Sea cucumbers are a seafood with high protein and low fat levels. The amino acid contents were similar but fatty acid profiles were different among species. The comparison showed that T. ananas, A. mauritiana and B. argus possessed higher nutritional values than other sea cucumber species.

Purpose: To characterize age-related MR diffusion patterns of the prefrontal brain cortex microstructure using a new method for investigating the non-Gaussian behavior of water diffusion called diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI). Materials and Methods:Measures of mean diffusivity (MD), fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean kurtosis (MK) were compared in the prefrontal brain cortex of 24 healthy volunteers (adolescents, young adults, and elderly) ranging from age 13 to 85 years. A Mann-Whitney test was used to compare subject groups with respect to the diffusion measures, and linear regression was used to characterize the change in each diffusion measure as a function of age. Results:We found significant age-related changes in the elderly adult group, with increase of MD and decrease of FA. Conclusion:The current study demonstrates distinct mean kurtosis patterns for different age-ranges, with significant age-related correlation for mean kurtosis (MK) and MK peak position, showing that diffusional kurtosis is able to characterize and measure age-related diffusion changes for both grey and white matter, in the developing and aging brain.

By application of the MRI method of diffusional kurtosis imaging, a substantially increased diffusional kurtosis was observed within the cerebral ischemic lesions of three stroke subjects, 13–26 h following the onset of symptoms. This increase is interpreted as probably reflecting a higher degree of diffusional heterogeneity in the lesions when compared with normal-appearing contralateral tissue. In addition, for two of the subjects with white matter infarcts, the increase had a strong fiber tract orientational dependence. It is proposed that this effect is consistent with a large drop in the intra-axonal diffusivity, possibly related to either axonal varicosities or alterations associated with the endoplasmic reticulum.

Purpose To investigate non-Gaussian water diffusion using diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) to assess age effects on gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) microstructural changes in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of adolescents with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) compared to typically developing controls (TDC). Materials and Methods In this preliminary cross-sectional study, T1-weighted magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo (MPRAGE) and DKI images were acquired at 3T from TDC (n = 13) and adolescents with ADHD (n = 12). Regression analysis of the PFC region of interest (ROI) was conducted. Results TDC show a significant kurtosis increase of WM microstructural complexity from 12 to 18 years of age, particularly in the radial direction, whereas WM microstructure in ADHD is stagnant in both the axial and radial directions. In ADHD, GM microstructure also lacked a significant age-related increase in complexity as seen in TDC; only kurtosis measures were able to detect this difference. Conclusion These findings support the prevailing theory that ADHD is a disorder affecting frontostriatal WM. Our study is the first to directly quantify an aberrant age-related trajectory in ADHD within GM microstructure, suggesting that the assessment of non-Gaussian directional diffusion using DKI provides more sensitive and complementary information about tissue microstructural changes than conventional diffusion imaging methods.

Investigation of seven Vibrio virulence genes amongAims: To investigate the distribution of the virulence of two Vibrio species among different strains obtained from the mariculture systems on the coast of Guangdong in China and the correlation between the virulence strains and the virulence genes among Vibrio alginolyticus. Methods: Besides three strains, 72 V. alginolyticus strains and seven Vibrio parahaemolyticus strains were examined by PCR or semi-nested PCR for the virulence genes (tlh, trh, tdh, toxR, toxRS, ctxA, VPI). Additionally, the virulence of 18 V. alginolyticus strains was tested. Significance and Impact of the Study: Virulence genes homologous to those in the V. parahaemolyticus and Vibrio cholerae are widely distributed among V. alginolyticus and V. parahaemolyticus in the coastal mariculture systems in Guangdong, China. Some of the V. alginolyticus strains are pathogenic to aquatic animals, and might have derived their virulence genes from V. parahaemolyticus or V. cholerae, representing a possible reservoir of these genes. However, there is no correlation between presence and absence of the virulence genes used to investigate V. alginolyticus and its virulent strains. In this report, we also show that tlh is distributed among V. alginolyticus.

The cuprizone mouse model is well-established for studying the processes of both demyelination and remyelination in the corpus callosum, and it has been utilized together with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to investigate myelin and axonal pathology. Although some underlying morphological mechanisms contributing to the changes in diffusion tensor (DT) metrics have been identified, the understanding of specific associations between histology and diffusion measures remains limited. Diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) is an extension of DTI that provides metrics of diffusional non-Gaussianity, for which an associated white matter modeling (WMM) method has been developed. The main goal of the present study was to quantitatively assess the relationships between diffusion measures and histological measures in the mouse model of cuprizone-induced corpus callosum demyelination. The diffusional kurtosis (DK) and WMM metrics were found to provide additional information that enhances the sensitivity to detect the morphological heterogeneity in the chronic phase of the disease process in the rostral segment of the corpus callosum. Specifically, in the rostral segment axonal water fraction (d = 2.6; p<0.0001), radial kurtosis (d = 2.0; p=0.001) and mean kurtosis (d = 1.5; p=0.005) showed the most sensitivity between groups with respect to yielding statistically significant p-values and high Cohen’s d values. These results demonstrate the ability of DK and WMM metrics to detect white mater changes and inflammatory processes associated with cuprizone-induced demyelination. They also validate, in part, the application of these new WMM metrics for studying neurological diseases, as well as help to elucidate their biophysical meaning.

We present high-resolution anatomical imaging of the cervical spinal cord in healthy volunteers at the ultrahigh field of 7 T with a prototype four-channel radiofrequency coil array, in comparison with 3-T imaging of the same subjects. Signal-to-noise ratios at both field strengths were estimated using the rigorous Kellman method. Spinal cord cross-sectional area measurements were performed, including whole-cord measurements at both fields and gray matter segmentation at 7 T. The 7-T array coil showed reduced sagittal coverage, comparable axial coverage and the expected significantly higher signal-to-noise ratio compared with equivalent 3-T protocols. In the cervical spinal cord, the signal-to-noise ratio was found by the Kellman method to be higher by a factor of 3.5 with the 7-T coil than with standard 3-T coils. Cervical spine imaging in healthy volunteers at 7 T revealed not only detailed white/gray matter differentiation, but also structures not visualized at lower fields, such as denticulate ligaments, nerve roots and rostral–caudal blood vessels. Whole-cord cross-sectional area measurements showed good agreement at both field strengths. The measurable gray/white matter cross-sectional areas at 7 T were found to be comparable with reports from histology. These pilot data demonstrate the use of higher signal-to-noise ratios at the ultrahigh field of 7 T for significant improvement in anatomical resolution of the cervical spinal cord, allowing the visualization of structures not seen at lower field strength, particularly for axial imaging.

The magnetic field correlation (MFC) at an applied field level of 3 T was estimated by means of MRI in several brain regions for 21 healthy human adults and one subject with aceruloplasminemia. For healthy subjects, highly elevated MFC values compared to surrounding tissues were found within the basal ganglia. These are argued as being primarily the result of microscopic magnetic field inhomogeneities generated by non-heme brain iron. The MFC in the aceruloplasminemia subject was significantly higher than for healthy adults in the globus pallidus, thalamus and frontal white matter, consistent with the known increased brain iron concentration associated with this disease.