Lumbar degenerative disc diseases cause low back pain(LBP). The maintenance of the height and stability of the intervertebral disc(IVD) space is an effective treatment for LBP. The following study evaluated the effect...Lumbar degenerative disc diseases cause low back pain(LBP). The maintenance of the height and stability of the intervertebral disc(IVD) space is an effective treatment for LBP. The following study evaluated the effects of fibroblast injection on intervertebral disc degeneration(IDD) in a preclinical setting. Compared with the IDD group, the fibroblast treatment group demonstrated effective maintenance of IVD height, reduced endplate degeneration, and improved nuclear magnetic resonance signals and overall histological structure. In doing so, fibrotic IVDs maintained the stability and biomechanics of the vertebra. This finding is in agreement with clinical findings that human nucleus pulposus(NP) fibrosis is essential for the maintenance of IVD height and mechanical properties in patients following percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy(PELD). Mechanistically, we demonstrated that injected fibroblasts not only proliferated but also induced NP cells to adopt a fibrotic phenotype via the secretion of TGF-β.Finally, to better mimic human conditions, the efficacy of autologous fibroblast injection in the treatment of IDD was further examined in a nonhuman primate cynomolgus monkey model due to their capacity for upright posture. We showed that the injection of fibroblasts could maintain the IVD height and rescue IVD signals in cynomolgus monkeys. Taken together, the results of our study reveal that autologous fibroblast injection can enhance the natural process of fibrosis during acute and subacute stages of stress-induced IDD. Fibrotic IVDs can maintain the stability, biological activity, and mechanical properties of the intervertebral space, thus providing a new direction for the treatment of intervertebral space-derived lumbar degenerative diseases.展开更多
The Tianlai Cylinder Pathfinder is a radio interferometer array designed to test techniques for 21 cm intensity mapping in the post-reionization Universe,with the ultimate aim of mapping the large scale structure and ...The Tianlai Cylinder Pathfinder is a radio interferometer array designed to test techniques for 21 cm intensity mapping in the post-reionization Universe,with the ultimate aim of mapping the large scale structure and measuring cosmological parameters such as the dark energy equation of state.Each of its three parallel cylinder reflectors is oriented in the north-south direction,and the array has a large field of view.As the Earth rotates,the northern sky is observed by drift scanning.The array is located in Hongliuxia,a radio-quiet site in Xinjiang,and saw its first light in September 2016.In this first data analysis paper for the Tianlai cylinder array,we discuss the sub-system qualification tests,and present basic system performance obtained from preliminary analysis of the commissioning observations during 2016-2018.We show typical interferometric visibility data,from which we derive the actual beam profile in the east-west direction and the frequency band-pass response.We describe also the calibration process to determine the complex gains for the array elements,either using bright astronomical point sources,or an artificial on site calibrator source,and discuss the instrument response stability,crucial for transit interferometry.Based on this analysis,we find a system temperature of about 90 K,and we also estimate the sensitivity of the array.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81871790) & (81572167)the Shanghai Hospital Development Center Foundation (SHDC12016110)
文摘Lumbar degenerative disc diseases cause low back pain(LBP). The maintenance of the height and stability of the intervertebral disc(IVD) space is an effective treatment for LBP. The following study evaluated the effects of fibroblast injection on intervertebral disc degeneration(IDD) in a preclinical setting. Compared with the IDD group, the fibroblast treatment group demonstrated effective maintenance of IVD height, reduced endplate degeneration, and improved nuclear magnetic resonance signals and overall histological structure. In doing so, fibrotic IVDs maintained the stability and biomechanics of the vertebra. This finding is in agreement with clinical findings that human nucleus pulposus(NP) fibrosis is essential for the maintenance of IVD height and mechanical properties in patients following percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy(PELD). Mechanistically, we demonstrated that injected fibroblasts not only proliferated but also induced NP cells to adopt a fibrotic phenotype via the secretion of TGF-β.Finally, to better mimic human conditions, the efficacy of autologous fibroblast injection in the treatment of IDD was further examined in a nonhuman primate cynomolgus monkey model due to their capacity for upright posture. We showed that the injection of fibroblasts could maintain the IVD height and rescue IVD signals in cynomolgus monkeys. Taken together, the results of our study reveal that autologous fibroblast injection can enhance the natural process of fibrosis during acute and subacute stages of stress-induced IDD. Fibrotic IVDs can maintain the stability, biological activity, and mechanical properties of the intervertebral space, thus providing a new direction for the treatment of intervertebral space-derived lumbar degenerative diseases.
基金support of the Astronomical Technology Center of National Astronomical Observatories of China(NAOC)support of Ministry of Science and Technology(MOST)(Grant No.2012AA121701)+10 种基金supported by MOST(Grant Nos.2016YFE0100300,and 2018YFE0120800)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)(Grant Nos.11633004,11473044,and 11653003)the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)(Grant No.QYZDJ-SSW-SLH017)support of the NSFC-CAS Joint Fund of Astronomy(Grant No.U1631118)partially supported by the National Key R&D Program(Grant No.2017YFA0402603)the CAS Interdisciplinary Innovation Team(Grant No.JCTD-2019-05)support of NSFC(Grant No.U1501501)the Tianhe-1 supercomputerpartially supported by the US National Science Foundation(NSF)Award(Grant No.AST-1616554)partial support from Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique(CNRS)via IN2P3&INSU,Observatoire de ParisIrfu/CEA。
文摘The Tianlai Cylinder Pathfinder is a radio interferometer array designed to test techniques for 21 cm intensity mapping in the post-reionization Universe,with the ultimate aim of mapping the large scale structure and measuring cosmological parameters such as the dark energy equation of state.Each of its three parallel cylinder reflectors is oriented in the north-south direction,and the array has a large field of view.As the Earth rotates,the northern sky is observed by drift scanning.The array is located in Hongliuxia,a radio-quiet site in Xinjiang,and saw its first light in September 2016.In this first data analysis paper for the Tianlai cylinder array,we discuss the sub-system qualification tests,and present basic system performance obtained from preliminary analysis of the commissioning observations during 2016-2018.We show typical interferometric visibility data,from which we derive the actual beam profile in the east-west direction and the frequency band-pass response.We describe also the calibration process to determine the complex gains for the array elements,either using bright astronomical point sources,or an artificial on site calibrator source,and discuss the instrument response stability,crucial for transit interferometry.Based on this analysis,we find a system temperature of about 90 K,and we also estimate the sensitivity of the array.