighted imaging (FSE T1), EPI diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) sequence of ordinary, Propeller DWI imaging were used. RESULTS: In FSE T1 sequence, metal ligature wire and forging hard and slotless denture produced serious false image, casting nichrome denture produced moderate false image, casting copper alloy denture produced only little false image. In EPI DWI sequence, obvious magnetic-sensitive false image were produced in the dissection tissue of the brain by metal ligature wire. While in Propeller DWI sequence, magnetic-sensitive false image were greatly reduced and satisfactory images were formed. CONCLUSION: Different metal materials in oral cavity have different influence on the MRI. The false images produced by different metal materials are closely related to the type of the material. Magnetic-sensitive false images can be eliminated by Propeller DWI technique.