Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of the texture analysis derived from conventional MR imaging in differentiating glioblastomas from solitary brain metastases. Methods Thirty-four patients with pathological diagnoses of glioblastomas and 34 patients with pathological diagnoses of solitary brain metastases were enrolled in our study. All patients underwent conventional MR imaging including axial T1WI, T2WI, fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) and contrast-enhanced T1WI before surgery. Texture features were calculated from manually drawn ROIs by using MaZda software. The feature selection methods included mutual information (MI), Fishers coefficient, classification error probability combined with average correlation coefficients (POE+ACC) and the combination of the above three methods. These methods were used to identify the most significant texture features in discriminating glioblastomas from metastases. Then the statistical methods including raw data analysis (RDA), principal component analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and nonlinear discriminant analysis (NDA) were used to distinguish glioblastomas from metastases. The results were shown by misclassification rate. Meanwhile, two senior radiologists (who had 5 and 9 years of experience in neuroimaging diagnosis, respectively) analysed the data of the 68 patients. Chi-square test was used to compare the differences in the results between the radiologists' analysis and the texture analysis. Results In the four kinds of sequences, the texture features for differentiating glioblastomas from solitary brain metastases were mainly from T2WI which had the lowest misclassification rate, 8.82% (6/68). The misclassification rates of the feature selection methods were similar in MI, Fisher's coefficient and POE + ACC (10.29%-27.94% for MI;11.76%-44.12% for Fisher's coefficientand 8.82%-38.24% for POE+ACC). However, the misclassification rate of the combination of the three methods (8.82%-33.83% for FPM) was lower than that of any other kind of method. In the statistical methods, NDA (8.82%-11.76% ) had lower misclassification rate than RDA (26.47%-39.71% ), PCA (27.94%-39.71%) and LDA (13.24%-44.12%). Misclassification rate of the radiologists' analysis 14.71%(10/68) was higher than that of the texture analysis, but there was no statistically difference between them (χ2= 10.993, P=0.287). Conclusion Texture analysis of conventional MR imaging can provide reliably objective basis for differentiating glioblastoma from solitary brain metastasis.

[Objective]To explore the MRI features of the mucinous breast carcinoma and the correlation with biological prognos?tic factors.[Methods]MRI features of 35 pure and 15 mixed mucinous carcinomas were retrospectively analyzed. MR images were reviewed for shape,margin,the signal intensity,enhancement patterns of tumors and DWI features. All the patients were detected by immunohistochemical staining with expression of ER,PR,CerbB-2,Ki-67 and Her-2. Correlations between the pure and mixed mucinous breast carcinoma and prognostic factors were analyzed.[Results]16 oval masses(16/35,45.7%)and 10 circular masses (10/35,28.6%)were found in 35 pure mucinous breast carcinomas with clear boundary(26/35,74.3%)and lobulated shape(31/35,88.6%);9 irregular masses(9/15,60%)were found in mixed mucinous breast carcinomas with unclear boundary(13/15, 86.7%). Very high signal intensity on T2-weighted images was found in 33 pure mucinous carcinomas(33/35,94.3%)and 11 mixed mucinous carcinomas showed mixed signal intensity(11/15,73.3%). Early enhancement rate was(114.7 ± 9.1)% for pure muci?nous carcinomas and(165.6 ± 14.3)%for mixed mucinous carcinomas. 28 pure mucinous tumors demonstrated persistent enhancing pattern on time-signal intensity curve ,7 pure mucinous tumors demonstrated plateau pattern and 7 mixed mucinous carcinomas showed plateau pattern and washout pattern respectively. Mean ADC value was(1.91 ± 0.06)×10-3 mm2/s for pure mucinous carcino?mas and(1.13±0.08)×10-3mm2/s for mixed mucinous carcinomas. There was significant difference with morphology,boundary,T2WI signal,early enhancement rate,time-signal intensity curve,ADC value between pure and mixed mucinous breast carcinoma(P <0.05). There was significant difference between pure and mixed mucinous breast carcinoma with Her-2 and Ki-67 expression(P <0.05).[Conclusion]MRI could identify PMBC and MMBC from the shape,the signal intensity,dynamic enhancement and ADC val?ue,and PMBC had distinctive MRI features. The prognosis of MMBC is worse than that of PMBC form correlation between biological prognostic factors and mucinous breast carcinoma.

Objective: To investigate the effects and potential mechanisms of tolvaptan on chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH)-induced atrial remodeling in rats. Methods: A total of 45 Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 3 groups by the random number table: control group, CIH group (6 h/d for 30 days), CIH plus tolvaptan group (8 mg·kg^-1·d^-1 per gavage for 30 days). Echocardiography examination was performed after 30 days. Thereafter, 5 rats were randomly chosen for histology evaluation, 5 for molecular biological examinations and another 5 rats underwent isolated heart electrophysiology study in each group. Protein and mRNA expression levels of miRNA-21, Spry1, PTEN, ERK/p-ERK, MMP-9, PI3K, AKT/p-AKT were detected. Results: Compared to the rats in control group, rats in the CIH group showed higher atrial interstitial collagen deposition (P<0.001), increased atrial fibrillation inducibility (P=0.022). The results of immunohistochemistry staining showed that the mean optical density (MOD) of ERK, p-ERK and MMP-9 were significantly increased (all P<0.05), the MOD of Spry1 and PTEN were significantly decreased (both P<0.05), above changes could be significantly reversed by cotreatment with tolvaptan. No significant differences were detected in PI3K and AKT among the three groups (P>0.05). In addition, compared with rats in control group, mRNA levels of miRNA-21, MMP-9, PI3K, AKT, and protein levels of ERK, p-ERK, MMP-9 were significantly increased in CIH group(all P<0.05), whereas protein levels of Spry1, PI3K, p-AKT were significantly decreased (all P<0.05). Above changes could be significantly attenuated. Conclusions CIH induces significant atrial remodeling in this rat model, which can be attenuated by tolvaptan possibly through modulating miRNA-21/Spry1/ERK/MMP-9 and miRNA-21/PTEN/PI3K/AKT signaling pathways.

