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Background Vascular dysfunction, including cerebral hypoperfusion, plays an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), independent of amyloid and tau pathology. We established an AD-related perfusion pattern (ADRP) measured with arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI using multivariate spatial covariance analysis. Methods We obtained multimodal MRI including pseudo-continuous ASL and neurocognitive testing in a total of 55 patients with a diagnosis of mild to moderate AD supported by amyloid PET and 46 normal controls (NCs). An ADRP was established from an identification cohort of 32 patients with AD and 32 NCs using a multivariate analysis method based on scaled subprofile model/principal component analysis, and pattern expression in individual subjects was quantified for both the identification cohort and a validation cohort (23 patients with AD and 14 NCs). Subject expression score of the ADRP was then used to assess diagnostic accuracy and cognitive correlations in AD patients and compared with global and regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) in specific areas identified from voxel-based univariate analysis. Results The ADRP featured negative loading in the bilateral middle and posterior cingulate and precuneus, inferior parietal lobule, and frontal areas, and positive loading in the right cerebellum and bilateral basal areas. Subject expression score of the ADRP was significantly elevated in AD patients compared with NCs (P Conclusions We have reported a characteristic perfusion pattern associated with AD using ASL MRI. Subject expression score of this spatial covariance pattern is a promising MRI biomarker for the identification and monitoring of AD.

Supplementary Figure 1. An overview of the study workflow; Supplementary Figure 2. The principal components analyses (PCA) of samples in the discovery stage and reference samples from the 1000 Genomes Project data. Supplementary Figure 3. Manhattan plots of the genome-wide P values from the association tests on HBV-related HCC. Supplementary Figure 4. Quantile-quantile plots of the observed P values from the association tests on HBV-related HCC. Supplementary Figure 5. Forest plots for rs10272859 across all studies. Supplementary Figure 6. Expression levels of CDK14 mRNA were significantly higher in HCC tissues compared with adjacent non-tumor liver tissues. Supplementary Figure 7. The at-risk G allele of rs10272859 was significantly associated with higher mRNA levels of CDK14 in liver tissues based on the TCGA data. Supplementary Figure 8. The SNPs at 7q21.13 interact physically with the promoter region of CDK14 in GM12878 cells. Supplementary Figure 9. Kaplan-Meier estimates of the overall survival time for the HCC patients stratified by CDK14 mRNA expression levels. Supplementary Figure 10. Kaplan-Meier estimates of disease-free survival time for patients with HBV-related HCC stratified by genotypes of rs10272859. Supplementary Table 1. Summary description of the populations used in this study. Supplementary Table 2. Summary of the quality controls in proband-parent trios. Supplementary Table 3. Summary of SNP imputation in the discovery stage. Supplementary Table 4. The amount of SNPs with various P values in TDT for the 189 trios in the discovery stage. Supplementary Table 5. Summary of the SNPs that have been reported significantly associated with HBV-related HCC in previous GWASs. Supplementary Table 6. Summary of SNPs that have been reported to be significantly associated with HBV-related phenotypes in previous GWASs. Supplementary Table 6. Summary of SNPs that have been reported to be significantly associated with HBV-related phenotypes in previous GWASs (Continued). Supplementary Table 7. Summary of the top 15 SNPs in the discovery stage. Supplementary Table 8. Primers and probes used in this study. Supplementary Table 9. Summary of the replication studies for the 14 SNPs newly identified in the discovery stage. Supplementary Table 10. Stratification analyses of rs10272859 by gender and age. Supplementary Table 11. The associations between genotypes of rs10272859 and mRNA levels of nearby genes. Supplementary Table 12. The predicted functional relevance of rs10272859 and the other 74 SNPs in strong linkage disequilibrium with rs10272859 at the ~110 Kb region of 7q21.13. Supplementary Table 13. Details for the genotypes of rs10272859 and the prognosis of patients with HBV-related HCC. Supplementary Table 14. Multivariate analyses of overall survival time and disease-free survival time of patients with HBV-related HCC. Supplementary Table 15. Genotype distribution of rs10272859 across TNM stages in patients with HBV-related HCC. Supplementary Table 16. Powers for various genetic effects and various minor allele frequencies. Supplementary Table 17. The allele and genotype frequencies of rs10272859 in different populations.

Purpose: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. In China, chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains the major risk factor for HCC. In this study, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) among Chinese populations to identify novel genetic loci contributing to susceptibility to HBV-related HCC.Experimental Design: GWAS scan is performed in a collection of 205 HBV-related HCC trios (each trio includes an affected proband and his/her both parents), and 355 chronic HBV carriers with HCC (cases) and 360 chronic HBV carriers without HCC (controls), followed by two rounds of replication studies totally consisting of 3,796 cases and 2,544 controls.Results: We identified a novel association signal within the CDK14 gene at 7q21.13 (index rs10272859, OR = 1.28, P = 9.46 × 10−10). Furthermore, we observed that the at-risk rs10272859[G] allele was significantly associated with higher mRNA expression levels of CDK14 in liver tissues. Chromosome conformation capture assays in liver cells confirmed that a physical interaction exists between the promoter region of CDK14 and the risk-associated SNPs in strong linkage disequilibrium with the index rs10272859 at 7q21.13. This index rs10272859 also showed significant association with the survival of HCC patients.Conclusions: Our findings highlight a novel locus at 7q21.13 conferring both susceptibility and prognosis to HBV-related HCC, and suggest the CDK14 gene to be the functional target of the 7q21.13 locus. Clin Cancer Res; 24(4); 906–15. ©2017 AACR.

