Application of texture analysis to muscle MRI: 1-What kind of information should be expected from texture analysis?

Several previous clinical or preclinical studies using computerized texture analysis of MR Images have demonstrated much more clinical discrimination than visual image analysis by the radiologist. In muscular dystrophy, a discriminating power has been already demonstrated with various methods of texture analysis of magnetic resonance images (MRI-TA). Unfortunately, a scale gap exists between the spatial resolutions of histological and MR images making a direct correlation impossible. Furthermore, the effect of the various histological modifications on the gray level of each pixel is complex and cannot be easily analyzed. Consequently, clinicians will not accept the use of MRI-TA in routine practice if TA remains a “black box” without clinical correspondence at a tissue level. A goal therefore of the multicenter European COST action MYO-MRI is to optimize MRI-TA methods in muscular dystrophy and to elucidate the histological meaning of MRI textures.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Prebiotic effects of olive pomace powders in the gut: In vitro evaluation of the inhibition of adhesion of pathogens, prebiotic and antioxidant effects

Supplementary data related to this article can be found at https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2020.106312Olive pomace is a biowaste rich in polyphenols and insoluble dietary fibre with high potential to develop new value chains towards a sustainable and circular bioeconomy. Regarding gut health, olive pomace phenolics and insoluble dietary fibre (after possible fermentation) could act as antioxidants, antimicrobial and prebiotic agents. These potential beneficial effects on the gut were analysed for two powders from olive pomace: liquid-enriched powder (LOPP) - mostly source of phenolics - and pulp-enriched powder (POPP) - main source of insoluble dietary fibre. LOPP and POPP were subjected to an in vitro simulated gastrointestinal digestion followed by in vitro faecal fermentation. The undigested fraction retained in the colon was analysed regarding its potential antioxidant, antimicrobial and prebiotic effects. LOPP and POPP did not impact the gut microbiota diversity negatively, showing a similar ratio of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes compared to a positive control (FOS). LOPP exhibit a positive (similar to FOS) effect on the Prevotella spp./Bacteroides spp. ratio. Both powders also promoted more the production of short-chain fatty acids (mainly acetate?>?butyrate?>?propionate) than FOS. Both powders showed also significant total phenolic content and oxygen radical absorbance capacity during faecal fermentation until 48?h. Besides that, these powders showed mucin-adhesion inhibition ability against pathogens, principally POPP against Bacillus cereus (22.03?±?2.45%) and Listeria monocytogenes (20.01?±?1.93%). This study demonstrates that olive pomace powders have prebiotic effects on microbiota, including the stimulation of short-chain fatty acids production, potential antioxidant and antimicrobial activity which could improve human gut health.Tˆania I. B. Ribeiro thanks the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal and Association BLC3 – Technology and Innovation Campus, Centre Bio R&D Unit for the PhD Grant SFRH/BDE/108271/2015. This work was supported by National Funds from FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal through the project MULTI-BIOREFINERY - SAICTPAC/0040/2015 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER- 016403). We would also like to thank the scientific collaboration under the FCT project UID/Multi/50016/2019.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements