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Prognostic biomarkers that can reliably predict the disease-free survival (DFS) of locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) are needed for identifying those patients at high risk for progression, who may benefit from a more aggressive treatment. In the present study, we aimed to construct a multiparametric MRI-derived radiomic signature for predicting DFS of LACC patients who underwent concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT).MethodsThis multicenter retrospective study recruited 263 patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obetrics (FIGO) stage IB-IVA treated with CCRT for whom pretreatment MRI scans were performed. They were randomly divided into two groups: primary cohort (n = 178) and validation cohort (n = 85). The LASSO regression and Cox proportional hazard regression were conducted to construct the radiomic signature (RS). According to the cutoff of the RS value, patients were dichotomized into low- and high-risk groups. Pearson’s correlation and Kaplan–Meier analysis were conducted to evaluate the association between the RS and DFS. The RS, the clinical model incorporating FIGO stage and lymph node metastasis by the multivariate Cox proportional hazard model, and a combined model incorporating RS and clinical model were constructed to estimate DFS individually.ResultsThe final radiomic signature consisted of four radiomic features: T2W_wavelet-LH_ glszm_Size Zone NonUniformity, ADC_wavelet-HL-first order_ Median, ADC_wavelet-HH-glrlm_Long Run Low Gray Level Emphasis, and ADC_wavelet _LL_gldm_Large Dependence High Gray Emphasis. Higher RS was significantly associated with worse DFS in the primary and validation cohorts (both p

Background: Evidence from neuroimaging has implicated abnormal cerebral cortical patterns in schizophrenia. Application of machine learning techniques is required for identifying structural signature reflecting neurobiological substrates of schizophrenia at the individual level. We aimed to develop a method to identify patients with schizophrenia from healthy individuals via the features of cerebral cortex using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Method: In this study, cortical features were measured, including volumetric (cortical thickness, surface area, and gray matter volume) and geometric (mean curvature, metric distortion, and sulcal depth) features. Patients with first-episode schizophrenia (n = 52, ranging 17–45 years old) and healthy controls (n = 66, ranging 18–46 years old) were included from the Department of Psychiatry at Xijing Hospital. Multivariate computation was used to examine the abnormalities of cortical features in schizophrenia. Features were selected by least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method. The diagnostic capacity of multi-dimensional neuroanatomical patterns-based classification was evaluated based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results: Mean curvature (left insula and left inferior frontal gyrus), cortical thickness (left fusiform gyrus), and metric distortion (left cuneus and right superior temporal gyrus) revealed both group differences and diagnostic capacity. Area under ROC curve was 0.88, and the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 94 %, 82 %, and 88 %, respectively. Confirming these findings, similar results were observed in the independent validation (sensitivity of 91 %, specificity of 78 %, and accuracy of 85 %). There was a positive association between index score derived from the multi-dimensional patterns and the severity of symptoms (r = 0.33, P < .05) for patients. Discussion: Our findings demonstrate a view of cortical differences with capacity to discriminate between patients with schizophrenia and healthy population. Structural neuroimaging-based measurements hold great promise of paving the road for their clinical utility in schizophrenia.

Background: The present study aimed to investigate the use of imaging biomarkers to predict the outcome of acupuncture in patients with migraine without aura (MwoA).Methods: Forty-one patients with MwoA received 4 weeks of acupuncture treatment and two brain imaging sessions at the Beijing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital affiliated with Capital Medical University. Patients kept a headache diary for 4 weeks before treatment and during acupuncture treatment. Responders were defined as those with at least a 50% reduction in the number of migraine days. The machine learning method was used to distinguish responders from non-responders based on pre-treatment brain gray matter (GM) volume. Longitudinal changes in GM predictive regions were also analyzed.Results: After 4 weeks of acupuncture, 19 patients were classified as responders. Based on 10-fold cross-validation for the selection of GM features, the linear support vector machine produced a classification model with 73% sensitivity, 85% specificity, and 83% accuracy. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.7871. This classification model included 10 GM areas that were mainly distributed in the frontal, temporal, parietal, precuneus, and cuneus gyri. The reduction in the number of migraine days was correlated with baseline GM volume in the cuneus, parietal, and frontal gyri in all patients. Moreover, the left cuneus showed a longitudinal increase in GM volume in responders.Conclusion: The results suggest that pre-treatment brain structure could be a novel predictor of the outcome of acupuncture in the treatment of MwoA. Imaging features could be a useful tool for the prediction of acupuncture efficacy, which would enable the development of a personalized medicine strategy.

Background: Hippocampal dysconnectivity has been detected in schizophrenia patients with auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs). Neuroanatomical evidence has indicated distinct sub-regions in the hippocampus, but which sub-regions within the hippocampus may emerge dysfunction in the brain network, and the relationship between connection strength and the severity of this debilitating disorder have yet to be revealed. Masked independent component analysis (mICA), i.e., ICA restricted to a defined region of interest, can provide insight into observing local functional connectivity in a particular brain region. We aim to map out the sub-regions in the hippocampus with dysconnectivity linked to AVHs in schizophrenia.Methods: In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study of schizophrenia patients with (n = 57) and without (n = 83) AVHs, and 71 healthy controls, we first examined hippocampal connectivity using mICA, and then the correlation between connection metric and clinical severity was generated.Results: As compared with patients without AVHs, mICA showed a group of hyper-connections for the left middle part, as well as another group of hypo-connections for the bilateral antero-lateral and right antero-medial parts in patients with AVHs. Connectivity was linked to the clinical symptoms scores in the sample of patients with AVHs.Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that the left middle part is more densely connected, but the bilateral antero-lateral and right antero-medial parts are more sparsely connected in schizophrenia patients with AVHs. The findings in the present study show proof of precious location in the hippocampus mediating the neural mechanism behind AVHs in schizophrenia.

Objective: To determine if recombinant human hemangiopoietin (HAPO), a novel growth factor for primitive cells of hematopoietic and endothelial cell lineages, accelerates hematopoietic reconstitution after high-dose chemotherapy in vivo in mice. Methods: Male Balb/c mice after treatment of 5-flourouracil were subcutaneously injected with HAPO or its dilution for consecutive 10 d. Their survival and body weight together with peripheral blood were routinely tested. At day 7 and 14, the numbers of bone marrow (BM) cells as well as colony-forming units (CFU) after in vitro colony culture were counted. The peripheral blood CFU and the percentage of CD34+CD117+ cells in BM were analyzed. Transwell chamber was used for cell migratory assay. Results: HAPO at different doses significantly increased the survival rate and body weight, with an optimal effect in the HAPO 10 μg/d group. The number of BM cells and the percentage of CD34+CD117+ cells were also increased after HAPO administration. The number of granulocyte/macrophage CFU and granulocyte, erythroid, macrophage and megakaryocyte CFU in BM after HAPO treatment was greater than that from the HAPO dilution group. More circulating CFU could be observed after injection of HAPO. In addition, this novel cytokine had a chemotactic effect on the hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. Conclusion: HAPO improves animal survival and accelerates hematopoietic reconstitution of mice after high-dose chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]