Search

The causes of variation in the milk mineral profile of dairy cattle during the first phase of lactation were studied under the hypothesis that the milk mineral profile partially reflects the animals' metabolic status. Correlations between the minerals and the main milk constituents (i.e., protein, fat, and lactose percentages), and their associations with the cows' metabolic status indicators were explored. The metabolic status indicators (MET) that we used were blood energy-protein metabolites [nonesterified fatty acids, β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), glucose, cholesterol, creatinine, and urea], and liver ultrasound measurements (predicted triacylglycerol liver content, portal vein area, portal vein diameter and liver depth). Milk and blood samples, and ultrasound measurements were taken from 295 Holstein cows belonging to 2 herds and in the first 120 d in milk (DIM). Milk mineral contents were determined by ICP-OES; these were considered the response variable and analyzed through a mixed model which included DIM, parity, milk yield, and MET as fixed effects, and the herd/date as a random effect. The MET traits were divided in tertiles. The results showed that milk protein was positively associated with body condition score (BCS) and glucose, and negatively associated with BHB blood content; milk fat was positively associated with BHB content; milk lactose was positively associated with BCS; and Ca, P, K and S were the minerals with the greatest number of associations with the cows' energy indicators, particularly BCS, predicted triacylglycerol liver content, glucose, BHB and urea. We conclude that the protein, fat, lactose, and mineral contents of milk partially reflect the metabolic adaptation of cows during lactation and within 120 DIM. Variations in the milk mineral profile were consistent with changes in the major milk constituents and the metabolic status of cows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel anatomy-preserved GAN (ApGAN) is developed for generating the simulated intraoperative ultrasound of liver without any preprocessing steps. • The simulated intraoperative ultrasound has high-level precision of anatomical structures and focal areas. • Empirical results of clinical data showed that the proposed method obtained higher accuracy compared to existing methods. In ultrasound-guided liver surgery, the lack of large-scale intraoperative ultrasound images with important anatomical structures remains an obstacle hindering the successful application of AI to ultrasound guidance. In this case, intraoperative ultrasound (iUS) simulation should be conducted from preoperative magnetic resonance (pMR), which not only helps doctors understand the characteristics of iUS in advance, but also expands the iUS dataset from various imaging positions, thereby promoting the automatic iUS analysis in ultrasound guidance. Herein, a novel anatomy preserving generative adversarial network (ApGAN) framework was proposed to generate simulated intraoperative ultrasound (Sim-iUS) of liver with precise structure information from pMR. Specifically, the low-rank factors based bimodal fusion was first established focusing on the effective information of hepatic parenchyma. Then, a deformation field based correction module was introduced to learn and correct the slight structural distortion from surgical operations. Meanwhile, the multiple loss functions were designed to constrain the simulation of the content, structures, and style. Empirical results of clinical data showed that the proposed ApGAN obtained higher Structural Similarity (SSIM) of 0.74 and Fr´echet Inception Distance (FID) of 35.54 compared to existing methods. Furthermore, the average Hausdorff Distance (HD) error of the liver capsule structure was less than 0.25 mm, and the average relative (Euclidean Distance) ED error for polyps was 0.12 mm, indicating the high-level precision of this ApGAN in simulating the anatomical structures and focal areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this review is to determine the effect of curcumin on the liver ultrasonographic morphology, and the effectiveness of curcumin as adjuvant treatment for NAFLD. The Cochrane library and PubMed were searched systematically to identify randomized controlled trials from 2000 to January 2021. The primary outcomes were NAFLD severity, liver steatosis resolution, liver scarring, liver enzymes, also lipid profiles. 