Bulk dense anisotropic rare earth (RE)-Fe-B magnets synthesized by hot pressing and subsequent hot deforming melt-spun powders have attracted much attention because of their good all-around properties. It is well known that the formation of the desired crystallographic texture is critical to obtain good magnetic properties in the preparation process of anisotropic RE-Fe-B magnets. Melt-spun ribbons with nominal compositions of Nd13Fe78Co3B6 and Ce7Cu3 were consolidated into isotropic nanocrystalline NdFeB hot-pressed magnets by the spark plasma sintering technique, and the microstructure and magnetic properties of the magnets were investigated. Results demonstrate that the coercivity of the magnets is enhanced dramatically by the grain boundary diffusion of the low-melting-point CeCu alloy. With 10 wt% CeCu addition, the coercivity increases from 7.5 to 12.44 kOe. The excessive CeCu, however, reduces the remanence of the NdFeB magnets from 7.76 to 5.66 kGs. Moreover, an appropriate holding time effectively improves the magnetic properties of the magnets. The microstructure indicates that the main phase NdFeB with a grain thickness of 20 $\mu \text{m}$ , and the rest are Nd-rich phase and CeCu grain boundary phase. The intergranular phase of CeCu acts as a diffusion channel, which improves the diffusion efficiency and the uniform distribution of elements. The magnets sintered by spark plasma form a special two-zone structure with a coarse grain region and a fine grain region, and the CeCu alloy effectively inhibits the growth of the grains.

Background Brain metabolic alterations and neuroinflammation have been reported in several peripheral inflammatory conditions and present significant potential for targeting with new diagnostic approaches and treatments. However, non-invasive evaluation of these alterations remains a challenge. Methods Here, we studied the utility of a micro positron emission tomography (microPET) dual tracer ([11C]PBR28 – for microglial activation and [18F]FDG for energy metabolism) approach to assess brain dysfunction, including neuroinflammation in murine endotoxemia. MicroPET imaging data were subjected to advanced conjunction and individual analyses, followed by post-hoc analysis. Results There were significant increases in [11C]PBR28 and [18F]FDG uptake in the hippocampus of C57BL/6 J mice 6 h following LPS (2 mg/kg) intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration compared with saline administration. These results confirmed previous postmortem observations. In addition, patterns of significant simultaneous activation were demonstrated in the hippocampus, the thalamus, and the hypothalamus in parallel with other tracer-specific and region-specific alterations. These changes were observed in the presence of robust systemic inflammatory responses manifested by significantly increased serum cytokine levels. Conclusions Together, these findings demonstrate the applicability of [11C]PBR28 - [18F]FDG dual tracer microPET imaging for assessing neuroinflammation and brain metabolic alterations in conditions “classically” characterized by peripheral inflammatory and metabolic pathogenesis.

Fire detection and alarm system is fully concerned for safety. And convolutional neural network (CNN) has been introduced into fire/smoke detection based on video/image understanding. However, the samples of the existed public fire/smoke data sets are not enough to train very deep CNN. And the generalization abilities of the existed methods are limited. Therefore, a fire monitoring and alarm system (FMAS) based on channel-wise pruned YOLOv3 is proposed, and a big fire and smoke image data set has been collected in this paper. YOLOv3 with Darknet-53 is deep and its generalization ability has been demonstrated in general objects detection. But it has massive parameters, which may hinder its applications in fire monitoring systems with restricted computation resources. Thus, channel-wise pruning technology is introduced to reduce the number of parameters while bringing a slight drop of accuracy. Moreover, OHEM technology is proposed to improve the detection accuracy further. Multiple comparison experiments on the homemade data set and the public data sets have demonstrated that the proposed channel-wise pruned YOLOv3 with OHEM can achieve satisfactory accuracy with low calculation capacity after squeezing parameters.

Brain metabolic alterations and neuroinflammation have been reported in several peripheral inflammatory conditions and present significant potential for targeting with new diagnostic approaches and treatments. However, non-invasive evaluation of these alterations remains a challenge.Here, we studied the utility of a micro positron emission tomography (microPET) dual tracer ([There were significant increases in [Together, these findings demonstrate the applicability of [

The irredeemable magnetic losses of Sm(Co, Fe, Zr, Cu)

The influence of Ce-Co alloy addition and sintering holding time on permanent magnetic properties and microstructure of nanocrystalline Nd-Fe-B bulk alloy were investigated. The coercivity of Nd-Fe-B bulk alloy can be enhanced greatly by more than 100% after adding Ce-Co powders. However, when the concentration of Ce-Co is up to 30 wt%, the density of the magnet can reach the maximum value of 7.58 g/cm3, but the coercivity does not increase significantly. On the other hand, with the increase of holding time to 10 min, the density and coercivity of magnets increase gradually, reaching up to 7.55 g/cm3 and 1134.3 kA/m, respectively. After the addition of Ce-Co alloy, Ce-Co may easily diffuse into the Nd-Fe-B matrix during hot-pressing and under the high pressure and temperature, thus increasing the content of grain boundary phase and the pinning effect of grain boundary, which leads to the increase of coercivity. The extension of the hot-pressing holding time may be more conducive to the diffusion of Ce-Co into the Nd-Fe-B matrix. In addition, the effect of Ce-Co addition on the magnetic properties of Nd-Fe-B with different content of rare earth was also studied. The addition of Ce-Co can effectively increase the coercivity of nanocomposite Nd2Fe14B/α-Fe magnets. The addition of Nb to the parent alloy can further improve the coercivity. For Nd11Fe81.5Nb1Ga0.5B6 alloy with 10 wt% Ce-Co addition, the coercivity can increase from 740.28 to 1098.48 kA/m.

