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Natural history collections provide invaluable sources for researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds, aspiring to study the geographical distribution of flora and fauna across the globe as well as other evolutionary processes. They are of paramount importance for mapping out long-term changes: from culture, to ecology, to how natural history is practiced.This thesis describes computational methods for knowledge extraction from archives of natural history collections---here referring to handwritten manuscripts and hand-drawn illustrations. As we are dealing with heterogeneous real-world data, the task becomes exceptionally challenging. Small samples and a long-tailed distribution, sometimes with very fine-grained distinctions between classes, hamper model learning. Prior knowledge is therefore needed to bootstrap the learning process. Moreover, archival content can be difficult to interpret and integrate, and should therefore be formally described for data integration within and across collections. By serving extracted knowledge to the Semantic Web, collections are made amenable for research and integration with other biodiversity resources on the Web.

Commercial mouse chow is designed to provide a complete, nutrient-rich diet, and it can contain upwards of 100 mg/kg manganese, an essential mineral. Manganese acts as a relaxation time shortening contrast agent for both T1 and T2, and where standard chow is hydrated in the gastrointestinal tract, bright signals are produced when using T1-weighted imaging (T1WI). As a result of peristalsis, gastrointestinal hyperintensities result in temporally unstable signals, leading to imageghosting and decreased resolution from that prescribed. To avoid the problem, various methods of gastrointestinal tract modulation including the use of intestinal cleansing with laxatives and dietary modulation have been reported. Here, dietary modulation has extended to use of a biologically innocuous, long-term change of diet. In this study, we report on the use of a commercially available manganese-free chow to improve image quality of the gastrointestinal tract. This manganese-free chow, apart from the omitted manganese which is available in tap water, is a complete diet and readily available. We investigated the time-dependent, diet-related gastrointestinal intensities on short TR, T1WI MRI; monitored body mass, food and water consumption and standard blood biochemistry analysis following diet change; and determined manganese concentration in blood plasma following a 5-day change to manganese-free chow. We show that the manganese-free chow presents a refinement to other gastrointestinal tract modulation as it avoids the need for invasive procedures for gut voiding and can be provided ad libitum so animals can be maintained with no need for prescribed diet change before imaging

Item does not contain fulltext PURPOSE: To assess the uptake, accumulation, temporal stability, and spatial localization of isoflurane (ISO) in the C57BL/6 mouse, and to identify its potential interference with the detection of labeled cardiac progenitor cells using 19 F MRI/MR spectroscopy (MRS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Objectives are demonstrated using (a) in vitro ISO tests, (b) in vivo temporal accumulation/spatial localization C57BL/6 studies (n = 3), and (c) through injections of perfluoro-crown-ether (PFCE) labeled cardiac progenitor cells into femoral muscle areas of the murine hindlimb post-mortem (n = 1) using 1 H/19 F MRI/MRS at 9.4 Tesla. Data were acquired using double-gated spoiled gradient echo images and pulse-acquire spectra. For the in vivo study, the temporal stability of ISO resonances was quantified using coefficient of variability (CV) (5 min) estimates. RESULTS: Two ISO resonances were observed in vivo that correspond to the -CF3 and -OCHF2 moieties. CV values ranged between 3.2 and 6.4% (-CF3 ) and 6.4 and 11.2% (-OCHF2 ). Reductions of the ISO dose (2.0 to 1.7%) at 80 min postinduction had insignificant effects on ISO signals (P = 0.23; P = 0.71). PFCE-labeled cells exhibited a resonance at -16.25 ppm in vitro that did not overlap with the ISO resonances, a finding that is confirmed with MRS post-mortem using injected, labeled cells. Based on 19 F MRI, similar in vivo/post-mortem ISO compartmentalization was also confirmed in peripheral and thoracic skeletal muscles. CONCLUSION: Significant ISO accumulation was observed by 19 F MRS in vivo with temporally stable signals over 90 min postinduction. ISO effects on PFCE labels are anticipated to be minimal but may be more prominent for perfluoropolyether or perfluorooctyl bromide labels. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 1 Technical Efficacy: Stage 1 J. MAGN. RESON. IMAGING 2017;45:1659-1667.

Purpose: To assess the uptake, accumulation, temporal stability, and spatial localization of isoflurane (ISO) in the C57BL/6 mouse, and to identify its potential interference with the detection of labeled cardiac progenitor cells using 19F MRI/MRS. Materials and Methods: Objectives are demonstrated using a) in vitro ISO tests, b) in vivo temporal accumulation/spatial localization C57BL/6 studies (n=3), and c) through injections of perfluoro-crown-ether (PFCE)-labeled cardiac progenitor cells into femoral muscle areas of the murine hindlimb post-mortem (n=1) using 1H/19F MRI/MRS at 9.4 T. Data were acquired using double-gated spoiled gradient echo images and pulse-acquire spectra. For the in vivo study, the temporal stability of ISO resonances was quantified using coefficient of variability [CV] (5 min) estimates. Results: Two ISO resonances were observed in vivo that correspond to the -CF3 and -OCHF2 moieties. CV values ranged between 3.2–6.4% (CF3) and 6.4–11.2% (CHOF2). Reductions of the ISO dose (2.0 to 1.7%) at 80 min post-induction had insignificant effects on ISO signals (p=0.23, p=0.71). PFCE labeled cells exhibited a resonance at -16.25 ppm in vitro that did not overlap with the ISO resonances, a finding that is confirmed with MRS post-mortem using injected labeled cells. Based on 19F MRI, similar in vivo/post-mortem ISO compartmentalization was also confirmed in peripheral and thoracic skeletal muscles. Conclusion: Significant ISO accumulation was observed by 19F MRS in vivo with temporally stable signals over 90 min post-induction. ISO effects on PFCE labels are anticipated to be minimal but may be more prominent for perfluoropolyether or perfluorooctyl bromide labels.

