Objective To evaluate a noninvasive vessel encoded imaging for selective mapping of the flow territories of the left and right internal carotid arteries and vertebral-basilar arteries. Methods Seven volunteers [(33.5±4.1) years ; 3 men, 4 women] and 6 patients [(55.2 ± 3.2) years; 2 men,4women] were given written informed consent approved by the institutional review board before participating in the study. A pseudo-continuous tagging pulse train is modified to encode all vessels of interest. The selectivity of this method was demonstrated. Regional perfusion imaging was developed on the same arterial spin labeling sequence. Perfusion-weighted images of the selectively labeled cerebral arteries were obtained by subtraction of the labeled from control images. The CBF values of hemisphere, white matter, and gray matter of volunteers were calculated. The vessel territories on patients were compared with DSA. The low perfusion areas were compared with high signal areas on T2-FLAIR. Results High SNR maps of left carotid, right carotid, and basilar territories were generated in 8 minutes of scan time. Cerebral blood flow 100 g-1 were in agreement with data in the literature. Vessel encoded imaging in patients had a good agreement with DSA. The low perfusion areas were larger than high signal areas on T2-FLAIR. Conclusion We present a new method capable of evaluating both quantitatively and qualitatively the individual brain-feeding arteries in vivo.

AlM: To investigate the effect of C. sinensis extracts on HBx (Hepatitis B virus X protein) induced cell proliferation and extracellular matrix (ECM) accumulation and the underlying mechanism in cultured human mesangial cells (HMCs). METHODS: Human mesangial cells were stable transfected with pCMV-HBx to establish an HBx over-expression model, and a control group was transfected with an empty vector. Cell proliferation was determined by MTT assay and DNA synthesis assay. Western blotting was used to measure the expression of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway-related proteins and extracellular matrix. RESULTS: HBx transfection induced cell proliferation, matrix accumulation. HBx-transfected mesangial cells had increased activity of the PI3K/Akt pathways, and treatment with C. sinensis suppressed this effect. CONCLUSlON: C.sinensis attenuates the HBx-induced human mesangial cell proliferation and matrix production in human mesangial cells via inhibition of the PI3K/Akt pathways.