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Background: The white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are considered as one of the core neuroimaging findings of cerebral small vessel disease and independently associated with cognitive deficit. The parietal lobe is a heterogeneous area containing many subregions and play an important role in the processes of neurocognition.Objective: To explore the relationship between parietal subregions alterations and cognitive impairments in WHMs.Methods: Resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analyses of parietal subregions were performed in 104 right-handed WMHs patients divided into mild (n = 39), moderate (n = 37), and severe WMHs (n = 28) groups according to the Fazekas scale and 36 healthy controls. Parietal subregions were defined using tractographic Human Brainnetome Atlas and included five subregions for superior parietal lobe, six subregions for inferior parietal lobe (IPL), and three subregions for precuneus. All participants underwent a neuropsychological test battery to evaluate emotional and general cognitive functions.Results: Differences existed between the rs-FC strength of IPL_R_6_2 with the left anterior cingulate gyrus, IPL_R_6_3 with the right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus, and the IPL_R_6_5 with the left anterior cingulate gyrus. The connectivity strength between IPL_R_6_3 and the left anterior cingulate gyrus were correlated with AVLT-immediate and AVLT-recognition test in WMHs.Conclusion: We explored the roles of parietal subregions in WMHs using rs-FC. The functional connectivity of parietal subregions with the cortex regions showed significant differences between the patients with WMHs and healthy controls which may be associated with cognitive deficits in WMHs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using CD81- (Cluster of Differentiation 81 protein-) targeted microparticles of iron oxide (CD81-MPIO) for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the murine atherosclerosis. CD81-MPIO and IgG- (Immunoglobulin G-) MPIO were prepared by covalently conjugating, respectively, with anti-CD81 monoclonal and IgG antibodies to the surface of the tosyl activated MPIO. The relevant binding capability of the MPIO was examined by incubating them with murine bEnd.3 cells stimulated with phenazine methosulfate (PMS) and its effect in shortening T2 relaxation time was also examined. MRI in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice was studied in vivo. Our results show that CD81-MPIO, but not IgG-MPIO, can bind to the PMS-stimulated bEnd.3 cells. The T2 relaxation time was significantly shortened for stimulated bEnd.3 cells when compared with IgG-MPIO. In vivo MRI in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice showed highly conspicuous areas of low signal after CD81-MPIO injection. Quantitative analysis of the area of CD81-MPIO contrast effects showed 8.96- and 6.98-fold increase in comparison with IgG-MPIO or plain MPIO, respectively (P<0.01). Histological assay confirmed the expression of CD81 and CD81-MPIO binding onto atherosclerotic lesions. In conclusion, CD81-MPIO allows molecular assessment of murine atherosclerotic lesions by magnetic resonance imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale and Objectives: We evaluated the potential of using intravascular magnetic resonance (MR)/radiofrequency (RF) to enhance vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene therapy of in-stent neointimal hyperplasia.Materials and Methods: By using a catheter-based approach, VEGF/lentivirus was locally transferred into 10 (five paired) bilateral femoral-iliac arteries of five hypercholesterolemic pigs, whereas the right arteries were heated up to approximately 41 degrees C by using an intravascular MR/RF system. Then, identical stents were placed immediately into the bilateral VEGF-targeted arteries to create in-stent neointimal hyperplasia. At day 60 after gene/stent interventions, the targeted arteries were harvested for histological correlation.Results: X-Ray angiography-detectable in-stent stenoses were found in three of the arteries treated with VEGF genes only, whereas there were no in-stent stenoses in arteries treated by using MR/RF-heated VEGF genes. Correlative histological examination confirmed a 138% reduction in average thickness of neointimal hyperplasia in VEGF/RF-treated arteries compared with VEGF-only-treated arteries (P < .01).Conclusion: We report a potential method of using an intravascular MR/RF heating technique to enhance gene therapy of in-stent restenosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Somatic anxiety patients complain of physical symptoms and exhibit repeated checking behavior. Overgeneralization of fear is a characteristic of anxiety disorders. However, the role of fear in the somatic anxiety patients remains unclear. We hypothesized that somatic anxiety patients have abnormal fear circuits, including the amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, which can aggravate physical symptoms.Methods: 33 anxiety patients and 25 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. The severity of the anxiety and somatic symptoms was assessed with the Hamilton anxiety scale and the 15-item somatic symptom severity scale from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15). The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess abnormalities in the fear circuit. We compared the ALFF between patients and HCs with respect to the fear circuit and conducted correlation analysis to investigate the relationship between somatic symptoms and the ALFF in abnormal cerebral regions.Results: The ALFF of the left thalamus and left hippocampus was significantly higher in the patient group than the HC group, and was positively correlated with the PHQ-15 values.Limitations: We did not divide the patient group into drug treated or drug free in our subgroup analysis. There was a lack of the paradigm to test the generalization of fear for patients in this study. Furthermore, the small sample size may have affected the results.Conclusion: Somatic symptoms in patients with anxiety are related to abnormal fear circuits, whose degree of abnormality is associated with symptom severity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• iTBS combined with MRI–guided neuronavigation have been proposed as a more preponderant treatment of schizophrenia • Modulation of L-DLPFC activity may be a potential option for alleviating symptoms of schizophrenia • iTBS group showed a significant superiority over sham group in remission of symptoms of schizophrenia • The clinical post-intervention effects of 2-weeks iTBS can maintain for nearly 2 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of this work was to develop a novel targeted drug-loaded microbubble (MB) and to investigate its chemotherapy effect in vitro. Paclitaxel (PTX)-loaded lipid MBs were prepared by a mechanical vibration technique. The LyP-1, a breast tumor homing peptide, was coated onto the surface of PTX-loaded MBs through biotin-avidin linkage. The resulting targeted drug-loaded MBs were characterized and applied to ultrasound-assisted chemotherapy in breast cancer cells. Our results showed the ultrasonic MBs were able to achieve 43%–63% of drug encapsulation efficiency, depending on drug loading amount. The binding affinity assay indicated the attachment of targeted MBs to human MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells was highly efficient and stable even with ultrasonic irradiation on. The cellular uptake efficiency of payload in targeted MBs was 3.71-, 4.95-, 7.43- and 7.66-fold higher than that of non-targeted MBs at the applied ultrasound time of 30, 60, 90 and 120 s, respectively. In addition, the cell proliferation inhibition assay showed the cell viability of targeted PTX-loaded MBs was significantly lower than that of non-targeted PTX-loaded MBs and non-targeted unloaded MBs when ultrasound was utilized. In conclusion, the study indicated the LyP-1-coated PTX-loaded MBs significantly increased the antitumor efficacy and can be used as a potential chemotherapy approach for ultrasound-assisted breast cancer treatment.(E-mail: hr.zheng@siat.ac.cn) [Copyright &y& Elsevier]