Previous multi-center imaging studies with 18F-FDG PET have established the presence of Parkinson's disease motor- and cognition-related metabolic patterns termed PDRP and PDCP in patients with this disorder. Given that in PD cerebral perfusion and glucose metabolism are typically coupled in the absence of medication, we determined whether subject expression of these disease networks can be quantified in early-phase images from dynamic 18F-FPCIT PET scans acquired to assess striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) binding. Methods: We studied a cohort of early-stage PD patients and age-matched healthy control subjects who underwent 18F-FPCIT at baseline; scans were repeated 4 years later in a smaller subset of patients. The early 18F-FPCIT frames, which reflect cerebral perfusion, were used to compute PDRP and PDCP expression (subject scores) in each subject, and compared to analogous measures computed based on 18F-FDG PET scan when additionally available. The late 18F-FPCIT frames were used to measure caudate and putamen DAT binding in the same individuals. Results: PDRP subject scores from early-phase 18F-FPCIT and 18F-FDG scans were elevated and striatal DAT binding reduced in PD versus healthy subjects. The PDRP scores from 18F-FPCIT correlated with clinical motor ratings, disease duration, and with corresponding measures from 18F-FDG PET. In addition to correlating with disease duration and analogous 18F-FDG PET values, PDCP scores correlated with DAT binding in the caudate/anterior putamen. PDRP and PDCP subject scores using either method rose over 4 years whereas striatal DAT binding declined over the same time period. Conclusion: Early-phase images obtained with 18F-FPCIT PET can provide an alternative to 18F-FDG PET for PD network quantification. This technique therefore allows PDRP/PDCP expression and caudate/putamen DAT binding to be evaluated with a single tracer in one scanning session.

Recent studies on a rodent model of Parkinson’s disease (PD) have raised the possibility of increased blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability, demonstrated by histology, autoradiography, and positron emission tomography (PET). However, in human PD patients, in vivo evidence of increased BBB permeability is lacking. We examined the hypothesis that levodopa treatment increases BBB permeability in human subjects with PD, particularly in those with levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID). We used rubidium-82 (82Rb) and PET to quantify BBB influx in vivo in 19 PD patients, including eight with LID, and 12 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects. All subjects underwent baseline 82Rb scans. Seventeen chronically levodopa-treated patients were additionally rescanned during intravenous levodopa infusion. Influx rate constant, K1, by compartmental modeling or net influx transport, Ki, by graphical approach could not be estimated reliably. However, Vd, the “apparent volume of distribution” based on the 82Rb concentration in brain tissue and blood, was estimated with good stability as a local measure of the volume of distribution. Rubidium influx into brain tissue was undetectable in PD patients with or without LID, scanned on and off drug. No significant differences in regional Vd were observed for PD patients with or without LID relative to healthy subjects, except in left thalamus. Moreover, changes in Vd measured off- and on-levodopa infusion were also not significant for dyskinetic and non-dyskinetic subjects. 82Rb PET did not reveal significant changes in BBB permeability in PD patients.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by brain metabolic networks, specifically associated with motor and cognitive manifestations. Few studies have investigated network changes in cerebral hemispheres ipsilateral and contralateral to the clinically more affected body side. Objective: We examined hemispheric network abnormalities and their relationship to striatal dopaminergic deficits in PD patients at different stages. Methods: 45 PD patients underwent dual-tracer positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and 18F-fluorodopa (FDOPA) in a high-resolution PET scanner. In all patients, we computed expression levels for the PD-related motor/cognition metabolic patterns (PDRP/PDCP) as well as putamen/caudate FDOPA uptake values in both hemispheres. Resulting hemispheric measures in the PD group were compared with corresponding healthy control values and assessed across disease stages. Results: Hemispheric PDRP and PDCP expression was significantly elevated contralateral and ipsilateral to the more affected body side in patients with unilateral symptoms (H&Y 1: p

Background Alterations in the GBA gene (NM_000157.3) are the most important genetic risk factor for Parkinson's disease (PD). Biallelic GBA mutations cause the lysosomal storage disorder Gaucher's disease. The GBA variants p.E365K and p.T408M are associated with PD but not with Gaucher's disease. The pathophysiological role of these variants needs to be further explored. Objective This study analyzed clinical, neuropsychological, metabolic, and neuroimaging phenotypes of patients with PD carrying the GBA variants p.E365K and p.T408M. Methods GBA was sequenced in 56 patients with mid-stage PD. Carriers of GBA variants were compared with noncarriers regarding clinical history and symptoms, neuropsychological features, metabolomics, and multimodal neuroimaging. Blood plasma gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, 6-[18 F]fluoro-L-Dopa positron emission tomography (PET), [18 F]fluorodeoxyglucose PET, and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging were performed. Results Sequence analysis detected 13 heterozygous GBA variant carriers (7 with p.E365K, 6 with p.T408M). One patient carried a GBA mutation (p.N409S) and was excluded. Clinical history and symptoms were not significantly different between groups. Global cognitive performance was lower in variant carriers. Metabolomic group differences were suggestive of more severe PD-related alterations in carriers versus noncarriers. Both PET scans showed signs of a more advanced disease; [18 F]fluorodeoxyglucose PET and functional magnetic resonance imaging showed similarities with Lewy body dementia and PD dementia in carriers. Conclusions This is the first study to comprehensively assess (neuro-)biological phenotypes of GBA variants in PD. Metabolomics and neuroimaging detected more significant group differences than clinical and behavioral evaluation. These alterations could be promising to monitor effects of disease-modifying treatments targeting glucocerebrosidase metabolism. © 2020 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Purpose This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety between transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with CalliSpheres® microspheres (CSM-TACE) and conventional TACE (cTACE) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Patients and Methods Three hundred and thirty-five HCC patients receiving CSM-TACE or cTACE were consecutively enrolled in this multi-center, retrospective cohort study, and then divided into CSM-TACE group and cTACE group accordingly. Complete response (CR), objective response (ORR) and disease control response (DCR) was assessed according to mRECIST criteria at 1 month (M1), 3 months(M3) and 6 months(M6) after treatment. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were assessed. Liver function indexes and adverse events (AEs) were also evaluated. Results CR at M3 (P=0.020) and ORR at M1 (P0.05), except that ALP (P=0.005), total bilirubin (P=0.031), pain during procedure (P=0.034) and occurrence of fever post(treatment (P=0.017) were significantly elevated in the CSM-TACE compared with cTACE group. Conclusion CSM-TACE presents with a better treatment response and similar survival profile compared with cTACE in HCC patients.

