ObjectivesWe hypothesized that three-dimensional pseudocontinuous arterial spin labelling (pCASL) may have similar efficacy in astrocytic tumour grading as dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced perfusion-weighted imaging (DSC-PWI), and the grading accuracy may be further improved when combined with apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values.MethodsForty-three patients with astrocytic tumours were studied using diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), pCASL, and DSC-PWI. Histograms of ADC and normalized tumour cerebral blood flow values (nCBF on pCASL and nrCBF on DSC-PWI) were measured and analyzed.ResultsThe mean 10 % ADC value was the DWI parameter that provided the best differentiation between low-grade astrocytoma (LGA) and high-grade astrocytoma (HGA). The nCBF and nrCBF (1.810 ± 0.979 and 2.070 ± 1.048) in LGA were significantly lower than those (4.505 ± 2.270 and 5.922 ± 2.630) in HGA. For differentiation between LGA and HGA, the cutoff values of 0.764 × 10-3 mm2/s for mean 10 % ADC, 2.374 for nCBF, and 3.464 for nrCBF provided the optimal accuracy (74.4 %, 86.1 %, and 88.6 %, respectively). Combining the ADC values with nCBF or nrCBF could further improve the grading accuracy to 97.7 % or 95.3 %, respectively.ConclusionspCASL is an alternative to DSC-PWI for astrocytic tumour grading. The combination of DWI and contrast-free pCASL offers a valuable choice in patients with risk factors.Key Points• pCASL shows positive correlation with DSC-PWI in astrocytic tumour grading.• ADC values based on ADC histograms can be an objective method.• Combination of DWI and pCASL or DSC-PWI can improve grading accuracy.

Gliomas grading is important for treatment plan; we aimed to investigate the application of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in gliomas grading, by comparing with the three-dimensional pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (3D pCASL). 24 patients (13 high grade gliomas and 11 low grade gliomas) underwent IVIM DWI and 3D pCASL imaging before operation; maps of fast diffusion coefficient (D ∗), slow diffusion coefficient (D), fractional perfusion-related volume (f), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) as well as cerebral blood flow (CBF) were calculated and then coregistered to generate the corresponding parameter values. We found CBF and D ∗ were higher in the high grade gliomas, whereas ADC, D, and f were lower (all P < 0.05). In differentiating the high from low grade gliomas, the maximum areas under the curves (AUC) of D ∗, CBF, and ADC were 0.857, 0.85, and 0.902, respectively. CBF was negatively correlated with f in tumor (r = −0.619, P = 0.001). ADC was positively correlated with D in both tumor and white matter (r = 0.887, P = 0.000 and r = 0.824, P = 0.000, resp.). There was no correlation between CBF and D ∗ in both tumor and white matter (P > 0.05). IVIM DWI showed more efficiency than 3D pCASL but less validity than conventional DWI in differentiating the high from low grade gliomas.

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The present study aimed to investigate the effects of histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) inhibitor Cay10603 (Cay) on high glucose (HG)-stimulated human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells and its underlying mechanisms. ARPE-19 cells were cultured under normal glucose (NG) or high glucose (HG) conditions. The results revealed that HDAC6 was upregulated in HG-stimulated ARPE-19 cells. Cay treatment caused a decrease in intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). The levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) were reduced accompanied by increase in the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) after treatment with Cay. Besides, Cay decreased the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6 and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in supernatant. Meanwhile, the apoptotic rate in Cay-treated ARPE-19 cells notably reduced, coupled with an upregulation in Bcl-2 expression and a downregulation in cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 expression. Cay decreased the expression of phospho (p)-NF-κB p65, p-IκB-α, NLRP3, cleaved caspase-1 and ASC while increased the expression of NF-κB p65 (cytoplasm). Taken together, these findings demonstrated that Cay suppressed HG-induced oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis via regulating NF-κB and NLRP3 inflammasome pathway in HG-induced ARPE-19 cells, suggesting that Cay might be a therapeutic agent for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy.

Three p53 DNA polymorphisms (BstUIand MspIRFLPs in exon 4 and intron 6, respectively, and a 16-bp duplication in intron 3) and their haplotype combinations were studied in 73 patients (61 males and 12 females) with nasopharyngeal cancer and 105 healthy controls from the Guizhou province in southern China. Increased frequencies of the 16-bp A2 allele (p = 0.005), MspIAl allele (p = 0.021) and the BstUlAl (Pro) allele (p = 0.072) were found among the patients, with more pronounced differences in male patients (p = 0.003,0.014 and 0.052, respectively). Haplotype frequencies and linkage dis-equilibria differed from those in Caucasians. The differences between controls and patients, especially male patients, increased when the analysis was based on haplotypes. The lowest risk for nasopharyngeal cancer was associated with the haplotype 16-bp Al, BstUIA2, MspIA2 (1-2-2). A somewhat higher risk was observed in the 1-1-2 haplotype (replacing the Arg with a Pro allele). The highest risk was, however, found in the rare combinations including the 16-bp A2 and MspIAl alleles with an odds ratio of 4.9 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.8-13.2] in all patients and 5.4 (95% CI = 2.0-14.8) in male patients. The haplotype associations found in this study differ from those found in previous cancer association studies in Caucasians. This together with the fact that the intronic markers conferred the highest risk figures suggest that the mechanism behind the observed associations is linkage disequilibrium and not direct functional involvement of the codon 72 alleles.

4 Technical Efficacy: Stage 1 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2017;46:1797-1809.

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A rewritable photonic crystal (PC) paper as an environmentally friendly and low-resource-consuming material for information storage and spreading has gradually become a research hotspot. In this work, a novel rewritable PC paper with inkless writing and double-sided rewritability properties was developed. A double-sided epoxy resin PC paper exhibiting an inverse opal structure and a bright structural color was fabricated using the sacrificial template method. Carbon black was doped into the material to increase color saturation and purity while preventing light transmission and protecting the double-sided structural color from interference. The force of sliding friction and deformation triggered by capillary pressure as well as swelling-triggered recovery of the inverse opal structure led to an easy rewriting of the PC paper. The PC paper exhibited excellent rewritability even after 50 runs of the rewriting process. Given the inkless and double-sided rewriting, this study provides a new method for the preparation of rewritable PC papers.