Objective To investigate the potential effects and mechanism on peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ-toll-like receptor 4-tumor necrosis factor-α (PPARγ-TLR4-TNF-α) targeted pathway on hyperglycemia induced myocardium inflammation and oxidative stress. Methods Thirty-two Japanese healthy adult rabbits were randomly divided into four groups with 8 rabbits in each group: normal control group (NC group), diabetes mellitus group (DM group), diabetes mellitus + pioglitazone 4 mg·kg-1·d-1 and 8 mg·kg-1·d-1 groups (DM+PGZ 4 mg and 8 mg groups). DM model was reproduced by alloxan of 150 mg/kg through auricular vein injection. On the same day of successful DM model reproduction, the diabetic rabbits were fed with corresponding dose of pioglitazone in DM+PGZ 4 mg and 8 mg groups, but the rabbits in NC group were not challenged. After 8 weeks of feeding, venous blood of left jugular vein bifurcation and myocardium tissue were harvested respectively for the determination of inflammation and oxidative stress parameters. TNF-α, interleukin-1 (IL-1), adiponectin (ADP), nitric oxide (NO) and total nitric oxide synthase (NOS) levels were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity was determined by colorimetric method, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was determined by hydroxylamine method, malondialdehyde (MDA) was determined by thiobarbituric acid colorimetric method, and catalase (CAT) activity was determined by UV spectrophotometry method. In addition, the mRNA expressions of TNF-α and TLR4 were determined by real-time quantitate reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Results ① IL-1 and TNF-α in serum and myocardium of model rabbits were significantly increased, ADP was significantly decreased, and the mRNA expressions of TNF-α and TLR4 in myocardium were significantly increased, indicating a significant inflammatory reaction. The inflammatory reaction in pioglitazone intervention groups was significantly reduced, TNF-αand IL-1 levels in serum and myocardium of DM+PGZ 4 mg and 8 mg groups were significantly decreased as compared with those of DM group [serum: TNF-α(ng/L) was 268.33±46.57, 261.34±33.73 vs. 331.40±69.05, myocardium: TNF-α (ng/L) was 144.72±26.90, 139.59±14.59 vs. 177.48±27.40; serum: IL-1 (ng/L) was 24.40±2.56, 23.35±3.13 vs. 30.08±5.44, myocardium: IL-1 (ng/L) was 21.26±2.85, 20.54±2.75 vs. 24.78±3.60, all P < 0.05], and ADP levels were significantly increased [serum (μg/L): 19.64±8.85, 20.54±7.47 vs. 15.45±3.06, myocardium (μg/L): 10.31±2.22, 11.49±3.42 vs. 7.76±1.77, all P < 0.05], and the mRNA expressions of TNF-α and TLR4 in myocardium were significantly decreased (TNF-αmRNA: 0.15±0.05, 0.14±0.06 vs. 0.25±0.09; TLR4 mRNA: 0.57±0.17, 0.40±0.18 vs. 0.75±0.35, all P < 0.05). ②Oxidative stress in serum and myocardium of model rabbits was significantly increased, SOD, NO, and total NOS levels were significantly decreased while the serum CAT and MDA levels were significantly increased without effect on MPO. Compared with the DM group, SOD and NO levels in serum and myocardium were significantly increased in DM+PGZ 4 mg and 8 mg groups [serum: SOD (U/L) was 571.39±40.85, 609.28±54.47 vs. 535.10±37.08, myocardium:SOD (U/mg) was 55.74±8.12, 53.60±9.87 vs. 42.26±12.34; serum: NO (μmol/L) was 2.95±0.51, 2.99±0.43 vs. 2.03±0.78, myocardium: NO (nmol/mg) was 1.95±0.37, 2.11±0.26 vs. 1.56±0.33, all P < 0.05], the serum MDA levels were significantly decreased (μmol/L: 20.11±2.34, 19.70±2.02 vs. 23.07±3.06, both P < 0.05), while no significant effect on CAT. There was no significant difference in parameter of inflammatory and oxidative stress between the two pioglitazone intervention groups. Conclusion 4 mg·kg-1·d-1 pioglitazone could activate PPARγ-TLR4-TNF-α targeted pathway, thus inhibit inflammatory and oxidative stress factors expression, and down-regulate hyperglycemia induced myocardium inflammatory and oxidative stress level, but the effect did not show a dose dependent manner.