Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Prenat Diagn 2021 Jun 12. Epub 2021 Jun 12.

Fetal & Neonatal Cardiology Program, Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Objectives: To document the clinical spectrum and outcomes of fetal DORV without heterotaxy in a recent diagnostic era.

Methods: Prenatal cases of DORV consecutively diagnosed from 2007-2018 were retrospectively identified. Clinical records, including details regarding genetic testing and pre and postnatal imaging were reviewed. Read More

Aging (Albany NY) 2021 Jun 11;13. Epub 2021 Jun 11.

Department of Anesthesiology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430060, China.

Diabetic patients are more vulnerable to cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (CIR) injury and have a worse prognosis and higher mortality after ischemic stroke than non-diabetic counterparts. Melatonin can exert neuroprotective effects against CIR injury in nondiabetic animal models. However, its effects on diabetic CIR injury and the underlying mechanisms remain unclarified. Read More

Eur J Radiol 2021 Jun 6;141:109812. Epub 2021 Jun 6.

Department of Radiodiagnosis, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, 160012, India.

Purpose: This review discusses characteristic, subtle, and florid changes in muscle, fascia, skin, and subcutaneous tissue of the lower limbs in MR imaging in patients with dermatomyositis.

Material And Methods: This review is based on the analysis of 43 patients with dermatomyositis who were imaged from January 2014 to March 2021 in our institute as well a critical review of literature of MRI in dermatomyositis.

Results: Muscle involvement is predominantly bilaterally symmetric and involves anterior, posterior as well as medial compartments of the thigh. Read More

Comput Biol Med 2021 Jun 1;134:104537. Epub 2021 Jun 1.

School of Electrical Engineering and Computing, The University of Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the deadliest diseases in developed countries. Treatments following early AD detection can significantly delay institutionalisation and extend patients' independence. There has been a growing focus on early AD detection using artificial intelligence. Read More

J Neurol Sci 2021 Jun 1;427:117518. Epub 2021 Jun 1.

Singapore General Hospital, Singapore; Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore. Electronic address:

Background: Age-related white matter lesions (WML) are common, impact neuronal connectivity, and affect motor function and cognition. In addition to pathological nigrostriatal losses, WML are also common co-morbidities in Parkinson's disease (PD) that affect postural stability and gait. Automated brain volume measures are increasingly incorporated into the clinical reporting workflow to facilitate precision in medicine. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2021 Jun 1;791:148177. Epub 2021 Jun 1.

University of Maryland, College Park, USA. Electronic address:

In watersheds located in semi-arid regions, vegetation dynamics, evapotranspiration (ET), and associated water and energy balances collectively play a major role in controlling hydrological regimes and crop yield. As such, it is challenging to predict the complex hydrological processes and biophysical dynamics. This challenge increases in areas with limited data availability. Read More

Med Image Anal 2021 May 18;72:102102. Epub 2021 May 18.

School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China; SenseTime Research, Shanghai, China.

Segmentation of organs or lesions from medical images plays an essential role in many clinical applications such as diagnosis and treatment planning. Though Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) have achieved the state-of-the-art performance for automatic segmentation, they are often limited by the lack of clinically acceptable accuracy and robustness in complex cases. Therefore, interactive segmentation is a practical alternative to these methods. Read More

Prev Vet Med 2021 Jun 5;193:105399. Epub 2021 Jun 5.

New Ruipeng Pet Healthcare Group Co. LTD., Beijing, 100010, China.

Cardiomegaly is the main imaging finding for canine heart diseases. There are many advances in the field of medical diagnosing based on imaging with deep learning for human being. However there are also increasing realization of the potential of using deep learning in veterinary medicine. Read More

Neuroimage Clin 2021 Jun 4;31:102712. Epub 2021 Jun 4.

Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

This work validates the generalizability of MRI-based classification of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and controls (CN) to an external data set and to the task of prediction of conversion to AD in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We used a conventional support vector machine (SVM) and a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) approach based on structural MRI scans that underwent either minimal pre-processing or more extensive pre-processing into modulated gray matter (GM) maps. Classifiers were optimized and evaluated using cross-validation in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI; 334 AD, 520 CN). Read More

Stem Cell Res 2021 Jun 6;54:102415. Epub 2021 Jun 6.

Department of Chemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA. Electronic address:

Superoxide Dismutase 1 (SOD1) is an antioxidant enzyme that protects the cells from radical oxygen species. To study the behavior of endogenous SOD1 under a microscope, we genetically modified H1 human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to express SOD1 fused with a SNAP-tag, a protein tag that can be covalently labeled with a variety of synthetic probes. The engineered homozygous clone expressing SOD1-SNAP fusion proteins has normal stem cell morphology and karyotype, expresses pluripotency markers, and can be differentiated into all three germ layers in vitro, providing a versatile platform for imaging-based studies of SOD1. Read More

Int J Surg Case Rep 2021 May 26;84:106027. Epub 2021 May 26.

