AbstractEntorhinal cortex (EC), thought to be the location of the earliest lesions in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), has been widely studied in recent years. With the irreversible pathological changes of AD, there is an urgent need to find biomarkers that can be used to predict the presence of the disease before it is clinically expressed. The aim of this review is to summarize and analyze recent findings that are relevant to the important role of EC in the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild AD and to describe a range of neuroimaging techniques used to define the EC boundary. A comprehensive literature search for articles published up to May 2015 was performed. Our research highlights the finding that atrophy in EC reflects the early pathological changes of AD and can be a strong predictor of prodromal AD. The early changes in EC are a good imaging biomarker that can be used to discriminate individuals with MCI from normal control subjects. A larger degree of atrophy in EC predicts increased disease severity, and the right EC in patients with mild AD exhibited greater changes than the left side. In addition, the EC seems to have an obvious advantage over the hippocampus as a biomarker when predicting future conversion to AD in individuals with MCI, and it may be of help in following the course of disease progression. In this review, we also summarize the main differences observed between the hippocampus and the EC when differentiating diseases. These findings will hopefully provide an opportunity for the effective prevention and early treatment of AD.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play key roles in regulating gene expression and cell functions, which are recognized as potential biomarkers for many human diseases. Sensitive, specific, and reliable detection of miRNA is highly demanded for clinical diagnosis and therapy. Herein, we describe a label-free and low-background fluorescent assay, termed amplified tandem Spinach-based aptamer transcription assay (AmptSpi assay) for highly sensitive miRNA detection by polymeric rolling circle amplicon mediated multiple transcription. Target miRNA is recognized by padlock probe to form polymeric rolling circle amplicon. Then the following transcription process rapidly produces large amounts of repeats of RNA Spinach aptamers, lightened up by the addition of fluorescent dye DFHBI for miRNA quantitative analysis, achieving label-free and nearly zero-background. Besides, the assay could also confer high selectivity to distinguish miRNA among the miRNA family members with 1- or 2-nucleotide (nt) difference. This method was capable of completing detection in human serum sample or cell extracts in hours, indicating great potential in the early diagnosis of diseases.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a critical role in multifarious biological processes and being deemed to be important biomarkers for clinical cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy. Thus, assays for sensitive and accurate quantification of miRNAs are highly demanded. Herein, we have constructed a RNA aptamer involved cascade transcription amplification method (termed RACTA), enabling label-free, ultrasensitive, and specific detection of miRNA. Target miRNA-initiated strand-displacement amplification would allow for the production of plenty of ssDNA that triggers the subsequent transcriptional amplification of spinach RNA aptamers. Consequently, transcribed tremendous spinach aptamers activated fluorophore DFHBI ((Z)-4-(3,5-difluoro-4-hydroxybenzylidene)-1,2-dimethyl-1H-imidazol-5(4H)-one) for miRNA quantitative analysis. RACTA outperforms conventional strand displacement amplification (SDA) at both background and amplification rate due to the light-up mechanism of DFHBI dye-Spinach aptamer and cascade signal amplification of RACTA. Thus, the signal-to-noise ratio of RACTA was increased by about 20-fold compared to that of SDA. This RACTA assay could confer a highly sensitive detection of miRNA with a detection limit of 5.12 × 10 −18 M and excellent specificity enabling differentiation between miRNAs and homologous families. Besides, this assay has been successfully demonstrated for quantification of miRNAs in different cell lines. Therefore, the proposed method holds great potential for miRNA biomarker based early diagnosis and prognosis monitoring.