Apheresis therapies include plasma exchange (PLEX) and immunoadsorption (IA), second line therapies to treat steroid unresponsive multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses that show a comparable response rate of 40 - 90%. Early active MS lesions can be classified into three main, intraindividually stable[for full text, please go to the a.m. URL], Joint-Meeting of the German Society for Neuropathology and Neuroanatomy (DGNN) and the Scandinavian Neuropathological Society (SNS)

MRI has become an important tool to noninvasively assess global and regional cardiac function, infarct size, or myocardial blood flow in surgically or genetically modified mouse models of human heart disease. Constraints on scan time due to sensitivity to general anesthesia in hemodynamically compromised mice frequently limit the number of parameters available in one imaging session. Parallel imaging techniques to reduce acquisition times require coil arrays, which are technically challenging to design at ultrahigh magnetic field strengths. This work validates the use of an eight-channel volume phased-array coil for cardiac MRI in mice at 9.4 T. Two- and three-dimensional sequences were combined with parallel imaging techniques and used to quantify global cardiac function, T1-relaxation times and infarct sizes. Furthermore, the rapid acquisition of functional cine-data allowed for the first time in mice measurement of left-ventricular peak filling and ejection rates under intravenous infusion of dobutamine. The results demonstrate that a threefold accelerated data acquisition is generally feasible without compromising the accuracy of the results. This strategy may eventually pave the way for routine, multiparametric phenotyping of mouse hearts in vivo within one imaging session of tolerable duration. Magn Reson Med, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Mercaptopurine has been used in continuing treatment for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia since the mid 1950s. Recent advances in the understanding of thiopurine pharmacology indicated thioguanine might be more effective than mercaptopurine. The US and UK cooperative groups began randomized thiopurine trials and agreed prospectively to a meta-analysis. All randomized trials of thioguanine versus mercaptopurine were sought and data on individual patients were analysed by standard methods. Combining three trials (from US, UK and Germany), the overall event free survival (EFS) was not significantly improved with thioguanine (Odds ratio (OR) = 0.89; 95% confidence interval 0·78–1·03). Apparent differences in results between trials may be partly explained by the different types of patients studied. The larger treatment effect reported in males in the US trial was confirmed in the other trials. There was heterogeneity between sex/age subgroups (p=0·001), with significant EFS benefit of thioguanine only seen for males aged under 10 years old (OR=0·70; 0·58–0·84), although this did not result in a significant difference in overall survival (OR=0·83; 0·62–1·10). Additional toxicity occurs with thioguanine. Mercaptopurine remains the standard thiopurine of choice, but further study of thioguanine may be warranted to determine whether it may benefit particular subgroups.

We used highly sensitive multiparameter flow cytometry and blast colony assays to quantify the leukemic progenitor cell (LPC) burden of postinduction chemotherapy bone marrows from newly diagnosed and relapsed pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Of 890 newly diagnosed patients, 243 (27%) had detectable LPC in the postinduction bone marrow samples with an average (mean +/- SE) LPC content of 22+/-9 LPC/10(6) mononuclear cell (MNC; range, 0-7199/10(6) MNC; median, 0/10(6) MNC). By comparison, 24 of 50 (48%) patients with relapsed ALL had detectable LPC in their postinduction bone marrow specimens (P = 0.003), and their average LPC content was 202+/-139 LPC/10(6) MNC. Fewer patients with B-lineage ALL (170 of 786; 22%) than patients with T-lineage ALL (73 of 104; 70%) harbored residual LPC in their postinduction bone marrow specimens (P0.0001). This correlation with immunophenotype was independent of the National Cancer Institute risk classification. Similarly, 19 of 44 (43%) patients with relapsed B-lineage ALL versus 5 of 6 (83%) patients with relapsed T-lineage ALL harbored residual LPC in their postinduction bone marrow specimens (P = 0.09). Among newly diagnosed patients, those with high-risk ALL seemed to have larger numbers of residual LPC in their bone marrow after induction chemotherapy than those with standard risk ALL (53+/-26, n = 286 versus 7+/-1, n = 604, P = 0.04). LPC of patients with standard risk ALL who had a slow early marrow response at day 7 seemed to be more resistant to the three-drug induction chemotherapy than patients who had a rapid early marrow response. Overall, the order of chemosensitivity of LPC was: newly diagnosed standard risk B-lineagenewly diagnosed higher risk B-lineagenewly diagnosed standard risk T-lineagenewly diagnosed higher risk T-lineagerelapsed B-lineagerelapsed T-lineage. Notably, LPC- patients whose end-of-induction remission bone marrow specimens had zero LPC had an excellent early event-free survival outcome. Within the standard and high-risk subsets, LPC- patients had a 2.6-fold lower and 2.4-fold lower incidence of events, respectively, than LPC+ patients. At 6 months, 12 months, as well as 24 months, the ranking order for better event-free survival was: standard risk, LPC-high risk, LPC-standard risk, LPC+high risk, and LPC+.