Context: Long COVID, also referred to as persistent COVID-19, encompasses a heterogeneous group of individuals who continue to experience long-term symptoms after going through the acute phase of COVID-19. Long COVID is caused by poor expression of antioxidant enzymes and cytoprotective proteins, regulated by the reaction of antioxidant elements to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), resulting in oxidative stress. Nuclear Factor Erythroid 2 (Nrf2) and inflammasome production are recently known to play key roles in the development of long COVID-19. It is denoted that the natural antioxidant alpha-mangostin can activate Nrf2, suggesting its potential as long-term therapy for COVID-19. Aims: To demonstrate the potential and stability of chemical interactions between alpha-mangostin and Nrf2. Methods: This work involved various stages, including molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation, drug-likeness prediction, pharmacokinetic profile prediction, and toxicity prediction. The target receptor Nrf2-Keap1 (PDB ID: 4L7B) was employed to be analyzed for its molecular interaction against alpha-mangostin. Results: The free binding energy (∆G) value of alpha-mangostin to Nrf2-Keap1 was -9.71 kcal/mol. The molecular dynamics simulation analysis on the OpenMM toolkit for 50 ns demonstrates that the alpha-mangostin maintained a stable interaction with the Nrf2-Keap1 complex. Conclusions: This study results demonstrate the potential for alpha-mangostin to serve as a viable long-term medication following COVID-19.

• Book : 13(2)
• Pub. Date : 2025
• Page : pp.381-392
• Keyword :

• Book : 1872(1)
• Pub. Date : 2025
• Page : pp.119864
• Keyword :

• Book : 26(1)
• Pub. Date : 2025
• Page : pp.2
• Keyword :

Abstract

Ensuring data reliability is becoming increasingly important for further applications of artificial intelligence, internet of things, and digital twins. One promising technology for ensuring data reliability is data validation and reconciliation (DVR), which minimizes the uncertainty of measurements based on statistics. DVR has been widely used for the operation and maintenance of nuclear power plants in Europe and the United States in recent years. The most important input for DVR analysis is measurement uncertainty. The catalog value provided by sensor manufacturers includes the measurement uncertainty, but in reality, the actual measurement uncertainty is often smaller. Previous studies have proposed several methods for evaluating the actual measurement uncertainty based on process data, which have been confirmed to be effective for evaluating random errors. It is important to note that bias errors also contribute significantly to the measurement uncertainty. In our previous paper, we proposed a method for estimating bias error using process data, an incidence matrix, and a reference instrument. The proposed method was limited to a mass balance relation, i.e., flowrate measurements. In this paper, we extend the method to include an energy balance relation by considering energy conservation in addition to mass conservation. This extension enables the evaluation of measurement uncertainty for flowrate and temperature. The proposed method was validated with two benchmark problems. It was found to be applicable to various flow conditions, including physically fluctuating flow, such as that observed in the feedwater flow in nuclear power plants.

• Book : 11(2)
• Pub. Date : 2025
• Page : pp.021101
• Keyword :

Abstract

Purpose

Ultrashort echo time (UTE) MRI can be a radiation‐free alternative to CT for craniofacial imaging of pediatric patients. However, unlike CT, bone‐specific MR imaging is limited by long scan times, relatively low spatial resolution, and a time‐consuming bone segmentation workflow.

Methods

A rapid, high‐resolution UTE technique for brain and skull imaging in conjunction with an automatic segmentation pipeline was developed. A dual‐RF, dual‐echo UTE sequence was optimized for rapid scan time (3 min) and smaller voxel size (0.65 mm³). A weighted least‐squares conjugate gradient method for computing the bone‐selective image improves bone specificity while retaining bone sensitivity. Additionally, a deep‐learning U‐Net model was trained to automatically segment the skull from the bone‐selective images. Ten healthy adult volunteers (six male, age 31.5 ± 10 years) and three pediatric patients (two male, ages 12 to 15 years) were scanned at 3 T. Clinical CT for the three patients were obtained for validation. Similarities in 3D skull reconstructions relative to clinical standard CT were evaluated based on the Dice similarity coefficient and Hausdorff distance. Craniometric measurements were used to assess geometric accuracy of the 3D skull renderings.

Results

The weighted least‐squares method produces images with enhanced bone specificity, suppression of soft tissue, and separation from air at the sinuses when validated against CT in pediatric patients. Dice similarity coefficient overlap was 0.86 ± 0.05, and the 95th percentile Hausdorff distance was 1.77 ± 0.49 mm between the full‐skull binary masks of the optimized UTE and CT in the testing dataset.

Conclusion

An optimized MRI acquisition, reconstruction, and segmentation workflow for craniofacial imaging was developed.

• Book : 93(1)
• Pub. Date : 2025
• Page : pp.245-260
• Keyword :

Abstract

Purpose

To compare postmortem in situ with ex situ MRI parameters, including volumetry, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and relaxometry for assessing methodology‐induced alterations, which is a crucial prerequisite when performing MRI biomarker validation.

Methods

MRI whole‐brain scans of five deceased patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis were performed at 3 T. In situ scans were conducted within 32 h after death (SD 18 h), and ex situ scans after brain extraction and 3 months of formalin fixation. The imaging protocol included MP2RAGE, DTI, and multi‐contrast spin‐echo and multi‐echo gradient‐echo sequences. Volumetry, fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, T1, T2, and have been assessed for specific brain regions.

Results

When comparing ex situ to in situ values, the following results were obtained. Deep gray matter as well as the thalamus and the hippocampus showed a reduced volume. Fractional anisotropy was reduced in the cortex and the whole brain. Mean diffusivity was decreased in white matter and deep gray matter. T1 and T2 were reduced in all investigated structures, whereas was increased in the cortex.

Conclusion

The results of this study show that the volumes and MRI parameters of several brain regions are potentially affected by tissue extraction and subsequent formalin fixation, suggesting that methodological alterations are present in ex situ MRI. To avoid overlap of indistinguishable methodological and disease‐related changes, we recommend performing in situ postmortem MRI as an additional intermediate step for in vivo MRI biomarker validation.

• Book : 93(1)
• Pub. Date : 2025
• Page : pp.213-227
• Keyword :

• Book : 40()
• Pub. Date : 2025
• Page : pp.e5
• Keyword :

• Book : 202()
• Pub. Date : 2025
• Page : pp.110582
• Keyword :

• Book : 603()
• Pub. Date : 2025
• Page : pp.155447
• Keyword :

• Book : 690()
• Pub. Date : 2025
• Page : pp.121592
• Keyword :