Non-invasive Amide Proton Transfer Imaging and ZOOM Diffusion-Weighted Imaging in Differentiating Benign and Malignant Thyroid Micronodules

Background: Pre-operative non-invasive differentiation of benign and malignant thyroid nodules is difficult for doctors. This study aims to determine whether amide proton transfer (APT) imaging and zonally oblique multi-slice (ZOOM) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) can provide increased accuracy in differentiating benign and malignant thyroid nodules.Methods: This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board and included 60 thyroid nodules in 50 patients. All of the nodules were classified as malignant (n = 21) or benign (n = 39) based on pathology. It was meaningful to analyze the APT and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of the two groups by independent t-test to identify the benign and malignant thyroid nodules. The relationship between APT and ZOOM DWI was explored through Pearson correlation analysis. The diagnostic efficacy of APT and ZOOM DWI in determining if thyroid nodules were benign or malignant was compared using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.Results: The mean APTw value of the benign nodules was 2.99 ± 0.79, while that of the malignant nodules was 2.14 ± 0.73. Additionally, there was a significant difference in the APTw values of the two groups (P < 0.05). The mean ADC value of the benign nodules was 1.84 ± 0.41, and was significantly different from that of the malignant nodules, which was 1.21 ± 0.19 (P < 0.05). Scatter point and Pearson test showed a moderate positive correlation between the APT and ADC values (P < 0.05). The ROC curve showed that the area under the curve (AUC) value of ZOOM DWI (AUC = 0.937) was greater than that of APT (AUC = 0.783) (P = 0.028).Conclusion: APT and ZOOM DWI imaging improved the accuracy of distinguishing between benign and malignant thyroid nodules. ZOOM DWI is superior to APTw imaging (Z = 2.198, P < 0.05)

Vitamin D improves autoimmune diseases by inhibiting Wnt signaling pathway

Abstract Objective In this study, we investigated the development of the Wnt signaling pathway in vitamin D (VitD) to improve systemic lupus erythematosus in mice to breakthrough clinical treatment approaches. Methods Body weight changes were recorded during rearing. Antinuclear antibodies (ANA), anti‐dsDNA, and anti‐snRNP were detected in the mouse serum using an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Apoptosis of Th1 and Th2 immune cells in mice was detected using flow cytometry. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the expression of T‐bet, GATA3, and Wnt3a mRNA in the spleens of each group. Western blot analysis was performed to detect the expression of Wnt1, p‐β‐catenin, β‐catenin, glycogen synthase kinsase3β (GSK‐3β), Wnt3a, c‐myc, and cyclin D1 protein in mice spleens. β‐catenin in mice spleen was visualized using immunohistochemistry. Results VitD did not substantial reduce the body weight of MRL/LPR mice, whereas the inhibitor did. VitD notably decreased the concentrations of ANA, anti‐double‐stranded DNA, and anti‐snRNP in the serum of MRL/LPR mice and alleviated apoptosis of Th1 and Th2 cells. VitD markedly increased the expression of T‐bet and GATA mRNA in the spleen of MRL/LPR mice and consequently increased the levels of Wnt3a and β‐catenin. Western blot analysis revealed that the levels of GSK‐3β, p‐β‐catenin, Wnt1, Wnt3a, c‐myc, and cyclin D1 could be reduced by VitD, compared with MRL/LPR. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that the expression of β‐catenin was the most pronounced in the spleen of MRL/LPR mice, and the expression level of β‐catenin decreased substantially after VitD intervention. Conclusions VitD can further inhibit the nuclear translocation of β‐catenin by downregulating the expression of Wnt ligands (Wnt1 and Wnt3a), which reduces the expression of the downstream target gene cyclin D1. Systemic lupus erythematosus in mice was improved by inhibiting the activation of Wnt/β‐catenin signal pathway

Comparative Plastomes of <i>Curcuma alismatifolia</i> (Zingiberaceae) Reveal Diversified Patterns among 56 Different Cut-Flower Cultivars

Curcuma alismatifolia (Zingiberaceae) is an ornamental species with high economic value due to its recent rise in popularity among floriculturists. Cultivars within this species have mixed genetic backgrounds from multiple hybridization events and can be difficult to distinguish via morphological and histological methods alone. Given the need to improve identification resources, we carried out the first systematic study using plastomic data wherein genomic evolution and phylogenetic relationships from 56 accessions of C. alismatifolia were analyzed. The newly assembled plastomes were highly conserved and ranged from 162,139 bp to 164,111 bp, including 79 genes that code for proteins, 30 tRNA genes, and 4 rRNA genes. The A/T motif was the most common of SSRs in the assembled genomes. The Ka/Ks values of most genes were less than 1, and only two genes had Ka/Ks values above 1, which were rps15 (1.15), and ndhl (1.13) with petA equal to 1. The sequence divergence between different varieties of C. alismatifolia was large, and the percentage of variation in coding regions was lower than that in the non-coding regions. Such data will improve cultivar identification, marker assisted breeding, and preservation of germplasm resources

Hyperon Polarization along the Beam Direction Relative to the Second and Third Harmonic Event Planes in Isobar Collisions at <math display="inline"><mrow><msqrt><mrow><msub><mrow><mi>s</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>N</mi><mi>N</mi></mrow></msub></mrow></msqrt><mo>=</mo><mn>200</mn><mtext> </mtext><mtext> </mtext><mi>GeV</mi></mrow></math>

The polarization of Λ and Λ¯ hyperons along the beam direction has been measured relative to the second and third harmonic event planes in isobar Ru+Ru and Zr+Zr collisions at sNN=200  GeV. This is the first experimental evidence of the hyperon polarization by the triangular flow originating from the initial density fluctuations. The amplitudes of the sine modulation for the second and third harmonic results are comparable in magnitude, increase from central to peripheral collisions, and show a mild pT dependence. The azimuthal angle dependence of the polarization follows the vorticity pattern expected due to elliptic and triangular anisotropic flow, and qualitatively disagrees with most hydrodynamic model calculations based on thermal vorticity and shear induced contributions. The model results based on one of existing implementations of the shear contribution lead to a correct azimuthal angle dependence, but predict centrality and pT dependence that still disagree with experimental measurements. Thus, our results provide stringent constraints on the thermal vorticity and shear-induced contributions to hyperon polarization. Comparison to previous measurements at RHIC and the LHC for the second-order harmonic results shows little dependence on the collision system size and collision energy.The polarization of $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$ hyperons along the beam direction has been measured relative to the second and third harmonic event planes in isobar Ru+Ru and Zr+Zr collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. This is the first experimental evidence of the hyperon polarization by the triangular flow originating from the initial density fluctuations. The amplitudes of the sine modulation for the second and third harmonic results are comparable in magnitude, increase from central to peripheral collisions, and show a mild $p_T$ dependence. The azimuthal angle dependence of the polarization follows the vorticity pattern expected due to elliptic and triangular anisotropic flow, and qualitatively disagree with most hydrodynamic model calculations based on thermal vorticity and shear induced contributions. The model results based on one of existing implementations of the shear contribution lead to a correct azimuthal angle dependence, but predict centrality and $p_T$ dependence that still disagree with experimental measurements. Thus, our results provide stringent constraints on the thermal vorticity and shear-induced contributions to hyperon polarization. Comparison to previous measurements at RHIC and the LHC for the second-order harmonic results shows little dependence on the collision system size and collision energy