Is type Ⅰ alpha 2 collagen gene responsible for intracranial aneurysm in Northeast China?

In this study, we investigated whether a single nucleotide polymorphism （rs42524 G 〉 C） in the type I alpha 2 collagen gene was associated with sporadic ruptured intracranial aneurysm or its clinical characteristics in patients from Northeast China. Genotyping of the rs42524 G 〉 C polymorphism was carried out using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. The data showed that the frequency of the rs42524 GC ＋ CC genotype was significantly higher than the GG genotype among intracranial aneurysm patients whose Hunt and Hess grading scale was 〉 3. In addition, the rs42524 G 〉 C genotype was found to have a statistically significant association with intracranial aneurysm risk. These findings indicate that the type I alpha 2 collagen gene gene may be involved in a predisposition to intracranial aneurysm in the Northeast Chinese population. Crucially, the rs42524 C allele may be an important risk factor for increased severity of the condition in patients with ruptured intracranial aneurysms.

Comparative profiling of immune genes improves the prognoses of lower grade gliomas

Objective:Lower grade gliomas(LGGs),classified as World Health Organization(WHO)grade II and grade III gliomas,comprise a heterogeneous group with a median survival time ranging from 4–13 years.Accurate prediction of the survival times of LGGs remains a major challenge in clinical practice.Methods:We reviewed the expression data of 865 LGG patients from 5 transcriptomics cohorts.The comparative profile of immune genes was analyzed for signature identification and validation.In-house RNAseq and microarray data from the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas(CGGA)dataset were used as training and internal validation cohorts,respectively.The samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)and GSE16011 cohorts were used as external validation cohorts,and the real-time PCR of frozen LGG tissue samples(n=36)were used for clinical validation.Results:A total of 2,214 immune genes were subjected to pairwise comparison to generate 2,449,791 immune-related gene pairs(IGPs).A total of 402 IGPs were identified with prognostic values for LGGs.The HOXA9-related and CRH-related scores facilitated identification of patients with different prognoses.An immune signature based on 10 IGPs was constructed to stratify patients into low and high risk groups,exhibiting different clinical outcomes.A nomogram,combining immune signature,1p/19q status,and tumor grade,was able to predict the overall survival(OS)with c-indices of 0.85,0.80,0.80,0.79,and 0.75 in the training,internal validation,external validation,and tissue sample cohorts,respectively.Conclusions:This study was the first to report a comparative profiling of immune genes in large LGG cohorts.A promising individualized immune signature was developed to estimate the survival time for LGG patients.

Coaxial bioprinted microfibers with mesenchymal stem cells for glioma microenvironment simulation

Due to their special anatomical and physiological features,central nervous system diseases still presented challenges,despite the fact that some advances have been made in early diagnosis and precision medicine.One of the complexities in treating tumors is the tumor microenvironment,which includes mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs)that exhibit tumor tropism and can be used for cell therapy.However,whether MSCs promote or suppress gliomas is still unclear,especially in glioma microenvironments.In this study,a coaxial microfiber was designed to mimic the tumor microenvironment and to reveal the effect of MSCs on glioma cells.The fiber shell was composed of MSCs and alginate,and the core was filled with U87 MG(glioblastoma)cells and gelatin methacrylate.This Shell-MSC/Core-U87 MG microenvironment improved the proliferation,survival,invasion,metastasis,and drug resistance of glioma cells,while simultaneously maintaining the stemness of glioma cells.In summary,coaxial extrusion bioprinted Shell-MSC/Core-U87 MG microfiber is an ideal platform for tumor and stromal cell coculture to observe tumor biological behavior in vitro.

Optical and scintillation properties of Ce:Y_(3)Al_(5)O_(12) single crystal fibers grown by laser heated pedestal growth method

The single crystal scintillating optical fibers acting as the scintillators and light conductors show potential application in scintillating fiber array detectors with high spatial resolution.In this paper we report the growth of 0.2 at%Ce:Y_(3)Al_(5)O_(12) single crystal fiber.The crystalline phase,surface morphology of the axialsection and cro ss-section,optical and scintillation properties of the as-grown fiber were investigated.The Ce:Y_(3)Al_(5)O_(12) single crystal fiber has a pure YAG phase,a uniform distribution of cerium in the axialsection and cross-section surface.Emission spectrum is composed of broad bands ranging from 440 to700 nm.In addition,the single crystal fiber has a high light yield of 26115±2000 photons/MeV,low energy resolution of 9.44%@662 keV and decay time of a fast component of 78 ns and a slow component of 301 ns.The intensity ratio of fast to slow components is roughly 8:1.

Multifunctional interstitial-carbon-doped FeCoNiCu high entropy alloys with excellent electromagnetic-wave absorption performance

Electromagnetic-wave absorbing(EMA)materials that have efficient absorption performances,great me-chanical properties and chemical stability are rare and yet essential for communication security and pro-tection.Herein,flaky interstitial-carbon-doped FeCoNiCu high entropy alloys(HEAs)as novel EMA ma-terials were successfully prepared by high-energy ball-milling method.Interstitial-carbon doping as a modulating approach impacted the phase forming,morphology and electromagnetic properties of Fe-CoNiCu HEAs.Impedance matching was significantly optimized via tuning interstitial carbon contents.The carbon-doped FeCoNiCu HEAs with appropriate carbon contents delivered superior EMA performance compared with other HEAs EMA materials.Strong reflection loss as low as-61.1 dB in the Ku band,broad effective absorption bandwidth of 5.1 GHz was achieved for FeCoNiCuC_(0.04).Moreover,the carbon-doped FeCoNiCu HEAs exhibited excellent mechanical hardness and chemical stability.This work not only suggests that interstitial-carbon doping is an available approach to tuning electromagnetic properties of HEAs,but also presents carbon-doped FeCoNiCu HEAs as promising EMA materials for civilian and mili-tary due to the efficient absorption,broad bandwidth,great durability and stability.

Fabrication of Intracranial Vascular Nitinol Alloy Stents with Improved Mechanical Property and Endothelialization Function

Intracranial vascular stenting has been widely used for ischemic stroke.However,there are complication risks with stent implantation,such as poor wall apposition,stent migration,thromboembolism and stent restenosis,due to the mismatched radial force and conformability of the stents."Therefore,a novel intracranial vascular nitinol stent was fabricated in order to improve mechanical property and endothelialization function.The bending moment of the stents was calculated to be 0.346 N mm,which shows improved conformability.The radial force of the stents evaluated by the flat plate test was0.0112 N/mm,within the range of the commercially available stent force(0.0065-0.0116 N/mm).Furthermore,the TyrIle-Gly-Ser-Arg(YIGSR)peptide derived from laminin was grafted onto the stent surfaces to promote endothelialization on vascular stents evaluated by the proliferation,adhesion and migration of human umbilical vein endothelial cells in vitro.The nitinol stents with improved mechanical property and endothelialization function are expected to reduce the recurrence risk of ischemic stroke after implantation.