Combined Visualization of Nigrosome-1 and Neuromelanin in the Substantia Nigra Using 3T MRI for the Differential Diagnosis of Essential Tremor and de novo Parkinson's Disease

Differentiating early-stage Parkinson's disease (PD) from essential tremor (ET) remains challenging. In the current study, we aimed to evaluate whether visual analyses of neuromelanin-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging (NM-MRI) combined with nigrosome-1 (N1) imaging using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) in the substantia nigra (SN) are of diagnostic value in the differentiation of de novo PD from untreated ET. Sixty-eight patients with de novo PD, 25 patients with untreated ET, and 34 control participants underwent NM-MRI and QSM. NM and N1 signals in the SN on MR images were visually evaluated using a 3-point ordinal scale. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed to determine the diagnostic values of the visual ratings of NM and N1. The diagnostic values of the predicted probabilities were calculated via logistic regression analysis using the combination of NM and N1 visual ratings, as well as their quadratic items. The proportions of invisible NM and invisible N1 were significantly higher in the PD group than those in the ET and control groups (p < 0.001). The sensitivity/specificity for differentiating PD from ET was 0.882/0.800 for NM and 0.794/0.920 for N1, respectively. Combining the two biomarkers, the area under the curve (AUC) of the predicted probabilities was 0.935, and the sensitivity/specificity was 0.853/0.920 when the cutoff value was set to 0.704. Our findings demonstrate that visual analyses combing NM and N1 imaging in the SN may aid in differential diagnosis of PD and ET. Furthermore, our results suggest that patients with PD exhibit larger iron deposits in the SN than those with ET

Locating in Crowdsourcing-Based DataSpace: Wireless Indoor Localization without Special Devices.

International audienc

Locating in crowdsourcing-based dataSpace: wireless indoor localization without special devices

International audienceLocating a target in an indoor social environment with a Mobile Network is important and difficult for location-based applications and services such as targeted advertisements, geosocial networking and emergency services. A number of radio-based solutions have been proposed. However, these solutions, more or less, require a special infrastructure or extensive pre-training of a site survey. Since people habitually carry their mobile devices with them, the opportunity using a large amount of crowd-sourced data on human behavior to design an indoor localization system is rapidly advancing. In this study, we first confirm the existence of crowd behavior and the fact that it can be recognized using location-based wireless mobility information. On this basis, we design "Locating in Crowdsourcing-based DataSpace" (LiCS) algorithm, which is based on sensing and analyzing wireless information. The process of LiCS is crowdsourcing-based. We implement the prototype system of LiCS. Experimental results show that LiCS achieves comparable location accuracy to previous approaches even without any special hardwar

Locating using prior information: wireless indoor localization algorithm.

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Structural basis of LaDR5, a novel agonistic anti-death receptor 5 (DR5) monoclonal antibody, to inhibit DR5/TRAIL complex formation

Abstract Background As a member of the TNF superfamily, TRAIL could induce human tumor cell apoptosis through its cognate death receptors DR4 or DR5, which can induce formation of the death inducing signaling complex (DISC) and activation of the membrane proximal caspases (caspase-8 or caspase-10) and mitochondrial pathway. Some monoclonal antibodies against DR4 or DR5 have been reported to have anti-tumor activity. Results In this study, we reported a novel mouse anti-human DR5 monoclonal antibody, named as LaDR5, which could compete with TRAIL to bind DR5 and induce the apoptosis of Jurkat cells in the absence of second cross-linking in vitro. Using computer-guided molecular modeling method, the 3-D structure of LaDR5 Fv fragment was constructed. According to the crystal structure of DR5, the 3-D complex structure of DR5 and LaDR5 was modeled using molecular docking method. Based on distance geometry method and intermolecular hydrogen bonding analysis, the key functional domain in DR5 was predicted and the DR5 mutants were designed. And then, three mutants of DR5 was expressed in prokaryotic system and purified by affinity chromatograph to determine the epitope of DR5 identified by LaDR5, which was consistent with the theoretical results of computer-aided analysis. Conclusions Our results demonstrated the specific epitope located in DR5 that plays a crucial role in antibody binding and even antineoplastic bioactivity. Meanwhile, revealed structural features of DR5 may be important to design or screen novel drugs agonist DR5.</p