13 research outputs found
Lumbar Spinal Cord Activity and Blood Biochemical Changes in Individuals With Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy During Electrical Stimulation
It is difficult to perform an in vivo evaluation of the nerve conduction mechanism in a patient with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). We aim to explore possible activation differences to enable a further understanding of the nerve conduction mechanisms of diabetic neuropathy and to present a novel clinical method to evaluate nerve injury and recovery. DPN patients (n = 20) and healthy volunteers (n = 20) were included in this study to detect the functional activation of the lumbar spinal cord via electric stimulation. Spinal fMRI data sets were acquired via a single-shot fast spin echo (SSFSE) sequence. A task-related fMRI was performed via low-frequency electrical stimulation. After post-processing, the active voxels and the percentage of signal changes were calculated for the DPN evaluation and the correlations between the blood biochemical indexes, such as glucose, total cholesterol, and hemoglobin A1c were explored. Activation in the DPN patients was primarily observed in the T12 (10/13) vertebral level. The percentage of signal changes in DPN patients was higher than that in the control group (Z = â2.757, P < 0.05). Positive correlation between the percentage of signal changes and the total cholesterol/glucose in the DNP group was found (P < 0.05). Lumbar spinal cord fMRI, based on the SEEP effect, was determined to be feasible. The repetitive activation distribution was primarily located at the T12 vertebral level. Lumbar spinal cord fMRI might be used as a potential tool to assess and reveal the nerve conduction mechanisms in DPN
The genetic variants at the HLA-DRB1 gene are associated with primary IgA nephropathy in Han Chinese
BACKGROUND: Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), an immune-complex-mediated glomerulonephritis defined immunohistologically by the presence of glomerular IgA deposits, is the most common primary glomerular disease worldwide and a significant cause of end-stage renal disease. Familial clustering of patients with IgAN suggests a genetic predisposition. METHODS: In this study, 192 patients with IgAN and 192 normal controls in the Sichuan cohort and 935 patients with IgAN and 2,103 normal controls in the Beijing cohort were investigated. HLA-DRB1*01âDRB1*10 specificities were genotyped by the PCRâSSP technique in both cohorts. Based on the HLA-DRB1*04-positive results, the subtypes of HLA-DRB1*04 were analyzed using sequencing-based typing (SBT) in 291 IgAN cases and 420 matched controls. RESULTS: The frequency of HLA-DRB1*04 in the IgAN group was significantly higher than that in the control group (0.129 vs. 0.092, Pâ=â8.29âĂâ10(-5), odds ratio (OR) =1.381, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.178â1.619). Other alleles at the HLA-DRB1 locus were observed with no significant differences between the case and control groups. The dominant alleles of the HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes were DRB1*0405 in both cohorts. The frequencies of HLA-DRB1*0405 and 0403 were significantly increased in the patients compared to healthy subjects. CONCLUSION: HLA-DRB1*04 was significantly associated with primary IgAN in Chinese population. This result implies that HLA-DRB1 gene plays a major role in primary IgAN
ImageCAS: A Large-Scale Dataset and Benchmark for Coronary Artery Segmentation based on Computed Tomography Angiography Images
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for about half of non-communicable
diseases. Vessel stenosis in the coronary artery is considered to be the major
risk of CVD. Computed tomography angiography (CTA) is one of the widely used
noninvasive imaging modalities in coronary artery diagnosis due to its superior
image resolution. Clinically, segmentation of coronary arteries is essential
for the diagnosis and quantification of coronary artery disease. Recently, a
variety of works have been proposed to address this problem. However, on one
hand, most works rely on in-house datasets, and only a few works published
their datasets to the public which only contain tens of images. On the other
hand, their source code have not been published, and most follow-up works have
not made comparison with existing works, which makes it difficult to judge the
effectiveness of the methods and hinders the further exploration of this
challenging yet critical problem in the community. In this paper, we propose a
large-scale dataset for coronary artery segmentation on CTA images. In
addition, we have implemented a benchmark in which we have tried our best to
implement several typical existing methods. Furthermore, we propose a strong
baseline method which combines multi-scale patch fusion and two-stage
processing to extract the details of vessels. Comprehensive experiments show
that the proposed method achieves better performance than existing works on the
proposed large-scale dataset. The benchmark and the dataset are published at
https://github.com/XiaoweiXu/ImageCAS-A-Large-Scale-Dataset-and-Benchmark-for-Coronary-Artery-Segmentation-based-on-CT.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, 4 table
APT Weighted MRI as an Effective Imaging Protocol to Predict Clinical Outcome After Acute Ischemic Stroke
To explore the capability of the amide-proton-transfer weighted (APTW) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the evaluation of clinical neurological deficit at the time of hospitalization and assessment of long-term daily functional outcome for patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We recruited 55 AIS patients with brain MRI acquired within 24â48 h of symptom onset and followed up with their 90-day modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score. APT weighted MRI was performed for all the study subjects to measure APTW signal quantitatively in the acute ischemic area (APTWipsi) and the contralateral side (APTWcont). Change of the APT signal between the acute ischemic region and the contralateral side (ÎAPTW) was calculated. Maximum APTW signal (APTWmax) and minimal APTW signal (APTWmin) were also acquired to demonstrate APTW signals heterogeneity (APTWmaxâmin). In addition, all the patients were divided into 2 groups according to their 90-day mRS score (good prognosis group with mRS score <2 and poor prognosis group with mRS score âĽ2). In the meantime, ÎAPTW of these groups was compared. We found that ÎAPTW was in good correlation with National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score (R2 = 0.578, p < 0.001) and 90-day mRS score (R2 = 0.55, p < 0.001). There was significant difference of ÎAPTW between patients with good prognosis and patients with poor prognosis. Plus, APTWmaxâmin was significantly different between two groups. These results suggested that APT weighted MRI could be used as an effective tool to assess the stroke severity and prognosis for patients with AIS, with APTW signal heterogeneity as a possible biomarker
The Diagnostic Efficiency of Quantitative Diffusion Weighted Imaging in Differentiating Medulloblastoma from Posterior Fossa Tumors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Medulloblastoma (MB) is considered the most common and highly malignant posterior fossa tumor (PFT) in children. The accurate preoperative diagnosis of MB is beneficial in choosing the appropriate surgical methods and treatment strategies. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) has improved the accuracy of differential diagnosis of posterior fossa tumors. Nonetheless, further studies are needed to confirm its value for clinical application. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of DWI in differentiating MB from other PFT. A literature search was conducted using databases PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science for studies reporting the diagnostic performance of DWI for PFT from January 2000 to January 2022. A bivariate random-effects model was employed to evaluate the pooled sensitivities and specificities. A univariable meta-regression analysis was used to assess relevant factors for heterogeneity, and subgroup analyses were performed. A total of 15 studies with 823 patients were eligible for data extraction. Overall pooled sensitivity and specificity of DWI were 0.94 (95% confident interval [CI]: 0.89–0.97) and 0.94 (95% CI: 0.90–0.96) respectively. The area under the curve (AUC) of DWI was 0.98 (95% CI: 0.96–0.99). Heterogeneity was found in the sensitivity (I2 = 62.59%) and the specificity (I2 = 35.94%). Magnetic field intensity, region of interest definition and DWI diagnostic parameters are the factors that affect the diagnostic performance of DWI. DWI has excellent diagnostic accuracy for differentiating MB from other PFT. Hence, it is necessary to set DWI as a routine examination sequence for posterior fossa tumors
Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor type 2 is associated with the boneâvessel axis in chronic kidney diseaseâmineral bone disorder
AbstractObjective: The pathogenesis of renal osteopathy and cardiovascular disease suggests the disordered boneâvessel axis in chronic kidney diseaseâmineral bone disorder (CKDâMBD). However, the mechanism of the boneâvessel axis in CKDâMBD remains unclear.Methods: We established a CKDâMBD rat model to observe the pathophysiological phenotype of the boneâvessel axis and performed RNA sequencing of aortas to identify novel targets of the boneâvessel axis in CKDâMBD.Results: The microarchitecture of the femoral trabecular bone deteriorated and alveolar bone loss was aggravated in CKDâMBD rats. The intact parathyroid hormone and alkaline phosphatase levels increased, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 levels decreased, and intact fibroblast growth factor-23 levels did not increase in CKDâMBD rats at 16âweeks; other bone metabolic parameters in the serum demonstrated dynamic characteristics. With calcium deposition in the abdominal aortas of CKDâMBD rats, RNA sequencing of the aortas revealed a significant decrease in inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor type 2 (ITPR2) gene levels in CKDâMBD rats. A similar trend was observed in rat aortic smooth muscle cells. As a secretory protein, ITPR2 serum levels decreased at 4âweeks and slightly increased without statistical differences at 16âweeks in CKDâMBD rats. ITPR2 serum levels were significantly increased in patients with vascular calcification, negatively correlated with blood urea nitrogen levels, and positively correlated with serum tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b levels.Conclusion: These findings provide preliminary insights into the role of ITPR2 in the boneâvessel axis in CKDâMBD. Thus, ITPR2 may be a potential target of the boneâvessel axis in CKDâMBD
Kidney manifestations of mild, moderate and severe coronavirus disease 2019: a retrospective cohort study
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic that has affected more than 3 million patients globally. Previous data from Wuhan city showed that acute kidney injury (AKI), proteinuria and hematuria occurred frequently in patients with severe COVID-19. However, the prevalence of kidney injury in milder cases remains unclear. Methods: This retrospective study included two major consecutive cohorts of COVID-19 patients in Sichuan Province. Baseline characteristics, laboratory data including renal function, proteinuria and dipstick hematuria, and other laboratory parameters were collected. A subgroup of patients was followed up for 2â4âweeks to evaluate the short-term outcome of renal impairment