We conducted a double-blinded phase I clinical trial to establish whether nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) replenishment therapy, via oral intake of nicotinamide riboside (NR), is safe, augments cerebral NAD levels, and impacts cerebral metabolism in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Thirty newly diagnosed, treatment-naive patients received 1,000 mg NR or placebo for 30 days. NR treatment was well tolerated and led to a significant, but variable, increase in cerebral NAD levels—measured by 31phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopy—and related metabolites in the cerebrospinal fluid. NR recipients showing increased brain NAD levels exhibited altered cerebral metabolism, measured by 18fluoro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography, and this was associated with mild clinical improvement. NR augmented the NAD metabolome and induced transcriptional upregulation of processes related to mitochondrial, lysosomal, and proteasomal function in blood cells and/or skeletal muscle. Furthermore, NR decreased the levels of inflammatory cytokines in serum and cerebrospinal fluid. Our findings nominate NR as a potential neuroprotective therapy for PD, warranting further investigation in larger trials. publishedVersion

The irredeemable magnetic losses of Sm(Co, Fe, Zr, Cu)7.8 permanent magnets caused by oxidation are very important for their practical application. In this work, the simulated results with R2 ≥ 98% based on the data of the temperature cycling test and the long-term isothermal test for the original samples confirmed that the magnetic flux losses reached 9.38% after the 5000th cycle in range R.T.–300 °C, and 7.15% after oxidated at 180 °C for 10 years, respectively. Demagnetization curves showed that the low-temperature oxidation mainly led to the remanence attenuation, while the coercivity remained relatively stable. SEM observation and EDS analysis revealed that an oxide outer layer with a thickness of 1.96 μm was formed on the surface of the original sample at 180 °C for 180 days, in which there was no enrichment or precipitation of metal elements. However, once a Cu, O-rich outer layer with a thickness of 0.72 μm was grown by using a temperature cycling from −50–250 °C for three cycles, the attenuation of magnetic properties could be inhibited under the low-temperature oxidation. This work suggested that the magnetic attenuation of Sm2Co17-type permanent magnets in the low-temperature field could not be ignored, and provided a simple method to suppress this attenuation of magnetic properties below 300 °C.

In this study, an investigation was conducted to examine two types of Ni-based alloys upon long-term heat treatment and compare their grains, surface corrosion layers and microhardness values. The working environment of the tested samples was a temperature of 1000 °C for 5000 h. Two samples, respectively, contained low (~8 wt.%) and high (~16 wt.%) contents of Mo, and the low-Mo-content sample contained Nb (~4 wt.%) and other elements. The grains, precipitates, corrosion layers and microhardness values of the samples before and after heat treatment were determined by scanning electron microscopy, electron back-scattered diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis and Vickers hardness tests. The results revealed that the grain was surprisingly stable in the sample with the higher Mo content, after heat treatment, the grain size was ~35 μm, which was similar to the grain size before heat treatment. Moreover, for the sample with the higher Mo content, the microhardness was found to be higher, especially after long-term high-temperature treatment, which is of great significance for the long service life of materials.

The present study examined the predictive values of amyloid PET, 18F-FDG PET, and nonimaging predictors (alone and in combination) for development of Alzheimer dementia (AD) in a large population of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: The study included 319 patients with MCI from the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database. In a derivation dataset (n = 159), the following Cox proportional-hazards models were constructed, each adjusted for age and sex: amyloid PET using 18F-florbetapir (pattern expression score of an amyloid-β AD conversion–related pattern, constructed by principle-components analysis); 18F-FDG PET (pattern expression score of a previously defined 18F-FDG–based AD conversion–related pattern, constructed by principle-components analysis); nonimaging (functional activities questionnaire, apolipoprotein E, and mini-mental state examination score); 18F-FDG PET + amyloid PET; amyloid PET + nonimaging; 18F-FDG PET + nonimaging; and amyloid PET + 18F-FDG PET + nonimaging. In a second step, the results of Cox regressions were applied to a validation dataset (n = 160) to stratify subjects according to the predicted conversion risk. Results: On the basis of the independent validation dataset, the 18F-FDG PET model yielded a significantly higher predictive value than the amyloid PET model. However, both were inferior to the nonimaging model and were significantly improved by the addition of nonimaging variables. The best prediction accuracy was reached by combining 18F-FDG PET, amyloid PET, and nonimaging variables. The combined model yielded 5-y free-of-conversion rates of 100%, 64%, and 24% for the low-, medium- and high-risk groups, respectively. Conclusion:18F-FDG PET, amyloid PET, and nonimaging variables represent complementary predictors of conversion from MCI to AD. Especially in combination, they enable an accurate stratification of patients according to their conversion risks, which is of great interest for patient care and clinical trials.

