BackgroundMild cognitive impairment (MCI) lacks clear clinical biomarkers. N-Myc downstream-regulated gene 2 (NDRG2) is predominantly localized in astrocytes and is implicated in cognitive function.ObjectiveThis study aims to explore whether cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) NDRG2 could predict MCI and investigate its underlying mechanisms of cognitive decline.MethodsA total of 650 CSF samples were collected from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database, comprising 157 normal individuals, 366 MCI patients, and 127 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. One-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was employed to assess differences in CSF NDRG2 levels among groups. Linear regression was used to analyze the correlation between NDRG2 and amyloid-β (Aβ), phosphorylated tau (p-tau), 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), albumin quotient (Qalb), and growth-associated protein 43 (GAP43). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to examine the diagnostic performance of NDRG2 for MCI.ResultsCSF NDRG2 levels were significantly reduced in MCI, most prominently in non-Aβ and non-tau subgroups. NDRG2 discriminated Aβ-negative MCI with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.719, but showed limited discriminatory capacity in Aβ+, tau+, and apolipoprotein E ε4 (APOE ε4) carrier groups. Furthermore, CSF NDRG2 levels were positively correlated with GAP-43, a marker of synaptic plasticity.ConclusionsThe present study demonstrates that NDRG2 is a potential biomarker for non-AD derived MCI and suggests its involvement in synaptic plasticity impairment.
Qing-ning Zhang, Wei Wu, Yong-ming Zhou et al.· Journal of Alzheimer's Disea...· 0 citations
Hepatic vascular disorders include portal hypertension in cirrhosis, Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS), hepatic vascular malformations, and vascular complications after liver transplantation. These diseases depend on blood-flow direction, flow redistribution, and pressure transmission, and not only on gross vessel shape. Doppler ultrasound, computed tomography angiography (CTA), and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) are widely used in current clinical practice, but each has distinct limits for full hemodynamic assessment, and repeated follow-up can be difficult to implement effectively in daily clinical work. Four-dimensional flow magnetic resonance imaging (4D flow MRI) is a time-resolved three-dimensional (3D) phase-contrast MRI method with three-directional velocity encoding (VENC). It provides volumetric flow and multidirectional velocity data across the cardiac cycle, and it allows flexible retrospective plane placement and comprehensive network-level analysis. It can accurately measure flow volume, peak and mean velocity, retrograde fraction, fractional flow change, and shear-related metrics. It also supports pressure-gradient estimation when combined with physics-based modeling in selected clinical settings. Hepatic imaging still faces multiple major constraints, including VENC tradeoffs, respiratory motion, limited small-vessel resolution, and the need for unified standardized acquisition and analysis. Workflow limits from segmentation and plane placement can be greatly reduced by modern automated analysis. This review systematically summarizes technical foundations, processing steps, disease-focused applications, and practical barriers for clinical translation.
Hanxiang Liu, Lingyun Xu, Jing Yang et al.· Quantitative Imaging in Medi...· 0 citations