Augusta University, Department of Surgery, United States of America. Electronic address:

Introduction And Importance: Hemobilia and hemorrhagic cholecystitis are uncommon causes of right upper quadrant abdominal pain. The development of intra-gallbladder and biliary bleeding has been primarily associated with abdominal trauma, malignancy, liver transplant, and iatrogenic injury to the biliary tree and vasculature. Spontaneous anticoagulant induced hemorrhagic cholecystitis and hemobilia are incredibly rare events and have only been documented by a handful of case reports. Read More

Int J Surg Case Rep 2021 Jun 9;84:106072. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, Kendall Regional Medical Center, Miami, FL, USA; University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.

Introduction And Importance: Pseudoaneurysms secondary to traumatic vessel wall disruption are a rare but potentially fatal complication after traumatic injury. The majority of the cases are found incidentally.

Case Presentation: An 80-year-old woman was brought into our Level 1 Trauma Center after sustaining a ground-level fall with significant facial swelling. Read More

J Hazard Mater 2021 Jun 5;418:126328. Epub 2021 Jun 5.

School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, University College of Dublin (UCD), Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.

The addition of plastic substances in teabags is of increasing concern for conscious consumers due to the harmful effects on the environment and the potential threats to human health. This work introduces an innovative and cost-effective approach to detect and quantify plastic substances in teabags by applying near infrared hyperspectral imaging (951-2496 nm) coupled with multivariate analysis. Teabags from 6 popular brands were investigated and categorized into three classes based on spectral unmixing and target detection results: 1) the plastic teabag primarily made of nylon 6/6; 2) those made of a composite with various polypropylene and cellulose ratios; 3) biodegradable teabags free from any plastic traces. Read More

Int J Surg Case Rep 2021 May 23;83:106008. Epub 2021 May 23.

Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. Electronic address:

Introduction And Importance: Functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) that express pancreatic polypeptide-PPomas-do not yet have a pathognomonic clinical syndrome associated with them due to their overall rarity and diverse symptoms. Moreover, in patients with MEN1, the often multifocal nature of pNETs presents a unique clinical issue.

Case Presentation: We report a case of a 22-year-old man with a known MEN1 gene mutation who was suffering from severe diarrhea (7-8 bowel movements per day) and was found to have only elevated PP levels on biochemical work-up. Read More

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc 2021 Jun 4;261:120044. Epub 2021 Jun 4.

Institute of Environmental Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, PR China. Electronic address:

Fluorescent probes have contributed greatly to our understanding of the biological role of peroxynitrite (ONOO). The ONOO fluorescence probe characterized by the arlyboronate received a moderate opening fluorescence response, and the borate-masked probe significantly increased the sensitivity of ONOO. Thus, two simple fluorescent probes (ADB and ANB) with the recognition receptor of phenyl boronate moiety were constructed for the detection of ONOO. Read More

Comput Methods Programs Biomed 2021 May 24;208:106194. Epub 2021 May 24.

Brain Modelling Group, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; BaBA center, Department of Children's Clinical Neurophysiology, Children's hospital, HUS Medical Imaging center, Helsinki University Central Hospital and University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address:

Background And Objective: To develop a computational algorithm that detects and identifies different artefact types in neonatal electroencephalography (EEG) signals.

Methods: As part of a larger algorithm, we trained a Residual Deep Neural Network on expert human annotations of EEG recordings from 79 term infants recorded in a neonatal intensive care unit (112 h of 18-channel recording). The network was trained using 10 fold cross validation in Matlab. Read More

Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol 2021 Jun 9. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Department of Gastroenterology, Herlev Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Background And Aims: The trigger hypothesis opens the possibility of anti-flare-initiation therapies by stating that ulcerative colitis (UC) flares originates from inadequate responses to acute mucosal injuries. However, experimental evidence is restricted by a limited use of suitable human models. We thus aimed to investigate the acute mucosal barrier injury responses in humans with and without UC using an experimental injury model. Read More

Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol 2021 Jun 9. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Liver Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address:

Background & Aims: Patients with simple steatosis (SS) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) can develop progressive liver fibrosis, which is associated with liver-related mortality. The mechanisms contributing to liver fibrosis development in SS, however, are poorly understood. SS is characterized by hepatocellular free fatty acid (FFA) accumulation without lobular inflammation seen in NASH. Read More

Mol Metab 2021 Jun 9:101270. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Center for Immunology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. Electronic address:

Objective: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) covers a wide spectrum of liver pathology ranging from simple fatty liver to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Notably, immune cell-driven inflammation is a key mechanism in the transition from fatty liver to the more serious NASH. Although exercise training is effective at ameliorating obesity-related diseases, the underlying mechanisms of the beneficial effects of exercise remain unclear. Read More

Genomics Proteomics Bioinformatics 2021 Jun 9. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

MOE Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, Hubei Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Molecular-imaging, Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; College of Life Science, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China. Electronic address:

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) of human fecal samples into germ-free (GF) mice is useful for establishing causal relationships between the gut microbiota and human phenotypes. However, due to the intrinsic differences between human and mouse intestines and the different diets of the two organisms, it may not be possible to replicate human phenotypes in mice through FMT; similarly, treatments that are effective in mouse models may not be effective in humans. In this study, we aimed to identify human gut microbes that undergo significant and consistent changes (i. Read More

J Shoulder Elbow Surg 2021 Jun 9. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle WA, USA.