Background The results of previous studies on the usefulness of free triiodothyronine (FT3) to free thyroxine (FT4) are controversial. We investigated the usefulness of FT3, FT4, and FT3/FT4 ratio in differentiating Graves' disease (GD) from destructive thyroiditis. Methods A total of 126 patients with untreated GD, 36 with painless thyroiditis, 18 with painful subacute thyroiditis, and 63 healthy controls, were recruited. The levels of FT3 and FT4 and the FT3/FT4 ratios for the different etiologies of thyrotoxicosis were evaluated separately by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The expression levels of type 1 and type 2 deiodinase (DIO1 and DIO2) in thyroid tissues were also investigated. Results The optimal cut-off values were 7.215 pmol/L for FT3, 21.71 pmol/L for FT4, and 0.4056 for the FT3/FT4 ratio. The specificity and positive predictive value of the FT3/FT4 ratio were highest for values > 0.4056. DIO1 mRNA expression was significantly higher in the thyroid tissue of patients with GD (P = 0.013). Conclusions We demonstrated that the FT3/FT4 ratio was useful in differentiating GD from destructive thyroiditis. In addition, a relatively high expression of type 1 deiodinase in the thyroid might be responsible for the high FT3/FT4 ratio in patients with GD.

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Purpose: Mathematical models combined with new imaging technologies could improve clinical oncology studies. To improve detection of therapeutic effect in patients with cancer, we assessed volumetric measurement of target lesions to estimate the rates of exponential tumor growth and regression as treatment is administered.Experimental Design: Two completed phase III trials were studied (988 patients) of aflibercept or panitumumab added to standard chemotherapy for advanced colorectal cancer. Retrospectively, radiologists performed semiautomated measurements of all metastatic lesions on CT images. Using exponential growth modeling, tumor regression (d) and growth (g) rates were estimated for each patient's unidimensional and volumetric measurements.Results: Exponential growth modeling of volumetric measurements detected different empiric mechanisms of effect for each drug: panitumumab marginally augmented the decay rate [tumor half-life; d [IQR]: 36.5 days (56.3, 29.0)] of chemotherapy [d: 44.5 days (67.2, 32.1), two-sided Wilcoxon P ¼ 0.016], whereas aflibercept more significantly slowed the growth rate [doubling time; g ¼ 300.8 days (154.0, 572.3)] compared with chemotherapy alone [g ¼ 155.9 days (82.2, 347.0), P ≤ 0.0001]. An association of g with overall survival (OS) was observed. Simulating clinical trials using volumetric or unidimensional tumor measurements, fewer patients were required to detect a treatment effect using a volumetric measurement-based strategy (32-60 patients) than for unidimensional measurement-based strategies (124-184 patients).Conclusions: Combined tumor volume measurement and estimation of tumor regression and growth rate has potential to enhance assessment of treatment effects in clinical studies of colorectal cancer that would not be achieved with conventional, RECIST-based unidimensional measurements.

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ObjectiveReliable electrophysiological indicators are urgently needed in the precise evaluation of Parkinson’s disease (PD). It is still elusive whether oculomotor performance is impaired or has clinical value in early PD. This study aims to explore oculomotor performance in newly diagnosed, drug-naïve PD and its correlation with clinical phenotype.MethodsSeventy-five patients with de novo PD, 75 patients with essential tremor (ET), and 46 gender-and age-matched healthy controls (HCs) were included in this cross-sectional study. All subjects underwent oculomotor test via videonystagmography. Visually guided saccade latency, saccadic accuracy and gain in smooth pursuit eye movement (SPEM) at three frequencies of the horizontal axis were compared among the three groups. Patients with PD also received detailed motor and non-motor evaluation by serial scales. The association between key oculomotor parameters and clinical phenotypes were explored in PD patients.ResultsBoth de novo PD and ET patients showed prolonged saccadic latency and decreased saccadic accuracy relative to HCs. SPEM gain in PD was uniformly reduced at each frequency. SPEM gain at 0.4 Hz was also decreased in ET compared with HCs. However, there was no significant difference of oculomotor parameters between de novo PD and ET patients. Furthermore, prolonged saccadic latency was correlated with long disease duration, whereas decreased SPEM gain was associated with severe motor symptoms in de novo PD patients.ConclusionOcular movements are impaired in de novo, drug naïve PD patients; these changes could be indicators for disease progression in PD.