16 RCTs with a total of 1028 participants were included in the meta-analysis. Curcumin improved NAFLD severity (RR: 3.52, 95 % CI 1.27–9.72; P = 0.02) and increased the liver steatosis resolution (RR 3.96, 95 % CI 1.54–10.17; P = 0.004) based on the liver ultrasonographic finding. Curcumin supplementation reduced aspartate aminotransferase (MD − 4.00, 95 % CI − 5.72 to − 2.28; P < 0.001), alanine aminotransferase (MD − 7.02, 95 % CI − 9.83 to − 4.20; P < 0.001), total cholesterol (MD − 11.86, 95 % CI − 19.25 to − 4.46; P = 0.002) and BMI (MD: − 0.41, 95 % CI − 0.75 to − 0.07; P = 0.02). Curcumin supplementation has a favorable effect on liver ultrasonographic findings, reduced serum liver enzymes, total cholesterol, and BMI in participants with NAFLD. Therefore, promoting curcumin as adjuvant treatment on NAFLD patients might be justified. • Report on liver ultrasonographic findings in NAFLD with curcumin supplementation. • Curcumin has been shown to improve NAFLD's severity and increase liver steatosis resolution compared to the placebo groups. • Curcumin was also found to reduce triglycerides if taken more than eight weeks' duration. • There is no major side effect, and our findings showed no difference in the adverse effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale and Objectives: Image-guided thermal ablation is used to treat primary and secondary liver cancers. Evaluating completeness of ablation is difficult with standard intraoperative B-mode ultrasound. This study evaluates the ability of B-mode ultrasound (US) and tissue elastography to adequately measure the extent of ablation compared to pathologic assessment. Materials and Methods: An in vivo porcine model was used to compare B-mode ultrasonography and elastography to pathologic assessment of the microwave ablation zone area. In parallel, intraoperative ablations in patients were used to assess the ability of B-mode US and elastographic measures of tissue strain immediately after ablation to predict ablation size, compared to postprocedural computed tomography (CT). Results: In the animal model, ablation zones appeared to decrease in size when monitored with ultrasound over a 10-minute span with both B-mode US and elastography. Both techniques estimated smaller zones than gross pathology, however, the differences did not reach statistical significance. Biopsies from the edges of the ablation zone, as assessed by US, contained viable tissue in 75% of the cases. In the human model, B-mode US and elastography estimated similar ablation sizes; however, they underestimate the final size of the ablation defect as measured on postprocedure CT scan (median area [interquartile range]: CT, 7.3 cm2 [5.2–9.5] vs. US 3.6 cm2 [1.7–6.3] and elastography 4.1 cm2 [1.4–5.1]; P = .005). Conclusions: Ultrasound and elastography provide an accurate gross estimation of ablation zone size but are unable to predict the degree of cellular injury and significantly underestimate the ultimate size of the ablation [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: The objective of the present study was to compare conventional B-mode ultrasound (BMU), contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the detection of liver metastases at the primary staging and follow-up of women with histologically confirmed mammary carcinoma. Patients and methods: Included in the study were 55 women (aged 57.5±11.0 years, range 27–75 years; mean disease duration 57.5 months, range 5–168 months); of these, 17 women were examined as part of primary staging (staging group) and 38 women at follow-up (follow-up group). All patients underwent BMU (Philips HDI 5000), CEUS (Philips HDI 5000; 4.8 ml SonoVue), and MRI (Siemens Avanto 1.5 T) of the liver. Results: In the staging group (n=17), a mass was detected by BMU in 24% (n=4), by CEUS in 29% (n=5), and by MRI in 47% (n=8); masses suspicious for malignancy were identified in 6% of patients with BMU and in 12% each by CEUS and MRI. Malignancy was not confirmed in any case by cytology or surgery. In the follow-up group (n=38), masses were identified by MRI in 53% of patients with suspicion of malignancy in 18%. Malignancy was confirmed in 16% of cases identified at MRI, in 13% of cases identified with CEUS, and in 11% of cases identified with BMU. The Pearson coefficients of correlation were r=.29 (P=.03) for MRI vs. BMU; r=.42 (P=.002) for MRI vs. CEUS; and r=.75 (P≤.001) for BMU vs. CEUS. With respect to malignancy, the Pearson coefficients of correlation were r=.40 (P=.099) for BMU vs. MRI and r=.71 (P=.0009) for CEUS vs. MRI. Conclusions: Beginning in tumor stage III, the use of CEUS and MRI is associated with a significantly greater benefit in the detection of malignant tumors of the liver compared with conventional BMU. BMU appears to be adequate for primary staging and the follow-up of lower tumor stages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using the LifeShirt™ ambulatory functional monitoring system to determine correlations between respiratory functional parameters and liver motion for minimally invasive hepatic interventions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]