Magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging (MR-DWI) is a functional technology at the molecular level.Compared to other imaging exams (such as DSA,CT,US),DWI is non invasive,has no radiation,and objective.Thus,it is widely accepted in clinical settings.As a means to assess the therapeutic efficacy of intervention,DWI has a promising prospect.In this article,we review the application of MR-DWI in evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of hepatocellular carcinoma intervention.

Objective To determine the optimal volume proportion of iodize d oil (Lipiodol)-ethanol mixture by comparing the clinical efficacy of transhepatic arterial embolization-ablation therapy using different volume proportion of Lipiodol-ethanol mixture in treating experimental rabbit models with VX 2 liver cancer. Methods VX2 tumor was implanted in eighteen adult male New Zealand white rabbits. The 18 VX 2 rabbit models were randomly and equally divided into the following six groups according to the Lipiodol-ethanol volume ratio ∶ group A (3 ∶ 1), group B (2 ∶ 1), group C (1 ∶ 1), group D (1 ∶ 2), group E (1 ∶ 3) and group F (1 ∶ 4). One week after the treatment, all the rabbits were sacrificed and their livers were removed and sent for pathologic examination. The tumor growth rate, the microvascular density, the apoptosis index (AI) of tumor tissues and the injury of the hepatic tissue adjacent to the tumor were evaluated. Results After the treatment, the tumor’s size was increased in group A, E and F. The tumor growth rate of group A was significantly higher than that of the other five groups , and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The tumor’s size of groups B, C and D was decreased, although the difference was not significant when compared with the tumor’s size of groups E and F (P > 0.05). The proportion of ethanol in Lipiodol ∶ethanol mixture bore a negative relationship to the microvascular density counts (R2= 0.840, F = 89.432, P < 0.001). AI of group A was strikingly lower than that of groups C, D, E and F (P < 0.05). The difference in AI between group A and group B was not significant (P > 0.05), while the difference in AI between group B and group C or between group B and group F was statistically significant (P<0.05), and no significant difference in AI existed between each other among other groups (P > 0.05). The injury extent of the hepatic tissue adjacent to the tumor in group A and B was remarkably milder than that of other groups (P < 0.05). Conclusion When considered in terms of safety, the optimal volume proportion of Lipiodol-ethanol mixture should be 2 ∶ 1. Successful super-selective catheterization of the tumor feeding artery, strict and close fluoroscopic monitoring of the injection and proper increase in the proportion of ethanol can definitely improve the therapeutic efficacy.

Agricultural activities, including stock-farming, planting industry, and fish aquaculture, can affect the physicochemical and biological characters of freshwater lakes. However, the effects of pollution producing by agricultural activities on microbial ecosystem of lakes remain unclear. Hence, in this work, we selected Honghu Lake as a typical lake that is influenced by agriculture activities. We collected water and sediment samples from 18 sites, which span a wide range of areas from impacted and less-impacted areas. We performed a geospatial analysis on the composition of microbial communities associated with physicochemical properties and antibiotic pollution of samples. The co-occurrence networks of water and sediment were also built and analyzed. Our results showed that the microbial communities of impacted and less-impacted samples of water were largely driven by the concentrations of TN, TP, NO-N, and NO-N, while those of sediment were affected by the concentrations of Sed-OM and Sed-TN. Antibiotics have also played important roles in shaping these microbial communities: the concentrations of oxytetracycline and tetracycline clearly reflected the variance in taxonomic diversity and predicted functional diversity between impacted and less-impacted sites in water and sediment samples, respectively. Furthermore, for samples from both water and sediment, large differences of network topology structures between impacted and less-impacted were also observed. Our results provide compelling evidence that the microbial community can be used as a sentinel of eutrophication and antibiotics pollution risk associated with agricultural activity; and that proper monitoring of this environment is vital to maintain a sustainable environment in Honghu Lake.
Agriculture ; Animals ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; analysis ; China ; Eutrophication ; Geologic Sediments ; chemistry ; microbiology ; Lakes ; chemistry ; microbiology ; Microbiota ; Risk Factors ; Water Pollutants, Chemical ; analysis