Background: Decreases in bone density of the scapula due to age and disease can make orthopedic procedures such as arthroplasty and fracture fixation challenging. There is limited information in the literature regarding the effect of age and sex on the patterns of these density changes across the bone. Characterizing these changes could assist the surgeon in planning optimal instrumentation placement. Read More

Spine J 2021 Jun 9. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hospital for Special Surgery, 535 East 70th Street, New York, NY, 10021, USA; Weill Cornell Medical College, 1300 York Ave, New York, NY, 10065, USA. Electronic address:

Background Context: Minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MI-TLIF) is a common operative approach to address degenerative lumbar stenosis and spondylolisthesis which has failed nonoperative care. Compared to open TLIF, MI-TLIF relies to a greater extent on indirect decompression resulting in a heightened awareness of spondylolisthesis reduction among MI surgeons. To what extent intraoperative reduction is achieved as well as the rate and clinical impact of loss or reduction and slip recurrence remain unknown. Read More

Spine J 2021 Jun 9. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Department of Neurosurgery, Ansan Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Ansan, Republic of Korea. Electronic address:

Background Context: Laminoplasty of the cervical spine is widely used as an effective surgical method to treat compressive myelopathy of the cervical spine; however, there is an adverse effect of kyphosis after surgery. The risk factors or predictors of kyphosis have not been sufficiently evaluated.

Purpose: To assess the risk factors for kyphosis following laminoplasty. Read More

Neuroimage 2021 Jun 9:118256. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Institute of Medical Physics and Radiation Protection (IMPS), TH-Mittelhessen University of Applied Sciences (THM), Giessen, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior (CMBB), Marburg, Germany.

In vivo diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging is limited in signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) and acquisition time, which constrains spatial resolution to the macroscale regime. Ex vivo imaging, which allows for arbitrarily long scan times, is critical for exploring human brain structure in the mesoscale regime without loss of SNR. Standard head array coils designed for patients are sub-optimal for imaging ex vivo whole brain specimens. Read More

Neuroimage 2021 Jun 9:118200. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, USA.

We propose a novel optimization framework that integrates imaging and genetics data for simultaneous biomarker identification and disease classification. The generative component of our model uses a dictionary learning framework to project the imaging and genetic data into a shared low dimensional space. We have coupled both the data modalities by tying the linear projection coefficients to the same latent space. Read More

Neuroimage 2021 Jun 10;238:118257. Epub 2021 Jun 10.

Department of Neurology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, School of Medicine, 88# Jiefang Road, Hangzhou 310009, China. Electronic address:

Few studies have focused on the connection between glymphatic dysfunction and cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), partially due to the lack of non-invasive methods to measure glymphatic function. We established modified index for diffusion tensor image analysis along the perivascular space (mALPS-index), which was calculated on diffusion tensor image (DTI), compared it with the classical detection of glymphatic clearance function calculated on Glymphatic MRI after intrathecal administration of gadolinium (study 1), and analyzed the relationship between CSVD imaging markers and mALPS-index in CSVD patients from the CIRCLE study (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03542734) (study 2). Read More

Neuroimage 2021 Jun 9;238:118259. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, 200 First Street SW, Rochester 55905, MN, USA.

Since tau PET tracers were introduced, investigators have quantified them using a wide variety of automated methods. As longitudinal cohort studies acquire second and third time points of serial within-person tau PET data, determining the best pipeline to measure change has become crucial. We compared a total of 415 different quantification methods (each a combination of multiple options) according to their effects on a) differences in annual SUVR change between clinical groups, and b) longitudinal measurement repeatability as measured by the error term from a linear mixed-effects model. Read More

Neuroimage 2021 Jun 9:118260. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518055, China. Electronic address:

Revealing the structural and functional change of microvasculature is essential to match vascular response with neuronal activities in the investigation of neurovascular coupling. The increasing use of rhesus models in fundamental and clinical studies of neurovascular coupling presents an emerging need for a new imaging modality. Here we report a structural and functional cerebral vascular study of rhesus monkeys using an ultrafast, portable, and high resolution photoacoustic microscopic system with a long working distance and a special scanning mechanism to eliminate the relative displacement between the imaging interface and samples. Read More

Can J Cardiol 2021 Jun 9. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology Unit, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, "G. Martino" University Hospital Messina, Messina, Italy.

Vaccination plays an important role in the fight against the current pandemic of SARS-CoV-2, in order to minimize the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its life-threatening complications. Myocarditis has been reported as a possible and rare adverse consequence of different vaccines, and its clinical presentation can range from influenza-like symptoms to acute heart failure. We report a case of a 30-year-old male who presented progressive dyspnea and constrictive retrosternal pain after receiving SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Read More

Int J Cardiol 2021 Jun 9. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Inherited and Rare Cardiovascular Diseases, Department of Translational Medical Sciences, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Monaldi Hospital, 80131 Naples, Italy.