In the present work, anisotropic Nd2Fe14B/Sm2Co17 hybrid-bonded magnets were prepared with different Nd-Fe-B contents. It is found that the particle distributions and ratios between the two magnetic phases have important roles in the magnetic properties, microstructures and thermal stability of the magnets. With increase of Nd-Fe-B content, the saturation magnetization of the anisotropic hybrid magnet increases significantly, however, coercivity decreases, and the demagnetization curves show magnetically single-phase behavior. The anisotropic Nd2Fe14B/Sm2Co17 hybrid-bonded magnets exhibit a maximum energy product and remanence of 14.15 MGOe and 99.53 A·m2/kg, respectively, when the Nd-Fe-B content is 70 wt% at room temperature. Furthermore, the hybrid magnets also have better thermal stability at elevated temperatures due to the interaction between the two magnetic particles.

Traffic signs detection and segmentation is one of the important parts of advanced driving assistance system. But there are predictable difficulties in detecting traffic signs from images or videos from car cameras owing to the next reasons: traffic signs are usually small-sized or medium-sized objects, and there is quantity imbalance between different traffic signs in the existed public data sets. Therefore, two main developments have been proposed in this paper. Firstly, an improved TT-100K-HHU traffic sign data set based on TT-100K is constructed. New images are collected from the Tencent Street View and labeled by Labelme software. Secondly, an improved Mask R-CNN is presented by revising the structure. More specific, feature pyramid network (FPN) is introduced into the backbone network of Mask R-CNN to achieve the fusion of feature maps at multiple scales, which can improve the representation abilities of network for objects with small or medium size. And in the prediction network, multiple cascaded Box Heads are applied to acquire more accurate location predictions and segmentation results. Experimental results show that the performance of the improved Mask R-CNN network is better than the existing algorithms.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The diagnosis and monitoring of semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (sv-PPA) are clinically challenging. We aimed to establish a distinctive metabolic pattern in sv-PPA for diagnosis and severity evaluation. METHODS Fifteen sv-PPA patients and 15 controls were enrolled to identify sv-PPA-related pattern (sv-PPARP) by principal component analysis of 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. Eighteen Alzheimer disease dementia (AD) and 14 behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bv-FTD) patients were enrolled to test the discriminatory power. Correspondingly, regional metabolic activities extracted from the voxelwise analysis were evaluated for the discriminatory power. RESULTS The sv-PPARP was characterized as decreased metabolic activity mainly in the bilateral temporal lobe (left predominance), middle orbitofrontal gyrus, left hippocampus/parahippocampus gyrus, fusiform gyrus, insula, inferior orbitofrontal gyrus, and striatum, with increased activity in the bilateral lingual gyrus, cuneus, calcarine gyrus, and right precentral and postcentral gyrus. The pattern expression had significant discriminatory power (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.98, sensitivity = 100%, specificity = 94.4%) in distinguishing sv-PPA from AD, and the asymmetry index offered complementary discriminatory power (AUC = 0.91, sensitivity = 86.7%, specificity = 92.9%) in distinguishing sv-PPA from bv-FTD. In sv-PPA patients, the pattern expression correlated with Boston Naming Test scores at baseline and showed significant increase in the subset of patients with follow-up. The voxelwise analysis showed similar topography, and the regional metabolic activities had equivalent or better discriminatory power and clinical correlations with Boston Naming Test scores. The ability to reflect disease progression in longitudinal follow-up seemed to be inferior to the pattern expression. CONCLUSIONS The sv-PPARP might serve as an objective biomarker for diagnosis and progression evaluation.

In order to improve the properties of wood flour (WF)/poly(lactic acid) (PLA) 3D-printed composites, WF was treated with a silane coupling agent (KH550) and acetic anhydride (Ac2O), respectively. The effects of WF modification and the addition of acrylicester resin (ACR) as a toughening agent on the flowability of WF/PLA composite filament and the mechanical, thermal, dynamic mechanical thermal and water absorption properties of fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D-printed WF/PLA specimens were investigated. The results indicated that the melt index (MI) of the specimens decreased after WF pretreatment or the addition of ACR, while the die swell ratio increased; KH550-modified WF/PLA had greater tensile strength, tensile modulus and impact strength, while Ac2O-modified WF/PLA had greater tensile modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus and impact strength than unmodified WF/PLA; after the addition of ACR, all the strengths and moduli of WF/PLA could be improved; after WF pretreatment or the addition of ACR, the thermal decomposition temperature, storage modulus and glass transition temperature of WF/PLA were all increased, and water absorption was reduced.

A hybrid numerical simulation method was established by combining the Spalart-Allmaras (SA) turbulence model and detached eddy simulation (DES). Numerical simulations were carried out to model cold and hot spray conditions of a nozzle without considering the internal flow of an engine to determine jet conditions. Analysis results show that the calculated hot spray results more in line with the reality. The jet effect of a typical aircraft engine was simulated numerically to determine the distance influenced by the jet blast from a departing aircraft engine.

