The study tested the standard b values that are commonly used in the routine clinical setting.
Ten normal volunteers (five men and five women) with a mean age of 26.3 years (range, 22-32 years) were scanned using a 1.5-T clinical magnetic
resonance unit. Single-shot echo-planar imaging was used for diffusion-weighted imaging with a diffusion-sensitizing gradient in 32 orientations. The b values of 700, 1,400, 2,100, and 2,800 s/m(2) were used. Data postprocessing was performed using multi-tensor methods. The depiction of the optic nerves, optic tracts, and decussation of superior cerebellar peduncles were assessed.
The EPZ004777 depictions of the nerve fibers were independent of the b values tested.
The depiction of crossing fibers by HARDI-based multi-tensor tractography is not substantially influenced by b values ranging from 700 to 2,800 s/m(2). selleck chemical Thus, the optimum b value within this range may be the lowest one considering the higher signal to noise ratio.”
“Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) is a novel human gammaretrovirus discovered in association with human prostate tumors. XMRV was first identified in prostate stromal cells surrounding the tumors of patients carrying a mutation in the HPC1 gene locus. To determine the tropism of XMRV in cell culture, we tested the ability of XMRV to spread and replicate in various prostate and nonprostate cell lines. We found that although
the expression of XMRV viral proteins and the spread of infectious virus were minimal in a variety of cell lines, XMRV displayed robust expression and infection in LNCaP prostate tumor cells. The transcriptional activity of the XMRV long terminal repeat
(LTR) was found to be higher than the Moloney murine leukemia virus LTRs in both LNCaP and WPMY-1 (simian virus 40-transformed prostate stromal cells). The U3 promoter of XMRV and a glucocorticoid response element (GRE) within the U3 were required for the transcriptional activity in LNCaP cells. Coexpression of the androgen receptor and stimulation with dihydrotestosterone SSR128129E stimulated XMRV-LTR-dependent transcription in 293T cells, and the GRE was required for this activity. These data suggest that XMRV may replicate more efficiently in LNCaP cells in part due to the transcriptional environment in LNCaP cells.”
“The uncinate fasciculus (UF) consists of core fibers connecting the frontal and temporal lobes and is considered to be related to cognitive/behavioral function. Using diffusion tensor tractography, we quantitatively evaluated changes in fractional anisotropy (FA) and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the UF by tract-specific analysis to evaluate the damage of the UF in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
We obtained diffusion tensor images of 15 patients with ALS and 9 age-matched volunteers.
Patients with ALS showed significantly lower mean FA (P = 0.029) compared with controls.