In order to relieve the stress caused by the surge of flight flow, Closely Spaced Parallel Runways (CSPRs) have been built in many hub airports, and a paired approach mode has been applied to CSPRs in some countries. This paper proposes a method for optimizing the wake separation between aircrafts which utilizes a paired approach, aiming at reducing longitudinal separation by using computational fluid dynamics technology. Firstly, the model of the wake vortex field of the paired lead aircraft is constructed. Secondly, the numerical simulation preparation for the characteristics of the wake vortex field is completed through the computational pretreatment of the model. Thirdly, a calculation model of wake safety interval based on paired approach operation is established. Finally, the proposed method shows its superiority comparing with other methods. This method realized visual analysis of wake vortex through optimization modeling based on computational fluid dynamics, contributing to increasing the capacity of the runway and improving the operation efficiency of an aerodrome.

Brain stimulation technology has become a viable modality of reversible interventions in the effective treatment of many neurological and psychiatric disorders. It is aimed to restore brain dysfunction by the targeted delivery of specific electronic signal within or outside the brain to modulate neural activity on local and circuit levels. Development of therapeutic approaches with brain stimulation goes in tandem with the use of neuroimaging methodology in every step of the way. Indeed, multimodality neuroimaging tools have played important roles in target identification, neurosurgical planning, placement of stimulators and post-operative confirmation. They have also been indispensable in pre-treatment screen to identify potential responders and in post-treatment to assess the modulation of brain circuitry in relation to clinical outcome measures. Studies in patients to date have elucidated novel neurobiological mechanisms underlying the neuropathogenesis, action of stimulations, brain responses and therapeutic efficacy. In this article, we review some applications of deep brain stimulation for the treatment of several diseases in the field of neurology and psychiatry. We highlight how the synergistic combination of brain stimulation and neuroimaging technology is posed to accelerate the development of symptomatic therapies and bring revolutionary advances in the domain of bioelectronic medicine.

In recent years, Low-Light-Level (LLL) remote -sensing camera has become a novel subject for the development of aerospace optical remote-sensing payloads. LLL remote sensing camera works in ultra-low light conditions, the image signal is very weak and requires image intensified technology to achieve. In order to make better use of LLL remote sensing data, it is necessary to establish the quantitative relationship between the amount of radiation received by the camera and the digital signal output to process the image. That's radiation calibration technology. Therefore, the radiation calibration of the LLL remote sensing camera is particularly important. In this article, first the requirements for calibration of LLL remote sensing cameras are analyzed in theory. After that, a radiation calibration scheme of the LLL remote sensing camera is put forward. Finally, the radiation calibration test is carried out, and the calibration data are analyzed. The results show that the calibration scheme of LLL remote sensing camera is reasonable and feasible.

Previous multicenter imaging studies with (18)F-FDG PET have established the presence of motor-related and cognition-related metabolic patterns of Parkinson disease (PD), termed the PD-related pattern (PDRP) and the PD cognition–related pattern (PDCP), respectively, in patients with this disorder. Given that in PD cerebral perfusion and glucose metabolism are typically coupled in the absence of medication, we determined whether subject expression of these disease networks can be quantified in early-phase images from dynamic (18)F-N-(3-fluoropropyl)-2β-carboxymethoxy-3β-(4-iodophenyl)nortropane ((18)F-FPCIT) PET scans acquired to assess striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) binding. Methods: We studied a cohort of early-stage PD patients and age-matched healthy control subjects who underwent (18)F-FPCIT at baseline; scans were repeated 4 y later in a smaller subset of patients. The early (18)F-FPCIT frames, which reflect cerebral perfusion, were used to compute PDRP and PDCP expression (subject scores) in each subject and were compared with analogous measures computed on the basis of the (18)F-FDG PET scan when additionally available. The late (18)F-FPCIT frames were used to measure caudate and putamen DAT binding in the same individuals. Results: PDRP subject scores from early-phase (18)F-FPCIT and (18)F-FDG scans were elevated and striatal DAT binding was reduced in PD versus healthy subjects. The PDRP scores from (18)F-FPCIT correlated with clinical motor ratings, disease duration, and corresponding measures from (18)F-FDG PET. In addition to correlating with disease duration and analogous (18)F-FDG PET values, PDCP scores correlated with DAT binding in the caudate or anterior putamen. PDRP and PDCP subject scores using either method rose over 4 y, whereas striatal DAT binding declined over the same period. Conclusion: Early-phase images obtained with (18)F-FPCIT PET can provide an alternative to (18)F-FDG PET for PD network quantification. This technique therefore allows PDRP/PDCP expression and caudate/putamen DAT binding to be evaluated with a single tracer in a single scanning session.

Recent studies on a rodent model of Parkinson's disease (PD) have raised the possibility of increased blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, demonstrated by histology, autoradiography, and positron emission tomography (PET). However, in human PD patients, in vivo evidence of increased BBB permeability is lacking. We examined the hypothesis that levodopa treatment increases BBB permeability in human subjects with PD, particularly in those with levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID).We used rubidium-82 (Rubidium influx into brain tissue was undetectable in PD patients with or without LID, scanned on and off drug. No significant differences in regional V

Parkinson's disease (PD) is an irreversible neurodegenerative disease. The diagnosis of PD based on neuroimaging is usually with low-level or deep learning features, which results in difficulties in achieving precision classification or interpreting the clinical significance. Herein, we aimed to extract high-order features by using radiomics approach and achieve acceptable diagnosis accuracy in PD.In this retrospective multicohort study, we collectedTwenty-six brain ROIs were identified. Six thousand one hundred and ten radiomic features were extracted in total. Among them 30 features were remained after feature selection. The accuracies of the proposed method achieved 90.97%±4.66% and 88.08%±5.27% in Huashan and Wuxi test sets, respectively.This study showed that radiomic features and SVM could be used to distinguish between PD and NC based on 18F-FDG PET images.

Ni-Fe alloy nanoparticles were able to be prepared by a one-step hydrazine reduction, where the formation mechanism is unclear. In this paper, Ni1xFex nanoparticles with a composition gradient were prepared, and the change in composition gradient in the Ni1 − xFex nanoparticles was found to be affected by Fe content. Furthermore, it was surprising that the increase in Fe content significantly increased the formation rate of Ni1 − xFex nanoparticles, which was difficult to explain via thermodynamics. By further analyzing the element distribution and microstructure of the intermediate products of the Ni1 − xFex nanoparticles, a formation mechanism was proposed for the Ni1 − xFex nanoparticles. In this formation mechanism, Ni1 − xFex(OH)2 was confirmed as the reduced intermediate, and the composition distribution of the Ni1 − xFex nanoparticles was primarily controlled by reaction kinetics. Finally, the existence of the composition gradient in the Ni1 − xFex nanoparticles had a great effect on their coercivity, due to the change in internal stress. This work provides a reference for preparation and a performance study of alloy nanoparticles with a composition gradient.

The aim of this study is to explore functional and structural properties of abnormal brain networks associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD). 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET) and T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging from 20 patients with moderate-stage PD and 20 age-matched healthy controls were acquired to identify disease-related patterns in functional and structural networks. Dual-modal images from another prospective subject of 15 PD patients were used as the validation group. Scaled Subprofile Modeling based on principal component analysis method was applied to determine disease-related patterns in both modalities, and brain connectome analysis based on graph theory was applied to verify these patterns. The results showed that the expressions of the metabolic and structural patterns in PD patients were significantly higher than healthy controls (PD1-HC, p = 0.0039, p = 0.0058; PD2-HC, p < 0.001, p = 0.044). The metabolic pattern was characterized by relative increased metabolic activity in pallidothalamic, pons, putamen, and cerebellum, associated with metabolic decreased in parietal–occipital areas. The structural pattern was characterized by relative decreased gray matter (GM) volume in pons, transverse temporal gyrus, left cuneus, right superior occipital gyrus, and right superior parietal lobule, associated with preservation in GM volume in pallidum and putamen. In addition, both patterns were verified in the connectome analysis. The findings suggest that significant overlaps between metabolic and structural patterns provide new evidence for elucidating the neuropathological mechanisms of PD.

ObjectiveTo determine whether the Alzheimer disease (AD) dementia conversion-related pattern (ADCRP) on [18F]FDG PET can serve as a valid predictor for the development of AD dementia, the individual expression of the ADCRP (subject score) and its prognostic value were examined in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and biologically defined AD.MethodsA total of 269 patients with available [18F]FDG PET, [18F]AV-45 PET, phosphorylated and total tau in CSF, and neurofilament light chain in plasma were included. Following the AT(N) classification scheme, where AD is defined biologically by in vivo biomarkers of β-amyloid (Aβ) deposition (“A”) and pathologic tau (“T”), patients were categorized to the A−T−, A+T−, A+T+ (AD), and A−T+ groups.ResultsThe mean subject score of the ADCRP was significantly higher in the A+T+ group compared to each of the other group (all p < 0.05) but was similar among the latter (all p > 0.1). Within the A+T+ group, the subject score of ADCRP was a significant predictor of conversion to dementia (hazard ratio, 2.02 per z score increase; p < 0.001), with higher predictive value than of alternative biomarkers of neurodegeneration (total tau and neurofilament light chain). Stratification of A+T+ patients by the subject score of ADCRP yielded well-separated groups of high, medium, and low conversion risks.ConclusionsThe ADCRP is a valuable biomarker of neurodegeneration in patients with MCI and biologically defined AD. It shows great potential for stratifying the risk and estimating the time to conversion to dementia in patients with MCI and underlying AD (A+T+).Classification of EvidenceThis study provides Class I evidence that [18F]FDG PET predicts the development of AD dementia in individuals with MCI and underlying AD as defined by the AT(N) framework.

Background This study aimed to compare the live function change and adverse events (AEs) between drug-eluting beads (DEB) transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with CalliSpheres® microspheres (CSM) and conventional TACE (cTACE) in treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Methods Three hundred and thirty-five HCC patients underwent DEB-TACE with CSM (n=171, DEB-TACE group) or cTACE (n=164, cTACE group) were consecutively enrolled in this multi-center, retrospective cohort study. Liver function indexes were reviewed before treatment (W0), at 1 week (W1) and 1 month (M1) post treatment. Moreover, AEs during operation and hospitalization were retrieved as well. Results The changes of albumin (ALB) [–3.55 (–6.25 to –0.43) vs. –2.20 (–4.63–0.00), P=0.043] and total protein (TP) [–4.62 (–10.18–0.43) vs. –2.50 (–7.08–1.08), P=0.013] from W1 to W0 were lower in DEB-TACE group compared to cTACE group, while no difference was observed referring to the change of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (P=0.494), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (P=0.747), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (P=0.895), total bilirubin (TBIL) (P=0.059), total bile acid (TBA) (P=0.491) from W1 to W0. And the changes of these seven indexes from M1 to W0 were all similar between DEB-TACE group and cTACE group (all P>0.05). Besides, the occurrence of pain during treatment (19.3% vs. 11.0%, P=0.034) and the occurrence of fever during hospitalization (18.1% vs. 9.1%, P=0.017) were both increased in DEB-TACE group compared to cTACE group. Conclusions DEB-TACE with CSM is non-inferior to cTACE in terms of liver function change, while DEB-TACE with CSM leads to higher incidences of pain and fever.

The electronic and thermoelectric properties of AgBi3S5 are calculated using the first-principles calculations with Boltzmann transport theory. Because of accurate electronic structure calculated by Tran-Blaha modified Becke-Johnson (TB-mBJ) potential, the theoretical data (Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, power factor and zT) are in good agreement with experimental data. When the temperature increases from 300 K to 800 K, the optimal peak value of zT along x axis, y axis and z axis changes from 0.17 to 1.22, from 0.42 to 2.24 and from 0.18 to 1.05, respectively. Our calculations suggest that the largest zT value obtained along y axis is 2.24 at T = 800 K and n = 5.73 × 1019cm−3. These results give a valuable theoretical guidance for the high-performance thermoelectric materials through anisotropic performance.

Purpose Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is an atypical parkinsonian syndrome and often difficult to discriminate clinically from progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and Parkinson's disease (PD) in early stages. Although a characteristic metabolic brain network has been reported for MSA, it is unknown whether this network can provide a clinically useful biomarker in different centers. This study was aimed to identify and cross-validate MSA-related brain network and assess its ability for differential diagnosis and clinical correlations in Chinese and American patient cohorts. Methods We included 18F-FDG PET scans retrospectively from 128 clinically diagnosed parkinsonian patients (34 MSA, 34 PSP and 60 PD) and 40 normal subjects in China and in the USA. Using PET images from 20 moderate-stage MSA patients of parkinsonian subtype and 20 normal subjects in both centers, we reproduced MSA-related pattern (MSAPRP) of spatial covariance and estimated its reliability. MSAPRP scores were evaluated in assessing differential diagnosis among moderate- and early-stage MSA, PSP or PD patients and clinical correlations with disease severity. Regional metabolic differences were detected using statistical parameter mapping analysis. MSA-related network and regional topographies of metabolic abnormality were cross-validated between the Chinese and American cohorts. Results We generated a highly reliable MSAPRP characterized by decreased loading in inferior frontal cortex, striatum and cerebellum, and increased loading in sensorimotor, parietal and occipital cortices. MSAPRP scores discriminated between normal, MSA, PSP and PD subjects and correlated with standardized ratings of clinical stages and motor symptoms in MSA. High similarities in MSAPRPs, network scores and corresponding maps of metabolic abnormality were observed between two different cohorts. Conclusion We have demonstrated reproducible metabolic topographies associated with MSA at both network and regional levels in two independent patient cohorts. Moreover, MSAPRP scores are sensitive for evaluating disease discrimination and clinical correlates. This study supports differential diagnosis of MSA regardless of different patient populations, PET scanners and imaging protocols.

In order to obtain excellent thermoelectric property of PbTe at room temperature, the most effective approach so far has been reducing the phonon thermal conductivity while maintaining the electronic performance. Based on the first-principles calculation, the scattering mechanisms of electrical transport and thermal transport are clarified. The electrical transport as well as thermal transport of PbTe under various mean free path are studied by taking into account electron/hole mean free path and phonon mean free path. The order of contribution to electrical transport is mean free path scattering>polar optical phonon scattering>acoustic deformation potential scattering>ionized impurity scattering. The Norma process dominates the three-phonon scattering channel, while the Umklapp process controls the four-phonon scattering channel. The 80% contribution of lattice thermal conductivity origins from acoustic branch, and the rest is from optical branch. When the hole/phonon mean free path is 10 nm, the ZT of p type is about 0.58, which is nearly four times larger than that of bulk ZT (0.15), implying the mean-free-path filtering is an effective method to enhance the value of ZT.

The value of 18F-FDG PET for predicting conversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer dementia (AD) is currently under debate. We used a principal components analysis (PCA) to identify a metabolic AD conversion-related pattern (ADCRP) and investigated the prognostic value of the resulting pattern expression score (PES). Methods: 18F-FDG PET scans of 544 MCI patients were obtained from the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database and analyzed. We implemented voxel-based PCA and standard Statistical Parametric Mapping analysis (as a reference) to disclose cerebral metabolic patterns associated with conversion from MCI to AD. By Cox proportional hazards regression, we examined the prognostic value of candidate predictors. Also, we constructed prognostic models with clinical, imaging, and clinical and imaging variables in combination. Results: PCA revealed an ADCRP that involved regions with relative decreases in metabolism (temporoparietal, frontal, posterior cingulate, and precuneus cortices) and relative increases in metabolism (sensorimotor and occipital cortices, cerebellum, and left putamen). Among the predictor variables age, sex, Functional Activities Questionnaire, Mini-Mental State Examination, apolipoprotein E, PES, and normalized 18F-FDG uptake (regions with significant hypo- and hypermetabolism in patients with conversion vs. those without conversion), PES was the best independent predictor of conversion (hazard ratio, 1.77, per z score increase; 95% CI, 1.24-2.52; P < 0.001). Moreover, adding PES to the model including the clinical variables significantly increased its prognostic value. Conclusion: The ADCRP expression score was a valid predictor of conversion. A combination of clinical variables and PES yielded a higher accuracy than each single tool in predicting conversion from MCI to AD, underlining the incremental utility of 18F-FDG PET.